text:
Water damage is one of the most destructive elements that can affect any home. Water has the ability to cause even more damage than fire, mainly due to its ability to cause initial damage and continue causing damage for as long as it is left untreated. Choosing the right company to provide water removal in Albertville, Minnesota (MN) has long been a challenge for homeowners. When your home suffers water damage, time is of the essence, and the clock is running. Water removal procedures should begin as soon as possible in order to avoid even more damage to your home or business.
Water damage can occur as the result of any number of problems, from weather related flooding to burst pipes to sewer backups. The initial damage to your home is only the beginning, and the long term problems only increase the level of damage exponentially.
Fortunately, our technicians are on-call and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we offer emergency response within one hour to Albertville. An IICRC certified technician will arrive at your home, assess the damage, and begin the water removal and restoration process immediately.
When your home is damaged by water, time is of the utmost importance. You must begin the water removal process as soon as possible. After 48 hours, mold can develop, threatening the health of your loved ones and proving almost impossible to remediate. Mold also brings with it numerous health hazards ranging from slight allergic reactions to serious neurological conditions. It is therefore important to head off such problems before they occur.
Our certified water damage technicians understand this and offer prompt, courteous, and efficient service designed to remove the water, dry everything out and have your home back in it's original condition as soon a possible. Water is one of the most destructive forces that your home can endure; let the Albertville, MN water removal experts handle all of your damage restoration needs.
About that one year guarantee... knowing now how destructive water is, and the consequences you may suffer if it is not repaired correctly, it is important that your water removal job be done right the first time. We are so confident in our Albertville water removal services that we offer you a one-year guarantee on all of the work we do. You can rest assured of a quality job done right.
Not all water removal companies are created equal. Choosing the wrong one will not solve your problem; in fact it may actually make it worse, doubling or even tripling your repair costs before all is said and done. Make sure you choose one that is industry certified through a governing organization such as the IICRC or RIA. They will be available 24/7/365, with a full staff, state of the art water removal tools and equipment, and the experience and training to handle them.
Don't let water damage rob you blind and cause massive amounts of damage to your home. Call the experts in water removal in Albertville, MN at the number listed above and get a free estimate or phone consultation today!
Superstorm Sandy has caused widespread flooding and wind damage in the northeast. If your property ...
It is difficult to know when you can clean up water damage yourself, or when you need to bring in a ...
Frozen pipes are a nightmare to deal with. Learn steps to take to prevent freezing temperatures ...


text:
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text:
The RIA channel grew faster than the industry last year, driven by the largest firms, according to Cerulli Associates' new State of the RIA Marketplace 2012 report, released Monday.
This growth has attracted the interest of asset management distributors, the report said.
Growth came on the heels of successful advisor recruitment into the channel, breakaway advisors creating their own independent firms and clients choosing RIAs over existing providers.
In this environment, the biggest players–firms with more than $1 billion in assets–expanded their market share, extended their offerings and built scale.
The opportunities emanating from the growth are huge. The report found that the RIA channel's appeal has drawn more than 1,500 advisors from across the industry, managing an average of $48 million per advisor.
Such asset flows will continue to support growth of the channel, it said, and bring swelling assets into multi-advisor practices, as well as provide new entrants into the space.
A highlight of the past year has been the dually registered channel's success as it compiled the largest growth rate in both assets and advisors. Cerulli surveys showed that only 17% of dually registered advisors were willing to drop their broker-dealer affiliation.
The report said asset managers have struggled to address the advisor that straddles both the independent broker-dealer and RIA world. A lack of standardization confuses wholesalers and advisors alike.
However, the continued expansion of the channel is undeniable. This means B/Ds and asset managers must embrace the permanence of dual registration as a business model and align their service model accordingly, Cerulli said.
For advisors moving into the RIA channel, breaking away from a larger firm may result in decreased wholesaler coverage, forcing the RIA firm to justify coverage on its own assets.
At the same time, reduced wholesaler relationships create the opportunity to draw a greater percentage of the advisor's assets. Cerulli said asset managers should standardize transition efforts between channelized wholesalers to ensure relationship continuity for breakaway advisors.
Challenges and risks come with the growth. The RIA channel has to prove its sustainability by hiring new advisors rather than relying on advisor transition to generate growth. According to the report, new hiring will increasingly become a priority because of its cost effectiveness compared with the capital required for advisor recruitment.
Although scale benefits RIA practices, limited access to capital has restricted merger and acquisition activity, the report found. It said firms with access to capital–either via private equity, a banking affiliation or through other methods–are dominating the transactions in the industry.
At $1.5 million in client assets, the majority of RIAs charges less than 100 basis points on those assets, but a few advisors are able to maintain pricing power despite increasing assets, according to the report.
Cerulli said asset managers must be similarly fee conscious when dealing with advisors who service high-net-worth clients. Advisors whose fee consciousness extends into their own revenue should be additionally cautious regarding manager fees.
The report's key recommendations:
- Service agents should consider acting as a matchmaker for clients with less than $100 million in investable assets, marrying them to existing firms so they can move under the regulatory purview of the SEC rather than be subjected to state-by-state regulation.
- Cerulli noted a desire among high-net-worth providers to bring their strategies, including alternatives, down market. However, advisor education, product track records and quality managers are needed to develop confidence in existing products.
- Distribution organizations that target RIAs should consider the quantitative skills of their field force to match up prospects by practice size. The relationship-based wholesaler will achieve more success in the middle market, while the data focused wholesaler will achieve more traction in the multi-billion dollar segment.
- Wholesalers can help support growing practices by matching buyers and sellers in their territory. The efforts would deepen relationships with expanding practices by serving as an integral component of the practice's growth strategy.
Wholesalers' perception of the factors that influence product selection is divergent from that of advisors. Emphasis on top performers is not a major RIA concern, and thus should not be the leading sales pitch. Rather continuity, reputation and, if necessary, price should be differentiators for asset managers.


text:
The Air Lift Load Lifter 5000 Ultimate gives you all the great benefits of the standard Load Lifter, but includes an internal jounce bumper for added support and ride comfort.
Keep the rear end of your GMC Sierra 2500 (nonHD) from sagging when towing or carrying a heavy load with a set of Air Lift air bag helper springs. These simple to install suspension upgrades mount between the rear leaf springs and chassis to increase your load capacity up to 5000 pounds with the power of air pressure. All Air Lift air bag helper springs are custom fit for a simple bolt-on installation. An optional air control kit (air compressor kit) can be added (not required) for additional convenience.
The internal jounce makes the difference. This exclusive feature included in the Load Lifter 5000 gives you additional support and comfort not found in other suspension air bags. Made of a closed cell urethane foam that helps to eliminate harsh jarring and provides 3 stage ride comfort. This added cushion of air from the internal jounce also helps to protect the air bags when running very low pressure.
At Suspension Connection we are one of the largest retailers of Air Lift products in the world. Great prices, expert knowledge and exceptional customer service are why so many customers trust us with their Air Lift purchases. Try us out!
|All Air Lift air bag helper springs are backed by the Air Lift exclusive "60 Day Ride Satisfaction Guarantee" and a "Limited Lifetime Warranty".
1. Do NOT exceed the vehicles Recommended Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
2. Exlcudes 2500 hd models
3. Excludes models with Quadrasteer
|Download Instructions:
|88250 Instructions
|Level Load Capacity:
|5,000 lbs
|Average Install Time:
|2 hours
|30.00 lbs.
|Part 88250 fits:


text:
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First thing that comes to your mind when thinking about diamonds is probably
jewelry. But why are diamonds so expensive and why do people use them for jewelry? Answer
is quite simple; diamond is a mineral composed of pure carbon and the hardest known
natural material which combined with his high dispersion of light makes it very suitable
for jewelry.
But jewelry is not the only thing where diamonds can be used since theyre
also quite useful in industry as well. For instance diamonds make excellent
abrasives since they can be only scratched by other diamonds; therefore they hold a polish
remarkably well as well as retaining their shine.
The name diamond itself has its roots as most words in Greek word adamas
meaning invincible which probably refers to their supreme physical qualities. Although
diamonds were being held as treasure from ancient times, their full exploit started in
19th century thanks to combination of increasing demand and improved cutting and polishing
Almost 50 % of all diamonds originate from Africa (mostly central and southern)
and about 130 million carats (26000 kg) are mined annually and about 100 000 kg are
synthesized annually. Although Africa is by far the richest continent when it comes to
diamonds, some other countries on other continents are also having decent amount of
sources like for instance Russia, Australia, India and Canada.
But diamonds are not luxurious in all points of view, especially for workers in Africa and
are often subjects of controversies when it comes to the mining and distribution. Diamonds
are formed deep in the Earth thanks to extreme pressure and temperatures over the long
period of time and are mined from kimberlite and lamproite volcanic pipes.
Diamonds vary in color from colorless all the way to black and they can be also
transparent, translucent or even opaque. Lots of African paramilitary groups raise their
funds thanks to diamonds and exploit of poor workers that are forced to mine them for
their military purposes.


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Dead Fred asks:Are you a Desperate Genealogist?
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Last Name: McFerran
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Subject's State: NY
Subject's County: St. Lawrence
Subject's Country: United States
Date: 1941-1960
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Nee: Sprague
Type**: GRP
Comments: Marsha McFerran (Nee: Sprague) | NY United States | 1941-1960 | Comments: Six Sprague sisters, daughters of John E. Sprague and Sarah Woodcock Sprague. Front are Amy (m Albert Brown) and Winifred (m Foster Hull). Rear are Mary (m Edmond Johnson), Marsha (m John E. McFerran), Sarah (m Chester Merriman), and May (m Henry Bucklin, then Homer Dailey)
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ExPatriatePen wrote:http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/rigor-mortis-guitarist-collapses-stage-dies-article-1.1226627
Gaucho wrote:Cover Flow is gone for good.
Ben Klingston wrote:Gaucho wrote:Cover Flow is gone for good.
Boo. I understand it wasn't functional to visually sort through thousands of songs/albums, but I'm a music geek who liked the aesthetic of seeing the original album artwork, especially for those classic albums. So much so, that I went in and changed the artwork of songs I got from 'greatest hits' compilations to those from their original albums.
columbia wrote:As an aside, I really liked this Radiohead cover of New Order (especially because he does a good Ian Curtis impersonation):
Mike Scaccia, the guitarist for Ministry and Rigor Mortis, died on Saturday night at the age of 47. Scaccia was performing onstage at the Rail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, as part of a 50th birthday celebration for Rigor Mortis singer Bruce Corbitt, when he collapsed. Shortly afterwards, he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The medical examiner listed the cause of death as a sudden heart attack brought on by heart disease, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reports. Earlier accounts, including one from the rock blog Blabbermouth.net, attributed the collapse to a seizure and noted that Scaccia had reportedly asked for the strobe lights in the club to be turned off during the performance moments before he fell.
Scaccia was born in Babylon, New York, on July 14th, 1965, and formed thrash metallists Rigor Mortis in 1983. Six years later, the guitarist was invited by Al Jourgensen to join Ministry
FreeCandy44 wrote:I can't explain it, but I've been on a huge NOFX kick. Also for people who are into the inner workings of what it takes to put a concert on. Fuse has a show called Warped Tour Roadies. Good show.....
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text:
Happy Sunday everyone! If a springy brunch or simple leisurely weekend supper is calling your name, this recipe may be just what you need.
I'm in love with my new butcher shop - they handle animal products with all the TLC it deserves. "All of the meat... comes from animals who have been 100% pasture raised, no antibiotics, no hormones, just pure, clean, true meat." Plus, everything is sourced from thoughtful farms within 150 miles.
Each time I walk in, there is so much deliciousness to tempt me: quail, house smoked bacon, goat chops, and the eggs... always the eggs. Once you switch to real farm eggs, it is nearly impossible to go back to the bland, mass-produced industrial kind. Farm eggs have so much more flavor, not to mention the health benefits!
Recently I went to the butcher and they were out of chicken eggs, but they had duck. I'd eaten duck eggs before, but had never cooked with them myself, so I asked Monica if they needed any special treatment. She encouraged me to experiment with them in both savory and sweet dishes. We had so much fun making a duck egg scramble for friends. I cooked up some pancakes, and of course this duck egg frittata. The duck eggs didn't disappoint - they were rich, with big fat yokes. I'm going back for more!
(printable recipe)
- 1/2 cup asparagus, sliced and steamed
- 1 tablespoon (+ 1 teaspoon) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot, or spring onion
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced leeks
- sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 2 duck eggs or 4 chicken eggs
- 2 tablespoons salty feta
- 4 teaspoons chopped mixed fresh herbs: tarragon, parsley, and chervil are nice
Slice and steam asparagus. Set aside.
In a small saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Saute shallot and leeks for 3-5 minutes, but do not brown. Add steamed asparagus to the bubbling mixture. Saute veggies for another minute. Remove from heat, salt generously to taste, and let cool.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk eggs with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pinch of freshly ground pepper. When veggies have cooled, add them to the eggs and give the whole thing a good stir.
Crumble 2 tablespoons of feta into a little prep bowl and set it near the stove.
Turn on your broiler.
Place a small well-seasoned cast iron, or non-stick frying pan, on the stove top over medium/high heat. (I used a 6 1/2 inch fry pan for cooking - a perfect size for a two person lunch. But you can easily increase the size of the recipe to make a larger frittata.) Add 1 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan. Swirl the hot oil around to thoroughly coat edges of the pan and prevent sticking. Pour out the excess oil. Put oiled pan back on stove for 30 seconds over medium high to make sure it's nice and hot. Then pour egg mixture into the hot pan and turn the heat down to medium/low. Sprinkle feta over the top of the eggs.
Let the frittata cook on the stove top until you see that all of the edges have cooked, and are starting separate from the sides of the pan. Stick the pan under the broiler to finish cooking the top of the frittata. Keep an eye on it - you want the eggs to be just cooked, but not well done. A nice moist frittata is what you are looking for.
Let the frittata cool to room temp. Sprinkle with herbs and serve with a simple green salad.
For more eggiliciousness, go here...


text:
A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Liberty Fund Books Autumn/Winter 2004 Catalog (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
|Available in the following formats:
|LF Printer PDF
|This text-based PDF was prepared by the typesetters of the LF book.
Liberty Fund has been publishing books about liberty since 1971 when it published Education in a Free Society. This is the catalog for the Autumn/Winter 2004 season.
The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.
This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.


text:
In 1994, Monsanto patented a type of genetically modified soybean that was able to resist its Roundup herbicide. The company called the soybeans Roundup Ready, and the seeds grew wildly popular, and today, Roundup Ready soybeans account for more than 90 percent of soybeans sold in the US. The crop is "probably the most rapidly adopted technological advance in history," said Monsanto's lawyer, Seth Waxman, arguing the Bowman v. Monsanto case at the Supreme Court today.
Monsanto found itself before the court today because its control over subsequent generations of soybean crops is being challenged by a 75-year-old Indiana man who farms a relatively small plot of soybeans—just 300 acres of soybeans, corn, and wheat in all. "I'm not even big enough to be called a farmer," he told the New York Times, speaking for an interview in the run-up to his big day in court.
In a way, this case originated because Monsanto is a "victim" of its own success. Like many soybean farmers, Bowman plants two crops per year. He bought patented Monsanto seeds to plant his first crop. The second crop would be planted after the winter wheat crop, and would be more likely to fail. For this riskier crop of "wheat beans," Bowman didn't want to pay the high price for patented seeds, so he bought soybeans from a grain elevator, knowing they would be a mix of various grains. Buying from a grain elevator, he didn't have to sign the agreement Monsanto usually compels farmers to sign, agreeing not to re-plant future generations of seeds.
Still, since Monsanto beans are so ubiquitous, Bowman knew the great majority would be Roundup Ready. Bowman was able to go ahead and spray his crops with Roundup, knowing they would nearly all benefit from having the Roundup Ready traits.
That practice led to him being sued by Monsanto. Bowman was found to infringe Monsanto's patent, and ordered to pay more than $30,000; with costs and interest, that's grown to more than $84,000. Bowman's legal argument is that he's protected by the "first sale" doctrine, and that Monsanto's patent rights are exhausted after the first sale. But Monsanto said that Bowman was making a replica of its patented beans, which shouldn't be allowed for any generation of beans.
Reading a transcript of today's oral arguments, it's clear that Bowman is unlikely to be able to fight off Monsanto in this battle. The justices were almost universally skeptical of his argument that Monsanto was asking for a special rule or exception to patent law. Chief Justice John Roberts immediately picked up Monsanto's idea that its giant investment in Roundup Ready would be eviscerated if farmers like Bowman were able to propagate its patented crops.
"Why in the world would anybody spend any money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?" asked Roberts.
Justice Stephen Breyer, who is one of the justices most skeptical of broad patent rights historically, suggested that Bowman was allowed to create one generation of crops from the seeds—and that was it.
"One, you can't pick up those seeds that you've just bought and throw them in a child's face," said Breyer. "You can't do that because there's a law that says you can't do it. Now, there's another law that says you cannot make copies of a patented invention. And that law you have violated when you use it to make [another] generation, just as you have violated the law against assault were you to use it to commit an assault."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested that patent "exhaustion" doesn't apply when it comes to technologies that can replicate themselves. "The Exhaustion Doctrine permits you to use the good that you buy," she said. "It never permits you to make another item from that item you bought."
The US government also weighed in on this case; it originally said the Supreme Court shouldn't take it, and then sided with Monsanto once the case got taken up anyhow. Melissa Sherry, the government's lawyer, told the court today that reducing a 20-year patent term to one sale in this case would make it "near impossible to recoup your investments," and that research dollars could go outside the US.
"That's a pretty horrible result, but let me give you another horrible result," said Justice Antonin Scalia, pushing back. "If we agree with you, farmers will not be able to do a second planting by simply getting the undifferentiated seeds from a grain elevator, because at least a few of those seeds will always be patented seeds, and no farmer could ever plant anything from a grain elevator," said Scalia. That would make it hard to plant a cheap crop commensurate with the risk, as Bowman had done.
But there was also testimony before the court that Bowman's practice of buying undifferentiated "bin run" seeds from a grain elevator, isn't accepted or commonplace. CHS Inc., the largest grain distributor in the US, said as much in its amicus brief [PDF] on the case. CHS contested Bowman's argument that using mixed grain from elevators as seeds for a new generation of plants is a typical practice; the business of seed-selling has higher profit margins, notes CHS, and requires sellers to follow seed labeling laws.
Justice Elena Kagan suggested that considering how dominant Roundup Ready seeds are in the market, a decision in Monsanto's favor "has the capacity to make infringers out of everybody."
Monsanto lawyer Waxman assured her that soybean crops can't be blown by the wind into other fields, so inadvertent infringement of that sort is unlikely to happen, and couldn't be enforced. And in any case, "size—that is, success—has never been thought and can't be thought to affect the contour of patent rights," said Waxman. If Monsanto controls how 90 percent of the nation's soybeans are grown, in other words, they earned it.
This case comes to the Supreme Court from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the nation's top patent court. Over the past several years, the Supreme Court has often stepped in to limit the power of patents, keeping the Federal Circuit in check. That doesn't appear likely to happen in this situation, however.


text:
While it's always a treat to discover new apps for your Android device, sometimes it's the ones we've been using all along that steal the spotlight with new updates. This week, the popular SwiftKey keyboard application got a major feature overhaul, while The Weather Channel app underwent a bit of a makeover that has convinced us to leave all our other weather apps on the shelf for a while.
We came across a few new applications, too. Last week's Ubuntu OS-like app panel was especially helpful in shoveling out more room on the home screen for widgets, but this week we'll touch upon an app that actually houses app icons in the notifications shade. And for nostalgia gaming junkies, we've found an app that's a great homage to the original Super Mario Bros.
SwiftKey, $1.99
One of the convenient things about being an Android user is the ability to select a third-party keyboard application that might better suit your needs. While the stock keyboard sometimes manages to get the job done, not every mobile user's fingers are built the same, and some of us look for alternative keyboards that fit us better.
We've covered SwiftKey before and have always been fond of its predictive engine. When you install it, you set up your language, and then it asks about your typing style and whether it can peep in on your conversations in other applications to learn how—and what—you type. It will then attempt to auto-populate the word it predicts you're going to type next. So far, it's been pretty accurate.
This week's update includes the addition of what SwiftKey calls the "flow," which lets users trace words, phrases, and sentences on the keyboard with one thumb. It works similarly to other popular keyboard apps like Swype, but SwiftKey's version definitely feels more fluid. It's also incredibly helpful to have that predictive engine behind the one-finger gesture mechanic, because it's aware of what you're about to type next. While I wasn't regularly using a swipe-type keyboard before, SwiftKey may have enticed me to give the one-finger keyboard another try.
Quickly, $0.99
If those widgets are taking up too much room on the home screen, give them the space they need by installing Quickly. This application houses up to twelve of your most essential apps in the notifications shade. To access the app you swipe down from the top of your Android device. To make apps visible within that panel, you swipe down on the Quickly box to bring them up. Curiously, Android 4.1 users will have to pinch-to-expand to show the shortcuts. If you need to get back to the Quickly application screen, swipe or pinch the panel again.
Quickly promises on its Google Play page that it does not run rampant in the background or overuse system resources. We haven't seen any change in battery life or performance since we've installed the app.
Weather Channel, Free
Doppler radar fans can get excited about this week's update to The Weather Channel app on Android. The update includes timely notifications about when to expect a major shift in weather, faster maps with thorough weather detail, more videos of broadcasts from the actual Weather Channel, and optimization for Android tablets.
We should note that there is a giant Toyota advertisement that keeps the app free, which users have complained about on the Google Play store. We wouldn't mind paying for this particular app, especially with all of the new features, but for what it's worth we don't think the ad will be too much of a bother.
Awesome Land, $2.49
Awesome Land is indeed quite awesome. The game is a fun homage to all of the side-scrolling titles you may have loved in video games past. You play as Manley, a manly man who sports a hardcore leather jacket and is on a quest to retrieve his motorcycle back from the evil aliens who stole it. Guide him as he jumps on enemies to knock 'em out, and be sure to hit all of the stoplights along the way. The game features 25 levels and the option to place the virtual controls anywhere on the screen so you're not accidentally bumping the back button all the time. We were actually quite pleased with the control mechanism of the game—it's much easier to maneuver than in other similar games we've tried.
As an aside, the game studio behind Awesome Land also released the Manos: The Hands of Fate side-scroller on the Google Play store this week. It's sure to delight the MST3K fan in you.


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Green Thumb
Design by Fred Hoffman
Men's T-Shirt
Our regular tee is an everyday staple. This pre-shrunk classic features zero side seams, and double-needle stitched sleeves giving your wardrobe the upgrade it deserves. 100% cotton (except Heathers)
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text:
Dynamic Learning Maps assessment for students with cognitive disabilities.
The display shows the percentage of students achieving at the following levels on the DLM alternative assessment.
Dark orange - The student demonstrates emerging understanding of and ability to apply content knowledge and skills
Light orange- The student's understanding of and ability to apply targeted content knowledge and skills is approaching the target.
Light green - The student's understanding of and ability to apply content knowledge and skills represented is at target.
Dark green - The student demonstrates advanced understanding of and ability to apply targeted content knowledge and skills
Select the subject you want to view by clicking English Language Arts (ELA) or Math.
The display can be customized for more detailed information. Select Grades & Demographics on the horizontal menu near the top of the display. To view this information for a previous year, each individual grade, or a demographic group, click on any of the drop down menus in the gray area. Click the box next to your selections. Then click the blue Add button. Mouse over any square in the color key and that performance level will be highlighted.
Note: If a student group has fewer than 10 students, no information is displayed.
Dynamic Learning Maps™ (DLM) alternative assessments offer students with significant cognitive disabilities a way to show what they know and can do in a manner which differs from the traditional multiple choice tests. Assessments are based on a learning map—a map that shows different paths a student might take to learn new academic skills.
Targets are based on Essential Elements (EEs) for English Language Arts and Mathematics. EEs are specific statements of knowledge and skills linked to the grade-level expectations identified in college and career readiness standards. EEs build a bridge from content standards to academic expectations for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
Results of the assessments help teachers to plan individualized experiences for each student by creating lessons and actvities that are appropriate for a student's needs and abilities.


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Guest Podcasts, Interleague, Oh My — It's a run by Angels blog posting…
One of the best things about starting this blog has definitely been my interactions with fellow bloggers. You are all amazing, inspiring writers and a lot of fun to read, the perfect accompaniment to any baseball season good or bad. And, in the last few weeks, two fun opportunities have come my way as a result of these interactions.
Our colleague Matt, who writes the kickass Dodgers MLBlog Dodger Familia Thoughts, hosts a Live Radio/Podcast called Think Blue Weekly on Blog Talk Radio. He has invited me to join him for a special Freeway Series episode this Sunday at 8 pm PT. So, if you would like to hear me embarrass myself in public – I'm very much a blogger not a talker 😉 – or, more importantly, check out Matt's work, tune in at this webpage http://www.blogtalkradio.com/think-blue-weekly on Sunday.
In other news, in addition to this blog I am now a columnist with L.A. Angels Insider, a much larger, well respected member of the Halosphere. Please check them out!
As for the Angels, ah, Interleague! Interleague play is back in full swing for 2012 which means, of course, that the Angels are on a tear. I'm one of those odd duck baseball fans who actually enjoys Interleague play – teams playing at highly unusual venues, DC/Marvel comic mash up worthy matchups, AL pitchers batting, need I say more? The fact that the Angels happen to kick ass at Interleague play is merely the icing on the cake – rich, delicious, cream cheese butter cream icing thickly slathered over every inch of the cake's exterior and in between each moist layer, mind you, but the icing never the less.
Just a couple of random thoughts from the weekend:
- So far Colorado has been good for most Angels batting averages but it has truly been the Trouty and Torii Show! Those two need their own theme song to accompany a montage of their hits and feats of daring do from the series so far. Maybe it could be kind of like M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, only punctuated with the sounds of clobbered baseballs flying off of wooden bats instead of machine guns.
- Sometime closer, sometime setup man Ernesto Frieri has proven that he is in fact human, having given up two hits as an Angel now, but continues to blow away the competition. Okay, so two guys reached first. It's not like it did them any good. Listening to MLBN rehash Brandon McCarthy's 'Siri, how do you get Josh Hamilton out?' tweet it occured to me that what he should have tweeted was 'Frieri, how do you get Josh Hamilton out?' because unlike Siri, Ernasty knows how.
- So Albert Pujols can play third and Kendrys Morales looked pretty darned good at first, all things considered. Neither is a great long term option at this time. Besides, I seem to remember hearing something about Pujols' throwing elbow having issues when he spends too much time at third. Cardinals fans or other longtime Pujols fans, care to confirm, deny, or otherwise elaborate? But it's nice to know that the Angels do have this option. And, yes I'm a softy, but seeing Kendrys' huge grin over getting to play in the infield once again, however briefly, was touching and sweet.
- LaTroy Hawkins is back from the DL and he looked pretty darned good! Welcome back good sir. The bullpen has been trying valiantly in your absence with some definite success – and some scarier moments I'd rather not remember sufficiently to write about them – but we need every good arm we can get! And Jered Weaver is expected to throw off the mound on Monday and return from the DL on schedule. Reportedly his back feels fine now. I pretty much want to just type 'yay' over and over again with many, many exclamation points, filling this page The Shining-style but, you know, in a psycho happy way instead of just a psycho way over that bit of news, but I'll spare you…for now. Once he's officially back with the team, I make no guarantees. 😉


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Finding the right place to rent can be tough as it is – so what if something as simple as your gender turned out to be a deciding factor in whether you get the keys to your ideal new pad?
According to new survey data from online lettings agent Upad, more than half of UK landlords care about their tenants' gender.
Of 885 landlords asked in a recent survey, 57.4 per cent said that sex was a genuine concern when choosing a tenant.
It would seem that, like it or not, a person's sex can be a deciding factor on whether they make the cut, even when it comes to something like renting.
When asked 'who makes the best tenants?' it seems that gender stereotypes still apply, with one landlord explaining: "Men make better tenants. They can (usually) change light bulbs, they know how the central heating works and they're more likely to carry out minor repairs than women.
"Men are more easy-going and take care of the small things. Generally, they just want a roof over their heads."
Meanwhile, speaking in favour of female tenants, one landlord said: "On average, females are tidier, which means less maintenance. Females also seem to like their outside space being picturesque and generally do more in the garden – cutting the lawn and keeping it tidy.
"Females are also more in control of finances than males – I find I get on time payments from female tenants, and they are also more likely to stay put."
It seems that the majority of landlords have a gender preference, with the stereotypes about men being good at maintenance and women being clean and tidy still very much in association. However, what's even more interesting is the fact that while men and women can be penalised for different reasons, singletons are even more in the firing line.
Many landlords in the survey said that they were in favour of couples, who can both fulfil certain roles within the home.
So for any potential tenants, be advised that showing off your versatility and cleanliness, no matter what your gender, could be a big boon when trying to get your foot in the door.


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More and more advisors are turning to alternative investments in this low-yield environment, yet for many the jury is still out over whether alts add too much risk to client portfolios.
In an attempt to answer the question of whether alternative investments can or can't dampen risk, a group of three managers for Aston Funds, Direxion and Salient gathered Thursday in New York to do some alternatives myth-busting.
"Transparency, liquidity and cost–those are advisors' biggest concerns," said Edward Eglinsky, managing director of alternative investments at Direxion, adding that his firm considers alternatives to be anything that falls outside of the universe of long-only stocks, bonds and cash.
Using that definition, alternatives include long-short equity, REITs, currencies, hard assets and managed futures. To be sure, all of those investments have found their way into the portfolios that advisors manage. More than 75% of institutional investors in the United States consider alternative investments essential to a diversified portfolio, according to two separate recent surveys performed by Cogent Research and by Natixis Global Asset Management.
Look at those studies a bit closer, and it becomes even clearer why advisors are investing more in alternatives. The Natixis study found that 72% believe the common 60% stocks/40% bonds mix in portfolios is no longer an efficient way to achieve returns, and the Cogent study found that 78% use mutual funds to access alternative investments.
"Most people view alpha as the holy grail, but we think alternative beta is more interesting and widely available," said Jeremy Radcliffe, co-founder and managing director with Salient Partners.
Radcliffe said preferring alpha over beta is a misplaced notion because alpha is a zero-sum game, and what was alpha 10 years ago simply isn't anymore. Salient favors viewing alternatives in terms of achieving "risk parity" in a portfolio, Radcliffe said.
Rick Lake, portfolio manager with Aston and co-chairman and treasurer of Lake Partners, did some more myth-busting while speaking of "the challenges of being a traditional investor right now." The biggest challenge for advisors is climbing the learning curve and figuring out how to integrate alternatives into asset allocation, he said.
But Lake urged advisors to take the time because understanding how alts operate is key. For example, he said, the dangerously casual use of the term "uncorrelated" suggests that investing in an alternative without understanding its risk profile can end up with zero yield in a positive environment.
Another myth-busting topic, commodities, had Egilinsky and Radcliffe agreeing that there are investor misperceptions about the risks. While long-only commodities may correlate with stocks, they are not as inflationary as stocks, they noted.
Turning to the subject of volatility, Radcliffe said that the traditional pre-2008 view was that a 60/40 portfolio would mean volatility of about 10%. But in the crash, he said, investors were shocked to find the volatility rise to 40% to 50%. Now, he said, Salient gauges a portfolio's level of volatility and then targets it with instruments such as futures.
Read Hedge Funds Badly Beaten by S&P 500 Performance at AdvisorOne.com.


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DelPen wrote:Keep an eye on Maatta if the Panthers throw their top line at him and Bortuzzo. Frankly I hope Bylsma let's it happen and not try to match up the defense and shield those two. I want to see what both of them do against better competition.
Maybe even more so Bortuzzo. It would be very good if he keeps improving and can be paired with Scuderi as shutdown pair. He has the size and mean streak to be that guy.
Inkio wrote:LET'S GO PENS!
meow wrote:What kind of bogus camera angle is this? Busch league I tells ya!
djlm wrote:Take that shot another 20 times and he'll score another 0 goal.
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Important notice for funding at this school: we're only accepting new applications for USD loans at this school. Applications for other currencies have been closed at this time.
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The introduction to the book Cricket in the Web by author Paula Moore about the unsolved 1949 murder of Las Cruces, N.M. waitress Cricket Coogler.
by Paula Moore
Editor's Note: The University of New Mexico Press released Paula Moore's Cricket in the Web on March 31, 2008, in conjunction with the anniversary of the notorious and still-unsolved murder of a Las Cruces waitress, Cricket Coogler, in 1949. This excerpt is taken from the introduction to the book, which you can learn more about at www.unmpress.com.
In an old aerial photograph of the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the eye is drawn instantly to the largest and most noticeable structure in 1949—the Doña Ana County Courthouse, a gleaming white symbol of justice. Trials and grand jury hearings were held in its courtrooms, and it contained the county jail. The sheriff's small corner office managed to accommodate a desk for state police business.
During the day, Main Street was a center of industry. Neighbors visited on sidewalks or across café tables about everyday concerns, like the cost of living. Levi's jeans were advertised for $3.25 and a Chrysler Royal four-door sedan for $2,411. People worried about the polio epidemic, and a few local cases were reported.
The downtown area featured several hotels, including the grand Herndon and the historic Amador Hotel, established in 1850 to serve the stagecoach trade. The rooms in the Amador featured feminine Spanish names: "Dolores," "Margarita," etc. Its kitchen once served as the county jail. Just across from the Rio Grande Theatre, the grounds of St. Genevieve's Catholic Church filled an entire block. The church had stood in that spot for a hundred years, the most heavily attended church in the predominantly Catholic town. The Sprouse-Reitz Building was the oldest brick building in the town. Guards in the 1880s had been posted on its roof to watch for hostile Indians.
On Saturday nights, both sides of Main Street could be packed with people—especially during harvest times, when hundreds of Mexican laborers swelled the numbers. Work in the local cotton fields brought them to town—fields that in the 1920s had produced cotton plants high and strong enough that a small child could climb them like a tree.
For decades, the cotton fields and other industries had helped make the town a welcoming place, not only for Mexican migrant workers but also for black settlers. Over half of the founders of the city were of Hispanic descent. All races seemed to work and socialize together with mutual respect and little conflict. A black man owned the imposing Herndon Hotel on Main Street and adjoining properties.
Then came the Depression, with so many people desperate for money. More and more Southerners discovered the rich, cheap land in the Mesilla Valley and moved in, bringing expectations of segregation with them. Discrimination grew with the town. Race became a noticeable issue. Some Hispanics whose Catholic Church records could not prove their U.S. citizenship were sent to Mexico. By 1950, blacks in the entire State of New Mexico numbered about 8,000. Las Cruces schools were suddenly segregated, with Las Cruces Union High for Caucasians and Booker T. Washington for black students (at least until some Booker T. Washington boys were drafted for football at Union High). A black suspect would play a huge role in the Coogler case.
Although black soldiers were entitled to the benefits of education under the GI Bill, only a few enrolled at New Mexico A&M College on the southern edge of the town. However, many returning Caucasian GIs were enjoying the benefits of the GI Bill. Some were serious students, focused on earning a degree to help them provide for their wives and families, but some had learned to drink well and party hard. In any case, the college crowd was older and worldlier than those of other times. Because the schools back east were glutted with GIs, a variety of out-of-staters sought admission to New Mexico A&M.
College students looking for nightlife could be found seven nights a week, milling around a dozen downtown bars and all-night cafés, mixing with a surprising percentage of the city's population, even after midnight. When darkness fell in Las Cruces, activities in the county could grow dark as well. Several bars were located on Main Street, such as the rough Del Rio Bar and the Welcome Inn, where fights broke out with unfortunate regularity.
Gateway Gardens, one block east of Main Street (sometimes called Barncastle's Bar), may have hosted a few fistfights, but it also offered a banquet space for clubs and an outdoor patio for dancing. Within a short drive were other lounges, including some in the adjacent older village of Mesilla, where one who drank too much might be thrown out of a hundred-year-old building.
Soldiers and civilians working at the army's White Sands Proving Grounds, less than an hour's drive east, were often in town. Another group frequenting downtown Las Cruces included officials from the state capital of Santa Fe, a long 282-mile drive from the north. It was worth the drive for a few of them, so it was rumored, because Las Cruces and the 45-mile stretch of land from there to the Mexican border offered a sexual playground, and for some, payoffs to be collected from illegal gambling houses and pocketed without accountability. Today, casinos are dotted all over New Mexico, where gambling is legal on American Indian reservation land. But in 1949, owners of illegal gambling joints and prostitution houses, as in other states, made under-the-table payoffs to lawmen and lawmakers for protection. In New Mexico, the most notorious sites were found along the southern border.
Currently, vehicles heading for El Paso/Juarez use I-25. But in 1949, they had to choose one of two old roads (still available) that closely follow the Rio Grande River into Texas: Highway 80/85, or Highway 28, which still passes through the old village of Mesilla and beautiful Stahmann Farms, one of the largest pecan groves in the world.
The hottest stop along Highway 28 south was Anapra (now called Sunland Park), New Mexico, a little town built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1920s to house employees and their families, almost at the point where Doña Ana County meets the State of Texas at El Paso, and the State of Chihuahua at Juarez, Mexico. Frank Ardovino's place was an elegant high-roller draw. And if the desired vice house could not be found on the way to Mexico, it was an easy skip into Juarez, which offered its own.
If one wished to stay in Las Cruces for a night on the town, "making the rounds" was typical—that is, having a drink or two at one place, then moving on to another because it was the hour music began, or because it was the hour the college crowd or the Santa Fe crowd usually congregated there. This spontaneous agenda could be based on restlessness or simply whether one wanted to avoid or catch a certain crowd. A little gambling in the town was available at some of the private and service clubs.
Some effects from the end of World War II contributed to this nighttime traffic. For some, euphoria that the war was over mixed with a compulsion to live every moment to the fullest. The war had hammered home how precious life was, how final death was. Rules of all kinds loosened. Ordinary townspeople found themselves caught up in the lax atmosphere and convenient access to alcohol, gambling, and sex.
Milder entertainment could be found at downtown movie houses. On the critical evening of March 30, 1949, the Rio Grande Theatre, the oldest two-story adobe theatre in the United States, offered Burt Lancaster and Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross. Another 1949 release, Flamingo Road, starred Joan Crawford as an ambitious waitress who marries well to a politician and is threatened by a corrupt and very powerful sheriff.
Ironically, March 30, 1949, fell in the middle of the Catholic season of Lent—a period of 40 days prior to Easter Sunday in which Catholics are supposed to enter a time of sorrowful reflection marked by three common practices: prayer (justice toward God), fasting or the sacrifice of a favorite food or pastime (justice toward self), and charitable offerings (justice toward neighbors). Unfortunately, a few persons were headed into downtown Las Cruces on the evening of March 30, 1949, seeking excess and intending to avoid justice of any kind.
By nine-thirty on Wednesday evening, March 30, 1949, Cricket Coogler seemed already to be having a bad night. It would become, horribly, the worst of her life.
According to witnesses, she finished a shift at the DeLuxe Café on Main Street at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. She hung around downtown a while, although her home was only a couple of blocks west. The DeLuxe, open 24 hours, seven days a week, was a long, narrow café, about 20 feet wide and 50 feet long back to the kitchen wall, with a row of booths along the south wall, one row of tables for four in the center, and a counter with stools and serving space along the north wall. Customers could select jukebox music from each booth. Cricket had only recently begun working at the DeLuxe.
Although slacks were becoming fashionably acceptable, Cricket typically wore dresses, complemented by high-heeled shoes in a variety of colors. Cricket was petite—some people said tiny—weighing as little as 90 pounds. As she left her home about 7 in the evening, Cricket told her mother she had a dinner date. She did not say with whom.
Cricket lived with her mother Ollie and twin brother Willie. Her two sisters were married and living elsewhere. In 1943 the family had moved to Las Cruces from Cottondale, Florida—perhaps due to the tuberculosis of Cricket's father Ben, who died only one year later when Cricket was 14. Cricket then dropped out of Union High School and began working as a waitress in several downtown cafés. The Tortugas Café, incorporating the Greyhound bus station, was the place she worked the longest. Why she left the Tortugas for a job at the DeLuxe is uncertain, but she had been known to take off, unannounced, for a few days, even a few weeks, and that alone could have been reason to fire her. Nevertheless, Cricket seemed to drift back to the Tortugas again and again, where some of her friends still worked. The common concerns of her classmates, like geometry and history, cheerleading and baton twirling, no doubt seemed of less value to Cricket than a paycheck. Her wages from café work were minimal, but her family could use any extra money she provided. It was assumed that Cricket was paid by men for sex, although no one had the indiscretion to state that in public.
Some said the nickname "Cricket" came from the sound of her clicking high heels; but a friend says the nickname was hers from childhood, because from the beginning she was so small and always on the move. Cricket was variously described as vivacious, outgoing, confident, but also moody and uppity. Often, a sad story about her love life edged into conversations with customers.
In 1948, one young admirer, taxi driver Art Marquez, visited the DeLuxe Café at every possible opportunity whenever he knew Cricket, whom he called "Ovie," was working. He tried to work up the courage to ask her out, but she always seemed so much older and wiser, hanging out with law-enforcement and other officials, and he was very young and intimidated by the company she kept. He nevertheless was about to succeed in arranging a date with her when he joined the army and went off to Japan in January 1949. Ovie agreed that when he returned, they would go out together. Returning to Las Cruces in 1950, Art went directly to the DeLuxe Café with plans to follow up with Ovie Coogler, who had been on his mind during his whole tour of duty. The manager shocked him with the news that Cricket was dead.
Cricket reportedly went out not only with some politicos from Santa Fe but also local working men—men from White Sands Proving Grounds, soldiers from El Paso's Fort Bliss, and local men.
The word "date," however, was too mild a term to describe what was going on between Cricket Coogler and at least a few men. Darker stories about her dates were in abundance. A Las Cruces dry cleaner told reporters he had been cleaning Cricket's clothes for years, and they were sometimes thoroughly bloody. Sadomasochistic sex and/or brutal men in alcoholic rages could have accounted for some of the blood on Cricket's clothes, and even her death. Border patrolman Sylba Bryant remembered that not long before her disappearance, as Cricket served him in the café, he noticed that the side of her head was banged up and she was complaining about a shoulder. He said he asked her whether some man had given her a hard time, and she answered, "Hell no, I just got mad and jumped out of the car." About two weeks later, she was dead.
Other evidence of Cricket's reckless participation in dangerous activities had surfaced a couple of years earlier. In late 1946 or early 1947, two college students, both of them veterans on the GI Bill, were studying in their temporary dorm room in a barracks-type building. When they answered a knock at the door about 9 in the evening, a rather disheveled young woman told them she needed help and a ride into town. They agreed and asked if she wanted to be taken to the sheriff's office or police. She said no; she wanted to be taken to the Tortugas Café. She didn't say much during the ride, but they gathered she had been assaulted in the desert, abandoned, and had walked toward the campus. They said the girl was Cricket Coogler.
Even if Cricket Coogler was grappling with some serious problems, her life was not all negative: an attractive appearance, health, youth, good friends, a lifetime of choices ahead, the attention of an array of men and the promises of some. Cricket had the spunk and the will to survive a great deal. Yet, the evening of March 30, 1949, she commented when a spilled drink threatened her suit, "I'll never live to wear it again anyway."
Cricket may have somehow anticipated her fate, but she would not have imagined that her name would become a household word in nearly every city, town, and village in the State of New Mexico and in El Paso, Texas, and that it would command national attention in Time magazine and the New York Times. Nor would she have dreamed that for decades, her name would rattle the nerves and the consciences of the man or men responsible for her death, as well as those who aided in a cover-up of the crime. And what would she have thought of writer Tony Hillerman's speculation that had it not been for the death of petite little Cricket Coogler and the tangled and bizarre aftermath of that death, Santa Fe, New Mexico, might have become the gambling capital of the nation? And if that had happened, would Las Cruces have then become a sort of Reno?
On the night of March 31, 1949, Cricket Coogler in some ways was doing what many young women her age had always done—that is, making some terrible choices, following reckless ambition, ignoring common sense, looking for escape in alcohol, experimenting, considering the physical body temporarily expendable. But in other ways, Cricket was doing what very few young women her age would do. She had pushed the edges of dangerous experiences, and she had pushed her luck past the odds for several years.
She was so very young.


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Editor's Note: The original version of this story, which you can find here, erroneously linked the Wolverine movie leak with an FBI datacenter raid in Dallas. Ars Technica regrets the error.
On April Fools Day this week, BitTorrent users were having fun at the expense of anything but a joke: copies of an unfinished version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked to the Internet.
Wolverine first leaked to BitTorrent on April Fools, allegedly in DVD quality. This version is said to be incomplete, however, with a number of missing scenes, unfinished special effects, and scores from other films spliced in for portions of the soundtrack. Nevertheless, the leaked Wolverine was promptly downloaded over 75,000 times within the first few hours of its premature Internet debut.
20th Century Fox issued a statement later that day about the leak, acknowledging that an "early version" of Wolverine has been "posted illegally on websites." The studio also fired a warning shot across the bow of whoever leaked it, stating that "we forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it." Fox also mentions that the MPAA and FBI are investigating the crime, and that it will "prosecute the source and any subsequent postings to the fullest extent of the law."
Naturally, 20th Century Fox is none too happy about the leak, which contains watermarks from Rising Sun Pictures (RSP), an Australian special effects studio working on parts of the film. However, Chairman and co-founder Tony Clark released a statement on RSP's website that his company had nothing to do with leaking Wolverine. "As we worked on individual sequences within the film, neither RSP or its staff members have ever been in possession of a full-length version, so it would have been impossible for the movie to have been leaked from here."
More than likely, 20th Century Fox is most worried about a film leaking out before much of its fit and polish (and even some of its core components) were added. But as we have seen in recent years, movie piracy has not seemed to cause the industry much harm. The MPAA touted record box office sales of $9.63 billion and $9.78 billion in 2007 and 2008, respectively, suggesting that this leak may not have much of an effect on X-Men Origins: Wolverine this summer.


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With a name that evokes images of Jean-Luc Picard aboard the USS Enterprise, the ZTE Engage is actually just an Earthling-created, contract-free phone from Cricket Wireless.
But even if I could get engaged (ha, multiple definitions!) to this handset, I wouldn't want to. Yes, it sports higher specs than what you would usually see from a midlevel ZTE handset, but its poor call and camera performance would tempt any user, not just me, to break things off.
With its all-black design and flatly rectangular construction, the ZTE Engage doesn't break any design boundaries. At 5.4 ounces, it does, however, tip the scales in terms of weight. But it's a solidly built and dense device that feels sturdy. Its tapered edges make it easy to hold and grip.
It measures 4.9 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide, and 0.4 inch thick. One thing I didn't like was the wide bezel below the display. Save for the hot keys, this "chin" simply has a lot of black, dead space that just adds more to the handset's size.
Up top are a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Micro-USB port for charging, and a chrome-colored sleep/power button. There are also two little holes to slip a lanyard or charm through. The right edge hosts a narrow, but easy-to-press, volume rocker.
On the back is a 8-megapixel camera with an LED flash below. Farther down is the audio speaker. Using an indent at the bottom edge, you can pry off the back plate to get access to the microSD card slot (that's expandable up to 32GB) and the 1,900mAh lithium ion battery.
The 4.3-inch WVGA display has an 800x480-pixel resolution. It's one of the most responsive and clearest screens I've seen on a ZTE phone. Icons, widgets, and text look crisp, and default wallpaper designs display brightly and smoothly. And, unlike midlevel ZTE devices, the display has a wider viewing angle.
Above the display is a VGA front-facing camera, and below it are four shortcut keys (home, menu, back, and search) that light up very dimly when in use.
Taking the plunge with the ZTE Engage (pictures)See all photos
Software and OS
The ZTE Engage ships natively with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. One of my favorite features of the device is that it offers a nearly skinless ICS user interface. Anyone who wants a vanilla Android OS will definitely appreciate the handset's lack of bloatware or overlaid UI (though a small gray box surrounds each app icon, which I'm not too fond of, and the dialpad looks simpler), even though it's not as bare-bones as a Nexus.
It comes with the usual slew of Google apps, including Chrome, Gmail, Google Music, Plus, Local, Maps with Navigation and Latitude, Messenger, access to Play Books, Movies, Store, and Music, Search, Talk, and YouTube.
Basic task management apps are loaded as well, such as a calculator, a calendar, a clock with alarm functions, a native browser and e-mail client, music and video players, a news and weather app, a notepad, a sound recorder, a timer, a voice dialer, and a world clock.
There are also Cricket-specific apps, like its own navigator, a My Account app to manage your phone payments, MyBackup, which lets you store your contact information in a cloud, a Yellow Page-esque app called Cricket 411, where you can access information for the nearest pizza joint or grocery store, and a storefront that lets you purchase graphics and applications.
Other apps include the security app, NQ Mobile Security, two games (Block Breaker 3 and Uno), and the mobile suite Documents To Go.
You also get Muve Music service. Developed by Cricket, Muve Music lets you download an unlimited amount of music (well, aside from the amount of free space on your phone) onto your handset. The app comes with a feature called My DJ that gives you access to premade playlists organized by musical genres, and Shazam, the popular music-searching app. There's also the obligatory social networking feature, called Get Social, where you can set up your user profile, search for friends, and keep track of your "Shout Outs," where you post songs you're listening to for public viewing. For a more in-depth rundown of Muve Music, check out our full review.
Integrating a phone with a music service is a neat idea, but one drawback is that you can't access the music you have on any other device. And once you stop paying your phone bill, access to your songs will also stop. With all this in mind, it's best to think of Muve more as a music rental service.
This passing sense of ownership over these songs wasn't my main issue with this, however. Instead, it was the confusing user interface. Even though I used Muve before, menu items were still confusing, pausing a song or returning to the main menu took a while to figure out, and the constant clicking I had to go through just to download and then play one song was cumbersome.
Camera and video
The 8-megapixel camera includes a few editing options like a digital zoom, flash, touch focus, five white balances, five exposure levels (ranging from -2 to +2), six scene modes, 13 picture sizes (ranging from QCIF to 8 megapixels), six color effects, and four focus modes, including auto and macro. The front-facing camera has even fewer options. Only the digital zoom, white balances, and exposure meter are retained, and you get four photo sizes (from QCIF to VGA).
Video options include a digital zoom, continuous flash, the same white balances and color effects, time lapse, four video qualities (720p to QCIF), and three video durations (30 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 seconds). The front-facing camera has all the same options except you only get two video qualities (either CIF or QCIF) and no color effects.


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Remote-controlled capacities calendar week 13
8,180.78 MW installed wind and solar capacity remote-controlled by Statkraft.
Statkraft Markets GmbH as a direct marketer within the meaning of the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) is in the position to remote-control contracted wind and solar capacity. In case of sufficiently negative prices at the EEX (day-ahead or intraday), Statkraft will react according to the incentives set by the market premium scheme by steering down 8,180.78 MW installed wind and solar capacity.
Date: 30 March 2016, 4:30 p.m.


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When you want to look impeccable from head to toe, there's no point in stepping out in a crisp new suit or smart jeans when you're presenting yourself to the world in knackered scuffed shoes. Of course, those faded trainers and worn in boots will always have a time and a place (in the park with the kids, running errands at the weekend), but right now, this isn't it. When you need to look the part and put your best foot forward, look no further than Robinson's Shoes. From brogues and loafers, to toe-caps and wingtips, our exquisite collection includes brands Barker, Loake, Anatomic and Alfred Sargent as well as our own off the shelf hand-made Robinson shoes. It's no wonder we're one of Ireland's most prestigious shoe companies.
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Barker Ross£158.33


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Micro Wire Light Multi Colour 40 LED 195cm - Christmas
Micro Wire Light Multi Colour 40 LED - 195cm
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Distance first to last bulb: 195cm
Excludes: 3x AA batteries
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Any items that fall within the oversized or pallet delivery options will state this in the product description.
*Orders placed by 12 noon Monday-Friday are generally despatched on a 2 working day delivery service (unless otherwise stated in product description). During busy periods this may increase to a 3-5 day service.
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