MEGA Group USA's Fall Convention and Buying Show, held recently at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, here, was the largest in the buying group's history, breaking both attendance and sales records, executive said.
"The tremendous attendance of the dealers was the key to this landmark success," said Rick Bellows, MEGA's appliance division manager. "The deals that the vendors provided, based on [the group's] tremendous increase in volume in 2006, were a perfect combination to create an explosive type of business atmosphere."
Also on tap were vendor presentations and product discussions for the group's core furniture, major appliance, consumer electronics, lawn and garden, and rent-to-own categories, as well as program, pricing and new product meetings with vendors.
Division manager Jerry Honea noted that the vendor meetings are perhaps the most important aspect of MEGA's semiannual conventions. "Vendors don't give the independent dealers much face-to-face time any more," he noted. "There has to be some personal interaction for a product line to succeed in dealers' stores, and these vendor sessions are the golden opportunities."
Whirlpool sales director Mark Hecht agreed: "We were able to show new product and meet face-to-face with the MEGA dealers," he said. "The response to the new Epic laundry pair was tremendous and Whirlpool is looking forward to a strong fourth quarter with MEGA. This was a great show."
The trade show itself was held in the Coronado's massive 125,000-square-foot exhibition hall, where some vendors reported "writing more business than ever" thanks to an early opening, said MEGA division manager Deryl Sewell. Added Jim Sendrak, manager of MEGA's electronics division, "Our traffic on the floor has been extraordinary. The dealers have focused on business and delivered for our prime vendors."
MEGA's Spring 2007 convention will be held March 3-6 at the Renaissance resort in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call (888) 332-3344 or visit www.megagroupusa.com.


text:
1 Andersson
Lat: 49.7°S, Long: 95.3°W, Diam: 13 km, Depth: km, Rükl: (farside)
LO-IV-187M This low sun angle view shows the position of Andersson relative to Rydberg and Guthnick.
(LAC zone 135A2) USGS Digital Nomenclature Atlas
Leif was the young PhD who replaced me as head of the Lunar Orbiter crater cataloging project at LPL when I left to teach in Africa in 1973. He was very interested in the classic American mystery writers Edgar Allen Poe and H. P. Lovecraft and came to visit me in Providence while tracking down the haunts of these authors. Leif did his doctoral work on brightening of Neptune. He died young, while finishing up the farside measures. He is the coauthor of the nomenclature catalog that was based on our work. - tychocrater Jun 29, 2007
Leif Erland Andersson(1943-1979), Swedish-born American astronomer.
Not to be confused with Anderson or M. Anderson!
Andersson's name is not printed on page 271 (LAC 135) of the Clementine Atlas (2004).- DannyCaes Oct 9, 2011
The low-albedo region near Andersson (at the centre of the Mendel-Rydberg Basin) might have called Palus Solitatis. Unfortunately, this name was not approved by the IAU. See page Luna Incognita.
Something to investigate...
There's a certain Andersson mentioned in the article New Evidence for the Variability of Titan (Saturn's largest moon); by M.Noland et al. (Astrophysical Journal, 1974), see page 491 in Mysterious Universe, a handbook of astronomical anomalies (William R. Corliss, The Sourcebook Project, 1979). Is this Andersson the same as Leif Erland Andersson? - DannyCaes Mar 29, 2015
Retrieved from "http://the-moon.us/index.php?title=Andersson&oldid=13703"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Joseph Watter, né le  à Ratisbonne et mort le  à Munich, est un peintre de genre et illustrateur allemand.

Joseph Watter est le fils d'un peintre sur porcelaine. Il fréquente l'école Craft à Munich, puis, à partir de 1856, il étudie la peinture à l'Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Munich avec Philipp von Foltz et Arthur von Ramberg.

Il se consacre à la peinture de genre et aux images de conte de fées. Dans les années 1860, il travaille au Fliegende Blätter, et illustre de ombreux livres. Dans la période 1870-1887, il collabore à l'hebdomadaire Die Gartenlaube.

Dans un tableau visible au musée du château d'Herrenchiemsee, il a représenté la visite de la tsarine Maria Alexandrovna au château de Berg, le . On y voit Louis II et la tsarine avec leurs suites qui ont débarqué du « Tristan ». Ils se rendent, sous un dais de lampions et de drapeaux orné d'une couronne impériale, vers le château de Berg qui est représenté à l'arrière-plan.

Un certain nombre de ses œuvres ornent les châteaux de Linderhof et Herrenchiemsee, souvent en collaboration avec des décorateurs comme Christian Jank ou Ferdinand Knab.

Joseph Watter a également conçu des «porcelaines historiques» pour la cour royale, des décors et costumes.

Notes et références

Annexes

Peintre allemand du XIXe siècle
Louis II (roi de Bavière)
Naissance en octobre 1838
Naissance à Ratisbonne
Naissance dans le royaume de Bavière
Décès en août 1913
Décès à Munich
Décès dans le royaume de Bavière
Décès à 74 ans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
lighted candles on cake
Photo by Caterina Berger on Unsplash
Famous Birthdays To Launch Data Subscription Service
Sam Blake
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
03:51 PM | July 21, 2021
Famous Birthdays has been cataloguing and ranking internet personalities for nine years and boasts tens of millions of monthly users.
Primarily financed by ads on its site, the 40-person company (including freelancers) is now turning its data into dollars by opening its beta subscription service for a wider launch this week. For an undisclosed fee, users can pay to see an online entertainer's historical rank data on Famous Birthdays as well as lists of whose interest on the site is accelerating.
CEO and founder Evan Britton wouldn't share specifics about the current clients of Famous Birthdays Pro, but said they include three major social platforms, two talent agencies, and two venture-backed companies offering services to creators. He is also targeting brands who work with influencers and music labels on the hunt for the next rising star.
Britton said he has seen value in his data since he witnessed several hundred screaming teens surrounding Ricky Dillon at the 2014 VidCon conference, and then found that the 22-year-old Vine star did not have a Wikipedia or IMDb page. Two years prior, Britton had started Famous Birthdays and he'd seen data from his site suggesting Dillon had an engaged following.
"To see it in the real world was validating," Britton said. "I couldn't wait to get back to work the next day."
Famous Birthdays' search engine now gets as many as a million inquiries per day. It uses that data to decide who should be catalogued on the site and to build weekly rankings of the top 250,000 profiles based on user activity and engagement.
One on-the-rise influencer it identified early was Charli D'Amelio. She conducted her first interview ever at the Famous Birthdays Santa Monica office in 2019. Britton had invited her around the time her ranking on his site had climbed to 20,000. A week prior, Britton said, she'd been ranked around 50,000, and her fast ascent hinted at her rising popularity. The next week, she was ranked 5,000. Today D'Amelio is a veritable queen of the creator economy, whose accolades include her own personally branded drink at Dunkin' Donuts.
Famous Birthdays' data is platform-agnostic, so it tracks user sentiment irrespective of where they come across creators.
"Our platform doesn't care if someone's rising on Netflix, Spotify, TikTok or Pinterest; we're the IMDb that connects it all," Britton said. "When a user leaves TikTok or YouTube or Instagram and comes on Famous Birthdays [to search for an influencer], it's a real sign of intent. Because it's not just that they saw a viral video of someone; they came to us [to find out more]."
In a creator economy centered around platforms that are incentivized to promote their own accolades and keep their data locked up, Famous Birthdays can provide useful information.
"There's something really interesting around who's getting a lot of hype," said Phil Ranta, a creator economy veteran who's managed influencer groups at Facebook, Mobcrush and Studio71. "Because [on specific platforms], it's hard to tell what views are translating into true fandom or what subscriber's a subscriber that's going to stick."
The new product comes as hunger for creators is growing. Social media platforms are throwing around billions of dollars to lure them in. And investors have sunk billions into platforms like Willa and PearPop to amplify the creator economy.
Famous Birthdays has also been expanding geographically. Britton anticipates his new Pro product will be popular for the international versions of his site, including Spanish, Portuguese and the recently launched Japanese and French. Each version has its own segmented data.
"This is a global phenomenon," Britton said.
Famous Birthdays Launches Data Subscription Service - dot.LA ›
influencer-marketing - dot.LA ›
Famous Birthdays Website Hits 35 Million Monthly Visitors - dot.LA ›
Famous Birthdays: celebrity bios and today's birthdays ›
influencer economy influencer marketing data saas subscription service famous birthdays social media entertainment entertainment tech
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a16z Leads Seed Round For Santa Monica Film Distribution Startup Filmhub
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This summer we are so pleased to be offering a five day intensive 'crash' course at Heston Hyde Hotel to new and existing customers. Perfect for anyone whose regular lessons might not be running in the holidays or if your child would like extra time in the pool.
Lessons will be available in Level 1 and 2 for children aged 4 - 10 years old, one lesson per day with limited spaces in each class.
£80 for five classes (one class per day for the five day week). A swimming hat will be provided for new customers.
Please register your interest by completing the form below and we will be in touch very soon!
What is your child's current swimming ability? This information will help us gauge which level your child should be in.
•	Can he/she swim 5m (on their front) without the use of arm bands/discs?
•	Has he/she had swimming lessons before and been happy in the water?
Our 'beginners' level, Level 1 is often the first time that children enter the pool without their parent and our whole focus is on water confidence, basic water safety and the foundation skills for independent swimming. The ratios are small to enable a rapport to build between the teacher and children - and it quickly does.
By Level 2, our children are swimming 5m and lifting their head to breathe. We now work with them to build their confidence further. We still operate a small class ratio but there are more group activities, reflecting the increased level of ability in this group e.g. we will send them for swims in groups of 2 or 3 to and from the teacher and the poolside. There is less reliance on buoyancy aids (floats and woggles) and the teachers become gradually more hands off.


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(Almost) final overview of prosecutions related to Mong Kok police-protester clashes of February 2016
37 prosecuted; 27 convicted and sentenced to a total of 77 years, 2 months and 21 days in prison
For background see: "Justice it ain't: The Mong Kok 'riot' trials"
Yung Wai-yip holding a sign as he leaves court in a police van on his way to prison. The sign reads, "Go, HK!" a popular chant at pro-democracy demonstrations and an expression of his love for the city. Together with Yuen Chi-kai, he was the last 'rioter' to be sentenced on 10 May 2019.
On May 9, 2019, Yung Wai-yip and Yuen Chi-kai were sentenced to three years in prison each for their involvement in the clashes between police and protesters that occurred in the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong on the night of February 8 to 9, 2016. With their sentencing, the nearly three years of trials related to that event have concluded, almost: In January 2019, information emerged that the Hong Kong government has belatedly decided to prosecute three more people in relation to the clashes. (In Hong Kong, there is no statute of limitations on prosecution for crimes unless otherwise specified in individual statutes.) In addition, some defendants are appealing, so there may still be some changes to the overall results, but this is an appropriate moment to provide a full and (almost) final overview of the trials.
Initially, 90 people were arrested and 51 charged with crimes. Charges were dropped against 20 due to lack of evidence. 12 were later arrested and/or charged with additional counts. In all, the Hong Kong Department of Justice intended to prosecute 43 people.
The trials of 37 of those 43 have now finished. 27 were convicted on 28 counts. (27 for 'riot', 2 for arson, 6 for assaulting an officer, 1 for disorderly conduct, 1 for resisting arrest, 1 for criminal damage.) 10 were acquitted on 15 counts. (9 for 'riot', 3 for assaulting officer, 1 for unlawful assembly, 1 for inciting riot, 1 for inciting unlawful assembly.)
3 of the 40 absconded. Arrest warrants have issued been issued for them. One apparently went to Taiwan, one to Germany, and one is unknown.
3 were indicted in January 2019 and no additional information has emerged as to when their trials will begin.
The 27 convicts were sentenced to a total of 77 years, 2 months and 21 days in prison. Their sentences range in length from 21 days to 7 years. The longest sentences were given to Ken Lo-man (7 years for 1 count of 'riot') and Edward Leung (6 years for 1 count of 'riot" and 1 count of assaulting a police officer). Other 'riot' sentences range from 2 years 4 months to 4 years 9 months, with 3 years being the most common sentence.
— KTG
Who Killed Chuckie Mauk?
Jenn Baxter
Let's Not Lose Sight of the Revolution that Is by Focusing on the Coup that Wasn't
Tim Libretti, PhD in engendered
What Drives People to Protest, and What Leads to the Most Success?
malika mohan in Towards Data Science


A luxurious eye cream to visibly diminish dark circles for a brighter, more luminous appearance.
With a light-infusing complex including rosa roxburghii, white peony, ume, magnolia, and sheer optics, this powerful eye cream visibly improves under-eye circles, diffuses puffiness, and strengthens fragile skin for a youthful look. Best for all skin types, it treats dark circles associated with sun damage, age, allergies, and fatigue. It corrects the symptoms and root cause of discoloration while firming the appearance of shadowy, sunken-in skin and enhancing luminosity. Eyes instantly look brighter, more radiant, and rested.


The Blog That Yost Built: Smoke Has Been Waxed!
Before I get into the main point of this post, I'd like to point out something that was brought to my attention earlier, which may be of relevance to some people. A reader called the ticket office today and passed along the info that Michigan's student section for the games at the Joe will be in Section 221 and the band will be in Section 217a. I hope this helps.
Also, Mike Spath reported from practice that Scooter Vaughan skated today and should be good to go this weekend. Also Matt Rust is expected to skate tomorrow, which is an exceptionally quick recovery from a fricken fractured leg bone. It would be big to have the two of them back this weekend, especially in light of Pacioretty's suspension.
But what I really want to talk about is an event that I'm surprised isn't receiving more pub because it was extremely funny and raised at least $125,000 for a great cause.
Last year, Tony Stewart made an agreement with Kevin Harvick that if Harvick could raise $100,000 for the Victory Junction Gang camp, Stewart would agree to get his body waxed. Apparently he's hairy along the lines of Andy in 40 Year Old Virgin.
The fans from Kevin Harvick's "Harvick Hotline" message board, myself included, pitched in and were able to come up with almost $40,000. Harvick kicked in the other $60,000 to fulfill the requirement of the deal. Stewart lived up to his end of the bargain, and tonight was the night that Smoke's back was waxed (ironic that Harvick would get to inflict pain on him a day after wrecking him in the Sprint Cup race).
They broadcast the event on Stewart's Sirius Radio show, which unfortunately I don't get. A fan at the Harvick Hotline provided a play-by-play, and even though the thread is long, it's worth a read because it's really funny. Harvick was supposed to be commentating, but spent most of the broadcast laughing hysterically.
Also, the 12-year-old son of Clint Bowyer's crew chief did a little pit reporting this weekend and asked a variety of drivers about their thoughts on the event--if Stewart would cry, how much weight he would lose from all that hair being gone, and how much they'd pay to rip off one of the strips. Jimmy Johnson replied to the last question by saying that he would be unavailable today but that he would donate $10,000 if the 12-year-old could rip off a strip. Additionally, JD Gibbs kicked in $15,000 to have the back of Stewart's neck waxed.
I think Stewart is a complete douche bag for the things he says to the media, the way he is the first to blame and the last to admit fault, and generally the way he treats people at the track. I didn't post about this, but the things he said about Goodyear were completely over the line for a variety of reasons. He went completely overboard on that one. That said, I will admit that he doesn't get nearly enough credit for all the money he donates and the things he does for charity. This is one of those times. He deserves a lot of credit for manning up and agreeing to get his back waxed to raise that much money for a great cause. And for being a good sport and broadcasting it to boot.
Originally Stewart had said that if Harvick forced him to get his back waxed, that he would kick in $100,000 of his own money to force Harvick to shave his head. No word on if that's still on the docket. I would imagine after the wreck yesterday and the wax job tonight, the Victory Junction Gang might be getting yet another huge check in the near future. I'm just happy that I could contribute to the fund, and play a small role in inflicting some pain on Tony Stewart.
Couldn't care less about Nascar, but the entirety of Charlie's sideline reports from Friday night are posted on Varsity Blue.


text:
Studio move means older content
Published by skoen on 08.10.2014
The studio where the show is produced is moving and that affects the next episode of the show. Each episode is usually produced just the day before the show's first broadcast, but episode 554 is produced already at the time this post is published.
That means that next week's episode's content is older than it usually is. It's still brand new music, just abit older. Episode 555 will be produced at the regular time from a brand new studio and will contain a mix of the tracks released on or after 7 October and later. Regarding a live updating tracklist, we'll see about that. When you move, there's always a lot of stuff that needs to be sorted, and broadband internet might not be up already for the broadcast. But you will see a tracklist and be able to stream and download this episode at the regular time.
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text:
October 11, 2019 2:00:00 PM EDT
Application Focus - Electroporation Mediated
Transfection of Human Cerebral Organoids
In this post we will review what organoids are and how they are used to create in vitro models to study organ function and human disease states in three dimensions. Next, we will cover the topic of organoid transfection via electroporation in more detail. Finally, as an example, we will highlight and summarize findings reported by Ogawa et al. 2018. Cell Reports 23, 1220—12291. These researchers utilized electroporation of CRISPR/Cas9 constructs to achieve gene modification of human cerebral organoids, resulting in a glioblastoma tumor model that could be further studied in vivo in xenografted mice.
Organoids are multicellular cultures of stem cells or tissue fragments grown in vitro, organized into 3D structures. This typically requires growing and differentiating stem cells or progenitor cells in 3D culture media (such as Matrigel). Unlike cultured cell lines, organoids may contain multiple different types of cells and offer a way to better replicate the more complex structures found in real organs in vivo. Organoids have been developed to model many different types of organs, such as kidney, lung, liver, heart, retina, pancreas, intestine and brain.
Organoids allow a researcher to study a simplified miniature version of an organ that recapitulates organ structure and functions more realistically than 2D cultured cell lines adhered to dishes. For example, it has recently been reported by Trujillo et al. 2 that cerebral organoids generated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be cultured for months or even years in the laboratory. Over time these cerebral organoids mature into complex networks of different types of neurons and glial cells that can produce brain waves with characteristics similar to that of pre-term human fetuses.Human organoids may also be implanted into laboratory animals such as mice to be studied as orthotopic xenografts in vivo.Sugimoto et al.3 utilized this method to grow human colonic epithelial organoids in orthotopically xenografted mouse colons.
Electroporation is an ideal delivery method for producing and transfecting organoids.
The 3D structure of organoids makes it difficult to efficiently penetrate cells in the center with chemical, lipid or viral methods. Electroporation more effectively transfects thicker structures such as organoids, ex vivo cultured pieces of tissue, or even tissues of a live organism in vivo.
Smaller organoids may be electroporated while suspended in a solution containing the transfectant inside an electrode such as an electroporation cuvette, microslide chamber or petri dish electrode chamber. For this type of electroporation method, using a high-performance electroporation buffer can boost efficiency. For example, Fukii et al.4 found that electroporation was more efficient in transfecting organoids than reagent-based transfection methods. They also showed that utilizing BTXpress electroporation solution further boosted electroporation efficiency, as compared to electroporation in cell culture medium.
Larger organoids may be injected with the transfectant, then grasped by paddle-shaped electrodes or tweezer-shaped electrodes for electroporation. This method was utilized successfully by Ogawa et al.1 as described in more detail below.
Glioblastoma Model via Electroporation of Human Cerebral Organoids
Ogawa et al.1 used the following method of electroporation-based transfection of human cerebral organoids to create a model for invasive Glioblastoma brain tumors
1. Human ES cell line H9 was differentiated and cultured in vitro to create cerebral organoids using a protocol described by Lancaster and Knoblich
2. Four-month-old organoids were then transfected via electroporation with the ECM 830 electroporator and 3 mm Diameter Tweezertrodes electrodes. Two plasmids were co-transfected together: a GFP tagged Cas9-gRNA plasmid and a tdTomato tagged oncogenic RasG12V expression cassette donor DNA plasmid. Through the process of CRISPR/Cas9 targeted DNA cleavage and homologous repair mechanisms of the cells, oncogenic HRasG12V was inserted into the tumor suppressor gene TP53 locus. The result was a function blocking frameshift mutation of TP53 and over-expression of RasG12V in transfected cells. The figure below shows a representative image of an organoid two weeks after electroporation, with CRISPR/Cas9-GFP and HRasG12V-tdTomato colocalizing in transfected cells.
Colocalization of CRISPR/Cas9 (GFP) and HRasG12V (td-Tomato) observed 2 weeks after electroporation.
Adapted from Figure 1B of Ogawa et al. 2018
3. Transfected cells in the organoid were observed to have a transduced, proliferative phenotype characteristic of glioma tumor cells; the HRasG12V-tdTomato expressing cells were observed to invade and take over the organoid over time as shown in the figure below. Organoid tumor cells also were positive when stained for expression of Ki-67 proliferative marker and SOX 2 and GFAP markers of glioblastoma neural stem cells.
Time-lapse imaging of HRasG12V-transduced cells showing invasion (from 4 weeks to 13 weeks post transfection). (a) High-magnification view of the invasive edges of a 13-week transduced organoid. Adapted from Fig 1D of Ogawa et al. 2018.
4. Finally, the researchers injected organoid-derived tumor cells into the hippocampus of immunodeficient mice to observe invasive tumor growth in vivo. They observed tumors forming with pathological features similar to human glioblastoma, such as microscopic invasiveness, nuclear pleomorphism, and angiogenesis. The mean survival times for the mice were 90 to 100 days. The figure below shows a representative tumor in one of the mice.
Gross appearance and fluorescence signal of xenografted mouse brain. The dotted area shows a slightly pinkish appearance from tdTomato expression. Right panel indicates the fluorescence signal with a red fluorescent protein (RFP) filter. Adapted from Fig 3E of Ogawa et al. 2018.
In summary, electroporation mediated transfection of organoids offers a powerful platform to study simplified, engineered models of organs in vitro. When used in combination with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing methods, genetic manipulation of these model organs and their study in vitro is possible. Additionally, organoids may then be implanted into laboratory animals for further study in vivo. This provides researchers with better tools to investigate normal organ biology or disease states, such as tumor formation.
1. Ogawa, J., Pao, G. M., Shokhirev, M. N., & Verma, I. M. (2018). Glioblastoma model using human cerebral organoids. Cell Reports, 23(4), 1220-1229.
2. Trujillo, C.A., et al. (2019). Complex oscillatory waves emerging from eortical organoids model early human brain network development. Cell Stem Cell, 25(4), 558-569.
3. Sugimoto, S., et al. (2018). Reconstruction of the human colon epithelium in vivo. Cell Stem Cell, 22(2), 171-176.
4. Fujii, M., Matano, M., Nanki, K., & Sato, T. (2015). Efficient genetic engineering of human intestinal organoids using electroporation. Nature Protocols, 10, 1474-1485.
5. Lancaster, M. A., & Knoblich, J. A. (2014). Generation of cerebral organoids from human pluripotent stem cells. Nature Protocols, 9, 2329-2340.
Come visit BTX at the 2020 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, October 24-28, Washington, DC.
In vitro transfection


Addiplex Reviews - Is it a Scam or Legit?
Based on over 15 years of research, Addiplex is an "expertly crafted cognitive enhancement supplement" that promises to help increase concentration, improve creative thinking, boost energy, enhance memory recall, and elevate work productivity.
In order to accomplish this, we're told you'll need to take one pill three times daily; once in the morning, afternoon, and in the evening with a meal. Then, you should start feeling the effects after 30 days of regular use.
Is Addiplex really a "fast, safe way to gain a mental edge"? Is it actually the #1 rated focus and brain pill? Will it provide you with any benefits whatsoever?
Let's start answering your questions by taking a look at the basic mechanics of the brain.
This is a massive topic, but concentration is loosely defined as the action of focusing one's attention or mental effort on something, while avoiding distractions. Surprisingly, some research shows that concentration and distraction actually occur in separate parts of the brain.
Nonetheless, whether we're talking about attention, distraction, or … talking, the fact of the matter is that none of it would be possible without proper blood flow to the brain (i.e. circulation). After all, our brain is living tissue, and it requires the oxygen, vital nutrients, and nutrition contained in blood in order to do its job.
Just below blood flow on the 'importance scale' is how our brain cells (known as neurons) communicate with one another, as well as with the rest of the body. This is the essential information that makes our muscles move, our heart beat, our lungs breathe, and many more basic biological processes possible.
When communicating between each other, neurons often use electrical signals. But when communicating with other parts of the body, chemical messengers called neurotransmitters are used—and one of the most important of these is acetylcholine.
What does science have to say about all of this? Will Addiplex's ingredients boost acetylcholine levels in your body? Will they provide any of the other cognitive benefits claimed by the company?
Will Addiplex's Ingredients "Unlock Your Potential"?
Alright, let's break these down and see what WebMD has to say about their efficacy, based on their review of the available clinical evidence.
Caffeine is generally thought to be effective for temporarily boosting mental alertness, while tyrosine is "possible effective" for improving mental performance, memory, and alertness following a loss of sleep. In many of these studies though, participants were subjected to stressful environments, such as military training, cold, and noise.
Food-based niacin may help reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease, but it doesn't seem that supplemental sources of niacin produce the same results.
Of Addiplex's ingredients, acetyl l-carnitine might be the big hitter, since WebMD lists it as possibly effective for improving memory in elderly people, improving blood flow to the brain, and treating some aspects of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. But keep in mind the recommended daily dose is 1,500 to 4,000mg, while Addiplex only contains 20mg.
Where importance is concerned, ginkgo biloba is hot on the heels of acetyl l-carnitine, which is listed as possibly effective for slightly improving memory, speed of thinking, and attention in healthy adults; modestly improving symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and more.
What About Addiplex's Side Effects?
Generally, WebMD indicates you likely won't experience anything worse than mild digestive upset from Addiplex's ingredients.
In some instances, especially if you're sensitive to stimulants, caffeine can lead to insomnia, nervousness, increased heart rate, and more. The good news is that Addiplex doesn't seem to contain more than a couple cups of coffee worth of caffeine.
Possible side effects aside, how much will you pay for a bottle of Addiplex?
How Much Does Addiplex Cost?
Regardless of how many bottles you purchase, all orders come with free shipping, as well as a 30-day refund policy, less S&H. However, keep in mind that this only applies to unused and unopened bottles, and that you'll also have to ship your order back to the UK.
In order to request a refund, you'll need to call customer service at +61-1-800-153-618 or support@addiplex.com.
At this price, do we think Addiplex will deliver a solid value? We'll get to this in just a moment, but first, let's talk about online feedback for Addiplex.
Addiplex vs. the Competition: What Can We Learn From Reviews?
The bad news: Since Addiplex was such a new supplement during our research, there wasn't any online customer feedback yet.
The good news: Addiplex belongs to a class of supplements known as nootropics, and the HighYa team has researched dozens of these brain-boosting supplements over the years, including Brain Storm Elite, Evo Brain Pill, SuperBrain, and many others. Is there any information we can glean from customers are saying about these other products?
With very few exceptions (OptiMind is one), HighYa readers rate these types of supplements at 2 stars or less. Frequently, they complain that they don't work, are priced excessively high, and aren't properly supported by their manufacturers (e.g. difficulty processing refunds).
Can we say the same for Addiplex? No. We didn't test it firsthand and there aren't any reviews we can used to gauge overall satisfaction, so it might be an exception to (what seems to be) the rule.
Let's wrap everything up, shall we?
Imagine buying a brand new Ferrari (I know, it's terribly difficult!). Sure, they're extraordinarily expensive automobiles, but they're constructed from the finest materials, feature world-class tuning and craftsmanship, and can deliver an adrenaline rush like no other.
In other words, if you can afford a Ferrari, then they can add an immense amount of pleasure and joy to your life. What's the point here?
Just because something's expensive, doesn't mean that it can't provide a high level of value, and Addiplex may not be any different (again, we didn't test it firsthand).
However, it's worth mentioning that Addiplex is an exceptionally expensive nutritional supplement, and at $104 for the single bottle option, is the highest priced nootropic we've reviewed to date. Additionally, according to WebMD, many of Addiplex's ingredients might not deliver results in line with the company's claims—and even for those that could provide some benefit, the supplement often doesn't contain a large enough dose.
Finally, Addiplex's manufacturer appears to be based out of the UK, which means that you might have to pay additional taxes when the package is delivered, or when you pick it up. And while it's positive that the company offers a 30-day refund policy, it seems you'll have to ship the product back to the UK, which could be expensive.
Want to learn more before you decide on your next nootropic supplement? Be sure to read The Truth About Memory Supplements!
Did you give Addiplex a try? Was it really a "Limitless" pill? Write down your thoughts in your review below!
Write a Review for Addiplex!


The aim of this guide is two-fold. First, we want to show you the item sets created for Paladins: tier sets, PvP sets, BoE items meant to be worn together, craftable sets, etc.. Second, we want to show you the models of all the items that a Paladin can wear so that you can design your own sets or complete sets found on our site or elsewhere.
This page tackles our first objective (item sets). For our second objective (item models), please refer to our Transmogrification Paladin Item Models Guide.


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Michael Anthony Hughes
Michael, circa 1994; Age-progression to age 24 (circa 2012); Suzanne Sevakis in the 1970s; Franklin Delano Floyd in the 1970s; Floyd in 2002; Floyd and Sevakis in the 1970s; Sevakis in the 1980s
Missing From Choctaw, Oklahoma
Classification Non-Family Abduction
Age 6 years old
Height and Weight 3'10, 45 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue t-shirt with red sleeves, red and blue shorts, and black high-top sneakers.
Associated Vehicle(s) Pickup truck (accounted for)
Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Michael has a scar on his forehead. He had two new permanent bottom teeth that were crooked at the time of his 1994 disappearance.
Michael's case begins with the abduction of his mother, Suzanne Sevakis. Franklin Delano Floyd had married Suzanne's biological mother in North Carolina, while using an alias name.
Suzanne's mother had three daughters and an infant son from a prior marriage. She was incarcerated for a brief period in Dallas, Texas in 1975 and when she was released from jail, Floyd and the children had disappeared. Two of the girls eventually turned up at a children's home, but Suzanne and her one-year-old brother were still missing.
The police refused to investigate the matter because, as their stepfather, Floyd had a right to take the children. Suzanne and her brother were never officially reported missing.
Floyd and Suzanne surfaced in an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma later that year, and she was enrolled in school under the name Suzanne Davis. Davis graduated from high school in Forest Park, Georgia in 1986. Investigators determined she moved to Phoenix, Arizona later during that year under the name Sharon Marshall.
She gave birth to Michael in Tampa, Florida on March 21, 1988 while apparently using the alias Tonya Dawn Tadlock. It is known that Floyd used the aliases Charles Hughes and Clarence Marcus Hughes during this time; authorities believe that this was the reason Michael was given the last name of Hughes at birth.
In another bizarre twist, Floyd and Michael's mother were married in New Orleans in 1989 under the names Tonya Tadlock and Clarence Hughes. Both Floyd and the woman were wanted in connection with a Florida homicide by 1990. Before any legal action could be taken against them, the woman was killed in a suspicious hit-and-run vehicular accident in Oklahoma City in April 1990. Floyd is the main suspect in her death.
Authorities did not realize the woman's identity was unknown until after she was killed; only then did it come to public attention that Floyd abducted her years earlier. She remained unidentified for a further two and a half decades, however.
Michael was placed in foster care in Oklahoma after his mother's death, when he was two years old. His foster parents, Merle and Ernest Bean, who kept him for almost four years, told authorities that he had limited muscle control, was non-verbal and often exhibited hysterical behavior when he first arrived at their home. However, Michael apparently made great progress in foster care before his abduction in 1994, and the Beans had begun adoption proceedings for him.
Floyd tried to get Michael back, claiming he was the child's biological father and that Michael's foster parents were abusive, but a blood test proved he and Michael weren't related and his efforts to get custody came to nothing.
Investigators began probing Floyd's background after Michael's mother's death. They learned he was a career criminal who had been arrested in 1960 at age 17 after a gunfight with law enforcement during a burglary. Floyd had also been convicted of abducting and raping a young girl in 1962.
Authorities searched Floyd's truck and discovered numerous photos of Michael's mother as a child in sexually explicit poses. The photos showed the girl from approximately age four through her adolescence. Other pornographic images of young women and girls were also located in Floyd's vehicle.
Floyd used the aliases Trenton Davis, Warren Judson Marshall, Preston Morgan and Kingfish Floyd in addition to the names previously mentioned in his criminal past.
Floyd abducted Michael from Indian Meridian Elementary School in Choctaw, Oklahoma on September 12, 1994. He held school officials at gunpoint and forced Michael and the principal into the principal's pickup truck. Floyd tied the principal to a tree in a nearby field and escaped with Michael.
The principal was rescued several hours later and was not physically harmed. Michael has never been seen again. A month after the kidnapping, the stolen pickup truck turned up in Dallas, Texas.
Due to the confidentiality laws dealing with foster care, Michael's foster parents weren't allowed to talk to anyone about his disappearance. It wasn't until the FBI made a public appeal for information in Michael's case that the Beans were permitted to discuss his abduction with the media.
Floyd was arrested in Kentucky two months after the child was last seen, but he refused to divulge Michael's whereabouts, saying he had taken him to a safe place. He was convicted of Michael's kidnapping and was sentenced to 52 years in prison.
Floyd claimed that Michael was living outside the United States or in the Atlanta, Georgia or Kansas City, Missouri areas, but the government had witness statements detailing alleged confessions by Floyd regarding Michael's death.
Floyd reportedly told his sister he drowned the child in a bathtub in a Georgia motel in 1994. Other witnesses stated that Floyd told them he murdered Michael in the same manner, while another person claimed he saw Floyd bury Michael's body in a cemetery.
Due to these allegations and Floyd's history of criminal conduct, authorities believed Michael met with foul play. Floyd has not been charged in connection with Michael's assumed death or Michael's mother's case, but he is still being investigated for his roles in the crimes.
Floyd was charged while in prison with the 1989 murder of Cheryl Ann Commesso, a teenage exotic dancer who had been a coworker and friend of Suzanne Sevakis. Her body was found along Interstate 275 and remained unidentified for six years.
Floyd has a history of mental problems, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and was initially declared incompetent to stand trial, but regained his competency in a state mental hospital. After his conviction, his lawyers tried to mitigate his crime by having him testify about his childhood in an orphanage, but he was sentenced to death. Now awaiting execution in Florida, Floyd admits he committed numerous crimes, but maintains his innocence in Commesso's murder.
Suzanne Sevakis was identified as Michael's mother in summer of 2014, 24 years after her death, although this information wasn't made public until October. When interviewed in prison earlier in 2014, Floyd told the FBI about his marriage to Suzanne's mother. FBI agents visited Suzanne's mother, who identified a photo of the girl as her daughter. A DNA test confirmed the identification.
In September 2014, two FBI agents interviewed Floyd on death row and he admitted he had killed Michael on the same day he abused the child. He said he had planned to raise Michael himself, but the boy had grown apart from him during his years in foster care and no longer loved him.
During the drive to Dallas, Michael had gotten out of control and Floyd couldn't handle his behavior. Floyd said he shot him twice in the head, and expressed no remorse for his actions. He said he'd buried Michael's body on Interstate 35, at the last Oklahoma exit before the Texas border. A search of that area in March 2015 turned up no evidence, however. Authorities stated it was likely that wild hogs in the area would have consumed the body, even the bones.
Suzanne's missing brother was located alive in 2019. He had been adopted in North Carolina shortly after he went missing. The whereabouts of Michael, however, are still unknown.
Choctaw Police Department 405-290-7770
Federal Bureau of Investigation 202-324-3000
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The St. Petersburg Times
Child Protection Services Watch
The National Enquirer
Official Website of Matt Birkbeck
Updated 6 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated July 16, 2022; picture added, details of disappearance updated.


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There's a famous poem by Robert Frost that says, and I paraphrase, "two roads diverged, both selling out in their own way, one to Hollywood, and one to direct-to-video erotic thrillers." Frost wrote this poem after watching Open House, a low-budget slasher movie taking place amongst real estate agents, written by David Mickey Evans, who followed up this script with the fantasy/child abuse uplifting drama, Radio Flyer and the nostalgia for racial mixing amongst young baseball players with The Sandlot, while director Jag Mundhra followed Open House with titles like Sexual Malice, Tropical Heat, and most recently, Kama Sutra 3.
Open House is like a perfect synthesis of these two styles, featuring both badly staged murders and gratuitous nudity, as well as a too good for this project Hollywood star, Adrienne Barbeau as the lead, who is involved in a horribly unconvincing romantic relationship with a doctor with a radio call-in show, who may or may not have the key to discovering who the serial killer is. The killer's likes including growling off-screen, collecting severed fingers, and terrifying bimbos trying to sell overpriced property. A subplot that was a precursor to Glengarry Glen Ross with scheming, sleazy battles between salespeople, gives us such winning dialogue as "your leads are for the birds!" There's even a rather original explanation for the motive of the killer, suggesting that there might have been a much smarter movie just underneath the layers of inept, cheap sleaze. But to add brains to a movie like this would be a mistake, its very lack of self-awareness is what gives it its charm. If Open House were a better movie, what would we make of the scene where a woman is electrocuted, because the killer poured champagne on her naked breasts? Or that 90% of the dialogue required ADR? Or when a woman discovers the first dead body, she screams so long, that it veers off into humor, and keeps going after that, for probably another 30 seconds.
Barbeau takes the movie rather seriously, which is the only explanation for her nude scene, because her performance is so bad, she had a hard time convincing me she was going for her morning jog, let alone engaging in a relationship with the radio doctor. It's also pretty difficult to hate a movie where a character drives the strangest looking hybrid imaginable, with what appears to be a Rolls Royce convertible sports car. Tackiness that extreme can't help but be endearing.
Tags: Adam Lippe, ADR, Adrienne Barbeau, baseball, champagne, child abuse, David Mamet, David Mickey Evans, Delia Sheperd, Elijah Wood, Glengarry Glen Ross, gratuitous nudity, Hollywood, Jag Mundhra, Kama Sutra 3, Kathy Shower, low budget, movie review, Night Eyes, radio, Radio Flyer, real estate, RegrettableSincerity.com, Robert Frost, Rolls Royce, Sexual Malice, Shannon Tweed, Shannon Whirry, Slasher, Tanya Roberts, The Sandlot, Tom Hanks, Tropical Heat
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 9:39 pm	and is filed under Horror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The Last House on the Left (2009)
Opening in theaters May 15th
House of the Dead
The 18 1/2 Philadelphia Film Festival's opening night film: Law Abiding Citizen
A Trifecta of Rape and Revenge: I Spit on Your Grave/Last House on the Left/Thriller: A Cruel Picture
Shrivel Me Timber; Erotic Thrillers Vol. 1: Traces of Red
Quit Ho Mo on the radio: A radio interview about going undercover as an ex-gay


Court Street Location Open Now!
Northfield Bank is proud to announce that our 40th branch opened on December 3, 2018, located in downtown Brooklyn at 112 Court Street. Our Court Street Office is located on the corner of Court Street and State Street.
"We're thrilled to have expanded into downtown Brooklyn" stated Robin Lefkowitz, EVP of Branch Administration & Business Development. "Downtown Brooklyn is such a vivacious neighborhood and we are so excited to be part of this incredible community!"
The Court Street Office is the tenth Brooklyn location for Northfield Bank, but the first in the downtown area.


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Tag: "karl bode"
Watch the Pilot Episode of Our New Series "Connect This!"
Posted October 27, 2020 by Ry Marcattilio-...
Despite repeated reminders from the rest of us that Hollywood will only ever give the late night slots to guys named James, Stephen, or Conan, Christopher is determined that if he just hosts enough things he'll be able to break into the business and leave us all behind. In that spirit comes a new series here at the Community Broadband Networks initiative within the Institute for Local Self-Reliance: Connect This!
Every two weeks, a diverse panel of broadband policy experts and industry veterans will get together and talk about recent news, untangle regulations, demystify technology, dig into grant programs, and have a good time. Compared to the Broadband Bits podcast, Connect This! will range wider and encourage guests to find common ground on the complicated issues that collectively define our networked future. Episodes will have a set agenda and aim for less than an hour, and the plan is to bring at least one guest across two episodes in a row to provide some continuity.
Host Christopher Mitchell shared the driving impulse behind it:
I don't think people working in this space have enough opportunities to hear people wrestling over these different ideas and challenges. A lot of people are working very hard to build networks or better policies and trying to puzzle through things on their own. What is happening at the FCC? What is the deal with that government program? How does this technology work in the real world?
The goal of the show is to address these issues from different perspectives and ask hard questions — questions that we may not always know how to answer. But also to have fun with it because this is an exciting space to work in and we shouldn't have to be super serious all the time.
The first episode is up, with Christopher joined by Cat Blake (CTC Technology and Energy), Karl Bode (TechDirt), and Travis Carter (CEO, US Internet). They talk about US Ignite's new Project Overcome, state broadband grant programs that exclude municipal networks, and AT&T's decision to stop connecting users to its DSL network.
Subscribe to the show using this feed.
Email us broadband@muninetworks.org with feedback and ideas for the show.
Observations from Tech Writer Karl Bode - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 379
Posted October 22, 2019 by lgonzalez
If you're a regular reader of MuniNetworks.org, you've seen Karl Bode's name and it's almost certain you've read his work elsewhere. Karl has had his finger on the pulse of telecom, broadband, and related legislative events for a long time.
This week, Karl comes on the show to talk about how his career trajectory led to where he is right now, the surprising and unsurprising things he's seen, and how media coverage of telecom and technology has changed over the years. There are some issues, notes Karl, that should be handled more aggressively both in developing policy and in how the media covers them. The impact of large monopolistic Internet service providers, privacy concerns, and network neutrality are a few matters that affect us more than most people realize.
Christopher and Karl talk about the FCC and corruption of the commenting system that surrounded the decision to retract federal network neutrality protections. They also talk about Washington D.C.'s different attitudes toward big tech companies such as Google and Facebook versus big ISPs like AT&T and Comcast.
This show is 32 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or the tool of your choice using this feed. You can listen to the interview on this page or visit the Community Broadband Bits page.
Read the transcript for this episode.
Listen to ...
O'Rielly Hallucinates, Says Munis Violate First Amendment
On October 24th, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly spoke before the Media Institute at their "Free Speech America" Gala. In a speech for the telecom-backed group, O'Rielly delivered exactly what many of the big hitters in the audience would want to hear. He falsely accused, with nothing to back up his claims, municipal networks of posing an "ominous threat to the First Amendment."
Whaaaa?
Karl Bode reported on the event, noting that O'Rielly goes on to falsely claim that local governments have or will attempt to limit free speech through municipal networks. Bode immediately addressed the baseless statements and reached out to Christopher, who confirmed that, "There is no history of municipal networks censoring anyone's speech." Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica also wrote a well-reasoned article reminding readers that O'Rielly previously called rules to protect against censorshop by ISPs "baseless fearmongering." Huh... that sounds right.
Apparently, the impressionable O'Rielly had been reading up before his speech and had just put down a copy of a document from the Free State Foundation, an organization funded in part by deep pocketed ISPs. The document implied that community networks would be more likely to interfere with free speech. Such is the disinformation game.
The American Civil Liberties Union has addressed this concern in the past because they oppose any efforts to censor speech, whether by government or corporations. In their paper on municipal broadband networks, they wrote:
And indeed, First Amendment principles prevent the government from targeting certain ideas or viewpoints for censorship or reduced access. Governments risk violating the Constitution if they create blacklists of disfavored websites, only permit access to "approved" websites, engage in content filtering, or ban anonymous online browsing or writing.
Subscribers living in communities with publicly owned networks often boast about how satisfied they are with their connectivity, customer service, and the benefits their networks have brought....
TN Broadband Bill Hits Local And National Media
Posted April 14, 2017 by lgonzalez
When state legislators in Tennessee recently passed the Broadband Accessibility Act of 2017, tech writers quoted our Christopher Mitchell, who pointed out that the proposal has some serious pitfalls.
Christopher's statement appeared in several articles:
"Tennessee taxpayers may subsidize AT&T to build DSL service to Chattanooga's [rural] neighbors rather than letting the Gig City [Chattanooga] expand its fiber at no cost to taxpayers. Tennessee will literally be paying AT&T to provide a service 1,000 times slower than what Chattanooga could provide without subsidies."
Motherboard noted that the Tennessee legislature had the opportunity to pass a bill, sponsored by Senator Janice Bowling, to grant municipal electric utilities the ability to expand and serve nearby communities. Nope. Legislators in Tennessee would rather pander to the incumbent providers that come through year after year with generous campaign contributions:
To be clear: EPB wanted to build out its gigabit fiber network to many of these same communities using money it has on hand or private loans at no cost to taxpayers. It would then charge individual residents for Internet service. Instead, Tennessee taxpayers will give $45 million in tax breaks and grants to giant companies just to get basic infrastructure built. They will then get the opportunity to pay these companies more money for worse Internet than they would have gotten under EPB's proposal.
The Motherboard reporter quoted Bowling from a prior article (because, like the movie "Groundhog Day," she keeps finding herself in the same situation year after year):
"What we have right now is not the free market, it's regulations protecting giant corporations, which is the exact definition of crony capitalism," she said.
TechDirt Gets Personal
Community Broadband Media Roundup - December 12, 2014
Posted December 15, 2014 by rebecca
This week in Community Broadband networks... partnerships, cooperatives, and going-it-alone. For a background in muni networks, check out this recent article from FiscalNote. The article highlights Kansas and Utah's fight for improving beyond the minimum speeds.
Speaking of minimum, the FCC announced its new "rock bottom" for regulated broadband speeds. Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin reports that despite AT&T, Verizon, and the National Cable and Telecom Association's protests, ISPs that use government subsidies to build rural broadband networks must provide speeds of at least 10 Mbps for downloads.
Rural Americans should not be left behind those who live in big cities, the FCC announcement today said. "According to recent data, 99 percent of Americans living in urban areas have access to fixed broadband speeds of 10/1, which can accommodate more modern applications and uses. Moreover, the vast majority of urban households are able to subscribe to even faster service," the FCC said.
The FCC plans to offer nearly $1.8 billion a year to carriers willing to expand service to 5 million rural Americans.
This is a step in the right direction, but we are alarmed to see a download:upload ratio of 10:1. People in rural areas need to upload as well as download - our comments to the FCC strongly recommended raising the upstream threshold as well and we are very disappointed to see that remain a pathetic 1 Mbps.
And, from TechDirt's own "who can you trust if you can't trust the phone company department," Karl Bode found that a study by the AT&T-funded Progressive Policy Institute concluded that if Title II regulations were passed, the nation would be "awash in $15 billion in various new Federal and State taxes and fees. Bode writes that the study cherry-picked and conflated data:
The reality the broadband industry doesn't want to acknowledge is that very little changes for it under Title II if carriers aren't engaged in bad behavior. The broadband industry is...
AT&T Fails Big in Dallas, Makes Big Claims for Austin
Posted October 7, 2013 by christopher
Even though I regularly read examples of terrible customer service from the massive corporations like AT&T, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, and more, I apparently retain the capacity to be surprised as how bad they are. The Dallas Morning News recently ran this piece: "AT&T Never Misses An Opportunity to Miss An Opportunity."
In a neighborhood with poor access to satellite services and miserable with Time Warner Cable, people were thrilled when AT&T proclaimed it would be investing in U-Verse. Even though U-Verse is an amped-up DSL service that barely competes with cable connections, people who are fed up with Time Warner Cable were excited for a choice.
Lo and behold, right in the thick of the CBS-Time Warner fight, I received notices from AT&T that Uverse was now available in my neighborhood. This is something I've waited more than two years for. I was thrilled. Finally, there's choice! Since receiving my first notice from AT&T in early August, I've been inundated with AT&T offers. Dozens of pieces of mail have arrived in my mailbox. Clearly, AT&T wanted my business.
And I wanted badly to give it to them. I phoned one day after receiving my first notice. I signed up immediately for service. The friendly sales person told me because of high demand, she couldn't set an installation date for sooner than two weeks. Whatever. Fine. We agreed on August 19, somewhere between 9 and 11 a.m. I couldn't wait.
Only they didn't show. They cancelled. And they cancelled the next appointment and put him off time and time again. But now he has a date of when he will be able to take service ... and I'm not making this up. 12/31/2036.
Those familiar with AT&T's announcement in Austin may think that it will take 23 years to upgrade Dallas because the massive corporation is focusing so much attention on Austin where they are kind of promising a gig.
Karl Bode has long been covering what he calls Fiber to the Press Release from AT&T.
The company has made it repeatedly clear that...
Bandwidth Caps are Unnecessary and Counterproductive
Posted January 18, 2013 by lgonzalez
The Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation has released a report on data caps in the U.S. The report, Capping the Nation's Broadband Future, was authored by Hibah Hussain, Danielle Kehl, Benjamin Lennett, and Patrick Lucey.
The paper looks at the growing prevalence of monthly data caps by massive ISPs like Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and others. Authors conclude that data caps are effectively discouraging Internet usage with restrictions and limits that can be expensive. From the summary:
As this paper documents, data caps, especially on wireline networks, are hardly a necessity. Rather, they are motivated by a desire to further increase revenues from existing subscribers and protect legacy services such as cable television from competing Internet services. Although traffic on U.S. broadband networks is increasing at a steady rate, the costs to provide broadband service are also declining, including the cost of Internet connectivity or IP transit as well as equipment and other operational costs. The result is that broadband is an incredibly profitable business, particularly for cable ISPs. Tiered pricing and data caps have also become a cash cow for the two largest mobile providers, Verizon and AT&T, who already were making impressive margins on their mobile data service before abandoning unlimited plans.
The increasing prevalence of data caps both on the nation's wireline and mobile networks underscore a critical need for policymakers to implement reforms to promote competition in the broadband marketplace. Data caps may offer an effective means for incumbents to generate more revenue from subscribers and satisfy investors, but making bandwidth an unnecessarily scarce commodity is bad for consumers and innovation. The future is not just about streaming movies or TV shows but also access to online education or telehealth services that are just starting to take off. Capping their future may mean capping the nation's future as well.
The paper also looks at the technical challenges of capping data usage. Additionally, the authors delve into the many ways data caps are turned into...
AT&T, Others Overcharge Subscribers Based on Secret Bandwidth Meters
Posted December 17, 2012 by lgonzalez
Imagine going to a gas station, putting 10 gallons into your car's 12 gallon tank, and driving off only to find your needle only approaches half a tank? This scenario is quite rare because government inspects gas stations to ensure they are not lying about how much gasoline they dispense.
But when it comes to the Internet, we have found measurements of how much data one uses is unregulated, providing no check on massive companies like AT&T and Time Warner Cable. And we are seeing the results -- AT&T is not open about what its limits are or how to tell when one has exceeded them.
Stop The Cap has noted that AT&T has advertised unlimited bandwidth for its DSL/ U-verse product while chiding and charging customers who exceeded certain amounts of monthly usage. Customers were quietly warned and charged $10 for each additional 50 GB over 150 GB for DSL subscribers or 250 GB for U-verse customers. Clearly, "unlimited" has several definitions, depending on whether one is a customer or an ISP.
Complaints have also come in from SuddenLink customers and others. The ISP charged usage based customers for bandwidth usage when they didn't even have power. Simlarly, AT&T customers began to complain about inaccurate meters from the beginning of the program. This from a 2011 DSL Reports story - one of many comments from AT&T customers:
AT&T's data appears to be wholely corrupted. Some days, AT&T will under-report my data usage by as much as 91%. (They said I used 92 meg, my firewall says I used 1.1 Gigs.) Some days, AT&T will over-report my data usage by as much as 4700%. (They said I used 3.8 Gig, dd-wrt says I used 80 meg. And no, this day wasn't anywhere near the day they under-reported.)
Most of us don't keep track of our bandwidth usage, because there is no easy way to do it. For the most part, we have to take the word of our Internet service providers, but who is ensuring that they are accurate? Mismeasuring could be the result of incompetence or fraud, but the FCC has not stepped up to ensure consumers get...
Media Coverage Roundup: Georgia AT&T Bill to Kill Community Broadband
In the wake of a bill in Georgia to revoke local authority and substitute it with state say-so over whether a community can build a broadband network, multiple outlets have covered the situation.
As usual, Stop the Cap! was quick on the ball, offering original in-depth commentary. Phil digs into the campaign cash history to find the real motivations behind this bill:
Rogers' legislation is exceptionally friendly to the state's incumbent phone and cable companies, and they have returned the favor with a sudden interest in financing Rogers' 2012 re-election bid. In the last quarter alone, Georgia's largest cable and phone companies have sent some big thank-you checks to the senator's campaign:
Cable Television Association of Georgia ($500)
Verizon ($500)
Charter Communications ($500)
Comcast ($1,000)
AT&T ($1,500)
A review of the senator's earlier campaign contributions showed no interest among large telecommunications companies operating in Georgia. That all changed, however, when the senator announced he was getting into the community broadband over-regulation business.
Phil also refutes the supposed failures cited by those pushing the bill. Not only do such stories misrepresent what really happened, some actually cite EPB's incredible 1Gbps service as demonstrating that munis are out of touch. What else would you expect from the Heartland Institute, which made its name fighting against the radical claim that cigarettes are linked to cancer?
Government Technology's Brian Heaton also covered the story in "Georgia Community Broaband in Legislative Crosshairs."
In addition, Mitchell [me] said that SB 313's requirement of the public entity paying the same taxes or the same cost of capital as the private sector is another red herring. He said that while the provision looks reasonable on the surface, it would critically hamstring any effort to establish government-owned high-speed broadband services.
"That's like telling me I have to pay the same...
New Year, Same Lame Cable and DSL Monopolies
Posted January 3, 2012 by christopher
It's a new year, but most of us are still stuck with the same old DSL and cable monopolies. Though many communities have built their own networks to create competition and numerous other benefits, nearly half of the 50 states have enacted legislation to make it harder for communities to build their own networks.
Fortunately, this practice has increasingly come under scrutiny. Unfortunately, we expect to see massive cable and telephone corporations use their unrivaled lobbying power to pass more laws in 2012 like the North Carolina law pushed by Time Warner Cable to essentially stop new community broadband networks.
The FCC's National Broadband Plan calls for all local governments to be free of state barriers (created by big cable and phone companies trying to limit competition). Recommendation 8.19: Congress should make clear that Tribal, state, regional and local governments can build broadband networks.
But modern day railroad barons like Time Warner Cable, AT&T, etc., have a stranglehold on a Congress that depends on their campaign contributions and a national capital built on the lobbying largesse of dominant industries that want to throttle any threats to their businesses. (Hat tip to the Rootstrikers that are trying to fix that mess.)
We occasionally put together a list of notable achievements of these few companies that dominate access to the Internet across the United States. The last one is available here.
As you read this, remember that the FCC's National Broadband Plan largely places the future of Internet access in the hands of these corporations. On the few occasions the FCC tries to defend the public from their schemes to rip-off...
The successful history of rural electrification, as one example, is due in no small part to municipal electric cooperatives that lit up corners of this country where investor-owned utilities had little incentive to go. Those coops turned on the lights for a lot of people! You know, our country would be a lot better off if we would learn from our past rather than try to defy or deny it.


text:
EQAB
Too busy to blog?
Whatever I've been up to lately, it's clear I haven't been doing much blogging. So what have I been up to? Here's a partial list.
EQAB is about to finalize the first report on Oak Ridge's progress in implementing the climate action plan and meeting the greenhouse gas reduction goals that City Council adopted in 2009 and 2010. The city and the community are on track to meet the first greenhouse gas goals that we adopted for 2015. That's good news, but the goals for 2015 were modest ones — baby steps toward what needs to be done over the longer term.
I've been fretting about events surrounding the May 6 county primary election in Anderson County. The way things used to be, our local newspaper would publish profiles of the competing candidates in local elections — so voters could see a factual report on who was running (at a minimum, the paper would provide basic facts like name, address, age, and occupation). Apparently those days are over — it looks like our local newspaper is no longer attempting to provide election guides. (I hope I'm wrong on that — but since early voting is almost over, a guide published now would be almost too late.) It used to be that the League of Women Voters would hold campaign forums where people could hear all of the candidates in an impartial setting, but this year one of the county's political parties decided to schedule its own "forum" the same evening as the LWV's forum. It used to be that local candidates tried to deliver positive messages about themselves, rather than publishing attacks at their opponents, but this year we've even received attack ads from candidates for judgeships. All in all, I think it's harder than ever for voters to make good, informed decisions about the election.
And I joined a volunteer crew that pulled up garlic mustard in the greenbelt behind the Garden Apartments (now known as the Rolling Hills Apartments). Garlic mustard is an introduced plant from Europe that's an invasive weed in this area — it threatens to out-compete our woodland spring wildflowers. It's not common around this areas, but there's a population behind the Garden Apartments, in an area that has a pretty amazing collection of spring wildflowers. After several years of volunteer effort, we just might manage to eradicate this weed.
Climate Action Plan — it's time to comment
The Oak Ridge Environmental Quality Advisory Board's long-awaited Climate Action Plan is available in draft form for public review — download it here. The plan describes recommended measures for reducing energy consumption (and thus emissions of greenhouse gases) by city government and by the community at large. I missed last Tuesday's public meeting about it (I was out of town), but I'm definitely looking forward to hearing what people think of the recommendations. City Council is scheduled to receive the final plan in October.
I'll be interested in receiving people's comments, but people who want to affect the content of the final plan should send comments on the plan to Athanasia Senecal — her e-mail name is asenecal and the city e-mail domain is cortn.org.
The next phase of the Turnpike (Hwy 95) widening
People are griping (for example, on the new Sustain Oak Ridge Google group) about the Hwy 95 widening projects (the ongoing one from Illinois Ave. to Westover Drive and the next phase from Westover Drive to the Hwy 58 interchange). These are not City of Oak Ridge projects, but are Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) projects (when complaining about public issues, it's useful to know which unit of government you have an issue with), and it's clear that the city has little influence over the way TDOT designs and builds its road projects. However, there has been strong city support for completing both of these projects, as they have been on the books for a very long time and they will not only eliminate some hazards but will also result in extending new utility lines (such as water mains) to the west end of the city, including Rarity Oaks, K-25, and Rarity Ridge.
One thing I'm concerned right now is the design for the next phase. This is a high-priority "shovel-ready" economic stimulus project, based on TDOT design work that was completed 9 years ago, so work is slated to start soon. TDOT's design for this segment calls for a 48-foot wide median and a wide cleared right of way adjacent to both sides of the highway, and extensive cutting and filling to create an elevated roadway — think of an Interstate highway or the Pellissippi Parkway to imagine what is being planned. The grassed median alone will be wider than the entire current roadway. There will be no more trees to buffer between the Southwood subdivision and the highway or between the cleared properties in the Horizon Center and the highway (someone I know said "all trees that you can see from the road will be gone") and the brick entryway to the Westwood subdivision probably will be removed.
If people don't like this (or other details, such as the bike lane on the shoulder), public officials (both city and state) need to hear from you. They've heard from me asking for the design to be scaled back (apparently I was the only one to write a letter to TDOT after the public hearing on the design back in 2000, and I've communicated more recently to TDOT as a City Council member) and a few others, and the Oak Ridge Environmental Quality Advisory Board (EQAB) recommended that City Council encourage TDOT to change their design from a "rural" to an "urban" design, but it appears to me that we critics are not being taken seriously. If others agree with us, they need to speak up. (Opportunties to speak to Council include "appearance of citizens" at tonight's Council meeting at 7 pm and the City Council Night Out at the Civic Center Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 pm.)
Here is some "material" on the subject, starting with the "guts" of a message I sent to TDOT's regional manager in March of this year:
The principal concern that I have (and that I have heard from other residents) is that the overall width of the proposed design, including a 48-ft median and very wide clear zone on both sides of the travel surface, does not appear to be necessary (it greatly exceeds what exists on the higher-traffic segment of Hwy 58 west of the interchange) and will result in excessive environmental impacts, unnecessary construction and maintenance costs, and long-term detriment to efforts to maintain a "human-scale" community design that fosters pedestrian travel and community cohesion.
Environmental impact concerns include:
(1) loss of forest, riparian areas, and probably wetlands in the corridor
(2) noise impacts in residential areas adjacent to the corridor that are currently buffered from the roadway by vegetation that would be lost
(3) increased impacts to water quality and aquatic habitat in East Fork Poplar Creek due to reduction of vegetative buffer, loss of shade, and increased stormwater runoff
(4) possible impacts to flood storage and routing in East Fork Poplar Creek
(5) loss of aesthetic qualities.
From a cost perspective, I think it is clear that a wider swath increases the costs of both construction and ongoing maintenance. Reducing the width of this project to make it no wider than the segments immediately to the east and west (that is, the Hwy 95 segment currently under construction and the Hwy 58 segment from the Hwy 95 interchange west to the Clinch River) should free up some funds for other uses, both now and in the future.
There has also been community concern about potential impacts to the "checking station" structures (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) on either side of the roadway west of Westover Lane and to the nearby cemetery, but I understand that these features would be protected under TDOT's design. Additionally, I told you that residents of the Westwood subdivision (entered at Wisconsin Avenue) are concerned that the project would require removal of the brick "gate" structures at the entrance to the subdivision, and you explained that this is unavoidable.
I recognize that funding priority for this project depends on the availability of an existing design, but I also know that even a "final" design often requires many changes, and that it is far less costly and time consuming to change an engineering design than it is to modify a road once it has been built. I believe that the requested modifications to reduce overall project width could be made within the context of the overall design (and thus without jeopardizing the overall project package). Additionally, I find it frustrating that I and other citizens registered these same concerns (orally and in writing) when a public meeting was held on this project about 8 years ago, but we did not receive responses to our expressions of concern — and the design remained essentially unchanged. I hope that changes can be made now to improve this project while reducing its costs.
* Here's the text of TDOT's April 8th reply to me:
I forwarded your e-mail to the Department's Headquarter Design Office for assistance in addressing your concerns regarding the improvement of State Route 95 from State Route 58 to near Westover Drive in Oak Ridge.
As you are aware, a corridor and design public hearing was conducted on September 21, 2000. A review of the public hearing comments was made on December 27, 2000. Information based on the transcript reveals the hearing was attending by twenty-one people with six people making comments to the court reporter, two making written comments and one letter. You provided the letter and a comment to the court reporter.
The project has an approved environmental document. The project is designed in accordance with the Department's standards and guidelines for a four lane divided facility using the typical sections as proposed in the approved Advance Planning Report. Comments from the public hearing and local government official regarding the addition of bicycle lanes and turn lanes have been incorporated into the present design. The facility will provide a bicycle lane on the roadway shoulders in each direction.
The typical section utilizing the 48 foot median is the normal typical used for a four lane divided facility. The 48 foot median is provided to allow for separation of opposing vehicles and allows sufficient area at median openings for safe vehicle storage making left turns and u-turns. The clear zone for this roadway is normal for this type of facility and utilizes the roadway shoulder for bicycle lanes. The roadway ditch provides for drainage.
The section of State Route 95 from Westover Drive to State Route 62 was designed with a narrower typical section because the area was established more urban and densely developed. The design also avoids the historic guard towers "checking stations" located near Westover Drive.
The Department strives to meet local concerns in the design of roadway projects while following the standards and guidelines established for safety of the motoring public. As the project progresses into the construction phase, opportunities to
improve safety and enhance aesthetics will always be considered.
* I don't have an electronic copy of EQAB's final letter to the City Council, but this draft is pretty close to what the board sent:
EQAB has recently learned that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will provide funds for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to begin construction of Phase 2 of the State Route 95 Highway Improvement Project. As you may know Phase 2 covers the area from the West Guard Tower near Westover Drive to the SR 95/58 interchange. Members of EQAB reviewed the plans for this project. As a result of our review we would like to share some observations and concerns about this project.
The design for Phase 2 is based on a standard TDOT rural section design. As proposed it will have a cross section similar to an interstate-class highway with two traffic lanes in each direction, wide shoulders to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians, and a 48-foot depressed median for drainage. This design will result in clearing as much as 250-350 feet of right-of-way prior to construction. We are concerned that this construction will result in the destruction of a large area of natural habitat . At a time when City Council has tasked EQAB with developing a sustainability plan to reduce the city's carbon footprint and help Oak Ridge become more environmentally friendly, construction of such a roadway is viewed by our board to be wasteful of natural resources and does not set a very good example of our commitment to a more sustainable future. The cost of such the proposed Phase 2 project is also wasteful of monetary resources at a time when these resources are becoming far more scarce. One reason we believe Phase 2 is wasteful is that Phases 1 and 3, which Phase 2 is sandwiched between, are both significantly more narrow urban sections. A rural section situated between two urban sections has limited benefit to the overall traffic flow patterns in this area.
Between 30-90 additional acres of forest would be needlessly razed to accommodate the rural highway section versus the urban section. At ~$30K per acre for unimproved buildable land in the West End, the value of this lost land, assuming the area abutting the highway does become completely residential, would be between $1 million and $3 million. This would be an absolute loss, since the commercial value of a deep median is essentially zero. If some of the land along the highway became light commercial instead of residential, the lost value could exceed $6 million.
The carbon sequestration value of the lost standing timber would be roughly $120-360K.
The broad shoulders and deep median buy us absolutely nothing, cost the City quite a bit in lost land etc., and cost the State quite a bit more in construction expense as well.
The members of EQAB are of the opinion that the Phase 2 design is incompatible with the City's land use plans for the west end of Oak Ridge. With the development of Rarity Oaks and Horizon Center this area will not remain rural for very much longer. The build out of Rarity Oaks will ultimately make much of the area adjacent to the south side of the right-of-way residential. Similarly, the planned development at Horizon Center and Parcel ED-6 will bring a mix of commercial, industrial, and various density residential developments to the northern areas. We believe consideration of these factors necessitates an urban design to ensure compatibility with the future use of this area. An urban design would also be more compatible with non-motorized human users (i.e., bicyclists and pedestrians).
The original public meeting for the Phase 2 project was held almost nine years ago in September 2000. A lot of things have changed in the intervening years; unfortunately the design for Phase 2 has not been altered to account for or safely accommodate these changes.
Although we realize this project is being pursued on an accelerated schedule required by the ARRA to secure funding, we believe these concerns warrant a reexamination of the application of a standard design that since it's first proposal has been superceded by changing conditions on the west end of town. The members of EQAB believe it would be to the benefit of the city, its residents, and future growth to explore the possibility of altering the proposed design to the proven, existing urban design that is more compatible with current conditions in the city.
To accept this project because the money is there to buy an elephant when we only need a horse will not help our community's effort to establish itself as a sustainable community.
The Community Forum for Shaping a Green Future – Part 2
The process used at the Saturday forum was based on the process followed to elicit community input to Chattanooga's climate action plan, which had been published two days before the Oak Ridge forum. Jim Frierson of the Chattanooga Green Team spoke at the forum regarding Chattanooga's experience, helping to set the stage for our discussions.
The heart of the forum was a set of six facilitated discussion groups focused on six different general topics. Attendees spent 15 minutes in each topical area, sharing their ideas on things that Oak Ridge possibly could do to reduce energy use or otherwise promote sustainability. Volunteers from the community served as facilitators, and ideas were recorded by EQAB members who volunteered to be scribes. It was clear that the interactions between people stimulated a lot of good thinking. Within about 2 hours, each topical area had a list of roughly 100 ideas. There was minimal discussion of the ideas — the purpose was to generate ideas, not to evaluate them. Evaluation (for example, of cost, feasibility, and potential reduction on greenhouse gas emissions) will come later.
After the small-group sessions, participants were asked to go around the room and give votes (in the form of stickers) to their favorite ideas. Because each person had only two votes and little time to scan the lists, I don't think this part worked very well — there were far too many ideas for most people to be able to make a meaningful choice of just two "best" ones.
I heard a lot of positive feedback about the process. People enjoyed meeting and interacting with their fellow citizens — this was not a crowd in which everyone already knew everyone else, so people were seeing new faces and hearing new perspectives. I think people particularly appreciated that the request for their opinions was essentially open-ended, rather than being framed in a way that narrows the range of "acceptable" answers (and may not allow citizens to say what they really think). Several people said that this type of format should be used for other City efforts to involve the public in decision-making — such as planning for the Melton Lake waterfront and marina area.
People have been asking me about what ideas that were generated, and which were the most popular. I can't answer those questions very well yet. The volunteer scribes are not finished typing up the lists of ideas they recorded. Here's a sample of some of the ideas (and themes of groups of more specific ideas) that I recall:
* Give residents incentives or financial assistance to make their homes more energy efficient
* Provide public transit
* Make the city more bike-friendly and more pedestrian-friendly
* Encourage LEED certification for new development
* "Make lawns unfashionable"
* Restrict tree-cutting in new developments
* Hire a city urban forester
* Convert city vehicles to alternative fuels
* Promote the farmer's market
* Reduce vehicle idling by modifying intersections to reduce waiting time
* Put photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of schools and city buildings
All of the ideas need to be reported publicly soon, and there will be more opportunities for public input — as well as evaluating ideas to find the ones that make the most sense practically, economically, and to achieve environmental goals.
By most measures, Saturday's forum "Greening Oak Ridge: A Community Forum for Shaping a Green Future" was a smashing success. There were about 100 people there, with a diverse variety of perspectives, and those people seemed to be thoroughly engaged in generating ideas about what Oak Ridge needs to do to make Oak Ridge a sustainable community for future generations.
Sustainability is often about the environment, but more broadly it means "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This is no small challenge. The global financial collapse unfortunately means that we are now depending on those future generations to rescue our present economy. This forum was focused, however, on an environment-related sustainability challenge: sustaining the future environment and the future economy in the face of the impacts of the continuing buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — and taking action toward stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations and the climate.
On Friday, I heard the news that a group of 26 big companies and several environmental organizations calling themselves the U.S. Climate Action Partnership had declared their support for reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050. That's a frighteningly ambitious goal facing us, our children, and our children's children. It's even more frightening to realize that climate experts say that the goal of 80 percent reduction from 2005 to 2050 is not nearly ambitious enough.
In May of last year, the City Council passed a resolution committing Oak Ridge to take action to address greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions, and to take a leadership role in addressing of climate change as an issue. The Environmental Quality Advisory Board was charged with advising the City in the development and implementation of milestones to accomplish these objectives.
As a first step in reducing Oak Ridge's impact on the global atmosphere, EQAB needed to figure out how big that impact is and what we do that produces that impact. At the forum, Athanasia Senecal (photo), a UT intern working with the City, told about the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from City government and from the community as a whole. The biggest source of City government emissions is (surprisingly) the water and wastewater sector — mostly pumping water uphill in our beautiful but hilly terrain. City government emissions are, however, only about 1 percent of the community total.
To help define actions for the community to take, part of EQAB's task is to make recommendations on city actions and policies to help ensure sustainability in the coming years and decades.
Saturday's forum was held to gather input and ideas to feed into those policy recommendations. Participants were asked questions like:
* What steps do you think Oak Ridge should take to become a greener community?
* What should the city do to reduce our carbon footprint and build environmental sustainability into our infrastructure?
[To be continued]


Georgia Power is the statewide utility that serves 2.35 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. If you live in Georgia, chances are, your home is located in Georgia Power's service area and you may be eligible for generous rebates for a replacement windows project. These rebates are valid through the end of 2011 and are subject to change and/or limitations.
Georgia Power offers two sets of rebates for homeowners: "Whole-House" and "individual improvements." Replacement windows rebates fall under the "whole house" program. This means that a qualified contractor will conduct an assessment of your home and provide a "whole" picture of recommended energy-efficiency improvements.
For the "Whole-House" program, a home assessment must be performed by a contractor approved by Georgia Power. (The contractor will charge a fee for the assessment, but this also is eligible for a rebate of up to $200, or 50% of the assessment cost).
Rebate eligibility for improvements depends on assessment results.
All reimbursement forms must be signed, submitted and reviewed before rebate is paid.
A nice bonus of the "Whole-House" program is that it gives you the flexibility to decide if you want the same contractor to perform the energy assessment and the recommended improvements, or if you want different contractors for these two tasks. The choice is totally up to you.
Remember that if you live in Atlanta, Georgia Power's rebates are in addition to the thousands of dollars you can save through the SHINE program! Funding for the Georgia Power rebate program for replacement windows ends in a few short months, so be sure to fill out our Request a Quote form today to have a licensed contractor in Georgia give you a free estimate.


Rome, March 25 - The Italian foreign ministry on Monday voiced its firm condemnation of the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory. In reiterating Israel's right to self-defence, the ministry renewed an appeal to all sides to avert an escalation. Israel's military said it has started striking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after a rocket hit a house in central Israel earlier in the day, wounding seven people.


"A racing game crossed with an RPG!"
Desert Child is a racing and kind of life simulation where nothing is free and you will need to make sure there is cash in your pocket to keep yourself from going hungry by buying Ramen noodles and also to do repairs to your hover bike to keep it in racing condition. You start off with a very small amount of money so you might also find that you need to go to the pawn shop and sell some of your ammo so you can at least afford to eat and therefore race.
The racing itself is fun although the graphics are in a very low poly style and one small qualm is having alt as the boost button being right next to the windows key you may find yourself accidentally returning to the home screen when you're trying to gain a lead in the race which can be slightly frustrating but that aside this is a unique game that's not just about the high octane racing but also trying to survive life outside of the race courses.
Desert Child features races on deserts and water among other places and a very cool and fitting soundtrack makes the backdrop to what is a very original and fun game. The game is still in development so it's likely further improvements will be made.
You can download Desert Child here for free.


EZ PoP up Counter is a portable podium,ideal for events and trade show. Great for companies looking for a practical counter, that can also be used as a highly visible branding tool with a solid and strong tabletop. The mini PoP up Counter is easy and quick to assemble. The lightweight is around 7kg, and easy to carry on with a lovely bag.
The completed counter size is 600L x 360W x 780H (mm).