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The Black-rumped Flameback or Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker (Dinopium benghalense) is a woodpecker found widely distributed in South Asia. It is one of the few woodpeckers that are seen in urban areas, it has a characteristic rattling-whinnying call and an undulating flight. It is the only golden-backed woodpecker with a black throat.[2]
The Black-rumped Flameback is a large species at 26-29 cm in length. It has a typical woodpecker shape, and the golden yellow wing coverts are distinctive. The rump is black and not red as in the Greater Flameback. The underparts are white with dark chevron markings. The black throat finely marked with white immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region. The head is whitish with a black nape and throat, and there is a greyish eye patch. Unlike Greater Flameback ( Chrysocolaptes lucidus) it has no dark moustachial stripes.[2][3]
The adult male Black-rumped Flameback has a red crown and crest. Females have a black forecrown spotted with white, with red only on the rear crest. Young birds are like the female, but duller.[2]
Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects.[4]
Leucistic birds have been recorded.[5]
This flameback is found mainly on the plains going up to an elevation of about 1200m in Pakistan, India south of the Himalayas and east till the western Assam valley and Meghalaya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is associated with open forest and cultivation. They are often seen in urban areas with wooded avenues.[4] It is somewhat rare in the Kutch and desert region of Rajasthan.[6]This species is normally seen in pairs or small parties and sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks. They forage from the ground to the canopy. They feed on insects mainly beetle larvae from under the bark, visit termite mounds and sometimes feed on nectar.[7][8] As they make hopping movements around branches, they often conceal themselves from potential predators.[9] They adapt well in human-modified habitats making use of artificial constructions[10] and even food scraps.[11]
The breeding season varies with weather and is between February and July. They frequently drum during the breeding season.[12] The nest hole is usually excavated by the birds and has a horizontal entrance and descends into a cavity. Sometimes birds may usurp the nest holes of other birds.[13] Nests have also been noted in mud embankments.[14] The eggs are laid inside the unlined cavity. The normal clutch is three and the eggs are elongate and glossy white.[4][15] The eggs hatch after about 11 days of incubation. The chicks leave the nest after about 20 days.[16
The MTA Mask Force was out throughout the MTA system distributing pink masks during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Photo: Marc Hermann / MTA NYC Transit
Photos Courtesy of PSP/FSU
© All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without express written permission. For more information, please contact atullo@troopersfund.org
Loved ones recall slain trooper
Buzz up! By Michael Hasch, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Cpl. Joseph Pokorny was many things -- a fearless policeman, an avid hunter, a private person who would give a friend the shirt off his back -- but most of all, he was a devoted father.
"He cared for his kids more than anything in the world," said his brother, Frank Pokorny, wiping tears from his eyes Monday outside his family's home in Beaver County.
Pokorny, 45, of Moon, a 22-year state police veteran, was shot and killed while making a traffic stop early yesterday near the Rosslyn Farms on-ramp to the Parkway West in Carnegie.
"He was a dedicated trooper and devoted father to his two children," said Robinson District Judge Carla Swearingen, one of the small but trusted circle of people Pokorny called friends.
Pokorny opted to work a steady midnight shift so he could be home during the day with his son, Joseph, 17, known as Jake, and daughter, Alexandre, 15, known as Ali.
"If he gave you his word, he stood by it. His biggest priority was his children. Everybody that knew him liked him," said Swearingen.
Pokorny was nearly 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, but he was small in childhood and learned at an early age how to defend himself from larger bullies, Frank Pokorny said.
"He was extremely fearless. He didn't take anything from anybody. He was a very hard-nosed person," his brother said.
Joseph Pokorny received a letter of commendation for bravery after an incident on July 8 when state police began chasing a man suspected of drunken driving and pulling a gun on a trooper.
When troopers tried to end the high-speed chase by putting spike strips on the Beaver Valley Expressway, the motorist turned around and began driving the wrong way.
When Pokorny saw the motorist trying to ram the side of a police car, he steered his cruiser into the path of the speeding car, hitting it head-on in a fiery collision.
"He saved one of our guys by taking on the other guy head-on," said state police Cpl. Kenneth Yuhas, one of several troopers offering condolences and support yesterday to Pokorny's parents, Florence and Joseph R. Pokorny, in Center Township.
"He actually put his life on the line by ramming the vehicle and stopping (it)," said Col. Jeffrey Miller, the head of the state police. "He was a very aggressive and conscientious corporal, always out there backing up the troops."
Pokorny, who joined the state police in 1983 after graduation from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., spent much of his career working dangerous undercover narcotics and vice details, his brother said.
In 1990, he joined the state police Tactical Narcotics Team based in Greensburg, Westmoreland County.
"He would never tell me stories about it except that it was scary and it was ugly," Frank Pokorny said. "(Other troopers) tell me he was always the first one through the front door with the battering ram."
Tom Alexander, who was Pokorny's football coach at Center Area High School, remembers "Joey" as a student who gave his all on the football field and in the classroom.
"Joey was one of those kids who played hard. He chose a rough career. He was a good student," Alexander said.
Pokorny's smile is what impressed state police Cpl. David Bova. "The thing I'll miss the most is his laugh and his big smile," Bova said.
"He was a great kid, a great adult who was fun-loving in high school but took his job seriously," said Anthony Mendicino, principal of Center Area High School, where Pokorny graduated in 1978.
Frank Pokorny said his brother did not decide to pursue a career in law enforcement until his last semester in school.
Following his promotion to corporal in September 2000, Joseph Pokorny served at various stations --including Belle Vernon, Fayette County -- until January 2003 when he became the vice supervisor for Troop B headquarters in Washington County.
Pokorny, who also is survived by a sister, Laura Hill, of Center, became a patrol supervisor in Moon in July 2004, but refused to be tied to a desk reading reports.
"He was, like, caffeinated. He was high-speed. He would go out and get the job done. He was not a slug," said Trooper Robin Mungo, a state police spokeswoman.
"He always wanted to be out on the road with the guys," Yuhas said.
But Frank Pokorny said his brother was "a very private" man.
"He certainly was not a mixer. He had a very small circle of friends. He was very guarded until you earned his trust and respect. Then he'd give you the shirt off his back," Frank Pokorny said.
"He was like a brother to me," said Ronald Evans, who often went hunting with the Pokorny brothers. "He was a great guy, the best. You knew you could count on him."
Crystal Hoffman, who lives near Joseph Pokorny's home in the Sharon Hill Manor neighborhood of Moon, said she regularly returned Pokorny's golden retriever when it broke free of its tether and ended up at her home.
"I didn't know Joe well, but he seemed to have a very a good sense of humor. He seemed like the kind of guy who really enjoyed life," Hoffman said.
The Pokorny brothers were avid hunters who made a number of trips together to hunt elk out West.
They last saw each other last week when Joseph Pokorny visited his brother's home in Hanover, Beaver County.
"He went out in the back woods to go hunting. He was an incredible woodsman. When he came back, he said he saw a buck but didn't shoot it. He smiled and said, 'I didn't want to.'"
Frank Pokorny, known as "Fearless Frank" for his special teams play for the Steelers in 1985 and '86, made no effort to hide his pain and tears.
"He was my older brother. I loved and miss everything about him."
UNICEF speaks with communities on Conakry about Ebola and distributes soap and chlorine along with information fliers in the neighborhood of Matam
Brochure distributed around the Dandenong rail corridor for the Andrews Government's level crossing removal program which was part of its election campaign in the November 2014 election
The previous Liberal government had funded a number of crossing removals now underway with a separate package for the Dandenong Line with crossings at Centre Road and Clayton Road in Clayton to go, along with crossings at Carnegie and Murrumbeena. The project was cancelled - labelled a 'con' by Andrews, and a new one initiated which will see the remaining five go as well.
It should be noted here that the treatment now is to locally lower the rail line under the road by default at individual locations rather than regrading large sections or moving the road where it may also be possible. The cost for one location is now in the range of $150 - $200 million with a station rebuild and associated civil works with the government planning to grade separate 50 such locations around Melbourne - all somehow funded by state money alone.
With the cancellation of East West toll road between the Eastern Freeway and CityLink and little construction work in Melbourne at the time of this posting, the Andrews Government has now re-branded the crossing removals as a major project with a 'Level Crossing Removal Authority' (LXRA) to oversee it. The other major project in the pipeline is the Melbourne Metro which will not start construction for some time yet. Other projects to start include widening of the Tullarmarine Freeway and a proposal for a port connection to the already-busy West Gate Freeway as a replacement for East West - first mooted under the Brumby Labor Government's Eddington Transport Plan.
Level crossing removals were done at numerous locations around Melbourne in the 1960's and early 70's before a hiatus of work in the 1980's and 90's (freeway building in Melbourne also went quiet in the 1980s before resuming in the 1990's). Significantly increased rail patronage in recent years meant increased services which have resulted in boom gates down for lengthy periods of time on some lines - particularly on the busy Dandenong Corridor.
The image here is of a Melbourne Comeng suburban set passing through the Murrumbeena Road level crossing, looking north (see map tag)
Thanks to Vax80 for the brochure.
Mitch Hagney
Distributed Urban Agriculture
While the majority of the population now lives in urban areas, the vast majority of our food still comes from far distant rural farms using increasingly destructive strategies to maximize their yield. All of a sudden, however, technology and the market are giving producers the opportunity to scale urban agriculture up to help make cities sustainable. Innovations in remote sensing, data conglomeration, irrigation design, and lighting are enabling farmers to grow healthy produce on a tiny footprint with fewer dangerous chemicals. In the process, urban farmers can reuse waste as construction material and fertilizer, while operating farms distributed throughout cities in derelict and underutilized spaces.
Distributing surplus commodities. St. Johns, Arizona, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
IOM distributes solar radios to survivors of typhoon Haiyan still living in temporary shelters in western Visayas, Philippines. © IOM 2014 (Photo by Alan Motus)
This distributed power unit (DPU) brings up the rear of a westbound manifest freight at Lucin, Utah. In the United States the use of distributed power is on the increase, especially with Union Pacific Railroad. One advantage of having a pushing locomotive on the rear end is the reduction in the tendency of long trains in curves to "stringline."
Stringlining is the tendency of a pulled flexible thing (string, rope, hose, train) to want to form a straight line ("straight as a string"). Obstructions can prevent stringlining. Dragging a hose around the corner of a house or past a tree can force the hose to assume a less-than-straight line: the hose does not stringline. But without the obstructions, a dragged hose will be fairly straight (it stringlines).
A train is subject to the same physics, but instead of going around a house or tree, it travels through curves, which act as obstructions. While negotiating a curve, a freight car wants to move toward the inside of the curve. In fact, it is being pulled into the curve. Rails and wheels are designed to keep the cars on the rails in spite of this force, but the right combination of forces can overcome the best-designed track, resulting in a train's stringlining (forming a straight line in a curve).
The distribution of weight in a train plays a role, as does acceleration from a stop. Suppose a long train is stopped on curving track. There are three or four locomotives up front and none farther back. The first half of the train is empty freight cars. The rear half is loaded cars. When the stopped train starts up, two major forces are at work: the pulling force of the locomotives and the resisting (pulling) force of the loaded freight cars. Just as if a ground stake pops out of the ground, allowing a dragged hose to straighten out, the relatively weak holding force of the unloaded cars is not sufficient to keep them on the rails, and the train stringlines (derails). Starting a train slowly can counteract this problem. Assembling the train in a way that avoids the grouping of empty cars ahead of a grouping of loaded cars is a better solution but not always possible.
Another solution is to reduce the amount of pulling force from the rear of the train. That's what a DPU does. Thus the cars in the middle of the train are not pulled from both ends and they stay on the rails. (This description is simplified and incomplete, but it gets the idea across.)
The comments prompted me to add that DPUs are also used to reduce the strain on the drawbars and couplers of the locomotives and the cars near the front of the train.
The September 2010 issue of "Trains Magazine" had an informative article on the use of distributed power. The more I learn about railroads the more I realize I have much to learn.
SIN India led a 4-member delegation of Indian manufacturing experts from the IITs and IISc to the UK 16-19 June 2014. Follow us on Twitter @UKinIndia.
Following, a text, in english, from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:
Great Egret
For the similar Australasian species, see Eastern Great Egret.
The Great Egret (Ardea alba), also known as the Great White Egret or Common Egret or (now not in use) Great White Heron,[1][2] is a large, widely-distributed egret. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, in southern Europe it is rather localized. In North America it is more widely distributed, and it is ubiquitous across the Sun Belt of the United States and in the rainforests of South America. It is sometimes confused with the Great White Heron in Florida, which is a white morph of the closely related Great Blue Heron (A. herodias). Note, however, that the name Great White Heron has occasionally been used to refer to the Great Egret.
Description:
The Great Egret is a large bird with all-white plumage that can reach one meter in height, weigh up to 950 grams (2.1 lb) and a wingspan of 165 to 215 cm. It is thus only slightly smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Heron (A. cinerea). Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet, though the bill may become darker and the lower legs lighter in the breeding season. In breeding plumage, delicate ornamental feathers are borne on the back. Males and females are identical in appearance; juveniles look like non-breeding adults. It is a common species, usually easily seen. It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises, and spoonbills, which extend their necks in flight.
The Great Egret is not normally a vocal bird; at breeding colonies, however, it often gives a loud croaking cuk cuk cuk.
Systematics and taxonomy:
Like all egrets, it is a member of the heron family, Ardeidae. Traditionally classified with the storks in the Ciconiiformes, the Ardeidae are closer relatives of pelicans and belong in the Pelecaniformes instead. The Great Egret—unlike the typical egrets—does not belong to the genus Egretta but together with the great herons is today placed in Ardea. In the past, however, it was sometimes placed in Egretta or separated in a monotypic genus Casmerodius.
Subspecies
There were four subspecies in various parts of the world, which differ but little. Differences are bare part coloration in the breeding season and size; the largest A. a. modesta from Asia and Australasia is now considered a full species, the Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta). The remaining three subspecies are:
Ardea alba alba (Europe)
Ardea alba egretta (Americas)
Ardea alba melanorhynchos (Africa)
Ecology and status:
The Great Egret is partially migratory, with northern hemisphere birds moving south from areas with colder winters. It breeds in colonies in trees close to large lakes with reed beds or other extensive wetlands. It builds a bulky stick nest.
The Great Egret is generally a very successful species with a large and expanding range. In North America, large numbers of Great Egrets were killed around the end of the 19th century so that their plumes could be used to decorate hats. Numbers have since recovered as a result of conservation measures. Its range has expanded as far north as southern Canada. However, in some parts of the southern United States, its numbers have declined due to habitat loss. Nevertheless, it adapts well to human habitation and can be readily seen near wetlands and bodies of water in urban and suburban areas. In 1953 the Great Egret in flight was chosen as the symbol of the National Audubon Society, which was formed in part to prevent the killing of birds for their feathers.[3][4]
The Great Egret is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Diet:
The Great Egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, feeding mainly on fish, frogs, small mammals, and occasionally small birds and reptiles, spearing them with its long, sharp bill most of the time by standing still and allowing the prey to come within its striking distance of its bill which it uses as a spear. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim.
Though it might appear that they feed on the parasites of African buffaloes, they actually feed on leafhoppers, grasshoppers and other insects which are stirred open as buffaloes move about in water.
In culture:
The Great Egret is depicted on the reverse side of a 5-Brazilian reais banknote.
"White Egrets" is the title of Saint Lucian Poet Derek Walcott's fourteenth collection of poems.
A seguir, texto em português da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre:
Garça-branca-grande
A garça-branca-grande (Casmerodius albus, sin. Ardea alba), também conhecida apenas como garça-branca, é uma ave da ordem Ciconiiformes. É uma garça de vasta distribuição e pode ser encontrada em todo o Brasil.
Dieta:
Se alimenta de presas aquáticas, depois de aproximar-se sorrateiramente com o corpo abaixado e o pescoço recolhido e bicar seu alimento, esticando seu longo pescoço.
Taxonomia:
Subespécies
C. a. modesta - Ásia e Australasia
C. a. alba - Europa
C. a. egretta - América do Norte
C. a. melanorhynchos - África
Members of the CERT, Community Emergency Response Team, load sand bags into a vehicle in Alexandria, Virginia, October 30, 2012. Photo by Mannie Garcia/Greenpeace.
Molly distributing hybrid striped bass to study tanks at Kent Sea Tech during an AQUAFLOR field efficacy study.
Rachel Carson Award for Scientific Excellence (Group) – 2013
Photo credit: AADAP Program/USFWS
Cherry Blossom. Washington, DC. USA. Mar/2016
A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).
Cherry blossom is speculated to be native to the Himalayas.[4] Currently it is widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of theNorthern Hemisphere including Europe, West Siberia, India, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.
Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first ladyHelen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin. The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring
Todos os anos o Festival Nacional das Cerejeiras celebra a floração das cerejeiras dadas à cidade de Washington, em 1912, pelo prefeito de Tóquio. O presente foi uma homenagem do prefeito à longa história de amizade entre Estados Unidos e Japão. As cerejeiras floridas marcam a chegada da primavera na cidade e proporcionam uma das vistas mais apreciadas da região. Um dos lugares mais bonitos para observação é ao redor do Tidal Basin, espelho d’água no centro de Washington próximo ao Washington Monument, ao Lincoln Memorial, ao Jefferson Memorial e ao Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. O pico da florada é definido como o dia em que 70% das flores do Tidal Basin estão abertas
Houve a coordenação de muitas pessoas para assegurar a chegada das cerejeiras. Um primeiro lote de 2.000 árvores chegou doente em 1910, mas isso não impediu as partes envolvidas de envidarem todos os esforços para a concretização do intento. Entre os governos dos dois países, com as coordenações do Dr. Jokichi Takamine, um químico famoso mundialmente e fundador da Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hoje conhecida como Daiichi Sankyo), Dr. David Fairchild, do Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos, de Eliza Scidmore, primeiro membro da diretoria feminina da National Geographic Society e da primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft, mais de 3.000 árvores chegaram a Washington, D.C. em 1912. Em uma cerimônia simples, em 27 de março de 1912, a primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft e a Viscondessa Chinda, esposa do embaixador do Japão, plantaram as duas primeiras árvores do Japão na margem norte do Tidal Basin em West Potomac Park. Ao longo dos anos, os presentes foram trocados entre os dois países. Em 1915, o Governo dos Estados Unidos retribuiu com um presente de árvores chamadas “dogwood” (que também tem belas florações) para o povo do Japão. (tradução:nationalcherryblossom)
Cherry Blossom. Washington, DC. USA. Mar/2016
A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら).
Cherry blossom is speculated to be native to the Himalayas.[4] Currently it is widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of theNorthern Hemisphere including Europe, West Siberia, India, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.
Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first ladyHelen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin. The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965.In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring
Todos os anos o Festival Nacional das Cerejeiras celebra a floração das cerejeiras dadas à cidade de Washington, em 1912, pelo prefeito de Tóquio. O presente foi uma homenagem do prefeito à longa história de amizade entre Estados Unidos e Japão. As cerejeiras floridas marcam a chegada da primavera na cidade e proporcionam uma das vistas mais apreciadas da região. Um dos lugares mais bonitos para observação é ao redor do Tidal Basin, espelho d’água no centro de Washington próximo ao Washington Monument, ao Lincoln Memorial, ao Jefferson Memorial e ao Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. O pico da florada é definido como o dia em que 70% das flores do Tidal Basin estão abertas
Houve a coordenação de muitas pessoas para assegurar a chegada das cerejeiras. Um primeiro lote de 2.000 árvores chegou doente em 1910, mas isso não impediu as partes envolvidas de envidarem todos os esforços para a concretização do intento. Entre os governos dos dois países, com as coordenações do Dr. Jokichi Takamine, um químico famoso mundialmente e fundador da Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hoje conhecida como Daiichi Sankyo), Dr. David Fairchild, do Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos, de Eliza Scidmore, primeiro membro da diretoria feminina da National Geographic Society e da primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft, mais de 3.000 árvores chegaram a Washington, D.C. em 1912. Em uma cerimônia simples, em 27 de março de 1912, a primeira-dama Helen Herron Taft e a Viscondessa Chinda, esposa do embaixador do Japão, plantaram as duas primeiras árvores do Japão na margem norte do Tidal Basin em West Potomac Park. Ao longo dos anos, os presentes foram trocados entre os dois países. Em 1915, o Governo dos Estados Unidos retribuiu com um presente de árvores chamadas “dogwood” (que também tem belas florações) para o povo do Japão. (tradução:nationalcherryblossom)
Mitch Hagney
Distributed Urban Agriculture
While the majority of the population now lives in urban areas, the vast majority of our food still comes from far distant rural farms using increasingly destructive strategies to maximize their yield. All of a sudden, however, technology and the market are giving producers the opportunity to scale urban agriculture up to help make cities sustainable. Innovations in remote sensing, data conglomeration, irrigation design, and lighting are enabling farmers to grow healthy produce on a tiny footprint with fewer dangerous chemicals. In the process, urban farmers can reuse waste as construction material and fertilizer, while operating farms distributed throughout cities in derelict and underutilized spaces.
Some parts of Malawi faced a serious food crisis in 2012, due to failed rains and drought. With help from the UK, the World Food Programme worked together with the government of Malawi to transport maize and peas from other areas of the country where harvests were better.
Photo: WFP/Gregory Barrow
Crescent Crown Distributing anticipates a 35 percent reduction in its fuel bill with the hybrid diesel-electric Peterbilt 335 it recently put into service. Rich Marchant, vice president of operations for Crescent Crown Distributing, the initial move toward hybrid technology was made easy thanks to service support through PacLease.
Distributed Robotic Assembly for Timber Structures — a robot construction group for structures made of wood — is a multidisciplinary research project which deals with the autonomous machine collectives that create building structures. At the center of the multiple robot insulation system is a robotic node, a wireless, intelligent machine that interacts with other machines of its kind. The choreographic behavior of swarms of robots gives rise to complex, multifaceted wooden structures. In addition, the special conditions that could lead to a disruption in the construction of an actual building structure are investigated in an ongoing way in the research project. The purpose of the project is to contribute to a future development in construction in which robots can work efficiently round the clock.
Credit: Philipp Greindl
Nebraska Army National Guard Spc. Kiefer Kotrous, 189th Transportation Company, helps distribute food from the Food Bank of Lincoln to residents, April 24, 2020, on a rainy day in Tecumseh, Nebraska. The Nebraska National Guard is supporting multiple food bank operations throughout the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Nebraska National Guard photo by Sgt. Lisa Crawford)
SAGINAW— Almost $70,000 was distributed between 16 organizations throughout the Diocese of Saginaw on Thursday, March 10. A husband and wife who owned a house in Midland County said they were interested in donating the unoccupied home to help shelter the homeless. The couple was motivated by Pope Francis and wanted to act on a desire placed on their hearts.The Diocese of Saginaw assisted the couple to determine the best use for the house. It has been sold and the net proceeds of $68,180.38 were distributed to organizations which shelter the homeless.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City
New York City (NYC), often called the City of New York or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2018 population of 8,398,748 distributed over about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the U.S. state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With almost 20 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and approximately 23 million in its combined statistical area, it is one of the world's most populous megacities. New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, significantly influencing commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City is composed of five boroughs, each of which is a county of the State of New York. The five boroughs—Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. The city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. New York is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the United States, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world as of 2016. As of 2019, the New York metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $2.0 trillion. If greater New York City were a sovereign state, it would have the 12th highest GDP in the world. New York is home to the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world.
New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York was the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, and has been the largest U.S. city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the U.S. by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the U.S. and its ideals of liberty and peace. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability, and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity. In 2019, New York was voted the greatest city in the world per a survey of over 30,000 people from 48 cities worldwide, citing its cultural diversity.
Many districts and landmarks in New York City are well known, including three of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions in 2013. A record 62.8 million tourists visited New York City in 2017. Times Square is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Many of the city's landmarks, skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattan's real estate market is among the most expensive in the world. New York is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, with multiple distinct Chinatowns across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service and contributing to the nickname The City that Never Sleeps, the New York City Subway is the largest single-operator rapid transit system worldwide, with 472 rail stations. The city has over 120 colleges and universities, including Columbia University, New York University, Rockefeller University, and the City University of New York system, which is the largest urban public university system in the United States. Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, namely the New York Stock Exchange, located on Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, and NASDAQ, headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The Liberty Walk Widebody Lamborghini Murciélago distributed by Mastermind NA and designed by Kei Miura was one of most photographed automobiles at the 2012 SEMA Show. Wrapped in a chrome brushed vinyl by SPF Japan the Lamborghini is currently meeting with automotive photographers around the world before shipping back to Japan next week. iForged Performance Wheels has now supplied four sets of custom concave series wheels to the first 4 Liberty Walk Widebody Lamborghini. With only 20 kits to be sold in the world, this car will quickly become a collector’s item. Enjoy the amazing photoshoot by John Zhang of 1013mm Photography.
Series: Concave by iForged
Style: Equip V3
Driver Side Center Section Color : Matte Black
Driver Side Lip Finish : Matte Black
Fitment : 19 x 8.5 Front / 20 x 13 Rear
The Postcard
A postcard that was produced by the Adolph Selige Publishing Co. of St. Louis and Leipzig. The card was distributed by Lowman & Hanford S. & P. Co., Publishers, of Seattle, Washington.
The card was posted in Seattle on Sunday the 7th. March 1909; the postmark advertises the Seattle World's Fair of 1909.
The card was sent to:
Miss Anne Bennett,
15, Lawrence Place,
Lawrence Street,
Newark,
Nottinghamshire,
England.
The recipient's name and address stretched across the undivided back of the card.
Electric Cars in Washington, D.C.
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 7th. March 1909, the United States Senate entered the automotive age with the inauguration of transportation by electric cars, running underground through a tunnel between the new Senate Office Building and the United States Capitol.
Léo Malet
The day also marked the birth in Montpellier of the French crime novelist and surrealist Léo Malet.
He had little formal education, and began work as a cabaret singer at "La Vache Enragée" in Montmartre, Paris in 1925.
In the 1930's, he was closely aligned with the Surrealists, and was close friends with André Breton, René Magritte and Yves Tanguy.
Léo Malet's Literary Career
During his time with the Surrealists, he published several volumes of poetry.
Though he dabbled in many genres, Malet is most famous for Nestor Burma, the anti-hero of Les Nouveaux Mystères de Paris. Burma, a cynical private detective, is an astute speaker of argot (French slang), an ex-Anarchist, a serial monogamist and an inveterate pipe smoker.
Of the 33 novels detailing his adventures, eighteen each take place in a sole arrondissement of Paris, in a sub-series of his exploits that Malet dubbed the "New Mysteries of Paris" quoting Eugene Sue's seminal "Feuilleton".
However, Malet never completed the full 20 arrondissements that he had originally planned. Apart from the novels, five short stories were also published, bringing the total of Burma's adventures to 38.
The comic artist Jacques Tardi adapted some of Malet's books, much to the author's approval. Malet claimed that Tardi was the sole person to have visually understood his books. Tardi also provided cover illustrations for the Fleuve Noir editions of the novels, which were published from the 1980's onwards.
The Death and Legacy of Léo Malet
Léo died on the 3rd. March 1996 in Châtillon, a little town just south of Paris where he had lived for most of his life. He died four days before his 87th. birthday.
(a) Selected Bibliography of Léo Malet
-- Le Cinquième Procédé (1948)
-- Le Soleil Naît Derrière le Louvre (1954) (First of the "New Mysteries of Paris" series)
-- Des Kilometres de Linceuls (1955)
-- Fièvre au Marais (1955)
-- La Nuit de Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1955)
-- M'as-tu vu en Cadavre? (1956)
-- Brouillard au Pont de Tolbiac (1956)
-- Casse-Pipe à la Nation (1957)
-- Micmac Moche au Boul' Mich' (1957)
-- Nestor Burma Court la Poupée (1971)
-- Poste Restante (1983)
(b) Comic Book Adaptations of Léo Malet
-- Brouillard au Pont de Tolbiac (1982); drawn by Jacques Tardi
-- 120, Rue de la Gare (1988); drawn by Jacques Tardi
-- Une Gueule de Bois en Plomb (1990); drawn by Jacques Tardi
-- Casse-Pipe à la Nation (1996); drawn by Jacques Tardi
-- M'as-tu vu en Cadavre? (2000); drawn by Jacques Tardi
(c) Filmography of Léo Malet
-- 120, Rue de la Gare, directed by Jacques Daniel-Norman (1946), with René Dary (as Nestor Burma)
-- La Nuit d'Austerlitz, directed by Stellio Lorenzi (TV film, 1954), with Daniel Sorano as Nestor Burma
-- The Enigma of the Folies-Bergère, directed by Jean Mitry (1959), with Bella Darvi, Frank Villard, Dora Doll
-- La Nuit de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, directed by Bob Swaim (1977), with Michel Galabru as Nestor Burma
-- Nestor Burma, Détective de Choc, directed by Jean-Luc Miesch (1982), with Michel Serrault as Nestor Burma
-- Les Rats de Montsouris, directed by Maurice Frydland (TV film, 1988), with Gérard Desarthe as Nestor Burma
-- Nestor Burma (TV series, 39 episodes, 1991–2003), with Guy Marchand as Nestor Burma
New York Army National Guard Soldiers distribute hand sanitizer and masks to residential communities across various New York City boroughs as part of the COVID-19 response, April 23, 2020. Hand sanitizer delivery continued with 86 locations today, having provided over 8,600 gallons and 492,000 masks. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Pietrantoni)
Spc. Andrew Kalaukoa (right) of Makaha, Hawaii, Spc. William Cook of Hana (center), and Thai marine Prawet Asasoy distribute milk to the children of the Ban Pra Gad School in rural Thailand as part of the Cobra Gold joint humanitarian mission hosted at the Ban Nong Buatong School in the Chanthaburi District of Thailand Jan. 24 to Feb. 11. Present on the new classroom facility job site were the Hawaii National Guard, 230th Engineer Company, Vertical and the Royal Thai Marine Engineer Battalion.
Following, a text, in english, from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:
Great Egret
For the similar Australasian species, see Eastern Great Egret.
The Great Egret (Ardea alba), also known as the Great White Egret or Common Egret or (now not in use) Great White Heron,[1][2] is a large, widely-distributed egret. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, in southern Europe it is rather localized. In North America it is more widely distributed, and it is ubiquitous across the Sun Belt of the United States and in the rainforests of South America. It is sometimes confused with the Great White Heron in Florida, which is a white morph of the closely related Great Blue Heron (A. herodias). Note, however, that the name Great White Heron has occasionally been used to refer to the Great Egret.
Description:
The Great Egret is a large bird with all-white plumage that can reach one meter in height, weigh up to 950 grams (2.1 lb) and a wingspan of 165 to 215 cm. It is thus only slightly smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Heron (A. cinerea). Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet, though the bill may become darker and the lower legs lighter in the breeding season. In breeding plumage, delicate ornamental feathers are borne on the back. Males and females are identical in appearance; juveniles look like non-breeding adults. It is a common species, usually easily seen. It has a slow flight, with its neck retracted. This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises, and spoonbills, which extend their necks in flight.
The Great Egret is not normally a vocal bird; at breeding colonies, however, it often gives a loud croaking cuk cuk cuk.
Systematics and taxonomy:
Like all egrets, it is a member of the heron family, Ardeidae. Traditionally classified with the storks in the Ciconiiformes, the Ardeidae are closer relatives of pelicans and belong in the Pelecaniformes instead. The Great Egret—unlike the typical egrets—does not belong to the genus Egretta but together with the great herons is today placed in Ardea. In the past, however, it was sometimes placed in Egretta or separated in a monotypic genus Casmerodius.
Subspecies
There were four subspecies in various parts of the world, which differ but little. Differences are bare part coloration in the breeding season and size; the largest A. a. modesta from Asia and Australasia is now considered a full species, the Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta). The remaining three subspecies are:
Ardea alba alba (Europe)
Ardea alba egretta (Americas)
Ardea alba melanorhynchos (Africa)
Ecology and status:
The Great Egret is partially migratory, with northern hemisphere birds moving south from areas with colder winters. It breeds in colonies in trees close to large lakes with reed beds or other extensive wetlands. It builds a bulky stick nest.
The Great Egret is generally a very successful species with a large and expanding range. In North America, large numbers of Great Egrets were killed around the end of the 19th century so that their plumes could be used to decorate hats. Numbers have since recovered as a result of conservation measures. Its range has expanded as far north as southern Canada. However, in some parts of the southern United States, its numbers have declined due to habitat loss. Nevertheless, it adapts well to human habitation and can be readily seen near wetlands and bodies of water in urban and suburban areas. In 1953 the Great Egret in flight was chosen as the symbol of the National Audubon Society, which was formed in part to prevent the killing of birds for their feathers.[3][4]
The Great Egret is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Diet:
The Great Egret feeds in shallow water or drier habitats, feeding mainly on fish, frogs, small mammals, and occasionally small birds and reptiles, spearing them with its long, sharp bill most of the time by standing still and allowing the prey to come within its striking distance of its bill which it uses as a spear. It will often wait motionless for prey, or slowly stalk its victim.
Though it might appear that they feed on the parasites of African buffaloes, they actually feed on leafhoppers, grasshoppers and other insects which are stirred open as buffaloes move about in water.
In culture:
The Great Egret is depicted on the reverse side of a 5-Brazilian reais banknote.
"White Egrets" is the title of Saint Lucian Poet Derek Walcott's fourteenth collection of poems.
A seguir, texto em português da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre:
Garça-branca-grande
A garça-branca-grande (Casmerodius albus, sin. Ardea alba), também conhecida apenas como garça-branca, é uma ave da ordem Ciconiiformes. É uma garça de vasta distribuição e pode ser encontrada em todo o Brasil.
Dieta:
Se alimenta de presas aquáticas, depois de aproximar-se sorrateiramente com o corpo abaixado e o pescoço recolhido e bicar seu alimento, esticando seu longo pescoço.
Taxonomia:
Subespécies
C. a. modesta - Ásia e Australasia
C. a. alba - Europa
C. a. egretta - América do Norte
C. a. melanorhynchos - África
The Kurdish People Are Distributed Over Four Different Countries Maker:S,Date:2017-9-23,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y
SIN India led a 4-member delegation of Indian manufacturing experts from the IITs and IISc to the UK 16-19 June 2014. Follow us on Twitter @UKinIndia.
Spc. Salva Faatea of Kaneohe, Hawaii, distributes milk to the children of the Ban Pong Wua School in rural Thailand as part of the Cobra Gold joint humanitarian mission hosted at the Ban Nong Buatong School in the Chanthaburi District of Thailand Jan. 24 to Feb. 11. Present on the new classroom facility job site were the Hawaii National Guard, 230th Engineer Company, Vertical and the Royal Thai Marine Engineer Battalion.
Movie: Barn Own on Kauai
The barn owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as the common barn owl, to distinguish it from other species in its family, Tytonidae, which forms one of the two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical owls (Strigidae). The barn owl is found almost everywhere in the world except polar and desert regions, in Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific islands.[2]
Phylogenetic evidence shows that there are at least three major lineages of barn owl, one in Europe, western Asia and Africa, one in southeast Asia and Australasia, and one in the Americas, and some highly divergent taxa on islands. Accordingly, some authorities split the group into the western barn owl for the group in Europe, western Asia and Africa, the American barn owl for the group in the Americas, and the eastern barn owl for the group in southeast Asia and Australasia. Some taxonomic authorities further split the group, recognising up to five species, and further research needs to be done to clarify the position. There is a considerable variation between the sizes and colour of the approximately 28 subspecies but most are between 33 and 39 cm (13 and 15 in) in length with wingspans ranging from 80 to 95 cm (31 to 37 in). The plumage on head and back is a mottled shade of grey or brown, the underparts vary from white to brown and are sometimes speckled with dark markings. The face is characteristically heart-shaped and is white in most subspecies. This owl does not hoot, but utters an eerie, drawn-out shriek.
The barn owl is nocturnal over most of its range, but in Britain and some Pacific islands, it also hunts by day. Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals which they locate by sound, their hearing being very acute. They usually mate for life unless one of the pair is killed, when a new pair bond may be formed. Breeding takes place at varying times of year according to locality, with a clutch, averaging about four eggs, being laid in a nest in a hollow tree, old building or fissure in a cliff. The female does all the incubation, and she and the young chicks are reliant on the male for food. When large numbers of small prey are readily available, barn owl populations can expand rapidly, and globally the bird is considered to be of least conservation concern. Some subspecies with restricted ranges are more threatened.
The barn owl was one of several species of bird first described in 1769 by the Tyrolean physician and naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his Anni Historico-Naturales. He gave it the scientific name Strix alba.[3][4] As more species of owl were described, the genus name Strix came to be used solely for the wood owls in the typical owl family Strigidae, and the barn owl became Tyto alba in the barn owl family Tytonidae. The name literally means "white owl", from the onomatopoeic Ancient Greek tyto (τυτώ) for an owl – compare English "hooter" – and Latin alba, "white".[2] The bird is known by many common names which refer to its appearance, call, habitat, or its eerie, silent flight: white owl, silver owl, demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, rat owl, church owl, cave owl, stone owl, monkey-faced owl, hissing owl, hobgoblin or hobby owl, dobby owl, white-breasted owl, golden owl, scritch owl, screech owl, straw owl, barnyard owl, and delicate owl.[2][5] "Golden owl" might also refer to the related golden masked owl (T. aurantia). "Hissing owl" and, particularly in the UK and in India, "screech owl", refers to the piercing calls of these birds.[6] The latter name is also applied to a different group of birds, the screech-owls in the genus Megascops.[2]
The ashy-faced owl (T. glaucops) was for some time included in T. alba, and by some authors its populations from the Lesser Antilles still are. Based on DNA evidence, König, Weick & Becking (2009) recognised the American Barn Owl (T. furcata) and the Curaçao Barn Owl (T. bargei) as separate species.[7] They also proposed that T. a. delicatula should be split off as a separate species, to be known as the eastern barn owl, which would include the subspecies T. d. sumbaensis, T. d. meeki, T. d. crassirostris and T. d. interposita.[8] However, the International Ornithological Committee has doubts about this and states that the split of Tyto delicatula from T. alba "may need to be revisited".[9] Some island subspecies are occasionally treated as distinct species, a move which should await further research into barn owl phylogeography. According to Bruce in the Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds, "a review of the whole group [is] long overdue".[2] Molecular analysis of mitochondrial DNA shows a separation of the species into two clades, an Old World alba and a New World furcata, but this study did not include T. a. delicatula which the authors seem to have accepted as a separate species. A high amount of genetic variation was also found between the Indonesian T. a. stertens and other members of the alba clade, leading to the separation of stertens into Tyto javanica.[10]
The barn owl has a wider distribution than any other species of owl. Many subspecies have been proposed over the years but several are generally considered to be intergrades between more distinct populations. Twenty to thirty are usually recognised, varying mainly in body proportions, size and colour. Island forms are mostly smaller than mainland ones, and those inhabiting forests have darker plumage and shorter wings than those occurring in open grasslands.[11] Barn owls range in colour from the almost beige-and-white nominate subspecies, erlangeri and niveicauda, to the nearly black-and-brown contempta.[2]
In the Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds, the following subspecies are listed:[2] (From Wikipedia)
メンフクロウ（面梟、学名：Tyto alba） は、フクロウ目メンフクロウ科に分類される鳥類の一種。
ネズミやモグラなどの小型哺乳類を捕食する。和名は仮面を付けているように見えることからつけられた。英名：Barn Owl（納屋のフクロウ）は、納屋のような人家に営巣することから付けられた。世界中に広く生息する。
A man with a fractured and lacerated leg with crutches distributed by Handicap International.
© Wesley Pryor / Handicap International
Residents of Za'atari refugee camp wait for bread. Save the Children distributes bread to residents of Za'atari refugee camp. The organisation, in partnership with the World Food Programme, distributes more than a quarter of a million loaves of bread every day to the almost 70,000 Syrian refugees living in the camp.
Save the Children organises all food distribution in Za'atari. The organisation also works with children, providing safe places to play, psychosocial support, education and newborn nutrition support.
MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye and LIRR President Phil Eng join the Mask Force to distribute free masks to customers at LIRR Jamaica station Mon., September 14, 2020.
Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
University of Michigan Robotics PhD student Jana Plavlasek, left, speaks with attendees on day four of the Distributed Teaching Collaborative Summer Session at the Ford Motor Company Robotics Building on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
Participants from Berea College, Howard University, Kennesaw State University, and Morehouse College spent the final week of June at the University of Michigan College of Engineering Robotics Department participating in the Distributed Teaching Collaborative Summer Session in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The program, which began with the new Robotics 101 course in Fall 2020 being remotely taught to Morehouse and Spelman College students, enables instructors from different institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), to benefit from open-source resources available for new course development at R1 institutions. This collaboration provides students from HBCUs and MSIs with access to cutting-edge robotics education and helps promote equity in STEM fields.
In March of this year Robotics PhD student Jana Pavlasek and Professor Chad Jenkins were awarded the Claudia Joan Alexander Trailblazer Award for their work developing the new course for undergraduate students, Rob 102: Introduction to AI and Programming. Their commitment to creating opportunity in AI and Robotics continues to extend beyond the University of Michigan. In Fall 2023, Robotics 102 will be offered in this collaborative distributed format to the partner schools. This initiative will help to provide equitable opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to learn and grow in the field of robotics.
Photo: Brenda Ahearn/University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Communications and Marketing
The MTA Mask Force was out throughout the MTA system distributing pink masks during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Photo: Marc Hermann / MTA NYC Transit
Toll frames were generally used when circuits going from one point to another needed amplification or had to use an intermediate switching system.
Photos Courtesy of PSP/FSU
© All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without express written permission. For more information, please contact atullo@troopersfund.org
Loved ones recall slain trooper
Buzz up! By Michael Hasch, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Cpl. Joseph Pokorny was many things -- a fearless policeman, an avid hunter, a private person who would give a friend the shirt off his back -- but most of all, he was a devoted father.
"He cared for his kids more than anything in the world," said his brother, Frank Pokorny, wiping tears from his eyes Monday outside his family's home in Beaver County.
Pokorny, 45, of Moon, a 22-year state police veteran, was shot and killed while making a traffic stop early yesterday near the Rosslyn Farms on-ramp to the Parkway West in Carnegie.
"He was a dedicated trooper and devoted father to his two children," said Robinson District Judge Carla Swearingen, one of the small but trusted circle of people Pokorny called friends.
Pokorny opted to work a steady midnight shift so he could be home during the day with his son, Joseph, 17, known as Jake, and daughter, Alexandre, 15, known as Ali.
"If he gave you his word, he stood by it. His biggest priority was his children. Everybody that knew him liked him," said Swearingen.
Pokorny was nearly 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, but he was small in childhood and learned at an early age how to defend himself from larger bullies, Frank Pokorny said.
"He was extremely fearless. He didn't take anything from anybody. He was a very hard-nosed person," his brother said.
Joseph Pokorny received a letter of commendation for bravery after an incident on July 8 when state police began chasing a man suspected of drunken driving and pulling a gun on a trooper.
When troopers tried to end the high-speed chase by putting spike strips on the Beaver Valley Expressway, the motorist turned around and began driving the wrong way.
When Pokorny saw the motorist trying to ram the side of a police car, he steered his cruiser into the path of the speeding car, hitting it head-on in a fiery collision.
"He saved one of our guys by taking on the other guy head-on," said state police Cpl. Kenneth Yuhas, one of several troopers offering condolences and support yesterday to Pokorny's parents, Florence and Joseph R. Pokorny, in Center Township.
"He actually put his life on the line by ramming the vehicle and stopping (it)," said Col. Jeffrey Miller, the head of the state police. "He was a very aggressive and conscientious corporal, always out there backing up the troops."
Pokorny, who joined the state police in 1983 after graduation from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., spent much of his career working dangerous undercover narcotics and vice details, his brother said.
In 1990, he joined the state police Tactical Narcotics Team based in Greensburg, Westmoreland County.
"He would never tell me stories about it except that it was scary and it was ugly," Frank Pokorny said. "(Other troopers) tell me he was always the first one through the front door with the battering ram."
Tom Alexander, who was Pokorny's football coach at Center Area High School, remembers "Joey" as a student who gave his all on the football field and in the classroom.
"Joey was one of those kids who played hard. He chose a rough career. He was a good student," Alexander said.
Pokorny's smile is what impressed state police Cpl. David Bova. "The thing I'll miss the most is his laugh and his big smile," Bova said.
"He was a great kid, a great adult who was fun-loving in high school but took his job seriously," said Anthony Mendicino, principal of Center Area High School, where Pokorny graduated in 1978.
Frank Pokorny said his brother did not decide to pursue a career in law enforcement until his last semester in school.
Following his promotion to corporal in September 2000, Joseph Pokorny served at various stations --including Belle Vernon, Fayette County -- until January 2003 when he became the vice supervisor for Troop B headquarters in Washington County.
Pokorny, who also is survived by a sister, Laura Hill, of Center, became a patrol supervisor in Moon in July 2004, but refused to be tied to a desk reading reports.
"He was, like, caffeinated. He was high-speed. He would go out and get the job done. He was not a slug," said Trooper Robin Mungo, a state police spokeswoman.
"He always wanted to be out on the road with the guys," Yuhas said.
But Frank Pokorny said his brother was "a very private" man.
"He certainly was not a mixer. He had a very small circle of friends. He was very guarded until you earned his trust and respect. Then he'd give you the shirt off his back," Frank Pokorny said.
"He was like a brother to me," said Ronald Evans, who often went hunting with the Pokorny brothers. "He was a great guy, the best. You knew you could count on him."
Crystal Hoffman, who lives near Joseph Pokorny's home in the Sharon Hill Manor neighborhood of Moon, said she regularly returned Pokorny's golden retriever when it broke free of its tether and ended up at her home.
"I didn't know Joe well, but he seemed to have a very a good sense of humor. He seemed like the kind of guy who really enjoyed life," Hoffman said.
The Pokorny brothers were avid hunters who made a number of trips together to hunt elk out West.
They last saw each other last week when Joseph Pokorny visited his brother's home in Hanover, Beaver County.
"He went out in the back woods to go hunting. He was an incredible woodsman. When he came back, he said he saw a buck but didn't shoot it. He smiled and said, 'I didn't want to.'"
Frank Pokorny, known as "Fearless Frank" for his special teams play for the Steelers in 1985 and '86, made no effort to hide his pain and tears.
"He was my older brother. I loved and miss everything about him."