Listen to the best bits from Friday’s Hawksbee and Jacobs show.
Cold storm brings snow, hail to valley, mountains
Los Angeles County fire Capt. Jim Bettencourt, stationed just south of Gorman, watched outdoors Friday as light snow fell. “It’s lightly snowing now,” he said at midmorning. “It’s not really sticking yet, but we’ll see.” Bettencourt has learned from experience to dress warm on days like this. “I’m wearing three layers – two pairs of socks and turnout boots,” he said. “I have gloves and a beanie – my blue beanie doesn’t look too professional with all yellow, but it works for me.” Bettencourt said his crew was out at 5 a.m., when a car had spun out on an icy Gorman bridge, and was stunned that motorists passed at 60 mph. “They’ve got to slow down when the weather’s like this,” he said. Charles F. Bostwick, (661) 267-5742 chuck.bostwick@dailynews.com160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MORECasino Insider: Here’s a look at San Manuel’s new high limit rooms, Asian restaurant The National Weather Service predicted that up to an inch of snow could fall today on the Antelope Valley, and 2 to 6 inches on the foothills around it. The snow level was predicted to be around 2,500 feet today, rising to 3,000 feet Sunday. Snow at 3,000 feet is still low enough to snarl traffic on the Antelope Valley Freeway, which tops 3,200 feet at its highest point between Acton and Agua Dulce. Downtown Palmdale is at about 2,700 feet, central Lancaster about 2,400 feet and Pearblossom about 3,100 feet. A chance of rain or snow persists through Tuesday, the Weather Service said. Caltrans crews and city workers were on standby with little-used snowplows ready to be put into commission. To the west in Frazier Park, schools closed as 2 inches of the white stuff lay on the ground by midmorning, with much more to come. PALMDALE – Snow flurries and hail came and went Friday in the Antelope Valley as a cold storm blew into Southern California from the Gulf of Alaska. Highway 58 through the Tehachapi Mountains was closed overnight but reopened Friday morning with California Highway Patrol officers escorting motorists to make sure they didn’t drive too fast on the slippery pavement. CHP officers also escorted Interstate 5 traffic through Tejon Pass because of light snow. “At this point we haven’t really seen any significant increase in the amount of incidents,” CHP traffic management center Officer Francisco Villalobos said Friday. 
DUTCH DESIGNER WINS MAJOR AWARD FOR DUNLEWEY CHURCH PROJECT
A young Dutch designer has won a major architecture award for her design based around the Old Church of Dunlewey.Andrea Roelofse visited Donegal and completely fell in love with its landscape, people and culture.As a Dutch interior architecture student she needed to find a church to make a redevelopment plan for her graduation project. “Being so in love with Donegal I chose the Old Church of Dunlewey. In the design process I struggled a long time in deciding what to do with the church since it’s already so perfect as it is.“It felt like everything I added to the church would ruin this perfection and so I decided to leave it empty and analyse what made the void and the experience it creates when you stand inside it, so strong.“These strengths and the quality of emptiness I’ve translated in a concept and designed several small pavilions in the surrounding landscape to emphasise the pure elements of the Irish landscape with minimalistic interventions.”But her passion and dedication won her the Dutch Association of Interior Architecture award with the project. She also came second at the International Design Awards category ‘Student – Architecture Conceptual’ last May.“I thought it might be even nicer to tell the people of Donegal about this project and how lucky they are to live in this amazing landscape,” she added.Explanation of the project:“The Old Church of Dunlewey is a small white marble ruin which sits by a lake, at the foot of a mountain in beautiful pristine Irish countryside. From the assignment to make a redevelopment plan for a vacant church in Europe, this was the perfect location for my project. After a long journey through the Irish hills, I got overwhelmed with the serenity and natural beauty when I first got there. The geometric shapes of the church created a strong contrast which emphasised the organic shapes and pure colours of its surrounding landscape. Standing in the ruin, this experience got strengthened by the void and openness of the now abandoned church. The open roof, windows and entrance gave nature a visual framing and accentuated parts of this picturesque landscape, a ‘passe partout’. This impressive image is something I wanted to cherish and so it became the base of my concept. “This experience of contrast and framing will recur in multiple places throughout the landscape with minimalistic architectural interventions, emphasising the elements: earth, water and air. When we walk through nature we are surrounded with a constant amount of impressions of the beauty and serenity of the landscape. The empty minimalistic spaces create a certain distance between the landscape and the viewer to emphasise only one element. This focus creates a stronger experience and a new perception on the elements.“Artists in residence can stay in the park for a period of three months, to create work and ultimately exhibit it in one of the spaces. Bathroom, kitchen, toilet and other facilities are incorporated behind the walls. The space can be transformed back into an empty, white (exhibition) room after the artists departure. Like this work which is inspired by, for example, the water element can also be exhibited in the room which emphasizes the experience of water.” FOR MORE ON THIS PROJECT SEE: www.andrearoelofse.nlDUTCH DESIGNER WINS MAJOR AWARD FOR DUNLEWEY CHURCH PROJECT was last modified: October 9th, 2015 by StephenShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Tags:architecturedonegalDunlewey Churchwww.andrearoelofse.nl
Chase Center: Workers to spend Thanksgiving ripping out practice facility hardwood
SAN FRANCISCO — Less than three months after an NBA-ribbon cutting, workers will spend Thanksgiving Day and weekend tearing up and replacing the hardwood of the Golden State Warriors practice facility courts located below the Chase Center arena court.The work begins after the completion of Wednesday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, which begins at 7:30 p.m. An out-of state flooring company specializing in basketball courts contacted by this news agency reported it plans to deliver …
Joining forces to beat crime
3 August 2006Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, speaking to journalists in Pretoria on Tuesday, called on “all law-abiding citizens” in South Africa to join in the fight against crime.The minister’s appeal comes as the government moves to strengthen policing at station level throughout the country, and through this to draw in stronger community support for combating crime.Delivering the Department of Safety and Security’s budget vote to Parliament in June, Nqakula said policing in South Africa was being restructured in order to place more resources at local police station level.The previous four-level structure of policing is being reshaped into three levels – national, provincial and local – with the dissolution of the “area level” of policing and the shift of these resources to the frontline of crime.Area-level policemen and women are to be redeployed to local stations, and experienced detectives are to be promoted in a way that keeps them doing functional police work rather than shifting them into administrative and managerial positions.Specialised crime-fighting functions are also to be redeployed to station level “to ensure that crimes are investigated where they occur”, the minister told Parliament.Additional resourcesThirteen new police stations were built in 2005/06 and 25 new ones would be built in 2006/07, the minister said, while an additional 1 000 trained detectives would be added to the police service this year.The “station empowerment strategy” will enter its first phase in the last quarter of this year as the local police station becomes the “crucible” of the country’s fight against crime, Nqakula said.Deputy Justice Minister Johnny de Lange also appealed to the public on Tuesday to report instances of perceived police failures to the various government or other authorities such as the Public Protector, saying that no civil servant in South Africa had “the right not to provide a service”.If people felt that they were not being assisted by police members, De Lange said, they should lodge a complaint with the authorities, who were obliged to take action.Source: BuaNews
R1.8-bn sugar fuel plant for KZN
In South Africa sugarcane is mostly grown in KwaZulu-Natal, with some farming operations in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces. (Image: South African Sugar Association)Nicky RehbockFind out more about using MediaClubSouthAfrica.com materialPrivate investors have injected R1.8-billion (US$200 000) into building a new sugar-processing facility in the rural area of Makhathini, in the far north of KwaZulu-Natal province, Engineering News reports.The project, which is a joint initiative by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), local municipalities and sugar growers, aims to produce ethanol and other sugar by-products from raw sugarcane.Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is an alternative fuel that can be blended with petrol to produce fuel with a higher octane rating and lower harmful emissions. It is produced by fermenting materials that contain starch or sugar.DTI director for agroprocessing Imamaleng Mothebe said, “The biggest advantage of the project is that it would justify investment in much needed critical infrastructure within one of the least developed regions of the country.“Once completed, the improved infrastructure in the area should generate more investments in areas other than just sugar. The role of the DTI is to facilitate investment into Makhathini.“The investment into the project is 100% private-sector funded through development financing institutions, as well as some members of the sugar industry and other private investors,” she added.Mothebe revealed that state-owned power utility Eskom, which generates 95% of the electricity used in South Africa, was one of the stakeholders in the Makhathini project.“There is work between Eskom, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Central Energy Fund around issues of cogeneration and ethanol.”DTI director-general Tshediso Matona said the project will play an important role in aiding rural development.“For South Africa, it is important that an appropriate policy environment be created that would establish real markets for renewable energy products,” he said.“This will not only improve our overall carbon footprint, but will unlock substantial further investments in the sugar sector.”South African Sugar Association chairperson Martin Mohale said the markets for sugarcane-based renewable energy will create major opportunities for the South African sugar industry.The Makhathini sugar-processing facility will be commissioned in 2011 and is estimated to create 1 800 direct jobs.SA sugar industryThe South African sugar sector comprises approximately 38 200 registered sugarcane growers farming predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal, with some operations in the provinces of the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.The industry produces an estimated average of 2.3-million tons of sugar per season.About 60% of this sugar is marketed in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. The remainder is exported to markets elsewhere in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.Based on revenue generated through sugar sales in the Sacu region as well as world market exports, the South African sugar industry is responsible for generating an estimated average income of R7-billion ($700 000) a year.Do you have queries or comments about this article? Email Nicky Rehbock at nickyr@mediaclubsouthafrica.com Related articlesGreen charcoal to save forestsSA delves into carbon storage 2009 – the Year of Natural FibresUseful linksSouth African Sugar AssociationDepartment of Trade and Industry Engineering News
Nutrient losses from burning of corn residues
Share Facebook Twitter Google + LinkedIn Pinterest There have been a number of combine fires reported around the state this fall, which can easily turn into larger fires in the dry fields.When corn residue burns, how much nitrogen (N) just went up in smoke? N is volatilized and lost when plant material burns.Phosphorus and K remain and return to the ground with ash. However, P and K could be lost if ash is blown away from the field during or after the fire. Fire damage in a field is usually variable in scale. Not all material is completely turned to ash, and rarely is the entire field burned (from one end to another). Understanding what was burned and how much area was affected has an impact on the total amount of N lost. The amount of N contained in corn residue has been well documented from the late 60s and clearly delineated by John Sawyer at Iowa State (http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2000/10-23-2000/dryfallfires.html). To estimate how much N was lost, the grain yield level for the previous year must be considered. The harvest index (in corn, the ratio of grain weight to total plant dry weight) is another piece of information that must be known (if unknown — assume 0.5). Providing a relatively accurate measure of the area affected is obviously important. Additionally, recognizing the residue remaining and adjusting the material burned can provide a more quantitative measure of the actual damage (if this is unknown assume 100%). The table below provides a simple estimate of N lost based on the previous year’s corn yield (assuming a harvest index of 0.5 and yield adjusted to 15.5% moisture). Remember, the N contained within the corn residue would not have been released and made plant available for next season’s crop. Yield (bu/A) N lost (lb/A)12040 130 44 140 47 150 50 160 54 170 57 180 60 190 64 200 67Along with the loss of N, carbon contained in the plant material is lost as well. It would have been incorporated into the soil organic fraction. This too has value. While there is no specific dollar amount tied directly to a loss of organic matter, an Iowa State University article recommends that one dollar per acre should be claimed. Unfortunately, the economic impact associated with the loss of residue cannot be fully realized until later, especially in fields with high erosion potential.
Report: Social Networks Growing while Other Social Media Sites Stagnate and Decline
Universal McCann has released a new report that looks at the state of social media today. Apparently, this trend is showing no sign of slowing down. In fact, it’s still growing. From posting photos to writing blogs, the desire to share has become a universal phenomenon. However, the latest report shows that internet users are beginning to now center their digital life around social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Orkut, choosing to share their content within these sites instead of on services with a single focus, like Blogger or Flickr.After four surveys of active internet users, a group whose total estimated global audience is now 625 million (or one in thirteen of people worldwide!), UM found that the usage of social networks is on the rise. For example, 76% of social network users upload photos and 33% upload videos – percentages that were up from 45% and 16.9%, respectively, as noted in UM’s previous report released in spring of last year. The new report also found that social networking is not a niche activity. Nearly two-thirds of internet users have spent time managing their online profiles. Also, 96% of active social network users have visited their friends’ pages. And these numbers can be taken to the bank. UM questioned 22,729 active internet users in 38 countries between November 2008 and March 2009 to deliver what is the largest global analysis of social media we have seen to date. As you can tell by looking at the chart below, interacting with social media remains an important part of users’ internet experience. Several activities have seen increased growth since last year, most notably those involving social networks. Guide to Performing Bulk Email Verification Facebook is Becoming Less Personal and More Pro… The Dos and Don’ts of Brand Awareness Videos Surprisingly, the only activity to see a dip is uploading videos to video sharing sites. Still, video watching is now seeing a high penetration rate among active internet users at 83%, a number consistent with last year. But when you look at how many people are uploading video to social networking sites, it’s there that you see the growth. 33% upload videos to their social network profiles, up from 16.9% last year, as previously noted.Blogging also has reached a saturation point, it appears. UM notes that 71% of users report reading blogs – an increase of only 1% since last year. This seems to correlate with recent findings from Forrester Research, who also reported that no increase in blog reading was reported over last year. The most interesting finding, though, is that social networks are seeing the most growth globally while other social media platforms stagnate or decline. Users are still sharing photos and videos and posting blog entries, they just tend to do this within a social networking site these days. Social networks are an extremely popular destination right now. Two-thirds of active internet users have managed an online profile and 71.1% have visited a friend’s social network page. When you look at active social networkers instead of just active internet users, that figure is even higher: 96% of that group has visited a friend’s page. Even though these figures represent an average across 38 different countries, UM says that the figure has increased in every market except Brazil and Mexico.The report also notes that the U.S. is a dominant player in the social media space with 60% of active internet users in this country managing a social network profile – a number up from 43.2% last year. These continued increases in social media activity may partially be thanks to a coinciding increase in mobile internet access since nearly a fifth of active internet users have mobile access today. However, speculating as to why social media usage is on the rise goes beyond what this report aims to do.For more information about the worldwide social media growth, including country spotlights and best practices, check out UM’s report here. Related Posts Tags:#social networks#Trends#web sarah perez A Comprehensive Guide to a Content Audit
The Fear of What If
Essential Reading! Get my first book: The Only Sale Guide You’ll Ever Need “The USA Today bestseller by the star sales speaker and author of The Sales Blog that reveals how all salespeople can attain huge sales success through strategies backed by extensive research and experience.” Buy Now If you’re going to learn and grow, you need to listen to things with which you don’t agree. You are going to have to suspend your own perspective and step into that of someone who thinks very differently than you do. The single greatest reason most people don’t is fear.The fear that stops you from opening your mind to, at least temporarily, embrace the outlook or viewpoint of another is based on What Ifs you can’t bear to answer:What if I have been wrong all of this time? I’ve spoken out loudly about how right I was. How can I undo all of that?What if the understanding that I was wrong makes me face what I need to do to be right? I have always done things the way I do them now. It would be a tremendous burden to change the way I do them now.What if embracing another viewpoint, even temporarily, makes me realize how wrong the person with that viewpoint is? What if that realization dramatically changes my relationship with that person? What if embracing a new way of thinking means that I will have to confront that the way I’ve been doing business, or my company has been doing business, is dreadfully wrong and holding all of us back? What if that realization means that I must face extraordinary financial challenges in order to fix what is wrong? Where will that money come from?What if embracing an alternative viewpoint, even temporarily, tears my world asunder because everything I am is founded on the viewpoint I have now?Embracing an alternative outlook temporarily may not mean that you need to transform your approach or your life, but it may. And the fear of what may happen is what holds so many people back from exploring the “what ifs?” that could make them so much better.
JD(U), RJD get ready for another by-election battle
Swords were drawn for the Jokihat Assembly segment here on Wednesday with candidates of both the ruling Janata Dal (United) and the opposition RJD filing their nomination papers for May 28 bypoll. By-election on the seat has been necessitated due to resignation of sitting JD(U) MLA Sarfaraz Alam, who quit the party earlier this year and got elected – on an RJD ticket – to the Lok Sabha from Araria, a seat held by his late father Mohammad Taslimuddin. Tough fightWhile Alam’s younger brother Shahnawaz filed nomination papers as the RJD’s candidate, the JD(U) has fielded Murshid Alam, a former village Mukhiya who had joined the party a few years ago. The by-polls will be yet another test of strength between the JD(U) and the RJD, led respectively by arch rivals Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. The political rivalry between the two has grown more fierce ever since Mr. Kumar broke a short-lived alliance with Mr. Prasad last year, following corruption cases against the latter’s son Tejashwi Yadav who was then the Deputy CM. Mr. Kumar subsequently returned to the BJP-led NDA which he had left in 2013 following differences over projection of Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. By-poll for the Assembly segment comes about two months after the RJD succeeded in retaining the Araria Lok Sabha seat, defeating BJP’s Pradip Kumar. Incidentally, RJD’s victory by a margin of about 50,000 votes was on account of massive leads in just two of six Assembly segments falling under the parliamentary constituency, both of them having a heavy concentration of minority voters.