Saturday, January 2, 2010

“Stay active, focus on the present is his philosophy - Rushville Republican” plus 4 more

“Stay active, focus on the present is his philosophy - Rushville Republican” plus 4 more

Stay active, focus on the present is his philosophy - Rushville Republican

Posted: 02 Jan 2010 08:31 AM PST

Published January 02, 2010 10:51 am - When George Miller of Rushville was a teenager attending Rushville High School, his two older brothers Richard and John were off fighting in World War II.

Stay active, focus on the present is his philosophy


Jan Voiles
Rushville Republican

When George Miller of Rushville was a teenager attending Rushville High School, his two older brothers Richard and John were off fighting in World War II.

"It was a kind of situation that you always had that in the back of your head even if you were young people," George reflected. "My brothers were both in the war. They left me home."

"The service department wouldn't take me on account of I was a farmer and the only boy left on the farm to raise food during the war. That was the purpose of saving me on the farm. I was the youngest," George added.

He was concerned about his older siblings.

"I thought they were in danger," the third son of John George and Marcella Miller recalled.

Rationing wasn't much of a problem since he was born and raised on a farm and food was available. It wasn't as restrictive as living in a big city.

Miller was selected as Outstanding Farmer in 1962. He had taken short courses at Purdue on livestock and chemicals and after completing the courses worked for the co-op.

Now he doesn't think about the past much, just kind of focuses on the present, he said.

The present includes going to the Rush County Senior Center five mornings each week. There are always plenty of card players available as well as other activities. He stays for lunch, then goes home in the afternoons and usually does some chores.

Although the 1946 RHS graduate is retired now he keeps active. Family is a very important part of his life.

He and his wife Norma had a happy marriage.

"I had a wonderful wife. That was a part of my life that I loved and lived for," he reflected.

George has a son and a daughter. His son George Michael Miller and wife Cheryl live in Rush County. They have a son Dylon and daughter Jessica. Granddaughter Jessica is getting married in June and grandson Dylon in July.

George's daughter Karen Miller Woods is married to Rick Woods and is a school teacher in Florida.

George's brother John also lives in Florida. Richard has passed away.

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Honda’s design philosophy stresses function - KTVZ.com

Posted: 01 Jan 2010 08:49 PM PST

Honda isn't typically singled out for its design expertise. Instead, it is the fun-to-drive and rock-solid aspects of Honda vehicles that usually get top billing. But quietly, Honda has been capturing more and more international kudos for its leading-edge design work, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to meet with Nobuki Ebisawa, the corporate managing director and general manager of styling and design development, to talk about it.

Ebisawa stressed two simple and overarching themes for Honda design: dynamism and functionality. He said the company's designers still draw inspiration from the functional designs of the first-generation Civic and first-generation Accord that were drawn in the same nondescript design studio in which Ebisawa and his crew work today. And at the same time, they look back all the way to the 1963 S500 sports car to channel the dynamism that helps set the brand apart. 

Ebisawa is proud of what he calls "an unbroken chain of dynamism and functionality" that stretches from those earliest models through the legendary Acura NSX sports coupe of the '90s to the Honda Odyssey minivan that transformed its segment. He expects that the upcoming hybrid Honda CR-Z, which was shown in concept form at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, will draw on both aspects of the Honda personality. Functionality will be characterized by the fuel-efficient hybrid drivetrain, and dynamism will be expressed by the car's style and fun-to-drive nature.

While the exterior design of Honda vehicles has not always been highly praised, the interior of its vehicles -- and especially their instruments and controls -- have routinely been lauded around the globe. Ebisawa cites his group's intense study of the "man-machine interface" for this, noting that Honda has long relied on the philosophy "Man maximum, machine minimum" in its designs. This means that Honda's controls are intended to be intuitive, not intrusive: to help the driver, not to challenge the driver or to make a design statement for design's sake.

An example of this effort is the bi-level instrument panel seen on the current Honda Civic. Intuitive operation and instant recognition were keys in the design, and Ebisawa said that in the "layered construction," perceived space is enhanced and line of sight movement minimized to prioritize information. Special effort goes into achieving natural hand position and create buttons that are easily understood. Ebisawa believes that voice support is the next frontier in making things simpler and more functional.

Since 2000, said Ebisawa, Honda design execs made the conscious decision to add emotional appeal to the company's vehicles without compromising functionality. In keeping with the "man maximum, machine minimum" philosophy, space has been intentionally reduced for mechanical components, and interior space with long rooflines has been increased to maximize usable roominess.

The Honda CR-Z, which will be launched next year, will encapsulate all these ideas in a vehicle that is functional and emotional, dynamic yet pragmatic. It draws on Honda's long heritage while at the same time presenting a new face and a new heart. The CR-Z will also be the harbinger of even more fascinating products from the carmaker that was once best known for its motorcycles.

Tom Ripley Driving Today Contributing Editor Tom Ripley writes frequently about the auto industry and the human condition from his home in Villeperce, France. He is a big fan of the art world. 

Copyright (c) 2009 Studio One Networks. All rights reserved.

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Beauty of a computer program can tell who's attractive - canada.com

Posted: 02 Jan 2010 09:35 AM PST

WINDSOR, Ont. -- The computer analyzes every pore, pimple and wrinkle. It notices your slightly asymmetrical ears, the distance between your eyes and that chickenpox scar on your forehead. Then, it rates your attractiveness on a scale of one to 10.

Sound like a nightmare?

It's actually the handiwork of a Canadian student who has trained a computer system to recognize the characteristics of human attractiveness and rate people's appearance using photographs.

Josh Chauvin, a philosophy and psychology student at the University of Windsor in Ontario, said his study shows it may be possible to create a computer or "artificial neural network" capable of producing human-like evaluations.

"At first, I just started the project out of interest," he said. "It wasn't until later that I saw there could be other implications."

Thirty-three University of Windsor students actually volunteered for the potentially self-esteem-crushing, scientific version of Am I Hot or Not? during a research project conducted by the third-year undergraduate student.

Photos were first rated by humans, and those ratings were fed to the computer. Then, the system was asked to rate the attractiveness of 33 new images. Chauvin said the computer's ratings fell within one point of the human participants' ratings 86 per cent of the time.

Chauvin said the research, conducted under the direction of Marcello Guarini from University of Windsor's philosophy department and Chris Abeare from the department of psychology, goes beyond narcissistic curiosity.

The computer system could be used to diagnose congenital illnesses that are known to correlate with certain facial features. For example, while Down syndrome is normally easily identifiable by facial features, other illnesses are manifested more subtly. Chauvin said the pattern-recognition program could help diagnose those illnesses using facial features.

The system could also be useful for marketers and advertisers to gauge the popularity of a product without having to poll human subjects, Chauvin said.

The study found that both males and females rated females as more attractive.

On a scale of one to 10, with one described as "very unattractive" and 10 as "very attractive," mean attractiveness ratings by humans for each face ranged from 2.27 to 7.83 with a mean of 4.97 - what the study would deem "somewhat unattractive."

Chauvin's research has earned him a spot on the roster at the International Conference on Neural Computation, a conference to be held in Portugal in October.

Chauvin said he's considering expanding the study to analyze personality traits using facial features.

"There's an idea that personality gets written on our faces after time - that it's possible to make personality judgments based on facial features. We do that all the time. Before we meet someone, we gauge their personality on zero acquaintance, without having met them."

Other studies have shown that personality characteristics are assessed within a tenth of a second of meeting someone new.

But Chauvin said he can't think of any practical applications for a computer-driven personality assessment - "other than an interesting little novelty, a little gadget or a BlackBerry application."

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New philosophy turns Tribe into a threat - ESPN.com

Posted: 01 Jan 2010 05:43 PM PST

How were we all so wrong about William & Mary?

Wait. Did I just say that out loud? Was there a reason to be even thinking about this historical institution founded in 1693 in the colonial hamlet of Williamsburg, Va.?

This is a school that has never been to the NCAA tournament. Its only appearance in the NIT came in 1983. The Tribe have never been ranked.

The joke of losing to Bill and Mary just isn't funny. It's a tired tale. But it's time to take this men's basketball team about as serious as the students on campus must handle midterms.

Danny Sumner

Geoff Burke/US Presswire

Danny Sumner, left, and William & Mary are a CAA team to watch this season.

William & Mary was ranked No. 7 in the collegerpi.com poll through Sunday's games and that isn't likely to drop this week.

Why not? The Tribe won at Maryland on Wednesday. They had already won at Wake Forest and defeated a Richmond team that beat Mississippi State and Missouri in South Padre Island, Texas, took out Florida in Sunrise, Fla., and just lost to that same Demon Deacons club in overtime.

The RPI is buoyed by losing by nine at Connecticut and a triple-overtime loss at Harvard, which as we all know now is no slouch after beating Boston College.

On Dec. 5, the Tribe also took out one of the CAA favorites, VCU, by one to start league play 1-0. The league slate continues Saturday with a road game at Hofstra.

Blue Ribbon picked William & Mary 11th in the CAA. The Tribe's final RPI the past five years reads like this: 238, 159, 203, 263 and 286. The win totals aren't much better with 10 a year ago, a rare blip two seasons ago with 17 and an appearance in the conference tournament final, then 15, eight and eight.

"I wouldn't blame anyone for picking us 11th,'' said sophomore guard Quinn McDowell, who scored a career-high 28 points in the win over the Terps. "We were pretty bad last year. The expectations were pretty low.''

So what happened? William & Mary has as good a résumé as any school in a non-power six conference heading into a conference season as any team in the country. As long as the Tribe, which now have to be considered a CAA favorite, finish in the top two in the league they should get an at-large bid.

"We found something that works,'' McDowell said. "We went to work in the offseason. Had a commitment to each other and found a great system that we believe in.''

William & Mary coach Tony Shaver was a Dean Smith disciple, playing at North Carolina in the 1970s. He was schooled on being a press, run and trapping team. But let's be honest here: That's just not going to fly at William & Mary. This is a school that needs to be niche.

"I made a gut-wrenching decision,'' Shaver said. "I had to abandon my system. I knew it wouldn't lead to the best results at William & Mary.''

So Shaver did what countless coaches have admittedly done from Roy Williams to John Calipari He went poaching.

"I stole some from John Beilein [from West Virginia and Michigan], the NC State stuff [and now Arizona State] from Herb Sendek and then added some stuff we like,'' Shaver said. "It's a style offensively that is predicated on a lot of 3s, opening the floor, a bit of backdoor cuts and defensively we're doing a lot of different things from some matchup to man.''

It's hard to argue. The Tribe have won nine straight games, one shy of a school-record 10 straight, from the 1929-30 season. The Tribe's two road wins against ACC schools was a first in school history.

McDowell said four of the five players on the court can all make shots. The five-man is a passer and screener. Look at the balance as David Schneider, averaging 16.7 points and 6.2 rebounds, McDowell (16, 3.5), Danny Sumner (13.1, 3.9), Marcus Kitts (6.9, 6.4) and Sean McCurdy (6.5, 4.4 apg) make for a solid five. If it sounds similar to the hybrids out of the original Princeton offense that Georgetown, Northwestern, Arizona State, Oregon State and Richmond all run in some variation to their liking, then that's fine to toss that blanket over it if you'd like.

The interchangeable parts make it hard to guard as long as the Tribe make shots. But there has to be more than just a system. These players have to believe in themselves and not get rattled at perceived higher competition. That was the case at the Comcast Center. McDowell said Shaver made it clear in the locker room that the win over Wake Forest was solid, but beating Maryland would prove they belong.

"I wish I could tell you that there was some kind of magic pixy dust in our water,'' McDowell said. "I don't think there is. It's been a combination of things from the offense, to this team. We're not blowing out teams. But we find ways to win, especially in tough environments on the road.''

In year's past, teams such as Gardner-Webb have made their mark with a stunning road win at Kentucky or something similar. But then they fade by the New Year, never to be heard from again, even within their respective conference.

That doesn't seem to apply here.

The Tribe followed an opening weekend of losses to UConn and Harvard with the Richmond and Wake wins and then won at Maryland weeks later.

This just doesn't happen at William & Mary.

"It's no secret,'' McDowell said. "It's not a rich basketball tradition here. But that's part of the excitement trying to build something that's never been done before.''

What Shaver did in switching his philosophies was make his program unique. In the Pac-10, no one enjoyed playing Oregon State, Arizona State or Washington State last season. The same is true of playing Richmond in the Atlantic 10 or Northwestern in the Big Ten.

"I wanted our program to be hard to prepare for,'' Shave said. "We do some unusual things. I wanted to have a system that skilled players could really flourish in with passing and shooting. All of those are a lost art. It helped us find good players that knew they would fit in here.''

Shaver said the Tribe clearly snuck up on Wake. But he said that wasn't the case against the Terps. Now, the Tribe are no longer the given win, the team other CAA teams will look down upon. The Tribe are suddenly the team to beat. The wins at Wake and Maryland made the Tribe the first CAA school since the league was formed in 1985 to win two road games against ACC opponents in the same season. They were only the third and fourth road wins at an ACC school for a CAA school.

Those results demand and command respect.

"We're going to get everybody's best shot now,'' McDowell said. "The programs in the CAA know us better, they've played us multiple times and in some way playing those hostile road games will be tougher than playing at Maryland.''

As the New Year starts this weekend, the Tribe have a bid in front of them to earn. They have done quite enough to warrant the attention of all 10 members of the NCAA tournament selection committee. Remember, it is the best 34 at-large teams remaining after the automatic berths. History means nothing in that room. You earn your spot based on what you've done this season. William & Mary has done more than most so far.

"It would mean the world to a lot of people,'' said Shaver of a first-ever NCAA berth. "Not just to the guys here, but to the guys who have played here a long time. I know it's premature for me to talk about that, but it would mean the world.''

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Videos From the Web: Car Videos - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 02 Jan 2010 09:28 AM PST

Green and performance luxury neednt be mutually exclusive concepts. Thats a core belief at Audi. Today, that philosophy paid off with the all-new A3 TDI earning the prestigious title of 2010 Green Car of the Year®. The announcement came this morning during the Los Angeles Auto Show as Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com presented the award to Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen. The Audi A3 TDI was among five model finalists nominated for ...

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