text:
Hala Khalaf
Author and entrepreneur Miki Agrawal on building her empire
'I wrote Disrupt-Her because I am in the business of disrupting categories and societal preconceptions using products,' she says
Miki Agrawal is the author of 'Disrupt-Her'. Antonie Robertson / The National
Typically, when you're asked to think of three words to describe yourself or even someone else, you hem and haw for ages, or are not quite sure what to say. But after just a few minutes in Miki Agrawal's company, describing her is a no-brainer: Agrawal is at once approachable, passionate and a disrupter.
In fact, that last quality is so ingrained in her that she's written a new book – her second – detailing exactly how to think like a disrupter. Disrupt-Her: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman will be released on January 29, and marks a significant departure from Agrawal's business manifesto, 2013's guide to quitting your day job, starting your own business and living happily ever after, and her well-earned reputation as a serial entrepreneur.
"I wrote Disrupt-Her because I am in the business of disrupting categories and societal preconceptions using products," says the 39-year-old, during a visit to Dubai last week, where she was invited by the UAE chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization to present a seminar on disruptive innovation and fearlessness in entrepreneurship.
"In my experience, I faced so much pushback from society, [with many] calling me uncouth, saying I'm trying to get attention. But, no. What I do is, I see a problem that doesn't make sense and I see an opportunity to make it better. So I took a step back, looked at society as a whole and pinpointed areas in a woman's – or really, a human's – life, where we are told what to believe, such that it becomes a common belief shared among everyone and is considered the truth, but isn't necessarily so. And then I disrupt them one by one."
'You can't prevent progress, it will always happen'
It's an approach Agrawal – a Cornell University graduate of Indian and Japanese parentage, and Canadian upbringing who calls New York home – is well versed in. She has founded four successful social enterprises based on unique inventions that she dreamt up herself. Wild is her New York-based foray into creating a gluten- and hormone-free, sustainable pizza chain, back when the words "healthy" and "pizza" didn't exist in the same sentence.
Following that, she created Thinx, microfibre underwear that wicks away moisture, making it leakproof and stain-proof, for women to wear during their menstrual cycle. From there, she created Icon underwear, for women who had light bladder leakage and needed leakproof garments instead of the only existing option of adult diapers. Her latest venture is Tushy, an affordable cleansing device that can be installed on any toilet or latrine to instantly turn it into a bidet that can help you wash effectively – and hygienically – after using the bathroom.
She is also the inventor of Tushy, a cleansing device. Courtesy Miki Agrawal
"A disruptive innovation is one that creates a new market, which eventually overtakes an existing market," explains Agrawal, citing a number of examples: the creation of the Model T replaced the horse and buggy market; Uber and Airbnb disrupted the ways taxis and hotels operate; the invention of anaesthesia resulted in a completely different experience when it came to surgeries; and the Toms shoes model, of giving one free pair of shoes for every pair bought, was a controversial approach that changed the way start-ups and businesses think. "You can't prevent progress, it will always happen," she adds. "Today, 88 per cent of Fortune 500 companies that existed in 1955 are gone, because they did not innovate fast enough and they became obsolete."
'We can do better'
When Agrawal decided to become disruptive in business, she saw opportunities in objects and approaches that were hitherto considered taboo by many. "My products deal with areas in people's lives that make them cringe – the unmentionables. I feel that rather than disrupting something through advocacy, a product or business can do it."
Agrawal's method is not only about creating the product and making a successful business out of it, but also about bringing about social change or even global salvation. With Thinx, for example, she adopted a buy-one, fund-one model. For every pair of undergarment sold, Thinx donates money to an organisation in Uganda that creates washable menstrual pads to help provide feminine-hygiene products for women who cannot afford it.
Icon donates money to the Fistula Foundation, a non-profit that treats obstetric fistula, a preventable childbirth injury that devastates the lives of many mothers in Africa and Asia, who would otherwise be sent to fistula camps, described as "modern-day leprosy camps". The donations from Icon go towards funding repair surgeries for a condition that can be fixed, giving these women their lives back.
Tushy was Agrawal's answer to what she calls social conditioning, brainwashing and blind indoctrination. "We have been led to believe that toilet paper cleans us. It's crazy. You wouldn't shower without using fresh water and consider yourself clean just by wiping your body with dry toilet paper." Never mind, she adds, how much toilet paper – a US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) industry in the United States alone – harms the environment. Global toilet-paper production consumes 27,000 trees daily. "Indoctrination is so powerful and what we have been led to believe is the truth is not actually so. We can do better," insists Agrawal.
Writing Disrupt-Her was the next logical step. In it, Agrawal describes and then disrupts 13 areas of life where we are told how to act, think or behave. She considers the historical context to try and understand where these mandates originate from, and then goes on to show how they are inaccurate or misconstrued.
One such example is the belief that growing up means getting serious and letting go of our childlike state of curiosity, playfulness and any type of awe. "You can be all those things and still be a responsible adult. As we age, society values productivity more than play, but they are equally important," maintains Agrawal. Another common belief that she dissects is the idea that more stuff equates a better life. "The bigger house, the bigger car, more shoes, more clothes, a bigger ring; we're often told that's what we should aim for. But the disruption is creating a better life by practising addition through subtraction, so you are left with what's important."
A post shared by mikiagrawal (@mikiagrawal) on Oct 20, 2018 at 10:26pm PDT
After the birth of her son, Hiro, last year, the entrepreneur wanted her next invention to take into account children's safety. "My next business is to create a clothing brand called Samurai. It's protective clothing that has built-in technology to allow harmful radiation waves to bounce off it, so that you and your children are safe," she explains. The idea came to her when she noticed new towers being built every two blocks in New York, in response to the 5G network growth.
"The trick for me is taking risks and not taking myself too seriously," concludes Agrawal. "I just want to continue to bring value to the world."
A neat idea: Asos is using scrap fabric to help keep Kenyan girls in school
Sensewear: clothing designed to help sufferers of Sensory Processing Disorders
How to avoid illness on airplanes
Updated: December 10, 2018 06:33 PM
Julian Assange meddled with US election from Ecuadorian embassy, report says
Etihad puts Man City's Asia tour back on track with China flight
May hosts World Cup champions England team at 10 Downing Street
Sheikh Mohamed receives a symbol of Sheikh Zayed's legacy from Yemeni official
First Emirati astronaut hopes to inspire young Arabs
UAE will 'learn from setbacks in space missions'
Van Aert wins Stage 10 of Tour de France as Ineos gain on rivals
Boxing hero 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker dies in accident


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UK Coastguard (Solent) paged the volunteer crew at 11.58 p.m. on Wednesday 2nd August. They requested that the all-weather Lifeboat (ALB) be launched to assist the 32-foot yacht, 'Eliane', with one male aboard.
The skipper of the 'Eliane' had contacted the Coastguard by mobile phone reporting that he was unable to sail due to a problem on board, and his engine had failed. He gave his position putting him seven miles east of the station, approximately four miles south of Bognor Regis.
The Shannon class Lifeboat, 'Denise and Eric' launched at 12.20 a.m. and made best speed to the given position but had no contacts on radar or a good signal from the handheld radio the skipper had. The weather on scene was wind south west force 6-7, sea state rough in showers. After contacting the man on his handheld radio and using DF, direction finding, radio his position was believed to be considerably closer to the west end of Bognor Regis.
This position put the yacht very close to the Bognor rocks so the Lifeboat changed course. When in the vicinity of the rocks contact was made with the 'Eliane' at 12.45 a.m. when he stated that he had hit the rocks. With the tide ebbing and the yacht being pushed towards the shoreline the Selsey Lifeboat requested the immediate launch of the RNLI Littlehampton Lifeboat, a smaller craft, to attempt to pass a line to the yacht.
The Littlehampton lifeboat arrived on scene at 1.37 a.m. but by that time the yacht had reported that he was almost on the beach and this was confirmed by the Littlehampton Coastguard team on the beach. At this time the Selsey Coastguard team were requested to attend to assist with a technical water rescue of the man on the yacht.
The man was rescued from the 'Eliane' at 1.45 a.m. and checked by the ambulance crew before being taken to St Richard's Hospital. The Littlehampton Lifeboat was released at 2.10 a.m. to return to station. The Coastguard teams were going to kedge an anchor out from the yacht to try and hold it to the sea when the tide started flooding. Selsey Lifeboat remained on scene until 2.50 a.m. when they were released to return to station. At 3.15 a.m. the Lifeboat arrived back at Selsey, was rehoused straight away, washed down, refuelled and ready for service by 4.15 a.m.
CREW: Rob Archibald (Coxswain), Dave Lamdin (2nd Coxswain), Geoff Mellett (Mechanic), James Albrey, Kristina Dolan and Harry Emmence.


The foundation of an organization arguably starts at the top. It's how the Golden State Warriors began their dynasty and in typical fashion, it's how fellow NBA teams have started restructuring in order to topple the champions.
The Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to follow suit, hiring a strong front-office presence then bringing in a head coach, but don't seem to be going that route.
Less than 10 days ago, Magic Johnson shocked the sports world, and Lakers brass, by abruptly stepping down as the Lakers' president of basketball operations. Days afterward, in the expected leadership shift, the Lakers "mutually agreed to part ways" with head coach Luke Walton after three years and a combined 98-148 record.
Despite an opportunity to hire a president of basketball operations first, then go after a coach to work underneath second, the Lakers seem to be looking for a coach first.
The move is shocking given how other teams have approached restructuring in recent years, but a relief to those thinking about doing the same now or not wanting to watch the Lakers build up too quickly with a smart front-office hire, a strong coach and one of the greatest players of all time, LeBron James.
And many are opposed to the idea that giving general manager Rob Pelinka more power is a good idea. The dysfunctional Lakers, who also canned their athletic trainer after an injury fest of a season, and their decision to have Pelinka lead the coaching search shows they're deciding not to begin anew.
Multiple people have turned down a position with the Lakers so far, including Myers. The Warriors general manager laughed off the idea with lunch jokes over the weekend.
He joined Miami Heat president Pat Riley, who put himself in the no column the day prior. He played for the Lakers, served as an assistant coach and won four NBA titles with the team during his nine-year head coaching tenure. Riley told The Athletic he's "sure [the Lakers] will work it out" but he wants to finish his career in Miami.
The Lakers will reportedly interview Philadelphia 76ers assistant Monty Williams, former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue and Miami Heat assistant Juwan Howard. The "buzz," Stein reports, is that Williams has a better shot since some with the Lakers fear a Lue-LeBron pairing would cede the superstar too much control.
Lue and James won one title together with the Cavaliers in three trips to the Finals. The 2016 championship was the franchise's first. The Cavaliers fired Lue shortly into the 2018-2019 season, with James already in L.A.


A beautifully packaged, idiosyncratic introduction to British building styles, by the acclaimed illustrator and architectural enthusiast Matthew Rice.
RICE'S ARCHITECTURAL PRIMER covers the grammar and vocabulary of British buildings, explaining the evolution of styles from Norman castles to Norman Foster. Its aim is to enable the reader to recognize, understand and date any British building.


text:
import * as fs from "fs";
import * as path from "path";
import * as rimraf from "rimraf";

import { IHookHandler } from "df/testing";

// TmpDirFixture can be used to create unique temporary directories which will be cleaned up
// at the end of a test run. Intended for use within bazel tests.
export class TmpDirFixture {
  private static dirCounter = 0;

  private tmpDirPaths: Set<string>;

  constructor(tearDown: IHookHandler) {
    this.tmpDirPaths = new Set<string>();
    tearDown("delete tmp directories", () => this.rmTmpDirs());
  }

  public createNewTmpDir() {
    // TEST_TMPDIR is set by bazel.
    const tmpDirPath = path.resolve(
      path.join(process.env.TEST_TMPDIR, `tmp_dir_${TmpDirFixture.dirCounter++}`)
    );
    // tslint:disable-next-line: tsr-detect-non-literal-fs-filename
    fs.mkdirSync(tmpDirPath);
    this.tmpDirPaths.add(tmpDirPath);
    return tmpDirPath;
  }

  private rmTmpDirs() {
    for (const tmpPath of this.tmpDirPaths) {
      rimraf.sync(tmpPath);
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
DID HUMANS WALK WITH DINOSAURS? NEW DISCOVERY SHOWS OUR SPECIES OLDER THAN PRESUMED.
THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY TELLS US THAT THE HUMAN SPECIES WAS CREATING TOOLS AT LEAST ONE MILLION YEARS EARLIER THAN WE THOUGHT.
THAT SCIENTISTS REFUSE TO CALL OUR ANCESTORS HUMANS IS ALWAYS INTERESTING.
THE TERM THEY USE IS "HOMINID" OR "HOMININ".
[NOTE, DEFINITIONS:
Hominid – the group consisting of all modern and extinct Great Apes (that is, modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans plus all their immediate ancestors).
Hominin – the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors (including members of the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Ardipithecus).]
FOR THOSE OF US WHO CONSIDER TIME TO BE "RELATIVE", A MERE THOUGHT UNIQUE TO OUR SPECIES, OR WHOSE INDIGENOUS ANCESTRY BELIEVED THAT HUMANS WERE PLACED ON THE EARTH SOON AFTER IT WAS FORMED, THIS NEWS IS NOT NEWS, BUT AN AFFIRMATION.
FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE WELL AWARE OF THE FALLACIES AND FAILURES OF RADIOCARBON AND OTHER DATING PROCESSES, WE CAN ONLY CELEBRATE THAT, SLOWLY, MAN IS BEING SEEN AS A CREATURE WHO HAS EXISTED SINCE TIME BEGAN.
IN THE NEWS TODAY, FROM A LEAKEY FOLLOW-UP TEAM IN AFRICA (A STONY BROOK TEAM),ON THE DISCOVERY OF 3.3 MILLION-YEAR-OLD TOOLS:
"Of course, the most intriguing question is whether even older stone tools remain to be discovered.
We have no doubt that these aren't the very first tools that hominins made.
The Lomekwi tools show that the knappers already had an understanding of how stones can be intentionally broken—beyond what the first hominin who accidentally hit two stones together and produced a sharp flake would have had. We think there are older, even more primitive artifacts out there, and we're headed back out into the badlands of northern Kenya to look for them."
IF MAINSTREAM SCIENCE AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA COULD JUST COME CLEAN ABOUT THIS ISSUE, WE'D SOON SEE HOW VERY OLD WE HUMAN BEINGS ARE, AS A SPECIES.
YES, OUR ANCESTORS DID INDEED 'WALK WITH DINOSAURS', AND WERE FAR MORE 'ADVANCED' SINCE EVEN ANCIENT TIMES THAN WE'RE ALLOWED TO BELIEVE TODAY.
AS EVIDENCE GATHERS TO REFUTE THE CLAIMS OF THE OLD SCHOOL SCIENTISTS, OUR STUBBORN "EXPERTS", WE WILL PERHAPS BE ABLE TO FINALLY COME TO TERMS WITH HOW THESE MANY MILLIONS OF YEARS WAS MERELY YESTERDAY, AND THAT MANKIND SAW ALL CREATURES COME AND GO BEFORE HIS ASTONISHED EYES.
ONE SCIENTIFIC STUDY PUTS THE NAME ADAM ON THE FIRST KNOWN HUMAN, AND GIVES HIM A BIRTHDATE OF 209,000 YEARS AGO, SAME AS 'EVE'.
"The team dated 'Adam' using existing genetic data. To calculate the age of the Y chromosome they multiplied data on the average age that fathers have their first child with the number of mutations of they uncovered.
They then divided this figure by the mutation rate of the Y chromosome – or how many years it took on average for the mutation to appear.
'Of course, we can manipulate each one of these variables to make a finding look younger or older,' Dr Elhaik told MailOnline.
'In our paper, we showed the previous study manipulated all these variable to predate the Y chromosome.'
'We can say with some certainty that modern humans emerged in Africa a little over 200,000 years ago,' he added.
'It is obvious that modern humans did not interbreed with hominins living over 500,000 years ago. It is also clear that there was no single "Adam" and "Eve" but rather groups of "Adams" and "Eves" living side by side and wandering together in our world.' "
SINCE NO ONE, AS IN NOT A ONE, WHO GUESSES AT (ESTIMATES) THE AGE OF "MODERN MAN" WAS ACTUALLY ALIVE BACK THEN, NOBODY KNOWS FOR CERTAIN, DO THEY?
CAN THEY?
WE HAVE NO VIDEOS, NOT EVEN A TAPE RECORDING BY OR A JOURNAL THAT WAS WRITTEN BY "FIRST MAN" OR "FIRST WOMAN".
WE HAVE TO FACE IT...WE JUST DON'T KNOW.
SO, WHICH "EXPERTS" WILL WE BELIEVE?
WHICH ILLUSTRIOUS, LEARNED MEN OF SCIENCE KNOW WHEN MAN ARRIVED HERE?
WHICH ONES CAN PROVE BEYOND ALL DOUBT THAT THEIRS IS THE CORRECT GUESS?
LET'S LOOK AT HOW GUESSES FAIL.
FAILURE OF RADIOCARBON DATING
"Carbon 14 is a radioactive element with a half-life of 5730 years. This means that half of the carbon 14 will decay in 5730 years. By 50,000 years, it will be almost completely gone, as shown in this diagram by Thomas Higham. 2
The red line shows how much carbon 14 will be in a sample, starting at 100% zero years ago, decaying to 0% after 50,000 years before the present (50 K years BP)."
Since all the carbon 14 is gone in 50 thousand years, it certainly can't be used by evolutionists to prove that dinosaurs lived 50 million years ago.
There would not be any carbon 14 left in the sample to measure.
That's why knowledgeable evolutionists never claim that carbon 14 is used to prove that dinosaurs lived 50 million years ago.
But our high schools are apparently filled with kids who have been told by their science teachers that carbon dating proves dinosaurs are millions of years old.
FALLACY!
Here's what they didn't teach you in high school.
In order to compute the carbon age date, you need to compare the amount of carbon 14 in the specimen with the amount of carbon 14 it had to begin with, and you don't know how much carbon 14 it had to begin with.
You can make a pretty good guess, and that's where the correction factors come in.
The simplest guess is that the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 is the same today as it was thousands of years ago.
We know that isn't the case.
The carbon ratio is very easily upset by a variety of factors.
Pearson (1979:21) has suggested:
"Those involved in radiocarbon dating should be alert to the various possible sources of error and recognize that the precision quoted on a date may be quite unrealistic if the error sources have not been investigated in detail".
[SEE: Gordon Pearson. 1979. "Precise 14C Measurement by LS Counting". Radiocarbon 21(1):1-22.]
"What would happen if a dinosaur bone were carbon dated?
At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Scientists dated dinosaur bones using the Carbon dating method.
The age they came back with was only a few thousand years old.
This date did not fit the preconceived notion that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. So what did they do?
They threw the results out.
And kept their theory that dinosaurs lived "millions of years ago" instead.
There is also documentation of an Allosaurus bone that was sent to the University of Arizona to be carbon dated.
This test was done on August 10, 1990.
The results were 9,890 +/- 60 years and 16, 120 +/- 220 years.
No one told them that the bones they were dating were dinosaur bones.
The result was sample B at 16, 120 years.
The Allosaurus dinosaur was supposed to be around 140,000,000 years. The samples of bone were blind samples."
Willard Libby (December 17, 1908 – September 8, 1980) and his colleagues discovered the technique of radiocarbon dating in 1949.
Libbey knew that atmospheric carbon would reach equilibrium in 30,000 years.
Because he assumed that the earth was millions of years old, he believed it was already at equilibrium.
However each time they test it, they find MORE c14 in the atmosphere, and have realized that we are only 1/3 the way to equilibrium.
It means that based on c14 formation, the earth has to be less than 1/3 of 30,000 years old.
This would make the earth less than 10,000 years old!
WELL, IT'S LITTLE WONDER THEN THAT EVEN EVOLUTIONISTS ARE HAPPY TO REPORT THAT CARBON 14 DATING IS NOT RELIABLE ENOUGH.
THEY CAN CLAIM THAT THEIR DATING DINOSAUR BONES TO A FEW THOUSAND YEARS AGO WAS "FLAWED" AND MANIPULATE THE DATA (AND THE TRUTH) BY OTHER MEANS.
Both creationist and evolutionist have taken the one material that cannot be accused of being contaminated and have used supposedly 500 million year to 3 billion year old diamonds to see if there is any carbon 14 in them.
Anything that old should not have even one atom of carbon 14.
Yet both sides get the same result and that is that 100 million year old diamonds do have carbon 14 in them.
This is a serious problem.
FAILURE OF OTHER DATING METHODS
Other radioactive dating techniques (potassium-argon, rubidium-strontium, uranium-lead, etc.) can't be calibrated against historical data because their half-lives are so long that the theoretical line would go from 100% at 0 years ago to 99.9999% (or something very close to 100%) at 5,000 years ago.
In other words, in a mere 5,000 years, there isn't time for any significant amount of the radioactive material to decay, so one can't verify that the expected amount has decayed.
AS I REPORTED BEFORE, THAT OLD THEORY OF EVOLUTION IS FALLING, CRUMBLING MORE EACH DAY.
IN THIS CURRENT TOPIC, SCIENCE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF ANCIENT ART WHICH DEPICTS DINOSAURS QUITE CLEARLY.
FROM CHINA AND INDIA TO SOUTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS TRIBES AND NORTH AMERICAN TRIBES, DINOSAURS HAVE BEEN DEPICTED, WITH AND WITHOUT HUMANS RIDING THEM OR USING THEM AS DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
Top left: Relief carving at Angkor Wat, Cambodia (1186 AD). Top Right: Textile from Nazca, Peru (700 AD). Bottom: Tapestry in the Chateau de Blois (1500 AD)
GRAVE ROBBERS IN SOUTH AMERICA FOUND DINOSAUR TOYS BURIED WITH CHILDREN.
Back in 1925 Waldemar Julsrud discovered the first of what would become known as the
Acambaro figurines. Many of them depicted dinosaurs. Obviously, they have never been
accepted by conventional archaeology.
SLOWLY, THE FIGURINES WERE PROVEN NOT ONLY "POSSIBLY AUTHENTIC",
BUT WAY AHEAD OF SCIENCE!
In 1993, Stephen Czerkas, writing in geology magazine noted that sauropods may
have had spikes on their backs extending from their heads to their tails. Science had
previously drawn sauropods as smooth skinned.
The artists who made the Acambaro figures may have been a step ahead of science
and of Czerkas.
Geology Magazine, 1993 on Sauropod Skin
"While collecting in a Wyoming quarry in 1990, Czerkas uncovered fossilized skin
impressions belonging to a new species of dinosaur related to the well-known
Diplodocus. The impressions clearly show that the skin was pebbled with large
bumps about 3 centimeters in diameter.
Czerkas also found impressions of many cone-shaped fossils, some of which were
connected to the tail. The smallest "spines" appear at the end of the tail, whereas
larger ones occur farther up the tail.
The largest of the spines would have measured around 18 centimeters high, Czerkas
reports in the December GEOLOGY.
The fossils indicate that this animal had spiny growths along its tail and possibly
along its entire length, says Czerkas, who proposes that other types of sauropods may
have sported similar spines."
HOW DID AN ANCIENT PEOPLE KNOW THIS BEFORE SCIENCE DID?
THEY HAD TO HAVE SEEN THE ANIMALS THEMSELVES!
"A Triceratops brow horn discovered in Dawson County, Montana, has been controversially dated to around 33,500 years, challenging the view that dinosaurs died out around 65 million years ago.
The finding radically suggests that early humans may have once walked the earth with the fearsome reptiles thousands of years ago.
The Triceratops brow horn was excavated in May 2012 and stored at the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum. The Museum, which has since 2005 been in cooperation with the Paleochronology Group, a team of consultants in geology, paleontology, chemistry, engineering, and education, sent a sample of the outer portion of the Triceratops brow horn to Head of the Paleochronology Group Hugh Miller, at his request, in order to carry out Carbon-14 dating. Mr Miller sent the sample to the University of Georgia, Center for Applied Isotope Studies, for this purpose. The sample was divided at the lab into two fractions with the "bulk" or collagen break down products yielding an age of 33,570 ± 120 years and the carbonate fraction of bone bioapatite yielding an age of 41,010 ± 220 years [UGAMS-11752 & 11752a]. Mr Miller said that it is always desirable to carbon-14 date several fractions to minimize the possibility of errors which Miller requested and that essential concordance was achieved in the 1000's of years as with all bone fractions of ten other dinosaurs."
Here are carbon dating results for other dinosaurs:
In the March 2005 issue of Science, paleontologist Mary Schweitzer and her team announced the discovery of soft tissue inside a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex leg bone from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, a controversial finding considering scientists had thought soft tissue proteins degrade in less than 1 million years in the best of conditions. After recovery, the tissue was rehydrated by the science team and testing revealed evidence of intact structures such as blood vessels, bone matrix, and connective tissue.
More recently, Mark Armitage and Kevin Anderson published results of a microscopic analysis of soft tissue from a Triceratops horn in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Histochemica. Mr Armitage, a creationist, claimed that the preservation of cells is a scientific impossibility if the dinosaur really walked the Earth over 66 million years ago. On this basis, he opened a discussion with colleagues and students about the implications of such a finding being that the creationist perspective is correct and that dinosaurs existed much later than mainstream science maintains, a move that promptly saw him fired by the University of California.
While the Paleochronology Group says it is not "of any particular creed or denomination", there are undoubtedly those with creationist beliefs among the group, a fact which critics may say could bias their results. Nevertheless, the group has urged any and all scientists to replicate their results by carrying out rigorous C-14 testing on any dinosaur sample.
"Every sample tested yielded significant original Carbon-14 by extensive cross-checking of their ages in bone collagen, bulk organics and carbonate from bone bioapatite on AMS units and obtained concordance. Thus, the overwhelming odds are that most if not all unpetrified or even supposed petrified dinosaur bones in museum and university collections will show the same result," Mr Miller told Ancient Origins. "We urge therefore that all those in charge of such collections see if they can replicate our findings. The implications are immense."
The challenge, so far, has been met with rejection, and previous attempts to publish C-14 test results were repeatedly blocked. Raw data without interpretation was blocked from presentation in conference proceedings by the 2009 North American Paleontological Convention, the American Geophysical Union in 2011 and 2012, the Geological Society of America in 2011 and 2012, and by the editors of various scientific journals. The Center for Applied Isotope Studies at the University of Georgia, who conducted 'blind' C-14 tests on dinosaur bones, without knowing what they were, refused to conduct further C-14 tests after finding they were testing dinosaur bones. Paleontologist Jack Horner, curator at Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies, who excavated the Tyrannosaurus Rex remains that contained soft tissue, even turned down an offer of a $23,000 grant to carry out a C-14 test on the remains.
"[T]he public should be made aware that the discovery of soft tissue, C-14 in dinosaur bones and dinosaur depictions world-wild renders current beliefs about how old they are obsolete," said Mr Miller. "Science is about sharing evidence, and letting the chips fall where they may."
Well, rejection of evidence won't stop those finding such evidence.
Living penguins have been carbon dated and the results said that they had died 8,000 years ago!
This is just one of many inaccurate dates given by Carbon dating.
The shells of living mollusks have been dated using the carbon 14 method, only to find that the method gave them a date as having been dead for 23,000 years!(Science vol. 141 1963 pg. 634-637)
What about a freshly killed seal? Well, they dated one of those too, the results stated that the seal had died 1,300 years ago. (Antarctic Journal vol. 6 Sept-Oct 1971 pg. 211)
Shells from living snails were dated using the Carbon 14 method. The results stated that the snails had died 27,000 years ago. (Science vol. 224 1984 pg. 58-61)
"Scientists got dates of 164 million and 3 billion years for two Hawaiian lava flows. But these lava flows happened only about 200 years ago in 1800 and 1801.
("Dry bones and other fossils" by Dr. Gary Parker)
Volcanic ash has also been known to give dates much older than they actually were .
Lava flows at Mt Ngauruhoe, New Zealand gave erroneous dates (from K-Ar analyses) ranging from <0.27 to 3.5 (± 0.2) million years old. These rocks were "observed to have cooled from lavas 25-50 years ago". ("Radioactive 'dating' failure: Recent New Zealand lava flows yield 'ages' of millions of years" by Andrew Snelling published in: Creation Ex Nihilo 22(1):18-21 December 1999 - February 2000)
Because the actual age of these rocks is known to be less than 50 years old, it is clear that these K-Ar 'ages' are due to 'excess' argon which was inherited from the magma source area deep in the earth.
ODD, YES?
Just as those bones were uncovered, so may the TRUTH find light of day.
We had no monkeys for uncles, no pond scum for grandparents.
WE ARE THE HUMAN SPECIES, UNIQUE, RARE AND WONDERFUL BEYOND IMAGINATION, BUT SCIENCE WANTS US REDUCED TO ONE-CELLED ORGANISMS THAT ARE NO BETTER THAN FUNGUS.
IF ALL ACCEPT THAT, THEN IT IS NOT SO BAD WHEN ONE SECT, ONE RACE, ONE CULTURE ANNIHILATES ANOTHER, NOR IS IT SO BAD WHEN A HUMAN BEING TORTURES ANOTHER TO DEATH.
AFTER ALL, IF WE ARE "NO BETTER THAN ALGAE, IT'S TO BE EXPECTED, ALL THOSE ATROCITIES, YES?
YOU ARE ALL FAR BETTER THAN ALGAE.
I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT.
JUST FOR FURTHER READING AND VIEWING :
Top Eleven Mysterious Mysteries of the Pre-Columbian Americas
WANT "SCHOLARLY ARTICLES" ON THE FAILURE OF DATING METHODS, ESPECIALLY CARBON DATING?
CHOOSE FROM THIS GOOGLE SEARCH LINK:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=FAILURE+OF+RADIOCARBON+DATING&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=wDBgVYvSIcHxoASyg4CgDQ&ved=0CBwQgQMwAA
MAN WALKED WITH DINOSAURS
SUICIDES IN FUKUSHIMA ... JAPNESE GOVERNMENT GRABS...
KILLER DRONES , UNREGULATED AND AUTONOMOUS
PEER-REVIEWED STUDIES FAIL...AGAIN
SKYSHINE RADIATION AT FUKUSHIMA, U.S. GOVERNMENT C...
KILLING INFANTS AFTER BIRTH, THE NEW ABORTION?
FIRST STRIKE ON SAUDI ARABIA BY ISLAMIC STATE
STRANGEST STAR IN THE UNIVERSE , NASTY1
DID HUMANS WALK WITH DINOSAURS? NEW DISCOVERY SHOW...
'RATIONALWIKI' , McCARTHYISM LIVES
MASS DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER CONTINUES IN JAPAN
FIVE MAJOR BANKS PLEAD GUILTY, CANCER CHARITIES SC...
SECRET X-37B SPACEPLANE GOING BACK TO SPACE
U.S. DRONE HIJACKED BY COLLEGE KIDS
VOLCANIC ACTIVITY SPIKES GLOBALLY, DORMANT VOLCANO...
THE STATE OWNS YOUR CHILDREN, AMERICA
RADIATION LEVELS 500% HIGHER THAN EXPECTED IN SOME...
VACCINES ARE NOT THE REAL ISSUE
BIZARRE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ORGANISMS
MYSTERIOUS OBJECT IN ISS PHOTO OF EARTH
STRONG EARTHQUAKES JAPAN, NEPAL
PACIFIC SEALS : SUFFERING AND DEATH AT SEA
EXPLOSION, FIRE NEW YORK, INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR PLA...
U.S. NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS CRUMBLING, NRC ADMITS T...
VACCINE COURT , ALMOST 16,000 CASES
MYTH OF PEER REVIEWED STUDIES , FLAWS AND FAILS
VACCINES :THE LIES AND THE LAW
FAILED RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT FALLING TO EARTH
HUGE X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE DISRUPTS RADIO COMMUNICAT...
WATER CRISIS IN AMERICA IS REAL, VERY REAL
WHO RULES AMERICA?
CROP POLLINATORS FACING EXTINCTION? ARE THE 'BIG 6...
COMMENTS, BROKEN LINKS, UPDATES AND ALL-CAPS
TEPCO FUKUSHIMA CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
FUKUSHIMA RADIATION DILUTED BY PACIFIC ? FACTS vs ...
THOUSANDS STILL MISSING AFTER NEPAL EARTHQUAKE
6 OFFICERS CHARGED WITH FREDDIE GRAY'S DEATH
FIRE NEAR CHERNOBYL SENDS RADIOACTIVE SMOKE
URGENT UPDATE WIPP NUCLEAR WASTE SITE
SEA FLOOR RISES OFF COAST OF JAPAN

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


So wierdly today I feel anxious/Panicky...i havent felt like this in quite a while but i can only put it down to knowing that this weekend there is going to be a lot of Alone time which i am not good with.
My wife is going out for dinner with work people tonight after work and then she's meeting a friend for a walk tomorrow morning, then shes out at a Hen do tomorrow night then sunday night shes got to go into work for a couple of hours.
Now normally most blokes/men would be like "sweet, night in/time alone to crack on and do man stuff" however, clearly i am not one of those kinda guys. i hate being alone, i worry that she wont come home each time and no matter how many times she does come up, it still makes me un-easy.
I am sorry you are going through this. Anxiety is beast to wrestle, and you can't do it alone. Is there a family member you can talk to? Perhaps a sibling or your Church Pastor.You can also talk to your doctor; he might be able to refer you to a good therapist. There are also medications that can help you. As for myself I use medication, lots of Prayer and I found a really good book called "Anxious for Nothing" by a great writer Max Lucado. I'm sure you can find it on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble. One of the things in the book that helps me deals with a story about a lady with Parkinson's. Everyday she and her husband sing a Hymn called " Count Your Blessings " . and then they count their blessings. When you look at your blessings Anxiety doesn't stick around. So maybe while the wife is gone take out a tablet of paper and start writing down all your blessings.
You will be in my prayers my friend.
I have heard Kratom can be useful to recover anxiety and depression. Is this right?


text:
Architecture, Design, Features, Financial District, Where I Work
Where I Work: Architecture firm Woods Bagot shows off their 'raw' FiDi studio
By Dana Schulz, Fri, April 13, 2018
6sqft's series "Where I Work" takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we're touring the Financial District offices of architecture firm Woods Bagot, located on the seventh floor of the Continental Bank Building at 30 Broad Street. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch!
Internationally acclaimed architecture firm Woods Bagot opened their first office in 1869 in Adelaide, Australia. 150 years, 15 offices, and 850 staff members later, they've designed projects from a master plan for Perth to a mixed-use tech center in Singapore to a rental tower right here in Brooklyn. After opening their first NYC office a decade ago in Midtown, the rapidly expanding firm decided it was time to design a work space for themselves. So last summer, they moved into a brand new 11,000-square-foot home in Lower Manhattan.
The vision of Woods Bagot's head of global workplace interiors, Sarah Kay, and head of global hotels, Wade Little, the studio has done such an impeccable job creating a "raw" feel that guests often think it's the original interior. Using a simple color palette of black and white, along with industrial elements like raw columns, exposed pipes, and cracked, stained concrete floors, they've managed to infuse "New York City grit" into their modern space, complete with virtual reality technology, 3D printing, and, most importantly, an industrial-strength espresso machine. 6sqft recently visited Woods Bagot to see the space in-person and chat with Sarah Kay about how she approached the design, what a typical day in the office is like, and what we can expect to see in the near future from this incredible firm.
Go on the tour


text:
#include <graphene/chain/config.hpp>
#include <graphene/chain/protocol/types.hpp>

#include <fc/crypto/base58.hpp>
#include <fc/crypto/ripemd160.hpp>
#include <fc/exception/exception.hpp>
#include <fc/io/raw.hpp>

namespace graphene { namespace chain {

    public_key_type::public_key_type():key_data(){};

    public_key_type::public_key_type( const fc::ecc::public_key_data& data )
        :key_data( data ) {};

    public_key_type::public_key_type( const fc::ecc::public_key& pubkey )
        :key_data( pubkey ) {};

    public_key_type::public_key_type( const std::string& base58str )
    {
      // TODO:  Refactor syntactic checks into static is_valid()
      //        to make public_key_type API more similar to address API
       std::string prefix( GRAPHENE_ADDRESS_PREFIX );

       // TODO: This is temporary for testing
       try
       {
           if( is_valid_v1( base58str ) )
               prefix = std::string( "BTS" );
       }
       catch( ... )
       {
       }

       try
       {
           if( is_valid_muse( base58str ) )
               prefix = std::string( "MUSE" );
       }
       catch( ... )
       {
       }

       const size_t prefix_len = prefix.size();
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.size() > prefix_len );
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.substr( 0, prefix_len ) ==  prefix , "", ("base58str", base58str) );
       auto bin = fc::from_base58( base58str.substr( prefix_len ) );
       auto bin_key = fc::raw::unpack<binary_key>(bin);
       key_data = bin_key.data;
       FC_ASSERT( fc::ripemd160::hash( key_data.data, key_data.size() )._hash[0] == bin_key.check );
    };

    bool public_key_type::is_valid_muse( const std::string& base58str )
    {
       std::string prefix( "MUSE" );

       const size_t prefix_len = prefix.size();
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.size() > prefix_len );
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.substr( 0, prefix_len ) ==  prefix , "", ("base58str", base58str) );
       auto bin = fc::from_base58( base58str.substr( prefix_len ) );
       auto bin_key = fc::raw::unpack<binary_key>(bin);
       key_data = bin_key.data;
       FC_ASSERT( fc::ripemd160::hash( key_data.data, key_data.size() )._hash[0] == bin_key.check );
       return true;
    }

    // TODO: This is temporary for testing
    bool public_key_type::is_valid_v1( const std::string& base58str )
    {
       std::string prefix( "BTS" );
       const size_t prefix_len = prefix.size();
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.size() > prefix_len );
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.substr( 0, prefix_len ) ==  prefix , "", ("base58str", base58str) );
       auto bin = fc::from_base58( base58str.substr( prefix_len ) );
       auto bin_key = fc::raw::unpack<binary_key>(bin);
       fc::ecc::public_key_data key_data = bin_key.data;
       FC_ASSERT( fc::ripemd160::hash( key_data.data, key_data.size() )._hash[0] == bin_key.check );
       return true;
    }

    public_key_type::operator fc::ecc::public_key_data() const
    {
       return key_data;
    };

    public_key_type::operator fc::ecc::public_key() const
    {
       return fc::ecc::public_key( key_data );
    };

    public_key_type::operator std::string() const
    {
       binary_key k;
       k.data = key_data;
       k.check = fc::ripemd160::hash( k.data.data, k.data.size() )._hash[0];
       auto data = fc::raw::pack( k );
       return GRAPHENE_ADDRESS_PREFIX + fc::to_base58( data.data(), data.size() );
    }

    bool operator == ( const public_key_type& p1, const fc::ecc::public_key& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data == p2.serialize();
    }

    bool operator == ( const public_key_type& p1, const public_key_type& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data == p2.key_data;
    }

    bool operator != ( const public_key_type& p1, const public_key_type& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data != p2.key_data;
    }

    // extended_public_key_type

    extended_public_key_type::extended_public_key_type():key_data(){};

    extended_public_key_type::extended_public_key_type( const fc::ecc::extended_key_data& data )
       :key_data( data ){};

    extended_public_key_type::extended_public_key_type( const fc::ecc::extended_public_key& extpubkey )
    {
       key_data = extpubkey.serialize_extended();
    };

    extended_public_key_type::extended_public_key_type( const std::string& base58str )
    {
       std::string prefix( GRAPHENE_ADDRESS_PREFIX );

       const size_t prefix_len = prefix.size();
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.size() > prefix_len );
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.substr( 0, prefix_len ) ==  prefix , "", ("base58str", base58str) );
       auto bin = fc::from_base58( base58str.substr( prefix_len ) );
       auto bin_key = fc::raw::unpack<binary_key>(bin);
       FC_ASSERT( fc::ripemd160::hash( bin_key.data.data, bin_key.data.size() )._hash[0] == bin_key.check );
       key_data = bin_key.data;
    }

    extended_public_key_type::operator fc::ecc::extended_public_key() const
    {
       return fc::ecc::extended_public_key::deserialize( key_data );
    }

    extended_public_key_type::operator std::string() const
    {
       binary_key k;
       k.data = key_data;
       k.check = fc::ripemd160::hash( k.data.data, k.data.size() )._hash[0];
       auto data = fc::raw::pack( k );
       return GRAPHENE_ADDRESS_PREFIX + fc::to_base58( data.data(), data.size() );
    }

    bool operator == ( const extended_public_key_type& p1, const fc::ecc::extended_public_key& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data == p2.serialize_extended();
    }

    bool operator == ( const extended_public_key_type& p1, const extended_public_key_type& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data == p2.key_data;
    }

    bool operator != ( const extended_public_key_type& p1, const extended_public_key_type& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data != p2.key_data;
    }

    // extended_private_key_type

    extended_private_key_type::extended_private_key_type():key_data(){};

    extended_private_key_type::extended_private_key_type( const fc::ecc::extended_key_data& data )
       :key_data( data ){};

    extended_private_key_type::extended_private_key_type( const fc::ecc::extended_private_key& extprivkey )
    {
       key_data = extprivkey.serialize_extended();
    };

    extended_private_key_type::extended_private_key_type( const std::string& base58str )
    {
       std::string prefix( GRAPHENE_ADDRESS_PREFIX );

       const size_t prefix_len = prefix.size();
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.size() > prefix_len );
       FC_ASSERT( base58str.substr( 0, prefix_len ) ==  prefix , "", ("base58str", base58str) );
       auto bin = fc::from_base58( base58str.substr( prefix_len ) );
       auto bin_key = fc::raw::unpack<binary_key>(bin);
       FC_ASSERT( fc::ripemd160::hash( bin_key.data.data, bin_key.data.size() )._hash[0] == bin_key.check );
       key_data = bin_key.data;
    }

    extended_private_key_type::operator fc::ecc::extended_private_key() const
    {
       return fc::ecc::extended_private_key::deserialize( key_data );
    }

    extended_private_key_type::operator std::string() const
    {
       binary_key k;
       k.data = key_data;
       k.check = fc::ripemd160::hash( k.data.data, k.data.size() )._hash[0];
       auto data = fc::raw::pack( k );
       return GRAPHENE_ADDRESS_PREFIX + fc::to_base58( data.data(), data.size() );
    }

    bool operator == ( const extended_private_key_type& p1, const fc::ecc::extended_public_key& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data == p2.serialize_extended();
    }

    bool operator == ( const extended_private_key_type& p1, const extended_private_key_type& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data == p2.key_data;
    }

    bool operator != ( const extended_private_key_type& p1, const extended_private_key_type& p2)
    {
       return p1.key_data != p2.key_data;
    }

} } // graphene::chain

namespace fc
{
    using namespace std;
    void to_variant( const graphene::chain::public_key_type& var,  fc::variant& vo )
    {
        vo = std::string( var );
    }

    void from_variant( const fc::variant& var,  graphene::chain::public_key_type& vo )
    {
        vo = graphene::chain::public_key_type( var.as_string() );
    }

    void to_variant( const graphene::chain::extended_public_key_type& var, fc::variant& vo )
    {
       vo = std::string( var );
    }

    void from_variant( const fc::variant& var, graphene::chain::extended_public_key_type& vo )
    {
       vo = graphene::chain::extended_public_key_type( var.as_string() );
    }

    void to_variant( const graphene::chain::extended_private_key_type& var, fc::variant& vo )
    {
       vo = std::string( var );
    }

    void from_variant( const fc::variant& var, graphene::chain::extended_private_key_type& vo )
    {
       vo = graphene::chain::extended_private_key_type( var.as_string() );
    }
} // fc


MIDLAND – According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the city is tied for the fifth-lowest jobless rate in the nation in January.
The city's 2.4 percent unemployment rate tied the area with Elkhart-Goshen, IL.
Amarillo (2.8 percent) is the only other Texas city among the top 25 MSAs with the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
Wisconsin had the most cities with jobless rates in the top 25. Hawaii posted the lowest unemployment rate in January at 2.1 percent. Texas' was 4.2 percent.


[S2919] Cemetery Records, CA, Kern Co., Taft - Patricia Lagail Walker Noce; 1939-2003 , Diana Satterfield, (findagrave.com, 2007), 2471., Jul 2, 2015, Patricia Lagail Walker Noce.
Name Patricia Lagail Walker Noce.
Born in California; age 1 mo.
Born Dec 3, 1939 in Bakersfield, CA.
Born Dec 3, 1939, in Bakersfield, CA.
Born Dec 3, 1939; Bakersfield, CA.
Buried Feb 26, 2003; West Side District Cemetery, Taft, Kern Co., CA.


Adhesives for Commercial Vehicles ⋆ GME - First German Mechatronic L.L.C.
The globally growing transport logistics industry focuses on lightweight and thus low-consumption, long-lived commercial vehicles. As the market leader in the area of refrigerated vehicles, KÖMMERLING has convinced customers for more than 25 years with innovative adhesive and sealant technology that makes a sustainable contribution to weight reduction, air tightness and sound-damping. We understand your requirements and optimise your processes – you can trust our competence!
In order to achieve the lowest possible vehicle weight without decreasing stability, side walls, roofs or floors are produced using sandwich manufacturing. In this process, such diverse materials as wood, metal, plastic or ultramodern composite materials are combined with a foam core.
Conventional joining methods such as riveting or screwing result in damage to the thermal insulation or to the components through deformation or corrosion. This is prevented if adhesives and sealants are used. They actually increase rigidity, reduce the panel weight and help to improve insulation.
Following the sandwich manufacturing step, side walls, roof and floor are assembled into a stable box. This is followed by the interior finishing, such as the mounting of loading rails, scuff rails, collision protection plates or door seals. Finally, the interior and exterior joints of the vehicle are sealed against water intrusion. Adhesives and sealants from KÖMMERLING master these tasks optimally. They bond the different materials securely, are resistant to temperature and weather, balance different elongations and provide a durable seal against moisture. Due to our broad range of different pot lives, they are suitable for both manual and automated processing.
They must comply with the highest hygienic standards.
Frequent loading and unloading with lift trucks or forklifts require high resilience and slip resistance.
Easy cleaning and resistance to low temperatures must be ensured.
For this application, KÖMMERLING offers a component system on the basis of polyurethane and epoxy. Depending on the respective requirement on the floor coating, the products can be combined in a flexible manner.


This entry was posted in News and tagged ql extension, RET_STK on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.
Most recently, the QL Forum has added a Quanta section, where if you are thinking of joining Quanta, you can post questions to get answers. If you are already a member of Quanta, a second section can be accessed, called "Private Quanta Forum. For Quanta members only!
This entry was posted in News and tagged ql forum, quanta on ql forum on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.
QL Forum Is 3 Years Old!
Mid-November saw the third birthday of QL Forum. Happy birthday to what is probably the most popular meeting place for QL enthusiasts, thanks to the efforts of Peter Scott and Rob Heaton. At the time of writing the Forum has 193 members worldwide and subjects discussed are as diverse as ever and sometimes controversial too! Even better news is that Peter Scott, responsible for so much of the success of QL Forum, has volunteered to assist Quanta with our own website, given that our own website has sometimes not been our best selling point at times in the past!
This entry was posted in News and tagged ql forum on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.
The latest on this long overdue software dock can be seen on my QL blog at http://dilwyn2.wordpress.com/ . The software will include Q-Dock itself, plus Q-Bar (an autohide taskbar and start menu for SMSQ systems) and SPRV, a sprite viewer program which can either view single sprites, or has a tiled view mode allowing you to view all sprites in a given directory.
Some 200 dock graphics have been created or converted, while some 5000 sprite graphics have been created or converted for use as icons. Most of these are freeware or PD graphics and will be available to download free of charge from my website, while the Q-Dock program itself will be available to buy from Bruce Nicholls' Quo Vadis Design site.
Q-Dock makes extensive use of transparent windows and alpha-mask sprites, becoming one of the first QL programs to use 'see-through' window effects, making best use of the graphics features built into the GD2 'colour drivers'.
Once again I have to apologise for the delays in releasing this program, my personal circumstances have been less than kind over the last year or so due to my partner's ill health (hi Ann!), although I've been slowly grafting away getting the software to the highest standard I can and making sure it has more than enough graphics at launch!
This entry was posted in News and tagged q-dock, qdock on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.
As if inflicting his writings on you in Quanta magazine and everywhere else was not enough, Dilwyn Jones has now started a QL blog. A blog is a kind of online diary, a day to day description of a person's activities in relation to a hobby or business, for example. In this case, it's all QL-related.
You can subscribe to the blog to follow it so that you receive notifications of new posts by email, simply by supplying your email address and clicking on the Follow button on th eleft of its main page. This is not a commercial thing at all, your email address is only used for the WordPress system to send you the blog emails (well, government spying systems apart, I suppose).
At the time of writing, posted subjects included topics as diverse as transparent windows, latest on the Q-Dock program, SD cards and Compact Flash cards with Qubide. Visit the blog at http://dilwyn2.wordpress.com and see what you think, if you like it, subscribe and receive notifications of the posts by email.
This entry was posted in News and tagged ql blog on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.
This is a contribution from Urs König to the ql-users mailing list, back in late October this year, as the 30th anniversary of QDOS approached.
Domesdos was the working title of the operation system for the Sinclair ZX83, which eventually became QDOS for the Sinclair QL.
Even 30 years later no single operating system has proved to be bug free.
This entry was posted in News and tagged domesdos, qdos, ql operating system on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.
"Paul Holmgren and Frank Davis who own the US rights to QDOS have now confirmed that they are willing for QDOS to be distributed freely with emulators in the USA and Canada.
Although this was already widely taken to be the case, this has now confirmed and settled any doubts on this issue.
This entry was posted in News and tagged QDOS rights, USA rights to QDOS on 30/12/2013 by Dilwyn.


The Wiegands: be a light.
My mantra for this year has been brave. and then freedom joined the mantra. My year to claim that for my life!
God has done so much for my heart this year. He has given and He has taken away. There are so many intimate parts of my story that I have yet to share, so many bits and pieces tucked away in my soul...still sifting through them.
The same week we moved out of our home, we gave away most of what we own- simplify into a much smaller space is the same week our second baby went to heaven. Everything has been moving so fast these past two months but sometimes when I stop long enough to look around, the ache will grab me. Remind me that it still hurts.
I keep my eyes fixed on Him and I know that all will be okay, whatever that looks like. He has asked the broken me to trust, the want-to-control me to let go and the perfectionist me to surrender. He has placed me in a situation that cultivates compassion and humility.
God talks to everyone differently but with me specifically He pursues me in really beautiful ways. I mean, He knows me- He made me. He has had three different women that don't know each other over the past 6 months come to me with the exact same message and exact same bible verse, saying they were confident that God was telling them to share with me. There is beauty in knowing that He cares.
It takes bravery to be vulnerable with your life and your story but I do believe that He is glorified when we do so. The hurting and broken see that they are not alone. This is a very broken world and hope is a beautiful message that we are able to cling to.
I have claimed that He has a purpose for me and something that He has confirmed in my heart and sealed in my soul is to be a light. I want to be a light, my family to be a light. I want my heartaches to be forever sealed as redeemed because He made the broken, beautiful again.
There is so much to be grateful for and amidst any heartache or confusion there comes clarity when I know there is a reason. The same God who leads us in, He will lead us out. We might be busted and broken but He uses our light to shine out and there is great purpose in that.


Known for great color and performance, Fujifilm has also carved out a niche for itself by consistently providing good-quality consumer digicams at rock-bottom prices. The latest in their line of bargain-priced cameras is the Fujifilm FinePix A350, a 5.2-megapixel digital camera, and its twin the FinePix A345, sporting 4.1 megapixels. The Fuji A350 carries on the value-leading tradition of Fujifilm digital cameras by offering a 5.2-megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom lens at a low price, including a good-sized bright LCD monitor, Pict-Bridge support, two-second maximum exposure time and four preset scene modes. As you'd expect, the Fujifilm FinePix A350 trades off a few features and capabilities to achieve its remarkably low cost, but the camera still takes good-looking pictures in daylight conditions, and is simple enough for even rank beginners to enjoy immediately.
The Fuji FinePix 350 and its $249.95 4.1-Mp twin the FinePix 345 share not only a trim, rectangular body style in a sleek metal finish but the manual as well. The latest models in the "A-Series" line, their retractable 3x zoom lenses include an automatic lens cover, dispensing with the sliding cover of previous models. At 3.5 x 2.4 x 1.2 inches (90 x 60 x 30.3 millimeters), the new models are smaller and more compact than their predecessors, easily slipping into a shirt pocket, a purse (nearly a coin purse) or small leather pouches. They're only a little taller than a credit card, if quite a bit thicker.
Both new models also enjoy a boost in image quality and overall performance. To process data from the FinePix A345's 4.1-Mp CCD and the FinePix A350's 5.2-Mp CCD, both cameras use new image processors that produce more robust color and enable quicker frame-to-frame shooting. Also new on these models are larger, 2.5-inch LCD monitors. And Movie mode now can capture sound, too.
The Fuji A350 shares the operational simplicity of past models, with fully automatic exposure complemented by a "Manual" mode that lets you set exposure compensation and white balance. In addition, four Scene modes are available to shoot Portrait, Landscape, Sports and Night images. In full Auto mode, the camera handles everything including flash, unless it's suppressed. Manual mode lets you adjust exposure using exposure settings from -2.1 to +1.5 EV in 0.3 EV steps. It also lets you select one of seven manual White Balance settings, including Outdoors (good weather), Shade, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent or Incandescent. When the flash is active, the white balance setting for flash is used, regardless of the White Balance mode setting. Suppressing the flash enables the White Balance mode setting.
The Fuji A350's four Scene modes optimize camera settings for specific situations. Portrait enhances skin tones and sets a soft overall tone. Landscape sets the camera for shooting scenery in daylight with no flash. Sports gives priority to faster shutter speeds for capturing sporting events and Night does just the opposite, favoring slower shutter speeds up to a full two seconds for shooting evening and night scenes. A tripod is recommended for Night Scene mode. None of the Scene modes allow you to adjust Exposure Compensation or White Balance.
The new retractable Fujinon 3x optical lens ranges from 5.8-17.4mm (a 35-105mm 35mm equivalent), a moderate wide angle through a useful telephoto typical of point-and-shoot digicams. Maximum aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/4.7, depending on the zoom position, and focuses in Normal mode from two feet (60 centimeters) to infinity. In Macro mode, the lens focuses from 2.4 inches to 2.6 feet (6 to 80 centimeters) but restricts the focal length to the wide angle setting. In addition to the 3x optical zoom, the FinePix A350 also offers as much as 4.1x digital zoom, which effectively increases the camera's zoom range to a total of 12.2x. Keep in mind though, that digital zoom decreases the overall image quality, since it just stretches the center pixels of the CCD image.
For composing images, the Fuji A350 offers both a real-image optical viewfinder as well as a generous and bright 2.5-inch color LCD monitor. The optical viewfinder sees only about 75% of the captured scene. The LCD monitor reports some camera settings (but not shutter speed or aperture), and can overlay an aligment grid. The grid divides the image area into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, making it easier to line up tricky subjects.
The through-the-lens auto focus system uses contrast-detection to find the subject. Sensitivity ranges automatically from the equivalent of ISO 64 to 400.
The built-in flash is effective from 2.0 to 11.5 feet (0.6 to 3.5 meters), reaching 9.8 feet (3 meters) in telephoto and 2.6 feet (0.8 meters) in Macro mode. Flash modes include Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro and Red-Eye Reduction with Slow Synchro. Slow Synchro leaves the shutter open a bit longer than normal to capture more of the ambient light, leaving the main exposure up to the flash itself.
Image quality settings include two 5-Mp settings for 2592x1944-pixel images, Fine and Normal; 3:2 (the standard 35mm aspect ratio) at 2592x1728; a 3-Mp setting for 2048x1536; a 2-Mp setting for 1600x1200; and a 640x480 VGA setting. Except for the 3:2 setting, image are captured with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
The Fuji A350's continuous Shooting mode captures images continuously if there is room on your memory card when you hold down the shutter button at the rate of 1.4 frames per second. The number of frames depends on the image quality setting. Five frames can be captured at 5-MP Fine, and at 5-Mp Normal, eight. At 3:2, nine images at a time; at 3-Mp, you can capture 13; at 2-Mp, 15; and at VGA quality, 69. Focus is set for the first frame and does not change through the sequence. The flash is suppressed, too. Self-Timer mode offers a 2 or 10 second delay between the time the Shutter button is pressed and when the shutter actually opens, so you can get into your own shots.
The Fujifilm FinePix A350's movie mode captures MPEGs with monaural sound at 15 frames per second in either 320x240- or 160x120-pixel frames. Zoom is disabled during recording. Recording stops and starts with a brief, full press of the Shutter button. As you record, the duration of the movie appears in a running counter on the LCD monitor. Maximum movie lengths depend on the size of and free space on your card. The included 16-MB card holds 65 seconds at the 320 setting, but a 512-MB card would capture 34.6 minutes.
The Fujifilm FinePix A350 features Pict-Bridge support, which means you can connect it via the included USB cable to a Pict-Bridge printer and use the A350's Digital Print Order Format features to select images to print directly from the camera. Options include quantity per image (up to 99) and whether or not to imprint the date on the image. In addition, when the camera captures images, it records Exif Print Format data containing a variety of shooting information for optimal printing.
The Fuji FinePix A350 ships with a 16-MB xD-Picture Card. The xD-Picture Card itself is very tiny, rivaling the popular SD memory cards in size. I highly recommend picking up at least a 128-MB card right away, given the camera's 2592x1944-pixel maximum resolution size, though a 512-MB card is also available.
The Fuji A350 uses two AA-type batteries for power, either alkaline or NiMH, and an optional AC adapter is available. A set of single-use AA alkaline batteries comes with the camera, but I strongly recommend purchasing a couple of sets of high-capacity NiMH batteries and a good charger, and keeping a spare set of batteries charged at all times. See my "NiMH Battery Shootout" report to see which batteries currently on the market are best, and read my review of the Maha C-204W NiMH battery charger, my current favorite.
Images can be transferred from the Fujifilm FinePix A350 via the included USB cable. The optional USB pen drive accepts an xD-Picture Card, making an attractive alternative. A video cable for viewing images on a television set is also included as is a software CD with Macintosh and Windows versions of the capable FinePix Viewer.
5.2-megapixel CCD delivering images as large as 2,592 x 1,944 pixels.
Fujinon 3x, 35-105mm (35mm equivalent) lens.
Auto and Manual (EV and White Balance only), plus Portrait, Landscape, Sports and Night Scene modes.
White Balance with six settings.
Maximum aperture of f/2.8 to f/4.7, depending on lens zoom position.
Shutter speeds from 1/2000 to two seconds, depending on exposure mode.
Built-in flash with six modes.
Auto ISO equivalent to 64 to 400.
Contrast-type Auto focus using Multipoint TTL metering.
xD-Picture Card storage (16MB card included). Power supplied by two AA-type batteries or optional AC adapter.
Interface software and USB drivers included for Windows and Macintosh computers.
DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatibility.
Exif Print to record optimized print settings.
Two- or 10-second Self-Timer for delayed shutter release.
Lightweight, portable, and easy to use, the Fujifilm FinePix A350 digital camera offers the point-and-shoot convenience that novices enjoy, with the benefit of a 5.2-megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom lens for good resolution and sharpness. Although exposure remains under automatic control, you can adjust Exposure Compensation and White Balance if needed, and the four scene modes are useful under common conditions. A simple, straightforward user interface means little or no downtime spent learning, and makes the Fuji A350 adept at shooting on the fly. For a "street" price just under $200, you get the color and clarity on which Fuji has built such a strong reputation, with the convenience of a very user-friendly camera design. Its simplicity and ease of use make this a good choice for a low-end "family" digital camera, or for any novice looking for a true "point & shoot" digital camera.
Its attractive silver shell measures 3.5 x 2.4 x 1.2 inches (90 x 60 x 30.3 millimeters), not much larger than a credit card, if a good deal thicker. The low-profile controls make it easy to slip the Fujifilm FinePix A350 into your shirt pocket or small purse. Its compact size makes the included wrist strap a security measure more than an accessory. Loaded with an xD-Picture Card and two AA batteries, it weighs just 6.8 oz. (193 grams).
The Fuji A350's front panel is dominated by the telescoping lens, which withdraws completely flush. The lens extends 7/8 inch when the camera is powered on in a Recording mode but remains retracted when powered on in Playback mode. A shutter-like lens cover automatically opens when the lens protrudes, eliminating the need for a lens cap. Also on the front panel are the flash, optical viewfinder window, microphone and the self-timer lamp. A thin, vertical finger grip is reinforced by a small thumb grip on the back panel.
On the right side of the camera (as viewed from the rear) is the wrist strap mount.
The opposite side of the camera houses the speaker, mini-B USB socket, DC In socket and the AV Out socket. All of the sockets are uncovered.
The FinePix A350's top panel is flat with low-profile buttons for Power and the Shutter.
The back panel is the business end of this camera. Along the top are the optical viewfinder, the three-position Mode switch (Playback, Movie and Still) and a rocker panel inherited from the A340 with click buttons on either side of the zoom rocker button. The left click button toggles Macro mode and the right button steps through the Flash modes. The 2.5-inch LCD monitor dominates the left corner, flanked by the Menu/OK button and the Display/Back button. The thumb grip and a slightly raised vertical ridge are tactile clues for gripping this small camera.
On the bottom panel of the FinePix A350 are the plastic tripod mount and the battery/memory card compartment. The tripod mount is off center and adjacent to the compartment latch hinge, making it impossible to swap batteries when the camera is mounted to a tripod. An xD-Picture Card is easily clicked into place and ejected by simply pressing down slightly to release the hidden catch. Two AA batteries are likewise easy to load, with a clearly visible legend to remind you which end is up.
With full automatic exposure control and only two manual adjustments available, the Fuji FinePix A350's user interface is very straightforward and quick to grasp. The Mode switch determines how the camera behaves when powered on. With the camera turned on, a single push of the Menu/OK button brings up the four-option menu, which is fairly limited and quick to navigate using the combination of arrow and zoom rocker buttons. In Manual shooting mode, two additional menus are available to set EV and White Balance, though you still don't have access to aperture or shutter speed. All camera controls other than basic Flash and Macro mode selections are accessed through the LCD menu system, so you should have no trouble shooting with the camera right out of the box.
The Fuji A350's LCD monitor reports very basic information in Record mode, including the shooting mode, resolution setting, number of available images, and a central autofocus target. It also reports the flash mode, and settings for continuous shooting, Macro mode and the self-timer when activated. When necessary, warnings are displayed for battery level, auto focus and camera shake. Pressing the Display button enables an alignment grid, which divides the image area into thirds vertically and horizontally, for better framing of linear subjects. A third press disables the LCD monitor entirely.
In Playback mode, the main LCD display shows the file number and capture date for a few seconds. Pressing the Display button pulls up the nine-image index display. Using the Zoom rocker button, you can enlarge captured images as much as 4.1x, depending on the quality mode (4.1x for 5M and 3:2, 3.2x for 3M, and 2.5x for 2M).
Shutter Button: Located on the far right of the camera's top panel, this button sets focus and exposure when halfway pressed, and fires the shutter when fully pressed.
Power Button: Just left of the Shutter button, this button turns the camera on and off.
Menu/OK Button: Directly below the On / Play button, this button displays the settings menu in any camera mode, and acts as the "OK" to confirm menu selections.
Disp/Back Button: Located on the bottom right of LCD monitor, this button controls the LCD monitor display, and activates the framing grid. It also disables the LCD monitor, so you can save battery power by framing images with the optical viewfinder. In Playback mode, this button also controls the information overlay, as well as enables a nine-image index display mode.
Zoom Rocker Button: Tucked between two arrow keys in the upper right corner of the camera's rear panel, this two-way rocker button controls the optical and digital zoom. In any settings menu, this button navigates up and down through menu selections. In Playback mode, this button controls the Playback Zoom feature, which enlarges captured images as much as 13x.
Right and Left Arrow Keys (see image above): Flanking the Zoom rocker button in the top right corner of the rear panel, these arrow keys navigate through captured images in Playback mode, as well as through menu selections in any settings menu. When an image has been enlarged, these keys also move around within the view.
In Record mode, the left arrow accesses the Macro shooting mode, and the right arrow key cycles through the available flash modes.
Quality: Sets the image resolution and quality to 5M Fine (2,592 x 1,944 pixels), 5M Normal (2,592 x 1,944 pixels), 3:2 (2,592 x 1,728 pixels), 3M (2,048 x 1,536 pixels), 2M (1,600 x 1,200 pixels), or 1M (640 x 480 pixels). Also shows approximately how many frames can be captured at each resolution with the installed card's remaining space.
Self-Timer: Activates either the 2-second or 10-second Self-Timer, or disables the mode.
Shooting Mode: Puts the camera into Auto, Manual, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, or Night modes.
Continuous Shooting: Enables the camera to shoot continuously at 1.4 frames per second, or disables this feature.
Exposure Compensation: (Manual mode only) Adjusts the overall exposure from -2.1 to +1.5 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third-step increments.
White Balance: (Manual mode only) Sets the white balance to Auto, Outdoors, Shade, Daylight Fluorescent, Warm White Fluorescent, Cool White Fluorescent, or Incandescent.
Set-Up/LCD Brightness: Adjusts the LCD brightness, and offers a variety of setup menu options.
Image Display: Turns the post-image capture review screen on or off.
Power Save: Turns the power save option on or off. If on, you have the choice of a two- or five-minute delay before the camera automatically shuts off due to inactivity.
Format: Formats the xD-Picture Card, erasing all files (even protected ones).
Beep: Enables the camera's beep sounds, with options for Low, High, or Off.
Date/Time: Sets the camera's internal clock and calendar.
Time Difference: This option lets you set the time for another time zone. For example, when traveling, you can specify the time at home and for where you are, and the time difference is applied to captured images.
LCD: Turns the LCD monitor on or off. If on, the LCD monitor automatically comes on whenever the camera is set to the Still Image Record position. If off, you must enable the display via the Display button.
Frame Number: Sets the camera to number each successive image continuously from memory card to memory card, or to reset numbering with each new memory card.
USB Mode: Sets the USB mode to DSC or PC Cam. PC Cam mode lets Windows users use the Fuji A340 as a webcam.
Language: Sets the menu language to one of five languages.
Video System: Assigns the video signal as PAL or NTSC.
Reset: Resets all camera settings to their defaults.
Erase: Deletes the current frame, or all frames on the memory card.
DPOF: Marks/unmarks frames for printing on DPOF devices, with an option to include a date and time overlay.
Protect: Write-protects the displayed image, preventing it from being accidentally erased or manipulated (except via card formatting). Also removes protection, and offers options to protect or unprotect all images on the card.
Playback: Enables an automated slide show of all the captured images on the memory card, with options for transition styles.
Trimming: Lets you crop an image and save it separately as a 3M, 2M or VGA file.
Options: Displays the same settings as under the Record menu with a Volume option.
Fujifilm FinePix A350 digital camera.
Two single-use, AA-type alkaline batteries.
Instruction manual and registration card.
xD-Picture Card USB Drive (DPC-UD), a compact USB card reader.
Two sets (four) NiMH rechargeable batteries and charger.
See the specifications sheet here.
We ran the FinePix A350 through our usual battery of tests, and have summarized our findings here. To see the full set of our test images, with explanations of what to look for in them, see the FinePix A350 Sample Pictures page. For a complete listing of all our test and "gallery" shots, go to the Thumbnails page.
A collection of more random, pictorial images can be found in the Fujifilm FinePix A350 Photo Gallery.
Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the FinePix A350 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!
A typical 3x optical zoom range, with good performance.
The FinePix A350 zooms over the equivalent of a 35-105mm range, fairly typical for its class. Though a little soft at wide angle, with some noticeable coma distortion in the trees, the A350's lens still performs quite well. The 4.1x digital zoom takes it out to 12.2x total, albeit with the loss of quality that digital zoom creates.
A small macro area with good detail and high resolution. Flash exposes fairly well, but flash illumination is uneven up close.
This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel--usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion--usually at telephoto). The Fujifilm FinePix A350's 0.6% barrel distortion at wide angle is lower than average among the cameras I've tested. At the telephoto end, the A350's 0.02% barrel distortion is very low indeed.
Moderately high, small effect on images at edges.
Some softening in the left and right corners of the frame, strongest effect in the lower right corner.
Soft in the lower left corner. Slightly soft in top right corner.
The FinePix A350 produced soft corners in a few shots, though the lower left corner seemed to have the most visible effect. Most consumer digital camears show this effect to one degree or another, the amount shown here is more than most, but doesn't extend very far into the frame.
Moderate warm cast with both Auto and Incandescent white balance settings. Less exposure compensation required than usual.
Color balance indoors under both Auto and Incandescent lighting was just a bit warm and reddish but on the whole fairly pleasing. The FinePix A350 required a +0.6 EV exposure compensation boost to get a good exposure. Overall color well-balanced and hue accurate, a bit less than most cameras need on this shot. Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulb, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the US.
Good color balance, very bright colors. Better than average exposure accuracy.
Outdoor shots generally showed accurate exposure with slightly blown out highlights. Shadow detail also tended to fall apart, but nothing that would raise an alarm for a consumer digicam. Sunlit shots showed high contrast and oversaturation while overcast scenes managed a more accurate portrayal. Exposure accuracy overall was better than average, the camera requiring less exposure compensation than we're accustomed to seeing with consumer digicams.
High resolution, 1,200 - 1,250 lines of strong detail.
Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to between 1,200 and 1,250 lines per picture height, with extinction at around 1,600. (The camera did produce slight color artifacts at lower line frequencies though, visible in the full-sized res target shots.) Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail. Beware that while you might be able to make out what looks like distinct lines at numbers higher than those we've mentioned here, the camera is just doing its best to continue interpreting the lines. If you zoom in and follow them from the wider portions, you'll see the lines converge and reappear several times, so the lines you see at 1,500 and higher are really only artifacts generated by the camera's imaging system.
Fairly sharp images, with some blurring of detail from noise suppression.
Noise suppression tends to blur detail in areas of subtle contrast, as in the darker parts of Marti's hair here.
Moderate noise under normal lighting, increasing loss of subtle detail as ISO is boosted under low light conditions.
The FinePix A350 automatically sets sensitivity between ISO 64 and 400 equivalents. Our test shots show only one setting for each setup because ISO is controlled by the camera, not the user. (The camera only went higher than ISO 100 under very dark conditions, and appears to only use the ISO 400 level for flash photos in very dark surroundings.) At ISO 100, the FinePix A350 produced moderate noise, with only slightly blurred detail in the dark areas. As the ISO setting increases, so does the noise level and the amount of blurring that results. Flash shots at ISO 400 were very noisy.
High resolution with good overall detail, but high contrast and limited shadow detail. Pretty good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images under average city street lighting and slightly darker conditions.
Slightly oversaturated color (especially reds and blues), very typical of consumer digital cameras. Generally good hue accuracy.
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located towards the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center.
The other important part of color rendition is hue accuracy. Hue is "what color" the color is. Here, the FinePix A350 did quite well. Like most digicams, it shifts cyan colors toward blue, to produce better-looking sky colors, but the rest of the hues were quite accurate.
Optical viewfinder tight and skewed to the upper right. Very good accuracy from the LCD monitor.
The A350's optical viewfinder was quite tight, showing only 77% of the final frame area at wide angle, and 81% at telephoto zoom settings. However, the LCD monitor showed almost exactly 100 percent frame accuracy regarless of zoom position.
The A350's small flash has a limited range, and produces a slight blue cast in combination with typical incandescent room lighting. Our standard shots required more exposure compensation than average.
Even at eight feet, our closest test range, the flash illuminated the DaveBox target adequately. This agrees with FinePix's own spec of 7.9 feet for flash range, a bit on the short side, although not uncommon for a compact camera model. A much more severe issue with the A350's flash is that the camera boosts its ISO to 400 for flash shots in very dark surroundings. (Our flash tests below are shot in total darkness.) This has the benefit of boosting flash range considerably (doubling it relative to performance at ISO 100), but at a terrible cost in image noise. Flash shot from the A350 captured in very dark surroundings really aren't usable for anything above 4x6 inch snapshot prints, and will look a little rough even at that modest size.
Good print quality, great color, very usable 11x14 inch prints. ISO 400 images are very soft at 8x10, acceptable at 5x7, great at 4x6.
With the FinePix A350, we found that it had enough resolution to make very crisp 8x10 inch prints. At 11x14, its prints were a bit softer looking, but more than adequate for wall or table display. At high ISO, image noise levels are held in check, but at the cost of rather soft-looking images. ISO 200 photos look OK printed at 8x10 inches, but ISO 400 ones are marginal even at 5x7 inches, but look fine at 4x6. Color-wise, the FinePix A350's images looked really great when printed on the i9900, with bright, vibrant color. Users who prefer more subdued, technically accurate color saturation levels may find the A350's images a little too bright, but most consumers will probably find the A350's bright, snappy images very appealing.
Average to slow speed for a consumer camera.
The A350's performance ranges from just average to slow, depending on what you're trying to do. Start up falls in the average range. Shutter response when the lens is set to its wide angle position is slightly slower than average. At the telephoto end of the lens' range, the lag time of 1.64 second is much slower than average. On the other hand, if you "prefocus" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure, it's much faster, with a shutter delay of 0.3 second, about average for inexpensive point & shoot digital cameras. Shot-to-shot cycle times are also on the slow side of average, at 3.57 seconds for large/fine JPEGs. There is no buffer memory, all shots are this speed, regardless of how many you've snapped in succession. Continuous-mode speed is average, at a bit over one frames/second, for up to five shots in succession. The flash takes about seven seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, about average for this class of camera. Connected to a computer, download speeds are fast enough (828 KB/second) that you probably won't feel a need for a separate card reader, but nonetheless aren't as fast as many cameras currently on the market. Bottom line, while not a first choice for sports or other fast-paced action, the A350 is responsive enough (particular at wide angle lens settings) to handle most family photo opportunities.
See full Picky Details page.
A 16-MB xD-Picture Card is included with the FinePix A350.
Fujifilm's FinePix digital cameras have always been associated with good image quality and color, with solid performance even at the lower-end of the line. With a 5.2-megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom lens, the FinePix A350 continues that tradition in an attractive new design, although image resolution isn't really on par with the best 5-megapixel models out there. Like the most recent A Series models, it offers four preset scene modes and a long maximum exposure time. Its color is very bright and highly saturated, likely to be appealing to many consumers, even though it's not technically "accurate" color. Overall, it's a decent entry-level digital camera, offering adequate resolution for 8x10 inch prints and an optical zoom lens at a very low price. A workmanlike entry-level model, particularly for daytime shooting, but a little limited after dark.


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Q: ERROR: missing FROM-clause entry for table "fetched_row" I am quite new to SQL, so here is the query I am trying to run
WITH fetched_row AS (SELECT * FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature LIMIT 1)

        UPDATE sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature
                SET is_processed=true
        FROM (SELECT * FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature WHERE (st_dwithin(location_modeled, fetched_row.location_modeled, 20, TRUE) AND
                sign_type=fetched_row.sign_type AND
                ts!=fetched_row.ts) ) as candidate_signs
        WHERE candidate_signs.id = sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature.id;

I have also tried
WITH fetched_row AS (SELECT * FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature WHERE (is_processed=false OR is_processed=NULL) LIMIT 1),
             candidate_signs AS (SELECT * FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature WHERE (st_dwithin(location_modeled, fetched_row.location_modeled, 20, TRUE) AND
                sign_type=fetched_row.sign_type AND
                ts!=fetched_row.ts))
        UPDATE sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature
                SET is_processed=true
        FROM candidate_signs
        WHERE candidate_signs.id = sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature.id;

Still I am getting the error
[42P01] ERROR: missing FROM-clause entry for table "fetched_row" Position: 272

I do understand, that error is probably somewhere here
SELECT * FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature WHERE (st_dwithin(location_modeled, fetched_row.location_modeled, 20, TRUE) AND
                sign_type=fetched_row.sign_type AND
                ts!=fetched_row.ts)

But still no luck in debugging it and getting it to work. I think I am missing something quite obvious.

A: You are not calling fetched_row in the FROM:
SELECT *
FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature,
     fetched_row
WHERE (st_dwithin(location_modeled, fetched_row.location_modeled, 20, TRUE) AND
                sign_type=fetched_row.sign_type AND
                ts!=fetched_row.ts)

It would make sense to join on the distance condition (same result, but cleaner):
SELECT *
FROM sdmk_stereo_unfiltered_road_feature
 JOIN fetched_row ON st_dwithin(location_modeled, fetched_row.location_modeled, 20, TRUE)
WHERE  sign_type=fetched_row.sign_type
  AND ts!=fetched_row.ts

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