text:
Shadows of Doom
Among the first grumblers were some of Psion's most loyal users.
In the rush to complete the Series 5, features that Series 3 users loved had been omitted. The Series 3 design had its peculiarities, but once these were met, it felt personable, and became an indispensable personal tool. Psion's earlier computers had a diamond or "Psion" key that allowed owners to flick between Agenda views instantly. That had gone. The previous Agenda software had Busy and List views that users found essential, and these were absent too. And with an entirely new platform, it would be some time before Psion's third-party application developers caught up to fill the gap.
Even Martin Riddiford had misgivings.
Looking back now Riddiford says Psion abandoned the Series 3 platform too early.
"They were following a technology trend, leaving behind a really fantastic operating system that fizzled out and died," he tells us. "It could still be relevant today. That's what's so sad."
At least one market indicator suggests he's right. On eBay, Series 3 machines can command a higher premium than their successors. Psion's last 16-bit consumer PDA, the Series 3MX launched in 1998, may fetch over £100 on auction, while a 32-bit Revo can be picked up for as little as £20. The old machines are held in great affection; Healey himself says he traded in his Revo for a 3MX recently.
So much affection, that one former Psion director told us that inertia affected the business.
"That product was almost too good," the Psion executive says now, wryly.
"I was sitting on a plane in 2001 next to a man who had a Series 3. We got talking, and I introduced myself as working for Psion. He told me: 'It's so sad, your PDAs are beautiful machines and they work so well — and you're not making them any more. Why is that?'. I had to tell him the problem was people like him — who wouldn't upgrade to our later models," he says. "That makes business much more difficult."
Psion was confident the users would — and it was largely correct. However, as a public company, it was the City of London which provided the most skeptical critic.
Engineering vs The City
Although the press saw Psion as fighting two competitors, it was really having to counter two deeply-held ideas.
The City of London had long held the view that Britain should be a service-based economy. This reflected a particular view of the world, which found itself expressed in a deep class-based disdain for inventiveness and the production of tangible goods. A 1998 editorial in The Daily Telegraph entitled "Metal Bashers Should Shut Up Shop" summed up the post-war orthodoxy of The City. Since the war, British businesses had to contend with interest rates twice as high as their European rivals, so investing in plant was much more costly, and their exported goods much more expensive than they needed to be.
Although Potter, with his own capital, had unleashed a world-class development, design and marketing team that punched far above its weight, Psion nevertheless found itself lumped in with the "Metal Bashers".
The other idea was more recent, but was expressed with a religious zeal. It was a view about what computer markets should look like.
Going horizontal
After several attempts, Microsoft had begun licensing a handheld operating system to a wide range of OEMs. The products were extremely poor and failed to sell, but there were lots of them, and Psion management took the threat seriously. At a product level, Psion responded by trying to make the Series 5 appear less idiosyncratic, and conform more to a "corporate standard". There was no corporate standard for handheld computing, of course, and if such a thing could be argued to exist, then Psion had already defined it.
Microsoft had a powerful weapon at its side: a way of looking at the way computer markets work that had become a simple, religious battle cry. Microsoft threatened to knock Psion out of the market using the brute force of this new view of the world: the "horizontal economic model".
According to the argument, the OEM products built with Windows CE may have been inferior, but the horizontal model that drove prices down in the PC world would be turned onto the handheld world, too. As a result, Psion would become a boutique manufacturer of superior products that few people wanted — because Microsoft's many OEMs produced handhelds that did the job, well enough, for most people at a lower cost. In this simplified view of the world, cost always beat quality — and there could be no exceptions.
Ever since digital technology had "liberated" capital at the turn of the 1980s, leaving it free to roam around the world looking for higher returns, Wall Street and the City of London had championed this view, lauding component suppliers for horizontal industries — at the expense of vertically integrated computer companies such as Psion or Apple. The City saw the horizontal model as more effective at squeezing costs out of the system, lowering prices — and therefore inflation — and giving a higher return on capital. Great vertically integrated computer companies such as Tandem and DEC had been hit hard by the rise of the PC, with illustrious names going under.
The truth was much more complicated than this simplified view of the world suggested. In many cases, these companies had failed to leverage their IPR assets as the market had changed: and in most cases they failed to meet the demand for "open systems" in time — the PC world represented by Microsoft and Intel had little or nothing to do with it. And today, we can see there are thriving exceptions.
But this "model" became a religious mania; the City and the experts blessed Microsoft, even though it often had poor competitive products to offer — or nothing at all. Psion, it was predicted, would have to "go horizontal" and license its crown jewels.
A free pass for Palm
On the other hand, Psion's other principle competitor seemed to be exempt from this Holy War. Palm pitched itself not as a rival handheld computer, but a low-priced, pen-based PC companion: a peripheral.
The product "did nothing", in the opinion of Psion's senior management, who after all were designing their technology to be useful to people in 10 years' time. Palm had approached Psion hoping to be acquired — and Psion had rebuffed the offer. Charles Davies concluded that the Palm Pilot was merely "a software application boxed in hardware". It was a consumer electronics appliance.
It had consumer appliance numbers attached to it, however: the Palm PDA had become the fastest-selling technology item of all time in the US in 1997. And in the summer and autumn of 1996, there were few Psion users in the UK who didn't admire the brisk proposition offered by the new Palm Pilot.
In Palm's world, the technology in the handheld didn't really matter: it merely had to perform certain simple operations quickly and well, and was essentially subserviant to the "real" computer, which was the PC.
"You're basically saying the data lives on the computer, you can sync the device with the computer, you can take it out and fiddle around with it," is how Riddiford describes the Palm proposition.
Reflecting now, Healey says Palm taught Psion what it was really like to create a mass market user interface. Although the data input capabilities of the Palm PDA were extremely limited, the Palm allowed users to "fiddle" with an ease unsurpassed before or since: it was well-loved, and a deserved success.
Palm also benefitted from the "horizontal" mania. To Palm, all those years Psion had spent investing in making its handheld computing platform so very reliable had been wasted, ran the argument, because if you lost your data, you only lost your "fiddles". And if the devices were cheap (and getting ever cheaper) — well, then you'd simply buy another one. The US had far higher PC penetration than Europe — and Palm validated this market. What higher endorsement of the PC can there be, other than a successful "PC companion"?
That's not how Psion saw it. To Psion, Palm was an ill-prepared computer company that was pretending it wasn't a computer company at all. The "Zen" of Palm was an enormous deception.
Ten years on, Psion's original verdict on Palm may still be proved correct. Palm belatedly embraced phones, added (inferior) keyboards, and through its own mismanagement failed to update its technology base.
No British Sony
Psion couldn't help noticing a giant hole in the logic. The "horizontal" orthodoxy didn't really extend to consumer electronics companies. A giant like Sony is a vast collection of vertically interated divisions — often fighting each other viciously — but no one ever calls for Sony to cut its R&D or "go horizontal".
Psion Group executives can be excused for feeling beleaguered. By the logic of the critics, backed by PC-centric pundits who'd caught the horizontal mania, Psion simply couldn't win.
When Psion compared its computers to the Microsoft-backed competitors, it was told its product superiority didn't matter — because horizontal economics would win the day. At the same time, while Palm was feted as a "consumer electronics" success story, the same grace wasn't extended to Psion.
A confident Psion would have met both threats head on. Psion could have argued, in response to the Microsoft threat, that handheld computers are essentially personal, and in such an unforgivingly judgemental environment, a poor tool is a poor tool — and unsellable at any price.
A confident Psion would also have blown the smoke away from Palm's proposition by responding that the upstart was really a computer in a peripheral's clothing. And if "PC companion" was to ever be a viable market, it was one in which it would itself rapidly find itself a target, to be driven out of existence by larger and better-resourced players.
A confident Psion might also have remembered its engineering expertise, which was packing high functionality into a very low cost device, and marketing it well — and gone on the offensive, launching a slew of consumer electronics products.
In the end, Psion attempted to do all three: but its confidence began to ebb away. Potter, who had started Psion with £70,000 of his own capital — and watched it grow entirely due to its inventiveness and courage — now faced a City which didn't want to hear any such bold response. Potter began by addressing the "Microsoft" threat first.
The confusion blew Psion's consumer electronics planning off course.


text:
Super-tweeters Joe Lauzon and Miguel Torres will join forces this weekend to guest tweet from @ufc during UFC 112.
Super-tweeters Joe Lauzon and Miguel Torres will join forces this weekend to guest tweet from @ufc during UFC 112.
Miguel Angel Torres (aka The Mullet) is a WEC superstar who held the 135-pound belt for almost two years. He is also a world-renown Chuck Norris expert.
Joe Lauzon (aka The Ears) is a Bostonian UFC lightweight who's picked up of-the-night bonuses in his last two outings. He rose to fame as the former Computer Guy on season five of The Ultimate Fighter.
The two became bromantically involved over Twitter and have since joined forces as a comedic pair that rivals even Pellegrino/Florian and Nelson/cheeseburger. The two host an imaginary political talk program called "The Super Samurai Ninja Master Killers of Pain Show" (logo by @m3mma).
During UFC 112, the two will weigh in with their play-by-play, commentary and questionable insights. Follow along and interact -- the UFC 112 PPV starts at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT. Follow @JoeLauzon and @MiguelTorresMMA on Twitter.
Fight Island
UFC Fight Island - Everything you need to know

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ten people with links to the radical far-right have been arrested by anti-terrorist police in France over an alleged plot to attack Muslims, judical sources said Sunday. Source: France24
GEFIRA provides in-depth and comprehensive analysis of and valuable insight into current events that investors, financial planners and politicians need to know to anticipate the world of tomorrow; it is intended for professional and non-professional readers.
Yearly subscription: 10 issues for €225/$250
Renewal: €160/$175
The Gefira bulletin is available in ENGLISH, GERMAN and SPANISH.
Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) says it has suspended the delivery of aircraft engines to "countries with unclear usage" in the wake of reports that some of those engines are being used on Turkish combat drones deployed by Azerbaijan in fighting against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. Source CBC
Protesters turned out by the hundreds in Turin, Milan and other Italian cities to vent their anger, sometimes violently, at the latest pandemic restrictions. Source Cumnock Chronicle
The number of Chinese boats allegedly illegally fishing for flying squid has been increasing rapidly in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Ishikawa Prefecture's Noto Peninsula.
In the first nine months of this year, 2,586 Chinese fishing boats received warnings from the Fisheries Agency to leave the Yamatotai area in the Sea of Japan, nearly four times more than a year before. Source Japan Times


text:
The Oregunian® Forums are part of Oregon's newest online firearms community, Oregon Shooters. Our goal is to provide a friendly experience for our members and to openly promote the many gun related businesses & groups throughout our wonderful state.
Our philosophy is to encourage the sharing of information by allowing all gun enthusiasts & legitimate Oregon based firearms businesses and related groups to freely post and promote themselves without requirements of financial support to our forums. Obviously we can't allow abusive spam so there are some basic rules which need to be adhered to.
Soon we will be launching a handy Classifieds section where you can buy, sell, trade and even auction off firearms related items.
Non-Profit groups may receive their own sub-forums, on a case by case basis, free of charge if they request one. Commercial businesses may also request their own forums and these requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis.
For those companies wanting to support our forums as well as gain additional exposure, we do offer paid & trade advertising opportunities throughout the forums, classifieds, auctions and our primary site OregunShooters.com. Please Contact Us to inquire.
We hope you enjoy your time here as much as we have enjoyed creating this new community for your use.


text:
Printer-Friendly Version
SFE provides professional development sessions to keep you prepared for rapid changes in ACH, check, card wire and emerging payments systems allowing you to choose the training methods that work best for your staff.
SFE offers a wide variety of publications which are valuable tools to help you increase awareness and understanding of established rules and applications, reduce risk and increase operational efficiency.
SFE members receive SFE News Link every two weeks which contains a brief overview of an issue, typically with a link that provides additional detailed information. SFE members also have access to SFE Support Hotline, samples, forms, in addition to deep discounts on education, publications and service.
Our expertise in payments – Available to you! SFE can provide consulting assistance on a variety of payment topics. We can help you recognize and take steps to mitigate risks. Need an audit or a risk assessment conducted on a payments product? SFE has conducted hundreds of these for ACH, RDC and Wire!
Privacy Statement


text:
Junior Billboard Association
Since the incorporation of the Eight-Sheet Outdoor Advertising Association in Missouri in 1953, our members have worked diligently to develop and enforce industry standards designed to benefit the advertisers and agencies utilizing our medium.
We have recently changed our association name to the Junior Billboard Association to reflect changes in industry descriptions for 8-Sheets which are now called, "Junior Posters".
The Association has helped establish size, structure and location standards, has adopted a code of ethics and standards of business practices. These self-policing efforts have helped stabilize the industry and added the standardization needed for planning and buying national showings.


text:
Astros focus on defense after early rain
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The Astros had to alter their schedule Saturday because of early-morning rain showers, with the pitchers throwing live batting practice first to make sure they got their work in before more rain fell. Position players took batting practice and then worked in a large group focusing on defensive drills.
"We had some weather early on, so we wanted to make sure our pitchers that were scheduled to throw live, we wanted to keep them on schedule," manager Bo Porter said. "We were able to get that in, and it turned into a defensive day from that point on."
Porter said the defense needs improvement, which meant the players weren't able to give each other the post-workout "Astros win!" handshake.
"We didn't execute, and that's why we actually [turned it] into a day of execution from the defensive side of it," Porter said. "We all understand the game of baseball. It's about runs being scored, and I'm a firm believer that the best offense is a good defense. We have to defend the baseball."
That's more than about just making the throws or fielding cleanly, Porter said.
"We've explained this to our guys, from a defensive standpoint it's not just the physical aspect of making the plays," Porter said. "There are a lot of mental things that go into positioning, situations, understanding what to do, what not to do, given the situation. We're going to put our guys in as many of those situations as possible throughout the course of the spring to try to emphasize the importance of these decisions based on situations."


text:
APS' Medicaid Department is available to help families enroll in Medicaid or refer for other eligible services. Please call 505-855-5261 or 505-855-9820 (for Spanish speakers) for more information.
Health Room
Any student who has a fever (100.4 degrees or above) may not return to school until they have been without fever for 24 hours – without the use of fever reducing medication such as Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Aspirin.
Students who have persistent vomiting or diarrhea should remain home until they can tolerate a meal without stomach upset.
If any of the above (or serious injury) occur at school, the health office will contact the parent/guardian for student pick-up. Please ensure your contact information is up to date.
All students must have current immunizations in order to enter or remain in school. Please bring most current records when registering for school.
Free immunization services are provided at Pubic Health offices. More information can be found here.
Medications at School
If your child requires medications at school, the proper form must be completed and signed by a physician yearly - see health office form links to the left.
All medications provided for use in the health office should be include the prescription label. Over the counter medications should be in a new, unopened bottle. We cannot accept expired medications.
Parents are required to pick up all medications at the end of the school year or the medications will be discarded by health office staff. Reminders will be sent home mid-May.
Specific Information Regarding Forms:
- Asthma Action Plan: For students requiring an inhaler or nebulizer at school. Students needing to use a nebulizer will need to provide their own mask and tubing along with their medication.
- Allergy Action Plan: For students who have an epinephrine auto injector ("Epi-Pen").
- OTC Medication or Short-Term Medication Form: To be completed by parents for over-the-counter medication use (Tylenol, Benadryl, etc.) or Short-Term prescriptions such as antibiotics.
- Long-Term Medication Form: For students who take a medication daily, require a daily procedure during school hours, or for other emergency medications (ex: glucagon, diastat).
- Special Diet Authorization Form: For students who need special diet considerations (allergies, sensitivities, etc.) and who participate in school-provided breakfast and lunch.
Mountain View has the services of a part-time nurse and a full-time health assistant. If there are any health concerns or other issues we should be familiar with please inform the nurse and/or health assistant.
In accordance with state law, all students are required to have up-to-date immunizations. If you have any questions regarding the status of your child's immunizations, please contact the nurse and/or health assistant.
In case of injury or illness, we must be able to reach you or your emergency contact if necessary. It is very important that you update your information regularly. Please notify us of any address changes, phone numbers, and as well as any other family or friends to call in case of emergency.
Nurse Assistant Services: Our school nurse assistant helps to monitor the health status of the school community. Her activities include:
- Establishing that immunizations are current.
- Screening vision and hearing.
- Checking general health: Teeth, hair, nails, posture, height, weight, hearing, and visual.
- Obtaining health histories
- Administering minor first aid
The nurse assistant is able to give medication and treatment at school when doctor's orders are written on the APS approved form.
Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Health Screenings:
Health screens are completed yearly for Pre-K, Kinder, 1st, 3rd, and for students new to APS. These screenings include vision, hearing, height/weight, and dental depending on grade-level.
If you would like to opt out from having your child screened, please notify the health office in writing.


text:
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie, better known as 'dmr' (for his email address) at Bell Labs passed away at the age of 70. He was a legendary computer scientist, a man whose contribution is intangibly present in everything we do with computers today. If it were not for him and the C programming language, the world of computer programming would have taken a completely different path. We would not have the flexible programming we enjoy today.
Dennis Ritchie passed away from ill health and news of his death first appeared through Robert Pike's Google+ page.
Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson were the duo, famous for creating UNIX and the C programming language. Almost every programmer writes his first code in C and in the course of doing so comes across the "Kernighan and Ritchie" book on C. The book is nearly 30 years old (first published in 1978), but the lessons are as fresh today, as they were three decades ago. The book has been reprinted ever since, maintaining the same flavor. The thickness of the book will surprise you. However, people have claimed to find more useful things in the book than other bestsellers. Nevertheless, this is not what makes C legendary.
So, what is so great about the C language?
Before the birth of the C language, there was diversity in hardware. Every hardware device had its own fancy instruction set and you had to write assembly code following them. There was absolutely no portability of programs (programs written in one computing device would not on another).


text:
#RSL Tweets of the Day (@RealSaltLake)
LISTEN: #RSL DF @wingert17 "devastated by the result, but proud of the effort & performance" :: http://espn.kall700sports.com/chris-wingert-rsl-df-12-9-13/ …
RSL players reflect on 2013, look forward to 2014 and address the decision their coach faces in the coming days. http://bit.ly/1jGQ3Bf
Really wish I could mention everyone by name but that would be hard. Just wanna thank @RealSaltLake and the entire family for the love 1/2
#RSL v SKC final in pictures - http://bit.ly/WPNYuE pic.twitter.com/h74qyI0dwq
Major League Soccer unveils list of 68 eligible players for December Re-Entry Process #MLS http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/12/09/major-league-soccer-unveils-list-eligible-players-december-re-entry-draft …
RealSaltLake.com: Video: Different looks at Saborio's opening goal
ESPN 700: Chris Wingert on The Bill & Hans Show
Real Salt Lake News & Notes
RealSaltLake.com: Thanks, RSL Family
RealSaltLake.com: By the Numbers: RSL 1-1 (6-7) Sporting Kansas City
MLSsoccer.com: Real Salt Lake players discuss potential impact of Jason Kreis departure as head coach
MLSsoccer.com: Monday Postgame: Analyzing the rough and tumble play in the MLS Cup final
The Salt Lake Tribune: RSL reflects on 2013 and looks to the future
The Salt Lake Tribune: Real Salt Lake declines options on four players
Standard-Examiner: MLS Cup loss wraps up long season for RSL
KSL.com: 4 RSL player options declined, all eligible for MLS Re-Entry Draft
RSL Academy: GSA Exports College Cup Edition: Virginia advances to Final Four on Jordan Allen's match winning goal
For the Fans, By the Fans
RSL Soapbox: Alvarez tops list of RSL's re-entry draft eligible players, joined by McDonald, Saunders, Stephenson
RSL Soapbox: Player Ratings: RSL effort not lacking in MLS Cup loss to Sporting KC
MLS, Other News & Notes
MLSsoccer.com: Kick Off: Re-Entry Draft pool includes big names, Designated Players as teams make their cuts
MLSsoccer.com: Former Colorado Rapids icon & USMNT regular Pablo Mastroeni announces retirement
MLSsoccer.com: Colorado Rapids bid farewell to three players, pick up options on eight others as roster moves crank up
MLSsoccer.com: A legend in Sporting Kansas City lore, veteran goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen opens next chapter on career
MLSsoccer.com: 2013 in Review: Toronto FC show signs of promise in transition year under rookie boss Ryan Nelsen
MLSsoccer.com: With Ryan Johnson likely leaving, the Portland Timbers are "looking for a finisher" during the offseason
MLSsoccer.com: Seattle Sounders decline 2014 option on starting goalkeeper Michael Gspurning
MLSsoccer.com: Major League Soccer unveils list of 68 eligible players for 2013 Re-Entry Process
MLSsoccer.com: With many overseas suitors for Dominic Oduro, Columbus Crew are "happy we got that deal done"
MLSsoccer.com: Chicago Fire decline options on captain Logan Pause, Chris Rolfe, Joel Lindpere, five others
MLSsoccer.com: Report: Toronto FC open to bringing back Dwayne De Rosario; Richard Eckersley not likely to return
MLSsoccer.com: FC Dallas makeover continues with trade of Jackson to Toronto FC, parting with Kenny Cooper
American Soccer Now: Group G Preview: Germany Likely to Dominate Field
American Soccer Now: Group G Preview: Loaded Portugal Poses Challenges
ESPN FC: Omar Gonzalez has no regrets in choosing MLS over a chance at Europe
ESPN FC: USMNT Hot List: Altidore, Howard heating up, Shea cooling down
SI.com: Q&A (Part II) with Commissioner Garber: New-era owners, scheduling, TV, Chivas & more
Goal.com: Mike Magee excited with Frank Yallop hiring after "lackadaisical" mentality in 2013
Pro Soccer Talk: Chelsea's Samuel Eto'o set for move to Major League Soccer
Pro Soccer Talk: Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen retires
Pro Soccer Talk: Some very interesting names now available through Major League Soccer's re-entry process
Pro Soccer Talk: Kenny Cooper's days at FC Dallas may be done. Again.


text:
Milwaukee Public Schools still hiring for upcoming school year
District looking to hire teachers, subs
Most Milwaukee Public Schools students won't be heading back to the classroom until Sept. 2.
But before school starts this fall, the district is looking to hire more employees.
MPS is looking for teachers, educational assistants and about 100 substitute teachers.
At the district's seventh annual "Run Back to School" 5k fun run and 1.5-mile walk at Washington Park Saturday, there was a booth highlighting career opportunities within the district.
"We do have jobs," Dr. Karen Jackson said. "At our last count we had 51 jobs available."
Jackson said most of the jobs are teaching positions.
She said the dozens of jobs are available because things are always changing within the district.
"We have people who leave all times of the year and people who come in, so it's a matter of the balance between those who left and those coming in," Jackson said.
The district is enticing prospective employees by offering to match or exceed their current salary.
"It's got to be people who understand urban districts -- they know that all urban districts have the same challenge," Jackson said. "If this is something that appeals to that particular person and they know that they have the skill set to keep children engaged and to make them successful at the end, that's who we want."
The school district is also willing to help new employees gain credentials.
"Here's another thing you're going to need to know if you want one of these jobs," Thema Ponton said. "The jobs here at MPS are all about the students. Like Kennedy here, they say you have to want to come here to Milwaukee and to teach in MPS schools."


text:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more
- 4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced, divided
- 8 cups spinach, coarsely chopped
- Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed
- 5 canned whole tomatoes, crushed
- 3 cups (or more) vegetable broth
- 4 large eggs
- 1
- 1
Recipe Preparation
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. When oil begins to shimmer, add 1 garlic clove. Stir until beginning to turn golden brown, 1–2 minutes. Add spinach to pot. Toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Cook until spinach is wilted but still bright green, 2–3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside. Wipe out pot.
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in same pot over medium heat. When oil begins to shimmer, add onion and 3 garlic cloves. Cook, stirring often, until onion is softened, 3–4 minutes. Add cumin and paprika; stir until cumin is toasted and fragrant, 1–2 minutes. Add chickpeas and tomatoes; stir to coat. Cook until tomatoes start to caramelize and chickpeas begin to brown, 8–10 minutes.
Add 3 cups broth; bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, occasionally mashing some chickpeas with the back of a spoon or a potato masher, until sauce is thickened, 15–20 minutes. Fold in spinach; simmer for flavors to meld, adding more broth by 1/4-cupfuls if too thick, 8–10 minutes.
Pour oil into a large heavy skillet to a depth of 1/8" (about 1/4 cup). Heat until oil begins to shimmer. Crack 2 eggs into hot oil, spacing apart. Using a large spoon, carefully baste whites (not yolks) with oil until whites are set and edges are crunchy, lacy, and golden brown, 2–3 minutes (do not turn). Season eggs with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining 2 eggs.
Spoon chickpea stew into bowls and top each with a fried egg.


text:
Free Heart Screenings Available to Central Oregon High School Students Feb. 12
Central Oregon high school students have the opportunity to receive a free heart screening for life-threatening heart defects on Feb. 12 as part of an initiative by the Children's Heart Fund, a program of St. Charles Foundation.
Up to 120 student athletes in grades nine through 12 will receive an electrocardiogram, or EKG, which checks for problems with the heart's electrical activity; an echocardiogram, or ECHO, which uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart, and a blood pressure check.
The screenings, which will be held at the St. Charles Heart and Lung Center at 2500 NE Neff Road between 5 and 8 p.m., will help detect five conditions:
· Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
· Long QT syndrome
· Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
· Aortic aneurysm
· Aortic stenosis
To register, call 541-706-2787.
The Children's Heart Fund hopes to provide 1,000 heart screenings to Central Oregon high school students throughout the next year. The next heart screening is scheduled for May 14.
The program is funded entirely through donations to the Children's Heart Fund.
About St. Charles Foundation
As the philanthropic arm of St. Charles Health System, the Foundation works to support and improve health care in Central and Eastern Oregon. Private donations raised by the Foundation allow St. Charles to build new medical facilities, purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment, keep pace with the latest technological advances and deliver exceptional patient care in a healing environment. The Foundation does more than just raise money for bricks and mortar. The organization also raises money to support many programs that benefit low-income and uninsured patients.


text:
CCVC Magnets
Product Code: LI00133
These CVCC and CCVC magnets introduce consonant digraphs to consonants and vowels for spelling and word building.Read more
Spend £150 on SEN resources and receive a free fidgety feet worth £34.95 Details* Terms and conditions: 1. This offer is valid until 18.11.20 and applies to full priced SEN resources only 2. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers and is subject to availability. 3. This offer can only be used once per customer. 4. Free gift is added automatically to the basket when qualifying amount is met. 5. TTS reserve the right to change these terms & conditions on reasonable notice. 6. Offer is only open to customers based in the UK (inc. Channel Islands and Isle of Man). 7. Discounts are applied to the ex-VAT sub-total amount. 8. Offer is applicable online only.


text:
02 April, 2014 | (01 hr)
Sign In to access this Webcast
This winter, the IRS and Treasury Department issued proposed regulatory changes for 501(c)(4) organizations, also known as "Social Welfare Organizations." Much has been made of the political activity of these groups and the extent to which their activities are funded by the "dark money" of corporations. It is likely that new rulemaking will impact ways in which corporations interact with these social welfare organizations as well as other tax-exempt groups such as unions, charities, and membership organizations.
On our webcast, we'll discuss the potential impact of current and proposed rules on corporate political and philanthropic activity, how companies can ensure that they understand the changing rules, providing appropriate board oversight, ensuring against reputational injury, and can anticipate where things are headed with respect to corporate political activity regulation.
Who Should Attend: General Counsel, political compliance lawyers, government affairs professionals, corporate secretaries, heads of citizenship/CSR.
Stefan C. Passantino
As head of McKenna Long & Aldridge's Political Law Team, Stefan C. Passantino has a nationwide practice focusing on representing corporations, interest groups, political figures, and other entities with respect to state and federal election law, campaign finance, pay-to-play and lobbyin...Full Bio
Wesley Bizzell
Wesley Bizzell serves as Assistant General Counsel, External Affairs and Director of Political Law and Ethics Programs for Altria Client Services LLC ("ALCS"). Mr. Bizzell provides in-house legal counsel on matters relating to the political, legislative, and lobbying activities of Alt...Full Bio
Marcel Bucsescu
Marcel Bucsescu is a Co-Program Director of The Conference Board Chief Legal Officers Council. Bucsescu has also served Executive Director of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School and led strategic initiatives for the Office of the CEO at LR...Full Bio


text:
Where to go in Dominican Republic
Many visitors head directly for beachfront resorts, and there's much at these vacation retreats to admire. The southeastern part of the country probably has the loveliest all-inclusive resort zones, Bávaro and Punta Cana, both holding pristine coastline stretching for kilometres on end. Also dedicated to mass tourism is the mega-complex Playa Dorada on the north coast. Playa Dorada is set beside the city of Puerto Plata, a historic city worth examining for its wealth of Victorian architecture, and is also in easy proximity to wind- and kitesurfing capital Cabarete.
Of course, you don't have to base yourself in a resort to visit the DR's most popular sights, and there are plenty of opportunities for independent travellers to range further afield too. A quest for immaculate beaches may take you to the most remote corners of the southwest, where your efforts will be rewarded with the breathtaking sands of the Jaragua Peninsula. There are some beautiful, and far more accessible, beaches scattered about the Samaná Peninsula, however, poking out at the country's extreme northeast. Its primary city, Samaná, serves as a base for checking out the humpback whales that migrate to the Bahía de Samaná each winter, while Las Terrenas is the peninsula's liveliest town. Its long, sandy seafront is lined with expat-owned hotels, tour operators, and popular restaurants and bars, while secluded paradise isn't far away at the beaches of playas Bonita and Rincón.
On the southern coast the capital city, Santo Domingo, offers the most fulfilling urban experience, and should be on everyone's itinerary and not just because it has the country's largest airport – historic forts, churches and the elegant homes of the Zona Colonial make it a fascinating destination in its own right.
If you're seeking a bit more adventure and outdoor life, you needn't look too hard. The Cordillera Central is the island's largest mountain range and provides the stunning setting for multi-day treks through the wilderness to the top of Pico Duarte – the tallest peak in the Antilles – and trips to Jarabacoa, a resort town blessed with a cluster of four waterfalls in its immediate vicinity and featuring all manner of mountain sports.
Book through Rough Guides' trusted travel partners
Explore Dominican Republic
Your comprehensive guide to Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic features
The latest articles, galleries, quizzes and videos.


text:
Initializing Disease Compartments
When a certain disease model should be used in scenario, the initial conditions for the isease have to be specified. The following components in STEM enable the user to do so.
To create an initializer for a specific disease the user has to right click on the disease and select "Create new Initializer".
Since initializers also work for diseases with multiple populations the population to initialize has to be selected. For the selected population the absolute number or percentage of individuals for all compartments can be specified. At last the user has to select a location for the initializer. If for example France is selected, any region in France is initialized with the chosen values. The new initializer will show up under the "Decorators" folder in the Project explorer. You can drag the population initializer right into a scenario.


text:
Tech Update
TAG large
Chinese language Construction Large CCCC Aims To Counter Rising Uncertainty With Belt And Street Project Push
Biotechnology is a bundle of strategies which can be applied to living cells. Digital engineers also should be aware of the electrical engineering technology that offers with control techniques as nicely. Management methods are used to control electrical units in addition to regulate and command them. Engineers must know the differences between sequential controls and linear controls and the way to correctly and successfully use these management methods. Any such electrical engineering technology can be utilized in a wide range of ways from controlling your pc to controlling points of an area shuttle. As everyone knows, fashionable expertise has changed our life. Because of the development of expertise, we are able to have better high quality of life. Expertise gives conveniences and comfort for us. And there are different advantages which can be supplied by this technical progress. Nevertheless, in response to the most recent know-how news, expertise may cause … Read more
Chinese Construction Large CCCC Aims To Counter Rising Uncertainty With Belt And Road Mission Push
ACN, a telecommunications and know-how based mostly company markets varied communications related products and services. Translate business processes into communications practices. As well as, these online foundry networks present big selection of companies in the metallic casting trade. They could supply individuals to take several courses on the themes which can be associated to advertising growth, conceptual evaluation, facility planning, feasibility studies, project management and management, engineering design. Furthermore, they also have facility of offering detailed data on foundry tools set up, commissioning providers, normal contracting, robotic analysis examine, computer simulation, electrical tools integration. They also provide training packages and operational assistance to massive number of foundry auditors, casting finishing, fettling staffs and course of evaluators. They also present big employment opportunities for many individuals that are precious resource for maintaining competitive benefit. Demand for wi-fi networks has grown explosively in recent times, and thus started to develop information services … Read more
– My Most Valuable Tips
How to Find a Good Solar Company
Choosing the right solar firm will certainly not be difficult. When picking a company you should constantly consider their services, rates, as well as track record. This article will offer you a brief idea of what you require to search for in a solar business. By knowing these points it will certainly be much easier for you to make an educated decision regarding which firm to employ. One of the most important facet of finding a reliable solar firm is cost. You will certainly want to find a company that supplies a reasonable quantity of cash upfront. While there are business that offer incredibly low cost, this is not constantly an indication of high quality solution. A good way to figure out if the price being offered is affordable is to review business card. If they are making use of a bad font … Read more
What Is Multimedia Technology?
The outsourcing historical past of India is one of phenomenal progress in a very brief span of time. With telecom auditing, all telecom network and services of the corporate will likely be reviewed and analyzed including the previous and recent telecom bill statements, different accounts, invoices, and procurement contracts. Telecom audits cover reviewing all the company's records, receipts, books of accounts, equipments utilization, insurance policies, and contracts related to telecommunications. The subsequent area to incorporate is the applied sciences present in the company and other equipment that's but to be bought. And the last space that a telecom auditor should not miss is the telecom statements of the corporate. This may embody the phone usage policies, equipment contracts, tariff price, and network resource capabilities. The brand new technology above just isn't all. There are other progressive devices that may danger. Google Car and 3D printer might be dangerous. It is … Read more
Telecommunications Firm Is Causing A Buzz!
Cranes form an necessary a part of most civil engineering initiatives. By means of AI applications built into web platforms and cellular applications, the social credit score system is intended to ultimately monitor and gather data associated to most every little thing an individual does. In nearly all points, Chinese citizens orchestrate their lives by their telephones. By and huge, China has develop into a cashless society, and nearly all transactions are executed by means of cell, digital expertise. Tencent's WeChat app is sort of unknown outdoors of China and Southeast Asia, however inside China it has a mobile user base of over one billion individuals. Usually described as the world's tremendous app, WeChat is used for the whole lot from text, audio, and video messaging to info searches, purchases, banking, private funds, and medical records administration. It's a compilation, in a single app, of Google, Facebook, Amazon, PayPal, Instagram, … Read more
US Sanctions Over South China Sea Will Not Have an effect on Blacklisted Chinese Building Big CCCC, Company
Over time, the developments in communication expertise have been fairly troublesome to keep up with. Seven scamware apps present in Google Play and Apple's App Retailer corralled more than half one million dollars for their builders, in keeping with Avast. The corporate discovered the malicious apps after a 12-12 months-old girl flagged a suspicious app promoted on a TikTok profile by means of its "Be Safe Online" challenge. The HUS Bridge Hospital and extension of the Radiation Care Division funding is valued at about 303 million euros and required more than 8,000 precast items and greater than 4,000 tons of steel. All through the design course of, the 3D fashions played an important position in collaboration, serving to stakeholders visualize the design and coordinating an enormous variety of disciplines and subcontractors. Efficient information administration was important for the project's sixteen completely different fields of planning and 194 submodels. Augmented and … Read more
Auto Electronics
Singapore has developed a robotic that carries out nasal swabbing to diagnose COVID-19, in a bid to scale back healthcare employees' risk of exposure to the lethal coronavirus. Additionally, with the stress- and life-style-associated diseases on the rise, this sector is gaining extra popularity. Worldwide giants, reminiscent of AIG, have partnered with the Tata group. Other such collaborations are Bajaj Allianz and Aviva. Extra persons are going for insurance to assist safe their healthcare wants. Thus, this business is a serious funding area. The professionals of CAD designing company drafts or transforms concept into the software program to create creative design. In correspondence to paper design, drafting helps in creating digital design. The paper design could possibly be any hand drawn sketches or handbook drawing of any constructing. So as to make utterly editable and flexible design, multilayered design is produced. As a part of the deal, Nokia will offer … Read more
28 Million Surgical procedures Cancelled
Aerus , the global leader in surface and air purification solutions, announced Wednesday that impartial take a look at results on their Hydroxyl Blaster with ActivePure Expertise confirms that the product kills the SARS-CoV-2 virus on surfaces. After China's Huawei was banned from U.S. telecom networks, Nokia and Ericsson are dominating the race for 5G deployment in the country, with Samsung slowly catching up. Guarantee adherence to regulatory compliance norms: Healthcare industry is without doubt one of the foremost industry that has to abide with stringiest of compliance regulations corresponding to HIPAA, OSHA and CLIA. Failing to comply with these laws could obliterate small gamers as well as behemoths. Compliance is an intensive and constant train that involves in depth documentation to reveal compliance to stipulated norms. Without an automated and centralized system, managing compliance becomes nothing wanting a nightmare for the organisations. To be thought-about a robust candidate for … Read more
FRP Composites For The Future Of Development
Many younger students need to pursue an engineering career. We do not use the standard strategies of sharing information. All of us have our own accounts in social media networks and we simply use them to share content material. In reality, the social media networks have given us the chance to share anything at any given time. We will even access our social media accounts with totally different units at any time when we would like. However, these mental health companies, like nearly each different web platform, are to a level vulnerable to misuse and information breaches. Zoom-bombing has rapidly unfold from on-line school rooms to online therapists offices. What's more, as John Torous, the director of the digital psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Middle, told Slate , Hackers go for precious knowledge. Health information could be very helpful, and insecure well being methods are always primary targets … Read more


text:
Rival Watch
Clean Sweep. Win more waves with a watch that always knows when to paddle out. The angular case and high-contrast display make it stylish enough to be your daily digital. But, pre-programmed tide info for 550 beaches across the globe makes the Rival unparalleled among the competition.
Product Actions
Notify me
Rival , 38 mm
All Black
Notify me
Want to be the first to know? Enter your email address below to be notified as soon as it's released
Roger that! We'll notify you as soon as additional inventory arrives. Note: because products are seasonal, some products may come back in-stock but others may not. Your interest will help us determine what to fulfill.
There was a problem adding you to the notification list. Please try again.
Clean Sweep. Win more waves with a watch that always knows when to paddle out. The angular case and high-contrast display make it stylish enough to be your daily digital. But, pre-programmed tide info for 550 beaches across the globe makes the Rival unparalleled among the competition.
Product Features
- Streamlined for sustainability and all-around comfort. Designed to move freely in and out of the water, its sleek profile is complemented by the soft silicone band that wraps effortlessly around your wrist.
Special Feature
- Pre-programmed with tide information for 550 beaches around the world with current, future, and past tide time with height coefficient, as well as sunrise/sunset data. A water-channeling pattern on the inside of the band keeps moisture from getting trapped against your skin.
- Custom digital module with pre-programmed tide information
Water Rating
- 100 Meter / 10 ATM
Full Specifications
Watch MovementCustom digital module with pre-programmed tide information for 550 beaches around the world. Functions include time of day (12 hour or 24 hour), date, sunrise / sunset data, future and past tide, dual time, 3 types of alarms, countdown timer, wave counter, chronograph and an EL backlight.
Watch BandTapered 20mm-19mm custom injection molded silicone band with water flow texture on bottom side, patented locking looper, and solid stainless steel buckle with stainless steel screw bar connections.
Watch DialCustom negative LCD.
Watch Case38mm, 100 meter/10 ATM custom TR90 case with hardened mineral crystal, custom water resistance PC pushers, stainless steel screw down case back.
Water Rating100 METER / 10 ATM
WarrantyNixon offers a limited warranty of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of two (2) years after original purchase from nixon.com or an authorized Nixon dealer. This means that if the materials in your watch aren't right or if the watch isn't put together correctly, we'll repair or replace it, at our option. But, this doesn't mean you can abuse your watch and expect us to fix it for free. We don't cover normal wear and tear or batteries*, crystal, watch case, strap, bracelet, loss or theft. You will void your warranty if you open your case back, push the buttons underwater, or forget to screw down or push in the crown and expose your watch to moisture. Proof of purchase is required for all warranty claims and service requests, so hold onto your receipt. Nixon will not accept a warranty claim or repair request if a watch has evidence of excessive wear or misuse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Which beaches are available on my Rival?There are 550 beaches available to program as your home beach or your surf travel destination.
How does temperature impact my watch?To reduce the risk of harming your Nixon, keep your watch under your jacket sleeve when you're shredding and don't leave it in a hot car while you're at the beach. Extreme high and low temperatures, over 60°C (140°F) or less than 0°C (32°F), can impair or damage the function of your watch.
How do I reset my digital tide watch?You can reset the software on your digital tide watch by pressing and holding all 4 side buttons simultaneously for 5 seconds. A tone will sound every 1 second as the watch resets. The following sequence will happen once the watch software resets:
- All segments will light up
- Sound will beep for 1 second
- ROM will be displayed on screen
- Returns to time function


text:
New look 6568 Designer Age Newborn to Large Dress or Romper and Jacket Dressmaking Kit
Everyone should be able to enjoy their precious sewing time and this hand-picked selection will allow you to do just that. This dressmaking kit includes everything you need to make any one variation of the New Look pattern 6568, up to the maximum age.
Size: Newborn to large
Every kit includes:
Matching thread
Dressmaking pins
Suitable machine needle
Tracing tissue paper
FREE Made with Love label
Tailored to this kit:
Main fabric (maximum amount needed)
Lining fabric
Jacket fabric
Jacket lining fabric
Snap tape
We have curated the kits so that you have the freedom of picking the variation you want to sew, along with the required trims and notions. As you will have all the trims and notions for any of the variations you can also incorporate as many or as little embellishments as you want - making each garment unique to you. Read more about our kits here.
Do you already own this pattern? No problem! You can purchase the kit without the pattern too.
Once you have sewn your beautiful garment, turn the Tailortime box into your own gift box.
For every kit you purchase, we donate £1 to charity & all our packaging is 100% recyclable - thank you for your support!
Please note box contents may vary.
Product Details
Postage to the UK:
£2.99 - 2nd class Royal Mail
£3.99 - 1st class Royal Mail
Free 2nd class postage on all kits!
Any order that has a kit will qualify for free postage.
We aim to dispatch all goods within 24-48 hours, but could take up to 3 working days.
International Postage - please click here for more information.
Please read the following information.
Unless otherwise stated, all bolts are sold by fat quarter and multiple quantities will be sent in one continuous length as shown below.
Please refer to the images below:
Example: If you purchase one fat quarter, it will be approx. 72cm x 50cm. If you purchase two fat quarters, it will be 145cm x 50cm.
If you don't love your item(s) you can return them within 30 days for a refund or exchange.
Please ensure that they are in an unused, uncut and unopened condition. Once we have received the return, we will issue a refund within 5 working days. If you'd like to exchange the item please get in touch with us.
Please note: we cannot compensate you for the original and return postage costs. This should be met by yourself.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept returns on sale or discounted items unless they are faulty or incorrect. If the item is faulty or incorrect we will pay for the return cost. Please get in touch with us.


text:
Jeff has achieved what he set out to do and that's to not write another LR book but summarise and illuminate the entire workflow.Highly recommended.
Erik, for this book, I really didn't have any advisers. My normal go to guy Erich Chan was slammed with work. He helped answer a few technical questions and got me the DNG Flat Field plug-in so I could include it in the book. But this time around (as compared to taking over Bruce's books or working with Martin Evening on our book), the book is entirely my fault :~
What I got to add that that I admire the clarity of your writing! I also enjoy your explanation of ETTR.
Unfortunately some wing nut named Johnny B Goode seems to think I'm a very bad writer & said so in an Amazon review...course he called Mr. Shewe so I'm not too sure about his reading comprehension...I mean, my name is spelled correctly on the cover of the book :-)Might be useful if some other folks who DO like the writing post some additional reviews. I would hate for Johnny B to have the last word...
Let's keep it on the positive. I for one have absolutely no problem with Jeff coming on here and mentioning the review: it's great the he and Eric Chan are on LuLa in the first place, and I love the fact that it's the same type of conversation you would have over a beer on the deck - honest and genuine. Plus, it's completely normal to promote one's work ("if you like this podcast please rate us on itunes..."). Although Jeff no doubt loves the subject matter, he ain't doing stuff like this for his health, and it sucks to see an inarticulate bad review out there in the early days. Clearly among the target audience (e.g., people on this forum), the reaction is very positive. If we want more content like what Jeff and Michael produce, I am all for supporting it. And Jeff, just remember: Illegitimi non carborundum I know I'll have my positive review up by this weekend, I just have to get my hands on the dang book. I bet very soon the reviews will be 20-1 in favor.
QuoteAs explained in the other thread, I honestly learnt very little from the book having watched almost all the LuLa videos and having studied on my own, so my review would not be a positive (nor negative) one. Would you criticize me too in that case?UnquoteIn a word ...yes. You should have tried to think about the videos and the book separately which means you could have given the book a thumbs up....or down? A lot of book readers won't have bought the videos. Someone who considers themselves knowledgeable will get diminishing returns from further education.
As to "newbier" the only reference I could find washttp://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=newbierAnd I am sure that isn't what you meant?
Whether I agree with that Mr. Goode or not about your writing style, I don't think it's that elegant to slate an argued negative review and call for positive comments on LuLa. 3/5 stars is a reasonable review. Doesn't smell like a troll.As explained in the other thread, I honestly learnt very little from the book having watched almost all the LuLa videos and having studied on my own, so my review would not be a positive (nor negative) one. Would you criticize me too in that case?Live and let live, comments will come by themselves. As a photo, a book should stand on its own.Leave all the pseudonym issue for the sociologists, at least he has not been insulted with his real name, here. Peace


text:
"They're Off!"—Thrills of the Turf in Ostrich Racing (Sep, 1929)
"They're Off!"—Thrills of the Turf in Ostrich Racing
FLOWING ostrich plumes once decked the helmets of gallant knights. Later, they were worn prominently on the hats of gay cavaliers. Today the quill feathers of their wings and tails are used principally by women for hats and fashionable apparel. But ostriches are raised in great numbers in Czecho-Slovakia for a purpose other than plucking their feathers for decorations. Ostrich racing is supplanting the usual horse classics of the turf in that country and, according to observers, is far more fascinating and exciting to watch.
The powerful leg muscles of the birds allow them to travel much faster than the fleetest horse. Special saddles that fit tightly around the ostrich's body permit the riders to "stay aboard" when the birds are going at full speed. They are controlled by means of reins and a small bit that fits firmly in the mouth. The birds are trained from birth in knowledge of the track. When full-grown, they stand from six to eight feet high. They are harder to manage than a horse.


text:
Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
The City of Plattsburgh provides museums, hiking trails, recreational trails, a beautiful freshwater beach and marina.
Plattsburgh also hosts various events throughout the year from concerts in the park to world known Bass Fishing Tournaments.


text:
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. dr hab. inż. Jerzy Klamka
Managing Editor:
dr hab. Jarosław Miszczak
Theoretical and Applied Informatics Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics Polish Academy of Sciences Bałtycka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland https://taai.iitis.pl/ Editorial Office Secretary dr hab. Jarosław Miszczak e-mail: email@example.com
Submissions of a manuscript for publication in TaAI implies that the paper was not previously published (with possible exceptions of selected conference and invited papers) and is not being submitted for publication elsewhere; that permission for publication, if needed, has been granted by appropriate sources; and the first author ensures that other authors have approved the paper for publication.
Manuscripts (in 2 paper copies and electronic copy) should be sent directly to the Editorial Office. All further correspondence, proofs and offprints will be sent to the first author, unless indicated otherwise by the authors.
All papers will be evaluated by one of the Editors and will be reviewed.
Suitability for publication will be judged on the basis of relevance of the paper contents to the overall TaAI aims and scope, its originality, technical quality, importance and readability.
The language of the journal is English (with possible exceptions). The text should be formatted, and appropriate templates (DOC or TeX format) are available at: taai.iitis.gliwice.pl
Author will receive 10 offprints of published paper without charge.
Authors can receive their paper for a galley proof. Extensive changes of the text in galley proofs are unacceptable; in exceptional cases a note added in a proof can be included at the end of paper. If the proofs are not returned promptly, the article will be proof-read against the manuscript by the publisher and printed without author's corrections.
Editorial Office right is to skip galley proof stage in the process of publication.
To subscribe to the magazine enter the email address:
*Fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory to be filled in and checked. To Subscribe to the journal you must agree to the processing of personal data.


text:
|This article or section needs to be cleaned up to a higher standard of quality.
|This article or section contains information that is out-of-date.
|Travel guide
|Alliance Travel Guide
|Horde Travel Guide
Deeprun Tram
- In Ironforge, the Deeprun Tram is in the northeast part called Tinker Town mostly inhabited by gnomes. You enter the tram instance through a tunnel surrounded by a great big rotating gear. There are two trams that arrive at varying intervals.
- In Stormwind, the Deeprun Tram is in the northeast part called the Dwarven District mostly inhabited by dwarves. You enter the tram instance through a tunnel at the east-most side surrounded by a great big rotating gear as in Ironforge. There are two trams that arrive at varying intervals.
- Main article: Boats
- Menethil Harbor has a brn dock) that connects to Theramore Isle in Dustwallow Marsh, southeastern Kalimdor.
- Auberdine in Darkshore has several piers coming off its dock:
- A boat (northern dock) to Ru'Theran Village on Teldrassil.
- With the Burning Crusade installed, you can take a boat from the far end (western) of the pier in Auberdine to reach the Azuremyst Isles where the Exodar is. You may see this boat and get on it if you don't have the Burning Crusade installed, but if you take it you will be teleported back to Auberdine once it reaches the point where the transition would load.
- As of Wrath of the Lich King, the southern pier now has a boat that travels to Stormwind Harbor instead of Menethil Harbor.
- After the launch of Wrath of the Lich King some dramatic boat changes were made:
- Stormwind Harbor was built and opened in northwest Stormwind City with several piers added. One of the piers now docks the boat to Auberdine in Darkshore, northwestern Kalimdor that used to travel to Menethil Harbor.
- The farthest north pier has a new steam-power icebreaker that travels to Valiance Keep in Borean Tundra, Northrend.
- Menethil Harbor now has a new steam-power icebreaker that travels to Valgarde in Howling Fjord, Northrend to replace the older boat to Auberdine.
After the launch of the city of Auberdine was destroyed and is now known as Ruins of Auberdine. The boat from Auberdine to Stormwind have have relocated and now be Ruttheran Village [Southern Dock] to stormwind. The boat auberdine to Azuremyst Isles is relocated to Ruttheran Village [Western Dock] to Azuremyst Isles. The boat Ruttheran Village to Auberdine has fallen, and is now resting at the Eastern Dock of Ruttheran Village.
There is a boat connecting Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale (southern end of the Eastern Kingdoms) to Ratchet in The Barrens (eastern Kalimdor).
See also
- Boat information is also available in the Boat section of the Transportation category
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


text:
A new study review authored by the University of Kentucky's Dr. David Mannino examines the gender differences in the prevalence, pathophysiology, and clinical presentation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and how this information may ultimately be used to identify areas for future work.
COPD is a complex disease that affects patients in both developed and developing countries around the world. Historically considered a men's disease, the prevalence and mortality of COPD has increased more rapidly in women than in men during the past two decades.
The review, published in Translational Research, examines potential reasons for this increase. The change has been largely attributed to the changing smoking trends during the last 50 years – for instance, in developing countries, the prevalence of female smokers is predicted to increase to 20 percent by 2025, up from only nine percent in 2000. Other environmental risk factors, such as exposures to occupational dusts or chemicals and air pollution, may be a cause due to women entering into historically male jobs.
Newer evidence also suggests that men and women differ in susceptibility to smoking, possibly because of hormonal mechanisms – female sex hormones have been known to influence airway function, and during childhood, girls experience a larger reduction in lung function than boys when exposed to either tobacco smoke or environmental air pollution.
Additionally, the clinical presentation, comorbidities and disease perception of COPD may vary between the genders and may ultimately influence treatment decisions and strategies.
"Over my 30 years of treating patients, I've seen the number of women with COPD increase dramatically to where they now outnumber the number of men with COPD in my practice," said Mannino, professor and chair of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health at the UK College of Public Health. "Women with COPD are particularly at risk for certain complications, such as osteoporosis."


text:
Job Description
As a member of our Margin Analytics Collateral Services Software Engineering Group you will dive head-first into creating innovative solutions that advance businesses and careers. You'll join an inspiring and curious team of technologists dedicated to improving the design, analytics, development, coding, testing and application programming that goes into creating high quality software and new products. You'll be tasked with keeping the team and other key stakeholders up to speed on the progress of what's being developed. Coming in with an understanding of the importance of end-to-end software development-such as Agile frameworks-is key. And best of all, you'll be working with and sharing ideas, information and innovation with our global team of technologists from all over the world.
Specialization: Object Oriented Programming in Java, J2EE, JSP Servlets, Spring/Hibernate frameworks.
Collaboration: While working in a collaborative environment, participate in all stages of application development process, including design, implementation, testing and production support. As a person working on an agile team you are not an "individual contributor", you are a team player. You are expected to work interdependently – collaborate, negotiate, respect people you work with, make trade-offs, and handle conflicts.
Problem Solving: We expect you to be a solutions-oriented, out-of-the-box thinker who frequently comes up with new and innovative ways of doing things. People on agile teams work together to solve technical problems, handle issues, and interface with other teams.
Communication: Excellent communication skill is a must. You are expected to effectively interact with both, technical and non-technical personnel. These skills should encompass all facets of communication, including both written and verbal contact
Solid development skills with all of the following: Java, J2EE and database Cassandra, Oracle , other NOSQL skills.
Solid understanding of object oriented programming and design principles.
Solid understanding of programming principles, such as inter-process communications in the distributed environment; understanding time and space complexity of different collections and algorithms.
Solid understanding of patterns to implement scalable and high performance software.
Practical knowledge of production considerations, such as version control, code libraries, source control systems, continuous integration tools, documentation, code reviews, automation testing tools and methodology, and software release management
Experience with Spring and Hibernate frameworks
Understanding of Web Applications development principles
Understanding of JMS
Familiarity with different test automation techniques and experience with automation frameworks such as Cucumber, FitNesse, TestNG, and Selenium
Experience in RESTful web services.
Our Corporate & Investment Bank relies on innovators like you to build and maintain the technology that helps us safely service the world's important corporations, governments and institutions. You'll develop solutions for a bank entrusted with holding $18 trillion of assets and $393 billion in deposits. CIB provides strategic advice, raises capital, manages risk, and extends liquidity in markets spanning over 100 countries around the world.
When you work at JPMorgan Chase & Co., you're not just working at a global financial institution. You're an integral part of one of the world's biggest tech companies. In 14 technology hubs worldwide, our team of 40,000+ technologists design, build and deploy everything from enterprise technology initiatives to big data and mobile solutions, as well as innovations in electronic payments, cybersecurity, machine learning, and cloud development. Our $9.5B+ annual investment in technology enables us to hire people to create innovative solutions that will not only transform the financial services industry, but also change the world.


text:
New Aftermarket Products & Tuner News.
I am no doubt a product of my generation, the generation exposed to such ridiculous technological progress, we easily forget what we saw yesterday. I am 29, and when I was 14, the Intel Pentium Processor was blazing fast. We had just discovered 56k modem connections, and AOL turned the annoying dial-tone into something we looked forward to, so long as it was accompanied by the BONG! of a successful connection. The first modern desktop PC my family had featured a crankin' 486DX processor pushing
Updated 03-31-2012 at 12:25 PM by Krazee
The hardest part of any project car is parts selection quality parts are hard to come by. When I first started out with my Corrado, back in 2002, I relied heavily on the existing knowledge of Volkswagen veterans, scouring online forums and reading old magazines separating quality from crap. I began to process Physics 101, (despite not passing in three through College) reading The Way Things Work for the first time since I was five, and amassing some 10,000 posts on one of the largest automotive
The everyday driving aspects for the RS will not change much, though I might not cover as many miles. The major change will be more competitive driving SCCA autocross, High Performance Driving Events, random track days, and, with some hope, Time Attack. If Sport Compact Car was still in print, I'd throw Corrado RS into the ring for The Ultimate Street Car Challenge. The goal is to drive to the events, swap brake pads, compete, and drive home. There will also be the odd Volkswagen show or automotive
Chassis and suspension tuning are subjectively objective. Every production vehicle is tuned with a goal in mind, be it highway cruising, back-road bombing, or city russian roulette. Some manufacturers try to blur the lines in one direction or another, but the generalization is hard to skirt: Aim for sublime handling on the back roads and the car might bounce around a bit too much on the highway or knock your teeth out in the city. High-end cars have managed to deal with this accepted norm very well
As with any great car, the engine is of the utmost importance. Sure, the suspension can be godlike and the car can handle phenomenally, but at the end of the day a capable chassis needs an equally capable engine. In its heyday, the 12v VR6 engine received multiple awards from the automotive press based on its compact packaging with its staggered piston placement, the engine allowed for V6 performance within the footprint of a common 4 cylinder. From a VW enthusiast's perspective, before the advent
Driving like a banshee is great. It's fun, it's exhilarating, it's therapeutic, it gets your senses working overtime. Channel your anger through the steering wheel of your RS car, and the combination of burnt fuel, crackling exhaust, and melting rubber combine to calm you better than any scented candle on the market. But it's all for naught if you begin to sweat profusely at the first sign of traffic because you binned A/C in search of a modicum of extra power. It's all for naught if you lose
Updated 03-31-2012 at 12:26 PM by Krazee
The best cars in the world are not your generic grocery getters. They aren't the Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys that run forever with barely an oil change, rarely (if ever) leaving you stranded, and lulling you to sleep on the highway. No, the best cars in the world are the ones that slap cartoonish grins on your face. They are so raw and unapologetic about their purpose that they make you bow before their race-like suspension and impractical interiors. Their sole purpose is to make driving fun...
Updated 03-31-2012 at 12:27 PM by Krazee
Often compared to America's SEMA Show, the tuner-focused Essen Motor Show is really something more unto itself. Whereas the SEMA Show is really an industry only affair and with no day for a media push, Essen is there for the public, the car enthusiast and also there as a platform of PR for tuners... so yes, a day reserved for the media. Where you'd need to be a distributor to place an order
Audi tuning house Caractere has released the first images of its product range for the A1. Set to debut at the Essen Motor Show imminently, the kit shows the company's take on Audi's smallest offering. Check below for more pics and details.
This body kit consists of :
* a front spoiler (3 pieces) (incompatible with the exterior S-line package)
* a rear spoiler
Yesterday marked the opening of the 2011 SEMA Show, the event that marks the annual gathering of the automotive aftermarket. Unlike 2010, Audi skipped the idea of having an official presence at SEMA this year but that doesn't mean there's nothing to see. Fourtitude contributing editor Jamie Vondruska is at SEMA this week and we've gotten our first wave of Audi and Lamborghini photos from him. Check


text:
Bonney Plumbing, Electrical, Heating & Air Conditioning serving the Greater Sacramento Area since 1978.
Looking for a Premier Plumbing, Electrical, Heating, Air Conditioning and Drain & Sewer service in Northern California? Don't Worry, We're on it!
Bonney Plumbing, Electrical, Heating and Air, has been your local, reliable service company since 1978. As an A+ rated member of the Better Business Bureau, we have worked hard to build our reputation by providing you with top notch technicians, superior products and exceptional customer service. We have serviced thousands upon thousands of satisfied, loyal customers and are so pleased to earn your referrals. You can count on Bonney for quick, reliable service and repair for your plumbing, heating and air conditioning needs.
Services offered:
- Air Conditioning Repair
- Air Conditioning Replacement / Installation
- Furnace Repair
- Furnace Installation
- Plumbing Repair
- Water Heaters
- Tankless Water Heaters
- Water Conservation
- Water Filtration Systems
- Toilets
- Gas Line Repair
- Slab Leak Detection
- Drain & Sewer
- Commercial Drain Cleaning
- Trenchless Sewer Replacement
- Indoor Air Quality Services
Call Bonney 24/7 at 800-444-0551 or request service online. We charge by the job, so you know the cost before we start!


text:
You've probably heard of La Tomatina, Spain's annual tomato fight, but there's plenty of other strange contests that take place around the world. Here's five of our favourite oddball activities, all featured in Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth.
Robot riders on camels, Kuwait
A stampede of two-year-old camels tears down the racetrack, their sinewy tan bodies stirring up brown dust as they speed along, trying to outpace the other camels nearby. Crops flick across their backsides – but this is not the work of an overzealous jockey. Instead, strapped across the back of each camel ride remote-controlled robots, limbless mechanical boy-sized torsos bucking with every stride.
Keeping pace in the Kuwaiti desert just beyond the track railing, a fleet of modern "ships of the desert" – SUVs and minivans – pursues the dromedaries. In them sit the camels' owners, expertly manoeuvring the whips by remote control. Radio-controlled jockeys are new, having spread across Kuwait and several other Arabian countries after laws banning child jockeys – some of whom were as young as four – were passed. In Kuwait, they take the form of wrapped cylinders with faceless sock monkey-heads. At some events, plastic human-shaped heads adorn the robots.
The robots and chase cars are all products of the modern world. But camel racing is part of Kuwait's cultural heritage, and the audience, sitting atop overstuffed, black leather armchairs and comfortably ensconced in an air-conditioned glass pavilion, is still full of men dressed in traditional Kuwaiti robes and white headdresses.
Kuwait Camel Racing Club is in Kabd, an hour's drive west of Kuwait City. Races are held most weeks Nov–May, generally on Saturdays – call ahead for the schedule (+965 539 4014 or4015).
Wine wars in La Rioja, Spain
For grape gourmets, it might seem a terrible waste of wine, but each year several villages in La Rioja spend an entire day soaking each other in the stuff. The Wine War (La Batalla del Vino) is the modern-day remnant of ancient feuds between the wine town of Haro and its Riojan neighbours.
The festival begins with what must be one of the most bizarre religious processions anywhere: the congregation – as many as five thousand people, mostly dressed in white – comes armed not with Bibles, crucifixes and rosary beads but with an ingenious array of wine-weapons, ranging from buckets, water pistols and bota bags (wine-skin bottles) to agricultural spraying equipment.
The battle is thick and fast, with warring factions drenching each other with medium-bodied Rioja. You won't be spared as a spectator, so you may as well join in. At the very least, come armed with a water pistol, though be warned that the locals have perfected the art of the portable water cannon, and can practically blast you off your feet from five metres. But what a way to go.
Haro's Wine War takes place on June 29; see wine-fight.com for more details.
Bean feasts and orange fights, Italy
© ShinKaji/Shutterstock
One of Italy's biggest and most peculiar carnival celebrations takes place in Ivrea, not far from Turin. On the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday the town fills with revellers who tuck into bowls of beans ladled out from giant cauldrons in the main square before taking part in a humongous orange fight, which starts at the same time each afternoon for the next three days. Anyone and anything is fair game here, and by the end of each day everyone is covered in pulp and drenched in freshly squeezed juice; there's nowhere to walk that's not swimming in vitamin C, and the air is full of the bitter smell of oranges. On Shrove Tuesday it finishes with a huge procession and a celebratory bonfire in the square.
See www.storicocarnevaleivrea.it for more.
Hammer-throwing and flame-jumping in Portugal
The Festa de São João is a magnificent display of midsummer madness – one giant street party, where bands of hammer-wielding lunatics roam the town, and every available outdoor space in Porto is given over to a full night of eating, drinking and dancing to welcome in the city's saint's day.
By the evening of June 23, the tripeiros, as the residents of Porto are known, are already in the party mood. A tide of whistle-blowing, hammer-wielding people begins to seep down the steep streets towards the river. No one seems to know the origin of the tradition of hitting people on the head on this day, but what was traditionally a rather harmless pat with a leek has evolved into a somewhat firmer clout with a plastic hammer.
Midnight sees the inevitable climax of fireworks, but the night is far from over. As dawn approaches, the emphasis shifts further west to the beach of Praia dos Ingleses in the suburb of Foz do Douro. Here, there's space to participate in the tradition of lighting bonfires for São João, with youths challenging each other to jump over the largest flames.
Go to www.portoturismo.pt for more on the São João festival and on Porto itself.
Oil wrestling in Edirine, Turkey
© CANARAN/Shutterstock
If you enjoy watching grown men dressed in leather and doused in oil grappling with each other, the Kirkpinar oil wrestling championships, held just outside Edirne every July since 1924, are definitely for you. Competitors are smeared all over with a special variety of olive oil before each bout, and the object is to pin your opponent's shoulders to the ground or prise out a verbal submission. Over a thousand wrestlers take part in the tournament, and you can either watch the 45-minute bouts as they happen, or just enjoy the fairground atmosphere that prevails, with Gypsy bands, dancing bears and lots and lots of kebabs.
www.kirkpinar.com has everything you need to know about the Kirkpinar championships, past and present.
For hundreds more ultimate travel experiences, get Rough Guides' Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth
Top image © Philip Lange/Shutterstock


text:
The most fantasmagorical stage musical in the history of everything, hits the road in top gear on the 4th year of its high-flying tour.
With a cast and crew of 100 (including ten dogs), sensational sets and stunning special effects, this action-packed adventure is the story of the magical car, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, and his two children Jeremy and Jemima, alongside Truly Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts, all try and outwit the dastardly Baron and the famously evil Childcatcher.
Bursting with magical songs including Truly Scrumptious, Toot Sweets, Hushabye Mountain and the Oscar nominated title song, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the production has been nominated for three Olivier Awards, won Best Musical in the 2002 Variety Awards, been nominated for five Tony Awards on Broadway and won the coveted Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Family Show in 2006.
This ravishing award-winning show is guaranteed to be the most exciting theatrical event of the year.
Don't let it take off without you!
Liverpool Empire
Lime Street
Running Time
2h 25m with 1 interval
Find Out More


text:
08.10.2010: Leadership? ... or Marching to Impeachment?
This is the same kind of thing I tried to warn Richard Nixon about, but mailing "snail mail" letters was so laborious back then...
From the Telegraph.co.uk
By Nile Gardiner
Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. He appears frequently on American and British television and radio, including Fox News Channel, CNN, BBC, Sky News, and NPR.
The Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime: extravagant and out of touch with the American people...
What the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville would make of today's Obama administration were he alive today is anyone's guess. But I would wager that the author of L'Ancien Régime and Democracy in America would be less than impressed with the extravagance and arrogance on display among the White House elites that rule America as though they had been handed some divine right to govern with impunity.
It is the kind of impunity that has been highlighted on the world stage this week by Michelle Obama's hugely costly trip to Spain, which has prompted a New York Post columnist Andrea Tantaros to dub the First Lady a contemporary Marie Antoinette. As The Telegraph reports, while the Obamas are covering their own vacation expenses such as accommodation, the trip may cost US taxpayers as much as $375,000 in terms of secret service security and flight costs on Air Force Two.
The timing of this lavish European vacation could not have come at a worse moment, when unemployment in America stands at 10 percent, and large numbers of Americans are fighting to survive financially in the wake of the global economic downturn. It sends a message of indifference, even contempt, for the millions of Americans who are struggling just to feed their families on a daily basis and pay the mortgage, while the size of the national debt balloons to Greek-style proportions.
While the liberal-dominated US mainstream media have largely ignored the story, it is all over the blogosphere and talk radio, and will undoubtedly add to the President's free falling poll ratings. As much as the media establishment turn a blind eye to stories like this, which are major news in the international media, the American public is increasingly turning to alternative news sources, including the British press, which has a far less deferential approach towards the White House.
The First Lady's ill-conceived trip to Marbella and the complete disregard for public opinion and concerns over excessive government spending is symbolic of a far wider problem with the Obama presidency – the overarching disdain for the principles of limited government, individual liberty and free enterprise that have built the United States over the course of nearly two and a half centuries into the most powerful and free nation on earth.
It is epitomised above all by the President's relentless drive towards big government against the will of the American people, and the dramatic increases in government spending and borrowing, which threaten to leave the US hugely in debt for generations. It is also showcased by Barack Obama's drive towards a socialised health care system, which, as I've noted before, is "a thinly disguised vanity project for a president who is committed to transforming the United States from the world's most successful large-scale free enterprise economy, to a highly interventionist society with a massive role for centralized government."
There is however a political revolution fast approaching Washington that is driven not by mob rule but by the power of ideas and principles, based upon the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution. It is a distinctly conservative revolution that is sweeping America and is reflected in almost every poll ahead of this November's mid-terms. It is based on a belief in individual liberty, limited government, and above all, political accountability from the ruling elites. The Obama administration's mantra may well be "let them eat cake", as it continues to gorge itself on taxpayers' money, but it will be looking nervously over its shoulder as public unease mounts.
And that link spells it out clearly, too. You can ignore it and destroy yourself or change direction and listen to the people you're supposed to be representing. Congress certainly isn't.
Of course, I'm just a citizen... what do I know?


text:
Conn. seeks to blunt health plan premiums' costs
HARTFORD — As they consider ways to reduce prices for people buying health insurance on the state's new marketplace, Connecticut officials are learning their options are narrow and could affect the state's insurance industry, a major employer.
One idea would limit how much insurers would be able to spend on overhead and put toward profit in small group insurance plans. But a lobbyist for the Connecticut Association of Health Plans has warned that the proposal could bring about unintended consequences for the tens of thousands across the state directly and indirectly employed by the insurance industry.
Insurance industry representatives were expected to meet privately Friday to discuss the concept with Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes, a member of the marketplace's board of directors who proposed the idea.
"We're certainly going to give the carriers an opportunity to weigh in on why we shouldn't do this and what else we can do to keep rates down," said Barnes, who hopes to offer legislation for the General Assembly to consider this session.
As government officials and insurers work to create the marketplaces known as exchanges that are the hallmark of the federal health care overhaul, a major concern for both has been that cost of insurance will be higher than families, individuals and small businesses expect or want to pay.
"The administration's concerns mirror exactly the concerns of the payer community and keep everybody awake at night," said Keith Stover, the insurance industry's lobbyist. "Where Ben's coming from and where the plans are coming from is the same place, which is, we want to do everything we can to mitigate the rate shock."
But Stover said he doesn't think there is any bill state lawmakers can pass this session that would blunt the effects of those rates. Enrollment for Connecticut's exchange, Access Health CT, opens Oct. 1 and coverage will begin Jan. 1.
"The benefit package is the benefit package. The cost of delivering those benefits to population X is the cost of delivering those benefits to that population," said Stover, adding how there are still many unknown costs for insurers, who now have fewer age groups they can use to spread costs.
"Unfortunately, from the folks working in state policy and the folks working on the health plan side, there is still a lot of things that are unknown," Stover said. "The fact that there's so much uncertainty is one of the things I think that can have an impact on price."
On Access Health CT's website, the exchange promises it will make "robust health insurance plans available at the lowest possible cost" and how "competition between insurance companies in this new marketplace will keep costs down." Additionally, many people are expected to qualify for discounts on insurance premiums or qualify for the state's expanded Medicaid program.
But Barnes acknowledges that plans are going to be more expensive, though he says it's because they'll be more valuable.
"These are very good plans," he said. "They will be more expensive because they're worth more to people. They'll cover more of their medical expenses."
Some needy parents of children who rely on the state's HUSKY health insurance program have told state lawmakers they won't be able to afford the premiums if they're forced to buy insurance from the exchange. Malloy's budget had ended the HUSKY coverage for an estimated 37,500 parents, but the legislature's Democratic-controlled Appropriations Committee restored the funding in its budget. A final budget deal still needs to be negotiated.
"There probably is going to be sticker shock come next year for some people," said Rep. Robert Megna, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the legislature's Insurance Committee.
Megna said he welcomes Barnes' idea to reduce how much small group plans to spend on overhead and profits.
"This would absolutely, unequivocally help reduce those premiums," he said. "Secretary Barnes, I think, has a good point."


text:
I've been with iContact, a Durham-based Email Service Provider, since 2007. In my early days at iContact, I spent a lot of time assisting customers with various inquiries on email marketing best practices, strategies, and common questions like: "Can I use purchased lists?" The answer industry professionals always give to this question is "No." Now, let's dig a little deeper to figure out what exactly purchased lists are and the reason they cannot be used, as well as the correct way for businesses to grow their lists.
What Are Purchased Lists?
Purchased lists are email contact lists that are sold by individuals and companies called List Brokers. While the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act does not make this practice illegal, the use of such list(s) does actually violate the Anti-SPAM Act because the contacts on the purchased list did not grant your business explicit permission to solicit them via email.
Businesses seeking to build their contact lists are not told about this by list brokers, and therefore, I've heard horrible stories of business owners spending tens of thousands of dollars on lists which no legitimate Email Service Provider (ESP) will allow on their service.
Why Can't Purchased Lists Be Used?
Some purchased lists are gathered without the knowledge of the email contacts, while other lists are populated by individuals that have contacted a company to provide them with specific information.
Purchased lists that are gathered without the knowledge of the email contacts are the worst of any contact list a company could become in possession of. None of the individuals on the list have given any type of permission for your business to contact them, nor will they likely be the target audience of the list purchaser.
Lists composed of contacts with a common purpose are also typically sold by List Brokers, and while they might be more targeted in nature, the contacts still have not given your business the explicit permission to contact them. A common example of this type of purchased list, is when a bride-to-be signs up for "more information" from a wedding planning site that shares it's email addresses with list brokers. A list broker then compiles a large list of brides-to-be, and sells them to companies that cater to the wedding industry.
What Are The Consequences for Using Purchased Lists?
Keeping with our previous example where the bride-to-be has had her email sold to a list broker, let's say it's now 6 months after the wedding. Unfortunately, list brokers rarely follow up on the validity of their lists, and therefore, our unfortunate couple is now subject to a barrage of unsolicited emails pertaining to a wedding they're already planned and completed. Depending on how many purchasers have obtained the list, this newly married couple could be facing months, if not years, of constant spam in their inbox.
Why True Marketing Professionals Don't Use Purchased Lists
Marketing professionals have long known that regardless of how many visitors you receive, or how many followers you have on various networks, none of it matters if the people visiting your websites aren't your target audience. Purchasing lists is like purchasing an audience of which you have no idea whether or not they are interested or even potential clients.
Moreover, emailing lists of contacts that don't know who you are, or aren't your target audience, will almost always result in excessively high spam complaints. These complaints are generated anytime a recipient clicks in their inbox that your message is "spam," "junk," or emailed to complaint to your ISP (Internet Service Provider, ie: AOL, Time Warner Cable, etc.).
Excessive spam complaints will cause ISPs worldwide to block your email address and/or domain from sending to their servers — effectively blocking your emails from reaching their users. This is also referred to as being "blacklisted." The process to be removed from blacklists can be a long and arduous process that can take as little as a few hours, or as long as months and months of arbitration.
How Should Businesses Grow Their Lists?
The best contact lists are those grown organically. Design and publish a regular newsletter that provides value to your readers. It's suggested that your email content should contain roughly 75% valuable information (educate your customers), while allotting 25% to actual sale content, but 100% of the newsletter should be relevant to your subscribers. Growing your lists starts with adding signup forms to your various online websites, including your social media pages like Facebook.
For businesses that operate with physical storefronts, capture your customer contact information through short customer questionnaires. Encourage your customers to stay in contact with news, events, and sales through email. Using these simple suggestions will provide you with a solid foundation which will help to grow your contact lists — quality lists that contain your targeted audience and will generate minimal spam complaints, if any.
Written By:
James Wong, iContact Marketing Communications Manager