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EXTENDED INVITE from Carolina Garrison for October Event
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:57 pm
Post subject: EXTENDED INVITE from Carolina Garrison for October Event
I'm not sure if this is the proper place to extend an invite to the Blue Ridge Base in possibly joining the Carolina Garrison at an October troop in Charleston, SC. I was hoping to get at least a few members from the Rebel Legion to join alongside us at this event. Here is some info about the upcoming October troop.
The Carolina Children's Charity of Charleston has invited the Carolina Garrison to (and is very excited for our participation) in the Carolina Children's Charity - Community Education Day. At this event they are asking if we would be interested in helping to raise money for the charity. I mentioned a possible "Shoot the Trooper" game to help raise $. Currently I am working out the details and working on a simple "arena". This is going to be a really fun event, a great cause and is being held at an awesome location.
Date: Saturday, October 27, 2012
Patriot's Point - Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina Lookout Pavilion (located right on the Charleston Harbor w/ great views of Downtown Charleston, Fort Sumter & Castle Pinckney)
20 Patriots Point Road (right next to the USS Yorktown)
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Event: 11:00 am - 4:00 pm (w/ a 2:00 pm Children's Costume Contest)
2-3 Rock Bands, children's games, cornhole tournament, beer tents, silent auction, local fire dept's, etc...
Expected Crowd: 300+
Secure Changing / Storage Area: TO BE DETERMINED
Trooper Load-In Time: 9:30am-10:00am
Parking: TO BE DETERMINED
Provided food / drinks: TO BE DETERMINED
# of characters requested: TO BE DETERMINED
Here's an idea of the setup for the Shoot The Trooper event. Anybody willing to be shot at by NERF guns (while in costume) to help the Carolina Garrison raise $ for the charity is more than welcomed to play.
Last edited by silverboyd () on Thu Sep 27, 2012 4:46 am; edited 2 times in total
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Jada ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 05 Mar 2008
Posts: 6013
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:54 pm
Post subject:
Thanks for the invite!
Rest In Peace Iceobel - Faithful Dog - August 1997 - July 2011
Rest In Peace Leo - Feline Companion and Comforter - adopted March 2005 - August 2013
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kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin)
Blue Ridge Base CO
Joined: 17 Oct 2010
Posts: 299
Location: Raleigh, NC
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:37 pm
Post subject:
I'll put myself down as 'likely' Charleston isn't that bad of a drive
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:25 pm
Post subject:
That'd be awesome!! If you did come down..which character would you be?
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kwills (Kimberly Wills-Starin)
Blue Ridge Base CO
Joined: 17 Oct 2010
Posts: 299
Location: Raleigh, NC
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:29 pm
Post subject:
Rainbow dress padme is down for refitting and a new wig. I lost 20 lbs over this past year and the gown doesn't fit me anymore.
I can bring either Aayla or my recent handmaiden battle dress outfit, whichever you think would work better.
I've been working on a Classic Leia off and on, but she's not ready and probably won't be.
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:31 pm
Post subject:
kwills wrote:
Rainbow dress padme is down for refitting and a new wig. I lost 20 lbs over this past year and the gown doesn't fit me anymore.
I can bring either Aayla or my recent handmaiden battle dress outfit, whichever you think would work better.
I've been working on a Classic Leia off and on, but she's not ready and probably won't be.
Honestly, Aayla would be awesome. I'll post more details as I get them. Stuff about secure dressing room and what-not.
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 1:29 am
Post subject:
Just a little update...here are 2 of the 3 NERF guns that will be fired upon us to help raise $$ for Carolina Children's Charity. Hope a few of the Rebel Legion can participate with us.
Last edited by silverboyd () on Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:11 am
Post subject:
Just a reminder about this event. Still almost 1 month away. Some cool stuff in the works to promote this event. In talks to appear in a promotional spot on local news station to advertise alongside the Carolina Children's Charity. This is going to be a BIG event. I've been working really hard creating this game setup as well as buying all of the Nerf guns. Really, really, really hoping to get some participants for this Shoot-The-Trooper event. I know gas prices are high but if anyone can make the drive to Charleston, SC it would be much appreciated. Can't wait to reveal more about it...
Please let me know if you can make it for sure.
Here is the Official Event flyer made by CCC
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BaQuar (Hansel Chad Varn)
Active Legion Member
Joined: 08 May 2009
Posts: 219
Medals: None
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:12 am
Post subject:
I may be able to attend this...I am off, that night my family attends a big costume event here in myrtle beach but being that this a couple of hours away, Im down for being obi-wan all day.
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 12:31 am
Post subject:
That would be awesome. You are more than welcomed to join. I'll be at Patriots Point by 9am and the event is from 11-4 this Saturday. Even if you can only stay for part of it. Please let me know If you'll be here for sure and ill send you more details. I'm also thinking of displaying a small table with a few SW props I have built just to show what we do besides trooping and stuff. I you have anything like that....feel free to bring them. I'll have friends there that will watch the props to make sure no one touches or picks them up.
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silverboyd ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2012
Posts: 35
Medals: None
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:51 pm
Post subject:
Unfortunately, the CCC Community Day has been CANCELLED for Saturday (Oct. 27) due to incliment weather. Please stay tuned for the rescheduled date.
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Jada ()
Active Legion Member
Joined: 05 Mar 2008
Posts: 6013
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:37 pm
Post subject:
Really? Oh bummer.
Rest In Peace Iceobel - Faithful Dog - August 1997 - July 2011
Rest In Peace Leo - Feline Companion and Comforter - adopted March 2005 - August 2013
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OTHER COLLECTIONS BY: Valentino
2008 July 7
Valentino - Paris Couture Fall 2008
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(PARIS) Alessandra Facchinetti's first couture effort at Valentino was so well-conceived that the house's reputation as one of the week's highlights was confirmed. Bad news for crashers--next season, bonne chance landing a seat. Shown at Valentino's opulent and appropriately gilded offices at 8, Place Vendôme, Facchinetti played most brilliantly with textures, folding and beading and manipulating as only a great couturier can. The collection began with a few oddities, including a bulbous white suit that looked more Balenciaga than Valentino, but it quickly rebounded with a strapless dress embroidered with wooly pearls, sequins and silver thread. A standout lead chiffon dress embroidered with perforated sequins and pearl-smoked crystal proved that Valentino is still a leading house of eveningwear.

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
Get answers to all of your questions from fellow owners and travelers.
Customize your experience by selecting your role:
Owner, Property Manager, or Traveler
pinecreek>> I am not one to do a lot of complaining.
pinecreek>> If I don't like something I just don't do it anymore.
Hi Pinecreek,
The implication of your statement appears to be that this forum is full of lazy owners (implied in several of your previous posts) and complainers (implied in the post above).
Again, I couldn't disagree more. We are owners who are sharing well thought out opinions & experiences and trying to effect change that would benefit all owners, property managers and even the HomeAway group themselves.
If HA keeps going down the path they are going now they may find themselves without a sustainable business -- it might just be time for them to listen to some of the opinions in this forum and, I'd suggest, you could also lend a sympathetic ear to our concerns. You may not be impacted by the same things that affect some of us but that in no way diminishes the issues we bring forward.
There is nothing that we owners can "just not do anymore". Thinga are being done to us; not by us and we have every right to seek change or restitution.
Where are we headed? (altered from something found online)
Staying with HA/VRBO is like entering into a franchise arrangement in which you no longer have a privately owned vacation home, but become one of their franchise locations to generate money for them. In return, and at their prices, they give you the tools to make that money. It means that you become just like the local Holiday Inn Express owner down the street. Think about it...consider that most vacation rentals are headed there: HA/VRBO has a central website showing rentals all over the world; you will soon book with them and transact with them through their credit card processing service. Marketing of individual locations will continue to be controlled by them on the central website and in search engine paid placements. Criteria will be controlled via the review system, which is now out of your control. They know when you are booked and when you are not through THEIR availability calendar tool.
What began, as a cooperative marketing vehicle for individual privately owned vacation rentals has become an aggressive money-sucking octopus whose reach will eventually insinuate into every part of your business.
Can vacation homeowners wean themselves from working for others? Or will they soon be sporting the same branded signs – a VRBO property? Do vacation homeowners want to give up all the website maintenance, social media management, reservations and booking hassles in exchange for 50% (or whatever %) of their income? No longer would there be a reason to look for: booking or accounting software; marketing companies; web designers or marketers; SEO specialists; etc. New vacation homeowners would only have to financially qualify to be a HA/VRBO partner and have everything provided - including finding a housecleaner. Competition could be managed by HA/VRBO as it is now - owners that pay the most would be promoted more, and with a few changes the company could limit the number of vacation homes in any one area by refusing to accept new franchisees.
Food for thought…
Hi "devinitra', I agree with you {and thanks for the info on AVVO}. I believe it's time for a "journalist" interested in travel writing to look into this...perhaps some wider exposure beyond this Community Forum could create an interest among "users" and affect, at least, a dialoge between HA/VRBO and Owners ...their paying clients. I am not a journalist....and I do not know any personally. I wish I was / did. But, I have been hoping that someone in this Community is / does. I also believe that I have already lost some business because my "prospects" have been redirected to other properties in my area...although I can not prove that I would not have gotten the booking, anyway. We just do not know....but we do know what we pay for....and the odds that have been intentionally placed against us. This is not TripAdviser.com....where I am listed for "free".....so they can "challenge" my advertisement with other offers by other Owners. I do know that I have not had a "booking" with VRBO in months...that I know for certain. I have had inquiries coming in...{spammed} and I've sent my well-formulated, thorough repsonses....into the black hole. No responses back. I work from home...{website designing}...and I answer every inquiry immediately...within minutes. My rates are great for my area...my amenities are abundant....nice location....popular area for visitors....etc.. Actually, I am booked up for most of the winter season, already...I have 6 nights to fill in March. The rest is booked until end March. I am now taking reservations for the late Spring / Summer......BUT none of those bookings came from either VRBO or the other website that is owned by HA....that I am on. I got ALL of my bookings through my own website...which has been online since year 2000. I upgraded to the 16 photos on VRBO, as well....I'm postioned as first on the list in my area....didn't help.
Hi pinecreek, Kindly re-read my post. I actually wrote that I thought you belonged on VRBO, as a private Owner of 4 cabins....I have no issue with you as a property manager on VRBO....as I stated, earlier.
I really don't need to defend myself to anyone. I am what I am. When I first started reading this forum it was stated that they thought that VRBO should not cater to managers. That's what got me started and then I fell into defending VRBO as a business out there to make money. Just like we all are. I guess I was just trying to tell everyone that there is a need for managers and that I represent all my home owners just like I actually own there homes. And if I didn't put them on this web-site the owners probably will. Also in order to be on Google you have to try and get to the top with paying more money. I have 5 photos. What is nice about VRBO they let me link to my main web site unlike trip advisory which I am also on. Someone said they do not pay to be on trip advisory I paid and I pay to be on several others. But I still have to admit VRBO is the # one site I get almost all my bookings from. Sorry but sometimes things are misunderstood through emails.
I don't think you need to defend yourself either. Of course there are Property Managers that care for homes, "as if it were their own". An acquaintance of mine manages her own rental and two others that she does not own...because the folks live too far. She does list on VRBO and HA....using the 2 links she is permitted so people can visit her two other websites to see the two places she does not own. That was my initial point. I read this Community Forum and sometimes it's hard to imagine how badly guests behave in peoples' homes...and how badly managed some rentals seem to be. I also read the Traveler Forum -- to get their point of view. And, I do believe there are some Private Owners that are great at it...and some not so great. And, so many Owners need rely on people like you, the local Property Manager...to be on the spot to help them manage. This is precisely why I am "on the fence" about P.Managers listing on VRBO....because so many Private Owners need people like you to help them with their rentals because they live so far away. I do not need you...I self manage because I live in my area. But, if I did not....I would want someone like you to help me. The lable "vacation rental by owner" is applicable to you, as well....you have 4 cabins that you own and advertise as such....and you have a few friends and family members that you "take care of" business for. I don't see you, pinecreek, as the proverbial 'mega property' company dominating the websites pushing the other "Private Owner" down the list. In principle, and in practice, I think the latter is what can be the most upsetting for the Owners that object to P.Managers on the same website as they are on. You don't seem to be in that category of P.Manager Company. If you own your property, you should be on VRBO.....no need to defend yourself for doing so.....at least not to me.
You know it is nice to talk to someone who has a good head on there shoulders. Its hard enough being in business and competing with people like you who do there own managing. We need to have an advertiser out there as much as anyone else and VRBO is the biggest one so that's why I am there. I do advertise through other sites but they do not even come close to what VRBO does. It's sad to hear others have had such bad experience so maybe that is why they should hook up with a management company. We handle it all for a small fee and then they just collect a check at the end of each month. I know a lot of it has to do with where there property is located. Where I am at it ranks high for mountain tourism. I think like 3rd in the United States and is one of the top destinations for outdoor mountain weddings. So I do have an advantage. But the one thing I have never gotten is an inquiriy not referring to one of my properties as others have stated. Have you?
Pinecreek, I'm not sure who you were addressing, but I sent myself an
inquiry to find out what happens and found out exactly what occurs. What you get
as a potential guest is:
after you already pick out the one property you want from the website and
make an inquiry, then immediately you get ten other options given to you with
photographs and descriptions of the properties from your area. Others have
said the alternatives had varying numbers of photos. Mine all had 16, as
does mine.
I don't agree with that pratice either. You should be the one to send them to another cabin in your area only if yours is already booked. But someone mentioned that they felt when a potencial guests asked about there cabin it doesnt even sound like they are talking about the right cabin. I don't know how that can happen. I noticed if you have to long of a write up about your cabin that guests won't read it all. So I believe short and to the point is the best way to avoid a lot of questions. Also they stated they were getting spam mail from VRBO. Haven't experenced that either.
So far no one has said they agree with the practive of VRBO offering other
properties to potential guests after the guest has already chosen yours.
When someone makes an inquiry for any rental they can send the same note over and over again without re-writing. So if they are inquiring about a condo and say something like "I found your lovely condo" and it goes to an owner that has a cabin or cottage, it is obvious that they are checking many properties, not just yours. I will not even respond to someone that makes a statement about a property that is obviously not mine.
I also believe in "short and to the point", which is why I try to get people to click on the link to our website. I like bullets rather than paragraphs.
Lots and lots of spam, but I have no idea what host site generates the spam.
Oh I have horror stories of managment companies! I am now on my 4th one in 5 years who just takes care of the house and I take care of the bookings. I am sure there are good ones out there but I sure didn't find them! One didn't pay the bills on time, one was putting bookings in without my knowledge but got caught and I could go on and on but this is not the place for that. So for me I will not trust anybody else with my bookings. It's very hard when you have a full time job and you get inquiries from someone who have no idea who they are inquiring. I too did a fake inquiry and found other properties with less photos pop up after I did the inquiry to my house. I am getting discouraged with VRBO/HA but I don't have a lot of time to seek out other options. I guess they have me as a hostage.
I agree with devinitra - the discussion has moved off the main point.
Selecting a property is already a difficult process - and many feel uncertain, especially as they will be parting with a lot of money. Therefore, sending a list of ten other properties at the point when someone has settled on a rental means that VRBO - which we all pay for - is causing confusion and increasing the likelihood that the person will not stick to his or her original choice.
An additional point is that this process bumps up the number of enquiries received without the chance of increased bookings. Therefore, it benefits VRBO and not the owners.
Finally, this process is likely to lead to renters seeking to beat down prices - as they will feel that it is a buyer's market.
In summary, VRBO needs to abolish this new system and go back to what pertained before .... before it is too late.
This is in reply to "pinecreek". You said: "It's hard enough being in business and competing with people like you {meaning me, anja} who do their own managing." I can appreciate that thought. In fact, I never even thought of it that way: We [the Owners] are the competition for you [the Property Manager]. We are all competing with each other, on all levels, to get business......but I never viewed it from your side, until you stated it that way. Thank you for that comment which helped me understand this controversy. I speed read through the posts in this thread because I had not been involved in this issue. I understand better, now, what the Self-Managed Owners have been feeling against the Property Managed Owners together on the "vacation rental by owner" website -vise versa from your viewpoint. I believe it's the 'mega" agencies that are the bigger problem for the S/Owners more...than someone such as yourself {????}. But, I understand the controversy better, now. I think that there is at least one partial solution...and it was someone else's idea in this Community who once suggested that perhaps VRBO should be split into 2 separate sections....the 2 sections would have to be very distinguishable on their HomePage, for the Traveler to choose from. I'm not certain that would appease the S-M/Owners. It does suffice to clarify the two choices for a Traveler. And, in my opinion, it would "justifiy" the presence on VRBO of Owners who must depend on PM / Agency services, to survive....there are thousands of such Owners who need it. And, there are certainly Travelers that want {even prefer}...or don't mind....renting through a PM. Are there awful rentals because of bad P.Management? It seems so, by the comments on this thread. But, it is the good PMs that will garnish the best guest feedback, for their clients/Owners. The others will suffer the bad reviews....and those Owners would have to find another solution...find another local P.Manager who'll do a better job for them. {I apologize to all who think I simplify the situation....it must be very hard, by trial and error, to find a good PM who will care for your place as you do.} I know how much work we do ourselves {myself + husband} to stay on top of our 2 small rental cottages .... we "wear all the hats" ...it's a big investment for us in time and other resources $$$$ . We love doing it...and therefore do it ourselves. But, I read mostly negative experiences with PM rentals in this Owner Community thread [and the Traveler Community section}. But, there certainly are very positive experiences, for Guests that we are not hearing about on this Community. It seems so much passion is involved by both "ranks" of Owners. Here's what troubles me: when I think about the strife between those two types of Owners, I 'kinda' feel it's for naught --- even though I get their 'beef' from both sides. I have been more concerned that we, as providers in the visitor industry, are more threatened by what lies 'outside' our ranks. We all suffer from the same odds that are being put before us...and against us, as Private Owner Rentals. Here are just a few that worry me: State / County / Housing Associations which impose not only local ordinances and LAWS that do not favor Private Vacation Rentals --- which limits their function and even causes them to shut down, in some locations. There are residents {neighbors} that lobby against their neighbors' rentals. It has also become harder for us to cope with the "Advertising Webites" that impose "practices" and "mandates" which directly affect Traveler/Owner communications, position Owner -against- Owner {instead of just facilitating "traffic" to our advertisements so we can do our business w/o interference}. I am also concerned about the advertising on websites -vs- "privacy" issues, for our private properties. That is a tricky one...we want to stay "safe" while we want to be "visible" and keep a measured distance from the "bad class" of unwanted visitors {crime} . The Internet is a double-edged sword, in that respect when I consider Google Maps, Google Earth, for example. [I wondered how they got their street level visuals...until I recently stood in front of one of my rentals, doing landscaping, when their "image" van drove slowly up my road...passing me...filming every house. Do you think I am going to be making an appearance on Google Earth, in front of my house, in the next update for my property's road? ] Those are just a few of the most pressing issues that I see all Owners, both ranks, being faced with, now and into the future. The other stuff like 'what color towels are best' and 'welcome basket content' are so much FUN to share here, but we Owners are really up against some policies that dearly affect our success and survival. We are all in the same situation ....and we can only have a chance to do something about those threats if we are aware of them, and compose ourselves as a strong, like-minded "Owner" industry...not a fractured one among itself. I'm just a small [very] business person that wants us all to flourish, unhampered, so our services as "vacation rental by owner' are not diminished. Too much inner-rank controversy among us weakens our position as Owners who really need to awaken to the fact that there are people 'out there' --- some of whom are your "elected officials" and some your "neighbors" who want to limit us...and even shut us down. I guess that is one reason that I have not paid much attention to the 'inner rank" controversy of which type of Owner should advertise, where....whcih is another area that HA/VRBO should really take up, among others like "reviews", "inquiry spam"...etc... when they have their next "seminar". I can not attend that seminar.....I hope other Owners can. I would like us, Owners, on the other hand, to be focused among themselves, to communicate, to keep abreast of the real "threats" outside us, and network to help each other. P.S. pinecreek: yes, I have seen "competing" offers with all of my inquiries...and the "spam" is what we call the "untargeted inquiry" sprayed by one Traveler to MANY different Owners...without reading any advertisements.
Wow, you have a lot more faith in people who rent vacation homes that I do. My husband and I have been at this since 1995, and rarely do we get an inquiry when someone does not ask about rates even though they are clearly stated on our website. Most recently they state...what is the best rate you can offer? Location is also a typical question that we expect, as well as available dates even though ALL of this info is available on our website. So I have a pre-written response that gets sent to everyone - I just change the dates, note the nightly rate for the desired timeframe and give them a total amount that includes tax and cleaning fee plus the security deposit. The pre-written response also answers all the typical questions that a possible renter will ask. I suspect that 90% of potential renters don't read the info available to them or are just too lazy to read the info. Same goes for people not reading the rental agreement before signing, which is their choice to make. Frankly I get irritated when someone will not click on the link to our website that has sooooo much more info including FAQs. I will not book to someone until they have visited our website. I keep the info on VRBO to a minimum to drive people to our website.
Yes, it is frustrating dealing with the majority of potential renters. But most turn out to be good renters and good guests. Its the handful of lemons that drives us nuts.
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December 7-9, 2010
Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO
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Council Member, Bruce Whitaker email@example.com
Bruce Whitaker was elected to a two-year term on the Fullerton City Council in November 2010. He was selected as Mayor Pro Tem in July 2012, and in the General Election of November 2012 was reelected to a four-year term. Following that election, he was unanimously chosen by his fellow Council Members to serve as Mayor for 2013.Council Member Whitaker serves as Director, District 10 on the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board. He also represents the City Council on the Santa Ana River Flood Protection Agency and the Water Advisory Committee of Orange County/Municipal Water District of Orange County. During 2012, he served as the city's representative to the Orange County Vector Control Board of Trustees. Council Member Whitaker was also appointed in 2012 by the Orange County Board of Supervisors as a Board Member of the County of Orange Oversight Board where he currently serves as one of seven directors. Prior to joining the Council, Council Member Whitaker had been appointed to the Fullerton Planning Commission, where he served three years from November 2007 to November 2010. For more than two decades, he has been active in the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce legislative and local government committees as a private citizen, business executive and more recently representing elected offices. He has been active locally as a volunteer and supporter of Habitat for Humanity. Council Member Whitaker was appointed to the position of District Director to California State Assemblyman Chris Norby in March 2010, where he served for three years. He had been Senior Policy Advisor to then Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby during Norby's seven years in that office. His assignments at the County of Orange included the Sheriff-Coroner Department; the District Attorney's Office; Public Defender Office; Probation Department; the Superior Court System; Orange County Fire Authority; Homeland Security; Emergency Services; the Southern California Association of Governments; and all legislative matters while serving as the primary Field Representative for the office. In 2004, Council Member Whitaker was honored to receive the "Donald Award" as Orange County's Legislative Staffer of the Year. Prior to employment in public service, Council Member Whitaker had worked as a retail manager, Controller/Chief Financial Manager, and as Administrator for a local Medical Center. For several years he was active as a member of TEC (The Executive Committee), a nationwide association of business executives. He is the former Statewide Coordinator for MORR (Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform). The Orange County Bankruptcy erupted in December of 1994, as Chief Spokesman for the Committees of Correspondence of Orange County, Mr. Whitaker debated Sheriff Brad Gates, County CEO William Popejoy, Chapman University President James Doti and others numerous times and authored many guest editorials which helped to defeat Measure R, the bankruptcy sales tax. The defeat of the tax has resulted in more than $2.2 billion in taxpayer savings since 1995. In efforts to help the County of Orange emerge from bankruptcy, Council Member Whitaker was appointed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to serve on three official committees: Orange County Management Audit Oversight Committee; Salary and Benefits Review Committee; and the Ad Hoc Steering Committee on Privatization. Council Member Whitaker founded the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers in 1996. He was president for eight years.


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|"Save a Life, Learn CPR"
We provide CPR Training classes for all of Long Island (Nassau County, Suffolk County), Queens and for groups of 8 or more Manhattan.
First you lose your pulse, then consciousness, then the ability to breathe. Would you know what to do if this happened to a loved one, close friend, or co-worker? Would you know how to perform life-saving CPR?
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UN envoy voices concern over disruption of Easter procession by Israeli forces
UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (APP): A senior United Nations envoy on
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Palestinian Christians through Jerusalem's Old City was disrupted by Israeli
security forces.
CPJ slams attack on TV news anchor Hamid Mir in Karachi
NEW YORK, April 19 (APP): The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based independent watchdog body, has voiced concern over the attack on Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir in Karachi on Saturday and called for bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Ambassador Jilani highlights Islamabads policies, Pak-US ties
WASHINGTON, April 18 (APP): Pakistan's ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani addressed the faculty and participants of 2014 National War College, encompassing a wide range of subjects including positive trajectory in Islamabad-Washington relations, ongoing transformations in Pakistan and developments in the region.
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—Credit: Laura Naranjo, NSIDC.
The word "Arctic" brings to mind frozen ocean waters and barren tundra. It is a harsh landscape that attracts explorers and adventurers. In the winter, most of the Arctic is hidden away under snow and ice. Sea ice expands to cover the entire Arctic Ocean, and the Arctic lands—northern North America, Eurasia, and Greenland, gain a blanket of snow. In the summer, the sea ice retreats to the Central Arctic, opening channels and coastlines to open water. On land, the snow melts to expose tundra, which blooms with lichens, shrubs, and grasses.
The Arctic may be a forbidding place to travel, but its cold weather and unique climate patterns make it an important place for scientists to study. The Arctic influences the weather and climate of the entire Northern Hemisphere, and the cool northern region helps to moderate the climate of the rest of the planet.
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With all the noise and competition on a healthcare trade show floor, it's tough to grab physicians' attention. But Showtime Enterprises, a marketing company with offices in Boston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, has found that giving docs 3-D goggles and immersing them in a virtual reality experience is effective.
"The experience educates a physician about the disease state and how the drug interacts with the patient. We're also able to give them a three- to four-minute presentation that blocks out all the other peripheral noise and gives them an opportunity to concentrate on the particular subject at hand," say Kip Hargreaves, senior vice president of international development, and Larry Weaver, global healthcare consultant. The experience also cultivates a series of questions, tracks a physician's responses, and measures any change in perceptions, Hargreaves and Weaver say.
To teach doctors about mental disorders from the patient' s perspective, Showtime created a tunnel experience—"a 70-foot-long tunnel where they went through seven different stations with a lot of different visual effects," says Hargreaves. An actor, playing the patient, walked the doctors through various life experiences, showing them, for instance, discussions in a doctor's office. The final presentation demonstrated the effectiveness of the client's product.
Even though the process took 17 minutes, "Physicians lined up, waiting for 25 minutes [to get in]," says Weaver. "Doctors were so enthusiastic coming out that their peers were quite anxious to go through the experience." The tunnel was particularly effective because it presented the patient's perspective, says Hargreaves. "There are a lot of misconceptions in the field of neuroscience," he says. "Rather than having physicians talk about what it is like to deal with a particular patient, we told it from the patient's perspective" That approach is especially effective in Europe, adds Weaver.
In fact, Hargreaves and Weaver have found that the immersion experience crosses cultural boundaries. "While there are cultural differences in many countries in how a physician or another attendee interacts with a person in the booth or the information presented," says Weaver, "the 3D experience has proven to be enthusiastically accepted globally."
Showtime's clients include Ortho/Neutrogena, Merck, Bayer Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, and Schering-Plough. For more information visit www.showtimeinc.com.


text: Content Curation Archive Content Marketing Cooperation Functions needed in a successful content strategy aren't always in agreement. Neglecting to coordinate Satisfy the Content Beast's Appetite One the biggest challenges content marketers face is publishing enough quality content to keep 5 Steps to Engaging Content Ben Plomion at ClickZ gives us some great insight into the five C's of How Marketers Publish Content Effectively Chic Marketing published a great article on four ways marketers can effectively push out Gold Medal for Content Curation Valeria Maltoni, the Conversation Agent, explains how content curation is helping brands win the How to Succeed with Content Curation – Thought Leaders Advice This article interviews a number of content and content curation thought leaders to get Content Curation Increases Value for Marketing Nick Mann does a great job of summarizing the benefits of content curation on Feeding the Sustainable Content Beast Introducing a new marketing strategy into the mix can be a challenge. Content curation Thought Leadership through Content Curation Content curation improves thought leadership, according to Tina Dzurisin. In her article published on Facebook Interest Lists – How to use them for content curation This quick read blog provides a how-to for created Facebook pages – using Facebook 1234Next ›Last »


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Some information is missing or invalid below.
Featuring a stunning frame design, this ring will add elegance to any look.
Ring Details:
- Width: 9-mm
- Metal: 10k white gold
- From the Cherish Always collection
Diamond Details:
- Carat total weight: 3/4
- Cut: round
- Color: I
- Clarity: I2
- Setting: prong
Image(s) may be enlarged to show detail.
Diamond weights are approximate. Diamond total weights may vary between .01 and .08 ct. Some diamonds have fewer than 17 facets.
Rings are sized upon order. For this reason, please expect an actual delivery date later than the date listed on your order confirmation e-mail.
Please note, due to the high value of this item, a signature may be required upon delivery.


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Victor D. Brenner designed the Lincoln Cent and his initials appeared on the reverse for a limited time during the first year of issue. The San Francisco issue for the first year, with his initials, is one of the most recognized of all U.S. coins – the 1909-S V.D.B.
Lincoln Cents were issued with a Wheat Ears reverse from 1909 to 1958. From 1959 to the present they have been made with a Memorial reverse.
In 2009, the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, the Mint is planning to introduce a new reverse! Always popular; this series is red hot as there is speculation that the new Lincoln Cent reverse will stimulate additional interest in this series and higher prices for the better dates is on the way!
Set of 20 different
CAC approved. A beautiful Gem matte proof with hues of yellow and gold mixing with subdued red and brown. Very attractive and scarce with a low survival rate from the original mintage of just 2,198.
CAC approved. A Superb Gem first-year Lincoln with fiery red luster and nearly perfect surfaces. Outstanding eye appeal!
Slightly subdued color and a very beautiful coin. The strike is needle-sharp. There are just a couple of insignificant marks and the luster is crisp.
Slightly subdued color and a very beautiful coin. The strike is needle-sharp. There are just a couple of insignificant marks and the luster is crisp.
Highly lustrous and uniformly well-struck with beautiful orange-red surfaces that exhibit a bare touch of brown and thus just misses a full red designation. It's a wonderful example of this classic rarity with nearly mark-free as well as spot-free surfaces.
Lustrous soft orange hue. A lite reverse spot and a few flecks fail to deter from this key date.
CAC approved. Sharply struck with beautiful, pristine surfaces that reveal no significant marks. The luster is vibrant and very nearly full red.
CAC. A stunning example of this classic rarity with intense mint luster that is virtually full red and gorgeous surfaces that show no noteworthy marks. No RB coins have graded higher at PCGS or NGC. This coin could have easily graded full red and you'd be hard-pressed to find an '09-S VDB in any grade with eye appeal that is this strong!
CAC. S/Horizontal S. Well struck with lustrous surfaces of subdued red and light brown.


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The local economy is rebounding, but ever so slowly.
Economic indicators throughout Southwestern Illinois reveal a scant upgrade during the past three years, but one that that is still far from a complete recovery.
The local unemployment rate has gradually declined, home sales have been inching upward, but residential and commercial development has stalled.
As the senior vice president of the commercial banking group at The Bank of Edwardsville, Rick Parks witnessed some increases in metro-east housing construction during the past two years, but commercial development has lagged and the region's manufacturing sector has no new capital investments.
That also means little job growth.
"I would describe it only as a slight improvement from 2011 and '12, at best," Parks said.
And following the recent completion of multi-billion-dollar projects such as the $4 billion Prairie State Energy Campus in Washington County and Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery expansion in Roxana, the region awaits the next big project.
"In terms of hiring, I don't sense that many businesses are hiring," Parks said. "If they are, they are for very select positions. They are not hiring because of anticipated large sales increases. It's more select positions."
Statistically, the metro-east's unemployment rate has improved. But like the region's economy, those gains have been coming slowly and are still far from pre-recession levels.
During the recession's height, in March 2010, the jobless rate reached 12 percent in the eight-county region that includes St. Clair and Madison counties. Three years prior, months before the recession began, the region's unemployment rate recorded in March 2007 was 5.6 percent.
In March 2012, that rate had fallen to 9.8 percent, and then further declined to 8.9 percent by last March.
Local cities have also witnessed declining unemployment rates during the last year. In March, the jobless rate in Belleville was 9.6 percent, 7.4 percent in O'Fallon, 15 percent in East St. Louis, 8.3 percent in Collinsville and 9.6 percent in Granite City.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Department of Economics and Finance professor and Chairman John Navin said there is some improvement in the job numbers, but the statistics do not give economists much to indicate a return to better times.
"Anecdotally, I can tell you I'm definitely seeing an increase in economic activity," Navin said. "But in terms of unemployment, that always lags."
Economist and Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Assistant Vice President Bill Emmons said the local economy remains weak as the unemployment rate shows little improvement.
"The recovery has been very sluggish," Emmons said. "As a whole we have recovered only about 30 percent of the lost jobs since the downturn here. We have come up on four years since the economy has bottomed during mid-2009. We're a third of the way back and that really hasn't varied much into 2010, '11, '12 and into '13."
The unemployment remains higher in Illinois than in surrounding states. The latest figures from the Illinois Department of Employment Security reveal that while the U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in March. Illinois' jobless rate was 9.4 percent during the month compared to the 6.7 percent rate recorded in Missouri.
"Unemployment is more distinctly different across the river in Illinois," he said. "Unemployment looks higher across the board there compared to the Missouri side."
The region's largest employers are already at risk. Navin said local school districts in Belleville, Cahokia and Edwardsville have just announced teacher layoffs, which is a reflection of Illinois' budget deficit, which is expected to surpass $8 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.
"When you see reduction in teachers, it hits local consumers pretty hard," Navin said.
McKendree University professor of economics and MBA program Director Frank Spreng also said the metro-east's jobless rate suffers under the weight of the Illinois' high unemployment, which factors into the region's slow job growth.
"My conclusion is the unemployment front in Illinois is doing badly and the metro-east reflects that," Spreng said. "It is progressing, but very slowly."
Spreng said the possible closure of Scott Air Force Base, where workers have recently been forced to take furloughs following federal spending cuts, would deeply impact the local economy.
"The greatest threat there is to this part of the community is if there are any big changes to Scott Air Force Base."
Gov. Pat Quinn recently announced an initiative to increase Illinois' minimum wage to $10 an hour. Currently at $8.25 an hour, the state already has one of the highest minimum wage rates.
Oregon has the highest minimum wage rate, at $8.95 an hour, while Illinois, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Nevada have minimum wages at $8.25 an hour. Eighteen states have minimum wages greater than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and 18 other states have minimum wages at the federal minimum wage. Four states have minimum wages below the federal standard and five have no minimum wage requirement.
"Our businesses are only as good as the employees who drive their success," Quinn said earlier this year. "Nobody in Illinois should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty. That's a principle as old as the Bible. That's why, over the next four years, we must raise the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour."
But Spreng said raising the state's minimum wage to $10 an hour would only discourage employers from hiring, especially considering that the state is already surrounded by other states where the minimum wage is a dollar lower.
"In a state with high unemployment, why would you want to make it harder for people to get jobs?" he said. "It just doesn't make any sense at all."
Real estate transactions have recently been on the rise. But despite record-low interest rates and increasing sales, Parks said prices have slowly bounced back, just like consumers coming back onto the market.
"We continue to read that housing prices are going up, but we're really not seeing that among our customers that much," Parks said. "Appraisal values are still coming in depressed and I think the buyers are still looking for deals."
Emmons said housing prices are still hard to gauge in the region and the rest of the state. He said it depends where prospective buyers are looking.
"It does look like it's just a little more sluggish on the Illinois side," he said. "Building permits are little bit weak."
Home sales are slowly rising, but remain below pre-recession levels. In 2006, St. Clair County recorded 3,388 sales, and Madison County had 3,605. That annual total had fallen each of the following five years. Then, last year, sales numbers increased for the first time to 2,182 in St. Clair County and 2,658 in Madison County.
Navin said he does not expect the interest rate for home mortgages to change anytime soon. He said there has been more activity in the local housing market, but not enough to change the average interest rates.
"I don't think they're going to budge," he said. "I don't think they're going to move a whole lot. It's going to take a lot to get them to the point where it will slow down people from borrowing. We're at a historic low as far as the cost of money."
According to statistics from government-sponsored mortgage lender Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed mortgage rates have hovered around 3.5 percent during February and March.
Parks said his bank does not conduct much lending for farm land transactions, however, he has witnessed growth in the local agricultural sector. He said recent cost per acre in the Land of Lincoln recently topped $6,700 per acre, an all-time high price.
"The last 10 years have been very good for agriculture, for the most part," he said. "They have some reserves and they're fairly healthy. Land prices continue to remain high, but increase. It seems to be counter to any other kind of real estate right now."
Emmons also said the region's agricultural industry has faired well, even during the recent drought.
"Incomes were pretty good and also because of insurance," he said. "There were also higher crop prices, for those who had a crop."
Contact reporter Will Buss at email@example.com or 239-2526.


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FDNY members carry 343 flags, representing the members who died at the World Trade Center in 2001, in the 2013 St. Patrick's Day Parade.
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The cold and snow did not dampen the spirits of hundreds of FDNY members who marched up Fifth Avenue for the 2013 St. Patrick's Day Parade. The annual celebration, known as one of the largest in the world, included performances by the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums Band and FDNY EMS Pipes and Drums Band. Immediately after the Parade ended, the EMS Band members traveled to Dublin, Ireland, where they were invited to play in numerous St. Patrick's Day celebrations.


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April 25, 2014
On Monday, November 17th, I went to Hollymead Elementary School to visit with a great group of 1st graders. While I was there, we talked about the many different ways a meteorologist can study the weather. We discussed many different weather instruments, like the thermometer, anemometer, and the wind vane. We also talked about how important computers are to a meteorologist. Then finally we talked about how the weather forecast goes from the TV studio to the viewer at home through the television or the internet. We all got together for a big group picture at the end and we all had a great time!
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ZXTune is a set of portable cross-platform applications (GUI/CLI) intended to play chiptunes. It features advanced ripping possibilities that let you search for music in big data sets. Supported ZX Spectrum chiptunes formats include AY, AS0/ASC, FTC, GTR, PSC, PSG, PSM, PT1, PT2, PT3, SQT, ST1, ST3, STC, STP, TXT, TurboSound, VTX, YM, CHI, DMM, DST, PDT, SQD, STR, TF0/TFE, TFC, TFD, and COP. The Commodore64 SID format is supported. Supported PC chiptunes formats include 669, AMF, DMF, FAR, FNK, GDM, IMF, IT, LIQ, PSM, MDL, MTM, PTM, RTM, S3M, STIM, STM, STX, ULT, XM. Supported Amiga chiptune formats include DBM, EMOD, MOD, MTN, IMS, MED, OKT, PT36, SFX. Supported Atari chiptune formats include DTM, GTK, TCB. The Acorn chiptune format DTT is supported. Supported compressed formats include CHARPRES, CC3, CC4, CC4PLUS, DSQ, ESV, GAM, GAMPLUS, HRUM, HRUST1, HRUST2, LZH1, LZH2, LZS, MSP, PACK2, PCD61, PCD62, TLZ, TLZP, TRUSH. Supported archived/container formats include FDI, HOBETA, HRIP, LHA, RAW, SCL, TD0, TRD, ZXZIP, ZIP, RAR, SNA128, and Z80.
Blender is a free 3D animation studio. It includes tools for modeling, sculpting, texturing (painting, node-based shader materials, or UV mapped), UV mapping, rigging and constraints, weight painting, particle systems, simulation (fluids, physics, and soft body dynamics and an external crowd simulator), rendering, node-based compositing, and non linear video editing, as well as an integrated game engine for real-time interactive 3D, and game creation and playback with cross-platform compatibility.
LiVES is a simple to use yet powerful video effects, editing, conversion, and playback system aimed at the digital video artist and VJ. It runs under Linux, BSD, Mac OS X/Darwin, IRIX, and openMosix. It is frame and sample accurate, can handle almost all types of video, and is fully extendable through plugins and the included plugin builder tool. It can also be controlled remotely using OSC.
Asymptote is a powerful descriptive 2D and 3D vector graphics language for technical drawing, inspired by MetaPost but with an improved C++-like syntax. It provides for figures the same high-quality level of typesetting that LaTeX does for scientific text. Asymptote is a programming language as opposed to just a graphics program. It can exploit the best features of script (command-driven) and graphical user interface (GUI) methods. High-level graphics commands are implemented in the language itself, allowing them to be easily tailored to specific applications.
For users on Linux and Unix, KDE offers a full suite of user workspace applications which allow interaction with these operating systems in a modern, graphical user interface. This includes Plasma Desktop, KDE's innovative and powerful desktop interface. Other workspace applications are included to aid with system configuration, running programs, or interacting with hardware devices. While the fully integrated KDE Workspaces are only available on Linux and Unix, some of these features are available on other platforms. In addition to the workspace, KDE produces a number of key applications such as the Konqueror Web browser, Dolphin file manager, and Kontact, the comprehensive personal information management suite. The list of applications includes many others, including those for education, multimedia, office productivity, networking, games, and much more. Most applications are available on all platforms supported by the KDE Development. KDE also brings to the forefront many innovations for application developers. An entire infrastructure has been designed and implemented to help programmers create robust and comprehensive applications in the most efficient manner, eliminating the complexity and tediousness of creating highly functional applications.
SMPlayer is a complete media player for Windows and Linux. It uses MPlayer as a playback engine, which is capable of playing most video and audio formats (AVI, mkv, WMV, MP4, MPEG, etc.). It can also play and download YouTube videos. One of the most interesting features is that it remembers the settings of all files you play. So if you start to watch a movie but have to leave, when you open that movie again it will resume at the same point you left it, and with the same settings: audio track, subtitles, volume, etc.
The next generation of aircrack.
A CMS that takes up the challenge of managing Web content in today's multi-channel environment.


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Dictionary definitions
- Enter a word for the dictionary definition.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Node \Node\ (n[=o]d), n. [L. nodus; perh. akin to E. knot. Cf. Noose, Nowed.] 1. A knot, a knob; a protuberance; a swelling. [1913 Webster] 2. Specifically: (a) (Astron.) One of the two points where the orbit of a planet, or comet, intersects the ecliptic, or the orbit of a satellite intersects the plane of the orbit of its primary. (b) (Bot.) The joint of a stem, or the part where a leaf or several leaves are inserted. (c) (Dialing) A hole in the gnomon of a dial, through which passes the ray of light which marks the hour of the day, the parallels of the sun's declination, his place in the ecliptic, etc. (d) (Geom.) The point at which a curve crosses itself, being a double point of the curve. See Crunode, and Acnode. (e) (Mech.) The point at which the lines of a funicular machine meet from different angular directions; -- called also knot. --W. R. Johnson. (f) (Poet.) The knot, intrigue, or plot of a piece. (g) (Med.) A hard concretion or incrustation which forms upon bones attacked with rheumatism, gout, or syphilis; sometimes also, a swelling in the neighborhood of a joint. --Dunglison. (h) (Mus) One of the fixed points of a sonorous string, when it vibrates by aliquot parts, and produces the harmonic tones; nodal line or point. (i) (Zool.) A swelling. [1913 Webster] 3. (Math., Computers) A special point in a graph or diagram which is attached to other points by links. It is often labeled and represented graphically as a box or circle. A node may represent any object which is related to other objects in a conceptual structure that can be represented as a graph, the relations being represented as links between the nodes. [PJC] 4. (Anat.) A small mass of tissue differing from other tissue in its immediate vicinity; as, a lymph node. [PJC] Ascending node (Astron.), the node at which the body is passing northerly, marked with the symbol [astascending], called the Dragon's head. Called also northern node. Descending node, the node at which the body is moving southwardly, marked thus [astdescending], called Dragon's tail. Line of nodes, a straight line joining the two nodes of an orbit. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Knot \Knot\ (n[o^]t), n. [OE. knot, knotte, AS. cnotta; akin to D. knot, OHG. chnodo, chnoto, G. knoten, Icel. kn[=u]tr, Sw. knut, Dan. knude, and perh. to L. nodus. Cf. Knout, Knit.] 1. (a) A fastening together of the parts or ends of one or more threads, cords, ropes, etc., by any one of various ways of tying or entangling. (b) A lump or loop formed in a thread, cord, rope. etc., as at the end, by tying or interweaving it upon itself. (c) An ornamental tie, as of a ribbon. [1913 Webster] Note: The names of knots vary according to the manner of their making, or the use for which they are intended; as, dowknot, reef knot, stopper knot, diamond knot, etc. [1913 Webster] 2. A bond of union; a connection; a tie. "With nuptial knot." --Shak. [1913 Webster] Ere we knit the knot that can never be loosed. --Bp. Hall. [1913 Webster] 3. Something not easily solved; an intricacy; a difficulty; a perplexity; a problem. [1913 Webster] Knots worthy of solution. --Cowper. [1913 Webster] A man shall be perplexed with knots, and problems of business, and contrary affairs. --South. [1913 Webster] 4. A figure the lines of which are interlaced or intricately interwoven, as in embroidery, gardening, etc. "Garden knots." --Bacon. [1913 Webster] Flowers worthy of paradise, which, not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 5. A cluster of persons or things; a collection; a group; a hand; a clique; as, a knot of politicians. "Knots of talk." --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Palms in cluster, knots of Paradise. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] As they sat together in small, separate knots, they discussed doctrinal and metaphysical points of belief. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] 6. A portion of a branch of a tree that forms a mass of woody fiber running at an angle with the grain of the main stock and making a hard place in the timber. A loose knot is generally the remains of a dead branch of a tree covered by later woody growth. [1913 Webster] 7. A knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance. [1913 Webster] With lips serenely placid, felt the knot Climb in her throat. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 8. A protuberant joint in a plant. [1913 Webster] 9. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] I shoulde to the knotte condescend, And maken of her walking soon an end. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] 10. (Mech.) See Node. [1913 Webster] 11. (Naut.) (a) A division of the log line, serving to measure the rate of the vessel's motion. Each knot on the line bears the same proportion to a mile that thirty seconds do to an hour. The number of knots which run off from the reel in half a minute, therefore, shows the number of miles the vessel sails in an hour. Hence: (b) A nautical mile, or 6080.27 feet; as, when a ship goes nautical eight miles an hour, her speed is said to be eight knots. [1913 Webster] 12. A kind of epaulet. See Shoulder knot. [1913 Webster] 13. (Zool.) A sandpiper (Tringa canutus), found in the northern parts of all the continents, in summer. It is grayish or ashy above, with the rump and upper tail coverts white, barred with dusky. The lower parts are pale brown, with the flanks and under tail coverts white. When fat it is prized by epicures. Called also dunne. [1913 Webster] Note: The name is said to be derived from King Canute, this bird being a favorite article of food with him. [1913 Webster] The knot that called was Canutus' bird of old, Of that great king of Danes his name that still doth hold, His appetite to please that far and near was sought. --Drayton. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Knot \Knot\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Knotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Knotting.] 1. To tie in or with, or form into, a knot or knots; to form a knot on, as a rope; to entangle. "Knotted curls." --Drayton. [1913 Webster] As tight as I could knot the noose. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 2. To unite closely; to knit together. --Bacon. [1913 Webster] 3. To entangle or perplex; to puzzle. [Obs. or R.] [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Knot \Knot\, v. i. 1. To form knots or joints, as in a cord, a plant, etc.; to become entangled. [1913 Webster] Cut hay when it begins to knot. --Mortimer. [1913 Webster] 2. To knit knots for fringe or trimming. [1913 Webster] 3. To copulate; -- said of toads. [R.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]


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'Tis the season for Mountain Cedar
Dreaded pollen already making life miserable for some
It's back. For the first time this season, the dreaded Mountain Cedar pollen showed up in local pollen counts on Sunday.
The cedar season typically starts this time of year and goes all the way into February, causing big problems for anyone who suffers from it.
Wilbur Riley has a big problem with allergies. It is so bad he has to get shots twice a week to get relief. Like most people in this part of the country, Mountain Cedar pollen hits him hard.
"I get irritated eyes, watery eyes, running nose, the itch, you name it, it's there," Riley said as he waited to see his allergy specialist Monday afternoon.
His physician, Dr. Mirie Hosler, said she is already seeing plenty of patients complaining of similar symptoms and the cedar season is just getting started.
"The pollen season actually started a few weeks ago but not consistently," Hosler said. "We were just seeing a few grains of pollen in the air but that's enough for some people to start to have symptoms."
Hosler predicts it will be a bad year for cedar suffers. This year's weather conditions have set up the perfect storm for a nasty cedar season.
"We had a good amount of rain during the spring and intermittently during the summer and fall," Hosler said. "So the Mountain Cedar trees are pretty happy and healthy so we predict they're going to have a very good pollen season which isn't good for us."
Believe it or not, the cedar trees in the Texas Hill Country and South Texas produce the highest pollen counts in the world. While most people are affected to some degree, it can take a few years for newer residents to feel the impact.
"There is often a lag period of a couple years of exposure," Hosler said. "Allergies are a learned response so it takes a couple of years to become allergic to Mountain Cedar or any allergen and then it keeps getting worse after that."
Desperate for relief cedar suffers will try anything.
Some believe eating the berries from the trees will help build up an immunity but Hosler said that might not be a good idea.
"Some of the proteins in the berries unfortunately may be the same proteins that are in the pollen," Hosler said. "In that type of situation, a person could have a very serious allergic reaction."
Instead of trying home remedies, Hosler suggests sticking to over-the-counter medications. If that doesn't work it's probably time to see a professional.
"We see a lot of this and we can give prescription strength medication and even give people allergy shots to prevent problems in the future," Hosler said.
Wilbur Riley said he can't imagine what his life would be like if he didn't get his bi-weekly allergy shots.
"It helps a lot," Riley said. "The shots really pay off for me."
Copyright 2012 by KSAT.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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A bold technology turnaround of the sort that Steve Jobs engineered at Apple is rare, and it doesn't come from looking backward. Although Apple's venerable Macintosh computers recovered market share under Jobs, what saved the company and allowed it to thrive were the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, all new lines of business.
As Yahoo! yhoo +0.08% Yahoo! Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $36.38 +0.03 +0.08% April 17, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 28.76M AFTER HOURS $36.45 +0.07 +0.19% April 17, 2014 7:55 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 176,937 P/E Ratio 30.05 Market Cap $36.72 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $383,012 04/18/14 What's Ahead for AT&T's Stock ... 04/18/14 This Week 04/17/14 The Morning Download: SAP's Cl... More quote details and news » (ticker: YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer tries to revive the fortunes of the beleaguered Web giant, she must look beyond the company's battered display and search advertising business to new revenue opportunities. Mayer, 37, who was appointed last July after more than a decade running product development for Google goog -3.67% Google Inc. Cl C U.S.: Nasdaq $536.10 -20.44 -3.67% April 17, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 6.76M AFTER HOURS $538.15 +2.05 +0.38% April 17, 2014 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 34,753 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $377.07 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,250,730 04/11/14 Heartbleed Bug's 'Voluntary' O... 04/08/14 Turkey Slightly Loosens Grip o... 04/03/14 Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Steps... More quote details and news » (GOOG), likely understands all that.
Mayer declined to talk with Barron's about her plans, but one approach she should consider is a full-court press on mobile, which is by far the fastest growing area of the Internet—and where Yahoo! could stake a fresh claim.
The bigger challenge may be to figure out what Yahoo! wants to be when it grows up. The company started life in 1994 and went public in 1996 with no mission other than the sardonic intent of being "a more efficient way to waste your time."
Yahoo! never found a real mission, but got swept up with the Internet craze. A succession of CEOs led it further and further from its tech roots, through the portal phase, the media-company phase, and finally into the has-been phase (see chart below).
In just five years, through 2012, Yahoo!'s share of the display-ad market fell to 9% last year from 18%, according to research firm eMarketer, and could fall again this year, to 7.7%, the firm predicts. Google's share of display ads in that time has surged to 15% from 2.9%, and Facebook's share has come from nowhere to 14.6% (see charts, Not a Pretty Picture).
Meanwhile, Yahoo!'s share of search-based advertising, even with the help of Microsoft msft -0.97% Microsoft Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq $40.01 -0.39 -0.97% April 17, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 36.40M AFTER HOURS $40.03 +0.02 +0.05% April 17, 2014 7:40 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 290,861 P/E Ratio 14.66 Market Cap $332.11 Billion Dividend Yield 2.80% Rev. per Employee $841,040 04/18/14 HEARD ON THE STREET: For Apple... 04/17/14 Microsoft Has Sold More Than 5... 04/16/14 HEARD ON THE STREET: Google's ... More quote details and news » (MSFT), fell to 6.5% from 18% over that same period, while Google continued to dominate with 73% last year.
So far, Mayer has been as vague as possible about her plans. Her refrain on her first couple of earnings conference calls has been "Yahoo! is focused on making the world's daily habits inspiring and entertaining." That's not a strategy to hang one's hat on.
But the important thing is that "there are adults, finally, in charge," as Brett Harriss, who follows the company for Gabelli & Co., puts it, referring both to Mayer and to activist Dan Loeb of Third Point, who joined the board last year.
At $24.69, the shares fetch 22 times this year's expected earnings of $1.14 a share. In reality, they are much cheaper than that. Looking at the pieces, there is the Web advertising business—what's known as core Yahoo!—but there is also Yahoo!'s 24% stake in Alibaba Group Holding, the Chinese e-commerce company that Yahoo! acquired in 2005.
ALIBABA IS DESCRIBED as the Chinese equivalent of Amazon.com amzn +0.38% Amazon.com Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $324.91 +1.23 +0.38% April 17, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.25M AFTER HOURS $324.31 -0.60 -0.18% April 17, 2014 7:50 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 47,101 P/E Ratio 550.69 Market Cap $149.51 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $634,714 04/18/14 How to Spot a Market Bubble 04/17/14 What's Barnes & Noble's Surviv... 04/17/14 Amazon Workers in Germany Stri... More quote details and news » (AMZN) and eBay ebay +0.51% eBay Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $54.97 +0.28 +0.51% April 17, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 6.87M AFTER HOURS $54.97 0.00 0.00% April 17, 2014 6:20 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 643,853 P/E Ratio 24.99 Market Cap $69.65 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $479,134 04/16/14 Yahoo CEO Aims to Bring Back C... 04/16/14 Google Glass, Not Yet on Shelv... 04/16/14 Why Alibaba Is a Big Deal More quote details and news » (EBAY) combined, because the total value of goods and services it facilitates in China is more than both the U.S. titans put together.
Yahoo!'s stake in Alibaba is worth an estimated $4.98 per share after taxes, and its 35% stake in the publicly traded Yahoo! Japan 4689.to +2.11% Yahoo Japan Corp. Japan: Tokyo ¥484 +10 +2.11% April 18, 2014 3:00 pm Volume : 11.28M P/E Ratio 22.29 Market Cap ¥2756.32 Billion Dividend Yield 1.83% Rev. per Employee ¥66,243,300 04/07/14 Asia Tech Deals to Continue as... 03/28/14 Asian Shares Mostly Higher 03/27/14 Deals of the Day: King Digital... More quote details and news » (4689.Japan) is worth $8.99. Additionally, Yahoo! has no debt and $5 a share in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet. Back out those assets, and Yahoo!'s core business fetches just 3.9 times this year's projected $1.50 per share in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
That's less than what the New York Times and other musty old-media stocks fetch.
Some bulls think an Alibaba initial public offering could be worth far more than the $34 billion at which Yahoo! values the whole company—as much as $60 billion or more. At that price, you would be getting core Yahoo! for nothing.
"Two things are working for Yahoo! shares right now," says Gabelli's Harriss, who rates its stock Buy with a $33 price target. "One is the low valuation on Yahoo!'s core business, the other is an IPO of Alibaba Group."
It's expected that Yahoo! will sell half of its Alibaba stake in an IPO, which could come as soon as next year, an event eagerly awaited by Yahoo! bulls. "There's speculation Alibaba is just ready to go," says Harriss.
If Alibaba represents a catalyst for the impatient, the expectation of true investors is that Mayer will improve the fundamentals at core Yahoo! by as soon as this year.
Admittedly, Yahoo! shows few if any signs of such a revival at present. Revenue was up a fraction of a percent last year, at $4.99 billion, including a decline of 1% in Yahoo!'s display advertising.
Mayer noted that it was the first annual increase in revenue for Yahoo! since 2008. But given that online advertising is an expanding segment of an industry typically linked to overall economic activity, to have no growth amid an economic upturn is bad indeed.
Total Internet advertising dollars likely rose 17% last year for the top seven digital properties combined, according to eMarketer. Google saw 32% revenue growth last year, and double-digit growth every year prior to that, save for a modest 8.5% in 2009.
Mayer's visible efforts at this point appear to focus on "optimization," something she learned quite a bit about while at Google. In numerous presentations, Mayer has explained how little things could have a big impact. For example, a half-second delay in delivering search results, she's said, could slash search activity—and ad revenue—by 20%.
So, Mayer has championed things such as redesigning Yahoo!'s home page to be faster and simpler. Yahoo!'s e-mail program for Apple's iPhone has been overhauled, along with its app for Flickr, its photo-sharing service. Both are clean, slick, and have garnered early praise.
When Mayer was asked about her plan at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in mid-February, she offered similar sorts of tweaks. Yahoo! has perhaps 60 or 70 different kinds of applications, she observed, when in fact only a dozen are probably worth investing in. The implication is that she will kill many of those projects.
And the company's ability to serve ads could be improved. "Whenever, for example, you have the opportunity to serve an ad, and you don't, that's lost money, and this happens literally millions, if not billions, of times a day."
BUT A TURNAROUND AT Yahoo! is not going to be accomplished by just improving the old businesses. The best Yahoo! can probably hope to do is to stanch the decline in display ads and reinvent the company as a key player in mobile Internet, which tech watchers believe has already surpassed desktop use in the U.S.
Mobile ads bring lower prices than display ads on the desktop, which is an increasing concern for Google and Facebook. But Yahoo has lost so much market share in display ads that it almost doesn't matter what prices are.
Unlike Apple aapl +1.14% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $524.94 +5.93 +1.14% April 17, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 9.94M AFTER HOURS $525.00 +0.06 +0.01% April 17, 2014 7:56 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 214,778 P/E Ratio 12.94 Market Cap $468.54 Billion Dividend Yield 2.32% Rev. per Employee $2,163,820 04/18/14 Wealth Effect: The Advantages ... 04/18/14 HEARD ON THE STREET: For Apple... 04/17/14 Samsung, Globalfoundries Agree... More quote details and news » (AAPL), which is selling mobile software, hardware, and content, or Google, which is pushing its mobile Android operating system, or Facebook, which hopes to dominate phones with a single application, Yahoo! has no vested interest in any given mobile device, platform, or application.
It can float freely above the fray and serve as a technologist to all the application developers and publishers who would like to have a greater presence on phones and tablets but don't have the resources of a Google or a Facebook. With its knowledge of how to handle billions of data requests, and its knowledge of large-scale databases and clusters of servers that answer those requests, Yahoo! could get paid a fee to build, maintain, and host mobile applications for those companies.
Already there are signs that the company is going that way. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo! has been in talks with Apple to expand the two companies' collaboration. It is evident as well in Mayer's hiring of some key technical talent, including former Nokia chief technologist Benoit Schillings.
In the meantime, there's the stock, which has some valuation support, and there's that tantalizing prospect of an Alibaba IPO.
If core Yahoo! can earn a more reasonable multiple of, say, seven or eight times projected Ebitda, it could push the stock to $31. Any improvement in the growth and profit outlook could lead to more multiple expansion, pushing the stock to perhaps the mid-$30s.
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