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Are Cosmetic Dental Treatments Painful?
One of the first questions that some patients ask their cosmetic dentist before a smile enhancing procedure is how much it will hurt. Cosmetic dentists work hard to make cosmetic dentistry treatments a comfortable, pleasant experience for each patient. Some cosmetic dentists offer massage chairs, your choice of music, or a DVD selection to help make your stay more relaxing.
In addition to comfort amenities available in individual cosmetic dental offices, many cosmetic dentists provide sedation dentistry. Dental sedation allows you to feel calm during a dental procedure, and relaxes muscle tension for greater comfort in the dentist chair. In fact, with dental sedation you can leave your appointment with no remembrance of the experience! Ask if your cosmetic dentist is a certified sedation dentist.
New technological advancements such as dental lasers are also making new strides in reducing dental pain. Laser dentistry is generally less invasive and pain reducing than traditional methods. If your cosmetic dentist offers laser dentistry, healing time may be quicker as well.
Ask your cosmetic dentist about sedation dentistry, dental lasers, or any other comfort amenities the office may offer. Your cosmetic dental experience should be as comfortable as possible. To find a cosmetic dentist near you, search for a Crown Council dentist near you.


text:
If you've got a grievance with someone, what's the best thing to do? Confront them about it, ask a friend, send them an email maybe? Nah, not in Hollyoaks – you take them hostage instead! That's the line of thinking for unhinged Joanne Cardsley and killer Cameron Campbell anyway!
Elsewhere there is scandal brewing as Ryan Knight is caught getting involved with prostitutes – will a honey trap involving Goldie McQueen give Ste Hay the ammunition he needs to topple his rival? Elsewhere, Mercedes is taking drastic action that could land her in serious trouble.
We have rounded up a full guide to the Hollyoaks action ahead – complete with a spoiler roundup and in depth episode guide. What else could you possibly need?
10 Hollyoaks spoilers
- Ste and Warren spot Ryan speaking to a prostitute and heading off with her and think they have enough to topple him.
- Joanne urges Prince to make an allegation against Louis to get him suspended and then plans to make her move.
- Sienna meets up with Joel and plays the victim to win him on side and when Nico's urn arrives, her determination for revenge peaks.
- Warren uses Goldie to try and trap Ryan but will he fall for it and, if so, how will Amy react?
- When Mercedes finds out that Sandy wants Lexi and JJ to live in South Africa with her, she refuses to hand them over and Ellie considers informing the police.
- Joanne has Louis exactly where she wants him and as she takes him hostage in James' flat, he realises that his life could be in danger.
- James invites John Paul to move in after an argument but forgets that this would mean having baby Matthew too.
- Cameron takes drastic action when Celine tells him she won't cover for him anymore. Soon, her life is in danger…
- Not wanting a baby bump on her wedding day, Leela tells Courtney that she wants to postpone the big day.
- Leah throws a tantrum when her advert airs and she realises that her voice has been dubbed over.
Monday 28th November
Leah throws a tantrum when her advert airs and she finds out her voice has been dubbed over. Meanwhile, Warren offers to help Ste to topple Ryan and when they find him going off with a prostitute, they think that they have him where they want him.
When Louis grabs Prince's arm when he is wound up, Joanne sees a way to use it to her advantage. Ellie tells Mercedes that Sandy wants Lexi and JJ to live with her in South Africa but Mercedes is not giving them up without a fight.
Tuesday 29th November
Louis is suspended from the school after Prince makes allegations and Joanne steps in to offer her legal advice. When Louis refuses, she suggests James instead. Ste and Ryan ask Goldie to act as bait for Ryan.
Ellie threatens to call the police as fears grow that Mercedes plans to run away with Lexi and JJ while Sienna gets Joel onside with a sob story and finds her hunger for revenge growing after Nico's urn is delivered.
Wednesday 30th November
Lisa and Zack try to get to the bottom of Prince's allegation against Louis while Simone makes a shocking discovery when she visits Margaret. Meanwhile, an unhinged Joanne closes in on Louis and takes him hostage in James' flat.
Warren lies in wait with his camera as Goldie works her charm on Ryan and gets him on his own while John Paul gets the wrong end of the stick when James suggests he stays the night as the McQueen house is so crowded.
Thursday 1st December
Joanne's actions have dramatic consequences as Louis fears for his life.
Celine and John Paul complain about their love lives so Celine arranges for James to join them. James officially asks John Paul to move in but forgets to consider that Matthew would have to come too.
Friday 2nd December
After Celine loses out on a promotion at the hospital, she decides to leave for a new life on the Caribbean Sea. As she tells Cameron that she won't cover for him anymore, he decides to take drastic action and Celine ends up in serious danger.
Leela tells Courtney that she wants to postpone the wedding due to her baby bump while Joanne's actions lead to a discovery.
The Soaps Newsletter
Includes exclusive content, spoilers and interviews before they're seen on the site. Find out more »

subset: commoncrawl


text:
AG Issues Statement Regarding BP's Filing Suit
In response to media requests regarding BP's filing suit last week against Claims Administrator Patrick Juneau, Attorney General Jim Hood issued the following statement:
"BP has found it cannot dictate to a purely independent claims administrator like it did to its prior administrator Kenneth Feinburg. BP made a deal and now it is trying to back out of it. Claims administrator Juneau sent BP scenarios and possible results as to how the claims process on this issue worked, and BP signed off on every one. No BP is trying to go back on its word."


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Old School Design
I though I'd post this excerpt from a previous Rock, Paper, Shotgun interview because I think it helps convey my motivation, vision and aspirations for Grim Dawn.
RPS: The action RPG seems to be becoming more popular of late, which is great news. How will Grim Dawn stand out – what makes it unique?
Bruno: I think we're probably unique just in the sense that, while most studios are redesigning their games to be more casual-player friendly, we're busy making Grim Dawn more complex and probably casual-player hostile.
I think older, traditional PC games had a certain magic that has been lost in most modern games. Bethesda comes to mind as one of the few big companies left still making games with the kind of depth and magic that games had when I was a kid. I mean no disrespect in saying this, but their games are sort of complex, clunky, and often rife with imbalance and exploit. The very sort of imbalances and exploits that I delight in discovering and abusing but not the sort that are so bad they ruin the game. They are the sort of complex but loose systems that leave the player wondering how far they can push the limits of what is possible, and where there are no hard caps obviously and arbitrarily restricting what they can do. I sometimes wonder whether this sort of thing is intentional or not. I certainly add some deliberate measure of this in my games where I can get away with it.
I love systems that are asymmetrical and chaotic, where the player can't easily see the tell-tale structure and patterns of deliberate, organized human design. The real world isn't always perfectly planned or sensible and I don't think game worlds should be either, otherwise you see the hand of the developers everywhere you look and it erodes the magic of feeling like you are in a living and unpredictable world. Exploration of game systems is all about the discovery of what is possible. When there is too clear a structure and pattern to the design, not only does it feel artificial but the player is much more quickly able to assess the limits of the system. Unfortunately, most of the industry is moving away from this sort of design.
There has been a growing realization in the industry, propelled in previous years by Wii sales and more recently by the astronomical success of social games like FarmVille and smartphone games like Angry Birds, that the vast scale of the casual market makes it a veritable goldmine. Publishers and developers are increasingly looking to boost their sales by attracting more of the casual market and increase their revenue by getting this larger audience to make a lot of small purchases.
To court the casual audience, developers are simplifying game systems and minimizing the potential for inexperienced players to make bad choices. They're reducing the amount of time it takes to finish games, adding a constant stream of visible rewards for increasingly simplified achievements, and allowing players to pay for success when the effort of achieving it through the game proves too challenging or time consuming. We've come a long way from my childhood, where failure in most games caused you to start completely over from the beginning, to a point where it is impossible to fail in many games and in some you can just pull out your credit card when you decide it is time to win.
The sad reality though, is that this isn't some evil corporate executives have perpetrated upon humanity, it's what people want. At least, some people. Well, as it stands, it appears to be quite a lot of people and that is why the industry and gaming is largely trending in this direction. This is all anathema to what I love about games and is much of the reason that I've forgone earning an income the past couple years and instead slave away, with a few other dedicated souls, to create a game that we hope will embody some of what we loved about the games of yesteryear.
While the casual market is certainly large, the hardcore gaming audience has also grown tremendously over recent years. As the heavyweights of the industry move to grab a piece of the massive casual market I think this creates an opportunity for a smaller company like us. I believe many in the more traditional, core gaming audience are starting to become frustrated with the changes they're seeing to their most beloved games. They say you can't please all of the people all of the time and I think this is certainly true. Our belief is that we can perhaps better please some of the people most of the time by catering Grim Dawn more closely to the desires of that traditional, core audience (and ourselves).
So yeah, what are we doing that is unique? Moving backwards some might say…
Might wanna reword it and you could pretty much post it as a creed for the game and/or Crate itself.
Now playing:
PC: Mount and Blade : Napoleonic Wars, League of Legends, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
Waiting for: Grim Dawn, Warcraft 4.
The casual market is also creating a gold rush.
In a world where so many games are available, letting players put down a game is like a death sentence. Especially for AAA+ titles that need to make high revenues. Yeah, they got their money but not their attention; will they buy the next DLC or expansion that's released?
Simplification doesn't have to remove depth, and depth doesn't have to be complex and chaotic.
I like to see developers remove redundancies in design and improve the gamer's over all experience. Is that not a goal of good game design? When you use something its purpose should immediately make sense. Though that is a difficult goal it's never a bad goal to have in my opinion.
As you've said in another thread, Medierra, removing or changing some of the more tedious and time consuming mechanics reduces loss and enhances profit.
Ultimately there's going to be a better way to do something and that's the general direction of good design. It can be called simplification, sure, the mechanic is easier to understand but that doesn't necessarily remove depth from the game.
I do agree with your comments about Farmville, but those games are built to psychologically rape and then monetarily pillage anyone who has never experienced the joy of a true game. I tried a Zynga game, realized it was a rip-off and stopped playing as did many other gamers I hope.
It's true that players want to be able to buy gear and 'win.' I would hope that the game isn't built solely around winning because you have the 'right gear' but is instead built mechanically around the player having the right skills to beat the encounter. D2JSP is a classic example of player's demand to spend money on otherwise time consuming game character improvements.
Finally, I remember reading this a while back, it's nice to have it posted in the forums – it's always nice to hear your thoughts on certain topics, it's always an interesting read.
Legendary Fan & KickStart Supporter
Last edited by Scryer; 03-21-2012 at 06:52 AM.
Very well said (I am not sure I've read it whole when you first posted it).
The only thing I am afraid of is, from what I've been seeing on myself lately, whether I am still able to get back to the good old days of harder gaming we experienced back then, after being served all the easy/guiding hand sh-t and getting used to it in today's games... =(
I guess I will have to start over when GD comes out. Can't wait for it though! =)
--TQ:IT Death Effects Mod maker (DEM), Former ASYLUMSMOD, Masteries & Krater(alpha) Tester, Masteries Calculator maker--
Best music label of all times: www.g7welcomingcommittee.com/
"Boxed Deluxe Edition" support
One example right off the top of my head is what Chris Park, of Arcen Games did with AI War. It was a novel approach based on the fact that he was making a game that he wanted to make. Not what was considered trendy by mainstream standards. And that is why the game has a fairly clever AI and the multiplayer experience is co-op only against the AI, without the ability to attack one another in deathmatch style. And so behind the simple graphics is an amazingly deep yet (admittedly) difficult game.
And Scryer, I completely agree with everything you said too. It was well written.
interesting reading both from med and Scryer (even if I don't always agree to what you write) but in this case I do and both posts make for interesting reading
I think for me personally, many games are losing sights of their roots, or what makes games great. I think this fault is squarely aimed at triple A titles and publishers in general
many games from publishers do not hold any interest for me, for me skyrim was a disaster on so many levels, and cost a great deal to make
many games are just becoming mediocre in quality, maybe because the studio is trying to cut corners to release games as fast as possible? or maybe the publishers are putting a great deal of pressure on game developers to deliver the goods, I think another reason we might be seeing more and more causal games, less complex ones, is that at least for the Xbox live service, M$ is now charging $40,000 per patch http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...ng-costs-40000
I think this will certainly hurt both gaming and gamers in general, smaller developers may not have that kind of funds to release patches on that service, so nih publisher owned developers will get away with it, as they can afford it, but if those developers are just doing the same old COD / BF types games, we lose creativity, as the smaller studios won't be able to compete
still, I think if they move back to the PC market, and make games for that platform, we may start seeing again and I think this is the case, more creativity, wider choice of games, even if they are smaller then a triple A title, but I feel some indie games are far more enjoyable then many triple A tiles anyway
the main problem also is, publishers are wanting games to look really good, high quality art work, and sounds, so for quite a few games, to be on the latest engine, or having to license a new engine everytime they make a new game (which of course adds to the cost of the game)
maybe Im babbling? but I think indie studios are the future of gaming, while kickstarter system won't help for every game, but I think if more smaller studios make games that the gamer wants, without publisher interference, then the quality of the game will go up, along with the types of games people can play again, instead of only been able to play COD 15, BF 10 etc
sometimes going back to the roots is a good thing, and I think both GD and Crate are doing that
Legendary key holder since 20/12/2010
Co-op Digital Deluxe Bundle supporter I hope GD is a success
Gaming trends
Certainly I check Indie titles before the AAA these days. In most cases, a lot more bang for the buck, and the devs have a true desire to produce a quality product and actually support their customers -- what novel concepts..
I also see a lot more developers taking risks and doing things that are exciting and interesting.
Honestly, I was not overly impressed by Skyrim. I certainly did not feel it was worth full price.
There's absolutely no question in my mind that most of the large gaming studios have lost sight of what the PC market wants or deserves, and this seems to be especially true in the RPG genre. The general mantra seems to be simplify, simplify, simplify, in an attempt to make them more accessible to the casual gamer. While I have no direct complaint about streamlining that's done correctly, oversimplification really detracts from replay value, and from the gaming experience in general. This is especially bad for a single player game.
I'm glad that there are a few folks developing games which go back to the roots and re-introduce the concepts and play elements that made them great in the first place. Keep up the good work all..
What exactly is it that makes Grim Dawn hardcore? It's designed around the same instant gratification mechanics and last I read, you didn't even want to put players through the tedium of having to talk to an NPC for quests.
I'm pretty sure this will appeal to casual players and hardcore players (whatever those terms mean).
I guess what it comes down to is the terms. The terms "casual" and "hardcore" have always been sort of vague and applied inconsistently to different types of player behaviors. I think this is even more the case nowadays as, over time, I think the definition has also shifted somewhat.
Circa 2000, the difference might just be someone who played an RTS online competitively or played the campaign on the hardest difficulty vs. someone who bought an RTS just to play single-player through the campaign on normal or easy difficulty.
In 2012, I think definition has shifted to where RTS is considered a hardcore genre and anyone who plays it would be seen as being on the hardcore end of the spectrum. Meanwhile, the casual end of the spectrum has become pseudo gamers who may have only played 1-2 games before and have never played anything more complex or challenging than Wii Sports or FarmVille.
To me though, what makes a game hardcore is challenge and complexity, not pointless tedium and lack of reward. Those aren't really qualities we want to emphasize in our game.
And when I say "complexity," I don't mean that it should be difficult to figure out. A game can have complex mechanics but be intuitive to understand. The type of complexity I'm talking about is just stuff like allowing players to allocate skill and attribute points to figure out their own character builds with a risk that they could make poor decisions that reduce the effectiveness of their character. Even just having multiple types of damage and resistances would be considered complex by some.
Having an open world would also be considered a fairly hardcore feature, at least among publishers. I mean, players might go in the wrong direction and not know how to look at the map! If we wanted to make this really casual player friendly, we'd be building it totally linear with fairly narrow levels and obvious choke points so that it was virtually impossible to get lost and not know where you needed to go.
Challenge is also a big definer of games on the more hardcore end of the spectrum. Grim Dawn won't be ultra challenging until you get into higher difficulties but even from the start, I'd say it is fairly challenging relative to what I'd consider a casual game. I mean, for starters, you can die and lose experience. In very casual games, you can't even lose. You can't get killed while trying to water your corn in FarmVille, you basically just get congratulated for doing what you were told. In Grim Dawn, you're on a treadmill of ever increasing reward but also ever increasing challenge and risk. When I was working on Titan Quest, our project manager at THQ said that he thought stun damage was too unfriendly for casual players and that no enemies should stun on normal difficulty. Not only is it quite possible to get surrounded and beaten to death by zombies outside the starting town but you can get stunned, frozen, slowed, set on fire, end up in a room covered with deadly acid spatters, etc, all in the first hour of playing.
So, yeah, ultimately, it depends what we mean when we're talking about hardcore and casual. I think many casual, traditional gamers will like Grim Dawn and be able to play through normal difficulty but we're not dumbing the game down so that ultra-casual, inexperienced Facebook gamers can play it without any challenge or complexity.
I consider myself to a fairly hardcore gamer who loves challenge and enjoys intuitively conveyed, complex mechanics but I have a very low tolerance for tedium and unnecessary bullshit. I don't want to spend my time in a game clicking unnecessarily on the UI, repeating monotonous steps that are neither challenging nor enjoyable, learning through trial and error, or struggling to figure out things that are just poorly conveyed.
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Police Fears For Missing 9 Year Old From Logan
A nine-year-old boy has gone missing south of Brisbane, with police appealing for help to find him.
Missing 9yo boy, Woodridge - Have you seen this boy? He was last seen at 3.30pm riding his scooter in Wagawn Street, Woodridge. Wearing school uniform - dark shirt and shorts. More info >>>>https://t.co/2OoZJCZUGq pic.twitter.com/mvoqS5TbBQ— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) November 6, 2018
"Preliminary information suggests the boy did not want to return home after school and rode off on his scooter," the police report states.
"He was last seen around 3.30pm in Wagawn Street entering Wagawn Park.
"Police hold concerns for the boy due to his age."
Police believe he did not wish to go home after school on Tuesday. He was last seen entering Wagawn Park in Woodridge about 3.30pm.
He was in school uniform and riding a scooter, police said.


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April 27, 2007
The new atheism-2: Breaking down the wall
In the post-Galileo world, elite religion and elite science have tended to get along pretty well. Opposing the heliocentric model of the solar system has been roundly criticized as a stupid thing for the Catholic church to do and, since then elite science and elite religion have seemed to find a modus vivendi that enables them to avoid conflicts.
A large number of people, scientists and non-scientists alike, have managed to believe in a deity while at the same time being more-or-less active members of churches, temples, and mosques. They have managed to do this by viewing the creation narratives in their respective religious texts as figurative and metaphorical, and not as records of actual historical events. Such people also tend to believe that the world is split up into two realms, a belief which is captured in a statement issued in 1981 by the council of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences which says "[R]eligion and science are separate and mutually exclusive realms of human thought whose presentation in the same context leads to misunderstanding of both scientific theory and religious belief."
Most of the people who subscribe to this kind of statement see no conflict between scientific and religious belief structures because each one deals with one of two distinct worlds that do not overlap. So scientists are supposed to deal with the physical world while religion deals with the spiritual world. Such people tend to view the periodic legal and political skirmishes between the creationist and scientific camps as the work of overzealous extremists, both religious and atheist, who are attempting to mix together things that should properly stay separate. They feel that their own point of view is very reasonable and find it hard to understand why everyone does not accept it.
Stephen Jay Gould, who was himself not religious, was a key advocate of this model of peaceful coexistence between the two worlds (or as he called them 'magisteria') of science and religion, going to the extent of even writing a book Rocks of Ages advocating it. He gave this model a somewhat pretentious name of Non-Overlapping MAgisteria or NOMA.
What this model successfully did was to allow elite religion and elite science to work together against those Christianists who sought to base public policy on religious beliefs. Thus in the periodic skirmishes over teaching intelligent design, prayer in schools, and other church-state separation issues, scientists and elite religionists tended to be on the same side, jointly opposing the attempts of people who sought to replace secular society with one based on a fundamentalist Christian foundation.
But this model peaceful coexistence model has some fatal flaws (that I have discussed before) and can only be sustaine by people strictly compartmentalizing their beliefs to avoid having to come to grips with the problems. Others are aware of the lack of viability of this model but have sought to downplay the problems in order to preserve the political alliance between the elite science and religion camps. But this is where things are changing.
The initial challenges to this peaceful co-existence model came from intelligent design creationism theorists like Berkeley emeritus law professor Phillip Johnson, who sought to drive a wedge between elite science and elite religion by arguing that one could not simultaneously be a methodological naturalist and a believer in god, since the former excluded the latter. His aim was to force elite religionists to make a choice: are you with god or with atheistic science?
In doing so, he was conflating the two different concepts of methodological and philosophical naturalism to serve his rhetorical purposes. As I have written before, one is not forced to be a philosophical naturalist (which essentially means atheist) in order to be a scientist, but there is little doubt that elite scientists are overwhelmingly atheist or agnostic.
But more recently, the attack on the peaceful coexistence model has come from a visible and vocal group of atheists who have also argued that this 'two worlds' model that allows elite religion to coexist with elite science is essentially a sham, and that intellectual honesty demands that this be pointed out. This new rise in vocal atheism can be seen everywhere in a flurry of books and films and blogs. There has been a rise in organizations seeking to bring the views of atheists to the public's attention and a new lobbying group has been created called the Secular Coalition for America (SCA) that includes atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and humanists, and seeks to increase the visibility of non-theistic viewpoints in the United States.
As intelligent design creationism seems to be a spent force these days, receiving one setback after another since the Dover verdict, and reduced to a traveling road show that exhorts the true believers, this new attitude by atheists challenging the two-worlds model comes too late to help the cause of Johnson and his allies to advance the teaching of intelligent design creationism in schools by creating a split between elite science and elite religion. But this new outspokenness amongst atheists has caused some ripples in the fabric of elite opinion, and is sometimes referred to as the 'new atheism'.
Some key voices in this new attitude are Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation and The End of Faith), Daniel Dennett (Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Consciousness Explained and Breaking the Spell), Victor Stenger (God: The Failed Hypothesis) and Brian Flemming (creator of the film The God Who Wasn't There).
The soothing view of advocates of peaceful coexistence that religion is a neutral ideology that some followers take in an evil direction while others take in a good one is being challenged. The new tack taken by the new atheists is that even though individual religious people are often very good, that is largely irrelevant. The problem with religion is that, at the very least, believing in a god requires one to suspend rational and critical thinking, and that is never a good thing. As Voltaire said: "If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities."
Thus they have taken on the task of highlighting the fact that belief in a god has no credible objective evidence to support it and thus should not be believed by any person who supports reason and science. As Dawkins, one of the most forceful and vociferous among them, says: "I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented."
It is this new front between elite science and elite religion in the science-religion wars that has caused some turbulence.
More to come. . .
POST SCRIPT: Cricket World Cup final
The final of the World Cup is being played between Australia and Sri Lanka on Saturday, April 28, 2007. The game starts at 9:30 am (US Eastern time) and will probably last around six hours, barring a complete rout by one side.
I have been told that people can see a live telecast of it in DeGrace 312 (Biology building). If you want to see what cricket is like as played by two good teams, you should drop by. There is a charge which I think is $10.00 but am not sure since I just heard about it.
In the semi-finals, Sri Lanka beat New Zealand and Australia beat South Africa. South Africa came into the tournament as the favorites but gave several lack-luster performances and barely made it into the final four. Australia has been the dominant team, crushing their opponents, and are undefeated, so they are now the heavy favorites for the title. Sri Lanka has been playing well too, but they will have to be absolutely at the top of their game to defeat the powerful Aussies.
It should be a good game.
TrackbacksTrackback URL for this entry is: http://blog.case.edu/singham/mt-tb.cgi/13805
Hi Mano,
I followed your link to an old post to look
for these "fatal flaws" but I did not really find
them. Not that I really find Gould's argument
NOMA especially compelling. Not that I
find Dawkins' counter-arguments particular compelling either.
It seems to me that in these science/religion
discussions there are many things that
one "side" assumes about the other that
are distortions or oversimplications
about what is going on. Generally speaking,
most scientists know very little about the wide
range of ideas addressed within serious
scholarly theology. Generally speaking most
theologians know very little about the wide range
of ideas addressed in modern science.
For example. I read a book today where a
famous writer on the history of religion
pointed to developments in string theory
as evidence that scientists are beginning
to contend with "reality that is
more than just time and space" and took this
as an indication that the purely rationalistic
naturalist world-view of science was breaking
down. In my view, this is just as
incomplete a characterization as someone
asserting that having any religious perspective
automatically requires the adaption of several
logically inconsistent and rationally dubious
assertions about the nature of physical
For example, I once listen to a discussion
between two friends of mine, one an atheist and
the other a Methodist miniser. My atheist friend
stated that he in particular rejected to the
idea of god since this implied the existence
of a supreme "super-natural" being who breaks or
at least bends the laws of nature so as to
to intervene in the affairs of humankind.
My atheist friend said "I can't believe
that a god like this exists." To which my
minister friend replied, "Well that's not the
kind of god I believe in either." In other
words, if we characterize either science
or religion incorrectly, then we will
draw the wrong conclusions. And the details
matter, I believe.
Indeed, while it is certainly the case that the
literalist/fundamentalist characterization
of religious expression has been the "loudest
voice" over the past decades, it is not the
only voice and there many discussions going
on within and beyond current mainstream
religious scholars and theologans who
view the issue in a very different way.
As authors such as Borg, Gomes, Spong, and
others have argued, the important issue is
not a debate about whether or not god
has a physical existance and what this means.
The important issue is not whether
the events described in the religious
narratives of any given religious perspective
"really happened?" The important is issue is
what do these stories mean and in what way
do these stories enrich our lives and
inform our experiences?
Similarly, I do not see how it follows that
"viewing the creation narratives in their
respective religious texts as figurative
and metaphorical" subsequently implies
that views held must be "sustained by
people strictly compartmentalizing
their beliefs to avoid having to come to grips with the problems." Which problems would these
be, exactly? What particular compartmentalizing
is required? I've never understood this
"compartmentalizing" issue. If one takes a
view of one's religious experience, how is it,
then that this view must be compartmentalized
from any other aspect of ones experience? This
word "compartmentalization" gives the
impression of some kind of matter/antimatter
kind of thing -- as if allowing to come in
contact would result will be some kind
of cognitive rational meltdown or explosion.
I just don't see it.
I have a similar comment regarding
the "new atheist" (more assertive) movement
in the US and elsewhere. While it is certainly
a good and refreshing thing to have more
voices calling for reasoned and rational
approaches to all kinds of problems, there is
a little bit of a screetchy tenor to some of
the statements made by Dawkin's and Harris
in their unrelenting inclination to denounce
any viewpoint that is not strictly atheistic.
You characterize their stance that that those
who would seek some sort of "peaceful
coexistence" are "intellectually dishonest"
-- this is a rather loaded term, I think.
It is not clear to me in what manner those
who follow a liberal religious/theological
perspective being "anti-rational?"
At what point is intellectual honesty
being violated? My impression is that this
is not really a logical argument -- rather
it seems this is a kind of complaint
"ad hominem".
Indeed, by declaring what sounds like an
"all out intellectual war" on all
kinds of religious experience and expression,
people like Dawkin's and Harris alienate a
substantial group of potential allies --
those who embrace a more liberal religious
perspective who would otherwise be very
inclined to support what might be a much
more important efforts to counter the most
objectionable statements and policies
of the literal "factual-belief" based
fundamentalists of many kinds.
And finally, although I have no evidence
to support this, I worry a little that
by arguing the "hard atheism" perspective
that a scientific viewpoint can never be
consistently held with a religious viewpoint,
we approach the "slippery slope" whereby
some might take this as permission to have
a prejudice against the scientific
acceptability and credentials of any scientist
or science teacher working in any field
who openly held or practiced _any_
particular religious perspective. I worry
that there are those who might interpret
Dawkins and Harris to mean that anyone
who followed some religious tradition ought
to be disqualified or at least suspect as
being in some way "logically flawed" and
therefore unqualified implicitly unworthy
to participate in science or scientifically
approached enterprises. And while I agree
that in our present culture here in the US,
much unfair discrimination presently falls
upon those who would openly declare their
personal atheism, I would not want to see
the reverse occur either.
A few itemized postscripts to my posted comment here:
(1) Sometimes when one posts a comment or a sends
an email, there is a element of "sender-remorse".
In addition to wincing at my numerous grammatical
and spelling errors, I realize that my post comes
across as a little "screetchy" itself. Chalk this
up in part to the general tendency that computer
typed communications tend to convey a stronger
and more negative sentiment than the sender
intends. I am far from being an expert on
any of these matters and to the extend that
I have expressed something in a manner
that implied my having factual understanding
about any of this instead merely an
impression or personal opinion, is the
extent to which I should have expressed
myself more carefully.
(2) I will confess that I did not read your
earlier post ("The new atheism 1") as carefully
as I should have and so some of my responses
that should have taken this into context did
not do so. In particular, I did not quite
digest at first your characterization
of "elite" and "popular" subclasses of both
science and religion. This of course
relates to my points about the
misunderstandings and conflicts between the
different arenas of science and religion, and
my comments would have been better if
I had reflected upon these ideas more
(3) It's worth emphasizing that I recognize
that in reporting on the approach and views
of the "new atheists", you have thus far
primarily reported on these developments
without stating your opinions on them
(even as I have expressed some opinions of
mine on these in these comments). I just wanted
you and your readers to understand that I was
not necessarily attributing Dawkins' and
Harris' views on these matter to you
and/or others.
I think that whether a scientists is religious or not does not affect how their peers view them. As I have said many times, all that science requires is methodological naturalism, not philosophical naturalism. In fact, most scientists don't really know or care what the religious beliefs of their colleagues are. so that danger of religious scientists being "second class" has not arisen and will not arise unless, like Behe, they start inserting supernatural explanations for phenomena.
The compartmentalizing issue and the "fatal flaw" I referred to are connected. It ultimately comes down to the mind/god-body problem. How can a supernatural (and presumably non-material) agent interact with the material world if the spiritual and materai worlds don't interact? Compartmentalizing means to avoid addressing that question.
Now if your religious beliefs are such that you say that it only refers to your sense of beauty and awe and personal meaning, then there is no problem. Everyone has those experiences. Some assign it to god, others to the workings of the brain. A problem would only arise if someone says that it is god who is pushing their neurons around to give them a sense of joy or whatever. Then we are back to the two-worlds problem again.
Whether the "new atheists" are pursuing an effective political strategy is a good question that should be debated. I think they are driven by the sense that the old peaceful coexistence model seems to be leading to a rise in fundamentalist beliefs in the US and in parts of the Islamic world.
Hi Mano,
Thank you for your thoughtful response to
my response to your post.
Yes, I agree entirely with your assertion that
whether a scientist is religious or not generally
speaking does not affect how their peers view them. I've never seen evidence of this kind
of discrimination in a professional context,
(although I have seen in expressed in
some other contexts, for example occasionally
we see people like Bill Maher and others
label religion as a "neurological disorder" and
so forth.)
So my worry is not based on evidence of current
discrimination in science but a fear of future discrimination if these "mental disorder"
meme catches on.
Perhaps my worry is unfounded.
I agree that this "material/non-material"
business is problematic at best.
I suspect that there are more people who
simply do not understand this issue than
there are people who are in denial about it.
Having said this, it occurs to me that
there are other "quality dimensions"
besides "physical/spiritual" that one might
consider. For example, one could
make a spectrum of questions that spanned
from "well-structured" to "ill-structured".
Science is well-positioned to attack the
former, and less well-positioned to attack
the latter. But just because a problem is
ill-structured does not mean it is not
important. Also, I am not saying that there
are any classes of problem that science might
not be ultimately able to tackle at some level.
This "God of the gaps" game seems an obviously
a losing proposition.
Finally, regarding your point "...some assign
to god, others to the workings of the brain.."
in the context I was talking about both
"assignments" being allowed at the same time
with no "pushing neurons" as you say. I
suppose one could complain that this is a
case of semantics -- "you say tomato".
I agree wholeheartedly (whole-forebrainedly?)
that there is strong evidence to support the
notion that the experience of human
consciousness and emotion, including the
perception of awe and beauty is a direct
result of anything other than the function
of the human brain which is a by-product
of natural evolution of the human
animal/machine. However I also think
that one can have such a perspective and
still find it personally helpful to have
a religious perspective to reflect on what
these experiences mean.
Finally, somewhat off-topic, I saw a
bumpersticker today that I really liked:
When Jesus said "Love your Enemies" I think
he meant that you should not kill them.


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O'Connor talks about living with several mental illnesses and describes not having any friends or family to rely on. She says her only support comes from her doctors. She also references having suicidal thoughts.
More than a million people have already watched the video. A post made after the video was posted to Facebook indicates that O'Connor is not suicidal and is "surrounded by love and receiving the best of care."
Warning: Graphic language
Click here for resources to help someone who has expressed thoughts of committing suicide.
Click here for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.


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Plans are afoot to take 88 Scott Street, currently a 7 storey office building, and convert it into a 58 storey condo. In today's Photo Of The Day, taken for Urban Toronto forum member androiduk, we see what the Wellington side of 88 Scott currently looks like.
According to the info we have the facade of the base will for the most part be retained with the tower rising behind it. Here are the most recent elevations submitted to the city. The south elevation is the one we see in today's photo.
Proposed by Vancouver based Concert Properties, the Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects designed condo will rise 639 feet. A total of 513 units are planned.To request more info directly from 88 Scott Street click here


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Official Website of the City of Milwaukee
CALL for Action (414) 286-CITY | Click for Action
Milwaukee Health Department
Is your pet or livestock prepared for an emergency? Are you prepared to "Take Pets With?" Click on the following City of Milwaukee Health Department info sheets to learn more. More information is also available on our Pet Health webpage.
If a natural disaster, widespread outbreak of disease (such as pandemic influenza), or act of terrorism occurred, would you be prepared? Many questions come to mind when planning for disasters, such as "What do I pack?" and "Where do I go?" However, few people include the protection and care of pets in their disaster preparedness plans.
If a natural disaster, widespread outbreak of disease (such as pandemic influenza), or act of terrorism occurred, would you and your livestock be prepared? Having a plan ready for such an event is critical. However, few herd and livestock owners have a preparedness plan in place for their animals .
Agroterrorism is a form of terrorism that poses a serious threat to our food supply and related economy. Protection of farms, animals, animal products and crops is therefore very important. Below are some ways to improve biosecurity on farms and other similar settings.
Design by City of Milwaukee


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Living in beautiful Colorado bends our clients interest toward wanting to see mountains, fields, streams and flowers. While the mountains are always a welcome sight (and a key reason we live in Colorado Springs - can't imagine not seeing Pikes Peak every winter capped in snow), we still love getting asked to shoot downtown. What makes photographing in downtown Colorado Springs exciting is how much beauty a short walk will yield. We usually get off at the Bijou exit and just look for a place to park. Monument Valley Park stretches creek-side right next to down town, which makes a great backup plan too. From just about anywhere we land we can get to half a dozen great spots, just a minutes walk from each-other, and if the couple is up for it another few minutes walk will offer up even more locations to photograph. Options include graffiti, beautifully colored walls and windows, brick, rain puddles (yes we have rain here, on occasion), lavender, a fire-station, churches and ally-ways. Downtown makes creativity come easily. Often couples use their engagement pics as save the dates, so adding the flare of white balloons was a nice pop (with their sign) to the evening.
Location: Tejon St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.


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The P4:8 Principle- "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." —PHILIPPIANS 4:8
RECOGNIZE- Before you can overcome mind monsters, you must recognize their presence in your life.
"Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts." Prov. 4:23 (GN)
- Monitor your moods, your self-talk, your conversation.
REJECT- Your life will be defined by the thoughts that you accept or reject.
"... we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Cor. 10:5
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Proverbs 4:23
REPLACE- Like a magnet, your life will be drawn to your most dominant thoughts.
"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3:2
"Think the same way that Christ Jesus thought." Phil. 2:5
RENEW- Reprogram your life by renewing your mind.
"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night." Psalm 1:2 (AMP)
"Don't copy the behavior and customs (thinking pattern) of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think...". Romans 12:2 (NLT)
"Be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude]." Ephesians 4:23 (AMP)


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Saturday, February 7, 2009
DJ Shadow - You Can't Go Home Again (2002)
A couple of DJ Shadow releases to get off my chest this weekend. The first is this little morsel, released in 2002 and appearing on the album 'Private Press', I'm still drawn to the LP version but if you also want some proper big beat also check out the 'Treach Battle Beat', marvelous stuff.
1. You Can't Go Home Again (Radio Edit) (4:41)
2. Disavowed (4:29)
3. Treach Battle Beat (2:31)
4. You Can't Go Home Again (LP Version) (7:03)
5. Letter From Home (0:49)
Download @ 192kbps
Labels: DJ Shadow, Island Records
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Fake War and Peace reviews on TripAdvisor
Here is a quote from Herr Stephen Kaufer he made in back in 2011 [ can be found here ]
Some people may not be aware of just how extensive and sophisticated our fraud detection systems are. The legitimacy of the reviews on TripAdvisor is a fundamental part of our value and, ultimately, our success.
If people weren't able to gauge an accurate picture of a hotel, B&B or restaurant when they use our site, they would not return. We are not naive; we know occasionally some people will attempt to manipulate our system so our fraud detection efforts are an absolute priority.
To do so, we use evolving and highly sophisticated fraud detection filters, which scan the reviews. Anything suspicious is then flagged for inspection by our dedicated fraud detection team, who investigate fully, drawing upon their expertise in credit card fraud, identity theft, and loss prevention
We cannot argue with Herr Stephen Kaufer about his very top secret fraud detection system, because we have only ever got ONE small glimpse of it in the blockbuster film "The Matrix" But, what we can say, is that no matter how sophisticated the fraud detection systems are, if you don't know how to use them, they are are pretty much USELESS – It's a bit like bragging about having a really strong chain, held together by a tie wrap!!
Back in May of this year Mr Oscar Parrot showed the whole world just how useless TripAdvisor REALLY is. He singlehandedly got TripAdvisor to post a completely fake restaurant, followed by not 1 not 2 but 10 glowing fake reviews – In the three months it was online Oscar's even managed to reach 29th place in the ratings list of 64 eateries in Brixham. Read stories about this TripAdvisor fiasco from around the globe HERE
Red Faced TripAdvisor made the same feeble comment as they always do… This is extremely rare, we have THE state of the art fraud detection system.
So, there you have it, right from the horses mouth.. or in this case "the owls beak" It was an extremely rare coincidence..
So, what are the chances, what with TripAdvisor's extremely sophisticated fraud detection system, that Mr Oscar Parrot could post 5 mega 5000 words [ maximum allowed ] fake reviews just copied and pasted straight from War and Peace??… hahahahaha!!
Mr Oscar Parrot not just did just this, he did it all within 2 weeks!! – TripAdvisor approved and posted 5 FAKE reviews which were the first 3 chapters of "War and Peace" and totaling a quarter of a million words.
Ask yourself, if this overly obvious "taking the piss" fake review passes through TripAdvisor's extremely sophisticated fraud detection system, how reliable is TripAdvisor? – haha I mean c'mon, they approved and posted the 1st three chapters of War and Peace as reviews !! ….
>> click on the novel, or reviews as TripAdvisor assumed for larger size
HAHA!!… SURE you can trust TripAdvisor
After Note : we contacted TripAdvisor about this very embarrassing blunder on their end, and asked them for their side of the story ( or excuse as we call it ) They replied with the following :
" This is extremely rare, we have THE state of the art fraud detection system. "


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Widnes half back Danny Craven says he is "thankful" for the chance to be part of Halifax's push for a top four Championship finish.
Craven is on a season-long loan deal from the Vikings and turned in arguably his best performance for Fax in Saturday night's 40-22 win at Featherstone, scoring a crucial second half try.
Victory at Post Office Road lifted Richard Marshall's side up to fourth, although they dropped back to fifth after Dewsbury's draw at Workington on Sunday left the Rams a point clear.
"We've been conscious of not beating those teams, so to give Featherstone the runaround on their own pitch will hopefully stand us in good stead for the next few weeks now," said Craven, whose side are next in action at Hunslet on Friday night (8.0).
"In terms of the top four, it was really important we got the win and a good performance.
"There was a steely attitude during the week and that showed on the night.
"We were clinical with the ball, put some good plays on and scored some nice tries.
"For me, I am just enjoying playing and getting that game time week in, week out.
"There's a good set of lads here who play with a lot of confidence and I feel like I've fitted in quite well.
"I train at Halifax on a Thursday and Friday and the rest of the week with Widnes, which is hard at times, but coming up with wins like that makes it worthwhile.
"I just want to get my performances up to a level I'm happy with; I've not had the time on the field and I've been hampered with a few silly injuries, so I'm feeling a lot more confident about things having put some games together."
Craven signed a new three-year deal with the Vikings last season and remains focused on forcing his way up the pecking order in Denis Betts' side.
"I've got some utility value for Widnes, because they know they can play me at one, three, four, six, seven or nine and I think that will go in my favour at some stage," said Craven.
"I'm a Widnes player and I want to play for Widnes, but to come here and play with a really skilful set of players is a great opportunity that I'm really thankful for."


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Policies and guidance
In this section you will find the legislation and Welsh Government policies and related guidance documents that are developed to help tackle Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence.
The National Communications Framework outlines the long term approach of the Welsh Government for the delivery of national campaigns and broader communication on violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV).
The purpose of a National Survivor Engagement Framework is to ensure that the needs and experiences of survivors of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, including the most marginalised survivors, those who face multiple disadvantage in accessing help and support, are understo ...
The aim of the eLearning is to raise awareness of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Guidance for practitioners and managers on how to 'Ask and Act'.
Review of existing healthy relationship and violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence related teaching resources
This toolkit, information and guidance provides primary, secondary and further education providers with a range of best practice materials to utilise within their education settings.
The guide contains a number of actions which governors can take to make their school safer.
Good Practice Guide: A Whole Education Approach to Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence in Wales
This guide recognises the importance of education settings as environments where positive attitudes towards gender equality and healthy respectful relationships can be fostered through a rights based approach.
The Act is a landmark piece of legislation, breaking new ground as the first law of its kind in the UK. The Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2015.
The aim of this handbook is to act as a quick guide for practitioners, in particular First Responders, with statutory safeguarding responsibilities.
If you or someone you know is a victim of violence against women, domestic abuse, or sexual violence, we'll help you find the support you need.
Do you think a friend or family member needs help?
Find out how to spot the signs and symptoms and support someone in need of help.
Advice for professionals
Find information, advice and training to help you provide support to people suffering with domestic abuse, violence against women or sexual violence.


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Questions and Answers about Car Rental
Through this section, we will try to find out about more general questions about renting a car, remember that the answers are at the generic level, and you must take into account the specific conditions of each company and country. Each company uses its Rent a Car Rental conditions, but in general there is a very similar service management in almost all agencies.
Where I can find the Terms and Conditions of Rental
Terms and conditions of hire may differ by country, the car agent or group vehicle. Therefore, please refer to the specific conditions of each vehicle. On the contribution of our booking process you can find the rental conditions by clicking "View conditions" or when given to "Book" and before beginning the process of filling your personal information. Can also be found in the third and final step of the booking process on the "Rental Conditions" in the bottom of the confirmation page. Finally, the rental conditions can also be found on the voucher that is due in the office of destination.
How I can pay my reservation?
Model payment of a reservation depends on the location and / or the supplier of rental vehicles used, in case you need to make a payment in advance before completing the booking will be advised of this fact. If applicable, you are responsible for paying the amount due to the rental vehicle provider. At all times you are responsible for payment of services / additional costs requested by you, also, is responsible for expenses incurred for other services and applied by said rental vehicle provider.
To enjoy the service provided by this site Web must use a credit card or debit card or PayPal. No debit cards are accepted at the destination at the time of collection of the vehicle. Please note that at the time of pick up will require a deposit or bond. The minimum amount of this deposit is the amount of a fuel tank + VAT. The maximum amount is the value of the franchise. This deposit is blocked on the credit card until you return the vehicle. No cash is accepted at all.
I can change a confirmed reservation
Yes Please have your reservation number ready. Also asked to provide a description and details of the changes you want to do. Beneluxcar not guarantee the processing of such changes, however, we will endeavor to reach a favorable outcome.
You can not make changes once the rental period. Beneluxcar can not offer any refund if you end the tenancy earlier than expected. In case you need to extend the rental period after collection of the rented vehicle (dates not covered by the voucher Beneluxcar), must pay the difference directly to the car rental agency at the rates then prevailing. Note that we can not guarantee that you will receive the same rate as the original booking. The rates change frequently and are set by the car rental agents. Note also that to change a reservation requires a minimum of 48 hours.
How I can add additional drivers or extra cost?
Additional drivers are added in the rental collection. All additional drivers must be physically present at the rental counter at the time of collection and must bring your driver's license to sign the lease. The remaining extras are also paid on arrival.
Do I lose my deposit if I cancel my car?
Please read our cancellation policy in its entirety. Depending on the time elapsed from the time of making the reservation cancellation costs may be zero or a certain amount.
Cancellation policy for bookings made within the current month
If the reservation is canceled within 7 days from the date of booking of the rental vehicle and at least 48 hours before pickup time will be reimbursed all expenses. If the reservation is canceled after the deadline of 7 days from the date of booking the vehicle and at least 48 hours before pickup time will be reimbursed all expenses except the cancellation fee of EUR 25.00 and the processing fee card (if applicable).
If the reservation is canceled less than 48 hours before pickup time, not entitled to any reimbursement. If the full amount of rent was also paid, Beneluxcar retain the amount corresponding to 3 days rental and service fee and no obligation to reimburse the rental under any circumstances.
If you cancel or amend a reservation made by credit card / debit Beneluxcar not be liable for monetary losses suffered as a result of fluctuations in currency exchange rates between the time of the original booking and subsequent cancellation or amendment (if applicable).
Cancellation policy for bookings made more than a month
For any reservations that were made with more than one month before the start time of the rental service, Beneluxcar charged an amount equivalent to 3 days rental and service fee if applicable.
How I can cancel my reservation?
The cancellation should be done within 48 hours after initiation of rental service. It is imperative that you send us an email asking you to process the cancellation of the vehicle.
What is a bond and why do I need one?
Your rental voucher is the document that be sent by email for later delivery at the office of destination and where is reflected the confirmation number. The car hire provider may apply a different rate or refuse to deliver the vehicle in case you do not give you the bonus. We can not accept any claim for a refund if you did not file his bond in the rental counter.
Along with the bonus must present their driving license and credit card.
What documentation I have to enteregar at the time of collection
must take the voucher, driver's license and credit card in your name.
Are there conditions to cross borders?
Not all companies allow cross the border or have restrictions to go to certain countries. Please read the terms and conditions of your rental to confirm that countries are allowed to be visited. For more information, we recommend that you contact the rental agent. Cross-border trips usually involve additional costs. Please call your rental agent to confirm the exact amount.
What does "fuel policy"
This section is determined by the supplier end. Some companies deliver the vehicle with a full tank and you have to return the same. Others, however it has supplied full and returning empty. In these cases usually charge the fuel tank at the time of collection. Please carefully read the conditions concerning your chosen car.
What are the age restrictions
These limits are set by the car rental agent. Due to restrictions imposed by insurance companies require a minimum or maximum age for driving. These standard conditions are detailed in each car hire. There may be a surcharge for young drivers.
Children Reserve chair Where I can see this confirmed in the reservation?
Unfortunately we can not confirm or guarantee that you will get the seat chair or chair or any of the optional extras and special equipment you ordered. All these extras are available on request. At the time of confirmation is reflected the status of these extras. These extras are never included in the quoted price and should always be paid on arrival.
What is Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)
Exemption (except for the amount of the franchise) liability for damage to the vehicle in an accident. This insurance is included in most of our rates, however, please review the terms and conditions of booking before arrival at the rental counter. This insurance has exclusions, such as damage to the glass (eg windows, windshields, etc.) tires, underbody and the loss of keys. Check the amount of the insurance excess for each vehicle group.
Usually offered the option of an extra insurance (to be hired on arrival) to eliminate or reduce the franchise.
The CDW is only applicable if Lessee duly completes the accident report, which must clearly state the name of the vehicles and drivers involved in the accident and the conditions and circumstances under which it occurred.
What is THW
Exemption (except for the amount of the franchise) of liability for total or partial theft of the vehicle, and damage caused to it by acts of vandalism. This insurance is included in most of our rates, however, please review the terms and conditions of your booking before arrival at the rental counter. SECURITY COUNCIL: Beneluxcar advised to remove the identification tag is usually attached on the key of the vehicle and store it safely elsewhere. Note that if the vehicle is stolen and you can not return the key, meaning that they were negligent and left the key in a visible and vulnerable, you may be liable for the full cost of the vehicle.
What is Liability Insurance
Insurance that limits your liability for damage caused to other persons and / or property of others. Usually limited to a maximum of 1,000,000 €. The insurance is limited and there may be excess ie you may be liable for any amount above the insured value.
How I can remove the franchise? ¿I can make additional insurance
Can purchase additional insurance to reduce or eliminate the franchise. This can be done online at the time of booking (service provided in collaboration with Alliance Assistance) or the agent's office hire on arrival. Please see terms and conditions of rental for details.
What is a international driver's license and why do I need one?
International driving license (IDL) is recognized worldwide as a document that identifies the holder as a licensed driver when your license is not in the same language as the country where you are driving. You must also bring national driving license, otherwise you will not be accepted.
What is included in the rent?
Most of our rates include VAT, insurance collision and theft franchise and mileage. To see exactly what is included and what you do not see the conditions.
What taxes are included in the rent?
Prices shown on the website include VAT. However, some optional extras that appear on the voucher can not include it, but always be indicated. Please check the rental conditions before booking.


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BMZ Home Appliance
More freedom of movement thanks to cordless operation
Customized battery solutions are in demand in the field of home appliance. Individual needs require individual solutions. You need a battery that is perfectly adapted to your application.
Below, you will find a number of examples of battery applications specifically designed to meet customers' requirements.
We are happy to develop efficient, durable and economical battery solutions with you that are tailored to your needs.
A robotic vacuum cleaner is the perfect household helper.
Vacuum Window Cleaner
For clean windows without streaks in no time.


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Keep their feet warm and dry with these gumboots. Perfect for jumping in puddles, they light up and flash with every step to bring a touch of fun on chilly days. Made from rubber, this piece is available in Pink and Navy and in sizes 22 to 30. This piece lasts for one hundred and fifty thousand flashes.
All prices are shown in Australian Dollars (AUD).
All orders are processed in Australian Dollars (AUD).
Please read our Delivery Policy.
Please read our Returns Policy.
Spend $100 for Free Delivery within Australia


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hindi traducción de accord
Frecuencia de uso de la palabra
accord/əˈkɔːd अˈकॉड्/
Formas de la palabra:accords, according, accorded
2. sustantivo contable
3. frase
4. frase
1. verbo transitivo
If you are accorded a particular kind of treatment, people treat you in that way.[formal]प्रदान करना
...the military honours accorded to all visiting heads of state.
2. sustantivo contable
An accord between countries or groups of people is a formal agreement, for example to end a war.समझौता mnसंधि nf
...the 1991 peace accords.
3. frase
If one person, action, or fact is in accord with another, there is no conflict between them. You can also say that two people or things are in accord.[formal]सुसंगत
4. frase
When you do something of your own accord, you do it freely and because you want to. If something happens of its own accord, it seems to happen automatically, without anybody making it happen.स्वेच्छा सेअपनी मर्जी से
He had left her of his own accord.
Copyright © 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
Ver contenido relacionado
Video: pronunciation of 'accord'
Ejemplos de frases que contienen accord
Estos ejemplos se han seleccionado automáticamente y pueden contener contenido sensible. Lee mas…
Various other allowances were paid to the staff according to their rank.AT HOME WITH THE QUEEN: The Inside Story of the Royal Household (2002)
Britain already has the toughest bonus regime in the world, according to the association.Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Things did not always go according to plan.Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Will the initial capital investment stretch far enough to keep the new company going according to its original plan?The Guide to Greatness in Sales (1994)
Each had adopted a way of life according to their personality.Times, Sunday Times (2013)
It ought to be a bit more diverse in its religious broadcasting, according to one of its top brass.The Sun (2016)
The attackers have not been identified and their motives were unclear, according to police.Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Well, it is according to new research, which shows that women ask for pay rises just as often as men.The Sun (2016)
Construction will be completed by August according to organisers.Times, Sunday Times (2013)
It was the only narrow squeak in a race that went according to plan yet again.Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Then rank each win according to the quality of the opposition.Times, Sunday Times (2016)
According to one theory, the incurable disease might be linked to pesticides used on football pitches.Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Choir membership appears to boost mental health, according to some research.Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Farmers have watched their crops fail and according to the government the shortages have caused nearly 700 million of agricultural losses this year.Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Ireland's politicians to work together is exhausting the patience of those who voted for the peace accord.Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It is the first time that schools have been ranked according to their account balances.Times, Sunday Times (2010)
None of these comments was made before the peace accords went into effect.Nixon Reconsidered (1994)
Not according to some police forces.The Sun (2009)
Now there are fewer than 43,000, according to the government.Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The allegation is unfounded, according to police.Times, Sunday Times (2016)
There were headings for volume of production in cost and kind divided according to ministries, departments and republics.Inside Perestroika: The Future of the Soviet Economy (1990)
These lead vocals are accompanied by backing vocals according to the arrangement and the nature of the song,' dan.The Sun (2013)
We are not at war but Colombia still does not have a peace accord.Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The treatment accorded him by evangelicals gives no indication that their minds or their hearts were open.Christianity Today (2000)
Reference checks vary in nature according to the kinds of questions asked and the persons to whom they are directed.Human Resource Management in Government (1995)
The two are not always in accord.The Past is Before Us - feminism in action since the 1960s (1989)
Tendencias de accord
Uso común. accord es una de las 10000 palabras más usadas del Diccionario Collins.
Ver uso en:
accord en Otros Idiomas
Inglés británico: accord NOUN
An accord between countries or groups of people is a formal agreement, for example to end a war.
...a fitting way to celebrate the peace accord.
Palabras cercanas de accord
Traducción de accord de la Collins Inglés a Hindi


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The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years - DVD Review
Review by Rob Carnevale
RON Howard has delivered an affectionate tribute to The Beatles during the peak of their success with Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years despite struggling to offer too much that's new.
Told from a largely American perspective, this meticulously researched documentary is shot through with restored archive concert footage, as well as fresh interviews with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney and anecdotes from some of their biggest celebrity fans (including Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg).
It's also laced with a bittersweet vibe as the last third of Howard's film delves into the physical and mental toll the touring years took on the Fab Four as well as America's pivotal role in their decision to stop touring completely, following the country's backlash to John Lennon's now notorious Jesus comment in an interview.
The first two thirds, meanwhile, offer a whirlwind account of how The Beatles rose to prominence with their boyish good looks and snappy, genre-defining song-writing and then hit the road, hard, culminating in one of the biggest [and most iconic] concerts of all time at Shea Stadium in 1965. There is an extended, 2-hour plus version that offers more footage from this event.
But for the most part, Howard cuts the film in such a way as to capture some sense of the breathless nature of The Beatles' journey, as they dart between both sides of the Atlantic and in and out of the recording studio – noting that they made their money from being on the road rather than through any lucrative record deal.
As their phenomenon grew, however, so did their standing in world history. And it's the band's relationship to events in America that Howard finds particularly interesting, with landmark moments of US history, such as the JFK assassination and the Civil Rights Movement, juxtaposed with the mania surrounding the band. Indeed, their reaction to some of those key events proves fascinating – most notably their response to the possibility of segregation at one of their Deep South concerts.
Goldberg, for her part, describes them as 'colourless', as if to underline the all-encompassing popularity of their music.
Elsewhere, there is a lot of amusement to be found in seeing a young Sigourney Weaver singing along at another concert, or a US presenter falling for a Lennon gag and calling the singer 'Eric' during an impromptu interview. Live footage, meanwhile, affords the welcome opportunity to revisit their still timeless hits.
If there's a criticism, it's that Howard's film moves too fast to offer anything genuinely probing, even when interviewing McCartney and Starr in the present day. And his film stops just at the moment in their career when things became really interesting [the recording of the Sgt Pepper album]. For Beatles' die-hards, meanwhile, it probably doesn't offer anything particularly new in terms of footage or revelation.
But in the main, this is a breezy, celebratory piece that recaptures the energy of the band in their prime, while also being mindful of the moments that contributed to their eventual decline.
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 106mins/2hrs 18mins
UK Blu-ray & DVD Release: November 21, 2016


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You are welcome to share the information on this site with others, although I do request that you include this website address, credit your source/page links and author. All postings by Joanne Walmsley - Sacred Scribes may be used for personal, not-for-profit purposes only. Joanne Walmsley Sacred Scribes email@example.com
- Introduction to NUMEROLOGY
- Attributes of NUMBERS 0 to 10
- Numerological RELATIONSHIP COMPATIBILITY
- TABLET of MARS - Divining Your Work, Wealth and Finances
- ANGEL NUMBERS - Index
- Joanne Walmsley - SACRED SCRIBES' sites
- Get a Psychic Reading
DESTINY 8 and DESTINY 9
Manifesting, wealth, money, finances, power, riches, status, material, pragmatism, the Ego, provision, aggregation, dictatorship, delegation, multiples, business, investment, employment, appearance, customs, skills, exchange, reality, world transformation, executive, professional, strength, problem-solver, organiser, achiever, practical, business-like, decisive, controlling, constant, confident, ambitious, authoritarian, self-confident, integrity, challenge, efficiency, dependability, trustworthy, planner, good judgement, sociable, giving and receiving, organisation, stability, works independently, learning through experience, patience, caution, self-discipline, self-sufficient.
NEGATIVEUnimaginative, blunt, self-serving, materialistic, ruthless, obsessive, weak, irresponsible, narrow-mindedness, disorganized, anti-social, selfish, instability, restriction, impractical.
Keywords for Number 9
Universal protection, good in public relations, responsible, 'Universal Brotherhood', inner wisdom, highly intuitive, strength of character, selfishness (learning to say No), humanitarian, creative abilities, sensitive, loyal, forgiving, generalist, multi-talented, teacher, healer, artists, old soul, actor, intelligent, understanding, discreet, brilliant, compassionate, problem-solver, inner wisdom, highly intuitive, self-love, freedom, popular, eternity, generous, non-conformist, artistic genius, have a breadth of vision and a wide viewpoint, can be a little eccentric, communicative, influential, philanthropic, duty, calling, mission, obligation, mysticism, faith, optimism, Divine wisdom, self-sacrifice, karma, enlightenment, service, compassion, selflessness, high idealism, sympathy, psychic, tolerance, humility, altruism, benevolence, empathy, power, charity, intuition, perfection.
Uncaring, uncommunicative, unreliable, lacks the use of understanding, lack of concern for others, lacks the awareness of intuition, weak concern for the self, lacks sensitivity, self-indulgent, disloyal, lacks the ability to forgive, detached, lofty, dreamy, lethargic, lacking in concentration, aimless, stress and tension, unreliable, weak willed.
Number 8 and Number 9 will probably find that there is an instant attraction between them when they meet. Number 8 will be captivated by Number 9's energy and vitality, and Number 9 will find Number 8's confidence and strength of character irresistible,
A relationship between Number 8 and Number 9 will develop quite quickly. Number 8s prefers to wait for his or her partner to take the initiate in terms of voicing feelings and discussing commitment. Number 8 will be happy to discover that Number 9 has no difficulty in taking the lead in this area, and Number 9 will gladly declare undying love for Number 8 and suggest that they make a commitment to one another.
Number 8 and Number 9 will generally find that they enjoy a harmonious relationship together.
Number 8s have a tendency to take relationships for granted and to neglect their partner in favour of spending more time on their career. Number 9 will not stand for this and will demand Number 8's full attention. In a relationship with Number 9, Number 8 will be happy to devote time to the relationship and will be less occupied with work.
Number 8 and Number 9 are well suited in terms of romance. They will find that, if they are committed to each other, their life together will be a happy one.
ANGEL NUMBERS - Repeating Number Sequences
10 comments:
cool. i'm a nine and i do express undying love for my #8, this definition is exactly how i feel.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 17, 2016 at 7:27 AM
Lol, we just decided to hang out and he blurted out i love you. I laughed because it's just crazy.ReplyDelete
This is on point!! We had coffee this morning and he blurted out as I was getting into my car, "I Love you!!!!" The look on 8's face was priceless. We are still laughing about it.ReplyDelete
Something similar happened between me and my number9 except he blurted out "I'll never love you" instead.ReplyDelete
am an 8...my 9 said, let's get married...he said 'i love you' so much later!ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
I'm 8 and I think 9s under estimate 8s, 8s are very much into order 9s not so much, my husbans is 9 and I hate his inconcideeate attitude, if he isn't gonna help carry the weight then he has no right to complain if 8 is away carrying all the weight!ReplyDelete
9s need to stop under estimateing 8s and help carry the weight or stop complaining that 8 is away all the time carrying all the weight!ReplyDelete
I'm 8 and he's 9 and I'm yet to find out if we'll finally get married...ReplyDelete


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Mudcloth or bogolan is a unique African textile and a traditional art form of Mali. Each piece takes several months to produce. After spinning and sewing locally harvested cotton by hand, the cloth is dyed by soaking in decorations with leaves and bark. Patterns of clay-rich mud are then applied; one mud application and one dye-bath are required for each successive shade of colour.
These amazing shirts are entirely hand made and great for that traditional look
One size fits most (approximately 60 x 80cm)


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Looking for something to send off with the students for the summer? ReadWriteThink is gathering ideas. Check out engaging activities for reading and writing including poetry, trading cards, superheroes, and even constructing an argument!
More for Summer Reading:
- Education Week Teacher has a helpful article from Donalyn Miller on things schools can do to prevent the Summer Slide.
- Check out the New York Times Summer Reading Contest
- Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge Begins on May 1, 2012! Kids of all ages are invited to participate in an exciting global reading competition that is fun and friendly. The more kids read, the more rewards and recognition they earn for themselves and their school
- Also see their related link for Summer 2012 Booklists for ages 3-teen, and more summer reading challenge activities to download for FREE.
- Summer Reading Tracking Sheets to distribute to kids to keep track of titles read each month.
May Professional Development Opportunities for Literacy Instruction
Centers and Stations - May 1st 4:15-5:30 115 MMS
Fusion Reading Demo: Grades 6-12 Reading Intervention May 3 3:30-4:30 Room 115 MMS
Fusion Reading provides explicit instruction using age-appropriate leveled text to effectively teach reading skills and strategies and engage students. It adapts to various instructional settings and easily adapts to multiple block schedule formats making it flexible for middle or high school.Students learn the skills and strategies necessary to become better readers, both in their reading classes as well as their other academic classes. Jamestown´s popular non-fiction texts provide the high-interest reading selections to support this program. Students in Fusion Reading have made statistically significant gains in reading scores. *E-mail Melissa Yip to register.
Teaching Reading Street K-6 May 15 4:00-7:00 Ingham ISD
This session is for educators within the Ingham ISD service area that support Reading Street instruction. A first grade teacher will explain how she organizes her 90 minute block and small groups using the materials from Reading Street. This session will also cover how to establish and manage small group instruction. Register here
Creating Smart Board and PowerPoint Lessons Using Reading Street Materials K-6 May 21 4:30-7:30 Ingham ISD
Do you want to learn how to create engaging student lessons, while saving time lesson planning? During this Reading Street Technology training session, participants will learn to use Smart Notebook Software to create Smart Board lessons and power point slides to create engaging daily lessons for their students. A first grade teacher from Haslett will teach educators how to use Smart Notebook Software to create smart board slides to use during the 90 minute literacy block, using materials from the core program, Reading Street. Teachers will need to bring a teacher manual and Reading Street Sucessnet logins, and a flashdrive to save work on. Register here


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Why Participation in a Junior Triathlon Program is Advantageous for Kids
Fostering healthy habits in families.
Teaching Austin students to lead a healthier life
Motivating kids to run
Bruce and Ronda Prothro inspire us to continue to pursue our passions, stay active, and prioritize relationships and community at every age. They have found a challenging yet sustainable way to maintain these priorities through their winemaking. With their zeal for life, it is no surprise that their once hobby eventually turned into a successful business.
We all know those women who appear to possess mystical magical powers. They raise perfect children, they have stellar jobs, and they excel at every sport they pursue. How in the world do they do it and where can the rest of us pick up these powers?
Introducing kids to an active lifestyle.
Support groups for men and women who desire to be better parents, role models, and partners.


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Heretic* by Eltechs for Android
Relive the original Heretic* experience and fight against the horde of evil monsters from the worlds beyond – just as you did in the good old days! To install Heretic* by Eltechs click the link below:
Heretic* by Eltechs contains the shareware version of the game only.
Getting Social
If you would like to connect to other Heretic* by Eltechs fans all over the world join our groups on:
* Heretic and characters used in the original Heretic Game are intellectual property of their respective copyright owners and are not affiliated with Eltechs, Inc.


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Infomir, a company of a fast growing technology solutions, and Beenius, a provider of highly advanced Interactive TV platform, present a White Paper defining the benefits of a joined solution for service providers worldwide.
Both parties comprehend the immense importance of understanding the complexity of the pay-TV segment and required steps in the decision process operators have to take when choosing best middleware solution and suitable STB vendor. White Paper uncovers the high point of Infomir STBs as well as illustrates the benefits for operators when choosing Interactive TV platform provided by Beenius.


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Your Family-Owned, Full-Service Dental Dealer
Serving You Since 1984 - 800.474.6111
Customer Login
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Fourth Quarter Newsletter And Promos
View Our Catalog Online
View Our Equipment Catalog
Starmed Rose Buy 9 Get 1 FREE
Midway Dental Supply, Inc. is a family-owned dental supply company that services the states of Indiana, Lower Michigan, Ohio, and Northeastern Illinois. The company began with the objective to provide exceptional customer service while building personal relationships with our customers.
Midway Dental Supply is a full service dental distributor servicing the dental professional in every aspect of his/her business. Whether you are looking to set up a new dental practice, redesign an existing building, or simply purchase your weekly dental supplies Midway Dental Supply can fulfill your needs. We realize that the needs of the dental professional are constantly changing, therefore we continue to develop new tools and services that will improve the productivity of your dental practice.
Advance Autoclave Bags 3.5 X 9 200ct
Advance Nitrile PF Gloves Medium
Advance Burs Carbide FG 557 100PK
Advance #3 Medium Upper Blue 12ct
Disposable tips 19 GA Black 100ct
Metrex Caviwipes Towelettes 160ct
Medicom Safeseal Quattro Pouch 3.5" x 9"
Cook-Waite Lidocaine HCl 2% w/Epinephrine
UniPak White Saliva Ejectors 100 Pack
Dentsply Articadent 4% w/Epinephrine
Corporate Office
32553 Schoolcraft Rd.
Livonia, MI 48150
South Bend Branch
701 N Michigan St
Lakeville, IN 46536
Indianapolis Branch
6451 Saguaro Ct
Indianapolis, IN 46268
Chicago Branch
185 Hansen Ct. Suite 110
Wood Dale, IL 60191
Columbus Branch
510 E Wilson Bridge Ste E
Worthington, OH 43085
Grand Rapids Branch
4515 Broadmoor Ave SE
Kentwood, MI 49512


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6 Signs your guardian angel is trying to contact you
1. Different Colored Lights Will Appear
Seeing shafts of light streaming or shooting around you are definite indications of angels. You may notice sparks of light or become very aware of shadows around you. Don't be afraid. Angels don't want to harm you.
2. Changes in Temperature
The room may get warmer or colder inexplicably. The way angels vibrate can slow or speed up the molecules in the air, resulting in a change in temperature.
3. Unexplained Smells
Have you ever been at home or a place where random scents are hard to find, and smelled something amazing? If you can smell an inconsistent smell to your surroundings and its very pleasant, an angel could be a hug away.
4. Voices Murmuring To You
While this might be n indication that you're crazy, it really is a good thing! You are open to the inclinations of the universe, where others are remaining closed off.
5. Communication Through Dreams
You may not remember the dream, but you'll feel lighter, stronger and more sure of a direction to take.
6. Feathers
One of the most common signs of angels is a small feather. This is especially true if the feather is found somewhere where feathers are not commonly found. Angels like to leave feathers as a reminder that they are there, and watching over us. This is especially true if someone has found a white feather.


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EARLY in the summer, Nick LaCava and his two partners got something most entrepreneurs wish for, and if these three had it to do over, they would wish for it again. But they say they might be more careful — and prepared.
Mr. LaCava, Eric Heinbockel and Fabian Kaempfer are the founders of Chocomize, a Web-based company that lets its customers create their own chocolate bars from more than 100 ingredients. Its Web site opened for business late last year; then, in June, the company was briefly noted in O, the Oprah Magazine. The mention was tiny — just 36 words in a wee stripe on the bottom of a page. Nevertheless, things went haywire.
"Our server crashed," says Mr. LaCava, recalling how their orders quintupled overnight. "The phone was ringing round the clock. We'd thought, 'Oh, we're going to be in Oprah! We're going to be making so many more bars!' We didn't think: 'People are going to be calling us every second of the day.'"
Other than a dedicated server, there were two more things that Chocomize lacked: employees and a white-chocolate machine big enough to meet demand. Mr. LaCava, who is 23, describes the experience this way: "growing pains."
Talk to the owners of any start-up and you'll repeatedly hear that they yearn for media exposure more than anything else. They tell themselves that a well-placed blurb will set them on the path to success not just by bolstering sales, but also by creating momentum. But what happens when that lightning strikes? Often the answer is a fight for survival.Continue reading the main story
In May, for example, this column told the world about Blank Label — a Web venture that lets men customize their dress shirts, from epaulets to French cuffs. After the column appeared, Blank-Label.com — which was then just seven months old — sold 1,000 shirts in two days. Within a week, the company had quadrupled its total sales to date.
But just as quickly, it had to completely change the way it did business.
"The article was the biggest blessing that ever happened to us, and to some extent, that blessing came with a curse," one of Blank Label's founders, Danny Wong, said by e-mail, describing how the company had to change suppliers in the article's wake. I received more than one inquiry from readers who had ordered shirts and were kept waiting — and waiting — for them to arrive.
"We should have invested more time in learning about our suppliers and their capabilities," Mr. Wong told me later, adding that the company should have also hired more people to handle customer inquiries before the article appeared. The Blank Label team tried to be responsive, he said, but "it was an issue of personal bandwidth/working hours since we were only four people."
Today, the company has tripled its number of employees, to 12.
Chocomize, too, has hired more employees since its appearance in O. But to truly appreciate that part of the story, consider what came before:
The company's founders met at Columbia University. Mr. Heinbockel, a political science major, graduated first, in 2008, and spent a year looking in vain for work. Mr. LaCava watched Mr. Heinbockel's struggles up close because he was living in Mr. LaCava's dorm-room closet.
"When I graduated high school and went to Columbia, I thought, 'Oh, I'm set,'" said Mr. LaCava, an economics major who worked at Citigroup for two summers during college. But when he graduated amid the recession in 2009, he found himself to be anything but set.
"I was shocked," he said. "I couldn't get a single job."
Mr. Kaempfer, an exchange student at Columbia, returned to his native Germany after his junior year. After graduating from college, he, too, could not find work. The three jobless friends started discussing the idea of customization.
For a time, they considered founding a made-to-order cereal company, but there were already too many rivals in the market. Then, one day, Mr. LaCava — the 6-foot-4 former captain of Columbia's rowing team, and with an appetite to match — bought a bunch of penny candy and accidentally left it in a hot car. When the chocolate, gummy bears and other glop was discovered, his friends dared him to refrigerate it and eat it. He did, and proclaimed it tasty.
"That's kind of when the light bulb went on in our heads," he says.
Mr. Kaempfer's brother had worked for six months at Chocri.com, a German custom chocolate company, and Mr. Kaempfer interviewed there as well. The three friends had a feeling that the idea could work in the United States. (When asked about Mr. Kaempfer, Carmen Magar, chief executive of Chocri USA, cried foul: "We warmly welcomed Fabian to see the production," she said, "only for our idea, Web site and processes to be copied two months later." The Chocomize team denies that accusation.)
The three men knew little about making chocolate, but they did some research and wrote a business plan. Friends and family invested $100,000 to get them started.
Since Chocomize opened, Chocri has created a United States Web site, and at least two smaller companies have started: Chocbite.com and Choccreate.com.
Chocomize, based in Cherry Hill, N.J., sells a basic bar for less than $4, and customers can add up to five ingredients — from cinnamon to beef jerky — for as much as $1.35 each.
The company got some initial attention in March, when Costco Connection magazine ran a short feature about it. Sales went up, prompting Chocomize to make its assembly line more efficient. But it was not until the mention in O that Mr. LaCava — now a member of the United States team chosen to compete in the World Rowing Championships — had to call in a favor.
"Hey guys," he remembers saying in the e-mail he sent out in desperation to his fellow rowers, many of whom have competed in the Olympics. "Things have gone absolutely crazy down here at the factory and we could really use some help. If anyone wants to learn how to make chocolate, and make $10 an hour, shoot me back an e-mail or let me know at practice."
Ten rowers showed up, fitting in a sweets-making shift between morning and afternoon workouts. The Oprah-inspired orders were all delivered within six days, Mr. La Cava said — just two days more than usual.
Today, as Chocomize's orders have soared to more than 10,000 bars a month, the company has five full-time employees in addition to its three founders. But when things get busy, rowers still help out.
"We have guys coming in who are 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds. Huge dudes," Mr. LaCava says. "Seeing them stand next to each other, hunched over, making chocolate, is pretty hilarious."
The Prototype column last Sunday about Chocomize, a maker of customized chocolate bars, misstated the Web address of Blank Label, a maker of customized shirts for men. It is Blank-Label.com, not BlankLabel.com.


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Whether Marvell got the name for it's ARM compatible CPU core from the Hindu god of destruction or off the character from
the Mortal Kombat game series, I don't know.
However, the Sheeva CPU core is the heart of Marvell's System-on a-Chip design called Kirkwood and around that they built a complete computing device the size of a wall wart and called it the SheevaPlug. Weiterlesen


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Sunday, March 13, 2016
Learning to Share the Scary Things!
It's a fine line we authors dance upon: cultivating a pleasing public persona vs. sharing our real selves. I'd say most of us are doubtful creatures, introverted, and many of us are depressed or have some other challenges with mental illness.
As long as I've been online (a lot longer than I've been Raine O'Tierney, obviously!) I've struggled with this concept. What do I tell? What do I keep at bay?
The friendly, buoyant, exclamation-point loving Raine is a real person. She's a very real part of me, even. On good days at work, you can find me butt-dancing in my rolling chair to music or squealing over new office supplies. Not a blog goes out for my department that doesn't involve an exclamation point or two.
And when I say kindness is my religion, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Being kind to one another is the best thing we can do. (Note I did not say nice. To me, being nice sometimes involves a sort of social horseshit dishonesty that is soul-sucking. But genuine kindness? I'm alls about that!
It's the other: the more challenging Raine O'Tierney that I contemplate sharing. I've actually been quite open with my depression and my therapy. I haven't mentioned all (yes, more than one...) of my particular disorders with all their particular acronyms. Then my therapist challenged me last week to write a non-fiction book about what it's like to live with one of the vaguely aforementioned disorders.
I was very surprised by that. I never thought about writing about myself before! Especially in the context of the fine line we all tread. To do it properly, I'll have to bare all the ugly garbage that comes with being me. But... No one said I have to share it. No one said I have to publish it. Except, what if I do?
I'm a better person than I was two years ago. I'm a better person than I was a year ago. Hell, I'm better than I was yesterday when I read We are not our failures and was so fundamentally struck it reduced me to tears.
I think I will take up the writing challenge, even as I juggle no less than 20 new ideas. I can't change my mistakes, but maybe I will like what the book says. Maybe I will put it out there, bared soul and all.
So much to think about.
Contemplatively, and with Kindness,
Raine O'Tierney
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