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Only those who fight with valor, steely determination, and a keen sense of strategy can become the most Grievous of champions—and the spoils of success will be worn by those who have entered the Arena, survived the Battlegrounds, and shown the world what it takes to be the very best.
Gladiators and warriors, weavers of the arcane and nether, menders of life and limb . . . we present to you the PvP Season 14 armor sets!
Images show armor in the following order from left to right: Alliance, Horde, Elite.


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When I teach, I often do wacky things; like role play being a server process or a memory structure. But if there is one thing that guarantees to bring everyone to a state of silent anticipation is when I say, "The reported operating system run queue includes both processes waiting to be serviced and those currently being serviced." Everyone will stare straight at me, waiting for me to say I was just joking. But I'm not joking and it's the truth.
Thanks, Craig.
Ask ten DBAs what the OS run queue is and nine of them will tell you it's the number of processes ready and waiting for CPU. After all, that's what we've been told and the OS manual pages seem vague enough not to contradict this. When I created the HoriZone product (OraPub's now defunct capacity planning product) and was writing my Oracle Performance Firefighting book, I had to verify this; so this became a pretty serious endeavor for me. In this blog entry, I'm going to drill down into what the OS reported run queue is and demonstrate that what most of us have been taught is simply not true.
- An outlined circle represents a CPU core. Diagrams "A", "B", and "C" each have four CPU cores. This could represent a single quad-core CPU, two dual-core CPUs, or four single-core CPUs. The reason cores are used is because they scale well, whereas threads do not. On the flip side, using actual CPUs will understate the CPU subsystem's power and not reflect the actual queuing situation as well. I'll blog about this at a latter time, but this is a well documented and the accepted capacity planning perspective.
- A solid circle represents an OS process; either waiting or being serviced by a CPU core. In diagram "A" above, there is one process in the system, in diagram "B" there are two, and in diagram "C" there are six processes.
- A rectangle is the single CPU run queue where all processes must pass and possibly wait before being served by one of the CPU cores. In diagrams "A" and "B" there are no processes in the run queue and in diagram "C" there are two processes in the run queue.
The Shocking Reality
OK, let's put some surprising reality into this. Based on upon the description of the above diagrams, diagram "A" and "B" have no processes in the run queue, whereas diagram "C" has two processes in the run queue. However, the standard performance reporting tools sar, vmstat, and top will show the CPU run queue for diagram "A" as one, in diagram "B" as two, and in diagram "C" as six. Really.
If you're like most DBAs at this point, you're giving me a strange look and waiting for what I have to say next because I've just poked a hole in something you (and me too) have believed to be true for perhaps twenty years of your life. And of course you want some proof... and this is what the rest of this blog entry is...proof. Proof as best I can supply in four forms; manual pages, a software vendor's perspective, my performance firefighting experience, and a simple experiment you can run on one of your idle Unix-like machines that will show without a doubt that the OS reported CPU run queue counts both processes ready and waiting for CPU and also processes currently receiving CPU resources.
Check the man pages
The first thing I did was to check the sar manual page (linux, solaris, aix, hpux) looking for the -q option (the average CPU run queue) with a column heading of runq-sz. This is what I found:
Linux: run queue of processes in memory and runnable.
Solaris: Run queue length (number of processes waiting for run time).
AIX: Reports the average number of kernel threads in the run queue.
HPUX: Average length of the run queue(s) of processes (in memory and runnable)
That obviously doesn't do much to clear things up. In fact, it brings more confusion than anything else.
Contact a forecasting software product company
My next data point was to contact a software company that creates predictive analysis software. Any forecasting product company will have to deal with the reality of gathering OS performance statistics and then correctly interpreting them and integrating them from both a queuing theory and a reality perspective. So I figured they would really, really know the true situation. (I had to do the same thing when I created my now defunct HoriZone predictive analysis product a few years ago.)
There is a UK based company that produces a wonderful forecasting product. In the past Metron has sent some of their employees to my Oracle Forecasting & Predictive Analysis training course so I figured I'd be more likely to get a response from them.
So I emailed their support staff and the next day I received an email from Colin Woodford that included, The run-queue length means "the sum of the number of processes that are currently running plus the number that are waiting (queued) to run." Hum... so far that was the most explicit response I have received.
While this is a topic for another blog entry (or two), I've also noticed that for snappy OLTP performance the run queue needs to be clearly below the number of CPU cores but to minimize the duration of a CPU intensive batch process, the CPU run queue will be just over the number of CPU cores.
I love to design and run experiments. If you have read my papers and my books you'll notice they are full of experiments. In my earlier Oracle days I spent a lot of time learning how to design a good experiment, which includes isolating the area of interest, running it many times to get a good statistical sample size, how to process the statistics, and how to correctly interpret the results. Sometimes the experiment will take less than an hour to run, but some experiments (like the one I'm going to present) took many days to run!
The stronger and more controversial the statement I'm making the more experimental detail I will provide. From an author's perspective, it's a difficult balance to determine how much detail to supply because some people want all the details while others just want the answer. The other tangle is computer configurations can be slightly different, so many experiments will not exhibit the same result even if the load placed on the system is the same. But for this experiment, we are fortunate in that if you have an idle machine sitting around, you can run the exact same experiment and should see the exact same results.
For this experiment, I used a Dell machine with a single four-core Intel 2.6GHz CPU running Oracle Unbreakable Linux 2.6.18-164.el5PAE. Oracle software is not involved in this experiment. This information was gathered using the uname -a and the cat /proc/cpuinfo commands.
The key to this experiment is I created a very simple yet very CPU intensive process using the bc command. So intensive is this process, it essentially consumes 100% of an entire CPU core. So for example, when one of the load processes is running (and nothing else), the four-core CPU subsystem will show 25% utilization. When there are two of the CPU intensive processes running, the four-core CPU subsystem will show 50% utilization. When you see this type of behavior, you know you'll dealing with a full-on CPU sucking process!
For every incremental load increase, I gathered 32, 15 minute (900 seconds) duration samples. The system was loaded starting with one CPU intensive process on up to ten. So for the complete experiment I gathered a total of 320 samples and with each taking 15 minutes, you can see why it took four days to complete. But I wanted at least 30 samples for each incremental load and I wanted more than just a few minutes duration for each sample to ensure the system had a chance to stabilize and really run at that load intensity.
I used two separate scripts for this experiment. The first script (shown below) is the runqtest.sh shell script. It is the main controlling script that incrementally starts an additional CPU intensive process and records the CPU utilization and run queue for later analysis.
The second script (also shown below), killbc.sh, will search out and kill all bc processes. Anytime I run an experiment where the system can take over the entire machine causing it to become unresponsive, I will create a kill switch type of process. It also allows me to very quickly restart the experiment, which I frequently have to do when I'm developing the experiment.
Shown below are the two scripts:
[oracle@fourcore runqueue]$ cat runqtest.sh #!/bin/sh maxprocs=10 calmsecs=5 samples=32 interval=900 tmpfile=/tmp/sar1.tmp finalfile=spinresults.txt rm -f $finalfile echo "Showing all bc processes now." ps -eaf|grep bc|grep -v grep|grep -v vim echo "If you see any bc processes, quite now!" sleep 5 for ((p=1;p<=$maxprocs;p++)) do echo "scale=12;while(1<2){1+1.243}" | bc > /dev/null &; sleep $calmsecs for ((s=1;s<=$samples;s++)) do echo -n "Starting sample now: " echo -n "processes=$p sample=$s interval=$interval ..." sar -uq $interval 1 > $tmpfile echo "done" util=`cat $tmpfile | head -4 | tail -1 | awk '{print $4+$5+$6}'` runq=`cat $tmpfile | head -7 | tail -1 | awk '{print $3}'` echo -e "$p\t$s\t$interval\t\t$util\t$runq" >> $finalfile done done ./killbc.sh >/dev/null 2>&1 echo "Complete runqueue test at `date`" >> $finalfile echo "" echo "" echo -e "Procs\tSample\tInterval(s)\tUtil%\tRunQ" cat $finalfile
[oracle@fourcore runqueue]$ cat killbc.sh ps -eaf|grep bc|grep -v vim|grep -v grep for p in `ps -eaf|grep bc|grep -v vim|grep -v grep|awk '{print $2}'` do echo "killing process $p now." kill -9 $p done ps -eaf|grep bc|grep -v vim|grep -v grep
The next couple of paragraphs delve into statistically describing the sample and population dispersion. If you're not interested in this, just jump down to the section entitled, Experimental Results.
To describe our samples we need some, well...samples. But if we are going to make inferences about the entire population (our samples and all the other possible samples), we need to gather 30 or more samples. Why the magical 30 samples? When describing the dispersion of our samples the [sample] standard deviation is used, but when describing the population dispersion, we should use the population standard deviation. In part it's because the only difference between the sample standard deviation and the population standard deviation is there is either an N or an N-1 in part of the denominator. Below is the formula for the sample standard deviation.
Notice the 1/N. For describing your samples (as shown above) the formula includes the 1/N. However, for describing all samples, which includes our samples and the samples we did not gather (that is, the population) the 1/N is replaced with 1/(N-1). When N reaches around 30, the difference between 1/N and 1/(N-1) becomes extremely small and insignificant. So when I want to make inferences about the entire population, I always ensure I have at least 30 samples.
If you want to run this experiment but don't want to wait four days to get the results, use a sample duration of perhaps only 1 minute. Since the load is very simple (unlike when Oracle is involved) it will stabilize very quickly. If the results fluctuate wildly, then you'll know you need to increase the sample duration time. In addition to the previous few paragraphs above, it is important to gather 30 or more samples as this will confirm your samples are not the result of randomness or anomalous behavior.
The Experimental Results
Here are the chart column definitions.
Load Processes. This is the number of CPU intensive bc processes that were running.
RunQ Avg. This is the average OS CPU run queue as reported by the sar -q command.
Util Avg. This is the average OS CPU utilization as reported by the sar -u command.
Runq Stdev. This is the standard deviation of the average run queue samples.
Runq -90%. This is the 10%-tile or the -90%-tile statistic based on the average run queue and its standard deviation. Mathematically, this is (RunQ Avg - 1.645 * standard deviation). To translate this into English, with the number of load processes at 10, the average run queue was between 9.660 and 10.500, 90% of the time.
Runq +90%. Similar to the Runq -90%, but the upper or higher end of the spectrum.
Util Stdev. This is the standard deviation of the average utilization samples.
Key Observations
1. As you can see, the results are extremely consistent. This strengthens our conclusions.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ya benar, dengan menggunakan DFX Audio Enhancer ini, saya yakin anda tidak akan kecewa dengan hasil suara yang keluar dari komputer anda. Suara yang dihasilkan oleh DFX Audio Game Pes 2013 Highly Compressed Only 6 Mb Full Version ini sangat jauh lebih bagus jika dibandingkan dengan equalizer biasa. Anda dapat melakukan berbagai macam pengaturan di dalam aplikasi ini, seperti pada equalizer.
Disini anda akan mendapatkan DFX Audio Enhancer full version dengan gratis. Karena kami juga sudah menyediakan patch dan keygen DFX Audio Enhancer ini yang dapat anda gunakan untuk mengaktifasi DFX ini dengan gratis. Untuk membuat DFX Audio Enhancer ini menjadi full version anda hanya perlu menggunakan patch atau keygen saja. Buka folder crack, lalu copy pastekan file dfx. Jadi suara apapun yang keluar langsung diolah pake dfx ini gan, nda perlu integrasi. Punya saya dfxnya kok selalu keluar sendiri ya min? Windows 10 Pro Rs 4 v1803.
Was Rescinding the School Discipline Guidance a Mistake? Enter the terms you wish to search for. Thinking Outside the Box: A Misguided Idea The truth behind the universal, but flawed, catchphrase for creativity. Although studying creativity is considered a legitimate scientific discipline nowadays, it is still a very young one. If you have tried solving this puzzle, you can confirm that your first attempts usually involve sketching lines inside the imaginary square.
The correct solution, however, requires you to draw lines that extend beyond the area defined by the dots. The symmetry, the beautiful simplicity of the solution, and the fact that 80 percent of the participants were effectively blinded by the boundaries of the square led Guilford and the readers of his books to leap to the sweeping conclusion that creativity requires you to go outside the box. Management consultants in the 1970s and 1980s even used this puzzle when making sales pitches to prospective clients. Because the solution is, in hindsight, deceptively simple, clients tended to admit they should have thought of it themselves. There seemed to be no end to the insights that could be offered under the banner of thinking outside the box. Indeed, the concept enjoyed such strong popularity and intuitive appeal that no one bothered to check the facts.
No one, that is, before two different research teams—Clarke Burnham with Kenneth Davis, and Joseph Alba with Robert Weisberg—ran another experiment using the same puzzle but a different research procedure. Both teams followed the same protocol of dividing participants into two groups. The first group was given the same instructions as the participants in Guilford's experiment. The second group was told that the solution required the lines to be drawn outside the imaginary box bordering the dot array. Would you like to guess the percentage of the participants in the second group who solved the puzzle correctly?
What's more, in statistical terms, this 5 percent improvement over the subjects of Guilford's original study is insignificant. In other words, the difference could easily be due to what statisticians call sampling error. Let's look a little more closely at these surprising results. Solving this problem requires people to literally think outside the box. Yet participants' performance was not improved even when they were given specific instructions to do so. That is, direct and explicit instructions to think outside the box did not help.
That this advice is useless when actually trying to solve a problem involving a real box should effectively have killed off the much widely disseminated—and therefore, much more dangerous—metaphor that out-of-the-box thinking spurs creativity. After all, with one simple yet brilliant experiment, researchers had proven that the conceptual link between thinking outside the box and creativity was a myth. Of course, in real life you won't find boxes. But you will find numerous situations where a creative breakthrough is staring you in the face. They are much more common than you probably think.
There are many theories of creativity. What the latest experiment proves is not that creativity lacks any association to thinking outside-the-box, but that such is not conditioned by acquired knowledge, i. These improvements current lots of substantial options but also pose main troubles. A person of the most considerable outcomes of the progress of info technologies is most likely electronic commerce above the Internet, a new way of conducting organization. It indicates the seamless application of data and conversation technology along the entire benefit chain of a company that is done electronically. India or other nations where the wages are a great deal lower. D, and distribution teams in shut speak to with the producing teams.
The technologies permits different sorts of work and employment to be decoupled from one another. Desktops and interaction systems also promote additional current market-like kinds of generation and distribution. Removing of intermediaries would minimize the charges in the production and distribution worth chain. Nonphysical merchandise, this sort of as computer software, can be delivered electronically, doing away with the whole transportation channel. Payments can be performed in new ways.
I conduct soft skills training and outbound training for Corporates and individuals . To enhance creativity we motivate the participants to approach the problems from variety of vantage points . Even repeatedly checking the boundary conditions we are able to come up with variety of ways of solving the problem . This is akin to checking the walls of the box .
With all due respect, Professor Boyd, your argument is not at all compelling. To refer to TOTB as "dangerous" is naive, at best. I, personally, have seen the positive, tranformative effects of not only the 9-dots exercise, but also the occasional use of the term to remind individuals after-the-fact about the value of thinking differently. The experiment you refer to doesn't even come close to proving what you suggest that it does. To use the term "proving" in an argument like this is laughable.


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organ, a musical wind instrument in which sound is produced by one or more sets of pipes controlled by a keyboard, each pipe producing only one pitch by means of a mechanically produced or electrically controlled wind supply.
Sections in this article:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Music: Theory, Forms, and Instruments


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Gilead's Viread International Access Program
Last December Gilead Sciences announced a plan to make their nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor Viread (tenofovir) available to clinics and treatment programs in the developing world at an affordable price. Joe Steele, the architect of Gilead's plan, recently answered questions about the logistics and motivation for the program.
Gilead, Steele says, recognized the potential need for tenofovir beyond the U.S. because its dosing, safety and low-maintenance qualities were likely to be attractive to providers in limited resource settings. Wishing to avoid delay, they decided to launch a proactive access plan in anticipation of the need.
Initially, the Gilead program will address Africa, the less-developed countries (LDC), Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe. The program was designed by Axios International, a technical assistance consultant specializing in healthcare issues for the developing world that had set up similar programs for Abbott and Boehringer Engelheim. But Gilead sought to design a program that could skirt some of the problems that have limited the impact of earlier programs.
The price for Viread through the program is $39 per bottle, roughly 10 percent of the U.S. wholesale price of $360 per bottle. The price does not include shipping, since purchasers may require flexibility in how they receive the drugs.
The cost of the drug has been set as the cost of goods plus the cost of administering the program. The mandate was to sell the drug for as low a price as possible with no expectation of making money. At this price, Gilead expects to lose money until 2006 or 2007, depending on how quickly volume sales develop, when prices will likely drop. With new money coming in from the Global Fund, the Bush initiative, and the Gates Foundation, a more rapid uptake of the program may lower prices sooner.
Recognizing that the standard commercial model of drug distribution would not apply, particularly in Africa, Gilead decided to forego traditional methods by not seeking product registration in the countries they want to serve. Instead they will sell the drug directly to NGOs, clinics and individual physicians to avoid the high mark ups taken by pharmaceutical distributors. Gilead will follow a model of named-patient sales to entities that have been vetted by Axios or a panel of regional experts that Axios has assembled. When it has been determined that a clinic is legitimate and has sufficient funding to offer a sustainable treatment program, they will be sold the drug.
The named-patient route avoids the need to gain full registration for Viread in every country where it could be useful. Clinic doctors need only to obtain an import license for their program's use. This could be as simple as demonstrating that the drug they wish to import has an approved package insert from the U.S. FDA.
After a program or clinic has been approved, and funds or a letter of credit has been received, the drug will be shipped from Gilead in San Dimas, California via DHL or a similar carrier. Reorders can be placed though the Internet.
After discussions with the FDA, Gilead decided to produce a white tablet version of Viread intended for the special program to distinguish it from the blue tablet approved in the U.S. It's hoped that this will offer some protection against diversion or re-importation of the discounted product to countries where Viread is marketed conventionally. It will be illegal to sell the white tablet in the U.S.
Who Is This For?
This drug, while cheap, is not affordable to every program that would like to offer treatment. Until the large funding streams come online, the number of people receiving Viread is likely to be relatively small. Gilead has projected the need for Viread by taking an estimate of how many people in Africa need treatment currently, then estimating the rate at which people currently being treated will need a second-line or salvage regimen. Because of the cost, Viread will not be a first-line choice for many programs. Yet because the treatment situation in the next three years is so uncertain, Gilead plans to remain flexible with its plans while maintaining the overall goal of making their drug available to meet the need.
Back to the GMHC Treatment Issues May 2003 contents page.


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this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; THE DON'S Crystal Ball WEEK 2 PICKS By DonCanabis/TheDon Analyst/Godfather CONGRATS TO THE 2010 DONS PREDICTION LEAGUE CHAMPIONS *** Mlmpetert from thewarpath.net *** *** Sparty from detroitlionsforum.com *** Ok week 1 is done. We had a few surprises none bigger ...
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Don's Crystal Ball Week 2 picks
Crystal Ball
By DonCanabis/TheDon
*** Mlmpetert from thewarpath.net ***
*** Sparty from detroitlionsforum.com ***
Ok week 1 is done. We had a few surprises none bigger in my mind that the Pittsburgh loss against Baltimore. Not only because is the first time Flacco beats Pittsburgh with Ben as QB but the way they won. These games usually ended close with low scores and this time it was completely one sided.
Quick Hits
On to the games
Kansas City at Detroit -8.5 Ovr/Und 38.5
Like I said last week the chiefs lost apparently more than an Offensive Coordinator with Weiss leaving this team just look unprepared, cant game plan or find the opposition weaknesses. That Oline is hurt, theyre playing on the road against a team feeling motivated that this is their year. The chiefs lost their best defensive weapon. I dont have an issue picking whos going to win this game what I dont know is can I count on Kansas City to score more than 7 points to take the Ovr. Right now Suh is getting doubled and even tripled teamed and this is opening up space to the rest of the team but if he cant beat those coverages which I saw him having trouble with last week. Teams will eventually adjust.
Straight: DET
Spread: DET
Ovr/Und: OVR
Oakland at Buffalo -4 Ovr/Und 42.5
Both teams looked good last week playing on very hostile environments. They both stack up really well against each other. They have good aggressive defense run the ball well but I have to give the edge to buffalo with the QB and WR add to that that they play at home. Take Buf to win but not cover.
Straight: Buf
Spread: Oak
Ovr/Und: OVR
Baltimore at Tennessee 6 Ovr/Und 37.5
Last Week the Tennessee defense couldnt stop a small built like a horse HB, say welcome his twin brother. I believe Hasselbeck will play better as the season goes on but Baltimore is an aggressive defense and Matt still doesnt have a good rap with his teammates. Take the ravens on this one.
Straight: BAL
Spread: BAL
Ovr/Und: OVR
Jacksonville at New York Jets -9.5 Ovr/Und 38
The Jets had trouble last week against Dallas and it wasnt until the 4th quarter when Dallas lost all their starting CBs and Dez Bryant got hurt that they started moving the ball and taking control of the game. Sanchez was off for most of the night and continues making bad mistakes. Jacksonville played really well despite all the changes and drama I like their defense and running game if it doesnt have to come down to McCown to win the games late, Jack del Rios move might not turn out that bad after all.
Straight: NYJ
Spread: JAC
Ovr/Und: UND
Cleveland at Indianapolis 2 Ovr/Und 38
Did anyone expected to leave through the day when Cleveland was once again the favorite against the Colts? This is the game that is giving me more trouble than all. It completely looks like a trap game. Both teams looked bad last week but Indianapolis completely got dominated. Cleveland had ups and downs but at the end suffered a complete meltdown. If I go with logic the browns would be the easy answer. The Colts lost their HOF QB probably for the season last week and with that almost everyones playoffs dreams. But if I go with my gut the Colts have a lot of proud veterans that got pushed around last week and want the next team that it faces pay. Going with the gut
Straight: IND
Spread: IND
Ovr/Und: UND
Arizona at Washington -4 Ovr/Und 44
Washington surprised me last week. I didnt expect them to do to good this year but they looked solid in both areas of the field. Rex played good overall but if they cant give him solid protection we will see feet happy Rex. Many expected Kolb being the biggest problem for Arizona but its starting to look like the defense could be their Achilles heel. Washington has more weapons than Carolina and has a more solid defense.
Straight: Was
Spread: Was
Ovr/Und: OVR
Tampa Bay at Minnesota -3 Ovr/Und 40.5
In the same week that we saw a Rookie QB and Chad Henne throw for over 400 plus yards, McNabb had 39. Tampa Bay will play better than last week and if they can find were Blount was hiding last week they should take this win. Tampa has a young fast defense perfect for playing on turf (except barber) if they can stop AP they shouldnt have much trouble.
Green Bay at Carolina 10 Ovr/Und 46
Sorry Im not ready to crown Newton as he has arrived. He played really good in week 1 against a bad defense; lets see how he looks playing against the Super Bowl Champs. After winning a close game and the defense holding on when it matter the most Green Bay looks ready to make another push, Aaron Rodgers looked great last week and made a lot of FF players happy.
Straight: GB
Spread: GB
Ovr/Und: Ovr
Chicago at New Orleans -6.5 Ovr/Und 47
Last week Paytons gambles didnt payoff. Its funny how the media can call the same guy genius when he pulls an onside kick in the Super Bowl but, rip him off when he goes for it in 4th in short on FG game and didnt get it. I wonder if sometimes the media or so call analyst watches the games or just the highlights. Payton went for it because he couldnt trust his defense Rodgers was simply ripping it apart if they went for a FG and Green Bay scored again they wouldnt be able to recover from that. They call I didnt like was the last play of the game he helped Green Bays defense by stacking up and running through the middle when they hadnt been able to run the ball all day. If you want to run in that spot and play spread the defense give your HB a chance.
Cutler looked good last week but hes still getting hit way too much, Forte its really playing for that contract and it looks like the Cowboys trio are 1 and done. New Orleans at home after a tough loss and a must win game. Take the home team.
Straight: NO
Spread: NO
Ovr/Und: Ovr
Seattle at Pittsburgh -14.5 Ovr/Und 40
I hate 3 score Spread lines in the NFL. Even if you know the other team is awful, one return kick, block punt or miss tackle and screws those lines. Pittsburgh didnt look closed to the AFC champion; its funny how last year that defense gets praised but six months later theyre suddenly too old. The reality the Steelers have had Baltimores number for so long that just that game meant more to them. I guess Seattle fans wont shout off to me again for calling out on T. Jackson. Winning by 15 is hard to do in the NFL but we saw 3 teams do it last week and one of them played Seattle.
Straight: PIT
Spread: PIT
Ovr/Und: OVR
Dallas at San Francisco 3 Ovr/Und 42.5
Dallas had a complete 4th qt meltdown last week in a game that they had no business winning but should have won. The losses in the secondary became too troublesome and the lack of depth at all positions has always been the Cowboys biggest problem. One sight of comfort is that the team looked prepared and focused in the most hostile environment they could face, they managed to stop the Jets biggest weapon the run and let Sanchez beat them. They will repeat the same formula this week. I expect Dallas to finish what they couldnt last week.
Straight: DAL
Spread: DAL
Ovr/Und: OVR
San Diego at New England -7 Ovr/Und 52.5
San Diego found a way to win last week but they need to use all their weapons this time. If you have Tolbert in your fantasy team I would sit him this week expect Belichick to game plan for that guy. San Diegos defense lost a key guy last week and didnt look great in the first place. I expect NE to win this game but keep it close.
Straight: NE
Spread: SD
Ovr/Und: UND
Cincinnati at Denver : -4.5 Ovr/Und 40
Both teams looked sloppy in their debuts. Its weird to think that the best thing that could happen to the Bengals was Dalton getting hurt. He wasnt awful but he got stuck and couldnt move the ball. Denvers defense is really hurt and my dynamic duo of Miller and Dumervil didnt last 1 week. I cant see Denver losing back 2 back at home especially against the Bengals take the home team.
Straight: DEN
Spread: DEN
Ovr/Und: Ovr
Houston at Miami : 3 Ovr/Und 47
Houston played like a contender for three quarters then they took their feet from the gas pedal. That has been their trouble for many years and even if they had a huge lead I didnt like what I saw there if you let a team pull up when theyre down you might not recover. Miami looked good, way better than I expected and played head to head against the Patriots. Its tough to believe Miami will start 0-2 again at home but this isnt a great matchup for them.
Straight: HOU
Spread: HOU
Ovr/Und: OVR
Philadelphia at Atlanta : 2.5 Ovr/Und 50
One game and the dream team talk started again even though I saw other teams play way better against tougher competition. Still it looks like Michael Vick will get praised even when he poops. The Falcons are almost unbeatable at home and they need this win badly. Atlanta will be able to put pressure on Vick which usually turn out in 2 ways big run or fumble. Take Atlanta to kill the dream at least for 1 week.
Straight: ATL
Spread: ATL
Ovr/Und: Ovr
St. Louis at New York Giants : -4.5 Ovr/Und 43.5
Both teams are hurt and lost key players. The difference the Rams lost their top HB and they have a banged up QB. NY might not have corners but they do have a pass rush. Tuck come back this week and I expect them to be on Sams face all day. Take the Giants at home
Straight: NYG
Spread: NYG
Ovr/Und: UND
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Sunday was as perfect a summer day at the beach in East Hampton as one might have a right to expect, although rights and expectations can vary according to one's point of view.
For the mostly local families who gather on a portion of Napeague's ocean beach, a perfect summer day might well involve driving along the strand to a sandy retreat they have known for much of their lives.
For a number of oceanfront homeowners, a perfect summer day would include a view of the glistening Atlantic without a mile-long reef of parked vehicles obscuring an otherwise pristine beach.
On Sunday afternoon, Brian Anderson was letting some air out of the tires on his pickup and joked with Brendon Mott, a passenger. Both were eager to get going off the Marine Boulevard road-end and onto the beach.
"I've been coming here since I was 2. Sometimes I stay from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It's a local tradition. When I have kids I hope I can bring them here," Mr. Anderson said.
On the beach that locals refer to as "truck beach," Jason Hren sat under an umbrella beside his pickup, emerald green waves breaking in front of him, white water rushing up to within a few yards of his blanket. His daughter Emma, 6, and son Michael, 3, played nearby.
"I've been coming here for over 10 years, since I graduated from high school," Mr. Hren said, looking over his shoulder at the dune behind the line of vehicles and family encampments. "I don't see the problem. We're not blocking anyone's view. Our kids are part of this community. It's the most beautiful upbringing anyone can have."
Mr. Hren and many of the people on truck beach are members of a new group called Citizens for Access Rights, CfAR, which supports the town trustees' efforts to keep the beach public.
Marc Helie sees it differently. He lives on the ocean off Whaler's Lane with a clear view of the weekend parade of vehicles. He said the number of vehicles had increased dramatically since he bought his house in 1994. "It didn't use to be crowded. It's the popularity of the S.U.V. You need four-wheel drive. Back then, very few people owned them. There were very few trucks. You hardly noticed them at first. Really in the last 10 years, we've seen a real change."
The homeowners' perspective has generated a lawsuit in State Supreme Court, with seven community associations and one motel going after East Hampton Town and the town trustees.
The plaintiffs claim that the trustees' sale of Napeague land in the 1800s gives them ownership of the beach down to the mean high tide line, giving them the right to keep vehicles off the beach. They say the number of four-wheel-drive vehicles has grown in recent years, with an accompanying number of problems. The town argues that the beach from the bay or ocean landward to the toe of the dunes has always been used as commonage, with an implied easement, if not outright ownership, old deeds notwithstanding.
The section of Napeague in question is a 4,000-foot stretch from Napeague Lane east to Napeague State Park.
Still pending is a request for a summary judgment that the homeowners filed in April. If the decision goes their way, homeowners say they will close the beach to vehicles.
Mr. Helie said the glut of off-road vehicles on the beach was compounded by the limited amount of parking in town beach parking lots. "People are frustrated and they see no alternatives. The town and town trustees have not added additional space. It gets very crowded."
Two weeks ago, Napeague Beachowners Inc., an organization that claims 120 members and between 500 and 600 pedestrian beachgoers, ran a full-page advertisement stressing safety in The East Hampton Star. The ad said that blocking public access to the beach was not the goal and that the town and beach drivers had preferable alternatives.
"Aesthetics are a minor part," Mr. Helie said. "The biggest problem is the fact that there are no facilities. I often have to pick up human waste on my property. Throughout the day they use my property to urinate." He listed other complaints such as fires left burning on the beach, "or worse, buried so people burn their feet," garbage left strewn about, and fireworks at all hours of the night. Mr. Helie said the trustees claimed such behavior was an enforcement matter, "but in talking to the marine patrol, they say they don't have the manpower, and they have to witness infractions in order to issue summonses."
"This is not just beachfront owners. Our association has 30 lots with families with young kids," Mr. Helie said of the Whaler's Lane Homeowners Association. He added that all-day drinking often led to speeds in excess of the posted 15-mile-per-hour rate. "It's an accident waiting to happen. I'm sure there are a lot of fine people, but we're beyond that," Mr. Helie said.
On Sunday, Roy Dalene was camped with vehicles and friends on the beach, their dogs wet and tired from playing in the surf. He echoed the feelings of Jason Hren. Access to the Napeague oasis as Bonac birthright. "It's not the locals who don't clean up after themselves," he said.
Both sides in the civil war speak passionately about their claim to peace and tranquillity, and they both seem to agree that the lack of parking was one cause of the problem.
"The nearest public lot is a mile and a half away. There is no pedestrian access, so they have to park on the [Montauk] highway. The walkways are private, and they can't park on the homeowners' roads," said John Courtney, the trustees' attorney, whose family has driven to their weekend oasis for over 25 years.
"You have policeman, firemen, and schoolteachers. It's mostly a local crowd with a few away people," Mr. Courtney said.
Is there a solution? The Napeague Homeowners group suggests that the town deliberate with the State Department of Parks to see if East Hampton residents might get access to the Napeague State Park beach to the east. "It's completely underused. If the town would limit beach driving in our area, they will have tenfold space to the east. Work out a sharing agreement with the state. All it takes is political will," Mr. Helie said.
Mr. Courtney said the state only issued a certain number of $65 permits for Napeague State Park. He said the idea did not address the use of the beach at the heart of the lawsuit. "The trustees own it. Why give it up?"


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"This competition puts the spotlight on drivers, celebrates their professional skills and highlights their contributions to society. In this way, we want to raise the status of drivers and attract more young people into the profession." –Mikael Person, head of Scania's seven year old Young European Truck Driver (YETD) competition
Now here is a brilliant idea aimed at not only burnishing the truck driving profession in Europe but also formulated to help bring "new blood" into the industry: a continent-wide skills competition for big rig pilots aged 35 and under.
Created by Swedish truck maker Scania back in 2003, the Young European Truck Driver (YETD) contest culminates in a two-day event in Södertälje, Sweden, that pitted some of the best young drivers from across Europe against one another in a wide battery of challenges: defensive and fuel-economy driving; cargo securing; pre-driving checklists; and finally safety maneuvering.
A field of 10,000 young truck drivers under age 35 from 18 European countries gradually got whittled down through a long succession of local and regional contests to just 18 (one from each nation), finally going head-to-head back on Oct. 8 and 9 to see who would be crowned "the best of the best."
[Here's a snapshot of the finals. I suggest hitting "pause" to let the video load a little before playing.]
"The driver is absolutely the most important factor in heavy vehicle transport. Vehicles and infrastructure are obviously of major significance, but fuel-efficient safe driving is primarily a matter of human behavior," noted Erik Ljungberg, Scania's senior vice president and head of corporate relations.
"Through YETD, Scania wants to help raise the status of professional drivers and emphasize their great importance to the profitability of transport companies and to road safety, as well as to the reduced environmental impact," he added. "We also want to help attract more young [and] capable drivers into the transport business."
The winner of the YETD 2010 competition turned out to be a 26-year-old Swede named Andreas Söderström, who works for his father's hauling company Göran Söderströms Åkeri (and don't even ASK me how you pronounce it!).
As noted previously, the road to the YETD winner's circle wasn't easy for Andreas, who first had to make it through a regional qualifying round and then beat seven other skilled truck drivers in the Swedish national final before getting a shot in the final championship round.
Rounding out the winners were Patrick Schildmann from Germany (second place) and Zarko Tokic from Austria (third place).
[Here's a clip of the award ceremony for all three finalists. Note the size of the audience: Scania welcomed some 5,000 to 10,000 members of the public to the event, using it as a way to change public perception of the trucking business in Europe as well.]
Scania's YETD contest, by the way, is endorsed of the European Commission and the International Road Transport Union (IRU), with big-time sponsors such as Michelin and Volkswagen Group Sweden helping to sponsor the finals.
Scania added that it's now also running similar competitions in Latin America, Africa and Asia – again, using such skill competitions as a way to bolster the image of driving a truck for a living while making the profession more appealing to new recruits.
[Here's a wrap up of the entire 2010 YETD competition, including the fitting of the finalists for their contest "uniforms."]
Now, a lot of folks might consider such events nothing but "fluff and flash" when it comes to the real hardships involved when you pilot a big rig for a living. In the U.S., for example, company driver pay on average is about $39,000 annually according to recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – certainly nowhere near a king's ransom and not something many feel is worth two or more weeks per month away from family out on the road hauling freight.
And look, too, at the challenges being posed by a generational shift in the overall U.S. workforce, with 77 million "baby boomers" retiring over the next two decades that are replaced by only 46 million new workers, according to numbers tracked by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).
ASTD's research indicates that "Generation X" workers (born between 1965 and 1979) typically value a strong balance between life and work, priding themselves on self-reliance and resourcefulness. Then there are "Generation Y" or "Millennial" workers, born between 1980 and 2000, that are more technologically savvy and desire even more workplace flexibility.
Still, the trucking industry – here and abroad – is going to need drivers, and recruiting efforts will need to start moving beyond mere "want ads" in the papers and online to be successful. Something new and exciting will be needed to make people look at a truck and say, "I want to drive that for a living."
And perhaps a national contest in this country, focused on just younger drivers, might help do just that.


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(CNN) -- Paul Eden loves his job. It takes him into people's homes and offices and allows him to film their daily lives.
Eden heads Ogilvy Field Brand Investigation (FBI), a division of Ogilvy & Mather, one of the world's largest advertising agencies.
He's commissioned by companies to provide video research of consumers, providing vital insights into their likes and dislikes.
Since launching the research unit in London five years ago, Eden says interest among big corporations has spiraled.
"The real bonus for clients is that they can eyeball the people who are important to them," Eden told CNN.
"This is the way we can invite the consumer into the boardroom. These natural social environments are natural brand environments. Respondents are more willing to talk truthfully about themselves and we're offered the opportunity of seeing them interact with brands and play with brands too which is of course enormously appealing."
There's nothing underhand about Eden's work. All his interviewees are willing participants who have given their consent to be filmed. But that's a legal requirement that is being pushed to the limit by new technologies.
A retail outlet in Belgium recently became the first company in Europe to run a pilot system developed by Sony which uses in-store cameras to film customers for consumer analysis.
The surveillance system allows observers to keep track of how many people are in the store, but also follow their routes, check what they're looking at and what they're ignoring.
Together that information would help retailers identify "hot spots" and "cold spots," giving them vital information for maximizing revenue potential.
As with existing CCTV security systems, stores are obliged to put up clearly displayed notices informing customers that they are being watched.
But marketing analyst Alysen Stewart-Allen of International Marketing Partners said companies using surveillance technology still risked alienating their customers.
"One of the things that any brand needs to consider when they're using this kind of market research tool is how is the consumer going to respond if they are told they are being videoed," said Stewart-Allen.
"If you're a retailer and you're using video taping and they learn somehow that you're filming them and many other people, they could be put off from ever visiting your store again."
But in a culture of CCTV, speed cameras and reality television shows, perhaps it's the case that we're all now more comfortable with the idea of being watched -- something that marketing executives are only now waking up to.
"I think reality television has had an impact in as much as people have become more and more accustomed to cameras in their lives," said Eden.
"And they've also become more and more accustomed to the fact that people are watched for entertainment and for commercial purposes. It's become part of the fabric of our existence."
-- CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report.


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(Reuters) - The Chicago Bears ended media speculation about their quarterback position on Thursday by announcing Jay Cutler had agreed a seven-year contract to remain with the National Football League team.
Cutler, who could have become an unrestricted free agent,
is now signed through the 2020 season.
"Very excited to have Jay for the long term," general manager Phil Emery told a news conference.
Emery said three other players headed for free agency in March had also been signed to new deals - kicker Robbie Gould, cornerback Tim Jennings and left guard Matt Slauson.
Cutler, 30, recorded a career-high 89.2 quarterback rating in 2013, completing 63.1 percent of his passes for 2,621 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 11 games.
The strong-armed quarterback missed five games this season with a torn groin muscle and an ankle sprain, with back-up Josh McCown ably filling in as the Bears (8-8) came within a final-game loss to the Green Bay Packers of qualifying for the playoffs.
In five seasons with the Bears, Cutler has become the franchise's all-time leader in most passing categories including completions, attempts, yards and QB rating.
His record as a starter since arriving in 2009 in a trade with the Denver Broncos is 39-28.
Reporting by Larry Fine in New York, editing by Tony Jimenez


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Our home has transformed into a fantasy land. He thinks he manages his own football team and I think I'm going to lose weight.
I never kid myself by thinking the latest fad of a diet is a lifestyle change. It's not. It's a diet and this time, just to mix it up, I started on a different day other than Monday. I didn't intend to go on a diet, but after my daughter began showing signs of losing pounds just by eliminating carbs, I thought I'd give it a try. Never hurts to lose a few pounds before the holidays, so I don't have to feel so guilty about putting the second piece of pumpkin pie in my mouth. Besides, the grass mowing has slowed down to a crawl and he's so preoccupied managing two fantasy football teams, I think he may have forgotten he's not really part of the national football league and the players can't hear a thing he says from the couch.
While he's researching stats, injuries and trades with other "fantasy" managers, I've been experimenting with creating meals that don't have any carbohydrates. Basically it's protein, vegetables and fruits, which is a little difficult since I'm not a big fan of meat. I've had an aversion to eating meat, especially if looks like it was walking around just a few days before, since my hippie days in high school. I just can't get around the concept of grabbing a chicken leg and gnawing on it until you're down to the bone. My rule of thumb has typically been, if I have to chew on a piece of meat more than seven times to get it down, it's going to end up in a waded up napkin.
Cooking the meat isn't a problem since his "diet" consists of meat, potatoes, bread and apple butter. I'm pretty sure, if he had just these four items to eat, every day, for the rest of his life, along with a sweet tea and ESPN on the TV, he'd be a happy camper. Typically the cooked meat would be eaten by him and the dogs while I'd fill up on starch and then more starch and then top it off with a couple of rolls smeared in butter.
I knew there were more items besides my usual of lettuce, apples and oranges in the produce aisle, but I never realized how many more options there were. I feel like an idiot it took becoming a grandma to consider trying these strange looking fruits and vegetables, I thought only the yuppies were eating. I've discovered new vegetables such as sweet potatoes and squash and fruits like kiwi and papaya. With the football frenzy stretching from Thursday to Sunday, he hasn't even noticed his green beans have been replaced with sautéed green peppers and zucchini.
His main concern, as a "manager," in the fourth week of the season is some of his "players" are running out of gas. My main concern, eating all these fruits and vegetables, is I have more gas than I can contain. I'm just glad the dogs are always lying in front of my chair so if the smell drifts his way, I can blame it on them.
I may be losing weight, but the fact of the matter is, chocolate chip cookies never gave me gas.
Sandy Turner lives in Independence. Email her at firstname.lastname@example.com


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It is the constant reaffirmation of the lies that is most disconcerting. To sit in a bus station or an airport and watch people reading their "news", to pass down a street in some suburb somewhere, anywhere, and see the ghostly flicker of the TV beating out its constant messages: buy, consume, worry, fear, be distracted, ignore.
It is not just the lies (Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, the swine flu "pandemic", the banker "bailout", "Al Qaeda") it is also the absence of truth (over one million dead in Afghanistan/Iraq, Dr David Kelly's death was suspicious, ten schoolchildren were recently manacled and then executed by "alliance" forces in Iraq).
There are endless lists of these distortions, all with the same purpose: to forward the agenda of the global elite and to control humanity's response to that agenda.
Witnessing the dream-like trance can be heart rending at times. To see the apathy with which people greet a picture of a child torn by a bomb when if it were their own child they would explode in an agony of grief, with a monstrous screaming for revenge, for the head of the offender. Tell them that their taxes paid for the murder and they will react with the dumb stare that is the failure to understand or the anger that has become so familiar to those amongst us that try to waken the sleeping.
If it needs repeating, Tolstoy's observation sums it up most neatly:
"I know that most men...can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabrics of their lives."
So are religions transmitted down the generations, so is nationalism bred in the bone, so is racism passed from fool to fool, so do the lies and the absence of truth become the very fabric of the false reality, the false reality that allows for the emotionless viewing of a tragedy.
The successful endeavour of the global elite to create a new form of humanity has its shining success demonstrated by this apathy, this failure to be aroused, this dumb acquiescence or this defensive anger. For nearly two generations now they have also succeeded in isolating people from each other, in breaking down the bonds and interactions between people that used to be the breeding ground for organised dissent.
So they have succeeded in saddling the most radical element of society, the student body, with the burden of debt and the expectation of a diminished prosperity if the boat is rocked.
So they have weakened the family.
So they have destroyed the unions and discredited them.
So they have planted agent provocateurs in every movement that took to the streets, to discourage the silent majority from getting out of their armchairs.
So they have wrecked bars and pubs with their smoking regulation.
So they have made it increasingly difficult, with their "anti-terror" legislation, to do anything about anything.
These automatons, created particularly by the constant exposure to the soma of television, are drifting ever closer to a condition of true slavery. Sleeping, they fail to absorb the threat to their liberty that is national debt, anti-terror legislation, corporate invulnerability to the law, the security mentality and its concomitant hardware of cameras and surveiilance. An infrastructure of control has been constructed in full view of humanity and with , mostly, the approval of the poor beings who feel threatened by the great boogeyman, the "terrorist".
The poisonous chemicalisation of the environment is the other side to this coin, aided and abetted by the system of chemical allopathic medicine and the supression of cures. Put simply, it is not in the interests of the elite for you or I to retire early and then go on to live to a ripe old age. As such we become "useless eaters" and a drain on the overall profitability of the herd. So they create cancerous environments and bury the cure.
They want you working and filling their coffers or they want you dead.
So what is this place "We Are" all about?
Put simply, it is a place where human beings that are seeing through the false reality can stand together and say "me too". The internet is full of sites that offer anger against the elite, that offer a daily dose of distraction, a new issue to foam at the mouth at every hour. In many ways they perform the same piece of wizardry as the television. They overload us with issues and "inadvertently" impress upon us the hopelessness of battling with the forces of evil by their sheer quantity of output.
They give no direction. They do not lead. They assume leadership and then take things no further, allowing those that are awake, or think they are, to think that reading this stuff alone is all they need to do. In doing what they do they act as an adjunct to the false reality itself, often creating their own weird myths and eminently disprovable legends such that the entire "movement" of the truth seeking element of humanity, this most dangerous creature to the great beast that controls us, is discredited or made laughable in the eyes of the sleepwalking masses.
They act, either wittingly or unwittingly, as fifth columnists, wrecking what they proclaim to be building, taking the steam out of the engine of change.
Incidentally, they have become rich in so doing.
Many of them are now playing the race card, which in itself is suspicious.
There is no doubt that humanity cannot continue to do what it has always done. We cannot allow ourselves to murder each other in wars without end. We cannot trust ourselves with weapons that could annihilate our species. We cannot continue to allow some to starve to death whilst others have more wealth than a thousand generations would find impossible to spend. We cannot continue to despoil our planet and sow the seeds of future cancers into the air and the rivers and streams and oceans. We cannot continue to exist with such gross injustices as are witnessed daily.
If we continue down this path, there will be nothing worth having in life for future generations. We are crapping in our own nest, destroying the future for our own children and grandchildren.
This has to stop. And to stop it humanity needs to change the rules of everything. Everything we have learned, everything we have been inculcated with, the entire edifice of the false reality has to go.
Humanity has to "Start Again".
That is what "We Are" is about.
A place to stand with others that want to see such change.
A place where over time new ideas will emerge, new ways of being.
Today there are few. If you add your name to the list, we are one stronger.
Like the snowball rolling downhill we will grow. Each one will find one, each of them another. With the inevitability of mathematics one day we are going to be great in number.
And when that day comes we will be the future.
If you join, find a friend.
Ask that friend to find a friend.
Let's hold each others hands and start walking that path, that path that will lead to a better future. One day, "We Are" will be the biggest single grouping of like minded free people on earth. Only we can make that happen.
Love and Peace is our future. Let's go there.


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Head coach George Husack, on first day of tournament: "I think we have done well so far. We have had a mixed bag in terms of results, but results are not the most important thing right now. I am really looking at how guys are putting together their game plans and how they are hitting the ball. In that respect, I am happy with the effort."
Husack, on close matches: "We had a lot of tight matches today which I think is good in the long run. Tommy Hicks pulled out an incredible match and I think that will give him confidence going forward. Even the players that lost tight matches will definitely learn a lot from those losses. They will remember those losses and it will make them work harder."
Tommy Hicks, on match: "In the first set, he had me on the ropes. The first match of the year is always the toughest one of the year and that was no different this year. Once I pulled out the first set, I got a lot of confidence and I went out and played my game in the second set. I have never come back from a deficit like that."
Blane Shields, on competing at Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships earlier this week: "It was a lot of fun and a great experience. Kevin McQuaid and I want to get a doubles ranking this year and from playing there, we saw that it was definitely possible to achieve that."
Shields, on winning singles match: "I haven't played a lot of singles this fall because we were preparing for the All-American Championships so it was good to get out there and play some singles. I was a little nervous since I was the No. 1 seed in Flight C, but I was able to get a win. I am looking forward to playing singles and doubles Saturday."
Brian Brogan, on winning first match in Flight A: "It felt really good to get a win in the first match of the year. I think that my game is coming together right now so hopefully I can play well tomorrow and keep advancing. I want to do some damage in this tournament."


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(AP) Obama nominating Johnson to head Homeland Security
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press
President Barack Obama has chosen former Pentagon lawyer Jeh (jay) Johnson as the new secretary of the Homeland Security Department.
Obama plans to announce Johnson's nomination Friday. He must be confirmed by the Senate before taking over the post most recently held by Janet Napolitano (neh-pahl-ih-TAN'-oh). Napolitano stepped down in August to become president of the University of California system.
A senior administration official on Thursday confirmed Johnson's selection, first reported by The Daily Beast. The official said Obama chose Johnson because of his experience as a national security leader.
The official was not authorized to speak about the nomination on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.


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A UK Daily Mail article on former defense secretary Robert Gates who served in both the Obama and Bush administrations exposes damning allegations in a new book which describes Obama as 'a feckless commander-in-chief who was less interested in winning wars than in taking political advantage of withdrawing America from them' and in one meeting Hillary Clinton and Obama admitted they opposed Iraq troop surge only for what in essence amounted to cowardly, selfish political advantage.
Robert Gates, secretary of defense under Barack Obama and George W. Bush, argues that Hillary Clinton used craven, Machiavellian political tactics in 2006 when she announced her opposition to Bush's Iraq troop 'surge' just before entering the presidential race. Gates writes that subsequently she admitted making that decision as to avoid being politically outflanked by Obama as they entered the 2007 primary season. This blockbuster revelation could prove problematic for Clinton as she prepares what politicos characterize as a second run at the White House in 2016.
From the initial planning stages the former defense secretary says Obama knew his own troop surge – the move of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan – would fail, yet he callously pursued this ill-conceived escalation of the war in Afghan to keep a cynical political promise he made during the 2008 election. Gates also criticized VP Joe Biden, saying he 'has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past 40 years.' The White House timidly responded, saying Obama 'disagrees with Secretary Gates' assessment' and stubbornly defended Biden as a 'leading statesman' while leaving Gates' criticism of Hillary unchallenged.
One of the most discussed portions of this memoir describes a 'remarkable' exchange he witnessed, Robert Gates writes about when 'Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary.' Obama, too, 'conceded vaguely that [his] opposition to the Iraq surge had been political,' Gates recall. 'To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying.'
Yet I would ask Secretary Gates why would it surprise you (or any rational person not beset by leftist politics) that the two leading members of the Democrat Socialist Party would use Machiavellian tactics of 'might makes right' and 'the ends justify the means' to gain political advantage at every opportunity? Remember it was political philosopher Machiavelli (1469-1527) the patron saint of leftist political skullduggery who infamously said, "It is better to be feared than to be loved," or as Lord Acton wrote of Machiavelli, "State power is not bound by moral law."
And Gates recounts how, as the president lost faith in Gen. David Petraeus' handling of hostilities in Afghanistan, he – Gates – lost faith in Obama's commitment to accomplishing much of anything. 'As I sat there,' he recalls, 'I thought: The president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand [President Hamid] Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his.' 'For him, it's all about getting out.'
Now there's the rub as Shakespeare would say: Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has given Republicans something- a huge cudgel to bash Hillary over the head in 2016 presidential elections with new revelations about what the GOP will view as Hillary Clinton placing crass, cowardly political expediency over principle. Gates writes his recollections about Obama's own troop surge, a move of 30,000 armed personnel into Afghanistan meant to stabilize the country in advance of a final all-out troop withdrawal. (Remember that Gen. Petraeus insisted on at least 50,000 troops be sent to Afghanistan in order to insure a successful mission, but Obama refused). The commander-in-chief, Gates says, was 'skeptical if not outright convinced it would fail.' 'I never doubted Obama's support for the troops,' Gates insists, 'only his support for their mission.' That's Washington-speak for Obama didn't believe in the troops or the mission in Afghanistan.
Ultimately, Gates nearly quit over Obama's duplicity and cowardice about Afghanistan, he writes. The Bush administration hold-over reveals in his memoir that he was 'deeply uneasy with the Obama White House's lack of appreciation – from the top down – of the uncertainties and unpredictability of war.' Describing a contentious day when Obama evaluated his Afghanistan strategy, Gates recalls: 'I came closer to resigning that day than at any other time in my tenure, though no one knew it.'
Who then is ultimately to blame when cowardly politicians not only don't pay a political or legal price for using our brave troops as cannon fodder and as faceless means to their own craven, political ends is We the People. It is the American voter who for whatever reason—leftist media propaganda, low information voters, a go-along-to-get-along philosophy, people being willing dupes for political hacks no matter what, cult of personality, etc.—in the end it is us the American voter that puts scoundrels like Obama and Hillary Clinton in office and empower them to elevate their morally bankrupt cronies to make decisions over our lives most tragically deconstructing the constitution and destroying our liberties and freedoms by their socialist and nihilist policies. The ultimate enemy of freedom, natural law and constitutionalism is not Obama, Hillary, socialism or the welfare state, it is the man or woman looking back at you in the mirror… no one else!
Gates views Obama's war Iraq and Afghanistan strategy as wholly servile to preserving and deifying his overarching political career, writing that during his tenure at the Pentagon Obama 'simply wanted to end the "bad" war in Iraq and limit the U.S. role in the "good" war in Afghanistan.' However, the president's specified strategy for withdrawing troops Iraq and Afghanistan, he claims, 'conflicted with his own pro-war public rhetoric (especially during the 2008 campaign), the nearly unanimous recommendations of his senior civilian and military advisers at the Departments of State and Defense, and the realities on the ground.' Finally, he concluded, Obama was 'inexperienced' yet 'determined to change course – and equally determined from day one to win re-election.' 'Domestic political considerations would therefore be a factor, though I believe never a decisive one, in virtually every major national security problem we tackled.'
I repeat Obama and Hillary acted cowardly, callously and with Machiavellian tactics used our brave troops to further their own political careers and once having seized ultimate political power, sacrificed by the tens thousands our U.S. soldiers by expanding a foolish war in Afghanistan, by weakening our stronghold in Iraq and destroying our foreign policy in the Middle East, so that these cowards among heroes could prance around on stages across the world and lie to the American people about how great a statesman they were… Not!
May Gates's memoir and the subsequent public debate it will engender, open up the gates of Hell against Obama, Hillary and the Democrat Socialist Party for committing treason against our heroic troops who gave their lives, blood and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan wars… for nothing.


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of degrees
& programs
Fall: January 15
All Ph.D. applications are evaluated
together after the deadline date.
APPLY ONLINE to this graduate program.
Number Required: 2
From Whom: Letters
of recommendation should be obtained from evaluators, typically college/university faculty or an immediate work supervisor, who can provide insight into your abilities and talents, as well as comment on your aptitude for graduate study.
A year of college-level calculus is a prerequisite
for the Ph.D. program in Finance.
A degree in business, economics, or a related area is expected. An alternative is an
equivalent research and teaching background.
The Statement of Goals should be
approximately 500-1,000 words in length and
should include the following elements: your
specific interest in Temple's program; your
research goals; your future career goals;
and your academic and research achievements.
The GMAT/GRE is required. Applicants should
submit their scores on the Graduate Management
Admission Test (GMAT). In some cases, scores
on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) may be
substituted. In general, scores above
the 80th percentile are expected on each portion of the exam.
Minimum TOEFL score needed to be accepted:
600 paper-based, 250 computer-based, or 100 internet-based.
A resume is required.
Number of Didactic Credits Required
Beyond the Master's: 36
Required Courses:
5 courses in core business areas
4 courses in finance (FIN 701, 702, 703,
3 elective courses with the approval of the
Finance Ph.D. advisor
Internship: No internship is required.
Language Examination: No language examination is required.
Statistics Competency Examination:
An assessment of proficiency in statistical theory and methodology will be made at the end of the first year in the program. The examination is offered in June. Students who fail the statistics competency exam on the first attempt must sit for reexamination prior to the fall semester of their second year. A second failure will result in dismissal from the university. No third attempt is permitted.
Preliminary Examination:
The preliminary examination should be completed no more than one semester after the student completes the coursework component of the program. Students who are preparing to write their preliminary examinations should confirm a date and time with their departmental advisor. The exam is designed to demonstrate the student's critical and interpretive knowledge of current research. The subject areas will be determined, in advance, by the faculty of the student's department, who will write the questions for the exam.
The department committee will evaluate the examination. The student must answer every question on the examination in order to be evaluated. The evaluators look for a breadth and depth of understanding of specific research areas; a critical application of that knowledge to specific phenomena; and an ability to write technical prose. Each committee member votes to pass or fail the student. In order to pass, a majority of the committee members must agree that the exam has been satisfactorily completed.
The dissertation proposal demonstrates the student's knowledge of and ability to conduct the proposed research. The proposal should consist of the following: the context and background surrounding a particular research problem; an exhaustive survey and review of literature related to the problem; and a detailed methodological plan for investigating the problem. The proposal should be completed and approved no more than one year after completing coursework. Upon approval, a timeline for completing the investigation and writing process will be established.
The doctoral dissertation is an original empirical study that makes a significant contribution to the field. It should expand the existing knowledge and demonstrate the student's knowledge of research methods and a mastery of his/her primary area of interest. Dissertations should be rigorously investigated; uphold the ethics and standards of the field; demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the primary area of interest and the broader field of business; and be prepared for publication in an academic journal.
The Doctoral Advising Committee (DAC) is formed to oversee the student's doctoral research and is composed of at least three graduate faculty members. Two members, including the chair, must be from the student's department. The chair is responsible for overseeing and guiding the student's progress, coordinating the responses of the Committee members, and informing the student of his/her academic progress.
The Doctoral Examining Committee (DEC) evaluates
the student's dissertation and oral defense.
This committee is composed of the DAC and at least one additional faculty
member from outside the department.
The DEC will evaluate the student's ability
to express verbally his/her research question,
methodological approach, primary findings, and
implications. It will vote to pass
or fail the dissertation and the defense at the
conclusion of the public presentation.
If any member of the committee decides to withdraw
from committee membership, the student shall notify
the chair of the DAC and
the Program Director. The student, in consultation
with the chair,
is responsible to find a replacement. Inability to find a
replacement shall constitute evidence that
the student is unable to complete the dissertation.
In such a case, the student may petition the
Program Director for a review.
Once review of the facts and circumstances
is completed, the Director will rule on the
student's progress. If the Director rules that
the student is incapable of completing the
dissertation, s/he will be dismissed from
the program. This decision may be appealed
to the Senior Associate Dean of the Fox School of Business and Management. If the student
is dismissed, s/he may appeal to the Graduate
Students who are preparing to defend their dissertation
should confirm a date and time with their DAC and register with the graduate
secretary at least 15 days before the defense.
The graduate secretary will arrange the date, time,
and room within two working days and
forward the appropriate forms to the student. After the graduate secretary has made the appropriate arrangements for the defense, the student
must send a completed "Announcement of Dissertation
Defense" form to the Graduate School at least 10 days before the defense. The
Department will post fliers announcing the defense.
Fox School of Business
and Management
LL5 Speakman Hall
1810 North 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Natale Butto
Director of Graduate Admissions
Program Coordinator:
Elyas Elyasiani
Graduate Chairperson:
Kenneth J. Kopecky
The Finance Ph.D. program is a
specialization within the Ph.D.
program in Business Administration.
The Finance program prepares students
for careers in teaching and research.
Time Limit for Degree Completion: 7 years
Students are required to complete
the degree program through classes
offered before 4:30 p.m.
Fox School of Business and Management
LL5 Speakman Hall
1810 North 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Students seeking a Ph.D. in Business Administration/Finance are required to take courses in economics and statistics in addition to their coursework in finance. Three electives are also permitted.
Research is supported by the Fox School of Business and Management's Advanta Center for Financial Services Studies, the Center for e-Marketing, the Center for Healthcare Research and Management, the Ethics Resource Center, the Irwin L. Gross eBusiness Institute, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, the Institute of Global Management Studies, the Safeguard Scientific Center for Economics Education, and the Small Business Development Center. Research interests of the Fox School faculty are also supported by numerous centers and institutes throughout Temple University.
Not applicable.
The Fox School of Business and Management is currently ranked in the top 75 business schools by Forbes and in the top 50 programs for our Executive M.B.A. The Fox School has also been ranked 14th for technology M.B.A. programs by Computerworld and holds a specialty ranking of 26th in the nation for healthcare management programs. The Fox School has been recognized for research in numerous departments and is in the top 1% of citings of university research.
Not applicable.
The primary foci of the
finance faculty are corporate
finance, financial institutions,
derivatives, and international finance.
The program is primarily
dedicated to producing well-trained
researchers who will work in academic
Non-matriculated students
are not permitted to take doctoral
Assistantships, which offer a stipend and tuition remission, are the centerpiece
of the program's mentorship philosophy.
Assistants provide 20 hours of service
per week, which can include teaching
and supervised research.


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Location & Hours
Special Collections & Archives is located on the main floor of Olin Memorial Library, east side, behind the glass door. Reading room hours during the academic year are Monday through Friday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and by appointment. Summer reading room hours are Monday through Thursday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and by appointment.
You can contact Special Collections & Archives at (860) 685-3864 or by emailing email@example.com.


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Brantley Gilbert, 'Kick It in the Sticks' – Song Review
It's difficult to overstate how important 'Kick It in the Sticks' is to Brantley Gilbert's career and the direction of country music. It's a line drawn in the red Georgia clay — after two releases that held back — to allow those not previously familiar with the Jefferson-born singer to get acquainted with his pacing and style. This is his 'Free Bird,' in that it's the first song fans and critics will mention in association with this talented artist.
While the aggressive guitars and spoken-word delivery can be intimidating, Gilbert's message couldn't be more welcoming. Much like he did on 'Country Must Be Country Wide,' the singer opens his tattooed arms to ask those a little nervous about his rock-rap influences to give him a chance.
"Yeah boy I'm bout to show me a city slicker / How to kick it in the sticks with the critters down on our side of the barbed wire," Gilbert sings to begin the first chorus. The next few lines give birth to one of the better live moments in all of country music:
"Money grows in rows / And if it don't you've gone broke / So we hang out by the bonfire / Just some good ole boys having a dang good time / We crank it up down here /We get loud down here / Throwin' down in the dirty, dirty south down here / Be an all-nighter with the hippies and the hicks / Jocks and bikers they all came to kick it in the sticks."
"That's not country!" some will scream, to which one of the most passionate fanbases in country music will answer, "Oh, shut up!" And there's the line in the sand. Argue if you want, but there's no debating Gilbert's earnest stories and undeniably country lyrics.
There isn't a trace of insincerity detectable when he sings:
"We'll do a little frog giggin', cow tippin' / How bout a little skinny dippin', bass fishin' / Take it easy on the shine / Stay away from other boy's women / That's one damn good way for a man to get it wooped down here / These boys tough down here / Get yourself tore up down here."
Technically, this is a re-release of 'Kick It in the Sticks,' as Gilbert released the song to radio when he was a part of Colt Ford's Average Joe Entertainment label. Country America wasn't ready for this song then, and they wouldn't have been ready now if its impact hadn't been softened by a successful Jason Aldean hit and Gilbert's two previous No. 1 songs. This tune is a powerful shot of sonic moonshine. You'll either love the instant high, or you'll spit it out and go back to drinking Bud Light.
Listen to Brantley Gilbert, 'Kick It in the Sticks'


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The employees of Chicago Title Insurance in the Northern New York area are experienced,
knowledgeable and dedicated professionals working hard to provide our clients with superior
products and services. Our mission is to provide rock-solid security throughout the real estate transaction.
We take pride in our work and our goal is to earn your confidence and trust.
Chicago Title is a proud member of the Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) family of title companies,
one of the nation's largest title insurance and escrow services company in the U.S., and the most profitable.
As a subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial, we have the financial strength and expertise to handle large,
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our website regularly to take advantage of the tools available to you here.


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With Broncos tackle Ryan Clady making it clear he won't sign the franchise tender any time soon, there's a chance Clady will exercise his right to wait until a few days before the start of the season to accept the offer and still earn the full amount of his $9.66 million guaranteed salary for 2013. Broncos V.P. of football operations John Elway realizes that this risk exists, and Elway said so on Friday's Pro Football Talk.
"You know, it could happen," Elway said. "I don't think it's the best thing for Ryan. I think for Ryan to be what he wants to do and what he wants to be as a football player is not good to sit out an offseason. Especially when you have a small window as a football player and how long you play in the league, to be able to sit back and sit out realizing what the situation is, I don't think its advantageous to him or us so I'm hoping that doesn't happen."
The Broncos have yet to apply the franchise tag to Clady, but they undoubtedly will. Elway made it clear that a long-term package won't be offered until Clady has recovered from recent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder.
"I think we'll wait and see how that comes out," Elway said. "Obviously we don't want to jump right in because that's always, especially for a tackle, those shoulders are always tough and we'll see how he comes out of it. But we don't anticipate any problems with that. My understanding is the surgery went well and our training crew says that things look good so we don't anticipate any problems but we'll see how he comes out of it."
The end result likely will be that Clady will remain a member of the Broncos. When he's actually under contract once again remains to be seen.


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Horses in all disciplines may have problems from time to time. These could be handling issues such as leading or trailer loading; ridden problems such as napping, bucking and rearing or other issues such as weaving, headshaking and separation anxiety. These unwanted behaviours can develop for a number of reasons and each case should be treated individually.
Justine will help you understand your horse's behaviour and will work with you to tailor a safe, effective programme for both you and your horse's individual circumstances.
All aspects of your horse's management, environment and training will be taken into consideration. Using only positive, practical methods she can provide effective, long-term solutions.
As a result you will benefit from a better understanding of your horse's behaviour, empowering you to make informed choices and giving you increased confidence with riding, handling, training and competing.
Contact Justine to arrange a consultation.


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- Home
- The Ministry
- Leadership
- The Minister
- The Alternate Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs
- The Deputy Ministers
- The Secretary General
- The Secretary General for European Affairs
- The Secretary General for International Economic Relations
- Special Secretary for Religious and Cultural Diplomacy
- Structure
- Mission and Competences
- Staffing
- Crisis Management Unit
- Diplomatic Academy
- The Directorate General of International Development Cooperation-Hellenic Aid
- Diplomatic and Historical Archives
- Special Legal Department – Responsibilities – Structure
- Centre for Analysis and Planning
- Office for Promotion of Greek Nominations in International and Supranational Organizations
- Supervised Organisations
- Facilities
- International Conventions
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- Greece in International Organizations
- Global Issues
- Parliament and Foreign Policy
- National Council on Foreign Policy
- Current Affairs
- Services
- Citizen Services
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- Career Opportunities
- Contact
Our country is represented in Nauru via parallel accreditation of its Embassy in Canberra.
Political Relations
Greece and the republic of Nauru established diplomatic relations in 1984. Relations between the two countries are good, bilateral and multilateral cooperation is satisfactory.
Useful Information
Click here for information regarding the visa requirements for Greek citizens who want to travel to Nauru.
Click here for information regarding visa requirements for citizens of Nauru who want to travel to Greece.
Nauru -Contact details for Greek Missions
Competent Authority: Greek Embassy in Canberra, Australia


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SKILLMAN, N.J. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) recently announced its region postseason award winners, with No. 15 Georgia College men's tennis senior Jerome Leborgne (Coordimanche, France) being selected the Southeast Region Arthur Ashe Award winner for leadership and sportsmanship.
The No. 27 singles player in the country, Leborgne was a two-time All-Peach Belt Conference (PBC) singles player and a one-time doubles honoree as well. He recently received the school's top honor as Senior Male Athlete of the Year.
Leborgne went 32-27 in spring singles action during his career, including a 38-28 mark in spring doubles as well.
The Bobcat senior now moves on to the national ballot for the Arthur Ashe Award, with results to be announced this week.
Leborgne is the fourth Georgia College men's tennis player to earn Regional Arthur Ashe Award honors, with the most recent one being Jonas Frisk in 1994. No GC men's player has ever won the national honor, but Luiza Biktyakova took the national award for the women's side in 2003.
The Bobcats have wrapped up a 2012 season that saw GC go 12-9, earn the No. 5-seed in the PBC Tournament, and eventually fall in the Southeast Region No. 1 final. The Bobcats put a pairing on the All-PBC first team in doubles and added a second team singles player. The GC men have now made five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information.