The slot machine stunt — which, sure enough, resulted in a pile of glass, wood and news reports —Road Roller SRRC204 manufacturers and exporters came just three weeks before voters decide Proposal No. 1, which would authorize table games like roulette, whose tables presumably would be more difficult to demolish.Not to mention more expensive: a decent roulette table will set a buyer back $800, while the unlucky slot machine attacked on Tuesday, a 2006 Triple Red Hot 7s, was a mere $345.Mr. Blankenhorn said he had bought the machine from a collector in Pennsylvania but neglected to tell him its fate. "I didn't have the heart to tell him that we were going to hurt it," he said.
Jim Shearer worked for the Cardinals the past 40 football seasons, yet the only places his given name showed up with any regularity was on paychecks and in yearly media guides.Otherwise, he was known as "The Machine," or, more commonly, just "Machine."That's what everyone in the organization, and in the NFL, called him.Machine, an assistant athletic trainer,Road Roller SRRC206 manufacturers and exporters retired last week. The Seahawks game, the 797th one he worked in 40 seasons, was his last.Machine gave his notice last week, telling President Michael Bidwill and head athletic trainer Tom Reed that he was done, tired of the grind.Just like that. Here one day, gone the next.
"It's definitely different," safety Rashad Johnson said on Monday. "When I walked in today and saw someone else holding down his station, taping up guys, it was definitely a different feel."The timing of Machine's retirement prompted speculation about the reasons. Had he been forced out? Was there a disagreement?Nope, he told those close to him. Forty years of early mornings and late nights, well, enough was enough.The NFL is not only tough on players and coaches, it's hard on those who work behind the scenes, including athletic trainers.It's a good living, but the hours are crazy. A player needs treatment at 6 a.m.? An athletic trainer has to be there. A coach wants his staff to work the Senior Bowl after the season? The whole training staff goes, too.What's really amazing is that someone did it for 40 years with one team.
2013年10月31日星期四
2013年10月30日星期三
The music world is in mourning
And Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation noted that the polling turned around for Part D within a few months after seniors had enrolled in their drug plans. The share of Americans with an "unfavorable" view of the program shot up to 50 percent in December 2005, right at the height of the enrollment stumbles, and just 28 percent had favorable views.By June 2006, just after open enrollment ended, the two views were essentially tied. And by November, 42 percent had favorable views of the program, Kaiser found. Its popularity has skyrocketed since then.Obamacare could still recover with the public in a similar way, Leavitt said — but only if the administration gets the website problems under control and continues its recent steps to update the public on its progress.
The music world is in mourning over the death of Lou Reed, the indescribably influential singer, composer and bandleader. He was one of the first to marry rock insouciance with high-art ideas: reducing the form of a guitar band to its absolute minimum, while sounding unprecedented and scary and occasionally even lovely. He put raw drones and white noise into the rock-instrument canon, and wrote about smack addiction and transvestism 40 years before "Molly" and rappers in Givenchy kilts seemed edgy.But Reed was devoted to not giving a single damn about anybody's opinion of his work. So it's kind of fitting that he ended his career on a Metallica collaboration album, "Lulu," that was uniformly despised by the music press, and left fans of both feeling cold and confused.
It was the second LP in his career — the first was 1975's "Metal Machine Music" — that made fans and critics wonder if he was just yanking all of our chains."Metal Machine Music" has since gained back some interest as a pioneer of industrial and noise music. But while writers are remembering the incalculable highs of Reed's career, it's worth remembering that his antagonistic streak was genuine, and not always in appropriate, critically beloved ways."Metal Machine Music" has a much better reputation now than at its release. Early reviews claimed it would clear any room of humans that tried to listen to it, and reams of books about the worst albums in rock history and most famous career-self-immolations have put it near the top.
The music world is in mourning over the death of Lou Reed, the indescribably influential singer, composer and bandleader. He was one of the first to marry rock insouciance with high-art ideas: reducing the form of a guitar band to its absolute minimum, while sounding unprecedented and scary and occasionally even lovely. He put raw drones and white noise into the rock-instrument canon, and wrote about smack addiction and transvestism 40 years before "Molly" and rappers in Givenchy kilts seemed edgy.But Reed was devoted to not giving a single damn about anybody's opinion of his work. So it's kind of fitting that he ended his career on a Metallica collaboration album, "Lulu," that was uniformly despised by the music press, and left fans of both feeling cold and confused.
It was the second LP in his career — the first was 1975's "Metal Machine Music" — that made fans and critics wonder if he was just yanking all of our chains."Metal Machine Music" has since gained back some interest as a pioneer of industrial and noise music. But while writers are remembering the incalculable highs of Reed's career, it's worth remembering that his antagonistic streak was genuine, and not always in appropriate, critically beloved ways."Metal Machine Music" has a much better reputation now than at its release. Early reviews claimed it would clear any room of humans that tried to listen to it, and reams of books about the worst albums in rock history and most famous career-self-immolations have put it near the top.
2013年10月23日星期三
Twelve Foot Ninja, 'Silent Machine' Track-By-Track
Aussie rockers Twelve Foot Ninja are invading North America and they recently released the U.S. Tour bonus edition of their most recent album, 'Silent Machine.' Now, they're teaming with Loudwire to give listeners a chance to get more familiar with the tracks. Here we present the premiere of the first episode of the band's track-by-track commentary for the 'Silent Machine' record.Taking time out from their busy schedule, drummer Shane Russell and guitarist Stevic Mackay head to the kitchen to make some tasty grub while also discussing their equally enticing 'Silent Machine' disc. In this preview, seen above, the musicians run through six of the album's tracks, including the breakout cut 'Coming for You.'
Russell says of the album opener, "It's got everything you want, like a good movie. It's got comedy, a little drama, some violence and some sex." The rockers also hit on 'Kingdom,' 'Shuriken,' 'Deluge,' 'Silent Machine' and 'Luna' during the buy Road Roller SRRP1016 from China 11-minute dialogue.Among the nuggets you'll discover in this commentary include which track was introduced to the band during a trip to Subway, how the musicians feel about working some dubstep into a song, which 'Silent Machine' cut almost ended up being the album title and which song formerly went by the title 'Epic' for obvious reasons.For those interested in the Twelve Foot Ninja 'Silent Machine' album, the bonus edition currently available at both iTunes and Amazon, as well as the site importCDs. You can also catch Twelve Foot Ninja rocking 'Silent Machine' songs on tour this fall, sharing stages with Periphery, Born of Osiris and Dead Letter Circus.
Dates can be seen below:It might seem like a strange artistic effort to build a piece that meant to destroy itself, but that's what Thijs Rijker did with his industrial art series titled "Suicide Machines." So far, he's built two pieces eventually designed to destroy themselves — one is a self-powered saw that eventually will cut into its own gearbox, and another pours sand into its gearbox until its gearbox wears out. Sadly for those looking to see some machine destruction, the videos Rijker put together only show the process, but the sawblades never actually get to the gearbox.That's probably part of Rijker's point, however buy Road Roller SRRC214H from China— he likely wants the sense of impending doom to evoke emotion rather than the actual destruction.
Russell says of the album opener, "It's got everything you want, like a good movie. It's got comedy, a little drama, some violence and some sex." The rockers also hit on 'Kingdom,' 'Shuriken,' 'Deluge,' 'Silent Machine' and 'Luna' during the buy Road Roller SRRP1016 from China 11-minute dialogue.Among the nuggets you'll discover in this commentary include which track was introduced to the band during a trip to Subway, how the musicians feel about working some dubstep into a song, which 'Silent Machine' cut almost ended up being the album title and which song formerly went by the title 'Epic' for obvious reasons.For those interested in the Twelve Foot Ninja 'Silent Machine' album, the bonus edition currently available at both iTunes and Amazon, as well as the site importCDs. You can also catch Twelve Foot Ninja rocking 'Silent Machine' songs on tour this fall, sharing stages with Periphery, Born of Osiris and Dead Letter Circus.
Dates can be seen below:It might seem like a strange artistic effort to build a piece that meant to destroy itself, but that's what Thijs Rijker did with his industrial art series titled "Suicide Machines." So far, he's built two pieces eventually designed to destroy themselves — one is a self-powered saw that eventually will cut into its own gearbox, and another pours sand into its gearbox until its gearbox wears out. Sadly for those looking to see some machine destruction, the videos Rijker put together only show the process, but the sawblades never actually get to the gearbox.That's probably part of Rijker's point, however buy Road Roller SRRC214H from China— he likely wants the sense of impending doom to evoke emotion rather than the actual destruction.
2013年10月22日星期二
US Army to Build Armored Talos Suit That Merges Man and Machine
To accelerate the project, the army recently requested white papers from industry, academia, individuals, and public labs to speculate on how such a suit Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit or TALOS might be built.Although it isn't Iron Man, might a simpler suit be realistic? Sure. Many of the required technologies are already here. And in fact, a number of their inventors gathered at a July demonstration for TALOS below. The army says it expects "1st gen capability" inside a year. Though realistically, it might be longer than that.Of course, despite a few shared objectives, what's being proposed here isn't remotely on par with the Iron Man suit. It won't fly; it won't have a friendly AI chatting away in a soldier's ear; it won't have a miniature Arc Reactor delivering heat-free power equivalent to a nuclear sub. And it's yet just a concept.
TALOS will likely feature a powered exoskeleton for strength and endurance. Two possible candidates are Lockheed Martin's HULC or Raytheon's XOS 2. These exoskeletons endow super-strength, allowing soldiers to easily lift weights of a few hundred pounds.Meanwhile, advanced Kevlar body armor dipped in a kind of liquid ceramic may serve as a light, bulletproof skin for the suit. Norman Wagner, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware, told NPR, "It transitions when you hit it hard. These particles organize themselves quickly, locally in a way that they can't flow anymore and they become like a solid."
And as for head-mounted displays—there's been a flurry of activity in the augmented reality space over the last year or so. You've heard of Google Glass and its display projected directly on the retina. Other examples include Vusix, GlassUp, and Meta SpaceGlasses. The military may find a viable design in the crowd or build their own based on similar technology, adding additional powers, like night vision, into the mix.A central challenge will be power. The suit would require a battery pack. But even with a good set of batteries, it couldn't operate for extended periods away from a power source for charging. And big batteries have been known to explode in electric cars—friendly fire the military would no doubt like to avoid.
TALOS will likely feature a powered exoskeleton for strength and endurance. Two possible candidates are Lockheed Martin's HULC or Raytheon's XOS 2. These exoskeletons endow super-strength, allowing soldiers to easily lift weights of a few hundred pounds.Meanwhile, advanced Kevlar body armor dipped in a kind of liquid ceramic may serve as a light, bulletproof skin for the suit. Norman Wagner, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware, told NPR, "It transitions when you hit it hard. These particles organize themselves quickly, locally in a way that they can't flow anymore and they become like a solid."
And as for head-mounted displays—there's been a flurry of activity in the augmented reality space over the last year or so. You've heard of Google Glass and its display projected directly on the retina. Other examples include Vusix, GlassUp, and Meta SpaceGlasses. The military may find a viable design in the crowd or build their own based on similar technology, adding additional powers, like night vision, into the mix.A central challenge will be power. The suit would require a battery pack. But even with a good set of batteries, it couldn't operate for extended periods away from a power source for charging. And big batteries have been known to explode in electric cars—friendly fire the military would no doubt like to avoid.
2013年10月17日星期四
Pot vending machines to start rolling into Canada after firm partners with U.S. company
As a pioneer supplier in the potentially huge medical-cannabis industry, Medbox , of West Hollywood, Calif., has caused a stir among American investors, despite the somewhat checkered past of one of its co-founders.Vincent Mehdizadeh was convicted of defrauding more than a dozen people seeking immigration-law help, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.He paid $450,000 and was put on probation to avoid a four-year prison term after pleading no-contest — meaning he did not expressly admit his guilt All Terrain Crane QAY-400 manufacturers and exporters— to two counts of grand theft, the district attorney said in a news release.In Canada, the machines will be set up in cultivation centres, said Mr. Mehdizadeh. Employees will scan their own fingerprints before entering the patient's identification and prescription information into the machine, he said.
Mr. Mehdizadeh stressed Wednesday that the case has absolutely nothing to do with Medbox, and that, regardless, he committed no crime. He said several years ago he recruited customers for an L.A. lawyer, who then failed to provide the promised legal services. The Medbox chief operations officer said he is actually planning to sue the Los Angeles consumers-affair department, which laid the charges."The attorney in question received all the funds," he said. "I just reimbursed the clients because I could. … Fortunately, I'm fairly wealthy, so it was a drop in the bucket for me and I saw it as a sort of charitable endeavour."
Regardless, his new company has become a rising star in an uncertain industry. Though federal law in the U.S. continues to outlaw all cannabis, 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes and two have done so for recreational use, and federal law enforcement often turns a blind eye.The prospect of more legal openness — and a potentially massive market — has taken publicly traded Medbox to surprising highs in the last year. It has fallen back to about $21 a share, making for a $300-million market capitalization.The company has sold about 160 of the machines All Terrain Crane QAY500 manufacturers and exporters— which go for up to $25,000 — to medical-marijuana dispensaries in the United States, said Mr. Bedrick. Patients are typically admitted to a secure room where an employee operates the machine after the patient's fingerprint is scanned.
Mr. Mehdizadeh stressed Wednesday that the case has absolutely nothing to do with Medbox, and that, regardless, he committed no crime. He said several years ago he recruited customers for an L.A. lawyer, who then failed to provide the promised legal services. The Medbox chief operations officer said he is actually planning to sue the Los Angeles consumers-affair department, which laid the charges."The attorney in question received all the funds," he said. "I just reimbursed the clients because I could. … Fortunately, I'm fairly wealthy, so it was a drop in the bucket for me and I saw it as a sort of charitable endeavour."
Regardless, his new company has become a rising star in an uncertain industry. Though federal law in the U.S. continues to outlaw all cannabis, 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes and two have done so for recreational use, and federal law enforcement often turns a blind eye.The prospect of more legal openness — and a potentially massive market — has taken publicly traded Medbox to surprising highs in the last year. It has fallen back to about $21 a share, making for a $300-million market capitalization.The company has sold about 160 of the machines All Terrain Crane QAY500 manufacturers and exporters— which go for up to $25,000 — to medical-marijuana dispensaries in the United States, said Mr. Bedrick. Patients are typically admitted to a secure room where an employee operates the machine after the patient's fingerprint is scanned.
2013年10月15日星期二
War machine most photographed in Zamboanga City
What's the worst that can go wrong with a washing machine? Your whites going pink because of a rogue red sock? Discovering you left a ￡20 note in your jeans, and it's now a mush? For Londoner Peter Day, it was far worse. This month he found that he had been paying for a warranty for 23 years – even though he last used the washing machine 20 years ago.Day is an extreme victim of a common problem: not checking your bank statements in full and failing to spot direct debits you should have cancelled long ago.Back in the early 90s, Day, a retired trader, took out an insurance policy with Domestic & General to cover his new washer – and he has been paying ever since.The matter came to light only when he decided to close a Barclays current account. He estimates he has paid the equivalent of almost ￡3,000 in today's money to cover a machine that could be replaced for around ￡350.
Day left the machine in question in his home when he moved in 1993 and has no idea what happened to it – most likely it was scrapped years ago. His story serves as a wake-up call to anyone who does not check their bank statements properly. However, it also raises questions about the behaviour of warranty providers, which are happy to keep collecting premiums for products that cannot possibly still be in use.Day says he took out the D&G policy, which promised to repair his machine if it broke down, in the days when white goods were more expensive. It was one of a number of machines he insured with the firm before, he says, he "woke up" to what poor value such policies can be.
Twenty years ago he moved and left the insured machine to the flat's new owner. He thought no more about it until earlier this year when, wanting to streamline his financial affairs, he closed his little-used Barclays account. The bank asked what he wanted to do about the monthly direct debit he had been paying for 20 years, which had risen to ￡12.05 a month, or ￡144.60 a year. A washing machine can now be bought new from around ￡350."The flat I left had a shared area where the mail was dumped. I imagine that each year D&G wrote to me to raise the price, but the letter probably lay untouched in the communal area. When I contacted the firm they had no record of a Peter Day living at my current address. Only when I mentioned the address that I left back in 1993 could they find me. D&G had been renewing a policy every year for which I had no need."
Day left the machine in question in his home when he moved in 1993 and has no idea what happened to it – most likely it was scrapped years ago. His story serves as a wake-up call to anyone who does not check their bank statements properly. However, it also raises questions about the behaviour of warranty providers, which are happy to keep collecting premiums for products that cannot possibly still be in use.Day says he took out the D&G policy, which promised to repair his machine if it broke down, in the days when white goods were more expensive. It was one of a number of machines he insured with the firm before, he says, he "woke up" to what poor value such policies can be.
Twenty years ago he moved and left the insured machine to the flat's new owner. He thought no more about it until earlier this year when, wanting to streamline his financial affairs, he closed his little-used Barclays account. The bank asked what he wanted to do about the monthly direct debit he had been paying for 20 years, which had risen to ￡12.05 a month, or ￡144.60 a year. A washing machine can now be bought new from around ￡350."The flat I left had a shared area where the mail was dumped. I imagine that each year D&G wrote to me to raise the price, but the letter probably lay untouched in the communal area. When I contacted the firm they had no record of a Peter Day living at my current address. Only when I mentioned the address that I left back in 1993 could they find me. D&G had been renewing a policy every year for which I had no need."
2013年10月11日星期五
Valve Confirms Official AMD-Powered Steam Machines For 2014
In a statement to Forbes, a Valve representative has confirmed that AMD graphics hardware will be included in commercially available Steam Machines next year. The more interesting story, however, is why Valve needed to confirm this in the first place.Valve recently detailed the hardware specifications for its initial prototype run of 300 Steam Machines, which included CPUs by Intel and a variety of graphics cards by Nvidia . A sprinkling of tech sites and a large number of gaming enthusiasts interpreted this announcement as Valve dictating that their vision for Steam Machines —buy All Terrain Crane QAY-50 from China compact living room PCs powered by the company's Linux-based SteamOS — should not include AMD hardware.This mentality was later exacerbated when boutique PC vendor OriginPC publicly announced via Engadget that they were completely dropping AMD graphics cards from their offerings. Amusing conspiracy theories ensued.
Nvidia has several engineers actually embedded at Valve, assisting the company full-time in porting games over to SteamOS and improving driver support. Given that fact, the choice to include Nvidia hardware in Valve's prototype systems is anything but shocking.At any rate a quick email to Doug Lombardi, who handles PR for Valve, yielded this response:"Last week, we posted some technical specs of our first wave of Steam Machine prototypes. Although the graphics hardware that we've selected for the first wave of prototypes is a variety of Nvidia cards, that is not an indication that Steam Machines are Nvidia-only. In 2014, there will be Steam Machines commercially available with graphics hardware made by AMD, Nvidia, and Intel. Valve has worked closely together with all three of these companies on optimizing their hardware for SteamOS, and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future."
Valve's statement may well generate some news stories, and perhaps sighs of relief from AMD fans. Picking apart that response, one could reasonably assume that future Steam Machines may also include Iris/Iris Pro graphics from Intel's Haswell lineup of CPUs. It's the necessity of the response, though, that's puzzling.Doug Lombardi's email was preceded by a peculiar one from AMD's internal PR,buy All Terrain Crane QAY-130 from China seemingly to multiple members of the press, which stated:"You've asked questions around Valve's recent announcement of SteamOS and Steam Machines – and were wondering if AMD was 'left out' from their prototype program.
Nvidia has several engineers actually embedded at Valve, assisting the company full-time in porting games over to SteamOS and improving driver support. Given that fact, the choice to include Nvidia hardware in Valve's prototype systems is anything but shocking.At any rate a quick email to Doug Lombardi, who handles PR for Valve, yielded this response:"Last week, we posted some technical specs of our first wave of Steam Machine prototypes. Although the graphics hardware that we've selected for the first wave of prototypes is a variety of Nvidia cards, that is not an indication that Steam Machines are Nvidia-only. In 2014, there will be Steam Machines commercially available with graphics hardware made by AMD, Nvidia, and Intel. Valve has worked closely together with all three of these companies on optimizing their hardware for SteamOS, and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future."
Valve's statement may well generate some news stories, and perhaps sighs of relief from AMD fans. Picking apart that response, one could reasonably assume that future Steam Machines may also include Iris/Iris Pro graphics from Intel's Haswell lineup of CPUs. It's the necessity of the response, though, that's puzzling.Doug Lombardi's email was preceded by a peculiar one from AMD's internal PR,buy All Terrain Crane QAY-130 from China seemingly to multiple members of the press, which stated:"You've asked questions around Valve's recent announcement of SteamOS and Steam Machines – and were wondering if AMD was 'left out' from their prototype program.
2013年10月10日星期四
Inside the Republican Suicide Machine
The establishment believes the insurgents' tactics are suicidal; the insurgents believe the establishment lacks the courage of its alleged convictions – while its own members are so convinced of their righteousness that they compare themselves to civil rights heroes like Rosa Parks. The establishment is backed by powerful business concerns with a vested interest in a functioning government. The insurgents are championed by wealthy ideologues who simply seek to tear down government. Both sides are steeled by millions in unregulated, untraceable "dark money."
Having backed the GOP into a shutdown fight that congressional leaders never wanted, the insurgents are winning, and establishment leaders are running scared. America is now careening toward a catastrophic voluntary default on our debt because no one in the Republican Party with the authority to put on the brakes has the guts to apply them, for fear of being toppled from power."I've never seen anything like it, and neither has anybody else around here," says the House's eldest statesman, 87-year-old John Dingell, who has represented Michigan since 1955. "It's a grave misfortune for the country."When Republicans took control of the House in 2011 – fueled by the passion of the Tea Party and the virtually unlimited funding of donors like the Koch brothers – casual observers of American politics saw a House GOP united in the politics of the extreme right.
But inside the Capitol, the story was more complicated. The leadership that the Tea Party had vaulted to power – Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor – were members of the GOP's tainted old guard. Although divided by a generation and by an often fierce political rivalry, both Boehner and Cantor abetted the budget-busting "compassionate conservatism" of Karl Rove. Cantor rubber-stamped the "Bridge to Nowhere"; Boehner was a frequent flier on corporate jets. They teamed up to steer the passage of TARP in the face of fierce opposition from grassroots conservatives – a moment that Tea Party leaders cite as the birth of their insurgency.
Having backed the GOP into a shutdown fight that congressional leaders never wanted, the insurgents are winning, and establishment leaders are running scared. America is now careening toward a catastrophic voluntary default on our debt because no one in the Republican Party with the authority to put on the brakes has the guts to apply them, for fear of being toppled from power."I've never seen anything like it, and neither has anybody else around here," says the House's eldest statesman, 87-year-old John Dingell, who has represented Michigan since 1955. "It's a grave misfortune for the country."When Republicans took control of the House in 2011 – fueled by the passion of the Tea Party and the virtually unlimited funding of donors like the Koch brothers – casual observers of American politics saw a House GOP united in the politics of the extreme right.
But inside the Capitol, the story was more complicated. The leadership that the Tea Party had vaulted to power – Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor – were members of the GOP's tainted old guard. Although divided by a generation and by an often fierce political rivalry, both Boehner and Cantor abetted the budget-busting "compassionate conservatism" of Karl Rove. Cantor rubber-stamped the "Bridge to Nowhere"; Boehner was a frequent flier on corporate jets. They teamed up to steer the passage of TARP in the face of fierce opposition from grassroots conservatives – a moment that Tea Party leaders cite as the birth of their insurgency.
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