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Resident Bloggers
Jonathan RozenblitDeveloper Evangelist
Susan IbachDeveloper Evangelist
Wow! it's over already really? But I was just getting warmed up! Tuesday and Wednesday, the Toronto Congress Center was overrun with technology enthusiasts ready to learn all new tools, features, and tips and tricks from the experts at TechDays Toronto.
If you were looking for me and didn't find me, that's because I spent two days locked up in the labs. I am so excited about this new offering at TechDays. For the first time we had sessions called Instructor Led Labs (ILL) where attendees got to not only learn about a product but try it out as well. We had a lab for every track: phone, cloud, architecture, development tools, management, data platform. Attendees could either launch the labs from their own laptops or use one of the laptops we set up for their use. More often than not, every laptop we provided was in use as developers tried out Test Manager for the first time walking through the instructions to define Test plans, or system administrators got their hands on System Center Orchestrator to see what it could do.
There is an incredible infrastructure behind the scenes that supports these labs. The entire infrastructure is designed to make it as easy as possible for you to try out the products. As an attendee you go to a launch page and choose a lab to launch. Two windows open on your desktop, one provides you a manual with steps you can follow, the other gives you access to one or more virtual machines where you can launch the product and try it out. At TechDays we went the extra mile and the VMs are actually launched ahead of time so you don't even have to wait for them to load, you just connect and start playing.
Now bear with me for a moment as this is relevant. I laughed this morning when I was packing up my gear and I looked at my running shoes. Look closely at the picture above, notice anything? Those aren't the same sneakers! The right shoe is my Brooks Sneaker, the left is my Saucony sneaker! Apparently when I left for the airport I grabbed one sneaker from each pair! I had worn them for two days and hadn't even noticed! In a strange way, that was a great summary of the labs. Sure I can walk, job and run just fine in a pair of mismatched sneakers, but it's not as good as it could be, something is just a little bit off. We had lots of attendees having great experiences in the labs, but it seemed like it could be even better somehow. We learned a couple of really important lessons. Number one! Make sure the abstracts make it clear this session is a lab and not just another breakout. We had attendees arriving in the room looking at me baffled when I asked if they wanted to use one of our machines or their own. Of course a few attendees fell in love with this lab format and came back over and over again to the ILL sessions. We also discovered many attendees didn't know they could do the labs on their own laptops, and didn't bring their laptops to the show, so we'll trying to do a better job communicating that in the future as well. When you come to TechDays Vancouver or Montreal, bring your laptop! It's also worth noting you need and Windows Vista with the most recent Service Packs, or Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 7 or higher to launch the labs.
There's still time to check this all out for yourself at TechDays Vancouver (Nov 15,16) and TechDays Montreal (Nov 29,30) register today and come by the labs to say hi! But if you are unable to attend TechDays you don't have to miss out. We are going to have all those Instructor Led Labs and more available for you to launch later this fall! Keep an eye on the TechDays website for details.
In trying to keep with my traditional blog posts: Today's Top 5
Top 5 things I have screwed up when packing for a trip
There's always lots to do when it comes to getting ready for a conference (especially if you're travelling), so I thought I would take this opportunity to review your "everything I need for TechDays Toronto" prep list with you. I won't be able to help you with your personal prep to-dos, but I can suggest the following:
Review the Session Abstracts and build your schedule
Before the fun begins, you'll want to make sure that you know what each session is about and then choose a session for each timeslot of the day. To do that, head over to the TechDays Schedule Builder. It will walk you through all of the sessions in the technology areas that you're interested in and will help you build your schedule. You can then print or email your schedule to yourself (and perhaps your colleagues if they are joining you).
Go >>
Download the TechDays Toronto agenda (and floor plan).
With seven tracks and instructor-led labs, there's going to be a lot going on at the same time. To make sure that you don't miss out on the sessions that you want to attend or find yourself in a room listening to a speaker talk about some infrastructure stuff (because you're in the wrong room), make sure to download the TechDays Toronto agenda to your phone (or print it if necessary). That way you'll know what session is happening in which room at what time and where the room is located.
Download >>
Prepare your notebook computer for the hands-on labs and bring it with you.
Have a read through Damir Bersinic's post from 3 days ago – Reason #42 to Attend TechDays 2011: Hands-on Labs. The hands-on labs are something that you definitely don't want to miss. I know that when I go to conferences, I like attending sessions to hear experts tell me about, or through demos, show me everything I need to know about a technical topic. However, I find myself wanting to try it out on my own. I'm sure you feel the same way, so have a look at the instructor-led lab list in Damir's post, register for the one/ones that is/are of interest, and make sure to prepare your notebook computer, and of course, bring it with you.
More >>
If you're planning to attend the Introduction to Windows Azure lab, please note that the exercises in the lab will require to you have a Windows Azure account. If you don't already have a Windows Azure account, take a moment and sign up for the 90-day FREE trial before the lab so that you will be able to continue your learning beyond the end of the lab. A training account will be provided to you for use during the lab if you don't want to create an account for your own.
If you're not attending TechDays Toronto in person
We're sorry that we won't get to see you! However, that doesn't mean that you won't be able to be part of the TechDays Toronto experience. Make sure you don't miss the keynote by Jeff Woolsey, Principal Program Manager Lead on the Hyper-V team at Microsoft that will be streamed LIVE starting at 8:30 AM ET on Tuesday, October 25. Jeff will be talking about Microsoft's virtualization and Private Cloud strategy for organizations of all sizes. This is a not-to-be missed opportunity to hear first-hand how your organization can leverage Microsoft's virtualization technologies to help streamline your IT infrastructure today and in the future.
Watch LIVE >> Add to your calendar >>
Get Social. Join the Conversation.
Whether you're going to be at TechDays Toronto in person or joining online, don't forget that part of the experience involves you – you sharing your thoughts. Pick your network and tweet, post, or discuss away! We'll be watching out for your tweets, posts, and discussions, as well as the speakers and community experts, so get social and join the conversations.
Register for More Learning Opportunities
In addition to the TechDays sessions happening during the day, there are also additional activities happening in the evenings that may be of interest.
CloudCamp is an unconference where attendees can exchange ideas, knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment, advancing the current state of cloud computing and related technologies. Register >>
DevCamp is a mix of all the things you love from different events: the less formal environment that you love from BarCamp events; the great content and speakers from conferences; the quick and right-to-the-point innovative and exciting talks seen at TED or TEDx; and the power to meet other technology enthusiasts and network. Register >>
So now that you have the list of everything that you need for TechDays Toronto, the only thing that remains is to show up (or if attending virtually, log on) and have a great time!
The team and I are looking forward to seeing you. Make sure to stop by the Microsoft Showcase at the Partner Pavilion and say hello!
Shhh don't tell anyone about this blog, then you will look brilliant in front of your co-workers when you show them these cool tools! Have you found the F12 key yet in Internet Explorer? I will admit that until 6 months ago I hadn't. If you are running Internet Explorer 8 or 9 you can try it right now. Just hit the F12 key and a window appears at the bottom of your screen. This window will help you debug your web pages! No external tools or plug-ins required! The developer tools were available in IE8, but there were some new features added in IE9, so if you haven't done so yet, download IE9 so you get the every last bit (and byte!)
The developer tools give you six different tabs to help you debug and walk through the code on your web site.
Trying to cover every tab in detail is too much for one blog, but let me help you get started by introducing today's My 5:
(that's what they call 'em so now you know what keywords to use when you bing it, yes I said bing, didn't you see the article?)
How many times have you had to go digging through your HTML trying to find that one line of text with the missing accent, or a particular image. When you use Select element by click, you can just click on the element in the web browser and the matching HTML will be shown in the HTML pane below! (and there was much rejoicing)
You have a user complaining the site doesn't work, but it works just fine for you, you ask them what browser they are using, it turns out its a different browser from the one you have installed on your machine. Change the User Agent string to one of the preselected browsers, or even specify a custom setting and voila! Now you can experience the web page the as if you were on a different browser. If you just want to check how the website works on different versions of Internet Explorer you can also use the menu option Browser Mode, browser mode will even let you simulate what happens when a user on IE9 visits a page in compatibility mode (I wrote a blog on compatibility mode a while ago, that's the feature that you can use if you want the great features of IE9 but have to work with websites that seem messed up in IE9).
Maybe I just like this one because I have a tendency towards making absolutely hideous web pages (I do not have a good eye for what colors look nice and so on), Outline elements helps you identify different parts of the web page. For example you could outline all the <div> tags in yellow, or all the <a> tags in blue so you can quickly find them on the page.
Often JavaScript is minimized on web pages which makes it hard to read. When you go the script tab, you can click on the Tools button and choose Format JavaScript from the drop down button.
This will turn your JavaScript from this jumbled mess
function EmuController(a,b){this.impression=b;this.containerId=a;DataStore.set($(a),'emuController',this);return this;}copy_properties(EmuController,{fromContainer:function(a){var b=ge(a);if(!b)return null;return DataStore.get(b,'emuController');},getEventClass:function(a){return "emuEvent"+String(a).trim();}});copy_properties(EmuController.prototype,{EVENT_HANDLER_PATH:'/ajax/emu/end.php',CLICK:1,FAN:"fad_fan",event:function(c,b,d,a){var e={eid:this.impression,f:0,ui:this.containerId,en:c,a:1};if(b)e.ed=JSON.stringify(b);if(!a)var a=bagofholding;var f=new AsyncRequest().setURI(this.EVENT_HANDLER_PATH).setData(e).setErrorHandler(a);if(d)f.setHandler(d);f.send();},redirect:function(){var a={eid:this.impression,f:0,ui:this.containerId,en:this.CLICK,a:0,sig:Math.floor(Math.random()*65535)+65536};var b=new URI(this.EVENT_HANDLER_PATH);b.setQueryData(a);goURI(b);}});
var ShortClickHandlers={EVENT_NAME_CAME_BACK:'cameback',onclicked:function(a){if(this.onsite)return;if(a.button!==0||a.getModifiers().any)return;this.click_ts=(+new Date());if(this.listeners!==undefined)for(var b in this.listeners)this.listeners[b].remove();this.listeners={focus:Event.listen(window,'focus',ShortClickHandlers.oncameback.bind(this))};},oncameback:function(c){var b=(+new Date())-this.click_ts;this.listeners[c.type].remove();var a={click_ts:this.click_ts,length:b,trigger:c.type};this.sendData(ShortClickHandlers.EVENT_NAME_CAME_BACK,a);}};
function EmuTracker(a,c){this.base=EmuController.fromContainer(a);!this.base;this.onsite=c;var b=DOM.scry($(a),"a."+EmuController.getEventClass(EmuTracker.EVENT_CLICK));b.each(function(d){Event.listen(d,'click',ShortClickHandlers.onclicked.bind(this));}.bind(this));return this;}copy_properties(EmuTracker,{EVENT_CLICK:1});copy_properties(EmuTracker.prototype,{sendData:function(b,a){this.base.event(b,a);}});
(function(){if(!window.channel){window.channel={};}else if(channel.OK)return;var a='presence/';copy_properties(channel,{ON_CONNECT:a+'connect',ON_IDLE:a+'idle',ON_SHUTDOWN:a+'shutdown',ON_INVALID_HISTORY:a+'invalid_history',ON_CONFIG:a+'config',ON_ENTER_STATE:a+'enter_state',ON_EXIT_STATE:a+'exit_state',OK:'ok',ERROR:'error',ERROR_CONN:'error_conn',ERROR_MAX:'error_max',ERROR_MISSING:'error_missing',ERROR_MSG_TYPE:'error_msg_type',ERROR_REFRESH:'error_refresh',ERROR_SHUTDOWN:'error_shutdown',ERROR_DOS:'error_dos',HINT_AUTH:'shutdown auth',HINT_CONN:'shutdown conn',HINT_MAINT:'shutdown maint',reason_Unknown:0,reason_AsyncError:1,reason_TooLong:2,reason_Refresh:3,reason_RefreshDelay:4,reason_UIRestart:5,reason_NeedSeq:6,reason_PrevFailed:7,reason_IFrameLoadGiveUp:8,reason_IFrameLoadRetry:9,reason_IFrameLoadRetryWorked:10,reason_PageTransitionRetry:11,reason_IFrameLoadMaxSubdomain:12,reason_NoChannelInfo:13,reason_NoChannelHost:14,reason_ChannelUnknown:100,reason_ChannelNoCUser:101,reason_ChannelInvalidCUser:102,reason_ChannelInvalidChanstr:103,reason_ChannelChDistribTimeout:104,reason_ChannelGetChannelOther:105,reason_ChannelNodeShutdown:106,reason_ChannelTermination:107,reason_ChannelUserMismatch:108,reason_ChannelUserMismatchShady:109,reason_ChannelBadXs:110,reason_ChannelSeqNeg:111,reason_ChannelSeqTooBig:112,reason_ChannelSeqTooSmall:113,reason_ChannelUnexpectedJoin:114,reason_ChannelInvalidXsCookie:115,reason_ChannelRelocate:116,reason_ChannelWrongPartition:117,getArbiterType:function(b){return a+'message:'+b;}});})();
(function(){if(window.channel_cookie)return;window.channel_cookie={subdomainIndex:null,init:function(){var a=presenceCookieManager.getSubCookie('ch');this.retryInterval=presenceCookieManager.getSubCookie('ri')||0;if(!channel.getConfig('nosubdomain')){this.subdomainIndex=0;if(a&&a.sub){for(var b=0;b<a.sub.length;b++)if(!a.sub[b]){this.subdomainIndex=b;break;}if(b==a.sub.length)if(b==channel_manager.MAX_SUBDOMAINS&&URI().isSecure()){this.subdomainIndex=null;presence.error('channel: iframe max subdomains reached');channel_manager._sendIframeError(ChannelRebuildReasons.IFrameLoadMaxSubdomain);}else this.subdomainIndex=a.sub.length;}}presenceCookieManager.register('ch',this.getInfo.bind(this));var c=(function(){this._clearSubdomain=true;presence.doSync(true);}).bind(this);if(typeof window.onpageshow!='undefined'){Event.listen(window,'pagehide',c);}else onunloadRegister(c);},getInfo:function(){var b={};var c=channel.getConfig('host');var e=channel.getConfig('port');if(c){if(null!==this.subdomainIndex){var a=presenceCookieManager.getSubCookie('ch');var f=(a&&a.sub)?a.sub:[];var d=f.length;f[this.subdomainIndex]=this._clearSubdomain?0:1;b.sub=f.map(function(g){return g?1:0;});}b[channel.getConfig('user_channel')]=channel.getConfig('seq',0);}b.ri=this.retryInterval;return b;}};})();
(function(){if(!window.channel){window.channel={};}else if(channel.init)return;copy_properties(channel,{inner:function(){return this.manager.transport._iframe.contentWindow.transport;},_sitevars:{},_config:{userActive:new Date().getTime(),sessionID:(Math.random()*2147483648|0).toString(16)},init:function(){channel_cookie.init();this._config.subdomainIndex=channel_cookie.subdomainIndex;this.log=bind(this,'_log','log');this.error=bind(this,'_log','error');this.warn=bind(this,'_log','warn');if(typeof(UserActivity)!='undefined')UserActivity.subscribe(function(){this._config.userActive=new Date().getTime();}.bind(this));},_log:function(b,c){var d=this.manager&&this.manager.transport;var a='channel2:'+(d?(d.logName+':'):'');if(b=='log'){return false;}else if(b=='warn'){return presence.warn(a+c);}else if(b=='error')return presence.error(a+c);},log:function(a){this._log('log',a);},warn:function(a){this._log('warn',a);},error:function(a){this._log('error',a);},configure:function(){$A(arguments).each(copy_properties.bind(null,this._config));Arbiter.inform(channel.ON_CONFIG,this);},getConfig:function(b,a){return b in this._config?this._config[b]:a;}});})();
function SimpleDrag(a){Event.listen(a,'mousedown',this._start.bind(this));}Class.mixin(SimpleDrag,'Arbiter',{_start:function(event){this.inform('start',event);var b=ua.ie()<9?document.documentElement:window;var a=Event.listen(b,{selectstart:Event.prevent,mousemove:this.inform.bind(this,'update'),mouseup:function(event){for(var c in a)a[c].remove();this.inform('end',event);}.bind(this)});return false;}});
function ScrollableArea(){}copy_properties(ScrollableArea,{getInstance:function(a){var b=Parent.byClass(a,'uiScrollableArea');return b?DataStore.get(b,'ScrollableArea'):null;}});ScrollableArea.prototype={init:function(a,b){b=b||{};this._elem=a;this._wrap=DOM.find(a,'div.uiScrollableAreaWrap');this._body=DOM.find(this._wrap,'div.uiScrollableAreaBody');this._track=DOM.find(a,'div.uiScrollableAreaTrack');this._gripper=DOM.find(this._track,'div.uiScrollableAreaGripper');this._options=b;this.adjustGripper();this._listeners=[Event.listen(this._wrap,'scroll',this._handleScroll.bind(this))];if(b.fade!==false)this._listeners.push(Event.listen(a,'mouseenter',this.adjustGripper.shield(this)),Event.listen(a,'mouseenter',this.showScrollbar.shield(this)),Event.listen(a,'mousemove',this._handleMousemove.bind(this)),Event.listen(a,'mouseout',this.hideScrollbar.shield(this)));this.initDrag();DataStore.set(this._elem,'ScrollableArea',this);if(!b.persistent)onleaveRegister(this.destroy.bind(this));},initDrag:function(){var a=new SimpleDrag(this._gripper);a.subscribe('start',function(b,event){if(!((event.which&&event.which===1)||(event.button&&event.button===1)))return;var d=this._getPageY(event);var e=this._gripper.offsetTop;var f=a.subscribe('update',function(g,event){var j=this._getPageY(event)-d;var i=this._elem.clientHeight;var h=this._body.offsetHeight;var p=this._track.offsetHeight;var k=i/h*p;var m=h-this._wrap.offsetHeight;var l=e+j;var n=p-k;l=Math.max(Math.min(l,n),0);var o=l/n*m;this._wrap.scrollTop=o;}.bind(this));var c=a.subscribe('end',function(){a.unsubscribe(f);a.unsubscribe(c);});}.bind(this));},adjustGripper:function(){var b=this._elem.clientHeight;var a=this._body.offsetHeight;var e=this._track.offsetHeight;var c=b/a*e;if(c<e){CSS.setStyle(this._gripper,'height',c+'px');var d=this._wrap.scrollTop/a*e;CSS.setStyle(this._gripper,'top',d+'px');CSS.show(this._gripper);}else CSS.hide(this._gripper);this._checkContentBoundaries();return this;},_checkContentBoundaries:function(){var a=this._wrap.scrollTop;var b=this._wrap.scrollHeight-this._wrap.clientHeight;CSS.conditionClass(this._elem,'contentBefore',a>0);CSS.conditionClass(this._elem,'contentAfter',a<b);},destroy:function(){this._listeners.forEach(function(a){a.remove();});this._listeners.length=0;},_getPageX:function(event){return event.pageX!=null?event.pageX:event.clientX+document.body.scrollLeft;},_getPageY:function(event){return event.pageY!=null?event.pageY:event.clientY+document.body.scrollTop;},_handleMousemove:function(event){var a=Vector2.getElementPosition(this._track).x;var b=Vector2.getElementDimensions(this._track).x;if(Math.abs(a+b/2-this._getPageX(event))<25){this.showScrollbar(false);}else this.hideScrollbar();},_handleScroll:function(event){this.adjustGripper();if(this._options.fade!==false)this.showScrollbar();},hideScrollbar:function(){if(!this._scrollbarVisible)return this;this._scrollbarVisible=false;if(this._hideTimeout){clearTimeout(this._hideTimeout);this._hideTimeout=null;}this._hideTimeout=function(){if(this._scrollbarAnimation){this._scrollbarAnimation.stop();this._scrollbarAnimation=null;}this._scrollbarAnimation=animation(this._track).from('opacity',1).to('opacity',0).duration(250).ondone(CSS.addClass.curry(this._track,'invisible_elem')).go();}.bind(this).defer(750);return this;},showScrollbar:function(a){if(this._scrollbarVisible)return this;this._scrollbarVisible=true;if(this._hideTimeout){clearTimeout(this._hideTimeout);this._hideTimeout=null;}if(this._scrollbarAnimation){this._scrollbarAnimation.stop();this._scrollbarAnimation=null;}CSS.setStyle(this._track,'opacity',1);CSS.removeClass(this._track,'invisible_elem');if(a!==false)this.hideScrollbar();return this;},scrollToBottom:function(){animation(this._wrap).to('scrollTop',this._wrap.scrollHeight).ease(animation.ease.end).go();}};
To this nicely formatted and readable code
function EmuController(a,b){
return this;
var b=ge(a);
if(!b)return null;
return DataStore.get(b,'emuController');
Video and Audio can be a real challenge to work with, and when a video doesn't play I am never sure if the problem is with my code, the MIME type settings, browser compatibility, or the video itself! By using the network tab to capture my page load I was able to determine whether the problem when my HTML5 video or audio element didn't work was due to MIME type issues by checking the value in the Type column for that element on the page. You can use the network tab for lots of other great profiling as well, but I have found the type column a nice easy way to check my MIME types.
If you haven't had a chance yet download the latest version of Internet Explorer today and start trying out the F12 Developer Tools!
I started work in the era of Stephen Covey and the '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' craze. Heck I was even sent on a 7 Habits course and given a 7 habits daytimer! One of the 7 habits was to 'Sharpen the Saw' which amounts to the importance of spending time improving yourself and learning. The IT world changes so fast! You have to keep learning to keep up! The smartest employers recognize this and invest in training for their employees.
I am busy getting ready for TechDays Canada, and also preparing to present to Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT) at the MCT Summit. I spent 10 years teaching Microsoft courses and I have presented and attended numerous conferences over the years. I know that most of us are faced with limited budgets and time for training. You have to make the most out of your training time! Sometimes you are forced to choose between attending a conference and taking a course. I want to give you an honest comparison of the two options so you can make the best decision!
It depends! You knew that was coming didn't you? Hopefully I've given you a few things to consider if you have to choose. If you just started on a new team and have never used the tool, maybe this year you need a course, but if you are simply looking to grow in your current role, get excited about your job again by picking up some new tips and geeking out with some fellow fans of Big Bang Theory. Join us at Techdays! I'll see you there!
This blog is also posed on the Canadian Developer Connection
Come and find out! Sam Guckenheimer, ALM expert, product planner for Visual Studio, and author of "Agile Software Engineering with Visual Studio: From Concept to Continuous Feedback" is coming to Toronto to talk about exactly that: "What's Next in Software Delivery", If you are in the Toronto area you can come out for a unique opportunity to meet and learn from him in person November 9th at Microsoft Canada Headquarters. Register today, as an added bonus, the first 10 who register will get a copy of Sam's new book. There is nothing like getting a chance to hear from someone with first hand knowledge of the product and its development. For those of you who can't attend, I can't give offer Sam G, but there is an excellent blog post by Jason Zander on the ALM Roadmap you should check out.
You already know how to code with Visual Studio, this event is a great opportunity to learn from someone in the know about how Visual Studio can help you through the entire software development lifecycle.
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, and Visual Studio 2010 Professional (which is integrated into Team Foundation Server) includes a new application called Microsoft Test Manager. You can create test plans, add test suites, test cases and link them to your requirements, and configurations to use when running your test cases. You can run manual tests or automated tests. You can submit bugs straight from Visual Studio or from Microsoft Test Manager. You can track progress and report on how much testing remains.
Visual Studio allows you to plan and track projects. Create a high level plan that breaks your project into shippable increments, develop detailed plans to execute iterations to develop those increments. As you complete each iteration, refine the high level plan based on what you learned if needed. Take advantage of process templates to plan, develop, and track the project. use work items to track and manage your work and information about your project. You can use different types of work items to tack different types of work, such as user stories, customer requirements, product bugs, and development tasks. Manage dependencies across work items and collaborate across groups. Create and customize reports to track your team's progress and highlight the data that matters to your project.
Visual Studio ultimate allows you to create models to manage and define your application. Create models at different levels of detail, relate them to each other, or to test or to your development plan. Model user requirements, or get a visual representation of the code with dependency graphs and sequence diagrams, define the architecture, or define acceptance tests or system tests based on your requirement models.
Visual Studio isn't just a coding tool, it really is an Application Lifecycle Management tool You already know it. Make the most of it! Download a free trial and check it out for yourself and if you are in the Toronto area register now, and don't miss this great chance to learn from the expert.
A few weeks ago, the Windows Azure SDK v1.5 was released with many enhancements and fixes that further simplifies development, deployment, and management of applications on the Windows Azure platform.
As soon as it was released, I headed over to the SDK download page (Web Platform Installer), downloaded the latest version, and started exploring the new features. Reading through discussions on stackoverflow.com and various groups on LinkedIn (including the Canadian developer community's own Canadian Developer Connection), it seems that many are still using older versions.
I wanted to let you know that it's OK to, and that you should, upgrade your projects to v1.5 of the SDK. There's just one caveat, though, that I'll get to in a bit.
First, the reasons why upgrading to v1.5 of the SDK is a good thing to do:
And now, the caveat:
The Windows Azure project file (.ccproj) has a different structure in this version from previous versions. When you open a solution that contains a Windows Azure project, any existing .ccproj files are changed to this new structure. This upgraded .ccproj file is incompatible with previous versions of the Windows Azure Tools, which means that if you're working on a development team, you'll all need to upgrade to v1.5 in order to continue working on the project.
Windows Azure Platform Training Kit
The Windows Azure Platform Training Kit (Offline, Online) has also been updated to include all of the updates, enhancements, and fixes I mentioned above. It also includes a brand new hands-on lab that explores the new messaging capabilities released with the new version of the Service Bus.
Here's What You're Going to Do
Now that you're aware of the reasons why you should start working with v1.5 of the SDK:
I was just preparing a slide deck to talk about IE9 features at the Microsoft Certified Trainer summit and realized, that although I have blogged about how to update your pinned sites, I really haven't taken the time to explain what the heck pinned sites are and how they work. Pinned sites are a fantastic feature of IE9, and as more and more users are discovering them, you want to make sure your website makes the most of this feature.
Before I get into the technical aspect, let me take a moment to tell you why you want your web site to support pinning. Users who pin your site will visit your site more often, and will spend more time on your site. In the words of Martha Stewart "That's a good thing". Whether its an internal company website you want your users to access easily, or a public site you use to help your business or group we build the site because we want users to spend time there. So if pinning increases the amount of time users spend there, you want pinning.
If you are using IE9 or higher you can quickly try out pinning right now to see how it works. Open a tab in your browser and visit tsn. Now drag the tab down to your taskbar. You will see a TSN icon appear on your taskbar and you will also notice the TSN website now looks different, the forward and back buttons appear in red to match the logo. The icons on your page have changed from the IE logo to the tsn logo. The icon you see is called a favicon, and you can set the of the forward and back buttons based off the favicon or by specifying specific colors.
Now let's take a closer look at that logo you just added to the task bar. You can close the IE windows with TSN and relaunch the site by clicking on that icon. That's nice, basically just like you can have icons for launching your desktop applications, you now have an icon to launch a web site. Here's the really cool part, you can also right click on the icon to go directly to a particular part of the website like the News or TV Schedule. It's like Browser Favorites but wayyyyy better!
Nice Eh? And it's really easy to do. Since its implemented with metatags, you can add the functionality for your users who have IE9 without breaking the website for users on other browsers. You can make your pinned site as simple or as fancy you want, it's just a matter of how much time you want to spend, 10 minutes to set up a favicon? an hour or a day to add more functionality.
You can just add a favicon, quick and easy!
You can add a jumplist to the pinned site just like TSN did, to make it easier for users to navigate the site using a few metatags or JavaScript.
You can get fancy with thumbnail buttons, and notifications by adding a little more JavaScript.
Read on to find out how!
If you are a talented graphic artist, or have someone on your team who knows how to make .ico files good on you! For the rest of us check out xiconeditor.com. You can import a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG, or .ICO file, crop it and xiconeditor will generate a .ico file suitable for pinned sites. That was easy
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico"/>
Now you will see your favicon appear in the browser and on the toolbar if you pin your site. Next you should set up your meta data for the pinned site in the <head> section
<meta name="application-name" content="My Pinned Content" />
<meta name="msapplication-tooltip" content="Launch My pinned site" />
<meta name="msapplication-starturl" content="http://localhost:42942/PinnedSites/index.html"/>
<meta name="msapplication-window" content="width=1024;height=768" />
<meta name="msapplication-navbutton-color" content="#FF3300" />
The Jump List is the context menu that appears when you right click on the pinned site icon on your taskbar. To add a task to the jump list, you need to add a meta tag for msapplication-task. You can add up to 5 static tasks to the jump list. The tasks in the jump list will appear in the same order as you define the tasks in the HTML.
Msapplication-task indicates this is a task you want to add, in the content attribute you specify
<meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=View Pictures;
action-uri=http://localhost:42942/PinnedSites/pictures.html; icon-uri=favicon.ico" />
function AddJumpList()
if (window.external.msIsSiteMode())
window.external.msSiteModeCreateJumplist("My Dynamic List");
window.external.msSiteModeAddJumpListItem("Added with code","http://www.tsn.ca/","favicon.ico");
So with a few meta tags you can set up your website as a pinned site, with a little JavaScript you can even have a dynamic jump list. If you want to update the jumplists later, no problem! In fact I wrote some blogs explaining How to update a static jumplist, and how to update a dynamic jump list
If your website plays video or audio, or you have other actions you want users to control from their pinned site, in addition to the jump lists you can use JavaScript to add a toolbar of thumbnail buttons! Use it to advance slides, pause and play a video or song. This will actually take a bit more time and work, but it's pretty cool!
Use window.external.msSiteModeAddThumbBarButton to add a 16X16 icon to the thumbnail toolbar
Use window.external.msSiteModeShowThumbBar to display the thumbnail toolbar
You cannot add buttons to a toolbar after the toolbar is visible! (You can hide or disable buttons, but you can't add or remove them)
Thumbnail toolbars can hold a maximum of 7 buttons. You can sometimes use one button as a toggle switch between modes e.g. Play and Pause can be one button instead of making a Play and a Stop button
For example to add a button
var btnRed = window.external.msSiteModeAddThumbBarButton('red.ico', 'Red');
var btnBlue = window.external.msSiteModeAddThumbBarButton('blue.ico', 'Blue');
document.addEventListener('msthumbnailclick', onButtonClicked, false);
Create event handlers for the thumbnail toobar to define the actions to take when a button is pressed (As an added bonus if you are using IE9 you can use AddEventListener instead of attachEvent).
document.addEventListener('msthumbnailclick', onThumbnailButtonClicked, false);
function onThumbnailButtonClicked(btn) {
switch (btn.buttonID) {
case btnRed:
document.bgColor = '#990000';
case btnBlue:
document.bgColor = '#000099';
If you want to have a toggle button, for example a play/pause button, on your toolbar, you use window.external.msSiteModeAddButtonStyle to define a style with an alternative icon image and tooltip for a specified button and use window.external.msSiteModeShowButtonStyle to change the icon image and tooltip for the button in your event handler.
styleColored = 0; //default style ID, this style was created when you added the button
styleClear = window.external.msSiteModeAddButtonStyle(btnRed, 'white.ico', "Clear");
function onThumbnailButtonClicked(btn) {
switch (btn.buttonID) {
case btnRed:
if (document.bgColor != '#990000')
document.bgColor = '#990000';
window.external.msSiteModeShowButtonStyle(btnRed, styleClear);
else {
document.bgColor = '#FFFFFF';
window.external.msSiteModeShowButtonStyle(btnRed, styleColored);
case btnBlue:
document.bgColor = '#000099';
So did you get all that? Don't worry you don't have to do everything! I just wanted you to know all your options. Any site can be pinned. If you add a favicon, you make your site look better when its pinned. When you add a jumplist you make it easier for a user to navigate to specific regions in your site. You decide how much functionality makes sense! For more information about pinned sites check out BuildMyPinnedSite.com which has more great information including how to add notifications (those tiny icon overlays, like one in Windows Messenger that shows you if you are signed in), suggestions on how to help users learn how to pin your site, and how to measure the success of your pinned site! Download IE9 and start pinning your site today!
TechDays is going to rock Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. But we haven't forgotten the rest of the country! TechDays is sponsoring a number of events across Canada so even if you can't make it to TechDays this year, you don't have to miss out!
In Ottawa, Microsoft is a proud sponsor and is even providing some of the great TechDays content at DevTeach, November 2-4, 2011 at the new Ottawa Convention Center (that big glass bubble they just built downtown). DevTeach has put together topics for IT Professionals, Database Administrators, and Developers spread across 48 sessions!
You'll see TechDays Sessions on Agile, ASP.NET, HTML5, SQL Server Denali, and some content unique to DevTeach as well, including REST and oData, Load testing with Visual Studio 2010, Sql Server Integration Services and more!
If you are looking for a deeper dive check out the pre-conference workshops on Agile, SQL Server, Silverlight and SharePoint! Want to get the most out of the conference? Download and try out the tools before you arrive, then you'll be ready to get the most out of your sessions as you learn the tips and tricks from the experts. I've provided a few links to product downloads you may want to check out before the show Register today and use the TechDays discount code OTT2011TECHDAYS to get 20% off registration!
We've revealed the keynotes, the Windows Client and Phone Track, the Developer Tools, Languages and Framework track, and the Cloud Computing and Online Services track, now I'd like to introduce you to a track that applies to cloud, windows, mobile, and web developers, C#, and VB programmers alike!
Sometimes as developers we need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Are there ways we can improve our application development process? Should we try Agile? Are we implementing Agile correctly? We need to go beyond just the syntax of our code and think about best practices in our coding. We need to make sure we are getting the most out of the tools we have in front of us: Are there better ways to code? debug? test? That big picture thinking is the reason we have the Developer Practices and Architecture Track at TechDays. It's a chance for you to see how others have improved their overall application development. Learn from the experts, then apply what you learn and bring your coding to the next level.
If you don't believe me, ask John Bristowe he's convinced, and if that's not enough, keep reading to discover some of the sessions you can check out this year at TechDays.
Agile, maybe you are living it, or maybe you are thinking about it. There are different agile methodologies to choose from: XP, Scrum, Kanban. Do you have to follow these methodologies to the letter to be agile? Is it possible to take the best of each and create your own custom agile methodology? Maybe you have implemented Scrum, but tweaked the agile methodology to make it fit better within your organization. Is that okay? It may sound cliche but can you be agile with agile? The answer of course is it depends. When you modify the methodology are you still keeping to the goals of agile and the agile manifesto? Join a dynamic session and figure out how you can adopt agile methodologies while still staying true to the Agile Manifesto and reaping the benefits of agile.
Imported from Japan, Kanban is an agile methodology gaining a lot of traction. Kanban, the Japanese for signal card, is a process that focuses on transparency and limiting the work in progress. By utilizing Kanban, you can easily pinpoint bottlenecks and address them. In this session, you'll learn what Kanban is, how it evolved from its roots in the Toyota production system to software development, Kanban's benefits, and how best to implement a Kanban system. We'll also discuss when not to use Kanban and how to modify other agile methodologies, such as Scrum, to be used in conjunction with Kanban.
A common challenge with agile software development is how to address non-functional requirements. A non-functional requirement specifies "how well" the "what" must behave. Also known as "technical requirements", "quality attributes" or "quality of service requirements", they focus on characteristics that typically cut across functional requirements such as usability, correctness, reliability, maintainability, availability, performance, portability, testability and many others. Improperly dealing with non-functional requirements leads to source code that is difficult to evolve or software with an unpleasant execution quality. During this session, you will learn the agile practices to transform these recurring concerns into self-contained quality targets that can be satisfied iteration after iteration, in a finite period of time. Overall, you will acquire a different perspective on how to connect requirements and architecture using agile practices.
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate provides a wealth of functionality for figuring out what is happening with your application or even being able to debug what happened up to that point with IntelliTrace. But for most developers pressing F5, adding the odd breakpoint and stepping through the application is about as far as they get when debugging. Come to this session and learn more about how to use the debugger and IntelliTrace to track down those hard to spot errors fast, so you can spend less time debugging and more time coding.
The central idea of Design by Contract is a metaphor on how elements of a software system collaborate with each other, on the basis of mutual obligations and benefits. The contract is the formalization of those obligations and benefits. You can summarize design by contract with three questions the designer must repeatedly ask: What does it expect? What does it guarantee? What does it maintain? This presentation will oversee how Visual Studio 2010 and the new Code Contracts feature allows you to use this defensive style of programming. Code Contracts provide a language-agnostic way to express coding assumptions in .NET programs. The contracts take the form of preconditions, postconditions, and object invariants. Contracts act as checked documentation of your external and internal APIs. The contracts improve testing via runtime checking, enable static contract verification, and documentation generation.
In this session, We'll open up a bag of Entity Framework tricks. We'll look at several performance optimizations and concerns when using Entity Framework. We'll look at tricks for concurrency, row-level security, building dynamic queries, working with large models, stored procedures, functions, data validation, auditing and other concerns that developers typically face in building robust database applications. Get the most and the best out of the Entity Framework!
This session will cover creating a template you can re-use in your applications. It covers the security vulnerabilities and attacks most common to ASP.NET, and the techniques to test them. The session will allow you to use the template to safeguard your applications with ease. We will cover one click attacks, canonicalization attacks, sql injection, xss, syn floods, Denial of Service, Session hijack and many more. This is not a security session, it is a pure ASP.Net session where we will explore code to help thwart attacks and while doing so we shall explain what is going on. The goal of the session is to enable you to create a template project which guards against some of the security risks.
Two days of fantastic content to help you do your job more effectively! Come to TechDays, listen, ask questions, learn from the experts! Register today and join us in Toronto October 25,26th, Vancouver November 15,16th, or Montreal November 29,30th. If you register now you can take advantage of the EarlyBird discounts (early bird pricing deadlines Oct 11th 2011 – Toronto, Vancouver Oct 25th 2011, Montreal Nov 8th 2011)
Time moves quickly! Hard to believe that we are only a few weeks away from the first TechDays 2011 event in Toronto on October 25/26. We've been busy getting the content ready and are working with a great group of subject matter experts from Microsoft, our Partners, the MVP community and your peers to deliver some of the best content we have ever put together!
I'm really excited to let you know that in Toronto, on October 25th, we will have Jeff Woolsey, Principal Program Manager Lead on the Hyper-V team deliver the keynote address where he will talk about Microsoft's virtualization and Private Cloud strategy for organizations of all sizes. This is a not-to-be missed opportunity to hear first-hand how your organization can leverage Microsoft's virtualization technologies to help streamline your IT infrastructure today and in the future.
We are also excited that in Vancouver on November 15th, Scott Hanselman, Principal Principal Community Architect for Web Platform and Tools at Microsoft will be delivering the keynote address, showing developers how that can leverage the Microsoft platform to create great applications for the client, web, phone.
But TechDays is not just about the keynote – it's about all the great sessions that help you to grow your technical skills, and this year is no exception. We have some phenomenal sessions submitted by your peers, as well as others on technologies that you told us are important to you. Check out the session list bring rolled out on the TechDays web site in several waves with the final session list published by mid-October. Don't forget to also go to the TechDays YouTube channel to learn more about what you can expect from the TechDays 2011 Content Leads themselves.
Speaking of time, the TechDays 2011 Early Bird ticket pricing of $399.99 plus taxes is about to end in Toronto and will also end soon for the other cities. Early Bird deadlines are as follows:
Don't miss out on the great content, plus the many other benefits of attending TechDays such as the on-site instructor-led hands-on labs, access to self-paced hands-on labs, opportunities to network with sponsors and speakers, as well as get your questions answered in the Microsoft Showcase booth in each city. Get your TechDays tickets today at www.techdays.ca!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
By now, you may have seen that TechDays 2011 is now open for registration. TechDays is Microsoft Canada's premier, in-person training event that is reaching 3 cities (Toronto – October 25-26, 2011, Vancouver – November 15-16, 2011 and Montreal – November 29-30, 2011) with 2 full days of training in 8 different tracks (in alphabetical order: Cloud Computing and Online Services; Communication and Collaboration; Developer Tools, Frameworks and Languages; Development Practices and Architecture; Security, Identity and Management; SQL Server and Data Platform; Virtualization; Windows Client and Windows Phone).
Over the next week, you will see and hear more about many of these tracks on our Connection blogs but in this post I will outline the Windows Client and Windows Phone track.
As Track Owner of the Windows Client and Windows Phone track at TechDays 2011, I am honoured and excited to introduce the many sessions that you will see talking about Windows Phone and Windows Client. It's a jam-packed track that will appeal to both developers and IT Pro's alike, with lots of content that will both enable to use these technologies today and to inspire you to build the next great thing tomorrow.
To give you some background as to why the sessions you see below are found in the Windows Client and Windows Phone track, I want to explain the rationale behind the decision process. First, I wanted to provide Client and Phone content that would be beneficial to everyone using or thinking of using our platform technologies, regardless of whether your job entailed development, management or operations in IT. Second, I wanted to give sessions that attendees would find both exciting and relevant to their day-to-day jobs. Finally, I wanted these sessions to inspire you. IT is only a tool, a means to an end. It's your creativity and passion that make software wildly successful. It is my hope that through these sessions you will see and hear something that will kindle an amazing idea that will change the world!
Below is a video that introduces the Windows Client and Windows Phone track:
So on with the sessions in the Windows Client and Windows Phone Track:
WIN301: Windows Phone 7.5: An Overview and Architecture Deep Dive
WIN302: Adding the Awesomesauce Flavour with Internet Explorer 9 Pinned Sites
By now, you've heard about pinned sites in Internet Explorer 9. And, you've probably even used them yourself. But, did you know that this feature can help increase site visits and engagements? In this session, you'll hear stories of Pinned Site implementations by some of the most popular websites on the web today. You'll also discover how to support pinned sites with a few lines of markup. Finally, you'll learn best practices that will help you deliver an awesome experience to your visitors.
WIN303: Windows Intune: PC Management with Cloud Services and Windows 7
WIN304: Building Windows Phone 7 Applications with the Windows Azure Platform
No doubt you've heard a lot about HTML5 as a web developer. Now it's time to look at what that means. In this session we'll take a look at the construction of an HTML5 line-of-business application. It will show you what you need to consider targeting the desktop, phone and tableting web experiences while taking advantage of the tools that HTML5 delivers to you.
If you are still spending money on your desktop deployment solutions, be prepared to be impressed! The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 (MDT 2012) can do it all. And it's free. In this session Rhonda will show you how to set up a MDT server, create a complete image including Office 2010 and deploy that image using the new Deployment Wizard. But wait that's not all MDT 2012 can also migrate your XP machines to Windows 7 while maintaining users data and settings as well. See it all in this demo driven session.
If you are interested in attending, don't delay in registering as the conference is filling up with registrations right now. We are also providing early bird pricing for the conference (CAD $399.99 instead of the regular fee of $799.99, which is a 50% discount). For Toronto, this early bird pricing ends on October 4, 2011 (Vancouver early bird pricing ends October 25, 2011 and Montreal early bird pricing ends November 8, 2011), so time is running short on getting a great discount on premier training and networking!


text:
- 201Promote
Framed Art Print
Carpe Diemby Karen Hofstetter
Choose from a variety of frame styles, colors and sizes to compliment your favorite Society6 gallery, or fine art print - made ready to hang. Fine-crafted from solid woods, premium shatterproof acrylic protects the face of the art print, while an acid free dust cover on the back provides a custom finish. All framed art prints include wall hanging hardware.
Nice script!
Great type, real nice!
Great work, love it :)
Real classy stuff!
Please like and follow me too! http://society6.com/product/blue-tree-q0l_print I really like your art style!
See More Comments

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- This event has passed.
Vendor/Craft Event…. For Benefit of Local Food Bank!
March 29, 2014 @ 11:00 am - 2:00 pm| Free
Event Navigation
Stop by the Real Life Church of God, on Lemon Street in East Petersburg, on Saturday, March 29th from 11:00-2:00 to support the local food bank and local vendors and crafters as well.You will be able to shop and browse at over 25 tables with items ranging from weight-loss programs to make-up, to food and jewelry to self-defense products. Venture out on Saturday for a good cause!!!
There is no admission for the event but bringing along a non-perishable food donation is highly recommended. There will be local vendors selling their products as well as a food stand available as well. All monetary proceeds go directly to the church's food bank, which directly helps out the local community.


text:
Virtual asset sales are big business and the scope continues to grow as MMOs become more popular.
When Club Neverdie, as asteroid space resort in Entropa Universe, sold for $100,000 it was major news. The fact that it is now valued at over $1 million in value and generates a monthly income for its owner is even bigger news.
Character, item, and currency sales are also big business. There are fears that the sheer volume of sales may eventually invite government regulation or even taxation.


text:
This disclosure is from a 1938 Stalinist police interrogation entitled "The Red Symphony."
Masons should recall the lesson of the French Revolution.
Originally posted by VeritasAequitas
I think the next appropriate question would be; how often are edicts rescinded? Besides, considering life is an analogy; if there is an organization that is as just and righteous as Freemasonry, who is to say, that there can't be an organization, of the 'Left-Hand' path?
Originally posted by KSigMason
Plus, who gives two #s what this Makow guy thinks? He has no real information and is putting out only an opinion. He quotes the Protocols of Zion, which have been proven to be nothing more than a hoax.


text:
Read just our best, feature-length articles without all the extra stuff.
Geek Comic for April 18th – A Guest Blogger Situation
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Akemi Iwaya (Asian Angel) is our very own Firefox Fangirl who enjoys working with multiple browsers and loves 'old school' role-playing games. Visit her on Twitter and Google+.
Famed stuntman Evel Knievel broke 35 bones over the course of his career and spent more than 36 months hospitalized as a result of his injuries.
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text:
And then they all died because of Tyrannids.
I'd watch it
"The weakness of men... Yes, the Astartes united Terra and conquered the galaxy. Behind their guns and swords we forge across the stars and claim many thousands of worlds for the Emperor. You created the Imperium, of that I'm sure. But without us weak, frail men what would you be? Who pilots the ships that carry you? Who grows the crops that feed you, makes the weapon you wield and raises the children that would be your future generations? Not the Astartes."
Excerpt from Raven's Flight, Conversation between Prifactor Valarius and Chapter Master Bran
Excerpt from Raven's Flight, Conversation between Prifactor Valarius and Chapter Master Bran
I like the fact how Guardsman have a lot of courage in fighting enemies of the Imperium. I hate the fact that Astartes look down on them.
Some Chapters look down on them. Most honourable Chapters hail them as the Hammer of the Imperium with utmost respect.
so awesome
That could be a cool fan fic, or a dramatic comedy comic, or a movie.
By the Emperor! I have found the Golden Gate of Terra!
Now walk in and help us secure this position, soldier!
no. either one is fine...but i want to see how games workshop does the movie, if they wanted to.
They won't. MAtt Ward won't let you have it... Ever.
Matt Ward is pretty much a fan-fiction writer, lol.
Yeah, I learned long ago that ol Matt don't care what you want. He's tearing up the franchise from the inside.
Really nice work. Good Job
I'd kill to see this as an actual show.
model links please
the midle one is a woman?


text:
New Orleans City Sightseeing and Hurricane Katrina Small-Group Tour
- City sightseeing tour of New Orleans' past and present
- See the traditional sights of New Orleans, including Jackson Square, St Louis Cathedral and the French Market
- Explore one of the city's famous cemeteries – the historic St Louis Cemetery #3
- Witness the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
- Learn about the levee system that failed and see key breaches
- Drive through several city neighborhoods
- Small-group tour limited to 13 people ensures a personalized experience
Recent Photos of This Tour
What You Can Expect
Customer Reviews
November 2015
Great tour ! We saw what Katrina did and what has been done since then to rebuild. We also saw the highlights of the city garden district, French quarter, museum and university areas and the rich / celebrity areas . Our guide Joseph was very knowledgable and answered all the questions. Don't miss this tour !
June 2015
Very informative.
June 2015
Very informative, love the small group.
June 2015
Joseph, a native of Nawlins and survivor of Hurricane Katrina, provided us with a fascinating, informative overview of the city, the devastation of Katrina, the come back over the past decade all the while pointing out historical, architectural, and cultural highlights of New Orleans. He was prompt in picking us up in a very comfortable van, and his narrative could be heard clearly by all 10 of us. This was the BEST tour we took in our four-day stay if you have time for just one, let it be THIS one!
May 2015
Great tour. Billy is an outstanding tour operator. He gave us great local insight into the area and was very sensitive to our time frames.
May 2015
This tour was amazing!
March 2015
This tour was quite comprehensive and showed us the different faces of NOLA. Our guide, Diane, was excellent and I really admired the way both spoke while driving through some very crowded streets. I also enjoyed the opportunity to view and hear about some of the damage due to Hurricane Katrina. The cemetery tour was enlightening as was the visit to the lighthouse on Lake Ponchartrain. I was happy for the opportunity to do this tour on my short visit to NOLA.
March 2015
This tour was excellent! With a small group we were able to not only see the sights, but have conversations with the guide. We have been to New Orleans twice, but never really knew all the history outside the french quarter. We found it very interesting and now have a better understanding of how the architecture came about with the different style homes. We also found the tour of some of the levy system very informational. The tour guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable.
December 2014
Libby was an excellent guide; funny, quite knowledgeable and personable. The food was good, as expected, but the depth of the knowledge and history imparted to us by Libby was more than we expected, and well worth the time.
December 2014
Great experience! Our tour guide Ellen, was one of the best we have ever experienced. Knowledgeable, relatable, informative, fun and genuine. Highly recommend this your to learn about the New Orleans area. Thanks got making our trip a wonderful memory.


text:
Nozbe is a tool that helps busy professionals and teams organize time and projects. Using Nozbe to manage your time is easy. Inspired by world-famous GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology by David Allen, we've designed Nozbe in such a way that everyone can get organized quickly. Busy people like yourself have lots of projects. Make sure to prioritize only the next actions with a star and focus on getting them done. With time-management and filtering you'll know exactly what to do next!
View your scheduled tasks in a calendar. Never miss a deadline or appointment again. Tasks scheduled for today become your Next more...
What's New
New Features:
- Project Admins - You can nominate additional project admins now
- Project Guests - You can add guests to your projects
- Team Admins - You can nominate additional admin for your team
- View all of your tasks in Team->You
- New filtering and sorting options
- Create a new template directly in Templates view
- Bigger task details more...
- OS X 10.9 or later


text:
The Primary Intervention Program (PIP)/Special Friends Program is a school-based therapeutic play program that has been in the community for over 20 years. The LIFRC currently coordinates the Preschool Primary Intervention Program. Students, referred to the program by teachers, staff, or parents, spend 30 minutes in the playroom once a week. In this one-to-one child-centered playroom setting, children play through situations related to social and emotional skills. Research shows that children who receive this type of support in school may experience increased self-esteem and focus and improved social interactions. The social and emotional support children receive from this program improves their ability to learn successfully.
"My child loves the playroom. This is one of her favorite parts about going to school. I am thankful that she has a place where she feels so comfortable at school." – Parent
To get more information about the program or to refer your child to the playroom, contact Heather Gladstone at the LIFRC at (360) 468-4117.


text:
NPR Newscast
4min 45sec
Protesters surround a burned Egyptian army vehicle in Cairo on Jan. 29, 2013.
Amr Nabil/AP
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January 29, 2013 After Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi imposes a 30-day state of emergency, thousands of protesters take to the street; the army chief warns the political instability could threaten the country's future.
<iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/170546905/170544826" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Mourners shouted during a funeral procession today in Port Said, Egypt, for some of those killed during Saturday's protests.
/AFP/Getty Images
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January 28, 2013 A 30-day state of emergency and some curfews have not stopped protesters from returning to the streets. Meanwhile, a leading opposition group says it won't take part in President Mohammed Morsi's "national dialogue" until he agrees to some reforms.
Relatives of the Egyptian policemen who were killed in Port Said grieve during their military funeral in Cairo on Sunday.
Amr Nabil/AP
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January 27, 2013 At least three people are reported dead. The funerals were being held for 35 people killed Saturday in anti-government rioting. The violence erupted after an Egyptian court sentenced 21 people to death for their role in a deadly soccer riot last year.
Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.
Petr David Josek/AP
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December 9, 2012 The move came a day after President Mohammed Morsi annulled a decree that gave him sweeping new powers last month, but said he would go ahead with the Dec. 15 referendum. At a news conference Sunday, the coalition group said the draft constitution "does not represent the Egyptian people."
Egyptian Army tanks deploy near the presidential palace after clashes that left several people dead and hundreds wounded.
Nasser Nasser/AP
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December 6, 2012 More demonstrations — and likely more clashes — are expected, even as President Mohammed Morsi called for a Saturday meeting with opposition groups.
A protester shouts early Friday in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Gianluigi Guercia /AFP/Getty Images
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November 30, 2012 Early Friday, Islamists approved a draft that critics are calling the "Muslim Brotherhood constitution." Protesters are also rallying against President Mohammed Morsi's decree giving him sweeping new powers.
A cloud of tear gas surrounds a protester earlier today near Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Gianluigi Guercia /AFP/Getty Images
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November 27, 2012 President Mohammed Morsi's power grab has angered many Egyptians and led many of those who filled the streets during the Arab Spring to renew their protests. The clashes are expected to continue throughout the day.
In Cairo Sunday night, thousands of Egyptians shouted political slogans in support of President Mohamed Morsi.
Gianluigi Guercia /AFP/Getty Images
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August 13, 2012 President Mohammed Morsi's bold move to sack two top generals is generating much discussion about how it could be a decisive step toward democracy.
July 10, 2012 Despite a court order disbanding the lower house, members met to approve a measure appealing that decision. There's a power struggle underway between newly elected leaders and Egypt's military generals.
An image grab taken from Egypt's Nile TV shows Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi (center) taking the oath of office during the official swearing-in ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Cairo on Saturday.
-/AFP/Getty Images
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June 30, 2012 Before taking today's official oath, The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi appeared before thousands of supporters in Tahrir Square Friday to take a symbolic one.
Egyptian campaign officials of the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohammed Morsi, celebrate over a giant poster of him at his campaign headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday.
Amr Nabil/AP
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June 24, 2012 Egypt's electoral commission declared the results of the country's first free presidential elections on Sunday. Crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square erupted in cheers at the announcement.
Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi (in portrait) celebrated today in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
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June 18, 2012 The generals who have effectively been running things since Hosni Mubarak's regime was toppled in early 2011 will be "around and in charge" for months, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports.
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EU-India Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Days
15-16 October 2015 - Rome, Italy
The 6th edition of the EU-India STI cooperation days will focus on water for health, in order to maximize future scientific and business collaboration in this field. Market opportunities in Europe and India for entrepreneurs will be explored and innovative technologies will be showcased. The event will also support the linking of existing bilateral and multilateral projects on water research. The event is jointly organized by the INDIGO POLICY and INNO INDIGO projects and supported by European Commission.
More information
5 India-Europe collaborative projects have been selected under INNO INDIGO first joint call on "Clean Water and Health"
INNO INDIGO first joint call "Clean Water and Health" gathered contributions from national and regional funding agencies from 5 different countries: Belgium, Estonia, Germany, India and Portugal.
Following a scientific evaluation process, 5 projects have been selected, involving 20 research teams/partners from India and different EU Member States.
With a total budget of approximately € 2,600,000, the projects are expected to start in October 2015 and to run for a period of 3 years. Follow the activities of the Projects.
The next INNO INDIGO call has already opened. The new call intends to fund research and technological development projects in the field of "Diagnostics and interventions in Chronic non-communicable diseases" with a specific focus on:
- Development of tools and technologies for the diagnostics of chronic non-communicable diseases
- Research and innovation within interventions for chronic non-communicable diseases
- Mechanisms in chronic non-communicable diseases
Deadline for submission: 22 June 2015
More information
Policy Dialogue
Bilateral EU-India cooperation
The EU-India Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation concluded in 2001 and renewed in 2010, is the cornerstone of our research and innovation cooperation with India. Since 2007 several coordinated calls for proposals have been implemented in a variety of areas such as computational materials science, food and nutrition research, solar energy research and water related challenges, with a total budget of EUR 60M co funded by India and the EU. In addition Indian researchers participate actively in the Framework Programme through the general opening mechanism. There are 135 FP7 on-going projects with such Indian participation
Coordination of EU/Member States activities towards India
Within the Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation (SFIC), the Member States and European Commission have been working since 2009 on an India pilot initiative on water and bio-resources related challenges. This pilot initiative maps on-going initiatives between the EU, individual MS and India, identifying common priorities and preparing coordinated actions towards India. It also led to a joint EU-India call of EUR 32M in the field of water and bio-resources related challenges.
Joint Declaration on Research and Innovation
This policy development process has led to the signature of the Joint Declaration on Research and Innovation signed by the Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht on behalf of the European Union and Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Science & Technology for India at the EU-India Summit of 10 February 2012.
The Joint Declaration signed at the Summit is about "Moving up a gear in our cooperation towards building an 'Indo-European Research and Innovation Partnership' with (i) larger scale, scope and impact, (ii) focus on common societal challenges, and (iii) enhanced synergies between India, the EU and its Member States".
EU/MS-India Ministerial meeting 1 June 2012
Following on the Joint Declaration signed at the EU-India Summit in February 2012, Ministers of Research from the Presidency Trio, Commissioner Geoghegan Quinn and the Indian Minister for Research Deshmukh met in Brussels on 31 May 2012 to step up efforts to implement the Indo-European Partnership for Research and Innovation. They agreed on a Brussels communiqué which called for i) jointly define the scope and develop a Strategic Research " Innovation Agenda - a White Paper, ii) Establish a Group of Senior Officials (GSO) and iii) setting up an industry-driven India-Europe stakeholder group for research and innovation.
- New INDIGO ERA-NET is a consortium of European and Indian S&T organisations involved in promoting research cooperation between Europe and India. It is intended to strengthen the international dimension of the European Research Area (ERA) and to provide a gateway to European S&T for Networking with the Indian S&T Community.
- EU-India S&T Cooperation Portal - This portal created at the initiative of the New-INDIGO ERA-NET project, provides access to the key multilateral support projects and initiatives on EU-INDIA S&T Cooperation.
- India GATE - Promoting EU-India S&T Cooperation, providing information about funding opportunities available in India open for European organisations.
- BILAT EUINEC - Facilitating EU-India S&T cooperation by increasing awareness among Indian and European stakeholders about cooperation opportunities through information and capacity building activities.
- India SI House project undertakes an ambitious feasibility study for the establishment of an EU-India Joint House for Science and Innovation. It is exploring the political will to build up a sustainable ST&I cooperation, the legal framework and tools as well as the scientific will and priorities in both regions.
- EURAXESS Links India is an information and networking tool for European researchers, scientists, and scholars working in or commuting to India. This multidisciplinary network includes members at all stages of their careers. It allows them to connect with each other and with Europe, ensuring that they are recognized as an important resource for European research, whether they remain in India or return to Europe.
- INDO MARECLIM project - The project aims at promoting the opening up of bilateral joint research facilities to participation of researchers from other EU Member States and Associated Countries in the areas of monsoon climate variability, marine ecosystems and coastal management including impact on society.
- FP7 Projects with Indian participation 2.5 MB - this catalogue provides an overview of FP7 projects launched in the period 2007-2013 with participation of Indian institutions.
- Success stories: selection of good practices projects with active Indian participation.
Framework documents
Background documents
DG Research and Innovation
Florent Bernard
Policy Officer - R&I Relations with India
Unit RTD C1
Tel: (+32) 229 51297
Florent Bernard
Denis Dambois
First Counsellor - Head of Science & Technology
65, Golf Links, New Delhi, 110 003 India
Tel: (+91) 11 4949 6565
Fax : (+91) 11 4949 6555
Denis Dambois
Delegation website


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Simple Definition of drivel
: to talk in a very foolish or silly way
Full Definition of drivel
driv·eled or driv·elleddriv·el·ing or driv·el·lingplay \-v(ə-)liŋ\
intransitive verb
1 : to let saliva dribble from the mouth : slaver
2 : to talk stupidly and carelessly
Examples of drivel
What is he driveling about now?
<the panting dog driveled on my hand>
Origin of drivel
Middle English, from Old English dreflian; perhaps akin to Old Norse draf malt dregs
First Known Use: before 12th century
Simple Definition of drivel
: foolish writing or speech
Examples of drivel
<that critic's reviews are nothing but self-important drivel>
<my roommate talks in her sleep, but it's just drivel>
14th Century
First Known Use of drivel
14th century
Learn More about drivel
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for "drivel" Spanish Central: Translation of "drivel" Nglish: Translation of "drivel" for Spanish speakers
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up drivel? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).


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Service ministry honors Pastors Jay Passavant, John Welch for work against poverty
Despite internecine court battles over property between some local mainline Protestant bodies and seceding evangelical, Pittsburgh has generally been a place where evangelicals and mainline Protestants have lived in harmony.
This is partly because the evangelical and mainline Protestants here tended to be the same people. It's also because the non-evangelical mainline Protestants tend to be theological moderates rather than left-edge liberals and because the local evangelicals (mainline or otherwise) were never wholly subsumed into the Religious Right.
All of that is a preface to an event that will honor two local pastors, one of them a leading evangelical and the other a representative of a mainline Protestant seminary. Both have been deeply committed to ministry in urban Pittsburgh and to fighting poverty.
On Oct. 28 at 6 p.m., North Side Common Ministries will honor the Rev. Jay Passavant and the Rev. John Welch at its Celebration of Caring dinner in the Grand Hall of the Priority, North
The Rev. Welch is dean of students at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a school of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that embodies the overlap and overall good relationship between mainliners and evangelicals here. He is also a Pittsburgh police chaplain and the immediate past president of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, a group dedicated to identifying and solving problems that face the urban poor. He may be an academic, but he's a minister who you can frequently find in the streets, looking out for the welfare of the souls he meets there.
The Rev. Passavant is pastor of North Way Christian Community in Pine, one of the region's largest -- perhaps the largest -- Protestant congregations. It's a distinctly evangelical church in the suburbs that has maintained a strong mission outreach in the inner city, including an extensive program to provide mentors to students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
The organization that will honor them, Northside Common Ministries, was founded by neighborhood congregations of many stripes to serve struggling members of the community. It runs the largest food pantry in Allegheny County, feeding more than 950 families each year, and operates an emergency shelter for homeless men.
"With nearly 46 million Americans now living in poverty we may be tempted to forget the plight of those living every day under the most serious of conditions," the Rev. Passavant said. "There are thousands of hungry, homeless and oppressed individuals and families right here in Pittsburgh. Anyone who takes the gospel seriously cannot turn away from these needy but endearing souls."


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How People Watch TV in Portsmouth
Here's more about cable TV in Portsmouth, OH than you were probably looking for, from the TV nerds at CableTV.com. Did you know that 1/3 of American TV subscribers own at least 4 televisions? That means that in Portsmouth, there are 6,550 residents with at least four televisions in their home. American use of the DVR has jumped 7% since 2006, when it was only 2.2%, but there are still around 16,473 people who plan their viewing around a network schedule. Also noteworthy is that 72% of Americans bundle their cable subscriptions with high-speed Internet. Which means that 14,290 residents are bundling their cable and Internet services.


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Joined on Apr 7, 2012
|Total: 3, showing: 1 – 3
On article NASA's Curiosity rover sends back first color images from Mars (273 comments in total)
Rover has Face Detection. Damn you Nasa... Tell us the truth!
On article Review: Nokia 808 PureView (349 comments in total)
Hey Nokia,
You planning on licensing that technology to other companies before Microsoft gobbles it up into little pieces?
Seriously though... should this tech see a light of day in Microsoft's future phones (or whatever company that uses it) in the U.S. (as an official release), I would officially dump my Canon s100.
On article Canon EOS M hands-on preview (563 comments in total)
I just saw a video demonstrating the focus speed. SLOW AS MOLASSES.
|Total: 3, showing: 1 – 3


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Looking for a fun night out? Unleash your creative side with Painting with a Twist! Bring your favorite beverage, possibly a snack, and relax. Our talented team of instructors guides you step by step through the night's featured painting. Our classes are $35 for 2 hour paintings and $45 for 3 hour paintings, so there's something for everyone!
Our Open Studio class on Mother's Day might be sold out, but you can still treat mom to a Painting with a Twist Gift Certificate! Tie it to her favorite bottle of wine, and you've got one great gift! Purchase Gift Certificates in-studio, or from the comfort of your home! Online Gift Certificates purchased will be emailed to you as a PDF. Click the Gift Certificates link on our page to purchase today!
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Suikoden Christmas by TheLandoBrosWatch
©2011-2016 TheLandoBros
A suikoden-themed Christmas card for a friend. The Hero Tir taking his skates for a spin on the frozen sea, you can see the castle in the background, named my castle Odessa's castle.. I really think that should be canon...
Anyways, nice game. O
Anyways, nice game. O
Looks like Milich decorated the roof as well, lol xD
Yeah... I always named my castle Suikoden Castle, though I think Odessa's Castle would be more appropriate.
Thanks! Yeah Odessa's Castle felt right, what happened to her hit me hard
I found a hacked save that sends you to the end of the game with Odessa and Ted in the party.
If you want to, I can post you a link. I didn't make the save, though. But if you wanna use Odessa in the games, then by all means...
Always called mine Freedom


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"Pornography is pornography, what is there to see? Movies are attempting to destroy something that's supposed to be the most beautiful thing a man and a woman can have by making it cheap and common. It's what you don't see that's attractive."
Related quotes
"A man definitely invented the term "porn star", trying to hire young women to be a "whore that we take pictures of while you work" probably did not get as many applicants."
"Trying to decide if you love a work of art is like trying to decide if you love a person, if you have to think about it, its not love."
"Pornography is human imagination in tense theatrical action; its violations are a protest against the violations of our freedom by nature."


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Lightroom v5?
Started Jun 15, 2013 | Discussions thread
Shop cameras & lenses ▾
digit wrote:
So, going from 4.4 to 5, it is worth the $70?
$79. And I always find it better to wait an update to get more of a difference. They call it a new version number but not much new is added just like from a 50D to 60D or 5D2 to 5D3. Now 5D to 5D3 is a jump same as 30D to 50D.
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Stereograph - Steak and Fries by alanbeckerWatch
©2012-2016 alanbecker
You have to cross your eyes until you see three images. The middle image is the one that will be in 3D. Let your eyes relax until the middle image comes into focus.
Outback Steakhouse.
Outback Steakhouse.
*stomach growls*
y u do dis ;_;
y u do dis ;_;
Three dimensional deliciousness.
Hold the fries
Theoretically, if you had a set of those strange glasses from back in the day, printed these out, and inserted them, would these pictures work?
Is it me, or is the picture on the right wider?


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Last weekend I took a trip to Shirakawa, in Gifu Prefecture, to find out more about the famous gassho-style houses for a chapter in our upcoming book.
Back in Tokyo now, the cherry trees are just beginning to announce spring, but a few days ago in Shirakawa it was still deep mid-winter. We arrived in a blizzard and sub-zero temperatures, and shivered our way around the village.
We had arranged to meet up with Ryuhei Nonaka, an architect who has been involved in the restoration and upkeep of Shirakawa's traditional houses for 30 years. After a couple of fascinating hours at Nakano-san's office learning about how the houses are built, we headed off through the snow in his 4WD to Shirakawa village.
Our first stop was the Shirakawago Michi no Eki, where eki-cho Hirokazu Shiroki showed us round the fantastic full-scale reconstruction of a gassho-style house, stripped bare in parts so you can see quite clearly how they were originally put together with whatever materials were at hand, the beams bound tight with straw rope. It's a method that doesn't require skilled training in carpentry, meaning the villagers, mostly forester-farmers, could construct the massive, elaborate homes themselves, without professional help.
Next we were shown round the library
And then lunch, where we were treated to an off-the-menu special — bear soup! Hunting has always been a vital part of mountain life, but sadly the current sorry state of Japan's forests means nowadays bears and other wildlife live closer and closer to human towns and villages, unable to find food in the mountains. You're unlikely to find bear on the menu often, not least because the meat is very strong, but prepared right it can be delicious, and our soup was certainly great. Thank you, Mr Bear!
After lunch we joined up with Kazuya Iwamoto from the Shirakawa tourist association, and we all trudged though the snow among the tourists who had come for the weekend from all over the world despite the weather. Inside the houses, which are still family homes despite being open to the public, Nonaka and Iwamoto explained in more detail how the houses are built, and the issues involved in maintaining the village as a tourist attraction. Each little detail in each house has a specific function, and… well, more of that in the book!
Shirakawa-go was designated a preservation area in 1975 in Japan, and then in 1995 it was among the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites designated in Japan, after Horyuji temple in Nara, Himeji Castle, and Kyoto. The most recent addition, of course, is Mt. Fuji. The interesting thing about Mt. Fuji is that, despite being a mountain, it is registered as a cultural site, and not a natural one, reflecting its importance as a sacred place in Japan. But spend a day clambering about the roof-timbers of the Shirakawa houses, and seeing the amazing use of local natural materials, and you might be forgiven for wondering if they shouldn't be registered the other way round too — as natural heritage, not just cultural.
Look forward to a full report on how the gassho-style houses are built and maintained, and the life-style that made that possible, in our upcoming book. You can pre-order your copy here.
Thank you to Ryuhei Nonaka, Kazuya Iwamoto and Hirokazu Shiroki for braving the cold and showing us around!


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About Us
The mission of the Center for Biomedical Research in Music (CBRM) is to advance the knowledge of the basic and applied neuroscience of music engaging in:
- Scientific research and discovery
- Dissemination of knowledge through publication, presentation, and transfer of knowledge in science and health care to society
- Teaching: Integrating students into research and dissemination activities
- Preservation of knowledge through maintenance of current research data bases
To fulfill these goals, CBRM keeps an active interdisciplinary research agenda in collaboration with other research units at Colorado State University and at other institutions nationally and internationally.
Dissemination and knowledge transfer is achieved through several avenues of activities. An active publication and presentation schedule aims to disseminate information to fellow researchers, medical and therapy professionals, and health care consumers. CBRM offers community outreach programs in neurorehabilitation to individuals recovering from neurologic illness or injury and their families and caregivers.
CBRM integrates music therapy students at Colorado State University into research and other scholarly activities, while offering resources and facilities to the academic training of music therapy.
CBRM maintains and updates a large data base of research publications related to the basic and clinically applied neuroscience of music.


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To apply to become a member of East Midlands Chamber and to receive the benefits of becoming a member please complete the short application form below.
Take a look at the many great services and support benefits available to members of the East Midlands Chamber.
East Midlands Chamber membership brings great value services and support to organisations of all sizes.


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Rimmel Base Coat and Strengthener
38 reviews
92% would repurchase
Package Quality: 4.2
Price: $
Package Quality: 4.2
Price: $
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Other, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
i really love this under my nail polish. my nails haven't stained since i started using it, and i wear nail polish every day! why switch to other brands when this is cheap&good? will repurchase!
Age: 30-35
Skin: Oily, Olive, Cool
Hair: Black, Wavy, Medium
Eyes: Brown
This is a solid base coat: it leaves a shiny nude finish and dries relatively quickly. Plus it's about $3 at Walgreens, when it's NOT on sale. Good product.
Age: 19-24
Skin: Sensitive, Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Other
This stuff is amazing!! I absolutely love Rimmel nail products but this is probably the best nail strengthener/base coat I've ever tried. It actually hardens my nails and I don't get chips or cracks in my nails. It also provides as a great base coat for other nailpolishes and prevents darker colours from staining my nails. By itself, its a really pretty light pink tint and makes my nails look healthy and glossy. Will definitely repurchase! Very good price too. I got it for about $3.00 CDN on sale at Rexall PharmaPlus.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Normal, Fair, Cool
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
Love it. Like many of the reviewers are saying, just as good as Nail Envy, only BETTER because it's way cheaper!
Great with 60 Second Top Coat. Walgreens is having Rimmel on sale for BOYO, go get both!
Age: 19-24
Skin: Very Dry, Fair, Cool
Hair: Brown, Straight, Coarse
Eyes: Blue
This is a great product & affordable too!!
You can use it as a base coat & I�ve found it to prevent any staining after I used dark polish. But to be honest; mostly I use it by itself. It gives a protective barrior to my nails, plus dries into a glossy finish. Basecoat, strengtheners & polish in one. This is just as good as NAIL ENVY.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Normal, Other, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
Nice on its own but I find it a bit iffy as a base coat as sometimes it makes the polish peel off. I've found this using it under MAC and Chanel polishes particularly, which don't peel off on their own. Great for the price though.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Dry, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I don't know how to how to my nails, and my nails were damaged by buffering. After reading the reviews here, I got one from the drugstore. the price is very cheap, and it products a very pinky shine (not pearly), I like a pink sparkle, and it drys very quickly, no chipping for at least a week. Good for nail dummy like me.
Age: 19-24
Skin: Sensitive, Fair, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Green
I bought this when I was on vacation because I wanted to do a quick manicure, and it was cheap. Turns out the stuff is amazing!!! I have terribly brittle nails, and the Northeastern winter only makes them chip and break all the more. Nothing has ever seemed to make them that much stronger, even religious coats of Nail Envy. Using this under nail polish, the polish stays on, and my nails have grown long and beautiful. I can't believe how well this works, especially for the dirt cheap price! Highly, highly recommended.
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Other, Not Sure
Hair: Brown, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I only tried this product b/c of the recommendation on MUA, and I'm so glad I did. Nice product. I really love the subtle shimmer. A coat of this along with Sally Insta-dri topcoat makes for a very good, quick manicure.
Age: 30-35
Skin: Acne-prone, Other, Not Sure
Hair: Blond, Other, Other
Eyes: Blue
This was a great recommendation, I never would have tried otherwise. I use nail envy as my base and then this as a topcoat and my manicure has never lasted so long. I also put a color in between the two coats and it lasts amazingly long. I will definately repurchase. Thanks..
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Mother Nature's gift from yesterday. #hey30a #30a #seagrove
During your stay in Seagrove, make sure to stop by the Seagrove Village Market Café for a grouper sandwich — this tasty creation was labeled one of the "100 Things You Must Eat Before You Die" by Garden & Gun. Visit 30A Art & Junk or Big Mama's Hula Girl Gallery to discover treasures and gifts; treat yourself to a made-from-scratch popsicle at Pop Stop.
See the quiet side of Seagrove by visiting Deer Lake State Park. This 1,920-acre getaway features a beautiful boardwalk, walking trails, and a rare coastal dune lake. Pack a picnic, fishing pole, and binoculars — and witness how stunning Seagrove is in its all-natural state.
"Driving along Florida's coast, many beach towns seem indistinguishable from the next. Not so with the beaches of South Walton… each town is noticeably different and has its own particular charm." – Melissa Wolcott, Accent on Tampa Bay magazine


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Protesters outside Worthing High School last year
Peter Truman / / News
A failing school has defended its poor performance saying it is too early to judge.
Worthing High School was placed into special measures after receiving the lowest grade possible in three out of four categories in its latest Ofsted inspection.
The report, which was published this morning, said "weak teaching" meant students were making inadequate progress.
Inspectors added: "Students' knowledge and understanding in English and science are not good enough.
Inspectors saw too much less effective and inadequate teaching, which explains why students are making poor progress in some subjects."
The report also said students from minority ethnic groups were lagging behind their classmates.
But the school, which recently became an academy following a tumultuous ten month saga including staff strikes, said it was too soon to be judged.
'Clear message'
Carolyn Dickinson, acting headteacher, said: "Ofsted have provided us with a clear message of the priorities we must focus on over the next two terms.
"I was pleased to see that Ofsted acknowledged teaching is improving across the school as a result of the action taken by the new leadership team during autumn term.
Promoted stories
Related links
- Worthing school falls into special measures
- Poor turnout for Worthing High academy strike
- More strikes at Worthing High in protest at academy plans
- Worthing High School strike threat continues
- School head under fire in Worthing High School…
- Headteacher investigated after Worthing High…
- Staff committed to Worthing High academy plan
- Anger as Worthing High comes one step closer to…
- Calls to axe Worthing High academy plans
- Teachers walk out at Worthing High School
- Parents fight Worthing High School's academy plans
- Worthing academy bid could end in strike
- Worthing teachers announce midweek walkout
"However, as the new team has only been in place for one term insufficient progress had been made across all subject areas at the time of the inspection.
"We are determined to ensure the school tackles the issues identified by Ofsted and have put a rigorous action plan, which will ensure we remain focused on the key areas for improvement."
Worthing MP Tim Loughton also backed the school despite the criticism levied by Ofsted.
He said: "The decision by Ofsted to place Worthing High School in special measures is obviously disappointing but I am sure parents will have been encouraged by the many positive things the inspectors had to say about the high attainment in certain areas and the behaviour of the pupils in particular.
"It is also important to appreciate that much of the criticism is historic and that it is too early to assess the progress being made by the new management team and especially an influx of impressive new staff."
- Please note in our article "School falls into special measures" we said inspectors had judged the performance of students in English and maths as poor. This should have read English and science. The Argus is happy to clarify this point.
See the latest news headlines from The Argus:
- Noise from i360 site keeps residents up all night
- Dr Death: I must do what is best for my patents
- Neighbour describes moment he tried to save murdered couple from burning bungalow
- Careworker commended for saving the life of boy who plunged into rough seas
- Campaigners and MP condemn police tactics to target begging in Brighton
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Solera Restaurant & Wine Bar
Denver, CO 80220
- Tuesday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- $$, $$$
- Wheelchair accessible, Banquet Facilities, Business Dining, Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Takeout
- Dinner, Late Night
- Full bar
- Parking Lot Available, Street Parking, Valet Parking
- Reservations Accepted, Online Reservations Available
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Related Stories (22)
Chefs for Vets Will Reel in Diners at Solera Tonight
6 months ago by Ben Landreth
Goose Sorensen, chef/owner of Solera Restaurant, and five other top chefs from the Denver area are teaming up at Solera Restaurant for an event supporting Project Healing Waters starting at 6 p.m. today. Chefs for Vets will feature ...
From Mushrooms to Master Chefs, Fifteen Tastiest Events on the Culinary Calendar This Week
6 months ago by Ben Landreth
The Book of Mormon comes knocking on Denver's door again this week, inspiring a downtown restaurant to debut a special cocktail; one of Denver's hottest neighborhoods will be dishing out samples; Solera Restaurant will host an ...
Reader: Pork belly is a hipster trend that's already obsolete
2 years ago by Patricia Calhoun
We're counting down our 100 Favorite Dishes as we head towards our next Best of Denver, and last week landed at Solera, where Goose Sorensen's pork-belly confit is a marvel, a preparation that involves curing, pressing and slow cook...
100 Favorite Dishes: Pork-belly confit from Solera
2 years ago by Cafe Society
No. 92 Pork Belly Confit at Solera Restaurant and Wine Bar 5410 East Colfax Avenue 303-388-8429 Solera has been a sole outpost of fine dining on Colfax Avenue between Colorado and Monaco for at least a dozen years, with chef Goose S...
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