'Safe House,' 'The Vow' beat out new 'Ghost Rider'

In this film image released by Columbia Pictures, a scene is shown from "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance," in theaters Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Columbis Pictures-Sony)

In this film image released by Columbia Pictures, a scene is shown from "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance," in theaters Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Columbis Pictures-Sony)

(AP) ? The President's Day holiday weekend box office was too close to call as the action tale "Safe House" and the love story "The Vow" competed for the No. 1 spot.

Based on Sunday's studio estimates, Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds' "Safe House" had a slim lead with $24 million from Friday to Sunday. That put it a fraction ahead of Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum's "The Vow" with $23.6 million.

The winner won't be known for certain until Tuesday, when studios will report final numbers for the long holiday weekend. Final numbers often vary from weekend projections, which include estimates for the size of Sunday's audiences.

No matter which one finishes on top, the movie business remains unusually brisk for winter, typically a slow season at theaters. The business uptick comes after Hollywood lumbered through a humdrum holiday season at the end of last year, when audiences were apathetic about most new releases.

"I still think people don't want to stay home, and if you give them good choices, you get them out," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal Pictures, which released "Safe House."

The top-five movies were bunched up tightly, with Nicolas Cage's sequel "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" opening a close No. 3 with $22 million.

Dwayne Johnson's family action tale "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" was No. 4 with $20.1 million. Reese Witherspoon's love-triangle comedy "This Means War" debuted at No. 5 with $17.6 million.

Starring Washington as a CIA traitor on the run, "Safe House" raised its domestic total to $78.2 million. Sony Screen Gems' "The Vow," which features McAdams as an amnesiac car-accident victim becoming reacquainted with her husband (Tatum), lifted its total to $85.5 million.

While "Safe House" and "The Vow" held up well, Sony's "Ghost Rider" follow-up came in below industry expectations, doing a bit less than half the $45 million the first one pulled in with its 2007 debut.

In "Spirit of Vengeance," Cage reprises his Marvel Comics role as Satan's bounty hunter, this time trying to save a child from the devil.

Released by Warner Bros., "Journey 2" is a modern take on Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island." It padded its total to $53.2 million.

In 20th Century Fox's "This Means War," Witherspoon plays a woman who captures the hearts of two CIA agents (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy), the spy guys going from best pals to rivals as they pursue her.

Disney's English-language version of the Japanese animated hit "The Secret World of Arrietty" opened in narrower release and came in at No. 9 with $6.4 million. Based on Mary Norton's children's novel "The Borrowers," about tiny people living beneath the floorboards of a house, the film features a voice cast that includes Carol Burnett, Amy Poehler and Will Arnett.

The weekend's overall domestic revenues totaled $160 million, up 10.7 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Unknown" led with a $21.9 million debut, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

So far this year, revenues have soared to $1.42 billion, a 19 percent increase from 2011's receipts.

"Every weekend this year has been up vs. the comparable weekend a year ago, so Hollywood is definitely on a roll right now," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.

1. "Safe House," $24 million ($6 million international).

2. "The Vow," $23.6 million ($6.8 million international).

3. "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance," $22 million.

4. "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," $20.1 million ($26 million international).

5. "This Means War," $17.6 million ($11 million international).

6. "Star Wars: Episode I ? The Phantom Menace" in 3-D, $7.9 million ($10 million international).

7. "Chronicle," $7.5 million.

8. "The Woman in Black," $6.6 million ($8.4 million international).

9. "The Secret World of Arrietty," $6.4 million.

10. "The Grey," $3 million.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," $26 million.

2. "This Means War," $11 million.

3. "Star Wars: Episode I ? The Phantom Menace" in 3-D, $10 million.

4. "The Woman in Black," $8.4 million.

5. "The Muppets," $7.6 million.

6. "The Descendants," $7.5 million.

7. "The Vow," $6.8 million.

8. "Safe House," $6 million.

9. "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," $5.8 million.

10. "Jack and Jill," $5.5 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-02-19-Box%20Office/id-69767751f84246a48e8fdfd18cf5a450

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TechNotes ? Business Management Daily: Free Reports on Human ...

Monday, February 20, 2012

  • Life on the road just got easier with a $1 app for business travelers. Mile Bug, Mileage Log and Expense Tracker, helps track business and personal driving expenses. Turn on GPS tracking, and the app will note exactly how long your trip was and translate that mileage into a dollar amount. Available through iTunes.
  • Wall outlets turn high-tech. Now you can power up more mobile devices like your smartphone or iPad, without using the bulky wall charger, plus plug in AC-powered appliances at the same time with the RCA USB Wall Plate Charger. It converts an ordinary dual AC power outlet into a USB plus AC power outlet. Just plug the outlet in and you?ve got USB charging. RCA also has a portable Wall Charger that charges two smartphones or one iPad and provides a spot for the gadget to rest on.
  • Humble keyboard and mouse go virtual with the Celluon Virtual Laser Keyboard with Magic Cube. The 2.8 oz. Magic Cube projects a laser keyboard image on any flat surface. Once you enable your Bluetooth and power the Cube you?re ready to start typing on a keyboard roughly 9.5 by 3.5 inches and which doubles as a virtual mouse. When you ?touch? a virtual key, the Cube makes a clicking sound.

Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/29480/technotes

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Future Associated With Technical Education During India ...

Posted by mitchell on February 19, 2012 in Uncategorized |

Definitely, being a homeowner of India we?ve been used to slogans for example ?Education for all?, ?Professional education for cheaper fees, ?Free Elementary education? etcetera. These kinds of low figures are from the widespread destruction that developed, which also taken away up paleo diet for you to 80 percent belonging to the schools and educational institutions. Physical training is accepted as an inclusive part of education and the actual educational authorities know it, need in faculties the youth within the country, which form the nation?s ?most variable house, will never get to pull their extensive weigh to domestic welfare. For illustration, teachers may resist the part of blended learning fearing that they need to be over burdened or steps required to further more their education (Tye & Tye, 1992, 65). It is a great source you are able to use to cross-reference the particular Classics. Some people bond themselves to lenders and loan sharks that prey for individuals that don?t have monetary knowledge.

However gradually many scholars have questioned the significance of special learning in India as they quite simply feel that it contributes to segregation and isolation within the differently abled infants. It handles the underlining clairvoyant conflicts and defense. Elementary degree also involves assisting children become great citizens, which requires the actual elementary school teacher to pay out time helping students using this important aspect from education. Some banks have got customized education mortgages, created for exact requirements. A little but effective tip to assist a person get yourself a scholarship as a good sure shot, would be to take into consideration an area that has a higher variety of scholarships or far more scholarship amount.

The best benefit of online education would be the absence of take a trip and immigration conditions. Right now there, you will also get specifics of those educational paleo diet institutions that provide these educational training. There happen to be no good professional courses found in regional languages. These protocols guarantee special degree programs and finance assistance for inept children and youth in the us.

Knowledge studies: In knowledge research we model an understanding source in such away that individuals can analyse the usefulness, its weakness and also its particular appropriateness within the firm. The following are tips for further investigation. The goal of its doing it is to draw people?s care about some concerns and problems which may have a global value. Yet this growing need excludes most of American Society. Support techniques and enhancements intended for future requirements tend to be ensured.

justify the key reason why these values must be internalized and employed. An informed and trained man or woman is independent and leads an excellent life. They serve to provide a feasible mean associated with improving the nursing competence on the practitioner with the results of improved healthcare. Trained as well as educated students not just face the corporate world with full confidence, but are nicely equipped to lead a prosperous life. Being knowledgeable over the ways of successful the property market entrepreneurs also will allow you to make use of good opportunities that land for your doorstep.

Basically, when community customers are allowed larger opportunities and in the middle of governance, there are people who are much concious of the situations belonging to the students in a lot of these district schools and as such they direct teachers on what student requires considerably financial and societal support (Fullan, 2007, pp. 56). After a couple of hours, seven other students indicate an interest with his idea and wish to join him within the endeavor. Once child-labour was a crucial part of Himachal Pradesh?s overall economy because many domestic depended on pure resources and girls had to keep up home because adult women works outside home. The bigger secondary school college student ages sixteen to seventeen signed up for classes eleven as well as twelve.

Source: http://www.socinfo2011.org/?p=5770

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Parasite-plagued flies self-medicate on booze

Ever been told to take a swig of whisky to ward off a cold? Boozing fruit fly larvae do something similar: they seek out alcohol to kill a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in their bloodstream.

Before you reach for the bottle, though, the researchers who found the behaviour caution that flies are very different to us, and their results don't say anything about the health benefits of a hot toddy.

The discovery, made by Todd Schlenke and colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the few examples of self-medication known in insects ? and a rare health benefit for alcohol.

Fruit fly larvae are raised in rotting fruit and so are naturally resistant to the toxic effects of alcohol. They have evolved enzymes like alcohol dehydrogenase to tolerate the ethanol while getting their fix of fermenting yeast. The flies even have a taste for grapes and are commonly found in wineries.

Alcohol licence

Schlenke and his team raised healthy and parasitised fruit fly larvae (Drosophila melanogaster) in Petri dishes that contained both regular food and food laced with alcohol. The alcohol content was comparable to that of beer.

Eighty per cent of the parasitised larvae favoured the boozy food, compared with just 30 per cent of healthy ones.

The parasites normally eat developing fruit flies from the inside out, but the experiment's open bar policy helped flies escape this fate. Parasitic wasps avoided depositing their eggs in booze-soaked fly larvae.

The alcohol appeared to keep the wasps at bay, say the researchers. For their young, the consequences of developing in a boozy environment are "gruesome", says Schlenke. "The wasps die and all of their organs are diverted out through their anus. Their guts actually pop out."

In addition to warding off parasites, the alcohol appeared to have a cleansing effect on flies that were already infected. Infected larvae that consumed alcohol were more likely to survive than teetotallers.

Entomologist May Berenbaum of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign advises temperance for humans seeking alcohol as a cure for their ills. "We don't live in a sea of ethanol so it's kind of a different world for us," she explains. "We aren't nearly as good as metabolising it as fruit flies."

Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.01.045

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Most up-to-date Starting Long Distance Relationship News

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Image by D.Clow ? Maryland
Friday
Entry One

Flew out of work, the fleet flight of Friday before a holiday weekend. Everyone cracks a smile upon stepping out of the concrete and glass coffin of the corporate work week. The motorcycle is quickly gassed and loaded, I leave Washington DC at three-thirty, vowing not to check the time for the rest of the adventure. Adventure, the American adventure of the open road is what I seek. The road, my cameras, and escape.

Right turn off of 15th St. NW and I?m motoring past the Washington Monument and the White House. Harleys and clones are already lining the Mall for the annual Memorial remembrance that is Rolling Thunder. I?m soon over the bridge and on I-66 west. I plan on avoiding major highways when at all possible. Preferring scenic byways to drab highways. 66 is a necessary evil to flee the DC metro area as quickly as possible. At the start, 66 is a good quick run, for awhile anyway. Loads of Rolling Thunder riders are heading in 66 eastbound.

I keep the ubiquitous two fingers down to the side salute to fellow bikers out for extended stretches of time. In my experience, HD guys return the acknowledgement about 30-40% of the time. No big deal, some animosity exist though between different bike cultures. Motor-ism two-wheel stereotypes. However with the Rolling Thunder guys there is a noticeable increase in response, perhaps due to no longer just one biker acknowledging another, but a patriotic sharing of support and remembrance for those left behind, POW-MIA.

Traffic worsens further out 66 and I come up on a full HD dresser. Screaming Eagle back patch worked in with POW-MIA covers his vest and is topped by a ?Run for the Wall? patch. I keep back a pace and we adopt the natural offset positioning of multiple riders.

After some 66 backup, stop-and-go, we strike up a staccato conversation in the pauses of the traffic flow. Where you been, where you going, see the rain coming? I tell him I?m headed out to the mountains, Skyline Drive and West Virginia. He says he?s just in from there recently, was in DC for Rolling Thunder for the day and will be coming back in on Sunday again. His license plate is obscured by luggage, so I?m unsure of his port of origin.

Later on we part ways and my thoughts turn. Of my parents friends only my step-dad was drafted for Vietnam. Luckily, for us, he only went as far as Ft. Hood, TX, and came back with some good stories about army life and venturing into Mexico (at least the ones he?s shared with me). I think about all the life he?s lived since then, all his experiences and joys. Thinking about what all those who didn?t return gave up, lost, when they didn?t come home. The loss felt by those who loved them, families that have a name on the Wall.

Rain is sprinkling before Manassas. Enough to cool you off but not enough to get you worried yet, at least for a bit. Whooooo. Then come the big drops. I head off the ramp to gear up with the rain paraphernalia under the gas station pavilion. Finally get it all on and get strapped back up and out pops the sun and the rain stops. Too funny. Now I have wet clothes on under the raingear. Rain gear now keeping the wind out that would dry me. I motor on as more rain is promised on the horizon.

This brings up a point about rain. People always ask, ?What do you do when it rains and your on the motorcycle?. I reply simply, ?I get wet?. Duh. Rain riding has never bothered me. On the straight highways it?s no big deal. Just give more cushion to the cars in front of you. Drive like grandma on the exit ramps.

My turning point is finally reached. Off of 66 west and onto 647, Crest Hill Rd. at The Plains, VA. Crest Hill Road is my first slice of motorcycle heaven to be had this weekend. I?m delighted to find that the squiggly line I traced out on the map when planning this trip has translated so well in reality. The road is still wet from the passing rain clouds, and I give a small rabbit and then a chipmunk a near death experience. My first of many animal crossings this weekend. The road is fantastic. A mixture of hilltop road and tree lined canopies that create forest tunnels. Speed limit is 45mph, 55-60 feels comfortable on most parts. Keeping an eye out for a hilltop barn to photograph that I?ve seen in my minds eye, lit by the sun breaking through the clouds and backed by the mountain vista. No luck on any of the barns actual placement to fit the mental picture I have framed.

Crest Hill Road and Fodderstack Rd is a long stretch. I take shots of a church and other buildings along Zachary Taylor Highway. Fodderstack gives more of the same as Crest Hill, just a narrower road. The asphalt is of my favorite variety, freshly laid. Washington, VA is a tiny town of historic bed and breakfasts. Local wineries appear to be an attraction here too. Right after Washington the rain returns while I?m in route to Sperryville. Then it really starts to come down, a full on summer thunderstorm. Visibility is down. Road and parking lots soon resemble rivers. Rain drops of the monster variety explode on the pavement, and you know it hurts when they hit you.

I quick soaking circuit of Sperryville confirms there are no local hotels. I duck into a barn shaped restaurant to wait it out. My drenched gear takes on bar stool and I occupy another. There?s a few flying pigs about. The bartender get me a hefeweizen, and recommends the angus burger. Locally raised and grass fed, we exchange jokes about my passing the burgers relatives on the way in.

Don?t freak about the beer. I have a one only rule when riding. It was followed by a meal (best burger of the weekend!), several coffees, and this bar top journal entry.

Somewhere along Crest Hill road I decided to keep the cell off for the weekend. In addition no tv, newspapers, internet, or e-mail sound like a good idea. Of course I now am studiously avoid eye contact with the two beautiful plasma?s above the bar.

Entry Two

Hazel River Inn, Culpepper, VA, has the coolest street side seating in town.

The downpour let up at the Shady Farms bar in Sperryville and due to the deficiency in local lodging I quiz the bartender for options. Over the other side of the mountain, the opposite side of Skyline Dr via 211 is Luray with lots of motels, but I want to save the mountain for the morning. The waitress suggest Culpepper, there being a Holiday Inn etc.

Stepping outside the sun has broke through the clouds again. Enough for some shots of Shady Farms Restaurant and a bridge. Heading down 522, the Sperryville Pike, I keep an eye out for photo ops to catch the next morning as I?ll be rerouting back through. Following the mantra of Dale Borgeson about tour riding in the US, I aim to avoid large chain establishments, whether they are restaurants or hotels, and explore the mom-and-pop local variety businesses. I have a dive-ish roadside motel in mind, Culpepper comes through with the Sleepy Hollow Hotel.

Before check in I ride through downtown historic Culpepper. It?s a cool place. The Shady Farm bartender had recommended the Culpepper Thai restaurant. I see it but don?t visit, still full from the meal earlier. Cameron Street Coffee looks like a great place, located in an old warehouse. Unfortunately their closed for the night.

Shower and changed, room 102 at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel. I hop back on the bike, refreshed and dry and ride through the warm night air back downtown. The coffee at the Hazel River Inn comes with a sweet fudge confection on the side. The peach and blackberry cobbler with vanilla sauce is divine.

The reconfigured plan for this getaway is to shed. Shed worries about the job, career, housing, and relationships. My motorcycle is therapeutic. It?s 600cc?s of Zoloft on two wheels. The road lifts my spirits. This wasn?t supposed to be a solo run, and there are stretches of road where I feel the emptiness behind me.

The cobbler is finished and I can hear the sound of a band doing their sound check. The banging of the drum requires investigation.

Entry Three

I found Brown Bag Special in the cellar pub of the same restaurant I was in. On my way to the door the noise of the sound check floated up the stairs and directed my feet downward. Brown Bag Special opened the set, appropriately enough, with ?I drink alone?. The ol? man, Big Money, would have loved it. Drink alone started off a Big Money Blues trifecta to include ?The Breeze? and ?Mustang Sally?. Then they made the mistake a lot of bands make that have a great lead guitar player. They let him sing. The lead guitarist karaoke sucked his way through a Tom Petty hit. He was so off key in his singing it made you appreciate the guitar solo?s all the more for the relief they provided. Thankfully the regular singer soon resumed his duties and the night went on. More good stuff from the band.

Freebird
Folsom Prison Blues
Cheap Sun Glasses

?can?t you see, can?t you see, what that woman, what she?s done to me?

Off to bed now at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel with the ghost and shades of dead hookers and overdoses past.

150 miles today.

Saturday

Entry Four

Morning breaks on the Sleepy Hollow Hotel, a hot shower and I?m back on the bike. A quick stop downtown to shoot the Hazel Inn, then it?s back on the Sperryville Pike. More stops to capture some sights seen yesterday. Mr. & Mrs. Pump. The open mouth caricatures are an accurate representation of the current gas cost and the pumps eating your wallet.

I keep telling my daughter that her first car, college car, will be a hybrid. She thinks they are ugly. The bike isn?t so bad, averaging around 40mpg. At about 180 miles on the tripometer I start to look for a refill, although I?ve pushed it to 211 miles before.

A quick left in Sperryville on 211 and up into the mountain, Blue Ridge Mountains and Skyline Drive. Heading up the mountain I get the first bite of the twisties I?ve been craving. The fee at the gate to Skyline Drive is well worth the price. Great scenery and fantastic views. The only drawback is the 35mph speed limit that is well enforced by the park rangers.

I shoot some self-portraits at Pollock Knob overlook. They?re funny in that with all the scrambling and hurrying to be the camera timer, then trying to effect a relaxed pose. I?ve also broke out my old friend this trip, the Lubitel 166, a medium format, 120mm film, twin lens camera. I?m like Jay-Z with this camera, I have to get it in one take. There is no digital review after the click for instant gratification. As a fellow photographer it?s ?Point, Push, and Pray?. I?ll be interested to see the results. Not that I?ve left digital behind. Carrying both cameras, I?m an analog/digital double threat.

After the self-portraits and some dead tree shots I?m about to pack back on the bike and leave when I meet the preacher and his wife. He offers to shoot me with my camera and I return the favor with theirs. Conversation flows and in a ?small world? moment it turns out that he works for same Hazel family that owns the restaurant I was at last night for his Monday thru Friday job. I get a friendly ?God bless? and I?m heading south on Skyline Drive. I make several more stops and break out the cameras again at Big Meadow.

There is a gnarly dead tree in the middle of the meadow. It has burn damage at the base, either the result of some wild fire or perhaps a controlled burn done to maintain the field. I spot and shoot a few deer, they probably won?t turn out as they?re to far away for my lens on the D100. I shoot a bunch of shots of the tree with the D100 and then totally switch processes with the Lubitel. The picture setup with the Lubitel takes about a minute-and-a-half. Manual zoom, i.e., walking back and forth to get the framing I want. Light meter reading. Then dealing with the reversed optics of the look-down box camera. It is fun though, to switch it up, change the pace and the dynamics. Just one click though, hope I caught it.

It?s a long but enjoyable ride to the south end of Skyline Drive. Unless you really like slow cruising I would suggest picking which third of Skyline Drive you?d like include in your trip and leave the rest. I drop off the mountain and into Waynesboro. Finding Mad Anthony?s coffee shop for a late breakfast. I overhear that it?s around noon. The Italian Roast coffee is good, in fact, it would prove to be the best coffee of the trip.

One of the pleasures of traveling by motorcycle is that it?s an easy conversation starter. People ask you where your coming from, where you?re heading, ask about your bike, tell you?re about their bike or the one they wish they had. One of the peculiarities of these conversations is that if the person even remotely knows of anyone that has died on a motorcycle, they will be sure to share this fact along with details. These stories usually involve a deer, a car pulling out, or someone taking a corner to fast. The conversation goes something like this:

Stranger?nice bike?
You?thanks?
Stranger?my cousin Bob had a friend that hit a deer and died on his bike?

Short silence.

You?yeah, deer are dangerous, got to be careful?

I?m not exaggerating when I say I?ve held variations on this conversation many times. Luckily this isn?t the conversation I have with the owner of Mad Anthony?s. He?s a former sailboat instructor who now finds the same release and head clearing on his motorcycle that he used to get from his sailboat.

This brings to mind the same wave ? don?t way dynamic that occurs between sail boaters and power boaters, very similar to the sportbike & HD crowd.

The proprietor is a coffee guru, we discuss roasting (my Italian roast was just roasted Wednesday this week). We talk about the good and the evil of Starbucks. We?re both in agreement that they over roast their regular coffee, but I think their foo foo drinks are tasty. He has in his shop both the Bodum press and the Bodum vacuum coffee pot that I got my mom for x-mas. A shameless plug here, the Bodum vacuum coffee pot makes the best home coffee ever. It?s also an entertaining crowd pleaser, no joke.

Leaving Waynesboro the plan was 340 northward to 33, then into Harrisonburg, VA (home of the Valley Mall and JMU). 340 proved to be boring so I jumped on 256, Port Republic Road, for a better ride to Harrisonburg. I don?t know if the coffee wore off or if I was just worn out. I pull over at Westover Park, pick out a spot of grass, and take a good nap in the sun.

I had my motorcycle bug handed down to me by my step-dad. My kindergarten year of school we moved right at the end of the school year. Rather than switch schools at this inopportune time my Dad stuck me on the back of his Honda and rode me to school and back again for the last month or two. Even earlier than that I have a great photo of me in 1973-4 sitting on his chopper with him. Me in a diaper and him with his long hippy hair. The wild side of the Reverend indeed.

Refreshed from my nap it?s back on 33 westbound. Heading out of the Shenandoah Valley and Rockingham County is more glorious twisty roads and the George Washington National Forest. GW is a beautiful tree canopy lined road with a river off to one side. Franklin, WV is the destination, a return to the Star Hotel.

I stayed at the Star a few years prior when they first re-opened the historic Star Hotel. The owner, Steve Miller, is a great guy, friendly and conversational. I told him I?d be back again, but it?s been a few more years than I thought. Late lunch at the Star is pesto grilled chicken on ciabatta bread with roasted red peppers. Not the type of fare one might associate with West Virginia, but people have misperceptions about everywhere. Steve promises a prime rib later at dinner tonight to die for.

So that there is no misunderstanding, in as much as the Sleepy Hollow Hotel was a dive, the Star Hotel is a dream.

Dump the gear in the room back on the bike for some roaming around. I head back to explore a river road I passed on the way in, Rock Gap. It?s a gravel affair and I follow it back a little ways. Photo some river shots. Down further there is a large cliff face with some college aged kids de-gearing after a day of climbing. I?ll try to stop back in tomorrow and shoot some climbing action, as well as some fly fishing.

I pick up a bottle of Barefoot Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, and drop it off with Steve at the Star to keep for later. I?ll enjoy that bottle later tonight from the 3rd floor front porch. South out of town I head, into some very secondary roads. I shoot an old decrepit cabin that would be right up Bobby Sargent?s alley. I put it in the metal folder for a possible future model shoot location, along with the river spots I?ve seen.

There are a couple more stops on this little ride. Once for what appears to be a feral chicken, and then for middle of the road stare down with a young doe. She?s camera shy though and is off before I can get a shot. Sportbike probably isn?t the best conveyance for nature photography. The pavement stops and gravel begins, I motor on. Rick & I once spent a full day just about on gravel roads, crisscrossing the back country around Cumberland, MD. So I?m comfortable with the less than ideal riding surface. A few miles on the road dead ends at a pair of chicken houses (source of the feral chicken?s ancestors perhaps?) and I turn around and survey the valley I?ve just ridden through. I have to stop the bike and soak in the scene. A picturesque farm is nestled in the corner of the valley, up against the hills. I meet some inquisitive cows, along with the farmer and his wife.

It seems that when you are in WV and you pass a sign that says ?snow removal ends here? that the already suspect road conditions are going to quickly deteriorate and will soon resemble somewhat more of a logging road. I motor on through some back country, no houses, no farms, just mountains, steep roadside cliffs, and wicked gravel switchback curves. The part that gives you the willies are the downhill corners where the road grade is slanted to the outside of the curve and to the drop below. Yikes!

I creep along where a four wheeler would be much more functional. Although I still hit it a bit in the straights. Pavement arrives again and I?m unsure of my exact location. I follow the chicken farmers directions and soon discover myself back in Brandywine, intersecting the same stretch of 33 I rode on my way into Franklin.

Back at the Star Hotel it?s a shower and fresh clothes before heading down for dinner. Downstairs I find the prime rib to be as good as promised.

Entry Five

How beautifully staged is this. Barefoot on the 3rd floor patio, wine to ease the back and the ache in the knee.

205 miles today, the last 30 after check in, just to explore.

Sunday

Entry Six

Out early in the morning. I find no climbers at Rock Gap, unsure of the hours they keep. Out of Franklin on 33 west, looking for another squiggly line I had seen on a map. Bland Hill Road name is a misnomer. A single lane country road winding through German Valley. I got a few shots of German Valley from the 33 overlook before turning on Bland Hill. Now I find myself in the same location I had shot from above.

The road cuts through some open pasture land and I meet some cows standing in the road after rounding one bend. They?re pleasant enough, if in no particular hurry to cross, and don?t mind posing for a shot or two before meandering on. People talk about the danger of hitting a deer, a cow would really ruin your day! Off of Bland Hill and on down into the valley. I come up on the rock formation I had seen from the overlook previously. It?s not Seneca Rocks, but a formation of the same ilk. I get some more photos, then onto German Valley Road. I?m still staying at the Star, there is no real destination today. It?s relaxing to stop as much as I like.

German Valley Road puts me back on 33 west and not long after I?m ordering breakfast at the Valley View Restaurant. Dale Borgeson warns of places that advertise home cooking, but that?s about all you see in these parts. There are a fair number of cars here and that?s usually a good since the food will be alright. Hell, even the Army could make a good breakfast. It all works out and it?s a hell of a deal, for toast, two eggs, hash browns, bacon, and coffee.

From 33 I hit 28 and turn off on Smoke Hole Road, just because it?s there and looks interesting. Boy, what a find it is. Combining the curvy one lane country road with nice wide smooth pavement (gravel free in the corners). It?s great. Smoke Hole Road turns out to run from 28 across the Seneca Rocks National Forest to 220 on the other side. Going west-to-east it starts out all curves and hills, then ends by winding along the south branch of the Potomac. There are lots of fly fishermen here enjoying the catch-and-release section of the river.

Up 220 to Petersburg, I run into some Ducati guys at the gas station. We swap riding info and I?m soon on 42 north towards Mayville. Hanging a left when I see a sign for Dolly Sods. I?m back on secondary roads and I soon pass another prophetic ?no snow removal? signs. It?s gravel the rest of the way up the mountain til it breaks out on top at Dolly Sod.

I?m real happy with today?s roads, as both Smoke Hole Road and Dolly Sods were unplanned ?discovered adventures?. I do some rock scrabbling at Dolly Sod and enjoy the cliff top views. A fellow tourist snaps a shot for me an I hike out well past the distance that the casual tourist and families go. Shot some more shots of the rock formations with both the digital and film camera. Do some more self-portraits. I then sit down to relax in the sun with the cliff side breeze steadily blowing and update this journal.

Entry Seven

Well, fellow traveler, if you?ve made it this far I am duly impressed. I thank you for your perseverance. The rest of the day was spent riding without incident. Just more fantastic roads. You don?t have to be an explore on par with Lewis & Clark to find great rides in West Virginia. Just be curious in nature and unafraid to leave the beaten path. Drop off the numbered roads and take the route less traveled. Soon you?ll be in your own undiscovered country. Blah blah blah.

Out of Dolly Sod and I find myself on 32. Rough calculations put the dirt road travel around 25 miles for the day. While we are on stats, here?s today?s animal road count:

1 rooster
1 dead fox
2 cows
8 chipmunks
7 alive
1 dead
3 dead possums
1 squirrel
1 dead blob (undistinguishable)
No fearsome deer
1 dog

I guided myself today by a rather non-descript map put out by mountainhighlands.com

Leaving Dolly Sod on 32 puts me in Dry Fork and back on familiar 33 west to Elkins. I cruise around Elkins on the off chance I?ll run into a guy I know named Dallas. Now all you need to know about Dallas is the following:

I don?t know his last name
I once gave him a hair cut with dog grooming clippers
I know he works at a bike shop making choppers

You figure the odds of me finding him, near zero.

If your curious it wasn?t the first time I cut hair, albeit the first time using dog shears. In Korea I cut in the latrine for a cut or for a 6 pack. Everything was barter in the Army. We had a cook that would make you a great custom birthday cake for a case of beer or feed you food out of the back of the chow hall at 3am when you staggered in drunk from the ville for the promise of a future round to be bought. Korea stories could fill another journal.

Anyway, out of Elkins and south to Beverly. Scott, if your reading this you were on my mind as I went through town, never forgive, never forget.

So far I?ve only tried to write about the positive food experiences of the trip without throwing anyplace under the bus. C&J in Beverly however, served only barely functional burgers and the vanilla shake was of the worst chemical prefab variety. There are some things that I am stuck on, good vanilla ice cream is one. The others that I?m picky about are beer, whiskey, steak, cheese-steak, and coffee. It?s just so disappointing when something you usually enjoy turns out to be sub par.

After C&J it?s 250 east to 28, which heads back towards Seneca Rocks and Franklin. It?s a good haul through the Monongahela National Forest. A road of the scenic variety, with good twisties up the mountain and through the scenery. These type road have become quite a common occurrence here in WV. Back in Seneca Rocks and 33 east into Franklin. I never shoot Seneca Rocks, the light is never right, number one can tell you how I get about my light.

The Star?s restaurant is closed on Sunday, dagger, so I shower and head into Franklin by foot. About Franklin, WV. It?s a nice little town, quiet and sleepy. No bars other than the VFW that I could see. Everybody I?ve met and spoken too has be pleasant, friendly and conversational, both here in Franklin and elsewhere in WV. I?m sure there are a variety of characters much as anywhere, this is just my observation from the tourist level.

Following last night precedent I grab another vino from the Shell station. The Star being closed is a dilemma; I?m in need of a cork screw (having borrowed the restaurants the night before). I wander back down to the hotel, wine in hand, and past the hotel just a bit til I meet an old man sitting out front. I explain my situation, wine without access, and he says he?ll sell me a corkscrew. He goes in the house, shortly to return with the necessary implement in hand. I figure I have it for -4 or maybe rent it for a one time use for . That proves unnecessary however, he says just to take it, and keep it for any future need.

The sole booking for the hotel tonight, I?m like a wraith as I glide through the halls. On the front porch with my bottle of vino in hand. I have some cheap cigars I also picked up and there?s nothing to do but kick back and watch the sunset.

It?s been a great trip. Somewhat lonesome at times. The lack of someone to talk to surely let to the length of this journal. It was a trip to getaway, to reflect. There was no great revelation or anything, just time to get to know yourself. The road gives you time to think. I know who I am and I like being me. I know what?s missing.

I?m resolved to take more bike trips in the future. It?s definitely my preferred way to travel and vacation. Motorcycling is the way to go.

Tomorrow I have my route generally planned out, more scenic byways for a winding route home.

Miles today, 240.

Monday

Entry Seven

Just a short postscript. 20 miles east of Washington DC, on 66, the chain popped off the bike. It?s never easy.

Orange Parenting: The Long Distance Relationship
Though it was a stretch, we also hoped that some of the other kids from those ACC houses would start asking questions about our flag and we could educate them properly. Keep Up with Technology ? We saw significant changes in our abilities to follow ?
Read more on Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician

5 Movies Like 'Like Crazy' That Will Make You Think Twice About Long Distance ?
Starting only marginally symbiotic, this long distance relationship turns parasitic quickly as lies fertilize more and more lies. The sadness in ?Catfish? mimics that in ?Like Crazy?, but one is manufactured while the other grew naturally.
Read more on Screen Junkies

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Source: http://getting-back-your-ex.com/articles/most-up-to-date-starting-long-distance-relationship-news/

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Crystals may be possible in time as well as space

Theory proposes objects in their lowest energy state can loop in the fourth dimension forever

Web edition : 10:27 am

What sounds like the title of a bad fantasy movie ? time crystals ? could be the next big thing in theoretical physics.

In two new papers, Nobel Prize?winning physicist Frank Wilczek lays out the mathematics of how an object moving in its lowest energy state could experience a sort of structure in time. Such a ?time crystal? would be the temporal equivalent of an everyday crystal, in which atoms occupy positions that repeat periodically in space.

The work, done partly with physicist Alfred Shapere of the University of Kentucky, appeared February 12 on arXiv.org.

?We don?t know whether such things do exist in nature, but the surprise is that they can exist,? says Maulik Parikh, a physicist at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Scientists don?t know how important time crystals may turn out to be, or whether they have any practical application at all. But Wilczek, of MIT, says the concept reminds him of the excitement he felt when he helped describe a new class of fundamental particles, called anyons, in the early 1980s. ?I had very much the same kind of feeling as I?m having here,? he says, ?that I had a found a new logical possibility for how matter might behave that opened up a new world with many possible directions.?

Wilczek dreamed up time crystals after teaching a class about classifying crystals in three dimensions and wondering why that structure couldn?t extend to the fourth dimension ? time.

To visualize a time crystal, think of Earth looping back to its same location in space every 365? days; the planet repeats itself periodically as it moves through time. But a true time crystal is made not of a planet but of an object in its lowest energy state, like an electron stripped of all possible energy.

This object could endlessly loop in time, just as electrons in a superconductor could theoretically flow through space for all eternity. ?It?s doing what it wants to do, and what it wants to do is move,? says Wilczek.

In a sense the time crystal would be a perpetual motion machine: If scientists could build one in a lab, it would run forever. Yet it wouldn?t violate the second law of thermodynamics because the crystal would be in its lowest energy state; no useful energy could be extracted from it.

Wilczek is already dreaming of extending the time crystal concept into imaginary time, a theoretical concept of the fourth dimension that runs in a different direction than the one people experience.

?I don?t know if this will be of lasting value at all,? he says, ?but I?m having fun.?


Found in: Matter & Energy

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/338500/title/Crystals_may_be_possible_in_time_as_well_as_space

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University Hospitals receives $5 million gift for Eye Institute

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: George Stamatis
george.stamatis@uhhospitals.org
216-844-3667
University Hospitals Case Medical Center

Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation total giving to UH tops $50 million

CLEVELAND The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation again has demonstrated its commitment to University Hospitals (UH) with a $5 million gift for the Eye Institute. The gift will honor the late Benjamin L. Millikin, MD, husband of Julia Severance and the grandfather of Prentiss Foundation trustee Elisabeth Alexander.

Dr. Millikin was Cleveland's first formally trained ophthalmologist and in 1893 helped found what is known today as the UH Eye Institute. Also, from 1900 to 1912, Dr. Millikin was the dean of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

UH has received more than $50 million from the Prentiss Foundation, making it the largest private foundation donor in the hospital's history.

"The Prentiss Foundation has had an unparalleled impact on University Hospitals, helping our health system grow into a national leader," said Fred C. Rothstein, MD, President of UH Case Medical Center. "We are truly grateful for this latest gift that will help us enhance our ophthalmology services to better serve our patients, and for the Prentiss Foundation's abiding commitment to UH. Its legacy of support for this institution is a testament to their dedication to the health and wellbeing of Clevelanders and the economic health of our region."

The gift will support a variety of programs in the UH Eye Institute, with a focus on the Center for Retina and Macular Disease, a nationally recognized leader in the comprehensive care of patients with diseases affecting the retina (the back of the eye). Under the direction of Dr. Suber S. Huang, this specialty area offers consultation and surgical treatment for a variety of conditions that jeopardize healthy sight.

"Dr. Huang is an inspiring and accomplished leader," said Jonathan H. Lass, MD, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Director of the UH Eye Institute.

Dr. Huang is President of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the largest organization of its kind in the world, Chairman of the American Retina Foundation, and holds an advisory board position to the National Eye Institute (NEI). He is the Philip F. and Elizabeth G. Searle Suber Huang, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Vice-Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Director of Clinical Research, Director of the Center for Retina and Macular Disease, and founded the Retinal Diseases Image Analysis Reading Center (REDIARC), one of the country's most active centers of its kind.

Pushing the boundaries of vision research by attacking the eye diseases that affect the greatest number of people, the Center for Retina and Macular Disease has the potential to impact millions of people through its clinical research in diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. The retina and macular disease team seeks to map new directions in patient care with innovation and discovery.

"This $5 million gift from The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation will be a catalyst to accelerate UH's plan to further expand our Eye Institute, a signature destination for comprehensive vision services and treatment in complex eye diseases," said Dr. Lass. "The gift will help launch our first phase which is to ensure advanced diagnostic and treatment facilities across the health system."

In April, UH will open renovated and expanded adult eye services at UH Landerbrook Health Center in Mayfield Heights, the flagship of the UH Eye Institute. The Prentiss Foundation gift will support future enhancements of facilities and equipment throughout the UH system.

Dating back to 1953, the Prentiss Foundation has supported University Hospitals in myriad initiatives, including a $10 million gift in 2006 to UH's Vision 2010 strategic plan. In recognition of that donation, UH named the Quentin & Elisabeth Alexander Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.

"We are truly grateful for the Foundation's support of University Hospitals' efforts to advance the comprehensive treatment, care and cure of eye disease in light of an increase in occurrences of vision disorders and diseases in the area's aging population," said Dr. Huang.

###

About University Hospitals

University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked second in the nation for the care of critically ill newborns; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Ireland Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org


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?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: George Stamatis
george.stamatis@uhhospitals.org
216-844-3667
University Hospitals Case Medical Center

Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation total giving to UH tops $50 million

CLEVELAND The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation again has demonstrated its commitment to University Hospitals (UH) with a $5 million gift for the Eye Institute. The gift will honor the late Benjamin L. Millikin, MD, husband of Julia Severance and the grandfather of Prentiss Foundation trustee Elisabeth Alexander.

Dr. Millikin was Cleveland's first formally trained ophthalmologist and in 1893 helped found what is known today as the UH Eye Institute. Also, from 1900 to 1912, Dr. Millikin was the dean of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

UH has received more than $50 million from the Prentiss Foundation, making it the largest private foundation donor in the hospital's history.

"The Prentiss Foundation has had an unparalleled impact on University Hospitals, helping our health system grow into a national leader," said Fred C. Rothstein, MD, President of UH Case Medical Center. "We are truly grateful for this latest gift that will help us enhance our ophthalmology services to better serve our patients, and for the Prentiss Foundation's abiding commitment to UH. Its legacy of support for this institution is a testament to their dedication to the health and wellbeing of Clevelanders and the economic health of our region."

The gift will support a variety of programs in the UH Eye Institute, with a focus on the Center for Retina and Macular Disease, a nationally recognized leader in the comprehensive care of patients with diseases affecting the retina (the back of the eye). Under the direction of Dr. Suber S. Huang, this specialty area offers consultation and surgical treatment for a variety of conditions that jeopardize healthy sight.

"Dr. Huang is an inspiring and accomplished leader," said Jonathan H. Lass, MD, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Director of the UH Eye Institute.

Dr. Huang is President of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the largest organization of its kind in the world, Chairman of the American Retina Foundation, and holds an advisory board position to the National Eye Institute (NEI). He is the Philip F. and Elizabeth G. Searle Suber Huang, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Vice-Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Director of Clinical Research, Director of the Center for Retina and Macular Disease, and founded the Retinal Diseases Image Analysis Reading Center (REDIARC), one of the country's most active centers of its kind.

Pushing the boundaries of vision research by attacking the eye diseases that affect the greatest number of people, the Center for Retina and Macular Disease has the potential to impact millions of people through its clinical research in diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. The retina and macular disease team seeks to map new directions in patient care with innovation and discovery.

"This $5 million gift from The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation will be a catalyst to accelerate UH's plan to further expand our Eye Institute, a signature destination for comprehensive vision services and treatment in complex eye diseases," said Dr. Lass. "The gift will help launch our first phase which is to ensure advanced diagnostic and treatment facilities across the health system."

In April, UH will open renovated and expanded adult eye services at UH Landerbrook Health Center in Mayfield Heights, the flagship of the UH Eye Institute. The Prentiss Foundation gift will support future enhancements of facilities and equipment throughout the UH system.

Dating back to 1953, the Prentiss Foundation has supported University Hospitals in myriad initiatives, including a $10 million gift in 2006 to UH's Vision 2010 strategic plan. In recognition of that donation, UH named the Quentin & Elisabeth Alexander Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.

"We are truly grateful for the Foundation's support of University Hospitals' efforts to advance the comprehensive treatment, care and cure of eye disease in light of an increase in occurrences of vision disorders and diseases in the area's aging population," said Dr. Huang.

###

About University Hospitals

University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked second in the nation for the care of critically ill newborns; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Ireland Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/uhcm-uhr021712.php

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Madam Geneva Has Given Herself a Food and Drink Makeover ...

New menu at classic hang.

New menu at classic hang.

AvroKO has redone the food and drinks menu at Madam Geneva with Naren Young (the brains behind the booze at The Dutch, Locanda Verde, and Saxon + Parole) at the helm of the South East Asia?inspired cocktail list, and a new menu of bar food by Brad Farmerie. The all-gin cocktail selection includes drinks like punch, served in antique glass bowls, accompanied by food like Forever Crisp chicken wings, Szechuan-style. Expect a new D.J. deck, too, featuring a musical line-up that includes Naren?s wife, Kimiko, a resident D.J. at ?Sleep No More."

New Menu [PDF]

Source: http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2012/02/madam-geneva-has-new-menu.html

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Will Apple finally embrace LTE? Imagining the possibilities of a 4G iPad 3 (Digital Trends)

iPad-3-Coming-in-March

It?s all still unconfirmed reporting, but The Wall Street Journal claims (subscription required) versions of Apple?s much-anticipated iPad 3 will include support for 4G LTE mobile broadband from both Verizon Wireless and AT&T. The story cites only ?people familiar with the matter,? and while the WSJ has a reasonable track record on preempting Apple announcements, the famously secretive company is ? well, famously secretive. Few people are likely to know what Apple will announce in regard to the iPad 3 until Apple actually makes an announcement. The latest speculation is that Apple will announce the iPad 3 in early March, with units becoming available three to six weeks later.

If The Wall Street Journal has it right, what could LTE mean for buying an iPad 3, and the rest of the tablet market?

ipad camerasWhat would a 4G iPad bring?

The primary benefit of a 4G iPad to consumers would, of course, be more bandwidth while out and about. In theory, Verizon Wireless?s and AT&T?s existing LTE networks offer download speeds from 5Mbps to 12Mbps, with upload speeds from 2Mbps to 5Mbps. That would make things like multi-person mobile video conferencing a practical reality. Perhaps in less-boring terms, it also means users could likely watch high-definition television, movies, and other video content on an iPad without having to find a reliable Wi-Fi hotspot.

Verizon and AT&T?s LTE networks represent a significant advance over their existing 3G services. AT&T?s 3G network delivers download speeds of around 1.4Mbps, with about half the bandwidth (roughly 770Kbps) available for uploads. Verizon Wireless?s 3G network usually offers a little less bandwidth, with typical reports putting Verizon 3G at about 1Mbps downstream and about 750Kbps upstream. Of course, these figures vary widely: In some places AT&T routinely does a lot better, while in other locations Verizon is the clear 3G winner. Even 3G users in the same location at the same time can get different network performance, depending on the load on the carrier?s network, other nearby mobile users, local topography, battery levels, and a myriad of other factors. In theory, 4G LTE should offer everyday users about 10 times the downstream bandwidth of existing 3G mobile broadband.

The key words there are ?in theory.? In most instances AT&T?s and Verizon?s existing 3G services don?t come close to matching their potential speeds. AT&T?s 3G service should peak at 7.2Mbps downstream, while Verizon?s should top out around 3.1Mbps. Virtually no 3G users on either carrier sees anything like this sort of 3G bandwidth in everyday use, even though their carrier?s networks (and their mobile devices) have the capability. The reasons are complex, and have to do with the frequencies each carrier can use in a particular location, the relative load on their network and cellular gear (which relates to the number of nearby network users and what they?re doing) as well as a particular user?s location, signal strength, movement, and device.

Who benefits from LTE?

As AT&T and Verizon Wireless have repeatedly complained, mobile users? seemingly insatiable demand for mobile data is not only putting tremendous strain on their cell equipment, but on their network backhaul as well (the hard lines that cell towers connect to). The companies? existing 3G users want more bandwidth than either company can deliver, and that?s why both companies have had to raise costs and resort to practices like data caps to persuade people not to use 3G service as heavily. Or at least to pay exorbitantly for the privilege.

So, one way to look at Verizon?s and AT&T?s 4G LTE services is that they?re rolling out technology that enables customers to put even greater strains on their already over-taxed networks. It?s an over-simplification, but it holds water: If the nation?s top two mobile carriers can?t keep up with the mobile data demands of existing 3G users, how is adding the even heavier demands of 4G going to help?

The short answer is that it won?t help consumers much in the short term. Although many individual users will see instances where 4G LTE outperforms 3G, to the extent that performance is constrained by provider?s backhaul, local topography, signal strength, and other factors vary greatly. And let?s not forget that, so far, Verizon has had some difficulty just keeping its 4G service operational.

So if consumers don?t benefit much from an LTE iPad, who does benefit? Apple and the carriers.

Apple wins because it gets an important feather in its cap: The market-leading iPad stays ahead of the pack by embracing top-tier mobile technology. Even if most everyday users won?t see huge improvements from LTE, including LTE insulates the iPad from criticism that it lags behind competitive products. Given Apple?s massive buying power and supply chain expertise, it?s quite possible Apple can produce an LTE iPad far less expensively than its competition. Other tablet makers already have trouble competing with the iPad 2 on a price-to-features basis, bundling LTE into the iPad 3 could make that contrast even greater.

LTE has major advantages for carriers too, especially over the long term?although that term may be longer than the usable lifespan of an iPad 3. Managing traffic on an LTE network takes about half the resources of managing equivalent traffic on a 3G network. Looking out further, carriers will eventually phase out 2G, EDGE, and 3G services, and move voice services to LTE and its follow-on technologies. In theory ? those key words again! ? carriers should eventually be able to push LTE technology hard enough to offer as much as 100 Mbps downstream bandwidth. That?s fast enough to download an HD movie in under six minutes. In theory. Putting LTE in the iPad 3 lets the device be a transitional product that pushes some ardent mobile data users to the carriers? preferred technology.

The most likely scenario

If LTE is coming to the iPad 3, it will be an add-on option, much like 3G capability is with the iPad 2. Don?t expect Apple to abandon the idea of selling a starter Wi-Fi-only iPad for $499?after all, the company has had no trouble selling as many as it can make. That means we can expect six different price points for the iPad 3: three WiFi-only models with increasing amounts of storage, and the same Wi-Fi-and-storage options coupled with 4G service at higher price points. Apple currently charges a $130 premium for packing 3G capability into an iPad: there?s no word on how much adding 4G to an iPad will increase the sale price, but it?s unlikely to be less than $130. Again, it isn?t having any trouble selling them.

using-ipadCould we be looking at nine different iPad 3 models? Three with Wi-Fi, three with LTE, and another three with the existing 3G technology? It seems unlikely. The LTE radios Apple would have to build into an iPad to support LTE 4G service on either Verizon or AT&T?s network would also be able to drop down to 3G service on those networks. Neither operator has enough LTE coverage to make 4G-only devices a practical reality. (Just look at their LTE phone offerings: All drop down to 3G when LTE is not available.) If Apple puts LTE 4G into the iPad 3, there won?t be a separate iPad 3 with 3G capability.

It does seem likely that an iPad 3 with LTE service on Verizon?s network would not work with LTE services from AT&T. Verizon Wireless and AT&T operate their 4G services on different frequency sets: they?re not interchangeable. It is possible Apple has the clout to build LTE-capable radios that would function on both networks, but it?s not clear that they have any incentive to do so ? and Verizon and AT&T would almost certainly resist the idea of customers being able to hop between carriers on a whim.

Another variable is LTE service outside the United States. European LTE services operate in different frequency blocks than either AT&T and Verizon, and LTE service in Japan is in a significantly different portion of the spectrum. Although Apple made real strides with the iPhone 4S as a ?world? phone, it seems unlikely the company would incur the per-unit cost of making a single LTE radio that could support a good range of international LTE services. That might happen in time, but seems improbable in the current market.

battery-life-indicatorPower play

As with the current generation of LTE smartphones, if the iPad 3 includes LTE capability, it?s going to have a significant impact on battery life. LTE smartphones are struggling to run for eight hours. Although the iPad 3 has a lot more room for batteries, it will also have a faster processor, more storage, and a much larger display to illuminate and manage. Apple likes to tout the iPad 2 has having 10 hours of battery life ? up to 9 hours with 3G. The iPad 3 will almost certainly have at least the same Wi-Fi battery life as the iPad 2, but a 4G radio is going to have an impact. Don?t be surprised if an iPad 3 using 4G LTE can only handle about six to eight hours of LTE use.

What about Sprint and T-Mobile?

While the iPhone is available from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint (as well as C Spire), only AT&T and Verizon offer the 3G iPad. Although Sprint will be launching LTE services this year, if the iPad 3 comes to Sprint, it will almost certainly be by falling back to 3G technology, rather than using 4G LTE. Apple will not likely make a version of the iPad 3 supporting Sprint?s existing WiMax services ? no Apple mobile products have ever supported WiMax, and with the technology slated to be phased out, the move wouldn?t make any sense now. Similarly, Apple doesn?t make any of its products (including the iPhone) compatible with T-Mobile?s specialized HSPA+ services: It?s hard to believe Apple would decide to make a special version of the iPad 3 just for T-Mobile.

Billing

The real question mark for an LTE iPad 3 would come down to billing for LTE services. Currently, AT&T; and Verizon offer pay-as-you-go billing for iPad users, with no contract required. AT&T starts off at $15 per month for up to 250MB of mobile data, scaling to $50 a month for up to 5GB. Verizon starts at $30 a month for 2GB, with 10GB a month available for $80. In either case, if users don?t use 3G services in a particular month, they don?t pay a cent.

Although mobile users are accustomed to making two-year commitments for phones, so far tablet users are averse to the same type of commitments, so it seems likely both AT&T and Verizon will stick to no-contact pay-as-you-go services for a hypothetical LTE iPad 3. But the rate structure is anybody?s guess. In theory, an LTE device on either AT&T?s of Verizon?s networks could eat through a 250 MB monthly data plan in as little as three minutes. Clearly, the data tiers for existing 3G service on the iPad will be impractical. Carriers will have to increase the tiers: the question is how they will change the pricing structure. And while a small subset of tablet users would likely pay for LTE whatever the cost, consumers don?t seem to find mobile broadband as important for tablets as it is for phones: recent studies find more than half of tablet owners stick to Wi-Fi.

apple-ipad-2What if the iPad 2 stuck around?

Here?s another variable to throw into the mix: Just as Apple has kept the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS around, Apple could decide to keep the iPad 2 on the market after the introduction of the iPad 3, albeit at a lower price point. A cheaper iPad 2 would enable Apple to compete easily with Android tablet manufacturers (like Amazon) that are undercutting the iPad on price. If the iPad 2 dropped to (say) $299 with the introduction of the iPad 3, suddenly the $199 Kindle Fire becomes a lot less compelling. And there?s no reason those less-expensive iPad 2?s wouldn?t still be available with optional 3G capability.

Conclusion

Even if 4G LTE capability in the iPad 3 doesn?t bring much to consumers ? and could be astonishingly expensive for heavy data users ? the move could be a solid marketing win for Apple, helping cement the iPad?s dominant position the tablet market. Just like adding a (low quality, inferior) camera to the iPad 2 let Apple tick an important marketing checkbox relative to other tablets (?has rear-facing camera?), 4G LTE would raise the bar for what other tablets would need to compete head-to-head with the iPad. Even if very few people use it.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120215/tc_digitaltrends/willapplefinallyembracelteimaginingthepossibilitiesofa4gipad3

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They Only Marry Ugly Girls in This Town? | SAR Home Staging And ...

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Melissa

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Source: http://stagingandredesign.com/2012/they-only-marry-ugly-girls-in-this-town/

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