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The following table lists free TxDOT and FHWA engineering software to assist in highway
design. It provides an overview and minimum system requirements for each
BGS-TxDOT Bridge Geometry System
The TxDOT Bridge Geometry System (BGS) is useful for bridge geometric design. Included in the text output are geometric data and reports that may be imported into various MicroStation design files to include angles, dimensions, elevations, etc. in the bridge plans as needed to accurately fabricate and place the various bridge elements during construction as well as determine bid item quantities during preparation of the PS&E package.
BGS Version 8.1 (a.k.a. v8.1.7, released June 2007) was developed from TxDOT Roadway Design System (RDS) Version 8.0 by removing all non-bridge related RDS commands. The result of these changes was a "scaled down" implementation of RDS that focuses on bridge geometric design. In BGS v8.1 the user could define, and display graphically, geometry points and curves, bridge alignments with templates, superelevations and widenings, and bridge framing, with or without contours, but code supporting RDS functionality strictly employed in roadway design was removed from the RDS source code to yield BGS. BGS v220.127.116.11 was deployed in November 2011 as a technical release to address OS issues with v8.1.7. By November 2011 work was underway on BGS v9.0 building upon the v18.104.22.168 source code. By January 14, 2014 more than 195 distinct changes had been made to BGS v126.96.36.199 including bug fixes, enhancements and modifications to yield development version 9.0.3. In addition to these functional changes, the source code for the BGS component bgs1.exe_which performs all geometric and plotting calculations and output reports_was migrated from the Intel compiler v10 (integrated with VisualStudio 2008) to v11 (integrated with VisualStudio 2013) and a number of modifications were made to the interface program component bgs.exe. The resulting BGS v9.1.5 was released in January 2016 but had to be recalled due to a bug that blocked bearing seat elevations from being included in the formal output listing for certain framing options. The bug-fixed version, BGS v9.1.6 was released in February 2016.
The current draft of the BGS v9.1 User Guide is over 360 pages long. Due to file size and for other reasons it is not deployed directly to the end user's machine but is rather stored on TxDOT_s FTP server. Users can access the guide via a link to it installed in the Bridge Geometry System (BGS) program group. This decoupling of the BGS User Guide from the packaging of the software allows for revision on an as-needed basis throughout the life of BGS v9.1. This BGS User Guide, like the old RDS User Manual, should provide all the information that the user will need to run the software.
An experienced RDS user will be able to begin using BGS immediately. The BGS input data, output computations, reports and CAD plots are the same as produced by RDS when applied to bridge geometric design, notwithstanding the effects on output of numerous bug fixes and enhancements made to BGS since its initial release.See the BGS Support Information document, linked in the same manner as the BGS User Guide, for instructions on how to report bugs and wishes about program functionality or get technical support. Technical support is available to all TxDOT BGS users and any consultant BGS users designing bridges for TxDOT.
BMCOL51- Beam-column analysis
Generalized beam-column discrete element model to analyze simple and continuous beam subjected to concentrated, uniform, uniformly varying, and non-uniformly varying static and movable traverse loads. The program considers the effect of axial load on stiffness. It models spring supports, rotational spring restraints, and concentrated applied torques, It analyzes a beam-column of up to 999 discrete increments of user defined length. Flexural stiffness may be prismatic, uniformly varying, or non-uniformly varing.
C2C Tools- Center to Center (C2C) Development Toolkit
Contains the Interface Control Document, XML Schemas and WSDL files needed to develop plugin software compatible with the Center to Center Infrastructure. This download also contains the Center to Center Test Suite application, used to validate the plugin against the defined interface, and the Status Logger application needed for the Test Suite application.
CAP18 - Bent Cap Analysis Program
A specialized structural analysis program using a discrete element model that produces envelopes of maximum bending and shear forces acting on bridge bent caps. Analytical results are for working stress and/or load factor design in accordance with the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications or the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges. Users input live loads are automatically placed within users defined lanes to generate maximum forces at users specified points.
ConcreteWorks was developed at the Concrete Durability Center at the University of Texas as part of research funded by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The system improves the constructability and durability of mass concrete bridge members and other structural members. Features include concrete mixture proportioning, thermal analysis, crack prediction, and chloride diffusion service life. It contains design modules for several mass concrete shapes, bridge decks types, precast concrete beams, and concrete pavements.
Analyzes cantilever overhead sign bridge typically built in Texas. Structure geometry and analysis are based on the assumptions and limitations described in the help document.
CULV5 - Concrete Box Culvert Analysis
CULV5 was developed and is maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
CULV5 is an analysis tool for concrete box culverts. The program determines the forces acting on each of the different members of the culvert using the direct stiffness method. The user provides input data for loading conditions, structure geometry, and member sizes. The program outputs the member forces for use in either a working stress design or a load factor design in accordance with the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges, 17th Ed. for highway loadings, and AREMA 2006 in the case of E72 and E80 loadings.
ESS Tools
Environmental Sensor Station (ESS) software development toolkit containing the Protocol Document, XML Schemas, and XML Tester Application with Schema Panels needed to develop software capable of interfacing with TxDOT's Environmental Sensor Station software.
FM Tools
Flow Manager (FM) software development toolkit containing the Protocol Document, XML Schemas, and XML Tester Application with Schema Panels needed to develop FM compatible software.
HY-8 is a computerized implementation of FHWA culvert hydraulic approaches and protocols. The HY-8 program is available at no charge to the hydraulic and transportation communities.
The FHWA has been producing computerized culvert hydraulic software since the early 1960's (with the HY-1 program). The FHWA released the initial version of the HY-8 program in the early 1980's. FHWA
released the original Windows version (7.0) in March 2007 and the second phase update (7.1) in July 2008. The HY-8 program has successfully operated on all current "flavors" of the Windows operating
HY-8 7.2 represents a "maintenance phase "of the FHWA's multi-phase culvert hydraulic software upgrade plan. In the future, the plan calls for using a pooled fund effort1 to fund and support incremental
upgrades and additions of features, based on available time, budget, and adoption of new hydraulic practices and techniques.
Quick Start Guide (.pdf, 14 pages, 1 mb)
Use approximate analysis method for overhead sign bridge customarily built in Texas. Structure geometry and analysis are based on the assumptions and limitations described in the help document.
Overheight Vehicle Detection System
Vehicle Compliance Subsystem (VCS) documentation containing the Protocol Document and XML Schemas needed to develop VCS compatible software for use in Overheight Vehicle Detection Systems.
PGSUPER - Prestressed Girder Superstructure Design and Analysis
This software has been collaboratively developed and maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) under the Alternate Route Project initiated and managed by WSDOT. (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/bridge/alternateroute/licenses.htm)
The TxDOT-customized version of PGSuper_ is versatile, user friendly, Windows-based software for the design, analysis, and load rating of multi-span precast-prestressed bridge beams/girders in accordance with the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (thru the 7th Edition, 2014, as modified by the 2015 Interim Revisions) and TxDOT design policies and guidelines. Properties of TxDOT standard I-girders (TxGirders), U beams, Slab beams, Decked Slab beams, Box beams and X-Beams and TxDOT design criteria are included in templates and libraries published by TxDOT on a server accessible via the Internet. Thus, the software is capable of periodically updating the installed templates and libraries with the most current versions published by TxDOT.
Custom defined beam shapes that fit within each family of girder types supported by PGSuper can also be added to a user_s installed copy of the templates, thereby extending the girder shapes that the user can design, analyze and load rate with the program.
The flexural design feature computes the required number and pattern of prestressing strands and the minimum required release and final concrete strengths. Specification checking evaluates girders for compliance with strength, serviceability and detailing criteria. Horizontal and vertical shear design, analysis and load rating is also facilitated.
A variety of results reporting is provided, including exhaustive and comprehensive reports, reports tailored to specific design or analysis features, fabricator optional design evaluation reports and a TxDOT Girder Schedule Report ("TxDOT CAD Output").
Certain functionality of this version of PGSuper has been enhanced over that of the previous release and most known issues/bugs present in the previous release are fixed in this release. For a list of these changes see the PGSuper support Information Document.
To report bugs and for questions or technical support, please send an email to:firstname.lastname@example.com
PIER - Non-Linear Analysis of Concrete Piers
Specialized program which performs non-linear analysis of slender, non-prismatic, and hollow core concrete
Reference Guide[zip, 4 file,22mb]
PSTRS14-TxDOT Prestressed Concrete Beam Design/Analysis Program
PSTRS14 has been developed and is maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The program can design and analyze standard and user defined non-standard, simple span prestressed concrete beams having fully bonded draped or straight strands, or partially debonded straight strands, in accordance with the AASHTO Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Specifications (3rd Edition, 2004-2006; 4th Edition, 2007-2009; 5th Edition, 2010; and 6th Edition, 2012), AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges (15th Edition, 1994 Interim thru 17th Edition, 2002), or American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (4th Edition, 2008-2009).
Properties of standard I beams, Dbl-T beams, U beams, Slab beams, Box beams, TxGirders, Decked Slab beams and X beams are included in the program's beam section library. User defined beam shapes can be designed and analyzed using the non-standard beam option.
PSTRS14 Version 6.1, incorporates enhancements and modifications versus v5.2, including:
Note on appropriate use: PSTRS14 is not intended to take the place of PGSuper in production design but rather is a tool for doing comparison design and analysis, for investigating non-standard sections, for prestressed concrete beam design and analysis for railroad bridges, and for investigating existing bridges designed in accordance with either the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications or AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges listed above.
Following the precedent set by the release of BGS v9.1 the PSTRS14 v6.1 User Guide is not deployed directly to the end user's machine but is stored on the TxDOT FTP server. Users access the guide via a link installed in the Prestressed Concrete Beam Design & Analysis Program (PSTRS14) program group.
See the PSTRS14 Support Information Document, linked in the same manner as the PSTRS14 v6.1 User Guide, for instructions on how to report bugs and wishes about program functionality or get technical support. Technical support is available to all TxDOT PSTRS14 users and any consultant PSTRS14 users designing bridges for TxDOT.
Ride Quality
Used when Special Specification 5880 or Item 585 applies to construction projects. Prior to invoking these Ride Quality Specifications the user should read the Guidance Document [pdf, 3 pages, 25kb]from the Construction Division to determine the proper pay schedule for the type of construction work to be done. The user should also read the specification and the associated Test Method Tex-1001-S
Analyzes traffic signal or strain pole assemblies. Analysis is based on the assumptions and limitations described in the help document.
SignsPC - TxDOT Traffic Sign Detailing Program
The SignsPC application is used in conjunction with the MicroStation computer-aided drafting application. SignsPC extends MicroStation by providing the user with a toolkit for generating and labeling traffic signs. The toolkit also includes a lettering feature to accurately place lettering cells spaced according to standard specifications.
SPRT - Shop Plan Review Tools for Acrobat Pro 7-9
For use only by Engineering Consultants under contract to TxDOT to perform shop plan review. The Shop Plan Review Tools add-in for Adobe Acrobat Professional provides functions to expedite approval stamp placement, hiding/showing reviewer markups, and document flattening. Prior installation of Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0, 8.0, or 9.0 is a prerequisite.
This add-in has been tested for compatibility with Adobe Acrobat Pro versions 7 through 9. It is advisable to ensure that critical markups are retained on plan sets when using different versions of Adobe Acrobat Pro.
(This product remains unchanged from its previous listing as simply "ShopPlanTools" prior to the posting of "SPRT - Shop Plan Review Tools for Acrobat Pro 10". This version of Shop Plan Review Tools will NOT work with Adobe Acrobat Pro 10.)
For questions or comments, contact Jeff Cotham at email@example.com.
SPRT - Shop Plan Review Tools for Acrobat Pro 10
For use only by Engineering Consultants under contract to TxDOT to perform shop plan review. The Shop Plan Review Tools add-in for Adobe Acrobat Professional provides functions to expedite approval stamp placement, hiding/showing reviewer markups, and document flattening. Prior installation of Adobe Acrobat Professional 10.0 is a pre-requisite.
This add-in has been tested for compatibility with Adobe Acrobat Pro version 10. It is advisable to ensure that critical markups are retained on plan sets when using different versions of Adobe Acrobat Pro.
(The older Shop Plan Review Tools for Acrobat Pro 7 will not work with Acrobat Pro 10.)
TBLRP - Texas Bridge Load Rating Program
The Texas Bridge Load Rating Program (TBLRP) uses a working stress (WS) analysis method which produces an allowable stress load rating. This load rating methodology is in accordance with the AASHTO Manual for Condition Evaluation of Bridges, 1993, and the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges, 14th Ed., 1989. This program simplifies the load rating of nonstandard bridges that are commonly found on rural roads off the state and federal highway systems. The program emphasizes standardized and efficient load rating with a goal of minimizing clerical and computational errors inherent in manual methods.
TxDOT NTCIP Tester (TNT)
The TxDOT NTCIP Tester (TNT) is a tool used to test Dynamic Message Signs against the NTCIP standard.
TSS Tools
Transportation Sensor Subsystem (TSS) software development toolkit containing the Protocol Document, XML Schemas, and XML Tester Application with Schema Panels needed to develop TSS compatible software.
TxBridge - TxDOT Bridge Toolbox
The TxDOT Bridge Toolbox (TxBridge) software is used in conjunction with the Bentley(R) Systems MicroStation(R) computer-aided drafting application. TxBridge extends MicroStation by providing the user with various utilities that implement CAD standards adopted by the TxDOT Bridge Division. These utilities automate the selection of drawing scales and the placement of text and terminator elements.
UTCGAT - UT Curved Girder Analysis Tools (UTCGAT)
This software product was developed and is maintained by the University of Texas at Austin. UTCGAT is a suite of software tools for the analysis of curved girders. The suite consists of UT Bridge and UT Lift.
UT Bridge is a 3-dimensional finite element program for the analysis of curved steel I-girders. Computations include linear elastic analysis and eigenvalue buckling analysis for both girder erection and concrete deck placement.
UT Lift is an easy to use, macro-programmed Excel spreadsheet for determining the safety of lifting a horizontally curved steel I-girder with one crane and two lift clamps.
VCS Tools
Vehicle Compliance Subsystem (VCS) software development toolkit containing the Protocol Document, XML Schemas, and XML Tester Application with Schema Panels needed to develop VCS compatible software.
Analyzes and reports soil borings in accordance with TxDOT Standards. Accompanying MicroStation macros allow WinCore files to be accessed from inside MicroStation for automated drawing of core logs in design files. Macros compatible with MicroStation Versions J and V8.
Storm Drain Analysis/Design (Metric/English)
User's Manual [pdf, 1 file, 0.43mb]
This software is not supported by TxDOT. Use on Windows 7 or higher is at the user's own risk.


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College Hockey:Curry looking for identity with 13 freshmen in Colonels' lineup
That's what Curry is experiencing early on in the season with a 1-2 record.
"We have 13 freshmen and quite a bit of turnover from last year's team, including a new assistant coach," said Curry head coach T.J. Manastersky. "We are going to be a team early on to be in search of our identity and establish how we are going to play."
The freshmen have come to play so far with Dan McGinnis and James Murphy each having a goal and assist, which is tied for the lead in points along with sophomore defenseman Ryan Gay.
Tyler Vankleef, Michael Vallescuro, Ellery O'Hara and Jake Heisinger are other freshmen that have recorded a point in the team's first three games of the season.
Goaltender Brett Sinclair picked up his first career win against Westfield State last Thursday.
Manastersky wasn't going to rely on one or two first-year players, but will go instead with a group effort. He knows some freshmen will make an impact right away, but others will see a bigger impact later on in the season
"They all have been good, [but] I don't if any of them completely jumped up ahead from everyone else," Manastersky added. "I feel really good about them as a group. They are all good hockey players."
With the influx of the new guys, Curry has a problem that all coaches would like to have.
"We are in a situation, which wasn't the situation last year, where we are going to have some very good hockey players sitting in the stands every night, which speaks to our depth," Manastersky said. "We are also going to spend some time figuring out who our guys are and who works well together to see how it all fits."
Wentworth wasn't paying attention to the preseason coaches' poll
The ECAC Northeast coaches overwhelmingly put Wentworth College as the favorites to repeat as conference champions.
Wentworth coach R.J. Tolan didn't pay attention to it.
"I put no stock in any preseason poll – I think it's silly," said Tolan. "Every year, it's a different group of kids, a different dynamic, a different challenge. We are excited to answer the bell and answer that challenge with this year's group of players."
The team the conference had pick on paper is off to a slow start with a 2-3-0 record.
Salve Regina getting it done on both ends of the ice
The Seahawks are averaging 3.75 goals per game, which is tied for 14th in the nation and are 18-for-18 when it comes killing off penalties, good for first in the nation.
That's slightly above last year's clip of 3.63 goals per game. Only Wisconsin-Stevens Point has had more opportunities to stay perfect (28-for-28). Last year, Salve Regina's penalty kill was at a 73.5 percent, near the bottom of Division III.
The following is a self-policing forum for discussing views on this story. Comments that are derogatory, make personal attacks, are abusive, or contain profanity or racism will be removed at our discretion. USCHO.com is not responsible for comments posted by users. Please report any inappropriate or offensive comments by clicking the "Flag" link next to that comment in order to alert the moderator.
Please also keep "woofing," taunting, and otherwise unsportsmanlike behavior to a minimum. Your posts will more than likely be deleted, and worse yet, you reflect badly on yourself, your favorite team and your conference.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mark Gerald Tauscher
Position: T-G
Height: 6-4 Weight: 320 lbs.
Born: June 17, 1977 in Marshfield, WI
High School: Auburndale
College: Wisconsin (school history)
Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 7th round (224th overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 57 (1086th overall since 1950)


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Coupon Deals Daily
We have 145 Free Printable Coupons for Nov 3rd, 2011!
Have you checked out our Printable Coupon section lately? Today we have 145 coupons from brands like Pillsbury, Krafts, Glade, GOYA, and more. Here is our featured Printable Coupon of the Day:
Print $1.00 off 2 General Mills Kids cereals Coupon


text: Battle Ground — Though he said his five years leading Firm Foundation Christian School have been wonderful, Administrator Scott Grove recently announced his plan to retire at the end of this school year. Grove has been an educator for 39 years, 30 of which were in Battle Ground Public Schools. He joined Firm Foundation in 2008 after taking a year off from education due to a bout with cancer. After a related surgery, Grove said he was drawn back into the field, finding his place at Firm Foundation. He said he is now cancer-free. In his retirement, Grove plans to travel with his wife, Debbie, and spend more time with their 12 grandchildren. During his time at the pre-K-12 school, he said he's proud of the entire staff's efforts to grow enrollment by 150 students, work through a lengthy international accreditation process and implement a new high school program. "But the main thing is, students are academically achieving high scores on standardized tests and building strong Christian character," Grove wrote in an email. A national search is under way for a new administrator, with interviews planned for spring.


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Mayer Brown: Saved by Stoneridge, But Still Slammed by Judge
The law firm Mayer Brown got itself out of some hot water Tuesday, but not before enduring some harsh words from Manhattan federal judge Gerard Lynch (whose name has, incidentally, surfaced as a possible Second Circuit appointee by President Obama).
On Tuesday, Lynch dismissed claims against Mayer Brown and partner Joseph Collins (pictured), who represented Refco before and during its 2005 IPO. A group of plaintiff shareholders had alleged that Mayer Brown and Collins helped perpetrate a fraud at Refco by documenting loans that hid huge losses at the now-defunct brokerage giant. When Refco went public, Mayer Brown was one the firms that drafted the public documents for the IPO. Click here for the opinion; here for the story from the American Lawyer's Susan Beck.
Judge Lynch, in dismissing Mayer Brown from the suit, relied heavily on the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Stoneridge case, in which the Court barred investors from bringing private lawsuits against third parties in corporate-fraud cases unless they relied on actions by those parties when making investment decisions. Lynch ruled that even if Mayer Brown and Collins engaged in fraudulent activity on Refco's behalf, they were not liable to shareholders unless they made misstatements directly to them.
John "Sean" Coffey of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, a lawyer for the investors, told the American Lawyer that his clients still have claims against a long list of defendants. Coffey told AmLaw he was disappointed with Lynch's ruling, but not terribly surprised, given the tough standard set by Stoneridge. "It highlights that something is very very wrong with the state of the law," says Coffey.
Judge Lynch seemed to agree with Coffey, at least in part. Late in the opinion, Lynch penned a footnote, which stated:
It is perhaps dismaying that participants in a fraudulent scheme who may even have committed criminal acts are not answerable in damages to the victims of the fraud. However, as the Court noted in Stoneridge, the fact that the plaintiff-investors have no claim is the result of a policy choice by Congress. . . . This choice may be ripe for legislative re-examination . . . a bright line between principals and accomplices may not be appropriate. There are accomplices and there are accomplices: after all, in the criminal context when the Godfather orders a hit, he is only an accomplice to murder — one who "counsels, commands, induces or procures" but he is nonetheless liable as a principal for the commission of crime. Likewise, some civil accomplices are deeply and indispensably implicated in the wrongful conduct."
Collins has been indicted on several charges related to the Refco situation. Collins has maintained his innocence. Click here and here for pieces on Collins and his criminal case.
In a written statement, Mayer Brown said it was pleased with Lynch's decision, adding that "the firm acted in a professional, competent, and ethical manner in its work on behalf of Refco."


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(November 9, 2011)—Veterans Day events are scheduled across Central Texas, most of them on Friday.
Area Veterans Day Observances, Activities
Central Texas
All Texas Roadhouse restaurant locations will offer one of 10 pre-selected entrees and non-alcoholic beverages free during lunch hours (11 a.m. - 2 p.m.) for all active, retired or former U.S. military veterans. Proof of military service is required. Texas Roadhouse is also donating 10% of proceeds from military-themed gift cards during the month of November to Homes For Our Troops, a group that offers specially built homes to injured veterans.
All 7-Eleven, Inc. locations will provide active and retired U.S. military personnel and their immediate families with free, small Slurpee drinks between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Proof of military service is required.
Patriot Way Flagpole Dedication, hosted by the Belton Area Chamber of Commerce, will begin at 11 a.m. An 80-foot flagpole flying the American Flag will be dedicated in Patriot Plaza on Central Avenue at IH 35. New bricks honoring military loved ones will also be dedicated. Commanding General of the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), General Terence Hildner, will be the keynote speaker. Open to the public.
Veterans Appreciation Ceremony, on Saturday, featuring a luncheon honoring all veterans. The ceremony starts at 12 p.m., and will be followed by a fried chicken lunch. It will be held at the VFW Post 4008, 2311 S. Pearl St. Open to the public.
Copperas Cove
Parade is planned to include CC I.S.D. organizations at 9:30 a.m. on Veterans Avenue. It is a two-mile route and will include cheerleaders, the Copperettes and CC JROTC. Open to the public.
Killeen Veterans Day Parade, begins at 11 a.m. at City Hall to wind through downtown at 11:30 a.m. The parade is one of five Veterans Day parades to receive regional recognition. Open to the public.
Veterans Day program at 2 p.m. New monument will be unveiled at Killeen Memorial Park on Lake Road. Open to the public.
Ride For Veterans Wreaths, on Saturday, with registration at 8 a.m. Kickstands up at 10 a.m. $15 to include tee-shirt or $20 to include long-sleeved shirt. Ride leaves from the Horny Toad Harley Davidson, arrive at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery on State Highway 195 around 1:30 p.m. with a program and placing of wreaths to follow. Return to Horny Toad for live music, BBQ and contests to begin around 1 p.m.
Fort Hood
7-Eleven, Inc. trailers will travel to Fort Hood on Saturday to provide active U.S. military personnel and their immediate families with free, small Slurpee drinks between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Sylvia Tucker Memorial Park on U.S. Highway 190. There will be a keynote speaker and the Lampasas High School Band will perform. Open to the public.
Gatesville ISD is hosting a Veterans Day Program at McKamie Stadium. Free breakfast will be served to veterans from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. in the Gatesville High School culinary arts room. The program at the stadium begins at 9 a.m. and will feature a guest speaker, choirs and band performances. Open to the public.
Veterans Day program at the Bruceville-Eddy High School Gym. Begins at 11:30 and lasts for an hour. Open to the public.
U.S. Flag Disposal Ceremony, Wednesday from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. at Robinson High School at 500 West Lyndale Drive. Tattered flags can be dropped off in the high school office for proper disposal. Open to the public.
Ceremony and Military Ball, put on by soldiers from Fort Hood's 49th Corps Movement Control Center at the William R. Courtney Texas State Veterans Home. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m., where the soldiers will be joined by children from Meridith-Dunbar Elementary School who will sing appropriately themed songs. The Military Ball will begin ay 3:15 p.m. followed by a slide show, skit and dinner.
Avenue of Flags Ceremony, 11 a.m. at the Temple VA Medical Center (Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center), Texas State Rep. Ralph Sheffield will be the keynote speaker. Temple Mayor Bill Jones will also speak. Holland High Band will perform and American Legion Post #55 will provide color guard and a 21-gun salute. Placing of wreaths and names of veterans will be read. Open to the public.
Avenue of Flags Ceremony, 8:30 a.m. at the Waco VA Medical Center, Rep. Bill Flores, Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell and Waco Mayor Jim Bush to speak. Conally High Band will perform and Conally Junior ROTC to provide color guard. Inclement weather location is the Stracke Auditorium, Building 6. Placing of wreaths and names of veterans will be read. Open to the public.
Pre-Parade Celebration, Providence Hospice is hosting a celebration at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce at 10 a.m. on South Third Street. Open to the public.
Veterans Day Parade to begin at 11 a.m. at 13th and Austin. 159 units are expected in the parade. The parade will be televised nationally including commentators. The parade can be viewed on the Waco City Cable Channel (Channel 10 on Time Warner and Grande cable) or on the city's website.
Baylor University Air Force ROTC, Army ROTC, and Baylor's Veteran Association will be taking 20 minute shifts guarding the flag poles in front of Patt Neff for 24 hours, beginning at midnight. AFROTC's Arnold Air Society hosts the event.


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Tag Archives: challenge
You think you can beat this?!
Botsford's Free Press Marathon relay running team challenges other hospital teams to a friendly competition Continue reading
Posted in botsford, Hospital News Tagged beaumont, challenge, dmc, free press marathon, henry ford hospital, oakwood, relay running, university of michigan health system Comments Off on You think you can beat this?!


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One of my favorite Japanese actors could have been cast in the role of one of two iconic characters from movie history…but he decided not to, according to his daughter. Bummer…it meant he would have learned his lines phonetically, just like he did with "Midway":
Mifune ultimately turned down the role of Obi-Wan because he thought "Star Wars" was just going to be a kids' movie, and obviously the alleged counter-offer of Vader didn't convince him otherwise. It was all probably for the best (where would we be without that nightmares-inducing Vader mask?), but the what-if? scenario certainly conjures amusing visions of Darth Vader as an angry (and probably bearded) Japanese man.
One thing's for sure — if Mifune had accepted either role, it would've made for one hell of a lightsaber duel.
Indeed! It's time for the Overnight Open Thread!
Tags: Darth Vader, George Lucas, Star Wars, Toshiro Mifune


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"I'd rather die than give you control." (or Adolf Hitler, Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, and Trent Reznor walk into a blog)
You may recall that a while back I took a break from reviewing comics thrice weekly. I'd done it for a year and a quarter or something like that and felt I'd accomplished what I set out to accomplish. I was also getting a little sick of feeling obligated to read and review comics--the second something becomes homework I want nothing to do with it--and was looking forward to reading some prose for a change. Because I am a strange and in some ways fundamentally unpleasant person, the prose book I chose to read during my break from comics was Ian Kershaw's 1,072-page Hitler: A Biography. I learned a lot from that book. One of the things I learned was that after the war took a turn for the worse, for Germany that is, Hitler pretty much stopped making any kind of public appearances, even radio addresses. During the darkest years of the war, his public addresses literally numbered in the single digits. Try to imagine the President disappearing from public view 362 days out of the year, as enemy forces bomb the hell out of you while your sons and husbands freeze to death in Russia, and you can imagine what this would do to morale in America, let alone a country that had been trained to worship Adolf Hitler as the personification of the nation. But no amount of cajoling, even from his fanatically loyal propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, could persuade Hitler to re-enter the spotlight while his "plans"--sneer quotes richly deserved, since they basically amounted to "if we want to win really, really bad, we'll win"--were busy being shown to be the ridiculous delusions of grandeur that they were. He didn't want to lose face, but perhaps even more revealingly, he simply didn't give a shit about the suffering of the German people. After all, if they were losing, it stood to reason that they didn't want to win badly enough, and therefore didn't deserve his recognition and consolation anyway.
This leads to the second major thing I learned reading that book, about appeasement. During the years I spent vociferously supporting the war efforts of an administration whose vice-president is now voluntarily appearing on television to publicly proclaim how very, very proud he is of an interrogation system that involved holding power drills to people's heads, threatening to rape their mothers, and of course killing them, appeasement was the ugliest word around. One of my proudest moments, and by proudest I mean most retrospectively nauseating, in a literally physical sense, involved thinking of post-3/11 Spain as a nation of Neville Chamberlains. (I don't remember if I actually wrote this--Jim Henley might, but I don't--and I don't have the stomach to dig through the archives to find out; I ask you to take my word for it.) But what I learned is that the actions of Chamberlain and the other European governments prior to the war had nothing to do with being giant pussies who didn't have the balls to go kill them some Nazis and defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. What it had to do with was remembering how around 20 years earlier, the nations of Europe had collectively fed themselves into a nightmarish meat grinder, and could we please try to avoid slaughtering tens of millions of our children in the near future. After reading Kershaw's book, I don't get the sense that Chamberlain's appeasement at Munich had anything to do with a moral defect on the part of Chamberlain or anyone else, anyone else but Hitler that is. They might have done better to heed the warning signs, but they felt they were acting out of an abundance of caution, caution about plunging Europe into yet another ruinous Great War. Their great miscalculation was believing Hitler felt the same way. Unfortunately, as Kershaw documents at great length, Hitler literally couldn't have cared less about human suffering. The potential death of millions of people of any race, even Germans, was vanishingly low on his list of concerns. Chamberlain's screw-up was playing chicken with a sociopath, just as Germany's screw-up (among many!) was casting its lot with one--through ignorance, through chauvinism, through bloodthirstiness, through complacency, through conformity, through fear, through compulsion, through a little of it all. The same inhuman lack of empathy that led him to attack Poland and France and the U.S.S.R. was the same inhuman lack of empathy that caused him to abandon the people on whose nominal behalf he ordered those invasions.
The third thing I learned from that book was that he had nine lives like a cat. Hitler survived something like eight assassination attempts. Not plots--attempts, as in bombs with fuses lit. But schedules were changed, explosives failed to detonate, table legs blocked blasts, and history's greatest monster lived to sit in his compounds and bore his captive audiences with rants about Wagner and American cinema and the character of International Jewry and the prowess of Stalin another day.
The fourth thing I learned from that book was that Hitler loved the movies.
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's, I dunno, sixth or seventh film, posits a world in which movie violence fights against real-world violence, specifically the violence of Hitler's Nazi regime. The film's first act of violence involves the machine-gun slaughter of a Jewish family; the second involves a guy from The Office scalping German soldiers, a crazy anti-Nazi German serial killer reaching his hand down an SS officer's throat, and the director of Hostel beating a Nazis to death with a baseball bat onscreen. The first outburst is led up to with nearly unbearable tension, in one of the lengthy, dialogue- and closeup-driven short-films-within-a-film that have become Tarantino's trademark. We have a feeling we know where it's going, as do the characters involved, and it makes us sick and revolted. The second outburst, naturally, is therefore greeted with cheers and laughter. This isn't despite it being much more graphically violent than the initial massacre--it's because it's much more graphically violent.
This second outburst of violence is movie violence, the violence of Tarantino's much-ballyhooed "movie movie" world, operating at a layer of unreality above a normal movie. This movie violence is pitted against the backdrop of unspeakable and very real barbarism unleashed by Hitler's regime, and we root for it to prevail. And it's not like Tarantino's being subtle about this, either. He cast the biggest movie star he's worked with yet in the lead. He cast a fellow director in a key supporting role. He cast (spoiler alert!) Mike "Austin Powers" Myers as a veddy veddy British intelligence officer, and formerly glorious specimen of manhood Rod "The Birds" Taylor as Winston Churchill, and the instantly recognizable voices of Tarantino repertory company members Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel in notable voiceover parts. Within the story itself, one of the main characters is a German movie star turned spy, and another is a German soldier turned movie star, and yet another is the German propaganda minister turned director and studio head. There's a key conversation about King Kong, famously one of Hitler's favorite films. The whole movie centers on a plot called "Operation Kino" that climaxes in a movie theater during the premiere of an ultraviolent German propaganda film based on "real" events. Actual film is used as a weapon for god's sake. But it didn't take me any longer to suss out this theme than Brad Pitt's utterance of the line, "Quite frankly, watching Donnie beat Nazis to death is the closest we get to going to the movies." Even the characters realize they're perpetrating movie violence. And as those who have seen the whole movie can no doubt attest, to say that this is the "movie movie"est movie in Tarantino's oeuvre is to understate the case considerably. Considerably. I mean, the very idea of the movie calls attention to its own movieness. You know how a movie about a plot to kill Hitler has to end, right?
In that sense Inglourious Basterds may be the punkest movie I've seen in I can't even think how long. Maybe ever. It's about nothing less than the power of art to destroy evil. It's about how important it is to love film more than the likes of Hitler hate life. It's about how movie violence, art violence, art designed as a FUCK YOU, can help you deal with the violence that so terrified Chamberlain's cohorts and to which Hitler and his cohorts were so indifferent. It's Woody Guthrie's "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS" guitar slogan made literal. It's a lingering closeup on the bloodlust-saturated eyes of Eli Roth, the beautiful Jewish torture-porn poster boy and enemy of good taste, as he empties a machine gun into the bodies of members of the Third Reich. And it's a total fucking fantasy. Yet that's what makes it so vital. I mean, I'm pretty sure Johnny Rotten wasn't actually the Anti-Christ, but in the end, did it matter? Well, I suppose it did. Punk toppled nothing. But it gave people the power to topple themselves. It gave them a psychic survival mechanism. I guess you could see that as the ultimate con-job of art. I think it's noble. Glourious, even.
Last Wednesday I attended Nine Inch Nails' supposedly final New York City performance ever at Terminal 5. This took place 15 years and three months after my first Nine Inch Nails concert--my first concert by anyone--at Roseland in May of 1994. I attended both with my best friend and AllTooFlat.com major domo Kennyb. I'm not a big concertgoer anymore, I tend to prefer spending $12 or whatever on an album and listening to it in the comfort of my headphones than plunking down $30 or $75 dollars and standing around in some sweaty venue in NYC, then taking the long Long Island Rail Road ride home and getting like six hours of sleep, but no way was I missing NIN's final New York concert. They were my favorite band, identified as such for more than half a decade, and I still love Trent Reznor.
This turned out to be an excellent decision, one of the best I've made in a long time. The evening proved to be enormously cathartic. I screamed along to every word, pouring a year's worth of awfulness out of my mouth and into the sweat that passed for air. "Broken, bruised, forgotten, sore, too fucked up to care anymore." "Still stings these shattered nerves--pigs, we get what pigs deserve." "Hey God, I think you owe me a great big apology." "I'm gonna burn this whole world down." But also: "I want so much to believe." "I am trying to see, I am trying to believe." "What if this whole crusade's a charade?" And ultimately: "I'd rather die than give you control." What was I singing about? The disease that is probably going to kill my poor cat? The addictions and mental illnesses that leveled my family? Whatever-it-was that killed two babies in my wife's womb? The vote I cast for George W. fucking Bush? The town hall screamers? A non-existent God? My ex-love interests? The popular kids I hated for years? My wife? Myself? Human nature? Life? My solipsistic self-regard for thinking any of this matters to anyone else? All these things. As Ryan Dombal said in his review of the band's show at Webster Hall a couple days earlier:
Reznor turned the tiny crowd's unrequited dread into bliss yet again. Just like he did back in high school, or junior high, or even during a irrationally black college-and-beyond bender. Nine Inch Nails may be going dark, but confusion, anger, and despondency will abide.When I was in high school, Nine Inch Nails was the king cool band among my circle. This is pretty far from the case at this point. But I'm still confused and angry and despondent a lot of the time--a lot more deeply so than I was in high school, in all probability. Screaming these lyrics back at Trent Reznor, which honestly is what they were tailor-made to do, I realized all that, and realized how wonderful it felt to vomit all that back out into the world again. As Trent sang "Bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve," I raised my hands in the air, palms open and facing the stage, and suddenly noticed that half the audience had spontaneously done the exact same thing. We were somehow screaming out our fury at conformity, and acknowledging how all of us owed this band the exact same debt for enabling us to do so. I could feel myself getting better, somehow. It was magical.
A while back, I noticed during one of my rare schleps through my rudimentary referrer logs that a blogger who I think used to enjoy my writing called me a twat. (I'm not gonna say who it was or link to the diss. I don't want this to become some kind of lame pissing match. I only bring it up because I'm a big crybaby, not to kick off some kind of blog battle. Those days are long gone. Besides, I've been a giant asshole to people on this blog many times, so it seems churlish to reprimand someone else for turning the tables.) He wouldn't say why he felt that way, but as evidence for my twatitude, he cited this mix I made of my favorite Nine Inch Nails songs, which he characterized as slow-songs-only desperate plea for validation. Leave aside for a moment the fact that this mix included "Wish" and "Gave Up" and "Burn" and "The Becoming" and "Happiness in Slavery" and "Just Like You Imagined" and "10 Miles High," some of the metalest fucking songs in the entire NIN catalog. Leave aside the fact that at the end of the post I promised a completely different mix of songs that I posted a week later, featuring nothing but NIN's booty-shakin' dancefloor bangers. You can even leave aside the fact that it's tough to think of an artist whose work could get you less validation from the critical populace than freaking Nine Inch Nails. The music itself, the emotions it calls to mind, that's all the validation I need. It really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, or what effect it does or doesn't have on anyone else, or whether it ever gets me anywhere better than where I am now except for the moment. The art is enough because it's saying something that's in me. It's giving me control for as long as it takes me to sing that chorus. No matter what happened in the real world, there's value to Eli Roth shooting up a room full of Nazis.
Comments (9)
Thank you for this post, painful though some of it is.
That's the best Inglourious Basterds review I've read. I'd say you've pretty much nailed the film's appeal.
Good show.
That was a fucking magnum opus.
And Inglourious Basterds was magnificent. I didn't sit down and give it that level of in-depth analysis (I believe my rationale behind every decision Tarantino made was because he's motherfucking Tarantino, and he feels like putting a big 70s logo up on the screen while Sam Jackson provides narration about a German officer-killer, thank you very much), but it was a damn good time at the movies. And I love Brad Pitt in broad comedy mode.
Great post. Thank you for not beating up on poor Eli Roth.
Wow, Sean. This review has made me totally rethink Inglourious Basterds. At the time I sort of thought the violence was too lifelike to be funny (maybe it could've used a dose of Bad Taste/Dead-Alive-like effects for levity?)
I'm way more squeamish than my work would suggest, haha.
wow, great post
Thank you, everyone. It means a lot.
Jon, I was STUNNED to read at Jog's place that people don't like Eli Roth in this movie! But I think that's because I'd been avoiding all reviews and only reading about him in the context of people posting pictures of him from the movie and saying "holy jesus christ is he hot." Which he IS!
Man that was a really great post. That's probably the best review of Inglorious Basterds that I've read yet. Furthermore I really want to read that Hitler biography, like, yesterday.
Fantastic post


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A coaxial, lossless transmission line 15m long has a relative
permittivity as a function of frequency as shown in the table
below. The inner conductor has a diameter of 0.5cm and the outer
conductor has a diameter of 4cm. A square voltage pulse having a
duration of 10ns (that is, a pulse width of 10ns) is launched from
position 1 and travels to the right. The pulse reflects off the
load of RL = 100 ohms at
position 2 and returns to position 1. Recall that a square voltage
pulse of short duration has many frequency components that can be
derived by performing a Fourier analysis. For the purposes of this
problem, assume that there are only 3 frequency components to the
square pulse, each of which have the same initial amplitude and
time length. The square pulses of each frequency component
initially exactly overlap in time.
a) What is the total time duration of the pulse as it passes position 1 moving to the left?
b) What is the height of each frequency component in the reflected wave at position 1?
c) Sketch the pulse shape of the reflected wave moving to the left at position 1.


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I use
excel2latex to generate tables from Excel. The issue is that
excel2latex generates really horribly formatted code with extra spaces, misaligned, etc. Does anyone have another solution to creating tables from excel? Alternatively from R? It seems that typing the actual table out could be pretty cumbersome. Another solution might be to have a piece of software that would format the code that
excel2latex generates... does something like this exist? I use notepad++ and TeXWorks to edit the code.
EDIT This is the error I get from running that script:
C:\Users\alchernyakov\Dropbox\beta_var\paper_sys_idio_vol\table_tex_files>perl indent.plx test.tex > formatted_test.tex
Bareword found where operator expected at indent.plx line 9, near "<title>latexindent"
(Missing operator before latexindent?) syntax error at indent.plx line 5, near "html>"
Unrecognized character \xC2; marked by <-- HERE after at master <-- HERE near column 53 at indent.plx line 9.


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Contrary to popular belief, girls can be color blind, although it is rare, according to Livestrong.com, which notes that, "Children as young as three can be tested for color blindness."
To rule out color blindness, Ishihara plates may be used. If a preschooler can find a shape inside of the Ishihara plate, then the child is probably not color blind.
Another simple test that early childhood educators use when children are able to distinguish "same and different", is to put a variety of crayons or colored objects in a place, such as on a table or floor, and hand the child one of the colors and have the child find one that is the same color. Try this several times with various colors to see if there are any colors the child cannot match. People who are color blind will be able to identify some colors, but not others.
In many cases, children learn to identify colors before they learn the concept of "same and different". This is why the Ishihara plates are recommended.
Once you have determined that the preschooler is not color blind, you should feel certain that this child is capable of learning to identify and name the color purple. To help your child remember the color purple, you must get this color deep-rooted into the senses.
For example, your child should closely identify not only what purple looks like, but what purple might feel like, smell like, and taste like. While purple does not typically have a sound, you can get your preschooler to associate sounds or songs with the color while teaching about it.
purple irises
Purple irises
Purple irises generally have a very pleasant aroma. They are also very soft to the touch and blow softly in a breeze. Allow your preschooler to smell the irises.
purple art materials
Purple Art Supplies
Many preschoolers tend to be hands-on learners. Using the color purple for artwork is a hands-on approach to teaching them to name and identify the color. Let them know what color it is they are using to color their paper and ask them later what color they used.
Grape jelly
Give purple a taste. Whenever preschoolers are drinking grape juice or spreading jelly on a sandwich or cracker, ask them what color the juice or jelly is. Ask them how it tastes and they will associate the color purple with something sweet.


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Every state in the Union is known to one degree or another for having stupid laws, but what about laws that are downright weird? When you hear some of them, it makes you wonder what might have happened to get the law written to begin with. In fact, it's downright laughable that the laws made it into the law books to begin with, but even more so that they remain there.
Baltimore is no different from any other city or state when it comes to stupid and weird laws either. In fact, some of those on the books are well beyond silly or weird. Here they are:
No person who is a "tramp" or "vagrant" shall loiter in any park at any time.
It is a violation of city code to sell chicks or ducklings to a minor within 1 week of the Easter holiday.
It's illegal to throw bales of hay from a second-story window within the city limits.
It's illegal to take a lion to the movies.
It is a park rule violation to be in a public park with a sleeveless shirt.
Though you may spit on a city roadway, spitting on city sidewalks is prohibited.
You may not curse inside the city limits.
Now, "back in the day", with things being as they were once upon a time, we can certainly see where a law like not cursing inside of city limits may have been made, but taking a lion to the movies? What brought that one on? One can only wonder! Have you heard of some crazy law in Baltimore that's not listed here? Leave a comment and let everyone


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It sounded so simple... not really, but things have changed since I bought my Akai sound-on-sound tape recorder back in the '70s. This time around, after looking at several different models, decided on the Tascam DP-008 PortaStudio. I'm old school and feel more comfortable with the knobs, rather than the hand-held models that force you to press and press buttons, before you can actually record a track. Other folks must like those units, and they record pretty well, too. It's just a matter of preference, and the layout of the DP-008 just feels more like what I remember a recording studio to be.
So, I brought the little unit home and like everyone else just started playing around with it. The manual goes through most of the functions reasonably well, but actually recording was a bit confusing until I figured out to hold down the REC button while pressing the PLAY button. Also, had some trouble getting my Phonak SmartLink SX to work with it. So, after about an hour, I was done with my first session.
I have not used a recorder in a while and found myself having a case of the 'studio butterflies'. I started a new song, recording a song I've played for about 40 years or so. I just couldn't get it down right, but I did manage to learn how to use the PortaStudio basic fuctions.
The important thing I learned though was even if you are using your own 'studio', have your material well rehearsed! Wasting time with 'do-overs' is still a waste of time.
At any rate, I'm happy I finally will be able to record and hear how I really sound. Next, I have to get some worthy mics and mic stands.
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Mar 10, 2014 8:50 AM
Obviously, we'll never stop trying to make "fetch" happen. We're wearing it etched in gold! If that doesn't say how much we're committed to a cause, what does?
Gretchen Bracelet ($110)
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Greg Emslie
Bells Result: 33 Previous Result: 17 ASP Rating: =29
Everything you possibly need to know about Greg "Bigfoot" Emslie can be learned by watching the seminal 1987 film "Harry and Hendersons," backwards, while simultaneously listening to side two of Led Zeppelin IV, also backwards, while trying to snort lines of vintage angel dust cut with vintage Clark Foam dust. Mind you, the lines must be bumped in a spiral pattern, off the vinyl record, forwards, while a friend diligently spins the record backwards, at exactly 33 1/3 rpm. When Robert Plant sings "bustle in your hedgerow" backwards during Stairway to Heaven, you will clearly hear a satanic voice state "Bigfoot will lose to Drew Courtney in R1." Meanwhile, onscreen, as John Lithgow says backwards "I wanted King Kong, you brought me a goddamn giant gerbil," you will hear a gerbil say "Not Richard Gere again!!!"
Phillip MacDonald
Bells Result: 33 Previous Result: 33 ASP Rating: =39
The images haunt me to this day. Yes, there is no proof. There isn't even a Zapruder-esque film. But the rumors persist – Phil MacDonald sunk into a dark depression after falling off the ASP World Tour. Facing the reality of his own post-competitive irrelevancy, MacDonald hired a media consultant who provided only one viable alternative: Ride for MacDonald's, and ride as Ronald MacDonald. Darkhorse Macca has never been able to rise to prominence in the States – while Ronald MacDonald is recognized by 96% of all school children in America. Phil spurned the suggestion, with its clown makeup and wettie. He also spurned the plan to re-brand himself as a young Dr. Phil, flummoxing opponents via jovial straight-talk therapy during heats. He chose to stay a faceless power-monger. The Result? Two 33rds, the latest at the hands of the more marketable power-monger Taylor Knox.
Michel Bourez
Bells Result: 17 Previous Result: 33 ASP Rating: =29
Back to this whole nickname issue: Gabe Kling is lacking, as we established yesterday. Michel Bourez? He's packing, baby: goes by the nickname of The Spartan. That's a solid handle, whether you happen to be a gay porn star or the most promising Tahitian pro surfer we've seen in a decade. Surf pundits expected big things from The Spartan at the Quikpro, but unfortunately The Spartan did not deliver. Or rather, he delivered an eyeful of a surfing style worthy of a new nickname: The Spastic Colon. But at Bells, the Spartan was back, demolishing Roy Powers in R1. Yet Bourez ran into a wee bit of a problem in R2: a surfer by the name of Parko. Michel surfed admirably, put up twin 5.83's, but fell too many times and wilted in the face of Parko's 9.23 highwave.
Dustin Barca
Bells Result: 33 Previous Result: 17 ASP Rating: =29
As a child, I suffered debilitating night terrors. I'd lash out at invisible demons, only to wake myself up screaming. I'd sleepwalk out the front door, sneak into the house of my benevolent Godly neighbor Mr. Flanders, and piss in his coffee machine, without ever waking up. The nightmares usually involved mutated scenes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But in my dreams, when the pagan leader tore my heart out, and showed it to me, still beating, his face would not be that of the actor in the film. It would be the face of Dustin Barca. That is why, to this day, nothing scares me more than this friendly, misunderstood Hawaiian with a heart of gold, who, on a completed unrelated note, is well-trained in hand to hand combat. Tiago "Indy" Pires (who is twice the man I am) valiantly slayed Barca in R1 at Bells.
Nic Muscroft
Bells Result: 33 Previous Result: 17 ASP Rating: =29
The ASP somewhat vaguely insists that they're moving towards a unified ratings system (heretofore a holy grail of professional surfing, much like the unified theory of everything is the holy grail of Physics, haunting Einstein till his death). Despite this, The Power Rankings, for simplicity's sake, will focus on the official ASP Top 45. Meaning replacement surfers like Jay Thompson are being unfairly overlooked, and wildcards like Bells finalist Adam Robertson receive only passing mention. Like Robertson, Nic Muscroft is a previously-unknown Victorian. Unlike Robertson, Muscroft completely squandered his best chance at making an impact on tour. With Nic getting a 33rd at home (Dingo made short work of the local boy, who put up only 10.17 and never held the lead) it's hard to imagine success coming anywhere else.
Ben Dunn
Bells Result: 33 Previous Result: 33 ASP Rating: =39
Are the Power Rankings good for pro surfing? Often, pro surfers suggest to me that they are NOT good for pro surfers, at least, for one simple reason: I point out the obvious. Prior to my arrival, the obvious used to be left unsaid. Comfortably sponsored surfers believed that their obvious shortcomings would somehow not be noticed by their sponsors. And then I ruined everything by spelling the obvious out, and some surfers became concerned that once their sponsors read the obvious online, their careers would be jeopardized. Ben Dunn is sadly a surfer who is hiding from the obvious: he's as boring as a Pet Rock, and that was before he started the year with two 33rds. Worse yet, his latest loss comes at the feet of fellow Rip Curl rider Kekoa Bacalso, who is obviously a more talented, more marketable, more interesting alternative to Ben Dunn.


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No I didn't walk Thursday
Friday, May 24, 2013
I had planned not to go out walking so it was alright! Friday and Saturday I will be walking so that is 5 of 7 days walking and breaks things up some.
I went down with my Mom to my Aunt's apartment on the other side of town. Plus we went out to the store, went to Sports Authority so I could get a Pedometer & to the library to get my library card.
Before we went to my Aunt's place we stopped off at Smiths and inside is Starbucks and I had a Grande soy chai at 170 degrees. I didn't eat anything because they had nothing to eat and I tried to find something in the store but I just waited until about 1230 to have lunch which was pasta and thin chicken strips. I should of had fruit or vegetables with that but you can't have it all. After the pizza and crap eat for 2 days I have to get it back together with fruit and vegetables, soy and whole grains and such. I need to pick up yoghurt, some fruit, broccoli and maybe some soba noodles/Asian fare. Quinoa as well~
Now, I think I'm getting it through my head that portion size matters in regards to food. I think I had a mental block going on since I've never had to worry about portion sizes previously. I never ate majorly out of control portions at meals but portion control matters in concert with exercise and movement every day. I'm an organized schedule following type of girl so I'm going to make things a bit easier on myself.
Since I'm that vampire girl who is up at night a lot of the time and I have dinner about 530pm, do exercise out walking from round 7-830pm and have a snack round 10pm, lunch round 130-2am and trying to get in the breakfast about 5am. I want to add in more movement about 730 in the morning for about 30-45 minutes and that will be my aerobics, Tae-Bo, dance time. I usually sleep from 9am-4pm so nothing is going on but that. I would like to add in more walking or steps and I live in a two level house so I go up and down stairs as much as possible! I do housework but I don't really consider that exercise unless it vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom, taking out trash & recycle etc...I just consider that moving round honestly.
I'm working on getting my mentality more into strength training mode because I'm just bad lazy in that area and I figured it may take a minute to flip the switch to get my motivation going on there. I've always loved different forms of dance so anything that reminds me of dance or gets me into getting this girls body to be motivated and stick with exercise and movement I'm all for it. I think some of the issue is I've just been nervous in life to seriously injure myself since I've suffered many health issues physically but its why I started out walking first so I can gain strength and energy. Then I would be less nervous about not being able to get the movement muscle on. I'm just about confident I can get in more movement without injury or stress.
Okay, so the right food choices, exercise, more movement, good sleep, good music, great reads and spirituality all in concert together makes for a much better Kayah~
Happy Friday!!!!!!
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text:
# of Nights: # of Rooms: 1
Floral Arch
Wedding Celebrant
Day Use Room for preparations
Bride's bouquet & Groom's buttonhole
Wedding Venue with a picturesque view
Return transfers between Ship Dock & Resort
Maid of Honor's posey & Best Man buttonhole
One-hour cocktail with a round of drinks &
light canapés after the ceremony
Registration & administration
Wedding Planner
From 177,700 Vatu
Check www.xe.com for the conversion to your local currency.
For the Bride & Groom who are cruise ship passengers, and 8 of their guests. Terms & Conditions apply to all wedding packages.
Additional guests: 5,206 Vatu per person.


text:
While eCademy Charter School, the newest addition to the Turlock Unified School District, has only been open for four academic years, the school is revamping its program.
Graduation rates around the state of California climbed for the sixth year in a row in 2015, and local school districts were no exception to the boosted success.
Following the community's growing demand for highly-skilled, credentialed medical assistance, the Modesto Junior College Medical Assistance Program will now offer a spring semester option after previously being offered only in the fall.
The Turlock High School Math Club once again has a reason – or reasons – to celebrate. The club won big at the Modesto Junior College 43rd Dick Schaff Mathematics Superbowl on April 9, placing in the competition's individual, partner and team events.
Preparations are underway for the third year of Stanislaus State's annual fundraising campaign, One Purpose. Over the past two years, the campaign has raised more than $1.5 million for student scholarships.
Denair Unified School District trustees signaled support Thursday night for a 2016-17 budget that includes small salary increases for all employees and one-time investments in technology and academic programs.
The Turlock Unified School District Board of Trustees took recommendations from the Bond Advisory Committee regarding the feasibility of proposed projects for the potential November 2016 bond measure at Tuesday's meeting. Though it was recommended that the Board vote to determine the proposed facilities for the bond measure, the vote was postponed due to uncertainty of which proposed projects should be placed on the measure.
For many students, the arrival of summer is a cause for celebration. But, countless other children see the break from school as a loss of the daily nutritious meals provided by campus cafeterias, leading to food insecurity and hunger over the summer months. School districts in the area are addressing this problem by offering lunches to students over the summer, free of charge.
Graduation is a special time for many in the Valley, but for one Turlock family it was especially unique. Five members of the Briones family graduated from different schools in the area this spring, continuing the ideal of the importance of education that has always been at the family's core.
There are many extracurricular activities available for students at Delhi High School, but one in particular has given a group of students a chance to make a difference in the small community.
Just over a year ago, Breanna Mendoza was unsure if she would ever graduate eighth grade.
As graduates of Stanislaus State move on to bigger and better things, the university has welcomed a new face to lead the school into the future. The California State University Board of Trustees has appointed Ellen N. Junn, Ph.D., as president of Stanislaus State.
The Stanislaus Community Foundation and its scholarship partners awarded scholarships totaling over $57,000 to local students for the 2016-17 academic school year.
Turlock Adult School held its commencement ceremony on Wednesday, kicking off Turlock's graduation season. Students in the area will be marching to the beat of Pomp and Circumstance over the course of the next two weeks, with nine schools holding graduation ceremonies.
Fifth grade students at Cunningham Elementary got a chance to display their float-building expertise on Wednesday when the school held its annual State Float Parade. Floats celebrating each of the nation's 50 states were marched throughout the campus, giving parents, teachers and others in attendance a chance to celebrate the approaching Memorial Day.
Page 1 of 119
The Department of Defense often goes out of its way to recognize and support the education of America's future scientists, one of which is ...
The Turlock Unified School District Board of Trustees approved the 2016-17 through 2018-19 Local Control Accountability Plan for the District and eCademy at their June ...
The Merced Community College Board of Trustees has begun the search for the next Superintendent/President of Merced College and is hoping that the community ...
After nearly a year of advisory meetings, workshops, surveys and analysis, the Turlock Unified School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to place two ...
The University of California, Merced, has announced plans for its next major phase of campus development. The four-year construction project will nearly double the physical ...
College students tend to have a lot on their plates, like homework, papers and exams. But, the one thing that many are missing on their ...
Page 1 of 1
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MEDINA — Bull riding, a BMX bike show and a life-size plastic cow are some of the new attractions at this year's Medina County Fair, from July 28 to Aug. 3.
The fair board purchased a life-size mechanical cow that can be milked as part of the fair's agriculture center to promote agricultural education.
"We just wanted to have more for the kids to do," said Conrad Haneberg, president of the Medina County Agricultural Society Board of Directors.
Fair coordinators have contracted bikers from Solution Action Sports, a sporting company based in Yorktown, Indiana, for a BMX show that will be free and open to the public two to three times a day throughout the week.
Also new this year is a bull riding show put on by Buckin' Ohio, a family-owned bucking bull ranch in Burbank.
They will also have a "mutton bustin'" sheep event for children and barrel racing.
Other grandstand events throughout the week include a 1980s and newer demolition derby at 7 p.m. Monday, a motocross event at 6 p.m. Tuesday, a rough truck contest at 7 p.m. Wednesday, a draft horse and pony show at 9 a.m. Friday, an old iron demolition derby at 7 p.m. Friday, a modified truck and tractor pull at 7 p.m. Saturday and a farm tractor pull at 9 a.m. Sunday.
The fair will also have a school exhibit for preschool through high school children to enter and showcase writing, science or social studies projects that they have done in school.
"Our idea of the fair is to appeal to every age," Medina County Fair Director Pam Oberholtzer said.
The fair will also have its annual agriculture competitions.
"Our mission is to keep agriculture in front of everyone because many people in our county still don't know where their food comes from or how it's processed," Oberholtzer said.
The fair will end Sunday, Aug. 3, with a fireworks show.
Oberholtzer said a new feature the fair's board of directors decided to try this year is etickets.
She said etickets allow people to easily choose seating for main events and purchase tickets ahead of time.
Oberholtzer said tickets are "selling like crazy" for the fair's headliner show: The Band Perry performance at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 31.
Haneberg said the $35 tickets for the show went on sale over a month ago.
"According to the ticket sales, we're expecting a big crowd that night," he said.
Tickets are available only at the fair office, 710 W. Smith Road, Medina, or online at www.medina-fair.com, where a full schedule for the fair is available.


text:
Resource Links
Montessori Philosophy
Montessori Approach
Montessori Classroom
Montessori in the Home
Day in the Life
Thank you for taking the time to visit our site and wanting to learn more about the value of Montessori education. These pages will direct you to available resources including online materials for both parents and children, material suppliers and more. We also host parent education nights to provide information on Montessoir education. If you want more information on IMA or our Primary Program or to attend a parent education night, please contact us directly.
Where did Montessori come from?
Where can I find a good, brief, introduction to Montessori from
birth through the school years?
What is the difference between
Montessori and traditional education?
Can I do Montessori at home with my
What materials are used?
Are Montessori schools religious?
Is Montessori good for children with learning disabilities?
Are Montessori children successful later in life?
Why do children use the materials
individually? They learn to share?Are the children free to do anything?
If I choose a traditional public or
private elementary school for my child, how will he/she adjust?
The schedule - The three-hour work
Multi-age grouping
Work centers
Teaching method - "Teach by
teaching, not by correcting"
Teaching Ratio - 1:1 and 1:30+
Basic lessons
Areas of study
Class size
Learning styles
Requirements for age 0-6
Requirements for ages 6-18
Character education
From the International Montessori Index
Montessori (pronounced
MON-tuh-SORE-ee) education was founded in 1907 by Dr. Maria Montessori, the
first woman in Italy to become a physician. She based her educational methods on scientific
observation of children's learning processes. Guided by her discovery that
children teach themselves, Dr. Montessori designed a "prepared
environment" in which children could freely choose from a number of
developmentally appropriate activities. Now, nearly a century after Maria
Montessori's first casa dei bambini ("children's house") in Rome, Montessori education
is found all over the world, spanning ages from birth to adolescence.
Where can I find a good, brief,
introduction to Montessori from birth through the school years?
At the Michael Olaf Montessori
"text" site there is actually an E-book of Montessori philosophy and
practice: www.michaelolaf.net.
Montessori emphasizes learning
through all five senses, not just through listening, watching, or reading.
Children in Montessori classes learn at their own, individual pace and
according to their own choice of activities from hundreds of possibilities.
Learning is an exciting process of discovery, leading to concentration,
motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning. Montessori classes place
children in three-year age groups (3-6, 6-9, 9-12, and so on), forming
communities in which the older children spontaneously share their knowledge
with the younger ones. Montessori represents an entirely different approach to
What is the Difference in Montessori versus Traditional Education
Montessori Education
Traditional Education
Emphasis on cognitive structures and social development
Emphasis on rote knowledge and social development
Teacher's role is unobtrusive; child actively participates in
Teacher's role is dominant, active; child is a passive
Environment and method encourage internal self-discipline
Teacher is primary enforcer of external discipline
Individual and group instruction adapts to each student's
learning style
Individual and group instruction conforms to the adult's
teaching style
Mixed-age grouping
Same-age grouping
Children encouraged to teach, collaborate, and help each other
Most teaching done by teacher and collaboration is discouraged
Child formulates concepts from self-teaching materials
Child is guided to concepts by teacher
Child sets own pace to internalize information
Instruction pace set by group norm or teacher
Child works as long as he/she wants on a chosen project
Child usually is given specific time for work
Child spots own errors through feedback from material
Errors corrected by teacher
Learning is reinforced internally through child's own
repetition of activity, internal feelings of success
Learning is reinforced externally by rewards, discouragement
Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration development
Few materials for sensory, concrete manipulation
Organized program for learning care of self and self-care
environment (shoe polishing, sink washing, etc.)
Little emphasis on instruction or classroom maintenance
Child can work where he/she is comfortable; the child moves
and talks at will (yet doesn't disturb others); group work is voluntary and
Child assigned seat; encouraged to sit still and listen during
group sessions
Organized program for parents to understand the Montessori
philosophy and participate in the learning process
Voluntary parent involvement, often only as fundraisers, not
participants in understanding the learning process
Yes, you can use Montessori
principles of child development at home. Look at your home through your child's
eyes. Children need a sense of belonging, and they get it by participating
fully in the routines of everyday life. "Help me do it by myself" is
the life theme of the preschooler. Can you find ways for your child to
participate in meal preparation, cleaning, gardening, caring for clothes,
shoes, and toys? Providing opportunities for independence is the surest way to
build your child's self-esteem.
At the school level many
homeschooling and other parents use the Montessori philosophy of following
the child's interest and not interrupting concentration to educate their
In school only a trained Montessori
teacher can properly implement Montessori education, using the specialized
learning equipment of the Montessori "prepared environment." Here
social development comes from being in a positive and unique environment with
other children -- an integral part of Montessori education.
It is the philosophy and the
knowledge of the teacher that is essential in the success of a Montessori
class. One must be wary of the use of
the words "Montessori materials" as many people today use the words
as a selling point for materials that have no use in the Montessori classroom
and can be distracting and impede a child's progress.
The "sensorial," math, and
some of the language and cultural materials (metal insets, sandpaper letters,
puzzle maps, bells, for example) are professionally manufactured according to
traditional standards that have been tested over many years. However even some
of these are made by newer companies that do not fully understand the reason
for certain details and so produce materials that are not as successful. There
is a "materials committee" in Holland that oversees the quality of materials used in an AMI (Association Montessori
Internationale) school, for example.
Montessori, for very good reasons,
make many of their own practical life and language material instead of buying them—as
they learn to do in their training, depending on where in the world they live.
They gather practical life materials piece by piece. This is an important
process that gives a unique quality to each classroom that expresses the
culture, and ideas of beauty in each community—instead of all classrooms
looking alike with no personal touches.
Materials in the classroom, without
being used correctly by a trained teacher, are usually worthless in creating a
real Montessori class, but they can help in some ways in non-Montessori
situations. For example the math materials have been used to teach a concept
sensorially thus helping a child to make the abstraction. Educational materials
in the Montessori method serve a very different purpose than in traditional education
where the text books are ordered and the teacher learns how to use them. This
difference is because in Montessori the child learns from the environment, and
it is the teacher's job to put the child in touch with the environment, not to
"teach" the child. Thus the creation of the environment, and
selection of materials, is done mostly by the teacher and is very important.
In Montessori education having too
many materials is often worse than not having enough. In this country (USA)
there are many materials suppliers, unfortunately, who are not Montessori
trained and do not understand the purpose of materials, and who sell items that
scatter the child's energy, or waste time, clutter the environment, etc. It is
very important to choose carefully when selecting materials for using the
Montessori method of education in school or in the home.
Some are, but most are not. Some
Montessori schools, just like other schools, operate under the auspices of a
church, synagogue, or diocese, but most are independent of any religious
Is Montessori good for children with
learning disabilities?
Montessori is designed to help all
children reach their fullest potential at their own unique pace. A classroom
whose children have varying abilities is a community in which everyone learns
from one another and everyone contributes. Moreover, multiage grouping allows
each child to find his or her own pace without feeling "ahead" or
"behind" in relation to peers.
Are Montessori children successful
later in life?
Research studies show that
Montessori children are well prepared for later life academically, socially,
and emotionally. In addition to scoring well on standardized tests, Montessori
children are ranked above average on such criteria as following directions,
turning in work on time, listening attentively, using basic skills, showing
responsibility, asking provocative questions, showing enthusiasm for learning,
and adapting to new situations.
children need freedom to explore the materials without 'interruptions. Just as
adults dislike distractions when involved in a task, children prefer to
complete their activities without distractions. In the Montessori environment,
they develop their ability to focus their attention. Without unnecessary
interruptions, their attention span increases and they develop concentration
skills. Before children spontaneously share, they must feel free not to share.
In the Montessori environment, the adults protect the right to explore an
activity by themselves at their own pace. Sharing evolves naturally from the
classroom experience. When they desire, they share by communicating and helping
others. The sharing is natural and spontaneous because it comes from within the
child, rather than being forced arbitrary by an adult.
children are free to explore the environment and interpersonal relationships in
constructive ways and within limits. The underlying theme is respect; the adult
respects the individuality of each child, the children learn that others have
needs and fights, and that they must respect those needs and rights, the
children are free to explore only so long as their explorations do not include
actions that hurt or disturb any other child. The children learn that what is
good for the group is acceptable and what is not good for the group is
goal is to prepare children for life's experiences. We prepare them in the
academic area so that most children enter first grade reading or on the brink
of reading. They have a firm understanding of the concept of numbers and the
decimal system. Their abilities to organize themselves and to solve problems
are excellent. Their listening skills and their abilities to respect others and
participate in the community are remarkable. Their confidence and communication
skills are very high. Most importantly of all, they love school and learning
and have positive feelings about themselves. These qualities are assets in any
the International Montessori Index
Under the age of six, there are one
or two 3-hour, uninterrupted, work periods each day, not broken up by required
group lessons. Older children schedule meetings or study groups with each other
the teacher when necessary. Adults and children respect concentration and do
not interrupt someone who is busy at a task. Groups form spontaneously or are
arranged ahead by special appointment. They almost never take precedence over
self-selected work. Note: For more information on the "three-hour work
period" see the chapter "My Contribution to Experimental
Science" from The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume I, by Dr. Maria
Children are grouped in mixed ages
and abilities in three to six year spans: 0-3, 3-6, 6-12 (sometimes temporarily
6-9 and 9-12), 12-15, 15-18. There is constant interaction, problem solving,
child to child teaching, and socialization. Children are challenged according
to their ability and never bored. The Montessori middle and high school teacher
ideally has taken all three training courses plus graduate work in an academic
area or areas.
The environment is arranged
according to subject area, and children are always free to move around the room
instead of staying at desks. There is no limit to how long a child can work
with a piece of material. At any one time in a day all subjects -- math,
language, science, history, geography, art, music, etc., will be being studied,
at all levels.
There are no papers turned back with
red marks and corrections. Instead the child's effort and work is respected as
it is. The teacher, through extensive observation and record-keeping, plans
individual projects to enable each child to learn what he needs in order to
Except for infant/toddler groups
(Ratio dictated by local social service regulations), the teaching ratio is one
trained Montessori teacher and one non-teaching aide to 30+ children. Rather
than lecturing to large or small groups of children, the teacher is trained to
teach one child at a time, and to oversee thirty or more children working on a
broad array of tasks. She is facile in the basic lessons of math, language, the
arts and sciences, and in guiding a child's research and exploration,
capitalizing on his interest in and excitement about a subject. The teacher
does not make assignments or dictate what to study or read, nor does she set a
limit as to how far a child follows an interest.
The Montessori teacher spends a lot
of time during teacher training practicing the many lessons with materials in
all areas. She must pass a written and oral exam on these lessons in order to
be certified. She is trained to recognize a child's readiness according to age,
ability, and interest in a specific lesson, and is prepared to guide individual
All subjects are interwoven, not
taught in isolation, the teacher modeling a "Renaissance" person of
broad interests for the children. A child can work on any material he
understands at any time.
Except for infant/toddler groups,
the most successful classes are of 30-35 children to one teacher (who is very
well trained for the level she is teaching), with one non-teaching assistant.
This is possible because the children stay in the same group for three to six
years and much of the teaching comes from the children and the environment.
All kinds of intelligences and
styles of learning are nurtured: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, intuitive, and the traditional linguistic and
logical-mathematical (reading, writing, and math). This particular model is
backed up by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple
There are no grades, or other forms
of reward or punishment, subtle or overt. Assessment is by portfolio and the
teacher's observation and record keeping. The test of whether or not the system
is working lies in the accomplishment and behavior of the children, their
happiness, maturity, kindness, and love of learning and level of work.
There are no academic requirements
for this age, but children are exposed to amazing amounts of knowledge and
often learn to read, write and calculate beyond what is usually thought
interesting to a child of this age.
The teacher remains alert to the
interests of each child and facilitates individual research in following
interests. There are no curriculum requirements except those set by the state,
or college entrance requirements, for specific grade levels. These take a
minimum amount of time. From age six on, students design contracts with the
teacher to guide their required work, to balance their general work, and to
teach them to become responsible for their own time management and education.
The work of the 6+ class includes subjects usually not introduced until high
school or college.
Education of character is considered
equally with academic education, children learning to take care of themselves,
their environment, each other - cooking, cleaning, building, gardening, moving
gracefully, speaking politely, being considerate and helpful, doing social work
in the community, etc.
Located in the Village of WestClay, IMA is a convenient location if you are looking for Carmel Montessori schools or Indianapolis Montessori schools.
Village of WestClay12760 Horseferry Road, Suite 100Carmel, Indiana 46032317.569.1290email: email@example.com
Copyright © 2011. Indiana Montessori Academy. All Rights Reserved.


text:
I thought I had ssl set up correctly, but I discovered a problem.
This part is OK:
ssldomain.com goes to
But this isn't working:
www.ssldomain.com is going to
http://anotherdomain.com, which happens to be the first vhost on the machine. In other words, I have a non-SSL vhost running on that server, and
www.ssldomain.com is bouncing to that one.
I used this utiltiy and verified that my Commodo "PositiveSSL" certificate covers the domain both with and without the "www".
I'm using Apache 2.2.3-65.
Here's my config in
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName www.ssldomain.com
ServerAlias ssldomain.com
DocumentRoot "/opt/deployed_rails_apps/ssl_site/current/public"
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/www.ssldomain.com.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/www.ssldomain.com.pem
SSLCACertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/www.ssldomain.com.ca-bundle
SSLHonorCipherOrder On
SSLCipherSuite ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:AES128-GCM-SHA256:RC4:HIGH:!MD5:!aNULL:!EDH
SSLProtocol all -SSLv2
Header add Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15768000"
ErrorLog "logs/ssldomain.com-ssl-error_log"
CustomLog "logs/ssldomain.com-ssl-access_log" common
CustomLog "logs/ssldomain.com-ssl-deflate_log" deflate
<Directory "/opt/deployed_rails_apps/rock_pebble/current/public">
Options -MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
# apachectl -S
VirtualHost configuration:
wildcard NameVirtualHosts and _default_ servers:
*:443 ssldomain.com (/etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf:230)
*:80 is a NameVirtualHost
default server anotherdomain.com (/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:232)
port 80 namevhost anotherdomain.com (/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:232)
Syntax OK


text:
Sex: Straight Up
Kathleen O'Reilly
April 2008, Series Romance
Harl Blaze #388, $4.99, 214 pages, Amazon ASIN 0373793928Part of a series
I'd definitely classify Sex: Straight Up as a buried treasure. Why buried? Well, the title is more than a little embarrassing. I get that it's called that because the hero's family owns a bar, but still you read it and think that the book is just about tawdry sex. Straight up. It's not, though; the characters are well-rounded, and there's definitely more than sex going on here.
Daniel O'Sullivan has always been the quiet brother. Unlike gregarious bar owner Gabe and flirtatious lawyer, Sean, Daniel is an accountant who is happy working with numbers. The other thing that sets him apart is that he never dates. His wife, also an accountant, died in the September 11th attacks, and though it's been seven years, he is sure he can never open his heart to another.
When Daniel's brothers strong-arm him into attending a week-end house party in the Hamptons, he meets Catherine Montefiore. She's an art appraiser working for her grandfather's auction house, and when she sees Daniel brooding alone on the beach, she simply can't wait to draw him. Though it's atypical for both of them, they end up spending the rest of the weekend together. It ends badly when Catherine spots Daniel's wedding ring and assumes that he is cheating on his wife. They part, thinking they'll never see each other again.
Of course, they see each other again. Damning e-mails surface that seem to indicate that the Montefiore auction house is conspiring with a competitor to artificially inflate commission structures. All evidence suggests that Catherine's grandfather is the one responsible. An independent auditor is called in, and naturally Daniel is on the team. At first, Catherine and Daniel successfully avoid each other (although she quickly finds out he is a widower rather than an adulterer). But of course, their strong chemistry keeps pulling them together. Initially, Catherine is okay with the no-strings-attached sex, but as their relationship grows, she knows she wants more. Daniel will need to come to terms with his wife's death before he can truly explore a relationship with Catherine. They will also need to discover the truth behind the shady commission practices.
Even from a brief summary, you can tell this is about much more than sex. Catherine and Daniel are tenderly drawn characters with realistic problems. Initially, I was afraid Daniel would be the brooding "why me" hero we've all seen a million times before. While he does struggle with the guilt involved in moving on, he's never a jerk, and he (thankfully) spends little time feeling sorry for himself.
The accounting subplot is surprisingly fun and different. Its relative lack of glamour (compared to the legions of SEAL, covert something or other, and sheriff plots) is actually refreshing. Watching people solve a problem through numbers rather than guns has a lot of appeal.
It all adds up to a quick, enjoyable read. If you're a series fan, this is one not to miss. And if you only read series romances now and then, Sex: Straight Up is a good one to pick up...embarrassing title and all.
-- Blythe Barnhill