NEW YORK -- From a starting field of nearly 1,500 aspiring opera singers across the country, it came down to 10 ? three sopranos, one tenor and six deep male voices ? on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House.
The contestants, all in their 20s, got to perform two arias with full orchestra Sunday afternoon, and when it was over, a panel of judges named six of them winners of the 60th annual National Council Auditions.
The heavy concentration of bass-baritones was a random occurrence, but it made for some unusual duplication in the program. Brandon Cedel, from Hershey, Pa., and Richard Ollarsaba, from Tempe, Ariz., both chose the same aria from Rachmaninov's "Aleko." Cedel sang his version with a beautifully burnished tone that put him in the winner's circle; Ollarsaba, almost as good, had to settle for being a runner-up. Earlier, Cedel brought elegant phrasing to the long lines of an aria from Bellini's "La Sonnambula"; that piece was also performed by another winner, bass Musa Ngqungwana, originally from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and representing the Middle Atlantic region.
The day's only tenor, Michael Brandenburg, from Austin, Ind., won a top prize by displaying an intriguingly distinctive sound, ardent and tinged with a slightly acidic vibrato, in arias from Cilea's "L'Arlesiana" and Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin."
The youngest contestant at 21, soprano Rebecca Pedersen, from Bountiful, Utah, used arias from Massenet's "Le Cid" and Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" to highlight a polished technique and potent sound that suggested she might grow beyond lyric roles. The lighter-voiced Sydney Mancasola, from Redding, Calif., sang with sparkling high notes and expressive nuance in "Caro Nome," from Verdi's "Rigoletto," improving on an uneven first outing in an aria from Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment." Both were among the winners.
Dramatically, the standout was bass-baritone Thomas Richards, from Burnsville, Minn., who gave a chilling interpretation of Claggart's soliloquy from Britten's "Billy Budd," and then closed the competition with a rollicking account of "La calunnia" from Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia."
Besides Ollarsaba, the runners-up were baritone Matthew Anchel, from New York City; soprano Tracy Cox, from Dallas; and baritone Efrain Solis, from Santa Ana, Calif.
The winners receive a $15,000 grant for further study, while the others get $5,000 each.
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and bass-baritone Eric Owens ? both competition winners back in the 1990s ? acted as co-hosts, and Radvanovsky helped fill the time during the judges' deliberations by unleashing an imposing but at times earsplitting version of "Pace, pace, mio Dio," from Verdi's "La Forza del Destino." Marco Armiliato conducted the Met orchestra.
Jonas Kaufmann
Jonas Kaufmann, a German tenor, will perform in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of Wagners' Parsifal this February. In this photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera Jonas Kaufmann performs during his solo recital at the Metropolitan Opera in New York Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)
Kristine Opolais
This January the Latvian soprano Kristing Opolais made her Met debut in Puccini?s ?La Rondine.? This January 8, 2013 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera shows Kristine Opolais as Magda and Giuseppe Filianoti as Ruggero in a dress rehearsal of Puccini's "La Rondine" at he Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)
Anna Netrebko
Anna Netrebko, a Russian soprano, takes on the role of Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at the Metropolitan Opera through February.
Charles Castronovo
American tenor Charles Castronovo has six operatic performance lined up for 2013 including 'La Rondine' at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London and 'La Traviata' at Staatsoper Berlin. FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2011 file photo US tenor Charles Castronovo in the role of Alfredo Germont performs during a dress rehearsal for Giuseppe Verdi's opera "La Traviata" at the state opera in Vienna, Austria. Premiere of the opera was on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, directed by Jean-Francois Sivadier and conducted by French Maestro Bertrand de Billy. (AP Photo/dapd, Lilli Strauss, File)
Piotr Beczala
The polish tenor Piotr Beczala will play the womanizing Duke in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of 'Rigoletto' this year. In this version of Verdi's opera Director Michael Mayer has set 'Rigoletto' in 1960s Las Vegas. In this Friday, March 23, 2012 photo, Anna Netrebko performs the title role alongside Piotr Beczala as Chevalier des Grieux during the final dress rehearsal of Jules Massenet's "Manon," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Daniel Okulitch
Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch will play Figaro in the Arizona Opera's performance of 'Le nozze di Figaro' in April. Singer Daniel Okulitch performs during a press rehearsal of the opera based on Canadian director David Cronenberg 1986 movie 'The Fly' on June 30, 2008 in Paris' Chatelet Theatre. ''The Fly' is directed by Cronenberg and conducted by Placido Domingo. The production was composed by Canadian Howard Shore after 'The Fly and will play five times in Paris from July 2 to 13 before opening in Los Angeles on September 7. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK (Photo credit should read PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images)
Pretty Yende
Pretty Yende, the South African soprano, made her Met debut this January as Countess Adele in 'Le Comte Ory.' In this Jan. 11, 2013 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Karine Deshayes, left, performs as Isolier with Pretty Yende as Countess Adele during a dress rehearsal of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Marty Sohl)
Vittorio Grigolo
Vittorio Gringolo, a tenor from Italy, performed his first recital at La Scala in January. BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 02: Singer Vittorio Grigolo attends the Echo Klassik 2011 award ceremony at Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt on October 2, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Daniel Modjesch/Getty Images)
Katherine Jenkins
Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins will begin her European tour with the classical crossover quartet Il Divo in March. LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 10: Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins performs live on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, during her 'This Is Christmas' tour on December 10, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Jacques Imbrailo
The South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo will play the title role in the Glyndebourne Festival's first performance of Billy Budd this year.
Anyone who has sold a house before knows that while ?magical? sales do sometimes happen.? On the eastside, more often selling a home takes a lot of work ? and a lot of marketing. No one can buy your house if they don?t even know it?s for sale. While every marketing plan is different, there are three main considerations to every home marketing plan.
Be Realistic with Your Price Point
Before you do anything else, you need to determine a realistic and workable price point. Personal history and moments have value to you, but buyers can?t see them so they don?t factor into the price. You?ll have to find comparable properties in the Eastside real estate market that are for sale or recently sold and see what similar homes have been able to manage in terms of listing price, and then price based on your goals. Your price is the first thing any potential buyer will notice about your marketing materials, so make sure it?s an eye-catcher.
Declutter, Depersonalise and Detach
The Eastside real estate market is competitive. Before you have photos or videos taken of your home, before you have showings, you have to make your house into somebody else?s house ? a house people will be able to picture themselves in. Removing personal items from the house will go a long way towards making it generic enough for people to apply their imaginations to the rooms.
A little light staging is also a good idea ? if it?s a bedroom, make sure it has a bed in it. If it?s a dining room, put a dining set in there. Remember, it is no longer a matter of showing how you use the rooms. A good strategy is to have a deliverable storage cube brought to the house. This way you can spend a day packing everything up, but you?re not making any permanent decisions ? you?re just storing all of your clutter for later evaluation.
Get the Local Word Out
People look at communities before specific houses. Listing your house involves more than an Internet posting ? you need to make sure that the local agents know your house is on the market, and that local folks looking for a new situation in the community find you. Make sure your agent is plugged into the community, and use every possible avenue at your disposal to get the word out, including local ads, bulletin boards, and local agent showings. Tailor your marketing to highlight the advantages the house has in the community ? location, proximity to amenities and necessities, and ease of access.
Marketing is vital to selling your home, but the marketing has to include a realistic price point, visuals that show your home in a neat and depersonalized manner so potential buyers can imagine themselves in it, and a local focus that highlights why your home is the ideal choice for homebuyers looking at your community.
Dan Edwards a comprehensive Real Estate Professional, known as "The Eastside Real Estate Guy." As an active Real Estate Broker on the Eastside, sharing with you what is going on on the Eastside. I hope you enjoy my posts and comment often!
Mar. 11, 2013 ? A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun, according to a paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The duo is the closest star system discovered since 1916. The discovery was made by Kevin Luhman, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and a researcher in Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds.
Both stars in the new binary system are "brown dwarfs," which are stars that are too small in mass to ever become hot enough to ignite hydrogen fusion. As a result, they are very cool and dim, resembling a giant planet like Jupiter more than a bright star like the Sun.
"The distance to this brown dwarf pair is 6.5 light years -- so close that Earth's television transmissions from 2006 are now arriving there," Luhman said. "It will be an excellent hunting ground for planets because it is very close to Earth, which makes it a lot easier to see any planets orbiting either of the brown dwarfs." Since it is the third-closest star system, in the distant future it might be one of the first destinations for manned expeditions outside our solar system, Luhman said.
The star system is named "WISE J104915.57-531906" because it was discovered in a map of the entire sky obtained by the NASA-funded Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. It is only slightly farther away than the second-closest star, Barnard's star, which was discovered 6.0 light years from the Sun in 1916. The closest star system consists of Alpha Centauri, found to be a neighbor of the Sun in 1839 at 4.4 light years, and the fainter Proxima Centauri, discovered in 1917 at 4.2 light years.
Edward (Ned) Wright, the principal investigator for the WISE satellite, said "One major goal when proposing WISE was to find the closest stars to the Sun. WISE 1049-5319 is by far the closest star found to date using the WISE data, and the close-up views of this binary system we can get with big telescopes like Gemini and the future James Webb Space Telescope will tell us a lot about the low mass stars known as brown dwarfs." Wright is the David Saxon Presidential Chair in Physics and a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA.
Astronomers have long speculated about the possible presence of a distant, dim object orbiting the Sun, which is sometimes called Nemesis. However, Luhman has concluded, "we can rule out that the new brown dwarf system is such an object because it is moving across the sky much too fast to be in orbit around the Sun."
To discover the new star system, Luhman studied the images of the sky that the WISE satellite had obtained during a 13-month period ending in 2011. During its mission, WISE observed each point in the sky 2 to 3 times. "In these time-lapse images, I was able to tell that this system was moving very quickly across the sky -- which was a big clue that it was probably very close to our solar system," Luhman said.
After noticing its rapid motion in the WISE images, Luhman went hunting for detections of the suspected nearby star in older sky surveys. He found that it indeed was detected in images spanning from 1978 to 1999 from the Digitized Sky Survey, the Two Micron All-Sky Survey, and the Deep Near Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky. "Based on how this star system was moving in the images from the WISE survey, I was able to extrapolate back in time to predict where it should have been located in the older surveys and, sure enough, it was there," Luhman said.
By combining the detections of the star system from the various surveys, Luhman was able to measure its distance via parallax, which is the apparent shift of a star in the sky due to Earth's orbit around the Sun. He then used the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pach?n in Chile to obtain a spectrum of it, which demonstrated that it had a very cool temperature, and hence was a brown dwarf. "As an unexpected bonus, the sharp images from Gemini also revealed that the object actually was not just one but a pair of brown dwarfs orbiting each other," Luhman said.
"It was a lot of detective work," Luhman said. "There are billions of infrared points of light across the sky, and the mystery is which one -- if any of them -- could be a star that is very close to our solar system."
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Neck injuries linked to high costs for patients and spouses, reports study in SpinePublic release date: 11-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Connie Hughes connie.hughes@wolterskluwer.com 646-674-6348 Wolters Kluwer Health
But negative social and health factors noted more than a decade before injury
Philadelphia, Pa. (March 11, 2013) - Patients with neck injuries incur increased health and social costswhich also affect their spouses and may begin years before the initial injury, reports a study in the March 1 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Some individuals and families seem more susceptible to experiencing socioeconomic consequences of neck injury, according to the new research by Dr Poul Jennum of University of Copenhagen and colleagues. Particularly for patients who develop chronic neck pain, the health and social costs may start to increase a decade or more before neck injury occurs
Higher Health and Social Costs for Patients with Neck Injuries
To analyze the "socioeconomic burdens" of neck injuries, the researchers used Danish national databases to identify approximately 94,000 patients who sustained neck injuries (other than fractures) from 1998 to 2009. The patients with neck injuries were matched to controls without neck injuries.
In addition to direct health care costs and prescription drugs, the study addressed indirect costs such as work disability and social security payments. The researchers also assessed health and social costs for the spouses of patients with neck injury; as well as changes in costs over time, including the years before the injury.
Nearly all cost categories were increased for patients with neck injuries. "Neck injury patients had significantly higher rates of health-related contacts, medication use and higher socioeconomic costs than controls," Dr Jennum and coauthors write. The spouses of patients with neck injuries also had increased costs for doctor visits, hospital services, and medications.
Social costsincluding sick pay, social welfare, and other "transfer payments"were also significantly higher for patients with neck injuries and their spouses. Despite receiving more welfare payments, patients with neck injuries had only slightly lower employment rates.
'Pre-existing Increased Vulnerability' to Higher Costs
Overall direct and indirect costs were about 2,500 higher for patients with neck injuries and 1,600 higher for spouses. "The consequences for the spouse were not negligible, accounting for approximately one-third of the total familial health-related costs," the researchers write.
The increases in both direct and indirect costs began to occur well before neck injuryup to eleven years earlier. Dr Jennum and colleagues write, "Particularly among those subjects whose injury had a long-term socioeconomic impactie, those who developed persistent symptoms after neck injuriesthere was evidence of a negative social- and health-related status several years before the accident." This pattern suggests a "pre-existing increased vulnerability" to the economic and social costs of neck injury, for both patient and spouse.
How could costs increase even before the neck injury? It may reflect the well-recognized psychosocial factors affecting people's ability to cope with back and neck pain, Dr Jennum and coauthors suggest. The increased costs for spouses may reflect a trend for people with "low-threshold sickness behavior" to choose spouses with similar tendencies.
Neck injury is a common and costly problem, with approximately ten percent of injured patients developing chronic neck pain and other symptoms. Whiplash-associated disorders occurring after traffic accidents are an example of a potentially chronic neck injury leading to high medical and social costs.
"Neck injuries are associated with major socioeconomic consequences for patients, their spouses and society," Dr the researchers conclude. The new findings suggest that some individuals and families may be predisposed to chronic neck pain and its adverse health and social impact. Dr Jennum and coauthors call for further research to "identify high-risk groups for chronic disease development and disease management, so that the costs and consequences for patients and society can be reduced."
###
Read the full article at spinejournal.com.
About Spine
Recognized internationally as the leading journal in its field, Spine (http://www.spinejournal.com) is an international, peer-reviewed, bi-weekly periodical that considers for publication original articles in the field of spine. It is the leading subspecialty journal for the treatment of spinal disorders. Only original papers are considered for publication with the understanding that they are contributed solely to Spine. According to the latest ISI Science Citation Impact Factor, Spine is the most frequently cited spinal deformity journal among general orthopaedic journals and subspecialty titles.
About Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is a leading international publisher of trusted content delivered in innovative ways to practitioners, professionals and students to learn new skills, stay current on their practice, and make important decisions to improve patient care and clinical outcomes. LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company with 2011 annual revenues of 3.6 billion ($4.6 billion).
[ | E-mail | 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.
Neck injuries linked to high costs for patients and spouses, reports study in SpinePublic release date: 11-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Connie Hughes connie.hughes@wolterskluwer.com 646-674-6348 Wolters Kluwer Health
But negative social and health factors noted more than a decade before injury
Philadelphia, Pa. (March 11, 2013) - Patients with neck injuries incur increased health and social costswhich also affect their spouses and may begin years before the initial injury, reports a study in the March 1 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Some individuals and families seem more susceptible to experiencing socioeconomic consequences of neck injury, according to the new research by Dr Poul Jennum of University of Copenhagen and colleagues. Particularly for patients who develop chronic neck pain, the health and social costs may start to increase a decade or more before neck injury occurs
Higher Health and Social Costs for Patients with Neck Injuries
To analyze the "socioeconomic burdens" of neck injuries, the researchers used Danish national databases to identify approximately 94,000 patients who sustained neck injuries (other than fractures) from 1998 to 2009. The patients with neck injuries were matched to controls without neck injuries.
In addition to direct health care costs and prescription drugs, the study addressed indirect costs such as work disability and social security payments. The researchers also assessed health and social costs for the spouses of patients with neck injury; as well as changes in costs over time, including the years before the injury.
Nearly all cost categories were increased for patients with neck injuries. "Neck injury patients had significantly higher rates of health-related contacts, medication use and higher socioeconomic costs than controls," Dr Jennum and coauthors write. The spouses of patients with neck injuries also had increased costs for doctor visits, hospital services, and medications.
Social costsincluding sick pay, social welfare, and other "transfer payments"were also significantly higher for patients with neck injuries and their spouses. Despite receiving more welfare payments, patients with neck injuries had only slightly lower employment rates.
'Pre-existing Increased Vulnerability' to Higher Costs
Overall direct and indirect costs were about 2,500 higher for patients with neck injuries and 1,600 higher for spouses. "The consequences for the spouse were not negligible, accounting for approximately one-third of the total familial health-related costs," the researchers write.
The increases in both direct and indirect costs began to occur well before neck injuryup to eleven years earlier. Dr Jennum and colleagues write, "Particularly among those subjects whose injury had a long-term socioeconomic impactie, those who developed persistent symptoms after neck injuriesthere was evidence of a negative social- and health-related status several years before the accident." This pattern suggests a "pre-existing increased vulnerability" to the economic and social costs of neck injury, for both patient and spouse.
How could costs increase even before the neck injury? It may reflect the well-recognized psychosocial factors affecting people's ability to cope with back and neck pain, Dr Jennum and coauthors suggest. The increased costs for spouses may reflect a trend for people with "low-threshold sickness behavior" to choose spouses with similar tendencies.
Neck injury is a common and costly problem, with approximately ten percent of injured patients developing chronic neck pain and other symptoms. Whiplash-associated disorders occurring after traffic accidents are an example of a potentially chronic neck injury leading to high medical and social costs.
"Neck injuries are associated with major socioeconomic consequences for patients, their spouses and society," Dr the researchers conclude. The new findings suggest that some individuals and families may be predisposed to chronic neck pain and its adverse health and social impact. Dr Jennum and coauthors call for further research to "identify high-risk groups for chronic disease development and disease management, so that the costs and consequences for patients and society can be reduced."
###
Read the full article at spinejournal.com.
About Spine
Recognized internationally as the leading journal in its field, Spine (http://www.spinejournal.com) is an international, peer-reviewed, bi-weekly periodical that considers for publication original articles in the field of spine. It is the leading subspecialty journal for the treatment of spinal disorders. Only original papers are considered for publication with the understanding that they are contributed solely to Spine. According to the latest ISI Science Citation Impact Factor, Spine is the most frequently cited spinal deformity journal among general orthopaedic journals and subspecialty titles.
About Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is a leading international publisher of trusted content delivered in innovative ways to practitioners, professionals and students to learn new skills, stay current on their practice, and make important decisions to improve patient care and clinical outcomes. LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company with 2011 annual revenues of 3.6 billion ($4.6 billion).
[ | E-mail | 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.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) ? It has been six long months since the last IndyCar race, when the focus was still on the drivers and the on-track product. The days since have been filled with politics, drama and debate over how to fix the troubled open-wheel series.
With the March 24 opener finally in sight, the drivers are eager to get back to work. But they head into the season much like IndyCar's fans ? in an odd wait-and-see mode about where the series is headed.
A recently commissioned report by the Hulman & Co. made a variety of recommendations for the series, including adding a three-race playoff and a season-ending race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Most the drivers at Monday's media day said they have no idea what suggestions from the Boston Consulting Group the series is seriously considering.
That includes veteran Scott Dixon, one of the very few who has so far met Mark Miles, who became CEO of Hulman & Co. in November. Dixon and Miles had dinner and attended an Indiana basketball game last week.
"I think the guy is very switched on," Dixon said. "I think he likes the fact it's a challenge, and I think at the moment he is open to the fact he doesn't know a whole lot about racing. Right now it seems he's just asking questions and seeing what comes back."
Dixon appeared to be in the minority of those who have so far had any interaction with Miles or had any discussions about the direction of the series.
Four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, considered one of the series leaders among the drivers, simply shook his head when asked if he's had any conversations with Miles. Three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves asked "Who is that?" during a discussion about current IndyCar leadership.
In fact, there was not a single representative of IndyCar's management team or the competition department present during the eight-hour media day.
It left the drivers as the spokespeople for the series, a role they are eager to fill. All of them have ideas on how to strengthen the series, and most of them center on increased marketing and a stronger television package.
"There's a lot of things in IndyCar that aren't broken, there's a lot less to fix than people think," James Hinchcliffe said. "It's just that some of the big things need to be fixed, and different parties have been giving their opinion. Some points were valid, but some were pretty wide of the mark. In reality, the No. 1 goal has to be increased television viewership. If we can solve that, then we can work to expand."
The key to increased viewership is getting people to watch the races. The BCG report found IndyCar to be "the best pure racing motorsports league in the U.S. ... but the series suffers from lack of awareness." The report then suggested myriad ways to lure new eyeballs.
AJ Allmendinger raced in the now defunct Champ Car Series, moved to NASCAR in 2007 and will now return to IndyCar in the Indianapolis 500 and at Barber Motorsports for Penske Racing this season. Having benefited in both fame and fortune from NASCAR's marketing machine, he doesn't think IndyCar needs gimmicks for growth and stability.
"I think IndyCar has just got to be marketed better," he said. "I don't know if fans see it, honestly that's part of the problem. Over the last several years, that's what NASCAR has done. They've marketed their drivers and they've told their stories, good or bad. In life now, that's what people are drawn to. If it can be marketed better, the series can be strong.
"There's room for more than one racing series. And there needs to be a strong open-wheel series. If the series is able to market itself better, people are going to watch."
Tony Kanaan doesn't disagree that marketing and television are the problem, but believes the efforts need to be combined and IndyCar should have a healthier presence on television. He points to all the NASCAR content on TV today and argues IndyCar has almost no programming outside of a race weekend on the air.
Kanaan said the recent addition of Hinchcliffe to two Speed channel programs is a start for IndyCar, but the series has a long way to go.
"TV is everything, that's what the sponsors want," Kanaan said. "We have the competition. We have the personalities. We need to get it on TV. NASCAR is on TV every single day. We need to put television shows on that show the personalities that tell our stories."
But Justin Wilson, who with Franchitti and Kanaan was part of a driver advisory board last season, wants more focus on the cars.
"We need to be the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in the U.S., the cars have got to be spectacular," Wilson said. "We need more power. When we race, it needs to be special. It's got to take your breath away. I remember that when I was younger, going to the track and watching Formula One cars and Indy cars. Now, you look, and these cars, they don't take your breath away."
Oriol Servia suggests rebuilding everything starting with the a renewed focus on the Indianapolis 500 by offering a $15 million prize to the winner. He got the idea from Townsend Bell, and admitted he first though Bell's idea was extreme but after thought thinks it could have some legs.
"Just think about it, one race, it pays $15 million to win, who cares about the rest of the season?" Servia said. "You'd get all kinds of drivers entering the race. Maybe NASCAR drivers, ALMS drivers, Grand-AM drivers, all kinds of people would show up. Then you've rebuilt the 500 and interest slowly starts to grow again in the rest of the season. It's a little out there, but maybe it could work."
It's not even clear who will ultimately make the decisions about IndyCar's future.
Although Miles now runs Hulman & Co., IndyCar doesn't officially have a CEO since Randy Bernard's firing in October. Jeff Belskus has been acting as interim CEO of the series while also running Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the series is two weeks away from the season opener without a permanent fix.
Dixon thinks Miles could run the series so long as he surrounds himself with a solid staff. Among the names that continues to circulate as candidate for IndyCar CEO is Zak Brown, founder and CEO of motorsports marketing agency Just Marketing International.
"When Randy was fired, the two guys I thought would be best for IndyCar were Mark Miles and Zak Brown," Graham Rahal said. "We've seen what Mark can do firsthand in Indianapolis with the Super Bowl, and everyone knows what Zak can do in motorsports. Both of them together in IndyCar could do a lot of good for the series."
Both Franchitti and Kanaan raced against Brown in their early years and endorsed him Monday for a role with the series.
"Zak is really smart, and I've got a lot of respect for what he's done," Franchitti said. "When you've got a guy with that experience and that Rolodex, he knows how to make things successful, it would just be really great to have him involved in IndyCar."
Said Kanaan: "He's very aggressive and he has a vision. The problem is, and it has been in this series all along, is if he has a vision, are they going to let him do what he needs to do? Otherwise he's just a spokesperson for the place and Zak doesn't want that job."
LovePalz, the virtual sex gadget designed for long-distance couples, has finally set a launch date for both its products and Web-based control center. On March 29, you can get your hands (and other parts) on Hera and Zeus, the two devices designed by Taipei-based company Winzz.
Many Utah cities are trying to clamp down on electronic billboards. Here?s the part of the story you probably didn?t hear: This new advertising option is great for small advertisers.
Say there are 10 northbound billboards on Interstate 15 in the Salt Lake Valley. In any given month, 10 businesses would contract with a billboard company and pay from $5,000 to $10,000 per month for that space.
Since companies aren?t allowed to build any more billboards, that limited supply means the price just keeps going up. In the future only big advertisers like Coca-Cola or Larry H. Miller will be able to afford billboards.
But with digital billboards, many smaller advertisers can afford to share that space because nobody has to climb up and hang a new ad. The messages on the electronic screen change every eight seconds. There?s no animation, just static ads electronically sent to the billboard from a computer somewhere. It?s hard to tell the billboard is even digital.
In an era when small business is under attack, the little guy needs a break. Digital billboards are just what we need.
Greg Jarrard Owner, Atomic Advertising Agency, Inc.
South Jordan
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The Afghan Army is training women to join its special forces. They are playing a key role in night raids, essential in the pursuit of Taliban commanders. NBC's Mandy Clark reports.
By Mandy Clark, Correspondent, NBC News
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- Severely outgunned, the battle was going badly. It seemed like certain defeat. Then, from out of the crowd stepped a young girl of around 14. She grabbed the pole from the fallen flag-bearer, held it up, and called out to her brothers-in-arms to fight to the death.
Though she was shot dead, her rallying cry was seen as the turning point of the 1880 Battle of Maiwand; a triumph for the Afghans, and a devastating loss for British forces during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Her name was Malalai, Afghanistan?s Joan of Arc.?
?If you go back into history, before we only had one female soldier named Malalai, but now I have a lot of Malalais in my Special Forces,? said Colonel Jalauddin Yaftaly, who heads the elite units.?There are more than 1,000 women in the Afghan Army ? and about two dozen have made it into Special Forces.?
In a country where equality is still a huge unresolved?issue, on the battlefield women are making huge strides.?
Col. Yaftaly said he saw a need for women in the Special Forces to help conduct night raids.?In 2011, he got permission to recruit women and has built up the female force to roughly 25, but says he needs more.?Even their male colleagues say their work is essential.?
NBC News
Female members of Afghan special forces in training.
?We do face death threats? Night raids are considered the most dangerous: Commandos enter the homes of suspected insurgents under the cover of darkness.
The military says these missions are key in capturing Taliban commanders, but they are deeply controversial because it is considered culturally offensive for male troops to search female Afghans in their homes. Now, when possible, it?s women searching women.?
?Our duty is to go inside the houses, search the women and children, make them calm and get them out of danger,? said new 21-year-old recruit Zakia Halakim.?
Halakim was part of the Afghan police force when she was approached to try out for the Special Forces by Col. Yaftaly, who seeks the top women in the Afghan forces.
?My family supports me, they never told me not to do it,? she said. ?They know it is important for Afghanistan.???
On the firing range, Halakim is practicing with two female colleagues. Sporting dark sunglasses, a helmet and scarves wrapped round their faces, their identities are hidden. They have to be. Working alongside men has made them special targets.?
The women are paid the same as the men when they are on an operation. Right now, their role is limited to night raids.?
?We do face death threats because our work is outside of our culture but this is an important job,? said Halakim.?
Hoping for change ?As far as the culture in this country, no it?s not acceptable in this country at all,? said Mahbouba Seraj, an?executive board member at the Afghan Women?s Network. ?It goes against every single grain of belief of an Afghan man.??
But Seraj believes these women might be able to change the way society thinks.?
?The most important thing is whether these women are going to do their jobs and really be effective ... are they really going to be saving lives of those women in the villages? If that is the outcome, then the whole view will change,? she said.?
In a training operation, the female Special Forces sweep the rooms for Afghan women. There could be hidden dangers, such as female suicide bombers. Their male colleagues say they are glad to have them.?
?We need our sisters as much as we need our brothers to join the army, police and Special Forces -- according to their interest -- and that will help us a lot,? said Agha Sharin Noori, an Afghan Special Forces soldier.
Brigadier General Mohammadzai Khatool is the only woman general in Afghanistan. During the Soviet occupation, she was a paratrooper with over 600 jumps -- but when the Taliban took over she was forced to leave the military and stay at home.
In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban, she was promoted to general. She believes women are an essential part of the military. ?
?Men and women are like two wings of the one bird. Working together, both are trying to defend their country and their people,? she said.?
Seraj agrees. ?These women are amongst the bravest in Afghanistan," she said. "I appreciate the first steps that they are taking so much. I wish I could be alive and be around to see them become generals in this country.?
Related:
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Chuck Hagel in Afghanistan: 'We're still at war'
Ultimate taboo: Actress takes on rape in Afghanistan
Officially released Thursday according to Sprint, the version of the LG Optimus G made for the nation's third largest carrier is now receiving its update to Android 4.1.2. The carrier tells us that this is software version LS970ZVA, and we have no reason to doubt them. Among the new features coming to the device, Project Butter gives you smooth, lag-free UI responsiveness. Google Now pushes out the latest information on things like traffic on your daily commute, sports scores, stock prices and more. Unlike other voice activated personal assistants, Google Now puts this information in your hands when you need it. Expandable notifications means that you can now take action right from the notifications screen. Miss a call? Instead of going back to the dialer, you can call from the notifications screen. Even pictures and video can be viewed without leaving your notifications.Other features on the Android 4.1.2 variant of the Sprint LG Optimus G include Android Beam which lets you share files and pictures wirelessly to another NFC enabled Android phone and notifications can now be turned off on specific apps. Users of the phone should also notice an improvement in voice search and in the camera app, and the mobile version of Chrome replaces the Android stock browser. You can check out the entire changelist from the sourcelink.
The update is being sent out OTA and as usual, if you don't get it right away, don't panic. These updates roll out in waves. It takes about 10 days for the update to cover all units of the Sprint LG Optimus G outstanding. The update will take 10 minutes to download over 4G or Wi-Fi, 20 minutes over 3G, and will take 5 to 10 minutes to install. While you are installing the update, no calls can be made or received. If the OTA version of the update hasn't arrived on your handset yet, you can try to manually coax it out by going to your home page. Tap on Menu>Settings>Update Firmware and if the update is there, follow the on-screen directions to install it.
Try to find low mileage discounts. You might be entitled to a low mileage discount, if you?re an driver. If your car isn?t actually out on the trail greatly a cheap car insurance professional will dsicover you as less of a risk.
Stick to third-party insurance?.
Have you been buying cheap auto insurance agent? You?re probably thinking about, Who isnt? Here are some tips for what discounts to check for, and enquire about, when looking for an inexpensive car insurance agent.
Search for low mileage savings. You could be eligible for a low mileage discount, if you?re an driver. If your car isn?t really out on the street quite definitely a cheap car insurance agent will dsicover you as less of a danger.
Stick to third-party insurance. Third-party insurance is a lot cheaper than full coverage insurance, and depending on the value of one?s car, you may want to select staying with third-party insurance when seeking a low priced car insurance agent.
Hold owners to the very least. When looking for a low priced car insurance agent, keeping the individuals you enhance your car insurance policy to the absolute minimum helps. Until the individuals usually push the car( s) on the car insurance policy, keep them off the car insurance policy and save some cash to yourself.
Keep your vehicle safe. Still another way to impress an inexpensive car insurance agent is by keepin constantly your car safe. If you are now living in an area that is considered dangerous especially one that?s a lot of car-related crime an insurance agent will see you as less of a risk if you take the measures to safely store your car through the night or anytime it isnt being pushed.
Young individuals don?t quit hope! Small people should make the most of starter policies. These procedures, which often last anywhere from six to eight months, are perfect for young individuals still beginning on earth of car and driving insurance. Beginning policies are cheaper than non-starter policies, and they allow no claims bonuses to be built up by the young drivers. Any driving courses should be also asked about by young drivers they can take to help them get auto insurance discounts. commercial gas
Hugo Chavez died a few days ago, but he's not exactly going six feet under any time soon. The late Venezuelan leader's body is going to be on display for a week so people can pay homage. But bodies rot starting immediately, and regular old funeral home embalming only lasts a matter of hours. How do you ensure that old dead Chavez continues to resemble formerly alive Chavez for viewing purposes? More »
Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (1782-1852) is commonly best known as the originator of the Kindergarten system. He was a German educationalist who was brought up with a strong Christian faith, which was pivotal to his educationalist thought. His love for nature also weighs heavy on his ideas and faith. He gained recognition from his first major work in 1826 The Education of Human Nature, but became renowned later in life when his kindergarten system gained acknowledgement. His ideas of kindergarten later took root in England, America and Australia and his work and ideas later influenced Karl Marx.
Froebel believed in the unity in all things stating that: ?an eternal law pervades and governs all things. The basis of this all-controlling law is an all-pervading, living, self conscious and therefore eternal unity. This unity is God.? He believed in the unity of knowledge and the interconnection of all things. Froebel was of the opinion that there are defined stages of infancy, childhood, boyhood and manhood. Stage two of childhood was what Froebel deemed the most important because he felt that at this stage they begin to come to terms with the unity of the universe and begin asking questions about life. His understanding of childhood was such that each child has a divine essence and is linked to the universe: ?it is, then, with childhood that real education begins. At this time the mind demands more care and attention than does the body?
Froebel believed in the child as fundamentally good. He said ? the only infallible remedy for counteracting any shortcomings and even wickedness is to find the originally good sources, the originally good side of the human?? his belief of the inherent goodness of a child relates to his ideas that the child should be encouraged to help and educate themselves in a certain respect. He thought that individual human prospects would come about through the work of the individual. He believed that ?the purpose of education is to encourage and guide man as a conscious, thinking and perceiving being in such a way that divine inner law through his own personal choice; education must show him the ways and meanings of attaining that goal.?
Froebels? conviction that children are naturally creative individuals and through play they become aware of their place in the world led to one of his central element of his pedagogical system, which is that of play. He felt that broadens their understanding of the environment they live in. Froebel thought that ?play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage,? and that ?play, then, is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child?s? soul.?
Froebel placed this emphasis on play in Kindergarten with the use of gifts (play materials) and occupations (activities). He believed that humans are essentially productive and creative and through engaging with the world, understanding could unfold. He presented the children with a series of geometrical gifts that were in a system of categories. A gift was given one at a time and the child was left to discover its properties and possibilities for design. Here, Froebels idea of unity was put into practice, as each toy related to the next in some way, which exemplifies the unity of all objects and things in the world. For example, the first ?gift? is a ball. Froebel writes that we should be ?concerned only with the ball itself in its simplest form and in its simplest relations. It may be free, or attached to a string, and in each case it can be moved either freely and indeterminately or vertically, horizontally, or obliquely, with reference to given surfaces. Here, as it were, it acts as a guide into the world of things, tracing their outlines by its movements, and so representing them?should be considered in relation to the child himself.? In this way, the child is free to discover the elements of the ball and educate and learn for themselves simply by observation and interaction with the ball. Froebel thought that ?Every external object comes to man with the invitation to determine its nature and relationships? the succeeding gift after the ball would be the Globe. Its has obvious similarities to the ball, but for a child, it represents a new level of understanding, for example its weight means that it moves in a different way to the ball. The globe did not banish or replace the ball; it reinforced the previous gift of the ball. The child would progress through stages of gifts and simultaneously each stage of understanding. However Froebel was sure that ?only the adequate development of man at each preceding stage can effect and bring about adequate development at each succeeding later stage.? He ultimately felt that: ?a plaything is any thing which is related to the child as means to a purpose, and which, by creating pleasant anticipation, calls forth play in which he finds fresh and continuous pleasure.?
The activities set for the children in Kindergarten included games, songs and stories designed to assist in sensory and physical development and socialisation. By playing, children socialise and imitate adult social and economic activities as they are gradually led into the larger world of group life. This relates to Froebels? idea of whole child education, where the child is being educated all round as an individual of society.
Froebel believed that the teacher-student relationship should be one of equality, not authority and felt that there should be a strong influence of the parent and siblings on the child?s educational learning and maturation. He believed that the child should receive a religious education as well. He states:
?I would educate human beings who with their feet stand rooted in gods earth, in nature, whose hands reach even into heaven and there behold the truth, in whose hearts are united both earth and heaven, the varied life of earth and nature??
I have discussed Froebels idea of the importance of play in kindergarten and in the development of the child. I believe it is one of his most specific and most emphasised elements of his pedagogical system. However In saying that term from the question, it raises a few problems. Pedagogy usually refers to a teaching system of a comprehensive plan on how to educate, whereas Froebels ?pedagogy? would be not to have one. He believed that the child?s environment made up the curriculum for the education and the children would teach themselves in certain ways and understand the environment and discover things for themselves. He said that: ??each individual learner contributes to, and collaborates in, his or her own learning.? Through this problem it is evident that Froebel had certain ideas on childhood that began his theoretical ideas on kindergarten, which later developed more fully into a sort of pedagogy.
In conclusion it is clear that Froebel was highly interested in the central figure of the child and their individual learning experience, similar to that of today?s child centred education. Froebel ultimately believed ?the essential business of the school is not so much to teach and to communicate a variety and multiplicity of things, as it is to give prominence to the ever-living unity that is in all things? Froebels kindergarten system and his idea of the nature of children are quite cohesive in such ways that he allows the child to educate themselves in the setting of the kindergarten thought use of his gifts and allows the child a certain freedom to explore the natural world and in turn develop their understanding of the universe. He wanted to develop individuals who were all rounded in their education and who had certain moral stances and who were in a way, free thinkers. In conclusion, his overall understanding and aim of kindergarten was that: ? Education in other words, should lead man to a clear knowledge of himself, to peace with nature, to unity with God.?
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According to folks in the know who've spoken to Bloomberg and The New York Times, Apple's oft-rumored streaming radio service is set for a late arrival. The reason is because of snails-pace negotiations with the publisher Sony/ATV for music licensing deals. As the Times notes, Sony no longer lets outsiders like ASCAP dole out licenses, leaving itself as chief point of contact for such agreements on its content -- this apparently got Pandora locked into a twenty five-percent increase on royalty payments to Sony. Prior to today's reports, Bloomberg stated that Cupertino was aiming for a Q1 release for this year, and the NYT notes Apple hoped that launch would've happened near the Grammy Awards. If you'll recall, Apple's service is said be direct competition to others like Pandora rather than Spotify, as it would be ad-supported for revenue. As usual, take all of this with a grain of salt, and don't get too thirsty for an Apple-curated streaming music service just yet. More info at the source links.
American Idol recap: On Thursday night, the final 10 boys competed for five spots. But with abysmal performances, few deserved a place in the top 20. Who was it?
By Jodi Bradbury,?Contributor / March 1, 2013
Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Ryan Seacrest attend the Fox Winter TCA Tour in California this January. On Thursday, the judges made their final decisions which boys will be in the top 20.
Todd Williamson/Invision/AP
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What a difference one day can make. On Wednesday night, the American Idol judges were faced with the tough task of having to send some truly talented girls home. ?On Thursday night, it seemed as though the struggle would be finding a single guy who deserved to stay.
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In fact, although the judges loved Vincent Powell's?rendition?of?"Cause I Love You," by Lenny Williams, the show didn't really start until Burnell?Taylor performed ? and he was the eighth one to sing. When the final judgements came from the American Idol judges, three out of the five to make it through were the last three to perform.?
Which is to say that this episode of American Idol was best watched via DVR, with your finger poised over the fast forward button. If you felt the need to watch it in its entirety, let his be a lesson to you. There is no need to make yourself suffer - especially when you have a writer who is committed to doing the suffering for you and then telling you about how bad it all was afterwards. Help me to help you.
Thursday's episode prompted so many questions. How in the world does Mariah Carey not know the song, "A Little Less Conversation?" Why would Gurpreet Singh Sarin?decide that now was a good time to abandon the type of performance that got him this far and instead opt for a painful version of "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You," by James Morrison? Why would Bryant Tadeo spend his entire intro clip talking about how proud he was to be Hawaiian and then sing, "New York State of Mind?" Who else was holding out for "Pineapple Princess?"
In the end, the judges needed to do their job and that job was not to pick the best but to pick those that weren't quite as bad as the others, with the exception of Burnell who is, in some strange way that is really hard to define, possibly the best of all the boys this season. Keith Urban summed it up best when he called Burnell, "so strikingly unique." Sure, he's not quite as unique as Zoanette Johnson but Burnell can actually sing, which is something that many people feel is important in, you know, a SINGING competition.
Joining Burnell in the top five on Thursday was Vincent Powell. Vincent is one of those singers who has legitimate talent but somehow it isn't talent that you actually want to listen to for very long. If he wants to stay in the competition once America starts voting, he needs to tone down his vocal acrobats and overindulgence.
Lazaro Arbos also made his Las Vegas dreams come true by singing Keith Urban's song, "Tonight I Wanna Cry," which was a sentiment many viewers were no doubt sharing. Not far behind Lazaro was Cortez Shaw. Nicki Minaj has a sweet spot for Cortez - never missing an opportunity to tell him how sexy he is. And even though there was nothing sexy about the hack job Cortez did on David Guetta's, "Titanium," you have to remember that tonight was about choosing those who weren't quite as bad as the rest. If you don't have a good voice, good looks is the next best thing.
This left us with our final two of the evening - a face off between Gurpreet and Nick Boddington. Neither of these two contestants delivered a great performance but Nick's managed to be the less offensive of the two and the judges agreed.
It appeared, after the judges announced their final decisions, that viewers were again in disagreement with the final decision. Of course, the Twitter barometer doesn't specify exactly what the viewers agree or disagree with. The 71 percent who tweeted #IdolDisagree could very well have been saying that they disagreed with the judges' decisions to save either of the final two.?
So even though they had very little to work with, the judges managed to deliver yet another five contenders for the title of American Idol. These five will join the previous five from last week:
Charlie Askew
Paul Jolley
Elijah Liu
Devin Velez
Curtis Finch, Jr.
Next week, American Idol goes into hyperdrive with a three-night format. But before they do, share your thoughts about Thursday night's contestants in the comments section below. Did you find the show painful to watch? Do you think Idol should abandon their 10 boys-10 girls format and vote based solely on talent rather than gender??
"Oh my god, I didn't silence my phones?" That's how Myriam rolls... a multi-mobilist. When you're at one of the largest mobile conferences in the world, though, what do you expect? As you can imagine, the mobile crew aren't short of things to talk about this week. Head south, then, to scoop up those abundant audio news nuggets.
Google has just provided a veritable boon to Android devs and custom ROM makers. The Mountain View company has recently uploaded the latest Android 4.2.2 binaries to the Nexus device download page for allAOSP-supported Nexus gear: the Nexus 4, the Nexus 7 WiFi, the Nexus 7 3G, the Nexus 10, the global version of the Galaxy Nexus and its Verizon equivalent. This also means that the AOSP binaries for the Nexus 7 3G and the Nexus 4, which had been missing from previousupdates. If you've been on the hunt for the latest and greatest drivers for your wares, go ahead and download the binary of your choice from the source below and get to updating it before a certain green pie update comes along.
Most high-tech terms are not easy to understand, especially if you?don?t work in technology.? It?doesn?t?have to be that way though! Most terms just need to be explained in a different way.? On the flip side, if you work in IT, you know it?s not always easy to explain things in a way that a non-techie will understand, and here?s where we find ourselves at an impasse.? I wrote this article with the idea in mind that I could help bridge this gap by describing a few of the most commonly misunderstood terms in a way that could make sense to even the most tech-illiterate.
CPU
A CPU is not a computer; let?s get that out of the way right off the bat.? CPU actually stands for Central Processing Unit.? The CPU is really the brains of the computer.? That seems easy to understand,?doesn?t?it?? The CPU is in charge of receiving input from the computer?s hardware and software and interpreting it in a way that it can be executed.? Without the CPU, you?wouldn?t?be able to pull up Microsoft Word, send an email or doing anything really.? You might have to make the choice between an AMD and Intel processor; you are choosing a CPU manufacturer.? Some people only like Intel, some AMD; it just depends on what you plan on doing with your computer system.
The Internet
What?s the difference between the Internet and the intranet?? Well, first off, see that the Internet is capitalized; that?s because it?s describing the Internet itself, a living, breathing network of networks.? The Internet consists of government, educational and private entities that are connecting via wired or wireless networking technologies.? The Internet can seem to be something beyond understanding, but this Ted talk from Andrew Blum titled ?What is the Internet Really?? should help you understand it much better than you ever have before.
The Cloud
I guarantee you haven?t heard a buzzier tech world in your life than ?the cloud.? ?There are so many misconceptions about the cloud.? You can store your data in the cloud, house your email in the cloud, and play music that?s in the cloud on your device, among many other things.? Simply put, the cloud is a collection of servers or storage containers that exist in a location other the than your own computer?s hard drive.? For you to access your data in the cloud, you basically need an end point or a device with Internet access such as your phone, tablet or PC.? When you access your data/music/backups in the cloud, you are simply logging into a hosting company?s server or storage device and pulling down your data through the Internet.? It?s that simple.? Where your data/music/backups are?doesn?t?matter to you, just as long as you can get it on demand.? In fact, most of you have been using the cloud for a long time and don?t even realize it.? If you have any sort of webmail, such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, guess what?? You are using the cloud. Doesn?t?seem so complicated now does it?
VoIP
Voice-over-Internet Protocol or VoIP is a great technology.? Much like the cloud,?you?ve?most likely used VoIP before.? Ever used Skype?? Tango?? Vonage?? You guessed it;?you?ve?used VoIP technology.? VoIP uses the Internet Protocol to deliver voice from end to end. Basically, you are using the Internet to talk instead of a standard phone line.
App
Yes, we?ve all heard the ?there?s an app for that? ad campaign by Apple, but what is an app really?? There are apps for your banking, movie times, sports, news and, of course, games.? Apps or applications, are what I like to think of as the Internet a la carte.? Apps are basically the Internet in smaller doses.? Remember the days when we used to surf the Internet to find out banking info, or surf the Internet to read the news or get sports scores?? That era is dead (mostly, anyway) and the era of apps or Internet a la carte is alive and well.
Ethernet
We all know that the cable plugged into our router and into the back of our computer is an Ethernet cable, right?? Wrong.? The cable is actually a Cat5e cable, not an Ethernet cable.? Ethernet is a protocol used by computers to deliver networking across a physical medium such as Cat5e cable.? Ethernet can also be delivered wirelessly via radio waves emitted from a wireless router, which is what just about all of use on a daily basis.
If You?Didn?t?Know, Now You Know
Congratulations! You now know some geek speak! When it comes down to it, it?s just good to learn something new or understand it better.? The only thing I want you to take away is to never be afraid to ask a question if you don?t understand something.? There are no dumb questions, and any good IT guy would love to explain to you in detail any tech topic you are interested in.? The guys that can talk your ear off are the guys that love what they do, so don?t be afraid to ask!
Or, if geek speak is like your second language, hopefully this article will help you the next time you get stuck trying to explain to your family what you do for a living. ?I know you?ve been there!
(Editor?s note: See Greg?s blog for a post he wrote asking people to help him figure out a way to describe virtualization to his family.)
Need to brush up on your basics? Check out TrainSignal?s new CompTIA A+ 220-801 (2012 Objectives) course and sign up for a 3-day free trial to access all of our courses.
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About the Author
Greg Stuart is a vExpert and systems administrator/network administrator by trade, who has worked a slew of IT jobs in his career. He's put his time in with certification training, obtaining A+, Network+, Security+, MCP, CCNA, VCP4, VCP5 and NCDA. He now works as an IT consultant and runs the blogs, vDestination and vLATAM.
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Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
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