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Gear Question
Debbie C
Guys/gals': Sounds like a great mtn.bk....
Guys/gals': Sounds like a great mtn.bk. shoe! This would be my first pair of bike shoes (don't believe in skimping on quality); what pedal system do you all recommend? As suggested in the 'ad' above?...(will be mtn./trail riding).
Also, how do they seem to run, fit-wise? Nomally wear a 7 1/2 ladies U.S.
Any help so appriciated
Aaron Crabb
They run true to size in my opinion. They may have a slightly "european" fit that makes them feel a little narrow - but a tight fit is important with mtn bike shoes. They are also quite adjustable.
I would have to recommend the Crank Brothers Egg Beater pedals. Not because they are super light (they are) or because they shed mud the best (they do), or because of the four-sided entry (great feature) but because they are probably the most popular style right now, and its so so nice to be able to ride a buddy's bike without having to swap pedals.
PS. these shoes last forever... the people that say they've had them for 15 years don't surprise me at all.
Reid Pitman
They fit true to size, I tried a lot of shoes on before choosing the Sidis. I did go with an insole that helped with comfort for hiking my bike and raised my foot for a tighter fit.
Aaron is spot on with the Crank bros pedals. I ride the eggbeaters on my road bike and Candy 2 on my mountain bike for a little extra stability
Debbie C
Thanks, guys!
Now, what do you recommend for a great cyclocross bike (currently have a *Trek Fuel EX 8) ?!
...And, the same set up peddle-wise?
Reid Pitman
When I bought my last road bike I had tried a few, The specialized Crux was one I liked a lot. I don't have much for experience with cyclecross bikes. I'm a mountain biker mostly but road bike for training and cardio. I do like to use the same pedals on all my bikes, that way you don't have to swap cleats and can move pedals around without having to worry about your shoes
Debbie C
Thanks, that's the exact bike I was thinking of getting!
When I get the $$$$, I'll review how the whole system works out for me; for any other's with the same questions!
Thanks again so very much, very helpful!
View More Details on Sidi Dominator 5 Shoes


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Monthly Archives: August 2013
Shopping for our Asheville Bed and Breakfast
August 27, 2013
When it comes to shopping for the Carolina Bed & Breakfast it's generally a division of labor. I plan the menu about one week out, taking into account the dietary restrictions of the guests at our Asheville Bed and Breakfast, … Continue reading
Oh My CSA Contest Winner: Summer Shrimp Soup
August 18, 2013
When I started this contest, I thought it would be fun to see what people came up with given the contents of a CSA box –sort of a locavore's "Chopped". A cool and wet summer has messed with my hopes of … Continue reading
There's More in Asheville than the Biltmore and Mountains!
August 9, 2013
In spite of appearances there is more to being an innkeeper than cooking, cleaning, greeting guests, going out to dinner, hiking, theater, concerts and other events as well as exploring historic sites in the region near our Asheville … Continue reading

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- Home
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Jose Mourinho's first season back in charge at Chelsea FC did not go according to plan. A key victory over Manchester City at the Etihad in early February had established them well and truly in the title race. They followed … Continue reading
Chelsea's dynamic duo of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas are the latest soccer stars to receive criticism for not training with their national team. Despite both Spanish players completing a full 90 minutes during Saturday's 2-1 victory over Liverpool, a … Continue reading
In my previous report on Chelsea FC's start to the 2014/15 season, I had written about the excellent performances of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa as being the key to Chelsea's early season success. Come November, a typically poor time … Continue reading
Chelsea take on Liverpool at Anfield in Saturday's early kickoff as they hope to extend their lead at the top of the table having made an unbeaten start to their 2014-15 Premier League campaign. The Blues labored to a 2-1 … Continue reading
Jose Mourinho displayed his anger with the performance of his Chelsea team against QPR on Saturday. According to Mourinho, only one player had played well on the day – Oscar. The Brazilian scored an absolutely brilliant goal with the outside … Continue reading
It's August 30, 2014 in the 69th minute of a match between Chelsea and Everton. Steven Naismith has halved the Blues' lead with a goal and it is all Cesc Fabregas' fault. But why is it his fault? Why do … Continue reading
This Saturday (10am ET on NBCSN for viewers in the United States) sees Chelsea take the short trip down the road to South London, where Crystal Palace await them. The last time these two sides met skipper John Terry scored an … Continue reading
"I want to be the best; I hope one day I can win the Ballon d'Or, maybe not now but if I work every day and take pleasure from my game then why not?" Following his Player of the Season … Continue reading
Claude Makelele is widely acknowledged as one of the best defensive midfielders in history. In 2003, he was sold by Real Madrid to Chelsea. Following this move, Zinedine Zidane famously said, "Why add another layer of gold to the Bentley … Continue reading
We may be only seven games into the season, however Chelsea have already proved they are the team to beat, after a blistering start that has seen them amass 19 points from a possible 21. They have been putting sides … Continue reading
This Sunday will provide us with a rare phenomenon: A Premier League match in which the two biggest names will be on the sidelines, as Arsene Wenger and Arsenal prepare to make the trip to Stamford Bridge where Jose Mourinho … Continue reading
As Stamford Bridge emptied on Wednesday following Chelsea FC's win over Bolton, some players truly stood out from others. Kurt Zouma did well on his Chelsea debut, Oscar scored a superb goal, while Filipe Luis shined the most, showing exactly … Continue reading
Preview All attention returns to the weekend's Premier League action after Capital One Cup matches took place in midweek. Table toppers Chelsea host Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as they look to consolidate their lead at the top … Continue reading
Summer signing Diego Costa has enjoyed a blistering start to his Chelsea career, netting seven goals in five matches and sits on top of the scorers chart. The 25-year-old came to England with a stellar reputation after last season's exploits … Continue reading
Chelsea FC have started the 2014/15 Barclay's Premier League season in scintillating style, winning all four English Premier League matches so far, including a nine-goal thriller at Goodison Park against Everton. The Blues look a favorite to lift the trophy … Continue reading
Jose Mourinho will be hoping that his charges can maintain their incredible run of form against Schalke on Wednesday evening having enjoyed a blistering start to the season. The Londoners have four wins from four matches to their name in … Continue reading
When the news broke that Chelsea were sanctioning the departure on loan of their £50m flop Fernando Torres, the rumors had already begun to swirl about who they would look to sign to replace him. In his three seasons at … Continue reading
The go-to man on all things Spanish football has long been Guillem Balague and he took time out from his busy schedule to have a chat with World Soccer Talk. The journalist, author and pundit provided us with some typically … Continue reading


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Seller Problem Resolution - PayPal
Resolve a Problem with a Sale
What's the Problem?
Disputes often arise when items arrive significantly different than they were described. An example is an item sold as new but that has obviously been used, or an item that arrives damaged.
- Credit Card Chargebacks
- Resolving Disputes
- Reasons for a Dispute
- Appealing a Claim
- My Funds Are on Hold
- Accessing Your Funds
Credit Card Chargebacks
A chargeback is when a buyer asks their credit card issuer to reverse a transaction after it has been completed.
Chargebacks are available only to users who make a payment funded by their credit or debit card. They are initiated and handled by the buyer's credit card issuer-not by PayPal-and therefore will follow that company's regulations and timeframes.
Buyers generally request chargebacks for the following reasons:
- The item did not arrive
- The item was significantly different than advertised
- Their credit card was used without their permission to purchase the item fraudulently.
Don't be alarmed if you have received a chargeback notice-PayPal is here to help you through the process.
To respond to a notice or to check the status of an existing chargeback, log in and go to the Resolution Center.
For more on chargebacks, read our comprehensive guide, or check out the FAQs if you have a specific question in mind.
Resolving Disputes
Know how to respond if someone disputes a transaction.
There are many reasons for disputes, from shipping delays to damaged items to unauthorized transactions.
PayPal keeps the lines of communication open between sellers and buyers, so it's easier for you to work things out quickly and amicably.
To respond to a dispute, go to the Resolution Center and post a message explaining your understanding of the situation. This is often sufficient to clear things up.
If it isn't, the buyer may escalate the dispute to "claim" status, which means PayPal will review the case and provide a final decision, usually within 20 business days.
See the Seller's Guide to Dispute Resolution for a more detailed look at this process.
Reasons for a Dispute
The most likely reasons a buyer will open a dispute.
Sometimes an item arrives significantly different than it was described.
For instance:
- You received a completely different item.
Example: You purchased a book, but received a DVD.
- The item's condition was misrepresented.
Example: The listing said new but the item had clearly been used.
- The item is missing parts or features, and this was not disclosed.
Example: The listing said batteries included, but they weren't.
- You purchased a specific quantity of an item-but received the wrong amount.
Example: You purchased five pairs of fuzzy dice, but received only four.
- The item was damaged en route to its destination.
Example: You bought a beautiful antique lamp-and it arrived in pieces.
- You received a counterfeit version of the item.
Example: You purchased a Rolex but received a Faux-Lex.
Check out the Seller Protection Overview or the FAQs for more specifics.
Fraudulent Purchase
If a transaction turns out to be fraudulent, it's important that you share what you know about it, so we can continue working hard to keep the whole PayPal community safe.
Appealing a Claim
When a claim is found in favor of the buyer, you may be able to appeal the decision.
The decision could be reversed in the event of one of the following:
- The item is returned to you, but not in the same condition as when the buyer first received it
- No item was returned at all-just an empty box
- The wrong item was returned to you
You can file an appeal in just a few steps:
- Log in to your PayPal account
- Go to the Resolution Center
- Select Closed Cases from the drop-down menu
- Click the Appeal button
Once the appeal has been filed, you may be asked to provide documentation supporting your case, fill out an affidavit, or file a police report, depending on the circumstances. A PayPal representative will then review your case, and if an appeal is granted and you win, you'll be reimbursed for the transaction.
My Funds Are on Hold
In certain situations, PayPal may place payments on temporary hold.
Dispute-Related Holds
Whenever a claim, dispute, or chargeback is opened, PayPal will generally place the payment in question on hold. The funds will remain in your account, but cannot be withdrawn until the issue has been resolved.
Once a decision has been made, your funds will either be released to you or refunded to the buyer.
To check the status of an open dispute, or to offer a refund to the buyer at any time, simply log in to your account and click on your open case.
Payment Holds
When some sellers receive payments, we may hold the money in a pending balance for up to 21 days to help make sure that there are funds in the seller's account to cover potential refunds or claims. The funds may be released early if PayPal determines that the transaction has been fulfilled and customers are satisfied.
While funds are pending, the money belongs to you but isn't available to spend or withdraw.
If payments on your account are held, we'll notify you. PayPal will re-evaluate your account every 35 days and decide whether or not to continue holding payments. If we decide to stop holding future payments, we'll contact you.
Accessing Your Funds
Generally, funds are available to you when the buyer pays. However, in some cases, we may wait to make funds available if we believe that there's a higher level of risk associated with you, your PayPal account or transactions. Although these funds belong to you, they aren't available to spend or withdraw for a period of time.
How you'll know if your funds won't be available immediately
We'll notify you via email or an alert on your account overview page. This will be the best source of information on why funds aren't available right away and what you may be able to do to access them faster. In most cases, if your funds are unavailable, they'll be in your pending balance.
Situations where your funds may not be available immediately
Here are the most common situations:
- Risk Based - For some sellers, the funds from each transaction won't be available for up to 21 days. This generally applies to eBay sellers who have a limited selling history or to those who have a Below Standard seller rating on eBay. This may also affect sellers we've determined may have a higher level of risk associated with their account or transactions, like claims or chargebacks. Learn more about how to access funds sooner and common reasons you may be affected.
- Disputed Transactions - If your buyer files a dispute or claim through PayPal or eBay, a chargeback with their credit card or if some other reversal type is received, the funds from the transaction in question won't be available while the issue is being resolved. The money will either be made available to you or refunded to the buyer, depending on the outcome of the case.
- Reserves - When we delay the availability of all or some portion or all of the money received into your account for a given period of time, it's called a reserve. We'll notify you if your account will have a reserve, along with the type, amount and its duration. Here are common types of reserves:
- A rolling reserve - we'll set aside a certain percentage of your funds on a rolling schedule and make them available at the end of a given timeframe. For example, if your reserve is 10% for a 90-day rolling period, we'll set aside 10% of your sales on the first day until day 91, 10% of your second day's payments until day 92, and so on. You can use the remaining funds immediately.
- A minimum reserve - we'll require you to keep a certain amount of money in your account for a given period of time. For example, if your reserve is $5,000, we'll set aside a percentage of each day's sales until this pending balance reaches your minimum balance level. Once that level is reached, that amount will be set aside in your account. Learn more.
- Instant Payment Review - If we identify a potential issue with a buyer's payment, we'll let you know and ask that you wait up to 24 hours to ship the item. During this time, the funds won't be available. Within 24 hours, we'll let you know whether or not it's safe to ship the item. This is to help protect you from potential fraud.
- Account Limitations - We may limit access to your funds if we believe there's an issue related to your account. For example, we may limit your account to help prevent potential fraud, like unauthorized account use. We may also limit our account if we need to verify your identity. If your account is limited, your funds may be unavailable for up to 180 days. Usually, you can fix this by visiting the Resolution Center and providing some more information. Learn more.


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Find accommodations in Debary with the hotel list provided below. Search for the cheapest discounted hotel and motel rates in or near Debary, FL for your upcoming individual or group travel. We list the best Debary, Florida hotel and motel rooms. Browse the Debary area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the Debary hotels. Planning a group? Lock in Debary Group Hotel Deals
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207 Training For Guiders
Entered on: 3 July 2006
Chile - Providing training for young guiders and increase membership
Asociation de Guias y Scout de Chile is training one guider from each of the twenty-three areas of Chile. They will then be responsible for implementing the training in their own regions. The training will be in the form of a 4 day camp with printed educational materials provided.
The project will result in improved quality of education for girl guides/girl scouts and ultimately an increase in membership as well as an opportunity to decentralize committee tasks.
This project has been funded in full by the Guides and Scouts of Finland.
Member Organizations working on this project
- Asociación De Guías Y Scouts De Chile
Regions working on this project
- Western Hemisphere
Topics related to this project
- Education
- Mutual Aid


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Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School in neighboring Bloomfield and the Early Childhood Program in the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions (ENHP) are engaged in a collaborative agreement. Authentic experiences and engagement in best practices, case studies, and research opportunities benefit both University and Wintonbury students while informing the practice of professionals and leaders at both sites.
If you are interested in learning more about ENHP's Wintonbury initiative, contact:
Toko Oshio, Assistant Professor
Paige Bray, Associate Professor
Our partners at Wintonbury are:
Jenna Tenore, Principal
Irene Garneau, Curriculum Specialist


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Originally published in Interiors & Sources
By Robert Nieminen
Photo Credit: Christopher Halloran | Shutterstock.com
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As the political campaign season shifts into high gear, and with our attention focused on government interiors and civic projects in this issue, it's hard not to wonder how the November elections will affect the economy at large and, more specifically, the interior design industry.
Will a re-energized Obama administration continue to push its Better Buildings Initiative to make commercial buildings more efficient? What impact will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) really have on the healthcare industry and the design of hospitals?
Would a newly-elected Romney help bolster job growth through fiscally conservative measures, opening up markets for expansion and new construction?
Or will the next several years bear a striking resemblance to the past four regardless of who's elected, with economic growth crawling along and unemployment continuing at record numbers, while politicians trade blame and promise to solve our domestic problems if only we elect them for another term? (Anyone else tired of the status quo in Washington, or is it just me?)
It's hard to say how things will look after the election, but there are a few government-related questions for which we have sought out answers and present to you this month. First up is the question of compliance with the Trade Agreement Act (TAA). For designers working on federal General Services Administration (GSA) projects, ensuring that the products they specify are TAA compliant is critical—and missteps can be costly. Contributing writer Kylie Wroblaski spoke with designers who are familiar with the act and its (often confusing) regulatory stipulations, and brings us some tips on avoiding the most common compliance pitfalls.
Speaking of the GSA, its goal of reducing its current average space utilization rate of 247 rentable square feet (RSF) per person to about 156 RSF per person means that many lease actions will be subject to new and intensive space planning and utilization studies, as reported in this month's IIDA Forum article. "The demand for space reduction and the mandate to do more with less will drive and reinforce continuous innovation in workplace design," writes IIDA President James Williamson.
Further, Williamson cites four key factors that will influence the design of government workplaces in the future, and goes so far as to suggest that "today's austerity in public institutions means more opportunity for design, not less."
Unfortunately, it seems that—at least for the foreseeable future—these opportunities are going to come in smaller projects and renovations, reports Managing Editor Adam Moore in this month's Trends column. As agencies opt to renew existing leases instead of embarking on capital-intensive building projects, designers will need to adapt to the new scope and pace of government work.
"Modern governments are navigating many of the same changes that have been affecting their commercial brethren: increasing real estate costs and a tech-empowered workforce are pushing agencies toward flexible and remote work environments," Moore writes. "And just like other clients, governments need help adjusting to these new workplace realities. Designers who are willing to spend extra time in the due diligence and planning phases—and can remain patient as plans are revised or changed once again—will find themselves in demand," he says.
Find out how your firm can survive the ups and downs of a leaner public sector with fewer opportunities for billing, and position itself for growth when the economy does finally come back to life, by reading this informative article.
In the meantime, you can be sure of one thing: designing institutional projects isn't what it used to be. As Mark Roddy, AIA, principal and design director for SmithGroupJJR, told me in an interview for our featured photo essay on Chandler City Hall, the needs of government agencies aren't that different from the private sector, echoing the sentiments expressed by other practitioners interviewed for Moore's Trends piece.
"When you look at trends, what I've been seeing for the last 10-plus years is that municipalities and governments are really looking for flexible spaces," he says. "They recognize the fact that things—even in their business—are changing very quickly."
Whatever your political persuasion, we can all be thankful that bureaucrats are not the ones behind the wheel of the design industry (not directly anyway), because change does not come quickly to Washington, no matter how hopeful we are that it will.
My name is Robert Nieminen, and I approve this message.
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Full detailed profile on Gray Gerard Played by Dominic Fumusa on As the World Turns Daytime Soap Opera.
Dominic Fumusa (Soaps.com)
Real Name: Dominic Fumusa
Vienna opens the hotel room door to a bellman with a message from Gray. He asks Vienna to join him for a drink. Henry is in the shower and asks what is going on. Vienna hides the diamond necklace and the note as he comes out of the bath! He asks her to come to the diner with him to finish a few things up before the hand-over. Vienna declines. When he is gone she grabs the note and the necklace and then leaves the room. She meets with Gray to tell him that she won't sleep with him. Gray asks why. She talks about Henry's wonderful qualities. Gray says he can be just as good but Vienna says she is too in love with Henry to consider it.
Katie walks in to the diner to commiserate with Henry. He insists that things are fine; Katie admits that she isn't fine. Brad calls about Vienna and Gray. Henry asks Katie to close up and then runs out. He arrives at The Lakeview just in time to see Bonnie dump a glass of champagne on Vienna! The girls fight and Henry takes a slug at Gray, knocking him to the ground! Vienna gets between the men. Henry grabs her and hustles her from the lounge. He takes her upstairs, telling her that she can't do this. Vienna insists that she was telling Gray to forget it. She and Henry make love. While Henry is sleeping Gray calls! He offers to give her back the diner without sleeping with her. Vienna desperately wants the diner but says it won't work. She hangs up on him.


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Southwest Colorado real estate properties are some of the best kept secrets in Colorado!
One of the most beautiful and undiscovered corners of the world, Southwest Colorado offers a truly unique opportunity to own farm and ranch properties at a fraction of the price of other highly populated resort areas in Colorado.
This is a great time to discover Southwest Colorado real estate values. Unlike its counterparts, this region is literally surrounded by millions of acres of National Forest, offering not only a year-round recreational mecca – but ensuring the sustainability of land values and open spaces for generations to come.
There is no doubt that the ups and downs of the economy can lead some to be hesitant to invest in real estate. But the undisputed fact is that much of this nation's wealth has been accumulated and sustained through real estate holdings.
- A solid asset, land can be enjoyed now and passed on to future generations.
- Water rights in the West continue to grow in value.
- Studies indicate a steady increase in migration to the Rocky Mountain region.
If you are interested in purchasing Southwest Colorado real estate, our team of professional Brokers can provide you with valuable information about the market, inventory and lifestyle. Please call 970.264.1250 to learn more or email us.
Why Buy With Galles Properties?


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- Chael Sonnen has maintained since agreeing to coach The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil opposite Wanderlei Silva that he wants to bring his former rival Anderson Silva in as an assistant coach on his team. Sonnen insists that he's serious and wants Silva on his coaching staff because he believes his team would benefit greatly from training with the all-time great.
According to a report on UFC Tonight, Silva is also interested in teaming up with Sonnen. Apparently, Silva is looking to take a month off following his impending bout with Chris Weidman, but wants to help Sonnen coach afterwards. Silva's management seems to think it's a strong possibility that he'll participate in the show on Sonnen's team.
- The UFC recently announced the inclusion of the women's strawweight division into the promotion, which came as welcome news to fight fans, as well as women's bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. Rousey explained during a recent appearance on UFC Tonight that she's looking forward to having another female champion to help carry the mantle for women's MMA.
"I'm super excited about it," Rousey said of the new division. "These girls are all super talented, charismatic, and super cute. The UFC has really recognized the value the women can bring, and is investing in them and thinking long term. I can't wait for a new women's champion and having some of the responsibilities and pressure be taken off of me. I could use a little help."
The new division's champion will be crowned after a season of The Ultimate Fighter that will focus only on the strawweight division.
Got a news tip or correction? Send it to us by clicking here.
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The New Day Debuts A New Chant, WWE Main Event Match Goes Long, Fans On John Cena - Seth Rollins
** LIVE SPOILERS ** For This Week's WWE SmackDown
New Shirt Released For Ailing Legend, Jimmy Uso And Naomi Tour Stadium, Kurt Angle Set For Q&A Tour
John Cena WWE Tough Enough Promo, Los Matadores Win Dark Match, RAW Twitter TV Ratings, RAW Top 10
Did WWE Print The "Cesaro Section" Signs At Last Night's RAW?, More Signs On SmackDown This Week
Total Divas Recap: Alicia/Wade Drama, Paige Argues With Nikki, John Cena, More
Full Episode Of Tough Talk: Latest Elimination, Paige Wants To Punch Miz, Daniel Bryan Scolds, More
WWE Monday Night RAW Results - Six-Man Main Event, Paul Heyman And Brock Lesnar, More
Why Kane Was Written Out Of Storylines, New Details On WWE Movie With Dolph Ziggler,
Sexy Star Nude Photoshoot Video, Lucha Underground - Dario Cueto Note, Shelton Benjamin - GFW Video
Big Angle With Paul Heyman And Brock Lesnar On RAW
Huge Title Match Set For WWE SummerSlam


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Main News Page
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
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Program/Project Management
Mother Nature's summertime triple whammy—record heat, followed by an earthquake and hurricane—has left billions of dollars in infrastructure damage in just a few short weeks.
Broken highways in Oklahoma, drought-induced water main breaks in Texas, shaky nuclear reactors in Virginia, cracking landmarks in Washington DC, and dozens of washed-out bridges in New York, New Jersey and Vermont are all evidence of nature's toll from the Summer of 2011.
With rescue efforts still underway across floor-isolated areas of Upstate New York, New Jersey and Vermont, it is too soon to know the full scope of the damage—much less, the cost of rebuilding.
Josh Compton / iReport
Estimates are that Irene will soon rank among the nation's top 10 most expensive natural disasters.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already put the tab for his state alone at more than $1 billion.
And that's on top of the pre-existing $2 trillion-plus national tab previously estimated for repairs over five years.
Here's a look at what Mother Nature has dished out this summer and the rebuilding it is likely to spur:
Houston: Leaks, Leaks Everywhere
Historic drought and record temperatures have made mincemeat of Houston's water mains this summer. The pace of breaks in water mains is four to five times normal, and city crews cannot keep up.
As of August 25, the city had repaired 5,014 water main breaks this year. Crews are making about 100 repairs each day.
"On a normal, bad summer day, I have 200," Houston Mayor Annise Parker told KTRK-TV this week. The city now has more than 1,000 breaks, "and I just don't have enough crews. We're running every crew we have nights and weekends. We have all the private sector crews we have, but there are other problems that are going to come."
These are not small drips, either. On Wednesday (Aug. 31), an SUV fell into a highway hole opened up by a water main break. So far, water and sewer rate hikes from last year are paying for the repairs, but it is not known how long that money will last. Meanwhile, the heat is also causing potholes, roads to buckle and dead trees to fall.
Oklahoma: Buckled Highways
Burst pipes and buckled roads have also plagued Oklahomans this summer. Record temperatures throughout the nation's mid-section—including dozens of 100-degree-plus days—are fracturing roads and bridges.
In downtown Oklahoma City, two lanes of a major interstate were closed temporarily after buckling on a bridge caused steel expansion joints to rise, damaging cars as they passed over. In Tulsa, a hole opened in the pavement of a highway bridge, and a section of U.S. 75 in a nearby town buckled. In Enid, asphalt at a major intersection along U.S. Highway 412 buckled one torrid Saturday night in July.
OK Turnpike Authority
"Typically, we see some joints that will start to punch up, causing cracks and fractures in the pavement," Casey Shell, of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, told KFOR-TV.
Oklahoma City Utilities spokeswoman Debbie Regan said the state's roads, bridges and even home foundations had become vulnerable to "expansion and contraction of the soil that's caused by the shift in the weather."
Virginia: Nuclear Shake-Up
Damage from the East Coast earthquake Aug. 23 was generally minor, but one area is drawing increasing concern.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stepped up monitoring at the North Anna nuclear power plant, located less than 10 miles from the epicenter of the 5.8 magnitude quake.
The quake triggered an automatic shutdown at North Anna, in Virginia, and alerts at a dozen other plants, but NRC reported normal operations within 48 hours.
On Monday, however, the agency said, "Further reviews indicated that additional inspection is warranted," and it dispatched an "augmented" inspection team to the facility.
"The station remains shut down, and the company continues to review data from the quake and assess possible effects," NRC said in a release. "No significant damage to safety systems has been identified, but [plant operator] Dominion has reported to the NRC that initial reviews determined the plant may have exceeded the ground motion for which it was designed.
"This determination is in line with NRC's preliminary independent analyses, although data is still being collected and analyzed to determine the precise level of shaking that was experienced at key locations within the North Anna facility."
Dominion had said earlier that the plant could withstand a quake of magnitude 5.9 to 6.1
Irene's Wrath
In the Northeast and New England, the full effects of Hurricane Irene's destruction are not yet known. Vast areas show smashed bridges, sunken roads and nothing but water for miles.
In Vermont, which has the nation's greatest concentration of covered bridges, bridges that had lasted more than a century were demolished in a day. Twelve towns in the state remain unreachable by roads obliterated by the storm.
Chris Cole, of the state Agency of Transportation, said crews were still gathering information about the conditions of bridges and roads. Initially, the storm forced the closure of 263 state and local roads and damaged or destroyed more than 25 state bridges, and state transportation officials said they expected the number to rise.
In New York, 22 state bridges have been closed due to flood damage. On Wednesday, President Obama announced a federal disaster declaration for eight counties in Upstate New York.
The declaration cleared the way for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay 75 percent of cleanup costs, with state and local governments footing the balance. The problem: FEMA has less than $800 million left in its disaster aid budget for this year, officials say.
Hidden Damage
Not all of the damage that must be fixed is either apparent or immediate. Some of it will grow over time, and often out of sight.
Emergency bridge closings have been reported nationwide this summer, due to the effects of age and weather.
In Minnesota, weight limits were drastically reduced and emergency repairs ordered on the 80-year-old Stillwater lift bridge after an inspection showed four areas with advanced corrosion and deterioration to steel beams. Officials said the summer's extreme heat had accelerated the wear and tear of aging.
Refineries Rebound
The oil and gas industry was still taking stock of damage to refineries and offshore operations, but there were no early reports of major damage. Most refineries and fuel shippers had braced for the storm, and ConocoPhillips made a controlled shutdown of its refinery in Linden, NJ.
The result was relatively minor power outages and water buildups that temporarily reduced production at some operations, Dow Jones reported.
By late Wednesday, however, pipelines and oil-vessel traffic were reported nearly back to normal.
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One sign of the improved economy and real estate market is the fact that there are more building permits being filed across Canada. When the recession hit and the real estate market tanked, building permits fell as well as investors and builders became worried about being able to sell the newly-constructed homes. However, with the massive increases in the real estate market across the country since July of this year, many investors and builders are now getting back into building homes for those who need them. It couldn't come at a better time for places like Toronto, which currently has more buyers than there are listings, which has created a seller's market.
Across Canada, building permits were up 18 percent for single-family homes and for non-residential projects. This is a big shot in the arm for the economy because the building permits have risen to $6.12 billion, which is the highest level seen since the beginning of the recession back in September of 2008. What makes the increase so amazing is that economists only thought there would be a one percent increase.
As a result of the increases in building permits, the Canadian dollar even increased. The economy even grew in the third quarter of 2009, with five times as many jobs being added to the country from what economists thought there would be. All of this is due in a major part in the surging real estate market across the country. This is exactly what an economists with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce verified when he said that the housing market is a leader in the recovery.
Across the country, sales of existing homes were up by 74 percent from the levels they were at during the start of the year. Prices were also up by 21 percent, hitting an average of $341,079.
The surging levels in the real estate market should continue to June of 2010 as the Bank of Canada has pledged to leave the interest rates at their record lows until at least then.
From January 2010 to June 2010, there is a good chance we will see the real estate market hit levels not seen since the mid-2000s, when the real estate market was setting records across North America. It should also be noted that while the real estate market is surging in Canada, it is still struggling horribly in the United States, which has been much slower to recover.
Posted: 2009-12-14 11:34:11
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Peru State students to volunteer at Omaha's Open Door Mission as part of National TRIO Day of Service
(Peru, Neb.) Peru State College (PSC) Student Success Services (SSS) participants will volunteer their time this Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Open Door Mission's Timberlake Outreach Center in Omaha as part of TRIO's National Day of Service.
Peru State's Student Success Coordinator Peggy Groff said, "TRIO's National Day of Service is a wonderful opportunity for our students to reach out to the community and support others. Community service helps enrich the student experience and provides an avenue for community engagement."
TRIO is comprised of seven federally-funded educational opportunity outreach programs and one staff training program that seek to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds, namely low-income, first-generation students. The term TRIO was coined in the late 1960s in reference to the first three educational opportunity programs to emerge out of President Roosevelt's War on Poverty. Over the years, TRIO has expanded to include Student Success Services, Talent Search, Upward Bound, Veterans Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Educational Opportunity Centers, and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. While the other TRIO programs help students prepare for college or pursue graduate degrees, SSS helps undergraduate college students persist in their studies and graduate.
Peru State's SSS project serves approximately 230 students at any given time. Participants are selected based on federal eligibility criteria.
The Timberlake Outreach Center, located at 2107 E. Locust in Omaha, provides preventive measures to empower families struggling in poverty. Since 2004, the Center has enabled families to remain in their own homes by supplementing their incomes through preventive measures, such as providing monthly assistance with food, clothing, household goods, furniture and appliances. The Timberlake Outreach Center also offers preventive measures through a variety of free classes, such as GED completion, computer training, life skills, case management, employment readiness and English as a second language. More than 7,500 people benefit from the Center's services each month.


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Do you take notice of IMDB ratings?
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28-02-2013, 18:59
Jay Bigz
Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Herts
Posts: 3,608
Originally Posted by
If I like who's in it and it's the type of film I enjoy....the ratings don't bother me.
And as they can be Harsh.....
6.7 is a high number to start given films a fair crack at
Tis indeed.
You've also got to take into considering why people rated a film negatively too. If it's a crime/thriller with lots of violence and swearing then thousands of fogies might just give it one star because they were offended, dragging a score right down when averaged. The same could be said about any film, that features anything offensive.
You're gonna miss out on a lot of great movies that might be 'right up your street' by only watching stuff that's rated over 6.7 lol
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Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Your Burning Questions From Season 3, Episode 16!
Each episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is filled with surprising and shocking moments that sometimes require closer examination. With that in mind, here are answers to your top five burning questions from Season 3, Episode 16: "The Real Housewives of Paris, Part Deux."
1. Are Lisa and Kyle back to being friends?
Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump tried to work things out this week, but it didn't seem to pay off. Lisa says in her Bravo blog that she still has "fun" with Kyle but "the trust isn't there." Meanwhile, Lisa and Kyle apparently "exchanged some very, very angry words" to each other at the Season 3 reunion, which taped last week. That doesn't sound promising for these two.
2. Who is Brandi's new man?
Brandi Glanville dishes to Kim Richards on the Eiffel tower that she's casually dating a new guy — but who is he? Judging by the timing of the episode, it appears that he's Jonathan Ruiz, whom Brandi was seen ogling at the White Party. The two started dating last summer and broke up around December 2012. Let's hope we get a glimpse at their relationship on a later episode!
3. How did Lisa feel about Kim's reaction to her comments in Paris?
Lisa makes it clear that she has "love and support" for Kim. She also admits to being "ignorant" to the fact that asking someone if they've taken a sleeping pill is apparently the same as asking if they've relapsed. That said, Lisa still thinks that Kim was "over-emotional and volatile" and "was not accurately recalling the events of that afternoon" when she overslept.
4. Are Yolanda and Kim still close?
Yolanda Foster had Kim's back during the episode, but it appears that they are no longer tight. Yolanda says that Kim seemed to have "forgotten" Yolanda's "sincere acts of kindness" once the group returned to L.A. We're hoping these two can still find a way to stay friends, since Kim seems to need all the support she can get.
5. Were Brandi and the chef actually interested in each other?
It was hard to tell if the flirtatious behavior between Brandi and the chef at the cooking class was real, but apparently it was — at least for one of the two people. Yolanda reveals that "the chef was head over heels" for Brandi. However, it seemed that Brandi was just flirting to have fun and wasn't really into the chef. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be.


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Totally dorking out about this Tutorial!!! I had been thinking of a way to make a cutesy little "belong together" pun for a decoration for Valentine's day…. I decided to pull out the Black Charger plate I got for $0.50 and huge dollar store spoons to play off of Hey Diddle Diddle……..And the dish ran away with the spoon! Ok totally corny I know, but thats how I roll! I used a little bit of everything with metal stamping on {Read More}
Super Cute DIY Valentine's Decoration with Vinyl Charger and Metal Stamped Spoon
Saturday 7: Masculine Valentine's Love Cards
Todays Saturday 7 is all about the man cards! Thought it would be fun to share a few of these ideas with you all! Check them out! www.catechestnut.com Pinterest.com Pinterest.com Scrapbook.com www.creationshabsgirl22.com AboveRubies Cards Video and Bonus Video Stamp.tv Don't forget to enter to win the Cricut Artbooking Cartridge collection HERE and take advantage of the special Close to My Heart February Specials and AboveRubiesStudio Pink and Red Spread the Love Specials!!!
Easy Batch of Kids Valentine's Made by The Kids!
Happy Tuesday My Friends! Valentine's day is coming up quick! We are all getting so excited to celebrate Love for each other and our friends and family! The kids had to make big batches of Valentine's for the classes – and with me being a little bit on the down, we made these in super awesome batches using the Artiste Cricut Cartridge, they each picked a Close To My Heart HEART stamp and washable ink with a crazy amount of {Read More}
Saturday 7: Easy to Make Kids Valentines Cards
This Saturday 7 is all about the Kids Valentines! Easy things that kids can make to give to classmates, teachers, siblings, grandparents, parents, you name it! 1. Great School Valentine (and it uses my favorite candy!) There are actually 9 other GREAT Valentine's in this post too! 2. You Color My Heart – I completely ADORE this idea – having kids draw one color in heart, copy, paste and attach a crayon! GENIUS! {Read More}
Snow/Weather Day Home Activities for Kids! DIY Pinkalicious Wands with Ribbon and Cricut
Kids are home from school today and most likely tomorrow as well so we have been reading, coloring and doing as many "non-messy" crafts as possible (i.e. I don't want to paint, clean glitter, wipe them down, clean up spilled glue etc….) Jena got Silverlicious for Christmas so we read that as well as a few other Pinkalicious books and she decided a star wands like Pink, is exactly what she needed! Off to the craft-room….(it's kinda like the Batcave, {Read More}
Fan-Stachtic Christmas Tree Card with Cricut Artiste Cartridge
I loved the idea of stacking up mustaches to look like a Christmas tree and when I saw the t-shirt at Target I was in love and immediately had to create a card using my Close To My Heart Artiste Cricut Cartridge! Using 1/4″ increments of mustaches cut out from the Artiste Cartridge you can create any size and style Christmas tree and top it off with an adorable snow-flake star! This is great for wall decor too it looks {Read More}
Day 11 2013 Extravaganza Creating Amazing Easy Giftcard Holders
Today's Video – one of my favorite things to do! Create envelopes with the Cricut Expression as gift card holders for awesome DIY embellishments on the front of your cards and adorable custom gift wrapping to take Gift Card giving to a more personal level! Take advantage of the most amazing deal we have offered all Black Friday Extravaganza! Between the Pink Dies Bundle and THIS WOW! Check it out! Today's Deal: 123 Card Makers Bundle Deal only $30.12 {Read More}
Day 8 2013 Extravaganza! Howto Make Custom Gifts and Super Deal!
Todays Video is SO stinkin' fun! I love it because there are so many ways you can run with this! I'm going to show you several ways of making total custom and personalized gift sets from coasters and wine glasses! We are going to use Craft Attitude and coaster blanks to create something meaningful and special in moments! You can print ANYTHING you can imagine on this thin film, all you have to do is remember to print it in "flip {Read More}
Day 7 – 2013 12 Days Extravaganza Easy Scrapbook Layouts from Kits
Today's Video – Let's get right to it! I'm using the Close to My Heart Workshop on the Go Sparkle and Shine Kit! LOVE this Thing, You will too – You can shop it at my Close to My Heart Page here and go ahead and be inspired to scrapbook this season! Today's Deal: 123 Stampers Bundle a $150 value for only $30.12 Enter today's Giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway Featuring something VERY Special from ME for today's extra {Read More}
Day 6 2013 12 Day Extravaganza – DIY Gifts for the Holidays and CTMH Giveaway
Welcome to Day 6 of our 12 Days of Black Friday Extravaganza!!! I for one can not believe we are half way through the crazy! Here is another video doing some fun inking and stamping and the reason I decided to share this today was because our feature today is the 123 Stamp DVD for only $3.12!!! That's less than it costs to make the DVDs! Only on the 12 Days events will you ever find them THAT cheap and {Read More}


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The Olympus OM-D EM-5, With Panasonic/Leica 25mm F 1.8 Lens
Everything old is new again, and it's not just true in watches (where it's true with a vengeance; you can't swing a stick without hitting a flat, thin dress watch, and the word "classic" is getting one hell of a workout.) Gadget lovers seem to swing back and forth between wanting all the charm and style of old school design –rangefinder cameras, hand-wound watches –they're selling hand-sets for mobile phones that look exactly like old rotary phone hand-sets in airport electronics shops, for crying out loud –and wanting the very latest in ultra high tech tech. When someone like Steve Jobs (requiescat in pace) describes his latest and greatest mobile phone by saying, " Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It's like a beautiful old Leica camera," then you know our collective desires have gotten seriously schizophrenic.
Camera design these days is in an interesting place; there are basically –as far as I can tell –three schools of thought getting play right now.
First, there are the traditionalist digital camera designs –and they all look basically alike, whether it's a high end pro rig like the Canon 5D Mk III or a tourist's travel zoom, like the Sony HX200v. That is to say, they're dull, dull, dull . . . my god, they're dull; whatever technical and ergonomic merits they have (which are considerable) they have all the generic appeal of –well, generic things that aren't appealing; they all look as if they were made by melting black plastic over the innards. Functionally irreproachable they may be –sexy, not so much.
Then, there's the Brave New World crowd. This is the group of cameras that discard the pentaprism-box-over-a-black-bar-of-soap aesthetic –one derived from 35mm SLR cameras –as well as the rangefinder look. Both are forms that are inherited from the film paradigm. While there are certain functional similarities, of course, between film and digital cameras –it's still all about getting light onto a flat, light sensitive surface, to be brutally reductive about it –it's also true that to date, we've hardly scratched the surface of what could be done with cameras that really embrace their digital nature. Cameras from this school are, unabashedly, electronic, computer-chip controlled, digital sensor devices, and everything from the Sony NEX 7 to future-shock cameras like the Lytro Light Field camera represent an attempt to soar, Icarus-like, free of the dull gravity of antiquated functional design without melting the wings of practicality, to beat a metaphor to death.
Finally, there's the subject of this post: the retro school. Oddly enough, it's been enabled by the same technological breakthroughs as the Brave New World cameras. High resolution electronic viewfinders, touchscreen interfaces and live views with hundreds-of-frames-per-second refresh rates, and super-fast autofocus systems (as well as advances in sensor technology that make smaller formats like APS-C and even Micro Four Thirds competitive, if not yet a replacement for, full frame sensors) mean that you can make a camera that handles like Grandpa's lovely old SLR or rangefinder camera, but has all the convenience of next-gen technology. Executions run the gamut from the genuinely old school –like the Leica M9 and new M type 240, which still use mechanically coupled optical rangefinders, and the M Monochrom, which doesn't even record color data, for crying out loud –to vintage-style cameras like the Fuji X-100 and new X -E1 system camera, which may out-Leica Leica in looking like vintage cameras, but which have guts whose digital sophistication HAL 9000 would envy.
What, therefore, O ghost of Louis Daguerre, is a consumer to do? You can go all GASsy (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) but that's bloody expensive and besides, the spirit rebels eventually against equipment redundancy (especially considering the breakneck pace of product evolution; you can experience buyer's remorse at remarkably frequent intervals in digital photography.) You can eschew design questions completely and shop purely for function, but what you find is that you can't really tease function totally away from design. That huge full frame DSLR may be the cat's pajamas when it comes to resolution and dynamic range, but let's face it, it looks about as cool as a pre-knotted bow tie, and it's a damned heavy nuisance to lug around. You might think that retro-styled camera's just an exercise in spineless hipster pandering but hey, it's one hell of a lot lighter and, surprise surprise, you're not so sure you need to blow up your files to billboard size.
What we would really like, to come (finally) to the point, is to have our cake and eat it too, which brings me to the subject of this review. (This is called "burying the lede" in the magazine business. One is not supposed to do it unless one is hopelessly fond of digression. One blushes.)
The Olympus OM-D EM-5 is one of the slickest, smartest, sexiest little cameras ever to come down the pike. I actually didn't care for the cut of its jib at first –what looks like a pentaprism hump is actually the housing for the electronic viewfinder, and the overall look seemed just a little twee –plus, full disclosure, I'm a rangefinder guy; I shoot (whether well or not is another story) black and white film on two vintage Leicas, revere Garry Winogrand and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and in general tend to find things worth doing to the extent that they're unnecessarily difficult to do (you need to take off the whole bottom plate to load the film, and thread it by hand onto a fiddly little metal spool? Just like in the 1930s? Sign me up!) So a camera that took its style cues from an SLR –even a classic like Olympus' original OM series, considered a classic of modern camera design –was a bit of an uphill battle.
Original Olympus OM-1, 1972, Wikipedia Commons
Then, at a trade show, I had a chance to handle one. It was light. It was fast –king hell fast, in fact, snapping into focus almost instantly. It handled really beautifully. Files online on the usual review sites looked surprisingly good –never having shot Micro Four Thirds before, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I wasn't expecting results this nice –and the presence of so many enticing external knobs and dials was a shot of pure electricity right to the gadget loving centers of my cerebral cortex. It was compact, discreet, fast, and powerful –a kind of ninja among cameras –and I ended up taking one home a few weeks later.
Since then, the OM-D EM-5 has been on several long business trips with me. It's taken pictures in Pompeii, in Paris, on a restaurant terrace in Naples, on the Isle of Capri, on the streets of Monte Carlo, and in Berlin. It's also –and this was incredibly bad judgment on my part, but it speaks to the toughness of the camera, which is weatherproofed (as is the 12-50 kit lens that came with it) gone out shooting with me during Hurricane Sandy, and lived to tell the tale. So far, I've only shot it with the kit zoom lens –which is very serviceable, if nothing to fall head over heels in love with –and with the very lovely Panasonic/Leica 25mm F 1.4 DG Summilux, but I'm still hooked.
Sailing Into Capri, OM-D EM-5, 12-50 mm Kit Zoom, ISO 400/F 6.3
The Cutest Taxi In All Capri, OM-D EM-5, 12-50 Kit Zoom, ISO 400/f 3.6
How are the files? At this point in the evolution of the Micro Four Thirds system, it's really all about the glass –with a good lens, you get lovely files. The OM-D EM-5 has a bunch of fun art filters, but the .jpg files right out of the camera are nothing to sneeze at either, and in most cases the limiting factors in image quality are the lens and photographer, not the sensor. The EM-5 also has an excellent in-camera (as opposed to in-lens) image stabilizer, which lets you shoot with a slower shutter speed at night (just remember, it won't slow people down, though it helps eliminate the effects of shaky hands very nicely.) I'd be lying, though, if I didn't say that I didn't notice a difference between a Micro Four Thirds sensor and APS-C or full frame when working with RAW files –shadows clip, and highlights are blown, just a little sooner than with a bigger sensor. Nine times out of ten it's not a problem but you do feel like you've got just that much less headroom –you can still pull some detail out of shadows and suppress over-exposed areas but not to the extent you could with a bigger sensor. All other things being equal though, that's always going to be true –ye canna fight the laws o' physics, cap'n.
Sandy Coming In, OM-D EM-5, 12-50 Kit Zoom, ISO 200/F 5.6
First Snow. OM-D EM-5, Panasonic/Leica 25mm F 1.4, ISO 200, F 2.0
The other thing to be aware of is that this camera is almost insanely customizable. If you slap on the custom battery grip (which does make it much less compact, though it's still far less bulky than a full size pro DSLR) you have a total of five dials and fourteen buttons to play with and customize, as well as the (thank God) short-cut Super Control Panel on the touchscreen. Some people may feel this is too much of a good thing –certainly the camera has some undocumented features which have led to users posting lists of things the manual doesn't tell you, like a video game fanatic's guide to in-game Easter eggs.
Even with those caveats, it's still become my go-to camera, and it's in my bag already for another flight to Paris. With the PanaLeica lens and the kit lens (which shoots very decent macro, though I'm keen to give the 60mm Olympus macro a go) it's basically the perfect camera for a globetrotting professional magazine writer who just might need to grab images his publication can use too, but who doesn't want to send the local chiropracter's kids to college thanks to back problems from a full size DSLR and lenses. Plus, out of the bag, the OM-D EM-5 is small enough to go to formal events, and weatherproof enough for anything from a hurricane to boating in the Mediterranean, without my worrying about a splash or two.
Did I say perfect? I take it back, no camera's perfect. But it's close.


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Hold down Control (PC) or Command (Mac) key + mouseclick to select more than one option
|Avg. Dinner Entrée
|Greater than $25
|$18.01 - $25
|$12.01 - $18
|$7.01 - $12
|Less than $7
Posted by Mickey on 02/28/2012
Somehow, beer just tastes better at Tir na nOg, and not just Guinness and Harp, as it now as a line of craft beers like Leffe, Lagunitas and Smuttynose. I love the brunch on weekends, especially the traditional Irish breakfast and the Irish Cheddar omelet with bacon rashers. The smoked salmon is the best I've ever had. The service is usually marvelous, with two lovely lasses tending to your every need. Yes, it gets crowded before Garden events, but it's exciting to feel the buzz of the crowd. It's less crowded at other times, especially on weekends.
Posted by irish gurl in nyc on 02/11/2012
Myy meal was so good, i had to ask the chef's name. Great portion size, great service, great fun. I will be back!
Posted by Cal on 11/26/2011
One of my favorite places for any occasion. Terrific food, particularly the burgers, seafood and Shepherd's Pie., and a great beer list. I love the staff, and the decor is unsurpassed.
Posted by Sinead on 01/08/2010
My boyfriend has been meeting his buddies here for years. Because they are creatures of habit. I have finally convinced him never to go back. This place has become stale. They are cruising on past reviews. Girls restroom is unclean and never has toilet paper. Garbage can overflowing with paper towels. Surly bartenders...there's only one, tall nice-looking young guy who treats customers with some respect. The turnover of the crowd here is not to be believed. Everyone from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden meeting for one or two and leaving. Not a good ambience at all. Kinda like a bar located WITHIN Penn. Bar itself is awkward, difficult to get a good seat as you've always got your back to the front door and any musicians playing. I've been here numerous times and food is pub-grub at best.
Posted by Butch Carlton on 01/06/2010
I've eaten at a fair amount of Irish pubs in NYC and Tir Na Nog has got to be tops on my list.....I'm telling you the Sheperds Pie is THE BEST I've ever had anywhere......that dish alone would keep me coming back forever.....I reecommend this place to all who want a cozy, clean, friendly Irish pub with GREAT food......
Posted by Dennis on 10/23/2009
I searched the internet prior to making reservations for dinner at Tir Na Nog and had no idea how great this restaurant would be. The food and service were excellent and the maitre d' has a great personality and honored our reservation even though we were 45 minutes late. Topping it off, we had a great view of the Garden from our table. Try Tir Na Nog, you won't be disappointed!
Posted by PPP on 02/11/2009
Very nice lunch spot. The grilled salmon is delicious, and the scallops are perfectly done as well. Great service. WIll certainly return!


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Baseball, Holidays and Seasons, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Sports, Texas
Ed. note: In honor of the July 4th holiday, we do not expect to publish tomorrow. We will be back on Friday, July 5th, although on a reduced publication schedule.
* These are the five cases likely to come up after Fourth of July weekend. The "boating accidents" case reminds me of a poor teen clerk telling Homer Simpson that he couldn't operate a boat while drunk and he responded, "Sounds like a wager to me!" [The Expert Institute]
* This lawyer is also a professional at shooting off fireworks. In this job market, it's good to have a career to fall back on. [Indiana Lawyer]
* This is the holiday to go take in a baseball game. If you're in Michigan, you can watch the Lansing Lugnuts vs. the Lake County Captains at Cooley Law School Stadium. Wait, Cooley has a stadium? [Battle Creek Enquirer]
* The Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association is planning a series of readings of the Declaration of Independence. You know, in case you have absolutely nothing to do in Texas tomorrow. [KLTV]
* On a similar note, in Massachusetts, there was an annual reading of Frederick Douglass's famed take on the Fourth of July from the perspective of abolitionists. [Cape Cod Daily]
* In non-holiday news, the George Zimmerman trial ground to a halt today when Skype testimony was bombarded by pranksters constantly pinging the witness's account. Video after the jump….
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Fans have been waiting for this for a long time. In one of the most anticipated debuts of 2012, Danica Patrick will drive the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ races for the Stewart-Haas Racing team. Be one of the first to own the die-cast that marks Patrick's entrance into the highest level of NASCAR competition. Each is highly detailed and painted with the unmistakable neon colors of GoDaddy.com.
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came in very fast but was not packed well at all. just put inside the box to bounce around. not packing at all. the box got a little dinged but the car was fine.
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Sand Scholars
Pomona students pursue serious science in the surf, studying whether people playing at the beach harm the eggs of grunion.
Grunion are part of California beach lore, carrying on their famously floppy spawning ritual on summer nights when the tide is right. But trouble may arrive with daylight, as countless humans play and sunbathe on the same shores where these mysterious fish leave their eggs.
This summer, Pomona College students guided by Assistant Professor of Biology Nina Karnovsky are studying just how much impact all that human activity has on the grunion eggs that hatch under the sand. The student researchers trek to Laguna Beach several times a week, and if that sounds cushy – maybe even a little fishy – rest assured that they're hard at work gathering data, followed by long hours in the lab. This is the first research of its kind involving grunion, and the results may shed light on the future of these unique fish found only along the coasts of California and Mexico. The project was recently featured in the Los Angeles Times.
"People say 'hey, you're hanging around the beach all day, that's pretty nice.' But we do a bit of work there," says Max Kowal '08, a biology major from Massachusetts. "It's a lot of work."
Using GPS, students have mapped out five sizeable sections of Laguna Beach that attract differing levels of human activity. Caitlin Guthrie '08, an environmental analysis major from Washington State, focuses on observing and recording the level of activity in each of those areas.
Casey Williams '08, a biology major from San Diego, collects eggs from the designated areas and raises them in the lab, searching for a correlation – or lack thereof – between the number of eggs hatched and the level of human activity in the area the eggs came from. He takes samples from the beach immediately after a grunion run, several days later and immediately after they hatch.
As a control, Kowal raises eggs in the lab, and places equal numbers in wide containers of sand. Some he walks on for part of the day. Others remain untouched so he can evaluate the impact of human activity on the survival rate of the eggs.
Grunion season is from March to August, and during that time the "runs" – when the fish spawn on the beach – go on for several nights after each high tide that comes with the full or new moon. Though the fish's precise arrival times can be unpredictable, the patient grunion watcher is rewarded with the strange silvery scene of thousands of fish covering the beach. Females plant their tails into the sand and deposit their eggs. Males wrap around the females and fertilize the eggs. The fish then flop their way back into the ocean.
The eggs, meanwhile, incubate in the sand until the next high tide, when the waves wash over them. The combination of wetness and agitation leads the eggs to hatch, and the young ride the waves out to sea.
The idea for the Pomona College summer research project hatched last year, when Karnovsky oversaw a biology major Christine Cass '05 as she looked into what factors lead grunion to choose certain areas to spawn – it turned out there were many. During that research, Karnovsky started to notice the human impact on the grunion. Commercial fishing of grunion is forbidden, but during parts of the grunion season beachgoers are free to catch the fish by hand. On some runs, Karnovsky said, it looked as though not a single fish made it back to the ocean.
Previous research, conducted by Pepperdine University, has focused on how grunion eggs are affected by beach grooming, where debris is removed by machinery. This Pomona project is the first to look at how ordinary human beach activity – walking, playing Frisbee, sand-castle-building – affects the grunion eggs. (Laguna Beach, now known nationwide because of the MTV reality show of the same name, is one of the most popular beaches in coastal Orange County.)
"I've always loved grunion,'' says Karnovsky, who fondly recalls going out on grunion runs while pursuing her doctoral degree at nearby UC Irvine. "I've always been fascinated by them. This was a great opportunity to solve some of the unsolved mysteries about these wonderful fish."
Two more Pomona students are delving into other questions about grunion. Zachary Brown '07, a chemistry major from Alaska, is researching just where the grunion go after a run – nobody seems to know. "All we have about where they go is really anecdotal," says Karnovsky, noting that those anecdotes have the fish staying close to shore.
Brown's research entails removing tiny earbones, known as otoliths, from grunion. When that chore is done, he will return to his home state this summer to work in an advanced instrumentation lab at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. There he'll be conducting elemental analysis of the rings of growth (sort of like those on the tree) in the ear bone. Fish incorporate the chemistry of the body of water they're in into their otolith, and chemical analysis can determine the fish's movements from one body of water to another, say, from an estuary to the sea.
Sonia Fang '08, a biology major from the nearby city of San Marino, also is studying otoliths to determine which grunion show up on the peak nights of spawning: the older, more experienced ones or the younger ones? She'll be bringing the ear bones to the Alaskan Fishery Science Center in Seattle to learn how to do this.
Students wrote funding proposals for their research, with help from Karnosky, and they will write papers presenting their results. She also plans to have the students present their research at a scientific conference and hopes to get their results published in a scientific journal. The idea, Karnovsky says, is to expose the students to all aspects of scientific research, from fieldwork to lab work to publication. That's not unusual at Pomona. As a small liberal arts college, Pomona is able to offer undergraduate students the sort of research opportunities and close interactions with faculty that are often reserved for graduate students at larger institutions.
And if the work of science can sometimes be tedious -- even when conducted at the beach – the students were rewarded several times with the awe-inspiring sight of grunion spawning. "Oh, man, when it really starts and the run gets going, it's amazing to see," says Brown. "The whole beach can be covered with silver (fish) just flopping around."


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Market Like a Mofo: How to Sell More Copies of Your Badass Book (Badass Writing 4)
by Lisa Creech Bledsoe, Sonja Foust
Kindle Edition: 77 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Product Description
So you've got the writing thing down. You know how to publish. But how the hell do you market this damn thing? That's why we wrote Market Like a Mofo: How to Sell More Copies of Your Badass Book. We're throwing down four levels of marketing plan for you, from let-it-all-hang-out Bare-Ass Nekkid Marketing to totally committed, toothbrush-at-his-place and shared-laundry-duties Move-in Marketing. Plus, you can choose from some extra smartypants tactics and a big buffet list of everything we've got. Once you're done reading this, you'll be marketing like a regular whip-wielding mofo.
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- Vampires and Tantric Sex: How to Publish Your Book Like a Bona Fide Badass (Badass Writing 3)
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- Bagels, Dirty Limericks, and Martinis: The Badass Guide to Writing Your First Book (Badass Writing 1)
- Whiskey-Pissing Unicorns: How to Lose or Quit Your Job and Become a Badass Writer (Badass Writing Book 2)
- Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) (The Smarter Artist Book 1)
Scribendi offers Books and Software in association with Amazon.com. Portions copyright Amazon Inc. and its affiliates used under license.


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Guide to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of conditions from A to Z.
You do not have to exercise intensely for long periods of time to be physically fit. Experts agree that physical activity does not necessarily have to be vigorous. They recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate, uninterrupted physical activity daily, or on most days of the week.
To achieve and keep physical and cardiovascular fitness, health professionals advise following a balanced fitness program. This program should include the following:
If you have an existing medical condition, or are just starting an exercise program, be sure to consult your health care provider before beginning the program. This is to make sure the exercise program that you choose is designed with your health and wellness in mind.
If you are just starting with an exercise program, take it slowly. Gradually build up to 30 minutes a day.
Choose an activity that you will enjoy. You are more likely to continue exercising if you are doing something that you like.
In the beginning, follow a program that includes moderate, not vigorous, physical activity. Start off with 30 minutes a day. Add some variety in your fitness routine. Variety does not only apply to the fitness activity that you choose, but also to the time and setting. This helps to eliminate boredom with any 1 activity or location.
Be sure to start off any workout or exercise session with proper warmup and stretching exercises. This will help to avoid injury or soreness after exercising.
Wear the right clothing for exercising. This includes shoes with proper support for the activity. Also, be sure to dress appropriately for the weather.
Just as warming-up and stretching is important as you begin each exercise session, so is a cool-down period at the end of your exercise activity. This should include at least several minutes of stretching or walking to allow your heart rate to come down slowly.
Experts now recommend participating in 2 types of physical activity each week to achieve aerobic health and muscle strengthening. Muscle strengthening activities include lifting weights, using resistance bands, yoga, or Pilates. Such exercises should be performed twice a week. They should include the major muscle groups. These are legs, hips, back, chest, arms, shoulders, and stomach.
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Nov. 13, 2013
Box Score
CORPUS CHRISTI – Megan Schwartz's double-double wasn't enough in the penultimate match of the regular season for the Lamar volleyball team as the Lady Cardinals fell 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-22) to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Dugan Wellness Center.
Schwartz, who registered 10 kills and 12 digs, hit .364 for the match. Cortney Moore also put up 10 kills, but the rest of the team combined for 18 as the team was out-hit .252 to .123.
Moore also had the team lead in blocks with five, and Madi Martin was effective at the net as well, registering four. Erika Rojas led the effort on the back row, racking up a team-best 16 digs.
With the loss, Lamar dropped to 9-20 on the year with a 7-10 conference mark. The Islanders improved to 18-11 and 12-5, respectively.
Despite dropping the match, Lamar's hopes for the postseason are still alive, and it could all hinge on the final match of the year, which is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Houston Baptist.


text: OTTAWA, Kan. - Kansas congresswoman Lynn Jenkins faces a Republican primary tea party challenger who accuses her voting to allow the indefinite detention of American citizens. Joshua Joel Tucker, of Pittsburg, also said Friday that the House's GOP leaders aren't doing enough to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama. Jenkins is seeking her fourth, two-year term representing the 2nd District of eastern Kansas. The primary is Tuesday, and the winner will face Democrat and Lawrence attorney Margie Wakefield in the November election. The congresswoman defends her vote for 2011 legislation authorizing the military detention of terrorism suspects, saying Tucker and other critics are wrong in contending it allows U.S. citizens to be held indefinitely. Campaign manager Lee Modesitt says Jenkins is working hard to make sure Kansans' voices are heard.


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Tag Archives: friendship
ACFW Conference Friendships at All Stages of Your Writing Career
by Trish Perry Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't. All of the personality tests tell me I'm an extrovert, but I don't always feel like one. Maybe you don't feel like one either. But don't you dare … Continue reading
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July 16, 2012
RSU Becomes GRDA Partner in Conservation and Restoration
Rogers State University is now a Grand River Dam Authority Partner in Conservation and Restoration, which will provide research and learning opportunities for RSU faculty, staff and students.
RSU will gain access to the state-of-the-art water quality laboratory at the Ecosystems Education Center on Grand Lake.
In return, RSU faculty and students will conduct pertinent conservation and restoration research endeavors within the Grand Lake watershed.
"RSU's partnership with GRDA will provide a tremendous hands-on learning opportunity for our students, along with some very interesting research opportunities for our faculty," said Dr. Keith Martin, dean of the RSU School of Mathematics, Science and Health Science.
Martin is currently engaged in research with GRDA that will provide data identifying foraging corridors along Hudson Reservoir principle tributaries used by the endangered gray bat.
GRDA has hosted seven summer interns from RSU during the previous five years, including Kaitlyn Lunk of Adair who was recently pictured in the Tulsa World as part of a story covering GRDA's water quality monitoring efforts. GRDA has roughly 70,000 surface acres of water under its control and monitors the waters of Grand Lake, Lake Hudson and the W.R. Holway Reservoir on a regular basis.
Meagan Stewart of Oologah is serving as a GRDA intern for her second summer. She will graduate in December 2012 with a general biology degree in environmental conservation and real world experience that includes diverse remediation and restoration research projects.
GRDA was created by the legislature as a conservation and reclamation district for the waters of the Grand River. Its Ecosystems Management Department was established in 2004 to bring a greater focus to lake management issues, allowing GRDA to be a good steward of the natural resources under its control. RSU faculty and students will help GRDA accomplish its mission by providing experience and knowledge for conducting sound research and implementation of conservation and restoration activities or projects.
"It would be fair to call RSU and GRDA a natural fit. GRDA has employed several RSU alumni and provides internships to RSU students every summer. Furthermore, RSU provides programs which focus on areas vital to the GRDA mission," said Justin Alberty, corporate communications director for GRDA.
Headquartered in Vinita, GRDA is Oklahoma's state-owned electric utility; fully funded by revenues from electric and water sales instead of taxes. Directly or indirectly, GRDA's low-cost, reliable; electricity serves nearly 500,000 homes in Oklahoma and stretches into 75 of 77 counties in the state. At no cost to Oklahoma taxpayers, GRDA also manages 70,000 surface acres of lakes in the state, including Grand Lake, Lake Hudson and the W.R. Holway Reservoir. Today, GRDA's 500 employees continue to produce the same "power for progress" that has benefited the state for 75 years.


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By David Siegel
Special to the Times
"Even before we met with an architect, we knew we wanted a gallery in the space. Shows don't start with a curtain. They start as soon as a patron walks in the door. It's like an overture to the play." said Mark Krikstan, Artistic Director and one of the founders of the Helen Hayes Award recipient 1st Stage. The company is located in the rapidly transforming Tysons area.
"You have to put folks in the mood to let any form of art flow into the mind and soul. The paintings hanging on our walls do just that. And hopefully the plays we produce will do the same for the art on the walls."
"We are more than just a performing arts theater space. We wanted to bring performing artists and visual artists and their often separate audiences together. Often they didn't know each other." said Jane Kalbfield, casting director at 1st Stage and drama coach at George C. Marshall High School.
Falls Church resident Debby Conn, a watercolorist, curates the works at 1st Stage. "I select the artists who show their work during each run of a production. I help them hang the show."
In selecting an artist, she gives thought to the kind of production, "Is it family oriented? Edgy? A comedy? Drama? When possible, I try to find an artist whose work will complement the show."
Over the years , 1st Stage has had artists representing many visual media including watercolor, acrylic, oil, colored pencil, pastel, soft sculpture, photography, collage, and stained glass. "Styles and subject matter have included representational paintings, objective and non-objective abstracts, figures, landscapes, and trompe l'oeil." according to Conn.
As an artist, Conn has also had her work exhibited twice at 1st Stage. "I love the theater, I really appreciate what 1st Stage is doing, and it�s nice to be able to show my work to other people who enjoy the arts."
For the upcoming production of "Altar Boyz," mixed-media artist Theresa Wells Stifel's work will be displayed.
"I revere the craftsmanship, intricacy, and beauty of bygone fabric, fashion and notions,� she said. �Being able to integrate them into my work so they take a new function as art, rather than end up in a landfill, makes me happy.�
"It's exciting to show a body of work to a new audience of theatre patrons who may not be familiar with my art," added Stifel.
She described her work as "constructed from salvaged and recycled vintage materials. I like to prompt the viewer to look closer to discover materials the pieces contain to create their compositions."
When asked about the difference in hanging artwork at 1st Stage compared to her own studio or an art gallery, Stifel noted that the 1st Stage space "has higher ceilings and a broader viewing area than my studio. It is gratifying to see a collection of my work, in its different applications in another venue. The average one-person show holds a dozen works. 1st stage can hold up to 40 depending on size. It is a huge opportunity to exhibit multiple series in one venue."
As 1st Stages begins production of its 29th show, the musical �Altar Boyz," the displaying of the newest art work is ready for viewing.
"The most important thing is that our audience always react. In our gallery shows, the patrons are excited, inspired, and even comforted by what they see," added Kristan.
The tradition of 1st Stage exhibiting visual artwork in conjunction with a live theater performance is expected to continue long into the future.


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Decision Making Using Rating Systems: When Scale Meets Binary
Date Added: Aug 2009
Format: PDF
Rating systems measuring quality of products and services (i.e., the state of the world) are widely used to solve the asymmetric information problem in markets. Decision makers typically make binary decisions such as buy/hold/sell based on aggregated individuals' opinions presented in the form of ratings. Problems arise, however, when different rating metrics and aggregation procedures translate the same underlying popular opinion to different conclusions about the true state of the world. This paper investigates the inconsistency problem by examining the mathematical structure of the metrics and their relationship to the aggregation rules.


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When report cards go home this month, the final grades for hundreds of students in the area will not include scores that were mandated by the state three years ago to be averaged in as achievement measures.
On Tuesday, the Tennessee Department of Education notified all 140 school districts in the state that the TCAP scale scores for students in grades 3 through 8 would be 10 days late, pushing the date local school systems will receive them past the last day of school.
Karla Kyte, Washington County Schools director of elementary education, said Wednesday morning that system Director Ron Dykes was seeking a waiver from the state to allow grades to be calculated and sent home with students Friday without the standardized test scores.
"They call them quick scores, but now the state is saying it takes 10 days for them to process them," she said. "Why even have a quick score if it takes that long?"
According to local school administrators who received the notification letter, the state blamed the delay on an external committee formed this year to analyze the scores prior to their release.
Earlier this year, the Education Department made changes to the benchmarks measured by the standardized tests to better align them with the Common Core State Standards districts have been implementing the past two years.
The external committee was tasked with equating the test scores to give districts figures to average into students' final grades.
High school scores were equated first and were delivered to districts on time, but schools statewide are now deciding whether to delay report cards or calculate the grades without the scores for students in lower levels.
In 2010, a law packaged with the state's sweeping education reforms required districts to average the scores into spring semester grades, allowing local school districts to weight the test results to make them between 15 and 25 percent of the final grades on report cards.
Critics of Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman and the reforms he and Gov. Bill Haslam have initiated in the last few years were quick to point out the failures they saw as demonstrative of changes that occurred too suddenly.
The Tennessee House Democratic Caucus issued a statement imploring the governor to take control of the situation, and the Tennessee Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said the delays put schools in an "absurd" position.
"This delay is unacceptable and further illustrates the many consequences of making a one-time standardized test the be-all, end-all for our students and teachers," TEA President Gera Summerford said in the release. "School districts being unable to calculate final grades creates a domino effect of problems for everyone from the local director of schools right down to the students."
In Washington County, the TCAP scores count for 25 percent of third- through eighth-graders' spring semester grades.
Kyte said students' grades will be calculated based on classroom performance, and report cards will be sent home as scheduled.
Washington County is also still expecting teacher accountability and district performance data to be released later this summer, as will the final scores that go home to parents.
Johnson City Schools weights the scores as 15 percent of students' grades.
City schools' Supervisor of Instruction and Communication Debra Bentley said Wednesday afternoon the district was granted a waiver by the Education Department to leave those scores out of report card averages when students leave for the semester next week.
"We prefer not to hold up report cards and send them out in the mail, because many would not get their report cards if we go that route," Bentley said. "Dr. (Richard) Bales was one of many superintendents submitting for a waiver today, because this really impacted all of the districts in the state."
Education Department spokeswoman Kelli Gauthier said Wednesday the department plans to grant waivers from the weighted grades requirement to all districts that properly file requests for them.
Bentley said the removal of the scores from city students' averages should have a minimal impact on their grades.
"We feel from talking to some of our principals and looking at the history of how that 15 percent has affected grades that its absence most likely will not be detrimental," she said. "In the past, it hasn't been a significant factor in determining students' grades."
Kyte said this year's delays are worrying some administrators who are looking to future years, when the state will be considering a new standardized test.
"Right now, we have a lot of questions, but we don't have a lot of answers," she said. "After what's happened this week, we don't know if the process will be rethought or if this will become common practice."
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