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Welcome to WebmasterWorld Guest from 22.214.171.124
Forum Moderators: incrediBILL
According to you, what is the best way to display PDF files on a website?
Personnally, I thought it would be cool to use Stickmanlabs's Lightwindow, but I found out that it doesn't work on Firefox3 and I'm not sure I will be able to fix it myself.
Anyway, what are the other options that will display a PDF nicely enough on every browser?
Thanks! :)
Print stylesheets work nicely for HTML pages that I want to be printable, but otherwise PDF is best for most anything that I want the user to print.
If I am not using a screen-shot I always put (PDF) at the end of the link
so it looks like
Click Here For More Info (PDF)
Honestly, I'm not convinced by this KISS method.
Problem is : computer illiterate users don't necessarily know how to handle a PDF file.
And too many actions needed on the user side makes less chance for the content to be read.
To me, the FlashPaper tool is a good one. It just needs a better way to be integrated into a page so that it isn't displayed in a tiny space.
I thought someone would give a nifty method that I ignore ;)
The other drawback of this method is that they will lose focus on the website, which can be confusing to some users.
I would like the PDF content to be displayed in front of the users face with the least actions required from them and whatever system they are on.
I know that no system is perfect but something close to perfection would be great :)
Print2Flash converts PDF files to SWFs so I think I will use it although their interface isn't as good looking as scribd's one.
Now, I have to find the best way to display this "flashized" PDF on a site, with anough room for site navigation and content reading.
I would ask yourself if the trade off is worth it.
For example I have flash disabled by default and if I really want to see what ever 'zoomy' thing someone put on their site then I enable it and it loads.
I am of course the other extreme exception from the guy who doesn't know what to do with a PDF and I know those guys are out there, just remember others like me are out there too.
Maybe add an option for the user to open it with "a PDF Viewer of you choice" I don't even use Acrobat Reader, imo, you should leave some choice up to your users.
I think we mustn't confuse user friendliness with extremism.
A PDF requires a reader or the plugin installed. As you seem to know, people are annoyed by having to install *ANYTHING* and if they can't do it, their impression is their inability is somehow OUR fault.
Let's add another plugin: the Flash Player. Same deal, you now have to install another plugin, so your not-so-savvy users are still just as annoyed.
So when you have a PDF inside a Flash plugin, the not-so-savvy users are annoyed either way. But there's a bonus . . .
Those that DO know how to install either and are familiar with them are also familiar with how they work. Anyone who knows about PDF's will now see your PDF-inside-Flash as an intentional barrier to their cause: accessing content. The big deal about it is these types of users are most likely to complain . . with vengeance!
I don't see how complicating the task - accessing content - is helping them in any way. From a user standpoint, there's a lot less to understand by training your users to use PDF's than Flash.
If you wish to make it easy, follow the standard approaches to the task - help them learn how to install the plugin and access a PDF.
Best way to display PDF files on a website?
Have links at the top or bottom of the HTML file to a PDF version (Download PDF for printing [>]).
.... Even the ads are made with Flash.
Which is why I and many others like me browse websites with Flash off by default, to avoid those ads and to increase performance. Don't make me turn it on.
I use a PDF viewer of my choice. One that I am familiar with already, not from Adobe. By putting the PDF in Flash you are taking away my choice to view in it the way I normally view one. You also introduce a learning curve, for me to view your PDF. I now have to learn to use your tool. You should at least present the user with a choice. View in Flash or View as PDF
Regardless of what you decide, there are two things I would check before going ahead with this.
1) See how much memory the .swf file uses once the PDF is loaded into it. I would bet that there is way more processing overhead involved.
2) See how this effects the indexing of your PDFs in search engines. You want to make sure that PDF content first gets indexed in Google, and then make sure it links back to the page with Flash and not the PDF itself.
In my opinion you are on the right track but you are going the wrong way. No need to re-invent the wheel here.
[edited by: Demaestro at 5:40 pm (utc) on Aug. 8, 2008]
As for the indexing, Google can now read the content of Flash files as well. I know it because I recently had the surprise to see the content of one of my Flash movie ranked well above the main page of my site! The link description was exactly the content of the SWF file. So, one more point to Flash.
Also, if you absolutely want to open a PDF with your own PDF reader (which is far from being the norm), I could add a button inside the SWF file so that you can download the PDF.
If the file size is really 25% less to view in flash then that would be reason enough.
Are you sure that is right? Seriously if so I will be switching some of the bigger ones I have over.
1) does the user have Adobe Reader installed?
2) Does the user have Flash installed?
Can you sniff for either of these and feed accordingly?
Does anybody have any source for analytics which clue us in to the probability of either of those being the case?
Messing up 20% of your visitors using A-Grade browsers is a lot different from messing up .01% of your visitors with an out-of-date browser.
Anyway, just link to the pdf, I say.
I made a mistake and the numbers were wrong. Sorry for that :(
Still, the SWF files are more than twice smaller.
I just did another test : 1641kb PDF file becomes 664kb SWF file.
You simply have to check "compress file" in the export options.
Do it yourself, open Illustrator and export a PDF page into SWF.
You can also do it on multiple pages with print2flash's trial version.
[edited by: sleidia at 7:29 am (utc) on Aug. 10, 2008]
I suspect the opposite is true if you target the youth leisure market.
So yeah, I think I've answered my own question ;)
The best way is to use a link to the PDF file IN ADDITION OF Flash which has the ability to load content much faster and keep the visitor focused on the site.
Agree or not? :)
I see Flash as bells and whistles. But I run sites where the audience doesn't think that way.
I am still skeptical about what happens once you get large PDFs into the flash reader but that can be tested.
There are lots of sites that use the Flash technic with huge PDF files. I've seen enough of them to make my opinion.
As for the audience, I do think it's also a non issue because, as I wrote above, you can propose both options : Flash + simple HTML link.
Sorry for my delayed response.
And, since you are the originator of this thread and have taken issue with my approach to it, I quite apologize if I missed the mark and was unhelpful to you and the others who posted.
'Twas not intentional.


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If you're training for a half marathon like the one we proposed for 24th October in Miami Beach, you can start demonstrating a good time for 10K Key Biscayne next 4th October
Route starts and finishes at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. Runners race surrounded by lush tropical landscapes and superior ocean views.
You can always chose a singular, unique place to stay at rent4days properties in Miami Beach

subset: commoncrawl


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Where did you read Paille signed a two way contract ? CapGeek says standard contract. NESN and BDC made no mention of a two way. If Paille had a two way like McQuaid he could be sent down anytime PC wants.
Back to the thread Stuart and Ryder should not be on this team next season I don't expect them. Wheeler because of youth and that PC controls his RFA rights will be given another one year.
Mark Stuart cannot skate better, shoot, score more, hit better or fight better than Adam McQuaid at this point. Mark only has more experience than Adam that is the only reason Stuart might make it past the trade deadline. I like Mark allot but he simply does have trade value so it must be explored to get some offense in on the blueline. Chiarelli's cap problem just might save Stuart though.


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Southland Remodeling
10 Tips for Remodeling your Bathroom
from WOAI
While bathrooms often are among the smallest rooms in your home, they're often the most used and valued spaces in our homes, and are among the smartest remodeling investments in terms of return of investment. Beyond the practical, day-to-day routines, for many people bathrooms are a sanctuary – a place to escape the stresses of daily life, even if only for a few moments at a time. So when remodeling your bathroom, consider these 10 tips for your project. →']);" class="more-link">Continue reading
6 Ways to Spot a Rip-Off Contractor
AARP recently published an article about 6 Ways to Spot a Rip-Off Contractor. But not just Seniors are a target for scammers and rip-off artists. Some of these guys are pretty good at scamming people, and most of us can fall for their schemes.
Home improvement scams are a year-round danger, but now is the season when repair rip-offs really go through the roof — sometimes beginning with an offer to fix yours.
There are many honest, hardworking craftsmen out there eager to get your business as a homeowner. But summer is also prime time for "con-tractors" intent on scamming their customers, especially older ones. →']);" class="more-link">Continue reading


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Phil Junker
Outdoor Tales
The period for finding morel mushrooms is far too short.
Usually in this area, morels can be found in late April and early May, so that is when the eating is good. And while they can be saved for later eating, they are best when eaten when they are freshly picked and cooked.
A couple seasons past, my brother-in-law Paul Cooper stopped by and announced he brought a surprise. It was a good one. Morel mushrooms.
LEOPOLD—Perry Central errors helped Orleans score 11 runs in the first inning and cruise to a 16-4 baseball victory over the Commodores Wednesday.
"We got off to a pretty bad start in the first," said Perry Central Coach Tim Taylor. "Orleans put up 11 runs in that inning due to several errors. We weren't very focused in the field and didn't make routine plays.
Orleans also had some hits that dropped in on us.
TELL CITY—The top three batters in Heritage Hills' lineup combined for 11 hits, including two home runs and a double, as the Patriots beat Tell City 16-2 in PAC softball Wednesday.
Leadoff hitter Jamie Tempel and No. 2 batter Madalyn Fuller each went 4 for 4, with Fuller hitting a homer and scoring four runs.
No. 3 batter Lauren Caswell hit a homer, double and single.
Fuller's two-run homer put the Patriots ahead 2-0 in the top of the third inning.
LYNNVILLE—Perry Central held Tecumseh's powerful bats in check for three innings, but the Braves exploded for 10 runs in the next three innings to win 12-0 in softball Friday.
"It was 2-0 until the fourth inning; then they started hitting the ball really well," said Perry Central Coach Mark Rothgerber.
The Braves, ranked No. 5 in the state in Class A, had a triple and a three-run homer among their hits in their five-run fourth and sixth innings.
They also took advantage of two Perry Central errors in the fourth and one in the sixth.
OAKLAND CITY—Zach James earned medalist honors for the second consecutive match and third time this season as Perry Central won another boys triangular golf match Thursday.
The Commodores shot 170, Forest Park 178, and Wood Memorial 188 on the par-35 Oakland City Golf Club course.
James shot 40, Nic Pierrard 41, and Coby Aders 46 as the Commodores had the top three scorers in the match.
Coby Aders shot 46 to complete the team's scoring.
Eric Schepers, who shot 53, and Lain Knieriem, 55, also played for the Commodores.
By LARRY GOFFINET
Sports Editor
DUBOIS—Former Tell City three-sport star Andy Chinn was named Northeast Dubois' head girls basketball coach Tuesday.
Chinn, 25, succeeds Alan Matheis, who retired after 15 years as the girls coach.
Chinn was an assistant to Matheis the past two years after serving one year as an assistant for Kentucky Wesleyan College's men's team.
TELL CITY—Leo Simpson and Cameron Kessinger each won two individual events as Tell City beat Perry Central 79-53 in boys track Thursday.
Tell City won 13 of the 16 events.
Simpson won the 1600-meter run in 4:36 and the 3200 in 9:52.
"Obviously his two-mile was impressive - that was a personal record by right at 10 seconds," said Tell City Coach Zac Hartz.
Simpson teamed with Thomas Simpson, Seth Vaquero and Chase Beckort to win the 3200 relay in 11:43.75.
Vince Luecke
editor@perry countynews.com
As I wrote a few years ago, my friends accused me of borderline paganism when I spent a Saturday night drinking around a bonfire for Walpurgis Night, or Walpurgisnacht in German. It was a fun night back in 2011. I drank plenty of beer and cheered the arrival of May 1. I then crawled into a tent and slept until noon the next day.
That the use of red-light cameras can be abused has been well documented, especially in Chicago, which has more such cameras than any other city in the country.
For that reason we have editorialized against the use of such cameras in the past. But if drivers don't stop running red lights at one of Tell City's busiest intersections, we will have to recommend that the city look into installing a camera there.
U.S. Sen. Dan Coats
Guest Columnist
Americans got a three day reprieve when this year's deadline for filing taxes was moved to April 18. But taxpayers received no reprieve from dealing with a burdensome, outdated tax system.
Copyright © 2016
The Perry County News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Perry County, Indiana, and the surrounding area.


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Should Scuderia Toro Rosso find an opening for five-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb to make his F1 debut in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next month, then his present employers Citroen assure they will not block the deal.
For next year: Bring on Loeb, Schumi, Rossi....
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Baby needs Guitar - Classical Guitar for Little Ears
1 CD / Delos / 2008-08-26Works: Scottish Traditional: Wild Mountain Thyme; Johann Sebastian Bach: Orchestral Suite no 3 in D major, BWV 1068; Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1); Orchestral Sui...
Performers: Brazilian Guitar Quartet; Galbraith, Paul; Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; Romero, Angel [Guitar]; Tennant, Scott [Guitar]
Ensemble: Brazilian Guitar Quartet; Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Personnel: Angel Romero , Scott Tennant (6-string bass); Paul Galbraith (8-string bass)....continue...
Golijov: Oceana, etc / Spano, Upshaw, Kronos Quartet, et al
1 CD / Deutsche Grammophon / 2007-07-10Works: Osvaldo Golijov: Oceana, for voice, boys' choir, double chorus & orchestra; Tenebrae, version for string quartet; Three Songs, for voice & orchestra
Performers: Dearman, John; Haddad, Jamey; Johnson, Elizabeth Remy; Souza, Luciana; Tennant, Scott [Guitar]; Upshaw, Dawn [Soprano Vocal]
Conductors: Spano, Robert
Ensemble: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
"Generous arcs of slow-moving melody - often with trembling accompaniment - evoke the great Renaissance masters...Upshaw's love for this music is palpable in every bar,...continue...
Spin / Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
1 Super Audio CD / Telarc / 2006-03-28Works: William Kanengiser: Turn to the Sea, for 4 guitars; Andrew York: Hidden Realm of Light, for 4 guitars; Spin, for guitar orchestra (or 4 guitars); Quiccan, for guitar quartet; Night Furniture, for 4 g...
Performers: Currie, Colin; Dearman, John; Kanengiser, Bill [Guitar]; Tennant, Scott [Guitar]; York, Andrew [Guitar]
Ensemble: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
On Spin, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet offer a completely approachable and pleasant but still intelligent and often complex program of pieces by living composers, among them several members of the gr...continue...
Bella España - Music Inspired by Spain
1 CD / Telarc / 2005-11-22Works: Georges Bizet: Carmen Suites for orchestra nos 1 & 2; Manuel de Falla: Canciones populares españolas (7); Enriqué Granados: Danse espagnole, Op. 37/5; Joaquín Rodrigo: Concierto de Ara...
Performers: Dearman, John; Kanengiser, Bill [Guitar]; Romero, Angel [Guitar]; Romero, Celedonio; Russell, David [Guitar]; Tennant, Scott [Guitar]; York, Andrew [Guitar]
Conductors: ; López-Cobos, Jesús; Kunzel, Erich
Ensemble: ; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; Naples Philharmonic Florida
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet - Latin
1 CD / Telarc / 2002-09-24Works: Sting: Fragile; Eduardo Martín: Hasta Alicia Baila, for guitar quartet; La Trampa, for guitar quartet; Astor Piazzolla: María de Buenos Aires; Egberto Gismonti: Forrobodó, for mandol...
Performers: Dearman, John; Kanengiser, Bill [Guitar]; Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; Tennant, Scott [Guitar]; Timmermans, Tim; Walker, Jim [Flute]; York, Andrew [Guitar]
Ensemble: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
From its haunting opening arrangement of Sting's Latin-tinged song, Fragile, to the rousing sounds of the traditional Spanish flamenco Sevillanas, this recording takes the listener...continue...
This album was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Classical
Crossover Album.
This selection is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording.
This selection is a Hybrid Multic...continue...
The Best of LAGQ / Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
1 CD / Delos / 1998-01-01Works: Aaron Copland: Rodeo; Appalachian Spring; Count Basie: Jumpin' at the Woodside; Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a; Manuel de Falla: El amor brujo; John Philip Sousa: The Black Hors...
Performers: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Ensemble: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Evening in Granada / L.A. Guitar Quartet
1 CD / Delos / 1993-01-01Works: Luigi Boccherini: Introduction and Fandango, arrangement (after the Quintet for Guitar & strings, G. 448); Ian Krouse: Folías; Manuel de Falla: El amor brujo; Claude Debussy: Estampes (3) for Pi...
Performers: Dearman, John; Kanengiser, Bill [Guitar]; Tennant, Scott [Guitar]; York, Andrew [Guitar]
Ensemble: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker / LA Guitar Quartet
1 CD / Delos / 1992-01-01Performers: Dearman, John; Kanengiser, Bill; Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; Tennant, Scott; York, Andrew
Ensemble: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet


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Welcome to WebmasterWorld Guest from 18.104.22.168
Forum Moderators: mademetop
I was thinking of metatagging the site myself, but thought professional expertise might be helpful for a larger web site.
If anyone has an objective recommendations for a good SEO, I'm all ears.
[edited by: agerhart at 3:47 pm (utc) on July 8, 2003]
[edit reason] removed site specifics [/edit]
If you don't know SEO that well then I strongly urge you to learn as much as you can about what NOT to do as well as what should be done.
When you begin the process of interviewing SEO firms/people for the job, be prepared to ask lots of questions. And then be prepared to listen to and understand the answers. The potential contractor should be able to explain what they intend to do such that you'll understand it.
As far as cost goes, if the site has never been optimized and your market is competitive - expect to pay good money.
If you're looking for someone to not only optimize the site but also to help you manage your ad campaigns and help you understand how to realize your ROI - expect to pay even more.
Consider it an education and be prepared to learn fast. All in all, they're selling knowledge as well as their services and there isn't a textbook out there that can teach you what a good SEO/SEM person has learned on their own.


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Heritage Provider Network, Inc. (HPN) is on the cutting edge of the accountable care model of healthcare delivery: coordinated, patient-doctor centric, integrated health care systems that represent the future of health care in the United States. HPN is dedicated to quality, affordable health care and putting patients' wellness first. The collaborative mobile apps prize is one of a number of competitions HPN is sponsoring in its ongoing efforts to spur innovations in healthcare, including the $3million Heritage Health Prize Competition, and the Institute of Medicine's Go Viral for Health Prize. HPN is also in the process of launching a number of other health related prizes. ( www.heritageprovidernetwork.com)About Open mHealth
Heritage Provider Network, UCLA And Open MHealth Announce The Launch Of $100,000 Mobile Apps Health Prize Challenge
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Whichever angle you look at it, a 128GB iPad 4 is just ridiculous. Then again, people do love filling their iPads with whatever they can, plus the fact that iPad apps consume more memory.
It might be considered a good news then, to people who love Apple products, that the 128GB iPad 4 (officially named the iPad with Retina) is now officially available online at the Philippines' online Apple Store, with the WiFi version selling for P38,990.00 and the WiFi+Cellular version for P44,990.00.
Yes, like I said the 128GB iPad 4 is a ridiculous device at a ridiculous price. This is why Apple doesn't build expandable memories; so that they can sell a version with a higher storage later at an exorbitant rate.
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Watermelon by LaurenGibsonWatch
©2012-2016 LaurenGibson
This is awesome
Wonderful! Love the pink touch
thats so pretty
Wow! i love this
so cool!
Cool mini-series, I'd love to see more
Awh thanks I'ma be doing more this weekend hopefully! Days aren't long enough anymore
This is really pretty! I like it a lot.
This is PERFECT!
These are really cool!
love, love, love!
This really makes me want watermelon.... Nice detail!
I know this idea has been done before but you've still made it really original, this is gorgeous!
That's amazing!! Love these colours! Green and pink are so yummy together!!^^
cool idea


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Wednesday, November 18, 2015
7 comments
"Each one of us has walked through storms and fled the wolves along the road; but here the hearth is wide and warm, and for this shelter and this... Read more
Monday, September 28, 2015
14 comments
I love the Serenity Prayer. I am celebrating four years of sobriety today. I appreciate the love and support of my friends and teammates on Spa... Read more
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
3 comments
I want to share a Hazelden meditation today which has special meaning for me as I approach my Fourth Soberversary.
"Walk with the wise and b... Read more
Saturday, August 22, 2015
9 comments
I recently dealt with a challenging home situation with dh who is an alcoholic. I knew that I have been coping better with this situation. I ke... Read more
Friday, August 07, 2015
4 comments
If you look at the current research, here are five of the most common factors of resilient people:
1. They are resourceful and have good prob... Read more
Tuesday, August 04, 2015
4 comments
The idea that we can choose authenticity makes most of us feel both hopeful and exhausted. We feel hopeful because being real is something we... Read more
Sunday, August 02, 2015
4 comments
"... in order to fell anything you need strength..." Anna Maria Ortese
Strength for any task, to withstand any pressure, to find to s... Read more
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
8 comments
God grant me the serenity to accept my addiction gracefully and humbly. Grant me also ... Read more
Friday, July 17, 2015
3 comments
Abstinence is the narrow path that leads out of the swamp of addiction. If we allow ourselves to deviate from the path, we immediately put ourselves on slippery ground and run the risk of falling into a bog of quicksand.
The longer we main... Read more
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
5 comments
I don't know about you, but for me I am simply amazed at how creative some people can be in making fitness activities a joyful experience. I rock out to my downloaded iTunes as I walk along the Columbia River ....sometimes breaking into a few d... Read more
Saturday, July 04, 2015
1 comments
I want to share today's reading from Food for Thought:
Holidays come and go. Our choice remains the same: to abstain or overeat. Most holidays are associated with an overabundance of special food. Those who are not compulsive overeaters may... Read more
Saturday, July 04, 2015
3 comments
Crawling out of my shell
I tremble to keep my balance
Charging to keep my freedom
Screaming my silent shouts
I let go of all ... Read more
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
4 comments
When I first joined SparkPeople September 28,2011, I must admit I didn't love myself at all. I was desperate o make a change in my life. I had to o... Read more
Saturday, June 20, 2015
3 comments
My life changed on September 28, 2011 when I became sober. I became healthier as I joined SparkPeople that eventful day. I lost weight and bega... Read more
Thursday, June 18, 2015
3 comments
There are certain foods which we will always associate with home and which make us nostalgic to recapture the past. No matter ow much we eat, we cannot go back home and again be the babies and little children we were. No food will satisfy our lo... Read more


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Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
The Department of Foreign Affairs is quite adept at farewells.
It handles farewell receptions for foreign diplomats being re-assigned to other shores. DFA personnel are assigned overseas in any of our 81 embassies and consulates every three years. Unlike other government agencies, where even a trip ticket to a destination outside Metro Manila could be a chore, the DFA is used to the comings and goings of life, with their home office as a transit point to destinations that serve as milestones to one's diplomatic career.
But no one among the DFA staff expected to say farewell, this soon and under such tragic circumstances, to a gentle soul known as Alice Ramos, Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs. This writer knew about her background as a diplomat from the days when my late father, Senator Blas F. Ople then chairman of the Commission on Appointments' committee on foreign relations, had the privilege of acting on the nominations of our most accomplished diplomats. It was a pleasure and privilege for me to have worked with her directly during my father's tenure as Foreign Secretary.
When I heard about the gruesome news, I immediately sent a text message to DFA spokesman Bert Asuque as well as Ambassador Jose Abeto Zaide, who heads the DFA's Protocol Office, requesting them to release information about the late ambassador's accomplishments as a Filipino diplomat. I thought this important because without such an official reference, the media would append the Flor Contemplacion tragedy to Alice's name giving her hard-earned and illustrious career a one-dimensional facade.
Yet right from the beginning of her career as a junior diplomat, Alice Ramos was certainly far from being one-dimensional. She was a quiet, diligent achiever who topped the Foreign Service Examinations of 1973. Her father was a senior diplomat Aurelio Ramos. Ambassador Ramos held a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. She was fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian.
Alice Ramos served as the Philippine Ambassador to New Zealand from 1996 to 2002. Prior to that posting, she was the Philippine Ambassador to Singapore from 1993 to 1995, and the Ambassador to Romania from 1990 to 1993, where she was concurrently accredited on a non-resident basis to the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova.
I joined the DFA family in a moving necrological service for the slain ambassador the day before Alice was buried. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sonia Brady, one of Alice's dearest friends, recalled that she and the late ambassador had a special fondness for China which was their very first posting. "We were among the first batch of officers to go to China when diplomatic relations opened in 1975. We were also second generation friends - our fathers were close friends and colleagues in the early days of the DFA."
In her heartfelt eulogy, Undersecretary Brady described her friendship with Alice: "I was there for Alice when her father died when we were in China and during the dark days of Contemplacion when she had to go into hiding because her life was threatened. …


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Happy Birthday To Me! by DaexmosWatch
©2013-2016 Daexmos
A little gift for myself for my 20th birthday. Woo
Art (c) Me; Daexmos
Art (c) Me; Daexmos
wow.. I love this piece, specially the feet/paws. The face/muzzle is also great!
God. The way you draw feets. Cannot stop staring.
One day, I wanna do another art trade with yooou~
Happy belated
Happy Birthday!
She's beautiful ^_^
dem huge pws. I love dem.
Also, happy birthday lovely lady!
very nice. I love how soft she looks.
And a Happy birthday to you, Daex!
And a Happy birthday to you, Daex!
Dem feets, bro. <3
Happy birthday Dax, have a good one!
Happy birthday!! <3 <3 Ily
Happy Birthday Dae!! I hope it is good to you! =}
Happy Birthday!!Today, also my birthday!!!
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday you, Happy birthday dear Daexmos, Happy birthday to you ~


text:
Welcome to the Oakville Historical Society
The Oakville Historical Society preserves and promotes historical heritage of the Town of Oakville.
We are helped with our efforts through membership.
We greatly appreciate the support received from: The Town of Oakville, Ontario Heritage Ontario Development Grants and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Our offices are in The Cottages. These are located on the north side of the Erchless Estate, erected in the mid-1950s. Now equipped with environmental control systems, they provide the historical society with archival storage, a library and display space. Visitors can explore various displays and ask questions about Oakville's history.
Phone 905 844-2695
Office Hours:
1:00 - 4:30 pm Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, year 'round. Join us for tea at about 2 pm.
We are also open the third Sunday each month 12:30-4:30 pm.
We are closed for the holidays, Monday December 19, 2016 to 1:00 pm Tuesday January 3rd, 2017.


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That variable has been optimized out by the shader compiler, because it's not actually used. If the compiler realizes that a uniform isn't used, it's free to delete it.
If you trace your variable through your code, it looks like it's used - it looks like it should influence the result of your shader:
vec3 toEye = normalize(camera_position...); float specularFactor = pow(...toEye...), specularPower); specularColour = ... * specularFactor; totalLight += ...specularColour; return totalLight;
Except that float specularPower = 0.0; so:
vec3 toEye = normalize(camera_position...); float specularFactor = pow(...toEye...), 0); // anything raised to the power of zero is 1 //So the above two lines get optimized to: float specularFactor = 1;
And thus camera_position isn't used, so, it's correct that you can't locate it.


text:
Home cooks who feared they'd have to settle for a Christmas Eve ham can take comfort in today's opening of the Dungeness crab season in
Home cooks who feared they'd have to settle for a Christmas Eve ham can take comfort in today's opening of the Dungeness crab season in Oregon and Washington.
The state's Department of Fish and Wildlife had warned the crab population was in such shabby shape that it might not be ready for harvesting come Dec. 15, the start date announced earlier this year. But testing showed the crabs were in condition for the season to begin just two weeks after the traditional Dec. 1 opener.
"There will be crab on the market," guaranteed lead shellfish biologist Dan Ayres, who'd previously fretted that his wife wouldn't forgive him if she couldn't get Washington crab for Christmas.
As usual, the first opening announcement only applies to the stretch of coastline that runs from the Oregon border to Klipsan Beach. The remainder of the state's coast is scheduled to open on Jan. 24.
Although the crabs looked scrawny upon initial assessment, leading shellfish experts to theorize they weren't finding enough food, Ayres says the crabs "filled out well." Crabs collected by tribal fishermen, who get a head start on the season, have impressed connoisseurs.
"The crabs we're seeing look real good, so it should be a great season," Ayres says.
Follow Voracious on Facebook & Twitter. Follow me at @hannaraskin


text:
Tip: In a hotel made fresh each year from 15,000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice, you don't bother asking if they can turn up the heat. At Quebec City's Hotel de Glace, or ice hotel, cold is cool. The 36 rooms and suites, plus the ice bar and ice cafe, are built anew every December and January. Overnight guests can explore the sparkling hotel, then warm up in the outdoor hot tubs and saunas, before settling in for the night in subzero sleeping bags atop mattresses perched on elaborately hewn ice beds.
Rates are $219 per person per night and include a welcome cocktail, all the equipment you'll need to sleep, breakfast, and spa access. If you're curious but don't want to spend an entire chilly night, guided tours are available during the day for $17.50 for adults, $15.50 for students and seniors, and $8.75 for children.
Fans of ice lodging who are willing to travel farther afield should also check out Sweden's IceHotel, the world's largest.
On TripAdvisor Hotel de Glace has a score of four out of five.
Let the travel experts do the work—get the best deals sent to you!
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Our Product Managers are interviewed in the PetrolPlaza Video review from PEI NACS 2015 in Las Vegas, USA. Source: http://www.petrolplaza.com/
Built by our design optimization engineers and powered by years of petroleum equipment design expertise, FFS PRO: Site Builder
For North and South America excluding Brasil.
Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia and India.
Brasil only.
China, Australia, New Zealand and more.


text:
Spooky Dreams by AshlieNelsonWatch
©2007-2016 AshlieNelson
* Update *
This has been featured in DA News
[The Big PURPLE / BLUE Feature]
by `Lilyas
Spent all night working on this. I painted the cat to look JUST like my kitty Spooky.
Now you get the crazy title that don't match the image.
[link] & [link]
So you can see how well I got his characteristics down.
I'm really proud of this one.
Click download to see the the original HUGE version.
~ Credits ~
~ Background
~ Cat Base
~ Wings
~ Swing
Submitting this to the following communities:
<3 if you want, theres lots of homeless pets as stock in my gallery that would love your creative touch
Oh my god that is just too cute!
Hello ^_^ someone just sent me this beautiful picture that I have fav along time ago throw the mail from DA. I was wondering if you would know who it was that bought this from you? I would realy like to know who it was so I can thank them for it ^_^
We have no clue it never tells who buys from your account..what I would do if I were you I would make a journal entry and ask who sent it to you glad you like the picture
The Bests'Challenge contest in ended. Please go check out the winners on my journal !
He looks like my kitten!
I love it!
I love it!
Totally in love with this. Total love
;//A//; Aw man this is so prettyful, I can't believe it's not that out there~!! Definately deserves more favorites and such, its so gorgeous >A<
Your effort paid off well, its beautiful ;_;
Your effort paid off well, its beautiful ;_;
Thank you so much for your sweet comment. That means allot to me. I keep [planning on doing one of all my cats with diffrent wings and such but Ive been to lazy. Than you again!
so cool. Lovely colours..I have a cat that looks like that myself. Arn't they called smokingcats?
tuxedo I think. thank you
yes maybe smokingcats is the norwegian word, because here tuxedo means smoking I think..you welcome
Great work!!
awesome, truely love it.
hello, your artwork is sooo nice!
This is so pretty!
This is so cute and adorable
Oh Spooky is the name of the cat. When I saw this I thought "How can this be spooky? This is so cute and sweet !") heheh but then I have read your discription. Such a tender work
cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......................aww u're cat kinda looks like my cat XDD... i just black and white kittiez
Most excellent!
Oh my ..it looks so so cute! adorable!
This is so beautiful.
This is really beautiful I love how purple is used in this And the whole manip is awesome!
Very creative and I love the purple hues!!
Ohhh this reminds me of my dear Naru who R.I.P
He died last month and wasn't even a One-year-old
Nice work!! ^_^
He died last month and wasn't even a One-year-old
Nice work!! ^_^
oh Im so sorry for your loss. and so young to. My baby died last year on my birthday. he was 18. I know first hand how hard it is to loose a pet. Like loosing a child.
This is absolutely beautiful!


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ADHD tends to make every aspect of life that much more challenging. Because attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) impairs the executive functions of the brain, individuals struggle with processing information, paying attention and prioritizing tasks. Naturally, this affects them at work and at home.
People with ADHD also often struggle with relationships and a sinking self-esteem. Fortunately, ADHD is treatable. And many people are able to lead fulfilling, productive lives.
In fact, most of the psychotherapists I interview for my articles on ADHD have the disorder. So in addition to helping others with ADHD succeed, these experts live with the same symptoms and types of challenges on a daily basis.
It's why we wanted to know the biggest and most important lesson they've learned in managing their own ADHD. Below you'll find their insight.


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Save Time by Outsourcing Your Life
Sometimes there are tasks that we need to do, but don't necessarily have the time for. One way to get things done is to outsource. Here are a few options that will help you save time, without spending too much money.
For those of you who dread house cleaning duties, BidMyCleaning can help you find a reputable housekeeper at a rock-bottom price. Simply enter your location and needs, and the site will instantly load a list of local, low-cost cleaning services, complete with customer ratings and feedback. You can even choose to have your home tidied up with eco-friendly products at no extra cost.
If you tend to procrastinate when it comes to online errands -- like scheduling, making reservations and shopping -- try using FancyHands. This site connects you to a team of professional contractors who are ready to help around the clock.
Membership prices vary depending on how often you use the service. Five requests per month costs $25; 15 goes for $45; and you can get 25 requests for $65. If you decide to go long-term, their yearly plans are 25 percent cheaper than paying monthly.
Finally, if you're looking for a little creative assistance, Fiverr will help you find people to design logos, make videos, edit podcasts and more. Like the name implies, each task costs only five dollars, which makes Fiverr a great place to try outsourcing for the first time.
So, if you need to buy yourself some time, outsourcing can be the way to go. Sometimes saving a few hours a day can be worth the investment.
Mint made the Mac App Store's Best of 2012 list for a reason. This simple, clean app shows how much you are spending in each category of your budget by monitoring all of your transactions. We love signing in and getting a quick, dirty rundown of where our money has gone over the last week, and using their personalized budget tools to stay on track. We highly recommend adjusting your budgets for summer months. You might spend less on transportation when the weather is nice, and chances are you could use that extra cash to flesh out that restaurant tab, right?
Price: Free
This is the all-in-one financial organizer. Manage all of your accounts, from credit cards to magazine subscriptions, in one place and even make custom accounts for your rent or cleaning service. Get reminders for bill payments, and monitor all of your travel reward points, too. You'll always know what you owe, how much money you have and can plan for upcoming bills and expenses without having to sift through tons of paperwork.
Price: Free
If you want to isolate the expense tracker function of Mint in a super simple day-to-day app, then DailyCost is a great buy. A wide variety of categories lets users input all of their daily expenses. Holding your phone horizontally, you will be able to see graphs and statistics on your spending. The app also tracks your weekly and monthly spending by category and can be backed up to iCloud for Mac users, so you'll never lose your data.
Price: $1.99
Available for Apple only.
If you're a heavy traveler, Toshl is an excellent expense and budget tracker. It works with any currency and lets you separate your travel budget from your day-to-day expenses. It comes with all the trappings of a regular money management app, too, such as bill organizer and alerts, and can be synced across all your devices.
Price: Free
Next time you organize a group activity, Tricount will split up the expenses for you. Create the expense report on your phone and organize by person, how much they owe, and then share via email so everyone knows their share. With options for expenses, balance, share, and configuration, the app does all of the math for you.
Price: Free
Never miss a bill payment again. This app reminds you when your payments are due, and lets you pay on the spot from a bank account or credit card, or you can schedule a payment for the future. Connect all of your accounts to the encrypted app and then view them all in one place for easy access and payment options. You'll never overdraft or miss a payment again.
Price: Free


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This text has been automatically translated. View original Text
it is the ideal starting point to discover the highlights of Provence: Avignon, Orange, Aix, hilltop villages, ochres of Roussillon ... Is also two guest comfort (large double beds, separate entrance, air conditioning ...), sumptuous breakfasts, a beautiful Mediterranean garden with swimming pool, orangery, picnic tables ... Everything is there to bring happiness to your holiday! Angelika and Theo warmly welcome you!
Marseille, France (MRS-Provence) 60 miles
From the North: A7 - towards Avignon - exit 24 (Avignon Sud) D900 towards Apt Coustellet up. A Coustellet continue right on D900 (do not turn left towards Gordes) to Oil Mill St Augustin (sign on your right), turn left in front of the great millstone and continue on a small road (D 180, not shown) following the signs "Fontcaudette" and / or "Mas des Roses." From the south: A7 Avignon - Exit 25 (Cavaillon) - through Cavaillon, continue on D2 direction Coustellet / Apt, to Coustellet; Coustellet red light, turn right in the direction of Apt (D900) for rest see above description and map. From the south-west: A9 - exit 23 (Remoulins) - follow N100 towards Avignon, Avignon take direction Sisteron - Apt (N7 and D900) to Coustellet, for the rest see above description and map.
Computer, Fax Machine, Internet Service
Air conditioning, Board games, Coffee/Tea facilities, Fridge, Hairdryer, Library, Private entrance, Turndown Service, Wired internet
Bicycle rental, Bicycle riding trails, Bicycles, Golfing, Hiking trails, Kayaking


text:
Type: Improvement
Status: Resolved
Priority: Major
Resolution: Fixed
Affects Version/s: OpenCMIS 0.7.0
Fix Version/s: OpenCMIS 0.7.0
Component/s: opencmis-server
When the OpenCMIS server is deployed behind a reverse proxy, the service document doesn't return the correct URLs.
If it takes the X-Forwarded-Host and X-Forwarded-Proto request headers into account when calculating the baseUrl the URLs are correct.
A patch against revision 1241367 is attached.
- All
- Comments
- Work Log
- History
- Activity
- Transitions
This patch contains the code and JUnit tests
A must have for us.
The preferred way for Tomcat is to change the proxyName and proxyPort settings in the server.xml [1].
I'll check if evaluating the X-Forwarded-Host and X-Forwarded-Proto headers introduces a security issue and if not, I'll apply the patch.
[1] http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-7.0-doc/config/http.html#Proxy_Support
These headers are easy to spoof and could become a security issue. That's why I went for a different implementation. The web.xml now contains a parameter that defines IP addresses of trusted proxies. The X-Forwarded headers are only evaluated if the request went through such a trusted proxy.
Please let us know if that works for you.
It looks like it would work, I'll test it out tomorrow and get back to you.
The tomcat approach doesn't work in our environment BTW, because our CMIS repository should be accessible from different networks (internet, intranet, extranet) which all hide behind different reverse proxies in different DNS domains.
It works indeed.
On a side note, why didn't you retain the unit tests ? I'll adapt them to your implementation if that suits you.
I just hadn't had the time last night to adjust the unit tests. I deliberately didn't close the issue because of the unit tests and because I wanted to wait for your feedback.
Are we really sure that the best answer to this problem is to handle this on application level? I can't believe that zillions of Java web applications have to deal with how to work behind a proxy. What happens with other webapps on the same server?
Aren't there more generic solutions available to this issue, something like http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/api/org/apache/catalina/valves/RemoteIpValve.html.
I only want to keep our stuff simple, if possible.
You have a point for tomcat deployments. Something like the RemoteIpValve could do the job there.
I looked at RemoteIpValve and it's a solution for a different problem. In general, I agree and I also thought that there must be a generic solution. In fact, it is possible to move the code into a separate, OpenCMIS independent filter. But I haven't found anything that would be reusable across different servlet engines.
I did not look at the details, I only had the impression that this is something similar. Should we perhaps post this to the Tomcat list then?
I'll look into the apache valves, this can be a solution for my tomcat deployments.
I will have to check for a similar solution for jetty and jboss though.
I have moved the X-Forwarded code out of the AtomPub servlet and put into a servlet filter. If it is not needed it doesn't harm. If something like this is required we have a solution but don't force the server operator to use it if other/better/different facilities are available.
This seems a good strategy to me.
This filter can be used where the combination of the correct Apache reverse proxy config and Tomcat RemoteIpValve is not possible (no Apache reverse proxy, No Apache Tomcat).
The sample configs below can be used with an Apache HTTP Server based reverse proxy and Apache Tomcat as backed server.
The published url for the application is https://www.frontend.org/cmis, the Apache HTTP server handles https termination and it's IP address is 192.168.100.254.
httpd.conf snippet:
<Location /cmis> RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https" ProxyPreserveHost ProxyPass http://tomcat.backend.org:8080/cmis ProxyPassReverse http://tomcat.backend.org:8080/cmis </Location>
The ProxyPreserveHost directive will pass the Original Host HTTP header to the proxied host, for this example www.frontend.org, which will be returned by request.getServerName().
tomcat server.xml snippet:
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteIpValve" internalProxies="192\.168\.100\.254" remoteIpHeader="x-forwarded-for" remoteIpProxiesHeader="x-forwarded-by" protocolHeader="x-forwarded-proto" />
The valve will take care of binding the https scheme to the request.getScheme() and 443 to request.getServerPort()
Florian why do you say "These headers are easy to spoof and could become a security issue"? We just generate URLs for the client that sent us this header, it's not a security issue, the client will use them, not us.
There are tons of application that generate URLs taking into account these headers. I don't see why we have to go through a complex valve or filter setup.


text:
This item is currently unavailable
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text:
"Last White Knight:" Is reconciliation possible in Mississippi?
"It's quite easy to move beyond prejudice if you invite people into looking within themselves."
"Looper" is a neo-noir mind bender done right
Despite the current influx of "all form and no content" movies, it seems that, once or twice a year, a cerebral sci-fi film comes along, bursting with originality and innovation. This year brought us "Looper."


text:
Thomasville Alabama Golf Courses
|Pineview Country Club
Additional Golf Course Reviews:
|Country Club of Birmingham - West Course -- Great Course!
|Review by: Anonymous
|This course never gets old. Playing from the white tees, the course is quite challenging, but still fun. Stepping back to the professional tees (the TIPS), the course becomes one that PGA pros would have trouble with. Every hole is a new experience.
|From Birmingham, AL


text:
AURORA — One of the first things Rico Munn did when he took over as superintendent of Aurora Public Schools a year ago was to ask every employee — from teachers to principals, janitors to bus drivers — to document how they "accelerate learning" for every student every day.
He encouraged employees to write what he called their "unified job descriptions" and post them where people could see them, whether on the bus or in the classroom or cafeteria. Some of the students decided to do the same thing.
"It was very powerful for rallying an organization of close to 6,000 employees," school board president Julie-Marie Shepherd said. "Everyone plays a vital role in accelerating student achievement."
On July 1, Munn will mark his one-year anniversary as superintendent of APS, a school district that saw gains after former Superintendent John Barry, a retired two-star Air Force general, took the helm of the district in 2006.
But those improvements — a decrease in the dropout rate and increase in the graduation rate — were met with some inconsistencies in the classroom. Students showed growth in academic achievement, but that tended to fluctuate. Scores on statewide tests were up and down.
Enter Munn, a 42-year-old lawyer and former member of the Colorado State Board of Education, who, like his predecessor, has no real background in education. He was not a teacher, principal or school administrator.
But Munn has been a breath of fresh air, those who work with him say, a leader who spent his first six months listening to the community.
"When someone new comes in, they see your blind spots," said APS spokeswoman Georgia Duran. "That's what I think Rico's been able to do. He saw the good with John Barry but also where we need to improve."
After listening, Munn began implementing changes.
He reorganized how schools are overseen. Instead of one person responsible for academic achievement of 10 elementary schools, that person is now responsible for elementary and middle schools that feed into a specific high school. That allows the school district to better understand the needs of people in those neighborhoods, Munn said.
"We wanted to make sure we focused on equity on whatever we did," Munn said.
Munn is piggybacking on Barry's VISTA 2015 plan, a 90-plus point plan implemented in 2010 to get every child to grade level in reading, writing and math within five years.
He plans to hold community meetings and solicit input for his strategic plan. While that plan is still being formulated, Munn said it will revolve around three words: plans, skills and credentials.
The district has partnered with several organizations, such as the Anschutz Medical Campus, with its Aurora LIGHTS Health Sciences Pathway program, which gives middle and high school students real-life experiences in health and biomedical science.
That will still continue, Munn said. But he wants to make it more about the student than the job someone might pursue down the road. The strategic plan is still very much a work in progress, Munn acknowledged.
"Instead of going to industry and say what jobs might exist in 20 years and what are the pathways to get there, we want to look at a kid and say what skills do you have and how do we build on that," Munn said.
"The shift is more looking at this from the ground up," he continued. "It's less about what jobs and industry are out there and how to match that."
The district has gone through significant changes in the past year. Three new school board members were elected. Munn also hired a new chief academic officer. And, there are five new "learning community directors," or assistant chief academic officers.
Munn is certainly different from his predecessor. Barry seemed to thrive in the limelight, welcoming the attention. He was routinely covered by the media.
A Google search shows that Munn wasn't quoted in a single story by the Denver media after he was hired, although he was mentioned in one story by a local newspaper.
Whether that was by design, Munn wouldn't say.
Instead, he said, the focus should be on the students and not him.
"I've been very, very happy with Rico," APS board member Mary Lewis said. "I wanted a listener and collaborator, and I think we got both."
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, firstname.lastname@example.com or twitter.com/cillescasdp


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Ginger Snaps Back is the prequel to the series. Funny enough this stars the same two sisters/actresses as the first installment. Only thing it takes place way before the first and second movies. It takes place when the British were now colonizing America and just starting to push westward. It is a tale of red and black, the two sisters. This tale is both interesting but I don't know how it ties in as a prequel to the other two Ginger Snaps. It was another good Ginger Snaps movie but just didn't tie in. I would recommend it as another good werewolf movie.
About Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)
Year: 2004
Starring: Katharine Isabelle, Brendan Fletcher, Jake McKinnon, JR Bourne, Matthew Walker, Emily Perkins, Adrien Dorval, Nathaniel Arcand, Hugh Dillon, David MacInnis, Stevie Mitchell, Edna Rain, David La Haye, Tom McCamus, Fabian Bird, Kirk Jarrett
Director: Grant Harvey
Movies and TV Shows That Need Votes
You May Also Like…


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"SARACEN" - Empire Battle Class Ship. Main shock ship of the empire of people
Concept Art for game ADD.
Concept Art for game ADD.
Love this scene, love the ship design, great work!
added to 3D concepts in Sci-fi Archives
good capital ship!
Concept an art to the game "Imperium" created for the Robomodo company within ADD game preparation. When time of a high-grade art will come - I will lay out references to a site.
Neat starships! Is there a site for your game?


text:
iHerb Customer Reviews
Savings of: AU$0.88 (12% off)
Amazing, my favorite bars
Posted by 4939917017215535136 on Feb 20, 2016
Test is great, i think it's mush batter then other famous brands, i will buy it again.
Terribly taste!
Posted by 5739086551239993082 on Oct 29, 2015
Don't do mistake! It's just most terribly cookies in the world!
Perfect for breakfast on the run
Posted by 4905512002673838258 on Mar 18, 2015
Im a big fan of these, but my european boyfriend didnt understand the concept/thought it was too chewy.
Posted by 5073496511607919106 on Nov 20, 2014
Sabe como a jarabe o medicina, no me ha gustado.
Very dry
Posted by 5629174566644556388 on Aug 16, 2014
Tasted ok,nothing special. But the cereal outside was too dry for me
Posted by 5047274531974152094 on Mar 23, 2014
very nice
Posted by 4861508624227996557 on Mar 22, 2014
Taste was strange at first, but after a second and third bite you want more ...
Posted by 5391550145783620510 on Jan 08, 2014
will definately order again
Posted by 4626144540925006856 on Nov 11, 2013
Did not taste well and were nasty consistency.
Better than Nutri...
Posted by myiherb on Sep 20, 2013
A little more flakey and better for you.


text:
|Miriam Lord, The Best of Miriam Lord
|Miriam Lord
|Miriam Lord is a colour writer and columnist with The irish Times.
|Roisin Ingle, Róisín Ingle
|Roisin Ingle
|Roisin Ingle is a journalist for The Irish Times contributing features, news, colour and a weekly column in the Saturday magazine
|Ross, Rock, Ross o carroll kelly, ross o'carroll kelly, ross o carroll, ross o'carroll
|Ross O'Carroll Kelly
|Ross O'Carroll Kelly is a satirical finctional Irish character, a wealthy Dublin 4 rugby union jock created by journalist Paul Howard.
|Conor Pope
|Conor Pope
|Conor Pope is The Irish Times Consumer Affairs Correspondent and edits the Pricewatch Column.
|Fintan O'Toole, fintan otoole, fintan o'toole,25 years of Irish Life through the columns of Fintan O'Toole
|Fintan O'Toole
|Fintan O'Toole is literary editor of The Irish Times and has been an op-ed columnist since 1988.
|Michael Harding
|Michael Harding
|Michael Harding is a playwright and novelist.
|Deaths, death notices, family notices, births deaths & marriages, obituaries
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North Cutting Systems, LLC
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|PNEUMATICALLY ACTUATED REDIRECT SURFACE - The present invention is directed to a pneumatically actuated redirection surface guide tool for use in tape laying systems. In the laying of unidirectional, pre-impregnated carbon fiber tapes, for instance, a tape can be directed between a tape supply reel and a tape laying head through use of one or more of the disclosed guide tools. The surface of the guide tool includes small holes that allow for positive and negative air pressure to be applied to the surface to increase or decrease the friction between the tape that is passing over and being redirected by the surface.
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|Harkin Announces Nearly $19M for Housing Assistance Across Iowa
|News Releases - Civic News & Info
|Written by Senator Harkin
|Thursday, 26 February 2009 08:27
Funding from Economic Recovery Package Already Coming to the State.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced today that the Iowa Finance Authority has been awarded $18,978,542 from the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Projects through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These funds were contained in the Economic Stimulus Package that was recently signed into law and were allocated by annual HUD formulas. Harkin is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee that funds housing initiatives.
"I cannot think of a more important need than housing – particularly for low-income Iowans. And for the money to be coming to our state one week after the President signed this bill last proves this recovery package is indeed timely and targeted," said Harkin. "These funds will allow low and moderate income households obtain affordable housing which will spur additional economic opportunities."
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Celestial Solera
900 Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis
The one thing they never tell you about prognosticating and predicting, the one thing, is that you never quite believe it yourself.
Why, I remember way back when youth was upon us all like a blooming dew, when verily we each of us glowed like pop stars in a Jello vat in Ibiza, perhaps in the year 2000 or so, and I first started hearing about Solera. It was then that the twin thoughts rushed upon me: Yea, that it would Change Everything; and on its heels the haunting Oh No It Won't, It Can't.
The thinking behind that first bit was this: The partners behind Solera are Tim McKee and Josh Thoma. McKee is one of the most important chefs in the history of Minneapolis, a man with such a fine palate and such an exactingly high standard for the plates he sends out that D'Amico Cucina, Minneapolis's most expensive restaurant, is still coasting on the laurels he established for it nearly a decade ago, and La Belle Vie, the Stillwater restaurant that was his and Thoma's first project together, was so wonderful that it was like an oak tree in a mown prairie, so out of scale was it to anything else in the landscape.
Then, there was the Spanish thing. Anyone who's been tuned in to the national food press will have noticed that 2003 is turning into The Year We Noticed Spain. (The New York Times even declared a few weeks ago that Spain is the new France!) And yet, McKee has been working in the Spanish idiom for years; La Belle Vie was above all a fine-dining Tim McKee restaurant, but all the accents and curlicues were Spanish, with a bit of Moroccan spice executed with French technique. McKee worked with local importers to bring in the many Iberian ingredients that appeared on many of the most interesting menus of the last five years, in spots as diverse as Auriga or CoCo Cha Cha, and he also direct-imported many Spanish wines.
In fact, when Solera opened last spring, with the biggest by-the-glass sherry program in the country, and the New York Times ran a feature almost simultaneously describing sherry as a "beautiful wine" "exquisitely made," which was also an "unheralded bargain," I could only whistle in admiration while asking, "Are these guys psychic?" This was after I had known for years that McKee wanted to open a tapas spot, and had watched one after another tapas restaurant or tapas-like concept take off and find a foothold with local diners: La Bodega, the Sample Room, more.
And this was after my heart had stilled once or twice as piece of big news after piece of big news drifted across the ether: The Solera folks had successfully poached two of the Twin Cities highest-profile, most irreplaceable restaurant talents, namely Adrienne Odom, the playful and masterful pastry chef who was the one reliable delight in the entire Aquavit mess, and Bill Summerville, the front-of-the-house wine genius from Cucina.
This was after they lost a number of prominent downtown locations, but finally bought the ugly-duckling building that housed the ill-fated Backstage @ Bravo--a space, as they say, with potential: good location, downtown. But bad, too: unattached to the skyway and without parking. But above all, the building beside the Orpheum was Big, allowing for both big ambition and big crowds.
Look, I kept saying, we are going to get a restaurant that is Big in both senses, both important and ambitious, like a La Belle Vie, and popular, like a Buca. It is going to be affordable, it is going to be fun, it is going to be a place to take foodie friends to impress them, and it is going to be a place to meet your dorkiest relatives that they, too, will enjoy.
And yet, the haunting ghost: It Won't, It Can't. The problem will be them, the problem will be us. First, them: They'll never be able to get the prices down into an affordable, mid-level, Buca-competitive range. They'll never be able to make it consistent at that volume. They'll never be able to dumb down enough dishes to provide a sort of accessibility ramp to their high-level cooking.
And then, us: We won't get it. We won't be brave enough to try, we'll mock them from our deep intimidation, and blame them for it. We're going to be in a classic pearls-before-swine situation, except it will be a little more tapas before Ole and Lena. The inevitable dark ending? All of us, banished back to the caves of turkey Alfredo pizza, never allowed to hold our heads high ever again, ever ever ever.
And that's why I went into my first meal at Solera with something very much like dread. Appropriately enough, my first meal there was pretty much dreadful; everything was cold, stale, or terribly wrong. I took to my bed for a month. Later, I deduced that my first visit managed to coincide with a night when every principal player was offsite at a bigwig foodie event, and now, now in the half a dozen times I've been back since then, Solera's food has run the gamut from very good to breathtakingly marvelous, the pricing has remained happily, oh so happily, low, in the forgives-a-lot $30 to $40 a head for the whole kit and kaboodle of wine, dessert, tip, tax, and everything. The service has been cheery. The various dining rooms have charmed me in different ways. I have found the wine list to be truly magical, as it is both very cheap and very ambitious. And basically everything is as good as I could have ever predicted, except for the desserts, which are better than anyone could have dreamed.
Where to begin? Enter the showpiece, stage-set doors of Solera and you'll find a Barcelona-influenced space with a Blade Runner palette: Night blue, amber, and silver are the colors all around you, and what flattering colors they are. The bar and lounge is full of function and hubbub. Sit at the white mosaic tapas bar with the chefs buzzing busily behind it, and you'll run the risk of having enchantingly great food--truly, La Belle Vie-quality food, at budget prices. Sit at the bar-bar, and you can have a cocktail or, for $3.50, a beautiful, tall pilsner glass of Grain Belt amidst the hand-blown glass lamps.
Is this why the place is full till 2:00 a.m. on weekends with the sorts of tramping-up-and-down-the-stairs-in-packs, cleavage and Sun-In girls you never see in other restaurants with sommeliers? Or is it spillover from the movie-set-of-a-rooftop-bar, where, improbably, Solera has been hosting cutting-edge club music DJs every weekend? Tucked behind a Hennepin-facing billboard, the dozen tables are a lovely place to tuck away at sundown with a crisp and chill $15 bottle of Marques de Caceres 2001 rosé and the alternately rich and grassy grilled asparagus tapas ($8.50). Which is a beautiful thing, a good quarter pound of charred spears of asparagus wrapped together like a bouquet of tulips with a few strips of lomo, which is like a very lean ham, the whole of it set in a pool of rich, creamy, lick-the-plate-worthy Mahón cheese sauce. There is another handful of tapas available on the rooftop deck, like the rich and gelatinous pork ribs in a paprika-tomato sauce ($8), a fall-apart-in-the-mouth, European soul food sort of treat that should touch the heart of anyone in need of long-cooked nurturing.
Down in the formal dining rooms, the tables are topped with sculptured silvery table decorations with Picasso-esque heads on them: Pepper shakers, ice buckets, candleholders like little men. At first I was sure that these things would be going in everyone's purses, but management assures me that the servers are personally responsible for the things, and the one time someone pocketed them security confronted the scoundrel and she returned them. So you are warned!
With various banquet rooms for parties, the several dining rooms, the lounge, and the rooftop bar, Solera is just massive enough to have a security staff. Which is nice, because I think otherwise thieves would be running through and heisting plates of the octopus ceviche, which is nearly too marvelous for words. The way they make it is to layer perfectly cooked tentacles in a terrine with a bit of gelatin, then unmold the thing and slice it crosswise. The result looks like a little dollhouse flagstone street, round purple pavers linked each to each invisibly, the whole of it resting on elegant little translucent lime sections, the fruit cut delicately away from its pith. And around the plate is a ring of the tiniest possible square cuts of green and red peppers in a blowzy citrus vinaigrette. Lovely.
Tiny balls of deep-fried goat cheese cloaked in honey and positioned like sculpture around a center haystack of caramelized sweet onions were as delicate as summer berries. The tortilla española ($6.50) is a must-order, a personal-sized eggy tortilla, not unlike a frittata, filled with spicy chorizo and plain good potatoes, the whole of it coated with a ladleful of spicy aioli, like a sugar-iced Bundt cake: The various levels of wholesome farm rustic--sausage, potato, egg--weave together with spice to create something powerful. A reader tipped me off to the tortilla, one of the few budget-lowering dishes, and also insisted I try the spicy, lemony calamari ($9), a fantastic version made with a sour, lemony batter jazzed up with smoked paprika, which turns each piece into something more akin to a squid-lemon fritter than mere calamari. I'm glad I did, because the calamari are truly excellent--and, I predict, destined to sweep every upcoming Mpls. St. Paul magazine food award--but also because it's illuminating to consider these two poles of cephalopod; who could have dreamed that one restaurant could produce both the high-minded to the point of being celestial octopus ceviche, as well as the crowd-friendly and down to earth calamari?
Yet at the tapas bar, everything falls apart. Or the customers do, anyway, confronted with delight after delight. The two times I have been at the tapas bar it was all I could do not to swoon to the ceiling on a cloud of happiness. Especially the Thursday night I went and encouraged the shy, quiet chef to give us anything he thought might be good. We tried tiny little imported chorizos, grilled, served in a thick wine reduction with strips of grilled and seared piquillo peppers (imagine the Little Smokies of The Gods, and you'll get the idea). We tried fresh oysters on the half shell in a variety of just-made sauces. We tried a single scallop grilled and served with a tomato reduction, and another one grilled and served with the simplest bit of lemon and herb oil on the plate, the mollusks each grilled to the perfect char of crisp without, sushi-like within--marvelous.
I tried some other things, too: roast rabbit with two sauces running round the plate, one tomato, one garlic-rosemary. More. Yet, even with that free rein the price per person was only $30 before wine and tip! Sigh.
Which is to say nothing of the desserts: When Adrienne Odom was making desserts at Aquavit they were architectural, thoughtful, accomplished, and a bit chilly. Now at Solera I feel like she has been given opportunity to relax a little and skip the lingonberries, and the results are stunning. A recent torrone ice cream sandwich ($7) is the most charming dessert in memory--two rectangles of soft, rich chocolate cake made into a sandwich around a cream filling studded with baubles of whipped, crisp hazelnut praline. Beside the ice cream sandwich is a little glowing heap of black plum compote, and then off to one side is a tall shot glass filled with a wee little plum-vanilla ice cream soda. Delightful. Never have plums seemed to have such an essential chocolate and cream note in their tart hearts.
The variety of presentations keep dessert surprising, lively, and engaging--no small feat after a long and dazzling dinner. A peach trifle is a parfait glass layered with discs of sherry-soaked yellow cake, poached syrup-glazed peaches, and sherry-touched cream, the whole thing topped with a homemade scoop of peach sorbet and one of those sugar wands that makes dessert look like it meant to get to the modern art museum but ended up with you instead. Plunge a fork into it and you're treated to a dessert where the oaky and fleeting qualities of sherry wander like smoke through a sunny grove of peaches. It seemed like an odd pairing initially, such a formal pastry chef in such a casual thing as a tapas bar, but now it seems like a stroke of genius. Without the formality and heaviness of giant entrées before them, these little plates of invention seem as free and wonderful as Calder mobiles.
So in addition to everything, it's a perfect place after a downtown concert for a glass of sherry and dessert. Of course, the whole sherry thing should be addressed. Frankly, I gave it the old college try a few times, with the fino and manzanilla sherries one is supposed to have as an aperitif, but I must confess I find sherry a little high-octane for drinking with dinner, and while I can see that with enough discipline and attention I could learn to appreciate the stuff, the prospect seems more like a chore than a pleasure. And if a food and wine critic can't muster enthusiasm for the project, it's hard to see how you all would.
Well, if you would, please know it's all right there, 40 glass pours, most priced at around $6, in all the pre-dinner varieties, the finos, manzanillas, and amontillados, as well as the after-dinner sorts, the oloroso and rare-creams and all.
In any event, the sherries are conveniently printed on the back of the marvelous wine list, the praises of which I could sing for a week. For one thing, the all-Spanish list has so many high quality cheapies it makes the head spin, including a dozen bottles under $20, with, finally, cristalino cava at $18 instead of the ever-popular metro-wide insult price of 40 bucks at other restaurants that I've been harping about all year. After you contemplate all the marvelous cheapies, you'll quickly notice that there isn't a bad bottle on the list, and if you know anything about Spanish wine, the list induces the chest-tightening glee that you'll remember from being a child and seeing wrapped birthday presents: I will get some of the magical things of desire, but will I get them all?
Anyhoo, one time I was there in a seafood mood and tried something from the higher ranges, namely the flinty and mushroom-edged Juve Y Camps 1999 Reserva de La Familia cava ($28), which provided a perfect foil for the rich and salty coil of smoked salmon garnished with sea-tasting coins of trout roe ($8.50). Another night I tried the fantastic Torres 1997 Atrium from the Penedès region ($32) which was so dusky, smoky, rich, big, and flat it was like sipping from a Daumier landscape.
The one problem I have with Solera's wine list is this: How is anyone unfamiliar with or intimidated by wine ever, ever, ever going to hope to navigate it? By my last visits I had taken to showing the wine list, divided by Spanish region, to my friends and asking them what they would do with it without me. They looked at me like I had presented them with a pile of lawn mower parts and asked them to make a car. To a one they studied it, decided they had heard of Rioja, and would have gone with one of those. Except, they were almost always looking at the white Riojas, so I can only imagine how this goes. I wonder if they will have to go with a list with a lot more explaining on it.
The thing that makes me fearless ordering here is the simple knowledge that Bill Summerville, the guy who designed it, is about as high-strung a perfectionist as you're going to find on this earth, and he would sooner stick needles under his fingernails than allow someone to accuse him of having a bad wine on his list. And yet, I know that even my telling you this will have little effect, because it's like recommending a car mechanic, you'll only believe he's that good once you've had a few good experiences with him yourself. But I'm telling you, he's that good.
I think the moment that I actually stopped worrying about Solera's ability to succeed and started really enjoying it was one night when I noticed who was at the nearest two tables to me in the back dining room. One table held the youngest looking couple, sharing the cheapest bottle of white Rioja ($16) over those spicy, peppery, lemony calamari and looking for all the world like a Norman Rockwell painting--except set in Barcelona. The other table held a party of eight that looked for all the world like your average after-softball, work-type gathering, everybody drinking light beers and eating salty snacks, concluding the meal with a few of those five-star desserts, one of which had a candle melted onto the plate. I then eavesdropped enough to hear them decide the bill came to $28 each.
I looked around and realized: By golly, this is Them and Us, in happy harmony. If all of Us take a few years and get used to This, to fine-dining quality at chain-dining prices, why--why, you know what? Then I can get to prognosticating and predicting again! Because if this becomes normal, imagine how great things will be in 10 years! Every day will be like heaven and the circus all in one. It could change everything.
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900 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
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