Miros, gust, vaz, pipait, auz… Plus înca ceva: capacitatea de a simti cand cineva te iubeste, te minte, te domina. Adica intuitia. Nu, nu vom vorbi despre asta azi. Ci despre al saselea simt, o gaselnita de marketing a celor de la Whirlpool, prin care definesc o tehnologie inteligenta si inovatoare care permite produsului sa reactioneze mai usor si mai repede, asigurand rezultate mai bune si economisind considerabil consumul de energie, apa si timp. Al saselea simt consta in senzori integrati in produsele electrocasnice si ale caror masuratori permit auto-reglarea permanenta a aparatelor, permitand consumatorului sa prepare si sa depoziteze alimentele, sa curete si sa usuce hainele sau sa spele vasele pur si simplu mai eficient.

Ce spune producatorul despre al saselea simt?

In cazul frigiderelor:
Simte. Senzorii intelligenti verifica variatile de temperatura la fiecare secunda.
Adapteaza. Restabileste automat temperatura ideala de 5 ori mai repede.
Controleaza. Monitorizeaza temperatura pentru a pastra cat mai bine prospetimea alimentelor.

Pentru congelatoare:
Simte. Senzorii intelligenti detecteaza orice variatii de temperatura din congelator, cu mar fi cele cauzate de adaugarea unor noi alimente.
Adapteaza. Restabileste automat temperatura ideala cu 30% mai rapid, utilizand cu 30% mai putina energie.
Controleaza. Monitorizeaza constant temperatura si mentine temperatura normala de congelare doar cand alimentale sunt perfect congelate.

In cazul masinilor de spalat rufe:
Simte. Senzorii intelligenti recunosc tipul si marimea incarcaturii.
Adapteaza. Regleaza automat resursele la tipul si dimensiunea incarcaturii, utilizand in cel mai eficient mod timpul, apa si energia.
Controleaza. Monitorizeaza intreg ciclul de spalare, asigurand o curatare perfecta pentru toate tipurile de tesaturi.

Uscatoarele de haine:
Simte. Senzorii inteligenti monitorizeaza constant nivelul de umiditate al hainelor.
Adapteaza. Regleaza automat ciclul de uscare, economisind timp si energie.
Controleaza. Monitorizeaza ciclul de uscare pentru a asigura o uscare optima, pastrand hainele moi.

In cazul cuptoarelor cu microunde:
Simte. Senzorii intelligenti verifica in mod constant nivelul de umiditate al alimentelor.
Adapteaza. Regleaza automat durata de gatire si puterea microundelor.
Controleaza. Monitorizeaza ciclul de gatire, asigurand rezultate exceptionale fara distrugeri ale texturii sau compozitiei alimentelor.

In cele din urma, pentru aparatele de aer conditionat:
Simte. Monitorizeaza constant si regleaza temperatura camerei.
Adapteaza. Senzorii de temperatura din unitatea interioara detecteaza automat temperatura aerului din incapere si decid combinatia ideala a functiilor de operare: racire, incalzire, doar ventilator sau dezumidificare, pentru a atinge confortul maxim.
Controleaza. Puteti face mici ajustari la setari. Sistemul inteligent va memora acest lucru si va aplica setarea data viitoare cand porniti aparatul de aer conditionat.

Textele au fost preluate de pe site-ul www.catalogwhirlpool.ro.

Last summer was the summer I discovered Blue Faced Leicester, Wensleydale, Camel and Cashmere blends. It was the summer I plyed using a prespun laceweight for one ply. It was the summer of the three ply. It was the summer I spun exotic singles and bought from Spindlefrog and Exclusively Linda Lee,  my favourite International crack fibre suppliers. Here are some of my spins and you can see the improvement from previous spinning posts!

you know how when you get a box of chocolates you eat your least favourite first, even if you love all of them? well it’s a bit like that when you’re a newbie spinner choosing from your stash. So even though I LURVE this fibre, I chose it as ‘not my most precious’ and spun it up when i arrived in Adelaide.

Gumnut Magic Angorino from Ixchel: 14wpi, 86g, 204m of 95% 18micron merino, 5% angora, which makes it a sport weight of yum!

Then my first package from Spindlefrog arrived. I couldn’t resist the colours of the Mermaid BFL and was so curious about this raved about fibre it was instantly on the wheel

don’t you just want to dive into it! It’s not the most even yarn, varying from 13- 16 wpi. but it’s a good little heavy fingering (that sounds dirty) weight yarn. great meterage too at 365m from 119g.

So I took part in a dye your own swap, and working in my parents house, with curious cats and a clumsy dog around, I chose to dye with jelly and food colouring. I have a great technique where I do a standard jelly dye (simmering the fibre in jelly with a bit of vinegar) and just dribble some food colouring in of a similar colour to give a semi solid effect. I dyed up a batch in green, blue, pink, purple and red-pink for my swapee, but there was a little pink and purple left over. YIPPEE! so I spun a single with that, just to see what it was like after the dying process. At about the same time, this optim/seacell blend from the incomporable Mandie at EGMTK arrived in a slightly more vibrant colourway than i was expecting. but, low and behold GENIUS struck me and I spun it up as a single and plied them together… the result?

360m of AWESOMENESS. It was so SHIMMERY, which is of course how it got it’s name – Fairy Princess -  since it reminded me of luminescent fairy wings and it was just so damned GIRLY! My friend ended up buying off me and knitting a morning surf scarf for her good friend’s birthday. it looked amazing

Before heading to Adelaide I’d gone to visit Charly  (aka Ixchel) at the Sunday Arts Markets and not only had i bought far too much fibrey goodness, but she sold me a skein of laceweight cashmerino to experiment with plying. It was a perfect match for one of the braids, and so I chose that at my next adventure, using a couple of defaced coathangers and a champagne bottle as a swift!

It was my first time plying like this and it took me quite a while to get the hang of it, but where it works I love it! the colours were a great match, i got a CRAPLOAD of yardage – 537m -  and a whole pile of angorino left over for later… I called it Ocean Shadows, after the name of both the braid and cashmerino and it sits at about a sport weight.

So I was feeling pretty confident about now and my first pile of deliciousness had arrived from across the Pacific from Linda Lee. She specialises in exotic fibres and I’d ordered 2oz of Camel/Silk in the Syrah colourway – it seemed like kismet having grown up with a cat of that name! It was divine to spin. I got some advice from LL herself on rav which really helped to make it a simple if time consuming spin. I kept the yarn as a single to maintain the colour and to gain maximum yardage (210m) from this delicious fibre. It sits at a light fingering, perfect for a lacy cowl…

Continuing on the ELL adventure, I ordered two different fibres in the same colourway – a cashmere silk and a cashmere baby alpaca in Crushed Cranberries – with the intention of plying them together. When the second lot arrived, I buried my face in it, spun them together! this is the most beautiful skein i’ve spun and it’s sooooooooooo soft and squooshy. If i were to sell it, it would be for about $100 because of the fibre content and the love that i have for it. But there’s no way i’m selling this. Come Autumn it will be draped around my neck in some lacy concoction and whenever I feel blue I will bury my face in it, like i did the day it arrived.

I got a fantastic 375m from the 4oz and it’s a fingering weight, so will create a lovely drapey fabric.

Hey remember that gumnut magic angorino? well I only spun about half of it, since Charly’s braids are a whopping 150-160g (6oz) and I had this fantastic idea that if i spun it with a creamy white, it would look like snow in the australian mountains (not that i’ve SEEN snow…). So of course i did exactly that. Charly advised keeping the white/cream ply really thin and if i were doing this again, I would do it as a three ply, with 2 of the main colour, one of the cream. But still it’s an interesting effect and i’m curious to see it knitted up.

I called it Snow on Blue Mountains and got just under 300m of light fingering weight out of it.

i had ordered some custom dyed machine wash merino from miss Mandie at EGMTK for my birthday, and since that was always going to be destined for sock yarn, i thought it time to experiment with three plys. The challenge at EGMTK for the month was inspired by a song, and this merino and tencel fibre, with its shimmery moody blues, made me think of Regina Spektor’s Lady (sings the blues so well, as if she mean it…)

I still can’t get over the shine of ‘Lady Toko’ and want to do a beret in it. I should have enough at 250m of DK weight!

I wanted to try a new fibre next, so i turned to another Spindlefrog creation – Wensleydale in the Unicorn colourway. wensleydale is hard to get your hands on in Aus. It’s not an overly soft fibre, but it spins like BUTTER!

It wasn’t a lengthy spin though, only 165m from 100g at a DK weight, but it will find a purpose somewhere!

Before I get to the last spin… you guys remember this yarn?

well, as per the deal with Miss E, it became this

It’s based on a simple shell lace pattern from the Harmony Guides Lace Stitch Dictionary by Erika Knight. The buttons are kinda retro and there are a gazillion different ways to wear it! Miss E loves it and apparently wore it all the time i was away over winter!

One last spin to tell you about. This is the custom colourway from Mandie, that I named Roses for Jen, being on a account of my sending a bunch of pink rose images to Mandie and her dying the yarn for me. I wanted socks. so a three ply it was. I did a sort of variation on a fractal spin, so one strip was spun as it appears in the braid, one was split twice and one about five or six times.

I got 340m of heavy fingering 3ply out of 140g of fibre.

And, just last week I finished knitting my socks from them! My first pair of handspun socks! I was sooooo excited. The pattern is Firestarter by Yarnissima (ravel it! go on i dare ya) The yarn was a bit thick, realistically. I actually broke a needle, working cables on 2mm wood needles! I didn’t use a cable needle, since they were all twisted stitches. I loved the construction and watching the yarn variegate as i knitted was totally exciting! I have about 100g of yarn left too I think!

IBM’s Information Infrastructure Analyst summit was held in Boston yesterday, where it unveiled its plan for a new Smart Business System called “IBM Information Archive.”

This archiving capability is a repository for all types of content that addresses the complete information retention needs of companies big and small, to help them manage an increasing volume of information.

The need for archiving information is growing by the nanosecond, driven by data growth, regulatory compliance, legal discovery and data protection.

But with ever-increasing requirements surrounding the long-term retention of information, organizations are looking for advanced archiving technologies to manage information throughout its lifecycle.

This new solution includes contributions from IBM Research, System Storage and IBM’s Tivoli software brand, and it leverages IBM’s expertise in combining fast accessible disk with low-cost tape within a single archive pool.

The solution incorporates deduplication and compression techniques to optimize storage capacity, and to help minimize the total cost of ownership over the life of the archive information.

You can learn more about the IBM Information Archive here.

Meanwhile, back at the Information Management ranch, the drumbeat continues to build towards Las Vegas and the Information on Demand event October 25-29.

Another good reason to head out to Vegas (other than to see the parachuting Elvi) is to hear from folks like Al Smith, director of Optim Engineering, who recently provided Scott Laningham and I a quick overview of integrated data management and explained what Optim can do to help IBM customers better manage their data growth.

Check out the podcast here (8:34).

Oare anul acesta va mai avea luna decembrie aportul la vanzari pe care il aducea anii trecuti? Cred ca toti comerciantii spera, mai putini cred.

Anii trecuti factorul de succes era aprovizionarea magazinelor intr-atat de des incat sa nu apara rupturi de stoc. Anul acesta esential va fi sortimentul de produse. Anii trecuti cumparatorii luau tot ce gaseau. Anul acesta cred ca vor alege cu atentie.

Planificarea devine elementul primordial: in constructia sortimentului de produse in asa fel incat toate reperele sa fie vandabile in contextul actual al pietei; in structurarea gamei pe tip de magazin, in functie de locatie, suprafata, trafic; in previziunea vanzarilor pe fiecare grupa de produse si apoi pe fiecare produs in parte, pentru fiecare magazin.

Transportul ramane important prin contributia lui la costuri sau mai bine zis evitarea lor prin optimizarea livrarilor iar IT-ul ramane crucial in desfasurarea operatiunilor fara probleme, fara caderi de sisteme, asteptare si nervi.

Pe langa planificarea operatiunilor mai este insa un aspect major, anume comerciantii trebui sa se asigure ca oamenii din magazin, prima linie a comertului, sunt pregatiti pentru o perioada de vanzare, practic sa-i scoata pe angajati din eventuala stare letargica indusa anul acesta de lipsa cumparatorilor si a rezultatelor.

Jill P.:

As you know, I joined a shawl swap on the Anthropologie Knits group on Ravelry.  I knew what pattern I wanted to use (the Percy Shawl) but couldn’t decide on yarns.  I knew I didn’t have anything in the right color in my stash.  We went to a couple of local stores, but couldn’t find anything that I liked.  Twist would probably have had something I could use, but it’s far away and not open the one day I was going to be near it.  You graciously offered to let me shop in your stash.  There were many good options, but we ended up getting super motivated and decided to dye up some yarn and some fiber.  Lucky for us you still had some dye stock in your fridge! 

My goal was orange, so I dyed some merino laceweight and about 6 oz of Optim fiber.  I used a mix of Yellow Sun(right?) and Vermillion.  In hindsight we should have taken step-by-step pictures!  We kettle dyed the yarn in pots.  Here is my laceweight yarn:

I am totally in love with it.  I think the color turned out just like I hoped for. 

The Optim fiber dyed up a little weird.  First when we were soaking the fiber, it wouldn’t sink in the vinegar water.  It felt totally saturated, but it kept popping back up.  When wet it looked like bread dough.  I put in a lot more dye for the fiber, because it seemed to only be dyeing the outside of it, and not the whole rope.  I figured a deeper shade would be better so that when I spun it it didn’t get too pastel.  It looked like hell when we removed it from the water.  Like a big dreadlock.  I don’t think it was felted, but it didn’t look good.  It did fluff up a little when it dried.  (Which took forever!)

I had debated spinning the yarn for my swap project, but I think that I am glad that I changed my mind.  Maybe I will still try to spin some to send along with the shawl. 

Since we had the dyepots out, we both overdyed some yarn that we didn’t like.  I had some Knitpicks Bare sock yarn that I had tried to dye at one of the guild’s Dye Days.  Don’t ask me what happened here, I know it looks awful!  I guess I was apathetic, in a rush, and trying to just use the colors of dye that were already out.  Plus I thought the color had seeped all the way through the yarn, when it really didn’t.  At all. 

I overdyed all of it with Gunmetal.  It took several tries to add enough dye to color all the ugliness.

Some of the old sections still show through, but I think it’ll knit up okay.  It’s not an amazing job, but it is such an improvement that I am ecstatic about it. 

Jill, you overdyed the world’s ugliest Knit Picks autumny laceweight yarn, and got something resembling Mountain Colors.  I don’t have any pictures, and I can’t even guess at what the KP colorway was called. 

All in all, a successful dyeing day.  I’m glad you were there to hold my hand!  Especially since I can’t make my own decisions and I got you to make them all for me! 

Jill B.

Optimismul, caracteristică umană despre care voi mai scrie zilele astea, are vârste, cred eu. Vârste care nu ţin neapărat de vârsta biologică şi prin care nu trec toţi. Iar cei care trec, uneori nu conştientizează.

Prima etapă, germenele, cel cu care ne naştem, este optimismul copilăros – din principiu, debordant. Adică, “m-am trezit vesel”, “simt că pot să fac, să dreg”… Dar, cine ştie până unde, cât? Nu există perspectivă, planificare. E acum, aici.

Etapa următoare, ar fi optimismul tineresc – impus, exersat. “Îmi propun să”, “hei rup”, “totul e posibil”. Există opţiune, decizie personală, conştientizată sau intuitivă. Poate fi asimilat principiilor de viaţă.

Urmează etapa optimismului matur – reflex, activ. După antrenament, ori prin dotări personale moştenite genetic şi/sau modulate prin educaţie, se trăieşte clipa degustând-o şi asezonând-o pentru a corespunde unor pretenţii de viitor bun.

Etapele nu sunt neapărat ierarhizabile, ele pot să urmeze una alteia sau pot să se manifeste independent.

Totul e ca un joc de cărţi: ţine de noroc! Poţi să ai toate atu-urile şi totuşi să nu fie timing-ul bun pentru victorie. Poţi să n-ai nicio varianta câştigătoare, dar să joci la cacealma şi să-ţi iasă. Un lucru nu trebuie uitat: cărţile sunt aceleaşi, depinde doar cum ştii să le amesteci şi să-ţi joci cartea cea bună.

În altă ordine de idei, sunt răvăşită aşa cum mi s-a zis, dar căutând adânc în interiorul meu, mi-am găsit ordinea, iar ea se manifestă mental în ” dacă e să fie, va fi!”. Au mai fost victorii pe care le-am ratat pentru că timing-ul n-a fost optim sau cărţile n-au fost în pleiadă completă. De data asta nu joc la cacealma, dar nici nu trişez pe sub masă ca să-mi forţez norocul.

Vreau doar să simt momentul şi să joc în echipă.

e la sua nemesi

Quan ens fixem amb una bresca d’abelles veiem que cada cel·la té forma d’hexàgon; però per què un hexàgon enlloc d’un quadrat, un triangle o una circumferència?

En primer lloc, l’hexàgon és una figura que apareix recorrentment a la naturalesa. A part de a les bresques d’avelles, els àtoms d’alguns sòlids s’ordenen en forma hexagonal com ara les diverses capes del grafit.

Les roques de la Calçada del Gegant a Irlanda:

I fins i tot els cons que s’ubiquen a la fòbia de l’ull també s’organitzen en forma hexagonal.

Però per què “la naturalesa” tria aquesta forma? Bé, els motius són dos:

El primer motiu és perquè permet tessel·lar (omplir un pla sense deixar forats entre polígons). Per exemple, si omplim un pla amb circumferències ens trobarem amb molts espais desaprofitats:

Cosa que no passa si omplim aquesta superfície amb hexàgons.

Però no només els hexàgons permeten tessel·lar un pla, uns simples càlculs ens poden dir quines figures més ho poden fer:

Els àngles d’un polígon regular de m costats tenen 180(m-2)/m graus. Per exemple, per un quadrat tenim 180(4-2)/4=90 graus.

Quan tessel·lem un pla, a cada vèrtex s’hi troben n polígons, és a dir, si tessel·lem un pla amb quadrats cada vèrtex té quatre polígons:

Si multipliquem pel nombre de polígons n que estan en contacte a cada vertex i igualem a 360 perquè volem que tot el voltant del vèrtex estigui ocupat l’equació esdevé:

180(m-2)n/m =360

Aquesta és una equació diofàntica, és a dir, només admet nombres enters. En el cas que ens ocupa només es pot resoldre amb les següents combinacions on m és el nombre de costats i n el nombre de polígons que coincideixen en un vèrtex:
1. m=3, n=6 (triangles);

2. m=4, n=4 (quadrats);

3. m=6, n=3 (hexàgons).

Ara mateix la vostra pregunta hauria de ser, “si les avelles poden tessel·lar la superfície amb triangles, quadrats o hexàgons; perquè usen els hexàgons si de ben segur són més difícils de construir?”.

El segon motiu és perquè són molt estalviadores i l’hexàgon és la figura més òptima, m’explico, quan una abella fa una cel·la utilitza cera per a fer el perímetre i òbviament li interessa usar el mínim de cera per tancar el màxim d’espai possible.

És a dir, necessita utilitzar un polígon que permeti tessel·lar un pla i que a més a més ofereixi la màxima superfície amb el mínim perímetre possible.

Com us podeu imaginar l’hexàgon és, de les tres figures que permeten tessel·lar un pla, la que té una millor relació perímetre/superfície. Per a veure-ho determinem un perímetre de 12 centímetres i comprovem que és la figura que ofereix la millor relació:

• Triangle

Per un perímetre de 12 centímetres tenim tres costats de 4 centímetres cada un.

Si fem els càlculs obtenim que A=6,92cm².

• Quadrat

Per un perímetre de 12 centímetres de perímetre tenim 4 costats de 3cm, en un quadrat l’àrea és costat per costat i, per tant, A=9cm².

• Hexàgon

Per un hexàgon de 12 centímetres de perímetre tenim 6 costats de 2 centímetres cada un. Si apliquem la fórmula per a calcular l’àrea d’un hexàgon:

obtenim que A=10,39cm².

Com podeu veure, d’entre les figures que poden tessel·lar un pla l’hexàgon és la figura que amb el mínim perímetre abasta l’àrea major. És per això que les abelles usen els hexàgons per a fer les cel·les de les seves bresques.

Com a curiositat, el polígon regular que ofereix la millor relació àrea/perímetre és aquell on els costats són tan petits que el polígon esdevé quasi un cercle. Per exemple, un isodecàgon (20 costats), ofereix una àrea de 11,36 cm², bastant més que l’hexàgon, però clar, amb isodecàgons ja no es pot tessel·lar un pla.

Certament i com va dir Darwin, una bresca d’abelles és una preciosa mostra de l’evolució:

“Ha de ser un home molt ignorant aquell que pot examinar sense admiració entusiasta l’exquisita estructura d’una bresca, tan bellament adaptada al seu fi”. Charles Darwin.

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