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Victoria Beckham on a potential Spice Girl's reunion? It's not happening. That's right. Victoria Beckham has said that she will not reunite with the other four women who made up the Spice Girls -- not for another album, not for a tour, not even for another small appearance. On Jan. 20, Mail Online reported that Beckham has (once again) set the record straight on where she stands with the whole "let's get the band back together" thing... and she's o-u-t. Out.
"I won't ever do it again. Doing the Olympics was an incredible honor. I was so proud to do it; proud to be British... That was a perfect time to say, 'That's great. Thank you to everybody, but no more.' Sometimes you've got to know when it's time to leave the party," Beckham said in her new interview with Vanity Fair (via Mail Online).
Victoria Beckham's view on a Spice Girl's reunion hasn't changed very much over the years. In fact, people were surprised that she even agreed to get together with her old friends for the London Olympics back in 2012. However, Mel B., Mel C., Geri, and Emma were able to convince Victoria to take the stage in front of millions for the opening ceremonies -- and it really was a great performance. Sadly, it will be the last.
The Spice Girls might decide to move forward without "Posh Spice" but that just wouldn't be the same. Do you think that there is more to come from the group with or without Victoria Beckham?
Will Victoria Beckham's thoughts on a Spice Girl's reunion ever change? Perhaps. But she sounds pretty adamant about moving on with her life. Thoughts?
© Effie Orfanides 2014


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Dad is So Crafty
My dad recently found a hole under the concrete slab that his AC rests on behind his house. He couldn't figure out what had been digging that hole. It could be anything. Rather than speculating, he put a camera down the hole and captured video. It wasn't in there and there burrow had no clues as to what kind of animal had been using the hole for shelter. The animal did not come back while dad's camera was in the burrow.
Dad removed the camera and filled the hole up. As soon as that happened the animal returned and there's the hole again. It drove dad crazy not knowing what he was dealing with so he did what any resourceful Pinoy would do. He didn't want to have to buy an outdoor camera so he rigged his Foscam for outdoor use. Not only that, he set up the monitoring features so he could watch from his PC and he also set up the camera to auto-record using motion detection. Here are some pictures of his outdoor camera contraption.
Pretty clever, right?
He mounted the rig to a stick staked to the ground and pointed the camera right at the hole. Sure enough he got the perpetrator on video. He posted the video on his Facebook wall but I'm not sure how to share it with you guys because of the privacy settings.
Turns out, a skunk has been making a home under that concrete slab. I suggested calling Animal Control but it seems like dad is having too much fun playing cat and mouse with the skunk. Now he wants to build some kind of one-way door so that when the skunk leaves the hole it can't get back in. Seriously.
For those of you who someday find yourself in this predicament, there are a couple of options: (1) make a trap, or (2) call Animal Control. I'm a proponent of the latter myself because it's less hassle. If you are like my dad though, then you think it's fun to rig things. I'm guessing there will be people out there who will go for the first option. However, think about what you're going to do after you capture it. How are you going to release it into the wild without getting sprayed? And where are you going to release it? I say go with the second option all the way.
If you are not yet in this predicament and want to avoid it, here are some suggestions.
- Don't plant fruit-bearing trees. If it's too late and you already have trees that produce nuts, berries, crabapples, or other fruits, remember rake your yard often so the goodies don't tempt critters to come over and feast on your lawn.
- Protect your waste. Don't leave your trash bin out except on trash day. If there's no room in your garage and the trash bin has to be outside, make sure that it is securely fastened so the smell doesn't attract skunks and other critters.
- Close off hiding places. Use rocks, fencing, plywood, etc. to close off any potential hiding places. If you have unkempt bushes and vegetation around your house, make sure these are trimmed so as not to appear so appealing to wild animals.
- Install yard lights. Nocturnal creatures such as skunks don't like bright lights so this may be a suitable and attractive deterrent. Lights with motion detection will probably be most effective because it will trick the animal into thinking someone's there.
- Use chemical warfare. Okay, not in the grand World War III scale. Skunks don't like ammonia so soaking rags with ammonia and placing it in potential hiding places is an option. Scattering orange or lemon peels around your property, specifically under your deck or porch is a good option also.
- Install motion-activated sprinklers. If you have the resources and really want to keep critters out, this is another alternative. It's a nice surprise for two-legged unwanted visitors also. LOL.
I hope you find these tips helpful. I'll keep you posted on my dad's adventures.
No More Rose Bushes
After almost two years of living here we finally got around to getting rid of the rose bushes. Brian loathed them so much. Now they are finally gone. In their stead we have trees and shrubbery that are much more our style. Low maintenance and without thorns. Here are a couple of photos of the new plants.
The one on the left is a river birch. I guess they're quite popular because they are fast growing ornamental trees. My parents have some and so do others in our neighborhood. Not to be confused with the other river birch tress, we named ours Burch Reynolds. Guess who came up with that one. LOL.
The one on the right is a juniper tree. The landscape architect recommended a juniper because it's an evergreen and it will look fantastic year round when the rest of our plants lose their foliage. Brian named this one Fern.
We have an existing tree in the middle of our yard that's always been there. It appears to be some sort of redbud, though we don't know for sure. We named ours Gimp because it doesn't look as magnificent as all the other redbuds we've been seeing around town. In fact, I didn't even think it was a redbud at first. I posted some photos of it on Facebook and asked for help identifying the type of tree. Several people said redbud so we're just going with that.
We didn't name the rest of the plants because we really have no idea what they are. They look nice though. The only other thing we named is our bubbling boulder. I know rocks aren't alive like plants are, but this one bubbles. Besides, people name other inanimate objects like their cars. Our cars have names too. We didn't want to leave the bubbler out so we named it Jane Fountain.
To sum up, the newest residents of Casa de Felitaciones are Jane Fountain, Burch Reynolds, Fern, and Gimp. Next time you're over, you'll have to say hi to them.
Post Halloween Party Aftermath
We picked up a little before we went to bed after the party last weekend, but this is the mess that we woke up to the next day.
Rather than deal with the mess straight off, Brian and I decided that this was the perfect excuse to go have brunch at a new place, Birds on the Roof Bakery & Cafe. We'd heard many good things.
The place is actually quite nice. I really like the colorful decor.
The place is kind of quirky. I like the cloth napkins, novel napkin rings, and even mismatched silverware.
The fancy water glasses are nice too, but they don't hold much water. It wouldn't be so bad if they refilled the water glass more frequently. I kept running out of water and it would take forever between refills.
The runny eggs were strike two. Brian specifically asked for them to be fried hard.
The bacon was good but the damage was done. Brian did not want to touch his eggs but he didn't want to ask for them to get redone either so I ended up eating them.
There's not many places in town you can get crepes, so that is what I ordered. Here are a couple of pictures of my chicken and spinach crepe.
I was not particularly impressed. The crepe itself was too thick and more pancake-like than I prefer. They put a lot of filling in it also which is both good and bad. It's great that you get more chicken for your money, but all of the filling overpowered the crepe and made it even less crepe-like. Sad to say this but the chicken florentine crepe that I had at a kiosk inside the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando when we were there for the Zumba instructor convention was far superior (even if I did have to eat it out of a water cone, LOL).
Here's the dessert display case. For a bakery, it wasn't very impressive. It looked kind of sad and empty actually. If you're going to tack "bakery" at the end of your name, I'm going to expect more than this sad display case. When I think of a restaurant and bakery, the display cases I'm envisioning are the likes of Bagatelle (fantastic cakes, by the way, and they always give you free dessert which is a bonus) and Copper Oven. Their bakery here seemed like an afterthought.
They served an English muffin with Brian's breakfast and I asked for toast, neither of these tasted like they were baked on site. They gave us this hard French roll while we were waiting for our food and that didn't taste freshly baked either. I would have much rather had Tita Tessie's pan de sal over it.
As far as the price goes, their prices are pretty reasonable. No complaints there. Service was slow, but it wasn't terrible, and the runny eggs were not the servers fault so we gave her $4 bucks, which is a decent tip relative the cost of our meal. We looked at the ticket and she wrote it down correctly, Brian and I concluded that the cook either wasn't paying attention or didn't know how to make a hard egg.
I really wanted to like this place because other people I know have loved it, but everything I liked about the place had nothing to do with the food. I like the clever name. The location is great. The restaurant has a wonderful ambiance. I like having cloth napkins and real silverware. The decor is nice and cheerful. All of that stuff is fabulous so if I'm just going there to hang out, I would totally love the place. As far as the food goes, I've had better breakfast meals elsewhere, so if I'm looking for somewhere to eat Birds on the Roof wouldn't be my first pick.
On the bright side, when we came home from breakfast we were ready to tackle the aftermath of the previous night's party. We still need to do some deep cleaning (vacuuming and mopping, etc.) but we picked up the mess and wiped all of the surfaces. Look at what we accomplished.
Our house was back to normal in no time. Of course, we were still pooped from having stayed up all night so we ended up taking a nap after this and didn't wake up again until five in the afternoon. That was pretty much our Sunday.
The New Stove Saga
The stove saga began with an idea. It came to me like a gentle breeze several months ago. Wouldn't it be nice to have two ovens? I thought. But there's nothing wrong with our current electric range. It works perfectly fine. In fact, though it wasn't our choice — we basically got it when we bought our house last year because the previous owners left it — it's actually excellent.
The idea persisted, as with all crazy ideas that come to me. I didn't have to act on it right away, but I'd think about how nice it would be to have two ovens every couple of months or so. The idea took up permanent residence in my mind.
The opportunity to act on the idea came when Brian asked me what I wanted for our 11th wedding anniversary. The idea reared its head and, without hesitation, I told him I wanted a new electric range with two ovens.
Are you sure? He asked me. I'm going to benefit from it more than you because I do more cooking and baking.
Yes. I am sure, I told him. I want a new stove.
Of course, I didn't end up getting my stove in August because our Orlando trip proved to be more expensive than we anticipated. We didn't want to leave a balance on the credit card (which must be paid off at the end of each month no matter what) so we had to postpone the new stove purchase. Brian and I agreed that it would be my birthday gift this year.
Over the last few months I looked at stores and web sites to comparison shop. Around Labor Day I found a good deal on a double oven electric range at Home Depot but we didn't pull the trigger right then. We were busy with some other stuff and didn't really have time to put a lot of thought into it so we decided to hold off. Brian and I like to thoroughly think things through.
Fast forward through a couple of weeks ago when we finally had a free weekend. We went to several stores — Sears Outlet, Menards, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Best Buy. There weren't a lot of selection. Lowe's and Home Depot both actually had only one double oven electric range on display at their respective stores. We had to resort to looking at their web sites which offered more inventory. We found the exact same electric range for sale at all three web sites — Lowe's, Home Depot, and Best Buy. Best Buy just happened to be running 30% OFF appliances that weekend so they ended up offering the best price.
The double oven electric range that we found is a Whirlpool so it matches our fridge and dishwasher. And we got a good deal on it. It's like this one but we paid less than $1000 for it. That's pretty much the full extent of the stove budget. The one I found at Home Depot in September was $899. I should have pulled the trigger then because by the time I was ready it was no longer available. Must have been a discontinued model or something. Oh, well. Hindsight is always 20/20.
I managed to sell our old range, a perfectly good stainless steel smooth top electric range (also a Whirlpool) that's only five years old max, for $120 via one of the virtual garage sale groups on Facebook. The folks who bought it picked up the stove on Thursday night so the space was ready to go for the stove delivery the next day. Brian had taken a vacation day from work that Friday to study for his SQL exam.
As with most things in life, things didn't work out as perfectly as I envisioned. I imagined the old stove going out and the new stove simply taking its place. I failed to take into account the location of the electrical outlet for the electric range which was on the floor instead of the wall. The new stove couldn't fit flush against the wall because it didn't have the same cavity on the back as the old stove. Here are some pictures that Brian took last Friday on delivery day.
It didn't look too bad from the front.
But the gap behind the range was really problematic for me.
It also made the range stick out beyond the cabinets.
I was excited to look at the new stove when I came home from work on Friday, but I disliked how it looked in the space almost immediately.
I called several electrical companies to price the cost of moving the power outlet from the floor to the wall. After a few quotes we decided to go with the Jay's friend Andrew at Bybee Electric. Brian met them after work on Monday. He felt good about the meeting and so we set an appointment for this morning since I'm on vacation and will be home to let them in and oversee the work.
Tom and Cody arrived around 8:30 this morning.
We lucked out that there was enough slack in the electrical wire to relocate the outlet without having to run a new wiring.
An hour and $135 later, my new double oven electric range is finally flush against the wall. As flush as it can be, anyway. 😉
After factoring the cost of the electrical work that needed to be done, we spent a lot more on the new range than I had anticipated. I'm really happy with it though. It looks great in the space, matches the rest our our appliances, and I know we will get good use out of it. I can't wait for Brian to come home and see it.
It's Official
We got our official letter today stating that we no longer have to pay PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) on our home loan. This is the best birthday week ever!
Our New Roof
Back in May of this year we had a really big storm that rolled through and damaged a lot of property around the city.
I had considered myself lucky because I didn't have any visible damage, unlike some of our friends who's homes looked like they have been perforated by a series of shotgun blasts. As the months progressed I had started to notice the gravel that covers the shingles had started to deposit in the driveway. It looked like I wasn't so lucky after all.
My wife had been taking a Spanish class at the Rec center that she teaches Zumba at. During her classes she had made friends with a guy that worked for Dolphin Roofing, a locally owned and operated Roofing contractor. She recommended I ask him to come take a look at the roof. Me being a person that researches companies before I let them do any work for me decided to do a little research on Dolphin. They turned out to be a really good company. They are BBB Accredited and have an excellent history in the city.
From the start Dolphin was on top of things. They started by coming over and looking at the roof, they respected that I wanted to be there for it because I like to learn about this stuff. I think that learning about these things can help me be a better homeowner in the future. Plus, if I move and have to use a different contractor, they may not be as good and the knowledge I gain from the previous contractor can help me to see that.
Dolphin advised that there was indeed damage to the roof and that I should call the Insurance company and file a claim. Then Dolphin did something that I had never seen a company do before. They sat on the call with me while I talked to the Insurance company. Providing advice and insight as we filled out all of the insurance requirements. When we were done he laid out what was going to happen next with the Adjustor.
A few days later the Adjustor came by. Me being me, I was there for that as well. Again, Dolphin Surprised me. The owner of the company showed up to make sure that the adjuster was not only through but fair with his adjustment, this was something I had never seen from a company. Again, Dolphin explained everything and made me feel confident that not only was my roof going to get fixed, but it was going to be fixed right and that they would be there until the end and wouldn't consider the job done until I was happy.
A few weeks later we were off and running with the roof replacement. The guys at Dolphin came out, and did an excellent job with the roof. I had lots of questions and they didn't hesitate to answer them. It made me feel good that we had such qualified people working on our home.
Here are a few picture of the roof from my perspective.
Once the job was done they did an excellent job of making sure that there was no trash or nails left behind. With the exception of the new roof, you would never know they had been there.
I have to give it up to the guys that were up on the roof too. I went up there with one of the guys from Dolphin to look at the damage and just about didn't get down. However, the guys at Dolphin are really nice. Instead of making fun of me fore being scared of heights, he showed me the safest and easiest way to get on and off the roof without hurting myself.
Here are a few pictures that the Dolphin guys took for me.
I really wanted to get some pictures of the work from up close and the Dolphin Guys knew I was scared of heights so they took some pictures for me and sent them to me later. I tell you these guys are not like any other company. They really take care of you.
This week the gutters are getting put in and their gutter guy called me and advised me that he had a color that matched my trim work better. I wasn't sure so he left me a sample of the gutter along with a color pallet to look at so I could compare my current gutter color with the others he suggested. Most companies wouldn't have taken the time to ask, they would have just thrown up the color you told them to and moved on.
I am so grateful that we found Dolphin Roofing. They have been professional, courteous, informative and an all around great company to work with. If you ever need anything on your house done call them first, they do more than just roofing.
New Saturday Routine
I want every Saturday to be like last Saturday. I'm actually looking forward to this new Saturday routine. I basically get to do two hours of Zumba — my own class at Evergreen at 9:30 AM and then Pam's class at Orchard at 11:30 AM. I wish that there was less time in between classes so I didn't have to sit around and wait so long to do the next round. Maybe I could move my class back to 10:00 AM. The 9:30 AM schedule has been really nice, though. If I could start my day even earlier, I would. No one wants to Zumba with me at 8:00 AM, though.
Here's a picture of Brian bonding with Juan. They watch Saturday morning cartoons together while I teach my Zumba class. LOL.
Here's a photo of me and Pam before her class started. I look like a mess already, but I had a head start and no outfit change between Zumba sessions.
The best part about Orchard Recreation Center (besides Pam's Zumba classes, of course) is that it's located just around the corner from my favorite Thai takeout joint, Thai House. So guess what we had for lunch that day. I know. Sorry, John.
I just couldn't help myself. My love for food is probably the main reason why I will never, ever get skinny. I want to seriously lose weight, but I don't want to miss out on all my favorite foods either. Ay, caramba!
Angry Birds
(Picture courtesy of billhubick.com photography.)
Ching and I decided to feed the ducks in our pond. While tossing the bread into the water, a red winged black bird was making a ruckus in one of the nearby trees. After a few moments, he buzzed my head. Ching asked, "What was that?!" I told her that the bird buzzed my head.
It would make noise at one tree then buzz my head and move the the other then repeat the cycle. At one point, the bird came so close to my head that I could hear the wings beat and feel the breeze from them flapping. I couldn't turn my back on him because, every time I did, he would swoop in on me. I think he is mad because his mate kept making a nest under my deck and I kept tearing it down. Now I think whenever I go outside, he will swoop. I think I will need to do something to make him happy. Just don't know what.
Our Covered Deck Just Got Shadier
We love our new house and everything, but the one thing that we've always complained about Casa de Felitaciones is that the deck/backyard faces West so it gets way more sun than we like in the afternoons. There was a house behind us that we really wanted a couple of years ago (it's a really beautiful house but we liked it mostly for the East-facing yard), but we were afraid to make an offer on it. Anyway, we found our house a year later and got a really good deal on it so we were willing to compromise on the yard orientation. We figured we could always get some sun shades for the deck, which we have finally done.
I'd been wanting to get sun shades since we moved last year but hadn't found the right one until now. I found these Coolaroo sun shades in desert sand color on Amazon, which I thought would work great. They actually far exceeded my expectations. The color matches our exterior paint almost perfectly.
It blends in so well that you don't even notice it when it's retracted.
The other thing that I love about them is that they block the sun but not the light so you still get plenty of natural light. That was one of my concerns with putting some shades on the deck. I didn't want it to get dark. I can't begin to describe in words how well these shades fit my needs. They're exactly what I wanted.
The only down side is that we underestimated the height of our ceiling. I thought the six-foot length would be sufficient. When we unroll the shades, they don't quite reach the deck railing. Brian and I came up with an ingenious solution, though.
It's not the prettiest solution but it works. Basically, we extended the tie downs by using nylon cord attached to a plastic clip. The mate of the clip is attached to our deck railing. That keeps the shade from flopping around in the wind. It's a concern for us because it's pretty windy in these parts. Anyway, when we are done, we just unfasten the plastic clips and roll the shade up. One part goes up with the sun shade and the other part is permanently affixed to the railing so we don't have to mess with tying knots every time. All we have to do is fasten and unfasten the plastic clips. Mighty clever, right? I thought so.
Brian's Early Birthday Present
Brian has whined about how much he hated our mattress ever since we got it last year, so I decided to take him to Mattress Firm (it's where we've bought all of our mattresses over the last five years — well, all of them except for the one he hates) yesterday to pick his own mattress. I figured this would stop the incessant whining once and for all.
Naturally, he falls in love with one of the more expensive models. Ugh.
How can you say no to this face though? You can't. Lucky for us, they were having a Memorial Day sale. James, the sales rep who sold us our queen mattress for the guest bedroom a few months ago when the Orbases came to visit, was the same sales rep who was there yesterday. He actually remembered us. Not only that, he cut us a really good deal on our new mattress and was able to arrange for it to be delivered today.
We stripped the bed this morning before we left for church to prepare for the delivery of our new mattress. We learned our lesson the first time when Brian and I hauled the queen mattress (that we had purchased earlier this year at the same store but tried to save money by not paying for delivery) to one of the guest bedrooms in the basement. We were able to do it ourselves, but it took quite a bit of effort. I told him then that I didn't care how much they charged for delivery, I wasn't hauling a mattress myself ever again and neither was he.
Delivery was totally worth it. The guys moved our old king mattress to the basement for us so Brian and I didn't have to mess with it. They made it look so easy too.
Now we have a king mattress for Tracy and Jeff when they come to visit us later this year. It's a Sealy Posturepedic plush mattress that we had gotten from Slumberland when we purchased our bedroom furniture last year so it's not actually a bad mattress.
I didn't mind it actually. It was better than any of the other mattresses we'd ever owned except for the one in our guest bedroom on the main level, which we had bought from Mattress Firm three years ago. We had to give it up when we moved last year because it was a queen size and we upgraded to king when we moved.
Brian has never let me live that down, though. He was always quick to remind me that our guests sleep on a better mattress than we do. Well, he can't say that anymore.
Our new mattress may not be organic, but it's definitely the best mattress in our house. Oh, and by the way, what we originally thought was going to be a problem wasn't a problem at all. Yep, we already broke the new mattress in. LOL.

subset: commoncrawl


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The moose, one of Canada's most cherished and recognizable national icons, reaches its highest population density on Earth on the island of Newfoundland. Yet remarkably, the moose is not native to the island. It was introduced there by humans in the early 1900s. In less than a century, it has gained great cultural and some commercial importance - and through its habit of wandering onto highways, this mammoth and majestic creature has gained a reputation as Canada's most dangerous animal.
NOTE: For informational purposes only. Episodes are not available on line.
Can Geo POLL
Do you collect any of these common items?


text:
You may not think this could ever happen to you. But it's important to realize that none of us are above it. read more
Charisma Magazine
Page 19 of 120
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Dads, Here Is How to Store Up Genius Points
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5 Things to Do When Your Kid Isn't Making the Grade
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Do You Really Know to Whom You Are Married?
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text:
Helping allied health students at Phillips College reach their goals, the Helena Health Foundation provides financial support, urging recipients to seek employment in Phillips County following graduation and give back to the community. HHF board member Bettye Hendrix (right) is pictured with medical laboratory technology student Lagwenia Simon (left), who is an HHF Scholarship recipient at Phillips Community College.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
In the section, Inverse Kinetics in 2D of this article: http://freespace.virgin.net/hugo.elias/models/m_ik.htm
There is Vector R. How could I find this vector R? I know the length of the bone and its angle, how could I then calculate vector R in this example?
Would it simply be taking the vector of the angle and returning v.y, -v.x?


text:
St. Rose Church, 48 E. Main St., and its parishioners are selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a new Dodge Dart.
The drawing will take place Sept. 29, and tickets cost $10 each, six for $50 or 12 for $100.
A minimum of 2,500 tickets must be sold, or the raffle reverts to a 50-50 drawing. The winner need not be present. Sales tax and title are included in the prize.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.


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Welcome Fortuna InfoSolutions!
Fortuna InfoSolutions, is a software development and business consulting company. We help our customers to build intelligent solutions to help in their buisiness process and hence underpin your commercial success. We care about your success and we know that best customer service is the key to our success.With competence in different fields like Custom Applications, CRM, Banking, Finance, ERP, Quality Assurance and endless list of expertise, Fortuna InfoSolutions will make your products and proejcts a grand success.We are a small but highly experienced team of professionals who cut their teeth at leading software outfits and have come together to bring you big company thinking within a small company framework.
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Railway Recruitment Board, Mumbai RRB had issued the written test result of the various positions in pdf file. RRB Mumbai announced the Apprentice Diesel Electrical Assistant & Assistant Loco Pilot Posts Aptitude Test Result 2012. For all these positions written examination was held on 24-8-2008 and aptitude test was held on 16-3-2009 and 31-3-2009. Now Railway Recruitment Board, Mumbai invited all the successful candidates for the documents verification which will be start from the 16-4-2012 and will go up to 21-5-2012.
Our team wish best of luck to the all successful candidates. Any candidate with incomplete documents will not be hired and will be then choosen from the waiting list. Follow the below given link for the RRB Mumbai, Apprentice Diesel Electrical Assistant and Assistant Loco Pilot Posts Aptitude Test Result 2012.


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Oracle Selects Pearson VUE to Deliver MySQL Certification Exams
By Wei-Chen Chiu-Oracle on May 18, 2011
Effective June 1, 2011, MySQL certification exams will be offered exclusively through a new test delivery partner — Pearson VUE — and will no longer be available through Prometric. This will consolidate all Oracle Certification exams within the operations of a single testing vendor so we can provide better service and global testing coverage for these Oracle certification exams. Pearson VUE currently has over 5,000 test centers worldwide in 165 countries.
To help prepare you for this transition, here are some important dates for you to be aware of:
To help prepare you for this transition, here are some important dates for you to be aware of:
- If you are currently following a certification path and are planning to take an exam on/after June 1: Registration has began at Pearson VUE on May 16, 2011 for all scheduled exams on or after June 1. Visit pearsonvue.com/oracle to create a new web account and get started.
- If you are currently registered to take an exam with Prometric or planning to take an exam before June 1: You can continue to register at Prometric through May 23, 2011 (walk-in registrations will be permitted through May 31, 2011), but you must complete your exam by May 31, 2011.
- If you currently have a Sun or Oracle exam voucher or exam retake voucher: All vouchers will still be valid through their original expiration date and are redeemable with Pearson VUE starting on May 16, 2011.


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Google has consistently had a goal of increasing the speed of broadband and lowering the costs, presumably so its cloud and over-the-top products are more usable. They've famously been readying a FTTH access network in Kansas City. This development, especially the pricing they've announced, has caused trepidation and fear in the hearts of service providers. At $70.00 per month for Gigabit access the offering is substantially less than any offering from competitors in Kansas City or anywhere else in the US. However, a recent Forbes article cites the actual cost of installs, as well as time it takes to build, as reasons to question exactly why Google is taking the step of becoming a broadband provider. Clearly it takes a substantial amount of time to deploy any kind of wired broadband, and FTTH is often more difficult than other alternatives because fiber splicing is a less common skill than copper termination–whether on coax or twisted pair wiring.
Google could certainly have its sights set on becoming a large or even dominant service provider. If its pricing is sustainable then incumbent providers will be in for a very difficult time, since Google's approach attacks the most profitable part of their offering. Its an open secret in the industry that cable operators and telcos offering video don't make much (if any) profits on their video offerings. This is because modern headend infrastructure is prohibitively expensive, and the content providers (ESPN, TBS, FX, etc.) charge per video subscriber without regard to who watches their channel(s). Google's video offering is largely in line with other service providers in terms of pricing and line up, demonstrating that even Google can't dictate terms to the content providers. The difference between Google's offering is the large jump in synchronous speed and the low cost of the broadband access. If Google expands their Gigabit service, the pricing will force competitors to drastically lower their per-sub revenue to compete, not to mention the increase in costs if they want to come close to matching the speed. So, from that standpoint it looks like Google has a winning product strategy, but taking that product into other markets will take a very long time. The Kansas City network has been in planning and deployment since the announcement last year, and getting a substantial number of homes and businesses connected will take much longer.
Given that Google's overarching goal is increasing broadband speed while decreasing costs, we have to ask if the best way to accomplish that is for Google to become a service provider in multiple markets. Certainly from a rate of change perspective it may not be the "right" approach. Service providers in Kansas City haven't yet made pricing/speed changes there, and we wouldn't expect providers in other cities to do anything now. This means for Google to substantially change the broadband market by becoming a service provider they would need to both build out in many more cities, plus get a significant percentage of the broadband subscribers in those cities before other operators really adjust their pricing. While Google is now set to wire most of Kansas City, they may not see a significant base of subscribers until well into 2013. I suspect they may be looking at other methods to effect widespread change.
So, what else could Google do? We probably need to understand how Google reduced their cost to provide broadband service. They did it by attacking the only portion that's really affected by Moore's Law. Patrick Pichette invoked Moore's Law during a presentation introducing Google's Fiber product, but few people seem to have grasped why this is really important. It tells how Google is thinking about broadband. They understand that they aren't going to revolutionize how home installs are done or significantly change the economics of pulling fiber. What they can attack with Moore's Law are access equipment costs. Google took the approach of designing their own CPE (in home) and aggregation gear (what's in the Fiber Huts). This choice allows Google not only to dramatically lower the cost of their gear, it also allows them to choose what to include and exclude.
Today the vast majority of broadband providers purchase their aggregation from companies like Cisco, Motorola, Alcatel, Arris, and Calix, and all of them are looking to make a profit. These same companies also often make the gear (whether cable, DSL, or FTTH) that goes in the customers' home. It's even more interesting that Google, who purchased Motorola for the mobile division, shows no desire to keep the division that makes access and CPE gear. If rumors are to be believed, Google is in the process of shopping the CMTS, set-top-box, and other cable gear unit. If Google were interested in being an equipment manufacturer, I would expect them to keep that division and expand it into FTTH gear.
Google has been a master at disrupting markets, and I think they're poised to do so again. Since Google doesn't seem to want to make equipment for broadband providers, but they do want to dramatically lower the cost, they can take a similar path as they did with Android in the smartphone space. In fact, for set top boxes and some other CPE gear they can probably use Android itself, but it's not really suitable for a high speed network OS (operating system). Google clearly has an OS on their aggregation gear. Whether it's built from Android or a more stripped down Linux kernel doesn't really matter, because they own it and can open-source it easily. By open-sourcing the networking OS and releasing reference designs, Google can provide the same sort of supply chain that Nvidia and AMD (ATI) do with video cards–with Google providing the design and software and other companies doing the manufacturing and distribution.
This would open up competition and dramatically lower costs in an area of networking that is dominated by a small number of players. What's more, Google could do this in less than a year and help unleash a plethora of alternative, fiber-based broadband providers. This seems to be the only fast method to accomplish their goal of reducing the cost of truly high speed broadband, and if I am correct, then it's not service providers that need to be concerned, but rather the equipment manufacturers that sell to them. Google had to become a service provider so they could understand the problems and find solutions.


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Friday night All That Remains brought their headlining run to Pontiac at the Crofoot, which included performances from Saint Ridley, Soil, and Motionless In White.
The night of rock was almost as much fun for the people watching it inspired as the different bands all draw very different fan bases.
Detroit's own Saint Ridley opened the show with a short set of heavy metal that kick-started the crowd.
Soil was up next and are touring behind their August release Whole, which is their first release since original vocalist Ryan McCombs re-joined the band.
Their set list on Friday had a number of new songs from the album including hard-hitting opener "Loaded Gun".
Soil closed the set with McCombs heading into the crowd to perform their hit, "Halo" as they moshed around him.
Metalcore band Motionless In White were up next and were met with an enthusiastic response from those who had come just to see them and a bit of confusion from those there primarily to see All That Remains.
Their goth-drenched lyrics and appearances may have thrown off a few but eventually they began to win over a lot of the crowd who formed the evening's largest mosh pit.
Motionless In White's set was highlighted by a hard-hitting cover of Danzig's "Mother" and a fantastic live version of hit "A-M-E-R-I-C-A".
All That Remains hit the stage with a bang and closed out the evening on a high note in spite of the fact that lead vocalist, Phil Labonte, was extremely sick.
They kicked things off with a pair of songs from their latest album A War You Cannot Win: "Down Through the Ages" and their hit single "Stand Up".
Scattered throughout the set was a mix of the band's biggest hits including "This Calling", "Six" and "Hold On".
The band slowed things down with their first ballad "What If I Was Nothing?" but finished on a heavy note with "Two Weeks".


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1 The Issue
The advent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has created a number of problems for our state that did not exist prior to that legislation, in addition to exacerbating most, if not all of the existing issues faced by Nebraskans.
We long ago decided as a society to care for those who could not care for themselves. This deference to the needs of the vulnerable is a hallmark of our social contract and has been a driver of public policy for more than a century. It is the foundation of our entire social services system.
For more than a century the issue hasn't been "should we," but rather "how can we" best utilize taxpayer dollars to ensure an acceptable level of care for this population. The problem however, is in defining this population and determining the meaning of "acceptable" as it relates to our responsibilities under our social contract.
The argument over the ACA will not be resolved by what we do here, in the Unicameral, but we will determine the direction our state will take for the next decade or two, and that decision will be among the most consequential choices ever made in our state. We cannot fail to choose wisely.
The proponents of LB887 say their bill will:
Cover the uninsured
Control the rising costs of health care in Nebraska
Resolve issues of access to Primary and Specialty care in underserved areas
Provide assistance to the Medical community in areas of workforce development
The cost of health insurance is driven by multiple factors, not the least of which is government mandates for care, coverage or reporting. LB887 relieves none of these pressures, but instead increases each exponentially.
The number of uninsured in Nebraska is in some dispute, and the fluidity of employment options, economic conditions and income dynamics make certain that the true number will always be a moving target. That being said, the most common figure cited is roughly 100,000.
This number is made up of the Medicaid newly eligible under Expansion plans from the ACA, in addition to those individuals who are currently eligible for Medicaid, but are not enrolled for some reason.
It is this eligible, but unenrolled population that remains unaddressed in LB887. It is essential to remember that the much touted federal reimbursement rate for Medicaid expansion under the ACA (100% stepping down to 90%) only applies to the newly eligible population.
Those currently eligible but not yet enrolled will be reimbursed at the current Medicaid match rate, although the state will still be mandated to provide coverage for them at the level provided the newly eligible, which LB887 has set at "Silver plan or equivalent." This clearly is an unfunded and unaffordable mandate.
Between 20% - 38% of the uninsured in Nebraska will not be covered at the 100% rate. Calculated on the low end, this still represents an increase in state expenditures that is roughly equivalent to the existing annual budget for road and bridge maintenance for the entire State of Nebraska.
These estimates also assume that participation rates will be lower than 74%. Data from states who have expanded Medicaid already indicate that the level of participation is indeed much higher.
To put it succinctly, all the reasons for opposing last year's Medicaid Expansion bill (LB577) remain applicable to this year's attempt, in addition to a great many more specific to LB887.
Included in this paper is a position statement from Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom outlining their opposition, and their reasons for it, as well as a copy of the recent report on LB887 from the Platte Institute. It isn't necessary to recap the specifics of their findings in this report, as the findings themselves are attached for your review. It is important to understand the overall climate to which their analyses apply, and that is the purpose of this paper.
The egregious overreach of the ACA has broken down many long-held and respected barriers to bureaucratic intrusion into the lives of individual citizens. Because the ACA involves the use of tax dollars to such an unprecedented extent, policy-makers have taken the tack that they must exercise greater control over the practice and system of medicine in order to satisfy their obligations of good stewardship of public funds. To this end, their ideas have ranged from mild "nanny-state" incrementalism to full-blown advocacy of single-payer socialized medicine.
LB887 and its preparatory legislation, LB916, cannot be fully understood, nor their ultimate impact assessed without an appraisal of their provisions in context of Legislative Resolution 422, which is a plan structure for the "transformation" of health care in Nebraska. An examination of the clear language in LR422 pulls the curtain back from the wizard, exposing the stunning overreach of LB887. To begin however, let's examine the "infrastructure" bill, LB916.
This bill is enabling legislation for LB887 in that it creates a shift in health care staffing and delivery systems that is necessary for LB887 to function, at least on paper. LB887 requires the large-scale implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home model of health care delivery, and the utilization of lower to mid-level health care workers as the first (and often only) point of contact between patient and their Medical Home is the means by which costs are controlled and access increased.
Rather than a patient presenting with symptoms to a physician, they are instead shuttled to a Nurse Practitioner who costs far less per visit than a licensed physician. Unfortunately, they also possess far less training and if LB916 is passed in present form, even less actual experience.
Nurse Practitioners have an educational path that involves a 4 year degree in Nursing followed by at least 2 years in an advanced Masters-level course of work. Contrast this with the Bachelor – Medical School – Residency path of the physician and the gap becomes more evident.
The essential difference however isn't just time in school, because a Nurse Practitioner can opt for more schooling; the issue is what is studied, and how it is applied. The Nurse Practitioner uses tick-box formulae for diagnoses and treatment. If patient presents with "A", then proceed to "B."
LB916 attempts to streamline the process by which Nurse Practitioners enter the day to day operations of our health care system. It does this by eliminating a rather important credentialing requirement – two thousand hours of work under the direct supervision of an MD. This means that a Nurse Practitioner fresh from school could begin seeing patients almost immediately.
The bill also allows for the Nurse Practitioner to operate without the supervision of an MD. This recklessly endangers the health of anyone presenting with atypical symptoms not covered in the school setting. Atypical symptoms that a physician is trained to understand.
This in itself is concerning, but becomes unacceptably so when taken in light of the role Nurse Practitioners are expected to play under the "transformation" promised by LR422 and implemented by LB887. Lacking the actual patient care experience a physician gains in Medical School and Residency leaves the Nurse Practitioner ill-prepared for the responsibility LB916 lays upon them.
Under the PCMH model, and as envisioned in LB887, Nurse Practitioners will fill the roles currently held by physicians themselves. They will see patients, make diagnoses and craft treatment plans. They will even be permitted to dispense pharmaceuticals, as long as those drugs are on hand in sample form.
So why would the proponents of Medicaid Expansion want to dilute the credentialing requirements for Nurse Practitioners while simultaneously elevating their role to a near equivalence with a physician? To grasp the significance, it is necessary to understand the PCMH model.
3 Patient Centered Medical Homes
At first blush, the principles behind the PCMH model appear sound and perhaps even intuitive. As with many things, all is not as it seems. The savings relied upon in LB887 come from the expected benefits of preventive measures and screening that form a large part of the PCMH concept. However, these savings are at best ephemeral due to economies of scale (screening an individual with risk factors may bear fruit, but screening an entire population simply wastes money) and in most cases unattainable due to the inherently individual nature of medical care.
The idea is, prevent the disease and consequently lower the cost of treating the disease later. Care coordination intends to eliminate duplication of medical testing and unnecessary procedures by centrally directing the care of a patient among their primary provider and any assorted specialists or therapists involved in the patients care.
While some duplicative tests are undoubtedly performed, eliminating those is hardly enough to move the needle on rising health care costs. A far greater expense is incurred because of physicians practicing "defensive medicine," due to an overly litigious society.
In order to protect themselves from becoming the target of an enterprising young attorney, physicians are ordering tests beyond the realm of sensibility in an attempt to create a "safe harbor" against opportunistic lawsuits. LB887, LB916 and the PCMH model do nothing to alleviate this significant driver of increasing costs.
While it is likely possible that care coordination might result in less duplication, those efficiencies come at the price of a bureaucrat's intervention between a patient and their physician. Treatments and decisions are continually second-guessed, which leads to needless delay and frequent denial of care.
More importantly however, all this bureaucratic heavy-handedness fails to exert any downward pressure at all on the far larger cost of the above-mentioned preventive care, upon which LB887 relies for success.
Expenditures for the preventive elements of care, such as labs for screening, prescription drugs and primary care visits for the covered populations, increase by as much or more, than the costs of treating the individual chronic diseases themselves.
The definitive review of the PCMH concept was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (a publication of the American College of Physicians, themselves proponents of PCMH) where they discovered that there was "no evidence" of cost savings from the PCMH model, and more significantly, evidence for improved health outcomes ranged from "negative to inconclusive."
The lesson learned, is that preventive care costs money too, and since it is applied to all patients, it overwhelms the savings expected from installing the PCMH model in the first place. One of the largest "coordinated care" companies in the world is Quantum Health, Inc. Independent studies of their performance data confirm this finding.
The physicians end up seeing more patients for less money, Nurse Practitioners become gatekeepers to medical care while the patients themselves have an army of do-gooders nosing into their personal lives searching for "disease metrics" and "risk factors" so they can swoop in and "educate" them on how to eat properly or to exercise more.
Physicians will simply quit accepting Medicaid patients. A recent poll conducted by the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) found that 60% of the docs surveyed planned to drop Medicaid and Medicare recipients rather than work under the onerous rules involved in the PCMH model.
It is this expected exodus of talent that creates the need for LB916's exaltation of Nurse Practitioners, to take the place of physicians. Wouldn't it be wiser public policy to not force the physicians out in the first place?
Truly, the only people happy with the plan are those major insurers and hospital groups, the army of Wellness Vendors (often owned and operated by the insurance companies themselves) and the IT vendors who all grow wealthy by make the whole ball of wax grow. Medicine becomes an entirely industrial, corporate affair.
Furthermore, because the PCMH model advocated under LB887 intends to replace our current fee-for-service system with a version of pay-for-performance, the physicians involved won't be paid in full unless they can prove their patients are getting better.
Here's what that looks like: Medicaid tells the doctor that they will pay him a percentage of his usual fee at time of service, and the remainder only after he shows that the patient has met benchmarks of health as determined by the assorted bureaucrats.
In simple terms, the physicians pay becomes based on whether or not the obese patient begins pushing himself away from the table sooner, or the chronically ill patient remembers to take their medications as prescribed.
Clearly these things are beyond a physician's control – absent an unacceptable level of intrusion into the personal lives of his patients – or the more egregious involvement of the aforementioned army of do-gooders enforcing the doctor's orders. Neither scenario is compatible with the rights of a free society in our great state.
Last year's bill to expand Medicaid was a disaster that fortunately failed. This year's attempt is a colossal disaster. LB887 will not only expand Medicaid unsustainably under the rubric of ObamaCare, but also engages in reckless government overreach by attempting to fundamentally transform the way medicine can be practiced in our state.
This top-down, authoritarian model of medicine is already a proven failure, faddish and needlessly invasive to individual privacy and lifestyle choice.
It is this overarching need to "do more with much less" that is behind LB916 and its reckless reliance on lower paid, inadequately trained medical staff to do the work of physicians. In the end, the patient receives substandard care, but the numbers look good on paper. LB916 and its parent, LB887 are by no means "the Nebraska way."
4 "Wellness in Nebraska"
Healthcare paid for by the government comes with a responsibility to ensure efficient use of tax dollars and reasonable expectations of satisfactory performance. Representatives and government employees feel this responsibility keenly and for the most part have worked very hard to get the taxpayer the best "bang-for-the-buck."
We have an excellent example of just such an attempt from right here in our state. The Wellness Options program for state employees has been given numerous awards, cites eye-popping savings and is given the imprimatur of Warren Buffett's own Wellness Council of America (WELCOA).
This program has been credited with saving 4.2 million dollars for the state, accounting for a 40% increase in disease diagnoses among the 5199 screened employees, making "life-saving, cost-saving catches" of 514 people with "early-stage cancer," and generating a 3% reduction in both risk and prescriptions written.
While this sounds like stellar performance, a careful look at the data shows otherwise. Alfred Lewis, a Harvard trained statistician and acclaimed expert in Disease management discovered that each of these claims range from false to outrageously false.
The above claims were made in a report by the state's wellness vendor, Health Fitness Corporation as part of their submission of data to WELCOA for consideration for the C. Everett Koop Award. Mr. Lewis examined each of the claims using the data provided by HFC.
He discovered that the 40% increase in diagnoses were made up largely of "risk factors," such as sedentary lifestyle or dietary no-no's such as too much red meat. These were not instances of discovering undiagnosed diabetes or hypertension and the like. This is borne out by the fact that none of the 40% cited received any medical intervention whatsoever as a result.
No prescriptions, no procedures, nothing. In fact HFC's own data shows that this 40% didn't even reduce their risk factors. Only 3% did so, equating to roughly 161 people.
This very low number is put in greater context when you consider that it was calculated against on-going participants, as those who had dropped out, or never participated in the first place weren't counted. In essence, we are to believe that millions of dollars were saved by 161 people, a statistical impossibility.
But what of the "life-saving" discoveries of "early-stage cancers?" Catching cancer early is the key to better treatment outcomes, and ultimately lower costs, right? Again, look at the numbers and how they were calculated.
Assume for arguments sake that the 514 claim is true, (it is not). This incidence rate of cancer among Nebraska State employees would be 40 times higher than the residents of Love Canal. As Mr. Lewis puts it, "unless Nebraska's statehouse sits on top of a toxic waste dump, such an incidence of cancer is obvious nonsense."
In reality, HFC counted as "early-stage cancer" every benign polyp, cyst or skin lesion regardless of type, claiming that they were in fact "pre-cancerous." Later, after they were caught in the lie, the company said the need to emphasize wellness as a success outweighed the need to tell the truth.
This is a common happenstance among the Wellness industry, where inflated numbers and junk science are routinely employed to sell programs that simply don't deliver what they promise. This is what LR422 and LB887's "transformation of the health care system of Nebraska" looks like.
The PCMH model relies largely on Wellness and prevention for its savings. As we have seen, those savings don't exist. Furthermore, careful examination of other state's forays into PCMH and Wellness show increased costs in many cases and not a single instance of success that stands up to the scrutiny of fifth-grade math.
The circumstance we face now however is dramatically altered in scale and scope. The ACA has so distorted the medical and insurance landscape that it is difficult, if not impossible to fulfill the responsibility to the taxpayer while respecting constitutional norms of individual privacy and liberty. The ACA requires government to overstep their bounds as a matter of course.
Unfortunately, more than a few Senators in our Unicameral appear to be of the opinion that their desire to effect the "transformation of Nebraska's health care system" overrides the Constitutional right of the people to be let alone. Consequently, we have the Wellness in Nebraska Act, which, when combined with the clear language of LR422, is nothing short of the full embrace of ObamaCare in Nebraska.
The ACA as a law is in trouble. The launch has failed spectacularly, and the public is gaining awareness of the acute loss of individual choices and rights that attend the implementation of the law. Even some lawmakers involved in the passing of the original bill are having second thoughts due to the incredible disconnect between the ACA as promised and the ACA as delivered.
The outlook for the law's future is uncertain, and is made more so by the repeated usurpations of authority by our chief executive, President Obama. His unilateral modifications to the clear language of the law have eliminated any credible reliance on the letter of the law as a guide for policy.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the President's extra-constitutional behavior – modifying existing legislation without Congressional action – is the very definition of "making it up as you go along." The present degraded state of the ACA has rendered that law, under this administration, entirely unsuitable for de jure or de facto policy-making at the State level.
Anything we do at this point is subject to the whim of the President and his staff. Most Nebraskans would agree that reliance on a whim is a singularly unwise way to make law. The Wellness in Nebraska Act relies entirely on the ACA remaining whole and unchanged in its present form, and given the recent actions of the Obama Administration, that is a near impossibility.
It is fair to examine the motivations behind the proponents of both bills. From the standpoint of the insurance companies and major hospital and medical groups, support is an economic issue. There will be money coming in to the state, and these are the entities that will receive it. Given the relatively limited number of providers sufficiently staffed and capitalized to implement the PCMH model in Nebraska, that wealth effect is greatly magnified by the scarcity of competition.
From the standpoint of the legislators, there is power. LR422 envisions an oversight committee with power to not only observe and report, but also to direct and operate the mechanisms of state government toward the aforementioned transformation of medical care in Nebraska.
In LB887 this "star-chamber" finds its voice. The bill vests a tremendous amount of power in a new nine member oversight committee that not coincidentally, is to be headed up by the bill's sponsor, Senator Kathy Campbell. It will then add two more members from the HHS committee along with others drawn from Appropriations, Banking, Commerce and Insurance and two at large members.
Of course, by choosing to limit the available pool of appointees to these committees, the bill makes certain that each of its co-sponsors will be in line to sit on the Oversight Committee itself.
All are appointed by the Executive Board of the Legislative Council, a panel on which we find once again, Senator Campbell, and another member of the HHS committee, Senator Bob Krist.
All told, the Executive Board has a clear majority of members who supported last year's attempt to expand Medicaid. Given that bit of information, I think it is fair for Nebraskans to be concerned that "diversity of opinion" will not be a prerequisite for appointment to that committee.
This bill further provides for the committee to hire its own "consultant" and to put together an unlimited number of work groups and stakeholder organizations to assist in the furtherance of its duties. In other words, on top of everything, the taxpayer also gets to pay for the oversight committee's lobbying efforts.
LR422 has something of an Orwellian provision that calls for the Oversight Committee to be the sole determiner of what information and data will be considered by the committee, and presumably, by the downstream agencies of government responsible for implementation of the committees "recommendations."
It isn't enough to snatch control of health care from the private sector – the oversight committee demands the installation of an echo-chamber as well.
Ultimately, it is the vulnerable populations Medicaid was intended to serve that suffer, as fewer physicians are willing to navigate the labyrinthine regulations, restrictions and bureaucracy involved in the Medical Home concept, and simply refuse to participate.
This has occurred again and again in states that have adopted this model. Nurse Practitioners are not physicians. They are quite useful in their present role as valued members of the physician's staff. They are not however, a substitute for the physician, and passing a law that says they are is only an invitation to failure. We have a difficult journey ahead of us in Nebraska already, and LB 887 makes the road impassable.
Now that we see the building blocks of our Patient Centered Medical Home, it is prudent to consider what purposes such a building might serve. The answer to that is found in the next section.
5 Legislative Resolution 422
Both LB887 and LB916 must be considered in the context of LR422. It is always popular to declare a devotion to excellence as a motive for any initiative, and much of what is done by government is undertaken under these auspices. The question that must always be asked however, is how do we define said "excellence," how do we measure said "excellence," and finally, who does the measuring.
LR422 sets out a premise that is at once appealing and terrifying. It attempts to establish a crisis circumstance, then proposes to rectify that crisis with an unadulterated takeover of the healthcare system of Nebraska. It is the adoption into Nebraska law of ObamaCare, in its entirety.
From LR422 -
WHEREAS, successful transformation of Nebraska's health care system is essential to the state's economic well-being; and
WHEREAS, health care reform requires the transformation of health care delivery into a patient-centric, high-value enterprise; (emphasis mine)
LB887 and LB916 aren't just about increasing access and providing coverage, LR422 makes it clear in plain language that we are to engage in a "transformation." Given the catastrophic state of "transformation" of health care on the federal level one could be forgiven for an excess of caution at the state level.
Continuing from LR422 -
WHEREAS, state government must provide clear leadership for health care system transformation efforts that results in transparency, trust, and full participation from all partner stakeholders; and
WHEREAS, as a result of Legislative Resolution 22 (LR22) passed during the One Hundred Third Legislature, First Session, the Health and Human Services Committee, in conjunction with the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee, held a conference on health care in Nebraska attended by 167 stakeholders from across the state; and
WHEREAS, the LR22 stakeholders' conference examined what the Nebraska health care system should look like in fifteen years and what opportunities and challenges Nebraska patients, providers, and payers will face during the period of change over the next fifteen years. This examination resulted in dialogue on population health, personal health, health care worker education and care processes, and delivery of health care and health care costs in Nebraska; and
WHEREAS, LR22 initiated the discussion, but there is opportunity for continued partnership and leadership by the Legislature in the development of a vision for transformation of the Nebraska health care system.
That vision is outlined and visible in LB916 & LB887. If that vision looks familiar, it is because we've seen it before – it is ObamaCare.
As elected members of government, it is prudent for you to consider the mood of the electorate before plunging ahead with controversial initiatives. Recent polling in Nebraska shows an undeniable distaste for the ACA. Nationally, a clear majority wish it had never been passed, and locally the opposition to it is bipartisan in nature.
LR422, LB916 and LB887 are ObamaCare. They are an attempt to install in our state the provisions of a law that is despised, unworkable and crumbling as we speak. A vote in furtherance of any of these bills is a vote to enact ObamaCare in Nebraska, and will be seen as such by voters. A desire to maintain electoral viability for future office would preclude support of these bills.
The PCMH model relies upon savings that aren't there. The end result of attempting to implement it large-scale will be nothing short of make-work medicine. Lots of access points, delivering substandard care, making those involved feel useful, but not moving the needle on health outcomes or cost savings.
Considering that expanding coverage and cutting costs are the reasons given for introducing these bills in the first place, failing to accomplish these aims is evidence that the whole enterprise is fatally flawed and ultimately damaging. LB887 is Medicaid for the able-bodied, which is an inappropriate use of those funds.
We can solve the problems facing our state without embracing lower standards in return for greater access. Once again, the sponsors and co-sponsors of Medicaid Expansion have wasted the time of Nebraskans by pursuing a fantasy rather than solving a problem. ObamaCare on any scale is a failure. To embrace its principles and codify them in Nebraska law is truly legislative malpractice.
We urge the Senators of the Unicameral to reject these bills in their entirety.


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- About Fiduciary Trust
- Our Capabilities
- News and Insights
January 18 Conference Call Replay Now AvailableJanuary 2012
Our Market Outlook Client Conference Call was held January 18, 2012 with Mackin Pulsifer, Chief Investment Officer, and Ronald Sanchez, Director of Fixed Income Strategies. Mackin and Ron discussed the seesaw behavior of the markets and shared their outlook for equities and fixed income for 2012.
As always, we welcome any feedback or questions that you might have. Please feel free to reach out to your Fiduciary Trust contact or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Mackin Pulsifer
Vice Chairman and
Chief Investment Officer
Ronald Sanchez, CFA
Director of Fixed Income Strategies
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Have an old laptop with Windows XP Pro and a new one with Linux Mint 13 LTS.
I want to transfer my personal files from the old machine to the new one. Firstly I thought using crossover cable but I don't have one and instead of this I have two drive bays on the old machine. So, I can mount the HDD from the new laptop to the old one and just copy the files from one HDD to another. (On the new laptop I'm using an SSD for the OS, so the HDD has just two partitions - one for swap and one for data storage.)
The problem is that the HDD from the new laptop is formatted as
ext4 and I'm not sure whether I could write to it from Windows XP.
Any ideas if it would work?


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College Hockey:Graham has goal, assist as Ferris State sweeps Michigan State
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — Another big night from Ferris State's power play unit helped the Bulldogs earn their first weekend sweep of Michigan State since 1990 with a 4-3 win Saturday night.
"It's big for the school, big for the community to bring in a Big 10 team and sweep them," said FSU forward Derek Graham. "The crowd was rocking there at the end. That was the loudest I've ever heard this building."
The No. 10 Bulldogs posted two power-play goals in nine chances in their victory over the No. 16 Spartans.
"You go through streaks," said Ferris State coach Bob Daniels. "Everything starts to click and your confidence grows."
Michigan State looked to be in control of the game early when it opened the scoring just four minutes into the contest. Mike Merrifield was thinking shot the whole way with a two-on-one opportunity and made no mistake in burying a wrist shot behind Taylor Nelson.
Ferris State came back just two minutes later with its first power-play goal of the night after a failed clearing attempt by the Michigan State defense. Jason Binkley and Kyle Bonis worked the puck down low to Graham for the tying goal.
"Bonis made a pass to me for the goal and Travis Ouellette was in front of their net causing havoc," said Graham.
The goal, along with an assist on the game-winning goal extended Graham's point streak to six games.
Then, late in the period, Ferris State took the lead with a goal by Cory Kane on a shot that hit the post and then ricocheted off Spartan netminder Drew Palmisano and into the goal.
A deflection by Jordie Johnston gave Ferris State a two-goal lead with 17 minutes to play in the second period.
However, Michigan State wasn't done yet.
The Spartans tied the game in the waning minutes of the frame on goals by Brent Darnell and Greg Wolfe.
"We were pretty down after surrendering that 3-1 lead," said Daniels.
Ouellette netted the game-winning goal early in the third period with a shot that Palmisano had no chance of saving following a quick pass from Graham.
With the crowd back in the game, the Bulldogs held on to preserve the victory despite great opportunities for Michigan State down the stretch, including a redirection attempt by Lee Reimer in the contest's final moments.
"There's a reason they haven't hardly lost in this building," said Michigan State coach Tom Anastos. "I thought tonight's overall effort was better than last night's. We made some critical mistakes that you can't make in a game, especially on the road, and we couldn't overcome them."
Next week, Ferris State (17-8-3, 11-6-3-1 CCHA) makes the trip to Marquette for a two-game CCHA series with Northern Michigan, while Michigan State (13-11-4, 8-9-3-2 CCHA) heads to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-game series with Ohio State.
The following is a self-policing forum for discussing views on this story. Comments that are derogatory, make personal attacks, are abusive, or contain profanity or racism will be removed at our discretion. USCHO.com is not responsible for comments posted by users. Please report any inappropriate or offensive comments by clicking the "Flag" link next to that comment in order to alert the moderator.
Please also keep "woofing," taunting, and otherwise unsportsmanlike behavior to a minimum. Your posts will more than likely be deleted, and worse yet, you reflect badly on yourself, your favorite team and your conference.


text: Syd Nathan was an old-school music-business entrepreneur who launched the careers of James Brown, Hank Ballard and other R&B greats on his King Records label and its affiliates. A frustrated musician who yearned to be a jazz drummer, he instead transformed the musical landscape with his King Records Company. He went from owning a record store in downtown Cincinnati in the late Thirties to launching his own recording studio and label in the Forties. Over the next quarter century, King, Federal, DeLuxe and other Nathan-owned labels issued nearly 500 hit singles in a cross-section of genres. Sydney Nathan was born ...full bio


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Oct. 13, 2010
Weekly Release (PDF) | Listen Live
2010 Media Guide (Viewable) | 2010 Media Guide (PDF)
LOS ANGELES - The No. 3 UCLA men's water polo team takes on No. 4 Stanford on Friday night and faces Chapman on Sunday afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Center. The Bruins look to improve upon their 1-1 MPSF record when they face conference foe Stanford under the lights Friday.
Friday, October 15 - 7 p.m.
No. 4 Stanford (7-4, 1-0) at No. 3 UCLA (9-3, 1-1)
at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center
Sunday, October 17 - 12 p.m.
Chapman (8-8) at No. 3 UCLA (9-3)
at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center
Fans unable to attend Friday's game against Stanford can tune in online, listening to a live audio broadcast at uclabruins.com. UCLA's John Ramey and Mike Sondheimer will have the call from the pool deck at Spieker Aquatics Center at 6:55 p.m.
Tickets to Friday's MPSF match between UCLA and Stanford will cost $7 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 15 and under). UCLA students can earn free admission by presenting their BruinCard at the gate. Sunday's game versus Chapman is free to the public.
UCLA went 1-1 in its weekend trip to the Bay Area, dropping an 11-8 decision at California on Saturday before rebounding with a 10-9 victory at Pacific on Sunday. Junior Cullen Hennessy led the Bruins over the weekend with three goals - two at California and one at Pacific. With Sunday's road win against Pacific, the Bruins pushed their overall record to 9-3 and evened their conference mark at 1-1.
Following UCLA's trip north last weekend, the Bruins have played more than half their regular-season matches. UCLA will play each of their next six matches at home in a 17-day span. Following this weekend's games against Stanford and Chapman, UCLA will host an MPSF match versus UC Irvine on Saturday, Oct. 23, a non-conference doubleheader against UC San Diego and Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, Oct. 30, and an MPSF match against Long Beach State on Sunday, Oct. 31.
Senior Ben Hohl leads UCLA with 22 goals and is tied for sixth place among MPSF players with 2.00 goals per game. He has scored in 10 of 11 games played, totaling at least two goals in seven matches. Hohl has netted four goals in six career games, including two contests this fall. The native of Atherton, Calif., has scored 122 career goals, currently standing four shy of breaking into UCLA's all-time top-10 goals scored list. Former standout Corbin Graham (1993-96) ranks 10th with 126 career goals.
Three of UCLA's top seven scorers hail from the team's sophomore class. A trio of true sophomores have each scored eight goals or more through the Bruins' first 12 matches. Josh Samuels ranks third on the team with 15 goals, Griffin White is fourth with 13 goals and Bret Lathrope has registered eight goals. Samuels has tallied five multiple-goal efforts, including one four-goal performance against Pacific and consecutive three-goal games (vs. USC on Sept. 19, vs. Loyola Marymount on Sept. 25).
Freshman Cristiano Mirarchi scored eight goals and sophomore Josh Samuels added seven to lead UCLA to a second-place finish at the SoCal Tournament, hosted by the Bruins on Oct. 2-3. UCLA opened the tournament defeating Princeton, 13-2, in the first round and advanced to the semifinals with a 13-11 win over Pacific. The Bruins raced to a 4-0 lead against UC Irvine in a semifinal match and never looked back, winning 8-6. In the championship match, UCLA fell to crosstown rival USC, 9-8.
Junior Andrew Mesesan have recorded 46 saves, while freshman James Hartshorne has logged 44 stops. Hartshorne enters the weekend having posted a 7.00 goals against average, surrendering 28 goals in four starts. Mesesan has logged a 8.48 goals against average, allowing 53 goals in eight matches (five starts). Through games played Oct. 10, Hartshorne leads the MPSF with 11.0 saves per game.
Senior Ben Hohl tallied a team-leading nine goals in UCLA's four NorCal Tournament games at California (Sept. 18-19). Hohl led the way with four goals against Pacific in a second-round match, added two in a 10-9 semifinal victory over Stanford and scored two more in an 11-10 loss in the title match against USC. UCLA finished second to the Trojans at the NorCal Tournament for the second straight season.
Seniors Ben Hohl and Jacob Murphy spent a portion of their offseason playing for the USA National Team in Europe. Hohl and Murphy both competed for Team USA at the Volvo Cup in Germany. Hohl continued his stint with the National Team during the summer, playing alongside veteran Team USA attacker Adam Wright (UCLA's second-year head coach). Hohl and Wright helped Team USA finish fourth at the annual FINA World Championships (Oradea, Romania).
Three players on the Bruins' 2010 roster arrive at UCLA after having grown up outside the United States. Senior Emilio Vieira hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and spent two years studying at Golden West College (Huntington Beach, Calif.) before enrolling at UCLA in 2009. Freshmen Aimone Barabino and Cristiano Mirarchi call Italy home. Barabino, from Recco, Italy, spent the 2009-10 school year in New York City, attending La Scuola d'Italia, while Mirarchi attended high school in his hometown of Rome.
As released by the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) on Oct. 13, UCLA has been tabbed No. 3 in the national top-20 rankings. USC is ranked No. 1 in this week's poll, California is No. 2, and Stanford and UC Irvine have been slotted No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, Long Beach State, UC San Diego and Loyola Marymount round out the top 10 selections, respectively.
Adam Wright is midway through his second year as UCLA's head coach. The four-year Bruin letterwinner (1997-2000) and a 2001 graduate of UCLA helped lead the Bruins to a 23-7 record and MPSF Tournament title in his first season as the program's head coach (2009). Wright represented the United States on the men's national team at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, leading Team USA to the silver medal in 2008.


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New film project acquired by WWE
Sep 17, 2011 - by Steve Gerweck
WWE Studios has acquired U.S. distribution rights to "The Day", according to a report on Deadline. The film is a post apocalyptic thriller that played at the Toronto film festival, that follows five survivors over a 24 hour period.
(source: Wrestling Globe Newsletter)


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From the Arctic Circle to the rainforest in a matter of moments. Botanical gardens in Germany feature a dazzling variety of plantlife. And you don't have to know about architecture to appreciate the monumental greenhouses.
This green gem in the German capital is more than 300 years old. Covering an area of 43 hectares, it is one of the world's largest and most important botanical gardens. There are 22,000 species of plants for visitors to discover in these captivating, listed gardens.
On around 22 hectares of land, the Palmengarten botanical gardens display a range of interesting and beautiful plants. Almost every kind of exotic flora growing around the world can be found here, right in the middle of Frankfurt.
Discover Destination Germany with our interactive map
Using our interactive travel planner you can put together your own personalised route through Destination Germany, incorporating all the important information you'll need along the way. It couldn't be easier:
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Dve uporabni bližnjici za povečavo v brskalniku:
Dodatna pomoč vam je na voljo pri ponudniku brskalnika. Do nje dostopate s klikom na ikono:


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Page 2 of 2
Mini Cherry Cheesecake Bites (121 calories, 4g fat)
Traditional cheesecake is rich and delicious, and this low-fat version is no exception! Plus, it is petite and ready to eat in no time.
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Enjoy the portion control and portability of this classic comfort food! The fact that it tastes great doesn't hurt either!
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This simple smoothie is packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Try it for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
Nutty Granola Bars (220 calories, 5g fat)
This homemade alternative to store-bought granola bars is a good source of protein, fiber, healthy fats and all-natural sweeteners.


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At DeeConstructed, Deanna had been asked by a friend to keep an eye out for something he could use as an island in his kitchen. She found this desk on the curb on trash day, and decided that with a little effort, she might be able to transform it into a kitchen island.
A fresh coat of paint and a slab of butcher block did the trick. For a very low cost, Deanna was able to give her friend a fantastic island for his bachelor pad kitchen. I think Deanna did a great job reimagining the possibilities for this little student desk, don't you?
There's a detailed tutorial for making this kitchen island from a desk at DeeConstructed.


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Entries in 'nintendo e3' (8)
NINTENDO: E3 2013 Round-up
Deciding not to hold its traditional E3 press conference was a surprise move from Nintendo, but perhaps now the reasons behind it are clear.
NINTENDO: Monolith Soft continues Nintendo support with X
Acclaimed Japanese developer Monolith Soft is working on new titles for Nintendo platforms, starting with a new RPG currently titled X.
NINTENDO: Pokémon X and Y dated
The first 3DS outing for the Pokémon series will arrive on October 12th.
NINTENDO: Super Smash Bros lands on Wii U and 3DS next year
Fans have been given their first look at the next Smash Bros for both Wii U and 3DS.
NINTENDO: Donkey Kong Country returns with Tropical Freeze
Following the success of Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo is rolling out a new version for Wii U.
NINTENDO: Zelda: Wind Waker HD arrives in October
The HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker will be released October 2013.
NINTENDO: Mario Kart 8 announced for Wii U
The next entry in Mario Kart will be available for Wii U early next year.
MCV's E3 Conference Schedule
E3 is back and MCV will be there to cover first hand every major announcement from LA.


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» Details
Morgan, Gerald (ed.)
Chaucer in Context
A Golden Age of English Poetry
Year of Publication: 2012
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, 2012. XII, 307 pp.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0765-9 pb. (Softcover)
Weight: 0.440 kg, 0.970 lbs
available PDF
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Book synopsis
The study of the work of Geoffrey Chaucer – still regarded as a literary genius more than 600 years after his death – centres on the problems of detailed readings of his poetry (including in some cases the textual authority for these readings) and the historical context that gives them meaning. In some ways, the modern understanding of the shaping historical context was undermined in the second half of the twentieth century by the dogmatism of Robertsonian Augustinianism, as a basis for the interpretation of medieval literature in general and of Chaucer's poetry in particular, and at the same time by the reactions of determined opposition provoked by this approach. Undeniably, medieval views often fail to coincide with modern ones and they are frequently uncomfortable for modern readers. Nevertheless, Chaucer's brilliance as an observer of the human scene coexists with and irradiates these unfamiliar medieval ideas. The essays in this volume explore in detail the historical context of Chaucer's poetry, in which orthodox Catholic ideas rather than revolutionary Wycliffite ones occupy the central position. At the same time, they offer detailed readings of his poetry and that of his famous contemporaries in an attempt to do justice to the independent and original work of these poetic masters, writing in the great royal households of England in the period 1360-1400.
Contents: Simon Horobin: Review – Anne J. Duggan: 'The Hooly Blisful Martir for to Seke' – Alan J. Fletcher: Piers Plowman and the Benedictines – Caroline E. Jones: A Lesson in Patience – Gavin Hughes: Fourteenth-Century Weaponry, Armour and Warfare in Chaucer and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – David Scott-Macnab: Sir Thopas and his Lancegay – William Marx: An Absent King: Perceptions of the Politics of Power in the Reign of Richard II and the Middle English Prose Brut – Gerald Morgan: Chaucer's Knight's Tale: The Book of the Duke – Barry Windeatt: Plea and Petition in Chaucer – Mary Carr: The Fall of Lucifer and the Sin of Pride in Piers Plowman – A.V.C. Schmidt: The Humanity of Pearl – Brendan O'Connell: The Poetics of Fraud: Jean de Meun, Dante and Chaucer – Nicolas Jacobs: Criseyde's Last Word.
About the author(s)/editor(s)
Gerald Morgan was formerly a Senior Lecturer and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. His publications include The Tragic Argument of Troilus and Criseyde (2005) and The Shaping of English Poetry: Essays on 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight', Langland, Chaucer and Spenser (Peter Lang, 2010).


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Why World Vision? We are accountable
For every $1 donated to World Vision, we are able to send $1.30 worth of services to the field. At World Vision, we are committed to our donors and to the communities in which we work, and we are accountable for good stewardship of the resources entrusted to us.
Today's infographic demonstrates how World Vision leverages your donated dollars to provide the maximum impact for the children we serve.


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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Bradley (5-1) once again pulled off a late-innings rally and earned its second series win in as many tries with an 8-5 win in the rubber game in the weekend series at UALR (5-2) Sunday.
Bradley collected six of its nine hits in the final four innings to rally from a 4-1 deficit. Designated hitter Greg Partyka delivered the big hits, starting the tying rally in the sixth with an RBI single, then driving home the go-ahead runs with a 2-run double in the seventh. Partyka finished 2-for-5 with three runs batted in and a run scored.
Tyler Leffler tied the school single-game record by getting hit by three pitches, but saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end by going hitless in his two official at-bats. Catcher Austin Jarvis was 3-for-5 with two runs batted in.
Elliot Ashbeck (1-0) earned the win in relief of starter Eric Scheuermann by alloiwng one run on two hits in 2.1 innings. Peter Resnick collected the save by allowing just one unearned runs in his 3.0 innings of work, putting the cap on a stellar weekend by the Bradley bullpen. During the 3-game series, six Bradley relievers combined to allow just three runs, two earned, in 14.0 innings by surrendering just three hits and five walks against 19 strikeouts.
Bradley will return to the road next weekend for the 4-team, round-robin Riverview Inn Classic, hosted by Austin Peay. Bradley will take on Xavier Friday, the host Governors Saturday and Dayton Sunday.