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Thank you all for your patience while we whipped our random number generator into place so that we could be sure that the raffle was fair and square. Finally, though, the time has come to announce the winners of the fifth annual Menu For Hope charity raffle.
This year, despite everything going on with the economy, we raised $62,206.86. That is a staggering figure and an incredible testament to your generosity and support for such a worthy cause. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you. You have provided so much to people who have so little.
If your name appears in the list below as one of the winners, I will be contacting you over the weekend with instructions on how you can claim your prize (I will put you in touch with the folks that offered it, and you can coordinate).
For those who offered prizes, I will also be in touch to let you know how to proceed.
Congratulations to all the winners, and I hope you enjoy the fruits of your generosity.
WB01: A Wine Vacation at Meadowood Resort in the Napa Valley. Winner: Dr. Paul Ting
WB02: Dinner in New York with Eric Asimov of the New York Times. Winner: Mr. H Roseff
WB03: Blackbird Vineyards Magnum and Ma(i)sonry Tasting. Winner: Mr. Jeffrey Chan
WB04: Wine and Film Premieres from Wilson Daniels. Winner: Mr. Robert Mullen
WB05: A case of zinfandel with your own professionally designed custom label. Winner: Ms. Becky Thomas
WB07: Two World Class Gruner Veltliners and a set ofWorld Class White Wine Glasses. Winner: Dr. Michael Kelly
WB08: Half a case of Verge Syrah, and a tour of the Vineyard. Winner: Mrs. Linda Collins
WB09: Wine Book Bonanza. Winner: Mr. William Wilson
WB10: Wine Travel Guide Voucher. Winner: Ms. Laurie Turnau
WB11: The Flavors of Napa and Sonoma. Winner: Mr. Sean Timberlake
WB12: Wall Size California Wine Map. Winner: Mr. Stuart Ake
WB14: Inaugural Vintage of Capture's Tin Cross Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. Winner: Mrs. Maria Schellpfeffer
WB15: Labor of Love. Winner: Mrs. Catherine Cooper
WB16: Private Wine Blending Session. Winner: Ms. Thea Dwelle
WB17: Port Wine Starter Set from Quevedo. Winner: Mrs. Maria Schellpfeffer
WB18: Custom Made Wine Accessories. Winner: Mr. Ore Dagan
WB20: Custom 90 minute wine seminar. Winner: Mr. marty mccarty
WB22: A Case of Exclusive Small Production Wines from Raymond. Winner: Ms. Mary Cannici
WB23: A Case of P.S. I Love You. Winner: Mr. Eric Waldron
WB24: The Kendall Jackson Owl Box. Winner: Ms. Christina Bearer
WB25: A night of wine and food in Florence. Winner: Dr. Fred Raleigh
WB26: A Vertical of Twisted Spaniard. Winner: Mr. Hank Shaw
WB27: Wine, Wine and More Wine from Domaine 547. Winner: Mr. Robert Mullen
WB28: A "Horizontal" of Clos Pepe Pinot Noir From Top Producers. Winner: Ms. Lynn Conrad
WB29: Magnum of wine, tour, and tasting at Tolosa Winery for Six People. Winner: Dr. Sofia Touami
Here's the list of wine prizes with their full descriptions for your reference.
If you bid on other prizes, check out the full list of winners at Chez Pim.
Any questions? Let me know.
A wine book like no other. Photographs, essays, and wine recommendations. 2015 Roederer Award Winner.Learn more.
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Wine Will Never Smell the Same Again: Luca Turin and the Science of Scent Forlorn Hope: The Remarkable Wines of Matthew Rorick Debating Robert Parker At His Invitation Passopisciaro Winery, Etna, Sicily: Current Releases Should We Care What Winemakers Say? The Sweet Taste of Freedom: Austria's Ruster Ausbruch Wines 2009 Burgundy Vintage According to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Charles Banks: The New Man Behind Mayacamas Wine from the Caldera: The Incredible Viticulture of Santorini Why Community Tasting Notes Sites Will Fail Chateau Rayas and the 2012 Vintage of Chateauneuf-du-Pape A Life Indomitable: The Wines of Casal Santa Maria, Portugal Bay Area Bordeaux: Tasting Santa Cruz Mountain Cabernets Forgotten Jewels: Reviving Chile's Old Vine Carignane The First-Timer's Guide to Les Trois Glorieuses of Hospices de Beaune


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Dr. Cormier joined Acadiana Neurosurgery and its founder Dr. Alan Appley after his internship in general surgery and neurosurgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and the completion of his training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham AL. During his training, he gained extensive experience in complex spinal surgery under the direction of Dr. Mark N. Hadley and associates. He also received special training in minimally invasive spinal surgery as well as open and endoscopic brain surgery. He has published articles in national journals involving the fields of Adult and Pediatric spine and epilepsy. In 2005 he served on the Council of State Neurological Society in 2005 as a representative of Alabama to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He received the Resident Leadership Award from the Division of Neurological Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for "his dedication to promoting the art and science of Neurosurgery, demonstrating outstanding clinical skills, offering leadership by word and example and providing mentorship to junior residents."
Dr. Cormier maintains his interests to train Neurosurgeons of tomorrow and will be teaching both medical students and residents many innovative neurosurgical techniques including endoscopic pituitary and image-guided surgery, and minimally invasive complex spinal surgery. Dr. Cormier was named as one of "America's Top Surgeons,� in the field of Neurosurgery, by the Consumers Research Council of America, Guide to America's top surgeons.
Dr. Cormier is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and is board eligible in neurological surgery.
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subset: commoncrawl


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March 26, 1999
NEW ORLEANS, La. -Brandon Belanger and Nick Herz hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning to propel Tulane (19-7, 2-2 C-USA) to a 4-2 victory over Conference USA rival Cincinnati on Friday.
With Cincinnati (8-9, 1-3 C-USA) holding a one-run lead, Jake Burnham started the bottom of the eighth with a walk and advanced to second on a Mickey McKee single. After a Jake Gautreau fly-out, Belanger hit his second home run of the year, a three-run blast over the left field wall. Not to be out done, Herz answered with a solo shot of his own, also over the left field wall, to give Tulane a 4-1 advantage.
The Bearcats threatened in the top of the ninth, pushing a run across to pull within two, before Belanger took the mound in relief of starter Jared Berkowitz. Belanger earned his sixth save of the year while Berkowitz claimed the win to improve to 6-2 on the year. The junior scattered eight hits over eight innings, giving up two runs while picking up two strikeouts. Right-hander Joey List took the loss for Cincinnati, falling to 1-2 on the year after giving up four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts.
Cincinnati jumped out to an early lead scoring in the top of the first. With the bases loaded, right fielder Corey Hinton singled up the middle to score Kevin Youkilis and leave the bases full. However, the Bearcats could not capitalize again, as Anthony Snowell grounded out to Tulane first baseman McKee to end the inning. From there, defense dominated as neither team committed an error and the two squads combined to leave 20 men on base.
Belanger finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with a game-high three RBI, while Herz was 2-of-2 at the plate.
The two teams meet again Saturday at Turchin Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.


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If you were to make a list of musicians who ought to write a book, Todd Snider's name would have to be near the top. This is, after all, the guy who spends so much time telling stories in his concerts that fans gleefully repeat the "I sometimes go on for as many as 18 minutes in between the songs" line with him. Now, Snider has written a book, appropriately titled "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales", and it manages to exceed the high expectations set for it.
If you've seen Todd Snider in concert or listened to any of his live albums, you already know about half of the stories in "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like." Fan favorites like Trogg, Large Marge, KK Rider, Moondawg, and Miss Virgie are all present and accounted for. With the extra pages, Snider re-tells the story of all those characters but gives each extra attention, bringing even more depth to the "mostly true" chronicle of oddballs Snider has spent his career weaving.
Where the book really shines, though, is in Snider's stories about the musicians and producers he's met during his career. He's always made it clear that Jerry Jeff Walker was his musical hero and the man who made him want to be a musician, so it's no surprise that Jerry Jeff gets a fairly hefty chunk of the early portion of the book dedicated to him. But when one of the chapters is named "Jerry Jeff Walker's Balls", it's a safe bet that this is hardly a fawning tribute so much as more of a hilarious recounting of shared exploits.
Unlike many memoirs, Snider has no room for hate in "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like." Everyone Snider mentions comes off very well. Some people are exactly what you expect them to be. John Prine is a zen-like master of the lyrical turn, who Snider says "sees a car wreck and immediately thinks it has too many verses." Jimmy Buffett comes off as a mix of the goofy beach bum of his on-stage persona and the shrewd businessman you know he has to be to have created the Margaritaville empire.
Snider's assessment of other people may surprise you. He spends most of a chapter talking about Garth Brooks, and Brooks couldn't pay an army of publicists to make him look any better than Snider does. The real insight in this chapter isn't the story of Garth Brooks being a nice guy, which is out there already for anyone who digs for it. It's Snider's cutting exploration of why people think Garth Brooks isn't a nice guy despite all evidence to the contrary. Lamenting America's need to tear down the successful is not a new concept, but in Snider's hands it is given its most compelling argument.
The one person who doesn't come off looking good at all in "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like" is Todd Snider. Snider has always had a bent toward self-deprecation in his shows, but the book takes that self-deprecation to a level that almost borders on self-mutilation. Snider has fallen into just about every trap a young musician could fall into throughout his career, from drug-fueled stage rants to believing his own press and ignoring good advice, to selling out friends on stage in the cause of a funny story.
Even at its bleakest moments, "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like" is entertaining. You can see how Snider has kept so many of his friends despite the many rotten things he speaks of doing to them in the book. Like many of the characters from his stories, Todd lives much of his life in a way that would be considered wrong in polite society. But there's an endearing charm that shines through it all that makes you just want to like Todd Snider. Besides, none of the fun people live in polite society anyway.
Whether you're a long-time fan of Todd Snider or a brand new listener, "I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like" is worth the read. It's one of the most refreshing musical memoirs in years, striking just the right mix between humor and revelation.


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Discussion Discussion » » Others»Mental Imbalance...
Mental Imbalance
Can severe rejection from society cause mental imbalance ?
Add Comment View Comment
Dharitri : yes, i have seen people like that myself.
jadu01 : I think yes, because human nature is that they want acceptance and attention. If rejected, one may go into deppression.
Rony : Absolutely Right Viju it is true rejection from society cause a terrible menatl imbalance without society we cannot leave alone so don't do anything that causes you such kind of rejection.
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Love turquoise? Visit my shopping blog Everything Turquoise...updated several times throughout the day! Check out Decor by Color for even more color-themed shopping!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Rocco Bosman
Love turquoise? Visit my shopping blog Everything Turquoise...updated several times throughout the day! Check out Decor by Color for even more color-themed shopping!
16 comments:
- Luciane at HomeBunch.com said...
This place is so romantic! I love the architectural details and, gosh... what about that garden? So lovely!
Great, stunning find, Erin!
have a wonderful day, sweetie.
Luciane at HomeBunch.com
- August 30, 2011 at 8:22 AM
- Lauren@BaylorSays... said...
I know this is said to death, but I truly love every last tiny thing about every one of those pictures...oh my word!!! That bedroom is so delicious I can barely stand it. Good land those shutters, aaaaah!! Seriously good stuff here. Love the bathroom too, the strings of shells hanging from the window, who thinks of stuff like that?? The paneling is amazing too. Too much to comment on my goodness!
- August 30, 2011 at 8:33 AM
- Sarah AKA Mrs. Ruffled Flats said...
Holy cow - the architecture is incredible! I'm really loving the mix of sophisticated and whimsy decor going on. It's really fun and fresh!
- August 30, 2011 at 8:49 AM
I'm with you...those shutters are to die for! The curved ceiling is beautiful too!
- August 30, 2011 at 1:42 PM
- nkp said...
Those shutters took my breath away as well! Thanks for linking back and thanks for visiting Head Over Heels.
- August 30, 2011 at 9:12 PM
- hong kong property said...
i really love the aura this house is giving~
- August 31, 2011 at 5:02 AM
- Merlin said...
"Now...THIS IS what I'm talkin about!!!" franki
- August 31, 2011 at 12:11 PM
- Sizzle and Zoom said...
Beautiful porch with the shutters. Lovely ambience! Great color!
- August 31, 2011 at 2:30 PM
- Ann said...
Gorgeous shutters, both from inside & out!
- August 31, 2011 at 8:06 PM
- home interior design said...
Wow, these are some cool design photos. Just look at the kind of respect given for the natural sunlight in these designs. Nothing can be compared to illuminating your interiors with natural sunlight. Thanks a lot for sharing the photos.
- September 1, 2011 at 11:51 AM
- sealaura said...
hi Erin!
catching up on your gorgeous blog and I just wanted to jump in to all these pictures (love the size) I am so ready for labor day, hope you have a good one!
- September 1, 2011 at 8:11 PM
- Pattie Crum said...
I about died when I saw those shutters on the doors, what a brilliant idea. I have 2 pairs of them in my basement and now I know exactly what to do with them. Your blog takes my breath away.
- September 2, 2011 at 2:14 PM
- Beth Hisemova said...
what´s an amazing house! ♥ I adore it, I adore this style.. Yeah, I´m in love now! :)
- January 4, 2012 at 4:34 AM
- Linda Notelovitz said...
How strange I was searching resomething on the net & found my home featured on your blog!
Where did you get the photos from?
- January 16, 2012 at 5:30 AM
- Erin {House of Turquoise} said...
Hi Linda,
First of all, congratulations on such a beautiful home! It's apparent you have incredible style!
The images all came from House and Leisure magazine. If you are at all uncomfortable with me having them up, I totally understand and will take this post down right away. Just let me know!
- January 16, 2012 at 10:44 AM
- okhan said...
bizim için kombi servisi almak Kombi Servisi,kombi bakımları ve arızaları için bize danışabilirsinizKombi Servisi
- September 11, 2012 at 5:01 AM


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Although we've been hearing a lot about politics in the past few months, particularly after the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the presidential race kicked into high gear Wednesday night (October 3) with the first televised debate between the two candidates.Obama and Mitt Romney said what? MTV teamed up with FlackCheck to keep the candidates honest during the first debate!
President Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney went head-to-head on issues like education, job creation and reducing the deficit from the stage at Magness Arena on the campus of the University of Denver in the event moderated by PBS' Jim Lehrer. There was a lot covered over the course of the 90-minute debate, but several key moments stood out for the MTV audience:
Not-So-Sunny Days On Sesame Street
During a discussion about reducing the deficit and balancing the budget, Governor Romney made a statement about cutting government spending and subsidizing that included cutting funds to things like PBS. "I'm sorry, Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS and other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird," Romney said. "I like you, too, but I'm not going to keep on spending money on things that we have to borrow money from China to pay for." Romney's comment about Big Bird and PBS caused the biggest Twitter reaction of the night and inspired the creation of multiple Big Bird-related Twitter handles that instantly started making comments about being out of work or being worried that they'd be fired, or concern for Bert and Ernie's domestic bliss.
Your Issues: Education and Jobs
While their plans for invoking change differ, Obama and Romney did agree with one another on the importance of creating more jobs and improving education. "I want kids getting federal funds for school. I want them to go to the school of their choice," said Romney, who referenced several times the fact that the schools in Massachusetts where he was once governor rank #1 in the country. "All the federal funds I'd have follow the child, and have the parents and child decide where they want to go to school." "I think [the government] has a significant role to play in education," Obama agreed. "We want to focus on making college affordable. We said, 'Why not cut out the middleman?' We've provided millions more students assistance and kept rates low on student loans. That is an example where our priorities make a difference," he said, adding that he believed Governor Romney also cared about education but was going about it in the wrong way.
Although most of us have become very familiar with the term "Obamacare" by now, which refers to the Affordable Care Act the president pushed through Congress, we haven't necessarily heard Obama's thoughts on the bill's nickname. Thanks to his comments tonight, we now know he's in favor of the term. "I like it," he said after Governor Romney introduced the bill with that nickname, quickly followed by saying that he uses the term "Obamacare" "with all due respect." The president later admitted that he has "become fond of this term" when he described its significance in during his first four years in the Oval Office.
Happy Anniversary
Before either candidate jumped into their respective political platforms, President Obama told the audience that the most important issue to address was his wedding anniversary. "Twenty years ago, I became the luckiest man on earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me, and so I just want to wish [you], sweetie, a happy anniversary," Obama said to his wife. "And let you know that a year from now, we won't be celebrating in front of 40 million people." Romney, too, made a point to offer his well-wishes to the first couple before launching into facts and figures. "Congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your anniversary. I'm sure this is the most romantic place you could have imagined to be here with me," he joked.
Meet Sassy Mitt Romney
The pleasantries didn't last for long! The former Massachusetts governor came out guns a-blazing and expressed charisma and passion that many of us hadn't yet witnessed. Romney had no problem challenging the president on specific points or statements throughout the debate and maintained eye contact with Obama while he did so. He also did not back down from accusations made by Obama that he felt were inaccurate, statements like: "I don't know what you're talking about," as well as a challenge to the money Obama spent developing green technologies that could have been used for education. "I'm not going to cut education funding and grants for people to go to college, let me make that clear," Romney said to Obama. "You put your money where your heart is with $90 billion into green energy, money that would have hired 2 million teachers." Immediately following the debate, commentators on CNN and Twitter paid respect to the fire behind Romney's delivery and how it stood out in contrast to a "listlessness" from Obama.
Stick with MTV's Power of 12 throughout the 2012 election season.


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CNN announced a week ago that "Batman vs. Superman" would not be premiiring in theaters on its original release date, July 17, 2015 but has now been moved up to May 16, 2016.
The official word from Warner Brothers Studios that this will give "filmmakers time to realize fully their vision, given the complex visual nature of the story".
This news is causing many fans to wonder if the momentum and excitement for the film will decrease by then especially with other Marvel films coming out before then, such as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" this April, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" in 2014 and "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" in 2015.
But, other fans are hoping that this means that there will be more heroes added to this movie. We already have a mature Batman supposedly mentoring the younger Superman. We know that Wonder Woman is going to make an appearance and that Lex Luthor will be the bad guy. But, fans are also hoping for a Green Lantern and there is even buzz about Nightwing. Maybe the studio is trying to add time to make the movie "more".
But, either way the movie has been moved up to a release date of 2016, an entire 2 years away. and we will all be waiting to see what Warner Brothers Pictures has for us.
If you would like more information on me or my writings please visit me at Midnight Musings with Bertena.


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Michigan's Founders Brewing is not only one of those prominent national brands that slipped into our Dallas market about a year ago, they are also one of the few breweries from the Midwest that make it to Texas. If you haven't tried their beers by now, they are all highly recommended.
But with National IPA Day celebrated this past week (August 7th), let's set aside Founder's award-winning stouts and seasonals and focus on an emerging stylistic fad: the "session IPA." Traditionally, IPAs are bold and full-bodied beers that showcase a whole spectrum of hops flavors but with enough of a sweet malt base to keep them from being undrinkable. Americans have embraced the IPA like nobody's business, as evidenced by a singular day set aside to celebrate the style.
Founders certainly has their own IPA but they also have their "sessionable" option, the All Day IPA. (Boulevard has a version called the Pop-Up Session IPA, Firestone Walker has the Easy Jack, Stone Brewing has their Go To IPA and I'm sure many others can be found.) Normally, the IPA style ranks in the 6% to 8% ABV range, depending on the guidelines you prefer, but to be "sessionable" these new IPAs deliver all the hops flavor at sub-5% ABV strengths. Founders All Day IPA is only 4.7% with 42 IBUs.
Don't read this as me disliking this trend -- All Day IPA is amazingly popular and accounts for a sizable percentage of Founders' sales -- but these session IPAs leave something short. The All Day IPA is bright and golden, moderately hopped with citrus and pine with a shallow malty base, and is certainly flavorful and satisfying if all you chase is the bitter bud. However, brewers sacrifice body to achieve the lower ABV and the beer is left with a slightly thin mouthfeel, almost seemingly watered-down.
It's the same impression of drinking a diet soda over the full-sugar brand, or of noshing on a turkey burger instead of ground sirloin. It may satisfy an itch with most people but it leaves me wanting more, especially when Founders offers one of the best IPAs in the nation in their Centennial IPA (7.2%). As always, choose your drinks to your own personal tastes but I prefer my IPAs definitely "unsessionable."
Availability: Founders bottles are now widely available in most all grocery and liquor stores across North Texas, and taps are not difficult to find in craft beer bars and restaurants.


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Girls Night Out was created to give women a night of fashion, food, giveaways, and pampering. The first 100 guests to register at simon.com will receive a swag bag stuffed with samples and themed goodies. Guest can also register to win a $500 Simon gift card.
Beauty stores such as Sephora, Bare Minerals, Aveda, Kiehls, and Nordstrom will have pampering sessions and are giving away free samples. Other stores participating with promotions include Anne Fontaine, Aveda, Barami, Bath & Body Works, Brahmin, Brookstone, Carol's Daughter, Cole Haan, C. Wonder, Everything But Water, Free People, Jack Rogers, Juicy Couture, Karen Millen, Kenneth Cole, Lenscrafters, Lilly Pulitzer, LK Bennett, Marmi, Mephisto, Michael Stars, and more.
Girls Night Out
Sept 12
Lenox Square
Macy's Court, Main Level
3393 Peachtree Road NE
Alanta, Ga. 30326
Free and open to the public
Monarch Court, Main Level
3500 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, Ga. 30326
Free and open to the public
Girls Night After Party
Sept 12
Ocean's Prime
3102 Piedmont Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305


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Founded in 1993, MarkeTel Systems offers multiple contact center solutions that the company claims can not only increase productivity by an estimated 300 percent, but can also dramatically increase efficiency levels at call centers around the world. MarkeTel's enterprise level product the 'MarkeTel Pursuit' , is a unified communications solution that comes complete with a predictive dialer, auto dialer, IP-PBX (News - Alert), dynamic scripting and real time reporting software.
According to the company's website, this combination of multiple products allows for an easily customizable solution for contact centers looking to reach a large group of people in the least amount of time possible.
Some benefits associated with this UC product include: quick and measurable ROI, no pauses or delays, 100 percent call compliance, IP communications savings, implementation and support savings, low maintenance and licensing fees and high reliability.
William Beck, a IT manager said in a statement, "After investigating the many dialer systems out there and after several demonstrations, one name was always being mentioned "Marketel Systems." We made arrangements to have one last demo before making our final decision. We wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology, but not have to spend a fortune to get there, after the demo we were sold on the product. We choose to go with the "Marketel Pursuit Dialer and Prospector Application". As it turns out the system was just right for our organization, it was priced right and met the expectations all the way around. The system was delivered ready to go, and without much effort the new dialer was in place and running within 24 hours."
Related definitions that you should know as you increase your understanding of predictive dialers include:
Dialer: generic term for any computer-driven device that places outbound calls and connects the answered calls to an agent or operator.
Agent: telephone professional to whom a predictive dialer sends the ready call.
Predictive Dialer: Predictive dialing was introduced for the purpose of increasing efficiency within calling centers. They are computer based system that automatically dial groups of telephone numbers, and then passes live calls to available agents. The SpitFire Enterprise dialer utilizes sophisticated algorithms to speed up and slow down the call rate based on, number of available agents, number of available lines, the campaign's average call time and other statistical information.
Quick Connect: Quick Connect allows your agents to log in one-to-one with a phone line. This option is great for B2B purposes, especially when your agent needs to be on the phone line through the entire call.
Fixed Dialing: Fixed Dialing gives your call center manager the power to manually set the volume of calls. The software will then automatically dial a predetermined number of lines per agent. Fixed dialing is ideal for political campaigns, charity campaigns, and other situations drop call ratios are not a factor.
Auto dialer: makes thousands of calls screening for busy signals, no answers, fax machines while detecting answering machines/voicemail and delivers pre-recorded messages. SpitFireX Auto Dialer is a low cost solution for voice broadcasting.
Predictive dialers use complex mathematical algorithms that calculate, in real time:
SpitFire Enterprise Predictive SEP is a fully blended call center solution that supports unlimited lines, agents, and campaigns. Its greatest strength is in its flexibility: multiple campaigns can be set up, viewed, and changed with the click of a button. With easy options for customization, data and dispositions can be catered to each campaign. In addition to our user-friendly interface, SEPhighlights full customer data and combines multiple campaigns on one screen. All the information your agents need is accessible at a glance, freeing their energy to focus on what matters: the calls.
Keep It Simple with SpitFire Fully Integrated Call Center Software
Our greatest priority is making your call center run smoothly, and we do that by developing software that is intuitive and easily integrated with your current systems. SEP works seamlessly with most CRM applications and long distance carriers, making it the simplest and most cost-effective solution for your call center.
Read More »
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Economic growth and higher education in India and China
Author: Ranjit Goswami, RK University
In the early 1980s, India had quantitatively and qualitatively more infrastructure than China. Until last decade, India's higher education outperformed its Chinese counterpart — both quantitatively and qualitatively — and China retained its long-term lead in primary education. But the situation is altogether different today, as China now dominates in 'soft infrastructure' areas too, which include higher education.
Higher Education development in India and China closely parallels their economic growth over the last couple of decades. Higher education in India struggles with moderate reactive growth, whereas China achieves higher growth and is proactive in its goals; in no small measure, this derives from the fact that the Chinese system is more directly focused on quality than India's.
China is a unique case in higher education development. In 2010 China achieved a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 30 per cent in higher education, up from an abysmally low 3–4 per cent in 1990. India barely improved its enrollment ratio in the same 20-year period, moving from less than 10 per cent up to 15 per cent enrollment. But these figures are somewhat misleading because they do not clearly show the effects of India's population, which is younger than China's. Fifty per cent of India's population is under 25 years of age and thus has not yet entered the tertiary sector. This is reflected in UNESCO figures (Fig. 2 showing primary level enrollment in India and China 160 million and 100 million in 2010 respectively, and Fig. 4 showing tertiary level enrollment in India and China at 15 million and 30 million in 2010 respectively; and the projections do match with actual, barring primary enrollment in India, which is little less). Effectively, at primary school level enrollments, India has nearly 60 per cent higher enrollment than China, whereas in tertiary level enrollments, India has almost half of those of China.
The implications of a low gross enrollment ratio in tertiary level for a nation as young as India can be significant. The possibility of stalled economic growth is particularly worrying. Gross enrollment ratio for higher education in India is lowest among BRICS economies, and significantly lower than the world average.
The Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012–17) of the statutory body responsible for governing higher education in India opens with: 'Higher education in India is passing through a phase of unprecedented expansion, marked by an explosion in the volume of students, a substantial expansion in the number of institutions and a quantum jump in the level of public funding'. There is no mention of quality of education here, nor of the fact that this expansion is far outstripped by concurrent expansions in the Chinese higher education sector. This is odd considering that China is increasingly seen both as a key economic rival, and at best as a benchmark, for India.
Should India sacrifice the quality of its higher education to increase its quantity? Judging from the 2006 report of the National Knowledge Commission it appears that higher education is being geared towards producing a large number of graduates rather than high quality graduates. This report suggested that accountability indicators designed to ensure quantity were inhibiting the quality of graduates, particularly in relation to their creative and entrepreneurial skills. The report states that 'the existing framework, rather than fostering accountability, constrains the supply of good-quality institutions whilst excessively regulating the existing institutions in the wrong places and is not conducive to innovation or creativity'. These findings are backed up by another report, which describes the Indian higher education sector as: 'Over-regulated and under-governed'. At the same time, quantity expansion has also been grossly inadequate, making the challenges daunting on dual fronts of quantity and quality.
Quality was compromised in China's massive expansion of higher education as well. But today there are many more Chinese than Indian universities among the world's top 200. Chinese secondary school students are exemplary performers in PISA tests while India fares poorly, coming 2nd last among 73 participating nations.
The salient reason for the discrepancy between Chinese and Indian educational performance is the absence of the state from higher education in India. During 2005-06 period, around 52 per cent of Indian students accessed higher education in private colleges, compared to less than 10 per cent in China. In China, government spends more than 1.5 per cent of its GDP on higher education while India spends less than 0.5 per cent. China has grown its higher education sector primarily with the help of universities, which number more than 2300. India has around 600 universities but they have more than 33,000 affiliated colleges. This is the largest number of affiliated colleges in the world, and is 10 times more than that of China. The majority of these universities and colleges in India are private and do not receive financial support from the Indian government.
The trend is even more disturbing. In 2000–01, enrollment in private unaided higher educational institutes was barely 33 per cent which became 52 per cent in 2005–6. The share of private unaided institutes among all higher educational institutes in India had been 33 per cent during 2000–01 period; in 2005–06, it increased to 63 per cent, and as per a recent report, it now stands at 80 per cent. These numbers show that the quantity expansion in India has been achieved by self-finance colleges alone. It effectively means almost all of Government support for higher education is for these 20 per cent of the minority students studying in Government colleges. It is not necessary that these 20 per cent of students, studying higher education in state-aided colleges, necessarily come from poorer backgrounds, or are more meritorious than the other 80 per cent pursuing higher education in self-financed colleges.
This structural anomaly is at the basis of the Indian economy's lack of scale in production capacity. With so many colleges, monitoring and controlling becomes difficult, which can significantly compromise quality.
The fate of higher education in either country brings to mind China and India's economic development path. Where China emphasised government-controlled reform and liberalisation, India opted for liberalisation with less government oversight. China continues to see unprecedented expansions in its economic capacity at a time when inadequate capacity remains a major economic bottle-neck for India.
Many scholars and commentators continue to draw comparisons between India and China. But it is increasingly clear that reforms in China and India are drastically different in character and impact. The higher education performance in either country speaks just as loudly as the overall economic picture.
Ranjit Goswami is Professor and Director of School of Management of RK University.
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Yes, Higher education in India needs a boost!! Nice article.
The role of higher education in the growth and progress of a nation has been well recognised for centuries. Although the sector has been largely dominated by government institutions,intiative is to be taken by the government body to boost it.. The government must give more priority to education than to anything else…
I recently read an article which says the MNC's are now eyeing Indian Towns for hiring talented workforce. The salary scale is in par with what these companies provide for the candidates who come from the metros and the IIT's. I personally feel this is a positive move. The link to the article : http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2013/09/24/students-indias-small-towns-get-competitive-salary-packages-global-job-market/
Hello, I am very immersed to read your blog. I am also very much appreciate the active education the forum provides.


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[video] "City Streets" by Kurt Boone by MONSTERTRACKNYC
Friday, April 6, 2012
Kurt Boone Poem with some photos I took from The Red Hook Crit
Kurt Boone Poem with some photos I took from The Red Hook Crit
Thanks to Tone and Gio for making it happen and Rafael for the start video.
New York City Cycle Messenger
Tired of sitting at the office with a wet ass all day just because it rained this morning? Do you live in a climate where a shower can…
This is my work thru the years of producing and helping events get done. Cyclehawk Messengers is the change we are looking for.
Fer Claro from Spain is visiting New York City.
The film shot in a panel format and moderated by Kurt Boone the author of "Asphalt Warrior". Bicycle Messengers Carlos "JC" Ramirez, Heather Muller, Jose Morales, foot messenger…
Urban Cyclist Lifestyle


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Rated 5 out of 5 by 4 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5 by hsp123 This is why World Market rules This frame is so pretty and so unique! An absolute must for anyone with a flair and interest in world culture, history, and simply being different from the rest. The design and craftsmanship are on point, and the value is average for what the product offers. December 30, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by CultdeLunasol Gorgeous frame!! THis frame is unique, very well made, and you can hang it on the wall or put it on a table. It is stunning!!! I bought the $30 and I believe it was worth every penny. Not easy to find frames that are this unique. Another fantastic find!!!!! March 10, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Gran4 Nicely made Frames holds picture of my grand kids. Sits on shelf which contains items (stones, feathers, branches) which my grandchildren collect on our nature walks. Makes a lovely display! May 27, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Anon123 Very unique! This is not made of metal. But it does have a metallic finish. I still love it though. Its a beautiful and very different piece. January 3, 2014
1-4 of 4
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Peter Fonda
From Grand Theft Wiki
Peter Fonda (born February 23, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American actor who has appeared in movies such as Easy Rider, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and Ghost Rider. He provided the voice of The Truth in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
External link


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How can we prove that if $f:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$ is a function so that $f(n+1)>f(f(n))$ for all $n\in\mathbb{N}$ then $f(n)=n$ for all $n\in\mathbb{N}$?
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Claim 1: If $f(k) = 0$ then $k =0$.
Proof: Suppose not. Then there exists $k$ such that $0 = f(k) > f(f(k-1))$, which is not possible, as $f: \mathbb{N} \mapsto \mathbb{N}$.
Claim 2: $f(0) = 0$.
Proof: Let $S = \{f(k) | k > 0\}$. Let $a$ be the smallest number in $S$. Then there exists $k >0$ such that $a = f(k) > f(f(k-1))$. But this means $f(k-1) = 0$. Thus $k=1$, and $f(0) = 0$.
Claim 3: $f(n) = n$.
Proof: Assume, for all $0 \leq m < n$, that $f(k) = m$ iff $k = m$. Now we proceed as in the proofs of Claims 1 and 2.
If $f(k) = n$, then $f(f(k-1)) < n$, which means $k-1 = f(k-1) = f(f(k-1)) < n$. So $k < n+1$, which means that $k = n$.
Let $S = \{f(k) | k > n\}$. Let $a$ be the smallest number in $S$. Thus there exists $k >n$ such that $a = f(k) > f(f(k-1))$. Therefore $f(k-1) \leq n$. But if $f(k-1) < n$, then $f(k-1) = k-1$, and so $k \leq n$. But $k>n$. Therefore, $f(k-1) = n$, and so $k= n+1$ and $f(n) = n$.
Attempted solution (Improvements/corrections are greatly welcome!):
Clearly, the function isn't constant on any interval. So it must be either strictly increasing or strictly decreasing.
Suppose the function isn't injective. Then there exist $a,b \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $f(a) = f(b)$, but $a \neq b$. So either $a>b$ or $a<b$. WLOG, let $a>b$. Then $a = b+m$, for some $m \in \mathbb{N}$. Now, $f(a) = f(b+m) > f(f(b+(m-1)) > f(f(f(b+m-2) > ... >f(f(...(f(b))...)$. Now, suppose, WLOG that $f$ is increasing (if $f$ is decreasing, then there is also a contradiction). Then $f(f(...(f(b))...) > f(b)$. But $f(b) = f(a)$. Thus, we have a contradiction. So, $f$ must be injective.
Now, apply $f^{-1}$ on both sides, and you get that $n+1 > f(n)$, $\forall n \in \mathbb{N}$.
Clearly, if $ \forall n \in \mathbb{N}$, $f(n) = a*n+b$, where $a \neq 1$ and $b \neq 0$, then it would contradict $n+1 > f(n)$, $\forall n \in \mathbb{N}$.
Now it's just left to see what happens if there exists an $n'$ where $f(n') \neq n'$. In such a case, $f(n')>n'$ or $f(n')<n'$. Check that both cases still lead to contradictions.
I think if you can somehow rule out that $f$ is decreasing, then this might work.


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Window treatment purchases are now just mouse clicks away, thanks to online merchandisers such as Swags Galore, a discount curtain retailer. For Melinda and Eugene West, the concept of an internet solution to a common decorating dilemma – choosing the right window curtains – began after trial and error trips to local home furnishing stores and attempts at custom curtain making.
"We found the supply of affordable ready-made curtains to be limited," Melinda noted. "Then, buying bolts of fabric and hiring a seamstress to cut and custom sew was even more expensive." That's when the idea of an online discount outlet stocked with beautiful, ready-to-install curtains from manufacturer suppliers came to mind.
It was the 1990s and Melinda observed that online shopping was gathering momentum. "It was becoming more than a fad," she recollects. "Back then, I was a quality assurance specialist for government contractors and, through my work, learned website building."
Using the web programming skills she acquired, Melinda designed the Swags Galore website customers now use to place orders for curtains, curtain hardware and accessories, and to arrange for shipment of these purchases.
Designing the website was probably the easiest phase, but proposing the business plan to potential suppliers presented a bigger challenge. "We had to convince them that our online discount store would be useful, that it would even attract consumers living in rural areas with few shopping centers," said Melinda.
Having uncovered a niche market in online discount curtain merchandising and then getting suppliers to become business partners, Melinda and her husband opened Swags Galore in 1999, fulfilling orders for curtains and curtain hardware from their home in Shirley, NY. The following year, order volume increased and the couple leased a warehouse in Yaphank, NY to stock larger curtain inventories. When the order for curtain materials continued to increase, the couple moved their business to Lakeville, PA in 2007. At the new location, they built a larger warehouse that in a short time had to be physically extended. "As the business expanded, Eugene and I realized it was time to leave our daytime jobs and commit full-time to our online-based venture in curtain sales and delivery," Melinda said. "The rest is history."
Since helping to open a new chapter in internet-based merchandising, Melinda and Eugene continue fulfilling online orders for drapery, rods, valances and curtain accessories at a nationwide clip. Many customers are from the Boston area. "When you're an online merchant, customers can come from anywhere," Melinda commented.
Swags Galore features discount promotions on curtains and curtain hardware, free ground-shipping for purchases within specific price-range minimums, and shipping and handling within 24 hours. The company's mission is to make a large selection of the latest curtain styles available at affordable prices, delivered to customers in a short time frame with either discounted or free shipping based on order limits and promotional offers.
Nearly any type of curtain one can envision can be found on the Swags Galore website. Some curtain treatments come in five-piece sets, priced at less than $20.00 in exquisite patterns and bold color schemes. Customers can also browse the website for decorating ideas and instructions on how to measure windows for window treatments.
Melinda West herself never had formal training in interior decorating. "I don't even sew," she admits. But she has a demonstrated flair for dressing up even the most ordinary looking window, making the view from the inside worth looking at.
Even more significantly, Swags Galore is a story about a couple's successful transition to a dream career.


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With my son's 16th birthday quickly approaching, I knew a special birthday cake was in order. Cold Stone Creamery in Westerville has partnered with Sweet Mama's Gluten-Free Bakery to produce one of the best gluten-free treats we have found so far.
Sweet Mama's Bakery, located at 2680 Billingsley Road, Columbus, Ohio 43235, makes the actual cake part of the ice cream cake, while Cold Stone Creamery assembles the cake with gluten-free ice cream, mix-ins and frosting.
When I called to place my order, I was pleased with the level of awareness the employee had about the gluten-free diet, cross contamination issues and which products would be safe to use in the gluten-free ice cream cake and which were not. There are three different size cakes offered - small round, large round and rectangle. I chose the large round (serves 14) which cost $38.00. As far as customization, there are two different options for the cake flavor (vanilla or chocolate); ice cream flavors (all are safe except for the cake/brownie batter versions); mix-ins (fruit, chocolate shavings and select candies are safe); and frosting. We went with vanilla cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate shavings mixed in. The frosting was a chocolate ganache with chocolate shavings on the side.
I was nothing short of impressed when we picked up the cake! It was beautiful! Everyone was raving about this cake - even those who don't have to eat gluten-free! The birthday boy enjoyed two pieces, he liked it so much!
Cold Stone Creamery in Westerville is the only location offering gluten-free ice cream cakes at this point in time. The store is located at 762 N. State Street, Westerville, Ohio 43082. To place an order for a gluten-free ice cream cake, call 614-818-9031.
Kudos to Sweet Mama's Gluten-Free Bakery & Cold Stone Westerville for coming together to make this happen! I know that we will definitely be ordering a cake from them again in the future.


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The restaurant chain, Buffalo Wild Wings offers a garlic Parmesan chicken that is garlicky enough to frighten any vampires lurking nearby but not so much as to cause an upset tummy. For a garlic lover, why relegate the flavor just to chicken wings? This rendition comes fairly close to BW3's recipe and the crunchy panko coating resembles fried chicken without the added fat. Best of all, it can be used to flavor an entire chicken.
Garlic lover's Parmesan chicken
3 lbs. bone-in chicken breasts
1 c. flour
1 pkg. dry Italian dressing seasoning
1 bottle creamy Italian dressing
1 c. panko bread crumbs
1/2 c. dry Parmesan cheese
In large bowl, mix together panko bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
In large bowl, whisk together flour and dry Italian dressing seasoning. Dredge chicken breasts in seasoned flour.
Using a basting brush, coat floured chicken with thin layer of creamy Italian dressing. Dredge chicken in bread crumbs, coating thickly.
Arrange coated chicken in 13 x 9 baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake 45 - 55 minutes in 350 degree oven, or until juices run clear and coating is golden brown. Serves 4 - 6


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Disregarding accepted categorization and plentiful definitive academic study, the National Gallery of Art has gone rouge in the newest interpretation of beloved scenery painter Andrew Wyeth. Presenting an obviously realistic, figurative painter as a secret abstractionist, the National Gallery bends the rules of art historical categorization and defies commonalities and popular opinion of a genre. In a groundbreaking first look at Andrew Wyeth's artistic obsession with windows and their meaning, the National Gallery of Art presents an exhibition featuring 60 works in tempera, drawings and paintings in "Andrew Wyeth: Looking Out, Looking In," opening May 4 – November 30, 2014 in Washington, D.C.
The National Gallery poses Wyeth as one of the most famous yet least understood artists in recent American art history. The Gallery investigates Wyeth's composed obsession with windows (he produced over 300 works in this theme) to provide new insight into a remarkably long career of an enduring icon. The Gallery sees Wyeth's penetrating approach to subject matter as "non-literal realism," contextualizing him among his Abstract Expressionist peers, and notes that his self-described "boiling-down" of the subject of the metaphor of windows, through intense and invasive studies allowed the artist to explore what remains in a painting in the absence of his usual person/portrait-lead narratives. Wyeth's thought process is what's really in store for visitors. The Gallery aims to capture the elusive and private artist's abstract mind in order to make the argument for his "abstract" art, which is no easy feat.
At first glance Wyeth is an obvious literal narrator. His works are depictions from real life. His scenery is familiar and yet, something eerie lurks in every frame. Something unseen stares back at you. Are there ghosts in Wyeth's farmhouses or is there something far more complex happening behind the veil of the realistic?
Wyeth's style is more accurately described as selective realism because he often added and subtracted freely from real scenery, which the Gallery poses as a practice in abstraction. In his window series, his haunting, hushed, dislocated scenes provide an abiding sense of place, so much so that his personage work (for which he is known) now feels as though the humans have ambushed his intensely constructed settings. Windows with billowing curtains perfectly capture momentary impressions – without the need of a visible narrator. And yet, the absence of the narrator is felt just as strongly as the scene itself. Wyeth's windows are a conundrum of complex contradiction and deeper investigation, led by the Gallery, reveals layers of abstract thought.
On the surface are beautifully crafted compositions using advanced mathematical geometry as structure, but layered within are various disjointed personal narratives. The leading painting in the exhibition, "Wind from the Sea" (1947) points the viewer in the location of Wyeth's father's death, though the actual place is just beyond the line of sight. Even without knowing this particular layer of the scene a lingering sense of displacement – a haunting feeling of absence permeates the image. The stark coloring and gloomy scene make the viewer aware that something other than looking out a window is actually happening here.
While "Wind from the Sea" is arguably Wyeth's window masterpiece, "Night Light at Keurners" (1960) drives the abstract argument to a palpable head. The watercolor is mostly recognized for the sticks and mud left on the completed piece, as Wyeth often worked on site. But the work actually pushes the abstract agenda into a more recognizable realm, not for the looseness of the representation, but for the qualifying effect that the painting happens more in the mind than on the page. The singular light illuminating from the otherwise deserted, barren landscape leaves the viewer pondering the presence – but really the absence – of the narrator. The narrator is equally there and not there, present and absent, and demonstrates the tenacity for which Wyeth could penetrate the elusive and work in abstraction.
The repetition of starkness in every window scene suggests that Wyeth was deeply disturbed – intellectually and emotionally – by the metaphor of windows. Also included in the exhibition are a notable amount of doorways present in Wyeth's window works, suggesting an intensely thorough investigation of the transience of place – specifically of structures where things and people can come and go. Abstract thought permeates every inch of Wyeth's window explorations, calling for a deeper engagement with the work.
Metaphor. Symbolism. These are not ideas copyrighted by abstract artists, so what makes Wyeth's windows abstract? Maybe seeing the abstraction in Wyeth requires a redefining of the term. Wyeth's subtle approach to abstraction forces the viewer to reconsider the concept entirely. Can what seems on the surface to be literal representation actually be abstraction? Wyeth's windows demand a deeper look to reveal a surprising side of an American favorite.


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"A 3-1 victory on the road against a strong Wake Forest team is a good way to start the season," said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. "We displayed a resiliency combined with well taken creative goals. We look forward to playing a very good UNC team and building on our performance tonight."
Although Ian Harkes put the Demon Deacons ahead 1-0 in just the 13th minute of the match, Wake Forest's lead didn't last long, with Bruin senior Andrew Tusaazemajja getting the equalizer a little more than two mintues later (15:11) on an unassisted strike from the left side of the box.
Six more minutes was all the Bruins would need to then take the lead, as junior Larry Ndjock put UCLA ahead 2-1 when he received a ball into the box at the 21:56 mark. Tusaazemajja and Felix Vobejda contibuted assists on that goal.
The two teams then played 65 minutes of scoreless soccer until freshman Seyi Adekoya scored the first goal of his young career on a shot from just inside the box in the 88th minute. That would complete the scoring, as UCLA was able to hold off the Demon Deacons (0-1) for the remainder of the game to preserve the 3-1 victory.
Bruin keeper Earl Edwards played the entire 90 minutes in goal for the Bruins, making three saves.
UCLA returns to action on Sunday, heading to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for a 4:00 p.m. (PST) battle against another ACC power.


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I guess when you build a new stadium in some cities you just leave the old one and let it fall to the ground.
The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have--and that is a moral problem, not an economic one. - Paul Heyne
Sad to see what at one time was the site of wrestlemania 3.
Originally Posted by BoxsterCy
Dude, you are Gameday Rulzzz and could probably post about anything.
And I'm guessing it'll sit there until the new owner gets someone many, many years down the road who wants that parcel of land and then they'll cash in.
A microcosm of Detroit.
The Official Paul Rhode's Salt Truck Driver.
Some parts of Detroit look eerily similar to Chernobyl
I'm sure it costs a **** load of money to maintain something like that, but also a **** load to tear it down, also it's Detroit.
Eyes closed, head first, can't lose.
If I recall correctly, it was last sold for around $500k.
Anthony Bourdain - Parts Unknown did a facinating two part episode on Detroit. It took you through just how bad some parts were and some of the efforts to rebuild the city. Part two was kind of a round table with a bunch of people from Detroit. It's interesting that some foreign companies are starting to invest in Detroit and a bunch of immigrant/refugee groups are targeting the city. A lot of cultures are able to set up there own little micro communities because of all the cheap property and it seems to be going well. It will take a while but I can see the city bouncing back and being one of the most diverse cities in the country.
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I guess I didn't realize it was still standing and they hadn't done anything with it....then I remembered it was Detroit.
Keep doing what you're doing to build Strong Towns.
Was it really necessary for them to try to be all artsy with the water rushing over the camera for half the video?
This is pretty crazy though.
To be fair- the Silverdome is not in Detroit or has anything to do with the City of Detroit or the City of Pontiac.
The problem lies with the developer that bought the stadium, something like 5 years ago. The roof was deflated in January 2013 and is to be replaced with a self-supporting roof. So far nothing has been done since deflating the roof. Looks like the stadium is just a tax write off now for the owner.
Looking at the Wikipedia page- this is very interesting part to the incompetence of the city leadership in Pontiac. Only the leaders there could turn a potentially $18,000,000 "profit" into a $580,000 "profit."
After the Lions departure, the city of Pontiac began to experience several years of serious financial problems. Due to the continued high maintenance costs of the structure, it made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the stadium. In early 2008, United Assurance Company Ltd. made the highest purchase offer to date, with a bid of $18 million to convert the Silverdome into a Hollywood-style entertainment complex, following an earlier bid of $12 million by an attorney. However, the city announced in October 2009 that the property would go to auction with no minimum bid, and that zoning regulations would be relaxed for any buyer in order to spark development. The city engaged the firm of Williams & Williams to conduct the auction in November 2009. After reading about the auction in a newspaper, Greek-born Canadian real estate developer Andreas Apostolopoulos, CEO of Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc., submitted a winning bid of US$550,000. Real estate fees of 6% raised the price to US$583,000. The sale of the Silverdome, completed in 1975 at a cost of $55.7 million (approx. $225 million in 2012 dollars), and sold in 2009 for $583,000 was viewed by many as a symbol of the collapse of real estate prices in the Detroit metropolitan area though many local leaders and residents claimed the sale was brought about due to the incompetence of city management and their not having a vision or future plans for the stadium and surrounding area.
Last edited by cyinne; 04-30-2014 at 02:00 PM.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt the Detroit Tiger's old and historic baseball stadium just sitting somewhere in ruins as well?
I guess I didn't realize it was still standing!
"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it." -- Albert Einstein
Originally Posted by CycloneRulzzz
Sad to see what at one time was the site of wrestlemania 3.
over 93,000 people in that joint for this.
Are you a member?
Originally Posted by JSmoove
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt the Detroit Tiger's old and historic baseball stadium just sitting somewhere in ruins as well?
I think it was for about a decade. Without checking, I seem to remember it being a glorified little league field now. Also think the flag pole still stands too.
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A few years ago I needed the ability to "autolink" text – basically, I had a list of keywords and anytime those keywords were displayed on a page I needed to have them turned into a link. The code is relatively straightforward, but I thought it might be of some use to other people.
using System;using System.Collections.Generic;using System.Linq;using System.Text;using System.Text.RegularExpressions; namespace RCSSolutions{ public class Term { public string LinkTerm { get; set; } public string Url { get; set; } public string Target { get; set; } } ///  /// Adds links to a passed in string based on records in /// the SourceAutolink table. ///  public class AutoLinker { private string m_linkStyle = ""; /// List of words which auto link public List<Term> LinkWords { get; set; } /// The CSS class to assign to the link tag public string LinkStyle { get { return this.m_linkStyle; } set { this.m_linkStyle = value; } } public AutoLinker (List<Term> linkWords) { LinkWords = linkWords; } ///  /// Adds any links to the passed in content. ///  /// <param name="content">Content to evaluate</param> /// <returns>Marked up results</returns> /// <developer>Paul Mrozowski</developer> /// <created>07/07/2008</created> public string AutoLink(string content) { if (this.LinkWords == null) return content; StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(); // Replaces HTML (and html-like) tags with spaces (we want to keep // the same relative positions of everything else in the text since // we're going to use them to do the final replacements.) string newSentence = Regex.Replace(content, @"<(.|\n)*?>", match => " ".PadRight(match.Length)); string tmpContent = content; // Loop through each link term, search for matches. Save each of them into a new collection // We're going to use the results to sort the matches in decending order by location. That // way we can perform the replacements w/o moving the starting location of the other replacements. foreach (var linkRow in LinkWords) { var allMatches = new List<Match>(); MatchCollection matches = Regex.Matches(newSentence, linkRow.LinkTerm, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase); foreach (Match match in matches) allMatches.Add(match); var orderedMatches = from m in allMatches orderby m.Index descending select m; // General idea is to grab all of the text following the match, get the newly // link word w/html markup and insert it before the this text. Then truncate // the original content to remove everything from the starting position of the // match to the end of file - this is basically done so I don't have to track // the current position within the file. After we're done with the loop we // insert anything that's left to the beginning of the new string. foreach (Match item in orderedMatches) { string endOfMatchedStringToEOF = tmpContent.Substring(item.Index + item.Length); result.Insert(0, GetAutolinkText(linkRow, item.Value) + endOfMatchedStringToEOF); tmpContent = tmpContent.Substring(0, item.Index); } } result.Insert(0, tmpContent); return result.ToString(); } ///  /// Get the replacement text. ///  /// <param name="token">Word token</param> /// <param name="content">Original content</param> /// <returns>Empty string if no replacement</returns> /// <developer>Paul Mrozowski</developer> /// <created>07/08/2008</created> private string GetAutolinkText(Term linkTo, string match) { string newWord = match; if (this.m_linkStyle.Length == 0) newWord = string.Format("<a href='{0}' ", linkTo.Url); else newWord = string.Format(" 0) newWord += string.Format("target='{0}' ", linkTo.Target); // We pass in the original match term to maintain its case (the initial match was case-insensitive). newWord += string.Format(">{0}", match); return newWord; } }}
Usage is simple – create a list of terms that you want linked (along with the URL, style (if any), and target) and pass it to the AutoLinker class, then call AutoLink with your source text. It will return the text with the links embedded in it. Here's a sample from a console application:
static void Main(string[] args) { var terms = new List<Term>(); terms.Add(new Term() { LinkTerm = "Hello", Target = "_blank", Url = "http://www.rcs-solutions.com" }); string sentence = "Why, hello! This is a sentence where I'm going to link to the word \"hello\"."; Console.Write(sentence); var linker = new AutoLinker(terms); Console.Write(linker.AutoLink(sentence)); Console.ReadKey(); }
Interfaces are an integral part of .NET, yet a lot of new .NET developers (especially those coming from weakly-typed languages, or languages where interfaces aren't supported) have difficulty in understanding why they're needed and how (and when) they're used. If you find yourself in that group you're in good company. It's not a difficult concept but it can be a bit foreign to developers new to them.
Let's get the textbook definition out of the way, then take a look at what it really means (and why you should even care). From Wikipedia:
"Interface generally refers to an abstraction that an entity provides of itself to the outside. This separates the methods of external communication from internal operation, and allows it to be internally modified without affecting the way outside entities interact with it, as well as provide multiple abstractions of itself. It may also provide a means of translation between entities which do not speak the same language, such as between a human and a computer."
Hmm - OK. While technically correct that doesn't really help, does it? Did your eyes glaze over like mine did while reading that? Maybe if we back up a bit and look at what a class is we might be able to make some sense of this.
A class is a collection of methods, properties, and events. It is assumed that each of these methods, properties, and events "do something". At least in most cases (we're going to ignore the idea of an abstract class for right now). So far, so good. You can create a new instance of this class and do things with it, pass it around to other classes as a parameter, etc. In a weakly typed language (also known as a "dynamic language") you can pretty much pass any type of class around without having to worry about the type - as long as your code doesn't try to access a property or method that object doesn't have, you're good to go. The upside to this is that it's pretty flexible. The downside to this is that mistakes aren't caught at compile time - your app. just blows up at runtime (so you'd better test!). Strongly-typed languages take a different approach: you must define the types that can be passed as parameters to methods. That's OK as long as there is only one specific type your method acts on, or the type you're passing in inherits from the base type of the parameter - it's pretty straightforward. The upside is that mistakes (like trying to access a property or method that doesn't exist) is caught at compile time. The downside is that it's not as flexible as a dynamic language.
So what do I mean by "not as flexible"? On the surface it seems pretty reasonable that a strongly-typed method only accepts specific types - how else would the compiler (and you) know that it's safe to access a specific method or property? It doesn't. It only can accept that specific type of class, or any subclass of that same type.
Why is it OK to accept a subclass of the type? Well, the compiler can be sure that the subclass has the same exact properties & methods as its parent (it doesn't care if you add more of them or override the behavior).
But what if it doesn't? What if you had a class that wasn't of the correct type necssary to pass into a method and it didn't inherit from that type either? Let's take a look at an example of this. I wanted to keep it simple enough to understand, but have it be a REAL scenario (not some contrived example). Those goals are a bit difficult to balance so I error'd on the real scenario side of things. Hopefully it'll help you understand WHY some things are the way they are in the framework in addition to understanding interfaces.
For example, let's suppose we create a collection class that can have a collection of objects (that are all of the same type) and we want to have a method which can sort them. You want to write a generic Sort routine on your collection class that can sort any kind of collection of objects, as long as they're the same type. The first issue you'd run into is, "How do I generically create some code which can compare ANY type?" Remember - you have to be able to compare strings, numbers, date/times, maybe custom types someone may have created, etc. So it's not really possible to be able to compare ANY type. You could cover the basic types and then require the user to subclass your collection for any other custom types. It's a bit clunky, but it would work.
What if, instead, we decided that we'd have another class responsible for doing the sorting. We'd provide a default implementation and if you had your own custom types that needed to be sorted you could pass in your own implementation. That's a bit better. The developer would still need to subclass from our default implementation (since we've still got the strongly-typed issues here - again, dynamic languages don't have this "issue"). We could have the developer pass in their version of the class which does the comparison into the Sort() method. The passed in class would have a Compare() method and let's say it takes two parameters of the types of the same type of object and returns an integer value indicating whether one of the objects is less than, greater than, or equal to the other.
Let's take a look at what the code might look like for all of this:
That looks OK. If I wanted to create my own comparison class all I'd do is subclass from Comparer and override Compare() with my own implementation. But let's take a step back and think about this for a bit. If you create a new class and want a method that can compare one instance of that class to another instance of it, where's the best place for the code? Doing comparison's is a pretty fundamental capability of a class - we do it all the time with string's, numbers, datetimes, etc. so clearly it belongs with the class, right? Your only other alternative would be to put it into another class that acts as a kind of "helper". That's effectively what we've forced on any developers that want to use the sorting capability of our collection for their own custom classes. They MUST create a helper class to do a comparison or they'd all have to inherit from our Comparer class (and use it as their base object). That might not be the end of the world but we're only talking about a single example - there are a lot of other places where this scenario comes up. OK, having to create another class which only does a comparison for a specific type isn't all that great. Since it makes more sense to have a comparison handled by the object being compared, let's say we add a method called CompareTo() to any class when we want to be able to compare it against another instance. In our Comparer class we'll call that method and, hey, our comparer class is now a bit more generic right? We know that in .NET all objects inherit from "System.Object" so having our Comparer class's Compare() method accept "objects" means we can use it with ANY type. I don't actually have to create a new class for each and every item I'm going to compare! But wait - we're STILL going to have the problem with calling the CompareTo() method on our class in the collection; we're back to having to inherit from a common base class.
OK, now what? Well, you could jump through a lot of hoops and use reflection to make the method call for you. But it's a lot of work. In a dynamic language (such as Visual FoxPro) code like that is perfectly valid - I can pass any object type into a method like that and access any properties or methods and VFP doesn't care. If the object doesn't have those properties or methods it will just blow up at runtime. I'm a good developer so I won't pass in something that would blow up. .NET sucks - it makes things so difficult.
You're basically stuck at this point - you can't do what you'd like to do in .NET. If .NET supported the idea of multiple inheritance (where class C could inherit from Class A and from Class B at the same time), we'd be able to still make this work. But it doesn't.
That's where interfaces come in (finally!). Let's take another stab at a more concrete definition of an interface: An Interface is a definition of the types of properties, events, and methods a class needs to implement. It's nothing more than a list of properties, events, and methods (and the various types associated with them) that a class has to have. While we can't inherit from multiple classes in .NET, we can inherit from multiple interfaces.
Getting back to our example, we could define an interface that consists of a public method called CompareTo that accepts one parameter of the "System.Object" type ("object" for short). This method needs to return an integer: Less than zero means this instance is less than the object passed in, zero means it's equal, and greater than one means it's greater than the passed in object.
Here's what it might look like:
While we're at it, it seems like we might want to do something similar to our Comparer class:
And we rewrite the Sort() method on our collection class SampleArrayList to accept objects of type "IComparer" instead of "Comparer":
The scenario I described above plays out throughout the .NET framework. Fundamental things like garbage collection are handled via the IDisposable interface, iterating over a collection (think foreach) is handled by IEnumerable, comparing objects (like we described above) is handled by IComparer and IComparable. Interfaces are used extensively. Hopefully you've gotten a feel for why they're needed and how they're used inside of .NET.
Originally published in Universal Thread Magazine, April 2009
I've been working on a server monitoring Windows service recently - it's meant to keep an eye on our servers for various types of failures and, if possible, automatically recover from them. One of the failures our website experiences once in a while has to do with our forums. I integrated a third party forum package into our site so our stores have a place to post messages and talk with one another. Occasionally (and I have yet to reproduce the failure steps) it will fail, complaining that it can't find some configuration file. The quick fix is to reset IIS; usually I'll just remote into the server and do an IISRESET from the command prompt. I wanted my service to keep an eye out for this type of failure and automatically recycle IIS. Long term I'd love to track down this failure and fix it the proper way but in the meantime I just want to be able to recover gracefully.
I found the ServiceController class after a bit of digging and wrapped it up into two static methods I could call to reset IIS. I just had to figure out the name of the service I needed to refer to. The easiest way I found of finding this was to just cycle through the services and display their names. You could write a quick console app. to do this, but I just used LINQPad, switched it to C# Statements, added a reference to the System.ServiceProcess.dll (hit F4), then added the namespace System.ServiceProcess and ran the code.
As an aside: I can't say enough nice things about LINQPad - it makes it so nice to be able to test out new classes and ideas. Its name would lead you to believe it's only good for testing LINQ queries, but you can test out almost any .NET code you want. I spent the whopping $19 to upgrade to the full version, which adds Intellisense (the free version doesn't include that). I've added LINQPad to my "must have" .NET toolkit.
You might be wondering what the Dump() method does, since it's not part of the ServiceController class. LINQPad has a nice extension method named Dump() that makes it trivial to dump out the response from almost anything. My sample doesn't show it, but it even handles nested classes nicely. OK, enough fawning...
I ran this code which made it really easy to find the service names I was interested in. Once I had them I wrapped up a few of the services I wanted to be able to cycle in their own methods. I ended up wrapping the Start/Stop calls in a try/catch; it would throw an exception if I tried starting a service which was already running or stopping a service which had already stopped.
private void ResetIIS()
StopService("W3SVC", 10);
StartService("W3SVC", 15);
private void ResetStateServer()
StopService("aspnet_state", 15);
StartService("aspnet_state", 15);
public static void StopService(string serviceName, int timeoutSeconds)
using (ServiceController controller = new ServiceController(serviceName))
controller.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(timeoutSeconds));
catch (InvalidOperationException ex)
// Service may already be stopped
public static void StartService(string serviceName, int timeoutSeconds)
controller.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(timeoutSeconds));
// Service may already be running
private void ListServices()
ServiceController[] services = ServiceController.GetServices();
foreach (ServiceController service in services)
string name = service.DisplayName + " : " + service.ServiceName;
Check out my article in this month's UT Magazine (April 2009) about interfaces in .NET. I try to explain the how's and why's of them, especially when coming from a loosely-typed language (such as VFP). Hopefully you'll find it useful.
I've been playing around with them a bit and ran into a case where I thought they'd be kind of a cool fit. I've needed to be able to convert a datatable into a comma-delimited file (CSV) so it can easily be opening in something like Excel, or pretty much anything that understands CSV files. I could create a separate class to do this, but it seems like this should be part of the DataTable class. To write an extension method you basically create a static method in a static class and prefix the first parameter with "this". Yep, that's about it.
I wanted it to basically work like this:
Creating the CSV is pretty straightforward - I loop through the column headers to generate the first header row, then I loop through each row in the table, then each item in the ItemArray of the row. I specifically decided to use quotes as delimiters around everything to keep it simple - the rules as to when you can/should include quotes for a CSV are pretty complicated. The only thing I do is escape out embedded quotes in the data by doubling them, ex. " becomes "". As soon as I had it working, I decided to create a few more overloads to let me control whether a header row was required, and the actual delimiter used (ex. instead of comma you could change it to a | pipe for example). Their is some example code in the XML help at the top of the class. In addition, I'm actually using this for a web page so it might be helpful to see what that code looks like:
string results = act.DataSet.Tables[tableName].ToCSV();
string mimeType = RCSSolutions.Web.Utility.DetermineMimeType("csv");
Response.ContentType = mimeType;
Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", results.Length.ToString());
string.Format("attachment;filename={0}", "DelimitedList.CSV"));
I'm calling out to another helper class which returns the mime type - in this case, all it does is return "application/csv". The above code basically pops open a dialog box with the file name filled in the browser on the client side.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace RCSSolutions.Utility
///
/// <para>Various extension methods.</para>
///
/// Sample of using ToCSV
/// <example>
/// DataTable table = dv.Table;
/// // Assumes table is a DataTable
/// string result = table.ToCSV(true);
/// System.IO.File.WriteAllText(@"C:\sample.csv", result);
/// System.Diagnostics.Process proc = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
/// proc.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\sample.csv";
/// proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
/// proc.Start();
/// </example>
public static class Extensions
///
/// Converts the passed in data table to a CSV-style string.
///
/// <param name="table">Table to convert</param>
/// <returns>Resulting CSV-style string</returns>
public static string ToCSV(this DataTable table)
return ToCSV(table, ",", true);
/// Converts the passed in data table to a CSV-style string.
/// <param name="includeHeader">true - include headers

/// false - do not include header column</param>
public static string ToCSV(this DataTable table, bool includeHeader)
return ToCSV(table, ",", includeHeader);
/// <param name="delimiter">Delimiter used to separate fields</param>
public static string ToCSV(this DataTable table, string delimiter, bool includeHeader)
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
if (includeHeader)
foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)
result.Remove(--result.Length, 0);
foreach (DataRow row in table.Rows)
foreach (object item in row.ItemArray)
if (item is System.DBNull)
string itemAsString = item.ToString();
// Double up all embedded double quotes
itemAsString = itemAsString.Replace("\"", "\"\"");
// To keep things simple, always delimit with double-quotes
// so we don't have to determine in which cases they're necessary
// and which cases they're not.
itemAsString = "\"" + itemAsString + "\"";
result.Append(itemAsString + delimiter);
return result.ToString();
I recently added a maintenance form to our website which allows a user to add and delete entries to a list of banner ads stored in a simple XML file. Previously we've just been maintaining them manually by editing the XML directly and copying the associated banner images into a folder on the website. When you delete an ad, I decided to NOT delete the associated image since they may be reused (and I wanted to avoid forcing the user to upload the image again). However, we'd still like to periodically clean out this folder and "archive" the images so they're not cluttering up the selection screen.
I basically needed some code which would get me a list of files in the banner images folder which were not referenced in my banner XML file. It can be kind of clunky to iterate through XML but they've made it much easier with the introduction of LINQ. I fired up LINQPad (which, BTW, is an AWESOME free tool for testing out LINQ code) and tried out a few ideas. As a side note, it looks like Intellisense is now available if you purchase a copy of LINQPad.
I started with querying the filesystem to get a list of files:
DirectoryInfo info = new DirectoryInfo(@"X:\inetpub\wwwroot\images\banner");
FileInfo[] files = info.GetFiles();
.Dump() is an extension method available in LINQPad which dumps out the results of the query (we haven't actually used LINQ yet to do anything).
Here's what it looks like:
You might notice that Directory contains a DirectyInfo element. If you click on the down arrow it will expand out these values as well.
So I now had a list of files, I wanted to then get a list of images referenced in my banner file. Here's the format of the XML file:
<News> <NewsItem> <Title>Supertooth3-banner.gif</Title> <Image>/images/banner/Supertooth3-banner.gif</Image> <Height>183</Height> <Link>/PortalView.aspx?navto=/Supertooth3-banner.gif</Link> <Date>July, 19th, 2003</Date> <Target></Target> </NewsItem>
<News> <NewsItem> <Title>Supertooth3-banner.gif</Title> <Image>/images/banner/Supertooth3-banner.gif</Image> <Height>183</Height> <Link>/PortalView.aspx?navto=/Supertooth3-banner.gif</Link> <Date>July, 19th, 2003</Date> <Target></Target> </NewsItem>
I haven't really been using Title for anything besides the name of the image file, so I was able to take a bit of a shortcut here and use it for my comparison. To pull out the list of images used in the XML, I wrote this query:
XDocument doc = System.Xml.Linq.XDocument.Load(@"X:\inetpub\wwwroot\adv.xml");
var news = from item in doc.Descendants("Title")
orderby item.Value
select item.Value;
Which produces this:
I noticed that the banner images folder contained a bunch of other files that I really didn't want to consider for filtering, so I needed to narrow my query to files that had specific extensions. C# doesn't really have a direct equivalent for INLIST, but we can do this a slightly different way for the same effect.
First I define an array of valid extensions, then (inside the where clause of the LINQ query) I check to see if this list of file types contains the filetype of the file I'm currently evaluating. It's a bit backwards, but it's simple and it works.
string[] fileTypes = { ".jpg", ".gif", ".png" };
var imgFiles = from file in files
where (fileTypes.Contains(file.Extension))
orderby file.Name
select file.Name;
Now I've got a list of files from my XML and a list of files from the banner images folder. I want to get a list of files from the banner images folder that aren't in the XML list. I do this via a final query:
var extra = from singleFile in imgFiles
where !(news.Contains(singleFile))
select singleFile;
This returns my extra files. Now I can just use this list to move my images into an archive folder periodically.
If I put it all together, I end up with this:
I thought this was an interesting question that has come up a couple of times in the last few days over on the Universal Thread. In VFP you can create a subclass of a form, customize it, then configure VFP to use this subclass as the "template" for any new forms you create (by going into Tools > Options > Forms and setting the base class).
The question was, how do I do this in .NET?
It's pretty easy - create your form and add any controls, methods, properties, etc. that you want. Then go to File > Export Template. An Export Template Wizard will open. Change the selection to an "Item template" and click Next.
On the next screen put a checkmark next to the item(s) you want included in the template. If you have other dependencies (like external classes) you can also select them here. Then click Next again.
Now you can select any external references you want to include. For example, if you created a project which includes a set of base controls that you used on your form, you may want to select them here (so when you use this template these references will automatically get added to your project). Click Next.
Finally you can select an icon that is associate with this template, enter the template name, description, and it's output location. I'd suggest leaving the "Automatically import the template into Visual Studio" option checked. If you don't like the output location, unfortunately you can't change it here. You have to change it via Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions. Finally click Finish.
At this point, when you do an "Add New Item" you should be able to scroll to the bottom of the templates and see "My Templates" - the new template you created should exist there.
Although I showed this for a WinForms application, this can actually be used with any class (and for ASP.NET applications). For example, I have a base business object class I use. Every time I create a new one I just select a template based on a subclass of it to create the new one.
I ran across a really cool .NET library on a recent project I've been working on. We have an internal website where we post news, documentation, etc. - basically a Content Management System (CMS). We're working on a new set of documentation that is being done inside of a third party help builder application. We need to import the HTML files it generates into our website (so we get all the things it offers, like security, searching, revision tracking, view statistics, etc.). So basically, I need to run through a lot of HTML files, build a tree of the documents (similar to the help file) and rewrite all of the URL's and image links to point to the correct URL inside of the site. I initially started looking at various regular expressions that I might be able to use over at http://regexlib.com/. Almost every single one of them had some comment about it failing under some circumstances. The HTML is surprisingly clean, but I was still nervous about it. So I looked at using GOLD to parse the HTML. However, from some of the comments I found it still didn't make everything as easy I would have liked. I finally ran across HtmlAgilityPack over on CodePlex . It's a .NET library which lets you read AND write changes to an HTML file via a simple API.
Here's a chunk of code from my importer so you can get a feel for how it works:
HtmlDocument doc = new HtmlDocument();
HtmlNodeCollection linkNodes = doc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//a/@href");
Content match = null;
// Run only if there are links in the document.
if (linkNodes != null)
// Fix up the URL's
foreach (HtmlNode linkNode in linkNodes)
HtmlAttribute attrib = linkNode.Attributes["href"];
// If it's an internal page anchor, ignore it
if (attrib.Value.StartsWith("#"))
string path = this.GetAbsolutePath(content.DocumentLink, attrib.Value);
match = this.m_contentList.Find(p => p.DocumentLink == path);
if (match != null)
attrib.Value = match.GetUrl();
else if (!path.ToLower().StartsWith("http://") && !path.ToLower().StartsWith("mailto:"))
Console.WriteLine("Cannot find matching document, searched for " + path);
Basically, doc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//a/@href") returns a collection of links in the document (it uses XPath syntax for the selection string). From there, I just iterate through them, build the new URL, then save the modified Url via code that just does: linkNode.Attributes["href"].Value = "New URL Here". I also needed to strip out all the script tags inside of the document, so it uses similar syntax:
private void StripOutScripts(HtmlDocument doc)
// Strip out the scripts
HtmlNodeCollection scriptNodes = doc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//script");
if (scriptNodes != null)
foreach (HtmlNode scriptNode in scriptNodes)
scriptNode.ParentNode.RemoveChild(scriptNode, false);
I do the same sort of thing - iterate over the collection, except this time tell it to remove the nodes from the document (note that I'm grabbing the parent node, since the current node is everything contained within the script, excluding the


text:
Eliminate something superfluous from your life. Break a habit. Do something that makes you feel insecure.
Piero Ferrucci
Contributed by: Zaady
I had hit a critical period in my life, where I changed very much as a person. I consider the person I used to be, dead, and I'm glad that he is. Insecure, frightened, confused, much like a lot of people I know today.
Peter Steele
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, to be gorgeous, talented, and fabulous. Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God within us. And as we let our light shine, we consciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
Source: A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Pages: 190-191
These people are so worthless it makes me want to puke blood. I would gladly open fire on them, but if given a choice I'd rather subject them to a slower form of death. They fear me because I'm intelligent and creative. I have something better to do with my time. They are insecure
Matt Spinks
A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.
Lazurus Long
For me, the principal fact of life is the free mind. For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity. A perpetually new and lively world, but a dangerous one, full of tragedy and injustice. A world in everlasting conflict between the new idea and the old allegiances, new arts and new inventions against the old establishment.
Joyce Cary
Source: 1958, in Writers at Work
For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity.
I don't agonize over decisions as much these days. The criteria of what's important to me is clear. The insecurity that you feel, and the paranoia that you feel, have been around for a long time - you know it's a liar because it's been lying to you all along - every time you start something new.
John Cusack (1966 -)
The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity.
Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)
It's an old adage that the way to be safe is never to be secure. . . . Each one of us requires the spur of insecurity to force us to do our best.
Harold W. Dodds
Copyright © 2016 Gaiam, Inc.