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Don't come to your court-date in a lime-green Batman costume
Honestly, it should go without saying.
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The Loch Ness ladle
Scots! Here's your chance to kill Scotland's national ID database
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Ed from the Open Rights Group sez, "The Scottish Government has plans to create a national identity database and we have to stop it."
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UK Home Office suffers setback: can't destroy family by deporting American head-teacher as his British wife begins cancer treatment
The UK Home Office's war on migration has suffered a setback: an American head-teacher had lived in Scotland for nearly ten years will be allowed to stay and help his British wife of four years as she begins cancer treatments. The Home Office had been absolutely set on deporting David MacIsaac, having declared his marriage "a sham," despite the massive shortage of qualified head teachers. But after the pesky Observer newspaper called attention to MacIsaac's plight, and Scottish politicians took up his cause, the poor Home Office was forced to change direction, causing irreparable economic harm to the private security company that would have otherwise been enriched by a government contract to shackle MacIsaac and physically abuse him all the way back to America.
But have no fear: Britain's new migration policies will ensure that countless other MacIsaacs will be cruelly taken from their homes and families in an effort to pander to the Daily Mail, bigots, and crypto-bigots who say things like "Oh, I'm not a racist, but when people arrive too fast for us to assimilate them, it doesn't do anyone any good" (or its cousin, "I'm no bigot, but certain groups just don't want to assimilate.")
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Ken Macleod on Iain Banks
Detailed obit of Iain Banks
Iain Banks died yesterday. The Guardian's John Mullan does justice to the long and important career of one of the best writers in two fields:
In 2010 he gave an interview to BBC Radio Scotland in which he spoke with painful frankness about the breakdown of his relationship with his first wife. But then the media interview seemed his natural forum: it is difficult to think of a more frequently interviewed British novelist.
While his science fiction spanned inter-stellar spaces, his literary fiction kept its highly specific sense of place. The place that gives the title to his 2012 novel Stonemouth is fictional, but, like other fictional places in earlier Banks novels, it is a highly specific Scottish town. Like The Crow Road and The Steep Approach to Garbadale –it is the story of a man coming back to his family home, and it is difficult not to think that this is Banks's story of himself.
Iain Banks: I'm dying of cancer, this book will be my last
Sad news: Iain M Banks, beloved author of brilliant science fiction novels and (to my taste), even better thrillers, has terminal gall bladder cancer that has spread to his liver, pancreas and lymph nodes, and is unlikely to live for more than a year (and he may live for less time). He posted the news early today, in a statement that's bravely and darkly humorous, as befits his work and his reputation:
As a result, I've withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I've asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps). By the time this goes out we'll be married and on a short honeymoon. We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing family. and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us. Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.
There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available. However that is still something we're balancing the pros and cons of, and is anyway out of the question until my jaundice has further, and significantly, reduced.
Lastly, I'd like to add that from my GP onwards, the professionalism of the medics involved – and the speed with which the resources of the NHS in Scotland have been deployed – has been exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive. We're all just sorry the outcome hasn't been more cheerful.
I've never (to my recollection) met Banks, but I am a huge fan of his works. As I wrote some years ago in Wired, his novel Dead Air is the first truly post-mobile-phone thriller I ever read, one where all the suspense comes from characters being in constant contact and knowing what the others are about, rather than the uncertainty of not being able to reach one another. There's a scene in that book, where someone is trapped in a closet when the killer comes home unexpectedly, and is texting to a confederate outside, that is nothing short of genius. Where the traditional mystery would have put the confederate through the stress of wondering what might be going on, in a position of total ignorance, Banks delivers a complete, minute-by-minute SMS set of updates to the confederate, and shows that knowing is infinitely more scary than ignorance, if handled by a master. Which he is.
Growing up, my whole circle of friends doted on his debut novel, The Wasp Factory, whose toe-curlingly, wonderfully macabre gross-out climax still makes me go a little sweaty-palmed when I think of it. And his novel Complicity was the book that set me on the path to giving up cigarettes.
I haven't even touched on his science fiction novels, the incredible Culture series, but they are worthy of your attention, too. In short, the field is losing one of its greats, and Scotland is losing one of its great champions for independence, and the world is losing one of its great campaigners for justice.
I wish Iain and his family a calm and loving and graceful time, and thank him sincerely for the hours of pleasure and the years of insight he's given to me and all of us.
Iain Banks diagnosed with gall bladder cancer
(Image: Iain (Menzies) Banks, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from kyz's photostream)
Yarn bomb transit protest in Edinburgh
An unknown yarn-bomber has taken to the streets of Edinburgh with a political message, opposing the tramway expansion underway there. Yarnivore Rose says, "Actual political speech in yarnbomb form, rather than 'mere' decoration! BRING IT!"
More from The Scotsman:
Grant McKeenan, who owns the Copymade Shop on West Maitland Street and who has started his own anti-tram poster campaign, said he thought the protest was "excellent", adding: "Anything speaking out against the trams is good in my book, and clearly someone's gone to a lot of trouble."
Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city's transport leader confirmed that the council had removed the colourful protest.
"When unofficial banners are put up it's normally the process that they are removed, in case they come loose and flap into the face of a pedestrian or into the path of a cyclist.
"It did look like nice crochet work though, someone had clearly spent a lot of time on it."
The city council added that the blanket was still in their possession if the owner wished to claim it, no questions asked.
Mystery knitter vents Edinburgh trams fury in 'yarn-bombing' blanket protest
(Thanks, Rose!)
(Image: a downsized, cropped thumbnail of "The embroidered tram work protest which was attached to the fence on Princes Street," a photo by Mary Gordon)
London Varieties comes to the Edinburgh Fringe
Juggler and impresario Mat Ricardo sez,
After six months of sell-out shows and fun times in London, we've arrived at the Edinburgh Fringe where Mat Ricardo's London Varieties has become The Voodoo Varieties! We're all very excited - we have a completely different line-up of the best cabaret, variety, circus and comedy acts every single night - and we've got some amazing guests in the next few days, including professional wrestling superstar MICK FOLEY, Scary genius RICHARD WISEMAN, comedy star THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE, PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON and lots and lots more.
Every night is going to be a one-off, unique show, and we're adding more names all the time. I am, if you can't tell already, giddy like a schoolgirl about some of the people I'm going to get the chance to host. The show is running at The Ballroom, The Voodoo Rooms at 8.15 every night except Mondays, and my new one man show "Vaudeville Schmuck" is at the same venue at 5.45pm every night.
Boing Boing readers have been so supportive of the Varieties project, so I wanted to make sure that any of you that are around the fringe this month knew what fun would be going on over at the Voodoo Rooms. You can book tickets for the Varieties here and for Vaudeville Schmuck here.
Voodoo Varieties with Mat Ricardo (Thanks, Mat!)
UPDATED: Scottish town council shuts down 9-y-o girl's wildly popular school lunch blog
A nine-year-old girl in Scotland has been ordered to abandon NeverSeconds, her wildly popular blog, which features photos and commentary of the food served in her school. The blog began as a writing exercise undertaken with school permission, and was an implicit critique of the nutritional value and quality of the food. Over time, its proprietress Martha Payne branched out into raising money for school meals in east Africa. She became a minor celeb, with coverage in newspapers and blogs, and attention from celebrity chef and school food campaigner Jamie Oliver. Yesterday, she published a post called "Goodbye," in which she explains that she has been ordered to cease blogging by the headteacher, and expresses sorrow that she won't be able to continue her project. Her father clarifies that the shutdown order came from the local Argyll and Bute town council.
Here's what Payne wrote, followed by some words from her dad:
This morning in maths I got taken out of class by my head teacher and taken to her office. I was told that I could not take any more photos of my school dinners because of a headline in a newspaper today.
I only write my blog not newspapers and I am sad I am no longer allowed to take photos. I will miss sharing and rating my school dinners and I'll miss seeing the dinners you send me too. I don't think I will be able to finish raising enough money for a kitchen for Mary's Meals either.
Veg's Dad, Dave, here. I felt it's important to add a few bits of info to the blog tonight. Martha's school have been brilliant and supportive from the beginning and I'd like to thank them all. I contacted Argyll and Bute Council when Martha told me what happened at school today and they told me it was their decision to ban Martha's photography.
It is a shame that a blog that today went through 2 million hits, which has inspired debates at home and abroad and raised nearly £2000 for charity is forced to end.
Payne's blog inspired correspondents from schools around the world to write in with their own photos, and was a burgeoning nexus of a real community of interest among children. It's a terrible, stupid thing that Argyll and Bute council did.
Girl banned from taking photos of school meals for hit blog
Update: The Argyll and Bute council have rescinded the ban. The Guardian's Peter Walker reports:
Roddy McCuish, the council leader, told BBC Radio 4 that he had ordered an immediate reverse of the ban, imposed earlier this week. He said: "There's no place for censorship in Argyll and Bute council and there never has been and there never will be.
"I've just instructed senior officials to immediately withdraw the ban on pictures from the school dining hall. It's a good thing to do, to change your mind, and I've certainly done that."
It marks a complete reverse of the council's position earlier this morning, when a statement directly attacked the NeverSeconds blog, set up by Martha just six weeks before as a writing project, for "unwarranted attacks on its schools catering service which culminated in national press headlines which have led catering staff to fear for their jobs".
The statement added: "The council has directly avoided any criticism of anyone involved in the NeverSeconds blog for obvious reasons, despite a strongly held view that the information presented in it misrepresented the options and choices available to pupils. However, this escalation means we had to act to protect staff from the distress and harm it was causing."
Payne's supporters have been tweeting photos of their food in solidarity with young Ms Payne, using the #mylunchformartha tag.
Dull town and Boring town find common cause
The town of Dull, Scotland has become a sister community with the Oregon town of Boring. They have joined forces to promote their inherent interestingness. Alexandra Topping writes in The Guardian:
Before long Dull and Weem community council was in – presumably interminable – talks with Steve Bates, chairman of the Boring community planning organisation, to discuss the possibility of twinning the communities. But while Dull – thought to have derived its name from the Pictish word for fields – has a mere 84 residents, Boring – named after William H Boring, an early resident of the area – has a population of more than 10,000, scuppering chances of the two being officially twinned.
Determined to cement the links forged by the two names, the places have now become "sister communities", and could carry signs such as "Dull, in association with Boring" or "Dull, in sisterhood with Boring". Residents of both places wait with bated breath as officials in Boring, which is six hours behind the UK, voted on whether they could be officially linked. Any fears were quickly assuaged though as the Boring Community Planning Organisation in Oregon voted to make the two communities "a pair for the ages".
Dull and Boring? Not any more for Scottish village and US town
Huge, dumb booze producer Diageo orders industry association to give them the prize that had been awarded to small, spunky competitor
BrewDog is a spunky craft brewer in Scotland. Diageo is a titanic owner of booze brands, a kind of Wal*Mart of booze. The British Institute of Innkeeping is their mutual trade association.
Last Sunday, the BII's independent judges awarded BrewDog a prize for Bar Operator of the Year. When Diageo found out -- just ahead of the ceremony -- that a company affiliated with them hadn't won the prize, they threw a tantrum and said that they would cease all sponsorship of BII events unless the prize was given to them.
So BrewDog -- who'd been told in advance that they'd won -- sat at their table at the banquet with jaws on their chests as their competitor's name was read out by the announcer, and representatives from Diageo's chosen bar got up on stage to accept an award whose plaque clearly said "BREWDOG: BAR OPERATOR OF THE YEAR." The farce has turned into a scandal, and Diageo has issued a non-apology of the "mistakes were made" sort.
BrewDog is pissed:
As for Diageo, once you cut through the glam veneer of pseudo corporate responsibility this incident shows them to be a band of dishonest hammerheads and dumb ass corporate freaks. No soul and no morals, with the integrity of a rabid dog and the style of a wart hog.
Perhaps more tellingly it is an unwitting microcosm for just how the beer industry is changing and just how scared and jealous the gimp-like establishment are of the craft beer revolutionaries.
We would advise them to drink some craft beer. To taste the hops and live the dream. It is hard to be a judas goat when you are drinking a Punk IPA.
Walk tall, kick ass and learn to speak craft beer.
Diageo Screw BrewDog (Thanks, Chris!)
Makers and surgical trainee team up to improve prototyping bones from CT scans with 3D printers
Mark Frame, an orthopedic surgical trainee at Scotland's Monklands Hospital, 3D printed a model of a bone from a CT scan, as preparation for surgery. Rather than using the local rapid prototyping shop at a university (where such an operation might cost $1200 for a miniature model), Frame modelled the bone himself and had it printed at Shapeways for £77. The Shapeways community gave him feedback and help as he worked through the process, using free software tools to make the model. I love how networked maker communities help people who have specific, interesting problems to solve them for themselves. I also love 3D printed bones -- as you might remember, my wife surprised me with a 3D print of my femur after my surgery this year. When I showed it to my surgeon (a man of heroic reserve and calm) he practically flipped his lid and I practically had to pry it out of his fingers.
I used OsiriX, a well known open source medical imaging package for mac OS to open the CT scan images and produce a surface render (mesh of points) and export it in a format I could manipulate and make compatible for the printers at Shapeways. I exported the files as .obj files and opened them in a recommended manipulation program called MeshLab. This, another free open source application for mac osx. The aim of this application is to close any holes in the meshes and to delete any artifact produced in the scans. These were then exported as .stl files ready for printing.3D Printing Bone on a budget!
I uploaded them to Shapeways through my account and they were almost instantly verified as printable and Shapeways began processing the images. The total cost for both bones in white flexible plastic only came to a tiny £77. The bones were in our hands in 7 days to the UK. The resultant models were amazing! We verified them and found them to be virtually identical copies of the bones on the CT scans. The white plastic was a great material to machine and use our normal orthopedic drills and saws and screws on to practice the operation.
Anonymous paper sculptures in Scotland's libraries
An anonymous sculptor has been leaving gorgeous carved-book sculptures in Scotland's libraries, along with little notes of encouragement. Some are left out in the open; others are hidden away and may have sat a long time before being discovered.
Having been on display in the Scottish Poetry Library for a few months, the poetree is now kept behind the counter for safety, but if you ask nicely I'm sure they would let you have a look.Mysterious paper sculptures
The National Library's gramophone is in a display case near the front door.
The Filmhouse's cinematic diorama is currently not on display.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre's dragon is probably going to estivate during the Festivals to avoid any possible manhandling by infant hordes but will surely make a return in the autumn.
Cory at the Edinburgh Festival tonight, Reno WorldCon this week
From there, I'm headed straight to Renovation, the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, where I'll be doing a ton of stuff:
Wednesday, August 17
11.00-11.45am - Author in the Library, Sierra View Library (off site), 4001 S. Virginia St, located in the Reno Town Mall across the street from the Reno Sparks Convention Center -- reading, autographing, and Q and A with library community, host: Christine Johnson
2.00-3.00pm - Reading, Reno Sparks Convention Center room A05
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8.55-10.00am - Stroll with the Stars, (off site) meet at Stroll Meeting Spot (Walgreen's parking lot, 3495 S Virginia St, about 5 minute walk north of Atlantis), will stroll down to Reno Sparks Convention Center, with Stu Segal, Bill Willingham, Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Lawrence M. Schoen, Lauren Beukes, and Ellen Datlow
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QBs turn recruiters at The Opening
Elite 11 QBs who are committed like Jacob Eason (Georgia) will have one big job at The Opening -- be a great recruiter. And these QBs have their targets.
Top Headlines
- FSU releases QB Johnson in wake of bar incident
- Ole Miss probing violation allegations vs. Tunsil
- Michigan gets deal with Nike to outfit its teams
- Florida State to play '16 spring game in Orlando
- Utah suspends CB Hatfield after robbery arrest
- Diddy avoids felony charges for UCLA incident
- Haney: Teams with fewest question marks

subset: commoncrawl


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December 11, 2012
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Judge Wolfram dons the robe
Walla Walla County Superior Court Judge Donald W. Schacht, right, swears in M. Scott Wolfram as the county's newest Superior Court judge during a ceremony Tuesday in Schacht's courtroom. Wolfram will replace Schacht on the bench after Schacht retires. Seated in front of Wolfram is Tina Driver, Schacht's secretary.
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Did you know that May 12 belongs to us? Lots of us are aware of this. We share the buzz on it amongst ourselves. We add blue ribbons to profile pictures. We raise our voices, join our hands, mount the few podiums available to us and tug at the sleeve of the rest of the world.
Discuss the article on the Forums.
S. Wessely: "PACE trial, which tested interventions with an impeccable safety record"
Discussion in 'General ME/CFS News' started by Dolphin, Dec 26, 2011.
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"This invite is so cute for any kind of beach party. The back of the card is so pretty and unique because it really does look like the water. The only thing I would have done differently is order the "pearl" or shiny finish. The front does look like sand but a shimmery quality would have been better. Overall, a great and unique design!"
"It was easy to play around with the template, to see the sample, and to order. I only wished I could have moved the template boxes around or made them larger to fit more text. I paid a tiny bit extra to have one of their people look it over for typos and problems, which made me feel a lot better. I love the finished product!!!"
"It is everything I wanted a more, didn't realize how small they would, but they are perfect for our Meet and Greet picnic! So excited to mail them out and have our party! The quality of the paper, color and text is wonderful just like it looked online. I wish there was more font color options though so I could mix it up a bit more for each piece of the invitation, otherwise, I'm very satisfied with my purchase."
"Just received my party invitations. From online ordering to delivery has been a breeze. The quality of invitations are superb. I'm a UK customer and delivery was prompt and I was kept informed about the progress of my order. It's very simple to edit and personalise your chosen product. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for unique quality invitations."
"I chose to use this card for my son's high school graduation party invitation. I wanted a patriotic color palette since he is joining the military. I felt this was a more mature and elegant option than most graduation designs. I used the same fonts and colors as the example. I was able to add his senior picture to the back. This card turned out beautiful as do all that I order from Tiny Prints!"


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Kawana, Y.; (2009) John Stuart Mill's projected science of society: 1827-1848. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
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The purpose of the thesis is to examine John Stuart Mill's political thought from about 1827 to 1848 as an exercise in intellectual history. It focuses, first, on Mill's view, formulated by the late 1830s, that contemporary society was 'civilized', and second, on his project of a science of society, which he aspired to develop in the late 1830s and early 1840s. By the late 1830s, Mill came to the view that his contemporary society was a 'commercial society or civilization', dominated by the middle, commercial class. The first part of my thesis, constituted by Chapters 2-4, discusses the way in which Mill formed his notion of civilization, and what he meant by the term 'civilization'. Mill paid attention to the implications of the rise of the middle class, and regarded such phenomena of contemporary society as the corruption of the commercial spirit and excessive social conformity as an inevitable consequence of the rise of the middle class. The second part of the thesis, constituted by Chapters 5-9, examines Mill's projected science of society. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, Mill attempted to develop a new science of society whose subject-matter was the nature and prospects of commercial, civilized society. This aspiration culminated in A System of Logic, published in 1843. In examining Mill's projected science, I pay particular attention to the fact that he conceived new sciences of history and of the formation of character, both of which were indispensable in his project, although he failed to give a complete account of these sciences. My thesis shows that the implications of his interest both in history and in the formation of character are more significant than Mill scholars have assumed.
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Dignity Memorial:
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flights between Paris and Florence
must one fly out of CDG rather than Orly to get any inexpensiv non-stop flight or a no change flight from Paris to Florence. I can find only one Yueling flight that flies very late at night. I know about Pisa on EasyJet but hoped to fly into Florence Thank you.


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Giovanni Rufino / The CW
Dorota writes a loosely-based autobiography entitled "Secrets, Scandals and Servants." The novel is picked up by Oprah's book club and subsequently tops the New York Times bestseller list. Using their newly acquired fortune, Vanya buys out 49 percent of Goldman Sachs' public shares, gets put on the board of directors and manages to solve the Wall Street crisis. Inexplicably, the two continue to work in the service industry for the Waldorfs and Van der Woodsens.
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VIEWS: 8 PAGES: 9 POSTED ON: 3/31/2012 Public Domain
Google Maps in Mumbai 1 Obtaining Driving Directions in Mumbai: Ask People versus Ask Google Niyati Gupta HF-780 Bentley College June 20, 2008 Google Maps in Mumbai 2 Introduction In United States, almost every person carries a print-out of driving directions from Google Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo Maps and other such mapping websites when travelling to a new place, even if that place is just one mile away. Most cars here also have in-built GPS systems which give drivers 'live' directions. However, this is just the case in countries like United States where the roads and naming conventions are structured and organized. But what about countries like India, where there are no organized and consistent road-naming conventions? Is it possible for such a system to work in India? [1] After the immense success of its 'route planner' in United States, United Kingdom, Australia and other countries world-wide, Google Maps decided to reach out to this promising market and understand their current behaviors related to the task of acquiring driving directions and how people in India would like new-age technology to help them make this task easier. This current research attempts to help Google Maps understand the current behaviors and opinions of the potential users of this service in Mumbai, an urban city in India. Research Plan for Google maps Summary: Research plan outlines the needs and goals of Google Maps to conduct exploratory research of its potential users in Mumbai, and presents a schedule designed to meet this goal. It describes the user population that will be studied. It also includes plans for eight phone interviews and two online focus group sessions. Schedule for the entire research activity from 19th May 2008 to 20th June 2008 is included, and an estimated budget is proposed. Business and User Goals: After researcher's first meeting with Google Maps representatives responsible for this project, the following Business and User Goals emerged. 1. Business Goals identified by Google to start this service in Mumbai are: Increase market share in Mumbai by 15% Increase number of users by way of increasing functionality by 15% 2. User Goal identified for this service is: "Obtain directions that are accurate 90% of the time to enable faster travel time within Mumbai." Research goals: Elucidation of business and user goals helped the researcher to identify the issues that she would like to focus on. The goal of this research will be to shed light on the following issues:- 1. How do residents of Mumbai currently obtain driving directions? 2. How much value do they see in using internet to obtain driving directions? 3. How do they want web technology to make their task of obtaining driving directions easier? 4. What challenges they think this service will face in order to be successful in Mumbai? User Population: After extensive discussions with the Google Maps Marketing representatives, two kinds of user-groups emerged. 1. Primary User Group: Local Drivers in Mumbai 2. Secondary User Group: Tourists visiting Mumbai Google Maps in Mumbai 3 This research study will focus on the Primary User group. This group is further divided into two categories. User Group A: Users who are already familiar with this service and have used it recently (within past 6 months) User Group B: Users who are unfamiliar with this service and have never used it earlier. After collecting demographic data of potential users from the Marketing Department at Google, researcher started developing User Profile of the Primary User. This exercise would help her and Google Maps to get a clearer understanding of potential users. The profile prepared was not extremely detailed, but as the research progresses she will be able to fill in some gaps. Alike Courage and Baxter she too believes that creating a user profile is an iterative process and as one performs future research and conducts additional user requirements activities, more detailed user characteristics will be revealed. Initial User Profile of a Car-driver in Mumbai who will use online driving directions. Age 18 + Gender 65% males 35% Females Location Mumbai Computer Very comfortable using the web. Uses Experience Internet daily for personal and/or professional work. Personality Tech-savvy, independent- does not like to rely on other people for help. Technology available High speed internet access (to download maps quickly) Research Structure: Researcher will be using two distinct methods in order to obtain data from the two different user groups. For the first user group she will conduct Phone Interviews as they already have prior exposure to this service and they would readily be able to share what features might work/might not work for Mumbai roads. Whereas, for the second User Group she will conduct Online Focus Groups as they are not familiar with this concept and a group-setting will help them to ponder upon points which might be new to them and come up with novel ideas about how they would like this service to be implemented in Mumbai. Lastly, for both user groups, she will also capture the value they see in using this service in Mumbai. Both these methods are chosen as they are cost-efficient as they can be executed remotely. The following table explains why the above two methods were selected as opposed to other field methods: [Ideas from 2, 3, and 4 were borrowed] Methods Reasons to select/ or to not select 1 Phone Interviews a) Reduces costs while permitting direct one-on-one Selected interaction with potential users to discuss the value they see in this new service being launched. b) Preferred method to collect information where the subsequent questions to be asked depends on a previous response. c) Optimal method to acquire a thorough understanding of Google Maps in Mumbai 4 user's motivation in using or not using this new service in their city. 2 Online Focus Groups a) Good technique to collect multiple perspectives to a new Selected service in a short period of time. b) Allows for group interaction as a means of generating new ideas for customizing this service to their geographic location. c) Optimal method to note down participants' attitudes, opinions, feelings regarding this service 3 Usability Roundtables a) Service is still at a development stage and there is no prototype at Google Maps that potential users can currently work with. 4 Collages a) Difficult to implement remotely. b) Study did not call for an in-depth understanding of participants' emotions. 5 Card Sorts a) The goal of the study did not include capturing users' terminology or their mental model of the structure of the website. 6 Contextual Inquiry a) Cannot fit in budget as method requires travelling to Mumbai or hiring a user-researcher in Mumbai. b) Very time-consuming to go to each user's house or follow the user around the city to see how she/he obtains driving directions 7 Ethnography (videos) a) Very time-consuming to videotape each user around the city to see how she/he obtains driving directions 8 Log Books/ Incident a) Users' behavior in obtaining driving directions does not diaries change significantly on a day-to-day basis. They can explain their behavior in one meeting. b) Topic is not sensitive and can be discussed unreservedly. c) Very time consuming to analyze log books of multiple participants. 9 Surveys a) Does not allow for two way conversation between users and the researcher. b) All the questions could not be answered adequately from a selection of options. c) Detailed responses from small set of users was preferred over sketchy responses from large number of users 10 Usability Testing a) An existing prototype does not exist. Schedule: Research will take 25 working days to complete. 50% of the time will be spent in preparing for the research, wherein researcher will peruse the material related to web mapping websites in India/Mumbai. Then, based on the user-profile she will prepare a screener and started recruiting and scheduling participants while simultaneously preparing for Interview and Focus group sessions. She will start with phone interviews to get a list of opinions from participants and then these opinions will be used to plan topics to be discussed in Online Focus Groups. Two Online Focus Group sessions will be conducted. Lastly the data will be thoroughly analyzed and a final research report will be submitted to Google maps on 20th June 2008. Following chart illustrates the schedule prepared for Google Maps. Google Maps in Mumbai 5 Dates May June 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Tasks 1 Preparation for Research Recruting & Scheduling 2 Participants Conducting Phone 3 Interviews Conducting Online Focus 4 Groups 5 Analyzing Results Preparing Research 6 Report Budget: The following table illustrates the projected budgets, broken out by total estimated time the researcher has to work on specific tasks as well as other costs such as recruiting incentives for participants. These are approximate figures based on industry standards. Researcher's Cost [Per hour = $160] Task Time 1. Preparation for the research 12 hours project 2. Recruiting and scheduling 1 hour per participant participants (1hr × 16 participants = 16 hrs) 3. Conducting research a. Phone Interviews 30 mins per person (30 mins × 8 participants = 4 hrs) b. Online Focus Groups 3 hours per group (3hrs × 2 groups = 6 hrs) 4. Analyzing results a. Phone Interviews 2 hours per person (2hr × 8 participants = 16 hrs) b. Online Focus Groups 5 hours per group (5hrs × 2 groups = 10 hrs) 5. Preparing report for email 15 hours delivery Total Time: 83 hours Other Costs $35 per person 1. Recruiting Incentive ($35 × 8 participants for phone interviews + 8 participants for two focus groups = $560) 2. Renting facility with video/audio recording software $1,500 to conduct remote tests Total: $2060 Researcher's rate: $160 × 79 hours $12,640 Other Costs: $2,060 Total Cost: $14,700 Deliverables: Two separate reports will be prepared for the Phone Interviews and Online Focus Groups sessions. Each report will include an outline of the procedure, results and analysis of the data, session notes in Excel and audio recordings. Phone Interviews A) Process: After the research plan was approved by Google Maps and there was a mutual understanding of research goals between the researcher and clients; a second meeting was scheduled to discuss the implementation of Phone Interviews. In this meeting, everyone revisited the research goals and the user population and prepared the list of questions they wanted user information on. Semi-Structured type of interview was selected as there was a need to ask open-ended questions in order to collect qualitative data (i.e. user's opinions and reactions to this service) as Google Maps in Mumbai 6 well as to ask close-ended questions in order to collect quantitative data (i.e. how valuable they think this service will be on a scale of 1 to 5) Questionnaire Preparation: After the meeting, researcher went over the meeting notes and prepared a final list of questions [Appendix A]. The researcher decided to first ask the participants to share their recent experience in using this service in a foreign city. Then, she asked participants about how they currently obtain directions and to comment on using this online service to obtain driving directions in Mumbai. Lastly, she asked participants to indicate the value they see in using this service in Mumbai. He took care that the questions were worded in a clear, understandable and non-biased manner. Recruiting and Scheduling: In order to select the 'right' participants for this interview, a recruiting screener [Appendix B] was prepared based on the user-profile. Recruiting screener informed participants about the purpose of the study, how long the session will last, and the incentive they will receive. The users were also informed that sessions will be recorded and these recordings along with their personal details (Name, phone no. etc) will strictly be used for study purposes. Researcher selected the participants who matched her user-profile and scheduled the interview for the date and time suitable for these participants. Reminder of the interview date/time along with researcher's contact number in case of emergency/cancellation was emailed to the participants two days prior to their interview. Conducting the interview: Researcher conducted eight phone interviews at a rented facility in Waltham, MA, USA. Each interview lasted for 30 minutes. Researcher recorded and took notes for each session. Firstly, researcher built rapport with the participants. She thanked them to participate in the study, introduced herself, explained the purpose of the study, briefly mentioned how the session will proceed, reminded them about the confidentiality of the study, asked for their permission to record and encouraged them to answer candidly. Then, researcher asked the questions she had prepared. Lastly, she thanked the participants for their time and clarified any doubts they had with their compensation. Data Analysis: First, researcher transferred all the session notes from her longhand pages to a MS Excel document. [Appendix C]. She used different Excel Sheets for each question and included the answers from all eight participants under that question sheet. This helped her to review all the responses to any question. For qualitative data this allowed her to uncover similar patterns or trends. She also made a note of how many times a comment was repeated for a particular response (for e.g. 3 out of 8 participants think Google Maps will not work as Mumbai has complex roads.) For quantitative data (Likert rating scale questions) she presented the average values and explained the ratings. B) Results and analysis: Researcher interviewed 5 participants residing in Mumbai and 3 participants originally from Mumbai but who are currently studying/working in US. Their average driving experience was 6.3 years. The data collected and its analysis is presented below. Previous Experience with Mapping Websites: 5 Participants had used Google Maps and 2 had used Yahoo Maps in order to obtain driving directions in US. Most participants found this service extremely helpful, convenient, and easy to use. The average rating of their experience in using this service is 4.25 (out of 5).Key reasons that made their experience positive are- Google Maps in Mumbai 7 1. Google gave reliable options for places for which exact address was not known. 2. It was helpful to get an exact indication of the miles and total time they would take to reach a particular destination. 3. It was helpful to get an indication of the mile/miles and time they will take to reach consecutive landmarks to their final destination. 4. Textual + visual explanation of the directions was useful. As even if they were unsure about the correct turn, they had an idea about the direction looking at the visual map. P4 quoted "Highlighted route keeps you on track." 5. P2 found the 'lady's voice' in GPS too fast to follow as he was not comfortable with English language. Thus, seeing the entire route beforehand and taking a print-out of the directions helped him to reach his destination with ease. 6. P1 & P4 liked to take the print-out of the directions even in places they were not driving as they wanted to make sure that the taxi-driver was not cheating them and taking them through the shortest route. Currently used method to obtain driving directions: All participants stated that they ask people on the streets to help them locate a place in Mumbai. 2 participants mentioned that they have not seen anyone using maps in Mumbai. However, P3 mentioned that although she has never tried using online maps she occasionally uses actual/ paper map for directions. Last time she used a map was about 4 months ago when she wanted to reach a place that was 50 miles away from her house. P3 also mentioned a phone service called 'Ask me' which she uses very often. This telephone service gives her names, phone nos. and directions for all movie theatres, hospitals, banks etc. in Mumbai. She stated that she would love to go online to obtain this information instead of calling this service and repeating her personal information each time she called them. It was surprising to see that even though half the participants showed interest in using this online service, they have never actually tried using it. None of them were aware that other mapping websites like Yahoo Maps and Mapsmyindia.com were already offering this service. Only, P8 mentioned that he unexpectedly found driving directions from Mumbai to a near-by hill station (Lonavala) while surfing on internet, however, it was a blogging site and the textual instructions were very difficult to follow. Comments on using route planner in Mumbai: 4 participants had an extremely favorable response to this service. P2 – "Would love to have Google maps here! I will not have to rely on other people and I can reach the place faster". They sounded thrilled and stated that they were looking forward for this service to launch in Mumbai. Other 4 participants did not sound very receptive of this service. Almost all participants were concerned about how this service will adapt to Mumbai's unplanned and inconsistent roads. a) Conditions in which service will be helpful: Most participants indicated that they would like to use this service for long distances within the city as well as to travel from Mumbai to nearby cities. One participate stated that Google Maps would be extremely helpful as an alternate way to check for directions in places where people speak different languages (for e.g. Local people from nearby cities such as Nasik, Pune speak Marathi, but not all people from Mumbai understand Marathi). Participants also mentioned that if Google could capture the traffic on the roads and suggest an alternate route to reach a destination it would be very useful. b) Preferred presentation of driving directions: 4 participants indicated that they would like more visual representation of the route. One participant stated that in Mumbai she would like to take print out of only the visual map where entire route will be highlighted, so that even if there are no street names, she would still be able to follow the directions. 3 Participants would Google Maps in Mumbai 8 like to use landmark-based directions in Mumbai. P2 stated that they currently rely a lot on landmarks to locate a place and would like online maps to work in a similar manner. c) How often will service be used? 5 participants mentioned that they would use this service whenever they plan to drive to an unfamiliar place. 3 of the participants clearly stated that they will never like to use this service as they don't think it will be able to capture Mumbai's small roads. d) Concerns/ challenges they think this service will face in Mumbai: Participants voiced out many concerns about why they thought this service may not work. 4 of them mentioned that Mumbai has complex road structure and numerous lanes that cut each other, and to give all this information online would be cumbersome. Some of them mentioned that people in Mumbai are most often not aware of the official street names. Participants were also worried about how Google will update its website in a place where roads are closed without prior notice for construction, religious processions etc. The following chart illustrates the most common concerns people in Mumbai have about this online service. Perceived 'value' attached to route planner: The average perceived value attached to route planner in Mumbai is 3. Most participants mentioned that this service would be very valuable if it is 'done well'. 2 participants mentioned that this service will allow them to reach their destination faster. P2 thinks this service will be worthwhile as by knowing how much time it will take to reach a particular place beforehand will help him manage his time better. To conclude, even though most participants were looking forward to this service, they were concerned about how this service will adapt to their city. It is recommended that Google Maps addresses these concerns before launching its service. Next Steps The trends observed in these Phone interviews will be used to set up the topics for the upcoming Online Focus Group sessions. It is also suggested that future research be conducted on the mapping websites that already exist in Mumbai. This will provide valuable feedback about how people use these websites and their likes/dislikes about the presentation of driving directions. Google Maps in Mumbai 9 References 1. Arun (2007, October 30) Mapping India: Making the Impossible, Possible. Message posted to http://trak.in/tags/business/2007/10/30/indian-locations-map-services/ 2. Courage, C., & Baxter, K. (2005). Understanding Your Users- A practical guide to user requirements. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaumann Publishers. 3. Kuniavsky, M. (2003) Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. 4. Usability Professional's Association. Usability Body of Knowledge-Methods. Retrieved 16 June, 2008 from http://www.usabilitybok.org/methods
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Edmé-Gilles Guyot
Edmé-Gilles Guyot (1706–1786) was a French physician, postmaster, cartographer, inventor and author on the subject of mathematics, physics and magic. He experimented with optical illusions and with the theory behind performance magic. His developments into the apparent appearance of ghosts, using the projection of a figure into smoke, helped to create the technology and techniques used in phantasmagoria.
Mathematics, science, and magic[edit]
Guyot was an advocate for science and made regular demonstrations to popularise new developments. He was an inventor and manufacturer of conjuring apparatus and scientific instruments, creating "magic theatres" for the aristocracy – small boxes that use lanterns and slides to create an animated story.[1] Guyot's work was influential in the development of magic lanterns and their use in phantasmagoria.[2][3] In 1770 he detailed a method of simultaneously using two different slides in this early projection device. His example was a sea that would become increasingly stormy, throwing around the ships that were sailing on it. He advised that the slides would need to be very carefully painted in order to create a realistic and beautiful animation. His writings on the subject were translated into English and German and were widely circulated around Europe.[4] His experiments led to the technique of projecting images onto smoke to create the appearance of ghostly apparitions.[5] In 1779 Guyot described the use of transformation slides in magic lanterns to create simple animations.[6]
Nouvelles recreations physiques et mathematiques[edit]
Guyot's four part book Nouvelles recreations physiques et mathematiques featured descriptions of experiments and examples of how various innovative mathematical and magical tricks could be performed. The book was first published in 1769 and included an explanation of the missing square puzzle,[7] building on the earlier work of Sebastiano Serlio.[8] It also includes detailed, illustrated techniques for the performance of the cups and balls trick that is regarded as being greatly influential.[9]
The book was translated into English by William Hooper, being released in 1774 without credit to Guyot.[1]
Guyot is credited with describing in 1724 the catheterization of the Eustachian tube, one of the first means of middle ear inflation.[10]
- Edmé-Gilles Guyot (1799). Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques (in French). Paris. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ a b During, Simon (1 March 2004). Modern Enchantments: The Cultural Power of Secular Magic. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674013711.
- ^ Ruffles, Tom (October 2004). Ghost Images: Cinema Of The Afterlife. Mcfarland & Co. p. 18.
- ^ Gelder, Ken (22 Jun 2000). The Horror Reader. Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 978-0415213554.
- ^ Rossell, Deac (August 2005). "The Magic Lantern and Moving Images before 1800". Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ Yeo Kah Sin Dennis (2010). "Ghost - Studies in the Postmodern Gothic Film" (PDF). Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ Esteban, Francisco Javier Frutos; San Segundo, Carmen López. "Around the Magic Lantern World in Eighty Setting" (PDF). Fonseca, Journal of Communication. p. 10.
- ^ Bogomolny, Alexander. "Hooper's Paradox". Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ Tomatis, Mariano (7 July 2011). "Curse of the crystal skulls and other vanishing area puzzles". Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ McWeeney, Sean (2007). "Guyot on Cups and Balls" (PDF). Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ Davison, Richard (November 1962). "Ventilation of the normal and blocked middle ear" (PDF). p. 13. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
External links[edit]
- Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques/Neue physikalische und mathematische Belustigungen From the Collections at the Library of Congress


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FDA warns of seven infections tied to steroid injections from Tennessee pharmacy
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it received reports of seven illnesses tied to steroid injections compounded by Main Street Family Pharmacy. According to a news release from the Tennessee Department of Public Health, the reports of adverse events came from patients in Illinois and North Carolina.
According to CNN, the seven patients developed abscesses.
The FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy are working together to investigate the reports. Currently, these organizations are gathering and processing information, as well as communicating with impacted facilities and patients.
The FDA warned health care providers not to administer any products labeled as sterile from Main Street Family Pharmacy and to confine them until additional instructions are given.
According to the FDA, the reports of infections are all from patients who obtained preservative free methylprednisolone acetate by injection. MPA is usually injected to reduce inflammation.
The Tennessee Department of Public Health said it is known that MPA products were sent to facilities in 13 states. Health departments and facilities in these states are being made aware of the investigation so they can assist if necessary.
Clinical information about these patients is still pending, but the Tennessee Department of Public Health said that no reports of meningitis or other life-threatening infections have be received so far.
At the moment, the FDA and the aforementioned organizations are conducting an investigation into the exact source of these infections, but these cases are linked to a potentially contaminated medication.
The FDA wants health care workers and patients to report illnesses experienced with the use of any Main Street products to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program.
According to the Tennessee Department of Public Health, the Main Street Family Pharmacy is currently on probation as a result of a recent inspection. The Main Street Family Pharmacy has agreed to halt sterile compounding pending resolution of the current investigation.


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September 14, 2005 2:19 PM PDT
Hilton hacker sentenced to juvenile hall
- Related Stories
LexisNexis break-in spurs more calls for reformMarch 9, 2005
Paris Hilton's cell phone hacked?February 21, 2005
T-Mobile begins selling Sidekick IISeptember 22, 2004
The teenager pleaded guilty last week to a series of hacking incidents, the theft of personal information and making bomb threats to high schools in Florida and Massachusetts, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney for the district of Massachusetts.
All crimes took place over a 15-month period, beginning in March 2004. Victims suffered a total of about $1 million in damages, according to the statement.
One of the crimes involves gaining unauthorized access to internal T-Mobile USA systems in January this year, a representative of the wireless carrier, a subsidiary of T-Mobile, said Wednesday.
The perpetrator's name is not being disclosed because he is a juvenile.
The young man was sentenced to 11 months of detention in a juvenile facility, to be followed by two years of supervised release. During the entire period, he is barred from owning or using a PC, cell phone or any other device that can access the Internet, according to the statement. (In the most famous example of a convicted hacker being kept away from computer technology, Kevin Mitnick spent the better part of a decade offline.)
Investigations into possible accomplices of the teenager are ongoing, the statement said.
Having gained access to T-Mobile USA's systems, the teen found information Paris Hilton stored on her Sidekick, a mobile device that lets users make calls, surf the Web, take pictures, and send e-mail and instant messages.
The unnamed teen subsequently published the information, which included racy pictures and phone numbers of Hilton's celebrity contacts, on the Web. The numbers included those of rapper Eminem, actor Vin Diesel, singers Christina Aguilera and Ashlee Simpson, and tennis players Andy Roddick and Anna Kournikova.
Hilton could not be reached for comment on the case because she was traveling in a country where her cell phone does not work, her publicist Robert Zimmerman said Wednesday.
Besides nabbing the personal information of socialite-turned-reality show celebrity Hilton, the teenager used the T-Mobile access to create telephone accounts for himself and friends without paying for them, the T-Mobile representative said.
"We're pleased that he has been brought to justice," T-Mobile spokesman Peter Dobrow said. "We dedicated significant resources to help bring this criminal to justice." The carrier has made changes to ensure that such breaches don't happen again, he said.
In addition to the T-Mobile incident and making bomb threats at high schools, the teen admitted to hacking into the network of a major Internet service provider, a data broker and a second major telephone provider, according to the U.S. attorney statement.
In the case of the ISP, the teen was able in August 2004 to access computers on the company's internal network and obtain proprietary information by installing a rogue program on an employee's computer, according to the statement. The ISP was America Online, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
In January, the minor gained access to the systems of a data broker, which he used to look up information on individuals, according to the U.S. Attorney's statement. The data broker is LexisNexis, WashingtonPost.com reported. LexisNexis earlier this year said an intrusion into its databases may have compromised personal information of about 310,000 Americans.
In June, a second phone company became a victim to the juvenile's attack, according to the U.S. Attorney's statement. A phone that had been activated fraudulently was disabled, and the teen retaliated with a denial-of-service attack on the company's Web site when it refused to reactivate the phone.
"Computer hacking is not fun and games. Hackers cause real harm to real victims," U.S Attorney Michael Sullivan said in the statement. "Would-be hackers...should be put on notice that such criminal activity will not be tolerated."
See more CNET content tagged:
T-Mobile, LexisNexis, teen, hacking, Massachusetts
7 commentsJoin the conversation! Add your comment
- Equal Under The Law!
- Seems like you need to be a celebrity to get justice. Just check out
the poor sap that had his phone stolen.
Either enforce the law equally, or not at all.
- Like Reply Link Flag
- Harsh
- 1 year for a teenager! Thats really harsh. If this kid had hacked his principals sidekick, he would have gotten a month, maybe weeks in jail.
Bomb threats? ***?
- Like Reply Link Flag
- Not harsh enough
- The kid committed the electronic equivalent of breaking and entering. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and he did it anyway. He got off lightly with less than a year in juvie.
- Like Link Flag
- Harsh????
- No way, I was thinking that he got off light. Definitely should've gotten more time than that, but I guess that's what happens when people get tried as a juvenile & not as an adult.
- Like Link Flag
- Hire the guy for security analyst
- Why arrest him? He found a security hole in your network. A Wireless phone company thats a multinational company and this teenager was able to hack into your network. The punishment does not fit the crime. T-mobile or some security company should hire the guy. If anything fire you existing security analyst for overlooking this hole in your so called secured network.
Just a thought, instead of punishing him by saying not to use a computer, have him educate you guys on "The mind of a hacker".
I just laugh at all these stupid laws. This is another injustice.
Yes he posted her info on the web but who as a teenager has not done anything that was simple a teenage action. Come on, he's growing up, don't arrest him and imply those terms on him.
He should be hired by some Security company for finding that hole in a multinational wireless providers network. If anything, I will cancle my T-mobile service to protest this action.
See you t-mobile, hello metropcs. www.metropcs.com
Nael Mohammad
- Like Reply Link Flag
- Exactly
- In general, IT security is a nightmare. If telecom billing and customer service systems are any indication then nightmare might be an understatement for that industry. Any help that we as a society can get, we should take. This kid obviously has a talent, so let's use it. I'd rather see his abilities utilized in a controled environment than wasted because we are too incompetent to know how to deal with him.
- Like Link Flag


text:
Development Account Projects
International cooperation to develop a global monitoring system in national investment policies
Today, attracting and benefiting from FDI require both strengthening multilateral efforts to assist developing countries in overcoming the constraints that limit their attractiveness as a destination for foreign direct investment, and national efforts to devise active and well-sequenced policies to maximize the development benefits of investment flows. As a result of the global economic crisis, levels of FDI dwindled. However, since other flows of finance to developing countries have also declined, FDI remains the largest share of external capital flows to developing countries and is therefore crucial for financing a recovery from the global economic crisis and stimulating growth and stability.
With the view to further strengthen the capacity of developing countries' policy makers to attract and benefit from FDI there is a need to establish a global monitoring system to support national investment policies. This system would provide information on countries' FDI policies, laws and regulations, as well as in-depth analysis on the social, economic and development impact of such policies
The system will build on UNCTAD's existing methodology of collecting data on FDI policies. The new e-network based system will allow for comprehensive and sustainable monitoring of these policy developments, including through supporting independent analytical work and reporting at national level. The capacity-building quality of the system will be ensured through inaugural initiation seminars (held in conjunction with the Regional Commissions) and in-build online training elements.
To improve the global, regional and national knowledge base on domestic investment policies and their impact on development to attract FDI and maximize development benefits.
Expected accomplishments:
- Increased capacity of policy-makers in developing countries to formulate policies to attract and maximize the developmental benefits of FDI through an increased and improved access to verified, comprehensive and analyzed information on investment policies and their development implications;
- Establishment of a global information system that will enable the international community and policy makers in developing countries to monitor and assess the impact of national investment policy development;
- Establishment of an e-based network for sharing experiences and best practices (online discussion forum) between international and national investment policy makers, and others stakeholders.
Implementation status:
The project is at the intermediate stage. In the second half of 2012 the online platform for investment policymaking has been established: the Investment Policy Hub (http//investmentpolicyhub.org). The platform includes an online discussion forum where different stakeholders can meet and discuss best practices in national and international investment policymaking (A.1.2). Currently the site also includes a specific discussion forum on UNCTAD's Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (IPFSD) (A.1.1, 1.2 and A.2.2), a presentation of the Investment Policy Reviews (IPRs) (linked to A.2.2 and A.3) and public access to the UNCTAD's database on bilateral investment treaties (BITs) (A.1.2). Furthermore, the internal database for the Investment Policy Monitor (IPM) (A.1.1, 1.2 and 1.3) has been finalized and work on the internal database for the Investment Policy Profiles (IPP) is in progress (A.1.2).
By early December 2012, the website has attracted over 6.000 visits of which almost 40% are returning visitors and has 190 registered users. However, full impact results can only be expected towards the end of (or after) the project period when the new public databases have been added to the website and a more structural promotion of the website has been set up. The internal database on investment policy measures continues to provide inputs for various reports, including UNCTAD's World Investment Report and Investment Policy Monitor , and the joint UNCTAD-OECD-WTO Report on G20 Investment Measures .
Remaining activities include the finalization of the IPP database and development of the new international investment agreements (IIA) database, and the integration of all three (IPM, IIA and IPP) internal databases in the public website (A.1.2). The public website will also still receive a graphic makeover. The technical part of the project is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2013. Other remaining activities include the regional training and capacity-building workshops to disseminate methodologies for data collection and compilation of relevant information on national policies by designated national focal points (A.2.1).


text:
Twitter Updates
- Great job by @EvanWolfson of @FreedomToMarry this morning on @FoxNewsSunday. 1 day ago
- RT @RealLyndaCarter: Happy #FourthofJuly!! http://t.co/B27WT12npJ 2 days ago
- Hey @AJFcigars, loving your box pressed #NewWorld instagram.com/p/4sfUCymVnE/ 2 days ago
- Enjoying a #NewWorld #cigar. Love the box press. instagram.com/p/4sci2TGVhK/ 2 days ago
- #AskBobby, why do you hate the Constitution? 4 days ago


text:
YIELD: Serves 8 as a first course
Combine first 4 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk to blend. Bring to boil, whisking often. Reduce heat to medium; cook until creamy, whisking often, about 15 minutes. Add cheddar cheese, chives and hot sauce; whisk until cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into 9 x 5 x 2 1/2-inch metal loaf pan. Cover; chill until firm, 6 hours or overnight.
Run sharp knife around pan sides to loosen grits. Turn out onto work surface. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add sliced grits; cook until brown, adding more butte as necessary, about 5 minutes per side.
Divide grit slices among 8 plates. Spoon sauce over. Top with goat cheese.


text:
Greenville County School District
Rita Chandler
Sign In
Welcome to Guidance!
Rita Chandler
Site Navigation
My duties
Greetings Sterling Family,
My name is Rita Mansel- Chandler. Retired from Bank of America with 30 years of service and a native of Greenville SC. I love people and can't wait to share my 30+ years of experience in public relations with my new Sterling Family.
One interesting fact that I would like to share is that my very first job actually was right here at what was once Beck High School. It was a summer job and I worked in the office doing clerical work and after almost 40 years it is by fate that I am back on these grounds and once again working in the office!!!
How awesome it is to be a part of this dynamic school where we have the opportunity to blend the gifted and talented with our elementary students.
I look forward in our efforts to -
Engage, Explore, Inspire and to Lead
Copyright Greenville County School District. All Rights Reserved.


text:
March 23, 2012
The wedding cake is a focal point at any wedding. Not only is it the celebratory dessert of choice but very often the cake is a piece of artwork as well. Whether you are planning for your own wedding or just like looking at beautiful food, click through the slides to see five elegant cakes.
Image Sources:
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text:
Something about the grill's heat brings out the best flavor in the simplest chicken recipe.
We have over 700 dessert recipes just for summer fun.
Delicious recipes, party ideas, and cooking tips! Get a year of Allrecipes magazine for $7.99!
Cutting whole chickens into pieces saves money. We'll show you how in five steps.
See how to make a simple roasted chicken that's very moist and flavorful.
The sauce gives this whole chicken a rich, deep flavor. And it's so easy!


text:
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Lords of Lunar
Effect Code Mini-game Insert the Making of Lunar CD and when the video starts press Up, Down, Left, Right, Triangle, Start
Contributed By: RPG_Pro.
To get the rememberizer, after you've become Dragonmaster, but before going to the Frontier, visit Ramus' shop and keep talking to him for a few times and he will give it to you. With this you can view the FMV scenes which you've already seen in the game so far.
Contributed By: reimen.
View All FMV Scenes
After entering the hidden game code, open the Playstation and replace the ''Making of lunar'' CD with either of the 2 game discs. Now select ''Exit'' you will see all the movie scenes on that disc.
Contributed By: Rithramier.
Know Something We Don't?
You can submit new cheat codes for this game using our Cheat Submission Form.
Have We Been Fooled?
If you see a non-working or fake code in the list above, let us know by using our Problem Submission Form.


text:
When I can't sing ♫
A story based from Se7en's song; "When I can't sing". Enjoy! :)
I am an amateur writer, and honestly, I don't update my stories often. But my stories are pretty good, so take a chance, and try to read them. Please and thank you <3
Description: Simpleng die hard fan lang si Tutti ng band na SYNC. Pero anong mangyayare kung ang bandang iniidolo niya ay mapalapit sakanya? At pano kung maging personal maid pa siya ng uber kaduper crush niyang bipolar na si Chant? Read this to find out! (^__^)v
A story based from Se7en's song; "When I can't sing". Enjoy! :)
A story of an ex cutter.
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Volcanoes, Hilo
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Favorite thing:
Dominating the area are the volcanos and Volcano National Park is a must see for anyone visiting this area. It is constantly changing and there are so many fascinating aspects about it - seeing an active lava flow (after dark) is pretty special as is a walk inside the volcano crater. Thurston lava tube is another beautiful site with lush ferns surrounding it and dripping water inside this tube that was formed by an old lava flow.
Fondest memory: Mostly when I am away from Hilo I miss the friendly people - they really care about you. Smiles from the locals - smile at them and they always smile back. I miss the peace and quiet of my home in the country above Hilo town and I miss the many areas where Surf and Land come together to form breathtaking vistas.
Favorite thing: We took a helicopter tour of the volcano and this was one of the things that I really really loved. I would recommend something like this to anyone who visits the Big Island.
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YIELD: Makes 4 Servings
Gas stove method:
Lay peppers or chiles on their sides on racks of burners. Turn flame on high and char peppers or chiles, turning them with tongs, until skins are blackened, 3 to 6 minutes.
Broiler method:
Preheat broiler. On rack of a broiler pan broil peppers or chiles about 2 inches from heat, turning them frequently, until skins are blistered and charred, 8 to 12 minutes.
Transfer peppers or chiles, roasted by either method, to a bowl and let stand, covered, until cool enough to handle. Wearing rubber gloves, peel peppers or chiles and cut off tops. Discard seeds and ribs.
Chop chiles.
In a heavy saucepan cook onion and garlic in oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until soft.
Sprinkle flour over onion mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until combined well.
Trickle in water, stirring constantly, and stir in chiles. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to moderately low and cook mixture, stirring, until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add salt to taste.


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Frontier Airlines finally won long-awaited approval to inaugurate its turboprop feeder unit, Lynx. The Lynx unit has made its first Q400 flight between the airline's Denver hub and Billings, Montana, and other routes from Denver to places like Rapid City (South Dakota) Sioux City (Iowa) and Tulsa (Oklahoma) and Wichita (Kansas) followed. Frontier had hoped to start the Lynx service last summer, but the FAA approval process took longer than expected. The Lynx Q400s include tails painted with small wildlife in a four-footed commitment to the animal theme of Frontier's mainline Airbus fleet. We wondered if that lengthy delay would interfere with the carrier's theme – young animal offspring – but Frontier evidently believes that when you're a small animal, you're forever young.The first plane on Lynx had a lynx (a bobcat-type feline) named Luke (believed to be the son of Larry the Lynx and sibling to L.J. Larry Jr., both of whom grace Frontier A319s). Then there's Wolfgang the Wolf and Mickey the Moose and Aspen the Mountain Lion. The one depiction of Mickey that we've seen has him with full-grown antlers, so either he sprung painfully full sized from his mother's womb or he aged while waiting on the FAA. But we didn't spot a pup out there, so here's one just to point the way
Lynx to some wildlife links
By David Field on 18 December, 2007 in Americas
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Catalogue Number: 316-9476
- Twist'em, squish'em & launch'em
- Collect them all
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Product Details
Collect all your favourite Furby characters with these cool Furby Mash'ems foil bags. Squishy, squashy and lots of fun, you can twist'em, squish'em and launch'em. Each mystery bag contains a cute Furby character, which one will you find inside?
Only 1 supplied. Colours and styles may vary.
Product specifications
Product specifications
Key Information
|Age Range
|4 years to 6 years
|Appropriate Age Warning
|Not suitable for children under 36 months
|Power Source
Additional Information
|Legal Copy
|Warning! Choking Hazard. Small ball & small part. Not for children under 3 years. Do not aim at eyes or face. Do not poke with sharp objects. Keep away from heat or direct sunlight
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Nov 7th
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Chase Jarvis: NYC Lecture
Take some time and watch this lecture. It'll take 55 minutes out of your day and enrich your career and inspire you. Seriously. Chase Jarvis is a breath of fresh air. (ht to brad for the link – thanks)
Link HERE.
My favourite quote: "fear not." With so much fear-mongering about the future of photography, it's so nice to hear from another pro who's thinking generously and positively. And his career gives him the "street cred" that makes his voice worth listening to.
Chase has a great blog too. Link HERE


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** All Lion Brand stores and facilities are closed on Friday, July 3rd in observance of Independence Day the following day. **
SKILL LEVEL: Easy (Level 2)
SIZE: One Size
Hat Finished Circumference About 18 in. (45.5 cm), will stretch to fit a range of sizes. Scarf About 8 x 60 in. (20.5 x 152.5 cm)
A bulky winter classic, this hat and scarf duo is the perfect project to keep you and the ones you love toasty warm. Knit the set in any of the of the 38 shades of Hometown USA.
9 sts = 4 in. (10 cm) in St st (k on RS, p on WS). When you match the gauge in a pattern, your project will be the size
specified in the pattern and the materials specified in the pattern will be
sufficient. The needle or hook size called for in the pattern is based on what
the designer used, but it is not unusual for gauge to vary from person to person.
If it takes you fewer stitches and rows to make your swatch, try using a smaller
size hook or needles; if more stitches and rows, try a larger size hook or needles.
Making a Gauge Swatch
9 sts = 4 in. (10 cm) in St st (k on RS, p on WS).
kfb (knit into front and then back) An increase worked as follows: 1. Knit the next st through the front loop, but do not remove the st from your left hand needle. 2. Knit the same st once more, this time inserting your needle through the back loop of the st. You will have created 2 loops (sts) on your right hand needle. 3. Drop the st from your left hand needle - you have increased 1 st.
Hat is worked back and forth in rows. Side edges are seamed to make Hat.
HAT Cast on 40 sts. Row 1: *K2, p2; rep from * to end of row. Rep Row 1 until piece measures about 6 in. (15 cm) from beg. Next Row (RS): (K19, kfb) 2 times - 42 sts at the end of this row. Continue in St st (k on RS, p on WS) until piece measures about 9 in. (23 cm) from beg, end with a WS row. Note: End with a WS row means that the last row you work should be a WS row, and the next row that you are ready to work will be a RS row. Shape Crown (top of Hat) Next Row (RS): *K5, k2tog; rep from * to end of row - 36 sts at the end of this row. Next Row: Purl. Next Row: *K4, k2tog, rep from * to end of row - 30 sts at the end of this row. Next Row: Purl. Next Row: *K3, k2tog, rep from * to end of row - 24 sts. Next Row: Purl. Next Row: *K2, k2tog, rep from * to end of row - 18 sts. Next Row: Purl. Next Row: *K1, k2tog, rep from * to end of row - 12 sts. Next Row: Purl. Next Row: (K2tog) 6 times - 6 sts at the end of this row.Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread tail through remaining sts and pull to gather. Knot securely.
SCARF Cast on 18 sts. Row 1: K2, *p2, k2; rep from * across. Row 2: P2, *k2, p2; rep from * across. Rep Rows 1 and 2 until Scarf measures about 60 in. (152.5 cm) from beg.Bind off.
FINISHING Seam side edges of Hat. Following package directions, make a large pom-pom. Tie pom-pom to top of Hat. Weave in ends.
Learn to Knit instructions: http://www.lionbrand.com/learnToKnit.html


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PAX Prime 2013 badges are on sale now. Just expect the website to be hammered to all fuck right now from everybody jumping on at the same time.
Apparently people who got through the queue say 4-day badges sold out within the first 5 minutes of the site going live which is really fucking retarded.
EDIT: Whelp. Five minutes. Record time. https://twitter.com/Official_PAX/status/324583487359303681


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A public hearing is scheduled for tonight on the Cornerstone II subdivision along north Ripon Road.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company is launching its natural gas Pipeline Safety Enhancement Program (PSEP) this week around Ripon that is expected to continue through the end of August and possibly into early September.
A tour of the Ripon Police Department and introduction of staff members is on tap for Tuesday from noon until 6 p.m., according to First Sgt. Steve Merchant.
The new continuation high school at Ripon Unified will debut as a modest operation.
Marlon Gayle has traveled the world and even lived in India for over three years.
U.S. Military Battle Hymns from all the services are creating a patriotic theme around the Clinton McCausland American Legion Fourth of July fireworks booth this weekend in downtown Ripon.
Since 2009, the City of Ripon has seen a reduction of employees, going from 96 down to 75.
Susan Winters was at Ripon Unified for nearly five decades.
Lynette Van Laar has been many things to many people at Ripon City Hall for the past 27 years, from being city clerk to chief financial officer under city administrator Leon Compton.
Members of the Citizens' Oversight Committee will meet today at the Ripon Unified district office, 304 N. Acacia Ave.
Stephanie Hobbs is hoping to sell more of the red signature bricks to benefit the Ripon High School by the Friday deadline. More bricks were sold during the past week at $100 each bringing the total collected to $25,000.
Ripon Unified will see some increased staffing along with restoration of more furlough days.
Bethany Home is celebrating 50 years of providing quality care to seniors living in Ripon and the surrounding comminutes. As part of the celebratory events, they are bringing contemporary Christian artist, Laura Story, to Ripon on Saturday, Aug. 3.
For the past five years, Ripon Unified officials had a long-range facilities master plan on their wish list.
The man arrested for possessing an explosive device in front of a Ripon hardware store on Saturday has been identified.
Page 33 of 58
Five teens - 18 and 19 years old - who robbed Ripona Market at gunpoint last August have been sentenced to multi-year state prison terms.
Graduation at Ripon High is Friday, May 29, at Stouffer Field.
The City of Ripon must reduce its water usage by 36 percent.
The Color the Skies event is being taken over by the Ripon Chamber of Commerce.
Ripon's city-wide cleanup of is half way complete as crews finished with residences on the west side of Highway 99. Next week the city will collect the remaining articles placed in front of homes.
The Ripon Unified teachers will be getting raises next year.
Ripon Unified teachers will soon be getting an 8 percent on-going salary increase.
Jack Tone Golf Course could soon see some improvements.
Road closures are being coordinated by the Ripon Police Department on Saturday for safety purposes during the 5K and the first 1.5 miles of the Half Marathon course of Rina's Run from 7 to 7:50 a.m.
Page 2 of 2
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You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
Limited-time feature
41 year old man | Redondo Beach, CA, USA | Seeking women 25-35 within 50 miles
Where have you been hiding?
I am athletic and very active but always make time for my friends and family. I believe life is about balance and you need a healthy balance of family, friends, work and play. I enjoy traveling and have been to Costa Rica, Vegas, Europe and Montana. Most of my trips involve some sort of physical activity such as surfing, hockey and snowboarding. I like to eat out and enjoy everything from Italian, Mexican and Chinese. Looking for someone that has balance in her life and wants a long-term relationship.
Camping , Business networking , Cooking , Dining out , Movies/Videos , Museums and art , Music and concerts , Nightclubs/Dancing , Playing cards , Playing sports , Political interests , Travel/Sightseeing , Watching sports , Wine tasting
Basketball, Billiards / Pool, Bowling, Football, Golf, Hockey, Inline skating, Swimming, Walking / Hiking, Weights / Machines
I exercise 3-4 times per week.
I like Cats, Dogs
I enjoy day trips to Mexico, weekends in Vegas, and dinning out. Sushi, Mexican, Italian are some of my favorites.
I work in television industry but don't watch a ton of tv, my favortie shows are HBO's Sunday night line up: Entourage, True Blood, Treme, Boardwalk Empire, etc.
If I am not at work, I can be found at the beach, on the golf course or out and about with frineds in the Southbay.
The last book I read was "The Dirt", it was about the band Motly Crew's and their live of excess.
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What he is looking for
|5'7" (170cms)
|3'11" (119cms) to 5'4" (162cms)
|Body type:
|Athletic and toned
|Slender, About average, Curvy, Athletic and toned
|No preference
|Light brown
|No preference
|No Way
|No Way, Yes, but trying to quit
|Social Drinker
|No preference
|Sales / Marketing
|No preference
I enjoy my work although I still work to live not live to work.
|$100,001 to $150,000
|No preference
|Never Married
|No preference
|Have kids:
|No preference
|Wants kids:
|No preference
|White / Caucasian
|No preference
I was born and raised in New Jersey however I haven't lived there in years. I do go back twice a year to visit family. I am close with my family and have 2 brothers. I am a mix of Italian and Irish.
|Spiritual but not religious
|No preference
I believe in Karma. What goes around comes around.
|Some college
|No preference


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Press release from Marketwire
E-L Financial Corporation Limited Announces December 31, 2011 Year End Financial Results
Monday, March 05, 2012
E-L Financial Corporation Limited Announces December 31, 2011 Year End Financial Results16:07 EST Monday, March 05, 2012TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 5, 2012) - E-L Financial Corporation Limited ("E-L Financial") (TSX:ELF)(TSX:ELF.PR.F)(TSX:ELF.PR.G) reported for the year ended December 31, 2011, consolidated net operating income of $30.3 million or $5.15 per share in 2011 compared with $90.3 million or $20.36 per share in 2010.The $60.0 million decrease in net operating income in 2011 versus 2010 is principally attributable to a $56.8 million decrease in net operating income for the general insurance operation (The Dominion). The Dominion's decrease in net operating income is due mainly to changes in assumptions made in the fourth quarter actuarial analysis for automobile bodily injury claims provisions. Net operating income for the life insurance operation (Empire Life) continued to be negatively impacted by the low longer term interest rate environment. Net income (loss) On a year to date basis, E-L Financial incurred a consolidated net loss of $44.7 million or $13.93 per share compared with net income of $182.7 million or $43.80 per share in 2010.In addition to the decrease in net operating income described above, 2011 net income was negatively impacted by decreases in the value of equity investments held at E-L Corporate of $88.0 million compared with gains of $57.7 million in 2010, reflecting market turmoil. Decreases in the value of the Company's interest in Economic Investment Trust Limited and United Corporations Limited, partially offset by positive income from Algoma Central Corporation, resulted in a loss from associates for 2011 of $23.9 million compared to income of $27.9 million in 2010. Comprehensive income (loss) E-L Financial incurred a consolidated comprehensive loss of $57.8 million or $17.24 per share in 2011 compared with income of $229.2 million or $55.60 per share in 2010. Consolidated Other Comprehensive Loss ("OCL") was $13.1 million or $3.31 per share compared with Consolidated Other Comprehensive Income ("OCI") of $46.5 million or $11.80 per share in 2010.The $59.6 million decline in OCI compared to the prior year is a result of a decrease in unrealized gains on AFS investments for the year combined with an increase in realized gains being reclassified to net income."Our overall results for 2011 reflected challenging market conditions that included a low interest rate environment and increased equity market volatility as a result of global economic uncertainty", said Duncan Jackman, Chairman, President and CEO of E-L Financial. "This affected our insurance subsidiaries through the strengthening of their policy reserves and a decline in the value of our investment portfolio. In light of these challenges, we maintained a strong capital position and continue to focus on the long-term growth and profitability of the company." CONSOLIDATED SUMMARY OF COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) INCOME2011(thousands of dollars)E-L CorporateThe DominionEmpire LifeTotalNet operating income$11,200$5,929$13,178$30,307Realized gain on available for sale investments including impairment write downs5,02919,31312,55236,894Share of loss of associates(23,886)--(23,886)Fair value change in fair value through profit or loss investments(88,038)(88,038)Net (loss) income(95,695)25,24225,730(44,723)Other comprehensive (loss) income(467)1,365(13,927)(13,029)Comprehensive (loss) income$(96,162)$26,607$11,803$(57,752)2010(thousands of dollars)E-L CorporateThe DominionEmpire LifeTotalNet operating income$14,526$62,695$13,097$90,318Realized (loss) gain on available for sale investments including impairment write downs(3,449)7,5322,7016,784Share of income of associates27,857--27,857Fair value change in fair value through profit or loss investments 57,74257,742Net income96,67670,22715,798182,701Other comprehensive income12,00318,33216,17746,512Comprehensive income$108,679$88,559$31,975$229,2131Use of non-GAAP measures:"net operating income (loss)" is net income excluding realized gain (loss) on AFS investments including impairment write downs, the Company's share of income (loss) from associates and the fair value change in FVTPL investments in the E-L Corporate portfolio, all net of tax. The term net operating income (loss) does not have any standardized meaning according to GAAP and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.2 All earnings per share figures are net of dividends paid on First Preference shares.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Mark M. TaylorE-L Financial Corporation LimitedExecutive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer(416) 947-2578(416) 362-2592 (FAX)


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Results 1 to 4 of 4
Thread: Thumnails for slot reel
March 5th, 2011 #1
Thumnails for slot reel
I have a chance to be hired at a studio and they've asked me to complete and art test. These are some thumbnails I've done for one of the slot machine icons they want me to design. I've chosen to do Poseidon out of the list of Greek gods they game me. I think that they would like it to be more realistic. I'd like some feedback on which ones work best from a graphic design perspective. I'm also looking for comments on other suggestions and possible combination of design elements. I feel like it needs to be somewhat traditional given the target audience so it quickly reeds as Poseidon but will try to add some creative detail involving the rendering.
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- Art: My reel
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Hide this ad by registering as a memberMarch 6th, 2011 #2
these are some thumbs for Athena's shield as my second image. It seems like front view is the only way to go with this so this mostly explores different patterns. Medusa's head as the boss of the shield has to be there so I really only have the creative option of arranging the serpents.
March 6th, 2011 #3Registered User
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Interesting topic. Want to see more on what you guys think about this.
August 17th, 2011 #4Registered User
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Very interesting. Nice work


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Alice man arrested following parking lot shooting
ALICE - Alice police arrested a 23-year-old man Sunday on a felony assault charge following a report of shots fired in a gas station parking lot, authorities said in a news release.
A silver Chevrolet Camaro carrying four male passengers was struck by gunfire three times in the 600 block of south U.S. Highway 281. No one was injured.
Alice police began searching for a gray Hummer they believed was driven by the shooter, Lt. Antonio Aguilar said. The vehicle was located by Jim Wells County sheriff's deputies on County Road 466. Alice resident Michael Guerra was taken into custody on suspicion on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police said they expect to make more arrests in the case, which is still under investigation.
Anyone with tips on this or other crimes in Alice can contact the police department at (361) 664-0186.
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I would NOT expect a brand new in the box gun to have rust and wear.
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Thread: "New" Mod 100 .40 cal
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The confidence Jordan Niebrugge gained during an outstanding spring semester as a freshman on the Oklahoma State golf team has carried over into the summer.
Niebrugge, of Mequon, won the Wisconsin State Golf Association Match Play Championship on Thursday, beating Eric Busalacchi, 4 and 3, in the final at North Shore Country Club in Menasha.
"I think I've gained a lot of confidence in college," Niebrugge said of his experience in the powerhouse Oklahoma State program.
He earned Ping honorable mention all-America honors after finishing second in two tournaments, posting three other top-10s and tying for 10th at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
"I think my coach and a lot of the juniors and seniors on our team really pushed me throughout the year," Niebrugge said. "I didn't score that well in the fall and my coach made me realize that maybe my goals weren't set high enough."
Niebrugge, 19, won six matches en route to the WSGA Match Play title and only one of them was close. He rallied to beat Mike Sorenson, 2 and 1, in the second round after being 1-down with four holes to play.
After that, Niebrugge dusted Kyle Kolberg, 6 and 4; Cody Strang, 5 and 4; and Peter Webb, 5 and 4, on his way to the final.
"I think match play tournaments are always a lot harder to win than regular stroke play events," said Niebrugge, who in 2011 became the youngest golfer to win the State Open.
"Obviously, the State Open has a lot of really good players in it; the amount of talent is without compare," he said. "But this is the first WSGA championship I've won so it means a lot to me. You have to play so many good players. You have to be on top of your game to win every match.
"A lot of my matches were a lot closer than what the (final) score was. The first nine holes of pretty much every match I was 1-up or 2-up."
Niebrugge was able to pull away in almost every match on a stretch of long holes on North Shore's back nine. He generates 116 mph club head speed with his driver and regularly hits the ball 300 yards off the tee, so his length worked to his advantage on those holes.
"I played (Nos.) 10 through 14 really well," he said. "I might have lost one or two holes in that stretch in all my matches (combined)."
In July, Niebrugge will attempt to add the State Amateur title to his résumé. He finished in a tie for sixth place last year.
If he wins at The Bog in Saukville, he will become only the third golfer to win State Open, State Amateur and Match Play titles. The others were Skip Kendall and Mark Wilson.
Niebrugge also will play in qualifiers for the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links and has been invited to play in the Western Amateur.


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Liz Hurley backs Shane Warne on outburst
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- January 09, 2013
ELIZABETH Hurley has leapt to the defence of her man, slamming the official 20Twenty Big Bash broadcaster for what she claims is a sound error in the wake of this week's Shane Warne suspension brouhaha.
Taking to her Twitter feed yesterday, Hurley fumed at Warne's one-match ban after he was captured on his microphone blasting Melbourne Renegade Marlon Samuels with an expletive-filled spray during Sunday night's clash with his Melbourne Stars.
Warne was subsequently given a one-game suspension by Cricket Australia and earned the dubious honour of being the first player to be banned from an Australian domestic Twenty20 competition.
But Hurley yesterday decided not to take the penalty quietly, launching a tirade on Twitter against Fox Sports which she blamed for the fiasco.
"Boos and hisses to the Fox crew who didn't turn his mike off when they were meant to - ie after the ball leaves his hand when bowling," Hurley wrote, suggesting that the incident came down to a Fox Sports sound breach.
Contacted yesterday, a representative for Fox Sports said that the microphones are sometimes switched off but it is a loosely enforced rule that last year served as a positive when Warne predicted that he would dismiss Brendon McCullum - and did - during his side's match against the Brisbane Heat.
"In that case Shane was able to speak directly with the commentary box immediately after that moment and was more than happy to do so," the spokesman said.
"So there is no specific restriction on it and sometimes it can produce very positive and memorable TV moments."


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Building a new deck? Consider the pros and cons of artificial wood
If you're considering adding a new deck to your home, or replacing an existing one, your most important decision is what material to use. These days, you have more choices than ever before. In addition to a variety of real woods, manufacturers are offering a wealth of composite timber options. … Read more »