Play Marks Director's 100th Show

The saying goes that everything comes full circle, and Director Rex McGraw is proving that to be true.

The director of the upcoming production Light Up the Sky – which will play at the Marion Art Center this weekend and next – is celebrating a special milestone: his one hundredth production. And even more amazing is that his directorial debut in 1961 at Indiana University was none other than Light Up the Sky.

“I’m dedicating this to my best friend in life, Bill Harbin,” he said of a gentleman who was in his production 50 years ago. “He passed away two years ago.”

Mr. McGraw recalled his experience as a student directing the three-act play, which chronicles the back stage drama of New York theatre folk during the opening of their new play in Boston.

“The [Indiana University] faculty liked it so much they opened the season with it,” he remembered. Since then, he has led a successful career directing and performing in plays in a dozen states, and ended up retiring in Mattapoisett in 2002.

Decades later, Mr. McGraw said Light Up the Sky still brims with great humor and characters that stand the test of time. The play was written by Moss Hart, best known for his hit musical My Fair Lady, but also acclaimed for his comedies You Can’t Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner.

“It’s not a farce, but a comedy. There is a lot of talk, but intelligent humorous talk and the characters are just terrific. It sort of makes fun of theater people but in a nice way,” Mr. McGraw said. In total, the cast includes 10 actors and actresses that often appear on stage at the same time.

“It’s a difficult play because all the scenes have six to eight people in them. It is very hard to learn that because it is not like two people having a conversation… And there are lengthy speeches,” he said. To nail down their parts, the cast has been hard at work rehearsing since September.

“They are working very hard. It’s a good group. They are congenial and work well together,” Mr. McGraw said.

“We appreciate the fact he is sharing his experience,” said David Horne, who plays an older playwright in the show, of Mr. McGraw. Mr. Horne agreed that the play is unique because there are many main characters, not just one or two people who take up the spotlight. “It is very much an ensemble show.”

Actor Jay Gould, who plays the Director in the play, said the cast is making strides, especially in developing their characters. “It’s fun, we all think it’s coming together,” he said.

The bright side of darkness

The clocks have gone back, so get set for the winter blues, triggered by shorter hours of daylight. One in 15 of us will have full-blown Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Last week, a survey of 11,000 people revealed that 77 per cent of Britons say they are negatively affected by cold, dark winter mornings.

But darkness is not all bad news. Indeed, some experts say many of us fail to get the amount of exposure to darkness we need to maintain health.

Scientists have linked too much light at night-time to breast cancer.

In a study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), experts suggested that while family history, smoking, drinking and poor diet are the main risk factors for breast cancer, excessive exposure to electric light during night-time hours could reduce our resistance to the disease.

Light at night interferes with the production of the so-called ‘darkness hormone’, melatonin, one of our natural defences against cancer.

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland — a pea-sized gland just beneath the centre of the brain — in response to darkness.

It is a powerful antioxidant, which is claimed to suppress the growth of some types of cancer cells, especially when combined with certain anti-cancer drugs.

Melatonin may also stimulate a type of white blood cell known as natural killer cells, which attack tumours.

It’s not just breast cancer that seems to be affected by darkness.

Researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel showed that countries with the highest levels of street lighting have the highest rates of prostate cancer.

According to the scientists, over-use of artificial lighting appears not only to suppress melatonin production, but to weaken the immune system and disturb the body’s biological clock, all of which could lessen natural defences against prostate cancer.

‘This doesn’t mean we have to go back to the Middle Ages and turn all the lights out,’ says Professor Abraham Aim, of the research team.

‘But the link should be taken into account when planning energy policies.’

Men living in countries with the highest level of exposure to artificial night-time light were at an 80 per cent greater risk of prostate cancer than those with the lowest light exposure.

Let's ditch hazardous household trash

Hawke's Bay is one of only a few regions which hold regular hazardous chemical collections and this year nearly 20 tonnes of waste is expected to be dropped off at centres in Hastings and Napier.

The HazMobile scheme has run in the Bay each year since 2003 and, over that time, had collected about 146 tonnes of waste from paints to automotive products, light bulbs and batteries.

Hastings District Council waste minimisation planner Angela Atkins said hazardous waste could cause serious harm to people and the environment if not disposed of correctly.

"All residents should have a look around their properties to identify items which could be best disposed of at the HazMobile."

Chemicals handed in would go to a variety of destinations where they could be recycled or carefully disposed of.

Chemicals out of cars are managed by Bards Environmental in Hastings. Enviropaints from Otaki will be in Hawke's Bay to take paint handed in at the collection to recycle.

Other chemicals on the day are transported to Auckland where they are treated at a centre and other "dangerous chemicals" were sent to Europe where they were processed under the Basel Convention, a document which sets out international guidelines for waste disposal.

Light bulbs and fluorescent light tubes were collected by EnviroWaste Wellington for processing at its plant in the capital while gas bottles and gas heaters were collected by Gas Works, Hastings.

Last year about 19 tonnes of waste was collected from the HazMobile unit and about 20 tonnes in 2009. In terms of volume, paint recorded the highest figures followed by chemicals, then light bulbs and tubes.

Ms Atkins said the e-waste collection, which is another annual operation where people can hand in old TVs and computers, would not be held this year because the Ministry for the Environment had decided not to support it financially.

She said the council was keen to hold an e-waste collection next year, possibly in partnership with private enterprise, because of the number of CRT televisions being discarded as people switch to the digital television network.

"The Warehouse had a TV take-back not so long ago and collected 28,000 TVs nationally. It is high on our priority list."

The collection was a free service and would be held at the Hastings Sports Centre, Railway Rd, on Saturday, November 12 and at the Eastern Truck and Marine, Austin St, Onekawa in Napier on November 13. It will be open from 10am to 2pm on both days.

Eco lighting: a buyer’s guide

Halogen bulbs are a variation on incandescent bulbs and possess a similar tungsten filament. The big difference is that they also contain halogen gas which slows down deterioration, thus extending the life of the bulb. They look and act in a very similar ways to incandescent bulbs and can save between 25 per cent and 30 per cent more energy than the former, which although an improvement, is less of a reduction than other energy-saving bulbs. They are the nicotine patches of the lighting world: a good option if you need to wean yourself off the more damaging incandescent bulbs, but not for long term use.

Fluorescent lamps, which often come in long, thin tubes, have been available commercially for over 70 years. Throughout their existence fluorescent lamps have been beset with problems including a tendency to give off a rather unattractive, harsh, white light and to flicker intermittently - something which can only be fixed by a sharp jab of a broom handle to their casing. They are also only effective as energy savers if they are not regularly switched on and off throughout the day, which explains why they are most often used in schools and businesses. Although problems such as flickering are less noticeable in modern models, standard fluorescent lamps are still better suited for commercial rather than domestic use thanks to their awkward shape and low light quality. If you do want to use them at home, they are best employed for lighting under cabinets. 

This is the type of bulbs most often marketed as ‘energy saving’. The compact version of fluorescent bulbs, they are without many of the drawbacks of standard fluorescent lamps: warming up quickly and not so prone to the odd flicker. The quality of the light is also superior, and less akin to something out of The X-Files. The presence of mercury in these bulbs has lead to some sensationalist headlines over the last few years but most of these fears are unfounded, according Peter Hunt.

‘To put it in perspective, the average thermometer has about 10,000 times as much mercury in it than a compact fluorescent bulb’,’ he says. If you break one, it is best not to rub your hand in the mess then put it in your mouth but as long as you avoid that - and remember to recycle the bulbs properly - you should be fine. CFL bulbs have a lifespan of eight times the amount of regular bulbs, and replacing an incandescent bulb with one can reduce the amount of carbon emitted by 70 per cent as well as saving you 7 per bulb every year.

LED lighting is often touted as the future of lighting. ‘We predict that the peak of this business will be around 2013 to 2014,’ says Shari Burton, director of the lighting company Burton and Sons. At the moment, LED lighting is more common in electronics, business and commercial usage. The Co-op, for example, announced in July that it was installing LED lighting in freezers in 800 of its stores. Because LEDs are still a relatively new technology, many products are beset by problems.

According to a recent report on LED lighting commissioned by Blackswan PLC,  ‘there is a lack of standardisation within the LED lighting industry. This has meant some LED light bulbs claiming to last up to five years have lasted a much shorter time.’ The best way to avoid these problems is to go with trusted manufacturers such as Phillips, Osram or Megaman.

Light Monitoring System Keeps Glendale, Ariz., Out of the Dark

Not so long ago, work crews that replaced burned out streetlights relied upon citizens to call in and report them. The process took time.

Now, more and more public works departments are using remote technology to find darkened streetlights in near real time. One of them is Glendale, Ariz., located 10 miles northwest of Phoenix. Glendale has installed a wireless outdoor street light monitoring and control system aimed at keeping the city well lit.

The system, called “Remote Operations Asset Management” was installed by Glendale in 2008 to monitor the daily performance of each street Diving lamp within the city’s 55 square miles. The technology allows the city to take immediate action and repair a light that’s malfunctioning burned out.

The system connects to state-of the-art photo cells that were installed in each of the city’s nearly 20,000 street lights. The cell controls each light’s timing and also records its performance at 30-minute intervals.

“I describe it as a photo cell on steroids,” said Mike Sills-Trausch, Glendale’s city’s street lighting program manager. “Every street light across the United States is operated by a photo cell that tells the light when to turn off and when to turn on, but the ROAM photo cells have a computer circuitry in it and that allows each node to communicate its operating condition to a gateway approximately every 30 minutes.”

In Glendale, about 50 gateways have been installed around the city so that the information about the streetlights is transmitted via the Internet to the ROAM vendor’s office in Atlanta. Once the vendor, Acuity Brands, receives the information, Glendale city staff can access the data online to see the city’s light performances from the previous day.

Glendale takes 10 to12 work orders each day regarding light repair. The work orders can be completed through a module within the ROAM system, which can also be tracked until the repair is completed. With the use of ROAM’s integrated mapping software and GPS technology, service technicians are able to more accurately identify the location of the street light that needs repair, according to Sills-Trausch.

Prior to the system installation, the city would do night-time sweeps once every three to six months in which volunteer group members would drive around the city, recording and reporting the locations of burned out street lights.

With this method, several hundred work orders for maintenance would be made at once, an amount that couldn’t be processed all at once. By immediately receiving information about needed repairs, the city no longer has to respond to street light work orders in large waves.

Once the system was implemented, it reported that more than 10 percent of Glendale’s street lights either weren’t working properly or weren’t operating to industry standards, according to Acuity Brands.

Lush launch

Tossing away all modicum of modesty, since the tone was set right at the book launching last Thursday, this author impinges on your patience, and imposes the following exercise in breast-beating.

I believe it was good ol’ buddy Pete Lacaba whom I overheard mock-griping at the Champagne Room of The Manila Hotel (even as he had reduced anew the amber-colored contents of the third single malt whisky bottle propping me up at my author’s signing table): “How can anyone else launch a book now, after this guy’s set the bar so high?” Or something like that.

A similar comment was voiced by another good ol’ buddy, National Artist for Literature Rio Almario, who more or less opined to us in private: “Ang yabang mo.” Or something like that. Heh heh. Well, flaunt it if you’ve got it, an abiding principle goes, especially when it has to do with the magical power of friendship.

It so happens that I dine and drink regularly with a gracious couple, Ricky and Ginny Banaag, at La Regalade French bistro on Arnaiz Avenue, where hearty dalliances are conducted with perennial host Bubot Quicho, the first ever Pinoy GM of a five-star hotel in Manila (the Hyatt, way back when).

Sometime ago Ginny became a Veep at The Grand Old Lady, which everyone now says has acquired more than just a facelift, maybe since she helped take over the proceedings, from décor to menus to getting the once-fabled Tap Room back as a livewire jazz venue, with maestro Romy Posadas headlining the scintillating live performances on a nightly basis — various divas alternating on voice — plus Sandra and Jun Viray and the recently departed (with much lament) Koyang Ed Avenir.

When Cirque de Soleil was in town, hosted by Manila Hotel, we were invited to a post-performance party at Champagne Room. We hadn’t seen it decked out in such classy finery for ages, but that night it was back in exquisite form, as elegant as they come for convivial parlors, with crystal palm trees by Impy Pilapil.

Then last month Philippines Graphic magazine held its annual Nick Joaquin Awards for the Short Story at Maynila Hall, and again we saw how this venue, last visited when then President Erap gave out millions in cash prizes for the 1998 Centennial Literary Awards for the Novel, had not only had its patina burnished, but proved captivating with such ambience as can be provided by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin’s original design.  

Somewhere in Pasig, closer to home? Maybe at Midas Touch, helped run by Bedan buddy Jun Diangco, where a large terrace offered a good view of Marikina Valley awash in lights once the sun went down. But what if it rained? Booklover friends might scurry to the casino tables and lose their shirts before they could pick up a copy of my 26th title.

Then I thought of texting amiga Ginny. What about Manila Hotel? I was pleasantly surprised to see her SMS reply in bold, “Amin na yan!” Or something like that. She asked how many guests we would expect, said something about Sampaguita Hall having been newly refurbished. I said I liked where we partied with the sirkeros, having retained good loving memories of my date that night, er, rather, the night altogether.

Cold Commuters

Diana Hanks is no fair-weather cyclist. In fact, the Winooski resident, an operating-room assistant at Fletcher Allen Health Care, actually prefers bike commuting in winter. Never mind the cold season’s potential dangers and discomforts.

For one thing, “There are fewer thieves around,” Hanks says, noting that her bike was stolen one warm day outside the hospital. “There are fewer creeps, too,” she adds. “Some guy chased me one night. That doesn’t happen when it’s freezing out.”

Hanks finishes her shift at 11:30 p.m. and then pedals along Colchester Avenue to her home. In winter, she rides on the sidewalk to avoid the perils of icy roads narrowed by snowbanks. “The sidewalks are almost always plowed,” Hanks says. “It feels a lot safer than being on the street.”

Charlene Wallace, on the other hand, sticks to Pine Street in the snow and slush when cycling between her South End home and her job at Local Motion on the waterfront. “The sidewalks are dangerous because of all the driveways,” Wallace says. “Cars don’t expect to see you when they’re backing out or pulling in.”

Hanks, however, says she prevents unpleasant encounters by shining her front light directly into the face of a driver exiting or entering a driveway. Plus, Hanks notes, “I give everybody the right of way.”

But why would anyone go to such extremes? What’s the point of biking into Arctic headwinds and through rain, sleet, snow and gloom of night?

Convenience is one reason. “It’s much faster and easier to go by bike than by car in winter,” says Lisa Aultman-Hall, an engineering professor who cycles a mile and a half to and from the University of Vermont nearly every day between December and April. “You’ve got to scrape off your car, and parking and then walking to your office can be a real hassle,” she says. “I love biking right up to the door and then just hopping on my bike when I leave.”

And cycling is certainly quicker than walking. “I just don’t have the patience to go by foot,” Wallace says, adding, “I’ve got to get some exercise to offset all the time I spend sitting at the computer. It’s a healthy and satisfying way to commute. Also, it’s way fun.”

All-weather bike commuters such as Wallace have come to make up a fellowship rather than a freak show. Many more cyclists will take to the streets this winter than have previously, predicts Glenn Eames, owner of the Old Spokes Home bike shop in Burlington’s Old North End. One factor promoting cycling beyond Thanksgiving is that “global warming has changed the seasons a bit,” he observes. “It stays warmer a little longer.”

For Mike Beganyi, a wintertime pleasure cyclist, the rewards take the form of “therapy or meditation.” Biking on snowy trails reveals “a whole different world,” Beganyi says. “It gives me head space that I really need.”

A HEALTHY FOCUS

TACKLING the issue of childhood obesity has become a central objective for parents, childcare providers and anyone with an interest in the care of young children. In light of this the Wexford County Childcare Committee entitled its ninth annual conference, 'Healthy Lifestyle – Happy Life'. The conference, which was held at the Ferrycarrig Hotel on Saturday, was organised to demonstrate the link between physical and emotional wellbeing in children.

There was a wide variety of groups and individuals in attendance at this year's conference. Childcare development officers Eithne Gallagher and Jillian White explained that the event was intended to cater for everyone involved in caring for children, parents or childcare providers.

Emer Murphy Tomkins, a special needs assistant, pointed out that the conference was particularly informative for people working with children with special needs. Encouraging a healthy lifestyle and physical activity is important when assisting children with conditions such as autistic spectrum disorder. There was also a significant number of early childhood care and education students from the Wexford Campus of Carlow IT in attendance. Students Elaine O'Brien and Vivienne Rothwell expressed the need for conferences such as this in order to increase the profile of childcare providers as a profession.

A schedule of activities addressed the need not only for children to lead a healthy life style, but for their parents or carers to do so also. With respect to this, guest speaker Dr Mary O'Kane, delivered a lecture entitled ' The Impact of Parent/Carer's Health and Wellbeing on the Child'.

In an interesting twist on the conventional format of a conference, Tony Carty, head chef at the Ferrycarrig Hotel, led a cookery demonstration of healthy meals for all the family.

This was followed by a closing lecture on the role of physical activity in childhood by Dr Marc Armitage.

California Prison Hunger Strike Ends, Conditions of "Immense Torture" Continue

Imagine a concrete room no more than eight by ten feet. It has no windows, only a perforated steel door facing a solid concrete wall. Fluorescent lights stay on 24 hours a day.

Now imagine being locked in that room.

This is the reality for 1,111 people locked in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of California's Pelican Bay State Prison. The SHU comprises half of the prison. It is explicitly designed to keep prisoners in long-term solitary confinement under conditions of extreme sensory deprivation. Men are locked into their cells for at least 22 hours a day. Food is delivered twice a day through a slot in the cell door. They are allowed five hours a week of exercise in a cement yard the length of three cells with a roof only partially open to the sky.

Prison administrators place men in the SHU either for a fixed term for violating a prison rule or for an indeterminate term because they have been accused of being prison gang members, often by confidential informants and highly dubious evidence.

Prisoners who have been "validated" as gang members are released from the SHU into the general prison population only if they "debrief" or provide information incriminating other prisoners. Debriefing can be dangerous to both the prisoner who debriefs and his family on the outside. In addition, prisoners are often falsely identified as gang members by others who debrief in order to escape the SHU. One does not necessarily need to be a gang member to be sent to the SHU: jailhouse lawyers and others who challenge inhumane prison conditions are disproportionately sent to the SHU.

Mutope DuGoya is one of those men: he states that, in 2001, despite his work with Code 4, the prison's Scared Straight program and his record of remaining free of violations for six years, he was placed in SHU on the word of a confidential informant.

Another prisoner, who has been in SHU for 21 years, writes, "Because I am here with people who the CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] have labeled as being gang-involved, the CDCR uses that to confirm that I am involved with a gang."

These atrocities are not limited to Pelican Bay. California holds nearly 4,000 people in SHUs and nearly 14,500 in other forms of segregation within its prison system. Over 240 of these people are women, who are often guarded and watched by male staff, even when they are undressing, showering or on the toilet. Transgender and transsexual prisoners are often likely to be placed in isolation.

 Pelican Bay State Prison opened in December 1989. Almost immediately, prisoners began filing complaints about abusive conditions.

In 1993, over 3,500 prisoners signed onto Madrid v. Gomez, a class-action lawsuit that charged prison officials with abuse and violation of their human rights. In 1995, the federal court issued injunctions aimed at eliminating excessive force, improving health care and removing prisoners with mental illness from the Security Housing Unit. Although he stated that conditions "hover on the edge of what is humanly tolerable," the presiding judge stopped short of declaring the physical structure of long-term solitary confinement unconstitutional.

MI6 knew about Equatorial Guinea coup plot, leader claims

The former SAS officer turned mercenary, who led a private army against dictator, Teodoro Obiang, said MI6 and the CIA had “full visibility” of the plans and secretly supported regime change.

The plan, which was partly financed by Mark Thatcher, the son of the former Prime Minister, failed in March 2004 when Mann and 69 other mercenaries were detained at Harare airport in Zimbabwe as they loaded weapons onto an aircraft.

Mr Mann, was later sentenced to 34-years in prison for his involvement, but was pardoned and released in 2009.

The 59-year-old, who was educated at Eton, has claimed that there was widespread support for the coup among international governments including Britain, America, South Africa, Spain and China.

He told the Mail on Sunday: “I believe Britain and America had full visibility on what we were doing. The South Africans passed on intelligence to the UK and the USA who had vested interests.”

He added: “I thought we were busted, that the coup was off. But my South African staff, who were linked to the government, reported back that not only did Pretoria support the coup, but wanted it swiftly executed.”

He added: “Any of these countries could have busted the operation, but they didn’t want to. There’s no question they wanted Obiang toppled. He was perceived as a ghastly dictator who ate his enemies and there was a lot of money to be made.”

He went on: “None of them was officially willing to achieve regime change so a private military company was always going to be permitted to try. If MI6 or any of the others had said “back off” I would have had to. But they didn’t and that gave us the green lights we needed.”

Mr Mann said the South African government even requested contact details for Severo Moto, the person they intended to install as the new leader, so they could hold clandestine talks with him.

Equatorial Guinea’s former colonial power, Spain, was also prepared to recognise the new regime once it had been installed according to Mr Mann – a move that could have paved the way for the United Nations to follow.

The father of seven was initially held in Zimbabwe on charges of aiding a coup in a foreign country and was sentenced to four years in prison.

But after his release in 2008, he was extradited and flown to Malabo the capital of Equatorial Guinea where he was sentenced to 34-years in the notorious Black Beach prison.

A pledge to save the community

Alliant Energy rolled out their new "Hometown Rewards" program in North Liberty with a kick-off event on Sunday, Sept. 11, in conjunction with the Taste of North Liberty and the North Liberty Farmers' Market.

Residents of the community are encouraged to fill-out pledge forms stating only their willingness to conserve energy and what steps they plan to take to do so. In return, Alliant Energy will reward the city with dollars toward a community improvement project. Robin Sempf, a Product Manager with Alliant, explained that a volunteer committee met for six months to set energy reduction goals for North Liberty.

The goals go beyond just saving electricity; the plan also includes reaching toward water conservation and even increasing recycling and reducing waste in general. The program will run for 18 months and at its conclusion Alliant will apply the money saved to a project chosen by program participants.

Assistant City Administrator Tracey Mulcahey said the three projects for consideration are: an energy efficient splash pad; LED lighting for pedestrian trails; or new energy efficient lighting for the ball diamonds at Penn Meadows Park.

"It's a big deal when you look at how many kids play sports," Mulcahey said of the Penn Meadows proposal. The splash pad would be activated by a step pad rather than running continuously, while trail lighting would increase safety efficiently on the trails. The projects were chosen by the committee, from projects already on the Capital Improvement Plan for North Liberty.

"It is a reward for helping the community save money," Sempf said of the incentive program, which is based on "really simple things" Sempf gave examples such as scrapping an old unneeded refrigerator, turning off unused lights, switching to Compact Fluorescent bulbs (CFL), purchasing "Energy Star" rated appliances, using energy reducing "smart strips" for appliances and electronics, taking shorter showers to save on energy costs from water heating, and taking advantage of free energy audits.

If a resident requests an audit, Alliant will send out an energy expert to inspect your residence and recommend ways to save on energy costs. The company will also work with new construction projects to find ways to help the owner save money.

The goal is to have at least 1,000 residents take the pledge.

"It's great for you to identify what you can do as a community to save energy," Sempf said.

"This is cool," said Mulcahey, who explained how North Liberty was chosen for this program.

Gadgets: TRON- and music-lovers will appreciate Monster dock

Packed into the TRON Light Disc Audio Dock by Monster are four 1.5-inch drivers and a single 3.5-inch woofer.

The speakers are in a round casing, which is filled with 80 energy-efficient individually controlled LEDs on the inside and outside rims.

Before I talk about the unique light system features, I must say this system produces amazing sound, consistent with everything Monster produces.

TRON fans can download the free Monster Visualizer and Alarm Clock app to sync music with the LED visualizer effects, called Identity Disc rings.

According to Monster, the dock is "designed with sophisticated microprocessors to individually control the Light Ring's LEDs. With the Monster Visualizer, your music now controls the Light Disc's LED array."

When the volume is turned up the lights on the inside dance to the tunes and shut off when the music is turned off.

The outside lights also light up for design but both sets can be turned off with or without music playing.

A wireless remote is very responsive for full iPod controls (tested with an iPod touch) and there are controls on the dock itself.

I'm not a TRON fan, but I guess those who are will appreciate the lights more than me. Anyone wanting great sound from a small tabletop speaker needs to give this one a try.

Adapters to dock and charge iPhone, IPod Nano and iPod touch are included along with a 3.5mm line-in port for other portable music player.

 The HP Laserjet Pro 100 MFP M175 is another well-designed multifunctional all-in-one printer for home use.

It wasn't long ago that a home laser printer cost as much as a house payment, but this isn't the case with the reasonably priced printer, which can be found online for as low as $299.

The all-in-one desktop multi functional printer (MFP) measures 17.4 by 16.6 by 13.3 inches. Features include copy, fax, print and scanning capabilities from what HP called their smallest color laser.

As for printing, the speeds aren't the fastest but the quality was nice on tests done with both text documents and high-resolution photos from a MAC.

Green Business: Ecotricity

Dale Vince, the founder, of Ecotricity, didn't start out planning to build a business worth an estimated 100 million. In fact his primary concern, living out of a van on top of a hill in Stroud in 1991, was generating enough electricity to meet his own needs. Two decades later, he is the hippy who decided to 'drop in', sole owner of a major green electricity company and, surprisingly, a dedicated speed nut who owns a supercar. Perched atop that hill in the early 1990s, Vince could be sure of one thing at least - that there was plenty of wind. He was already using a small portable turbine to charge batteries, but decided that he wanted to build something bigger, which would provide for all of his - and others - energy needs.

First, though, he explains over the phone from Ecotricity's headquarters - the company is based in Stroud to this day - he discovered that he would need a monitoring tower, to work out exactly how powerful the wind on his hill was. 'When I decided to build big windmills in 1991,' he says, 'I found out that I needed a wind monitoring tower. I didn't have the money to buy one, so I made my own.' The monitoring tower Vince built was such a success that other companies working on wind power soon came knocking at his door, asking him to build similar equipment for them.

This led to the foundation of Western Windpower, now Nexgen, which sold wind measurement instruments from 1992 onward. The wind measurement business supported Vince's efforts to build his first large-scale wind turbine, which was commissioned in 1996. However much of a hippy he may claim to be, Vince clearly has entrepreneurial blood - he was selling renewables-generated electricity a year before he even started up that first turbine, linking up a local wind producer with local demand. 'We became what we still believe was the first supplier of green electricity in the world,' he says.

'It was mostly skepticism,' he says of the initial reaction to Ecotricity's plans. 'Potential customers were worried that we wouldn't be able to keep the lights on. We got there slowly. It took doggedness, sheer force of will. It's like one of those exponential curves. We hit 50,000 customers in July. Recent growth has been just phenomenal. The next step is to do it at scale. Let's be the seventh biggest energy company in the UK. And we think that within the next 10 years we could do that.'

The company currently produces 52MW using 51 wind turbines and is in the process of planning and building a further 200MW of renewable electricity generating capacity. In July 2011, Ecotricity's first solar energy generating capacity, a facility at Fen Farm in Lincolnshire came online, generating 1MW of energy via 5,000 solar panels.

Vince is almost totally unique among green entrepreneurs in that he has not had to sell a stake in the company, building it slowly to begin with, faster lately, and investing most of its profits into building new capacity. He thinks that the idea of selling an equity stake in companies to help them grow doesn't work. 'I think the orthodoxy is wrong,' he says. 'The reason people sell stakes or go to IPOs is that they are looking for an exit. I'm not like that.

MEGAMAN LuxMeter iOS App for Lighting Tips and Levels

If you are finding your energy level usage are running rather high and own an iOS device there an application available that can deliver useful tips on the use of energy-efficient LED or CFL lamps along with delivering the ability to measure the light level in a room.

The iOS app is called MEGAMAN LuxMeter, an is a light measurement tool for checking if there is enough light in your workspace or living space and can also provide tips on which light bulb to choose and delivers light readings I the Lux measurement which are the units due to replace Watts as the standard measure of light bulb performance.

The MEGAMAN LuxMeter app works via the iPhone camera and will instantly measure the brightness of any room whether in the office, at home, in a shop, or school and is easily initiated at the simply touch of the “OK” button.

With the MGAMAN LuxMater iOS app, the Lamp Finder function identifies an economic replacement for existing low efficiency halogen of incandescent lamps, and the user can select the shape of the bulb or snap an image of it and the Lamp Finder will deliver a list of recommended LED and CFL alternative lamps for saving energy.

The MEGAMAN LuxMeter app also features Energy Saving Cal that helps identify energy and money savings by considering the cost of the entire installation and entering quantity of lamps, hours of operation, and electricity unit cost the feature will show the user how much could be potentially saved by opting for LED or CFL bulbs.

For those that wish to take advantage of this energy saving iOS app the MEGAMAN LuxMeter app can be downloaded to your device as a free application from iTunes.

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Delivers Additional KC-135 Portable LED Cargo Bay Lighting Kits to Air Mobility Command

Patriot Taxiway Industries announced the delivery of 40 additional KC-135 Portable LED Cargo Lighting System kits to the Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.  Earlier this year, the command’s Surgeon General Office ordered16 kits to be deployed with medical crews in support of worldwide Aeromedical Evacuation mission.  Doctors and nurses praised the improved Diving lamp inside the cargo compartment, which enhanced the capability to perform basic and emergency inflight medical care to wounded military personnel.

“With Patriot Taxiway’s President Steven Smits and myself having a long background in the KC-135 community it has been an honor to provide lighting to improve the lifesaving Aeromedical mission on the KC-135,” stated Kevin McDermott Vice President Patriot Taxiway Industries. “We look forward to providing more systems to improve every mission on the KC-135.”

The lighting kit was featured at the International Aeromedical Evacuation and En Route Care Conference in July at McCord Field, Washington State.  Hundreds of aeromedical evacuation professionals from 28 nations got a first hand look of the latest in LED technology installed inside the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.  Patriot’s lighting kit produces more than 30 times the illumination that the original lighting system designed for the aircraft.  Lighting is critical for aeromedical crews to observe the patient’s vital signs, changes in skin color and monitoring of medical equipment.

“It is humbling to have doctors and nurses compliment us on the improved lighting for the mission to bring home our wounded warriors from Afghanistan to Germany and then on to the US,” stated Phil Walesa, Director of Engineering.

Today, there are 60 lighting kits being used by the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard aeromedical crews during worldwide deployments.

Patriot Taxiway Industries Inc is a service-disabled veteran owned small business that provides design, manufacturing, and delivery of quality LED products, along with the excellent service and support to their customers worldwide. In addition to portable runway lighting systems, Patriot Taxiway also provides airfield lighting support equipment, heli-pad lighting, and aircraft lighting to both branches of the military.

Patriot Taxiway Industries Inc actively recruits veterans to draw upon their skills, experience, commitment, and integrity in order to provider a superior product and service. Patriot Taxiway reaches out to the veteran community through the local veteran service officers to reach into the rich experience and knowledge of our veterans.

Seizure may have led to three-vehicle crash on War Memorial

A seizure might have led to the three-vehicle crash about 10:30 a.m. Thursday on East War Memorial Drive that left a motorcyclist in critical condition Friday at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center.

Police said Bruce K. Williams, 51, of 116 Bess St. in Washington, was driving a pickup truck westbound on War Memorial when it barged into the back of a motorcycle operated by John R. Butterfield, 39, of 219 Avenue C, Unit L71 in East Peoria.

The impact catapulted Butterfield into the tailgate of another pickup truck stopped for a Diving lamp at War Memorial  and North Wisconsin Avenue. That truck was driven by Margo J. Deyo Ramsey, 43, of 706 Devon Drive in Metamora.

According to an accident report released Friday, Williams told police he remembered crossing North Prospect Road about six blocks east of the crash scene, but “nothing after that.”

The report also noted the “physical condition of the driver” appeared to be a contributing factor.

Doug Farger, an off-duty police offer from Sterling, was a witness to the accident.

Farger, who reached Williams while he was still in the cabin of his pickup, told police the driver “appeared to be having a seizure.”

After hitting the tailgate, Butterfield hit the pavement, where he and the motorcycle were run over by Williams’ pickup. Butterfield was trapped beneath the other truck.

Williams also was taken to the hospital. Deyo Ramsey did not require immediate treatment.

Police cited Williams with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and operation of an uninsured motor vehicle.

Shechtman Wins Nobel in Chemistry for Quasicrystals Discovery

An Israeli scientist won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for changing the prevailing views about the atomic structure of matter with his discovery of quasicrystals.

Dan Shechtman, 70, of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, will get the 10 million-kronor award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at a press conference in Stockholm today.

Shechtman persevered in the face of doubt and ridicule in describing a form of crystal whose patterns are regular but never repeat, a notion that shattered scientists' belief that all crystals consist of recurring patterns. The structure endows quasicrystals with unique properties that may lead to better frying pans, LED lights and diesel engines, the academy said.

"His discovery of quasicrystals revealed a new principle for packing of atoms and molecules," said Lars Thelander, who leads the Nobel Committee for Chemistry at academy. "This led to a paradigm shift within chemistry."

Quasicrystals look like the aperiodic mosaics found on the walls of the Alhambra Palace near Granada, Spain. They are hard but fracture easily, like glass, and have non-stick surfaces.

Shechtman was working at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology when he made his initial discovery. He had rapidly chilled a molten mixture of aluminum and manganese on the morning of April 8, 1982. It seemed strange, and when he examined it with his electron microscope, he couldn't believe what he saw: concentric circles, each made of 10 dots at the same distance from each other. The atoms were arranged in a way that flouted the laws of nature, the Nobel committee wrote in a document describing Shechtman's achievements.

"There can be no such creature," he said to himself in Hebrew. In his notebook, he wrote three question marks, according to the Nobel committee document.

Scientists greeted Shechtman's discovery with resistance, even ridicule, the committee said. The head of his laboratory suggested he read a textbook on crystallography. When Shechtman persisted in his experiments, he was asked to leave the research group.

 "He's an independent thinker, determined and brave," Yoav Shechtman, one of the scientist's four children and a Ph.D student in physics, said in a telephone interview. Reached on the phone, Shechtman himself said he couldn't comment until a press conference arranged for 2 p.m. local time in Haifa.

Shechtman turned back to Technion, where he had earned his doctorate in 1972, for advice about his findings, contacting a colleague there named Ilan Blech. After consulting other scientists in the U.S. and France, Shechtman published the data in November 1984.