Erica blog

Woods seeks to jumpstart year at Torrey

LA JOLLA, California (AFP) – Torrey Pines might be just what Tiger Woods needs as he vies to end a 14-month victory drought.

Woods launches his 2011 season in familiar territory on Thursday in the 5.8 million-dollar US PGA Tour event now known as the Farmers Insurance Open.

Woods' six victories in the tournament include four in a row from 2005-2008. He followed up that 2008 victory by winning the same year's US Open on the Torrey Pines South Course, when he defied the pain of a damaged knee to outlast Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole playoff.

The two will be paired together, alongside Anthony Kim, for the first and second rounds.

"I don't know how that computer did that," Woods said with a smile, "just randomly put us together."

"A glitch," Mediate added, but both said they were looking forward to playing together.

"Rocco and I have obviously had a little history here," Woods said. "Also again I've known him since my rookie year and he has been great to me. It's going to be a lot of fun going out there and playing with him and AK."

While some golfers shy away from the hubbub that goes with a Woods pairing, Mediate welcomed it.

"All the excitement, loudness and screaming and hollering, I love all that stuff," he said, adding that far from being distracted, he found it helped him focus.

"Because you want to be able to hang in there with him," Mediate said. "Becuase you have to assume that he's going to really come out and be ready to go this year and play good."

Woods will be playing here for the first time since his US Open triumph. He missed the 2009 US tour stop at Torrey as he recovered from post-Open knee surgery and he missed last year as he dealt with the fallout of a sex scandal that eventually saw his marriage end.

Without a victory worldwide since the 2009 Australian Masters, Woods has fallen to number three in the world.

But he says the swing changes he implemented last season with coach Sean Foley have solidified faster than he expected and he's eager to get a new season underway.

"I'm just trying to get better, trying to build on what I did last year and the end of last year," Woods said. "I think that's where I'm at. Sean and I have been talking about that quite a bit. We're excited about where my game has progressed over the off-season. Just get out there and play."

Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who made the unusual move of opening his season at Abu Dhabi last week, launches his US tour campaign here as well.

The American, whose 2010 season didn't live up to the promise of his Augusta victory in April, has three Torrey Pines victories on his resume, the most recent in 2001.

He will be paired for the first two rounds with England's Justin Rose and American Dustin Johnson, both two-time winners on the US tour last year.

The field also includes Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas, a US tour rookie who won the Bob Hope Classic on Sunday, and defending champion Ben Crane -- who wasn't putting any undue pressure on himself to repeat.

"What are the chances that someone actually defends their title when they are not Tiger Woods?" Crane said. "Doesn't happen very often."

Crane said his win here last year, coming so early in the season, was something of a surprise. He was gratified to follow it up in October with a victory at the Malaysian Open, the first event co-sanctioned by the US PGA Tour and the Asian Tour.

But even with a two-win season behind him, Crane said he was keeping his expectations low.

"My goal is to look at the ocean a lot," he said. "Kind of not try to expect too much about the golf."

Harris and Phillips lead Xavier to another win

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Amber Harris had 27 points and 12 rebounds and No. 7 Xavier overcame a slow start to beat Charlotte 82-61 on Saturday night.

Ta'Shia Phillips added 22 points and 13 rebounds while Tyeasha Moss had 13 points for the Musketeers (16-2, 5-0 Atlantic-10), who won their sixth consecutive game.

Shannon McCallum scored 23 points and Epiphany Woodson added 13 for Charlotte (15-5, 3-2), which saw its three-game winning streak end.

Xavier, which has been ranked in the Top 25 for 61 consecutive weeks and rose as high as No. 4 earlier this season, shot 50 percent from the field.

Charlotte entered as the conference leader in rebounding differential at 11.2 per game, but Harris and Phillips led the Musketeers to a 45-30 edge Saturday.

However, it was Charlotte that had the hot hand early in the first half, scoring seven of the game's first nine points and pulling ahead 12-8 on McCallum's jumper with 14:23 left.

But the 49ers cooled off after that, going more than 7 1/2 minutes without a field goal. That allowed the Musketeers to break loose, with Phillips' layup with 8:04 left in the half putting Xavier up 21-12.

Charlotte managed to pull within five points three times in the closing minutes — the last at 27-22 on McCallum's tip in with 2:08 left — but Harris followed that with a 3-pointer and layup to push the Musketeers' lead to 32-22, its biggest of the half.

They led 32-25 at the half.

The 49ers put on another surge in the opening minutes of the second half, cutting Xavier's lead to 37-35 on Paige McCallum's 3-pointer with 16:35 left, and pulling within 47-43 on Shannon McCallum's jumper with 12:24 remaining.

The Musketeers responded with a 14-1 run, with Special Jennings' layup with 8:35 left giving Xavier a 63-44 lead.

Charlotte would put together one final run, scoring 10 unanswered points capped by Woodson's 3-pointer with 6:01 left to pull within 63-54. That's as close as the 49ers could get as the Musketeers scored 19 of the game's final 26 points over the final 5:49.

X-Series System Automation Package Offers Big Savings

A new family of central controls for industrial compressed air systems can be customized to your company’s needs, eliminating waste and offering savings on your energy bill and a short payback period. The X-Series System Automation Package, introduced by Ingersoll Rand, is offered through Process & Power, Inc.

Memphis, TN (PRWEB) November 19, 2010

A new family of central controls for industrial compressed air systems can be customized to your company’s needs, eliminating waste and offering savings on your energy bill and a short payback period. The X-Series System Automation Package, introduced by Ingersoll Rand, is offered through Process & Power, Inc.

"As much as 20 to 60 percent of the energy used to operate compressed air systems is wasted," said Lee Majors, Vice President of Engineering Services for Process & Power. "Central control of your air compressors creates efficiency and cost savings. The versatile and innovative Ingersoll Rand X-Series System eliminates wastes by efficiently managing up to twelve compressors. The X-Series can work with your existing compressors, regardless of the brand, differing capacities and types."

In the past, Majors explained, capabilities now found in the X-Series would have required a custom engineered system that could easily have cost four to five times what this central-control system costs. "The price of the cost-effective X-Series varies with the range of capabilities needed for your system," he added.

Majors described some of the many benefits of the X-Series: Sold in modules, the X-Series can be customized for each customer’s needs. You don’t have to pay for features you don’t need or can’t use.It can be applied with any manufacturer’s air compressors or a combination of brands.The X-Series handles different types of controls, including VFD-controlled compressors. This capability often is available only with very expensive control systems.The system receives input from other instrumentation, including flow meters, dew point meters and compressed air dryers.The Visualization module option provides Ethernet access with its own IP address. Through your web browser, you can observe what’s happening in your compressed air system, and on an administrative level, you can make changes.The X-series has the capability to send you an email alert upon a warning or alarm in the system.Another plus is that Process & Power can provide local support for installation and training on the X-series, eliminating the need to get expensive help from elsewhere, Majors said.

Industries interested in a free evaluation of whether the X-Series can help their operation save money can contact Majors at lmajors(at)pnpmail(dot)com or 800-264-8939.

"Our first step is an on-site look at your compressed air system to determine if installing the X-Series will deliver the cost-saving results we want," Majors said. "Finally, to help you realize even more savings, we’ll also help you tap into any incentive programs from your electricity provider for installing energy-efficient systems."

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Lee MajorsProcess & Power, Inc.1-800-264-8939Email Information

China, India CO2 Emissions Offset Decreases In US, UK, Japan

Carbon emissions from emerging countries China and India offset slight reductions in 2009, from industrialized nations like the U.S., U.K. and Japan.

Inreported.

Emissions fell in most developed countries: Japan's emissions fell by 11.8 percent, the U.S. by 6.9 percent, the U.K. by 8.6 percent and Germany by seven percent.

In contrast, emissions rose 8 percent in China, 6.2 percent in India and 1.4 percent in South Korea, AFP reported.

"This is because the drop in world gross domestic product was less than anticipated and the carbon intensity of world GDP, which is the amount of CO2 released per unit of GDP, improved by only 0.7 percent in 2009 -- well below its long-term average of 1.7 percent."

In another interview with , Friedlingstein said the world was on track to return to last decade's emissions, which were around three percent a year.

"Probably, we'll be back on the track of the previous decade, 2009 having been a small blip," he said.

The disturbing results were published a week before the UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico.

Two killed in Israeli fighter jet crash: media

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Rescue crews on Thursday recovered the bodies of two Israeli air force pilots killed when their F-16 jet crashed during a training mission in the country's south, media reports said.

The military said it had recovered the black box from the fighter but declined to confirm reports the bodies had been found, still officially listing the two men, a 28-year-old pilot and a 30-year-old navigator, as missing.

But Israeli media said members of the military rabbinate had found the body parts of the two men who were killed after their fighter jet crashed into a mountainous region in the Ramon Crater in the southern Negev desert.

The accident occurred late on Wednesday but the military censor barred publication of the news until the families of the crew had been notified.

The aircraft involved in the crash was a US-made F-16I fighter, custom designed for the Israeli air force and believed to be capable of reaching arch-foe Iran.

This was the first crash involving the model.

Air force commander Ido Nehushtan ordered an investigation into the accident and has temporarily grounded the F-16I fleet, the military said.

Initial indications suggest the accident was caused by "pilot error," army radio reported.

In July, six Israelis and a Romanian were killed when an Israeli Sikorski CH-53 helicopter crashed into a mountainous area near Bucharest during a joint Romanian-Israeli drill.