text:
A Brief Listing of the Priority Projects Right Now...
(Artist Bio is Available to Read by Pressing the 4 Dash Marks to the Right )
The Actual Who's Looking List Has Over 75 Priority Projects at the Major Labels!!
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969),[1] better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2011.[2][3] He has sold approximately 50 million albums worldwide, while receiving fourteen Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations.[4][5] He is consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers of all-time. He was ranked #1 by MTV in their list of The Greatest MCs of All-Time in 2006. Two of his albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996) and The Blueprint (2001) are considered landmarks in the genre with both of them being ranked in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Blender included the former on their 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die.[6]
Jay-Z co-owns the 40/40 Club, is part-owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and is also the creator of the line Rocawear.[7] He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, one of the three founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, and the founder of Roc Nation.[8] As an artist, he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 with eleven.[9] Jay-Z also has had four number ones on the Billboard Hot 100, one as lead artist.
He married American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles on April 4, 2008.[10] He had a daughter named Blue Ivy Carter on January 2012. On December 11, 2009, Jay-Z was ranked as the 10th most successful artist of 2000s by Billboard and ranking as the 5th top solo male artist and as the 4th top rapper behind Eminem, Nelly, and 50 Cent.[11] He is also ranked the 88th greatest artist of all time, according to Rolling Stone. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll[3] (born February 2, 1977),[5] known mononymously as Shakira, is a Colombian singer-songwriter, dancer, record producer, choreographer and model who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Shakira began performing in school, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Arabic influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English and Portuguese as well as some Italian, French, Catalan and Arabic.[6][7]
After a poor commercial reception with local producers on her first two albums, and being little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music. In 1995 she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain, and her 1998 album Dónde Están los Ladrones? was a critical success selling over 10 million copies worldwide.[8][9] In 2001, aided by the worldwide success of her first English single "Whenever, Wherever" that became the best selling single of 2002, she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over 20 million copies worldwide.[10][11] Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the best selling song of the 2000s, "Hips Don't Lie".[12] In 1997, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. It is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. During her career, Shakira has performed at a large number of benefit concerts. Among the most famous are the Live 8 benefit concert in July 2005, the Live Earth concert, Hamburg where she headlined the show, as well as the "Clinton Global Initiative" created by former US President Bill Clinton. She was also invited to the Oval Office by President Barack Obama in February 2010 to discuss early childhood development.[13]
She has her own star for Hollywood Walk Of Fame, won two Grammy Awards,[14] eight Latin Grammy Awards,[14] twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards[14] and has been Golden Globe-nominated.[14] She is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer behind Gloria Estefan, having sold over 70 million albums worldwide.[15][16][17][18] Her U.S. album sales stand at 9.9 million.[19] In the fall of 2009, Shakira released her sixth studio album She Wolf worldwide gaining a lot of critical praise for her eccentricity and writing skills. The album sold roughly 2 million copies around the world.[20] Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[21] The song has received generally positive critical reception, and has become a worldwide hit and the biggest selling World Cup song of all time.[22] On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the 3rd most watched video of all time with over 455 million views.[23] When she released her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol in October 2010, she gained back her Latin following, which Shakira described as being the main goal for the album. The album has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.[24] Since 2009, Shakira's musical career suffered from a strained relationship with her label Epic Records, which resulted in lack of promotion and investment from Epic Records towards her two latter studio albums She Wolf (2009) and Sale el Sol (2010). (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986), who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor.[1] He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.[2]
In June 2009, Drake signed a recording contract with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment.[3] In November 2009, Lil Wayne released a statement announcing that Drake's first studio album, Thank Me Later, had been completed. The album was released on June 15, 2010, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.[4] The album has since gone platinum. He released his second studio album on November 15, 2011 titled Take Care. Drake was set to release an R&B mixtape sometime in the future along with a collaboration album with Lil Wayne, however, both have been postponed for various reasons.[5][6]
Drake has worked with several other hip-hop artists such as Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Kanye West, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj. With the success of his mixtape-turned-EP So Far Gone, Drake has been nominated for several awards including Grammys, even being selected to perform at the 2010 Grammy award ceremony. Drake has also won several awards, including two Juno Awards in 2010 for Best New Artist, and Rap Recording of the Year.
In addition to making his own music, Drake has also written for other artists in the industry such as Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx and more. He also tends to feature or remix tracks that he has written for other artists such as Unthinkable Remix by Alicia Keys. Drake also claims that he and Lil Wayne have both written for Dr. Dre's Detox album.[7] In the list of the songs written, "Yesterday", of Diddy - Dirty Money featuring Chris Brown, written with Chris Brown, Cristyle, Kevin McCall and Mario Winans,[8] from Diddy's fifth studio album, Last Train to Paris. Drake also wrote the song "Unthinkable", by Alicia Keys, also written with Keys and Kerry Brothers, Jr., Noah "40" Shebib, from her album The Element of Freedom. He is featured in the remix of the song.[9]
Drake was ranked No. 2 on MTV's Hottest MCs In The Game VII list in 2012.[10] He currently has more number-one singles, twelve, on Billboard's Rap Songs Chart than any other artist, and is, other than 50 Cent, the only artist to simultaneously occupy the chart's top three positions. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection",[6] the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).
In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100—"Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)."[7] Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo (2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas (2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image.[8] After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002).[9] The album's second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image.[10][11][12] Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics (2006), released to positive critical acclaim.[13] The album produced three hit singles "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman". Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales.[14][15][16][17] Aguilera's seventh studio album is set to be released in 2012.
Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music.[18] Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme.[19][20] She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque (2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst seventeen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty.[21] She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard[22] and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna.[23] Aguilera's albums sales are estimated at over 50 million units worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.[24][25] Aguilera is currently a coach and judge on The Voice. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Usher Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978), who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit, "Nice & Slow". The album has been certified 6-times platinum by the RIAA.[1] His follow-up album, 8701, produced the Billboard Hot 100 number one hits "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad". The album has been certified 4-times platinum by the RIAA.[1]Usher's 2004 album Confessions sold over 10 million copies in the United States, and has been certified diamond by the RIAA. Confessions has the highest first week sales for an R&B artist in history.[2] It spawned four consecutive Billboard number-one hits—"Yeah!", "Burn", "Confessions Part II", and "My Boo". Usher's 2008 album Here I Stand sold over 5 million copies worldwide,[3] and its lead single "Love In This Club" peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100.On March 30, 2010, Usher released his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond, which became his third consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart.[4] It has been certified platinum by the RIAA,[5] and spawned another Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit "OMG". The song became his ninth number one in the United States, making him the first 2010s artist to collect number one singles in three consecutive decades. He later released an extended play and deluxe edition of Raymond v. Raymond, entitled Versus, which debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. Its lead single "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100.The RIAA ranks Usher as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 23 million copies in the United States alone.[6] To date, he has sold over 65 million records worldwide,[7][8] making him one of the best selling music artists of all time. Usher has won numerous awards including seven Grammy Awards.[9] At the end of 2009, Usher was named the number one Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade.[10] Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade,[11] with his 2004 album Confessions being ranked as the top solo album of the 2000s decade.[12] Billboard also placed Usher at number six on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years.[13] Usher has attained nine Hot 100 number-one hits (all as a lead artist) and has attained eighteen Hot 100 top-ten hits.[14]Contents
West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. West released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim.[3] As of 2012, West has won a total of eighteen Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all-time.[4] All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S. upon release.[5] West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000[6][7] placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade.[8][9] He has sold over 30 million digital songs in the United States making him one of the best-selling digital artists of all-time.[10]
West also runs his own record label GOOD Music, home to artists such as John Legend, Common and Kid Cudi.[11] West's mascot and trademark is "Dropout Bear," a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five solo albums as well as various single covers and in his music videos.[12] About.com ranked Kanye West No. 8 on their "Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers" list.[13] On May 16, 2008, Kanye West was crowned by MTV as the year's No. 1 "Hottest MC in the Game."[14] On December 17, 2010, Kanye West was voted as the MTV Man of the Year by MTV.[15] Billboard ranked Kanye West No. 3 on their list of Top 10 Producers of the Decade.[16] West has also been included in the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as being listed in a number of Forbes' annual lists. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Ciara Princess Harris (born October 25, 1985), known as Ciara (pronounced /siːˈɛrə/, see-ERR-ə),[1] is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and fashion model. Born in Austin, Texas, she traveled around the world during her childhood, only to land in Atlanta, Georgia where she met music producer Jazze Pha. With his help, she signed a record deal with LaFace Records.In 2004, Ciara released her debut studio album Goodies, which spawned three hit singles: "Goodies," "1, 2 Step," and "Oh." The album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and earned her four nominations at the 48th Grammy Awards. She released her second studio album, Ciara: The Evolution, in 2006 which spawned the hit singles "Get Up," "Promise," and "Like a Boy." The album reached number one in the US and was certified platinum. Her third studio album Fantasy Ride, released in 2009, was considerably less successful than Ciara's first two albums. However, it produced the worldwide top-ten hit "Love Sex Magic" featuring Justin Timberlake, which earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The following year, Ciara released her fourth studio album Basic Instinct, which was met with low sales and continued a downward trend in her commercial success. In 2011, she signed a new record deal with Epic Records, and is preparing to release her upcoming fifth studio album, One Woman Army, which is preceded by the lead singles "Sorry" and "Got Me Good."Since making her musical debut in 2004, Ciara has attained eight Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles, including a number one. She has also earned numerous awards and accolades, including three BET Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three MOBO Awards, and one Grammy Award. Ciara has sold over seven million albums worldwide,[2] and more than 4.3 million albums and 6.9 million digital singles in the United States alone.[3]
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson[1] (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Perry grew up around gospel music. During her first year of high school, she pursued a music career as Katy Hudson, releasing her first studio album, called Katy Hudson, which failed to chart. She recorded a solo album later, which was never released. After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.
She first gained recognition with the release of her first mainstream album, One of the Boys in 2008, which spawned three Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs—"I Kissed A Girl", "Hot n Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas". Perry supported the album with her Hello Katy Tour. In 2010, Perry released her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010), which topped the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned five number one singles—"California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". Teenage Dream became the first and so far only album (after Michael Jackson's Bad)—to do so, and Perry became the first female in history to achieve this milestone. She embarked on the California Dreams Tour, which grossed nearly $60 million worldwide.[2] Perry re-released the album under the name of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection on March 26, 2012, and the re-release has already spawned the number-one single "Part of Me" and top three single "Wide Awake".
Perry is the only artist to spend over 52 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, and has since extended this to 69 weeks.[3] As of 2012, Perry has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year (Teenage Dream) and Record of the Year ("Firework"). She was named 2011's "Artist of the Year" by MTV.[4] She has sold 37.6 million digital tracks in the United States and 11 million albums worldwide,[5] and sold over 74.6 million digital tracks worldwide.[6] Perry was a guest judge on the seventh series of The X Factor UK and the ninth season of American Idol. She has released fragrances "Purr" and "Meow". She ventured into film, voicing Smurfette in the 2011 film The Smurfs and being spotlighted in the 3D biopic-concert film Katy Perry: Part of Me. Perry was married to British comedian Russell Brand from 2010 to 2012. In 2012, Perry was ranked at number fourteenth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than $11 million. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972),[1] better known by his stage name Eminem (often stylized as EMINƎM) and by his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group, D12, to mainstream recognition. In addition to being a member of D12, Eminem is also one half of the hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, with Royce da 5'9". Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in the world and is the best selling artist of the 2000s.[2] He has been listed and ranked as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines including the Rolling Stone magazine which has ranked him 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[3] The same magazine has declared him The King of Hip Hop.[4] Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has achieved ten number-one albums on the Billboard 200. He has sold more than 42 million tracks and 41.5 million albums in the United States,[5] and nearly 90 million albums worldwide.[6]
Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album, The Slim Shady LP. That first album, The Marshall Mathers LP and his third major album, The Eminem Show, all won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs. The Marshall Mathers LP is also considered one of Eminem's best and most successful albums. Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first album since 2004's Encore, titled Relapse, on May 15, 2009. In 2010, Eminem released his seventh studio album Recovery, which was an international success. Recovery was also named the best selling album worldwide of 2010 joining The Eminem Show, which was the best seller of 2002. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both Relapse and Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. Eminem has named Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane, Newcleus, the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, AZ, Nas, and Ice-T amongst others as his influences.
Eminem has opened other ventures since the beginning of his success. He founded his own record label, Shady Records with his manager Paul Rosenberg. He also has his own radio channel, Shade 45. Eminem began an acting career in 2002, when he starred in the hip hop drama film 8 Mile. Consequently, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award.[7] He is also set to star in the 2013 films Shady Talez and Have Gun, Will Travel. He has made cameo appearances in The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009) and the television series Entourage. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.
Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" featuring Static Major. It also includes the singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" featuring T-Pain and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
Lil Wayne released his debut rock album, Rebirth, in 2010 to primarily negative reception from critics. The album eventually went gold. In March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month prison sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. While in prison he released another album entitled I Am Not a Human Being in September 2010, featuring Young Money artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Twist. His ninth studio album and first since being released from prison, Tha Carter IV, was released on August 29, 2011.[2] The album includes the songs "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz, "How to Love" and "She Will" featuring Drake. It sold 964,000 copies in the U.S. its first week out. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Avril Ramona Lavigne (born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million. In 2002, when she was 17 years old, Lavigne broke onto the music scene with her debut album Let Go.
Let Go made Lavigne the youngest female soloist to reach No. 1 in the UK, and the album was certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. By 2009, over 16 million copies had been sold worldwide. Her breakthrough single, "Complicated", peaked at No. 1 in many countries around the world, as did the album Let Go. Her second album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004 and was her first album to peak at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, eventually selling more than 10 million copies worldwide.The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne's third album, was released in 2007, becoming her third No. 1 album in the UK Albums Chart and featuring her first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, "Girlfriend". Lavigne has scored six number-one singles worldwide, including "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm with You", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home", and "Girlfriend". With more than 30 million copies of her albums sold worldwide, Lavigne is one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the U.S., with over 10.25 million copies certified by the RIAA. Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, was released in March 2011. Goodbye Lullaby gave Lavigne her fourth top 10 album on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart and her third No. 1 album in both Japan and Australia. Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne began work on her fifth album, which will be released on Epic Records following her departure from RCA Records.
Lavigne branched out from recording music, pursuing careers in feature film acting and designing clothes and perfumes. She voiced a character in the animated film, Over the Hedge, in 2006. That same year, she made her on-screen feature film debut in Fast Food Nation. In 2008, Lavigne introduced her clothing line, Abbey Dawn, and in 2009, she released her first perfume, Black Star, which was followed by her second perfume, Forbidden Rose, in 2010 and her third perfume, Wild Rose, in 2011. In July 2006, Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for Sum 41. The marriage lasted a little over three years, and in October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce. Whibley and Lavigne continued to work together, with Whibley producing her fourth album, as well as Lavigne's single, "Alice", written for Tim Burton's film Alice in Wonderland. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.[1] Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records.[2] He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 201. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her second studio album, Folklore, was released. It was less commercially successful in the US but produced three international singles: "Powerless (Say What You Want)", "Try", and "Força" (the theme of the 2004 European Football Championship). Her third studio album, Loose was her biggest success worldwide. It produced the number-one hits "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". After a three-year break, she released her first full-length Spanish album, Mi Plan in September 2009. For Mi Plan, Furtado received the Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. Furtado's fourth English-language studio album, The Spirit Indestructible, is set for release on September 11, 2012. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Enrique Iglesias (born Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler; May 8, 1975) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and occasional actor, popular in both the Latin market and the Hispanic American market in the United States. He is the son of the famous Spanish singer Julio Iglesias. Within five years of beginning his musical career in the 1990s, he became the biggest seller of Spanish-language albums of that decade. He made his crossover into the mainstream English language market before the turn of the millennium, signing a multi-album deal with Universal Music Group for an unprecedented US$50,000,000 with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope to release English albums. In 2010, he parted with Interscope and signed with another Universal Music Group label, Universal Republic.
Iglesias has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling Spanish language artists of all time.[1] He has had five Billboard Hot 100 top five singles, including two number-ones, and holds the record for producing 22 number-one Spanish-language singles on the Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks.[2] He has also had ten number-one songs on Billboard's Dance charts, more than any other single male artist. Altogether, Iglesias has amassed 68 number-one songs on the various Billboard charts.[3] Billboard has called him The King of Latin Pop and The King of Dance. Billboard also named Enrique the number two Latin artist of the years 1986–2011 (Luis Miguel taking the first spot). ((bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Sean Kingston (born Kisean Anderson; February 3, 1990) is a Jamaican-American singer. He pursued a music career and debuted in 2007 with the album Sean Kingston. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
Sean Kingston has since become an overnight rap sensation throughout the world. Much has happened since the now 19-year-old emerged in July 2007. "Beautiful Girls" made history as one of the fastest ascents up the charts ever. Following that, the singer/rapper scored three more top ten hits including "Me Love," "Take You There" and "There's Nothin'." He has sold more than six million digital singles, more than 4.5 million ringtones and has toured with artists like Gwen Stefani and Chris Brown. His self-titled debut Sean Kingston went to #1 in 21 countries and sold over 1 million worldwide. "Take You There" and "Love Like This" climbed the radio and iTunes charts together giving him back-to-back hits in January. With a musical bloodline that includes Jamaican legendary producer Jack Ruby as his grandfather, it's no wonder Sean, who finished up his sophomore album recently, Tomorrow, for Epic Records, was able to introduce a new genre where rap, reggae, pop, doo-wop and remarkable songwriting all combine into something totally refreshing.
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American Grammy Award winning hip hop artist, entrepreneur and occasional actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album Country Grammar, the title track of which was a top ten hit. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and went on to peak at number one. Country Grammar is Nelly's best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States.[2] His following album, Nellyville, produced the number-one hits "Hot in Herre" and "Dilemma" (featuring Kelly Rowland). Other singles included "Work It" (featuring Justin Timberlake), "Air Force Ones" (featuring Murphy Lee and St. Lunatics), "Pimp Juice" and "#1".
With the same-day dual release Sweat and Suit (2004) and the compilation Sweatsuit (2006), Nelly continued to generate many chart-topping hits. Sweat debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 342,000 copies in its first week. On the same week of release, Suit debuted at number one selling around 396,000 copies in its first week on the same chart. Nelly's fifth studio album, Brass Knuckles, was released on September 16, 2008 after several delays. It produced the singles "Party People" (featuring Fergie), "Stepped on My J'z" (featuring Jermaine Dupri and Ciara) and "Body on Me" (featuring Akon and Ashanti). In 2010, Nelly released the album 5.0. The lead single, "Just a Dream", has appeared in the top ten of several singles charts and were certified platinum in the United States. The second single is "Move That Body" (featuring T-Pain and Akon). "Gone" is the sequel to Nelly's 2002 worldwide number one single "Dilemma", also with Rowland, and serves as third single from Nelly's album.
He won Grammy Awards in 2003 and 2004 and had a supporting role in the 2005 remake film The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. He has two clothing lines, Vokal and Apple Bottoms. He has been referred to by Peter Shapiro as "one of the biggest stars of the new millennium",[3] and the RIAA ranks Nelly as one of the best-selling male artists in American music history,[4] with 21 million albums sold in the United States. On December 11, 2009, Billboard ranked Nelly the number three Top Artist of the Decade. (bio compliments of Wikipedia)
It's A Secret Society...All We Have Is Trust!


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Home › Academics › Office of the Provost › Internationalization Initiative › Visiting Scholars and Researchers › Process for inviting a Visiting Scholar
The following outlines the steps for inviting a Visiting Scholar to TU. These steps are further explained in the Visiting Scholars form, which must be completed by the hosting faculty member in advance of the scholar's arrival on campus
Inquiry: A Scholar may contact a TU department to express interest in a visiting scholar appointment. Such requests are typically initiated when the Scholar is applying for a scholarship, fellowship, or similar award for support of his or her research. In such cases, a TU faculty member must agree to host the Scholar. The sponsoring faculty may issue a letter of invitation sufficient for a Scholars' application for an external award, but he or she must first consult with his or her dean. The sponsoring faculty may make no commitments of TU resources without express approval by the appropriate dean.
Invitation: All Visiting Scholars will receive a zero-pay contract, initiated by the invitation of the appropriate College Dean. Only Visiting Scholars issued a zero-pay contract by the appropriate dean will receive a TU ID, email address, and otherwise have official status with the university during their period of stay. The zero-pay contract will outline the terms of the Visiting Scholars appointment and any associated campus privileges.
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs: If the Visiting Scholar receives funding from an externally funded grant and/or is an international scholar, the responsible TU faculty member should notify the Office of Research and Sponsored Research.
Graduate School: If the Visiting Scholar will require access to classes for credit or auditing, the hosting faculty will be required to obtain permission from the Graduate School or Law School. International Student Services: If the Visiting Scholar is not a US-citizen, the hosting faculty member must notify the Office of International Student Services in order that to request the documents required for the Visiting Scholar to apply for a visa.
Housing: In most cases, the Visiting Scholar has responsibilities for his or her housing, although the department may provide assistance with locating appropriate accommodations. Given the demands for on-campus housing, Visiting Scholars should not assume that they will be able to secure an apartment or other accommodation on campus.

subset: commoncrawl


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Challenges and Solutions for Global Economic Sanctions Compliance
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Executive Summary
Off late greater international pressure is being placed on financial institutions to block terrorist financing. As a result, sanctions compliance programs are being scrutinized by regulators like never before. Clearly, many financial institutions are grappling with the complexities of overlapping sanctions regimes, as well as the realization that sanctions compliance is not a "Check-the-box" exercise. These complexities create numerous possibilities for error. Compliance programs must be comprehensive, sustainable and, above all, secure against the individuals and organizations that would seek to engage in money laundering, drug trafficking, terrorist financing or transactions that violate applicable sanctions. Ensuring full compliance in a cost-effective manner has evolved into a business imperative.
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More Hollywood Break Ups
A couple of big Hollywood break ups today.
A couple of big Hollywood break ups today.
You'd think with all of their money, they'd be a little bit more generous, right? I'm talking about celebrities, but unfortunately, some of them are pretty stingy when it comes to tipping!
It is no secret that Hollywood favors the young and beautiful but should a female actor earn less per role once she passes her prime?
USA Today reported a study conducted by the Journal of Management Inquiry stating an actress sees an increase in her salary throughout her twenties but drops rapidly once she reaches 34 while a male actor reaches his prime at 51 but there is no sign of a decreasing salary with age. The study examined 265 actors and actresses from 1968 through 2008.
It is no secret that Hollywood portray
"American Hustle" and "Gravity" leads the pack this year with ten nominations followed by "12 Years A Slave" with nine. The biggest surprise is Scorsce's "The Wolf of Wall Street", with nominations in the following categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), and Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill)
On Monday, the star of Disney Channel's "The Famous Jett Jackson" was found dead in his home to a gunshot wound, and police believe that it was self-inflicted.
A group called Sneaky Zebra decided to use the power of Hollywood and take props from some of the most recognizable movies and have a little fun.
It seems almost normal now to find out that a celebrity, more frequently musicians, owe the government money.
This year the list included names like Lindsay Lohan, Lionel Richie and most recently, Nas


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Although Allott lost his Senate seat in 1972 to liberal Democrat Floyd Haskell, Weyrich was rolling. He darted around Capitol Hill like a hummingbird, working out of the office of conservative Nebraska senator Carl Curtis, even commandeering then-vice president Spiro Agnew's digs for late-night political organizing and campaign fundraising. Weyrich persuaded Joe Coors to start spending money in D.C. After a couple of abortive attempts, they established a think tank called the Heritage Foundation, along with what later was known as the Free Congress Foundation. In a 1975 Washington Post series on Joe Coors's growing political clout in Washington, Weyrich strongly denied that Coors ran the Heritage Foundation, but he did admit that when the organization first got started, its internal correspondence was bundled up at the end of each day and sent to Coors in Golden. (Joe's son Jeff serves on the board of the Free Congress Foundation. Another son, Grover, is on the Heritage board, but Weyrich is no longer officially connected with that foundation.)
Together Coors and Weyrich also set up Television News Inc. to counter what they saw as the national networks' liberal bias. But TVN, the CNN of its day, was too far ahead of its time. Facing the difficulties and expense of transmission before the days of satellites, the network lasted only a few years and never went national. When TVN officials tried to convince Joe Coors to hang on because advanced technology was right around the corner, the brewer thought it sounded too much like "Buck Rogers," Weyrich recalls.
But if TVN was a failure, there were many successes. Other conservative millionaires, such as Gulf Oil heir Richard Mellon Scaife, had begun supporting Weyrich's projects. Fellow conservative Richard Viguerie brought his direct-mail genius to bear on Washington, resulting in a plethora of organizations and sophisticated mailing lists of contributors. Weyrich set up regular study groups for conservative members of the House and Senate, stoking young firebrands like Representative Bill Armstrong (later a Colorado senator and progenitor of Amendment 2, and currently a Free Congress boardmember). In March 1975, Armstrong and others received special permission to use an hour on the House floor to discuss an alternative federal budget proposed by Heritage staffers. Liberals had spent decades building up their own network of foundations, think tanks and academicians. Weyrich simply borrowed these techniques.
"I always look at what the enemy is doing and, if they're winning, copy it," he said at the time. "You know, conservatives are notoriously difficult to organize." So he backed up his words with action, helping to set up such groups as the Council for National Policy, Coalitions for America, the International Policy Forum, the National Council for Democracy and the American Legislative Exchange Council, each of which issued reports, held conferences and attracted young zealots from college campuses to the Capitol.
They weren't like the student leftists. They were young men in suits who hung out on the Hill. "We are different from previous generations of conservatives," Weyrich declared. "We are no longer working to preserve the status quo. We are radicals, working to overturn the present power structure of this country."
Observers labeled them the "New Right."
That was fine with Weyrich. The "old right" believed in the idea of "live and let live," he wrote, but that idea "is not reflective of Christian social teachings. A common assumption of New Right activists is that government should support certain moral truths...It is basic to my philosophy that God's truth ought to be manifest politically." Weyrich's Christian soldiers were on the march by the late Seventies. While evangelicals stewed over Brother Jimmy Carter's liberal heresies, Weyrich, Viguerie and their allies mounted a campaign to get conservative preachers such as Jerry Falwell into national politics.
One day in 1979 Falwell sent his plane to fetch Weyrich and other conservative activists for a meeting. As they waited for one more expected guest, Weyrich recalls, he laid out his pitch to Falwell: "I said, `Well, there's a majority that believes in traditional values, what you might call a moral majority.' And I went on and Falwell says, `Stop, stop, go back. What was it you said?' I said, `Moral majority.' He turned to his assistant and said, `That's it. That's what we'll call it.'"
The Moral Majority exploded on the scene. During the Reagan years, the Heritage Foundation and all the other conservative organizations Weyrich had helped to create gained access to power. Young, Weyrich-trained congressmen climbed into prominence--Dan Quayle among them. By the late Eighties the Heritage Foundation was a respected institution, albeit one with a distinct rightward tilt. Newly elected conservatives in Congress attended Weyrich's training sessions on how D.C. works. (They still do.) After Mikhail Gorbachev loosened the Soviet Union's reins, Weyrich conducted seminars in Eastern Europe for budding Soviet democrats--that's with a small "d". Weyrich's own beliefs became even more conservative. In 1990 he was ordained a deacon in the Melkite version of Catholicism, which follows Eastern Orthodox rites but still recognizes the Pope as its leader. Some evangelical Protestants--especially those who think the New World Order is a papal plot--are wary of Weyrich and other Catholic conservatives, including Pat Buchanan and William Bennett. But Weyrich himself takes a broader view of the political coalition between conservatives of all faiths.


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Three advocates make the case for Sound Transit expansion
Editor's Note: The authors are writing on behalf of Mass Transit Now, an organization that campaigns in favor of Proposition 1.
In nearly every poll, voters cite transportation as the region's biggest headache. The problems are many, and the solutions are hard to make reality. But this November, residents in Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties will decide on Proposition 1, a mass transit measure that will deliver real results to all of us affected by crowded buses, worsening traffic congestion, and high gas prices. Proposition 1 fulfills the goal of an integrated and regional mass transit system — and at a price that represents a true value for our investment. Instead of waiting idly (usually in traffic) for our transportation headache to fix itself, this package delivers: more buses, 36 new miles of light rail, and expanded Sounder commuter rail.
As Sound Transit board members from Snohomish County, we examined this measure very carefully, weighing its costs and benefits to decide whether this was the right proposal at the right time. We are convinced that Proposition 1 answers the regional transit challenges that lie ahead, but we did not come to our decision on blind faith. Instead, after much work to develop a truly regional transit package and with a careful review of the skeptics' claims, we became committed supporters of Proposition 1. Our story of how we got to "yes" is relevant to voters now taking a look at what's on the November ballot.
First: Building the regional light rail "spine." Next year, the region's first light rail line will open from Seattle to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. You can see the newly constructed guide-ways the next time you're stuck in traffic getting to the airport. To us, this is what the future of transportation looks like. Proposition 1 would expand light rail's "spine" to Bellevue and Redmond to the east, to Federal Way in the south, and Northgate and Lynnwood to the north. We fought hard to extend this line to Snohomish County, and it was critical in securing our support for the package. We strongly believe that light rail has obvious long-term benefits over buses. Light rail won't get caught in traffic because it operates in its own right-of-way; it encourages growth and compact communities; and it's cheaper to operate, with greater passenger capacity. When it's completed, the Sound Transit light rail network can carry one million passengers daily. And light rail trumps even buses when it comes to curbing greenhouse gases.
Second: Addressing the need for increased bus service. We know that the Sound Transit light rail spine is only as good as the regional bus networks that support it. As board members, it was critical that the Proposition 1 package addressed the increased demand for bus service. The package will immediately expand express bus service on overcrowded corridors, including Interstate 5, Interstate 405, and State Route 520. While we wait for the benefits of light rail to reach Snohomish County, our citizens will be served by a 30 percent boost in express-bus capacity, including a new shuttle service that will connect the aerospace industry to the light rail spine. Proposition 1 front-loads the express bus expansions of the entire system immediately.
Instead of being spread out over several years, Sound Transit will add 100,000 hours of new bus service next year — an overall increase of 17 percent that will help people get around the region faster, now.
Third: Continue improvements to Sounder commuter rail. It's hard to overstate the popularity of commuter rail. In July, Sounder ridership was up a whopping 38 percent from a year earlier, in part because Sounder opened a new station in Mukilteo. These numbers re-enforce the adage: If you build it, they will come. Proposition 1 adds four new round trips a day from Seattle to Tacoma while expanding and improving Sounder commuter rail stations at Edmonds and Mukilteo. This increases passenger capacity by 65 percent to meet strong rider demand in the corridor, providing reliable and congestion-free travel rather than letting population growth continue to worsen roadway congestion.
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Posted Mon, Sep 29, 7:12 a.m.
Sound Transit's plan does not reduce congestion -
In fact congestion gets much worse.
According to Sound Transit's long range plan,and studies by the Puget Sound Regional Council, daily delay on the freeway will more than double under Sound Transit's current plans.
Delay on our local streets will almost quadruple.
Fact of the Day just issued by Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives (CETA)
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 7:36 a.m.
People who present "facts" like this ought to be thinking beyond the campaign and wondering whether their sidestepping might interfere with their long term credibility.
There is no credible transit alternative to Prop. 1 that has even a sliver of the support necessary to make it happen. People have been promoting bus based alternatives for over 20 years and have made next to no progress in building the necessary support. Maybe it is because the stuff they produce at campaign time seriously undermines their credibility.
Should we wait some more years relying on the campaign time hucksterism of the light rail foes, or move forward with a credible plan that will provide people with more transit sooner?
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 8:30 a.m.
Taxpayers will surely add up:
-all of the existing taxes that they are paying currently (Transit Now, Sound Transit, etc, etc), and
-add in what is being proposed (in Seattle- Parks, ST2-Prop1),
-costs that will surely rise this winter (utilities, oil heating for homes, food, possibly gas prices),
-costs for other programs that will likely go up (education- K through 12), and
-higher ed. for their college students,
-costs for taking care of their parents and themselves in retirement, i.e. medical, and
-will conclude that in the current economic climate (stock market tanking, Washington Mutual ceasing to exist- wiping out people's LIFE SAVINGS) that
It's just NOT THE TIME for HUGE ASKS.
The electeds need to wake up.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 9:15 a.m.
- It is perfectly legal for these politicians to lie about what this ballot measure would cost.
- It is perfectly legal for these politicians to lie about what this ballot measure would be deliver in terms of train service, and when.
Lying about upcoming ballot measures like this one is just free speech. These politicians could not care less whether they are lying: there is no downside for them if what they say here doesn't play out in the way they've described.
This new ST measure puts taxpaying people on the hook for all cost overruns. It calls for unlimited billions of dollars of sales tax collections, which is nothing short of an immoral way to structure a commuter train financing scheme.
ST is run by political appointees only. Giving political appointees blank-check taxing and spending rights for the next three decades would be the very definition of stupidity. Talk about the wrong incentive structure . . . it's a lock nothing would come in on time or within these exceedingly soft budgets the politicians are dangling before voters at this time.
Over the past twelve years all ST has done (time and time again) is fail to meet the expectations of those it suckered into voting for the 1996 ballot measure. The LAST thing our community needs to do is reward this unaccountable government that's shown it can't deliver what a trusting and gullible public mistakenly believed it was being promised.
If the elected and accountable legislators thought this was a good idea, they'd have taken charge of the taxing and spending for this train line decades ago. Now they're just keeping their heads down, trying not to be asked whether their constituents should vote for this particular measure.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 9:28 a.m.
Ah, the song of the no campaign. When is the time? 20 years ago? Last year? Never?
You mention gas prices. What will you do when gas prices are really unaffordable? Will it be time then? Oh wait, it takes years to build a rail system. Maybe it would be time 10 years before then. But when is that?
I'll happily pay $69 a year to give me gas-free options. I think the rest of the voters will too.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 10:26 a.m.
Cost per mile of light rail. In Prop 1 the construction cost of the 34 miles of light rail extension is estimated at $11.8 bllion. That is about $347 million per mile of light rail. In Portland, the 2004 light rail extension cost about $60 million per mile, most of which was paid by the federal government. The cost to local taxpayers in Portland was about $16 million per mile, or less than ONE-TWENTIETH of what light rail in Prop 1 will cost. How is the light rail in Prop 1 a "good value"?
Cost per new transit trip. Prop 1 will raise the sales tax in three counties by 0.5 percentage points. Sound Transit expects that if Prop 1 passes, it will result in a net gain of about 62, 000 new transit trips by 2030. In 2006, Transit Now passed, which was a 0.1 percentage point increase in the sales tax in King County alone to increase Metro bus service. Metro expects Transit Now to result in a net gain of 50,000 to 60,000 new transit trips by 2016. So Prop 1 will provide about the same number of new transit trips as Transit Now, but the sales tax increase in Prop 1 is FIVE TIMES AS HIGH as the sales tax increase in Transit Now. How is this "good value"?
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 11:46 a.m.
Very often, small things reveal greater, more profound truths. So it is in (a recent edition of The Times ) with a tiny snippet buried on page B3 recounting how Sound Transit's Web site crashed for several hours over the weekend because the agency had allowed its domain name registration to expire.
An agency spokesman, per the scant inches of insight, revealed that, "He didn't have an answer as to why the agency didn't figure that out on its own..."
And we're being asked on November's ballot to fork over $18 billion to an outfit that can't send a $10 check to cover a routine expense? Figure that out.
Lucky for Sound Transit that some wag didn't catch on, cop the domain name by sending in his own check, then create a Web site filled with mischief and Lord knows what else. But that would have been wrong - very wrong.
Yet the greater meaning remains: If Sound Transit cannot be trusted with the smallest of details, why should it be trusted with $18 billion of our money? Its checkered track record of honoring such trust speaks for itself - this most recent flub is but sour icing on a bitter cake.
Not today, not now, not tomorrow...not ever!
The Piper
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 11:58 a.m.
How about because it's on time and under budget for the last project we voted for?
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 12:18 p.m.
Will you happily believe that you'll spend only $69 a year on "gas-free" options?
Will you happily believe that Sound Transit has not mislead you about its projected costs?
Will you happily fork over $2700 to everyone in your family for a Wall Street bailout so that you have -- what is not exactly clear? -- and not see any similarity to your commitment to subsidizing Sound Transit's continuous failure?
Will you happily let Sound Transit Tax you for 30, 40, 50 years without any accountability?
Will you waste your family's resources and your children's future, so that they can ride a train?
Will you happily point back to Sound Transit's broken promises in the future when new non-gas energy resources come on line over the coming decades and non-polluting electric cars integrated with future technology make light rail the boondoggle steam engine of the past, and you're still paying your historical "gas-free options" tax to an irresponsible, unaccountable money-burning self-justifying taxing entity that's main capability is creating ballots that cheat taxpayers out of their money?
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 12:33 p.m.
Oh, and don't fool yourself with magical future technologies or electric cars. It's far more expensive to build highways than rail.
Even if you won't ever ride Link, the fact that someone else rides Link will make your commute better.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 2:52 p.m.
The sky is not the limit with taxes, either.
For every tax we institute, there is a worthy program that we will not have the funds for.
Let's think very carefully about which taxes we can afford, and which are bloated. Let's not tax people out of their homes.
Especially now, with retirees (and most everyone else) seeing their stock portfolios significantly diminished, the price of gas, food, utilities going up, up, up- there are less expensive ways to move people and goods in the Puget Sound region that address mobility, relieve congestion and won't break the proverbial (taxpayer) bank.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:22 p.m.
Lincoln, like most rail critics, you mangled the facts to reach that conclusion.
First off, Metro leverages a .9ths sales tax. They used existing ridership growth to make up those Transit Now ridership figures.
Secondly, the ridership guesstimates employed by Metro are about as reliable as the cooked-up figures the monorail people employed. No standard methodology was used. But the local media took Metro's propaganda hook, line and sinker - without even asking how they came up with the numbers.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:32 p.m.
RE: There is a Finite Amount of Tax the Public Can Bear: Please list these wonderfully cheap alternatives. Long-term, nothing beats rail even ignoring gas prices. Short-term, gas prices will become a very large concern that will hit not only car commuters but also buses.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:38 p.m.
Let me offer a few counter-points for us average Joes to ponder.
A spine sounds great, but is still only 34 stops in the whole region when done. You'll still have to figure out the bus system to access the spine in order to use light rail, or hope one of the few park and ride slots is still open. Some redevelopment will occur, but don't expect a huge density makeovers any time soon.
Light rail in exclusive ROW doesn't get stuck in traffic. However, neither do buses in exclusive ROW. That's a false argument. BUT, building a light rail spine that cost the equivalent of a new Qwest Field for every mile along the route sure makes you wonder how much exclusive bus lanes would cost.
Capacity for all rail is not larger than buses. 4 car trains with 137 people in each car, most of whom have to stand the entire trip, crossing Lake Washington every 9 minutes (ST estimate on startup), is less than 3700 riders per hour. Similar jam-packed buses, with a lot fewer standees, traveling along the same ROW at one-minute intervals could carry about 4800 riders (60x80), with room left on the HOV 3+ lane for 2000 Prius's, carrying another 6000 or more riders.
Speaking of greenhouse gas, LRT construction generates huge volumes of CO2, which will likely not be recovered for generations (ST study). A Prius generates less CO2 than the average rail trainset (USEPA), considering the average mix of power generation from hydro and fossil fuels. We just happen to tap the hydro side of the grid, but the pollution free electrons could just as happily go south or east.
The article touts the 'front loading' the plan with 100,000 hours of new buses. A start, but in the big scheme of things, a drop in the bucket over what is currently provided region wide. A 1-2% increase in bus hours, when buses are jammed packed today is not much help, especially when ST taxes are doubled for the next 30-50 years.
I'm voting to keep my dollars - what's left of them!
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:46 p.m.
With the exception of Darnell Coles / Digg Newsvine. He's still smarting from defending the monorail authority's insane finance plans - and their attempt to sell bonds before the public caught on to the scary details involved with selling junk bonds. (see: Las Vegas monorail for how we dodged a bullet there).
Niles hides behind CETA, and keeps this shell organization alive for one reason: it helps him hide the fact he's working for two local right wing think tanks, and a certain shopping mall owner / Interstate Era dinosaur from Bellevue.
John Niles likes to pretend he's a BRT advocate, but the guy never lifts a finger to get more bus service on the road. In fact, half of the guys Niles works with have actively sought to fight new Metro bus service expansion - they have also sponsored and supported statewide initiatives and bills which would have diverted existing locally-passed transit dollars into freeways.
Transit fact of the day: what a joke.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:49 p.m.
Metro collects 9/10s of 1 cent today in sales tax. It carries 400,000 riders a day. It's nearly broke, suffering under declining tax collections and escalating fuel prices. It's not on a financially sustainable path.
Under the new plan, ST would collect 9/10s for 25-30 years, roll back 5/10s to the current 4/10s when construction is complete. The result: the ability to sustain operation of a 55-mile, hydropowered rail system with capacity to carry over a million daily riders -- at less than half the tax load Metro collects today.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:53 p.m.
A few wonderfully cheap alternatives: car pool; van pool; work from home (telecommute); 4-day work weeks.
All of these wonderfully cheap alternatives reduce traffic congestion, reduce gas consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and SAVE COMMUTERS MONEY! None of these require tax increases! Every one of these in the long term beats rail hands down in terms of cost to taxpayers, which is ZERO with these alternatives.
You could also ride your bike, walk, or take the bus.
In the short term, high gas prices will persuade many people to car pool, van pool, work from home, ride their bike, etc. In the first half of this year, vehicle miles traveled in WA state FELL by almost SEVEN PERCENT! At ZERO cost to taxpayers. According to Sound Transit's own study, Prop 1 will reduce vehicle miles traveled in 2030 by less than one percent!
Prop 1 is an obscene waste of tax dollars.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 4:19 p.m.
Telecommute: Nice work if you can get it.
4-day work week: See telecommute. Plus you're only saving one trip a week.
Ride bike, walk: Wonderful! But I'm not quite sure how many will really be able to walk instead of use Link. We're talking about a regional transit system here.
Bus: Operational costs make this much more expensive over time.
Yes, people started taking the bus when gas prices went up. But our bus system is at capacity, costs far more than rail, and is sensitive to gas prices.
Your "solutions" are penny wise and pound foolish.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 4:28 p.m.
// Similar jam-packed buses, with a lot fewer standees, traveling along the same ROW at one-minute intervals// means you are completely maxed-out, pay millions of dollars more per year for drivers and maintenance, and will very soon have to build more lanes across the bridge. Sounds like a good deal to me [sarcasm]. Plus that's just the wide-open freeway. Just wait until you have to cram all of those busses into on-ramps and off-ramps.
// A Prius generates less CO2 than the average rail trainset// You're proud that a 4-person Prius has the same emissions as a whole train?
//1-2% increase in bus hours// is a lie. It's 17% - a number widely published.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 5:53 p.m.
1. Where did I suggest you add a lane everywhere? The 405 study added all new overpasses, several lanes, and on and on. We have a lot of lanes that could be more functional for buses with flyovers, and special access ramps, like extending the E-3 busway further south.
2. Buses on I-90 1 minute apart is far from the minimum spacing METRO requires of its drivers of 6 seconds apart. That's a lot of growth. LRT trains would be limited to 4 minutes apart - forever.
3. CO2 emmisions were 'implied' to be on a 'per passenger mile basis'. Not a car against a train. Sorry I didn't spell that out for ya.
4. The dreaded math problem! Divide 100,000 hours by 7 Mil. bus hours in the reqion is 1.4%. Not 17%. I'm counting all the bus hours, not just ST's measly 20 routes.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 6:23 p.m.
What a foolish comment. If someone forms a carpool or vanpool it does not cost ME a dime. The people who use the car or van pool pay for it themselves. We don't have to raise the sales tax a bit to increase car or van pools. That is just a stupid comment. I'm concerned about how much it costs TAXPAYERs. I don't care how much people spend on their own transportation.
How much do you think it would cost people to use light rail every day, if the commuters had to pay the full cost of their ride, and there was no public subsidy? The only people who save money with light rail are the couple percent of the population who might actually use it. The vast majority of us will never use light rail, so we will continue to pay for our own transportation, plus we will have to pay a huge sales tax increase to susbidze the very small percentage of the public who will use the light rail.
"4-day work week: See telecommute. Plus you're only saving one trip a week." Only one day per week?? That's a reduction in miles traveled of 20%!! Prop 1 will only reduce vehicle miles traveled by less than one percent. Talk about a meaningless reduction.
My solutions are far wiser than Prop 1. My solutions don't cost taxpayers a dime. Prop 1 costs taxpayers an extra 0.5% sales tax for as long as ST wants to keep collecting it. Prop 1 does absolutely ZERO for me, except raise my taxes.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 7:43 p.m.
My question is: at the expense of what? There are numerous good projects or programs that demand attention in our region:
Expanded technology in schools,
funded kindergarten,
better pay for teachers,
better school infrastructure,
more and better parks,
trails and paths,
expanded and supported library system,
new or upgraded hospitals in some areas,
more police or fire department positions,
earthquake retrofitting,
repaired or replaced bridges,
expanded water supply,
support for higher education,
senior services,
teen programs,
Puget Sound cleanup,
support for streams, fish & open space,
better Port security (Homeland)
etc., etc., etc......
Just like in family budgets, there is only so much money to go around. This is a very different economy (and a much more serious economic discussion) than even last November (2007) when the voters voted against Sound Transit's Prop 1, which was asking for the SAME taxing authority.
It's a valid question to ask: if we spend our tax dollars on light rail,in this worsened economic climate, what would funding light rail displace?
Because individually, people are hurting, and as a region, there are going to be a long list of "wants" on the wish-list that cities, counties, and agencies are likely not going to be able to afford, because their constituents just can't.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 8:30 p.m.
Metro has been operating buses for many years. Metro carries about 400,000 riders per day now. Transit now will increase Metros capacity by about 20%, so an estimate of 50,000 to 60,000 new transit trips per day from Transit Now is conservative.
On the other hand, Sound Transit has not carried one passenger yet on the first segment of light rail (which was supposed to be operating in 2006). So any ridership estimate ST makes is nothing but a guess.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 8:50 p.m.
The CAPACITY of Metro buses is several times the actual ridership. The CAPACITY of Metro is probably several million daily riders. Madison does not bother to provide the CAPACITY of Metro, because he does not want to compare apples to apples.
Nor does Madison give the actual RIDERSHIP of ST light rail, because ST has not operated a single train on the first light rail segment with any passengers so far, although it was supposed to start carrying riders in 2006.
However, ST estimates actually ridership on ST light rail to be about 280,000 per day in 2030 if Prop 1 passes. This is 120,000 riders per day less than Metro buses are carrying right now!
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 11:36 p.m.
Look, the world will run out of oil. American supply has already peaked and we are becoming increasingly dependent on foreign sources such as Iraq. We are stuck in traffic, polluting the air we breath, and there is a very likely chance that our carbon emissions are a major cause of global climate change. There have even been studies that link auto-dependent lifestyles with obesity. Why are we doing this to ourselves?
If we seriously want to stand up to the dominance of the auto-centric lifestyle that is wreaking havoc on our Earth, health, and built environment, we need to make serious investments in alternative methods of transportation. We need real mass transit that gives us the choice to leave the car at home.
The alternative? Spending how many billions of dollars on more polluting, sprawl-inducing freeways with the false promise of congestion relief? Saying it's too expensive and waiting for construction prices to go up before starting? No thanks.
Even if you don't believe global warming is real and you fancy that peak oil is far in the future look at these studies-
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 11:37 p.m.
Cars and obesity
I mean really, why on earth would we want to put ourselves in such a precarious position where we are so dependent on one dangerous product? An average of 114 people die in car crashes EVERY DAY in our United States. Cars are the number 1 cause of death among teens. We give them no other option to get around. What are we thinking?
This generation might not get it, but we don't need cars for the vast majority of where we go each day. In fact, we can lead healthier lives without them. This proposal is for the generation that understands that, and will build their cities around that lifestyle.
We don't need to re-invent the proverbial wheel. Rail is a proven technology, has been well-planned for and should be implemented as soon as possible here. Why are we talking about Van Pools? If people liked and wanted to use Van Pools they would! The vast majority of people obviously have no need for them. If they work fine for you, great! It's not a service that works for most of us.
No, Prop 1 doesn't spread light rail everywhere, but it does a darn good job of boosting regional mass transit mobility. Every journey must be taken one step at a time.
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 11:40 p.m.
Matt's probably realized that he has better things to do than argue. But since I don't, I'll jump in.
1) Where, specifically, do you propose adding bus lanes? Will these lanes still be protected if I-985 passes? How much will it cost? How fast will the buses run? How much will it cost to operate? If you're proposing an alternate plan, you need details.
2) Buses might be able to run 6 seconds apart in a lane, but they can't stop 6 seconds apart. If I-90 were the only bottleneck and there were easy access to it from lots of places that could load passengers separately (given that buses load much more slowly than trains), this might be a valid comparison. But we don't have that infrastructure today -- buses will just get stuck in traffic getting onto I-90.
3) That's not including the carbon emitted manufacturing the Prius, nor does it account for the carbon used providing roads, parking, etc. for the Prius. Nor does it account for the tendancy of rail to help build clustered communities, wherein all trips are shorter. Passenger-miles are not the key statistic here -- holisitic energy use is.
4) But why are you considering all the bus miles in the region? Do you propose that ST should be responsible for all buses in the region?
Posted Tue, Sep 30, 8:28 a.m.
Two things: cars, oil.
Can we afford business as usual?
Posted Tue, Sep 30, 10:48 p.m.
Did you to know that the exact same thing happened to Microsoft back when it's stock price was doubling every year? And that amazon.com went completely dark a few months ago? No, you probably didn't.
David, Chuck - aren't you guys just a little embarassed to see the "Crosscut Writer" logo displayed next to comments like this? You should be.
Posted Wed, Oct 1, 5:09 p.m.
Cheap. Flexible. Integrated.
Here's a video from Streetblogs about Mobilien, the excellent bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Paris that launched in 2004...
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 8:55 a.m.
The fact is that your side constantly tells us that BRT is the solution instead of light rail. 20 years later we're still waiting for a BRT plan to vote on. (crickets) Why hasn't there been a plan? Because when you actually work out the numbers you realize you end up with an inferior system for more money.
Here's a deal for you. I'll vote for any BRT plan your side comes up with. In return, please consider that not voting for Prop 1 will leave us exactly where we started - with roads crowded with cars.
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 10:10 a.m.
1. It's not the amount of taxes you pay, it's what you get for it. Mass transit investments increase property values (something we all generally like) and make it possible to reduce the amount we spend on gas (also nice), and take the edge off our rush hour traffic (something I absolutely love).
2. Public infrastructure investments do more to stimulate economic activity than just about any possible action we could take. Think of the increase in design, planning and construction jobs that will result from this sustained effort.
So we get a good value for our investment and we stimulate our economy. Taxes are an investment, and should be wisely spent. And now, more than ever, we need to make smart investments.
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 2:16 p.m.
Municipal bonds have suddenly become MUCH more expensive.
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 10:24 p.m.
The agency has recently published a 2009 no-new-taxes budget!
It's posted on the Financial Documents page. Click on 2009 Proposed Budget" (7 megabyte PDF).
CEO Joni Earl writes in the cover letter to this budget proposal, "The year 2009 will be one of the most exciting ever for Sound Transit. For the first time, Central Link light rail trains will be in service, carrying passengers from downtown Seattle to Tukwila. By year-end 2009, passengers will be able to ride light rail trains all the way to Sea-Tac Airport."
This document makes clear that Sound Transit does not want or need the Prop 1 taxes to make light rail to the airport a reality. Furthermore, the light rail subway to Husky Stadium with a stop on Capitol Hill will be under construction with an expected Federal grant award of $813 million around the end of this year.
In other agencies funded programs, implementation of King County Metro's RapidRide BRT on five routes, and Community Transit's Swift BRT on SR 99 will proceed without Prop 1. City of Seattle is using its taxes to create some peak-period bus-only lanes on selected arterials, such as 15th in the Interbay.
Thus, the alternative to Prop 1 is to let Sound Transit finish building the Seattle downtown-to-Airport light rail it promised in 1996 to build using the million dollars per day already being collected from tax payers. Some would even say that the agency should build the North Link subway all the way to the Brooklyn station in the U District before getting a doubling of its taxes, but that might be a station too far for the money being collected now. In addition, the Roosevelt Station needs to be included because that is where muck will be removed from the tunnel digging under the UW campus. Those two stations are not funded in the no-new-taxes budget mentioned above, nor is the Sound Move station with a park & ride lot at S 200th. These three stations are now part of the Prop 1 bail out.
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 10:33 p.m.
That would be a fine public service! A municipal finance expert is on the panel.
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 11:05 p.m.
The displacement of cars and oil? Not much. Even when the Prop 1 expansion is complete, Sound Transit's computer modeling shows under 300,000 light rail customers per day in 2030, despite the million per day capacity claimed. This much forecast ridership nets out to 62,000 additional one-way transit trips per day compared to a future without Prop 1. This is not much of a transit surge in that future time when the Puget Sound Regional Council is forecasting about 15 million trips per day in the region across all modes.
By the way, Sound Transit's cost per rider numbers would still be pretty bad even if the trains were to run full. Spending most of $17.9 billion to build tracks and trains and 19 more light RR stations puts the system in a financial hole to begin with if amortizing the capital investment is part of the calculation.
Posted Fri, Oct 3, 8:47 a.m.
RE: The Opportunity Cost of Sound Transit 2: I'm tired of fighting bad data, so I'll stop. But tell us how the other 238,000 people get to work without Prop 1. Is there a secret BRT plan on the ballot that I missed? Or by "transit" are you including cars?
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Hi everyone,
got nothing to do during the Easter holidays ? I don't think so...
The second edition of ____The LAC Times____ is online:
Subjects in this edition:
* A first glimpse of the LAC 2010 programme
* The 150-Years-of-Music-Technology Composition Competition
* A short history of recording sound [part 2]No longer do you need to worry what to do at Easter. Now you'll worry what to do first:
study the programme to decide which day(s) you're gonna visit the Linux Audio Conference,
work on your composition or read Than's second history lesson.Enjoy !
MarcI'll put a printer-friendly version under the News tab of the LAC site soon.
Consortium mailing list
LINUX® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the USA and other countries.
Linuxaudio.org logo copyright Thorsten Wilms © 2006.
Hosting provided by the Virginia Tech Department of Music and DISIS.


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Took the last bus to Cabanatuan from Cubao at around 10pm and started my long journey to Aliaga where the famed ritual of mud people happens every year on the feast of St. John the Baptist. Locals, young and old, would walk around the village clad in dried banana leaves from head to feet and soaked in farm mud, asking people for candles or money to buy them. These candles are lighted in front of the church where a morning mass is held at eight in the morning. Documented the unique and fascinating ritual. Experimented with creative framing on the top and bottom parts.
This photo was shot on film. Taken by lakandula with a Canon A1 x LCA+RL loaded with Agfa CT Precisa 100 (35mm) film (available in our Online Shop) in Muntinlupa City + Bibiclat, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. These tags describe this photo: xpro, frame, experiment, doubles, mud, people, religious, ritual, and st. john the baptist. Date: 2012-06-24. Time: Morning. This photo can also be found in the album Framed Shots Of Mud People Ritual.Please login to get more out of this site
You are currently not logged in, do so now to add comments, like articles as well as photos, submit to competitions, translate articles and gain access to unlimited photo upload! If you are not registered yet, go here to find out more about Lomography and join now! If you just want a limited account for now you can use Twitter or Facebook. We would love to have you as a member here!
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Love to cook, hate to clean, happiest baking with my grandchildren!
scratch cakes, cookies, pasta


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Ms. Bobbie's January Newsletter 2's
Ms. Bobbie's January Newsletter 3's
Ms. Bobbie's January Calendar's2
Ms. Bobbie's January Calendar 3's
Ms. Rachel's January Newsletter 4's
Ms. Rachel's January Calendar 4's
2014-2015 Preschool Handbook 2's
2014-2015 Preschool Handbook 3,4,5's
Preschool Curriculum for 2's
Preschool Curriculum for 3's
Preschool Curriculum for 4's
Annual Pre-school Forms:
2014-2015 Preschool Registration Form
2014-2015 Child's Enrollment Application Form
2014-2015 Immunization History Form
2014-2015 Medication Form
2014-2015 Child's Information Release Form
2014-2015 Liability Release Form
Parent Agreement
Vanderburg United Methodist Preschool
Play is an integral part of our theme-based, teacher-lead program. Our curriculum is child centered and developmentally appropriate. We emphasize hands on, play based learning throughout the classrooms. We encourage growth, as children are free to explore a variety of creative experiences through art, science, dramatic play, and music. As they use their imagination, language skills are encouraged through play, stories, songs and finger play, sharing and discussions. Reading readiness is developed through activities such as rhyming, singing, reading stories, and retelling stories. Small motor skills are strengthened by using art materials, puzzles, play dough, building blocks, and easel painting/drawing. Beginning math and science concepts are learned with block play, counting, calendar, and sorting. Outdoor play with climbing equipment, riding toys, as well as indoor play room, encourages large motor skills.
Daily Schedule
8:55-9:15 Welcome (children arrive) free play, craft time 9:30 Class time begins (calendar, story time)
10:15 Music
10:40 Snack time, outdoor play
11:45_12:00 Children dismissal
Non refundable Annual Registration Fee: By June 30, 2014
*****$75.00 Church Members
*****$85.00 non-Church Member
Registration fee increases to $90.00 if paid after June 30, 2014
Programs available for the 2014- 2015 school year:
2 year olds, 2 days/week T-T/M-W $130.00/ Monthly
3 year olds, 3 days/week M-W-F $140.00/Monthly
3 or 4 year olds, 5 days/week M – F $185.00/Monthly
5 year olds, 5 days/week M – F $195.00/Monthly
All class enrollments are subject to minimum enrollment criteria. We reserve the right to class changes as necessary.
Our preschool program emphasizes the development of the total child, including the emotional, social, spiritual, physical and intellectual growth of each child. A play environment is provided to stimulate the child's curiosity, awareness of self, and encourage social interaction with other children and adults.
We encourage children to be actively involved in the learning process, to experience a variety of skills, with emphasis on nurturing positive self-image and positive attitude toward learning. Play is a child's work. Play provides opportunities for children to discover new things. It is a way they can explore and learn about the world around them.
We strongly encourage Christian values in our daily learning. Each Wednesday the children participate in a Chapel lesson lead by our director. Anyone who feels lead to join us during this time is welcome! A Daily devotional is read to the children to promote Bible awareness, and we also incorporate a monthly Bible Verse, and Blessing in our lesson plan to create spiritual growth.
Two Day 2 year olds Program
Toddlers learn to be separated from parents in a safe, fun, caring environment. The class consists of free play, songs, finger play, stories, and a take home project related to our weekly theme. To enroll in this class, the child must be 2 years old before August 31, 2014
Three Day Preschool Programs
This program is designed for 3's, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The program encourages children to be actively involved in the learning process through play based and planned activities. To enroll in this program, the child must be 3 years old by August 31, 2014
Five Day Preschool Program
This is a pre-kindergarten class. Classes meet Monday through Friday. The children are introduced to basic skills of kindergarten readiness, while building their self-esteem and focusing on socialization. To enroll in this program, the child must be 4 years old by August 31, 2014.
Five Day Kindergarten Readiness Program
This class is designed to allow additional time for kindergarten readiness skills while continuing to build the child's self-esteem and socialization skills at a more challenging schedule than in the pre-kindergarten classes . To enroll in this program, the child must be 5 years old after the August 31, 2014 kindergarten enrollment date.
Early Bird Arrival
Children arrive at 8:00am for supervised play by a teacher until preschool starts, at which time the child will be escorted to their classroom. This program is an additional $3:00 per day
Children's Immunizations
For your child's protection, we require that all children are current on their immunizations. Please ask your pediatrician to complete the immunization form enclosed, or provide a copy of your child's immunization records, or a statement which certifies that all immunizations are current. All documents are due on or before open house, and must be updated annually.
Thank you for your interest in Vanderburg United Methodist Preschool
Registration for returning students for fall 2014, will be held the week of February 10 – 14, 2014. A Registration Form will need to be completed and the non-refundable registration fee of $25.00 will need to be paid to guarantee your child's placement.
Registration for news students will be held the Week of February 17 – 21, 2014. A Registration Form will need to be completed and the non-refundable registration fee will need to be paid in full to guarantee your child's placement.
You may also mail your form and fee to: Vanderburg United Methodist Preschool 1809 Charlotte Hwy Mooresville NC 28115 (704) 664-1625 Make checks payable to Vanderburg United Methodist Preschool Please note: if you register after June 30, 2014, the non-refundable fee increases to $90.00 A payment equal to one month's tuition is due August 31st to be applied to September's tuition If a family finds the need to withdraw from the program a 50% refund will be given if a written notice of withdrawal is received by September 1st Vanderburg United Methodist Preschool will not discriminate against anyone based on sex, race, national origin, or religion.


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1996 Mental Health Parity Act Set to Expire in Three DaysSenators Domenici and Wellstone Push for Action Full Parity Bill
With the sunset of the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act only days away, Senate sponsors of full parity legislation are pushing for expedited action on S 543, the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act. Earlier this week, Senators Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) had hoped to force a vote on S 543 the week of October 1 (the limited 1996 federal parity law expires on October 1) but several senators objected, forcing further delay on a Senate vote.
Congressional action on parity legislation had been expected prior to October 1, however the Senate has suspended action on nearly all bills that are not directly related to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. With the sunset of the 1996 parity law now set to occur, the Senate can be expected to take up S 543 in the near future, once procedural objections are overcome.
S 543 Has Broad Bipartisan Senate Support
The outcome of a straight up or down vote on parity is not in doubt. Currently, 64 senators (Democrats and Republicans) are cosponsors of S 543 - more than enough to overcome any filibuster or other delaying tactics. This week, four more senators added their names as cosponsors - Bill Frist (R-TN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). This demonstration of broad bipartisan support for parity is a record NAMI advocates can be proud of.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved S 543 on August 1, after adding provisions to ensure that health plans can implement parity in a cost effective way. A strong bipartisan Senate vote in favor of full parity legislation is critically important to building support in the House and pushing the White House toward publicly endorsing the bill (President Bush signed the Texas state parity bill in 1997).
NAMI advocates are strongly encouraged to contact their senators to urge quick Senate action on S 543. While NAMI respects the need for Congress to focus first on national security and the international response to terrorism, the Senate should also move forward on the bipartisan support that exists for full parity. Thus, all senators are strongly encouraged to drop any and all procedural objections to a quick vote on full parity legislation. NAMI also opposes weakening amendments, including an expected effort to impose a cost increase exemption (i.e. an amendment that would allow health plans to exempt themselves, or to nullify the law, if insurance premiums or the number of uninsured exceed projected levels).
All Senate offices can be reached by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or by going to the policy page of the NAMI Web site at www.nami.org/policy.htm and click on "Write to Congress." In your contact with senators, please remind them that:
As noted above, the limited 1996 federal parity law does expire at midnight on September 30. The sunset of the 1996 law is expected to have little immediate impact. First, the 1996 law is limited in its scope to parity for annual and lifetime dollar limits only, i.e. it does not cover discriminatory restrictions on inpatient days, outpatient visits or higher cost sharing requirements that apply only to mental illness coverage. More importantly, since most group health plans operate on the basis of previously negotiated contracts with employers it is not expected that lower annual and lifetime dollar limits could be reimposed in the middle of a contract year. Moreover, since the 1996 law was so limited, it has allowed employers tremendous discretion to tighten other restrictions in their plans (treatment limits, deductibles, enrollee cost sharing, etc.), there is little incentive for plans to immediately lower annual and lifetime dollar caps The response from employers to the 1996 law was documented in a May 2000 General Accounting Office (GAO) study that can be accessed on-line at www.gao.gov.
Inspire others with your message of hope. Show others they are not alone.
Share your storyBecome an advocate. Register on NAMI.org to keep up with NAMI news and events.
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All existing posted dates are now practice days. Due to low rider turnout for races, PARC SuperMoto will become practice only with the exception of the Labor Day Weekend Exhibition Race. This race is run in conjunction with the drift event.
Be sure to come check out our new TT woods track that is open every weekend. Over a mile of new trails to challenge riders of any level.
Click here to get a taste of SuperMoto at Pat's!
Saturday practice $40 From 10-00am till 8:00pm
Sunday Race entry $49 (unlimited classes)
Pit passes $8 Sunday only
Over night camping allowed
gate opens at 8:00am
Practice at 9:00am
2 heats per class at 10:00am
Main event will follow heats. Will have 4 race groups.
Event done around 12:30 or so.
SuperMoto classes only.
We will ride the dirt weather permitting.
We need to dry out to prep.
Trophies awarded based on entries.
1 trophy if 3 entries
2 trophies if 5 entries
3 trophies if 6 or more entries.
The 2012 PARC SuperMoto Super Series is shaping up and man are we excited. Rider input has given us some great ideas for this years series. The Series will be an 8 race Series with 7 results counting towards the championship. The events will be held Sunday mornings (as per rider input) to allow riders to commit to other things in life. Practices will start at 8:30 am and we should be wrapped up by early afternoon. The events will be ran by our PARC event staff to allow full participation from the SuperMoto riders and their families. Lots of track time, real trophies for classes with 5 or more riders, and a reworked dirt section will await this years competitors. Rounds 6 and 7 will be part of a Labor Day Motorsports Festival at PARC, featuring Drifting, SuperMoto, auto-crossing and a Hot Rod Cruz-In. This two day event will be the highlight of the series for sure. Stay tuned for more info. Be sure to mark your calendars with the following dates:
Dates Coming Soon!
*All efforts were made to avoid scheduling conflict with OMRRA and OregonSuperBikers schedules. Unfortunately the May and July dates conflict. Rest assured this was certainly not intentional.
Go to the Official Pats Acres SuperMoto Page…
11 Responses to "SuperMoto"
Can't wait to try your track I just got my SM and I need places to ride! Hopefully can round up more of us washington riders and help promote a bigger and better year for you! Thanks so again for letting us ride!
#4637 -
Friday night supermoto? That is just way too cool and is very exciting to hear! Although it's been a good two years since I've ridden supermoto, this will absolutely get me on over to PARC and potentially back into it. I'll be looking forward to seeing the schedule once that is made available and sincerely hope to see a rejuvenation in the local supermoto scene as a result of what you're putting together here, Chris.
Thank you!
Darren Green
#4635 -
P.S. Also Masters—should not be limited to 450cc, IMO. Currently, 690cc covers just about everything, I believe.
Tks.#4627 -
I recommend that you don't limit Open classes to 450cc.
Have always enjoyed riding at Pat's!
#4622 -
i'm definitely into racing at pats, i was super disappointed to hear osb wasn't going there this year. i think weekends are going to work best for the bulk of us are weekend warriors. just my 2 cents.
Patrick M#4515 -
HI there,
I was wondering if Pat's is going to have any SuperMoto races or Practice sessions for 2012? I am from WA and want to come down and try out the track and do some races there if you are having them. Also will a PGP Membership crossover for the pricing on your memberships?
Thank you for any information
Debra Johnson
We will be running practice days and a full racing schedule. Things will be posted soon. Unfortunately the PGP membership won't cross over as the membership fees help cover the facilies overhead to provide you a place to race. Hope to see you soon….Chris
I would be happy to attend some supermoto events there. We had low turn out problems last year which lead to a lot of waiting for rental karts.
I took over as Oregon Superbikers club president and hope to rebuild the crowd to previous levels.
One thing I hear from a lot of guys is the whoops are real hard on less than pro level riders. Table tops are more popular for supermoto.
Good luck in your efforts!
John Burgess#4499 -
Lookin at a 39cc two stroke water cooled bike. Can i race this in the supermoto class?
We do not run pocket bikes or bikes that small with our SuperMoto program, sorry
Thank you so much for wanting to organize another SM league! I loved racing at Pat's last year (best days of my year) and hope to have a great time out there this year, may just want to make sure your schedule doesn't conflict with OSB's too much.
-one more rider.#4346


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Saturday, June 15, 2013
Suzanna Davis' group, Suzanna & Friends parades along Terry Avenue near Harrison Street in an "Egyptian Wedding Procession" Saturday afternoon as part of "Art On The Fly" - a free celebration of international dance and music. Children, far left, were invited to join in the parade with kazoos. Other dancers include Erik Brown (drum), left, and Akahsia Cannon, center, in white.
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