Large robotic jellyfish could one day patrol oceans

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds.

The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team -- headed by Shashank Priya of Blacksburg, Va., and professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech -- unveiled in 2012. The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man's hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches.

"A larger vehicle will allow for more payload, longer duration and longer range of operation," said Alex Villanueva of St-Jacques, New-Brunswick, Canada, and a doctoral student in mechanical engineering working under Priya. "Biological and engineering results show that larger vehicles have a lower cost of transport, which is a metric used to determine how much energy is spent for traveling."

Both robots are part of a multi-university, nationwide $5 million project funded by U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to place self-powering, autonomous machines in waters for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring the environment, in addition to other uses such as studying aquatic life, mapping ocean floors, and monitoring ocean currents.

Jellyfish are attractive candidates to mimic because of their ability to consume little energy owing to a lower metabolic rate than other marine species. Additionally, they appear in wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors, allowing for several designs. They also inhabit every major oceanic area of the world and are capable of withstanding a wide range of temperatures in both fresh and salt waters. Most species are found in shallow coastal waters, but some have been found in depths 7,000 meters below sea level.

Partner universities in the project are Providence College in Rhode Island, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Stanford University. Priya's team is building the jellyfish body models, integrating fluid mechanics and developing control systems.

Cyro is modeled and named after the jellyfish cyanea capillata, Latin for Llion's Manemain jellyfishJellyfish, with "Cyro" derived from "cyanea" and "robot." As with its predecessor, this robot is in the prototype stage, years away from use in waters. A new prototype model already is under construction at Virginia Tech's Durham Hall, where Priya's Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems is based.

"We hope to improve on this robot and reduce power consumption and improve swimming performance as well as better mimic the morphology of the natural jellyfish," Villanueva said, adding that the project also allows researchers such as himself to better understand aquatic creatures live. "Our hopes for Cyro's future is that it will help understand how the propulsion mechanism of such animal scales with size."

A stark difference exists between the larger and smaller robots. Cyro is powered by a rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery, whereas the smaller models were tethered, Priya said. Experiments have also been conducted on powering jellyfish with hydrogen but there is still much research to be done in that area.

In both cases, the jellyfish must operate on their own for months or longer at a time as engineers likely won't be able to capture and repair the robots, or replace power sources. "Cyro showed its ability to swim autonomously while maintaining a similar physical appearance and kinematics as the natural species," Priya said, adding that the robot is simultaneously able to collect, store, analyze, and communicate sensory data. This autonomous operation in shallow water conditions is already a big step towards demonstrating the use of these creatures."

How does the robot swim? Its body consists of a rigid support structure with direct current electric motors which control the mechanical arms that are used in conjunction with an artificial mesoglea, or jelly-based pulp of the fish's body, creating hydrodynamic movement.

With no central nervous system, jellyfish instead use a diffused nerve net to control movement and can complete complex functions. A parallel study on a bio-inspired control system is in progress which will eventually replace the current simplified controller. As with the smaller models, Cyro's skin is composed of a thick layer of silicone, squishy in one's hand. It mimics the sleek jellyfish skin and is placed over a bowl-shaped device containing the electronic guts of the robot. When moving, the skin floats and moves with the robot, looking weirdly alive.

"It has been a great experience to finally realize the biomimetic and bio-inspired robotic vehicles," Priya said. "Nature has too many secrets and we were able to find some of them but many still remain. We hope to find a mechanism to continue on this journey and resolve the remaining puzzles."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/technology/~3/kLqBg1DBw1g/130328124807.htm

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An Inside Look At NYU Florence's Art Program Controversy ? NYU ...

Over the past decade, NYU Florence has offered studio art courses as part of the centerpiece of the heavily arts-centered academic program at Villa la Pietra. What took root as a rumor several weeks ago has now grown into a certainty; that these studio courses are been eliminated and the faculty fired, in what seems a shift to a more political science-focused curriculum.

Beginning next semester, Fall 2013, students at NYU Florence wishing to take studio arts courses?the engaged study of the methods and techniques of the visual arts?can only do so at an institution external to NYU called Studio Art Centers International (SACI), a study abroad center accredited by Bowling Green State University in Ohio.?

These ?outsourced? courses will take the place of those studio courses that have been taught at NYU Florence?s Villa La Pietra by three esteemed faculty members, each of whom have taught at Florence for over 10 years: Alan Pascuzzi, Robert Caracciolo and Patrice Lombardi.

Professor Pascuzzi posted on the student-run?Save NYU Florence Art?Facebook page that NYU Florence Director Ellyn Toscano has been gradually scaling back course offerings for the studio arts courses as well as courses in art history, film, music, and creative writing?the effect of which being that professors now finding they no longer have jobs after this May.

?The reason for closing the art component was based on President Sexton and Ellyn Toscano?s idea to change NYU Florence into a political science-based program,? wrote Pascuzzi.??Political science is now the emphasis.?

The supreme irony of eliminating studio art courses taught on site at Villa La Pietra, the 57-acre estate that was the gift of arts benefactor Sir Harold Acton, is not lost on any of the professors or students affected by the change. Questions have been directed to and subsequently deflected by?Toscano.

Below is the email Toscano sent in response to the numerous emails from students protesting the sudden change and demanding explanations. Professor Caracciolo noted that the faculty affected were not forwarded the email until students took it upon themselves to send it over.

Dear NYU Florence students,

I understand that there are rumors about the future of art history at NYU Florence. I would like to stop these rumors cold, so let me be clear that there is no plan to eliminate the arts at NYU Florence. It would be unthinkable to do so. We will continue to offer students both art history and studio arts; additions to NYU Florence?s curriculum in politics or other social sciences are not in place of art history or studio art.

The art history courses will continue to be offered at NYU Florence as before. They range from Renaissance Art to Florentine Villas, from the Etruscans to Modern Movements in Italian Art. The studio arts courses are a slightly different matter. As we have reflected on these offerings, we are keen to expand them through better facilities, a more complete roster of courses and an opportunity for students to experience the art scene in Florence beyond La Pietra. We plan to move forward with an agreement to offer studio arts through a respected studio art and artist training center. Our expectation is, thanks to this kind of partnership currently under discussion, that we will offer studio arts without interruption. So, as you can see, art history and other humanities courses will continue to be a prominent piece of NYU Florence?s offerings.

Lastly, I have seen some claims that Sir Harold Acton?s bequest to NYU required certain prescribed curriculum in the arts. The Acton gift requires us to maintain his family?s art collection and to use his estate for educational purposes, both of which we do. The inclusion of art history and studio arts in the curriculum is a decision NYU made; it is a natural decision in Florence, and you need not worry ? it is one we intend to stand by.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Yours,

Ellyn Toscano

One would assume that the decisions to keep, cut or expand courses in New York and abroad would fall under the jurisdiction of the?departments?that?offer the given courses. Yet, surprising is the degree of autonomy that Toscano and other administrators apparently wield on the curriculum and the employment of faculty.

A professor in the Art History department at Washington Square noted that the information they have been receiving from the?administration on the matter has been very opaque; the exact?hierarchy?of and relationship between the directors and administrators at NYU Florence, the Office of Global Affairs, and the?departments?here in New York is unclear. Also unclear is whether the change comes only at the hands of Toscano or if it was a joint decision made with the Office of Global Affairs.

?Collateral damage? ? i.e. the loss of jobs at NYU ? is the Art History department?s primary concern.

The scaling back of the program was accompanied?by unusual and absurd changes to space priorities given to the studio art classes and to the contracts of the arts professors. According to Pascuzzi, the studio courses were moved to rooms too?small?and too inadequate to?accommodate?the volume and needs of students wishing to take the courses.

In an email to NYU Local, Patrice Lombardi, who taught a painting course, said:

?The problem with the whole issue is the lack of communication and transparency on the part of the NYU Florence administration, specifically Ellyn Toscano and her representative for the humanities, Prof. Bruce Edelstein.?The faculty members that have spoken out have said that they showed up to work at the beginning of the Fall semester 2012 to find themselves presented with new contracts they were pressured into signing.?

In the summer of 2012,?changes to Italian labor law?made firing individual workers in private sector jobs easier in a pointed attempt to revive up a sub-par Italian economy and workforce?and?reverse precedent that were??harming productivity growth and discouraging business investment.??According to Lombardi, all faculty salaries were cut by 20% this year.

Lombardi noted that ?the Italian state does not?recognize?programs [like NYU Florence] as universities as they do not confer a final degree. The bizarre upshot of this is that we have contracts that are for teachers in middle schools ? not for university professors.?

Roberto Caracciolo was the third professor to be vocal on the issue. He said in an email to NYU Local:

?I have been teaching two drawing courses at NYU Florence since 1999. This year, because of [that] new Italian labor law I was forced (that or my courses would have been cancelled) to sign a time limited contract that expires in mid-May. In this new contract, which was not shown to me until the day of the beginning of the fall semester [2012], I had to accept a substantial reduction of salary and clauses that are totally unacceptable, such as the university having rights on all that I do even outside of teaching (I am a painter and so are all my new works that I do in my studio in Rome theirs?).

At the beginning of the spring semester I went to talk with the Director of VLP and asked about future plans for the art studio as there were rumors of them being shut down and got generic answers about how the new Italian time-limited contracts cannot be renewed (which is false) and on how all decisions were being taken in New York by the various departments.?

When Caracciolo contacted the?department?that credits students for his studio courses, The Department of Art and Art Professions at Steinhardt, department chair David Darts replied that the decision to offer or not offer art studio courses did not rest with him or the department. When Caracciolo asked Toscano for an?explanation?as to who in directly responsible for determining the curriculum at Florence, he received no reply. ?She simply ignores me and my colleagues,? Caracciolo said, ?to try to get to end of the semester with the least amount of questioning and problems.?

An ?NYU?press release?from June 1st, 2004 announcing Toscano?s appointment as Director of NYU Florence, detailed some of her experience up to that date:

?She is well-versed in government policies with regard to public diplomacy, educational exchanges, and cultural diplomacy; moreover, she has had significant expertise in fundraising and program planning??Since 1990, Ms. Toscano ? who speaks Italian ? has served as chief of staff and counsel to Congressman Jos? Serrano, an association that has spanned some 20 years overall. From 1988 to 1991, she had a private law practice, specializing in arts, entertainment, and publishing. Prior to that, she had served as counsel to the New York State Assembly Committee on Education for nine years, during which time she also worked with Mr. Serrano.?

Her expertise suggests a great deal of administrative ongoings, which may in turn come at a cost to some sensitivities that guide the decisions of those with a?training more deeply rooted in academia.

An additional concern of students and faculty is the calibre of the teaching staff at SACI compared to NYU. Courses at SACI are also far cheaper, a fact which may give an indication of the quality of the education; a 15-credit semester costs a student $11,900 in tuition and fees while NYU Florence will continue to charge just over $21,600. To whom or to what resources that extra $10k per semester per student will be devoted is unclear. We can only speculate as to the motivations for outsourcing the flagship art courses to a off-site?institution.

The Art History department at Washington Square is to issue a statement to students and faculty within the next few days. We await their official response addressing the issue.

[Image via]

Source: http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2013/03/28/an-inside-look-at-the-nyu-florences-art-program-controversy/

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Leadership and Risk Culture - Ivey Business Journal

It is only slightly arguable, but many believe that the ability to manage risk is the crucible of a leader?s effectiveness. Failure to manage risk and to develop a risk-focused culture will sink the company and the CEO. Citing two recent, highly visible cases, these Ivey professors describe how the leaders of TD Bank Group and Maple Leaf Foods designed and implemented a strong risk management ethos and strategy in their companies.

In an increasingly volatile world there is arguably no more important role for senior leaders than to prepare their organizations for risk ? taking it, avoiding it and managing it.? This was apparent before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis. Some organizations were ill prepared to manage the risks they had built up over the previous decade of dramatically expanded leverage. They either failed or were badly damaged by the financial markets meltdown and subsequent recession. Others had recognized the risks and had either avoided them or developed robust coping structures, systems, processes and cultures that allowed them to survive or even prosper when the immediate crisis was over.

There were many differences between those organizations that collapsed or were badly hurt ? the ?failures? ? and those that survived and prospered ? the ?successes.?? We conducted an exploratory study of leadership during this time[1] and concluded that the differentiating factors could be found in those organizations? risk prediction and management competencies; character of their leaders; commitment to hands-on leadership, especially with respect to the risk management function; their management cultures, and other factors.

In the years following our work, we looked at what organizations are doing to manage risk, taking into account that certain types of risk are Black Swans[2] whereas others are ? more or less ? predictable. Organizations face different types of risks:? strategic, operational, market, liquidity and credit risk, as well as reputational risk from the non-fulfillment of a brand promise.? The only defense against such Black Swan risks is to build organizational structures, systems, processes and cultures that can allow the particular company to weather such storms.[3]

Since we are case-writers and teachers, we have the opportunity to develop teaching materials that address risk management as well as discuss them with many audiences: executives, lower-level managers and MBA/EMBA students, both in Canada and elsewhere.? Two extensive case studies in particular have given us some deeper insights into what leaders can do to establish and maintain effective risk-management cultures: ?Risk leadership at TD Bank Group, and Maple Leaf Foods Inc.: The Listeriosis Crisis.? We discuss these cases briefly in this article, along with their implications for leadership, especially the development of comprehensive and robust risk management cultures.

?Figure 1:? Case Studies in Risk Leadership

? TD Bank Group In 2002, the new leadership of the TD Bank decided to redefine its risk management appetite. This shift in risk strategy followed many years of volatile and uneven performance, during which the bank had experienced some significant credit losses because of over exposure to single names or specific industry sectors.? Over the next decade, the bank exited risky and complex synthetic investment products, reduced its reliance on single-name and concentrated industry lending, and built out its retail banking and wealth management businesses in the U.S. and Canada.? These moves shifted its risks from those over which it had little or no control to those it could better understand and manage.? From 2002-2012, TD Bank Group moved from being the 55th largest North American bank in terms of market capitalization to become the 6th largest. It also was one of only two U.S. or Canadian-based banks with a Moody?s AAA credit rating. (Ivey case 9B12C001) ? Maple Leaf Foods Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a $1.6 billion (market cap.) food processing company with approximately $5 billion annual sales in meat products, bakery, and agri-business operations.? The company went through a serious set-back in 2008, when processed meats sold by the company under its major brand names were implicated in the deaths of 23 people from Listeriosis Monocytogenes, a food-born bacterium that had colonized in meat slicers used in one of the company?s plants.? The direct and indirect costs of this event, its reputational aftermath and disruptions to normal patterns and terms of trade, initially shook consumer confidence in its brands, depressed the company?s leading brand shares and stock price by 50 percent, and left indelible marks on many of the company?s employees.? These effects were of course secondary to the tragedy of the consumers who had used the products and their families.? Since a low point in 2008/9, the company has recovered its brand shares, restored its margins and has a refreshed and reenergized approach to food safety management; one that it believes will minimize its future food-safety risks. A key component of this new approach was the development of a world-leading food-safety culture. (Ivey case 9B11C001) ?

In both of these cases the senior leadership, led by the CEOs and fully supported by their management teams and boards of directors, created and sustained strategic risk cultures that have had a powerful influence on risk-related behaviors at all levels in the companies.? These new risk cultures were built on existing risk practices, processes and systems that had proved wanting under severe stress.? In both cases these new cultures represented significant organizational changes, led from the top but reinforced through new structures, processes and systems, and congruent behaviors that cascaded throughout the leadership ranks.

Under CEO Ed Clark?s leadership, TD Bank:

• Pursued profitable long-term, institution building consistent with his views about stewardship, leaving an organization in better shape when he left it than when he had found it, and not pursuing fads and short-term opportunities at the expense of long-term growth. ?
• Developed and promulgated a risk appetite that had three fundamental pillars:? not taking risks you don?t understand and can?t control; not taking long-tail risks with low probabilities but very severe consequences; and not taking risks that could result in serious reputational damage to the bank, its brands and its franchises.
• Explicitly targeted a mix of 70 percent retail/30 percent corporate and capital markets banking.? In pursuit of this goal the bank intensified activity in Canadian retail through extended hours and convenience banking, and started to acquire banks in the Northeastern U.S. (Banknorth), then the tri-state area around New York (Commerce Bank of New Jersey), and then with selective acquisitions in the Carolinas and Florida (South Financial Group).? These were careful acquisitions, made over time and based on sequential learning where the acquisitions could benefit from superior TD Canada Trust management, systems, processes, etc., as well as a stronger balance sheet.?
• Made major investments in TD Ameritrade, a business that he knew well through TD?s experience with Internet banking (TD Greenline). TD also bought Chrysler Financial, again a business (automobile financing) that they knew well and with which they were very comfortable.
• Avoided sub-prime lending either in Canada (where it was, in any case, highly unusual because of the structure of the Canadian mortgage market, government insured mortgages, etc.) or the United States, in which it was becoming very common and which turned out to be the epicenter of the 2008 financial crisis.
• Avoided investment in or trading of third-party, asset-backed commercial paper other than a very limited amount for its internal, treasury needs.?
• Exited the profitable but very high-risk structured-products field.
• Talked constantly about the bank?s risk appetite, what they were doing to ensure that they complied with it, what successes they were having.?
• Instituted formal executive- and management-development programs, in which risk strategy, management and the role of senior managers and executives as risk leaders were addressed and discussed with more than 800 senior leaders, and which formally cascaded down to lower-level managers and non-managerial employees. The CEO personally participated in the vast majority of these programs.?????????
• Avoided strategic drift or muddying the message by not pursuing high-risk strategies in emerging markets or unfamiliar geographies.?
• Instituted formalized risk governance and risk management systems, starting in 2002 but evolving to very highly sophisticated levels by 2011.
• Understood and appreciated the value of regulation and worked proactively and effectively with regulators, thereby extending his influence within the financial community.
• Built up the bank?s Tier 1 capital reserves in anticipation of tighter Basel regulations.? This meant restricting dividend growth at a time when some of his competitors were increasing their dividend payouts.??

Maple Leaf Foods:

• Defined its risk appetite ? zero tolerance for pathogens in products ? while nevertheless recognizing the ubiquity of certain pathogens in plant environments.
• Established control systems with strong management oversight, locally and corporately, as well as good governance through the Environment, Health and Safety Committee of the board of directors.
• Created a new position, Senior Vice-President, Food Safety, and hired a high-profile, dedicated leader with a direct reporting relationship to the CEO. It incorporated a matrix of the food safety role into the plants? operations and provided the leader with adequate resources, even during hiring freezes when it had imposed very tight expense controls on all other functions.
• Spoke about, wrote about, and blogged about food safety leadership as a strategy not just in the immediate, post-recall phase but for years afterward.? The CEO and senior leaders became very visible in video messages, meetings, conferences, leadership development programs, press briefings and other venues.
• Mobilized an increased industry focus on food safety by organizing conferences and other events that were attended by customers, suppliers, competitors and regulators.
• Took appropriate disciplinary actions in those very rare situations where employees, at any level in the organization, breached food-safety protocols.
• Worked with regulators, proactively, to improve the national food-safety system.
• Beefed up centralized oversight of food safety while keeping responsibility at the local plant levels.? The plants clearly understand that they ?own? the risks but that they are now centrally controlled, tracked and reported.
• Showed integrity when it came to executive compensation.? The consequences of the 2008 Listeriosis incident were reflected in significantly reduced leadership pay, bonuses and stock price; there was no re-pricing of share units or options or adjustment of short-term bonuses because of this incident.?

?

Establishing and Maintaining Risk Cultures

By these actions, the leaders at both TD Bank Group and Maple Leaf Foods were re-engineering the cultures of their organizations with respect to risk.? By culture, we refer to the shared assumptions, values, beliefs, and behavioral norms as they relate to risk management or, in a more colloquial way, ?how things are to be done around here? when it comes to managing risk.[4] The culture of an organization manifests itself in various artifacts that can be seen, felt or heard, including but not limited to behaviors or patterns of interaction, language, emotion, stories, structures and systems, rituals or ceremonies, and so forth.? In Figure 2 we represent the establishment and maintenance of a strategically driven culture as a set of five activities:

http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/leadership-and-risk-culture

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Chocolate Chase Rabbit Race 5k | Palos Sports & Recreation ...

Saturday, March 30, 2013, 9:00 am

Palos Heights Parks and Recreation Department, 6601 W 127th St, Palos Heights, IL | Get?Directions??
$27.00

Chocolate Chase Rabbit Race 5K??

All Ages

The Palos Heights Parks and Recreation Department invites you to the CCRR 5k through the neighborhoods of Palos Heights to benefit local parks and recreation. Prizes will be awarded to the winners in each age group (male and female divisions). The race will have Disposable Chip Timing for the most accurate results. This race course is USATF (USA Track and Field) certified. Register one week prior to the race to ensure an official Chocolate Chase Rabbit Race shirt! After the race, join us for snacks and refreshments at the finish line tents and of course, all of the chocolate you can handle! Please register early to ensure your spot in the race!

Register by:? ? ? ? ?Mar 28 at 5pm

Packet Pick Up: ? ?Mar 28 10:00am-9:00pm

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Mar 29 10:00am-5:00pm????????????????????

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41.66099

-87.782598

primary

/listings/palos-heights-parks-and-recreation-department

1283872

/locations/9004615

Source: http://palos.patch.com/events/chocolate-chase-rabbit-race-5k

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Charlie Daniels has successful pacemaker surgery

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2005 file photo, Charlie Daniels performs during pre-game festivities before Super Bowl XXXIX between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. A representative for Charlie Daniels says the 76-year-old country singer is recovering after having a pacemaker implanted Thursday, March 28, 2013. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2005 file photo, Charlie Daniels performs during pre-game festivities before Super Bowl XXXIX between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. A representative for Charlie Daniels says the 76-year-old country singer is recovering after having a pacemaker implanted Thursday, March 28, 2013. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A representative for Charlie Daniels says the 76-year-old country singer is recovering after having a pacemaker implanted Thursday.

Daniels was diagnosed Monday with "a mild case of pneumonia." Tests at a Nashville, Tenn.-area hospital revealed that he needed a pacemaker to regulate his heart rate. He's scheduled to be released Friday.

Daniels said in a statement that he's feeling better and looking forward to spending Easter with his family.

His Saturday and Sunday performances at Middle Tennessee State University have been canceled. Concerts with his band on April 5 in Englewood, N.J., and April 6 in Newark, Ohio, have been canceled and will be rescheduled. His tour will resume April 11 in Lynchburg, Va.

Daniels has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for five years. His hits include "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

____

Online:

http://charliedaniels.com/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-28-People-Charlie%20Daniels/id-7f79dafea70b41a78fe2c8f1a346c6a9

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'Possible more homes could be lost': Washington island landslide still a threat

Ted S. Warren / AP

A house sits near the edge of a landslide, near Coupeville, Wash., on Whidbey Island, on March 27.

By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

Residents of a scenic Washington state island hunkered down wherever they safely could Thursday as officials assessed damage from a huge landslide that knocked one home off its foundation and threatened dozens more.

"It's possible more homes could be lost. We're trying to ensure the safety and awareness of people,"?Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue Chief Ed?Hartin told?KOMO-TV in Seattle. "There's not anything we can do to stop the movement of the ground."?

Wednesday's landslide on the west side of Whidbey Island, near the town of Coupeville,?was about a quarter-mile wide and a half-mile deep. The early-morning landslide washed a road away, wiped out power lines and water mains, and plunged one home off the island's crumbling bluff, while threatening or cutting off access to 34 others, NBC's Miguel Almaguer reported on TODAY.

A man barely escaped his home before it tumbled down a hill in a landslide near Puget Sound on Whidbey Island in Washington state. Damage to other homes has been limited, but loose land still poses serious risks. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

No injuries were reported.

Bret Holmes, a Whidbey Island resident, lost half his backyard. He said insurance won't cover the damage.

?It makes me sick to my stomach and having to go through this, when that?s the first news I got,? he said.

Landslides are relatively common in the area, but one of this magnitude is rare. Geologists are looking into the role that rain and snow may have played, although there hasn't been significant rainfall in recent days.

Emergency crews, unable to access local roads, used Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's property to assess damage on Wednesday.?A Red Cross relief center was set up for residents up who had to evacuate.?

Residents of the island, which overlooks the Puget Sound, gathered for an emergency meeting Wednesday evening. Engineers continued assessing the safety of homes on Thursday while anxious residents awaited word.

Resident Ralph Young, who was forced to evacuate with his wife Cheryl, told NBC affiliate KING-5 in Seattle the landslide sounded like "thunder, rolling thunder."

"From down below, when you look up at the bluff, the devastation is just awful. Really just heart-wrenching,? he told KING-5.

Neighbors were assisting each other with loading furniture and clothing out of their homes, KOMO reported.

"I have no feelings whatsoever," Delia Curt?told KOMO as she hauled away belongings. "I'm totally numb."?

Coupeville is about 50 miles outside of Seattle.?The?state warns people?interested in buying shoreline property about the landslide hazards.

NBC News' Jeff Black contributed to this report.?

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a18e4e1/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C280C1750A10A260Epossible0Emore0Ehomes0Ecould0Ebe0Elost0Ewashington0Eisland0Elandslide0Estill0Ea0Ethreat0Dlite/story01.htm

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Reuters: Walmart looking into crowd-sourcing online delivery

Walmart is considering the slightly insane sounding idea of using its in-store customers to deliver online orders to help it compete with bricks and mortar-less competitors like Amazon, according to Reuters. The big box outfit currently ships internet purchases from just 25 of its stores using the likes of FedEx to handle delivery, but plans to drastically increase that number going forward. In theory, customers could sign up for the chore and drop packages off to customers who are on their route home in exchange for a discount. CEO Joel Anderson he could "see a path to where this is crowd-sourced," adding that "this is at the brain-storming stage, but it's possible in a year or two." Naturally, there's a gauntlet of insurance, theft, fraud and legal issues Walmart would need to run first -- along with the slightly skeevy idea of having a random stranger show up with your packages.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Reuters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/28/reuters-wal-mart-looking-into-crowd-sourcing-online-delivery/

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S&P upgrade will ease Turkish firms' access to funding - finmin

Two St. Louis Police officers face disciplinary actions stemming from an incident in which one officer allegedly took pot from the scene of a traffic stop. Not only did the squad car's dashboard camera record what happened, but two state lawmakers were along for the ride as observers. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reveals Missouri state Sens. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, and Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, were with officers when the incident occurred. Both lawmakers told a reporter they felt the officers did nothing wrong during the stop.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-upgrade-ease-turkish-firms-access-funding-finmin-191812054--sector.html

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