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After a freak accident left Ian Burkhart paralyzed, Ohio State and Battelle asked him for his best remaining assethis brain. Three years later, he's given more than they imagined possible.

Inside one of those cookie-cutter hotel conference rooms, a serious man with a heavy Swiss accent discusses the prospective benefits of cogno-ceuticalsa virtual reality treatment for neurological pain. It might sound like futuristic technobabble if not for all the equally serious experts in the audience. It's midafternoon on April 28, and scores of neurologists, psychiatrists, engineers, computer scientists, academics and entrepreneurs have overtaken the lower level of the Hilton Columbus Downtown for the second annual Brain Health and Performance Summit. This afternoon's breakout sessions have catchy names like Noninvasive Monitoring of Intracranial Hemorrhage and Neuroprosthetics-enabled Cortical Control of a Paralyzed Hand.

The Swiss presenter cedes the podium to Gaurav Sharma, a scientist from Columbus' Battelle Memorial Institute, whose session is about the aforementioned paralyzed hand, specifically, Ian Burkhart's. Sharma begins with a stat: 5.5 million people in the U.S. suffer from some form of paralysis. He's here to present a potential solution under development by Battelle and Ohio State UniversityNeuroLife Neural Bypass Technology.

Researchers have implanted a tiny microchip into Ian's brain, which hooks into a system of computers and algorithmic software via the pedestal, a short black cylinder that looks like a plastic water bottle cap screwed to his skull.

Sharma shows a video of Ian playing Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses on a modified Guitar Hero video game, using a hand that otherwise couldn't pick up the controller, let alone play. In the back of the conference room, the video's 26-year-old star watches from his motorized wheelchair. Ian needs no introduction, Sharma says from the podium. It might be redundant at this point.

The previous evening, in an adjacent ballroom, Dr. Ali Rezai bestowed Ian with the summit's first Brain Health Hero Award. Rezai is the summit's leader, as well as the OSU neurosurgeon who implanted Ian's microchip. He calls Ian a pioneer. The next speaker, Dr. Caroline Whitacre, lauds Ian for taking part in NeuroLife at great personal risk. The award itself is presented by Stanley and Joan Ross, whose $10 million donation funded the creation of Ohio State's Center for Brain Health and Performance. Stan says Ian's contribution will resonate for generations. The man of the hour takes center stage to an ovation.

For these visionaries, Ian is an embodiment of the untapped potential of neurotechnology and a harbinger of optimism for millions living with paralysis. That small pedestal is just a hint of something radical underneath.

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Ian was born in Dublin, the third of four children. He did well in school and was obsessed with lacrosse from third grade onward. He played goalie, never missed practice and got his older brother, Marshall, hooked on the sport in middle school. Ian wasn't as naturally gifted as Marshall, says A.J. Auld, the brothers' coach at Dublin Jerome High School, but he was a maximum-effort player, always positive, a great teammate.

Ian was efficient and methodical in all thingsorganized as if born into a platoon. He helped his mother Terre run the household by the time he was 8. He sold water and pop to golf fans entering and exiting the Memorial Tournament, spending months collecting ice from the family freezer and scouring newspapers for drink sales. At 14, he started a lawn care company, made business cards, listed himself as CEO. In high school, he created recruiting clips for lacrosse and football players and produced a wedding video for the principal's daughter. He majored in film production and played club lacrosse during his freshman year at Ohio University. He loved Athens.

On June 13, 2010, Ian stood in the ocean off the coast of North Carolina, where the girl he was dating, their friends and a few parents had just arrived for vacation. The water was cold, and Ian was first into the Atlantic. He dove outward. A powerful wave broke on top of him, slamming his head into a hidden sandbar. Ian went limp. His friends carried him to shore, and he was strapped into a life-flight to Virginia. He'd severed his spinal cord between the C5 and C6 vertebrae. The surgeon in Virginia told his family that Ian would be unable to walk or move anything below his elbows ever again.

I guess the only way I dealt with it was the fact that we still had him, and he's always had such a great mind, says Ian's father, Doug.

Ian spent several months in a rehab hospital in Atlanta before returning to Dublin, where he began outpatient therapy at OSU until his insurance cut him off. He met Dr. Jerry Mysiw, OSU's medical director of Rehabilitation Services, and routinely bugged him about new medical advances. Mysiw had already started work on the NeuroLife study with Rezai and a team from Battelle, lead by researcher Chad Bouton. Mysiw saw Ian as an ideal candidatea young, tough former athlete who was willing to sacrifice for the delayed gratification of reaching a goal.

The three researchers explained NeuroLife to Ian: If it worked, the system would allow him to regain use of his right hand. It would only work in the lab. It required brain surgery to implant the microchip and a second one to remove it. The surgeries wouldn't help Ian whatsoever, and he risked losing what little neurological function he'd salvaged.

Ian discussed it with his mom, who compared the situation to her favorite book, Flowers for Algernon, and the superior intellect gained and lost by the protagonist after an experimental surgery. You're going to be able to do something, and they're going to take it away, Terre told him. Ian's dad said he'd be like a guinea pig. Doug offered to put him in touch with another neurosurgeon to discuss pros and cons. But Ian had already done his research and made the decision. He was going forward, taking the chance.

Mysiw hesitated when Ian accepted, wanting to be sure he understood the ramifications of his decision. You are consenting to have two neurosurgical procedures on your brain that you don't need, Mysiw told him. Why are you doing this? Mysiw remembers Ian's answer. In part, he said, I owe it to all those other people who, like me, have been hoping for something better. How can I walk away from being able to help make things better?'

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Do I have my brain in here somewhere? asks Dr. Rezai. The neurosurgeon looks around his office in OSU's Davis Medical Center for his model human head. He's been captivated by the brain since medical school and became a star for his work on deep brain stimulation, a surgical procedure to treat neurological symptoms of diseases like Parkinson's.

Rezai was lured away from Cleveland Clinic in 2009 by a fire in the belly here at Ohio State to create something special, namely, to establish the university as a leader in neurological treatment and research. The field is coming of age the way cardiac care did decades ago, says Rezai, the director of OSU's Center for Neuromodulation.

The medical device market for neurotechnology is growing at double the rate of the market as a whole, says Bouton, who left Battelle in 2015 to lead the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institute in New York. Several years ago, Battelle's leadership recognized the rising tide of neurotechnology and set out to prove the nonprofit's capabilities. Bouton had already completed a project that allowed quadriplegics to use their thoughts to control computer cursors and motorized wheelchairs, but he was struck by the fact that they still couldn't move their own limbs. That became his team's goal. Battelle could develop the technology, but it needed test subjects and clinical experts to perform the surgeries and help oversee the study, which is where Rezai, Mysiw and eventually Ian came in.

Rezai pulls a model head from a cabinet in his office. The top half is lopped off to expose a veiny, pink, plastic brain. He points to the area where he implanted Ian's microchip, the motor cortex, a band of the brain above the ears on either side. On April 22, 2014, he cut a small window into Ian's skull. He stimulated the brain's pulsating surface, the cortex, and identified the region that controls Ian's right arm. Rezai then placed the microchip, which has 96 miniscule penetrating electrodes, into that precise location and connected it to the pedestal he'd inserted in Ian's head.

After waiting a little over a month for Ian to heal, the team hooked him to the NeuroLife system developed by Bouton and the Battelle researchers. There was just a flicker of movement, a wrist extension. It wasn't very fast or reliable, but it was a monumental flicker nonetheless.

Mysiw never thought he'd see that moment. He'd worked 30 years to help paralyzed patients maintain muscle mass and bone density for the nebulous day when an innovative procedure might restore their movement. Now, it seemed, that day had arrived. The NeuroLife team had high hopes that, with refinement and practice, the flicker could turn into something even more remarkablethe ability to open and close a hand, grasp a mug or pick up a spoon.

Within the first month, Ian was doing all of that.

The researchers seem awed by Ian's progress, yet not completely surprised. After conducting a battery of physical and psychological tests before the surgery, they concluded they'd found the perfect subject in Ian, says Nick Annetta, the project's electrical engineering leader and one of 20 or more specialists working on the cross-disciplinary team at any given time.

NeuroLife is designed to bypass a damaged spinal cord using three major components: the microchip, which records a sliver of the brain's electrical activity and transmits it to an external computer; the computer's algorithmic software, which recognizes patterns in the electrical activity, thereby interpreting the patient's thoughts and forwarding them to the third component, an electrostimulation sleeve that's composed of eight film-like bands of electrodes that wrap around the forearm to spur the intended wrist, hand and finger movements. The microchip sends 2.8 million samples a second, which must be interpreted and sent to Ian's hand in less than eight-tenths of a second or his brain won't register the limb as his own. When he thinks about a movement, his hand obeys about half a second later.

There are a number of kindred projects around the countryexoskeletons, robotic arms and the likebut NeuroLife is the only one that utilizes an electrostimulation sleeve to give a patient's limb restored movement. Ian is its only user. He can stir a straw, he can pour, he can swipe a credit card, he can complete multiple complex tasks in random sequences. He can control individual fingers, which no one felt confident he'd be able to accomplish. And he can play Guitar Hero. But he can only perform those feats in the lab.

Herb Bresler, who assumed Battelle's leadership role after Bouton left, describes Ian with superlativeshighly motivated, dedicated, intelligent, amazing, exceptional. David Friedenberg, the head of the algorithms and data teams, provides an anecdote: During a recent lab session, Ian was trying to control the force of his grip to account for picking up different objects, say, a banana versus a hammer. He had one run that didn't go as well, and I was like, It's OK, Ian. No one's ever done this before. We don't expect you to be perfect,' Friedenberg recalls. And he's like, No, I expect myself to be perfect.'

Beyond Ian's intelligence and drive, he has a deep understanding of the process, Friedenberg says. The two-minute Guitar Hero videos that have garnered worldwide attention omit countless hours of repetition in the lab. Science may be sold by breakthroughs, but it's paid for with glacial tedium.

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It's nearly still and silent inside a bottom-floor lab in the Davis Medical Center. Researchers want nothing to distract the most important brain in the room. Ian is plugged into NeuroLife, concentrating on mimicking the motions of a virtual hand on the screen in front of him. A digital gong sounds, ending the routine.

Battelle researcher Mingming Zhang straps a dynamometer to Ian's right hand. It measures variations in the force of his grasp, the banana-hammer test he and the team have struggled to master recently. There's a glitch during the first run, and Ian tells the other researchers to check some parameter or calibration, make sure to save, turn off the recordinghe's fluent in the technical jargon. Far from a guinea pig, he's a full-fledged team member, and increasingly, one of its leaders. Researchers often ask for his input and defer to his opinion. It's hard to imagine many other clinical trials operating this way.

Dr. Marcie Bockbrader sits a few feet behind Ian. She's a cognitive neuroscientist and rehab specialist with OSU who has overseen the lab's operation since its early stages, and she says Ian filled the void when Bouton left and Annetta began spending less time in the lab to focus on developing the next phase of NeuroLife components. Bockbrader says Ian is a natural leader because he's the most familiar with the system.

I like to say I got a crash course in neuro-engineering when I signed up for this study, Ian says. His ability to comprehend the underlying science and articulate the system's challenges have been crucial to improving NeuroLife.

Rezai and Mysiw are the study's medical directors, and Rezai stops in to check on this session, which typically runs three to four hours twice a week. Ian tells him that he thinks the lab work has improved his strength and coordinationthere are changes going on under the microchip. A few weeks earlier, Rezai claimed Ian's brain and the software were both evolving. This is a beautiful example of brain plasticity and machine learning, Rezai said. Evolution is going on together, live, at the same time.

Friedenberg says it's hard to disentangle how much progress is due to the system learning how Ian thinks and how much is due to Ian learning how to control the system. It raises an imminent question: What happens when it has to interpret someone else's thoughts?

The Food and Drug Administration recently granted Ian and NeuroLife another year together, the third renewal in as many years. The sessions can be exhausting. The time commitment is substantial, and he's only paid a small travel stipend. But he has no interest in stopping; he talks about the study as his social obligation. It's thrilling work for someone who's interested in technology, and after three years, moving his hand is still exhilirating. But the determining factors for his continued participation are his health and the durability of the microchip, which has maintained a high-quality neural signal longer than anticipated. Once the signal falls below a certain threshold, it will be removed.

In the lab, Bockbrader turns her attention to Ian's pedestal, asking him how much it has merged with his mental image of his body. Later, she explains that over time these prosthetics become one with patients' perceptions of themselves. The other thing that I wonder about, too, is psychologically is it going to feel like he's lost a limb when we're taking some of these things away.

The FDA approved up to five patients for NeuroLife, and Mysiw is searching for the study's second candidate. It will be difficult to replicate Ian's success; Mysiw was surprised at the intense cognitive skills the system requires of him. The team will screen future subjects to try to find someone who's similarly capable. Simultaneously, Battelle's researchers are working on new algorithms and an advanced electrostimulation sleeve that they hope will be approved by the FDA this fall. But NeuroLife is still many years away from leaving the lab, Gaurav Sharma says, and it needs to become wireless, smaller, faster and more robust.

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Since June 13, 2010, Doug Burkhart has only seen his son cry with self-pity one time. Once, in seven years. Terre Hanson Burkhart says she broke down at one point when Ian was still recovering in Atlanta, tearfully telling him that she was having a bad day. He didn't have those, he told her, because he didn't want to waste his time on them. He decided the injury wouldn't define his life.

Less than a year after the accident, Dublin Jerome lacrosse coach A.J. Auld asked if Ian would like to help with the team, in whatever capacity he could. Ian devoted himself, volunteering as an assistant coach for the past seven seasons, using the limited function in his upper arm to steer his wheelchair across the often-muddy field 18 hours a week from February to May. Auld made a habit of telling players: The toughest guy out here is the one in the chair.

Ian earned a business management degree from Columbus State, and he's pursuing an accounting degree at OSU. He has an internship with Klingbeil Capital Management, and he's leaning toward a career in either corporate or tax accounting. He's on track to graduate in December 2018. He had been living in Dublin since the injury, but he moved into his own condo in Harrison West at the beginning of July, another step toward regaining some of the independence lost in the Atlantic Ocean.

Yet he can't really escape the injury. He's the poster boy of NeuroLife, featured on the BBC, CNN, Vice on HBO and in the Washington Post. His condition placed him on stages from TEDxColumbus to South by Southwest. In April, he started the Ian Burkhart Foundation, which focuses on advocacy, raising funding for research and providing financial assistance to patients with spinal cord injuries like his. So in a roundabout sort of way, I did let it define me, he says, but I'm 100 percent OK with that.

It's unclear when all this will end for Ian, but the day is coming, probably sooner than he or anyone else wants. The pedestal is part of him now, he says, and it will be strange when it's gone. It will be difficult to deal with the loss of restored mobility, but he thinks he's compartmentalized his abilities inside and outside the lab. Bockbrader says it would be a mistake not to include him in some capacity even after the microchip and pedestal are removed. His knowledge and experience can't be replaced. Perhaps he could be a consultant. Whatever the future holds, Ian will adapt. He's resilient, always has been. The greater challenge may be finding a way for NeuroLife to move on from Ian.

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In addition to his advocacy and research foundation, Ian has partnered with the nonprofit HelpHopeLive to raise funds to offset his own non-covered medical and living expenses; that website can be found here.

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Top Doctors: A NeuroLife Neural Bypass volunteer shares his remarkable story - Columbus Monthly

The HOA sent the couple a letter informing them of noncompliance - and so the couple doubled-down.

Victoria Sanchez, KUSA 9:18 AM. MDT August 22, 2017

It's a sign!

A Loveland homeowner's association and a retired couple living in the HOA community are going head-to-head over garden decorations.

The Alford Meadows Community Association sent a letter informing Colleen and Richard Stephens that their home's garden violated community rules. The couple's response was to double-down and add a unique lawn ornament in the form of a large sign.

The red and white sign states: "If you are considering purchasing a home in Alford Meadows, you may want to reconsider .... You could be the next target of the HOA!"

The Stephens' yard is well maintained. It has bright flowers, pruned bushes and green grass. It also has artwork which is how the dispute between the couple and HOA started.

The Alford Meadows Community Association says there are too many decorations and sent a letter stating some need to come down. If not, there would be consequences in the form of possible fines.

"It's ticking me off. I don't know what else to say. I don't feel we're in violation. We haven't done anything wrong," said Colleen.

Colleen and her husband decided to add one more piece to their yard. The sign has been sitting on their lawn for a few weeks.

"I'll do what's necessary to protect my rights," said Richard.

Before the violation letter was sent, someone with the homeowner's association totaled up the pots, planters and other items. They counted nine milk churns, 13 buckets and cans, patio furniture and a wooden flag handmade by Colleen.

The violation letter says the Stephens' can pick six items. The flag can't be one of them.

"I think HOAs are totally out of control today," said Richard.

The 64-year-old Marine Corps vet said he thinks they are being singled out.

"I just believe this is a personal vendetta because of my support for Donald Trump," he explained.

Richard said he had multiple political signs stolen from his yard during the presidential election. He also said they received a letter stating they were not welcome in Colorado.

Michael Krueger, the attorney for the Alford Meadows Community Association, sent journalists a statement on behalf of the HOA. It states the letter telling the Stephens' to remove the items is not politically motivated and that the couple just wants "special treatment" for their yard.

According to the original letter, the HOA said there have been complaints. But some residents stopped by the home to show support.

"Your yard is gorgeous," said one neighbor.

While there is some support for the decorations, not everyone is behind the large sign.

"Before I even put it up I apologized for my actions. I said, 'I know I'm going to offend some people but I feel I've been pushed to the next step.' I have had negative feedback asking me to take it down because it does affect their property values and the sale of their house. But the only thing I can say to them is, 'Go to the HOA. Address it with them.' This wouldn't happen if it weren't for the actions of the HOA," said Richard.

He said he'll take it down once the HOA rescinds the violations and writes a letter of apology.

The HOA's attorney told 9NEWS Monday afternoon that the board is not interested in pursuing fines for the decoration violations. However, the association is looking into filing a lawsuit to get a court order for the Stephens' to remove the large sign from their yard.

2017 KUSA-TV

More here:
HOA tells one Loveland couple: You have too many pots in your yard - 9NEWS.com

By KEN LAHMERSReporter

AURORA The citys landmark commission on Aug. 17 granted certificates of appropriateness, which will allow renovations at three historic district homes.

One of the homes is known by many longtime Aurorans as"the Green Monster." It is the large Queen Anne-style home at 50 S. Chillicothe Road, which has a new owner. It acquired its nickname because of its exterior green paint.

The other structures are located at 432 Eggleston Road and 270 S. Chillicothe Road.

"The Green Monster" eventually might not be green anymore, since new owner Helen Peterson announced she is considering repainting it a blue-gray color with white trim.

The home was built in 1898 and was owned by Willis J. Eldridge, a cheese merchant, in its early years. More recently, it was owned by former City Councilwoman Marcia Colombo and her husband Donald.

Architect George Clemens outlined plans to convert a screened porch in the back into a sunroom, replace some windows and add some railings around the front porch to closer match the houses original look.

Meanwhile, exterior alterations and additions were approved for the Eggleston Road home now owned by Robert and Charlotte Emrick and historically known as the Chauncey Eggleston house. He was one of Auroras early settlers.

Eggleston, a member of the Ohio Senate from 1830-33, built the federal-style brick and stone house in 1831 after he moved to Aurora from Connecticut in 1807. It sets on a 14-acre parcel.

The Emricks plan an addition to the existing garage, adding a breezeway between the house and existing garage and a dormer and building a detached barn/workshop behind the house and garage.

Landmark panel chairman Jeff Clark commended the Emricks for their desire to improve the historic property.

The third certificate of appropriateness was granted to Isaac Pennock for his South Chillicothe Road home. He plans to replace 13 of 21 windows in the house because they are deteriorating.

In another matter, panelist John Kudley, president of the Aurora Historical Society, announced the dedication of an Ohio Historic Marker focusing on the Geauga Lake area will be Sept. 17 at 3 p.m. at the Geauga Lake Improvement Associations lakeside property on Route 43 across from East Boulevard.

The public is welcome to attend the dedication.

Email: klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-541-9400 ext. 4189

Read the original here:
Renovations eyed to historic homes in Aurora - Columbus CEO

County fees are estimated at $18,226 for a one-bedroom, 640 square-foot accessory dwelling unit above a garage in Pajaro Valley. This does not include fees charged by water, fire, sewer and school districts.

Processing: $1,587

Building plan check: $1,412

Permit fee: $1,425

Soil report: $1,573

Environmental plan check: $576

Environmental inspections: $350

Address review: $145

Zoning review: $742

Road review: $433

Drainage review: $970

Roadside improvements: $3,000

Park fees: $1,000

Child care fees: $109

Affordable housing fee: $1,280

General plan & technology: $624

Source: Draft county ADU report

SANTA CRUZ >> Its hard to say how many accessory dwelling units in unincorporated Santa Cruz County have been created without permits.

One estimate is up to 5,000. Another is 1,000-2,000.

Those figures come from a 200-page report going to Santa Cruz County supervisors at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday with a package of recommendations to encourage property owners to go through the countys ADU permit process.

County planners see accessory dwelling units, which tend to be less than 1,000 square feet, as a way to create rentals that are more affordable but county homeowners have been wary, with only 16 ADU permits issued in 2016.

Costs are the biggest obstacle, according to the report.

Building a one-bedroom, 640-square-foot unit above a garage in Pajaro Valley is estimated to cost $181,443 including $18,226 in county fees. Construction costs are estimated at $200 per square foot.

New construction of a two-bedroom 800-square-foot ADU in Soquel would cost more, an estimated $379,914.

This includes $20,353 in county fees and $53,961 in special district fees.

In Soquel, the Soquel Creek Water District requires a second hookup, which costs $13,500. Installation requires hiring a contractor, adding $20,000 to $30,000.

Planning director Kathy Previsich estimates up to half the accessory dwellings is the county were created without permits, based on 650 responses to the countys online survey.

About 150 people attended two ADU workshops, indicating community interest.

Consultants Dyett & Bhatia and Vernazza Wolfe Associates drafted a detailed report on challenges and options to encourage ADUs. Recommendations include:

Establish an ADU team with the building official, a planner, a plan checker and planning technician for consistency in reviewing and processing applications. It can take two months to get county comments now.

Eliminate the affordable housing impact fee for ADUs involving converting space; the fee is not charged on remodels.

Offer property owners an assessment of changes to legalize an ADU, with amnesty and privacy for those who do not pursue it.

Offer 20-year loans of up to $40,000 toward ADU costs in exchange for deed restrictions for below-market rent to households with up to 80 percent of median income. Rent for a one-bedroom unit would be capped at $1,044 for a two-person household earning $64,550.

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Allow ADUs above garages with height averaging 21 feet, currently 19 feet, and a maximum of 24 feet, currently 22 feet.

Allow larger ADUs, up to 800 square feet on parcel up to 10,000 square feet outside the urban services line.

Allow additions of up to 150 square feet for a conversion ADU to make conversions easier.

Allow up to 2 percent more lot coverage and floor area ratio on parcels 6,000 square feet and smaller to make conversions easier.

Create an ADU design book to help property owners through the permit process.

Develop a program with Habitat for Humanity to do one ADU construction per year for seniors aging in place.

To homeowners who want to lower costs, the report noted a conversion ADU of a garage or existing space in the home is less expensive than new construction.

Fire sprinklers are required for new construction but not if sprinklers are not in the main home.

Additions under 500 square feet are exempt from some permit reviews and fees, which could make that approach more cost effective.

Lighthouse Bank, which offers construction financing and home equity loans, has financed six ADUs in nine years. Bay Federal Credit Union offers home equity loans but not construction financing.

The research included interviews with housing advocates Don Lane and Tom Burns, tenant advocates Cynthia Berger and Zav Hershfield and two property owners Denise and Lydia.

City of Santa Cruz: Architects Mark Primack and Jacquie Low created prototype designs in 2003. Tandem parking is allowed. Permit process takes two weeks to six months when plans are inadequate. Reducing the minimum lot size to 4,500 square feet and changing required setbacks for existing buildings encouraged legalization.

Capitola: Administrative process takes one month; two permits a year. Most lots do not qualify due to 5,000-square foot minimum lot size. Soquel Creek Water hookup cost is a deterrent.

Watsonville: Application process is over the counter. Garages are being converted without permits to living space.

Link:
ADU options going to Santa Cruz county supervisors Tuesday - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Computers generate heat when they are turned on. All the electric energy they receive eventually turns into heat: thats the rules of thermodynamics. And if you pack your IT load in tightly to save space, you have to get rid of that heat, or the whole thing will melt.

Thats a problem. But heat is not a bad thing in itself. We all use heat. Its been humanitys friend for millennia longer than the artificial brains we build in racks. We warm ourselves, we cook food, and enjoy the comfort of hot baths and showers.

Source: Nerdalize

In the data center, heat is a by-product. It is inevitably produced and it has to be removed. The drive to make data centers more efficient is a movement to get more computing out of a given amount of input energy. This means reducing the amount of heat produced if possible, as well as the amount of energy used in getting rid of it.

Even at the highest levels of efficiency imaginable, there is still heat to be expelled. Thats a problem - but some people want to see that problem as an opportunity. Why not treat that heat as a useful output? Why not harness it? The trouble was, data centers arent generally built amongst mass housing. They arent near to potential users of heat: so the heat has to be transported,

Most data centers are cooled by air, and air isnt great for transporting heat. By the time that hot air has been piped somewhere useful, its normally cooled down to a useless temperature. There are exceptions, such as the district heating systems available in some countries - for instance, Stockholm has one, which includes an H&M data center among its heat suppliers. But lets leave those for another time, because theres another, more radical idea for re-using the heat.

If you cant take the heat from the data center to the homes and offices where it could be used, why not take the data center into those places?

Microsoft coined the term data furnace in 2011, to describe a networked processor sitting in a home, providing heating and hot water while performing tasks sent to it by a service provider. A network of these systems could become a distributed data center. Its heat energy would be harnessed,

Its taken a cohort of enthusiastic start ups to begin to put this into practice, Cloud & Heat in Germany puts a rack in the basement of apartment blocks. Qarnot in France puts a heater on the walls of Parisian flats - inside it a processor does financial and image processing work, and the heat gets used in the building.

Edge processing could reconnect data centers with people, feeding our primal need for warmth

In Amsterdam, Nerdalize has a deal with a power utility to install similar units. Its just completed a successful pilot (see picture above). And back in France, Stimergy is heating a swimming pool while performing HPC calculations. These are small outfits, performing niche jobs. But so called edge resources, close to users and devices are necessary.

Edge facilities wont replace centralized data centers, running efficiently on renewable power. Qarnots business model accepts that - the company has had investment from French data center operator Data4 which offers Qarnot processing alongside its own. But its a mighty promising field, and it could lead to data centers reconnecting with people, as part of that resource moves into our homes and feeds our primal need: for friendly warmth.

A version of this article appeared on Verne Globalssite

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Turning heat into a friend - DatacenterDynamics

Roadwork seems to be happening everywhere, preventing motorists from easily traveling from Point A to Point B. Work on the Church Creek culvert replacement project under State Route 532 between Interstate 5 and Stanwood is one example.

Washington State Department of Transportation wants residents to know the Strider Construction crews are making great progress on installing the new culvert.

As of Wednesday, Aug. 17, DOT reported half the culvert had been installed the day prior and the other half was expected to be in place by Thursday.

They are working as quickly as they safely can to get SR 532 back open as soon as possible, the DOT spokesperson said in the news release.

The road was closed Aug. 11 and Aug. 25 is the target reopening date.

Detour reminders

While the highway is closed, motorists need to remember which detour to use, depending on their vehicle and which direction they are going.

Trucks, RVs, etc. Use exit 221 and go through Conway. The turn radius and size of the bypass lane on the passenger vehicle detour cannot accommodate large vehicles and drivers doing so risk a ticket.

Westbound passenger vehicles Take the detour at 36th Avenue Northwest to 72nd Avenue Northwest if youre headed toward Camano Island.

Eastbound passenger vehicles Follow the detour signs and take a right on 64th Avenue Northwest, just after the bypass lane to get back on eastbound SR 532.

While the detours take a little longer, following signs and speed limits keeps everyone moving. To follow the construction progress, WSDOT has posted photos in its Church Creek fish passage Flickr album (link at wsdot.wa.gov).

Other roadwork

Another nearby culvert project on northbound Interstate 5 near Conway is very near completion. Interwest Construction crews were working last week to remove the bypass lane from the middle of the highway. This week they plan to begin some stream work to help restore the area under the bridge to its natural state.

SR 534 East from Conway: A sinkhole temporarily closed State Route 534, a busy truck route that connects SR 9 to I-5 in Skagit County. The sinkhole started in late July as a dimple in the road, but WSDOT workers soon learned a leaking culvert under the highway was washing away the roadbed, leaving nothing for the asphalt to sit on. The crew dug up the damaged area, filled it with gravel then added asphalt. The temporary repair created a bump but the road was reopened in five hours. A permanent repair is being planned.

SR 20 East: Contractor crews from Lakeside Industries crews have finished grinding and road repair on the 2 mile stretch of highway between the hospital and Food Pavilion west of Sedro-Woolley. Nighttime paving will happen this week, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday through Friday morning with periodic road closures.

The highway-resurfacing project between Sedro-Woolley and Concrete is mostly finished.

Suquamish ferry superstructure arrives in Seattle

Another construction milestone has been reached on Washington State Ferry fleets fourth Olympic Class ferry, according to WSDOT.

The Suquamishs 1,110-ton superstructure, which took 18 months to construct at Jesse Engineering in Tacoma, arrived in Seattle early Thursday morning, Aug. 17. The process of joining it to the hull was expected to take about 12 hours on Friday.

The 144-car Suquamish will join the fleet in fall 2018 and operate on the Mukilteo/Clinton route from mid-May until mid-October, when ferry travel is at its peak. The rest of the year, it will serve multiple routes as a maintenance relief boat for both the Super class and other Olympic class.

Excerpt from:
Church Creek culvert work under SR 532 going well - Stanwood Camano News

Posted: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 12:00 pm | Updated: 12:01 pm, Tue Aug 22, 2017.

New construction up, additions down Staff journalpatriot |

Wilkes County Building Inspections Department permit records reflect a recent shift from additions to constructing new homes and other structures.

The department issued 111 permits for 203,436 square feet of new construction valued at $16.25 million in the first seven months of this year, up from 85 permits for 139,415 square feet of new construction in the same period of 2016.

It issued 40 permits for 20,362 square feet of additions worth $2.01 million in the first seven months of 2017, down from 49 permits for 75,502 square feet of additions worth $4.63 million in the same period of 2016.

Permits were issued for additions to 29 single family homes in the first seven months of 2017, down from 33 in the first seven months of 2016.

The numbers dont include North Wilkesboro because that town does its own inspections.

New single family home construction increased 45 percent, with 58 permits issued for new single family homes in the first seven months of this year and 40 in the same period of 2016.

The 58 permits issued through July of this year were for new homes with 102,269 square feet under roof valued at $11.58 million. The 40 issued in the first seven months of the prior year were for 72,760 square feet valued at $7.84 million.

New construction permits were also issued in the first six months of 2017 for two churches (new sanctuary, classrooms and bathrooms for Journey of Grace Baptist Church and a shed for church buses for Maple Springs Baptist Church), two school buildings (two dugouts and press box for East Wilkes High School and an athletics building with storage space, locker rooms and concessions area for Wilkes Central High School), two stores (Aldis grocery in Wilkesboro and wine tasting facility for Roy Lowe), one dormitory (for Eckerd Youth Alternative in Boomer for 10 people), 18 residential garages/carports, 25 residential or non-residential storage buildings and three non-residential other.

In the first seven months of 2016, new construction permits were also issued for one school building, one store, one motel/hotel, 17 residential garages/carports, 17 residential or non-residential storage buildings, one parking garage, one amusement/recreational building, one tank/tower and four non-residential other.

Posted in News, Wilkes Journal-Patriot on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 12:00 pm. Updated: 12:01 pm. | Tags: Wilkes County Building Inspections Department Permit Records, 111 Permits For 203,436 Square Feet Of New Construction Valued At $16.25 Million, 40 Permits For 20,362 Square Feet Of Additions Worth $2.01 Million, New Construction Up, Additions Down

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New construction up, additions down - Wilkes Journal Patriot

Repairs are underway on the bell tower at St. Johns Episcopal Church at 42nd & Sheridan in Linden Hills. Members built the church about 100 years ago. Photo by Nate Gotlieb

One-hundred years of deferred maintenance was how Rev. Susan Barnes described a project to repair the bell tower at St. Johns Episcopal Church at 42nd & Sheridan.

Its basically tilting and falling, church member Barb Nicol explained.

So this year, church members undertook a capital campaign to fix the tower and renovate classrooms in the church basement. They set a $1.7-million fundraising goal and aimed to complete the work by September, in time for the 100th anniversary of the first service in the church.

Theyre not only on track to complete the project next month, but theyve also surpassed the fundraising goal by about $300,000. Thats also given them a jump start on a social justice fund created as part of the campaign to be used for local causes.

We are very happy that at this place in our history we can do this work, Barnes said. The generosity of members at all levels of capacity has been very moving.

Its a generosity thats ingrained in the churchs history, members and leaders say. According to church archives, in 1903 members donated about $36, or about $937 in todays money, for a new hospital. They had $17 in the treasury at the time.

Later, church members were leaders in the sobriety movement and were on the forefront of marriage equality, according to member Craig Gudorf, who ran the capital campaign.

We just feel like our tradition kind of calls us to engage and not just talk about it but do something about it, he said.

The church has a healthy track record of service work both domestically and abroad, according to member Mark Lindberg, who is chair of the Outreach Committee deciding how best to use the new fund. Its work includes efforts related to shelter, housing and food.

Lindberg said theyd like to find a shorter-term opportunity and a medium-range goal for using the fund. He added that hed like to engage younger members of the church in the grant-making process, citing a Minneapolis Foundation model for doing so.

The committees work wont get started in earnest until closer to 2018, Lindberg said. In the meantime, church members are preparing for the construction work to be completed. Theyre planning a celebration to dedicate the new bell tower and preparing for the new classrooms to open this fall. Linden Hills Child Care rents the space.

Theyll also be opening a time capsule inside the churchs cornerstone that was laid about 100 years ago, Barnes said.

Gudorf said people feel a strong connection to the church. It has a thriving youth program, he said, and people want to see their kids raised in a church thats healthy.

Im not surprised that our congregation was really generous, he said.

More than 250 families and individuals are members of the parish, which is part of the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The churchs pillars are children and service, Barnes said, and the community gathers around them.

Its a really warm, welcoming place, she said.

The church began as a Sunday school back in 1897, and children have been at the center of church activities ever since, according to member Jane Gilgun, who is working on a church history. The Sunday school provided a place for parents to leave their children as they toured the area looking for lots around Lake Harriet.

The congregation bought the first of three lots on which St. Johns stands in 1904. The church was incorporated as a parish in November 1916, and building began that year. The first service was Sept. 16, 1917.

This years renovation work included excavating the entire north side of the building. The church is creating a new entrance there and is renovating the classrooms used by the daycare. The new daycare area will include new windows and new toilets for the preschoolers, Barnes said.

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St. John's church restoration nears completion - Southwest Journal

MCALLEN,Texas (CNS) -- Three years ago, a humanitarian crisis engulfed the city ofMcAllen as tens of thousands of asylum seekers from Central American countriesentered the border city each day -- often arriving exhausted and traumatizedfrom the long journey north.

Manyof them were fleeing extreme violence and poverty in their home countries ofHonduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

SisterNorma Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, who is executivedirector of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, recognized the need tohelp the refugees -- mostly unaccompanied children and women with children -- whowere pouring into the city on their way to meet family members in other partsof the United States to seek political asylum.

Sheapproached Sacred Heart Church in McAllen about using its parish hall for a fewmonths to create a waystation for these asylum seekers to get a shower, freshclothes, and supplies for infants and children.

Threeyears later, the Humanitarian Respite Center has served 74,000 people -- and theparish is finally getting its hall back.

Anew building one block from Sacred Heart Church will be constructed to housethe respite center, thanks in part to a $100,000 grant from nonprofit CatholicExtension presented by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, who is chancellorof Catholic Extension.

TheChicago-based organization is the leading national supporter of missionary workin poor and remote parts of the United States.

"Youhave welcomed strangers and made them to feel like family," Cardinal Cupichtold Sacred Heart parishioners during a Mass celebrating the Aug. 15 feast ofthe Assumption. "The immigrant is not a statistic. Each one has a story, avoice, a history."

CardinalCupich traveled to McAllen to officially grant $100,000 to the Diocese ofBrownsville for the construction of the new building. The funds were raised ata benefit dinner at the Vatican Museum organized by Catholic Extension on the dayof the Chicago prelate's elevation to the College of Cardinals in November2016.

"TheHoly Father asked that the new cardinals not have big celebrations that drewattention to ourselves, but rather that we would do something that would helpthose at the periphery of society," Cardinal Cupich said. "I'm delighted to bewith you today to dedicate the funds that Catholic Extension raisedspecifically for this event for the Diocese of Brownsville."

Standingat the future site of the new facility after Mass, Cardinal Cupich presented aplaque to Sister Pimentel and Bishop Daniel Flores of the Diocese ofBrownsville, commemorating the occasion.

"Iaccept this gift from Catholic Extension and Cardinal Cupich as being very mucha part of this great venture, which is our common venture in the Churchofgiving witness to Christ, especially in the most vulnerable," BishopFlores said.

The$100,000 raised by Catholic Extension for the new respite center is the latestgrant in the organization's more than 110 years of funding to the state ofTexas. Catholic Extension's historical funding of Texas totals more than $173million when adjusted for inflation, including 1,860 church construction orrenovation projects across the state.

Inaddition to the funds for the respite center, Cardinal Cupich's consistorydinner raised another $75,000 that was granted to Sacred Heart of Jesus Parishin Hidalgo, a rapidly growing parish located blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border.Cardinal Cupich personally presented those funds to the parish Aug. 15 as well,which are earmarked for the construction of a new church building.

Thework of the respite center in McAllen received national attention in September2015, when Pope Francis acknowledged Sister Pimentel during a "virtual papalaudience" at Sacred Heart Church televisednationally by ABC News.

CardinalCupich and a delegation from Catholic Extension toured the current respitecenter, which is in the process of moving out of the parish hall and to aninterim location while the new building is constructed.

Today, the numbers of the people served by the respite center have greatly decreased,but it continues to welcome families traveling from their home countries inCentral America who are escaping life-threatening situations. The three most-representedcountries are still Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Inaddition to attending to the physical needs of its guests, the respite centeralso provides phone services so asylum seekers can contact family members, aswell as information on how to safely travel and live in the United States. Mostrefugees spend less than 24 hours at the center before boarding buses toreunite with their relatives and await their asylum court hearing.

CardinalCupich praised the tireless work of Sister Pimentel and the numerous volunteers-- including parishioners from Sacred Heart Church -- who have staffed therespite center over the past three years. He stressed the need for the CatholicChurch to extend a welcoming hand to the marginalized immigrant and refugeecommunities who pass through the center's doors each day.

"TheCatholic Church has a very important role to humanize and put a face on thestranger and the vulnerable," he said, "especially those who sufferand whose dignity and rights are compromised or threatened."

Read more:
Chicago cardinal thanks Texas parish for 'welcoming the stranger' - Catholic News Service

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