Max Machinery makes high-precision, positive displacement flow meters. For over 40 years, Max has produced the only meters that provide high accuracy, high repeatability and work over a 1000 to 1 range. A focus on low flow rates has placed tens of thousands of Max meters in engine development, chemical injection, hydraulic testing, Polyurethane blending , Intermittent Injection (Natural gas odorization, Reverse osmosis anti-scalant injection, Verifying dispensed amount of sealant (adhesive), Methanol injection for natural gas dehydration) , Water Treatment ( for RO) and a long list of applications which benefit from accuracies within 0.2% and an output of up to 1000 pulses per ml. We hope that you will let us put these features to work for you.
Offering the highest accuracy (0.2% of reading), widest flow range (200:1 or more) smallest displacements and the tightest fits and tolerances. These peak performance meters are suitable for all low viscosity liquids. Consider the piston family for fuel measurement, hydraulic test stands, additive injection or any low flow application.
We offer Precision Flow Measurement Instruments covers highest accuracy, the widest flow ranges and superior output signal resolution remains unchanged. It includes various types of flow meters like Gear Meter, Piston Meter, Helical (Helix) Meters and Lineariszed Transmitter, voltage Transmitter, current Transmitter, photodisk Transmitter, Proximity Transmitter meeting most of the automotive applications.
Gear meters are both economical and rugged. High pressure design, 0.3% of reading accuracy and 100:1 flow range or more. A gear meter is an ideal choice for fuel oil measurement, hydraulic test stands, hot melt adhesives or conformal coatings.
Measuring the highest flow rates and viscosities while offering 0.2% of reading accuracy. 100:1 flow range or more and the lowest pressure drop. The helical meter is ideal for lube oils, hydraulic test stands, urethane foam blending, greases or molten adhesives.


Personalize with this silver Crumrine buckle by M&F Western Products®. It features a gold longhorn head in the center and a gold rope trim around the edge. 4 engravable ribbons to customize this beautiful buckle. Measures approx 3-1/4″ x 4-1/4″.


according to the [http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=168 Java Portlet Specification 1.0]. E.g.
- * Copy the libraries (jar-files) into the WEB-INF/lib directory of your .war file.
+  * Copy the libraries (jar-files) into the WEB-INF/lib directory of your .war file.
or in one of your container's shared lib directories (e.g. common/lib or shared/lib for Tomcat).
the documentation of your container).


Leidos recently awarded a subcontract to SkySoft-ATM under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advanced Technologies & Oceanic Procedures (ATOP) program. Under the subcontract, SkySoft will deliver a solution to record the controller's workstation monitors as well as the keyboard and mouse inputs using SkyRec technology.
The SkyRec software will be deployed at all oceanic control centers in the United States. The system, already in operations at major air navigation service providers (ANSPs) worldwide, has been slightly adapted to meet specific requirements from Leidos and the FAA to be seamlessly integrated with the new version of ATOP.
SkySoft-ATM is the market leader for CWP recording solutions. SkyRec is currently recording thousands of high resolution monitors, keyboards and mice as well as ATC Data and voice channels in over 20 countries.


With a stay at W Singapore - Sentosa Cove in Singapore (Sentosa Island), you'll be convenient to Sentosa Golf Club and Universal Studios Singapore®. This 5-star hotel is within close proximity of Tanjong Beach and Palawan Beach.
Make yourself at home in one of the 240 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and minibars. LCD televisions with cable programming provide entertainment, while complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected. Private bathrooms with separate bathtubs and showers feature deep soaking bathtubs and rainfall showerheads. Conveniences include phones, as well as desks and separate sitting areas.
Pamper yourself with a visit to the spa, which offers massages, body treatments, and facials. You're sure to appreciate the recreational amenities, including a nightclub, an outdoor pool, and a fitness center. Additional amenities at this Art Deco hotel include complimentary wireless Internet access, babysitting/childcare (surcharge), and gift shops/newsstands.
Grab a bite at one of the hotel's 2 restaurants, or stay in and take advantage of 24-hour room service. Relax with your favorite drink at a poolside bar or a swim-up bar.
Featured amenities include a 24-hour business center, limo/town car service, and express check-out. Event facilities at this hotel consist of conference space and meeting rooms. Free self parking is available onsite.
The preferred airport for W Singapore - Sentosa Cove is Singapore (SIN-Changi) - 20.3 km / 12.6 mi.


text:
'Guardians' tops box office for fourth weekend
By Derrik J. Lang, AP entertainment writer
"Guardians of the Galaxy" continues to rule the box office universe.
The cosmic Marvel adventure arrived in first place at the box office for a fourth weekend with $10.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The domestic haul for "Guardians," which features Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana as intergalactic do-gooders, now stands at $294.6 million after six weeks of release.
"Guardians" furthered cemented itself as the top grossing film of the year in North America, eclipsing the $259.8 million earned by fellow Marvel movie "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." The sci-fi romp earned an additional $11.5 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $586.2 million.
Despite the continued success of "Guardians," the weekend box office marked the slowest of the year with the total for all films released projected at $65 million, down 23 percent from a year ago, according to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.
Paramount's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" sliced off second place in its fifth weekend with $6.5 million, bringing the domestic total of the live-action superhero reboot starring Megan Fox and Will Arnett to $174.6 million.
The Warner Bros. young-adult novel adaptation "If I Stay," starring Chloe Grace Moretz, took third place in its third weekend with $5.7 million.
The weekend's only new release, Freestyle's musical drama "The Identical," dismally debuted in 11th place with $1.9 million. The film starring Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd failed to achieve the successes of similar faith-based films as "Heaven Is for Real," "God's Not Dead" and "Son of God" released this year.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Univariate vs Multivariate meta-regression in metafor I'm performing a meta-analysis using the package metafor.
My data set has 2 moderators.
I have performed univariate meta-regressions for each moderator, using these codes:

Univariate meta-regression model. Moderator: LOCATION
resMeta <- rma(measure="IR",xi=xi, ti=ti, mods = ~ factor(locat), data=metaAAS)

Univariate meta-regression model. Moderator: SUBPOPULATION
resMeta <- rma(measure="IR",xi=xi, ti=ti, mods = ~ (factor(pop), data=metaAAS)

Now I need to perform a multivariate meta-regression.
Is that correct to simply add both moderators to that same function (below)?

resMeta <- rma(measure="IR",xi=xi, ti=ti, mods = ~ factor(locat)+factor(pop), data=metaAAS)

The code works fine, I just don't know if is technically correct to describe these results as a multivariate meta-regression.
Thank you.

A: Terminology in this regard is not fully standardized, but a multivariate model typically denotes a model that is used to analyze two or more outcome variables simultaneously. On the other hand, a multivariable model is one that includes more than one predictor variable. So you are conducting a multivariable meta-regression analysis, although it is also not common to use that terminology. You can simply say that you are conducting a meta-regression analysis with two (categorical) predictors. And yes, this is fine. You can find a detailed discussion of this type of analysis here:
https://www.metafor-project.org/doku.php/tips:multiple_factors_interactions

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Dr. Darren Coleman has more than 20 years branding experience spanning projects in the UK, continental Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and Japan. He has helped brands such as Maybank, PepsiCo, Dubai Properties Group, Orange, BUPA, Goldman Sachs, Roche Diagnostics and Nikon. He has also advised the British and Lithuanian governments on brand related issues. Darren is the Managing Consultant at Wavelength Marketing and is frequently invited to speak at international brand marketing conferences.


Windows 10 is coming on July 29th! I've been doing Build to Build videos on my YouTube showing what's changing and how it will affect you.
I got a request to do a video showing Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 and how to reserve your upgrade, as well as a little demo of the Start Screen. Here's that video!
NOTE: I apologize for the mediocre audio. I had a microphone failure and ended up using the laptop microphone for the last part because I was excited to get the video out. It's not representative of the quality I'm known for, and it won't happen again.
Are you the IT manager for your extended family? Will you be upgrading non-technical parent to Windows 10 or letting them do it themselves? Sound off in the comments below.
I suspect a bunch of people will just do their normal "updates are available" update, ignore any "Windows 10 inside" warnings, and then still be gobsmacked that their OS suddenly looks different. I think that's the point where the IT manager to friends and family fallout will start... Is it possible to be simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the launch of Windows 10?!
I am one of minor group who use Windows 8.1 on a 8" tablet with mobile connection. While Windows 8 modern UI (aka Metro) preference was disaster on desktop machines the interface is almost perfect on tablets. Especially the charms bar, auto show/hide on-screen keyboard and live tile notifications.
I have tried Windows 10 preview builds and found the tablet mode is not even close to the Windows 8.1 user experience (again: *on tablets*). There is no charms bar, on-screen keyboard does not auto hide/show on text fields etc. As for update, there are also almost no updated drivers and vendor specific utilities yet and it is hard to believe it will be ready and well-tested within a month.
Basically I have no reason to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10 on my tablet. Unfortunately Microsoft is working hard to make Windows 8.1 tablet users live difficult :-/ Microsoft have announced that Modern Skype (Metro) application will be killed on x86/x64 devices (while continues to live on Windows RT ones) on July 7 without any option. Microsoft offers Skype for desktop instead but you lost most of the features like connected standby support, auto hide/show on-screen keyboard and start screen and live tile notifications so Skype becomes useless on tablet device. Moreover it does not support High-DPI awareness yet so it is blurry. And yes, there is no Skype universal application ready for Windows 10 yet.
Is this the new friendly approach how to treat existing customers ? Especially given the Windows tablet devices market share. There are options to move to different platform, is it what Microsoft communicates ?
I will not be upgrading my parents to Windows 10. I've had them on Linux for about 4 years, and I don't see Windows 10 changing that. As for myself, I will upgrade sometime this fall or winter after the dust settles.
I thought saying this on a renown MS employee's blog would be sacrilege, but I think Mr. Hanselman is OK with it.
When you talk about parents I was about to buy them a Windows tablet. But I have reconsidered the idea now. Since Microsoft decision of Skype app removal without options that does not have any technical reason (the same application continues to work on Windows RT devices) nor any logic it is hard to believe to the platform. What application do they remove tomorrow ? There is no trust anymore, it is just another example of arrogance, stubbornness and treating customers badly.
The official explanation in Skype forums that "it is duplicative for majority of users out there" is a bad joke. Of course it is duplicative, that's the point of Modern (Store) applications. I understand that desktop users did not accept and understand the importance of them for tablet/touch devices but now Microsoft itself is denying their current technology in (still) latest OS version.
Wouldn't be fair to at least communicate that Microsoft is no longer interested in having their OS on tablet devices ? The bad Windows 10 UX for tablets would support it.
Nontechnical users shouldn't be using Windows at all. Get them chromebooks, or possibly chromeboxes. Installing any Windows version that you have to support is just plain crazy.
I'll be upgrading on all the Windows 7 machines at home (we skipped 8 because I didn't feel like training my family on a bunch of "charms-bar" nonsense).
My wife has some trepidation, since she feels like all computer changes just result in problems, but given their hardware, I think Windows 10 will run a little bit better than 7.
I don't understand why they do such efforts to get everybody so fast on the new system. Haven't they learned from the past? It's great they give it for free, and it's great they do that for a period of one year, but problems will arise and will they be able to handle them on a short notice? I'm going for the update, but not from day 1, not even from month 1.
And geting a decent microphone isn't a that long job. It would have been better to release the video with the quality we are used from you. The urgency to release resulted in bad quality.... same as with Windows10?
I'll be upgrading all Win 8.1 desktops. My mom will be overjoyed to get her desktop start menu back. Our kids however, are content consumers and all running android on tablets and iOS on music players. The adults are a mixed bag of Android and Kindle.
What happens if I get the upgrade for free and after the year that has passed I need todo a fresh clean install? How do I get Windows 10 then?
@Andrew My parents run Linux too! I'll upgrade stat. Windows 8 gives me piles!
I am using Windows 7 now. Would I upgrade to Windows 10 for free? I hope it would be.
Am I the only one who miss such essentinal things like different window title colors of active and inactive windows on desktop ? Is it supposed to be used full screen only like mobile phone ?
Nice video Scott. Thanks for sharing this info!
O.T. : And about "parent", "kids", "family" and so on... any news about Family Safety for Windows 10 Mobile?
Does windows 10 address the issue of 100% Disk Usage which I think is the most annoying issue in windows 8/8.1?
I actually have a few questions regarding the free upgrade. Say I want a clean install or I build a new machine (which I do every few years). How do I take Windows 10 and put it on my new machine (with a newly formatted hard drive and no existing OS)? It would be annoying to have to install Win8 on the machine and then upgrade online.
Does the free upgrade come with a downloadable ISO that will allow me to do a clean install without jumping through hoops? If so... how do I go about retrieving the clean install?
In response to my previous comment. It is possible to download Windows 10 for future use. Microsoft added this page which allows for the download.
"Are you the IT manager for your extended family? Will you be upgrading non-technical parent to Windows 10 or letting them do it themselves?"
I am adamantly forbidding any Windows 10 'upgrades' by family and friends, and making those that I'm the 'IT manager' for well aware that if they go there they're entirely on their own. If for any reason they're unable to stay on Windows 7 any longer I will be advocating moving to Linux or even OSX before I support Windows 10 (and that's coming from someone who cannot stand OSX or the Cult of Apple in general).


text:
The Digital Lens Revisited
By Cesar L. Diaz On August 13, 2010 · Add Comment
In a world of marketing buzzwords like 'optimized' and 'designed for digital,' what's really going on behind all the hype?
From DigitalPhotoPro.com
Before plunking down a credit card to purchase a new lens, I think all of us want to know we're making a good decision. Is this really the best lens for my camera and the type of work I want to do? Or can I use one I already have, even if the lens isn't specifically designed for digital capture?
Because of the physical variations between film and digital image sensors, there's a need for specialized optics, especially if you're using a D-SLR with a sub-full-frame sensor. Cameras in this category include all Nikon D-SLRs except the new D3, the Canon EOS 40D and EOS 30D, the Sigma SD14, the Fujifilm S5 Pro and IS Pro, the Sony Alphas and all Olympus D-SLRs, to name a few.
With full-frame, 24x36mm sensors or larger digital-back chips, the need for specialized optics may not be as pronounced, depending on the lens and the camera, but it's still there. The fact that we're seeing an ever-increasing number of lenses being made with digital capture in mind isn't a superfluous phenomenon.
Steve Heiner, Senior Technical Manager for Nikon, describes the effort this way, "The majority of digital SLR designs in the market today utilize an imaging sensor that's roughly two-thirds the size of what's often referred to as a "full-sized" imaging sensor, or 24x36mm—the FX format for the Nikon D3. Because of this, and as an optical-lens manufacturer, Nikon set out to create a line of lenses designed specifically for its DX-format-size imaging sensor. The goal was to achieve a good balance between miniaturization in size and improvement in performance. By limiting use of these DX Nikkors to DX-format digital SLR cameras only, it's possible to create unprecedented lenses by making the most of their specific characteristics, while delivering a more compact lens with higher performance. This was the starting point for the development of the DX Nikkor series."
Canon's Chuck Westfall says it isn't necessarily a problem to use a lens that was originally designed for a film camera on a digital camera. "Generally speaking, you don't get any degradation just because you're using it on a digital camera compared to using it with film," says Westfall. "It really depends on the lens and the camera.
"That said, all Canon EF lenses announced since 1999 feature modifications in design that improve their performance with digital SLRs without affecting their performance with 35mm SLRs."
As of 2001, Sigma has upgraded its entire line of lenses, even the full-frame lenses, to be better suited to the digital format. Says Sigma's Tom Sobey, "The DG type that are for both film and digital, and the digital-only DC lenses for smaller sensors, all have the new DG coatings to improve contrast and minimize issues with ghosting and flare."
Sobey says many of the wider-angle lenses are also designed to get light to the edges of the sensor to avoid vignetting. He continues, "Because sensors can be more sensitive to light striking pixels at sharp angles, many of Sigma's newer lenses, especially the wide-angles, have larger rear elements, which allow the light rays to hit the edges of a sensor at a more perpendicular angle so potential issues with chromatic aberrations and light falloff at the edges are minimized."
While there are exceptions, such as the Hasselblad H3D, Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III and EOS 5D, and Nikon's new D3, most D-SLRs feature sensors that are smaller than a piece of 35mm film. Imagers typically range from 13mm to 19mm along their shorter side, compared to film's 24mm. This fact has presented some issues that manufacturers have had to deal with in the design of their lenses. The first, and perhaps the most critical, is the magnification factor and the need for shorter focal lengths (Fig. 1).
Crop Factors & The Need For Shorter Focal Lengths
If you use a 20mm film lens to project an image on a sensor that's 16x24mm, it will behave like a 30mm. This is because the sensor is 1.5 times smaller than a 35mm piece of film, which is 24x36mm. To maintain a 20mm focal length, you'd need a lens with a focal length of 13mm. D-SLRs with sensors even smaller than 16x24mm will need even shorter focal lengths because the magnification factor is even greater.
Nikon's Heiner says, "DX Nikkor lenses are designed specifically for digital with this in mind. In creating a lens exclusively for Nikon's DX-format digital SLR cameras, decreasing the size of a lens to two-thirds of what's necessary for the FX format, or 24x36mm, would seem simple, but it's not. There are many obstacles that have to be overcome. Otherwise, it would only make the size of a conventional lens smaller, but not improve aspects of lens performance such as sharpness or vignetting. Many DX Nikkor lenses have focal lengths similar to many non-DX Nikkor lenses, but they're designed to present a smaller image circle to the DX-format imaging sensor, thus solving the restrictions of more conventional lens designs."
Since lens focal length is the distance from the optical center to the focal plane, the glass of a simple single-element 12mm lens, for example, would have to be physically inside your camera's body. This is impossible, obviously, so designers had a challenge on their hands.
The back focus had to be longer than the intended focal length, which required the use of an inverted-telephoto or retro-focus design (Fig. 2 and 4). The optical center on such lenses lies well to the rear of the lens element, and in many cases, completely outside the glass. This allows for very short focal lengths, even though the rear element remains quite a bit further from the image sensor's surface.
While the retro-focus design solved one problem, it created another problem typically associated with telephoto lenses—chromatic aberration or "color fringing." Because lenses disperse the different colors of light, it causes them to focus at different points (Fig. 3). Telephoto lenses and wide-angles with an inverted-telephoto design are especially prone to this phenomenon.
Extra-low-dispersion (ED) and ultra-low-dispersion (UD) glass are the common solutions to this problem. ED and UD lens elements help keep each of the colors focused as close as possible to the same point in the image plane.
Many of Tamron's Di and Di II lenses have unique aspherical glass elements that substantially improve optical quality while eliminating chromatic aberrations that can degrade image contrast and sharpness. Stacie Errera of Tamron USA says, "These elements consist of LD or AD glass that's perfectly bonded to an aspherical layer of optical resin. Because of the fragile physical nature of the glass during the polishing and coating process, and the specific temperature required for molding the resin, engineers had to develop a brand-new method of production to make these special glass elements a reality."
Richard Pelkowski, product manager of D-SLRs for Olympus, points out that dealing with color fringing also is more critical with digital capture than with film because of a sensor's micro lenses. "Chromatic aberration can be more of a critical issue with digital because you have micro lenses on your sensor that can be prone to producing chromatic aberrations," says Pelkowski. "So you not only have to get all three colors to line up coming out of your primary optic, but then when it goes through the micro lenses on the image sensor, you've got to deal with that as well. So you want to keep problems with chromatic aberration to an absolute minimum with the taking lens, so when the light gets to the micro lenses, it doesn't get magnified there."
In the case of Hasselblad, technical specialist Paul Claesson says they deal with chromatic aberrations in a different way. "We, or I should say Zeiss, never had to redesign the lenses to meet the needs for digital capture. We do, however, have our HC line of lenses for the H cameras, which are optimized for the parameters of digital capture, and they're more than sufficient for film capture as well. Any lens anomalies like color fringing or vignetting at the edges can be handled via software in post-capture.
"Dealing with aberrations this way was a conscious choice by the company," adds Claesson. "We could have gone one of two different directions. We could have made a lot of these corrections physically inside the lens, which would have increased the size and weight of the lens, and also the cost of the lens to the consumer. Or we could use a good-quality lens and make improvements from a software application. That's the route that we chose to go."
Ghosting & Flare
Although chromatic aberration isn't exclusively a digital issue, ghosting and flare is unique to the format (Figures 5a and 5b). Canon's Westfall explains, "One of the big differences between a digital SLR and a film camera is the fact that you're using this image sensor with usually a low-pass filter in front of it. And it's a shiny surface. So if you're using a lens that isn't optimized for an image sensor, there's a risk—depending on which lens—that there will be some internal reflections that bounce back and forth between the image sensor and the element in question, which could be any element in the lens.
"What we've done over the last seven or eight years now is to work on developing coatings and make sure that the shapes of the individual lens elements are such that the flare and ghosting are minimized or eliminated."
Nikon's Heiner says, "Well before the new Nikon D3 was announced, our lens designers were busy in advance producing Nikkor lenses with new technologies to optimize their use with both our FX- and DX-format D-SLRs. Some of these include Extra-low Dispersion glass elements for minimal chromatic aberration and aspherical lenses, including large-diameter PGM (Precision Glass Molding) elements to reduce coma and other types of aberration even at the widest aperture. These lenses also benefit from Nikon's exclusive Nano Crystal Coat—an extra-low refractive index coating that virtually eliminates internal lens element reflections across a wide range of wavelengths and is particularly effective in reducing ghosting and flare."
In the case of super-telephoto lenses, which have a large protective glass filter in front of the lens elements, both Canon and Nikon use a subtly curved meniscus design that prevents light bouncing back off the imager from returning into the camera as a ghost image. Older designs that used a flat-glass filter were known to suffer from this spectral ailment.
Collimation Of Light Rays
You've likely heard different opinions regarding whether light rays need to strike the sensor as straight as possible. Some manufacturers say this isn't an issue because of a sensor's micro lenses. Other manufacturers will argue that the collimation of light rays is still an important part of digital lens design, regardless of the sensor's micro lenses.
Schneider Apo-Digitar 120mm ƒ/5.6 with a
Rollei #0 shutter release
Sally Smith Clemens of Olympus, says, "When you think of a piece of celluloid and you think of the silver-halide crystals, they're like little grains of sugar or sand. They're dimensional, and they can collect light from stray angles because they're sensitive all the way around. An electronic imaging sensor has a flat surface, and each of the photo diodes have depth, much like a bunch of shot glasses lined up in a row.
"The light has to actually enter each one of those photo diodes at a perpendicular angle all the way across the sensor, even to the edges. The optical design has to be able to bend the light so it hits the sensor at a more perpendicular angle so the light goes all the way to the base of each diode."
The fact that most sensors now have micro lenses on each pixel to help direct the light is certainly evidence that collimation of light is a concern for digital capture.
Says Canon's Westfall, "The bottom line is that with the micro lenses that we have over the individual pixels on the sensors, we're gathering as much light as we possibly can. So even if light hits the sensor at oblique angles, it's not going to result in any aberrations like extra chromatics. And it also doesn't have any strong effect on vignetting."
Although it isn't likely everyone will ever agree on how straight light rays need to be when they hit an image sensor, there's consensus on how well light is resolved. Generally, most would agree that it does have to be higher for an image sensor compared to film.
The same could be said of lenses for medium- and large-format cameras that can accommodate an optional digital back or film magazine, or vice versa. Take a Mamiya RZ67 Pro IID, for example. It uses 6x7cm and 6×4.5cm interchangeable film magazines, plus you have the option of using the ZD digital back or others on the market. The ZD back has a CCD that's 36x48mm, which is 1.25 times smaller than 6×4.5cm (60x45mm). That's roughly the same as using a 35mm film lens on a digital camera with an APS-H-sized sensor, which is 18.7×28.1mm.
So if you're shooting with a medium-format camera and switching back and forth between capture formats—film and a digital back—you want lenses that have a big enough image circle to cover 6x7cm or 6x9cm and still have enough resolution for the digital back. The Mamiya Sekor Zoom AF 75-150mm ƒ/4.5 D and Sekor AF 28mm ƒ/4.5 D Aspherical lenses are specifically designed for the demands of both formats.
There are other medium- and large-format lenses that have this capability, but this isn't true across the board. Paul Cousins, large-format lens specialist of Schneider Optics, says, "If you compare our Digitar lenses to a large-format film lens that projects onto a 4×5-inch piece of film, to get that same image quality on a digital sensor that's 36x48mm—about one-third the size—the resolution has to be much higher, which is certainly the case with our Digitar lenses. Some film lenses have high enough resolving power for today's high-megapixel digital backs, but not all of them.
"The problem that the lens designers face is, as the resolving power gets greater and greater, the image circle gets smaller and smaller. So they have to make a compromise somewhere. They have to have a lens that has enough resolution for a digital chip, but also has enough image circle to cover these digital backs. That's where the balance lies."
Cousins says different lenses have different-sized image circles, so you always need to verify if a particular lens will match your requirements.
Au Final
At the end of the day—beyond all the technical details of why and how—it's about quality. What are the best lenses for your camera, either the one you own or the one you rent when you go in the studio or out on location? What will get you the best possible images when you snap the shutter? No amount of editing will ever make up for lack of quality at the moment of capture.
Lenses designed for digital capture have many advantages over analog lenses, to be sure. Not in every case—there are exceptions, as we mentioned. But there are some good reasons why everyone is making them now and why you should consider using them if you haven't already.
want to do? Or can I use one I already have, even if the lens isn't specifically designed for digital capture?
Schneider Apo-Digitar 120mm ƒ/5.6 with a Rollei #0 shutter release
Tagged with → Lenses


text:
Pikachu – specie di Pokémon
Pikachu – virus informatico
Pikachu Records – ex etichetta discografica
Pokémon Pikachu – serie di videogiochi di mascotte virtuali
Yago Pikachu – calciatore brasiliano

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
What George Harrison Taught Me About Becoming a Better Man
November 11, 2013 by Zachary
George Harrison wrote and recorded some of the most powerful and spiritually-illuminating songs in the history of popular music. He was also the lead guitarist in the world's greatest, most celebrated, and commercially successful rock band, though in later years this became less interesting to him than seeking to know god.
George Harrison was rock royalty by the time he turned 21. Dubbed "the quiet Beatle" by a characteristically simplistic press, George was only "quiet" because, as he put it, reporters rarely asked him questions worth answering. As the world succumbed to Beatlemania, George's dissatisfaction with fame and propensity to introspection gradually lent itself to an intense spiritual thirst that became a constant throughout his life.
George was mostly interested in the big questions in life — Who am I? Where am I going? Where can I find meaning? — and was relentless in his pursuit of answers. His encounter with Autobiography of a Yogi at 23 changed his life forever, and set him on a spiritual path that took precedence over fame, wealth, and women.
In 1970 George's wife Pattie embarked on an affair with her husband's best friend, Eric Clapton. Betrayed by two of the most important people in his life, George turned inward for solace. And although their relationship was strained for several years after, George would eventually resume a deep and close friendship with Eric. George even performed at Eric and Pattie's wedding in 1979, and the pair toured Japan together in 1991.
George was no pushover. And the question of his reconciliation with Eric was less about forgiveness than it was about a lack of ego, and a visceral understanding of the permanence of change. Furthermore, it seems that George recognized the futility of trying to hold on to something that you never truly "had" to begin with. Too many men don't know when to let go of something that was never theirs in the first place.
Wives, girlfriends, mistresses — we may borrow some of their time, and share some of our own with them, but they are never "ours." Clinging on to something will never give us peace, and neediness is corrosive to self-esteem, growth, and happiness. George didn't "need" Pattie — and he knew it. Pattie didn't "complete" George as a person because George was already complete; whole; perfect. As are you and I.
When he was in the Beatles George was forced to contend with the greatest songwriting partnership in music — Lennon/McCartney — each time he wanted to get his own songs included on a Beatles album. George could have been bitter and spiteful in competing with his bandmates, but instead he was patient, honing his craft until the quality of his compositions were worthy of the Beatles name. "Something," "Here Comes the Sun," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" can easily compete with any Lennon/McCartney composition in terms of quality. Frank Sinatra once called "Something" his "favorite Lennon/McCartney composition," but I'm sure George would have just laughed. The importance of what you do is in the doing, not in some temporary ego gratification you experience as a result.
For George, there were many things that were more interesting and fulfilling than being a Beatle. Exposed to the trappings of fame from a young age, George realized that no matter how much his wealth, power, and influence grew, his ego would never be satisfied; the ego's appetite for recognition and gratification is ravenous, and it is only when we refuse to feed it that we can begin to find real peace. Freedom is in the dissolution of ego as a means for achieving peace and happiness. Ego-based satisfaction is always short lived. Rock royalty or not, George knew that "things" — money, women, recognition — would never make him truly happy, so he decided to go beyond.
George often seemed slightly insecure about his abilities as a songwriter, though this didn't stop him from producing one of the most successful Beatle solo albums — the brilliant All Things Must Pass — and scoring a number one single with "My Sweet Lord" shortly following the Beatles' breakup in 1970:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kNGnIKUdMI]
I don't mind telling you that "My Sweet Lord" is the most played song in my iTunes playlist. There is something almost otherworldly about it, and I have encountered no other pop song that offers comparable peace, inspiration, and motivation to achieve big things. George achieved big things with this song, and in life more generally.
There are many lessons that we can take away from George's life; important lessons about priorities, change, purpose, and happiness. In closing, it is tempting to write that the world was robbed of a great man when George died, but I believe he is still with us, as are we with him. We are fortunate that he lived.
For a more comprehensive portrait of George the man, check out Martin Scorsese's excellent documentary "George Harrison: Living in the Material World:"
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGMMXK-661M]
Filed Under: Inspiring Men Tagged With: george harrison, personal development, self-improvement, the beatles


LINCOLN, Neb — The push for a Nebraska civics test is on, and there is push back against it.
On Tuesday, lawmakers will take testimony on a bill requiring Nebraska school districts to give a civics test to students by 8th grade and again no later by 11th grade.
Questions from this 100-item civics exam are given to immigrants seeking citizenship in the United States.
The Nebraska State Education Association, the union representing the state's public school teachers, opposes the bill.
NSEA Executive Director Maddie Fennell said the opposition comes from the feeling that lawmakers are jumping into curriculum areas that should be handled by the Nebraska Department of Education.


text:
Thistle Theories #05 - Laura Beth Ramsay
"My Thistle Theory came from a dream I had: in it, Thistle had been a poor and meek magic student, controlled by the cruel lady we caught a glimpse of in one of the flashbacks, talented but timid. She was involved - unwillingly - in a Drath ritual, and killed as a part of that. However, her spirit was eventually brought back to her body. Decomposition was halted, but not reversed. There's a prophecy about to do with the resurrected one, but Thistle knows she can't be the one it's referencing. This isn't resurrection, it's resuscitation, a far cry from the 'new life' that the language specifies. Maybe she's a voice crying in the wilderness, maybe it's from her sins or the sins of her parents, maybe her punishment is to die twice... she knows she has to be alive for a reason, but maybe that reason is a cruel joke."
- Laura Beth Ramsay
While the DotL Team is off prepping for Book II, we will be spotlighting the creativity and inventiveness of the readers, and what theories they created during the production of Book I as to who and what Thistle was!
Today's Theory is given to us by Laura Beth Ramsay, who also created her own artwork to illustrate her vision. I really love how bittersweet and tragic it is - but also kinda full of promise? Like, you could take it so many different ways from here.
The biggest thing I love about all of these Thistle Theories is that it just goes to show how dang clever everyone is. These are legitimately stories I would love to read myself.


One advantage of an RV lifestyle is that you are free to explore the wilderness. Your RV is your home on wheels, taking you where you will, when you will. Many people are not able to indulge in their passion for traveling to remote areas, for the lack of resources to buy an RV. This is where used RV sales are a big help. You can look for used RVs in the classifieds under 'Used RV Sales'. There are typically a number of RVs on sale at any given time.
California is one state where you will find many used RVs on sale. Seasoned RVers are always looking to upgrade their motor coaches with better accessories, or on the lookout for latest models. Here is why you may be able to get a good bargain by keeping an eye on classifieds under 'Used RV Sales - California'.
It is obvious that you will inspect the used RV. The major problems associated with any used vehicle could be related to water leaks. Look for give-away signs of water damage. Is there an abundance of sealant or silicone around the window edges? What about the corner moldings? Do you see extra sealant along side them? Look at the roof. What about sealant around the vents? Check the seams for cracks and flakes. The abundance of sealant any place is a sure sign of water leakage. Check the corners behind the lockers. Do you see any stains? Does the floor feel spongy? What about the ceiling? Do you see it sagging? Do you see any stains on the ceiling? If your answer is 'yes' then that particular vehicle is unfit for purchase.
You can continue to look around. The classifieds under the heading 'California Used RV Sales' will get you your RV.
Another great place to look for used RVs is Texas. With all those oilmen around, they are bound to be upgrading their RVs. You will need to scan the classifieds under 'Texas - Used RV Sales'. There are many good used motor homes available to choose from. You might locate a great used class c rv in bryan,texas. A good used recreational vehicle, whether it is a Coach, a Motor Home, a Truck Trailer, is around one half the cost of a new one. Whether it is a 38' Country Coach Intrigue or Monaco Dynasty Luxury Coach, a Winnebago Adventurer, Fleetwood Bounder (gas) or Holiday Rambler Endeavor (gas), a Fleetwood Savannah Fifth Wheel, or a Wanderlodge Bluebird, the classifieds or a local dealer will tell you where they can be available.
The Texas RV Center specializes in Used RV Sales, offering over thirty years of experience. The quality Fifth Wheels, Travel Trailers and Motor Homes are thoroughly checked, clean and ready to hit the road. They are also ready to trade in your current trailer or any RV for any of their used 40' fifth wheel rvs of your choice. This location offers financing with approved credit. A used rv class c in Texas can be a great find.
Systems Check among others - water lines, taps, traps, fresh water tank, water pump, for water leaks. Window seals and mechanisms, roof vents, cupboard latches for operation. T.V. antenna, booster, fold down camper, if applicable.
Appliance check - this includes refrigerator, stove, oven, furnace, microwave, hot water tank, air-conditioner and generator. Operate the appliances to see if they are in working condition. The fridge will require a few hours' wait to ensure that it is cooling properly.
Running Gear Check - Inspection and function of the brake shoes, magnets, drums, wheel bearings, axles, springs, and tires.
Do not forget to test drive the vehicle to see how it handles in different road conditions.


This stove top is beautiful. The elements are powerful and has cut my cooking time in half. I am still getting used to the cooking settings since I replaced a 30 year old cook top that took 25 minutes to boil water. The only problem I am experiencing is how to keep the cook top clean. I have tried the wipes and sprays.for glass cooking surfaces, and they are useless. If anyone has any tips, please let me know. Something this beautiful should not look dirty!
Have one at our primary residence, got this one for our vacation home on Hilton Head Island.
I especially like the ergonomic layout that places the two smaller burners behind the large main burner. I set up smaller pots or pans on those two and leave them to simmer, allowing me to focus my attention on the medium and large burners which are generally being used at a higher temperature. Kudos to the design. Also, the "simmer" and "zone size" options on the selection controls are wonderful tools.
The fourth cook top we.ve owned in this particular kitchen. The first one we have owned that met/exceeded our expectations. One MANDATORY feature for us is the 'Control Lock'. We have frequent young visitors (grandchildren and their friends) and one household member, where we really need to control who can turn on the cooktop. The feature, while not 'ironclad' is certainly adequate to meet that critical need. The totally flat surface makes cleanup a snap, and the rapid burner heating, with a visual indication from the burner makes this a particularly good choice for us. The use of the digital controls has proven to be a bit daunting for 'analog thinkers', but with just a bit of use and practice everything seems to be very natural to everyone. First became interested in the product after reading a Consumer Reports review.
This cooktop is amazing. I love the touch screen controls. The cooktop looks amazing in my kitchen.
This product is impossible to keep clean even with the right cleaning products. I would not recommend this product to anyone.


text:
Wenger – Pat Rice is a true Arsenal legend
As it has been expected, Arsene Wenger's assistant manager Pat Rice (63) will retire at the end of the season after unparralelled srvice to Arsenal spanning over four decades.
He first joined the club as a youth team player in 1964, and after that he made no more than 528 senior appearances during 14 seasons. Later on, Pat spent 4 years at Watford only to come back as youth team coach to his boyhood team.
Next he joined Le Professeur's backroom staff back at Arsenal, following the Frenchman's arrival in 1996, and after becoming Wenger's right hand man, Pat's hard work and devotion helped the Gunners win 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups.
Arsene Wenger felt the need to pay tribute for all the help and good advice he received from his old friend during his years at Arsenal: "Pat has been amazing for me over the past 16 years. When I first arrived at Arsenal, Pat was always there and taught me so much about this great club,"
"Pat is a true Arsenal legend and has committed almost his whole life to Arsenal football club, which shows huge loyalty and devotion to this club."
"I will always be indebted to him for his expert insight into Arsenal and football as a whole. On the training pitches and on matchdays, Pat has always been a passionate, loyal and insightful colleague, who we will all miss."
Patsy has dedicated 44 amazing years to Arsenal and I believe that his only regret is that he doesn't have another 44 up his sleeve to give to the Gunners.
The new assistant manager who will replace Rice is Steve Bould, a loud, loyal and another popular ex-Arsenal legend, especially known for his strong opinions. Let's hope he can get those defenders singing from the same hymn sheet!
Posted in Arsenal NewsTagged legend, loyal, Pat Rice, Steve Bould, Wenger
Previous Post Sessegnon a live alternative to M'Vila for Arsenal?
Next Post Wenger – We can cope with the pressure and we HAVE to win
Aussie Jack says:
It will be interesting to see Wenger`s reaction to an assistant who opens his mouth and has opinions different to himself.(I hope).
Pat has been a long serving member of the staff and highly regarded but like all of men who stay 40 plus years in one job they become part of the wood work. The change will do Arsenal good.
Meopol says:
Deluded idiot. You know nothing about the job structure. Wood work, my ass. Go and support Chelsea


Tushar Singhvi heads CE-Ventures, which is the corporate venture capital arm of Crescent Enterprises. In this role, Tushar is responsible for evaluating and executing new investment opportunities on behalf of Crescent Enterprises. He also manages the portfolio companies through strategy and corporate development. He has been instrumental in cultivating corporate prospects and in contributing to the development of Crescent Enterprises' strategic and operational plans within the ports and logistics, business aviation, healthcare, and private equity verticals. Tushar has more than 15 years of global experience in investment management, corporate development, strategy development, and project management in sectors including power, logistics, oil and gas, healthcare, and infrastructure development. He has worked on a range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, divestitures, and debt restructuring. Before joining Crescent Enterprises, Tushar worked with KPMG Corporate Finance in Dubai and, earlier, with an investment banking firm in London. Prior to that, he spent five years working in the power and infrastructure industries in Asia and Africa.
Where does alpha exist in digitalised economy? How can institutional investors access it?


This renovated 3 bedroom house is bigger than most 4 bedroom homes. Boasting 3 living areas, 2 bathrooms, water views, and lots of storage throughout including a walk-in robe off the master bedroom & plenty of off street parking.
* An incredible kitchen with gas cooktop, dishwasher, and stone counters.


What a great way to start our 4th of July week-end celebration. SORAsound is now representing Ortofon.
On display, we will be having an Ortofon MC A90 and MM Black. The Ortofon MC A90 will be used on DaVinci Audio inUnison turntable and a Graham tonearm.
Roughly a year ago, my manufacturer/ distributor friend, Robin Wyatt whom I respect tremendously and whose line I represent told me about Ortofon A90 and suggested I pick the line. It took a while but I am glad I chose to do so. After talks with Ortofon, and satisfied customers, I realized this is a line that SORAsound needs to add to its already extensive and high quality line of products.
Please contact me for your Ortofon related needs. I am still learning about the product line but am so impressed that I am considering letting my customers try it and compare with some cartridges at significantly higher prices. Go with a name that has proven itself.
Congratulations! This is great after all this misery with ZYX. Recently I listened to an Ortofon cartridge together with the PHY-HP tonearm and Platine Verdier turntable; simple and great!
Hans, good morning and thanks for the kind post. Welcome back home. I call you in a couple of hours.


Metaglossary.com - Definitions for "stock index"
Index of market prices of a particular group of stocks, such as the SP 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index.
(plural: stock index or stock indices) an indicator of stock market activity that sums up market performance in one number. Reflects the current prices of investments in comparison to the past, and is based on the prices of a representative selection of companies in the market. Can be calculated as a simple average of prices of particular stocks (price-weighted index) or as an average based on the total market value of the particular companies (value-weighted).
A composite measure of the movement of a market as a whole consisting of a large number of shares which are usually representative of various sectors of industry. Indices ususlly carry some form of weighting which can reflect, for example, the differing importance of components or market capitalisation. See Weighted Index.
Stock index is a measurement of the trend of share prices. The BSE, NSE NASDAQ are the three most widely quoted market indexes.
Index like the Dow Jones Industrial Average that tracks a portfolio of stocks.
A way of using a select group of stocks for long term evaluation. The performance of a group of stocks that the sponsor of the index regard as important is averaged and over time that average serves as an indicator of the market's general movement. For example, the FTSE 100 is an index of the share prices of the 100 largest companies (by market capitalisation) in the UK, which is updated throughout the trading day. Stock indices are designed to give investors an idea of the general movement of the stock markets and its overall value. By comparing the performance of their own portfolios with the performance of one of the stock indices, investors can see how well they have done from a comparative point of view. In particular they can see whether they would have been better off putting their money in an index tracker fund.
A securities price indicator such as the Nasdaq-100, Standard & Poor's or Dow Jones series created to measure the relative value of the market.
A composite index that represents an entire stock market. It is generally the average of the market's representative stocks. One of the most representative index of the Paris Bourse is the CAC 40.
A device that measures changes in the price of a basket of stocks, and represents the changes using a single figure.
An index of the market prices of a certain group of stocks, for example the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500.
A statistical composite that measures the price changes in the stock market.
Dow Jones Industrials Average — see Dow Jones Industrials Average above. NASDAQ Composite — see NASDAQ Composite above. Russell — see Russell Index above. Standard & Poor's 500 — see S&P 500 above.
Index that tracks a portfolio of stocks (S&P, Gold,..).
Index of market prices of a particular group of stocks, such as the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq Composite Index. Indexes often serve as barometers of performance for a given market or industry.
An indicator used to measure and report value changes in a specific group of stocks. For example, the TSX Composite Index Index measures 300 stocks with the greatest market capitalization of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
An indicator used to measure and report value changes in a selected group of stocks. How a particular stock index tracks the market depends on its composition–the sampling of stocks, the weighing of individual stocks, and the method of averaging used to establish an index.
A collection of stocks whose value is a benchmark for the overall movement of a particular type of stock.


text:
Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1
Download Paper | Permalink
Robots in Education
Tagged Division
Computers in Education
14.309.1 - 14.309.14
10.18260/1-2--4847
https://peer.asee.org/4847
Paper Authors
Alexander Mentis United States Military Academy
Charles Reynolds United States Military Academy
Donald Abbott-McCune United States Military Academy
Benjamin Ring United States Military Academy
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Cementing Abstraction with a Concrete Application: A Focused Use of Robots in CS1
Teaching abstraction, modularity, and encapsulation, as well as the essential skill of reading, understanding, and using code generated by other programmers is important in an introductory programming course (hereafter referred to as CS1). A problem often encountered, however, is that the details of the underlying code hidden by good and interesting abstractions are often too complex to be used to teach beginning programmers to read and understand code written by others. This paper introduces an easy-to-use Ada wrapper package for the iRobot® Create platform's Open Interface specification that is useful for illustrating the topics above, but it is implemented with code that is also relatively easy for beginning programmers to read. The accessibility of the underlying code further allows for its easy use in exploring more advanced concepts in follow-on CS and computer engineering courses. We believe our package and our approach toward its use support the successes other educators have had in integrating robotics into their curricula and overcome some of the difficulties that have been encountered.
The motivation to create a wrapper for the iRobot® Create's serial command Open Interface specification initially came from a desire to improve the way we teach abstraction, modularity, and encapsulation in our CS1 curriculum. In addition to the treatment we give to those topics during normal lecture hours, our students also participate in a two-hour lab, with a graded take- home portion, in which they are expected to use an instructor-provided package to solve a problem. Our CS1 course assumes no prior programming knowledge other than a broadly- scoped information technology course taken by all our freshmen. The CS1 course is taught using Ada, so that is the language we used for our wrapper package. Ada was convenient to use for that reason, but we also believe the use of Ada lowers some of the barriers to using robots in the curriculum that others have encountered, and we discuss this later. Because of the way Ada provides encapsulation, Ada packages consist of two files: a specification, which describes the package's API; and a body, which contains the package's implementation.
Previously, the lab on packages typically consisted of a block of instruction focusing on the contents of the specification and how to use it, followed by a brief exposure of the "scary" implementation the API was altruistically hiding. The capabilities the package usually provided, while useful, were admittedly less than compelling, and the implementation was rarely, if ever, looked at again. The benefits of introducing our Open Interface wrapper package into this lab are three-fold: it serves to present a context for the discussion of abstraction and encapsulation that is more interesting to our students, implementing algorithms to control robots reinforces numerous basic programming and engineering skills appropriate to cover in CS1, and, most notably, the hidden details of the implementation are still simple enough to be used later in the CS1 course, or elsewhere in the curriculum, to illustrate more advanced programming and hardware concepts. It is this last point that we feel has been largely overlooked in other robotics integrations.
APA - LaTeX bibitem
MLA - LaTeX bibitem
EndNote - RIS
Mentis, A., & Reynolds, C., & Abbott-McCune, D., & Ring, B. (2009, June), Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1 Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4847
Mentis, A., & Reynolds, C., & Abbott-McCune, D., & Ring, B. (2009, June), Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1  Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4847
\bibitem{asee_peer_4847}
Mentis, A., \& Reynolds, C., \& Abbott-McCune, D., \& Ring, B. (2009, June), \emph{Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1}
Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference \& Exposition, Austin, Texas.
Alexander Mentis, Charles Reynolds, Donald Abbott-McCune, and Benjamin Ring.  "Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1".  2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas, 2009, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2009.  https://peer.asee.org/4847 Internet.  31 Jan, 2023
Alexander Mentis, Charles Reynolds, Donald Abbott-McCune, and Benjamin Ring.
"Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1".
\emph{2009 Annual Conference \& Exposition, Austin, Texas, 2009, June}.
ASEE Conferences, 2009.
https://peer.asee.org/4847 Internet.  31 Jan, 2023
@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_4847
author = "Alexander Mentis, Charles Reynolds, Donald Abbott-McCune, and Benjamin Ring"
title = "Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1"
booktitle = "2009 Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2009"
month = "June"
address = "Austin, Texas"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/4847}
number = {10.18260/1-2--4847}
TY  - CPAPER
AU  - Alexander Mentis
AU  - Charles Reynolds
AU  - Donald Abbott-McCune
AU  - Benjamin Ring
CY  - Austin, Texas
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Cementing Abstraction With A Concrete Application: A Focused Use Of Robotics In Cs1
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/4847
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--4847
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2009 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015


High performance refers to the miracles you accomplish everyday like meeting a deadline or just getting dinner on the table (even if it's take-out 😉).
Daily stress can build up and move us from a state of balance to dis-ease (lack of ease), the precursor to most illness.
Chiropractic increases clarity, flexibility and ease in the communication pathways of the body which allows your body's self-healing processes to flourish.


text:
Utah Beauty School Students Volunteer for Miss Inspirational Pageant
Women with disabilities are often given short shrift in society, but this is not the case in Orem, Utah. Twenty inspiring women with disabilities fulfilled their childhood dreams by competing in the Miss Inspirational Pageant in March 2015. Beauty school volunteers from the Paul Mitchell beauty school in Provo made the women look stunning by doing their hair and makeup.
With the theme "The Secret is Out," these women gave their inspiring histories to people who had no idea about their backgrounds and skills. Present to evaluate them were a number of young pageant queens. This included Miss Utah County and 2014's Miss Orem.
These judges looked at a three-dimensional view of the contestants using a rubric to score them on such things as their interviews, poster displays, and evening gowns. Brenna Mills, Miss Teen Orem for 2013, was quoted in the Deseret News as saying "It was hard not to just give them all 10s."
Orem senior Donna Brayton took home the Miss Inspirational crown after a tight race. TURN Community Services hosted the pageant at Orem's SCERA Center for the Arts. This agency is the oldest nonprofit provider of disability services in Utah.
The pageant was made possible by the support of the community, which rallied around the event. Even the dresses and gowns were donated along with the judging services, emcee, food, flowers, and photography services. All of the contestants took home multiple gift bags.
The first Miss Inspirational Pageant was held in 2010, but TURN associate director Dave Hennessey says that they plan to hold this inspiring event annually in the future and will make it an Orem tradition.


text:
Crushing on My Father's Best Friend
The Complete Second Chance Lovers Bundle
By: Austin Bates
Narrated by: C.S. Harder
Categories: LGBTQ+, Romance
Heaven's Ballroom
A Contemporary Mpreg Romance Bundle
By: Aiden Bates
Narrated by: Stephen Van Doren
Welcome to Heaven's Ballroom, the most luxurious club in the city - with the hottest omega dancers. This mpreg audiobook features two pesky ex-boyfriends, a lecherous boss who doesn't know how to quit, and the hope that sparks between two men looking for their own happily ever after.
Worth The Credit.
By Loyia T. Lopez on 11-14-19
Lovestrong Series Bundle: Volume One
By: Susan Hawke
Narrated by: Michael Dean
Lovestrong: A series about love, found family, and living one's truth in a small town. This bundle includes the first four audiobooks from this best-selling series and the prequel short that started it all.
By Kathryn M on 06-09-20
Sunnydale Vets: A Contemporary Mpreg Romance Bundle
Narrated by: Guillaume Dubois
Patrick thrives on spontaneity, mischief, and mayhem. Injured in a car accident in his teens, he hasn't let his limited mobility hold him back from experiencing all life has to offer. And when life offers up a cute vet just when he needs help for his service dog, Pepper, who is he to turn it down? Welcome to Sunnydale Vets, where love is the best medicine, and all it takes to fix your problems is the willingness to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
A wonderful bundle :)
By Clau on 09-29-19
Benson Brothers
A Contemporary Romance Bundle
By: J.P. Oliver, Linda Kandi
Narrated by: Gage McKenna
I came looking for family...I never expected to find love.... Lost parents, foster care, group homes...I've seen it all, and I wish I was over it. But now that I'm out of college I can't move forward until I find answers about my past. And that brings me to Bennet Wood. But it's not long lost relatives who change everything...it's Jay. He says he's just passing through, but he makes me feel like I've found a new home. I don't know what it will take to make him mine, but I have to try. Things are just heating up when I find out everything I thought I knew was a lie.
So many brothers
By Nichole R on 10-31-20
By: J.P. Oliver, and others
A Navy SEAL Mpreg Romance Bundle
Narrated by: Austin Jay
Mal has been fighting terrorism and fascism in Europe since he was a child. It's a rough life, but he believes in his cause. He saves people every day from terror attacks and worse. When he first encounters SEAL Team Twelve, they're an inconvenience - albeit a very attractive one. The next time he encounters them, they're in the same place, looking for the same crew. When Mal and his sister intervene to save the SEALs' lives, he's thrown into a mission from which there is no turning back.
A hot mpreg with Navy Seals🔥
By RACHEL REED on 10-27-20
Second Chance Lovers, Book 1
I can't love him. It's not allowed. Twenty years ago, I made a promise. If anything ever happened to Marc - my best friend - I'd step up and take care of his wife and baby son. I never thought I'd have to honor it. His wife, Lindy, is holding in there. But his son, Mason, isn't coping very well at all. It's gotten so bad that he may have to postpone his final semester of university. All I want to do is look out for him, and having me around seems to help. But I have a secret. It's more than grief. Mason wants me - the way an omega wants their alpha.
Sadly sweet
By Love222 on 11-14-19
The Significant Brothers Collection
By: E. Davies
Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux
After zero-gravity heroics left astronaut Nicolas Rogers injured, his new job as a hermit — er, park ranger — seems perfect. Until he ends up babysitting rock star Deen Jayse, sent to the Smoky Mountains by his manager for image rehab. Behind their personas, they're startlingly similar. Yet Deen can't just drop everything to go live in the mountains, and Nico can't abandon them. After a taste of being together, how can they face a future apart?
Sexually Explicit. Sweet. OTT
By Yennefer of Vengerberg on 07-02-20
Dig Deep: A Contemporary Romance Bundle
By: J.P. Oliver
This complete Dig Deep bundle includes five books in the series, including My Enemy Needs Me, a sweet and steamy enemies-to-friends romance.
An enemies to lovers steamy bundle!
Omega's Under Siege
4 Book Series
Narrated by: Bill Burrows
Seeing Teddy again takes my breath away. He wants us to be friends. Well...I want whatever he wants, whatever he needs. I'm not sure that he can want an alpha like me again - too much history between us, too much time since I broke his heart. But when he takes me to bed, I can't help but wonder if there's a second chance for us. And when he falls pregnant with my kid? It makes me the happiest alpha in the world.
A steamy boxset!
The Right Match
Omega Dating Agency, Book 1
By: Aiden Bates, Austin Bates
Narrated by: Randi Johnson
An older alpha with a taste for bad decisions. A kinky omega who's up for anything. An app that brings them together. Ramiro Danner has been around the block more than once. He's tired of playing around, but this alpha has a weakness for younger omegas who aren't interested in anything more than a fling. Ram never expected that agreeing to be a guinea pig for a new dating app would be anything more than a disaster, but when he meets Erik, all of that changes.
Too scared to let love in!
By: Aiden Bates, and others
A Dragon's Sacred Mate
The Guardian Dragons Complete Series Bundle
By: Aiden Bates, Jill Haven
Narrated by: J.K. Frysta
I don't have time for mysterious strangers. Even the really hot ones. I met him in a bar the night before I left to move across the country - and I never expected to see him again. But then he followed me.... It would be creepy if he was just a stalker - but he's not. He's a protector, shielding me from a group of nutjobs who believe in dragons. He saved my life - but now it's my turn. And apparently, the nutjobs aren't wrong. Dragons are real. And I hold the key to saving them all.
Dragons, mates, and an epic adventure!
By Amelia on 11-28-20
The Riley Brothers Collection
For the first time, enjoy the whole Riley Brothers series in one collection. If you've never met the Riley Brothers, it's time to dive in! The six novels included in this collection are: Buzz, Clang, Swish, Crunch, Slam, and Grind. There are two bonus short stories ("Boo" and "Jingle") that catch up with the guys four years later.
Delightful , Sweet and Heartwarming
Falling for His Comrade
An MM Contemporary Romance Bundle (Soldiers Support Group)
By: Jamie June
Narrated by: Lance Adams
They say love is like an explosion. But explosions haven't been so kind to Michael Wagner. Michael's given his life in service to the military. He had a plan - structure, discipline, focus. Thirty years in the Army before retirement. It only took one IED blast to change all of that, stealing his hearing and altering the course of his life forever. Joining some small-town support group? It's not going to change that. It's not going to give him back anything that he's lost...but maybe it's worth a shot, anyway.
Absolutely Stunning!
A Contemporary Gay Romance Bundle
Tyson Rowe knows that he only has one chance - so when his abusive boyfriend leaves his hospital room, Ty slips out the door before Mr. Wrong can come back and hurt him again. He's desperate to make it back to his hometown, knowing that even though the last few years have been rough, he has allies in his brother and his old friends that will see him safe. Get Made For You and the other 6 audiobooks in the wonderful and complete For You series bundle!
First book of the bundle is missing a chapter!!
Sunday Brothers, Book 1
By: May Archer
The job at Sunday Orchard was supposed to be temporary. A chance to gain some work experience, to have some fun. I had not expected to be welcomed into a family of gorgeous and weirdly efficient lumberjack-types, or to find purpose in the tiny Vermont town whose claim to fame seemed to be apple-based products and copious amounts of charm. And I most definitely hadn't expected to fall for Knox Sunday, my grumpy, burly, fifteen-years-older, reluctant roommate, with his infuriating lectures, his hot-as-fire body, his superior attitude - I've never been one to put down roots.
By Menotah Bolland on 10-21-21
Oceanport Omegas
Complete Series Bundle
By: Ann-Katrin Byrde
Narrated by: John Solo
This non-shifter mpreg bundle includes all six books of the Oceanport Omegas series, as well as several bonus scenes to round out your experience of the story. Full of love, babies, puppies, and romance, these stories are guaranteed to leave you with a warm feeling this fall.
The full cast 🥰
Forever Wilde in Aster Valley
By: Lucy Lennox
When Miller Hobbs finds himself on a winter vacation in Colorado with the giant, exceedingly loud, Marian and Wilde families, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself. He's not really a Marian or a Wilde despite having DNA ties to both. So every morning before the rest of the family wakes up and fills Rockley Lodge with holiday merriment (and noise), he escapes to the quaint downtown of Aster Valley where he spies a man through the bakery window kneading dough and dancing to music only he can hear.
Spruce Texas Romance Box Set
Books 1-3
By: Daryl Banner
Narrated by: Chris Chambers, Sean Crisden, Kirt Graves
This exclusive box set collection contains the first three books in the best-selling gay romance series, Spruce Texas!
Love this,Trology
By Satisfactory on 12-15-21
I can't love him. It's not allowed.
Twenty years ago, I made a promise. If anything ever happened to Marc - my best friend - I'd step up and take care of his wife and baby son.
I never thought I'd have to honor it. Never even dreamed that something would happen to him. He was an unyielding presence in my life. Always solid. Always there.
And now he's dead. Murdered in cold blood.
His wife, Lindy, is hanging in there.
But his son, Mason, isn't coping very well at all. It's gotten so bad that he may have to postpone his final semester of university. All I want to do is look out for him, and having me around seems to help.
But I have a secret. It's more than grief. Mason wants me - the way an omega wants their alpha.
And heaven help me, but I want him, too.
I'm so sorry, Marc. I love your son. And now I don't know what to do.
Crushing on My Father's Best Friend is a dual point of view, contemporary mpreg novel featuring a guaranteed happy ending and the healing that comes through the power of love.
Get Crushing on My Father's Best Friend and five other amazing audiobooks in the complete Second Chance Lovers bundle today!
©2020 Special Fiction Books (P)2020 Special Fiction Books
Romance Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Sweet Sacrifice
Sweet Success
In Love with My Bestie
Resisting Temptation
What listeners say about Crushing on My Father's Best Friend
Written by someone who does not know gay men
Well first off, men don't get pregnant, not even gay bottoms, neither do they "get wet " when sexually excited. Add to that the fact all the bottoms are written as if they were squeezing giggling pre adolescent girls, and all the tops are written like the dream man of those same girls- effect is totally unrealistic. Also things like baby showers, sappy declarations of love to every friend they have and squeals of delight over cupcakes are not gay male things. This takes the feminization of gay men well past insulting and to a point even Nelly Olsen would consider overdone and cruel.
Shin Mon Thway
All the flavors
I like Austin Bates stories since they are always fun, short and sexy. They really are a delight to listen. And I think this story bundle is an underrated gem. You really get lots of flavor from this bundle.
Second chance lovers, secret pregnancies, best friends to lovers, rekindling old flame, Murder mystery .. you really get a lot from this one bundle. And although C.S. Harder is a new-to-me narrator, I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. It was really enjoyable. All in all, you really get a lot from one credit for this bundle, almost 40 hours of great, fun stories. Recommended!
4 All the flavors stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Audio rating
Story - 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Narration - 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performance - 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall - 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
RACHEL REED
A sweet and Charming bundle!
I absolutely loved listening entire series.
Each book is engaging with likeable characters and a guaranteed HEA.
The storyline and the author's writing appealed to me but the only snag was that I couldn't relate to the narrator's voice. It wasn't bad, just not what I was looking for. Having said that, it was an enjoyable listen overall.
the story was good the first 2 or 3 books suspense and love amazing. However OMG could there really be a worse narrator!! I mean he's reading an alfa omega part and he sounds like a little kid through most the story it ruined the books in my opinion
JUST NOT!!
This is the worst narrator ever i almost didnt finish it took me forever to finish and skip some chapters to almost the end to b able to do so dnt waste a credit on this books NO WORTH IT!!!
Love th books but not the omegas voices
The omegas are men. Hot guys way a female voice. The strong story was great just loved them all
Violet Marshall
This is the complete series bundle for The Second Chance Lovers Series. It includes 6 books that have good writing. The plots were entertaining and steady throughout the books. I found the stories and characters interesting. The characters were developed and thought out.
1 Crushing on My Father's Best Friend Beau and Mason are the MC's of this book.
2 In Love with My Bestie Axel and Sawyer are the MC's of this book.
3 Falling for My Lawyer Wyatt and Carter are the MC's of this book.
4 Falling in Love with Someone Different Issac and Gray are the MC's of this book.
5 Competing for His Heart Hunter and Levi are the MC's of this book.
6 Resisting Temptation Theo and Nolan are the MC's of this book.
The narration wasn't my favorite, but he did a good job. I can recommend this bundle as a good listen. I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book for an honest review.
Colleen Richardson
A collection...what a surprise!
I should pay more attention when picking a book. Didn't realize it was a collection of 6 books, didn't realize it was Omegaverse, didn't realize it was MPreg. Was pleasantly surprised all around. Enjoyed all of the stories the wound their way through a little town in Colorado. Most of the characters from book to book were friends so it was great following through them all finding their forever Alpha. Lots of enjoyable hours of listening. My only issue is a small one and not one that bothers everyone but is a peeve for me, the narrator mixed up names and pronunciation of some names and some words. Other than that, totally recommend.
Sweet bundle
This is a sweet bundle. Some stories are better than other and the narration is a little hit or miss through out with some interesting voicing for side characters but overall They pretty low angst and sweet stories. The can be read/listened to as stand alone and I had been through most of them but I did enjoy going straight from one to the other with the bundle.
Great Bundle
I received an ARC of this audio for my honest review. This bundle has 6 second chance love stories. The stories will make you laugh and cry. Austin is a great writer and I thought CS Harder did a good job narrating these stories.
Donna Hirsch
Nearly 40 hours for 1 credit well worth the $$$
Love Second chance stories, this won't disappoint. Mason & Beau, Sawyer and Axel, Wyatt & Carter, Gray & Isaac, Levi & Hunter and of course the biggest GLITTER BOMB and last but not least Theo & Nolan. Great stories full of emotion, and wonderful narration.
DLav
Hot and sweet
I adored this omegaverse series centered around age gap relationships between omegas and alphas. The author achieved the omegaverse, following all the "rules" of the alpha-beta-omega dynamics.
What I liked most about the series is how the age gaps felt natural and right. How the connections between the characters was strong and palpable!
All the characters were well written. Their backstories, personalities and actions in the story lined up with who the author lead us to believe they are.
The plot for each story was interesting, and thick with angst and tender moments that kept readers/listeners in the story.
The narration left a lot to be desired, not that it was bad per say, I'm just used to mm audiobooks with different sounding voices for each character. From the two main characters to every side character male or female it was the exact same sounding voice.
That being said: the narration was clear and the pacing was excellent. The passion behind the scenes was excellent.
Overall a fun bundle
As far as the entire bundle goes, this is a great deal for the amount of listening hours you are getting. I love being able to listen to a series like this, where the books are mostly stand alone, but all of the characters are from the same town and interact throughout each book, their story continuing on along the way.
I enjoyed the themes across all 6 stories, whether it be best friend's father or best friend, or new guy in town/enemy it was packed with fun and excitement. Two of the middle stories were my favorite, both for the characters and the situational events of their stories.
I would recommend this bundle to anyone looking for a sweet, long, romantic journey!
am big fan of Austin Bates
but am soo sorry I can't finish this book the narrator is making me uncomfortable its the kid voice for me .. when I listen to a story I get a visual of the story can't that voice put a kid in my head am sorry 😐😔 but NO
Emma Vago
Loved this series!
This is a super sweet series that I fell in love with! The narrator is new to me but I will listen to him again. I highly recommend this series.
Wonderful books!!
I enjoy a lot audiobooks of bundles of my favorite series because they allow me to hear all the amazing books one after another. Mr Harder made a fantastic job with his narration, showing us a charismatic performance with a spotless voice acting full of energy. Every book featured a captivating alpha/omega's love story, with some romance, a little angst and a lot of hot scenes. A very entertaining audiobook and the perfect way to read and reread this series!
Susie Umphers
Great stories, great value
This is a great set of stories by one of my favorite authors. I loved the age gap mixed with all the different tropes that show up in various books. The narrator did a great job of bringing all the characters to life, and what a challenge that must have been with so many different ones. I didn't expect this to be a comtemporary, omegaverse series, but was delighted to find out it was. The steam level in all the stories is high and in several so is the angst level as characters have to deal with their attraction to others they had considered out of bounds for various reasons. I wondered if over 39 hours would be too much, but I never got bored.
This is a brilliant bundle of second chance romances that I enjoyed listening to. Each book concentrates on a separate couple set in the omega verse and feature age gap as well. The narrator really brought all the different characters to life.
OldLadyStauffer
Variety of stories in one place
While the blurbs drew me in, I found this series was more fluff than anything. There was a little depth to each story, as it touched on different topics and tropes, but it was superficial, at best. That said, sometimes life is too heavy, and you just want fluff to take your mind off of things. If that's the case, or you like books along these lines on a regular basis, this series is for you. The characters intermingle throughout the series, so the time you spend with them doesn't end when their personal story does. Each book reaches its own HEA, and can stand on its own, despite sharing characters. C.S. Harder is a new to me narrator. Some of his voices I liked, and some I did not. He was able to keep the characters different enough that it's always easy to tell who was talking.
worth a listen
book 3 is by far my favorite story in this collection. definitely worth listening or reading .


Next up in my haircare week is a product from KMS California, a brand I had never heard of, so I was very excited to receive it and try it out. So one morning, I received a lovely little package from lookfantastic/hqhair, where I was kindly gifted the Polishing Serum* and another haircare product which I shall feature in the next few days.
So as I said before, I had never used anything from this brand, so I done my research on the product and this is something that I have been including in my haircare routine since I received it, and have really been pleased with the results. This Polishing Serum provides hair with more shine and improved softness and silky texture. As well as all-day frizz control and heat protection, this is definitely a great multi use hair serum.
I use this serum after washing my hair, and also on dry hair, focusing on my ends and lengths if they are feeling a little dry and looking frizzy, this stuff sorts that right out! Since using this on a weekly basis, I have definitely noticed a difference in the appearance of my hair, it looks much more shiny and healthy, and feels a lot sleeker and softer, as well as a reduction in visible split ends! A definite favourite for me at the moment!
Have you tried anything from KMS California before? Have you used the Polishing Serum? What hair serums do you use?
"A breakthrough in the science of hair, L'Oréal Laboratories have created L'Oreal Elvive Fibrology Thickness Creation Double Creation, proven to give long-lasting thickness wash after wash. Hair looks & feels thicker, with body & bounce."
When Boots had there lovely 3 for 2 deal on a while ago, I needed a third product to pick up and didn't really know what I wanted, so this was a bit of a random purchase. With the release of the Fibrology range from L'oreal, a range of products that claim to help thicken hair due to it's Filloxane technology. , there Double serum ended up in my bag to test out and see what it was all about.
Even as a lover of haircare products, I've never used hair serums before, so this was all new to me. The Double Serum is made up of two properties, a thickening serum which penetrates and thickens the hair fibre and a perfecting serum which helps to smooth out the surface of the hair. When pressing the pump at the top of the bottle, these serums dispense together and then I apply them to the lengths of my hair, avoiding the roots, once towel dry.
I've been using this serum for a good few months now, and even though it started off quite slowly, I definitely have seen a difference in the thickness and feel of my hair, and I am genuinely pleased with the results I have seen. My hair feels much thicker and smoother, and just feels in such better condition, those with long hair will feel my pain with how hard it is to make sure your hair is always looking good! As this is the only product I have tried from the range, I cant comment on how my hair would be if I combined all the products from the range to see how my hair would be like after use, but I am very happy with the serum, so I would definitely try out some of the other products in the Fibrology range.
Have you tried the L'oreal Double Serum? Have you tried out any of the other products from the Fibrology range? Would you recommend any of them to me?
After winning a Twitter competition recently, my goodies were this AreaH20 Duo Haircare Pack*, containing a hard water shampoo and conditioner made for normal/fine hair. If you haven't heard of AreaH20 before, they are an effective and highly research brand whose haircare products are something that works with the water type in your hair, which in time helps to create cleaner and more manageable hair for you.
"Area H2O Hard Water Shampoo (250ml) and Conditioner (200ml) Duo is revolutionary. Scientifically formulated by biochemists it works to combat the effects of mineral deposits on hair in hard water areas.
Different water types affect hair in different ways. Area H20 Hard Water Shampoo – Normal Hair (250ml) is designed to act as a magnet, attracting mineral ions, allowing you to wash them away easily. This means your hair will look and feel noticeably cleaner, smoother and shinier."
After identifying your water type and receiving the correct products, these cleanse the hair of any nasty toxins and help to improve the condition of your hair, which is great! After using these for the first time, the very next day after they arrived, I was amazed with the results. My hair felt so light and bouncy, looked super sleek and soft and just felt really well cleansed. I was pleasantly surprised!
Have you heard of AreaH20 before? Would this be something you would be interested in trying?
I don't know about you, but whenever I take a trip into town to do some shopping, I always find myself in Poundland, as I have been made aware of so many beauty must haves, and for just £1, they need to be tested out!
On my latest trip, I picked up this little gem, Argan Oil Heat Defence Spray with Moroccan Oil Extract. As a lover of all things haircare, this was something I was super happy to try out and see how it compared to my beloved TRESemme Heat Defence which I have been using for years, and so far I am impressed as this to me is just as good.
With having long hair, I do my best to keep it in the best condition and looking healthy, so I have used so many hair products in the past that I know what works well for me, and this heat defence is something that I have really been loving. I simply spritz this evenly through towel dried hair before blow drying and straightening and I know my hair will be protected. The spray pump makes this so easy to apply and makes sure you get all your hair covered. It has a special formula that helps prevent damage and breakage from using heat tools which is a must have for me, plus the added oil helps to leave your hair feeling silky and soft, and if definitely does that! The only thing that I am a bit love/hate with is the smell, it is slightly strong but not too overpowering, just smells like a salon shampoo.
So if you find yourself browsing Poundland any times soon, I would definitely recommend checking out the beauty aisles as you never know what gems you will come across. If you're looking for a new heat defence, then I would definitely tell you all to go and grab a bottle of this, as for only a quid, IT WORKS!
Have you used this heat defence spray before? Have you picked up any bargains in Poundland recently?


Hello, it is Masayo, a cutout paper artist.
This time, I would like to explain using deep-sea fish "King of Herrings" which is also my masterpiece work, using moving pictures and photographs under construction of cutaway works with motifs. It is a masterpiece that took seven months to produce. Please see it. Thank you.
Thank you also for your blog.