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Travelers may bring small pets along on select trains. For more information on where pets are accepted, the types of pets allowed, pet reservations and fares, approved pet carriers and additional details, review the complete program guidelines.
With the exception of these select trains, Amtrak does not permit pets on trains or Thruway services, in passenger areas of train stations or in checked baggage.
Generally, animals are not allowed on Amtrak. However, service animals are permitted in all areas where passengers are allowed. Service animals are animals that are trained to perform a specific task for the benefit of a person with a disability. Amtrak personnel may ask what task(s) the service animal performs. Carry-on pet guidelines do not pertain to passengers traveling with service animals.
The following types of animals are not permitted:
* If the passenger or agency feels an exception needs to be made for search and rescue dogs or police dogs, contact the Amtrak Police Department for assistance.
You must keep your service animal under control at all times. The animal should always be on a leash, harness or other tether, unless either the handler is unable because of his/her disability to use a harness, leash or other tether, or the use of a harness, leash or other tether would interfere with the service animal's safe, effective performance of work or tasks, in which case the service animal must be otherwise under the handler's control.
Amtrak personnel may require you to remove your service animal en route or from the station premises if:
If you are asked to remove your service animal, but you would like to remain on the premises and/or continue travel without the animal, you must make arrangements for another person or local animal control to accept custody of your animal, and you may be required to continue or begin your Amtrak travel at a later time or on a later date.
A service animal must sit under the passenger's seat or at his or her feet. Service animals are not allowed to sit in the aisle or on seats.
If the train schedule permits, you may walk your service animal at station stops provided that you stay within reasonable proximity to the train and re-board promptly when the conductor notifies you that the train is about to depart. If you plan to walk your animal during the trip, please notify the conductor when you first board the train. Some routes may have limited or no stops for the duration of your trip, so we encourage you to check schedules before you make your travel plans.
Amtrak employees are not responsible for the care or supervision of any passenger's service animal.
It is not possible to make reservations that include service animals on Amtrak.com. Amtrak encourages passengers using service animals call us at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) to make reservations so that we can reserve an accessible seat or space (if desired) and provide you with information regarding intermediate station stops. For TTY service, call 1-800-523-6590. Agents are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

subset: commoncrawl


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Bringing music and movies to life
Fri 30 September 2011 |
Arcam blog |
Back to news list
What happens when a shop full of eager HiFi and music fans spend a day playing with the rCube? Well UK retail group Music Matters has done just that and they really liked it!
If you're in the UK you too can find out just how much fun the rCube is with the rCube free trial promo.
Read about Music Matters experiences.
< Back to listing


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Agree completely. I'm a bit pessimistic about the lifetime politician voting for term limits. We need to clean house.Quote:
I like what I read here, sounds like a lot of us thing alike.
I do have sympathy for those the government shutdown is affecting and agree that it is an unnecessary hardship on those who are doing an honest days work for an honest days pay. Also for any vet or other person who was working hard until circumstances made them unable to do so. I have absolutely NO problem with helping to support anyone unable to support themselves, that has made an effort and had the desire to do so in the past. At the same time I don't believe in a lot of government programs that use our dollars to support those who make no effort to support themselves without them having to serve the country in some fashion.
The battle being fought with the shut-down and debt limit is definitely being made more painful than necessary by members on both sides of the aisle. Fact is that the battle should have been fought long ago before we got to this level of debt and the condition the country is in now. That would have required it be fought by leaders not those just wanting to kick the can further down the road and get re-elected. While I'm on my soapbox I will throw two ideas out before stepping off that I think are vital to the future of the country. Both are simple and make sense I think.
Constitutional amendments for:
Term limits. Career politicians are much of the problem. It does not serve their interest to hash out hard issues or make tough decisions, just stay in office and kick the can. Take a lifetime of politics and the backscratching needed to get re-elected off the table and it simplifies the process of making the right decision for the country. Even being on local boards you see people come in with fresh ideas and re-vitalize the board. I saw it myself when a new member came in during the last year of my term and we pulled off an event I'd never of dreamed of. I was burned out and beat down, his fresh perspective improved things. Everyone has a limited amount of fresh ideas to contribute, put them out there and vote then get out of the way of progress. 8yrs is plenty for everyone in office this country was founded on people who had real world experience not lifetime politicians.
Balanced budget. Borrowing more than we take in is stupid and unsustainable in the long run. The first idea I threw out would help take care of this problem I think, less promises of finances or results to get re-elected. Our debt is excessive as it is, and not being able to even balance the budget let alone repay any of it is stupid and the rest of the world sees us acting this way. It helps nobody, we waste plenty of money that could be re-allocated where it is needed.
Heard the guy that had been run off for mowing the grass at memorials without permission on the news tonight. He had an awesome quote that I will screw up here, but the gist of it was that politicians in DC need to have their limos stay home and be picked up on a bunch of short yellow buses. Pretty good idea.


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Jerry L. Draayer
Jerry L. Draayer, 55, of Le Mars, Iowa passed away on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at the Abbey of Le Mars. Memorial services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Hawarden, Iowa. Graveside services will be 9:30 a.m. Friday in Grace Hill Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Mauer-Johnson Funeral Home in Le Mars. Stories, memories and expressions of sympathy may be directed through www.mauerjohnsonfh.com
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San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Angel Pagan drove in the winning run in
the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants rallied for a 9-6 win over the
Colorado Rockies in the second game of a three-game set.
Brandon Crawford hit a three-run home run and scored twice while Hunter Pence
drove in a pair of runs for the Giants, who have taken the first two games of
this series.
Tim Lincecum was tagged for six runs on four hits with four walks and seven
strikeouts over six innings of work. Santiago Casilla (1-0) pitched a perfect
eighth for the win.
Dexter Fowler and Josh Rutledge each drove in a pair of runs while Troy
Tulowitzki hit a solo homer for the Rockies, who had won five straight
coming into the series.
Juan Nicasio pitched five-plus innings and was charged with four runs on five
hits along with five walks and two strikeouts. Matt Belisle (0-1) gave up two
runs on three hits over 1 2/3 innings to take the loss.
The Sports Network


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Summer camps: art
Published: Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 1:05 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 1:05 p.m.
Appleton Museum of Art: Two camps for ages 4-6 run 10 a.m. to noon June 24-28 and July 15-19. The cost is $75 for Appleton members, $90 for non-members, per week. Six Summer Art camps for ages 7 to 12 from 9 a.m. to noon June 17-21, July 8-12, July 29-Aug. 2 and Aug. 5-9, or 1 to 4 p.m. June 24-28 and July 15-19 at the Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Fee is $95 per child for members, $110 for non-members, per week. (291-4455 or www.AppletonMuseum.org)
Brick City Center for The Arts: Summer art camp on color, techniques and more runs 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays June 11-Aug. 2, at 23 SW Broadway St., Ocala. $25 per day or $80 for four days. (867-9660)
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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May 24, 2016
Leon County Schools Release
Leon County Schools is excited to announce the five finalists for the 2012-2013 Teacher of the Year.
The five finalists are:
The finalists were selected by a committee of teachers, administrators, parents and community representatives from among 42 candidates.
The committee selected the finalists based on their reviews of 'blind applications' (no names or schools on them) from each respective LCS school level Teacher of the Year.
The next step for the finalists will be an interview process with the selection committee next week.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or email@example.com.


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Relationship 911 happens every morning at 7:50am. No issue is too small, no issue is too big. Send us your problems and we'll put it out to the masses! Problem at work? Problem at home? Don't know how to work it all out?
Email Chuck and Woo Woo your "Relationship 911" and we'll read a new one every weekday morning at 7:50am!
DO NOT USE MY NAME! Pleeeeease. I need help. My boss sent me a pic text of his privates. I don't think the picture was meant to be sent to me. I have a great job – very professional – but now I turn red everytime I see him. Do I need to approach him to clear the air? Its awkward to go to work & I dont know what to do.


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Since the beginning of time, doors have symbolized both great opportunities and thwarted dreams. The open door is a metaphor for new life, a passage from one stage of life to another, and metamorphosis. Closed doors represent rejection and exclusion.
The Door
Too little
has been said
Of the door, its one
Face turned to the night's
Downpour and its other
To the shift and glisten of firelight.
For doors
Are both frame and monument
To our spent time,
And too little
Has been said
Of our coming through and leaving by them.
– Charles Tomlinson
Mingun Pagoda, near Mandalay, Burma/Myanmar
The door swings open:
– Margaret Atwood
A door just opened on a street–
I, lost, was passing by–
An instant's width of warmth disclosed
And wealth, and company.
The door as sudden shut, and I,
I, lost, was passing by,–
Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
Enlightening misery.
– Emily Dickinson
The opening a wonderfully joyous moment.


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Out of Stock
Item # SRM0398
Don't worry though, we have a lot more Road Front Derailleurs in stock than that.View Similar Products
SRAM Red Yaw Front Derailleur with Chain Spotter $0.00
It was the drop heard 'round the world. Who could forget the infamous chain drop during stage 15 of the 2010 Tour de France? Andy Schleck dropped his SRAM Red chain as he attacked Alberto Contador on the climb of the Port de Bales, and witnessed his Tour hopes ride away while frantically struggling at the side of the road to get his chain back on the ring. Fans watched as the young Luxembourger wrestled with his chain, and SRAM feverishly took notes. It mattered little, regardless of whether or not it was the fault of their Red derailleur or chain. It simply couldn't happen again. So in the aftermath of the tour, SRAM engineers reimagined and redesigned an optimal solution to ensure a mechanical would never again dictate the fate of one of its sponsored riders—or you. From the ashes of Andy's disappointing tour defeat rises the vastly improved SRAM Red Front Derailleur with Yaw Technology, and its included Chain Spotter.
What exactly is SRAM's Yaw technology, and how does it apply to their new Red Front Derailleur? Borrowing from the principles of an aircraft's rotational movements across a single axis, yaw dictates fore and aft lateral movement, pitch is the opposing vertical movement, and roll is the definitive vertical lean, from one side of the axis to the other. Rather than simply moving back and forth across the singular plane like that of a conventional derailleur, the new Red Derailleur is designed to rotate—like an airplane—along its axis in conjunction with your shifts, preserving an optimal angular alignment with the chain at all times, no matter your gear combination. Because of this, the new SRAM Red Derailleur has done away with the concept of front derailleur trim. This is a revolutionary new design that actively maintains perfect chain alignment while still providing the crisp and punchy actuation that SRAM riders have grown accustomed to.
In the past SRAM saw some of its sponsored riders using the heavier Force Front Derailleur with its stiffer and slightly heavier steel cage that inspired better front shifting confidence under load. So for the new Red, SRAM has maintained that hybrid aluminum cage to preserve the gruppo's weight savings, but has added steel to the alloy blend to provide stiffer, more confident shifts. And as an added precaution, the included Chain Spotter can be elegantly mounted to the derailleur body without any detriment to weight or shifting precision, but the derailleur will function normally without it. Just ask Andy -- a chain keeper is the quintessential illustration of the old adage, 'better to have one and not need it, than need one and not have it.' It adjusts independently of the derailleur, so you'll only know it's there when summoned by a rough patch of road, a possible errant shift, or a completely unfortunate stroke of misfortune at the hands of cycling's powers-that-be.
The SRAM Red Yaw Front Derailleur gets a slight cosmetic upgrade in some new laser-etched graphics and installation markers, and is available a brushed, gunmetal finish. Please bear in mind that due to the redesigned pivots and change in cable pull, this derailleur is not compatible with previous generation SRAM Red Shifters. It is optimized for use with SRAM X Glide R Chainrings. It is available in a clamp size of 31.8mm or 34.9mm, or in a braze-on style.
View more Road Front Derailleurs
Reviews & Community
Is the SRAM Red Yaw Front Derailleur...
Is the SRAM Red Yaw Front Derailleur (10-speed) compatible with the previous crankset, chain and chainrings?
Greetings! Yes, this is compatible with SRAM Red 10-speed, chain and chainrings :) Works waaaay better than the previous version. A little tricky to set-up, but follow the SRAM directions and you should be good to go :)


text: I used all my preference points and drew it finally but I have never been there or know anybody who has! any advice would be greatly appreciated considering I haven't been able to draw 1 tag, in any states, for 4 years now and this hunt I have to make count! I will be spending the entire archery season there so about 3 weeks unless I tag out early! Its about a 10 hour drive for me and I will be making one, 4 day scouting trip before the season starts! Any info would be awesome and greatly appreciated!


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Quotes from Mothers
Childbirth Connection's landmark national Listening to Mothers surveys focus on those who care most about maternity issues: mothers themselves. The surveys cover the time from planning pregnancy through the postpartum period, and shed light on women's attitudes, beliefs, preferences and knowledge, as well as family and employment life and the maternity care that mothers and babies receive. Thousands of mothers who participated in our surveys were invited to provide detailed comments to open-ended questions about their best and worst experiences while giving birth and anything else they wanted to tell us about their maternity experience. A remarkable number of mothers shared vivid and moving stories, observations, and opinions that bring their experiences to life. These selected quotes presented by topic suggest the broad range of women's experiences and convey the true, strong emotion behind our survey results.
Please note: the quotations on this page reproduce the women's exact words, though we have in some cases corrected spelling and punctuation.
Maternity Caregivers
More About Caregivers
|It was a wonderful experience. It was not at all as painful and dramatic as they show on TV during Maternity Ward or things like that.... I did not do all that screaming. It's about control and being calm.
|After watching several maternity programs, I am very pleased with the delivery options at my little hospital. The staff there reads and follows the birth plan, unless there is a medical reason to override, and then the reasons are fully explained. Pain medication is not pushed, rooming-in is not only allowed but encouraged, they let you have as long as you want after delivery to bond before taking measurements, fully support breastfeeding, the list can go on.
|The best thing about my experience was my midwife always telling me what was going on and being there as support for me, and my husband being the best coach and support system for me. The nurses were all helpful answering any questions I ever had and never made me feel stupid for any stupid questions I might of asked.
|Aside from meeting the baby ... the best thing about my delivery was the care I received from my doctor. She was really focused on me and my comfort. She stayed with me the entire delivery and personally saw to my care. For example, she rubbed my back and helped me become as comfortable as possible in the whirlpool tub.... I knew that she would be the one to deliver my baby because she said she would come in even though it was her vacation.... During my past deliveries the doctor 'called the shots' by telephoning and arriving just in time to catch the baby. It really wasn't a personal relationship.
|The midwife and nurses that assisted with the birth were excellent in keeping me calm and comfortable.
|I believe if I'd had someone there to encourage me I could have had a non-medicated birth, which is what I had planned for throughout the pregnancy.
|I had a lot of pressure from the nursing staff to take Pitocin and to have an epidural. I felt like the birth experience was severely impacted by this pressure, as if the most important thing to the nurses was for me to have the baby quickly. My doctor is a big fan of induction, which is not my cup of tea. I had an induction with my first child and wanted desperately to avoid one this last time. Luckily I was able to.
|I think that my induction and delivery went very well. I have no complaints.
|I wanted to have a more natural birth, but the induction took longer than we planned. I was tired and we started the epidural along with the Pitocin.
|The worst thing was when they had to give me Pitocin. It gave me really strong contractions and they didn't let up until I pushed the baby out.
|I was ... impressed with just how much pain I could tolerate and I found myself to be a stronger woman than I thought.
|I had a great epidural, so I didn't feel ANY pain. The doctor was willing to incorporate some of my ideas during the delivery. ...I was also allowed to pull my baby the rest of the way out and lay her on my chest. That was a great experience.
|The doctor that administered my epidural only gave me Lidocaine through the tube because of my rapid labor and she wanted me to have the ability to push. I never had a problem before that, and thinking back on it, I should have been more aggressive as to my pain management options since that did little to relieve my pain.
|Taking a labor class is a good idea, even if you do plan on taking some type of pain killers, because women need to know all their options.
|If I would have been given more info on other methods and these methods were stressed as much as epidural, I would NOT have had an epidural.
|I was able to give birth naturally with no medical assistance. I didn't have an IV, medication, or any assistance. I was able to do it myself!
|It gave me a sense of pride and built my self-esteem to be able to say that I gave birth to my daughter.
|I was amazed and overwhelmed at the same time, at the fact that the human body was capable of such a glorious feat.
|I have delivered all naturally with both of my children and it was a wonderful experience. I felt in control and felt strong and felt that a natural childbirth was best for me and my baby.
|I was forced to have a c-section because of a prior c-section (1st baby was breech). Hospital did not allow VBACs.... The closest hospital willing to do a VBAC is 2 hours away.
|This second one was especially easier because it was a planned cesarean.... No stress, no worries about when labor would start, just go in looking and feeling beautiful and have a baby.
|I would've...preferred if the doctor would've waited a little longer for me, to have a natural childbirth instead of...being rushed into the c-section. The recovery of the cesarean was way too painful.
|I feel that I was railroaded into labor, pain medication and subsequently a cesarean section. The baby then had to be protected by my husband from a spinal tap immediately after birth. I did not get to hold my baby for hours after birth. It was not enjoyable only interfered with by health care workers.
|C-sections HURT. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
|I had an easier time with this labor. Since my previous pregnancy ended in C-section birth, I was pleased with the fact that I successfully attempted a VBAC, resulting in a much more pleasant birth and postpartum.
|I changed OBGYN's at 32 weeks because my first one was unsupportive of me having a VBAC.
|The worst thing was being given an episiotomy. I wasn't told or given a choice, but I think that was because I either wasn't pushing hard enough or the baby was too big. Also, I didn't like the fact that after they had to give me the catheter.
|I always hated that I had to be attached to machines the entire time and I was not allowed to walk around.
|My first was borderline on being big and they wanted to do a c-section, but I refused. With my second they made me do a c-section whether I wanted to or not. They said that the baby was too big and that no doctor in California would deliver natural, so I did a c-section.
|My first delivery I had a nurse yelling at me that I had to push, and this time around...it was the same scenario. A nurse that had not been in my room the whole time was there, yelling at me, telling me that I had to push.
|I really wanted to walk around as I had with my first child's labor, but I wasn't allowed to. And I would have labored in a different position if I had been allowed to. I also would have loved a water birth, but my doctors and my insurance will not provide for one.
|You can't possibly make the best decisions for yourself if you don't have every scrap of information available.
|Nobody explained to me why I [could not] eat or drink while I was in labor. I did not eat for 15 hours and was so weak while pushing during the delivery. I think it's the right of the patient to have information as to what's going on and not wait for what's going to happen. Patients should not ask -- they should be fed with facts and explanations on everything [the caregivers] are doing, especially if it's a first time mother.
|My goal, this time, was to not get pressure about doing anything against my wishes because my first birth was a genuine nightmare with unnecessary induction, tons of drugs and medical students watching me push! I stayed home most of the labor to make sure I wouldn't get any of that. And I didn't, everything was perfect. It's all in choosing the right doctor first.
|[The nurses] fed [my baby] formula without ever consulting me about what the feeding plan was. I would have of course wanted them to feed her if necessary but I should...have been consulted.
|I had to switch OB's because the one I had was going out of business because of the price of malpractice insurance. He could no longer afford to deliver babies, which he loved and was good at... I think this is happening all over, and I think something should be done.
|I really appreciated being given the chance to avoid a c-section the second time. I think it is a terrible shame that so many doctors won't even give VBAC as an option because of all of the malpractice suits.
|I was lucky to have had a good experience. I think the ob/gyn docs have a very hard career and the malpractice issue makes it much harder.
|THAT was awesome. To this day, I can recall that moment and that wonderful feeling of holding her right away. I got to have the bonding time needed with the baby.
|The worst thing was being separated from my baby for more than 5 hours. The first reason was that because she was a large baby her blood sugar needed to be stabilized. Then it was excuse after excuse with things that could've either waited or been done in my room. I told them I did not want my baby given a bottle, but they did it anyway. Since I had a cesarean section, I was unable to go to my baby in the nursery. I still get emotional when I think about it.
|The best thing was being able to breastfeed my baby as soon as I was taken to the recovery room.
|The hospital staff was very supportive and helpful in learning how to nurse my child.
|And to top it off I had some nurse trying to pressure and scare me into giving my baby formula when I expressed that I was going to breastfeed only. She would say things like she's not getting enough to eat and if she doesn't gain any weight by the time you're discharged, we're going to keep her here for failure to thrive.
|I did not have any preparation or classes in breastfeeding and was completely ignorant and overwhelmed when it came time for me to try.
|C-section was a long painful experience to recover from after birth. I was sore and couldn't walk [very well] for a good week.
|I would much rather have the day of labor pain than the weeks of recovering from major surgery with a newborn to take care of. With my first daughter I labored for 21 hours of back labor and looking back that was a piece of cake compared to recovering from surgery.
|Having the episiotomy [was the worst thing about my birth experience]. It really made healing a lot more difficult.
|I think more young women, and women in general who are pregnant, should be made aware of what emotions will come upon you after you deliver, and that it's something a lot of women go through - the Baby Blues. Nobody told me about this with my first child until after the fact. I think we really need to touch base with all...mommies to see how they are feeling mentally. Mothering is an overwhelming job, especially if you're in it alone [or if your husband works all day and you are on your own].
|I have the most beautiful little boy on earth, but it shocks me how depressed I still am 11 months later.
|Having suffered post-partum depression with my first child, I knew what to look for with my second child, but still felt a bit 'outside the box'. PPD is still a disease that is very much neglected, swept under the rug, etc. Everyone expects you to be deliriously happy, and while you are happy at times, the PPD is overwhelming and you often feel very alone in your suffering. A support group through the hospital would be an excellent resource.
|Besides meeting our newest member of our family the best thing about my child's birth was the closeness that it brought my and my husbands marriage. This was to be our last child and now our family is complete. We have four children. It was sad in a way knowing that this would be the last time I experienced the miracle that is pregnancy and having a newborn but it also made it very special because I tried to enjoy and remember every moment.
|I just had sooo many medical bills afterward. With my previous pregnancies I had a different insurance and it paid more maternity benefits. This time my husband and I paid our OB/Gyn every month and still owed them a lot of money afterwards. Also we owed labs and had several different charges/bills that could not be combined from the hospital. ...Now every month I am making payments to 14 different bills.
|I don't think society and the medical field are in sync with one another. Our country does not provide enough money or time off for working parents to care for their babies once they are born, and we are not given enough time in the hospital. I was very fortunate in that I had a very easy and problem free pregnancy and labor/delivery, however I do not think we are given enough time to heal emotionally and physically after birth.
|I find it unfortunate in the US the lack of support for new mothers, especially working mothers. I have chosen to breastfeed based on the benefits for my child, however while at work, I must pump in a janitor closet. When I brought this up before I returned to work, the HR representative did not see this as a problem. I believe companies should provide clean, comfortable places for women who choose to breastfeed.
|Children are our future, and mothers have to go back to work because they can't afford not to most of the time...I think the government should give us an option to be paid 80% of our pre-baby salary to stay home with our kids for at least a year.
|The biggest concern since I gave birth is how VERY far behind the U.S. is with providing paid maternity leave, and the length of maternity leave compared to its counterparts (i.e., Europe, Canada, etc.).
|[The best part of giving birth is] the pride I have in myself for accomplishing such a huge thing. I know women do it everyday and it really isn't that big of a deal to a lot of people, but every woman is terrified the first time and wonders 'Can I do it?' Then when you actually do it, you feel so proud and capable of accomplishing anything - painful or not.
|It was both easier and harder than I expected. I knew I would be tired and unsure of myself and scared, but I also didn't know just how much I would love my little girl and how much joy she gives me.
|After my first delivery, I was very upset because I had had to have the cesarean and at that time no one was allowed in OR for delivery. I felt like a failure because I was unable to deliver my baby and I also felt I cheated my husband and mom of seeing their first born child and grandchild's birth.
|Childbirth is a trial by fire. It is most physically and emotionally intense and challenging thing I have ever been through in my life. Getting through it made me feel like superwoman, like, wow, if I can get through that, I CAN DO ANYTHING!!
|I am just a new person from it all. And I've never had such happiness or love in my heart.
|Motherhood is the most wonderful, frustrating, gratifying, maddening thing I've ever done in my life.
|All of these quotes are taken from open-ended questions from our national Listening to Mothers
surveys. To learn more about women's childbearing experiences in the
United States for 2005, including the rates of specific interventions,
pressure in hospitals, and level of awareness of risks, visit our
Listening to Mothers section and download the free Executive Summary to
get an idea of the contents of the full report.
Go to Listening to Mothers
|Read our 2020 Vision, Blueprint for Action, blog and more
|Sign up for email updates
|Find us on Facebook
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|Support us


text:
Good Morning,
I've got a ZCS ver. 6.0.1 with Zimbra Desktop Clients 2.0.1 build 10659. All in Italian language.
I would know if there is any way to change the Read Receipt default message on server, for all mail accounts.
I would do this because here in Italy when some people receive and read "Read Receipts" messages , they understand that them messages were not sent to the e-mail recipient address, even if,in the real world, messages say another thing.
Thanks to all.
Luca Giacomazzi


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Goodguys Indy 2003Written by Brian Brennan on October 24, 2003 Contributors: Jason Walker
You'd be hard pressed to go to any event in the Midwest and not be "greeted" by some rain. But this year the Goodguys/K&N Filters 15th Hot Rod Nationals held at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) in Indianapolis, Indiana, was one for the books. The heavens opened up on both Friday and Saturday but managed to spare the crowd a bit on Sunday. Even rain showers couldn't diminish the turnout of many new street rods, custom rods, and classic trucks that were all worth weathering the storm for--literally!
Having continually offered 400-plus race cars and almost 5,000 pre-'65 streetable iron, Goodguys Indy has earned the reputation as the summer's debutant ball for cars. (If you don't believe us call a rod builder two weeks before Indy and ask what is he doing and how many hours a day is he working?) This year's Grand Marshall was Shirley Muldowney, the three-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion (1977, 1980, and 1982), who was there to sign autographs. Oh yes, she was also the first person to win Top Fuel World Championship more than once. Additionally, there were over 200 exhibitor booths showing off the latest in "wish list" parts that every rodder would love to have. To this formal display of rodding ware were literally hundreds of swap spaces that held everything from toys to complete cars. Oh yes, there was also a "For Sale" area where dozens upon dozens of cars were up for grabs to the one who could make the deal. For those who like to take home "iron," there was the usual assortment numbering 75 different awards given out by the Goodguys. To this there was the Boyd Coddington Pro's Pick, the PPG Paint Pick, the K&N Performance Pick;,The Truckville Pick sponsored by Dodge, the Magnum Axle Real Hot Rod award, and three U.S. Radiator awards.
There were many new rods debuted at Indy. Starting with Sam Mangarino's '37 Ford cabriolet, which was built by Lobeck's V-8 Shop in Cleveland, Ohio, from an original drawing by Thom Taylor. This car made the Great 8 at this year's Detroit AutoRama while in competition for the Ridler award. Another topflight rod was the '37 Chevy phaeton of Jim Hoffman from Canfield, Ohio, who had builder Alan Johnson's Hot Rods in Gadsten, Alabama, build his phantom. Based on a two-door sedan the top was chopped 1 5/8 inches while the windshield was laid back 4 degrees. More mods included headlights that were lowered 2 inches and '37 Ford taillights. The car also features a custom hood and a grille by Jim Wrench. Another notable hot rod was the Deuce highboy five-window belonging to car aficionado George Poteet of Memphis, Tennessee, from the confines of FastLane Rod Shop in Donahue, Iowa. What may be the subtlest but most significant modification to this rod is the use of Brookville roadster quarter-panels in place of the stock coupe panels. Once you realize the difference you appreciate the enhanced appearance. The car also features a '40 Ford dash and column, Tremec five-speed, Winters "banjo"-style rearend, and drilled aluminum Pete & Jake's I-beam axle. It's all powered by a Ford Racing Performance Parts 351 crate engine dressed with '50s-era Thunderbird valve covers. From the nostalgia camp was the '34 Ford pickup belonging to Paul Brewer of Hamilton, Ohio. While featuring a Deuce passenger car grille the sheetmetal work also includes a 5-inch top chop, a 6-inch channel, '50 Pontiac taillights, bobbed front fenders, and an old-fashion I-beam axle and Buick brake drums in front. And last, but not least, pushing the styling envelope is Johnny Freund of Nashville, Tennessee, with his Dupont yellow '33 Ford Vicky built at Alloway's Hot Rod Shop in Louisville, Tennessee. This Rat's Glass body is a fresh approach to the always-likeable '33-34 Ford Vicky body. To finish off the statement the Alloway chassis features full independent suspension with a Heidt's in front and a Winters wiggly quick-change in back. Inside is the obligatory Paul Atkins Custom Auto Interiors but this time Ostrich hides are used to cover the seating. Other interior goodies include the use of Classic Instruments and Lokar pedals and shifter. Power comes from an LS6 matched to a 700-R4 while the wheels are Billet Specialties wrapped with the latest BFG g-Force KDW rubber measuring 215R35/18 in front and 295R45/22 in back. (Look for more on this car and Bobby Alloway's personal Vicky built in a more traditional style in an upcoming issue of SRM.)
More Photos From This Article View Slideshow
This '34 lowboy is as cool as it gets (check out the six-banger). It perfectly set the tone for the entire weekend, which, by the looks of it, turned out to be more fun for some than others, as shown here in the form of a new-style mud-based filler primer.Even with all the rain, there were a few minutes of dry time to slip some quarter-mile action in. Saturday was the driest day for the races, and believe us, the track officials were on the ball, running cars almost non-stop all day.It looks like Shirley Muldowney drew as much of a crowd for her autographs as the drags. Mmm, wonder why...Walking through the manufactures row, or rows, many, many rows, we ran into one of our favorites. SurfRods out of Estes Park, CO, not only deals in the coolest vintage surfboards, but under that white tent they actually have one of the largest selections of Hawaiian and Hot Rod print shirts around. Hey, they're good people too.Cute as a bug, and by the looks of the quad-topped Olds Rocket, plenty of get-up-and-go too. This sectioned model A has to be a bodyman's dream as there looks to be more glass than body.We could see this beautiful '37 Chevy from halfway across the event. Further inspection revealed a truly well-built LT1-powered street rod with a perfect stance and flawless body and paintwork from Colona, IL.Screaming deal number one: Check out this too cool '29 roadster for $11K or trade, from Kansas City, MO. Could anyone even build a '29 like this for that kind of money?Screaming deal number two: We're sure you don't run across too many rust-free '36 anythings back in these neck of the woods, but we found this beautifully-kept low-mileage '36 Chevy coupe marked, "No Rust Ever," for around $10K. Not bad for a turnkey original as clean as this.


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Apart from designing for the Vaillancourt Folk Art annual catalog, several organizations and companies commission their own custom pieces. Although the custom pieces are available only to the company who commissioned the work, often the exclusivity is only for a year. Once this custom work timeline has expired, the pieces may become available directly through Vaillancourt Folk Art. Below are the pieces that were completed for .
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Good morning. My name is Eric Rassbach. I am an attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty here in Washington, DC. The Becket Fund is an international, interfaith, public interest law firm that is dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions, both here in the United States and abroad.
I'd like to thank the Commission and Chairman Smith for inviting me to appear before you today. I'd also like to thank the Commission for drawing attention to the very timely subject of Religious Freedom in the Caucasus. This topic is, as I hope will become apparent, one of singular importance to the peoples of the Caucasus and the United States.
I've been asked to describe to you the state of religious freedom in Azerbaijan. Let me illustrate by an example. A congregation of moderate Shia Muslims is meeting one morning for worship. They have been told that for them to meet together is illegal under the laws of the State, because they have not agreed to become part of the State muftiate – they want to remain independent. The State has ordered them to leave the ancient mosque they rescued from its Soviet fate as a carpet museum, and has threatened violence in removing them. The mosque's leader, a charismatic young imam who is a well-known speaker at human rights conferences across Europe, has publicly committed the congregation to non-violent resistance. If the police come, he says, "We will meet them with flowers."
As it happens, there is not enough time to hand any flowers to the police. They burst in during the morning prayer and immediately begin to beat the mosquegoers. The young imam remains in prayer position on the floor, not returning the blows, while exhorting the congregation not to fight back. Eventually all of the mosquegoers are dragged out of the mosque.
In the subsequent crackdown, religious believers are arrested when they attempt to visit the mosque, or in their own homes. The State first attempts to impose a new imam not chosen by the mosque congregation. When the state authorities realize that only the imposed imam's bodyguards will pray with him, they give up – the mosque is closed "for repairs."
This is the story of the Juma Mosque congregation and its imam, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu Allahverdiev, whom The Becket Fund is privileged to represent in their lawsuit against Azerbaijan in the European Court of Human Rights. Unfortunately this story is an all-too-common one in Azerbaijan today, and that is why this story and the other stories of religious oppression in Azerbaijan must be heard.
Thus I think the best way to characterize the state of religious freedom in Azerbaijan is: bad, and getting worse quickly. On an almost daily basis, there are new violations of the most basic elements of religious freedom – mosques and churches shut down, believers beaten, those who resist state-imposed religious conformity jailed. If it remains on its current path, the government of Azerbaijan will have eliminated religious freedom entirely within a few years.
But this need not be. With some pressure from the international community – and specifically from the United States government – I think it is very likely that many of the most egregious intrusions into the realm of religious freedom could be avoided. Azerbaijan is sensitive to how it is perceived by the outside world, both because it is dependent on countries like the United States for defense and for diplomatic leverage against larger neighbors like Russia and Iran, and because it values its role in international institutions like the Council of Europe, which many Azeris see as a stepping stone to eventual membership in the European Union.
However, the leaders of Azerbaijan will not change course and begin treating religious freedom as a fundamental human right, unless other countries and international organizations make clear that they support religious freedom as a matter of the utmost importance. This is because the experience, ideology, and political interests of these leaders all tell them that the only way to deal with religious people and religious beliefs is to suppress them.
As in many post-Communist countries, Azerbaijan's leaders are not quite sure what to do with religion. As secularists who shared in power under the old, officially atheistic regime, these leaders understand religion as the "opiate of the masses" – a dangerous and destabilizing ideology of ultimately irrational thought that must be controlled by the state. And in keeping with this idea of faith-as-narcotic, they attempt to suppress believers – religious addicts, if you will – the only way they know how: top-down command and control.
What is happening in Azerbaijan today should thus be viewed as the resurrection of the worst methods of the Soviet Union's suppression of religious belief. The Soviets used three primary methods in Azerbaijan. First, most houses of worship and other religious institutions were demolished or closed. During the Soviet period in Azerbaijan, only 16 of the 2000 pre-Soviet mosques remained open. The Cathedral Mosque of Baku, the Juma Mosque, was turned into a carpet museum, while most other mosques were torn down. All 800 religious schools were closed. Many churches were also shut down.
Second, those religious institutions that were allowed to survive were forced to become zombie mosques and churches – alive but deadened by the close supervision of a state-controlled religious umbrella organization. During the Soviet period, all Muslims in Azerbaijan, both Shia and Sunni, were placed under the control of the Spiritual Board of Transcaucasia, founded in 1944 by Stalin. This Board controlled everything that went on in the few mosques that remained open. The Russian Orthodox Church was, as is well known, also placed under the complete control of the State.
Third, the Soviets suppressed all public manifestations of religious belief and other forms of religious expression, including the printing of religious texts, and especially proselytization. Any non-official religious activity resulted in jail time or worse. The Azerbaijan government is now resorting to all three Soviet methods – closure, a state-controlled religious hierarchy, and suppression of all "unofficial" religious expression – mainly because it thinks that countries like the United States won't notice or what's worse, won't care.
The most notorious example of the neo-Stalinist approach to religion in Azerbaijan is the government's campaign against the Juma Mosque. The Juma Mosque, built in the 15th century, is one of the few ancient Azeri mosques that Stalin did not tear down. But as I mentioned, the authorities did turn the Juma Mosque into a carpet museum. In 1991, after Azerbaijan had gained its independence from the Soviet Union, then-President Elchibey decreed that all former mosques should be restored to their original, religious functions. A group of Muslim believers began worshipping in the Juma Mosque at that time and registered themselves as a "religious organization" under the law, once with the Baku city government, and once with the Ministry of Justice. Then, for 12 years, the members of the Juma Mosque congregation were allowed to worship in peace.
That peace was broken last year. In October, presidential elections were held that most international observers said were clearly rigged to elect Ilham Aliyev, the son of the former president (and former Soviet Politburo member) Heidar Aliyev. After the elections, there was rioting in Baku because of the perceived injustice of the election. The state authorities seized upon this opportunity to round up everyone they thought might be a political rival to the state. Among their targets was Imam Allahverdiev, who though able to take refuge in the Norwegian Embassy during the immediate post-election roundup, was eventually arrested in December and held without charges in Baku's notorious Bayil prison.
The Imam languished in prison for several months and then, in a trial convened with almost no notice, was convicted of inciting a riot, on the basis of obviously conflicting (and probably coerced) testimony. The five year sentence imposed by the court was, however, immediately suspended due to international pressure, including observers from the American and Norwegian embassies who were present at the trial. This sentence is now on appeal in the Azerbaijani courts. If, as I think is likely, the domestic courts do not overturn the conviction, we will almost certainly bring an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
While the campaign against Imam Allahverdiev was going on, the state authorities mounted a parallel attack on the Juma Mosque congregation itself. The Baku city government claimed that because the Juma Mosque congregation was not registered with the Caucasus Muslims Board – the direct successor to Stalin's Spiritual Board of Transcaucasia – it had no right to operate as a religious organization within the Juma Mosque. A government agency moved a Baku district court to evict the Mosque, and the court complied. This decision was upheld by the Appeals Court of Azerbaijan, and is currently on appeal to the Supreme Court.
The authorities waited for several months after receiving the eviction order to carry it out. Finally, on June 30, acting on the basis of this unlawful eviction order, the police raided the mosque. As the story I related earlier shows, the authorities used all three of the Soviet methods to suppress the Juma Mosque congregation: the mosque has now been closed; the congregation has been relegated to illegal, homeless, status because it refuses to become part of the State muftiate; and the mosque's believers have been jailed for expressing their support for the imam they chose.
Other religious groups have been the victims of Soviet methods as well. In May of this year, two Seventh-Day Adventist pastors were fined for "illegal preaching" in the cities of Gyanja and Sumgayit. Pastor Khalid Babaev, the pastor fined by the Sumgayit police, had previously been driven out of Nakhichevan province because the police refused to investigate death threats made against the pastor. In addition, Adventist congregations have been denied state registration, making all of their religious activities, according to the authorities, illegal.
Perhaps the religious group that has been hit the hardest by the state authorities are the Baptists. Baptist churches are routinely threatened by local police, including "visits" during worship services. Pastors who travel from church to church preaching are often detained by police officers. Only three Baptist congregations have been able to get state registration. In April 2002, the Eternal Love Church, Baku's Azeri-language Baptist congregation, was shut down by the State Committee for Affairs of Religious Organizations (the "SCARO"). The Eternal Love Church's pastor, Sari Mirozyev, was banned from preaching and subjected to a harsh media campaign. In addition, the SCARO prohibited Baptist churches from importing 50,000 Azeri-language New Testaments into Azerbaijan, leaving rural congregations without access to Scripture. Thus the Baptists, like the Adventists and the Juma Mosque congregation, are victims of Azerbaijan's neo-Stalinist disregard for religious liberty.
So what can we, sitting here in Washington, do? I think quite a lot. First, the United States government should unequivocally and publicly condemn the Azerbaijan government's activities directed at suppressing and controlling Muslims, Baptists, and Seventh-Day Adventists. Thus far the United States government has been sending a mixed message to Azerbaijan – concern about the government's campaign against the Juma Mosque, but not condemnation. Unfortunately such subtleties will be lost on the government and the press in Azerbaijan. Only a clear public condemnation of the suppression of religious liberty will result in action by the government of Azerbaijan.
The second thing some of us here in Washington can do is bring individual pressure to bear on the Azerbaijan government. I can assure you that every Member of Congress who brings their concerns about religious liberty in Azerbaijan to the attention of the Azerbaijan government will be taken very seriously. Azerbaijan has sought the help of many in Congress, both in dealing with Azerbaijan's conflict with Armenia, and in obtaining financing for development projects in Azerbaijan. A single letter or visit from a Member could by itself have an immediate impact on the state of religious liberty in Azerbaijan.
The third thing we can do is make the Azerbaijan government aware of the potential effect of the International Religious Freedom Act of 2000, commonly known as "IRFA," on their activities. Azerbaijan's recent activities clearly bring it within the scope of "country of particular concern" designation under IRFA, resulting in the possibility that the United States might impose sanctions on Azerbaijan. Designation as a country of particular concern would have a number of other immediate effects in Azerbaijan: its credit rating would be harmed, our cooperation on its defense issues would likely be endangered, and it would suffer the diplomatic disaster of being grouped with countries like North Korea, Sudan, and Iran. There are compelling reasons for nations to avoid designation as countries of particular concern, and pointing out the risk of CPC designation to the government of Azerbaijan would likely have a significant influence. At the very least, Azerbaijan should be placed on the "watch list" for CPC designation.
Some might argue that to speak out on religious freedom in Azerbaijan would harm the United States' other geopolitical interests in Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan's huge offshore oil and gas reserves, and its strategic position between Russia and Iran and between Turkey and Central Asia. Yet our geopolitical interests will be advanced, not harmed, if there is greater religious liberty in Azerbaijan. It is fundamentally in the geopolitical interests of the United States that a moderate Muslim country like Azerbaijan remain moderate. If religious belief and expression is forced underground by the government, it is highly likely that Iran's influence on Shia Muslim believers in Azerbaijan would increase exponentially. If Azerbaijan is destabilized or, even worse, taken over, by Iranian-style Islamic militants, American interests will surely suffer. It would cede control over yet another important source of energy resources to those who hate our way of life.
Even more importantly, it is fundamentally in the interests of the United States, as a nation that loves liberty, to see the first freedom that our nation was founded upon – religious liberty – protected in other countries. If it becomes the rule in the rest of the world that religious activity is something to be managed by the State – rather than something the State must respect – we will feel the repercussions here in the United States.
To conclude, I think it is fair to say that the situation of religious freedom in Azerbaijan is dire but not hopeless. If the international community, and especially the United States, makes it clear to Azerbaijan that respecting religious liberty is the price it must pay to enter the ranks of the developed nations, the Azerbaijan government will respond. On the other hand, if we do nothing, the two most likely outcomes are neo-Stalinist repression or a takeover by Islamic militants.
The Becket Fund intends to continue pressing the government of Azerbaijan to honor the right to religious freedom of the Juma Mosque congregation, Imam Allahverdiev and other believers in Azerbaijan, both before the European Court of Human Rights, and in other legal fora. Ultimately, however, the protection of religious liberty will be a matter of political will, here, in other countries, and in Azerbaijan.
Thank you.


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|Release Date: October 08, 2010
|Running Time: 123 mins.
|MPAA Rating: PG
|Box Office: $59,699,513.00
|Genre: Biopic, Drama, Sports
Diane Lane
John Malkovich
Dylan Walsh
Dylan Baker
All Cast & Crew >>
Summary:Based on the remarkable true story, "Secretariat" chronicles the spectacular journey of the 1973 Triple Crown winner. Housewife and mother Penny Chenery Tweedy agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing experience. Against all odds, with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin, she manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and what may be the greatest racehorse of all time.
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Ladies and Gents,
I've just made the switch to nginx instead of apache as our httpd provider. It's better, faster, and leaner...and used by the likes of zappos and netflix! Now The Cartographers' Guild uses it.
I'm sorry about the 404's and brief downtime this morning...hopefully everything's back in order now. I still have some tweaks to do, so you may see some momentary interruptions...bear with me...This will be much better in the long run!
If you see any problems, please post them here.


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Healthy Bites: Get out the waffle iron for corn bread
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Remember the "wamelet" recipe from a few columns back? In it I gave the directions for making an omelet on your waffle iron.
Well, bring that iron out again because we're now making corn bread. And to go with it, what else but potato soup?
OK, I haven't perfected soup on a waffle iron ... yet. Until I do, this one is blended in a standard saucepot, but it's as quick and easy as the bread.
I had to give them both after I ran the nutrition and found the numbers didn't jump off the chart. If they had been a little too much for "Healthy Bites," I was going to pass them along to Julie Robinson for her consideration for placement on her Wednesday food page in the Gazette.
Everyone wants a simple recipe with taste satisfaction, few ingredients and even fewer prep moments. These qualify as good, last-minute, what-to-fix when just home from work, school, practice, travel, shopping.
The crispy, crunchy waffle is good just as a side bread, but it can be used (as I did) as a base for a taco (instead of a corn taco shell), or for a sausage gravy or light cream chicken. Of course, it can be spread with butter and drizzled with a little maple syrup.
If you have leftover mashed potatoes, they can be transformed into the soup, same as the purchased. Just remember to adjust the amount of seasoning and milk needed to flavor and thin the soup in proportion to amount of leftovers you have.
Where to get squash relish
In response to requests for locations to purchase the Bonnie Blue Blue Ribbon Squash Relish from my last column, here is the new website of relish producer Bonnie Crouse: www.BonnieBlues.com, which has a list.
Closer to Charleston, Tamarack stocks her item and can send it down to the Culture Center gift shop for payment and pickup. The relish also soon will be on the shelves in the West Virginia shop of Capitol Market.
Cornmeal Waffle
Makes about 6 servings.
1 1/2 cups white self-rising cornmeal mix
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
WHISK ingredients until well blended.
HEAT waffle iron; coat with cooking spray and drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto iron, cooking until golden brown and crisp.
SERVE hot.
Nutrition information: Per serving (based on 6): 220 calories, 100 calories from fat, 11 grams fat, 0.5 grams saturated fat, no cholesterol, no sodium, 27 grams carbohydrates, no fiber, 3 grams protein.
Super Easy Potato Soup
Makes about 6 cups.
1 1/2 cups of 2 percent milk
1 teaspoon dried celery flakes
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 24-ounce package Bob Evans original mashed potatoes
SIMMER milk, celery flakes, onion, salt and pepper 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to blend flavors. (Don't simmer too hard or too long because you don't want to reduce milk volume, only meld flavors).
WHISK in mashed potatoes until blended, smooth and heated through. Optional: May sprinkle top of servings with low-fat cheddar cheese.
Nutrition information: Per 1/2 cup serving: 80 calories, 25 calories from fat, 3 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 10 milligrams cholesterol, 260 milligrams sodium, 11 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 2 grams protein.
Reach Judy Grigoraci at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Sunday News, December 2
CORRECTIONVILLE, Iowa (AP) - A sheriff's deputy says the crash of a small airplane in northwest Iowa has killed two people and injured the pilot.
Woodbury County Sheriff's chief deputy Doug Boetger says that the plane crashed Saturday night about 2 1/2 miles south of Correctionville. The crash was reported about 8 p.m.
Boetger says two passengers died and the pilot was taken by ambulance to a Sioux City hospital.
There was dense fog in the area, but Boetger says it's unclear whether the weather conditions played a role in the crash.
Authorities didn't release the names of those involved.
During the response, an ambulance and law enforcement vehicle collided but Boetger says there were no injuries.
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text: Hi Cirias, wow, your first post is a Tutorial. That's an ambitious way to introduce yourself! Well welcome to the Portal at any rate, and thanks for your contribution. One suggestion I have is that you should include screenshots of (a) the map-making process, and (b) the final result, so that people can see what your tutorial will help them accomplish, as well as what their map should look like at intermediate steps.


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"In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony." – Eva Burrows
"All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
– Leo Tolstoy
"Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. We make discoveries about ourselves." -Gail Lumet Buckley
"There's no vocabulary for love within a family, love that's lived in but not looked at, love within the light of which all else is seen, the love within which all other love finds speech. This love is silent." – T. S. Eliot
"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people."
– Thich Nhat Hanh


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Philippe Vannier of Bull will give one of the ISC'11 Keynotes titled "The Road to Exascale Computing – A European Challenge?". From the titel you would expect the general request for European HPC investments however the teaser explains that it's an attempt of self advertisment. They stipulate the technological independence of Europe regarding HPC and state that the Tera 100 co-design with CAE proved that they give Europe all the necessary skill.
It's not the first time Bull tries to position itself as the "the" European HPC vendor and so they even falsly claim to have build "the first European-developed system to break the petaflops barrier". Well, no, actually this was Roadrunner - the first Petaflop system period with major developments and not only designs done in Boeblingen, Germany.
Without the keynote given yet let me give my personal answer to it here and why if you want to buy European, you should buy IBM.
First let me point out that we live in a globalized world. So what does it mean when Bull talks about technological independence of Europe? Systems developed in Europe and build in Europe from European developed and produced components ... bare metal, mainboard, processors, memory, harddisk, interconnect, storage, software, ...? I'm sorry to burst your bubble, however that is impossible and Bull cannot promise you that. The only thing they may be able to promise you is that they develop the assembly - design it - in Europe and assemble it in Europe with their less than 10.000 employees in Europe.
Now that's where I come to IBM. IBM is a globally integrated company with 400.000 employees all over the world and maybe about a quarter of them are in Europe, paying taxes. In Germany alone IBM has 20.000 employees with 2.000 developers working on Storage, Software, Mainframes and High Performance Computing. From Cell (the first Petaflop, you remember) over BlueGene to iDataplex ... European IBMers developed and are developing for what I would call the Global Challenge.
To summarize it in one sentence: If you want to buy a European solution, actually if you want to buy a Terran solution for that matter or if you just want to buy the best solution period, talk to your IBM representative.


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Out of Stock
Item # RIT0148
Don't worry though, we have a lot more Road Stems in stock than that.View Similar Products
Ritchey Superlogic Carbon C260 $0.00
Single bolts were replaced by two, and then those two moved to the four that brought us up to speed in the world of cycling stems. Well, these clamping interfaces between handlebar and stem have once again been revised, with Ritchey leading the way with its patented new Superlogic Carbon C260 stem.
Ritchey took a hard look at the way faceplates traditionally mate with their corresponding stems, and they built a more efficient stem-to-bar interface. It's called the C260, as 260 degrees of the stem wraps around the handlebar. The stem's large clamping area was engineered to distribute stress more evenly through the handlebar, faceplate, stem body, and hardware.
Through its testing of the new design, Ritchey found that its 4 X M4 faceplate design drastically reduces stress on the bolts by relying more on the stem itself for distributing load forces. Additionally, at the steerer, a 3-bolt pattern and curved clamp slot reduces weight and steerer tube stress.
The Ritchey Superlogic Carbon 260 weighs in at a mere 125g (110mm) and was built with an 84/6 degree angle. It's available in the sizes 90, 100, 110, 120, and 130mm and in the Matte Carbon color.
Tech Specs
View more Road Stems
Reviews & Community
is the degree rise of this stem -/+6 degrees?
HI Jason,
That is correct. The graphics are printed on the stem both ways so it can be run with 6 degrees of positive or negative rise.
good looking, needs improvement
the stem is great addition for matte carbon bikes. however, two issues. one is that you can only use a round bar because you have to slide the bar in through the stem hole. you cannot directly insert the bar into the stem. this is a major issue for bars that have wide profiles on the top. you cannot use those type of bars. that was a big problem for me.
second, the screws are so tiny. it is easy to strip the heads on the bolts. use torx screws with 5 mm heads next time Ritchey!
bad soft screws on this high end stem
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Called Ritchey about this problem, the material is very soft and difficult to torque down (5nm) especially if you have had to re-use the screws several times.The stem failed on a downhill 40 mile per hour winding road. Ritchey, don't even bother with an explanation on this. I spoke to the tech person at Ritchey, he just attempted to protect the product. Since then I have purchased hardened steel screws from Fastenal. I guess I have voided my warranty.. great looking stem though, very stealth looking and stiff. Come on Ritchy, get it right. BTW, I had a very reputable bike shop that installed the stem.


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That's the number of Cincinnatians cited in a 2012 report from Strategies to End Homelessness that are either staying in shelters or in places not meant for human habitation.
The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition will coalesce to recognize the plight of those 7,000 when it
holds its annual Homeless Awareness March on Saturday, Oct. 26 starting
at 3 p.m. at Buddy's Place, a permanent housing facility
for the homeless located at 1300 Vine St. in Over-the-Rhine.
Josh Spring, executive director at GRHC, says the march will explore areas in Over-the-Rhine and the Central Business District particularly plagued by homelessness. There will be about 10 stops, each of which will be marked by a speech from representatives of several advocacy groups, including the Interfaith Workers' Center, OTR Community Housing, Streetvibes, People's Coalition for Equality and Justice and the Drop Inn Center.
The march comes at a particularly auspicious time for GRHC, which recently helped four homeless plaintiffs file a lawsuit against the Hamilton County Sheriff's office for depriving homeless people of their constitutional rights by threatening to arrest people who sleep or inhabit the common areas around the Hamilton County Courthouse and Hamilton County Justice Center downtown.
Those areas have recently become the center of a public
health debate between groups like GRHC and county officials, who have been forced to clean up urine
and feces left behind the homeless and argue they
just don't have the resources to keep up.
The GHRC held a protest on Oct. 16 in front of the courthouse asking Sheriff Neil to rescind the policy, the same day the lawsuit was filed.
In an effort to compromise, Spring and other supporters have asked the county to at least wait to stick to the policy until the winter shelter opens in December, but county officials are hesitant to ignore the cleanliness problem for that long.
Advocates such as Spring, however, argue the city should take a "prevention first" approach instead by figuring out what will keep Cincinnatians from becoming homeless in the first place.
Spring says he hopes the march will draw both people who have come specifically to protest displacement and others who come to learn about the nature of homelessness in Cincinnati. "We really hope people walk away with some passion to go and do something about this," he says.
Last year's march was centered around protesting Western & Southern's manipulative legal disputes with the Anna Louise Inn, which provides safe and affordable housing to low-income women. The battle came to an end in May when Cincinnati Union Bethel, which owns the Inn, signed an agreement with Western & Southern to move from Lytle Park to Mount Auburn.
November is National Homeless Awareness Month. Here are a
few volunteer opportunities in the Greater Cincinnati area to look into this winter.
The controversial permanent supportive housing facility proposed for a residential area of Avondale that caused outrage amongst Avondale community members took a small blow today when Cincinnati City Council members Pam Thomas and Charlie Winburn introduced a motion at a City Council meeting to rescind council's original support for the facility.
The proposed facility, Commons at Alaska, would be a 99-unit housing facility providing residency and supportive services to the area homeless population, particularly those with severe mental health issues, physical disabilities and histories of alcohol and substance abuse. CityBeat covered extensively the Avondale community's concerns about the location of the facility and how the project's developers felt the facility was misunderstood ("Home Invasion," issue of Sept. 4).
On Feb. 13, City Council offered its official support for the Commons at Alaska project in a resolution, a decision members of Avondale 29, the group formed to oppose the project, say was made without proper community outreach and neglect for proper considerations of the facility's effects on the already-blighted surrounding neighborhood. At that time, Christopher Smitherman and Cecil Thomas (before he resigned his position) were the only two members of council who did not vote to pass the resolution.
The motion reads: "When the resolution was heard by City Council, a small minority of the 18,000 members of the Avondale Community expressed their support for the development. Further, the North Avondale Community Council has voiced their opposition to the development. With this resolution, the majority of the community who are opposed to the development are being heard."
The developer, National Church Residences, is a well-respected developer and manager of housing facilities for the homeless nationwide. In June, the project received more than $1 million in tax credit financing from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which would allow NCR to move forward with building plans and eventually begin construction in summer 2014.
City Council's official support was originally cited in NCR's application to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which may have factored in to OHFA's decision to award the tax credits. The motion will be voted on in council's Budget and Finance Committee on Monday, Sept. 16 at 1 p.m.
Greater Cincinnati homeless shelters are reporting a 31 percent increase in the number of families calling for help — a sign that homelessness may be trending up. Meanwhile, City Council managed to avoid cutting funding to human services that help the homeless this year, but the local government has steadily provided less funding since 2004, as CityBeat covered in further detail here.
Cincinnati lost 4,000 jobs from June to July, but it gained 14,000 between July 2012 and July this year, far above the 3,000 necessary to keep up with annual population growth, according to data released yesterday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was at 7.1 percent in July, down from 7.3 percent in June and 7.4 percent in July 2012. The labor force shrunk in comparison to the previous month and year, which means the unemployment rate fell partly because many people stopped looking for jobs. In comparison, Ohio's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in July and the U.S. rate was 7.4 percent.
More JobsOhio controversy: The state panel that approves tax credits recommended by the privatized development agency has never said no, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Gov. John Kasich and Republicans say the Ohio Tax Credit Authority is supposed to be an independent watchdog on JobsOhio, but both JobsOhio and the Ohio Tax Credit Authority have their boards appointed by the governor. Democrats have been highly critical of JobsOhio for its lack of transparency and privatized nature, but Republicans say both are good traits for an agency that needs to move fast to land job-creating development deals.
Meanwhile, two Democrats in the Ohio House are pushing a ban on Ohio officials, including the governor, receiving outside pay. The proposal is largely in response to JobsOhio recommending $619,000 in tax credits in 2012 and 2013 to Worthington Industries, a company that paid Kasich through 2012 for his time on its board. The Ohio Ethics Commission refused to investigate the potential conflict of interest because it said Kasich made a clean break from Worthington when he was elected.
Hamilton County taxpayers might have to put up $10 million to give the Cincinnati Bengals a high-definition scoreboard, thanks to the team's lease with the county. Economists generally see stadiums as one of the most over-hyped, unsuccessful urban investments, according to The Nation.
No City Council member supports the tea party-backed pension amendment that would privatize Cincinnati's pension system so future city workers, excluding cops and firefighters, contribute to and manage individual 401k-style accounts. Currently, Cincinnati pools pension funds and manages the investments through an independent board. City officials and unions claim the measure will cost the city more than the current system and hurt retirement gains for city employees. But tea party groups say the amendment is necessary to address Cincinnati's growing pension costs, including an $862 million unfunded liability. CityBeat wrote about the amendment and the groups that could be behind it in further detail here.
Ohio is partnering up with the Jason Foundation to provide training and information to teachers, coaches, other school personnel, parents and students about suicide, the second leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds after car accidents. The measure aims to curb down suicide rates.
Hamilton County and Cincinnati are pursuing joint funding of technology upgrades for 911 services, and the two local governments are moving permitting services to one location, according to a statement from Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann's office. Hartmann has long pursued more city-county collaboration so both can run more efficiently and bring down costs.
The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati is now called Interact for Health.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) yesterday reported 2013's first case of West Nile Virus. A 72-year-old woman in Cuyahoga County is apparently being hospitalized for the disease. ODH Director Ted Wymyslo said in a statement that, while Ohio has dealt with West Nile Virus since 2002, cases have dropped in the past year.
The University of Cincinnati is set to break another record for enrollment this fall.
Dunnhumby USA yesterday unveiled the design for its downtown headquarters.
A new electric car can fold itself in half when parking.
Although this year's cuts are being undone, City Hall has been cutting resources to the homeless, long-term unemployed, crime victims and casualties of domestic abuse since 2004. Aid to those groups is part of human services funding, which is supposed to receive 1.5 percent of the operating budget but currently gets a quarter of that at 0.4 percent. To explain the decade of cuts, the city administration typically points to citizen surveys and meetings conducted as part of the priority-driven budgeting process. But a CityBeat analysis of the demographics of the process found they were skewed in favor of the wealthiest Cincinnatians and against low-income people, who benefit the most from human services. For the agencies that receive funding, the history of cuts is even more worrying as Cincinnati prepares for more budget gaps in the next few years.
The state of Ohio will execute Billy Slagle on Aug. 7, even though the prosecutor's office behind the charges asked the Ohio Parole Board to grant him clemency. The parole board denied the request, and Gov. John Kasich last week declined to commute the sentence to life in prison. Slagle was convicted in 1988 of murdering a 40-year-old woman in a gruesome stabbing. His family says he was in an alcohol- and drug-fueled haze at the time and has a history of problems at home, including domestic abuse, that presents extenuating circumstances.
Two longshot mayoral candidates are really upset about Cincinnati's primary system: Independent Sandra "Queen" Noble sent an F-bomb-laden email to debate organizers, and Libertarian Jim Berns quit the race. Under the current primary system, multiple mayoral candidates are allowed to run. But come Sept. 10, voters will select the top two contenders in a primary. Those frontrunners will then face off in a final election on Nov. 5 to pick who will take over City Hall on Dec. 1. Noble and Berns claim the current system favors the two frontrunners — Democrats Roxanne Qualls and John Cranley — by helping them get the most exposure through televised debates after the primary election.
• "GOP Continues Playing Politics with Ohioans' Health"
• "Is Ohio's New License Plate the Worst or Just Bad?"
Cranley has raised more money than Qualls in the mayoral race, according to campaign finance reports filed yesterday. Cranley has raised about $472,000, compared to $348,000 for Qualls. Cranley also has about $264,000 in the bank, while the Qualls campaign has about $192,000 in hand.
Undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children will be eligible for in-state tuition at Ohio public colleges, following a decision from the Ohio Board of Regents. The change will save the students thousands of dollars at the state's public schools, which were charging exorbitant out-of-state and international rates before. The undocumented immigrants qualify for legal benefits because of an executive order signed by President Barack Obama earlier in the year that prevents the federal government from prosecuting them. The order falls short of actual legalization on the books, but it grants many benefits under state and federal law.
In quite possibly the worst news ever, Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones announced they're leaving "Parks and Recreation" after the 13th episode of the upcoming season.
German scientists have proposed a new strategy for combating climate change: turn coastal deserts into forests.
By science, ostriches can now fly:
City Council could partly or totally undo the latest budget cuts to human services, parks and other areas by using higher-than-expected revenues from the previous budget cycle, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls announced today.
When City Council passed the budget in May, it was unclear how much revenue would be left over from fiscal year 2013, which ended June 30. Now, revenues are expected to come in higher than originally projected.
The full revenue numbers should be released next week, allowing City Council to evaluate its options for what and how much can be restored.
Human services was cut by about $500,000 in the last budget, putting the program at $1.1 million. Funding to parks was also reduced by $1 million down to $7 million.
But the funding could be restored, at least in part, within a month, Qualls said.
Qualls and other city officials previously told CityBeat they intended to restore human services funding and other cut programs with higher-than-expected revenues and perhaps the parking lease, but Qualls' announcement today was the clearest indication that it's actually happening.
The vice mayor made the announcement at a mayoral forum hosted by the Human Services Chamber of Hamilton County, which consists of various local social service groups. Qualls, who's running for mayor this year, was speaking at the event with John Cranley, who's also running for mayor.
Human services funding flows through several local agencies that focus on providing aid to the homeless and poor. Programs include sheltering, job training and drug rehabilitation.
Cincinnati has historically set a goal of dedicating 1.5 percent of its operating budget to human services, but only 0.3 percent of the latest budget went to the program.


text:
Testing zimbra for potential production use at my institution. Zimbra Version:
Installed the VNC History zimlet:
Name: biz_vnc_lightweight_history
Description: Displays history of email transmissions (1.0.3)
From: http://packages.vnc.biz/zmpkg/bootst...220.127.116.11.tar.gz
As far as I can tell it's installed. The web client shows 'Mail History' in the zimlets list in the left pane and dragging a sent mail item onto it opens a Mail History window. Problem is the window always says "No data found".
There are no records being added to the 'mail_history_mbox' table in the zimbra mysql database and I am not sure where to look for any error logs for this zimlet.
I am not exactly sure how this zimlet is supposed to work and the developers home page is, to be nice, lacking.
Anybody have any experience with this zimlet or any troubleshooting tips?
Was poking around and found an error getting logged in the /opt/zimbra/log/zmmailboxd.out file. This error occurs every time an email message is SENT:
INFO [biz_vnc_lightweight_history] Read mailbox.log file
ERROR [biz_vnc_lightweight_history] Error while getting Internal Mail Event from Log file java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 2
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 2
at biz.vnc.zimbra.lighthistoryzimlet.RecipientInterna lMailHistoryLogging.getInternalMailEvents(MailHist oryLogging.java:206)
at biz.vnc.zimbra.lighthistoryzimlet.RecipientInterna lMailHistoryLogging.run(MailHistoryLogging.java:16 9)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:744)
Anyway, I am giving up on this zimlet as it doesn't look very well supported or written.


text:
A few weeks before pilots began gathering for the AOPA Summit, press releases informed us of the high drop out rate for student pilots. Those who know me heard my prediction: The AOPA study would blame the high drop out rate on shoddy instruction offered by inept and unmotivated flight instructors because ... wait for it ... CFIs are easy targets. Largely powerless, underpaid, and seldom recognized, being a professional flight instructor isn't a career path for the faint-of-heart.
In point of fact, shoddy flight training is exactly how some people have summarized what was presented in Long Beach. I won't go into the issues of time-building CFIs and pilots who just don't have the interest or ability to be effective instructors, but if you watch the entire 30 minute on-line video of the AOPA presentation you'll hear that flight instructors (and the conditions under which they work) were only two of the contributing factors identified in these opinion polls. Paradoxically, the opinion polls (which is what this research really is) indicate that people seem to think that:
The flight training industry is, in fact, well aligned; doing the important things well.Furthermore, the industry is reportedly providing good value, good instructor support, effective instruction, and good information sharing. One thing that seems to have been glossed over is that the poll revealed that 40% of people who actually solo and become student pilots never continue to earn a pilot certificate. The 70 to 80% failure rate that keeps being reported includes those who drop out before soloing (never become official student pilots) as well as those that never earn a pilot certificate.
I'm not an expert on research surveys nor on the techniques used to gather such data, but if we want to truly understand the state of flight training there seems to be a bunch of useful data that is missing. Early in the presentation, Mark Benson, chairman of an opinion research firm called APCO Insight, explained that they didn't want to do a conventional customer service survey into the flight training problem. Unfortunately, the polling methods don't seem to have been published and so we don't know how their procedures might compare with, say, this NASA study.
Some questions I'd like to see answered include the following. What percentage of private pilots pass their check ride on the first attempt? How many hours of flight time does the average pilot have when they take their check ride and how are those hours distributed across the age range of the pilots? How many times on average does a student pilot change instructors and was the change voluntary or involuntary? How many pilots begin flight training with no intention of ever soloing or earning a certificate? How many pilots who hold a current medical certificate are flying at least 25 hour a year? How many flight instructors recommend three or more candidates per year? How many instructors train under 14 CFR part 61 versus part 141? In short, some measurable evidence about the overall effectiveness and health of flight training rather than just soliciting the opinions and perceptions of those trained by said instructors.
Back in 2008, I offered some ideas on the shrinking pilot population along with some modest suggestions on making the process of learning to fly a bit easier based on thousands of hours of dual instruction I have given to all types of pilots. I just took for granted the assertion that the pilot population was indeed shrinking, but FAA data covering the years from 1999 to 2009 seems to show a stable pilot population. This is remarkable considering the unemployment rate of the last few years. Could it be that AOPA is assuming a premise that isn't supported by facts?
|Chart from FAA data on pilots, 1999 through 2009
When considering whether or not a 70-80% drop-out rate for students is reasonable, we have to consider the skills a person must acquire to pass a check ride. Based on my teaching experience, I'd estimate that about 20% of the population is simply not equipped to be pilot-in-command. First are medical certification issues that preclude someone from getting a third class medical certificate, though these folks may still be able to fly under sport pilot rules (don't get me started on sport pilot and aircraft regulations).
Then there more complicated issues. Flying involves high workload moments that require a combination of skills involving language, listening, spatial awareness, visualization, motor planning, prioritizing, and multi-tasking. Flying an airplane can be a lot like riding a mountain bike while simultaneously playing chess: Most people can do a subset of these tasks, but fewer people are able to do all of them.
Consider what is sometimes called "reaction to flight." A person may be afraid of flying or they may become motion sick or anxious. No matter how hard they try, these may be insurmountable problems. This doesn't make them bad or defective people, it just means they aren't cut out to be pilots. Heck, as a young adult I dreamed of being another Adolph Herseth, but wishing doesn't make it so. Occasionally a flight instructor has to sit down with a student and have the difficult conversation. It's not something that I look forward to, but it is an important part of the job.
Without the basic skills and abilities, there is no amount of training, simulator experience, advanced avionics, customer service, instructor charisma, or good will that will keep these people from dropping out or get them through a check ride. This gets to the crux of the problem with AOPA's initiative: A better process, better customer focus, and happier customers will not guarantee that more people will end up earning a pilot certificate. More money may end up being spent, but that's another goal that is not necessarily aligned with helping GA grown. And as one seasoned instructor I know quipped "General aviation doesn't need any more substandard pilots."
It seems reasonable to assume that attempts to increase the pilot population would likely increase AOPA's membership and perhaps that is one of their goals. Frankly, some if this "research" seems to border on truthiness. Don't get me wrong, AOPA has done some great things for GA and the Air Safety Foundation is probably the most valuable resource available to pilots and instructors. While AOPA works on their initiatives, dedicated flight instructors will continue to do the hard work on the front lines, giving instruction, helping students solve problems, helping them succeed, endorsing their logbooks and, occasionally, having the difficult conversations that must be had.


text:
Hi all,
rookie question. I have an webmail email hosted by Webhosts Australia. I want to switch completely to Zimbra and then get Zimba connecting with my outlook at my office and my laptop. I have no idea how I do this. Webhosts have not helped at all.
I think I need the DNS settings but I dont really know.