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A couple of weeks ago Mickey's mom came for a weekend visit. She is our Aunty because our mom is her sister. They decided to go for a late afternoon drive to Peggy's Cove. They took their cameras and got lots and lots of photos.
Mickey made a post about this. Click on his name to read about this.
Here are some photos our mombean took.
This is Mickey's mom in front of the famous lighthouse which has recently had a fresh coat of paint. Great backdrop for mombean's photo, we think.
This small cove is home to a working fishing village. Here is a photo of some of the fishing boats and gear.
Some creative soul that needed a break from work, put together this comfortable looking bench. We wouldn't mind curling up on that, and the view would be awesome too - all those fishies and gulls to watch.
Another creative soul with way too much time on his (or her) hands made a small hut out of lobster traps. It has a door, which seemed to be locked, and a tarpaulin roof.
More buoys. Buoys are placed in the water as markers. they mark where there is danger or where the fishing gear is. In this case they are hanging to dry - or - simply there for decoration!
One view of the cove
...another. This view shows that mom was walking up the hill towards the lighthouse, and took this one looking back.
Mombean got a picture of the water rushing over the huge rocks.
to show you all the immense size of the rocks, mombean included some other visitors in this shot to give the rocks some scale.
There were lots of people taking photos.
It started to get dark though, so mombean quickly took a picture of the giftshop and dining room with its lights aglow.
Well that's it for the tour.
from your #1 tour guide, Mindy
...and from your equally able tour guide, Moe
We love showing you some of our coast. We wanted to send you all a postcard, so mombean helped us make one for you. Enjoy.
We are indoor cats and this is our blog. Moe is an orange boy with a puffy tail and Mindy is a grey girl with a white tummy. we are also litter mates. We were born outdoors and formerly feral. The two of us were the original 'Team Tabby' That was in 2001. Later we were joined by Cookie, a brown tabby (who is blind) and Mike, a bi-colored tabby. They both needed a new home and we had space for them.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
By the Sea
Posted by Team Tabby at 12:07 AM 19 comments: Links to this post
Labels: By the Sea and postcard
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wordless Wednesday
Here are the angels -
.....but where is the little devil that broke into this bag of donuts?
no one will say as it is Wordless Wednesday - how convenient!
.....but where is the little devil that broke into this bag of donuts?
no one will say as it is Wordless Wednesday - how convenient!
Posted by Team Tabby at 10:47 AM 9 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Wordless Wednesday donut thief
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subset: commoncrawl


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Access to high-speed, quality broadband or wireless Internet is something that many expect nowadays for uses from entertainment to business. If you live in Summit County, chances are you may not have the fastest Internet, and the county wants to do something about that.
Summit County Manager Bob Jasper noted that efficient broadband access is key to achieving one of the county's strategic goals.
"One of our strategic goals is economic diversity both to diversify our economic base and strengthen it," Jasper said. "The whole issue of rapid and efficient connectivity is a key to that."
Right now the county is in what Jasper calls the "exploratory" stage of assessing broadband service levels countywide. Meetings have been planned with area Internet providers such as AllWest and Century Link, with some preliminary conversations already underway.
According to Summit County Council Member Roger Armstrong, "We're going to have meetings with wireless providers to see what levels of service they provide. We want to see what their current plans are for expansion and upgrade as well as whether there's anything the county can do to incentivize upgrades."
Armstrong noted that adequate broadband access is crucial not only to private households but also to future development in attracting new businesses. He stated that roughly 60 percent of businesses in the Snyderville Basin are home-based and that, to them, broadband is "very important.
Businesses that the county would like to grow, Armstrong said, include those that are tech-related and in the medical research field that "cross a very broad spectrum from professional to clerical."
"Broadband is very critical sociologically and with the specific kinds of businesses we're looking at recruiting to the county, higher levels of broadband speed are going to be necessary to bring in these businesses," Armstrong said.
Jasper echoed that sentiment.
"We have a number of people here who hold very high positions, whether they're CEOs or they own their own companies, and they have secondary or primary homes here," Jasper said. "To connect properly and quickly is important to them to make their businesses run."
Armstrong added that when infrastructure was being developed for the 2002 Winter Olympics, a good amount of fiber-optic cable line was installed along State Road 224 and down S.R. 248 towards Deer Valley. "The broadband is here, but connecting to that can be expensive," he said.
Jasper says that the county is working with individual cities to see how they can connect to these fiber-optic cables. He said AllWest, which serves much of Eastern Summit County, is slowly working its way to the Snyderville Basin and Park City area.
Armstrong pointed out the drastic differences in Internet speeds that Century Link provides to the county.
"If you look at what Century Link provides, they have a modest level of service in Park Meadows at about 3 megabytes per second (mbps) -- other parts of the county they can provide 20 to 40 mbps," Armstrong said.
Armstrong wants to address what he sees as an issue in the development code where broadband access is not included as mandatory for new development. He suggested a requirement that high-speed connections be included in those new developments.
The county hopes to put a report online that individuals can look at to compare the various Internet providers and their services and rates, as well as what levels of connectivity are in certain areas.
"This gives people purchasing power -- that kind of competition allows providers to compete for business and make their decisions about upgrading services greater," Armstrong said.
"I hope in the near future [Summit County] will be recognized in the country as being fiber-optic connected and high-speed," Jasper said.


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Jul 10, 2012 9:25 AM
Between swimming at the pool, humidity, and coastal breezes, our poor locks get beat up during the summer. And it probably doesn't help that we use 2-in-1 shampoo to beef up our fine strands. Skimping on conditioner can cause some pretty impressive frizz, you know, and we have the back-to-school photos to prove it! We wish someone had told us in our formative years about No Frizz Leave-In Conditioner ($24). Wash your hair like normal, add a little leave-in, and style for smooth, non-finger-in-an-electrical-socket tresses.
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Paleo: Not Just Hype!
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
There is something to this Paleo hype.
I was skeptical when I started. But after 30 days, I willingly admit that there's some truth to the propaganda.
But don't let me sway you...look at my results.
The Food: Yes, you eliminate 'major' food groups from your eating repertoire (i.e., dairy, legumes/beans, grains as well as sugar). For me, I didn't miss anything...well except my dairy...yogurt had become my go-to meal. But there are enough 'allowed' substitutes for the 'forbidden' foods that you do not dwell on what you are missing. Half the challenge is coming up with meal plans and recipes that work for you! I found a real pearl in my '2-ingredient' pancakes recipe -- 2 eggs +1 mashed banana (I also added pure vanilla extract). It makes a crepe-like saucer of deliciousness that also packs a protein punch. I rounded out the meal with unsweetened applesauce and a turkey sausage patty which I made myself.
My Weight: In 30 days, I've lost 6 lbs. It may not seem like a lot of weight. But to put it into perspective...when I started the challenge, I only had 15 lbs. to lose to reach my goal. Now I just have 9 more lbs. to go!
The Inches: What's weight loss if you don't 'see' it! During the challenge, I lost 3.25 inches overall! That's cumulative and includes waist, hips, thighs, upper arms and chest (not so thrilled about the 0.5" lost in the chest...but had enough that it's not noticeable! LOL!).
CF Performance: The above items are good, but the REAL test for me was my WOD performance and overall conditioning. Tonight, I closed out the challenge by repeating the benchmark WOD that kicked off the challenge. Remarkably, I shaved 2:51 off my time!!! In just 30 days, no less!!! I couldn't believe it. In my 1st attempt, I finished in 15:24; tonight, 12:33! The numbers don't lie!
In 30 days on my Paleo 'diet', I have made unbelievable progress. In addition (as posted previously), I have also increased my deadlift max weight by 90 lbs. and set new PRs for my C&J, front squat, thrusters, push press and push jerk!
Mental Clarity: I'm more alert than I've been in years...I'm no longer sleepwalking through life! My CRS (Can't Remember Sh*t!) syndrome seems to be reversing itself also. Lol!
All in all, Paleo has been a win/win for me! Granted, it's only been one month. Oh but what a month!
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You were the 2nd person to mention the banana pancakes so I had to try them. OMG so good! Please pass along any other Paleo gems you find.
1217 days ago
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Low carb eating can be a lot easier to stick to, also. Glad you found something that works for you. Glenn
1235 days ago
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Nothing speaks to the term sauces like Italian cooking, and the Mediterranean diet contains a lot of Italian dishes. Italians use sauces in much of their cooking, from pasta to meat dishes. With Italian [more…]
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Mediterranean Diet Recipes: Vegetable-Laden Salads
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Mediterranean Diet Recipe: Eggplant and Tomato Stacks with Pesto
If you're beginning to get excited at the sound of a fresh, ripe tomato or eggplant adorning your plate, the Mediterranean spirit is beginning to build within you. [more…]
Mediterranean Diet Recipes: Fruit Salads
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Our webpage...
Our webpage will be changing in a few weeks! Please look forward to a redesigned webpage for Edgewood High School. In the meantime, continue to use the resources available from this site and visit us again on the web at http://ehs.wcusd.org.
Enrollment Information
EHS currently serves students in 9th-12th grades. Please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call the office at (626) 939-0600 for details. Additional information is also available from our:
Edgewood High School is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School and is authorized to offer the IB Diploma Programme (DP). EHS students may earn up to 2 diplomas following completion of a comprehensive course of study that meets standards of international academic excellence and promotes admission to colleges and universities throughout the world.
The Numbers Are In!
The California Department of Education recently released information describing the progress of students and schools across the state. See how Edgewood High School performed in comparison with other high schools in the area.
The Edgewood High School Campus
An Exceptional Choice
Over the years, West Covina Unified School District has provided parents and students a broad range of educational program options. We are excited to provide a public high school experience that is focused on 21st Century skills, a complete integration of technology, and personalized learning,
We look forward to serving you and your son/daughter throughout the coming years in the West Covina Unified School District. If you would like more information about Edgewood High School, please feel free to contact us.
The PRIDE of West Covina
Greening Up!
Members of Faith Community joined WCUSD operations team to assist in re-seeding Edgewood Soccer Stadium.
No news posted
Lion Pride: This mural is gift from the Class of 2014 to remind all students that Edgewood High School is the Pride of West Covina.
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Statement of Non-Discrimination
It is the policy of West Covina Unified School District to provide all members of its educational community equal opportunities without regard to... read more.


text: Jul 09 , 2014 The Daily Fetch Holistic Summer Guide for Happy Cats by Layla Morgan Wilde, guest contributor By holistic cat behaviorist Layla Morgan Wilde at CatWisdom101.com While dogs may enjoy playing with a flying disk in the park, swimming in the lake and other summer fun, most cats get less attention. School is out; families spend more time together in the backyard or on vacation. That … Permalink | | Read More


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Nov 4, 2011 9:57 AM
Sometimes we have a hard time justifying spending more than 20 bucks (Target, you've ruined us) for a set of plates, but these David Stark Wood-Slices Organic Dinnerware ($32-44 for sets of 4) plates can be used for so many occasions. Set a luscious fall table for Thanksgiving and then use these plates for a winter wonderland theme at Christmas. The cool gold print looks glam dressed up with colorful leaves or faux sprays of holly. We want, we want, we want.
Where can I purchase David Stark's wood slices dinner plates? I broke one and West Elm is out. I'd love to buy more plates but I can't find hem!
Hi BJ, I haven't been able to find any either. Keep a watch on eBay, or maybe this site will help you:
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The blue social bookmark and publication sharing system.
Log in with your username.
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Yunong Zhang, Huarong Wu, Zhijun Zhang, Senbo Fu, and Yonghua Yin. AICI, volume 7530 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, page 9-16. Springer, (2012)
BibSonomy is offered by the KDE group of the University of Kassel, the DMIR group of the University of Würzburg, and the L3S Research Center, Germany.


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Here it is for your listening pleasure: a Madlib & J Rocc Stones Throw takeover of Gilles Peterson's Worldwide radio show.
Develops and implements integrated marketing strategies, digital, social, event and experiential programs for consumer brands, leveraging music and culture.
Here it is for your listening pleasure: a Madlib & J Rocc Stones Throw takeover of Gilles Peterson's Worldwide radio show.
Artists Robi Walters and Leanne Wright of Bless-ed are exhibiting two collections of work for a presentation entitled Superimposing The Thought Of Happiness at the Dapper Dan Imperial Gallery in NYC.
Robi and Leanne met in 1991 and spent the ensuing years working as a team designing album covers for some of London's most talented and respected underground dance labels and music producers, including Gilles Peterson, Bebel Gilberto, Innerzone Orchestra (Carl Craig) and Dego (4 Hero). In 2004, they moved back to Leanne's native Canada. Inspired by their surroundings, their two children and their absolute need to create, their art began to flourish.
Bess-ed's works will be showing from Wednesday, May 27 – Saturday, May 31 from 12 – 5 PM. A special private viewing will be held on Thursday, May 28 from 7 – 11 PM with a musical selection by Dego, Ge-ology & Tyler Askew (Rude Movements).
Dapper Dan Imperial Gallery
139 West 14th St.
btwn 6th and 7th Ave
New York, NY
We are delighted to announce our 2009 SummerStage event on Saturday, July 18th. Giant Step's annual concert is a highlight in our calendar, where previously we have been honored to present the likes of Femi Kuti, Seu Jorge, Jamie Lidell, Janelle Monáe and Gilles Peterson.
This year promises to be really special. We have the legendary Q-Tip headlining with his full live band, new boys Chester French, Sweden's Little Dragon and from London, holding it down on the decks, Benji B.
Expect, as always, a great day of eclectic music, Giant Step's vibes and the beautiful people that you can only find in a city as diverse as New York.


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Frankie Knuckles, known as the 'Godfather of House Music," has died at the age of 59 on Monday, according to multiple sources including Rolling Stone on Tuesday morning. Frankie Knuckles was born in the Bronx, New York where he began his DJ career – but made his mark in the late 1970s when he relocated to Chicago dance clubs – most notably the Warehouse which inspired the name of "House Music." He also became a record producer and remixer.
While disco was in its "Saturday Night Fever" heyday, Knuckles – whose real name was Francis Nichollls - was playing the recorded dance music by the day's rebels off of independent record labels. He shunned traditional disco dance music and remixed songs that were more of the R&B genre. His after-hours dance setting became well-known and popular.
Reportedly, every disc jockey in Chicago was looking up to Knuckles for his innovative work from the late 1970s on. He worked with such recording artists as Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.
Knuckles was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievements in 2005. He also had a street in Chicago named after him in 2004.
After "House Music" waned in popularity, he was still in demand to DU at clubs and fests. Knuckles died at his home from complications due to Type II diabetes.


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Simon Kuznets
Born: 30 April 1901, Pinsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
Died: 8 July 1985, Cambridge, MA, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Prize motivation: "for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development"
Field: economic growth, economic history
Contribution: Extensive research on the economic growth of nations, developed methods for calculating the size of, and changes in, national income.
Prize share: 1/1
Find out if all countries in the world gain on trading.
All you want to know about the Prize in Economic Sciences!
This Prize was established in memory of Alfred Nobel.


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Oct 22, 2012 8:55 AM
Call it destiny. Call it happenstance. Or call it dumb luck. But the day you wore this Lulu Frost Fate Collar ($312), you got promoted, ran into your ex while looking totally hot and like you were the one who got away, managed to pull out of your parking spot two minutes before the meter ran up, and caught your neighbor stealing your paper, giving you the justification you needed to finally run over his mailbox.
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The little black dress has become the go-to staple in most women's closets. From a night out on the town, dinner with that special person, or with more conservative styles a day at the office, it is truly the must-have fashion item. Just how widespread is this trend? A recent survey at the Mall of America may shed some light ... Read More »
Little Black Dresses
Little Black Dress for Tall Women
What to Wear: Little Black Dress for Tall Women There is a reason why the fashion industry seems so obsessed with skinny, tall models – their body types ate perfect and complimentary to any design and cut of clothing pieces including little black dresses. It is therefore not surprising that many women turn the pages of magazine with full admiration ... Read More »
Halter Top Little Black Dresses
Marilyn Monroe had always been one of the biggest headline huggers when it comes to celebrity "news." Alongside Madonna and Audrey Hepburn, some fashion experts also consider her as a fashion icon as she donned that ever-famous white halter dress matched with a dark lip colour that perfectly highlighted her pouty lips. She was always seen as a sultry goddess. ... Read More »
The Perfect Little Black Dress
The little black dress was designed by Coco Chanel in the 1920's and almost a century later it is still regarded as the most popular dress in the world and it is the "go to" dress for any women for any occasion. Chanel's intention with the little black dress was to design a dress that would be suitable for any ... Read More »
Little Black Dress with Sleeves
When one thinks of a little black dress, it is almost instant that an image of a tube, haltered or spaghetti-strapped dress would pop up in mind. It is also a common misconception that little black dresses are only for skinnier and more slender women. Thus, curvier ladies who opt to put on a sleeveless little black dress often wear ... Read More »
A Line Little Black Dresses
A-line dresses are originally made for women with heavier bottoms. This cut is best described as a style of skirt that gradually widens or flares while being fitted at the waist. This style can draw the eyes away from wide hips and highlights the upper body of pear-shaped women. Then again, a-line little black dresses may not only look perfect ... Read More »
Plus Size Little Black Dress
A stylish and in-style little black dress is nothing but a staple part of every trendy woman's closet. In fact, many fashion-savvies consider this ethereal fashion piece as an investment, if not a prized possession. There are a lot of great things about a little black dress. For one, it is always easy to mix and match accessories to look ... Read More »
Satin Little Black Dresses
Style-savvy women can never have too many little black dresses in their wardrobe. One can look effortlessly stunning and stylish in a black dress from evening parties or cocktail events. This timeless fashion piece has earned the fondness of style gurus over the years because of its ability to look perfect on any figure or height. Classy is just one ... Read More »
Party Little Black Dress
Women can only feel confident walking into a crowded party when they wear the perfect and most suitable party dress. Black then becomes the top choice for colors of party clothes as these can look effortlessly elegant and stunning with the right accessories and styling. So having party little black dresses becomes a necessity in every woman's wardrobe. But no ... Read More »
Strapless Little Black Dress
Little black dresses are easy to wear and accessorize. A strapless little black dress, however, can be tricky to flaunt if one doesn't have the right body type for it. The rule of thumb in fashion is that strapless tops and dresses are not to be worn by women with larger busts and arms because this cut well emphasizes the ... Read More »


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This Is A Test Of Premium Content For Global ETF Monthly
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
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text:
Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day and Virginia Kantra
2008, Shapeshifter Romance
Berkley, $7.99, 368 pages, Amazon ASIN 0425220354
There are two reviews of this book
Shifter is that rare anthology that features no disasters; each of the four short stories involving shapeshifters are above average. Unfortunately, none really rise all that far above average. One is more memorable, but the remaining three dont linger in the mind much past the books final page.
This short story is actually quite romantic and sweet, although the romance hinges on something I found tough to swallow. When viewing video clips of Zarifa over the years doing her best Paris Hilton as Marie Antoinette impersonation, Rance can tell simply by looking at her eyes that shes not in control of her bad behavior. He may have nanobots that give him super-human abilities, but hes not Super Psychoanalyst.
Grade: C+
This was my favorite story in the anthology, but Ive been a fan of this series ever since I got over the fact that male Breeds have barbs in their penises that lock into place during sex. While Saban remains as alpha dominant and arrogant as other Breed males, Leigh made him a bit more evolved; he actually read up on dating and courtship before approaching Natalie, and he feels tremendous guilt about their first kiss, which started her Mating Heat, without giving her some time to accept the whole mating concept. Grade: B-
Days story intrigued me, but I would have liked this story more had it been about Atlanteans or shifters; in the limited word count of a short story, both worlds were given short shrift. Even worse, the ending is not definitive; a HEA is promised, but not seen through to fruition. All that said, though, Id like to read more of this series, which I rarely say after a C level grade.
Grade: C+
What I liked best about this story is that, if you set aside his causing the ship to sink everyone is saved, btw Griffith is quietly heroic in his dealings with Emma, up until and particularly including, the denouement. But theres a distance in the writing that, while probably necessary to the story being told, nonetheless keeps the reader at arms length from the characters.
Grade: C+
-- Laurie Likes Books


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Cool water down to 0 degrees Celsius, and it hardens into ice. Heat up a magnet and suddenly, its magnetism vanishes. Phase transitions have long been a focus for physicists, but now their computational manifestations have attracted the attention of computer scientists. "Physicists and computer scientists have realized that they are investigating the same questions from different angles and using complementary techniques," says Alistair Sinclair.
EECS Professor Alistair Sinclair (Photo by Peg Skorpinski) Sinclair works on mixing problems, which include combinatorial questions such as how many times do you have to shuffle a deck of cards before each ordering occurs with nearly equal likelihood. Instead of cards, however, he has focused on the mixing problems of statistical physics, such as shuffling the orientation of atomic magnets in the Ising model for ferromagnetism.
The Ising model describes the behavior of a large array of individually magnetized atoms, each pointing up or down. Atoms like to take on the orientation of their neighbors, and at low temperatures this interaction is so strong that the magnet as a whole tends to be ordered, with nearly all atoms aligned. At high temperatures, however, entropy takes over, and each atom picks a direction more or less at random. At a temperature somewhere in the middle of the scale, there is a phase transition—an abrupt change from order to chaos. Mysteriously, at that same temperature, natural algorithms for solving the Ising model appear to shift from inefficient to efficient. "Our goal is to turn this apparent connection—and others like it—into theorems," says Sinclair.
The Ising model doesn't give the exact configuration of ups and downs a given magnet will adopt; rather, it gives the odds of finding the system in a particular configuration. To "solve" the model is to compute a function of the odds that determines the model's entropy, specific heat, and other thermodynamic properties. Computing this function is known to be hard; indeed, it has a property analogous to NP-completeness for combinatorial counting problems.
A quest for algorithms for such problems is what led theoretical computer scientists, starting in the late 1980s, to statistical physics. Physicists had long ago developed a clever technique for getting at some of the properties of their models by producing sample configurations according to the probabilities with which they naturally occur at equilibrium. Computer scientists went further by figuring out how to use such sampling methods to devise approximation algorithms for the hardest counting problems of combinatorics and statistical physics. "We were interested in sampling," says Sinclair, "not because sampling is so interesting in its own right, but because if you can sample, you can count."
To arrive at a sample, the physicists would follow a mixing procedure analogous to shuffling a deck of cards. For the Ising model, for example, the procedure starts with a given configuration and then repeatedly picks an atom and flips its orientation with a probability that depends on the orientations of its neighbors and the temperature. After a while, this procedure (known as a "Markov chain Monte Carlo" algorithm) arrives at a "typical" configuration and is said to be "mixed." This process, Sinclair notes, is not only a reasonable way of producing a sample but also a plausible model for how the actual magnet evolves toward equilibrium. A key question, then, is: How do you know when you've done enough flips to produce a typical configuration?
The physicists' criteria for when to stop flipping were often ad hoc. Typically, they would continue flipping until certain observables stopped changing. "This is known to be dangerous," says Sinclair. "You might get something that looks mixed but isn't."
So, two decades ago, Sinclair, together with Mark Jerrum, his Ph.D. advisor at the University of Edinburgh, set out to place the physicists' sampling methods on a solid mathematical foundation. Together, they wrote a series of seminal papers on mixing, introducing a new technique for showing whether or not a particular sampling algorithm takes polynomial time to mix. Their method is intuitive to visualize: Suppose the sample space is shaped like a barbell, and the probability of crossing the neck is exponentially small. Then, when moving randomly around the space, it's easy to get stuck for a long time on one side of the barbell and never get a representative sample. What Jerrum and Sinclair showed is that this is the only way to get stuck: If there is no bottleneck in the sample space, sampling methods are guaranteed to converge quickly.
In a subsequent paper, they introduced a new analytic method for showing that a sample space has no bottlenecks and used it to devise an efficient algorithm for a classic hard counting problem: approximating the "permanent" of an important class of matrices. (The permanent looks similar to the determinant but is computationally far harder to compute.) Finding the permanent of a matrix, as it turns out, corresponds to solving the dimer model, a classical physical model for diatomic molecules. In 2001, Jerrum, Sinclair, and Eric Vigoda, Sinclair's former student, now at the Georgia Institute of Technology, extended the algorithm so that it now approximates the permanent of any positive matrix. They won the 2006 Fulkerson Prize for their work.
Sinclair's recent work is on the relationship between phase transitions of physical models and mixing times of the corresponding natural flipping process. The dimer model does not have a phase transition, but the Ising model does, which makes the behavior of the mixing process more complex. The exponentially slow mixing behavior below the phase transition is due to a bottleneck in the sample space: At low temperatures, each atom exerts a strong influence on its neighbors. Starting with the all-down configuration, it is difficult to get to the all-up configuration because it's improbable that significant up-pockets will form.
Thus far, researchers have been able to show that this bottleneck suddenly vanishes at the phase transition only for the case of two-dimensional Ising models. Sinclair is exploring the question of whether there is a similar precise correspondence between mixing times and phase transitions in higher dimensions and for other statistical physics models.
He is also looking at what happens when a model is affected by an exterior environment. For instance, if the Ising model is surrounded by a fixed boundary of upward-pointing atoms, the physical phase transition disappears. Does this mean that the computational phase transition also disappears? In recent work—with his former student Dror Weitz, now a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers' DIMACS Center, and mathematical physicist Fabio Martinelli of the University of Rome—Sinclair showed that for the Ising model and several other models, if the underlying graph is a tree, the answer is yes.
—Sara Robinson with Erica Karreich


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I/we have a problem with our Windows Server 2008 forest and Exchange. We are buying Exchange hosting from another firm and Exchange Server is in their Windows Server 2008 forest. So, we have two forests and there isn't any trusts between these two forests. Our own forest logon name is email@example.com and we also use the same email address to logon to the Exchange mailbox.
Everything works fine if both our AD account and Exchange mailbox account have the same password, but if the passwords don't match, our AD account gets locked out. I have tried to figure out why Outlook sends false logon attemps to our AD. If someone can help, please do.


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Is it normal to get bigger faster with the second pregnancy?
I am on my second pregnancy and I am about 7-9 weeks not for sure which one yet. The only thing is that I am getting bigger faster then with my first. I'm just not sure if there is any signifigance to this or what it means.
Posted: 09/06/2008 by a BabyCenter Member
Mom Answers
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I too am 14 weeks pregnant with my second child and have felt a lot bigger, sooner than I did with my first. In fact, I was fully expecting the doctor to tell me I was having twins at my 8 week appointment. Everyone keeps telling me it's normal with the second pregnancy, so I'm just assuming it's fine. I've finally given in to it and wearing my old maternity clothes on a daily basis.posted 11/19/2008 by DueMar07
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Mission Accomplished! Rory McIlroy did something many Americans believed they would never see. The four-time major champion got former president George W. Bush to display a sense of humor when on Tuesday he accepted McIlroy's dare to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
McIlroy, as is the custom of the new social-media tradition that's sweeping the world and which benefits research into a progressive neurodegenerative condition commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," took a dunk from Tiger Woods on Monday and then nominated three others to go soak their heads.
Bush was one of them and set the scene, at the family's Kennebunkport, Maine, compound, perfectly.
Sitting, pen in hand, Bush said he believed it was not "presidential" to get the ice-water splash and planned instead just to write a check. At which point former first lady Laura Bush dumped hubby with the requisite icy water.
"That check is from me," she said. "I didn't want to ruin my hairstyle."
Bush, by the way, called out Bill Clinton to take the dunk.
"Yesterday was Bill's birthday and my gift to him is a bucket of cold water," said W, who clearly has a future in comedy if that ex-prez thing doesn't work out.
The ALS Association, the beneficiary of such largesse by so many celebrities and regular folks, has received $41.8 million in donations in the last month compared with $2.1 million for the same time period last year.
Bubba (and we don't mean Watson), thanks for saving the Humana Challenge and happy 68th. You're up!


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Former Miss USA Kenya Moore appears as a cast member of the new season of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta." On the show Miss Moore seems to disdain being mistakenly called a former Miss America. Although Moore won her coveted Miss USA title back in 1993, it is apparently the impetus for all that she has done since.
That said a new Miss America, Mallory Hagan, was crowned on January 12, 2013 and as Miss New York (originally from Opelika, AL) stepped away with that title. So which pageant is better and is Moore's apparent disdain justified? Let's compare.
Miss USA beauty pageant has been held since 1952 primarily to select the United States entrant in the Miss Universe pageant. The contestants are judged on swimsuit, gown, and interview competitions. The owner of the competition since 1996 is the often controversial Donald Trump who recently won a $5 million lawsuit against a former Miss USA contestant who claimed the 2012 contest was fixed. The prizes are jewelry, clothes, and a year's salary, a year of free rent in Trump Towers, a modeling portfolio, and other similar rewards.
Miss America beauty pageant has an earlier beginning. It has been held since 1921 and is the largest scholarship provider to young women both in the United States and the world. Of note, in 2006, the pageant made available over $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. The contestants are judged on a personal interview, talent, swimsuit, evening wear, and an onstage question.
To her credit, after going on to the top six of the 1993 Miss Universe pageant, Moore parlayed her Miss USA title into some success in the entertainment industry. She is billed as a producer, writer, and actress. Her appearance on season five of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" however and her antics on the same, has somewhat sullied her image. Notoriety and fame are not always compatible bedfellows.
Now the question of Miss USA or Miss America and which is better? Atlanta transplant Kenya Moore apparently has her opinion. But one cannot help but weigh Proverbs 17:18 in considering Miss Moore's oft aired opinion: "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." KJV
To be fair, Moore's beauty on the outside could match her inner beauty, if not today, someday.


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TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco is one of the most anticipated technology conferences of the year, with startups, developers and influential tech speakers coming together to learn, collaborate and compete. At this year's event, Chevrolet will offer developers the opportunity to create apps that may influence the evolution of the driving experience.
Twenty-six teams took on the challenge to create in-vehicle or remote applications using the intuitive Chevrolet APIs (application programming interface) and SDK (software development kit). Fueled by free pizza, energy drinks and the promise of a $2,500 cash prize, the teams had just 24 hours to concept and code an entirely new automotive application.
Once their creations were coded and turned in, the sleep-deprived developers were given 60 seconds to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, as well as the assembled crowd. Proposals ranged from an app that uses a brain wave sensor headband to wake you up if you get drowsy, to a black box app that turns on a video camera when it detects sudden braking to record a possible collision.
Chevrolet chose two winning teams and awarded them $2,500 each. The winners were Sodr, an app created by Ricky Chu which uses friendly competition to foster safer, more fuel-efficient driving; and SyncTravel, a road trip app designed by Raj Desikavinayagompillai and Sumeet Rohatgi, that lets you know if your friends' vehicles have left the agreed-upon route and displays their positions on your smartphone.
"These winning teams made owning a car more fun and more interesting" said Jeremy Tanner, a Chevrolet software engineer who was on site during the event. "These apps connect you to your friends: One, by helping you caravan with them on the road; the other, by competing with them to drive more responsibly and get better gas mileage."
Check out the video below to see how it all went down.
Continuing a commitment to ingenuity, Chevrolet is looking forward to upcoming innovations such as the 2014 launch of 4G LTE connectivity on select vehicles.(software development kit). Fueled by free pizza, energy drinks and the promise of a $2,500 cash prize, the teams had just 24 hours to concept and code an entirely new automotive application.
Are you a developer? Interested in going on your own and accessing our APIs? You can get started creating apps right away.
We're always thinking about the future, while ensuring that our current technologies exceed the needs and expectations of Chevy drivers. From the entertainment features of the Chevrolet MyLink† infotainment platform to the revolutionary OnStar® vehicle response system available on most Chevrolet vehicles, Chevrolet has been at the forefront of innovations to make driving simpler, safer and more connected.
* The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price excludes destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment. Click here to see all Chevrolet vehicles' destination freight charges.
***The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price excludes tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment. Includes destination freight charge and gas guzzler tax.
To allow you to do an accurate price comparison with prices featured on other Internet sites, GM provides Internet pricing both with and without the Destination Freight Charge (see prices including Destination Freight Charge below). To get full pricing details, go to our Build Your Own section.


text: Doll up any outfit with these stylish wedges! They will look super hot paired with your favorite skinnies or dress. Make sure you add these to your closet, it definitely is a must have! The features for these wedges include a faux leather upper with a strappy design, lace up tie front, stitched trim, open toe, back zipper closure, smooth lining, and cushioned footbed. Approximately 3 inch wedge heels and 1/2 inch platforms. Style: shoes-wedges-tpg-lord-30white


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|Permit Crab Pot
Cook up some of these crustaceans for your next trip to the tropical flats.
by Pat Ford
When I first set foot on Key West in 1971, catching a permit on a fly was considered unlikely if not impossible. If you wanted
to catch one on an artificial lure, you had to use a brown Popeye jig. A Popeye looked pretty shrimpy, and the permit ate it.
Thirty-five years later, however, the top guides from Marathon to Key West—Kris Suplee, Doug Kilpatrick, Dustin Huff, Diego
Rouylle, Justin Rea, and half a dozen others—are helping anglers catch permit on flies on a daily basis. What happened?
The answer is simple: The flies evolved!
Back in the early 1970s, a tarpon angler might occasionally catch a permit because he'd see the fish close to the boat and
say, "What the heck, I'll cast to it." I caught my first permit on a fly in 1974 after repeatedly watching them run up to a
perfectly cast fly like it was the juiciest thing they'd ever seen, only to stop about a foot short and swim away. Duplicate
the same cast with a Popeye jig, and wham—you'd have a hookup.
It finally dawned on me that the action of the jig made all the difference between getting a refusal and a strike. The Popeye
dived to the bottom while the fly hung suspended in the water. Almost everything a permit eats tries to hide in the sand or
grass, and a fly that simply hangs there and doesn't dive for safety is not natural and therefore not edible. (We'll talk about
an exception to this rule in a moment.)
Back then, fly shops didn't stock lead eyes (actually, there were damn few fly shops), so I simply pinched a split shot behind
the hook eye and tied up a fly featuring brown and grizzly feathers. I can't say that it was revolutionary, but it did catch an
exceptionally dumb permit that was cruising the edge of a flat off Boca Grande Key.
On another day, R. T. Trosset and I found a huge school of permit hanging around a shallow wreck west of the Marquesas.
(Here's that exception I mentioned.) The fish were cruising near the surface, picking at shrimps and crabs hiding in the weeds
that were floating on the outgoing tide. I caught 14 permit on small yellow poppers over the course of two days. I had a few
photos to back up our tale, but nobody really believed us, at least not enough to start casting yellow poppers to permit.
Better permit flies, however, were on the horizon.
The Permit Angler's Fly Box
I think Nat Ragland, of Marathon, developed a fly called the Puff. This pattern was almost identical to my original split-shot
design, except that it utilized large glass doll eyes to add weight to get the fly to dive. Years later, Capt. Mark Krowka
downsized the Puff, added a few rubber legs, and came up with a dynamite bonefish fly that also works on permit. Not long
after that, Del Brown designed the Merkin, the fly that set the standard for permit patterns. The Merkin looks a lot more like
a crab than the Puff, but the key to its success is that it dives to the bottom when you stop the retrieve, mimicking the motion
of a fleeing crab. The Merkin suddenly gave anglers hope that they could target permit and actually have a decent chance
of catching them. More guides and anglers started to fish for permit. They perfected their flies and learned how to cast to
these fish.
Fly tiers have never followed the rule, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." We think we can fancy up and improve any fly. (The
ones we ruin, of course, never become public.) Del Brown's original Merkin was pretty basic: lead eyes, rug-yarn body
tied in any combination of crabby colors, and a couple of feathers that look like claws. Rubber legs were eventually added,
along with some black monofilament eyes near the hook bend. Materials have varied for the legs and claws, but the yarn
body still works just fine, and it's debatable whether the claws and rubber legs make any difference at all.
Capt. Kris Suplee found that a Zonker strip works well for a tail, and that two strips look like claws. In addition, three rubber
legs give the fly a bit more fish appeal. Capt. Doug Kilpatrick uses legs made from rubber bands on his Merkins with great
success, but rubber bands don't do well in the heat and salt water, and they tend to deteriorate quickly. Doug and Kris have
won the Del Brown and the March Merkin permit tournaments more than any other guides, and they will be the first to tell
you that fly placement is probably more important than pattern selection—but don't try to take one of their patterns home
with you! (I'm lucky they gave me the flies for this article. Thanks, guys.)
Capt. Rick Murphy, of Sportsman's Adventures television series, is convinced that a fly's diving action entices a permit
to strike. Rick modified the Merkin by placing oversize lead eyes at the back of the fly near the hook bend. Claws, legs,
and eyes are tied near the hook eye to trail out behind the body as the crab dives. When cast properly, the fly acts
exactly like the original Popeye jig, only it has a lot more appendages. Capt. Chris Dean, a guide and fly tier working
out of Miami, also has his own adaptation of the Merkin. He uses a small size for catching bonefish, and a bigger version
for permit.
Chris has also developed a floating crab that is a killer pattern when permit are holding in a channel on the edge of a flat.
Every so often, you will find permit in the channels from Miami to the Marquesas holding in position and feeding off the
weed clusters that drift by. A standard diving fly will work in these situations, but the fish are feeding on the crabs that are
hanging on those weeds, and a floating imitation might be a better choice. Capt. Simon Becker, of Key West, agrees that
under these conditions, a floating crab is the way to go. Orvis sells Simon's pattern as the Hover Crab, and Enrico Puglisi,
Ltd., also sells an excellent floating crab that's very realistic.
Do Realistic Flies Catch More Permit?
In 1996, I went to Turneffe Flats Lodge in Belize to fish for permit. There was an angler from Japan at the lodge named
Hiromi Kubaki. He tied the most amazing flies I'd ever seen; his crab patterns looked so real, you thought they'd crawl
away. I wrote an article about his flies in the March 1997 issue of Saltwater Fly Fishing magazine, and a new generation
of permit flies was born—ones that looked like real crabs!
Hiromi's artistic talents went way beyond what was needed for creating flies for actual fishing, but his techniques are sound.
First, his flies had bodies shaped like crabs. Hiromi used deer hair, but today Enrico Puglisi, Ltd., not only makes excellent
crab flies, but also sells pre-shaped crab bodies. Many other anglers simply cut diamond-shaped bodies out of Velcro.
Hiromi cut crab legs and claws out of latex gloves, and then added silicone to give them some strength. He painted each
leg with mind-boggling accuracy, which has proved unnecessary. Today, Enrico Puglisi sells preformed crab claws, and Capt.
Doug Kilpatrick and a lot of other guides make crab claws by cutting pinchers in the ends of rubber bands and adding a bit
of red paint. Doug feels that legs convince the permit that the fly is something edible, so he makes them very visible and
doesn't pay so much attention to the body. Doug is also a fan of white flies, although most crabs—and crab imitations—
are tan or green.
Hiromi covers the bottom of his crabs with light lead wire rolled flat. This makes a smooth underside, and he paints the
bottom to duplicate a crab. Hiromi's crab fly, however, may be too perfect. It looks great and I've actually caught several
permit on it, but its flaw is that it doesn't dive to the bottom like the Merkin. The weighted underside makes it sink, but it
sort of slides down like a flat rock. It wasn't long before the guys tying realistic crab flies started adding lead eyes to the
ends of their patterns to make them dive.
Tying Ideas
There are two ways to tie a crab imitation. Hiromi placed the pointed ends of the body at the ends of the hook shank; the
claws and legs hung out the sides of the fly. To make the Puglisi-style pattern, you simply tie the claws and legs along
the shank of the hook with thread. Next, you stick a piece of Velcro over the legs and claws, and place some black mono-
filament eyes between the claws. You then add a second piece of Velcro on the other side of the hook or glue on a Puglisi
crab body, and tie a lead dumbbell next to the hook eye. You can easily color the fuzzy Velcro with permanent markers.
Capt. Doug Kilpatrick likes to tie his crabs facing the bend of the hook. Doug uses two rubber bands for the claws; he ties
a simple overhand knot in each claw to create joints. He then ties on several smaller rubber bands for legs. The body is
either deer hair or diamond-shaped pieces of Velcro placed over the rubber legs. Monofilament eyes between the claws add
a touch of realism.
Doug uses a short-shank hook such as the Gamakatsu SC15, and positions the Velcro so that the pointed ends of the crab
body are in line with the hook shank. He also adds some epoxy on one side to strengthen the body, and colors the Velcro tan
or green. Surprisingly, both Captains Doug and Chris use lime-green crabs on cloudy days with good success. Captain Chris
also uses a pink Merkin under similar conditions, and it works very well, too.
You don't need a lot of flies to go permit fishing. Several Merkins in various colors are a must; light tan, brown, olive, pink, and
even lime green all work depending upon light conditions and the color of the bottom. It's also good to carry some smaller flies
for slick, calm days when the permit are extra spooky, and be sure to have one or two floating crabs in case you find permit
schooled up in a channel. More realistic crabs are larger and at times very difficult to cast, but they are extremely effective on
windy March days off Key West.
The best guides continually update their own patterns. A good guide is on the water close to 300 days a year, and he has
opportunities to analyze what does and does not work. Every time a permit rejects a well-placed fly, he asks why and then
returns to the vise to remedy the problem. My approach is to let the guide pick the fly from either his collection or mine; not
surprisingly, the one that goes in the water is usually from his fly box.
It's All about the Cast
Casting to a permit pretty much comes down hitting the fish on the head with the fly and then doing nothing. Most casts are
less than 50 feet, so accuracy is far more important than distance. If the permit is in a cooperative mood, the splash will attract
rather than spook it. When the permit sees the artificial prey diving for the bottom, you hope the fish nails it; your job is
to wait for the permit to "tail" on the fly, then strip-strike to see if he's got it. This approach is far more effective than the
steady retrieve used to catch tarpon and bonefish.
I remember one day when I was fishing with Capt. Doug Kilpatrick on the flats along Northwest Channel. The tide was falling,
and Doug spotted a big permit working its way onto a flat we were poling. It tailed several times as it moved toward us,
which just made me more nervous. When it was within casting range, I made a nice long cast, but in an absolutely horrible
direction. Wind has never been my friend, and I watched the fly hit about 20 feet to the right of the big fish. I immediately
stripped in as much line as I could before starting a second cast. As the backcast stretched out behind me and I prepared to
move the trajectory of the forward cast a couple dozen feet to the left, I saw the permit bolt over to the exact spot where my
fly had landed. Unfortunately, my second cast was just as bad as the first, but it taught me how important the splash of a
landing fly is to a permit. The noise actually helps, so don't be shy: just dump the fly about a foot in front of the fish's nose
and let it sink. If he doesn't see it, a small strip should get its attention, but don't strip the fly more than is needed to help the
fish spot it.
Ultra Puff
Hook: Regular saltwater hook, sizes 4 to 1.
Thread: Red 3/0 (210 denier).
Tail: Cream marabou and pearl Krystal Flash.
Body: Tan chenille.
Legs: Speckled Sili Legs.
Weight: Medium doll eyes.
Weed guard: 30-pound-test monofilament.The standard permit outfit is a 10-weight rod, weight-forward floating line,
and 9- to 10-foot-long, 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. Many anglers, following Del Brown's example, will step up
to an 11-weight to turn over heavy crab flies quickly. The reel must have a good drag and hold at least 200 yards
of 30-pound backing. I prefer using microfiber backing because a permit hooked on a flat will usually head for deep
water, dragging the backing over reef edges, around lobster-pot lines, weeds, coral heads, and anything else it can
find. I've saved several fish due to the strength of the backing. Finally, always use a loop knot, rather than a clinch
knot, to tie the fly to the leader. The loop knot allows a crab fly to dive faster than a clinch knot.
There are hundreds of great permit patterns, but one thing is for sure: On the flats, every permit fly needs lead eyes to
make it dive to the bottom. If you want to catch a permit on a fly, there is no substitute for "Dive, dive, dive!"
Pat Ford travels the world in search of good fishing. He is also a leading outdoors photographer. Pat lives in Miami.


text:
200 amphibians discovered in Madagascar
Thanks to @JChameleon and @EclectiqueID for sharing about this news. This article published by the more-than serious magazine ScienceDaily is another eye-opener about how rich Madagascar's biodiversity is.
While researchers get very excited about discovering few new species, I can imagine how important this discovery of 200 species of amphibians is – whether we are talking about conservation, or we are amphibian-lovers. Can you imagine that this discovery (or set of discoveries) alone doubled the number of identified amphibians on earth? Being a Malagasy-born living in Madagascar, I never paid any particular attention to those amphibians, I do admit – I took them for granted. But now I'm also discovering (but this blog is about discovering, right? My discoveries combined with other people's discoveries.) .
I guess the discoveries ain't over yet – some has already found it while I'm at the beginning stage when it comes to frogs.
Sounds like some frog-passionate people are out there, but even if you're not passionate about amphibians, I'd like to hear from you. Which one is your best frog?


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Season 3
this wiki
Season Three is the third season of Gossip Girl, the American teen drama based upon the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar. It aired on The CW from September 14, 2009 to May 17, 2010 with 22 episodes. The season premiered 2.55 million viewers and a 1.4 Adults 18-49 rating, up 14% in viewers from its season two finale.
Although this is the least watched season to date, with an average of 2.02 million of viewers tuning in each week, it is the highest rated with a 1.1 rating in Adult 18-49. This season was paired with One Tree Hill (Season 7).
Spotted: Our beloved Upper East Siders, all grown up. Though high school may be behind most of them, you can be sure a future of love, scandal and, of course, secrets awaits. Based on the best-selling series of young-adult novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, this drama is told through the eyes of an all-knowing blogger—Gossip Girl—who, via constant, avidly read text messages, is determined to uncover and fuel every scandal possible on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where gossip rules, and affluent young people find themselves with the money, access and appetite to explore all the temptations New York City has to offer. Keeping track of the shifting friendships, jealousies and turmoil in this wealthy and complex world is not easy, that's why there's Gossip Girl.
Dramatis PersonaeEdit
Main CastEdit
Recurring RoleEdit
Scott Jonathan
Guest CastEdit
William Baldwin
Episodes Edit


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Executive Director
Adam Jones
Adam is Associate Research Fellow for 2005-07 in the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, USA. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of British Columbia. He has published three books on genocide: Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2006); Gendercide and Genocide (Vanderbilt University Press, 2004); and Genocide, War Crimes & the West (Zed Books, 2004). He has also published two books on the media and political transition. His writings on gender and international politics have appeared in Journal of Genocide Research, Review of International Studies, Ethnic & Racial Studies, Caribbean Studies, and other publications. (See his website for details.) He is a member of the board of directors of the Gender Issues Education Foundation.
Carla Bergman
Carla is a social activist and student. Among her research interests are gender and conflict, democracy and education, the media and politics, international law, and community-based social ecology. In July 2000, she was appointed to the board of directors of the Gender Issues Education Foundation. She and her family are part of a democratic, academically non-coercive school in North Vancouver, BC.
Sonya Parks
Sonya is in the process of completing her BA at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in the Bachelor of Technology and Management Degree. Concurrently, she is teaching computer applications in Vancouver. She is one of the web-page development and planning consultants for Gendercide Watch.
Gendercide Watch affiliates come from diverse backgrounds and have a wide range of activities and interests, but all support the broad goals of our initiative. If you'd like to be considered for affiliate status, please send a short biographical description, as well as an e-mail contact address and links to any Web-based projects in which you're involved.
Atenea Acevedo
Atenea is a research assistant with the Ozone Action Network for Latin America at the United Nations Environment Program in Mexico City. She holds a B.A. in international relations from the Universidad de las Americas, and subsequently specialized in Eastern European studies in the political science department at the School of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic. She has travelled extensively in Europe and the Americas.
Stephen Baskerville
Stephen is a professor of political science at Howard University and past chairman of the Department of Politics and European Studies at Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. He is the author of various articles, papers, and book reviews on the politics of the family, and of Not Peace But A Sword: The Political Theory of the English Revolution. He is official spokesman for Men, Fathers, and Children International, a coalition of 12 fatherhood organizations from 9 countries, and is an advisor to the American Coalition for fathers and children.
David Buchanan
David has been a field-worker with the Canadian chapter of Amnesty International for half a decade, and is also involved in the Amnesty Refugee Network. He helped organize the 1997 Human Rights Issues Forum at the People's Summit on APEC, and is an organizer of the annual Vancouver Amnesty International Film Festival.
R. Charli Carpenter
Charli has recently completed a Ph.D. in international relations
at the University of Oregon. Her dissertation research examined
the impact of gender on norms protecting war-affected civilians.
Currently, she holds a MacArthur Research and Writing
Fellowship, and is studying the humanitarian response to
children born of genocidal rape. Her other research interests
include sex-selective mass killings, the effect of gender
ideology on children's rights, and gender as a category of
analysis in international relations theory. She is a member of
the Association for Genocide Scholars. Link to her website.
Akku Chowdhury
Akku Chowdhury is secretary general of the Mukti Juddha Smrity Trust and director of the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The trust was formed in June 1994 and registered in 1995 to create awareness, promote community participation, and preserve the sanctity of landmarks and antiquities relating to the 1971 liberation war and genocide in Bangladesh.
Dr. Ferrel Christensen
Dr. Christensen is president of the Gender Issues Education Foundation, based in Edmonton, and is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of
Alberta. He has been active for many years in the struggle for gender equality, and is the author of Space-Like Time (University of Toronto) and Pornography: The Other Side (Praeger).
Dr. L. Edward Day
L. Edward Day holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University
of Washington in Seattle. An award-winning teacher, he
currently serves on the faculty of the Crime, Law and Justice
Program at Pennsylvania State University. His research
interests focus on the experiences of crime victims. He
is a founding member of the Genocide Research Project --
a group of criminal justice scholars attempting to apply
the insights of criminology to genocide studies.
Dr. Augusta C. Del Zotto
Dr. Del Zotto is a Truman Fellow at Syracuse University's
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, where she recently obtained her Ph.D. in political science. In the 1990s she
was director of the Youth at Risk Program for the San Francisco Health Department,
working with a large immigrant population. She received several grants
from both the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control for her work. She also served as a consultant to the
president's Latino AIDS task force. In the 1980s she was one of the
U.S.'s youngest war correspondents, working for Univision, NPR and
the BBC, and received the DuPont-Columbia Award and a MacArthur Fellowship for
her coverage of civil wars in Central America. Dr. Del Zotto is currently
working with an international team of scholars and activists on a project
involving global sex trafficking, addressing the issue from both male and female perspectives. Combining theory with practice, her
publications include manuals for grassroots health and human rights promoters as well as scholarly articles.
Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain
After receiving her Ph.D. in Politics from Brandeis University in 1973, Dr. Elshtain became the first woman to hold an endowed professorship at Vanderbilt University in 1988. Since 1995, she has been Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago. Among the other positions she has held are Rockefeller Foundation Scholar in Residence in Como, Italy; Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University; Guggenheim Fellow (1991-92); and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Elshtain presently chairs the Council on Families in America, the National Commission for Civic Renewal, and the Council on Civil Society; she has been a board member of the Women's Freedom Network since 1993. Her many books include Meditations on Modern Political Thought: Masculine-Feminine Themes from Luther to Arendt (Praeger, 1986); Women and War (Basic Books, 1987); Democracy on Trial (from the 1993 Massey Lectures, Basic Books, 1995); New Wine and Old Bottles: International Politics at the Millenium (University of Notre Dame Press, 1997); Real Politics (Johns Hopkins, 1997); and Who Are We (Eerdmans, 2000).
Dr. Warren Farrell
Dr. Farrell holds a Ph.D. in political science from New York University. He is the author of Father and Child Reunion (J.P. Tarcher, 2000), Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (J.P. Tarcher, 1999), The Myth of Male Power (Simon & Schuster, 1993), The Liberated Man (Berkley, 1993), and Why Men Are The Way They Are (Berkley, 1990) -- all on the psychology and politics of gender. He has taught at the University of California - San Diego's School of Medicine and in departments of political science, psychology, sociology, and women's studies at Rutgers, Brooklyn College, Georgetown, San Diego State University, and the California School of Professional Psychology. The Financial Times selected him one of the world's top 100 Thought Leaders to introduce innovative ideas to corporate leaders worldwide.
Jim Fussell
Jim Fussell is a website developer from Washington, D.C., with a strong
background in twentieth-century history. During the last nine years he has
done extensive archival research on the life of Raphael Lemkin (who coined the term "genocide"). He has
also researched the Nazi genocide in the North Caucasus region of Soviet
Russia during World War II. He
studied history at American University in Washington, D.C., and religion and
history at Earlham College in Indiana.
Jim's research has sparked a strong interest in genocide
prevention, and he now coordinates the website for Prevent Genocide International, which he helped establish in 1998.
Dr. Øystein Gullvåg Holter
Dr. Holter is a sociologist in Oslo, Norway, with gender discrimination as a main research theme. He has been involved in a number of gender and work/family research projects at the Work Research Institute in Oslo, as well as the building of a new field of men's studies in the Nordic region and elsewhere. He is the director of IASOM, the International Association for Studies of Men. His main interest relating to Gendercide Watch is how peacetime research on gender issues can help to explain and prevent what happens in war.
Dr. Henry Huttenbach
Dr. Huttenbach is professor of history and director of the Russian and East European Studies Program at the City College of New York. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Genocide Research, and editor of the Genocide Forum. His published works include Soviet Nationality Policies: Ruling Ethnic Groups in the USSR (Nationalities Papers Monograph Series, no. 6) and The Destruction of the Jewish Community of Worms, 1933-45: A Study of the Holocaust Experience in Germany (Sepher-Hermon Press, 1982).
Heval Hylan
Heval Hylan is currently working on his Post-Graduate Diploma in
Legal Studies at Auckland and Waikato Universities, New Zealand. In 1996
Heval set up Reunity Trust Inc. to provide personal and practical support to
refugees and migrants in New Zealand. He is the author of three books, two
of them about refugees and a third entitled The Key Provided By Jesus Does Not Quite Fit the Door. He is a specialist in genocide and human-rights
issues in Iraq, speaks five languages, and is involved in many groups and
Jo & David Jones
Jo and David live in Canada's Okanagan Valley. Jo is a writer/researcher on Okanagan history who holds degrees in modern languages and education.
She is currently editing the diaries of Alice Barrett Parke for publication
in the spring of 2001. David is a retired soldier, a realtor, an actor, a
Rotarian, a chartered arbitrator and cyberphobe. Above all they are the
proud parents of a man committed to making the world a more civil place (i.e.,
executive director Adam Jones). Their financial assistance was crucial in
launching Gendercide Watch in February 2000.
Dr. Evelin Lindner
Dr. Evelin Gerda Lindner is a cross-cultural social psychologist and physician with broad international experience. She combines academic research with consultancy work for the corporate sector, focusing on globalization and intercultural communication. Since 1997 she has been a researcher at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Oslo in the field of conflict theory, where she is examining the psychological aspects that play a role in escalating conflict to war. Among her recent articles are "Humiliation and the Human Condition: Mapping a Minefield" (Human Rights Review) and "Love, Holocaust and Humiliation" (Psykologer for fred); samples of her academic work are available on her website. She stood as a candidate for the European Parliament in 1994, and in 1993 founded the NGO, "Better Global Understanding," based in Hamburg, Germany.
Wendy McElroy
Wendy is editor of ifeminists.com, a website for individualist feminists (see also her home page). She is the author of
XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography (St. Martin's, 1995); Sexual
Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women (McFarland, 1997); The
Reasonable Woman: A Guide to Intellectual Survival (Prometheus, 1998); and Queen Silver: the Godless Girl (Prometheus, 1999). She has also edited Freedom,
Feminism and the State (Cato, 1983), and will publish an anthology of
19th-century individualist-feminist writings with McFarland in Winter 2000-01. Her articles have appeared in a wide range of periodicals, from National
Review to Penthouse and The Globe and Mail. She is the
author of dozens of documentaries for audio-cassette tapes (available
through Knowledge Products), and a contributing editor to several
publications, including Ideas on Liberty, Liberty, and Free Inquiry.
Kate Myers
Kate is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in classical piano, and of Widener University School of Law with Juris Doctor and Masters of
Business Administration degrees. She currently works as a Deputy Attorney General for the state of New Jersey handling child abuse and neglect and termination of parental rights cases. Her areas of interest include international law, international human rights, and especially the plight of the
survivors of the massacre at Srebrenica. She hopes to
find employment in the field of international human
rights with either a governmental organization or an NGO.
Laura Rico
Laura is a graduate student in political science and international relations at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City. Among her research interests are international political economy, gender and conflict, and religious studies. She is currently working on Spanish translation of the materials on this site.
Dr. Stefanie Rixecker
Stefanie Rixecker is a Senior Lecturer in the Environmental Management and Design Division at Lincoln University in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She has a Ph.D. in Political Science (Purdue University) with an emphasis on environmental policy and international relations. She is an award-winning teacher whose research focuses upon the intersection of social justice and policies regarding the environment and technology, especially as these relate to women, children, indigenous peoples and sexual minorities. Her current research projects focus upon biotechnology, especially genetic engineering, and cultural risk within minority communities. She has published numerous articles and book chapters regarding the policy and scientific implications of current biotechnological innovations on minority populations, including the relationship with and potential for gendercide. She is the Co-Editor for the New Zealand Women's Studies Journal; serves as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for the international journal Local Environment; and is the moderator for the international email list ECOFEM, which is dedicated to discussion, politics and networking about ecofeminism. She is also a member of New Zealand Amnesty International, contributing her time and expertise to uncovering and challenging human rights abuses against sexual minorities (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersexual peoples) due to their sexual identity.
Dr. James Steiger
James H. Steiger is Professor of Psychology at the
University of British Columbia. His primary research
interests are in factor analysis, covariance structure
analysis, and correlational testing. He has also published
in the field of human inference strategies and cognitive
psychology. Winner of the Raymond B. Cattell award and the
Killam Research Prize for his work in multivariate
statistics, Dr. Steiger is a former editor of Multivariate
Behavioral Research, and has authored a number of commercial
and academic computer programs for multivariate analysis,
including the SEPATH (Structural Equations and PATH
modeling) module in Statistica.
Miriam Tratt
Miriam received her B.A. in political science from the University of British Columbia in 1999, specializing in the study of developing nations and Eastern European politics. She instigated and oversaw an aid project at the time of the Rwanda genocide, and has worked with various activist organizations and NGO's, including Amnesty International. An established Vancouver artist, she is presently preparing a series of original artworks for Gendercide Watch.
Dr. María Antonia Trillo
María Antonia Trillo recently received her doctorate from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, with a doctoral thesis on "The Culture of Work." She is currently working on a Master's degree specializing in the study of the European Union. She is director of the national and international project section of the Employment and Training Foundation, sponsored by the CCOO (Comisiones Obreras). Among her other research projects are: "Crisis in the Shipbuilding Industry," financed by Home Office of Spain; and "The Social Prestige of Vocational Training," funded by the European Commission. She was recently a visiting scholar at The University of Kent at Canterbury.


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By Harry Hughes
Price: USD $9.99 (AUD $10.16)
The evolution of gaming has brought to the table many new elements in each gaming genre. These new elements have allowed us a highly advanced gaming experience within each genre. As they begin to get stale, we see some developers mix and match components from across different genres in an attempt to offer something new and put themselves ahead of the competition. In most cases, however, the result is a mixed-up, ugly game.
The recent release of ProtoGalaxy, developed by Source Studios, shows us that multi-genre games can indeed be immersive. It takes different features from numerous genres, and the gameplay reflects this - arcade action, shooting, puzzling and exploration have all been integrated into one neat little package.
To call it a 'little package' is a little unfair, actually. This game is jam-packed with features. Not only can you play through the expansive campaign on your own, but you can play it with friends, too - either online, or on the same system using controllers. Throughout the campaign, you'll come across extra ship parts - or you can use money (which you get from destroying enemies) to purchase them. There is a large number of possible ship configurations because of this, which really goes a long way in adding something to a game like this one.
If that wasn't enough, then perhaps the level editor will add some extra replay value to the game. Players can create entire campaigns, and choose the goal of each mission. These campaigns can be downloaded by other players and, once again, be played in either single or multiplayer mode.
Aside from the incorporation of puzzle/adventure aspects, there are a few major factors which set this title apart from more traditional space-themed arcade shooters. Firstly, the hit system is (thankfully) based on health, instead of a pre-determined amount of hits. Your health is upgradeable through new ship parts. It can also be restored in-game using the repair tool. Switching between different weapons, and the repair tool, is quite awkward, and is done by holding down the 'mouse-2' button and moving around the circle of weapons which appears. This is one of a few flaws in this game, as it does not allow for quick and accurate weapon changing, which can be a real let-down in action-packed areas.
Another change is the way the game changes between different views. ProtoGalaxy does not stick to one infinitely-moving view like many other arcade shooters. Instead, it switches between a series of views. While the traiditional vertical/horizontal moving areas are still present, more prominent is the adventure-style square view, where you can move back and forth between different areas. The transitions can be a bit messy but the use of multiple views is a nice touch.
The array of weapons is also rather impressive. Not only are the turrets, missiles and other goodies all upgradable throughout the game, but some physics are introduced nicely through the gravity weapon. This allows you to drag around different objects, and becomes vital in completing puzzles. As well as this, it can be used to sling enemies around the place, into walls or other enemies. Damage can also be done here, the amount determined by the speed an enemy was slung at.
The gravity gun not only allows you to slay enemies, but becomes integral in surviving. In some areas, a player will find that fighting his way out is just not possible. If this is the case, it's not hard to drag something in front of your ship and use it as an extra means of defense.
This is one title whose high list of pros manages to continue into the presentation. The soundtrack - though slightly generic - fits the bill, and the visuals are quite sleek with only a few graphical clashes. The in-game visuals can also be changed to suit one's tastes. One gripe a player might have with the presentation was the mouse movement speed in menus, which is terrifyingly slow. While this is only a minor problem, it can easily become an annoyance.
ProtoGalaxy is exactly what any fan of the arcade/shooter genre will be looking for. It really does offer a complete experience, with different ship configurations and adjustable visuals going a long way to allow a player to make the experience unique for them. Custom campaigns will prolong the experience found in one of this year's most polished indie titles.
Jubilee said: Great review KK! That's a really high rating for an arcade shooter. Must be good.
peaceful said: An update released for ProtoGalaxy today that adds hot-keys for changing weapons!
jandracute is now Level 24!
eaichoi123 is now Level 11!
bbyko2018 is now Level 7!
bbyko2018 is now Level 6!
eaichoi123 is now Level 10!
bbyko2018 is now Level 5!
bbyko2018 is now Level 4!
eaichoi123 is now Level 9!
bbyko2018 is now Level 3!
eaichoi123 is now Level 8!


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"A Clean Romance" by Cindy Christiansen is a short story about a cleaning product saleslady who is mistaken as a maid from a cleaning service. The story and the title are a type of pun because the author has developed a reputation for writing stories that are clean of sexual content and foul language.
In this story, a young woman is selling cleaning products door to door. When she rings the doorbell of an artist, he assumes that she has been sent by a cleaning service to help him tidy his house before his mother arrives for a visit. His mother owns the cleaning service, and is a real stickler for white glove inspections. He agrees to buy her products if she will help him get ready for his mother's arrival.
I felt that the final resolution of the problem would have been better motivated if the story had a little more "dirt". By "dirt", I mean research or an intellectual element for the reader to think about. If the heroine had shown methods or remedies for house cleaning problems that are hard to resolve, the ending would have been more believable.
For example, she could have shared the method of using hydrogen peroxide and baking soda to remove baked on grease from metal cookie sheets and bake ware. Or she could have combined two of the products she was selling to create a new one. Either of those solutions would have made the heroine look ingenious, smart and competent. A smart woman is a "keeper", a trait that would have motivated the hero to retain this person in his life. It would also have given the reader something to say "ahhh" about. It would have made the plot a little more suspenseful if the reader wondered how she was going to solve a household problem that the reader has never been able to fix themselves.
The plot also lacks a contrast in character; strong versus weak, or realistic versus idealistic. When he learns that his mother is arriving early, both characters fly into a panic. While this is a believable reaction for the female employee that has no power, no dreams, and is a victim of circumstance, a self-employed business man would have reacted by formulating an action plan (first things first) and then delegating responsibilities according to strength and talent (I'm good at this, you're good at that). I didn't believe that the male reacted as a man would.
As such, the story is a simple, pleasant read. It moves along nicely, and is a "feel good book". It is of the same quality as the author's other books, including "Time Will Tell" and "Risky Seeds, Risky Hearts".
©Paula Hrbacek All rights reserved. Please link to this article instead of reposting it. For reprint rights use the contact form at www.paulahrbacek.weebley.com.


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Interview: Girl Recovering From Dog Attack
AM 820 News anchor Robert Pankau talked with Grayson Kamm of WTSP 10 News about a 7 year-old girl who is recovering at Tampa General Hospital this after a vicious dog attack. The dog was a chocolate lab and is being held by Animal Services. The attack happened Friday afternoon in Port Richey.


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We drive people to connect with brands
through design that resonates.
How do you connect with millenials? You get their attention. Fast. We created a campaign centered on colorful and active visuals to show how the Corolla inspires.
To celebrate a century of their iconic bottle, Coca-Cola asked us to imagine the next 100 years of the contour experience by designing a poster for a global museum tour.
Passion Projects
We turn off the lights when we leave the office, but the creativity stays on. By exploring across mediums, we keep things fresh and find new ways to propel clients forward along the way.


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Truncatella's air bubble
Truncatella is a genus of coastal-terrestrial snails that have been the subjects of several posts on this blog (for example, this one and this one).
In the discussion of Truncatella subcylindrica in British Prosobranch Molluscs by Fretter & Graham (1994), there is this statement: "...on occasions, a bubble of air may be seen in the [mantle] cavity."
I have noticed an air bubble in the mantle cavities of other species of Truncatella. Here is a photo of Truncatella pulchella crawling in sea water. Notice the large air bubble in the mantle cavity under the shell.
What is the function of the air bubble? Is it an oxygen reserve for the snail?


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Help Yourself Academy
Imagine a classroom of third-grade students learning science concepts in a college laboratory... The Esteves School of Education has collaborated with the Help Yourself Foundation to establish an academy designed to create an educational pipeline for minority and at risk students from the Troy school district into fields related to the health sciences. This partnership initiative will provide an after school program, by utilizing the foundation's STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) curriculum, which was developed by National Board Certified Teachers and targets students in grades 3-8, with particular emphasis on science and mathematics.
The Help Yourself Academy program will embed principles of service learning, utilize the talents and skills of pre-service teachers (enrolled in childhood education, mathematics education and science education programs), employ certified teachers, utilize science and mathematics materials and best practices to create dynamic and motivational lessons, and provide students with transportation to and from the colleges.
The program invites parental involvement and participation in order to provide a strong foundation of on-going support for students.
To begin program implementation, the Russell Sage campus will serve as host to a cohort of 24 third-grade students, for at least two afternoons each week of the academic year.
Each year following, the academic achievement of each cohort will be monitored closely through additional collaboration with the Troy school district.