 this year, he was a low-cost closer on a bad team.
But once Fuentes was named the Rockies' only all-star, he was elevated to untouchable status.
"I'd heard there were some rumors that Florida was interested and for whatever reason it didn't pan out," Fuentes said. "That's a great team and would be a great team to play for. I really have no say being an under three-year guy [in service time]. I go where the wind blows me."
Because Fuentes is making just $328,000 this season, the Rockies have little incentive to trade him. He will become eligible for salary arbitration this winter and could earn a raise into the $1.5 million range, but even then will rank as one of baseball's best bargains.
"I had a good feeling knowing I was kind of an attractive player as far as being effective and cost efficient," Fuentes said. "I figured I was kind of a hot commodity in that aspect.
"The Rockies figured I was more of an asset to them than what they were going to receive, so I'm still a Rockie."
Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest and personnel chief Dan Jennings were with the Mariners when Fuentes began his pro career, and Marlins Assistant GM Michael Hill was with him in Colorado. So the Marlins are likely to make another push for Fuentes at some point.

"Oh, it would be a load of fun," Fuentes said. "I've been in the playoffs twice in the minor leagues and won championships there. From what I hear it's an experience [in the majors]. Everyone talks about that playoff atmosphere. It would be nice to feel some of that electricity in the air."
Nice to see ex-UM quarterback Kenny Kelly get another crack at the majors. The outfielder, now 26, went 3-for-9 with two RBIs in a seven-game audition with the Reds earlier this summer. Last week the Nationals picked him up off waivers, even though they really have nowhere to play him. If Kelly is still with the club, he will return to South Florida next weekend when the Nationals visit the Marlins. A former second-round pick of the Devil Rays, Kelly hit.326 in Class AAA this year. Asked about the addition, Nationals Manager Frank Robinson smiled and said, "Heck of a quarterback."
Remember all the buildup a year ago about the trio of first-round aces from Rice University? All three are struggling, with Mets right-hander Phillip Humber, picked third overall, possibly headed for elbow surgery. Wade Townsend and Jeff Neimann, both with the Devil Rays, have been out with shoulder and neck problems, respectively. Townsend, who went back into this year's draft, has thrown two pro innings.
Livan wasn't the only Hernandez to cause a stir last week with public musings about undergoing surgery. Padres catcher Ramon Hernandez, playing with a painful left wrist, said he might have surgery to repair the condition against the team's advice. A free agent this winter, Ramon Hernandez said he didn't want to hit the market as "damaged goods." Surgery would keep him out for 3-6 weeks, but would leave him stronger for the stretch drive.
The Yankees recently joined the 1933 Cardinals as the only teams to use three straight starting pitchers 39 or older. According to Bill Arnold's "Beyond the Box Score," Randy Johnson (41), Al Leiter (39) and Kevin Brown (40) joined Burleigh Grimes (39), Dazzy Vance (42) and Pop Haines (40).
A Final Thought: You could field a decent team of players who have been designated for assignment this year.Thousands of abortion opponents massed outside Minnesota's Capitol in one of several protests across the US on the 33rd anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, amid heightened hopes and fears over what a new face on the Supreme Court will mean for abortion rights.
A crowd of sign-wavers turned out on Sunday to call for a ban on public funding of abortion.
``We must stop abortion in our state,'' said Scott Fischbach, head of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. ``Things are changing in this country.''
Many abortion opponents said they were heartened by US President George W..
In San Francisco, thousands of abortion opponents shouldering signs with slogans such as ``Peace Begins in the Womb'' marched on on Saturday, including Reid Richardson and his five-year-old stepdaughter, Allie Zebley, who carried a sign with her ultrasound photo and the words, ``This is me at 16 weeks.''
About half that number gathered on yesterday in Washington D.C., where anti-abortion activists planned to converge on the mall to hear speeches and then march on the Congress and Supreme Court.
Many who support abortion rights held a candlelight vigil in front of the Supreme Court on Sunday night, waving signs that read: ``Alito-No Justice For Women,'' and ``Keep Abortion Legal.''
The US high court made abortion legal on Jan. 22, 1973 but efforts to restrict or outlaw the procedure have been succesful. To date 34 states have passed laws requiring parents either to be notified or to give consent when their underage daughters seek abortions.
This year, abortion opponents.The September issue of ASCE News included an article about an ASCE member who allegedly bribed a county official by gifting goods and services which helped the official to build a vacation home. In exchange (supposedly), the engineer was awarded no-bid engineering projects from the county which the official supervised. What do you think? Is it a question of ethics or a friendly construction project?
This entry was posted on October 12, 2009, 9:54 am and is filed under Engineering Ethics. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Businesses and organisations are increasingly seeking solutions which not only secure their people, premises and assets, but also offer added value in terms of operation efficiency, business intelligence and smart site management. With increased levels of integration and technological convergence, the traditional approach where systems are ‘siloed’ is no longer acceptable. While a converged approach does deliver a host of benefits for the user, it also places a high level of strain on infrastructure. Therefore, it is vital measures are put in place to ensure continuity and resilience.
Many years ago, designing a video surveillance system was a relatively simple task. Integrators needed to assess a site and identify potential points of risk such as entrances and exits, windows, flat rooves, etc.. If there was a potential point of entry to a building, it needed to be protected. The next step would be to identify any external areas of a site which might come under threat, such as storage areas, car parks, goods in/out areas and the like.
Once the points of vulnerability were identified, it was a case of calculating the number of cameras required to cover these weak spots, and the management hardware was then specified based upon the number of cameras to be supported.
Because video systems were solely used for security, and as such offered no other benefits, budgets were generally limited. This resulted in the number of cameras being kept as low as possible, and often compromises were made in terms of video performance to manage costs. This not only led to cumbersome and inflexible solutions, but it meant video systems were usually siloed, unable to share data with any other systems.
In recent years, advances in technology have resulted in significant changes in how video systems are designed. Where once connectivity made use of dedicated coaxial cable infrastructure, modern systems can make use of a diverse infrastructure. Hard-wired and wireless data network technology is used, and often on-premise hardware is used alongside cloud-based infrastructure. However, the biggest changes have occurred due to the ability to integrate systems, allowing the creation of smart solutions which deliver a range of benefits.
To illustrate how the landscape for modern video-based solutions has changed, it is worth considering the evolution of how users are exploiting the technology for available benefits.
When video was reliant upon dedicated networks and closed composite technologies, video was rarely considered for any other business purpose than security. Systems were designed to use as few cameras as possible, and functionality didn’t extend beyond recording and (typically) local playback. Resolutions were low, video was recorded in time-lapse modes, and usually the only way to review footage was to visit the control room or collect a tape and replay it on a compatible time-lapse VCR.
It is important to realise these constraints existed because of limitations in technology, not because no wanted real-time high quality footage. However, to eradicate the limitations resulted in huge increases in costs.
As digital technology became increasingly prominent, so many of the limitations were overcome. Image quality increased, as did the ability to capture real-time images from all cameras. It also became possible to share video, both on site and with off-site locations. However, because video remained the sole preserve of security and safety teams, the focus remained on keeping camera numbers low and focusing on risk-related tasks. This also allowed bandwidth and computational resources to be easily managed.
In recent times, video has undergone something of a sea change. Resolutions and quality continue to increase, as does functionality. Geographical location of devices, servers or operators is no longer a concern. However, the real difference has been driven by the introduction of intelligence in video solutions. AI-enabled systems and the use of deep learning has allowed video system to not only enhance the level of protection on offer, but to create and drive business efficiencies through other tasks.
Business intelligence and building management are