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Wert may have gotten a thrill from that stock 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8, but some owners are going to demand more power. That's where the Hennessey Challenger SRT600 comes into the picture. Last week we showed you first pictures of it undergoing the transformation into a turbocharged monster and now we've got pictures straight from Hennessey HQ of the car in final trim. We've also got dyno numbers from yesterday's testing to answer the obvious question: How much power is going to those fat rear wheels? Read on.
Here's what Hennessey found on their dyno: On the first pull, the Challenger put down 527 HP (rear wheel) and 575 lb-ft of torque. The second time they were able to squeeze out 536 HP (rear wheel) and 582 lb-ft of torque.
The SRT600 is going to get its debut at their track this weekend during the Midnight 1320 drags so we'll have a better idea of how well that power gets to the ground. Either way, we can say that this Challenger is going to be quite the sleeper driving around town.
(also see our tour of Hennessey HQ, Future Hennessey Plans and Weird Hennessey Vehicles)


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Milestones in Bayer's history
1863: Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott establish a dyestuffs factory in Barmen. 18 years later, it is changed into the joint-stock company Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co.
1884: Chemist Carl Duisberg begins his career at Bayer. Under his management, Bayer scientists will make pioneering discoveries.
1888: The pharmaceutical department is established.
1899: Aspirin is registered as a trade mark and becomes the world's favourite pain killer.
1912: The company's headquarters is transferred to Leverkusen.
1939: Bayer researcher Gerhard Domagk is awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his discovery of the antibacterial effect of the sulfonamides (Prontosil).
1972: The company changes its name to Bayer AG.
1988: Bayer becomes the first German industrial company to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
1996: On June 3, Bayer's capital stock is redenominated into shares of DM 5 par value instead of DM 50.
1999: Bayer marks the 100th birthday of Aspirin® by having professional mountaineers wrap Bayer's former high-rise headquarters building in Leverkusen, transforming it into the world's biggest Aspirin® pack and earning the company three entries in the Guinness Book of Records.
2000: The acquisition of the polyols business Lyondell Chemical Company makes Bayer the world's biggest producer of raw materials for polyurethanes.
2001: Bayer acquires Aventis CropScience making it a world leader in crop protection. In December, Bayer's management announces plans to establish independent operating subsidiaries under the umbrella of a management holding company.
2002: The Bayer shares are listed for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange. In October Bayer CropScience AG is launched as the first legally independent Bayer subgroup.
2003: WHO includes acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient in Aspirin®, in its "List of essential medicines".
2003: In October, the subgroups Bayer Chemicals AG and Bayer HealthCare AG and the service company Bayer Technology Services GmbH gain legal independence as part of the reorganisation of the Bayer group. The subgroup Bayer MaterialScience AG and the service companies Bayer Business Services GmbH and Bayer Industry Services GmbH & Co. OHG follow in December.
2004: Bayer becomes the first private-sector partner to UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) in the area of youth and environment. Bayer provides material support and additional funding of EUR1 million annually to promote various projects over an initial period of three years.
2004: In January the Group's world-famous trademark, the Bayer Cross, celebrates its centennial.
2005: Bayer is one of the world's top three suppliers of non-prescription medicines after the acquisition of the Roche OTC business.
2005: Lanxess AG is spun off from the Bayer Group. Lanxess continues Bayer's chemical business in Bayer Chemicals and parts of the polymer business.
2005: In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Sorafenib (Nexavar®), an active ingredient jointly developed by Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.
2006: Bayer launches the Group-wide innovation initiative "Triple-i: inspiration, ideas and innovation", which calls on all employees worldwide to participate in the search for new product, development and business ideas.
2007: Bayer completes the acquisition of Schering AG and becomes one of the leading players on the market for specialised pharmaceuticals.
2007: Bayer sells the Diagnostics Division of Bayer HealthCare to Siemens AG, Munich for EUR4.2 billion.
2007: It is announced that the BayArena stadium, home of German Bundesliga soccer team Bayer 04 Leverkusen, is to be modernised and enlarged to accommodate a crowd of over 30,000.
2007: November sees the launch of the integrated, Group-wide Bayer Climate Program. The program's goals include a futher reduction in CO2 emissions from Bayer's production facilities.
2008: In June Bayer is presented with the 2008 Environmental Award in the category "Environmentally Friendly Technologies" by the Federation of German Industries (bdi). Use of the new oxygen-depolarised cathode technology reduces power consumption and co2 emissions.
2008: In October the world's largest MDI production facility goon stream in Shanghai.
2009: In November, Bayer implements its zero emissions building concept for the first time with the opening of a children's daycare centre in Monheim, Germany.
2009: In December, a Bayer team wins the German Future Prize for the development of the anticoagulant rivaroxaban (Xarelto).
2010: In June the Aspirin Social Award is presented for the first time. The award honors exemplary social projects in the health care sector.
2010: Fifty years of successful family planning with the pill: this innovative contraceptive was first given regulatory approval in 1960. Till this day Bayer is a global market leader in the field of hormonal contraception.
2012: In March, Bayer receives approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for Eylea™, an eye medicine for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration.
2013: Bayer celebrates 150 years since the company was founded.
2015: Bayer MaterialScience has been operating since 1 September under the name Covestro. The company is economically and legally independent, but initially remains a subsidiary of Bayer AG. On October 6, the Covestro AG made her debut on the stock market.


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About the Event
Third Road Safety Week, 1 to 7 May 2000
The week of 1 to 7 May 2000 has been designated as the Third Road Safety Week in the UNECE region.
During that week, member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will organize simultaneous road safety campaigns with the aim of improving the safety of vulnerable road users.
Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders, motorcyclists and passengers of these two-wheelers. Among these groups of road users, children, the elderly, the disabled and young people are particularly vulnerable.
Vulnerable road users are more exposed to the risk of accident than other road users, and when accidents occur they have much more serious consequences for vulnerable road users than for others. Out of the approximately 150,000 people killed in road accidents in the UNECE region per year, an estimated 30 per cent, i.e. approximately 45,000 are vulnerable road users.
The objectives of the Third Road Safety Week are to promote:
- partnership between public administrations, private sector organizations and road users themselves with a view to jointly addressing problems of road safety and, in particular, improving the safety of vulnerable road users;
- more responsible behaviour towards and by vulnerable road users;
- greater commitment on the part of national administrations, private sector organizations (associations of transport operators, touring clubs, etc.) and associations of vulnerable road users towards the enactment of effective measures aimed at the improvement of the safety of vulnerable road users
Promotional Material
Brochure (pdf): English


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Basketball coach charged after tourist killed
A US university basketball coach was arrested in New York on Thursday for allegedly landing a fatal knockout punch to a drunken Florida tourist.
Jamill Jones - an assistant to Danny Manning at Wake Forest University - allegedly slugged Boca Raton resident Sabor Szabo in the head early on Sunday morning for drunkenly banging on his car in Long Island City, according to law enforcement sources.
Szabo - in town for his stepsister's wedding - had left his brother's hotel and was looking for a cab he ordered, his family claimed.
Szabo, 35, banged multiple cars in front of 41-10 29 Street about 1.15am, sources said.
A local resident heard the ruckus and came out of his home to confront Szabo, who then punched that person in the face, according to the sources.
Jones then approached Szabo and allegedly slugged him - causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head on the pavement.
Szabo was taken to the hospital in critical condition and succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
Police released surveillance video on Sunday that showed the assailant walking away from the scene.
Jones surrendered at the 114th Precinct station house in Astoria on Thursday morning along with his lawyer. He was awaiting arraignment at Queens Criminal Court.
The medical examiner hasn't revealed whether Jones's punch led to Szabo's death. Law enforcement sources said the charges against Jones could be upgraded depending on the findings.
The 35-year-old assistant coach was hired by Wake Forest in 2017. He was previously an assistant coach at University of Coastal Florida and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Wake Forest said on Thursday night it had "just been made aware of this matter" and was "gathering information."
Colleagues in Szabo's hometown of Boca Raton said earlier this week that they hoped their friend's attacker would be caught.
"I hope they find him and bring him to justice," co-worker Josh Gillon told WPEC-TV on Tuesday.
"This was really a stupid, stupid act. It's a big family and he was an important part of it so everybody is just heartbroken."


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Warner Bros. has released six character posters for director Todd Phillip's The Hangover Part II. If you remember the character posters from the first Hangover movie, these are going to look very familiar. Saying that, if you ran a marketing campaign and your movie was the highest grossing R Rated film in history, I'd probably run the same campaign as well. After all, I wouldn't want to be the one to fuck it up.
While all the posters are good, the monkey poster that says "we love to party" is definitely the best. It reminds me of the chicken and tiger posters from the first movie. This is a good thing. Hit the jump for the posters, click here for the trailer, and here's all our Hangover coverage. The Hangover Part II gets released May 26.
Posters via Yahoo
Here's the official synopsis for The Hangover: Part II:
In theaters on May 26
(Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures)
Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Scot Armstrong, Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin
Producers: Todd Phillips, Dan Goldberg
Executive Producers: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, William Fay, Scott Budnick, Chris Bender, J.C. Spink
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike Tyson, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong
Comedy. In the follow-up to the record-breaking hit comedy "The Hangover," Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to exotic Thailand for Stu's wedding. After the unforgettable bachelor party in Las Vegas, Stu is taking no chances and has opted for a safe, subdued pre-wedding brunch. However, things don't always go as planned. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Bangkok can't even be imagined.


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Tolstoy, who was rather short-sighted, cut short the legs of the chair at his desk so that he could sit closer to the page he was writing. Looking at the chair is enough to visualise his large bearded bulk hunched in passionate concentration over his words.
His writing room in his Moscow house is on the top floor, at the end of a short narrow corridor, lined with wood, off which are the rooms once occupied by his valet, his sister and other members of his teeming household. The office is well-lit, surprisingly, for a writer's solitude, crammed with leather sofas and chairs. Nothing illustrates more vividly Tolstoy's gregarious and intense aloneness. The bicycle leaning on the wall outside his room, testifying to one his favourite hobbies is evidence of the powerful physicality of this man, even in old age, tirelessly seeking truth. In the old daguerreotypes around the walls of the house he sits surrounded by wife, children, friends and disciples, with a fierce and glowering look. But the blissful expression on the face of his companions suggest that for all his awesomeness he was, in his immense vulnerability to life, remarkably loveable.
To anyone who has read, and therefore probably loved, Tolstoy these domestic details are not trivial. Like religious relics in a former age, they carry real presence in ordinary solidity. That presence, in turn, deepens the devotee's reverence for the kind of mastery in question – whether of sanctity (if such a competence exists) or of the powers of thought and expression. Perhaps it is a sign of our weakness, but we feel the need to come close to such greatness. And better this way than gossiping about the private lives of the rich and famous of Beverly Hills.
Feeling Tolstoy's presence like this awakens the longing to take time to re-read him and know him better. Similarly, a pilgrimage to saint's shrines is about mere spiritual celebrity unless it nourishes a deeper motivation in us for the work of our inner journey. Knowing that we can come close to the simple humanity of the masters' minds and hearts can free us from the self-denigration of false comparison. It awakens an awareness of our unique potential. As Simone Weil encouragingly remarked, everyone has genius though not all have talent.
Nevertheless touring the world of relics and museums is playing with fire. The great churches of Orthodox Moscow and St Petersburg hit the drab Western Christian visitor with an unexpectedly intense, if not wild religious experience. With our abbreviated 'low' mass, the masterpiece of Roman efficiency and brevity, there is little competition with the complex liturgical density of an Eastern rite intoxicated with its own religious beauty and lost in time.
They would excommunicate me for saying so – as they excommunicated Tolstoy at the end of his life - but the sheer religious power of these churches is reminiscent of an Indian temple operating in full force. Worshippers in a Russian church are not neatly and passively stacked in pews, to be serviced. They stand and participate. They walk from a baptism on one side of the church to a funeral rite conducted simultaneously on the other. The icons, like the reserved sacrament in the West, invest the devotional experience with a physical locality. Powerful spiritual magnets attracting worshippers icons are, unlike the tabernacle, physically approachable. They demand to be kissed.
The Russian psyche is hard to capture in one image or a few phrases. But it is passionate - about ideas and living them incarnately. Thought flows in action, mind and body are in your face. Moscow, despite decades of the Communist religion, appears to have re-emerged, at least in its own imagination, as the other Constantinople, a centre of Orthodoxy, a city of glittering gold onion domes. Better to leave the politics of the Orthodox Church under Tsar Putin to one side for the moment. Many Russians are as secularized as in the West, many are spiritually hungry but feel religiously alienated, a few would have had me thrown out of the churches that I prayed in until I had been re-baptised.
The rationalist Tolstoy was exasperated by this deep and slightly dark mysticism. A church instructed to pray for the death of Russia's enemies went too far for him. He and the mystical Dostoevsky were at opposite social and religious ends of the Russian spectrum. They admired each other but never met. Dostoevsky, who was born in a small, claustrophobic Moscow apartment near the poor hospital where his father served, was aghast at Tolstoy's denial of the divinity of Christ. These two mighty minds are equally Russian, forever irreconcilable and inseparable. This is not a culture that could have come up with Anglo-Catholicism.
How you deal with this aversion to compromise is, no doubt, a matter of temperament.
Laurence Freeman OSB
Laurence Freeman is a Benedictine and the Director of The World Community for Christian Mediation. His daily readings for Lent are available online: www.wccm.org


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Real Doctors.
Real Nurses.
Real Convenience on Campus.
Quality and affordable health care is never far away at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and it's available to every student. An accredited on-site medical clinic with a full-service pharmacy, lab services and health education are all part of Student Health Services.
Located in Carkoski Commons


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From Conservapedia
Apollyon is described in the Book of Revelation chapter 9 as the King of the Abyss, Abaddon. He is the head of the demons that will be released in the End Times to torment unbelievers. In John Bunyan's allegorical tale The Pilgrim's Progress, he is a hideous beast that attacks Christian on his way to the Celestial City, and ends up with a mortal blow to the chest.


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4 dead, 17 hurt when train hits Texas vets parade
Thu., Nov. 15, 2012
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — A freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 17 others as the float tried to get through a West Texas railroad crossing on its way to an honorary banquet, authorities said.
The train was sounding its horn and people were jumping off the decorated flatbed truck before the collision around 4:40 p.m. in Midland, according to witnesses and Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange. A preliminary investigation indicates the crossing gate and lights were working, Lange said, though he didn't know if the train crew saw the float approaching.
Two people died at the scene, while two others died at Midland Memorial Hospital, City of Midland spokesman Ryan Stout said. Six people remained hospitalized Thursday night, including at least one in critical condition; the other 11 people injured have been treated and released, hospital officials said.
About two dozen veterans and their spouses had been sitting in chairs on the float, set up on the back of a flatbed tractor-trailer decorated with American flags and signs identifying each veteran. Many seemed to panic as the locomotive's horn sounded, said Patricia Howle, who was waiting in her car at a nearby traffic light as the train approached.
"I was on the phone, and I just started screaming," she told The Associated Press late Thursday night. "The truck was on the other side of the train, but I did see the panic on the faces of the people and saw some of them jump off."
The float was among two flatbed tractor-trailers carrying veterans and their spouses. Police said the first truck safely crossed the railroad tracks, but the second truck's trailer was still on the crossing as the train approached.
"The train honked its horn, but the 18-wheeler could not go anywhere because of the other one being right in front of it," said Daniel Quinonez, who was in traffic that had been stopped by sheriff's deputies to allow the parade to pass.
"It was a horrible accident to watch happen right in front of me. I just saw the people on the semi-truck's trailer panic, and many started to jump off the trailer. But it was too late for many of them because the train impacted the trailer so fast," he told the AP.
Several police vehicles remained at the crash scene late Thursday night. Flood lights illuminated the wreck as investigators in reflective vests and hard hats carefully took measurements of the site, which was cordoned off by yellow police tape.
The parade had been scheduled to end at a "Hunt for Heroes" banquet honoring the veterans. The wounded service members were then going to be treated to a deer-hunting trip this weekend. The events were canceled.
The events were organized by Show Of Support, a local veterans group. Its president, Terry Johnson, did not immediately return an email for comment and his phone number was unlisted; the phone rang unanswered at the group's offices.
Stout, also the police department's spokesman, said he had no information about the individuals who died or the driver of the truck.
Lange said Union Pacific is offering help to the community and victims' families, as well as peer-to-peer counseling for the train crew, who did not sustain any injuries.
"There is going to be a very thorough investigation," Lange said. "It's obviously a very tragic incident."
The National Transportation Safety Board also is investigating, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta "was deeply saddened by news of the tragic accident involving veterans heroes and their spouses in Midland," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. "His thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims, with those injured in this incident, and with the entire community."
Midland is about 320 miles west of Dallas.
Terry Wallace reported from Dallas. Associated Press writer James Beltran also contributed to this report from Dallas.
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The Tovuti team was great to get it setup. Tovuti has more features than I know what to do with.
We use Tovuti to provide content to our customers in a much more effective and efficient way. We create courses, have a library of clinical resources, host webinars, and have a customer forum page. These improvements in sharing information and communicating more effectively with our customers have led to improve knowledge and proficiency of use with our medical device.
Tovuti enables easy integration of content and tools. Their designers understand that many academics use their learning management system more out of necessity and institutional policy, than from desire or enjoyment. For this reason, their team made it simple to use and easy to adapt alongside third-party tools and services. Gamification along with recognition badges add a human touch. Teaching and training is stressful. Investing in this education technology has made my job a lot easier.
Ability to be stood up quickly and continue to evolve as we build out. We were up and running the same day we signed the paperwork (just for basic functions and a quiz/survey but up and running none the less). The ability to fully customize the platform to mimic our own website is a big plus also!
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By Dan Doyon
Hampton Union, Tuesday, January 3, 2006
[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online]
HAMPTON -- After 31 years, the Winnacunnet High School community got its chance to say thank you to longtime boys basketball coach Jack Ford on Friday night.
Between the girls and boys alumni games, the legendary Class L coach was honored with a standing ovation by former players, coaches and students alike, paying tribute to a man who gave - and continues to give - to the Winnacunnet community.
The surroundings for the ceremony in Winnacunnet's spacious new gymnasium may have been a bit strange to Ford, who taught many young men the game of basketball in the small confines of Dodge Gymnasium.
But the love shown to Ford and the admiration he showed to the community was nothing new.
Ford, 62, retired from the game he has been involved in as a player and coach for 50 years this past summer after leading Winnacunnet to the Class L quarterfinals in March.
Winnacunnet won the Class L title in 1992 and was the runner-up in 1981, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000 during Ford's tenure.
"It's kind of like a final farewell, but I'm still in the other building close to here, still teaching," Ford said.
Ford has taught English at Winnacunnet since 1974.
"I'd like to thank those responsible for this evening," Ford said. "It's a good chance to speak to former players - some of whom are home from college - so it's like a formal farewell."
One of those responsible for putting together the evening's festivities is current Winnacunnet baseball coach and fellow English teacher Mike Daboul.
Daboul played for Ford on the 1992 title team and has developed a friendship with Ford that far extends his basketball days.
"I've been putting this together for two months now, trying to keep it a secret," said Daboul, who teaches in an adjacent room to Ford. "It's very hard to keep a surprise from Jack Ford."
A new banner was revealed in Ford's honor amongst a sea of banners that already covered the Winnacunnet gym. That banner simple said: "Jack Ford, Winnacunnet High School boys basketball coach, 1974-2005. Career Record 385-310."
But the wins and losses are just the start of things when it comes to telling the story of Ford's legacy.
"He has been instrumental in a lot of peoples' lives - coaching, teaching and being a friend," Daboul said. "That's what he's always done in his 31 years. His players walk out the door, and they're not gone. They're always in contact with him, and he's always in contact with them."
Current Winnacunnet coach Jay McKenna played point guard under Ford, graduating in 1993.
When McKenna was a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, Ford asked him to help coach Winnacunnet as an assistant. McKenna jumped at the opportunity and spent 11 seasons coaching under Ford.
McKenna echoed Daboul's sentiments.
"We've spent a lot of time together on the court and off the court, we traveled all over the States and all over the world," McKenna said. "I learned a lot of things about basketball and a lot of things about life from him and how to be successful at it. I can't thank him enough. I can't put into words what he means to me or what he means to a lot of guys."
"We always produced competitive teams and good people," Ford said. "The student-athletes move on to the next step of life and do quite well. They understand teamwork, they understand hard work, and turn into good people. I think we accomplished what the goals of those athletic programs are."
On the court, nobody out-worked the Warriors. Whether a team was talented or not, an opposing coach knew Winnacunnet would be tough.
"It was never easy for any team who played us," Ford said.
Ford did not have to use a lot of words to express his feelings to his players. His famous one-liners, dubbed "Fordisms," can still be heard in all his players' minds.
Terms like "You can shoot or you can shower, but you can't shoot and shower," "Educate your feet," and "Tommy Tunnel Vision," were some Fordisms listed in Friday's program.
If the Warriors weren't playing up to expectations, the players were sure to know about it. Through the times Ford yelled at and tried to motivate his players, Daboul said there was always a message.
"In one line, Jack could tell you what he was feeling, and you knew without a shadow of doubt what you had to do," Daboul said. "Get him in a locker room down by 10 points at halftime, and it's a different bird. But even those times when he was upset, he was still coaching, still teaching."
"We went to Ireland and England a couple of years ago, and I wasn't playing particularly well one game, and he took me out of the game and I hated him for 15 minutes," 2005 WHS grad Mike Whalley said. "Then he put me back in and I played pretty good, and he was the first guy who complimented me after the game. After that I had a new respect for him and the way he coached and how he conducted himself."
Ford said everybody has asked him two questions since he retired from basketball. First, "Do you miss it?" Second, "What are you doing with your free time?"
"Of course I miss it, there's nothing like the adrenaline rush of coaching on Tuesday and Friday nights," Ford said. "But I also sleep a lot better on Tuesdays and Fridays now."
You can still find a more relaxed Ford attending each Warrior basketball game, but Ford has also started a foundation at the school in an effort to save academic programs in danger of budget cuts.
Ford's idea was to get donations from alumni and family for commemorative bricks that will be displayed at the school.
"Thirty-one years," Daboul said. "People don't coach or teach in one place for 31 years. That's going to be his legacy. The wins and losses, the championships, don't mean as much as the time he's spent here, reaching so many people."(See also, Winnacunnet's Jack Ford dies, leaving legacy on, off court; and Coach Ford Stepping Down; and Obituary of Jack Ford and other tributes)


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A comedian once spoke of a chance meeting he had with a certain movie star known for his rather eccentric ways and unique speech pattern. According to the comic, the exchange went something like this:
Comic: Hey, I haven't seen you in awhile. How's it goin'?
Star: Frankenstein never scared me!
Comic: Really?
Star: Marsupials do (momentary pause) …'cause they're fast! And they dart. If they ran straight, you could get a bead on them … tackle them. But, no … they dart!
It's a great bit and a great reminder of how important it is to be connected to the conversation you're having with the other person—not the one you may be having in your head.
There are certain times you should never be unprepared to properly respond. A job interview is definitely one of those times.
Always be mindful of the fact that the interviewer is looking to fill a position in which you have expressed an interest. This person is concerned with how the person across the desk (you) will benefit the company if hired.
If you were asked the following typical interview questions, consider what your answer would be:
Question: What motivates you to perform and excel?
Wrong Answer: Believe it or not, some people have been known to answer with a reference to their family, i.e., "My kids are my greatest motivation," or, "I am motivated to perform so I don't lose my job," or even, "My spouse and I are looking for a larger home, and the only way we can afford it is if I start making more money."
When answering the above question, it's important to remember, this is a Job interview, not Good Morning America!
The point is the answer should relay specifically how your motivation will be beneficial to the company.
Better Answer: Say something like, "Knowing that doing my part to increase our customer base will eventually lead to bigger and better things going forward with this organization," or, "I'm motivated by challenges I'm certain will be a part of my tenure here, such as [insert related challenges here]."
Most hiring managers are far more interested in a potential employee whose motivation is company-centric versus the "feel good" answers some are compelled to give.
Let's try another one.
Question: Why do you want to leave your present position?
Wrong answer: My boss is a total jerk, and if I have to spend one more minute in that office, I may commit Harry Carry!
(While this may be true, degrading your current employer will only serve to make you look small and petty.)
Better answer: I've heard great things about this company and was excited for the opportunity to be a part of the team when I learned of this opening.
Here's another one.
Question: What are your salary expectations?
Note: While the proper time to openly disclose your salary preferences varies, the bottom line is when you are ready to answer that question, there are right and wrong ways to do so.
Wrong answer: What ever ya'll think I'm worth will be fine by me.
(Desperate much?)
Better answer: Based on the research I've done on others in similar positions and my own experience level, I believe my salary range should fall somewhere between (blank) and (blank).
(Answering this question should be tactful and concise. This is no time to be timid or bashful. You should always be well armed with this information prior to the interview)
And, one more.
Question: Why don't you tell me about yourself?
Wrong answer: I like sleeping late and getting off work early enough to get home so I can watch my favorite television program. I'm a staunch (insert political affiliation here) and I'm proud of it! I love the outdoors (unless you're applying for a job where "loving" the outdoors is essential to your position), and I'm an avid croquet player (unless this skill is required to fulfill the position you're applying for).
It's important to bear in mind that this question isn't being posed by someone you just met at a social gathering. This person wants to know how you and your skills are going to fit in this environment.
Better answer: I studied (subject apropos to the job) at (school where you studied said subject). My interest concerning this subject is how I can use those skills in order to be instrumental in producing the best widget known to man (assuming this is a widget manufacturer).
The point here is to make certain your response speaks directly to what the interviewer hopes to achieve.
The above question and answer session is just the tip of the iceberg. But it should provide you with enough fodder to realize the importance of being prepared, and the devastating outcomes that are possible if you're not.
So, do yourself a favor and spend some time preparing your answers before they are asked. Practice with a mate or friend prior to the event. Doing so will help you feel more at ease during the interview process, and will make you appear polished and professional when the time comes.


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The younger generation are facing new and difficult financial challenges as they grow up in the modern world. University tuition fees, the challenge of finding a deposit on a first house and, further ahead, the prospect of having to work longer and make provision for an income in retirement. In 2011 Junior ISAs replaced Child Trust Funds (CTF). For children born between 2002 and 2011, they would have had a CTF. These can be transferred into a Junior ISA.
The St. James's Place Junior ISA can help give youngsters a head start and an introduction to the importance of saving. It provides a flexible and tax-efficient way to build a capital sum to help secure the financial future of your children.
It can ensure they have a good education, open up opportunities and help them get established when they grow up. Starting to save money now might be the difference between whether or not they can afford to do what they would like when the time comes.
Key Investor Information Documents
Before investing in a Unit Trust via a Junior ISA, it is important that you read our Key Investor Information Documents and Supplementary Information Document.
You should be aware that an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and the value may therefore fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invested.
The favourable tax treatment given to Junior ISA is subject to changes in legislation and may not continue in the future.


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.NET 4.1 Preview - New Base Class Library (BCL) Extension Methods - RFC
As web programmers, we use a lot of strings to move data around the web. Often we'll use a string to represent a date or an integer or a boolean. Basically "1" in instead of 1, or "April 1, 2009" rather than a proper ISO-8601 formatted culture-invariant date.
While these strings are flying around via HTTP it's not a huge deal, but sometimes this loose, even sloppy, use of strings can leak into our own code. We might find ourselves leaving the data times as strings longer and longer, or not even bothering to convert them to their proper type at all. This problem is made worse by the proliferation of JSON, and schema-less/namespace-less XML (that I've often called "angle-bracket delimited files" as they're no more useful than CSVs in that point.
.NET 4.0 is pretty much locked down, but version 4.1 still has some really cool "Futures" features that are being argued about. If we don't know the type of a string, or we want to leave the string, as a string, longer than usual, what if we had an class that could be both a string and another type, essentially deferring the decision until the variable is observed. For example:
StringOr<int> userInput= GetUserInput("Quantity"); string szUserInput=userInput.StringValue;
int intUserInput=userInput.OtherValue;
Sometimes you just don't know, or can't know.
This reminds me of a similar, but orthogonal physics concept, that of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Sometimes you know that an object is a string, and sometimes you know how long it is, but you can't know both at the same time.
One of my favorite jokes goes:
Heisenberg gets pulled over by the police. The officer asks, "Do you know how fast you were going?" Heisenberg answers, "No, but I know exactly where I am!"
This library doesn't solve THAT issue, with respect to strings, but we've got folks in DevDiv working on this and many other metaphysical - and physical - problems as they apply to computer science.
Big thanks to Eilon, who's working hard to get this pushed into the .NET 4.1 Base Class Library. Visit Eilon's blog for more details on this new library, more code, graphics and details on how Intellisense will handle this new case.
Hopefully, someone is working to make this important new library Open Source.
Your thoughts, Dear Reader?
Related Posts
- Rob Conery on StringOr<T> and Duck Typing and the Probably() extension
- Eilon Lipton's RFC and Analysis with Pictures and Code Samples
- Jonathan Carter on the ramifications to String-based User Input
About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
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Breach Hits Card Processor Global Payments
As posted on March 30, 2012 on www.online.wsj.com
By Robin Sidel and Andrew R. Johnson
Global Payments Inc., GPN -9.06% which processes credit cards and debit cards for banks and merchants, has been hit by a security breach that has put some 50,000 cardholders at risk, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
The full extent of the breach couldn't be determined, one of the people said. It wasn't immediately clear if cardholders have been hit by fraudulent transactions.
Representatives of Atlanta-based Global Payments, a so-called third-party processors of payment cards, including debit cards, credit cards, and gift cards, couldn't be reached for comment.
The news comes as MasterCard Inc. MA -0.83% and Visa Inc. V -0.44% have been alerting their card-issuing bank customers about the potential breach. It wasn't immediately known if the banks are planning to reissue cards to their customers.
MasterCard said law enforcement has been notified of the matter and an "independent data security organization" is conducting a forensic review of the matter.
"MasterCard's own systems have not been compromised in any manner," a company spokesman said in a statement. The company will "continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information."
The spokesman declined to say how many cards may have been compromised or how many banks it is notifying.
Visa said in a statement that it is aware of a possible compromise involving a "third-party entity" affecting card account information from all major card brands.
"There has been no breach of Visa systems, including its core processing network VisaNet," the company said. Visa said it has provided banks with affected account numbers "so they can take steps to protect consumers through independent fraud monitoring and, if needed, reissuing cards."
A notice Visa has sent to banks said it had been notified of a security breach within a third-party payment processor. The estimated window for the breach was Jan. 21 and Feb. 25, according to a copy of the notice reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
"The network intrusion may have put accounts at risk of being stolen," Visa said in the notice, adding that a forensic company is working with the company in question and the U.S. Secret Service is also investigating the breach. "The investigation is still in the early stages and if additional accounts are determined to be at risk" additional alerts will be distributed.
Visa has a zero-liability fraud policy that "exceeds federal safeguards" and protects Visa cardholders against fraudulent purchases but encourages cardholders to "regularly monitor their accounts" and notify their banks "promptly of any unusual activity," the company said.
Hack Attack
Some recent and large examples of data breaches
|Global Payments
|January - February 2012
|Details unknown, estimated 50,000 card accounts at risk
|May 2011
|Card numbers, names, email addresses from 360,000 accounts
|*Epsilon Data Management
|April 2011
|Customer names, email addresses accessed
|Heartland Payment Systems.
|January 2009
|Card numbers, expiration dates, internal bank codes stolenn
|TJX Cos.
|January 2007
|Up to 90 million credit, debit card numbers stolen
|CardSystems Solutions
|June 2005
|40 million cards exposed
*unit of Alliance Data Systems Corp.
Visa and MasterCard don't lend or issue cards to consumers; rather, they handle transactions for banks that issue their cards and those that handle transactions for merchants.Visa has more than 648 million U.S. credit, debit and prepaid cards and MasterCard has more than 308 million U.S. credit, debit and prepaid cards in the market, according to the Nilson Report, a payments-industry newsletter.
Bank of America Corp., BAC +0.10% J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +0.79% & Co., Capital One Financial COF -1.04% Corp., Wells Fargo WFC +0.24% & Co. and Citigroup Inc. C +0.14% are among the largest issuers of Visa and MasterCard cards.
First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based processor that competes with Global Payments, said it wasn't involved in the matter. Card-issuing banks "should look to card brands for information, which is the standard practice for the brands," First Data said in a statement.
Discover Financial Services DFS +0.91% said in a statement that it is monitoring accounts for suspicious activities and will reissue cards to customers "as appropriate."
A spokeswoman for Bank of America said she couldn't comment on a specific breach but said it will notify customers and reissue their cards if they believe their information has been compromised at a third-party location.
Other banks, including J.P. Morgan and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., PNC +0.80% declined to comment.
The breach was reported earlier Friday by the Krebs On Security blog.
—Matthias Rieker contributed to this article.


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There are hardcore gamers out there so proud of their self-styled character trait that they shall defend it jealously. For indeed, it is they who get to judge whether or not others are worthy of being called gamers, it is they who decide what is and what is not a true videogame, and they shall brutally eject any fail to live up to their high standards. It's just a shame that their standards are bollocks and their judgments hypocritical.
I thought Hardcore gamers were determined by how many and how often they play games but not what games they play...Nevertheless, the most "simple" games can be the hardiest to play.
Your definition of "causal" or "hardcore" can easily be determined by the style of play rather than the game itself so I wouldn't be too quick to judge others for being causal/hardcore gamers.
People who say that a game isn't a game are being arrogant and are not worth a single breath to explain how that game is a game.
So... Call of Duty is casual and Mario Kart is hardcore? Did I wake up in the Bizarro universe or something?
Does anyone actually consider themselves a hardcore, or casual gamer?
I have always used this definition of gamer. Do you play games, 'yes', do you like playing games, 'yes', do you know how to get the games that interest you (retail, DD, etc), 'yes', congratulations, you are a gamer.
Never did get the whole Hardcore Vs Casual "debate." Course that's probably because what people define as such changes all the time.
If you didn't beat Ninja Gaiden on the Super-Duper-Awesome-Sploder-Ninja-Mindfuck-OMFGWTFBBQ-End-It-Now difficulty you were a scrub. Now it's just liking a game for handhelds, like Angry Birds. Or if you did beat it you were a no life having nerd. Seems like just a bunch of pointless e-peening that comes with the internet.
Not too much of a surprise that they're both Hypocrites.
I loved the last line. "You'll thank God for me...ya hypocritical cunts." This is definitely a video a few of my friends need to see.
Still doesn't explain why you gave Mario Kart that score for 'not changing anything', then MW3 ended up with a very high score.
You know Call of Duty right? That thing that gets repackaged every year?
I'm not a fan of Mario Kart myself, in fact, I prefer CoD to MK, but to see such a huge scoring difference is bizarre.
Any game can be as hardcore or as casual as you make it. Mario, for most people, is a casual experience, but there will always be the speed run fanatics.
Huh, interesting. That said, i don't like simple games. I grew up on Earthbound, FF6, Breath of Fire 3, Might and Magic 6+, Baldur's Gate, and so on and so forth. RPGs with some depth to them. Granted, I don't rail on simple games, only games that are being simplified over their previous iterations, so I'm not sure I'm part of the group being talked about anyway.
aye, but my definition of casuls vs hardcore is the amount not the diffculty or challage, if you play game a little, you are casual, if you play games alot you are hardcore, diffculty does not factor in.
Interesting episode there, Can't say I've actually played Infinity Blade myself but I can't see anything wrong with it. I don't play all that many ISO games, but only because I have an unhealthy attachment to my keyboard and mouse :P
While I agree that Jim here does have a few points, I think his argument is rather flawed. Yes, PunchOut was indeed a good game... a very very long time ago, when there were significant limitations to what you -could- do within a gaming scene.
The real reason a lot of us 'hardcore gamers' (I guess I can call myself that, having been a gamer since C64's days of counting pixels for the perfect The Last Ninja jump and so on?) frown at the casual gaming industry is because of it's effect on the rest of the gaming community. A lot of the limitations imposed on casual consoles (including phones and such) by the hardware and interface leads quite naturally to less complex games with less depth. (You can pronounce the word 'depth' funny as much as you want, it's meaning is still just as valid as it's always been.)
This in turn leads to a lot of quite frankly insulting games on more powerful platforms where interface is less restricted and the same goes for the hardware. Games get developed for multiple platforms at once these days, which means the lowest common denominator is what -everyone- gets. This is one of the reasons 'casual' gaming is severely impacting the more 'hardcore' communities in rather negative ways.
We get less games tailored for our tastes, skill levels and lack of interface limitations. Even the games we do get are infested by 'innovations' that exist purely because of the utter crap game design on inferior platforms. Bossfights are replaced by quicktime events. Fights in general get excruciatingly simple because they're balanced for crap interfaces where you're limited by the hardware in your hands rather than your own skill.
Casual gamers are definitely gamers in their own right. I'm never going to look down upon them for their tastes and preferances in gaming. I am, however, not going to pretend they're not affecting my gaming in rather negative ways. It's not something they are doing intentionally or even know they're doing at all in many cases, since it's largely the industry itself that jumps on the popularity bandwagons and leaves the rest of us behind.
It's a very sad thing to contemplate, really. We gamers were a minority and almost shunned throughout the last twentyfive years and now that we've grown up and gaming is both tolerated and even promoted... we're still a minority that's shunned, only this time by the industry itself and the hordes of 'casuals' that popped up as soon as it wasn't social suicide to be a gamer.
There's very little we can do about this, of course. It's rather unimportant in the long run. Complaining, though? Yeah, we'll keep doing that. It's kind of all we've got left after you casual bastards ruined it all for us, heh.
Amen to that sir.
I always had the impression that to be hardcore it has to be new, that games like Mario and Punch-out are casual because they are old. At least that's the impression that you people of the internet give to me.
I'm really glad that the whole Casual vs. Hardcore has for the most part disappeared; it was the dumbest of all the downfall of gaming crap that I've heard over the years.
hahaha! The Mario Kart player... Oh the Mario Kart player. Very funny episode Jim! I reckon this hypocritical behaviour spawns from the way we socialise on the internet, we see a lot of people willing to hurl poo at each other on youtube but would we see it any where else from these same people in real life? Doubtful. I don't know why but usernames seem to give people a barrier. If someone on the internet thinks I'm an idiot there is no way that they can link my idiotic comments to a real person. I can call a gangster a "fag" on the internet, but they're unlikely to be able to hunt me down and shoot out my knee caps :).
I guess every good point he makes has a counterpart. And that would be it. "Too simple" IS a criticism. I enjoy games with good stories, interesting and lovable characters, complex mechanics and many other things that make up a AAA game. And when I see Mario Kart, for example, of course I gonna say "too simple" in a bad, or rather criticizing, way. Any hardcore gamer would. Such phrase does not imply low quality or something inherently bad about a game. It just means its too simple for that person, too basic.
Its also irrelevant where the gaming roots are. Gaming is moving forward. Its evolution in a basic sense. So I can always appreciate the impact and history of early games, who were intrinsically simple, yet at the same time find them too simple and move to more interesting and complex games. Demonizing gamers who think casual games are too simple is stupid!
If you're scoring based solely on them re-releasing and not changing much every year, then yeah, they should be the same.
But that's where any similarities between the two end. One is a shooter, the other is a kart racer for fuck's sake. How anyone can even compare them is just... ridiculous. They're two entirely different games with entirely different styles aimed at entirely different markets.
Or if you want an actual explanation, it's because Call of Duty is really, really good at what it does, which is set-piece campaign, solid shooting controls, and addictive multiplayer and MW3 continued that. Whereas Mario Kart didn't do so well at what it does, which is kart racing. And it didn't do so well at that.
Again, one's a huge-budgeted shooter aimed at the console market. The other's a kart-racer aimed at the handheld market. They have NOTHING in common beyond being games that don't change much with each release.
Next Hardcore Gamers will define themselves by playing with controllers wrapped in barbed wire! And they hit casual gamers with folding chairs and powerbomb them though flaming tables! HARDCORE! HARDCORE! HARDCORE!
1: @0:21-0:36 I believe the proper name for this subset is "PC Gamers."
2: Good to see someone else hates Bomberman Act Zero! HAAAAATE!
3: I believe "Simple is best" is a great way to say it. Just because it's simple doesn't mean its bad. And yes, Mario might be "casual", but it's GOOD. It's a GOOD GAME. I don't care how "deep" or "complex" or "gritty" or "immersive" it is as long as it is GOOD or FUN before any of that.
4: The whole "It's taking resources away from hardcore games" argument is BS. Look at the endless shooter flood we're still stuck in. The only difference between that and what was supposed to be the great "casual apocalypse" is that the shooters are supposed to be the games for us (the "hardcore" gamer) as opposed to trying to get a different market entirely.
If we are all wrong, and you are right. THen what happens when we agree with you?
Hardcore Hipster here: I've been championing hardcore iOS games before Jim Sterling made a video about it
My game to Champion is Rage on the iOS but NOT the version that was reviewed at launch, but the game subsequently updated (after the metascore had been set) to include REALLY GOOD gyroscope controls that makes it not just very fun to play, but engaging in a really unique way.
But Jim, Mario Kart is totally a hardcore game! You're just "bias" because you like your casual shooters!
I consider myself a "casual" gamer. Whether or not my definition matches yours or anyone else's is a different story. I won't own a Wii, I don't play titles like Mario Kart, and I don't own an iphone, but I also don't take games as super srs as a lot of the so-called (and self-labeled, I might add) "hardcore" crowd.
Is it two dimensional? Well, when you look at the breadth of what the terms cam mean, not really.
i actually played infinity blade on a giant touch screen at Dave&Buster's and well... it was fucking sweet!i spent like 10 bucks on it. so i agree with the argument that it could hold up as a classic game if it were released in the 80's. its also awesome over all. simple or not.
Brb, getting a horse because cars are too hipster.
Try playing Double Dash with 4 players going through the final stretch, both racers perfectly in tune with their partners, neck and neck down to the last moment with a blue shell bearing down on you and tell me Mario Kart isn't hard core. I have lost blood over that game.
OT: All kidding aside (though the story really happened) the gaming industry really needs to drop the whole casual/hardcore argument. You can be a hardcore Tetris/Mario/Wii Sports Resort player as easily as you can be a hardcore Halo/Battlefield/COD player. You get what you put in, nothing more and nothing less.
I'm really hoping that entire thing was sarcastic, because Jim's misconception of the word deep (or at least in the usual gamer lingo 'deep', which I assume he's using) is rather astounding. I think had he used the word 'complex' instead this entire thing would make sense, because yes, more complexity does not inherently make a better game. Depth, on the other hand, is an entirely different beast and IS what separates good games from bad 90%-100% of the time.
For those of you confused, or unaware, by the distinction I'm trying to draw is that a complex game has 50 different options, a deep game has 10-15, but upon exploration and experience with the game it is revealed that by combining these elements an enormous amount of possibilities is discovered. An excellent example is Pokemon, easy to pick up and complete and generally straightforward, even simple. But upon a longer exposure to the game it is revealed that genuine mastery of the game is a long (but not necessarily arduous) road, filled with relevant decisions the player can make.
It seems to me Jim doesn't really understand this, because he draws comparisons to the retro age with games that simply don't hold up against them. The original Mario is certainly simple, but it is also deceptively deep. Advanced run-throughs of the game take a good long while to figure out, and require not only a mastery of the game, but of its systems and layout. This is where IOS games really fall down, is that they aren't that well designed (in comparison to the genuine classics, not that they are inherently bad) and are simply ... well simple, and can be completed very easily in a single run-through, and where player decision making is virtually non existent.
Additionally he's comparing games from over twenty years ago, to something made very recently. The fact that that is what it stacks up against is not actually a good case for the game in question.
Personally I find that the IOS would matter more if serious designers actually payed any heed to it, because currently most up-and-comers focus on making downloadable titles for consoles or PC for two reasons. One, they are easier to develop, and two, most 'actual gamer' devs aim to make games for people with history in the medium, perhaps that's a dated perspective but a common one nonetheless. Larger devs also have very little experience designing for tablets and whatnot, meaning they are more likely to develop for consoles and PCs. Until people actually start making games that are more enjoyable, and memorable, on the IOS, I think I'll stick to my other gaming devices.
this guy can put it better than me (sorry for not knowing how to embed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otyXtzLNxoI&feature=player_embedded#!
I grew up with Fallout, Planescape Torment and Deus Ex. When I bitch about gaming "not being hardcore" I ask where can I find games like these now-a-days. (Human Revolution was ... good, just not as mind-boggling as the first).
First: This discussion has to die. It's useless.
Second: @Deviate (post 12) made really points, though.
I usually can't stand the Jimquisition, but he's had a pretty good month of videos thus far. Keep it up.
Or how about we end the labels: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8031-Extra-Punctuation-Dont-Use-the-Word-Gamer
I'm going to go watch some TV now. I guess that makes me a TVer, as I must label myself based on what I do for entertainment. *eye roll*
a bit tangential, but the only real gripes i have with IOS games are not that they're too simple. or that they're too casual; its that i cant get them on my pc! seriously! i would fling money at my laptop hard enough to blow a hole through it if i could get a pc compatible version for angry birds or infinity blade!... and no i wont buy an i-phone.... unless apple makes a deal with bethesda and you can buy an apple pip boy...
You're trying really hard to get flamed, aren't you?
Everyone that gets in on the ground-floor of a medium or industry wants to immediately lock the door behind them. We grew up eating the baby-food and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches of early arcade gaming, and eventually moved up to the steak-and-potatoes of "grown up" games. The industry grew up with us, increasing the challenge to meet our ever-increasing expertise.
Along the way, we've forgotten that, while we're older now, new gamers are still being "born." Just because I'm not eating strained peas anymore doesn't mean they should be taken off the shelves.
This is not to suggest that casual games are only for kids. It's simply to suggest that not every game can cater to the hardest-core sensibilities. We still need casual games for:
1. Yes, the newcomers. The younger kids who don't have decades of prerequisite knowledge and experience that allow them to take on hardcore games right out of the gate.
2. The other end -- the former "hardcore gamers" who are now old enough to have families and responsibilities that might just take up more time than they used to.
What's happening is unfortunate, but not uncommon. A group of people use a particular medium to build an identity, and then they want to declare a moratorium on new recruiting so they can keep things their way forever.
Exactly, the term "Hardcore" is IMHO nothing but a publicity stunt of some videogame companies, saying that games that are simple, not realistic or not violent are for kids, and that true gamers need more depth and better graphics.
True gamers play videogames because they have fun. Games now a days are so diverse that there is something for everybody and there are gamers for every kind of game. Calling them names or telling them that they are not true gamers is to spit to the wind. End of story.
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Mon 22.07.2019 -
16.00 to 16.30
Pop-up Heureka
Other arts and events
Mon 22.07.2019 -
16.00 to 16.30
Estimated duration: 30 minutes
Organizer:Tiedekeskus Heureka
Free entrance
Cloakroom charge: Free and unattended
No servings (ie. seminars)
Pop-Up Heureka is a science show featuring demonstrations, experiments and interaction.
Heureka has created a show based on modern science teaching methods which are motivating and facilitate learning. Designed with content which addresses all ages, Pop-Up Heureka promotes lifelong learning, encourages presenter and audience interaction and activates visitors to think about the phenomena presented in the show. A Pop-Up Heureka show can be followed by hundreds of spectators at a time. There is no seating; the spectators gather around the stage.
Organizer contacts:
Tickets and costs
Cloakroom charge: Free and unattended
Additional details
See also
Main Foyer
The Main Foyer hosts the café and entrance to the Concert Hall stalls. You can also see the Kansalaistori Square and Finlandia Park from the Main Foyer.
Easy listening
Jari Sillanpää 25v juhlakonsertti
Sun 25.04. 15:00
/ Concert Hall
Buy tickets
From 53 €
Easy listening
Legendaarinen vappukonsertti
Fri 30.04. 19:00
/ Concert Hall
Buy tickets
From 60 €


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Rhode Island marks 10th anniversary of Station nightclub fire
WEST WARWICK, R.I. -- Rhode Island is marking the 10th anniversary of a nightclub fire that killed 100 people.
The Feb. 20, 2003, fire in West Warwick was started when pyrotechnics for the 1980s hard rock band Great White ignited flammable foam that had been installed as soundproofing.
Relatives of those killed and survivors are marking the day in different ways. Some are staying home from work to spend time with family. Others are taking trips out of town.
Some will pay their respects with a visit to the site of The Station nightclub, where more than 100 handmade crosses dot the ground.
A foundation working to build a permanent memorial at the site held a ceremonial groundbreaking Sunday. Work on the permanent memorial is expected to start this spring.


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Abstract and Keywords
Economic resilience, in its static form, refers to utilizing remaining resources efficiently to maintain functionality of a household, business, industry, or entire economy after a disaster strikes, and, in its dynamic form, to effectively investing in repair and reconstruction to promote accelerated recovery. As such, economic resilience is oriented to implementing various post-disaster actions (tactics) to reduce business interruption (BI), in contrast to pre-disaster actions such as mitigation that are primarily oriented to preventing property damage. A number of static resilience tactics have been shown to be effective (e.g., conserving scarce inputs, finding substitutes from within and from outside the region, using inventories, and relocating activity to branch plants/offices or other sites). Efforts to measure the effectiveness of the various tactics are relatively new and aim to translate these estimates into dollar benefits, which can be juxtaposed to estimates of dollar costs of implementing the tactics. A comprehensive benefit-cost analysis can assist public- and private sector decision makers in determining the best set of resilience tactics to form an overall resilience strategy.
Keywords: economic resilience, cost-benefit analysis, business interruption, microeconomic analysis, mitigation
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Half term activities from brogdale cic
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Half term activities from brogdale cic
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Austin is a former actor/singer who in his spare time would volunteer and
work in and around many disabilities. Not happy with some of what he saw, Austin developed his own workshops.
His interest in autism grew from a friend that was on the 'spectrum'. He
learned how to build strong bonds and understanding by putting himself in the shoes of the person he's working with – seeing life from their point of view.
After suffering a serious head/brain injury in 2007 Austin was left with his
own disabilities which brought about a change in his career. Working within autism became his main focus as he trained and enjoyed working for the NAS.
He was Senior Behavioural Support and Training Officer for Anna Kennedy Online, before becoming Community Sports Manager for The West Ham Foundation. www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/january/03-january/celebrating-another-fantastic-year-work-community
Austin has been delivering training with ASD Ashford over the last 4 years nd has helped many of our members. He has always been hugely supportive of what we do as group, and it's fair to say he has been taken to the hearts of our families.
It was with great pleasure that in February 2014, he came on board as our Patron.


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Delaware Marriage
Civil Marriage Equality in Delaware
Delaware state law recognizes marriages between same-sex Delaware couples as legal relationships. In addition, persons of the same gender who are in legal unions (marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships, etc.) established in other jurisdictions have the same rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities as married persons under Delaware law.
The Delaware General Assembly passed the Civil Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom Act of 2013 during the first session of the 147th General Assembly. Governor Jack Markell signed the legislation on May 7, 2013, shortly after final passage in the state senate.
The Act protects religious freedoms of religious societies and other persons and does not require anyone to perform solemnization of marriages that do not conform to their religious beliefs.
Transition from Delaware Civil Unions to Marriages
The Civil Union and Equality Act of 2011 created legal recognition of same-sex civil unions solemnized after January 1, 2012. Civil unions were solemnized in Delaware until July 1, 2013, after which no new civil unions were created. State law provided for conversion of existing Delaware civil unions to marriages between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014.
On July 1, 2014, all existing Delaware civil unions, except those subject to a pending proceeding for dissolution, annulment or legal separation, automatically converted to marriages under Delaware law.
Religious Freedom
The Civil Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom Act protects religious freedoms of religious societies and other persons that are guaranteed under the United States Constitution and the Delaware Constitution. The Act specifically does not interfere with or regulate the religious practice of any religious societies, which are free to choose which marriages they will solemnize. Religious societies, clergypersons and ministers of any religion will not be required to solemnize any marriage that does not conform to their religious beliefs.
Did You Know?
The United States battleship USS Delaware was commissioned in 1910.
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Russian Winter
About the Book
Russian Winter
When she decides to auction her remarkable jewelry collection, Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi Ballet, believes she has finally drawn a curtain on her past. Instead, the former ballerina finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland and of the events, both glorious and heartbreaking, that changed the course of her life half a century ago.
It was in Russia that she discovered the magic of the theater; that she fell in love with the poet Viktor Elsin; that she and her dearest companions --- Gersh, a brilliant composer, and the exquisite Vera, Nina's closest friend --- became victims of Stalinist aggression. And it was in Russia that a terrible discovery incited a deadly act of betrayal --- and an ingenious escape that led Nina to the West and eventually to Boston.
Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime. But two people will not let the past rest: Drew Brooks, an inquisitive young associate at a Boston auction house, and Grigori Solodin, a professor of Russian who believes that a unique set of jewels may hold the key to his own ambiguous past. Together these unlikely partners begin to unravel a mystery surrounding a love letter, a poem, and a necklace of unknown provenance, setting in motion a series of revelations that will have life-altering consequences for them all.
Interweaving past and present, Moscow and New England, the backstage tumult of the dance world and the transformative power of art, Daphne Kalotay's luminous first novel --- a literary page-turner of the highest order --- captures the uncertainty and terror of individuals powerless to withstand the forces of history, while affirming that even in times of great strife, the human spirit reaches for beauty and grace, forgiveness and transcendence.
Russian Winter
- Publication Date: April 5, 2011
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
- Paperback: 496 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial


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Objects in the shade of Brown
The closest color to #b45833 in the Crayola® color palette is
Brown which has the hex code of #b4674d.
Perhaps you'd like to see the intersection between this color and CSS3 or CSS4 palettes?
Alas, there are no images to show you right now.


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Time is of the essence: it just has to be a new drum motor and rubber coated as well. Interroll can now offer a quality cold bonded or hot vulcanized drum motor to their customer requirements with a much shorter delivery time. With the latest manufacturing and test equipment available this enables all our customers to receive the highest quality rubber coating and excellent delivery times. We can offer rubber coated drive drums to cover PVC, PU and heavy duty conveyor belts, plus we have over 250 designs covering the majority of plastic modular belting. Our knowledge and experience is of great help to our customers when specifying their requirements.
Interroll is able to rubber coat from 500 to 1,000 shells or rollers per week, depending upon type and customer needs. Our Coating Center only supply rubber of the highest quality, whereby formulae and compounds are specified together with suppliers, confirming that they are available exclusively to the Coating Center.


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La Rive Hitfire - Eau de Toilette for Men 90 ml8.50 £6.90 £Brand: La Rive
pcs. Add to bag
Availability: Available
Delivery within: 3-5 working days
Shipping: from 5.50 £ Available delivery forms for viewing the product:Express Delivery - GLS Curier - 5.50 £
In Stock: 21 pcs.
Notes similar to that found in: Salvador Dali Laguna
Disclaimer: The product that we sell have no connection what so ever with any designer label or brand. The names used are for a reference only to the fragrance.
Be the first one to review this productWRITE A REVIEW


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In 1915, three bothers named Jacobs created a small concessions business in Buffalo, New York. Year round, they bagged popcorn and peanuts, selling them to baseball parks in the summer and movie theatres the rest of the year. No one had conceived that this could be a worthwhile enterprise, but the brothers did, and, in effect, initiated the sporting concession business.
The Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball approached the Jacobs' company, Delaware North, about operating the concessions at their ballpark, Navin Field. It wasn't long before Delaware North had purchased and began operating horserace tracks. In the 1940s, the company also moved into the travel and hospitality industries. By 1960, Delaware North was a global provider of concessions, hospitality, gaming and travel services.
In 1968, Louis Jacobs died, and bequeathed Delaware North to his enterprising 28-year-old son, Jeremy. "My Dad died at work," Jeremy told Success Magazine. "He died doing what he liked to do."
Jeremy Jacobs, born January 21, 1940, legitimately came by his business acumen. He is an alumnus of the University of Buffalo's School of Management and the Harvard School of Business Advanced Management Program. Since then, Mr. Jacobs has received honorary doctorates from the University at Buffalo, Canisius College and Johnson and Wales University.
Jacobs has overseen the exponential growth of Delaware North, slowly expanding the width and breadth of the company as its chairman and CEO. Today, the company exceeds revenues of $2.3 billion operating concessions at various sports venues, including the TD Garden in Boston and London's Wembley Stadium, airports and entertainment complexes around the world, including the Kennedy Space Center and NASA's visitor complex. Delaware North also has an interest in the New England Sports Network (NESN), owns and manages Tenaya Lodge near Yosemite National Park, the Harrison Hot Springs and Spa in British Columbia and other resorts in Australia and New Zealand. Delaware North Companies is considered one of the largest and most admired privately-held companies in North America.
Jacobs has frequently been named as one of Sports Business Journal's Most Influential People in Sports. In 2006, he was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in Western New York.
It took thirty-six years under Mr. Jacobs before the Bruins won the elusive Stanley Cup. During the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, Jacobs took the opportunity to speak to the Bruins. "I was happy that he did take the time to speak to our team. We don't see him much during the regular season," mentioned Boston coach Claude Julien. "He comes and watches games, but he certainly is not one of those owners that will interfere and then come down much. That's his personality and his style, and we respect that. When he does come in and address the team, everybody is happy to hear from him."
A father of six, Mr. Jacobs looks at a succession plan that includes his three sons, all intrinsically involved in the management of Delaware North. "This is not a one-man design anymore," he stated. "It's a collection of very gifted people."
Jeremy Jacobs is extensively involved in charitable efforts, recently donating $1 million to Roswell Park, one of the most respected cancer institutes in the United States. He gave a record $10 million to establish the Jacobs Institute at the University of Buffalo. The Jacobs Institute is a collaborative partnership between the university, Kaleida Health and a new medical and teaching district in downtown Buffalo that Mr. Jacobs hopes will revitalize the area as much as it leads the way in research and teaching.
So, for a man that, quite literally works for peanuts, Jeremy Jacobs has enjoyed extraordinary success as he enters his eighth decade. Yet, we suspect that nothing held as much satisfaction for Jacobs as finally lifting the Stanley Cup over his head in triumph.
On Friday, we'll discover how Jeremy Jacobs celebrated with that same Stanley Cup. Hold onto your seats it's a whirlwind of a trip!
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China's Lenovo Plans Gradual U.S. Push
Lenovo Group Ltd. has only just started in the U.S.
The Chinese computer maker, which is known for its ThinkPad personal computers, is working its way toward the American consumer market with what it says is a thoughtful, if slow, approach that will culminate in the company's first high-end PCs for U.S. buyers later this year.
"We have the best products in commercial space with the Think brand," said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's chief executive, in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show here. He plans to rely on the popularity of his company's well-regarded business computers to start selling the high-end PCs.


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Time for a New Mattress?
Trying to find the perfect mattress is never simple or straightforward. For starters, there are more options out there on the market today than ever before. Worse than that, though, is every mattress manufacturer promises that they are the only ones with the best option for you. Trying to sift through all of the pretenders and contenders can become more than a little bit daunting. Secondly, researching mattresses online can be a bit of a headache just because you never get to lay down on the mattress for yourself. You have to trust reviews to help you understand just how soft, how firm, or how comfortable one mattress is going to be compared to another – all based off of how someone else feels. That's never fun and it's never easy. Of course, when you come across the mountain of glowingly positive reviews for the Nectar Sleep Mattress, though, it's hard not to get swept up in all of the excitement. There simply aren't all that many mattresses – if any – out there that can come close to having an avalanche of positive press the way that this mattress does. Check out the rest of this quick guide to learn a little bit more about whether or not the Nectar Sleep Mattress is right for you.
Initial Impressions
Right out of the gate, the fact that the folks at Nectar are completely comfortable with you sleeping on this mattress for 365 straight nights before you have to make a decision about whether or not you will keep it – or return it for a full, no questions asked refund – speaks volumes about how serious this company is as far as their quality is concerned. Not too many other memory foam mattresses out there offer a full year's worth of "try it before you buy it" guarantees. Secondly, the transparency that Nectar has when it comes to the materials that they use throughout their mattresses is pretty uncommon in this industry, too. Nectar sleep mattresses are designed to provide pressure point relief, especially for those that sleep on their sides. They use a number of different innovative engineering, design, and construction material choices to make all of that possible. Finally, the price point for Nectar Sleep Mattresses is really exceptional. This is a brand that understands their customers perfectly and wants to make sure that getting the full night worth of sleep you deserve is as affordable as possible.
Materials and Quality
When you order the Nectar Sleep Mattress, you receive it direct to your doorstep from the folks at Nectar themselves –rolled up into a bag for effortless transportation. Once you pop open the bag and pull apart the shrink wrap plastic your mattress will instantly begin to unfold and expand all on its own. This is where you'll discover that the mattress cover is made from long staple cotton materials and Tencel. Tencel is an environmentally friendly bedbug resistant fabric designed to improve airflow throughout the mattress so that you enjoy the perfect temperature regulation. An inch of breathable gel memory foam is quilted into this mattress cover, acting as the initial point of contact between you and the mattress. The gel material is designed to regulate heat and to alleviate pressure points on its own, and it gives the mattress a really luxurious feel. The next step down is a full gel memory foam layer that works to cushion your body without you ever feeling as though you are completely encased in memory foam. Other, lower quality memory foam mattresses will make you feel like you are swimming in your bed whenever you lay down – but that's not going to be the case here. Below that full gel memory foam layer is going to be an adaptive high core memory foam surface. This provides a bit of a firmer feel after your body has been supported by the memory foam, and also acts as a great buffer to the bottom base layer that helps guarantee body heat isn't ever trapped in your mattress. You'll never have to worry about hot summer nights sleeping on your memory foam mattress any longer.
Firmness Rating
As far as is concerned, the Nectar Sleep Mattress is just a bit on the firmer side of things compared to most memory foam and really works wonders for those that are hoping to sleep on their side or they are back. The top two layers of gel memory foam are designed to be slow responding. You'll feel yourself gently sinking into your mattress, whereas the bottom layers – the base layers – have a much faster response time. They activate quickly to provide you with the cradling support you need to fall asleep faster. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most firm, you should consider the Nectar Sleep Mattress to be somewhere around a 6 or a 7.
Final Verdict
At the end of the day, the folks at Nectar have really hit it out of the park with this memory foam mattress. The only real downside to this mattress is that you are going to have to order it directly online without first getting a chance to try it out in person. This isn't a mattress brand you are going to find in big-box retailers or even specialty boutique stores, but is instead a "direct to consumer" brand that helps cut costs by sending you the mattress directly. Other than that, you'll find this Nectar Sleep Mattress to have everything you could want out of the mattress and then some. This is really something special, showcasing the next evolution in memory foam materials and construction, and gives you the unique opportunity to get your hands on a premium mattress at a relatively budget based price point. The full year moneyback guarantee from Nectar is second to none in the industry. You just can't get any better than the complete and total confidence offered by this company, a company that knows their new mattress will help you visit The Sandman each night better than anything else out there on the market today!


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The One-Man Telephone System (Mar, 1956)
I love this. Of course it might be tough to compete when you're only offering 16/7 telephone service.
Meet Bob Wilcox
The one-man telephone system for his town's 370 party-line patrons.
BOB WILCOX, President of Inland Telephone Company of Caledonia, Mo., a tiny hamlet with only 370 party-line customers, can be found almost any day atop a pole fixing a wire. No deskbound executive, Wilcox is also business manager, maintenance man, installation and repair man and part-time switch-board operator. This one-man telephone system works 16 hours a day, seven days a week—and he likes his job. Maintaining 40 miles of line takes up most of his time. While he's out during the day, his wife runs the switchboard. Wilcox takes over in evening while she catches up on her housework. Cranking a wall phone to get the Wilcox switchboard, a caller will simply say, "Bob, get me Aunt Mary." Such a call is put through without delay. Most of Inland's patrons pay $1.50 a month for party-line service.


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If I remember right, Rich has said that these strips will follow on after the strips in SSDT.
Linguist and Invoker of Orcus of the Rudisplorker's Guild
Originally Posted by The Giant
Fantasy literature is ONLY worthwhile for what it can tell us about the real world; everything else is petty escapism.
Originally Posted by The Giant
No author should have to take the time to say, "This little girl ISN'T evil, folks!" in order for the reader to understand that. It should be assumed that no first graders are irredeemably Evil unless the text tells you they are.
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MANAMA, Bahrain - USS Chosin, the Combined Task Force 151 flagship, rescued three stranded Yemeni fishermen in the Gulf of Aden, Nov. 17.
According to the fishermen, they were left stranded in the water after 12 suspected pirates hijacked their vessel. The fishermen also said that the pirates gave them an ultimatum to either jump overboard with only a wooden plank as a flotation device or be killed.
After surviving for three days with only a few bottles of water, a passing merchant vessel spotted them in the water. The merchant vessel notified coalition forces and a Chosin rescue team picked up the stranded fishermen.
Chosin medical personnel treated the fishermen and the ship gave them food and water. Once the fishermen were deemed to be medically stable, Chosin transferred the fishermen to a Yemeni naval vessel.
CTF 151 is a multinational task force established to conduct counter piracy operations under a mission-based mandate throughout the Combined Maritime Forces area of responsibility to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations. CTF 151 currently includes naval forces from the United States, Spain, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Australia, and Turkey.
|Date Taken:
|Date Posted:
|11.19.2009 11:35
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This work, USS Chosin Rescues Three Yemeni Fishermen in the Gulf of Aden, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.


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Still playing catch up on the Mediapost column front. So here's a previous Online Spin article about customer experience (or the lack thereof) when it comes to Tea. And obviously the implications in terms of how you are packaging and ultimately putting a premium on your otherwise commoditized product or service.
I'm not sure what your personal experience is like where you live on this small planet, but here in America, when you buy tea in a restaurant or café, the most incredibly (bad) customer service occurs.
When you order tea, you typically receive a cup (and saucer) of boiling water and (separately) a standard tea bag from a popular commercial brand such as Lipton. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to open the tea bag packaging and proceed to dip your teabag to your heart's content. For this manual labor, you are charged some kind of ridiculous premium: typically $2.75 or more.
Even Homer J. Simpson himself would be able to do the math to calculate cost of good sold (COGS) of a cup of boiling water (it's pretty much zero) and a teabag (again, pretty much zero).
Contrast this with a similar scenario at your local Starbucks, where an Americano (boiling water and a few shots of espresso) sells to willing buyers at around $4 +.
In the former example, I would contend that restaurants should give away generic tea for free. Or if not, you should get as many teabags (and hot water) as you like. Yes, I get the fact some people like strong tea versus weak tea, but by the same token, restaurants don't slap a raw piece of meat on your plate and say, "grill it yourself, " do they? Perhaps I'm a romantic, but I hold hope that my waiter or restaurant barista is trained in the dark arts of "weak" or "strong" tea brewing.
Or of course, a restaurant can get fancy and create a tea library that rivals its single-malt scotch collection. Green, peppermint, Rooibos, lemon -- and the flavors continue. They could even invest in real tea leaves, strainers and exotic flavors such as Mango Diablo (I recently purchased these from a new specialty tea store in Westport called Davids Tea).
In this day and age of transparency, there's such a thing as too much transparence. In a time when customer experience is the new marketing, everything that touches a customer -- from website design and UI to preparation of tea -- is part of customer service. When done right, our customers will pay a premium for great service, storytelling, subject matter expertise and concierge solutions. When done wrong, Twitter is just 140 characters away.
If it's true that necessity is the mother of invention, I would contend that survival is the father of innovation. There's absolutely nothing stopping a restaurant from turning the uninspiring delivery of a commodity into a unique, memorable and sharable experience.
And in doing so, what a unique opportunity to turn the last underwhelming contact with a customer into a lasting impression that surprises, delights and delivers the triple threat of repeat business, referrals and "earned media."
Innovation these days is largely associated with technology, but sometimes it is worth getting back to basics, with a common sense, "analog" approach to better business.
Tea, anyone?