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The P-NUCLEO-IHM03 STM32 motor-control pack is a kit composed of the X-NUCLEO-IHM16M1 board, the NUCLEO-G431RB board, a brushless Gimbal motor (GBM2804H-100T), and the DC power supply. read more
The STM32G4 Series combines a 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M4 core (with FPU and DSP instructions) running at 170 MHz combined with 3 different hardware accelerators: ART Accelerator™, CCM-SRAM routine booster and mathematical accelerators. read more
In this video Michael Andre, CEO of WIZZILAB presents their products to us, a triple stack solution for LPWAN technologies, including Sigfox, LoraWan and the Dash7 alliance which leverages many products from STMicroelectronics. read more
This Video will present Nucleo, Nucleo-32 and give details about Nucleo-32. Nucleo 32-pin is compact but compatible with less shield boards. read more
The STM32 Open Development Environment is a flexible, easy and affordable way to develop innovative devices and applications. It is based on STM32 Nucleo boards and STM32Cube software. read more
Featured Products
Digital bottom-port MEMS microphone with best-in-class acoustic overload point (AOP) handles input signals without distortion.
STM32H735G-DK Discovery kit is now available
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Discover ST's cutting-edge solutions for automotive Camera systems, including Driver Monitoring System (DMS), High Resolution Thermal Camera and Rear View Camera applications.
Discover ST's solutions for automotive Radar systems, from 24 GHz short-range (SRR) to 77 GHz long-range (LRR) applications.
Discover ST's solutions for DC fast charging stations providing electric vehicles with level-3 charging.
Discover our new automotive Battery Management System solution for hybrid (HEV), plug-in (PHEV) and full electric vehicles (BEV).
Discover ST's battery management system (BMS) solution for hybrid (HEV), plug-in (PHEV) and full electric vehicles (BEV).
Upcoming Seminars


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In my last post, I proposed that many of our social and political disputes stem from a fundamental conflict in how one views the human person — the Secularist view versus the Incarnational view. That may or may not be an interesting point, but how does it play out in the real world?
To see the impact of this conflict, we need look no further than the recently-announced regulations by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The Department was acting pursuant to a provision in the health care "reform" law that mandates coverage of "preventive services", a term that would ordinarily encompass medical care that prevents diseases. The Department, reflecting the Administration's contraceptive mentality, has decided that pregnancy is a disease to be prevented, and has mandated that every private health insurance plan cover — without any charge to the insured person — contraceptive drugs and devices (including some that clearly have the effect of causing an abortion) and sterilization surgery.
I'm not going to discuss the absurdity and iniquity of this proposal. Those should be self-evident. I want to focus for now on how it demonstrates the impact of Secularism on religious liberty.
HHS has proposed an exemption from this rule for "religious employers". Note this — not religious individuals, who will be forced to pay premiums for immoral drugs and procedures. Not religious insurance companies, which will be forced to pay for them. Only religious employers can be exempt, if they satisfy HHS's view of what that term means.
It is in this definition that we find the Secularist attack on religion and on human liberty. HHS has defined "religious employer" to mean only an organization (a) whose purpose is the inculcation of religious values, (b) that primarily hires persons who share the organization's religious tenets, and (c) that primarily serves person who share those tenets. So, you only count as a religious institution if you are solely religious in your activities, and you refrain from interacting with anyone else — in other words, if you keep your religion entirely in the private sphere, and dare not step out into society as a whole.
Think of how narrow this definition is. Every Catholic social service or health care agency serves the needy, regardless of their faith. Every Catholic parish has many purposes, including the celebration of liturgy and sacraments and the salvation of souls. Every Catholic school has multiple educational purposes beyond just inculcating religious values.
Jesus himself wouldn't qualify for this exemption.
The regulation raises many disturbing questions for the future of religious liberty in our nation. How will HHS determine whether an organization qualifies? How will they determine what the purpose of the institution is? How will they tell if the employees or clients share our religious tenets? Will there be a test given by HHS? Will people be asked about their beliefs by a government official? Will a government agency, perhaps called the State Administration for Religious Affairs, be set up to make these determinations or to issue certificates or licenses to religious groups?
The point here is not just the reflexive hostility that this regulation displays for religion and religious believers. Rather, it is that the government considers itself authorized or qualified to define what an authentic religious organization is. And that in their mind, the only acceptable religion is the one that keeps to itself, keeps quiet, and follows orders.
This is the impact of Secularism on our society, with all the coercive power of the government at its disposal.
Tags: Secularism

subset: commoncrawl


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"seize the day"
it took me a long time to
comprehend and feel comfortable
with the idea of a day at a time.
initially it made me insecure and
unsure of the future.
gradually, i began to realize the
importance of the concept.
letting go of past mistakes and
harm done by others was the first
step in gaining understanding.
today i don't have to relive the past;
but i do need to recall where i was,
and how i felt in the throes of
active addiction.
it is refreshing to know that i can
plan for the future, acknowledge the
past, and enjoy each day, good or
bad, secure in the mindset that
there is nothing that a drink or
drug will do for me today.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
carpe diem
Posted by Fireman John at 8:00 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
tuesday thoughts
"God may give you seeds but he won't plant them for you."
"It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy."
--George Horace Lorimer
It takes both sunshine and rain to make a rainbow.
You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future.
To ask is a moments shame, not to ask, and remain ignorant, is a lifelong shame.
Sometimes, its what you dont do, that makes you who you are.
Words are powerful things. They can make someone feel ten feet tall, or two inches small. Choose your words wisely and well.
If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.
--Marcus Aurelius
Anyone can enjoy good days; those who find ways to enjoy bad days have something going for them!
Never look down on anybody unless you are helping them up.
If you are too busy to laugh, you are too busy.
To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.
Alcohol is a good preservative for everything but brains.
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent.
Don't go through life, grow through life.-Eric Butterworth
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. - Corrie TenBoom
Posted by Fireman John at 11:19 AM 1 comments
Monday, April 27, 2009
summer preview
along with this sudden preview of summer,
comes the temptation for some of us
to reminisce about the beer at the
ball park or the poolside cocktail.
i shared at fridays "living sober" meeting
how i still have thoughts of a drink
nearly 6 years in.
we went to a barbecue saturday where
most of the guests were drinking .
it was an opportunity for me to observe
the various stages of inebriation.
i have to admit some slight envy of
those who drink socially: but it was
actually fun & easy to interact with
people i just met, who were jovial and
it was so refreshing to have a really
good time without having to get a
buzz to do it
Posted by Fireman John at 9:08 AM 1 comments
Friday, April 24, 2009
friday questions
how do you feel about your
progress so far?
what is the greatest gift you've
received from recovery?
when did you first feel secure
and comfortable in sobriety?
where do you go to get
away from it all, and just reflect?
who inspires you when the path
gets difficult to maintain?
why do you think 12 step programs
work well for some, and not at all
for others?
Posted by Fireman John at 7:36 AM 3 comments
Thursday, April 23, 2009
a key element in anyone's recovery
is the ability to obtain and maintain
balance in their lives.
as creatures of habit we tend to
immerse ourselves in a particular
aspect of our lives.
whether it's work, exercise, or
even the computer, over doing
any single activity can hamper
our progress.
i see folks come into our sober
house and try to quickly clean
up their financial messes by
working lots of overtime or
2 jobs.
this prevents them from attending
as many meetings as they should;
doesn't allow for a social life,
and tends to overwhelm them.
i urge them to strike a balance
between work, meetings, socializing
and leaving time to just relax.
a fast pace is not usually healthy,
especially in early recovery.
my advice is to rediscover what
makes them happy. take time to
walk, read, play an instrument,
or anything that added contentment
to their lives.
it's so much more than just
"don't drink & go to meetings"
Posted by Fireman John at 10:21 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
making amends
wall torn down
fences to be mended
recalling the past
and all those offended
a list to be made
and most to confront;
no easy way
except to be blunt
no telling what the outcome will be
an attempt to say sorry
and allow me to be free
this i must do
no matter how hard
just be sincere
and let down my guard
Posted by Fireman John at 2:04 PM 2 comments
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
the AA paradox
according to the traditions we should
maintain anonymity in areas of press,
radio etc.
while i fully understand the reasons
for non-promotion of AA, the irony
is the general public has little or no
conception about 12 step recovery.
there are those who view AA as a
cult or a religious organization.
while attraction is a noble method
getting others to seek recovery, it
falls short of reaching many who
need help.
therein lies the paradox;
in order to maintain the tradition,
the message may not reach the many
who remain skeptical about the
program of AA.
Posted by Fireman John at 8:39 AM 3 comments
Monday, April 20, 2009
inspired by Shadow
why am i here,
what is the reason?
when will the answers come?
is it because of fate, actions
or just where i'm from
am i a product of nature or nurture?
it seems so futile to wonder
deep down i know it doesn't matter
yet still want to want to know which
spell i'm under
my past is prologue
and can't be changed
my future uncertain
and impossible to be arranged
if i can stay in the day
and handle what comes along
i'll realize my purpose
and try to stay strong
Posted by Fireman John at 8:14 AM 4 comments
Saturday, April 18, 2009
friday questions--a day late
what is your favorite season and
is there one that tests your sobriety?
do you find that family, friends or
co-workers treat you differently
since getting into recovery?
how often, if ever, do you think
of a drink or drug?
are you comfortable sharing everything
with your sponsor, or are there issues
you would rather discuss with a therapist
or clergy?
what is the aspect of drinking, if any,
do you miss the most?
have you found that happiness described
in the promises or do you find it's a choice
rather than a result of sobriety?
Posted by Fireman John at 9:47 AM 2 comments
Thursday, April 16, 2009
remembering the PTA
no, not the parent-teachers association.
whenever i feel i should be further along
in my recovery, i have to consider how
far i walked into the forest of addiction.
the distance out is the same;
hopefully the time frame will be quicker.
tolerance allows me slow down and think
before i speak. in addition i can be less
judgmental and try to see things from
the other person's perspective.
acceptance is actually the final stage
of the grieving process.
when i decided to give up my drinking
lifestyle, i went through all the stages
just as if i had lost a loved one.
today i accept who and what i am,
and play the cards of life that i was dealt.
Posted by Fireman John at 9:04 PM 3 comments
Saturday, April 11, 2009
home again
flew back to connecticut on monday...
cold and raining; what a surprise!
spent the weekend at the new house in phoenix.
we have the basics installed; stove, washer,
dryer, cable TV w/internet.
still waiting for the fridge, so it's was
using coolers with ice...kind of like
indoor camping!
nice to be back to family, friends and
my dog china.
special thanks to deb & roger for
keeping prospect house safe, clean and
comfortable for our residents.
Posted by Fireman John at 8:49 PM 2 comments
Friday, April 3, 2009
fun for friday
Posted by Fireman John at 6:05 PM 2 comments


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Deadlicious™ is our universe. Made of our discoveries, personal backgrounds and homemade culture. It's a strange and funny mixture that we want to share with you. It's what we are, real and rock'n'roll !
Filo Loco ♠ Big G ♥ King Santo ♦ Jimmy Pantera ♣
All content on this site is copyrighted and/or trademarked, and all rights are reserved by the respective authors. Visuals and references are presented here as quotes under Fair Use for the purpose of scholarship, information or review.


text:
The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is the third and last of the d'Artagnan Romances following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. It appeared first in serial form between 1847 and 1850.
The Man in the Iron Mask is the fourth and final volume.
Language: English
Published in: 1850
Word count: 169,612 words (≈ about 11 hours)
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org
Copyright: Public Domain
A list of books that were turned into movies.


text:
David Mccoard posted about BART Renewables Petition on Facebook 2017-03-08 19:36:16 -0800
Sign the petition: BART Renewables Petition
BART Renewables Petition202 signatures
The BART Sustainability committee developed a draft sustainability policy that called for 100% renewables. The draft policy was adopted by the committee, but never passed by the board.
BART staff's electricity procurement plan calls for 50% renewables by 2030 and 90% by 2045.
"We the undersigned petition BART's Board of Directors to adopt the draft Sustainability Committee's 100% Renewable Energy policy. We encourage the Board and staff to lead on fiscally sound clean local self-generation, climate action and environmental justice."


text:
It's August Bank Holiday this weekend, and guess what? It's going to rain.
Large parts of the country will be hit by showers putting paid to plans for barbecues and spending the time relaxing in the garden.
Northern parts of the UK are set to shiver today with temperatures of 14c and 18c in the south.
That will make it colder than Yakutsk, in Siberia, known as the world's coldest city, which is due to be 17c today.
From tonight showers will affect parts of the UK, particularly in Wales and western England.
On Friday there will be a mixture of sunny spells and showers across the whole country with the chance of the odd rumble of thunder.
Saturday and Sunday will also see a mixture of showers, some of which will be heavy.
But Monday will see widespread rainfall across the entire country.
Earlier this week it was reported that Arctic winds would make it the coldest spell of August weather for 100 years.
Some outlets have even reported it being colder than Siberia in parts of the UK.
There is even a chance of sleet and snow over the mountains of Scotland this week as it dips to near freezing overnight.
And forecasters say there is "not much to be optimistic about" for the rest of the month, with temperatures staying below average.
This week, it is not expected to rise above 9C (48.2F) in parts of the north during the day, with chilly winds making it feel much colder.
The Met Office said Loadpot Hill, in Cumbria, is unlikely to see a maximum daytime temperature of more than 8C (46F) today.
Government figures show the last time it was this cold in August was in 1919 when the mercury rose no higher than 8.9C (48F) for four days in Yorkshire and Cumbria.


text:
I'm starting HOME TUITION again after the break I took over the last few years ! (Campbeltown area and further afield)
PC/Tablet/Mobile Phone etc, starting from basic Windows use, Internet use, Backing up files, Making DVD's all from a starter level up to Microsoft Word ! 2 Hour or 3 Hour bookings taken, afternoon or evening, all in the privacy and comfort of your own home !
Tuition on mobile devices ie: Tablet's, Iphone / Ipad, Android OS can be provided also, I will also sort out Antivirus software and security problems while I am in your home !
Private message me for more details or give me a call on 07909 474445. 100% Discretion !


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I have mental illness and Ive had dreams! Ive had dreams like anyone else; " when I grow up I want to be ?"! Ive had those dreams like anyone else! However, its different for me!
The people I grew up with tried everything they could to destroy me and destroy my dreams or destroy my interest and belief in having dreams! They were bullied out of me!
My mind was hurt by psychopaths! Thats what they do! They hurt people!
I still have mental illness; nothing has changed! Ive tried to change my appearance to look more presentable! I suppose its gave a certain impression! It looks like there is nothing wrong with me on the outside!
When people realize Im not going anywhere in life! They leave! They realize something is wrong but cant see it!
I don't change! Thats what they see! They see the spiritual change but not the financial or relationship changing! Meaning, Im not dating a thousand girls!
Women; I guess it's heartbreaking for me; I could have a thousand girls! But then they would all leave!
What would you do! Would you like to bring one new girl in every second, just to have her leave in the next day or 2!
Would you like a person to leave your life every other day?! Does that sound fun! I don't think so!
I give off the impression of someone Im not! I don't mean to! But people never get close enough to me to know me!
Im this distant person!
I live like a mentally ill person! My apartment is never clean or organized; it's a rotting mess at times!
I have a payee! I cant organize or function!
My teeth are falling apart and I have no money to fix them! This really sucks!
Im just starting to let people get close, but it hurts because it triggers the past!
The friends I had from the past including a best friend and my first love; they all left me quickly when I started having problems! Occurring to them; and they did not have to say it; I was a bad investment! They; with contempt and superiority left and never came back; I guess they were looking for something or someone better then a mentally ill person!
I cannot help that I have mental illness! Many people do not see the mental illness! My condition keeps me in a dream work that I cannot wake up!
I am an art person! And I think the best thing to do is just do art! Not worry about anything else! Just create!
I don't like being called a lier by people!
I like status, but do not have any!
I don't want to die at the present moment! I get suicidle at times from my condition but do not want to die!
There has been vast improvement over the years in my outlook on life! But I still have the mental illness!
Technically I can hardly leave my apartment!
I guess it's not the middle classes fault that Im the way I am; they are opportunists! I do not seem to have the opportunity to be an opportunist! Not yet! Im different and cannot stand on my own 2 feet the way others can! I would need much more help! But others don't see this! And it might be hard to get help! You never know until you try! But that aggravates my symptoms!
ITs hard being myself! learning again to be honest with people about my situation! its very hard!
I deal with indifference! and I deal with prejudice and judgment!
You start out the day thinking your going to be treated nice, but it never happens the way you thought it would!
I step outside my door into the real world and people dis me! they are rude and disrespectful! and I lay down and play the victim and I dont know what else to do!


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TPRS is a method of language teaching that uses the communicative method via 'story asking' to engage the student and get the student to learn language without conscious awareness of morphological structures. Blaine Ray is called the father of this method, and follows upon TPR (Total Physical Response), made famous by James Asher in the 1970's.
TPRS is based on Stephen Krashen's 'Comprehensible Input Hypothesis' nowadays called the "Compelling Input Hypothesis".
TPRS is a method designed to get foreign language learners into 'the flow.' TPRS is now about 15-20 years old. It is making inroads into language pedagogy in high schools and colleges. It has been refined and polished over the last 20 years. (Randall Buth, one of B-Greek's advisors, is a strong believer in this methodology, and whole-heartedly endorses this pedagogical technique.) Carol Gaab's article explains the basics of how and why TPRS works. Here are several quotes from her article:Compelling means that the input is so interesting you forget that it is in another language.
It means you are in a state of "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). In flow, the concerns of
everyday life and even the sense of self disappear - our sense of time is altered and
nothing but the activity itself seems to matter. Flow occurs during reading when readers
are "lost in the book" (Nell, 1988) or in the "Reading Zone" (Atwell, 2007).
Compelling input appears to eliminate the need for motivation, a conscious desire to
improve. When you get compelling input, you acquire whether you are interested in
improving or not. [Stephen Krashen, The English Connection (KOTESOL)]
Note that TPRS does not focus on forms, grammar or vocabulary or paradigms. It focuses on meaning and structures (phrases). Here is another short quote from the article:TPRS instruction is laden with dozens of strategies that provide an
abundance repetition that is highly engaging and comprehensible, but
that is not obviously predictable or repetitious. This allows the teacher
to remain in the target language 95-98 percent of the time. The goal is
to scaffold language so that it remains completely comprehensible and
accessible to students, resulting in successful and relatively rapid
acquisition of the language. A constant flow of scaffolded input ensures
that students will understand every message and be able to respond
successfully, whether it is with a simple 'yes' or 'no', one word, or an
entire phrase or sentence. Input may take the form of graduated questions,
circling questions, personalized questions, cooperatively created
stories, mini-stories, short stories, fairy tales, sequences, songs,
poems, rhymes, chants and a wide variety of readings.
This article is a great introduction to how TPRS can be a vehicle for teaching a second language. The 'catch' is that it requires a verbal communicative approach to teaching - not a grammar-translation approach where 95-98% of the class time is spoken in a language other than ancient Greek. The results of TPRS have been impressive in teaching modern languages like Spanish, English, French, German. Anyone who is interested in how TPRS works, should read Carol's article. Blaine Ray's book "Fluency through TPR Storytelling" (5th edition, 2008) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... blaine+ray is an in-depth look at TPRS.Most TPRS lessons are broken down into
learnable 'chunks' of language, typically no more than 3 Target
Language Structures (TLS) for every 60 to 90 minutes of instruction. A
TLS could be any word, phrase or sentence that naturally occurs in
written or spoken communication, and its complexity is dependent
upon the age and the level of the learner. For example, a beginning
kindergarten structure might be 'Billy runs,' or 'the strong man,' while a
beginning high school structure might be 'the woman ran quickly' or
'the strong man wanted to cry.' Regardless of the level, structures are
prioritized according to their frequency of use or their usefulness to the
learner and are generally organized in groups of three, according to
their relevance to a topic, discussion, story or subject.
Those interested in learning or teaching ancient Greek from a living language approach need to read Carol Gaab's article.


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As erstwhile smartphone leader Nokia Oyj fails to gain much headway on Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., the Finnish company is setting its sights on a weaker rival: BlackBerry.
Nokia is betting its partnership with corporate-computing giant Microsoft Corp. will help it win business users, targeting BlackBerry's stronghold. Nokia's newest Lumia smartphones, including two introduced this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, run on Microsoft's operating system and come with Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
Gaining a foothold in the business market is crucial for Nokia as it and BlackBerry fight for third place in smartphones, behind Samsung — the leader in devices using Google Inc.'s Android — and Apple. Shares of both Nokia and BlackBerry have lost 90% in the past five years as first consumers and then companies have turned to Android and Apple's iOS.
"The importance of winning the business audience on a scale of 1 to 10 is easily an 11," said Ramon Llamas, an analyst at research firm IDC in Boston. He expects Windows Phone handsets to surpass BlackBerry this year, with Nokia responsible for most of the gains.
BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd., pioneered the corporate mobile-device market in North America and still has a strong following in Washington and on Wall Street. Nokia, the biggest seller of Windows handsets, may appeal to information-technology chiefs seeking easy synchronization between smartphones and company computers, which most often use Microsoft's operating system.
Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop, who joined from Microsoft in 2010, started betting on his former employer's operating system after Nokia's homegrown Symbian software fell out of favor among consumers.
Lumia unit sales rose to 4.4 million in the fourth quarter, making up almost 75 % of all Windows Phone sales. BlackBerry sold 7.4 million smartphones, for 3.2 % of the global market. IPhones and Android devices together account for about 90 % of smartphone sales.
Elop says he often gets asked whether he'd be interested in buying BlackBerry, even though the company hasn't said it's for sale. "When I get asked that question, my answer is 'I'm interested in their customers,'" he said in an interview in Barcelona this week. "It's a really perfect moment to go after that marketplace."
Nokia slipped 0.8 % to 2.70 euros at 1:28 p.m. in Helsinki. BlackBerry fell 1.4 % to $13.06 Tuesday in New York.
Businesses are important to handset manufacturers because they carry a lot of clout when carriers decide which handsets to offer. A single corporate account can include thousands of individual users who tend to favor more expensive devices and have higher phone bills. Nokia says one European carrier it is negotiating with receives about a third of its revenue from companies.
Nokia has been touting its business-customer gains. The company says Coca-Cola salespeople in Cambodia and Vietnam use Lumia smartphones process orders while on the move. And it says London real-estate broker Foxtons Ltd. equipped more than 900 employees with Lumias, allowing them to synchronize calendars and work on spreadsheets and documents on the road.
BlackBerry delayed its new operating system, BlackBerry 10, several times. In March it plans to start U.S. sales of the $199 touch-screen Z10, which Bloomberg's Rich Jaroslovsky called "handsome, intuitive to use and a whiz at multitasking."
The company, based in Waterloo, Ontario, has more than 250,000 enterprise servers around the world, which help it ensure the security of corporate communications. It says more than 3,500 companies and government agencies in North America are considering its latest devices.
"It's not surprising that competitors are scrambling to get into the enterprise," said David J. Smith, BlackBerry's executive vice president for mobile computing. He said his company still offers the greatest security for corporate data.
With mobile devices evolving rapidly and the market growing, Nokia can win new customers as business users consider changing providers, according to Chris Weber, the company's global sales chief.
"We need to keep pushing," Weber said over coffee at Nokia's headquarters in Espoo, Finland. "It's a good opportunity now with people and companies trying to decide which way to go."
Simply defeating BlackBerry may not be enough for Nokia. Apple and Android manufacturers have almost squeezed other operating systems out of the consumer market, and there's no guarantee they won't do the same in the business world.
In the five years since their introduction, the iPhone and Android have captured a combined 78 % of the business- smartphone market, leaving BlackBerry with 16 % and Nokia with 4 % in 2012, according to IDC.
Samsung, the world's biggest maker of smartphones, bought a stake security software company Fixmo Inc. last month to improve its corporate credentials. Apple this month gained some Home Depot Inc. managers as customers. And in October, the U.S. Defense Department said it plans to open its network for the first time to Android devices and iPhones.
Nokia sales chief Weber acknowledges that Apple and Android are formidable foes. But he insists there can be what he calls a "third ecosystem" in the smartphone business.
"I am confident that the bet we have on Microsoft gives us the opportunity to be the third," Weber said. "I do think there's room and I think there is appetite."


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All I know about the ending is that people say it rips off Minecraft's ending... I haven't even finished ME1 yet.Mastermind wrote:It's too late for me. Earlier when I saw Hitler raging over it on youtube, I was like "good thing I'm not that kind of gamer". Turns out I am.
Same with my comic.


text:
The CARES Act eases the financial burden on homeowners with government-backed loans. Homeowners with these loans and have lost income due to the COVID-19 can suspend mortgage payments for up to 12 months. This law also pauses foreclosures, foreclosure-related evictions, and changes credit reporting during the health crisis.
In the mortgage industry, we call "pausing payments" forbearance. Read on to learn how you may benefit from the CARES Act.
The new law only applies to mortgages that are:
The CARES Act states that if you are experiencing financial hardship due to Coronavirus, you can pause payments for up to 180 days plus have the option to extend it for another 180 days.
If you're a landlord of a multifamily property (5+ units), you have similar protection. You can pause payments for 30-days plus request additional two 30-day extensions.
To pause your payments, you'll need to submit a request to your servicer --that is, the lender you make mortgage payments to. Within the application, you'll need to affirm that the hardship is due to COVID-19. Note that no further proof is required.
The rules for landlords are a bit different. Your payments must be current as of Feb. 1, 2020, to qualify.
During the forbearance period, you won't be charged any penalties, interest, or fees that you would have been charged had you made your mortgage payment as usual.
Landlords may also not charge their tenants any late rent fees during the forbearance period granted to the landlord.
The CARES Act also states that lenders shall not report late or missed payments to the credit bureaus if your mortgage is in one of the forbearance programs.
This rule applies through July 25, 2020, or 120 days after the end of the crisis period, whichever is later.
The CARES Act also protects from eviction. Your loan servicer cannot initiate a foreclosure or foreclosure-related eviction action before May 17, 2020.
Additionally, landlords cannot evict renters during their forbearance.
Many non-government-backed lenders have adopted policies to assist during this crisis period. To find out, you'll need to contact your lender directly.
Whether your loan is from a private lender or government-backed, never abruptly stop making payments. If you stop making payments and your loan is not in forbearance, you could damage your credit and be subject to fees. In the worst-case scenario, you could face foreclosure and eviction.
Another option, one that is long term, is to refinance your current loan. The feds have also provided relief in the form of lowering interest rates, which has also dropped mortgage rates. Contact us today to see how much you can save by refinancing your current loan!
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WSJ Op-Ed Pushes Controversial NYPD Surveillance Of American Muslims
Fox News contributor Judith Miller wrote a highly speculative Wall Street Journal op-ed that claimed New York City police surveillance practices "may well have... prevented" the Boston bombing, ignoring that the constitutionality of these programs is currently being challenged in court and their efficacy is questioned.
In the April 24 op-ed, Miller lauded the New York Police Department (NYPD) for its blanket surveillance of American Muslim communities, which has extended beyond the jurisdiction of New York City. According to Miller, this extensive spying program "is a model of how to identify and stop killers like the Tsarnaev brothers before they strike" and should be emulated by other cities. From the WSJ:
[T]he city has developed a counterterror program that is a model of how to identify and stop killers like the Tsarnaev brothers before they strike. The 1,000 cops and analysts who work in the NYPD's intelligence and counterterrorism divisions, for instance, would likely have flagged Tamerlan Tsarnaev for surveillance, given Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's insistence on aggressively monitoring groups and individuals suspected of radicalization.
The NYPD maintains close ties to Muslim preachers and community leaders, as well as a network of tipsters and undercover operatives.
Once the department had Tamerlan under surveillance, the NYPD's cyberunit might have detected his suspicious online viewing choices and social-media postings. Other detectives might have picked up his purchase of a weapon, gunpowder and even a pressure cooker--an item featured in an article, "How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," in the online al Qaeda magazine Inspire.
Even if the NYPD hadn't been watching Tamerlan, it might have been tipped off to such suspicious purchases thanks to its Nexus program. Since the program's launch in 2002, the department has visited more than 40,000 businesses in the metropolitan area, encouraging business owners and managers to report suspicious purchases or other activities potentially related to terrorism.
These surveillance programs - like other aspects of NYPD's aggressive policing - are currently being challenged in court. But Miller ignored claims that the spying unconstitutionally profiles American Muslims, interferes with freedom of religion rights under the First Amendment, and violates a court order that attempts to ensure surveillance focuses on illegal activity.
Furthermore, although she mentions it won a Pulitzer Prize, Miller completely ignores the substance of an Associated Press series critical of these programs. The AP's award-winning reporting on the NYPD's surveillance unearthed multiple details that undermine Miller's narrative. For example:
- The "network of tipsters and undercover operatives" described by Miller were explained by AP to be paid informants for the NYPD that "'bait' Muslims into saying inflammatory things" and "trawl the mosques -- known informally as 'mosque crawlers' -- [to] tell police what the imam says at sermons and provide police lists of attendees, even when there's no evidence they committed a crime."
- The op-ed's description of the NYPD's search for "warning signs among New York's Muslim population" was reported by AP to be racial profiling that "put American citizens under surveillance and scrutinized where they ate, prayed and worked, not because of charges of wrongdoing but because of their ethnicity."
- The NYPD's monitoring of mosques through "close ties to Muslim preachers and community leaders" - as described by Miller - was reported in the AP series as "targeting mosques and their congregations with tactics normally reserved for criminal organizations," resulting in situations where "the same mosques that city leaders visited to hail their strong alliances with the Muslim community have also been placed under NYPD surveillance -- in some cases infiltrated by undercover police officers and informants."
- Miller's detail that the NYPD visited "more than 40,000 businesses in the metropolitan area, encouraging business owners and managers to report suspicious purchases or other activities potentially related to terrorism" was described by AP as part of an aborted collaboration with the CIA that entailed "surveillance of entire neighborhoods" and "intelligence databases" of "Muslims not suspected of any wrongdoing."
- Miller's assurance that "court-ordered guidelines" controlled the NYPD's "plainclothes officers [covertly sent] to mosques, restaurants and other public venues where Muslims congregate" was a reference to a revised 1985 settlement over previous illegal spying, which the AP reported is the core of ongoing litigation over its potential violation due to "intrusive methods to conduct investigations into organizations and individuals associated with Islam and the Muslim community in New York even though there were no signs of unlawful activity."
This AP coverage led to lawsuits filed over the programs' constitutionality and public grievances by state and federal officials worried about the unsupervised reach and nature of these NYPD surveillance efforts.
Yet this is arguably a separate issue from whether the programs actually work to prevent terrorist attacks, which Miller highlights as worthy of a "fresh look" across the country. That is, some say the potential illegality of this widespread and indiscriminate surveillance of American Muslims is irrelevant if its utility is worth breaking from American tradition and law. But according to AP's reporting, this too is questionable, as the core of the surveillance program "never generated a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation." From the AP:
In more than six years of spying on Muslim neighborhoods, eavesdropping on conversations and cataloguing mosques, the New York Police Department's secret Demographics Unit never generated a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation, the department acknowledged in court testimony unsealed late Monday.
The Demographics Unit is at the heart of a police spying program, built with help from the CIA, which assembled databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed. Police infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques, monitored sermons and catalogued every Muslim in New York who adopted new, Americanized surnames.
Police hoped the Demographics Unit would serve as an early warning system for terrorism. And if police ever got a tip about, say, an Afghan terrorist in the city, they'd know where he was likely to rent a room, buy groceries and watch sports.
But in a June 28 deposition as part of a longstanding federal civil rights case, Assistant Chief Thomas Galati said none of the conversations the officers overheard ever led to a case.


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I would like to wish all Dads Specially some great Dads which great blogs
Saturday, 14 June 2008
You Are My Hiding Place
I would like to wish all Dads Specially some great Dads which great blogs
Posted by Amrita at Saturday, June 14, 2008
Labels: Video
12 Fertilize my soul:
- Creative-Type Dad said...
Thank you Amrita, that's very nice of you.
- 14 June 2008 at 10:23
- Anonymous said...
Thank you Amrita. Your kindness and thoughtfulness are sincerely appreciated. The song is so comforting, serene and beautiful...it says it all, Amen!
Take care and GOD Bless.
- 14 June 2008 at 18:12
- Sita said...
A perfect song for Father's Day...for most people a dad is someone who will hide them from the terror...our security in the storm...and love that violin!..thank you for sharing this...love, Sita
- 14 June 2008 at 19:30
- Curious Servant said...
The Father's Day post was welcome today.
I love God, I trust Him... but sometimes I am just plain tired.
I tire of the guilt, and worry and suspicions and the effort it takes to hold my marriage together.
I see God all around me, I see beauty and goodness and I take joy in His creation.
But I tire.
Your little message gave me a little boost.
Thank you.
And thank you for your frequent visits and words of encouragement.
That last post I wrote went also onto Job's Tale and it seems to have struck a chord in folks. Visits to that site have quadrupled since I put it up.
I'm glad you come to the more private blog though. You are someone I feel I can share things with.
I prefer that folks to near where I live don't go there, but otherwise I do not worry too much about brothers and sisters in Christ who can read, pray, and not report to those near where I live. If you know someone who I can help in prayers, and it would be useful for them to contact me, you may share my email with them. And if they wish the can read "The Journey of the Curious Servant" as well.
I know I'm a bit of a strange duck... I'm grateful for folks such as you.
Thank you again for the encouragement.
- 14 June 2008 at 21:41
- Saija said...
i was blessed by that video as well ... thank you!
blessings on you this day ... and every day ...
- 15 June 2008 at 20:11
- Maisie said...
Oh - I haven't heard that beautiful song in many years. It's very comforting and reminds me that I can go to the Lord anytime for comfort and He will never fail me.
I'll go visit those Dads and wish them a Happy Father's day.
- 16 June 2008 at 05:40
- the mother of this lot said...
A lovely song Amrita.
- 16 June 2008 at 05:50
- Felisol said...
Dear Amrita,
we are both missing our fathers.
There will always be an empty place that no else can fill.
I celebrate this day in peace, knowing my Dad is waiting for me in Heaven.
That is Huge.
His prayers are still working and will not seize till I am there with him.
From Felisol
- 16 June 2008 at 07:03
- Anonymous said...
wonderful! happy father's day to all of the dad's on your list. may God bless them more each day.
- 16 June 2008 at 07:04
- Prem said...
Dear Amrita,
Thank you for Fathers day greeting.Amrita we remember our fathers who are with the Lord.God our father is a father to the fatherless.Yestarday i spoke on the fatherhood of God and all his fatherly qualities.He is love.Love that was selfless,sacrificial.He does not punish us as we deserve.He forgives us.Most important His heart was tender and compassionate.This is my prayer that we emulate our heavenly father in all ways.To take up that priestly function at home instructing teaching bringing the family in unity ,protecting,providing the shelter that Amrita talked about.This my prayer as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.I THANK God that He has given me the best wife in the world and two children who are the best in the world.I dont want to be a Godfather to them but a Godly father.Invest in your children dear fathers with your time be encouragers .Its not asuprise that Ephesians 6:4 was addressed to Fathers.What a privelage to be a father .Happy Fathers day.
- 16 June 2008 at 18:18
- Simply Shelley said...
Dear Amrita, you have much God given wisdom..I am so proud to know you.
If you would like to visit my journal,(Strength for my Journey)you can go to....
- 16 June 2008 at 18:47
- Amrita said...
Thankyou friends for your sweet comments.
Dear Prem you really were a hiding place this weekend at the fire incident. Thank God you were safe.But you had to do all the cleaning up I heard. Some prelude to father 's Day.LOL
- 16 June 2008 at 20:54


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The Centre for Ocean Law and Policy (OLAP), aspires to be Malaysia's national centre of excellence for research in ocean law and policy issues. OLAP aims to provide timely and relevant advice and policy options as well as to identify key areas of interest for Malaysia's multi-disciplinary realm of Ocean and maritime law that encompass the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) and other related international law, as well as maritime and admiralty law.
OLAP reinforces close working relationships with Ministries and Goverment agencies, as well as fostering links with other local and regional think tanks, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and maritime industry.
OLAP undertakes the role of promoting awareness in ocean law and maritime legal aspects to appropriate stakeholders and the public, by conducting seminars, training workshops and conferences.
Thrust of Research
OLAP's Key Research Areas cover various issues of national importance such as, but not limited to:
- Ocean Governance
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- Other contemporary ocean law issues
Additionally, OLAP's continuous dissemination of maritime legal knowledge through seminars, workshops and conferences has triggered considerable interest amongst stakeholders in the country and its researchers are regularly invited to deliver lectures to their staff.
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Starving pancreatic cancer before it has a chance to feast
(Medical Xpress)—Pancreatic cancer's low survival rate gives researchers from The University of Kansas Cancer Center even more reason to find a way to prevent and treat the hard-to-detect cancer. Drs. Snigdha Banerjee, Ph.D., and Sushanta Banerjee, Ph.D., a husband and wife research team at the Kansas City VA Medical Center, are working towards cutting off the growth of pancreatic tumors before they can metastasize throughout the body. Their main target is angiogenesis—or creating new blood vessels from existing ones.
Pancreatic cancer and other cancers can only thrive, grow and spread if they have nutrients from blood, just like other tissues in our bodies. Cancer cells and tumors at first rely on nearby blood vessels to get what they need to survive, but, as tumors grow, they need to form new vessels. These vessels differ from those in regular tissue, Sushanta explained, which is part of the reason cancer can be so difficult to treat.
"Tumor blood vessels are different than regular blood vessels," said Sushanta. "Tumor vessels are sluggish and leaky, so when we try and treat cancer with drugs they can't easily reach the tumor because the vessels aren't strong."
In previous research, the Banerjees discovered that a particular protein, CCN1, is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer, which leads to tumor formation. Knowing that this protein could be a key target in treating pancreatic cancer, they sought to understand exactly how it works. In a recent paper published in Scientific Reports (Nature publishing group), they explain how CCN1 signals tumor angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer.
CCN1 promotes new blood vessel growth in both normal and cancer tissues. But CCN1 does something extra when it's secreted by pancreatic tumor cells as opposed to regular cells. It both promotes angiogenesis within the tumor and increased the migration of endothelial cells, which form the inner lining of blood vessels. This migration process is key in the formation of the tumor vessels, according to the National Cancer Institute.
"The tumor cell secretes CCN1 into itself, which is a signal to start angiogenesis," said Snigdha. "So it seems that if you can target CCN1 with a drug, then the tumor will shrink and stop growing."
There is another piece necessary for the pancreatic cancer cell to start forming its own blood vessels - through their research, the Banerjees found that CCN1 is a crucial regulator of SHh, or the "sonic hedgehog" gene. They found that SHh activated by CCN1 also promotes blood vessel formation in the pancreatic cancer cells.
"Both of these components seem to be critical for angiogenesis," said Sushanta.
Understanding this process can lead to better targeted therapies for pancreatic cancer. When the Banerjees knocked down the CCN1 protein using shRNA, very few vessels and capillaries formed under mouse skin. This finding suggests that finding or creating a drug that silences CCN1 could slow down or even stop pancreatic cancer tumors from growing.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers. Nearly 40,000 people are estimated to die from pancreatic cancer in 2014 and there will be around 46,000 new cases diagnosed, according to the National Cancer Institute. Only 6.7 percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will go on to live at least five years.
"The next step would be to find an existing drug that can target the CCN1 protein, or create one," said Snigdha.


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This year marks the first season of excavation on Rathnadrinna Fort, funded by the Royal Irish Academy of Ireland. Rathnadrinna Fort is a trivallate, circular hilltop enclosure situated in Lalor's-Lot townland, 3.33km south-southeast of the Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. The hilltop affords the fort extensive views across the adjacent low lying land and is inter-visible with a number of high-status forts surrounding the Rock of Cashel, to the north. Rathnadrinna Fort is the largest and best preserved of Cashel's forts, and research here presents an ideal opportunity to learn more about the evolution and function of such sites in a royal landscape.
After three weeks digging we have uncovered a stone-lined corn-drying kiln outside the fort, the excavation of the fort ditches is underway and these are proving to be substantial in nature. We have revealed the old ground surface beneath portions of the fort banks and the excavation of the fort interior is revealing many interesting features. Finds to date include worked flints, an unidentified ferrous object from the fill of the kiln, and an interesting assemblage of late post medieval finds from a dumping episode outside the fort bank.
Our international team of volunteers includes diggers from Brazil, USA, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Austria, England and Ireland. We have facilitated local primary school visits where the children were able be archaeologists for a day, meet the diggers and see our discoveries. For the Day of Archaeology Rowan Lacey gave a display of flint knapping, James Bonsall did a Magnetometer Survey over our kiln, Liudas Juodzbalys showed us a DVD of his experimental iron working, we had a game of hurling, the site director bought everyone a bag of the finest Morelli's chips and Mickaela from San Paulo made a cheese fondue! Follow us on www.facebook.com/rathnadrinna


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GCH CH Shine's Deck the Halls
It's day three of the Florida Marathon and we have our third different BIS winner. Today's top dog was the Chinese Shar-Pei, GCH CH Shine's Deck the Halls. Joining Tinsel and handler Nina Fetter were joined in today's Inverness Florida Kennel Club final by the Brittany, GCH CH Rainbow Splash's Ruggedly Handsome, the 15" Beagle, GCH CH Tashtins Lookin For Trouble, the Doberman Pinscher, GCH CH Tiburon Ariel Bella Dona, Judge James Ham's RBIS, the Welsh Terrier, GCH CH Shaireab Bayleigh Maid of Honor, the Miniature Pinscher, GCH CH Marlex Classic Red Glare, and the Cardigan Welsh Corgi, GCH CH Riverside Telltail Coco Posh.
GCH CH Shaireab Bayleigh Maid of Honor
(Photo by Gay Glazbrook)
Tinsel was 2013's Number Five Non-Sporting Dog with seven BIS and 48 Group Ones. Congratulations to Nina, breeder/owner Rebecca Pentecost DVM, and owners Deborah & Robert Cooper & Linda Teitelbaum.


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Sober Coaching is a short-term or long-term professional relationship that helps people who are considering recovery from alcohol or drug abuse to produce extraordinary results in their personal lives, artistic endeavors, careers, and/or communities.
One core value at Sober Champion is that there is innate health and wellness in each of our clients. We know our clients are creative and resourceful. We do not promote or endorse any single or particular way of achieving or maintaining sobriety, abstinence, or serenity or of reducing suffering from alcohol or drug abuse.
A Sober Coach can help you determine your trajectory, and can make sure you stay out of trouble while you do so.
We do not believe that every person who drinks or uses to excess is an alcoholic or an addict. These terms are thrown around from the schoolyard to the mass media, and are misunderstood more often than not. An addict is a man or woman whose life is controlled by drugs; these are people caught in the grips of a life-threatening illness. However, there are many people whose underlying causes and conditions lead them to misuse alcohol, prescription drugs, and even street drugs – but who are not addicts in the common sense of the word.
Sober Coaches from Sober Champion focus on helping our clients to create and sustain great and meaningful lives.
Every Sober Coach and every Sober Companion who works with us is a passionate, experienced, dedicated professional with at least five years of continuous abstinence from all mood and mind altering chemicals.
Part of our duty is to listen, to observe, and to customize our approach to each client's needs. What works for the late adolescent trying to stay abstinent to improve his chances of getting into a good school probably will not work for the high-stress, high-profile professional executive or artist who needs to get his career back on track.
We regularly and vigorously help clients resolve ambivalence, increase confidence and motivation, and use a strengths-based approach to maintaining abstinence from alcohol or drugs.


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Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Results to be Released Today
Steroids-era superstars Bonds and Clemens on ballot for first time.
Jan. 3, 2013 -- Two of Major League Baseball's all-time greats are on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year, and despite stats that make them look like shoo-ins, it's likely neither will be enshrined in Cooperstown this summer.
Barry Bonds, baseball's home run king, and Roger Clemens, the owner of more Cy Young awards than any other pitcher, are eligible for the Hall this year, and based solely on their numbers, both would be obvious first-year inductees.
However, both players' extraordinary careers were tainted by steroid use during baseball's "Steroids Era."
In nearly all offensive categories, Bonds is among the best ever -- the recipient of a record-setting seven MVP awards and 14 All-Star appearances. Clemens ranks near the top in career wins and strikeouts. But steroid use is the ultimate lightning rod in baseball, and both men have been at the center of the controversy.
In order to make it to Cooperstown, a candidate must be named on 75 percent of the about 600 ballots sent to Baseball Writers Association of America voters. Players are to be elected according to their "record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to [their] team."
This year, several of the 37 players listed on the ballot were implicated for performance enhancing drug use during the steroids era.
A number of baseball writers have publicly released their ballots, with explanations of why they did or did not vote for the candidates. There is a chance that this year, based on the ballots that have been made public so far, none of the eligible players will be elected into the Hall.
Some of the players won't make it because voters don't consider them worthy of one of baseball's highest honors. Others, however, have the stat sheets and credentials, but have also been surrounded by PED-related controversy.
MLB has tried to separate itself from steroid use in recent years by implementing random drug tests and punishing any player who tests positive for banned substances. Since this controversial ballot was released, a number of voters have stated they will never vote for "known steroids users."
"When I vote for a player I am upholding him for the highest individual honor possible," Sports Illustrated columnist Tom Verducci wrote in an article explaining his vote. "Voting for a known steroid user is endorsing steroid use. Having spent too much of the past two decades or so covering baseball on the subject of steroids -- what they do, how the game was subverted by them, and how those who stayed away from them were disadvantaged -- I cannot endorse it."
On the other side of the debate, some of Bonds' supporters have argued that his numbers before his steroid use began would themselves make the left-fielder worthy of the Hall.
In his New York Times column, statistician Nate Silver explains the left fielder's credentials before the 1998 season, when he reportedly began using performance enhancing drugs.
"By that time, he had already won three M.V.P. awards and eight Gold Gloves and had hit 411 home runs and stolen 445 bases," Silver wrote. "On the basis of Wins Above Replacement, he would have ranked as roughly the 30th best player in baseball history had he retired then."
One current Hall of Famer, pitcher Bob Gibson said in 2009 that he might have used steroids had they been available during his playing days, and that he believed players who used PEDs should still be in the Hall.
Two other faces of the so-called "Steroid Era," Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, whose home-run derby of a 1998 season captured the attention of the nation, are also both on the ballot this year.
It's McGwire's seventh year on the ballot (last year, he appeared on 19.5 percent of ballots), and Sosa's first. Based on the votes that have been made public, it doesn't appear likely that either will make it into the Hall this year.
As Silver noted, this ballot "is close to being an up-or-down referendum on whether suspected steroids users are fit for the Hall of Fame." The results could serve as the benchmark for all future players who appear on the ballot with even circumstantial evidence that they may have used PEDs.
Other players who were embroiled by controversy have been kept out of the Hall for undermining the integrity of the game, despite stats that should have gotten them enshrined.
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, an outstanding offensive outfielder, has been permanently banned from baseball (and therefore, the Hall of Fame) due to his alleged involvement in the so-called "Black Sox scandal," in which White Sox players fixed the 1919 World Series. In 1999, the House of Representatives passed a resolution urging MLB to rescind his ineligibilty, but he is still banned.
Pete Rose, MLB's all-time hits leader, three-time batting champion, and an 18-time All-Star (at an unmatched four different positions), is also ineligible for the Hall of Fame. He admitted gambling on baseball games while he was a player, and agreed to permanent ineligibility, but the issue remains a contentious one in baseball.
No player has been elected in their first year on the ballot since Rickey Henderson in 2009, and no player has ever been elected in unanimously. Other first-time players on the ballot this year include Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Kenny Lofton, and Craig Biggio. Thirteen players are returning to the ballot this year, including Jack Morris, Lee Smith, Jeff Bagwell, and Time Raines.
The results of the vote will be announced at 2 p.m. ET on MLB Network and streamed live on Baseballhall.org.
Players who make the cut will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 28, along with umpire Hank O'Day, executive Jacob Ruppter, and catcher Deacon White, all of whom were elected by the Pre-Integration Era Committee.


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Re: Sources for financial assistanceKatrina Brown Apr 1, 2012 1:07 PM (in response to Bonerks)
I have a virtual assistant business and one of my services I offer is personal assistance. I would love to learn more about also starting a concierge home-based business. Since you have inside experience working for a concierge company, can you give me some pointers on starting such a business and where I might be able to research more about it, i.e. experience needed, starting costs, rates to charge client, any special software, equipment? I live in the US.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceBonerks Apr 2, 2012 2:13 PM (in response to Katrina Brown)
Hi Kat,
I don't work for a concierge company but I am the owner of a new one. My concierge business offers the same - personal assistance and vitual assistance, therefore I'm not sure I can offer more than you may already know/do.
Are you hoping to expand your services?
Feel free to email me directly however and we can at the very least compare war stories and exchange tips.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceKatrina Brown Apr 2, 2012 2:47 PM (in response to Bonerks)
Thanks for replying back. I am looking to expand in the area of supporting solo attorneys, real estate attorneys nationwide, and eventually an errand service in the area where I live.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceBonerks Apr 3, 2012 11:52 AM (in response to Katrina Brown)
Hi Kat,
I currently offer administrative support to a paralegal and attorney- mostly research, monitoring of email traffic and updating their websites. We probably do the same thing in that respect.
I have not ventured into errand services as there is not a viable market here for this service ( volume/profitablilty issues).
I'm sorry that I haven't been more helpful. There is a ton of great advice and very helpful people I might add on this site so maybe posting your own query to other US based Concierges who offer the services that you don't may be more fruitful?
Warm Regards,
Re: Sources for financial assistanceCEO Space Apr 2, 2012 6:11 PM (in response to Bonerks)
I believe that business funding is the BIGGEST resource needed and most often asked question for most new business people.
There are some major points where most new businesses fall short in starting to get funding, one is a thorough business plan and the other is a team. Another point that is almost unknown about is how to get business credit when you are a brand new business.
Also, most new businesses don't know that rarely does capital funding from people who do not know you personally happen unless you have already started or have one of those one in a million great ideas.
It is definitely a process but there are avenues that can speed that process up enormously, much too much for me to go over here.
In nut shell, have a great realistic business plan, make sure you have all major components covered with a team member as a consultant or employee, like legal, marketing, customer service, etc. Get your business credit going the correct way and start building business credit, then get in front of our panel at one of our yearly events to see what holes there may be and the possibility of further funding from there.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceErik Salmon Apr 3, 2012 12:14 AM (in response to Bonerks)
I would also add to CEO Space's comments, watch out for business credit building scams. Building credit in a business works essentially the same with one big difference, the ability to obtain larger credit limits.
You will also hear a lot about D&B. To be honest bankers really do not care about a Dun's rating. They will look at how much money you have personally invested, your business plan, personal credit, personal and business tax returns and may also pull a business credit report form Experian or Equifax.
If your a firm that has less than $1 million in annual revenues and you are looking to obtain a bank loan, be prepared for it to take about 7 business days of working on the loan process with at least 2 banks and then your odds of being approved are about 47% based on the latest studies.
Now I am talking about US companies and I am sure it works similarly in the Caribbean.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceCEO Space Apr 3, 2012 10:09 AM (in response to Erik Salmon)
I hadn't thought of being aware of business credit scammers but like all things that are highly sought after, I should've known it could be fertile ground for scammers.
To my knowledge, there are only 2 very reputable companies that actually know all the ins and outs of REAL business credit and outside of an introduction, one would be impossible to find as they don't advertise anywhere and the other one is difficult to find because even though they have a website, they are mostly word of mouth, too.
After I read your post, Erik, I Googled "business credit" and "how to get business credit" and so I see what you mean.
This is another one of the sad things about the internet....there is so much information out there on everything, it is hard to know the real gold from the fool's gold.
The 2 people I know who do this are highly reputable and really know their stuff. One of them and their spouse are rather famous in their other professions and only help referrals of people they know, screen them thoroughly and charge them $25000.00 but guarantee to build their credit to above $1 million and show them exactly the companies to use to have the best affect and get the best results.
The other was an associate of the first and eventually did this and learned enough of the "insider" secrets to offer it to others. They offer almost the same thing but to keep the cost down, it is all in the form of education and you do it yourself. They also guarantee their results but it costs $2500.00. However, in their program, once you have other things in place and build the credit, you also can be part of the panel where you get to present your idea to their group of Angel investors (Which is growing every year.) So it is pretty cool for those who qualify.
Of course, at this time, this is just for businesses owned and operated in the U.S.
I have had a couple friends go through the program so I got to see from experience the benefits of operating your business with it's own credit and freeing up your personal credit for just personal things.
As for the comment earlier about your D & B rating not mattering, well, that depends on the lender and also if you are trying to get funds WITHOUT having to use a personal guarantee. As I already stated, I know this is a fact because I have 2 friends who have gone through the program.
One of them got so much business credit and freed up so much personal credit, that not only did he expand his business exponentially, but due to the freed up personal credit and business expansion, he purchased a million dollar home on 25 acres, with a lake, a pool, a stable and a huge guest house.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceErik Salmon Apr 3, 2012 1:13 PM (in response to CEO Space)
When I am referring to D&B not mattering I am referring to banks for traditional funding, the business credit scammers use D&B as the holy grail for building business credit and really D&B is primarily good for building credit with vendors and suppliers. A bank that is looking at giving a company $100,000+ loan is not going to base underwriting on D&B due to how D&B credit reports can be manipulated by going after easy to qualify for vendor credit and paying on time or even early. No to mention a company can buy their credit score from D&B with their own credit building service.
Not to say that your friends are scammers because I do not know who you are referring to and am not familiar with their credit program, but I have been in the business credit industry for over a decade, consulted with over 10K firms, have participated in investigating business credit programs and have yet to find a legitimate business credit program that offers what your friends offer. Once you understand how underwriting works and what the lending criteria are for financing at that level, when you hear that all you have to do is pay someone $25K and your company can obtain $1 million or more in funding, red flags should be going up and a deeper investigation needs to be done.
Yes business credit scam's are every were. There is guy offering something similar to what your friends do and he is trying to pass himself off as the CEO of our company and we are currently working on getting him shut down. The funny thing is that we only offer business credit & finance education and not any type of building program.
To be quite honest if a firm has to pay someone 25K to obtain funding then they probably have no business getting any type of financing because they just do not know how business credit and finance works which will most likely cause the business to fail rather than succeed.
Business credit should never be the goal of any business, the business of the company and profitability should. Credit is just a tool to help create and manage cash flow. As a company becomes more and more profitable then they should rely less and less on credit. Once a company is profitable they can create sinking funds and self finance from that point forward and will not have to rely on credit for continued development.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceCEO Space Apr 3, 2012 2:19 PM (in response to Erik Salmon)
Wow! Thank you for all the valuable clarification. I am going to email what you posted to one of my friends doing this. It may help them.
I totally agree that credit, personal or business, should never be a goal or end in itself. However, having to start and expand several times, it definitely helps to have a line available to get over the humps.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceModerator Cath Apr 4, 2012 9:21 AM (in response to CEO Space)
So what I think I am reading is: do your homework, don't expect a quick fix, beware of spammers, funding is not easy to find and may take a while to find it if at all, work on building your credit, and perhaps not mentioned but I guess I was reading between the lines: get a mentor. This is a good place for general mentoring. You can pick up quite a few great ideas almost every day. But nothing takes the place of a mentor who is willing to walk you through the deep waters of financial assistance and anything else your business might need.
Good luck with your new company. Let us know how things are coming along with you as you move farther into the year.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceErik Salmon Apr 4, 2012 11:12 AM (in response to Moderator Cath)
For this person who is in another country, that is the case. For some one starting a business in the states there is much more direction that can be given.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceModerator Cath Apr 5, 2012 1:22 PM (in response to Erik Salmon)
My reply is in reference to Bonerks who was inquiring about a concierge company in the Caribbean. But it would be helpful to business owners in the states to enlarge the discussion to include their businesses, too. How about it, Erik, would you be interested in making this an all inclusive discussion? I see you commented, above, would you like to amplify on that or add to it here?
We all learn from one another and benefit from those who have been around a while. And anything dealing with finances gets everyone's attention.
Who will share next?
Re: Sources for financial assistanceErik Salmon Apr 5, 2012 3:19 PM (in response to Moderator Cath)
Well I have no problem including anyone on any of these discussions. I have posted a ton of information on how to obtain funding on these forums and any one can look up my post and read them.
I think you were taking my comment the wrong way, what I was saying is that there is not much about how to obtain funding sources in the Carrabin that we can I can discuss here because I would just be guessing unless someone from that country who knows how financing works in that country or an international banker who deals with that country can speak about obtaining funding in that country there is nothing more that can be said about how someone in another country can obtain funding sources.
Re: Sources for financial assistanceBonerks Apr 3, 2012 12:20 PM (in response to Bonerks)
Thank you everyone for your efforts to assist. Extremely informative. Unfortunately I'm not able to apply any of this other than the good business plan recommendation here.
I do however once again wish to say thanks.
I am a newbie - This site was recommended to me by a friend. I have registered and started a Concierge company in a very stable and popular Caribbean island.
I decided to start my business because the company I previously worked for closed and this is the perfect opportunity to be my own boss. Having researched the market, the potential is amazing for this business to be a viable full-time entity.
The few venture capital firms on the island are interested in companies with export/foreign exchange earning potential and the banks want collateral that I do not currently have.
I need funds to get a reliable vehicle and some professional marketing going.
Other than "crowd funding" which has also been suggested and which is my next step after I complete this post, can anyone suggest someone private or otherwise to whom I can pitch my business plan if only to start on the vehicle? ( Please bear my location in mind)
I can give more details of the progress I have made thus far with my own funding, as needed. The expertise, goal planning, drive, tenacity and confidence is there - just need some capital anda great mentor.
Thank you for any tips you can offer.


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Otellini: The Internet Is Really Big; Good News for Intel
Sales of PCs may be slowing down, and Intel may as yet be all but nowhere in the emerging market for smartphones and tablets, but that's okay with Intel CEO Paul Otellini.
Despite the headwinds, Intel delivered on its quarterly results. Profits were up 48 percent year-over-year, and Intel set all-time records in sales and profits both for the quarter and the full year.
As he pointed out in his prepared remarks in today's quarterly earnings conference call, sales at Intel's Data Center Group grew by 15 percent in the fourth quarter and finished 2010 up 35 percent. What's driving such healthy growth? The Internet, of course. Its growth is causing a mushrooming demand for servers of all kinds, which means demand for Intel server chips is going up right along with it.
Traffic on the Internet was 245 exabytes in 2010, he said–greater than all previous years combined, and within five years another billion people getting online will push that to over 1,000 exabytes a year.
(What's an exabyte? 1,024 petabytes. What's beyond the exabyte? The zettabyte. Incidentally, Royal Pingdom released some interesting numbers about the size and scope of the Internet today, and they're worth reading.)
Hear the snippet from Otellini's remarks below.
Later, in response to a question from Patrick Wang of Wedbush Securities, Otellini talked about where enterprises are in their PC refresh cycle, one of the few bright spots for PC sales that Gartner and IDC mentioned in their sales estimates yesterday. Reiterating an earlier comment that he expects PC sales to grow at a rate in the "low to mid-teens" in 2011, Otellini said he thinks many corporations haven't yet updated to using Microsoft's Windows 7, and so the upgrade cycle hasn't yet, in his view, reached its midpoint. Then Intel CFO Stacy Smith jumped in with some comments about where cloud computing figures into sales of server chips. Another two-minute audio highlight is below.
Also asked during the call by Shawn Webster of Macquarie Research about Microsoft's announcement that it will create a version of Windows for ARM-based chips from Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Nvidia, Otellini said it didn't seem to him like "new news," and that versions of Windows for chip architectures other than Intel's x86 family have been around before. In this 90-second audio clip he talks about the potential pluses and minuses of Microsoft's move for Intel.


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It was only a matter of time. He'd been so good for too long. He'd suppressed his true urges for much too long. He was well-behaved for ...too many months. Too many dinner jackets, too many official engagements, too much ... adult responsibility! And for someone like Harry, that sh-t is impossible to contain in Vegas. Can you blame him???
TMZ released the photos yesterday around 5pm PT/8pm ET. The Prince is naked and bent over pressing himself against a girl, also not clothed. They were taken in his hotel suite last Friday. Unlike what they'd do in the same situation in Hollywood, the Palace has not bothered to issue a denial. There is no doubt about the authenticity of these shots and there's no use lying about it: that IS Harry.
Prince Henry of Wales.
A mega senior royal.
Totally nude. Cupping his balls.
During the year of Grandmother's Diamond Jubilee. While his 91 year old grandfather is in hospital.
It is a big f-cking GIANT ASS DEAL.
So yes, of course Harry has been summoned home. And of course he'll have to answer to Her Majesty. And because this is Harry, of course he'll be able to say...
"But at least I didn't dress up in a Nazi costume and/or call anyone a racial slur!?"
Yes, child, I guess you're right.
Let's blame his protection officers instead.
Because here's why the royals normally keep their sh-t so tight: they know the f-ckery is in their blood, built into their DNA, and it's no use trying to change it. These people are FLAWED. That family is a MESS. Where they excel then is not behaviour modification (because, obviously) but concealment.
This is why all the focus today, especially in England, is on Harry's security. It's not that they allowed it to go down. It's that they allowed it to go down DOCUMENTED. How were there cellphones allowed inside? How were they not required to be turned over upon entry into his Royal chambers? These people are not hired to protect Harry from himself - this is impossible - but rather to protect him from people like US, people with video and internet, people who want to KNOW. Everything.
Harry has embarrassed his family, yes.
Harry has set himself back a year - at the most. (They will forgive him soon enough.)
But this is not what he feels bad about today.
He's not been raised to feel bad about these kinds of mistakes, mistakes that arise from nature and breeding.
What he should and does feel bad about however is that he has jeopardised the job security of his protection officers. They have families. They have mortgages. They will suffer the most. And Harry will feel this. Incredibly guilty for it. Which is why they continue to be so fascinating, these Windsors. That their spectacular degeneracy is so often accompanied by genuine compassion and philanthropic spirit.
So now what will he do?
Oh please. He'll pretend to be sorry. He'll go to church. Granny will indulge him again in a few weeks because his smile is too irresistible. And in the end, I wonder if he doesn't come out ahead.
Harry has complained that he doesn't have a partner, like his brother and Kate, someone to share what can be a lonely burden. (What's beyond a first world problem? What's even MORE first world than a first world problem?) I don't think the problem is that he doesn't have a partner...
It's that he doesn't have the partner he wants.
The more he f-cks up as a single man, the less objection they may have to allowing him to just... choose who he wants, with much more relaxed requirements on background. That's how any spoiled child gets what he wants isn't it?
You won't let me?
How about I keep embarrassing you? Should I keep embarrassing you?
Or send me back into the field. That way I won't have to take my clothes off in America.
See? Don't worry about Harry. Harry will be OK. But God did Diana ever call it right about her boys.


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Category Archives: radio P4
Radio gaga
Nerd on radio
London baby
London ♡ oh My god!
I didnt know! So close to Sweden and with Ryan Air fairly cheap there is a city full of surprises(o^^o)
Dont get me wrong, Tokyo is My Love, but its nice to know somewhere close but yet soo nice:)
My cousine, bless him, lives at Bacon street JUST by Brick Lane!
This street is just amazing☆
Here is My travelguide for you that dont just want to see BigBen and so on:
1) Vintage Emporium
This might be the most genuine vintage café place in the world! A lovely couple owns this place which takes you back to the 20th century in old England.
The small café is crammed with furniture from amazing ages and they serve the best Yoghurt and müsli I have ever tasted as breakfast! They also have 3 dogs that comes in three sizes and blend right in♡
Donwnstaires in the basement they have a vintage shop. The most delightful place with rare items and gorgeous hats! I fell in love and bought myself a darling English vintage hat from the 40s. The owners are collectors so they have such love for each item!
2) Brick Lane
How can I have missed this street before? Here you have small vintage shops in all sizes together with foodcorners, street art everywhere and so many cool stylish people and their fashion. Upper half is all shopping and further down is lots of Indian restaurant!
On syndays this whole street becames a market!! Just lovely♡
3) Soho – Carnaby street
Well, while I have left My darling in the Vinyl district of Soho, I walk around and end up in paradise!
Carnaby street is like a shopping dream for me:) There is Make Up Store, Monki, Cheap Monday, MUJI & IRREGULARE!
These shoes My dear readers are not just shoes! They are artwork! I tried on every single pair they had (almost, poor staff) and finally I bought a pair that will match My new hat(*^_^*)
I will hit you with more tips later but now, work is calling!
The Diary – National Radio
Oh I forgot to mention, Im at National Radio this whole week.
Every morning 6:45 Im beeing called up by Sveriges Radio and they are interviewing me about me, myself and Japan(^_−)−☆
If your not a morning person or not live in Sweden, you can just visit here
and you can read, listen and check out My pictures.
If you spot Japan anywhere on the site its probably me saying something(*^_^*)
Check it out and give me some feedback ne!


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BEYA Loafers
Nicholas Kirkwood BEYA injects femininity to a traditionally masculine silhouette. Crafted from metallic pewter bottalato leather with a sharp pointed toe and detailed with intricate stitching, it strikes the balance between understated and standout style. A faceted heel completes the design.
Italian sizing. Fits true to size. See Size and Fit notes.
Heel height: 18mm/0.7in
Italian sizing.
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Keep the shoes clean and dry using a dry soft cloth; store them in the dust bag provided, we recommend you store each shoe in a separate bag. Always store your shoes away from light and heat, rain and moisture. Avoid contact with abrasive surfaces. Use a high-quality leather, suede and fabric protector spray, do not spray metallic, patent or Ultra Specchio leathers.