Search This Blog

Pages

Followers

Monday, May 21, 2012

Oplink unveils suite of rugged SFP+ transceivers

Components and subsystems vendor Oplink Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPLK) has announced the availability of a full suite of SFP+ transceiver products, including low-power 80-km reach, CWDM, and DWDM versions. Oplink says these products have been designed for lower power consumption and wider operational temperature ranges to enable 10-Gbps deployment in high-density systems and in the challenging environments found in data centers, access aggregation, and mobile backhaul applications. The main features of Oplink's new portfolio of SFP+ transceivers are: Maximum of 1.5-W power consumption supporting 10-Gbps applications reaching up to 80 km DWDM with 46 wavelength channels supporting up to 80-km uncompensated links, or longer distances assisted with dispersion compensation and optical amplification Operational temperature range from -40 to 85 degrees C for all SFP+ products in the portfolio "The release of our suite of SFP+ transceivers dovetails with the optical networking trend of deploying higher bandwidth closer to end users, where high-density solutions and operations with greater temperature ranges are required," said Dr Rang-Chen Yu, vice president of business development at Oplink. "Our rugged and power-saving SFP+ products have been deployed in a wide range of applications, such as data center switch connectivity, service router WAN interface, access aggregation, and wireless backhaul networks. With today's announcement, we are pleased to now offer customers our next-generation, rugged SFP+ transceiver designs." The SFP+ transceiver products are available to order now, says Oplink. The C-temperature (-5 to 70 degrees C) versions of these products are currently in full production, and all of the industrial-temp (-40 to 85 degrees C) versions are expected to complete qualification and begin production shipment by April. Oplink will showcase its complete line of SFP+ transceiver products at OFC/NFOEC on March 6—8, 2012, in Los Angeles, CA, booth #1717.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Novels

Main articles: Mary: A Fiction and Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman Both of Wollstonecraft's novels criticize what she viewed as the patriarchal institution of marriage and its deleterious effects on women. In her first novel, Mary: A Fiction (1788), the eponymous heroine is forced into a loveless marriage for economic reasons; she fulfils her desire for love and affection outside of marriage with two passionate romantic friendships, one with a woman and one with a man. Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798), an unfinished novel published posthumously and often considered Wollstonecraft's most radical feminist work,[94] revolves around the story of a woman imprisoned in an insane asylum by her husband; like Mary, Maria also finds fulfilment outside of marriage, in an affair with a fellow inmate and a friendship with one of her keepers. Neither of Wollstonecraft's novels depict successful marriages, although she posits such relationships in the Rights of Woman. At the end of Mary, the heroine believes she is going "to that world where there is neither marrying, nor giving in marriage,"[95] presumably a positive state of affairs.[96] Both of Wollstonecraft's novels also critique the discourse of sensibility, a moral philosophy and aesthetic that had become popular at the end of the eighteenth century. Mary is itself a novel of sensibility and Wollstonecraft attempts to use the tropes of that genre to undermine sentimentalism itself, a philosophy she believed was damaging to women because it encouraged them to rely overmuch on their emotions. In The Wrongs of Woman the heroine's indulgence on romantic fantasies fostered by novels themselves is depicted as particularly detrimental.[97] Female friendships are central to both of Wollstonecraft's novels, but it is the friendship between Maria and Jemima, the servant charged with watching over her in the insane asylum, that is the most historically significant. This friendship, based on a sympathetic bond of motherhood, between an upper-class woman and a lower-class woman is one of the first moments in the history of feminist literature that hints at a cross-class argument, that is, that women of different economic positions have the same interests because they are women.[98]

Monday, May 7, 2012

First term

During President Mutharika's first term in office (2004-2008), the country achieved a high rate of agricultural production and food security. The President's initiatives, centred on a programme of agricultural subsidy, benefited approximately 1,700,000 resource poor smallholder farmers. In the 2005/2006 crop season, Malawi achieved a food surplus of more than 500,000 metric tons. During the 2008/2009 planting season, food surpluses topped 1.3 million metric tons. This agricultural policy was widely regarded as successful but expensive, and was curtailed in 2011.[10]

Oda, Toyotomi and Tokugawa

Oda Nobunaga was the well-known lord of the Nagoya area (once called Owari Province) and an exceptional example of a samurai of the Sengoku Period. He came within a few years of, and laid down the path for his successors to follow, the reunification of Japan under a new Bakufu (Shogunate). Oda Nobunaga made innovations in the fields of organization and war tactics, heavily used arquebuses, developed commerce and industry and treasured innovation. Consecutive victories enabled him to realize the termination of the Ashikaga Bakufu and the disarmament of the military powers of the Buddhist monks, which had inflamed futile struggles among the populace for centuries. Attacking from the "sanctuary" of Buddhist temples, they were constant headaches to any warlord and even the emperor who tried to control their actions. He died in 1582 when one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, turned upon him with his army. Importantly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (see below) and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, were loyal followers of Nobunaga. Hideyoshi began as a nameless peasant and became one of Nobunaga's top generals, and Ieyasu had shared his childhood with Nobunaga. Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide within a month, and was regarded as the rightful successor of Nobunaga by avenging the treachery of Mitsuhide. These two were gifted with Nobunaga's previous achievements on which build a unified Japan and there was a saying: "The reunification is a rice cake; Oda made it. Hashiba shaped it. At last, only Ieyasu tastes it."[citation needed] (Hashiba is the family name that Toyotomi Hideyoshi used while he was a follower of Nobunaga.) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became a grand minister in 1586, himself the son of a poor peasant family, created a law that the samurai caste became codified as permanent and hereditary, and that non-samurai were forbidden to carry weapons, thereby ending the social mobility of Japan up until that point, which lasted until the dissolution of the Edo Shogunate by the Meiji revolutionaries. It is important to note that the distinction between samurai and non-samurai was so obscure that during the 16th century, most male adults in any social class (even small farmers) belonged to at least one military organization of their own and served in wars before and during Hideyoshi's rule. It can be said that an "all against all" situation continued for a century. The authorized samurai families after the 17th century were those that chose to follow Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. Large battles occurred during the change between regimes, and a number of defeated samurai were destroyed, went ronin or were absorbed into the general populace.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Reunions

Simon and Garfunkel's first reunion after their second breakup was in a June 1972 benefit concert at Madison Square Garden for presidential candidate George McGovern. On October 18, 1975, the duo seemed about the second episode of NBC's new show Saturday Night Live. They performed "The Boxer", "Scarborough Fair", and "My Little Town". The very last song was the sole new Simon and Garfunkel recording in five-years, appearing on both men's solo albums released in 1975 (Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel's Breakaway) and reaching #9 within the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Simon, in conjunction with James Taylor, provided harmony vocals on Garfunkel's cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", on Garfunkel's 1977 album Watermark; the only relieve that song reached #1 within the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and #17 on the Hot 100. Simon also contributed backing vocals to "In Cars", a song on Garfunkel's 1981 solo album Scissors Cut. Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for just a free concert in Big apple City's Central Park on September 19, 1981. The concert was attended by over 500,000 people, along with a recording of computer was subsequently released as being a live album, using their cover of "Wake Up Little Susie" released to be a single. A video recording was likewise televised by HBO and issued on home video. The achievements the Central Park concert prompted the duo to take a world tour in 1982–83, including a performance at Shea Stadium in August, 1983. Simon and Garfunkel took to accomplish it in their first new studio album in when compared to a decade, provisionally titled Think An excessive amount with some songs previewed on their recent concert jaunt. However, creative differences, coupled with the record company's negative a reaction to the decidedly un-Simon-and-Garfunkel-like album, led Simon to eliminate Garfunkel's vocal tracks and rework the songs himself. The 1983 Simon solo album Hearts and Bones appeared as the result, as well as a long period of estrangement with the duo followed. Their next joint public appearance was at 1990, in the event the two performed with a ceremony for his or her induction into the Rock music Hall of Fame. Simon and Garfunkel appeared together in 1993 for 21 soldout concerts in New York, with 1 / 2 the show being Paul Simon solo that has a band and the other half Simon and Garfunkel. Later the identical year, they did some charity concerts, like the Bridge School Benefit concerts as well as a benefit for United Way Children's Charities at SkyDome in Toronto. In July 2002, Columbia Legacy issued a previously unreleased live recording of any Simon and Garfunkel concert, Live from New York City, 1967. It features a nearly-complete recording of the performance provided by the duo at Philharmonic Hall, at Lincoln Center in Ny on January 22, 1967. The album has a rendition of "A Church Is Burning", one of the songs that originally appeared on Paul Simon's 1965 solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook. On February 23, 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited to do publicly the very first time in a very decade, singing "The Sound of Silence" because opening act on the Grammy Awards. Prior to show, the duo was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring their musical contributions in the last four and a half decades. These were introduced by Dustin Hoffman, who made his debut in the film The Graduate, which extensively featured their music. The good feelings generated by the look of them on the Grammys triggered another thaw within their relationship. Soon, Simon and Garfunkel launched a couple-month long reunion tour on the United states of america (and Toronto, Canada), which began October 16 and culminated in Tampa on December 21, 2003. Entitled Old Friends, their first tour in over 20 years included forty shows in twenty-eight cities and featured special guests the Everly Brothers. The tour featured to use opening video montage a quick number of clips and photos taken in daytime prior to the concert round the venue. Simon and Garfunkel performed "Hey, Schoolgirl", they will said was the initial song they had written and recorded together. With the tour concert at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, Nj-new jersey, they performed "Leaves Which are Green" in place of "Song for the Asking", that have been for their set list with the other concerts about this tour, following an announcement that they had not played it together since 1967. Additionally they played "Leaves That Are Green" at concerts in Cleveland and Boston determination similar announcement. The achievements of the first Old Friends tour generated an encore in June and July 2004 with over 25 shows, this time also in Europe. In July 2004, they completed the tour using a flourish, that has a finale at the Colosseum in Rome before bavarian motor works logo which, good Mayor of Rome, exceeded 600,000 — even bigger than the target audience on the famous 1981 Central Park concert.[10][11] A live CD and DVD using their Old Friends tour premiered in late 2004. It featured a "new" studio duo song, "Citizen on the Planet", one of the songs through the rejected 1983 reunion album that would not originally feature Garfunkel's vocal participation. In 2007, PBS hosted the 1st Gershwin Awards, at which Paul Simon was honored. Simon introduced Garfunkel (to get a cameo appearance) as "my partner in arguments" as well as the two sang "Tide over Troubled Water" together. Columbia/Legacy announced the September 18, 2007, release of Live 1969, which has been asked feature recently discovered masters recorded on their 1969 tour. Many of the arrangements remain virtually unchanged.[citation needed] That 1969 tour could be their last for spanning a decade, immediately preceding the production from the 1970 album Keep going Troubled Water. The tour was recorded finding your way through a subsequent live album, however the relieve the live album would not happen, until recently, as reported in Billboard.[12] On February 13, 2009, Simon and the band re-opened New York's legendary Beacon Theatre, that have been closed for seven months for just a renovation. As a possible encore, Simon presented "[his] old friend" Art Garfunkel. They sang 3 songs: "Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", and "Old Friends". On April 2, 2009, the duo announced an excursion of Australia, New Zealand and Japan for June/July 2009.[13] On October 29–30, they participated together inside the 25th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden. Other artists within the bill included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; U2; Metallica; Aretha Franklin; Stevie Wonder and Crosby, Stills & Nash.[14] In March 2010, Simon & Garfunkel announced a 13-date spring tour, to do in April on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Most performances were scheduled for Canada, with four shows inside upper Midwest from the U.S. According to a press release, the set list would target their classic catalog, in addition to songs from each of their solo careers.[15] On June 17, 2010, Simon & Garfunkel canceled the tour, earlier rescheduled for July 2010, now postponed indefinitely as Garfunkel continues to cure a vocal band paresis.[16]

Monday, April 23, 2012

Accident

The aircraft was operating a domestic scheduled flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, to Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, which was the airline's first evening flight in almost 12 years (Bhoja Air was earlier closed down amidst financial difficulties in the year 2000, but restarted operations in March 2012). There were six crew and 121 passengers (including 6 children and 5 infants) on board.[2] The flight departed from Karachi at 17:00 PKT (12:00 UTC) and was due to land at Islamabad at 18:50 (13:50 UTC). At 18:40 PKT,[3] the aircraft crashed 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) short of its destination,[2] near the village of Hussain Abad. Eyewitnesses stated that the aircraft may have been struck by lightning prior to the crash, describing it as a "ball of fire."[3] All 127 people on board were killed.[4] Initial reports suggested that as the pilots attempted to land amidst rain and strong winds, the aircraft may have flown into an unexpected wind shear, which smashed it onto the ground below.[5] The landing was attempted during heavy rain and a thunderstorm.[6][7][Note 1] A following Airblue flight landed safely five minutes after the accident occurred.[2] The airport was closed for three hours after the accident due to a lack of fire cover. The emergency crews based at the airport went to the crash site to assist in the firefighting operations there.[2] Flights affected by the closure were diverted to Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore.[7] Despite the fact that the crash occurred in a residential area, there were no casualties on the ground.[8] It was the second-deadliest aviation accident in Pakistan,[9], the first being the 2010 crash of Airblue Flight 202 that killed all 152 on board, and is the fourth deadliest accident involving the Boeing 737-200 series.[10]

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

History

In 1752, area of the tower on the old Schierstein church collapsed. Building plans for any new church had recently been discussed in previous a few years suddenly became urgent. Since 1748, the previous Mayor of Frankfurt, merchant and banker Johann Georg Schweitzer Edler von Wiederhold, an affiliate in the Frauenstein Gesellschaft, had allowed the Schierstein curate an accumulation 604 guilders from the Free imperial city, which provided the financial reason for construction on the church.[1] The Chamberlain of Electoral Mainz, privy counsellor and chief architect of Electoral Mainz Anselm Franz von Ritter zu Groenesteyn made the vegetable garden of his country estate available as building terrain.[2] Johann Scheffer, a government official in the duchy of Nassau was in charge of the style of architecture from the building. On 3 May 1752 the soil breaking ceremony was held as well as on 15 September 1754 the newest church was consecrated. In 1962 the choir Schiersteiner Kantorei was founded inside the parish by cantor Johannes Krüger. Since 1974, the choir has been directed by Martin Lutz, who shaped the group of some 40 singers to your large concert choir.[3]