Musician blends Christian
Jim Hughes started singing with the radio in 1958 while his mom did the laundry. He was 5 and could twist and sing at the same time.“She had me all dressed up like Elvis,” he said.
He learned to play the guitar in 1972 and three years later became a Christian, but he didn’t know any Christian songs. He only knew bar songs, so he sang them with Christian lyrics.
“It’s called a parody when you change the words,” Hughes said. Weird Al Yankovic does parodies. Martin Luther did them in the 1500s. Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” was a bar song, he said.“He just put Christian words to it. Parodies have been going on for a long time.”
One of the first Christian songs Hughes learned was “Amazing Grace,” but he learned it to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun.”“This was already an established ‘Jesus freak’ song back in those days,” he said.He and three preachers were ministering in prisons, missions and halfway houses in Nevada in the late 1980s. They were doing a two-day revival at a Salvation Army mission, and its clients had to attend the services if they wanted a bed for the night. Hughes started singing songs from the mission’s 40-year-old hymn books, and the crowd sat with arms crossed, faces that said, “Make me sing.”
“After the second song, I said, ‘Man, this is a rough crowd.’ So I broke out ‘Amazing Grace’ to the ‘House of the Rising Sun.’ By the time I hit that last note, they’re hanging on the chandeliers. They’re shouting. They’re just going crazy, and someone in the back of the room goes: ‘All right, now do ‘Stairway to Heaven.’’”
It was the most popular rock ’n’ roll song of all time, he said, and he didn’t have it in his repertoire.“That night the Lord gave it to me.”The lyrics to “Old Rugged Cross” came to him, and they fit “Stairway to Heaven.” The next night he played it at the mission house, and the crowd went crazy.Hughes took the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” wrote new lyrics and turned it into “Homegrown Christian.”
One day he and his friends were at 24th Street and Van Buren in Phoenix, where the state evaluated incoming prisoners before sending them to a prison.“So I start singing my songs,” he said, “and by the time I get to ‘Homegrown Christian,’ I’m jumping up and down with my guitar, and they are all rocking and screaming.” Thirty men came up afterward and thanked him.
Hughes wrote parodies of other people’s songs, then started writing original Christian and country songs.A friend gave him a microphone that plugged into his laptop. He had written and copyrighted more than 50 songs but had never recorded any of them, because he thought he would have to pay royalties on the parodies.
“I found out that because they are parodies that the copyright is totally mine,” he said. “It’s like a political statement or cartoon. You can do that with something public.”His first CD was “The Darnel,” based on Jesus’ parable about the farmer who sows wheat, and the enemy sneaks in and sows weeds.He has a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and video production, so he created his own album cover and song list with lyrics.
Then came his first original country-rock album, “Finding Hope.”“Wouldn’t you know it, an old hippy, Jesus freak writing country songs,” he said.Next came “Homegrown Christian,” which includes “Stairway.” He illustrated it with video clips from “The Passion of the Christ” and put it on YouTube.His second country-rock album was “No Boundaries,” which is all original music. Then came “Under Anointing I,” which includes songs sung partly in tongues.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric &
Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment
manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer
extractor, industrial washing machine,
dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching,
manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest
level of quality and service.
2013年8月29日 星期四
Grand Cayman Island
On a series of canals near the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman’s Blue Tip golf course, and near Seven-Mile Beach in West Bay, Crystal Harbour, is a gated residential community of about 50 luxury homes.
Beyond a circular cobblestone driveway, this four-year-old cream-colored concrete and stucco villa with four-zone air-conditioning and a gray tile roof sits on a 0.48-acre waterfront property. Its $2.795 million asking price does not include the furnishings, although they are negotiable.
The double front door with sidelights opens onto a vaulted two-story foyer with a Turkish marble floor that continues throughout the house. To the right, the formal dining room has French doors leading to the front “cigar patio” enclosed with a balustrade. An office to the left of the foyer opens onto a similar “bistro patio.” Under the staircase to the left, the master suite, with its spalike bath, opens via 12-foot sliding doors to the yard patio, also of Turkish marble.
Sliding doors stretch across the back of the house, linking the patio to the living room, the den and the breakfast room; all have water views. One wall of the living room has a granite-topped wet bar with an ice maker and a wine fridge. Beyond the den, a kitchen has a three-foot-wide Sub-Zero refrigerator and a separate three-foot-wide Sub-Zero freezer. An L-shaped island with a granite countertop houses the main sink on one side and a smaller sink on the other. Frosted glass cabinets above a porcelain plank tile backsplash span the walls. Appliances include a microwave, dual ovens, a Wolf gas cooktop, a pot filler, a KitchenAid dishwasher and a trash compactor.
Off the hallway between the kitchen and the three-car garage is the laundry room; nearby is a guest bath with an outside door for party use.The second floor has the other bedrooms, all but one with en-suite baths, as well as a gym and a den.
The backyard has a multilevel 32-foot infinity pool with built-in tanning beds submerged in three inches of water. There is also a spa for eight, as well as an outdoor kitchen and bar pavilion, and access to the 58-foot-long dock and Jet Ski lift.
An outdoor shower is mounted outside the pool equipment house. In case of a hurricane, a cistern provides 9,000 gallons of emergency water. Grand Cayman is the largest and liveliest of the three-island archipelago known as the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Western Caribbean.Along Seven-Mile Beach, the market starts at around $300,000, for a condominium, and tops out in the eight figures.
Jeanette Totten, the president of the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association, said there had been a “slight improvement” in the market this year, with more interest among expatriate second-home buyers. The increase is centered along Seven-Mile Beach, for condominiums, and Cayman Kai on the north side of the island for single-family homes.
According to Kel Thompson, a developer and an owner of Century 21 Cayman, “Prices have softened significantly since 2008, and the rate of sales has decreased.” The market remains “tilted much in favor of buyers,” he said.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Beyond a circular cobblestone driveway, this four-year-old cream-colored concrete and stucco villa with four-zone air-conditioning and a gray tile roof sits on a 0.48-acre waterfront property. Its $2.795 million asking price does not include the furnishings, although they are negotiable.
The double front door with sidelights opens onto a vaulted two-story foyer with a Turkish marble floor that continues throughout the house. To the right, the formal dining room has French doors leading to the front “cigar patio” enclosed with a balustrade. An office to the left of the foyer opens onto a similar “bistro patio.” Under the staircase to the left, the master suite, with its spalike bath, opens via 12-foot sliding doors to the yard patio, also of Turkish marble.
Sliding doors stretch across the back of the house, linking the patio to the living room, the den and the breakfast room; all have water views. One wall of the living room has a granite-topped wet bar with an ice maker and a wine fridge. Beyond the den, a kitchen has a three-foot-wide Sub-Zero refrigerator and a separate three-foot-wide Sub-Zero freezer. An L-shaped island with a granite countertop houses the main sink on one side and a smaller sink on the other. Frosted glass cabinets above a porcelain plank tile backsplash span the walls. Appliances include a microwave, dual ovens, a Wolf gas cooktop, a pot filler, a KitchenAid dishwasher and a trash compactor.
Off the hallway between the kitchen and the three-car garage is the laundry room; nearby is a guest bath with an outside door for party use.The second floor has the other bedrooms, all but one with en-suite baths, as well as a gym and a den.
The backyard has a multilevel 32-foot infinity pool with built-in tanning beds submerged in three inches of water. There is also a spa for eight, as well as an outdoor kitchen and bar pavilion, and access to the 58-foot-long dock and Jet Ski lift.
An outdoor shower is mounted outside the pool equipment house. In case of a hurricane, a cistern provides 9,000 gallons of emergency water. Grand Cayman is the largest and liveliest of the three-island archipelago known as the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Western Caribbean.Along Seven-Mile Beach, the market starts at around $300,000, for a condominium, and tops out in the eight figures.
Jeanette Totten, the president of the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association, said there had been a “slight improvement” in the market this year, with more interest among expatriate second-home buyers. The increase is centered along Seven-Mile Beach, for condominiums, and Cayman Kai on the north side of the island for single-family homes.
According to Kel Thompson, a developer and an owner of Century 21 Cayman, “Prices have softened significantly since 2008, and the rate of sales has decreased.” The market remains “tilted much in favor of buyers,” he said.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
2013年8月27日 星期二
Skoda Octavia vRS
“The fastest ever production Skoda Octavia”. Doesn’t exactly set your nerves quivering, does it? “Cut-price Golf GTI”, however, sounds more interesting. And that’s exactly what the Octavia vRS has always set to out to be.
Skoda first installed the VW Group’s 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine in its practical Octavia hatch and estate in 2000. Along with sports suspension, alloy wheels, chunky bumpers and a subtle rear wing, it created the very first vRS, or Victory Racing Sport (the “v” only appeared on UK market cars as a concession to Ford, which also brands its fast cars as RS models).
That first Octavia vRS undercut most of its hot hatch rivals for purchase price and running costs, all the while being practical, fun and desirable. As such, it gained a small but very much worthwhile following for Skoda, a brand that was still finding its feet again after years of ridicule.
A Fabia vRS followed two years later, creating a niche for itself by being a diesel-powered hot hatch and further reinforcing the notion that Skoda was getting its mojo back.
So it was no surprise that when the Czech brand launched the second-generation of Octavia in 2004, it included not just a petrol vRS model, but a diesel too. The latter proved a hit, typically accounting for about 80 per cent of Octavia vRS sales (themselves about 14 per cent of Octavia sales) in the UK.
Finally, to bring us up to date, earlier this summer Skoda launched the latest vRS, based on the new Octavia and available with the engine from the Golf GTI, sports suspension, chunky bumpers et al.
Again a diesel is offered, dropping a few mph in top speed to the petrol (144mph versus 154mph), but gaining in fuel economy (61.4mpg against 45.6mpg on the Combined cycle). Prices start at $22,990 for the hatch, with the estate carrying a premium of $800.
Underpinning the latest Octavia is the VW Group’s increasingly ubiquitous MQB architecture, which it introduced last year to save cost and weight on its range of transverse front-engined, front-wheel-drive cars. What that means is that it shares the same chassis, electronics and engines as the VW Golf, Seat Leon, Audi A3 and soon to be many more.
However, the flexibility of the MQB platform means that the Octavia can be longer than other cars from the VW Group stable, not to mention the model it replaces, over which it gains 11cm in the wheelbase. This translates to very generous rear leg room (never mind whether one six footer can sit behind another, in the Octavia it’s more about whether they can also perform the can-can), as well as 590 litres of luggage capacity for the hatchback and 610 litres for the estate.
That roomy interior, as well as the Octavia’s understated stying, make it a very appealing car as far as the practicalities are concerned. There are plenty of clever touches too, such as the foldaway hooks in the boot from which you can hang your shopping bags, the one-touch seat-folding mechanism on the estate and the fact that even the boot mat is double-sided, one as a carpet and the other a dirt- and water-repellent surface for those trips to the tip. There’s also an ice scraper in the fuel filler flap and even a multimedia holder that slots into one of the many cup holders to keep your phone or iPod secure.
What the obligatory racy features, such as the sports seats and vRS-branded steering wheel, do is add a welcome sense of occasion to go with these thoughtful design touches. It is also well equipped, with rear parking sensors, hill hold, lane assist, a touchscreen, Bluetooth and DAB radio fitted as standard. The point is, unlike any other Octavia, you will probably sense a frisson of excitement the first time you climb aboard a vRS.
What you will discover almost straight away, however, is that the latest Octavia vRS is a long way from being a hardened hot hatch. That’s an observation rather than a criticism, but it’s important to understand that in ordinary driving the vRS feels much like any other Octavia.
In that sense the vRS is a slow burner. But if you feel a bit underwhelmed in the first 50 miles then stick with it, for in time you will begin to appreciate what a fine all-rounder this is.
With a price difference of just $270 between the two engines, which one you go for will probably depend more on whether you’re a business user or not. There’s not a weak link here, but the petrol motor is the more enticing. Smooth from tickover to its redline and with a hearty kick of torque from the turbo (the peak of 258lb ft lasts all the way from 1,500-4,400rpm), it has plenty in hand to keep you entertained. A power output of 217bhp is, after all, more than the Subaru Impreza Turbo went to war with not all that long ago, and that was considered some kind of rocketship on wheels. Nowadays 0-62mph in 6.8sec and 154mph are fairly typical - slow even - for a hot hatch, but the Octavia still feels plenty punchy enough.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Skoda first installed the VW Group’s 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine in its practical Octavia hatch and estate in 2000. Along with sports suspension, alloy wheels, chunky bumpers and a subtle rear wing, it created the very first vRS, or Victory Racing Sport (the “v” only appeared on UK market cars as a concession to Ford, which also brands its fast cars as RS models).
That first Octavia vRS undercut most of its hot hatch rivals for purchase price and running costs, all the while being practical, fun and desirable. As such, it gained a small but very much worthwhile following for Skoda, a brand that was still finding its feet again after years of ridicule.
A Fabia vRS followed two years later, creating a niche for itself by being a diesel-powered hot hatch and further reinforcing the notion that Skoda was getting its mojo back.
So it was no surprise that when the Czech brand launched the second-generation of Octavia in 2004, it included not just a petrol vRS model, but a diesel too. The latter proved a hit, typically accounting for about 80 per cent of Octavia vRS sales (themselves about 14 per cent of Octavia sales) in the UK.
Finally, to bring us up to date, earlier this summer Skoda launched the latest vRS, based on the new Octavia and available with the engine from the Golf GTI, sports suspension, chunky bumpers et al.
Again a diesel is offered, dropping a few mph in top speed to the petrol (144mph versus 154mph), but gaining in fuel economy (61.4mpg against 45.6mpg on the Combined cycle). Prices start at $22,990 for the hatch, with the estate carrying a premium of $800.
Underpinning the latest Octavia is the VW Group’s increasingly ubiquitous MQB architecture, which it introduced last year to save cost and weight on its range of transverse front-engined, front-wheel-drive cars. What that means is that it shares the same chassis, electronics and engines as the VW Golf, Seat Leon, Audi A3 and soon to be many more.
However, the flexibility of the MQB platform means that the Octavia can be longer than other cars from the VW Group stable, not to mention the model it replaces, over which it gains 11cm in the wheelbase. This translates to very generous rear leg room (never mind whether one six footer can sit behind another, in the Octavia it’s more about whether they can also perform the can-can), as well as 590 litres of luggage capacity for the hatchback and 610 litres for the estate.
That roomy interior, as well as the Octavia’s understated stying, make it a very appealing car as far as the practicalities are concerned. There are plenty of clever touches too, such as the foldaway hooks in the boot from which you can hang your shopping bags, the one-touch seat-folding mechanism on the estate and the fact that even the boot mat is double-sided, one as a carpet and the other a dirt- and water-repellent surface for those trips to the tip. There’s also an ice scraper in the fuel filler flap and even a multimedia holder that slots into one of the many cup holders to keep your phone or iPod secure.
What the obligatory racy features, such as the sports seats and vRS-branded steering wheel, do is add a welcome sense of occasion to go with these thoughtful design touches. It is also well equipped, with rear parking sensors, hill hold, lane assist, a touchscreen, Bluetooth and DAB radio fitted as standard. The point is, unlike any other Octavia, you will probably sense a frisson of excitement the first time you climb aboard a vRS.
What you will discover almost straight away, however, is that the latest Octavia vRS is a long way from being a hardened hot hatch. That’s an observation rather than a criticism, but it’s important to understand that in ordinary driving the vRS feels much like any other Octavia.
In that sense the vRS is a slow burner. But if you feel a bit underwhelmed in the first 50 miles then stick with it, for in time you will begin to appreciate what a fine all-rounder this is.
With a price difference of just $270 between the two engines, which one you go for will probably depend more on whether you’re a business user or not. There’s not a weak link here, but the petrol motor is the more enticing. Smooth from tickover to its redline and with a hearty kick of torque from the turbo (the peak of 258lb ft lasts all the way from 1,500-4,400rpm), it has plenty in hand to keep you entertained. A power output of 217bhp is, after all, more than the Subaru Impreza Turbo went to war with not all that long ago, and that was considered some kind of rocketship on wheels. Nowadays 0-62mph in 6.8sec and 154mph are fairly typical - slow even - for a hot hatch, but the Octavia still feels plenty punchy enough.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Cobb ready to head
Cobb residents are putting the finishing touches on their superhero costumes in anticipation for the weekend extravaganza known as DragonCon, a multimedia pop culture convention focused on science fiction and fantasy.
DragonCon runs for four days from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 through five hotels in downtown Atlanta and features thousands of hours of panels, seminars, demonstrations, workshops, costume contests, celebrity guests and a parade for fans of sci-fi, fantasy, video games, comic books and other elements of fan culture.
Among the more than 52,000 in attendance will be cosplayer John Strangeway in his steampunk Boba Fett costume and the Kell High School robotics team as they host a robotics workshop from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Sheraton hotel in the Atlanta room.
Cosplay is an activity in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. Boba Fett is the villainous bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader from the “Star Wars” franchise. When Strangeway attended his first DragonCon event in 2008, he knew he wanted to develop a costume that was both different and paid homage to his love of “Star Wars.”
“I wanted a unique Boba Fett,” said the Marietta resident. “I’ve always been a ‘Star Wars’ fan and I was like, ‘Well, I wonder what would happen if it was modified.’”
Strangeway works at Crestron, a company in Alpharetta that makes commercial and residential touch screens and keyboards.
In May 2009, Strangeway became interested in the steampunk genre after attending a steampunk conference in Atlanta and making friends with a group of steampunk cosplayers and enthusiasts. Steampunk is an artistic and cultural cosplay movement that merges modern day technology and fantastical fiction with Victorian style.
Strangeway communicated with members of the group via phone and Skype and began trading ideas for steampunk costumes. The Boba Fett costume was created by Whitestone Productions, a company that produces short films where Strangeway was formerly employed. He wore the costume for the first time in 2009 at DragonCon and received widespread cheers.
“The reception was insane. I started a Facebook page … ” the 33-year-old said. “I just go around having fun. I’ve made a lot of friends throughout the community.”
He attends about one or two conventions a month throughout the country and rotates wearing about 10 costumes. Strangeway wears costumes based on characters such as the Jedi knights from “Star Wars,” Beast from “X Men,” a coal miner from the “Silent Hill” video game, the fifth “Doctor Who,” and more. He is currently developing a costume for Sean Connery’s character Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez in “Highlander.”
At DragonCon, Strangeway will be working as a staff member for the Alternate History track, a set of programming and panels catering to steampunk. He’ll also be walking as Boba Fett in the DragonCon parade on Saturday at 10 a.m. in downtown Atlanta.
Costumes are made with the help of artistic friends, area fabric stores, production companies and Strangeway’s wild imagination.
“I find material on websites, thrift stores,” Strangeway said. “I’ve never been to so many fabric stores in my later life. (I go) to Joanns and Hancock’s and Hobby Lobby and Michaels. There’s a Fabric World over by Stone Mountain. … That’s where I got most of the Jedi outfit. The robe is multi-layered and some of it’s made from upholstery.”
Over the years, Strangeway has made a name for himself in the steampunk community. His Steampunk Boba Fett Facebook page has almost 32,000 fans to date. But even after visiting ComicCon in San Diego and various other conventions throughout the U.S., DragonCon is still No. 1 for him.
“It’s my favorite because it’s for the fans,” Strangeway said. “You still get to meet celebrities. But you get to go to panels of any of your interests in the genres of sci-fi/fantasy and they’ve got it there.”
Robot fans and Leomaniacs can get their fix of machine fun at DragonCon as well with a workshop presented by the Kell High School robotics team called Lego FIRST Challenge. The students will direct participants on how to build and program a Lego robot from a kit.
This is the second DragonCon the 10-year-old team has attended, said program director Ed Barker.
Students range from ninth-graders through 12th-graders and also hail from Sprayberry High and other Cobb schools.
The robotics team is a program lead by mentors from the science and engineering industry with participation from teachers. Barker worked for 30 years as an electrical engineer for a defense contractor named Raytheon.
“You know from thousands of years of history that’s really the way how people learned a lot of things was through mentors,” Barker said. “In the modern era, everybody just kind of sits in a classroom and studies stuff and takes tests and they really don’t get the chance to get their hands on something and actually do it. … We allow the students to take the stuff they’re learning in school, the math and the science and the writing and everything else, and actually apply it to work on real-world problems.”
During the workshop, the team will also be showing off two 150-pound robots that play Frisbee and basketball.
“Each one is about the size of a washing machine,” Barker said. “We have a fleet of about a dozen robots but we’ll only bring about three or four … The bigger robots will be more for demonstration. The little robots will be things people can do. They can build them, program them, drive them around — that sort of thing.
With about 32 students on the team, 15 or 16 will attend the DragonCon workshop, Barker said.
“The mission of our team is to get kids excited and get them fired up about what they’re learning and go off and have a great career,” Barker said. “The robotics thing is a way to hook them in.”
The team program is affiliated with a nonprofit organization called FIRST which emphasizes the STEM careers of science, technology, engineering and math. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. They design programs and lead international science competitions with 300,000 students participating, Barker said.
Former Kell High robotics team captain Alex Epstein graduated from Kell two years ago. Now as a Virginia Tech student, he studies industrial systems engineering and is currently doing research on STEM and engineering education. He considers his robotics education at Kell to be essential in giving him a solid background for his studies at Virginia Tech.
“It was vital,” Epstein said. “I think I already wanted to get into engineering before I got onto the team but it helped to reaffirm that. … So I was already a little bit ahead of some of my peers coming in.”
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
DragonCon runs for four days from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 through five hotels in downtown Atlanta and features thousands of hours of panels, seminars, demonstrations, workshops, costume contests, celebrity guests and a parade for fans of sci-fi, fantasy, video games, comic books and other elements of fan culture.
Among the more than 52,000 in attendance will be cosplayer John Strangeway in his steampunk Boba Fett costume and the Kell High School robotics team as they host a robotics workshop from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Sheraton hotel in the Atlanta room.
Cosplay is an activity in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. Boba Fett is the villainous bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader from the “Star Wars” franchise. When Strangeway attended his first DragonCon event in 2008, he knew he wanted to develop a costume that was both different and paid homage to his love of “Star Wars.”
“I wanted a unique Boba Fett,” said the Marietta resident. “I’ve always been a ‘Star Wars’ fan and I was like, ‘Well, I wonder what would happen if it was modified.’”
Strangeway works at Crestron, a company in Alpharetta that makes commercial and residential touch screens and keyboards.
In May 2009, Strangeway became interested in the steampunk genre after attending a steampunk conference in Atlanta and making friends with a group of steampunk cosplayers and enthusiasts. Steampunk is an artistic and cultural cosplay movement that merges modern day technology and fantastical fiction with Victorian style.
Strangeway communicated with members of the group via phone and Skype and began trading ideas for steampunk costumes. The Boba Fett costume was created by Whitestone Productions, a company that produces short films where Strangeway was formerly employed. He wore the costume for the first time in 2009 at DragonCon and received widespread cheers.
“The reception was insane. I started a Facebook page … ” the 33-year-old said. “I just go around having fun. I’ve made a lot of friends throughout the community.”
He attends about one or two conventions a month throughout the country and rotates wearing about 10 costumes. Strangeway wears costumes based on characters such as the Jedi knights from “Star Wars,” Beast from “X Men,” a coal miner from the “Silent Hill” video game, the fifth “Doctor Who,” and more. He is currently developing a costume for Sean Connery’s character Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez in “Highlander.”
At DragonCon, Strangeway will be working as a staff member for the Alternate History track, a set of programming and panels catering to steampunk. He’ll also be walking as Boba Fett in the DragonCon parade on Saturday at 10 a.m. in downtown Atlanta.
Costumes are made with the help of artistic friends, area fabric stores, production companies and Strangeway’s wild imagination.
“I find material on websites, thrift stores,” Strangeway said. “I’ve never been to so many fabric stores in my later life. (I go) to Joanns and Hancock’s and Hobby Lobby and Michaels. There’s a Fabric World over by Stone Mountain. … That’s where I got most of the Jedi outfit. The robe is multi-layered and some of it’s made from upholstery.”
Over the years, Strangeway has made a name for himself in the steampunk community. His Steampunk Boba Fett Facebook page has almost 32,000 fans to date. But even after visiting ComicCon in San Diego and various other conventions throughout the U.S., DragonCon is still No. 1 for him.
“It’s my favorite because it’s for the fans,” Strangeway said. “You still get to meet celebrities. But you get to go to panels of any of your interests in the genres of sci-fi/fantasy and they’ve got it there.”
Robot fans and Leomaniacs can get their fix of machine fun at DragonCon as well with a workshop presented by the Kell High School robotics team called Lego FIRST Challenge. The students will direct participants on how to build and program a Lego robot from a kit.
This is the second DragonCon the 10-year-old team has attended, said program director Ed Barker.
Students range from ninth-graders through 12th-graders and also hail from Sprayberry High and other Cobb schools.
The robotics team is a program lead by mentors from the science and engineering industry with participation from teachers. Barker worked for 30 years as an electrical engineer for a defense contractor named Raytheon.
“You know from thousands of years of history that’s really the way how people learned a lot of things was through mentors,” Barker said. “In the modern era, everybody just kind of sits in a classroom and studies stuff and takes tests and they really don’t get the chance to get their hands on something and actually do it. … We allow the students to take the stuff they’re learning in school, the math and the science and the writing and everything else, and actually apply it to work on real-world problems.”
During the workshop, the team will also be showing off two 150-pound robots that play Frisbee and basketball.
“Each one is about the size of a washing machine,” Barker said. “We have a fleet of about a dozen robots but we’ll only bring about three or four … The bigger robots will be more for demonstration. The little robots will be things people can do. They can build them, program them, drive them around — that sort of thing.
With about 32 students on the team, 15 or 16 will attend the DragonCon workshop, Barker said.
“The mission of our team is to get kids excited and get them fired up about what they’re learning and go off and have a great career,” Barker said. “The robotics thing is a way to hook them in.”
The team program is affiliated with a nonprofit organization called FIRST which emphasizes the STEM careers of science, technology, engineering and math. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. They design programs and lead international science competitions with 300,000 students participating, Barker said.
Former Kell High robotics team captain Alex Epstein graduated from Kell two years ago. Now as a Virginia Tech student, he studies industrial systems engineering and is currently doing research on STEM and engineering education. He considers his robotics education at Kell to be essential in giving him a solid background for his studies at Virginia Tech.
“It was vital,” Epstein said. “I think I already wanted to get into engineering before I got onto the team but it helped to reaffirm that. … So I was already a little bit ahead of some of my peers coming in.”
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
2013年8月25日 星期日
Nevada football preview
If the Napoleon Complex is the curse of the short man, then the Polian Complex must be the curse of the man who shuns privilege.Or maybe more accurately, it’s the curse of the son of the man who shuns privilege.
Brian Polian and his two brothers, Chris and Dennis, were raised in a home of football royalty. Their father, Bill Polian, was a general manager with three NFL franchises, including the Buffalo Bills teams that went to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
Dad never let the boys get fitted for a crown.
“When I went in, and when my two brothers entered football essentially at the age of 14, we were not too good to do any job,” Brian Polian, Nevada’s 38-year-old first-year coach, said recently. “We were hazed, abused — had to do from dirty laundry to packing a cooler full of beer for the equipment staff. The beauty of having been brought up like that is you have a great appreciation for everybody in the organization.”
If you remember those Bills teams — led by quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive end Bruce Smith, to name a few — then you knew Brian Polian before he was named Chris Ault’s successor in January. You at least knew his face.
He had pimples then, but essentially it’s the same face he has now, 20-some years later. He still has a full head of blonde hair and the boyish looks he had when he was a ball boy, standing next to Bills coach Marv Levy on the sidelines on Sundays.
Whenever the Bills were on TV from about 1990 to 1993, there was Brian, a pretty good, tough, high school linebacker at the time, handling wires, headsets and whatever else Levy needed.
“Those are some of the fondest memories of my life,” Brian said after a recent practice, where he prepared to lead the Wolf Pack as a first-time head coach into the team’s season opener Saturday at UCLA.
Brian recalled one Monday night game in Seattle in which the team returned home right after the game, per usual protocol. The flight arrived in Buffalo at 6 o’clock the next morning.
“My old man took me right to school,” Brian said with a chuckle. “He said, ‘Hey, you made up your work for Monday, but you don’t get Tuesday off.’”
Brian wouldn’t go so far as to say he was the BMOC at St. Francis High near Buffalo, but it had to be pretty cool being the guy everyone saw standing next to Coach Levy on Sundays.
“I had these experiences that not a lot of people got to have, but with that came responsibility,” Brian said. “It was neat. It made it really hard to tell the teacher I had the flu when everybody in Buffalo was watching … and I was standing next to the head coach.”
They were Brian’s formative years, and the association made a lasting impression.
“When I was 14, 15 and I’m there at training camp every day and I see it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “That’s when I got bit by the bug.”
Levy, 88 and retired, wouldn’t go so far as to say he saw “head coach,” written all over the young Polian, who built his résumé as a special teams coordinator, most notably with Notre Dame, Stanford and Texas A&M. But Levy said he was always impressed with him.
“My impression then was he was a bright, interested, focused type of person,” Levy said from his home in Chicago. “I did follow his career. I saw him rise, and I was extremely pleased but not surprised by it.”
Levy, whose first head-coaching job was at New Mexico in the late 1950s, said he recommended Polian “very strongly” for the Lobos’ vacancy that went to Bob Davie in 2012.
“As Brian began coaching, I could see a bright future,” Levy said. “You need some good breaks, but I could see a bright future.”
He was not the only one. Along the way, Brian Polian has worked for or with some great football minds, including NFL coaches Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dom Capers and Chris Palmer, and college coaches Jim Harbaugh, Charlie Weis and Kevin Sumlin.
“As a young coach, he was thirsty for knowledge,” said Palmer, a longtime friend of Bill Polian and who coached in college and the NFL for more than 40 years. “… His personality is key. He’s outgoing. He goes the extra mile. He’s a guy that is always working to get better. Brian is one of those guys I would always recommend, and he always impressed me with the way he went about his business.”
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Brian Polian and his two brothers, Chris and Dennis, were raised in a home of football royalty. Their father, Bill Polian, was a general manager with three NFL franchises, including the Buffalo Bills teams that went to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
Dad never let the boys get fitted for a crown.
“When I went in, and when my two brothers entered football essentially at the age of 14, we were not too good to do any job,” Brian Polian, Nevada’s 38-year-old first-year coach, said recently. “We were hazed, abused — had to do from dirty laundry to packing a cooler full of beer for the equipment staff. The beauty of having been brought up like that is you have a great appreciation for everybody in the organization.”
If you remember those Bills teams — led by quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive end Bruce Smith, to name a few — then you knew Brian Polian before he was named Chris Ault’s successor in January. You at least knew his face.
He had pimples then, but essentially it’s the same face he has now, 20-some years later. He still has a full head of blonde hair and the boyish looks he had when he was a ball boy, standing next to Bills coach Marv Levy on the sidelines on Sundays.
Whenever the Bills were on TV from about 1990 to 1993, there was Brian, a pretty good, tough, high school linebacker at the time, handling wires, headsets and whatever else Levy needed.
“Those are some of the fondest memories of my life,” Brian said after a recent practice, where he prepared to lead the Wolf Pack as a first-time head coach into the team’s season opener Saturday at UCLA.
Brian recalled one Monday night game in Seattle in which the team returned home right after the game, per usual protocol. The flight arrived in Buffalo at 6 o’clock the next morning.
“My old man took me right to school,” Brian said with a chuckle. “He said, ‘Hey, you made up your work for Monday, but you don’t get Tuesday off.’”
Brian wouldn’t go so far as to say he was the BMOC at St. Francis High near Buffalo, but it had to be pretty cool being the guy everyone saw standing next to Coach Levy on Sundays.
“I had these experiences that not a lot of people got to have, but with that came responsibility,” Brian said. “It was neat. It made it really hard to tell the teacher I had the flu when everybody in Buffalo was watching … and I was standing next to the head coach.”
They were Brian’s formative years, and the association made a lasting impression.
“When I was 14, 15 and I’m there at training camp every day and I see it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “That’s when I got bit by the bug.”
Levy, 88 and retired, wouldn’t go so far as to say he saw “head coach,” written all over the young Polian, who built his résumé as a special teams coordinator, most notably with Notre Dame, Stanford and Texas A&M. But Levy said he was always impressed with him.
“My impression then was he was a bright, interested, focused type of person,” Levy said from his home in Chicago. “I did follow his career. I saw him rise, and I was extremely pleased but not surprised by it.”
Levy, whose first head-coaching job was at New Mexico in the late 1950s, said he recommended Polian “very strongly” for the Lobos’ vacancy that went to Bob Davie in 2012.
“As Brian began coaching, I could see a bright future,” Levy said. “You need some good breaks, but I could see a bright future.”
He was not the only one. Along the way, Brian Polian has worked for or with some great football minds, including NFL coaches Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dom Capers and Chris Palmer, and college coaches Jim Harbaugh, Charlie Weis and Kevin Sumlin.
“As a young coach, he was thirsty for knowledge,” said Palmer, a longtime friend of Bill Polian and who coached in college and the NFL for more than 40 years. “… His personality is key. He’s outgoing. He goes the extra mile. He’s a guy that is always working to get better. Brian is one of those guys I would always recommend, and he always impressed me with the way he went about his business.”
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Polian's road to head coach
If the Napoleon Complex is the curse of the short man, then the Polian Complex must be the curse of the man who shuns privilege.
Or maybe more accurately, it’s the curse of the son of the man who shuns privilege.
Brian Polian and his two brothers, Chris and Dennis, were raised in a home of football royalty. Their father, Bill Polian, was a general manager with three NFL franchises, including the Buffalo Bills teams that went to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
Dad never let the boys get fitted for a crown.
“When I went in, and when my two brothers entered football essentially at the age of 14, we were not too good to do any job,” Brian Polian, Nevada’s 38-year-old first-year coach, said recently. “We were hazed, abused — had to do from dirty laundry to packing a cooler full of beer for the equipment staff. The beauty of having been brought up like that is you have a great appreciation for everybody in the organization.”
If you remember those Bills teams — led by quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive end Bruce Smith, to name a few — then you knew Brian Polian before he was named Chris Ault’s successor in January. You at least knew his face.
He had pimples then, but essentially it’s the same face he has now, 20-some years later. He still has a full head of blonde hair and the boyish looks he had when he was a ball boy, standing next to Bills coach Marv Levy on the sidelines on Sundays.
Whenever the Bills were on TV from about 1990 to 1993, there was Brian, a pretty good, tough, high school linebacker at the time, handling wires, headsets and whatever else Levy needed.
“Those are some of the fondest memories of my life,” Brian said after a recent practice, where he prepared to lead the Wolf Pack as a first-time head coach into the team’s season opener Saturday at UCLA.
Brian recalled one Monday night game in Seattle in which the team returned home right after the game, per usual protocol. The flight arrived in Buffalo at 6 o’clock the next morning.
“My old man took me right to school,” Brian said with a chuckle. “He said, ‘Hey, you made up your work for Monday, but you don’t get Tuesday off.’”
Brian wouldn’t go so far as to say he was the BMOC at St. Francis High near Buffalo, but it had to be pretty cool being the guy everyone saw standing next to Coach Levy on Sundays.
“I had these experiences that not a lot of people got to have, but with that came responsibility,” Brian said. “It was neat. It made it really hard to tell the teacher I had the flu when everybody in Buffalo was watching … and I was standing next to the head coach.”
They were Brian’s formative years, and the association made a lasting impression.
“When I was 14, 15 and I’m there at training camp every day and I see it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “That’s when I got bit by the bug.”
Levy, 88 and retired, wouldn’t go so far as to say he saw “head coach,” written all over the young Polian, who built his résumé as a special teams coordinator, most notably with Notre Dame, Stanford and Texas A&M. But Levy said he was always impressed with him.
“My impression then was he was a bright, interested, focused type of person,” Levy said from his home in Chicago. “I did follow his career. I saw him rise, and I was extremely pleased but not surprised by it.”
Levy, whose first head-coaching job was at New Mexico in the late 1950s, said he recommended Polian “very strongly” for the Lobos’ vacancy that went to Bob Davie in 2012.
“As Brian began coaching, I could see a bright future,” Levy said. “You need some good breaks, but I could see a bright future.”
He was not the only one. Along the way, Brian Polian has worked for or with some great football minds, including NFL coaches Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dom Capers and Chris Palmer, and college coaches Jim Harbaugh, Charlie Weis and Kevin Sumlin.
“As a young coach, he was thirsty for knowledge,” said Palmer, a longtime friend of Bill Polian who coached in college and the NFL for more than 40 years. “… His personality is key. He’s outgoing. He goes the extra mile. He’s a guy that is always working to get better. Brian is one of those guys I would always recommend, and he always impressed me with the way he went about his business.”
“I’ve had a chance to watch him coach, and every place he’s been, he’s been successful. He has an excellent personality for recruiting. People just gravitate to him.”
As Brian was finishing up his senior season as a linebacker at John Carroll University, a Division III school near Cleveland, in 1996, he and his dad began to map out a plan. Bill was the GM of the expansion Carolina Panthers, and Kevin Steele was the Panthers’ linebackers coach.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Or maybe more accurately, it’s the curse of the son of the man who shuns privilege.
Brian Polian and his two brothers, Chris and Dennis, were raised in a home of football royalty. Their father, Bill Polian, was a general manager with three NFL franchises, including the Buffalo Bills teams that went to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
Dad never let the boys get fitted for a crown.
“When I went in, and when my two brothers entered football essentially at the age of 14, we were not too good to do any job,” Brian Polian, Nevada’s 38-year-old first-year coach, said recently. “We were hazed, abused — had to do from dirty laundry to packing a cooler full of beer for the equipment staff. The beauty of having been brought up like that is you have a great appreciation for everybody in the organization.”
If you remember those Bills teams — led by quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive end Bruce Smith, to name a few — then you knew Brian Polian before he was named Chris Ault’s successor in January. You at least knew his face.
He had pimples then, but essentially it’s the same face he has now, 20-some years later. He still has a full head of blonde hair and the boyish looks he had when he was a ball boy, standing next to Bills coach Marv Levy on the sidelines on Sundays.
Whenever the Bills were on TV from about 1990 to 1993, there was Brian, a pretty good, tough, high school linebacker at the time, handling wires, headsets and whatever else Levy needed.
“Those are some of the fondest memories of my life,” Brian said after a recent practice, where he prepared to lead the Wolf Pack as a first-time head coach into the team’s season opener Saturday at UCLA.
Brian recalled one Monday night game in Seattle in which the team returned home right after the game, per usual protocol. The flight arrived in Buffalo at 6 o’clock the next morning.
“My old man took me right to school,” Brian said with a chuckle. “He said, ‘Hey, you made up your work for Monday, but you don’t get Tuesday off.’”
Brian wouldn’t go so far as to say he was the BMOC at St. Francis High near Buffalo, but it had to be pretty cool being the guy everyone saw standing next to Coach Levy on Sundays.
“I had these experiences that not a lot of people got to have, but with that came responsibility,” Brian said. “It was neat. It made it really hard to tell the teacher I had the flu when everybody in Buffalo was watching … and I was standing next to the head coach.”
They were Brian’s formative years, and the association made a lasting impression.
“When I was 14, 15 and I’m there at training camp every day and I see it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “That’s when I got bit by the bug.”
Levy, 88 and retired, wouldn’t go so far as to say he saw “head coach,” written all over the young Polian, who built his résumé as a special teams coordinator, most notably with Notre Dame, Stanford and Texas A&M. But Levy said he was always impressed with him.
“My impression then was he was a bright, interested, focused type of person,” Levy said from his home in Chicago. “I did follow his career. I saw him rise, and I was extremely pleased but not surprised by it.”
Levy, whose first head-coaching job was at New Mexico in the late 1950s, said he recommended Polian “very strongly” for the Lobos’ vacancy that went to Bob Davie in 2012.
“As Brian began coaching, I could see a bright future,” Levy said. “You need some good breaks, but I could see a bright future.”
He was not the only one. Along the way, Brian Polian has worked for or with some great football minds, including NFL coaches Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dom Capers and Chris Palmer, and college coaches Jim Harbaugh, Charlie Weis and Kevin Sumlin.
“As a young coach, he was thirsty for knowledge,” said Palmer, a longtime friend of Bill Polian who coached in college and the NFL for more than 40 years. “… His personality is key. He’s outgoing. He goes the extra mile. He’s a guy that is always working to get better. Brian is one of those guys I would always recommend, and he always impressed me with the way he went about his business.”
“I’ve had a chance to watch him coach, and every place he’s been, he’s been successful. He has an excellent personality for recruiting. People just gravitate to him.”
As Brian was finishing up his senior season as a linebacker at John Carroll University, a Division III school near Cleveland, in 1996, he and his dad began to map out a plan. Bill was the GM of the expansion Carolina Panthers, and Kevin Steele was the Panthers’ linebackers coach.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
2013年8月20日 星期二
As the debate surrounding America’s use
As the debate surrounding America’s use of targeted drone killings rages on, a friendlier side of the technology is zooming to center stage. From a bakery in Shanghai to a sushi restaurant in London, companies across the globe are experimenting with unmanned aircraft to deliver—well, just about anything. Back in the U.S., however, early adopters will likely find themselves grounded in legal limbo as Congress sits on legislation regulating civilian use.
In South Africa, for example, the first known beer drone drop received ecstatic reviews two weeks ago. “Each time the drone dropped a beer into the crowd, the entire camp erupted in a fantastic roar,” says Carel Hoffman, who masterminded the event as part of Johannesburg’s Oppikoppi Music Festival. “The entire thing was supposed to be a gimmick ... just a small gimmick in the corner of the festival,” he says. But the feat was risky, and the Oppikoppi founders admit it. “We were worried that someone would stop us and say, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’” Hoffman says. No one did.
The beer drone, nicknamed “manna” after the Old Testament story in which bread falls from the sky, was built locally using borrowed parts from Hong Kong. The only thing festivalgoers had to do was download a Beer Drone app on their smartphones to request a fresh brew. If they were lucky enough to make it into “the queue,” a free beer would float through the air, parachute included, and land at their feet. Hoffman says thousands of beers were successfully flown in, turning the Oppikoppi staff into something like national heroes: “South Africa is very proud of us for the drone,” he says.
The words “proud” and “drone” sound odd in the same sentence, and Hoffman catches himself immediately. “It’s different than how they’re used in America,” he says. “I saw a headline a few days ago here that read, ‘The U.S.A. Drops Bombs on Afghanistan; We Drop Beer.’”
The origin of the food and drink delivery drone is debatable. A well-known Japanese restaurant in London, YO! Sushi, claims it deserves the credit. “YO! Sushi considers itself the first to utilize unmanned aircraft ... as a way to serve customers,” one of the company’s PR directors, James Lynch, writes in an email. YO! employs an “iTray,” essentially a drone that carries a tray of food to patrons. It was built in-house and has earned the nickname “flying waiter.” Lynch says the concept was well received, but needs work. “Customers loved the initial test phase of the iTray but we are still perfecting the technology.”
Another contender for the title of pioneer is a bakery in Shanghai called InCake. Its “treat-delivery program”—which employs three 3 1/2-foot-wide, 22-pound unmanned aircrafts to deliver cake—was suspended by Chinese authorities on July 25. Speaking to a Shanghai news station, the bakery’s general manager, Wang Pingshi, explained that he was going to “improve the safety factors” of the drones in order to get the civil aviation authority’s approval.
In America, the fun has yet to completely begin. Until Congress passes the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012—which includes a section on integrating civil drones into national airspace—the only way to legally get down with drone delivery is by using one small enough to be classified as a “toy drone.” The FAA also prohibits the use of unmanned aircraft when they are used for profit (and has reportedly sent letters to individuals who are doing so demanding they stop), but there is no legislation on the books to make the offense punishable by law.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, admitted recently that the issue has Congress stumped for the time being. “This question has to be addressed, and we need rules of operation on the border, by police, by commercial use, and also by military and intelligence use,” Feinstein told Hardball’s Chris Matthews in March. “So this is now a work in progress. We are taking a look at it on the intelligence committee, trying to draft some legislation. The administration is looking at a rules playbook as to how these won’t be used and how they will be used. So it’s a very complicated subject of new technology, and I think we have to take a pause and get it right.”
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
In South Africa, for example, the first known beer drone drop received ecstatic reviews two weeks ago. “Each time the drone dropped a beer into the crowd, the entire camp erupted in a fantastic roar,” says Carel Hoffman, who masterminded the event as part of Johannesburg’s Oppikoppi Music Festival. “The entire thing was supposed to be a gimmick ... just a small gimmick in the corner of the festival,” he says. But the feat was risky, and the Oppikoppi founders admit it. “We were worried that someone would stop us and say, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’” Hoffman says. No one did.
The beer drone, nicknamed “manna” after the Old Testament story in which bread falls from the sky, was built locally using borrowed parts from Hong Kong. The only thing festivalgoers had to do was download a Beer Drone app on their smartphones to request a fresh brew. If they were lucky enough to make it into “the queue,” a free beer would float through the air, parachute included, and land at their feet. Hoffman says thousands of beers were successfully flown in, turning the Oppikoppi staff into something like national heroes: “South Africa is very proud of us for the drone,” he says.
The words “proud” and “drone” sound odd in the same sentence, and Hoffman catches himself immediately. “It’s different than how they’re used in America,” he says. “I saw a headline a few days ago here that read, ‘The U.S.A. Drops Bombs on Afghanistan; We Drop Beer.’”
The origin of the food and drink delivery drone is debatable. A well-known Japanese restaurant in London, YO! Sushi, claims it deserves the credit. “YO! Sushi considers itself the first to utilize unmanned aircraft ... as a way to serve customers,” one of the company’s PR directors, James Lynch, writes in an email. YO! employs an “iTray,” essentially a drone that carries a tray of food to patrons. It was built in-house and has earned the nickname “flying waiter.” Lynch says the concept was well received, but needs work. “Customers loved the initial test phase of the iTray but we are still perfecting the technology.”
Another contender for the title of pioneer is a bakery in Shanghai called InCake. Its “treat-delivery program”—which employs three 3 1/2-foot-wide, 22-pound unmanned aircrafts to deliver cake—was suspended by Chinese authorities on July 25. Speaking to a Shanghai news station, the bakery’s general manager, Wang Pingshi, explained that he was going to “improve the safety factors” of the drones in order to get the civil aviation authority’s approval.
In America, the fun has yet to completely begin. Until Congress passes the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012—which includes a section on integrating civil drones into national airspace—the only way to legally get down with drone delivery is by using one small enough to be classified as a “toy drone.” The FAA also prohibits the use of unmanned aircraft when they are used for profit (and has reportedly sent letters to individuals who are doing so demanding they stop), but there is no legislation on the books to make the offense punishable by law.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, admitted recently that the issue has Congress stumped for the time being. “This question has to be addressed, and we need rules of operation on the border, by police, by commercial use, and also by military and intelligence use,” Feinstein told Hardball’s Chris Matthews in March. “So this is now a work in progress. We are taking a look at it on the intelligence committee, trying to draft some legislation. The administration is looking at a rules playbook as to how these won’t be used and how they will be used. So it’s a very complicated subject of new technology, and I think we have to take a pause and get it right.”
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
My daughter and I stood and stared
Not to scare anybody, but our washing machine may be possessed.
Of course, washers and dryers in general tend to attract a bit of paranormal activity. Where do you think that one missing sock actually goes if not to another dimension?
Ours though, at times, goes full-blown supernatural. Just last week, squeaks, clanks and boinks shook the mighty devil across the laundry room like a bronking bull in a rodeo. Each shift brought it closer to the door, a walking Frankenstein with dials. Then magically, the monster came to a halt without even a lasso or a lit torch and promptly spilled out the liquid from its guts all over the floor.
My daughter and I stood and stared. When I broke my gaze and she didn’t, I became worried.
“Do you see washing machine people?” I whispered, remembering what household appliances were harnessed by the spooks in Poltergeist. “Are they here?”
Sissy looked up strangely. “No, but daddy will be soon and he is not going to be happy.”
The kid had a point. For some reason, my husband never acknowledges the existence of this pesky laundry ghost. While Tim may resemble Fox Moulder, he just doesn’t believe. Only I bear witness to the spook’s terror.
Wait, the laundry spook, not my husband.
For instance, when all of Agent Beam’s white dress shirts turned a rather lovely shade of pink, he blamed me for washing them in hot water along with a brand new flaming red scarf.
Preposterous! Obviously the specter was trying to gives us clues as to how he passed from this living world and so he added the red scarf to symbolize his bloody death. That makes perfect sixth sense.
Or, say, when a pen gets left in a pocket — normally my husband’s pocket, mind you — and somehow it bursts during laundering and leaves giant blue stains on pants. Once again, it’s the ghoul.
You can’t write really well when you’re vapor, you know. Poor thing was trying to tell us something. Maybe his nickname or how he liked to watch reality shows, so if we could leave the telly on, that would be great. He’s an English spirit, by the way.
However, this time the old chap had really gone too far. After grabbing some towels and a crucifix, I entered the room. Tiny dots floated around in the spillage, small white orbs created not in this world. And then I opened the washing machine’s door.
Dang it. A pillow had been defiled, and its contents were strewn about the inside barrel. Some remnants may have even clogged up the hoses and machinery. That poor ghostly bloke must have been tired and wanted to sleep. It would have been an uncomfortable rest given the belt that somebody forgot to remove from some dirty pants.
Instead of cleaning it up, I decided to leave it as testament so my husband could have his ectoplasmic proof. Unfortunately, solid semi-scientific evidence doesn’t always lead him to the right conclusions.
“The washer broke. Again. Pillows can’t be washed at high speeds. The repair man has told you this before,” he said in his huffy-puffy way.
Rational arguments always win against nonbelievers, I have found.
“Maybe you need to do all the laundry.”
I wanted to add the ghost doesn’t like men, but thought that might be pushing my luck.
So now, after having to dry ourselves with newspapers for a week after the clean towels ran out, we own a new washing machine. Our specter has stayed away so far. But if he does return, we have the best ghostbusting tool around — a new warranty.
Can stuffed animals be washed in a machine, by the way?For more information, please visit aulaundry.com.
Of course, washers and dryers in general tend to attract a bit of paranormal activity. Where do you think that one missing sock actually goes if not to another dimension?
Ours though, at times, goes full-blown supernatural. Just last week, squeaks, clanks and boinks shook the mighty devil across the laundry room like a bronking bull in a rodeo. Each shift brought it closer to the door, a walking Frankenstein with dials. Then magically, the monster came to a halt without even a lasso or a lit torch and promptly spilled out the liquid from its guts all over the floor.
My daughter and I stood and stared. When I broke my gaze and she didn’t, I became worried.
“Do you see washing machine people?” I whispered, remembering what household appliances were harnessed by the spooks in Poltergeist. “Are they here?”
Sissy looked up strangely. “No, but daddy will be soon and he is not going to be happy.”
The kid had a point. For some reason, my husband never acknowledges the existence of this pesky laundry ghost. While Tim may resemble Fox Moulder, he just doesn’t believe. Only I bear witness to the spook’s terror.
Wait, the laundry spook, not my husband.
For instance, when all of Agent Beam’s white dress shirts turned a rather lovely shade of pink, he blamed me for washing them in hot water along with a brand new flaming red scarf.
Preposterous! Obviously the specter was trying to gives us clues as to how he passed from this living world and so he added the red scarf to symbolize his bloody death. That makes perfect sixth sense.
Or, say, when a pen gets left in a pocket — normally my husband’s pocket, mind you — and somehow it bursts during laundering and leaves giant blue stains on pants. Once again, it’s the ghoul.
You can’t write really well when you’re vapor, you know. Poor thing was trying to tell us something. Maybe his nickname or how he liked to watch reality shows, so if we could leave the telly on, that would be great. He’s an English spirit, by the way.
However, this time the old chap had really gone too far. After grabbing some towels and a crucifix, I entered the room. Tiny dots floated around in the spillage, small white orbs created not in this world. And then I opened the washing machine’s door.
Dang it. A pillow had been defiled, and its contents were strewn about the inside barrel. Some remnants may have even clogged up the hoses and machinery. That poor ghostly bloke must have been tired and wanted to sleep. It would have been an uncomfortable rest given the belt that somebody forgot to remove from some dirty pants.
Instead of cleaning it up, I decided to leave it as testament so my husband could have his ectoplasmic proof. Unfortunately, solid semi-scientific evidence doesn’t always lead him to the right conclusions.
“The washer broke. Again. Pillows can’t be washed at high speeds. The repair man has told you this before,” he said in his huffy-puffy way.
Rational arguments always win against nonbelievers, I have found.
“Maybe you need to do all the laundry.”
I wanted to add the ghost doesn’t like men, but thought that might be pushing my luck.
So now, after having to dry ourselves with newspapers for a week after the clean towels ran out, we own a new washing machine. Our specter has stayed away so far. But if he does return, we have the best ghostbusting tool around — a new warranty.
Can stuffed animals be washed in a machine, by the way?For more information, please visit aulaundry.com.
2013年8月16日 星期五
Joy as wind turbine plans near Bridgnorth
It follows a two-year battle over the plans to put up the turbine at the Old Hall Barn in Kenley, between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.
Residents who campaigned against the plans today hailed the decision as a victory for people power after they successfully challenged a decision to give the proposals the go-ahead in the High Court last year.
Gavin Lloyd had wanted to build the turbine to provide energy at his home and farm, while it was also intended the equipment would power holiday let accommodation at the property.
The application was first made in June 2011 and was refused by Shropshire Council in September that year.
Mr Lloyd appealed and in March 2012 was given the go-ahead for the scheme by a planning inspector.
But that decision was then quashed in the High Court last December, resulting in a new inspection being ordered.
The findings of the second inspector David Rose were today published by The Planning Inspectorate.
Mr Rose said the three-blade turbine would have been able to generate 25,000kWh of energy in a year. But he said its benefits were outweighed by the harmful effects of the turbine on the look and character of the local area.
“Such benefits would only be achieved by causing a very serious loss to the overall character of the landscape and comparable visual harm to the appearance of the landscape from nearby public vantages,” he said.
“Whilst the landscape does not have special status or protection, the combination of these elements, which could not be mitigated, would be of sufficient magnitude to convincingly tip the balance away from granting planning permission.”
Resident Paul Jarrett was delighted with the decision. He said the decision to fight the case in the High Court could have personally cost him $40,000 if the original inspector’s ruling had been upheld.
“The bottom line is that it is unsuitable for the surroundings. That is what we have been saying for years,” he said.
Mr Lloyd could not be reached for comment today.
Nakamura explained that 80 to 90 percent of the power generated would come from the large wind-catching turbine floating over the sea, with another underwater turbine expected to produce the rest.
At first, the turbine units will be tethered to shore by cables which also transport the energy produced onto land storage facilities. The technology to effectively store it on the turbines at sea doesn't exist, yet.
"We can start the operations and we will learn from that one, and in the future, the battery cost will be less. Maybe 10 years later we will be in a very good shape for the business," he told CBS' Seth Doane.
He admits that he's dedicated his career to creating technology which, at least for the next decade, isn't going to bear its full economic fruit.
But Nakamura wasn't always a renewable energy guy. In fact, recently he'd worked to develop a way to produce liquefied natural gas at sea.
When the powerful earthquake rocked northeast Japan in March of 2011, triggering a tsunami that destroyed parts of the Fukushima Dai-Itchi nuclear power plant, Nakamura took it as a wake-up call.
"After the earthquake, it was a very big shock for the people like us in Japan," he explained to Doane, adding that his nation -- and its energy infrastructure -- had been inadequately prepared for a disaster of such a magnitude.
His company allowed him to transition into a department to work on dreaming up the next generation of power generation.
With 70 percent of the Earth covered by ocean, ever increasing demand and decreasing space on land to produce power, Nakamura believes that, just as the oil business looked offshore for opportunities, the renewable energy side will also look to the sea.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Residents who campaigned against the plans today hailed the decision as a victory for people power after they successfully challenged a decision to give the proposals the go-ahead in the High Court last year.
Gavin Lloyd had wanted to build the turbine to provide energy at his home and farm, while it was also intended the equipment would power holiday let accommodation at the property.
The application was first made in June 2011 and was refused by Shropshire Council in September that year.
Mr Lloyd appealed and in March 2012 was given the go-ahead for the scheme by a planning inspector.
But that decision was then quashed in the High Court last December, resulting in a new inspection being ordered.
The findings of the second inspector David Rose were today published by The Planning Inspectorate.
Mr Rose said the three-blade turbine would have been able to generate 25,000kWh of energy in a year. But he said its benefits were outweighed by the harmful effects of the turbine on the look and character of the local area.
“Such benefits would only be achieved by causing a very serious loss to the overall character of the landscape and comparable visual harm to the appearance of the landscape from nearby public vantages,” he said.
“Whilst the landscape does not have special status or protection, the combination of these elements, which could not be mitigated, would be of sufficient magnitude to convincingly tip the balance away from granting planning permission.”
Resident Paul Jarrett was delighted with the decision. He said the decision to fight the case in the High Court could have personally cost him $40,000 if the original inspector’s ruling had been upheld.
“The bottom line is that it is unsuitable for the surroundings. That is what we have been saying for years,” he said.
Mr Lloyd could not be reached for comment today.
Nakamura explained that 80 to 90 percent of the power generated would come from the large wind-catching turbine floating over the sea, with another underwater turbine expected to produce the rest.
At first, the turbine units will be tethered to shore by cables which also transport the energy produced onto land storage facilities. The technology to effectively store it on the turbines at sea doesn't exist, yet.
"We can start the operations and we will learn from that one, and in the future, the battery cost will be less. Maybe 10 years later we will be in a very good shape for the business," he told CBS' Seth Doane.
He admits that he's dedicated his career to creating technology which, at least for the next decade, isn't going to bear its full economic fruit.
But Nakamura wasn't always a renewable energy guy. In fact, recently he'd worked to develop a way to produce liquefied natural gas at sea.
When the powerful earthquake rocked northeast Japan in March of 2011, triggering a tsunami that destroyed parts of the Fukushima Dai-Itchi nuclear power plant, Nakamura took it as a wake-up call.
"After the earthquake, it was a very big shock for the people like us in Japan," he explained to Doane, adding that his nation -- and its energy infrastructure -- had been inadequately prepared for a disaster of such a magnitude.
His company allowed him to transition into a department to work on dreaming up the next generation of power generation.
With 70 percent of the Earth covered by ocean, ever increasing demand and decreasing space on land to produce power, Nakamura believes that, just as the oil business looked offshore for opportunities, the renewable energy side will also look to the sea.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Higher demand for our turbines
Nordex posted a net profit of 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) in the first half of 2013, comparing favorably with a loss of 23 million euros in the same period last year, company figures released Thursday showed.
The first profit in two years came on 57 percent higher sales of the German wind turbine manufacturer, reaching 661 million euros in the six months.
In addition, the company's restructuring drive of the past months was bearing fruit, said Nordex Chief Executive Jürgen Zeschky.
“Higher demand for our turbines, as well as improving productivity are showing that our strategy is working,” he said in the company's earnings report.
Nordex, as well as its main rivals Vestas and Repower, have been suffering from overcapacity and falling product margins in the market for wind power turbines.
The German firm, which is based in Hamburg, has drastically cut costs and closed plants in China and the United States to counter the downturn especially in the European markets.
Nordex appears to have turned the corner, claiming it had secured new orders to the tune of 839 million euros between January and June - up 61 percent from the same period a year ago.
Nordex CEO Zeschky said revenues for the full year could surge to 1.4 billion euros, which would be about 100 million euros more than had originally been envisaged.
As a result Nordex shares rose about 12 percent in the German stock market on Thursday, adding to gains of about 130 percent since the beginning of this year.
The Energy Department released two new reports showcasing record growth across the U.S. wind market – increasing America’s share of clean, renewable energy and supporting tens of thousands of jobs nationwide. According to these reports, the United States continues to be one of the world’s largest and fastest growing wind markets. In 2012, wind energy became the number one source of new U.S. electricity generation capacity for the first time – representing 43 percent of all new electric additions and accounting for $25 billion in U.S. investment.
In the first four years of the Obama Administration, American electricity generation from wind and solar power more than doubled. President Obama’s Climate Action Plan makes clear that the growth of clean, renewable wind energy remains a critical part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions, diversifies our energy economy and brings innovative technologies on line. The Obama Administration has committed to another doubling of the renewable electricity generation from energy resources like wind power by 2020.
“The tremendous growth in the U.S. wind industry over the past few years underscores the importance of consistent policy that ensures America remains a leader in clean energy innovation,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “As the fastest growing source of power in the United States, wind is paving the way to a cleaner, more sustainable future that protects our air and water and provides affordable, clean renewable energy to more and more Americans.”
The tremendous growth in the overall U.S. wind industry has led directly to more American jobs throughout a number of sectors and at factories and power plants across the country. According to industry estimates, the wind sector employs over 80,000 American workers, including workers at manufacturing facilities up and down the supply chain, as well as engineers and construction workers who build wind installations.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
The first profit in two years came on 57 percent higher sales of the German wind turbine manufacturer, reaching 661 million euros in the six months.
In addition, the company's restructuring drive of the past months was bearing fruit, said Nordex Chief Executive Jürgen Zeschky.
“Higher demand for our turbines, as well as improving productivity are showing that our strategy is working,” he said in the company's earnings report.
Nordex, as well as its main rivals Vestas and Repower, have been suffering from overcapacity and falling product margins in the market for wind power turbines.
The German firm, which is based in Hamburg, has drastically cut costs and closed plants in China and the United States to counter the downturn especially in the European markets.
Nordex appears to have turned the corner, claiming it had secured new orders to the tune of 839 million euros between January and June - up 61 percent from the same period a year ago.
Nordex CEO Zeschky said revenues for the full year could surge to 1.4 billion euros, which would be about 100 million euros more than had originally been envisaged.
As a result Nordex shares rose about 12 percent in the German stock market on Thursday, adding to gains of about 130 percent since the beginning of this year.
The Energy Department released two new reports showcasing record growth across the U.S. wind market – increasing America’s share of clean, renewable energy and supporting tens of thousands of jobs nationwide. According to these reports, the United States continues to be one of the world’s largest and fastest growing wind markets. In 2012, wind energy became the number one source of new U.S. electricity generation capacity for the first time – representing 43 percent of all new electric additions and accounting for $25 billion in U.S. investment.
In the first four years of the Obama Administration, American electricity generation from wind and solar power more than doubled. President Obama’s Climate Action Plan makes clear that the growth of clean, renewable wind energy remains a critical part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions, diversifies our energy economy and brings innovative technologies on line. The Obama Administration has committed to another doubling of the renewable electricity generation from energy resources like wind power by 2020.
“The tremendous growth in the U.S. wind industry over the past few years underscores the importance of consistent policy that ensures America remains a leader in clean energy innovation,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “As the fastest growing source of power in the United States, wind is paving the way to a cleaner, more sustainable future that protects our air and water and provides affordable, clean renewable energy to more and more Americans.”
The tremendous growth in the overall U.S. wind industry has led directly to more American jobs throughout a number of sectors and at factories and power plants across the country. According to industry estimates, the wind sector employs over 80,000 American workers, including workers at manufacturing facilities up and down the supply chain, as well as engineers and construction workers who build wind installations.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
2013年8月14日 星期三
New All You Can Arcade service delivers
A new monthly subscription service run by a pair of San Francisco Bay Area brothers aims to ease suffering for those with a serious case of Pac-Man fever.
With their rental service, All You Can Arcade, Seth and Timothy Peterson drop off hulking arcade machines to homes and offices around the state. Among the titles available are '80s classics, including "Ms. Pac Man," ''Donkey Kong" and "Tron." And the machines are always set to "free play," so there's no need for quarters, the company's website states.
The Petersons launched their enterprise last month and say their plan is based on old-school economics. They rent the games out for $75 a month after purchasing the machines on the cheap and refurbishing them to their former glory.
"It's a lot of fun looking for the bargains, scoring them off Craigslist or eBay or through the Internet forums. Anywhere we can find them," said Seth Peterson.
He said he and his brother Timothy have been collecting the vintage cabinet games and fixing them up for years. He said they pay about $150 to $200 for the games and have developed a knack for "getting them real quick, taking them home and then doing what we need to do to get them ready for our customers."
All You Can Arcade operates across California. Customers can find out which games are available in their zip code through the company website. The Petersons hope to expand to the East Coast later this year.
With traffic buzzing by them on a busy downtown San Francisco street recently, the Petersons loaded a 250-pound "Galaga" machine into a seventh-floor office.
Seeing the game being wheeled in on a dolly, employees at the advertising firm 11 Inc. clapped and hooted with excitement, ready to zap pixelated bugs from outer space.
At a time when gamers focus on elaborate home video systems that feature cinematic graphics and realistic experiences, these low-tech games featuring simply designed cartoon characters level the playing field between generations, said Rob Kabus, president of 11 Inc.
"I feel relatively fearless challenging anybody here no matter what age," Kabus said of his company's new toy. "But when I go home, there's no way I can engage my son on Xbox. It's over in about 15 seconds on a good day."
If you remember the heyday of giant arcade halls filled with stand-up coin-op machines, then you’ll also remember that one day they seemingly all disappeared. What was it like to live through that bygone era? The Final Day at Westfield Arcade—a new novel by Andy Hunt—explores what it felt like to have a digital childhood evaporate as its main character tries to jump to adulthood.
Many of the strong memories we have about certain games has to do with what we were doing in our lives when we encountered them. If you first played Pac-Man when your parents divorced, all that ghost-gobbling might mean something a little different. Here’s a synopsis and you can read the opening pages from The Final Day at Westfield Arcade in the preview below:
It’s the final day of business at Westfield Arcade, the video game arcade where middle-aged Mike Mayberry has worked since he was a teenager. Mike spends his final day at Westfield Arcade taking a nostalgia-fueled journey back through the arcade’s glory years of the 1980s, the era when Pac Man ruled the world and every night at the arcade was an adventure. He reflects on the endless memories and friends he’s made during the decades he’s spent at the arcade, and chronicles the ups and downs in his relationship with an unforgettable girl over those years. As the final day of business at his beloved video game arcade comes to an emotional end, Mike contemplates a major decision for his post-arcade life, a decision that he hopes will once and for all answer the question of whether the girl who got away so many years ago truly did get away for good.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
With their rental service, All You Can Arcade, Seth and Timothy Peterson drop off hulking arcade machines to homes and offices around the state. Among the titles available are '80s classics, including "Ms. Pac Man," ''Donkey Kong" and "Tron." And the machines are always set to "free play," so there's no need for quarters, the company's website states.
The Petersons launched their enterprise last month and say their plan is based on old-school economics. They rent the games out for $75 a month after purchasing the machines on the cheap and refurbishing them to their former glory.
"It's a lot of fun looking for the bargains, scoring them off Craigslist or eBay or through the Internet forums. Anywhere we can find them," said Seth Peterson.
He said he and his brother Timothy have been collecting the vintage cabinet games and fixing them up for years. He said they pay about $150 to $200 for the games and have developed a knack for "getting them real quick, taking them home and then doing what we need to do to get them ready for our customers."
All You Can Arcade operates across California. Customers can find out which games are available in their zip code through the company website. The Petersons hope to expand to the East Coast later this year.
With traffic buzzing by them on a busy downtown San Francisco street recently, the Petersons loaded a 250-pound "Galaga" machine into a seventh-floor office.
Seeing the game being wheeled in on a dolly, employees at the advertising firm 11 Inc. clapped and hooted with excitement, ready to zap pixelated bugs from outer space.
At a time when gamers focus on elaborate home video systems that feature cinematic graphics and realistic experiences, these low-tech games featuring simply designed cartoon characters level the playing field between generations, said Rob Kabus, president of 11 Inc.
"I feel relatively fearless challenging anybody here no matter what age," Kabus said of his company's new toy. "But when I go home, there's no way I can engage my son on Xbox. It's over in about 15 seconds on a good day."
If you remember the heyday of giant arcade halls filled with stand-up coin-op machines, then you’ll also remember that one day they seemingly all disappeared. What was it like to live through that bygone era? The Final Day at Westfield Arcade—a new novel by Andy Hunt—explores what it felt like to have a digital childhood evaporate as its main character tries to jump to adulthood.
Many of the strong memories we have about certain games has to do with what we were doing in our lives when we encountered them. If you first played Pac-Man when your parents divorced, all that ghost-gobbling might mean something a little different. Here’s a synopsis and you can read the opening pages from The Final Day at Westfield Arcade in the preview below:
It’s the final day of business at Westfield Arcade, the video game arcade where middle-aged Mike Mayberry has worked since he was a teenager. Mike spends his final day at Westfield Arcade taking a nostalgia-fueled journey back through the arcade’s glory years of the 1980s, the era when Pac Man ruled the world and every night at the arcade was an adventure. He reflects on the endless memories and friends he’s made during the decades he’s spent at the arcade, and chronicles the ups and downs in his relationship with an unforgettable girl over those years. As the final day of business at his beloved video game arcade comes to an emotional end, Mike contemplates a major decision for his post-arcade life, a decision that he hopes will once and for all answer the question of whether the girl who got away so many years ago truly did get away for good.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
Retro wins out in high-tech housing
Space-age gadgetry is out and 1960s simplicity appears to be back in favour when it comes to low-emissions living.
A team of Australian university students has won first prize in an international “energy Olympics”, basing their housing design on a standard “fibro” home once common across the country.
The students, from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra, deliberately chose an existing design for the Solar Decathlon in China because retrofitting many of Australia’s 8 million-plus homes can cut carbon emissions much faster than rolling out newly built ones.
“We were the only team in any decathlon to date to try to demonstrate a retrofit,” said Jack Breen, a member and spokesman of Team UoW. “The jury saw the need for this. We see the need for this.”
More than 50 students worked for two years on the design, construction and disassembly of the winning Illawarra Flame House, and beat strong competition from 19 other finalists including Chinese, Swedish and Iranian entries. It was also the first time an Australian team had made it to the finals of the event, which started in 2002.
The original home’s energy rating was lifted from 2.2 stars to 7.4 stars, while total energy use dropped about 80 per cent after the retrofit, according to modelling.
‘On the map’
As many as half a million people are expected to tour the display site in Datong, a former capital and now grimy industrial city 300 kilometres west of Beijing.
“This is going to put [the university] on the map a bit,” Mr Breen said, adding the long queues over the weekend may even lengthen in the remaining days of the exhibition as interest builds. “We expect that it will be absolutely crazy.”
While the entry won first place for engineering and application, the house also ranked highly for targeting couples about to retire, a market often overlooked by those developing highly energy-efficient houses.
“With baby boomers reaching retirement age, there’s potentially a big market out there,” Mr Breen said.
Design tweaks to meet that market included reducing the number of bedrooms in a typical 80-square-metre home of that era to just one, with a second bedroom doubling as a study. The students also widened doors, lowered the level of light fittings and removed all steps to ease access for the occupants.
The students installed enough solar panels to generate more power than the household would use, and added reed gardens and sand beds to enable all grey water produced by the washing machine and sinks to be recycled. Waste from a fish pond can also be used as a fertiliser for plants.
“Plants can grow up to four times as fast because of that fertiliser,” Mr Breen said.
History preserved
Part of the house’s appeal for the judges was the use of recycled materials and refurbishing of 1960s furniture.
“We wanted to preserve the history,” he said. “It’s a house that celebrates human life rather than the house itself.”
The redesign and retrofit cost about $300,000, a figure that is likely to shrink as design components are commercialised.
“That’s a conversation we’ll all be having when we get back to Australia,” Mr Breen said.
Once disassembled, the house will be rebuilt at the University of Wollongong, where students – and possibly retired couples – will get a chance to reside in it and study how it performs.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
A team of Australian university students has won first prize in an international “energy Olympics”, basing their housing design on a standard “fibro” home once common across the country.
The students, from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra, deliberately chose an existing design for the Solar Decathlon in China because retrofitting many of Australia’s 8 million-plus homes can cut carbon emissions much faster than rolling out newly built ones.
“We were the only team in any decathlon to date to try to demonstrate a retrofit,” said Jack Breen, a member and spokesman of Team UoW. “The jury saw the need for this. We see the need for this.”
More than 50 students worked for two years on the design, construction and disassembly of the winning Illawarra Flame House, and beat strong competition from 19 other finalists including Chinese, Swedish and Iranian entries. It was also the first time an Australian team had made it to the finals of the event, which started in 2002.
The original home’s energy rating was lifted from 2.2 stars to 7.4 stars, while total energy use dropped about 80 per cent after the retrofit, according to modelling.
‘On the map’
As many as half a million people are expected to tour the display site in Datong, a former capital and now grimy industrial city 300 kilometres west of Beijing.
“This is going to put [the university] on the map a bit,” Mr Breen said, adding the long queues over the weekend may even lengthen in the remaining days of the exhibition as interest builds. “We expect that it will be absolutely crazy.”
While the entry won first place for engineering and application, the house also ranked highly for targeting couples about to retire, a market often overlooked by those developing highly energy-efficient houses.
“With baby boomers reaching retirement age, there’s potentially a big market out there,” Mr Breen said.
Design tweaks to meet that market included reducing the number of bedrooms in a typical 80-square-metre home of that era to just one, with a second bedroom doubling as a study. The students also widened doors, lowered the level of light fittings and removed all steps to ease access for the occupants.
The students installed enough solar panels to generate more power than the household would use, and added reed gardens and sand beds to enable all grey water produced by the washing machine and sinks to be recycled. Waste from a fish pond can also be used as a fertiliser for plants.
“Plants can grow up to four times as fast because of that fertiliser,” Mr Breen said.
History preserved
Part of the house’s appeal for the judges was the use of recycled materials and refurbishing of 1960s furniture.
“We wanted to preserve the history,” he said. “It’s a house that celebrates human life rather than the house itself.”
The redesign and retrofit cost about $300,000, a figure that is likely to shrink as design components are commercialised.
“That’s a conversation we’ll all be having when we get back to Australia,” Mr Breen said.
Once disassembled, the house will be rebuilt at the University of Wollongong, where students – and possibly retired couples – will get a chance to reside in it and study how it performs.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
2013年8月12日 星期一
Slashing renewables will push up electricity bills
A new report from global research house Bloomberg new Energy Finance has punctured the rhetoric from incumbent fossil fuel generators, saying that cutting the renewable energy target would lead to an increase in electricity bills for consumers, not a reduction.
Two of the biggest utilities in Australia – Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia – have led a chorus of opposition to the current fixed 41,000GWh renewable energy target.
They and other state-owned power generators have argued that the renewable target will force up costs to consumers, a tack that has apparently won the support of state-based conservative governments, and the federal Coalition, which has agreed to force another review of the RET to investigate those claims.
However, renewable energy groups, and the CCA, have pointed out that the biggest danger from the RET is to the revenues of coal and gas-fired generators.
This has been supported by BNEF’s analysis, which says that reducing the RET may cut the headline costs of the scheme – i.e. the amount and price of renewable energy certificates – but it would lead to an increase in electricity prices because wholesale electricity prices would rebound because of reduced competition.
“Our analysis indicates that a reduction of the Renewable Energy Target is unlikely to result in a cost reduction to the end consumer,” BNEF Australia head Kobad Bhavnagri, said in emailed comments to RenewEconomy.
“By contrast, it could actually put upward pressure on retail electricity prices. This is because the savings from reducing the target are outweighed by the costs.
“Having less renewables in the generating mix is likely to lead to higher wholesale electricity prices, because there will be less competition and fossil fuel generators can sell the power they produce for more. The total cost of higher wholesale electricity prices are likely to outweigh the savings from building less renewables.”
The BNEF analysis (see table at bottom of story), suggests that reducing the RET to a target of around 27,000GWh, as Origin and EnergyAustralia are pushing for, would mean that investment in renewables in Australia would be cut in half – from around $23.8 billion to $12.2 billion.
This would mean around 2,800MW less wind energy, and around 2,700MW less solar PV built out to 2020.
It says the headline costs of the scheme would fall, because the price of renewable energy certificates (RECs) would decline by around 9 per cent. However, this was likely to be offset by increased cost of financing caused by yet another change in government policy.
And because the wholesale price would rise, the overall cost of electricity bills to consumers would increase by $1.3 billion, even though the “headline” cost of the scheme (the RECs) would fall by $1.9 billion.
“Reducing the Renewable Energy Target will, in isolation, bring down the headline cost of the policy,” BNEF writes in its report.
“But having less renewables in the generating mix is likely to lead to higher wholesale electricity prices, because there will be less competition and fossil fuel generators can sell the power they produce for more.
“The total cost of higher wholesale electricity prices are likely to outweigh the savings from building less renewables.”
It notes that renewables like wind and solar power place downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices because once they are built they produce power at practically zero cost.
“This is changing the dynamics of energy markets around the world and cutting the revenue and profits of coal- and gas-fired power stations,” it notes.
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Two of the biggest utilities in Australia – Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia – have led a chorus of opposition to the current fixed 41,000GWh renewable energy target.
They and other state-owned power generators have argued that the renewable target will force up costs to consumers, a tack that has apparently won the support of state-based conservative governments, and the federal Coalition, which has agreed to force another review of the RET to investigate those claims.
However, renewable energy groups, and the CCA, have pointed out that the biggest danger from the RET is to the revenues of coal and gas-fired generators.
This has been supported by BNEF’s analysis, which says that reducing the RET may cut the headline costs of the scheme – i.e. the amount and price of renewable energy certificates – but it would lead to an increase in electricity prices because wholesale electricity prices would rebound because of reduced competition.
“Our analysis indicates that a reduction of the Renewable Energy Target is unlikely to result in a cost reduction to the end consumer,” BNEF Australia head Kobad Bhavnagri, said in emailed comments to RenewEconomy.
“By contrast, it could actually put upward pressure on retail electricity prices. This is because the savings from reducing the target are outweighed by the costs.
“Having less renewables in the generating mix is likely to lead to higher wholesale electricity prices, because there will be less competition and fossil fuel generators can sell the power they produce for more. The total cost of higher wholesale electricity prices are likely to outweigh the savings from building less renewables.”
The BNEF analysis (see table at bottom of story), suggests that reducing the RET to a target of around 27,000GWh, as Origin and EnergyAustralia are pushing for, would mean that investment in renewables in Australia would be cut in half – from around $23.8 billion to $12.2 billion.
This would mean around 2,800MW less wind energy, and around 2,700MW less solar PV built out to 2020.
It says the headline costs of the scheme would fall, because the price of renewable energy certificates (RECs) would decline by around 9 per cent. However, this was likely to be offset by increased cost of financing caused by yet another change in government policy.
And because the wholesale price would rise, the overall cost of electricity bills to consumers would increase by $1.3 billion, even though the “headline” cost of the scheme (the RECs) would fall by $1.9 billion.
“Reducing the Renewable Energy Target will, in isolation, bring down the headline cost of the policy,” BNEF writes in its report.
“But having less renewables in the generating mix is likely to lead to higher wholesale electricity prices, because there will be less competition and fossil fuel generators can sell the power they produce for more.
“The total cost of higher wholesale electricity prices are likely to outweigh the savings from building less renewables.”
It notes that renewables like wind and solar power place downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices because once they are built they produce power at practically zero cost.
“This is changing the dynamics of energy markets around the world and cutting the revenue and profits of coal- and gas-fired power stations,” it notes.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, washer extractor, industrial washing machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
California Wildfire Season Likely To Get Worse
California truly is the Golden State this summer – golden brown – and that has fire officials worried heading into the peak of the wildfire season.
It's still weeks before the fire-fanning Santa Ana winds usually arrive and already it's been a brutal fire season, with nearly twice as many acres burned statewide from a year ago, including 19,000 scorched this week in a blaze still raging in the mountains 90 miles east of Los Angeles. That fire, burning nearly 30 square miles, was almost half contained Saturday morning.
So far this year, California fire officials have battled 4,300 wildfires, a stark increase from the yearly average of nearly 3,000 they faced from 2008 to 2012, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Until last week, those fires had already burned more than 71,000 acres, about 111 square miles. The totals were up from 40,000, about 63 square miles, during the same period last year.
The annual average for charred land in the last five years was 113,000 acres, roughly 177 square miles, he said.
"We have seen a significant increase in our fire activity and much earlier than normal," said Berlant, adding that fire season began in mid-April, about a month ahead of schedule after an especially dry winter. "We're not even yet into the time period where we see the largest number of damaging fires."
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who lives in Riverside County, said more than 165,000 acres or 258 square miles have burned in California this year, and climate change is setting conditions for more disastrous blazes, while budget cuts are limiting resources to fight them. Boxer's data comes from both California officials and federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service.
This year, state fire officials have called up more firefighters and reserve engines on days with hot, dry conditions, Berlant said.
And while state officials encouraged residents to rid their properties of dry brush before fire season starts, he said authorities are now urging the public not to use lawnmowers or weed eaters during the heat of the day because a spark off the metal blades can trigger a blaze.
On Friday, firefighters launched a fleet of seven retardant-dropping airplanes against Southern California's latest destructive wildfire, which has destroyed 26 homes and threatened more than 500 others in the San Jacinto Mountains.
The so-called Silver Fire injured six firefighters and seriously burned one civilian and had grown to nearly 30 square miles early Saturday.
At its peak, it forced the evacuation of 1,800 people, including 800 campers, but orders were lifted for many areas Friday and only a few hundred evacuees remained.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared an emergency for the area Friday, freeing up additional funds and resources for the firefight and recovery.
In the Twin Pines neighborhood outside Banning, Andy Schrader said he couldn't get out in time. The wildfire crept up suddenly and blew over his house, burning his motor home and singeing his hair as he sprayed water from a hose to try to keep the house wet.
"I could feel my face burning," the 74-year-old carpenter said. "And I thought I was going to die."
Most of Southern California's severe wildfires are associated with Santa Ana winds, caused by high pressure over the West that sends a clockwise flow of air rushing down into the region.
This week's fire, however, was being fanned by a counter-clockwise flow around a low pressure area over northwest California. The National Weather Service said conditions could change in the second half of next week, with weaker winds in the mountains and deserts.
Wildfire experts say the traditional fire season has grown longer in California as rainfall has been lower than usual over the last two years and tapered off sooner.
Los Angeles, for example, received only 5.85 inches of rain from July 2012 through June 2013, compared with 8.71 inches a year before and a 30-year average of 14.93 inches, said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
It's still weeks before the fire-fanning Santa Ana winds usually arrive and already it's been a brutal fire season, with nearly twice as many acres burned statewide from a year ago, including 19,000 scorched this week in a blaze still raging in the mountains 90 miles east of Los Angeles. That fire, burning nearly 30 square miles, was almost half contained Saturday morning.
So far this year, California fire officials have battled 4,300 wildfires, a stark increase from the yearly average of nearly 3,000 they faced from 2008 to 2012, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Until last week, those fires had already burned more than 71,000 acres, about 111 square miles. The totals were up from 40,000, about 63 square miles, during the same period last year.
The annual average for charred land in the last five years was 113,000 acres, roughly 177 square miles, he said.
"We have seen a significant increase in our fire activity and much earlier than normal," said Berlant, adding that fire season began in mid-April, about a month ahead of schedule after an especially dry winter. "We're not even yet into the time period where we see the largest number of damaging fires."
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who lives in Riverside County, said more than 165,000 acres or 258 square miles have burned in California this year, and climate change is setting conditions for more disastrous blazes, while budget cuts are limiting resources to fight them. Boxer's data comes from both California officials and federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service.
This year, state fire officials have called up more firefighters and reserve engines on days with hot, dry conditions, Berlant said.
And while state officials encouraged residents to rid their properties of dry brush before fire season starts, he said authorities are now urging the public not to use lawnmowers or weed eaters during the heat of the day because a spark off the metal blades can trigger a blaze.
On Friday, firefighters launched a fleet of seven retardant-dropping airplanes against Southern California's latest destructive wildfire, which has destroyed 26 homes and threatened more than 500 others in the San Jacinto Mountains.
The so-called Silver Fire injured six firefighters and seriously burned one civilian and had grown to nearly 30 square miles early Saturday.
At its peak, it forced the evacuation of 1,800 people, including 800 campers, but orders were lifted for many areas Friday and only a few hundred evacuees remained.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared an emergency for the area Friday, freeing up additional funds and resources for the firefight and recovery.
In the Twin Pines neighborhood outside Banning, Andy Schrader said he couldn't get out in time. The wildfire crept up suddenly and blew over his house, burning his motor home and singeing his hair as he sprayed water from a hose to try to keep the house wet.
"I could feel my face burning," the 74-year-old carpenter said. "And I thought I was going to die."
Most of Southern California's severe wildfires are associated with Santa Ana winds, caused by high pressure over the West that sends a clockwise flow of air rushing down into the region.
This week's fire, however, was being fanned by a counter-clockwise flow around a low pressure area over northwest California. The National Weather Service said conditions could change in the second half of next week, with weaker winds in the mountains and deserts.
Wildfire experts say the traditional fire season has grown longer in California as rainfall has been lower than usual over the last two years and tapered off sooner.
Los Angeles, for example, received only 5.85 inches of rain from July 2012 through June 2013, compared with 8.71 inches a year before and a 30-year average of 14.93 inches, said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Read the full story at aulaundry.com web! Shanghai Xunduo Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of washer extractor, tumble dryer,flat work ironer, laundry dryer, folding machine, dry cleaning machine ect., which is integrating designing,researching, manufacturing, sales and service all within the company to ensure the highest level of quality and service.
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