Why the fuck is it so hot this summer already? Seriously, this is ridiculous.
I was just browsing through my saved blog posts and such today and found this snazzy little article. If you?re like me, you hate drinking water all the time, especially the recommended 8 glasses a day, if you do this then you deserve an award because I can?t make it a week.
I usually brew up some black tea to help get the water into my system, but here are a few other recipes to help stay hydrated and fit without the calories from www.diet.allwomenstalk.com.
1.Passion Fruit Smoothie Ingredients: 1 cup of chilled low fat milk 2,8 oz (80 grams) of chilled low fat yoghurt (unflavored or vanilla) 1 tbsp of honey 1 mango 1 passion fruit
Instructions: Clean and slice your fruits, throw them in a food processor along with the rest of ingredients and blend until smooth. Yup, it?s that simple!
2. Mint Iced Tea Ingredients: 2 satchels of mint tea 500milliliters (about 17oz) of water ? lemon 1 tablespoon of honey
Instructions: Brew mint tea, add honey and let the mixture cool down before adding the juice of ? lemon (I prefer adding zest as well but you can skip it in case strong citrus flavors are simply not your cup of tea). Once you?re done, your tea is ready to spend a couple of hours chilling in the fridge.
3.Watermelon and Strawberry Sorbet Ingredients: 100grams (1/2cup) of chopped strawberries 400 grams (2 cups) of chopped watermelon
Instructions: Freeze your fruit solid before throwing them into a food processor or, in case you don?t have a couple of hours to spare use fresh fruit but add 7-10 ice cubes. Blend until slushy and ? Voila! Now, could a healthy drink recipe get any simpler?
4.Watermelon Lemonade Ingredients: 4 cups of watermelon cubes Juice from three (3) lemons Crushed ice
Instructions: Mash or process your watermelon cubes until they turn into paste then add lemon juice and crushed ice! No need to add sugar although you could get away with just a pinch or two, just in case you have a serious sweet tooth.
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$El buscador de Googlededica su doodle de hoy al pintor austriaco Gustav Klimt, como una forma de celebrar el 150? aniversario de su nacimiento.
En la p?gina de inicio del buscador aparece la pintura ?El Beso?, una de las obras m?s conocidas del artista, fue uno de los grandes representantes del movimiento modernista y un precursor del expresionismo alem?n.
La obra "El beso" fue realizada en 1907 y permanece en el museo Belvedere de Viena. En "El beso" se aborda el desnudo femenino a trav?s de un estilo sensual y personal.
#GustavKlimt se convirti? en Trending Topic en Twitter, donde los usuarios valoraron el homenaje de Google.
Pakistan?s first Communications Satellite PAKSAT-1R launched ? August 11, 2011
PAF s? Multimedia paffalcons.com Pakistan?s first Communications Satellite PAKSAT-1R, as a part of Pakistan?s Space Programme 2040, was launched on Thursday at 2117 hrs on board China?s Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. Besides others, launch was witnessed by Secretary Defence Lt Gen Syed Athar Ali (R), Secretary Foreign Affairs, Salman Bashir, Director General, Strategic Plans Division Lt Gen Khalid Ahmed Kidwai (R) and Ambassador of Pakistan to China, Muhammad Masood Khan, said a press release issued here. PAKSAT-1R has a total of 30 transponders, 12 in C-band and 18 in Ku-band. The satellite will be deployed at 380E in the Geo-stationary orbit and it will replace the existing satellite PAKSAT-1. PAKSAT-1R has a design life of 15 years and will provide TV broadcasting, Internet and data communication services across South and Central Asia, Eastern Europe, East Africa and the Far East. This satellite now enables extending of communication services to all areas of Pakistan. The National Command Authority (NCA) recently approved Pakistan?s Space Programme 2040 during its meeting at the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) on 14 July 2011. Earlier, the contract for the development of PAKSAT-1R was signed between Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) in October 2008 during the visit of the President of Pakistan to China. Pakistani engineers have worked closely with their ?
There?s always a lot discuss creating a small room look bigger but where do you turn whenever your room is really large that you simply can?t appear to really make it feel at ease? Well, using the right furnishings and methods you may make your extra-large room feel less just like a museum lobby and a lot more like a comfortable home.
Color Choice ? While it?s not necessary to possess a palette filled with dark colors, you need to do require a couple of to shut the area up just a little. Even painting one wall dark can make an extreme improvement to attract the wall in toward the room?s core. Many people even would rather fresh paint the ceiling a more dark shade compared to walls too.
Scale ? Large rooms can hold large bits of furniture. This does not mean you need to stuff it full however, you can pick large sectionals, shelving bobs of art that will dwarf a more compact room.
Arrangement ? If you possess the extra room inside your room, why don?t you add extra seating and generate a small reading through or game area? How about adding a little bar or using screens to produce a room in the room?
Accents ? Make sure to incorporate the dark colors inside your palette to your accents and make certain that they?re scattered through the room, not only all in one area.
Getting a sizable room can typically be difficult to decorate should you desire that warm home feeling but after some extra thought, you are able to cozy in the space without which makes it appear cluttered. Also, remember plants! You?ve space for added-large leafy vegetables so make the most of this excellent chance to create live art to your home. Home comes alive not due to mere beauty of their structure but because of those who remain in them, this is correct definitely however this love nest, known as home, needs best wishes home furnishings decor and furniture to change them directly into truly dream space. Home decor and furniture if made the decision with a few thought and application can modify your home for an altogether new height, never witnessed before.
Home decorating add-ons varying from carpets, pillow covers, Rugs, curtains add charm for your home, combined with home furniture. Furniture & decorating that is available in most shapes and dimensions which focus on clients of pockets. Home decor products that have been from bound for regular clients because of their exorbitant prices are actually days offered at competitive rates, because of stiff competition among producers and ever growing quantity of purchase promotion offers round the entire year. Home decor products are earning brisk sales because of the growing interest individuals are showing in purchasing home decor products because of aggressive marketing campaigns and largely because of the impact of both print and visual media. Interior design magazines have given the required fillip to home decor products and home furniture?s that has handled to exhibit case arty inside as indicating upwardly mobile population and therefore are regarded as the easiest method to flaunt their cash in public. Whatever function as the case home add-ons and home furniture designs sales will not show any indications of decline within the occasions in the future.
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by Meg Malone We have sad news to start off this week following a report from over the weekend: Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine died on Sunday at the age of 95. During his long career, Borgnine won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the titular character in the 1955 film, "Marty." [...]
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As quests go, the one Thousand Oaks garden designer David Snow embarked on is a doozy.
For six months, Snow has devoted himself to saving the reputation of America's most beloved butterfly by getting the world's largest maker of pesticides to change its ways.
Specifically, Snow wants Ortho to change the labels on its "Bug-B-Gon" and "Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer" so they no longer feature images of the striking monarch butterfly caterpillar under the ominous vow, "guaranteed results."
"This campaign isn't intended to bring peace to the world, heal the sick, end poverty or bring down Ortho," Snow said. "All I want really want to do is right a wrong."
Snow noticed the labels last winter and called the consumer complaint center at the company's Ohio headquarters in February. As he recalls, he said: "I'm sure I'm not the first person to call about this, but why'd you put a good-guy bug on your insect killer? It's like putting an innocent child's picture on aU.S. Post Office'Most Wanted' list."
The response: "Can I have the bar code of the product you're calling about, please?"
Snow, 52, hung up, but he was only getting started.
In the months since, he has become a chronic pest for Ortho and its parent firm, theScotts Co.LLC, filing formal complaints and urging others to do so on behalf of monarchs, whose numbers are rapidly dwindling. California's monarch population has fallen an estimated 80% over the last 15 years due to urbanization, drought, weed abatement programs and pesticides, said Scott Black, executive director of the nonprofit Xerces Society, a Portland, Ore.-based organization dedicated to conservation of invertebrates.
"It's a great effort on behalf of monarchs," Black said of Snow's work. "If people decide that these companies are too big to tackle nothing will get done. The labels in question only add another insult to injury for monarchs out there."
The caterpillars are about 2 3/4 inches long, with a pair of black antennae-like appendages at either end of a body ringed with black, yellow and white stripes. They spend most of their three weeks of existence munching on milkweed leaves ? the only plant upon which the caterpillars feed, a fact that renders them harmless to home gardeners.
Snow has been something of an ambassador. He lectures frequently on the life cycles and benefits of the large, fragile orange-and-black insect scientists know as Danaus plexippus.
At Snow's home, the front and back yards are covered with potted stalks of milkweed, which he offers to clients interested in increasing the number of monarchs. On a recent weekday, he spent the morning tending waist-high plants laden with grazing caterpillars destined to metamorphose into butterflies within six weeks. Dozens of adults fluttered overhead.
Snow's rallying cry ? emblazoned on family T-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs and fence signs: Got Milkweed?
Snow said that all he wants is for the company to revise its labels, replacing the caterpillar with "a certified bad-guy bug."
Three weeks ago, with Ortho showing no signs it would change the labels, Snow took his campaign up a notch, posting a petition on the website change.org urging people to "force Ortho to acknowledge their mistake."
As of Monday however, the petition had attracted a modest 239 signatures.
The Times called Ortho for comment Thursday. Kokouvi Danklou, supervisor of the company's call center, gave The Times a measured response. "Everything about this case has been forwarded to our marketing team," Danklou said. But he added: "We consider this a very, very serious matter."
On Friday, Lance Latham, a spokesman for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., called The Times to say: "We're updating that label to ensure there is no confusion with the monarch butterfly caterpillars. Consumer concerns are something we always look into."
A few minutes later, a company official left a cheery message on Snow's business phone.
"Hi there, David," the official said. "I just want to let you know I followed up on your calls, and we're changing the labels. Thanks for letting us know about your concerns."
With the imminent arrival of Google?s latest Android operating system later this month, Apple?s iOS upgrades this fall and Microsoft?s relentless push to make Windows relevant to mobile devices, a lot of people are talking about smartphones and tablets. The next few months will also likely see an increasing number of people talking to these devices as well.
Voice assistants such as Siri, which Apple introduced with the iPhone 4S last year, and Google?s Voice Actions, which has been available on Android phones for the past couple of years, have thus far been little more than a novelty. Smartphone and tablet users are more comfortable relying on their fingers to navigate touch-screen gadgets, and the quality of voice-activated software has done little to win them over.
This trend is likely to change by the end of the year as the technology improves and phone and tablet makers look for new ways to differentiate their products. Voice-activated search, dictation and other features alone haven?t influenced purchasing decisions yet, but those features will become something that consumers expect when buying devices for the year-end holidays, says Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with technology research firm Gartner. ?If [voice-assistant software] is not there or not done well, it?s going to be noticeable,? he adds.
With the release of iOS 6 this fall, Apple will broaden Siri?s repertoire to include several new languages, among them Spanish, Italian, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese. Siri users can also ask the software to update their status on Facebook, post to Twitter or launch apps, and iOS 6 will be available to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users as a free software update.
Apple has spent a good deal of time and money (presumably Samuel L. Jackson?s acting talents don?t come cheap) showing off Siri just to let consumers know it?s there. ?Voice commands are not the natural way people interact with their devices,? Gartenberg says, adding that Siri also provided Apple with an important way of distinguishing the iPhone 4S from the iPhone 4.
Google is stepping up its voice-assistant software with the latest version of Android. Also known as Jelly Bean, Android 4.1 features Google Now, which the company claims has faster and more natural voice-search capabilities than previous Android voice-assistant software. ?With Google, it?s all about driving search on mobile devices,? Gartenberg says. ?The more people are using Google search on their devices, the better it is for Google. That?s where the company makes most of its money.?
One key difference between Android and iOS is that Google?s voice-search and other software are available on a number of different devices, including the iPhone. Of course, iOS and Siri are available only on Apple products. This arrangement provides Google with some flexibility, but it also means the company is beholden to Samsung, Nokia and device makers when it comes to installing Jelly Bean on their products. Not surprisingly, Google-branded phones?the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus?and the new Nexus 7 tablet will be the first to use Jelly Bean when they begin shipping by the end of July. Since May, Samsung has offered its own voice-activated personal-assistant software called S Voice on the company?s Galaxy S III phone, which uses an older version of Android. The Galaxy S III is expected to start using Jelly Bean by the end of the year, a move that could make S Voice expendable.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has been trying get firm footing in the smartphone market, which means voice-activated controls are a must. Fortunately, Microsoft has offered TellMe voice-activated search, dictation and calling as part of its Windows Mobile operating system (now called Windows Phone) since 2009. Ford and Kia also use TellMe software in their automobiles to give their drivers hands-free control of their in-car entertainment systems, phones and rear-view cameras. One of Microsoft?s problems has been attracting handset makers of stature, an issue the company began to resolve late last year when Nokia decided to install Windows Phone 7 on its lineup of Lumia phones.
FARNBOROUGH, England (Reuters) - Airbus and Boeing head into next week's Farnborough Airshow locked in their fiercest market share battle for up to a decade, slashing prices to win key orders for their latest narrowbody jets and storing up potential trouble for future profit margins.
From Australia to Indonesia, the United States to Norway - and most recently, Reuters has learned, Turkey - the marauding plane giants have spent months taking or defending market share, with world No.1 Airbus aiming deep inside Boeing's territory and its rival publicly vowing to defend a traditional 50-50 split.
While Airbus unveiled an assembly plant in Boeing's backyard this week, the battle behind the scenes - described as "hand-to-hand fighting" from airline to airline by one participant - has implications for the business case of the A320 jets to be built on U.S. soil as well as the profitability of Boeing's rival 737.
Its outcome could shape the leadership of new bosses at both jetmakers: Frenchman Fabrice Bregier of Airbus and Boeing's Ray Conner, cautious and publicity-shy insiders who reach the July 9-15 pageant facing pressure to draw a line under a period of risk and give investors a sober ride with predictable margins.
The latest firefight involves a back-and-forth battle for 40-50 jets worth $4-5 billion sought by Istanbul-based budget carrier Pegasus Airlines, with Boeing resisting Airbus efforts to poach one of its customers in a duel known as a "flip fight," according to several sources familiar with the matter.
The airline is one of many looking to jump on a 15 percent improvement in fuel burn and therefore a significant reduction in costs offered by the latest revamped models of jets offered by Europe's Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing.
As with a series of other duels in the last year, according to multiple sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, Boeing has been fighting back after seeing one of its clients targeted by its competitor. Airbus maintains this is normal competition.
Contacted by Reuters, Ali Sabanci, Pegasus chief executive, said, "we are negotiating; no decision has been taken".
Airbus and Boeing compete for the lion's share of a jet market estimated at $100 billion a year.
Although economies are stuttering, aircraft demand remains relatively strong as airlines modernize fleets to survive high fuel costs and the balance of growth shifts towards Asia, prompting Boeing to raise forecasts last week.
Best-selling single-aisle or narrowbody models - the 150-seat medium-haul A320 and Boeing 737 which serve airlines worldwide - sell for some $80-90 million each at catalogue prices but like most models are sold at undisclosed discounts.
Analysts say underlying discounts have risen as the aircraft makers seek to establish new fuel-saving versions known as the A320neo and 737 MAX, fitted with new engines from mid-decade.
"Our markets intelligence suggests single-aisles are being offered at discounts of as much as 50 percent depending on the customer," said independent aerospace analyst Scott Hamilton.
This cannot be determined for sure and price is not the only factor in negotiations. But cross-checking the leasing value of new jets suggests the data is not far out for the most contested sales, according to Hamilton and several aircraft financiers.
WHO STARTED IT?
One thing is for sure: if there is a price war, nobody can agree who started it. Each accuses the other of dragging down prices but acknowledges being hurt in the process.
Although jets are sold at a discount to list prices, the business case for the revamped models relies on forecasts that they will get more than the base models. But analysts say each side faces the risk these premiums could narrow to a sliver.
"I would say that today as we look at the single-aisle market, the pricing has been aggressive. We've felt some pressure," Randy Tinseth, marketing vice president at Boeing's commercial division, told reporters in London last week. "I think especially as we go through this process of introduction of new airplanes and some launch pricing from some competitors, hopefully that will work out and stabilize over time."
Airbus insists it was Boeing that destabilised the market in an effort to catch up with the A320neo, which led Airbus to a record margin of victory over Boeing in last year's order race.
"They have started a price war. I think that shows the desperate situation they find themselves in. The MAX is unequal to the neo. They are discovering this and having to discount," said the European firm's New York-born sales chief John Leahy.
The spat comes a decade after a price war over the sale of similar models to low-cost carriers such as Europe's easyJet, documented in a row between the United States and Europe over subsidies. The world's largest trade dispute stirred to life in angry exchanges on the eve of next week's air show.
"Single-aisle pricing is important because these aircraft represent roughly 75 percent of production," said Zafar Khan, aerospace analyst at Societe Generale in London.
"With most R&D paid, they are ?cash cows' and any extra you can get (on price) will hopefully fall to the bottom line."
Any damage to margins on the revamped models would not be felt until they get delivered from 2016-17 but some worry the models currently in production could come under pressure too.
Starting with down payments, cash from the 737 and A320 funds larger and riskier developments like the A380 and Boeing 787. In recent years that cash fountain is having to pump harder to pay for overruns in the larger programmes at both companies.
UNSTEADY DUOPOLY
Conducted out of suitcases and airport lounges by a nomadic population of aircraft sellers at both companies, the battle is nonetheless about strategy as much as tactical wins and bonuses.
In a duopoly, it is a case of keeping your enemy close.
Neither side can afford to let its share of this part of the market - estimated at $2 trillion over 20 years - drift far below the typical 45-55 percent band seen in a duopoly.
Doing so would let the other run away with efficiencies of scale and benefits of experience or learning curve. From there it is hard to recover as Douglas found when it lost independence through a 1997 merger between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.
"Boeing is adamant there is a price war with Airbus coming into their territory and that they can't accept a 58/42 or 60/40 split," said Nick Cunningham, managing partner of London-based researchers Agency Partners.
"That would mean Boeing selling two thirds as many planes as Airbus, giving Airbus an insuperable cost advantage which means you go into a death spiral," he said, adding that Boeing had the firepower to prevent this by using the price lever.
Boeing is rebounding after losing a year to the A320neo, designed to fend off new challengers such as Canada's Bombardier. It hesitated over whether to respond with a more ambitious design, but backed down when Airbus made inroads into American Airlines and put out the re-engined 737 MAX as a match.
Having stepped back from an arms race over developments, it has taken longer than expected for the two companies to settle back into their tense but more or less stable duopoly.
An Airbus source accused Boeing of "fighting every hill," but opponents say it is Airbus that uses more guerrilla tactics.
A ceremony last November to seal a record 201-plane order for Boeing from Indonesia's Lion Air in front of U.S. President Barack Obama told part of the story. Behind the scenes, Airbus had struck early and come close to wresting away a major client.
Another blockbuster order from Boeing-friendly Norwegian Air went partly to Airbus, following a bruising contest.
"The long term consequences of such price wars are a backlog which includes a chunk of badly priced orders which would have been best avoided," said Cunningham.
How far that hurts profits depends on how broad and long-lasting the feud is and whether each side can hold down costs.
On the other hand, after 2,000 firm or provisional sales in a year and weaker demand, it may not be long before the parties retire to lick their wounds, said Societe Generale's Khan.
And U.S. and European export credit financing, which is said to have facilitated many of the battles, will get more expensive next year as a result of an international agreement.
Boeing is playing down expectations of massive orders in Farnborough, but eyes will be on briefings by the new Airbus and Boeing top management and any threats or peace offerings the companies might issue over the heads of media to each other.
"Airbus and Boeing are a duopoly and can't collude, but they can signal to each other. And Boeing is sending a clear signal to Airbus that ?if you price down to get market share we are not getting to let it happen so we both get hurt'," said Cunningham.
(Additional reporting by Helen Massy-Beresford and Seda Sezer; Editing by Mark Potter)
?A criminal offense in which the laptop is involved as an object of crime or as a tool for committing an offenses material component.?
For those who find your self beneath criminal investigation for cyber crime then youll want to certainly seek legal advice. It is normally far better to have some know-how regarding the law and crime that you simply are dealing with in an effort to save your self from any unjust or undeserving sentences. Further, its going to assist you to in avoiding any activity that could break the cyber law and put you in trouble.
Many of the most popular and nicely defined net crimes are:
Youngster pornography: On the internet predators targeting youngsters are in the prime hit list of FBI. Child pornography is deemed a very serious crime and also the possession of 1 such picture can land you in prison for 5 years. Based on 18 U.S.C 110, Sexual Exploitation along with other Abuse of Youngsters, the punishment for such a crime might be up-to 15 years in federal prison.
Cyber stalking: Like the stalking inside the real world, men and women may also stalk other individuals over world-wide-web. Cyber stalking falls below the category of harassment and is usually a punishable offence.
Scams and fraud: Fraud is in fact an extremely broad term and covers lots of different actions and activities. Generally, these crimes are dishonest acts which are carried out as a way to acquire monetary advantages.
Trademark violations: Like it sounds, the trademark violations are those crimes where the registered trademark of one small business is utilized by some other third celebration over the web, with or without having intent.
Copyright violations: Copyright violations are maybe one of the most typical on line activity. Copying content material from any other source on the web and working with it for individual purpose without having citing and linking for the source is deemed as copyright violation.
Pc and network hacking: These are the cyber crimes that are related to laptop as well as network dealings. Such crimes contain hacking, website defacing, producing and distributing computer viruses maliciously etc.
Credit card hacking: Credit card hacking also falls beneath fraud instances however it is now a really widespread crime for that reason we would point it out separately. The credit card information of users is retrieved and hacked by unauthorized personals who intend to work with it for personals gains.
Bank account hacking: Just like credit card hacking, the bank card hacking also involves access of bank account information and facts of users. This info is then normally made use of for transferring funds to other accounts.
The initial law against cyber crime was enacted in 1984 and was called ?The Pc Fraud and Abuse Act?. CFAA will be the most significant computer statute in US as all of the other statutes concerned with above challenges come by modifying the CFAA.
Further, in 1986 ?Electronic Communication Privacy Act? was enacted which actually was an amended version of wiretap law. In accordance with this law, intercepting, employing, accessing or disclosing of transmitted or stored electronic communications with no authorization is illegal.
Now that you simply know a thing about cyber crime and law you may stay away from circumstances where you can be accused of cyber crime. Further, when you have any doubt or confusion then it is possible to ask legal queries to cyber law attorneys more than net for free and clear all your doubts. Its normally greater to become informed than make mistake then regret.
Learn more about Maryland law when you go to the site.
Alternatives to Permanent Treatment Insurance: With a Turn back Mortgage and Other Ways to Pay money for Long-term Treatment Expenses.Given that long-term care and attention insurance usually requires one to live in well being, this specific preparing choices out of stock for you to reverse mortgage everybody, specially more mature applicants to whom your prices can even be beyond reach. When you?re not less than 62 yr old and you just own your house, you can use the opposite mortgage to pay for care and attention fitness center for the long-term care and attention insurance protection which will usually might be expensive. A opposite mortgage can be a ways of applying for capital in the amount you will have already covered for your residence. You may be creating more capital that will usually just be available if you marketed the house. You can actually remain the house unless you want to expire, with out helping to make payments. The credit will be reimbursed if your purchaser dies or even sells the home. The total amount of the assets in the home will go to your homeowner?s property.Expenses might be attained regular, inside of a big payment or capital bring the history of credit. This funds attained with a opposite mortgage are usually tax-free. As the reverse mortgages membership era will be 62, it is wise to hold back until your current very early 1970?s or even subsequently. This more mature your purchaser, the larger the amount of assets readily available. You?ll find greatest confines established by the administration year after year relating to how much of the assets might be lent. Commonly directly about 50% of the value of the house is produced such as the opposite mortgage.You might use your funds with a opposite mortgage to pay the buying price of home-health care and attention. Because mortgage has to be reimbursed if you prevent to exist in the home, long-term care and attention outside of the residence can not be covered for reverse mortgage companies along with a opposite assets mortgage except if the co-owner of the house just who is approved continuously live in the home. Make Use Of The place to find Their work Program.The Nation?s Local authority around the Getting older, together with the assist associated with the two Locations with regard to Treatment together with State medicaid programs Expert services (Content management system) and the John Wood Velupe Basis, will be sleeping your ground moves for the effective public-private alliance to elevate the application of opposite residential loans to aid find the money for long-term care and attention. The final target of the Make Use Of The place to find Their work(TM) process could be to improve the overall proper by using opposite residential loans to ensure that scores of people could faucet residence assets to pay for long-term care and attention expert services or even insurance.
Southern Arizona's dark skies established the region as an international hub for astronomy in the 1960s. Observatories and other sky-gazing research facilities have brought prestige ? and millions of dollars ? to the state.
Today, riches on the ground ? or, more specifically, below it ? also have the potential to enrich the state, resulting in an odd collision between mining and astronomy.
Since 2007, when Rosemont Copper, which is owned by Canada's Augusta Resource Co., announced its plans to build a mine in the desert just south of Tucson, the environmental community has warned that the project will devastate the desert landscape.
But when the mine released its draft environmental impact statement in 2009 and revealed its lighting plan for the mine, another group joined the fray: the International Dark-Sky Assn. and the numerous astronomers whose research ? and livelihoods ? depend on the desert's dark skies.
"The [mine's] impact on astronomy is potentially very, very significant," said Scott Kardel, public affairs director of the association, a Tucson-based nonprofit that has worked to preserve and protect the darkness of night skies since 1988.
Because the mine would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, nighttime floodlights required by federal safety requirements could create significant light pollution that would interfere with astronomy.
The site of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine is 12 miles northeast of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, known for its Multiple Mirror Telescope and work in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy.
"The initial lighting estimate of the [mine's] light output was very bad," said Emilio Falco, project director at the Whipple Observatory, which is part of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
According to that initial estimate, the mine's lumen output ? the measure of the amount of visible light emitted by a source ? would be 21.7 million lumens, or the equivalent of about 12,000 houses.
The scientific community and the industries that cater to the astronomers were alarmed. In 2007, a study conducted by the University of Arizona estimated that astronomy contributed $250 million annually to the state's economy.
Much of this income is generated by the jobs created by research and tourism, as well as operations-related purchases in Arizona, such as equipment, materials, or professional services.
After a period of public comment, "Rosemont saw the light, so to speak," Falco said, and hired Tucson-based outdoor lighting company Monrad Engineering, which is headed by Christian Monrad, a former president of the International Dark-Sky Assn. A new lighting plan was drafted and released in January.
If adopted, the new plan would reduce the total lumen output to a quarter of the original design ? down to roughly 5.1 million lumens ? by applying new lighting technologies, such as filtered light-emitting diode systems. An improved fixture design will focus light on the ground instead of spewing it into the sky.
"It's an improvement," Falco said. But even with the reduced lumen output, "the mine will still have a significant impact on the quality of the sky," he said.
With even incremental increases in sky brightness, "the faintest stars are the first to go," Falco said. "But those are the most interesting ones."
Falco worries about not only the light emitted by spotlights, but also the dust kicked up by actual mining activities. "Not just because dust will affect the performance of the telescopes," he said, "but also because dust re-directs light into the sky."
"The project as a whole will undoubtedly have some effects upon the surrounding ecosystem, as would any new development in any non-urban locale," Kathy Arnold, vice president of environmental and regulatory affairs for Rosemont Cooper, said in an email.
But, Arnold said, the new lighting plan "reduces significant amounts of the negative environmental or astronomical effects due to light at night that may have otherwise occurred" with a conventional lighting system.
The revised lighting plan hasn't swayed many environmentalists opposed to the mine. "My work is a direct expression of the beauty and integrity of this amazing landscape here," said Matilda Essig, a visual artist who has lived in the nearby town of Sonoita for the last seven years. She says many tourists who come seeking the dark skies end up in her studio buying art.
"The mine stands to have a hugely negative impact on my economic well-being," she said.
A 2009 report by Arizona State University estimated that during the projected 20-year life of the mine, it would generate $907 million annually in associated economic activity for the state and support an average of 2,900 jobs for Arizona workers.
According to an Arizona statue, mining operations like Rosemont aren't legally required to conform to county lighting ordinances. Enacted in 1972, Pima County's light pollution laws are some of the most stringent in the country, and have been successful at reining in the glow of a growing Tucson.
In 2010, a study by the Lowell Observatory measured that the sky brightness at nearby Kitt Peak has stayed "remarkably constant" over the last 20 years.
The project's fate is now in the hands of the U.S. Forest Service, which must rule on the overall mining plan, as well as what lighting would be acceptable.
Ice Age was probably one of the first animated movies we let Graham watch simply because we owned it. ?It was one of our favorites before we had kids so it was already in our home library.
So, we are thrilled that Ice Age: Continental Drift is headed to theaters in just one week! ?You and your family can check out the new film on July 13th. ? Here's the synopsis:
In ICE AGE 4: CONTINENTAL DRIFT, Scrat?s nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he?s been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences ? a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these upheavals, Sid reunites with his cantankerous Granny, and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates determined to stop them from returning home. The film features the voice talents of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, with Jennifer Lopez and Queen Latifah. Peter Dinklage, Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Drake, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk, Nick Frost, Joy Behar.
I just caught a glimpse of one of the commercials featuring the singers and voices for this movie and I am excited to hear the songs as well!
Check out the trailer:
Are you a fan of Pirate's Booty like us? ?One of my friends introduced me to this stuff and I love it for a snack. ?Pirate's Booty has teamed up with?Ice Age: Continental Drift?offering a limited-edition 7-oz. package of Pirate's Booty aged white cheddar ? an all-natural snack made from puffed rice corn and blended with real aged white cheddar cheese. ?The limited-edition "Ice Age: Continental Drift" packages will be available at retailers nationwide through July 31. Visit Pirate?s Booty on?Facebook?for more details!You can also visit the Ice Age Facebook and Twitter pages to keep up with all of the fun happenings.
Now one lucky Go Graham Go reader will win a $25 Visa Gift Card and Ice Age Pirate's Booty Gift Pack! Here's How:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This product was provided free of charge. These are my honest opinions on the product. I do not post reviews on products I can not stand behind. Please see my Terms of Use for more info.
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Striding down from the tiny "emperor station" near Schweidnitz in Lower Silesia (now in Poland, at one time Germany), Helmuth Caspar von Moltke arrives at Kreisau, a sprawling estate that is his birthplace and childhood home.
As he walks along a dirt path, this tall, elegant man feels the weight of responsibility to see to it that Kreisau, laden with personal memories and important history, be used to promote a peaceful, united Europe. It was this vision for which his father died: It was here that his father and a group of his friends met secretly to reject the Nazis and plot a democratic Germany as part of a united Europe without Adolf Hitler.
Those were dangerous, treasonous ideas in 1930s and '40s Germany. They led to prison and execution for most of those involved in the "Kreisau Circle."
RELATED: People-powered democratic revolts - do they last?
In 1866, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had helped Mr. Moltke's great-great uncle, Field Marshal Count Bernhard von Moltke, acquire the estate, a thank-you for help in winning a war against Prussia.
As children, Caspar and his brother, Konrad, would wait eagerly for the steam engine train to puff up to the emperor station. It wasn't until much later that they learned what went on at Kreisau: Their father, Helmuth James von Moltke, had gathered his friends there to plan for a new Germany without the "F?hrer."
After the Allied victory in 1945, Germans were driven out of Silesia; and Moltke's home, renamed Krzyzowa and now part of Poland, fell into ruin. But the Kreisau story did not end. It only slept during the years when his mother, Freya, took her two young sons first to Switzerland, then to South Africa and eventually Britain.
Slowly, appreciation for the Moltke legacy was reborn. Inspired by Helmuth James, individuals in Poland and East Germany vowed to turn crumbling Kreisau into a "New Kreisau," an international meeting place for young people. Freya became honorary chair of the New Kreisau Center for European Mutual Understanding.
Moltke took over that role upon his mother's death two years ago. A retired lawyer, he lives in Montreal and New England with his wife, but works intensely for the New Kreisau. "We have our property back, but in a different way," he says. "It is now serving a useful purpose."
Thousands of youths from Germany to Ukraine, Belarus to Afghanistan, converge on Kreisau each year to participate in workshops designed to continue the Moltke family's legacy ? the protection of human rights and advocacy for democracy and tolerance.
Hitler no longer endangers Europe. But the extremism ignited by Europe's current economic upheavals could. Passing on his parents' ideals represents the best way there is to "inoculate" young people today against extremist ideology, Moltke says.
As the most visible spokesperson for Kreisau, Moltke epitomizes the ability of former enemies ? Germany and Poland ? to turn hatred into reconciliation. "A lot of terrible history happened between Russia and Poland, and between Germany and Poland," says Moltke, who was 6 years old when Hitler's Gestapo (secret police) hanged his father.
For more than a century until the Treaty of Versailles in 1918, Russia, Prussia, and Austria had repeatedly divided and reconfigured Poland between themselves. Later, Nazi Germany made no secret of its intention to erase Poland and its people from the map. As a border region between Poland and Germany, Lower Silesia symbolized the deep tensions between the two countries long after it was given to Poland in 1945. There, Poles' distrust and fear of Russia and Germany remained deeply anchored.
Then in the months before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, a small group of Polish and East German intellectuals and theologians drew inspiration and strength from the story of Kreisau in their own struggle to build a new post-communist Europe.
"Helmuth James struggled with how to think freely, and to think about a new Europe in a context [under Hitler] where it wasn't possible to think freely," says Wolfram B?rger, a theology student in East Germany and now a pastor in Berlin. "He rethought Europe at a time when there was no hope that Europe could ever have a positive future.
"For us, young theology students, that was a mind-boggling thing," says Mr. B?rger, who led the move to create the nonprofit New Kreisau Center. "In a context of a deeply anchored status quo of the East-West divide, to be thinking in terms of beyond this divide was revolutionary."
On Nov. 12, 1989, three days after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, Poland's Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who had just become the first noncommunist head of government in Eastern Europe, and then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl chose Kreisau to hold a celebration of a reconciliation mass between their countries. They committed 30 million deutsch marks ($17 million) to restore the former Moltke estate.
Once she was reassured that Kreisau would be a European, not just a German, initiative, Freya backed the project. In the words of J?rgen Telschow, a lawyer in Frankfurt who became the first chairman of the Kreisau foundation, she was "Kreisau's guardian angel."
"New Kreisau profits immensely from the fact that the Moltke family is behind the effort," Mr. Telschow says. "It opens doors and sources that might otherwise be closed."
"Caspar continues a mission strongly associated with his mother," says B?rger, the Berlin pastor. "It is good and important because, through Freya, Konrad, and now Caspar, the name Helmuth James von Moltke stands for an open future for Europe and a world that hinges on the rule of law and on the protection of human rights."
In the 1920s young Helmuth James had tried to improve horrendous conditions in Silesia's coal mines by living and working there as part of a youth camp organized by his teacher, Eugene Rosenstock-Huessy.
The experience taught him the value of sharing viewpoints and making compromises to bring about change. During the Third Reich, his youth camp friends ? aristocrats and trade unionists, Protestants and Roman Catholics ? made up the Kreisau Circle. "If I don't do something that sustains my hope. I won't be able to stand it," Helmuth James wrote to Freya.
As counselor to the German Army's high command, Helmuth James fought for compliance with international law and the fair treatment of prisoners. He wrote about the psychological suffering of German soldiers involved in mass killings of Jews and Eastern Europeans. "His idea was that the criminals of the Nazi periods should be judged by an international court," Moltke says.
Inside the whitewashed palace recently, 80 high school pupils from Slovakia, Afghanistan, Germany, and the Czech Republic were putting into practice Helmuth James's ideals. They reenacted the roles of prosecutors, journalists, and judges in three of the world's most famous international criminal trials ? Nuremberg, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda ? by participating in the center's Model International Criminal Court.
RELATED: People-powered democratic revolts - do they last?
German 12th-grader Tamta Kalandarishvili served as prosecutor in the case of Drazen Erdemovic, a Bosnian Croat soldier convicted in the massacre at Srebrenica, Bosnia. The role made her understand "why we need international institutions, why trying people [in court] is important in a constitutional state," she says.
For others, like Ajmal Rasouli from Kabul, Afghanistan, witnessing "fair trials, how criminals can actually be punished ... gives me hope that one day the people of Afghanistan will see that criminals are brought to justice as well."
Rebekka Rabiega, a teacher from Wroclaw, Poland (named Breslau until 1945), calls the project a "step away" from war. "We might think that European reconciliation is a done fact, but it's a never-ending story," says Ms. Rabiega.
Hava Kohav Beller, a German-born film producer, made a 1992 Oscar-nominated documentary "The Restless Conscience" that documents the Kreisau Circle's Nazi resistance.
The message of Kreisau, she says from New York, where she now works, "is universal, going beyond the Western European 'club' to also embrace the other regions of the world, where, alas, violence and strife and deadly divisions are still rampant."
? To learn more, visit www.kreisau.de/en.
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Robot vision: Muscle-like action allows camera to mimic human eye movementPublic release date: 5-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Toon jtoon@gatech.edu 404-894-6986 Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
Using piezoelectric materials, researchers have replicated the muscle motion of the human eye to control camera systems in a way designed to improve the operation of robots. This new muscle-like action could help make robotic tools safer and more effective for MRI-guided surgery and robotic rehabilitation.
Key to the new control system is a piezoelectric cellular actuator that uses a novel biologically inspired technology that will allow a robot eye to move more like a real eye. This will be useful for research studies on human eye movement as well as making video feeds from robots more intuitive. The research is being conducted by Ph.D. candidate Joshua Schultz under the direction of assistant professor Jun Ueda, both from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
"For a robot to be truly bio-inspired, it should possess actuation, or motion generators, with properties in common with the musculature of biological organisms," said Schultz. "The actuators developed in our lab embody many properties in common with biological muscle, especially a cellular structure. Essentially, in the human eye muscles are controlled by neural impulses. Eventually, the actuators we are developing will be used to capture the kinematics and performance of the human eye."
Details of the research were presented June 25, 2012, at the IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics in Rome, Italy. The research is funded by National Science Foundation. Schultz also receives partial support from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation.
Ueda, who leads the Georgia Tech Bio-Robotics and Human Modeling Laboratory in the School of Mechanical Engineering, said this novel technology will lay the groundwork for investigating research questions in systems that possess a large number of active units operating together. The application ranges from industrial robots, medical and rehabilitation robots to intelligent assistive robots.
"Robustness against uncertainty of model and environment is crucial for robots physically interacting with humans and environments," said Ueda. "Successful integration relies on the coordinated design of control, structure, actuators and sensors by considering the dynamic interaction among them."
Piezoelectric materials expand or contract when electricity is applied to them, providing a way to transform input signals into motion. This principle is the basis for piezoelectric actuators that have been used in numerous applications, but use in robotics applications has been limited due to piezoelectric ceramic's minuscule displacement.
The cellular actuator concept developed by the research team was inspired by biological muscle structure that connects many small actuator units in series or in parallel.
The Georgia Tech team has developed a lightweight, high speed approach that includes a single-degree of freedom camera positioner that can be used to illustrate and understand the performance and control of biologically inspired actuator technology. This new technology uses less energy than traditional camera positioning mechanisms and is compliant for more flexibility.
"Each muscle-like actuator has a piezoelectric material and a nested hierarchical set of strain amplifying mechanisms," said Ueda. "We are presenting a mathematical concept that can be used to predict the performance as well as select the required geometry of nested structures. We use the design of the camera positioning mechanism's actuators to demonstrate the concepts."
The scientists' research shows mechanisms that can scale up the displacement of piezoelectric stacks to the range of the ocular positioning system. In the past, the piezoelectric stacks available for this purpose have been too small.
"Our research shows a two-port network model that describes compliant strain amplification mechanisms that increase the stroke length of the stacks," said Schultz. "Our findings make a contribution to the use of piezoelectric stack devices in robotics, modeling, design and simulation of compliant mechanisms. It also advances the control of systems using a large number of motor units for a given degree of freedom and control of robotic actuators."
In the study, the scientists sought to resolve a previous conundrum. A cable-driven eye could produce the eye's kinematics, but rigid servomotors would not allow researchers to test the hypothesis for the neurological basis for eye motion.
Some measure of flexibility could be used in software with traditional actuators, but it depended largely on having a continuously variable control signal and it could not show how flexibility could be maintained with quantized actuation corresponding to neural recruitment phenomena.
"Each muscle-like actuator consists of a piezoelectric material and a nested hierarchical set of strain amplifying mechanisms," said Ueda. "Unlike traditional actuators, piezoelectric cellular actuators are governed by the working principles of muscles - namely, motion results by discretely activating, or recruiting, sets of active fibers, called motor units.
"Motor units are linked by flexible tissue, which serves a two-fold function," said Ueda. "It combines the action potential of each motor unit, and presents a compliant interface with the world, which is critical in unstructured environments."
The Georgia Tech team has presented a camera positioner driven by a novel cellular actuator technology, using a contractile ceramic to generate motion. The team used 16 amplified piezoelectric stacks per side.
The use of multiple stacks addressed the need for more layers of amplification. The units were placed inside a rhomboidal mechanism. The work offers an analysis of the force-displacement tradeoffs involved in the actuator design and shows how to find geometry that meets the requirement of the camera positioner, said Schultz.
"The goal of scaling up piezoelectric ceramic stacks holds great potential to more accurately replicate human eye motion than previous actuators," noted Schultz. "Future work in this area will involve implantation of this technology on a multi-degree of freedom device, applying open and closed loop control algorithms for positioning and analysis of co-contraction phenomena."
Future research by his team will continue to focus on the development of a design framework for highly integrated robotic systems. This ranges from industrial robots to medical and rehabilitation robots to intelligent assistive robots.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Robot vision: Muscle-like action allows camera to mimic human eye movementPublic release date: 5-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Toon jtoon@gatech.edu 404-894-6986 Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
Using piezoelectric materials, researchers have replicated the muscle motion of the human eye to control camera systems in a way designed to improve the operation of robots. This new muscle-like action could help make robotic tools safer and more effective for MRI-guided surgery and robotic rehabilitation.
Key to the new control system is a piezoelectric cellular actuator that uses a novel biologically inspired technology that will allow a robot eye to move more like a real eye. This will be useful for research studies on human eye movement as well as making video feeds from robots more intuitive. The research is being conducted by Ph.D. candidate Joshua Schultz under the direction of assistant professor Jun Ueda, both from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
"For a robot to be truly bio-inspired, it should possess actuation, or motion generators, with properties in common with the musculature of biological organisms," said Schultz. "The actuators developed in our lab embody many properties in common with biological muscle, especially a cellular structure. Essentially, in the human eye muscles are controlled by neural impulses. Eventually, the actuators we are developing will be used to capture the kinematics and performance of the human eye."
Details of the research were presented June 25, 2012, at the IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics in Rome, Italy. The research is funded by National Science Foundation. Schultz also receives partial support from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation.
Ueda, who leads the Georgia Tech Bio-Robotics and Human Modeling Laboratory in the School of Mechanical Engineering, said this novel technology will lay the groundwork for investigating research questions in systems that possess a large number of active units operating together. The application ranges from industrial robots, medical and rehabilitation robots to intelligent assistive robots.
"Robustness against uncertainty of model and environment is crucial for robots physically interacting with humans and environments," said Ueda. "Successful integration relies on the coordinated design of control, structure, actuators and sensors by considering the dynamic interaction among them."
Piezoelectric materials expand or contract when electricity is applied to them, providing a way to transform input signals into motion. This principle is the basis for piezoelectric actuators that have been used in numerous applications, but use in robotics applications has been limited due to piezoelectric ceramic's minuscule displacement.
The cellular actuator concept developed by the research team was inspired by biological muscle structure that connects many small actuator units in series or in parallel.
The Georgia Tech team has developed a lightweight, high speed approach that includes a single-degree of freedom camera positioner that can be used to illustrate and understand the performance and control of biologically inspired actuator technology. This new technology uses less energy than traditional camera positioning mechanisms and is compliant for more flexibility.
"Each muscle-like actuator has a piezoelectric material and a nested hierarchical set of strain amplifying mechanisms," said Ueda. "We are presenting a mathematical concept that can be used to predict the performance as well as select the required geometry of nested structures. We use the design of the camera positioning mechanism's actuators to demonstrate the concepts."
The scientists' research shows mechanisms that can scale up the displacement of piezoelectric stacks to the range of the ocular positioning system. In the past, the piezoelectric stacks available for this purpose have been too small.
"Our research shows a two-port network model that describes compliant strain amplification mechanisms that increase the stroke length of the stacks," said Schultz. "Our findings make a contribution to the use of piezoelectric stack devices in robotics, modeling, design and simulation of compliant mechanisms. It also advances the control of systems using a large number of motor units for a given degree of freedom and control of robotic actuators."
In the study, the scientists sought to resolve a previous conundrum. A cable-driven eye could produce the eye's kinematics, but rigid servomotors would not allow researchers to test the hypothesis for the neurological basis for eye motion.
Some measure of flexibility could be used in software with traditional actuators, but it depended largely on having a continuously variable control signal and it could not show how flexibility could be maintained with quantized actuation corresponding to neural recruitment phenomena.
"Each muscle-like actuator consists of a piezoelectric material and a nested hierarchical set of strain amplifying mechanisms," said Ueda. "Unlike traditional actuators, piezoelectric cellular actuators are governed by the working principles of muscles - namely, motion results by discretely activating, or recruiting, sets of active fibers, called motor units.
"Motor units are linked by flexible tissue, which serves a two-fold function," said Ueda. "It combines the action potential of each motor unit, and presents a compliant interface with the world, which is critical in unstructured environments."
The Georgia Tech team has presented a camera positioner driven by a novel cellular actuator technology, using a contractile ceramic to generate motion. The team used 16 amplified piezoelectric stacks per side.
The use of multiple stacks addressed the need for more layers of amplification. The units were placed inside a rhomboidal mechanism. The work offers an analysis of the force-displacement tradeoffs involved in the actuator design and shows how to find geometry that meets the requirement of the camera positioner, said Schultz.
"The goal of scaling up piezoelectric ceramic stacks holds great potential to more accurately replicate human eye motion than previous actuators," noted Schultz. "Future work in this area will involve implantation of this technology on a multi-degree of freedom device, applying open and closed loop control algorithms for positioning and analysis of co-contraction phenomena."
Future research by his team will continue to focus on the development of a design framework for highly integrated robotic systems. This ranges from industrial robots to medical and rehabilitation robots to intelligent assistive robots.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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With the imminent arrival of Google?s latest Android operating system later this month, Apple?s iOS upgrades this fall and Microsoft?s relentless push to make Windows relevant to mobile devices, a lot of people are talking about smartphones and tablets. The next few months will also likely see an increasing number of people talking to these devices as well.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 5-Jul-2012
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