New Sun Glasses for Outfielders
HERE is what the up and coming outfielders are going to wear this season. These trick sun glasses fasten on the visor of the cap so that the player can follow the ball’s flight even when looking into the sun. There’ll be no pop flies falling safe in the sun “gardens” when these glasses are used. They are fastened on with small screws.
Self-employed ad man Sam Butterfield, who describes himself as “an ideas person”, has created possibly the world’s most pointless iPhone application iPhonePilot.
That said, with it’s ability to turn grown men into excited children, it may also be a work of pure genius.
The app turns the iPhone itself into a WW2 fighter plane that you hold in your hand and fly around the room, accompanied by flying and shooting noises, and attachable paper wings.
Check this out:
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The flurry of e-book readers that are descending upon us has prompted investors to take a closer look at companies set to ride the wave.
Wattpad this morning announced that it has secured a round of funding with a number of private investors, although the e-book community operator and mobile app developer declined to disclose the size of the round.
The consortium of angel investors that injecting capital into Wattpad include Harvey Beck and Alan Levine, former co-CEOs of ICOM and Bert Amato, co-founder of Delrina.
Launched in January 2007, Wattpad is a YouTube-like community that allows its members to read and share e-books on the Web and on mobile devices. According to the company, the site’s catalog boasts ‘hundreds of thousands’ of novels, short stories, fan fiction, essays, jokes and more. Example: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Wattpad says it has delivered hundreds of million of pages from its 120,000 strong e-book library to mobile devices, having developed custom applications for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Java alongside a mobile website at m.wattpad.com.
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Bad Liquor Causes Liver Disease
A DANGEROUS liver disease accompanied by the deposit of iron compounds in the skin is believed to be caused by drinking liquor containing copper from the stills used by incompetent distillers.
Physicians have long recognized a condition called hemochromatosis in which the cells of the liver are killed or damaged; resulting, among other things, in the partial destruction of the red corpuscles. The red iron compound of these corpuscles is then changed chemically into other compounds which may be deposited in the skin, turning it bronze in color.
YOU Can’t Always Believe What You See
by Walter E. Burton
HAS this ever happened to you?
You go to a photographer, look handsome or pretty as the case may be, and have several portraits made. When you get the proofs you select the pose that looks the most flattering, and order a dozen prints. When you receive the finished pictures, nicely mounted, you are delighted . . . and then it dawns upon you that there is something wrong with the pictures, but you do not know exactly what it is. If you have had this experience, you have encountered a common illusion that follows nearly everyone through life. That is the impression of your appearance.
“Surely, I know how I look,” you exclaim. “Haven’t I seen myself in mirrors often enough?”
That is just the trouble. You see only the mirror-image of yourself—the right side of your face on your left; while everyone else, including the photographer and his be strictly rectangular? If you do, the grain of the wood undoubtedly is quite prominent —unless the frame actually is untrue. The curved grain of wood may exert such an influence upon your vision that you swear that the picture frame is crooked—and only are convinced of its straightness by actual measurement. Similarly, the end grain of boards will influence your eyes so that the board may appear perfectly flat when in reality its surface is far from plane; or a really straight edge may look curved.
Your impression of the length of lines is influenced by the position and dimensions of neighboring lines. For example, a line four inches long that is perpendicular to another line of the same length, and whose end joins this second line in the center, seems to be considerably longer. Similarly, a picture of a tower sometimes appears to be longer than it is wide, even though the length of the base line and the tower are the same.
If you are building a house, you can make use of perspective by lay- ing the roof shingles so that the exposed length is greater at the bottom than at the top, and gradually changes between the two extremes. Thus your roof seems to be much greater in expanse than it really is. In a like manner, a tower or office building of moderate height can be made to appear taller by making the height of its successive stories or sections decrease more rapidly than normal perspective requires.
Shifting attention is responsible for the effectiveness of designs often used in posters, quilts and other places where the eye is to be attracted. One of the most common of these “restless” designs is that consisting of rows of cubes which seem to change their arrangement with regularity. This effect is obtained because the eye sees the figures in first one and then the other of possible positions. In fact, you never look at any point steadily for any great length of time. Your attention is constantly shifting.
The next time you are out walking, you can try an interesting experiment with an illusion that often is noticeable in moving pictures. Carriage wheels in the movies sometimes appear to stand still or revolve backwards while the carriage or motor car proceeds forward. This is caused by the intermittent photographing of the wheel spokes in their same relative position. By watching a spoked wheel revolve while exhaling your breath forcibly so that your lips or tongue vibrate to such an extent that your eyes in turn are caused to vibrate, you can obtain the same effect. Sometimes, when walking, you will notice that automobile wheels apparently pause in their turning at the instant your foot strikes the ground. Here, again, jarring of your optical apparatus causes the illusion.
All of which goes to prove that you can’t always believe your eyes.
My husband flew to Montreal this morning and he’ll be gone until Thursday night. When he’s not home, I cook things that the kids and I like but he doesn’t, so that’s reflected in this week’s menu. Here’s what I’m planning to make:
Monday: Cola Chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans
Tuesday: Easy Shepherd’s Pie with peas and corn
Wednesday: Chicken pot pies with tossed salad (I buy frozen pot pies from Aldi)
Thursday: Chili with corn muffins
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Sandwich night
Sunday: Roast chicken, baked potatoes, corn
Here’s some links I want to share with MomCooks readers – 15 WEEKS of meal plans from Living Locurto (!), and a free printable meal planner & grocery list from The Project Girl. Both blogs are packed with other freebies too!
Dubai, Acre Resources
Acre has been instructed to find a Director of Operations to guide the design, development and operational management of an alternative fuel facility in the Middle East.
The company is renowned for providing innovative and challenging renewable energy solutions, enabling large scale CO2 reductions and cost saving energy usage.
Working in close partnership with the company’s commercial and industrial partners, this position will initially manage the alternative fuel plant‘s set up and commissioning. Once the plant is operational, the role will develop into one of managing the development, improvement and plant budget, as well as identifying potential new technologies and revenue streams.
Key responsibilities:
• Managing the relationship with the industrial partner in terms of defining the benefits over conventional fuels
• Evaluating feasibility studies
• Engineering of the alternative energy solution with the respective detail engineers
• Sizing and selection of equipment
• Purchasing/material sourcing for use in the plant
• Operational Management
We are looking for a commercially driven candidate who has supervisory experience in a fuel production environment; experience working on the development of alternative energy plants (Energy from Waste/BioEnergy) will be of great interest. Ideally you will also have undertaken Biomass fuel appraisal and the design of biomass gasification systems.
In return you will be exposed to a cutting edge programme within this fast growing and exciting sector with the support of an entrepreneurial and growing organisation.
London, Acre Resources
An exciting and innovative enterprise that refurbishes and lets low-carbon offices is seeking a Head of Occupier Support.
My client refurbishes existing offices to a high sustainability standards, allowing them to operate with very low carbon emissions. These buildings are then let to organisations looking to minimise their environmental footprint. The Head of Occupier support will build strong relationship with clients, ensuring they benefit in full from the occupancy of this low carbon office space.
You will arrange and manage support for all occupiers through the leasing process and subsequent occupancy. This will include setting out the obligations of the landlord / occupier and the establishment of an in-house carbon management system, ensuring the office space is used effectively.
The successful candidate will have a track record managing professional services, ideally in the built environment / property sectors. In addition you will need a strong understanding of sustainable best practice in building occupancy, plus good financial awareness and experience managing 3rd parties.
London, Acre Resources
A leading provider of demand-response energy efficiency solutions has an immediate need for Project Manager to support their operations in the UK.
In this pivotal position you will provide oversight and relationship management for high-visibility energy management hardware and software deployment projects to all UK clients.
Holding a successful track record of managing multiple technical projects, you will work closely with clients and third parties to ensure the installation projects are coordinated efficiently and cost effectively.
As part of this early stage UK business your key responsibilities will be:
– Managing the installation of the hardware and software
– Working with field operations team
– Fully understanding contractual and regulatory issues relating to the regional grid operator
– Knowing and understanding all energy management components
– Providing outstanding customer care
You will grow and manage the UK team, reporting in to senior management and demonstrating exceptional leadership skills and ability. You will be commercially minded and will have developed substantial working experience in energy management or around energy systems.
My client is keen to see candidates who have first class degrees (or equivalent) in relevant disciplines and who clearly show their ability to provide solutions, organise and learn.
You will be working in an entrepreneurial, fast paced business that will justly reward you for your successes.
Venture fundraising is off by 47 percent this year, as the general partners decided not to tap pension funds for more money while those limited partners were feeling the crunch of a crappy economy — and because the venture funds themselves often had little to show after years of lame exits. It’s kind of like a teenager who doesn’t want to bug his laid-off mom for an allowance, especially since he hasn’t been performing well in school.
The refrain for those who sat out 2009 seems to be, maybe this year. But Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, threw some cold water on the idea, noting that while some firms that sat out 2009 from a fundraising perspective would be fine, in 2010 they’ll be going up against venture firms that need to raise their own funds, which means general partners may have to make some hard choices about where their money goes. And not every firm is going to make it in what Heesen calls, “a leaner, more capital-efficient asset class comprised of firms with proven track records of delivering value to limited partners.”
Of course, venture firms, with their 7- to 10-year life cycle don’t just shut their doors one day and go home. What generally happens is a process of attrition whereby associates, junior partners, entrepreneurs-in-residence and the like leave for new gigs after they see that fundraising isn’t going well, and there may not be a spot for them in the new fund. Then because someone has to stick around to manage the fund’s existing investments, a general partner or two still keeps an office and tries to get the investments already made to an exit.
This can drag on for years, unless someone sells the portfolio in the secondary market. I’ve seen it happen here in Austin on a few occasions, and it’s like watching a slow death. It’s especially painful because the people running venture firms are not the kind of folks who like to hang out and shepherd an investment all the way to completion without having the challenge and power that a fresh pot of money and new investments can provide.
So as an entrepreneur seeking money, the best bet is to understand how far off a firm you’re talking to is from having to go back to its limited partners and ask for more money. It also makes sense to know how well they have done in providing returns for their limited partners. Broad returns information can be found on the NVCA web site, while a few organizations such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the University of Texas Management Co. publish some data on the actual returns of funds those organizations invest in.
By Richard Perez-Pena
nytimes.com
There are more places to go for local news but less news to find there, and the great majority of actual reporting still comes from newspapers, according to a study of the Baltimore area that is scheduled to be released on Monday.
Looking at six major story lines that developed over one week last July, 83 percent of the reports in local news media “were essentially repetitive, conveying no new information,” said the study, by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an arm of the Pew Research Center.
Despite diminished resources of established news organizations, “of the stories that did contain new information, nearly all, 95 percent, came from old media — most of them newspapers,” it said. “These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets.”
The study found 53 different sources of local news — general-interest newspapers like The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post and their Web sites, several smaller papers in the region, publications devoted to a niche like local business, local television and radio stations, and new online news sites and blogs. Even the reporting done by traditional media was driven mostly by government statements rather than journalists’ own digging, the study found. . .READ FULL STORY
Santander may have chosen to go the Ferrari way in the future years of Formula One, but that isn’t to mean their preferred UK-based Formula One team will be neglected through the 2010 season. And one evidence of that is Lewis Hamilton’s latest public appearance, which happened during a Santander event in London’s Tottenham Court Road.
According to the official site of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, Hamilton was present with Banco Santander chairman Emilio Botin to launch the rebr… (read more)
For now-here’s my plan to drop the next 10lbs this month– I’ll be modifying my carb intake at breakfast on workout days (I work out right after bfast) up from 10g to 25g and using 1% milk in my coffee and lo fat breakfast meats. I may even try the Atkins shakes instead with a hash brown or an apple or banana blended into the shake — we’ll see.
But then at lunch I’ll drop back my carb intake to no more than 20g carbs and 25g carbs at dinner. I’ll move to ‘lo fat’ products on dairy stuff, etc. That’ll be a max carb intake of 70g/day for this period — AND -lo fatting ‘a bit’ — I’ll adjust my morning bolus on days that I exercise by the ‘factor’ as outlined in the "Using Insulin" and "Think Like a Pancreas" books — that should keep BG levels normal and still allow me to burn some fat.
I’m using the FAT burn settings on the Elliptical and Recumbent Bike and will use hi reps, lo weight on my weight routines. For now I’ll keep my Lantus at 28u and see if I end up going low after the exercise regimen. I might need to cut back on it too. Don’t know.
Thanks for any input you could offer from your experiences. Of course I really need ‘experiences’ mainly from people injecting insulin and possibly even moreso from T2’s – though you T1’s can help ‘us’ HUGE too! — more context from the other thread in the next message.
Here’s a fun one: Goldman Sachs may require its mostly highly compensated employees to donate a portion of their pay to charity. Could the firm the American public views as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity” be growing a heart? The New York Times reports that the talks for creating such a policy are still ongoing, but it could happen. Yet, to me this looks a lot more like a very transparent public relations campaign to quell populist outrage than the bank really feeling it should give back, which means that the firm kind of misses the point.
First, the NY Times explains that this isn’t the first time a big bank would institute a rule mandating charitable giving:
The charity idea would be similar to a decades-long program at the failed investment bank Bear Stearns, which required more than 1,000 of its top workers to give 4 percent of their pay to charity each year and then checked their tax returns to ensure compliance.
Because when I think about a firm I’d want to emulate, I think of Bear Sterns. Obviously the program must not be meant to enhance the stability of the firm or the prudence of its bankers and traders.
My first question is: why would only “executives and top managers” be required to participate? Sure, they’re the ones making tens and hundreds of millions, instead of seven measly figures, but pretty much every Goldman employee can afford to give a little something back. That only the richest of its bankers would need to comply with this new rule shows just how shallow an effort it really would be.
Second, I bet I can guess who wouldn’t be a fan of this program: local and federal governments. More charity by these high earners means more tax deductions and less revenue for Uncle Sam. If Goldman does institute this policy, government official should pray that the rest of Wall Street doesn’t follow.
I also wonder how shareholders will feel about this proposal. They might prefer if that money was set aside for bigger dividends instead of soup kitchens. This would still accomplish some good PR, with smaller bonus levels, but still keep the earnings in the family, so to speak.
Even though these bankers and traders could surely afford a required charitable contribution, I find it a little creepy to require someone to be generous. Sure, it would benefit charities out there, which would presumably put that money to good use. But the idea of requiring people to give to others feels a little too much like a company pushing its morals upon its employees. Of course, you could argue that’s what the government does through taxes too….
It also, ultimately, fails to address why so many Americans hate Goldman. By forcing its employees to give chunks of their compensation to charity, the firm merely reinforces what everybody thought: that its bankers and traders are greedy scoundrels, clutching onto their dollars like Scrooge McDuck. As a result, I think that such a policy could almost be counterproductive from a PR standpoint.
Yet, I’d be willing to bet that Goldman employees already give tens or even hundred of millions of dollars to charity each year. Instead, why not just continue to softly urge Goldman employees to be charitable and make sure they’re well aware of lots of options to make giving logistically simple. Then the firm could document that giving and let the world know how generous its bankers really are, without coercion.
HEIGHT: 60m/197 feet
FLOORS: 17 floors
COMPLETION: 1891
ARCHITECT: Holabird & Roche (south half); Burnham & Root (north half)
The Monadnock Building, also known as Monadnock Block, is a historic proto-skyscraper in the Loop district of downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is arguably the world’s first skyscraper.
The Monadnock is the tallest commercial building in the world with masonry load-bearing walls.
– picture from 1900.
General Motors was kind enough to loan us a 2010 GMC Acadia AWD for our trip to Michigan for the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. While we really enjoyed our 10-hour comfortable ride, we would’ve much rather traveled in bling-blingin’ style in the new 2011 GMC Acadia Denali; however, the Acadia Denali won’t be available until the third quarter of 2010.
Adding onto its base sibling, the Acadia Denali will get a mono-color exterior and chrome honeycomb grille with HID headlamps, a new lower front and rear fascia, body-colored lower cladding and rocker moldings, body-colored-rear fascia and fender flares, unique body-side moldings with chrome accents and Denali badges, dual chrome exhaust tips, 20-inch two-tone chrome wheels and five exterior colors (Quicksilver Metallic, Summit White, Carbon Black, Red Jewel Tintcoat and White Diamond Tricoat).
Buyers will be able to choose the 2011 Acadia Denali in front and all-wheel-drive and 7 or 8-passenger configurations.
Hit the jump for more live high-res images.
2010 Detroit: 2011 GMC Acadia Denali:
All Photos Copyright © 2009 Stephen Calogera – egmCarTech.
2011 GMC Acadia Denali:
– By: Stephen Calogera
We had three blowouts during Wild-Card weekend and one instant classic. Let’s clear out the notebook, with an eye towards our fantasy futures.
• Start plotting your strategy and rigging your lottery if you plan on having a share of the Packers passing game for fantasy 2010. These guys are going to cost you, especially the triggerman, Aaron Rodgers(notes).
The Packers didn’t get a victory in Sunday’s desert duel but the Green Bay offense made an emphatic final statement (493 yards, 32 first downs, 45 points). Rodgers was the top scoring quarterback in most scoring systems this year and he’s downright lethal now that his pocket awareness has grown up. His sneaky mobility (316 rushing yards) and handiness at the goal line (six ground TDs, including one Sunday) provide an extra push over the top – I can’t see how Rodgers won’t be the consensus No. 1 quarterback on everyone’s board next spring (magazine season) and summer (drafting for keeps). A deep receiving corps doesn’t hurt the cause.
Retire all that talk about Jermichael Finley(notes) being next year’s tight end sleeper – the freakishly-talented Finley went off in the second half of 2009 and everyone noticed. Heck, even if you just watch the highlights, you’ll see Finley a lot, he’s always leaping over some defenders or running past another guy. Finley collected a tasty 38-416-4 line over his last seven games of the regular season, then tacked on 159 yards on six catches against the Cardinals. The Packers realize what they have in Finley; they move him all around the formation and use him as a wide receiver about half the time he’s on the field. Finley figured to be a Top 5 tight end selection just about everywhere.
• The Cedric Benson(notes) story should roll into 2010. He just turned 27 a couple of weeks ago. The identity of the Bengals offense has shifted; this team runs first (usually with six offensive linemen), asks questions later. And the Bengals defense helps Benson as well, even if it’s in a subtle way; you won’t see a lot of blowouts in Cincinnati, which keeps the rushing game relevant for four quarters.
• The obligations of Saturday forced me to catch half of the Bengals and Jets in the car, and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Tom Hammond, Joe Theismann and Joe Gibbs were one of the worst modern broadcast teams ever assembled for a playoff game.
• Kurt Warner(notes) should have been a walk-in Hall of Famer before a single play was snapped in 2009, but his strong season and brilliant performance Sunday will probably sway any of the doubters. How did Warner not get a perfect QB rating from this ridiculous line (29-for-33, 379 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT)?
• Anquan Boldin(notes) is a heck of a ballplayer but he’s merely a luxury for Arizona at this point; Steve Breaston(notes), Early Doucet(notes) and Jerheme Urban(notes) give the Cardinals excellent depth behind Larry Fitzgerald(notes). Boldin has wanted a trade out of the desert for years; there’s probably a good chance he gets his wish this time around.
• Beanie Wells(notes) is a far superior runner to Tim Hightower(notes), no one disputes this, but I won’t be surprised if Wells is mildly overdrafted next year. Hightower is still a fantastic pass blocker, while Wells has a long way to go in that area, and Wells also has struggled with ball security at times this year.
• Joe Flacco’s efficiency(notes) stats from 2009 were a little better than his rookie year, but that doesn’t mean he’s really improved as a passer; the emergence of Ray Rice(notes) (as a rusher and receiver) had a lot to do with the bump. Baltimore desperately needs to get a major vertical threat into their offense next year.
• The Jets did a fantastic job handling Mark Sanchez(notes) this weekend and the rookie stuck just about every throw – he was 12-for-15 with two drops – but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be a franchise player down the road. It’s one thing to produce in a game where your rushing attack and defense help out; it’s another thing to lift a team to victory on a day where nothing else is working. The Jets don’t need Sanchez to steer the offense as a rookie, but in a few years he’ll be expected to. It’s too early to know if he can handle that sort of responsibility.
• The Jets backfield for 2010 will be a lot simpler if Leon Washington(notes) isn’t able to come back from his broken leg. Shonn Greene(notes) has future star written all over him and Thomas Jones(notes) probably has at least one strong year left, especially when you consider the depth of New York’s offensive line.
• It’s been a steep fall for Marion Barber(notes) – he’s clearly the No. 3 runner for Dallas when you consider the salaries of the backs, and even if the dollars are pushed aside, he still might be the third guy here. That said, the Cowboys need to be smarter with Felix Jones(notes); it was crazy to give him a carry inside of three minutes Saturday while the Cowboys were holding a 20-point lead. Jones is explosive and fragile, a sports car; handle with care.
• If we can all agree that choking exists in sports (hello, Neil Rackers(notes)), doesn’t that sort of prove that clutch play exists as well? Look around your world, your job, your personal experiences – doesn’t it seem like some people handle pressure better than others?
• No good team fails in the hurry-up offense quite like the Philadelphia Eagles.
• New England’s no-show against Baltimore was only a mild surprise; the Patriots passing game wasn’t consistent week-to-week in 2009 and the only thing the team really did well was dispose of weaker opponents. Decisively beating the early-season Titans or the sack-challenged Jaguars might earn you some respect with the power-rating crowd, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to beat good teams. No open-minded New England fan expected multiple wins in this year’s AFC playoffs. Sunday was probably the Last Day of the Patriots Dynasty.
• Were the officials targeting Darrelle Revis(notes) on Saturday? Two of the flags on Revis were ticky-tack all the way.
• The Bengals wasted their franchise spot on kicker Shayne Graham(notes) in 2009, a silly move when you consider how fungible the position tends to be. No skilled fantasy owner would make this same mistake. Know where to devote your resources.
Prefer your Brunch on Sundays? Follow me on Twitter.
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Photo courtesy US Presswire
France has been pushing forward with its plan to protect rights holders even at the expense of its citizens’ freedom online. Despite numerous setbacks, the so-called “three-strikes law” was supposed to go in effect starting January 1, 2010. This has been met with another delay as the law has failed to receive the approval of the country’s… (read more)
A few weeks ago I talked about how a company called Hydrogenics was double dipping by building both hydrogen fuel cells for cars and hydrogen fueling stations (using electrolyzers). It seems that this company has their hands inside anything to do with hydrogen.
A week ago Hydrogenics announced that it was teaming up with Rosetti Marino to build a utility scale hydrogen power plant. Hydrogenics would once again supply both electrolyzers and fuel cells system for the project.
On Friday January 8, 2010, Hydrogenics announced that it has teamed up with the Canadian Space Agency to supply both electrolyzer and fuel cell for a Moon mission. According to the press release, “Hydrogenics Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products, today announced the award of a contract for the development of a next generation power system to be used for surface mobility applications on the moon. The scope of the contract includes an electrolyzer that produces both hydrogen and oxygen using solar power and a fuel cell system to be used for mobility, auxiliary, and life support systems.”
Now, NASA is known for carrying fuel cells aboard the Apollo spacecraft when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon in 1969. At that time fuel cells were used for auxiliary power.
What caught my attention about this press release from Hydrogenics however is that hydrogen is not only to be used for auxiliary power or even life support systems (oxygen and drinking water) but for “surface mobility” as well. Could this tie into the fact that NASA found significant water on the Moon in November 2009? And if so, will this water be used to help provide power for this spacecraft?
These are questions that haven’t been answered yet, but are quite intriguing. I’m sure more information will follow on what this new spacecraft will look like and precisely how it is powered.
