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Thursday, September 19, 2013The runoff from five days of drenching rain tore up concrete structures that protect Colorado Springs gas and water lines, leaving some utilities exposed. Mud and water made its way into one hydroelectric plant, shutting it down. Pickup truck-size boulders landed, and remain, on top of utility pipelines. And the $4.5 million in drainage control projects built in recent months in the Waldo Canyon burn scar were tested and in some cases destroyed. It's too soon to estimate the cost of the damage caused by the recent flooding, but it will be in the millions, said Tyler Allison, general manager of Colorado Springs Utilities water systems operations. In some cases, Utilities managers can't get close enough to assess the damage because of wiped out roads or flooded buildings, he said. "It will take a while to get the total dollar," Allison said. Finding the cash in the 2014 budget will be tough, he said. Colorado Springs Utilities cut back on its pipeline replacement budget in recent years as its revenue flat lined after the recession. Even so, Utilities managers were not stressed over the damage, which was so much more devastating after a three-day storm in 1999, they said. In a report to the utilities board Wednesday, managers outlined the damage uncovered so far. Eight feet of mud and moisture seeped into the Manitou 3 hydroelectric system and forced an outage. There was an outage at Drake 5 too, said George Luke, general manager of energy supply. There was some wet coal and crews had to dig deep into the coal piles to get to the dry stuff for use. A maintenance shop was flooded, Luke said. "But fortunately the equipment is up on pedal stools," he said. "It was basically a clean up job." Drainage control projects in the Waldo Canyon burn scar were close to being completed, Allison said. Both logs and rebar were used to make a series of steps and basins in hopes of catching sediment and slowing water from gushing down into the city. But a here week of rain filled the basins and water ran right over the control points. "Another two months and we would not have suffered as much damage that caused the issues," he said. Overall, the wastewater system held up well, said Leah Ash, general manager of distribution, collection and treatment. She recalled the 1999 storm that busted pipes filled living rooms with raw sewage. Some of the pipes were more than 100 years old at that time, she said. When the ground got soaked, it dislodged the pipes and the movement busted them wide open. In the decade that followed that 1999 storm, Utilities spent more than $200 million on the system, including building the J.D. Phillips Wastewater Treatment Plant. Utilities spent $74.8 million inspecting, rehabilitation and replacing 75.4 miles of water pipes across the city. The pipes were encased in concrete, rock and material that could not be broken, said Keith Riley, utilities deputy program director of water services. "The results are showing now," he said. Allison said at least 10 major pipelines - including Cheyenne Creek structures, Homestake pipeline and Fountain Valley Authority pipeline - still must be inspected for damage. "We are just at the beginning of the assessment," he said. "Some areas we just can't get to and there are some (areas) we don't know about it." WASHINGTON - When Aaron Alexis received an access card to enter the Washington Navy Yard, the Pentagon relied on a 5-year-old background investigation completed before most of his brushes with police and signs of mental illness, a senior Defense Department official said Wednesday. But the 2008 investigation was considered recent enough under federal rules for Alexis to be granted permission to enter the Navy Yard, where he worked, merely by flashing his card to a guard at the gate. Monday's shooting rampage, in which Alexis killed 12 people before police shot him dead, has raised questions about how the troubled computer contractor was able to keep a secret-level security clearance. The answer appears to be simple but troubling: The government relies mostly on the honor system - or blind luck - to keep tabs on many of the 4.9 million people who hold security clearances. If an employee of a Pentagon contractor is arrested or exhibits mental problems, the company is supposed to report the incidents to the Defense Department, officials said. But doing so could result in the person's clearance being revoked, rendering him useless to work on classified government contracts. A senior U.S. official said the government checked to ensure that companies complied with requirements to disclose information about employees that could result in lost security clearances. But the number of people holding clearances makes it impossible to monitor every pass holder closely enough to detect those here in trouble, officials and outside experts say. The federal government is looking at ways to create a system in which agencies would receive automatic notifications when people with security clearances are arrested or involved in an incident that could jeopardize their clearance. The Navy Yard shooting is the second major incident this year that has created questions about the efficacy of the government's system of security clearances for contract workers. This spring, National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked a large number of classified documents to news organizations. Although the two cases differ widely, both have prompted calls to reform the system. Some experts warn, however, that the government's response to the Navy Yard rampage could lengthen the delays that already frustrate many with a legitimate need for a security clearance. "There's always a pendulum swing in response to the latest incident," said Steven Aftergood, an expert in classified procedures with the Federation of American Scientists. "Finding the optimum balance between security and productivity is a tricky matter that can't be prescribed by regulation." As for Alexis, he underwent the months-long process of getting a security clearance after joining the Navy in 2007. The background investigation by the federal Office of Personnel Management required him to fill out a lengthy form asking about many aspects of his life, including arrests, foreign travel, loyalty to the U.S. government and whether he had ever sought mental health counseling. The personnel office relies heavily on contractors to process and double-check the thousands of background investigations it handles every month. In 2008, after the background check was complete, he received a clearance at the "secret" level, valid for 10 years. Although most details about this initial investigation into Alexis' past remain unknown, one official said investigators probably were aware of his 2004 arrest in Seattle after he shot out the tires of a construction vehicle in what he described to police as an anger-fueled blackout. Navy officials said Wednesday they knew about Alexis' arrest when he enlisted but decided it did not disqualify him since he was neither charged nor convicted of a crime. A "secret" clearance is a relatively low level, requiring nothing close to the scrutiny that comes with "top secret" or higher. Holding onto a secret clearance is also easier. While still in the Navy, Alexis was able to keep it despite a 2008 arrest for disorderly conduct in Georgia after being thrown out of a bar at 1 a.m. Navy officials said he had disciplinary problems, but because he was not convicted of any crime he was not in danger of losing his security clearance. When he left the service in early 2011, his clearance became inactive. But under government rules, he could get it reactivated without undergoing another investigation as long as he took a job requiring a security clearance within two years. In 2012, when Alexis went to work for the Experts, a computer consulting company, his clearance was restored. The company did a background check on him in July that turned up no issues, according to Thomas E. Hoshko, chief executive officer of the Experts. Even in recent months, when the company received calls from Alexis indicating potential trouble, none triggered an alarm. Alexis "performed well and was a good worker," said Lou Colasuonno, a spokesman for the Experts. Questions about his conduct "never rose to the level where it needed to be reported," he said. david.cloud@latimes.com Over the summer, I had an opportunity to spend several weeks shooting in New York and Geneva with what's become one of the most written about, and lavishly praised, cameras in recent memory: the Fujifilm X100S. To say that it's been the recipient of gushing accolades is to say nothing at all; there have been numerous reviews that characterize it as one of the best digital cameras of all time and many photographers -like this one, for instance -that describe the X100S as nothing short of "the greatest" and assert its ability to replace in one fell swoop an entire bagful of gear. All this is to say that by the time I got my hands on an X100S I had a certain level of expectation about what it would be like to use. True confessions time: I've been working to lighten my gear bag for the last two years, having hauled a full frame DSLR and lenses on press trips and to trade shows for some time and having gotten thoroughly fed up with the bulk. My work camera's shrunk to a Micro 4/3 body and three lenses -kit zoom, 60mm macro, and 50mm prime -and I don't miss the mass at all, though I do occasionally wish for a touch more dynamic range. Despite the compactness of my working kit -which fits easily into a small Domke bag -there is still something awfully, awfully compelling about the idea of having one camera that is more than sufficient unto whatever task you throw at it. I still don't think that there's any camera out there that entirely fits the bill, but the X100S from Fujifilm is damned close -maybe closer than any other camera I've ever used. Technically, it's a step up from the wonderful but sometimes frustrating X100 -the X100s has Fujifilm's 16.3 megapixel X-Trans sensor under the hood (which I covered here, in the XE-1) and up front is the same 23mm (35mm equivalent) fast f2 lens used by Fujifilm to such good effect on the X100. What's improved most noticeably, other than the sensor upgrade, is the autofocus performance -the X100S uses an on-sensor phase detection system which, though still not capable of the breakneck speeds you'd need for sports photography, is more than fast enough for virtually any other situation and certainly more than adequate for street photography. Autofocus speeds hold up even under low light, which is pretty terrific as low light is where the X100S really excels. One aspect of the X100S that's consistently singled out for praise is the quality of the JPEG files, and they are, indeed, wonderful; there's a depth and richness to colors that I can only describe as seductive -almost dangerously so; the camera's capable of producing such lush color rendering that you run the risk of getting lazy about other aspects of image-making just because you could point the X100S at almost anything and have it come out looking as if the colors were by Monet and the light by Vermeer. Now that there's support in Aperture for the X-Trans sensor, however, I'm not so sure that I would echo the advice of other reviewers that there's "little need" to shoot Raw files -side by side, the Raw files from the Fujifilm X100S offer better control over contrast and there's noticeably more detail retained as well (at least to my eye.) This is not to say the JPEGs aren't anything short of fantastic -whatever algorithms the camera's using to produce them generate fantastic looking results ninety nine times out of a hundred -but there is a certain signature to them in terms of contrast and color profile and I personally think it's well worth having both the JPEG and Raw files to work with, just in case. Incidentally, the X100S files convert beautifully to monochrome images; though the beautiful colors are stripped out you get to see just how much fine detail the camera's really recording and the sense of structure and clarity in composition -provided the photograph has those qualities in the first place, of course, which is up to you -more than compensates.  Fujifilm X100S, converted w/Silverefex Pro, ISO 400/f9The one feature of the X100S that may be a deal-breaker for some is that, as it's not an ILC, you are stuck working with a 35mm equivalent focal length. If you're used to working with prime lenses this is not particularly a problem; I think zoom lenses tend to make for a certain detachment from the process of taking a picture that's not necessarily good for quality. There's a part of me that wishes that the same handling were available in a 50mm focal length, or in an ILC but in both cases, you'd be talking about a different camera with different handling characteristics, and in any case, there are several excellent ILC options from Fujifilm as it is. Practically there are very few situations where you can't take an interesting picture because of f ield of view anyway; this is more of an issue for professional photographers for whom telephoto or wide angle lenses may be essential. The X100S lens isn't a macro lens per se but it can as close as you're ever likely to want or need to get, unless really tight true macro shots are something you need often (if you do, you know it) and if you want a wider view Fujifilm actually makes a very effective converter for the X100S that gives you a 28mm FOV, so you're really getting two good options in terms of focal length.  Fujifilm X100S, Raw file processed in Aperture (white balance correction only.) ISO 400/f5.6The X100S is the best -without question -low light, fixed lens camera I've ever used. Noise is impressively low unless you really crank up the ISO and between the fast lens and terrific sensor, the limiting factor in shooting in low light is much more apt to be autofocus speed than noise.  Fujifilm X100S, ISO 5000/f2.8The really interesting thing about the X100S, though, is how you can look at its technical and performance numbers until you're blue in the face and utterly fail to formulate any impression that even remotely captures the reality of shooting with it. I absolutely fell in love with this camera -its handling reminds me of nothing so much as my old Leica iiif; light, unobtrusive, but with a feeling of reassuring precision and flexibility in operation that made it, while I had it in for review, pretty much the only camera I ever took with me. Despite having had it for almost a month I was left feeling as if I had not even begun to scratch the surface of what it has to offer, and I intend to make it the next camera I own. I am sorry to lapse into the single most common cliché of writing about the X100/X100S cameras by mentioning Leica, but the comparison is irresistible and I have been giving a lot of thought to why that might be. Leica today still makes incredible cameras and lenses, though of course the quality and name come at a significant premium. Many of the reviews I've read discuss the Fujifilm X100S as the value oriented alternative to Leica, but as far as digital photography is concerned I think it's an interesting thought experiment to leave money out of the equation when comparing the two products. Leica's approach and Fujifilm's approach remain fundamentally different functionally and conceptually, and each company's cameras offer something the other doesn't; there are reasons -damned good reasons -to buy either, and I think Fujifilm's X100S ought to be amazon online coupon codes regarding fujifilm evaluated on its own merits; it does the camera a disserv ice to think of it as a poor man's Leica (or to think of, say, the Leica M-Type as an overpriced Fujifilm X100s -I suspect there will be many well-heeled photography enthusiasts and pros who will be happy to own and shoot with both.) Monday, September 16, 2013Ilvliat Ilvliot Ilvlii đã thêm bạn vào sổ địa chỉ trên Twoo và muốn kết nối với bạn
Saturday, September 7, 2013JPMorgan to stop making student loans: company memo
(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) has decided to get out of the student loan business, after the biggest U.S. bank concluded that competition from federal government programs and increased scrutiny from regulators had limited its ability to expand the business.
JPMorgan, which already restricted student loans to existing Chase bank customers, will stop accepting applications for private student loans on October 12, at the end of the peak borrowing season for this school year, according to a memo from the company to colleges that was reviewed by Reuters on Thursday. Final loan disbursements are expected before March 15, 2014. "We just don't see this as a market that we can significantly grow," said Thasunda Duckett, chief executive for auto and student loans at Chase, in an interview. Not making more loans "puts us in a position to redeploy those resources, as well as focus on our No. 1 priority, which is getting the regulatory control environment strengthened," Duckett said. JPMorgan's decision comes after Congress acted in mid-2010 to bypass the banks and have the government lend directly to students. The federal government now issues 93 percent of student loans. Banks and other private lenders have also come under pressure from regulators and politicians to offer more flexible repayment terms on student loans. JPMorgan's portfolio has been shrinking by roughly $1 billion to $2 billion a year since then, and is a small fraction of its assets. The company's student loan portfolio at the end of June held $11 billion - less than 0.5 percent - of its $2.44 trillion of assets. Last year, Chase made education loans to 12,500 people for a total of about $200 million. Hundreds of thousands of students, however, still look to private lenders when they have exhausted their federal borrowing limit. Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association, said decisions like JPMorgan's show that the government's direct lending policies are leading to "less competition in the marketplace." He said the government programs encourage students to take on more debt than they can afford because the loans, unlike those made by banks, do not require assessments of the ability to repay. But many experts have said that the primary problem with student lending lies in how much college costs and in the sheer size of the debt taken on, not in who makes the loans and how they are structured and how much they cost in interest. Moreover, others may fill in the gap. Other major lenders that remain in the business include SLM Corp (SLM.O), known as Sallie Mae; Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N); and Discover Financial Services (DFS.N). Both Wells and Discover said on Thursday that they would continue to make student loans. Danny Ray, president of Discover Student Loans, said although competition from the government has taken business from lending for graduate studies, his bank found more demand from undergraduate students who have already reached their government borrowing limits and are still short of the money they need. Credit unions could also use exits by banks such as JPMorgan as an opportunity to do more business. Many entered the market in 2010 and have made about $2 billion of student loans since then, according to Paul Gentile, executive vice president of the Credit Union National Association. JPMorgan's decision follows a broader, ongoing review of businesses amid new regulations, heightened scrutiny and capital requirements. In July, the bank said it would exit physical commodities trading, as Wall Street's role in the trading of raw materials comes under political and regulatory pressure. In June, the bank said its private equity unit, One Equity Partners, would become independent, as it increased its focus on client businesses. At the time, a source said the move was also driven by the bank's decision to simplify its operating structure. (Reporting by David Henry in New York. Additional reporting by Elvina Nawaguna in Washington.; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Gunna Dickson, Douglas Royalty, Andrew Hay) 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