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Intel to get handheld 1.83GHz Atom by March?
updated 09:40 am EST, Tue November 4, 2008
Intel Menlow Refresh
Intel is developing an update to its Atom variants for handhelds that should arrive in just a few months, says an apparent tip from companies building mobile Internet devices, or MIDs. Known as the Menlow refresh for the processor platform's codename, the update would boost most of the line a speed grade upwards; the Z550 would clock higher than 1.83GHz, while the Z534 would escape the 1.6GHz speeds used by nearly all Atom computers. A Z515 would also bring clock speeds faster than 800MHz to the very smallest handhelds.
It's not known what other changes are slated for the reported processors, though all of their existing Z540, Z530 and Z500 equivalents are intended to consume some of the least power of the Atom lineup with power use just between 2.0 and 2.4 watts. The existing models are used occasionally in netbooks but are primarily meant for MIDs, which often have screens of around five inches and are focused on basic Internet access and media playback.
All of the updates if accurate would ship sometime in March and may represent some of the last updates to current Atom technology before the launch of Moorestown, a new architecture and manufacturing process combination that will improve performance further and create some processors efficient and small enough to be used in smartphones.


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       7½ quad: Cheaha Mountain, AL
       Cleburne County
       Cheaha State Park
       Talladega Mountains, east margin of Blue Ridge Province
2,407 ft (734 m)
Bedrock: Cheaha Quartzite Member of Lay Dam Formation ? Silurian
Light gray to white, coarse- to medium-grained metasandstone and conglomerate. Outcrops are well exposed all around the summit, especially at look-out points such as Bald Rock and Pulpit Rock. The coarse sand grains are often smoky quartz; a few are feldspar. Silurian conodont fossils have been described from some parts of the formation, but not in the park. Cross beds and graded beds are upright and layers dip southeast on the mountain. Phyllites in other members of the Lay Dam Formation are at lower greenschist facies metamorphism, probably dating from the Devonian. The Talladega Mountains and the Cheaha Quartzite both end abruptly to the southwest, apparently truncated by a thrust fault.
The Lay Day Formation is part of the Talladega Group, which is sandwiched between the Cambrian-Ordovician carbonate shelf sequence (in the Rome thrust sheet) to the west, and the Hillabee greenstone, also in thrust sheets, to the southeast. The Lay Dam Formation apparently received sediments both from the carbonate shelf and from the metamorphosed Bill Arp thrust sheet advancing from the southeast. Thus it could be described as a syn-orogenic flysch deposit. The Hillabee is host to the Dempsey gold-pyrite deposit southeast of Mount Cheaha.
Soil Series: Cheaha stony soil, moderately deep, well drained, formed from micaceous metasandstone under forest soils.
Additional Photos:
View north from Bald Rock.
Well layered outcrop in playground.
Cheaha from Talladega Ridge.
Cornish prospect pit for gold and copper, Turkey Heaven Mountain.
Tower on the summit, made by
CCC from local stone.
Selected References:
- Cook, T.A., 1982, Stratigraphy and structure of the central Talladega slate belt in Bearce and others, eds., Tectonic Studies in the Talladega and Carolina Slate Belts: Geological Society of America Special Paper 191, p.47-59.
- Higgins, Michael W. and others, 1982, Structure, stratigraphy, tectonostratigraphy, and evolution of the southernmost part of the Appalachian Orogen: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1475, especially p.82-86.
- Spivey, L.D., Jr., 1974, Soil Survey of Cleburne County, Alabama, U. S. Soil Conservation Service.
- Tull, J.F., 1982, Stratigraphic framework of the Talladega slate belt, Alabama Appalachians, in Bearce and others, eds., Tectonic Studies in the Talladega and Carolina Slate Belts: Geological Society of America Special Paper 191, p.3-18.
Other suggested sources of information:
- Glossary: www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/misc/glossaryAtoC.html
- Time scale: www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.html
- Geological Survey of Alabama: http://www.gsa.state.al.us/

subset: commoncrawl


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The Morris Catholic Boys Basketball team.
- Filed Under
A round-up of accomplishments by Morris County residents.
Denville school takes game to Philadelphia
The Morris Catholic boys basketball team headed to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa., where Coach David Grande had arranged a practice session for them on the NBA court. The team went through a very regimented shooting practice which included full court drills and NBA-range three-point shots.
Saint Clare's visits Rockaway Mall
Saint Clare's Health System sponsored Saint Clare's CARES: A Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Event on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall. The free event featured discussions on cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention with Saint Clare's physicians, with a variety of topics including Obesity, Exercise, Heart Risks Factors, Thyroid Cancer detection and Stress Management.
Guests at the event participated in interactive demonstrations and learned expert tips on heart-healthy meal preparation, as well as yoga and screenings.
Roxbury cheerleaders compete
The Roxbury High School Competitive Cheerleading squad earned a top 20 finish at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Florida.
Members of the team are Karley McDermott, Kayla Miller, Lindsey Kahn, Nicole Peterson, Julia Totaro, Bonnie Biville, Olivia Serpa, Erica Tesoriero, Amber Koch, Brielle Newkirk, Courtney Burke, Holly Arentowicz, Alexandra Browarny, Rebecca Befumo, Caroline Jackson, Madison Dorn, Krysten Nieves and Shannon Karkovice.
Mendham's Caminiti makes dean's list
Matthew Caminiti, the son of Donald and Holly Caminiti of Mendham, has been named to the dean's list of Macalester College for academic achievement during the fall semester of the 2012-13 school year. Caminiti is a graduate of West Morris Mendham High School.


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That's actually kind of a cool name for a baseball stadium. It turns a big pile of bricks and mortar into something a little more human - more so, at least, than "Sovereign Bank Stadium." "Fred" was one of the suggestions offered by readers in response to an online question of what local folks would name York's stadium if they could.
Well, it won't be called Fred - at least not for the next few years. It will be Santander Stadium - the new name of Sovereign Bank.
Fair enough. The bank paid $2.7 million for the 10-year naming rights to the stadium (which probably wouldn't exist without that revenue).
But when that lease is up? How about Fred?


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Laos forum
Mountain bikes for sale
Joined Travelfish
28th December, 2010
Posts: 1
We have two good mountain bikes for sale in Vientiane. Purchased new in Bangkok for $350 USD three weeks ago. We are heading home tomorrow and want them to have a good home. Email firstname.lastname@example.com.
#1 Posted: 3/4/2011 - 08:51
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Put up an ad on the message board at Phimphone market (near the "nam phou" fountain circle). That's where most expats and travellers tend to look for buy/sell. Could also park the bikes with "for sale" sign in front of the Joma Bakery next door, then sit there all day sipping coffee and hoping. Tons of prospective buyer-types walk by there all day.
#2 Posted: 5/4/2011 - 18:47
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- Filed Under
Carmel police said Thursday that they concluded a four-month investigation into the identity thefts of several town residents with the arrest of a 29-year-old Cortlandt man on felony charges.
Darrell A. Matthews Jr., faces four counts of second-degree identity theft after the investigation by Sgt. Robert Bagnarol. He was already charged earlier this year with several counts of identity theft by Yorktown police related to incidents in their jurisdiction.
Bagnarol began his investigation in February after a Carmel woman reported that her identity had been stolen and that many items ...


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The other day, an interesting discussion came up on Facebook regarding reviews. It seems that readers are becoming more reluctant to leave reviews, especially for indie books. I've actually found that to be the case myself, as I frequently get messages on my website and FB page praising the book, but if I go so far as to ask for a review, the readers seem hesitant. I suppose they feel put on the spot when asked for a review by the author, since they feel they can't be truly honest.
Is there an effective way of asking for reviews without making the readers feel obligated or embarrassed?
Views: 604
I'm just honest with folks. If I'm talking to somebody who's read my work, or plans to read my work, I tell that person to please take the time to write a review (even if it's not necessarily a five-star review), because it helps me out.
And I encourage these potential reviewers to be honest, because I'd rather have a two or three star review that's informative and honest, than no review it all. I think most people understand this.
Maybe they don't feel qualified to write or don't know how to put a review together. Maybe some sort of template to give the non-writer direction, flow and content outline to help get them started. I'm not suggesting writing ti for them but a simple step by step to writing a good review. Just a thought from one of those people who get review freeze
You have a very good point, but where would you offer this template? I think some people might also take offense at the author trying to tell them how to write a review, and view it as being high-handed or obnoxiously superior. Any ideas?
You have a very good point. I would love it if someone offered me a template but now that I think about it, some people might take offense. Maybe, in the course of asking for reviews, you could mention that a lot of people (and I do think it's a lot) don't know where to start with writing a review. Then, if you get the sense that they are one of those people, you could suggest following a template. Put the template online, and simply suggest and offer a link if you think you could be talking to someone who is like me. Aside from that, I honestly don't know how to answer. If you ever do make a template, please send it to me. Thanks!
I actually have a generic template on my blog just because I have struggled with what to put in a review. I know as an indie, my sales depend on reviews so I wrote the template based on what I look for in reviews when I'm trying to decide which book to buy. I don't think they need to be long to be helpful.
Some readers review all the time. I reviewed all 300+ books I read last year on Goodreads (and a lot on Amazon). Some just rate a book (on sites where they can, like Goodreads), and some don't bother with any of it. That's just the lay of the land.
I think many believe that they have to write a novel themselves to do a proper review. Hell, I'd be happy with "Book good! Fire bad! Formatting nice! Good afternoon read!" or something similarly monosyllabic. I think far too many reviewers go too overboard exhibiting their "frustrated writer" status and logging in paragraphs of detail on either the plot, story or character motivations.
The one primary rule that we as authors and writers need to remember is that REVIEWS ARE NOT FOR US. THEY ARE FOR OTHER READERS! Sure, we have to worry about their numbers for some promotions, and we should be reading the critical ones to see if there are holes in our craft to be patched, but reviews are not some dialogue that we are having with a particular reader. A review is just an opinion at a particular point in time, educated or not, meant to influence the reading and buying habits of other readers.
We don't need a template. We need a simple guideline: Just tell other readers why you liked the book or why you hated it. Explain if it's not self-evident if you want. It's not required.
I understand what you are saying but I could never bring myself to leaving a review like the one you suggest. As a reviewer, I'd rather say nothing than to say something that is any less than an actual review.
What exactly is "an actual review" then? (quotes for emphasis and not snark)
I personally feel that anything said about a book you've actually read (or even tried to read) is valid. I wish more people who feel they are less verbose but are avid readers would try their hand at reviewing. It's the closest thing many might ever come to actually writing and unless they are in throes of some sort of asshattery (vengeful words against an author for the author's sake and not the book), I think most would welcome them with open arms.
You hit on the key point, "I personally feel." That is what it's all about. I personally feel like I can't write what I consider to be a decent review, worthy of a good, bad or mediocre book. And, therefore have a block that prevents me from even getting started. It matters little what I think a good review is, I don't feel I can write it and therefore, need help or don't get started. My "feeling" may be completely unfounded but I seem to have owned it, and so, can't do it. I feel, in my case, some sort of template would give me some direction to get started.
I completely agree with you. There's absolutely no need to rehash the details of the plot, or comment on every single character or aspect of the book. A simple, "Hey, I enjoyed it," would be more than enough. I think that for some reason, people are more apt to review books that are popular, probably because they want to get their two cents in and have others read their "masterpiece."
I, personally, can't be bothered to review everything I read and see, but I will write a review when something really touched me, or infuriated me.
Just knowing that the two of you would be happy with a few short words like you've stated helps me. It makes it something I feel I can manage. If all authors feel this way about reviews left for their books, maybe I'll start leaving more.
Speaking as a potential buyer browsing Amazon, I am far more likely to read a short, pithy review. If a review runs to more than one short paragraph I probably won't bother with any more than the first and last sentences, if anything.
Most buying decisions for non-technical, low-price consumables (eg books) are made in a matter of seconds. A review that takes two minutes to read is a waste of time. (Note, I am referring only to reader reviews here, not in depth press reviews - those I read as entertainment in their own right!)
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Tetra Tech Awarded $25M Contract from LA Department of Water and Power
Tetra Tech announced today that it was awarded a $25 million, three-year consulting and engineering contract from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
Tetra Tech's services will help the city of Los Angeles address its many water and energy related challenges, and will improve homeland defense at the city's infrastructure.
Under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, Tetra Tech may provide a broad scope of engineering and applied science services. The public infrastructure to be addressed in the contract includes but is not limited to the Los Angeles Aqueduct System, located throughout California, and the city's power grid, located in California, Nevada and Utah.
LADWP is the largest municipally owned utility in the nation, supplying water and electricity to all residents and businesses located within the city limits of Los Angeles, and electricity to portions of the Owens Valley. The LADWP provides water and electricity to some 3.8 million residents and businesses in a 464-square-mile area.
Tetra Tech is a provider of specialized management consulting and technical services in three principal business areas: resource management, infrastructure and communications. The company's clients include a diverse base of public and private sector organizations served by more than 7,000 employees worldwide.
More Like This
- Kenneth T. Lombard Reelected President Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Board
- LADWP Warns Customers: Con Artists Posing as Bill Collectors
- Tetra Tech Awarded $17 Million in New Water Infrastructure Contracts
- Tetra Tech Awarded $20M in Contracts From the U.S. Coast Guard
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Awards Tetra Tech $18 Million in Watershed Contracts


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Largest graffiti tag in the world »
They should have mentioned Saber MSK/TSL for his title of largest graffiti piece.
(via yahoo new blog)
Here's a big idea: Writing your name in the sand so large that it can be seen from space. Of course, you're much better position to carry off this sort of vanity project if you're Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Ahyan, a super-rich Arab sheikh who is the president of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. He also happens to own an island–an ideal canvas for what is essentially the world's largest self-referential graffiti tag.
The letters were crafted by a crew who worked for weeks to create them. The inscription measures half a mile high and two miles long–and the letters are dug so deep that they form waterways. The writing won't be immediately washed away, but even Hamad–whose fortune is only surpassed by his monarchial rival in the region, Saudi King Abdullah–can only defy the elements for so long.
Did we mention his name can be seen from outer space?
Hamad, according to Forbes, is a guy who lives large. A member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, the man known as the Rainbow Sheikh owns 200 cars that are stored in a giant pyramid. (What, you use a garage?) Forbes also noted that Hamad also hand-built a motor home in the shape of a giant globe"one-millionth the size of the Earth."
It should also be noted that the 63-year-old sheikh also has deep pockets when it comes to philanthropy. But don't worry about thanking him — it seems he's come up with a perfectly good way to give himself a shout-out.
Brooklyn Museum nixes 'Art in the Streets' exhibition from MOCA »
"Art in the Streets," the popular and controversial exhibition of graffiti and street art at the Museum of Contemporary Art, was expected to travel to the Brooklyn Museum in 2012 following its run here in L.A., where it has been drawing big crowds.But on Tuesday, the Brooklyn Museum announced that it is canceling plans to host the exhibition, blaming the economic downturn. The show was expected to open in New York on March 30 and to run through July 8, 2012.
Arnold L. Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum, said in a statement that the cancellation "became necessary due to the current financial climate. As with most arts organizations throughout the country, we have had to make several difficult choices since the beginning of the economic downturn three years ago."
Kennedy Center's boss says the arts are in trouble »
Via LA Times/Culture Monster -Mike Boehm
One of the last things one expects to hear from an arts impresario is disparagement of his product.
But that's what Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., did this week, at least in general terms.
"What Is Wrong With the Arts?" was the headline of his column in the Huffington Post.
"It is no surprise to most of us that the arts are in a parlous state….The arts are in trouble because there is simply not enough excellent art being created," Kaiser wrote.
The names he dropped as having too few worthy heirs were Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins in dance; Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Richard Rodgers and Igor Stravinsky in music; and Tennessee Williams in theater.
Raw talent still abounds, Kaiser acknowledged, but "far more inventiveness can be found in popular entertainment than can be found in the classic arts." He pinned the blame on arts administrators: "Boards, managers and producing consortia are overly-involved…overly conservative," and too glued to the bottom line.
House Republicans unveil plan to end federal arts and humanities agencies and aid to public broadcasting »
Federal support for arts and culture is now officially in the cross hairs of congressional Republicans, if that's a metaphor we're still allowed to use.
Any way you want to describe it, theRepublican Study Committee, made up of about 165 GOP members of the House of Representatives, on Thursday announced a budget-cutting plan aimed at slashing federal spending, and it calls for the elimination of the nation's two leading makers of government arts grants: the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Also on the chopping block is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The arts and humanities endowments each get $167.5 million a year; the broadcasting agency, which supports public radio and television, gets $445 million.
The NEA last had to fight for its survival in 1995, when Republicans gained control of the House and Senate and sought to get rid of the endowment. It had outraged some conservatives with grants that in certain highly publicized cases had supported performances or exhibitions they deemed offensive. While the NEA survived, It took a 39% budget cut and saw the elimination of nearly all grants to individual artists. Despite increases over the past 10 years, the NEA's inflation-adjusted buying power remains $58 million a year less than it was before those mid-'90s "culture wars."
This time, the ax would fall on the agencies as part of a bid to reduce the federal deficit. The bill, called the Spending Reduction Act of 2011, aims to reduce federal spending by $2.5 trillion over 10 years. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Republican Senate Steering Committee, also backs the plan.
Federal arts and culture spending is currently about $1.6 billion a year, not counting construction budgets. The legislation does not call for cuts to the annual budgets for the Smithsonian Institution ($761.4 million), the Institute of Museum and Library Services ($282.3 million), the National Gallery of Art ($167 million) or the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (about $20 million).
All those organizations except the IMLS offer performances and exhibitions — free, in the case of the Smithsonian's museums and the National Gallery — that might be seen as a perk of living in Washington, D.C.; grants from the NEA and NEH are national in scope.
Culture Monster is momentarily incapable of doing the math to figure out what percentage $7.8 billion (10 years' savings from NEA, NEH and Corporation for Public Broadcasting) is of $2.5 trillion, but our sense is that it's fairly small.
The NEA provides $1 million a year for California's state arts agency, the California Arts Council, about 20% of its $5.3 million budget.
In an interview Wednesday, before the GOP plan had come out, Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, a leading advocacy group for government funding of the arts, had said arts supporters "are cognizant of the attitudes out there among some leaders, and we have to do a good job of education."
A key argument, Lynch said, is that the government's existing arts-funding model follows conservative budgetary principles: A small federal investment that's important to the health of the nonprofit arts sector helps sustain its 5.7 million jobs and the $30 billion in annual returns to federal, state and local coffers that those workers pay in taxes.
– Mike Boehm LA TIMES
Slavery paintings anger Georgia agriculture chief »
By Associated Press. Excerpts via Washington Times
ATLANTA | Murals of slaves harvesting sugar cane on a Georgia plantation and picking and ginning cotton are coming off the walls of a state building by order of a new agriculture commissioner.
The murals are part of a collection of eight works painted by George Beattie in 1956 depicting an idealized version of Georgia farming, from the corn grown by prehistoric American Indians to a 20th-century veterinary lab. In the Deep South, the history in between includes the use of slave labor.
"I don't like those pictures," said Republican Gary Black, the newly elected agriculture commissioner. "There are a lot of other people who don't like them."
There are no signs of the whippings, beatings, shackles or brutality used to subjugate the slaves, who appear healthy, muscular, even robust. Mr. Black said less-controversial murals, a scene at a state farmers market, for example, may find a new home in a conference room or elsewhere in the building.
In 1995, two years before he died, Beattie defended his murals in a department-sponsored article that mentioned the art had spurred debate and concern among visitors and employees.
"As a human being, I am vehemently opposed to slavery, as anyone should be," Beattie said, "but it was a significant epoch in our history; it would have been inaccurate not to include this period."
Keep it classy Gary Black.


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- Filed Under
UL football coach Mark Hudspeth on Thursday declared winners of several preseason training camp battles for starting spots.
"Right now," Hudspeth said, "every spot except for a linebacker spot is probably locked down. ? I think the other spots we know who the starters are, after the last couple practices.
"Although some other guys are gonna play an awful lot, and still are gonna have a huge part in the gameplan, I feel like we're really close, knowing who all those starters are." ...


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Tune Hotels, will mark its debut in the Indian market, with the opening of the 100-room Tune Hotel Ahmedabad in Gujarat in April 2013, said Mark Lankester, Group CEO, Tune Hotels. The upcoming property will be a part of the 4D Square Mall in Motera town of Ahmedabad, according to a report by Bernama News Agency.
Gujarat's vibrant economy is among the key factors in the budget hotel chain's decision to start its ventures in India from the state, which is located in the North West, he said.
Tune Hotels focuses on five key essentials – superior quality bed, power hot shower, convenient location, clean environment and 24-hour security. One unique feature for the Ahmedabad hotel will be a medium-sized function hall.
The report stated that this opening would be followed by a 120-room hotel in Bhiwadi, Haryana, by end-2013; and a 200-room hotel near the New Delhi Railway Station in early 2014.


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Fall of the Samurai owners will notice a little extra in their DLC list once they have installed the game. "The Dragon War Battle Pack" is a self-contained DLC of six legendary historical battles from the Boshin War.
In a first for the way in which we have presented historical battles in Total War, the six battles are played consecutively, and take the player through famous general Saigo Takamori's story.
In the future, this DLC pack will be released for original Shogun 2 players to enjoy, without requiring Fall of the Samurai. Keep an eye out for more info on that soon.
In the meantime, here's the lowdown on the "Dragon War Battle Pack" for those Fall of the Samurai players who will soon be getting to grips with it:
Dragon War Battle Pack
The Dragon War Battle Pack is included with Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall Of The Samurai, and will later become available for Shogun 2 players as DLC. It consists of six consecutively-played legendary battles from the Boshin War, depicting the campaign of Saigo Takamori.
It is 1868, and the Tokugawa Shogunate has ruled Japan for over 250 years. Now, the dynasty's grip is failing as revolutionary ideas and technologies from the west flood the country. The Shogun's enemies, and even the Emperor, look to the future. Feudal clans align with the embattled Tokugawa Shogunate, or a growing Imperial movement to restore the Emperor to his traditional role as the ruler of Japan. Civil war is coming.
Command the féted warrior Saigo Takamori and his Imperial army in this DLC battle pack. Wield the ferocious weapons of the late 1800s as you fight against the armies of the Tokugawa Shogunate, win Japan for the Emperor, and relive the War of the Year of the Dragon.
New storytelling elements deliver an exciting tale of courage, victory and blood across six famous battlefields:
Tokugawa Yoshinobu's army is marching on Kyoto, the seat of the Japanese Emperor. Saigo Takamori's Satsuma army is outnumbered but must repel the Shogunate troops over several days.
Osaka Castle
Emboldened by victory at Toba-Fushimi and now flying the Emperor's banner, Takamori and his new Imperial army march on Osaka castle, the home of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Osaka Castle has been burned and the Shogun driven back to Edo which, upon Takamori's arrival, is surrendered without a fight. Troops loyal to the Shogunate have dug in at the nearby Kan'ei-ji Temple. They must be removed.
The soldiers of Aizu domain have consistently supported the Tokugawa cause and form the cornerstone of northern resistance to the Emperor. Takamori must lead his force into the heart of their domain, while avoiding traps the Aizu have set for him.
Miyako Bay
Those that remain loyal to the Shogunate's cause have regrouped on Ezo island to the north. However, the Imperial Navy has taken delivery of a state-of-the-art ironclad warship, the Kotetsu, which forms the spearhead of an assault on Ezo. The breakaway Ezo Republic launches a naval assault in an attempt to steal the battleship.
With the raid at Miyako Bay thwarted, the Emperor's forces go on the offensive one last time, landing an army on the shores of the last Ezo stronghold, Hakodate. The Imperial army is divided, and Takamori must unite his forces in the face of strong opposition before mounting one final push to capture the last holdout, a star fort, Goryokaku.


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Environmental Interpretation and
Outdoor Education is my Specialty
In addition to plants and gardening, Marcia has a passion for everything outdoors. She has a degree in Outdoor Recreation and Environmental Education from the UofO, taught the Mycology class (study of mushrooms) at Lane Community college for 13 years; and had the privilege of co-founding the Cascade Mycological Society with Freeman Roe.
Marcia is available for private and small group excursions with your family and friends. Outings include, but are not limited to:
- Wild mushroom biology & identification
- Wildflower Walks
- Intertidal Exploration
- Incredible Edibles


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Spear is hate speech - Zuma's daughterComment on this story
President Jacob Zuma's younger children could become victims of abuse in school if the controversial painting portraying their father's genitals is not declared illegal and removed from public display.
So says his daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, who applied on behalf of his children to enter the court case over the controversial portrait.
Zuma-Sambudla attended the first day of argument along with her husband Lonwabo Sambudla and remained in the public gallery for the duration of the hearing.
Wearing a black T-shirt denouncing the Brett Murray artwork, she easily blended in with other ANC supporters in the packed High Court in Joburg and those protesting outside.
However Zuma-Sambudla was at the forefront of her family's support for Zuma, much like when she testified in his rape trial in 2006. Her twin brother Duduzane Zuma was seen briefly outside the court room, looking slightly uncomfortable at the attention he was receiving.
In an affidavit before the court, Zuma-Sambudla said she was speaking on behalf of all Zuma's children as she requested to be admitted in the case as an applicant.
She referred to The Spear painting as hate-speech that is "vulgar and conveys no meaningful or constitutional protectable political speech".
She said Zuma's children had not taken the decision to join the proceedings lightly.
"As a family we have learnt to appreciate the 'arrows of outrageous fortune' that come with being a public family. I have in the past watched with horror at the deeply hurtful insults that have been hauled at my father's person and have restrained myself from making any comments about it because I understand that his public position inspired a variety of emotional, intellectual and sometimes physical responses from people." However, Zuma-Sambudla could not stand by idle after seeing the portrait.
"I am advised that the portrait of my father with his sexual organs exposed is deeply offensive and constitutes hate speech because it displays disdain for our cultural attitudes towards the public display of sexual organs… In fact in our culture, when you wish to insult an opponent, you insult them by referring to the sexual organs of parents. Such an insult often leads to violent conflict between the parties involved," she says.
Zuma-Sambudla is also concerned about her younger siblings.
"I cannot, together with my siblings, freely mingle with the public without a deep feeling of being ostracised by the demeaning discussions about my father's private parts… My brothers and sisters are exposed to abuse by other children in schools and colleges when their father's sexual organs are publicly displayed and discussed on radio stations and talk shows."
The court has admitted the affidavit along with written submissions made on behalf of Zuma's children. These will be argued when the case resumes on a date which is yet to be determined.
Sunday Independent
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Missing In America – Homeless Veterans
There are 10-12 homeless camps in Riverview, Brandon area
By Kevin Brady
Less than 200 feet from a bustling Brandon parking lot, homeless veterans camp in the woods. Surviving on half-eaten meals from dumpsters, sleeping in ramshackle tents, they exist in a twilight world, living on the edge of a society they served in uniform.
There are 10 to12 homeless camps in the Riverview and Brandon area, according to Thomas Brown, an outreach coordinator for Tampa Crossroads who visits three to four homeless camps daily. Tampa Crossroads offers treatment, housing, employment and other services for vets.
"There's a perception out there that homeless veterans are all drug addicts and alcoholics but that is not the way it is," Brown said. "I know people who were successful in law enforcement and health care who are now living on the streets. They are just like anyone else but they have fallen on hard times. They want to be successful but they have numerous obstacles in their way."
More than 2,200 men, women and children will sleep in the woods, cars or abandoned buildings tonight, according to a Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition. Around 170 of those are veterans, according to the federally mandated homeless count which was conducted last month. The real number is higher, experts say.
"The count is always an estimate and always an undercount," said Lesa Weikel, community relations manager for the Homeless Coalition.
The Coalition is required to do the count over 24 hours "so getting to every homeless person in Hillsborough County, an area of 1,100 square miles, is not easy especially when many of those people are living in the woods or abandoned buildings and many of whom, for whatever reason, don't want to be found."
The May 17 report also found 12,843 people precariously housed, a 23 percent increase over the 2011number. While not literally homeless, these individuals and households are at high risk of becoming homeless.
"The count data shows we, as a community, are moving in the right direction, but it is impossible to tell how much of the decrease represents real progress and how much is due to undercounting," said Maria Barcus, CEO of Hillsborough's Homeless Coalition. "The 2014 homeless count will provide a better understanding and assessment."
The 2014 count will take place during the last 10 days of February with a shorter questionnaire. Unlike previous homeless counts, the 2014 survey will also include those who are clearly homeless but refuse to participate in the survey.
Despite their wariness over the latest count, advocates do credit a number of federally funded programs with helping the homeless. The new programs, launched in 2011, helped more than 1,900 people who were either homeless or in danger of becoming homeless, according to the Homeless Coalition.
Two of the new programs, the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration project and Supportive Services for Veteran Families, helped 347 veterans in the last two years, according to the Coalition
"I fell through the cracks and nobody saw it," said Ray (we are not using his last name), a 20-year veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Facing the collapse of his second marriage and unemployment on his return from his first tour of duty, Ray signed up for a second tour in Iraq.
"I volunteered for my second deployment for one reason: to die," Ray said.
Thomas Brown found Ray living in a Tampa homeless shelter and brought him into the Veteran's Assistance Center at Tampa Crossroads.
"I was pretty close to bottom but he (Brown) actually listened. He was interested. I was one of the lucky ones," said Ray who is now working and living in his own home. "I would be buried in some grave somewhere if it wasn't for [Tampa Crossroads]."
For those who want help, Brown sets up interviews with case workers who assist the vet with benefits, housing and finding a job. Finding children living in a homeless camp is especially difficult, Brown said. "I try to help them more than anyone else. It doesn't sit well with me."
There are 62,619 long-term homeless veterans in the U.S., according to the U.S. Inter Agency Council on Homelessness. Some 12,240 Florida veterans live on the streets, according to a 2011 Florida Dept. of Children & Families report. Only California has more homeless veterans.
"The average person in Hillsborough County has no idea of the extent of veteran homelessness in our community," said Justin Baker, a case manager at Tampa Crossroads, which also runs Athena House, the only residential housing complex for homeless female veterans in Florida. "We deal with veterans who have been self-sufficient all their lives and then a crisis happened where they need assistance and they just happen to fall on hard times."
Those hard times can come as the result of a divorce, loss of a job, a death in the family or any number of reasons, Baker said. "There are no two cases that are alike as to why someone ends up homeless."
Janet Spivey and her husband Curtis are among those trying to help. Members of the Patriot Guard (motorcycle) Riders who provide escorts for military funerals, the Spiveys met a disabled veteran earlier this year who told the couple about the plight of Florida's homeless veterans.
Working with the Sumter County Veterans Service Office, which referred her to need-based organizations in Hillsborough, the Spiveys' Bushnell church began collecting clothes and money for sleeping bags and tents.
"I wouldn't take just anyone out to the homeless camps but Janet and Curtis are solid people who really want to help," said Brown who took the couple to a homeless camp in Brandon.
In Spivey's experience, the homeless take only what they need and are very grateful. She remembered a former soldier nicknamed "Caveman," who had requested a sleeping bag. She brought him that and a jacket.
"I said, 'Look at this nice jacket. It's just your size.' And the tears just rolled down his face."
Brown said the private donations give the veterans a boost, showing them someone cares. "It makes a huge difference in their morale if nothing else."
The Spiveys also take Bibles.
"I don't push them on the people, but they're out there, and if they can read it, it gives them a little bit of hope."
Tackling homelessness among veterans is not an issue that can be solved by Tampa Crossroads or the Homeless Coalition, said Tampa Crossroads CEO Sara Romeo, a Brandon native.
"This is a problem that has to be solved by our entire community. We need landlords to step up. We are not asking for free apartments, there is funding available," said Romeo, who works closely with the VA and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide services to veterans.
"We need employers to step up (and employ formerly homeless veterans). We need companies like TECO to step up and work with us because sometimes it's not possible for a family to pay a $400 deposit to have their electric turned on right away.
"There are a lot of pieces in this puzzle. We can't just put a person in a house and say good luck. We need to be able to make sure they can afford the rent and are working. These are people who just want a hand up, not a hand out."


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"I wish i had words to explain, but this EP is massive, it is bigger than words. Ambient sounds, jazz and funk, even electro, completely unexpected from a group whose name has me imagining sharp, jagged teeth ripping off the heads of stuffed animals. There is definitely no shortage of shit to bang your head to, or neuro-hop, as they say."
"I feel that it's risen above basic definition and genres."


text:
|Anastrozole and celecoxib for endometriosis treatment, good to keep them apart?
MedLine Citation:
|PMID: 23148086 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE
|Endometriosis is a benign gynecological disease. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and aromatase proteins have been shown to be overexpressed in eutopic endometrium from women suffering from this disease compared to disease-free women. Furthermore, inhibition of these molecules individually was demonstrated to have antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects both in vitro and in vivo in several models. In this study, the effect of combining celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, and anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, on the implantation and growth of endometriotic like lesions in a murine model of endometriosis was evaluated. Endometriosis was surgically induced in female BALB/c mice. After 28 days of treatment with celecoxib, anastrozole, or their combination, animals were killed and lesions were counted, measured, excised, and fixed. Immunohistochemistry for proliferating cell nuclear antigen and CD34 was performed for assessment of cell proliferation and vascularization. TUNEL technique was performed for apoptosis evaluation. Celecoxib was the only treatment to significantly reduce the number of lesions established per mouse, their size and vascularized area. In addition, cell proliferation was significantly diminished and apoptosis was significantly enhanced by both individual treatments. When the therapies were combined, they reversed their effects. These results confirm that celecoxib and anastrozole separately decrease endometriotic growth, but when combined they might have antagonizing effects.
|Carla N Olivares; Mariela A Bilotas; Analía G Ricci; Rosa Inés Barañao; Gabriela F Meresman
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Publication Detail:
|Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Date: 2013-01-24
Journal Detail:
|Title: Reproduction (Cambridge, England) Volume: 145 ISSN: 1741-7899 ISO Abbreviation: Reproduction Publication Date: 2013 Feb
Date Detail:
|Created Date: 2013-01-25 Completed Date: 2013-08-02 Revised Date: 2013-08-08
Medline Journal Info:
|Nlm Unique ID: 100966036 Medline TA: Reproduction Country: England
Other Details:
|Languages: eng Pagination: 119-26 Citation Subset: IM
|Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME), CONICET, C1428ADN, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Vuelta de Obligado 2490, Buenos Aires, Argentina. email@example.com
Export Citation:
|APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex
|MeSH Terms
Aromatase Inhibitors / administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use
Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors / administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use
Drug Combinations
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
Drug Incompatibility
Endometriosis / drug therapy*, pathology
Mesentery / pathology
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Nitriles / administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use*
Peritoneal Diseases / drug therapy*, pathology
Pyrazoles / administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use*
Sulfonamides / administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use*
Triazoles / administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use*
Uterine Diseases / drug therapy*, pathology
Reg. No./Substance:
|0/Aromatase Inhibitors; 0/Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors; 0/Drug Combinations; 0/Nitriles; 0/Pyrazoles; 0/Sulfonamides; 0/Triazoles; 120511-73-1/anastrozole; 169590-42-5/celecoxib
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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text:
What's not to love about this trip? Georgia has given rise to one of the greatest songs ever (Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind&rdquo and the name of the other state exudes excitement and enthusiasm (Ala-BAM!-a). And there are Loopsters down there.
I love to travel anyway, and traveling alone is pretty sweet because I don't have to worry about anyone but myself – most of the time I don't even have to talk to anyone.
I worried about not getting in my second speed workout on Wednesday last. I worried so much that I made a new plan to get both the miles and the speed taken care of. My flight didn't leave until almost 9AM, so an early wakeup let me get in 4 good miles on the road, with 3 of them at not quite 5K pace. Wednesday was supposed to be 4 x 1200s at the track, but I wasn't getting up at 0-dark-thirty, it was dark and my legs weren't 100% after doing 7 the previous evening, so it was close enough.
I'd also planned plenty of time in ATL to visit with northern lass and flying tomato (quadracool had to work and couldn't make it - L), put in 7-10 miles somewhere around town, then cruise on down I-85 to Montgomery, shower in the hotel and meet my son for the first of his Air Force Officer Training School graduation activities.
That was the plan.
Anyone ever been to the ATL airport? First of all, it's pretty freaking huge. Also, the new thing in airports is putting all the car rental companies in the same location far, far away from the terminals. I rode the train through several concourses, walked past the luggage pickup and across the street to catch another train out to the rental center. I waited in line for several minutes, all the time eyeing a bank of self-service kiosks. I finally decided to cut out and try one, only to be met with a "Please wait 3-5 minutes for a customer service rep" message. So I waited while I watched the 3 people who had been ahead of me and another 5 who had been behind me in line get their cars at the regular counter. Jim, my CSR was very helpful, but there was a glitch when my driver's license was too old to have the proper barcode for the kiosk to scan me in. So I had to find a live Hertz person wandering by to verify for Jim that my license was indeed valid. My car was conveniently on the same floor (of the 15 story parking garage) as the counter, so that was nice.
This all put me only slightly behind schedule but I was soon on the road to my Loopster lunch date. Northern lass found us a nice little place outside of the Georgia Tech campus with several choices. I found her without too much trouble and we settled on burgers at a place called Yeah! Burger. We ate and talked running (of course) until FT showed up , talked some more running and a little other stuff. Time goes by way too fast sometimes.
I forgot how tall (but not how beautiful) NL is!
FT, on the other hand, is more my size.
FT suggested I run at Piedmont Park, which was just a couple of miles from Yeah! Burger, and I followed him over. He then gave me a tour of the entire park, focused on all the races they have in ATL that run at least partly through it (most of them). It was all very interesting, but when we finished, I discovered that I only had time for a short run before I needed to be on my way.
So I found a McDonald's bathroom to change in, parked the Mazda on 10th Street outside Henry W. Grady High School, and made a loop around Piedmont. It really is a big, beautiful park, and my loop around it gave me exactly 3.1 miles, just long enough to add another state to my list.
Sat in the shade until I dried off, then hit the highway. Good thing I was the only one in the car.
Made it to the Baymont Inn on the east side of Montgomery with just enough time to check in, shower, drive to the base, pick up Connor and get us both downtown – on time – for dinner. Boom. This was an outside event sponsored by USAA. The food was excellent, and I was able to meet and talk to about half of Connor's flight. Nice young people, and then someone asked me about marathons, so I took over the conversation for maybe a few minutes. How many have I run? Where? Which was my favorite? I think the one asking the questions was a psychologist, so she may have been doing it on purpose to make me feel included. It worked.
Next day I wasn't due on base until 11AM, so I went for 10 miles along the Atlanta Highway towards downtown, although I never made it that far. It was warm and humid, but overcast, so only mildly icky. Apparently they don't believe in sidewalks in Montgomery (at least on this side of town), nor do they believe in road shoulders. I'd have been happy to run on the road, except that they do believe in driving in the outside lane as much as possible. So, I spent 95% of the run on the grass, which wasn't terrible most of the time. It wasn't very scenic, so I didn't bother to take any pics, except for this one outside the hotel room, which was nicer than anything else I saw that day. I ran past lots of title loan businesses, a few garages and body shops and several car dealers. I'd decided to bring my fuel belt so I could carry my phone with me in case I got lost. Good thing, too. I didn't' get lost since I took a straight out and back, but I needed every last drop of the Gatorade I was carrying. Holy humidity, Batman! But, it was a run and with the 10 I made up for some of the mileage I missed on Saturday (get to that later).
Back on base, along with a few dozen other family/friends of the graduates, I watched a video about the training Connor had been through the previous 5 weeks. There's running and climbing and obstacles and other physical stuff, plus both general and Air Force specific leadership training. They get up at 04:30 every day and are going pretty much all day, with drill instructors and trainers and other people yelling in their faces. Sounds like a great time.
Waiting for the base commandant to arrive.
Then Connor took me on a tour of the place – here's the classroom, here's my room, here's the track, over there's the obstacle course, here's a lecture hall, there's the mess hall. All very exciting. I met his flight commander and the other members of his flight crew.
This is my classroom building.
This is my dorm.
Here is my room.
This is where I hang my AF clothes.
The graduation ceremony for the entire class (400-ish) was that afternoon in a large auditorium (thank goodness – it was HOT down there). They recognized the flight leaders, top performers in the fitness tests, academics and an overall top of the class. Connor won the academic achievement award, for getting 100% on all the tests. Almost as cool as an AG win.
Celebratory dinner at a sushi place in downtown Montgomery. This was dessert.
I drove around downtown a little and took a few pics.
Historic fountain.
Alabama state capitol.
Civil rights monument. The security guy thought I was trying to park here, but I was just waiting for this mom and her daughter who were taking pictures in front of it to move so I could take mine. They took a long time.
Back at the hotel I spent an easy evening reading, then knocked off early for the night. Next morning I ran in the other direction, away from town. It was cooler on Friday than Thursday, but more humid, so it was still about as uncomfortable. The route was nicer, though. A couple of miles to the east is the University of Auburn-Montgomery campus.
The traffic was very light at 6AM so the road was mostly clear. Once on campus I found a nice walking path that went pretty much around the whole place. There were several people out for a morning stroll, one guy out running and an open bathroom that was big and air conditioned, very clean and placed at the exactly right spot to save me from a Code Abby.
This was the neighborhood around campus. Much nicer than my Thursday morning run.
On base that morning was a small ceremony for the flight, with their commander handing them the graduation certificates. This was followed by the graduation parade, with all the officers performing fr review by a two-star who'd come in for the event. They threw their hats up in the air and were officially done.
Living the dream.
Connor wanted to stay after and attend another ceremony, where his flight commander was promoted to Captain. That put me on the road later than I'd hoped, but this trip was about him, not my plans to meet Loopsters all over the country. It was a great three days and interesting to share the experience with him. Now he can get back to medical school and do some more hard stuff.
I dropped him off at the Montgomery airport and drove to ATL. I had a close eye on the clock, because I'd been hoping there'd be time for me to sneak up to the north side of town and spend a few minutes talking to quadracool, who missed us on Wednesday because of work. It wasn't long before I could see it just wasn't going to happen, so I sent her a fb message that our reunion would have to wait until Marshall. Sad faces in my car and at the Frontgate store.
As I pulled off the freeway exit to the airport, I got a text from Southwest – my flight was delayed 40 minutes. Was that enough time? I did some non-running calculations and decided it was worth a shot. I turned around and got back on the freeway. I raced north for maybe 5 miles until I hit what was the absolute worst traffic I've ever seen in my life anywhere. With no apparent trouble anywhere along the way, we crawled and jerked and crept slowly north. I was very close on several occasions to turning off and returning. I wondered if I was going to miss my flight. But I kept going. I'm dumb like that.
Finally! I pulled off the 400 in Roswell and found the store. C4 was off in the office taking a nap or something, so I asked the guy at the cash register if he would go wake her up for me. It's fun to surprise friends when they aren't expecting you. I had maybe 5 minutes before taking my chances with the ATL traffic again in an attempt to make my flight, but it was so good to see this speedy Loopster.
Another text from the airline – another 30 minute delay. The stars were aligning and I somewhat impatiently maneuvered back down the 400 towards the airport. Me and the Mazda rolled into the rental return at 6:15. I'd have missed my original flight, but I was good for the late one. The train back to the terminals was arriving just as I walked upstairs, so I hopped on just in time for it to leave. Security wasn't bad. My gate was at the very end of the concourse (of course), but I still made it with 20 minutes to spare – enough time to walk back and grab some dinner before boarding.
Goodbye ATL.
Landed in Detroit at 10PM, was home and in bed at midnight, and up again at 6 the next morning for the 6 hour drive to Lexington. We spent two days there with the (now) three granddaughters, then drove back Sunday, getting in around midnight.
I like to have a recovery day after a trip before going back to work, but that doesn't always work out. Monday morning came a little too early for my taste, but at least I don't dig ditches for a living. I may have even stayed awake at my desk all day.
As fun as traveling is, it can leave me pretty drained. Even though I'd had an extra rest day from running (skipped Saturday), I was sure feeling tired and weak on Monday. I was not really looking forward to adding a mile to my weekly tempo run. On top of that, I was scheduled to run on the bike path behind Target, which means a climb of 240 feet from start to the turnaround point. What I normally do is run on effort and see how that matches the speed I'm supposed to be able to run at this stage of training. Tempo runs are supposed to be at GMP, but I've been doing them more at HMP and doing my LRs with a chunk at GMP. I never felt great – or even good – but it was a solid effort. 7:42, 7:32, 7:42, 7:36, 7:26. Finished just as the rain started.
Hopefully I'll actually feel good tonight.
Attitude is everything
Awesome post. By the way Montgomery is my old area I went to growing up.
I lived 40 miles south in a town called Greenville AL on I65.
I now live outside Birmingham AL on I20.
Awesome and congrats to you son and being able to have time together.
Rock on and keep on running.....
That looks like a fabulous trip. Congratulations to your son on his academic award. Very cool. Maybe Col. Cupcake can put a good word in for him!
You must be very proud Dave. Congrats to Connor!
looks like a good trip, and a son to be proud of..
It sounds like you had a lot fun. (You are a lucky guy!). Congratulations to your son. (Did he get his smarts from your side of the family?)
"Code Abby" hahaha!
You are one busy guy! Nice job fitting everything in. And a nice tempo after all that!
What a great trip filled with wonderful things! Congrats to your son!
Running = Happiness
Sorry your son is such an underachiever....maybe he can give my 11 year old a pep talk
Congrats to your son and great trip!
Congrats to your DS! Enjoyed reading the trip report and seeing the pics. Nice tempo run too.
Marathons Completed since Nov, 2008: 29 States: 24
Upcoming Races: Route 66 Marathon (OK) - Nov 22; 1 or 2 marathons in Jan/Feb?; Boston Marathon - April 18, 2016
Post 50 PRs: Full: 3:27 HM: 1:35:36 15k: 1:07:04 10k: 43:59 5k: 20:40
Running is a great way to explore cities. Wish I'd think about that more often. Usually I meet up with some friends though and I tend to prefer not smelling so bad hehe.
That was a great trip Getting to see those Loopets, and FT would have been a lot of fun by itself. The whole Air Force Graduation would have been icing on the cake.
What a great trip, Dave!
Congrats to your son!
I ramble...
Nice trip, just a week or 2 early. I fly into Atlanta this Sunday and will be in Birmingham next week and back to Atlanta the 15 to fly home the 16th. Nice pictures, great loop meets!
That is fantastic. As a parent, I almost got a little emotional myself. The pride you must be full of is almost tangible!! So, so cool.
it was great seeing you-- huge congrats to your son!!!
Looks like you and Mrs Dave did a good job raising a good kid. Certainly plenty there to make a dad proud.
Great pix of you the other Loopsters! Congrats to your son.
Wow! A VERY busy few days! You must be a very proud Dad!
When are your adventures going to bring you to Missouri?!?!
Not from me, so it must be from his mom.
Only thing I can think of is a fat retirement so I can do this every week.
11 year olds don't do pep talks - it's part of their code. Give him a few more years.
Mrs. Dave would likely disagree, but I'm with you. Cool-to-the-fourth is OSOM.
So close, TO. Don't worry, my friend - we'll get together again sometime soon.
You never know. I was there last year, but it was through Springfield. I never got very close to STL, but don't think I didn't try to re-route the travel plans.
Looks like a great trip! Congrats to Connor!
I was hoping for an epic run, maybe at a sub 7 minute pace, through the airport to catch your flight. That would have been a great ending.
LOL - Almost as good as an age group award. Congratulations to your son!
Glad I got to meet you. Sorry I got the signals crossed. Had I know you had the time I would have ran with you through the park instead of just walking. Hope you had fun on the Piedmont hill. On another note at least you got to experience the real Atlanta. BTB traffic for no reason. See you in Marshall.
Congrats to Connor!!
Glad that your diversion to see me didn't cost you a plane ride home. I knew that you were extremely tight on time for Friday at 5PM. I'm only sad that we didn't get to spend more time together and that you woke me up from my management nap.
That's quite a tempo run following a hectic travel weekend...
You could have saved yourself the hassle of waiting for your rental car at the beginning of your trip. The Metro stops right outside of Georgia Tech -- super convenient. I've run in Piedmont Park while visiting my son at GT. Nice park but there are definitely some sketchy areas around there.
Sorry but every time I see the picture of you with Northern Lass I think she is sitting on your lap! Lol.
Sorry your son is such a slacker!
And seriously you need to find something do with all of your time. Just sitting around with nothing to do...
And Wow! Great tempo run! I was really happy when I hit 3 mile repeats around where ALL of your tempo miles came in!
Awesome trip! Glad you were able to meet up with a few Loopsters, get in some miles in a new state and avoid a Code Abby. Congrats to Connor too!


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Some Pulsar NX Love on AOTD Today, so Here's the Story of Mine
I'm noticing some Pulsar NX love on today's Answers of the Day. I posted a couple pics of my Pulsar and it's getting some attention, so I thought I'd make a post about my car instead of hijacking the AOTD comments. »


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A barbecue and some music are being planned for an 80th anniversary celebration Aug. 6 at the Monroe Farmers Market.
Details of the festivities have not been ironed out yet, said Bill Stotz of Ida, president of the market board of directors.
"Not all of the plans have been put together yet," Mr. Stotz said.
The market is open from 6 a.m. to noon every Tuesday and Saturday in the Produce building off E. Willow St. There are about 25 vendors at the market, with more coming every week with produce, said Jeanette Woelmer, a board member.
Booth spaces are $20 a day. The market is pretty full, but there are some day stalls available, Mrs. Woelmer said. To rent a stall, people can contact her at 241-9570.


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December 1, 2015
A person with knowledge of the sale tells The Associated Press that Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner has reached a deal to sell the team to Tennessee truck-stop magnate Jimmy Haslam III.
Lerner will sell 70 percent of the Browns to Haslam now, with the other 30 percent reverting to him four years after the closing date, the person says on condition of anonymity because the sale has not officially been announced.
While the papers have been signed, the NFL must approve the sale. Approval from 24 of the 32 teams is required, and no date has been set for a vote because the sale has not been presented to the league yet.
The sale price was reportedly more than $1 billion. For comparison, the Miami Dolphins sold at a value of more than $1 billion in 2009.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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Track star (George Kitchens) nearly shot and killed, now a possible Olympian
Published by
Thursday May 31, 2012
Augusta, Ga--"It showed me I can endure anything and I can persevere and I can rise to the top of anything because I was shot twice and left for dead and my sister was as well and Lyndon, he was shot in the head and left for dead and all of us survived."
Glenn Hills product George Kitchens is one of the top ten long jumpers in the world. In late june, he'll be in Eugene, Oregon trying to qualify for the United States Olympic team.
"It'll mean a lot to me" said George Kitchens "This has been the biggest thing that I've wanted to accomplish since I was a child. And when you think of track and field, all you see is the Olympics, that's like the Super Bowl of my sport.
Read the full article at: www.wrdw.com


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- Filed Under
On March 7, 2014, members of the Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School Health Occupations Program and HOSA Club will host their annual school-wide Blood Drive from 8 AM to 1 PM in the SCVTHS gymnasium.
The Blood Center of New Jersey will be handling all of the technical aspects of the drive, including phlebotomy and the confidential screening processes. SCVTHS Health Occupations students will be on hand to coordinate the event and ensure that everyone has a pleasant experience.
"Hospitals in New ...


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November 24, 2009
Eudora senior Hannah Kouri drives in for a layup during a girls basketball practice last week. Kouri is one of several seniors who played varsity last year. Eudora opens the season Dec. 4 at Anderson County.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
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Posted by Josh Katzowitz
Vikings receiver Bernard Berrian has had a terrible start to the season. In four games, he's got exactly two receptions, and considering he's coming off a 28-catch season in 2010, he has to be wondering how much time he's got left on Minnesota's roster.
Which probably means he's pretty crabby, which is probably why he lashed out at a Twitter follower's statement that was actually somewhat mild. Thing is, Berrian didn't know that the Twitter follower in question is actually, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a Minnesota state legislator who's trying to get the Vikings a new stadium.
It all started when Berrian agreed with a follower who had written that he was constantly open on Sunday by writing, "Been like that the past four years." That prompted Rep. John Kriesel, who co-sponsored the bill to open a new stadium in Arden Hills, to tweet this: "If you want to follow a hilarious twitter account, try @B_Twice who says that he's open a lot and should get the ball more."
Responded Berrian: "Anytime u wanna watch the film with me. Not just one game but all of them. ... and if not sit down n shut up!!"
The problem with that -- and this is where it gets awkward -- is that Kriesel is an Iraq war veteran who lost both of his legs.
Berrian called Kriesel this morning to apologize, and Kriesel later said, "I'm a big boy. I can handle myself. I ripped him, he ripped me back. We had it going back and forth on Twitter a little bit. I have fun with Twitter. I'm over it. I was never offended by it."
And, of course, Berrian had no idea who Kriesel was or what his story is.
So, everybody is cool with everybody else, and it seems like this story will get lost in the atmosphere sooner rather than later. But it's a pretty good reminder for an NFL player who likes to get on Twitter. Maybe you're just better off if you completely ignore your mentions. You never know when you're going to make yourself look like a fool by telling a man without legs who served his country to sit down and shut up.
For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed.
Blog Entry
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Posted on: October 3, 2011 7:19 pm
Edited on: October 4, 2011 12:03 am
Category: NFL
Since: Dec 2, 2011
Posted on: February 21, 2012 7:52 am
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Since: Dec 2, 2011
Posted on: January 15, 2012 9:25 pm
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Since: Dec 2, 2011
Posted on: December 31, 2011 8:16 pm
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Nice scheme. My husband and i had gone for use on your world-wide-web signing in a person's to get going enough time way too so as pretty much your personal supporter. Hold blog as I am going to materialize to locate over this amazing seven days a week.
Since: Nov 19, 2011
Posted on: December 24, 2011 10:17 pm
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Freezing greater this web page for making absolutely sure you your definitely only syndication viewers, terrific junk. Can not get maintain with the best suited total of!
Since: Dec 2, 2011
Posted on: December 4, 2011 2:13 pm
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Such a post was basically particularly right written, so you can realize it's s known for a amazing give in very useful particulars. My spouse and i relished your primary professed usually means involved with putting together the process.
Since: Oct 4, 2011
Posted on: October 4, 2011 10:06 am
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
As long as it was a black athlete to a white man and not a white athlete to a black war hero. Charges would have been pressed..... Boy is there something wrong with this world.
Since: Dec 3, 2006
Posted on: October 4, 2011 8:59 am
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
As long as its not about Obama Berrien its all good, dont believe me ask Hank
Since: Sep 22, 2011
Posted on: October 4, 2011 8:35 am
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Wait - so someone who talks smack in a medium that does not take physical attributes - twitter is facelesss - into consideration has to have his physical disablities accounted for???? Maybe twitter should add a check box that asks, "Do you have any disabilities?" Ridiculous story.
Since: Jul 2, 2009
Posted on: October 4, 2011 8:17 am
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
Berrian is always "going rover coach". Yeahhhh there ya go run around in circles numbnuts.
Since: Sep 20, 2011
Posted on: October 4, 2011 3:01 am
Bernard Berrian makes a big Twitter no-no
yeah, agree. no harm no foul. he is open alot. hes been a big play guy since he was drafted. i give Berrian props for callin the guy and sayin he was sorry.


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PHILADELPHIA—Most of eastern Pennsylvania is under a flood watch as more rain is forecast following heavy precipitation Saturday.
Flood watches were in effect for northeast and southeast Pennsylvania through Monday morning as a total of up to three inches of rain is forecast between Saturday and Sunday night. The National Weather Service warns of possible flooding of small streams and in low-lying areas.
A winter weather advisory is also in effect for northeast Pennsylvania, with up to a tenth of an inch of ice forecast, along with one to two inches of snow and sleet at higher elevations.
The weather service says another inch of rain is possible in southeast Pennsylvania Sunday and that flooding will continue for several hours after the rains end.


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CNBC-TV18's managing editor Udayan Mukherjee says, the Budget has no big ideas and is not a reformist Budget. "It is a non-event for the market," he adds.
The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Budget 2012 in the Parliament today. The market is flat and the bond market has gone up to 8.4% plus the yield.
CNBC-TV18's managing editor Udayan Mukherjee says, the Budget has no big ideas and is not a reformist Budget. "It is a non-event for the market," he adds.
According to him, no significant repair has happened to the fisc barring some statements on directions in terms of cutting expenditures. "Expenditures are actually not been cut," he adds.
He further says, fuel and fertiliser subsidies are not touched. "There is no direction there barring a small mention of targeting," he asserts.
On taxes he says, there is no timeline on GST or DTC. Income tax has been cut very modestly, very small changes. "Excise duties and service taxes have gone up and there no mention of FDI as well," he adds.
All in all, he says, there is no big announcement in this Budget. "I don't know whether this will lift corporate sentiment dramatically, but to me it appears like a big non-event from a market's perspective. Barring small positives, like the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme, the minor STT cut only on deliveries. But, otherwise, there is no big idea in this Budget," he states.
READ MORE ON Markets, Budget, Nifty, Sensex, NSE, BSE, Finance Minister, Udayan Mukherjee, DTC, GST
video of the day
Dont see mkt going anywhere now; like Bharat Forge: Dipen


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SHREVEPORT, La. -- With nine days left until the election, U.S. Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, has spent more than $1.2 million in his re-election bid and has more than $513,000 in cash on hand to make it through the final stretch, according to campaign finance documents.
The 61-year-old businessman and physician has come a long way since his 2008 election in which the then-relatively unknown candidate spent more than $300,000 of his personal funds to defeat challenger Paul Carmouche.
This time, Fleming's supporters, 89 percent of whom are Louisianans, contributed $1.5 million and ...


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General Music Thread
View Single Post
July 13 2012, 12:20 AM
Location: Pingfah
Re: General Music Thread
JayOwl wrote:
^I love vinyls. I don't have any myself yet (no player) but my Dad has a huge collection. Pink Floyd, Queen, Dire Straights, etc. Brilliant stuff. It sucks that they don't work that well for you. Maybe your ones are damaged or possibly ripped on there from lower quality mp3s, or maybe your record player isn't that great.
There is nothing wrong with the record deck I have hundreds of albums that sound great. They just did a shitty job when mastering these Queen reissues for vinyl. Some of them sound great, but some are quite flat sounding compared to the CDs.
Eyes wrote:
On a tangent to what you just said, I found this track a few months ago, that is quite amazing in its pretentiousness, it does spoken verse. The reason I mention it is that it mentions Peter Gabriel in a verse, then emphasises it as 'PETER GABRIEL FROM GENESIS'. It tickles me a bit:
Saint Etienne - Over The Border
Yeah, that band are quite well known in the UK, I never liked them. They are mind bogglingly boring.
So it goes.
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Responsive web design is extremely critical in today's world; it is necessary for survival among the fittest. No doubt mobile browsing has blown up and continues to grow exponentially. There are times where no matter how good a company's web site looks on the monitor, if it is not "mobile friendly" and the user gets a poor experience, well, the site might as well be deemed no good at all. On a personal level, I can relate to the importance of mobile browsing. For example, after giving someone my business card usually one of the first things they do is pull out there iPhone, and look at my portfolio. If my personal site was not built with a responsiveness to adapt to different media devices and viewports such as the iPhone; and the viewer looking at my work does not have a good experience, this could jeopardize the integrity of my work and in turn, possibly be loosing future customers and contacts. I would like to quote Andy Clarke, web designer, author and founder of Stuff and Nonesense. Andy says, "Anything that's fixed and unresponsive isn't web design anymore, it's something else. if you don't embrace the inherent fluidity of the web, you are not a web designer, you're something else. Web design is responsive design. Responsive Web Design is web design, done right"…
Category Archives: google
It's Been A Great Morning For Web-Op PPC
Q&A with a UI/UX Designer
For this weeks blog I decided to interview a friend of mine and professional graphic/web designer.
Ryan Canfield is UI/UX designer & front end developer at Synapse Studios specializing in web-based javascript applications.
What do you think is one the most important thing as a web designer? Thinking past static design & layout to consider the web at all screen sizes.
What about the creative process? We use a repeatable, successful pattern. It starts with sketching, wire framing, mock ups, rapid prototyping and then development .
How important is the creative process to you? Very! Synapse didn't have designers a few years back, it was developers doing front end. Having designers makes a huge difference in the usability of web applications. Being classically trained as a graphic designer helps me daily in web design. I use the principles of design, like color theory, rhythm, balance etc. these fundamentals are paramount!
What is your outlook on simplicity? Simplicity depends on necessity. That is one thing designers forget with the web design and graphic design in general. They feel like they need to fill all the space like it is some "hole to fill" esp. junior designers. Question the necessity of everything you include in the design and then question whether is it presented in the best way possible.
What about the the placement of things like "call to actions?" You want to make sure your main call to action is available and accessible almost anywhere. If you're delivering information you want it at the end of that information. It should be the most prominent path for a user to take.
What do you think about traditional web placement i.e. headers etc. and switching the placement of them up, in non traditional ways? It really depends on the users of the site or app. Sites that have the same user base are better candidates than sites that have mostly unique visitors. Additionally, younger, more techie users are going to figure out the placement of things and are less likely to get frustrated. With users that struggle you probably want a more conservative layout. You have to determine purpose of the site and the target audience. A marketing site is going to be selling products/services, reference website will be delivering information etc.
Any input for junior web designer? Mobile first approach, responsive design and write clean code!
world wide web banner
A web sites web banner is by far one of the most important area of a site. It is what people see first, this is where the viewer makes initial visual contact and gets an overall feel and vibe of the site, and ultimately decides if they want to continue on or not. I can not tell you how many web sites I have left due to the fact they had a weak header. Even though it is the content that matters in todays world people judge books by there covers, and the web banner is the cover. I like this piece of information I found online, it is from a graphic designer and multiple business owner named Dawn Papandrea-Khan. She states, "usually when we visit a website or blog, we can get a feel for what the site represents in only a few seconds. This is the reason why it is even more important to focus on making the right first impression through a custom header graphic."
As a designer, there are a few key aspects and bits of information I think the header should contain. The company, the product etc. Which brings me to my next point I found in an online blog talking about this exact topic. This is from boostability.com the importance of a header.
1. Who are you? (You would be amazed how many websites make their visitors dig around to find out the name of the company!)
2. What do you do? (Again, the number of visitors who are forced to assume your site sells a product rather than just talks about it is ridiculous. Be clear!)
3. Why should I buy from you, not the other guy?
The web is littered with garbage, visual noise and a bunch of sites that house web banners that all look the same. It is up to me as the designer to produce clean, visually interesting web banners that represents the sites overall demeanor and entice people to stay on the site and explore further. It is also up to me to find new and exciting ways to display the content so we can separate ourselves from the crowd. Also, I feel like in design I have to take risks. I have to try new and "edgy" things and think outside the normal design box that I often get tunnel visioned in. I would also like to explore maybe trying a banner with out the traditional rectangle box, maybe another shape or placement? That is something definitely for the sketchbook and some thought.
Enhanced CPC: Is This Always The Right Choice?
When choosing a click-focused bid strategy, is clicking the "Enable Enhanced CPC" button always the right choice? What Enhanced CPC means is exactly how it sounds, it optimizes your cost per click if Adwords presumes it as beneficial, or not beneficial, to your campaign. This feature can increase your bids for clicks by up to 30% if deemed good for the campaign, and lower the bid by any amount if it seems that the campaign will not benefit. Seems awesome right? This may not necessarily be the case.
While Enhanced CPC can be beneficial for a campaign with a good history of conversion data, a new campaign with Enhanced CPC will most likely not perform at its best. It can drive down traffic for a new campaign and make your campaign not work as how you would've hoped. It's not going to do a good job if there is no data to base its bid decisions over. What is our verdict?
Use it for a campaign with good historic conversion data. This is where the Enhanced CPC feature may perform at its best and be the most beneficial to your Adwords campaign, with potential for increased conversion rate, increase ROI, and overall lower costs. However,for a new campaign, we recommend not using it. Be smart with Enhanced CPC, make sure it's right for you.
PPC Tips: What Do You Do On A Weekly Basis?
When we are called here for PPC consultation or to take over someone's campaign, we often find that a decent campaign is created, however it is left stagnant and on "autopilot". The thing with PPC is that is cannot be left to run on its own! Things change in Adwords (Bing too!) in minutes, even seconds at a time, leaving your well performing keyword potentially in the dust in no time. We have developed some "best practices" at Web-Op to optimize our marketing campaigns. These have to monitored daily, and even hourly in some instances. So how should you keep a close eye on your Adwords/Bing campaign? Follow some of these tips from the experts here at Web-Op.
- Identify the poor performers: These are the "low hanging fruit". Poor performers can include ads/keywords with low CTR, low clicks, or low conversions, depending on the age of the campaign. We also leverage data from Google Analytics which can tell us things like bounce rate and average visit duration. Poor performers are a gigantic waste of money. Without keeping a close eye on these, you are just throwing money away for nothing.
- Negative keywords: Let's say you are advertising keywords like "computer repair services". You may not want your ads to come up in search terms like "do it yourself computer repair". Constant addition of negative keywords to your campaign can be very beneficial, and can keep your overall performance metrics toward the high-side.
- Average position: Keywords are given position, and this is something very important to watch for. Usually the top 3 positions have the best performance. We have found that position 2 (out of the 3) has the worst performance. We like to aim for position 1 to 3. Every keyword bid is different, so getting the optimal position can be quite tricky.
- Fix match types: Depending on the client, campaign, and budget, we will choose to mix keyword match types. With broad match terms, we have found that is it important to scale these back and use these as a good way to find what the best search terms are. Through scaling back broad match and adding search terms as a phrase match, we have seen the following statistics after just a week of managing PPC for a health supplement:
- Spend reduced 11.5%
- Conversions Increased 7%
- Cost Per Conversion Decreased 14.5%
- Conversion Rate increased 19%
- ROI increased 160%
- Budgets: In the end, you are spending the client's money when managing their PPC campaign. Be wary of their daily budgets and if anything is getting maxed out, you can scale back on the poor performers or lower the position. More clicks for less money? Yup, it's worth it.
PPC can be quite tricky, and it is for good reason. It takes a well optimized campaign, as well as the proper capital, to really get some good, solid, consistent performance. Don't turn on autopilot, keep a close eye on your campaigns. You will be happy you did.
The "Domain Info" site: Google's latest target
Every few months, Google gets a bee in its bonnet about a specific type of site, and usually rolls out a series of updates intended to clean up the results pages. We've seen it for directories and "content farms", and untold man-hours have been devoted to keeping "payday loans" clean and safe.
With the recent "Panda 4.0″ update, a few sites have began publishing lists of "Winners and Losers". The more interesting aspect is what happens when we look at similar lists over time. a clear trend appears.
Again and again, you see rank drops for the "sites that list every major domain" — this typically falls into one of three categories:
A Note On Why CPC's Are Down
Google reported earnings that beat the street yesterday, yet some are are pointing to lower CPC's with a cautionary tone. As it turns out CPC's are down about 8% year over year. I expect that to fall further – yet im still bullish on Google and so is everyone else apparently:
So Why Are CPC's Down?
- Mobile web traffic is up considerably at the expense of desktop traffic. Some research shows a combined 20% market share for mobile/desktop in Q3 of 2013. Web-Op manages several sites where 30% or more of organic traffic is coming from mobile devices and tablets. Most small web marketers (adwords' bread and butter) still haven't adapted to this shift. Its not just small advertisers either.
- Two thirds of Fortune 100 websites don't serve mobile friendly versions[1]
As Google applies more and more pressure (in the form of threatened penalties[2]) on companies to produce mobile friendly formats – mobile traffic should perform better and better.
Link Building and its Importance
As important as all part of a website are, link can be one of the major players in determining your website rank. After all, you'll never rank without links. Google was originally built on an algorithm that weighted the amount of anchor text links in a site to determine its relevance in search results. Essentially, Google treats these links as votes, where more votes means higher rank. However, you can't just spam your website with a variety of links which lead your visitors to something unrelated. Google has installed many mechanisms to ensure the quality of these links. These make sure that the links are relevant, segmented correctly, and from different IP addresses. Link building is important, and it's just another piece of the puzzle in effective SEO.
Google Places: An Important Tool in your SEO Toolbox
Whenever you do a specific search for a product or service in a location on Google, you will notice a list of local businesses in that area next to a map. Ever wonder that is, and how to get your business on that list? That is Google Places, the next best thing to help your business succeed.
Google Places pretty much acts as an online yellow pages account for your business, combined with a personalized web page. Customers can visit this page to find out all kinds of information about your business, from basic contact information, to YouTube videos, reviews, photos, and more. This little known area of Google is essential for local businesses looking to create that extra edge.
Let's say you are looking for something specific, say "pizza in Chicago", or "Chicago pizza". The first page you see an alphabetized list of local restaurants in Chicago offering pizza on their menus. These businesses have Google Places accounts, allowing them to easily make first page search engine results on Google. See the potential in this? Web-Op specializes in managing your Google Places account for your business, allowing your customers to keep up to date on your information and allowing for no missed opportunities in rankings to go unnoticed.
To learn more about Google Places and Web-Op services in this area, please refer to http://web-op.com/google-places.php.


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The darkened morbid whispers dance and sway to the velvet voice of wind. She swang and bathed in pure glory, basked in youthful sin. That not of a child but of a woman of corruption to which her pleasures entwine with those who crave the affection and grasp the vine of idolatry. The deep violets carper into her very soul and touch upon that no humans hands desire, a lust so powerful her body craves to which her mind paints over with her past of strenuous sins. Her voice flittered through the trees, a voice as soft as a delicate rose, but all to which the thorns have that abrase the lovers in ache. Her beauty and splendour divine, her deep mahogany curls pinned up into a elegant bravura, her jade-green eyes, so alive, so bright, the reflection of nature, a world through another, a wonderland of the hidden Eden,slender satin grass, emerald strokes of verdant fingers clasp at bodies that lay in sensual aflamed passionthe garden of temptation it's self. Captured in memory and memory in vain, her lips perfectly carved and kissable a faded fuchsia pout, the aroma of defiance in human limit. The years she spends awaiting, are years indubitably lost. Shadows of the forlorn convey sorrow of their confiment, tortured by existence to which their soul is victim. Plagued by fallacious adoration, consumed by the lies of lust, yet untouched by her restraint, a leash as far as one demise can control. Her ivory lace dress trails under the aged swing merged into the dew-dropped grass, her legs crossed to convey an air of sophistication; she seeks out the obscurity of the unseen to mortal eye, and interludes the life of wanders. Untold by many her existence is unheeded by that of those who unnoticed her true being, a beautiful essence but lethal passion. A mask of hindrance and surreptitious lies, a demon of wild desires and inclination of those who perish from her wicked ways. Sucabus the devil calls, a beauty of death it's self, a maze of wonder and terrible delight, darkened eyes of monsters in childhood dreams. The poison drips into the luscious veins of feeble pray, flows through the blood and paralyzes the heart. An innocent belle, a soul of black and morbid terrors, a vision of the devils mistress in death she seeks no taciturnity.
By Chloe John :)
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The most often question I get asked about SQL Server 2008 is when is it out? If you are in marketing then there is a world wide launch event in Feb 2008 for Windows server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. Well that's a bit like the launch of the Mini Clubman on 10 Nov - just because it's launched doesn't mean you can get one immediately. In fact I will be waiting until the SQL Server 2008 launch in February for my Clubman to arrive,
Microsoft and the rest of the software industry is the same i.e. launch doesn't mean ship. So you won't be able to pitch up to the 2008 launch event and walk away with SQL server 2008; it won't be out until later in the year (that's a Microsoft year which runs July to June).
So we're going to have to wait a little longer, but that allows time to evaluate the new release through the beta program, white papers and other technical content on the various sites such as:
Alternatively why not register for an evening of my SQL server 2008 stuff at the TechNet road shows here