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Now the bottle your baby loves can be enjoyed by adults! The Glass Beverage Bottle is safe, eco-friendly, and right on trend. With glass there is no chemical leaching and no metallic taste. The widemouth opening makes it easy to add ice, citrus slices, tea bags, etc. Patent pending silicone sleeve provides a great gripping surface and helps to prevent breakage. Just toss it in your bag and go!
- BPA, phthalate, PVC, and polycarbonate free
- Silicone sleeve is free of plastics and 100% non-toxic
- All materials are FDA approved
- Bottle and sleeve are dishwasher safe

subset: commoncrawl


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Concert to pay tribute to musician Eddie BoggsWritten by Sarah Ottney | Editor in Chief | firstname.lastname@example.com
The life of Sylvania musician and retired educator Eddie Boggs will be celebrated with a tribute concert combining two of his greatest passions: music and serving others.
Eddie Boggs: A Tribute of Song is set for 2 p.m. June 22 at the Franciscan Center at Lourdes University, 6832 Convent Blvd., Sylvania.
The event will feature performances by Bob Wurst & Sundown, David Browning, Jean Holden, First Creation, Tim Ellis & Flatland Grass and Sam DeArmond. The event will also have remarks from Sylvania Schools Superintendent Brad Rieger and Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
In lieu of tickets, donations will be accepted to benefit The Victory Center, a Toledo nonprofit that offers counseling and wellness programs for cancer patients and their families. After the concert, a musical jam is planned to last until 6 p.m.
The tribute concert was organized by a group of musicians who approached Boggs' family wanting to do something to honor and remember him. Boggs, 68, died Jan. 9 after an eight-month battle with cancer.
"'Thank you' are two little words that cannot express how it feels that so many people miss him and have a story to share with our family about him," Boggs' wife, Chris Boggs, wrote in an email to Toledo Free Press.
"It is overwhelming. He was a simple man. He loved life and he lived to lighten people's loads. And his avenue was music and kindness. … We miss the music, so to hear it from his friends means everything! … Each participant has their connection with Eddie and we hope the songs reflect the stories. What a memory for our family! What a gift they are giving us!"
DeArmond, who is related to Boggs by marriage and was mentored musically by him, said he plans to perform "You've Got A Friend" and "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor.
"I chose these because Eddie was always there to lend a helping hand to not only me, but countless others. And 'Fire and Rain' is a song that we all can connect to about losing someone that meant a lot to us," DeArmond said. "He deserves to be remembered at the highest level."
Wurst said he wants to leave his song choices a surprise, but said each will have meaning and be attributable to Boggs.
"One I'm going to be doing is the only song — the only serious song — Eddie and I ever sang together in a show," Wurst said.
Wurst said he, like many others, respected Boggs as a musician, but even more as a person.
"He was very kind and courteous to anyone he talked to," Wurst said. "I think it would be impossible for anyone to meet him and not like him."
Holden, who plans to sing "In This Life" by Bette Midler, performed with Boggs at numerous charity events over the years.
"Eddie was always ready to lend a hand to raise money for worthy causes and I was always willing to work with him if he called me," Holden said. "He was a wonderful musician and just a wonderful guy."
Holden said she felt a special connection with Boggs because of their shared Southern roots. Boggs grew up in rural Kentucky while Holden was born in Arkansas and grew up in Louisiana. Both moved to Ohio as teenagers.
"That old Southern charm — he was just bubbling with it," Holden said. "That common politeness and courtesy. … I loved that about him.
"We all loved him," Holden said. "[The concert is] just to share our love for Eddie and to embrace Chris and the family and let them know that we loved him so much. It just does not seem like he ought to be gone. … He just had such a love in his heart for everybody.
"It will be good for all of us to be together," Holden added. "There will probably be a lot of tears. But he will be there."
Musician Kerry Patrick Clark, a close friend of Boggs', was also slated to perform at the tribute event, but his tour schedule will keep him out of town. Although disappointed to miss the event, Clark said he's happy so many fellow musicians will be coming together to celebrate Boggs.
"I think it speaks to the heart of the man, the teacher, the musician, the entertainer," Clark said in an email to Toledo Free Press. "He not only fostered and supported so many local and regional artists, but invited them to participate in some big or small way in one of his many shows."
Boggs, who retired in 2007 after 37 years as a teacher and school counselor, also left a lasting legacy as an educator, Rieger said.
"Probably the greatest character trait of Eddie is he had tremendous empathy," Rieger said. "He always seemed to have his radar up for students on the margin and find a way to bring them back in and make them feel valued. Eddie used every opportunity he had with the students to elevate their worth and dignity."
Recalling the student trips Boggs led to Washington, D.C., where he would stop to sing and play guitar outside the Capitol, Kaptur said Boggs often reminded her of a "strolling minstrel."
"He brightened the Capitol whenever he was here," Kaptur told Toledo Free Press in January. "He was uniquely gifted and he was uniquely generous."
Boggs' family said they are humbled by the gesture.
"It is a testimony to who Eddie was and how he treated others," Chris said. "For those who attend, myself and our family extend our sincere gratitude for remembering Eddie, in whatever way he touched your life, and we thank God for blessing us with such a loving man."
This summer's Toledo Free Press benefit CD for the American Red Cross, "Red, White & You, Too!" is dedicated to Boggs and contains one of his signature songs, "Uptown Boogie Down Saturday Night."
Another tribute event, being organized by the Sylvania Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Sylvania, is planned for Aug. 17 in Downtown Sylvania.
Tags: A Tribute of Song, Bob Wurst, Bob Wurst & Sundown, Brad Rieger, Chris Boggs, David Browning, Eddie Boggs, First Creation, Franciscan Center, Jean Holden, Lourdes University, musician, Red, Red Cross, Red White & You Too, Red White and You Too, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Sam DeArmond, Sundown, Sylvania, Sylvania Area Chamber of Commerce, Tim Ellis & Flatland Grass, tribute concert, Victory Center


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The SceniX scene management engine is an established solution in its seventh release as a cross-platform, object-oriented programming solution for software developers to quickly create interactive OpenGL applications having the highest degree of interactive performance and realism. Unlike most scene graphs, SceniX was designed around shader usage and renderer independence for applications requiring high image quality and the flexibility to share shaders via CgFX. SceniX also includes mature support for interactive ray tracing using OptiX, and the RTFx ray tracing effect interchange format.
The SceniX engine quietly powers many of the most demanding 3D graphics applications in use today, and is freely available for incorporation within your OpenGL and/or ray tracing applications on either Windows or Linux.
Images courtesy of Realtime Technology AG (RTT) and Autodesk.
SceniX 7.3 Now Available
Changes/Improvements in SceniX v220.127.116.11.0
- WRLLoader added support of ccw flag in IndexedFaceSet.
- Optimized CombineTraverser.
- Improved accuracy of boundingSphere calculation of two spheres.
- Corrected copy behaviour of Primitive nodes with IndexSets.
- Corrected normals initialization and normalization inside the WRLLoader for primitives with primitive restart index.
- Fixed get/setStackSize() assertions and updated their documentation.
- Updated OptiX to verison 2.5.1. (Please see the "Known Issues" above.)
- Added support for GL_EXT_transform_feedback, and renamed current wrappers to explicitly indicate it's using NV_transform_feedback.
- Fixed OBJLoader crash on faces with and without texcoord indices inside a current group. (Not actually supporting that, just not crashing.)
- Changed OBJLoader to always load provided texture coordinates although an assigned material didn't need them.
- Fixed a user clip plane rendering corruption when using CgFX shaders.
- Added support for GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic into TextureAttributeItem with (set|get)MaxAnisotropy()
- FLTLoader CgFX shader profile update to modern capabilities.
- Replacing the low end arbvp1 and arbfp1 profiles with "latest".
- Cg update to version 3.1.0012.
- Fixed loading of Cg shaders inside OpenFlight files .
- Added RendererGLFSQ interfaces which allow to set a sampler by OpenGL texture ID.
- (Allows easier handling of RTBufferGLTexture texture IDs.)
- Matched the color calculations inside the built-in ray tracing programs more to the OpenGL specs. Updated "Using RTFx.pdf".
- Added RTcontext wrapper functions to support missing OptiX debugging features.
- Fixed Scene::setBackImage() assignment.
- Added RenderOption "Light Model Two Side".
- Example usage inside the Viewer "View" menu.
- Corrected the feature_shape custom object example.
- Made the Trafo::getInverse() implementation much more robust.
- Inversion was failing for very small scaled matrices.
- Added sceneAmbientColor as SceniX-provided variable inside built-in ray tracing programs to allow matching the OpenGL rendering.
- Fixed NVSG saver and loader parameter names (front|back)IndexOfRefraction
- Added Texture2DMultisample[Array] support to RenderTargetGLFBO.
- Cg 3.1 introduced sampler2DMS[Array] support.
- Added GL_ARB_debug_output support.
- Added geometry shader test to SXT test suite.
- Added a geometry shader .cgfx example to the media/effects library.
- Added support for 64-bit OptiX programs.
- Pre-requisite for higher out-of GPU memory paging amounts.
- PTX bitness must match the application bitness now!
- Added GLUTMinimal_HUD example to the samples.
- Corrected vertex and texture coordinate generation inside the DefaultScene used in the QtAmbientOcclusion, QtForwardShadowMapping, and QtProfileComonShadow examples.
- Added support for VRML built-in objects Cone, Cylinder, and Sphere to WRLLoader with model-space size dependent subdivisions.
- Changed Box to subdivide individual faces as well to capture per vertex lighting better.
- Subdivision settings can be controlled with an environment variable
Defaults are NVSG_WRL_SUBDIVISIONS = 12 36 90 2 4 8, which mean:
- Minimum, default at radius 1.0, and maximum subdivisions for a full circle of a sphere, cylinder, cone tessellation depending on their radii and heights.
- Minimum, default at size 1.0, and maximum subdivisions for a Box depending on its size vector.
- Fixed a crash on removing a child from a Switch node.
- Added bail-out in RayIntersectTraverser when encountering a singular world to model transform on the transform stack which can't be picked.
- Corrected NBFSaver to store ClipPlanes correctly.
- Fixed an OpenGL lighting cache state mismatch.
- Implemented full support for OpenFlight Degree Of Freedom (DOF) node into
- FLTLoader to support DOF local coordinate system transformations.
- Fixed streaming textures when using a Switch node.
- Lifted some overlay agressive assertions in the nvmath library.
- Fixed a texture release issue with observers when destroing objects.
- Fixed an OpenGL blend state cache mismatch when switching between CgFX and the fixed function pipeline.
- Fixed clearStateSets() crash when removing last StateSet and Drawable.
- Performance improvements of OpenGL buffer resource allocations.
- Fixed storing of VertexBuffers of an AnimatedVertexAttributeSet in *.nvsg
- Memory requirement optimizations.
Changes/Improvements in SceniX v18.104.22.168.0
- Improved render performance.
- A SceniX Viewer crash on line picking after processing the CombineTraverser has been fixed.
- The UnifyTraverser, when applied only to vertices, did not correctly report if geometry actually has changed. This has been fixed.
- A viewer crash on a default StateSet traversal has been fixed.
- Normals generation applied to a Drawable did not consider multi-referenced vertex attributes. This has been fixed.
- If a transform node was placed under a switch node, the transform was not applied during ray tracing resulting in wrong-positioned geometry. This has been fixed.
- The ray tracer issued an assertion failure when processing unsupported primitive types. This has been fixed.
- A LightingAttribute which disables lighting corrupted the rendering output for subsequent geometries. This has been fixed.
- Fixed inconsistent primitive index returned by the RayIntersectTraverser.
- Fixed combining of line primitives.
- The VRML importer interpreted animations not starting at time 0 incorrectly. This has been fixed.
- Fixed the VRML Box size vector conversion to vertex coordinates. Axis aligned coordinate values needed to be half of the size extends.
- The time required for loading models into the viewer has been substantially improved.
- Fixed an issue with MapElement::pickMap returning incorrect results.
- Fixed an issue with MapList::pickMap returning a reversed order of maps.
- Fixed an issue with the RayIntersectTraverser returning a wrong intersection distance when transforms contained scaling.
- Fixed an occasional crash on tangent space calculation that was caused by using the wrong attribute index for tangent coordinate lookup.
- Polygon offset was not working for filled polygons. This has been fixed.
- Occasional crashes while optimizing a loaded model have been fixed.
- Several corruptions after optimizing have been fixed.
- Fixed an issue with the loadTextureHost convenience function using a wrong search path.
- Face culling was not correctly enabled when applying a FaceAttribute. This has been fixed.
- Surface material colors randomly changed instead of using a default material if no StateSet was explicitly applied to the surface. This has been fixed.
- An issue with missing polygons after vertex animation when using display lists has been fixed.
- Constructing an NxN matrix from an MxM matrix, with N>M, left matrix entries uninitialized. This has been fixed.
- Reduced memory footprint of loaded scenes.
- The NVSG importer failed to read quoted object names containing spaces. This has been fixed.
- Improved debug runtime performance with memory leak detection enabled.
- COLLADA loader generated CgFX shaders' spotlight cutoff angle corrected inside the rasterizer.
- COLLADA loader profile_COMMON.rtfx corrected to apply the spotlight exponent inside the ray tracer.
- Added QtForwardShadowMapping example demonstrating multi-pass SceneRenderer implementation with a single light, casting a shadow into a constructed scene.
- Added QtProfileCommonShadow example demonstrating multi-pass SceneRenderer implementation with multiple colored lights using render to Texture2DArray layers, CgFX shader replacement inside a scene based on the COLLADA profile_COMMON material definition, migrating existing material parameters, casting shadows into a loaded scene.
- Fixed a corruption with size culling enabled. Scene objects that covered more screen space units than specified by the size factor, were unexpectedly culled away.
Changes/Improvements in SceniX v184.108.40.206.0
- Fixed an unintentional disconnection of the vieport camera after switching to stereoscopic diplay mode. The defect was reproducible with the SceniX Viewer.
- Fixed VRML-import of spot lights. The cutoff angle was inadvertently scaled to half of the specified angle.
- Fixed an application crash root-caused by a GL state stack corruption. The crash was reproducible with the feature_buffer test.
- Fixed a display corruption root-caused by emissive and specular colors mixed up by the internal render framework.
- Fixed a corruption with combining fixed functionality and CgFX passes. The GL state set by the CgFX pass was not reset prior to the fixed functionality render pass.
- Fixed a corruption with the sample_intersection test caused by non-matching z-buffer depths used between first and second render pass.
- Added a new MFC-based sample (MFCMinimal) to showcase intergration with an MFC application framework.
- Fix size of temporary debug value arrays for RTVariableNxMT<N,M,T>::set() and ::get() functions. Previous code only allocated N instead of N*M data elements which resulted in memory corruption and crashes in debug mode.
- More performance optimizations due to elimination of CPU overhead.
- Fixed COLLADA import of texture images specified by a network server path(e.g. \\server\img.png).
- Fixed a flaw inside the DAELoader texture attribute cache and the texture image cache which led to inconsistencies with texture target assignments, which in turn resulted in image upload failures.
- Fixed an issue with texture file names in an CgFxEffect not being correctly reset when a new texture not created from a file but from memory was re-assigned to the CgFxEffect.
- Fixed a crash on rendering after an LOD node was removed from the scene tree.
- Culling operations for the MatrixCamera have been accelerated by many times over.
- The shader builder used for OpenFlight import did not correctly recognize uniforms named world, worldI, worldT, and worldIT, which in turn resultedin display corruptions if these particular names were used.
- MapLists were not considered for rendering by the SceneRenderer API first introduced with SceniX 7. This has been fixed now.
- Added support for the CG_SAMPLERBUF sampler type. Samplers of that particular type were not considered a sampler by the SceniX API before.
- The ShadowCasting property of a LightSource was not considered by the ray tracer. This has been fixed now.
- Converting primitives of type PRIMITIVE_TRIANGLES to PRIMITIVE_TRIANGLE_STRIP has been accelerated by an order of magnitude.
- Re-enabled saving of HDR textures to a file. This was inadvertently disabled by the previous release.
- Ray tracing performance has been distinctly improved through a more effective use of OpenGL interoperability.
- Fixed a failing validation of a PointSpriteEnable state assignment inside a CgFX. The GL_ARB_point_sprite was mistakenly indicated as not availableinside the SceniX framework.
- For the SceniX Linux packages the help files are provided as html again. The previous version just shipped with compiled help.
SceniX v7 marks another stable release of the NVIDIA Scene Management Engine with these new features:
- Revised handling of SceniX C++ core objects to unify instantiation, access control, and automated lifetime control.
- Introduced new Renderer framework to support renderer pipelines for multi-pass rendering and post processing.
- Simplifies integration with application frameworks and provides utility classes for Qt and wxWidgets.
- Completely revised Qt-based cross-platform SceniX Viewer showcases cross-renderer capabilities of SceniX.
- Incorporates an OpenGL-based real time renderer and an NVIDIA OptiX based ray tracer.
- The SceniX render processing framework has been greatly improved to minimize CPU overhead. This goes along with a remarkable performance improvement of the built-in real time renderer.
- New Primitive class introduced to add support for more recent primitive types in a more generic way.
- Per-object TraversalMask introduced to support conditional traversal of individual tree objects. TraversalMasks affect nodes and geometries.
- New generic Buffer class introduced to store vertex and index data. GL-specific variants supplied to allow for efficient streaming buffer support in conjunction with the VertexAttributeSet and Primitive core classes.
Version 6 enables existing and new SceniX applications to now quickly take advantage of:
- Tessellation programs for dynamically updating surfaces on DirectX 11compatible hardware such as NVIDIA's new "Fermi" GPU architecture
- Cg Runtime Version 3 support for the latest in shading possibilities and Tessellation.
- New PrimitiveSet classes for Bezier Patches, QuadPatches, and TriPatches with Tessellation support
- Traversers for converting between Triangles & Quads to QuadPatches4x4 & TriPatches4
- Improved Interactive Ray Tracing, now using OptiX 2.1 with optimizations for Fermi class GPUs
- Continued improvements in performance, flexibility and fidelity
New features introduced with SceniX 5:
- Faster Performance - twice as many frames per second in many cases than version 4
- Custom Culling - based on screen size
- New Samples - for using PhysX, HDR processing, and wxWidgets with SceniX
- Cg 2.2.001* support - enabling the latest rendering capabilities, performance gains, and optimal profiles for the latest NVIDIA GPUs
- .3DS format support
- Distributed GPU Rendering - enabling scene size to scale across Quadro Plex GPUs
- MetaSL support - for leveraging shaders created within mental mill®.
- 10-bit/component color support - for superior image quality on compatible hardware
- Stencil Buffer support - enabling stencil buffer operations to occur per drawable object
SceniX has proven to be a reliable underpinning for applications serving markets needing to analyze 3D data, make decisions, and convey design in real-time, such as Styling, Visualization, Retail, and Broadcast Graphics. The engine is extensively documented and provides a comprehensive set of classes that are easily combined and extended to create custom, GPU-centric graphics applications. SceniX also includes a sample viewer application and numerous tutorials, with source code, to learn how to use SceniX features quickly and effectively. A complete list of SceniX capabilities and system requirements is available here.
SDK Sample Content
Within NVIDIA SceniX you will find numerous sample applications, including the SceniX Viewer which demonstrates nearly all the possibilities of the SDK. SceniX capabilities can be examined within the SceniX Viewer by exploring scenes imported from COLLADA, OBJ, VRML, 3DS or OpenFlight formats. Also included are samples for interactive ray tracing and integrating physics, audio, stereo, skinning, animation playback, frame-based rendering, and cluster rendering.
SceniX Features Download SceniX 7.2 Download a Legacy Version SceniX Support Forum SceniX Overview Acceleration Engine Overview
Subscribe to our Developer RSS feed or follow nvidiadeveloper on Twitter for the latest news about OptiX or other applicaiton acceleration engines.


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Bartender's Choice: What to Order at Bellocq in New Orleans
It says something about the talents and reputation of Neal Bodenheimer, Kirk Estopinal, and Matthew Kohnke— best known for Cure in New Orleans—that they can open a bar entirely dedicated to 19th-century cocktails and have it be a runaway success. Cobblers and sherry cocktails and milk punches—"These ancient forms of drinks seem sort of bizarre to us," Kirk Estopinal told me, "but that's why we find them fascinating." We asked Estopinal to show us three of his favorite drinks right now; here's what he poured us. More


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Carmen Miller rereleases CD with new tracksWritten by Matt Liasse | | firstname.lastname@example.com
Carmen Miller's new song "Let's Go" pays homage to '80s rock.
"When I was a little girl, most girls my age wanted to be Whitney Houston. I wanted to be Freddie Mercury," she said.
"Let's Go" will be part of a rerelease of last year's album "Skin & Bones," which will include two new tracks.
"I've been recording some material that's congruent with the project," she said. The rerelease will launch Sept. 28 during a release party.
Miller, a featured artist on the current Red Cross benefit CD "Red, White & You," has enlisted her fans to help with the music video for "Let's Go" on a Kickstarter campaign. She is looking to raise $1,500 by Sept. 15 at Kickstarter.com/projects/724351214/lets-go-the-video.
Pledges come with gifts: pledgers of $5 get a free download card for the single and $25 nets an autograph from the video shoot and a free copy of the "Skin & Bones" album. Anyone pledging $50 will have an opportunity to appear as a cameo in the music video. Miller said this provides her a chance to work with people who support the video.
She already has a concept in mind, which will be a spoof of hair metal music videos.
"Back in the day, everything was just so dark and wicked, so we're going to bring some light to that whole genre," Miller said. She hopes to spoof iconic music video moments of Iron Maiden and Metallica.
"I am a child of the '80s," she said. "I grew up on Van Halen and Bon Jovi … it's a golden era of hair metal. This is an ode to all of that that I love. It's been cooking since we started the song."
The video will be directed by Mike Cullen of Cullen Park Productions and be filmed in Toledo.
Miller said the song is meant to be inspiring.
"It's about reaching on the inside and finding the faith, courage and strength to push forward."
The song, written by Miller, Robert Davenport and Matt Schmidt, started with a musical riff. She said the song-writing that followed was "organic." Miller frequently uses the phrase "let's go."
"It's my motivational saying," she said. "Usually the first thing I do in the morning, after I read a Scripture or something, is to go on Facebook for a positive post for the day. It always ends with 'let's go.' Every morning, before I inspire everyone else, I have to get myself inspired."
Tags: American Red Cross, Carmen Miller, Cullen Park Productions, Freddy Mercury, Matt Schmidt, Metallica, Mike Cullen, Robert Davenport, Van Halen, Whitney Houston


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We serve many children at KidsPeace, and sometimes we're fortunate enough to learn what they are up to once they leave our care.
In the case of Christopher Pelletieri, who was adopted by Christine and Peter Pelletieri from the Kingston FCCP office in 2009, it is heartwarming news. Pelletieri was recognized by The Saugerties Community Youth Awards Committee for good deeds and actions.
Ms. Fraske, one of his former teachers at Mount Marion Elementary School, nominated him, saying his "courage and bravery has touch my heart." She adds that "after having a rough, challenging start in life, he has incredibly managed to grow strong emotionally, socially and academically over the past three years."
The award is recognized and supported by the town and village of Saugerties, N.Y., the Saugerties Central School District, the Saugerties Boys and Girls Club and Family of Woodstock, a local social services agency.
Congratulations to Pelletieri! If you have a positive story you would like to share about any other former KidsPeace clients, please email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
As we ventured down the boardwalk, Mark Musselman, education director at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, held up his hand, motioning me to stop. We stood there in the middle of the walkway listening to the sounds of the forest.The sounds were soothing, like a relaxation tape, but I had no idea what I was hearing. Mark, on the other hand, had already picked out the sounds of eight different birds.
Every couple of yards we stopped as he pointed out different nuances of the swamp from animals and plants to the color of the water. Where I saw big trees and pretty reflections in the water, Mark saw a natural habitat full of creatures living in their own unaltered environment.
The Berkeley Independent is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The Berkeley Independent.
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Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary Loan ("ILL") is the exchanging of books and materials between libraries to support the educational process of students, faculty and staff at Volunteer State Community College.
ILL is a service provided to faculty, staff and currently enrolled students at Volunteer State Community College. Persons not directly affiliated with the college should contact their public library for interlibrary loan service.
Faculty, students and staff of Vol State may request that books and magazine articles, not owned by the college, be borrowed from any library in the United States; however, resources at the Vol State library need to be used before requesting to borrow books and periodicals. Ask a Reference Librarian to help locate resources available at the Vol State library before submitting an ILL request.
Students are limited to two request/items at a time. When an item is returned, then a request will be accepted for another.
ILL requests from students are only accepted for materials related to a student's courses. Requests are not accepted for course textbooks.
The library account of the person making the request must be in good standing, i.e. the account cannot exceed the maximum number of items, no overdue materials and no current fines.
Volunteer State does not charge a fee for interlibrary loan; however, some lending libraries impose fees. Please indicate on the ILL request form the amount, if any, that you are willing to pay the lending library.
A fine of $1 a day is assessed by Vol State for the late return of ILL materials. Failure to return materials in a timely manner may lead to the suspension of ILL borrowing privileges in addition to the fine. The borrower is also responsible for any late, loss or damage fees imposed by the lending library.
Please check the Thigpen Library Catalog before submitting your request. Ask a Reference Librarian if you need help using the catalog or databases.
When requesting material, fill out the appropriate REQUEST FORM; there is a different form for books and articles. If you need a few pages from a book, request only those pages, not the entire book.
Carefully fill out the form and complete all the requested information to assure speedy and accurate processing. Incomplete and inaccurate requests will delay receipt of the material. The form can be submitted online, or you may print the form and give to either the Interlibrary Loan Office or to the Reference Desk or fax it to (615) 230 - 3410.
Plan ahead and allow at least 2 to 3 weeks for delivery of the materials to the Volunteer State Library.
Click here to request an article.
In accordance with copyright guidelines, only 5 articles, published within the past five years, can be requested from a particular journal PER CALENDAR YEAR! There is no restriction for articles older than 5 years.
For any questions about the placing of an interlibrary loan request, contact Julie Brown at (615) 230 - 3438 or e-mail email@example.com or email@example.com


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After gaining international fame for transforming Gucci into an icon of sexy, modern fashion, and his work as creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, American designer Tom Ford introduced his own collection in 2005. Known for his decadent, sensual, and often controversial style, Tom Ford is recognized as one of the most influential top designers. Get access to Tom Ford at Hirshleifers now.
Shop Hirshleifers Collection
We'll be happy to help you find what you're looking for. You can call us at 1-855-411-2080 or e-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.com. Our personal shoppers are available to take your call seven days a week, during store business hours.


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- Product Information
Product Description
Are you having a party or special event with an Musical Theme? Perfect to invite your guests for birthday parties, corporate events, recitals, concerts or any event with a musical or decade theme. Now easily add a photo or logo to make your invitation even more custom. Our Musical Memories custom photo invitations can be used for a save the date, an invitation or an announcement. Personalized photo invitations can be customized with a choice of 12 font styles and 24 ink colors in 4 easy steps and adding your favorite guest of honors Photo, Class picture or a Logo. Choose from 4" x 6" or 5" x 7" and come with matching envelopes. All personalized invitations are printed on high quality card stock. There is a 10 invitation minimum and then additional cards can be order in increments of 2.
- Questions & Answers
- Reviews
How to Host a Summer Movie Night in Your Backyard
Do something different for your weekly movie night by watching it in your backyard on a big screen, and inviting friends and family to join in on the fun! Follow these party ideas to assist you in putting together a successful summer movie night.
Minnie Mouse Birthday Party Ideas
Her birthday party will be a huge hit with a Minnie Mouse theme! Use these decorating ideas to help your put together the most adorable Minnie Mouse party.
1950s Sock Hop Party Ideas
Invite friends over for a rockin' good time when you throw a fifties theme party! Use these party tips to assist you in putting together the best sock hop anyone's ever seen.


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Wind: 3 mph
By Logan Cooke, HU correspondent
The undefeated season is a rarity in sports. The ability to win every game takes quite a team. Harwood's field hockey team did it this year, but another team did it as well. This is a team that hasn't had a lot of publicity, a team that has won every game by at least 10 points and a team full of 12- and 13-year-olds. That team is the seventh-grade boys' basketball team at Harwood. Very seldom do middle school teams go undefeated, especially in the way this team did.
Middle school basketball is played with fundamentals at heart -- dribbling, lay-ups and passing being the focus. But this team attacked opponents with something that is rare in this younger level of sports: long-range shooting. This season saw three players shooting over 50 percent from three-point range and the rest just as able to shoot from downtown.
The fundamentals were there as well, the ability to dribble, make smart passes and drive the lane much in the same style as kids three to four years older than them. But this isn't why the team went undefeated. One of the reasons they won so much was because they had chemistry. Seventh grade is often the first time kids from around The Valley play with each other, but with these players it's different. They have been playing as a team since early elementary school. Another reason for their success was their extreme respect for the game. They were never cocky, knowing they still have a lot to learn and are young.
The team's season proves that good basketball doesn't start in high school.


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Cheap Florida Vacations
Your Florida vacation
Other states' tourism boards would be so lucky to have Florida's ready-made allure: year-round sunshine, theme parks galore and miles of sugary coastline. Add to the list one more motivator: cheap Florida vacations. The cash-strapped can always count on the beaches for Mother Nature's gifts, from sunrises and sunsets to dolphin spotting. And for families: Disney World and all in its ilk, whose packages make for an affordable Florida travel getaway -- especially during the off-season.
Use our handy guide for cheap things to do in Florida by region, and book your trip to the land of pink flamingos and lost shakers of salt.
Cheap Vacation Packages
Cheap Florida Vacation Packages
Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort
Flight + HotelBook a package for more savings!
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Seralago Hotel and Suites Maingate East
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Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort - Downtown Disney Resort Area
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Best Miami Hotel
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Eden Roc Miami Beach
Flight + HotelBook a package for more savings!
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Cheap Flights
|Travel dates
|Tue, Aug 25 - Sat, Aug 29
|Fort Lauderdale
|Fri, Aug 21 - Sat, Aug 29
|Wed, Oct 7 - Sat, Oct 10
|Sat, Aug 15 - Sat, Aug 22
|Fort Myers
|Wed, Sep 23 - Wed, Sep 30
|Washington DC
|Tue, Nov 10 - Mon, Nov 16
|New York
|West Palm Beach
|Tue, Sep 8 - Sat, Sep 12
|Wed, Sep 2 - Sat, Sep 12
|Tue, Aug 18 - Wed, Aug 19
|Key West
|Tue, Aug 18 - Tue, Aug 25
|New York
|Daytona Beach
|Tue, Aug 25 - Wed, Aug 26
|Fort Lauderdale
|Mon, Aug 31 - Thu, Sep 3
|Los Angeles
|Sat, Aug 22 - Thu, Aug 27
Best Time to Go
Florida vacations are great anytime of the year. The weather is mild year-round, with a subtropical and tropical climate. Annual temperatures are between 65oF and 84oF. Florida is a popular tourist attraction for individuals seeking to travel away from cold temperatures, or to enjoy the hot climate in the summer. Travelers can find bargain deals on hotel accommodations between June and September. Winter season is a little more expensive for Florida visitors due the tourist peak season between December and April. Autumn is a season of cool weather, and a relaxed atmosphere. Anytime is a great time to visit Florida's amusement parks.
Disney World
Experience the various attractions at the famous Disney World theme park in Orlando.
Head to Sarasota to tour the Ringling Museum of Art and attend the Ringling International Arts Festival held in October.
Capital Grille
When it is time to sit down for a bite to eat, head over to the Capital Grille in Miami.
Busch Gardens
Those that are embarking on Florida travel with a family will enjoy the attractions at the Busch Gardens theme park in Tampa Bay.
Florida is well-known for its alligator population, and Gatorland in Orlando has crocodiles and alligators from all over the world.
Think of the Panhandle as Florida's cousin from the Deep South; same family, different accent. Explore the area for traces of Southern roots, from plantation-style homes in Tallahassee to rustic seafood shacks in Apalachicola. As a family destination, it's easy on the budget thanks to a bevy of residential-style hotels designed for extended stays and pint-sized entertainment (read: lazy rivers and water umbrellas). Outside, revel in Mother Nature's freebies: state parks made for trekking and stretches of powdery sand to sink in.
Tampa Bay
Tampa's all-American appeal is obvious from mansion-studded and rollerblader-frequented Bayshore Boulevard and during rollicking fests such as Guavaween and the Gasparilla Pirate Parade. Amble the brick-lined, iron-wrought streets in historic Ybor City and think you're in New Orleans – until you're teased by the flamenco dancers and heaping plates of Cuban fare at the Columbian Restaurant. Beyond the "metro," frugal Florida travelers won't have to sacrifice outdoor time for fun. Tampa Bay residents practically live on the beach, from pristine Fort de Soto Park (a regular on Dr. Beach's best beaches list) to tidy Pass-A-Grille, a coast dazzled by the pink palace otherwise known as Loews Don CeSar Hotel.
Don't be discouraged by the couture kittens, yacht partiers and Mazarati drivers in South Beach; despite the emphasis on affluence, not everyone lives large in America's Riviera. Tourists can still partake in the excess from afar. Follow the lighting equipment to Lummus Park to spy on a photo shoot or wander by the bistro tables along Ocean Drive. You might spot a movie star. And for budget-sensible fun from the beach, hotel hop the Art Deco district with your camera; those neon-lit facades and sexy lounges are worth capturing even if you're not a guest in the penthouse suite.
Mickey Mouse will always have our hearts at Disney World – that's a given. Beyond the theme parks, however, are local Florida travel diversions that don't have to break the bank, starting with an inner tube ride down Rainbow River Rock State Park. On dry land, escape to the World of Orchids for fragrant, jungle air, catch the daily parade of ducks in the Peabody Orlando or dare to stare in the eyes of a gator at Gatorland, more contained and only slightly less intimidating a setting than Alligator Alley.
Florida Keys
Florida beach towns tempt with postcard flair, yet extra style points go the Keys, which spells paradise from every Hemingway bungalow, coral reef and beach bar. The main drag – Duval Street – is a free exercise in people watching, thanks to wall-to-wall bars, souvenir shops, bikers, drag queens and free-roaming Key West Gypsy chickens and roosters. Yes, we said it, anything goes in the Keys.


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There's still time to register to play or volunteer at the 15th Annual KidsPeace Soccer Invitational.
The tournament will be held Aug. 18 and 19 on our Orchard Hills campus in North Whitehall Township. Proceeds from the tournament benefit two KidsPeace websites: TeenCentral.Net and ParentCentral.Net.
Teams may submit online applications before July 30. The tournament is open to girls league teams U9-U19 and boys league teams U9-U15 playing in the upcoming Fall 2012 season. The cost is $410 for teams playing 8v8 in the U9-U12 divisions and $490 for teams playing 11v11 in the U11-U19 divisions.
We're also looking for volunteers to help with the event. Help is needed for various tasks, including concession stands, field marshaling and traffic control. Volunteers will be used from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days and may choose to give as little as two hours or stay the entire day.
Check out our YouTube video.
For more information or to register, email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Oops, something went wrong! If you got this message by clicking on a link from our site, please email us so we can correct it. If you typed the Web address into your browser, you may have typed it incorrectly. Try retyping the address, or go to MyMatrixFamily.com homepage, and search from there.


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The Ashe County Board of Education heard the results of its financial audit Monday night, voted to sign the Resolution to Rescind Sequestration, and discussed an agreement with Blue Ridge Energy to convert school buses to run on propane.
Mike Wike of Anderson, Smith and Wike certified public accountants, presented the findings of the BOE's recent audit. Wike said he and his associates gave the board an "unqualified report," meaning a clean audit, and "the highest bill of assurance."
A key focus of the audit was clusters of federal and state education funding sources, each of which have different compliance requirements — a potential accounting minefield. Wike reported no material misstatements or instances of noncompliance.
Board member Terry Williams commended "all involved for an excellent report."
Chair Charles L. King opened discussion of the Resolution to Rescind Sequestration — the imposing of across-the-board cuts in education and other domestic programs by the federal government.
The resolution is a nationwide "call to action" by the National School Boards Association to restrain $1.2 trillion in budget cuts under the Budget Control Act of 2011. The cuts would reduce federal education funding by 8.2 percent, a loss of $93 million to N.C. school districts.
The NSBA is expected to make its case to Congress in January, Yates said.
Board member C. B. Jones asked the board's opinion on signing the resolution immediately."We need to work on this pretty quick," he said.
The Resolution to Rescind Sequestration was unanimously approved by the board, and will be sent to the NSBA and N.C.'s representatives in Washington.
Details of a Propane Services Agreement between Blue Ridge Energy and the BOE were discussed. BRE's proposal to the BOE in October offered reduced emissions and operating costs, with no cost for conversion kits and no financial risk to the board.
Assistant Superintendent Phyllis Yates said BRE attorneys are working on the agreement.
Yates said that any conversion of the bus fleet to propane would start tentatively with a single activity bus.
The question of liability for operating modified school buses was raised by board member Dr. Lee Beckworth. "There might be a limit to what you can do to a bus and put kids in it," he said.
The issue was tabled until January's meeting.
Ashe County Schools Superintendent Dr. Travis L. Reeves addressed the assembly regarding his recently announced resignation.
Reeves expressed his gratitude to the board for the opportunity to work in Ashe County. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart," he said.
Reeves will be leaving Ashe County to serve as superintendent of Surry County starting in January. His tenure in Ashe County has seen improved student achievement scores and higher graduation rates.
Jones said of Reeve's departure. "We want to thank Dr. Reeves for his service," he said. "We hate to give him up."
A slide presentation entitled Art Across the Curriculum was given by art teachers Jorena Sparks, Lindsey Postlethwait and Olivia Snider. They described teaching strategies that give fresh relevance to English, mathematics and social studies by bringing important concepts from those subjects into student's art projects.
Reeves recognized Ashe County School's December Employee of the Month, Janet Miller, a teacher assistant at Mountain View Elementary, and read two glowing letters of recommendation.
Receiving her award, Miller thanked the board for "being so diligent in keeping our jobs" in the face of budget cuts.


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25 April, 2013 | (01 hr)
Sign In to access this Webcast
How many times does your Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer (CECO) get to meet with your board of directors? Has your board taken part in ethics & compliance training? If you have a problem answering these questions, then it may be time to reevaluate your company's approach. In today's regulated landscape, today's board of directors must be integrated in instilling a strong commitment and understanding of ethics and compliance.
In this webcast, gain insight on this timely topic and learn best practices when interacting with your board of directors so that a strong ethical culture can be set and make it all the way down to the lower levels your organization.
View the report: Council Perspectives: Ethics & the Board
Audience: Chief Ethics Officers/Chief Compliance Officers, Chief Investment Officers, Chief Risk Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Directors of Corporate Governance, General Counsel, Asset Managers, Activist Managers, Pension Funds, Screening Firms, Investment Advisory, Research Firms, Consultants
Jacqueline Brevard
Jacqueline E. Brevard, the former Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer of Merck & Co., Inc., is the pioneer and visionary that developed and successfully implemented the first comprehensive Global Ethics Program for a top tier global pharmaceutical company, driving Merck & ...Full Bio
Andrea Bonime-Blanc, JD, PhD
Dr. Bonime-Blanc is CEO and founder of GEC Risk Advisory LLC, a global governance, risk, ethics, compliance and corporate responsibility management consulting and board advisory firm (www.GECRisk.com). Client assignments include strategic governance, risk and reputation management and restructuri...Full Bio
Maureen McGirr
Maureen McGirr is currently Vice President, Ethics, Privacy and Policy within the Global Compliance Organization at Merck & Co., Inc.
Prior to taking her new role, Maureen McGirr was on Chief Legal Counsel, Strategic Initiatives at MSD in Japan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merc...Full Bio
Kimberly Byer-Clark
Kimberly Byer-Clark is a program director with The Conference Board. She develops and produces workshops and conferences in the Corporate Leadership practice. Kim is also responsible for content development, speaker selection and recruitment, sponsorship sales, and webcast production. From 2009-2...Full Bio


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Bring a medium pot of well-salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice water bath. Blanch asparagus until just tender, about 1 minute. Drain and transfer to ice water bath to cool. Drain. Set spears aside.
Whisk eggs with 1 tsp each salt and pepper. Stir in scallions, chives, and asparagus stalks.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in an ovenproof 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Pour egg mixture into skillet. Cook until edges begin to set; push cooked edges toward the center of the pan with a wooden spoon. Continue cooking until the center begins to set, about 2 minutes more. Dollop goat cheese over top and sprinkle with reserved asparagus spears.
Bake until eggs are completely set, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.


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Paul Sorey
Tree Bench
Pratt Park
1800 S. Main St.
Seattle Parks and Recreation 2000 Parks Levy 1% for Art and Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund Grant
Made of colored mortar, concrete and stainless steel inlays, Tree Bench takes the shape of a tree sliced in half lengthwise, floating above the ground and inviting visitors to sit on its trunk and branches. The artwork functions as a place to sit and play. It also layers references --such as a river system.
The tree is created of hundreds of small stainless steel flat bars (4 inches to 12 inches) welded to form the "bark" of the tree. The steel creates a textural and organic surface. The interior of the steel form has a concrete base covered by a final surface of colored mortar topped with embedded stainless strips.
"The main concept of the artwork is the tree form that symbolizes the living, growing and diverse branches of human culture that come together to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts," says artist Paul Sorey.


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Thursday, January 31, 2013
Green Wave athlete Davon Anderson had an impressive time in his first 60-meter hurdles race of the high school indoor season.
In the 60 hurdles final for the KYA High School Indoor Classic held Jan. 18-19 at East Tennessee State University, the Summerville junior crossed the finish line in 7.88 seconds to claim first place.
"Davon went into the final with the second best time at 8.13," Peak Performance Track Club coach Twon Williams said. "Then we tweaked some technical issues he had in the prelims and in the finals he blasted a U.S. No. 1 time. His finals race wasn't perfect by any means so there is room for a little growth, but hey, a U.S. No. 1 mark is a great start."
Anderson is one of five Lowcountry track athletes who represented Peak Performance at the meet. The S.C. High School League does not sanction indoor track and field so track athletes from the state compete with club teams.
Anderson also ran the 60 dash, placing sixth with a 7.10 time. He ran a 7.07 to qualify for the finals.
Berkeley's Emanuel Collier placed eighth in the 800 with a 2:02.94 time and ninth in the 400 with a 52.98 time.
Berkeley's Marissa Pinckney placed seventh in the 60 dash with an 8:01 time. She just missed making the six-person final by .02. She also placed 22nd in the 200 with a 62.38 time.
Ashley Ridge's Shelia Austin placed 36th in the 800 and 52nd in the 400 with a 68.78 time. After placing 33rd in the 800 with a 2:18.27 time, Ashley Ridge's Woodrow Jones suffered a muscle cramp during the boys' 200 and ended up staggering into the finish line with a 76.08 time.
The entire results of the meet can be found at www.timinginc.com.
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Su, Mon 10am-6pm
Tu, W, Th, 10am-8pm
Fri, Sat, 10am-7pm
We're excited to participate in our fist quilt shop hop! Want to leave the driving to someone else? Sign up for the Metro Area Bus. It'll take to the 10 participating shops in the Metro Area. Be sure and check out the limited...Read More
Join us Saturday May 30th for Johnstock! There will be a craft fair in the parking lot with music and kids activites. This year's Johnstock craft fair runs Saturday, May 30, 10am - 4pm....Read More


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Leadership Law Participants
Search By: Last Name: | First Name | Firm Name
Michelle R. Foster
A community college leader since 1989, Michelle Foster currently serves as the East Campus Dean of Academic Affairs at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Ms. Foster provides campus-based leadership [and college wide connection] for the creation, implementation, and evaluations of plans related to assessment, accreditation, enrollment planning, honors, international programs, service learning, and institutional research. In addition, Foster is routinely engaged in coaching academic discipline deans, discipline chairs, and faculty on academic conflict resolution and how to effectively manage classrooms with preventative and practical solutions.
Campus Dean of Academic Affairs · Valencia College · 407-582-2007 · Contact by email
Betsy Franceschini
Betsy Franceschini has been an important part of the Central Florida Community since 1985. After she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Social Work and a Master's degree in Guidance and Counseling, Betsy has acted as a powerful catalyst for change and progression for a number of organizations where she held leadership positions.
Hispanic Outreach Political Director · Florida Democratic Party · · Contact by email


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Still sucks. Lol
TidyTilt is a Smart Cover, kickstand, mount and earbud wrap for your iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S
TidyTilt is a new Kickstarter project with a multi-functioning, innovative case/cover that aims to keep your iPhone earbuds in check.
TidyTilt is an earbud cord wrap, multi-position kickstand, and mount for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. TidyTilt takes up less space than any one of these devices - yet does all three things - without adding something extra to carry.
With TidyTilt, you can wrap your earbud cords the same way you normally do, while also keeping everything nicely organized and always within reach. The case takes cues from Apple's own Smart Cover for the iPad 2, only instead of on the front, it protects the rear glass of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
You can even apply it to existing cases you already use, then turn around and mount it to a magnetic strip if you're so inclined.
Their goal has already been met and exceeded at nearly $37,000 from a $10,000 initial funding requirement, and you can have your very own by pledging as little as $19.
Source: TidyTilt via Kickstarter
Have something to say about this story? Leave a comment! Need help with something else? Ask in our forums!
Reader comments
TidyTilt is a Smart Cover, kickstand, mount and earbud wrap for your iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S
Nice product. For those who will use it. Not for me. (what's up with "white" iPhone towards the middle of the video) lol
No one is stgnesuigg that one should buy this kit from scratch just to make videos you blithering retard. But many people ALREADY own an iphone and ipad, and this video is a proof of concept showing these items can be used as a complete end to end video production workflow. Goddamnit, how dumb are you? HERP-DERP-hurrrrrrr
Would be cool if it was built into a bumper
But what if you use cans....? Your ass-ed out x_x
This might not be the ideal place to request this, but I'm trying to find a pest control provider in the pittsburgh area and have no way to find out who is the best. I discovered this company that is actually close to me and wished to see if any one has any testimonials on them. Spectrum Pest Control, 3058 West Liberty Avenue, Dormont, PA 15216 - (412) 446-2802
Thank you Dr Paul for refining our teaching skills.


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I'm sure we've all dealt with theists debating with us that communist nations such as North Korea are atheist nations and in their view that atheism can be just as fundamentalist as religion.
But what is the reality here? Does communism and atheism have a connection? Or is the communism in North Korea promoted due to some other reason? Or do both sides really have their good and bad sides and we as a species generalise far too much?
Views: 1045
You can't be a Marxist Communist and be religious. "Religion is the opiate of the people"...remember?
living "people gods" are even more dangerous than book and tablet gods. they promise hell in this world.
Not all communists follow Karl Marx's philosophy.
Marx understood that religious institutions could become the most corrupt, elitist and oppressive defacto governments, ruling through fear and superstition. Marx believed that banning religion would ban superstition.
Christian apologists often argue a reflexive property applies. So they argue that Marx, the father of modern social communism, was an atheist, therefore communism = atheism and atheism = communism. This is like claiming that since apples grow on trees, trees that don't grow apples are not trees.
wikipedia isn't always a trusted source. You can replace that 64% irreligious with the 'Juche' ideology which asserts that humans are gods.
We have to be very careful in how we classify North Korea given the lack of information and insight into this isolated nation. From the readings I have done and the rhetoric coming from the West, the DPRK has disassociated itself from the idea of a communist nation. This statement doesn't come lightly as I have read Karl Marx's limited works on communism. Furthermore, the DPRK's constitution has also removed any mention of communism and any mention of Marxism-Leninism (which it had adopted in the 1950s after Stalin's death).
Whether there is a connection between communism and atheism needs to be looked at in terms of historical context. Marx himself was an atheist. As was Lenin and Stalin. When the Bolsheviks took control in Russia and began the move towards socialism after the revolution, they (esp Lenin) did crackdown on the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Lenin viewed religion as a private matter that was to be left outside the affairs of the State. That is not to say that he was attempting to convert people out of religion. It was an attempt to reduce religious institution power (given that the old ruler the Tsar was an autocrat and had strong support from the Russian Orthodox Church). That is just one example of what can be classified as "extreme". However there are political theorists who uphold to Marxist ideology and also happen to hold a belief in a deity. A few examples are Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa etc.
So the connection between communism and atheism is very limited. The ideas of communism and atheism are not mutually inclusive of one another. One can be a communist but also have religious beliefs (this is limited as communists are usually materialists) and one can be an atheist without being an communist.
Whenever you hear an argument from theists that atheism to its extremity can be seen as fundamentalists, you have to bring their attention to the historical context. Next time they mention the DPRK make mention of the fact that the citizens of the DPRK may not believe in a monotheist god, but in something called 'political religion' where the citizens worship Kim Il Sun and Kim Jung Il. The idea stems from Kim Il Sun's writings on a theory called 'The Juche Idea'. Look into a bit further, but essentially the Juche Idea promotes humans as masters of their own destiny. It can lead to humans viewing themselves as gods.
Cults of personality and religions of state share the same characteristics as religions of sky-gods. Dogma is dogma whether it is ideological or theological in nature.
Note for example the official party line of North Korea, which states that Kim il Sung turned pine cones into bullets and walked on water. His son, Kim Jong-il, officially was born under a new star in the night sky, as foretold by a talking bird, and could control the weather.
A similar (if less supernatural) cult of personality surrounded Mao Zedong in Communist China for decades during and after his life. Joseph Stalin had hymns composed to his personal worship and had the Soviet press extoll his infallibility, practices which even Nikita Khrushchev later denounced, saying Stain had transformed himself into "a superman possessing supernatural characteristics akin to those of a god".
These men did not commit atrocities because they were atheists. They committed atrocities because they were absolutists and had seized enough power to become godlike figures themselves.
We have to own communism is we want to make headway.
I'd say, yes, atheism, devoid of anything else, cam lead to nationalistic or ideological, or personalistic cults.
But, atheism, as I get it, is the questioning of dogma. It's being rational, and thus it's all about rejecting religion, and mindless nationalism, and ideologicalism, rejecting personality cults, too...
Sure some atheistist types embraced communism.. I'm an atheist, I endorse Tsarism... I'm an atheist, I endorse democracy, I'm an atheist, I endorse militaristic oligarchy.. I doesn;t matter..
Communism is inherently atheistic as Marx perceived religion to be a tool to suppress the working class.
However, communism is hardly a set of coherent policy prescriptions ready for implementation, which is why it comes in many "flavors" such as leninism, stalinism, maoism, etc. Most have been quite vehemently atheist and anti-theistic. However, a few of these flavors have incorporated religion, Ceausescu (Romania), Castro (Cuba), and the Pathet Lao (Laos) comes to mind, and NKs Juche ideology is a form of secular religion which is somewhat comparable to fascism in its manifestations. It should be noted that NK started off with confucianism, which is atheistic. Last, but not least, most of the Arab republics, especially the Baath run ones, have or has islamo-socialist leaders. As a side note, the Arab cold war was between the pan-Arab socialists and the monarchies.
For debates, use those examples and add in that Stalin went to seminary school.
Bashar Al-assad is an example of a "Socialist Ba'ath" leader.. Arabians suffered a lot from these people!
From Bitter Legacy: Ideology and Politics in the Arab World (p. 60): "Aflaq's thought dominated the Ba'at party" and "[he] insist[ed] on the overthrow of the ruling class and socialism as the pillars of the new nationalism." Pan-arab socialism is certainly a different flavor than Russian or Chinese, but it's closer to those than fascism in ideology (though perhaps not in policy, i don't really know).
While they did collaborate with the Nazis, it was due to anti-colonialism aimed against the French and British, as well as a rejection of Soviet-style internationalist Marxism. Saddam was a tyrant and not particularly ideological.
Communism is like religion, there are many differing sects.


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The Fail-proof Desi Guide to RelationshipsBy Monica Marwah • Aug 19th, 2014 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog
Are you Single – and Desi?
Staying single seems to be the trend for today's South Asian women. Most of us are the product of arranged marriages that have taken place two to three decades ago. Our parents migrated from India or other countries to make a life for themselves in America. Each desi kid has grown up with the mantra: study, achieve academic success, get married, have children, pass on your cultural roots and hope for the best.
As a single woman born and raised in the US, I find that achieving your own dreams independently can be a struggle but doable, however finding a life partner is a daunting task that requires lots of patience and hope.
Desi, Single in the City
Upon graduating, I was a typical hormonal 22-year-old. I wanted to see what the world had planned for me. I wanted to date men of my type, hook up, get married and settle down. As I started my journey of meeting new people, I came in contact with a lot of single desi woman. At the time, most of the women were older than me and the recurring questions that kept arising in our conversations were "Where is he? I have been searching for my soul mate since the age of 15, why hasn't he shown up yet?"
I listened carefully and thought, wow, I shouldn't have a problem, I'm flirtatious, I take initiative, and I'm cute and well dressed. Who wouldn't want me? I'll just date men and see where I go with it.
Desi Women Waiting
Although I found a lot of desi women were willing to settle with any guy because their biological clock was ticking, I, on the other hand had time. I also realized that I was different from a lot of other desi women because I didn't have parental pressure and I was looking for the ideal man who would make me his world. I wanted someone who would participate in naked Sundays, go on lavish vacations and shower me with love and affection until the day I die. I mean is that too much to ask for?
Throughout my growing up years, I learned that life doesn't always pan out the way you plan it. After a decade of searching and experimenting, I learned lessons that would leave an indelible mark on my psyche. Fantasies are great, they are what keep you hopeful, but the reality is that this is America and there is no uniformity. Everyone comes from a different background. People feel connected to different worlds.
Lack of understanding is prevalent in a scene of singles mingling at a bar for the first time. Closed mindedness and cultural disputes appears to be rampant. But the most important thing to understand is that you are not alone and everyone is feeling more or less the same way
Dating in your 20's, 30's and 40's is related to one's psychological draw and relational patterns. Do you ever find yourself drawn to the same personality type over and over again, even though you know you aren't going to get anything from it? Do you ever want something more from someone who isn't capable of giving any more? These questions seem to arise in the culture of the new age. Below you will read about how various men come in different sizes and packages. Some have a prettier box than others, but at the end of your dating experience, you will have to choose who makes the cut and who is just not worthy of your time and energy.
Sports Obsessed:
An obsessive Dallas Cowboys fan asked me out once. He made no secret of his obsession. I didn't know what I was going to do. He was hot, but I hadn't seen a game and I wanted to impress him the best way I could. Before our first date, I googled the Dallas Cowboy's website and tried to cram in as many Cowboys' football facts as I could including roster, game schedule, NFL highlights, etc…However, my date was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for, after about 20 minutes into our conversation, he figured out that I was a football virgin. I was able to recover from the humiliation rather quickly and I showed interest in learning about his favorite sport and sports team…Thereafter, we spent the majority of our dates hanging out at sports bars and attending sporting events.
Here is what I learned:
Watching a game is what keeps him going. Don't disturb him or there will be hell to pay…Ladies, if you plan on dating a man obsessed with sports, you should always have basic knowledge of his favorite sports team. Forget about the Monday night line-up and embrace Monday night football.
My mom once applied to an India Abroad ad for me and set me up with a desi man who wouldn't spend a dime on our dates. I consider myself a pretty open-minded person, but this guy was ridiculous. He once took me to International House of Pancakes and I ordered lemonade and he ordered regular fries. He told me, he would pay for my lemonade if I paid for his fries. I was completed dumbfounded….
Follow-up to dating a Cheapskate:
He will start off going 50/50 and then slowly back out of his end and expect you to pay for his lifestyle. Gals, wake up and smell the make-up, this man is not for you. He is NOT a keeper. You will end up in divorce court before the ink on your pre-nup dries. The two reasons why marriages fail are sexual reasons and financial reasons. This guy will surely hamper your spirits and drain your bank account.
The Narcissist/Addict
So my friend was telling me about this guy she was seeing. Several months into her relationship, he surprised her with a trip to Vegas. Who wouldn't want to go to Vegas? As soon as she got there, he disappeared on her. She felt like his mother, always trying to keep tabs on him, he bounced from one casino to the next during the day and early evening, he occupied a booth at Tao nightclub ordering drink after drink (he actually wouldn't leave the club all night because they weren't letting people back into the club). By the time he came back to their suite, he was reeking of booze. Not to mention, he was drunk out of his mind. He would sleep all day and do the same thing at night. His plan was to hit every casino and bar on the Strip. My friend was absolutely appalled by his ignorant, inconsiderate behavior…
What to expect from a Narcissist/Addict:
He is dedicated to all addictive pleasures the world can offer him. He can be mild or extreme. A "mild" case might enjoy a good cigar or maybe a shopping spree at Bloomingdales. A "severe" case might enjoy hookers, cocaine and trips to the Playboy mansion. I have two words "Charlie Sheen." And we all know where a night with Charlie Sheen can lead us. If your relational pattern leads you to this kind of man over and over again, get help before it's too late. These men can be sexy bedroom partners. But resisting temptation isn't their specialty and after a while we become their pawns in their chess game of life.
Corporate Giant
A friend of mine was seeing this doctor. He was every desi mother's dream. All of his life he had been a good student, graduated with honors, very knowledgeable about his field; her mother loved him and often asked her daughter (repeatedly) when he will propose. My friend had one problem; he loved his career more than he loved her. Sure he would pay on their dates when he had the time to take her out, but she felt that she had to constantly hound him for dates…that wasn't how she planned to spend her married life….
What to expect from the Corporate Giant:
He's a lawyer, doctor or businessman, which means he has an unlimited supply of money and he doesn't have to take anything from anyone. Let's face it, the typical desi man has chosen one of these career paths. This is what desi woman are finding attractive. The only problem is, dating and relationships seem to take secondary place to their career.
Control Freak:
My friend was telling me about this guy, who was a major control freak. He appeared to be charming and charismatic, however there was more to him that meets the eye. He was extremely bossy and demanded that they go to his favorite places and eat at his favorite restaurants. My friend, began to think, doesn't she get a say in "HER" life?
What it means to date a Control Freak:
He is in control ALL THE TIME. It is his way or the highway. Men like to be in control, but this man takes control to a whole new level. He decides when and where you will eat. Mel Gibson comes to mind when I think of this kind of man. A Control Freak needs a psychologist who can understand his point of view at all times. I mean who is going to remain calm, when he flies off the handle?
Mama's Boy:
A few years back, one of my friends dated a guy who was well into his 30's and still living at home. She thought that was a little strange, but given the unpredictability of the dating world, she went with it. On their Friday night dates, they would include his mother. My friend thought it was sweet that he revered his mother so much, however it was the end of the week and she did feel that they deserved to have some alone time on Friday night. When they started talking about marriage, she learned that her sweetie couldn't cook or do his own laundry. All household chores were taken care of by his mother…she wasn't sure if she was willing to assume all motherly responsibilities of her soon-to-be husband after marriage…
What to expect from a Mama's Boy:
He will agree with everything you say, and do whatever you want at all times. He is a pleaser and must always have a woman in his life. He may be 35 and still living at home. After marriage, he will expect you to take over all responsibilities that his mother took on. Sorry ladies, I am just warning you. A mama's boy might not be so bad, but you better get along with his mother because that is who he will side with during arguments and that is who you will live with during her old age.
Emotionally Unavailable:
So, my friend was telling me about this guy, who had the personality of a wall. What will it take to get through to him? She knew he was wrong for her, but she felt the sparks of electricity anyway. He didn't appear to have feelings nor did he seem to care.
What it means to be Emotionally Unavailable:
He does not talk when he is upset, nor does he say "I Love you," when he probably does. He keeps all to himself. When he dumps you, you won't even know why. He even lacks care when you are together. It makes you wonder, Were we ever really together?? This is the type of man who can really hurt you. He pretends as if you don't exist. He takes out his anger by giving you a silent treatment and most of the time he is pissed at something else but makes you feel responsible for his behavior. This kind of man isn't worth the time, as he will dump you without treating you like a human being.
Desi and Arrogant:
One of my friends introduced me to one of her guy friends. Naturally I was really excited because your friend wouldn't introduce you to a douchebag on purpose, right? WRONG…apparently dating isn't his thing, but he can do everything else right (according to him). He took me to a restaurant and talked incessantly about himself and everything that he is good at. Apparently no one can do anything as well as him in the areas of investment banking, golf, swimming, cooking and a host of other activities. He didn't once ask about me or what I like to do. He also bragged about all the money he has in his account as well as the money he made on stocks. Wow, impressive! Especially if he plans on sharing it with his sweetie right? WRONG AGAIN, at the end of the night he wanted to split the check and he had the more expensive meal…obviously we never went out again
My definition of the Arrogant Man:
He is better than everyone. Looks down upon the world and looks down upon you….On average, desi men can be very arrogant. They tend to look down on people as they feel that no one measures up. They also have a tendency to be insecure around one another. While I will be the first to admit that desis as a group have done extraordinarily well, there is absolutely NO reason for put-downs and rudeness. What do you think? Can you handle the Arrogant Man?
Desi – and Amazingly Perfect:
Obviously, I haven't met this kind of guy yet. That is why I am still single. However, I have friends who are married and did attract the man that they were looking for. One of my friends, who is happily married with her sweetheart, is expecting her second child in November. She describes her husband as respectful, loving, good looking, intelligent and a high earner. She loves him and they work as a family.
What it means to be Amazingly Perfect:
He is a well-balanced man. All aspects of his life are together and he is very respectful towards you. This is the man we have been fantasizing about since we started planning our wedding. Good luck finding him!!
Winning the Lottery!
My friend has a relationship that just works and it doesn't even make sense to anyone on why it is working and keeping her satisfied. Her lover/boyfriend appeals to her psychological needs and keeps her raging libido hot. Whenever they would fight, they would always make it up at some quaint bed and breakfast place. He knew how to satisfy her and put her in her place at the same time.
What it means to Win the Lottery:
The psychological draw works. You possess all the qualities that work well with his dysfunction and he possesses all the qualities that keep you chemically drawn. This is a man who isn't perfect but keeps your heart beating and keeps you interested every moment of the day. You enjoy fighting just as much as you enjoy love-making with this guy.
Obviously dating is a very unique experience. Some get it right on the first try. Some have to wait years before they meet their match. Others are simply unlucky in love and never meet the man of their dreams. No matter which category you fall into, it is a process that should be enjoyed and embraced.
So as you transition from a young inexperienced girl to a strong independent woman keep in mind that you are enough, regardless of whether you meet that special someone or not. Now slip on your Louboutins, call your gal pals and hit the town for a swanky night out!
( Monica Marwah is a 30-something school psychologist in Philadelphia. After wandering the singles scene for years, she learned invaluable lessons on life, dating and relationships. Now comfortably living life in her 30's, she is sharing her own experiences on what it is like to break away from the traditional desi trend and live a life of your own. )
Graphics: Lassitude/Lavina Melwani
Are you single and desi? What have been your experiences like? Do share – comments welcome.
Monica Marwah is is a single desi who writes about the experience in her blog posts. You can connect on Twitter at lollipop77 or on LinkedIn and Facebook with Monica Marwah.
Email this author | All posts by Monica Marwah


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Updated Jan 23, 2013 - 11:41 am
Arizona bill would ask for loyalty oath at graduation
PHOENIX -- Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would give Arizona high school seniors the option to recite a loyalty oath before they graduate.
Originally, House Bill 2467 would have made the oath a prerequisite for graduation from any public high school in the state. The Arizona Capitol Times reported the change Tuesday.
"To me it's not a Republican bill, it's not a Democrat bill, it's an American bill," said Rep. Steve Smith of Maricopa, one of the bill's sponsors. "People feel that our high school kids that will be adults should understand their role as an American citizen."
The oath, which would be pledged to the school principal, reads:
"I, _____, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose or evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; so help me God."
If passed, HB 2467 would take effect starting in the 2013-14 school year.


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Dude, where's my brain?
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- Septic shock diagnosis by neural networks and rule based systems (2002)
- In intensive care units physicians are aware of a high lethality rate of septic shock patients. In this contribution we present typical problems and results of a retrospective, data driven analysis based on two neural network methods applied on the data of two clinical studies. Our approach includes necessary steps of data mining, i.e. building up a data base, cleaning and preprocessing the data and finally choosing an adequate analysis for the medical patient data. We chose two architectures based on supervised neural networks. The patient data is classified into two classes (survived and deceased) by a diagnosis based either on the black-box approach of a growing RBF network and otherwise on a second network which can be used to explain its diagnosis by human-understandable diagnostic rules. The advantages and drawbacks of these classification methods for an early warning system are discussed.


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Best Buy has been a Black Friday favorite for years. Consistently offering fantastic deals on televisions, computers, and other consumer electronics, bargin hunters often camp out for days leading up to Black Friday 2015.
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Relief and DevelopmentWe are a church that rolls up our sleeves and gets to work.
One billion of our neighbors — that's one in seven people in our world today — live in poverty. As members of the ELCA, we are called to respond. Working through Lutheran connections in the United States and around the world, we start by listening to the needs of our neighbors and getting their ideas to help break the cycle of hunger and poverty. Then we partner with them to make their dreams and hopes a reality. From health clinics to microloans, water wells to animal husbandry, food pantries to soup kitchens, we work together to support innovative solutions that get at the root causes of hunger and poverty.
The ELCA has a long history of being present in communities, working to help and serve where the needs are greatest. Participating in this work that God calls us to in the world compels us to be attentive to complex and changing situations, as well as to the importance of both immediate relief and ongoing, long-term assistance for our sisters and brothers and the communities in which they live.
Our relief and development work is pursued and accomplished through a variety of bold, active ministries and initiatives:


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Don't you love it when you find a company that just gets it? A company that produces exactly the product you're looking for, and does it because they genuinely care about your child? Yeah, when that happens, it's pretty awesome. And guess what! It just happened to me! 😀 When life gets busy, it's easy… [read more]
Celebrate Earth Day: WeeCanToo Edible Art Supplies
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Veteran fighters and former lightweights Dennis Siver (21-9 MMA, 10-6 UFC) and Manny Gamburyan (13-7 MMA, 4-5 UFC) are set to collide at UFC 168.
UFC official today announced the matchup for the Dec. 28 event, which takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It's not yet known whether the bout will serve on the pay-per-view main card or prelims, which air on FOX Sports 1 and stream on Facebook.
Siver and Gamburyan both have reinvented themselves in the featherweight division, though their recent careers have diverged on paper.


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USDA Appoints New Member to the National Organic Standards Board
AMS No. 001-13
Shayla Bailey, (202) 720-8998
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2013The U.S. Department of Agriculture appointed environmentalist and farmer Francis Thicke, Ph.D. to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) today, adding valuable perspective to this 15-member advisory Board.
Since the NOSB serves as a gatekeeper for allowed and prohibited substances, it is essential that members fully understand both organic principles and the realities of organic farming, noted Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. Dr. Thicke brings a wealth of knowledge of the environmental attributes and is a valuable addition to the NOSB as it carries out its duties.
An organic farmer for over 30 years, Dr. Thicke currently operates an 80-cow, certified organic dairy in Fairfield, Iowa, producing milk, cream, yogurt, and cheese. He has been active in many environmental organizations including the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, the Leopold Group Sierra Club in Southeast Iowa, the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, and Food Democracy Now.
Previously, Dr. Thicke served as a National Program Leader for Soil Science at the USDA Cooperative Extension Service, and has worked extensively in water quality and sustainable agriculture programs. He was named the 2012 Farmer of the Year by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, and is a current member of the Cornucopia Institutes Policy Advisory Panel.
As a scientist specializing in soil fertility, Dr. Thicke also has a solid working knowledge of agricultural and food chemistry. Given the NOSBs role in vetting substances to be used in the production and processing of organic foods, his unique blend of on-farm and scientific expertise will add significant depth to the NOSB.
Dr. Thickes five-year term will begin Jan. 24, 2013, replacing Barry Flamm, Ph.D. as one of the three environmentalists serving on the NOSB. USDA thanks Dr. Flamm, current NOSB Chair, for his expertise and service to the organic community.
Made up of dedicated public volunteers appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, NOSB members include four organic farmers, two handlers, three environmentalists, three consumer advocates, a scientist, an organic retailer, and an organic certifying agent.
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It was a gathering rarely seen by even the most seasoned law enforcement officers.
Representatives from local agencies like the Aiken Department of Public Safety, the Aiken County Sheriff's Office and Jackson Police Department, state agencies such as the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division and federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration all joined forces along with members of the Aiken community.
They all came together on Thursday for the first notification and call-in process for the Safe Communities initiative. As part of the initiative, chronic violent offenders are identified based on their present and past criminal activities, and brought to the call-in with law enforcement officials and community members. They're told the effects of the crimes they're committing and that they face stiffer penalties and an expedited trial if they re-offend.
Communities, including nonprofit organizations, faith groups, service providers and citizens, offer opportunities for the offenders to pursue a more productive path, from getting a job to getting an education.
The initiative was first implemented in High Point, N.C., which saw a 54 percent decrease in its violent crime rate since 1990, while the population rose from 75,000 to 107,000.
"There's no reason at all tonight that you can't say, 'I'm done with this,'" Shelby Saunders, spokesman for Aiken Safe Communities Action Team, told the group of 13 offenders.
ASCAT is part of an effort with Aiken Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies to help promote Safe Communities in Aiken.
"We want you to listen closely, because there's going to be a clear message that you'll hear over and over again tonight," said Charles Barranco, director of Aiken Public Safety, adding that the goal of Thursday's meeting was "two-fold."
"First, to put you on official notice that this community has decided that violence will not be tolerate in Aiken, which means no guns, no drugs, no drug dealing and no violence of any kind," he said. "Two, to inform you that if you insist on continuing any violent behavior after tonight, we will use all of our resources to put you in prison to keep our streets safe."
Several community members made short statements to the offenders who were invited to the call-in and came on their own.
"You can't change your past – it's already happened," said Sharon Rodgers, president of United Way of Aiken County. "But you can change your future. You can make good choices. We hope you will decided to make those good choices, and we're here to help you."
One by one, representatives from each of the law enforcement agencies present made their own statements to the offenders. Each one also thanked them for coming to the meeting voluntarily.
"You've already made some bad choices in your life, but you've got the opportunity to make some good choices," said Ben Thomas, assistant chief of SLED. "If you make the bad choices and re-offend, I want you to know that I will do all I can to bring every resource available to the State Law Enforcement Division here to Aiken to hunt you down, track you wherever you may be hiding, take you into custody and bring you before the justice system."
Stacey Haynes, of the U.S. Attorney's Office, told the group that their status as convicted felons means they'll face stiffer penalties for future crimes.
"One bullet is the same as a gun in the federal system," she said. "Because you're felons, you're looking at up to 10 years. A couple of you guys are looking at a mandatory 15 years for a bullet or gun, and possibly a life sentence. Think about that – 15 to life for a gun or ammo."
Haynes told the offenders that federal inmates are often housed in other parts of the country.
"Mandatory life – that's forever," she said. "That means you leave the federal prison in a pine box. You don't want that, your families don't want that and we don't want that for you. But we'll do it if you continue the violence in Aiken."
Solicitor J. Strom Thurmond Jr. said his office works frequently with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"We'll go through your record, and what charges we can prove in either state or federal court, and we're going to select the venue that carries the most serious penalties," Thurmond said. "You're not going to get a plea bargain, you're not going to get a deal and we're going to fast-track your case for trial.
"I have, at any given time 3,000 pending cases in Aiken County," he said. "But you're going to be No. 1 up for trial if you re-offend after you leave here tonight."
Barranco told the group at the end that the community is extending a helping hand to them.
"We, as a community, are reaching out to you tonight to offer you an opportunity to change your situation," he said. "You can accept the help or continue your violent behavior to be dealt with by this task force that is assembled before you.
"This is your last chance to make different choices," he said.
Saunders said afterward that he was pleased with the meeting and how the offenders responded.
"Those young men were attentive. They understood what was being said," Saunders said. "We had a young man at the very end. He stopped and asked, 'What time can I call in the morning?' He was already ready to reach out for a resource and that's critical."
Saunders said the offenders were invited after officers looked at their files and records.
"There were no faces or names. They were just a number," he said.
He said after the meeting that "the ball's in their court," adding that the individuals called to Thursday's meeting were given a brochure with resources and a card.
"They will call us," he said. "We will set up a time, sit down with them one-on-one and do a needs assessment to find out what they need. We will try to match them to the resources that we have in order to help them help themselves."
Barranco, too, felt the message was well-received.
"There was a consistent message that we're tired of the violence here in Aiken," he said after the meeting. "We're not going to tolerate it anymore. They have the opportunity to make some healthy choices, and I think some of them will take advantage of that."
Teddy Kulmala covers the crime beat for the Aiken Standard. He is a graduate of Clemson University and hails from Williston.
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text: Prev | Next Lana Del Rey performs at the 2014 Coachella Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 20, 2014, in Indio, Calif. (Photo by Zach Cordner/Invision/AP) Gallery: Coachella Music Festival Apr. 21, 2014 @ 01:08 PM The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival drew big stars and big crowds for the second weekend in Indio, Cal. (u'nobuy',)