"Piracy already costs satellite television providers hundreds of millions of dollars per year"
I don't see what attacking ships on the high seas has to do with all this, nor do I agree with the assumption that copyright infringers would otherwise purchase content legitimately, and that you can therefore call it a "cost". Please stop propagating these two most egregious examples of industry propaganda.
"TippingPoint manager of security response described it as "an oversight on Sirius's side" and "just kind of sloppy.""
Back in the analogue days, we cancelled our subscription, and they told you what day it was due to go off. As long as you had the receiver turned off on that day, it wouldn't receive the signal to cancel the card and hey presto, free Sky! It worked for about six months before finally blocking us out.
The whole system relied on people turning on their receiver to see if they'd been cut off!
"Piracy already costs satellite television providers hundreds of millions of dollars per year."
That would be, no doubt, from all those satellite pirates swooping in and stealing expensive satellites. I'm sure that figure isn't counting every unpaid signal as a lost sale... right?
Who still believes this? People who steal usually do not have any money unless they manage to sell the loot. To fight piracy effectively you need to be honest yourself. So how is this any news?
"...costs satellite television providers hundreds of millions of dollars per year", and that's just the people who are watching without paying. The really devious bastards are the who don't pay or watch!. They cost these providers hundreds of billions of real dollars each year, and due to an unfortunately loop-hole in the law can't even be prosecuted!
Having said all that, I would hardly call it a 'cost' to Sky or any other satellite provider. The only way it's a cost ("loss of potential revenue" technically) is if people realise this flaw and cancel to take advantage of it. Most folks enjoying this 'benefit' were likely cancel-ees anyway.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the satellite radio company broadcast everything simultaneously (like analogue radio)? They send out the signal, and the subscriber's receiver picks it up and pulls the selected channel from that signal, right? If so, then they could have 57 trillion people receiving the signal without paying for it, and it still wouldn't cost them a single penny extra. They have to broadcast the data whether there's one subscriber or one billion. Any signal you can receive over the air (without you requesting the data) does not cost the company anything extra. Now, if you'd like to use alternate marketing speech such as "unrealized sales" or some such nonsense, then we can talk. But no, it doesn't *COST* them anything.
Asteroids to port bow! Avast, sunspots!
Thar's the comsat! Haul 'er in, boys!
Damn, does this mean I wont be able to record satellite radio in all its lo-def glory and complete with ads anymore ?
Shame, guess I will have to download some drm and ad free music instead. Or just tune in to yet another streaming radio station..
Or maybe the risk of satellite radio piracy is greater than the actual occurence/desirability ?
Seems they have fixed a flaw that nobody was interested in exploiting.
Wednesday 26th November 2008 01:49 GMT yeah, right.
"costs millions of dollars per year"?? Oh really? By whose counting? The same people who claim that piracy costs Microsoft billions, because any computer without windows on it is counted as a pirated version? Or the same people count the losses to the studios for pirated videos, using current retail prices as if everyone who had copied (some of them - gasp - legally!) a DVD or movie would have paid for a full version instead of the copy?
Free radio? Did I miss something here, I turn my radio on and out blasts Radio 4 for "free" every time. You'll be telling me next that folk are willing to pay separately for TV too!
Theft it may not be, but it is still wrong. Why can you not see this?
Unless you live in the UK and don't have a TV - they still hound you for the license fee.
I got Sirius "free" with my car. Frankly I prefer the sound of the engine to the mindless pap they churn out here. Imagine the worst local radio DJ from the UK, throw in a payola inspired playlist of about a dozen tracks per genre station and they think it's compelling content. And then there's the talk shows. OMG I miss the halcyon days of the Kenny Everett Radio Show. Even the Archers is more interesting that Howard Stern and the other gibbering buffoons.
The highlight of listening to it was the frequent drop-outs (especially in "urban canyons").
Receiving radio waves is not piracy. What is stolen? Are the otherwise unused radio waves somehow magically recycled or returned in some form to the broadcaster?
If something is broadcast through the air I'm breathing I'll damn sure receive it if I want to.
I do indeed live in the UK, I I don't have a TV. I rather enjoy the threatening letters, but for all their bluster they still haven't actually turned up yet. I think /all/ licensing bodies should take a similar line. There are thousands of things that require licenses that I don't possess. If they all wrote to me often enough I could probably sell the letters for bulk recycling each month and retire on the proceeds.


text:
Modern Browsers
First look at Firefox's Multiple Picture-in-Picture video feature
Thread starter silversurfer
Mozilla revealed some time ago that it was considering lifting the one-video limit for the Firefox web browser's Picture-in-Picture mode. While most Internet users may not have a need for that, unlocking the limit could be of interest to some users, e.g. when watching multiple sports matches, or different camera angles of a single one, or watching news or the stock market.
Mozilla enabled the feature in the most recent Firefox Nightly version by default. It is not obvious immediately that it is enabled, as it is necessary to open multiple tabs with videos to make use of the feature.
Here is how it works currently:
Open a tab with a video in the Firefox web browser.
Activate the Picture-in-Picture mode with a click on the button.
Open another tab and load a website with a video.
Activate the button with a click on the icon.
Repeat steps 3 and 4.
The new video is played on top of the playing one. You need to drag and drop it to view both.
Videos play simultaneously and so does the audio. You can mute the sound of individual videos to hear the sound of only one, but it is no requirement.
Videos can be paused and all other Picture-in-Picture controls are provided. The main Firefox window displays a "playing" indicator for all video tabs.
First look at Firefox's Multiple Picture-in-Picture video feature - gHacks Tech News
A first look at the new unlocked Picture-in-Picture mode of the Firefox web browser that enables users to spawn multiple Picture-in-Picture windows.
www.ghacks.net
Reactions: Gandalf_The_Grey, Protomartyr, venustus and 6 others
Firefox won't prompt anymore when you are closing multiple tabs, but there is an option to enable it
Mozilla Firefox Oct 28, 2021
Firefox 86.0 released
HarborFront
Mozilla Firefox Feb 24, 2021
monkeylove
Firefox 94.0 release: here is what is new and changed
Mozilla Firefox Nov 22, 2021
Firefox 92.0 released (and updated versions)
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Firefox may soon paint all sites in dark or light mode, if you want
Mozilla Firefox Sunday at 3:13 AM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The seed for the establishment and growth of TANUVAS was sown as early as 1876, when the Madras Veterinary College was started as an Agricultural School in Chennai to offer diploma and certificate course in the field of veterinary and animal sciences. The institute attained the status of a college in the year 1903 (01.10.1903), when it started functioning at Dobbin Hall, Chennai and admitted 20 students for a three-year diploma course called GMVC (Graduate of Madras Veterinary College).Realizing the importance of education research in animal and fisheries sciences so as to increase its productivity towards better income generation for the resource poor farmers, the government of Tamilnadu established the first veterinary and animal sciences university in Asia on 20th September 1989 with its head quarters at Chennai with the name Tamilnadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (popularly abbreviated as TANUVAS). The Fisheries College and Research Institute, Thoothukkudi was also made as another constituent college of this university. The mandates of the University are to impart education, to ensure advancement of learning and prosecution of research and to undertake extension to rural people in cooperation with the government departments in different branches of veterinary and animal sciences. It needs emphasis that in recognition of the University's credentials, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has accredited this university up to 15-03-2020.
Two more veterinary colleges, one at Tirunelveli and another at Orathandu in Thanjavur district were started in the year 2012 - 13. The Institute of Food and Dairy Technology, Koduvalli, Chennai which was established in the year 1993 was upgraded as College of Food and Dairy Technology (CFDT) on 10.04.2012.
One more constituent unit of TANUVAS, the College of Poultry Production and Management was established in the year 2011-12 at Mathigiri, Hosur, Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu to offer under graduate programme, B.Tech., (Poultry Technology) of four years course. This college is the first of its kind in the country to offer such a unique course particularly catering the needs of technical man power demands of poultry industry with the mandate of producing technocrats with sound skills in Poultry Engineering, Management, Processing and Technology.TANUVAS is an autonomous institution governed by its Board of Management which regulates the polices of the university in accordance with the provision of act and statues. The Planning Board and the Finance Committee of the university also support the University administration. While the Boards of Studies of Faculties and the Academic Council look after the academic pursuits of the University, the research policy of the university is watched over by the Research Council of the University. The Extension Education Council decides the policy with regard to the outreach programmes.
The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University has been conferred with the prestigious "Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institution Award-2011", recognizing its meritorious performance in education, research and extension in the country in the field of agricultural sciences including veterinary, animal and fisheries sciences at the 84th Foundation Day of the ICAR and ICAR Award Ceremony held at New Delhi on 16.07.2012 among 63 agricultural and veterinary universities. TANUVAS is the first veterinary university in the country to bag this coveted award.


Mineral Water Project – F.A.Q.
1) I do not know anything, but want to know before I start a Mineral Water Plant; what do I do ?
Most Ideally check out the dates of the next Packaged Drinking Water Plant-Idea to Actualization Workshop. Usually we hold this every month. This is the best option.
2) What is the Plant Cost?
Depends upon your Plant Size. It is very important to know the Plant Cost in Details. We already have covered the basics on the Mineral Water Plant Cost Page; And its covered in details at the Training.
3) How much area required for Plant?
Depends upon your Plant Size. And the machinery you will be using. But it's very important to restrict the Construction cost to its Minimum. Once you know the basic are needed and the type of construction necessary, you can restrict it to the minimal. We train you on this aspect through a live activity during the training.
4) How much land needed for Plant?
Depends upon your Plant Size. However, area calculation is very important in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bagalore, Hyderabad etc as the Land Cost is sky rocketing. Its covered in details at the Training.
5) What Documents are needed for Mineral Water Plant?
There are 2 types of documents : The standard "Any Industry" documents & the "Packaged Drinking Water Plant" specific permissions required to be had. We have a special session dedicated to the B.I.S. Site , in which we train you on how to read & extract information from the B.I.S. website, which issues you the I.S.I. certificate. Its covered in details at the Training.
6) What is the Profit Margin in Mineral Water Plant?
We have actually written a special post on this for getting an initial idea; however,it's covered in details at the Training.
7) Why an Entrepreneur needs Training & not straight consultancy?
We have observed that maximum plants fail due to not understanding profitability with respect to plant design. One should know every aspect of the business before starting a venture. We do cover this point very well, so the chances of you failing in your venture reduce to a great extent. Hence, going for a consultancy after the Training is always better.
1)What is the outline of the Idea to Actualization Workshop?
It Covers the opportunities, Types of Plants with their profitability comparison,Calculations for Machinery, BIS, Marketing Aspects.
2) How can I see the Contents in Detail?
Yes, Click this link Please, or email us so we send you through email.
At present we conduct the sessions at Pune, though we had conducted at Bangalore in past.
4) How many participants are there?
Typically from 10-20, sometimes less, sometime more.
5) What is the Duration of the Training?
Usually it's for 2 Full Days (11 am to 4.30 PM) days unless otherwise said.
6) Does the Training Charges include Staying Charges?
No. It includes Afternoon Lunch & Hi-Tea for both the days.
7) What about Study Material?
You do get the Session Full PPT in PDF format. In addition you also get a printed Activity Book with some major Bullet Training Points.
8) Do We Get a Certificate?
Yes, you will get a certificate having attended the training.
9) Where to see the Reviews who have done this Workshop?
10) Ok, Convinced. How do I reserve my Seat?
You can visit this link to book. Alternatively, call 9822478111 bet 12-5 on working days. We are eager to help.
11) Can I Cancel My Ticket?
12) What are the modes of Payment?
Direct Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card.
We recommend you better check websites like OYO, Bookings.com, Goibibo.cometc. However, if you need help, kindly call us, tell us your budget, we will suggest you.
14) I have never been to Pune, how's the city like ?
Pune is a big city (First 10 largest cities in India), having all kinds of entertainment, food, little of night life too (we are not aware, sorry!). And Pune is also a place of excellent weather except extreme summer (temp is below 30 degrees). Pune is very well connected by Air, Rail to all parts of the country. Has a Domestic & International Airport. Mumbai, the Business capital of India is just 4 hours from Pune. AC buses, cabs, Trains are very frequently between Pune & Mumbai. UBER and OLA Cabs are very prominently used in the city. Of course, local auto service is also available on meter.
1) What do I get in Home Study Course?
You get Video Tutorials, PDF Documents.
2) How to check my Progress ?
The Home Study Course is distributed in Modules. After every module, there are questions which need your answers. Those answers, you can track your progress.
3) Do I get a certificate for attending the Mineral Water Plant Home Study Course ?
You can download Digitally after completion of the same.


Hold on to Your Hats: Outside!
Raise your hand if your kid wants to go outside all. the. time. I am raising both of my hands! This has been our first summer with a busy toddler (baby summers don't count!) and I have found myself building an arsenal of summer fun ideas. Of course there are the usual go-tos, like the park or the pool, but what about the instances when there isn't enough time for a full-fledged outing, or you have 45 minutes to kill before dinner and your tot is itching to get out that door?
After discovering Reed's love of splashing in buckets at the beach, I picked up three large buckets (on clearance for 80 cents) at Sears. We keep them right inside the garage, and can quickly set up a bucket station in the driveway by filling them up with the hose, so that Reed can splash and pour to his heart's content. Reed's Mimi introduced him to painting with water, so now we keep paint brushes handy too, and Reed paints the driveway, house, and wall. Big hit! Here is a picture of Reed and his cousin Cole painting like it's their job!
Can't wait for my "outside fun" shelf! What are other good items to stock in an armory of ready-to-go outdoor activities?


The building depicted above is New York City's third City Hall. Constructed from 1803-1812, it was designed by John McComb, Jr. and Joseph-Francois Mangin. The building has undergone many restorations during its almost two hundred-year history. The original copper roof of City Hall was installed in 1811; it was replaced in 1853, and five years later, due to fire damage, replaced again. Additional work on the roof was undertaken in the early part of this century. Since that time, the last recorded work on the roof was undertaken in 1970, when roof openings were installed to accommodate new air conditioning units. Images of City Hall through the century.
The condition of City Hall's roof has been evident for the last few years to the many employees and visitors who have noticed the severe water damage occurring throughout the public rooms and offices. From March 1998 to October 1998, the City Hall Roof will be undergoing a much-needed, major restoration. Extensive measurements, drawings, and molds of the clocktower's distinctive decorative elements have already been completed. The cupola has been demolished down to the supporting steel structure and a reinforced fiberglass structure will be placed on top of the building in its stead. This structure will be sheathed in copper, and then painted, as historical evidence suggests, was the original dome. The remainder of the roof will also be replaced with new substrate materials and new copper.
The sculpture of Justice on top of the cupola on City Hall is the third such sculpture to stand atop this building and will be restored as part of the City Hall Roof Restoration project. Painted to resemble carved stone, Justice is constructed much like the Statue of Liberty, composed of lightweight pieces of sheet copper soldered together and supported on an internal armature. Nearby Civic Virtue on top of the tower of the Municipal Building is also composed in a similar fashion, but is gold-leafed, whereas the Statue of Liberty has been allowed to take on a green patina typical of weathered copper.
Unlike the Statue of Liberty or Civic Virtue, which were the creations of famous sculptors, the Justice atop City Hall is an example of the skills of nineteenth-century manufacturing. Justice is a mass-produced sculpture, fabricated by the firm of William H. Mullins studio at a cost of $600, which made countless figures for public buildings and expositions. The Mullins studio also custom-produced such famous pieces as Saint-Gaudens' lovely copper Diana Weathervane that formerly adorned the original Madison Square Garden and is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
City Hall's first sculpture of Justice was commissioned by its architects while the building was under construction. That figure, depicted without a blindfold, was the work of John Dixey, a sculptor trained in London, who received $310 for his work. The first Justice was carved of wood, and adorned the building until it was destroyed in 1858, when fireworks set off to celebrate the laying of the Atlantic cable started a fire on the roof of City Hall. As the roof and cupola burned, so did the statue of Justice, which dramatically crashed through the ceiling of City Hall and into the rotunda. In May of 1860, a new wooden Justice was installed on the rebuilt cupola. However, by 1887 the wood was so deteriorated that it was necessary to replace it.
Restoration of the sculpture will require its removal from the site. The sculpture has been thoroughly measured, photographed, and documented and its restoration will be undertaken by the same conservators that so successfully completed the restoration of Civic Fame. In order to remove the sculpture from City Hall, the arms of the art work will be detached and additional internal support will be installed. The sculpture will then be lifted by crane to a truck, where it will be transported to the conservator's studio, Les Metalliers Champenois in Paterson, NJ.
The roof restoration project and the conservation of the sculpture of Justice has been reviewed and approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, by the Art Commission, and by the City-wide Office for Safety and Health, part of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. The project team includes the architectural firm Kenneth Hewes Barricklo Architect; consultant engineers Robert Silman Associates, P.C.; general contractor Barney Skanska; and the conservators, Les Metalliers Champenois. The sculpture project will be completed in tandem with the restoration of the roof.
In addition, several City agencies have contributed their expertise to this complex undertaking, including the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of City-wide Administrative Services, the Office of the Mayor, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Art Commission of the City of New York.
If you would like to support the restoration of City Hall and its collections, please contact NYC Public/Private Initiatives at 212-788-1500.
Images and text provided by the New York City Art Commission.
For more historical information on New York City, visit our Centennial Celebration page.


Do you play until it hurts?
Discussion in 'Technique [BG]' started by kirbywrx, Dec 13, 2002.
I recently discovered the joys of a metronome, and was playing scales faster and faster. i got to the point where the muscles in my tendons hurt, and i can go fither, but it is very uncomfortable. Oh yeah, im talking about my left hand here.
What im asking, is to get better, and faster (with the left hand) do you play through the pain, or do you take it slow and stready? Im trying to play through the pain, because i can do that with my right hand when i play hard.
AnYwAY guys, can you help me with my little dilemma?
Take it easy - sometimes you will hit a point at which it hurts, and that's a signal to take a break. It's good to work up to your limits, as this builds strength and helps you go further, but if you attempt to punch through the 'pain barrier' you could end up doing damage that hampers your ability to play anything at all.
The aim is to gradually build up your speed and endurance so that any playing situation is well within your ability - but treat it like a marathon rather than a short sprint; pace yourself to go the distance.
When it starts to hurt, stop playing. Relax.
No pain no gain doesn't apply here.
When it hurts, you're doing something wrong or you overdo it.
This isn't weight lifting man. Take a break for 5-10 minutes to let your hand relax. Don't ever play when it hurts.
Also alot of professionals will often talk about playing without pain all together. If practicing starts to get painful, take a look at what is going on and try to correct the problem, it is possible to just plain ol' play entirely without pain. And if you plan on taking your playing to a serious level you run a huge risk of things like tendonitis and carpul tunnel if you play with pain...And the pain just comes after a whole lot of whatever is causing it, so your actually doing a bad to your muscles and tendons even if they don't hurt sometimes, you just haven't started to feel it yet.
One of the main things involved in achiving this goal of playing without pain, is not to use to much physical froce both with your plucking fingers and your fretting fingers and hand. It really isn't that hard when you think about it, just practice staying relaxed while you play and in time like everything else it will come to you.
More than likely your hands are hurting from just practicing so much but you may want to take a close look at your technique. If you're playing 'flat handed' or trying to pivot further than your hand size will comfortably allow that can contribute to causing pain.
This is where bone spurs form, and nodules on your wrist or finger joints. That grinds at the tendons and makes matters worse still. To reverse the process, you must reduce the inflammation, get it moving freely again with stretches and the like, build the strength back up, and then, and only then build endurance. Anything out of that order might cause matters to get worse. Don't keep playing in pain, that just aggravates the problem. Ice you hands after your gigs and practice session whether your in pain or not, it helps keep the inflammation down. But not till your numb. Shorter pain free practice sessions will build your hands faster than playing in pain. Plus your training your hands with pain to move in a way that is least painful, and that might not be the best technique for playing bass. Pain is a quick teacher. Zap yourself with a cattle prod every time you miss a note, you'll learn really fast.
I am a Neuromuscular Therapist and I specilize in musician/sports overuse injuries.
Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong.
Practicing certainly isn't exempt from that.
I dont do it purposely, but often get to the point where it does hurt.
My advice is that you stop unless there is a reason not to.
The only reasons I dont stop are that Im practicing or wriiting songs with my band, or performing. Otherwise, what harm can come from stopping?
Pain is your body's way of saying something is wrong. I plan on seeing an athletic trainer or some kind of physical therapist (I know plenty I could see for free) about my hands and wrist if it doesnt stop.
Well, there's a diffrence between feeling pain and just fatigue. If you are feeling actual pain then you should definately stop and take a break and try fix your problem ASAP and not continue until you can play comfortably again.
Didn't Flea play until he wore a hole in his thumb? He seems fine to me.
Maybe, but most of us want to play the rest of our lifes. Abuse your tools when you young, you will pay later. I make a living off folks who would agree. Theres a differance between a musician in their 20-30's and one who has played 30-40 years.
I usually hurt until I play.
I do it usually once or twice a month. I'm talking pretty bad. Usually I only play for an hour or two. Recently though, I played for four hours one evening, two the next morning, and another hour tacked on in the afternoon. After that the guitarist from one of my bands called, and I played for an hour and a half. I had a blister on my index, raw fingers, and weakened tendons in my left forearm. That night, when I tried to cut chicken at dinner time, I couldn't do it to well, my tendons just seemed shot.
It's all better now though.
I unfortunatly do play until it hurts. At gigs, I tend to play a bit too hard and my hands cramp, but surprisingly it doesn't hurt too long lately... my hands are getting use to abuse.
I sometimes get blisters on my middle finger when I play gigs and haven't practised enough beforehand.
Right now, my left thumb is sporting a nice new blister, which is the result of my recent attempts at double thumbing.
I also tend to play with too much force when I can't hear myself properly on stage, which can be painful sometimes.


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Q: How to get individual character positions of SVG text on the server I'm writing server-side software that makes a movie by generating individual frames in SVG and rendering to PNG with rsvg-convert. The movie requires an effect to be applied to text in the SVG on a character-by-character basis. With the SVG text element I cannot apply separate styles to each character, so I must render the text using individual text elements for each character.
My question is: what's the best way of obtaining the x-axis positions of each character, so that when I draw the text character-by-character it will look identical to the text drawn
with a single text element.
ie ..
    <text x="100" y="100">aic</text> identical to <text x="?" y="100">a</text>
    <text x="?" y="100">i</text> <text x="?" y="100">c</text>
This is one solution I have: when preparing the animation on the browser, use the getExtentOfChar() method of the SVG text element and pass that metadata to the server. I don't like this because it leaves me open to variations in browser implementations, installed fonts, browser bugs etc. Also it makes testing difficult and prevents me from generating these movies automatically from a script.
I suspect I'll need to work directly with the freetype2 or Pango library, but I'm hoping someone has solved this problem already.

A: If you wrap the characters in tspans you can style them: http://jsfiddle.net/longsonr/qxe4S/ isn't that much easier?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Residents of Cape Town, South Africa may have postponed the prospect of their city running out of water after a sustained, three-year drought, but officials are warning people to keep their consumption down to prevent the dreaded Day Zero from hitting in 2019.
The unwanted milestone is now predicted for August 27. Since "this date falls deep within the normal rainfall period, it is no longer appropriate to project the date without any consideration of rainfall," the city announced Wednesday. But "if winter rainfall this year is as low as last year, or even lower, we are still in danger of reaching Day Zero early next year," Neilson said.


With the grand opening of Cycle Club Amsterdam this month and the Tour de France setting off from Utrecht in July, Rapha are proud to introduce a new publication.
The Rapha Guide to the Great Road Climbs of the Netherlands is a uniquely unique niche cycling guide to the great cols of the Netherlands. Inspired by Admiral Francis Beaufort, the author – Edwin de Groot – combines careful meteorological research with a blustery narrative style, supported by beautiful photographic portrayals of the imposing landscapes taken by Peter Von Drinkel. It gives persuasive encouragement – if you needed any – to visit.
Ja, dit is gewoon wat luchtig vermaak, dus wees niet beledigd. En natuurlijk, je kunt dit lezen, dus je weet wat er aan de hand is.


A Complimentary Monthly Digital Download to Help Transform your Business.
This complimentary sneak peek into the LevelNext MasterClass Workshop on Modern Business Transformation is for forward thinkers ready to catapult themselves to the next level in today's digitally charged, data-fueled world.
Upon enrollment, we'll send you a text once a month with a download to each chapter in the Digital Dominance series filled with actionable ideas to transform your organization. Each chapter breaks down complex topics, such as data looping, intelligent operations, the proprietary StoryVesting framework, and more. You'll walk away with a stronger understanding of the concepts shaping the modern business world – and it doesn't cost you a dime.
Empowered by the revolution of technology, data, and information, the balance of power has shifted into the hands of the consumer.
Experience design empowers the modern consumer and paves a path for companies to transform in a way that yields success.
A framework is the foundation on which you achieve growth out of strategic inflection points. Learn how to put it into motion for your business to achieve success out of transformation initiatives.
The key to success in any business transformation is gaining organizational buy-in, which starts with developing a sublime brand experience.
Understand how to redirect or deepen cognitive associations when creating innovative experience initiatives.
Aligning the 3 P's is a critical component to eliminate silos and deliver a stronger customer and brand experience.
A new standard has been set for intelligent operations. Understand how to adopt a data-centric stance and align your organization with today's modern consumer.
Take an insights-centric approach through strategic and robust data looping and data mapping that will have a significant impact on your business's bottom line.
To achieve a lift in your business, it's imperative that you track the right metrics to better understand your customer and your brand's reputation as a whole.
The LevelNext Customer Insights Map gives you a 30,000 foot view of your customer's journey and provides you with the right insights to extract new opportunities for growth.
Innovation Looping and Mapping: What Comes Next?
Understanding exactly how to map out the most innovative next steps will provide a higher ROI and widen the gap between you and your competitors.
Put what you've learned into motion by strategically operationalizing your CX initiatives. Here's how to bring your these concepts to life.
Looking for More CX Training?


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Intel's 50Gbps Silicon Photonics Link: The Future of Interfaces
by Brian Klug on July 30, 2010 6:49 AM EST
50Gbps over silicon photonics Why use photonics? Hybrid Silicon - Photonics systems with "PC Board" manufacturing Scaling up and out, and the future
On Tuesday, Intel demonstrated the world's first practical data connection using silicon photonics - a 50 gigabit per second optical data connection built around an electrically pumped hybrid silicon laser. They achieved the 50 gigabit/s data rate by multiplexing 4 12.5 gigabit/s wavelengths into one fiber - wavelength division multiplexing. Intel dubbed its demo the "50G Silicon Photonics Link."
Fiber optic data transmission isn't anything new - it's the core of what makes the internet as we know it today possible. What makes Intel's demonstration unique is that they've fabricated the laser primarily out of a low-cost, mass-produceable, highly understood material - silicon.
For years, chip designers and optical scientists alike have dreamt about the possibilities of merging traditional microelectronics and photonics. Superficially, one would expect it to be easy - after all, both fundamentally deal with electromagnetic waves, just at different frequencies (MHz and GHz for microelectronics, THz for optics).
On one side, microelectronics deals with integrated circuits and components such as transistors, copper wires, and the massively understood and employed CMOS manufacturing process. It's the backbone of microprocessors, and at the core of conventional computing today. Conversely, photonics employs - true to its name - photons, the basic unit of light. Silicon photonics is the use of optical systems that use silicon as the primary optical medium, instead of other more expensive optical materials. Eventually, photonics has the potential to supplant microelectronics with optical analogues of traditional electrical components - but that's decades away.
Until recently, successfully integrating the two was a complex balance of manufacturing and leveraging photonics only when it was feasible. Material constraints have made photonics effective primarily as a long haul means of getting data from point to point. To a larger extent, this has made sense because copper traces on motherboards have been fast enough, but we're getting closer and closer to the limit.
Why use photonics? 50Gbps over silicon photonics Why use photonics? Hybrid Silicon - Photonics systems with "PC Board" manufacturing Scaling up and out, and the future
toktok - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - link
Pick 'n' mix motherboards!
joshv - Monday, August 2, 2010 - link
Wonder if different parts of a chip couldn't use optical interconnects to talk to other parts of the chip, basically in free space above the chip. Basically just point the detectors and emitters at each other. The nice thing is that the optical paths can intersect each other with no penalty. Electrical paths have to be routed around each other in the various layers of the chip.
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, August 2, 2010 - link
Doesnt this make it possible to place 8GB of DDR3 onto a single chip? Just stack a bunch of dies and wire them all to a silicon photonic transmitter, then connect that directly to the cpu. Also, shouldnt this make it possible to stack all the NAND flash you'd ever need onto one die? And then SSDs can be made with one memory chip. Replace SATA with silicon photonics, and it should be possible to have a 100GB/sec SSD. In other words, there would be no need for RAM at all...
GullLars - Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - link
There's a couple of fundamental problems with your last part.
First is the method of read/write and R/W asymmetry of NAND.
Second is latency. NAND is roughly 1000 times slower than DRAM.
It would be great for scaling bandwidth though, but then you have the problem of data parallelism and transfer sizes...
You would also need processing power for NAND upkeep (wear leveling, ECC, block management, channel management, etc), which would be a lot at 100GB/s.
Today, the fastest NAND dies are around 100MB/s(+?) for reads, so you would need to manage 10.000 dies (which wouldn't fit one package BTW XD) for 100GB/s.
EddyKilowatt - Monday, August 2, 2010 - link
... whatever you do, don't dumb down AnandTech! This was perfect for a lot of geeky folks out here. Who else puts things like "Laser = gain medium + resonator + pump" in one non-stuffy, easily understood, non-patronizing paragraph?
A few decades ago when I was a cub engineer, my mentor predicted almost exactly this as the logical evolution of inter-chip links. I hope he's still around to see this finally hit the market.
How is Intel going to handle the I/O's to these optically-enabled chips? It's the only box on the "Siliconizing" viewgraph without a picture! Fiber is cheap but fiber termination is ex-pen-sive...
Cogman - Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - link
Optics have far more benefits over just "really high speed" For starters, optical cables can be VERY close together without causing any sort of interference. This is a big plus for people like motherboard designers. Now, they could stick ram anywhere on the board (not just right next to the CPU) They can overlap connectors, do whatever. It makes a big difference.
Besides basically having no crosstalk / interference problems, Optical transmission has the added benefit of being able to send multiple signals down the same line (we probably aren't to the point of being able to realize that.) It is entirely possible that we could get to the point of having two optics lines running from the ram, one for upstream, the other for down. Each having the benefit of being able to send full 256/512 (or higher) bits of information in a single transmission cycle. We send data serially now because of interference problems, with optics, that would no longer be an issue, parallel data transmission would easily be able to overtake its serial counterpart.
Though, all the ultrahigh speed data transmission in the world doesn't mean a thing if the processor can't crunch the numbers fast enough.
has407 - Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - link
> Now, they could stick ram anywhere on the board (not just right next to the CPU) They can overlap connectors, do whatever.
There's still speed-of-light constraints. For the foreseeable future, the closer, the better (that's the primary reason for the CRAY-1 physical structure--to reduce interconnect distance, not because it looked cool).
> Optical transmission has the added benefit of being able to send multiple signals down the same line (we probably aren't to the point of being able to realize that.)
We've been there and done that for years. It's called WDM or DWDM. Virtually all fiber-based communication today multiplexes multiple optical wavelengths/signals across a single fiber. That's how we get much more bandwidth without having to lay new fiber.
> We send data serially now because of interference problems, with optics, that would no longer be an issue, parallel data transmission would easily be able to overtake its serial counterpart.
Ummm...no. Parallel interconnects, regardless of medium, suffer from skew and the need for deskew. That always has, and always will be, a problem for parallel; optical interconnects do not fundamentally change the equation (although they minimize some problems). Thus the desire to reduce the number of parallel interconnects by using a smaller number of faster serial interconnects. Optics offers the option of significantly increasing serial interconnect speed, thus reducing the need for parallel interconnects and their associated problems.
I.e., the number of bits/sec that can be transferred over a single "wire" (or in this case fiber), minimizes the need for parallel interconnects. Maybe a few niche apps will need the augmented bandwidth that parallel can provide, but I have my doubts... Will WDM/DWDM scale fast enough? I bet it will scale faster/cheaper than parallel interconnects, at least for 99% of the market.
jpbattaille - Thursday, August 5, 2010 - link
Totally agree with this comment - the article seems to make abstraction of these facts.
Optical speed of light in fiber is 200 m/s, in vacuum 300 m/s.
Sorry, 20 cm /ns and 30 cm/ns
PlugAndTweak - Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - link
This sounds very cool and promising on the paper.
But what does it really mean to us as single end users?
This isn't the components themselves we are talking about that will get silicon photonics, that was WAY ahead in the future.
It's the interconnects.
I bet that even if we would get all the interconnects in the mobo;s with Silicon Photonics we wouldn't notice any dramatic differences even in very intensive stuff like Videoediting, 3d-rendering, software synthesizers and plug-ins in DAW;s and so on.
And would SSD;s REALLY be faster than any comparable technology today?
Even theoretically?
And take a look at tests where different memory speeds are done, there has always been minimal differences (often just 1-2 percent in average) when doing these tests. Increasing the bandwitdth in the interconnects won't have any dramatic difference in that aspect.
Not for us single power users.
For the big players with setups of loads of CPU;s and other components I could see the speed advantage.
And there are the other mentioned advantages for the single power user, like less power consumed, possibly smaller motherboards (if they find inexpensive cooling solutions).
Then there are all the advantages for the manufacturers with less interference and all the other stuff mentioned.
I really think that the ones that will benefit most from this is the manufacturers of the motherboard, much more than us single users.
Not until they get to the point of using it on the component level.


text:
Visions of dazzling rooms I'll never get let into: this week on Fresh Powder
A summary of journalism news and pop culture brought to you by
The lede
"During the Trump era, Max said, Enquirer reporters kept their heads down. 'If you were handed an assignment to write a critical piece about one of the president's foes, you did it,' he told me. When I asked why he thought the assignments suddenly began materializing, he replied, 'I didn't think that deeply. I just wanted to get in and out.' … The real mystery about the Enquirer, I came to find, is who actually works there. Virtually none of the articles are bylined, and it appears that Howard stopped publishing mastheads sometime in 2017. (Why? I asked Max. 'Because it's junk,' he replied. 'Why would you want to be associated with that?') Technically, as Robertson supervises most of the newsroom, the Enquirer's editor in chief is a veteran AMI employee named Dan Dolan. He is also editor of the Examiner and the Globe. I didn't learn much about Dolan, except that he assumed control after Howard moved into podcast-land and, according to a non-Max ex-staffer, that he is known to carry a massive knife around the office, apparently for protection." Columbia Journalism Review: What happened to the National Enquirer after it went all in for Trump?
Seconded
"We can really make a difference and not only grow ourselves but help our community grow closer together. I know that after I'm gone and graduated, I want to be able to pick up a copy of The Cougar Claw somewhere that's not a high school." The Cougar Claw, Kearns High School's student-run newspaper, is filling a void in its community. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
December is the month of lists: Christmas lists, resolution lists, naughty and nice lists, mailing lists… I rest my case. But one genre of lists has a very special December in store. Year-end lists have turned to steroids, morphing into Decade-enders as we approach the Year of Vision Care, 2020. To get you started, The Hollywood Reporter's "10 Best TV Shows of the Decade": "Leslie Knope's Pawnee was a town awash in impediments and complications and even her co-workers presented speed bumps aplenty. Yet the series carried along with the profound belief that people, working together, can make things better for each other and for the world. The decade surely didn't lack for dark and tormented shows, so let's top this list with one that's full of hope and heart and humor." (A list after my own heart.)
. . . "A Visit From the Goon Squad" (Yes…) is Entertainment Weekly's book of the decade (YES!)
. . . Taylor Swift is music's Artist and Woman of the Decade — or for Gen Z Swifties, that of their lifetime (and of their "Finstagrams")
. . . Speaking of lists: Does the character get their story? Are they competent? Are they ethical? How believable is the journalist? The Ringer's "Exhaustive Ranking of Movie Journalists" (24. Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan in Bruce Almighty)
#MillennialProblems
This 30-second Peloton commercial is driving people crazy. Why? "It's probably some combination of overacting, cheesy background music and a plot about a husband gifting his gorgeous, in-shape wife a $2,000+ exercise bike to help her get even more in-shape." (Ad Age)
. . . "Ma'am, are you okay? ARE YOU OKAY, MA'AM?" and 48 other questions about the "disturbing Peloton Christmas commercial" (Uproxx)
"There is not much more any of them can do. The phone and the internet were cut off months ago. There is still power, although they try not to use it because they know the bill is overdue. The only heat comes from a portable gas canister a fan brought down a few weeks ago. It has been placed next to Joan. 'He said to tell him when the gas runs out, and he'll replace it,' she said." Why do five employees keep showing up to work every day without pay for a soccer club that's dead? The New York Times soccer writer Rory Smith asked.
After two years away, Jay-Z has released his entire discography back to Spotify. (As my brother's Twitter bio says, "Life is for living, not living without your entire music library on Spotify.") Happy listening…
This also happened last week: Katy Perry and Santa got couples massages from reindeer in a video for her new song, "Cozy Little Christmas," which will not make the cut for my Christmas party playlist.
December 5, 2019 /by Alex McNamee
https://snosites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SNO-Sites-_-Logo-website-1.png 0 0 Alex McNamee https://snosites.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SNO-Sites-_-Logo-website-1.png Alex McNamee2019-12-05 18:51:302019-12-05 18:51:30Visions of dazzling rooms I'll never get let into: this week on Fresh Powder
Springfield Honors Academy Nixa High School


Greece must respect Turkish minority rights, CHP says Greece does not give its Turkish minority the liberty to elect its own religious leaders despite Turkey giving that right to its minorities, Turkey's main opposition leader said Friday.
President Erdogan slams CHP leader for march against jailing of MP President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday criticized the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) over a protest march from Ankara to Istanbul after a party deputy got 25 years in prison for espionage.
CHP deputy head, spokesperson resigns her posts Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy head and spokesperson Selin Sayek Boke has resigned her posts on Saturday, criticizing existing party administration over insufficient reactions against the referendum results.
CHP can't boycott its responsibilities: PM Yildirim Turkey's prime minister Friday urged main opposition lawmakers to collaborate on changes triggered by the country's new Constitution approved in last month's public referendum.
Suspend ties with Netherlands, says Turkey's CHP head Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader urged the government to suspend ties with the Netherlands, a day after a row over Dutch ban on Turkish ministers escalated tensions between the two countries.
Turkish opposition lawmakers angry at German rally ban Turkey's opposition parties have criticized Germany after a local authority revoked permission for a meeting where Ankara's justice minister was scheduled to address members of the Turkish community.
PKK terrorists attack main opposition CHP head Kilicdaroglu's convoy The convoy of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman Kemal Kilicdarogu was stuck in an armed clash between PKK and police in northeastern province of Artvin on Thursday.
CHP head hopes for 'better Turkey' post-coup bid The July 15 coup attempt has opened up a new door of compromise in Turkey's political scene, which if utilized could make the country better, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said Sunday.
CHP leader backs calls for Gulen extradition Turkey's main opposition leader on Tuesday called for the extradition of Pennsylvania-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, accused of being the mastermind behind the deadly July 15 coup attempt.


Limit acoustic guitar, vocals and synth bass with zero attack to give them a strong presence in the mix. The fade dial gives you adjustable control over anticipated peaks with a brickwall punch.
• Complex engineering available in just three dials and three buttons, allowing you to focus on your creativity and workflow. • The unique 'fade' dial gives you complete control over the lookahead curve, allowing you to limit tracks heavily without distortion. • A perfect Brickwall Limiter for using on individual tracks and busses. We designed the Brickwall Limiter with fifteen years of music production in mind. We asked ourselves, what dials and features did we want when mixing a track? The answer came to us easily: something with the same complexity and richness as some of the most well-known limiters out there, but with the simplicity and ease-of-use that a production workflow demands.
"You are mixing delicate material like vocals or acoustic guitars, but you can't seem to control your track's sibilance and transient details." When compressing or limiting delicate material like vocals and acoustic guitars, artefacts like distortion and breathing-and-pumping can be very obvious. The Denise Brickwall Limiter minimises these artefacts by fading in the required gain reduction, ensuring smooth results while still catching all the peaks, as well as using your track's crest-factor to adapt its release time to, producing very natural sounding results. "You are limiting a track, buss-group of a full mix, but the low end distorts before achieving the intended control or loudness." Because the low end is usually the loudest section of the frequency spectrum, its also the first section that hits a plugin's threshold and starts distorting when using a brick wall limiter with zero attack. This is especially true when using short release times as well for the purpose of optimising loudness. Because of its 'fade' feature, the Denise Brickwall Limiter lets you limit low heavy tracks at zero attack with minimal distortion. In addition, its crest-factor based adaptive release makes sure the release time is set to the shortest duration possible, without introducing degradation. "You are trying to control the dynamics of a track with a lot of sustain, like a synth pad or strings, but your track keeps distorting." Tracks with a lot of sustain can easily distort when using the short attack times needed to control them. The Denise Brickwall Limiter features a 'fade' function that lets you anticipate the peaks in your track while keeping an attack to zero to catch all peaks. Subtly fading in the limiters gain reduction in advance this way, will soften the limiting effect and minimise distortion artefacts.
The Denise Brickwall Limiter is a delicate 'get-results-fast' limiter for anticipating and controlling the peaks and dynamics in your mix, using your track's crest-factor to adapt its release time to. Set to its default settings, you simply drag down the threshold to limit the peaks in your track in a very natural way, utilising the limiter's 'fade' and 'speed' features that intelligently smooth out the required gain reduction, both backwards and forwards in time. With the 'boost' switch activated, you can quickly maximise the overall volume using the output gain slider as the limiter's 'ceiling' value, just as you would during mastering. With its additional 'style' menu that applies an adaptive filter curve, and a 'link' button to preserve the stereo image, the Denise Brickwall Limiter gets you fast results controlling the peaks and dynamics in your mix in a very natural way.* (*Note that although the Denise Brickwall Limiter has a slightly higher CPU-load due to its lookahead scheme, this part of the algorithm will be bypassed when the 'fade' control is set to 0%, making the plugin consume only about 33% of it's full CPU-load) THRESHOLD (-48dB to 0dB): Controls the threshold of the limiter, defining the volume level where the limiting effect kicks in. INPUT (-48dB to 48dB): Input gain that lets you boost or attenuate the signal going in, giving you more control over the signal. OUTPUT (-48dB to 48dB): Output gain to manually compensate for the volume decrease caused by the limiting effect, or to set the limiter's 'ceiling' level when the 'boost' switch is activated. FADE (0% to 100%): Controls the length of the curve used to fade in the limiter's gain reduction using the plugin's internal 'lookahead'. Set to zero, the curve will be 0.0ms. SPEED (0% to 100%): Controls the range of the limiter's internal auto-release. Set to zero, the release will always be 0.0ms. STYLE (dark / natural / bright): A menu that lets you choose different styles, allowing you to specify the timbre of the limiting effect. LINK (on/off): A switch that lets you to link the left and right channel limiting, allowing you to preserve the stereo image of your track. BOOST (on/off): A switch that enables the limiter's auto-makeup gain, which will automatically compensate for the limiter's volume decrease and boost the volume up to the ceiling value set by the output volume slider.


text:
Here's what Rick Perry would have recommended if he'd listened to his own grid study
How to actually make the grid more resilient.
By David Roberts@drvolts Oct 20, 2017, 12:30pm EDT
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"I don't even know what study you're talking about."
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The Trump administration absolutely united around one goal: supporting the US coal industry.
Back in April, Energy Secretary Rick Perry commissioned a study on the resilience and reliability of the US power grid, with a special focus on whether "fuel-ready" power plants like coal and nuclear were being unfairly driven out of business in wholesale electricity markets.
In July, a nearly complete version of the study leaked, and to everyone's surprise, it was ... good. The analysis was professionally done, and the conclusions (which were not at all friendly to the administration's position) mostly mirrored those of similar studies by outside groups. To wit: The loss of these big plants is not hurting reliability, and keeping them open wouldn't help it.
When the final version was released, in August, there was some political spin at the top and bottom, and some huffing and puffing about the wonders of baseload. But the analysis survived mostly unmolested.
Then earlier this month, Perry released his plan to save coal and nuclear plants, and it was, in a word, bonkers (read this post for more). It recommended to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it intervene in markets in the most crude and ham-handed way, dumping windfall profits on the owners of big, uncompetitive power plants.
Perry wants to save coal plants by intervening in energy markets.
It also raised a big question: What would Perry have recommended if he had taken his own department's study seriously, instead of following Trump's orders to save coal at all costs?
We don't have to guess. Though the details are incredibly devilish, there is consensus on at least the broad strokes of a plan to ensure grid resilience and reliability, much of which was represented in the DOE study itself.
In this post, I'm going sketch out what a smart reliability plan would look like, in terms that even a grid layperson can understand. Electricity policy is notorious for being opaque and riddled with acronyms, but the basic elements are not actually that complicated.
For help, I'm going to draw on Alison Silverstein, an energy analyst who headed up the technical work behind DOE's study and was one of its lead authors. In an editorial and in a recent presentation to the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation (CREPC), she outlines what she would have recommended based on the findings of the study.
Wholesale energy markets are working, and reliability is fine
It is true that lots of coal and nuclear plants (especially coal) have retired since 2000, and it's true that they retired most and fastest in areas with wholesale energy markets. But that's because markets are working.
(Silverstein/DOE)
Market competition did what it was supposed to do, which is drive older, less efficient plants out of business. Almost all the coal plants that retired were old — most over 35 years, some as old as 70 — and, crucially, were no longer operating as baseload plants.
As Silverstein says, "baseload" describes a mode of operation, not a particular fuel source. It refers to plants that are always (or at least most of the time) running, satisfying the base level of around-the-clock demand.
These older plants were no longer serving that function. They were too clunky and expensive, mostly kept around for peaks in demand. And with more variable renewables on the grid, there is more need for flexibility, rapid ramping up and down, and coal plants aren't good at that either. With demand no longer rising, natural gas prices stubbornly low, and pollution standards biting, they started dropping off the grid.
That's what was supposed to happen. And reliability is fine. As the DOE study found, reliability has been improving lately, "due to better planning, market discipline, and better operating rules and standards."
Does that mean everything's hunky-dory? No. There's evidence that wholesale markets are not properly valuing some services and may be vulnerable in the long term if they keep limping along in their current form. So here are some recommendations from Silverstein, our alternate universe non-hack Perry.
1) Protect and improve wholesale markets
Market competition is good. But markets must be well-designed to produce socially beneficial outcomes.
Wholesale markets, like all US electricity regulation, were designed around two attributes: reliability and low cost. They are every utility's primary obligation, and what they are regulated to produce.
Problem is, over the years, we've begun to want other things out of our electricity — most notably low carbon, but also jobs and economic development, resilience, perceived social benefits, and sometimes just politically preferred sources.
So wholesale markets end up operating in the context of all sorts of extra-market subsidies, mandates, and regulations. The more of those there are, the less room there is for markets to work. And Perry wants to add a doozy.
Trump-appointed FERC Commissioner re Perry's #coal plan: "I did not sign up to go blow up the markets" https://t.co/TWnQhMtca0 v @SNLEnergy
— Dan Saccardi (@dsaccardi) October 5, 2017
The answer is not to abandon markets, or to abandon the pursuit of those other attributes (especially low carbon!). The answer is to figure out how to integrate the two — how to value those attributes within markets, so that they benefit from market competition.
That's the core issue.
The way Silverstein puts it is, "What would market design look like if we started fresh, but informed by 20 years of experience?"
2) Figure out what the grid needs and put a value on it
Right now wholesale markets value — i.e., pay for — electricity. In some cases, there are capacity markets alongside electricity markets, which pay plants to stay open even if they aren't running, just in case. And in some cases, there are "ancillary services" markets alongside those, which pay for things like frequency regulation and voltage control.
Insofar as resilience and reliability are undervalued attributes in those markets, the key is to figure out a way to better value the attributes, not to subsidize specific technologies. In other words, figure out what resilience and reliability services the grid needs, and then pay for the services. Let the market figure out the best way to provide the services.
Silverstein summarizes thusly: "Identify, define, productize, and compensate essential reliability and resilience services to meet multi-hazard threats and scenarios."
We're not very good at that yet. There's a lot of discussion and experimentation to be done to get markets properly valuing those services. But the goal, the North Star, is to design a market in which the services we want are valued in a way that guarantees their provision.
There's a revolution happening in electricity. Utilities need to keep up.
That's not what Perry did. He picked one particular attribute — "fuel assurance," which means having big piles of coal around — and proposed to exempt plants with that attribute from competition entirely. That's dumb on both ends. First, it defines resilience and reliability far too narrowly, in terms of just one (only marginally relevant) attribute. And second, it removes the service from markets rather than using markets to better provide the service.
Here's one quick example of a reform grid operators could make. Grids need "frequency response," which is a fancy way of saying they need sources of electricity that can ramp up and down quickly in response to minute-by-minute fluctuations of demand and supply on the grid. Traditionally that role has been played by "spinning reserves," plants that are already running (have inertia) and can ramp quickly.
Recently, there have been successful cases of distributed renewables and energy storage providing frequency response, through "inverter-based synthetic inertia." So DOE should investigate other sources of frequency response, and markets for frequency response should be made, insofar as possible, technology-neutral.
Providing grid services?
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Define the services so that markets can provide them. That's the key.
3) Resilience and reliability come from diversity
Perry's core mistake is to ascribe the attributes of resilience and reliability to a particular kind of power plant. That's a category error. What matters to customers is the resilience and reliability of the grid, which are emergent properties of the interactions of a whole range supply- and demand-side resources.
"How many big power plants with big piles of fuel do you have?" is a caveman approach to resilience. As many critics have already noted, big piles of fuel would have done nothing to help in the wake of the polar vortex, Hurricane Harvey, or the other recent US disasters. There are many kinds of disruptions and disasters that can be planned for, but many can't (and this will become even more true as climate change progresses). The key to resilience is a system that holds up under a wide variety of possible conditions.
To build that kind of system, grid operators will need to draw together a diverse array of resources on both the supply and demand side. In his order, Perry purported to be addressing resilience and reliability but completely passed over demand-side tools — the increasing ability to shrink or shift consumer demand, in real time — which are some of the most promising.
"Market operators are trying to incorporate societal needs and state preferences into reliability and market rules," Silverstein says, "but they need help (as do state and federal regulators) to design cost-effective, risk-moderating portfolios of supply- and demand-side resources that will deliver lasting value under diverse, uncertain future paths."
4) Subsidies should be purposeful and temporary
Here is where Silverstein differs from Perry. She notes that every source of energy receives subsidies of some kind:
Oil and gas get depletion allowances, renewables get production tax credits, investment tax credits and R&D, nuclear generation gets insurance, R&D and construction work in progress, natural gas gets depletion allowances and R&D, and so on.
(I will just note here that by even conservative estimates, fossil fuels are far more heavily subsidized that renewables.)
Pumping corporate welfare.
But insofar as there are a bunch of legacy subsidies and regulations in need of reform, the answer is not to do what Perry did, which is stomp in with a big new subsidy for the least competitive plants. "New subsidies for coal and nuclear plants won't level the playing field relative to renewables nor undo the impact of old subsidies," Silverstein writes, "they'll just make the playing field even bumpier."
The renewable energy tax credits are set to phase out. Congress should phase out fossil fuel subsidies as well. If we want resilience, we should define resiliency services in a tech-neutral way and let market actors compete to provide them. If we want carbon-free power, we should define it in a tech-neutral way and let market actors compete to provide it. And so on.
Silverstein says: "Any new subsidies — including direct state payments, out-of-market uplift payments, or potential cost-of-service payments for non-competitive resources — should have a specific purpose and a limited duration."
That ... does not describe Perry's proposal.
The discussion is just beginning, and Perry is not helping
Electricity system nerds (they exist) will read what's above with wry amusement. It's easy enough to describe needed reforms in lofty, abstract terms: "Be more market-y!" But there are many contentious fights and boring regulatory hearings to come, zillions of details and devils in every one. Reform in the electricity sector is difficult even in the best of circumstances, and as you may have noticed, we're on the darkest timeline.
We don't yet know exactly how to value resiliency services in a competitive market. But we know enough about the basic shape of needed reforms to know that what Perry proposes is a step backward, a grievous and distorting blow to markets that would attempt to undo their greatest success.
The problem Perry and Trump face is that no sensible, market-friendly reform will help coal. The more coal is exposed to competitive markets, the more it loses. Renewables are storming in, and the more they do, the less the system needs (or can accommodate) "baseload" power services.
In case anyone was confused by yesterday's #California 2030 impact of renewables chart, here is a cleaned-up version. HT @cody_a_hill again. pic.twitter.com/3IFyyoLOQi
— Michael Liebreich (@MLiebreich) October 19, 2017
As the chart in Michael Liebriech's post illustrates, the increase in variable renewables will occasion an increase in the need for flexible resources — supply- and demand-side resources that can ramp up and down quickly, balancing out variability.
Coal plants are not good at that. They are big and slow, expensive to ramp up and down. (Nuclear plants are a special case. There's some evidence that current plants can do "load following" — ramping up and down — and there's hope for smaller, faster reactors in the future.)
As for resilience, it will be better served by good information, planning, and management of diverse, distributed resources than by having big piles of coal around.
Electricity markets need to get smarter about valuing important grid services, including resilience (and carbon reduction!). But the smarter they get, they less they will need coal, because coal is dumb.
Next Up In Energy & Environment


Sea Turtles are some of Earth's most ancient and majestic creatures. For over 100 million years, they have traversed the seas, surviving multiple mass extinctions and playing critical roles in maintaining healthy, marine food webs. Not only do these friendly animals captivate us as they peacefully glide through the ocean, but their personal journeys of survival are equally fascinating. Special thank you to our sponsors WQLN and the Regional Science Consortium!
11AM & 2PM Daily Starting April 27th.
Special free showings opening day only with Spring Live!
More info in the flyer below or on our events page.
Sunset Cafe Easter Brunch on Sunday, April 21st, 2019 from 11AM - 2PM. Adults are $19.95 each, children $10.95 each, and children under age 3 are free. Prices are subject to 6% sales tax. For reservations call the Sunset Cafe at 814-833-5843. Afterwards stop by the Big Green Screen Theater which will have a $5 Easter Day Special! See a film for only $5 per person!
We will have a new movie schedule starting April 27th featuring Turtle Odyssey and Mysteries of the Great Lakes!
Every Saturday in January, February, and March you can see a featured WQLN PBS Kids series on the big screen! Showings are 10AM & 2PM. Craft or activity to follow the show, and admission is FREE! First come, first served. Episode schedule is below!
Join us for fun activities and a FREE showing of Olaf's Frozen Adventure at 10AM, 11AM, 12PM, and 1PM sponsored by First Energy! Showing is first come, first served. For more details check out the flyer below.
We are showing The Polar Express on Saturday, December 15th at 4PM and 6PM! This year's holiday movie has free admission sponsored by ZURN, but spots are filling up fast! RSVP on the events page at BigGreenScreen.com/events.
Every Saturday in January, February, and March you can see a featured WQLN PBS Kids series on the big screen! Showings are 10AM & 2PM. Craft or activity to follow the show, and admission is FREE! First come, first served. Episode schedule is coming soon!
While you may have noticed our theater screen is not literally green, being 'green' is an important part of our organization's environmentally-friendly philosophy. Here are some of the things that make us the Big GREEN Screen.
The Big Green Screen Theatre is housed in the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver designated building by the U.S. Green Building Council. Some of the features of the TREC include a permeable parking lot with native plant landscaping, low-flow toilets and bathroom sinks, and recycled material was used in construction when available. The TREC recently received the addition of a 10kW solar panel array and LED lighting fixtures in the observation tower and classrooms to reduce energy consumption.
The Big Green Screen also takes specific steps to reduce waste at our concession stand. We recently began using American made Aardvark paper straws instead of plastic straws, and our drink cups and lids are also American made 100% compostable plant-based bioplastics from Greenware.
The TREC and our new concession options allow us to fulfill our mission to provide public education and enrichment through educational programs and community outreach in an environmentally responsible manner.


Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to 'shop local' and support small businesses in their communities. Labour's MPs will be promoting Small Business Saturday with local visits around the country, along with our Shadow Treasury and Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy teams.
Mandate the new National Investment Banks, and regional development banks in every region, to identify where other lenders fail to meet the needs of SMEs and prioritise lending to improve the funding gap.
Reinstate the lower small-business corporation tax rate.
Introduce a package of reforms to business rates – including switching from RPI to CPI indexation – while reviewing the entire business rates system in the longer run.
Scrap quarterly reporting for business with a turnover of under £85,000.
Using government procurement to ensure that anyone bidding for a government contract pays its own suppliers within 30 days.
Developing a version of the Australian system of binding arbitration and fines for persistent late payers for the private and public sectors.
We will also bring forward legislation to create a proper legal definition for co-operative ownership. The National investment Bank and regional development banks will be charged with helping support our co-operative sector.
On Small Business Saturday Labour is calling for further ideas to help us build on the 2017 Manifesto pledges. Small business owners, supply chain customers and local community members, along with all our members and stakeholders are encouraged to put forward their views.
What are your views? Labour Policy Forum is our online home of policy development and ideas where you can take part in Labour's open and democratic policy-making process on this and many other issues.
Write to us with your thoughts, experiences and policy proposals to help a Labour government stand up for small businesses.


text:
2021 "Kozumo" Hatsu Basho discussion thread
By Seiyashi, November 26, 2020 in Honbasho Talk
40 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:
Regarding the Makushita playoff, wouldn't it be more "fair" to have the two lowest ranked do the pre-elimination bout instead of drawing lots? Ozumo is all about hierarchy after all.
I was pondering something similar, inspired by what happens in US sports and the FA Cup in England.
In the NFL, the best team in each conference gets a bye for the first round of the playoffs. The other divisional champions get home advantage. Wild cards get the hardest route to the Super Bowl, needing to win every game away from home.
In the FA Cup, teams join in different rounds depending on league position. Premier League and Championship sides don't join until round three, while amateur teams begin months earlier in the qualifying rounds. Top teams only need to win six games to win the trophy; amateur teams need to win twice as many.
In both systems, the rewards are graded on a scale. The better you are/higher up you are, the greater the advantages. Sumo could do something similar based on rank. There are several models they could try. One would be yours, with the two lowest rankers facing off in a qualifying bout. The eight survivors would then be matched up based on rank, so the highest ranked would face the lowest ranked, second highest would face second lowest, and so on. It could be a straightforward elimination tournament then.
Another model could be to have the two lowest rankers fight and the winner of that then fight the next lowest ranked guy, and so on, until eventually the highest ranked guy faces whoever survived to that point. The lowest ranked could have to fight several playoff bouts to win the yusho, while the highest ranked would only need to win one. I guess this system is a bit unfair as everyone had the same record, but then again, lower rankers get an easier schedule in theory, so perhaps demanding more of them to earn the yusho isn't so harsh?
Alternative playoff systems seems like an idea for a new thread.
Edited January 25, 2021 by Eikokurai
1 hour ago, Eikokurai said:
2 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:
If we approach this question based on logic and non-Japanese examples, then yes, probably everyone would agree that there are better, more-fair ways of handling tomoesen playoffs. As fate would have it, in the recent Makushita playoff, the second lowest-ranked participant got the bye in the first round, and then the lowest-ranked wrestler got the bye in the second round. That does indeed not seem fair.
Should there be reforms in oozumo? Certain ones wouldn't hurt, and certain ones are painfully obvious (n.b., that was meant as punny reference concussion protocols).
But here is what I think stands in the way of many calls for reform. Yes oozumo is very much about hierarchy, but it is also about other things like fate and tradition. While the right body-technique-mind will win bouts 80% of the time (in Hakuho's prime perhaps 98%), there is still a significant amount of fate and the unexpected. Partly because of that, sumo wrestlers have all kinds of superstitions (e.g., yusho winner, Daieisho's shikona change). Drawing lots ties in to this mindset of fate.
And then there is the trump card: tradition. Drawing lots is how things have been done since ... whenever.
I recently watched a YouTube video which seems to me may shed some light on what's what. In his farewell to Japan, Connor Sullivan points out things that frustrated him about his time in the country that he so enjoyed. At the corporate level (let's include the NSK), Japan survives and thrives on domestic demand, "so they don't understand how to make international-style content". Despite the shrinking domestic market, Japan is extremely slow to change.
Here's the part that speaks to the topic broached by Jakusotsu: "I cannot tell you how many meetings I've been in where I see they clearly agree with our (i.e., Western) proposal to help them communicate with international style, but they don't want to be the ones to decide a new style of communication, or even to work with a new company, instead of the same Japanese advertising agency that they've worked with for the last 50 years, even though they know the results they're getting are terrible..."
I guess my point is that no matter what we see as a better way of doing things, and no matter if sumo rijikai members agreed with our proposals, the NHK will still be reluctant to do things differently than they've been doing since ... whenever.
Edited January 25, 2021 by Amamaniac
5 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:
As fate would have it, in the recent Makushita playoff, the second lowest-ranked participant got the bye in the first round, and then the lowest-ranked wrestler got the bye in the second round.
7 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:
12 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:
Ms56e Kototsubasa didn't fight in the first round, and in the second round he fought his first bout against Sakigake who had won his first round bout. That is to say, when Kototsubasa was fighting his first bout in the playoffs, Sakigake was fighting his second.
Then Ms60w Fukamiyama, after winning his first-round bout, sat out the second round only to go up against Sakigake who had won his second-round bout. That is to say, when Fukamiyama fought his second bout, Sakigake was already on his third.
While I missed it on the broadcast, I'm assuming they drew lots to determine who got the byes.
Please tell me if I got that wrong.
7 hours ago, Asashosakari said:
The surprises arguably started early, however, with the schedulers opting for a straight knockout bracket instead of the double-bye format playing down to a tomoe-sen final that has been more commonly used for 9-man playoffs. Time considerations? Covid-19 reservations about a bunch of rikishi drawing lots in close proximity in full camera view? Moon phases? Who knows.
Atenzan 1,074
元McBugger
Location: Athens, Greece
On 19/01/2021 at 22:18, Atenzan said:
I haven't been following the basho until now due to health problems I've been dealing with (all fine now), just went to check the yusho arasoi and I have one thing to say.
Daieishou got absolutely screwed by the banzuke committee. M2w 10-5 only good enough for M1w? You have drawn his ire. 8-0, 9-1, whatever, this doesn't stop here. Daieishou is not going to be stopped until he reaches a rank where his banzuke luck isn't a factor.
On 19/01/2021 at 23:10, Asashosakari said:
So M1e?
@Asashosakari
What type of dark magic is this now? All 4 S/K kachikoshi...
If there were no byes, then I can't explain what I've outlined above. They were dealing with an uneven number of wrestlers, and so it was inevitable that one of them got a bye in the first two rounds. And as I tried to point out, the guys that sat out were random, and, based on your initial post, it seemed unfair. So the question remains, how did they decide who got byes?
I suspect that lot drawing was involved, but as Asashosakari points out, there probably were COVID and time considerations involved. Therefore, I suspect lots may have been drawn off camera (either in advance for the first round; or by officials on the spot rather than the wrestlers themselves in the second round).
Gaijingai 1,175
Gaijingai
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/01/e81a1d8210da-sumo-daieisho-savors-flood-of-well-wishes-following-tournament-win.html
So the question remains, how did they decide who got byes?
Nobody got a bye. Sakigake's first match was a randomly decided pre-elimination bout.
Gernobono 388
Location: Graz, Austria
maybe you should say that there were 7 byes for round of 16
Obviously, I hadn't considered that. Nevertheless, when I see the words "randomly decided", I hear "some kind of lottery".
Nevertheless, when I see the words "randomly decided", I hear "some kind of lottery".
Sure, but that was done behind the scenes before the action even started.
1 hour ago, Amamaniac said:
And then there is the trump card: tradition. Drawing lots is how things have been done since ... whenever.
Sumo is less a slave to tradition than many people think. A lot of what we often assume has been part of sumo for centuries is actually a recent innovation. The idea of a yusho itself only formally came in 1926 after several years being awarded unofficially by the press. Prior to 1909 there was no tournament winner at all. We've seen changes to the dohyo (corner poles removed and shimpan moved down in 1952) to make it more spectator and TV friendly, and the introduction of video referees to improve officiating. On the dohyo, shikiri-sen were first used only in 1928. Division sizes fluctuated until they decided to fix Juryo and Makuuchi at 28 and 42 respectively. The kimarite list is reviewed and updated. Rules about bouts between guys from the same ichimon, heya or family have been revised over the years. And playoffs? Only introduced in 1947. Before that the yusho simply went to the highest ranked rikishi when two were tied.
Tradition only stops the Kyokai making changes to the cultural aspects of sumo, but as administrators of sumo as a professional sport, the Kyokai has always been happy to reform when there's a need or demand.
P.S. Overall I agree with the assessment though that Japanese people seldom want to be the ones to do the reforming. That is a thing in the NSK too I imagine. People tend to see themselves as temporary custodians of whatever position they hold. i.e. It's not theirs, they're just occupying it for a while.
Actually, reviewing the list of participants, the selection of the two opponents in the "pre-elimination bout" may not have been "randomly decided" after all. Sakigake was fourth from the top of the list by ranking, and his opponent, Hamayutaka was fourth from the bottom of the list.
It's starting to make more sense now. Thanks!
14 hours ago, Morty said:
I totally agree. This forum is one of the best and most respectful places on the whole internet. Nobody goes ad hominem, there is no flaming, everyone treats each other well. Well done to all the forum members for being a thoroughly decent bunch of human beings - kudos!
You should have been around back in the day.. The moderators had to work overtime. But that's all behind us for a few good years.,
Edited January 25, 2021 by Kintamayama
Daieishou yusho interview:
Q: Your first yusho..
A: I am totally happy.. It was really good!
Q: First lifting of the Cup..
A: I didn't think it was THAT heavy, so I was a bit surprised. I'm happy..
Q: What are you most satisfied about?
A: I was thinking all I can do was do my sumo till the end, without hesitation!
Q: When did you become conscious of your yusho chance?
A: When I won on day 14. I was thinking 'tomorrow is the last bout'. I told myself not to lose focus till the end.
Q: It's the first yusho by a Saitama rikishi..
A: I did a lot of self-confidence building sumo. I am totally thrilled!
Q: It's a first yusho out of Oitekaze beya as well..
A: Everyone was in great shape (Tsurugishou won the Juryo yusho as well, what they call an "abeku yusho", when the Juryo and Makuuchi yushosha are from the same heya, derived from the French "avec") so I'm happy..
Confusion will be my epitaph.
Sanspo has been featuring gems uttered by our favorite commentator Kitanofuji on radio and on TV on a daily basis. I may group them all and do a translation, (there are many..) but for now these gems.. On senshuraku the camera focused on Daieishou from the back in the hanamichi as he prepared to enter the dohyo area. "Well, he looks good from the back as well. His buttocks stick out, huh? He's got a good ass.. Seriously good ass.." When Sanbe announcer tried to correct him gently by saying "You mean buttocks.." he answered "He has a good buttocks.."
After the broadcast- "Haaa,, aaah, it's over, huh? I've got absolutely nothing to do till the next basho.. A lot of spare time again.." When someone said "We're looking forward to seeing you next basho" he answered: "Oh, if I'm still alive.."
"I'd like to thank the fans for coming during these cold and trying times. If I didn't have to work, I wouldn't want to come.." "Oh no, don't say that.." said a flushed Sanbe announcer.
10 hours ago, Yamanashi said:
Then what, chat up Okinoumi?
He doesn't look like he's got a choice, unfortunately! The good part is that it looks like it might buy him a decent amount of time, since Okinoumi is still in peak form with no signs of decline.
This changing of the guard is causing a massive logjam in kabu... Interesting, but sad to see that so many passionate borrowing oyakata are likely to have to go - unless things suddenly change.
1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:
(Tsurugishou won the Juryo yusho as well, what they call an "abeku yusho", when the Juryo and Makuuchi yushosha are from the same heya, derived from the French "avec")
That hasn't happened in a while; last pair were Asashouryuu/Touki for Takasago-beya in Kyushu 2005
what they call an "abeku yusho", when the Juryo and Makuuchi yushosha are from the same heya, derived from the French "avec"
So, it's called "with yusho" when two heya-mates win?? Must be a translation thingy.
4 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:
abeku (avec) in Japan is the term for being together as a couple
46 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:
In Swedish, avec means an alcoholic beverage (such as cognac, liqueur etc.) served after dinner together with your coffee.
About the makushita playoff, it's amusing that indeed the matches as they took place would also have made just as much sense in the context of a (pre-drawn) 9/5/3 structure:
L Hamayutaka Sakigake W
L Shohoryu Nishikifuji W
L Ryusei Shiba W
L Nihonyanagi Fukamiyama W
W Sakigake Kototsubasa L
L Nishikifuji Shiba W
L Fukamiyama Sakigake W
L Shiba Sakigake W
The proceedings - specifically the hyoshigi clapping between rounds and the PA gyoji and yobidashi announcements - made clear that it was actually 9/8/4/2 though:
(There are other historical 9-man playoffs where it's equally opaque what format they actually used, at least if one goes only by the pure listing of matches on the DB. The old Takayama website was more explicit about it.)
Edited January 25, 2021 by Asashosakari
Mightyduck 67
Would it be used in place of 'pair' or 'brace'?
Also, I don't have any issue with sumo playoffs being unseeded. There is only one prize here and whoever wants it needs to beat everyone in his path anyway. Seedings are only needed where some relevant rewards are also available for reaching the interim rounds.


The defenseman had to leave the game in the sixth minute of play after having crashed into the boards.
The Lions provided an update on Severin Blindenbacher after the game, stating that "it wasn't as bad as it looked". Further medical exams, however, revealed that he is suffering from an adductor and knee injury which will keep him out of the lineup for several weeks.
The ZSC Lions also had to make do without Kevin Klein yesterday. The defender is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Lukas Flüeler, who is also out with an upper-body injury, will return to the lineup after the international break.
Leider hat heute eine halbe Minute gefehlt und es bleibt am Ende nur ein Punkt für uns übrig. Update zu Severin #Blindenbacher, der im 1. Drittel verletzt ausfiel: es sollte nicht so schlimm sein, wie es aussah. Abklärungen laufen, geht ihm aber soweit gut. Gute Besserung!


text:
Deze pagina geeft een overzicht van de Tönissteiner-Saxon-wielerploeg in 1996.

Algemene gegevens
 Sponsor: Saxon, Tönissteiner
 Algemeen manager: Gérard Bulens
 Ploegleiders: André Coudray, Willy Geukens, Henk Klein Beekman
 Fietsmerk: Colnago

Lijst van renners

Belangrijke overwinningen

1996
Wielerploeg in 1996

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Jon and his family visited the Pottery to celebrate his 40th birthday in creative style. Everybody took a turn on the wheel to make a pot and then paint it in a truly individual manner.
When it came to the obligatory team photo at the end of the session, Jon's son Harry, quick as a flash, scooped mum's iphone to photograph Jon the Potter photographing the family group. Love the movement as M&D lunge across the table to rescue the tech!


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