text:
Money Laundering
The specialist Fraud Lawyers at this firm have decades of experience defending serious and complex Money Laundering cases involving millions and millions of pounds laundered throughout the world.
Onerous obligations have been imposed on businesses, professionals and individuals to report transactions which are either known to be, are suspected to be, or ought reasonably to have appeared to involve Money Laundering.
Our Money Laundering Solicitors frequently defend business people and professionals who can easily find themselves caught up as witnesses, or even as suspects in Money Laundering investigations; whether as a result of actions of their own, their clients or another party.
If you or your business are being investigated for Money Laundering it can have far-reaching consequences, not just on you personally, but on your family and friends as well. A prosecuting authority can bring charges against family and friends if they believe they should have known that income may have been coming from illegitimate activities.
Our Fraud Solicitors are commercially aware and extremely pro-active in their approach, believing that prevention is the best defence against investigation and litigation. This is why our Solicitors can help businesses, professionals and individuals review or focus on their compliance procedures to reduce the risk of breaches of the legislation. We can advise on preventative measures at the early stages of an investigation to dramatically reduce the chances of being prosecuted.
Allegations of Money Laundering can be investigated by many organisations including the specialist Economic Crime Units at New Scotland Yard, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Trading Standards Departments, National Crime Agency (NCA) and Department of Work & Pensions (DWP).
We have a highly skilled team which includes Fraud Solicitors, dedicated investigators and leading Barristers or QCs. We have built fundamental relationships with nationally recognised forensic accountants, telephony and computer data analysts and many other experts needed to ensure that every avenue is explored to protect your personal and commercial interests.
We have acted in substantial high profile cases over the years including those where the alleged criminality spanned foreign jurisdictions involving Cyprus, Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, Belgium, South Africa, Switzerland, Afghanistan, France, Iran, Spain, Pakistan and many more countries.
Our Lawyers will work tirelessly to pursue every possible line of enquiry to secure evidence which can be used in your favour. Whether in the UK or abroad, the Money Laundering Solicitors in this firm are trained to present all information strategically with a view to persuading the jury in your favour.
We understand that being the subject of an investigation is a stressful time for our clients and choosing the right Lawyer is of paramount importance. We therefore offer free, no obligation consultations to discuss your case and provide preliminary advice. We believe, no matter what your financial position, if you are prosecuted by the State, you must also be defended with funds by the State. Please contact our Fraud Lawyers to arrange your meeting, whether face to face, online or by telephone.


text: Human Rights Observatory US, UN Condemn IS Killing of Iraqi Lawyer The U.S. State Department has condemned the torture and murder of an Iraqi human rights lawyer by Islamic State militants. In a statement released Friday, spokesperson Jen Psaki said Samira Salih al-Nuaimi was working to make the future brighter for Iraqis. She said Islamic State killed al-Nuaimi and other women and girls in Iraq and Syria for refusing to abide by the groups "draconian efforts to strip them of their rights." Psaki added that the terror group's oppression...Read complete article© Voice of America - Friday, September 26, 2014

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Big Buck Bunny Trailer (2008)
10 April 2008 Animated, Comedy 8 mins
Follow a day of the life of Big Buck Bunny when he meets three bullying rodents: Frank, Rinky, and Gamera. The rodents amuse themselves by harassing helpless creatures by throwing fruits, nuts and rocks at them. After the deaths of two of Bunny's favorite butterflies, and an offensive attack on Bunny himself, Bunny sets aside his gentle nature and orchestrates a complex plan for revenge.
Watch the official Big Buck Bunny 2008 trailer in HD below or find more Big Buck Bunny videos on Vidimovie.


text:
'Sons of Anarchy' Recap: Booster
S4E2: After exacting vengeance on the Russians and gaining control of their gun supply, the Sons of Anarchy are fixing to make some money, unfortunately there's a lot of bad road between the money and the means to make it.
"This Irish gash is reaching across the Atlantic."–Gemma to Clay
Beaten and weary–looking Clay wakes up and is still grateful to be home. Gemma lets Clay know about the letter she found in Abel's coloring book. The letter, which was from Maureen Asbhy, the woman who John Teller started another family with in Ireland, in Gemma's mind could turn her own son against her. Gemma goes foraging for the rest of the papers that Maureen sent so she can find out exactly what needs to be done about these new letters from the past. Gemma eventually finds the motherload–John's death certificate, revealing that Wayne Unser is also somehow involved in John's death. Never actually implicating Gemma and Clay in John's murder but always hinting at it has been one of the show's biggest plot threads since the first season and it is now seemingly back at the forefront, which could mean all hell is fixing to break loose.
"You run hard at these white trash barbarians."–Mayor Jacob Hale
As Sheriff Eli Roosevelt and Agent Lincoln "Linc" Potter hypothesize who was behind the murder of the Russian gang member's at the end of last week's episode, Mayor Jacob Hale arrives on the scene. The crime scene is his own development property – Charming Heights, where four of the bodies were found. Hale has always been hell-bent on ridding Charming of the Sons and he is 100 percent positive that the 1 percenters are behind the crime.
Potter is slowly being introduced into the series and while he hasn't done anything particularly noteworthy, he poses an impending threat to SAMCRO; it is a welcome addition to the show to have law enforcement that aren't in the pocket of the club like Unser. While Mayor Hale's deceased brother, Officer Hale, was supposed to be a threat because he grew up with Jax, he never actually seemed like one. Speaking of the new law in town, it's too bad Officer Roosevelt probably signed his own death warrant when he took a fireman's axe to the Son's meeting room table and wall of members' mug shots.
"The word has been put out; no one is to interfere in our new friendship."–Romero "Romeo" Parada
Since they've come into more guns, in addition to their standing partnership with the IRA, the Sons make a new friend with the arrival of Romero "Romeo" Parada (Danny Trejo, as if this show didn't need enough steely–eyed badasses running around, we welcome Mr. Machete himself), member of the Galingo Cartel. According to Clay, the Galingo Cartel are the only ones connected enough to keep the Russians off of SAMCRO's back. While Jax doesn't approve of Clay's decision to begin running drugs for the cartel on top of the guns, he goes along with the plan on one condition: when Clay is out of the club, he lets Jax walk away. Jax tells Clay, "My out for your drugs." At the church meeting, Clay and Jax make the case for partnering with the cartel to the rest of the club. Bobby Elvis has his reservations and makes them known to Clay; he might love Clay, but he loves the club more.
"I'm not quite sure who I'm talking to anymore."–Opie to Jax
Opie and Jax have been the best of friends since they were little kids and have a love and respect for another that goes beyond the club. Opie has his reservations about the possible deal with the cartel, especially since if he goes away; he has his even more reservations about his new wife, Lila, being able to handle their three kids. Jax explains to Opie just how connected the cartel is and how safe the club will be. It turns out they're definitely not as safe as Jax thought when the biker brothers get assaulted by members of the Russian gang; who are demanding their guns back from the club, holding Jax and Opie at gunpoint. Unfortunately for the Russians, the Sons' new friend, Romeo, saves their skins, killing more Russians in the process. This ain't no Cold War! It's just heating up.
Unfortunately as Bobby points out to Clay, Romeo and the cartel don't know that the club still have to vote on running drugs for them or not. As an aside, it's a real testament to the show's unpredictability that even for a nanosecond it feels like Opie or Jax may not make it out of the Russian's safe house alive.
"We're engaged!"–Tara to the club
Returning to their broken clubhouse, the Sons look despondent over how they're going to make repairs. Tara decides now is as good as time as any to announce she and Jax are engaged. The club is back in good spirits as they celebrate the news.
As the old saying goes and in the parlance of Shakespeare (whose Hamlet heavily influences the series), the plot doeth thicken. Old time members who love the club like Bobby and Piney are against the impending vote to traffic drugs; Tig is onboard and Opie is seemingly on the fence. I'd say because it's TV that it's obvious the Sons will vote yes on the deal. However in this series, anything can happen. They can vote yes and happily traffic drugs back and forth; or they can vote no and not only create a war with the cartel but a schism within their own ranks. Always lurking around is Gemma, who has yet to confront Tara about John's letters to Maureen, but she will and will no doubt try to convince her soon–to–be daughter–in–law that they're nothing to worry about.


text:
Related Expert Areas
mass measurement unit
weight measurement
Synonyms: metric carat
Experts Only
Join our distinguished experts for carat jobs, projects and consulting opportunities.
Expert in Valuation Testing Identification Analysis of Diamonds, Gemstones Jewellery & Silver Watches2009-2013 Expert has recently successfully completed a PhD research project funded by The University of St Andrews and The Diamond Light source the UK's national synchrotron facility. The research involved the development of new spectroscopic ... See full profile
United Kingdom
Expert in Grinding Processes and Technology, Power Tool Accessories Testing and Manufacture52100 steel is the primary material used for standard bearings and automotive products that act as raceway materials. It is also common to use the material for bearing balls. The expert has extensive experience grinding the hardened form of this material ... See full profile
Texas (TX), USA
Expert in Precious Metals Chemistry, Mining, RefiningExpert is an inorganic chemist/ extractive metallurgist who has been active in precious metals recovery and refining for 24 years, mainly gold, silver, platinum and palladium. He has a thorough knowledge of pyro-, hydro- and electro-metallurgy methods, ... See full profile
Need the right expert in carat? We can help!
Intota is now ORC Expert Advisory Services


text:
Some purple and lavender https://folksy.com/items/6975640-Wedding-Greeting-Card-Printed-Appliqu-Design-Handmade-Personalised
Wow! you guys have such lovely Items!
My Zig Zag Card holder has a lovely lavender Zig Zag running through out it:
I'm new to Folksy so it would be great to have some real time seller feedback about my shop!
These can be made to order in other sizes and colours
Lavender hereA new Mother's Day card from mehttps://folksy.com/items/6976090-Mother-s-Day-Greeting-Card-Printed-Floral-Design-Handmade-Personalised
New today this layered purple gemstone necklace.
Some purplesHere's mine today
A little bit different (very different) for the colour purple:
New today purple agate earrings.
My lavender illustration;
Fingerless mitts
Sparkly purple cupcake card...
Maisy the rag doll
A little lavender https://folksy.com/items/6811033-Mothers-Day-Mini-Notebook-Set-Handmade-Personalised-Gift-Set-
Just relisted my Purple, Lavender & White shells
Purples in this new Pendant xhttps://folksy.com/items/6978608-Aqua-Purple-Blues-Wildflower-Polymer-Applique-Clay-Pendant-
Some charm earrings
Mauve tree.
Just relisted
The soothing scent of lavender.


text:
The parents and Estate of 18 year-old Sedric Davenport were awarded $1,500,000 by a Monroe County, Arkansas jury on April 8, 2004. Nix, Patterson & Roach represented the Davenports, whose only son was killed on May 27, 2000 in a collision between a tractor and a pickup truck driven by Matthew Ford, a former high school classmate of Mr. Davenport. Davenport had just graduated from high school and was preparing to attend the University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff on a full academic scholarship. Mr. Ford contended at trial that the tractor driven by Davenport moved off the shoulder and into his path of travel just prior to the wreck. Mr. Ford also blamed other parties that the Davenports had sued and settled with prior to trial. After a two day-trial, the jury found that Matthew Ford was 100% responsible for the death of Sedric Davenport. The jury awarded $1,000,000 to the Estate of Sedric Davenport for his loss of life, and $250,000 to each of his parents for the grief and anguish they endured as a result of their loss. The Davenports were represented by NPR trial attorneys Brady Paddock and Anthony Bruster.
Copyright © 2003-2006 Nix, Patterson & Roach, L.L.P. All Rights Reserved.
Contact Us: 205 Linda Drive | Daingerfield, TX 75638, 3600 N Capital of Texas # B350 | Austin, TX 78746
1845 Woodall Rodgers Suite 1050 Dallas,TX 75201, 2900 Saint Michael Dr # 501 | Texarkana, TX 75503


text:
The truth behind the 100th anniversary of the Levi's® and Cone Mills collaboration.Sponsored
If you are more or less interested in Denim culture, the chances are you would have heard the name 'Cone Mills', a long-established denim manufacturer that continues to make high-quality denim in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the United States. Why are people still fascinated with company's denim? I look back over it's history revealing the relationship with Levi's ®, which celebrates it's 100th anniversary this year.
Photo, Osamu Matsuo | Text, Shuhei Sato | Edit, Issey Enomoto
Jeans began with Levi's®
Levi Stauss & Co. is the father of Jeans and story of it's birth is also well known but will recap here once again.
It was 1873. At that time, America's population had exploded due to the discovery of gold mining and the strength of 'gold rush' with Levi's® establishing it's current home in San Francisco, the fastest growing port town in the country. Working labourers had asked for rugged work pants to withstand the harsh mining conditions. In response to their request, tailor Jacob Davis designed work pants had contained rivets (metal studs), and t's patent was obtained on May 20 his business partner Levi Strauss, who ran the general store. This became the prototype for Jeans and the reason they're referred to as being 'pioneering'. In 1890, the standard handed down and inherited by the 501® was born.
Sourcing the best fabrics and arriving at Corn Mills.
The biggest feature of the 501®, the rugged construction used with the 'XX Denim', represents the highest quality. Initially they were produced by stocking denim from the manufacturer Amoskeag, but in order to achieve the best quality, Levi's® acquired the right to use Corn Mill's 'Shrink-to-Fit' (Selvage) from Corn Mills in 1915. This gentleman's agreement is referred to as 'The Golden Handshake' and in 2015 the relationship between both companies celebrated it's 100 year anniversary.
'Right Hand Twill x Shrink-to-Fit' Denim has the best ageing.
For Levi's®, Right Hand Twill is a by-word for this Shrink-to-Fit denim. According to the saying 'shrink fit', they dared to use a high-shrinkage denim that contracts when repeatedly worn and washed, shrinking to fit the body perfectly. This takes advantage of rival manufacturers that use Left Hand Twill, subjected to a sanforized process, and sold without the need to shrink afterwards. As Right Hand Twill is made in the opposite direction to the general left twist of yarn, its looser with irregularities and the result is stiffer. Left Hand Twill cloth becomes flat and soft like the yarn twist itself. This distinction produces a puckering and difference in discolouration, proving to be one of the Jeans distinctive charms.
The more Right Hand Twill was beaten and worn, the more it had a fabric feel and discoloured with patterns of shading around the thigh (referred to as the 'beard') and behind the knee (also, the 'honeycomb') marked with deep wrinkling. On the other hand, the Left Hand Twill denim had strong vertical striping due to the sense of flat fabric, so much that it's blueish discolouring had no shading and clear wrinkling hardly occurred with continuous wear. The approval from this old denim from lovers of used clothing made the value of Levi's® in the vintage market unflinching.
501® from the beginning of the collaboration with Cone Mills at that time. From Levi's® archive material.
A rare maker who still carries the ideals of 'Made In America'.
Corn Mills is an essential part in helping talk about Levi's®, however, even if you have heard the name, maybe only a few people know the whole story?
Cone Mills has a long history with it's predecessor founding the company back in 1891 in Greensboro North Carolina. In 1905 a denim factory was established, named White Oak on account of a big 200 year-old tree that grows on the same site. It still operates of course, and is now known as the most iconic denim factory in the world.
In such a case as Cone Mills, it is not unusual for employees and several generations of families to continue working together for more than 40 or 50 years. One prominent individual who worked at White Oak factory carrying the company history with him is Elbert Frank Williams.
Talking of a living legend with over 60 years of service.
Frank was born in 1935 and joined Corn Mills in 1954. Even now he hasn't changed from when he was a new employee, slim and healthy wearing smooth overalls.
His job is fixing machinery at the factory, modestly "installing nearly all the machinery on site, learning by himself how to repair, and fixing only what needs to be fixed." Everyday he wanders several miles in a row, gluing machinery, checking the status of equipment to fine tune their pressure and speed and maintain a level of productivity at Corn Mills' White Oak factory. If need be, he makes replacement parts by hand.
Precisely because there are lessons to learn from such a long history as Frank's, machinery from the good old days run in parallel with the modernised factory.
"Even when I was drafted by the Vietnam War, Christmas bonuses and a special salary were paid. Even politically, if there was an economic crisis, it is the best company that protects employment. The same applies to the customer. They are honouring their commitment to Levi's®, whatever difficult circumstances might be. During the oil crisis, I organised a special storage tank to be be installed to avoid the factory from shutting down."
You can feel 100 years of history appear in the collection.
Levi's® and Corn Mills relationship of trust has become an unshakeable thing even after 100 years. This season's Levi's® Vintage clothing will develop a tribute to the people that contributed to the 1915 501®, Corn Mills factory, and the development of denim. The Levi's® Vintage clothing will analyse the denim archive of Levi Stauss & Co. and Corn Mills developed jointly with White Oak factory and use denim cloth that has been faithfully reproduced.
It seems to be woven using the old power loom which Frank dares to repair, not to mention working on the floor made from an old tree. The floor is not made of modern concrete, creaking and delicately swaying when it's walked on, and interesting because it is said to be the same finish and texture now as it was before. I want you to experience the importance of it's history and be passionately obsessive right down to a single thread of yarn.
1915 501 15501-0004 Rigid ¥28,500+tax
1915 501 15501-0007 White Oak ¥32,500+tax
1915 Sack Coat: 52191-0003 Rigid ¥47,000+tax
Blanket lined 1915 Sack Coat: 70352 0002 Single Jack ¥75,000+tax
Levis Strauss Japan
- Keywords:
- Levi's
- Clothing
- Men's
- Others (Clothing)


text:
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta hopes Tito Vilanova can "fight back" in his battle with cancer following the former Blaugrana coach's resignation on Friday.
Vilanova stayed on at Camp Nou last season despite suffering a relapse of his throat cancer in December 2012 but has elected not to continue in the position ahead of the coming campaign to pursue further treatment.
And Iniesta, whose inspired performances last season under Vilanova helped Barca to the Liga title, hopes the 44-year-old can recover from his health problems in the near future.
Speaking at a statue unveiling in his hometown of Fuentealbilla, Iniesta said: "For me this is a day of contrasts: I'm excited about this homage I have been given, but it's a very tough day with the news about Tito.
"The person is the most important thing and I just hope this is sorted soon. Tito will fight back and win this terrible fight."
Meanwhile, Barca left-back Jordi Alba, who was signed under Vilanova's reign, admits he is in the dark over exactly what is wrong with the coach but hopes that he fights back swiftly.
"I don't know anything and it has taken me by surprise," he is quoted as saying by latdap.ct. "If it's true, it'll be a very bad piece of news.
"He's done a great job and we hope he gets well soon and comes back."


text:
Festivity turns into an fuck-a-thon
2 years ago 3m:00s : 5448 Get Full Access
Categories: Blonde Brunette Shaved Big Tits big nipples big butt piercing Skinny stripping kissing pussy Doggystyle Blowjob riding Threesome Facial swallow
Thank you! Your comment has been sent for review.
Unexpected error occurred, please contact support


text:
Natasha Miller's first holiday release The Season avoids the major pitfall of utter sameness that usually plagues Christmas music by offering a unique blend of different jazz styles that normally would not accompany "Christmas Songs." Miller's vocals are as pristine as newly fallen snow on Christmas morning and are perfectly highlighted--as a well decorated tree--with the wonderful arrangements and solo features on the recording. The recording itself was partially recorded at Yoshi's of Oakland, CA on December 12th, 2005 and in the recording studio.
The recording opens with the Irving Berlin classic "White Christmas," with a New Orleans accentuated groove arrangement by Miller featuring trombonist Adam Theis and drummer Jeff Marrs. In fact it does snow occasionally for a White Christmas in the Crescent City, as it did Christmas Eve 2004. The Season next moves into a medley of songs of "Let It Snow," "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman" with a swingin' blues flare that features a brilliant piano laden arrangement by Josh Nelson. Nelson is also featured on the next tune "I'll Be Home for Christmas" with a bluesy-gospel oriented piano solo masterfully played and executed.
"Little Drummer Boy," features Latin-Jazz guitarist Steve Erquiaga in a soulful and silky smooth rendition that will have you hummin' Pa rum pum pum pum (ba bum). Saxophonist Rob Roth and bassist John Shifflett melt away the cold with some hot solo playing in "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." While a sweet, swinging samba may not be the first rhythm to come to mind in conjunction with a song about Christmas, Miller's rendition of "The Christmas Song" quickly dispels any doubts about such a twist and combination of flavors. Brazilian Cachaça mixes well with Chestnut Liqueur and Eggnog as a drink pairing with this song. Santa swings right in with style in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Sweetness and melody prevail in the Bobby Sharp tune "As the Years Come and Go."
Miller's talent and range is exhibited in full upon singing "My Favorite Things," which shows her exceptional promise as a jazz singer. Rob Roth's saxophone compliments Miller perfectly on this track, a task which is not easy to fulfill for a tune in which Coltrane was specifically known for playing. Beauty may be the only way to express Miller's singing with Erquiaga's arrangement and playing of "One Hand One Heart," that features a solo acoustic guitar introduction from "Somewhere". A final medley of song of "Amazing Grace," Silent Night" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" was arranged by Josh Nelson and features Sheldon Brown on soprano saxophone.
"Twas the Night Before Christmas" is notable for the resounding theatrical performance by Miller's father Martin and the improvised musical accompaniment by Josh Nelson on Piano and Tim Bulkley on drums. The only downside to this recording results when Christmas is over since the musical merits warrant year-long listening. Forget the rules and play it all year long!!
The Nightlife Sommelier's Drink & Recording Pairing:
Recipe: Christmas Season Samba
2 oz Premium Brazilian Cachaça (KA SHA SA)Rum
1 ½ oz Marrone Chestnut Liqueur
5 oz Eggnog Mix
Garnish & Flavor to Taste with Cinnamon Stick, Nutmeg, and Allspice
Recommended Presentation: Serve in 8.5 oz Irish-Coffee Glass
For more drink reviews & recipes as well as information about The Nightlife Sommelier's events, classes & services visit http://www.thenightlifesommelier.com


text:
Every OCS deployment needs the appropriate clients rolled out to the users. There are 3 client programs that almost every OCS solution must have:
- Office Communicator 2007
- Live Meeting 2007
- Office Communicator Mobile 2007
Since there has been some upgrades and patches to the RTM versions of these programs, I thought I could provide the latest download links to them.
Office Communicator 2007 (v2.0.6362.97)
This program is not free, so first of all you should download it from Microsoft Volume Licensing Services site (assuming you have a volume license agreement).
Next, you should apply the October 2008 hotfix, which will fix some issues (this update is needed in order to interoperate with OCS 2007 R2).
Live Meeting 2007 (v8.0.6362.91)
- Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client - KB957491
- Conferencing Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook - KB957979
Office Communicator Mobile 2007 (v2.0.467.0)
- Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) - Communicator Mobile runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6.0 software for Pocket PC and smartphone devices.


text:
On August 16th, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported, "As South Korean songs and dances are popular in North Korea, instructors teaching the dance choreographies of South Korea's popular girl group, SNSD have emerged".
Through an interview during the broadcast, a Chinese trader who went to North Korea from time to time said, "Once, I received a request from a well-to-do woman to bring in a CD of Korean group, SNSD. Between the children in their teens and young people in their 20s living in Jung Area, Pyeongyang or Daedonggang Area, there is a saying, 'If you can't dance at disco, you're not allowed into the children's festival.'"
He added, "SNSD and other Korean groups are no strangers in North Korea. Private dance lessons with fees of $20 a month, as well as, dance and singing lessons by well-known instructors, which are being carried out at home and training rooms, have also emerged".
Credit: joongang.co.kr


text:
Lierskogen, Norway (PressExposure) December 19, 2007 -- Kristanix Software has released Web Button Maker Deluxe 3, the most professional tool for designing Vista and Mac style buttons for web sites! With Web Button Maker Deluxe, anyone can make beautiful, memorable buttons within minutes.
You don't have to hire a professional to make your web site or program look good. Impress your visitors with cutting edge Windows Vista buttons. Capture the shining Mac-style aqua look for your web site. You can create animated buttons as well as use different button designs for normal button, mouse-over button, and mouse-down button. Web Button Maker Deluxe even creates the custom HTML that you need to make these buttons function on your web site.
The program comes packed with more than 200 professionally designed, ready-to-use button templates and background textures. Just add your own text, and you're done.
Unlike most button tools, Web Button Maker Deluxe doesn't rely on static images as templates. Every effect is dynamically created and is fully customizable for optimal quality. Fine-tune every detail of your button, from colors to shape. You can make tab-shaped, round or square designs. Use any font on your system and vary the size, shadow and angle of the text. You can even add icons to the button.
Your buttons can have solid colors or gradients, use one of the many textures included in the program, or you can simply choose your own image to create even more unique buttons. You can add special effects to your buttons, including light effect, glowing, pulsing, shadow, strokes, and grayscale. You can even adjust the transparency level of the effects. Do all of this and view the result in real-time.
Web Button Maker Deluxe supports all popular image output formats, including BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, EXIF, WMF, EMF, ICON, and even Animated GIF and Animated TIFF. In minutes, you can create professional buttons, and add them to your web pages.
Whether you're a web designer who needs to create stunning web buttons efficiently, a business person who needs to make your site look better than your competitors', or a hobbyist who wants to impress friends and family with your artistic prowess, Web Button Maker Deluxe has the tools that you need.
# # #
Evaluation Copy Available on Request


text:
It had been a long time since this brioche made eyes at me and now I finally took time to make it. I have to admit that this trend of a little bit original brioches pleases me a lot. But, I have difficulty in resolving to make a recipe which we see already a lot on the Web, it's a pity to stop for that, then I hope to make more efforts to propose you fashionable recipes, even if I am not a pioneer.
Here, the difficulty lives in the lamination of the dough which I begin finally to master (yeeeees^^). Finally this brioche is a real delight, crumb is soft as one pleases. I can assure you that it did not last long. Here we are, it is what I also like with brioches, it is that they please a large number. Difficult to resist!!
– 250g of flour
– 2 eggs
– 20g of caster sugar
– 1 pinch of salt
– 12g of baker's fresh yeast
– 100g of soft butter
– 80g of butter for the tourage (the action to make puff brioche)
– 1 egg beaten for the gilt
Put the flour, the salt and the sugar in a salad bowl. Make a well and add egg. Mix then add the crumbled yeast. Mix then until obtain a homogeneous dough. Add then the soft butter in dice and mix until it incorporates completely in the dough. Let then the dough rest at least 2 hours in a moderate place (25 in 30°C), put in a warm oven if it is too much cold at your home.
The dough should have doubled in volume. Take it and mold it to make it degas. Re-form a ball with then, roll up it of film paper and place it in the refrigerator 12 hours. In this last stage, if you see that the slightly too sticky dough, put back a little flour but do not forget, more the dough is difficult to manipulate, softer it will be!
The next day, take the butter and display it to form a square of 3mm of thickness. Take then the brioche dough, display it so that it forms one rectangle twice as big as butters on approximately 3 mm in thickness. Place the butter in the center of the dough then pull down the extremities of the dough on the butter (the third part of the top and the third part of bottom have to cover the butter). Then spread to re-form a long rectangle. It is the stage of the tourage. Bend again in three by pulling down the extremities in the center and place in the refrigerator 20min. Turn right then the dough of a quarter and spread it again and redo the same thing. For this brioche, I made the tourage only twice. The drawing down should help.
Take out the dough of the refrigerator, spread it in a big rectangle then roll up it on itself by watching to wet edges so that the dough sticks. Cut 6 equal portions and place them in one springform pan buttered by alternating them to the left and to the right (the dough will not then perform every space but do not worry, it is going to swell in the cooking). Let rest 1 hour.
Whitewash the dough of the beaten egg and put in the oven 30 in 40min in 200°C by watching the cooking.
Let's cook 😉


text:
You know life is always in the fast lane, it never slows down so if you had a choice to choose if you wanted to put your mother in a retirement home or keep her at your house which would you choose and why?
I shall opt to keep my mom with me becz i cant miss the oppurtunity of looking after my parents...
I've already given my word to my mother, letting her know she will never see the inside of a retirement home(nursing home), under any circumstances.It's just not an option. As she has worked for one for over 30+ and seen what happens to the people who are put into one and how the family leaves them alone to die, she doesn't want it to happen to her.I agree with her.
my mother has did the same I asked this because it is something to question I would never think of putting my mother in one but I'd like for someone to comment on this saying why they would put theirs in a home.
There's no way I would ever let my mom go into a home. She looked after me for years, it is only right that when the time comes, I should do the same.
I really like that train of thought you got going there.
Copyright © 2017 HubPages Inc. and respective owners.
Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners.
HubPages® is a registered Service Mark of HubPages, Inc.
HubPages and Hubbers (authors) may earn revenue on this page based on affiliate relationships and advertisements with partners including Amazon, Google, and others.
terms of use privacy policy (0.49 sec)


text:
Flash flood warning issued for two area counties
A flash flood warning has been issued for eastern DeWitt County and northern Piatt County until 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
The National Weather Service said three inches of rain have already fallen in eastern DeWitt County, and more rain is expected. This may cause flash flooding to occur in areas such as Monticello, DeLand, Weldon and White Heath.
You should take precuations if flooding occurs in your area. Do not drive over a flooded roadway. Secure your outdoor items so they're not swept away.
News-Gazette.com embraces discussion of both community and world issues. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. We reserve the right to remove any comment at our discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.


text:
Bob DoleThe internet is a great way to get on the net.
OriginalGriff wrote:"drop" in this context would have to mean "use a crowbar to pry from my dead lifeless hands"
OriginalGriff wrote:0 is the easy one!
General News Suggestion Question Bug Answer Joke Praise Rant Admin
Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.


text:
hmmm.. that is a new smell!!
I felt completely crazy sniffing down my shirt the last week.. but can swear I smell milk!! not like cow milk.. but like baby breath! Im a first time mom.. sooo, its all new to me.. but I would think I would be closer to due date or at least leaking some before that smell. I started getting it around 22 weeks even. Anyone else getting this yet?
Re: hmmm.. that is a new smell!!
I'm leaking and have been for a week or so but I haven't noticed a smell. Might be time to grab some milk shields just in case :)
Re: hmmm.. that is a new smell!!
Never thought I'd need that so early... The things they don't warn first timers about!
|All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:29 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright © 2003-2012 JustMommies.com, All Rights Reserved.


text:
More than a quarter-century before September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center was immortalized by an act of unprecedented daring and beauty. In August 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit boldly - and illegally - fixed a rope between the tops of the still-young Twin Towers, a quarter mile off the ground. At daybreak, thousands of spectators gathered to watch in awe and adulation as he traversed the rope a full eight times in the course of an hour. In Man on Wire, Petit recounts the six years he spent preparing for this achievement. It is a fitting tribute to those lost-but-not-forgotten symbols of human aspiration - the Twin Towers.
With quick bursts of description and a quirky, poetic English, Philip Petit remembers how his dream of one man walking between the two World Trade Center towers became a reality transfixing millions. Bringing an adult's wisdom and authority to this recall of youthful romance and grand folly, Andrew Heyl reads Petit's memoir of the six years he pursued and planned and nurtured his vision. And when he lived it, early one morning in August of 1974, his most immediate reward for transfixing thousands on the ground and millions around the work by performing a quarter mile off the ground on 250 feet of one-inch braided steel cable was to be arrested and hauled off to see a psychiatrist.
"By evoking his youthful passion for the World Trade Center, Petit brings the towers' awesomeness back to life." (San Francisco Chronicle)
We've sent an email with your order details. Order ID #:
Listen on the Audible app or these devices.Launch Audible App
-or-Download Free Audible App
To access this title, visit your library in the app or on the desktop website.
Listen on the Audible app or these devices.Launch Audible App
-or-Download Free Audible App
Audible does not currently have the rights to sell this title in your country.
Please consider another book.Continue Browsing
Please add a payment method to continue.Add a Payment Method
Please edit your payment details or add a new card.
If the problem persists, contact customer service at (888) 283-5051Review My Payment Method
If the problem persists, contact customer service at (888) 283-5051
Please add your billing address to continue.Add My Billing Address
Please select a default credit card to continue.Select Credit Card
It looks like you've already used the specified payment method for a free trial.
Please contact customer service if you think we have made a mistake. (888) 283-5051Start Your $14.95 Membership
If the problem persists, contact customer service at (888) 283-5051
If the problem persists, contact customer service at (888) 283-5051
Frenetic tension
- Chrissie
Very good and very interesting
- Johnny Wilde


text:
Sympatric speciation can arise as a result of disruptive selection with assortative mating as a pleiotropic by-product. Studies on host choice, employing artificial neural networks as models for the host recognition system in exploiters, illustrate how disruptive selection on host choice coupled with assortative mating can arise as a consequence of selection for specialization. Our studies demonstrate that a generalist exploiter population can evolve into a guild of specialists with an 'ideal free' frequency distribution across hosts. The ideal free distribution arises from variability in host suitability and density-dependent exploiter fitness on different host species. Specialists are less subject to inter-phenotypic competition than generalists and to harmful mutations that are common in generalists exploiting multiple hosts.
When host signals used as cues by exploiters coevolve with exploiter recognition systems, our studies show that evolutionary changes may be continuous and cyclic. Selection changes back and forth between specialization and generalization in the exploiters, and weak and strong mimicry in the hosts, where non-defended hosts use the host investing in defence as a model. Thus, host signals and exploiter responses are engaged in a red-queen mimicry process that is ultimately cyclic rather then directional. In one phase, evolving signals of exploitable hosts mimic those of hosts less suitable for exploitation (i.e. the model). Signals in the model hosts also evolve through selection to escape the mimic and its exploiters. Response saturation constraints in the model hosts lead to the mimic hosts finally perfecting its mimicry, after which specialization in the exploiter guild is lost. This loss of exploiter specialization provides an opportunity for the model hosts to escape their mimics. Therefore, this cycle then repeats.
We suggest that a species can readily evolve sympatrically when disruptive selection for specialization on hosts is the first step. In a sexual reproduction setting, partial reproductive isolation may first evolve by mate choice being confined to individuals on the same host. Secondly, this disruptive selection will favour assortative mate choice on genotype, thereby leading to increased reproductive isolation.
1. Introduction
The existence of sympatric speciation is a contentious issue because both empirical support is scarce and the underlying theoretical mechanisms are not as fully understood as we might like (e.g. Futuyma & Mayer 1980; Orr & Smith 1998; Rundle & Nosil 2005), although new evidence supports its occurrence (Barluenga et al. 2006). An obstacle for sympatric speciation is the exchange of alleles between lineages and the homogenizing effect of recombination in sexual reproduction (Felsenstein 1981; Rice & Salt 1988). The basic requirements for sympatric speciation are disruptive selection for evolutionary divergence, correlated through assortative mating with reproductive isolation (Felsenstein 1981; Rundle & Nosil 2005). Orr & Smith (1998) make the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic barriers to gene flow. Extrinsic factors are physical barriers in the environment that prevent encounters between individuals. Intrinsic factors are genetic traits that increase pre- or post-zygotic reproductive isolation. They define sympatric speciation as 'the evolution of intrinsic barriers to gene flow in the absence of extrinsic barriers'.
Host races have been defined as populations of a species that are partly reproductively isolated from one another as a direct consequence of adaptation to different hosts (Abrahamson et al. 2001). Host races in phytophagous insects are believed to be precursors to full species, an idea that goes back to Walsh (1864). The speciation process through host races is one of the most likely candidate examples for sympatric speciation. Specialization on hosts is a prerequisite for host races to be reproductively isolated, and if the isolation evolves as a correlated character to specialization, it may lead to sympatric speciation (Rice & Salt 1990).
Among insects, diet specialists are more common than generalists (Jermy 1984; Jaenike 1990; Futuyma 1991). It is still largely unknown what selection pressures lie behind the specialization, and it has been proposed as a major enigma in the evolution of insects (Futuyma 1991). Dietary reasons for specialization have been rejected because many laboratory studies show that larvae feed and grow equally well on plants other than those chosen by the female to oviposit on (Dethier 1947; Ballabeni & Rahier 2000). Other theoretical explanations for host specificity in insects include avoidance of inter-specific competition or predation, reduction of parasitism and increased probability of mate finding, but the empirical support is often circumstantial at the best (Futuyma & Moreno 1988). Recently, host specificity in insects has been suggested to be the result of limitations in brain function, more specifically in the recognition systems that processes information (here host signals) for effective recognition of suitable host plants (Holmgren & Getz 2000; Bernays 2001).
Here, we review some of our work on host-plant selection in insects using artificial neural networks as models for the plant recognition mechanism in insects (Holmgren & Getz 2000; Norrström et al. 2006). We present some new insights from the synthesis of our results and discuss some detailed mechanisms that may be involved in sympatric speciation (Dieckmann & Doebeli 1999). This includes specialization and disruptive selection as a result of evolution on recognition mechanisms, as well as coevolution of the exploiter species and their hosts. Although the model is inspired by insect–plant systems, it may be regarded as an example of a more general exploiter–victim system in which the evolution of the exploiters' recognition systems is critically influenced by the ability to assess resource quality of hosts/victims. As a consequence, exploiter recognition coevolves with defensive (physiological or morphological) adaptations of victims and sometimes leads to sympatric speciation. Our aim is to present a framework for exploring the importance of specialization for speciation, with a view to stimulating further theoretical and empirical work.
2. Recognition system and artificial neural network design
A niche-breadth model of exploiter evolution under neural constraints needs to be sufficiently detailed with regard to signals produced by victims and the ability of the exploiters to perceive and respond to these signals to adequately address the questions at hand. The plant victims, for example, produce signals of varying complexity dependent on a few key chemical compounds that occur in plant-specific ratios, but are collectively known as 'green odour' (Visser 1986). To keep things simple, we let the plant signals in our model be represented by two odourants, the minimum needed for odour quality to depend on component ratios (Getz & Chapman 1987). Insects, as exploiters for example, perceive these plant signals and compute an output signal coding for a behavioural action—in our models, we take this action to be laying versus not laying eggs on a potential host plant.
For simplicity, we modelled the perceptual system as a perceptron (Haykin 1994), rather than a dynamic neural network (Getz & Lutz 1999), which captures the perceptual constraint feature seen in insect exploiters when selecting among victims with different phenotypes (cf. Getz & Smith 1990; Getz & Akers 1997). The perceptron is a three-layered feed-forward network with an ability to differentiate and categorize input signals, once the perceptron has an appropriate set of weighting values for passing on information from one layer of nodes to the next. The output layer has only one node which state corresponds to an on–off or yes–no response. In our simulations, these weightings are made to evolve intergenerationally through both mutations and the fitness of the response in terms of host-plant (i.e. victim) selection, where fitness is measured as the expected number of eggs that will successfully mature into new adults. In short, we have a mutation–selection algorithm on the synaptic weights of replicated perceptrons (see electronic supplementary material for more details).
We investigated the effects of point mutation probabilities and the perturbation effect of a point mutation. In an initial study, we assumed that the exploiters were represented by a unique perceptron reproduced as haploid clones (Holmgren & Getz 2000); that is, from one generation to the next depending on the fitness of the represented individual, zero to two new perceptrons were created and then mutated with predetermined probabilities and size of weighting perturbations. We noted that clonal reproduction excludes genetic exchange between exploiter lineages, which are thus reproductively isolated. In a follow-on study, described below, we developed a diploid genetic structure coding for the synaptic weights (N. Norrström et al. 2006, unpublished data). Our perceptrons had two inputs implying that victim signals were points in a two-dimensional odour space (figure 1).
3. Stimulus–response functions and specialization
How well the recognition system of an exploiter is performing, in terms of identifying suitable victims, is ultimately determined by the number of eggs in each generation maturing into new adults. We constructed exploiter-fitness functions using an insect herbivore as our leitmotif (see electronic supplementary material for fitness function of exploiters). The fitness of each exploiter is a function of the response to the input signals from its victims. One may think of an insect herbivore as having the option of choosing among a number of different types of plants, where each type produces a characteristic odour. In the model, each insect samples the odours of all the plants in the environment. The response or preference of insect g, g=1, …, G, for the plant type h, h=1, …, H, is identified with the output yg,h of perceptron g to input signal h. One approach to constructing a fitness function is to assume that the decision to lay a clutch of eggs on a host plant depends on the strength of this response relative to the other plant types. This may seem to be a reasonable approach at first. However, if the absolute signal strength is not factored in, genetic drift decreases the insects' sensitivity to the plant odours because there is no selection on sensitivity (confirmed in unpublished simulations). Thus, we found it biologically reasonable and necessary to add a dependency on the signal strength to the relative response to each plant odour type. Biological interpretations for this dependency on the absolute value of the signal include: (i) signals need to exceed a threshold level to cause spiking neurons to fire and (ii) it is also reasonable to assume that there is selection for an increased, rather than a decreased sensitivity to signals that are critical to the insects' fitness. Thus, we used the expression(3.1)to calculate the relative clutch size, i.e. the number of eggs, e, laid by exploiter g on the plant type h. The egg load affects the fitness function used to calculate the number of insect offspring (equation (A1) in the electronic supplementary material).
If response function (equation (3.1)) is at all realistic, it has some significant consequences for insect diet breadth. The function selects for an all-or-none response of insects to their available hosts. For example, in an environment of two plants, an insect with the intermediate response [yg,1=0.5, yg,2=0.5] will lay [eg,1=0.25, eg,2=0.25], i.e. in total only half of its egg complement. In contrast, an insect with a maximum response to one plant and a zero response to the other [yg,1=1, yg,2=0] will lay [eg,1=1, eg,2=0], i.e. its total egg complement on plant one. Thus, intermediate responses have the logical consequence that insects do not lay their full egg complement, and are as a strategy less fit than all-or-none response strategies.
Now consider an environment of host plants where the value of each plant as a resource for the insects is intermediate and varies between plants. In other words, the plants are neither perfect hosts nor completely noxious, but provide some intermediate resource in terms of the number of eggs that can successfully hatch and produce viable offspring. Alternatively, the quality of offspring—e.g. the size or fecundity of mature offspring—may vary with the plant quality. As our simulations illustrate below, there is no way for a single insect generalist, with a maximum response to each plant type, to optimally exploit an environment composed of plants that vary in their relative fitness values to insects (see §4a). This conclusion rests on the assumption that these generalists will distribute their eggs evenly among available plants. Intra-phenotypic competition on the plant of the lowest resource value will limit population growth, thereby leaving the more valuable plants underutilized. Under these circumstances, selection favours guilds of insects with relative numbers selected to match the values and optimally exploit the plant resources in the environment.
In all its simplicity, the hypothesis that insects behave in accordance with both their absolute and relative responses to the plants of different types may explain the observation that many insects are more restrictive in their diet than needs be from a nutritional point of view (e.g. Wiklund 1975; Ballabeni & Rahier 2000). As discussed below, our work suggests that the herbivorous insects exploiting a particular ecosystem have evolved into a guild where the different ecological niches arising from host plant variation are occupied by a number of more or less specialized species.
4. Specialization when resources are fixed
In order to study the evolutionary process of specialization versus generalization, a range of resources must be included in the model. In an initial study of an exploiter–victim system, set in an ecological background determined by four fixed (i.e. non-evolving) victim types (Holmgren & Getz 2000), we focused on the evolution of niche breadth. In particular, we investigated the evolutionary process in several different ecological backgrounds from both a victim-signalling and victim-resource value point of view. Some of these environments represented a more difficult victim-discrimination challenge than others. The victims reproduced clonally and an insect–plant leitmotif was used to discuss and interpret the results.
(a) The ideal free distribution
The spectrum of plant types used in our first analysis (Holmgren & Getz 2000) constituted an ecological resource space or, equivalently, a set of ecological niches. We identified the niches with the plants themselves and assigned a niche value vh to the hth population of plants of type h, h=1, …, 4. Thus, we identified the resource space using the set {v1,v2,v3,v4} and normalized the analysis by setting , which we interpreted as the carrying capacity of the environment (in our simulations this normalization to 100 represented the actual number of exploiters that could survive to reproduce from one exploiter generation to the next, but could also be interpreted in terms of relative units).
Natural selection will favour exploiters occupying empty niches—i.e. the number of individuals produced by these exploiters will increase until the ecological niches are all fully occupied. In analogy to the ideal free distribution (Fretwell & Lucas 1970; Holmgren 1995), we expect the number of exploiters to match the resources. In several different environments with four non-evolving plant types, we showed that insect phenotypes evolved to equilibrium levels (numbers) that matched the plants' resource values (Holmgren & Getz 2000). For example, in the case of the resource values of the four plants being {40, 10, 40, 10}, insect phenotypes evolved to match so that the numbers produced by each plant type was also {40, 10, 40, 10} (figure 2).
Recalling that the insect phenotypes evolve an all-or-none response (or close to it), we can conveniently represent each insect phenotype by an array of preference digits, one for each plant. For example, a phenotype denoted {1010} will lay eggs on the plant types one and three, but reject the plant types two and four. Simulations were initiated with naive perceptrons, in which the synaptic weights were randomly set to small values. The simulations were then run for 100 000 generations (for more details see Holmgren & Getz 2000). In the period of 1000–3000 generations (figure 2), the first niche had 40 insects, 30 of phenotype {1000} and 10 of {1110}, the second niche had 10 {1110} phenotypes, the third niche 40 comprising 10 {1110} phenotypes, 20 {0010} phenotypes and 10 {0011} phenotypes, and the last niche had 10 {0011} phenotypes. Simple arithmetic indicates that the phenotypes of this guild are numerically matching the value of the plant resources.
Interestingly, the above guild begins an evolutionary transformation after 3000 generations so that at 4000 generations, the matching of plant phenotypes is accomplished by 40 {1111} generalist phenotypes in concert with the two specialists phenotypes, {1000} and {0010} of 30 individuals each (i.e. occupying niches 1 and 3, respectively). For reasons discussed below, this latter guild is more stable than the one above that arose first. Note that the resource matching is a predicted equilibrium of any exploiter–resource system unless the spectrum of exploiter types (i.e. guild) gets trapped in a non-optimal solution, from which there is no evolutionary escape if mutational perturbations are absent (as in simulated annealing optimization processes: Haykin 1994).
(b) The evolution of guilds
Resource matching is a game-theoretic outcome in which no single exploiter phenotype can evolve independent of the frequencies of other phenotypes. From the simulations we conducted, we concluded that exploiters evolve in guilds of several exploiters utilizing available resources in concert and in numbers matching the resources abundance and resource value. In figure 2, the transitorily stable resource-matching guild of 30 {1000}, 30 {1110}, 20 {0010} and 20 {0011} phenotypes is ultimately replaced by a guild of 40 {1111}, 30 {1000} and 30 {0010} phenotypes. The transition period is short in comparison with the phases during which the guilds prevail.
The geological record indicates that sudden turnovers of whole guilds of species seem to occur (Gould 2002). Some rapid turnovers of extinct guilds may be the result of catastrophes, such as meteorite impacts on Earth (Alvarez et al. 1980). Species compositions in terrestrial and aquatic systems are also known to exhibit rapid turnovers when alien species are introduced (Crooks 2002). In addition to catastrophes and major perturbations, guilds of specialists and generalists, unable to match their resources, are vulnerable to invasions of new species forming new guilds. In figure 2, the guild prevailing from generation 1000 to 3000 is matching its plant environment less robustly or resiliently (Amemiya et al. 2005) than the succeeding guild (after 4000 generations), because the former guild is more sensitive to mutations than the latter and more affected by inter-phenotypic competition. In reality, environments may change catastrophically or gradually, and a guild of species whose interactions are characterized by inter-specific competition may be unable to track those changes. As a consequence, a rapid turnover of species will follow, thereby establishing a new guild. Species in guilds have frequencies that are mutually dependent owing to resource matching. As such, they are resistant to invasion of phenotypes that temporarily disrupts this matching. The more mutations and new exploiter phenotypes required to obtain a new matching, the greater the resilience of the existing guild to persist.
Appearance of a new species may not be sufficient to overthrow an existing guild. Sometimes two or more are required to invade in concert. When an invasion has started, existing phenotypes quickly lose fitness as their interdependence with other phenotypes weakens. Because a simultaneous increase in fitness of new phenotypes and fitness loss in old ones is required, turnover rates of guilds when they occur are relatively fast. This is not a group-selection argument; selection still acts at the individual level although the fitness of individuals is dependent on the composition and frequency of the different species in the guild of competitors.
(c) Evolution of specialists versus generalists
Returning to the fact that the response of each clonally evolving insect phenotype in our system is close to all or none, in many situations resource matching can only be accomplished by a guild where some insect phenotypes are specialized on one or a few plants. In our simulations, we found that the most stable guilds evolving to match their host-plant environment are those that minimize the degree to which niches overlap among the members of the guild. The reason is that the guilds exhibiting considerable niche overlap are more vulnerable to changes in phenotype numbers due to inter-phenotypic competition within shared niches. If mutations of phenotypes lead to erroneous host choices and small deviations from the ideal free distribution, generalists are more likely than specialists to experience reduced fitness from over-crowded plants. Reduced fitness leads to decreased population size of the phenotype, which will lead to other plants in its diet being underutilized.
In reality, deviations from the ideal free distribution can be due to mutations on other phenotypes or changes in resource abundances. Guilds composed of specialists are less affected by inter-phenotypic competition and can more readily track a changing environment. In addition, specialists have a more simple discrimination task than generalists avoiding low quality resources. As such, the perceptual networks associated with simpler tasks are potentially less likely to be hampered by harmful mutations. An exploiter phenotype that utilizes two types of plants with sufficiently similar chemical signatures to be able to lump the two plant types into one perceptual category has no more complicated task than a specialist exploiter that needs to identify a single plant type. The most extreme case of this would be the generalist that treats all the existing plants as one category. For this reason we should expect guilds to be made up by specialists on single plant species (monophages), intermediate specialists utilizing a few similar host plants (oligophages) and indiscriminant generalists (heterophages).
In summary, our simulations suggest that disruptive selection for specialization in a heterogeneous resource environment could arise owing to the following two mechanisms. First, selection for sensitivity to signals produces individuals that have an all-or-none response to the different host phenotypes so that only guilds of insects that specialize to some degree will be able to fill up available resource niches. Second, selection favours resource-matching guilds of exploiter phenotypes that perform relatively simple host-choice perceptual tasks.
5. Specialization when resources evolve
In a follow-on study, we allowed the victims to evolve in terms of the signals used by the exploiters to detect these victims (Norrström et al. 2006). As in the previous study, each exploiter was identified with a three-layer perceptron with weights subject to mutations. Again, with focus on specialization and disruptive selection, reproduction was assumed to be clonal for simplicity and to eliminate gene flows between genetic lineages. Specialization and disruptive selection among sexuals is within the scope of future work. Also, victims were still represented by a point in a two-dimensional signal (odour) space. Initially, three groups of victims were introduced, differing in their relative palatability: high, intermediate and low. The fitness of each victim depended on the number of victims within the same group and on the attack rate represented by a weighted sum of all exploiters—the weighting being determined by the exploiter response functions to that particular victim.
(a) Red queen evolution
The conflicting interests of exploiters and victims induce a continuously changing system that cycle over time. Exploiters are continuously selected to discriminate among victims of different palatability. Victims of high palatability are selected to become similar to victims of low palatability thereby reducing the intensity of attacks. Victims of low palatability, in turn are selected in the signal space to escape from approaching highly palatable victims—that is, to move away from their high palatable mimics. This results in a directional movement of victims in the signal space, driven by the exploiters' continuous adaptation to discriminate among victim types. By measuring all exploiters' responses to many locations in the signal space and calculating a response average in these locations we create a response landscape. Lowlands in the response landscape mean low average response, hence little exploitation, and highlands mean high average response and high exploitation. In the exploiter response landscape (figure 3), the victims move downhill to avoid attacks (e.g. figure 3c), with the least palatable victims in the lead. Because there is variation in each victim cluster, as indicated by the width of the tubes in figure 3, there can be a differential selection on the victims within each palatability cluster. While the signals of victims evolve, the ability of exploiters to discriminate among these victims also evolves. For most of the time, the relative distances among the mobile victim clusters in the signal space are more or less constant, reflecting the presence of a red-queen evolutionary process (Van Valen 1973). For a short time, though, this process is arrested when threshold and saturation constraints come into play (figure 3d).
(b) Mimicry evolution
Geometrically, the red-queen process arrests in 'corners' of the signal space (figure 3d). In these corners signal cues are either saturated or absent. Selection now enables the most palatable victims to become perfect mimics of least palatable victims. Holmgren & Enquist (1999) suggested that an equivalent process can explain the evolution of Batesian mimicry, including the saturated coloration visual mimics and models often exhibit. In this phase of the process, the exploiters are unable to distinguish between these two victim types, and hence their individual response surfaces will relax and become flat over the whole signal space. This releases the palatable and unpalatable victims from differential selection due to lack of discrimination by the exploiters, thereby allowing the victims to drift apart in the signal space. In this way the mimetic resemblance is degraded.
(c) Cyclicity of specialists and generalists
When host clusters are discriminable, the exploiters evolve to specialize on the palatable and intermediate host clusters. Once the unpalatable model and its mimics are driven to perfect mimicry in one of the corners of signal space, the exploiters become complete generalists. This process is cyclic (figure 3) with the period length determined by the evolutionary response, i.e. changes from one generation to the next, according to Fisher's (1930) fundamental theorem of natural selection. The evolutionary response is a function of additive genetic variance, in our model determined by mutation rates, and the selection differential (Maynard Smith 1998) given by the elevation differences in the response landscape of the perceptrons (figure 3). The cyclicity is a consequence of the continuous changes in the host signal phenotype and the constraints on the strength on each of the two components of the signal. At signal saturation, first, variation in signal traits degrades; second, differential selection on the plants becomes vanishingly small. In the next phase, changes are determined by mutation rates alone. In this evolving plant environment host races readily evolve. If exploiters reproduce sexually by mating among individuals sharing host plants, the reproductive isolation between host races will disappear when they come together on the same host. In this case, sympatric speciation would not be possible unless assortative mating were linked to something other than host-plant preference.
6. Exploiter asexual versus sexual reproduction
The models described above are based on clonal reproduction in the exploiter population. No attention was paid to the homogenizing effect of genetic recombination among lineages produced by sexual reproduction and recombination (Rice 1984). In a recent study, we extended our model by adding sexual reproduction and diploid genetic coding of the synaptic weightings in our perceptron representations of individual exploiters. We allowed for the equivalent of genetic crossover to occur during meiosis by rearranging genes for perceptron weights among chromosomal-like structures (see electronic supplementary material for more details). A first comparison of simulation output from our original clonal/haploid system described above and our sexual/diploid systems reveal that evolution of specialists takes place under more narrow conditions when reproduction is sexual compared with asexual. In the case of sexual reproduction, the solutions are sensitive to the magnitude of the mutation parameters used in the simulations. If mutational perturbations (range) are too small, evolution may get stuck in local minima and not move to an ideal free distribution (matching the resource; columns 5–8, table 1). However, if the mutation probability is sufficiently high (and no crossover occurs) it counter-balances the low mutation range and some simulations result in specialists matching the resource (column 7, table 1). More than half of the repeated simulations (112 of 200) with asexuals with similar parameter settings resulted in the evolution of a multispecialist [1010] (Table 1 in Holmgren & Getz 2000). This suggests that mutation rates are sufficient to create the plant-matching guilds, but recombination from sexual hybridization with generalists [1111] overrides the selection for them.
If mutational changes are too large, both in terms of probability for point mutations and mutational range, favourable perceptron settings will degrade faster than they can evolve leading to poorly adapted extant sexual generalists [1111] (columns 3 and 4, table 1). In asexuals, 97% of the repeated simulations resulted in a guild of two specialists: [1000] and [0010] (Table 1 in Holmgren & Getz 2000). Hence, homogenization by sexual reproduction also plays a role here to prevent selection for specialists.
When mutation range is sufficiently high and mutation probability is sufficiently low, both sexuals and asexuals readily evolve guilds of two specialists (column 1, table 1). Adding crossover, the selection–recombination antagonism (Felsenstein 1981) is flipped in favour of the recombination effects, thus homogenizing the genetic structure of the population in favour of the multispecialist (column 2, table 1). The parameter range in which host-matching guilds of sexuals evolve may seem narrow and unlikely to appear in nature. However, we can expect natural selection to adjust the rate and range of mutations by trading-off adaptive and detrimental effects.
7. Conclusions
If theoretical models can point out possible mechanisms of sympatric speciation, they can initiate ideas on experiments and field studies which may produce evidence of their existence. A strong candidate example of sympatric speciation is two species of cichlids from a small isolated lake (Barluenga et al. 2006). In order to fully understand sympatric speciation through exploiter adaptation to hosts, the question of underlying mechanisms for specialization must be addressed. Existing models also show that specialization on resources in combination with intraspecific competition is required for sympatric speciation (Dieckmann & Doebeli 1999). Dieckmann & Doebeli (1999) rightly point out that specialization can be a direct consequence of physiological or morphological traits for resource utilization, such as beak size. In the models presented here specialization freely evolves (Holmgren & Getz 2000; Norrström et al. 2006). Exploiter–victim systems that include victim signal and exploiter perceptual mechanisms suggest two potential mechanisms for disruptive selection and specialization: guilds of specialists, with less inter-phenotypic competition, are better at matching the environment of hosts, and specialists are more robust to mutations due to a more simple perceptual system (with the exception of a generalist responding to all signals; Holmgren & Getz 2000; Norrström et al. 2006). Empirical testing of these hypotheses would be very welcome.
Also, there has to be a mechanism for reproductive isolation between specialists (figure 4). For host races, this is assumed to be upheld by the exploiters' mating on hosts. Experiments with Drosophila flies in the laboratory environment have shown that after resource specialization has occurred, reproductive isolation may evolve as a correlated character (Rice & Salt 1990). An intrinsic reproductive barrier, defined as being genetically based, is a prerequisite for sympatric speciation (Orr & Smith 1998). Although the act of mating with individuals exploiting the same host is an inherited trait, it still responds to an external key (the host) and may only partially reflect the genome of a potential partner. Some individuals are expected to make erroneous choices or have limited mutations altering their host preferences, while the rest of their genome is unaltered. Exploiters should avoid less fit hybrid offspring by selecting mates based on phenotypic cues (one or multiple) highly correlated with the genotype. Additionally, there is also selection for phenotypic cues signalling the genotype. Mate choice based on the genotypically correlated cues of their partners enhances reproductive isolation and is likely to create full species. These species will also be more robust to changes in their host environment (see below). This three step process: (i) specialization on hosts, (ii) partial reproductive isolation through mating on victims or host species, and (iii) (nearly) complete reproductive isolation through mating with similar genotypes, appears to be a viable hypothesis of sympatric speciation (figure 4). Since each step involves selection, speciation will be faster than if the reduced hybrid vigour were due purely to randomly accumulated mutations in lineages separated by external barriers.
If sympatric speciation results from specialization on biological resources, the resource may coevolve with its exploiters. When exploiters are entrained in the cyclic coevolutionary process with their victims, selection for generalists and specialists may shift back and forth (Norrström et al. 2006). Recent investigations reveal new dynamic properties of the specialization process (Janz et al. 2001; Nosil 2002). They question the view of the specialization process as always going from generalization towards specialization, hence suggesting that specialization is not a dead end. Janz et al. (2001) investigated the phylogeny of the nymphali butterfly tribe Nymphalini. They concluded that there is no directed evolution towards specialization and that the changes in host range show a very dynamic pattern. Nosil (2002) used phylogenies from 15 groups of phytophagous insects to investigate the rates of evolution towards specialization and generalization. They found that the rate of the evolution towards specialization is significantly higher than the rate towards generalization. In some cases, however, the rate of generalization was higher, or equal to the rate of specialization, indicating a dynamic property of the evolution of specialization, hence supporting the view of evolution of specialization as dynamic and not dead-end.
A continuously changing environment, in which selection shifts between specialization and generalization, may promote faster rates of speciation than previously anticipated. Species having evolved during the specialization phase may prevail under the generalization phase due to reproductive isolation through genotype-mediated assortative mating, an area where future modelling should give further insight. Disruptive selection with assortative mating as a pleiotropic by-product is postulated to potentially underlie sympatric speciation events (e.g. Rundle & Nosil 2005). Specialization has theoretically been shown to be a prerequisite for disruptive selection on food niches (Dieckmann & Doebeli 1999). Here, we provide a potential mechanism for specialization on food resources in evolving guilds of exploiters, some of which may more easily lead to speciation than others. It is premature to speculate on how important or common the mechanisms outlined in this paper will be in the natural world, but we hope we have argued that it is at least worthy of further consideration.
Tomas Jonsson and two anonymous reviewers made comments that improved the manuscript. This work was funded in part by a James S. McDonnell Foundation Twenty-first Century Science Initiative Award to WMG.
Electronic supplementary material is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1970 or via http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk.
One contribution of 15 to a Theme Issue 'The use of artificial neural networks to study perception in animals'.
- © 2007 The Royal Society


text:
Contact Info / Websites
All 3 game Reviews
Bubble Collapse NG
Rated 0.5 / 5 stars
game doesn't work
tried a few times. First time it didn't load when I clicked start just showed the advertisement and went back to the main menu. happened twice.
Second time it didn't get to the main menu.
Cursor Maze Demo!
Rated 2.5 / 5 stars
The collision detection has a huge flaw in it. You can zip the mouse around and it won't usually register the contact.
First time I played took me 8 or so mins. Second time with the mouse zipping it took me about 30 seconds to a min to do all the levels.
Other then that the game isn't bad. An interesting take on the style of game.
It has potential.
5/10 because the collision detection is a deal breaking. love the potential
Homerun in Berzerk Land
Rated 4.5 / 5 stars
Cool game.
Nice addictive game. Fun!!
Well done.


text:
Outdoor adventures with William Pike
Simple rules for safety when heading outdoors
William is a well-known Shore identity, a sought-after motivational speaker and an accessible role model to New Zealand youth. He was one of two young climbers caught in a volcanic eruption on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu in 2007. William is passionate about the outdoors and education and has worked as a primary school teacher on the North Shore. However, an exit from teaching has seen William set up the William Pike Challenge Award which is a popular Intermediate and Middle School outdoor education programme run over one school year. He is a monthly columnist for Channel Magazine.
We all the know the story of Aron Ralston, the bloke who cut his own arm off when it became pinned against a bolder while canyoning in Utah. His story was first told in his autobiography, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and most recently in the blockbuster movie, 127 hours. Would Aron have been pinned for 127 hours if he had told someone where he was going?
An event that's not so well-known, but far more common, took place after heavy rain on the Milford Track. A small party attempted to cross a swollen river, they all made it across, except one. It appears that one tramper became distressed and alone in the river, trying to make it to the other side. Tragically, the tramper was picked up by the waters and swept down stream. Some time later the tramper was found deceased. Would this event have ended differently if the party knew their limits and were aware of the weather?
Much closer to home, a small craft left Takapuna Beach bound for the outer Hauraki Gulf. The weather was perfect, but upon arrival at the destination the wind picked up. In no time, the waves were spilling over the sides and into the boat. It eventually sunk, leaving the occupants clinging to floating objects and each other. They were desperately trying to keep their heads above the water, choking on water from the wind and waves. Fortunately everyone was rescued by the Coastguard. Could this situation have been avoided if the skipper checked the weather forecast before leaving Takapuna Beach?
The intention of this article is not to point the finger and highlight the wrong doing of the above mentioned. Rather, the intention of this article is to raise awareness for some simple rules that can and should be followed when heading outdoors.
No matter where we are in the world, in Utah, Fiordland or in the Hauraki Gulf, we're all susceptible to risk and things can go wrong. Some risk is outside of our control, like tripping over and breaking an arm while tramping. However, there is a significant amount of risk that can be reduced or eliminated. For example; simply checking the weather forecast before setting out on an adventure.
It doesn't matter who you are, how much experience you have, and if you're only going for a 'quick-trip', there is one thing you need to know before you go - The Outdoor Safety Code.
The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council encourages the use of The Outdoor Safety Code across all outdoor activities, sports and recreations. Follow these 5 simple rules to help you stay safe, and you will eliminate a lot of risk before you even leave home;
- Seek local knowledge, plan the route you will take and the amount of time you can reasonably expect it to take.
- Tell someone your plans and leave a date for when to raise the alarm if you haven't returned.
- New Zealand's weather can be highly unpredictable. Check the forecast and expect weather changes.
- Challenge yourself within your physical limits and experience.
- Make sure you have enough food, equipment and emergency rations for the worst case scenario. Take an appropriate means of communication.
For more information about how you can prepare for your outdoor activity, visit www.adventuresmart.org.nz or www.mountainsafety.org.nz


text:
(Click for larger image)
Daiter, Stephen (Editor/Publisher); Hujar, Peter (Photographer) & Goldin, Nan (Contributor). PETER HUJAR: INTIMATE SURVEY. Chicago, IL: Stephen Daiter Gallery, 1999. Softcover. First Edition/First Printing. 11 pages. As New.
Landmark Exhibition Catalog. The first and only edition. Published in a tiny print run as a softcover original only. There is no ISBN. The Exhibition Catalog is now rare. An austerely elegant production by The Stephen Daiter Gallery: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover, as issued. Photographs by Peter Hujar. Preface/Remembrance by Nan Goldin, which appears in this edition only. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name held at The Stephen Daiter Gallery Chicago from March 19 through April 23, 1999. Presents "Peter Hujar: Intimate Survey". A selection of the photographer's most important and beautiful portraits, which showcase both the subtlety and simplicity of his work. Some of them appear in published form for the very first time in this gem. His male nude photographs, in particular, have become posthumously celebrated for this reason. His photographs of animals have a rare empathy with their subject, drawing the viewer in and prompting Hujar's admirers to say that they are really either self-portraits (that he saw himself being as vulnerable as the animals) or a continuation of his erotic work (that he saw animals as sensual subjects). Includes a version of the still-controversial portrait, "Bruce de Saint Croix, 1976", which had not appeared in published form before, and is part of a ground-breaking triptych that Peter Hujar took of the model. An absolute "must-have" title for Peter Hujar collectors. This Exhibition Catalog is now collectible. It is neither a full-fledged book nor a monograph, but it is a pioneering landmark publication for Hujar completists, is very beautifully produced, and comes with a Note from Nan Goldin that appears in this Catalog only. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Exhibition Catalog available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare copy thus. 11 plates. One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. A fine copy. . $40.00


text:
Trump Illegally Violated Embargo Against Cuba, Putting Money In 'Killer' Fidel Castro's Hands
by Stephen D Foster Jr –
The "law and order candidate" broke the law again.
Donald Trump recently declared that he would reverse President Obama's deal with Cuba to reopen diplomatic relations between our two nations after 50 years.
"All of the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done with executive order, which means the next president can reverse them," Trump said earlier this month. "And that is what I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands."
Those demands include freeing political prisoners and expanding religious liberty.
That's funny, because the Republican nominee certainly didn't give a shit about either of those things when he violated the United States embargo against Cuba back in 1998.
A Newsweek investigation revealed:
A company controlled by Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, secretly conducted business in Communist Cuba during Fidel Castro's presidency despite strict American trade bans that made such undertakings illegal, according to interviews with former Trump executives, internal company records and court filings.
Trump's company spent a total of $68,000 for the trip to meet with government officials, bankers, and businessmen in order to gain a foothold on the island just in case the American government ended the embargo. But Trump broke the law and he tried to cover up his crime by funneling the money to a consulting firm and making it look like a charitable effort.
In 1999, Trump traveled to Miami for the first day of his presidential run as the Reform Party candidate and hypocritically told the Cuban-American crowd that he would keep the embargo in place because any money spent there "goes to Fidel Castro. He's a murderer. He's a killer. He's a bad guy in every respect, and, frankly, the embargo must stand if for no other reason than, if it does stand, he will come down."
And so, Donald Trump admitted that he gave $68,000 to "a murderer" and "a killer" who is "a bad guy in every respect."
Now to make things clear, President Obama only reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba, which is within his executive power. The embargo is still in effect. But Republicans have whined about Obama's Cuba policy ever since.
So what will they say about Trump's blatant violation of the embargo itself and the fact that he spent $68,000 on the trip, money that dictator Fidel Castro must have appreciated?
If Republicans don't condemn Trump for this they will be committing hypocrisy at the highest level. It will make it clear for every American that they don't care about law and order as much as they care about power. Donald Trump broke the law and tried to make a deal with Fidel Castro's Cuba and he was merely a businessman. Just imagine what laws he could violate and get away with as president.
Reprinted with permission from Addicting Info


text:
Coupon Activated!
When you're listening to music, the tone and voice of your earbuds or in-ear headphones is everything. With that in mind, it is also important to consider the color and style of your buds since they go everywhere you do. Lastly, as with all electronics, resilience and reliability are a key factor. It can often be hard to balance all of these qualities without spending an outrageous amount of money, but at Overstock.com our selection of headphones does just that by offering high-quality options at bargain prices.
These headphones are the real Apple earpods! I looked on *** first and found everything under *** was fake. The headphones don't come in a box but who cares when you are saving *** . They are brand new and work perfect.
I listen to podcasts at night and fall asleep. The hard plastic earbuds are not comfortable. These are better, not as soft as I was hoping but better then what I had. I am going to continue my quest for the perfect earbuds,however.
If you need further help or information please visit our Online Help Center


text:
Processor: 1Ghz and up
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: A dishwasher
Additional Notes: Tested on OSX El Capitain. Likely won't run well on the 12 MacBooks as those don't have a fan.
But it's not quite over for you… at least, not yet. And now that you've got thousands of tonnes of locomotive at your disposal, you've got the definite advantage over the infected hordes. This is The Final Station.
The real question is whether or not you'll help the survivors get to their destinations…. or let them die and loot their bodies. Sometimes people can be more trouble than they're worth.


text:
|25 Jan 2014
Windows 7, 64 bit
Just restarted my laptop, went through the process again and it completed this time round. Thanks for your help!
|My System Specs
|25 Jan 2014
Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
You're welcome, I'm glad I could help, along with Brink's tutorials.
|My System Specs
|Thread Tools
|Similar help and support threads
SOS Chkdsk Freezing at "SDs/SIDS processed"
Hi, Recently when starting up my laptop, I get prompted to run chkdsk. Now when I go to do that it goes through all the checks, "inserts index entries" etc, and then at the end it says "**** file SDs/SIDS processed" and just stays at that point and doesn't go any further. Has it just frozen or...
|Performance & Maintenance
"Cannot lock current drive" (to do chkdsk scan in cmdprompt).
"Cannot lock current drive" ...and therefore I must schedule scan on reboot. So how do I lock current drive to go ahead with scan without rebooting first?
|General Discussion
Windows check disk stopped at "xy file record processed"
Hi, I doubt the bad sector on hard disk, so I made check disk through the Windows 7 (not in cmd mode). In processing check disk stops at stage "2154545 file record processed" (2154545 is random number), and I wait for 2 hours but without any results. Why check disk stopped at this point? What...
|Performance & Maintenance
"Preparing your desktop..." on boot everytime after successful chkdsk
Hello everyone, Problem: Win 7 64bit - "Preparing your desktop..." on boot everytime after successful chkdsk. My laptop is Acer V3-571G (Amazon.com: Acer Aspire V3-571G-6407 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black): Computers & Accessories). HDD, no SSDs. No HW malfunctions or anything since bought ~1 year...
|General Discussion
ChkDsk on Startup, deleted "corrupt" files; Programs no longer work.
So earlier today, Windows told me it had an update to install. So, I shut down my computer like normal, then booted it back up. In the middle of booting, the black Check-disk screen came up (which is unusual), said something about the C:/ drive being NTFS and needing to scan it. It then...
|Performance & Maintenance
CHKDSK at startup, getting "File recored segment XXXXX is unreadable."
Good day! I'm currently helping my uncle with his laptop (Acer Aspire 5742Z) running on Windows 7 with a problem stated at the title. I've tried waiting for it to finish up which took a couple of hours but go a BSOD moments after trying to login through windows so after it restarted I canceled the...
|Performance & Maintenance
|Our Sites
|Site Links
|About Us
|Find Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:21.


text:
Open Menu // About Gothenburg Studios
Gothenburg Studios is a production company founded in 2008 and has three interconnected business areas: Film & Tv, Facilities & Services, and Events. The company is located right in the centre of Gothenburg on the west-coast of Sweden, close to large freeways and 7 minutes by bus from the Central Station.
Gothenburg Studios produces original concepts for film and television, available for distribution across all media platforms. Currently, we are producing two series for television: Motorama and Förklaring Följer.
Gothenburg Studios also co-produces a number of Swedish and international film projects. We also make commercials and corporate productions for global clients covering various lines of business, from automotive to fashion.
Learn more about Gothenburg Studios Film & Tv productions here.
Gothenburg Studios is the largest supplier of complete production resources in Sweden and offers a full spectra of in-house TV/film production services.
Gothenburg Studios has three fully equipped studios, camera/light/grip equipment, sound and visual post-production, staff and crew, fully equipped production offices, Art Department (set design and construction, props, wardrobe), production vehicles, transportation and catering.
Learn more about Gothenburg Studios Facilities and Services here.
Gothenburg Studios is a platform, partner and host for various events ranging from concerts with well-known artists, film industry events and other corporate gatherings.
Gothenburg Studios also hosts the annual event GoKinema, a unique event which is built around the concept of Open Set, the GoKinema film and technology expo, and various film related Seminars. More information can be found on the GoKinema website.
You can get the latest information about all events happening at Gothenburg Studios on our News page, or learn more about our Events here.


text:
Payton HughesWeatherford, Texas, US
I'm pretty new, but I really enjoy this. Please give me a chance!
English (North American), English
British, US South West (Texas), US Western
Child, Middle Aged, Senior, Teen, Young Adult
Special Skills
Audiobooks, Business, Cartoons, Documentaries, Educational, Internet, Movie Trailers, Podcasting, Radio, Telephone, Television, Videogames
Payment Terms
Hire Payton as a voice actor. Payment is made through Voices.com SurePay, an escrow service that guarantees your work is done to your satisfaction. Send payment securely by Visa, Mastercard or PayPal through Voices.com then download your files from the website.
Watch a video to see how to make a payment
Next Steps
To contact Payton Hughes about your project, request a quote today. We'll walk you through the process step-by-step. It's fast and easy.
This talent has not uploaded any demos yet.
Hire Payton Hughes as a voice actor. Working with Payton Hughes is fast and easy. We'll walk you through the process step-by-step.
Request a quote for your project today.


text:
Bone and joint nutrition that stands tall.
Most people know that calcium builds strong bones. But calcium also plays a critical role in maintaining cardiovascular health and reducing the risk of osteoporosis later in life.
OsteoProCare is a high-potency, highly absorbable liquid calcium and mineral supplement containing glucosamine, chondroitin, and micro amounts of 46 trace and ultra-trace minerals, and delivering 1200 mg of calcium and 600 mg of magnesium per serving. It's also an excellent source of Vitamin D3, iron, zinc, selenium, chromium, manganese, and copper. So, in addition to supporting healthy bones and joints, the vitamins and minerals in OsteoProCare support immune function, help to maintain healthy blood sugar control and even act as antioxidants.
Getting enough Vitamin D is crucial for absorbing and metabolizing calcium and phosphorous, which are especially important in the maintenance of healthy bones. While it can be obtained through sunlight exposure and diet, very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. To give your bones the support they need, OsteoProCare is enhanced with 1,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 per serving.
You're never too old or too young to benefit from calcium. With pleasant-tasting vanilla-flavored OsteoProCare, it's easy to get the calcium, vitamin D3 and other minerals you need to keep you standing tall.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
- OsteoProCare Promotes and Supports::
- Healthy bones, joints, and teeth
- Maintenance of healthy muscles
- Maintenance of healthy gums
- Aids in regulation of heartbeat
- Promotes increased flexibility and bone strength
The Atrium has all Life Force Products always in stock. If you are running low stop by our Our Location for any of the Life Force Products.


text:
ReportSee more
My USB wont show up on my computer anymore? [Solved/Closed]
Ask a question Rome42 - Last answered on Apr 15, 2013 at 07:38 AM by animefreak
Member requests are more likely to be responded to.
Members can monitor the statuses of their requests from their account pages.
A CCM membership gives you access to additional options.


text: My aunt needs to cook for a gourmet cooking club, eight couples I think, and needs ideas on a theme. I posted earlier about ideas for a French dinner party, but am now thinking a French theme may be to ambitious for her. She is a good cook, but not very advanced. She asked me for ideas as I love to cook, but I am at a loss since I rarely put together a multi course meal to impress a large group. Any help on theme and course ideas would be greatly appreciated.


text:
The blue-haired virtual diva Hatsune Miku has become a worldwide phenomenon. What we are witnessing is the magic co-emergent capacities of both its initiators and fandom elaborating, expanding ...On September 24, 2014 / By admin
Jason "moist" Freeny leads you into a designer toy anatomy class, passing through some of the most bizarre curiosity cabinets to date. His toys are truly Frankensteinian, in ...On August 27, 2014 / By admin
The Australian artist Ry-Spirit unleashes a plethora of video game and manga, anime or tokusatsu heroes, escaped from his childhood dreams and memories. Not afraid to cherish ...On July 6, 2014 / By admin
Many designer toys have gone bad, but never so many in such profound way. Some of the resident evil toys are maybe scary because they show how inoffensive ...On March 13, 2014 / By admin
India Naoya Haga lives and works in Sapporo. His spidery contours can meander trough ocean depths and between the root system of trees. Abstraction is not just geometry ...On January 28, 2014 / By admin
Makura Sakita is a young mangaka from Sapporo. Let's get introduced to her cat-world mangas. Makura Sakita's cats are completely dynamic, fluorescent fresh felines full of gags ...On January 14, 2014 / By admin
My name is Adrian Florea. I am a 22 year old. University of arts graduate, connoisseur of sweets and LEGO hobbyist. ...On January 14, 2014 / By admin
The Totoro Forest Project is a fundraising exhibition/auction that supports the non-profit organization "Totoro No Furusato National Fund", which has the Oscar winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki as one ...On January 3, 2014 / By admin
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) since 2006 Otaku MAG. Copyrights of all the materials (photos, videos, text, illustrations) used on this website are the property of their respective owners.