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How should I say this politely: I do not like spam! I hate spam. Can I choose something different? Perhaps a nice cold beer on such a warm day, but definitely not hot steaming, bug infested spam.
I read a report on my favorite news website yesterday, which stated that 95% of all sent email is spam. Hard to believe, but saying that I found it hard to believe that we only crossed the 50% mark two years ago. Sure, a company that makes spam filters wrote the article. However, even if the 95% figure is not 100% true we're all still being sent excessively many fishy, smelly, stinky, irritating emails and I am such a saint! I am still waiting for a call from the pope, but not an email from Wendy over my personal problems. How on earth did she know?
Sad but true, the spammers seem to have the initiative in this war and thus are winning. The distributed nature of the internet combined with the cross boundary laws makes diminishing the effects of these repetitively boring full spectrum attacks difficult. I wouldn't mind so much if my mailbox was less full or my spam filter was 100% accurate. I think it is brilliant the way thunderbird helps me to define away large chunks of spam. However, at the 95% mark even leak tight containers start to cringe under the onslaught. It is time to take back the initiative and start sharpening the tools. Many clever people are already doing so.
Tools I say and tools I mean. I love Linux live distributions and have a great deal of respect for the security minded. I particularly like the idea of kicking spambots with brilliant tools such as basted.
Spambots suck up email addresses. You leave your address in a mailto tag or on a newsgroup, and then you are so gone, but sadly and definitely not forgotten. You'll be part of the history of the internet forever, more backed up than the Internet Archive and famous to those who wish to sell diplomas and cures for your obvious inadequacies.
Basted is a script that keeps track and sends many bad addresses back to the bot. Basted has the potential if widely deployed to have effect on the profit of spammers. Sure, it's at an early version, but when it has grown up it will start bullying the bullies. But why stop there? There are Linux honeypot distributions, why not have one whose sole task is to help ISPs stop spam? Acting as a full spectrum inoculation at the source mail servers, if aggressive enough and updated enough and open proxied enough, then we have a chance to breathe again. Free from unwanted emails that our children may accidentally click on. Perhaps there's already a distribution out in the wild that does all that I want. For example, STD 0.1 looks like a broader version of where it should be. I would hope for a distribution with less than 40 tools and many graphically assistive help files. A distribution that could be popped into a spare computer and with the help of virtualization look like a network of victims with really sharp hidden teeth. A virtual network that has the potential to be updated automatically with new tools every night. A zero maintained, headless, anti-spam attack drone. Remotely flying over the enemies head.
So what do you think? Have you any ideas for tools? If so, please leave a polite comment.
You're right to focus on tools
All too often, discussion of spam in the popular press leads to the conclusion that "It ought to be illegal!", but most of the spam I receive is probably already illegal (at least in the US).
Anyway, IMHO, it's clear that technology will be the best way to solve the problem, even if that's not an easy thing to do. I've generally concentrated on filtering solutions. Bayesian filtering in Thunderbird is pretty good, although I'd like to move the stuff to the trash automatically instead of just marking it (haven't figured out how you do that yet).
I used to manage spam filters manually, but for awhile, things were so screwed up and I had so many false positives that I got in the habit of reading my trash folder first. Things are definitely better now!
I distrust the approach of automatically reporting spammers to their ISPs. Previous attempts at this have been foiled by smarter and smarter techniques to hide spammers' tracks and forge their origins. I've received a number of complaints myself from people who clearly got spam forged from my account (at least I sure hope I was not running an open mail relay somewhere -- I guess you can never absolutely know). However, the idea of a "honeypot" that screws up the spammers' modus operandi does sound like a good idea.
Junk -> Trash in Thunderbird
Bayesian filtering in Thunderbird is pretty good, although I'd like to move the stuff to the trash automatically instead of just marking it (haven't figured out how you do that yet).
You'd have probably worked it out but to save you the time...
Tools->Junk Mail Controls
Under the Settings tab change the settings below "Handling".
Make them pay
We should look at any disruptive approach that affects the economics of spamming. If we force down the profit margins then the spamming volume should follow.
Nice idea but it may not have the desired effect
Attacking the bots sounds a good idea but surely it only works if the spammers are concerned over the number of genuine addresses they have on their lists. Also it won't stop my address getting onto the lists via another server.
I used to think spammers were like the people who send free catalogues and brochures but that's wrong. Spammers use an entirely fire and forget process. When they send a message they use a spoofed reply-to and to header (Terry this is probably what's happening to you) so that it is not them who gets the bounces.
Perhaps there is one way in which the spammers and the catalogue people do work the same. Maybe they work by carpet bombing: send one message to 10 million "addresses", of which 2 million end up in a real inbox, of which 50000 actually get read, of which 100 follow-up on the links. Those 100 may not buy the product but they will see the advertising on the site and they will have confirmed their address as being one of the gullible people - which will move them up a level on the spammers lists.
I don't think that abuse reports work. If they did then I wouldn't still be receiving spam via open-relays within popular ISP address ranges.
My preferred method is spam filters but at SMTP level (not yet deployed bt will be soon). Using something like Exiscan within Exim means that my server doesn't even handle the spam bounces. Okay the sending server therefore has to handle it but because it's a reject rather than bounce, it means the - spoofed - "sending" address isn't plagued with bounce message for mail they didn't send. The sending server would therefore have to be more efficient in stopping spammers sending mail through their system. If the spammer is using their own smtp then they would eventually get fed up of the rejection messages.
Defense in depth
I believe in defense in depth. Making a targeted Linux distribution may build that depth via a series of tools and server types. Start by targeting the Spambots then the spammers by distributed analysis. Make the distribution easy enough and then given a fair wind, the rest may follow.
3-stage filtering is quite effective
I've seen fairly good results (from ~400 spams/week down to ~12) by using a combination of iptables (geo-blocking/filtered port 25) + DNS blacklist (i.e., Spamhaus, DSBL) + DSpam (dspam.nuclearelephant.com). The list of IPs blocked by iptables is generated daily based on analysis of Postfix logs and DSpam results.
I wrote an article last year
I wrote an article last year for FSM. Check it out and use it if you can. Although my real email address is plastered all over the place, I typically get a spam every other day or so.
Good luck!
Yep, What an excellent
What an excellent article.
spam economics
If we could create false email addresses, and then have an automatic system for generating and sending thousands of messages to the spammers of those addresses in order to clog up their systems. I don't know if this could result in a DOS for them, but regardless, it would eat up their bandwidth and cost them more $$. Could such a little program be written up and put out on torrents and spread around freely? If everyone had something like this running in the background on their computers, spammers would be toast.


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There were 46 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Monday. At that time, there were 1,432 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,411. When the jail is full, some inmates may be released early.
K-9 pursuit: A man was seen armed with a handgun with an extended magazine at 12:20 p.m. Monday in the 100 block of Duncan Avenue, police reported. As officers arrived, the man fled to the backyard of a nearby home. A police dog was deployed and assisted officers in locating Anthony Mayfield, 19, hiding in a bedroom of the home, where he was arrested on suspicion of weapons charges and resisting arrest, officials said.
Assault with deadly weapon: At least four bullets struck a vehicle with two men inside near Hammer Lane and Lorraine Avenue about 2:20 p.m. Monday. No one was reported injured. The suspect vehicle was described as a gray Chevrolet Tahoe.
The California Highway Patrol did not provide an incident report Monday.
The Stockton Fire Department responded to 104 calls for service in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Monday, including four vehicle accidents, 78 medical calls and four structure fires.
Location, ST | website.com

subset: commoncrawl


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UWA dominates Clark Atlanta in opener
Published: Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 11:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 11:45 p.m.
LIVINGSTON | The University of West Alabama Tigers came into their season opener against Clark Atlanta with a chip on their collective shoulder.
Despite being the 13th-ranked team in Division II, the Tigers thought their ranking wasn't indicative of a team that went 9-4 in 2012, won the Gulf South Conference and made it to the second round of the playoffs.
So, when the Panthers traveled to Tiger Stadium on Saturday, UWA coach Will Hall and company sent a statement to the rest of Division II football by crushing an overmatched Panthers team, 42-6.
"We handled our business," Hall said. "Great teams are supposed to beat teams they're supposed to beat. And we executed well, and we played a clean game. ... That's what you look for from a functioning standpoint."
Indeed, the Tigers' prolific offense was dominant, racking up 265 total yards in the first half alone. The defense was equally impressive, holding an anemic Panthers offense to 77 yards and scoring off a 20-yard fumble recovery.
The game was already out of hand by the time the Tigers scored their fourth touchdown, a 15-yard connection between quarterback Gary Johnston and Chad Toocheck with less than a minute to play in the half.
Overall, the Tigers averaged 7.3 yards per play, racking up 489 total yards.
Junior quarterback Kyle Caldwell led the way through the air, going 12-for-19 with 148 yards and two touchdowns, while Javae Swindle ran for 108 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Tevin Thomas turned in a team-high nine tackles, 1.5 for loss.
Caldwell said he thought his team played well but still made too many mistakes for his liking. The offense turned the ball over on downs and gave up a late fumble, one that led to the Panthers' touchdown. Because of that, Caldwell said he'd reserve judgment on whether the win changed the nation's perception of the Tigers.
Still, Swindle said he didn't care whether his team changed anyone's mind — all he cared about was the win.
"I really wasn't thinking about the rankings, what the ranking was," Swindle said. "All of that doesn't really matter to me. ... Just getting that W on the board, hopefully winning by a lot of points, is good with me."
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Real-Time PCI Compliance Monitoring
Tenable Network Security, Inc. serves customers worldwide and each of our customers has a unique set of audit and compliance requirements. This paper provides insights gained from Tenable's customers on measuring and reporting compliance audit issues in a wide variety of industries.
Specifically, this paper describes how Tenable's solutions can be leveraged to demonstrate PCI DSS compliance by ensuring that key assets are properly configured and monitored for ongoing security compliance. It is crucial to monitor for compliance in a manner as close to real-time as possible to ensure the organization does not drift out of compliance over time. The greater the gap between monitoring cycles, the more likely it is for compliance violations to occur undetected.


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Green Day returned to 924 Gilman Street last night to benefit AK Press and 1984 Printing, two punk-run publishing companies which share a warehouse that caught fire in March.
Rumors had swirled for weeks around the "Special Guests" headliner for the Fire Relief Benefit show. But word travels fast in the punk scene and by the time pre-sale tickets for the show were put up online everyone knew Green Day was playing, and tickets were gone in under 10 seconds.
Because of how quick the tickets disappeared, speculation went crazy on the event page about how tech bros must have created bots to buy


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Definition of minuscule in English:
(also miniscule)
1Extremely small; tiny: a minuscule fragment of DNA
More example sentences
- Water striders are covered stem to stem and toe to toe with a layer of tiny, waxy, feathery hairs in which countless minuscule air bubbles are trapped.
- Some snakes, such as pythons, retain tiny leg bones, which may be visible as minuscule claws at the base of the tail.
- Upon entering, however, there was a man on a minuscule stage, reading from a tiny index card.
tiny, minute, microscopic, nanoscopic, very small, little, micro, diminutive, miniature, baby, toy, midget, dwarf, pygmy, Lilliputian, infinitesimal;
Scottish wee
informal teeny, teeny-weeny, teensy, teensy-weensy, weeny, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, eensy, eensy-weensy, tiddly
British informal titchy
North American informal little-bitty
1.1 informal So small as to be insignificant: he believed the risk of infection was minuscule
More example sentences
- My heart rose, in the slight minuscule chance that it was a dream.
- I know there are some issues and problems, but they are minor and minuscule compared with a number of police forces around the world.
- We have gratuitously destroyed so much of nature that the Taliban's smashing up of Buddhist statues, as comparative vandalism, will someday seem quite minuscule.
2Of or in lower-case letters, as distinct from capitals or uncials.
Example sentences
- The small (minuscule) letters are earth symbols- the (majuscule) capital letter A is a picture of the missing capstone from Khufu's pyramid.
- Here for the first time it became common to mix both majuscule and minuscule letters in a single text.
2.1Of or in a small cursive script of the Roman alphabet, with ascenders and descenders, developed in the 7th century ad.
Example sentences
- Speed of writing changed the appearance of many letters, however, and along with the introduction by the 4th century of loops and linking of letters this formed the basis for the development of minuscule scripts.
- Most of the works of the ancient Greek mathematicians which have survived do so because of this copying process and it is the 'latest' version written in minuscule script which has survived.
- Irish writings prior to the use of paper and print were written on vellum in a distinctive minuscule script which reflects 1,000 years of literary tradition.
noun[mass noun]
1Minuscule script: the humanistic hands of the 15th century were based on the Carolingian minuscule
More example sentences
- Not one of them is written in the type of small, utilitarian script, called current minuscule, which was the common form of handwriting used in liturgical handbooks and schoolbooks in the seventh and eighth centuries.
- From the late 8th century onwards a new script, Caroline minuscule, swept throughout Europe along with the Carolingian Empire.
- The development of Carolingian minuscule had, although somewhat indirectly, a large impact on the history of mathematics.
1.1 [count noun] A small or lower-case letter.
Example sentences
- The written and printed form of English has two interlocking systems of letters: large letters, known variously as capitals, upper-case letters, majuscules, and small letters, or lower-case letters, minuscules.
- Working on maps and charts provided testing requirements, both for large and decorative majuscules in the titles, and for tiny minuscules for the names of towns, of which there could be as many as 500 in one county.
The standard spelling is minuscule rather than miniscule. The latter form is a very common one (accounting for almost half of citations for the term in the Oxford English Corpus), and has been recorded since the late 19th century. It arose by analogy with other words beginning with mini-, where the meaning is similarly 'very small'. It is now so widely used that it can be considered as an acceptable variant, although it should be avoided in formal contexts.
- Example sentences
- Yet, in between the constant switches from inner to outer, there are minuscular pauses.
- Hence you will receive a signal coming from inside the material as well, but it is minuscular.
- Are Nigerians and the character of Nigerian politics really different from their minuscular counterpart at the University of Nigeria?
Early 18th century: from French, from Latin minuscula (littera) 'somewhat smaller (letter)'.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: min¦us|cule
Definition of minuscule in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
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= trending


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Report from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
Howard County Fairgrounds, Maryland
May 2003
by Jennifer H. (KR forum name Bluestocking)
|The Day Begins
We began our day by heading to the Main Exhibition Hall to hit several vendors we knew we wanted to see. We also wanted to check out the fleece competition. There, Bess (Bessh in the forums), my partner in crime for the day, and I decided to split a fleece.
We found a lovely, soft and very clean Corriedale fleece, not too large, in varying shades of grey and tan. Bess also purchased a lovely celtic spindle from Golding Spindles.
Then it was off to the garment and skein competition to meet Martha (Marfa) and view all the entries, some of which were truly works of art. We then had a wonderful lunch with several other Knitter's Review members, and then it was back to the festival for some serious shopping.
The Knitter's Review group, from left to right: Marg from Michigan, Jennifer (BlueStocking in the forums), Bess (Bessh), Lissa (Lissa), Anita (Achrisvet), Martha (Marfa), and Patricia from New Jersey. Missing from the photo are Shawn and Shawn, Edie, Rebecca, and LJ.
|Inside the Festival
The festival can be neatly divided into two complementary pursuits: fiber and animals. The fiber activities encompass sheep-to-shawl contest, a skein and garment competition, and a fine arts contest.
There's also a multitude of workshops and seminars geared toward the fiber arts (spinning and knitting workshops on such topics as color work, intarsia, and steeking), plus hundreds of vendors in six different barns and a main exhibition hall pictured at right.
The animal activities include fleece animal competitions, shepherding and shearing workshops and demonstrations, animal husbandry and health, marketing, commercial spinning and cheesemaking, 4H Club activities, and the Annual Maryland Lamb and Wool Queen contest. You could also browse various vendors of sheep and farming equipment.
|Extra Activities
In addition to all the vendors and animal activities, there are also musicians as well as food vendors selling both typical county fair food and lamb burgers and such.
A live auction offered spinning, weaving, and other fiber equipment, including the antique ebony spinning whell and original distaff you see here. It sold for only $100!
|Trying to Stay Focused
Even when I narrowed my focus to the fiber side of the festival, there was still too much to see and do in one day. In fact, it took the entire day just to see all the vendors and stop for a quick lunch.
For this article, I had to limit myself to those vendors that had Web sites for viewing. This festival is particularly special, however, because you can find great deals on beautiful, handspun and hand-dyed yarn, much of which isn't available anywhere online. This is yet another reason to attend the festival if at all possible.
The festival isn't just for knitters, however. Possibilities abound for spinning, weaving, and felting enthusiasts too. Fiber is everywhere -- roving of all types imaginable dyed and natural, angora and angora batts, fleeces, mohair locks, you name it.
Wool in the Woods, a fiber company located in Biglersville, Pennsylvania, specializes in hand-dyed yarns and designer kits. The booth was chock full of wonderful fiber, including the sock section pictured here.
There were brightly colored sock yarns, as well as lovely wool/mohair/silk blends ranging in weight from lace to bulky. Their booth was an eye-catching rainbow of color and texture.
Handpaint Heaven, a retail shop from Vermont, featured handpainted, hand-dyed yarns, knitting kits, and free patterns.
The company had an abundance of lovely Cherry Tree Hill yarns as well as wool, silk, mohair, alpaca, cotton/rayon, and novelty yarns. Here we see Martha reaching a state of fiber overwhelm!
More Picks
Persimmon Tree Farm had absolutely spectacular handspun yarn, as well as equally breathtaking roving and fiber. Her mohair locks were richly colored, soft, clean and gorgeous. Bess purchased some of these for her stash.
A trip to the festival would be incomplete for me without a visit to Hunt Country Yarns, my local yarn shop (LYS) in Middleburg, Virginia. The owner, Bob Kelly, is an amazing source of knowledge about all things related to fiber.
He and his wife, Valerie, are gracious and wonderful people, and the shop is paradise. Best of all, Bob will go out of his way to locate yarn, fiber, needles, whatever you need, and ship them wherever you need them to go.
Another festival must is The Mannings, a double-sized booth that was full of all things for knitting, weaving, and spinning. The were lots of books (definitely the best book display at the festival), as well as wheels, yarns, fibers, dyes, and supplies.
Located in East Berlin, Pennsylvania (not far from Gettysburg), The Mannings offers all these products in their retail shop, in addition to looms, equipment, and classes.
Misty Mountain Farm, located in Amissville, Virginia, raises its own Finn sheep, llamas, and angora goats. It's also where I happily purchased my new spinning wheel. [The author is pictured here in front of the Misty Mountain Farm booth.]
The owner's fiber is lovely, and the Finn roving is unbelievably soft. Misty Mountain also carries mohair cones and various hand-dyed yarns and supplies.
|Carolina Homespun was another excellent fiber vendor, with weaving and spinning supplies, fleeces and roving, dyes, and yarns.
Stony Mountain Fibers, from Charlottesville, Virginia, focuses mainly on weaving and spinning supplies. Barbara Gentry, the owner, dyes merino top "pigtails" in wonderful color variations, and also sells many other types of fiber, yarns, rug and weaving yarns by the cone, knitting needles and other supplies, wheels, and looms.
Below left is Barbara Gentry; below right, Bess and Martha stand in front of the Knitter's Review notecards and accessories that Barbara had for sale. Note Martha's Knit Happens T-shirt!
|One of our favorite fiber vendors at the festival is Little Barn Inc., just a portion of which is shown at right. The store offers a true cornucopia of fiber -- many, many varieties of wool, cotton, silk, mohair, tencel, llama, alpaca, and synthetics.
The owner of Little Barn was giving bottled water away to anyone who wanted it, no purchase necessary. Appalled by the price of bottled water at previous festivals, he now comes stocked with water for free.
Little Barn also has a Web site devoted to discontinued fiber and odd lots, at Little Barn ~ A Fiber Odyssey.
|Sheep to Skein Services
If you're interested, you can purchase a fleece at the festival and drop it off at one of many vendors to have it washed, cleaned, carded or combed, and even spun up into yarn. One such vendor is Fingerlakes Yarns, pictured at left.
Located in Genoa, New York, Fingerlakes processes fiber into carded roving, pencil roving, or yarn. This company also sells its own yarn in wool, angora, and unspun fiber.
|Many non fiber-related vendors were also present, including potters, basket makers, wood carvers, blacksmiths, jewelers, and soap makers. One of my favorites was the handcrafted soap and Moth Beware mix from a Simpler Thyme.
The Moth Beware mix is a fragrant blend of hand-planed cedar, pennyroyal, lavender, patchouli, mugwort, eucalyptus, bay leaf, oakmoss, lemon verbena, and basil. It can be found on their Web site under Mercantile.
This mix makes my yarn and fiber unappetizing to moths. As an added bonus, it smells great.
And finally, what festival would be complete without a shot of the animals? Here's one of the cutest attendees at the fair, a French angora rabbit from The Wool Merchant, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
The owner has no Web site, but you can email her. She also sold wonderful angora rabbit fur by the ounce.
| Talk about this festival (and others) in our forums


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BERKELEY -- There were plenty of imperfections in a 76-55 victory Saturday over Washington State that kept Cal perfect in the Pac-12 Conference.
But the Bears (14-4, 5-0) shook off early sluggishness, shooting 69.6 percent in the second half to break open a one-point game.
"We're not perfect. Most people aren't," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "We were not ready to play. We were late getting onto the floor to shoot, late coming into the locker room.
"There were no knees bouncing, there was nothing bouncing. Frankly, we're not better than anybody if we don't play hard."
That effort showed up in the second half, when Cal outscored the Cougars 21-4 over the first nine minutes and gradually got the game played on its terms. The Bears scored 21 points off turnovers for the game and outscored the Cougars 26-2 in the paint over the final 20 minutes.
Now they head to Los Angeles for games against USC on Wednesday, then UCLA on Sunday.
"I don't know the last time Cal's been 5-0 in conference. We see the opportunity we have," senior guard Justin Cobbs said.
In fact, Cal has won its first five Pac-12 games for the first time since a 7-0 start in 2003. After three weeks, the Bears and top-ranked Arizona enjoy a two-game margin in the loss column over the rest of the Pac-12.
The Cougars (8-10, 1-5) used an 18-4 run to mount an 18-10 lead midway through the first half. They outworked the Bears, especially on the boards, and created a deliberate pace with a zone defense and their own patience on offense.
"We didn't come out with the same energy ... today we were a little stagnant," Cobbs said.
Cal's improved defense changed the tone.
The Bears forced four WSU turnovers during a 14-0 run that erased the early hole, then held the Cougars to 2-for-11 shooting to open the second half. Richard Solomon had three dunks and freshman Jordan Mathews contributed a 3-pointer and a fast-break basket to a 16-2 burst that made it 54-37 with 11:12 left.
"Defense gets us easy baskets," guard Tyrone Wallace said. "That's when everybody starts getting happy."
The Cougars shot just 27.3 percent in the second half.
Cobbs wound up with 16 points and seven assists, Wallace scored 13 to go with four assists and four steals, and Solomon had 12 points and nine rebounds.
Junior forward David Kravish, saddled with early foul trouble, was held without a rebound for the first time in his Cal career, as the Bears were outrebounded 31-25.
But they got 20 bench points, including a career-best eight from 7-foot freshman Kameron Rooks, who was 6 for 6 at the foul line.
Freshman Jabari Bird, back this week after missing five games with an ankle sprain, had four points and three assists in 18 minutes but appeared frustrated at times.
"Jabari just needs some time," Montgomery said, alluding to Bird's rustiness.
For more on Cal sports, see the Bear Talk blog at ibabuzz.com/beartalk. Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter at twitter.com/JeffFaraudo.
wednesday's game
Cal (14-4, 5-0 Pac-12) at USC (9-9, 0-5), 8 p.m. ESPNU


text:
STANFORD -- With nearly half of the top 20 players in the world in its field, including top-ranked Serena Williams, this week's Bank of the West Classic could be one of the strongest in years.
The field is so deep that although the tournament lost Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to injury, it still boasts a lineup that features four players in the top 10, nine in the top 20 and, oh yeah, a wild-card entrant (Venus Williams) who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles.
The tournament starts Monday and runs through Sunday.
"We have some great names," tournament director Kim Hall said. "We're just really excited to have some of these players back who haven't been here in a few years."
Leading that parade is Serena Williams, who missed last year's Bank of the West after winning the Stanford tournament in 2011 and 2012.
Williams will be the top storyline this week -- and not only because she is the top seed and a 17-time Grand Slam singles champion.
Her opening-round match Wednesday night will mark the first time she has played since her strange exit from a Wimbledon doubles match July 1.
Playing alongside older sister Venus, Serena became eerily disoriented, to the point that she looked wobbly and could not put her serve in play, and the match was stopped after three games.
Wimbledon officials later said Williams was suffering from a viral illness.
In a statement that day, Williams said she was "heartbroken" about not being able to continue, adding, "I thought I could rally this morning because I really wanted to compete, but this bug just got the best of me."
Hall said Williams is doing better.
"She took a few days off in Europe," Hall said. "I know she is practicing. I saw some video. We look forward to her arrival."
Williams has won 60 Women's Tennis Association singles titles, including three this year.
Dominika Cibulkova is back to defend the title she won last year, when the field was weakened by the withdrawal of many of its top players.
Cibulkova is seeded sixth, behind Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic.
Kvitova would have been the No. 2 seed, but a hamstring injury will keep the Wimbledon champion from participating in what is billed as the world's longest running women's-only pro tennis tournament.
"I was disappointed because she had just won Wimbledon, and she was looking forward to making her debut here," Hall said. "We were excited to have her. But even though it's an extra week we have this year between Wimbledon, she wasn't healthy enough to make it.
"On the flip side, that's really benefitted us getting all these top players, having that extra week from Wimbledon."
The top four seeds received byes into the second round of the 28-player tournament.
WHEN/WHERE: Monday through Sunday, Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium
TV: Tuesday-Thursday: 1-5 p.m., 7-9 p.m., Tennis Channel; Friday: 8-10 p.m., ESPN2; Saturday: 2-4 p.m., ESPN2, 7-9 p.m., Tennis Channel; Sunday: 2-4 p.m., ESPN2


text:
Florida ticket among Mega Millions winner
Published: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 5:44 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 5:44 a.m.
DES MOINES, Iowa - If you purchased a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Florida or Maryland, check your numbers — you may be splitting a $400 million jackpot.
Lottery officials say two tickets purchased in those states matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night.
The winning numbers are: 11, 19, 24, 33 and 51 with a Mega Ball of 7.
The jackpot is the sixth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history, with a lump-sum option of $224 million.
Florida lottery officials say their winning ticket was sold at a Sunoco convenience store in Merritt Island. Information about the Maryland ticket wasn't immediately available.
Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help increase jackpots. The game is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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About the Book
"A fresh voice that stands out….Delicious and delightful!"
—Karen Hawkins <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Romance superstar Amanda Quick calls Julie Anne Long, "a fantastic writer," and says, "her writing glows." Suzanne Enoch calls Long's work, "warm, witty, and fabulous!" This rapidly rising star of historical romance dazzles once again with What I Did For a Duke—the next fabulous installment in her sensual and emotionally charged Pennyroyal Green series. This Regency delight focuses on a dark duke with a sinful reputation and his determined efforts to seduce and ruin the innocent sister of his enemy—only to fall victim himself to the gentle lady's good nature and passionate soul. What I Did For a Duke follows Long's delightful I Kissed an Earl, continuing the colorful feud between the Eversea and Redmond families, and it's one of the most scandalously entertaining love stories in many a season.
For years, he's been an object of fear, fascination . . . and fantasy. But of all the wicked rumors that shadow the formidable Alexander Moncrieffe, Duke of Falconbridge, the ton knows one thing for certain: only fools dare cross him. And when Ian Eversea does just that, Moncrieffe knows the perfect revenge: he'll seduce Ian's innocent sister, Genevieve—the only Eversea as yet untouched by scandal. First he'll capture her heart . . . and then he'll break it.
But everything about Genevieve is unexpected: the passion simmering beneath her cool control, the sharp wit tempered by gentleness . . . And though Genevieve has heard the whispers about the duke's dark past, and knows she trifles with him at her peril, one incendiary kiss tempts her deeper into a world of extraordinary sensuality. Until Genevieve is faced with a fateful choice . . . is there anything she won't do for a duke?
Educator and Librarian Resources
Product Details
- Imprint: HarperCollins e-books
- On Sale: 02/22/2011
- Pages: 384
- List Price: 5.99 USD
- BISAC1: FICTION / Romance / Historical / General


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Knitter's Review
October 4, 2012
Magical as it is, Iceland doesn't have a monopoly on yarn. This week we hop the pond to England for a look at a new, distinctly local creation from British yarn purveyor Baa Ram Ewe.
It blends Wensleydale and Bluefaced Leicester with a surprise: UK alpaca. The yarn is named after Sir Titus Salt, the Yorkshire wool manufacturer and philanthropist who popularized a fashionable cloth called "alpaca" in the mid-1800s.
Introducing Titus.
This weekend in New Mexico
In the Forums: Start Planning
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As always, I thank you for your readership and your support.
Talk to you next week!
P.S. Do you have friends who would enjoy Knitter's Review? If so, don't hesitate to forward this email to them.
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Participate in our Knitter's Review Poll and you'll see an instant tally of all the votes.
On the Cover
Titus in action
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The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides eligible participants to potentially receive financial assistance to implement conservation practices on their land through the Environmental
Quality Incentive Program (EQIP).
A participant can submit an application for EQIP throughout the year. EQIP opens up for application acceptance during ranking periods.
The deadline for Ranking Period 4 of EQIP 2013 is April 19, 2013. The application is ranked under the applicable funding pool for the participant. There are various funding pools under EQIP, such as the National Initiatives, Ag Waste, Forestry, Grazing, Beginning Farmer, Socially Disadvantaged, and Area Level pools.
For instance, a beginning farmer's eligible application would only be scored and ranked with other beginning farmers applications in the state of Minnesota. The applicant's ranking score would determine if the eligible application could become an approved application. NRCS staff is available to help assess your operation and land for areas of resource concern that could be improved through NRCS conservation practices.
This assistance could identify where financial assistance through EQIP could help target neededconservation. Contact the NRCS – St. James Field Office at 823 1st Avenue South, St. James, MN 56081, or call 507-375-3104 for more information.
Location, ST | website.com


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Here is today's lineup vs. the Padres in the annual Charity Game at Peoria Stadium. Game time is 1:05 p.m. MT/12:05 PT and can be heard on 710 ESPN Seattle and select markets in the Mariners Radio Network.
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New York Mayor Bloomberg is in France, and apparently considering a bicycle rental program similar to the popular parisian Velib system. Bloomberg doesn't sound very optimistic unfortunately. Apparently NYC tried this out on a much smaller scale earlier this year. Chicago and Portland are evaluating a rental systems too.
I rode Seattle Critical Mass on Friday, great time and and a nice ride as always. The weather was lovely for a ride, could be the last rain-free mass of the year. We ended up cruising from downtown through Ballard, up Stone way past Greenlake and down University ave. I had to peel off a bit early, would love to hear where the ride ended up.
I was a bit surprised at the amount of antagonism between drivers and riders, it seemed quite a bit more than I've seen earlier this year. One comes to expect a certain amount of frustrated car drivers, but it really seemed like the level of animosity was on the rise.
I managed to snap a few photos along the way, here's my set from the Bike Hugger Photostream
We'll tell legendary stories for the next 20 years about the Industry Cup race with Team Bike Hugger, the Hugga Hookup, and Cipollini. Read Andrew's race report, Velonews, and see more photos in our photostream.
photo: Matt Carter, Velonews. Cipo in red, Andrew in Bike Hugger green, and Tim Mulrooney from Hed Cycling.
"Ah, nothing's to chance," Gary Fisher said and we talked briefly about the Simple City, the bike revolution, politics, his travels, and more. We met at the Vegas Airport. He just finished his meal and we were getting ours.
I hope we can talk more with Gary. We had a lot in common and I think more than just chance.
That was a great hookup with Andrew placing second in the media division at the Industry Cup. And, to the roar of the crowd, racing with Cipollini. We couldn't get connected live, but have photos, videos, and posts to follow …
The Flyby with the Umbrella Girls at the USA Crit Championships, Industry Cup, and Hugga Hookup.


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Trey Anastasio Band,
Tuesday, 11/29/2005
Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
Set 1: First Tube, Spin, Push On 'Til the Day, Shine, Cayman Review, Money, Love and Change, Wherever You Find It, Drifting > Come As Melody, The Inlaw Josie Wales[1], Driver[1], Dog Faced Boy[1], The Wedge[1], Pebbles and Marbles[1], Waste[1], Low, Last Tube > Sleep Again, Ether Sunday, Night Speaks to a Woman
Encore: I Want to Take You Higher
[1] Trey solo acoustic.
Notes: The Hackensaw Boys opened. This setlist is unconfirmed as recordings of the performance do not circulate. A pre-recorded version of "70 Volt Parade" was played over the P.A. as the band took the stage. Trey performed "The Inlaw Josie Wales" through "Waste" solo acoustic.
Musicians: Trey Anastasio, Russell Remington, Jennifer Hartswick, Raymond Weber, Ray Paczkowski, Christina Durfee, Les Hall, Tony Hall


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Studying raindrops in Louisiana?
Published: Monday, June 17, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, June 17, 2013 at 11:29 a.m.
There's not enough money for education in Louisiana, so it's cut, cut, cut.
Qualified teachers can't find a job.
But the Louisiana Board of Regents has just awarded a $4,500 grant for a Louisiana-Monroe faculty member to study raindrops.
I can just see this person running around with a taxpayer-funded official raindrop-catching utensil trying desperately to catch a raindrop for study.
What if he catches two of them? Does he have a way to keep them separate?
The grant also provides for travel, like there are no raindrops in Monroe to catch.
Come on ... am I missing something here?
Are these the same people who want to conduct studies for the preservation of gopher frogs that no one has ever seen and never will.
Butch Robichaux
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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More people are moving, and Florida is a top destination
Published: Monday, December 10, 2012 at 5:45 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, December 10, 2012 at 5:45 p.m.
More Americans regained their mobility this year, led by a rush of middle-class northerners who had been forced to wait out the economy before retiring to Florida.
The Top 10 moves from state to state in 2012:
1. New York to Florida: 59,288 movers
2. California to Texas: 58,992
3. California to Arizona: 49,635
4. Florida to Georgia: 42,666
5. New Jersey to New York: 41,450
6. New York to New Jersey: 40,815
7. California to Nevada: 40,114
8. Georgia to Florida: 38,658
9. California to Washington: 38,421
10. Texas to California: 37,087
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
After sinking to record lows in 2011, the nation's mover rate climbed to 12 percent this year, with about 36.5 million people moving into a new home, U.S. census data unveiled on Monday showed.
Although the majority of those moves were within 50 miles, more New Yorkers trekked to Florida than any other interstate migration — a strong sign that Florida's growth model is beginning to rebound from the prolonged pause of the Great Recession.
"If you look at household balance sheets, the numbers are much higher than where they were in the crisis," said Sean Snaith, an economist with the University of Central Florida. "That has helped fuel retirement flows in Florida from a class whose decision is highly driven by asset values."
New York lost 59,228 residents to Florida this year, the most any one state saw move to another as wounds from the financial crisis began healing for Empire State baby boomers. New York has traditionally been one of the top feeder markets for Florida.
Georgia-to-Florida also was among the 10 largest interstate moves, with 38,658 residents trading in their peaches for oranges. But because 42,666 Floridians also crossed the border to Georgia, Florida lost a net population of 4,008 in 2012 to its neighbor just north, the census data showed.
The Sunshine State also had the largest flow of people moving both to and from Puerto Rico, where a net of 14,997 came to Florida in 2012.
Florida was the only state in the nation that welcomed more than one of the 10 most common single destination moves, including the New York-to-Florida and Georgia-to-Florida patterns.
The findings about movers bodes well for areas like Sarasota and Manatee counties, where the economy hinges largely on fresh spending from new retirees.
Many of the increases in home sales this year have similarly come from the demographics that previously saw their retirement stymied by the financial crisis and subsequent housing decline, said Peter Crowley, a broker and co-owner of the Re/Max Alliance Group, which has offices in Sarasota and Bradenton.
As home prices across the nation appreciate, empowering more borrowers to sell, Crowley expects those figures to spike further into 2013.
"That has certainly been part of the increased demand we're seeing," he said. "As long as the economy makes gradual improvements and people are confident about their financial situation, this area will continue to be attractive for people to retire and move to."
Despite the Sunshine State boost, most Americans preferred to stay close to home.
In 2012, 64 percent of people who lived at a different residence one year ago moved within the same county. Among the 11.8 million who moved to another county, 40 percent did not go farther than 50 miles to find their new home.
Analysts attribute the uptick in short-distance moves to the volatility of the housing market, with many homeowners still getting evicted through foreclosures or short sales, but the number of new buyers also increasing.
The main reasons behind the moves among those surveyed this year were relocation of employment, wanting a nicer home or apartment or an effort to reduce overall housing costs.
Recession-battered consumers who had been forced to move back in with family also began forming new households again, records show.
More people left major cities for suburbs in 2012, while 20 percent of the movers surveyed earned a household income of $100,000 or more.
"During the recession it was tough because people had difficult times selling their homes or they were worried about jobs, so they couldn't move," said Gary Jackson, economist at Florida Gulf Coast University and director of the school's Regional Economic Research Institute.
"One of the big economic drivers of our areas has always been population growth."
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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Hot VWs August 1985 - Hot VWs Back Issues
August 1985
Don't Miss the Next Issue. Subscribe Now!Subscribe now to get the latest issue of Hot VWs Magazine.
WRAPPED & READYFrom Maryland, Woody Page is the proud owner/driver of this graphic-wrapped, 1969 Squareback that features a Ron Lummus chassis and Jim Sartwell-built 2387cc powerplant, which has run a best 1/8th-mile pass of 6.72 e.t. at 99.5mph! See all the details in the September issue of Hot VWs magazine, on-sale now!


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"Organize, Organize, Organize!" The advice of State Rep. Peter Buckley was delivered to a gathering of approximately 500 area residents outside Porters Restaurant in Medford on the warm afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 17. The crowd of enthusiastic, concerned Southern Oregonians joined a local solidarity event producing a 110-foot salmon and supporting the Forward on Climate rally held that day in Washington, D.C. As D.C. witnessed the largest climate demonstration ever, estimated at some 50,000, the local group was the largest gathering in Southern Oregon.
Solidarity events occurred across the country for those not traveling to Washington; Medford enjoyed the only event listed for Oregon. Along with those in Washington, D.C., we were demonstrating our concern about climate change and opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. Planned to run from Alberta's tar sands to our Gulf of Mexico, this pipeline would carry oil to refineries for domestic use or export — as economics dictate. The problems with the project are many:
First, extraction devastates boreal forest — a substantial greenhouse gas-trapping ecosystem — and replaces it with thousands of acres of devastated open pit mines and tailings. This extraction process is the most carbon polluting of all oil recovery methods yet employed.
Second, Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI) is a ratio that measures how much energy is extracted for each unit of energy spent obtaining it. When this drops below 1 to 1, we get less energy than we spend and the process becomes a net loser. A 2011 study revealed that 100 years ago the EROEI for oil was over 1,200 to 1. For conventional oil, we are already down to about 10 to 1. Meanwhile, tar sands oil is below 5 to 1 and dropping.
Incidentally, all fossil fuels sources exhibit a declining EROEI value and thus are becoming less worthwhile. When this value reaches 1 to 1 the resource is effectively exhausted. On the other hand, renewable sources are all climbing in EROEI and exceed fossil fuel values. The future must focus on renewable sources of energy that do not pollute our atmosphere. This is where the green jobs will be found. The Unites States can be a leader in this area, or continue as a follower.
Third, the pipeline would cross and threaten agricultural and public lands between Alberta and the Gulf. The track record of oil pipeline tells us leaks and vast spills are inevitable.
Finally, once in the Gulf, the oil would be refined, again releasing greenhouse gases, and sold to the highest bidder — which may not be within the U.S. This undermines the claim that Keystone would contribute to North American energy independence.
Internationally renowned Goddard Institute for Space Studies climate scientist Dr. James Hansen argued convincingly that if Keystone goes ahead, it is essentially "game over" on protecting our planet for future generations. The Southern Oregonians gathered on Sunday to add their voices to the pressure on elected officials to address climate change.
Rather than further subsidizing and encouraging fossil fuels, we must abandon the "all of the above" philosophy and commit to clean energy. To promote Keystone XL is to argue for short-term profits at the expense of the planet our children and grandchildren will inhabit. Keystone XL might provide a few short-term jobs, but our future must be clean energy — solar, wind and other such resources. These are where we should be investing. Federal policies should promote clean energy and green jobs, rather than promoting fossil fuel pollution and planetary devastation.
To fulfill Peter Buckley's advice, concerned Southern Oregonians might consider joining the Southern Oregon Climate Action Network. Formed last September, the organization has the mission of promoting bold action to address climate change, promoting awareness and understanding of climate change and its consequences, and encouraging reasonable actions to address it.
The next meeting of SOCAN will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, at in the Medford Public Library, with an orientation session for newcomers at 6 p.m. The meeting will last until 8:30. We will work in focus groups developing plans to further our mission. The current focus groups are: communication, consumption, education, energy, political activity, research, transportation and water and forests. Participants select the group they wish to join, but other focus groups could be added.
Please consider joining us.
Kathy Conway of Jacksonville is co-facilitator for the Southern Oregon Climate Action Network.
Location, ST | website.com


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The long-term goal of 2012 legislation to keep the State Teachers Retirement System fund solvent is expected to have a short-term effect of encouraging experienced educators to retire sooner than they might have under the previous rules.
Teachers who retire on or before July 1, 2013, will receive no cost-of-living adjustment to their pension after the first year. But in subsequent years, they will see a 2 percent increase.
"If you retire after this year, that ... adjustment is not going to kick in until five years after you retire," Belpre City Schools Superintendent Tony Dunn said. "That's huge."
According to the State Teachers Retirement System website, www.strsoh.org, these and other changes were implemented by Ohio General Assembly legislation last year. The recession and demographic factors like members living longer have cut into the pension fund, putting it on a course to one day be unable to meet its obligations.
Dunn expects six teachers - three at the elementary school and three at the high school - to retire at the end of this year, compared to only two or three last year. That's not an insignificant number in a district with about 70 teachers, he said.
At least some of this year's likely retirees were prompted to do so by the prospect of missing out on those increases, Dunn said.
Fact Box
What are the changes?
Changes to the State Teachers Retirement System include:
Members who are already retired or retire prior to July 1, 2013, will not receive a cost-of-living increase during the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Those who retire on July 1, 2013, would not receive the adjustment on July 1, 2014.
After missing one year, their cost-of-living adjustments would resume at 2 percent per year.
Members retiring after July 1, 2013, would not receive any cost-of-living adjustment until the fifth anniversary of their retirement.
After July 1, 2015, members who retire with 35 years of service will no longer receive 88 percent of the average of their highest three years' salary as a pension. The new formula will be 77 percent of the average of the highest five years' salary.
For more information, visit www.strsoh.org/legislation/legislation.html.
Source: State Teachers Retirement System.
Lydia Hunter, president of the Warren Local Education Association, which represents that district's teachers, said there are teachers retiring from Warren this year that potentially would have stayed another year or two. If she could get her full benefits, she'd go with them.
"If I had 30 years in this year, I would retire because that extra four years of the cost-of-living adjustment is significant," she said.
Hunter, a seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Warren Elementary School, has taught for 29 years.
The changes have also removed the incentive for her to work for 35 years, Hunter said, because by the time she would reach that threshold, the enhanced benefit formula that sets the annual pension amount at 88 percent of the average of the teacher's three highest-paid years will have been phased out. The maximum would be 77 percent, which is what she can get after 30 years.
Warren Local Superintendent Tom Gibbs hasn't received official notices, but he currently expects at least four teachers to retire from Warren. Even if a couple more make the decision, that wouldn't be out of line with recent numbers, since the district has a number of experienced educators.
"We've been seeing anywhere from five to 10 people retire each year for the last five or six years," Gibbs said.
In many cases, those positions have not been filled as the district has worked to reduce spending. The upside is that money is saved; the drawback is increasing class sizes, Gibbs said.
But that might not continue much longer.
"We're near state minimums (in staffing levels) now," Gibbs said. "So the likelihood that we could just not replace all the people that retire from now on is very slim."
Gibbs said he has not been given an indication yet of how many teachers might be considering retirement in the Fort Frye Local district, where he also serves as superintendent.
Frontier Local Schools could have fewer teachers retiring this year than last, even with the rule change providing an additional incentive. Treasurer Frank Antill said they're currently expecting three or four, while the district saw seven retire last year.
Antill included about $100,000 in the five-year forecast for this year for severance pay, which would cover three teachers.
"Anything over that we have to make an adjustment," he said.
Severance rates differ by contract with each district's education association. However, officials in multiple districts noted potential costs are included in the forecast, and additional expenses could be at least partially offset by hiring younger teachers or, in districts where contracts allow it, rehiring the retirees at a lower rate of pay.
That savings is an advantage of hiring a new teacher, but Marietta City Schools Superintendent Harry Fleming noted there is also a loss of experience.
"There's always an upside and a downside," he said.
Fleming said he's anticipating some additional retirements this year because of the rule changes but did not know how many. The district had several experienced teachers retire last year but did not struggle filling their jobs. That's not always the case, as some certifications are harder to find than others, Fleming said.
Wolf Creek Local Superintendent Bob Caldwell said he expects at least one, if not two, teachers to retire this year because of the STRS changes.
"Pertaining to impact on instruction, it would be negative because these two are veteran 'highly qualified' teachers," he said in an email to The Marietta Times.
Caldwell said he's looking at the matter from a professional and personal standpoint since his sister, a teacher in another Ohio district, is retiring this year.
"(That was) not her choice as STRS made it a disadvantage financially for her if she stayed," he said.


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On the face of it, it seems like readers of the Round Rock Leader aren't interested in voting for either President Obama or his GOP rival Mitt Romney.
While that may be true, editor Brad Stutzman responded to Jim Romenesko's request for clarification with the real reason for the confusingly worded reader poll.
"Usually we just have a yes or not question and we forgot to plug in the names," Stutzman said, noting that the winner — aptly represented by the word "no" — is Romney.


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At Google's (GOOG) I/O developers conference in San Francisco last week, Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai announced that Chrome is now the world's most popular Web browser and that there are now 900 million Android devices worldwide.
Google has created quite an impressive global footprint. And the fact that Chrome is now bigger than Microsoft's Internet Explorer makes me wonder why our government and the European Union spent millions of dollars and countless person-years prosecuting Microsoft in an effort to keep it from dominating the computing landscape.
I didn't appreciate it at the time, but in retrospect I agree with Bill Gates' testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee back in 1998 when he said, "People who feared IBM were wrong." He added, that "Technology is ever-changing" and "No company owns the factory for ideas." He was defending Microsoft against a barrage of antitrust charges.
Gates was more on-target than I suspect he realized or might have hoped for, given the extent to which Google and Apple (AAPL) have taken both market share and mind share away from the company he founded.
One of the major concerns of regulators near the end of the last century and the beginning of this one was Microsoft's bundling of the Internet Explorer Web browser. And that concern remains. Just this March, Microsoft was fined $733 million because it failed to implement a mandatory pop-up screen giving European consumers the ability to select their browser of choice. Microsoft, which paid the fine without protest, said it was a technical glitch in an early version of Windows 7.
While I'm sure Europe can use the money, the fine struck me as the proverbial beating of a dead horse. Of course, Microsoft is far from dead. Its desktop operating system and its Office suite of products remain a cash cow and maintain the company's domination in those markets. But to fret over the installation of a browser on desktop operating systems during an era where everyone is focused on mobile -- and when desktop users can easily download Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and other browsers -- struck me as downright silly.
Which brings us back to Google. During his closing remarks, Google CEO Larry Page said that, "Every story I read about Google is us versus some other company or some stupid thing." He added that, "Being negative is not how we make progress," and "the most important things are not zero sum. There is a lot of opportunity out there."
He was talking about -- among other things -- the allegation that Microsoft recently configured its Messenger product so that it won't interact with Google's. He made no direct references to government probes, but they couldn't have been far from his mind, considering how many governments on both sides of the Atlantic are looking into various Google practices. Of course, it's not an entirely lopsided playing field -- Google spends a lot of money on policy teams in Washington and other capitals.
Given the importance of mobile and the rate of growth of Android, Google is becoming the new Microsoft. Sure, Apple is a strong competitor but Google keeps gaining market share -- mostly with phones but recently with tablets as well. There's no question that Google practically has a monopoly on Web search. And with the rapid growth of its Chrome browser, it's starting to dominate there as well.
Google isn't just spending on its core products, but also on future technology like Google Glass and driverless cars. And now that Google is entering the streaming music service, I'm sure there are a lot of nervous executives at Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody and other companies whose turf is being invaded by Google, and will likely soon be invaded by Apple and Amazon as well.
It's no wonder that watchdog groups like Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog have their sights set on Google, as do privacy groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center. And it's probably a very good thing that Google is being watched carefully, even if some of the attacks against it may be somewhat overblown.
But as we keep our collective eyes on Google, don't forget what Gates told that Senate committee. So far, the rule of gravity seems to apply to companies as well. Eventually, "what goes up, must come down."
Larry Magid is co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a nonprofit Internet safety organization that receives some of its funding from Google. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com. Listen for his technology chats on KCBS-AM (740) weekdays at 3:50 p.m.


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29 Opinions
This is not open or free it costs....
Great app, does exactly what it should, and no spyware/adware/nag screens or any other of that nasty stuff =D
Oh, and the auto-rotate thing is just wonderful.
@ nikola:
Why don't you try JustLooking?
It has a very nice interface and works very well. And it's faster than Xee when loading large picture files.
You'll find it here:
Is this app dead? Googlecode wiki is full of issues and yet none of them are resolved :( Too bad.. it's a great little app.
Are there any replacements?
Xee was my first "find" as a replacement for Irfanview under Windows, and seemed very promising. But... It's very slow for even 2000×3000 JPG files, even slower for raw images, and lastly doesn't seem to consider ICC profiles, so images are shown with inaccurate color. Viewit is my current quick viewer of choice, when not wanting to start up bridge or lightroom.
It seems that at one time Preview allowed animated GIF viewing, but dropped that feature (annoying). Viewing them in Safari provides no control (annoying). Xee is a great little utility for viewing ani-GIFs in loop or by individual frames. One problem solved; now for...
Whoa, those replacement icons from Adam Betts rock.
I've noticed that it seems to be slightly slower than Just Looking, but the problem is that I prefer Xee's UI over that of Just Looking - I'm going to check out Xsee and see how that stacks up.
I was using IrfanView (runs on M$ Windows) to convert images and was looking for a replacement on Mac. Xee does it all! It converts, rescales, crops, rotates and saves rotated JPGs without losses. That's really what I need.
I just want to be able to look at my images at 100%. Is this even possible? It's really annoying seeing them scaled to 103% or otherwise and I can't seem to change this in the preferences.
This is a really killer image viewer. I like it a lot.
Page 1 of 3. 29 entries.


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Hi friends. Specially dear Andrew!
I need to create a new tool that extracts properties of selected object(x, y, width, height) and processes them and displays a result to the user. For example suppose this scenario :
1-User selects a car in his map ( opened in QCad )
2-User selects my tool(from toolbar or menubar)
3-(Here is the problem!) My tool gets x,y,w,h of selected car and produces a result based on these four numbers and displays a message box to the user.
I can create new tool (I've read this : http://www.qcad.org/doc/qcad/3.0/developer/_creating_new_tool.html!) But first of all I want to know whether it's possible doing such a task completely in Qt(processing the x,y,w,h numbers)?
Second I need a start point for how to do this task?
Thank you guys!


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Oracle Security Inside Out Newsletter – June Edition
By Troy Kitch-Oracle on Jun 21, 2011
This month's Information In Depth Newsletter, Security Inside Out Edition is now available.
In this edition we look at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2011, discuss safeguarding data from threats with Oracle Database Vault, and reveal the latest database security webcasts, videos, training, events and more.
If you don't have a subscription to this bi-monthly security information update, you can sign up here at the bottom of the page.


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Care Team
The Medical Staff
The physician who admits you is responsible for directing your care while you are in the hospital. Your physician, as the coordinator for your treatment program, should be consulted if you have questions about your illness.
The Nursing Staff
The nursing staff will care for you as ordered by your physician(s).
The hospital maintains a staff of full-time registered dietitians to meet your dietary needs during your stay. If you have questions about your meals or diet, call extension 5273.
Your room is cleaned daily by a member of the housekeeping staff. If there is a housekeeping problem in your room, tell your nurse, and it will be taken care of as soon as possible.
Volunteers contribute many hours of service to the hospital. They supplement the services of the hospital staff in many ways and can be identified by their name badges. Volunteers deliver flowers and mail to patient rooms throughout the day.
Social Workers
Social workers are assigned to each patient care area and provide assistance to help patients and family members deal with financial, social and emotional problems that relate to illness or hospitalization. Members of the department work with patients and families to help deal with the impact of long term illnesses and rehabilitation. They are also involved in discharge planning. Listings of private duty nurses, nurses aides and adult sitter services for discharged patients are available through the Social Services Department at 5265.
The hospital has access to interpreters for a number of foreign languages should a patient require it. Please check with your nurse for more information.
Chaplain Services
Members of the Chaplain Service are available to visit with you upon request. They may also stop by your room to see if you need anything.


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From 'death jars' to wasps: A quest to stamp out the stink bug
The brown marmorated stink bug doesn't just smell bad. It's also been causing trouble for homeowners and farmers from New Hampshire to California for the past three years.
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Topic: St. Patrick's Day and Honoring John Patrick Ur
I just wanted to share what I did yesterday with some friends in honor of what would have been my son's 32nd birthday. We removed wallper, repainted a kitchen, patched and repainted a bedroom, for a woman with Parkinson's Disease. It took 5 of us all day to get the work done (lots of trim and ceiling). I also ran out and bought new mini blinds and curtains since hers had seen better days. She was thrilled when she saw the transformation. I am very sore and tired but it was So worth the work. I have found this a very cathartic exercise to remember my son on his birhtday. Wanted to share with you all -- it was a fabulous day and I know he is looking down and is very proud of all of us. Also, my boss from Washington, DC sent me a text message last night. His daughter (who struggled with preganancy) gave birth to a baby boy yesterday and his name is -- you got it -- John Patrick! This sent chills down my spine........Nancy


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Cowboy defensive lineman charged after teammate dies in auto accident
by Schuyler DixonAP Sports Writer IRVING, Texas (AP) — Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Josh Brent was released Sunday on $500,000 bond, one day after being charged with intoxication manslaughter after what police said was a drunken-driving accident that killed close friend and teammate Jerry Brown. Brent's attorney George Milner had called the bond amount excessive and beyond what the team had authorized him to post. CHARGED–In this Dec. 2, 2012, photo, Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent runs onto the field out of the team's tunnel after being introduced before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)


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How to: Running Seafoam through Vacuum (91-94 Explorers with Pictures)
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We Support Our Troops!


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This delicious recipe came from a friend of Bill's who served it to him at his class reunion. Thank you Bea for sharing it with us.
1 1/2 c. flour
3 T. sugar
3/4 c. butter, softened
Mix above ingredients untill crumbly, then pat into a 9 x 13 in. pan
Bake for 20 minutes at 350.
Meanwhile prepare the filling:
3 T. flour
1 3/4c. sugar
4 egg yolks
3 1/2 c. chopped rhubarb
1/2 c. whip cream
Combine the flour and sugar. Stir in the egg yolks and rhubarb. Fold in the whip cream. Pour into crust.
Bake about 20 minutes or more till a golden color
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
6 T. sugar
Whip together and spread on top. Bake for another 20 minutes until meringue is golden brown.
I'll look forward to seeing you soon,
Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast ——————————-


text: Many web searchers have found this paintball mod and wondered what it was for. The Tacamo Handguard Adapter will attach to any paintball gun that uses model 98 barrel threads and allow the gun to use the shroud from the US Army Alpha Black. This device was originally made for the Tacamo Magazine feed kit. Since the magazine kit is the same for the Alpha Black and the Tippmann 98 Custom, this block needed to be added to the Alpha Black version of the kit so the front shroud would still work. An added bonus of the adapter is that it has a small section of 1″ rail on the top for mounting gear.


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I am usiing C2D 6420, 4GB RAM, 8800GTS, Windows Vista
the way i am connected to the ps3 is with a direct cable to the PC LAN card (i am planning to use it with a router soon, but for now I am with direct connection to the PC). (I am using the same monitor for PC and PS3)
I start the server share my media and use the default settings.
So when I start a movie on the ps3 it starts normally and all, but after a couple of seconds the movie stops and the PS3 Media Server disappears. There isn't a message for "not responding" or anything else.
What do you suggest to do?
Best Regards,
Georgi Georgiev


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hero 1
noun (plural heroes)
1A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: a war hero
More example sentences
- I admired players but my heroes were the ones who were doing what I wanted to be doing or achieving in a year's time.
- Bridgette and Francoise concentrated their energy on admiring their current hero.
- As a nation, we ought to be thankful for the courage of unsung heroes who have sacrificed much to protect society.
brave person, brave man/woman, man/woman of courage, man/woman of the hour, lionheart, warrior, knight;
champion, victor, conqueror
ideal, paragon, shining example, demigod;
favorite, darling
informal celeb
1.1The chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.
Example sentences
- In several films the hero is a comical character, but the portrayal is gentle.
- All of the book's heroes inspire readers to take action in our own neighborhoods and situations.
- She's as strong and likable a female character as Davy is a male hero, making this a perfect bookend to book one.
(male) protagonist, principal (male) character, principal (male) role, main character, title character, starring role, star part;
(male) lead, lead actor, leading man
1.2(In mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semidivine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.
Example sentences
- The myth of the solar hero can be found within many of the ancient civilisations even before the Christian era.
- The second story transports us into the high-pitched world of the famous Greek heroes Ajax and Achilles.
- The birth myths of supernatural heroes have been a subject of considerable interest to psychoanalysts.
2 (also hero sandwich) North American another term for submarine sandwich.
Example sentences
- A little larger than a hero sandwich, it carries a box of flies, a tippet spool, and a pair of pliers.
- In a Norwegian language class, my teacher illustrated the meaning of the word matpakke - 'packed lunch' - by reaching into her backpack and pulling out a hero sandwich wrapped in wax paper.
- She sat on an overturned twenty-liter bucket (her clothes were too filthy to sit on anything else) and munched a hero sandwich with reflective enjoyment.
Middle English (with mythological reference): via Latin from Greek hērōs.
Words that rhyme with heroDe Niro, Nero, Pierrot, Pinero, Rio de Janeiro, sub-zero, zero
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: he·ro
Definition of hero in:
Hero 2
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: He·ro
Definition of hero in:
Hero 3
(1st century), Greek mathematician and inventor; known as Hero of Alexandria. He described a number of hydraulic, pneumatic, and other mechanical devices, including elementary applications of the power of steam.
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: He·ro
Definition of hero in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
= trending


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Learn More
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The ABC Rental Center Baltimore, Maryland has been proudly providing Maryland contractors and homeowners equipment, tool and party rentals for over thirty years.
Our team at ABC Rental Baltimore, Maryland Rosedale has many years of rental experience, and would be happy to use their expertise to assist you in selecting the necessary equipment for your job or special occasion.
Our mission is to become the preferred rental centers for both contractors and homeowners in the Baltimore Metropolitan area through integrity, respect for others, exemplary customer service, and a well-maintained inventory of rental equipment.
Whether you are a contractor who needs a large piece of equipment (Backhoe, Bobcat, Lift), a homeowner who needs to complete a job around the house (Tiller, Woodchipper, Eel), or just someone planning an important party (big or small), our motto is "YOU NEED IT, WE RENT IT". Please give us a call and let us make your life easier.


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Apply for our
All market data displayed has been derived by Monecor and is not in its original raw form.
ETX Capital's powerful, trader-designed platform. Users get access to a significant number of trading resources and tools, including a wide selection of chart and graph options. TraderPro offers thousands of markets to choose from, with a global range of Indices, Equities, Forex Pairs and Commodities.
If you're looking for tight spreads and a highly interactive trading experience, consider ETX TraderPro.
The MetaTrader 4 platform is used globally; as a company with a presence all around the world, ETX Capital is pleased to be able to host its own version of MT4 for clients.
The platform allows users to trade via automated EA's (expert advisors) to trade on the financial markets. The one-click trading tool gives the users the ability to execute trades rapidly, whilst users can also take advantage of the leverage of up to 400:1 available on certain Forex pairs.*
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I-77 tourism center closed
Local travel info location included in Ohio cuts
January 31, 2013
A "closed" sign has been taped to the glass entrance door on the Ohio Travel Information Center at the I-77 rest stop north of Marietta....
My hubby and I stop at travel centers when when we enter a new state. We coule look the stuff up on our smart phones, but it is not the same as talking to someone who knows the area and has pride in their state.
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
restrooms, vending and other facilities at the interstate rest stops will remain open to the public. So you can still pee and flee.
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
The small tourism building near Krogers doesn't seem to be open much, in fact it hasn't been open at any time I've been there. It's difficult to see, it's tiny, and I've never seen signage that indicates there is tourist information available at exit #1. Closure of the rest area may be good for the exit #1 businesses though, unless the people stopping just want to use the bathroom facilities..
7 Agrees | 2 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
To quote stiffy "it's about time" !! It should have never been opened in the first place.
2 Agrees | 5 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
We can't have everything. I wonder about those jobs. It's nice to hear the workers will be offered jobs in other areas, but I hope we're not "making" jobs. We won't save a dime that way.
9 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
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You. You I like. We should do some runs on Spiral Knights together sometime!
Sorry about that. I've only done CBs so I didn't know that the NDAs for QAing a game would be so strict.
happy birthday :]
welcome back! you tall korean you ! =D
Welcome back to the forums.
Glad to see your presence in the Free MMORPG section again.
"BTW HI!!!" to you too!
Happy birthday, old man. ;D
Happy b-day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday
Lies, some douche took Corison so I deleted my noob and his name is Corrision.
Retired Staff
Cloud's Hair Spray
Eriond's Egotist
Super Moderator
in the sky with diamonds
OnRPG Elite Member!
Arri's Animal
Ape for Diddy
Shadowsworn's Sandwich


text:
Current Information
Forms & Resources
Calendar Events
Recreation Department
Clifton Recreation Department
900 Clifton Avenue
Clifton, NJ 07013
Directions to the Center
Phone: (973) 470-5956
Fax: (973) 815-0599
Program Cancellation Number: (973) 470-5680 (Cancellation Message will be updated daily after 4:00 p.m.)
Office Hours: Monday: 8:15 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Tuesday - Friday: 8:15 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. *The Recreation Department is closed on all legal holidays*
Our Mission
The mission of the Clifton Recreation Department is to provide the community with a wide variety of youth, adult and family activities that offer our citizens the opportunity to use personal leisure time in a viable, productive and gratifying manner at various facilities that provide both active and passive atmospheres while maintaining historical and environmental awareness.
Classes, Programs and Special Events;
We have moved to a new website. Visit www.cliftonrec.com to see our upcoming activities.


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Oakland's unemployment rate is far above the state and national average -- around 13 percent. It's much higher in heavily African-American neighborhoods. In other words, there are a lot of desperate people looking for gainful employment.
Because there are so many people in such dire straits, Oakland was able to get a $725,462 National Emergency Grant in 2010 for on-the-job training for the unemployed. Yet the city was forced to return $644,000 of it because city officials failed to take the required actions necessary to comply with the federal guidelines. So, the state Employment Development Department, which administers the grants for the federal government, demanded the money back.
And back it went. First, $400,000 on Dec. 27, 2011. Another $125,462 on May 7, 2012. Then a final installment of $119,150.72 on Nov. 2, 2012.
Poof, a $644,000 gift of free money out the window.
The bad news only became public when Vice Mayor Larry Reid raised the issue at a Jan. 29 meeting of the City Council's Community and Economic Development Committee. Reid asked Fred Blackwell, assistant city administrator, to prepare a report on what job training funds had been returned to the state and federal governments due to the city's failure to use them.
City Council President Pat Kernighan, who is a member of the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) which is supposed to provide oversight for the city's federally funded job training and employment programs, says she only recently became aware that the funds had been sent back.
"I don't know enough of the details to draw a clear conclusion about what went wrong," Kernighan says. "But I think that the city does owe the WIB members and the general public a clear explanation of what's been going on and why this money was returned."
This fiasco is merely the latest in a long-running saga of political infighting, bureaucratic dysfunction and incompetence in the city's workforce investment programs.
At stake are millions of dollars in federal funds that have flowed to Oakland under the Workforce Investment Act, a pie which everyone wants a piece of.
The Workforce Investment Board itself is merely a pass-through agency that contracts out to providers who do the actual job training and recruit employers. The 41-person board is made up of mayoral appointees from business and labor, as well as representatives from nonprofits and other agencies with WIB contracts.
Up until January 2011, the board contracted with the nonprofit Oakland Private Industry Council to oversee how the funds were spent. But in late 2010, then-Mayor Ron Dellums recommended that the city assume oversight of the federal dollars. This came after some state and local officials' criticism of the Private Industry Council's performance. Yet city officials apparently were ill-prepared to assume the administrative functions that they had taken away from the Private Industry Council.
The $725,462 grant received in June of 2010 was a major casualty.
There were two big barriers to spending the money.
First, Oakland could only award the funds to agencies that would both provide on-the-job training and could connect people with jobs. The two agencies that Oakland had selected to implement the grant -- Volunteers of America and Youth Employment Partnership -- did not fulfill both requirements. Then, state officials said that Oakland had failed to hold public bids in selecting the agencies -- a grant requirement. In order to spend the money, Oakland would have to hold a public bidding process to select grant providers.
"We originally thought the contract arrangements were in compliance," says John Bailey, the former CEO at Volunteers of America, who took over as executive director of the Workforce Investment Board in January of 2011. "But then these issues started surfacing at different times."
The federal government required the funds to be spent by June of 2012.
The clock was ticking. It finally ran out.
Out of the total $725,000, Oakland was only able to spend about $80,000 on an already existing contract with the Oakland Private Industry Council to provide on-the-job training.
That was possible only because the state extended the deadline.
To be fair, Bailey inherited the mess. But he still had nearly a year to come up with a corrective plan of action before the state started asking for its money back. My question is, where was the oversight?
Mayor Jean Quan announced last week that Bank of America had donated $50,000 for the Mayor's Summer Jobs Program.
The shame is, Oakland lost 13 times that amount because the city couldn't get its act together.
Tammerlin Drummond is a columnist for the Bay Area News Group. Her column runs Tuesday and Sunday. Contact her at email@example.com or follow her at Twitter.com/Tammerlin


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It appears that the veterans who have made negative comments regarding affirmative action, based upon race and religious discrimination, do not understand the real meaning of affirmative action. It means that you cannot refuse to hire the most qualified individual for a position because of their race or religious affiliation. Too often, and it is happening everyday in America, the most qualified individual is not selected for a position because of their race or religious affiliation. It appears that it is okay to die for this country; however, it is not okay to select the most qualified individual for a position because of their race or religious affiliation. Wake up veterans, we had your back in combat; however, it appears you want to disown us when it comes to getting jobs!
Primary tabs
Should affirmative action include requirements to hire a certain percentage of veterans?
9 Comments
Unfortunately Affirmative Action was needed, It helped me and alot others if it wasn't for it I would have never opportunity to be in the Navy. The program help my demographic actually the most: The White Female,(People are mistaken when they think it helped African Americans the most) I am a proud say I was a Successful Sailor, Wife, and Mother. I am Proud that I was able to Serve My Country as my Father did before me, as a girl I just wanted to get in his sea bag and go off and travel with him and Chief buddies. If Attitudes in the work place hadn't of changed I would have never served on a Combatant Ship and Earned my Warfare Devices. People are still being discriminated against so lets just stop discriminating. Let's let the gay come out, cause they are here, and have been here since forever, and lets start to hire because people because they are Qualified not what race or gender they are., HMC(SW/AW)(ret)Jennifer Brennan
I believe in Affirmative action only if the person being considered is qualified for the job that is avalible not just to fill the position because a minority has to be hired to fill a position.
Affirmative action is discrimination pure and simple. I worked for a major defense contractor for over 20 years and I lost my job, my retirement, and my benefits, due to the company being forced to hire minorities per affirmative action. Ask me if I think it's right?...NO IT IS NOT!
Vietnam Veteran
I also agree with the previous comments by sunny.Very good point.Yes unfortunately it happens and it makes a difference if youre a veteran.I agree that a there should be something added that us veterans should be hired on jobs as i also am a ten point veteran and vets i agree should come first in line when it comes to jobs.It is important that we recognize all us veterans who have served our country as lots have gone through many adverses and with this new inactment put in place would help our us veterans.
I am a veteran who has lived and resides in the State Of Hawaii and when first came here found it very hard to live here and find work after the military after having service injury during service.I firmly believe in this action as veterans everywhere in the world that have fought for our country have earned this right as US Citizens of their state.I support the US Veterans as they are the backbone of our country.
I'd remind the Cpl that he is correct, "option that worked to correct this inequality was affirmative action". They key word is WAS. If you have ever lost out on a good job because of you're a white male,you'd know that it's as bad as being denied that job because you're a minority. I'm not saying that bigotry is no longer a factor nor racism. Some people will never change unfortunately but to do the same wrongs to others because of their skin or sex doesn't make it right. AA DID help to correct this but today IS different than yesterday. With stronger laws, many avenues of challenging such wrongs are in place. More women and minorities are rightfully in place where they can help right an inequity that may be done. It's time for people to stand on their own abilities and not hide behind AA to get ahead. And in many places, veterans get "vet preference points". With everyone struggling, let's not MAKE it a vet, racial or gender battle. A little tolerance please.
I would remind the Capt., Ron Kriel (Ret), that the military was one of the first implementers of affirmative action techniques to offset the inequality of minority officers and enlisted men in the services.
Many, highly qualified minority personnel, were relegated to subordinate jobs because of misconceived ideas about racial intelligence, training and genetic dispositions.
The only option that worked to correct this inequality was affirmative action programs and protocols.
The programs in the military have proven beyond a doubt that affirmative action does work to put the right people into the right job and provide equity with racial population proportions.
Affirmative action is not putting underrated people in the wrong job, it's putting equally qualified people into jobs so as to assure that no one race will dominate the job market.
Cpl. John Ray (Ret)
Since I believe that individuals should be selected on their merits, including training, experience, skill, etc., I do not believe in affirmative action. In this light, the question is moot.
Ron Kriel
CAPT USN (Ret.)


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City plans secure shred day
Published: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 4:13 p.m.
The city of Hendersonville will sponsor a secure shred day for citizens from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 22 in the parking lot of Patton Park, 59 E. Clairmont Drive, Hendersonville. American Security Shredding Inc. will have its shredding truck in the parking lot to allow residents to dispose of sensitive materials.
Citizens are invited to bring up to two boxes (or 50 pounds) of paper items to be shredded. Suggested items to shred are financial statements, canceled checks, credit card statements, payroll stubs, insurance forms, old tax returns and forms from doctor's offices.
This event is not for businesses. The public is welcome to drop documents off or stay and watch their documents be destroyed. The event will happen rain or shine. If the shredding truck fills up before 10:30 a.m., the event will be over.
To make this part of a community outreach effort, the city is asking that residents bring items to donate to the Storehouse and Interfaith Assistance Ministry. Suggested items are canned fruits and vegetables, canned chili and beef stew, stuffing mix, and canned hams. For more information, contact Lu Ann Welter in the city planning department at 828-697-3088 or email@example.com.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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via Personal Recipe 1716945:
Looks like he is smoking the bird.
За это и люблю))
Venting: When the shopping is...
It's supposed to be Snoop Dogg on Snoopy's house and instead of the bird (Woodstock) being with him, he has a joint ^-^
This doesn't make sense :L
What? This guy, is in the place of snoopy..... And a bird..... In his hands..... Well it may mean something that I do not get :D
XD It isn't a bird... is a joint! :)
it is an onion
Nice Underwear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What is it? :D