Plot summary: The novel depicts a mythical island, Bensalem, which is discovered by the crew of a European ship after they are lost in the Pacific Ocean somewhere west of Peru. The minimal plot serves the gradual unfolding of the island, its customs, but most importantly, its state-sponsored scientific institution, Salomon's House, "which house or college ... is the very eye of this kingdom." On arriving to Bensalem, the travellers are initially instructed to leave without landing, but are successively quarantined to "the House of Strangers", then given greater leave to explore the island, and finally granted an explanation of Salomon's House. Their conversations with the inhabitants disclose how they in such isolation came to be Christian, how they came to know so much of the outside world (without themselves being known), the history and origin of the island's government and the establishment of Salomon's House by King Solamona, the Bensalemite customs regarding marriage and family, and purpose, properties, and activities of Salomon's House. The interlocutors include the governor of the House of Strangers, Joabin the Jew, and the Father of Salomon's House. -- Only the best and brightest of Bensalem's citizens are selected to join Salomon's House, in which scientific experiments are conducted in Baconian method in order to understand and conquer nature, and to apply the collected knowledge to the betterment of society. Near the end of the work, the Father of Salomon's House catalogues the activities of the institution's members: "For the several employments and offices of our fellows, we have twelve that sail into foreign countries under the names of other nations (for our own we conceal), who bring us the books and abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call merchants of light. "We have three that collect the experiments which are in all books. These we call depredators. "We have three that collect the experiments of all mechanical arts, and also of liberal sciences, and also of practices which are not brought into arts. These we call mystery-men. "We have three that try new experiments, such as themselves think good. These we call pioneers or miners. "We have three that draw the experiments of the former four into titles and tables, to give the better light for the drawing of observations and axioms out of them. These we call compilers. "We have three that bend themselves, looking into the experiments of their fellows, and cast about how to draw out of them things of use and practice for man's life and knowledge, as well for works as for plain demonstration of causes, means of natural divinations, and the easy and clear discovery of the virtues and parts of bodies. These we call dowry-men or benefactors. "Then after divers meetings and consults of our whole number, to consider of the former labours and collections, we have three that take care out of them to direct new experiments, of a higher light, more penetrating into nature than the former. These we call lamps. "We have three others that do execute the experiments so directed, and report them. These we call inoculators. "Lastly, we have three that raise the former discoveries by experiments into greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms. These we call interpreters of nature." Even this short excerpt demonstrates that Bacon understood that science requires analysis and not just the accumulation of observations. Bacon also foresaw that the design of experiments could be improved.

"We have to read with discernment and humility."

My crews often work in dangerous, low-light situations. How do I select the right lighting solutions?

Within the halls of our recent meetings, the RPA community witnessed a defining moment. Committees were not just formed; they were crafted as engines of change.

Provider of innovative lighting solutions for machine vision applications, Advanced Illumination, introduced its LL330 Series of Sealed High Intensity Line Lights.

Newly released book written by the Real Illuminati® calls upon humanity to put their claims on trial.

Signmakers, a leading custom sign company in Los Angeles, proudly announces its 30th anniversary in the industry.

An immersive new exhibition at Queensborough Community College's renowned Kupferberg Holocaust Center documents the vastness of the Nazi's system of genocide. The center's Laura Cohen and Cary Lane discuss the exhibit and the emotional toll of creating it.

Princeton chemists used MacMillan's µMap, a molecular mapping technology, to watch tiny changes in a DNA-protein complex called chromatin — essentially, an architecture that allows for the compaction of DNA — in the presence of genetic mutations associated with cancer.

November 5 is Election Day. I'll get back to that in a minute.

But first . . . Once upon a time I did not believe in conspiracy theories. That's why I enjoyed creating Illuminati and INWO. They showed the world through the eyes of a few complete nutballs, and it was a fun place to visit.

Things have changed, and not in a good way. The Internet made it easy for the nutballs to find each other and set up an echo chamber, and a tragic number of people found the simplicity of a Great Evil Conspiracy to be very attractive, compared to the messy complexities of the real world.

Also, some people REALLY ARE awful, and the net let THEM get together, too.

So now I really do believe in one conspiracy theory. If we were to diagram it as an INWO card layout, it would look like this . . .

At the center we have the Illuminati, of course. If we have to pick an analog from the game the Gnomes of Zurich are closest, though the power-mad Bavarians run a close second. At any rate, the real Illuminati here are a loose, but busy, cabal of billionaires who range from "very conservative" through "extremist," plus more than a few of those complete nutballs we were talking about. Between them, they have trillions of dollars to buy everything from individual votes to Supreme Court decisions. And they do.

Surrounding the billionaires are their high-level puppets. I'd assign those slots to:

• Donald Trump. He, in turn, controls the (Fanatic, Violent, Criminal, zero Power but high Transferrable Power) MAGAs. He thinks he controls the Republicans, but they are only paying lip service to him; they are clients of the billionaires.

• The Republican Party. The once-patriotic GOP has become a creature of the billionaires' whims. Yes, there are some decent Republicans left, but just by accepting the party's label they owe their positions to corruption. The Republicans, in turn, control the House of Representatives (still narrowly).

• The Supreme Court. You read the newspapers, right? Enough said. This pickup took decades for the Gnomes to achieve, and it's been worth every penny.

• Russia. Putin himself is part of the billionaire's club. The country, nukes and all, is his personal fiefdom.

We could extend this out to another level of extremists (hello NRA! Hello Cycle Gangs!) and puppets who won't admit who pulls their strings (hello, hello, Big Media!) but you get the idea.

Yep, I believe in one conspiracy now, and that's the one. No flat earth. No faked moon landings. Just a few people with a sizeable proportion of the world's wealth and the conviction that it makes them superior to the masses. And a lot of useful idiots, permitted to think they are free right up until they stop being useful.

After this election, you could be their property. It's the Golden Rule . . . When you have all the gold, you make all the rules.

So, getting back to the election. It's very important that you vote. You can't vote against the Illuminati who are trying to suck America dry. All you can do is vote against their tools. At this stage of the game that is ALL you can do, but it's a start.

Please vote for Kamala Harris. Please vote for the Democratic candidates for state and national offices. Even if you feel that the Democratic platform is terrible. Because if the Democrats win, you'll at least be guaranteed another vote in four years. If the Illuminati win, it's game over.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Weapons For A Bygone Era

Add spice to your Victorian and Wild West campaigns with GURPS High-Tech: Adventure Guns. This catalog describes iconic and unusual firearms from the mid-19th and early-20th centuries, plus new rules and historical insight to make the era come alive. Don your 10-gallon hat or steampunk goggles, and download it today from Warehouse 23!

Xian Hu, Salma Jalal, Michael Sheetz, Oddmund Bakke, and Felix Margadant

Despite progress made in confocal microscopy, even fast systems still have insufficient temporal resolution for detailed live cell volume imaging, such as tracking rapid movement of membrane vesicles in three-dimensional space. Depending on the shortfall, this may result in undersampling and/or motion artifacts that ultimately limit the quality of the imaging data. By sacrificing detailed information in the Z-direction, we propose a new imaging modality that involves capturing fast "projections" from the field of depth which shortens imaging time by approximately an order of magnitude as compared to standard volumetric confocal imaging. With faster imaging, radiation exposure to the sample is reduced, resulting in less fluorophore photobleaching and potential photodamage. The implementation minimally requires two synchronized control signals that drive a piezo stage and trigger the camera exposure. The device generating the signals has been tested on spinning disk confocals and instant structured-illumination-microscopy (iSIM) microscopes. Our calibration images show that the approach provides highly repeatable and stable imaging conditions that enable photometric measurements of the acquired data, in both standard live imaging and super-resolution modes.

Seventy percent of sockets contain inefficient light bulbs. Here's how to switch them out with energy-saving models while minding your lumens and your watts.

Meet a brainy LED bulb equipped with embedded sensors that will help you sleep better (and save a bundle of cash).

AlgaeBulb, an LED light bulb that, as described, is filled with microorganisms that power the bulb itself.

Here's your crash course on the wonderful world of iguanas.

The Blac Chyna collection is available online beginning Monday November 19, 2018 www.whitenicious.com/collections/blac-chyna.

The invention relates to embedding data symbols of a data signal into a luminance output of an illumination device. The device includes a controller configured for receiving a first base pattern and a second base pattern within a frame period, and generating a shifted second pattern by phase shifting the second base pattern within the frame period with respect to the first base pattern in response to the data signal such that the data symbols are embedded in the luminance output of the device. The device also includes a first light source configured to generate a first luminance output in response to the first base pattern and a second light source configured to generate a second luminance output in response to the shifted second pattern. The first and second luminance outputs have different output spectra and the luminance output of the illumination device comprises both the first and second luminance outputs. With this approach, the short-time average light output of the illumination device remains constant, decreasing the visible flicker and allowing the use of lower switching frequencies relative to the prior art approaches.

There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile.

In various embodiments, an illumination apparatus includes an air gap between a sub-assembly and a waveguide attached thereto at a plurality of discrete attachment points, as well as a bare-die light-emitting diode encapsulated by the waveguide.

A lens holder (6) has: a lens holding section (21), which elastically holds a flange (17) of a lens (5); a section to be pressed (22), which is positioned to surround the lens holding section (21), and is fixed to a substrate (3) by being pressed to the substrate by means of a holder fixing means (2); and connecting sections (23, 24), which partially connect to each other the lens holding section (21) and the section to be pressed (22). The height of the section to be pressed (22) from the substrate (3) is more than the height of the lens holding section (21) from the substrate (3), and the lens holding section (21) is not in contact with the holder fixing means (2).

Provided is an illumination device including a light source, a power supply to supply power to the light source, a housing including one side formed to be open, and including the light source and the power supply in the housing, at least one diffusion cover, disposed on the open side of the housing, through which light from the light source passes, and a power cover, disposed on the open side of the housing, to cover one side of the power supply. The illumination device may minimize a number of components or tools used for installing the illumination device. The illumination device may be readily installed by changing a structure and components included in the illumination device may be readily changed and repaired.

A microscope includes a light source including an LED device having a light radiating surface and a light directing element including a larger coupling-out surface. The light directing element is disposed so as to couple in light radiated by the light source and couple out the radiated light from the coupling-out surface. The light directing element is disposed so that the light is radiated out in an angular range of ±10° to ±50° and illuminates an area at 5 meters in an angular range of at least ±5° with intensity fluctuations of less than 50%. A condenser is disposed between the coupling-out surface of the light directing element and the object to be viewed. The condenser has an aperture with an aperture dimension and is disposed such that the aperture is irradiated completely with the light coupled out from the coupling-out surface.

Illuminating arrangement for a microscope (200) having a first LED (10) for providing light with a first intensity spectrum (K1) with at least two intensity maxima and an intensity minimum located between the intensity maxima, and at least one further LED (20) for providing light with a further intensity spectrum (K2) respectively, each further intensity spectrum (K2) having an intensity maximum in the region of the intensity minimum of the first intensity spectrum (K1), and a device (30) for merging the light of the first LED (10) and the light of the at least one further LED (20), by means of which illuminating light can be produced with a combined intensity spectrum (K3) composed of light with the first intensity spectrum and light with each of the further intensity spectra.

An illumination apparatus, a method of manufacture of the same and a heat sink apparatus for use in said illumination apparatus in which an array of optical elements directs light from an array of light emitting elements through a heat dissipating structure to achieve a thin and efficient light source that provides directional illumination with efficient dissipation of generated heat into the illuminated environment.

An elevator interior illumination assembly comprising a primary LED driver that provides conditioned DC power to primary and backup LEDs when AC power is available from a primary electric power source. The backup LEDs receive DC power from a backup electric power source when AC power is not available to the primary LED driver from the primary electric power source.

An exemplary illumination source for an inspection system includes a pulsed seed laser having a wavelength of approximately 1104 nm and a continuous wave, Raman seed laser having a wavelength of approximately 1160 nm. An optical coupler can combine outputs of the pulsed seed laser and the continuous wave, Raman seed laser. Pre-amplification stages can receive an output of the optical coupler. A power amplifier can receive an output of the pre-amplification stages. A sixth harmonic can be generated using the amplified, combined wavelength. Systems for inspecting a specimen such as a reticle, photomask or wafer can include one of the illumination sources described herein.

A light emitting element array for an illumination apparatus, an illumination apparatus and method of manufacture of the same in which an array of light-emitting elements and an array of light directing optics are provided between first and second attached mothersheet substrates wherein the thermal resistance of at least one of the mothersheet substrates is reduced by means of thickness reduction so as to provide reduced LED junction temperature.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a projection image display device in which all of the multiple light sources to be used are positioned optimally, regardless of the mode of installation of the device. This projection image display device has two illumination optical systems (1, 2) that are each provided with a light source (111, 211), a color separator for separating into three colors of light, a liquid crystal panel (150, 250) for forming an optical image, and a color synthesis prism (160, 260) for color-synthesizing. A polarization beam splitter (3) for synthesis synthesizes an optical image formed by the illumination optical system (1, 2), and projects the same from a projection lens (4). The optical axis (101, 201) of each light source (111, 211) is positioned within the same plane as the optical axis (401) of the projection lens (4), and so as to orthogonally intersect the optical axis (401) of the projection lens.

A method includes transmitting from at least one of the imaging sensors to a controller a short frame data that is collected by the at least one of the imaging sensors when the illumination source is activated to provide the illumination light toward the target object with a first illumination level. The method further includes transmitting subsequently from the at least one of the imaging sensors to the controller a regular frame data that is collected by the at least one of the imaging sensors when the illumination source is activated to provide the illumination light toward the target object with a second illumination level that is determined based upon the short frame data. The size of the regular frame data being at least 50 times larger than the size of the short frame data.

An improved document scanning device and a scanning method for checking the transparency and thickness of an identification document. In a preferred embodiment, any one surface of the document is illuminated by the illumination source facing the said surface and the opposite surface of the document is captured by the camera. The amount of light that passes through the illuminated surface of the document is measured and contrasted with the amount of light that passes through the same surface of a reference or original document. The scanning method is also capable of validating an identification document by detecting and authenticating any laser image imprinted on such document.

A skateboard is provided having a transparent deck. First and second wheel assemblies are attached to the front and rear portion of the skateboard, respectively. The wheel assemblies each include a truck and two wheels. Each respective wheel comprises a wheel covering having a translucent surface and a wheel interior defined by a rotational axis and the wheel covering. The wheel interior houses a wheel generator configured to generate electricity and light emitting devices electrically coupled to the wheel generator that emit light when the wheel generator generates electricity. The skateboard also has a graphics layer on the top surface of the deck that is illuminated by the light emitting devices. The graphics layer comprises an adhesive surface having a graphic printed thereon and an adhesive applied thereon. The adhesive surface is adhesively affixed to the top or bottom surface of the transparent or translucent plastic deck.

The present invention provides an intraoral imaging and illumination apparatus (10) comprising a rear portion (12) and a front portion (14) removably connected to the rear portion (12). The front portion (14) is formed as a light guide (29). The rear portion (12) comprises an imaging device (16) and an illumination device (18). The illumination device (18) is adapted to couple light into the front portion (14) and towards a leading end (30) of the front portion (14) opposite the rear portion (12) so as to illuminate a first object (66). The imaging device (16) is adapted to image the first object (66).

A light emitting module includes a circuit board, a light emitting device mounted on the circuit board, and a lens dispersing light emitted from the light emitting device. The lens includes a lower surface formed with a concave section defining a light incident surface through which light enters the lens, an upper surface through which light exits the lens, and legs coupled to the circuit board and disposed farther outside the lens than an area of the upper surface. The light emitting device is disposed within the concave section of the lens.

Disclosed are an LED illumination apparatus and its manufacturing method. A metal sheet is stamped to form a conductive plate with 3D space, and the conductive plate includes an illumination circuit, and a support frame for supporting the conductive plate to form different types of illumination apparatuses. The support frame is provided for supporting and fixing the conductive plate to facilitate the conductive plate to form a 3D curved surface, and an LED chip soldering point protection mechanism is provided for protecting each LED chip soldering point, so that the illumination apparatus is applicable for mass production to improve the yield rate and meet the high heat dissipation efficiency, large-range illumination, material saving, lightweight and/or environmental protection requirements.

A light fixture includes a sealed path between a group of LED modules and a sensor cavity. The light fixture performs self-diagnosis and implements corrective measures upon detection of one or more environmental condition changes in the sealed path. In response to detecting an environmental condition change, the light fixture will automatically implement a corrective measure.

A method for providing assistance in aiming of one or more illumination devices in an area may include, by a processor, receiving photometric data for an area, and using the photometric data to determine an aiming vector for the illumination device. the area may include the illumination device. the method may further include receiving, from an orientation sensor module of the illumination device, orientation data for the illumination device, and using the orientation data and the aiming vector to determine if there is an error in the aiming of the illumination device.

A light fixture includes a housing comprising a body portion with an opening at a first end, a power supply at an opposing second end, and a heat sink comprising a plurality of fins between the opening and the power supply. A mating surface is positioned proximate to the opening. The mating surface includes a set of landing pad areas and a set of open areas. The fixture also includes a set of light emitting diode (LED) modules, each of which is positioned in the opening and secured to a landing pad area of the mating surface. The LED modules are arranged so that the plurality of open areas remain open to the atmosphere and provide an air path to and from the heat sink.

A planar illumination apparatus according to an embodiment includes a light source and a light guide plate. The light source includes a light emitting diode and a wavelength conversion material that is excited by light emitted from the light emitting diode so as to emit light, and emits white light. The light guide plate includes an incident end surface on which the light source is disposed, and an emission surface that emits light incident from the incident end surface. The light guide plate is provided with a light scattering unit on at least one of the emission surface and a rear surface opposed to the emission surface. The light scattering unit mainly scatters light emitted from the light emitting diode than light emitted from the wavelength conversion material.

An illumination device includes a light source configured to emit, during operation, light with a prevalent direction of propagation different from a direction of an optical axis of the illumination device; and an optical coupler including a transparent material, the optical coupler having an input aperture, an exit aperture and a first side surface and a second side surface arranged between the input aperture and the exit aperture, the exit aperture being centered on the optical axis of the illumination device. The optical coupler receives the emitted light through the input aperture from the light source. Further, the first side surface and the second side surface redirect the received light via total internal reflection (TIR) to the exit aperture. Additionally, the redirected light is issued through the exit aperture.

Omid Safi, professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke, knew that the months of April and May would be difficult for the Muslim community this year. Like Easter and Passover, the holy month of Ramadan will be celebrated much differently due to COVID-19’s ongoing social distancing restrictions.

THE CREATORS: Through the elegant, artistic lights she designs, creates and installs, Conway transforms places, perceptions and experiences.

Albert H. Fox, who restored and rebuilt close to 6,000 pianos and tuned several thousand more, has now restored a famous 145-year-old Pleyel piano.

The Republican congressman chastised entertainment culture for being "divisive."

The credibility of statistics apparently depends on whether they’re beneficial.

We focus on the challenge of finding a diverse collection of quality solutions on complex continuous domains. While quality diver-sity (QD) algorithms like Novelty Search with Local Competition (NSLC) and MAP-Elites are designed to generate a diverse range of solutions, these algorithms require a large number of evaluations for exploration of continuous spaces. Meanwhile, variants of the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES) are among the best-performing derivative-free optimizers in single-objective continuous domains. This paper proposes a new QD algorithm called Covariance Matrix Adaptation MAP-Elites (CMA-ME). Our new algorithm combines the self-adaptation techniques of CMA-ES with archiving and mapping techniques for maintaining diversity in QD. Results from experiments based on standard continuous optimization benchmarks show that CMA-ME finds better-quality solutions than MAP-Elites; similarly, results on the strategic game Hearthstone show that CMA-ME finds both a higher overall quality and broader diversity of strategies than both CMA-ES and MAP-Elites. Overall, CMA-ME more than doubles the performance of MAP-Elites using standard QD performance metrics. These results suggest that QD algorithms augmented by operators from state-of-the-art optimization algorithms can yield high-performing methods for simultaneously exploring and optimizing continuous search spaces, with significant applications to design, testing, and reinforcement learning among other domains.