tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92111121392988079412024-03-12T15:34:01.446-07:00My Reader Starred ItemsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05908504504696684485noreply@blogger.comBlogger501125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-56836607276359982662012-04-11T07:25:00.001-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.371-07:00A storm indeed #NukeFreeCal<a href="http://thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/a-storm-indeed/">A storm indeed</a>: <br /><div style="width: 482px;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Stereographic_Projection_Northern_Hemisphere.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="472" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Stereographic_Projection_Northern_Hemisphere.png" title="northern hemisphere" width="472" /></a><br />And all of it's at risk</div><br />We knew what we wanted.<br />We got it.<br />Now we’re getting it:<br /><a href="http://enenews.com/radio-program-on-units-3-and-4-the-whole-northern-hemisphere-is-at-risk-right-now-a-storm-of-international-worry-we-dont-have-to-totally-panic-right-now-there-is-a-possiblity-we-may-luck-our">http://enenews.com/radio-program-on-units-3-and-4-the-whole-northern-hemisphere-is-at-risk-right-now-a-storm-of-international-worry-we-dont-have-to-totally-panic-right-now-there-is-a-possiblity-we-may-luck-our</a><br />(c) 2012 David Ritchie<br /><em>David Ritchie posts from Seoul, Korea. Contact: kwriter@asia.com.</em><br /><br /><a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/thebrinydeep.wordpress.com/451/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=thebrinydeep.wordpress.com&blog=30345010&post=451&subd=thebrinydeep&ref=&feed=1" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-44629498464924671972012-04-11T07:25:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.335-07:00IJS<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=IJS&defid=1942931">IJS</a>: <br />I'm Just Saying: Used to add emphasis, or express irony. Can also be used to express sarcasm. Can be used on the back of almost any sentence, IJS.<br /><br /><i><br />Person 1: how was that movie<br /><br />Person 2: That crap was straight booty, IJS<br /><br /><br /><br />Person 1: did you see the new guy<br /><br />Person 2: I'm still having wet dreams, IJS<br /></i><br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.urbandictionary.com/~ff/UrbanWordOfTheDay?a=dQttiPB3HKA:Sle90NfY5XY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/UrbanWordOfTheDay?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.urbandictionary.com/~ff/UrbanWordOfTheDay?a=dQttiPB3HKA:Sle90NfY5XY:bcOpcFrp8Mo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/UrbanWordOfTheDay?d=bcOpcFrp8Mo" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-64822627183976455102012-04-11T07:23:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.464-07:00Check Out Our New Video Series: Singularity Hub Accelerated Tech News!<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SingularityHub/~3/9aBf1G4Gz4U/">Check Out Our New Video Series: Singularity Hub Accelerated Tech News!</a>: <br /><div style="width: 190px;"><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Aaron1.jpg"><img alt="Aaron" height="132" src="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Aaron1.jpg" title="Aaron" width="180" /></a></div>You can’t talk about the rapid evolution of technology every day without eventually wanting to experience a little bit of it yourself. Today Singularity Hub is launching its new video series: Accelerated Tech News. Every week Aaron Saenz will provide a fast-paced recap of the top stories and major concepts discussed on Singularity Hub (and possibly in our <a href="http://singularityhub.com/membership/">Membership Program</a> too!). With a light touch and humorous outlook (at least Aaron finds his own jokes funny), Accelerated Tech News should be able to serve two big purposes: making it easier to digest all the great content produced at Singularity Hub, and making it easier to share that content quickly on the web. When you want to learn more about what’s discussed in the video, just go to SingularityHub.com and you’ll get the full story. We’re eager to keep you informed about the exponentially changing world around you. So, without further ado, here’s our debut episode of Singularity Hub Accelerated Tech News. Enjoy!<br />The Accelerated Tech News is still a work in progress, and we’re excited to hear what our readers (and now, our watchers) have to say about it. Please comment below, or on the YouTube page, to let us know what you like, what you hate, and what you’d like to see expanded in the future. Make a suggestion today and you could be shaping these videos for years to come. How’s that for a disruptive impact?<br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/SingularityHub?a=9aBf1G4Gz4U:-WI3o_5mN3Q:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/SingularityHub?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SingularityHub/~4/9aBf1G4Gz4U" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-10511381562897826862012-04-11T07:22:00.001-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.631-07:00Fly a jetpack in Google Earth<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoogleEarthBlog/~3/eQB4GzO91qI/fly_a_jetpack_in_google_earth.html">Fly a jetpack in Google Earth</a>: <br />In the discussions of <a href="http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2012/04/the_unofficial_google_earth_flight.html">"GEFS Online" flight simulator</a>, Jorg Buchholz mentioned that he had built a jetpack simulator in Google Earth. While the product isn't as polished as GEFS, it's still quite a lot of fun to play with!<br /><br /><br /><center><img alt="jetpack.jpg" height="389" src="http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2012/04/10/jetpack.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px; text-align: center;" width="550" /></center><br /><br />By default you start in Christchurch, New Zealand, though you can quickly jump to any location in the world. Your jetpack hovers in the air, and you can control it using your mouse, keyboard or joystick. The controls and physics seem quite solid, though I don't have any first-hand jetpack experience. :)<br /><br />If you use the keyboard, or likely with a joystick as well, the simulator supports simultaneous commands. For example, you can hold "8" and "1" to fly forward and up at the same time. It's a little thing, but adds quite a bit to the realism. This is a big reason why I enjoy using the <a href="http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2010/01/revisiting_the_spacenavigator.html">SpaceNavigator</a> with Google Earth -- you can be moving in a few different directions at the same time.<br /><br />This is a fun little simulator and it's a neat way to explore your favorite cities. You can <b>try it for yourself at <a href="http://jetpacksimulator.tk/">jetpacksimulator.tk</a></b>.<img border="0" src="http://www.gearthblog.com/images/gelogoicon.gif" title="Google Earth PLUGIN required." /> Nice work, Jorg!<br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?a=eQB4GzO91qI:MDN_TWJNVqY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?a=eQB4GzO91qI:MDN_TWJNVqY:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?i=eQB4GzO91qI:MDN_TWJNVqY:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?a=eQB4GzO91qI:MDN_TWJNVqY:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?a=eQB4GzO91qI:MDN_TWJNVqY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleEarthBlog?i=eQB4GzO91qI:MDN_TWJNVqY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoogleEarthBlog/~4/eQB4GzO91qI" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-58441285126360523562012-04-11T07:22:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.563-07:00Cities – A Prepper’s Nightmare & Solutions<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SHTFplan/~3/iZ7t3ntEEJ8/cities-a-preppers-nightmare-solutions_04102012">Cities – A Prepper’s Nightmare & Solutions</a>: <br /><em><strong>The following article has been generously contributed by Jessica Hooley of the <a href="http://saltnprepper.com/">Salt n’ Prepper</a> web site.</strong></em><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="240" src="http://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/city_blackout-610x300.jpg" title="City Blackout" width="488" /></div>Is it a coincidence that all of my nightmares occur in big cities? While it may be a personality glitch, I find that considering the dangers you face in the event of an emergency while living in a city, my nightmares may be justified. If you live in a city – buckle up. As a prepper you will have to work extra hard to make your emergency plan viable. And while I make no judgments on city dwellers, I must say – MOVE! For your own safety – MOVE! Move, move, move, move, move. Okay. I think I got it all out.<br />Now I understand that not everyone can just pick up and move because some lady on the internet says so. So if you are in the situation where you must stay in the city here are a few things you MUST have in your emergency preparedness plan.<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Define Your Strategy</strong></span><br />One of the biggest problems with cities are the fact that they aren’t self-sustaining. They rely on outer communities to supply them with food, water and often times electricity. The second biggest issue with cities is the space. Most homes/apartments/condos don’t have the space needed to store supplies for 6 months to a year. And even if they did there is a severely high probability of civil unrest, leading to looting and robbery. In short – you need a plan. The three questions to ask yourself:<br /><ol><li>How long will we stay</li><li>How will we get out</li><li>Where will we go</li></ol><strong>How long will we stay</strong> – As I said before, in a city you must resign yourself to the fact that you will have to leave if the situation escalates to a point where you either have no supplies or your safety is in jeopardy. Decide with your family how long this period is going to be. After the power is out, the food is gone, and the shelves are empty in the grocery stores of all liquid – how much longer will you hold down the fort. Too short and you may have bugged out too soon. Too long and you risk the possibility of not being able to get out.<br /><strong>How will we get out</strong> – Your exit strategy needs to be well planned out. Come up with a minimum of three routes out of the city. You’ve seen how a couple thousand people can shut down a road. Imagine the magnification of that situation when millions are out looking for food and water. You need to be able to navigate your way through the mess and be prepared to defend you and your family. I’ll go into further detail later.<br /><strong>Where will we go</strong> – Once again, come up with a couple places as a destination if possible. Think of relatives out in the “boonies”. Anyone that you consider as being in a safe part of the world. If you don’t know anyone within a reasonable distance (you may run out of fuel) start thinking of areas that you could stay. Hotels. Camp spots. Some place to “ride it out”.<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Make Connections</strong></span><br />As we’ve pointed out before, the population of cities can quickly turn into one of your biggest challenges. So it’s up to you to change that. Build your community into your own personal defense. Help those around you prepare. Educate them about emergency preparedness. You don’t need to reveal all of your prepping secrets but by preparing others you are ensuring help in the event that looting reaches your neighborhood. If everyone has something to defend they are more likely to band together. By not including your neighbors you are making them a potential threat to you. And the last thing you’ll want is to have to pull a gun on your neighbor if they are trying to take your supplies out of desperation.<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Get the Gear</strong></span><br /><strong>Bug-Out Gear</strong><br />Although it may not seem like “gear” – a truck may likely be the most important bug-out necessity for someone in a big city. Reasons why:<br /><ul><li>Capable of hauling ALL of your bug-out supplies</li><li>You will need something capable of maneuvering around rubble, waste, people and stalled vehicles on the road.</li><li>Able to store extra fuel in the bed to get further away.</li></ul>Outside of an off road vehicle, you will also need the following items:<br /><ol><li>96 hour kits for each person in the family</li><li>7 days of water – 1 to 2 gallons of water per person per day</li><li>A full gas tank and 40 extra gallons to haul</li></ol>Make sure in your plan to bug out, you have someone armed. When trying to leave the city there will be plenty of people outside waiting to stop you and take what you have. You must be prepared to face the realization that you may have to defend yourself with force.<br /><strong>Water</strong><br />No matter where you live, water is the basis to sustaining life. If you are planning to stay in your house longer than a week (after water is unavailable) you need to make storing water a big priority. Get creative with your water storage. As you can find in my other posts, polycarbonate containers are great for water storage. If you are crammed on space, I highly recommend <a href="http://saltnprepper.com/water-bricks" title="Water Storage with WaterBricks®">WaterBricks®</a>. You can store upwards of 60 gallons underneath your queen size bed alone with them. No matter what you decide for a storage system – make the most out of it. You’ll want to store 1-2 gallons for each person in your family for every day you plan on staying in your home.<br /><strong>Food Storage</strong><br />Food storage goes along the same lines as water. Make a food storage list to last your family the time you will be staying in your home. The key to your food storage is making it secret. In cities, food is likely to completely run out within 3 days. People will get really hungry really fast. And if someone remembers seeing that stack of food storage in your garage, or remembers you saying something about having 6 months in your basement – you’re their first stop. Don’t put yourself in the situation where you are more likely to have to defend your storage by shouting it from a mountain top. Once again, get creative and bury it in your yard if you must.<br /><strong>Lighting</strong><br />In the event of an emergency, you will likely be facing a powerless situation. During the day you’ll just have to get used to being without certain luxuries like powered kitchen gadgets and television. But at night, no power can turn into a psychological battle. Especially for children. Have plenty of snap lights, flashlights and lanterns to keep it bright when the sun goes down so the little ones (and maybe even you) can relief during the night.<br /><blockquote>TIP: In most cities, homes and other living spaces are close together. When using your evening lighting make sure to draw the shades. Test your emergency lighting during peacetime and see which places in the house you can use them without it being seen from the outside. Light will draw more than just bugs during a power outage. And the result could end up in self defense.</blockquote><strong>Warmth</strong><br />Without electricity you may be in for some cold nights. Be prepared with some down blankets and 4 season sleeping bags. You can also get some indoor kerosene heaters. And if you are lucky enough to have a wood burning fireplace, put it use! Get stocked up on firewood and use it when necessary.<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Defense</strong></span><br /><strong>Weapons</strong><br />The terrible truth is that most places in this country where self-defense is needed most, it’s unavailable to law abiding citizens. I’m talking about guns. Big cities, despite their soaring crimes rates, seem to find rationale in banning guns whenever possible. And while free speech is still available – I’m telling you to get your hands on a gun no matter what it takes. As long as you are an otherwise law abiding citizen and you don’t hear voices in your head telling you to kill people – you need the ability to defend your property and more importantly your family.<br />Other fantastic weapons to have stored for self-defense include:<br /><ul><li>Pepper spray</li><li>Taser</li><li>Trip wires</li><li>A guard dog – a really mean looking one <img alt=":)" src="http://saltnprepper.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" /></li></ul>These other defense tools are great to get someone off your property initially but keep in mind that they’ll get away and may come back with the knowledge that this time they’ll have to kill you to get your food.<br /><strong>Fortifications</strong><br />If you plan to stay in your home for more than a month before bugging out, you need to consider investing in fortifications for your home. This includes making some changes that are more functional than pretty. This includes things like plexiglass windows, steel doors, removing landscaping features that people can easily hide in, blacking out windows, etc. Anything that can make your home more secure makes you less of a target.<br />So for all you city dwelling preppers, I hope this helped. Make your plan bullet proof. You are already at a disadvantage so have a process in place for everything you need to do. Good luck and happy prepping!<br /><em><strong>About the author: Jessica Hooley</strong></em><br /><em><strong>I’m an LDS prepper from Lehi, UT. I believe that emergency preparation is vital for everyone and that you don’t need to be a survival specialist to get the best emergency preparation for you and your family. I want to take the complexity out of prepping to help those around me get involved. </strong></em><br /><em><strong>For more preparedness resources including <a href="http://saltnprepper.com/category/food_storage">food storage</a>, <a href="http://saltnprepper.com/category/checklists">checklists</a> and <a href="http://saltnprepper.com/category/temporal-preparedness">everything else</a> visit the <a href="http://saltnprepper.com/">Salt n’ Prepper</a> web site.</strong></em><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.shtfplan.com/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=13716&type=feed" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SHTFplan/~4/iZ7t3ntEEJ8" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-50907945976174461522012-04-11T07:20:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.667-07:00The Stealth Geography Of America: A Map<a href="http://www.disinfo.com/2012/04/the-stealth-geography-of-america-a-map/">The Stealth Geography Of America: A Map</a>: <br /><a href="http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/open-source-design-02-wikileaks-guidecritical-infrastructure/" rel="http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/open-source-design-02-wikileaks-guidecritical-infrastructure/"><img alt="tumblr_m1m1nirJaI1qz4yloo1_500" height="357" src="http://disinfo.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tumblr_m1m1nirJaI1qz4yloo1_500.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 50px;" title="tumblr_m1m1nirJaI1qz4yloo1_500" width="179" /></a><br />Via <a href="http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/open-source-design-02-wikileaks-guidecritical-infrastructure/">Domus</a>, a map of the United States, in the form of its 259 most crucial infrastructural sites as revealed by a 2010 WikiLeaks release:<br /><blockquote>We might say with only slight exaggeration that the United States exists in its current state of economic and military well-being due to a peripheral constellation of sites found all over the world.<br />These far-flung locations—such as rare-earth mines, telecommunications hubs and vaccine suppliers—are like geopolitical buttresses, as important for the internal operations of the United States as its own homeland security.<br />However, this overseas network is neither seamless nor even necessarily identifiable as such. Rather, it is aggressively and deliberately discontiguous, and rarely acknowledged in any detail.<br />That is what made the controversial release by <a href="http://wikileaks.org/">WikiLeaks</a>, in December 2010, of a long list of key infrastructural sites deemed vital to the national security of the United States so interesting…</blockquote>[More on <a href="http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/open-source-design-02-wikileaks-guidecritical-infrastructure/">Domus</a>]Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-81742143892501015882012-04-11T07:19:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.713-07:00A TSA Official Admits Billion-Dollar-Body Scanner Program is Worthless (Video)<a href="http://www.disinfo.com/2012/04/a-tsa-official-admits-billion-dollar-body-scanner-program-is-worthless-video/">A TSA Official Admits Billion-Dollar-Body Scanner Program is Worthless (Video)</a>: <br /><a href="http://disinfo.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/HomelandSecurity.jpg"><img alt="Homeland Security" height="174" src="http://disinfo.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/HomelandSecurity.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px;" title="Homeland Security" width="191" /></a>Via <a href="http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/">TSA Out of Our Pants!</a>:<br /><blockquote>My <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEoc_1ZkfA">last video</a> demonstrated how easy it is to take a metal object through TSA nude body scanners undetected.<br />In this video, I interviewed an actual TSA screener to hear more about how these machines are an epic fail. “Jennifer,” who asked me not to use her real name or face, has been on the front lines of the TSA’s checkpoints for the last 4 years.<br />Please share this video with your family, friends, and most importantly, elected officials in federal government. Make sure they understand that your vote is contingent on them fixing the abuse that 200,000 passengers face from the TSA on a daily basis. If you are (or know) a TSA screener who has seen abuse in the TSA, please contact me!</blockquote>Read More: <a href="http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/">TSA Out of Our Pants!</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-21956740179614056322012-04-11T07:15:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.750-07:00Don't give up (you're on the right track)<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/Wo3jTxyRfqQ/dont-give-up-youre-on-the-right-track.html">Don't give up (you're on the right track)</a>: <br /><div>Wrestling with a puzzle, a project or a problem, the likeliest reason to give up is the belief that it can't be done. What's the point of persevering if it's actually impossible to succeed?<br />"It can't be done," we say, throwing up our hands. Not "I can't do it," or "It's not worth my time," but "It can't be done."<br />In the year after Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile, the record was broken again and again. Once people realized it could be done, it wasn't an impossible task any longer. And that's why there's a flood of tablets on the market, many from companies that had what they needed to build the first one, but didn't until Apple showed them the way.<br />Two things you might take away from this: First, there's solace in finding someone who has done it before, whatever "it" is you're trying to do. Knowing that it's possible and studying how it was done can't help but increase the chances you'll stick it out.<br />Second: huge value accrues to the few able to actually do a thing for the very first time.</div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/typepad/sethsmainblog?a=Wo3jTxyRfqQ:ETzirzA9WtI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/typepad/sethsmainblog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/typepad/sethsmainblog?a=Wo3jTxyRfqQ:ETzirzA9WtI:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/typepad/sethsmainblog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~4/Wo3jTxyRfqQ" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-81345864921112126132012-04-11T07:13:00.001-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.992-07:00California State Park Pass Price Increase<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/San-oDaze/~3/BhL2cBXdzfI/park-pass.html">Park Pass</a>: April 30th - $125<br />May 1st and beyond - $195<img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/San-oDaze/~4/BhL2cBXdzfI" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-53164467494088075782012-04-11T07:13:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:44.890-07:00Everybody Loves Google; Only One-Third View Twitter Favorably<a href="http://feeds.sphinn.com/~r/sphinn/~3/BlxR4pnii9U/everybody-loves-google-only-one-third-view-twitter-favorably-9704">Everybody Loves Google; Only One-Third View Twitter Favorably</a>: Google is the most popular major tech company in America, slightly besting Apple, while Facebook lags far behind those two. Twitter polls the worst of the four, with only about one-third of Americans saying they view the company favorably. The data comes from a recent ABC/Washington Post poll of...<br /><br /><br /><br />Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.<br /><div><a href="http://feeds.sphinn.com/~ff/sphinn?a=BlxR4pnii9U:5y1dNLvsLwM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/sphinn?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.sphinn.com/~ff/sphinn?a=BlxR4pnii9U:5y1dNLvsLwM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/sphinn?i=BlxR4pnii9U:5y1dNLvsLwM:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.sphinn.com/~ff/sphinn?a=BlxR4pnii9U:5y1dNLvsLwM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/sphinn?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.sphinn.com/~ff/sphinn?a=BlxR4pnii9U:5y1dNLvsLwM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/sphinn?i=BlxR4pnii9U:5y1dNLvsLwM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sphinn/~4/BlxR4pnii9U" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-77488566705248346112012-04-11T07:11:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.085-07:00iPhoneographer Wanted<a href="http://www.iphoneography.com/journal/2012/4/11/iphoneographer-wanted.html">iPhoneographer Wanted</a>: <br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9-x7AzWKDO0?rel=0" width="500"></iframe><br /><strong>Pocketstock</strong>, the mobile photography stock photo agency are looking for a talented iPhoneographer to document a 2 - 3 month road trip across America.<br /><br />If you're interested, then more details about the assignment, and how to apply, can be found over at <a href="http://www.pocketstock.com/apply">pocketstock.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-48903206446035494132012-04-11T07:04:00.001-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.259-07:00Geocaching takes off in Toowoomba<a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNERF3NtwGk_S8OtUqFD8SIKUbBXeQ&url=http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2012/04/11/geocaching-takes-toowoomba/">Geocaching takes off in Toowoomba - Toowoomba Chronicle</a>: <br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="7" style="vertical-align: top;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="80"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGdBAyqM0iO5XO0Y5yMz625PtqVmQ&url=http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2012/04/11/geocaching-app-is-best-treasure-hunting-game/"><img alt="" border="1" height="80" src="http://nt3.ggpht.com/news/tbn/15x_IpHMwMj5OM/6.jpg" width="80" /><br /><span>Phones Review</span></a></span></td><td valign="top"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><br /><div style="padding-top: 0.8em;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><img alt="" height="1" width="1" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNERF3NtwGk_S8OtUqFD8SIKUbBXeQ&url=http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2012/04/11/geocaching-takes-toowoomba/"><b><b>Geocaching</b> takes off in Toowoomba</b></a></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><span><b><span style="color: #6f6f6f;">Toowoomba Chronicle</span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><span>Ben Kitley shows one of the many apps you can use for <b>geocaching</b> around Toowoomba. A NEW word is entering the entertainment world around Toowoomba. "<b>Geocaching</b>" is an outdoor, location-based game that involves a participant finding trinkets such as <b>...</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><span><a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGdBAyqM0iO5XO0Y5yMz625PtqVmQ&url=http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2012/04/11/geocaching-app-is-best-treasure-hunting-game/"><b>Geocaching</b> app is best treasure hunting game</a><span style="color: #6f6f6f;">Phones Review</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 85%;"><span><a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&ned=us&ncl=d0DInWYe4NYNF0MTNHxAgiA6dFcAM"><b>all 2 news articles »</b></a></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-6312470542840379992012-04-11T07:04:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.180-07:00Google+ Gets Navigation Customization, Cleaner Discussions, and Dedicated Hangout Pages [Video]<a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/z_pE5WtGFgY/google%252B-gets-navigation-customization-cleaner-discussions-and-a-dedicated-hangout-page">Google+ Gets Navigation Customization, Cleaner Discussions, and Dedicated Hangout Pages [Video]</a>: <br /><div style="float: left; padding-right: 10px;"><div><a href="http://lifehacker.com/5900993/google%252B-gets-navigation-customization-cleaner-discussions-and-a-dedicated-hangout-page" title="Click here to read Google+ Gets Navigation Customization, Cleaner Discussions, and Dedicated Hangout Pages"><br /><img alt="Click here to read Google+ Gets Navigation Customization, Cleaner Discussions, and Dedicated Hangout Pages" height="120" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17j9997wotoz9jpg/original.jpg" style="border-color: #b3b3b3; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px;" title="Click here to read Google+ Gets Navigation Customization, Cleaner Discussions, and Dedicated Hangout Pages" width="190" /><br /></a></div></div>Google has introduced a slew of new features for Google+ that seek to make navigation of the social network easier. On top of a new user interface, Google+ users will see a customizable navigation ribbon, a new discussion layout, and more. <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5900993/google%252B-gets-navigation-customization-cleaner-discussions-and-a-dedicated-hangout-page" title="Click here to read more about Google+ Gets Navigation Customization, Cleaner Discussions, and Dedicated Hangout Pages [Video]">More »</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=d8a5a58ad69f9504e0859afc31901b0e&p=1"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=d8a5a58ad69f9504e0859afc31901b0e&p=1" style="border: 0;" /></a><br /><img alt="" border="0" height="0" src="http://tags.bluekai.com/site/5148" width="0" /><img alt="" border="0" height="0" src="http://insight.adsrvr.org/track/evnt/?ct=0:8pyu3gz&adv=wouzn4v&fmt=3" width="0" /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=z_pE5WtGFgY:WrOmjGon0-4:H0mrP-F8Qgo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=z_pE5WtGFgY:WrOmjGon0-4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=z_pE5WtGFgY:WrOmjGon0-4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?i=z_pE5WtGFgY:WrOmjGon0-4:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=z_pE5WtGFgY:WrOmjGon0-4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?i=z_pE5WtGFgY:WrOmjGon0-4:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~4/z_pE5WtGFgY" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-7943593682538880972012-04-11T07:03:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.337-07:00The Weirdos "Who? What? When? Where? Why?" 1979<a href="http://twilightzone-rideyourpony.blogspot.com/2012/04/weirdos-who-what-when-where-why-1979.html">The Weirdos "Who? What? When? Where? Why?" 1979</a>: <span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">With ex-Quick (later Three O'Clock, etc.) drummer Danny Benair, the six-song Who? What? When? Where? Why? is an appealing blend of punk, psychobilly (a bizarre cover of Hank Mizzel's '50s obscurity, "Jungle Rock") and gonzo rock with unsettling lyrics.</span><br /><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EKB1-lNaAAE/T4VfciRbBlI/AAAAAAAAUIg/zyPYngv2DYo/s1600/weirdos-who-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EKB1-lNaAAE/T4VfciRbBlI/AAAAAAAAUIg/zyPYngv2DYo/s400/weirdos-who-1.jpg" width="399" /></a></div>The Weirdos'first two singles ("Destroy All Music" and "We Got the Neutron Bomb") were instant classics of Los Angeles punk and made them Kings of the West Coast scene for a while, but by 1979 they were eager to show that they could do something just a wee bit more professional. With the help of producer Earl Mankey, they tightened up their sound for their first 12" EP, the six-song Who? What? When? Where? Why?. From the first moment of speeded-up counterpoint on the opening track, "Happy People," Who? What? When? Where? Why? boasts a higher level of studio craft than the singles that preceded it, and the new rhythm section of bassist Billy Persons and Danny Benair on drums is flashier and more precise that their predecessors (though Benair lacks Nickey Beat's manic flair). However, guitarists Dix Denney and Cliff Roman sound more powerful than ever in this context, and John Denny's feral howl remains a manic joy to behold. Add some of the Weirdos' best songs -- including "Fort U.S.A.," "Happy People," and "Hit Man" -- and you get a record that proves this band could sand off their roughest edges and still deliver some ferocious rock & roll. - by Mark Deming<br /><br />trax:<br />01 Happy People 02 Big Shot (In The Head) 03 Jungle Rock 04 Hit Man 05 Idle Life 06 Fort USA<br /><div><img alt="" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6207134906949751747-4624961276973394137?l=twilightzone-rideyourpony.blogspot.com" width="1" /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-90768415795704558112012-04-10T11:23:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.365-07:00Military Drills: Is the Army Preparing for a Martial Law Scenario in United States? (Latest Photos)<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SHTFplan/~3/-ZpRVk9mLQI/military-drills-is-the-army-preparing-for-a-martial-law-scenario-in-united-states-latest-photos_04102012">Military Drills: Is the Army Preparing for a Martial Law Scenario in United States? (Latest Photos)</a>: <br /><em>Editor’s Note: <em>The military is actively preparing to deploy in the United States of America if called on to do so. </em>We can be fairly certain that the military drills described below are for domestic implementation and not for controlling civil disobedience and riots in far-off lands like Iraq or Afghanistan. The plans and training <a href="http://www.shtfplan.com/marc-faber/pentagon-military-actively-war-gaming-large-scale-economic-breakdown-and-civil-unrest_11222010">have been in place for years</a>. As defined by the National Defense Authorization Act, the United States homeland is now a battlefield, which means the military will have jurisdiction in any situation that is deemed an event of national significance. Once activated, the entire country will fall under the control of the Commander In Chief and operate under emergency legislation that includes but is not limited to detainment and imprisonment of suspects without due process for indefinite periods of time, elimination of the right to assemble and protest freely, seizure of resources that include food, farm equipment, and skilled individuals for the purpose of conscription labor. The laws have been passed, the military has been trained, the ammo has been ordered. Make no mistake, the US government is ready to act swiftly and with impunity.</em><br /><strong><em>Reprinted with permission from <a href="http://theintelhub.com/">The Intel Hub</a>.</em></strong><br />For years the alternative media has warned about the US military possibly being <a href="http://theintelhub.com/2012/04/01/will-u-s-troops-fire-on-american-citizens/">used against</a> the American people in a time of economic collapse or any sort of <a href="http://theintelhub.com/2012/03/18/alert-obama-declares-peacetime-martial-law-executive-order-explained/">martial law</a> scenario.<br />Drills such as <a href="http://publicintelligence.net/vigilant-guard-2010-riot-control-detention-drills/">Vigilant Guard 2010</a> have brought widespread attention to the fact that portions of our own military are training to take on crowds of American citizens demanding food and Constitutional rights in a time of crisis.<br />Now, a new release by the website <a href="http://publicintelligence.net/">Public Intelligence</a>, once again confirms that as recently as February and March of 2012, US troops at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington were conducting training scenarios for a civil disturbance domestic quick reaction force.<br />A series of photos of the drills shows US troops with crowd control riot shields on the opposite side of actors portraying what can only be described as American citizens.<br />“The following photos are from March and February of this year and were taken at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The first four photos from March depict riot control training for a “domestic quick reaction force” that would aid in civil disturbances.<br />The second set of photos from February depict the 67th Military Police Company that typically mans the area’s Regional Correctional Facility attempting to quell riots among “restless prison inmates” that have created a disturbance, <a href="http://publicintelligence.net/u-s-army-domestic-quick-reaction-force-riot-control-training-photos/">wrote Public Intelligence</a> in a blog post that accompanied the photos.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/544498.jpg"><img alt="" height="318" src="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/544498-1024x691.jpg" title="544498" width="470" /></a><br /><br /><em><small>Soldiers assigned to 3rd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, prepare to control a riot during training, March 13, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. The unit is conducting civil disturbance training in preparation as a domestic quick reaction force.</small></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/544501.jpg"><img alt="" height="289" src="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/544501-1024x680.jpg" title="Holding the line" width="435" /></a><br /><br /><small>Soldiers assigned to 3rd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, conduct riot training March 13 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. The unit is conducting civil disturbance training in preparation as a domestic quick reaction force.</small></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/544499.jpg"><img alt="" height="303" src="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/544499-1024x680.jpg" title="544499" width="457" /><br /><br /></a><em><small>Soldiers assigned to 3rd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, hold their line in efforts to control a riot during training, March 13, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. The unit is conducting civil disturbance training in preparation as a domestic quick reaction force.</small></em></div>In the second series of photos, the 67th Military Brigade is seen taking part in what was described as a prison inmate riot. (FEMA Camps inmates?)<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/531305.jpg"><img alt="" height="303" src="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/531305-1024x680.jpg" title="531305" width="457" /><br /><br /></a><em><small>Soldiers with the 67th Military Police Company grab hold of a soldier playing the role of a restless prison inmate who has been injured on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Feb. 16 while practicing riot control drills during a culmination exercise that concluded a week of training for the soldiers.</small> </em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/531301.jpg"><img alt="" height="304" src="http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/531301-1024x680.jpg" title="531301" width="457" /></a></div>In <a href="http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150609968891659">a post</a> on the U.S. Army’s 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment’s Facebook page the drill was somewhat explained:<br /><blockquote><em>JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, WASH. – The Soldiers in a closed formation bang their batons in cadence against their shields as an angry mob approaches.</em><br /><em>“When I initially picked up my shield, the thought of the movie 300 was the first thing that came to mind,” said Spc. Kyle Wilhelmi.</em><br /><em>Teams of Soldiers assigned to 3rd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade conducted civil disturbance training here March 13. The Soldiers, though not quite Spartans, are effectively training to hold their line and successfully control crowds if called upon for a civil disturbance</em><br /><em>Soldiers with shields, batons and rifles pushed through and maintained a dominant stance against a mob of about 40 civilians. The riot escalated as the crowd began throwing snowballs, slurred profanity and made offensive gestures at the Soldiers. The more forceful members of the mob charged the Soldiers but were easily pushed back, as many often fell to the icy surface.</em></blockquote>Consider this:<br />The <a href="http://theintelhub.com/2012/04/05/the-us-government-has-ordered-over-750-million-rounds-of-40-caliber-hollow-point-ammunition-in-the-last-three-years/">Department of Homeland Security</a>, the <a href="http://theintelhub.com/2012/04/04/usda-orders-326000-rounds-of-ammunition-as-homeland-security-stays-quiet-over-450-million-round-order/">USDA</a>, and the FBI have ALL <a href="http://theintelhub.com/2012/04/06/alert-dhs-buys-up-millions-of-rounds-of-40-caliber-hollow-point-ammo-police-state-takeover/">purchased</a> or are set to purchase over 750 million rounds of .40 caliber hollow point ammo while at the same time portions of the US Army are directly training for crowd control within the United States.<br /><em>You can view all the photos through <a href="http://publicintelligence.net/u-s-army-domestic-quick-reaction-force-riot-control-training-photos/">Public Intelligence Here.</a></em><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.shtfplan.com/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=13702&type=feed" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SHTFplan/~4/-ZpRVk9mLQI" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-45606869797052644672012-04-10T11:21:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.459-07:00Fission Stories #87: NRC Resolves Humongous Nuclear Safety Problem<a href="http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/20841468510">Fission Stories #87: NRC Resolves Humongous Nuclear Safety Problem</a>: <br /><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m28apj0OEh1qbnrqd.jpg" /><br />There was no press conference on the steps of its headquarters, no webcast or even YouTube video for parties around the globe to view, or even a press release to commemorate the NRC’s recent closure of what must have been one of the most monumental nuclear safety problems in recorded history. Instead, this momentous occasion was <a href="http://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber='ML113050589">meekly chronicled by a five-page internal memo</a>.<br /><br />Generic Issue (GI) 186, “Potential Risk and Consequences of Heavy Load Drops in Nuclear Power Plants,” was initiated by the NRC late last century, back in April 1999. The problem involved big and heavy things being carried over areas like spent fuel pools that might accidentally be dropped. For example, a loaded dry cask containing spent fuel weighs nearly 100 tons and can squash things like irradiated fuel assemblies or poke large holes in the floors of spent fuel pools to let the water drain away. The NRC initiated GI-186 to ensure this heavy load hazard would be properly managed.<br />Actually, GI-186 was the reincarnation of generic technical activity A-36, “Control of Heavy Loads Near Spent Fuel.” In November 1977, the NRC staff classified A-36 as being Category A, “judged by the staff to warrant priority attention in terms of manpower and/or funds to attain early resolution” because its resolution would “provide a significant increase in the assurance of the health and safety of the public.”<br />The NRC closed A-36 in July 1980 with the issuance of NUREG-0612, “Control of Heavy Loads at Nuclear Power Plants.” This lengthy NRC report did not require plant owners to take corrective measures of any kind, but it reminded them about the dangers of dropping 100-ton casks on spent fuel.<br />Following this, the NRC issued Generic Letter 80-113, “Control of Heavy Loads,” to plant owners on December 22, 1980, asking them to read part of NUREG-0612, if they hadn’t already done so, and respond within six months regarding their plans to address some of the report’s safety recommendations. For example, the report recommended safe load paths (i.e., moving heavy things along routes where they could be dropped without squashing anything too important), procedures for inspecting and testing cranes, training and qualification requirements for the people operating the cranes, and using lifting rigs that conform to American National Standards Institute specifications.<br />A month and a half later, the NRC issued Generic Letter 81-07, also titled “Control of Heavy Loads,” to plant owners on February 3, 1981, asking them to read the rest of NUREG-0612, if they hadn’t already done so, and respond within nine months regarding their plans to address the rest of the report’s safety recommendations. These included either electrical interlocks or mechanical stops to prevent cranes from dropping heavy loads, and the use of single-failure-proofs cranes (i.e., cranes where the single failure of a bolt or cable or control cannot result in a heavy load being dropped). The NRC did not require owners to implement any of the safety measures they identified during their reviews. But the NRC encouraged owners to implement them.<br />Then in April 1999, the NRC staff resurrected A-36, this time calling it GI-186. Within a mere 51 months, the NRC issued another lengthy report for plant owners to read, or not. NUREG-1774, “A Survey of Crane operating Experience at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants from 1968 Through 2002,” is the definitive account of crane performance over this period and recommended ways to better manage heavy load risks. Within merely 27 months after this invaluable tome was issued, the NRC sent Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2005-025, “Clarification of NRC Guidelines for Control of Heavy Loads” to all plant owners. The NRC reminded owners how swell it would be not to squash important stuff when they drop heavy loads and spelled out some nifty suggestions for achieving this swellness. In the second paragraph of the RIS, the NRC informed owners that “This RIS requires no action or written response on the part of the addresses.”<br />For some unexplained reason, the RIS didn’t fully resolve GI-186. So the NRC had to send Supplement 1 to RIS 2005-025 to plant owners on May 29, 2007. In the second paragraph of the supplement to the RIS, the NRC informed owners that “This RIS requires no action or written response on the part of the addresses.”<br />For some unexplained reason, the RIS supplement also failed to fully resolve GI-186. What to do when two half-hearted attempts fail? Try a third. So, the NRC staff sent RIS 2008-28, “Endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute Guidance for Reactor Vessel Head Heavy Load Lifts,” on December 1, 2008. In the second paragraph of the supplement to the RIS, the NRC informed owners that “This RIS requires no action or written response on the part of the addresses.”<br />With three RISs each requiring no action on the part of plant owners under their belt, the NRC felt it was time to conclude “that the safety concerns associated with GI-186 [and presumably A-36 by extension] have been adequately addressed and that the GI is closed.”<br /><strong>Our Takeaway</strong><br />Bravo! Hip, hip, hurrah!<br />This is front page news. A safety issue so monumentally large and awesomely complicated that it took two concerted efforts spanning nearly 35 years has finally been resolved. All it took was two big old reports, a couple of generic letters outlining guidelines and things, and three RISs requiring absolutely no action whatsoever on the part of plant owners. But the NRC resolved it. Whew!<br />NOT! What they really accomplished was developing a stellar case study for civics classes to examine how government agencies should NOT behave. Two half-hearted attempts to resolve a public safety hazard does not equal one successful fix. The NRC needs to take safety seriously, or take a hike.<br /><em>“Fission Stories” is a </em><a href="http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/772814189/fission-stories-a-weekly-ucs-series-on-nuclear-power"><em>weekly feature</em></a><em> by Dave Lochbaum. For more information on nuclear power safety, see the </em><a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_risk/safety/"><em>nuclear safety section of UCS’s website </em></a><em>and our interactive map, the </em><a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_risk/safety/nuclear-power-information.html"><em>Nuclear Power Information Tracker</em></a><em>.</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-22180432262113012182012-04-10T11:17:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.556-07:0057% of All Frustrated Customers Head Online for Product Answers<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mindtouch/~3/VDiG5Gi0kzQ/">57% of All Frustrated Customers Head Online for Product Answers</a>: TNS Global Market Research recently reported that 57% of all consumers head online first before calling or seeking out more personalized help ...<br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?a=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?i=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?a=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?a=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:qj6IDK7rITs"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?d=qj6IDK7rITs" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?a=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?a=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/mindtouch?i=VDiG5Gi0kzQ:Zdu1SGXRntI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mindtouch/~4/VDiG5Gi0kzQ" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-90196533713358186482012-04-10T08:39:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.639-07:00Know Which Shots Work Best with Each Instagram Filter [Instagram]<a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/0nao-DhVq7U/know-which-shots-work-best-with-each-instagram-filter">Know Which Shots Work Best with Each Instagram Filter [Instagram]</a>: <br /><div style="float: left; padding-right: 10px;"><div><a href="http://lifehacker.com/5900661/know-which-shots-work-best-with-each-instagram-filter" title="Click here to read Know Which Shots Work Best with Each Instagram Filter"><br /><img alt="Click here to read Know Which Shots Work Best with Each Instagram Filter" height="120" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17j5ug5cosn1rjpg/original.jpg" style="border-color: #b3b3b3; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px;" title="Click here to read Know Which Shots Work Best with Each Instagram Filter" width="190" /><br /></a></div></div>If you're just getting into Instagram, the social shoot-and-filter app that was <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5898732/instagram-photo+sharing-and-styling-now-available-on-android">hit Android last week</a> and <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5900402/facebook-acquires-instagram">sold to Facebook yesterday</a>, then you might want appreciate a primer on each filter's quirks strengths, rather than flip through all of them with every shot. The Atlantic offers just such a profile. <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5900661/know-which-shots-work-best-with-each-instagram-filter" title="Click here to read more about Know Which Shots Work Best with Each Instagram Filter [Instagram]">More »</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=2b1023dae61276a663a864c28edf1bfe&p=1"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=2b1023dae61276a663a864c28edf1bfe&p=1" style="border: 0;" /></a><br /><img alt="" border="0" height="0" src="http://tags.bluekai.com/site/5148" width="0" /><img alt="" border="0" height="0" src="http://insight.adsrvr.org/track/evnt/?ct=0:8pyu3gz&adv=wouzn4v&fmt=3" width="0" /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=0nao-DhVq7U:xebSh46O5iw:H0mrP-F8Qgo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=0nao-DhVq7U:xebSh46O5iw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=0nao-DhVq7U:xebSh46O5iw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?i=0nao-DhVq7U:xebSh46O5iw:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?a=0nao-DhVq7U:xebSh46O5iw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/lifehacker/full?i=0nao-DhVq7U:xebSh46O5iw:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~4/0nao-DhVq7U" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-26518975192942843162012-04-10T08:38:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.754-07:00All your tabs, accessible everywhere<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/Egta/~3/mHV-MbLl21Y/all-your-tabs-accessible-everywhere.html">All your tabs, accessible everywhere</a>: Imagine you’ve looked up directions to a cool new restaurant on your home computer. Later, when you’re leaving work, you realize you can’t quite remember how to get there. If only you could quickly pull up the same directions on your office computer with one click!<br /><br />Well, with the latest <a href="https://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta/">Chrome Beta</a>, you can. When you’re <a href="https://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/more/sign-in.html">signed in to Chrome</a>, the tabs you have open on one device are available on all your other devices—just click the “Other devices” menu on the New Tab page.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HnwWyNOipBA/T4RHoltmZeI/AAAAAAAAAnY/rsD8wKiaRZQ/s1600/chrome_other_devices_menu.png"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HnwWyNOipBA/T4RHoltmZeI/AAAAAAAAAnY/rsD8wKiaRZQ/s400/chrome_other_devices_menu.png" style="display: block; height: 310px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />With a click, you can find and open the tab with your directions and be on your way. The tab’s back and forward navigation history is also included, so you can pick up browsing right where you left off. If you use <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/android/">Chrome for Android Beta</a>, the tab will also be available on your phone, right there in your pocket when you hit the road.<br /><br />We’ll be gradually rolling out the “Other devices” menu to Beta channel users over the coming week. To give it a try, download the latest <a href="https://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta/">Chrome Beta</a> and <a href="http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=185277&topic=1693469&ctx=topic">sign in to Chrome</a>. Happy browsing!<br /><br />Posted by Nicolas Zea and Patrick Dubroy, Software Engineers and Tab Teleportation Technicians<br /><div><img alt="" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2250394496987063687-5965219743195145086?l=chrome.blogspot.com" width="1" /></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/Egta/~4/mHV-MbLl21Y" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-65835009174635543032012-04-10T07:23:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.846-07:00Street Art by Pablo and David – In Montevideo, Uruguay<a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=7927">Street Art by Pablo and David – In Montevideo, Uruguay</a>: <br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7928" rel="attachment wp-att-7928"><img alt="" height="1512" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_1.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_1" width="1134" /></a><br /><br /><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150765363672700&set=a.311820137699.147776.310375597699&type=1">On Facebook</a></strong>.<br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7929" rel="attachment wp-att-7929"><img alt="" height="783" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_2.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_2" width="1134" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7930" rel="attachment wp-att-7930"><img alt="" height="769" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_3.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_3" width="1134" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7931" rel="attachment wp-att-7931"><img alt="" height="782" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_4.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_4" width="1134" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7932" rel="attachment wp-att-7932"><img alt="" height="1049" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_5.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_5" width="1575" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7933" rel="attachment wp-att-7933"><img alt="" height="826" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_6.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_6" width="1134" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7934" rel="attachment wp-att-7934"><img alt="" height="1237" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street_art_by_pablo_7.jpg" title="street_art_by_pablo_7" width="1134" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?attachment_id=7935" rel="attachment wp-att-7935"><img alt="" height="1056" src="http://www.streetartutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/street-art-in-uruguay-montevideo.jpg" title="street art in uruguay montevideo" width="1575" /></a><br />By <strong><a href="http://lasogaalcielo.blogspot.com/">Pablo S. Herrero</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://daviddelam.blogspot.com/">David de la Mano</a></strong>. In Montevideo, Uruguay.<br />More by Pablo on Street Art Utopia:<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=1749">Where do you live? – Among the trees!</a></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-51123458205898412962012-04-10T07:22:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:45.936-07:00Talking With the Founders of Vergence Labs: First Steps Towards Merging Man and Machine<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SingularityHub/~3/ad6mb7P9GAw/">Talking With the Founders of Vergence Labs: First Steps Towards Merging Man and Machine</a>: <br /><div style="width: 595px;"><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vergence-lab-founders.jpg"><img alt="vergence lab founders" height="391" src="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vergence-lab-founders.jpg" title="vergence lab founders" width="585" /></a><br />Jon Rodriguez and Erick Miller are the crazy-like-a-fox founders of Vergence Labs.</div>There are few fuels as potent as youth and genius, and <a href="http://www.vergencelabs.com/">Vergence Labs</a> is sitting on a powder keg. The fledgling startup in Palo Alto is comprised of <a href="http://erickmiller.com/about/">Erick Miller</a> and <a href="http://www.quora.com/Jon-Rodriguez">Jon Rodriguez</a> a dynamic duo that want nothing less than to redefine the human-computer interface for the 21st Century. Vergence Labs, recently accepted into Stanford’s prestigious <a href="http://startx.stanford.edu/">StartX </a>program, is looking to create commercially available devices which will bridge the space between augmented reality, biometric data, computer vision, and digital information in the next few years. They’ve already produced demos for an augmented reality visor that will tell you the names of your friends as you look at them (see video below). Their first real product, however, will be a pair of glasses that allow users to capture video and share it socially, and they’ve just launched a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vergencelabs/redefine-reality-with-computing-enabled-eyewear/widget">Kickstarter project</a> to help start production. Soon thereafter they’ll be integrating biometric data from wearable sensors, and moving on to bigger, better ways to merge humans and machines.<br />I talked with Miller and Rodriguez about the future of their new company. Augmented reality, immersive digital/social experiences, telemedicine, preventative health care monitoring…Vergence Labs has so many potential applications for their devices lined up that it’s not really a big concern. These guys don’t want to find a killer app, they want to build the bridges that will unite us with computers. Or, as Miller says, “Reality is our platform.”<br />Singularity Hub first ran into Vergence Labs at this year’s Future Med at Singularity University, discussing some of the many possible applications for human-computer interactions in the healthcare industry. It’s hard to convey in words the enthusiasm and surprising depth of vision that Miller and Rodriguez provide in person, so a few videos are in order. The first is an introduction from Vergence Labs that quickly jumps through some of their concepts of augmented reality devices, and then demonstrates a great prototype facial-recognition system that culls info from Facebook to identify friends as you look at them.<br />In the second Vergence Labs video Rodriguez presents another video glasses prototype that augments reality in a few fun ways:<br />The latest Vergence Labs creation: electric sunglasses. A nice little demonstration of the hardware expertise in this team:<br /><br /><br />There’s a breadth to Rodriguez’s experience which is astounding for someone so young. Besides robotics, AR, and social media (a former intern at Facebook), he’s also worked with synthetic biology, DNA sequencing, and mobile apps. <a href="http://stanford.edu/~jonr1/honors-application.txt">His honor’s thesis at Stanford this year</a> (yes, he’s a college senior) will focus on harnessing wearable sensors to create a bioelectric interface, “assembling an augmented reality computer with video screens and headphones as output, and inputs consisting of gaze tracking, EEG, finger tracking, and GPS.” He’s most of what one could ask for in a Chief Science Officer and he hasn’t even finished his undergraduate degree.<br />Here’s Rodriguez, while still in high school, discussing a system to adapt reconnaissance robots with IR vision for military applications. His work here won him an award at the 2008 International Science and Engineering Fair.<br />Miller’s career is no less impressive. His experience in computer graphics, computer vision, design, and visual effects includes time with some big names like Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Sony.<em> Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer, 300, X-Men: The Last Stand, Beowulf, I Am Legend</em> – Miller’s work or leadership is seen in all those films. But he’s not just some movie guy, he’s a recent MBA with a great background in shaping digital worlds ready to take a bigger role in deciding how people actually experience reality.<br />Why am I spending so much time on Miller and Rodriguez’s backgrounds? Because when you start talking about Vergence Labs it’s easy to get bogged down in the short term applications, and there’s a lot more going on here. Vergence Labs’ first product is going to be a set of camera glasses that share video through social media – that’s a space <a href="http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/01/take-a-look-inside-the-video-spy-glasses-that-conquered-kickstarter-video/">ZionEyez has tried to enter</a> (I’m still waiting to see if the former Flip camera crew can pull that off). The first demo we see of the Miller-Rodriguez team is a prototype device that uses Facebook to recognize people in real-time –<a href="http://singularityhub.com/2012/02/18/free-facial-recognition-klik-point-your-phone-at-a-friend-and-it-will-tell-you-who-they-are/"> KLIK from Face.com</a> is already in that market with a mobile app. The augmented reality goggles and software that Rodriguez shows off in the second video are fun, but Vuzix hardware, and a variety of different software programs have been available for years. Not only that, but <a href="http://singularityhub.com/2012/04/05/google-unveils-augmented-reality-glasses-its-vision-of-the-post-pc-era/">Google just starting showing off their Google Glasses concept</a> and the search engine giant looks like it might try to dominate the field in the next few years. Social video eyewear is going to be competitive to say the least.<br />So if one just looks at Vergence’s near term projects as evidence one would be tempted to say: “cool, a couple of smart guys are working on some of the neat visual tech I’ve seen before, maybe they’ll help provide some good competition to other companies.” The real message to be received however is “Vergence Labs could be the breakout company that merges our digital and physical senses”.<br />Because it’s about more than just cameras and augmented reality mobile apps. Vergence Labs is aiming broader in data collection – not just video and audio, but synchronized biometric sensors. In the short term that means that a Vergence system could have applications beyond social media, including preventative healthcare, body monitoring, and personal medicine. Miller threw out tons of great apps in this space including glasses that use computer vision to see and track what you eat, even suggest when you should eat something else and sensors that correlate what you do (as seen in video) with how your body feels, sleeps, or moves. Rodriguez’s honor thesis suggests even more possible ways of transforming a wearable computer (like the glasses and sensor) into a “Total Biolectric Interface” that can provide information the user needs to react to the environment around them. Imagine a pair of glasses that hears everything said to you, converts it from speech to text, searches for keywords, and then overlays graphics and text that you can select using just eye movements – hyperlinks to your reality.<br />Those sort of long term applications hint at the kind of platforms that Vergence Labs wants to create: observant, immersive, intelligent products that unite physical experience with the growing database of digital information available online. Everything is synched through the cloud, everything can be shared, and everything you want to know can be in front of your eyes in just seconds. Their first products are low-hanging fruit – real time social video through web and mobile computing, augmented reality, and basic body monitoring. Give them a few years of success, however, and Vergence Labs could be creating the prototype devices that just scream of the Technological Singularity and the merger of man and machine.<br /><div style="width: 595px;"><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vergence-labs-immersive-display.jpg"><img alt="vergence labs immersive display" height="306" src="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vergence-labs-immersive-display.jpg" title="vergence labs immersive display" width="585" /></a><br />Miller showing off a concept immersive display system. Vergence is already thinking big in terms of hardware, software, and overall user experience.</div>Will they make such a transition? Well, Miller and Rodriguez certainly seem to be off to a great start. They’ve each racked up some considerable experience in a wide variety of fields as described above. Vergence Labs has also gained some great attention and support with their acceptance in StartX. For those unfamiliar with Stanford’s startup accelerator, StartX provides resources, mentors, and services (legal, accounting, etc) to let fledgling companies bootstrap themselves into the market. Alexa Lee from StartX, who joined us for our chat, said that there was “no other company like [Vergence Labs] in this session”, a group that will emerge from the incubator in an few months. Rodriguez already has a small Kickstarter fund-raiser under his belt, and Vergence Labs is ready now for another. <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vergencelabs/redefine-reality-with-computing-enabled-eyewear">They’ve just started a KS project to raise $50k for computer-enabled eyewear.</a> They’ve already attracted some high-end backers and raise $4k in their first day. Check out the video below to learn more: <br />More general (equity) fund-raising will happen soon, and in fact would have happened earlier but Miller delayed the round to take better advantage of StartX’s network. The actual products are close as well. The technology to build the immersive displays Rodriguez and Miller discuss in that first video is almost completely ready to go, except for battery/power concerns. Yet even there Vergence Labs is hopeful, looking to extend their current two hour battery life using a suite of efficiency tricks that Rodriguez reverse engineered from the XO laptop (another one of his school projects). If batteries are the weakest link, I asked the two entrepreneurs which were the strongest bits of tech in their stable: “Our screen technology is state of the art…and with computer vision, we are really pretty damn cool.”<br />In other words, Vergence Labs has some technological surprises up its sleeve, and the vision to apply those innovations with immediate and long term goals. The talent here is wide and deep, and the enthusiasm is like a enormous pitcher of Kool-Aid. Should you drink it? Well, listen to their latest Kickstarter pitch and judge for yourself. These guys may simply be another young company that sets off to change the world and gets stuck making marketable gizmos…or they could be the real deal – one of the hundreds of innovators that history will place at the foundation of the development of the Singularity. Either way, I find myself very hopeful about what Vergence Labs will be able to show us in the years ahead.<br />[image and video credits: Jon Rodriguez and Erick Miller (Vergence Labs)]<br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/SingularityHub?a=ad6mb7P9GAw:tyRisgf7N04:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/SingularityHub?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SingularityHub/~4/ad6mb7P9GAw" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-86022516471449772752012-04-10T07:21:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:46.038-07:00The Video Resume — Modern Necessity Or Domain Of Epic Fail?<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SingularityHub/~3/ssWtXUpSlus/">The Video Resume — Modern Necessity Or Domain Of Epic Fail?</a>: <br /><div style="width: 310px;"><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/video-resume-fail.jpg"><img alt="video resume fail" height="220" src="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/video-resume-fail.jpg" title="video-resume-fail" width="300" /></a><br />Michael Cera's "Impossible is the Opposite of Possible" parodies all that is wrong with the video resume.</div>With recent reports on employers using social media to screen job applicants, it’s clear that technology has changed the hiring process. Job seekers competing for positions in a brutal job market must look for ways to stand out from the crowd, and one strategy that has often been touted as the modern-day must-have is the video resume. Video resumes promise to combine the information packed in a lifeless paper resume with the humanizing personalization of an interview. The relative ease of recording video and the rapid distribution of the Internet should make the video resume as common as the business card, but the reality is video resumes have never become the mainstays they were promised to be, and instead, are often clunky, awkward, and begging to become the next humorous viral phenomenon.<br /><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/04/history-of-the-resume/">About a decade or so ago</a>, murmurs about video resumes appeared on news programs or in business articles, usually by experts studying the job market and making predictions about how it was going to naturally evolve with the rise of technology. In 2007, the online search site CareerBuilder <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr363&sd=4%2F18%2F2007&ed=12%2F31%2F2007">introduced a feature</a> to accommodate the expected demand for video. But the service was shut down a little over a year later from lack of interest. Since then, numerous web startups have jumped on the bandwagon to create video databases for the unemployed. Whether they take a broad approach, as the recently launched <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/30/new-career-website-lets-job-seekers-upload-video-resumes/">GetHired.com</a> does, or target a highly specialized market, like <a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/dentaljobs/videoresume/prweb9317073.htm">DentalSpots.com</a>, these companies exist because of the underlying belief that video resumes will become the norm.<br />Yet, they haven’t, even as the demand for candidates to present themselves in a video exists and the <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/01/17/tips-video-resumes/">advice for making good ones</a> continues to flow.<br />A <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070327005962/en/89-Employers-Open-Viewing-Video-Resumes-Vault">2007 survey by Vault.com</a> indicated that though 89% of employers said they would watch a video resume, only 17% said they had actually seen one. A YouTube search for “video resume” reveals slightly over 10,000 hits, hardly a vote of confidence from the millions of people out of work. No one seems to know for sure why there’s such a lack of interest in using video as the means to land a job, but perhaps it comes down to something <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E1pDEi1LuE">Jerry Seinfeld</a> said about screening actors trying out for the part of George: “[A tape] is the worst way to ever see anyone audition. No one ever comes off well.”<br />Unfortunately, the video resumes that people have seen are likely ones that are either painfully bad or are parodies of the format. A 2006 video by Yale student Aleksey Vayner called “<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xguj4m_dr-douchewell_gaylesbian">Impossible Is Nothing</a>“ sought to profile the candidate’s philosophy of success and the innumerable ways he has mastered various life challenges. Instead, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15250703/ns/business-forbes_com/t/students-video-resume-has-wall-street-howling/#.T3s_r9VPaHc">the video went viral</a> and is now. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth taking the time to see how a good idea can go bad:<br />After it became <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/impossible-is-nothing">an Internet meme</a>, numerous parodies appeared. The most famous is “<a href="http://youtu.be/nAV0sxwx9rY">Impossible is the Opposite of Possible</a>” by Michael Cera, which is convincing enough that if have never seen Aleksey’s version, it would be easy to believe Cera’s was real:<br />So why is it hard for people to come off well in a video resume?<br />Part of the problem is expectations derived from watching entertainment and mass marketing on television, which has established fairly high standards for video productions. A video resume that comes across as entertaining is hard to take seriously and one that leans heavily toward the marketing side seems impersonal. But the flip side is a video resume that’s boring or, worse yet, as self promoting as an infomercial. This means that video resumes make video production skills part of the assessment for job fitness. While there are a few ways to screw up a paper resume (<a href="http://www.google.com/landing/csfe/">Comic Sans anyone?</a>), there are innumerable ways to make a bad video, such as making them too long, for instance. In the Vault.com survey, half of employers also indicated that video resumes should be under a minute, and <a href="http://cdn.theladders.net/static/images/basicSite/pdfs/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyB.pdf">a recent study by The Ladders</a> revealed that recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds scanning a paper resume to determine if the candidate is a fit or not, so a video resume that’s long is highly inefficient. Finally, video resumes make appearances, not experience, the first impression. That’s a big issue because a <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/07/19/poll-how-much-is-beauty-worth-at-work.html">2010 Newsweek survey</a> of hiring managers revealed that physical looks are perceived as making an enormous difference in the job market from who gets hired to who succeeds in the workplace. On top of that, a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2011/11/11/in-hiring-looks-matter/">Rice University study</a> showed that people who have facial blemishes, scars or other disfigurements were discriminated against in the job hiring process.<br />In light of this, check out the following three video resumes and determine for yourself if you’d use it as a basis to hire someone:<br />Like someone who isn’t a horror fan watching <em>Evil Dead 2</em>, it’s hard to know whether it’s trying to be funny or not.<br />So if you’re in the market to make a video resume, do it right: hire professionals using the best technology to make a short, highly polished, entertaining-yet-serious video production that makes you look like a movie star and avoids all the mistakes the web has kindly archived for your reference. In other words, make a commercial in which you are the product.<br />[Media: YouTube]<br />[Sources: <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070327005962/en/89-Employers-Open-Viewing-Video-Resumes-Vault">Business Wire</a>, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2011/11/11/in-hiring-looks-matter/">Forbes</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic/">Mashable</a>, <a href="http://cdn.theladders.net/static/images/basicSite/pdfs/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyB.pdf">The Ladders</a>]<br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/SingularityHub?a=ssWtXUpSlus:h4-1fAbw3L8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/SingularityHub?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SingularityHub/~4/ssWtXUpSlus" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-29707884466994419262012-04-10T07:20:00.001-07:002012-04-11T07:57:46.227-07:00Hug it out with your IT department: collaboration beyond content<a href="http://www.scriptorium.com/2012/04/hug-it-out-with-your-it-department-collaboration-beyond-content/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hug-it-out-with-your-it-department-collaboration-beyond-content">Hug it out with your IT department: collaboration beyond content</a>: <br />The stereotypical technical writer working in isolation is an endangered species—if not already extinct.<br /><br />At Scriptorium, our content strategy reports often include recommendations for incorporating contributions from subject matters experts and for fostering two-way communication between end users and technical communicators.<br />When a tech comm department revamps its processes to integrate sharing with SMEs and end users, new tools and technologies are often required. In the heat of evaluating those new tools (and that process can get heated, believe me), it’s easy to overlook that someone will have to manage and maintain the infrastructure for those tools. <em>Don’t forget about your IT department!</em><br />Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of the us-versus-them mentality when it comes to relationships with IT departments, and I’ll even admit to contributing to such tensions: <em>“Really? Is the IT department going to lock </em>that<em> down, too?”</em> It’s time to put that kind of thinking aside, especially if you’re changing your content development processes and need to implement new tools. The moment you start your project, you should actively engage the IT department in your decision making.<br />Early IT involvement is particularly critical if you are installing a content management system. To implement a new CMS, you will need information that goes <em>way</em> beyond tech comm requirements:<br /><div style="width: 223px;"><img alt="Image of hugging orangutans (flickr: DavyLandman)" height="320" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6028/5982655204_9f530a5553_n.jpg" style="border: 0pt none; margin: 6px;" title="Image of hugging orangutans (flickr: DavyLandman)" width="213" /><br />Photo by DavyLandman (flickr)</div><ul><li>How much time will it take to maintain the system (database maintenance, backups, and so on)? As more users and content are added to the system, how does maintenance time increase?</li><li>Should the CMS reside on a physical or virtual server? How well will that server scale as users and content are added?</li><li>Can the current Internet connection and network handle the CMS (particularly when multiple sites are involved)? Does the company need a bigger pipe to accommodate CMS activity?</li><li>How will user accounts be added and removed from the system? Does the CMS integrate with the single sign-on solution your company already has in place?</li><li>Will there be in-depth training provided to the IT personnel on the CMS? What about follow-on support?</li><li>What is the process for installing new releases, and what kind of time do they generally require?</li><li>Is there a hosted solution that eliminates maintenance tasks when the IT staff doesn’t have the resources to manage another system?</li></ul>Technical communicators and IT must work together to get the answers to these critical questions—like it or not! Technical communicators need to understand how their new tools affect IT, and the IT group must learn about how its efforts support specific tech comm requirements.<br />In the short term, developing those understandings makes implementing new tools more efficient (not to mention more pleasant for everyone involved). In the long term, strong relationships between tech comm and IT deepen both groups’ knowledge of the company’s business as a whole—which in turns makes those employees more valuable.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-56900543745476814522012-04-10T07:20:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:46.129-07:00Shocking Hidden Video: America’s Voting System is a Complete Farce<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SHTFplan/~3/gIMfmzF1pbE/hidden-video-americas-voting-system-is-a-complete-farce_04092012">Shocking Hidden Video: America’s Voting System is a Complete Farce</a>: <br />James O’Keefe, who was single handedly responsible for freezing millions of dollars of wasted government funds to the ACORN association of community organizations due to fraudulent and criminal practices, now demonstrates why it’s patently impossible for the United States to have a legitimate election.<br />This time O’keefe’s shocking hidden video records poll workers on Primary Day in Washington, DC offering US Attorney General Eric H. Holder’s voting ballot to a complete stranger, while other voting locations in the district offer to sign for ballots. Eric Holder has said multiple times there exists no evidence of Voter Fraud…until now.<br />While the <a href="http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/mcgrath-the-control-grid-is-being-put-into-place-to-handle-what-they-know-is-coming_04062012">police state control grid tightens all around us</a>, tracking every email, phone call, retail purchase, and our day-to-day movements, the one thing no one in government wants to track is who is actually casting the votes for elected representatives, even though these very people hold the future of 310 million Americans in their hands.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">As it stands now, and as evidenced by O’keefe’s latest video, the voting system in the United States is a complete farce. Without identification requirements, candidates looking to solidify their seats need only determine who has yet to cast a vote (even if that person is dead), and then provide a body with a heartbeat to assume that person’s identity.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Furthermore, and perhaps even more alarming, is that in a previous video <a href="http://www.theprojectveritas.org/">Project Veritas</a> shows that election law actually allows voters to be created out of thin air as in the case of Timothy Tebow and Thomas Brady who were registered to vote in the state of Wisconsin. Once registered, ANYONE could then cast a vote as that registered voter.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Several states have attempted to implement voter ID laws, but have been viciously attacked by Eric Holder’s Justice Department at every turn.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This begs the question: What possible purpose, other than for the ease of executing election and voter fraud, would Attorney General Holder, federal legislators and election regulators have for not immediately addressing the issue of identification requirements in modern-day American elections?</div><img alt="" src="http://www.shtfplan.com/?ak_action=api_record_view&id=13683&type=feed" /><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SHTFplan/~4/gIMfmzF1pbE" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9211112139298807941.post-3106946777031622222012-04-10T07:19:00.000-07:002012-04-11T07:57:46.316-07:00Basel 1 GCG95Z GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – April 9, 2012<a href="http://blog.geocaching.com/2012/04/basel-1-gcg95z-geocache-of-the-week-april-9-2012/">Basel 1 GCG95Z GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – April 9, 2012</a>: <br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://coord.info/GCG95Z"><img alt="" height="255" src="http://blog.geocaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Basel-1-1.png" title="Basel 1 1" width="640" /></a></div><div style="width: 373px;"><a href="http://blog.geocaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Basel-1-3.jpg"><img alt="" height="273" src="http://blog.geocaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Basel-1-3.jpg" title="Basel 1 3" width="363" /></a><br />View near the cache location</div>Basel 1 (<a href="http://coord.info/GCG95Z">GCG95Z</a>) hides along the banks of the Rhine River in Switzerland. It’s the most “favorited” geocache in the country. Basel 1 has accumulated nearly 300 Favorite Points to date. Some geocachers simply write in their logs, “One of the best caches in the world!!!!”<br />The traditional geocache was hidden by <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=4425c131-b8a4-424b-8b83-c2eb443315ca&wid=79fc617c-1806-408f-9d84-8195dde409c1&ds=2">muelsee</a> in 2003. The geocache combines an historic location with an unforgettable experience. The difficulty three, terrain one geocache has been found by more than 1500 geocachers from around the world.<br />Read the <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_logbook.aspx?guid=79fc617c-1806-408f-9d84-8195dde409c1">logs</a> on the cache page for an idea of what makes the geocache so spectacular. Many of the log entries are in German and may need to be translated. Warning as spoilers may be contained in the logs.<br /><div style="width: 310px;"><a href="http://blog.geocaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Basel-1-2.jpg"><img alt="" height="224" src="http://blog.geocaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Basel-1-2-300x224.jpg" title="Basel 1 2" width="300" /></a><br />View from near the cache location of a reenactment on the Rhine</div>Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the <a href="http://blog.geocaching.com/2011/08/category/geocache-of-the-week/">Geocaches of the Week</a> on the Latitude 47 blog or view the <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=f03815a5-2c69-4f59-9a7f-65e37243e0b0">Bookmark List</a> on Geocaching.com.<br />If you’ d like to nominate a <em>Geocache of the Week</em>, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com