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More new judges!
The governor has appointed replacement judges for the special Supreme Court. Three of the previous judges stepped back from the panel late last month after they were linked to a group that backs the Tennessee Plan.
The new special appointees join two previous appointees to make up a group of highly qualified and diverse legal minds representing the three grand divisions of the state. The governor's new appointees are:
J. Robert Carter, Jr. is a criminal court judge in Shelby County, elected Judge of Division III in August 2010 after serving as an assistant district attorney general for 26 years before his election. Carter graduated magna cum laude from Christian Brothers College with bachelor's degrees in English and Humanities. He received his J.D. from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphries School of Law.
James R. Dedrick retired in 2010 from the U.S. Attorney's Office where he had served since 1993 as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. He began his career with the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1983 and was a federal prosecutor for drug, corruption, white collar, tax and other felony investigations and trials. He received his Bachelor of Science degree with honors from East Tennessee State University and graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law with honors.
Monica N. Wharton serves as the chief legal counsel for the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, overseeing the risk management and legal affairs department since 2008. Wharton previously worked at the law firm, Glankler Brown PLLC, practicing in the circuit, chancery and federal court systems. She holds a bachelor's degree from Hampton University, graduating with honors, and she earned her J.D. from William & Mary School of Law.
Two steps forward, three steps back
Special Justices William Barker, George Brown and Robert Echols have stepped away from the five-member Special Supreme Court to which Gov. Haslam appointed them five weeks ago. John Jay Hooker had filed a motion to disqualify the trio earlier this month. Check a PDF of today's order here.
SEE ALSO: Special Supreme Court judges linked to pro-Tennessee Plan group
Hooker fights for law license
Supreme Court agency rejects Hooker decision
Hooker demands Bredesen role as he fights punishment
Nashville now and then: Southern-fried shenanigans
[Article available without subscription]
Lambs lining up for U.S. Senate
Kurtz retiring
Panel prescribes sanction against John Jay Hooker


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It Will Never Be Cooler than This! Music 1955-1965 - no rock, no country, no classical - just suave, jiving sounds with a pinch of kitsch to keep you smiling. Sinatra, Martin, Mingus, Monk-you'd have to be a real harvey not to dig it! So Swing This Baby!
DJ info NOT available.


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Mavericks Photos
Photos: See Mavericks' fans crazy outfits and all the Game 3 action
Photo: Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) gets up in the face of San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) o na fourth quarter shot during the NBA Western Conference Quarterfinals Game 3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, April 26, 2014. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
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Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > Life Is Just A Game
Tour Buses and Hidden Gifts9 reviews
Life Is Just A Game
(#) LovelyxMistake 2006-09-19Yaaay =]
Thisis the best part of my day becuse my day was sitting around and being sick. >.<
Anyway. I love it.
Life Is Just A Game
(#) thexrealxme 2006-09-19OMG MORE!!! I WANT MORE!
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Browse the comprehensive database of Cedar Creek car dealers online at Autobytel.com. See your potential new or used car by make, cost, or classification. Autobytel has a huge directory of Cedar Creek car dealerships with their inventories of new and used car, truck, and SUV listings online. We can be your resource as you go through the transaction of purchasing a car. View up-to-date values of automobiles, study vehicle stats, browse photos, research extensive analysis of the cars, and find prices pertaining to the Cedar Creek car dealership.
There is no reason to bounce around to multiple Cedar Creek car dealerships anymore. Because of the advancements in cyberspace; Cedar Creek car dealers are able to have a virtual showroom located at multiple sites at the same time including Autobytel.com. And the majority of car shoppers will begin to research automobiles online. After a consumer has narrowed down their choices of new or used cars; they will begin to search the local listings of Cedar Creek car dealers. Odds are they will find themselves located at a viable online automotive resource like Autobytel.com. Visit our site to see free vehicle pricing information from a couple of Cedar Creek car dealers.
Having one Cedar Creek car dealership that you can trust is a big deal. Its commonly believed that the only time you'll step foot on a Cedar Creek car dealer lot is to purchase your vehicle. There is a good chance that since Cedar Creek car dealers offer much more than new or used car sales; you will do business there again. Respectable Cedar Creek car dealerships have much more to offer the customer than just new and used car sales; there should also be: a body shop, a service department, a parts center, and a financing office. The possibility is very high that you will again go back to the Cedar Creek car dealer establishment if you ever need anything for your vehicle. That's why it is a good idea to form a close bond with the Cedar Creek car dealership in the event that you need to use one of their multiple services.
Browse the Cedar Creek car dealerships catalogue at Autobytel.com to get information and an assessment on a perspective dealer. See what previous customers of Cedar Creek car dealers had to say about their experiences. These appraisals of Cedar Creek car dealerships can be an effective way to figure out which dealership you should choose.


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Hello Guys,
I need to stitch special long tubular fabric with lap seam for length of 50 meters
As I understand I can do it with feed off the arm machine but my requirement is that I must put 10 lines of stitching (Chain stitch) with 1/4 distance for full length of 50 meters
Is there any machine available having 10 needle Chain Stitch Feed Off the arm having 1/4 space ?
Help needed
This topic has been moved from Creative Sewing to Sewing Machines
------How is that still a thing?
I doubt it. Look at this one, and even just think about and pretend it had 10 needles instead of only 3, and think about how long the right angle free arm would really need to be on it, if you were really trying to jam 50 meters or 164 feet of scrunched and bunched up fabric in there, in between your needle and the right angle of that free arm?
Maybe consider changing your sewing process instead, and making something into a tube afterwards?
When they were making military cargo parachutes where I work, we had about 10 or 12 old Singer machines that were 4 needle chainstitch with 1/4 inch spacing. Never heard of a 10 needle machine of any kind, but there might be such a thing. The old Singers we had were not feed off the arm types, they were a standard configuration with the fabric feeding front to rear across the bed to the left of the pillar. I posted several pictures of these, but they are on my work computer and I'm home and on vacation right now. If I can remember, I'll post some pics when I get back to work next week.
------A sewing machine is just a welder for textiles.
Is this to be used for elastic shirring?
------Janome 6500P, Babylock Eclipse SX, Janome Coverpro 1000, Babylock BLCS, Juki 654, Janome 1600PDB, Brother ULT 2002D, Babylock Spirit, Juki DDL8700, Juki TL2010q
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Posted on May 2, 2012
Plumbing problems
If you read my last post, you'll know that I'm facing a hefty bill to get the water line from the street to my house fixed this week. Yesterday, I was feeling more upbeat about the situation, and… Read More
Posted on April 30, 2012
Worst case scenario
Well, it's been a Monday… I received my first water bill last Saturday, just over a week ago. My heart stopped for a second when I saw the charge: $350. At first I thought, someone's put the decimal… Read More


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Each day there are thousands of people becoming victims of accidents that were the fault of another person, and due to this fact, it leaves a serious issue of seeking the professional assistance of legal representation that will help these victims gain the compensation that they will certainly need in order to pay off any medical bills and other expenses that they are unable to pay. If you are a victim of an accident and it was the result from the carelessness or negligence of another person, then it is highly advisable to for you to opt for legal help and contact and employ the professional services a Personal injury attorney. Through the services of this type of attorney, clients will have the assurance of getting an amicable amount of compensation to help ease the burden of the financial matters that these kinds of personal injuries can create.
It is a true fact that there are so many different kinds of personal injuries and in some cases, they can be quite devastating and create plenty of hardships for the victims. There is also a lot of psychological, emotional and financial consequences from personal injuries. Once these hardships begin for the victims, it is then that their lives can become very difficult for them to function throughout each day. These types of personal injury attorneys do have complete understanding towards these kinds of situations and can provide the resources and experience it will take so to assure the victims of getting their fair share of compensation that they do deserve.
It will not matter what type of injury you are suffering from, whether it is an injury from head trauma, broken bones, medical mistakes, botched surgeries, auto injuries, lacerations, spinal cord damages, disfigurement, slip and fall, or any other accident that was from the fault of another person, these personal attorneys will have the ability to handle these kinds of claims and go to battle for you with the insurance companies to gain a reasonable settlement agreement that will help to ease the mind and benefit the victim of the personal in jury.
These personal injury attorneys in Portland understand the law with regards to these kinds of cases, and with this fact they will be able to take full control of the matter and help to get the insurance companies to provide the compensation for such issues as damage expenses, the cost for rehabilitations, all medical expenses, the loss of income as well as the pain and suffering victim of these types of claims encounter and there also wrongful death rewards that are given to the surviving members of the family if a victim dies from any form of personal injury from the wrong doing of another person.
If you or anyone in your family is suffering from accident that came as the result of someone else's fault and you want a someone who can protect your legal rights with regards to these types of claims, then you are sure to achieve this goal through the professional services of a personal injury attorney, as the assistance they can provide is a valuable asset to have whenever there is need for legal help for personal injury claims.


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The Fat-Free Junk Food Cookbook: 100 Recipes of Guilt-Free Decadence (Paperback)
Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
With luscious recipes for everything from Chili-Cheese Crunches to Mocha Kahlua Sherbet, The Fat-Free Junk Food Cookbook puts an irresistibly fresh spin on healthy cooking for the whole family. 10 illustrations. 128 pp. National publicity. 20,000 print.


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ESPC No. 1
ESPC is the No. 1 destination for property for sale in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Fife.
Reason 1: ESPC solicitor estate agents sell more residential property than anyone else in East Central Scotland.
Reason 2: 9 out of 10 homes advertised for sale in Edinburgh are marketed through ESPC solicitor estate agents.
Reason 3: espc.com is home to more properties for sale than any other website in the area, and attracts almost 200,000 unique visitors a month. That is a serious number of people!
Get Moving with ESPC
For 2011, ESPC's 40th year of business, we are encouraging people to 'Get moving with ESPC' in the exercise sense as well as, what you would expect, the house sense!
ESPC is supporting a number of events across the area, including the Edinburgh Marathon, to encourage and inspire the people of East Central Scotland to keep their body and brain active in 2011.
Get in touch
Pop in and see us at 85 George Street, Edinburgh
or pick up The ESPC Paper


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2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.
Del Mar, CA 92014
Hours: Fair opening to 10:00PM. The exhibit stays open until 11:00PM Fridays and Saturdays and until midnight on July 4.
Location: North end, Mission Tower
This competition and exhibit is done in collaboration with the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association and features more than 300 entries in 24 different classes. Woodworkers from all over the world compete for honors in the largest show of its kind anywhere (according to Fine Woodworking magazine). The exhibit includes exquisite traditional, contemporary and art furniture, musical instruments, carvings, clocks, models and more. Many entries are museum-quality, and many are for sale directly from the woodworker artist.
Expert woodworkers demonstrate scroll sawing, wood turning, model making and 19th-century carving. Children's chairs are built using traditional hand tools during the day with specialized demonstrations in the evenings. Scroll down for more information.
Visit the special Balboa Park display made of wood, and see artifacts and photos from the original 1915 and 1939 Expositions.
Visit the 18th-century Children's Chair Shop. Volunteer woodworkers build children's chairs using traditional tools and donate them to various children's charities. They have made more than 1,400 chairs since 1987.
Watch demonstrations by model makers, woodcarvers, woodturners, and other masters of the woodworking craft.
Get behind-the-scenes information on a daily docent tour. Check the Fair program for times.
Vote for your favorite piece and see last year's "People's Choice Award" winner.
Observe and learn about different types of woodworking demonstrations and clubs you can join in San Diego County.
Deadline for entering was May 1. Delivery dates and other information for those who have already entered are included in the competition information.
If you would like to receive reminders on deadlines and other entry information, please sign-up for the Del Mar Fairgrounds mailing list.
Please contact the Exhibits Office at 858-792-4207 or email email@example.com. Someone is available to assist you Monday-Friday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM
Content © 2015, Del Mar Fairgrounds. All rights reserved.


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Thu, 16 August 2012 at 1:20 am
Gwen Stefani: West Hollywood with Zuma!
Gwen Stefani and Zuma get in some bonding time on Tuesday (August 14) in West Hollywood, Calif.
The 42-year-old rocker carried her adorable son with her as they headed inside a local office building.
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Gwen Stefani
Last week, Gwen had a little fun in the sun at the beach while vacationing with her family in Florida.
In case you missed it, make sure you check out Gwen's band No Doubt on the cover of Billboard magazine's Fall Music Preview 2012.
Like Just Jared on Facebook
Credit: roqu; Photos: AKM-GSI Posted to: Celebrity Babies, Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani, Zuma Rossdale


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Save Enterprise Profic!
View Single Post
November 4 2011, 11:35 PM
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Location: Nordschleifistan
Re: Save Enterprise Profic!
Aquarius wrote:
Here's a tip: words like "mediocre" and "rubbish" are likely to be off-putting to decision makers, as well as to people who might otherwise side with you. It's much better-framed as, "I love
and its characters, and I would love to buy and read more novels, but I feel like
(fill in the blank)
has been missing from previous releases." You can get the message across and still be nice about it.
Why shouldn't I say 'the book was rubbish' when it was. I don't want to wrap my opinion in faux political correctness. The books were not good and them going away isn't any loss, because there are dozens of fanfiction novels out there that beat them by a mile. Why should I beg for a commercial product, if I get something vastly superior for free.
"Are you planning to excavate this rectangular area?"
"Yep, I'm diggin' a hole, T'Pol"
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Kotik
Visit Kotik's homepage!
Find More Posts by Kotik


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Hello there!
The name is Roley, 25 years old and as stated, living in the Netherlands.
At the moment driving a JDM spec Z32 300ZX TT 2+2. Which is for sale to make room for a JNC, probably an Ae86, or maybe something else really dont know yet :P .
Always loved the old school jdm wheels, so it was about time to get the right car to make that love come true. :wink:


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Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has seen first-hand how technology can pull the rug out from under a business.
As a child, Ohanian watched his father curse the Internet for the way it completely changed the travel agency business. Rather than cling stubbornly to the old way of working, however, Ohanian's father adapted, and the business is still around today.
During a conversation with Young Entrepreneur Council founder Scott Gerber, Ohanian discussed how business owners can get a jump on adapting to the changing technological landscape.
"My advice is...start building this technology internally," he said. "Start using this stuff yourself and adapting to it in a way that concedes that the old world is changing and you have to adapt."
One branding tip Ohanian shared has to do with the power of logos, something he learned after creating the alien mascot for Reddit.
"People can like mascots in a way that they can't like a website. It's a way to humanize a brand," he said. "For consumer-facing apps in particular, it helps people form a more robust memory of the product."
For more tips on building a lasting brand, watch the video below.
Without Their Permission: Alexis Ohanian Wants You to Adapt
The reddit co-founder talks to Inc.'s Scott Gerber about the open internet, valuing your users, the importance of the reddit alien, and more. .


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Yes, Indiana lost, and ended up 0-3 in Puerto Rico. But the Hoosiers looked much better against George Mason this morning than they did against Ole Miss and Boston University.
Guys like Bobby Capobianco — seven points, 10 boards (five offensive) and Jordan Hulls — eight points — played the best games of their young careers. Bobby C. might not have a ton of polish, but he did the dirty work on the boards and finished around the rim. It's exactly the kind of play Tom Crean is looking for from him off the bench. Hulls played with poise, and I think did a better job of orchestrating the offense today than Rivers had done in the previous two games in this tourney. Crean recognized that, and when both Hulls and Rivers were in the ball game, it was Hulls bringing the ball up.The box score only reads 13 minutes for Hulls, but he played so well when he was in there, it seemed like much more.
Hulls lacks athleticism and when you couple that with his size, it can create some matchup problems. But he's solid, doesn't make many mistakes and has great basketball IQ. And he flashed some range today with two threes. If the Hoosiers would have gotten a chance to get a three off to tie the game instead of Mason fouling so they had no chance to pop, Hulls was the guy I wanted shooting the ball.
IU seemed more under control, and their 15 turnovers came less off trying to do too much or getting out of control on the break, and more off some passing problems. On the offensive end, they looked more mature, looked more confident. But they just weren't knocking down shots (20-of-57 for 35 percent shooting), and missed a lot of bunnies around the rim. It proved quite costly.
Perhaps most important in this loss was the way IU closed out the game. It wasn't an implosion like we saw against Boston University. They didn't wilt. They scored when they needed to. And with the game tied and Mason looking for a go-ahead bucket, IU played terrific defense and forced Cam Long into a desperation three with the shot clock winding down and a few Hoosier hands in his face. He just happened to hit that desperation three. On a bank shot. A bank he most certainly didn't call. Tough way to lose, especially for a young team looking for confidence.
The Hoosiers also hit 21-of-28 from the line, good for 75 percent. Lets hope those early free-throw woes are a thing of the past.
Cam Long's three-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining, a bank shot as the shot clock expired, lifted George Mason past Indiana 69-66 in the seventh place game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic.
Long hit the game-winner with the teams tied at 65 and the hand of Jordan Hulls in his face.
"That's a tough shot," Indiana coach Tom Crean said. "It's the one when Jones gave up the three because he didn't rotate out fast enough that killed us. It's never the last play. It never is."
After Long's shot, George Mason (3-2) fouled the Hoosiers before they could get a shot off and Jeremiah Rivers made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second.
Rashad Whack secured the rebound for George Mason, was fouled, and hit the second of two free throws. A desperation half court heave by Maurice Creek didn't draw iron as time expired.
The loss was the third in four days for Indiana (2-3), which was led by 15 points from Maurice Creek and 13 from Verdell Jones. Bobby Capobianco came off the bench, scored his first points in an IU uniform and finished with seven points and 10 rebounds, five offensive, in 17 minutes.
Despite the tough trip, Crean was pleased with his team's effort.
"The second half we played much better and finally started to look like a team," Crean said. "We played our best half of basketball and grew up. That doesn't mean we didn't make mistakes and we didn't miss shots and didn't have turnovers, but we started to grow up. And that's exactly what has to happen as we move forward with this team and we are going to continue to build on that."
Long scored 18 to lead George Mason and Mike Morrison added career highs of 17 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots, a tournament record. Luke Hancock, Creek's teammate at Hargrave Military Academy chipped in nine points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
(The four factors are explained, here.)
Pick to Click: Creek
Crean on his rotation: "We've got a lot of determinations to make. How do we really want to play? I'm trying to play to many guys right now. But we want to run. Are we going to all out after it and press more? Are we going to shrink the bench? I don't have a rotation."
Crean pleased with Capobianco's play: "We had a real heart-to-heart the other night about him taking the steps. And it was really at a crossroads. He's got it in him. He's been very, very serious since our first night. And he always practices hard, but he always doesn't play with confidence. This is on the plus side, going home to have him step in and play like that. But at the same time, he's gotta learn to play through the contact. He can't throw the ball up."
George Mason is young, but it's different at Indiana: Crean: "Those guys, when they're in there young, they've got people handing it down. They didn't have to send off everybody because of drugs and because of academics. All of these programs have had people hand it down. It may not have been great players handing it down, but we don't have that."
Improved free throw shooting: Indiana hit 21 of 28 free throws, including 10 of 10 in the first half.
No production from Pritchard or Dumes: Pritchard went scoreless and grabbed just one rebound in 14 minutes and Dumes, Indiana's leading scorer last season, also went scoreless and committed two turnovers in seven minutes.
Hoosiers win rebounding battle: Indiana out-rebounded George Mason 43-38, but were outscored 42-20 in the paint.
Watford struggles from the field: Christian Watford finished with 10 points, but shot just 3 of 13.
Up next: Northwestern State at 3:30 ET on Saturday at Assembly Hall. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
Opponent: George Mason Patriots
Date: Sunday, November 22 | 10:30 am EST
Arena: Coliseo de Puerto Rico – San Juan, Puerto Rico
Line: George Mason by 3.5
All-time series: Indiana leads 1-0
Radio: IU Radio Network (Jeremy Gray and Todd Leary)
Probable Starters:
Standing between Indiana and a win to snap a two-game skid in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off Classic is a program that made a name for themselves by crashing the 2006 Final Four: George Mason.
The 2-2 Patriots nearly knocked off No. 5 Villanova on Thursday and played No. 19 Georgia Tech to a tough 70-62 loss on Friday.
Like the Hoosiers, George Mason are the youngest team in their conference and have just three upper classmen on their roster. Despite their youth, the Patriots were picked to finish fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association.
The top returning player for Jim Larranaga is 6-4 junior guard Cam Long, who averaged close to 12 points and five rebounds on his way to making third team All-CAA. If his name doesn't ring a bell, you may remember this ridiculous dunk he threw down last season on VCU. This guy is an athlete.
Long primarily played the point last season and joining him in the starting lineup this season is 5-10 sophomore Andre Cornelius, who is second on the team in scoring at 10.2 per game.
Ryan Pearson, a 6-6, 230-pound sophomore forward, is leading the Patriots in scoring (12.5) and rebounds (6.8). The lefty made the CAA all-freshman team a season ago. Joining Pearson in the the starting lineup up front are 6-8 sophomore Mike Morrison and the team's only senior, 6-7 Louis Birdsong.
While no freshman has cracked the starting lineup, the talent the group possesses is a big reason why Larranaga's club could contend for the CAA title.
6-7 red-shirt forward Kevin Foster led George Mason with 15 points against Georgia Tech. 6-5 forward Luke Hancock is averaging 10 ppg. And 6-4 guard Sherrod Wright, a three-star recruit who had high major offers, is expected to become a big contributor once he adapts to the college game.
Teammates at Hargrave: Maurice Creek and Hancock played together at Hargrave Military Academy.
20 years ago: Indiana won the last meeting between the two schools — 99-85 on March 17, 1989 in the NCAA Tournament. It was the first tournament appearance for George Mason. Eric Anderson scored 15 points to lead the Hoosiers.
Get in your picks before 10:15 am ET on Sunday. Remember, please state your selection first thing in your comment. Good luck.
Scoring update: kmwinter stands alone at the top with three correct picks in four games. Here's a link to the updated standings.


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Japanese Magnolia Blossoms + 1 Camillia
Started Jan 21, 2013 | Discussions thread
Shop cameras & lenses ▾
Senior Member • Posts: 2,051
Japanese Magnolia Blossoms + 1 Camillia
Jan 21, 2013
Flowers are busting out all over the place in Florida right now with the warmish winter we are having. It's really beautiful.
I have a Japanese Magnolia tree in my front yard that is in full bloom. The neighborhood is full of Camilla bushes too.
The P7700 works really well for these purposes. It lets me grab the odd angle and shoot from overhead the the viewfinder articulated. The macro shots didn't turn out as well as the breeze was tossing the flowers around.
Bruce Jones /// www.pbase.com/jaximages
[shots in the next post]
Nikon Coolpix P7700
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Strategically Managing Risk in Today's Perilous Markets: You Need to Successfully Integrate Strategic Planning and Enterprise Risk Management
Paladino, Bob, Strategic Finance
Companies today face a broad array of risks--strategic, operational, currency, subprime, contract, customer, vendor, financial instrument, and hedging, to name a few. Hardly a day goes by without another business posting write-downs, recapitalizing, or seeking bankruptcy protection associated with poorly managed risks. What is enterprise risk management (ERM), and how are leading companies strategically managing risks to avoid being devastated by today's perilous marketplace?
In this article I'll explore the 2004 ERM framework (Enterprise Risk Management--Integrated Framework) of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), which consists of eight interrelated components (see Figure 1). COSO defines ERM as: "A process effected by an entity's board of directors, management, and other personnel, applied in a strategic setting across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity and manage risk within its risk appetite to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives."
I'll also review the practical application of the framework by The United Illuminating Company (UI), the company's integration of strategic planning and ERM, and the use of a process-based organization.
The United Illuminating Company, the principal subsidiary of UIL Holdings Corporation (NYSE: UIL), was formed in 1899 when the Bridgeport Electric Company merged with the New Haven Electric Company. UI is a regulated utility that delivers electricity and energy-related services to 320,000 customers in the greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas of Connecticut. Headquartered in New Haven, the company has more than 1,000 employees and revenue of $982 million. It also is the recipient of an APQC Best Practice Partner Award. (Recipients of this award are organizations identified by APQC as exhibiting exceptional performance or employing innovative approaches.) As a subject matter expert for this APQC ERP project award, I helped screen more than 50 leading organizations to arrive at just five that scored the highest on an ERM survey. UI was one of those five. These organizations served as the model for identifying and sharing best practices, and this article captures many of those findings.
Strategic Process-Based Management. UI employs a continuous strategic planning process to achieve strategic objectives, as shown in Figure 2. Edward J. Drew, UI associate vice president, strategic business services, states, "A defined, repeatable, and integrated governing process provides a basis for continuous improvement, shared knowledge, teamwork, and efficient use of executive time." Strategic objectives are typically long term, and progress is assessed and measured continuously to reflect gaps overcome and remaining, lessons learned, and changing business demands. These objectives are organized by four perspectives: financial, customer, operational, and capability. Projects to achieve these objectives are also defined through the strategic planning process, which includes risk identification and analysis. Annual goals are captured with a corporate balanced scorecard and balanced scorecards at the divisional levels, providing alignment across the organization.
ERM responsibilities are assigned to Strategic Business Services (SBS), the organizational unit responsible for the strategic planning process at UI. SBS reports directly to the CEO. This assignment enables UI to integrate ERM with strategic planning, process improvement, and project management--core practice areas of SBS--and to leverage process improvement and project management as risk management tools to increase the predictability of results. This effort results in an integrated strategic planning and risk management process. UI is a process-based organization (horizontal or cross-functional view), but it still uses a traditional vertical organization to manage budgets and staff (see Figure 3). …


text: > View Product Details Please select the size of the product. Please enter valid quantity. Manolo Blahnik black patent leather and pony hair 'Olvi' ankle boots overview details Retail: $965.00 Reduced: $523.99 20% Off : $419.19 color : We're sorry. This style is sold out. Black A world-renowned name in the realm of footwear, Manolo Blahnik makes it beyond easy for us to proudly display our love of shoes. Color: Black Soft, dyed pony hair upper; Fur origin - Italy Softly pointed toe Patent leather panel across vamp and back heel Zip back closure Leather lined Leather sole 4'' covered heel Shaft measures 5'' tall All measurements are approximate Leather / Dyed Pony Hair; Italy; style#318881101


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2016 Package Info
Insider Update
J.B. Holmes playoff victor at 2015 SHO - April 05, 2015
Texas' Jordan Spieth right where he expects to be once again - April 04, 2015
Andrew Putnam overtakes Mickelson late to claim 36-hole lead - April 03, 2015
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Johnny Palmer
Pine Forest CC
Season Ending Notes
- November 18, 2008
Stephen Marino made the most putts on TOUR over 25 feet this past season—35.
Ben Curtis had the longest stretch without a 3-putt green going 374 consecutive holes at one point.
It's only been around two years, but still only four players have finished in the Top-10 in the final FedExCup standings in both seasons—Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and K.J. Choi.
Kevin Streelman had the most rounds in the 60s—54.
International players won 18 times on TOUR in 2008. The 18 wins came from players who hail from 10 different countries—Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Fiji, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.
Bubba Watson led the TOUR in Driving Distance for the third consecutive season. His average has fallen each year, though, from 319.6 to 315.2 to 315.1.
Joe Durant led the TOUR in Greens in Regulation for the third time in his career.
Bob Tway led the TOUR in Putting with a 1.718 average and at age 49 he became the oldest player to lead the TOUR in any statistical category.
Who played the most rounds on TOUR in 2008? Patrick Sheehan with a whopping 124.
Nicholas Thompson led the TOUR in starts in 2008 playing in 36 tournaments. There were 34 players who had 30 or more starts this season.
Who misses left off the tee the least on TOUR? That would be Scott Verplank who did so only 7.52% of the time. The TOUR average was 13.19%. How about missing right? Olin Browne missed right the least often at 5.47% compared the TOUR average of 14.54%.
Players in their 20s won 15 times this year while players in their 30s collected 24 titles and players in their 40s won nine times.
A record 104 players earned at least $1 million.
Nine rookies finished among the Top 125—Andres Romero (36
), Dustin Johnson (42
), Chez Reavie (71
), Kevin Streelman (78
), Marc Turnesa (81
), Tim Wilkinson (92
), Michael Letzig (93
), Brad Adamonis (124
) and Martin Laird (125
Jason Gore continued an odd trend. He became the sixth player in the last seven years to win the Total Driving crown and yet not finish among the Top 125. Only Charles Warren in 2007 avoided that fate during that span of time.
Tim Petrovic struck the year's longest drive of 439 yards on the 11
hole during the first round of the Honda Classic.
Who 3-putted the least on TOUR? Craig Kanada 3-putted only 1.62% of the time in 2008—19 3-putts in 1,170 holes.
Who played the Par-3s the best this year? Corey Pavin at 11-undePar-4s? John Huston at 4-under
Par-5s? Charles Howell III and
Steve Marino at 130-under
Here's a bit of an oddity. The two players who led the TOUR in Top-10s, Jim Furyk and Robert Allenby, failed to win an event between them.
Who was the youngest winner in 2008? Anthony Kim who won the Wachovia Championship at age 22 years, 10 months and 15 days. Who was the oldest winner on TOUR in 2008? Kenny Perry who won the John Deere Classic at age 47 years, 11 months and 3 days.
Driving Distance has been declining in recent years. There were 13 players who averaged 300 yards off the tee this year, exactly half as many as did in 2005. In fact, the last time this few players averaged 300 yards was back in 2003 when nine players accomplished the feat.
ShotLink provides a lot of interesting data including these items. Who has the top Clubhead Speed on TOUR? J.B. Holmes at 123.05 mph on average. Who has the top Ball Speed? Again, J.B. Holmes at 181.43 mph on average. Who hits his tee shots the highest? Robert Garrigus at an average of 121 feet, 11 inches. Who carries his tee shots the furthest? A combination of the above with Holmes and Garrigus each averaging 298.6 yards of carry.
Players who led the field in Putting won six times this past year. Five times the player who led in Scrambling won while twice the player who led in Greens in Regulation was victorious. The most accurate driver won twice as well while the player who led the field in Driving Distance won only once all year—Dustin Johnson at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.
To follow-up on the note above, when all three Tours are added together, players who led the field in Putting won 16 times while players who led in Driving Distance won only twice.
The toughest hole on TOUR was the 499 yard, par-4 sixth at Royal Birkdale. It played to a stroke average of 4.764. The toughest course was the par-70 Royal Birkdale which played to a 74.869 stroke average.
The top scrambler on Tour was Brian Gay who got it up and down 64.82% of the time. The TOUR average, by the way, was 56.17%.
Ron Streck set a new record in Sand Saves in 2008, getting up and down out of greenside bunkers 69.64% of the time. The old mark was 65.80% by Vicente Fernandez in 2000.
Who had the most rounds in the 60s? Loren Roberts with 46.
Bob Gilder played in all 29 events to extend his streak of consecutive events played to 122. Gilder was the only player to compete in every event this year.
It was a great year for rookies on the Champions Tour. Bernhard Langer was the leading money winner while five others finished among the Top 30—Jeff Sluman (4
), John Cook (5
), Mark Wiebe (17
), Gene Jones (19
) and Joey Sindelar (25
David Edwards led the Tour in Driving Accuracy for the third consecutive season. He also led the PGA TOUR in Driving Accuracy back in 1994.
Tom Purtzer led the TOUR in Driving Distance for the fourth time. Purtzer claimed the crown in 2003 and 2004 and came back to win in again in 2007.
The longest drive of the year was hit by Steve Thomas, a 386-yard effort on the 13
hole during the third round of the Regions Charity Classic.
The youngest player to win on the Tour this year was Bernhard Langer who claimed the Toshiba Classic at age 50 years, 6 months and 11 days. The oldest player to win was Tom Watson who won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf crown at age 58 years, 7 months and 23 days.
Who had the most Top 10s on the Champions Tour this year? John Cook who had 15.
Who 3-putted the least on Tour in 2008. Walter Hall 3-putted just 1.73% of the time this past year—23 times in 1,332 holes.
The toughest hole on Tour was the 470-yard, par-4 11
at Royal Troon which played to a stroke average of 4.730.
The toughest course on Tour was Oak Hills CC (Senior PGA Championship) which played to a stroke average of 75.994 or 5.994 over par.
The top scrambler on the Champions Tour for 2008 was Jeff Sluman who got it up and down 68.63% of the time. The Tour average was 53.68%.
Who played the Par-3s the best this year? Ben Crenshaw at 9-under.
Who played the Par-4s the best this year? John Cook at 51-under.
Who played the Par-5s the best this year? Tom Kite and Keith Fergus at 110- under.
After playing an entire season, Mark Leishman and Brendon Todd tied for 19
on the money list with the exact same total--$244,224.
Winners on the 2008 Nationwide Tour hailed from four countries outside the U.S. with Australia leading the way with four different winners. Other countries that produced Nationwide Tour winners in 2008 were India, Zimbabwe and Canada.
Who had the most rounds in the 60s? Brendon de Jonge with 54. He also played the most rounds with 101.
Who had the most starts in 2008? A tie between Brendon de Jonge and J.J. Killeen, each with 29.
For the first time in the 19-year history of the Nationwide Tour, three players earned more than $400,000. In addition, a record 28 won $200,000 or more and a record 66 won $100,000 or more.
Former Nationwide Tour players won 20 times on the PGA TOUR this year including two members of the Class of 2007—Chez Reavie and Marc Turnesa. Former Nationwide Tour players have won 237 times on the PGA TOUR since 1991.
Among The 25 were eight players who didn't win in 2008, but eight others who did win did not finish among The 25.
The toughest hole this season was the 469-yard, 18
hole at Wente Vineyards which played to a stroke average of 4.534.
The toughest course this year was the par-70 Panama Golf Club which played to a stroke average of 72.959.
Three players went over the $1 million mark in career earnings on the Tour this year—Darron Stiles, D.A. Points and Jeff Klauk. Five players have now reached the $1 million mark on the Nationwide Tour.
Who played the Par-3s the best this year? Brendon Todd at 3-under.
Who played the Par-4s the best this year? Brendon de Jonge at 58-under.
Who played the Par-5s the best this year? Jeff Brehaut at 146-under.
Reid Edstrom had the season's longest drive at 416 yards during the first round of the Miccosukee Championship on the fifth hole.
Greg Chalmers had the most Top-10s on the Tour in 2008 with 10. Chalmers also became the first lefty to win twice on the Tour when he won the Henrico County Open.
Gavin Coles is Mr. Even Numbered Years. When Coles won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open he posted his fourth career win—all coming in even numbered years—2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
Greg Owen had an amazing statistical year. He finished first in five stat categories—All-Around, Scoring Average, Total Driving, Birdies and Sand Saves. His 102 score in All-Around set a new Nationwide Tour record breaking the old mark of 111 set by Zach Johnson in 2003. Owen was also 8
in Driving Distance and 9
in Greens in Regulation.
The Class of 2008 will feature 16 rookies heading to the PGA TOUR—Matt Bettencourt, Jeff Klauk, Bill Lunde, Colt Knost, Scott Piercy, Peter Tomasulo, Rick Price, Kris Blanks, David Mathis, Casey Wittenberg, Aron Price, Marc Leishman, Brendon Todd, Spencer Levin, Matt Weibring and Ricky Barnes.
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text:
Talanx CEO Says Timing 'Perfect' for IPO as Rates Rise
Talanx AG, the German insurer that began trading on the stock market today, said the timing of its initial public offering was "perfect" amid a rally in equities and higher insurance rates.
"The time right now is perfect," Herbert Haas, Talanx's chief executive officer, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse" with Maryam Nemazee. "We have booming capital markets. We also have a perfect environment as far as the insurance industry is concerned."
Talanx, based in Hanover, revived the share sale on Sept. 20, a week after calling it off for the second time in three months. The day after Talanx canceled the IPO, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing, sending benchmark stock indexes to the highest levels since 2007.
Talanx rose 1.6 percent to 18.60 euros as of 1 p.m. local time in Frankfurt from the IPO price of 18.30 euros. That was a bigger gain than the 0.9 percent increase for the Bloomberg Europe 500 Insurance Index.
"Talanx has a cheaper valuation than its insurance peers like Allianz, which may prompt a little bit of a rally for the shares," said Stefan Bongardt, an analyst with Independent Research GmbH. "Talanx has a very attractive dividend ratio and being strongly established in Germany gives them a stable basis."
The IPO has a volume of about 817 million euros, including a 300 million-euro convertible bond held by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co., the company said. That makes the IPO Germany's largest since the port operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG's stock sale in 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
IPO 'Icebreaker'
"We were the so-called icebreaker for the IPO market in Germany," said Haas. "If you are the icebreaker after such a long period, you have to sometimes zigzag to come to your final destination."
The shares were priced at 18.30 euros, the company said in a regulatory statement yesterday, compared with the original range of 17.30 euros to 20.30 euros. Earlier, the range was adjusted to 17.80 euros to 18.80 euros apiece, according to a term sheet obtained by Bloomberg.
Haas cited auto insurance, reinsurance and industrial business as areas where Talanx and its competitors are able to raise rates.
The IPO may bode well for Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's plans to raise about 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in the initial stock sale of its Direct Line Insurance Group Plc unit.
Funding Growth
"Sooner or later there will be further capital increases at Talanx," Haas said. While Talanx currently has "sufficient" capital, the company may sell shares in 24 to 36 months to fund growth, he said. German mutual insurer HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie VaG, Talanx's majority shareholder, won't sell shares, according to Haas.
Talanx, which has been considering the share sale for more than a decade, owns a 50.2 percent stake in Hannover Re, the world's fourth-biggest reinsurer.
The company will use some of the funds from the IPO to consolidate positions in Poland and Mexico and fund growth in Brazil, the CEO said in the interview. The insurer has said it will repay loans for recent acquisitions of two Polish rivals.
"What is missing is a true growth story as the markets in which they operate are more or less stagnating," said Bongardt, who is based in Frankfurt. "I would prefer them to invest in growing markets than to reduce their loans with the proceeds of the share sale. That would give them an equity growth story."
Deutsche Bank AG and Berenberg Bank led the Talanx share sale as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, while Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. acted as additional joint bookrunners. Rothschild advised the insurer on the IPO.


text:
Originally Posted by David Brown
I'll try and be there in the neighborhood of 2:45/3:00. I'll probably be either the only or the first person there sporting a Zorki-2s w/Jupiter-8.
If Dianna succeeds in getting in to work tomorrow by 5am, she'll be able to come too. :o
We're about to call in contractors for various bids on parts of the darkroom. Brace yourself for lots of related questions and discussion.


text:
Show Up At The Rally To Restore Sanity With A Lesbian Shitass T-Shirt!
Any readers going to DC tomorrow should know that commenter SlayBelle has Lesbian Shitass T-shirts "for anyone who wants them." UPDATE: »
So A Lesbian Shit-Ass Contacted Me And Requested Some Boobs. Okay.
So, I don't know. What to do here? Do I show boobs? Do I share boobs sent to me via email? Do I ask rhetorical questions until I get an answer? Is this a trigger alert? »
Oh My God: I'll Miss You
Ladies, I'm going to keep this fairly short and sweet: it's been real. »
In Defense Of Scott Baio: Speak Now, Or Forever Hold Your Peace
It's been a rough week for Scott Baio: paying taxes, dealing with nasty websites, supervising his wife's homophobic Facebook updates. He just wants everyone to really understand him, and so we're ready to let Team Baio step forward. »


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Washington Area: Actually Pretty Good For Small Businesses
I'm not much for lists composed by arbitrary metrics, and lately so many put D.C. area on top anyway that they're getting boring (highest home prices! most new jobs! best place for young people!). But despite being guilty of both, the Washington Business Journal's small business vitality ranking is worthy of note, because of the huge jump from 19th place in the country last year to 9th this year, making us the best small business market on the East Coast. The Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area–actually a big place, with 5.47 million residents–has long been dominated by the influence of the federal government. But it's been gradually diversifying, and now has a healthy private sector by anybody's standards as well.
Of course, D.C.'s strong showing is just as much a function of the poor fortunes of other metros–private sector employment actually declined 0.40 percent from 2005 to 2010. But that's a lot better than most cities, and 6.16 percent population growth was enough to put the area over the top.
Austin, Texas puts the rest of the country to shame, with 20 percent population growth over the last five years and 9.34 percent growth in businesses with fewer than 100 employees (though Washington still beats Austin on small business density, with 25.58 businesses per 1,000 residents to Austin's 23.69).


text:
Quantum Computing
With the arrival of the "first commercially available quantum computer," the D-Wave One, we look at what it is and what open source can contribute.
In the observable world that we inhabit on a daily basis, any given object typically has separate, well-defined sets of states: it either is or it isn't. Everything else is merely variations on that theme.
In the domain of quantum mechanics, where effect can sometimes precede cause and other such wacky constructs, states can actually be something quite a bit less defined: something in between. Instead of a ball being red or blue, for instance, it can be purple. But not just any one shade of purple: It can be more reddish, more blueish, or anything in between – at the same time.
Mind blown yet? Just you wait, because what's coming down the road soon will be a type of computing that will use such quantum states to compute solutions to problems at unimaginable speeds.
Molest Me Not With This Pocket Calculator Stuff
Linux and open source technology have long dominated the supercomputer sector. The latest report reveals that 462 of the Top 500 Supercomputers use the Linux operating system. Windows? Two supercomputers. Our open source cousin BSD? One.
It's easy to gloat about the dominance of Linux in this sector (I just did), but while Tux is rocking the world of mega-computers, these systems pale in comparison to the potential of quantum computing. The Canadian vendor D-Wave Systems makes the world's first commercial quantum computer, the D-Wave One, a system that they claim has managed to use quantum computing to find the best way to fold a protein.
Proteins can be folded in many ways because they're composed of many chains of amino acids. For a computer, protein folding is a massively complex physical and mathematical puzzle that can take huge resources on even supercomputers. It's the kind of problem that requires a scientist to outsource computations to helpful volunteers' systems with distributed computing [http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage], but it's a problem that needs solving because when proteins don't fold themselves correctly, the results can be diseases like Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's.
Scientists think that proteins fold themselves correctly because the correct configuration is also the state of lowest energy, the state at which the protein becomes stable. These lowest energy states were what the D-Wave One was set to find, and it seems to have accomplished it – a big step in demonstrating that it is truly a quantum machine (although the jury is still out on that question in some camps).
So how did the D-Wave One perform this Herculean task? For that answer, I'll introduce a very famous feline.
Really, I Feel Fine
The most classical way of visualizing quantum mechanics is using the example of poor Schrödinger's cat, a thought experiment to visualize the nature of simultaneous quantum states.
Take a cat, stick it in a box. Attached to the sealed container is a mechanism that contains a radioactive substance that may or may not decay while the cat is in the box. If the decay does happen, it triggers the release of a poison gas within the box and the cat dies. If it doesn't decay, the cat lives to mouse another day.
Besides hating cats, this Schrödinger guy was onto something: Using this thought experiment you can imagine what having more than one state at the same time would be. Until you open the box later and actually observe whether the cat is dead or alive, you don't know. The life of the cat depends on the quantum effect of the radioactive decay. While the box is closed, the cat exists in both states: a probability wave that keeps going until someone comes along to find out what happened to the cat.
It gets better: The many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics suggests that once the box is opened, an observer in one universe will find a finished feline and an observer in another universe will find a frisky feline. The simultaneous, coherent, dead–not-dead state of the cat undergoes decoherence when observed. The wave collapses and we are left with one state.
Of course, in the many-world theory, where all states are theoretically possible, in one universe that cat could have jumped out, killed the physicist in revenge, and gone off to invent cat litter and die of a catnip overdose years later. This is a very unlikely outcome statistically, and that's important to understand. Yes, all states are possible within a coherent probability wave, but only those with the highest probability have a chance of being observed when the wave collapses.
Bit By Qubit
The idea of applying this kind of indeterminant-state phenomenon to a machine for computational purposes has been around for a while, but really started moving from the theoretical to the physical around the turn of the 21st Century, when innovation in quantum computers really revved up.
At the heart of a quantum computer lies the qubit, a piece of information that is analogous to a classical bit in a binary processor. A bit can be in one or two states: on or off. This binary form of switch forms the basis for every computer processor (and transistor).
But qubits can exist in the state of coherent superposition described above, meaning they can be in many states at the same time. This means that for all intents and purposes, you can work on many computational algorithms at the same time. How many? It depends on the number of qubits you have in a quantum computer: it's 2^x, where x is the number of qubits. A single qubit can work on two calculations at once. A two-qubit system can work on four simultaneous computations. A 128-qubit system – like the D-Wave One – is reported to be? 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 calculations. At the same time. If a petaFLOPS is a quadrillion calculations per second, and a brontoFLOPS is a quadrillion teraFLOPS, then a 128-qubit machine can churn out the equivalent of 340,282,366,921 brontoFLOPS.
Currently, the world's fastest supercomputer is Sequoia, an IBM BlueGene/Q system installed at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which gets up 16.32 petaFLOPS. Sequoia would not only eat D-Wave One's dust, it would eat nearly every dust molecule in the universe.
A few limitations keep D-Wave One from outthinking every computer ever. The first is actually determining results. Like the infamous cat, if you were to try to observe the state of the qubits to get a particular solution to a problem, the act of observing the qubits would instantly collapse each qubit down to one state. So quantum physicists use a trick known as entanglement that lets the states within the qubit be indirectly observed at a distance.
Another limitation is, frankly, very few people on the planet actually understand this stuff and can develop the best algorithms for these systems to use. There are no programming languages for building quantum applications – yet.
However, this is a problem open source might once more step in and solve.
Quantum Open
Although the D-Wave One does not yet have a distribution of Linux, developers interested in working with and visualizing quantum computing can use open source tools to help get started.
- jQuantum. jQuantum is a program that simulates a quantum computer. Users can design quantum circuits with jQuantum and let them run. The current state of the quantum register can be visualized. GPL.
- Squankum. Squankum is a quantum computer simulator that enables the visualization of a single qubit. You can also observe the representation on a Bloch sphere [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloch_Sphere], a useful tool for understanding many-state situations. GPL.
- Q++. Q++ is a cross-platform C++ template library used for simulating quantum computation. Q++ enables testing of quantum algorithms by providing a quicker way to create programs compiled for speed. LGPL.
- Quantum Toolkit. A quantum mechanical toolkit and 3D viewer for C++, this app enables visualization via images, surfaces, and volume plots using OpenGL. GPL.
Many more quantum computing simulators are out there – not all of them open source. A great resource can be found on the Quantiki wiki site.
High-performance computing represents the cutting edge of where Linux is now. Thanks to accessible open source tools, quantum computing could soon be within our grasp as well.
next page » 1 2
Issue 23: Raspberry Pi Adventures/Special Editions
Buy this issue as a PDF
Photon Controller Goes Open Source
VMware bids for a stake in the container industry with a bold effort to integrate containers with its classic virtualization system.
New Point-and-Click Exploit Kit Appears in the Wild
3ROS attack tool lowers the technical bar so anyone can be an intruder.
Firefox Finally Gets Tracking Protection
Mozilla's latest browser offers powerful new privacy feature
New Password Looter Tool Steals Passwords from a Password Manager
If attackers are on your system, saving your passwords in a password vault is no protection.
Over a Million Websites Are Still Using SHA-1
Faulty hash algorithm persists, despite efforts by experts to raise awareness.
Dyreza Malware is Back
Powerful man-in-the-middle attack is now targeting online shopping.
Kernel Developer Matthew Garrett Forks the Linux Kernel
Another high-profile coder says the kernel team needs a kinder, gentler culture.
Bugzilla Bug
Bug database has a bug of its own that could allow an intruder to create an unauthorized account.
US Launches New Strategy for Broadband Access
Report focuses federal resources on achieving universal Internet access.
RC4 Finally Gets the Fork
Leading browser makers say "no" to porous encryption algorithm


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Environmental Sustainability
In addition to using social, environmental and governance standards to select our investments, each year the Domini Social Equity Fund submits shareholder proposals to corporations in its portfolio, addressing a broad range of social and environmental issues. Since 1994, the Fund has submitted more than 250 proposals to more than 95 major corporations.
Frequently, companies will reach out to us to see what steps they could take to convince us to withdraw our proposal and avoid a shareholder vote on the issue. A high vote on a proposal is nice, but we always prefer to withdraw our proposal in exchange for an agreement. Over the years, often in partnership with other investors or NGOs, we have convinced numerous companies to adopt new policies to protect factory workers and the environment, and to enhance public transparency.
In the first quarter of 2015, we withdrew four proposals in exchange for the following commitments:
Lowe's, the world's second largest home improvement retailer, agreed to eliminate neonicotinoid pesticides — a leading contributor to global bee declines — from its stores by 2019. The company will also redouble its pesticide management efforts with its plant suppliers, and will begin a variety of consumer education initiatives focused on pollinator health. Lowe's has also informed us that it now offers a full range of natural or organic alternatives to its synthetic pesticide offerings. Read more about this important announcement.
Avon agreed to review and revise its palm oil purchasing policies to address impacts on deforestation and human rights. Avon utilizes palm oil derivatives (products derived from palm oil) in a wide variety of products. About 60% of the palm oil consumed globally is in the form of derivatives. Read more about this important announcement.
Southwestern Energy committed to publishing annual methane emission reduction targets and to include these targets in determining bonuses for management and staff. Methane is a relatively short-lived, but potent, greenhouse gas. The company is leading a group of companies called the ONE Future Coalition, a collaborative effort to reduce methane leakage below 1%, from the well-head to your kitchen burner. Southwestern, however, has not set its own targets yet. This is the first time the company has publicly committed to do so.
MeadWestvaco agreed to full disclosure of its political contributions. Thanks to concerted efforts by investors, including Domini, more than 140 large corporations now disclose their political spending so that they may be held accountable by their investors and consumers.
Friends of the Earth, Domini Social Investments and Trillium Asset Management praised Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) for making a commitment to eliminate neonicotinoid pesticides — a leading contributor to global bee declines — from its stores.
After input from suppliers, NGOs, investors and other key stakeholders, the company announced it will phase out neonicotinoids ("neonics") as suitable alternatives become available, redouble existing integrated pest management practices for suppliers and provide additional material educating customers about pollinator health.
"We commend Lowe's for taking a leadership position on this critical issue," said Adam Kanzer, Managing Director and Director of Corporate Engagement at Domini Social Investments. "Sales of neonic-containing products may be exacerbating a critical systemic risk – alarming declines in honeybees and wild pollinators that support our food systems. As investors and as human beings, we all depend upon pollinators. We believe Lowe's actions will help protect an irreplaceable resource."
"We are pleased Lowe's is listening to consumer concerns and to the growing body of science telling us we need to move away from bee-toxic pesticides by taking steps to be part of the solution to the bee crisis," said Lisa Archer, Food & Technology Program Director at Friends of the Earth. "Bees are canaries in the coalmine for our food system and everyone, including the business community, must act fast to protect them."
"Lowe's public commitment will better position the company to meet the demands of an increasingly environmentally-conscious consumer base. And, it sends an important market signal that restricting the use of bee-harming pesticides is essential to tackling bee declines," said Susan Baker, Vice President, Trillium Asset Management. "We applaud the company's positive steps on this issue."
Friends of the Earth Campaign
This announcement follows a two-year campaign led by Friends of the Earth and allies* to urge Lowe's and other garden retailers to stop selling plants treated with neonicotinoids and remove neonic pesticides from their shelves. More than one million people signed petitions and thousands of activists delivered letters directly to Lowe's stores in cities across the U.S. and Canada asking for this change.
A study released by Friends of the Earth and Pesticide Research Institute, Gardeners Beware 2014, showed that 51 percent of garden plants purchased at Lowe's, Home Depot (NYSE: HD), and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) in 18 cities in the United States and Canada contained neonicotinoid pesticides at levels that could harm or even kill bees. In the past year, more than twenty nurseries, landscaping companies and retailers—including Home Depot, Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM) and BJ's Wholesale Club have taken steps to eliminate bee-killing pesticides from their stores. The UK's top garden retailers including Homebase, B&Q and Wickes, have also stopped selling neonicotinoids.
Investor Engagement on Pollinator Declines
Investors, in collaboration with the Investor Environmental Health Network, began engaging home improvement retailers and food companies in their portfolios about the environmental risks of neonics in 2013, the year Domini and Trillium opened conversations with Lowe's about the topic.
While Domini and Trillium had constructive dialogue with Lowe's, the investors chose to submit a shareholder proposal in November to stress the urgency of the issue. The proposal, submitted by the Domini Social Equity Fund (Ticker: DSEFX) and by Trillium Asset Management, on behalf of Ellen Webster, asked the company's Board of Directors to conduct a risk assessment of its environmental protection policies and practices to determine whether continued sales of neonicotinoid-containing products are in the best interests of Lowe's, its consumers and its shareholders.
The investors withdrew the shareholder proposal in response to new commitments which will help the company provide its customers with products that promote healthy gardens and reduce risks to pollinators and other beneficial organisms.
Lowe's Commitments:
- A time-bound phase out of neonicotinoid ("neonics") containing products in shelf products and plants, to be completed by the Spring of 2019, as suitable alternatives become available. For nurseries, Lowe's will phase-out neonics for bee-attractive plants, and plants where regulatory requirements do not require the application of neonics (certain states require the application of neonics on certain plants and nursery material). Lowe's plans to implement this phase-out as soon as is practicable.
- Redoubling pesticide management efforts and the addition of an application reduction plan with plant suppliers, including the collection and sharing of growers' best practices around use of biological controls and integrated pest management ("IPM") practices, and research into best alternatives. Nurseries will be required to disclose to Lowe's the amount of pesticides used per acre, or a similar metric.
- Increased focus on consumer education initiatives including in-store distribution of EPA and Pollinator Partnership pesticide brochures and product tags which will highlight the health of bees and other pollinators.
- Funding of pollinator gardens through the company's philanthropic and volunteer programs.
- Disclosure of these efforts in its 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.
- Continued dialogue with Domini, Trillium and Friends of the Earth focused on implementation and public reporting of these commitments.
"Along with our allies, we will continue to work with Lowe's and other retailers to move neonicotinoid pesticides off their shelves and out of garden plants as soon as possible to ensure bees can find save havens in our backyards and communities," said Archer. "With a new spring planting season upon us, it's important for gardeners to be aware that many plants in stores today still contain neonicotinoids. We look forward to the day shoppers can buy home garden plants without worrying about harming pollinators."
Lowe's announcement comes eight months after a meta-analysis of 1,121 peer-reviewed studies by the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides concluded neonicotinoids are a leading factor of bee declines and are harming birds, earthworms, butterflies and other wildlife. The Task Force called for immediate regulatory action.
In October, 2014, the Council on Environmental Quality issued guidance for federal facilities and federal lands which included acquiring seeds and plants from nurseries that do not treat these items with systemic insecticides.
On April 2, the EPA announced a moratorium on new or expanded uses of neonicotinoids while it evaluates the risks posed to pollinators. Last month, more than four million Americans signed petitions calling on the Obama administration to put forth strong protections for bees and other pollinators. The Pollinator Health Task Force, established by the White House this past June, is charged with improving pollinator health, and assessing the impacts of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on pollinators.
The complexity of our food production systems is astounding, as are its staggering impacts on climate change and human rights. Any given meal or afternoon snack can touch on issues as far-ranging as the survival of the orangutan or a land rights dispute in Africa. Climate change, water scarcity, nutritional content, marketing to children, animal welfare and labor rights are all on the table.
Behind each familiar brand lies a complex set of relationships stretching across the globe. We view these relationships as opportunities for positive impact. As investors, we can create the incentives for companies to simultaneously be more transparent and to dig deeper to ensure their businesses are operating responsibly. Through your investment in the Domini Funds, your money is working to help catalyze this process of transformation.
For example, deforestation is an important driver of climate change, accounting for an estimated 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The Consumer Goods Forum, an industry association, has acknowledged that "the consumer goods industry, through its growing use of soya, palm oil, beef, paper and board, creates many of the economic incentives which drive deforestation." All 400 members of the Forum, representing all the world's major consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and service providers, have committed to zero net deforestation by 2020.
Who will hold these companies accountable for these commitments? What do they mean in practice?
The shareholder proposal is an effective tool for encouraging corporate management to come to the table to discuss our concerns. We developed a proposal that we have submitted to several of the largest food companies, asking for public reports assessing each company's impact on deforestation and its plans to mitigate these risks. We've asked these companies to report on their impact by commodity, as each carries its own set of risks and possible solutions. Among these commodities, palm oil has received the most attention because its production is responsible for large-scale forest conversion in the tropics and extensive carbon emissions.
At Domini Social Investments, the research we conduct to understand the dynamics of our food systems is core to the investment process. Whether it is expressed in the avoidance of many manufacturers of agricultural chemicals, in the search for systems that provide safer food for all, or in the proxy votes we cast or the hard questions we ask of corporate managers, we view our social and environmental standards as key to the process of helping both the public and corporations understand what is at stake.
Download our new Annual Report (PDF) to learn more about the ways the Domini Funds are helping to promote better food production around the globe, including our approach to local and organic sourcing, genetically modified organisms, pesticide use and deforestation.
Originally appeared in The Intelligent Optimist (March/April 2014)
About 50 years ago, The New Yorker published a cartoon that tickled my father's funny bone, so he got the artist to give him the original. It featured two men looking at a large flip chart on which was drawn a five-story urban type of building, such as you might see in any city. One man was explaining to the other, "It is designed to use modern energy-efficient technology, with windows that open to let cool breezes in." Because of that cartoon, I know that people have been talking about the lost art of energy savings for 50 years or more.
When you start looking at the many ways to preserve energy that the typical Victorian knew but that we have forgotten, it gets a bit disheartening.
My neighbor used to have those outdoor awnings covering each of her windows. When you walked into her house on a hot summer's day, the temperature dropped fifteen degrees. That's because the glass in the window magnifies heat from the sun. If you don't let the sun hit the window, you get a much cooler house. Then she'd open the windows at night to let the cooler air in, closing them again the next morning.
I'll admit, I just don't like air-conditioning. Somehow it just feels wrong. So I began this article with cooling ideas, but there are other energy savers that have fallen from use. Refrigerators keep getting bigger and bigger, and really, they use energy that our forebears didn't have so didn't waste.
A friend of mine grew up in a house built in 1699, with a cellar, not a finished basement; it had a dirt floor. The family had one room down there with floor-to-ceiling shelves. Fresh eggs were stored there for a month or more. Potatoes, carrots, beets, winter squashes, along with apples and pears and grapes, sat in baskets on the shelves. Jars of jam could be left happily for several years with wax poured over the top. The melted wax adhered to the top of the jelly. Since nothing could get in, not even air, there was no mold, so no germs. Even with the door closed, it got enough heat from the kitchen so that nothing froze, but much could be stored there that today would have to be refrigerated.
I'm not trying to make a case that the world should return to dirt floors in the basement. We are creatures of the generation we grew up in. But it is important to remember that we're not taking the simple steps we could be taking to do our own part in the fight to save the planet from extinction. Climate change is too big a price to pay for personal convenience. So let's get serious about the steps we can take.
First, let's change our lightbulbs. Electric lighting accounts for roughly 25 percent of the energy the average home uses. Yes, the newer, more efficient bulbs cost more up front, but estimates say they save you $20 over the lifetime of the bulb. I don't argue that lower cost is a reason to swap; I only use it to point out how much extra energy the old bulbs are wasting.
Next, let's think efficiency when we consider the purchase of a car. My city has cars you can rent by the hour, and I've found that these work fine for most every need I have. But I do live in a city. If you need a vehicle, at least check the fuel efficiency and factor that into your calculation of the real price of the car. The new electric cars get the miles-per-gallon equivalent of roughly 60 to 120. In other words, they cost you less to fuel (a lot less), and they don't pollute as you drive.
My last thought will surprise some. Let's buy more secondhand. As a society, we create an awful lot of new stuff, and making new stuff uses energy. So does shipping new stuff, packaging new stuff, and lighting the stores that sell new stuff. Buying secondhand is fun and an adventure. It supports local owners and nonprofits. But importantly, it saves energy.
That cartoon on the wall is 50 years old and is as amusing today as it was when it was drawn. We giggle at the thought of claiming that opening windows is the height of new technology. But there is an important message there.
Sometimes simple steps are important.
Domini was honored to be invited to participate in an event on board Greenpeace's flagship, the Rainbow Warrior III, to celebrate progress in the protection of the canyons of the Bering Sea. We were asked to say a few words about our engagement with companies on sustainable seafood, and our interest as investors in preservation of these important undersea canyons. The small audience included Greenpeace staff and the ship's crew, as well as a government scientist and members of the fishing industry (Read Greenpeace's blog post on the event).
Greenpeace has been diligently working to protect the Bering Sea canyons, a delicate ecosystem that is threatened by the lucrative Alaska pollock fishery. The area is a breeding ground for pollock and other species, and its exploitation threatens the entire fishery. Over the past year, we have raised these concerns with McDonald's and Costco, two major seafood buyers.
On the eve of a critical meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Juneau, Alaska, Greenpeace's Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar reached out with an urgent appeal. Despite serious scientific studies supporting the need for conservation, the Pollock fishermen were standing in the way of the development of a plan. We contacted both companies to ask them to intervene and were pleased to learn that our email to McDonald's was circulating at the meeting. According to Hocevar:
"I do not know the details of what McDonald's did, but it definitely got people's attention in a very constructive way and was greatly appreciated by all of us in Juneau trying to move this issue forward."
Greenpeace is cautiously optimistic that they now have a plan in place that they can work with. When shareholders express their concerns, it can make a big difference. We were pleased to play a small role in moving this issue forward on behalf of our Fund shareholders, and thank McDonald's for their efforts.
A recent Time Magazine cover story envisioned "A World Without Bees." One third of U.S. honeybee colonies died or disappeared last winter, a 42% increase over the year before and well above the normal 10-15% losses. This alarming trend has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), a global syndrome that is killing off honeybees in alarming numbers.
Why should investors worry about honeybees? Honeybees are the most economically important pollinators globally, and bee die-offs attributed to CCD pose serious threats to our food supply. According to the US Department of Agriculture, "Bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year" and "[a]bout one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honeybee pollination." The USDA warns that if losses continue at current levels, "it could threaten the economic viability of the bee pollination industry. Honeybees would not disappear entirely, but the cost of honeybee pollination services would rise, and those increased costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers through higher food costs." Crops dependent upon honeybees include almonds, blueberries, apples, lemons, zucchini – the list goes on. Honeybees provide an invaluable service that has no substitute. As Time Magazine warned, "eliminate the honeybee and agriculture would be permanently diminished." Other pollinators, including bumblebees, are also at risk.
Although the causes of this ongoing crisis remain unknown, recent studies show that even low doses of exposure to the class of pesticides called neonicotinoids (or "neonics") undermine bee immunity against pathogens and impair critical brain functions, and may be a contributing factor to CCD. The European Union has taken steps to ban certain neonics, and the EPA has issued warning labels.
As diversified investors, the Domini Funds hold shares in companies dependent on pollinators at several points in their supply chains. Working with other concerned investors, we sent letters to food producers, retailers and home improvement retailers who sell pesticides, including Mondelez International and Lowe's, where we are taking a lead role. Lowe's sells neonicotinoid-based pesticides and has been targeted by a Friends of the Earth campaign on this issue. We also spoke with Campbell's about their approach to pesticide use in their supply chain. We will be encouraging companies to review the science and the risks of neonicotinoids and other pesticides to pollinators, and to act accordingly
At the request of Ceres, during the second quarter we contacted AT&T, Google, American Express, Lowe's and Apple to seek their assistance in defeating a rollback of renewable energy portfolio standards ("REPS") in North Carolina that was orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). REPS are critically important in encouraging electric utilities to increase production from renewable energy sources. In the end, ALEC's effort was temporarily defeated in the State legislature.
During the quarter, we also signed two Ceres-authored documents—a declaration by businesses supporting strong climate legislation, which was referenced in President Obama's historic June speech on climate change, and a letter to the EPA expressing our strong support for proposed Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards, designed to reduce harmful emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and volatile organic compounds.
Domini does not invest in coal companies, but we may be able to have an influence on that industry through its bankers. PNC Financial Services has been a long-term holding in the Domini Social Equity Fund. As a Pennsylvania-based bank, PNC has a number of large coal-mining clients and has, in the past, directly financed mountaintop coal removal, a destructive practice that adds to the already unacceptable environmental damage done by the coal industry. In 2010, in response to public pressure, PNC adopted a mountaintop removal (MTR) policy prohibiting direct financing of the practice. The bank, however, like many other mainstream banks, continues to service coal-mining clients.
Although we have monitored developments for some time, in 2012 we received an email from a concerned Domini shareholder that pushed us to dig a bit deeper. Although our primary source did not report any new coal financing, we contacted the Rainforest Action Network and learned that, although PNC does not appear to be directly financing MTR, the bank had in fact engaged in a number of recent financial transactions with several coal companies that are the largest MTR practitioners.
We were pleased to join Boston Common Asset Management in filing an important proposal with PNC to address the climate impact of the bank's financial services, including its lending to coal companies. At PNC's annual shareholder meeting on April 23, our proposal received a vote of 22.8%, an extremely strong vote for a first-time resolution. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with PNC, where we have been stressing our serious concerns about greenhouse gas emissions produced by the burning of coal, as well as the damaging effects of mountaintop removal coal mining.
It is estimated that deforestation is responsible for 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Indonesia, despite its small size, has become the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter due to extensive ongoing deforestation, much of it illegal. In addition, deforestation has devastating impacts on biodiversity and indigenous and other communities that depend upon forests for their livelihoods. Before we can begin to address this problem, we need quality information.
Lowe's adopted a sustainable forestry policy in 2000, addressing its purchases of wood for sale in its home improvement stores. From 2006-2008, we filed shareholder proposals asking the company to report on these efforts. Ultimately, the company did publish a report, but then chose to remove it from its website. Without regular reporting, it is impossible for investors and other stakeholders to determine whether Lowe's is living up to its stated commitments to protect forests. In 2012, we successfully convinced the company to work with us on a public report providing quantitative metrics and discussing its progress in implementing its wood-purchasing policy. In exchange, we were happy to withdraw our shareholder proposal. We commend the company for its commitment to transparency and for its continuing work to reduce its impact on threatened forests.
RR Donnelley is a leading financial printing firm with a strong commitment to providing its clients with a full range of sustainable paper choices. We applaud the company for these efforts, but continue to encourage them to publish more detailed information on the sustainability characteristics of the paper it purchases for its clients. In response to our 2012 shareholder proposal, which received a strong 26.7 percent vote, the company amended its public reporting regarding their purchases of sustainably sourced paper. In addition to a range of recycled papers, RR Donnelley offers its clients a range of "sustainable" paper, certified to one of three independent forestry certification schemes. Although we support these efforts, we believe that additional information would provide investors with a better understanding of the company's actual impact on forests. We would like to understand what percentage of their paper purchases meet acceptable sustainable forestry standards, and how these trends change over time. We are also questioning whether it is possible for all of the company's paper purchases – certified and uncertified – to meet certain baseline environmental standards.
After the company took several steps to address its exposure to illegal deforestation during 2012, we chose not to resubmit our shareholder proposal in 2013. Nonetheless, we look forward to continuing our dialogue with the company to build upon this important foundation.
We also continue to engage with Mondelēz International, formerly Kraft Foods, about its efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of its global purchases.
A key benefit of our investment decision-making model is the ability to make consistent comparisons between companies, and to follow trends over time. We also need to be flexible to address changing circumstances. Domini's long-standing view on nuclear power has not changed — we believe that its inherent risks dramatically outweigh its benefits.
Tragically, many of these risks came to pass in March 2011 when an earthquake hit Japan and triggered a tsunami, leading to the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl accident of 1986. Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the company at the center of this crisis, has been consistently excluded from the Domini Funds, as has General Electric, Toshiba and Hitachi, leading designers of nuclear reactors, including the reactors that failed in Fukushima.
We are constantly evaluating and updating our key performance indicators. In the wake of this tragedy, our team developed an approach to evaluating how Japanese companies were responding to these new and rapidly changing circumstances. Food contamination was one particularly pressing risk we highlighted. We wrote to Japanese retail food manufacturers and retailers with a set of questions about their efforts to protect Japanese consumers from radiation contamination. We discovered a significant divergence of practices, which led to the exclusion from our Funds of Toyo Suisan Kaisha and Yakult Honsha, two food production companies with facilities close to the site of the nuclear disaster. Yakult Honsha is known for providing dairy products to schoolchildren and Toyo Suisan Kaisha's products include processed seafood using codfish captured in Japanese waters. Neither company's safety measures were sufficient to alleviate our concerns.
By contrast, ÆON reportedly strengthened the radiation inspection programs on its food products by setting radiation standards two times safer than the national standard, and expanding the items subject to testing. If the company were to find excessive levels of radiation, its 1,000 retail stores would suspend purchasing those products until they fall below the company's thresholds. The company also discloses inspection results on its website and updates its testing results several times a month. This information was welcomed by Greenpeace Japan.
Fujifilm launched an impressive set of programs to support disaster relief and reconstruction efforts in Japan, leveraging multiple company divisions, including its medical systems, logistics, pharmaceuticals and radioisotope divisions. The company's consistent record of effective environmental risk management and reduction allowed the company to provide a comprehensive and meaningful response. The company dispatched medical teams with diagnostic equipment to support medical facilities in the affected area, provided drugs to the Japan Medical Association with emphasis on pediatric medicines, and worked closely with NGOs to execute disaster relief operations. A factory owned by one of the company's subsidiaries, located in Fukushima prefecture, led decontamination activities and provided radiation level monitoring for the community. The company's decontamination operation uses much stricter levels than the government, with a zero tolerance for any levels of radiation residue.


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Leftover Salmon :: 11.25.11-11.26.11 :: Ogden Theatre :: Denver, CO
Leftover Salmon is once again swimming upstream with a slate of December shows and a 2012 winter tour scheduled. Zach Mahone was at the Ogden for two action packed nights as well as a surprise last minute benefit gig at Stage Stop in Rollinsville, CO on Sunday, November 27th, for suicide awareness.
November 25 Ogden Setlist
Set 1: Tangled Up In Blue > Sing The Blues > Two Trains > Sing The Blues, Everything Is Round, The Other Side, Just Keep Walkin', Kentucky Sky, Doin' My Time, Euphoria
Set 2: Dance On Your Head, Squirrel Heads & Gravy, Get 'Er Rollin, Liza, Light Behind The Rain, Fastest Song, Bend In The River, Junco Partner, I Don't Know You, Aint Gonna Work > Whole Lotta Love, Get No Better, Breaking Through, Better
Encore: Hot Corn, Cold Corn > Dead Flowers > Wake & Bake
Archive recording of this performance here.
November 26 Ogden Setlist
Set 1: Carnival Time, Gold Hill Line, Gonna Have a Party, Shenandoah Valley Breakdown, 44 Blues, The Highway Song, Danger Man*, She Caught The Katy*, R.I.P. Michigan Mike, Down In The Hollow
Set 2: All Night Ride, I'm Gonna Live High Till I Die, High On A Mountain Top, Almost Cut My Hair, Troubled Times >Ask The Fish, Last Days of Autumn, Jokester, Bill's Boogie, Out In The Woods, Whipping Post > God Save The Queen
Encore: Nobody's Fault But Mine^+
* = Silas Herman on mandolin, ^ on acoustic guitar
+ = Joe Lessard on fiddle, from Head for the Hills
JamBase | Steel-Headed
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Want to enjoy the holidays in old-school fashion? A Medieval Yuletide Revels promises a "rollicking celebration of the holiday season and the Winter Solstice with period costumes, music, dance and drama."
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Audiences and critics alike fell in love with DreamWorks Animation's film How to Train Your Dragon, which presented a wondrous adventure of a Viking boy who befriends and trains a dragon. Now, DreamWorks has teamed ...
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text: December 23, 2012Architecture We Admire, Places We Want To Visit 3 Comments We go around The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the main church of Florence, Italy. The Duomo, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. The three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting the region of Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.The cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, whose archbishop is currently Giuseppe Betori. 'Florence Duomo' – Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower, Florence, Italy / photographed by Andy McGarry shareClick to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Like this:Like Loading... Related architecturecathedralflorenceitalyphotophotography


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When it comes to ice fishing, Vexilar is the world leader in three-color flasher technology.
The Vexilar FL-20 flat screen flasher is the core of this Pro Pack II. The hallmark of the FL-20 is its bright, three color display. It presents bottom contours and types, vegetation, structure, fish, and bait fish in a multiple color display. The colors indicate the signal strength of the return echoes. Strong echoes are displayed as red marks, weak echoes are shown as green, and medium strength echoes are orange. The multiple color display gives you a great advantage over any single color depth sounder. The ability to instantly spot and identify bottom and fish targets have proven to be simply revolutionary to the world of modern day ice fishing. The new flat screen design eliminates snow build up and can be viewed at a wider angler than other flasher units. The FL-20 Pro Pack II also boasts a Night Mode for comfortable flasher viewing after dark.
Effective for both summer and winter use, the FL-20 has a built-in Interference Rejection switch as well as five depth range settings that let you fish down to 200 feet. Exclusive interference rejection technology lets you fish side by side with almost any flasher, LCR, LCD or graph with interference-free operation. The 10 step adjustable switch lets you knock out interference between you and another depth finder. FL-20 anglers can even fish two depth finders in the same ice shelter or boat. It allows you to have two FL-20s close together on a boat or in a fish house without the annoying interference.
One of the features on the Pro Pack II is an enlarged, super strong handle design which supports the gimbal bracket making it easier to rotate upwards for vertical viewing.
We stock model PP2012D - with a 12o Ice-ducer, and model PP20PVD - with a Pro View 9o Ice-Ducer. Each model also comes with the DD-100 Digital Depth Indicator System. The DD-100 provides a constant digital read-out of the bottom depth as well as the battery status with the push of a button.
Standard features of the Vexilar FL-20 Pro Pack II include:
To maximize the performance of the Vexilar FL-20, this "Pro Pack II" comes fully assembled and factory tested to give anglers a complete package system that has everything you need to start using electronics for ice fishing. Using only quality components, the Pro Pack starts with a tough carrying case that not only holds your sonar unit and battery, but also fits into a five gallon bucket, which is perfect for carrying onto the ice. Mounted in the case is a powerful 12 volt, 9 amp sealed lead acid battery, including a Vexilar V-410 1 amp digital battery charger. You also get a Vexilar D-130 Digital Battery Status Indicator to tell you when you need to change your battery, and it also shows you when charging is complete to avoid battery damage.
We stock the FL-20 Pro Pack II model PP2012 - with a 12o Ice-Ducer Transducer and model PP20PV - with the Pro-View 9o Ice-Ducer Transducer. Each model also comes with the DD-100 Digital Depth Indicator System. The DD-100 provides a constant digital read-out of the bottom depth as well as the battery status with the push of a button.
Additional FL-20 Pro Pack II features include:
A 400-Watt transmitter and an ultra-sensitive receiver back the vivid FL-20 Flasher display. It is easily sensitive enough to read the thermocline and plankton layers. The colors and high sensitivity also make finding changes in bottom content easy. And ice fishermen know the FL-20 will become famous for its ability to see small baits at deep depths.
Features of the FL-20 flasher included with the Pro Pack II include the following:
Additional specifications of the FL-20: