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Keeping the Family Together
You have a naughty family but you fit right in to the crowd. Your step-mom doesn't want to cheat on your father, but she feels... more the urge to try a new cock. Of course, if it happens with you, it is not so much of a cheating. To sweeten the deal, she involves your sexy step-sister to offer a threesome. You also like to pull pranks on your other step-sister. This time you switch the light on her while she is having a shower. If she wants the light back, she has to pay the price. Fun times, don't you agree?
Keeping the Family Together
Ella, the Nymphomaniac
What might be the cause of your depression? A skilled psychologist might already know after hearing about your relationship problems. Your once oh-so-eager girlfriend seems... more to be cheating on you, while she's jealous of all the ladies around you. Would starting it all over be the solution? Maybe the desirable psychologist knows better...
Ella, the Nymphomaniac
POV Big Titty Galore
Bigger is better… this could be the catchphrase of an advertisement. But in this case it is very true because all those gorgeous, massive tits... more you will get to play today would surely make any man's day. So if you like big, bouncy breasts, titjob and practically anything connected to beautiful boobs, this compilation is made for you. Come and enjoy a Big Titty Galore with Jasmine Jay, Jessa Rhodes, Tiger Benson, Bridgette B. and many more.
POV Big Titty Galore
A day of Intrigue with Sybil, Alyssia & Friends
Playing the judge between your beautiful girlfriend Sybil, and her hated, still very sexy cousin Alyssia won't be an easy ride. They both want the... more house they inherited from their aunt for themselves and you should help them to get into an agreement. But as you dig deeper into their intrigues, you realize that not everything is as it seems. What if this you were wrong about Alyssia and Sybil is the culprit? Only you can find out the truth!
A day of Intrigue with Sybil, Alyssia & Friends
Your Foxy Little Step-Daughters
Both Alex and Lexi can be troublesome, despite being so gorgeous. Almost nobody can discipline them, only you, their step-daddy. Alex explores pleasure using her... more mom's toys while Lexi tries to get attention by mischief and naughty deeds. Time to step up and show the girls who is the boss... and what could be better of a tool to do that then your cock?
Your Foxy Little Step-Daughters
Corporate Screwaround
You are new at the company and swept off your feet by your gorgeous boss. But in your appreciation of her beauty you fail to... more understand your task. She doesn't care about excuses so now you have to find a way to get the information about the project. Who will help you? The ass-kisser of the company? The boss' sexy Russian secretary? Or even the wealthy client, Ms. Lawson? Whatever is the case, you need to solve the task for a handsome bonus… from the lady boss herself.
Corporate Screwaround
Fit Girls Wanted - Casting in the Europe
Your job is to find the perfect model to be the face of a famous fitness site. The choice is not that easy though, as... more usual, especially that all the new applicants are hot as hell and willing to do absolutely anything you can imagine to get the job. So what are you waiting for? Let the casting begin!
Fit Girls Wanted - Casting in the Europe
POV Latinas On Fire
Curvy, hour glass figure or a rockin' little petite body... beautiful brown eyes, long brown hair and an ultimate pretty smile - your favorite hot... more latinas got all these! Busty and spicy latinas like Julia de Lucia and Ginebra Bellucci with the petite firecrackers like Anastasia Brokelyn, Liv Revamped and Baby Nicols are all here to satisfy you. Enjoy this years Top 5 amazing POV affairs with Your Hot Latinas!
POV Latinas On Fire
You did it this time. As an investigation reporter, you are well aware that things may get hairy from time to time, but this time... more you really shook the hornets' nest. A corrupt big dog knows about your story and he would do anything to get you out of the pictures. You need to find your allies: your gorgeous ex, your sexy informant and the owner of a safe house who happens to be a beautiful blonde. But among all these beauty there is a killer in your tail and a corrupt giant cast a long shadow over you. How will you dodge the bullet this time?
Roadtrip with Your GF Paige Owens
Occasionally you love to move out from the house, you and your girlfriend, Paige. So why don't you take her away from the noisy city,... more as it's time to go on a fantastic roadtrip together! Beautiful mountains and cozy hotels await you. Being on vacation brings the naughtiest girlfriend out of Paige, so brace yourself: she is willing to suck your cock anywhere in public besides any moment in the hotel room and its Jacuzzi. Can you satisfy your dreamy girlfriend's insatiable needs? How about a little threesome surprise? Time to enjoy your getaway with the gorgeous Paige Owens!
Roadtrip with Your GF Paige Owens
Picking up American Tourist Girls
It is a nice thing to be a self-appointed guide for some American tourist. Especially, if the tourists are two gorgeous girls in dire need... more of some guidance. Show them the city as a good local should and your just reward will arrive, you will see. But where would you bring the sweet Emoir and Amilia? And more importantly, what do you plan to do with them after? The choice is yours.
Picking up American Tourist Girls
A Sensual Day with Angel, the Dreamgirl
It takes a real man to handle a woman like Angel. She is indeed a dream girl, full of life, sensuality and passion. She is... more someone who is always ready for some kinky surprise. She turns each day into a sensual adventure, and this day is not an exception. Which girlfriend would start the morning with a hot bondage teasing? Or give a head during a car ride? Who would flirt with you in a restaurant under the table? Who would give you a footjob while in a business conference call? Well, Angel will do all that and some more. The question is: what will you do to Angel?
A Sensual Day with Angel, the Dreamgirl
My Hot Girlfriend: Mara Swan
She is not a porn star. She is not a professional. She is just an amateur Latina beauty and also your girlfriend, Mara Swan, who... more actually knows how to make a man happy. Stuck in the house, you have nothing else to do but to enjoy each other's body and company, but this is very easy with Mara on your side. She is made of passion and she holds no taboos when it comes to sex… so be a good boyfriend and fuck her silly, will you?
My Hot Girlfriend: Mara Swan
Living Out Hentai Fantasies with Alice Bong
You are the luckiest guy in the world. Your cute girlfriend Alice is a type of girl who is willing to fulfill your every perversion.... more Lately you have been having some kinky dreams picturing her as a submissive hentai cutie. You always fantasized about hentai and cosplay. She is geeky enough for this kind a stuff... Why not ask her about playing a little role-playing game? Maybe she will like the idea and get hooked on it.
Living Out Hentai Fantasies with Alice Bong
Step Daddy's Petite Troublemakers
These girls always give you a headache. You catch Khloe on the phone.. it turns out she's not using protection with her boyfriend. Now, we... more can't have that.. she must be punished. Sophia is still figuring sex out. She accidentally sent you nudes instead of her boyfriend. You should have a little talk with her.. but before that, let's check out those pictures...
Step Daddy's Petite Troublemakers
How Did You Get Into Porn?
Are you ready to interview some hot petite newcomers in the porn industry? Meet Allie, a slender blonde with a big apetite for huge cocks.... more Or how about giving a ride to Natalie to a photo shoot? She likes to masturbate in front of the camera and maybe she even lets you play with her cute body. Rina likes to show her ass and spank herself to tease. She loves sex just as much like the other girls. Which girl do you want to have fun with? The choice is yours as always.
How Did You Get Into Porn?
Night Shooting with Horny Pornstars
You worked with many girls. Each of them had their styles and preferences. But today you signed up to shoot with some of the horniest.... more One is kinky and submissive, the other one like sex rough and there is one who cannot resist to milk cocks with her mouth, hands and tits. They are Karla Kush, Leda Elizabeth, Kendra Spade and they barely can wait to suck you off.
Night Shooting with Horny Pornstars
Shooting with Sensual Beauties
As an adult producer, it is your responsibility to sneak a little sensuality into people's life. It is also your job to introduce beautiful talents... more and give them a chance to share their beauty with everyone. So now that three gorgeous girls - Emma Hix, Megan Hughes and Sizi Sev – signed up to work for you, it is your duty to show the world their sensual side as authentically as possible.
Shooting with Sensual Beauties
POV Experience with Zazie
If you like Zazie, this compilation is for You. Her gorgeous petite body, pretty face and insatiable sex drive makes her a precious one. Now... more you can spend your afternoon with her Top 6 POV performances at Lifeselector. Ready to enjoy POV experience with the one & only Zazie Skymm?
POV Experience with Zazie
Caged and Horny
Inside this very special prison, there is one simple rule: to have the right to orgasm, you must obey. Nobody realizes while stepping between these... more prison walls that she has just penetrated a den of pleasure and vice. The strict Anna Polina, the prison supervisor, rules the prison with a rod of iron and the prisoners have no choice but to submit to her every desire.


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Rampage 6 Rugged Notepad
From US$3000, sdgsystems.com
The floodwaters may be rising around you, but you'll still want to play Angry Birds Space. The SDG Systems Rampage 6 may be more slab than tab, but it runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on its 806Mhz processor.
Okay, your apps will crawl along – it's only got 256MB of RAM alongside 4GB flash memory, but unlike the slicker Transformer Prime, you can use the Rampage 6 as a club to fight off hungry cannibals. And it's got IP 7 and IP 5 certification, so neither water nor radioactive dust will work its way into this tablet's casing.
Plus you get plenty of connectivity options, with USB, SD card and Bluetooth support, along with a 3.2MP camera. It's due out later in 2012 – hopefully before the Mayan apocalypse.
Menosunocerouno Just in Case
£tbc, menosunocerouno.com
Mexican branding company Menosunocerouno created this kit with all the home comforts you'll need in the event of armageddon. So you get practical tools like matches, a simple knife and a notebook (for starting fires), as well as a bottle of Xtabentun D'aristi Mayan liqeur and some chocolate, so you can party like it's the End Times.
Voltaic OffGrid solar backpack
£140, voltaicsystems.com
You'll want to keep your gadgets and gizmos charged – after all, just because it's the apocalypse, there's no reason why you can't listen to your tunes. Voltaic's OffGrid solar backpack features two 2W solar panels and a 3000mAh battery, with adaptors for five devices. It's got space for a 17in laptop, and you can even detach the solar panel and clip it to another surface if you don't want to lug the bag around.
Gerber Apocalypse Kit
US$350, gerbergear.com
Whether you're building a shelter or hacking your way through the shambling hordes of the living dead, you'll want something with an edge to it.
Gerber's stepped in with this Apocalypse Kit, featuring a frankly alarming set of blades – two machetes, a Parang, a Camp Axe and three knives. You'll be cutting a swathe through zombies and foliage alike in no time.
PowerPot V
US$150, thepowerpot.com
Charge your gadgets while you cook up a storm with this combined cooking pot and USB charger. It'll generate 5W when you boil up its contents, and comes with a – thankfully flame-resistant – USB cable.
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Creative Sound BlasterAxx SBX gets its stream on
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subset: commoncrawl


text: SPECTRE 6 389 Posted May 19, 2016 This thread is for people actively searching for a Militia to join. It is also a helpful place for Militias to find individuals wanting to actively train. Post your location and a bit about yourself. Even if you can't run in field OPs you may be useful in other areas. 8 Douglas, S.TERRY, Redlegs and 5 others reacted to this Report post Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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This essay describes the facts and merits of the decentralized form of Linux development and support. It suggests some ways that the continued development and growth of free software such as Linux can be encouraged. Despite the use of Linux as a specific instance of a "free" OS, this is not intended to be overly Linux-specific; the principles should largely be applicable to other initiatives such as the free BSD projects and many others that are directed towards applications rather than OS platforms.
Many people have complained over the last few years that there should be some sort of "central" Linux organization.
Some common reasons that I see include:
It would be good for there to be some "central" Linux presence on the Web.
It would be good for there to be some organization holding the Linux trademark to prevent situations like one that recently occurred where an individual named Della Croce claimed a trademark on the name "Linux," and began demanding royalties from anyone using the name.
Items "in public trust" need to remain in public trust.
Many companies want and need some sort of central "Linux Authority."
Companies want a rather more formalized support mechanism than Go ask questions on the Internet. They want a formal system of Linux Support so that users having problems have some sort of help desk to call. This could involve telephone support as well as more formal consulting.
Linux could use some sort of centralized advocacy organization for marketing purposes. The point here being that other operating systems have marketing machines, while Linux doesn't.
Every other major operating system has a central organization.
We need to have a way to encourage financial sponsorship of worthwhile development projects.
A less favorable reason is that many people apparently like to be herded by others.
There is little agreement as to what organization should be "king," but there is desire for a "king" nonetheless.
I would like to argue that while there are imperfections in the support presently available for Linux, this does not mandate the creation of an authoritative central Linux organization.
I would argue furthermore that the decentralization Linux displays represents a strength in that it allows support to grow simultaneously in many areas, unhindered by any particular controlling agency.
There are disadvantages to the decentralized nature of Linux development, as it causes support arrangements to be somewhat fragmented. Linux does not have a single organization offering all of the sorts of things on the list below, as is the case for most other operating systems. There is no single organization responsible for the various support roles which are presently distributed across various organizations in the Linux community:
There are many Linux Web sites, none being authoritatively the home of Linux.
The same can be said for FTP sites where Linux software resides.
There is a lot of duplication of effort in documentation maintenance.
There are many marketing efforts coming from different directions and organizations, none really organized to help The Linux Community.
This is an intractable problem, since due to the diversity of interested parties the needs and desires of the community are themselves diverse.
There are a number of kernels and other "base" system utilities that are of interest as possible application targets.
This includes kernels in the version 1.2.x "series," which has been stable for a long time to the point of being "ancient," to the more modern 2.0.x series, which is also quite stable, but changes every so often, to the 2.1.x experimental series, which changes on roughly a weekly basis.
In addition, there have been a number of sets of C libraries (with the recent transition from LIBC 5.x to the FSF "GLIBC"), multiple binary formats (with the transition from a.out to ELF), and, of late, three C/C++ compilers to worry about (GCC 2.7.x, GCC 2.8.x, EGCS). Transitions between libraries have sometimes been painful.
Critics of Linux often overstate these problems. Most programs do not need to be aware of the distinctions between these system components, and typically do not even need to be recompiled in order to function on a system using a newer kernel/library. Those few that do need coding changes tend to attract a great deal of publicity.
It can still be difficult for developers to select an appropriate target kernel or a special purpose library particularly when some specialized or experimental feature such as resource locking, threading, or multiprocessing are needed.
Just how many libraries are there out there for GUI development? Which one should I use?
There are many graphics libraries for X that run on Linux, including Xt, Motif, Tk, Qt, Gtk, and GNUStep, to name only the most popular ones. This problem is of course not restricted to Linux. It has roughly the same impact on applications running on both "free" and commercial Unix-like OSes.
This problem also plagues popular non-Unix-like platforms. The various Microsoft Windows variants support quite a wide variety of graphic APIs and libraries that come from a variety of vendors.
Organizations that use Linux would prefer to have one authoritative Linux organization to look to for support.
Despite there being some problems to decentralization, I believe that there is a net advantage for Linux to having the variety of independent organizations fulfilling their various roles. We may view the independent organizations in aggregate as a sort of "virtual corporation."
Here are a number of ways that decentralization benefits the development of the system:
Independent organizations can act in their own best interests.
So long as these various organizations remain legally and truly independent, Linux will not run into some problems that have beset IBM and Apple.
Apple has the Software or Hardware? problem. Their software operations might make better decisions if they did not need to care about the health of the hardware side, and vice versa. And this might well benefit the overall organization.
IBM has long been noted for spending millions of dollars developing new products, and then dropping them before even trying to release them as soon as another division determined that the new product would cannibalize their own sales. OS/2 is a good case in point:
The PC division benefited more from selling computers running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, and has never stood behind OS/2. It could be argued that they should have been required to bundle OS/2 with every computer IBM sold, with other third-party operating systems as "extra cost options."
OS/2 could not be permitted to be a "threat" to the mainframe or "mini" (e.g. AS400) divisions.
There is also the AIX/Unix group that would also be unhappy about competition from OS/2.
Trying to come up with real advocates of OS/2 within the company was a problem; there were ample reasons for these and other IBM divisions to actively oppose increased use of OS/2. There are, no doubt, times when Unix-related sales efforts threaten mainframe sales, which begs the question of which "threat" to prefer. OS/2 evidently didn't receive the support needed to compete against Microsoft's operating system products.
Note that Brett Fleisch has written a paper on the failure of IBM's "Workplace OS" project that puts a somewhat different slant on this. If things were as he indicates, OS/2 was, in fact, strategic to IBM; the problem was that IBM's main efforts went into building the Workplace OS for which OS/2 would have been a primary "personality." In effect, OS/2 (in the form that we've seen it) was put on the "back burner." Had Workplace OS turned out as expected, there would have been a "new, improved" OS/2 on top of it. In effect, the failure of Workplace OS doomed OS/2 to a niche existence in the marketplace.
I expect that both my thesis and his have merit: his paper makes many events at IBM over the last five years make a lot more sense, while I believe my thesis to be reasonably representative of how decisions were likely made in the personal computing division...
Having independent organizations reduces the incidence of bottlenecks.
The Free Software Foundation has had the problem that their leader, Richard M. Stallman (commonly known as "RMS") appear to think that they ought to have control over the entire body of free/GPL (GNU Public License) software. Ignoring the consideration that others may not want to be so controlled, they simply don't have enough staff to manage all of the projects that are active.
There is the potential for free software to represent a billion dollar a year sort of effort. The Free Software Foundation is certainly not large enough to manage the results that come from that level of activity. I'm not sure that they could grow large enough to oversee it all.
Linux developers have nobody stopping them from introducing something new. Nobody is waiting for permission from Linus Torvalds for much of anything.
Moreover, Linux developers can and typically do use standardized protocols that allow projects to work independently, which means we're seldom forced to wait for any particular resource. Since, for instance, the X11 protocol used to implement the X Window System is a defined graphical standard that is quite stable, development can proceed independently on such things as X servers, GUI libraries, the Linux kernel, and other system components both large and small.
In contrast, MS-Windows system updates/upgrades have often been painful as system components as well as applications are deeply interlinked. This is good for the careers of consultants that want to have continuing work cleaning up after the problems, but it is expensive for the global community on which the changes are inflicted.
Unix-like OSes and Microsoft's OSes can be contrasted nicely from a technical perspective in this fashion:
Microsoft Windows (in its various versions) enforces relatively little separation between the different system components. Programs using the Win32 API fairly directly access all pieces of the system, from file systems to GUI to memory management.
This has the unfortunate result that if the way any system component functions is changed, all programs typically need to be changed to conform.
Unix-like systems enforce a clear separation between kernel and user processes, and furthermore separate users. The X Windows graphical infrastructure is also clearly separated from both kernel and users.
On Unix systems, it is typical for component upgrades to not have adverse affects on programs. There are counterexamples, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Linux kernel upgrades normally only directly affect the functioning of a small number of programs.
Upgrading the X Windows System from version X11R4 to X11R5 to X11R6 to whatever other new revision has not normally caused significant disturbance to programs written for the older versions; there may be benefit to rewriting programs to use functionality from the new libraries, but that is not necessary. It is not normally necessary to recompile programs. The existing programs normally continue to function as if their environment had not changed.
Moreover, running a program using the "new" Gtk GUI does not make the Xt applications stop working. This also displays a valuable and novel thing about the X Window System, which is that it can simultaneously accommodate applications that use different graphical user interfaces.
When ownership of Linux is distributed to many people around the world, this discourages attempts to privatize Linux as any one person or organization's asset.
The situation where Della Croce laid claim to the trademark "Linux" pointed out the importance of this. He temporarily had legal control over the name, which caused much concern in the Linux community. A Petition to Cancel was filed against this Linux Trademark. The matter was settled out of court; Linus Torvalds is now the holder of the trademark to Linux.
In contrast, since Linus Torvalds started accepting changes to Linux using the GNU Public License, nobody has had, or will have, sole control from a legal standpoint over the source code to Linux. In order to legally privatize the source code to Linux, thousands of contributors to Linux would need to agree to this. There are enough that are likely to disagree that this is extremely unlikely to happen.
Independent organizations can agree to disagree, when necessary.
If Linux remains somewhat fragmented in its support network, this does mean that there may be some problems that fall through the cracks, which is unfortunate.
The NetBSD Project (building a "free" operating system based on a system called "BSD 4.4 Lite") seems to have fractured due to internal disagreements, where people with dissenting opinions left and created OpenBSD. It is difficult to (without entering into great controversy) establish precise causes. Regardless of the causes, the split has hurt the credibility of both groups.
But by not having a monolithic organization, Linux people are free to work as independently as they wish to. They can agree to disagree, and support may grow independently of the political limitations on any of the organizations that are involved.
The GGI graphics project is a good example of why it is good to have a degree of independence. It has been ongoing for several years, with occasional intentions to be a replacement for X.
In a "fully-integrated" Linux Organization, such projects would either become:
Critical path projects which, since they're not done yet, prevent further development of anything else that somehow depends on them (bringing us back to a bottleneck), or
Projects discarded because Linus Torvalds did not agree that they should go into the official kernel.
For instance, while I would personally like to see GGI "succeed," at least as a platform on which X could be run very fast, I think that the (former) "Berlin Project" efforts have been misguided. My feelings doesn't necessarily hinder either effort; in the decentralized world of Linux development, they are free to succeed or fail independently of what I want or think. Some developments may be a waste of time, but ultimately do not critically hurt other Linux efforts.
This doesn't necessarily hinder either effort; in the decentralized world of Linux development, they are free to succeed or fail independently of what I want or think. Some developments may be a waste of time, but ultimately do not critically hurt other Linux efforts.
Were the efforts centralized, failure of a critical development project would injure everyone. For instance, if I were the authority, and I, "Great Tyrant Chris," required that the GGI graphical infrastructure be adopted, this would leave continuing work on many other Linux-based applications and subsystems vulnerable to the possibility that GGI may not become stable and useful in a timely fashion.
With the highly distributed development model, Linux is not generally vulnerable in this fashion.
There simply does not exist some monolithic or otherwise easily characterized body known as The Linux Community.
In other words, there is no fixed centre that to Linux, although Linus Torvalds and a number of other "core developers" certainly exert influence.
Linux has a whole variety of users with a wide variety of desires, needs, wants, and abilities.
Some would describe it as a server OS, just like the other Unix operating systems. Others deny that, claiming that it's the greatest "PC" OS, and that demanding that applications support multiple users is a foolish notion.
Linux is a very powerful system that can indeed by used in many ways. Writing applications that limit themselves to a particular "mode" of operation if they can be readily extended to provide added flexibility and power is clearly unwise. You can, very often, have your cake, and eat it too with Linux.
All of this could be taken to imply that the process of developing software for Linux takes place in some sort of "anarchistic utopia" where everyone simply does what they feel like doing, and somehow it all just works out.
That is not in fact the case. In various places around the system, there are developers that hold "dictatorial" powers. Many "neat ideas" for developing the kernel have been considered and discarded because Linus Torvalds did not approve of them. Decisions concerning how the C libraries should be implemented are effectively made by a relatively small group of highly competent developers. The code base may be open for anyone to examine, but the "authoritative" kernel sources come from Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox, and changes are filtered through these people.
This has not caused serious organizational problems thus far, and the "free" licensing approach means that should some core developer take some ridiculous stand, someone with a more palatable answer, and superior code, could replace the offending developer.
As a good case in point, the people responsible for the graphical infrastructure called GGI have been in a fairly longstanding disagreement with Linus on the merits of including their code in the kernel. Their code is most definitely not yet ready for inclusion in "stable" kernel releases. GGI is (somewhat arguably) also too experimental for general release as part of the "experimental" releases that while not deemed "stable" are still expected to be fairly stable.
If the GGI people can come up with a sufficiently mature, stable release of their code, this might convince the Linux community to overrule Linus' objections and include GGI in an "official" kernel release. This has not happened, which is, thus far, a perfectly fair outcome.
(As preparations occur for the Version 2.2 kernel release, there seems now to be a "frame buffer" scheme that may be used with the kernel that certainly parallels what the GGI folk would want; it is not yet clear whether or not this represents a subsystem that supports the kernel functionality they need...)
Three companies that have seen fairly spectacular levels of growth come out of an "allow independence" approach are:
This German Enterprise Software organization has not tried to provide all consulting services for care and feeding of their (exceedingly complex) software, but actually has encouraged the use of external consultants. R/3 has received tremendous support from "Big Six" consulting firms as a clear and direct result.
SAP AG and consulting firms actually do work cooperatively because they have all found this cooperation to be profitable.
It is more common for sales organizations pay lip-service to such cooperation, while working against it in reality. Oracle's application "suite" has not done so well in the marketplace, and I believe that this can be attributed in part to Oracle being less cooperative.
Hewlett Packard
The independence of the various components of Hewlett-Packard is quite remarkable from organizational, technical, and economic perspectives. The current dominance of the their printing unit in the global market displays the importance and value of independence.
Microsoft - Personal Computers
Many years ago, corporate information systems were largely run by IBM. They provided robust systems, but systems development was time consuming and expensive, and departments were often unhappy with service provided by MIS departments.
Personal computers running MS-DOS and PC-DOS gave departments the opportunity to own and control their own computing environments, independent of central MIS management, at relatively low cost. PCs certainly didn't provide the robustness and scalability of mainframe systems. But it was fairly easy to make PCs do useful things without too much effort using prepackaged word processing, spreadsheet, and database software. From a political perspective, software licenses could be acquired relatively cheaply at the departmental level rather than having to go through the MIS department. This gave departments more power.
The fact that these personal computers were neither particularly reliable nor particularly manageable compared to the mainframes (and this can lead to nightmarish problems to this day as organizations try to scale up PC LANs) does not contradict this. PCs have been "good enough" to prove useful and valuable.
It is a commonly-held view that having multiple implementations of things is a waste of effort. I do not agree; let me count the ways...
Reducing the Risks of Experimentation
Having multiple implementations of things allows people to more safely experiment with new approaches without the risk that failure will have disastrous effects.
Several Linux projects are exploring new sorts of file systems; since they're not working on the only file system, they can take some more substantial risks within their individual projects without increasing the risk of potentially hampering all Linux development.
Diverse participation
Having multiple small projects allows individuals to participate in whatever they want to work on.
Coping with conflict
If I were to have a severe "personality" conflict with Linus, it might well be that there would not be room for us to work together on the same operating system kernel. If Linux was the only "free" OS kernel out there being developed, that would leave us a dilemna; only one of us could do this sort of work.
Fortunately, there is no such apparent conflict, but this sort of thing has happened before on many projects. It has on occasion caused "splits" that have resulted in multiple viable projects. (NetBSD and OpenBSD come to mind...)
More common is the situation where there are substantially different positions held as to what direction development efforts should take. That is a good place for the people with unreconcilably different positions to go in those different directions. The results will establish which directions were wise or otherwise.
Cutting off Proprietary Directions
Many users have not made substantial use of the Debian Linux distribution.
I am glad it is there, however, and would argue that its simple existence benefits me as well as many others that may never use it.
At one point in time, Linux distributions were regarded as "works" that could usefully be copyrighted, and for which use could be restricted. Thus, even though substantially all the components of the Blue Fedora Distribution may have been GPLed software, and thus, by one metric, freely redistributable, the collection, being suitably copyrighted, might itself require licensing fees.
Enter Debian. It provides a useful distribution that provides similar sets of applications to common commercial ones like Red Hat's, SuSE's, and Caldera's. Presto! Prices fall.
You can get Debian free of licensing fees, and it contains substantially the same software as provided by the "expensive guys." I argue that this has cut off the option of the "other guys" charging substantial amounts for building their distributions.
They are still free to charge for service and for third-party commercial (non-free) software; they can't realistically charge a whole lot for collecting together the software on CD.
Similarly, the existence of multiple X implementations has brought prices down and encouraged common developments of useful functionality.
This can also be applied to the KDE versus GNOME Controversy. The fact that there are two independent projects substantially defuses the possible problems that could result from the more paranoid interpretations of Qt licensing.
If Red Hat Software were to head off down any particularly proprietary paths, the existence of Debian represents a ready alternative.
If Troll Tech, producers of Qt, were to do anything particularly proprietary, the existence of GNOME provides a (not quite ready yet...) alternative.
If Linus Torvalds were to move to Microsoft, and could (by some legal bizarreness) make Linux proprietary, the existence of FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and others represent potential alternatives.
I would thus conclude that it is not, in general, a waste of time to have multiple implementations of things.
If anything, I would suggest that there may be some places where additional projects could be useful. There do exist certain "bottlenecks" where there is dependance on a single tool:
There do exist other substantially different compiler efforts such as TenDRA and LCC that have seen very little attention.
There could be improvements that could result from taking substantially different approaches from those used by GCC/EGCS.
The X Window System
There was great controversy last year concerning the licensing of the X11R6.4 Sample Implementation by The Open Group.
For a time, there were separate source code streams. The loud outcry against the action resulted in TOG restoring the old license.


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Pomellato has always given a role of fundamental importance to the artisan manufacture of its creations, employing highly qualified and greatly experienced artisans. Today, the headquarters in Milan host over 100 goldsmiths who craft every Pomellato jewel with great concentration and inspiration.
As of 2013, Pomellato has joined the Kering Group. Present in more than 120 countries, the Group generated revenues of €10 billion in 2014 and totaled more than 37,000 employees by the end of the year. The Kering (previously PPR) share is listed on Euronext Paris (FR 0000121485, KER.PA, KER.FP).
Pomellato S.p.A
20141 Milano Via Neera 37
Fully paid up capital stock Euro 5.148.000,00
Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture Milan Business Register Tax Code 00860690155 – REA 686445
Company managed and coordinated by Kering Holland N.V


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Shoal Creek Intercollegiate Live Stats
The Liberty Flames begin the second half of their fall golf slate on Monday when Liberty opens play at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate, hosted by UAB at the Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.
UAB golf alum and PGA Tour professional Graeme McDowell will serve as the tournament host. The 2010 U.S. Open champion served as the two-day, 54-hole event's host last year, the first time the tournament had been contested since 2008.
The Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club is a par-72, 7,234-yard course and was designed by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus. The course hosted the 1984 and 1990 PGA Championship, respectively won by Lee Trevino and Wayne Grady.
Last year's Shoal Creek Intercollegiate champion was LSU, who posted a winning score of even par 864 (286-290-288) to finish five strokes ahead of second-place Houston (292-279-298-869).
This year's Shoal Creek Intercollegiate 12-team field includes 10 programs that finished last year ranked inside the top 75 teams in the country.
The field is spotlighted by a trio of "Sunshine State" programs, including Florida, who is ranked No. 18 in the latest Golf World/Nike Coaches poll, followed by No. 24 North Florida. UCF is additionally receiving votes in the latest coaches ranking.
The Flames will be looking to get back on track following a seventh-place showing at the Rees Jones Invitational, a three-day event that concluded play last Tuesday.
Higher scores prevailed at the South Carolina-hosted event, as Kennesaw State won the event with a 21-over par 885 (290-297-298). Liberty finished 16 strokes behind the Owls, carding a 37-over par 901 (291-305-305) on the Haig Point Golf Course in Daufuskie, Island, S.C.
Liberty's top finisher in the event was Mathieu Fenasse, who posted a three-over par 219 (72-75-72). He bookended even par rounds of 72 to finish tied for sixth place.
Fenasse finished eight shots ahead of the next two players on Liberty's roster, as Chase Marinell (73-80-74) and Ian McConnell (74-73-80) shared 27th place with an 11-over par 227.
Niklas Lindstrom finished tied for 37th place with a 15-over par 231 (72-80-79), followed by Harrison Winger's 21-over par 237 (79-77-81). Michael Hocker, competing as an individual, finished tied for 30th place with a 12-over par 228 (71-75-82).
The first two rounds of the 2013 Shoal Creek Intercollegiate will be played on Monday, followed by the final 18 holes of competition on Tuesday. Live stats for the event will be provided via Golfstat.
2013 Shoal Creek Intercollegiate Field (Final 2013 Golfstat/Golfweek Team Rankings) Florida (No. 18/14) Georgia Southern (No. 63/64) Liberty (No. 44/38) Memphis (No. 61/67) Missouri (No. 30/31) North Florida (No. 16/16) North Texas (No. 43/35) Ole Miss (No. 77/77) Toledo (No. 129/126) Tulsa (No. 46/49) UAB (No. 60/55) UCF (No. 26/39)
Course Information: Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club (Birmingham, Ala.) Par 72, 7,234 yards
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text: Alison Sudol (born December 23, 1984), known professionally as A Fine Frenzy (formerly Alison Monro) is an American alternative singer and songwriter and pianist. Her debut album, One Cell in the Sea, was released on July 17, 2007, and peaked at number 91 on the Billboard 200 chart. She has been in the charts in Germany, Austria, Switzerland… Read More


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Omnicare to close Waukesha facility, cut 78 jobs
Company expects to begin eliminating jobs Feb. 22
WAUKESHA, Wis. — Omnicare Inc. plans to close a facility in Waukesha and eliminate 78 jobs there.
The Cincinnati company notified the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that the job losses include 61 hourly and 17 salaried positions.
Omnicare said it expects to begin eliminating those jobs on Feb. 22 and will continue until the closure is completed in March.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the company said the closure was prompted by the consolidation of the Waukesha operations with a location in Milwaukee.
Omnicare dispenses drugs to long-term care providers like hospitals and nursing homes.


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Objects in the shade of light gray
We have 123,293 objects that overlap with this color. and this is page 1 of 3,523
The closest color to #ded8c2 in the CSS3 color palette is
light gray which has the hex code of #d3d3d3.
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We are in the process of migrating the Spacial Wiki content to our new Help Center at spacial.com.
Please visit the Help Center for latest Tips and Tricks, Documentation and Troubleshooting.
Streamads Advertiser Traffic Report
From SpacialAudio
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The Advertiser Traffic Report is used for affidavit style reporting, giving advertisers a detailed view on the spot-plays and performances for their campaigns. Traffic reports contain the exact date and time on which advertisement aired and can be downloaded to comma-delimited format for easy distribution to advertisers or station staff.
Note: This level of detail is only available for In-stream advertisements. Due to the volume of data for Gateway, Banners & Text-ads, it simply does not make sense to generate this type of detail for those advertisement types.
Generate report
- Advertiser
- In the Advertiser field you can enter the username of the advertiser for which you wish to generate the report. Click on the Search icon next to the Advertiser field title to look up advertiser username.
- Timezone
- By default, the report is shown in Greenwhich Mean Time, i.e. the world standard zero offset timezone.
- By changing this value you can change the timezone of the report to be displayed in your local timezone.
- Date from
- The starting date of where to look for data.
- Date to
- The end date of where to look for data.
- Time range
- Specify the timeslot for which you wish to generate the report. If you set this for example from 00:00 to 06:00 the report will show only results of advertisements played within that time period for every day within the Date range.
- Sort by
- This field allows you to specify how to order the results.
- Limit results to
- Traffic log reports can become pretty big for advertisers where the campaign is delivered accross a lot of stations. This setting will allow you to limit the amount of rows displayed on the screen for easier viewing.
- Note: Only applicable to View and Print report action. The Download action will always include all rows.
- View - display the results on the screen.
- Print - display the results in a printer-friendly format.
- Download - download the results in a comma-delimited file format (*.csv)
Report results
If the report contains too many rows to display on the first page, the report will be broken up into several pages. To view the other pages, click on the page number links next to the Page text at the top or bottom of the report.
- Date
- The date on which the advertisement played.
- Time
- The exact time the advertisement played.
- Station
- The name of the station on which the advertisements were delivered.
- Spot name
- The description of the advertisements that played.
- Duration
- The duration of the advertisement in seconds.
- Cost
- The total cost of the advertisements for that single event, based on the supplied CPS or CPM rate.
- Impressions
- The total amount of ears that heard the advertisement.
- Note: The totals are for the WHOLE report, not just the visible rows on the screen.


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Seniors Amanda Moreno and Bree Strenkowski finished in the top-28 to help the UCSB women's cross country team to a 13th-place finish in the White Division at the Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday.
Moreno stood out. She ran the 6,000 meter course n a time of 20:34.7, just 27 seconds behind the race winner, Lucy Van Dalen of Stony Brook, who clocked at 20:08.1. Strenkowski almost ran a sub-21 minute race. She timed-out at 21:00.06 and finished 28th.
The rest of the Santa Barbara contingent struggled. Crystal Reed finished 85th in a time of 21:44.4, while Andrea Jacobs was 103rd in a time of 21:51.9. Jessica Chadwick ran a 22:49.3 for a 208th-place finish, and Ashley Beechan was 259th.
As a team, UCSB tied for 13th-place. The Gauchos actually finished tied with Rice for 13th-place. Both teams finished 29 points behind Montana for 12th-place, and 49 back of Arizona State for 11th.


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CHICAGO / SANDY, UT – U.S. Soccer revealed that Sandy, Utah venue Rio Tinto Stadium will host a 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Match on Tuesday, June 18 against CONCACAF foe Honduras. The announcement from manager Jurgen Klinsmann was live on ESPN SportsCenter earlier today.
"Choosing Salt Lake for a very important game in the qualifying process is an easy choice," said Klinsmann. "We think the crowd will give us huge support, loud, noisy, pushing us forward and giving us a lot of energy for 90 minutes. Every point in a World Cup qualifier is crucial, and we need to have game in venues like Salt Lake where we know opponents not only have to deal with us, they will also have to deal with the crowd."
"When we ask the question 'where is the biggest support for us throughout the country?,' Salt Lake always comes up in that discussion. It has been proven in the past that this is another venue where we can 'rock the boat' and get a lot of excitement in the city around the game."
The U.S. kicks off its homestand in World Cup Qualifying Friday night against Costa Rica at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, Colo., a game which could feature several Real Salt Lake players – GK Nick Rimando, MF Kyle Beckerman and DF Tony Beltran for the United States, along with Costa Rican FW Alvaro Saborio. After this weekend's match in suburban Denver, the U.S. will host the other four Final Round "Hexagonal" opponents in following venues:
- June 11 against Panama at CenturyLink Field (Seattle, Wash.)
- June 18 against Honduras at Rio Tinto Stadium (Sandy, Utah)
- Sept. 10 against Mexico at Columbus Crew Stadium (Columbus, Ohio)
- Oct. 11 against Jamaica at Sporting Park (Kansas City, Kan.).
Real Salt Lake PRIDE Season Ticket Holders will have an exclusive pre-sale window for the June 18 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. MT via www.RioTintoStadium.com, where one can also find details regarding local sales windows.
Tickets for Rio Tinto Stadium's June 18 date will go on sale to the public on Tuesday, April 2, at 10 a.m. MT via www.ussoccer.com. (sales limited to eight tickets per household). Ultimate Fan Tickets (special VIP packages that include a premium ticket, a custom-made official U.S. National Team jersey with name and number, VIP access to the field before and after the game, and other unique benefits) will also be available for each game exclusively through ussoccer.com.
As a sponsor of U.S. Soccer, Visa is pleased to offer all Visa cardholders access to an advance ticket sale for the June 18 U.S. v Honduras match prior to general public availability. The Visa advance sale occurs on Friday, March 29, from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. MT at www.ussoccer.com. Visa will be the only payment method accepted through the Visa presale and is the preferred card of U.S. Soccer. Terms and conditions apply.
"Events such as this prestigious World Cup qualifier and the previously announced 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup bring economic impact and international exposure to Utah and continue to position it as the 'State of Sport'," said Utah Sports Commission President & CEO Jeff Robbins. "The arrival of these two extraordinarily high-profile international soccer events – just inside four weeks apart – would not be possible without a world-class soccer specific venue such as Rio Tinto Stadium, and is a continuing testament to the international sporting culture developed by the great fans of Real Salt Lake."
Tickets to Rio Tinto Stadium's July 13 Gold Cup doubleheader – U.S. v Cuba (1:30p MT) and Costa Rica v Belize – are now available to the general public at www.RioTintoStadium.com.
On June 18, the U.S. faces Honduras at Rio Tinto Stadium, the home of Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake. The only previous U.S. MNT game at the five-year old venue was the team's 2-1 victory against El Salvador on Sept. 5, 2009, in World Cup qualifying. RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman entered as a substitute and played the final 11 minutes of that victory, with goals by current U.S. players Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore.
The U.S. is 2-0-0 in the state of Utah, with the other victory being a 3-0 win against Costa Rica on June 4, 2005, in World Cup qualifying at Rice-Eccles Stadium, an event that prompted former manager Bruce Arena and Los Angeles Galaxy FW Landon Donovan to comment on the outstanding home-field advantage Utah fans gave the United States.
Kickoff times and broadcast information for many of the games has been determined and includes ESPN, WatchESPN and UniMas. Fans can follow all U.S. MNT games via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer.


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Report: Detroit Pistons to hire Lawrence Frank as coach?
Lawrence Frank is Detroit's choice to be its next head coach, and formal offer imminent within next 24-36 hours, league sources tell Y!
HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: The Detroit Pistons aren't kind on coaches –but I suppose new sideline boss Lawrence Frank is aware of this.
Whether because of Executive Joe Dumars or the team's temperamental players, the Pistons have chewed up and spit out seven coaches in eleven years. Many of those coaches left on bad terms; a few had awful experiences.
Frank knows this. He also knows what he has –or doesn't have. The Pistons are a mediocre team, with several players who may resist his defense-first approach.
Still, Frank has one of the NBA's thirty head coaching gigs. After getting fired by the New Jersey Nets and spending time as an assistant with Doc Rivers' Boston Celtics, Frank is back in 'The Big Chair'.
--Oly Sandor.
Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.


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This deceptively spacious style holds your everyday items while maintaining its streamlined silhouette. Flip it open to reveal eight slots for cards, a full length note section, two side pouches for receipts or tickets and a secure zip section for change.
Exclusive Nappa Leather
A fine smooth leather with a beautifully soft finish due to our use of high quality skins, which is perfect for our amazing array of colours.
Product Details
Note section
Internal zip coin pocket
2 slip pockets under c/c slots
Width open: 20 cm
Height: 9 cm
Leather Care
Remove any dirt with a dry lint free cloth, and use a suitable leather care product to clean, protect and finish.
Leather is a natural product, so there will be variances between different skins.
Store your leather product away from direct sunlight to prevent the colour fading, and if wet, do not dry in direct heat.
Clean when dry, and continue to look after the leather with suitable leather care products to ensure your wallet or handbag always looks its best.


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Red-bellied Mullets
I've watched red-bellied woodpeckers for more than 35 years. But today is the first time that I noticed what totally awesome red mullets they have! I used to think this was just a field mark—but I was so wrong!
Dude! It's a feathered fashion statement. Now I know why they have zebraiped backs. These are the avian equivalent of zebraiped pants favored by mullet-wearing rockers.
And I believe this is further evidence of the undeniable, never-ending power and majesty of ROKK!
Labels: birds with mullets, majesty of rock, Red-bellied woodpecker, zebra stripes


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JoinedSeptember 1, 2016
Fabian is a native of Sarasota, Fla. and has always had a passion for art and design. He earned his Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Florida in 2006. Two years later, he decided to pursue a full-time music career with his brothers. He assumed the role of lead graphic designer and lead guitarist for their band, Boyce Avenue. He has spent the last 5 years designing CD covers, tour posters, merchandise, videos, and networking through a variety of social media platforms for the band and other clients. He started These Quiet Sounds on January 1, 2011.


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I took the day off of work yesterday to make a quick trip down to Columbus to see a little more soccer.
Meg and I were just in Columbus seeing a Columbus Crew game. This game was a U.S. National Team World Cup qualifying match. Kind of a big deal and, as the U.S. National Team doesn't play nearby all that often, we couldn't pass up the opportunity.
We brought our friend Ryan with us.
I have known Ryan for 11 years. He worked at the rink that I taught skating at when I was in college! ...which was also the rink that Meg taught skating at when she was in college. Also with Ryan.
As I told him today as we were driving home: he passed all of my tests for a good road trip companion. He wasn't overly picky about food. He wasn't difficult about where he sat or where we went or what we did. He didn't criticize anyone's driving. He wasn't hung over and whining and/or vomiting in the back seat. He didn't snore. Basically, he wasn't annoying and I feel like trips bring out the most annoying in people. Ryan passed the test. Yay, Ryan!
We checked in to our hotel, went to lunch, put on our most patriotic and headed over to the stadium.
Where we proceeded to do a bit of tailgating and a lot of jello shots.
Patriotic jello shots, I should add. Meg is spectacular and layered red and blue jello because we're classy like that.
We went into the stadium early because we wanted to catch the team warmups. And then we found out that Meg's very, very favorite U.S. National Team player from when we were kids was signing autographs. So, we stopped by to snap a quick picture.
As I couldn't decide between my red and white striped shirts and I was afraid that I would be too cold in a tank top, I changed my shirt before we went into the stadium. Costume changes are essential to a great night, are they not?
After filling Meg's childhood dream (she loved him so much that she would pretend that she was him when we played soccer), we headed over to our seats and settled in.
This isn't a soccer blog, so I won't get much into the match. But, let me just say that it was fantastic. The stadium was sold out. The fans were crazy awesome intense: we stood the whole time! And, being that it was September 11, the patriotism was turned up just a little bit more. So many American flags. So much national pride. It was fun to be a part of it. It was fun to see the American team pull off a victory.
In exchange for taking yesterday off, I get to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
And totally worth it.


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A look into the intense FANCHEST Product Selection Process and how we curated our current box, released on APRIL 1.
There was pain shooting up our legs as we walked up and down miles of the trade show floor for 3 days. Hundreds of companies that own licenses with the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB and colleges attend this conference each year to unveil their bright, shiny new products to the sports world. The Sports Licensing and Tailgate Show gathers each January at the Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing together retailers (Fanatics, Dicks Sporting Goods, NFL Shop, among many others) and the league's licensed vendors (Nike, Under Armour, '47, New Era, and more).
As the FANCHEST merchandising and marketing teams flow in and out of hundreds of booths, touching, feeling, and using products from each brand, we ask ourselves the same questions over and over;
- What is the overall quality of this item?
- How unique is this item in comparison to similar products?
- Is this product universal – for a wide range of sports fans?
- Is this a staple item for every die-hard sports fans closet or home?
- Can we deliver this product to our customer at a great price?
After meticulously reviewing thousands of products from brands at the trade show, we landed on the perfect curated box for all sports fans.
Item 1: 9" x 11" Wood Framed Stadium Image with Minted Coin
This stadium frame is elegant and spirited, and is perfect for home or office decor. We chose this frame specifically because it was created by The Highland Mint, the company that is best known for minting the coin in the coin toss that starts EVERY Super Bowl. In fact, they have made the coin used to start every NFL game since 1994.
We know fandom runs deep, and goes beyond what you wear. We felt the ready-to-hang, glass covered Framed Stadium Image is a great selection as it is a permanent display wherever the gift recipient prefers. This commemorative collectible also comes with a certificate of authenticity and is proudly made in the U.S.A.
Item 2: Premium '47 Hat
Twin brothers Henry and Arthur D'Angelo began to sell sports memorabilia on the streets of Boston after immigrating to America in 1938. This later turned into '47 brand, where Arthur's four sons (now co-owners of '47) learned invaluable lessons in teamwork and competition. Family values and genuine relationships are at the heart of brand culture at '47 today. At FANCHEST, we believe in the connection and relationships built through sport and fandom, an important characteristic of '47. We chose to feature '47 brand hats because their mission aligns closely with ours. '47 features our NFL and NHL teams, and is a wardrobe staple, selected for comfort, quality, style and adjustable fit. Our Collegiate hats are from Top of the World, another great brand with high quality, comfort and style.
Item 3: 24 oz Double Insulated Stainless Steel Tumbler
Great American Products produced this stainless steel, 24 oz, insulated beverage cup. It features a laser engraved logo and a black silicone grip. When choosing your drinkware, it is important to be sure it's not going to spill, will stay hot/cold for a long period of time, and that it looks awesome. This tumbler does just that. And after thorough review of other drinkware products in Las Vegas, we landed on this because of its versatility and quality. And best of all, we stand behind our product selections, and Great American does as well with its Lifetime Warranty of this product.
Item 4: Team Rally Towel
The rally towel is a fan staple, representing utmost passion for your team at the game or in your home. The towel is perfect to use to celebrate your team at the tailgate, or clean your kitchen after the watch party. WinCraft is a leading manufacturer of licensed goods for professional sports teams, colleges, and more. Their experience with products for virtually all sports teams is vast, and their products show that.
There you have it folks, the Ultimate Gift for Sports Fans, and the process for building it.
Enjoy FREE shipping, a free 60-day return policy, and a satisfaction guarantee. If you don't love your FANCHEST, send it back and we'll issue you a full refund – no questions asked.
This adult box retails for $95 with free shipping and is now available as of April 1, 2019. Exclusions on free shipping apply – available for US orders only.


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Multidimensional Preposition
Posted by dowbrigade on 20th March 2009
WHAAAAAT? Bailed Out Bank Of America Paying Consumers To See Hollywood Film
This is unbelievable. Though I suppose it was just a matter of time before the Hollywood moguls figured out a way to get their hands on some of that U.S. government bailout money, albeit indirectly. But why in the world are American taxpayers helping foot the bill to promote a big-budget 3-D DreamWorks Animation movie? Well, it appears the reason is because the president of the Jeffrey Katzenberg-led Hollywood animation studio just happens to be Bank of America's former Vice Chairman and CFO.
Bank of America was helping families to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3-D rather than 2-D at no additional cost when it starts playing in theaters on Friday, March 27th. (The promotion is here.)
from Deadline Hollywood
What a difference a preposition can make! We read that headline (Bank of America Paying Consumers to See Hollywood Film) and decided we could see the film 20 or 30 times, depending on how much they were paying. Times are tough.
Imagine our chagrin when we realized they were just paying FOR consumers to see the movie, not actually paying them money. Ah, well, its still a nice way to try out the latest in 3D technology for the still usurous 2D prices.
Although the web site says its for BofA clients, all you need to get the upgrade is an email address.
Posted in Events, Humor, video | 1 Comment »


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While a felony can land you in court, slander and libel can get you in legal trouble too. However, in the dirtiest of political campaigns, defamation is the name of the game. That is what Obama is running: the dirtiest of political campaigns. Even still, cries of one's opponent being a "felon" are usually relegated to the third party shenanigans of an "issues" candidate who has no hope of winning. Such charges could also be associated with peanut gallery observers and shock personalities like Sean Hannity or Bill Maher. However, now it is also a tactic of the Obama campaign.
Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for the Obama campaign, suggested that Mitt Romney is either a liar or a felon and could face criminal prosecution. Why? Because either she is a liar, or the Obama administration is incompetent when it comes to corporate structures and SEC filings.
At issue is whether Mitt Romney was running the show at Bain Capital after 1999. Everyone at Bain Capital, including Democrat Obama supporters, say no. Everyone at the Olympics say Romney was there. The only people who think Romney was at Bain after 1999 are in Obama's campaign. They blame Romney for everything that happened in Bain up to 2002. Kind of like how they still are blaming Bush for 8.2% unemployment.
So why do Cutter and Obama think Romney is a felon? The Boston Globe came out with a story showing that Romney signed SEC documents as the President, Director and CEO of Bain Capital up until 2002. The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine and Factcheck.org explain this. Romney left to save the Olympics before any sort of replacement could be found and remained listed as President and CEO until his shares were passed on.
Typically liberal Washington Post embarrasses Obama even more with a follow up fact check story, giving Obama another three Pinocchios.
Obama's outright false and defamatory Bain attack is designed to get Romney to release more tax returns. Obama believes he is gaining ground by highlighting the low percentage Romney pays in taxes. However, another Washington Post factcheck story shows that even this line of attack is dishonest. In fact, one of the reasons Romney's tax rate is lower is because he gives as much to charity as he pays in taxes.
Media organizations have not been able to back Obama up on this one. Even CNN's John King backed up Romney's side of the story.
In addition to exposing himself as a liar and a dirty campaigner, Obama has exposed himself to an easy rebuttal from the Romney campaign. In fact, while Obama's campaign is cheering any unfair negative press they can get on Romney, the result is Romney sitting in front of CNN, Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC cameras, on their dime, explaining how Obama is wrong and not living up to his promises of running an issues centered campaign.
In fact, as John Sununu pointed out, Obama's bringing up things like felonies and outsourcing is really a liability for Obama. Obama can be tied to Tony Rezko, Rod Blagojavich, Bill Ayers, and more recently Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious scandal. You want to talk about secretive.
Here is my challenge to the Obama campaign. Bain executives, Olympic executives, and anyone who knew Romney in 1999 knew that he was no more running Bain Capital than Bush was running a timber company in 2004. So why doesn't Obama send Eric Holder to arrest Mitt Romney for listing himself as CEO of Bain in 2002? It wouldn't be a waste of Holder's time, he's busy not turning Fast and Furious documents over to Congress and not enforcing Congress's vote of contempt against him. Send Holder to arrest Romney for supposedly committing the felony of being the president of a company he wasn't running or involved with. Then we can all have a good belly laugh at Obama and get on with our lives.
Obama has been consistently dishonest in this election season. Eventually more people than just the political junkies like you and me will figure this out. When a President lies several times during a campaign, the average joe on the street might miss every instance. When a President lies continually, eventually every American will experience his dishonesty. And when not even CNN and the Washington Post can backup Obama, his credibility is gone. Can Obama win with no credibility?
Filed under: Mitt Romney, President Obama | Tagged: ABC, ayers, Bain, Bain Capital, Barack Obama, Bill Maher, blagojavich, campaign, cbs, CNN, condi rice, cutter, defamation, dirty politics, eric holder, factcheck, factcheck.org, fast and furious, felon, felony, fortune, fox, hannity, holder, John King, liar, libel, maher, Mitt Romney, nbc, nyt, obama, olympics, post, rezko, Romney, salt Lake City, sean hannity, sec, slander, stephanie cutter, Utah, Washington post |


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When most youth coaches think of preseason preparation, they envision grueling conditioning, long stretching sessions, creative new plays and strategies, understanding team dynamics, and attending league meetings. One topic that belongs on that list is what I call a "parents meeting."
Each sports season, I organize a parents meeting before we step on the field. I make this meeting a requirement and ask that at least one parent from each family attend. During the meeting, I lay out my goals and expectations for the season and explain to parents how I run my practices. I always leave a fair amount of time for a question-and-answer period. In anticipation of the parents' meeting, I print a handout of approximately three to four pages, which lists all of the members of the team and coaching staff, each player and coach's phone number, a brief list of my coaching philosophies, and some organizational items.
People might say, "Well this is only youth sports. It's not high school." This is true, but I have learned over the years that a parents meeting will make for a better run season for the kids, the parents and the coaches.
One of the key topics I cover during a parents meeting is how I expect players to arrive at least 45 minutes before the start of a game. It's important to set this expectation early and also to explain that you are especially appreciative to parents who have very busy schedules either with other children or with regards to competing priorities (karate, music lessons, school work, car pools, etc).
I also like to address what is most important for the parents. In youth football, playing time is an issue and an explanation from the coach should be covered. Many football leagues will have their own playing time requirements and if yours does, explain the policy to the parents.
In soccer, playing time as well as position play are two of the biggest concerns to parents. In recreational soccer, playing time is usually dictated by the league policy. If you are coaching in one of the more competitive travel soccer teams, you must detail your philosophy and tell the parents outright that some players will be playing more than others. As far as position play, you can let parents know that you will try to be a little flexible but cannot guarantee anything.
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Brain Machine Workshop
If you're here from Laughing Squid looking for the compass vibro anklet, try the hack pages or sensebridge
Brain Machine Building Workshop[edit]
When: Saturday, February 16th, 2008 -- noon to 4pm
Where: 221 Pine St. 6th floor
What: Noisebridge's first Hardware Sprint! -- All parts, tools, and food provided
- 17 people made their own Brain Machine at this first official Noisebridge event! - Tons of fun for all. - Check out these photos
Let's make something!
This fun workshop is for everyone: total beginners (even if you've never built anything, ever), as well as people skilled in the art.
The Brain Machine blinks light and pulses sound at a pre-programmed sequence of brainwave frequencies -- in this case, a meditation sequence. If you use the Brain Machine, your brain synchronizes to the meditation sequence, and you experience it! And a nice bonus is that you hallucinate beautiful colors and patterns from your subconscious mind. Sound cool? Most people agree!
I originally wrote up the Brain Machine as a DIY project for MAKE Magazine #10 in May-07. (Here's a video.) Since then several hundred people have taken the workshops I've given at Maker Faires, hacker conferences, and friends' places. Everyone has successfully completed their Brain Machines. You can too.
By building one of these you will learn how to:
- Solder like a pro
- Program an Atmel Micro
- hack microcontrollers
- Make LEDs blink
- Attain Zen-like states in under 7 minutes
All tools and parts are provided. Parts cost me $20, and I ask that people pay me for the parts.
I'll bring food and drinks. Feel free to bring more.
Please add your name below if you are interested in doing the workshop (no committment implied):
- Mitch Altman
- Jacob Appelbaum
- Audrey Penven
- scott lamorte
- Matt Peterson
- Rachel McConnell
- Asheesh
- Rubin Starset - Will hopefully show up with some soldering irons and random tools.
- Al Billings
- Mark Cohen - Will also hopefully bring an iron, solder and random tools...
- David Molnar
- Jesse Zbikowski
- Alex Graveley
- Matthew Baggott
- Praveen Sinha
- Scott


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Education overhaul pushed for nanotech revolution
Keywords:nanotechnology? ic? designcon 2003 conference? nanodevice?
Nanotechnology is taking on a life of its own, inexorably changing electronics in the same way as the transition from tubes to ICs. But the educational community has yet to respond, and research officials are concerned that the fledgling industry will not grow unless nanotechnology becomes a standard part of the U.S. physics and chemistry curriculum.
Academics and research leaders aired their concerns at a workshop devoted to nanotechnologies held last week in conjunction with the DesignCon 2003 conference. Some asked for nanotechnology to be introduced in a preliminary stage to students at the K-12 level.
It is especially important to revise technical education in the U.S. because other countries - especially in Europe, but also in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and China - are vying to buy up the nanotechnology intellectual property (IP) that is being developed in the U.S., said James Murday, director of the Nanotechnology Coordinating Office, a government agency affiliated with the National Science Foundation.
"What I can foresee is that Japan, which is scooping up IP in this area like no other nation, will find ways to commercialize devices and give us a run in the same manner that they did in the 1980s in the semiconductor field," he warned.
Trillion-dollar market
If nanotech is to make a dent in the economy, undergraduate curriculums will need to change drastically. "We need 5,000 college students graduating every year [with knowledge of nanotechnology] in order for the projected value-added market to reach $1 trillion by 2015," said Murday. That $1 trillion market will consist of nanodevices but also of devices and systems with some kind of embedded nanotechnology that increases their value, he said.
"There is a disconnect between the curriculum programs and the career goals in our education system," said Cornell University professor Sandip Tiwari, another speaker at DesignCon's full-day NanoEngineering TecForum. Tiwari termed nanotechnology a paradigm shift as significant as "those of the vacuum tube going to the transistor and then to solid-state electronics and finally to the integrated circuit." In such a climate, he said, "we cannot afford to have the current 60 to 70 percent undergraduate attrition rate of college students who switch from science and engineering to the arts fields."
Tiwari believes that the entire physics and engineering educational curriculum needs to change and that the four-year undergraduate programs must be expanded to at least five years. Referring to the current hectic pace of change, Tiwari exclaimed, "Today, the faster you go, the 'behinder' you get. We need to find a way to get research experience into education early."
As part of one of the six NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering centers, the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell has an educational mission to foster a lifelong interest in science and technology by teaching people of all ages about the nanoworld. Four focus groups participate in the center's programs, including teachers, students in grades K-12, undergraduate and graduate students, and the general public. Part of the center's K-12 mission is to integrate concepts in biology, chemistry, and engineering into national and state education standards.
For its part, the National Science Foundation is leading the pack to make nanotechnology the buzzword in the beginning of this decade, just as the Internet was at the start of the 1990s. As such it sponsors technical forums to spread the word on nanotech and to get feedback from the community interested in participating in the nanotechnology revolution. At the NanoEngineering TecForum, the NSF was trying to attract design engineers to "illuminate areas of critical interest and to help separate hype from reality."
According to NSF's Murday, close to 1 percent of the federal R&D budget is being spent on nanotechnologies. Some 16 federal agencies are somewhat involved, he said, but their goals as far as nanotechnology is concerned are not clearly defined. "To a large part, we hold this type of forum to get your feedback as to what application areas we need to prioritize," said Murday.
As a player in a global economy, the U.S. needs to pay close attention to making science and engineering education "as interesting for our kids as possible," Murday said. "We need to show them what will be possible with nanotechnology in all kinds of applications in their future - 20 years from now this will be a ho-hum subject. Now is the time to get them started, but how do we capture kids' imagination about how they can manipulate atoms?"
Murday reported on the milestones the National Nanotechnology Initiative has reached since the six Nanoscale Science and Engineering centers were funded in September 2001: "We came up with 10 points on which to concentrate our efforts since then," he said, including goals "to develop performance metrics, education and industrial partnerships, as well as to coordinate and leverage state initiatives."
In a separate workshop on nanotech undergraduate and graduate education, Stephen Goodnick, chairman of the electrical-engineering department at Arizona State University, reported on programs that foster collaboration between K-12 teachers and the NSF research community. "We encourage active participation of teachers in ongoing NSF projects, and we also encourage transfer of new knowledge to classroom activity," he said.
Funds for teachers, businesses
To that end, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association of which Goodnick is a part - composed of heads of departments offering accredited programs in electrical and computer engineering - reported on an NSF program for disbursing $10,000 in NSF funding per teacher, for up to two teachers per school, for encouraging the transfer of research knowledge into the classroom.
The NSF is also attempting to attract small businesses into the nano fold. An NSF workshop next month in Washington will bring together startup-company technical executives, practicing engineers, researchers, and federal agency and technical society representatives working across the entire spectrum of nanotechnology. The Small Businesses Move to Nanotechnology Workshop will include several success stories of how small businesses in the manufacturing and service sectors have implemented nanotechnology developments.
- Nicolas Mokhoff
EE Times
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- The subsidiary will operate as the China business hub engaging in development, manufacturing, sales and after-sales service of SII NanoTechnology's analysis and measurement instruments.
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The Changing Face of Starbucks: The History of the Logos Through the Years
Update (1/5/2011)
Starbucks dropped all words from its logo today. Here's what the latest version looks like (see below for the history up until now):
Previous to 1/5/2011
If you stopped by Starbucks the other day to try their new Pike Place Roast brewed coffee, you may have noticed the cup looked a little different, with the siren's tails displayed more prominently. Actually, this "new" design is a throwback to the original Starbucks logo, which is in line with CEO Howard Schulz's call for the coffee empire to return to its roots.
Brand Autopsy and Brand New both examine elements of the evolution of the logo. Here we present the entirety of the logo's history, from 15th century engraving, to its initial rendering, to the logo following the merger of Starbucks and Il Giornale, and finally, to its present-day return back to the original.


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A reflection on the Bolivian service-learning program I participated in as a Slippery Rock University student in partnership with Amizade Global Service-Learning.
Author: sammiemlwalker
Learning to Serve: Service-Learning in Cochabamba, Bolivia
An introduction to the service-learning program I'll be participating in during January 2018. Our team will serve local communities in education-based service in Cochabamba, Bolivia for two weeks and participate in homestay living with a local family.
Student Affairs Twitter Resource Guide 2: Creating and Curating Your Unique Voice
Version 2.0 of the Twitter Guide! Get a more in-depth look in to how to use Twitter to create your brand and curate your posting.
Higher Education Environments: Placemaking at Carnegie Mellon University
How does Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) use the concept of placemaking to establish itself as a place of learning that aligns with the values it puts forth? Though this project, I will examine five pieces of evidence I collected where I found CMU to uphold and ignore aspects of placemaking as it relates to their vision and mission statements.
NASPA.edu: The 9,400 Square Foot Campus
Thinking of working adjacent to the field of Student Affairs but afraid that you'll miss the pull of campus life? Read on as I connect the environment, culture, and work at the NASPA Central Office to an on-campus role!


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Individual representation - functional design
- C-leg frame made of round pipe 35 or 47 mm diameter, stove-enamelled, silver-coloured (RAL 9006, white aluminium).
- Table top 25 mm thick, melamine resin coated chipboard according to DIN 68765, emission class E1, rounded with 2 mm plastic edge. Rectangular panels are pre-drilled at the bottom, free-form panels can be mounted left / right, self-cutting screws are included.
- Horizontal electricity supply via integrated cable trough under the table top, cross section 85 x 90 mm. Vertical arrangement possible with BSSE or BSSU side panels (optional)
- Desks can be combined with each other and connected with interlinking panels (BE90, BE91 and BT12). The working surface can also be extended with installation plates (BA60, BA80 and BA160)
- Table height: 72 cm, height adjustment via base foot: +/- 5 mm, load capacity: 120 kg
Assembly instructions
Assembly instructions
Product is delivered unassembled to the customer's door, free of charge (curbside). Easy to assemble for all customers thanks to enclosed assembly instructions. Free delivery to the point of use. On-site assembly available at extra cost (Germany and Austria only).


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Could you please provide scriptural bases and a reformed rationale for "covert" missions or "'underground" mission work in particular regions of the world?
I basically understand the human logic of covert missions (long-term tent-makers in particular parts of this earth, etc.), but am still curious of specific reasons that may validate the secretive approach to spreading the gospel of Christ. In the missionary accounts in the book of Acts I tend to see a different approach and pattern. Thank you.
Greetings in the blessed Name of Jesus Christ, the only Savior of his people.
I am a minister in the OPC currently serving as the Associate General Secretary of the Committee on Foreign Missions and was asked to respond to your question.
I am curious as to the nature of your question and whether you are referring to any of the work currently being conducted by the OPC's Committee. The official policy of the Committee instructs the missionary (except when specific relief from the rule has been applied for) to disclose who he is and what he is doing.
For instance that section of our manual begins by stating, "Recognizing that God has ordained civil magistrates to be, under him, over the people for his own glory and the public good, all missionaries are encouraged to demonstrate their respect for the magistrate's authority by making the appropriate governmental officialsespecially at the local levelaware of who they are and what they are there to do. In countries where there is a reasonable expectation that so doing might significantly endanger the lives of those with whom the missionary comes in contact, the missionary may, as his conscience directs him, apply to the Committee for relief from the general rule stated above."
Concerning official requests from the national government, the manual goes on to state, "Bearing in mind our duty to confess Christ before men, to maintain and promote truth, and to call all men to repentance and faith through the Lord Jesus Christ, ministers called by the Committee to undertake the work of missionary evangelist shall, upon official request by the government of the nation to which they are sent, disclose their office as a minister of the Word, their calling as a missionary evangelist sent by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and their primary purpose to preach the Word of God."
You might be able to see therefore why I am unable to try to offer a defense of a position that is contrary to our stated policy. As you have observed, a Christian may move somewhere and take up secular work in order to develop relationships that will eventually enable him or her to talk to others about the hope of the Gospel. A minister of the Gospel on the other hand, while he may at times supplement his labors with some other income, will be compelled by his calling to preach the Gospel wherever he is. He is not a tentmaker who is also a minister; he is a minister of the Gospel who is also a tentmaker.
In those countries and among those peoples where believers are in danger, our missionaries are careful and thoughtful in the execution of their calling. They often must do things in obedience to the Gospel that are violation of the laws of men. However, while clearly understanding that lying is contrary to the ninth commandment, they also realize that they must also be mindful of keeping the sixth commandment, because in the end they not only place themselves at risk but the lives of other believers.
I hope that this answer has helped you.
"Questions and Answers" is a weekly feature of the OPC website. The answers come from individual ministers in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church expressing their own convictions and do not necessarily represent an "official" position of the Church, especially in areas where the Standards of the Church (the Scriptures and the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms) are silent.
The questions come from individuals like yourself. If you have questions about biblical and theological matters, you are invited to send them by e-mail by using the "Pose a Question" link on the OPC home page or by clicking here.
At least one new question is posted each week, so there should always be something new here for you to read. (For those people who would like to look at previous questions and answers, they will continue to be available as well.)
The purpose of the OPC website's "Questions and Answers" is to respond to biblical and theological questions. Matters of church discipline, disputes, or debates go beyond the scope of our work. We recommend that you present your concerns in these areas to the appropriate judicatory. In most cases this will be to a local pastor, elder, or session. We do not want the website to replace personal involvement in, or commitment to, the local, visible church.
While we will respond to every serious questioner, we are not bound to give a substantive answer to every question, should we deem the question to be beyond the scope of our purpose or our own ability to answer.
You will receive an answer by e-mail. Please be patient as many of our respondents are busy pastors. The response to your question may take up to two (2) weeks. Some of the questions submitted will be chosen to be posted here, along with the corresponding answers.
Note that the "Questions and Answers" posted on the site have been editedall personal references are removed, Scripture references or from some source may be added, and sometimes portions are expandedto make the questions and answers more useful to a larger audience.
|© 2020 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Chaplains and Military Personnel


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Suspended Madison County Probation Director Karen Birch takes the stand
WAMPSVILLE -- Disciplinary hearings for suspended Madison County Probation Director Karen Birch reconvened Wednesday morning with testimony from the accused.
The hearings center around allegations of Birch mismanaging the probation department.
After about three hours of testimony the defense rested its case. During hearings last week, the county rested.
During her testimony, Birch said she worked at the Madison County Probation Department since 2006. Before that, she worked in probation departments in Delaware, Putnam and Broome counties.
She gave an account of a Feb. 27, 2012 meeting with John Corcoran, the county labor relations attorney; Tina Wayland-Smith, the assistant county attorney; Darrin Ball, who, at the time, was chair of the county criminal justice and public safety committee, and county Board of Supervisors Chairman John Becker.
It was at that meeting that Birch said she was told by Wayland-Smith that the county had made a decision concerning Birch's future employment status with the county.
Birch said she decided to secretly record the meeting because she had come to not trust Corcoran, based on previous occasions when she participated in labor relations work with him.
On Wednesday, Jon Lovett, Birch's attorney, entered a recording Birch made of the meeting into evidence. He questioned Birch if those at the meeting knew they were being recorded and she said that they did not.
"I don't believe they would want their actions memorialized" if they did know they were being recorded, Birch said.
Lovett also asked her if she was aware of the legality of recording people in New York, to which she said that according to penal law, it is legal as long as the person making the recording is one of the same individuals involved in the conversation.
Following the hearing, Lovett elaborated that basically, in New York "you can record anyone you want" as long as you are also on the recording. What is illegal is the recording of others excluding yourself.
The recording was then played. Approximately five to seven minutes in length and slightly muffled in some places, the recording contains Wayland-Smith telling Birch that charges of department mismanagement were being leveled against her and that there was evidence already that Birch was guilty of wrongdoing. Wayland-Smith also told Birch that another county employee had threatened to file a lawsuit against the county for an incident relating to the probation department and that Birch might be named in that action.
The Feb. 27 meeting was a precursor of things to come.
Four months later, in April 2012, the county filed formal disciplinary charges against Birch. The five accusations center around the time period of February to May 2011, claiming Birch:
o Failed to remove a probation officer from supervising a person on probation who had allegedly made threats against the officer;
o Promised but failed to remove the officer from the duty of conducting pre-sentencing report for the same probationer;
o Failed to follow safety procedures within the department;
o Allowed a probation officer to be present in the workplace while intoxicated.
The county also initially claimed she caused high employee turnover because of mismanagement. However, the accusation was dropped from the list last week. County officials explained that dropping the charge would speed up the hearing process.
Also in the recording, Wayland-Smith indicated the Board of Supervisors had been "disturbed" by Birch's management actions.
Birch is heard saying, "It sounds like you have made up your minds."
To which Wayland-Smith is heard saying that there was "credible evidence" of Birch's wrongdoing in the department.
Also in the recording, Corcoran outlined an employee separation agreement that Birch had 21 days to accept. The agreement included stipulations such as barring Birch from future communications with county employees regarding the situation with the exception of Corcoran himself. The terms of separation also included Corcoran promising Birch, "the county does not intend to publish anything negative about you or your employment."
Birch eventually did not accept the separation agreement.
After the recording was played, Birch testified that during that meeting, she felt that Corcoran and Wayland-Smith were using intimidation tactics in order to get her to resign.
Further testimony on Wednesday, centered around allegations of mismanagement reported by probation officers.
Responding to one of the allegations that she allowed a probation supervisor to be intoxicated on the job, Birch said that when she heard about a probation supervisor appearing at an Oneida City Court appearance intoxicated, she consulted with colleagues and then traveled to the court to see the allegedly intoxicated supervisor herself. Once there, Birch observed the employee.
Birch said she did not believe the probation supervisor was intoxicated.
When questioned about the physical condition of the employee when Birch saw her in court, Birch said the probation supervisor, "walked normally," had "clear eyes" and "her speech was normal."
Birch reported that the probation supervisor in question did have an odor of stale alcohol about her, which was attributed to a jacket worn on an off-the-clock outing the previous evening. The supervisor even offered to take an alcohol test; however, Birch said a county labor relations employee, an employee who acts as a liaison between county employees and unions, said doing so would violate the county employee union contract.
According to County Administrative Assistant Mark Scimone, there are about 90 department directors, including Birch, and upper management employees who are not covered by a union contract. However, county employees working under department heads and upper management are members of various unions, with the bulk of employees being in the Madison County White Collar Unit - CSEA Local 827.
Article 55.2 of the CSEA union contract states: "The County may test for controlled substances (via urinalysis) or alcohol (via breath alcohol testing) upon reasonable suspicion of impairment while on-duty. Reasonable suspicion exists when a trained Department head/designee and one witness have specific, contemporaneous, articulable observations concerning the appearance, speech, behavior, or body odors of the employee in or at the workplace. Any reasonable suspicion testing shall be directed by Department Heads and designees trained by the County to make such determinations..."
Birch later testified that the labor relations employee told Birch that training for department heads would be forthcoming, and that same official said he thought she did a good job handling the incident and that he "didn't feel that discipline was warranted" regarding the probation supervisor.
Later in the testimony it was revealed that Birch had a conversation with Wayland-Smith regarding the incident -- which Birch also said she recorded -- and that Wayland-Smith said her husband, who works at Oneida City Court, said that he did not think the probation supervisor was intoxicated that day in court.
Moving on to other subjects during her testimony, Birch responded to an allegation from a probation officer that Birch had once told her that she should stop treating probationers "like human beings."
Birch stated that was absolutely not true.
Responding to previous witness testimony and allegations indicating Birch failed to remove a probation officer from supervising a probationer who had made harmful threats against her, Birch said that on a number of occasions she had discussed the problem with law enforcement and the district attorney's office. During the time period in question, the probationer had been incarcerated and upon release would not be supervised. Birch said she worked with heads of local law enforcement to create awareness of the situation and possibly a way to keep an eye on the probation officer after the jail release of the individual who had made the threats.
Birch said her concerns for the safety of the probation officer were magnified after it was stated in a county court proceeding that there had been a state police investigation where recordings of conversations were attempted to be made between the probationer who made the threats and his cellmate.
At the conclusion of the day's hearing, attorneys for both sides of the issue felt things went well.
Birch has been on paid leave since Nov. 29, 2011 when an internal investigation was launched into complaints against her claiming department mismanagement. Civil service law states that Birch cannot be fired until hearings are conducted into the charges.
Prior to the hearing Wednesday, hearing officer John Trela said after the hearings are ended he will submit all transcripts and supporting materials to Madison County officials.
Following that, the county will take whatever action it deems necessary based on Trela's recommendation, Trela said.
Trela said from that point, a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request can be made for the transcripts.
The Oneida Daily Dispatch will submit a FOIL request.
Final briefings, which are similar to closing arguments, will be submitted by both sides by early March, with Trela providing his recommendations shortly after.