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Luis Sentis Interview on Catalan's Leading Channel TV3
View on YouTube to see English subtitles
NASA Valkyrie Mechatronic Development - UT Austin Contributions on Design and Embedded Controls
The Valkyrie humanoid robot was built at NASA Johnson Space Center with leadership from Nic Radford and Rob Ambrose. The Human Centered Robotics Lab at UT Austin provided expertise in the design of rotary series elastic actuators and inspiration for the design of the linear series elastic actuators based on the UT-SEA design of our student Nick Paine. UT Austin also provided expertise on developing robust force controllers of the series elastic actuators and thorough testing on torque tracking and joint position impedance control.
The Legend of the Drunken Robot
This research is sponsored by the US Office of Naval Research. Hume uses its series elastic actuated legs to remain balanced while walking. It achieves this capability by observing the center of mass position error relative to a reference path and re-planning at every step a new reference trajectory to minimize the error. Re-lying on online continous replanning allows the robot to recover from the collisions with the rail stoppers.
First Implementation of Whole-Body Compliant Control with Internal Force Optimization on Hume
This movie shows the first successful implementation of the whole-body compliant controller ( IEEE TRO 2010) on Hume using its series elastic actuators . During the single contact phase, the robot's hip height and Saggital position, its torso orientation, and the trajectory of the swinging foot are controlled. During the dual contact phase the hip height, torso orientation, and the internal tension between the feet are controlled, instead. In both cases we use floating base dynamic models with contact constraints.
A Closed-Form Solution for Selecting Maximum Critically Damped Actuator Impedance Parameters, in press for the Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control
Click on the image for a link to the PDF
View larger format on You Tube.
Snapshots of Dreamer in the Transformers 4: Age of Extinction movie with Nicola Peltz and Mark Wahlberg
We filmed in Elgin, Texas with Director Michael Bay and actors Nicola Peltz and Mark Wahlberg. There is no wonder why the movie became a mega hit ;)
Human-Centered Robotic Technologies for Semi-Autonomous Systems and Health Applications
This video, shows snapshots from several groups at the University of Texas at Austin developing Human-Centered Robotic Technologies. Assistant Professor Luis Sentis describes his work on semi-autonomous humanoid robots for The Office of Naval Research, NASA, and DARPA. Assistant Professor Ashish Deshpande describes his research on robots that attach to the human body for rehabilitation and health assistive applications. Associate Professor Jonathan Dingwell studies physical and sensory impairment using virtual reality and robotic techniques. Finally, Assistant Professor James Sulzer develops robotic technologies for stroke rehabilitation using neuro-feedback of brain activity acquired through MRI scans.
View larger format on You Tube.
Fully Omnidirectional Compliance in Mobile Robots
In order to make unintentional physical interaction with robots safer for humans, we develop compliant control of an omnidirectional wheeled base using Drive-Torque sensor feedback. The movie below shows a fully holonomic mobile robot system which achieves compliant motion via sensor-based force control, improving over previous pseudo-omnidirectional mobile systems by being fully omnidirectional. It shows compliance and safe interaction in both the mobile system alone and as the base of a wheeled mobile manipulator style system.
View larger format on You Tube.
Dreamer Prepares and Delivers Science Certificates to the Austin Jewish Academy
View larger format on You Tube.
Hume Walks in Flat Terrain and Overcomes and Obstacle Using UT's Phase Space Planning Techniques
In this video, showing results from our research funded by the US Office of Naval Research. UT's Hume bipedal robot executes the trajectories given by a Phase Space Planner. A video of UT's Phase Space Planner is shown further below.Congratulations to our students Donghyun Kim, Ye Zhao, Gray Thomas and Alan Kwok for their success!
Empirical Phase Space Plan Modifications
View larger format on You Tube.
Multiple Steps
View larger format on You Tube.
UT's Phase Space Dynamic Locomotion Planner in Action
The video below shows a simulation of our Phase Space Planner in a very difficult terrain. Because the model has no ankle joints, the locomotion maneuver is highly dynamic.
View larger format on You Tube.
Valkyrie Rehearsing at the DARPA Robotic Challenge Trials in Miami
NASA, the Human Centered Robotics Lab at UT Austin and Texas A&M made it to the DRC Trials. Here Valkyrie manipulates a valve while standing up. Valkyrie is a new bipedal robot that was designed and built from scratch in just 9 months. Although this year we did not have a lot of time to get the hardware and software finalized to fully compete, we are here in the competition for the endgame in 2014.
View larger format on You Tube.
View larger format on You Tube.
Videos of Valkyrie Using Whole-Body Compliant Control
In the first video, Valkyrie, aided by a new whole-body compliant control and planning architecture, turns an industrial valve while being assisted by a skilled operator. In the second video, Valkyrie undergoes a series of tests to coordinate her upper and lower body.
View larger format on You Tube.
View larger format on You Tube.
Hume's Performance Results with Force Control SEA actuators
A new contol architecture that utilizes effectively the force controlled Series Elastic Actuators of Hume is put to use for precision motion tracking under gravity disturbances
View larger format on You Tube.
Whole-Body Compliant Mobility in Sloped Terrains, Accepted to Springer's Autonomous Robots
"Implementation and stability analysis of prioritized whole-body compliant controllers on a wheeled humanoid robot in uneven terrains", Springer's Autonomous Robots, Vol. 35, Nu. 4, pp. 301-319, August 2013.
Click on the image below for a link to the PDF
Paper on Mobility in Rough and Cluttered Environments gets accepted to European Conference on Mobile Robotics
Bumping into walls
View larger format on You Tube.
Bumping into humans!
View larger format on You Tube.
UT Series Elastic Actuator, Accepted to IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
"Design and Control Considerations for High Performance Series Elastic Actuators", IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, In Press
Link to the video
Click on the image below for a link to the PDF
Dreamer Receives a New Arm
Dreamer receives a new 7 Degree of Freedom, Series Elastic Arm manufactured by Meka. A new gripper is being designed to allow dual hand manipulation.
View larger format on You Tube.
Gyroscopic Telemanipulation of a Blindfolded Human
View larger format on You Tube.
Trikey Compliant Mobile Base 2012 Completed
View larger format on You Tube.
Talk at Dynamic Walking 2012
Dr. Sentis gives a talk at Dynamic Walking 2012 on Rough Terrain Locomotion.
View larger format on You Tube.
Slides from Robotics Science and Systemspdf
UT-SEA: Compact, High Power, Light-Weight, Series Elastic Actuator
UT-SEA is a compact, light-weight, high-power actuator designed to enable energetic and high speed locomotion in electrically actuated legged systems. It uses a ballscrew as the primary speed reduction mechanism resulting in very high operating efficiency. The actuator is mounted on a set of springs which allows it to tolerate impact loads, store energy, and control force with high fidelity.
View larger format on You Tube.
ONR, funds our project "HAWK: Hyper-Agile WalKing Controller for Bipedal Robots Aboard Navy Vessels"
Rough Terrain Manipulation Using the Dreamer/Meka Mobile Humanoid
View larger format on You Tube.
DARPA Robotics Challenge
Check the news. We are excited!
The New Hume Bipedal Robot
View larger format on You Tube.
View larger format on You Tube.
The new Dreamer/Meka compliant humanoid robot
View larger format on You Tube.
Series Elastic Actuator of Hume
Details of the new knee actuator of the bipedal robot Hume.
Illustrations of the Hume Biped for Fast Locomotion in Irregular Terrains
UT Austin's biped robot for fast rough terrain locomotion. The Hume biped will be capable of maneuvering on terrains with height variations between 0-40 [cm] at speeds above 1 [m/s]. It uses SEA actuators with joint velocities above 10 [rad/s] and joint torques above 100 [Nm]. Its overall weight is 15 [Kg] and its overall height is 1.6 [m] thus resembling a mid size person.
Motion Planning of Extreme Locomotion Maneuvers, Humanoids 2011
The HCRL on YNN TV Channel at Barnes & Noble
Kids in North Austin had a sneak peek at the future Saturday. Saturday, the Barnes & Noble story in the Arboretum hosted Dreamer, an artificially intelligent humanoid robot. Dreamer's brain was programmed by the scientists at UT's Human Centered Robotics Lab. One of those scientists, Dr. Luis Sentis, was on hand to demonstrate what the robot can do. His work deals mostly with force augmentation, which looks into how robots can help to augment the movements of humans. The event had future roboticists in mind. Money from coffee and books sales will go to the Anderson High School Robotics Program.
Stability Analysis to Plan Dynamic Locomotion in Very Rough Terrain, IROS 2011, ISRR 2011
Master's Project: Tricky, Force Controlled Holonomic Base
Master's students, Somudro Gupta (demonstrator) and Pius Wong (video) show their work on design and control of our new holonomic base Tricky. Tricky employs omni wheels set in a triangular configuration to achieve omni-directional force control. It uses three Maxon motors rated at 250W with 3 stage planetary gears and 60 gear ratio providing 18Nm of torque per wheel. To control the torques, we have developed a new amplifier board capable of doing both current and load cell feedback. The board uses a Freescale 8-bit MC9S08MP16 microcontroller to achieve servo rates of 4KHz. The movie shows force interactions between the base and a user, based on servoing torque feedback.
Spotlight on the multi-contact/grasp matrix for the control of compliant legged robots
The HCRL Lab hosts Marc Raibert
We were very happy to hosty Marc. The visit took place on Wednesday Feb 16, 2011.
Dreamer says hello to Willow Garage
These sketches present our current progress in compliant control of humanoid robots at Willow Garage. The idea is to combine torque-based compliant behaviors for Cartesian and joint space tasks. This approach enables to respond quickly to contact, be safe and use effectively the dynamics of the mechanism. The focus of this research is more on the skill than on the single low level control process. We provide infrastructure to bridge the gap between the skill developer (who cares about the mathematics of movement and robot dynamics) and the skill user (who cares about motion / high level planning and perception).
The DREAMER Meka-HCRL Sociable Head Arrives to the Lab
Experiments on prioritized compliant control
This video shows various experiments of the control of UT Austin's humanoid Meka robot. We demonstrate prioritized torque control strategies, addressing hand position tasks and dynamically compensated posture optimization. In particular, the main contribution of the experiments is the ability to optimize posture performance by dynamically compensating the postural mass matrix with the task's null space matrix.
Compliant Control Experiments on the Meka Robot
Collaborative implementation of compliant control with Stanford Univ. and Willow Garage. Three experiments are shown: (a) gravity effort compensation to validate the robot's dynamic and kinematic model, (b) dynamically weighted posture control to demonstrate the validity of the mass/inertia matrix, and (c) operational space compliant control in the vertical and Sagittal directions to demostrate the ability to respond to the environment using the tool.
Testing of Fluidic Muscles
A series of experiments to validate the capabilities of a high force compliant fluidic actuator in terms of tracking bandwidth, stiffness regulation, gravity compensation, and torque control.


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Narrow Search
Fifties Party Supplies
Fifties Costumes
Bop Made Easy With 50s Costumes!
Play out the authenticity of your fifties party by encouraging each guest to dress in a 1950s costume. Complete their 50s costumes by handing out sunglasses at the door or by including these 1950s costume items as part of their fifties party favors. Encourage those on the dance floor to get into the mood with fifties costumes poodle skirts available to slip on.
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Fabulous Fifties Costumes!
- Hold a sock hop and award 50s costumes items to the best dancers. Give a poodle skirt and scarf set to the girl and a pair of sunglasses and a white t-shirt to the boy.
- Dress each party worker in a 1950s costume. Imagine the thrill at being served ice cream sodas in personalized glassware that are brought to you by women wearing bobby socks and saddle shoes and other 1950s costume items - roller skates, anyone?
- Hold a 50's theme girl birthday party where the birthday girl wears a 1950s costume including (of course!) a child poodle skirt.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Invasion of Normandy: D-Day, 6 June 1944
Aid Station on the Beach
Mitchell Jamieson #219
Watercolor, June 1944
These wounded were awaiting evacuation to the ships, but the difficulty was in getting craft to the landing beaches to take them. It was low tide, when many landing craft were stranded in the shallows by the swiftly subsiding water. In the meanwhile, the medics did what they could for the wounded and tried to get them out of the line of fire. A trawler was set afire just behind the sea wall and exploded spasmodically with a shower of steel fragments whining overhead. One man died, and a corpsman covered him with a blanket. Wounded were being brought back from the fighting inland, but at this stage of the invasion the wounded did not receive anything like prompt care and evacuation, although the medics and corpsmen did everything in their power.
on Their Way Home After Raid on France
Alexander P. Russo #37
Gouache, 1944
Men in the foreground were remnants of a U.S. Navy beach battalion which suffered heavy losses during the initial Normandy landing.
Beach, German Planes Overhead
Mitchell Jamieson #217
Ink & watercolor, June 1944
Partly hidden by the smoke of a burning landing craft, four German planes, bent on bombing and strafing, made a sudden appearance over this American-held beach. The defenders scrambled for cover as an anti-aircraft gun prepared to go into action.
For Cover
Alexander P. Russo #17
Watercolor, 1944
Men dove for foxholes or bomb craters as enemy planes strafed the Allied beachhead on D-Day + 2 (June 8, 1944).
on a Normandy Beach
Alexander P. Russo #19
Gouache, 1944
Beach battalion men and shore troops sought refuge in foxholes along the beach. Every night since D-Day, raids by enemy planes on the allied beachhead became an accepted discomfort. The men crouched, laid or sat in foxholes all night and caught whatever few precious hours of sleep they could before dawn. Some Allied casualties in this area were inflicted by friendly low anti-aircraft fire.
American Soldier Sleeps
Alexander P. Russo #22
Ink with wash, 1944
The first rise in terrain off Omaha Beach was studded with foxholes, shell-holes and bomb craters left behind by troops that participated in the initial landings on D-Day. This soldier was typical of thousands who found what comfort and shelter they could after their landing on a hostile beach. Dreams of home, fatigue, and the realization of where he was and what he had been through marked his tired, sleeping face.
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Slice of SciFi Exclusive Interview with Kristen Quintrall, a closet geek, actress, writer, editor, director, film maker, singer-songwriter, music video producer, plus a bunch of other appropriate titles. "Wanna Be Doctor Who-ed" is her music video tribute to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. As the Doctor Who season wraps up this weekend, the timing could not be better to bust out an amazing video with brilliant lyrics rife with subtle Whoisms. Listen carefully to discover what kind of Doctor Who geek you really are and how much you've enjoyed five decades wishing you had your own Tardis!
If you love the song as much as we do, you can buy it at iTunes and CDBaby:
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Get the Most Out of Reselling Your Cell Phone
To offset the cost of a new phone, consider selling your old one. Here are tips on how to optimize your listings and get the most for your gadget.
To offset the cost of a new phone, consider selling your old one. Here are tips on how to optimize your listings and get the most for your gadget.
This digital currency is still mostly flying under the radar. Does this signal opportunity for savvy investors? Or is it a fad you'd be wise to avoid?
Activist investor Carl Icahn is pushing eBay to spin off its fast-growing PayPal division. But despite very different growth rates, the marriage makes them both much stronger.
From Coach carrying its latest financials to market, to a blowout report from Netflix, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst in the business world.
Stocks ended Tuesday mostly higher, led by some of the big names on the Nasdaq. The Dow fell 44 points, but the S&P 500 gained 5 points, and the Nasdaq rallied 28.
From the launch of a new online music service to McDonald's checking in with its quarterly numbers, here are some things that will help shape the week on Wall Street.
Cutting costs is a great way to improve your financial health, but paring down your expenses will only get you so far. The next step is to earn more.
Americans waited until the last minute to buy holiday gifts, but retailers weren't prepared for the spike in sales.
Stocks rallied again on Friday, completing one of the market's best weeks of 2013. The rally is tied to growing signs the pace of U.S. economic growth is finally picking up.
After two weekly losses, the major averages posted strong gains to open the new week, as Exxon and IBM led the blue chips higher and investors put taper fears on hold.
A pair of great public relations campaigns had everyone talking and shopping Monday, but neither one sparked much market action.
Retirees may have more free time, but that doesn't mean their lives aren't just expensive as everyone else's. But these smartphone apps are perfect to help them cut costs.
The Dow jumped to another record high Wednesday, but the Nasdaq was pulled down by electric car maker Tesla, which has a problem most manufacturers only wish they had.
Babies are expensive, so expectant parents should set some extra cash aside before junior arrives. Another $3,000 in savings is a good goal. Here are 9 tips to get you there.
U.S. markets ended mostly higher Thursday as investors shrugged off the government shutdown and began to focus on earnings, but a few troubled blue chips dragged down the Dow.
From a new tablet from Amazon to Microsoft giving Windows an overdue makeover, here are some of the items that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street.
If you're in your 30s, your main financial goals might be buying a home and saving for your kids' education. But don't neglect to build up an emergency fund.
When selling your stuff online, choosing between eBay and Craigslist can make all the difference. Use these tips to determine which site is best for your situation.
Amazon, eBay and Craigslist get even better (and cheaper) when you take advantage of third-party tools like FatFingers, NotiCraig and CamelCamelCamel.
There's still a battle going on to buy Dell -- the company, though the PC-makers latest earnings reports suggests there's dwindling interest in its computers.
Budget fashion retailer H&M launched an e-commerce operation in the U.S. on Thursday, taking on rivals in the world's biggest online market.
Sears, known for affordable clothing and home appliances, is now peddling high-end designer duds from major labels including Chanel, Rolex and Zac Posen.
For the superfan who won't be satisfied with just the Batmobile, Kia is auctioning off a new Sorento SUV that's tricked out in serious Justice League-style.
EBay Now, which provides one-hour delivery to customers from local retailers for just $5, is expanding its service to Dallas and Chicago, and adding new features.
July 18, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning after the report on new jobless claims in the U.S. came in better than expected. In...
July 17, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning and managed to hold onto a decent gain following a day of ups and downs as Fed Chairman...
When Chris Reynolds saw the sum of $92 quadrillion on his monthly PayPal statement, he was understandably confused. And it turns out that the purported balance was negative.
Markets grew more edgy in the run-up to Wednesday's testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
For one brief, sparkling moment, Chris Reynolds of Media, Pa., was granted the nominal title of Earth's only quadrillionaire by eBay's online payment service, PayPal.
Among the items that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street, Microsoft and eBay will both step up to the earnings soapbox.


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OAKLAND, September 15, 2012 — Before getting to the Week 2 NFL Prequel, it is with deep sadness that the official death of the Oakland Raiders has to be announced.
As a fan of the silver and black since my fifth birthday when they won their first Super Bowl, it is tough to lose a loved one. The death of Al Davis last year was a blow to the organization, and it seems now that blow was fatal.
After Mr. Davis died, his son Mark decided to give the team a more traditional structure. Mark Davis is a good guy, and the general manager he hired, Reggie McKenzie, is also a good man.
Mr. McKenzie fired coach Hue Jackson, which was a shame. While Jackson did get a little too big for his britches, he kept the team together through devastating injuries. The offense was exciting again. The playbook had opened up. Once Darren McFadden, Jacoby Ford, and Denarius Moore returned from injuries, the following year could have been bright. Mr. Jackson never got his chance. The last coaching hire by Al Davis was fired by the new general manager.
Mr. McKenzie had every right to bring in his own man, and Dennis Allen was his choice. Mr. Allen is known for defense. Yet only one game into the season, it seems the Raiders are now back to being miserable on offense.
Some will say that one game is too soon to evaluate, especially with Ford and Moore still injured. Yet the issue here was not the loss at home. The issue is the philosophy. Mr. Allen has instilled what should be the most hated offensive system in all of football. The Raiders now use those three words that should be abolished from Oakland.
Even saying the words make me sick. The Raiders now run the…
The modern West Coast Offense is not the Bill Walsh offense that won multiple Super Bowls in the 1980s. When Walsh created the WCO, it was revolutionary. It was the antitheses to "New York Giant Football," which was "three yards and a cloud of dust." You ran the ball on first and second down and threw on third down. New York Giant football was predictable, but that did not matter. It was about power and attitude. You know what we are going to do, now try and stop us.
Bill Walsh came up with the idea that it was acceptable to pass on first down. The goal was to throw when the defense expects a run and run when the defense expects a pass. It won because it was unpredictable.
Then came the "George Siefert Offense," which is a bastardized form of the Bill Walsh offense. The George Siefert offense is the current WCO. It requires that every single 1st and 10 involve the same four yard pass. It became boring and predictable. The WCO should have been permanently killed in 1996 when the Carolina Panthers throttled the 49ers twice. Dom Capers (originally Dick Lebeau) brought the Zone Blitz Defense.
The ZBD understood that the WCO was nothing but timing patterns. Jam the receivers at the line and the timing patterns are disrupted.
Teams around that time which ran the WCO did so for one reason, and one reason only. They had no running game. When a team brags about running the WCO, they are saying "We can't run the football."
This is why, despite being a very good coach, Andy Reid sees the Eagles struggle when it counts. On 3rd and 1, the Eagles are passing because they don't have a battering ram they can send straight up the gut.
Siefert did win in 1989 with Walsh's team and again in 1994, but it was not because of the WCO. They had a real running back in Ricky Watters, and more importantly, they had Deion Sanders. They win nothing without Prime Time.
The Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots won multiple Super Bowls without the WCO. So have the New York Giants. The Rams "Greatest Show on Turf" went bombs away. The 2000 Ravens, in a performance that may never be repeated, won without any offense at all. The Packers have Aaron Rodgers throwing down the field, and before that Brett Favre scrambling and doing things we may never grasp.
Even some of the greatest offenses of all time that did not win them all, from the 1983 Redskins to the 1990 Bills to the 1998 Vikings to the 2007 Patriots went bombs away.
What makes this so frustrating for Raider fans is that we have an electric running back in Darren McFadden. We have a thoroughbred quarterback in Carson Palmer. Yet the WCO means that on 3rd and 3, throw a 2 yard pass, increase quarterback statistics, and punt the football. Defenders know how to tackle. On 3rd and 3, you have to throw the football past the marker. If the Raiders are going to become "Dink and Dunk with (Trent) Dilfer," then we might as well let Captain Checkdown Matt Leinart (shudder) play.
The Al Davis era of the deep ball has not passed. The Raiders just did not have the personnel to execute the philosophy properly during the losing years.
Some will say that as long as the team wins, all should be forgiven. After all, the 49ers of the 1980s were "glamorous." Joe Montana was a rock star. The current 49ers win hideously ugly with spotty offense and a smothering defense.
Yet winning "the right way" matters to some. Many Dallas Cowboy fans never forgave Jerry Jones for firing Tom Landry. Landry was the "Cowboy Way." Well, the "Raiders Way" is not dink and dunk. It is the quick strike. Long, time consuming drives increase the risk of turnovers and penalties. Quick strikes put points on the board.
I bleed silver and black. Now I just weep for my team. One game in, we are dinkers and dunkers. The offense that Al Davis built is gone.
Nothing lasts forever. Al Davis once said "Raiders don't die."
I hope he is right, but the signs for immortality are not encouraging. The Autumn wind is now in the sky with John Facenda, as the cold cruel winter prepares us for West Coast misery.
NFL 2012 Week 2 Prequel
Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers (6) was the Thursday night game.
(Packers cover)
Kansas City Chiefs @ Buffalo Bills (3)
(Bills cover)
New Orleans Saints (2 1/2) @ Carolina Panthers
(Saints cover)
Cleveland Browns @ Cincinnati Bengals (7)
(Bengals cover)
Minnesota Vikings (1 1/2) @ Indianapolis Colts
(Upset special, Colts win outright)
Houston Texans (7 1/2) @ Jacksonville Jaguars
(Texans win but fail to cover)
Oakland Raiders (2 1/2) @ Miami Dolphins
(Raiders cover)
Arizona Cardinals @ New England Patriots (13.5)
(Patriots cover)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New York Giants (7.5)
(Giants cover)
Baltimore Ravens @ Philadelphia Eagles (2 1/2)
(Upset special, Ravens win outright)
Dallas Cowboys (3) @ Seattle Seahawks
(Cowboys cover)
Washington Redskins (3) @ St Louis Rams
(Upset special, Rams win outright)
New York Jets @ Pittsburgh Steelers (6)
(Steelers win but fail to cover)
Tennessee Titans @ San Diego Chargers (6)
(Chargers win but fail to cover)
Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers (6.5) is the Sunday night game.
(49ers win but fail to cover)
Denver Broncos @ Atlanta Falcons (3) is the Monday night game.
(Upset special, Broncos win outright)
Brooklyn born, Long Island raised, and now living in Los Angeles, Eric Golub is a columnist, blogger, author, public speaker, satirist and comedian who is obsessed with the National Football League. There is no offseason. Every February he pretends to care about other sports while sobbing uncontrollably each Sunday until September.
Eric is the author of the book trilogy "Ideological Bigotry, "Ideological Violence," and "Ideological Idiocy." When not watching football, his only other hobby is Republican, Jewish women. Republican, Jewish women, you may contact Eric above.
Follow Eric on Twitter @TYGRRRREXPRESS Eric Golub is an independent writer for the Communities. Read more from Eric at his TYGRRRR EXPRESS blog. Read more: NFL 2012 Predictions | Washington Times Communities
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.


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Olsen-Svedjan, John and Family. Papers, 1908 - 1926. SMHC Manuscript Collection 1234. 1/2 hollinger, .21 cubic feet.
This collection consists of items pertaining to John Olsen-Svedjan and his family, of Osakis, Minnesota. Letters written between family members make up the bulk of the collection. There are eleven letters written in Norwegian, along with the translations, in this collection. Two copies of the marriage certificate of John Olson and Mary Rodvold are included in the collection. A series of postcards to and from Mary Rodvold are also included in the collection. These postcards feature views of Midwestern United States Towns, advertisements, cartoons, and various other greetings. A folder containing three wedding invitations that were saved by the Olsen-Svedjan family are also a part of the collection. These invitations are to weddings in Osakis or nearby Little Sauk.
This collection is made up of items pertaining to John Olsen-Svedjan. No biographical information is available on this man or his family. All the information we have is found on the marriage certificate that is part of this collection. The certificate is dated 1916, and is for the marriage of John Olson and Mary Rodvold.
The bulk of the collection is made up of letters written to and from the Olson-Svedjan family. These letters are written in Norwegian, and have been roughly translated. These translations are included in the files with the letters. Postcards written to Mary (Rodvold) Olson-Svedjan are also included in the collection. These postcards date from about 1908 - 1922, with several that were undated. The picture portion of these postcards feature street scenes and scenic places throughout the Midwest, advertisements, cartoons, and various holiday greetings. Some of the postcards are written in Norwegian, and others are written in English.
Three wedding invitations are also included in the collection. They are dated 1913 and 1916, and are to weddings in Osakis and Little Sauk.
There are no restrictions on use of this collection for research purposes. The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property and libel laws as they apply.
Olsen-Svedjan, John and Family. Papers, 1908 - 1926. SMHC Manuscript Collection 1234, Southern Minnesota Historical Center, Memorial Library, Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Jerry Ritter donated this collection in February 1973.
Ms. Karin Thiem processed this collection in January 1978. Finding aid revised by Robert Russell December 2000.
It has been determined that there are no similar manuscript collections about John Olsen-Svedjan and family available elsewhere.
Olsen-Svedjan, John.
Osakis (Minn.)
Norwegian Americans-Minnesota.
SMHC Manuscript Collection 1234
Letters, 1915 – 1926
Postcards, 1908 – 1922
Wedding invitations, 1913 and 1916


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On this episode of 30 Rock, Floyd returns and breaks some big news to Liz. Meanwhile, Jack and Danny team up to pull off a prank, and Tracy and Jenna both have dreams about Kenneth.Liz, I honestly feel bad for you this time — you just can't seem to catch a break. I found myself both weirded out, and for the first time, feeling sorry for our female star. One thing I noticed is that duos were huge in this chapter. So, I shall recap the happenings in pairs.Liz and FloydThis week, Liz's old (and favorite) boyfriend Floyd gives her a random call when he arrives in town. She agrees to meet him for dinner, and she is excited for the possibility of a rekindled romance. The day before her date, she flips on the television, and finds him on the Today show's marriage contest and is beyond shocked. It looks as if her dream man is already tied down. She is confused, but goes to the dinner in order to find out some answers. She begins to get angry at him and encourages him to order the fish, which gave her food poisoning three times prior. He does, and surprisingly, it contains Jack Daniels, which completely intoxicates him. He goes on a drunken rant in the restaurant, and it even continues on the Today show. He eventually apologizes, and Liz also apologizes to both him and his fiancé Katelyn. In a twist of fate, Katelyn asks Liz to be a participant in the wedding, and she agrees. What a 180 that weekend took.Jack and DannyAfter Danny receives a Juno nomination alongside a Full House star (guess who), the writers of TGS get jealous of his success and plan to sabotage him by writing a negative and revealing article that will accompany his press packet. After Danny brings the upsetting article to Jack, they realize that they have been duped. To get back, they create a duo, known as the "Silver Panthers" and devise a plan, full of fake news broadcasts, slamming doors, fake gas, and a scheme to have the nerdy writers strip into their underwear. It works, and the TGS Dancers see the unfortunately ugly men naked. More back and forth ensues, as Frank and Twofer make Jack uncomfortable by saying his secret society's code word. Jack counters with a video of him and Danny in Frank's mother's house. That seems to be the final straw, and the feud ends. One for the Panthers, none for the nerds.Tracy and JennaBecause Pete believes Tracy and Jenna will have a panic attack due to Danny's success, he comes up with an idea to have plastic moldings made up of their heads, which will keep them silent and in a room for at least 12 hours. To make things even more uncomfortable, he puts Kenneth in the room with them, and he tells rambling stories for the entire duration. After the process is finished, both Tracy and Jenna have sexual dreams involving Kenneth, and they are frightened to death. After the dreams keep occurring from night to night, they decide to kill Ken in their dreams. After mistaking the next morning for a dream, they realize that they were successful in getting the NBC page out of their heads, and they are cured. Nice one, actors. They actually did something right for once! However, in the clip at the end of the broadcast, Pete is the final one to have the dream, and it is full of Kenneth wearing a Speedo with the NBC logo while Liz slaps him in a very sexual way. Guess the Kenneth dreams are plentiful in Rockefeller Center.All in all, this episode really didn't do it for me. I didn't really laugh out loud much, and the cameo from one of my favorite SNL players came off a bit forced. I prefer a Jon Hamm to a Floyd any day. The one thing that did amuse me was how far Jack McBreyer is willing to go for comedy. At one point, the actor was shirtless, wearing a bow-tie around his neck while stripping and revealing a Speedo. Kudos, dude. That will be one moment I will remember for a long time (hopefully I won't dream of him tonight like the others, though.)Until next week, be like Liz and join K-Date, the personal service brought to you by the Kraft Food Service. I will be OreoLuuver321, and ladies, I'm single!
On this episode of 30 Rock, Floyd returns and breaks some big news to Liz. Meanwhile, Jack and Danny team up to pull off a prank, and Tracy and Jenna both have dreams about Kenneth...
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What's on in June 2014
Shows, events, training days, lecture demos and more...
Search for a Star and Racehorse to Riding Horse qualifier
Date: 22nd June 2014
Location: Summerhouse Equestrian Centre, Hardwick, Gloucester, GL2 2RG
About: Now entering its seventeenth successive year, Search For A Star was created by SEIB to encourage amateur riders to produce their horses to a high standard in the show ring and giving them the opportunity to compete at the prestigious finals at the Horse Of The Year Show (HOYS).
Held in conjunction with the Search For A Star Classes, the SEIB Racehorse To Riding Horse Show Championship was created to support and encourage the re-education of thoroughbreds taken out of racing, re-schooling them and preparing them for a new career in the show ring. The series is supported by the charity Retraining of Racehorses (ROR).
Epson Derby Race
Date: 7th June 2014
Location: Epson Downs Racecourse
Contacts: www.epsondowns.co.uk
About: The Derby dates back to 1780, and is still ranked the greatest flat race in the world. With winnings of £1.25m, the Investec Derby has one of the biggest prize in money in UK racing, matched only by the prestige that victory brings. It remains the race that everyone wants to win, as horses and riders push themselves to the limit around the unique and challenging course.
The Investec Derby race boasts an unrivalled roll of honour, from legendary names such as Seabird, Nijinsky, Mill Reef and Shergar, right up to 2013 hero Ruler of the World.
Bramham International Horse Trails
Date: 7th June 2014
Location: Bramham Park Estate, Yorkshire
Contacts: www.bramham-horse.co.uk
About: Bramham Horse Trials is one of the UK's premier three-day events, taking place every June on the Lane Fox's Bramham Park Estate, near Leeds in Yorkshire. The event attracts an average of 45,000 spectators.
Royal Ascot
Date: 18th-22nd June 2014
Location: Ascot Racecourse
Contacts: www.ascot.co.uk
About: The centrepiece of Ascot's year, Royal Ascot is one of Europe's most famous race meetings, and dates back to 1711 when it was founded by Queen Anne. Every year Royal Ascot is attended by HM Elizabeth II and various members of the British Royal Family such as The Prince of Wales, arriving each day in a horse-drawn carriage with the Royal procession taking place at the start of each race day and the raising of the Queen's Royal Standard. It is a major event in the British social calendar, and press coverage of the attendees and what they are wearing often exceeds coverage of the actual racing. There are three enclosures attended by guests on Royal Ascot week.
Hickstead – The British Jumping Derby Meeting
Date: 18th-22nd June 2014
Location: All England Jumping Course, Hickstead
Contacts: www.hickstead.co.uk
About: The British Jumping Derby is one of the most famous equestrian events in the world. Founded in 1960 by the late Douglas Bunn, it is the only competition that sees riders take on the front descent of the infamous Derby Bank, the biggest of its kind to be found anywhere in the world. It is an iconic event, that makes heroes of its human and equine stars, and in which the course itself is as famous as the horses and riders that embark upon it. No other event in the world asks this much of its entrants, and no other course creates this type of drama.
Royal Norfolk Show 2014
Date: 25th-26th June 2014
Location: Norfolk Showground, Dereham Road,
Norwich, NR5 0TT
Contacts: royalnorfolkshow.co.uk
About:Last year's event attracted more than 1640 equine entries from across the UK, with a further 321 entering the show jumping section. With over 100 classes on offer across a wide range of breeds, the Royal Norfolk Show's equine section is one of the most prestigious amongst County Shows.
Showjumping competitions at the Royal Norfolk Show take place on both days and a new class this year includes the Horse and Hound Foxhunter Showjumping Competition as well as proudly hosting the International Stairway Grand Prix supported by British Showjumping Business Partnership and other sought after classes.
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Webinar: The Impact of Social media in Healthcare: Rhetoric versus Reality* Dr. Peter Murray, PhD, RN, - May 22, 2012 12:00-1:00pm PST
Webinar Details:
While many health professionals use social media extensively within their personal lives, their use within healthcare organisations and by health professionals to improve health outcomes, is more limited. This presentation and discussion will explore the rhetoric of the possibilities of using social media in healthcare, and practical examples from around the world of the actual use, and the issues arising. Other issues, such as the development of 'codes of practice' to govern professionals' use of social media, will also be addressed.
May 22, 2012 12:00-1:00pm PST
Speaker Information:
Dr. Peter Murray, PhD, RN, MSc, CertEd, FBCS CITP is currently Chief Executive Officer of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). He has nearly 30 years health experience, starting as a coronary care nurse before moving into education and health/nursing informatics. He remains involved in teaching health informatics at post graduate level, most recently at Walter Sisulu University. He has an MSc in Nursing and a PhD in nursing informatics and educational technology, and is a qualified nurse teacher.
His current interests include free/libre and open source software, and the use of social media, in particular for virtual engagement with health informatics events and organisations. He has been actively involved in journal editing and reviewing for over 20 years, has authored, or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and has presented over 120 papers, tutorials, workshops and panels at national and international events.
►To join this webinar, use this link: http://bit.ly/IWDBY7
Access code: 801 862 818
Password: Network10
If you are connecting by phone only, call-in toll number: +1-408-600-3600


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Displaying 31 to 35 of 1329 results.
08 December 2012
Dan Norton scored his 100th career try as England put Scotland to the sword at the end of a tough opening day at the South Africa Sevens. The wing touched down against Fiji and New Zealand before grabbing a brace in the 33-12 victory against the Scots.
07 December 2012
Ollie Phillips returns to the England side after a three-year absence after shaking off a calf injury to take part in this weekend's South Africa Sevens in Port Elizabeth
On this week's Podcast we look back at Saturday's memorable 38-21 win for England against the All Blacks and we hear from England Women's captain Katy McLean who led her side to a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand
Sussex RFU were the lucky winners of an all-inclusive five-night stay at Brown's Sports and Leisure Club, announced at Rugby Expo 2012
06 December 2012
England and London Wasps lock Joe Launchbury has been named QBE Man of the Series after a series of outstanding performances following his Test debut in the inaugural QBE Internationals


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Colorful Home Decor on Sale This Week
From a modern green dustpan to a bold blue side table, we rounded up eight colorful finds that you can buy online that all happen to be marked down right now.
By Courtney Balestier
Gus Modern Pawn End Table/Stool
Ditch the boring bar stool for this sunshiny alternative. In Saffron, $299 (was $399); abchome.com


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I would describe my style as some days I wanna look really glam and wear heels and wear lipstick, rock it out a little bit. Some days, I just wanna wear leggings and like a vintage band t-shirt and Converse so it's-basically it just depends on my mood. Basically, I wore this cute Jill Stuart dress at the VMA. I like that one a lot because it was really like young and funky and fresh so I like that a lot. I think you have to be your own style inspiration. When you start trying to look specifically like someone, I think it kinda takes you away from your own originality so I kinda stick to finding my own thing.
5 Winners snap up a Sugar Crush Body Buttercream from Soap & Glory.
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Season #2 BBQ Pitmasters -So You Wanna be a BBQ Pitmaster ? heres how you can apply:
There is going to be a Season 2 of BBQ Pitmasters!!!
Confirmed with John Markus today : Our new format features FOUR different pitmasters competing in EACH episode. We are looking to augment our cast from last season and welcome all interested cooks to throw their aprons in the ring!!! Great news for all those guys and gals who want to be on the show. Here is how you can apply! Good luck to all those who send in their DVD's!
For Season 2 BBQ Pitmaster Auditions: tapes/DVDs, under 5 min! Sell us on you/your team! Lindsay Freed c/o Original Media, 38 E. 29th St. 8th FL. NY, NY 10016. Get Goin'!
Or, send a file of your audition to firstname.lastname@example.com Shoot schedule runs from April 30 – June 26. Send ?'s there as well.
One Response to "Season #2 BBQ Pitmasters -So You Wanna be a BBQ Pitmaster ? heres how you can apply:"
Great. I had heard things were leaning that way but hadn't heard a confirmation. You giving it a shot?
Great luck to you in Little Rock!


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11th ANNUAL HRRA RIVER SWEEP
HRRA has removed, literally, tons of trash from the Hudson over the past decade and we invite you to join us once again to make our rowing home even more beautiful and take care of the amazing resource that provides us such immense opportunities and enjoyment.
Saturday, April 19th at 9:30am
HRRA will provide rakes, garbage bags, recycling bags and gloves to everyone - we just need you! We will recycle what we can this year and the team that has the highest number of participants will receive 50 reusable, aluminum water bottles for their members.
FOOD DRIVE ~ through April to benefit the Beverly Kloss Food Pantry - bring a canned or boxed food item on your next visit to the boathouse!
Even if you don't participate on a team HRRA members and their family are welcome to sign up just for yoga. Cassandra Currie will lead this Vinyasa yoga class for all levels.
(8 sessions)
Thursdays from 6 to 7:30pm
March 20 to May 8
Rowga only ~
$55 full/$9 drop in for HRRA members (spouses/partners/children over 12)
$75 full/$12 drop in for non-HRRA
(Rowga is included for athletes who are enrolled in either Masters Tune Up).
Run Club will resume on Thursdays at 5:45 once the snow melts.


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Guild Ukulele Building Project
The Big Island Ukulele Guild started a project (4/17/10) in my shop building 3 tenor ukuleles which will eventually be sold. It is a special fundraising project, with expected completion by November 2010. Every week and a half, 2 different members come to my shop to spend 4 hours working on the project ukes. We are building a koa tenor and a mango tenor. In addition, we are also building a "Green Uke" out of recycled materials. It has back and sides from recycled used Brazilian Cherry wood, a Western Red Cedar top from construction site leftovers, a fretboard from some type of rosewood that was once the arm of a chair, and a beautiful rosewood bridge made from the handle of an old woodworking square. The remainder of the materials have yet to be determined.
8/15 was day 11 of the building project. I did not get any photos of day 10 due to a camera problem. That day was neck attachment. Necks are now on and we spent the day radiusing and fretting the fretboards.
Anne working on cleaning up the fretboards.
Radiusing a fretboard.
Bob truing up a fretboard along it's length.
Cleaning out the fret slots just prior to fretting.


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Please come to visit us at our new Community Boat Shop located behind the marine museum, at: 301 Bluff Road, Amagansett, NY 11930 Our hours of operation are Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 AM to 2 PM.
You can reach us at [631-324-2490]. We are looking forward to hearing from you. You can also contact us at our e-mail address: [email@example.com].


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(Story updated to add that Yahoo is demanding licensing fees from social-networking firm Facebook for use of its patented technologies.)
BOSTON ( TheStreet) -- A retailing trend that appears irreversible, at this point, is consumers' increasing preference for buying goods and services online.
And the pace is likely to quicken given consumers' growing use of mobile devices such as phones and tablets, as they make comparison shopping, and the whole shopping experience, much easier since it can be done from virtually anywhere that tends to prompt impulse purchases.
In addition, retailers are becoming more aggressive online marketers by offering loyalty programs that offer perks such as free shipping, the use of online media such as Facebook, and by the use of "flash" sales or online discounting via email to lure buyers to their Web site. The technology and market research firm Forrester Research said consumers spent $202 billion online buying retail goods in 2011, and projects that will grow by 12% to $226 billion this year and by 45% from that, to $327 billion, by 2016, according to a projection it released Feb. 27. And by 2016, e-retail will account for 9% of total retail sales, up from 7% in both 2012 and 2011, Forrester said. This tidal shift in habits by consumers is attracting more online advertisers, so online companies with the largest user base are likely to capture an increasing portion of that revenue that may have gone to other, more traditional media, which will serve as an additional catalyst to even faster growth for them. And note that retailing bellwether Wal-Mart (WMT) said last week that it reached an agreement to raise its stake in the Chinese e-commerce firm Yihaodian to roughly 51% in order to tap China's world-leading, fast-growing consumer online marketplace. That helped prompt S&P Capital IQ equity analyst Scott Kessler to screen his firm's stock data base for companies with "consumer-facing" technologies that are likely to play roles in the growth of online retailing and that S&P analysts are "bullish on." Here are nine highly rated, "consumer-facing" technology stocks cited by S&P Capital IQ analysts ranked in inverse order of "buy" ratings from Wall Street investment analysts:
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When the dictators and the opportunists are gone, the cross will still stand before us and something in us will say, 'That is the real thing.Ralph W. Sockman
It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power. Only the strong can be free. And only the productive can be strong.Wendell Willkie
Dictators never invent their own opportunities.R. Buckminster Fuller
This is a Senate of equals, of men of individual honor and personal character, and of absolute independence. We know no masters, we acknowledge no dictators. This is a hall for mutual consultation and discussion; not an arena for the exhibition of champions.Daniel Webster
Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
To understand why dictators have a problem with making peace - or at least a genuine peace - the link between the nature of a regime and its external behavior must be understood.Natan Sharansky
The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.Charlie Chaplin
Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens.William Beveridge
Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.Charlie Chaplin
Bosses are no more inevitable in state and local governments than dictators are in national governments. They will arise and prosper, nevertheless, if true believers of democracy - citizens devoted to the democratic ideals - do not constantly oppose them.Charles Edison
American presidents always avoid shaking hands with brutal dictators, except when it's advantageous to do so.Elizabeth A. Sherman
A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.Abraham Joshua Heschel
So long as men worship dictators, Caesars and Napoleons will arise to make them miserable.Aldous Huxley
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear.Alan Corenk
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount.Winston Churchill
There are, of course, all sorts of other unpleasant regimes outside the walls as well - the military dictators of Latin America and the apartheid regime of South Africa.Barbara Amiel
We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analyzing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will. I cannot believe that such a program would be rejected by the people of this country, even if it does mean the establishment of personal contact with the dictators.Neville Chamberlain
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hearAlan Coren
We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace.George W. Bush
More harm was done in the 20th century by faceless bureaucrats than tyrant dictators.Dennis Prager
In none of these countries [Russia, Italy and Germany] was it possible to make to the people such an appeal as went home to the heart of our people, an appeal based on Christianity or ethics ... The whole outlook in the dictator countries was so completely different from ours that for a long time people here could not understand how it was possible for these nations not to respond to the same kind of appeal as that to which our people responded. But they were beginning to realise it now...The only argument which appealed to the dictators was that of force.Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley


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Who do you think would win in a race between a man and a horse?
Seems obvious doesn't it, but don't be so sure. The annual Man versus Horse Marathon in the small Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells has seen both animal and human winners since it started over 30 years ago. This year's race is on 12 June; place your bets!
The event started when local landlord Gordon Green overheard a discussion between locals in his pub, the Neuadd Arms. One man said that since a horse was neither very good at going up a steep hill, or down one, that over a long distance on the local terrain, man was equal to any horse. Green decided the challenge should be tested and organised the very first Man versus Horse Marathon.
Around 500 runners and 50 horses compete every year. The course is slightly shorter than a normal marathon at 22 miles, but it's over rougher terrain – including marsh, mountain and bog. The race attracts hundreds of spectators to this usually quiet Welsh spa town and has become one of the UK's favourite bizarre events.
It's always been a very close call at the finish line between man and horse - sometimes with just seconds in it. It took 25 years before the first man finally beat a horse when Huw Lobb won in 2hrs and 5mins beating the fastest horse by 2 minutes, but since then there have been a number of winners of the 'human' side.
Llanwrtyd Wells is also home to another favourite bizarre event, the annual Bog Snorkelling Championships, which involves competitors racing through the famous (and very muddy) Waen Rhydd Bog.
So when you're in Britain, come and see what might just be our strangest races – or why not take part yourself?
To run: £18 per individual £54 per relay team | To ride horse: £25 per horse and rider
See Green Events website for more information.
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Não deve levar mais que dois minutos.Clique aqui para ir à pesquisa.


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stage dive
Theater Review: Why Mike Daisey's Critique of Apple Is Too Glib to Really Sting
I write this review on a machine masterminded and commissioned by Steve Jobs, a machine that is, as I type, connected to another machine masterminded and commissioned by Steve Jobs, in an apartment where Steve Jobs holds patents on just about every object any self-respecting burglar would bother burgling. Even in death, the man circumscribes my life. I am, in other words, not unlike the monologist Mike Daisey: A middle-class, under-50, Brooklyn-dwelling consumer of vaguely virtuous-seeming hipware. I don't shop around too much for my personal electronics. My default setting is Jobs, the man who more or less invented the concept of "personal electronics" — I'm just another dues-paying layperson in the church of Apple.
But Daisey, being a storyteller (21 Dog Years, The Last Cargo Cult), takes it a bit further in his latest Spalding Gray–ish rumination, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. Jobs, Daisey tells us, was his hero, and he is a technology fanatic, an Apple fetishist — his very funny raptures on the look, the feel, even the smell of cutting-edge gear are so vivid they're practically hallucinations. (Especially the way Daisey delivers them, scream-sung in his trademark octave-spanning baritenor of carefully calibrated hyperbole.) For years, he faithfully adopted Jobs's brainchildren, no questions asked, snapping up iBaubles seasonally, constantly redecorating when the new style came in. (He recalls his youthful naïveté in the iMac days, when he was foolish enough to think this was the end of the line, that everything in his life would forever be "bulbous and fruit-colored.") And like most first-worlders, Daisey never considered where these magical white lozenges, with their strokable candied apps and river-stone smoothness, actually came from, or who built them, or how so many of them could be manufactured so quickly at costs low enough to permit Apple the sort of meteoric profits that make the next generation so labor-intensively refined. And then Daisey went to China, to see where Apples come from. (Taking a page from Spurlock and Moore, he inveigled his way into Foxconn, the most notorious of Apple's manufacturing partners, posing as an American businessman.) And his eyes were opened.
This is where Agony gets a little bit agonized. Daisey's chief subjects have always been Himself and Capitalism, in no particular order; I'd humbly suggest he put them in order. His stated reverence for Jobs feels exaggerated for effect, to contrast with his disappointment at the tech pioneer's failure to lead on labor reforms. How could this turtleneck-wearing, Dylan-worshipping world-shaker allow child labor in his supply chain? How could Mr. Think Different be so unthinking, so indifferent when it came to the crippled hands of his preteen labor force? In his most damning image, Daisey patiently explains to his thrift-store-shopping, Etsy-conscious crowd that, if they're in the market for "handmade" goods, they need look no further than their iPhones.
But it's downhill from there, in elegance and even in coherence. Daisey throws in a few well-known mudpies to help make his case: How Jobs was a Tiger-Dad perfectionist, fearsomely demanding of his underlings, obsessed with a manic, monadic cleanliness-of-design that may have pointed more toward mental illness than Zen serenity. How he kinda-sorta-maybe screwed over Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the true computer "hobbyist" in whom Daisey conveniently locates the soul of pure, primal, "good" geekery. How Jobs transformed computers from infinitely customizable, open-source boxes of wonder into an antiseptic white labyrinth, proprietary and sealed off - what the anti-Apple gadfly Richard Stallman calls "a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom."
What Daisey doesn't address, strangely, is the level of comfort with this situation all of us dead-eyed Apple acolytes have developed. He seems to assume no one he's addressing has ever considered the dubious origins of the products they rely on or the vitrine sheen of injustice that coats just about every manufactured item priced within reach of the average mortal. And in doing so, he actually lets us — and himself — off the hook. This very entertaining show climaxes in a battle hymn of self-aggrandizement, where Daisey grandly takes credit for opening our minds and advises us to "think" about what we "buy." Essentially, we're invited to exit Jobs' church and enter Daisey's. And why not? His creed isn't all that taxing. He does not call for a boycott. He does not make an prescriptive suggestions of any kind; nor does he claim to have changed his own buying habits. He predicts, instead, that this very show is a "virus" that will infect iTopia. ("Fair-trade" alternatives, in the world of electronics manufacture, appear to be practically nonexistent.) He requests/intones, Morpheus-like, that we "jailbreak" our minds, which have been industrially lathed into submission by the hypnotic Jobsian aesthetic and preprogrammed with the myth that a clean-lined product implies a clean provenance. You're not changing the world by buying an Apple product, Daisey wants you to know, but you are changing the world by coming to this show. Outside, you're presented with a commemorative leaflet, urging the familiar measures: write to the company, demand reform, join a watchdog group, don't run out and get an upgrade unless you really need one, etc. Laudable ideas, all, but a great "mind-opening"? I don't think so.
How disappointing. For a good stretch of his highly engrossing show, Daisey's on track to leave us with a truly distressing idea: that we've adjusted to injustice. That, in a world of metastatic injustice, we've simply chosen the best-designed injustice out there, the commodity whose brand feels most consistent with how we'd like to see ourselves. That everyone in this theater, including Daisey, will exit the room and immediately fire up a product assembled by hand, by another human being, possibly a very young human being, who's likely in a state of profound mental and physical distress, thanks to barbarically intense work shifts. Instead, we're treated to yet another one-button solution: You've seen my show, so feel good about yourself. And, of course, about Daisey. As usual, he is the show. But his lifelong love affair with Apple products doesn't feel terribly personal, and I don't, for a second, believe Jobs was his "hero." (The last ten minutes of Agony have the roughed-over feel of a hastily written obituary, and the "hero" line, in particular, sounds like a sop to the elegiac mood that set in after Jobs died.) Maybe what's missing here is the agony and ecstasy of Mike Daisey — a personal arc that's a bit more complex, a bit more compelling than, "I loved Apple products not wisely but too well. Then I went to China and found out they're evil. So, uh, open your mind." That's not much of a "virus"; hell, it's not even news. Daisey's touchdown is recklessly glib and overmachined - it feels, I hate to say it, indistinguishable from the language of marketing - and it poisons the whole foregoing show. No app for that, I'm afraid.
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs is at the Public Theater through November 13.


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Organizing Tips: Home Entertainment Center
Keep cords and bulky machinery looking stylishly at home with these expert tips
By Ginevra Pylant
Command Central
Your media center—which was once a source of entertainment and information—has morphed into an overwhelming mass of black boxes and tangled cords, and all you want to do is unwind and watch Seinfeld reruns. So, now that you've figured out Tivo, let's clean up. First, take stock and assess your concerns. Are you tech-savvy or low-tech? Do you want to display the screen or hide it? What room will your media collection be in? Then, find a media center that's right for you. To get you started, we've rounded up tips and storage options that offer affordable solutions no matter what your needs or tastes are.


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A tornado near destroyed much of a mobile home park Shawnee, Okla.
Jeremy Harlan/CNN
Holiday travel is already hectic and stress-inducing, but nothing is worse than when an airline losses your luggage. Here are the worst culprits.
Time Magazine
Who was named the most powerful person in the world this year? Who was the Sexiest Man Alive? Find out in this gallery of 2014's top honors.
From dazzling Disney displays to brilliant boat parades, these top holiday lights destinations are a spectacular way to ring in the season.
Have a consumer complaint? Click here to contact our Call For Action team.
Channel 3000 traffic highway map
A map feature on Channel 3000 gives a statewide view of traffic fatalities in the state dating back to 2001.
The Channel 3000 Street Team is made up of anyone who wants to hear about and contribute to community and breaking news.
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Results tagged ' Pinterest '
The Countdown to Brewers Opening Day is On!
Happy New Year, Brewers fans!
The new year brings with it a new season and, a new countdown to Opening Day, Monday, March 31 when your Brewers take on the Atlanta Braves at 1:10pm at Miller Park.
As you know, Opening Day is practically a holiday in Milwaukee and looking forward to it helps us all get through the long, cold Wisconsin winter.
As of today (Friday, January 3), we're just 87 days away from kicking off the 2014 season at Miller Park.
Last year, we had fun coming up with countdown images across our various social media platforms:
We also asked you to show us how you were counting down for a chance to win Opening Day tickets…. And we loved your creativity so much that this year, we're hoping to rely on you to show us how you're counting down each day. One Grand Prize winner will be selected to be in the crowd on March 31, plus receive a pair of Brewers 10-Packs!
Here's how it works:
Join us in our #SeeUMarch31 countdown by creating original photo(s) showing how you count down to the Brewers Home Opener each day leading up to it. For example, Tuesday, January 7 is 83 days until Opening Day. Fans submitting their photos showing their "83" by 5pm CT the day prior (Monday, January 6) will be eligible to have theirs selected as the one we post across all of our social media channels on Tuesday, January 7. Simply tag your entries on Instagram and/or Twitter using hashtag #SeeUMarch31.
Each day, we'll select our favorite and post it across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus and Tumblr, giving you credit, of course!
Just before Opening Day, each of the daily winners will be eligible to win the Grand Prize—a pair of Brewers 10-Packs plus Opening Day tickets!
For complete rules, click here.
I can't wait to see what you all come up with!
Happy Holidays from John and Cait!
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for reading John and Cait…Plus 9 this year!
As we head into the holidays, we wanted to take a moment to thank you again for a great 2012 and wish you a very happy holiday season. And–we're very much looking forward to 2013 and all the excitement that is sure to come!
If you're looking to spread Brewers holiday cheer and (off) season's greetings, here are a couple of ways to do so:
- Share this Bernie Brewer image on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
- MLB Facebook Snowy Images Album: MLB has created one holiday-themed image for each team and we're encouraging fans to share on their wall, as well as with friends. These images also reside on the Pinterest Happy Holidays Board.
- Holiday Photos: Upload one of your own photos (or choose one from Facebook), add baseball-themed holiday elements and share with your friends!
-John and Cait


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Stories from General Conference
Stories from General Conference features some of the best anecdotes shared during various General Conference addresses over the past several years, each tied to a specific topic or theme.
Conversion is the topic of this episode of Stories from General Conference. Stories are shared by President Thomas S. Monson, Elder Royden G. Derrick, Elder William Grant Bangerter, Elder Harold G. Hillam, Elder Robert E. Wells, and Elder Marvin J. Ashton.


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Yet more GB news
The Storms very own Ruth Cattell has made the GB womens long list, which shows the squad prior to final team selection, Head coach Sally Taylor says "this is a huge achievement not only for Ruth, but for the Streatham club as a whole to have a presence in the GB senior womens team"
Storm netminder Ruth Cattell says "I'm so happy to have made it this far. This is the first year I have been involved with the GB programme and to make the long list is huge. Fingers crossed, if I keep working hard on and off the ice I will make the short list and get to represent my country at the Division 2A World Championships."
GB Call Up for Streatham
Our very own Beth Hill has been selected for the GB u18's women's team, they head off to World Championships in March 2014. The event is being held in Fussen, Germany.
Along with Beth, the Storm's Head coach, Sally Taylor will also be travelling with the team.
Good luck to GB u18's in their quest.


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Me and my hubby
We got there a little late so we missed the Virgins. What we did walk in on was a contest to win the 20th anniversary DVD. There were about 7 1/2 naked girls on stage and then one big fat guy in his boxers.
It came down to a tie between these 2 girls who looked like they belonged on Jerry Springer and the boxers guy. To break the tie they had to seduce someone. Sooooo.... The 2 chicks went at it doing a fake muff diving expedition (boring) and another guy jumped up on stage (this little skinny dude) and started stripping and going at it with the bigger guy. They asked if anyone wanted to go up there and help out the big dude and I raised up
Me and my husband went on one of our first dates up in Maryland to one of these things so it was a pretty nostalgic evening for the both of us. This one was a lot different then the one we used to always go to. They didn't yell out much and a lot of what they yelled was different from what we knew (but I kind of expected that) and they all sang the correct songs not the well you know edited parts. I got up and did part of the Time warp this time but the walkways were so crowded I sat down 1/2 way through.
The actors at this one were really good and so were the props I was impressed. We will definitely be going back! :)
I enjoy stuff like this so much then damn dance clubs..maybe I am just a geek :P
|© 2002-2008. Blurty Journal. All rights reserved.


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Samsung Austin Semiconductor
1 person found this helpful
"rewarding, ambitious, work long hours. "
- Comp & Benefits
- Work/Life Balance
- Senior Management
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time (more than 5 years)
Samsung is one of the top electronics companies in the world. There's constantly new technology devices, so you get to be a part of the next big thing to hit the news in several months. The pay is very reasonable and the bonuses are pretty amazing nowadays! Top health benefits and unmatched 401K matching.
The expectations are very high! You work long hours. Work-Life balance needs improvement though it depends which department you work in and recently it has gotten a lot better than 5 years ago. Being a manufacturing facility, the mindset is different as if you were part of the actual device development or R&D department. Also, it takes time to move up in the company. It's more determined how long you've been there rather than your credentials and work performance.
Communication is key. Acknowledge your peers and positive attitude will be maintained.
242 Other Employee Reviews for Samsung Austin Semiconductor (View Most Recent)Sort: Rating Date
1 person found this helpful
"No week-ends "
- Comp & Benefits
- Work/Life Balance
- Senior Management
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
I have been working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor full-time (less than an year)Pros
Good at listening to techs on the floor regarding maintenance needs.Cons
Night time superintendent's primary job is to walk the fab looking for procedural violations, if your working nights don't expect to have too many week-ends as most of them will be filled with useless mandatory training programs. Be prepared to work long fab hours on 12-hour shifts (1 hour lunch break only).Advice to ManagementAdvice
Need to improve work-life balance, especially for night shift. Need to have training available for night shift employees, I'm tired of coming in on my days off.Negative OutlookNo opinion of CEO
3 people found this helpful
I worked at Samsung Austin SemiconductorPros
Co-workers are certainly the best part, and it's why I lasted as long as I did. Most engineers are very smart and looking to help the company in any way possible. There is a strong bond among the engineers who all seem to come together to fantasize about other job opportunities. The work is there and can be very rewarding if you are allowed to work on what you want. Unfortunately that is almost never the case. I was fortunate to work with some of the smartest people I've ever met, but they all left and I was left holding the steaming pile.Cons
Management is bad and getting worse. As many people leave, management has no option except to promote people who are unqualified for the position they are forced to accept. It's not about the quality of work you do, but more about the hours you spend showing your face around the office.
Advice, don't work here if you think you have good ideas and can make a positive difference. You will be left feeling very frustrated when you find out you can't change Samsung.Advice to ManagementAdvice
Stop micromanaging and trust your employees to do the right thing. Spend more time getting buy in from the people who work for you instead of dictating every little detail. Look around the world, dictatorships fail. If you get people to buy in to an idea, they will be much more willing to work for you.


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main index
"The machines had found all the energy they would ever need. There are fields, Neo... Endless fields, where human beings are no longer 'born': We are grown."Want to show that the bad guys (or possibly the Alien Invasion) are really, truly evil? Want them to cross the Moral Event Horizon without having to do much work? Want them to just terrify everybody into oblivion? Easy! Just state — or really heavily imply — that they breed humans like livestock, or keep them like animals in vast People Farms. Their purpose needn't be specified. Eating us? Harvesting our souls? Being bred for our skills in magic? Human Resources? Because they like to watch? Doesn't matter. Just the implication is enough to squick people. While it's true that humans are just another species of animal on this Insignificant Little Blue Planet, we tend to think ourselves above mere animals — among other things, we believe that all of us have an inherent right to freedom, safety from imprisonment without due cause, or abuse both physical and emotional. People Farms play to lots of Primal Fears and Squicks at once — fear of imprisonment, enslavement, death (if we get treated to a culling of unfit stock), rape (if there's a "breeding program" going on, which participants have no choice in), and the general sense of being controlled. If it's our fellow humans doing this, you can be certain that their contempt for their fellow men is absolute. If it's an alien race, you know they obviously didn't get the memo that Humans Are Special. Of course, other sapient species can be substituted for humans, provided that they're sympathetic. It doesn't help that the idea of wide-scale human imprisonment and abuse puts people in mind of the Holocaust. A major example of Industrialized Evil. No Real Life Examples, Please! We don't want to disturb the readers.
— Morpheus, The Matrix
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Hobart works with schools to restrict parking on Lillian
By Karen Caffarini Post-Tribune correspondent March 20, 2013 9:28PM
Updated: April 22, 2013 12:33PM
HOBART — The City Council and School City of Hobart are working together to come up with a solution for Lillian Street, where residents' parked cars have made it difficult for school buses and some city vehicles to maneuver.
School Board president Terry Butler and Felix Perry, with the school system's transportation department, appeared at Wednesday's council meeting and agreed that someone from the school system would attend the council's next ordinance committee meeting, to be held April 3, when the council plans to consider some parking restrictions on Lillian, from Indiana 51 to the school system's service center.
The City Council earlier tabled action on an ordinance that would have restricted parking on portions of Lillian Street after residents complained and maintained that the main problem is speeding city vehicles and school buses, not parked cars.
Butler said the School Board has been aware of problems in that area for some time.
"The transportation department asked for no-parking on one side of the street. We were concerned that some buses might scrape cars parked there," Butler said.
He said Lillian Street is the safest route for bus drivers to get in and out of the school's service center.
Council President Jerry Herzog, D-1st, said the city is getting information from different entities, noting Mayor Brian Snedecor recently received another letter from one of the residents.
"In the future, we'd like to work with the School Board," Herzog said.
Councilman Pete Mendez, D-3rd, said some people along that stretch have no place to park. He suggested there be no parking on the south side of Lillian Street, and Butler agreed.
Mendez also asked if the school system had any problem with the city installing a speed bump on Lillian, and if the bus drivers could enter and exit the service center via Indiana 130 instead of Lillian Street when in their own vehicles.
Perry said the speed bump could cause noise problems due to screeching brakes. He said it is a matter of convenience for drivers to use Lillian Street instead of Indiana 130, adding that traffic to the Hobart Food Pantry has greatly increased, going from 30 to 40 people a week to about 160 people a week, adding to traffic problems.
It was pointed out that those going to the pantry aren't supposed to use the back entrance, but Perry said many prefer that entrance to the busier Indiana 130.
Councilman Matt Claussen, D-at-large, said he had concerns about asking people to use Indiana 130.
"There are five houses on this stretch of Lillian Street and you have a lot of seniors using the food pantry. You would create a greater hazard putting seniors on 130," he said.


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Expanding Revenues: Company Controlled Backup Systems
reselling Carbonite or some other form of back-up is fine.. and adds a few dollars to the bottom line. However, We implemented a nice system, complete with a Carbonite style back-up system, automated, for the customers.
Rolling out your own Backup System to sell to customers is 1 thing, and doing it right is a completely different story. So, without further ado - OUR story.
(Please note, this has only been in effect for 2 weeks and has 5 customers)
We started our backup service by building a cheap from NewEgg for about $590 - with a fancy wireless keyboard and 17" LCD Monitor.. Speakers not included.
We mounted 2 1TB Drivers in a Redundant Raid Configuration - so it auto back-ups in case 1 harddrive fails. The harddrives are hot-swappable, so we can plug one in and pull one out quickly.
We then Purchased a 1-HR Back-up Battery / Power surge for $119.99 from Newegg - rated at 550 Watt countinous (1500 WATT Peak). Server comes in at 390 Watts.
We then customized FileZilla (Open-source! love it) attached to a script that we wrote to pull all critical system files, User documents, etc to upload to that users FTP account with our system's in the office. We offer this service for $35 per month and no GB Limit (Our customers arent backing up Videos or anything). We guarantee the data and retrieval.
Backing up - The Back up --- Every night at midnight the server executes another script to start an image of the disk onto another machine located in my home (In case of fire, theft, etc) - also with Redundant Raid harddrive configuration. Unfortunately this is not ideal. The time it takes to image the current disk is around 2.5 Hours - Its sitting at 55 GB.. It will only grow with our customers and we are looking for a better solution.
Now - We tested it for a few days with our own machines - and it worked fine. We started offering it to mainly Business or Home business customers during certain jobs (Harddrive failures, data recovery etc) all but 1 said yes so far. So in the 10 days it has been live - we have 5 customers, and probably a 6th tomorrow morning.
The server can support 4 Additional Harddrrives, and our Bandwidth in the office is more than sufficient to handle multiple uploads at once.
Our office set-up is like so:
Employees: Me, Myself, and I - My wife, and a part-time tech who comes in occassionaly. It is a office suite fit for a king - coming in at a whopping 659 SQ Ft.
Internet Set-up: 1 DSL Residential Package - $59.95 on a 20MB / 10MB Plan which sole purpose is to function as a Backup line for the Internet, and the Back-up Services we provide.
1 Cable COX Line Business Custom Package (I say customized because you need to ask permission to share the internet line) at $199.99/ month- dedicated to our own Wireless Internet Service Provider service / in-house internet needs.
And about 3 Unsecured Wireless APs in case of emergency, in range of our office's Antennas.
Ideas for expanding the service: In my work as a contracted tech prior to starting my own - I had a contract with Chase Bank, to handle all the branches in Tucson, great gig, no complaints.. got burnt out. Anyways - we did a IT Asset replacement (fancy word for.. we bought new computers). all i had to do with hook them up, turn them on - and through the network they installed everything they needed, OS, "Teller Express", Adobe, blah blah. Easy job. Easy $50. This is called a Network Install - It just streams the installation of the internet, using whatever slip-streamed copy of Windows Vista (at the time) with there own apps they wanted.
LIGHT BULB! - Customer computer crashes. BSOD - doesn't want to pay us our $65 an hour. However, we have configured her BIOS and computer to accept a network install ---- She is paying a premium for that (figure an extra $10 a month?) - she should be able to call us and tell us - i want to reinstall my copy of windows with my data... over the network... (Granted, not all Desktops/Laptops support this, but a vast majority of new ones do. and some old ones can be MADE too.. (RARE!)) Interesting idea - food for thought, dont know how to implement it, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done right?!
In any regards - I may be stupid in doing this, i might now. You might Emulate what we have done. OR, you might walk away from this with a few new ideas in your head.
Great Idea.
I have talked to a few techs who have done some form of this. But they bought prepared packages which were $$$.
The biggest advantage is that if your client has a failure they can come in person to pickup a DVD of their backup rather than taking days to download it over the internet.
I had a lawyer client after 72 hrs still only had 30% of her data restored.
Stupid is not the word that comes to mind after reading this...What does is profit and thought process....
I ran Vembu for a few years and did my own setup pretty much like you are doing now. Everything you are saying makes total sense and I have no doubt will work for you as it did for me.
I think the part that got me was the "Employees: Me, Myself, and I - My wife, and a part-time tech who comes in occassionaly"....I was in the same boat but have two full time employees. Yet, if we went away for say a few days here or there or even a week no matter what my mind was always on those backups. Why I have no idea, they worked, they worked all the time, and they never really gave any problem.
I think in my mind it was the "what-if" that killed it. After a few years I realized I could not deal with thinking about these things on a daily basis. Since then ditched my "own" setup and went with a provider that does online and the profit is at least as much as when I did it myself but the difference is in my mind I don't think about them anymore.
But, again...I commend you on this project...very nice.
MSPorFail - From Break Fix to MSP
Computer Repair Business Lessons Learned
100+ Pages / Contracts / Sales Letters & More
"Founder" Association of Computer Repair Business Owners
Over 3,800 Members, 40+ Preferred Vendors
Hail Hydra!
I just started the service, and so far we havent had any problems. I dont give it a whole lot of thought with the exception of adding to the service - say a network install.
It really just acts like Network Attached Storage, and is relatively simple. The scripts were written so that the customer's data backups without them having to worry, which was the most complex thing about the whole set-up.
We looked out software that does back-up, and decided to just have our own program do it.
Your lightbulb idea, while it sounds good, unfortunately can't be done. The only way to do any kind of network install of an OS is through PXE booting... which requires a network server to accept requests, provide DHCP, etc...
Being able to do this over the internet would be pretty sweet, and I'm sure one day we will be able to... but for now, as far as I am aware, it cannot be done
The rest sounds pretty good though
never say cant. Cant doesnt exist.
Cough VPN cough.
Hail Hydra!
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Videos & Screenshots
Game Details
- Release Date 7/21/2010
- Publisher Kalypso
- Platform Xbox 360
- Genre Strategy/Sim
- Number of Players 1
- Online Enabled Yes
Game Description
DarkStar One: Broken Alliance challenges you to solve a mystery on an adventure that's as big as the universe itself. You are Kayron Jarvis, an upstart space adventurer who sets out to solve the mystery surrounding the death of his father. Explore a remarkably crafted and incredibly expansive 3D outer space world that spans 330 solar systems that are home to six alien races, each with unique architecture, technological abilities, and combat tactics. Forge alliances to trade for new technology, or take it by force. It's just one of the choices you'll make in an open-ended story where you'll carve a path to fortune and glory and bring your enemies to justice.
Critic Reviews
GamesRadar Review (7.0 out of 10)
Darkstar One: Broken Alliance review Trade, explore, fight. Then fight again. And again The free-roaming space simulation genre has never really taken off on modern consoles. There was the Wing Commander series… but that's about it. So immediately, Darkstar ...more
User Reviews
Average Member Rating: 5.2 out of 10
It's Complicated. (8 out of 10)
posted by CaptainX79 (SCHENECTADY, NY) on Jul 25, 2010
Member since Feb 2007
85 out of 88 gamers (97%) found this review helpful
Member since Feb 2007
85 out of 88 gamers (97%) found this review helpful
To say the least DarkStar is by no means an easy to categorize game. It's nothing like what I was expecting it to be, I think what I was hoping for was something more like mass effect, what I got was something unlike anything I have ever played before. This being said The game is by no means bad, ...more
Specs & Requirements
Memory 1 MB
Modes Free Play, Full Mission Single-Player, Story
Audio/Video HDTV 1080i, In-Game Dolby Digital, HDTV 720p, HDTV 1080p
Online Features Xbox LIVE Family Settings, Friends, Achievements
Similar Games
- Borderlands 2Release 9/17/2012
- Grand Theft Auto IVRelease 4/28/2008
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed IIRelease 10/25/2010


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So predictable. Whenever legislation is proposed to secure civil equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Washingtonians, Senator Dan Swecker (R-Rochester, LD-20) is there to try to engineer state subsidies for the anti-equality crowd. Swecker, who is campaign manager or board member for the principle anti-equality political action committees active in the state (Faith [...]
Senator Dan Swecker wants Washington state to subsidize his anti-gay crusade
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Monday November 28, 2011 11:26 am
Treachery Among Washington's Radical-Right Anti-Gay Activists
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Thursday April 7, 2011 12:11 am
Sen. Dan Swecker (left) posing with Gary Randall just days before the betrayal. Ouch! Gary Randall has been betrayed by yet another of his anti-gay "friends", and it's clearly shaken him to the core. Randall is president and executive director of the anti-gay Faith & Freedom Network. Randall's high level of distress is evident in [...]
Out-of-state marriage recognition bill passes in the Washington state Senate
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Wednesday March 30, 2011 7:54 pm
Great news from Washington state! Today the out-of-state marriage recognition bill (HB 1649) passed in the Washington state Senate with a strong bipartisan vote of 28 to 19. The new law will automatically recognize married same-sex couples from out of state as domestic partners when they are in Washington state. The House passed the bill [...]
WA: Anti-gay state senator Dan Swecker approves pro-gay bill
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Friday March 25, 2011 2:54 pm
One of Washington state's most ardent anti-gay legislators quietly gave his nod of approval on Tuesday to the out-of-state marriage recognition bill (HB 1649). While lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Washingtonians and their supporters were celebrating Equality Day 2011 on the steps of the state Capitol, Senator Dan Swecker (R-Rochester) voted with the Democratic [...]
Gays are incestuous and the Catholic Church is a women's rights group
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Friday March 18, 2011 8:00 am
Sen. Dan Swecker You never know what incredible bits of truthiness you might hear from anti-gay activists at a legislative hearing. On March 15th the Washington state Senate Committee on Government Operations and Tribal Relations & Elections heard public testimony on the bill updating the Uniform Parentage Act of 2002 (HB 1267) by "clarifying and [...]
Senator Dan Swecker: Gays want to enslave your womb and sell people!
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Saturday March 12, 2011 7:06 pm
When you have no valid argument against a bill, I guess you resort to hyperbole and hope nobody will notice the anti-gay animus motivating you. Washington state Senator Dan Swecker opposes HB 1267, a bill that would update the Uniform Parentage Act of 2002 by "clarifying and expanding the rights and obligations of state registered [...]
Swecker the Subsidizer
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Tuesday June 16, 2009 10:15 am
Earlier this year I described how Washington state senator Dan Swecker was trying to give a state subsidy to the private anti-equality activities of Gary Randall and Larry Stickney: The Crumbling Coalition of Fanatical Fringe knows that they're unlikely to gather enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot. If they didn't, Sen. Swecker [...]
Why is Gary Randall *really* Dangling the Referendum Carrot?
|By: Laurel Ramseyer Thursday April 16, 2009 7:00 am
On January 22nd, Rep. Jamie Pedersen and Sen. Ed Murray introduced SB 5688, the Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009. By early February, Gary Randall was raising false hopes among his followers of defeating the bill, while simultaneously promising a referendum should those hopes be dashed. There was a sense in both the House and [...]