Nokia was once the biggest employer in Oulu in northern Finland. When the company closed its mobile phone business in the 2012-13 timeframe, almost 7,000 Nokia staff suddenly had no jobs and no future.
This is where the deep radio heritage from the local universities and expertise in designing and manufacturing mobile phones with Nokia for many years came in very useful.
Low power and high-performance radio will continue to be key factors in electronics systems, particularly with "smart things" that rely on connected devices and the internet of things (IoT). For example, with 5G the effective use of energy and accuracy of beam forming will be critical in improving technologies and systems.
Nokia's DNA is very much part of the new thriving city, made up of hundreds of businesses founded by former Nokia employees, or whose technology is driven by the knowledge and expertise that was developed during the company's mobile phone heyday. ARM, Altair Semiconductor, Mediatek, and Nordic Semiconductor set up sizable development teams to scoop up the staff that became available in Oulu.
Many of the former Nokia buildings in Oulu have formed the foundation of incubators and technology parks. The Technopolis building, once occupied by Nokia, now houses companies such as Mediatek and others.
He and his colleagues remind visitors of Oulu's place in the world, suggesting that 60% of wireless traffic globally is transmitted using technology originally developed in Oulu. Work on the first Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) network was conducted in the city in 1981; the world's first base station was developed in 1992 in Oulu. Local researchers are building on that legacy with 6G research.
Ala-Mursula led Nokia's 3G R&D infrastructure team globally before leaving in 2010. He said the demise of Nokia was due to management issues and not market issues, especially in relation to mobile phones. But when the axe started to fall, he said that the government agencies, the universities, and Nokia started several programs to get people back on their feet – and even coordinated some of the various programs in a collaborative effort.
Nokia's bridge fund provided not only a package based on an individual's salary and length of service, but an additional €25,000 (US $28,000) if they started their own company.
The city, meanwhile, started 12 different programs, including a printed electronics center looking at printed intelligence and sensors, and a "Radio City 2020" program (which is now no longer active) looking at what new applications could be developed using radio and new RF platforms.
The whole region became a radio industry incubator, fueled by a development fund that started with €15 million (US $16.9 million) from Nokia. Private and other funding swelled the total to around €80 million (US $90 million). With all this money available to draw on, ex-Nokia staff created some 114 companies by 2015, according to Ala-Mursula.
The result is an intricate network of design services, manufacturing, and testing companies, connected to each other through employees who had once worked closely together within Nokia. For this reason, companies in the Oulu radio hub are able to rely upon and trust each other when working on new projects.
For example, Risto Timisjärvi, director of sales & marketing at Testilabs, which tests and certifies anything to do with radio, told us that those connections were the foundation for his company's global network of labs. The company bought the equipment and lab space from Nokia. Testilabs was able to reach out to former colleagues and to partners they had previously worked alongside within Nokia – and have a reach as far and wide as Mumbai and São Paulo.
Timisjärvi referred to the company as the Uber of radio test services, with a network of 10 companies in the Oulu area alone providing radio performance, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and environmental testing. He said they service two of the world's five leading smartphone vendors, two of the five leading cellular module vendors, and three of the five biggest sports watch vendors.
He added that while a lot of volume testing is done in China by some of these vendors, the reason they come to Oulu is because of the specialist test and certification services for features such as cameras and GPS that emerged from Nokia and Microsoft (which bought Nokia's phone operations in 2013). He said all the major chip vendors located in Oulu are developing their long-term evolution (LTE) and IoT solutions in the city. He said there is now a strong IoT cluster in Oulu working on both chipset development as well as manufacturing. ARM, for example, has expanded its IoT team with around 100 people in Oulu, through its acquisition of Sensinode.
Ala-Mursula also emphasized the value of having an entire ecosystem, from semiconductors and RF to the cloud, in Oulu's success in overcoming the Nokia effect. "All the knowledge is within bicycle distance," he commented. Many people use bicycles to get around, despite the fact that, being in Northern Scandinavia, there are huge amounts of snow cover.
Given what he had seen in his Nokia days and now with all of the successes that have emerged from Nokia (and Microsoft), we asked what he anticipates coming out of Oulu in the next few years. According to Ala-Mursula, "We'll see a big breakthrough on the battery side, and a replacement in the current user interface in mobile phones." He added there will be developments in 5G and 6G, with improvements in massive MIMOs and reliability.
One of the venture capital investors in the region, Ville Heikkinen, a partner with Butterfly Ventures, told us, "In our experience, many of the best scalable startups have Nokia ecosystem heritage. In other words, they worked in the ecosystem as researchers, subcontractors, or within Nokia." However, he suggested that the startups were more successful with ex-Nokia members on their team, rather than as founders.
As one of the many executives we talked to in Oulu told us: it's a forest fire analogy. You need to burn a bit of the forest to enable it to grow further. That's exactly what Nokia inadvertently did.
Developer of the Oura ring, a wearable device analyzing sleep levels and other physiological parameters, helps to make informed lifestyle choices. The ring incorporates a dual-core ARM Cortex-based microcontroller, with proprietary pulse waveform and pulse amplitude variation detection infrared PPG sensor, body temperature sensor, and 3D accelerometer and gyroscope. The company told us power management design is vital for its infrared PPG sensor (PPG stands for photoplethysmography, a simple optical technique used to detect volumetric changes in blood in peripheral circulation, a technique providing valuable information related to the cardiovascular system).
In December 2018, the company announced it raised $20 million with most recent funding led by Michael Dell, plus investments from the founders of YouTube, Skype, Box and others, plus celebrities and athletes, including Will Smith and Lance Armstrong.
Many of the team worked with Nokia but the founders mainly had a background in Polar Electro, developer of wearable heart rate and fitness monitors primarily for sports. Oura's electronics is developed by another ex-Nokia startup team, Haltian.
Sarokal Test Systems' products are used by chipset vendors, fronthaul equipment manufacturers, and telecom operators to develop, test, and verify their 4G and 5G network devices from the early design stages through implementation and field-testing. Its tester product family addresses the entire development and maintenance flow for cellular and wired transmission system testing. The technology is especially designed to detect RF problems.
The company was acquired by Siemens in February 2018, and the founder was involved in ASIC/FPGA design and verification, including base stations, at Nokia.
A spin-off from the Center for Wireless Communications at the University of Oulu — which is also leading the country's 6G research — KNL Networks' founders had deep collaboration with Nokia. It's using shortwave radio to deliver its own independent mesh network providing reliable worldwide military-grade IoT for the maritime industry. KNL Networks uses proprietary technology high frequency (HF) radio to form a global mesh network. Ships at sea can make a cellular connection with another ship at port with a KNL device, with a range of roughly 10,000 kilometers. This is critical in maritime cybersecurity, especially with increasing risks, as highlighted by the infamous Maersk shipping hack.
The company started when three people met in a sauna — very common in Finland — and had an idea that they could utilize modern communications in the HF band. Two of them were radio amateurs, the other in military communications research.
The co-founders of this hardware design engineering firm were working within an emerging product group within Nokia (what they said was a startup within), until they got notification in 2012 that it was closing down. The team was working so well they decided to start themselves, and with core expertise in hardware design, power management and performance optimization, focused on wearables and IoT. They set up in September 2012 with help from Nokia and won their first contract in October for a design of the QuietOn noise cancelling earplugs and grew to 45 people within a year. It also designed the electronics and set up manufacturing for the Oura ring (a wearable device), as well as design for Specim's spectral imaging cameras.
Haltian raised US $5 million in December 2018 from Finnish venture capital firm Inventure, and just recently became an Amazon AWS advanced technology partner.
TactoTek is a spinout from Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre that collaborates closely with Nokia. Founded in 2011, the company integrates electronics and printed circuits – printed sensors, antennas, and LEDs – into surface materials such as cosmetic plastics and natural materials, including natural wood. Eighty percent of its injection molded structural electronics (IMSE) solutions are used in automotive applications.
It recently announced a tie-up with Nagase to market and sell its IMSE products in Japan. Nagase is a materials and parts supplier for automotive OEMs and their suppliers who are targets for IMSE parts. Nagase said its customers are asking for smart molded structures integrating electronics within 3D injection molded plastics, to achieve styling and weight reduction in thin parts with shapes that conform with design aesthetics.
This maker of noise-cancelling earplugs literally came out of Nokia – the founder was on a business flight traveling back from China and found the Bose headphones too big. After the 2013-14 Nokia closure, he and another Nokia engineer joined forces and in 2015, made the first prototypes, and got them tested and validated. Both had extensive experience and patents within Nokia and Microsoft, one founder was an audio, analog electronics and signal processing guru at Nokia who analyzed and fine tuned mobile phone and mobile accessory devices. Their big break came through a connection at the airline Finnair, who deemed the product perfect, resulting in serious production. After this, Lufthansa and several other airlines followed as customers.
While not a direct output from Nokia's fall, the main founder Toni Soini had a long history with Nokia mobile modems, and in the early days led three hardware projects developing a CDMA cellular phone engine platform and automated test environment for cellular phones, as well as part of a team that developed a triple mode (GSM, WCDMA, and CDMA) cellular phone baseband platform. He came back to Oulu after leaving Broadcom and brought in two researchers from the local university and the VTT Technical Research Centre to set up Mimina Processor in 2016.
Minima provides near-threshold voltage design solutions that deploy dynamic margining and ultra-wide dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) to minimize energy consumption in system-on-chip (SoC) designs while maintaining yield. Its dynamic-margining approach is an IP-based methodology for near-threshold voltage design that combines hardware and software to enable circuits to function at low power. It recently signed a strategic IP agreement with ARM whereby Minima Processor will have access to ARM Artisan physical IP for 22nm ultra-low leakage (ULL) process technology. This will allow Minima to optimize ARM-based SoC designs in mobile and consumer IoT applications requiring low-power, always-on, wake-up capabilities.


Me, Mikeself & I: Episode Uno: Who am I?
Episode Uno: Who am I?
This is the first episode of the Me, Mikeself & I Podcast, a simple introduction of who I am and my personality. I have been performing stand-up comedy for the past 11 years. What I've learned from stand-up is to always speak the truth. That's what this podcast is all about.
Topics this week include: Baseball, Crossfit, Bernie Sanders, Man Caves and much more.


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a kate west recommendation
"Once" is a quiet little independent film that defied expectations and became a hit at the Sundance Film Festival. Starring two movie unknowns, Glen Hansard (lead singer of "The Frames") and Markéta Irglová, it quickly became one of the year's best films and perhaps one of the best music films in decades.
Hansard, while a gifted musician (already on board with the project), is no actor and Director John Carney had to beg him to be in the movie after Cillian Murphy ("Breakfast on Pluto", "Batman Begins") dropped out. With no budget and no leads, things looked dire until somehow everything started magically pulling together. Irglová claims to be no actor either and while both Hansard and Irglová were initially nervous about carrying a film, between their collective vast musical ability and director support, they did an amazingly beautiful and very real job of bringing the characters to life (which just goes to show you how "real" real people can be).
The story concerns two seemingly dissimilar people who slowly come to realize their profound similarities. A Czech immigrant (Irglová) encounters Hansard as a street musician in Dublin and they strike up a friendship. Both are reeling from relationship troubles and find that they also have in common a great love and ear for music. By helping each other explore that, they also change themselves irrevocably.
What stems from that, must be seen and definitely heard to be believed. The music is fantastic and the emotions rich. It is a must-see for anyone loving romance, music, hope and joy. Don't you dare miss it. Update: CONGRATULATIONS on winning the BEST SONG OSCAR! Y'all deserve it.
Martina Niland
Markéta Irglová
Tim Fleming
Editing by
Paul Mullen
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová: "Falling Slowly" (Hansard/Irglová)
Irglová and Hansard: "If You Want Me" (Irglová)
Hansard: "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy"
Hansard and Irglová: "When Your Mind's Made Up"
Hansard and Irglová: "Lies" – (Hansard/Irglová)
Interference: "Gold" (Fergus O'Farrell)
Irglová: "The Hill" (Irglová)
Hansard: "Fallen from the Sky"
Hansard: "Leave"
Hansard: "Trying to Pull Myself Away"
Hansard: "All the Way Down"
Hansard and Irglová: "Once"
Hansard: "Say It to Me Now"
Labels: Academy Awards, Favorite, Film, Independent, Irish, Movie, Music, Oscars, Rave, Recommendation, Sundance Film Festival
Sock Puppet Showgirls

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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STS () — американская конструкционная гомогенная сталь. Название переводится как «сталь специальной обработки». По американской классификации при толщине свыше четырех дюймов (102 мм) обозначалась как «броня класса B» и применялась для бронирования орудийных башен кораблей.

Использовалась как конструкционная сталь при постройке кораблей и для лёгкого бронирования (небольшой толщины) — как материал броневых палуб, противосколочных переборок, защиты надстроек. Была основным материалом для изготовления бронированных палуб, поэтому также встречается обозначение Protective Deck Plate.

Разработка стали начата приблизительно в 1909 году фирмой Carnegie Steel и завершена в 1910 году. Создана в качестве гомогенной (однородной по толщине, то есть без поверхностной закалки) брони кораблей. Поначалу в состав легирующих добавок входили хром, никель и ванадий, однако позднее от использования ванадия отказались. По химическому составу практически не отличалась от брони класса А: около 0,3 % углерода, 3,85 % никеля и 1,85 % хрома. В отличие от некоторых подобных сталей, таких как Krupp Ww, STS не содержала молибден.

В сравнении с другими видами гомогенной брони была очень пластичной, поэтому несмотря на дороговизну была выбрана Бюро строительства и ремонта США в качестве конструкционной стали. По своим характеристикам оказалась настолько удачной, что использовалась без изменений и во время Второй мировой войны.

Сравнительные характеристики некоторых видов лёгкой гомогенной брони периода Второй мировой войны:

См. также
 Корабельная броня

Примечания

Использованная литература и источники

Литература

Морская броня

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


THE BEST TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE ON THE MARKET!
The energy required to rewind the hose is the decisive element in the economy of the self-propelled irrigation machines: The Turbine-Gearbox Assembly with in-built water By-Pass and multi-speed gearbox drastically reduces pressure losses during the irrigation cycle, thus ensuring money saving determined by less energy consumption. The design of the turbine impeller is the result of a cutting-edge aerodynamic calculation which allows reaching an extraordinary channeled flow of the liquid without any turbulence, thus ensuring the operation with a minimum pressure of 22 psi at the machine inlet. The quality of the Turbine-Gearbox Assembly is obtained by using a stainless-steel turbine shaft, with all bearings (including the ones in the gearbox) in oil bath. The system includes a built-in automatic brake that engages during hose unwinding and disengages during rewinding.
Supported by large diameter rolling bearings to reduce friction.
Protected by an interchangeable stainless-steel bushing on which lip seal rotates, thus ensuring outstanding life in the presence of aggressive fluids such as sludge.
Aided maintenance: when lip seals are worn out, they can be replaced in a few minutes. This technology – an exclusive of all models – is applied to the whole range, including the smallest models.
during the most difficult rewinds. Drum is fully galvanized for long life.(Except Micro and 540gx).
Another remarkable characteristic of our hose-reel irrigation machines: starting from the 581 Gx Evo model the drive between turbine-gearbox and reel is manufactured with high-tensile strength chain with extruded rollers. Moreover, by using the adjustable chain lug (another exclusive) located in the outer reel diameter, a very high transmission gear ratio is created between the wheel and gearbox to drastically reduce the energy absorption for rewind as well as the turning moment in the gearbox output shaft, thus insuring long life. On the Major series the drive chains are located on both reel sides to cancel the torque effect of reel.
The GX Series (Except 540GX Series) trolleys are available with two pneumatic tires plus a steering tire. This wheel allows the trolley to follow the irrigation hose in the direction it was unwound (fig. A), when being pulled it is steered by the PE hose itself, thus eliminating the typical inaccuracy of the fixed middle wheel or skids that do not follow a path so straight(fig. B). They increase the steerage and mass in the point where they are most required. Both wheels are fitted with hubs with tapering bearings and lubricator. The whole trolley structure is hot-dipped galvanized, thus ensuring an outstanding lifespan against corrosion.
Starting from the 540 Gx series the sprinkler trolley stops on the ground at the end of rewind, and the following hooking and shut-off are carried out in fully automatic mode, that is, with minimal interventions by the operator. All rain gun trolleys are fitted with the pivoting hose connection to avoid any changes in the spray pattern when trolley comes close to the irrigation machine, thus maintaining the correct gun position until the end of the irrigation cycle.
All the JX and JXM Series of hose reel irrigation travelers are fitted with the automatic "VertiLift™" lift of trolley during sprinkling end cycle. The exclusive progressive lifting system holds the sprinkler in a vertical position, thus making the spray pattern action effective until trolley has been lifted from the ground and correcting any drop between machine and sprinkler trolley.
Standard on the 790GX, 890GX, 800JX and Major series hose reel travelers – the double axle with equal diameter wheels feature the asymmetrical rocker arm. This solution allows for a remarkable reduction in towing on rough soils, which – accompanied by a reduced side overall dimensions – also ensures a better distribution of weight during transport, thus making the machine have a greater stability.
A special tested water circulation cooling system permits greater safety and permits extended life of the gearbox mechanical parts even when operating for long periods or in extreme environmental conditions.


Geometric figures rule the design of this comfortable pair of shoes for Women called TR TRISTEP. An amalgamation of comfort and style, Tracer's dark gray TR TRISTEP has features that qualify it for both trendy & stylish shoes as well as comfortable shoes for women. Bottom sole of TR TRISTEP is m..


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FONATUR Director says the Maya Train project will not harm the ecosystem
By Yucatan Times on November 28, 2019
MERIDA, Yuc.- The director of Fonatur, Rogelio Jiménez Pons, argued in the city that the Maya Train project will not harm the Yucatecan jungle or its ecosystem, as some agencies claim.
At a press conference, he announced the start of the consultation process that will be held in the 84 municipalities of indigenous population where the train would pass. Jimenez Pons recognized that the environmental issue is one of the most important points in this project.
The director of FONATUR emphasized that many points, criticisms and disqualifications have been made to the project, without having the proper support.
"Most jungles are lost as a result of the occupation and devastation of marginalized people who come to settle in those places, so the idea is to combat marginalization and integrate those people into the project," he said.
"We consider that, if we do not invest and incorporate the communities that inhabit the jungle, eventually we will lose this valuable natural resource" declared the federal official during the conference held at the International Congress Center in Merida.
He reminded that part of the objectives of the Sowing Life program was precisely to recover some of the areas that had been affected by deforestation.
Thus, the plan is to preserve and protect the Natural reserves of Calakmul, Campeche and "Siaan Kaan" in Quintana Roo and not only protect them, but also strengthen them with the support of the surrounding communities, he said.
He also stressed that, when it comes to air pollution, the train is 100 times cleaner than a regular road and it is the roads that have destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of jungles in this region of the country.
He also recalled that more than 400 kilometers of railway tracks are already laid on the Yucatan Peninsula region.
The director of Fonatur, also clarified that the train would operate with biodiesel which is a much less polluting fuel than regular hydrocarbons.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom


The Gore-Tex Transalpine Run (despite being one of the most challenging international stage races on the circuit), has indeed become a part of my yearly routine. Some people, my mom for example, view the race as a painful & daunting path and she wonders why on earth I "put myself through it". My 90yo grandmother, on the other hand, is convinced I "won't have a knee cap left by the time I am 45" and I have had others ask me why I don't move on and try other races. These are all valid points and believe me, I have had these conversations with myself (and with my husband) over the years. Yet, I still come back to the same things: a deep love and appreciate for what this race has taught me, all of the memories I have built along the way, how it truly inspires me to be a stronger athlete, wiser coach and let's not leave out the obvious reason... the beauty of the alps alone.
My history with this race over the last 7yrs has included a mix of celebration and sorrow. Two years in a row I finished solo after my partners had to drop out early in the race due to unforeseen injuries. In 2015 I got a stomach infection that took me out of the race for 1.5 stages, which resulted in my first unofficial finish. I finished with a muscle tear in my hip in 2014 & finished after loosing my step mother while running stage 4 in Switzerland, in 2013. In 2016 my partner and I went on to win two individual stages and finish 3rd overall in the women's category. Most recently, in 2017, I experienced my most disappointing outcome of all the years. I got another stomach infection. I tried to run through it, however after the first two stages, it knocked me down for the remainder of the race and I ended up on meds from the doc and rest.
There is no doubt, I have left a lot of grit throughout the Alps over the years, yet I can't help but feel all of these experiences are also part of the reasons why I return. TAR is a path I have chosen with gratitude and hard work ethic and despite it not always going as planned, the beauty, the camaraderie, culture and challenge far out weigh any of the hardships.
I have been very fortunate to have a whole slew of supporters over the years and I am extremely excited to be welcomed back to the Salomon Team for my 5th year and to be a returning ambassador on the Hammer Nutrition Canada team for my second consecutive year. Kelowna Cycle continues to be a loyal and long-term supporter, as well. All of these brands have been an integral part of my training, racing and adventures over the years. I also feel very supported, celebrated and encouraged on my annual alps quest, by all my friends and family who are also are a treasured part of my journey year to year.


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Home / News / Back-to-back storms cripple business as usual in Nome
Back-to-back storms cripple business as usual in Nome
Diana Haecker
Back-to-back blizzards with tons of snow and high winds have hammered Nome since late January and the accumulation of a total of 76 inches of snow is now beginning to take a toll on residents. Unless one lives within walking distance to one's place of employment, for nearly two weeks commuting to work or school has been difficult, even for hardy Nomeites.
Interim City Manager John Handeland reports that the city's public works crew has been working nonstop to clear city roads. "With multiple back-to-back blizzards, we are inundated," he wrote in an email. "Despite extended days and weekends worked, the piles are accumulating. The City has brought in reinforcements from the contracting community to help rid it."
Between Wednesday and Monday, the snow removal crew has moved 441 truckloads of snow, or 8,500 cubic yards of snow. In an all hands on deck effort, the crew of nine public works employees is working between 10 and 13 hours a day, every day. Finance Director Julie Liew stated in an email that the City hired contractors to help with the snow removal. "However, some of them are busy with helping the state road crew with snow removal," she wrote. At times visibility was down to zero in complete whiteout conditions and the city work crews marked snow berms with orange spray to alert drivers and guide traffic.
The state Department of Transportation road crew also hasn't had a break in weeks. Since last week, the crew of four to five worked 10-hour days. According to DOT spokeswoman Caitlyn Frye, they worked 40 to 50 hours over the weekend, with three extra local rental trucks hauling snow. "Highways has a crew of five operators and a foreman, but we have only had four people on shift to cover seven days for the past three weeks," said Frye in an email to the Nugget. "Last year was a big snow year also, but this past four to six weeks has been a unique array of snow events creating another set of challenges for both the DOT&PF and the City of Nome road maintenance crews."
The DOT's priorities are to keep open the Nome-Beltz highway from town to Nome-Beltz, Bering Street, Seppala Avenue and Front Street. They are using a combination of graders, a snowblower and a dozer. Once those roads are clear, the road crew tackles the Nome-Teller Highway to the Snake River bridge, the Nome-Council Road and the Beam Road to Dexter and Banner Creek. Most residents of the outlying areas have resorted to commute to town by snowmachine.
Although the schools were open Wednesday, an early release day, weather conditions deteriorated significantly and busses couldn't run on the early release schedule. Interim Superintendent of Nome Public Schools Jamie Burgess told the Nugget that elementary students were held an hour past their regular (not early release) time, the high school students were held a half-hour past their regular (not early release) time, and the junior high students were released at their regular (not early release) time. "The bus drivers did a wonderful job of getting all the children home in approximately the same time frame as they would on any day," Burgess said. "All of our children were either kept safe and warm at their school, or released into the custody of their parents when picked up." Given the reliable service by road crews, school busses have been able to run most days, but students residing outside of school bus routes were unable to make it to school more often than not. When weather gets too extreme, the schools call snow days, which has been done three times so far this year and all in the last three weeks.
The storms also prevented scheduled service of freighters reaching Nome with groceries. While Hanson's managed to stay open throughout the storminess, restocking was an issue. At times, the shelves that usually bear bananas, fresh produce, meat and milk were empty. However, a freighter made it in Sunday and supplies came in Tuesday.
John Handeland, the city manager and lifelong Nome resident, recalled winters growing up in Nome. "The over abundance of snow this year reminds me of my childhood, when the high schoolers would walk us grade school children home through the drifts." He added that while it is "a little disconcerting to shovel only to have to repeat, I think we're fortunate to have snow and not hurricanes."
Rick Thoman, Alaska Climate Specialist with the UAF Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, said in a phone interview with The Nome Nugget that the region has been in a stormy pattern since Jan. 25. Just a few years ago, cold, crisp and sunny winter days gave way to blizzards only to turn cold, crisp and sunny again. These past two years show a different pattern. Lows seem to be stuck in a rut in the central Bering Sea. November 2018 saw the lowest sea ice on record, Thoman said. Ocean temperatures in the Bering Sea are up to 3°F warmer than normal. While December and January was cold and saw some sea ice formation, the ice was thin. When the stormy pattern in January began, the sea ice was easily either destroyed, melted or was pushed northward. Commenting on a satellite photo taken Feb. 24, that shockingly shows open water from Hooper Bay all the way to St. Lawrence Island and open water patches north of the Seward Peninsula, at Chukotka and even north of Shishmaref, Thoman said "that should be bright white all the way to the Bering Strait." The National Weather Service posted a special weather statement from Pitka's Point all the way north to the Chukchi Sea Coast, Kobuk and Noatak valleys that warned of elevated water levels from Wednesday through Friday. Winter storm warnings seem to be a constant as they are extended to last from Monday, then Tuesday and now until 6 a.m. Thursday. "Heavy snow will continue into this evening before diminishing late tonight. Expect heavy snow to develop again Wednesday afternoon and continue into Thursday morning. Plan on difficult travel conditions. Additional snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches, with localized amounts up to 12 inches, are expected through Thursday morning," the warning reads.
Winds created by the pressure difference between the low and a high pressure weather system blow from the south and instead of blowing across a white ice surface, they now hammer the thin ice into pieces, leaving open ocean water and thus picking up moisture that comes down in form of extreme snowfall in Nome and the region. The ice is thinner, the ocean temperatures are warmer and the winds higher. All signs predicted by climate experts that warned in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports of the impacts of a warming climate on weather and therefore on the environment, animals, fish, birds and people. Thoman added that February shaped up to be the windiest month of any month since 2001. Peak winds were measured Feb. 20 with 48 mph. "The winds were above 30 mph every day except for one," said Thoman. There were only two days this month below the normal wind speed, which is 10 mph, as the average wind speed was 17 mph. While this weather pattern seems to continue for a while, Thoman also offered a glimpse of hope. He said that longterm computer models and expert interpretation of them suggest a pattern change in the second week of March.


It is always healing and uplifting to take time to think about the nature of love—how we have given and received love in this life. We can take this moment to allow ourselves to think of the people with whom we have shared love in our lives. There is only one love but it can take many forms. There is love of family: love of our parents and love of our children and close relatives. There is romantic love. There is love of pets, and there is love of friends and mentors. There is the love of God, love of the earth and even love for ourselves. Let's take this tiny moment out of our day to remember and reflect on the love that has come into our hearts through our time on this earth. And let's indeed be thankful and grateful for the incredible gift of love itself.


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Disneyland Park
Disneyland Will Not Reopen on July 17th Reopening Delayed
Disneyland will not reopen as originally proposed. The announcement comes after a previous announced park reopening planned for July 17th. Here's whats been stated by Disney: We do our best to track the latest, stay tuned for updates. You May Also Like…
DISNEY OPERATIONS UPDATE | WALT DISNEY WORLD, and Disneyland Closure continues
Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort will remain closed through April 18, 2020 as a result of the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
Disney Operations Update | Hotels at Walt Disney World Resort, Downtown Disney, Disney Springs, Disney's Vero Beach Resort COVID-19 Closure
In a Disney Operations Update, it has been announced that all Disney owned and operated Disney Stores, Walt Disney World Resort Hotels, Downtown Disney, Disney Springs, Disney's Vero Beach Resort will begin closures. In the wake of COVID-19.
Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure COVID-19 Closure
There are no reported COVID-19 cases at the Disneyland Resort. Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure COVID-19 closure March 14, 2020, in the best interest of guests and employees.


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You will not find a harder-working more trust-worthy real estate agent than Dawn. Her customer service and integrity will ease you through the entire process.


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Previous / F1 teams in contact with Magnussen over 2016 seat Next / Belgian GP: The weekend in pictures
Formula 1 Breaking news
Popularity nothing to do with Raikkonen's new deal - Ferrari
Aug 30, 2015, 8:09 AM
Ferrari insists that Kimi Raikkonen was given a new Formula 1 deal because he was the fastest man available, not because he was the most popular or the cheapest option.
Raikkonen's future with Ferrari had been the subject of intense speculation for months on the back of a difficult start to the campaign.
But despite Ferrari sounding out Williams about how much it would cost to buy out Valtteri Bottas's contract, the Italian team in the end elected to take up an option it had on Raikkonen.
Speaking about the reasons for the decision, Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was insistent that money - not the fact Raikkonen is F1's most popular driver – were factors.
GPDA Survey
Making reference to the GPDA Global Fan Survey, which was conducted in association with Motorsport.com, Arrivabene is well aware about Raikkonen's impact with the fans.
"The GPDA did some very serious and careful research about who the most popular driver was – and Kimi came out first," said Arrivabene.
"So whoever says that Raikkonen does not like the fans clearly does not understand anything about marketing.
"But it is also obvious that we have not confirmed him for this reason – or even that he has blue eyes and blonde hair.
"He was renewed because when you are putting together a young team, you need to find a balance. I consider Kimi a champion, who works very well with Sebastian [Vettel] and gives a big contribution to the growth of the team."
No cheap option
Arrivabene also dismissed suggestions that Raikkonen was kept on board because he was the cheapest options.
"You have low cost flights, but low cost drivers at a high level I have not seen many," he said.
"This applies to players, drivers, and generally for top athletes in many different disciplines."
F1 teams in contact with Magnussen over 2016 seat
Belgian GP: The weekend in pictures
"Consistently odd" Raikkonen doesn't know why F1 fans liked him
Raikkonen glad to leave "fake things" in Formula 1 behind
Ferrari forced to change Fiorano test plan amid F1 rule confusion
Norris: Sainz one of the best drivers in F1
What Ferrari still needs to improve to return to F1 title contention


Kimberley Murray holds her eight-month-old son, Aaron Johnson, an asthma patient, inside the paediatric ward at St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital.
Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply perform at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in Montego Bay, St James, in 2006.
Lee Issa (left) and Leo Garel, CEO of St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital.
The $20 million that the Couples Resorts' charity arm, Issa Trust Foundation (ITF), raised at the Air Supply Benefit Concert last June at Couples Sans Souci Resort and Spa is part of the $34 million that the Trust spent refurbishing the paediatric ward at the St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital over the past six months.
The newly refurbished ward was officially opened by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton last Thursday in a ceremony that the minister underscored as the true Jamaican spirit of kindness.
The work done on the ward was extensive, and involved the provision of new beds, cots, vital sign monitors, piped medical gases to each bed/cot, furniture for staff, patients and visitors, replacement of all windows, new curtain tracks and curtains, a central air conditioning system, split air conditioning units, fans, television sets, ventilators and other critical infrastructural improvements.
The newly installed chairs that open as cots now allow mothers to spend time with their babies who have been admitted to the ward.
The paediatric ward at the hospital has a bed capacity of 50, 20 of which are for the Special Care Nursery.
The North East Regional Health Authority and the St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital have been benefitting from ITF donations since 2010.
Bathing in a sea of praise for ITF, from North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) personnel and later from Tufton and others, ITF chairman Paul Issa refused to take all the credit, reading out a list of persons whose roles were critical in the project.
"We did not do it alone, I have a lot of people to thank," he pointed out. The list included Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply, WISYNCO, Jamaica National, RJR/GLEANER Group, FLOW, CPJ, Rainforest, Select Brands, Fraser Fontaine and Kong, Dolphin Cove, Caribbean Airlines, patrons Sir Patrick and Lady Allen, NERHA and Couples Resorts, with special thanks to ITF President and CEO, Diane Pollard.
Already, mothers are making use of and showing appreciation of the new and upgraded facilities at the hospital.
Kimberley Murray, whose eight-month-old son, Aaron Johnson, is admitted at the hospital, said the new facilities are truly appreciated.
She was especially grateful for the bedside chair which opens as a cot, as it means she will now be able to stay close to her baby at all times.


Frank N. Darras, top insurance lawyer to elite and professional athletes, explains why Olympic athletes need to review their individual insurance policies and ensure they are protected from the financial devastation of career-ending injuries.
People from all walks of life purchase permanent total disability insurance; why wouldn't the best athletes in the world do the same?
As the Olympic Games kick off in Rio, much of the customary fanfare has been overshadowed with concerns over the health and safety threats facing athletes, media, and fans alike.
Frank N. Darras, insurance lawyer to elite and pro athletes, says it's more important than ever for Olympic athletes to protect their livelihoods and financial futures with proper insurance coverage.
"The 2016 Olympic Games present an unprecedented amount of health and safety concerns," Darras says. "The threat of Zika alone was enough to prompt many athletes to skip Rio. The athletes who are knowingly facing these perils – in addition to the inherent risk of injury all competing athletes face – need proper protection in the form of specialized insurance policies."
Although the Olympic injury rate is lower than some professional sports, some Olympians do get hurt during their days at the games, either while training on site or in competition. Nearly 11 percent of athletes suffered an injury in the 2012 London Olympics and 7 percent suffered an illness, according to a thorough study of injury reports by Lars Engebretsen of the University of Oslo in Norway.
Athletes who have endorsement deals should also consider loss of endorsement coverage. Serious injuries and illnesses can impair an athlete's ability to meet performance expectations, which can reduce his or her exposure and postgame endorsement value.
Loss of endorsement coverage is available as a rider to elite athletes' permanent total disability insurance policies. Olympic athletes should contact their trusted insurance agent or broker for more information on career-ending disability insurance coverage.
Free consultations. We'll help review insurance carrier proposals and policies prior to purchase and educate athletes on application tips and potential policy pitfalls.
Free claim help. Should a loss in endorsement or a permanent total/career-ending disability claim be necessary, we can assist in completing bulletproofed claim forms so the carrier is obligated to pay the claim timely and in good faith.
DarrasLaw has seen, evaluated, litigated and resolved more individual long term disability claims than any firm in the nation. The result is nearly $800 million recovered in wrongfully denied insurance benefits for disabled clients from all across America.
Frank N. Darras is available for interviews and appearances regarding all insurance matters, not limited to his specialty of disability insurance law. Contact Lauren Creiman for scheduling.


Technology and gadgets have been ruling our lives for past decade or so. From getting food to your table to new clothes to your closet, you just need to click on your little machine and there you go! Technology can get it all for you. As far as children are concerned, technology has replaced playgrounds, books, toys and even friends and family. Kids these days prefer staying indoors and spend a lot of their time engaging with gadgets rather than toys or books. Gadgets are the only company they seek. Is the human race on the right track as far as involvement is gadgets is concerned? We fear not. Even if considered as a boon to mankind, gadgets come with their own set of hazards for children. Especially, handheld gadgets negatively impact children below 12 years of age. They not only hamper the physical well-being but also the emotional, social and mental health of the young ones. How do these gadgets harm the body and minds of the kids? Let us have a look.
Brain growth happens at a rapid rate in the early years of life. The environment, too, plays an important role in influencing the brain development of children. Overexposure to gadgets can have an adverse effect on their brain growth and lead to multiple disabilities and disorders.
Excessive use of hand held gadgets lead to minimal and restricted movements thereby causing delays in development in young children. Physical movement is known to enhance learning ability, attention spans, grasping power etc. Lesser the movements, lesser the over all growth and development of the body.
Higher the usage the gadgets, higher are the chances of gaining unhealthy and excessive weight. As per research, children who excessively engage with handheld devices are more prone to become victims of obesity. Obesity in itself is a massive host of problems. Obese children often suffer from diabetes and heart related complications. Obesity also has adverse effects on their social and emotional well-being.
Most children who are addicted to electronic gadgets suffer from sleep deprivation. Sleep schedules go haywire because the attraction of these gadgets overpowers the need to sleep. Lack of sound sleep for enough number of hours has detrimental effects on their academic performance too. Obviously, lack of sleep impacts overall health of the children making them feel lethargic and tired the entire day.
Overuse of handheld gadgets can cause many severe psychological illnesses. Increased dependency on gadgets can lead to certain disorders like anxiety, ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, aggression, psychosis, problem behaviour etc.
Children are more prone to be impacted by the harmful radiation emitted by the gadgets. They are more at risk as compared to adults because their brain, body, immune system is still not completely developed and equipped enough to fight the harmful radiation that they are exposed to. These harmful rays can cause long term and dangerous health issues in young children.
So, the next time your child demands a gadget to play with, indulge him or her in a fruitful activity instead. There are many creative solutions to keep the gadgets away from the little hands and minds. Help the children indulge in an interesting hobby, read books, listen to great music, go outdoors, enroll them in activity classes etc. Let them know how unsafe these gadgets are.
Parents, educationists and even the government have a vital role to play when it comes to safeguarding the children from handheld gadgets. Governments must not only call for a ban on these gadgets for a certain age criteria but also check for the safety of these gadgets. Electrical testing labs conduct checks of cables and wires of gadgets. These NABL accredited labs give a go ahead only after the gadgets clear all standard tests. Before buying any gadget one must ensure that it carries the stamp of an electrical testing laboratory. Spectro is one such NABL lab in Delhi. One of the finest electrical testing labs in Delhi, they specialise in testing electronic products for manufacturers and retailers in India.
How to join MBA distance education?
These Top Technology Trends are taking over 2018, But Why?


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Summertime is peak visitor time here and with family back in town recently who've been to Edinburgh several times it was time to venture out of the city with them. Luckily we had access to a car for the weekend which does make doing that a little easy and after taking them to a few of my favourite spots close to Edinburgh we decided to head a little further north up to Scone palace.
The Scone palace we can visit today was completed in 1808 but the site has a long history as an important religious gathering place of the Picts, the site of an early Christian church as well as an Augustinian priory. In the 12th century the priory was granted abbey status and the abbot's residence became a palace. Most famously though it was the home of the Stone of Scone and for nearly 1000 years, the crowning place of Scottish kings, from Kenneth MacAlpin who created the Kingdom of Scone in the 9th century onwards. The stone was removed by King Edward l in 1296 and became part of the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. Despite that though since that first coronation Scone has seen many more including the crowning of Robert the Bruce in 1306 and the last one on this ancient site being Charles ll when he accepted the Scottish crown in 1651.
The Stone of Scone itself is a block of red sandstone and was historically kept at the now ruined Scone Abbey. As I mentioned above tradition states it was first used for the coronation of Kenneth MacAlpin, the 36th king of Dalriada. Dalriada was a Gaelic overkingdom (an area composed of several kingdoms presided over by an overking, a king who has sovereignty over inferior kings or ruling princes) which included parts of western Scotland and north eastern Ireland, what is roughly now modern day Argyll in Scotland and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. However the historical view states that it was Fergus, son of Erc (the king of Irish Dalriada) who brought the stone from Ireland to Argyll and it was he who was first crowned on it.
Whatever the truth the stone has quite a history having, as I mentioned previously, been captured in 1296 by Edward l as part of the spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey. There it was fitted into the coronation chair, known as King Edward's chair and from then most subsequent English sovereigns were crowned on it. On Christmas Day 1950 though four Scottish students reclaimed the stone from the abbey but in the process of removing it the stone broke into two pieces, taking the larger piece the students returned to Scotland with it. An extensive search for the stone proved unsuccessful with the part they took eventually being left on the altar of Arbroath abbey in April 1951. From here it was returned to Westminster one again and rumours subsequently circulated that the returned stone was actually only a copy. In 1996 the stone was finally returned to Scotland once more when it was moved to Edinburgh castle.
As a visitor to the palace there is plenty to see, the state rooms with their sumptuous furniture, extensive collections of furniture and ceramics as well as lots of intimate family photos which wouldn't look out of place in any family home or photo album. On our visit we only explored the palace but the grounds are extensive too and definitely need to be investigated if I return. One of the most interesting displays in the palace was the one about Dido Elizabeth Belle. Dido was born into slavery, the daughter of Maria Belle a black African woman and Rear Admiral Sir John Lindsay the nephew of the 1st Earl of Mansfield. Following her mother's death she was brought into the care of the Earl of Mansfield and raised at Kenwood House in London where the Earl and Countess of Mansfield lived. Earl Mansfield in his role as Lord Chief Justice ultimately took the first steps towards abolishing slavery, finding in 1772 that slavery had no precedent in common law in Britain and many believe that Dido would have had some influence on him and this decision in one way or another. Dido famously features in a portrait housed at the palace with her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray, this portrait, which has fascinated many since it was painted and the high status she was granted really were unique for the time and the place. If you head to the palace make sure to see this interesting exhibition dedicated to her and her life for yourself.
Without doubt Scone palace is well worth a visit. It's played a crucial part in Scotland's history especially its part in the history of the crowning of Scotland's kings and is now a place of amazing splendour full of treasures to discover. The palace was utterly fascinating and I definitely need to return to explore the grounds more. Have you visited? What was your favourite part?
Labels: castle historic building history parks and gardens Perth Perth and Kinross places to visit Scotland things to do UK
Location: Scone Palace, Perth PH2 6BD, UK
Unknown Tuesday, 6 August 2019 at 14:16:00 BST
I am grateful that this is so close to home. I think my favourite part has to be the gardens though. We love the huge trees and watching the red squirrels here too.
Laura Monday, 12 August 2019 at 21:11:00 BST
They looked lovely, I need to return again and explore them further.
Prague Highlights - the Old Town Square and the Ch...


Every developing country dreams of achieving a prosperity level similar to the United States or European countries, with a per capita gross domestic product above $35,000. Turning these dreams into reality, however, is a daunting task. The per capita GDP of most developing countries is less than $10,000. Simply put, half of the world's population lives on less than $2.50 a day, and about 1.2 billion people live without electricity. The biggest challenge humanity faces right now is poverty alleviation.
Economic growth has a direct relationship with energy – specifically, electricity. Robert Ayres, an economist with INSEAD, the international graduate business school, shows that every one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity consumption contributes about $4 to GDP. Ayres asserts that electricity is the actual driver of economic growth, not investment, as most economists believe.
from the points of demand. Consequently, Indonesia and most developing countries have come to depend on cheap and dirty coal to power their economies.
Adding climate change to the equation creates a conundrum for developing countries that signed the Paris climate accord. To achieve prosperity, they need cheap energy that pollutes, but to save the planet, they need clean energy, which is not affordable. This ist he energy paradox.
Indonesia's "grow, then clean up later" paradigm follows in the footsteps of China and India.
environmental costs, in addition to ensuring that the public can afford the electricity. Again, the energy paradox.
Indonesia's pragmatic energy minister, Ignasius Jonan, given a choice between clean energy and cheap energy, chose the one that will boost the economy – cheap energy – which can be read from his controversial statement: "Renewables also need to compete with the big boys." This "grow, then clean up later" paradigm follows in the footsteps of China and India. Even Germany, the climate change champion, despite all its hype about renewables, still mainly powers its economy with coal, following the pragmatic approach.
The situation in Indonesia illustrates how the clean and cheap energy pathway for developing countries is nonexistent.
GDP by nearly $3 trillion by 2040. Given the choice between prosperity first and climate first, both Trump and Indonesia's energy minister have chosen prosperity.
The situation in Indonesia illustrates how the clean and cheap energy pathway for developing countries is nonexistent. Rich countries can afford whatever energy source they choose, but that is not the case for the rest of the world. Even the United Nations assumes that most countries should subsidize renewable energy, without considering that most developing countries have limited financial resources and are likely to have more pressing issues on which to spend their money.
Energy: Without the Hot Air," points out that intermittent renewables are a nonsolution to power a whole country, let alone solve climate change, so the 100 percent renewables solution proposed by some scholars is a pipe dream.
of subsidy to sustain its economic viability. According to James Conca, an American writer and energy consultant, energy return on investment is still the best tool to evaluate whether an energy source is sufficient to power our society into the future. In that light, intermittent renewables should be considered a complementary solution, not the solution.
If we cannot find a cheap and clean solution to replace coal, then the paradox will continue – coal will power the planet for the next 100 years. This paradox probably is the hardest challenge humanity faces right now: how to achieve prosperity without polluting and destroying the planet. No country has a workable solution yet, and we need to examine all possible solutions, even if they are only on paper.
It is obvious that the solution to the paradox is clean, base-load electricity. The choices are: large hydro, geothermal and nuclear. Hydro and geothermal are relatively cheap, but their locations are fixed. We cannot simply move the energy source closer to the load demand, meaning that it cannot replace coal. Nuclear, on the other hand, has the highest power density of all energy sources and can be built near points of demand. Unfortunately, it has two problems. First, there is a negative public perception of the safety of nuclear power. Second, a current conventional nuclear power plant cannot compete with coal on price. This is most probably why energy giants such as Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy.
public's meltdown fears can be eased – the fuel itself is already melted. So, on paper, the MSR could possibly be the solution to the energy paradox: clean and cheap energy that is affordable for developing countries.
MSR developers have stepped up to the challenge to be competitive with coal and inherently safe. Among them is US-based Thorcon, with a hull-based 500-megawatt complete fission power plant on a barge, which according to its publications can produce electricity at 3 cents per kWh. At this price, Thorcon could compete with coal on price anywhere in the developing world. If so, the solution is only a matter of educating the public and decision makers about the realities of nuclear energy.
Indonesia's state-owned electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and statecontrolled mining company Timah have completed a 10-month prefeasibility study on Thorcon's technology and concluded that it is a doable technology that can be built now and is financially feasible. Next, Thorcon, with Indonesia and international nuclear experts, are to do a technology assessment using tools from the International Atomic Energy Agency, to be completed in early 2018. If satisfactory, this could lead to the construction of Indonesia's first nuclear power plant.
It seems the only current viable solution for clean, cheap and reliable base-load energy that could possibly replace coal in Indonesia is the molten salt reactor: the energy miracle. So, let's not waste time on a nonworkable solution to solve climate change and alleviate poverty. Let's make a miracle happen now in Indonesia, but we must remember that if it's not affordable, then it will be coal forever. This is the cold, hard reality of the energy paradox.


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Names with no stories – yet
Small Town Noir
Small-time true crime from New Castle, Pa.
Joseph Dando, "Indecent Assault", 14 August 1946
by Diarmid
In the twenties, hundreds of thousands of people visited Cascade park every summer from across western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio to enjoy its amusements, its man-made lake and its carefully presented scenery. The park suffered during the depression, never to regain its former popularity, but the second week of August, 1946, was busier than normal for that period. Large family picnics were held every day by bible study classes, the Lawrence County Red Cross chapter, former pupils of Mahoningtown school, Lutheran women of the western conference of the Pittsburgh synod, the Grace Bible church, the Christian church and the Daughters of Rebekah. Everyone agreed that there were fewer mosquitoes than there had been in previous years, perhaps on account of the long dry spell.
During one of those picnics, a man took a four-year-old girl into the woods and repeatedly molested her. The following week, Joseph Dando, a fifty-one-year-old man from Hamilton street, was arrested and charged with open lewdness and indecent assault of a minor. He spent a month in jail in default of $1,000 bail before being released. The case was eventually abandoned without a trial.
That year, the dam across the Big Run broke and Cascade park's lake ran dry. In the fifties, after the dam was repaired, the park was given an overhaul and enjoyed better attendance than it had for years but before long the lake began to silt up and had to be repeatedly dredged over the next two decades. In 1972, the dam broke again and the lake drained away for good. The town had no money to pay for the repairs. The park's rollercoaster and other rides fell into disuse and were torn down in the eighties. The public buildings, paths and facilities were in disrepair by the end of the century, when the dilapidated open-air swimming pool was shut down. An annual nostalgia weekend featuring classic cars and oldies cover bands, called "Back to the '50s", is Cascade park's only significant remaining attraction.
Sources: New Castle News ("Section C YLB"; 7 Aug 1946, "Lutheran Woman To Picnic At Park", "Loyal Band Class"; 8 Aug 1946, "Edenburg"; 9 Aug 1946, "Section C Families Picnic At Cascade", "Mahoningtown School Reunion Attracts Many"; 10 Aug 1946, "Section F Picnics At Cascade Park", "Rachel Rebekah Picninc At Park", "First Aid Club Has Picnic Supper", "Old Mission Picnic"; 9 Aug 1946, "Pa Newc Observes"; 15 Aug 1946, "Arrest Suspect In Park Assault"; 17 Aug 1946, "Delay Hearing Of Man Held In Cascade Assault"; 11 Sep 1946, "Returns Are Made by Grand Jury").
Previous PostFrank Heckathorn, "Indecent Exposure", 11 July 1943
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The mug shots on this site were all taken in New Castle, Pennsylvania, between 1930 and 1960, and were rescued from the trash when the town's police department threw them out. The information that has been used to reconstruct the stories behind the pictures comes mostly from old copies of the local paper, the New Castle News.
The mug shots have been scanned in extra large. Click on them to see them full scale.
Search Small Town Noir


Our notional executive's assumption about how industry would help the banks and the economy out of the Credit Crunch was in one element correct. Borrowers had bailed out the banks, but it was only by means of workers' redundancies, the stripping of the products of their labour, and in not a few cases an enterprise's utter destruction.
The publicised suicides of various businessmen, such as Adolf Merckle and Kirk Stephenson1 barely indicated the suffering that was passing through community after community as employers folded and asset prices collapsed. In the UK, for example, the number of people committing suicide rose by 329 to 5,706 in 2008 – the first increase since 1998. The rate of suicide among men went up from 16.8 per 100,000 people in 2007 to 17.7 per 100,000 in 2008; the suicide rate among women rose from 5 per 100,000 people to 5.4 per 100,0002.
Personal bankruptcies were at a record 134,000 in 2009, with under a million more struggling secretly on the brink insolvency3. A recent International Labour Organisation report4 stated that global unemployment was at 6.2%, with a further 1.5 billion people in insecure or vulnerable jobs. Although the so-called developed economies of the West account for only 15% of the earth's working population, they accounted for 55% of the increase in unemployment between 2007 and 2010. Among 16 to 24 year olds, the jobless rate stands at 12.6%.
Spain has youth unemployment of 40%, while young people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific are 4.7 times more likely to be unemployed as adults. One of the root causes of the revolution in Tunisia was the unrest caused by having a growing number of young people without jobs: the ILO estimates that in north Africa as a whole "an alarming" 23.6% of economically active young people were unemployed in 2010.
"God's work" declared Lloyd Blankfein, CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs5. Capital is a wrathful 'God' indeed.
The restructurings, insolvencies and desperate but fee-generating bond issues continued into 2010. Now, however, the profitability of the surviving banks seemed to have renewed their confidence in the face of public anger. It is almost an abuse of intelligence to follow a stratagem of attack as the best defence, but there is little other way to encapsulate the modus operandi now exhibited as the states that had once hoped to ease the banking sector out of its crisis in a spirit of cooperation, suddenly found themselves sitting around a table, having terms dictated by people they had once pulled from total oblivion.
And it really is dictation; subdivided into grudgingly accepted or willingly internalised – last week's pathetic announcement by the UK government of 'Project Merlin' success, which caused a Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman to resign in disgust, amounted not to a punishment of banks but in fact a tax cut in their favour6. The process of restructuring through cuts and fee generation remained the same.
As before, the skill was in attempting to squeeze as much as possible out of the borrower and then holding it in limbo, between insolvency and liquidation. Iceland had shown liquidation was undesirable, at least, it was not desirable yet7 – the Icelandic people had accepted collapse and were now trying on their own terms to forge a quiet and simple economy, paying back with what they had and trying to avoid advanced financialisation altogether.
July 27, 2010 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., owner of the most-active subprime lender, Countrywide Financial Corp., earned $2.9 million in interest and fees for a line of credit Arizona used through June to balance a budget undermined by the housing- market collapse.
New Jersey, New Hampshire and other U.S. states also needed budget-balancing help that enriched the same Wall Street firms that touched off the longest economic slump since the 1930s by packaging loans to unqualified borrowers. States issued $92 billion of long-term debt since Jan. 1, 2009, generating about $488 million for banks based on the average underwriting fee of $5.30 per $1,000 of bonds, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
If it ever was otherwise, and there have been moments when the populous have carved out protections and rights to their own benefit, at some point each state came to exist for a single and solitary purpose: the sustenance of finance.
The manner in which all formal elements of the political economy are now caught within a circular logic which each performs however unwillingly until death reminds one of the Medieval tradition of the 'danse macabre'. Here high-born and low, according to the feudal hierarchy, are each arranged alternately with death's skeletons in a dancing ring. The circle is critical in representing not just the ultimate equality of the dancers, but their turning ever round a hollow centre. In the famed Totentanz of Luebeck the skeletons are drawn as lively participants while emperor, priest and usurer exhibit a sluggish state of narcosis. Faster and faster the tempo of the dance drives, each participating mannequin-like in the soaring intensity, unto death.
Like nests of hungry owls.
First faint but soon increasing.
They feel a perfect pair.
Which mark her Book of Prayer.
To dance in perfect time.
I read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called A Short Legal History of the Credit Crunch – Part 4 of 4 and is located at http://criticallegalthinking.com/2011/02/17/a-short-legal-history-of-the-credit-crunch-part-4/.


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Tom Crean set himself up to fail
By Chris Korman November 4, 2014 2:19 pm
(Bruce Thorson, USA TODAY Sports)
Tom Crean has been declared Fired Coach Walking by new Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel.
He's probably right. Crean has lost Indiana fans, and Indiana fans are stubborn. Plus, Crean's team likely won't be any good this year; winning is the only salve that always works with any fanbase.
To the rest of the country, this is all probably difficult to understand because Crean did win despite difficult circumstances. He took over a program saddled with recruiting sanctions and so much smoldering angst caused by Kelvin Sampson's brief and disastrous tenure.
IMPROVING: Indiana player 'doing better' after being hit with SUV by teammate
Crean got the Hoosiers back into the tournament — and to the Sweet Sixteen — in his fourth season. The next year, Indiana spent much of the year at No. 1, again made it to the Sweet Sixteen and had two players drafted in the top four of the NBA Draft.
So why would Crean be in trouble? The answers — a tragic incident that left Devin Davis hospitalized in serious condition, a couple of suspensions for failed drug tests and a couple of minor alcohol offenses — might not make sense to outside fans accustomed to reading about player arrests or academic scandals. The Indiana basketball team clearly lacks leadership and is not made up of kids who understand what it takes at this level, but it's hardly the worst example of college athletes behaving badly.
Crean did this to himself, though. He set an impossibly high bar when he arrived by declaring himself the man who would exterminate a rotten culture cultivated by Sampson and replace it with one above reproach. And Indiana fans — like Notre Dame or Penn State football fans — had always prided themselves on being different and doing things the "right" way.
BACKLASH: Former player, coach is 'embarrassed' by out of control Indiana
Crean appealed to that desire, then failed to deliver while also failing to win (Indiana was 17-15 last year) or recruit at a level that will assure he is going to win in the future.
Full disclosure: I covered Crean's hiring and first two seasons in Bloomington. Something he said to me in those early days always stuck with me:
"If I get fired in five years, it's because of what I'm doing today, not what I do then."
He was speaking about the importance of recruiting, and certainly talent misjudgment has had a lot to do with his fall.
His real mistake — and it is now six or seven years old — was selling a narrative that painted Sampson's kids as unworthy of playing at a vaunted program like Indiana. It wasn't that simple. They weren't villains, just as Crean's players aren't always going to be heroes. This is real life.
SUSPENSIONS: Hoosiers suspend three players for four games
Still, Crean got rid of most of Sampson's players and started from nothing. Through the first three years — the worst in Indiana basketball history — he repeatedly reminded fans that he was not merely coaching basketball but changing a culture.
When he won, he did it with serious-minded players like Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo and Jordan Hulls and it appeared the resurrection was complete.
But college basketball is a messy business. Players don't always live up to five-star billing. Guys plucked from the nicest private schools who give the media the most polite answer still fall for the siren call of being Big Man on Campus at one of the country's best basketball schools. Things get rough.
And now that it has happened at Indiana, Crean looks like a failure. The Hoosiers are neither winning nor upholding the culture their coach promised the fans when he first arrived.
Crean's impressive rebuild might have pushed him through a few losses or a spate of college kids doing stupid things, but not both. Not at Indiana.
Indiana Hoosiers, Tom Crean, NCAA


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