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Product Information
The availability of four generations of LTO tape drives simplifies the decision-it is the only option available for low cost requirements where capacity growth potential matches the data growth rates that businesses are facing today.
Since its introduction, LTO has been known as the enterprise-class technology of choice for medium to large size businesses and in medium and large size libraries. Tandberg Data's LTO-5 half-height (HH) drive brings enterprise-level performance to small and medium businesses at an affordable price. Tandberg Data's LTO drives are backed by more than 30 years of experience in linear tape technology research, design and manufacturing.
The Tandberg LTO half-height drives offer one of the industry's fastest transfer rates with high capacity to minimize backup times, Its compact size, provides simple and easy integration into all servers and workstation. The LTO technology makes it easy for users to standardize on a tape technology that meets today's data capacity requirements and ensures futures growth potential. LTO's six-generation roadmap, with four generations available today makes it a clear choice for small to medium businesses.


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Milwaukee woman's unsolved killing at center of documentary
The hunt to find a Milwaukee woman's killer may soon make it to the big screen.
A Milwaukee mother talked to WISN 12 News about the case that's gone cold and the Hollywood filmmaker that may give her new hope.
"When this happened I was lost. We all were lost. I didn't know what to do," Tammy Love said.
Love said while Oct. 6, 2009, the night her daughter Ashleigh was shot and killed by an intruder, changed her life forever, she's learned to have hope.
"Because you can crawl into a ball and go into the corner and don't live life anymore, or you can choose to fight and get up and go. That first step is important," Love said.
That first step has now grown into the initial leap to tell Ashleigh's tragic story on a grander scale.
"There's so many grieving families out there. Other people's stories helped me and just to get the word out there that there are other people out there that care, that you can make it, that you'll find a way to survive somehow," Love said.
"Letters to Ashleigh" is the title of an independent movie to be directed by family friend Kyle Olson.
"This isn't just a movie. This is kind of a movement in a way to inspire people to tell their stories as well," Olson said.
Olson said Ashleigh's story is the center of the documentary -- a story of a senseless crime and innocence lost. It's something he said is repeated too often in society.
"To really get out the message that there is hope you can go on to fight another day and to serve as an inspiration," Olson said.
"I think this movie is meant to inspire hope in people, because without hope there's nothing," Love said.
Love said cold case detectives are now assigned to Ashleigh's case. She checks in with them every other week. They say they are following leads.
To learn more about the movie or to support it, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Igor Smirnov
Balance Number 1
Igor Smirnov is a male celebrity.
He was born on Thursday October 23rd 1941, in Unknown.
Igor Smirnov can very well draw strength from himself, but he has to be more willing to share his troubles with friends and family.
Igor can be a loner in the face of problems. This can isolate him during troubled times. Once Smirnov is open to the advice of others, it will widen his perspective on the problem and give him new information on which to base his approach.
Strength, creativity, and courage are the arms with which Igor Smirnov will win the war.
You and Igor
About Igor's Balance number
Maturity and self-development help us to learn new and more effective methods of handling our world and the problems we confront, and Igor Smirnov's Balance number provides him with the guidance on how best to deal with difficult or threatening situations.
Read more about our numerological interpretation of Igor Smirnov's balance


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Anthony Giordano
The story of a St. Louis mob boss who wielded influence not only in St. Louis, but in all of Colorado. Giordano was an old time gangster with a temper and was a legend in the Midwest.
by Allan May
The story of a St. Louis mob boss who wielded influence not only in St. Louis, but in all of Colorado. Giordano was an old time gangster with a temper and was a legend in the Midwest.
In January 1968, the St. Louis Globe Democrat published an eight-part series on the St. Louis Mafia entitled "La Cosa Nostra Exposed." The first article in the series, which carried the subhead: "Tony Giardano: The Man of the Mob" began:
"This man is real."
"He is no myth."
"He is Anthony Giardano. He lives here, works here and heads La Cosa Nostra ("our thing") here.
Although Giordano had been arrested more than 50 times over the preceding 30 years and had served a prison term in the 1950s, he was so unobserved in the city that the newspaper didn't even know the correct spelling of his name. Even if he had been an unknown, neighbors now would have no problem identifying him: not only was his picture plastered on the front page, so was the home where he and his family resided in Northwoods, along with his address 6901 Roland Blvd.
Anthony Giordano was born June 2, 1914 in St. Louis. With a police record beginning in 1938, his numerous arrests included charges of carrying concealed weapons, robbery, holdups, income tax evasion, and counterfeiting tax stamps. Giordano was groomed for his rise to the top by his predecessor, Anthony Lopiparo, along with Frank Coppola and Ralph "Shorty" Caleca. The latter two were one-time members of a Prohibition Era gang known as the Green Ones.
During the early 1950s, Giordano served as a drug courier for the St. Louis mob. It is not known how many trips he made to Italy, but at least three of them were observed by law enforcement officials. Giordano had been under the surveillance of famed Narcotics Bureau Agent Charles Siragusa. Each time he went to Sicily, Giordano met with the recently deported Frank Coppola, who was competing with Lucky Luciano in the drug trade there.
On the first two trips, Giordano and Detroit mobster Paul Cimino were unsuccessful in negotiating a heroin purchase. Cimino returned to Italy alone in the spring of 1951 and purchased 20 kilos of heroin, bringing it back in a steamer trunk with a false bottom. To the surprise of both Coppola and the Detroit mob, the heroin had been diluted prior to the sale and Coppola needed to make good. Giordano returned to Coppola's farm in Anzio to pick up the shipment. Shortly after he arrived, the Italian newspapers broke the story of the bust of a major international drug smuggling ring in San Diego. Spooked by the turn of events, Giordano returned home empty handed. Years later, Siragusa wrote that Giordano had been under surveillance and had he tried to return with the heroin he would have been arrested and given a long prison term.
Giordano did serve a prison term in 1956 when he and two others were sentenced to four years in prison on income tax evasion charges in connection with a vending machine business.
During his years on the rise, Giordano dressed the part of the big-time gangster, wearing wide-brimmed, pearl-gray hats, expensive suits, coats, shoes, and rings. In the 1960s, he changed his wardrobe and took on the appearance of a blue-collar worker. During this time he and his wife lived in a modest home in southwest St. Louis. Giordano could often be seen dressed in work clothes at one of the flats he owned in South St. Louis doing carpentry or plumbing chores.
In addition to re-working his wardrobe, Giordano needed to address a temper that caused him problems on several occasions. One famous incident occurred in May 1965 in a restaurant he owned on North Broadway. The FBI had started its war on organized crime a few years back and St. Louis was no different than many other mob-infiltrated cities when it came to agents looking to build a case. When an agent approached Giordano at the counter, the hotheaded gangster flew into a rage, screaming he wasn't going to talk to the agent. "Do you have a warrant?" Giordano demanded, as he flailed his arms over his head in anger.
The agent calmly asked him to explain his excitement, to which Giordano replied, "Go ahead, hit me. I have witnesses. I don't want to talk to you, you filthy dog."
Giordano did have witnesses, including family members and mob associates who were clearly embarrassed by his outburst. Matthew Trupiano, Jr., his nephew and future successor, pushed his uncle back and tried to calm him down as someone shouted, "He (the agent) is not going to hit you, he has more common sense." To which Giordano responded by making a fist and threatening to break the agent's jaw.
When invited to try, Giordano yelled, "I don't want to get five years. You're hiding behind that lousy G-man badge."
Three weeks after the outburst, "Shorty" Caleca explained the incident away stating, "He just gets that way sometimes. He can't help it."
Giordano had ties with the Metropolitan Towing Company, which had a contract with the St. Louis Police Department to remove vehicles from crash sites and to tow stolen or illegally parked automobiles. On Nov. 30, 1970 three members of the St. Teresa of Avila Church drove onto the lot in a van to retrieve a stolen church vehicle. Apparently the lot had a rule that allowed only two people to come in at one time. Giordano, who was in the office, ordered the van off the lot. Words were exchanged. When one of the men identified himself as a priest, Giordano grabbed him by the shirt and told him, "I'm Catholic too. You run your church and I'll run my business." He then threatened to blow their heads off with a sawed-off shotgun. All of this took place in front of a uniformed police officer who ignored the incident. Warrants were soon issued for Giordano's arrest.
In January 1971, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that the Missouri Task Force on Organized Crime had released the results of a yearlong study on organized crime in the state. The 15-member task force claimed that organized crime in St. Louis was "engaged in labor racketeering, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, loan sharking, and narcotics traffic." Giordano was identified as heading one of three factions that were engaged in illegal activities. The report stated that John Vitale was second in command, and that St. Louis maintained strong ties with the Detroit syndicate. The report went on to state that gambling was the main source of income for the Giordano faction, which operated in the north and northwest areas of St. Louis. The report also claimed that the group was into disposal of stolen property and had infiltrated legitimate businesses, including the Banana Distributing Company owned by Giordano, a produce trucking company, and the aforementioned Metropolitan Towing Company. The task force's findings accused the Giordano-led faction of using the Metropolitan Towing Company to launder illegal income and provide an outlet to market stolen auto parts.
What concerned the committee was that all three organized-crime factions had infiltrated organized labor. Authorities estimated that at least 30 mobsters were working as business agents for the unions, including relatives of both Giordano and Jimmy Michaels, the head of St. Louis' Syrian gang.
During the mid-1970s, Giordano was indicted after he attempted to gain hidden ownership in the Frontier casino in Las Vegas. Convicted with him were Detroit mobsters Michael Polizzi and Anthony Zerilli. Giordano was sent to prison in 1975 and released in December 1977. Giordano was nominated for Nevada's Black Book {JJ: this Black Book needs further explaining} on March 4, 1975, but because he had been sent to prison for the infraction, he was removed in April the following year.
On Feb. 12, 1979 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a story that Giordano was directing organized crime activity in Colorado. The paper quoted an unnamed source as stating, "Giordano is not just an errand boy. He is overlord for Colorado and he is the commission's representative here. Territories and geographical boundaries are not important. Relationships between people are paramount, and Giordano provides that relationship with the top of the mob."
Giordano, working with Denver's Smaldone Crime Family, oversaw gambling, loansharking, major fencing and investments into legitimate businesses. Giordano's dealings with the Smaldones began in 1973. Authorities believe it was through this relationship that "organized crime attempted to gain control of the Pueblo (Colo.) Police Department in 1977 through the selection of two St Louisans as candidate for chief of police."
Also revealed in the article was that influences in Colorado by the St. Louis mob went back to the mid-1960s when St. Louis gangster Sam Shanks went there to help the Smaldones re-establish control of the gambling interests after they were released from a long prison term for jury tampering. During this time, Shanks murdered a gambler turned informant. Later Shanks retired to St. Louis and was a confidant of Giordano.
Another family Giordano was close to was the Michaels Family. Giordano had known Jimmy Michaels, head of a large and successful Syrian gang in St. Louis, for many years. The two had worked closely together in directing their criminal activities so not to infringe on each other's operations. It was reported that the two met almost daily to discuss solutions to mutual problems. In the late 1970s when Michaels came under attack by union rivals sanctioned by mob leaders in Chicago, Giordano was able to guarantee Michaels' safety. However, when Giordano died, Michaels' safety net was gone and so was Michaels in less than three weeks.
Giordano was suffering from cancer when he was sent to prison in the mid-1970s. He fought it off though until Aug. 29, 1980, when he died in his bed at the age of 67 at his South St. Louis home.
Allan May's e-mail address is: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Download link (right click and 'save-as') for playing in VLC or other compatible player.
We calculate analytically the highly damped quasinormal mode spectra of generic single-horizon black holes using the rigorous WKB techniques of Andersson and Howls. We thereby provide a firm foundation for previous analysis, and point out some of their possible limitations. The numerical coefficient in the real part of the highly damped frequency is generically determined by the behavior of coupling of the perturbation to the gravitational field near the origin, as expressed in tortoise coordinates. This fact makes it difficult to understand how the (in)famous ln(3) could be related to the quantum gravitational microstates near the horizon.


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If you have outstanding balances on several different federal loans, you may be able to combine them into one new consolidated loan with one monthly repayment. This reduces the size of your monthly payments by extending your repayment period for 10 to 30 years, depending on your total debt.
Other loan consolidation programs are available from participating private or state lenders (such as banks, credit unions and savings and loan associations), guarantee agencies, the Student Loan Marketing Association and other secondary markets. Some consolidation plans allow you to base your repayment on your income. The interest rate on your new consolidated loan will be the weighted average of interest rates on loans you choose to consolidate, and will be fixed for the life of the loan.
Both the Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) offer consolidation loans. Most federal student loans or PLUS loans can be consolidated under a Direct Federal Consolidation Loan.
Loans from the SELF Program may not be consolidated, but the outstanding balance on SELF Loans may be used to determine length of the repayment term for consolidation loans. Private, alternative and institutional loans also cannot be included in a Federal Consolidation Loan. Your student loans can be consolidated only once.
SELF Program loans may be refinanced. The SELF Refi is a new student loan refinancing program administered by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
The interest rate is variable, and is based on the weighted average of the consolidated loans not to exceed 8.25 percent.
Consolidation loans allow borrowers to lock in low interest rates and extend their repayment period beyond that provided by the original loan. This results in lower monthly payments for the duration of the new consolidated loan. Plus, most deferment and forbearance options are not affected by loan consolidation.
Consolidation loans do not have a grace period, and payments begin shortly after the consolidation is finalized. You also will make more payments and pay more interest. This means the total cost of repaying the loan will be higher after consolidation even though your payment per month may decrease. Other borrower benefits resulting from the original loan also may be lost.
Be sure you understand the implications of loan consolidation. The following article will help answer your basic questions:
Loan Consolidation: What's the big deal?
For more information, check with your lender or a financial aid administrator. Or visit www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov or contact the Loan Origination Center's Consolidation Department at (800) 557-7392.
Note: documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) require Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher to view.


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Special $80 weekday double rooms
Located 4 hours from San Diego and Palm Springs, is San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez, Baja, CA.
Family Friendly atmosphere invites Individuals and Groups with Private Balconies, Patio Eating & Sitting Areas, Promenade Deck with Loungers and Swings overlooking the Sea and White Sandy Beach, Game & Fitness area, Children's Playground, and Beautiful Swimming Pool with Waterfall !
This smaller traditional Fishing Village town offers Affordable Eating, Drinking, Shopping and Activities. Shops, restraunts, grocery stores, a casino, and 7-11 type stores provide for conveniences and fun.
The Sea of Cortez provides vacationers with Water Sport fun of all kinds! Hiking, Golfing, Off Road, and endless miles of Beach await you!
A commercial Airport for Private Pilots and Local Carrier Service from San Diego Airport is 2.5 miles from Sandollar. We provide for Free Airport Pick Up (upon request and with notice).
Sandollar Boasts a Menu of Accommodations: Hotel Rooms, Extended-Family Suites, Kitchenette Suites, Luxury Condos, El Presidente Suite (single-story, 2,800 sq.ft.), and Sandollar House.
Handicap Accessible Condos available.
Pet Friendly(with some restrictions).
Sandollar is a Privately Gated and Well-Lighted Complex that affords vacationers Additional RV parking space (Upon Availability, for quads, buggies and cycles).
Find out about our SPECIALS!
Contact - Spanish/English
Francisco EspinozaMX Cell Phone: (686) 123-7688MX
Cell Phone from USA: 011-52-1 (686) 123-7688
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.


text: At this year's CERSAIE in Bologna the Italian manfacturer Mutina presented this new series of bathroom tiles by the Isreal design duo Raw Edges. The designer's idea was to reproduce the effect of folded paper on ceramics – the visual reference is the traditional ceramic patterns which were common in the apartments in Tel Aviv in the Fifties and Sixties. Raw Edges recreate them simply by using "folded" lines.


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45 day return guarantee
Free shipping on orders over $50
Free return
Philips Green Products can reduce costs, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. How? They offer a significant environmental improvement in one or more of the Philips Green Focal Areas – Energy efficiency, Packaging, Hazardous substances, Weight, Recycling and disposal and Lifetime reliability.
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Last Updated: Aug 02, 2016
This article helps troubleshoot text messaging issues on your LG Optimus G.
You may have text messaging issues if your device is:
These steps help identify and resolve the underlying cause. After completing each step, test to see if the issue is fixed. If not, continue to the next step.
Verify your LG Optimus G™ is connected to the Sprint network using Sprint Zone.
Be sure your LG Optimus G is connected to the Sprint voice network to send or receive text messages.
Perform a soft reset.
A soft reset reconnects your LG Optimus G to the Sprint network.
Have you ever been able to send or receive a text message on your LG Optimus G?
If your LG Optimus G is active and you've never been able to text, contact Sprint Customer Care for further troubleshooting.
Note: To optimize device performance, be sure your LG Optimus G is running the most recent device software. Check for software updates.
If you're still having issues, please try the Sprint Community pages or contact Sprint Customer Care for more help.


text: "Increasingly we must see the world as people of color against those without," says Harlem Dyse of the Global Black Alliance. "By the scriptures in latter age Quran, the martyrs of Allah, God & Mother Nature like brothers: Hassan Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal, Lovelle Mixon and Rasheed Scruggs know the reward for their courage is rewarded with the appointed 72 virgins. But in this, the age of the new Quran, Allah's super soldiers know that, through rejection of their reward, they may expidite the death-life cycle and, to make the path straight for the Lord, return to this battlefield immediately. How great then is the reward for that faithfulness but 72 times 7."


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Dreading the AC expense this summer? Trim your energy costs year round with these simple tricks.
These bulbs can save you serious cash — and they'll all last 20+ years.
Frozen clothing is kind of an unconventional way to cool off, but this method — and others — can help you chill out and save energy this summer.
While it might seem smarter to stick with older appliances, stocking your home with Energy Star appliances can save you major cash in the long run.
The oven is not the most energy-efficient way to prepare your food. 19 tips to help you maximize your oven's energy-efficiency, as well as to cut your cooking costs.
For my entire life, I have never lived in a place bigger than 1400 square feet. The smallest dwelling I had was a studio less than 400 square feet which I shared with my parents.
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Up To $500 Off Tires and Wheels | Shop Now
Up To $500 Off Tires and Wheels | Shop Now
The TeraFlex PRO-LCG suspension system is designed for the aggressive off -road enthusiast looking for suspension performance with minimal modification. The PRO system utilizes many of the features of its big brother, while incorporating a true long-arm upper front suspension that still utilizes the stock axle bracketry. Features: Low center of gravity with maximum ground clearance. Long front upper arms. 4-link rear upper geometry. Eliminates rear track bar. Allows complete suspension travel for full range of motion. Adjustable rear anti-squat bracketry for fine tuning performance. Designed to fit 35 inch+ tires. HD 1.75 inch DOM lower FlexArm tubing for superior strength. Works perfect with Engine conversions (V6, V8, etc.) Designed to work with aftermarket high pinion axles.
What is TeraFlex? A suspension company? Sure, but not just any suspension company. TeraFlex is a Jeep Wrangler suspension company. TeraFlex engineers enjoy coming up with products for one of the most engineered vehicles on the market. Interchangeable, dependable and durable - that is where TeraFlex comes in. TeraFlex picks up where Jeep left off to make Wranglers even better. Teraflex prides itself on striving for perfection in every aspect of product manufacturing and design. TeraFlex delivers the quality that hardcore off-road enthusiasts demand. Shop TeraFlex Now
Lowest Price! Guaranteed!


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DENVER (AP) – Colorado lawmakers are considering whether to make it tougher for defendants to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, prompted in part by last summer's mass killings at a movie theater.
A bill up for debate in a legislative committee next week would require defense lawyers to prove a defendant is insane by clear and convincing evidence. The current standard requires prosecutors to prove defendants are sane.
Two high-profile Colorado cases thrust the issue into the spotlight.
Lawyers for James Holmes, charged with killing 12 in the theater shootings, say he's mentally ill. Some expect Holmes to enter an insanity plea.
In 2010, a man charged with wounding two students outside a Denver-area school was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to a mental hospital.
(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Bohemian Luna Crystal Choker
- 100% Money-back guarantee - Love 'em, or they're free!
- Free & easy returns - No hassle exchanges
- Made with premium materials
- Exclusive Boho Peak design
- Not available in stores
Important Delivery Information: COVID-19: There may be a small delay in the delivery of your package. Customs and postal services in many regions are observing social distancing and have reduced their manpower. It is an attempt to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus that is currently plaguing countries across the globe.
Worldwide shipping available
(Tracking number included)
Estimated delivery time in addition to order processing time:
11-14 business days
Other countries:
18-35 business days
Hungary, Belgium, India, and Hungary:
30-45 business days
45-60 business days
28-60 business days
Countries where orders may take longer due to strict customs laws and regulations:
Israel, Germany, and Switzerland
Easy to return
Change your mind? We offer easy returns and refunds on all of our products. You have 30 days to initiate a return once you've received our products.
Secure and flexible payment options
We're flexible! Pay by card, Paypal or with Apple Pay.
At Boho Peak™ we believe our products are truly one of a kind and have 100% confidence in them. This means we're able to proudly offer a satisfaction guarantee across our entire stock for the first 30 days after purchase. If you bought something and feel it's not for you, simply shoot us an email and we'll make it right. 100% satisfaction guaranteed! 😊


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A couple weeks ago, Sylvia was given this note from daycare. (note in blue ink)
It sure is amazing how fast they grow up!
Funny Note from Daycare
A couple weeks ago, Sylvia was given this note from daycare. (note in blue ink)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 | Posted by Brodd Family at 8:01 PM 0 comments
The New Place
It would seem that everything is coming together (finally).
The Brodd family will be heading east in about 6 weeks. We have shared the details with some, but because of the fear of 'jinxing' the deal, we didn't do into too many details. As we start to share the news with more people, many want to know what it looks like. Since the listing is no longer active, we are unable to link to that, but luckily, the virtual tour is still active.
For your viewing pleasure:
Please don't mind the music... we didn't pick that out!
We look forward to sharing our new house with everyone.... just give us a couple weeks!
Monday, March 29, 2010 | Posted by Brodd Family at 5:16 PM 2 comments
Jump around
Monday, March 22, 2010 | Posted by Brodd Family at 5:54 PM 0 comments
Water Park Fun...
Last weekend the Willards, Roses, and Brodds spent some quality time at the Lakeville Holiday Inn. They had a great water park for the kids and a so-so water park for the older kids, but since we are all fathers now, our kids come first, right?
The 'water slide' was a hit for Sylvia. I am convinced she went down it 100 times - and I am not exaggerating.
Oh, and by the way... happy birthday Scott.
Thursday, March 18, 2010 | Posted by Brodd Family at 8:32 AM 0 comments
With the great weather we had on Sunday, Sylvia had a chance to play outside for the first time in months. While I am sure she loved being outside, she seemed a little confused with the changing seasons.
Her little red shovel was by her side most of the day. Don't forget about the dust pan... these come in handy while playing in the yard.
Mom and Dad also enjoyed the warm weather. We had burgers and asparagus on the grill two nights in a row. Yummy!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | Posted by Brodd Family at 8:36 AM 0 comments
I will likely regret this post...
A month or so ago, Jamie grabbed the camcorder while Sylvia was eating dinner.
Please ignore to tone-deaf singer and focus on the cute kid. Thank you.
Thursday, March 4, 2010 | Posted by Brodd Family at 6:23 PM 2 comments


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Home - Brands - Frankland Racing Supply
Frankland Grand National Snout Nut - Left
Nut, Driver Side, Steel, Natural, Grand National Spindle, Each
Limited Supply: only 1 remaining
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Shipping: Ships from Michigan.
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Database Maintenance Plan Stored Procedures (Transact-SQL)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 supports the following system stored procedures that are used to set up maintenance tasks. These stored procedures are used with database maintenance plans. This feature has been replaced with maintenance plans which do not use these stored procedures. Use these procedures to maintain database maintenance plans on installations that were upgraded from a previous version of SQL Server.
This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature.
See Also
System Stored Procedures (Transact-SQL)


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Airsoft Goes National (USA) (2006-03-25)Many people have complained that Airsoft is too "underground" and not mainstream enough. Surely the paintball industry is much more recognized and covered by the media. But airsoft is indeed making headway, as we can see by this interview with our US alliance partner and authorized Service & Repair Center - TheQProject - on national TV in the USA!
As airsoft gains more recognition and popularity, that can only benefit players in terms of fields, parts and accessories, and protection of rights to play. Check out this interview by clicking on the link below!
The Q Project Interview on G4TV


text:
Who Is Archie Bang (Upcoming Rapper From Brooklyn)[User Submitted]
P reports "Archie Bang out of Flatbush Brooklyn representing for his hood... "
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Whether you would like to host a private function in conjunction with a ticketed concert, or would need a venue for your next cocktail reception, business workshop, breakfast, lunch or dinner event, tradeshow or ball, Perth Concert Hall is the perfect location for a memorable event!
There are a range of spaces to suit your individual needs:
Corporate Lounge
With an abundance of natural light this is an ideal small meeting room, breakout area, private VIP cocktails area, committee or exhibitor lounge.
VIP Lounge Area
This area is extremely versatile with magnificent views over the Swan River. Most commonly used for informal meetings, workshops, poster displays and pre-show and interval catering.
Wardle Room
Whether you require a room to start the day with breakfast, or finish the day with dinner and dancing, the Wardle Room is incredibly versatile and seats up to 330 guests.
Perfect for registration, trade displays, welcome cocktail receptions and speaker lectures. Using both levels, the foyers can comfortably house an exhibition of 44 booths while also allowing enough floor space for catering stations. Both levels have floor to ceiling glass windows that provide plentiful natural light.
Main Stage
The main stage within the auditorium can be impressively constructed into a 3-tiered gala ballroom to seat 300 guests. Our highly-skilled technical crew can help enhance your event with props, staging and special effects – from the glamour of Hollywood to somewhere from outer space (or anywhere in between), we'll tie in the perfect performer or act for an unforgettable evening.
For further information about corporate event bookings, please contact email@example.com


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For the purposes of the Financial Services Authority's Disclosure and Transparency rules, the Company announces that as at 28 April 2011 the total number of ordinary shares of 0.1p in issue is 537,062,223 with each share carrying the right to one vote.
The Company has no ordinary shares held in treasury. The total of 537,062,223 ordinary shares may therefore be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
For further information please contact:
|ECR Minerals plc
|Michael Silver, Chairman
|+44 (0) 20 7929 1010
|Patrick Harford, Managing Director
|Stephen Clayson, Chief Financial Officer
|Daniel Stewart & Company plc
|Oliver Rigby/Tessa Smith
|+44 (0) 20 7776 6550
|Old Park Lane Capital plc
|Forbes Cutler
|+44 (0) 20 7518 2603
|Director of Corporate Broking
|Blythe Weigh Communications
|Ana Ribeiro
|+44 (0)20 7138 3204
|Barry Kaplan Associates
|Larry Kaplan
|+1 732 747 0702


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Break the ice: Ice use high among gay men
GAY men are using the drug ice to spice up their sex lives, according to a DVD produced by Peninsula Health.
Break the Ice tells six personal stories, interwoven with expert commentary, and is designed to help people who use drugs recreationally, and their family and friends, to recognise the signs of problematic drug use.
Kurt, one of the interviewees in the film, explains that the attraction to methamphetamine is the sex.
"The high's incredible and you go all night," he said.
Dalgarno Institute executive director Shane Varcoe yesterday directed the Bendigo Advertiser to the film, which can be found online at www.bluebelly.org.au/blueroom/videoDetails4d5f.html?aid=224
Dalgarno Institute is a coalition of alcohol and drug educators that focuses on community education.
It has been tackling public health issues for more than 150 years and has a campus in Bendigo.
Mr Varcoe said ice was not high on the institute's agenda but the whole community could play a part in stamping out the drug.
"Ice is a drug that's particularly nasty," he said.
"It ebbed and flowed and made its way into culture about 10 or 11 years ago.
"Because it was a new thing, people thought 'let's have a crack at that', and it's created all sorts of issues."
Mr Varcoe said ice was incredibly addictive.
"What I know from community health groups down in Melbourne is the highest users of ice are the homosexual male community," he said.
"That then brings about concerns about unprotected sex."
Bendigo police said they did not have the information about the various ice user groups in central Victoria but had confirmed that methamphetamine was the drug causing them the most concern.
The Bendigo Advertiser recently teamed up with Bendigo Health and Victoria Police for the Break The Ice campaign and is inviting any organisation that can make a difference to get involved.
Mr Varcoe said education was a powerful tool.
"Education works when we've got a clear message being sent out, not only by schools but by parents, reinforcing that illicit drugs have long-term effects on both the health of the individual and society and that we're going to be a paying a price for it," he said.
If you need help, call Family Drug Help on 1300 660 068, Family Drug Support on 1300 368 186, Directline (Alcohol and Drug referrals and telephone counselling) on 1800 888 236 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Discuss "Break the ice: Ice use high among gay men"
Please note: All comments made or shown here are bound by the Online Discussion Terms & Conditions.


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It is the responsibility of the researcher to assist in the preservation of library and archival materials.
Many of the resources of the Mennonite Library and Archives are unique and irreplaceable, and care should be exercised to insure access to these materials by future generations.
The visitor is therefore requested to observe the following guidelines:
- Sign the visitors' register upon entering the library.
- The vault and archives are restricted areas and cannot be entered unless accompanied by a staff member. Also consult a staff member if you desire to use the photograph, art, manuscript, map, slide, oral history and microfilm collections, the genealogical tables, or the vertical file.
- Use materials carefully and preserve the order of papers within boxes and folders.
- Only circulating books in the public stacks may be checked out and used outside the library. No archival materials, manuscripts, periodicals, maps, slides, art work, genealogical tables, vertical file materials, photographs, or rare books may leave the library.
- If you desire photocopies of materials, make arrangements with a staff member to use the copier. You must return photocopied archival items to their original location in their folder after copying.
- All materials should be returned to the circulation desk. Do not reshelve or refile materials.
- Do not write on materials. Use only pencil for taking notes. This insures that the materials will not be marked accidentally with ink. Ink may permanently damage valuable resources. Do not use your fingertip to follow the line of print on materials.
- Consult the archivist or librarian for proper citations for manuscripts, photographs, or other archival materials. See also our citation guide.
- Permission to examine manuscripts is not an authorization to publish them. Researchers who plan eventual publication of their work should inquire concerning restrictions. A free copy should be presented to the MLA of all publications, including theses and dissertations, which rely heavily on the MLA's holdings.
- Researchers are also responsible for determining copyright status of archival or library materials, where this is relevant to their intended use of the materials. The MLA does not hold copyright to all of the items in the archives, nor are all items in the public domain.


text:
Cathleen Bourdon Service Award
Formerly the ASCLA Service Award, this citation is presented to an ASCLA personal member for outstanding service and leadership to the division. The award recognizes sustained leadership and exceptional service through participation in activities which have enhanced the stature, reputation, and overall strength of ASCLA; and representation of ASCLA to other appropriate organizations, institutions, or governmental agencies.
- 2016 Christopher J. Corrigan, Digital Reference Librarian, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress
- 2015 Carol Ann Desch, coordinator of Statewide Library Service, New York State Library
- 2014 No award presented
- 2013 Ruth Nussbaum, retired National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), reference librarian
- 2012 Kathleen Moeller-Peiffer, associate state librarian, New Jersey State Library
- 2011 Elizabeth Ann Ridler, neighborhood library supervisor at the Brooklyn Public Library ( view video)
- 2010 Jerry Krois
- 2008 Barbara Will, Library Programs Consultant, California State Library, 1987-2006
- 2006 Rhea Rubin, Rubin Consulting
- 2005 Marilyn Irwin, director, Center for Disability Information and Referral, Indiana Institute on Disability and Community and associate professor, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Indianapolis
- 2004 Sara Laughlin, consultant, Sara Laughlin & Associates, Bloomington, IN
- 2003 Ellen Perlow, manager of Information Services, School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Woman's University, Denton
- 2002 Stephen Prine, head of network services, National Library Services for the blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
- 2001 Frederick "Fred" Duda, editor of ASCLA's Interface newsletter
- 1999 Barbara T. Mates, regional librarian, Cleveland Public Library, Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped


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I am creating a bitmap index and I have been following one of the procedure given in one book and i feel that the size of the bitmap index should be smaller than the b*tree index.
1. How to estimate the size of BITMAP index ?.
2. Is there any view which can tell that how many empty
blocks are available in the index ?.
I would really appreciate a quick reply


text:
2014 Land Rover Range Rover Long-Term Update 1
The Light Stuff
This is my second long-term Range Rover. Back in 2003 I ran a 4.4-liter V-8 Vogue as my daily driver while serving as editor-in-chief of Britain's CAR Magazine. What a difference a decade makes.
Though I loved the 2003 Rangie's chic style and magic-carpet ride, I swapped it for a six-cylinder diesel-powered BMW 7 Series after a few months because at the time I was commuting up to 1500 miles a week, and with an average fuel consumption of 14 mpg on the highway -- and no more than 11.5 mpg around town -- I was having to fill the tank every two days. And trust me, the novelty of standing in the cold damp of an English gas station forecourt that often wears off in a big hurry.
After more than 6000 miles in the 2014 model, however, I'm hoping the folks at Jaguar Land Rover will forget to ask for it back at the end of our 12-month test. It's not just that my Range Rover is getting gas mileage numbers more like those the old model only started to deliver when it was fitted with the 3.6-liter twin-turbo V-8 diesel in Europe -- I saw 23 mpg at an average speed of 72 mph during a recent run on the interstate. It's also quicker, more responsive, smoother-riding, and better-handling.
Every time I slide behind the wheel I'm impressed by the refinement and composure of the new Range Rover and the effortless grace with which it conducts itself, regardless of what it happening beneath its wheels. One small measure of the technological advance the new model represents over the old, a car that was launched four years before the iPhone appeared: The 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 under the hood delivers better efficiency than the old 4.4-liter V-8 while pumping out 20 percent more horsepower and 2 percent more torque.
But perhaps the biggest single contributor to the 2014 Range Rover's impressive improvement in both performance (0-60 mph in 6.1 seconds, compared with 8.4 seconds for my 2003) and fuel consumption has nothing to do with on-board computers. The 2014 Range Rover's all-aluminum body is 39 percent lighter than that of the 2003 model. And you can feel it. Whether you're mixing it in L.A. traffic, or swooping along a canyon road in the Sierras, this new Range Rover seems amazingly light on its feet, far more agile and nimble than you'd expect of an SUV this size.
Less is more? The 2014 Range Rover proves it.
More on our long-term 2014 Land Rover Range Rover:
|Our Car
|Service life
|4 mo/6245 mi
|Average fuel economy
|15.6 mpg
EPA City/Hwy/Comb Fuel Econ
17/23/19 mpg
|Unresolved problems
|Maintenance cost
|Normal-wear cost


text:
Rolex Cellini Orange Dial Diamonds Alligator Strap 5643
- Item No.:
- Availbility:In Stock
Was : US$ 268.43Now : US$ 153.52
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Back: Polished stainless steel snap-in back
Bezel: 18k rose-gold plated bezel
Crown: Rolex logo engraved 18k rose-gold plated cutwork crown
Bracelet: Rolex and logo heat embossed brown crocodile leather strap with logo carved 18k rose-gold plated hook-buckle clasp
Band Type: Leather
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Dial Color: Orange
Gender: Men
Diameter:48 x 40 mm
Bracelet Length:195 x 19 mm
Case Thickness:14 mm
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text:
Money Girl
Money Girl's Most Recent Tips
Listen to the Latest Episode
Money Girl's Recommended Episodes
Money Girl's Archive
Laura Adams is a personal finance expert and award-winning author of multiple books, including Money Girl's Smart Moves to Grow Rich. Her most recent title, Debt-Free Blueprint: How to Get Out of Debt and Build a Financial Life You Love, is an Amazon No. 1 New Release. Laura's been the host of Money Girl, the top-rated weekly podcast, since 2008.
Laura is frequently quoted in the national media and has been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, NPR, MSN, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US News and World Report, Consumer Reports, Forbes, Money Magazine, Kiplinger's Huffington Post, and many other radio, print, and online outlets. Since 2013, she's completed over 1,000 media interviews.
Millions of loyal listeners and readers benefit from her practical advice. Her mission is to help over 100 million students and consumers live richer lives through her podcasting, speaking, spokesperson, teaching, and advocacy work.
Laura received an MBA from the University of Florida. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their yellow Lab. To learn more about Laura, visit LauraDAdams.com or join a growing group of thousands who are taking their finances to the next level in her Dominate Your Dollars private FB group.
2011 Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Award: "Book of the Year for Adult Money Management" for Money Girl's Smart Moves to Grow Rich
2010 Nominee Best Business Podcast - Podcast Awards
2008 Nominee Best Business Podcast - Podcast Awards
2007 Nominee Best Business Podcast – Podcast Awards
2007 Nominee Best Business Podcast – Podcast Peer Awards
Quick and Dirty Tips for Life After College (St. Martin's Press 2012)
Money Girl's Post-Graduation Survival Guide: Set Yourself Up for Financial Success (St. Martin's Press 2011)
Money Girl's Smart Moves to Grow Rich (St. Martin's Press 2010)
Money Girl's Smart Moves to Deal with Your Debt (St. Martin's Press 2010)
Money Girl's 10 Steps to a Debt Free Life (Macmillan Audio 2009)
Money Girl's Guide to Retirement Planning (Macmillan Audio 2009)
Listeners at iTunes are raving about the Money Girl podcast
"Subscribe, ASAP! All the tips are extremely practical and concise. Very easy to understand. I wish I heard some of these earlier."
"This is best thing I've encountered in the financial advice I've sought. Better even than asking my financially educated friends – who can't answer clearly and concisely for the life of them."
"This podcast is a MUST subscribe!!! Each segment is short and to the point, but jam packed with insightful information. A great educational tool for anyone seeking to gain a little financial advantage."
Contact Money Girl
Questions or Comments email@example.com
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Disclaimer: Everyone's situation is different, so be sure to consult a tax or financial advisor before making important financial decisions. The Money Girl podcast and associated blog posts are for educational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for seeking personalized, professional advice.


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In my Systems Librarian column for the March 2016 issue of Computers in Libraries I discuss the issue of how the scope of functionality of library automation systems has been organized over the course of the history of these products. There have been waves of expansion and consolidation of functionality, working toward systems able to address the operational and business requirements of each new collection format. A key issue remains in play regarding whether patron-facing discovery products should be tightly interwoven with the resource management systems used by library personnel.
One of the most important questions in the realm of library technology concerns the composition of the systems that support the library in how it manages and provides access to its collections and services. Is it better to have one do-it-all product or to assemble a set of modules from different providers? The history of library automation has seen a general trend toward more comprehensive platforms, but are we now at a time when it makes sense to consider other possibilities?
In this current phase, we can see at least two tracks in play-one that emphasizes the efficiencies gained through a fully integrated platform and another based on the flexibility gained through open systems able to integrate diverse components. Today, the key question centers on the extent to which patron-facing discovery products should be packaged together with resource management systems or if libraries can mix offerings from different providers.continue reading...
(The full text of my Systems Librarian columns are available on Library Technology Guides 90 days following thier original publication in Computers in Libraries magazine.)
Marshall Breeding Oct 23, 2016 18:40:16
Link to Posting: Disintegration to Integration and Back


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text:
Branching out: Two bands, two worlds
Banty Roosters
at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
Thursday, March 4
Civil War Reenactors at
Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
Friday, March 5
Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar is one of the more interesting places to hear live music in town. Combine an eclectic booker with a venue whose layout resembles a railway car, and you get a show that's bound to be different in one way or another each time you go.
Keeping with this "different" motif, I went out for tea last Thursday and Friday, saw two different acts (and was introduced to the extremely satisfying chai tea milkshake), and had two completely different listening experiences.
Thursday's Twisted Branch performance by the old time/bluegrass band Banty Rooster was the show of the two I planned to review, and with my trusty friend Paul attached to my side for the evening, we made our way down to the Mall for some upstairs action.
After we grabbed a table close to the stage and ordered some cocoa rooibos, the trio known as Banty Rooster began to perform. Composed of an acoustic guitar, a banjo, and an upright bass, the group took about 20 seconds after starting to get into synch– like an old motor, falling into a rhythm after a short while.
"There's one thing I like about that gal of mine. She keeps me all right and loves me all the time" sang the lead vocalist and guitarist in a strong voice accented with grit. Amid almost all traditional tunes, the highlight of the act– aside from their strong grasp of the pop element in the old-time tunes– was the banjo player's backing vocals: high and extremely dirty (almost distorted). I was instantly reminded of the great backup wails on certain T. Rex tunes.
Friday night found me once again gracing the venue with my magnanimous presence, though in much more attractive company (sorry, Paul). A chai tea milkshake into my stay, the quirk-rock group Civil War Reenactors began to set up, which caused me to raise my palms in homage to the gods. Composed of Mike Johnson and Jeff Melkerson on electric guitar and vocals, the group plays a spastic Talking Heads-meets-Pavement-on-uppers kind of quirky pop.
Starting off with "Christmas presents I ask for from my parents that make them think I'm gay," the group quickly bounced into its strange guitar antics to '80s beats sound. Melkerson's mic was not doing its job for this first tune, and aside from several yelps the singer made during the song's many crescendos, few other syllables could be heard.
The problem was quickly rectified, and we were treated to a number of tunes that almost approached pop numbers, but with something off about them (as in "He was always a nice guy (before he killed those four people), but there was always something off about him").
I'm a fan of the Civil War Reenactors, but they're really a band you have to see to understand– and even then, you'll probably either really like 'em or really despise 'em.
The Banty Roosters


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I haven't been able to work on either of my missions since last Autumn when for some unknown reason both Thief and Dromed started playing silly buggers and hadn't worked since.
Every time I tried to fire up Dromed it just took me to the Thief loading screen. And then suddenly today for no apparent reason it worked again . I still can't get Thief to work but it was nice to be able to wander around Dromed again. I'm not sure whether this means I'll get anything accomplished but it's good to know I can if I wish.
Heroism on Command, a T2 FM by john-the-begger, will never be released.
The good news is that he recently returned to Thief, and is now working on a new mission that is almost ready.Originally Posted by john-the-begger
I also have a FM in development. It is untitled at the time and I am about 30% complete. It is a City type mission. I have also completed a smaller FM titled Rebel. Should be available in about a week or so.
a little update about the progress of my 2 works:
"thief 2, the flying age" is actually complete the only thing that is missing to go is a couple of samples that SlyFox and BrokenArts are goin to do for me.
Then it will be in BETA 1 stage.
In this exact moment i'm busy to complete HOC2 mission two. I'm at 80% done.
probably after august we will be on beta 1 with this one too.
see ya later folks
one fast update about hoc2: this last week i was totally scared about an incredible crash without clues about how to solve it !
fortunally it was caused by the reached limit of the number of the whole 16bit textures !
so now i can continue to work it on....
Last edited by sterlino; 31st May 2007 at 13:42. Reason: a fast update about hoc2
- 1 author added: john-the-begger
- added the mission 'Kill Factory II: Escape from the Planet of the Robots' to Sliptip's Fm(s) in development
- screenshots link for the mission(s) of the following authors: Kamon, Sliptip, SlyFoxx
- latest news link for the mission of the following author: Apache, Asgaroth, madwolf, Sliptip, sterlino
- changed the Current status for the missions of the following author: Apache, Asgaroth, john9818a, marshall banana, Sliptip, sterlino
- filled in an Estimated release date for a mission of the following author: Asgaroth
- changed the Estimated release date for the mission of the following author: Apache, john9818a, Sliptip, sterlino, theImmortalThief
- updated details for the missions of the following author: Asgaroth
- added the Crap Contest missions to the earlier missions list of all authors in this thread
Last edited by The Phantom; 2nd Jun 2007 at 09:52.
Please update status of my FanMission: Dancing with the Dead Ep. 2: Deep Analysis
Now in beta-test
Release date: Summer 2007
After 3 (three) years of work... I'm going to finish it quickly
And you may as well add this screenshot link to my FM info:
wanted to announce now that I've fleshed out on paper my plot/storyline for my TDS FM and that it will be a 3 mission "story". I've given title to the current mission I'm working on, and a 'working title' for the plot of the 2nd and 3rd, although I have yet to actually start work on those:
REQUIEM 0I: The Tepid Stares of Lucklustre Madness
REQUIEM 0II: Dissemination of the Forlorn Heretical ~ working title
REQUIEM 0III: The Austere Bastions of Solemn Grace ~ working title
release dates still unknown, but I will continue to work on them as I have free time, so . . . hopefully, all goes well, I will have the 1st completed (or at least into beta form) by the end of the year.
anyhow, various work-in-progress screenshots have been posted in the TDS editing forums of the 1st mission
This is the end! Lord Strainglif come to end! That's errors.. only one save.. Sorry.. I can't giveout my mission.
When I building a new mission, I talk you about it.
I'm starting a small thief 1 mission - "Yet another mansion"... I hope it will be a nice one...
Aye Mr. Cooper! I plan soon to get us a nice fat networked HD which we can use to backup photos, home movies, and all my Thief stuff. Most of them nowadays you can even schedule to automatically backup files once a day from certain folders when they change.
Beta testing has begun for Bane I - Keep of Deceit, soon to be released.
- 3 authors added: cardia1, Dark Arrow, Fidcal
- 2 authors removed: Edversion (Lord Strainglif's Mansion), john9818a (A Love Story III)
- added the missions 'SSDD part 2: Breaking and Entering' and 'part 3: Suffer the Guild' to Apache's Fm(s) in development
- removed the mission 'SSDD part 1: Tipping the Scales' from Apache's Fm(s) in development
- screenshot link for the mission of the following author: R Soul
- latest news link for the mission(s) of the following authors: Apache, bbb, Gregorius, R Soul, theImmortalThief
- changed the Current status for the mission(s) of the following authors: Apache, Gregorius, Lady Rowena, slipknot, Splashcups, theImmortalThief
- changed the Estimated release date for the mission(s) of the following authors: Apache, Splashcups
- details for the mission(s) of the following authors: Apache, bbb
Two fan missions for Thief 2:
-Visting Durant's Mansion and Welcome to Blackbrook T3
By Dark Arrow, author of earlier missions 'Thievery', an entry for Komag's 4th Contest, and 'The Ghost House/Haunted Hospital' among others.
For more information about these mission, including some in-game screenshots, visit his homepage at http://koti.mbnet.fi/~darkar/, and click PROJECTS on top of the page.Originally Posted by Dark Arrow
If you're interested in completing one of them, get in touch with Dark Arrow by Private Messaging or email.
Last edited by The Phantom; 6th Oct 2007 at 09:50. Reason: added mission 'Welcome to Blackbrook T3
Just to say that i´m building a new mission similiar to "Temple of Death", don´t know yet the name to give, perhaps "the place of many sentences" ,..."excutions, convictons" i don´t know yet but i will give later on more details.
RE: missing saving: Yeah I learned months ago to make backups (though I mostly lost silly missions that had AIs fighting each other)
Anyway, I am actively working on two T2 missions that are part of a small mission series:
Series: "Dangerous Waters"
Missions: "Watery Descent" and "Portal to the Waves"
I am a new FM author and here is a link to this series thread in the editor's forum: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111907
I am currently only about 20% with Watery Descent and Portal to the Waves still has a lot of work ahead on it (~15% which is a little generous).
A few months ago, Komag made several updates to the upcoming missions list at the Keep. Status dates have been updated, several old fm's have been added, and his list now includes color coding.
I assisted a bit with sending him several up-to-date status's of several missions, and pointing out some already released missions.
Most missions in the list were abandoned by the author, years ago. Only those with Date Status white and green are still relevant.
Keep an eye on this page, however. More (current) projects might be added at a later time.
What makes this list interesting are the many pages with screenshots, that komag saved over the past years, showing all the projects left incomplete. Some of them are still looking good, even by today's standards.
Those who want to see their fm's listed at The Keep as well, or have news about an old fm in the list, can send him an email. Look at the Keep's main page for the adress.
I have make a screenshots update of my progress work on the fms " The black frog ".
It goes bit by bit...
So : Fms progress : 85 %
Last edited by gaetane; 13th Jul 2007 at 12:18.
- 2 authors added: Cavalorn, deception
- renamed malau's mission 'Mission 5b' into 'Curse of the Werewolf
- removed the mission 'Rebel' from john-the-begger's list of Fm(s) in development (released)
- removed the mission 'Kill Factory II: Escape from the Planet of the Robots' from Sliptip's list of Fm(s) in development (released)
- new screenshots link(s) for a mission of the following authors: john-the-begger, malau
- latest news link for the mission(s) of the following authors: Apache, Drk, gaetane, Nielsen74
- changed the Current status for the mission of the following author: DrK, gaetane, Gian, john-the-begger, slipknot, thiefinthedark
- changed the Estimated release date for the mission(s) of the following authors: malau, Quirk, Sliptip
- updated details about a mission of the following author: malau
- added the thread all fm map makers please read this to the list of 'Other threads about upcoming missions'
- added color system to indicate the chance a mission makes it to release.
Besides the regular changes, today's update also includes a new idea that makes it easy to see the current chance that a mission makes it to release: the colour coding system.
* Moved to Q & A section *
Last edited by The Phantom; 14th Apr 2011 at 05:53.
I've uploaded some screens of Mystic Gems part 2 to my ftp:
EDIT: two more screens
Last edited by Wille; 15th Jul 2007 at 17:39.
Willie, as discussed many times, please post your screenshots to their own thread, not to this one.


text:
Sorry this website no longer exists. However this site does contain some of the resources once found on eastendtalking.org.uk and some of its sister sites. Most of these can be discovered under 'Teacher Resources' and include:
If you have a query concerning any of the content you hoped to find on some of our past websites, please contact us


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The ultimate sin of the technocrats
Paul Joseph Watson
Monday, July 9, 2012
The self-destructive, self-loathing, nihilistic drivel that poses as popular culture and modern society is like a ball and chain to humanity's innate desire to realize its true potential.
In the video above, Alex Jones explains how the people in control of our planet are wantonly hurting the course of human development and sacrificing the very legacy of our species in order to satisfy their own meaningless, myopic lust for transitory power.
A small group of inbred, unhappy, twisted and wicked people have committed to dominating and enslaving the population of the planet instead of serving humanity as pioneers in leading our species on to its destiny of greatness.
Humanity can only dream of the potential it possesses in reaching out for the stars while we are being held back and turned away from our destiny by globalists.
While the human race is being demonized as a virus or a cancer upon the planet, in reality it is our controllers who are the true cancer because they are creating the environment for mankind's destruction.
The ultimate sin committed by the technocrats against the world population is their attempt to shutter our doors of perception and put a halt to the charge of human progress, freedom, and spiritual enlightenment.
If we are to survive and thrive as a species we must untangle our minds from the trap that has been laid for us by the technocrats and come to the understanding that they are the biggest threat mankind faces as a species.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
The Reopen America Back to School Special is now live! Earn double Patriot Points on our hottest items!


text:
If you haven't seen my.yahoo.com, see this screenshot
I can customize my page, by adding more boxes, removing or rearranging them (I can rearrange using drag and drop, something like WYSIWYG), or changing how each individual box look. Is there any UI term for these kind of boxes? Is there also a term for a website that is customizable in this way?


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Topic: Tactical Ops RPG (Read 9048 times)
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Cogito Ergo Es
Tactical Ops RPG
February 08, 2012, 07:43:47 AM »
Hi :-)
I'm developing a game called
Tactical Ops RPG
The game is complete and playable, but I still consider it in the Alpha stage of playtesting.
The game will soon have a proper default setting of its own, an original creation of mine.
Untill then its actual form works best for any generic modern/cyberpunk setting ... but for testing purposes it has been succesfully color-hacked with both a Fable3-inspired fantasy setting and the
SLA Industries
dark-scifi setting (SLA is a '90s
game from the british Nightfall Games).
Tactical Ops
(or TOps) is a game about action and adventure, where a Team of characters work together to accomplish Missions and overcome Obstacles, while striving for group Leadership.
(and personally, I wanted a game that could allow me to finally play some
setting I loved in a way I could actually enjoy them, such as SLA Industries, Shadowrun, Dark Sun, Aeon Trinity, and many others)
I'm gonna lay down 8 salient points of my design to better describe it (and I'll do it in a quite enthusiastic tone, so be warned about that ^_^) and then I would like to have some help and feedback on a few critical areas...
This is the Google Doc with the
current rulebook
I'm working on.
There are also 3 Actual Plays to be found on the GenteCheGioca forum, but they are only written in Italian :P
1) The Hamsterless Engine
(it's kind of an in-joke from a discussion on the GenteCheGioca forum ^_^)
Do you know those "narrative" games where we just somewhat like chat with each other?
Forget them!
Imagine instead a game with a proper GM that cooks up an engaging story, a complex plot, contents tailored for your PC ...
but without a GM
, and without prep times, and without you being forced to be the director of the story.
Every participant just plays HIS character, with just little extra contributions here and there if/when you feel comfortable.
2) Fiction Mastery
The system is simple, so you don't have to study 300+ pages of rules and numbers BUT it is also articulated, so you can min-max your PC, watch it grow and develop, you can thinker with its "optimal build".
All this is
rooted into the game fiction, rewarding smart ideas and out of the box thinking.
3) Low Requirements
The game works with just 2 players and as much as 5 or 6.
There's no prep time, except for Character Generation ... which is quite brief.
You only need normal 6 sided dice; 3 colors is best, but just 2 will work fine.
4) Character-in-a-Box
Stop filling in tax modules to record your PC's stats!
Now your Character is sheet is a deck of cards representing his abilities, equipments, ties and all other important elements.
5) Setting-in-a-Box
Thanks to how the game works it is possible to translate a whole setting into a little-tiny-compendium supported by a set of cards, condensing what used to be a 300+ almanac into ultra-lite materials 100% playable.
Every _Box_ is composed by:
- a veeery brief introduction to the setting
- a veeery brief description (
no numbers!
) of characteristic "active" elements (places, people, creatures, organizations, things, etc)
- some short lists (
almost no numbers!
) of mechanical elements pre-packaged to fit the setting's flavour (races, weapons, powers)
- each element (not in the lists) should have a card containing the element's Name, page number on the compendium, and a big nice picture (potentially substituting some descriptive text, making the compendium even lighter)
6) OUR Setting
With or without the use of a Setting-in-a-Box the game works in a way that _spontaneously produces_ setting.
Through the act of playing you'll define a series of Places, Persons and other Details unique to the fictional world produced at YOUR table.
- - - Yet to come, but coming none the less - - -
7) Achievements!
Just like in a videogame, you can friendly compete with your friends to earn "_Badges_" representing various game-related things.
Each badge will have special one-shot powers.
The game will offer a standard selection, but in time each group is expected to develop its own unique Achievements.
8) One Hour Play!
The game will have a special play-mode designed to make it playable from start to finish in 60 minutes through the use of pre-gen Characters, pre-gen Missions, special Achievements and other minor adjustments.
Alessandro Piroddi
Tactical Ops RPG :
Posts: 38
Cogito Ergo Es
Re: Tactical Ops RPG
Reply #1 on:
February 08, 2012, 07:45:19 AM »
As for my questions...
1) the structure is designed with group-play in mind, but from playtests it has emerged that the game MAY also handle waveplay.
Should I encourage (maybe as an extra option) this kind of game?
Where every PC maybe takes on a personal Mission?
Or would this change the nature of the game in a somehow bad way?
2) the game really focuses on the Mission solving part, with just fringe glimpses of the PC's personal lifes.
Sometimes I feel the desire to add something more human and personal to the game (I love gwep games like MLwM or Montsegur or even Apocalypse World to an extent) ... but here too I fear I may just be striving for the old futile "
perfect game that does everything
Sholud I stik to my core concept or try to expand?
(and if so, any suggestions on how to do it?)
3) The original form of this game used a normal Character Sheet... composed of MANY sheets because there was a lot of cumbersome stuff to record.
Then I perfected the system and ended up with a veeery cramped sheet full of stats, and a bunch of CARDS recording equipment and other things.
The current version ONLY uses cards to keep track of the all the Character's things.
I like this last incarnation.
It allows for people to bring their PC along as a deck of cards...
It goes well with the Setting-in-a-Box concept...
It looks far more toy-like than normal char-sheets (which is something I like, possibly the only good thing about the
But some comments (very few but also very vocal) claim that using cards in place of a more traditional char-sheet is uncomfortable and cumbersome.
I don't know... what do you think?
4) the rulebook is obviously just in a WIP state that will be thorougly rewritten for clarity with lots of examples and editing... but is it already more or less understandable?
Is my english so terrible?
5) I'm of course eager to get playtests and Actual Plays of such tests ... so feel free to ask me for support in any possible way ^_^
Alessandro Piroddi
Tactical Ops RPG :
Posts: 657
Re: Tactical Ops RPG
Reply #2 on:
February 08, 2012, 02:00:30 PM »
This looks interesting.
How does a player handing their own PC an obstacle work in practice? I have my reservations about that.
How do people react to other players handing them an obstacle? Do they get frustrated?
Ingenero: A little system with a big engine. Light and tight.
Posts: 38
Cogito Ergo Es
Re: Tactical Ops RPG
Reply #3 on:
February 09, 2012, 04:40:08 PM »
Thanks for the interest :)
Tactical Ops
is first and foremost inspired by the
Hell For Leather
game by Sebastian Hickey, so anyone familiar with it should be able to guess what I'm about to explain ;)
Basically the team needs to accrue Victory Points to actually get to the end of the mission.
way to get VP is to beat Obstacles.
So, no Obstacles, no party (but a Martini or five should help anyway).
Also, rolling dice and adding Obstacles and various other difficulties into the fiction are the only ways to accrue the equivalent of Experience Points ... so putting Obstacles into play means you are ENABLING all Players to win the mission and develop their characters.
Also, Obstacles are not handled "on" other Players... Obstacles are "objects" ... when some
in the Fiction gets "tagged" as an Obstacle any Player (whose PC is able to somehow interact with it) can participate in the Obstacle-solving by
sensible means.
Or the Obstacle can be completely circumvented and interaction with it avoided.
(it all depends on the fiction)
Finally, the Obstacle mechanic avoids the
Czege Principle
(^_^) because the "opposition" is kind of automatically handled by the game itself.
You may think:
- my PC is skilled with guns
- so I inject a group of violent thugs in the fiction (for which I'm rewarded)
- then I tag them as a mechanically relevant Obstacle (for which I'm rewarded)
- then I solve the problem with my astounding guns skill
The game works like that... but...
- there are multiple filters assuring that if indeed thugs appear in the scene and actually do provide an Obstacle... it means everybody at the table is 100% fine with it (otherwise it can't happen)
- once the thugs become an Obstacle they acquire Details that are not under my sole control ... thus thugs may not be exactly like I imagined them
- all mechanical elements of an Obstacle are also set by the game itself ... a Player can't produce an "easy" or "difficult" Obstacle, the game sets these parameters automatically ... what a Player can do is try to set up an Obstacle that he
should allow him to use his PC's best attributes
- so, the Guns skill may be a strong point of my PC, but it may turn out to be a less than ideal solution to this specific situation
- other Players may use their PCs to act in a way that changes the circumstances, turning my Guns skill into something useless (or at least not smart to use
(what do I do with GUNS if my teammates start TALKING with the thugs?)
- any rolling of dice may produce Opposition Points which may trigger the
Automatic Opposition
cards, which will radically change (read: Fuck Up) the situation in many ways ... and the more dice I roll (because I'm goood with this skill!) the more Opposition Points I may produce
So, a Player CAN manouver the fiction and the rules to set a somewhat ideal stage to his advantage ... but the result is FAAAR away from "
I set up a problem and OH BOY I've got the solution, let's move on to the next game thanks
" ;)
Basically you can set up an Obstacle that highlights your PC's strengths, which should mean you end up doing the stuff you like to do the most with your PC ... with no side effects (like boredom or lack of surprises or feeling like a GM playing solo against himself).
Alessandro Piroddi
Tactical Ops RPG :
Posts: 38
Cogito Ergo Es
Re: Tactical Ops RPG
Reply #4 on:
February 21, 2012, 02:02:34 PM »
I've put up a blog (in english) with all the recent updates and news ... like the latest
I'm going to post game materials, Actual Plays (in english), developer diaries, etc.
Anyone interested can just check the link in my signature ^_^
Alessandro Piroddi
Tactical Ops RPG :
Posts: 38
Cogito Ergo Es
Re: Tactical Ops RPG
Reply #5 on:
February 29, 2012, 04:28:49 AM »
Blog Update! :D
- there is a status update on the SECOND game-contest
- there is a downloadable Blank Character Deck
- there is a downloadable Game Cheat-Sheet
LINK is in my signature ^_^
Alessandro Piroddi
Tactical Ops RPG :
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Opposition leader Narendra Modi has widened his lead as candidate to become India's prime minister and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to emerge as the single largest party in coming elections, according to a new opinion poll.
The BJP also picked up support in Uttar Pradesh and is set to get half the seats in the heartland state which sends the largest number of lawmakers to parliament, according to the ABP News-Nielsen poll forecast, published on Saturday.
The results present a challenge to Rahul Gandhi, the fourth generation member of the long-ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, who is leading the ruling Congress party-led coalition in national polls due by May.
About 57 per cent of respondents in the survey, conducted in February, picked Modi as their favourite candidate for prime minister, four points more than in the agency's January survey.
Gandhi trailed with a rating of 18 percent, though he picked up three percentage points from January.
The poll predicted the BJP and its allies would win 236 of 543 seats at stake in parliament's lower house, while the Congress and its allies would drop to double-digits.
More than 800 million people are eligible to vote in the world's largest democratic exercise to choose a new government. India, Asia's third largest economy, is growing at its slowest clip in a decade, choking off employment opportunities for thousands of young people who join the workforce each month.
To rule, a party needs the support of 272 lawmakers. The BJP, even with the biggest number of seats, will have to seek out coalition partners if the poll's predictions are correct.
In Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for 80 seats, the BJP was estimated to win 40, up five from the January poll. The Congress party was expected to win seven seats, a drop of one from last month's forecast.
More than 29,000 people across the country were interviewed for the poll. Local opinion polls have had a mixed record in the past, given the country's huge and diverse electorate.
Gandhi has struggled to draw support for the Congress party, which is mired by corruption scandals and policy paralysis. He has seemed distant at times, unsure of how to stop the slide in the 129-year-old party's fortunes.
Compared with the relatively untested Gandhi, Modi has years of experience as the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, where he has built a reputation as an efficient, business-savvy administrator.
But charges that Modi was complicit in riots in Gujarat that killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, have cast a shadow over his ambitions for the top job. Critics accuse him of not having done enough to stop the violence, allegations he has strenuously denied and have never been proven.
Editing by Ron Popeski


text:
Mark Nelson's Bio
Mark Nelson is an engineer with Cisco Systems, author of The Data Compression Book, and co-author of Developing Cisco IP Phone Services: A Cisco AVVID Solution. He is also a contributing editor to Dr. Dobb's Journal.
- Data Compression with Arithmetic Encoding
- Setting Up a Test Environment for C++14
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TEXAS CITY, Tex. — The forest of oil refining towers on this sprawling industrial complex on Galveston Bay sits in the heart of the greatest concentration of refining capacity in the world. Roughly half of the gasoline consumed in the U.S. is made along this stretch of Gulf coast from Corpus Christi, Texas to New Orleans.
At the Valero refinery here, miles of pipe snake through the complex in a maze of loops and neat, right-angle turns that surround and connect the towers. This refinery processes nearly a quarter of a million barrels of crude oil every day. And general manager Ralph Phillip is always looking for ways to squeeze a little more through those pipes.
"Over time, if you're a good businessman, you say: 'Okay, I've got this facility, and I'm making 160,000 barrels a day," he said on a recent tour. "'If can make 170,000, it's worth this much money. Where do I go do that — if I can find that bottleneck in my refinery and spend some money to fix that?'"
Fixing those bottlenecks is more important than ever as the U.S. gasoline market winds down from a summer of record breaking prices — as ever-growing demand reached the limits of the country's refining capacity. As tight inventories and fears of supply interruptions sent prices soaring this spring, U.S. refiners stepped on the gas pedal.
"We had such great prices and great (profit) margins for refiners that they ran as hard as they could in the second quarter and produced tremendous amount of product — one of the strongest quarters ever, if not the strongest," said Jacques Rousseau, an analyst who follows the refining industry at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey.
From the fieldBut even as the peak summer driving season winds down, U.S. refiners continue to operate nearly flat out. As of this week, the industry is producing gasoline and other end products at something like 98 percent of capacity. And with the overall growth in demand for motor fuels and heating oil showing no signs of slowing, prices will continue to be driven as much by tight refining capacity as by the recent run-up in crude prices. Heating oil inventories are roughly at average levels for this time of year, but prices continue to climb. That's due in part to concerns that prices could spike on any interruption in production — anything from a longer-than-scheduled maintenance shutdown to emergency repair or fire.
But the solution — boosting refining capacity to allow a greater margin for error — isn't easy. There hasn't been a new refinery built in the U.S. since 1976, the result of extremely tight environmental restrictions, not-in-my-back-yard community opposition, and the high cost of new construction. Used refineries currently sell for about 30 to 50 percent of the cost of building a new one, so it's cheaper to buy an old refinery and upgrade it. Or squeeze a little more gasoline out of the refineries you already own.
Expansion of refining capacity is also made more difficult because oil refineries are a lot more complicated to build and operate than your average widget factory. For starters the raw material — crude oil — has many different properties, from thickness to sulfur content, so not all refineries can blend just any barrel of crude.
That crude — and the products it produces — range in temperature from zero to 1400 degrees during the process. Operating pressures range from 10 pounds to 1500. Then there are the many different products that can be distilled from that barrel of crude — from gases like propane, to lighter liquids like gasoline and diesel fuel, to the heavier "residual" fuels used by power plants or ship boilers, to asphalt and "coke" — the hard black substance left after you've pulled everything else out of the oil.
"Different refineries — depending on how much money has been spent on them — and what processing units they have — have greater flexibility to make larger amount of gasoline out of a barrel of oil than others," said Phillip.
The capacity squeeze is a relatively new phenomenon, according to Joanne Shore, a senior analyst at the U.S. Dept. of Energy.
"Until about the mid-1990s, we had too much capacity," she said. "Demand finally grew into our capacity when we finally saw refiners run at full utilization after 1995, and then we started to see capacity increase again."
Some of the improvements are simple physical changes — a bigger "cracking" tower or higher capacity pipes or pumps. The Valero plant here recently added two "coking" units to squeeze more liquid fuel out of the "bottom of the barrel" solid material left over by the refining process.
Production output is also being expanded through technical improvements that allow refineries to operate more efficiently and reliably, thereby stretching out shutdowns for maintenance or repair. This fall, that scheduled maintenance is expected to cut into refining capacity by less than 5 percent of the nearly 17 million barrels a day of total output, according to A.G. Edwards refining analyst Bruce Lanni.
But expanding output may be getting harder to do. For starters, the cheapest bottlenecks have already been identified. Refiners have also recently been committing more money to upgrade facilities to meet tougher environmental regulations, according to Phillips.
"Right now there's lot of investments that people are going to have to make around ultra-low sulfur fuel," he said. "That's a substantial investment. It's going to be no capacity increase; it's additional cost and processing. You have X amount of dollars to spend every year on new investment. For us, we're spending on environmental improvements."
Tighter environmental standards — or continuing efforts to maintain current standards with more cars on the road every year — may force more states to require "boutique" fuels that have to be blended specifically for one small region of the country. Those "islands" leave that region vulnerable to spot shortages that can quickly drive up prices.
"More states may choose or look at having islands of fuel to meet these new standards," said Shore. "We are straining the distribution system, there's not doubt about that. How far can we push it before we start to see more and bigger local volatility problems?"
The obvious solution — a single national fuel standard — isn't as easy as it looks, said Shore. For one thing, the environmental challenges faced by different regions call for different solutions which a single blend might not be able to address. For another, the refining industry would have to make additional investments to re-tool to make that single blend — a process that would also take time.
In the meantime, the refining capacity squeeze in the U.S. is being made up by a growing level of imports — largely from refineries in Venezuela, the Caribbean and Europe. (Europeans use a greater proportion of diesel, said Shore, so those refiners have usually gasoline to spare for U.S. markets.) In recent years, imports have made about half the annual increase in demand, with expanded capacity making up the difference.
To meet continued growth in demand, Shore estimates the U.S. would have to boost refining capacity by another 250,000 barrels a day — every year. But it's not clear just how much further U.S. refiners can stretch production.
"That's the $64,000 question," she said, "How much will imports increase and how much will capacity increase?"
(Next: Can technology help find oil fast enough?)
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


text:
Ninth ward: The hardest Nola story yet
Normally a Charlottesville-based home inspector, Peter Drenan is on special assignment as a FEMA leader and a Hook stringer. This is the fifth in a series of dispatches from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast.
It's Thanksgiving Day, almost three months since the hurricanes hit.
Still, to this date, nobody has been into the lower Ninth Ward. It was the epicenter and the iconic symbol of the devastation. It's sacred. Everything about it is simply too sensitive and heartbreaking to address.
Until now.
Returning residents are able to see their former neighborhoods only from buses as they slowly roll through the few passable streets. The residents seem like witnesses to a strange spectacle from behind the sealed bus windows.
They see entire city blocks, several blocks wide and long, where everything has been obliterated. They see other areas where the houses are piled three or four deep– held in place by a barricade of trees.
In other areas, houses are reduced to shards, some recognizable, but most not. And finally, the quiet result of floodwaters that reached the ceilings and filled these houses for over a month: ubiquitous decay and mold. Not nearly so dramatic as shattering levees and surging floods, but the impact is no less damaging.
The insides of many structures have been reduced to a monotone quagmire of unrecognizable entrails. Silt and sediment color all personal belongings in a blanket of sameness. The drywall has collapsed from the weight of the waterlogged materials. Attic treasures have fallen through open rafters to become part of the sameness. As a final act of dreariness, everything is covered with a thick fur of mold. Searching for family treasures would be difficult. And the effort is heart-wrenching and discouraging.
Despite the obstacles, each resident, each family member, and each neighborhood deserve the right to make their own decision about their destiny. Their lives have been disrupted and controlled by the storms, then by FEMA and all the other governmental agencies that help. They feel completely at the mercy of the bureaucrats with their unassailable mandates and doctrines. They have been victims of forces beyond their control for months while their lives have been shattered.
Mayor Ray Nagin announced two weeks ago that the Ninth Ward would be open for unlimited "look and leave" by December 1. This first move to open the Ninth Ward to the residents is a small step that means big things.
The Mayor wants residents to be able to come back and get out and walk around their former neighborhood. To touch the earth. To see for themselves what has become of their homes, their neighbors, their lives. This is the first time they can see what they can build from or what must be torn down– or what they must leave behind.
The choices are horrible. Nobody should be forced to make these choices after working a lifetime– or multiple generations– to build a home, a life, and a community. The most important thing we can do is help them as they face these awful choices. So we need to clear the roads to allow residents to come home.
We've been working with the City developing a strategy for entering this sacred ground. We cannot be sensitive or careful enough. The cadaver dogs are still searching and, sadly, still finding bodies. Once the wreckage is dismantled, we expect to find many more.
There are houses atop cars in the middle of the street– perhaps someone was driving away to escape. There are houses atop houses– no doorway was available to escape the terror. As the water climbed higher, people hid in the attics hoping for rescue. We don't know what we will find there.
The piles of debris themselves must be slowly, carefully picked apart because bodies are almost certainly still within. There will be no heavy equipment moving large masses of materials; small, delicate operations will be the rule here.
Over half of my crew are local hires. They've lost their former lives and jobs, and yet they're grateful for the chance to work and provide for their families. A couple of young men have been supervising the area around the Ninth Ward, and I've been impressed with their work– sharp, self-motivated, and insightful. Their observations are meaningful and their reports succinct. They're about to become the wardens of the Ninth Ward.
Supervising this effort would be difficult for a grizzled veteran of many disasters. We don't have that luxury. My crews have been working for almost eight weeks now. They have experienced more devastation than most people will see in a lifetime. I have no choice. I have to ask them to step up and run this operation.
We meet every morning at six to talk about yesterday's events and plan for today. After the normal assignments and kidding around that naturally comes with working in these conditions, I stand to address the entire team, "This is it. Today's the day we've all known was coming." The tone in my voice catches their attention. The words catch in my throat as I lay out the strategy.
The two young Ninth Ward captains look at me, their faces filled with questions. I can see their chests fill as they steel themselves. Then a simple nod of their heads, "Yes. We can do this."
That's all they needed to say.
That's all there was to say.


text:
The Weekly "Screw Google" Meeting? It's Between the "F@%! Linux" Luncheon and the "Ream Apple" Social.
Get this: Microsoft has been holding secret "Screw Google" meetings in Washington where it schemes to undermine Google and prevent the company from subsuming the businesses that took it decades to build. "Microsoft is at the center of a group of companies who see Google as a threat to them in some combination of business and policy," a source familiar with the matter told DailyFinance. "The effort is designed to make Google look like the big high-tech bad guy here."
Those ruthless, conniving bastards. Strategizing to thwart a rival.
I'm sure nothing of this sort goes on over at Google (GOOG), where everything is altruism and Segways and don't-be-evil happy rainbows. Surely, the lobbyists Google employs are working exclusively to advance the company's mission of organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful. They'd never do anything untoward like conspire to protect Google's interests from a competitor. They'd never, for example, draft an antitrust complaint to the Justice Department that forced Microsoft (MSFT) to make changes to its new Vista operating system.
Please. This is business is usual. And if Google's lobbyists aren't holding a weekly "Screw Microsoft" meeting or some variation on that, then Google should get some new lobbyists.