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Category Archives: Game design
Iridescence mobile development update
When I was at the Boston Festival of Indie Games with Iridescence, I'd tell anyone who asked about the mobile versions that they were about two or three weeks out. At the time I had every reason to believe that to be the case, but it turned out to be a little more complicated than I had anticipated.
This will be a moderately technical post, so the short version: Iridescence is still coming out on mobile devices (iOS, Android, and even Windows 8 phones), but it won't be as soon as I had hoped.
Now onto the technical side of things.
Iridescence is written in Haxe, which is a language that aims to act as an intermediary between platforms. Instead of writing C++ for desktop platforms, Java for Android, Objective C for iOS, and C# for Windows phone, Haxe allows you to write in one language for all platforms, translating itself into the one that's best supported by each target. On top of Haxe comes OpenFL, a framework that mimics the Flash API but has support for OpenGL and runs as a native application. A single codebase, a familiar API, and great performance? Almost sounds too good to be true.
A week before launch, I plugged in my Android tablet to get a build running. It had been my intention to have a tablet on the exhibition table so people could see the game running on a variety of platforms. I'd had it working in the past without any issues and without having to change a single line of code, so I expected it to be uneventful.
I'm at a total loss to explain what's going on. At first I thought it was just a matter of the renderer acting up, but the music doesn't start either. Worse, I get this same behavior if the app is entirely empty. Other games work just fine, so it's not a problem with the device. On my friend's brand new Moto X nothing displays at all, so it's not a matter of the tablet being below required specifications.
I've spoken to the OpenFL community and development team to no avail. A new beta version of the framework came out and had the same problem. Worst of all, I tried to roll back to an earlier version that had worked before and I couldn't even compile. The OpenFL ecosystem is in a constant state of flux, with new build toolchains and dependencies popping up seemingly every time it updates, and the older (working) versions weren't compatible with the new tools.
At this point it was time to start considering my options.
I could hunker down, wait for another OpenFL release, and hope that it would solve my problems.
Or I could bite the bullet and port the whole game back to C# (the language I wrote the original gamejam version in) and use Unity.
I'm choosing Unity. I'll be using the Futile framework, partially because the API is Flash-inspired and will be easier to translate code between, but mainly because it's a fully code-oriented workflow and only has support for 2D. When I first started working on the improved version of Iridescence Unity still didn't have support for Linux and doing 2D work was a hassle. Not so any more. When I'm finished, this version will replace the current Windows/Mac/Linux Haxe-based one.
It'll be a tough road but I'm ready to do what it takes. I leave you with the first step.
This entry was posted in Game design, Games, My games, Programming, Rants and tagged C#, haxe, Iridescence on October 9, 2014 by Jake.
Menu work
This week in development on Iridescence I've been focusing on menus, settings, and save data. Here's what I've implemented as feedback when the player tries to open a level that hasn't been unlocked yet. The animation is inspired by WordPress' login window, and I think it's pretty clear what's going on.
This entry was posted in Game design and tagged haxe, Iridescence on February 20, 2014 by Jake.
1GAM 2013: Postmortem
2013 is over and, thanks to OneGameAMonth, I managed to finish 12 games over the course of the year. I wanted to talk about each one a little bit.
January — Must've been rats!
January's game was the result of my participation in the Global Game Jam, working with Chris Logsdon and Paul Ouellette (with voice work by Mike Elser). It was a lot of fun to make despite not entirely fitting the jam theme, and its a lot of fun to play thanks to its overall silliness. I'm really happy with how well it turned out given the limited amount of time and relative complexity of the systems we were working with.
Here's my full post on this game.
February — Humphrey's Tiny Adventure: Remastered
I'm still very happy with Humphrey. For the small amount of time I put into it, it's one of the more polished games I've finished and I enjoyed figuring out ways to convey the story without any words. Despite my love for open-ended systems-driven gameplay, point-and-click adventures will always have a special place in my heart due to their role in my childhood, and I'm glad I was able to make one even as minimal as this.
March — No Other Home
Chris and I made No Other Home for NASA's "Dark side of the jam" event that we attended at NHTI. It was pretty ambitious and we ended up taking a bit longer than the initial 48 hours to finish it.
Looking back on it there are a bunch of things I would change to make the gameplay feel better, but overall it's pretty solid and I love the way the solar system looks.
April — Vanguard Charge
Vanguard Charge was born from a combination of my frustration with the limitations of Mass Effect's Vanguard abilities and inspiration from the results of TIGSource's "Bootleg demake" game jam. The goal was to capture one specific element from a well-known game and present it in a way that feels like a cheap knockoff product. I only spent a few days making this and there's admittedly not a lot going on, but it's fun to play and that's what matters.
May — Bit Cave
Another game jam entry with Chris, this time to celebrate the revival of the Flashpunk forums. I love the atmosphere in this game. The tension between exploring further and staying alive can actually get pretty high, and the caves are unpredictable enough that even I still get lost despite having designed the system that creates them.
June — Gunbuilding
Gunbuilding's caption on my 1GAM profile reads "The worst misnomer of all time", and that's no exaggeration. As a game it's an abject failure. The gameplay is simplistic, the visuals are terrible, and there's no way to win or indeed any reason to keep playing. The only redeeming quality this game has is that it allowed me to put my C# port of Flashpunk through its paces and fix a ton of bugs.
July — Slide
I've written a lot about Slide elsewhere, so I won't go into depth about it here. This was a fun game to make because I had to think backwards in order to create puzzles, which gave me a newfound respect for mystery authors and other puzzle game designers. It was received very positively in its initial state and I'm currently expanding it for a commercial release on mobile and desktop platforms.
August — MicroRL
MicroRL is another experiment without much in the way of gameplay. I wanted to take the ASCII aesthetic of classic roguelikes and try to make a minimalist game that felt good to play. Since the systems involved were so limited, I had to use some sneaky tricks to create situations that weren't explicitly allowed, like having friendly monsters that healed you by dealing negative damage. Overall it's not especially worth playing, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out.
September — SlangVN
My final pure experiment of the year (yes, that is a screenshot on the left). SlangVN was a testbed for my experimental scripting language Slang, in the form of a minimalist Visual Novel engine. Technically I guess I would call this a success since the purpose was only ever to test the expressiveness of the language, but the result isn't a game by any stretch of the imagination. The script is pretty nice though.
October/November — Color/Shift demo
Part of my strategy for hitting as many platforms as possible with Iridescence (formerly Color/Shift, formerly Slide) was porting it to the Haxe programming language. This release marked the point where the port contained all the features from the original game and could make use of all the same content. I spent part of the second month porting the game to Linux, which (thanks to Haxe's cross-platform magic) was almost entirely painless.
December — The Heroes' Tourney (beta)
The Heroes' Tourney started in yet another game jam and has gone on to become a serious project that I'm still working on along with the other guys on my team, as well as some new talent. So far everyone we've shown it to has had a blast playing and we think we might be on to something good. The official website is under construction here.
It's been fun participating in 1GAM, and I'm really happy with some of the games that came out of it. Looking back on it, though, I wish I hadn't followed along so rigidly. Some of the months would have been better spent concentrating on more serious projects instead of stressing about meeting the deadline, and I felt more pressure to polish up my experimental projects to submit them where I probably would have abandoned them earlier otherwise.
In 2014 I'm going to participate more casually, following the revised rules which encourage working on fewer projects for extended periods of time. I've got a promising solo project and a great team project to occupy my time for the next few months. We'll see where it goes from there.
This entry was posted in Game design, Life and tagged postmortem, year-in-review on January 22, 2014 by Jake.
Color/Shift input woes
When I released the Color/Shift demo, one of the main issues that were being reported was that dragging the pawns around was really difficult. This confused me as I had spent a lot of time painstakingly tweaking the controls so that sliding pieces felt natural and responsive, but it was obvious by watching people play that there was something seriously wrong. I made some changes to try to make it better, but the result was still pretty bad. The pawns would slide around loosely in any direction they wanted until crossing a grid line, at which point they would snap to an axis and move along it, It didn't feel good, and it introduced all kinds of new problems including the possibility of phasing through objects or traveling in two directions at once. Worst of all, it still didn't address the issue entirely.
Yuck. :(
I let it be and moved on to other things, planning to come back to fix it later. There was probably a little bit of hubris involved, if I'm being completely honest with myself; if I didn't have a problem controlling the game, other people shouldn't either, right?
A few days after leaving the issue behind, I was working on my laptop (most of Color/Shift's development has been done on my desktop computer) and suddenly started having the same problem as my testers. Pawns were moving sideways when I wanted to move up, and sometimes they wouldn't even move visibly before smacking into a wall to either side. What was going on?
As best as I can figure, the input issues had to do with the sensitivity of the mouse being used for control. My desktop has a high DPI gaming mouse with the sensitivity cranked way up, and my wireless mouse and laptop trackpad are much less precise. Armed with this new information, I set about making things right.
Here's a visualization of the way I'm handling input now. When the user presses the mouse button, the pawn remembers where the pointer was when it was pressed. In the image above, it's right in the center of the piece.
At this point, no dragging is actually done yet. The mouse must move 7px in any direction before the pawn will move at all; this is represented by the circle cutout at the center of the transparent fans.
When the mouse has moved far enough from its original position, its angle to that position is checked. If the angle is within 30° of an axial direction, the pawn is then allowed to move on that axis. If not, no movements are made.
The angle is relative to the mouse click position, so it's possible to start the drag by clicking anywhere.,
I still need to stress-test this to make sure it works for everyone, but it feels much better with all of my mouse devices and I have yet to move a piece in a direction I didn't intend since improving this mechanic. Feedback is important! Listen to your testers!
This entry was posted in Game design, My games, Programming and tagged Iridescence on November 11, 2013 by Jake.
7dfps 2013: Raycaster update
Progress on my raycaster for the first few days of the 7dfps challenge was really good. The geometry renderer was a ton of fun to work on and came together nicely. I played around with shaders for the first time ever and added a cool pulsation to the saturation of the colors that felt great, and Chris made a great background track that exactly fit the fast-paced arcade-style action we were envisioning. Everything seemed to be on track.
By the final day of the competition I had spent three days struggling with the math behind adding sprite rendering so my maps could contain objects besides wall cubes, and there was no way I was going to finish the project on time. Without support in the engine for multiple wall textures or world objects, there was really no possibility of making an actual game. Despite this, I'm still happy with the way the week turned out. I didn't even start until almost two days after the challenge began, and I got my first taste of 3d programming. It was a lot of fun, and I've been working on the engine on and off ever since with the idea of using it in some future game jam or next year's 7dfps.
An interesting glitch from when I was trying to add support for multiple wall textures.
Early sprite rendering.
In order to allow walls to occlude sprites, they have to be drawn one column at a time after doing a depth test to see if a wall has been drawn closer to the camera. Something went wrong here.
This is a little better; the portions of each barrel that's shaded pink is supposed to be skipped due to being behind a wall. It's not working quite right yet though.
The last image shows my current progress. There's still a long way to go before it's feature-complete, but I'll be shifting my attention off of this for a while to focus on my other projects.
This entry was posted in Game design on August 21, 2013 by Jake.
Music by Chris Logsdon.
7dfps 2013: Shaders and beats
7dfps 2013 : Writing a raycaster
When the first 7 day FPS challenge was launched in 2012, I remember wishing I could participate but knowing full well that I didn't have the skill to make anything of it. I'd never done any serious 3d programming and had no experience with the asset pipeline required for a 3d project. I decided I'd learn how to use a simple 3D engine in my free time over the following year and participate next time.
Well, it's one year later, 7DFPS is back in business, and I still have no experience in any of the above areas. I had already resigned myself to missing out again, but I happened to stumble across this article on writing a "pseudo-3d" engine such as is used in Id Software's early games, including Doom. I decided to give it a shot. Here's my progress for the first two days.
The first step is figuring out where the walls are. The above screenshot shows that not happening.
A bit of an improvement.
Wall segments are being drawn, but in completely the wrong places.
Segments are now positioned correctly. I changed the texture to a standard pink/black checkerboard for debugging, but it isn't showing up right. In addition, the perspective is "fisheyed", causing curved lines at the periphery of the field of view.
The elusive "perfectly textured wall" in its native environment.
Some awesome modern art I created while trying to fix textures.
The final result as of this writing. At this point the engine is basically done and I can get to work on some gameplay.
This entry was posted in Game design, Programming and tagged C#, raycasting, sfml on August 12, 2013 by Jake.
I'm 28, working in AML/RegTech in New Hampshire. I'm completely self taught and speak a bunch of programming languages fluently, with C# being my major focus.
I like writing, critical analysis, and oxford commas. I'm studying Japanese in my free time.
You can email me at jacob.albano (at) gmail.com. No spam please. :)
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Tag: America's Greatest Hero
Joey Scarbury – "Theme From The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not)" – 45 Single
Published on January 13, 2021 January 12, 2021 by 2loud2oldmusic34 Comments
Do you remember the TV series 'The Greatest American Hero"? It ran from 1981-1983 and was about an ordinary guy named Ralph who was given a superhero suit from a group of aliens…you know the space aliens, not the illegal ones. The suit gave him super human abilities like a super hero. Of course, Ralph loses the instructions manual and has to figure things out on his own which is where all the fun begins. Ralph Hinkley was played by William Katt, Robert Culp played FBI Agent Bill Maxwell and Connie Selleca played Ralph's girlfriend Pam Davidson. The first season of this show is basically an origins story and the origin stories are usually the best.
One of the really great things about the show was the theme song. Do you remember theme songs for TV shows? They don't really do those much nowadays. This one was called "Theme From The Greatest American Hero" or better known as "Believe It or Not" as the other is just too long to say. It was written by TV theme songwriters Mike Post and Stephen Geyer, but performed by Joey Scarbury. The song appeared on Joey's debut album which was called 'America's Greatest Hero' so it doesn't steal directly the shows name exactly.
As you can see, the back cover of the 45 sleeve is almost exactly the same as the front with the exception being the record label and producer information. I found this at an antique shop down in St. Augustine, Florida back in the Summer of 2020…yes, I travelled away from home during the pandemic. We rented a house near the beach with a pool so as to socially distance from everyone so there! When I saw this in the guys stack of 45's, it was a no-brainer for me as I loved this show (first season at least) and I loved this song.
Continue reading "Joey Scarbury – "Theme From The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not)" – 45 Single" →
Categories Pop Music, Single Review•Tags America's Greatest Hero, Believe It Not, Joey Scarbury, Little Bit Of Us, Mike Post, Stephen Geyer, The Greatest American Hero, Theme Song From The Greatest American Hero
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Sylvia: "Are you writing in a journal, Mom?"
Pearl: "Yes, I am, Sylvia."
Sylvia: "That's so old-fashioned! You should be writing a blog instead."
Sylvia: "Yes. A blog is basically a journal that is available on the internet.
Someone who keeps a blog is called a blogger."
you'd blow into a hankie."
I love it! I agree with Pearl on this one.
"Blog" has the same negative connotation to me as the word "jog." Both are so common and almost demeaning in my twisted perception. I even felt that way 30 years ago when I first began running. No matter how slowly I now run, by gosh I'm still a "runner," not a jogger. And since we have our own website, not a blog on someone else's website, I don't consider this journal a "blog" nor myself a "blogger."
I love writing this journal, even though I often fall behind. As several folks have told me, including Jim, it's better to be out there living life than writing about it. Not satisfied with just one of those alternatives, I want both.
Gee, do you think Jim can relate to this??
The journal has brought us new friends all over the world since we launched our website in 2005. It's a way to keep our friends and family apprised of our whereabouts and some of our activities. It also gives me an outlet for my itch to write and take photos, two hobbies I can continue enjoying even as my running "career" diminishes in intensity and importance. To my immense frustration I can't keep up with Jim on most of our runs but I can still savor the scenery and capture the experience with my camera as I walk and slowly run (not jog!!!) along.
We've been busy enough since we returned to our home base in Virginia that I've gotten 'way behind on this journal. My intent here is to catch up a bit with what's been going on (related to running, hiking, and traveling) since we got back in March. I'll begin in this entry with our tentative summer race and travel plans and an update on our training since the beginning of the year. In subsequent entries I'll talk about an important hiking milestone a friend reached recently, a new physical challenge I'm facing, preparing for our summer trip, and comments about turning 60 a month ago.
Until now I've deliberately avoided posting our race schedule for the rest of the year because it keeps morphing. Not only does Jim keep adding more races to his agenda, but my own plans have been thrown off because two of my intended winter races have been cancelled this year, both essentially victims of the lousy economy. One cancellation was announced publicly in mid-March (Sunmart). The other hasn't been publicly announced, only to the race committee, so I cannot mention it here yet. I'm still hoping that one gets reprised, even if it is in a different location.
The demise/hiatus of these events has thrown me into more of a tizzy than Jim because one of them was to be my goal race for 2009. Jim has so many interesting and challenging races planned this summer and fall that he's not all that concerned about winter races yet.
7/17 Tahoe Rim Trail, Lake Tahoe area, NV, 100 miles (Jim), 50K (Sue) - Jim's oldest son is also running TRT, his first 100-miler!
In September and October we're considering working and/or running a few more races in the Rockies and Midwest before returning to Virginia briefly to deal with the leaves falling on our lawn and roof (gotta find a solution to that dilemma when we get back). I won't mention the specific races since we haven't officially entered any of them yet.
All of the races listed above involve mountainous courses that reach altitudes much higher than we can find in Virginia. We can't easily train for altitude at home this spring but we can find plenty of short and long grades in the Blue Ridge Mountains to simulate the terrain we'll encounter in the Rockies. Roanoke's March and April weather has been typically variable, from cold and damp to hot and muggy. There has been a lot of much-needed rain. That's spring in Virginia, nothing unusual, so we've been able to train any day we've had the time and motivation.
Fifty miles on the smooth, undulating trails at Umstead helped Jim log time on his feet and forced him to run a little faster than he would run in a gnarly mountainous race. Promise Land, while not as long, gave him additional mountain training to supplement his hilly runs at nearby Explore Park and Stewart's Knob.
I keep encouraging Jim to train on the Andy Lang Trail near Roanoke or The Priest, a mountain farther north on the Appalachian Trail that David Horton uses to train for Hardrock and other difficult Rocky Mountain races. Both trails have significant climbs/descents over about three miles. Neither of us took that opportunity this trip home, however.
Jim feels the hilly terrain at Stewart's Knob, Explore Park, and on the Promise Land course (which he's run in training three times and during the race last week) are sufficient until he can get back to the Rockies. He'll get plenty of tough mountain terrain and elevations up to and over 10,000 feet in the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico and the Bighorns in Wyoming in a couple of weeks.
Jim is mostly pleased with his training distance and intensity since ATY. He believes he is better trained than he was this time last year and is optimistic about the races he plans to run. He has run from six (rest week after a race) to 70 miles a week since the beginning of the year and from 100 to 212� miles a month. He estimates a total of 190-200 miles in May. He has been able to avoid any illnesses and injuries for a year or more, which helps him to train consistently.
Although Jim is registered for the 100-miler at Bighorn he is considering changing to the 52-miler there so he will be more rested for the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT)100-miler a month later. Both are tough races with plenty of elevation gain and loss. His oldest son, Jimmie, is also running TRT. It's his first 100-miler. It's very special when a father-son duo runs the same ultra, especially one this long. It'll be fun to visit with Jim and his family, who live fairly close to the race course.
Most of my training miles the last seven weeks in Virginia have been on the relatively flat section of the greenway system in Roanoke that is dirt/crushed rock and not paved. I run there three or four days a week. At least once a week I train at Explore Park or Stewart's Knob to get in some hill training without straining my knees too much. I definitely need to ramp up training on hills and mountains before the Bighorn 50K next month, however.
My goal the past few weeks has been to gradually increase my mileage and work on steady stretches of running for 20 minutes at a time. That's more easily accomplished on the smooth, rolling Wolf Creek Greenway than the rougher, hillier trails at Explore and Stewart's Knob. I do more running than walking on the greenway, more walking than running at Explore Park.
My weekly running and walking mileage since the beginning of the year has ranged from a low of 20 miles to a high of 51 miles. I've done only one race during that time, and don't have another one planned until mid-June. I've increased my monthly miles gradually from 132 in January to 157 in April.
I estimate a total of 160-170 miles in May, although that will be more difficult because of travel time and the need to find suitable trails in New Mexico and South Dakota before our arrival in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming later this month. I figure I can find plenty of hills and mountains in those locales to prepare myself adequately (although not optimally) for the Bighorn and Tahoe 50Ks. Both races have very generous cut-off times so I can walk as much as necessary.
My plan is to train enough to avoid muscular-skeletal injuries like Achilles tendonitis from over-extending myself during those strenuous races -- but not training so much on steep hills/mountains that my knees hurt. After recemtly talking with a woman in physical therapy for two simultaneous knee replacements, I'm in cartilage-saving mode!
OK, I admit if I was really in cartilage-saving mode I probably wouldn't be running at all . . .
At this point I have no race plans after Tahoe Rim Trail in July. I'm having trouble getting excited about any races this year, mostly because I'm still in denial about my favorite race being cancelled this year. I'm researching alternatives but haven't come up with a suitable one yet.
Jim doesn't do much cross-training other than walking. He hasn't ridden his bike since we were at McDowell Mountain Park in the Phoenix area in January. He didn't renew his YMCA membership when we got back to Roanoke but he's done some weight work at home.
While we've been in Roanoke I've worked out on the LifeFitness machines at the Y three or four times a week and used some of their equipment for physical therapy that I don't have at home. I haven't done any swimming, pool running, or aerobic machines at the Y this spring.
I enjoyed riding Jim's mountain bike at McDowell Mountain Park and at Huntsville SP in Texas during the winter. Since we've been back in Roanoke, however, I've ridden my own road bike and Jim's bike only sporadically, mostly because we've been so busy with other things. I plan to do more cycling when we're on our trip this summer.
When we've taken Jim's mountain bike on previous trips we've been able to transport it in the long bed of the F-250. The new Ram truck's short bed doesn't allow space for it, so we hunted locally and online for a suitable bike carrier that would attach to the ladder on the back of the camper. We couldn't find anything but very flimsy racks to mount on ladders, and rejected the other types that mount on the truck roof or bumper receiver of the camper for various reasons.
You remember that quote about necessity being the mother of invention? Well, Jim cleverly fabricated a sturdy ladder-mounted rack for a mere $9 that should work perfectly! That saved us $40-50 for a flimsy commercial ladder mount and up to $200 for a sturdy receiver-mounted carrier.
Jim's got the bike tightly secured with several bungee cords so it doesn't slam against the back of the camper even when -- not if -- we hit bumps or go over curbs. (As much as we try to avoid going over curbs, it occasionally happens with a long camper.) There's even room for my road bike if we decide to take it on another trip. This summer we're taking just the less expensive Trek mountain bike again because it's more versatile and less likely to be stolen than my spiffy Terry road bike.


A timeless wardrobe essential this short sleeve polo is crafted in soft cotton jersey for your comfort. The basic mint design is tailored with a classic collar and buttoned placket.
60% Cotton 40% Polyester. Exclusive Of Trims.


Well, remember that sauerkraut I started a few months ago? Well, this week we finally determined that it was perfect and canned it into 18 quarts of yumminess.
We actually had to move the pickling crock it was fermenting in to the garage from the basement. For about a week after it had first started fermenting, I kept wafting something that smelled like someone forgot to take the garbage out in the kitchen. After determining it was not the garbage, I sniffed around the whole kitchen, convinced that the refrigerator had something smelly in it or even maybe the kitchen sink was leaking. Finally, it dawned on me that MAYBE that 5 gallon crock of fermenting cabbage in the basement might be the cause of the phantom stink. Sure enough it was. Last time I made sauerkraut, we were renting a house that had a separate, closed in room in the basement, which is why it didn't smell.
I removed the half gallon jar of water and plate it was sitting on top of to weight down the sauerkraut. After that, I skimmed off the floating sauerkraut on top and transferred the sauerkraut and brine to the pot using a pair of tongs and ladle.
I hot pack my sauerkraut and follow the canning instructions for sauerkraut as outlined in the Ball Blue Book. It is important to NOT allow your sauerkraut to come to a boil (heat it just to a simmer, then turn off the heat), as you do not want to kill all those very important probiotic yeast cells that were produced during fermentation. Plus, who wants limpy sauerkraut?
After heating, I pack my sauerkraut into prepared quart jars and fill to the top with the fermentation brine. I always make "extra" brine in case I don't have enough ladled out from the crock (which is almost always the case). According to the Ball Blue Book, 4 1/2 tsp. of canning salt per quart of water (heated) can be used for extra canning brine. I usually make a double, or even triple batch of extra brine and compromise with half fermented brine and half made brine for each jar. That way, each jar is getting a little of that natural, fermented brine.
Each jar gets 1/2 inch of head space and a batch of jars gets 10 minutes of processing in a boiling water bath. I usually have to process 2-3 batches, as my canner will only hold 7-8 quarts at a time. I process on a glass top stove and don't want to chance stacking quart jars in my canner and cracking the glass top (although I do want a new stove....hmmmm).
I usually get 16 -18 quarts per batch of sauerkraut in my pickling crock.
See the juniper berries? Yummy, yummy, yummy! I can't wait to grill up some bratwursts this summer and put a big ole' pile of home fermented sauerkraut on top!


One of the best grounds in the subcontinent, the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium has hosted some exhilarating encounters between Bangladesh and visiting teams since 2006. Also known as the Mirpur Stadium, this state of the art home of Tigers' cricket has given Bangladeshi supporters the euphoric moments of triumph etched forever in their hearts and minds. Let's revisit the best seven ODI matches when Bangladesh cricket and the country itself saluted the sweet taste of success.
17 April, 2015. 16-year jinx against Pakistan finally came to an end when Bangladesh defeated them in the first game of the three-ODI series by a whopping 79 runs. It was a day when records tumbled thick and fast. It was the first time two Bangladeshi batsmen scored a hundred in the same innings. Highest partnership by runs in ODI was achieved when Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim batted together for 178 runs. Tamim scored his first hundred against Pakistan as well as Mushfiqur. Tigers scored their highest ODI total of 329 runs in this match.
The script for Bangladesh's batting performance couldn't have been better. Solid opening stand followed by a long partnership and a late flourish from the power hitters. Never in the match did the Pakistani bowlers seem to have any semblance of control. Tamim and Mushfiq made the most of sloppy fielding from Pakistan and made them pay through their nose. Tamim scored 132 runs from 135 balls with fifteen fours and three towering sixes. Mushfiq was more dominant than the southpaw as he smashed 106 runs from only 77 balls with thirteen fours and two sixes to his name. Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman combined in the end to propel Bangladesh to their highest ODI total.
Defending 329, Bangladeshi bowlers were professional and extremely proficient in their business, keeping the Pakistan batters at bay with disciplined bowling supported by sharp fielding throughout the innings. After a descent opening stand, Pakistan kept losing wickets at the worst time as Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny were bowling brilliantly. Both of them picked three wickets and conceded less than six runs per over. Pakistan stuttered to 250 all out and gave a reason for Bangladeshi supporters to celebrate into the night.
22 April, 2015. With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series, a whitewash was in the offing. Thankfully for the Bangladeshi supporters at home and abroad, Mashrafe and co did not disappoint. They blew away Pakistan by eight wickets with 63 balls remaining in the match. "Banglawash" was accomplished in the most dominant manner. It was a day when the crowd at Mirpur was treated to a thoroughly professional performance from the Tigers.
Batting first after winning the toss, Pakistan started well with Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali playing sensibly. Azhar scored his hundred and soon departed, giving Bangladesh bowlers a chance to come back in the game. Bangladeshi bowlers grabbed the chance with both hands and began to strike in regular intervals. From a commanding position of 3/2013 in the 39th over, Pakistan were all out for 250 with one over remaining in their innings. Arafat Sunny and Shakib Al Hasan kept up the pressure with tight bowling and picked up two wickets each. Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain struck late in the innings when Pakistan were desperate for big hits from their batters. As a bowling unit, Bangladesh were simply brilliant considering the flat, batting friendly wicket at Mirpur.Coming out to chase 251 for victory and a historic whitewash over Pakistan, Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar took on the Pakistani bowlers with impervious confidence. Their 145 opening partnership snuffed any chance of Pakistan coming back into the match. After consecutive centuries, Tamim made 64 from 76 balls (eight 4s, 1 6s) and made the series his personal best. Soumya remained not out with 127 runs from 110 balls (thirteen 4s, six 6s). He scored his first ODI hundred in the most spectacular fashion. His partnership with Mushfiq ensured there were no more hiccups along the way to a memorable series against Pakistan.
16 March, 2012. It was a day when Sachin Tendulkar grabbed the headlines with his 100th hundred in international cricket. With accolades and adulations flowing from all across the globe on Tendulkar's remarkable feat, India seemed destined to top it off with a resounding victory over Bangladesh after posting 289/5 in 50 overs. Even the home crowd appeared slightly deflated after the Tendulkar, Kohli and Raina show. However, they were about to witness a terrific fight-back from the Tigers, on a day when they emerged as the real giant-killers of the Asia Cup tournament.
After the loss of Nazimuddin in the fifth over, Tamim Iqbal and Jahurul Islam built a solid foundation to chase down India's massive total with a 113-runs partnership. Although the required run-rate touched 8 per over, Bangladeshi batters did not let the scoreboard pressure get to them. They kept rotating the strike with relative ease and dispatched the loose balls with thunderous applause from the home crowdAs Bangladesh went closer to the target, Indian bowlers looked helpless in the face of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim's timely onslaught. When Mahmudullah smacked a boundary in the last over, Bangladeshi players came running out of the dressing room, congratulated and eventually mobbed their captain Mushfiqur. He scripted a famous victory that will have a permanent place in the hearts of Bangladeshi fans. 20 March, 2012. Three days after conquering India, Sri Lankan lions were the next challenge for the Tigers. Tigers went into this match with a new found confidence, and the self-belief to overcome tall odds. Bangladesh won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first. Nazmul Hossain vindicated captain Mushfiqur Rahim's decision with three big wickets before the tenth over. Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara were back in the pavilion with Sri Lanka reeling at 32 for 3.
The self-belief of Tigers was evident as the bowlers maintained their discipline while the fielders supported them all the way through. Chamara Kapugedera, Lahiru Thirimanne and Upul Tharanga were unable to break the shackles, and took their team to a below-par total of 232 runs in 49.5 overs.
When Bangladesh came out to chase the smallish target, Sri Lankan bowlers struck some early blows, but were unable to keep Tamim Iqbal quiet. His partnership with Shakib Al Hasan kept Bangladesh in the game before he was caught out for 59 runs from 57 balls. As the required run-rate was always within reach even after Shakib's dismissal, Nasir Hossain and Mahmudullah played sensibly to take Bangladesh home. In the end Tigers won by 5 wickets with 17 balls remaining in the match.
14 January, 2009. A day when Bangladeshi pacers Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain woke up on the right side of their beds, and surprised Sri Lankan batsmen with their spirited performance at Mirpur. After Bangladesh won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first, Mashrafe was on the money from ball one. He dismissed Upul Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara for naught set the tone of the day for Tigers.
After Sanath Jayasuriya's dismissal, Sri Lanka kept on losing wickets on regular intervals while Rubel Hossain polished off the lower middle order with four wickets to his name. Sri Lanka were eventually all out for 147 runs in this 31-overs match.In the chase of this modest total, Bangladesh faltered from the start. Two silly run-outs and Mushfiqur Rahim's dismissal left Tigers tottering at 11/3. Shakib Al Hasan decided to take matters into his own hands and began belting the Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park. His 91-run partnership with Mohammad Ashraful took Bangladesh to the cusp of victory. The top Bangladeshi allrounder did not fail to deliver as he took his team home with some outstanding batting against bowlers like Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Nuwan Kulasekara, remaining unbeaten on 92 runs from only 69 balls.
17 October, 2010. Tigers were on the brink of making history. A chance at winning the ODI series against New Zealand undefeated. New Zealand were desperate to avoid the whitewash. As Bangladesh came out to bat after winning the toss, Kiwi bowlers began spiritedly and took wickets at an alarming rate for the Tigers. Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim got a decent start but were out in the thirties. With Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori sharing six wickets between them, Bangladesh limped to 174 runs in the 45th over.
The target did not look too challenging for New Zealand, but they had yet to come to terms with the slow wicket at Mirpur Stadium. When they came out to bat, they found Rubel Hossain bowling like a man possessed. Rubel and Abdur Razzak blew away New Zealand's top order and left the Kiwis reeling at 20/5. From this perilous position, Grant Elliott and Daniel Vettori began to fight back and resurrect New Zealand's chase.Playing relatively risk-free cricket, they notched up a 86-run partnership and looked like taking their team home before Shakib removed Vettori for a well-made 43. The match swung back in Bangladesh's favour as New Zealand lost their ninth wicket, that of Andy Mckay with 30 more runs for victory. However, Kyle Mills kept chipping away at the target with the last man Hamish Bennett blocking resolutely. With 8 runs required of the last over, Mills struck the first ball from Rubel for a boundary. Two balls later, Rubel bowled him outright to give Bangladesh a 4-0 series victory over the Kiwis.
8 December, 2012. Fifth match of the Bangladesh versus West Indies ODI series, with both teams tied with two wins each. The series deciding match at Mirpur was a cliffhanger as Bangladesh and West Indies were desperate to come out on top. Bangladesh won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. Bangladeshi bowlers came out firing in all cylinders and sent back three West Indian batsmen by the eighth over.
Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo stopped the rot as they batted with caution and kept the Bangladeshi bowlers at bay. Their 132-run partnership was broken when Pollard was bowled by Mominul Haque and suddenly, Bangladesh came back into the match. West Indian wickets fell at regular intervals and they were all out in the 48th over for only 217 runs.
The target seemed like a bridge too far for Bangladesh as Kemar Roach destroyed the top-order with his hostile bowling to leave the Tigers floundering at 30/3. Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim began consolidating the innings, and looked quite settled before their crucial 91-run partnership was broken by Sunil Narine. Narine struck again with Mushfiqur's wicket but Nasir Hossain andMominul Haque were batting sensibly to take Bangladesh home. When Narine broke their partnership, Sohag Gazi's cameo took Tigers to the cusp of victory but Kemar Roach came back with two quick wickets to intensify the drama at Mirpur. Finally, Nasir Hossain hit the winning runs and ensured a 3-2 series win for Bangladesh.


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On Governments
In the United Kingdom we are governed by governments chose by those we elect to Parliament. Today the old Parliament has run its course and the people will soon be electing a new Parliament. The old Parliament deserved to be extinguished; the people deserve better than what it offered. Members of the Government's Opposition clung to their seats not to introduce or scrutinize legislation but to embarrass and humiliate the government as much as possible which largely left the government reasonably helpless and the people without a government that could govern.
It was said nearly two hundred years ago "that government is best which governs least" which a few years later Henri Thoreau turned into "that government is best which governs not at all". But the world has changed in two hundred years. Life is extremely complex now and the people of each nation need competent governments and deserve governments, ideally good governments governing according to the wishes of the majority of the electorate that chose their representatives in Parliament.
The experience of the past few years shows that our representative democracy when mixed with plebiscite democracy leads to chaos. Many of the members of the old Parliament representatives did not feel bound by the referendum and thought it perfectly democratic to subvert the results of the referendum because they believed that representative democracy is more democratic than referendum democracy. If they did not believe that, they must have believed that they knew better that their electorate.
For all that, those purporting to believe in representative democracy are (ironically) anxious to limit their own democratic powers (and the wishes of the electorate) by subverting their own powers to the powers of foreign institutions. One Parliament, in constitutional theory, cannot bind a successor Parliament. The way around this rather inconvenient rule of the constitution is if one elected government can enter into a foreign treaty then the provisions of the treaty can bind every future Parliament for long periods of time, because treaties are so much harder to overturn than legislation.
For this reason, certain politicians seek to tie the hands of future governments in fields like employment (called workers' rights) environmental policy and economic policy and immigration policy. Thus some politicians have sought to prevent future Parliaments elected by the people for putting into effect what the electorate may democratically vote for in future.
Effectively the electorate are told that they are not competent to elect a government with the powers that governments have enjoyed in the United Kingdom for hundreds of years. In fact governments that we may elect are also not competent; the only competent authority to govern us lies outside these islands.
I find this behaviour by certain members of the old Parliament as both immoral and disgusting.
Filed under: parliament | Tagged: Brexit, democracy, elections, government, Henri Thoreau, parlimentary democracy, referendum, representative democracy, Treaties |	1 Comment »
The Making of Laws
Once things were simpler; we had (in common law jurisdictions) laws created by custom (no more than what most people usually did), which turned into precedent, mostly solemnly followed by judges and laws made by the dictate of monarchs. Then, with the coming of Parliamentary democracy Parliaments made laws which they called statutes. Things became more complex.
Filed under: climate change | Tagged: guidance, Henri Thoreau, laws, making oof laws, parliament, regulations, statutes, statutory instruments |	Leave a comment »
A Tale of Taxes – Laughing all the Way to the Tax Haven
Posted on June 22, 2012 by Robert Kyriakides
Jimmy Carr is a successful comedian. He makes people laugh. His success enables him to earn a great deal of money, and people who earn a great deal of money are supposed to pay tax on what they earn as are people that earn modest amounts of money. In order to postpone or reduce the tax he paid Mr Carr entered into a tax scheme or device, under which he transferred his right to receive his salary to an offshore entity. However, Mr Carr still wanted to receive his salary and so as part of the deal, it seems, he borrowed money back from the entity. There would be no tax to pay on the loan, so he was in effect avoiding tax on a large income while still being able to spend it. Continue reading →
Filed under: climate change | Tagged: David Cameron, Henri Thoreau, jimmy carr, London Borough of Poplar, london stockbroker, tax, tax avoidance |	3 Comments »


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Marshall Ophthalmology
Shannon Martin, M.D. came to BluFish when she decided to launch her own practice, Marshall Ophthalmology. Having practiced in Marshall for many years, it was important that she inform current patients and the greater Marshall community of this new and exciting transition.
The first step of the project was to establish the look and feel of her brand, which included logo development, a color palette and type treatment that would help set her apart from her competitors. From there, the project expanded to include the development of a full stationery package, office signage, and an easy-to-navigate website.
Check out the website at: marshalleyedoctor.com
Brand Development & Strategy


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What does the Lie Detector Test measure?
Sep 10, 2017 | News & Science, Polygraph Examiner
A lie detector test is used to determine if the subject is lying about the statements that he has made regarding the accounts of an event, particularly those involving crimes. During the examination, the subject is put under observation by the equipment of the polygraph which is attached to his body and along with that, he is under continuous observation of the examiner who is an expert in forensic Psychophysiology. It is based on the principle that when a subject is lying during stating facts regarding an event, it produces involuntary physiological changes which the lie detector can detect. The instrument measures and records the blood pressure, pulse, respiration and sweat glands of the subject. The belief is that deceptive answers during the polygraph test will produce responses in the above-mentioned aspects which are different from those of true answers.
This machine is connected to different medical components which measure and record four to six physiological responses of the subject. They all measure the physiological responses caused due to the sympathetic nervous system during questioning. There are transducers in the equipment which read the information received and turn them into digital signals that are stored on the computer and also visible on the monitor. The computer uses high level mathematical algorithms to analyse this information. The modern scientific methods have been created by using the knowledge of physiology, psychology, pharmacology, toxicology, etc. in determining whether the subject is being deceptive or not. The human body has a nervous control which has two parts – the central nervous system made up of the brain and the spinal cord; the autonomic nervous system made up of sympathetic and parasympathetic.
Our central nervous system primarily controls all the sensory functions which occur above a threshold and might be voluntary. However, the autonomic nervous system produces autonomic responses from the body. When a person is under duress or influence of fear, emotions or excitement, it is the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system which starts producing changes in the heart and pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration and perspiration, voice tracing etc. So when the investigation is going on with the polygraph attached to the subject's body in front of the examiner, it is believed that the sympathetic nervous system starts acting and produces changes physiologically which the polygraph records. This is how the polygraph is able to measure and record the responses of the subject to various questions and determine the difference between truth and lie. The three medical instruments that the polygraph consists of are
Cardio-sphygmograph
The cardio-sphygmograph is a combination of a cardiograph and a sphygmograph. It doesn't look much different from the regular blood pressure cuff that doctors use. The cuff is tied around the subject's arms and it remains inflated during the investigation stage, which is usually about half an hour long. When the blood flows through the veins, it creates a sound which is transmitted through the air filled in the cuff which is used to amplify that sound. The blood pressure is measured by the amplitude of the sound and the heart rate is measured by the frequent changes occurring in the sound.
Pneumograph
The Pneumograph is another instrument of the polygraph which is used to measure the subject's respiratory rate. There are two air filled rubber tubes, one of which is tied across the subject's chest and the other around his waist. As the subject breathes, even the most minute changes are caught by the air filled tubes and that data is saved on the polygraph.
Galvanograph
The galvanograph is the instrument which records the perspiration that is produced. The skin on our fingertips consists of a high density of sweat glands, which makes it an ideal location to measure the amount of perspiration. The equipment has galvanometers, which are electrical sensors that are attached to the subject's fingertips. The amount of sweat touching the galvanometers is indirectly proportional to the resistance of the electrical current passing through it. The changes happening in the sweat glands are recorded by the polygraph. Many forensic psychophysiologists believe that the pneumograph and the cardiosphygmograph are more informative and accurate than the data from galvanometer.
Once the lie detector test is over, the polygrams are produced which are composite records of the Cariosphymograph, pneumograph and the galvanograph readings recorded from the series of answers. The forensic psychophysiologist analyses the subject's responses to all the questions that were asked during the test and gives scores for each of them. The total score is calculated and if it is large and positive enough, then the subject is believed to be true, but if it is largely negative, then the subject is believed to have been deceptive during the test. If the score is in some case close to zero, it means that the test was inconclusive.


Lead sheet is one of the most traditional materials used for roofs and façades. Even today it is the material of choice if particularly durable, high-grade solutions are sought for roofs and façades. Its combination of weather-resistance, cold forming properties, recyclability and compatibility with other construction materials is unique.
Röhr + Stolberg is a leading manufacturer of classic lead sheet to DIN EN 12588. It also offers groundbreaking innovations in lead sheet products. Its portfolio including surface treated Venusblei, coloured bleiCOLOR and tin-plated bleiPLUS contains variants suitable for restorations of historical buildings and modern architecture alike.
Lead sheet products from Röhr + Stolberg consist of 100% recycled lead and have received the coveted Environmental Product Declaration of the Institute Construction and Environment e.V. Professional training courses for installers and made to customer specifications special solutions complete our range of products for roofs and façades.


A fire caused about $50,000 in structural damage to three single-car garages in Costa Mesa, authorities said Friday.
An additional $10,000 in content damage was also reported.
The Costa Mesa Fire Department responded to the fire in the garages, which are attached to a two-story apartment at 3020 Fillmore Way, at 4:18 p.m. Thursday.
About 21 firefighters put out the fire in about 10 minutes, according to a news release. The fire was contained to the garages.
The fire was said to have been started accidentally.


It has nothing to do with Java or PDF but everything to do with the software industry and how we might use them. Every year the Longford Trust organises a talk – I went a couple of years ago to hear Clive Stafford-Smith (who is a bit of hero of mine).
This year it is Martha Lane Fox speaking and the talk is titled 'Views from a dot com dinosaur: why the digital disruption hasn't even started yet'. As founder of the lastMinute.com and one of the most famous faces of the dotcom boom, she should be well worth listening to.
So I will definitely be going along. The event takes place on Tuesday 16 November 2010 in London. Will you be there?


Blog » What Are the Credit Cards You Recommend for People With Good Credit?
We went out there and researched the best credit cards on the market, consider things like interest rates, rewards points, fees, and the like. You can see our recommended list of credit cards for people with strong credit here.
1. In our program, we recommend that you have three to five credit cards. If you are going to apply for more than one credit card to reach this goal, apply for them all at once. Part of your credit score is based on the age of your accounts. If you open one now, and then wait six months to open another, you will lower the average age of your accounts.
2. If you are married, do not apply for credit jointly with your spouse. You and your spouse should each apply for three cards.
3. If you have more than five cards, do not close them. This will hurt your score, and it will never help your score.
4. Don't put this off! The longer you wait to start building your credit score, the longer your credit score will suffer.


Dr. Luther W. Brady passed away Friday, July 13, 2018. He was the founding President of the American College of Radiation Oncology and one of the giants in the field, on equal footing with the likes of Juan del Regato and Gilbert Fletcher.
Dr. Brady was born in North Carolina and received his undergraduate and medical degrees from George Washington University in Washington, DC. He received his training in Radiology, Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the US Naval Hospital in Bethesda and in Philadelphia at Jefferson Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania. His career of teaching and clinical work spanned more than 50 years at Hahnemann University School of Medicine and continued at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. He served as department chair from 1970 until he stepped down in 1996.
Dr. Brady's contributions as an educator and clinician made him an internationally recognized leader in the field of Oncology. He was an innovator and especially known for the establishment of modern radiation oncology treatments of eye tumors, cervical cancer, iodine and ruthenium eye plaque brachytherapy, moulage techniques, early use of monoclonal antibodies with and without radiation in conjunction with the Wistar institute and interstitial brain implants. He also pioneered treatment of pediatric patients without the use of systemic anesthesia. In his 80s, he started one of the nation's first Cyber-knife Radiosurgery programs. He has over 600 publications and credits, was editor of the Encyclopedia of Radiation Oncology, was co-editor with Dr. Carlos Perez of Principles and Practice of Radiation Oncology and served for two decades as the editor of the American Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Brady trained more than 120 residents during half a century of mentorship. He was famous for sending improperly dressed residents home to return properly attired. He expected their absolute best effort before allowing them to move on with their training. Each resident was given what he called a "green banana", which was a research project that he had selected. The resident had to ripen, peel and bring it to fruition with a paper published in a peer review journal. He required the residents to understand the medical and surgical oncology literature better than the specialists. Only then could they teach medical and surgical oncologists their findings! Dr. Brady taught residents all aspects of radiation treatment including: brain, endobronchial, chest wall, tongue base and tonsil implants, moulage, eye plaque brachytherapy and all aspects of radiopharmaceutical treatments. He taught his residents not to cede follow up of patients to any other specialist and that early detection of second malignancies was their job. He also insisted that end of life care should be handled by a radiation oncologist and taught his residents many comfort and palliative techniques that are the art of Oncology.
His residents knew they were in the presence of greatness, yet Dr. Brady was kind, gracious, generous and devoted to each of them. He demanded excellence because he knew no other way. Residents from around the world rotated through the Department and there were visits from renowned researchers, professors and chairman from around the country. As their Chairman, Dr. Brady also eagerly introduced his residents to the arts and often provided concert experiences and introductions to renowned artists in Philadelphia. He took personal responsibility for their growth and success and students were frequent guests to his home, further providing them with gracious and generous support. Dr. Brady's long and illustrious career continued to enhance his former residents' lives for many years. He delighted in their accomplishments, often attending ribbon cuttings, lecturing and promoting their careers with his ongoing presence. When asked, he was always there for them.
Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Brady received an unprecedented number of accolades and awards from his colleagues. He received 24 medals recognizing his achievements and contributions to medicine, among which were the American Medical Association Distinguished Service Award; and Gold Medals from the American College of Radiation Oncology, the Radiological Society of North America, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the American College of Radiology and the American Radium Society. In addition, he earned honorary fellowships and medals from societies throughout the world.
Dr. Brady served his profession as a Fellow of the American College of Radiation Oncology, a Fellow of the American College of Radiology and Chair of the Commission on Radiation Oncology. Additionally, he was Chair of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and from 1991 to 1993, he served as the appointed chair of the radiation oncology committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
In addition to his academic and medical accomplishments, Dr. Brady's involvement with the arts was equally impressive. He was an avid art collector and worked on behalf of the Philadelphia Museum of Art serving as Chair of its Executive Committee and member of its Board of Trustees. He served on the Board of Directors of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Opera Company of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Opera Company, the Settlement Music School and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Colgate University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts in May 1998.
Dr. Brady's accomplishments in medicine and the arts are well documented but he was also an avid skier well into his 80s and was only sidelined when his knees gave out!
Dr. Brady was the primary driving force in the formation of The American College of Radiation Oncology. Many recognized that radiation oncology was not being adequately represented in the economic and political spheres. Several of us shared our concerns with Dr. Brady who understood that if our specialty was to remain viable and strong, we needed a separate organization to represent our interests. This is what distinguished him from other well-known Radiation Oncologists. He was passionate about the continued growth of Radiation Oncology from the very seminal level and felt that when he was honored, the entire profession was as well. In fact, Dr. Brady knew that the name the American College of Radiation Oncology had been registered by another organization in Delaware and that the registration was about to expire. He researched the exact date of expiration and drove to Delaware early in the morning and waited in line at the government office there before it opened for the day, so he could register the name and officially form the College.
Early on when we faced challenges from Medicare, Dr. Brady called upon the appropriate individuals to meet in Baltimore to resolve the issues. Despite opposition from sister radiologic organizations, he stood strong and was an inspiration to us all. He invited interested radiation oncologists from the private and academic sectors, representing diverse geographic areas, to the organizational meeting at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC in 1989. Initially, the College was run out of Dr. Brady's office at Hahnemann until a separate management office was established. Early on, Dr. Brady, along with Dr. Howard Wong, recognized the importance of having the American College of Radiation Oncology become a Specialty Society member of the American Medical Association. Our presence there as a strong voice for our specialty is essential and has continued uninterrupted. Dr. Brady also recognized the importance of a mechanism for practice accreditation and pioneered and promoted the ACRO Practice Accreditation program in the early 1990s.
Dr. Brady would often say, "We are first and foremost physicians who practice Oncology through our tools in therapeutic radiation." All that he did to support and promote our medical specialty and Oncology was true to this creed.
Dr. Brady will be remembered by all who knew him and worked with him, including his patients, as an incomparable and wise mentor and friend with a keen sense of what was truly important in this world. He remembered the names and details of the lives of the families of his friends and colleagues and never failed to take the time to inquire about their well-being. Dr. Brady had a knack for making others feel valued.
We can best honor this amazing physician by continuing his legacy of excellence in our specialty, caring for and about our patients and guiding others in the field. His dedication to his patients, colleagues and friends was obvious and will serve as a guiding light for us all.
Luther, you will truly be missed.


You searched for Engineering? In FiltraGuide you find a list of companies offering Engineering. The company information to the search key Engineering is displayed free of charge to all users. Alternatively you can also search for further products and services.


The programmable (logic) controller (PLC) is an electronic device for machine or process control. The PLC receives signals via inputs, processes them according to the instructions of a program, and transfers signals to the outputs. In the simplest case, the motor is switched with an electromechanical contactor. Combinations consisting of motor protection and line protection are termed motor starter. Motor-protective circuit-breakers are circuit-breakers used for switching, protection and isolation of circuits primarily associated with motor loads. Switch-disconnectors without tripping units are available in the same sizes as the circuit-breakers and can be fitted with additional shunt or undervoltage releases to suit on the versions concerned.
All the chapters end with a selection of exercises. These will help with assessing the trainees' performance criteria for the underpinning knowledge and understanding that is an essential part of their training. Finally, the author and publishers are grateful to Training Publications Ltd and Pearson Educational Ltd for allowing the reproduction and adaptation of their illustrations and material in this text. A highly readable text is supported by numerous illustrations, learning objectives and exercises at the end of each chapter, making Engineering Fundamentals a complete student-focused course that is ideal for classroom, workshop and independent study.
Op amps can't exist without feedback, and feedback has inherent stability problems, so feedback and stability are covered in Chapter 5. Chapters 6 and 7 develop the voltage feedback op amp equations, and they teach the concept of relative stability and compensation of potentially unstable op amps. Chapter 8 develops the current feedback op amp equations and discusses current feedback stability. Chapter 9 compares current feedback and voltage feedback op amps. The meat of this book is Chapters 12, 13, and 14 where the reader is shown how design the converter to transducer/actuator interface with the aid of op amps. Everyone interested in analog electronics should find some value in this book, and an effort has been made to make the material understandable to the relative novice while not too boring for the practicing engineer. Special effort has been taken to ensure that each chapter can stand alone for the reader with the proper background. Of course, this causes redundancy that some people might find boring, but it's worth the price to enable the satisfaction of a diversified audience.The emphasis on single power supply systems forces the designer to bias circuits when the inputs are referenced to ground, and Chapter 4 gives a detailed procedure that quickly yields a working solution every time.
From Portable Electronics to Industrial Products This book aims at bridging this gap, as many applications are reported in detail and others are mentioned, whereas less emphasis is put on batteries. However, basic characteristics of batteries and information on the latest developments are enclosed in a dedicated chapter. As is obvious, a 400-page single-author book cannot be as exhaustive as a multi-author large handbook. Nevertheless, the reader may find here, in addition to data on many applications, links to further literature through themany references that have been included. For researchers, teachers and graduate students interested in devices and systems drawing power from batteries, this book will be a useful information source. There are no books dealing with the large spectrum of applications powered by batteries. In other words, although some books cover specific topics, for example portable devices, electric vehicles, energy storage, no books that aim to summarize all battery applications have thus far been published.


Mirjam van Kerkwijk, born in 1979, the Netherlands. Pleased to meet you!
In short: I'm an independent writer with a great love for synths; the Fairlight in particular. It has a unique place in music history. There's a lot of technical information available, but what about personal experiences? Stories about the love for this illustrious musical computer? I decided to go out and collect them.
I must have been about five years old when I started listening to the radio. And that's were the madness began. I have vivid memories of hearing certain songs for the first time. Like Paranoimia by The Art Of Noise. Boy, did I wanted to know how they made those sounds! And Crocket's Theme by Jan Hammer. I just loved that warm, string sound at the beginning, and the melody… My childhood fantasy? Me, on stage, surrounded by keyboards.
This idea of collecting stories from Fairlight-users arose during a sleepless night, browsing through my favourite music. Unlike so many other ideas before, this one didn't vanish. I just couldn't turn it loose. So I decided: ok, let's do this! I was thrilled with the positive responses I got, and although I had to overcome some shyness, I enjoyed every bit of the Fairlight-talks! And I still do. It's such a great experience, speaking with all these talented and lovely people.
We are having a 40-year anniversary on our hands: in 1979, the first few Fairlights were sold to some great musicians like Stevie Wonder and Peter Gabriel. Reason enough to celebrate, by sharing these wonderful, conveying some music history.
Rob Puricelli and Peter Wielk for sharing their knowledge and providing me with a bunch of amazing Fairlight pics, Kees Jan Sloff a.k.a. Robotnik for designing the artwork (header/logo). Also, thanks to Ferdinand Buitenhuis, Martijn van Spijker, Sylvia Harms, Jody van Kerkwijk for their loving support.


Ronald Patrick Culhane, 71, of Columbia passed away on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010,at Autumn Meadows Nursing Home in Linn.
Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 4, at Campus Lutheran Church in Columbia.
Ron was born Sept. 11, 1938, in Bouton, Iowa, to James and Agnes Garvey Culhane. He married Peggy Larson on Feb. 16, 1966, in Belle Glade, Fla.
Ron was a member of Campus Lutheran Church, and he worked as a registered nurse for 42 years. Until his retirement in 2001, he worked at Columbia Regional Hospital and Callaway Community Hospital.
He enjoyed traveling with his family, watching movies and football and playing ESPN Fantasy Sports, but his greatest love was spending time with his grandchildren.
Ron is survived by his wife; one daughter, Karen Huggins, and her husband, Allen, of Columbia; and six grandchildren: Nick and Patrick Knoepfle of Minto, N.D., and Caitlyn, Garrett, Logan and Rylan Huggins of Columbia.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two daughters, Lisa Knoepfle and Amy Culhane; and one sister, Margaret Lowry.
Memorial contributions can be made to Lewy Body Dementia Association, 912 Killian Hill Road S.W., Lilburn, Ga., 30047, or online at www.lbda.org.


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What is Man-made Sources of Radiation – Definition
Man-made sources of radiation include medical uses of radiation, residues from nuclear tests, industrial uses of radiation, television, and numerous other radiation producing devices. Radiation Dosimetry
Radiation is all around us. In, around, and above the world we live in. It is a natural energy force that surrounds us. It is a part of our natural world that has been here since the birth of our planet. All living creatures, from the beginning of time, have been, and are still being, exposed to ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is generated through nuclear reactions, nuclear decay, by very high temperature, or via acceleration of charged particles in electromagnetic fields. But in general, there are two broad categories of radiation sources:
Natural Background Radiation. Natural background radiation includes radiation produced by the Sun, lightnings, primordial radioisotopes or supernova explosions etc.
Man-Made Sources of Radiation. Man-made sources include medical uses of radiation, residues from nuclear tests, industrial uses of radiation etc.
Special Reference: Sources and effects of ionizing radiation, Annex B. UNSCEAR. New York, 2010. ISBN: 978-92-1-142274-0.
Man-made Sources of Radiation
Since ionizing radiation has many industrial, and medical uses, people can be exposed also to man-made sources of radiation. Man-made sources include medical uses of radiation, residues from nuclear tests, industrial uses of radiation, television, and numerous other radiation producing devices. For example, in some kind of smoke detectors, you can meet man-made radionuclides such as americium-241. This man-made radionuclide is used to ionize air and to detect smoke.
It must be noted, most of these exposures are very low in intensity and the total dose and does not posse larger health effects. In each case, usefulness of ionizing radiation must be balanced with its hazards. Nowadays a compromise was found and most of uses of radiation are optimized. Today it is almost unbelievable that x-rays was, at one time, used to find the right pair of shoes (i.e. shoe-fitting fluoroscopy). Measurements made in recent years indicate that the doses to the feet were in the range 0.07 – 0.14 Gy for a 20 second exposure. This practice was halted when the risks of ionizing radiation were better understood.
There are two distinct groups exposed to man-made radiation sources. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) itemized types of human exposures as:
public exposure, which is the exposure of individual members of the public and of the population in general
occupational radiation exposure, which is the exposure of workers in situations where their exposure is directly related to or required by their work
Public Exposure
In general, the following man-made sources expose the public to radiation:
Medical Exposures (by far, the most significant man-made source)
Diagnostic x-rays
Nuclear medicine procedures (iodine-131, cesium-137, technetium-99m etc.)
Building and road construction materials
Smoking cigarettes (polonium-210)
Combustible fuels, including gas and coal
X-ray security systems
Smoke detectors (americium)
Lantern mantles (thorium)
To a lesser degree, the public is also exposed to radiation from the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining and milling to disposal of used (spent) fuel. Noteworthy, the public is also exposed to radiation from so called "enhanced sources of naturally occurring radioactive material". This means also industries such as metal mining, coal mining and power production from coal creates additional exposures due to densification of naturally occurring radionuclides. The public receives some minimal exposure from the transportation of radioactive materials and fallout from nuclear weapons testing and reactor accidents (such as Chernobyl).
For that reason, most regulatory bodies require to limit the maximum radiation exposure to individual members of the public to 100 mrem (1 mSv) per year.
Occupational Exposure
As was written, occupational exposure is the exposure of workers in situations where their exposure is directly related to or required by their work. According to ICRP, occupational exposure refers to all exposure incurred by workers in the course of their work, with the exception of
excluded exposures and exposures from exempt activities involving radiation or exempt sources
any medical exposure
the normal local natural background radiation.
In general, occupationally exposed individuals work in the following areas:
Fuel cycle facilities
Industrial radiography
Radiology departments (medical)
Nuclear medicine departments
Radiation oncology departments
Government and university research laboratories
Such individuals are exposed to varying types and amounts of radiation, depending on their specific jobs and the sources with which they work. For that reason, most regulatory bodies require to limit occupational exposure to adults working with radioactive material to 5000 mrem (50 mSv) per year. Toward that end, employers carefully monitor the exposure of these individuals using instruments called dosimeters worn on a position of the body representative of its exposure. In most situations of occupational exposure the effective dose, E, can be derived from operational quantities using the following formula:
The committed dose is a dose quantity that measures the stochastic health risk due to an intake of radioactive material into the human body.
See also: Dose Monitoring
Medical Exposures – Doses from Medical Radiation Sources
Radiation is used in variety of medical examinations and treatments. Doses from medical radiation sources are naturally determined, whether a person underwent a treatment or not. In general, radiation exposures from medical diagnostic examinations are low (especially in diagnostic uses). Doses may be also high (only for therapeutic uses), but in each case, they must be always justified by the benefits of accurate diagnosis of possible disease conditions or by benefits of accurate treatment. These doses include contributions from medical and dental diagnostic radiology (diagnostic X-rays), clinical nuclear medicine and radiation therapy.
The medical use of ionizing radiation remains a rapidly changing field. In any case, usefulness of ionizing radiation must be balanced with its hazards. Nowadays a compromise was found and most of uses of radiation are optimized. Today it is almost unbelievable that x-rays was, at one time, used to find the right pair of shoes (i.e. shoe-fitting fluoroscopy). Measurements made in recent years indicate that the doses to the feet were in the range 0.07 – 0.14 Gy for a 20 second exposure. This practice was halted when the risks of ionizing radiation were better understood.
In the following points we try to express enormous ranges of radiation exposure as well as a few doses from medical sources.
1 µSv – Eating one banana
1 µSv – Extremity (hand, foot, etc.) X-ray
5 µSv – Dental X-ray
10 µSv – Average daily dose received from natural background
40 µSv – A 5-hour airplane flight
100 µSv – Chest X-ray
600 µSv – mammogram
1 000 µSv – Dose limit for individual members of the public, total effective dose per annum
3 650 µSv – Average yearly dose received from natural background
5 800 µSv – Chest CT scan
10 000 µSv – Average yearly dose received from natural background in Ramsar, Iran
20 000 µSv – single full-body CT scan
80 000 µSv – The annual local dose to localized spots at the bifurcations of segmental bronchi in the lungs caused by smoking cigarettes (1.5 packs/day).
175 000 µSv – Annual dose from natural radiation on a monazite beach near Guarapari, Brazil.
5 000 000 µSv – Dose that kills a human with a 50% risk within 30 days (LD50/30), if the dose is received over a very short duration.
As can be seen, low-level doses are common for everyday life.
Tobacco – Smoking Cigarettes – Radiation Dose
In addition to chemical, nonradioactive carcinogens, tobacco and tobacco smoke contain small amounts of lead-210 and polonium-210 both of which are radioactive carcinogens. It must be emphasized, cigarettes and tobacco contain also polonium-210, originating from the decay products of radon, which stick to tobacco leaves. Polonium-210 emits a 5.3 MeV alpha particle, which provides most of equivalent dose. Due to decay of polonium-210, the annual local dose to localized spots at the bifurcations of segmental bronchi in the lungs caused by smoking cigarettes (1.5 packs/day) is about 80 mSv/year. Heavy smoking results in a dose of 160 mSv/year. This dose is not readily comparable to the radiation protection limits, since the latter deal with whole body doses, while the dose from smoking is delivered to a very small portion of the body. Many researchers believe that doses from polonium-210 are the origin of the high incidence of lung cancer among smokers.
Recall, lead-210 and polonium-210 are daughter nuclei of radon-222. Radon-222 is a gas produced by the decay of radium-226. Both are a part of the natural uranium series. Since uranium is found in soil throughout the world in varying concentrations, also dose from gaseous radon is varying throughout the world. Radon-222 is the most important and most stable isotope of radon. It has a half-life of only 3.8 days, making radon one of the rarest elements since it decays away so quickly. An important source of natural radiation is radon gas, which seeps continuously from bedrock but can, because of its high density, accumulates at the ground. The fact radon is gas plays a crucial role in spreading of all its daughter nuclei. As radon-222 decays into lead-210, lead-210 can be attached to dust of moisture particles and it can be sticked to tobacco leaves. When these particles are concentrated by smoking and inhaled as smoke, some of lead-210 is retained by the body. Since lead-210 is a weak beta emitter, it does not cause major doses, but polonium-210 does.
See also: Radon – Health Effects
The polonium-210, the decay product of lead-210, emits a 5.3 MeV alpha particle, which provides most of equivalent dose. Alpha particles, that belongs to high-LET radiation, are fairly massive and carry a double positive charge, so they tend to travel only a short distance and do not penetrate very far into tissue if at all. However alpha particles will deposit their energy over a smaller volume (possibly only a few cells if they enter a body) and cause more damage to those few cells (more than 80 % of the absorbed energy from radon is due to the alpha particles). Therefore, the radiation weighting factor for alpha radiation is equal to 20. An absorbed dose of 1 mGy by alpha particles will lead to an equivalent dose of 20 mSv.
Nuclear Fallout – Radiation Doses
In general, nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material from a nuclear blast that "falls out" of the sky after an atmospheric explosion. Fallout can also refer to nuclear reactor accidents, although a nuclear reactor does not explode like a nuclear weapon. The isotopic signature of fallout from nuclear blast is very different from the fallout from a serious power reactor accident.
In case of radiation doses from fallout, we consider the residual radioactive material from nuclear tests (not from reactor accidents) that were performed particularly in the two periods from 1954 to 1958 and from 1961 to 1962. According to the UNSCEAR, about 502 atmospheric tests, with a total fission and fusion yield of 440 Mt, were conducted.
Fallout from a nuclear tests consist of fission fragments and neutron activation products. When a blast takes place on the ground or in the atmosphere near the ground, large amounts of activation products are formed also from surface materials. The fallout is particularly significant in the neighborhood of the test site, since the larger particles and most of debris lands on the ground (local fallout). But smaller particles may remain aloft in the upper atmosphere for years. These particles can be therefore distributed nearly uniformly around the world, and contribute to so called global fallout. Equivalent doses from global fallout dropped from about 130 μSv/year in 1963 to about 10 μSv/year in recent years.
Radiation Exposures from Electricity Generation
In this chapter, we would like to discuss a very interesting fact. It is generally known, the increasing use of nuclear power and electricity generation using nuclear reactors will lead to a small but increasing radiation dose to the general public. But it is not generally known, power generation from coal also creates additional exposures, and, what is more interesting, while exposure levels are very low, the coal cycle contributes more than half of the total radiation dose to the global population from electricity generation. The nuclear fuel cycle contributes less than one-fifth of this. The collective dose, which are defined as the sum of all individual effective doses in a group of people over the time period or during the operation being considered due to ionizing radiation, is:
670-1400 man Sv for coal cycle, depending on the age of the power plant,
130 man Sv for nuclear fuel cycle,
5-160 man Sv for geothermal power,
55 man Sv for natural gas
0.03 man Sv for oil
Yes, these results should be seen from the perspective of the share of each technology in worldwide electricity production. Since 40 per cent of the world's energy was produced by the coal cycle in 2010, and 13 per cent by nuclear, the normalized collective dose will be about the same:
0.7 – 1.4 man Sv/GW.a (man sievert per gigawatt year) for coal cycle
0.43 man Sv/GW.a (man sievert per gigawatt year) for nuclear fuel cycle
Special Reference: Sources and effects of ionizing radiation, UNSCEAR 2016 – Annex B. New York, 2017. ISBN: 978-92-1-142316-7.
The above doses are related to public exposure. If we consider occupational exposure, regarding the mining of rare earth metals needed for construction, by far the largest collective dose to workers per unit of electricity generated assessed by the UNSCEAR came from solar power, followed by wind power. For solar power, occupational collective dose normalized to energy is a factor of forty and eighty larger than for the nuclear fuel cycle and coal cycle, respectively.
Note that, the collective effective dose is often used to estimate the total health effects, but according to the ICRP this should be avoided (see more: Collective Dose).
Sources of Radiation
We hope, this article, Man-made Sources of Radiation, helps you. If so, give us a like in the sidebar. Main purpose of this website is to help the public to learn some interesting and important information about radiation and dosimeters.
What is Cosmogenic Radionuclide – Definition
What is Radiation Exposure from Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Definition


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Too little, too late | 83 comments (83 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
"once they're out" (none / 1)
meaning, the stipulated mandatory date of exit, expiry date, or "conclusion" of the WA . The effects of that phrase are context-sensitive, ie. termination of negotiation, termination of a period of time, termination of UK membership in the TEU ("entry into force").
The WA conditionally releases UK from TEU rights, obligations, and (some) liabilities. It does not replace the TEU (with ETA). The WA "concludes" negotiation of procedures for exit, including but limited to disposal of community property and legal obligations. ECJ judgment about WA scope relies on TEU limitations.
The WA alters the mandatory date of exit from 29 March 2019 (de minimis period, A.50 notification minus 24 months) to 31 Dec 2020 (ADDING 21 months to the period), ergo the Council already approved extension of the withdrawal period. The EP has not yet approved, "concluded" or ratified, the WA.
Any requirement by UK to proffer a unique A.50 instrument to alter the statutory terms or A.50 notification period is fallacious. This is an error propagated by some UK politicians or press for speculations hinting that a narrow application of A.50 and ECJ judgment for "time limit" or wtf in order to obtain parliamentary ratification of the WA or PM "concessions" from the EU. This reasoning is as defective as was interpretation of "transition period" or "implementation period" over the prior two years, ostensibly superimposing ETA codification onto the WA.
[29 - 30 in re: UK ratification]
[40 - in re: objection to serial extension of negotiations]
[51 - 54]: "That maximum period of two years applies unless the European Council decides, unanimously and in agreement with the Member State concerned, to extend it."
[57, 69, 73,75]: "for as long as a withdrawal agreement concluded between the European Union and that Member State has not entered into force or, if no such agreement has been concluded, for as long as the two-year period laid down in Article 50(3) TEU, possibly extended in accordance with that provision, has not expired."
by Cat on Sat Jan 12th, 2019 at 10:40:22 PM EST
Oui 4
Too little, too late | 83 comments (83 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)