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Buyer Beware: 6 Biggest Beauty-Buy Busts
This entry was posted on January 10, 2011.
Readers of a certain age (or those watching TV in the wake of the great Michael Jackson's untimely death) can remember watching the video for "Say, Say, Say," MJ's classic duet with Paul McCartney. In the video, Michael and Paul play turn-of-the-century snake-oil salesmen, peddling useless potions and calling them "wonder cures" and "miracle tonics," even planting fellow actors in the crowd to help convince the public that their "medicines" work, after all.
Well, that trend continues to this day. Like the medical field, the beauty industry has always been vulnerable to scam artists making big promises they can't deliver. Take for example these top six beauty-buy duds, all products that claim to offer fantastic results, but seldom do your body - or your wallet - any justice:
- Super-Grow Hair Greases: These are the number-one culprit simply because they waste your money with outright lies. Rubbing your scalp with Dr. Unbelievable's Fantasy-Gro hair grease does not make hair longer, no matter how many exotic or organic ingredients the product contains. Hair grows at its own rate, no matter what, and clogging the scalp with unneeded oils and waxes can actually hinder hair growth. The only hair-growth benefit of these products is that they instruct you to massage your scalp at least three times a week, which increases blood flow and can help aid new growth – but you can massage your scalp with plain-old olive oil, or just your bare fingers, for free!
- Cellulite/Stretch-Mark Removal Creams: Every woman who has stretch marks or cellulite wishes she could have smoother thighs, but the truth is that very few of the creams and treatments on the market can successfully remove either type of mark. Cellulite and stretch marks are both associated with weight gain, inactivity, and poor diet, and a simple cream does little to address any of those problems. Prevention – ie, exercising, eating right, and using cocoa butter or a natural moisturizer on the skin before and during periods of weight gain or pregnancy - is the best prescription for either condition. Getting healthy can also help whip those legs back into shape, if you already have either problem.
- Weight-Loss Pills: Seriously beware diet pills that promise weight loss without exercise or lifestyle changes. These are not only false claims, but dangerous ones! The only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. So-called "fat burning" supplements that seem to be effective are only burning calories by flooding your bloodstream with caffeine, guarana, ephedrine (which has been banned by the government) and other stimulants that speed up your heart rate. Ever wonder why all those diet drugs keep getting recalled a few months later, with the commercial's calm-voiced announcer asking if you or a loved one has suffered a heart attack, stroke, or even death? It's because no-exercise weight-loss pills can cause all those things.
- Anti-Aging Potions: Most of these products give you short-term results, but don't stop wrinkles or fine lines in the long run. Why not? Well, many anti-wrinkle creams, especially those meant for under-eye use, simply use stimulants like caffeine to "jolt" the skin and make it look puffier, stretching out those tiny lines. Yet the same stimulants usually dry out the skin, which is the main cause of wrinkling in the first place – keeping you coming back for more of those short-term results, while the long-term problem actually gets worse. Try getting a good night's rest, drinking plenty of water, and using a good moisturizer for your skin type instead.
- Split-End Mending Conditioners: Split ends cannot be magically "fixed;" they split because they were dry, unhealthy, or damaged. Heavy styling products or conditioners can "glue" ends together, but this will not address the underlying problem. The temporarily-fused tips will come apart as soon as the product is rinsed or shampooed out, and then the hair will continue to split up the hair shaft, spreading the damage. Your best bet is to chop off the dead ends before this point, then figure out what is causing your split ends (maybe drying products, overhandling, or too much heat use) and remedy the problem.
- Cheap Hair Extensions: Obviously the bane of our existence, and not just for business reasons. Cheap human or synthetic hair extensions are on of the biggest rip-offs on the market. Synthetic hair does not fall naturally, style well, or last long; buying it is like throwing your money down a well, over and over, because you'll never get a complimentary look that you can wear over and over again. And low-quality human hair extensions can be even worse! If buying synthetic hair pieces is like throwing money down a well, purchasing questionable human hair is like buying magic beans and planting them – who knows what giant problems you may encounter. Low-grade human hair extensions not only tangle, mat, and damage easily, but can be uneven in length or even harbor bugs or parasites! Play it safe and do yourself a favor. Buy full-cuticle, high-quality virgin Indian hair and Remy hair extensions. You'll have beautiful hair to toss, play with, and love for months, instead of bad-hair regrets. Beware the song and dance!
Take care of yourselves,
2 thoughts on "Buyer Beware: 6 Biggest Beauty-Buy Busts"
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gemma . Gemma said: RT @PerfectLocks: Buyer Beware: 6 Biggest Beauty-Buy Busts http://bit.ly/gzOv0F [...]↓
I had to laugh at this article because I've been taken in by some of these myself. The natural hair growth formulas, the cellulite/stretch mark cream---you name it. I did the whole diet pill with ephedra/guarana in it back in 2000. I lost 65 pounds in about 7 months, but now I have a permanent rapid heart beat...They took those things off the market shortly after that...Great blog!Ally↓


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video games
The Stoned Gamer Plays Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
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The Stoned Gamer reviews Max: The Curse of Brotherhood on Xbox Live -- a free game that's a must-play after toking up.

subset: commoncrawl


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What if I were to tell you there was only one American boxer to ever win an Olympic gold medal in the super heavyweight division? That he beat up both Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis on the way there? That he was one of the most successful big men in amateur boxing history? That he hailed proudly from the fighting city of Philadelphia?
Would you know it was Tyrell Biggs?
Biggs got only one shot at a world title as a professional, suffering his first loss by seventh round knockout to maybe the most prime version of Mike Tyson ever on October 16, 1987, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That was as good as it got for Biggs, who posted a professional record of 30-10 with 20 KOs.
Biggs told me that remembering the Tyson fight was a mixed bag.
"I guess the high point [of my professional career] was fighting Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship," said Biggs. "But then the low point was that I didn't win. That was both the high and low of my professional career."
Biggs said he didn't blame his manager, Shelly Finkel, or his trainer, Lou Duva, for moving him along too quickly as a professional. He didn't blame Don King either. He didn't blame anyone.
"You know, I see a lot of write-ups and different quotes people are saying and everyone has their own opinion, but I thought I was going to be able to go fight and beat Tyson at that time. So that's other people's opinion that maybe it was too soon. I don't think it was. I just lost."
I asked Biggs if he believed it was the right fight at the right time for him.
"Of course, because I was at a point in my career where for me to go in and win the fight it would have set up some pretty good fights for the rest of my career. I think it was the time to do it. I felt I was ready. It just didn't work out. That happens."
Biggs said if he could change anything in his professional career, it'd be the strategy he employed against Tyson that night. Biggs had defeated Tyson just a few years earlier as an amateur and said he underestimated the professional version of Iron Mike.
"We had Olympic training camp up in Gonzalez, Texas and me and Tyson fought a box-off for the super heavyweight spot and I beat him pretty good over there. That's why he didn't make the Olympic team as a super heavyweight. But he did go on to try and fight at heavyweight, and he lost to Henry Tillman. But we boxed off for the super heavyweight spot and I won that. That's why he had to try and fight at heavyweight, and he said because he had to lose weight that was why he lost to Tillman. A lot of people don't know about that."
Biggs' success back then made him believe he could outbox Tyson in 1987. It was a mistake.
"I felt as though I could probably outbox him. I felt that all along. I underestimated his speed as opposed to his power. Because everybody knew he was a pretty big puncher. But what I did was underestimate his speed. Because in boxing the punch that you don't see will hurt you more than the one you do see. And that was the case with Tyson. Not only was he a big puncher but he was a lot faster than what I anticipated."
So what would he change if he had a do over?
"Probably my attitude. Because when I had the fight with Tyson if I would have went right there and went after him and just tried to beat him up, that probably would have been a different outcome. I was trying to box and be too scientific instead of just going out there and beating him up. That's what I would do different."
Tyson beat Biggs up pretty badly that night. Some have said bad enough to steal Biggs' future. The Philadelphian's career never really recovered. The Tyson loss was the first of three straight, and he never came close to being what he was before or what some believe he might have been had he not faced Tyson.
So said Philadelphia's chief boxing historian, John DiSanto.
"As a pro, Tyrell was undefeated going into the Tyson bout, and had beaten some good competition including James Tillis, Jeff Sims, Renaldo Snipes and David Bey. If he didn't have to go through Tyson to be a champion, he very well might have made it to the top. Once he lost to Tyson, he seemed to unravel."
Still, Tyson couldn't rob Biggs of his storied amateur career. The first and only boxer from the United States to bring home Olympic gold in the super heavyweight division has fond memories of that time in his life. I asked Briggs what was his fondest.
"Probably the finals. I had to fight Francesco Damiani. It was the fourth or fifth time that I had to face him [as an amateur]. Just because the fact that we fought a couple times prior to that, it made it that much harder in order to get the victory. But I pulled it out. That was probably my fondest memory. Because it's tough enough to beat a guy once, but to beat a guy three or four times is even tougher."
Biggs said he got into boxing as a youngster because of his father. The sweet science fascinated young Biggs right from the start.
"When I was younger, my dad was a big boxing fan. He'd let me go to the fights down in Atlanta. We'd go to the fights and I would start to determine the good fighters from the not so good fighters. It was fascinating to me to see these guys fight, so all of a sudden my dad had a heavy bag and a speed bag put into our basement and I would go down there and kind of imitate the other fighters hitting the bag and stuff. That's kind of how I got interested in boxing. I was probably about 11 or 12 years old at that time."
Soon, the athletically gifted Biggs decided boxing would be the sport for him.
"Growing up in Philly, there was a big thing about basketball on the streets and I was playing basketball for a little bit and I happened to make the basketball team for West Philadelphia. We won the city championship the whole three years I was there. At the same time, some of the guys were not giving me the ball. They were freezing me out. I would always go back home and start hitting my bag because I would want to punch something for them not letting me get into the basketball game. So then I was just like I'll go ahead and start boxing because basketball wasn't going to work."
But boxing did. Biggs compiled an amateur record of 108-6-4. He won the super heavyweight gold medal in the World Amateur Championships in Munich in 1982, the bronze at the Pan American Game in 1983 and the gold medal a year later at the Olympics in Los Angeles.
But what's the rest of the story? What happened after the Tyson fight? What of his battle against drug addiction? His stint in rehab? What has his life been since retirement? What does he do now? That's what director Dafna Yachin, an independent documentary producer/director and Chief Creative Officer at Lunchbox Communications, wants to tell you. Along with award winning filmmaker Trinity Greet, who will co-direct the proposed documentary, Yachin and her cohort of storytellers want to tell you the rest of Biggs' story.
"Biggs is representative of so many fighters from the past and present," said Yachin. "What happens when you hit your peak at 25? Tyrell Biggs lives where each of us does, in the space between stellar achievement and catastrophic failure. He inspires all of us through his stoic demeanor. He has every reason to be bitter – against managers who were motivated primarily by dollars, against friends who overlooked the problems they saw, against a system that drives its competitors to undertake too much too fast."
Yachin does not believe Biggs' rise and fall is attributed to only him as an individual. Instead, she believes his story represents a greater narrative facing many in today's culture, especially those who ply their trade as professional prizefighters.
"It would be unfair to cast as an individual failure what may well have been a systemic failure, which is why Tyrell's story needs to be told against the larger backdrop of the business of boxing. Nevertheless, Tyrell's story remains undeniably a human tragedy – one whose consequences have reshaped and redefined the life of a single human being."
And what does this have to do with you? That's the easy part. You see, Yachin is right. We are all Tyrell Biggs. All of us. Each of us is where he has been, in one way or another. Some of us are successful leaders in our chosen industries. Others of us toil long hours at jobs we'd rather not think about. None of us are where we'll be someday. Up or down, everything changes. Biggs has seen it all. He's done it all. And Yachin wants to hold his life up to us as if it were a mirror.
But she needs our help.
"If we don't reach our Kickstarter goal, this great story may not get completed," said Yachin. "This is an opportunity for everyone to help be a documentary maker."
Yachin's film, Whatever Happened to Tyrell Biggs?, is a sports biopic intended to shine a light on the importance of after-school programs and community engagement with inner city youth. It is more than just a story about Biggs. It's a story about boxing and boxers from Philadelphia, about hopes and dreams of fighters from all walks of life, and about why the sport and culture of boxing is unlike any other.
"This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Olympics as well as the 30th year of Tyrell Bigg's sobriety," said Yachin. "So it is the perfect time to tell Tyrell's history-making biography while exploring the relationship of future hopefuls, such as Jesse Hart and Gabriel Rosado, [who are] working with Philadelphia legends to bring back Philly's reputation as the boxing capital of the world."
Click here to help fund this project.
That's what happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDoIM1dRzGo
That's what happened: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDoIM1dRzGo
That was a nice peice, and Tyrell seems realistic, which is refreshing. I seriously had thoughts of Buster Dougals, Riddick Bowe and Tyrell in a pie eating contest.
I'm not going to throw any mud yet. But this piece has some serious errors in fact. Especially what went down in Texas and Tyrell's amateur record. I'm not sure what that "-4" stands for. Hopefully not for draws. There are and were no draws in amateur boxing. And it was a sparring session in Texas, not a box off. Box offs don't and didn't come before the Olympic trails. Some straight-up √ive is rolling up. Next I expect for architect of this to say it was an unofficial box off.
It is amazing how history suddenly changes. C'mon eye'witnesses of those days -- HOLLA! Holla!
Nobody gets a box off in two different divisions. Those drugs have done damage to TB's brain cells. Holla!
Yeah, fighters are notorious for their proclivity for revisionist history.
Preach, RG! Tell 'em about the sparring sessions.
Gotcha radam obviously that stuff is important. but I got from the piece that Biggs seemed realistic about looking back, and not just bitter vitriol like you sometimes get. i thought it had value for that reason.
If he were realistic, he'd start by telling the truth. Commonsense should tell him that somebody will out him for fibbing. Maybe he is special and beat Iron Mike in alternate reality. Or maybe the powerful Bob Cough Syrup did some restricted secret stuff that only TB knows about.
How much sense would it make to give Iron Mike shots in two different divisions when the powers that be didn't do it for others fighters.
OMG! Every team would be protesting. The late Rick Womack could beat Hillman. So it seem fair if they let Iron Mike come down to heavy, why did not they let Ricky go up to heavy after he lost to Evander Holyfield at light heavy? Holla!
BTW, Iron Mike beat da holy hebe√eebees outta TB. So TB was not allow to spar with the iron one anymore, because there was a BIG-TIME FEELING that Iron Mike would hurt him and that TB would then not be able to go to the O-Games.
Matter of fact, Bob Cough Syrup put the word out for no fighters to spar with Mike. But Holyfield did it anyway. He was never frighten of Mike. Holla!
[QUOTE=Radam G;39416]BTW, Iron Mike beat da holy hebe√eebees outta TB. So TB was not allow to spar with the iron one anymore, because there was a BIG-TIME FEELING that Iron Mike would hurt him and that TB would then not be able to go to the O-Games.
Matter of fact, Bob Cough Syrup put the word out for no fighters to spar with Mike. But Holyfield did it anyway. He was never frighten of Mike. Holla![/QUOTE]
I've noticed, unless there's a decisive outcome in sports, athletes will delude themselves into thinking they got the better of a situation they obviously did not hahahaha!
This might be what this is. I don't see this guy doing anything with a young, raw Tyson. Maybe beat him in basketball, I don't know.
Speaking of basketball players, did yall know Prince the singer is a helluva hooper? I read an article today, had me crackin' UP!
Dude would outrun people in his heels and spandex pants, cross people up, grab rebounds from underneath people. Apparently, with heels he was a solid 5-7 hahahaha. He also had a SWEET jumper, the legend goes. His coach in high school said he was a great player. LOL
BTW! Adages, maxims, cliches and sayings are many in the sweet science.
Yet, the one I think has the most merit and always holds true is one I, paraphrasing perhaps, can attribute to Big Cus D'Amato and is interesting to consider when considering Evan Fields:
[I]"When two fighters meet, the fighter with the greatest will always prevail unless one fighter's skill is so superior that his will is never tested. [/I]
Think about that for a minute. That's some true s***!
Oh BOY, don't I know that Prince Roger Nelson can throw down with the B-ball. Did you also know about his Pinoy blood? Man, I get around. I get around! The royal one and I use to run in the same circles. He's known to occasionally hide in plain sight.
It's a small world and is getting smaller by the minute. Holla!
[QUOTE=Radam G;39511]Oh BOY, don't I know that Prince Roger Nelson can throw down with the B-ball. Did you also know about his Pinoy blood? Man, I get around. I get around! The royal one and I use to run in the same circles. He's known to occasionally hide in plain sight.
It's a small world and is getting smaller by the minute. Holla![/QUOTE]
LOL!!! He got Pinoy in him? GTFOH, man! He doesn look like he "got some s*** in 'im." Didn't know it was that, though! Pinoys can ball, though, y'all got some calves so swole one would think they were enhanced by da meth.
I'm tellin' ya, I read some funny articles today after hearing Charlie Murphy talking about it in a radio interview -- and being dead serious.
Unlike many of you on here who have hobnobbed plenty with big name boxers, Biggs is the only HW I've ever been in close physical proximity to. LOL Walked behind him at LAX is all. (Aren't you happy I shared that?) He was flanked by a small team of handlers. This might have been around the time of the Los Angeles Olympics (where he won gold). Looked in his prime.
@The Shadow, you'd be shock of the number of superstar musicians and movie actors who are full of Pinoy blood. I'm sure that you can google one of many lists.
Man, we and our A-side meth calves be hiding everywhere up in plain sight. Hehehe! Holla!
Who will win the Sergey Kovalev vs Andre Ward fight?


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Royal Caribbean International announced a change in its deployment for the summer 2015 cruise season that will bring Explorer of the Seas to Southampton. According to a March 31, 2014 press release received by Examiner, Explorer of the Seas will take over the European itineraries announced previously for Adventure of the Seas, and Adventure of the Seas will remain in San Juan on seven-night southern Caribbean cruises.
Making her European debut, Explorer of the Seas will sail three- to 16-night roundtrip cruises from Southampton from April to Sept. 2015. The ship will offer:
- Northern Europe itineraries of either three or eight nights
- Mediterranean itineraries ranging from 11 to 16 nights
- Madeira, Azores, and Canary Islands itineraries of 10 to 14 nights
Prior to her European debut, Explorer of the Seas will undergo an extensive renovation that will include the additions of a new FlowRider surf simulator, a 3D movie theatre, and new staterooms and restaurants. Details will be revealed at a later date.
Both Adventure of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas belong to the Voyager class of ships and are therefore of similar size and passenger capacity. Royal Caribbean did not disclose the reasons for the switch.
The complete schedule of sailings and repositioning cruises to and from the U.S. will be available soon on the Royal Caribbean website. For more information, or if you presently have a summer 2015 booking on Explorer of the Seas or Adventure of the Seas, contact your travel agent or Royal Caribbean International.


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Housing Wireless MAB
Help for University Housing access to Wireless.
All wireless devices on the BYU-Idaho network require authentication using your BYUI username and password. For devices that are not capable of authenticating ie. Blu-Ray players, TVs, Rokus, etc. there is now a device registry system available. The connection is only available in the campus housing units. Please follow the instructions below to register your device(s) and get access to the BYUI_MAB network.
You may access My Devices Portal by going to:
Media Devices Supported
Blue Ray - Yes - Google the Manufacture and Model number of the Blue Ray player to find the MAC address. eg. Magnavox Blue Ray MAC Address
Internet TV's - Yes - Google the Manufacture and Model number to find out how to find the MAC Address. eg. Samsung 56" LCD MAC Address
Roku - Yes
PS3 Network will not work on campus. Solution: user can download apps or updates from a off campus network then bring on to campus and use those apps.
Media Devices NOT Supported
PS3 Network - Network will not work on campus.
Sling box -Will not work on campus.
Xbox Live - Will not work on campus. Firewall blocks the communication to Xbox Live.
Finding a Mac Address Guides
- Apple TV - http://resnet.missouristate.edu/help/other-appletv.php
- PS3 - http://helpdesk.brescia.edu/hesk/knowledgebase.php?article=7
- Wii - http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2737/wii_how_to_locate_consoles_mac_address/
- Roku - http://support.roku.com/entries/20635231-Where-can-I-find-the-wireless-MAC-and-or-wired-MAC-addresses-of-my-Roku-player-
For more info feel free to call the BYU-Idaho Support Center (208) 496-1411


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The main task of the day will be completing the transfer of gear and supplies to the station. In the first three days of transfer activities, the crew has moved more than 3,000 pounds of material onto the station.
The third and final reboost maneuver began a few minutes ago at 6:36 p.m. CDT. Like the two previous reboosts, Atlantis' reaction control system jets will be fired 27 times over a 58 minute period to gently raise the station. At the end of tonight's reboost, it is expected that the station's average altitude will have been raised by 27 statue miles.
The astronauts have completed all battery work on the station. The third battery that was replaced has completed its recharging and testing and has been put back online supporting station operations. The fourth and final new battery will begin its recharge later this evening and will be back online before Atlantis undocks tomorrow evening.
Shortly before they begin exiting the station for the final time, Halsell, Horowitz and Weber will take a few minutes to conduct a trio of interviews with three news organizations -- CBS Newspath, Fox News Network and KTBS-TV in Shreveport, LA -- starting at 9:11 p.m. CDT.
Just before 11:30 p.m., Halsell and his crew will reverse the steps they used when they entered the station Monday evening, closing each of the five hatches associated with station components or transfer tunnels. The overall process of closing out the station and preparing for undocking is expected to take about two hours to complete.
Everything remains on schedule for undocking on Friday evening at 6:07 p.m. CDT. Atlantis will perform a one half revolution of the station, before the final separation burn is initiated. Atlantis remains on track for a landing back at Kennedy Space Center at 1:18 a.m. CDT on Monday, May 29th.


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To make soccer golf you'll need to decide how many holes you want to play – This is completely up to you!
Now like on the show, you can dig holes in a paddock…BUT you need to ask whoever's paddock it is first! But as an alternative you can also use old tyres, hula hoops or even a bucket to kick your ball into!
INSTRUCTIONS:1) Sit down and draw up a plan of your soccer golf course, it can be as easy or as hard as you want it.
2) You can put as many obstacles as you want – make it fun and a challenge.
3) You can make up flags to number your holes, but it's not a big deal if you don't, you'll have the plan to go from anyway. 4) Make sure you have a decent ball to kick around – you can take turns with the ball. HOW TO PLAY: Each kick is you take to get the ball into the hole is counted. The person with the least amount of kicks at the end of the final hole is the winner!
Have fun creating soccer golf at home…and send us in photos!
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- Duration
- 02:06
Carrie's so-called teen life high on homage, low on laughsTV and Radio
New series shows Carrie Bradshaw as a teen
AnnaSophia Robb stars in 'The Carrie Diaries', a prequel to 'Sex and the City' and chronicles Carrie Bradshaw as a teen.PT2M6S http://www.theage.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2cqsl 620 349 January 15, 2013
Seen outside the long shadow cast by Sex and the City, The Carrie Diaries is relatively inoffensive (based on its pilot episode): a fair to middling CW teenage soap opera with some nice performances, particularly by Matt Letscher as the father of the 16-year-old Carrie Bradshaw and Austin Butler as her first crush. It's not relationship material, but you wouldn't feel guilty about spending a night with it.
But if you watched and enjoyed Sex and the City, it's pretty unlikely you'll be able to take its new prequel that benignly. The memory of how that touchstone HBO show, at its best, wrapped heartbreak and satire in high comic style makes the ordinariness of The Carrie Diaries a little more disappointing than it would be otherwise.
AnnaSophia Robb in The Carrie Diaries.
Based, like the original series, on the writings of Candace Bushnell and developed and written by a Sex and the City and Gossip Girl veteran, Amy B. Harris, the new show focuses on the Connecticut high school days of Carrie, the future clotheshorse and freelance writer. Played by AnnaSophia Robb (a reasonably convincing physical match with the original, Sarah Jessica Parker), Carrie once again narrates the action, though her bons mots aren't quite up to the old standard. (In a particularly clunky moment she muses about losing her virginity "not to the man I had hoped, but to a different man — Manhattan.")
And as she will in the future, she has a three-member posse: Maggie (Katie Findlay), a bossy, sexually precocious cross of Samantha and Miranda; Maggie's closeted boyfriend, Walt (Brendan Dooling), who hasn't figured out yet that he's Stanford Blatch; and Mouse (Ellen Wong), the Charlotte stand-in and obligatory teen show nerdy Asian. Also in the mix are the gentlemanly heartthrob Sebastian (Butler) and a generically troubled younger sister (Stefania Owen).
The pilot opens just after the death of Carrie's mother, establishing the melancholy doomy-gloomy atmosphere typical of hour-long teenage dramas and allowing for some poignant scenes involving Mum's dresses and shoes that set up the daughter's fashionista tendencies. To help Carrie get past her sadness, her extraordinarily sympathetic father arranges a one-day-a-week internship in Manhattan, and before you can say "East Village," she's helping a fashion editor shoplift a dress and crashing a party at Indochine.
There's some fun to be had in the show's low-budget evocation of post-punk 1984 Manhattan, with Burning Down the House and Girls Just Want to Have Fun on the soundtrack and suspiciously well-scrubbed "artists" dressed in shoulder pads and bright primary colours. And wistful Sex and the City fans can keep an eye out for homages; for instance, one story line in the pilot explains the adult Carrie Bradshaw's distaste for pantyhose.
Robb is fine as Carrie, exhibiting more personality than other young CW heroines like Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries) or Britt Robertson (The Secret Circle). She's carrying a big load, though; her new sidekicks look like a dull bunch, and there's no hint of the charged camaraderie that was at the heart of the original show.
Watching The Carrie Diaries can make you wonder why American scripted television shows for teenagers and 20-somethings all have to be mopey and angsty echoes of My So-Called Life. Why can't one have the style and humour of Sex and the City? Actually there is one — Awkward, on MTV. Keep an eye out for it.
New York Times
Poll: What did you think of the first episode of The Carrie Diaries?
- Brilliant: can't wait for the next episode
- Good: an enjoyable and entertaining show
- Average: had its moments, but nothing special
- Below par: show had promise, but was disappointing
- Terrible: won't be watching again
Total votes: 1761.
You will need Cookies enabled to use our Voting Feature.
Poll closed 23 Jan, 2013
These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.
13 comments so far
I though it was decent as far as a pilot episode goes (they are usually a bit rough because its all about introducing characters and setting things up) so i will watch next week.
One thing though.... as a big SATC fan I have to say i'm not impressed with the change to her past. Carrie's father left her and her mother (i don't recall a sister ever being mentioned) when she was very young. I think that shaped a lot of her attitudes towards men when she grew up. To change that completely seems very strange to me.
- Commenter
- Lauren
- Location
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 11:51AM
Exactly. There were hardly ever any references to Carrie's family in SATC except, like you said, some little bit about her dad leaving when she was little. Never any mention of her mum being alive or dead. And certainly no siblings ever talked about. There was little about any of the girls families for that matter. There was one ep with Charlotte's brother and one where Miranda's mum died but nothing else.
This new series was made for one reason only. It's called "cashing in". Trying to resurrect something of the old franchise to make money for the writer and producers. No other reason.
I watched last night but thought it was pretty silly. Won't be watching again.
- Commenter
- emily
- Location
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 1:45PM
Completely agree, Lauren. I thought the same thing.
- Commenter
- Bacall
- Location
- Melbourne
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 2:44PM
Lauren I was about to write exactly that! Suspension of disbelief is going to be hard for any spin-off show, but even more so when they blatantly change important elements of the story.
- Commenter
- Red Pony
- Location
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 3:58PM
I noticed they changed this as well. But this really isn't a show for the adults who enjoyed Sex and the City, it's clearly aimed at teenagers. And as a show essentially for kids I really had fun watching.
- Commenter
- missminute
- Location
- Date and time
- January 17, 2013, 5:30PM
@Lauren, In terms of her father and sister, these are based on the book The Carrie Diaries, rather than whatever was mentioned in the SATC series.
Otherwise, I enjoyed the show. I don't think it should be anything like SATC, she's a teenager who hasn't yet had the expereience of the older Carrie. The show IS going to be different, why wouldn't it be?
- Commenter
- mjmelb
- Location
- Melbourne
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 1:42PM
I love awkward. Definitely one of the best teen angst shows to come out of the US. Very funny stuff.
- Commenter
- Location
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 2:46PM
The bit where she goes to the bar with the much older fashionistas. the Simpsons did it ! And it was slightly unconvincing in America, where the legal bar age is 21.
And the father seemed a bit weird and creepy, too.
- Commenter
- enno
- Location
- sydney
- Date and time
- January 16, 2013, 7:32PM
Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?
- Commenter
- man cuddles
- Location
- melbourne
- Date and time
- January 17, 2013, 7:12AM
Can I just say I never really watched SATC and the few episodes I did watch I hated.
I watched the Carrie Diaries last night with my housemate expecting to hate it and I found myself completely surprised that I actually really enjoyed it. It was warm, sweet and had touches of "Mean Girls" in it (not to mention the actress looks a lot like Lilo back when she was still young and gorgeous).
My best mate is a hardcore SATC fan and he said he hated this. I don't think this show has been made to appeal to the original SATC audience (who are all older now I would imagine, in their 30s and above).
This is a teen drama in a similar vein to Gossip Girl or Dawson's Creek and I think that while some SATC fans may enjoy it, this is clearly aimed at a much younger demographic. I think if you "let go" of the fact that its a SATC prequel you'll find it on the whole a lot more enjoyable.
- Commenter
- Adrian
- Location
- Sydney
- Date and time
- January 17, 2013, 9:27AM
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Heres a bit from GMR Magazine
Exerpt from "Star Wars Battlefronts" ... Apart from the standard round after meaningless round of push-and-pull gameplay, most Battlefield-type games don't really do anything to thread the battles together. Not Battlefront. Galactic conquest mode allows players to make the battles count as they fight for control of the various planets. Teams can go back and forth on a bigger map of the individual worlds, fighting for a majority control of the galaxy. Bonuses can also be achieved when one side captures a specific planet. Imperials can get a Death Star if they control Endor, and both sides can spawn special NPCs like Darth Vader or Obi-Wan to fight alongside their troops. These layers of strategy should keep players in the game for hours on end...
theres also some on Rebpublic Commando
From "Four On The Floor - Star Wars Republic Commando" In LucasArt's upcoming squad-based first-person shooter Republic Commando, you are a member fo the faceless clone army. You're nothing but a number. A grunt. A meatbag, some would say. Specifically, you are part of the second- toughest pack of clones the Republic army has to offer, and for this dubious distinction, you're paid in punishment. You're sent on missions that would crush the low-level maggots, and then some. This is your lot in life. You're a Republic commando. ...
... The stage we saw was exceptionally large, going on for what seemed like ages. As your character makes his way down tight corridors, one of your boys watches your six while the other tow cover the flanks and you take th lead. Every so often, a Geonosian will exchange gunfire with you (weapons in Republic Commando use both ballistic and energy-based ammunition), at which point you have a number of options. You can take the enemy head-on or pull back as your crew steps up and starts throwing heat. Or you can survey your surroundings, take advantage of a vacant turret, and blast the opposition to pieces. Or, possibly, issue a command for a member of your party to turret duty while the rest of you take up strategic formations. Delegating orders to your crew is as easy as pointing a crosshair at a spot, and if your trooper can physically get there, bam, that's it. ...
and some new pics
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Who says healthy food doesn't taste good?
Sunday, January 13, 2013
A lot of times, people talk about being on a "diet" and how healthy food just doesn't taste as good. And people are misled. We are a society that relies heavily on sauces. We put gravy on our meat, mashed potatoes, veggies, even sausage gravy on biscuits.
Now personally, I don't care for biscuits w/ gravy. I tried it, but it wasn't something i'd pick if i was having breakfast somewhere. My perfect breakfast is an egg white omelet, with onions, spinach, red peppers, mushrooms, ham and fat free feta. Mostly veggies, a little bit of meat, and the feta adds a creaminess that's amazing.
And everyone will admit, they've have broccoli or cauliflower with cheese sauce. Even Green Giant makes frozen veg with cheese sauce. And fish with a lemon butter sauce sounds lovely. But these sauces aren't ideal: a lot of people make cheese sauce with velveeta (which i don't eat at all - i refuse to buy any cheese that isn't in the refrigerated section)
So recently, I decided to take advantage of the sale on winter veggies and make roasted veggies to accompany a roast. And it was fantastic. I had adapted it from a recipe in a cookbook, since I didn't lemon peel and wanted to add different veggies. So I took 2 red potatoes, two zucchini, 2-3 yellow squash, 2-3 carrots and half a red onion. I sliced the potatoes thin because they take so long to cook and put them in water to remove some of the starch. Then I cut the other veggies. Put them in a big bowl and tossed them with salt, pepper and some good quality Spanish hojiblanca olive oil that is usually reserved for salads. Roasted in the oven at 350. Then took them out, mixed lemon juice with balsamic vinegar and tossed with the veggies before serving. AMAZING!
I made them again last night for some friends who came over for dinner and they loved them. The "worst" thing in the batch is the olive oil which isn't really bad for you in the first place, hence the quotes. it's one of the healthier oils you can use. I only use other oils when baking is involved (meaning i can't use applesauce or make it healthy) or when olive oil would change the flavor (Chinese/Indian). We had paired the veggies with a balsamic, garlic & rosemary marinated pork tenderloin. You've got the carbs from the potatoes, the rest is veggies, and pork tenderloin is lean.
I have become a major fan of lemon and balsamic. They are fantastic "sauces" you can add to foods but don't have a high sodium content. My bottle of balsamic has 0mg sodium in 1TBSP, 5calories and 2g sugar. Great flavor, very little calories. For more than 2 years, I've stopped putting butter on my broccoli. I put lemon and fresh ground pepper. I get the tartness and ton of flavor without any fat.
Even comfort food like pancakes can be good. If you want to use a box mix, I love the Fiber one brand. Add cinnamon and a diced apple and voila, you've incorporated fruit and fiber into your breakfast. But this is where most people falter, the syrup. A lot of people use the generic syrup. 200 calories in 1, yes ONE tbsp. Maple syrup, you need FOUR tbsp to get to 200 calories. I don't know about anyone else, but I can't use that much. I use about 2 tbsp for 3 pancakes. It's got 1/4 of the calories and is all natural. Downside: it's expensive. A bottle of maple syrup can cost $8+. The cheap syrup, $2. You use considerably less with maple syrup, but if you have a large family, you may not see the savings.
A cheaper alternative to maple is honey. If I stay in a hotel with breakfast, I put honey on my pancakes. My fave way to eat apple is to top it with some honey. Ideally it's better to eat the apple by itself, but if 1TBSP of honey gets you to eat fruit, then do it. You'll get a lot more benefits from the apple then if you hadn't eaten it.
Healthy food can taste amazing; it's just figuring out what you like taste wise and then trying to incorporate it into foods . A marinade of balsamic and garlic is easy, cheap, and tasty. Or maybe using mrs dash with some olive oil for a marinade. I've never tried it but who knows, it may work. I've kinda digressed this blog entry into making healthy substitutions for food, but that's my program. But maybe, if someone is still reading this, they've gotten inspired to make some healthy substitutions in their life.
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great tips!
1257 days ago
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Great details! I'm going to have to take a closer look at our syrup. I don't think it's low calorie, but it's not 200 a serving for sure. I love using lemon to spruce of veggies. I just wish my better half wasn't so against lemons.
1259 days ago
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Thanks for sharing these great ideas on ways to eat better! I will try some of your suggestions.
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Summer movie season is officially in business. Last week, a blockbuster superhero has made a big debut. It's only a few weeks before Memorial Day and then having to choose a movie will become more difficult with multiple entries bowing each week. This week, the season got its first comedy. Aiming to appeal to the same audiences that flocked to "This is the End" and "The Hangover" trilogy, "Neighbors" hopes to turn comedy into box office success.
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play Mac and Kelly, a quiet couple raising their little girl. Next door, the For Sale appears and shortly after they find a fraternity moving in. Worried about the neighborhood and the likely disturbed sleeping to follow the new arrival, Mac and Kelly attempt to win over the fraternity president (Zac Efron) and his associates. When a noise complaint transforms into an escalation between the small family and the permanent nightlife, the two become pitted against other. What follows are Mac and Kelly's attempts to shut down the party and the pranks they find themselves a butt of.
The story of "Neighbors" is quite simple, two different factions attempt to snuff each other out rather than co-exist. The strength of the film is its brave sense of humor. The story is peppered with pop culture references, gross out gags, and small cameos that really connect with the audience.
Those how seemed interested by the trailer are sure to enjoy the film. Rogen and Efron create a rivalry where choosing a side fails to be cut and dry. Stealing the show is once again Rose Byrne, who is quickly becoming a formidable force in the film. This is type of comedy that gets revisited constantly. Repeat viewing is what makes a comedy go from fun to memorable. Plan on hearing a lot about "Neighbors" as the summer goes on. The comedy bar for the season has been set. 3 out of 5 stars.
Check your local listings for showtimes and theaters (click here)


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LG Optimus 3G launched by Telus in Canada: CDMA flavored Android
Although it already offers the LG Optimus One, Telus has decided to release another version of it, dubbed LG Optimus 3G.
Unlike the Optimus One, which is a GSM / HSDPA phone, the Optimus 3G is a CDMA device (it's actually a renamed Optimus S – launched by Sprint in the US last year).
With a new 3-yr agreement, Telus' Optimus 3G can be yours for free (just like the Optimus One). The off-contract price of the new handset is, curiously, $529.99. That's outrageously unjustified, since the Optimus One costs $199.99 off-contract, and has the same features, including Android 2.2, 3.2 inch HVGA display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3.2MP camera.
Anyway, you can buy the Optimus 3G here at Telus.
Via MobileSyrup


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PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — A campus-wide alert for gunfire was issued at Washington State University Sunday afternoon for shooting that turned out to be target practice.
WSU police officer Darren Jones told KOMO Radio in Seattle that the target shooters were in a residential area near campus. No one was hit, but a car window was shattered by a stray bullet a half mile away.
No one was arrested but charges are possible for reckless gunfire.
The Daily Evergreen reports (http://is.gd/dCMXhl ) the shooting took place outside of city limits, north of the Valley Road Playfields. The individuals were shooting in the direction of the play fields.
Information from: KOMO-AM, http://www.komoradio.com/


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ZFS Discovery Days
By Stewart Townsend on Dec 17, 2008
Featuring a live demonstration of the Sun Zettabyte File System (ZFS) working with Sun Open Storage hardware
Understand how to take full advantage of ZFS features using Sun's World Leading Coolthreads servers, Sun X64 servers and Sun's Open Storage arrays.
ZFS simplifies file and volume management whilst dramatically reducing operating costs and increasing data consistency
- The massive growth and diversity of storage requirements means that it is becoming complex and expensive to manage your data using traditional file systems and volume managers
- With traditional solutions, there is no guarantee that data has not been 'silently corrupted' somewhere in the system, however expensive your storage array
- Many traditional solutions are inflexible when data requirements change leading to over-provisioning or downtime for re-builds
- Storage software, to perform tasks such as Snapshots and Replication, can often be as expensive as the hardware and involve additional costs when hardware is upgraded
- ZFS changes all of this...removing the need for volume managers and providing end to end checksums meaning that data integrity is maximised, regardless of the type of storage device used. ZFS is fully integrated at zero cost with Sun Solaris 10 on more than 1,000 multi-vendor Sparc and X86 platforms.
- For the first time, it is feasible to deploy low cost Open Storage hardware, such as Sun's JBOD arrays or Sun's X4500 data server, but deliver the performance and data integrity of solutions costing 10 times more.
Now you can see this in action and get detailed information on best practices and strategies
Attend our ZFS Discovery Day. A Sun expert will explain the design concepts of ZFS and outline Sun's open storage strategy. Delegates will learn how to set up file systems using ZFS and how to employ in-built facilities such as copy on write snapshots and data replication, and all of this will be demonstrated using the latest Sun CMT and X64 servers, combined with the latest open storage hardware. Delegates will then take a look at how ZFS and Solid State Disks can be combined to accelerate application performance. Various usage scenarios will then be demonstrated, such as MySQL, replication and porting from a legacy volume manager in a 'live' application environment. The session will conclude by demonstrating the Common Array Manager and with an investigation into the savings in total cost of ownership.
Sun and ZFS can help you dramatically reduce your acquisition and operating costs, whilst providing the performance and security that is delivered through this advanced file system. Stop using technology that was designed for 20th century systems....move into the 21st century with Sun and ZFS.


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Charlotte Lewis Piper
Who brought honor to Baker University through her individual athletic achievements, as a teacher, coach and through her life-long advocacy for and leadership in the areas of health, physical fitness and recreation
Charlotte graduated from Baker in 1943 as a member of Delta Delta Delta with a degree in Physical Education. During her career she also earned a M.A. Degree at the University of New Mexico and completed post-graduate study at New York University. She was presented with an honorary Doctorate from Baker in 1978.Charlotte's life passion was athletics, physical fitness and recreation. As the founder and first coach in the sport of swimming at the University of New Mexico she brought that program to national prominence while at the same time championing the cause of women's sports throughout the country. She spent 32 years in formal service to UNM and was inducted into that school's Athletic Hall of Fame. Many of her years there were served as that University's Athletic Department Chair and in additional positions too numerous to list individually.
During her career she additionally served in positions of importance locally in New Mexico and nationally including: Coordinator of the Pan American Training camp and as a Liaison to the United States Collegiate Sports Council, the National AAU and to the United States Olympic Swimming Committee. She served as a Delegate to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and served as a member of the United States Swimming Team from 1973-1976. As a member of the US Olympic Committee for swimming she was honored in "Salute to the Olympians".
She was widely sought as a speaker both nationally and internationally, she completed original research in the area of track and field and authored the Official Swimming and Diving Rules for NAGWS.
A member of numerous professional associations and active in volunteer activities she still found time to be a loving mother to three children, 6 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and as a loving wife to her husband, John. A celebration of her life attended by nearly 400 individuals was held on June 18, 2009 in Colorado.


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U.S. Postal Service:
Action Needed to Facilitate Financial Viability
GAO-10-601T: Published: Apr 22, 2010. Publicly Released: Apr 22, 2010.
Additional Materials:
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- Full Report:
- Accessible Text:
(202) 512-8509
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The U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) financial condition and outlook deteriorated significantly during fiscal years 2007 through 2009. USPS was not able to cut costs fast enough to offset declines in mail volumes and revenues resulting from the economic recession and changes in the use of mail, such as electronic bill payment. In July 2009, GAO added USPS's financial condition to its high-risk list and reported that USPS urgently needed to restructure to improve its financial viability. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 required GAO to evaluate strategies and options for USPS's long-term structural and operational reform and report by December 2011. Because of USPS's financial crisis and the need for urgent action, GAO accelerated its work and issued a report (GAO-10-455) on April 12, 2010. This testimony provides (1) information on USPS's financial condition and outlook and (2) GAO's perspective on the actions that are needed to facilitate progress toward USPS's financial viability. This testimony is based on GAO's recently issued report and recent testimonies on USPS's financial condition and outlook.
USPS is facing a major financial crisis. Mail volumes, the primary source of USPS revenues, declined by 36 billion pieces (about 17 percent) over the last three fiscal years (2007 through 2009). Mail volume declines were largely due to the economic downturn and changing use of the mail linked to the continuing shift to electronic communications and payments. USPS's financial outlook is poor as it projects future declines in mail volumes, stagnating revenues, large financial losses, increasing debt, and significant financial obligations, including for retiree health benefits. USPS projects a record loss of over $7 billion in fiscal year 2010. Furthermore, USPS expects to borrow $3 billion, bringing its total outstanding debt to $13.2 billion, close to its $15 billion statutory borrowing limit with the U.S. Treasury. Looking forward, USPS projects that by fiscal year 2020, total mail volume will further decline by 15 percent, to the lowest level since 1986. Absent additional actions to cut costs and increase revenues, USPS expects financial losses will escalate over the next decade. GAO recently reported that making progress toward USPS's financial viability would primarily involve taking action to rightsize operations, cut costs, and increase revenues. Making the necessary progress would require USPS and Congress to pursue strategies and options that would (1) reduce compensation, benefits, and other operations and network costs using the collective bargaining process to address wages, benefits, and workforce flexibility, as well as generating revenues through pricing and product flexibility; and (2) address legal restrictions and resistance to realigning USPS operations, networks, and workforce. USPS included many of these strategies and options in the action plan it issued in March 2010, but these planned actions under its existing authority will not be enough to make it financially viable. Therefore, action by Congress and USPS is urgently needed to (1) reach agreement on actions to achieve USPS's financial viability; (2) provide financial relief through deferral of costs by revising USPS retiree health benefit funding while continuing to fund these benefits over time to the extent that USPS's finances permit; and (3) require that any binding arbitration resulting from collective bargaining would take USPS's financial condition into account. To facilitate reaching agreement about the difficult constraints and legal restrictions that hamper progress, Congress could consider establishing a panel of independent experts, similar to the approach used by the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, to coordinate with USPS and stakeholders to recommend a package of proposed legislative and operational changes needed to reduce costs and address challenges to USPS's business model.
Jun 23, 2016
Federal Real Property:Observations on GSA's Canceled Swap Exchange Involving Buildings in the Federal Triangle South AreaGAO-16-571R: Published: Jun 16, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 23, 2016.
Jun 15, 2016
Managing for Results:Agencies Need to Fully Identify and Report Major Management Challenges and Actions to Resolve them in their Agency Performance PlansGAO-16-510: Published: Jun 15, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 15, 2016.
May 25, 2016
High-Risk Series:Key Actions to Make Progress Addressing High-Risk IssuesGAO-16-480R: Published: Apr 25, 2016. Publicly Released: May 25, 2016.
May 20, 2016
Managing for Results:OMB Improved Implementation of Cross-Agency Priority Goals, But Could Be More Transparent About Measuring ProgressGAO-16-509: Published: May 20, 2016. Publicly Released: May 20, 2016.
May 11, 2016
U.S. Postal Service:Continuing Financial Challenges and the Need for Postal ReformGAO-16-651T: Published: May 11, 2016. Publicly Released: May 11, 2016.
May 10, 2016
Revolving Funds:Additional Pricing and Performance Information for FAA and Treasury Funds Could Enhance Agency Decisions on Shared ServicesGAO-16-477: Published: May 10, 2016. Publicly Released: May 10, 2016.
Apr 29, 2016
U.S. Postal Service:Post Office Changes Suggest Cost Savings, but Improved Guidance, Data, and Analysis Can Inform Future Savings EffortsGAO-16-385: Published: Apr 29, 2016. Publicly Released: Apr 29, 2016.
Apr 27, 2016
Government Efficiency and Effectiveness:Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Other Financial BenefitsGAO-16-580T: Published: Apr 27, 2016. Publicly Released: Apr 27, 2016.
Apr 14, 2016
Grants Management:Actions Needed to Address Persistent Grant Closeout Timeliness and Undisbursed Balance IssuesGAO-16-362: Published: Apr 14, 2016. Publicly Released: Apr 14, 2016.
USDA Administrative Services:Streamlining Efforts Ongoing, but Actions Needed to Monitor Progress, Identify Benefits, and Share Lessons LearnedGAO-16-168: Published: Mar 15, 2016. Publicly Released: Apr 14, 2016.
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SIU head coach Kerri Blaylock nears her 500th career win currently holding a record of 498-232.
March 11, 2013
CARBONDALE, Ill.-- The Southern Illinois University softball team will visit Austin Peay University and the University of Kentucky for three mid-week games. The Salukis will start play with a double header Tuesday at Austin Peay followed by an afternoon game at Kentucky on Wednesday.
WHAT: SIU at Austin Peay WHAT: SIU at Kentucky
WHERE: Cheryl Holt Field, Clarksville, Tenn. WHERE: UK Softball Complex, Lexington, Ky.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 12 - 12 p.m. & 2 p.m. CT WHEN: Wednesday, March 13 - 2 p.m. CT
AUDIO: None VIDEO: None
LIVE STATS: GameTracker via SIUSalukis.com
TWITTER: @SIU_Softball
WHAT'S ON DECK Southern Illinois will hit the road for spring break traveling to Clarksville, Tenn. for a doubleheader with Austin Peay University on Tuesday, March 12 at 12 and 2 p.m. The following day, Wednesday, March 13, SIU will play at the University of Kentucky. The Wildcats and Salukis will square off at 2 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT SIU finished the Saluki Invitational at 1-1 after falling to Wisconsin 7-3 and topping EKU 9-1 on Saturday. The remainder of the Invitational was cancelled due to rain.
BLAYLOCK NEARS 500 WINS Kerri Blaylock returns to the helm of Saluki Softball in 2013 nearing her 500th career win. Blaylock enters her 14th season as the team's head coach and her 23rd overall year with the program boasting a career record of 498-232.
BERTELSEN IS BACK Katie Bertelsen made her 2013 debut in the circle on Sunday, March 11. The sophomore hurler pitched three innings against UIC before the game was called due to rain. Bertelsen missed the opening of the season rehabbing an injury. Last season, Bertelsen led the pitching staff in wins (13) and saves (5) and struck out 74 in 149.1 innings pitched.
DAWGS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS On Wednesday the Salukis will travel to Lexington to take on No. 15 Kentucky at the UK Softball Complex. SIU saw success against a ranked opponent earlier this season topping No. 14 South Florida, 5-4, at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. on Feb. 22. SIU lost to No. 1 Alabama on Feb.17 at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational.
SWINGING SPIVEY Jayna Spivey has been consistent for the Saluki offense leading the team in home runs (5) and RBI's (18) with a .712 slugging percentage. The junior has recorded 19 hit for a batting average of .421 which is second to team leader Morgan Barchan.
HEAVY HITTER Meredith Wilson has been a threat at the plate this season. The sophomore has unloaded two grand slams and one home run during the Salukis 17-game slate. Eight of Wilson's 11 RBI's have been from her grand slams against Fordham and Butler.
VADEBONCOUER HIT AT THE DISH Allie VadeBoncouer was a force at the plate last season drawing 28 free bases on hit-by-pitches to lead the nation. Currently the junior catcher totals 13 hit-by-pitches during the Salukis 19 games.
SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY Austin Peay currently holds a record of 7-5. The Lady Govs split their contests this past weekend recording two wins against Miami (OH) but dropping their games to Illinois State and Louisville. APSU holds an advantage remaining unbeaten at home this season with two wins over Alabama A&M. Laurel Burroughs leads the Lady Govs offensively with a .447 batting average while Lauren de Castro follows with a .444 clip. de Castro also leads APSU in the circle with a 1.47 ERA and 4-2 record. The Salukis lead their all-time series against Austin Peay 14-0.
SCOUTING KENTUCKY No. 15 Kentucky enters the contest with an impressive 18-4 mark including key wins over No. 3 California and No. 20 Stanford. The Wildcats will cap-off a five game home stand with the Salukis at the brand new UK Softball Complex. The Kentucky offense is stacked boasting five players hitting north of .300 including team leader Lauren Cumbess who holds a .368 average with 25 hits and 18 RBI's. UK pitching ace Kelsey Nunley leads her team with a 12-1 record and 2.02 ERA. Nunley has stuck out 67 batters in 83.1 innings pitched. SIU and Kentucky are 1-1 in their all-time series.
NEXT TIME OUT Southern Illinois returns to Carbondale for a five game home stand including opening Missouri Valley Conference play hosting Drake March 16-17. Saint Louis University will also travel to SIU for a doubleheader on March 20.


text:
15 members
26 members
974 members
Thanks Randall,
I'm generally out of town Mon - Thur, but will try to check it out when I can.
Thanks Randall
I'll try to get therre more often. My kid is in Baseball and sometimes games are on Tuesday nights.
Just saw the posting for Kunjani's coffee house jam.
Do you get a lot of players. I'm just beginning but would like to check it out.
I live just around the corner from there.
© 2016 Created by Acoustic Guitar. Powered by


text:
EXCLUSIVE PICS: Shipping Container Home Pops Up in NY
BY: Diane Pham
Start Slideshow
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCNew York City is probably the last place anyone would expect to find a one-story, prefabricated, shipping container home, but lo-and-behold one of these little gems currently sits at the corner of Charles and Washington Street in the West Village. Designed by architects Jason Halter and Christos Marcopoulous, the 320 square foot MEKA Home (pronounced 'make-ah') is an incredible architectural gesture able to capture luxurious, modern living within an undemanding and unexpected construction. Certainly attractive, durable and sustainably built - with more than 70% of its materials recycled - one of the most outstanding features is that one of these modules runs at just a mere $100 per square foot!1
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCFounder, Michael de Jong came up the idea for the MEKA after years of building luxury homes in Belize, hiring Jason Halter and Christos Marcopoulous for the design.2
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCMichael states, "Many prospective homeowners want to avoid the hassle, wait time and hidden costs of traditional construction. No one wants to wait a year and then find out the price of materials and laborers have increased by a third or more. No onewants to deal with unreliable contractors of builders."3
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCEco-friendly and extremely flexible, each shipping container is paneled in cedar wood over a steel frame shipping container, with doubled glazed argon-filled window, a bamboo interior, slate bathroom, and 100% cedar cladding.4
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCThe home works well in an array of different environments, not only full insulated, but one side of the module can be opened up to create a deck.5
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCMoreover, they can be effortlessly transported and the modular system allows for eased expansion in the event the inhabitant's space needs grow. Solar power integration is also available for those interested in off-grid living.6
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCAmazingly, arriving 95% built, the home can be setup with all the appropriate installations in less than two weeks, pending the foundation.7
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCSelling at only $100 sq foot, the MEKA aptly responds to the issue of cost versus pricing in the discussion prefabricated home production – while prefabs are certainly cheaper to build than custom homes, for a number of producers/architects, to remain profitable, their pricing scheme still hovers in a range that remains out of reach for much of the public. Comparatively, MEKA modules can easily be tailored to fit any budget.8
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCWhile small, the bathroom includes all the necessities and features a window portal and skylight above the shower to give the space a less compacted feel.9
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCA modern kitchen with all the basics sits to one side of the prefab. Clients are able to choose their own energy-efficient appliances for installation as well as to keep purchases local to minimize carbon costs.10
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCThis particular prefab was setup on-site in less than two days (without installations or foundation).11
- MEKA Shipping Container Prefab Home NYCWhile this particular prefab has already been sold, it will remain at the Charles and Washington site for the next two weeks. So if you're in the area, be sure to stop by.12


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Sir Alex Ferguson and Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, joined 1,000 mourners yesterday for the funeral of Scottish football great Sandy Jardine.
The hero of Rangers and Hearts was remembered as a "true legend" of the game at a packed service in Edinburgh.
John Greig, a former colleague and friend, was a coffin-bearer at Mortonhall Crematorium as tributes were paid to the 65-year-old who lost his battle against cancer last Thursday. Jardine made almost 800 appearances in his Ibrox career, helping the side secure three league championships, five Scottish Cups and five League Cups.
Hailed for his role in Rangers'


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Apr 26, 2011 11:22 AM
Y'all we love a good poof! And nothing gets our poof the poofiest like the Marilyn Teaser Brush ($16). This little gem sets up our hair in the most fashionable of ways, y'all. Whether we are wearing a new pair of Top Siders, sporting our fresh new Vera Bradley bag or walking Gunner the yellow lab, our inner Southern Belles are just wallowing in pride. Y'all.
If you've got a product or service that you'd like to promote on Outblush, click here to find out about our advertising opportunities.
Outblush is a blog for girls who love to shop. Our staff digs up the best clothes, home stuff, beauty items, and more. New items are posted every day — bookmark us and check out:


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January 22, 1999
PULLMAN, Wash. - Former Washington State football players Jeff Banks and Bryant Thomas have been chosen by Coach Mike Price to fill the graduate assistant coaching positions on the Cougar coaching staff.
Banks will be the offensive graduate assistant coach and his main duties include working with the kickers and punters. Banks earned two varsity letters as a punter for the Cougars and ended his WSU career averaging 43.06 yards per punt. As a senior, the 1993 graduate of Bishop Amat High in Upland, Calif., was named to the Pac-10 second team as voted by the league's coaches. Banks was also awarded the AT&T long distance award for the longest punt average the week of the Boise State game, averaging 53.0 yards per punt.
Thomas joins the coaching staff as the defensive graduate assistant coach and will assist with the secondary. The Carson, Calif. native earned four WSU varsity letters, three as a wide receiver and one his senior year when he moved to safety. He was also a member of special teams. Thomas, a former San Pedro High star, ended his WSU receiving career with 52 receptions for 626 yards and four touchdowns. As a backup safety, he recorded eight tackles.
Both Banks and Thomas completed their undergraduate degrees at WSU last fall.
"We're excited to have both former players join our staff," said Price. "Bryant will be able to help in a number or areas and having Jeff to work with the kickers and punters will be vital to our success."
The new graduate assistants replace James Ward and James Franklin who took coaching positions with former Cougar coach Larry Lewis at Idaho State University.


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Felons of any crime shouldn't own guns
Anyone who has been convicted of a felony is banned by federal law from ever possessing any firearm or ammunition. Specifically a person convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year cannot possess any firearm in any location. 18 USC 922(g). These gun laws were created for a reason, to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. People with felony convictions claim these laws are unfair taking into consideration the nature of their crime. A person with a felony stealing charge doesn't deserve a gun anymore than a person convicted of murder. Allowing felons of white collar crimes to own guns would only create loop holes for the violent criminals to crawl through and legally obtain a firearm. There's no way to balance the laws equally and be fair about it. Enforcing these laws is hard enough as it is and criminals will always be able to buy a gun where supply meets demand, but there's no sense in making it easier for them. Most felons who have a gun illegally are more likely to carry and conceal. If they already have a felony conviction and own a gun illegally they don't have much to lose. Some felony convicted criminals claim they want a gun to go deer hunting or competition skeet shooting, but how would anyone truly know that's what they wanted it for. It's something they should have considered before making bad decisions, and I don't feel sorry for them. Nothing much can be done to stop a criminal from acquiring a gun, but the laws are there to protect the people. Criminals don't care about a book full of statutes. They're not concerned about the law. They may have to pay more for a gun, but it's available and the higher prices create an incentive to steal more. Unfortunately, these laws are creating an artificial underclass of people in this country. Felons have a hard time finding a decent job. They can't vote or defend their own lives as well as their families. They may even have problems renting a home considering most places do background checks these days. As far as the law is concerned, felons have handed over their civil rights forever, but only the criminal is to blame. These laws are great and serve a purpose for the common good shared by society. It's impossible to monitor the type of felony committed when deciding what felony constitutes the right to bear arms. It may seem unfair to some and, in a sense, probably is. However, if felons are allowed to have guns after paying their debt to society, then terrorists are allowed to have bombs after serving their sentence.


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I'm using Thunderbird/Enigmail, and the plugin tells me that the process in charge of the passphrase cache is
gpg-agent. The retention time of the passphrase is too long for me (possibly, the entire session). I would like to make it shorter, but so far I have failed to do so.
gpg-agent seems to be run without a
default-cache-ttl argument (according to
ps), so according to the manual it should use the default value, 600 seconds. It's obviously not the case. It should also use the default value for
max_cache_ttl (2 hours), but it's not the case either.
I tried to create a
gpg-agent.conf file in my
~/.gnupg with a custom value for
default-cache-ttl, but it seems to have no effect (I have restarted my session in order to restart
Either I'm trying to tweak the wrong process, or it doesn't behave according to its specifications, or there is something I don't understand. How can I efficiently shorten this passphrase retention time?


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Eldren performing at the Bluebird Theater
Ages 16 and up
Date: Saturday, March 29th
Time: 9:00pm
Tickets go on sale this Saturday (2/15) at 10am.
Ticket prices: Advance:$10.00 Day of Show: $13.00
Honing their craft in Denver's burgeoning music community and captivating audiences nationwide, Eldren are prepared to charge into your life and forge a fire in your heart. Eldren mixes psychedelic rock with a wide variety of genres, creating a sound that perpetually surprises and translates into a universally appealing, impressive live show.
Purchase tickets here: http://www.axs.com/events/248361/eldren-tickets


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Which is the best framework for Java? I'm looking for something similar to Symfony for php and Ruby-On-Rails for Ruby? I even don't know if anything such exists for Java or not.
closed as not constructive by Code Monkey, Tim Post♦ Sep 13 '11 at 12:50
As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, visit the help center for guidance.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
There are many great web frameworks for java, but if your looking for something that is similar to Rails, look at Grails. It uses Groovy, which is dynamic language, but uses the Java VM.
Check out their quick start to determine if it's what you want.
Take a look at Spring. I think it will do anything Ruby-On-Rails can do (you can also add Hibernate for ORM).
i suggest you to check out the playframework.
Why? this article sums it up nicely.
My current preferred Web Application Framework is the Play Framework. http://www.playframework.org.
I have used many of the other frameworks listed, such as Struts, Seam etc, but I have never used a framework that is so quick, and productive as Play. It reduces the amount of code needed to develop (rather than build boilerplate code like Roo), and it removes the code-build-deploy cycle. Compilation is done automatically by Play, and errors are displayed in the browser, making for highly successful immediate feedback.
If nothing else, I would recommend going to the Play homepage and taking a look at the screencast. It is a few minutes long, but shows the power of the framework.
i like grails, but there are a lot of these things out there, matt raible sems to have a good handle on them:
It depends on what you want to do, but the short answer is: boy, are there! Note, however, that answer does not indicate whether the myriad of options is good or bad. Java's server side community tends to be a lot more fragmented, and while there aren't that many alternatives to Rails used in actual practice for Ruby, each of the camps on the Java side seem to be fairly well manned. As Taylor Marshall mentioned, there's Struts, which is used most often in industry (as it's the oldest still-in-use OSS MVC container I know of. But no one seems to like Struts anymore. The Ex-Jakarta menu on the Apache Jakarta page shows a number of Web Application frameworks that they've incubated, including Tapestry, Turbine, and Velocity. There's also Wicket (a very decent comparison of Wicket and Tapestry is available here). Oh, and Java Server Faces. And SpringMVC. Tapestry and Wicket (in particular) seem to be gaining ground, while everyone seems to have a horror story about JSF. Your mileage will absolutely vary here, and eesh, looking up at the links in just this answer, maybe Groovy would be simpler.
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but if you're not here's a partial list of Java Web Frameworks:
Having only used a few of these, I can't really tell you which one is the best. Spring MVC is my personal favorite for more content oriented sites, but I'd use JSF if it's more the traditional web application (application with a web interface).
The joke amongst Java developers, generally, isn't if there's a framework/library for a certain application, but which of the dozens of options to use.
Struts is for suits.
As I outlined in a previous answer, I like Spring MVC.
I agree with the other folks who are suggesting grails- I'm using it on a couple of apps now, and it's the closest thing I've found to a java flavored ruby on rails. That said, why not use JRuby? My understanding is that they have Rails running on it now.
I have really enjoyed using Grails it makes extensive use of the Hibernate and Spring frameworks. The way it seperates the model view and controller is great.GORM (Grails' object relational mapping (ORM) implementation) is amazing and there are plans to separate it out into its own stand alone product.
Security is very easy using the Spring Acegi security plugin
Also worth looking at is the Searchable plugin which implements a full text search very quickly and easily.
Hands down, Grails.
Just download it from Grails.org and start working through the examples, and screencasts. The guys who make it just got bought by SpringSource, so it's guaranteed to go places!
I just got started with Groovy/Grails and it's looking good. What's nice is you can leverage all the existing Java technlogy.
Take a look at JRapid! Define your application model and it generates every layer for your application, including a very powerful UI.
Tapestry looks very cool... after you have made a BIG effort to install it.
I read about JBoss Seam and it seems nice too
Grails is fantastic if you need to run on a JVM. If you want to stick strictly to Java (not a dynamic language), I think spring would be your best bet.