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In the end, the Tim Tebow era in New York will be remembered for his shirtless jog in the rain.
Really, that's about it.
He barely played at all for the Jets, who clearly didn't do any sort of clear-headed reasoning before they traded for Tebow, then quickly began asking themselves, ``Uhh, what were we thinking?''
And now, with a hugely disappointing season all but done and Mark Sanchez finally banished to the bench, coach Rex Ryan officially signaled the end of Tebow Time in the Big Apple. He turned to Greg McElroy, a seventh-round pick in 2011, to start Sunday's now-meaningless game against San Diego.
No one thinks McElroy's the answer to what ails the Jets. But, apparently, he's more of an answer than Tebow, who will watch the game from the same spot he's spent nearly the entire season - the bench.
Tebow's career with the Jets will surely go down as a one-and-done flop. At this point, it would be easier to find Waldo on the depth chart than Tebow.
Shortly after this mess of a year comes to its merciful end, he will surely ask for a trade (politely, of course) or simply be released.
``I think it's where we are right now and I just think it's best for our team and for this game,'' Ryan said on a conference call Tuesday, explaining his decision to start McElroy instead of Tebow less than 24 hours after a hideous loss to Tennessee officially eliminated the Jets from playoff contention.
``That's how I feel.''
He wouldn't get any more specific than that, repeatedly referring to it being a ``gut'' decision - nothing more, nothing less.
Not that there was much Ryan could say. The Jets backed themselves into a corner way back in March when they acquired Tebow from the Denver Broncos, and they never came up with a way out.
Supposedly, the plan was to let Sanchez remain the starter, with Tebow working two or three series a game as a change-of-pace option, running out the Wildcat or spread to give defenses another look. But there were a couple of big problems with that scenario.
For one, the Jets really didn't have the personnel on offense to change things up that drastically, even for just a few plays a game. Heck, as it turned out, they really didn't have enough talent around Sanchez to run a conventional offense, and they never thought for a moment that Tebow had the skill set to oversee anything resembling the norm.
Then, there's the dilemma that everyone could see coming before Tebow's jet even landed in New York. Everyone except the Jets, that is. If the team played a second quarterback, even while insisting he was just the backup, Sanchez's standing would've been undermined beyond repair (which might have been the case regardless, as it turns out).
It's called a quarterback controversy. If Tebow had been given the chance to do something - anything - all the fans and pundits and talking heads would have been screaming for a change at the slightest hint of success.
So, while Tebow raised a ruckus merely by stripping off his shirt to jog off the field on a rainy day at training camp, Sanchez remained the undisputed starter. He held on as captain of the Titanic right to the bitter end, the Jets resisting any urge to save themselves by jumping in a lifeboat piloted by Tebow.
``I know Tim is a tremendous competitor, and I don't doubt that at all,'' Ryan said, again explaining in the vaguest possible terms why it will never be Tebow Time on his team. ``For right now, I think this move, it's a move that I made, is best for our team in this game. I believe that and that's why I'm making the move that I'm making.''
Tebow has played in 11 games for the Jets, but if you blinked, you missed him. Outside of a 23-yard completion against Indianapolis back in mid-October, he's passed for a grand total of 16 yards. He's had just three runs longer than 10 yards. He's yet to reach the end zone with either his legs or his left arm.
Now, the Jets can't afford for him to play well - not even in their final two meaningless games.
As with all sinking ships, everyone is now trying to figure out a way to save himself. Ryan is hanging on by a thread. So is Tony Sparano, the offensive coordinator who was supposed to make this experiment work. Not to mention general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who has overseen the gutting of a franchise that seemed on the rise not so long ago.
If Tebow plays now - and plays well - those Jets fans still paying attention would undoubtedly wonder, ``Hey, why haven't they been playing him all along?'' Which would lead to all the above-mentioned figures finding themselves looking for work next season. They may be anyway, but they no longer have any chance of surviving on Tebow's back.
In hindsight, Tebow and the Jets were like love-struck teenagers back in March, all giddy over each other and not paying a lick of attention to what really mattered.
For Tebow it was a chance to spread his clean-cut, deeply religious brand in the greatest media market of them all. For the Jets, it was a chance to steal away some of the thunder from the team they share a city and a stadium with, the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
In the end, the only winner was the Broncos, playing the role of the all-knowing parent. Even after Tebow guided the team to the playoffs in 2011 and a stirring overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round, GM John Elway knew he needed more skill at the most important position on the field. He jumped at the chance to land one of the best ever, Peyton Manning, and quickly dumped Tebow on the Jets, even picking up a couple of draft picks in the deal.
And look where they teams are now: Denver, the AFC West champion and headed to the playoffs with an 11-3 record; the Jets, already looking ahead to the offseason at 6-8.
So, it's time for Tebow to put the shirt back on and find another team. Maybe he'll wind up close to home with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Or maybe another team in desperate QB straits, such as the Arizona Cardinals. If those options don't pan out, he could even give the Canadian Football League a try. The game north of the border might be better suited to his unorthodox style.
No matter what, the clock has run out on Tebow Time in New York.
We all saw the end coming, what surprised us was the Jets didn't wind the darn thing up.
Paul Newberry in a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963


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The rapper Notorious B.I.G. died from a fatal bullet wound to the abdomen and chest while sitting in the passenger seat of his cousin's Chevy Suburban after a party at a popular Los Angeles car museum, according to a newly released autopsy report more than 15 years after the unsolved slaying.
Christopher Wallace Autopsy Report
Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Christopher Wallace, was a passenger in the front seat of his a Chevy Suburban leaving the Petersen Automotive Museum after midnight on March 9, 1997 when someone in a black Chevrolet Impala SS drove up at a stoplight and fired multiple rounds.
Local news from across Southern California
Wallace was hit multiple times and died at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He was 24 years old.
Four bullets pierced his body, including to the abdomen, chest, left arm, back and thigh. It was the bullet wound to the chest and abdomen that killed him, according to the autopsy report.
Wallace, who weighed nearly 400 pounds, also suffered from morbid obesity and had a history with pulmonary and cerebral edema, gallstones and other ailments, the autopsy report said.
No alcohol or drugs were detected in his system, according to a toxicology report.
The news comes more than 15 years after the highly publicized death. The LAPD released its security hold on the autopsy report this week, according to Chief Coroner's Investigator Craig Harvey.
"Basically it was just a strategy to draw interest in the case, get more tips," said Officer Cleon Joseph. "It's ongoing."
According to her lawyer, Wallace's mother was shocked by the report's release. In a phone call late Friday, Perry Sanders Jr. called it "inappropriate" and unlikely to generate clues.
The death sparked numerous theories about who was responsible and the motivations behind the shooting.
The book "LAbyrinth" theorized that Marion "Suge" Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and an alleged Bloods affiliate, conspired with LAPD officer David Mack and an alleged Death Row security employee to kill Wallace and Tupac Shakur as part of a fictitious bi-coastal rap rivalry.
In March 2005, the relatives of Wallace filed a wrongful death claim against the city of Los Angeles that was dismissed.
The case was largely based on the evidence championed by former LAPD Detective Russell Poole who claimed the LAPD had sufficient evidence to arrest the assailant but failed to use it. Wallace was a was a central figure in the East Coast hip hop scene.
His double-disc set "Life After Death" hit #1 on the U.S. album charts 15 days after his death. MTV ranked him #3 on its list of the greatest rappers of all time. He has certified sales of 17 million units in the United States.

subset: commoncrawl


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The best live wallpapers and backgrounds app for your Android!
Customize your desktop background with this cool CarsHD pictures slideshow!
View CarsHD photos as slideshow on your homescreen wallpaper at a defined interval.
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- Live wallpaper to show CarsHD images as slideshow
- Widget to quickly launch your favorite wallpapers
- Touch settings let you have a subtle reaction
- Set Animation
- Set time between pictures
To set a live wallpaper as your home screen background, perform the following steps:
Step 1: From Home Screen, press "Menu"
Step 2: Press "Wallpaper", then press "Live Wallpapers"
Step 3: Select the CarsHD Live Wallpaper
Step 4: Press "Set wallpaper"
Step 5: Start Launcher
Step 6: Click How To Work button
If you like Wallpaper, please leave a comment and check out our other free apps.
"Move to SD card" ability is disabled due to the fact that live wallpapers
and widgets don't work when moved to external storage.
This free app is ad supported and may contain ads in the notification tray and/or home screen.
We share data with a service provider, AppLovin Corporation. The use of your data by AppLovin is subject to AppLovin's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Both policies are available at www.applovin.com


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The Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) and Creating Hope International (CHI) would like to wish you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons. As you celebrate with those you love, please take a moment to look at CHI's yearly newsletter, which we've attached to this report. As you will see, 2012 has been a transformative year for AIL and CHI. After years of working tirelessly to provide education, training and healthcare to Afghans, we are beginning to see a real change. The minds of those AIL works with are being opened to the possibility of a peaceful Afghan society.
AIL is in the process of finalizing a 5 year funding plan, which will be put into place beginning in 2013. We are looking forward to sharing the details of this plan with you soon, and hope that you will find it in your heart to give generously to help us reach our goal. The people of Afghanistan are making great strides, but our work is not done yet. Instead of backing down, we need to push ahead and continue to give Afghans the tools they need to create a more peaceful country. We are hoping that we can count on you to help continue our work.
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.


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Test Day Instructions
Please read the following instructions and guidelines. This will ensure that you have a pleasant test day experience and perform to the best of your ability.
You will need to bring your valid (unexpired) passport. Please note that passports or green cards are the ONLY forms of ID we accept.
Meeting point (8:00 am)
- Meet at the entrance to Millsap's College (Address and Map below)
- The center will open the doors at 8:00 am.
- Please do not smoke in or near the building – this is a regulation of the building.
- We recommend candidates to use restrooms prior to any check-in procedures as you will have to wait until after the listening test is finished to use the restroom.
Registration (8:00 – 8:40 am)
- Give the cloakroom staff any bags, electronic devices (including cell phones) and other valuable items.
- Failure to relinquish electronic items will result in immediate dismissal from the test.
- Identity Check: present your valid original passport or Green Card (no other form of identity is accepted).
- Proceed to camera and fingerprint station (if you have a head scarf or veil, you may be asked to remove this item in a separate room)
- Proceed to waiting room.
- Entrance to test room.
Exit procedure and arrangements for lunch
- Once the test has finished and the papers have been collected you may leave the test room.
- Collect your possessions from the cloakroom.
- Confirm the time of your afternoon speaking test.
- You may leave the campus at that time and return prior to your speaking test
Speaking tests (12:40 – 7:00 p.m.)
- Return to the test centre at least 10 minutes before the scheduled time of your speaking test.
- Give the cloakroom staff all bags, electronic devices (including cell phones) and other valuable items.
- You will be asked to verify your identity (using your valid, original passport or Green Card) and scan your fingerprint.
- Enter the supervised waiting area.
- Your speaking examiner will collect you from the supervised waiting area and conduct the speaking test in a separate room.
- You may then collect your possessions from the cloakroom and leave the test centre.
- Your results we will mailed 13 days after the test date to the address you provided on your registration form.
- A results preview (not the certificate) will be available to view online 12 days after taking the test. (Instructions will be emailed accordingly.) IELTS Results Preview – https://results.ieltsessentials.com/
Notes regarding punctuality, stationary and possessions
- You will not be admitted into the test center after 8:45 am.
- The test (listening, reading and writing) is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am and is scheduled to finish at 12:00 pm.
- Pencils and erasers will be provided.
- Cell phones and other electronic devices are not permitted in the test room.
- Our cloakroom is secure and you must either use it or leave valuable / electronic items at home.
- Under no circumstances will Eurocentres San Diego test centers be responsible for lost and / or damaged items – you are encouraged to leave such items at home.
- If you bring drinks, please only bring water and it must be in a clear container.
- Food is not allowed in the test room (if food is required for medical reasons you must have informed us prior to the registration deadline by way of a Doctor's letter)
- Reading glasses must be in a clear case.
Address and Map
Millsap's College (Eurocentres San Diego Testing Centre)
(International Educational Services)
1701 N State St
Jackson, MS 39202
PARKING: Eurocentres San Diego recommends arriving early to find parking in one the college parking lots. No exceptions can be made for not arriving on time due to parking issues or traffic.


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Click here for more KADB Information
Executive Director:
Judy Bowles
P. O. Box 4868
2106 Habersham Road
Albany, Georgia 31706
Phone: 229-302-3098
Fax: 229-302-3099
Email: email@example.com
Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful (KADB) is a certified affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. a system which focuses on changing people's attitudes and behavior toward littering beautification and the proper management of waste. KADB works through its standing committees, local businesses, and interested civic and government groups to identify, develop, and coordinate programs that environmentally educate our citizens. We believe that through education and community involvement, we are encouraging a sense of community pride and responsibility that will make our citizens more environmentally responsible.
KADB implements a hands on, grass roots education program that involves citizens from all walks of life. Our public/private partnerships undergird environmental awareness through hands on involvement while implementing our theme "From Education to Application." Each year thousands of volunteers donate hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours, which change environmental attitudes and behaviors that will impact future generations.
Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful is a joint venture of the Albany City Commission and the Dougherty County Commission. The volunteer members of the commission are appointed by the City and County and represent all segments of public interest.
« Return to the County Department Page


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As part of a handful of off-the-field incidents over the summer involving Ohio State players, Buckeyes cornerback Bradley Roby was arrested last month on a battery charge.
The good news for Roby is that his charge has been reduced. Via the Columbus Dispatch, Roby had his Class A misdemeanor battery charge lessened to a Class B misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Roby, who has started all 25 games the past two seasons for the Buckeyes, was allegedly involved in a scuffle last month at a bar in Bloomington, Ind. He has been practicing with the team, but Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has kept the possibility open of a suspension while he gathers the facts of the incident.
Late last month, Meyer suspended starting running back Carlos Hyde for at least the first three games of the season after Hyde allegedly struck a female victim in a night club. No charges were ever filed against Hyde, however.


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A 65-year-old Avon man is facing charges after investigators found more than 3,000 child pornography files at his home, according to police.
The arrest came about after state police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which discovered that one of Kevin Brownell's email accounts may have been associated with child pornography, authorities said.
Investigators searched Brownell's home on Lakeview Boulevard and found more than 3,000 child pornography pictures on his electronic devices, according to police.
Brownell was arrested Friday morning and charged with possession of child pornography.
His bond was set at $85,000. Brownell appeared in court Jan. 17.
Brownell is a former NBC Connecticut employee. He worked as an assignment editor and web editor during the 1990's.


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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43518769France hostage crisis: Police shoot supermarket gunman
Armed police have shot a suspect who took hostages at a supermarket in the southern France town of Trèbes.
The gunman, who is reported to have killed three people, is now dead, sources say.
Reports say the gunman, believed to be Moroccan, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Earlier, a policeman was shot and wounded while jogging with colleagues in Carcassonne 15 minutes away, by the same suspect.
The suspect was said to be heavily armed and demanding the release of Salah Abdeslam, the most important surviving suspect in the 13 November 2015 attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people.
Reports say the suspect was known to French intelligence services and that his mother is at the scene.


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Gauging Your Business
If proper record keeping is the bedrock of monitoring the health of a business, then profit is the sweet fruit produced after all the intensive planning, long days and hard-earned attainment of a variety of business goals.
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), record keeping provides the data to prepare a budget, measure profitability, break-even calculations and operating ratios. Among these, measuring profitability is without a doubt the one that generates the most excitement because it's the best scorecard about what a company has accomplished.
Profit is the amount of money you take in from your customers minus the cost of doing business over a particular time period. In simplest terms, profit is what remains after all expenses have been deducted. Lowering costs or raising prices can increase profit, but so can increasing the number of profitable sales.
Sometimes companies need to lower their profit expectations in order to survive. This is especially true during economic recessions. Eventually, when the economy becomes healthier, a company may be able to anticipate higher profits based on more business. Other factors that can influence profit expectations may include the introduction of new services or lower fixed or variable costs.
Fixed costs, or overhead, are expenses that don't vary based on the amount of work done. Examples include office rent, retirement benefits, equipment, utilities and insurance. It pays to keep an eye on all these costs and lower them as much as possible without sacrificing the quality of the services a company produces.
Variable costs are directly tied to the amount of services provided. In the landscape design business, this might include plant materials, masonry, fuel, tree stake kits, drainage materials and similar items used to complete build projects. When possible, you should make every attempt to gain volume discounts on these items and use due diligence in finding low-cost, yet dependable, suppliers for these materials.
When figuring profit, it's necessary to determine the specific resources required to generate revenues. Some of these resources include the amount of manpower required to perform activities and what facilities, equipment, material and supplies are required.
Gross profit margin is the amount earned before selling and administrative costs are factored in. It's figured by dividing the gross profit (sales less cost of goods sold) by the total sales. It's important for landscape contractors to review month-to-month trends to see whether business is improving or weakening. It also helps to see whether gross profits can cover your operating costs.
Different than gross profit margin, your net profit margin should be based on the costs of providing the services you offer and your overhead. It is the amount of profit that comes from every dollar of sales. It's vital that landscape contractors use profit margin statistics to see month-to-month trends and whether enough sales are being generated to hit your profit target.
"Our firm shoots for a 10 percent profit margin," says Harry Vignocchi, chairman of ILT Vignocchi Inc., a landscaping business in Wauconda, Ill. "We carefully keep track of a variety of statistics to know whether we're meeting our target."
One of the ways Vignocchi evaluates the success of the company's investment is to determine the costs of the various factors of production and determine the true profit when these costs are deducted from the sales income.
"Our company looks to ensure that labor and materials for maintenance jobs aren't more than 45 percent of every dollar we earn," says Vignocchi. "Added to this is the approximately 15 percent of indirect costs, such as fuel, equipment and repair costs, and this brings us to 60 percent. The rest is overhead and profit."
Overhead is the total of all costs of production that cannot be charged directly to the work done, including such things as rent for use of land and facilities, administrative and management salaries, taxes and other items.
"In the area of landscape construction, labor and materials are about 52 percent of costs, so the numbers are a little higher than the rest of our business," Vignocchi adds.
With $15 million in business per year, ILT Vignocchi serves the residential and commercial marketplace. He's noticed that being big can make a difference as it relates to overhead.
"Bigger firms have more economy of scale when it comes to overhead compared to their percentage of sales," says Vignocchi. "When a company can spread overhead over a larger number of jobs, it can have an advantage in pricing over smaller companies."
As Vignocchi's firm did more than three decades ago, after management assembles basic assets, such as land, buildings, equipment and a permanent labor force, it needs to decide how best to use these building blocks to help the business thrive. Once that groundwork is laid, management needs to continually ask whether there are some processes that need to be redesigned to improve the flow of services to customers.
For instance, a good manager will ensure maintenance teams are using equipment that makes them the most efficient, being routed from job to job properly to decrease fuel usage and unproductive time on the road, and carrying all the equipment necessary to complete their daily tasks so they don't have to return to the company's yard. Proper maintenance also plays a key role in decreasing the amount of time a piece of equipment, such as a mower or truck, is sitting idle and not contributing to the bottom line.
It's also important to remember that business fluctuations caused by the highly seasonal nature of the annual sales cycle can cause problems in reaching profit targets. Short-term financing may be necessary during some periods of the year when expenses exceed income. It's possible that proper financing will be necessary and prepared well in advance before those parts of the year when there's negative cash flow. Adequate planning and good relationships with lenders can help smooth difficult lulls in business.
Companies within the landscape contracting industry vary in size and scope. According to the SBA, business owners should develop both short-term (weekly, monthly) and long-term (annually, three-to-five-year) cash flow projections to manage cash well. A cash flow projection helps prevent any cash crunch from turning into a cash disaster and endangering profits.
Before you figure your actual profits, it's good to get an estimate of what you need to do to reach your profit goals. To do this, you need to know how much you will be charging for your services and how many of these services you will have to sell. In extremely competitive industries, prices are often similar across the board. So the challenge for many firms is to lower their costs as much as possible to produce a higher profit.
Here's an example of how to figure the gross sales required to reach a 10 percent profit margin and a $15,000 profit by the end of the year:
Edgar Wright, president of Wright On Landscaping, decides he wants to make a $15,000 profit in 2004. The cost of fuel and supplies is 50 percent of the price his company charges. Equipment and labor costs add another 40 percent. So the company can expect a profit margin of 10 percent. To figure how much gross sales need to be in 2004, the profit goal — $15,000 — is divided by the 10 percent, or the 0.1 profit margin desired. The gross sales for the year need to total $150,000 ($15,000/.1) to reach the $15,000 income goal.
If Wright wanted to figure out the average amount of jobs per day his company would need to complete in one year to reach his gross sales, he would take the gross sales target ($150,000) and divide it by the average charge for a landscaping project. At Wright On Landscaping, the average job invoice is $1,800, resulting in the necessity for 84 projects to be completed and billed during the year ($150,000/$1,800 = 83.33). To see how many projects need to be completed each week, take the total projects for the year and divide by 52, the number of weeks in a year. The company needs to complete about 1.6 projects each week (84/52 weeks in a year).
While these projections are vital to a gaining a good vision of what a company needs to do in order to achieve its profit goals, there are wide ranges of variables that can affect the underlying numbers. For instance, perhaps five customers file for bankruptcy during the year and can't pay you for services, at least not this year. In this case, you'd need to make five more sales to achieve your profit target.
Whether it's bidding for maintaining a beautiful landscape or figuring profitability, proper measurements and a critical eye for detail are equally important to the landscape contractor who wants to succeed and prosper. With the proper knowledge in hand, the road to measuring profits accurately can soon turn into a smooth ride of success.
Jeff Chaltas is a freelance writer who lives in Shawnee, Kan.
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I'm going to warn you up front. I'm about to piss a lot of people off.
But we have reached a point where lines need to be drawn, markers need to be laid and things have to be spelled out so a six year old can follow it.
All I can say is that I will do my best to lay this out so that the only people who are offended are the ones who deserve it.
If you are offended but don't deserve it, I apologize in advance. And I will do my best to improve my aim in the future.
The first thing you need to do is FOLLOW THIS LINK to Milk Men and Women's diary on Daily Kos that talks about the Kill the Gays bill that is on the cusp of being passed by the Ugandan Parliament. Let me block quote the most pertinent passages.
Christian leaders of America are excited about the prospect that Uganda is close to passing its "kill the gays" bill. The infamous bill is on the parliamentary schedule, cleared committee, ready for debate and said to be poised for a vote any day now. The speaker of the Ugandan Parliament has described it as "a Christmas gift to the Ugandan people."
Above, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins praises Ugandan president's "leadership," calling it an worthy "modern example."
Perkins is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC and other news outlets to speak to the Christian perspective on issues. Perkins also boasted of having authored passages in the Republican Party platform of concern to LGBT American citizens. Can we look forward to a "Kill the Gays" plank in the 2016 GOP platform?
And then there's this.
Fischer, (Byran Fischer of the American Family Association. RJ.) as usual, has a very poor grasp of actual facts, which is unsurprising as he's linking to "World Nut Daily." The bill did not yet pass, which his Tweet might seem to indicate he believes. Regardless, homosexual conduct is now illegal in Uganda and has been for a long time under existing law and it is punishable by prison.
The new bill is only more barbarically punitive, expanding punishment to death and also creating a circle of criminal responsibility around people who know gays and do not report them to the government. Failure to report a suspected homosexual may be punishable by prison. Box Car Turtle looks in depth at what promises to be an Ugandan Inquisition.
More chillingly, Fischer ends with "It can be done."
Fischer doubtlessly feels emboldened by this to redouble his efforts to bring sodomy laws back to America, maybe this time with the death penalty attached, because the Puritans' original 16th century ideas were just a little too liberal to be effective.
Fischer and Perkins are key organizers of the Value Voters Conference that is a standard stomping ground for Republican pundits and candidates, having hosted VP candidate Paul Ryan just months ago. Fischer too was a key instigator when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's decided to "un-hire" his campaign's foreign policy adviser this summer.
Please take the time to read the whole thing. But from those brief snippets, you get the gist of the situation. Uganda is getting ready to pass a bill that would further criminalize homosexuality to an extent that if you hear two guys screwing through the thin walls of your studio apartment and you sleep though it without calling the police, you could go to prison.
And there are so-called "Men of God" who are fine with this and would push this on the American Public.
And I'm sorry but this bullshit has to stop now.
The clip below is for my money, one of the five best things about Religion ever written.
One of Mr. Oswalt's finest riffs. He managed to compress thousand of years of history into one central metaphor. "Skycake".
And he also pointed out something we Atheists tend to forget. That for the first few thousand years of our existence, religion was responsible for the codification of laws and gave human civilization a structure to build from. Sometimes for good. Other times for ill.
But if there's one thing we can take away from from this bit. That religion is a social construct of man that uses promise of an afterlife as a control mechanism.
Let me repeat that in bold.
Religion is a social construct of man that uses promise of an afterlife as a control mechanism.
The problem is that the mechanism is no longer working.
I wrote this a few months ago in my post about Kirk Cameron.
We have just gone through an entire century of massive technological and societal change. And we are discovering that many of the old systems either are inadequate to the change or simply do not work.
And as we move ahead, we are finding that society is dividing into two camps. Those scared to death of the future and those are working like hell to bring it about.
The more accepting people are of gay marriage, the more rabidly the ones who aren't scream of morality.
The stronger the evidence of man made climate change, the more rabidly the deniers yell.
The more you point out that tax cuts for the rich is hurting the nation through lack of funds for social services and infrastructure repair, the more shrilly they yell "Socialist".
And the reason is fear.
People are afraid of change because they're afraid that it will rupture the stability of their world. They treat life like it's an involuntary game of musical chairs. they're afraid that if they get up, they'll lose their seat.
Hell, you think about it, greed is a kind of fear. The rich feel that if they give up too much of their wealth, they'll lose all their status and safety.
Fear is the thing that is killing us.
And fear is the enemy that we need to fight.
Our problem is not Christian Fundamentalism or Muslim Fundamentalism but Fundamentalism itself. The belief that your religion is the One True Way and that everything else is a one way ticket to the fiery pit. And any one who challenges this is a threat that needs to be crushed.
And that is not a healthy situation for a species that is trying to get it's lips off the murder crack pipe.
The bitch of the problem is that most people reading this will say "Yeah, Jensen. And the bird goes Tweet! Why don't you do a Trailer Thunderdome or make fun of Mitt Romney's whiteness instead of being a pedantic bore?".
And my response is "To you, I'm a pendant. To them, I'm a blasphemer."
You try to tell someone of faith that religion is a social construct of man that uses promise of an afterlife as a control mechanism and I promise you, it will not end well. (I can already think of one Facebook friend who is going to lose his shit when he reads this. And keep in mind, most people of faith tend to be live and let live and would never even think of supporting stuff like the Kill the Gays bill. They're not the problem.) So the question becomes, how do we deal with this?
Naturally, you fight against these laws. But it's a no win situation. If the law passes, then our society devolves that much sooner. If the law doesn't pass then the people who wrote and pushed it get angrier because we've defied God's will.
And we know what happens when people who are utterly convinced that they are doing God's will get angry.
And this is the question that we have to deal with this next century. How do we continue to evolve as a species if a segment of our population holds us back because of arcane belief systems?
And hell, just asking the question will get you tagged as being disrespectful. (Even though an argument could be made that if you believe that because the person who doesn't believe as you is undeserving of protection under the law because of their lack of belief and/or actions that you find sinful that you are being equally disrespect to them. So there.)
So, the next question is "How do you have a civil conversation with people who believe in their hearts that you are going to hell?"
Someone, somewhere better think of an answer fast.


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The Real Housewives of Atlanta's Porsha Williams says she regrets assaulting Kenya Moore, but she also feels she was provoked.
"I appreciate the love but understand the deeper thing that's going on here: It's bullying," Porsha said on Access Hollywood Live. "Bullying can happen as an adult, it can happen as a child in college or your work place."
Check out the biggest celebrity feuds
On last week's reunion, Kenya accused Porsha of cheating on her now-ex-husband and then proceeded to yell at her through a megaphone. When Kenya dared the furious Porsha to hit her, she yanked Kenya down to the ground by her hair. Porsha was then carried out of the reunion, screaming and crying.
"I had regrets immediately after," Porsha admits. "It didn't take for me to get home to watch it. As soon as it happened and I opened my eyes, I realized what had happened."
Porsha says she also felt threatened by Kenya's scepter. "I'm sitting there [and] this is a wand — what is she about to do with that?" she said. "Then I realize she's using it as an extension of her arm, so I'm like, 'OK, cool, as long as she doesn't bring it over here, I'm fine.' ... I saw the hate. I saw the anger. I saw all of that in Kenya's eye that moment. And I felt threatened, honestly I did. It was a weapon."
Following the incident, Porsha was charged with one misdemeanor count of battery. The reality star surrendered to police last week and was booked before being released on $2,000 bail.
Watch Porsha and other Bravo-lebrities play our cocktail shaker question roulette below:
Part 3 of the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion airs Sunday at 8/7c on Bravo. Watch Part 1 here.


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Reinhard Fasching / FeaturePics Stock
Sitting has also been linked to chronic diseases, such as type II diabetes and now kidney disease.
Couch potatoes may have an increased risk of chronic kidney disease, even if they take time out from sitting to exercise vigorously, a new study suggests.
British researchers found that people who spent the least amount of time sitting were also the least likely to have chronic kidney disease. And that was especially true for women who spent less than three hours a day seated, according to the study published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease.
It's not clear how sedentary behavior could lead to kidney disease, said study co-author Thomas Yates, a researcher at the University of Leicester and the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
But, sitting has also been linked to other chronic diseases, such as type II diabetes, Yates said.
"Sitting jobs need to be broken up with periods of standing," Yates said. "As these findings start trickling down to the public consciousness, it is hoped it will affect occupational health considerations."
Yates and his colleagues surveyed 5,650 Britons, asking about lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercise and sitting time. They also examined the study volunteers for signs of kidney disease. The researchers found a link between hours spent sitting and kidney disease, even after they took into account factors such as smoking, age, gender, ethnicity, body-mass index, blood pressure, medications and hours spent exercising.
The researchers divided the volunteers into three groups: people who sat 8 to 24 hours a day were categorized as "high," those who sat 3.2 to 7.8 hours a day were considered "moderate," and those who sat 0 to 3 hours a day were categorized as "low."
Women with low amounts of sitting time had a 30 percent reduction in risk of kidney disease compared to those in the high category. Men who spent little time sitting got a 20 percent reduction in risk compared to those who sat the most.
Exercise seemed to reduce, but not eliminate, the heightened risk in men who were couch potatoes. Exercise did not appear to ameliorate the effects of sitting in women, though.
Does that mean we should all give up our office jobs and find something that requires more activity?
No, said kidney expert Dr. Jeffrey S. Berns, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
The researchers found an association between long hours sitting and a greater likelihood of having kidney disease, Berns explained. That doesn't prove that sitting actually caused the kidneys to become diseased.
"Someone who sits around and doesn't have risk factors for kidney disease shouldn't worry," Berns said. "While it's certainly plausible to think that sitting may contribute to diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure, it's much harder to come up with a way that inactivity could be a direct cause of kidney disease. The flip side of this is that people with chronic kidney disease are known to be less active. And my suspicion is that these results are confounded by that."


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Did pitching on two days of rest help your sinker?
Lowe: I don't believe in that. I would much rather pitch at full strength. You still need your legs under you, and you still need your arm in the right arm slot. If you get too tired, your ball doesn't move anymore. I promise you. They should do that on the show Myth Busters, because it's not true.


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Black Mesa Climber's Log
Ilafan - Apr 14, 2006 2:33 am Date Climbed: Apr 9, 2006Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk-lahoma!
Loved it! People who complain about this one have no sense of history or appreciation for that county. This one shows that highpoint hiking is more than just X-treme dudes hanging off mountaintops. It's about seeing a part of the country that helped shape our history. Walking this trail at sunrise, all by myself, I loved the sounds and sights. I heard roosters crow, cows moo, and birds chirp. I even saw a roadrunner. I could almost see John Wayne or the characters from McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. This country is so different than MN; I think that's why I like it so much. No snakes, either!! :)
NanitaD - Apr 7, 2006 1:17 am Date Climbed: May 3, 1997South side
We'd gone to Mt. Sunflower the high point in Kansas, then to the lowest point in Colorado, and on to the high point of Oklahoma all in one trip. I like the summit monument with milage to distant places like NY.
koz - Jan 3, 2006 12:04 amRoute Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: June 3, 2003
Soloed highpoint #17. Saw no snakes, just cows getting in my way! Probably was moving too fast anyway. Highly recommend stopping at the Merc & stayed the night before at the Kenton Kabins, though I hear it's up for sale now.
chmoore577 - Oct 21, 2005 2:17 pmRoute Climbed: North Flank Date Climbed: October 2, 2005
A nice hike in October (not too hot), though it did seem to wind around the mesa a little wider than neccessary adding a little distance to the overall length. Not much view at the top. We did encounter a black and yellow snake along the trail on the return and a rather large black hairy spider. Also a dead cow whose carcass was just begining to deteriorate with skull and bones starting to show through the hide. All in all a very isolated and interesting area.
Cortez - Aug 16, 2005 3:04 pmRoute Climbed: North Flank Date Climbed: August 5, 2005
This was a nice little hike but it seemed to be excessively long. It was quite hot in early August but it was dry. Our dog Shiloh got a bit too close to a prarie rattler and she also hurt her foot at the bottom of the Mesa herding cattle so watch your dogs, especially in the summer. Take lots of water for both yourself, & your pets.
The views from the obnoxious "summit" marker were splendid. Jennifer and I experienced unparalled solitude on our hike to Black Mesa we saw no one, not even any cars until we were well on our way to Raton.
Splendid Isolation!
ChaddBragg - Aug 14, 2005 12:44 pmRoute Climbed: Normal route Date Climbed: June 2005
I dont know if the view at the top was worth the walk in 100 degree temps
grunt - Jun 17, 2005 1:16 pmRoute Climbed: North Flank Route Date Climbed: September 2002
I also didn't think it was as long or boring as some folks report. Hiked early in the morning when the heat wasn't too bad. The easy trail made for easy conversation with my hiking companion. My second state HP.
JohnMcPike - May 24, 2005 9:40 pmDate Climbed: April 9, 2005
It was a cold (34 degrees) morning at the trailhead when we started out at 6:45am. Warmed up beautifully. It was an awesome hike to do in the morning and hearing the nearby cattle. The terrain is like no place else. Repeat hike, also did it on November 27, 1997
easleygone - Apr 13, 2005 12:09 amRoute Climbed: South Face Direct Date Climbed: July 1989
I passed by on my way to Colorado and decided
to knock off another highpoint. After finding the
summit? monument I discovered a nice road to
it from the north.
splandswest - Apr 12, 2005 9:25 amRoute Climbed: Trail from the northside of the mesa. Date Climbed: Early 90's.
My family and I made this hike late in the day. It was a great experience. Views are nice. On the way back to our car (northeastward across the mesa) we saw several tarantula's crossing the dirt trail.
Linejudge - Feb 9, 2005 5:21 pmRoute Climbed: Main Trail Date Climbed: May 17, 2003
Nice hike, I didn't think it was as long or boring as some people seem to. I ran most of the lower part going up and intended to run all the way down until I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. A hundred yards from the trailhead a saw another snake, bright red and at least 6 feet long. Easily the biggest snake I've seen in the wild. Not sure what kind it was but I let him have the trail. I will post a picture of him maybe someone will know what kind of snake it is.
Steve Gruhn - Jan 30, 2005 5:30 pmRoute Climbed: North Flank Route Date Climbed: August 7, 1992
Easy hike, but unbearable heat.
phillinley - Jan 11, 2005 2:26 amRoute Climbed: North Flank Route Date Climbed: 1/8/04
Wow, that was boring. There has got to be a quicker route going up the south side that would cut the hike from 4+ miles to about 1 or so. I ran it and it still felt like it was never going to end.
paclimber - Oct 13, 2004 5:43 pmRoute Climbed: Northeast Date Climbed: October 11, 2004
Trail is much longer than it needs to be. Ran all of the flat sections, and ran into several tarantulas along the way. The shale cliffs 1/4 mile to the west and northwest of the monument in New Mexico were worth the extra side trip.
jenniferdenoya - Oct 5, 2004 10:11 pmDate Climbed: August 23, 2004
It was a nice little hike. I noticed on the summit log that a woman who was 5 months pregnant had made the summit that morning. It is a mesa, so once you stop climbing, you get bored very easily looking for the monument marking the summit, but eventually it comes...it was a great day for a dose of Oklahoma Sunshine.
bps - Jun 9, 2004 4:58 amDate Climbed: Sept 95
Drove out here on a whim and walked up at sunset. Saw hundreds of tarantulas on the way back down (around sunset in Sept is their mating season) . It was almost like a horror movie! :-)
hgrapid - May 4, 2004 7:51 pmRoute Climbed: Main route from the trailhead Date Climbed: 4/14/2002
It was a clear day, about 80 degrees. I ran/walked the trail, and got to the foot of the mesa in about 25 minutes, though it was about 2.5 miles. Then I hiked up the Mesa, on a semi-steep trail. I ran/walked another 1.5 miles or so to the stone monument. The monument was really well maintained.
vbeckman74 - Mar 2, 2004 3:30 pmRoute Climbed: Black Mesa summit Date Climbed: March 1, 2004
This is a nice walk in the high desert. We didn't see a single person.
txmountaineer - Oct 2, 2003 8:41 pmRoute Climbed: North Flank Date Climbed: January 8, 2003
A great, crisp January hike on the way back from a ski trip in Colorado. See my trip report here.


text: The Batman featuring a reboot DC Comics well known cap crusader. These figures are from the third season of the series where we introduce Batgirl and Batman new allies: Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and more. When Batman wits is not enough he turns into Extreme Power to capture Gotham worse villains.


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By Alemtsehay Zergaw
On International Women's Day, the World YWCA participated in many exciting and inspiring events. Alemtsehay Zergaw, Programme Associate, Communications, from the YWCA of Ethiopia, participated in one of these events. Alemtsehay gave a speech at a side event at the XVI Human Rights Council on violence against children as a result of harmful traditional practices. Alem shares the speech with us.
About 3200 miles from here, a girl is born to a remote rural family in Ethiopia. Her name is Amarech which means beautiful. From the very beginning of her coming to the world, she is coldly received in a tradition where the high expectation was for a baby boy that is normally perceived as a source of honour and an assurance of the continuity of the family line.
Before she is 3 year old, she will have to endure a painful traditional genital mutilation practice with the full consent, and often presence, of her own parents. She will be raised with the mindset that she lives to serve a man, to give him a baby and to serve him in the house. She will then grow up in the house carrying the burden of cleaning the house, fetching water on her back from a river a few miles away, cooking food for the family, domestic tasks which are normally considered the necessary tasks of a girl in a house hold. She may as well endure rape and abuse by men while fetching water or going to school. When she is 7, her parents will force her to marry an old man. If by any chance her parents haven't agreed to give her to an older man, she could be abducted and forced into marriage anyway. She will end up in early marriage with an old man and face early pregnancy. Early pregnancy complicates her health and she could face fistula problems. There are no clinics to go to. And she doesn't have money. If she feels strong and gets bitter and escapes the early marriage, she then ends up in a big city. She doesn't know anyone in the city and so she has to make money to avoid ending up on the streets. She may end up working as a domestic maid, endlessly, for a very small salary or as a sex worker. In the latter case, she will be at higher risk of HIV infection and of dying of AIDS related illness due to a lack of treatment and good nutrition.
Such is the life of the girl child in a typical small remote rural town in Ethiopia. Long upheld traditional social values and practices continue to discriminate and act as violence against girls like Amarech. These practices are continued even after by some community and faith leaders. I will briefly explain some of these practices, and end with a brief summary of what the YWCA of Ethiopia has been doing to tackle some of those problems. As exemplified in Amarech's life story, some of the traditional harmful practices in Ethiopia include: a traditional preference for a son, female genital mutilation (FGM), early and forced marriage, marriage by abduction, encouraging girls to be silent and subservient, shouldering domestic tasks on the girl, etc. The preference of having a son preference involves favouring the social, intellectual and physical development of a boy child over that of a girl child. Most of the time girls are required to quit school in order to take care of the household chores, or they are prevented from engaging in games and other activities with peers in order to stay home and supervise younger siblings. Girls are reduced to domestic labours both during childhood, and later in marriage.
Early marriage and abduction is common in Ethiopia, especially in rural settings whereby girls between the ages of 7 to 18 are often already married before the girl is physically, physiologically and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and child bearing, and many do not have access to basic sexual and reproductive health information or services. Complications from early marriage are deadly for a girl, one of them being complications from early pregnancy. Many girls attempt to escape this practice imposed on them by running away to big cities from rural parts of the country. Either they run away from early marriage or their parents send them to the city to work because they are poor. These children come to the capital with no preparation and no support. Most of them are hired as a domestic workers or sex workers or end up living on the street.
At the YWCA of Ethiopia, we offer support to young domestic house workers who are migrating from rural parts of Ethiopia. These teenage girls are often under the control of their employers, and they are paid very little money or even worse, no wage at all for their labour. Many of them send what little they have earned to their relatives in the countryside, leaving them empty handed by the end of the day. Having nothing in their hand, no education, nowhere to go, they have to stay serving their employers forever, or face a challenging life ahead if they run away from their employers. Once they escape, then they are exposed to rape, abuse, beating, street pregnancy, STI and HIV. It is very common to see teenage mothers on the street of Addis Ababa. They don't know their rights or what is happening to their bodies, and they have no access to violence related service and SRH information.
At the YWCA of Ethiopia, we train these young women and their employers separately to build awareness on violence, coercion, peer pressure, sexual and reproductive health and sanitation for the benefit of young women and girls that are employed. By building support systems and financial skills, at least in the cities, the YWCA of Ethiopia attempts to offer a bit of hope for these girls and young women facing dire circumstances throughout their life time. These efforts in Ethiopia are supported by the World YWCA's global advocacy and monitor the implementation of key international agreements on gender equality and the human right of women and girls, as well as encouraging faith communities to challenge religious and cultural norms that are harmful to girls and young women.
I thank you for the opportunity to share with you few words about these problems on this special day for women. It is special because this year marks 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. I feel glad that I have had the chance to make Amarech part of a historic event where people around the world converse about the challenges and celebrate the life of women and girls. I would like to mention that, while violence against children due to harmful traditional practices in Ethiopia is by no means harmful to girls only, girls are more exposed to violence due to social and cultural norms.
We must change these practices, and for this to happen leaders at all levels – religious leaders, government, community elders and civil society, must condemn harmful practices against the girl child.
Amarech means beautiful. I hope she has a life as good as her name!
Filed under: Economic Justice, SRHR and HIV, Violence Against Women, Women's Rights, Young Women | 7 Comments »


text: La prima Patch è appena uscita ragazzi, e ci sono ricchissime anticipazioni per quella dopo, con FOW, mappa d'inventario e sistemazione della MIlizia. Ecco intanto i contenuti della 1.11. Attached you find the changelog. For GSA I'm going to send out a small news including the changelog once the update is available. Additionally I'm going to hint at the next update with these bullet points: visibility of enemies sector inventory militia ######################################################################################## Changelog (final): V1.11 - Added translations for new features added in 1.10 - Further improvements to targeting enemy body zones with the cursor - Fixed bug where wounds would result in mercs not being able to recover stamina anymore - Fixed some recruitable characters not displaying legs when their pants were removed - Grenade launcher now launches grenades instead of shooting them in a direct path - 40mm grenades added to be used by Grenade Launcher - Color of line drawn to target now indicates ideal distance for shooting target (green = ideal) - Changed melee base damage to prevent some melee focused mercs from one hitting enemies of level 3 and above - Fixed bug where tanks could not be hit with rockets fired from rocket launcher - Fixed unreachable enemy spawn position on map Overland11 - Open or closed state for all doors in Drassen Airport are saved now - Fixed explosive spot in Alma prison on which wall was not correctly removed on both sided V 1.10 General Bugfixes - Fixed some enemy using wrong combination of pants and shoe meshes - Fixed Sightcones not being cleared properly when leaving a level - Fixed Sightcones displayed in wrong direction when moving in command mode - Shader bug fixed that caused incorrectly colored objects - Fixed bug where tank had impact on performance - Fixed smoke grenade (blocking sight and its visual effect duration were slightly different) - Fixed bug where recruitable PCs like Ira became not recruitable after leaving the map - Fixed bug where AI coud become unalterted again after saving & loading Modding - Added additional Weapon and Ammo IDs - Sight distances made more easy to modify - Noise made more easy to modify Achievements - Fixed bug where "She's dead, Enrico" achievement would not unlock correctly - Collect achievements are not anymore received when game has been modified Visuals and Graphics Options added - Launcher does not anymore check for vertex shader texture fetch, prohibiting older cards to start the game although they feature SM 3.0 - Added Distance based culling for small objects - Added "Very High" terrain quality option in ingame menu - Added View Distance as option in ingame menu (determines distance fog position) Gameplay Fixes and Changes - Civilians and potential militia recruits do not trigger mines anymore - Children will try to maintain a minimum distance from player characters to ensure they do not clog doors or passages when following the player around the map - Noise perception influenced by objects that cover the origin of the sound - Enemy perception tweaked, enemies can now see and hear slightly better which will make it more likely that they use their weapon range to full extend (e.g. enemies with rifles will open fire from a greater distance) - Enemy sight cones in 2D displays in addition to 3D Cone to make more clear what an enemy can see and to make lag of 3d cone calculation on slower machines more bearable - Durability of clothing or items worn is only reduced when they actually prevented damage - Armor is reduced only by 10% for each time it can fully prevent its protection value (e.g. if armor can potentially prevent 30 damage and only prevents 15 damage since it is hit in an already existing weak spot its durability is only reduced by 5%) - Stamina is not reduced anymore when the whole map belongs to the player (all enemies are killed) - Bobby Ray's Inventory only restocks after 3 days - Bobby Ray's express delivery now takes 24 hours, standard delivery takes 48 hours - Laserpointer attachments reduce time to aim - When a merc is hit while aiming the time to aim is reduced in relation to the damage received - Targeting has several points of origin to become more flexible, further reduced chance of a small objects preventing a shot - Picking improved, should be easier to select body zones when targeting - Militia is always on the map even if the map still belongs to the enemy and can be recruited directly after liberating a map - Reloading always reduces the smallest stack of ammo in the inventory to ensure that inventory space is cleared more quickly - World Map: Travel speed is reduced when stamina is low - World Map: Squads are forced to rest when stamina is close to 0 stamina to prevent squads reaching their target location with 0 stamina - Explosives Skill also influences time for grenades to detonate after being thrown (e.g. a merc with higher explosive skill will "cook" grenades longer before throwing them so they explode more closely to their impact on the ground) UI - SHIFT+ RIGHT CLICK on target orders merc to repeat the attack until the target is dead - Merc names are displayed on mouse over - Time to shoot is displayed as a countdown on each merc when attacking to make it more transparent that a merc is actually trying to shoot and how long it will take the merc to fire his shot - Closing the inventory when a merc has been selected who is currently selectable in game will not reset selection to previous merc - Added "Loot All" Button in loot UI - Added "Select Whole Squad" Button to Squad name - Minimap: Left Click jumps camera to cursor position - Minimap: Right Click orders selected merc(s) to move to cursor position - Worldmap: Added "Enter Map" Button to Squad UI to allow "fast travel" via the world map to be more flexible (e.g. player can also enter a map outside a combat zone) - Worldmap: Clicking enemy squad displays level of squad members to allow the player to make a more educated guess on wheter or not he should intercept the squad or leave the defense to militia - Worldmap: Squad UI displays slowdown or resting via status icon Sound - Sound played after last enemy on map has been killed


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Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight means including a balance of healthy food choices at each meal along with regular physical activity.
Enjoy Nutrient Rich Foods - eating a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish and eggs, whole grains, beans and nuts, and fat-free and low-fat dairy is good for your health. Choose healthy oils and fats and limit intake of empty calories, such as solid fats and added sugars.
For specific recommendations about how to maintain a healthy diet, checkout the USDA's Choose My Plate website.
Energy In/Energy Out - energy balance is the key to weight control. The key to maintaining a healthy weight is choosing a lifestyle that includes healthy eating, regular physical activity and balancing the number of calories you consume each day with the number of calories you burn each day.
Staying in control of your weight contributes to good health now and as you age.
Each meal should include a variety of foods. A healthy diet includes foods from each food group:
Start smart with breakfast - look for whole grain cereals and breads. Search the ingredients list to make sure the first word is "whole" like "whole wheat". Just because bread is brown doesn't mean it is whole grain!
Fruits are nature's treats - sweet and delicious. Go easy on the juice though, and make sure it's 100%!
Color your plate with all kinds of great-tasting veggies. Go dark green with broccoli and spinach, or go orange with carrots and sweet potatoes.
Eat lean or low-fat meat, chicken, turkey and fish. Ask for it baked, broiled or grilled, but not fried! Nuts, seeds, peas, and beans are all great sources of protein too!
Move to the milk group to get your calcium, protein and other essential nutrients, all of which are important to build strong bones and healthy bodies.
Limit added fats and sugars – they contribute unneeded calories to your diet.
Idaho Preferred Restaurants
Find a Local Product
Find a Farmer's Market
Healthy Vending Case Study
Healthy Vending Model Policy
Healthy Vending Toolkit
Vending - Allowable Foods List
30 Ways in 30 Days to Stretch Your Food Budget
How to Select, Store, and Prepare Fruits and Vegetables (videos)
U R What U Eat (GO, SLOW, and WHOA chart for kids)
Platillos Latinos Sabrosos y Saludables/Delicious Heart Healthy Latino Recipes


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Asian Football Weekends
Antony from Jakarta Casual takes EFW to both Singapore and Malaysia as we dip our first toe into the Asian football scene...
Remember that old adage when visiting a ground for the first time? Come out the station and follow the crowds? Don't work in Singapore. Follow the crowds in Singapore and you'll likely end up in a shopping
Singaporeans haven't really taken to football. Well, they have taken to football big time, you'll lose count of the Manchester United and Liverpool shirts you see, but for them football is a chance to be associated with winners. Losers count for zilch; domestic football counts for less than zilch. On the radar it is there among cockroaches and Malaysian taxi drivers in the popularity stakes. Following your local SLeague team is about as cool as saying you collect used airline chunder bags.
The Singapore match day experience is as squeaky clean and regulated as the country itself. Which makes the deafening music before kick off and at half time so unusual. There's usually only a few dozen people in the stadium at best of times yet the music is cranked up as loud as possible, on equipment that plainly isn't up to the task, meaning conversation is all but impossible and distortion fills the air. That's assuming you even get inside the stadium itself. At Tampines Stadium the ticket office, a rickety desk just inside the stadium, is hard to find. Once you do find it you hand over your 5 dollars and get a ticket from one person. You then hand the ticket to another person who tears off the stub and then you answer a load of questions like what's in your bag, are you carrying any bottles etc. Let's put it this way. It's hardly the most welcoming welcome to a football match but what makes the precautions on incongruous is that there is no bugger there anyway.
Will this stag do?
The Tampines Stadium*. *Dreadful name, granted, but we'd also moan if it was called the Red Bull Arena
No programme, no club shop, if you want any souvenirs from the game forget it. Just a cold concrete step to sit on in the main stand and that loud music to while away the time before kick off. Considering Singapore's success in developing a world class airline and port it does seem odd the football fraternity does nothing to make fans feel welcome when they come to stadium.
So with conversation impossible and nothing to read you sit and listen to the noise. Just before kick off the announcer will race through the team line ups but they won't mean a thing to the casual visitor unused to the names. Team sheets are available but only in the media area, the rest of the crowd aren't deemed worthy.
Tampines Rovers 4-1 Tanjong Pagar United
The game itself was between Tampines Rovers and Tanjong Pagar United. The SLeague likes adding United to its club side's names, in the 12 team division there are fully five Uniteds. Tampines are probably the nearest thing to a glamour club on the island with a fine tradition of success and near success. The recent seasons have seen the trophies dry up as SAFFC have dominated domestically but The Stags, as they are nicknamed, remain hopeful this could be their year and indeed the 4-1 victory over Tanjong Pagar sees them top of the table.
A: Hello, Tamines Estate Agents, Amirtha Speaking. How can I help you?
B: Hi, EFW here, we're interested in buying a flat.....
EFW rejoice following newly acquired accommodation in Singapore
"I say, we've just bought one of those flats overlooking the ground, I SAY....CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
Tanjong Pagar are returning to the league after an absence of a few years. They lack the funds of the big boys like, Tampines, SAFFC and Home United, and are reliant on a very young squad mostly in their early 20s. Expectations were low before the season even began and they went into this game second bottom. Still, poor they may have been, they still managed more shots in the opening 10 minutes than Arsenal did in the 90 against Barcelona in the Champions League.
Tampines were two up in 20 minutes and were looking at chalking up a comfortable victory but Tanjong Pagar hadn't read the script and scored just before half time, a speculative 25 yard effort spinning off a defender and looping over the keeper's head. But there was no way The Stags were going to lose this game. Tanjong Pagar huffed and puffed but without any real quality in their line up they rarely threatened Singapore international keeper Hassan Sunny in the Tampines goal.
The game ended 4-1 to Tampines and they went to the top of the SLeague after four games while Tanjong Pagar slipped effortlessly into bottom spot.
For reasons best known to itself the SLeague features games most days of the week. Except Saturday. Saturday clashes with English football. So for people passing through Singapore chances are there is likely to
be a game on. It's just a question of finding out about it. The local media hardly touch the games, happy to regurgitate yesterday's headlines from Rooney, Lampard or Mourinho rather than support the game on their own doorstep.
Attendances are small. Forget the official figures which have a Brothers Grimm quality about them and are inflated by the number of free tickets issued. Not used, issued. Singaporeans seem almost united in their apathy towards the game and the Football Association of Singapore seems comfortable with this. Little or no effort is given to promote games or put bums on seats; the whole marketing approach seems to revolve around giving away freebies. Be they tickets or, at one club, ice cream. In over 40 years watching football round the world I have never come across anyone who had been enticed to a game with the promise of free ice cream.
It is possible to whine long and hard about how the SLeague is, or isn't sold, and believe me I have done so on many occasions. But for all the apathy and negativity that surrounds the game, on the field I have seen some quality games and performances.
Keeping up with Malaysian football is no easy task either. There is a Super League and a Premier League as well as an FA Cup and the Malaysia Cup.
Unlike Singapore, still the second most successful team in Malaysia Cup history, long story, most teams in Malaysia are run by regional Football Associations. Privately run clubs have struggled to make much of an impact and a big reason for their failure is down to branding. Remember, Malaysia is a country which woos tourists with the slogan Malaysia – Truly Asia. Everyone supports Manchester United or Liverpool but most people disdain their local teams.
Selangor and Kelantan are capable of pulling the crowds and the really big games, Malaysia and FA Cup Finals, can pull in excess of 80,000. But many league games are played out in front of the one man and his
Recent private clubs include My Team (who were formed from a reality TV show), KL PLUS (owned by a toll road operator), Kuala Muda (owned by a car showroom), Pos Malaysia (Malaysian Post Office) and Sime Darby (a conglomerate). Despite the fascination with all things English the people behind these teams, some of which are no more, don't seem to get the intrinsic value of having people 'identify' with their team. Supporting a team owned by the post office? Do me a favour!
The state of Johore lies just across the narrow causeway that separates Singapore from Malaysia and is home to three teams. Johor FC are privately owned and play in the top flight Malaysia Super League. They are based in the industrial town of Pasir Gudang, south east of the city of Johore Bahru. There are two teams in the 12 team Premier League; the state owned Johor and MP Muar. Johor themselves are used to dining at the top table of Malaysian football but success has been hard to come by. The mid 1980s till the end of the century they did enjoy 15 years in the spotlight, winning their only six trophies.Those glory years are now a distant memory and they find themselves in the Premier League dreaming of a way back.
For the football fan a day trip from Singapore to Johor is eminently doable, despite the rather nonsensical kick off time of 8.45 pm discouraging a new generation of fan. Direct buses from Queen Street in Singapore take you across the border into Malaysia and onto Larkin bus station, a 10 minute walk from the stadium Johor call home.
Three years ago the Malaysian FA decided it no longer needed foreign players. However, there is a link between last night's match between Tampines and Tanjong Pagar and the fixture between Johor and USM
Penang. Tampines midfielder Ahmad Latiff played for Johor in 2006 and 2007.
Like Singapore, don't follow the crowd from the bus terminal. If you do you'll end up on a bus going to Kuala Lumpur or Melaka. The glory days have long gone from Johor but the supporters are hanging on in there. Indeed, in the fine traditions of mankind the remaining hardcore support have divided themselves in half and they don't even sit together. I remember earlier in the season when Persija played Persijap in Indonesia. Persijap brought several hundred fans who were divided into two separate groups, neither of whom would associate with the other. One lot would sing, the other sat waiting their turn.
Johor 1-2 USM Penang
With half an hour to kick off there were more cones on the field than there were fans on the terraces. Facilities within the stadium were as sparse as the spectators spread out round the 30,000 capacity ground. One of the sponsors of the league in Singapore make a very nice beer; just don't expect to find any on sale in the stadium. Likewise in Malaysia there were advertising boards for a fast food restaurant but you won't find any burgers on sale.
Not a Henry Winter in sight. EFW had the press box all to ourselves
Even enormous floodlights and an old skool scoreboard couldn't entice the locals in
The opposition had fallen head over heels with their new surroundings
Putting aside the monotonous drumming from the handful of PP USM fans the game itself wasn't too bad. The visitors, who had travelled the length of the Malay Peninsula from Penang played the better football and deserved their 2-1 win.
Despite the awkwardly inconvenient kick off, getting back to Singapore is a breeze as buses keep crossing the border until about 12.30 am. I finally got back to my hotel room about 1 am and in many ways it was a
football experience I remembered from my time back in England. Only warmer. And with passport control!
Two games in two countries in two days with eight goals, missed penalties and less than 500 fans! The football elitists with their English Premier League replica shirts won't believe me but they were two good games of football with moments of skill mixed in with good old fashioned passion.
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By Rya Ben-Shir and Alexander Feng
September 27, 2011 | If your image of a research librarian is the soft-spoken, bespectacled woman politely shushing you when you're talking in the library, that outdated perception couldn't be further from the truth. Research librarians are highly skilled data analysts and business experts playing key roles in driving company performance, particularly in life sciences organizations. They ensure the most talented project teams make the right choices, perform at their highest levels, and reach outcomes their companies are striving for.
And yet, many life science organizations—Pfizer and Genentech are just two recent examples—have cut back or eliminated their library research staff, believing the myth that everything is free on the Internet. Many more are experimenting with outsourcing research librarian services to India or China—producing unsatisfactory and low quality work.
Organizations that make these misguided "penny wise, pound foolish" decisions are failing to recognize the vital contributions that these important, skillful team members make in researching business intelligence, patent landscapes, safety signals, tracking competitors and much more.
One newly recruited scientist being introduced to his new employers' research librarian stated: "When our research librarians were all eliminated, as many departments as could found a way to convert an open position to hang on to at least one of them for their own group. We became the haves and the have nots. A project creating and accessing the competitive landscape for a new compound we were considering in-licensing went from a couple of hours when done by a research librarian to weeks when I was left to do it... I would not work without a research library function again, if I could help it."
Making the right decisions based on insightful analysis of the most relevant data can make a critical difference in companies whose futures rely on new product development. Adding an expert research librarian/information specialist to your "A-Team" dramatically increases your chance of success in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, where the project, product, and start-up failure rate is high.
A research librarian will ask the right questions—even the ones no one has thought to ask—and knows which databases and resources will yield the most objective and complete information to advance key projects, and place that information into context.
Research librarians bring out the best in the skills of others. They encourage the team to freely share information among themselves, and more importantly, test their ideas and hypotheses against the world of scientific and business information. The ability to draw on the expertise of others and perform detailed research improves your projects' chances of success. Last but not least, a research librarian improves a company's bottom line.
The Problem with Free
Of course, anyone can surf the Web's limitless free information. But that takes time, which for most researchers is in short supply. A research librarian is able to select and expertly research the most authoritative, objective information sources. These are typically commercial databases and rarely easy to search proficiently. They can execute these complex searches in sophisticated databases, where the relevant information is extracted from "noisy" irrelevant content.
In the biopharma world, vast sums of money, perhaps even the company's survival, depend on critical information research, information that has to be correct and complete, findings that must be placed in context, identifying the positions of your competitors and regulatory hurdles, and where new opportunities exist. The research librarian helps avoid unpleasant, untimely surprises, such as when the FDA spots a misstep early in a submission process and demands you return to stage one and start over.
Serving as both consultant and detective, often possessing a master's degree in information and library sciences (from a program accredited by the American Library Association), research librarians are proactive, innovative, and inquisitive. A particularly valuable skill set is the reference interview, much like the physician's history and physical, which enables research librarians to ascertain the real question behind the question. For example, if the original request is, "Tell me everything about disease X," the research librarian figures that the real question is: "Under which circumstances could there be a false positive for the definitive lab test for disease X?" Looking ahead, the research librarian asks if any of those circumstances are relevant in the current situation. These actions ensure the targeted information is delivered efficiently and effectively.
In life sciences organizations, acquiring a competitive edge and bringing an innovative drug or technology to market demands overcoming obstacles and creating or recognizing opportunities. The role of an expert research librarian is easily overlooked, but he or she helps identify what is often unknown and helps the team establish a complete picture of the competitive and scientific landscape—from pipeline through to market.
If your organization is willing to subject all of your investment of time, funding, and hard work to the vagaries of risk and failure, then surfing through oceans of un-vetted information on the Internet is fine. But if you want to vastly improve your chances of success, whether it be identifying a lucrative research area or achieving regulatory approval, then it is time to urgently rethink your stale image of the trusted research librarian. •
Written on behalf of the Pharmaceutical & Health Technology Division of the SLA. Thanks to Andrew Clark, Praveena Raman, Bob Kowalski and Susan Zalenski for their contributions to this commentary. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/my-a-team
This article also appeared in the 2011 September-October issue of Bio-IT World magazine.
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Home Page Chess Life Online 2014 July Miami Sharks, 2013 US Chess League Champions!
|Miami Sharks, 2013 US Chess League Champions!
|By Kostya Kavutskiy
|November 25, 2013
After many years of disappointment, the Miami Sharks are no longer the strongest team *not* to have won a USCL Championship!
The Semis
In the semifinals, Miami won against the San Francisco Mechanics, in a match that came down to Miami's MVP GM Renier Gonzalez, who skillfully outplayed GM Daniel Naroditsky to achieve a decisive endgame advantage.
New York secured their spot in the playoffs in an exciting match vs. the New England Nor'Easters, which included this marvelous tactical flurry:
GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 1 – 0 FM Steven Winer (NE) (2nd place Game of the Week)
An incredibly pleasant position for White – the serious advantage in space puts Black at a serious...disadvantage. Both of Black's bishops are bad and the knights aren't looking so hot either. Moreover, White can choose to dictate the action, and here GM Charbonneau went for the throat: 30.g5!
Initiating a devastating breakthrough on the kingside.
30...h5 31.f4!
This idea is key, and now Black cannot prevent White from forcefully opening things up. After that the superiority of White's pieces will be felt and the rest won't take long.
Trying to keep the position as closed as possible is not a viable solution to Black's problems, since after 31...Rb8 32.f5 Bd8 33.f6 Ne8 everything is locked up, but White has a simple breakthrough: 34.Nxh5!+- and the game is over.
32.Nxf4 Kh7
There is nothing to suggest for Black here, White can win in any way they please.
I think Pascal was already looking forward to his 35th move, but an even quicker way to mate was the immediate sacrifice on h5. 33.Ngxh5 gxh5 34.Nxh5 With the threat of Nxg7, Bd4+ and Qh5, and of course if 34...Nxh5 35.Qxh5+ Kg7 36.Bd4++- Black can resign. 33...Qd7 34.Ngxh5 Nxh5 35.Qxh5+!!
This isn't a true queen "sacrifice" since White is either winning loads of material or just mating by force, but nevertheless an extremely pretty picture.
35...gxh5 36.e5+
The point, White's bishops place Black in a somewhat uncomfortable spot.
Not much better is 36...Kh8 37.e6+ f6 38.exd7 Rcd8 39.g6+- White wins a rook, followed by everything else.
37.exf6+ Kh8 38.Ng6+ Kh7 39.Nxe7+ Kh8 40.f7+
One of the most aesthetically pleasing games of the year! 1–0
Striking back on New England's behalf was GM Sam Shankland, who took down GM Tamaz Gelashvili in a complex struggle:
GM Sam Shankland (NE) 1 – 0 GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) (Game of the Week!)
In this rich middlegame, Shankland decided to liven things up with
It seems reckless to open up his own king, but I like this idea a lot. Taking a page out of Nimzowitsch's book, Sam attacks Black's pawn chain at the base! This strike at f5 is meant to weaken the e4-pawn, thus activating the light squared bishop. 29...Bxd4 Gelashvili decides to exchange off the powerful knight in order to ease some of the pressure off the kingside.
Capturing the pawn is not recommended, since White gets a near decisive advantage after 30.Bxe4 Bxe4 31.Qxe4 Nxd6 32.cxd6 Rxd6 33.Nf5! Here White has a safer king and the more active pieces, and I doubt Black can survive.
Now Black has a choice of winning a pawn with Nxd6 or grabbing the exchange with Bb3, but both players, as well as myself, figured that White would get fantastic compensation for it.
30...Bb3 was perhaps the critical test of 29.g4, but after 31.Qd2 Bxd1 32.Qxd1 The g4 pawn is still relevant, and soon Black's kingside will become quite vulnerable. Practically speaking White's chances are definitely to be preferred here.
31.cxd6 Rxd6 32.Qc5
Black's up a pawn but White's activity and pressure surely offer full compensation.
32...Rf6 33.Rxd5!
Sam continues to play energetically, a perfectly justified sacrifice.
33...cxd5 34.Rxd5 Rb8!
Black's only chance to survive is to activate their major pieces as soon as possible. Otherwise it's simply a matter of time before White launches a decisive assault.
35.gxf5 Rb1+ 36.Bf1
It seems like White has conceded something, but Black still has to deal with the threat of Qd4, followed by infiltration with the rook or just Qxe4.
36...Kh7 37.Qd4! Kh6 38.Rd7 Qf8 39.Qxe4
Spotted instantly by Houdini and was the most precise way to victory, but Shankland's choice is the more human move. The threat is Qh2#, but after either Rxf5 or Rf7 White has to find a long series of precise moves to seal the deal. One mistake and the initiative can slip away, but after 39.Qxe4 White threatens mate with Qh1 but also keeps their options open and wins an important pawn.
An error in an already near-hopeless position. 39...Qb4! was the last way to really make a fight out of it, but after 40.Rd4 all of White's possibilities remain alive and I don't think the final result is in doubt. 40.Bc4 Renewing the threat of Qh1# 40...Rxc4 41.Qxc4 Rxf5 42.Qc6+!
One last precise move and Black had to resign. Qf6 loses to Rd6, while Rf6 and Kh5 both lead to a quick mate. A nice game by Shankland to earn Game of the Week! 1–0
This tied the match up at 1-1, but IM Akshat Chandra outplayed his opponent in mutual time pressure and New York advanced to the finals for the fourth time in their history.
The finals
Miami's USCL history includes losing to Baltimore in the 2005 finals, to New York in 2009, and New England in 2010, as well as two semifinal exits against Dallas in 2007 and 2008. But in a spirited showing last Wednesday, the Sharks defeated the New York Knights 3.5 – 0.5 to capture their first, long-awaited USCL Championship title.
Although the final score was lopsided, it was only because New York fell behind early and had to scramble to try and even up the score. On the top board GM Julio Becerra and GM Tamaz Gelashvili decided to risk everything by playing one of the sharpest opening lines in all of chess, the Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack. This game was full of thematic ideas – White opened the h-file and traded off the "Dragon" bishop with Bh6, while Black managed to double rooks on the c-file and sacrificed the exchange with Rxc3. Then came 21.Rxh5! And it was all over. This early win (in Fischer's style) put Miami in the lead.
On board two GM Pascal Charbonneau won a pawn early on against GM Renier Gonzalez, but started to drift later in the middlegame and placed all of his pieces awkwardly on the queenside. Then 33...Bg5 must have come as a real shock, forcing White to make even more concessions after which the position was beyond saving.
Down 2-0 the match looked pretty bleak for New York, needing to win both of the two remaining games to even the score. IM Akshat Chandra and NM Nicolas Checa tried to mix things up, but could only manage 0.5/2 (Chandra definitely had winning chances, but erred in the complications and ended up losing).
And with that, Miami fans finally got their wish, and can thank GMs Julio Becerra and Renier Gonzalez, who combined for 5.5/6 points in the playoffs!
Make sure to check out Uschessleague.com for more news, team blogs, and the upcoming Game of the Year contest. It's been a pleasure covering the league this year, until next time!


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[Jared] Mitchell's .417 on-base average was impressive in just 34 low-A ball games. However, his line of .296/.417/.435 was aided by a crazy-high .453 BABIP. His walk rate of 16.7% was offset by a nasty strikeout rate at 34.8%, which is obviously going to have to come down. With an ISO of .139, his power is undeveloped at this time, although he could develop into a 15-homer hitter. Despite good speed, Mitchell nabbed just five steals in eight attempts. …
November 27, 2009
Fangraphs reviews the last 4 Sox drafts
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Maine man indicted for murder in fatal shooting outside bar
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) � A 30-year-old Maine man has been indicted on a murder charge in the late-night shooting death of another man outside a Waterville bar.
A Kennebec County grand jury handed down an indictment Friday charging Matthew Partridge, of Winslow, in the shooting death of 26-year-old Justin Smith, of China, outside the You Know Who's Pub on Dec. 4.
Partridge is accused of shooting Smith in the face after an altercation between two groups of men.
Prosecutors say after the altercation, Partridge went and got the gun and then shot Smith. Partridge's attorney has said he was acting in self-defense.
The Morning Sentinel (http://bit.ly/Wnp4jm ) says Partridge is being held on $700,000 cash bail. An arraignment is scheduled Feb. 12.


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magnum wrote:Just saw it on TSN... Good, the suspense can end for Part 1. Roberts is coming, Welch is going, now which direction is Shero taking Malone? Is it for Guerin? Is it for Babchuk? Is it for Boynton? Is it for Miller?
I think Malone gets packaged with a pick for a run at Guerin. If that does not work then he is packaged to PHX for Owen Nolan and Boynton/Morris... all speculation of course and by no means backed by fact.


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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Friday accused the vice president of "doubling down on denial" over the deadly invasion at the U.S. Consulate in Libya, leaving the White House to defend its handling of the attack that killed its ambassador and three other Americans.
Biden said in a debate Thursday night that "we weren't told" there had been requests for more security at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi ahead of the terrorist attack one month ago.
A State Department official testified before Congress on Wednesday that she had, in fact, refused requests for more security in Benghazi because the department wanted to train Libyans for the task. Another U.S. official testified he had argued unsuccessfully for more security for weeks.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that when Biden said "we weren't told," Biden meant President Barack Obama and himself. Carney said such security matters are handled by the State Department.
Asked what the president's reaction was when he heard testimony of State Department officials who had pleaded for more security, Carney said Obama "wants to get the bottom of what happened." He said the president is committed "to make sure that what happened in Benghazi never happens again."
Romney told supporters in swing state Virginia that the White House has more questions to answer about the tragedy.
"The vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of State Department officials," Romney said. "He's doubling down on denial. And we need to understand exactly what happened as opposed to just have people brush this aside. When the vice president of the United States directly contradicts the testimony, sworn testimony of State Department officials, American citizens have a right to know just what's going on. And we're going to find out."
Romney said his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, gave Americans answers in the 90-minute debate against Biden, not political attacks. And Romney seemed to suggest he didn't think much of Biden's reaction to many of Ryan's answers, with the vice president responding on television's split screens with dismissive chuckles and eye rolls when his rival was speaking.
"There was one person on stage last night who was thoughtful and respectful and steady and poised, the kind of person you'd want to turn to in a crisis," Romney said to cheers. "And that was the next vice president of the United States, Paul Ryan."
Biden, eager to make up for the president's lackluster performance in his first debate with Romney, played the aggressor throughout the debate that came with less than four weeks to go before Election Day. The president gave his running mate a quick thumbs up for delivering with the energy and feeling that he did not.
"His passion for making sure that the economy grows for the middle class came through so I'm really proud of him," Obama said after watching the debate aboard Air Force One on the way home after a day of campaigning in battleground Florida.
Ryan came back at the vice president with harsh talking points, a flurry of statistics and a sharp economic warning: In another Obama term, he said, "Watch out, middle class, the tax bill's coming to you."
Romney, who watched the debate at the end of a campaign day in North Carolina, got on the phone to Ryan immediately afterward to congratulate him. Ann Romney told a rally in the western Michigan town of Hudsonville on Friday that the debate showed why her husband chose Ryan as his running mate.
"What he saw in Paul was a level head, very smart. You can tell, it came through, the kind of character that this man has," Mrs. Romney said.
Ryan declined to engage in any morning-after analysis while stopping for breakfast with his family Friday at Josie's diner in Lexington on his way out of Kentucky. All he would allow is that he felt great about how the debate turned out.
Attention now shifts to the two remaining debates between Obama and Romney: Tuesday's "town hall" style faceoff in Hempstead, N.Y., and a final showdown, over foreign policy, on Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.
And the campaigns get right back into the thick of it on Friday, looking for ways large and small to shift more voters in their direction in the small number of states whose electoral votes are still up for grabs: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin.
After his Virginia rally, Romney was linking up with Ryan in Ohio. Biden and wife, Jill, will woo young voters at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Obama will spend a rare day in Washington, preparing for the next two debates and taking campaign contest winners out to eat.
The president has set aside a serious chunk of time for preparation after being faulted for underestimating the importance of his first debate with Romney. He'll be hunkered down in Williamsburg, Va., from Saturday until Tuesday rehearsing with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, acting as a proxy for Romney.
The Democrats' monthlong "gotta vote" bus tour will be in Milwaukee on Friday, just in time to rev up supporters for the opening of Wisconsin's early voting season on Monday.
Associated Press writers Nancy Benac and Ben Feller in Washington, Phil Elliott in Louisville, Ky., and John Flesher in Hudsonville, Mich., contributed to this report.
Romney, White House spar over Libya attacks
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Friday accused the vice president of "doubling down on denial" over the deadly invasion at the U.S. Consulate in Libya, leaving the White House to defend its handling of the attack that killed its ambassador and three other Americans.