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I believe there is no pursuit more important than knowing God. There is nothing greater to which we can commit ourselves. The fact is that you and I were created to know the God who made us. We human beings are uniquely wired this way.
This isn't true of the animal kingdom. My dog doesn't sit around and contemplate the meaning of life. I am quite sure he doesn't think to himself, There is an emptiness in my life right now. It cannot be filled by chasing cats or eating road kill. There must be more to life than this. No, he lies around and sleeps, and if any topic does occupy his thoughts, it's eating.
I have a personal theory about my dog, and maybe all dogs in general: He thinks I am there to serve him. Why wouldn't he think that? Look at the way his life goes. Does he go to work every day? No, he just sleeps. Does he bring home money? No, he costs money. Does he do yard work? No, he fertilizes the yard.
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Animals don't think about the meaning of life because animals are not created in the image of God. But we are. This is a unique trait of human beings. We are not evolved from animals, as some would assert. We were created by God in his very image.
The Bible says that because of this, God has placed eternity in our hearts. This means that deep inside of every man, woman, boy and girl, there's a sense that there has to be more to life than this, a sense there is some meaning, purpose or significance to life.
TRENDING: Republican senators find body bags and anti-Trump messages on their doorsteps
The reason many people today, especially young people, kill themselves is because of hopelessness. They don't know what they are living for. They don't know what their life is all about.
Do you appreciate Greg Laurie's challenging spiritual insights? Check out the WND Superstore's extensive Laurie section of books and devotionals
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In his book "Made for Heaven: And Why on Earth It Matters," C. S. Lewis wrote, "All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of [heaven] – tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. ... It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want."
To loosely paraphrase, there is nothing in this world that will fill the hole in our soul – no sexual experience, no drug, no relationship, no amount of success and no possession. There still will be something that whispers, "There is more to life than this."
The real thing Lewis was alluding to is what we were created for. It is the drive to know the God who made us.
Jesus said, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3 NIV).
Also, the prophet Jeremiah delivered these words from God Himself: "Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord ..." (Jeremiah 9:23–24).
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That is what we are here for: to know God.
But before we can truly know God, we have to first know about God. Learning about God is called theology. "Theology," simply translated, means the study of God. People who don't want to get into theology might end up worshiping the wrong God. They might end up believing the wrong thing.
Again, C. S. Lewis said, "If you do not listen to theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones – bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas."
This is what we need to be careful of: that we do not have the wrong ideas about God.
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Before we can know what right and wrong are, we have to know who God is. Morality is based on spirituality. Spirituality is based on a relationship with God. And if we don't know God, hence knowing what life is about and what our purpose is, then we won't know right from wrong.
When we become the judges of what right and wrong are, we have essentially made ourselves the moral center of the universe. This is called moral relativism. And I believe the problems in our culture, to a large degree, can be directly traced to a lack of absolutes, to moral relativism.
We have all heard the statements: "What is true for you is not necessarily true for me" or "One man's art is another person's pornography" or "There are no objective morals, just differing opinions." Or how about this one? "No culture is better or worse than another." And then we have this little chestnut from the '60s: "If it feels good, do it."
The reason people do such appalling things is because they don't have a moral compass. And the reason they don't have a moral compass is because they don't have a relationship with God.
Throughout the world today, wrong seems to be right and right seems to be wrong. The words of the prophet Isaiah are just as relevant to our culture as they were when he originally spoke them: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20).
One survey found that 67 percent of Americans believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. Why is that such a big deal? Because if we don't believe in absolute truth, the result is chaos.
The stability and the security we desire in life are found in knowing God and then walking with him – and not anywhere else.


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We have a wide range of Solutions covering everything from pre-provisioning for Data Centres through to support for your customer's network related requirements in their homes and business premises.
For example, our Service Based Solutions (split for simplicity into Engineering and Management Solutions below), can help you improve and even extend the services you offer to customers. They can also help you tackle business issues, take risk out of complex projects and help to deliver what you promise on time and on budget.
In a nutshell, our Service Based Solutions make our resources and expertise available to you so that you can increase the efficiency of your business and better meet the end-to-end requirements of your customers.
Whether you need to build a bespoke network, install CPE or cope with a network disaster we can help. Engineering Solutions provide access to the unrivalled engineering expertise to carry out a range of activities beyond the Openreach core network, all on your behalf.
Our own network programmes, and service centres don't manage themselves, they require the skills of a range of in-house experts. Those same people can provide your business with anything from project management and advice through to customer service support.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rob Bell: Delegate law and order
During his first term in the General Assembly representing the 58th District, Rob Bell discovered one of the advantages of being an elected official: "If I see things in the newspaper that make me angry, I can do something about it," he says.
As an Orange County prosecutor, Bell took the Central Virginia Regional Jail to court for letting convicted felons slide on serving their sentences, only to be stymied by a law that allows such practices. Changing that law was his first order of business upon hitting Richmond.
Bell also discovered that even for seemingly minor requests, state agencies respond to a lot quicker to a call from Delegate Bell than from Joe Constituent.
The downside to his new job is that its pay is part time, but to represent his district requires 20 to 25 hours a week. At the same time, Bell is trying to build a law practice. In some ways, being a delegate hampers that. "I won't do serious criminal cases," says Bell, despite his prosecutorial background.
A Reagan youth, Bell recalls that when the former president came to UVA in 1988, "We camped out like it was a rock concert."
Bell hadn't really intended to run for office until his forties. But when Paul Harris vacated his seat to go to Washington, Bell decided the time was right. And so far, no Democrats have challenged him in this year's run for reelection.
As for the future, Bell says he sees himself still in the General Assembly, but with more seniority. Still, there's a certain wistfulness for his days as a prosecutor.
"Politics is all about compromise and getting 100 people to agree," he explains. "As a prosecutor, once you figure out the facts, you can move straight forward."
And even though the rewards are smaller a prosecutor doesn't affect the whole state "I miss it all the time," says Bell. "It's the only kind of lawyering where you decide what cases you take."
Age: 35
What brought you here? I came here to go to UVA in 1984.
What's worst about living here? That ongoing C-Ville-Hook feud. Can't we all just get along?
Favorite hangout? Amigos restaurant in Woodbrook
Most overrated virtue? Patience
What would people be surprised to know about you?
Jessica and I have backpacked around Central America.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wish my Spanish were truly fluent.
What accomplishment are you proudest of? Being elected to the legislative seat once held by Thomas Jefferson.
What do people find most annoying about you? My to-do lists. I keep them everywhere. I'm lousy at vacationing.
Whom do you admire? Winston Churchill, for personal and political courage.
Favorite book? Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian
What subject causes you to rant? Hypocrisy. Just do what you say.
What thrills you about life in the 21st century? Email lets me keep up with my family and college friends.
What creeps you out about life in the 21st century? That a third-rate dictator can develop weapons of mass destruction.
What do you drive? A '95 Ford Ranger pickup
What's in your car tape player right now? The Elvis Christmas Album, featuring "Bl-Bl-Blue Christmas." Our tradition is to listen to Elvis while driving around to see Christmas light displays, and I never took it out.
What's your next journey? With the 2003 session done, I'm happy just to be home with my wife and son.
What's the most trouble you've ever gotten in? I was a regular at Saturday detention in high school. Remember The Breakfast Club? I won't say which character I was, but it certainly wasn't "the jock."
What do you regret? I never did any real traveling until my late 20s. I should have started sooner.
Favorite comfort food? Bodo's everything bagels
What's always in your refrigerator? Diet Cherry 7-Up
Must-see TV? UVA football away games
Favorite cartoon? The Simpsons
Describe a perfect day. Visit fifth graders and give my "Anyone can get elected" civics talk, meet Jessica and friends for dinner at Thai 99, go home and try (and try) to get Robbie to fall asleep.
Walter Mitty fantasy? Put a traveling band together, like Rabbit in the movie Commitments, then tour the East Coast.
Who'd play you in the movie? James Spader with less hair
Most embarrassing moment? Hearing this jerk on Richmond radio, only to realize that it was my own voice that had been picked up on a committee microphone.
Best advice you ever got? "If you do everything, then you will succeed." Supposedly LBJ.
Favorite bumper sticker? Conserve Water– Drink Virginia WineRead more on: rob bell


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Penn State Hershey Melanoma Center is leading a statewide collaboration designed to advance melanoma prevention and treatment. The Consortium of Melanoma Centers of Pennsylvania was established in February and includes melanoma centers and programs from Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson, The Wistar Institute, St Luke's Hospital, Temple University/Fox Chase and the University of Pittsburgh. The consortium is the first of its kind in the melanoma arena and will significantly advance efforts to prevent and treat melanoma.
The consortium serves as a resource for researchers, clinicians and melanoma patients. It provides its members with opportunities to collaborate, calling upon complementary expertise and resources to address many of the obstacles associated with this disease.
Clinicians from the consortium have access to melanoma patients from all sites for accrual to personalized therapeutic trials. Patients can also easily access up-to-date information regarding the latest clinical trials at each institution. The consortium also addresses legislative issues related to the disease and interacts with grassroots organizations and foundations.
For more information about the consortium, visit http://www.pennstatehershey.org/web/melanoma/home.


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Investment request and cross border cost allocation (CBCA)
Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 enables project promoters of projects of common interest (PCI) to submit to NRAs an investment request including a request for cross-border cost allocation (CBCA).
In order to facilitate CBCA processes, including enabling the submission of complete investment requests of adequate quality and ensuring a consistent approach in deciding on the allocation of cost across borders, the Agency shared good practices with project promoters and NRAs in its first CBCA Recommendation, adopted on 25 September 2013, applicable to the investment requests submitted in the framework of the first Union list of electricity and gas PCIs.
Built upon the experience gained with the first investment requests, the Agency revised and completed the first CBCA Recommendation. On 18 December 2015, the Agency issued a new
CBCA Recommendation (Recommendation No 05/2015) which replaced the former guidance of 2013.
On 2 February 2016, ACER organised a public workshop in Ljubljana on cross-border cost allocation. The draft agenda and presentations of the workshop are available here.
Practical information for NRAs:
Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 requires NRAs to inform the Agency about investment requests and CBCA decisions without delay and to share relevant documents [see Article 12(3) and (5)].The Agency also invites NRAs to keep the Agency informed about the treatment of the investment requests [see Section 2.11. of the Agency's
Recommendation No 05/2015].
NRAs should send the information to
cbca(at)acer.europa.eu , with identification of each PCI, making reference to the respective PCI number on the valid PCI list.
Practical information for promoters:
The guidance to project promoters on the submission of an investment request (Chapter 1 of the Agency's Recommendation No 05/2015) is accompanied by a template (Annex IV) summarising the relevant information to be submitted(The template in word format is downloadable here).
Monitoring of CBCA decisions
Summary reports analysing the main trends of investment requests and CBCA decisions for electricity and gas PCIs.
First edition (September 2015, 16 decisions)
Second edition (January 2017, 24 decisions)
Third edition (March 2018, 30 decisions)
Up-to-date list of decisions
List of decisions (July 2019, 39 decisions)
Interactive map


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
One of the things that separates a good programmer from a great one is a firm understanding about what is going on inside the computer. For some programming languages, it is very obvious what is going on inside the computer because you are working at a very low level. For example, if you are a C/C++ programmer writing an OS, you will know a lot about the hardware as you will interact with it directly. As a .NET programmer you are more encapsulated from the hardware experience, making use of the .NET framework.
None of the aforementioned programming languages comes anywhere close to the level of encapsulation that we SQL programmers work with. When you execute a statement like:
SELECT * FROM Tablename
A firestorm of code is executed to optimize your query, find the data on disk, fetch that data, format it for presentation, and then send it to the client. And this is the super dumbed down version. SQL is a declarative language, where basically we format a question or task for the system to execute without telling it how. It is my favorite type of language because all of the pushing bits around get tedious. However, what is important for the professional SQL programmer is to have some understanding of what is going under the covers, understanding query plans, disk IO, CPU, etc. Not necessarily to the depth that Glenn Alan Berry (http://sqlserverperformance.wordpress.com/) does, but certainly a working knowledge.
Performance is the obvious reason, since it is clearly valuable to be able to optimize a query, but sometimes it can come in handy to debug an issue you are having with a query. Today, I ran across an optimizer condition that, while perfectly understandable in functional terms, would have driven me closer to nuts if I hadn't been able to read a query plan. The problem came in based on the number of rows returned, either it worked perfectly or it failed with an overflow condition. Each query seemingly touches the exact same rows in the table where the overflow data exists…or did it.
The setup. The real query that the problem was discovered in was our data warehouse, and was a star schema configuration with 20+ joins. In the reproduction, I will use a simple table of numbers to serve as the primary table of the query.
create table ExampleTable -- It really doesn't matter what this table has. The datevalue column will be used to -- join to the date table, that I will load from the ( -- from the values I put in this table to make sure all data does exist i int constraint PKExampleTable primary key, dateValue date )
;with digits (i) as( --(The code for this comes from my snippet page: http://www.drsql.org/Pages/Snippets.aspx). select 1 as i union all select 2 as i union all select 3 union all select 4 union all select 5 union all select 6 union all select 7 union all select 8 union all select 9 union all select 0) ,sequence (i) as ( select D1.i + (10*D2.i) + (100*D3.i) + (1000*D4.i) + (10000*D5.i) + (100000*D6.i) from digits as D1, digits AS D2, digits AS D3 ,digits AS D4, digits as D5, digits As D6 ) insert into ExampleTable(i, dateValue) select i, dateadd(day, i % 10,getdate()) -- Puts in 10 different date values from sequence where i > 0 and i < 1000 order by i
Next I will load the date table with all of the distinct dateValue values that we loaded into the ExampleTable, plus one, which is the max date value for the datatype. In the "real" world case, this is one of our surrogate null values we use to indicate that it is the end date. (Yes, we are ignoring the Y10K problem.)
create table date ( datevalue date constraint PKDate primary key )
insert into date select distinct dateValue from ExampleTable union all select '99991231' go
In the typical usage, the number of rows is quite small. In our queries, we are adding 1 to the dateValue to establish a range of a day (in the real query it was actually a month). Executing the following query that returns 99 rows is successful:
select *, dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue where i < 100
However, remove the where clause (causing the query to return 999 rows):
select *, dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue
And you will see that this results in an overflow condition...
Hmmm, this could be one of those days where I don't get a lot of sleep :). Next up, I check the max date value that can be returned.
--show that the top value that could be returned is < maxdate select max(date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue
At this point, I start feeling like I am going nuts. The value returned is 2013-01-30. So no data is actually returned that should be too large for our date column… So then I think, well, let's add one to that value and take the max:
select max(date.dateValue), max(dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue)) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue
This returns, mockingly:
Msg 517, Level 16, State 3, Line 2 Adding a value to a 'date' column caused an overflow.
So, since it worked with fewer rows earlier. I decide to try lowering the number of rows again, this time using a derived table, and it DOESN'T error out, even though it is obvious (because I stacked the deck…data) that the same data is just repeated for the dateValue, particularly since we get the same max dateValue as we did earlier.
select max(date.dateValue), max(dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue)) from (select top 100 * from ExampleTable order by i) as ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue Well, you are possibly thinking, this just doesn't make sense. It is how I felt too after trying to do the logic in my head. I will admit that I didn't know about query plans I would have been completely lost. But alas, the answer was fairly easily located in the plan. Taking a look at the plan for the query version that returns 99 rows:
select *, dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue where i <= 100
We get the following estimated plan:
In this plan, it uses a nested loops operator, which basically will do 100 seeks from the top input (the ExampleTable), for each row fetching the date value, and then calculating the scalar value (dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) ) on the values that match in the plan. Since the 9999-12-31 date is never used, there is no overflow.
However, when the number of rows in the when the size of the output reaches a certain tolerance (in this case 999 instead of 99) from the following query:
select *, dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue
We get a different plan, one that is causing us issues:
Instead of nested loops, it uses a Hash Match Join, which takes the entirety of the smaller table and builds an internal hash index (basically setting up buckets that can be scanned much faster than an entire table…in our case, probably just a single bucket), and then scan the other set checking to see if the row exists in the hash index.
It is in the process of building the hash index that our query runs into trouble. Since the date table is so much smaller, it plans to build the hash index on that table, and pre-creates the scalar values as it is doing the scan, since there are 11 rows in the date table, rather than having to calculate the value 999 times if it did it after the join. When it adds a day to the 9999-12-31 date, it fails.
I know, the question of how practical is this scenario is bound to arise. I won't lie to you and suggest that it is likely to happen to you as it it did to me. However, the point of this blog isn't that this one scenario is bound to happen to you, but rather that understanding how SQL Server executes queries will help to give you insight to fix problems with your system, mostly performance, but sometimes every esoteric issues that won't just leap out as being based on the query plan that was chosen. (For more reading on query plans, check out Grant Fritchey's Simple-Talk book on query plans: http://www.amazon.com/Server-Execution-Plans-Grant-Fritchey/dp/1906434026).
In the end, the fix to my problem was simple. Make sure that the value that has meaning in the table, but not in the query, was filtered out:
select *, dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue and date.dateValue < '9999-12-31'
Note: a commenter noted that in some cases, excluding the offensive data using the ON criteria/WHERE clause may not solve the issue. This is very true, and really will be made evident in the plan. I would expect it to be more likely to be definitely excluded in the JOIN clause, but you really can't guarantee anything that the optimizer might do without changing the source data (or representing the source data using a derived table as):
select *, dateadd(day,1,date.dateValue) from ExampleTable join (select * from date where date.dateValue < '9999-12-31') as date on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue
Looking at the different variances to the plan you should be able to diagnose a "hidden" problem such as I have described by finding the flow of data and making sure that the filtering operation happens before the calculating of the scalar that causes the overflow error. This may harm performance in my query for even the more "ideal" case where it could have used indexes, so you may yet have more work to do...But this is what makes data programming fun, now isn't it?
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I've seen that issue with dateadd happening even when you have the where clause in place. The same reason in that it was completing the dateadd function first before computing the where criteria.
SQLChap: Good point that I will add tonight when I am at my writing computer :) One thing to note is that putting the criteria in the JOIN criteria is probably a good bit safer than in the WHERE clause. In the JOIN criteria, it is defining the set and is definitely going to be applied as you expect. In the WHERE clause, other JOINs (particularly any OUTER JOINS) could be dictating that the criteria not be applied until later in the plan.
Hi Louis,
Thanks for sharing. That was a great demo. I started reading Grant Fritchey's book about two weeks. I strongly recommend it also. It should be required reading for all SQL developers DBAs.
Hi Russell,
Which of Grants book ?
Couldn't you use a CASE clause instead?
select *,
case when date.dateValue < '9999-12-31' then dateadd(day, 1, date.dateValue) end
from ExampleTable
join date
on date.dateValue = ExampleTable.dateValue
Good point, that too would solve the issue with the overflow, would produce the same results, though the same query plan. I would probably try the JOIN ON criteria first if I were dealing with an issue as it hits at the root of the problem, but in any case, the plan can help guide you the "best" solution in your case.
A scalar function operates on 1 row at a time. It is much better to operate on sets of data instead of 1 row at time. This can be done by generating a temp or table variable with a computed column containing the data in the form you want. Then you can select off that table. By removing the row processing you increase performance.


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Press Release
Anchorage Pharmacist Convicted of Forgery
March 12, 2013
On March 11, 2013, 42-year-old Anchorage Pharmacist Ronald Engberson was convicted of forgery. An investigation by the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing revealed that Engberson had forged more than 90 prescriptions for himself between 2009 and 2012. During that time period, Engberson was the Pharmacist in Charge of a local pharmacy.
Engberson forged prescriptions for 27 different types of medications, including controlled substances such as hydrocodone, lidocaine, and diazepam. At Monday's hearing, Engberson was convicted of felony forgery and sentenced to two years probation.
CONTACT: Assistant District Attorney Clint Campion @ (907) 269-6324 or firstname.lastname@example.com at the Anchorage District Attorney's Office.
# # #


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We celebrated Valentine's month (oh, you thought it was just a day?) by inviting you to count the ways you love your dogs—and then to share the results with us in 100 words or less. Thanks to everyone who submitted love stories. Not only did you manage to stay darn close to the word count, you reminded us of so many things we love about our dogs, and sometimes forget to appreciate, and gave us a few more to consider. (Read all the Love Stories.)
Our five favorites (below) provide lovely illustrations of the peculiar and compelling human-dog bond—and what loving a canine does to and for us.
They inspire us to help others.
"My Boston Terrier was given to me as a birthday gift and he was the best gift that I have ever received. My husband gave him to me in order to train me and prepare me for kids. This tactic was a huge success. I have learned so much from my Boston, such as patience (from trying to outsmart my Boston to go outside during the middle of a New England winter) to unconditional love, to the beauty of silence. After a long day, he can be found cuddled with me. Next to my Boston there is no one I would rather spend time with. We enjoy long walks together and games of fetch and I could find no better way to spend a sunny afternoon.
Because of all the love that we have for our "breeder" Boston, we have chosen to adopt a rescue Boston who is deaf to share our love. She has been a fabulous addition to our family. It has only been a week so it's love at first site, but I know that in a few months we will share our same deep love for her as we do with our first.
Sign up for our newsletter and stay in the know.
—Written by Amanda MacIsaac of Fitchburg, Mass., about her Mr. Reagan and Lady Thatcher.
They make us question how we ever lived without them.
I'm asked to put your existence and our pure love into 100 words or less. How can I share how my heart fills when you give me the stink eye, when you play bow when I'm trying to do pushups? How is it possible that a mere 21 pounds makes our family so utterly complete, and the house feels so empty even when you go the groomers for just a few hours? Since you came into my life I haven't had a good crying session, not because I haven't been sad, but because you attack me with kisses the second I shed a single tear. It's impossible to feel sad as the sincerity of your love and concern wash over me with your puppy kisses. Atticus, it's not an exaggeration to say that I simply don't remember what life was like when you joined our household just 3 ½ years ago. I know we existed, but I really can't remember if that even felt like living at all.
—By Gina Lopez-Gerlach, Pomona, Calif., about her miniature Schnauzer Atticus.
They make us laugh…a lot.
There's just something about this dog. There's just no logical explanation for this. I'm a grown woman with many fulfilling human relationships, but when I think about this dog, well, I behave like a love-struck teenager. Maybe it's the way he cracks me up daily. I've always been a sucker for a wicked sense of humor and this dog has it in spades. Maybe it's his beautiful blue eyes that twinkle when he's up to mischief. Maybe it's that he embodies the idea that looks can be deceiving. He is SO beautiful and appears SO sophisticated, but in reality he's such a big doofus that the juxtaposition makes me smile just thinking about it. I can't really explain. There's just something about this dog.
—By Kathy Konetzka-Close of Atlas, Mich., about Wyatt—a "Collie-extraordinaire" and ladies' man.
They seduce us.
Sunny was a chronic fusser from birth, possibly the only pup ever to complain with a nipple in her mouth. Cuddle her litter mates? "Paw in the ear!" Sleep alone? "Cold!" Person picking her up? "No! Put me down!"
When she was two weeks old, I (the kennel help) decided it wasn't good for her littermates to get all the socializing. I scooped her up, ignored the objections, and lay down on the couch. On my stomach, she fussed, marched like a cat, made a contented gurgle, and fell asleep. Quietly.
After that, I was her person.
—By Erika Tracy of Decatur, Ga., about her German Shepherd Sunny. When we contacted Erika we learned that Sunny died of cancer a week ago. She provided a photo from their search and rescue days.
They heal us.
"Daisy healed me. After a severe bout of depression and suicide attempt, my therapist and I discussed me getting a dog. What I got was much more: a doctor, daughter, pillow, tissue, blanket, best friend, and as close to a cure as I could come. Daisy saved my life.
—By Karen Six of Allentown, Penn., about her one-year-old Schnoodle, Daisy.


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Baby Blue Balloon Curling Ribbon Roll
- 90 metres
- Baby Blue
Add that special touch to your party balloons, boxes, party bags, goody bags, party favours and gifts with this Baby Blue curling ribbon. Please note; balloons lighten upon inflation. WARNING: Balloons are not toys. Children can choke or suffocate on uninflated or broken balloons. Adult supervision is required at all times. Please ensure uninflated balloons are kept away from children, and discard broken balloons immediately.
We dispatch all orders daily Mon - Fri, excluding Public Holidays, provided they are placed before 12pm AEST.
We offer Free Standard Shipping for orders over $150.
For further queries regarding orders, shipping and more, please check out our delivery page.
Thank you for stopping by at The Party Cupboard party store; 'Little People, Big Celebrations!'
Total price


text:
Helping companies understand how to profit from competitive telecommunications
Mark H. Goldberg and Associates provides a full range of consulting services to telecommunications companies, including: business planning, strategic planning, carrier relations, regulatory and government relations, network design, RFP evaluations, project management and operations reviews.
Mark H. Goldberg has more than 28 years of international experience in strategic planning, managing, designing and implementing telecommunications carrier networks. His background includes heading the Network Services organization for one of Canada's largest long distance companies, developing the network architecture for competition in Canada, design of the US Government Voice Network, creating the business plan for Canada's Information Highway initiative, and helping new international entrepreneurs launch traditional and enhanced telecommunications services.
Please contact Mark H. Goldberg and Associates to discuss how we can help you exceed your business objectives.
Mark H. Goldberg & Associates Inc.
Telecommunications Consulting
91 Forest Lane Drive
Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, L4J 3P2
Phone: +1 905 882-0417
Fax: +1 905 882-2219
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Fairtex Express, 47 hotel Standard rooms appointed a two stories structure. The World Class Sports Club
& Wellness completely for welcoming especially the RECUPERATOR and SPORTS LOVERS.
Hotel located in North Pattaya and a short distance from hotel to the beach. The most convenience from hotel to Suvarnabhumi International Airport only one and a half hours or 2 hours along the Sukhumvit Road to Bangkok.
Hotel offer full facilities with a complete range of World Class Sports Club with full equipments especially Muay Thai or Thai Boxing, Massage, Spa Treatment, Detoxification & Rejuvenation program designed to relax, rejuvenate, enrich and heal the body and soul, meeting rooms for any seminars and parties from 20 to 200 people, the Olympic standard Swimming Pool and the children games room and International Rock Climbing. We assure and completely for welcoming especially the RECUPERATOR and SPORTS LOVERS.
Standard Room
(size: 25 sq.m.)
Modern simplicity, with a bedroom and bathroom with shower and balcony.
|Club House Restaurant
Rasayana Retreat was first estabilished in 2003 , located in North Pattaya Rd. Specializing in Colon Hydrotherapy , Spa Treatment and Raw Living food.
Meeting Room
Our 2 meeting rooms are able to comfortably seat up to 200 people, depending on the seating arrangement you choose and rooms are ready to be transformed in to a perfect venue with our perfect package that give you the comfort, refreshment and facilities for your meeting.
Meeting Equipments
|Rasayana Retreat Spa
|Foot Massage
|Meeting Room
Sports Club
Fairtex is open from 6.00am to 10.30pm daily and comprises a first class gym, aerobics studios, 4 tennis courts, 5 badminton courts, squash courts, swimming pool, MuayThai/boxing arena, rock climbing, basketball / football court, Juice bar, Health Spa, restaurants and luxurious lockers rooms with sauna & steam room. Members can also enjoy complimentary towel and robe service.
|Fairtex Class
|Badminton Courts
|Basketball / Football Courts
|Muaythai / Boxing
|Pro-Tennis Courts
|Rock Climbing Wall
|Swimming Pool
|Conveniently located 1 km from Pattaya town centre and 60 minutes
by car from the airport, the resort has 56 rooms and is set on nine
rai of prime real estate comprising of private, lush , tropical gardens.
The hotel is situated approved 100 km. away from Suvarnabhumi International Airport.


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At a pre-scheduled time, our consultant will conduct a Comfort Survey to evaluate your heating and cooling needs - whether furnace, air conditioning, heat pump, and/or air filtration - for your home and your budget. To help them determine the best plan of action and new system best suited to you, they will consider many factors, from your system's repair history to whether you have pets or family members sensitive to allergens. During this home visit, the consultant will provide you with a written proposal for the project and also discuss with you The Home Depot's many extended service warranties.
A suitable time will be scheduled for your heating and/or cooling installation to take place. At this time, your installer will deliver your new system, remove the old, install your new Comfort System and, finally, conduct an audit to ensure optimal operation. Throughout the project, your installer will maintain a safe work site and ensure a thorough cleanup, including the responsible disposal of your existing unit.
Once the project is complete, your installer will meet with you to perform a final inspection and ensure your satisfaction with the new Comfort System that has been installed in your home.
60 Great Lakes Drive Brampton, ON L6R 2K7
Store: 905-792-5430 Tool Rental: 905-792-5431 Pro Desk: 905-792-5446
49 First Gulf Boulevard Brampton, ON L6W 4R8
Store: 905-457-1800 Tool Rental: 905-457-3916 Pro Desk: 905-457-2637
1983 Kipling Avenue Etobicoke, ON M9W 4J4
Store: 416-746-1357 Tool Rental: 416-746-3341 Pro Desk: 416-746-7250
140 Northview Boulevard Woodbridge, ON L4L 8T2
Store: 905-851-1800 Tool Rental: 905-851-4799 Pro Desk: 905-851-8746


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Suwon - Guangzhou Live Stream
Suwon - Guangzhou Free Video StreamingEnjoy Suwon streaming and Guangzhou streaming for free. This event is part of UEFA Champions League, additional sources are available at this location
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To start streaming , just click the links on the list above. We also provide mobile streams as well as Sopcast and Acestream links (each of them are tagged with respective labels) Enjoy free live Suwon - Guangzhou streams and Soccer streaming hosted on StreamWoop!
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|Version 6 (modified by 11 years ago) (diff),
Short guidelines for new tickets:
- no support questions here
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text:
Subaru has announced a new special edition Impreza WRX STI in memory of rally hero Richard Burns who died in November last year of cancer.
Called the RB320, the new car features around £6,000 worth of extra equipment including the 320 PS Prodrive Performance Pack, yet costs £29,995 on-the-road – an increase of only £3,500.
Available only in Obsidian Black, the RB320 features bespoke 18 ins alloy wheels and specially developed Prodrive suspension comprising Bilstein dampers, a sports spring kit with revised rear anti-roll bar and a ride height lowered by 30 mm at the front and 10 mm at the rear.
Also standard on the RB320 are a chrome mesh front grille, front lip spoiler, quickshift gearchange, side sill plates and RB320-branded gear knob, carpet mats and exclusive exterior badging. Each owner will also receive an individually numbered black alloy tax disc holder.
The PPP boosts power to 320 PS at 6,000 rpm with torque leaping to 332 lb ft at 3,700 rpm. This reduces the 0-60 mph time to 4.8 seconds with a 0-100 mph time of 12.2 seconds.
And as a further incentive, those customers placing early orders with deposits will be offered a limited number of places at a special RB320 launch event next March at Prodrive's test track in Warwickshire.
Not only will RB320 fans take delivery of their cars at the circuit but will be able to drive demonstration STIs around the track and meet rally celebrities.
In addition, customers will also be able to register on-line and reserve the limited-edition number of their choice via a special sub-section of Subaru's website.
Finally, the first car is to be given away in a special raffle organised by Autosport magazine, donated by Subaru (UK) Limited.
The proceeds will go to the Richard Burns Foundation which helps those suffering from serious injury and illness.
Subaru rally ace, Richard Burns – holder of the FIA World Rally Championship driver's title – died in November 2005 of brain cancer at the age of 32.


text:
Featured Model: February 2006
Stats: 34C-23-33
Height: 5'5" l Hair: Blonde l Eyes: Green
Number of pics: 52
Photography: PMGS
This petite beauty look amazing in a bikini and lingerie. We photographed her in sunny South Florida where hot blondes like Crystal fit tight in!
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Photo after photo of beautiful women for your viewing pleasure.
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Kate Upton Bouncing Boobs
The amazing Kate Upton is jiggling and bouncing all over the place as she struts down the red carpet.
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Audrina Patridge
The Hills sexy star, Audrina Patridge recently posed for Ralph Magazine!
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Here are some of the best Jenn Sterger pics. We can see why Brett Favre became obsessed with her.
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text:
> Microsoft's New Search Engine Puts Mouse-Over Motion in Porn Searches
> Chinese Students Burst Out Laughing During Geithner Speech on Strength of US Dollar
> New $45 Million Warm-Fuzzy Prison has Break-Out First Day It's Open
Inebriated Press
June 4, 2009
Fox News reported on Tuesday that Bing, Microsoft's new search engine that went live over the weekend, allows anyone — of any age — to mouse over explicit porn videos on a search page and play them without leaving the search engine or going to the actual website. Internet safety experts say it's an easy way for kids to beat "nanny software" designed to keep them from viewing Internet porn. And Reuters reported on Monday that students at Peking University broke into laughter when U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told them that all of China's U.S. dollar and bond investments were safe; and that there is no fear of inflation. Meanwhile, NBC Washington reported Monday that a new prison called the "New Beginnings Youth Center" is described as an "anti-prison" because it's not as harsh and rigid as a traditional prison. In fact it's so friendly that the first day it was open an inmate escaped. Pundits are debating the strength of U.S. monetary policy, new user-friendly prisons, and Microsoft's new pro-porn initiative.
"It seems to me that living an illusion followed by capitulation on any issue is the political and social trend of this new age. It's being used extensively by the Obama administration and being emulated in other areas of American life and culture. Just as the Obama's Treasury pretends that creating a $12 trillion dollar deficit by printing money hand-over-fist won't create inflation, and eventually will give in to harsh reality and do anything China tells us to do; so too, we create the illusion of prison security and let inmates escape the first day of operation, and just give in to the power of criminal rights over those of the innocent," said Celeste Milky-Wayy, a proctologist who would rather be an astronomer, but likes her current wage scale better. "You can see more evidence of that in Microsoft's new pro-porn web browser that allows anyone running a web search who turns up a porn video, to view it and listen to it by merely mousing over the image. Basically it's Microsoft's way of saying 'what the hell, the kids will view porn anyway, maybe they'll like us and use more of our products if we enable them'. I'm sure that the hit count on bing.com went through the roof when kids paused sexting long enough to let their friends all know about the Microsoft's new web search feature. Apparently the hope and change that Obama is bringing is capitulation to all of our desires for free cash, no inflation, easy-to access porn and on-demand prison exits. Looks like only the Chinese know such logic is completely crazy."
Not everyone sees it the way Milky-Wayy does. "President Obama saved our ass after the terrible Bush years that were spent wastefully by protecting us from radical Muslims and other silly crap," said Janice Janice-Janice, an unemployed bartender who likes things in threes. "The U.S. is on sound financial footing thanks to massive government spending, and the prison inmates will all behave better if they can leave the facility to see a movie or rob a convenience store from time to time — our country is all about freedom and rights you know. And kids of any age should be allowed to view porn if they want to, so they learn what they should be doing. If they don't learn about this stuff we'll be wasting all the condoms we're handing out in elementary school, and the birth control patches we're giving 11-year-old girls. Unfettered freedom for children, criminals and the federal government is best for America. The only other thing we need to do to make sure it all works, is get the conservatives to shut up and bust their ass and provide the goods and services that the rest of us need. It's what they like to do anyway, so why not let them? Better still, MAKE them. Barack can't change America if things remain the same."
Fox News reported that your kids may get a bang out of Bing — and that's not a good thing, Internet safety experts warned on Monday. Bing, Microsoft's new search engine (www.bing.com), went live in the U.S. this weekend, aiming to challenge and possibly unseat industry titan Google. But bloggers and Internet safety experts quickly discovered that one of Bing's "features" is that it takes only a few clicks for anyone — of any age — to view explicit pornographic videos without even leaving the search engine. In its bid to beat Google, Microsoft has unveiled a slate of convenient features for Bing, including an "autoplay" tool that lets users preview videos simply by hovering a mouse over them. That asset may become a liability, because users can get a taste of porn videos on Bing instead of having to go to a smutty Web site — an innovation other search engines have yet to offer. Technology blogger Loic Le Meur noticed the issue early Monday after testing video search on Bing. What he found was a cornucopia of pornography that he said transformed the search engine into its very own pornographic Web site. "You are now on a porn site without leaving Bing. Amazing," Le Meur wrote on his blog.
Reuters reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar assets are safe and reaffirmed his faith in a strong U.S. currency. A major goal of Geithner's maiden visit to China as Treasury chief is to allay concerns that Washington's bulging budget deficit and ultra-loose monetary policy will fan inflation, undermining both the dollar and U.S. bonds. "Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s. His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting skepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home. China is the biggest foreign owner of U.S. Treasury bonds. U.S. data shows that it held $768 billion in Treasuries as of March, but some analysts believe China's total U.S. dollar-denominated investments could be twice as high. The Beijing-based Global Times greeted Geithner by publishing a survey of Chinese economists who called big holdings of U.S. debt "risky." Geithner also offered strong backing for a bigger Chinese role in international policymaking.
NBC Washington reported that a youth escaped Saturday from the New Beginnings Youth Center in Laurel, Md. — embarrassing the $45 million juvenile facility that just opened on Friday. The New Beginnings Youth Center in Laurel, Md., was described as an "anti-prison" in many of the warm and fuzzy stories written about it leading up to its opening on Friday. On Saturday the kid escaped by scaling a fence. It appears officials knew that fencing would be a problem, according to the Washington Post. The old Oak Hill facility had razor wire on its fence, but that wasn't part of the new home. It turned out to be a bad move. A day before the facility opened, Schiraldi and David Muhammad, chief of committed services, said they had brought in young men to try to scale the fences and made modifications based on what they observed. Schiraldi said he planned to place prickly shrubbery, possibly rose bushes, near the fence so inmates would not be tempted to flee. Prickly shrubbery? Something tells us the kids in this facility have seen far worse in their lives than a little prickly shrubbery. So after Saturday's escape, razor wire was added to the new facility's fence. So much for the anti-prison.
In other news, Fox News reported Tuesday that two suitcases carried by a woman who was about to fly from Chile to Spain were virtually made of cocaine, police said. Detective Leandro Morales at the Santiago airport said the drug "was not hidden in the luggage. This time the suitcases were the drug." The suitcases were made of a substance combining cocaine with resin and glass fiber, Morales told The Associated Press. A "chemical process" could be used to separate out the drug, Morales said, adding that the suitcases were heavier than their contents. The 26-year-old Argentine woman was arrested. No word on how the woman feels about the likelihood of U.S. inflation or mouse-over web porn, but I'll bet if she's sent to lock-down, she'll happily sign-up for the anti-prison prison. Unless those prickly rose bushes make her nervous.
(C) 2009 InebriatedPress.com
Source articles:
Microsoft's New Search Engine Puts Porn in Motion
Chinese students laugh at Geithner's assurances (about Dollar)
Inmate Escapes Day After "Anti-Prison" Opens
Chile Police Discover Suitcases Made of Cocaine


text:
A PERVERT who led an international child sex ring from his North-East home was last night facing jail.
Residents of Shildon, County Durham, have spoken of their disgust after learning that the prominent pro-paedophilia campaigner was living in their midst.
Thomas O'Carroll led a worldwide campaign to legalise child sex from his end-terrace house.
Last night, he was behind bars, facing a possible ten years in jail after admitting three counts of distributing indecent photographs of children between January 1, 1994, and July 4 last year.
The 60-year-old author and his accomplice, millionaire Michael Studdert, a former priest from Surrey, were arrested in January after a police investigation involving up to 100 officers.
London's Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court heard yesterday that more than 20 years ago, O'Carroll founded the Paedophile Information Exchange (Pie), which was described as "sick" and "a force for evil which attracted dirty-minded predators".
After Pie was disbanded, O'Carroll set up the International Paedophile Child Emancipation group at his home in Market Place, Shildon.
Members campaigned for the right to have sex with children.
An undercover officer infiltrated the group and the pair were arrested after O'Carroll passed him paedophile material.
An investigation uncovered more than 50,000 images in a secret vault at Studdert's luxury home - believed to be one of the largest collections ever found.
Peter Zinner, prosecuting, said it was the Crown's case that both men represented a danger to children.
He said: "O'Carroll is known and there are old convictions from 15 years ago."
In August 2002, O'Carroll, a former university press officer and teacher, was jailed for nine months for smuggling indecent pictures of naked children from Qatar. But after a hearing at the Court of Appeal, the prison sentence was overturned.
In 1981, O'Carroll was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for conspiracy to corrupt public morals after he published Pie's worldwide contact list to try to encourage sexual contact with children.
When he was arrested in January, Shildon residents were shocked to learn of O'Carroll's sordid past. Last night, they spoke of their relief that he was behind bars.
Jim Brass, 57, whose mother-in-law lived next door to O'Carroll, said: "He was the apex of the pervert triangle, he's someone who has encouraged others to behave like him and people like that cannot be allowed to live normal lives. I'm pleased he is facing ten years in prison, but I don't think there is a stretch long enough for someone like that. He's not going to change but, at least for now, he is away from children.
"It was awful when we found out he was in Shildon and there was lots of trouble at the house. People were angry and his windows were put out every day."
Hairdresser Thelma Cook, 56, said: "You know people like that exist, but to know a house in Shildon, which so many school kids walk past every day, was occupied by one and he was running that group is terrifying.
"No one expects it to go on near them, but it has made everyone more wary. What worried people was that he felt no guilt and thought his views were acceptable."
O'Carroll tried to join Bishop Auckland Chess Club while he lived in the North-East.
He was thrown out after members were alerted to his past when he was recognised at a competition.
Studdert, who pleaded guilty to 20 counts of making indecent images of a child, one charge of distributing indecent images of a child and one of possessing an indecent image, was described as O'Carroll's lieutenant.
The 67-year-old former priest and teacher, also had a home in Poland, where he spent up to half the year.
He wrote obscene novels about having sex with boys and distributed them around the country.
Sentencing was adjourned until December 15 for the preparation of pre-sentence reports.


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Funky Fossil Designs - Festive Christmas
2 hours ago
Labels: ATC swap
Fabulous ATC's Cath - love the rich colours. My fave. is the first one with the leaves - gorgeous image.
Hugs, Sylvia xxx
So beautiful card, very marvellous.
Oh my goodness me - how do you do it! Get this in print - and soon! The first ATC reminds me of being in a park on a wet and windy autumnal day - looking through a blurry cafe window out onto a rain swept view. The right hand corner reminds me of a tower block shadow.
The pear stamp is the fantastic - don't know where you find these stunning beauties.
The colouring and styling of these takes my breath away.


text:
Export 4 results:Author Title Type [ Year]
Filters: Author is Roger Sathre [Clear All Filters]
"Life-cycle implications and supply chain logistics of electric vehicle battery recycling in California." Environmental Research Letters 10.1 (2015)..
"A framework for environmental assessment of CO2 capture and storage systems." Energy 37.1 (2012). LBNL-5604E..
"Material Nature Versus Structural Nurture: The Embodied Carbon of Fundamental Structural Elements." Environmental Science & Technology (2012). LBNL-5605E..
"Spatially-explicit impacts of carbon capture and sequestration on water supply and demand." Eleventh Annual Carbon Capture, Utilization & Sequestration Conference. Pittsburgh, PA, 2012..


text:
Plum Island homes again risk falling into ocean
4 oceanfront houses evacuated ahead of weekend storm
Several houses are on the brink of falling into the ocean on fragile Plum Island, and residents are once again holding their breath as a winter storm moves in.
The recent storm with pounding waves is wreaking havoc on the island homes and undermining the foundations.
Crews were out on Plum Island all night monitoring the situation. Utilities to the homes most at risk have been shut off.
Homeowners plan to put huge sandbags in front of their homes. The effort should buy them another year as the ocean continues to reclaim the land.
"The sandbags are probably the only thing we can get down legally versus us deciding to try to move these rocks ourselves," resident Mark Greenberg said.
The building inspector says the damage to the homes, much of it done before Thursday's storm, is more extensive than it looks.
"It's one little step at a time, and we will get this done," said resident Sharon Bresnahan.
At least two of those houses are so unstable that homeowners can't retrieve their belongings.


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text: Frédéric Bazille was a friend of Alfred Bruyas and became an important early member of the Impressionist movement in Paris, where he was associated with August Renoir, Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley among others. Bazille painted at least three different views of Aigues-Mortes near Montpellier, experimenting with different compositions and formats. While many of his early works have been lost, this rare early landscape is marked by the characteristics of the Provençal landscape tradition, including the work of Paul Guigou. The scene stretches with clarity and precision from a low point of view to great effect, the marshy foreground opening up to the fortified port town. The painting captures the glorious colours typical of the region and evokes the sensation of the different surfaces by various techniques. The painting also makes clear Bazille's interest in using the effects of light on surfaces as a means of defining mass and form.


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Product Code: SGLSCC-GRE
Our Green School Color Sunglasses feature a Classic frame shape with tinted plastic lenses. The glasses measure 6" wide and will fit most teens and adults. Wear these Green School Color Sunglasses to pep rallies, games or just for fun!CHOKING HAZARD - Contains Small parts; Not for children under 3 yrs.
Please allow ample time for delivery. The delivery date for this product is noted above for US shipping only. Please refer to checkout for delivery dates outside of the Contiguous 48 States.
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I can't believe that I am typing this, but next week I will turn the big 3-0!!! I am not sure where the time went, really. Although I will say that I feel like I have been in my twenties forever! HAHA! Cole says we can just call it 29 again. And I am okay with that!
I have been thinking a lot about my 30 years, especially the last year. It was, by far, the worst year of my life. But it was also the year that brought the biggest blessings, and brought me closer to the Lord in ways I didn't know were possible. I have yelled at God, asked "why" more times than I could count, praised Him more than ever... Definitely a roller coaster of a year! The last 12 months have brought the most difficult challenges I have ever faced, but each challenge has been followed by a huge blessing. And it is amazing to see God working in our family.
I think back a lot to the day that we got Ava's diagnosis. I have never blogged about that day, and I have wanted to, because, as dark as that day was, it was the dawning of a new day- a beginning of a life long journey, and I do want to remember it. You would think that day would be a blur. And in some ways, it is. Prior to that phone call at lunch, I really don't have a clue what we were doing. It was October 17th. My Nana's birthday. We had planned to go out that night for a big family dinner. I was feeding Ava lunch and the phone rang. The earth stopped. My world shattered. I don't really remember what all Dr. Burns said to me. I remember the words "seizure", "nonverbal", and "incapable of living independently." The world just kind of went dark in that moment. Ava sat there eating her lunch, happy as ever, and I just hung up the phone, collapsed on the kitchen floor and wept for about 30 minutes straight. I just couldn't move. When I finally felt like I could stand, I got Ava down for nap as quickly as I could, then I called Cole, who was in Louisiana at work. I thought I could keep it together, but I couldn't. I was crying so hard telling him that he thought she had some horrid disease that was going to shorten her life. When I finally got done telling him, I told him to call his parents, we hung up the phone, and I called my mom at work. She was in the middle of something and couldn't talk. She could tell from my voice something was really wrong, and promised to call me back as soon as she could. So I hung up with her and called my sister. She had had some medical tests done that day, and was sleeping off the anesthesia. I told my brother in law to have her call me as soon as she could. Then my mom called me back, and I told her. We both cried. She got off the phone with me and left work to get my dad and come to our house. Then I called my brother in law back and told him that it was very important and I needed Amber to wake up and talk to me. She got on the phone (still groggy) and I told her what was going on, and we cried. Then she said she was coming down.
After that, Cole called me back and told me that he was going to start looking again for a job close to home. I was against this at first, telling him that he was having a knee jerk reaction and we needed to just process this before we did anything. But he said something that was like a kick in the gut to me, and made me realize he was right. He said "Rachel, if our baby girl only says one word, and I miss it because I am in Louisiana at work when I could have been home at work, I would never forgive myself." I don't know what he did between the two phone calls. Cole doesn't show emotion much, and we don't really talk about emotional things (not on his part, anyway!). But I could tell that he was shaken to the core, and that broke my heart even more.
Not long after that call, my family arrived and we just sat around in silence together, stunned and shaken. My poor daddy cried more than anyone I think, which of course made me loose it even more. We just sat and sat, deciding what to do, where to go from there. And I guess this is where we have gone! The funny thing is that, through all that, Ava just took a nap. Her world hadn't changed. She was still Ava, she was still happy, and she was still loved.
I knew from reading about having a Special Needs Child (something I couldn't say for about three months) that I would be going through a mourning process. And I decided that I was ready to get to the acceptance phase as soon as possible. So I did everything I could to minimize the anger, denial, bargaining... One thing that I have not let myself do is think about what Ava's life would be like if she were typical. What Ava herself would be like if she were typical. Which is hard when we see other two year olds running everywhere. Simple outings to the park can bring up a lot of emotion in me, and I have to consciously not think about those things. Because the fact is that God wanted Ava to be special. He has a plan for her life and loves her just as He loves every other child- special or typical- and until I accept what her life IS, as opposed to what I had planned for it, I won't be able to embrace the Lord's plan and do all I can as her mother to give her the life He wants for her! That acceptance is a process. One that doesn't happen overnight or without great difficulty.
I am painting a canvas for her big girl room, and I was searching for a verse to put on it. I prayed about it, and then googled "special needs bible verse." Many websites and suggestions came up, but none felt right. Then I was reading an amazing article about a church in North Carolina with a large special needs ministry, and the pastor quoted Jeremiah 29:11. " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' " And I knew that was it. Because the Lord does have a plan for Ava's future, and it is full of hope! And as her mother, it is my job to help her reach that future.
Ava is a miraculous child. She has taught us so much about life and love and perseverance. She is a symbol of strength and love, and I am so thankful to be her mommy. Of all of the things I have done in my (almost) 30 years, she is my greatest accomplishment, and I am so, so blessed.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
In 30 Years...
I can't believe that I am typing this, but next week I will turn the big 3-0!!! I am not sure where the time went, really. Although I will say that I feel like I have been in my twenties forever! HAHA! Cole says we can just call it 29 again. And I am okay with that!
Posted by The Brewers at 4:38 PM
2 comments:
- Leah said...
I love reading about your journey! Not that I love the thought of you being in mental anguish. But you know. It was good seeing you the other day!!!
- July 25, 2012 at 8:27 PM
- Betsey said...
That is so special!
Thanks for making me cry at 7 in the morning LOL.
Your story is so inspiring, and you write so well about it.
I'm so glad your husband found a fantastic job close to home. : )
- July 26, 2012 at 7:37 AM


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If you positively insist on putting a skin on your iPad, might I recommend cloaking them in old VHS tapes? And if you like the underlying concept of Hollis Brown Thornton's VHS Heroes, you're going to lurve the detail.
I'm starting to suspect Thornton raided my family's living room circa 1988 for inspiration: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Muppets Take Manhattan, even Flash Gordon. They're all represented here perfectly in meticulous scrawl.
And the skins aren't just for the iPad; you can get them for your MacBook, iPhone, BlackBerry, skateboard (!), or by itself as an art print here. They run $15 for the phones, $20 for iPad and laptop, and up to $60 if you want to shred on VHS. It's cheaper than a that time machine would cost. [Infectious via Buzzfeed]


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Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90
By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer
Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.
Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.
Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.
He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.
He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.
Clarke's non-fiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."
From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. He published his best-selling "3001: The Final Odyssey" when he was 79.
Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956, "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.
When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they used as basic ideas several of Clarke's shorter pieces, including "The Sentinel," written in 1948, and "Encounter in the Dawn." As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with "2010," "2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."
In 1989, two decades after the Apollo 11 moon landings, Clarke wrote: "2001 was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on to the Sea of Tranquility. Now history and fiction have become inexorably intertwined."
Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, Arthur Charles Clark became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine "Amazing Stories" at Woolworth's. He read English writers H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon and began writing for his school magazine in his teens.
Clarke went to work as a clerk in Her Majesty's Exchequer and Audit Department in London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society and wrote his first short stories and scientific articles on space travel.
It was not until after the World War II that Clarke received a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from King's College in London.
In the wartime Royal Air Force, he was put in charge of a new radar blind-landing system.
But it was an RAF memo he wrote in 1945 about the future of communications that led him to fame. It was about the possibility of using satellites to revolutionize communications — an idea whose time had decidedly not come.
Clarke later sent it to a publication called Wireless World, which almost rejected it as too far-fetched.
Clarke married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children.
He moved to the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka in 1956 after embarking on a study of the Great Barrier Reef. He discovered that scuba-diving approximated the feeling of weightlessness that astronauts experience in space, and he remained a diving enthusiast, running his own scuba venture into old age.
"I'm perfectly operational underwater," he once said.
Clarke was linked by his computer with friends and fans around the world, spending each morning answering e-mails and browsing the Internet.
At a 90th birthday party thrown for Clarke in December, the author said he had three wishes: for Sri Lanka's raging civil war to end, for the world to embrace cleaner sources of energy and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings to be discovered.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarke once said he did not regret having never followed his novels into space, adding that he had arranged to have DNA from strands of his hair sent into orbit.
"One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time," he said. "Move over, Stephen King."
On the Net:
The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation: http://www.clarkefoundation.org
Friday, March 21, 2008
Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90
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This article is from the archive of our partner .
Each city, Selfiecity posits, has its own selfie style. The faces in Moscow seem to trend older than those in Bangkok (relatively speaking – we're still just talking about 20-year-olds here). Sao Paolo seems to produce the cheekiest grins (and why wouldn't it? These people are in Sao Paolo!) The ladies of New York, meanwhile, appear to prefer the subtle head turn (just a hint of profile) over the dramatic ear-to-shoulder head tilt.
This synopsis comes from a delightful analysis of thousands of actual selfie photos from Moscow, Bangkok, Sao Paolo, New York and Moscow (where, yes, there is notably more selfie brooding). The project was created by CUNY's Lev Manovich, who also brought us an earlier playful study of Big Data in Instagram from various cities, alongside half a dozen other data scientists, curators and researchers.
The project relied on both Mechanical Turks to sort and assess the images, as well as automatic analysis of the degree of head tilt, nose position, and emotional expression on each face. The dataset originally included 20,000-30,000 Instagram images from each of the five cities. By the time they were sifted for verified selfies, the project yielded 640 images for each city. You can play with all of them yourself here, in the "selfiexploratory."
The project aims to investigate the medium with a "mix of theoretic, artistic and quantitative methods." In the latter group, here is the distribution of frowns-to-smiles in Sao Paolo at left, and Moscow at right:
Some of the other quantitative findings will no doubt make readers smile, too:
Women were responsible for the bulk of selfies, claiming 82 percent of the sample genre in Moscow (which maybe says something about Moscow men?). Women everywhere were also much more likely than men to pursue the sassy head tilt (with 150 percent more tilt than men on average).
The whole project is part an illustration of how all this new digital media might be quantitatively analyzed, and part a study of the selfie itself. Here is art historian Alise Tifentale, writing in an accompanying essay titled "The Selfie: Making sense of the 'Masturbation of Self-Image' and the 'Virtual Mini-Me:'"
The project views social media as a vehicle of voluntary interpersonal communication, thus becoming a study of human behavior that could as well be approached from [the] perspective of sociology or communication studies... And it all started so innocently: on January 16, 2011 Jennifer Lee from Oakland shared her selfie on Instagram, and on January 27 she was the first user to tag this selfie as #selfie.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
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Locations|Contact Us|Careers
The site navigation utilizes arrow, enter, escape, and space bar key commands. Left and right arrows move across top level links and expand / close menus in sub levels. Up and Down arrows will open main level menus and toggle through sub tier links. Enter and space open menus and escape closes them as well. Tab will move on to the next part of the site rather than go through menu items.
Apply for a Personal Loan
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Apply for a Home Loan
Loan Calculators
Find an ATM
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Remote Deposit Capture Login
Payments Insider
Horizon Bancorp, Inc. is an independent, commercial bank holding company serving Indiana and Michigan through its commercial banking subsidiary, Horizon Bank. Horizon Bancorp, Inc. may be reached online at www.horizonbank.com. Its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol HBNC.
Michigan City, Indiana: Online bank-rating services have become the go-to research tool for many depositors who want to verify a bank's financial health. Depositors are using such services to determine whether their current bank meets high standards and, if not, whether to give their business to a more well-performing financial institution.
Bank-rating sites are growing in popularity due to what some claim as a nationwide, cultural shift away from "big banks" towards well-performing community banks. These sites cater to depositors who now want to know more about their banks before they invest and are using free, online bank-rating services like moveyourmoney.org to find tangible data about an institution's financial performance.
One well-known bank-rating services provider is Bauer Financial, which offers status reports on financial institutions' well-being. Bauer's goal is to provide consumers a level of confidence by enabling them to make a more informed decision when selecting their financial institution. Bauer, considered one of the most respected bank-rating services in the industry, ranks qualifying financial institutions on a five-star basis based on financial health. A Bauer-rated, five-star bank is listed as "superior," while a one-star rating is "troubled" and a zero rating means an institution is facing a considerable financial challenge.
"Horizon Bank received five-out-of-five stars on the Bauer rating," said David Rose, market president for Horizon Bank's northwest Indiana region and a 30-year banking industry veteran. "It shows Horizon Bank makes good decisions while still providing the one-on-one advice customers want in order to determine their financial needs," Rose added.
Through bank-rating services, investors also unearth weak-performing financial institutions that are closing due to lack of capital, poor earnings and a lack of liquidity. Offering this additional data to consumers could have a positive effect on the banking industry as a whole as the rating system supports those banks that are financially sound and well capitalized.
Community banks often rank high on bank-rating servicesmore evidence of the cultural shift away from big banks back to traditional banking.
Horizon Bancorp is a locally owned, independent, commercial bank holding company serving Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan. Horizon also offers mortgage-banking services throughout the Midwest. Horizon Bancorp may be reached on the World Wide Web atwww.accesshorizon.com. Its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol HBNC.


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Article content
British actress Emma Watson gained a new respect for strippers after learning to pole dance for new movie The Bling Ring.
The former Harry Potter star unleashed her sexy side to play rebellious character Nicki in Sofia Coppola's latest film, about the real-life students who stole from the homes of Hollywood A-listers including Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan.
To perfect her role as a trashy teen criminal, Watson learned the art of exotic dancing — all while studying literature at Britain's prestigious Oxford University.
She tells Britain's GQ magazine, "I did learn to pole dance for the film, and I have a small pole dancing scene. But it's not a performance for anyone else, it's just me messing around with my friends.
"I took lessons. When I was preparing for the role I was studying at Oxford. So I had this surreal experience where I was studying the modernists, writing about Virginia Woolf on Friday night, then driving to London for pole dancing classes on Saturday morning."
Watson admits she now sees exotic dancers in a new light, adding, "I was incredibly ungraceful at first. The upper-body strength and the core strength you need to do it gracefully is crazy. I take my hat off to the women who can do it. You have to be incredibly strong."
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Utah State Motto and Emblem
Utah's Motto
"Industry" officially became the State Motto on March 4, 1959. It was adopted by the Legislature of the State of Utah as House Bill No. 35. Industry is associated with the symbol of the beehive. The early pioneers had few material resources at their disposal and therefore had to rely on their own "industry" to survive. The word "industry" appears on both the State Seal and the State Flag.
Although "industry" was not officially made Utah's motto until 1959, it has been the "unofficial" motto for numerous years. In the first session of the state legislature (1896), the state seal was fully described and the word "Industry" was prominently
displayed thereon.
Utah's Emblem
The beehive became the official state emblem on March 4, 1959. It was adopted by the Legislature of the State of Utah as
House Bill No. 34. Utahns relate the beehive symbol to industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance. The beehive was chosen as the emblem for the provisional State of Deseret in 1848 and was maintained on the seal of the State of Utah when Utah became a state in 1896.
The Beehive is omnipresent as a symbol in Utah history. It appeared as early as 1851 on the seal of the Territory of Utah. It was readopted on the state seal by the first state legislature in 1896. The origin of the Beehive as a symbol is associated with Mormon scripture. The symbol is prominently displayed in names and trademarks throughout the state. But not until 1959, did it become Utah's official emblem.
Learn more about Utah's Motto and Emblem
- 63G-1-601. State symbols. (Utah State Legislature)
- Utah Official Roster 1959-1961 (Utah Government Publications Online)


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This is a somewhat speculative question, so bear with that (or not, as is your preference).
Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety, and let $\omega_X$ be its canonical sheaf. The Euler class of this line bundle $e(\omega_X)\in H^2(X;\mathbb Z)$ (which for simplicity we'll assume is torsion-free) defines a distinguished cohomology class.
Now, $T^*X$ is homotopy equivalent to $X$, so this also a well-defined class in $H^2(T^*X;\mathbb Z)$.
Is there some canonical way of getting this class which only uses the geometry of $T^*X$?
Of course, "only using the geometry of $T^*X$" is not really a well-defined notion (so I apologize if I disagree with any of the answerers about what this means). I mostly mean
Is there some way of describing this class which can be applied to other symplectic varieties (possibly with an extra structure, like a dilating $\mathbb{C}^*$-action).
EDIT: An example of something I would prefer not to use is that $T^*X$ has the homotopy type of a smooth compact manifold (as I'm interested in examples where this is not the case). Sorry, Torsten.
For an extra twist, I'm most interested in the class of $\frac 12e(\omega_X)\in H^2(X;\mathbb Q)/H^2(X;\mathbb Z)$, which one can think of as a class in $H^2(X;\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z)$. Could this have something to do with spin structures and characteristic classes?


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Haren to start Game 1 of twin bill
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dan Haren will start the first game of Thursday's split doubleheader for the Dodgers, manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday, and a callup from Triple-A Albuquerque will pitch the second game, but he wouldn't confirm it will be Red Patterson.
The Dodgers are allowed to add a 26th player for the doubleheader. Patterson was scratched from Tuesday night's start for Albuquerque, so he is the most likely spot starter. He would need to be added to the 40-man roster, with someone else being moved off.
"It doesn't cost anything to use the 26th man," Mattingly said.
Because of the doubleheader, the Dodgers would need to add a starting pitcher by Sunday to avoid bringing back Wednesday night's starter, Zack Greinke, on short rest.
With a callup to follow Haren on Thursday, Josh Beckett would likely start in Miami against his former team on Friday, followed by Paul Maholm on Saturday and Hyun-Jin Ryu on Sunday. Each would be starting on two extra days of rest.