text:
No comments posted. |E-mail|Print | Text Size | Bookmark
5 things we learned in Week 6
What we learned in Week 6 of the high school season, especially in the Naugatuck Valley League divisional races, is that nothing is guaranteed. In the Copper Division, Woodland (4-0, 4-1 overall) can help itself greatly with a win over Naugatuck (3-1, 4-2) Friday. The Greyhounds put themselves in a real hole with a loss to Holy Cross (2-1, 4-2).
The Crusaders have some work to do, but clearly helped themselves. Just when it looked like Torrington was in the picture, the Red Raiders slipped up with losses to Woodland and Holy Cross.
In the Brass Division, Wolcott (4-0, 6-0) still holds a half-game edge on Ansonia (3-0, 6-0), and all eyes will be on their Nov. 2 meeting. Wolcott has never beaten Ansonia. Derby blew any chances of staying in the race with a loss to the Eagles Friday.
Here's what else we learned:
1. Southington (6-0, 2-0 CCC Division I-West), coming off a 28-21 win over Glastonbury Saturday night at Falcon Field is primed for a state title run. The Blue Knights moved all of the way up to the No. 2 spot in the Class LL ratings, flip-flopping with the Tomahawks, and are just behind Staples and ahead of Greenwich. Staples and Greenwich meet on Thanksgiving. Southington still needs to meet Simsbury (2-0, Division I-West, 4-2). But second-year coach Mike Drury can control his destiny.
2. In the preseason, Holy Cross quarterback Kristian Harmeling was profiled in the Republican-American as a first-year signal-caller taking over an experienced offensive team. He and the Crusaders have clearly had their ups and downs, but should be surging after Harmeling's game-winning, 53-yard run to seal the win over Naugatuck.
Harmeling possesses the poise of his predecessor, Zach Brown, who just happened to the guy who had a game-winning TD run to seal the Crusaders' 34-27 win over Cromwell in the Class S state title game in 2011.
Quarterbacks need to make plays when it truly counts and offensive coordinator Matt Smolley and QB coach Eric Barbarito have enough confidence to let them create a big play. It didn't get bigger than Saturday afternoon.
3. Raeshaun Finney could be the least known of the playmakers on the Ansonia football team. But that doesn't bother the senior in the least. Finney's speed, pass catching ability and downfield blocking capabilities make the Chargers better. He and Andrew Matos help make tailback Arkeel Newsome even more effective because opponents must keen a close eye on Finney and Matos.
The Matos-Finney gadget play against Watertown last week was a thing of beauty and I wouldn't be surprised to see that come up, if not in the final month of the regular season, then certainly in the postseason as the Chargers make a run for their 19th state crown.
4. Jamie Coty, the Wolcott Tech head football coach, led his team to a win over Whitney Tech Saturday, only the varsity's second in as many years. Coty, the ex-Wilby standout, is the only coach that the Wildcats have ever known over the past five years and deserves a lot of credit for his patience and willingness to start a program from scratch without a lot of resources.
And they also don't have their own field this year — utilizing the Torrington Pop Warner field — with the Torrington campus field being renovated.
5. On the field or off, Woodland Regional coach Tim Shea is one of those gentle giants. He doesn't feature one of those flamboyant personalities. While he can be loud at times, his message is effective and definitely can be heard. He'll occasionally have that stare down look. He was a major part of the Hawks' two state championship teams in 2004 and 2005 as the defensive coordinator. Now in his fifth season as the head coach, he's got his team in line for a NVL Copper Divisional crown and an outside shot at Class S playoff berth after a decisive win over Torrington.
Reader Comments
The following are comments from online readers like you. In no way do they represent the view of The Republican-American.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog.
Please be civil and respectful.
Registered users comments will be posted automatically.
All other comments will be reviewed by our staff before appearing on the Web site.
If you're witty, to the point and quotable, your reader comments may also be included on the Around the Towns page of The Sunday Republican.
Redzone News
Redzone Videos
Redzone Blog
XML_Parser: undefined entity at XML input line 8:18
Photo Galleries


text:
Value-conscious wine consumers know to avoid marquee regions like Napa Valley and Burgundy. Value seekers are also comfortable with the obscure-find value in places like Spain, northern Italy and France's Loire Valley. These value seekers should add South Africa to their lists.
South Africa's wine industry traces its roots to the 1650's, when the Dutch East India Company established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope to provide its merchants, who were constantly voyaging from Europe to East Asia, with fresh food and supplies. The settlers were urged to plant vineyards, as wine could defend against scurvy.
Over the next 300 years, South Africa's wine industry experienced all manner of ups and downs. But by and large, local vintners were more interested in quantity than quality, primarily producing cheap wine for local consumption.
South Africa's modern wine era began in 1973 when lawmakers created the "Wine of Origin" system to regulate labeling. A number of quality brands soon launched, but even then, South African wine remained a local beverage. Because of Apartheid most Western nations refused to trade with South Africa.
When South Africa's last remaining Apartheid laws were abolished in the early 1990's, the world suddenly opened up. According to Frisco Wine Merchant's Susanne Johnston, a lot of wineries that employed African workers actually incorporated them into winery ownership after Apartheid laws disappeared.
Andre Shearer, owner of Cape Classics, the largest importer of South African wines to the United States, said the value found in South African wines is "extraordinary."
"The past few years have actually been very good for us, because Americans are seeking value. Retailers and sommeliers are looking for good wine that's affordable - and American consumers are open minded and willing to try wines from unfamiliar places," Shearer explained.
At Frisco Liquors, John Davis sells South African blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, as well as Shiraz and Malbec in the Engelbrecht Els Proprietor's Blend. "South African wines have a value similar to most South American wines," Davis said.
One of South Africa's main grapes, the Pinotage, did not mesh with the flavors that Davis' customers wanted. "I think the winemakers realized that, too," he said, because South African wineries have recently "modified their wines to match our tastes," by creating more blends.
Although some are slightly more expensive at around $30 per bottle, South African blends have been more popular in Davis' store.
With virtually every classic variety - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon - the best wines bridge the gap between the Old World and the New World. In other words, South African vintners don't try to hide the sunshine, yet they don't go overboard. South Africa's top wines are unabashedly ripe but also show finesse.
Then there's South African Chenin Blanc, which is both stunning and affordable, yet somehow remains under the radar. Although the grape's ancestral home is France's Loire Valley, more than half the world's plantings of Chenin Blanc are in South Africa. Just like vintners in France, South African producers make the wine in a variety of styles, from bone dry to lusciously sweet.
Chenin Blanc is unbeatable as an everyday white wine. When well crafted, Chenin Blanc is bursting with fresh fruit and delicate floral aromas, backed by crisp acidity.
At Frisco Liquors, Davis sells an organic Chenin Blanc for around $11 called Releaf.
Shearer doesn't expect South African wine to "explode" in popularity anytime soon. He's seen slow but steady growth over the past 29 years and expects that trend to continue. Yet his nation is consistently producing many fantastic wines, and virtually all are good values.
-- David White is the founder and editor of Terroirist.com. Read more of his work at Wines.com.
Releaf Chenin Blanc - $10.59
Releaf Red Blend - $10.59
Meerlust Rubicon - $31.99
Engelbrecht Els Proprietor's Blend - $39.99

subset: commoncrawl


text:
What is the connection between Gateway and Quest
I am guessing gateway is molding disc for Quest but I was just wondering the back story as I have quite a few "Gateway Quest" disc. I think I have different Scream DT's stamped Gateway, Quest, and Gateway Quest. Also my Infernos are stamped Gateway even though they are no longer listed on the Gateway site even though the still list an ad for the "Gateway Inferno"
I was just wondering what the deal was.


text:
November 15, 2005
If you pay your rent on time and in full every month, you don't expect to be evicted. But that's just what happened to an Augusta woman. News 12 learned this happens to renters several times a week.
Sherry Hill lived here for a little over a year. She moved in from out of state with her children and needed a place to rent.
"I called him, like what's going on, I'm paying you this money, this rent," Hill said.
She came home one day to find a warning sign on her door. She was about to be evicted. For 14 months she paid rent to her landlord, but Richmond County court records show he pocketed the money and got behind on paying for the property. His mortgage company then began repossessing the home.
"I'm like oh no, he did not let this go into foreclosure, what am I going to do?" Hill said.
Sherry Hill wrote the court saying she had faithfully paid her rent to her landlord, Nicholas Kwadey. Richmond County Judge H. Scott Allen was in charge of this case, and he says as far as the courts are concerned, she was not the tenant, her landlord was. Sherry, like many renters, had no rights.
"If you ask the mortgage company if they had ever heard of Ms. Hill, they would say no, we don't know who that is," Judge Allen said.
She came home on September 27 to find a final eviction notice on her door, and gave her one day to leave. Now, her former house on Floyd Drive has sat empty ever since. The mortgage company eventually reclaimed the house.
"The eviction action was completely legal," Judge Allen said.
This is of little comfort to Sherry Hill, who found herself packing, out of her rent and a home all in one day. She spent the week with her children in a hotel off Gordon Highway.
"I didn't have no place to go," Hill said.
She now has a new home in Evans. But the lesson sticks with her.
News 12 tried repeatedly to contact former landlord Nicholas Kwadey, but he did not return any phone calls. His former neighbors say he suddenly left for Virginia earlier this year without so much as a goodbye. In cases like this, renters can take their landlords to court, but the process can be long and expensive.


text:
TRACY - Police on Tuesday raided Computer Crazy, a business in the 1200 block of West 11th Street, and confiscated computers and other equipment they say was part of an illegal gambling operation.
Several illegal gambling operations have been shut down in San Joaquin County this year.
Tuesday's raid included officers from the Tracy Police Department as well as representatives of the state Department of Justice, Employment Development Department, Department of Industrial Relations and Homeland Security.
According to Tracy police, the supposed Internet cafe opened in November. By January, neighbors had noticed increased issues with narcotics violations, fights and other disturbances, authorities said.
In addition to the raid on the business, officials raided the Antioch home of the owner, police said.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
SANTA CLARA — Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio credited "great quarterbacks, great receivers" for opponents' ability to rack up yards against the 49ers in the playoffs.
If Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens' receivers can do the same against the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, they'll surely be considered great, too.
Fangio has been a fan of Flacco since serving as a Ravens assistant during Flacco's first two seasons.
"I remember his first (offseason training) sessions as a rookie, I said to (coach) John Harbaugh: 'You have your horse to ride for 10 years, at least.' I felt he could be a great quarterback in the league and I still feel that way.
"He's got a big arm, throws the ball effortlessly. The game isn't too big for him. He's calm, confident."
The 49ers allowed Matt Ryan to pass for 396 yards and three touchdowns before linebackers Ahmad Brooks and NaVorro Bowman came through with clutch pass deflections to thwart a late Falcons drive.
"We played some tight coverage, rushed four guys and executed well," Fangio said of that finishing effort. "It was a big batted pass by Ahmad on third down. Brooks also had a big play on second down when he hit the quarterback."
Ryan sustained an injured left (non-throwing) shoulder when hit by Brooks on that second-down pass attempt. Creating more pressure on the quarterback will be key against Flacco on Feb. 3 in New Orleans.


text:
About the Book
The author of the phenomenally popular Modern Girl's Guide to Life, Jane Buckingham is back with The Modern Girl's Guide to Sticky Situations, a helpful handbook for surviving headaches, pickles, jams, and everyday emergencies. The president of the innovative marketing and media consulting firm Trendera and a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan Magazine, Jane Buckingham dispenses savvy solutions to life's myriad little annoyances with warmth, great wit, and impeccable wisdom.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
This is the book to grab when . . . you're pulling your hair out, screaming like a banshee, blubbering with frustration, or hyperventilating because you just don't know what to do!
Jane Buckingham, author of The Modern Girl's Guide to Life, is back with a collection of helpful quick fixes for the deserving gal with the best intentions who gets caught in sticky situations. Here are warm, witty, and eminently wise solutions to those everyday problems that pop up as a result of impulsive actions or just plain bad luck—helpful hints on what to do if you:
- Send an e-mail you instantly regret
- Botch your self-tan
- Discover your best friend's husband is cheating on her
- Break your corkscrew while opening your only bottle of wine
- Run into your ex and need to look hot, fast!
- Are expected to name your baby after a family member with an awful name
And that's just a small sampling of the scenarios for which Jane Buckingham offers solutions in The Modern Girl's Guide to Sticky Situations. So if you find yourself in a pickle . . . just leave it to Jane!
Educator and Librarian Resources
Critical Praise
"A lifesaver…. [The Modern Girl's Guide to Sticky Situations is] the paperback personification of a BFF, and you won't want to leave home without it." — LATimes.com
Product Details
- Imprint: William Morrow Paperbacks
- On Sale: 05/11/2010
- Trimsize: 6 in (w) x 8 in (h) x 0.92 in (d)
- Pages: 368
- List Price: 19.99 USD
- BISAC1: SELF-HELP / Creativity


text:
Transform an ordinary sheet cake into a cake fit for a princess. Little hands can help count & sort ingredients.
Watch Ni Hao, Kai-lan only on Nick Jr.
Spoon 3 tablespoons of the vanilla frosting into a small plastic resealable bag. Tint 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting bright pink with the neon food coloring. Spoon the frosting into a small plastic resealable bag. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting pale beige using 1/2 teaspoon of the dark chocolate frosting and 2 drops of the yellow food coloring. To prevent frosting from drying out, cover it until it's ready to use. Tint the remaining dark chocolate frosting black with the black food coloring. Spoon 1/2 cup of the black frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a plain #2 tip or a small plastic resealable bag with a corner snipped off. Cover the remaining black frosting until ready to use.
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Heat the yellow fruit chews in the microwave for no more than 3 seconds to soften slightly. (Note: do not heat fruit chews for more than 3 seconds). Press 4 of the yellow fruit chews together and roll out into a strip 1 x 12 inches long. Use a pizza wheel or clean scissors to cut the fruit chew. Cut one fruit chew in half and shape each piece into the swirl for Kai-lan's crown. Roll out one fruit chew and cut into a heart shape using the heart template. Press the 2 remaining yellow fruit chews together, roll out and cut into her neck piece using the template. Transfer the pieces to the sheet of wax paper until ready to use.
Heat the blue and the pink fruit chews in the microwave for no more than 3 seconds to soften slightly. Press 5 of the blue fruit chews together and roll out to a 1/8th inch thickness. Use the template to cut out 10 teardrop shapes and to make the 5 petal flowers. Cut out a 2-inch strip for her collar. Cut the remaining blue fruit chew in half lengthwise. Roll out each piece to make a strip about 1x2 inches long. Cut four strips lengthwise into the fruit chew, but not all the way to make the tassels. Roll out the pink fruit chew and cut out the heart shape using the template. Cut a small oval of the pink fruit chew for Kai-lan's tongue. Transfer the pieces to the wax paper.
Heat the chocolate taffy pieces in the microwave for no more than 3 seconds to soften slightly. Roll out each piece to a 1/8th inch thickness. Cut out Kai-lan's irises using the template. Transfer the pieces to the wax paper.
Place the cake on a clean work surface. Use a small serrated knife to cut out the cake shape with the template. Discard the scraps or save them for snacking.
Transfer the trimmed cake to a serving platter or a cardboard surface covered with foil. Use a toothpick to score Kai-lan's hair and dress into the cake as a guide.
Spread the pale beige frosting over the area of cake for Kai-lan's face and make smooth. Snip a very small corner from all of the bags with the frosting. Use the black frosting to pipe an outline of her hair. Fill in the area with the black frosting from the bowl and make smooth. Fill in the dress area on the cake with some of the pink frosting and make smooth. Use the template and a toothpick to mark the eyes. Pipe the vanilla frosting and fill in for her eyes and make smooth.
Using the photo as a guide, arrange the yellow candies as Kai-lan's crown. Place the pink heart on top of the yellow heart candy and place in the center of the yellow strip of candy. Press the tips of 5 of the blue tear drop shape candies to make a flower. Repeat with the remaining 5 pieces. Place the flowers on either side of her hair. Add the yellow piece of fruit chew as the front of her dress with the blue strip of fruit chew. Pipe a 2 inch line of yellow frosting from the base of the flower on her hair and add the 2 blue tassels on either side of the cake. Add the yellow candies.
Pipe the black frosting details of Kai-lan's eyes, nose, eye brows, and mouth. Add the chocolate taffy pieces as her eyes. Pipe the black frosting as the pupils and a dot of vanilla frosting on top of the pupils to add 'sparkle' to her eyes.
Try this tasty Kai-lan Halloween treat--it will never go extinct!
Give an apple a Rintoo-licious makeover with some yummy dulce de leche
Little dragons everywhere will love Rintoo's too cute Halloween cupcake!
Count on your little baker to sort out the candies in this terrific Tolee treat!
Follow these 5 simple steps to make a super sweet treat
The cutest Koala you've seen on a cupcake!
They're as sweet as Hoho, himself!
The tasty treat that's fit for a tiger!
Smoothies are super with a little ladybug luck!
Kai-lan has a healthy meal all wrapped up!
Like magic, these yummy cupcakes will disappear into thin air!
Be like a brave bunny & bake this easy recipe with your little rabbit!
Dora takes the cake. And in this case, she IS the cake!
Surprise party guests with this pair of costume-clad bunnies
What's hiding under that sheet? One fin-tastic treat!
Bake up a perfect party cake for your Peppa fan!
On a mission for an umirrific cake? It's Bot to the rescue!
Bake a cake to look just like your kid's favorite pattern-powered Umi friend!
Shape a cake to look like Geo!
Little guppies will flip for this funny take on dessert!
Bake the cake and top it off with Molly and Gil!
These fetchin' cupcakes will stand out at your little guppy's next party!
Create bakery-worthy cupcakes that look like Max & Ruby
Try this tasty Kai-lan Halloween treat--it will never go extinct!
Turn plain pound cake into bite-sized cake pops that look like Little Fish!
Here's a fresh cake that will take center stage at your next party!
Charm loved ones with Dora's dainty cupcake rings on Valentine's Day!
Roll out the red carpet for the cutest cupcakes around!
Little dragons everywhere will love Rintoo's too cute Halloween cupcake!
Get your party started with Dino Dan & these delicious treats!
Count on your little baker to sort out the candies in this terrific Tolee treat!
Take your little Umizoomi fan for a sweet ride with this easy homemade cake
A cupcake and a simple ice cream cone turn into an edible microphone!
Bake up Boots with your little kitchen helper!
It's a-Bot time for these yummy cupcakes!
Shape up with these math-minded cupcakes from Geo!
Make way for Milli's mighty good cupcakes!
Make a cake fit for a princess!
Follow these 5 simple steps to make a super sweet treat
The cutest Koala you've seen on a cupcake!


text: Soft Touch Shadow Pencils provide easy, portable, long-wearing application. These jumbo sized pencils have versatile functionality to shade the lid, line, or highlight the eye. Smooth, creamy texture delivers a smooth, velvety feel to the eye and make for easy blending and an ideal base for layering with a powder shadow for increased color intensity.


text:
Bridge closed through Friday
Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 4:05 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 12:52 a.m.
A closure of the Houma Navigation Canal Bridge on South Van Avenue has been extended through Friday.
Motorists will not be able to use the bridge from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The closure will allow state Transportation Department and Development crews to work on a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation project.
Alternate routes include the Houma Tunnel and the Twin Span bridges.
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.


text:
ROCHESTER— On March 5, Stacey Bessette, age 24, of 11 Pine Grove Lane in Lebanon, Maine, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor level offense of willful concealment. The incident occurred at the Rochester Walmart. Bessette was released on $1,000 personal recognizance bail with an arraignment date of April 1, at 8 a.m., at the 7th Circuit District Division Rochester Court.
Comments are currently unavailable on this article
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Follow us
Parliamentary sitting calendar
Go to the full calendar of events
Welcome to Parliament House tour (free)
This free tour is a great way to learn about some of the features of Parliament House with one of our friendly guides.
Times: 9.30am, 11.00am, 1.00pm, 2.00pm, and 3.30pm every day (except Christmas)
Duration: 40 minutes
In-depth tours (paid)
Every day we offer in-depth paid tours. Some of these tours explore the building and the Parliament in more detail while others explore special stories of the collections and people at Parliament House. These tours rotate throughout the year.
For security purposes, participants must present photo identification for all behind the scenes tours of the building. In the event a patron does not have this, they will be unable to participate.
Parliamentary sitting days:
On days when Parliament is sitting these tours will explore highlights in the public spaces of the building. Get more out of your visit by combining an in-depth tour with a visit to Question Time to see Parliament in action.
Times: 10.00am, 12.00 noon, and 3.00pm every day (except Christmas)
Duration: 55 minutes
Cost: Adults $15, Concession/Child $10
Non-sitting days:
When Parliament is not sitting paid tours may go behind the scenes, providing a special opportunity to explore some of the building's private spaces. 'Behind the scenes' tours are only available on non-sitting days.
Cost: $25, Concession/Child: $20
Current in-depth tour:
Discover Parliament House
Are you interested in learning more about one of Australia's most iconic buildings? Have all of your questions answered on this in-depth tour of Parliament House.
On occasion we may need to change our tour times or offerings. For more information before you visit please contact Visitor Services on (02) 6277 5399 or email@example.com
School tours of Parliament House are available to all Australian Primary and Secondary schools. For bookings and information on school programs, please click on the links below.
Private tours of the building are available to members of the public and visiting tour groups. If you are visiting with a larger group or would like a more personalised experience we recommend that you consider pre-booking a private tour. Special interest tours led by specialist staff may also be available at the time of your visit. Pre-booking is required for all private tours. A minimum of 20 people is required for private tours. Please submit a private tour booking form to email@example.com
Duration: 60 minutes
Tour led by Visitor Services Officers:
Weekdays during regular business hours: $25 per person
Weekends and after hours: $30 per person
Tour led by specialist staff (e.g. landscape gardener, heritage officer, art curator, etc.):
Non-sitting weekdays during regular business hours: $30 per person
Weekends and after hours: $60 per person
Graduate tours are available to Government Department Graduate Programs, at a cost of $5.00 per Graduate. Graduate Tours are available 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday, including sitting and non-sitting periods. Minimum numbers apply. Bookings are essential, please complete the graduate tour booking form and submit it to email@example.com
Please access the survey at:


text:
Laura S. Glascock, 52, of Palmyra, Mo., went to Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Ill., for treatment of minor injuries suffered in a one-car accident at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 16, on U.S. 61 two miles north of Palmyra.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported Glascock was driving a 1989 Buick Park Avenue and backing northbound on the southbound shoulder of U.S. 61.
Officers said the car hit a mailbox, crossed the median and the northbound lanes, went over an embankment on the east side of the highway and stopped at the base of the embankment. Glascock was wearing a seat belt.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Liverpool slideshow
Football: Sam Allardyce would be a fool to bring John Terry back to the England side
John Terry has a series of controversial off-field incidents and the Chelsea defender's abilities on the pitch appear in terminal decline, so Alex Netherton asks why Sam Allardyce wants him in his England squad? More »Alex Netherton - Tue, Aug 23, 2016 11:34 BST
Cricket live: England v Pakistan
Ball-by-ball commentary of the first ODI from Southampton. More »uk.sports.yahoo.com
Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Hart 'furious' with Guardiola, 'Lord' Bendtner to return?
The Boss of Goss Kevin Darling wraps up the latest transfer rumours with the latest on Joe Hart's situation and Nicklas Bendtner could make a return to London. More »Yahoo Sport UK - 14 hours ago
Formula 1: Rejuvenated Hamilton has 50th win in his sights
Lewis Hamilton can become only the third driver to win 50 grands prix when Formula One returns from its month-long break this weekend. More »uk-sport-f1.yahoo.com
Premier League: Pep Guardiola deserves criticism for dropping Joe Hart
Pep Guardiola's almost unparalleled success has given him a mandate to almost do whatever he wants at Manchester City, but Graham Ruthven asks if stubbornness is getting the best of him More »Graham Ruthven - Tue, Aug 23, 2016 13:46 BST


text:
Small Farm Sample Plans
Business Planning
Sample Business Plan Directory - Small Farm
Sample Business Plan Template / Outline
Small Farm Business Plan Writing Tips:
Business Profile - Explain in detail about your business, trends, organizational structure, influential factors in the Small Farm market, patterns of research and development, contracts, and operational procedures.
Your Small Farm Business Plan is perhaps the most important document an entrepreneur can create. Your Small Farm business plan helps guide the direction of any new company.
Why start with a Small Farm Sample Business Plan? Working with a sample plan is a great starting point in your development. You can review samples / templates and outlines of other successful Small Farm businesses to give you a feeling for how they organize / document their financials (P&L, cash flow statement, balance sheet), what they include in their mission statement, and how other Small Farm companies write their sales & marketing strategies.
Are You Ready To Own Your Own Business? (Click Here)
Planning Templates |
Plan Outline
Small Farm Business Plan Writer
Small Farm Business Plan Sample


text:
Hi Andrew,
Your post:-
Re: Turn on front, side, elevation views
Postby andrew » Fri May 18, 2012 8:57 am
Sure: the top and side view were drafted as usual with the QCAD 2D tools. the '3D' view is an isometric projection which was created from the front and side view with the isometric projection tool of QCAD.
Implies that an isometric view can be created from a front and side view of an object. Do the front+side views have to be created in a special way? How are the tools used please.


text:
Wednesday will be mostly sunny with a high of 102, a ten percent chance of rain and SW winds at 14 mph. Overnight lows will drop to 76 and be followed on Thursday with an expected high of 104, no expected rainfall and SW winds at 9 mph. Overnight lows on Thursday will drop to 76.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
- Jul 9:
- Mercury News editorial: Bay Bridge still lacks review by independent experts
- Bay Bridge's steel bolt failures reveal inadequate metallurgy expertise, experts say
- Roadshow: Bay Bridge delay gets mixed reviews
- Jul 8:
- Bay Bridge: Opening of new span to be delayed for weeks or months
- Jun 12:
- Bay Bridge: Open new span with or without bolt repairs, experts say
- May 31:
- Daniel Borenstein: Bay Bridge officials don't walk the transparency talk
- May 24:
- Bay Bridge bolt maker says report 'exonerates' it from blame
- May 22:
- Details emerge on who picked steel for Bay Bridge that later broke
- May 21:
- Dan Walters: Is Bay Bridge debacle a harbinger?
- Gov. Jerry Brown: Bay Bridge 'not going to open unless it's ready'
- May 8:
- Bay Bridge: Caltrans to reveal how it will fix bolt problems on span
- May 7:
- California Gov. Jerry Brown breaks silence on cracked Bay Bridge bolts
OAKLAND -- Early results from the unprecedented bolt testing on the new Bay Bridge span are reassuring engineers and officials.
So far, tests on hundreds of Bay Bridge bolts made out of an identical grade steel as the anchor rods that snapped in March show no signs of failure, according to a top project engineer.
"Everything is looking pretty good at this point," said Mazen Wahbeh, a consulting materials engineer leading the bolt-testing regimen for the three agencies overseeing construction of the new eastern span. "We haven't seen any evidence of embrittlement."
The preliminary results are a bit of welcome news on a project beset with delays, cost overruns and wavering public confidence dating back to 1997, when then-Gov. Pete Wilson ordered the seismically vulnerable span replaced rather than retrofitted.
The $6.4 billion span is California's most expensive public works project to date.
It may also be the most tested.
Metallurgists blame hydrogen embrittlement for the failure of 32 of 96 very large -- 3 inches in diameter and 17 to 23 feet long -- steel bolts embedded in seismic stabilizers on the pier east of the tower.
It is a phenomenon found in high-strength galvanized steel under heavy strain, where hydrogen atoms squeeze into the spaces between its latticed molecules, and leave the bolts brittle and vulnerable to fracture.
To learn if the span's other 2,210 fasteners are susceptible to imminent fracture, the Bay Bridge team is subjecting every bolt they can get their hands on to least one test. Samples and full-sized rods of nearly every type will undergo up to a dozen more types of tests.
Results will be logged and analyzed in the coming days as the engineers from the three agencies overseeing the bridge construction -- Caltrans, the Bay Area Toll Authority and the California Transportation Commission -- prepare their findings for a public briefing set for July 10.
A good outcome from the bolt testing means none of the fasteners requires immediate replacement and it becomes one less reason to postpone the planned Sept. 3 opening.
A bad outcome means one or more types of bolt shows evidence of unacceptable weakness and replacements must be ordered, fabricated and installed before traffic is permitted on the span.
Between the best- and worse-case scenarios, engineers will recommend reducing the loads to decrease the strain or adding dehumidifiers that reduce levels of corrosive marine moisture.
"No final decisions have been made yet," Wahbeh said. "We're waiting for all the results to come in."
The agencies are also waiting to hear if American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises, the bridge contractor, will finish retrofitting the shear keys where the bolts broke in time to open the bridge as scheduled.
Engineers won't hold off opening the bridge for the outcome of planned long-term testing that will measure whether the marine environment will degrade the bolts and over what time period. The 11 test beds are under construction and the results are months away.
To help craft the bolt autopsy spurred by March's catastrophic failure, the bridge team hired some of the top names in corrosion -- University of Texas at Austin engineering professor Karl Frank, Newport Beach engineering consultant Louis Raymond and embrittlement test pioneer Herb Townsend.
The testing plan includes:
The list includes a very large 4-inch diameter anchor rod, one of 424 bolts that keep the tower aligned with the foundation during an earthquake.
But more analysis may be required.
Caltrans hasn't yet located the results of the state's tests of the bolts, which were conducted in 2007 before installation.
Documents that were found indicate Houston Galvanizing Services in Texas violated the project specifications and immersed the bolts in an acid bath -- called pickling -- before dipping them in molten zinc. Caltrans ordered the bolts sandblasted rather than pickled, a safeguard against embrittlement established by ASTM International, formerly known as the American Society of Testing and Materials.
Caltrans inspectors also ordered tower bolt contractor, Kiewit Offshore Services, to stop applying zinc from aerosol spray cans. The practice is prohibited and the company had to strip the sprayed zinc off the rods.
However, bridge engineers say the tower bolts have shown no signs of embrittlement and they are tightened to 25 percent of their capacity, well below the 50 percent threshold metallurgists say increases susceptibility to cracking. The Bay Bridge design team originally relied on materials and testing standards for hot-dip galvanized high-strength steel fasteners established by ASTM.
Developed by industry experts, the standards specify how the steel is made and its mechanical properties. The guidelines also spell out testing methods.
Caltrans, steel mills, fabricators and contractors conducted more than a dozen required tests on every type of fastener used on the Bay Bridge.
Most met the standards and the few that didn't were rejected, according to 17 volumes of bolt test data released by Caltrans.
The manufacturers and Caltrans appear to have largely stuck with minimum ASTM testing guidelines with several exceptions.
In late 2008, Caltrans added an extra test -- magnetic particle -- that measures surface anomalies. ASTM doesn't require it, but engineers were worried the thread-cutting equipment would initiate surface cracks on the rods.
But neither the state nor the contractors tested all the bolts for hydrogen embrittlement, as ASTM recommends.
Using a full-sized rod, the tests range from applying a single sharp hammer blow to bending to placing it under load for 48 hours and examining it under a microscope for cracks.
Most of the fasteners were too large for the available testing equipment, Wahbeh said. All but 96 of the 2,306 bolts range in size from 2 to 4 inches in diameter and reach up to 32 feet long.
"The ASTM tests were designed for smaller bolts with a diameter of 11/2 inches or less," he said. "It would take an incredibly large piece of testing equipment to bend these large bolts or apply the loads required, and they aren't widely available."
In any case, these embrittlement tests are useless today, said University of Pennsylvania materials engineering Professor Emeritus Charles McMahon.
"This would be a test to determine whether the specimens had internal hydrogen, resulting from previous processing or storage conditions, " he said. "It has nothing to do with service conditions in a marine environment."
Contact Lisa Vorderbrueggen at 925-945-4773, email@example.com, politicswithlisav.blogspot.com or Twitter.com/lvorderbrueggen.
The high-strength steel bolts on the Bay Bridge are being subjected to an unprecedented testing regimen following a catastrophic failure of anchor rods last spring. The bridge construction team will redo many of the tests performed on the products during fabrication, but they have added several new ones. Here's a sample:
Chemistry -- A spectrometer measures elements in steel such as carbon, manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon and aluminum.
Hardness -- A hard-tipped indenter is pressed into a steel sample. The amount it displaces is measured and the results are reported on a relative scale. On the Rockwell scale, the higher the number, the harder the steel.
Strength -- Force is applied to a sample. Measured in pounds, the point at which it begins to deform is its yield and where it breaks is its ultimate tensile strength. The more force required, the stronger the bolt.
Ductility or flexibility -- A sample is stretched until it breaks. Elongation measures how much it stretches as a percentage of its original size. The higher the percentage, the greater the flexibility.
Magnetic particle -- With an electrical current running through the bolt, technicians apply a metallic spray and examine the part for metal concentrations that indicate the presence of surface cracks.
Acoustic emission sensors -- Instruments placed on the rods record the energy produced when a crack initiates, spreads or moves.
Toughness or Charpy v-notch -- A small rectangular sample from the rod is notched and struck with a sharp point affixed at the end of a swinging pendulum. Measured in foot pounds, the results show the metal's resistance to the spread of cracks.
Microscope -- A cross-section slice is magnified 1,000 times and its microstructure examined for evidence of cracking.
Long-term stress corrosion or Townsend tests -- Incremental force is applied over time to a full-size bolt in which its threads are submerged in a sealed saltwater solution. Measured in pounds of force, the results show its resistance to embrittlement in a marine environment. The other test calls for placing under load a smaller rod section in a saltwater solution and measuring the rate at which the cracks spread. The results show the rate of failure.
Source: Bay Bridge materials engineer Mazen Wahbeh


text:
Wilex changes CFO
07.08.2012 - German biotech Wilex AG will change its executive management board. Chief Financial Officer Peter Llewellyn-Davies has to leave the company upon the expiration of his six year contract on September 1st. Jan Schmidt-Brand will take over.
Schmidt-Brandt is currently the Managing Director of Wilex's subsidiary Heidelberg Pharma GmbH. He was the CEO of Heidelberg Pharma AG until the company was acquired by Wilex. From 1997 to 2001, he was Managing Director of the Austrian BASF-Pharma subsidiary, EBEWE Arzneimittel GmbH, where his responsibilities included finance and controlling. Prior to this, he held several positions at the BASF Group for a total of eight years, most recently as an executive in the central tax department. Schmidt-Brand is a member of the Board of BioDeutschland and Head of the Finance and Tax working group. Llewellyn-Davies will pursue new activities but continues to act as an advisor for the company. He will fully manage and complete the capital measure announced by Wilex on August 3. "Mr Llewellyn-Davies has made important contributions to the development of Wilex since joining the company prior to its IPO in 2006. We would like to thank him very much for his collaboration, which was both constructive and successful, and wish him great success in realizing his objectives", said Professor Christof Hettich, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.http://www.european-biotechnology-news.com/people/bio-people/2012-2/peter-llewellyn-davies.html


text:
Aimee Wilder Panda Wallpaper
As we all know, pandas are charming, and they are also -- with their round forms and clear-cut black and white coloring -- practically begging to become subjects of striking graphic design. Aimee Wilder's Panda Wallpaper blends natural panda appeal and sophisticated visual treatment with these two tubby bears surrounded by fronds of their favorite bamboo: a modern wallpaper design that will be delightful anywhere from a child's room to your kitchen or dining room, bath, bedroom, anywhere. The design comes in a choice of multiple pleasant colors, and like all Aimee Wilder wallpapers is produced using responsibly chosen materials with waste-free, environmentally sensitive techniques. Panda Wallpaper is hand silk-screened on clay coated paper and can be gently cleaned with a damp cloth.
- Wallpapers are easy-to-clean w/ a damp cloth
- Non-wasteful printing process
- Paper made from "elemental chlorine free" fiber
- Available in color of your choice
- Hand silk screened patterns
Overall: Roll Width: 28"
Roll Length: 5 Yards
Roll Length: 5 Yards
- (1) Aimee Wilder Panda Wallpaper
Small Parcel
- No assembly required
1-877-224-6663 or 973-276-0444
Copyright 2003-2015 by Evofurniture, LLC. All rights reserved.


text:
4G Prompts 4-Letter Words 4 CEO
Being the chief executive of a partially state-owned company requires a deft touch, balancing shareholders' interests with political sensibilities. So when another unit of the same government that owns the majority of your shares stops you from offering your best service to high-profile customers, what better way to approach it than a good swear? Cue the F-Bomb from Belgacom.
On Tuesday afternoon, Belgacom Chief Executive Didier Bellens held an informal chat about the year ahead. Topics covered included the lack of a fourth-generation ultra-fast network in Brussels. A perennial cause of complaint for tech geeks across the city, the environmental standards in the Brussels-Capital region (don't forget Belgium is a federal state) are stricter than elsewhere, limiting the power of mobile masts in the city to 3 volts per metre. Hence no 4G for Eurocrats, BXL's fashion bloggers, or your correspondent.
"Brussels has the most embassies in the world," with many countries having three diplomats representing them here* Mr. Bellens said in remarks confirmed by a Belgacom spokesman. "All of these embassies want 4G. And what does Brussels say? F__k you!**"
One can understand his frustration. Belgacom launched 4G commercially last November, giving customers all the benefits of super-fast Internet. It rolled out the service in eight cities: Hasselt, Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven, Liège, Namur, Mons, Waver and the Haasrode Industrial Park. "The capital of Europe risks being the only place in Europe with no 4G!," he added.
It's not the greatest advert that Brussels residents including former Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard (over here as U.S. ambassador to the European Union) and tech maven Neelie Kroes (a.k.a. the EU's commissioner for the digital agenda), who spends her time telling telecoms to build faster networks, could get faster mobile Internet if they got the chauffeur to zip over the ring road and sat in the car outside a business park.
Mr. Bellens continued, turning to the federal government. "When I go abroad they ask me why Belgium is killing its industry," he said. "We're known as the country which is killing business." One example is EU rules which limit the length of household telecoms contracts to one year. The Belgian government "gold-plated" this law to make it six months — which "naturally weakens Belgian telecoms companies when competition from Europe."
The fallout was considerable, with Kris Peeters, the Minister-President of Flanders tweeting that "perhaps it's time to talk about regionalizing Belgacom." Evelyne Huytebroeck, the environment minister of the Brussels-Capital region, told French-speaking daily Le Soir that she's "outraged" by Mr. Bellens' comments and that she'll negotiate with the other telecoms operators – excluding Belgacom — if necessary.
Belgacom will announce its full-year results on March 1. Some more colorful language would certainly make reporting them more interesting.
UPDATE: More swearing during Begacom's next earnings call looks less likely following a pretty thorough mea culpa from Mr. Bellens Thursday. As the controversy continued to rage in the Belgian media, the Belgacom CEO met with Jean-Pascal Labille, the minister responsible for state-owned companies and later released this statement (translated from Dutch):
During an informal meeting that my management team and I had with some journalists on the occasion of the New Year, some comments were made that caused a stir. If individuals or institutions took these statements as insulting, I express my regrets, as this was not the intention. I would be delighted to draw a line under this polemical controversy, which never should have started in the first place.
*One for Belgium, one for the European Union, one for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
** Mr. Bellens switched to English for his swearing, a testament to Brussels, and Belgacom's multilingualism.
Correction: A previous version of this blog post mistakenly said Belgacom will release full-year results next week. The correct date is March 1.


text:
Hi everyone,
Thanks to all the responses for my last statistics project. I have one more project before the term ends and since i had such an overwhelming response on this site I will ask one more question:
Do you lift weights as part of your exercise regiment ? If so how many days/week and how many minutes total for the week?
Thank you all for your help and support!!
Yes, I lft weights. I usually lift one day a week unless I'm doing Pilates then I skip
I usually lift three times a week, but when events start this summer I will probably go down to one.
Yes, I do light weights one day a week. I do push ups and pull ups four days a week. I do a Total Gym workout, which uses your weight and an incline board as your resistance, one day a week.
Gotta love statistics! Hope you post your results when you get done!
As a cyclist I lift twice a week in the off season, basically from November to Februrary. I work out at home. My lifting consists of 20 min warm up on spin bike and 40 min weight regimin.
I tend to use a combination of free weights and mechines, starting with cardio 4-5 times a week for i say maybe 60-90 min at a time
I do lift weights for periods- this time is 6-7 weeks - then one week rest then one week harder aerobics then back to another weight program. The present program scatters standard weights with balance lifts (on a ball or one legged) with stamina weight lifting (pyramids or high reps). I do so for 5 days a week with aerobics prior to workout. Aerobics include running, bike or swimming.
Hello. I'm currently doing the P90X program, which involves working out 6 days per week. Three of the workouts involve weights, with pull-ups and push-ups also. Each lasts for approximately 60 minutes.
Good luck with the project!
Sorry--I just saw how old this message was! Note to self: Check dates on original postings before replying to them.
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
Remember is a to-do list application, focused on being straightforward and non- disruptive.
We don't believe in clunky applications where task management itself becomes a task. Remember is a simple list of tasks, always available at your fingertips.
In its most basic form, Remember is a simple list of tasks. If you need more than that, you can add folders to arrange things in a way that makes more sense.
There may be times when youâre working on a specific project and donât need to see the other stuff. Use the Focus pop-up menu or click the arrow button next to a folder in the list. The task list changes to display just things inside this chosen folder.
In addition to using Remember in a standalone window, you can attach it to an item in the menu bar. In this mode, you can also click and hold the menu bar icon, and drag the cursor over the list. Items are highlighted and you can choose one to quickly toggle its completed state.
Required OS: 10.6
Tags: todo , task , list , manager
5 Opinions
After the 1.0.2 is working great (it was a 32 bit related bug). Very nice interface. It might be a keeper. :)
Problem solved!
I sent the crash report to the developer and within a couple of hours version 1.0.2 has been released. And now it works perfectly.
Thanks for the fast fix!
By the way... The app is just great!
Dear developer:
If you read the posts here at I Use This, please notice that I have tried to send you the crash report twice, but my mails are returned with the info that your e-mail address is not valid.
Is there any other address to where I can send you the crash report?
I really want to try and use Remember. From what I've seen, the interface is just great.
Version 1.0.1 works as it should on my '06 24-inch iMac C2D 2.16GHz running Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (4-1-2010).
Version 1.0.1 has just been released. I tried it... Well... At least that was my intention, But it crashes on launch every time.
I use an Intel iMac (DualCore, 2 GHz), running Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.3).


text:
After winning all three games last week against Winters, the Lady Bulldogs fell in their double-header against Sutter on Tuesday afternoon. Fraine Cox, Ashtyn MacFarlane, and Mikaela Ponciano each went 1 for 3. Cox had a double, while she and Ponciano each drove in a run for two points; however, Sutter would come out on top 5-2 in the first game. The following game, Gridley was shut out by the visiting Huskies who put up 11 points to the Lady Bulldogs 0. Cox, Ponciano, and MacFarlane each had hits in this game as well. Cox was on the mound for a total of 8.3 innings out of the two games with 8 strikes total. Dominique Nelson relieved Cox in both games for a total of 3.3 innings with 2 strikes in the second game. Tuesday afternoon the team also honored their seniors for their final regular season home game.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. - "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will be featured as theater, food, family and friends converge under the stars on the scenic shore of Lake Tahoe next summer as Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival celebrates its 41st season.
Featuring live entertainment seven nights a week from July 12 - Aug. 25 at Sand Harbor State Park, the season is anchored by the festival's mainstage production of William Shakespeare's magical comic masterpiece, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," performed Tuesdays through Sundays each week at 7:30 p.m.
LTSF's Producing Artistic Director, Charles Fee, will direct the production.
"We are thrilled to continue Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival's 40-year legacy of producing extraordinary professional theater under the stars for the residents of and visitors to the Lake Tahoe region," Fee said. "The breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe is the perfect backdrop for our 2013 production of Shakespeare's magical comedy."
A six-event Monday Night Showcase performance series will augment the festival's 2013 mainstage production and feature an array of live musical and entertainment acts from a variety of genres.
Monday Night Showcase performances will commence at 7:30 p.m. beginning July 15.


text:
The Indiana Magic 18u College Exposure Team Try Out's:
Saturday August 17th from Noon to 2pm
We are looking for 1 Pitcher - 1 Catcher - 1 Outfielder
Registration 11:30am
Try Outs will be at Mar Len Park
4858 South County Rd. 150 East - Just south of the Wea Ridge Middle School.
Lafayette Indiana
We are in the Sparks Showcase in October, Looking at the Worth Showcase and several showcases in Ohio and St Louis,
We will play PGF A - ASA A State
Norm Rowe - Head Coach
Keith Rawlings - Asst. Head Coach
Dave Giles - Pitching Coach
Any Questions or to arrange a private try out please contact:
email@example.com (765-714-2722)
This sounds GREAT can't WAIT
This organization has been around for 30 years and is know as one of the top softball organizations in the state of Indiana, so come check us out at our try outs!!!!!!!
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
A 24-year-old Lindsborg man died in an accident Saturday morning on Kansas Highway 61.
At 9:38 a.m. Saturday, a Fed Ex van driven by Edwin A. Torres-Rubio, 24, of Lindsborg that was eastbound on Comanche Road ran a stop sign and collided with a Ford F-150 truck that was southbound on Kansas Highway 61.
Both vehicles ended up in the median. The Fed Ex van rolled.
Torres-Rubio was pronounced dead on the scene.
The driver of the other vehicle was transported to McPherson Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Inman firefighters, McPherson emergency personnel and sheriff's deputies responded to the accident.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Yarn Profile: X-Press
First Impressions
If you touch it, you'll feel a plush thickness. Tug at it and you'll discover it's wonderfully elastic and almost impossible to break. Hold it in your hand and you'll feel how little it weighs.
In all respects this should be a perfect yarn for beginners or anyone looking for a fast project -- except for one problem, which I'll mention in a moment.
Knitting Up
Stitches rose from my US 15 needles like fresh bread dough, expanding to take up all space and produce a lovely -- albeit very simple -- fabric.
As I progressed, however, the spin on the yarn got tighter and tighter until it was twisting up on itself. I found the twist to be greater when using the yarn from the center of the ball.
Blocking / Washing
Here's where things turned bad. As my swatches dried (which took a long time), I noticed that the squares bounced into a peculiar shape when I lifted them off their towel. Instead of going straight up and down, the vertical rows of stitches all slanted to the left, producing a tilted square.
This is called a "bias," and it's what happens when you knit with yarn that is spun too tightly. Although you can force it back into the proper shape on the blocking board, past experience has shown that the fabric will bounce back into its biased shape as soon as you let it flow freely.
All those strands mean greater snagging potential, so be prepared to tug strands back into their stitches periodically. This is another reason I suspect Berroco recommends you wash X-Press items in a bag, so they won't snag against other garments in the wash.
The 40% acrylic content adds greater durability, combined with all those two-ply strands. You'll encounter fading and pilling long before you see any thin patches over high-wear areas.
I say this because in all other respects it's a lovely yarn. It knits up quickly and easily, has marvelous elasticity and texture, and gives you great loft without stifling weight. The acrylic gives greater durability, while the merino keeps the yarn soft to the touch.
My advice if you like the sound of X-Press (beyond the problem I've mentioned) is to verify your shop's return policy before you buy it. If you're in the store, you can test the yarn by pulling the end out from the skein by a few feet, bring the end back to the skein, let the extra yarn dangle, and see if it twists on itself. If it doesn't, then you should be safe.
Even if it does, you can still use it - you'll just have to pause frequently to unwind the yarn.
In return for your troubles, you'll have a fun, fast-knitting, and durable sweater in no time.
"i also had the problem of many things 'changing shape' when washed either by hand or in the machine, untill i started putting the items in the mesh laundry bags made for panty hose, etc. by doing so the items get washed but don't have the room to get streched out of shape. i also put them in the drier in the same bag. it may take a little more drying time, but tthey won't loose thier shape. if the item can't be put in the dryer, i then after squeezing as much of the water out, i use my sewing cutting board and a lot of stright pins and reshape the item and let it dry." k1p2, 8/10/2001
"About the yarn twisting, if you have some and shop won't let you return it, I've heard that if you use a rib stitch the swatch will the be straight. Personally haven't tried it but so many have done this and find the results pleasing." etrezise, 8/10/2001
"I found your review on X-press yarn very interesting. Especially the test for seeing if the yarn twists when pulling out a bit and letting it dangle. I'm definitely going to remember that little trick! Thanks!!" jangelo, 8/10/2001
"Since I am a spinner, I understand the bias problem here. Not only was the yarn probably spun too tightly, the real problem is that it is a 'singles' yarn. When a yarn is plied it is plied against the original spinning direction with another strand which counteracts the tendency for the yarn to bias. I NEVER knit with a singles yarn because of this fact. Even when the singles yarn is 'set' by the manufacturer, it will have a tendency to bias...some more than others." billieg, 8/10/2001
"The bias in X-Press might be rectified by alternating normal stockinette rows with rows of twisted stockinette--works in bead knitting (see Mary Thomas's Knitting Book)." JoyceP, 8/10/2001
"Bias in finished knitting: Could it be that because so many strands are involved, someone forgot to turn the spinning machine in the counter clock direction to ply the yarn? This is usualy the trouble with hand-spun yarns because the fibers have a memory and tend to head for the bias. There is an article in a spinners's magazine this summer that talks about twist. I over spin wools for finger weavers and put it in a tight ball where it will set and it stays there for a minimum of 3 months and up to 2 years. If I expose the yarn to humidity, it will lose the new look of fine yarn and go back to its usual shape. I wish MY memory was that good." Mickey, 8/9/2001
"I found express to be the yarn from hell. It can't be spliced and the balls are only long enough for a few inches. Even then, most of them had knots in the middle.Since there is no way to join ends neatly in the middle of a row on such thick yarn, you waste an awful lot trying to hide the joins at the seams,then have to darn in a million yarn ends. It might be ok for a small purse or baby sweater but I would never use it for a big project again." vaccarotrumpet, 8/9/2001
Yarn name
Fiber content
60% merino wool
40% acrylic
9.5 sts / 14 rows per 4" square using 10mm needles (US 15)
Average retail price<
$5.50 / skein
Where to Buy Online
The Handworks Gallery
Weight/Yardage per Skein
50g. / 42 yards
Country of Origin
Manufacturer's suggested wash method
Turn sweater inside out and place in sweater bag. Machine wash on delicate cycle (with mild soap) in lukewarm water. No bleach. Block with steam iron and pressing cloth.
Review date


text:
Brizo RP36002BB Brilliance Brass Wall Mount Three Function Hand Shower from the Traditional Collection
Item #:
Offer Ends
Contact For Pricing
Call (800) 444-5783, Live Chat, Request a Quote We want to help make your remodel easy and affordable! Please call or chat during business hours using the links at the top of our site to take advantage of this special offer.
We still have product details, accessories, replacement parts and reviews below, scroll down to see them!
Technical Specs
|Installation Guide
|Specification Sheet
|Designer Style
|Hose Length
|Multi Function
|Showerhead Flow Rate (GPM)
Traditional ADA Compliant WaterSense Wall Mounted Three Function Handshower
Personal Hand Held Shower - Not a Positive Shut-Off. 69" (1753 mm) Metal Hose. Certified Dual Check Valve.
Hand Shower Features:
- ABS hand held shower with three spray patterns - not a positive shut-off.
- 69" (1753 mm) flexible metal hose.
- Certified dual check valves.
- Wall mount hand held shower bracket
- 2.5 gpm @ 80 psi (9.5 L/min @ 552 kPa
Hand Shower Specifications:
- Hose Length: 69
- Showerhead: Multi Function
- Showerhead Flow Rate: 2.5
Brizo Technologies
- ADA Compliant: Some people, and some local codes, require fixtures that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- WaterSense: The WaterSense label signifies Brizo's commitment to working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to encourage the efficient use of water and actively protect the future of our nation's water supply. WaterSense labeled faucets use 20% less water and perform as well or better than their less efficient counterparts.
- Brilliance Finishes: Many Brizo products are made with Brilliance® finishes, which resist abrasions and discolorations better than traditional brass or even chrome.
Additional Brizo Links
Our SKU: RP36002
This product is listed under the following manufacturer number(s):
- Brilliance Brass*
- Brilliance Brushed Bronze*
- Brushed Nickel*
- Venetian Bronze*
*Denotes a finish or option that has been discontinued
Brizo is the leading manufacturer of luxury kitchen and bath faucets and accessories. Inspired by nature as well as technology; by art in addition to architecture; by the past as well as the future; Brizo truly is fashion for the home. However, they draw their greatest inspiration from the richest yet most elusive source of all : our dreams. This belief is evident in their huge selection of kitchen and bath collections that feature cutting edge innovations such as SmartTouch, MagneDock, and H2OKinetic Technologies; as well as their partnership with fashion designer Jason Wu. Brizo, where fashion forward meets forward thinking.
Brizo Traditional Collection
Other Products In The Brizo Traditional Collection
Brizo 83310
Traditional 11" Single Function Ceiling Mount Rain...$362.88-$600.48(3)
Brizo 85710
Traditional Hand Shower Package with Slide Bar, Ho...$299.52-$434.88(1)
Brizo 61310LF
Traditional Beverage Faucet that Works with RO Sys...$171.36-$249.12(4)
Brizo 62810LF
Traditional Wall Mounted Pot Filler with 23-1/4" D...$502.56-$730.08
Brizo 69546
Traditional Towel Ring$61.92-$84.96
Warranty Info
LIFETIME FAUCET AND FINISH LIMITED WARRANTY All parts and finishes of the Brizo® faucet are warranted to the original consumer purchaser to be free from defects in material and workmanship for as long as the original consumer purchaser owns their home. Delta Faucet Company recommends using a professional plumber for all installation and repair. Delta will replace, FREE OF CHARGE, during the warranty period, any part or finish that proves defective in material and/or workmanship under normal installation, use and service. Replacement parts may be obtained by calling 1-877-345-BRIZO (2749) or by writing: Delta Faucet Company Brizo Product Service 55 E. 111th Street PO BOX 40980 Indianapolis, IN 46280 BRIZO HELP LINE: 1?877?345?BRIZO (2749) E-MAIL: firstname.lastname@example.com This warranty is extensive in that it covers replacement of all defective parts and even finish, but these are the only two things that are covered. LABOR CHARGES AND/OR DAMAGE INCURRED IN INSTALLATION, REPAIR, OR REPLACEMENT, AS WELL AS ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS OR DAMAGE ARE EXCLUDED. Proof of purchase (original sales receipt) from the original consumer purchaser must be made available to Delta for all warranty claims. THIS IS THE EXCLUSIVE WARRANTY BY DELTA FAUCET COMPANY, WHICH DOES NOT MAKE ANY OTHER WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. This warranty excludes all industrial, commercial and business usage, of faucets whose purchasers are hereby extended a five-year limited warranty from the date of purchase, with all other terms of this warranty applying except the duration of the warranty. This warranty is applicable only to Brizo faucets manufactured after January 1, 1995. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. Any damages to this faucet as a result of misuse, abuse, or neglect or any use of other than genuine Delta replacement parts WILL VOID THE WARRANTY. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. It applies only to Delta faucets installed in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.


text:
WEBS, American's Yarn Store America's Yarn Store
Get these Valley Yarns Rayon Chenille Space Dyed colors while you can, at this great closeout price. The same high quality 100% rayon chenille is used to make these space-dyed colors as you find in the solid colors. Fiber reactive dyed. The put up is on approximately 1 lb. cones. $1.50 per cone charge for wind-off service. Please see our FAQ page for more information about in-store wind-offs.
Note: Yarns sold by the pound may have their quantity adjusted before the order is sent to reflect the actual weight of what is being sent out. Cone weights may vary.


text:
After hearing about virtual public schools, many may be left with questions. Do children still get recess? What about homework?
Here is an example of what a recent morning of learning was like for 10-year-old Aiden Watson, of Concord.
About 8:30 a.m., Aiden fires up the upstairs computer at a desktop with her mother, Erinn, while her older sister, Catey, works alone in her downstairs bedroom.
Parents must be involved in helping their children learn in the program, but computers, Internet connection and other materials are provided free.
First up for Aiden is a game to sharpen her multiplication skills. Every time she correctly answers a question, the animation on the screen shows goop being squirted on germs to kill them.
While Aiden plays the game, her mom grades an assessment taken the previous day on democratic revolutions in France and the United States.
Erinn Watson explains that students are allowed to retake the tests, though the questions are jumbled. Students must score higher than 80 percent to pass the assessments. On this particular test, Aiden scored 89 percent.
"It allows them to have that 'ah-ha' moment," Erinn Watson said.
After about 10 minutes of the game, Erinn Watson says it was time for a more serious lesson.
Aiden closes that window and opens a math lesson. On today's agenda is measuring lengths of objects. The screen shows items such as an eraser, the bottom of a milk jug and a bug, with a ruler alongside the object.
A majority of online school time is spent in front of a computer, but not all of it.
Aiden leaves the computer mouse for a spelling book as her mother gives her a spelling test on words such as "tongue," "interrupt," "decompose" and "New Mexico."
If Aiden misses the words, she has to write them out several times before retaking the test.
Next up, it's back to the computer and reading comprehension. After going downstairs to grab a snack of Goldfish crackers, Aiden begins reading a short story. When she is done, she scrolls down and finds a series of questions to answer.
At 10 a.m., Aiden enters an online classroom, where other students gather for a lesson on ... how to follow lessons.
Each student has an icon on the screen that they click on when they want to talk.
Aiden's daily schedule is set up on a computer folder that reads "Aiden's Plan" with a section called "Aiden's courses," where her mom marks down about how much time is spent daily on each subject. Basically, that is how attendance is counted, Erinn Watson said.
The amount of time a teacher interacts with the students varies. Erinn Watson says she meets with her girls' teachers once or twice a quarter.
Later in the morning, Aiden has to visit "Study Island," a program aimed at getting students ready for standardized state tests. She has to use that program for at least 20 minutes a day.
Meanwhile, Catey's laptop is closed most of the morning as she writes out a report by hand on what she had read: Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Though that is not mandatory reading for the class, Catey is able to get an exception.
"She loves those kind of vampire stories," Erinn Watson says.
Contact Paul Burgarino at 925-779-7164. Follow him at Twitter.com/paulburgarino.


text:
Summertime means school is out and families leave town, with some vacations lasting weeks at a time.
But is your home protected while you're away?
Home security is so important and there are so many ways of going about it. In this article we break them down into five easy steps.
The Clutter family isn't leaving town anytime soon, but should they decide to, they're prepared.
"We're having ADT come out to install a security system on the house," says Scott Clutter.
A husband and father of two, Scott often works nights. Last year, his home was nearly broken into and he doesn't want his family to be an easy target again.
"It was enough to scare us and this is the first time we're owning a home and that's why we're installing the system."
And he's not the only one.
In fact, installing a burglar system is the most effective way of warding off break-ins.
Number two is locking up every time, but don't fool yourself into thinking that is enough.
"A window can be broken," says Sgt. David Heaton of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department. "A door can be kicked in. And if you have any type of experience, you can get through that door pretty easily."
As a road patrol sergeant, Heaton often responds to break-ins. In addition to suggesting security alarms and locking up, he reminds homeowners: do not advertise that you're away.
"Have a neighbor pick all your newspapers up, pick your mail up," he says. "Put your lights on timers. If you can, get a friend to park a car in the driveway even...something like that."
Security experts also suggest making a list of valuables, even photographing them. That could later help with insurance claims.
And finally, posting a simple sign can carry a lot of bark.
"A Beware of Dog sign, and, if you don't have an alarm, an alarm sign. I mean, all those types of things help," Sgt. Heaton says.
All of those types of things have the Clutters feeling more secure from the outside in.
The Columbia County Sheriff's Office offers a house watch program.
If you're planning a trip, you can call them, and while you're away they'll check your house twice during the day and twice at night, pulling on every door and making sure every window is secure.


text:
Truck into home
Eyewitness: 'It sounded like a tree falling down'
July 3, 2013
LOWELL—A Lowell couple got quite the shock Tuesday morning as they watched a pickup truck come careening through their backyard and into their back porch....
I am sure the "do-gooders" out there are thinking she was not impaired. After all, she probably said so.
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"Oh nothing, just driving, what are you................."
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Seriously... what is wrong with people? I bet she does not do a thing to right her wrong.
6 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Post a Comment
You must first login before you can comment.


text:
Monthly vintage market in Northport to start fall season Sunday
Published: Friday, August 30, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, August 29, 2013 at 9:11 p.m.
The fall season of the 5th Street Vintage Market will start Sept. 8. The market will be open from
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 4150 Fifth St., Northport.
The monthly market will host dozens of area dealers who specialize in vintage clothing, jewelry, accessories, collectibles and furnishings, plus handmade items and vinyl records.
Concessions will be provided by Friends of Historic Northport and Black Belt Bamboost. Admission is free.
The market's fall season also includes Sundays: Oct. 6, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1.
The event started in December 2012.
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.
Local display advertising by PaperG


text:
Commentary: Like old times, Jim Harbaugh fights back after big brother knocks him down
By Dan Pompei McClatchy Newspapers
Not a subscriber? You can purchase a single-day subscription for only $0.75 to read this and access all of our content and our E-Edition. CLICK HERE purchase a single day subscription.
Become an electronic subscriber to the Republican-American for only $8 a month. CLICK HERE.


text:
SAN JOSE -- The Sharks will have to wait until Sunday to find out who their opponent will be for the Western Conference semifinals after the Detroit Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in overtime Friday night to stave off elimination.
Had Anaheim defeated Detroit to win the series, the Sharks, seeded sixth, would have played the No. 1 Chicago Blackhawks in the second round with the series starting in Chicago on a yet-to-be-determined date. Anaheim hosts Detroit in Game 7 of their series Sunday.
If the No. 7 Red Wings beat the Ducks, Detroit, as the lowest remaining seed, would play the Blackhawks and the Sharks would play No. 5 Los Angeles, which closed out its series against No. 4 St. Louis on Friday. If Anaheim wins the series, it will face Los Angeles in the next round.
The Sharks wrapped up a four-game sweep of the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday with a 4-3 overtime win at HP Pavilion. They practiced Friday for the first time since that game.
"We're thinking about who we're going to play, but mostly, we're worried about how we're going to play," Sharks center Logan Couture said Friday afternoon. "All three of those teams that we might play are really good teams and have done a great job. But if we continue to play the way we've been playing, hopefully we can beat one of them."
"I wouldn't read a lot into anybody that practices there this week," McLellan said of the fourth line spot. "We'll keep that open. We have a number of different choices."
With Marty Havlat still questionable for the start of the second round, Kennedy might be the next person the Sharks call on. With Gomez and Havlat out, Kennedy played 10 minutes and 40 seconds in Game 2 in Vancouver. He also has previous playoff experience, having played six games and recording three points for Buffalo in 2010 in their first round series against Boston.
Kennedy had two goals in 13 games for the Sharks this season. In the regular-season finale against Los Angeles, he tied a team high for the season with eight hits.
"You're always happy when you get to play," Kennedy said. "I don't think there's one guy in this league that would say they like sitting out, but when the team's winning, there's not much you can do. Just wait your turn and when you get your number called, then you have to go perform."
"TK's been an outstanding teammate for us the whole year," Gomez said. "He hasn't played much and he could have easily caused a disruption, but everyone knows what a great kid he is. And he can play."
"He hasn't strayed or wandered from his recipe for success in the regular season and the playoffs," McLellan said. "When you do that, you seem to fit in very well."
Irwin, 25, said he learned to become more patient in the offensive zone during the season.
"Now you still look for that first play and have a little more poise with the puck," Irwin said. "Offensively that's come along."


text:
- Home
- News
- Sports
- Opinion
- Obituaries
- Features
- Special Sections
- Classifieds
- Public Notices
Forgot Password? | Not a User? Sign up
For the last three months, I've tried to balance feelings of relief and frustration over the Hollywood writers' strike.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the KY News Journal, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
If you are new to the award winning KY News Journal and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account.
|ZIP Code:


text:
Lucifer is going to rock out on the next season of Supernatural. Producers...
The fourth series of the BBC's hit Sherlock won't air until 2017, but attendees at the show's
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will step down following leaked internal emails showing key members of the organization speaking critical of Sen. Bernie Sanders in his primary fight...
Pete Pistone shares some news, notes and observations from a weekend of racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
FX's Legion trailer, unveiled at Comic-Con Saturday (July 23), reveals a series that could be the most...
The very system of democracy we use to elect our leaders has come under scrutiny in 2016, fueled by voter discontent that also has given rise to protests not seen in decades.
Democrats are hoping that any lingering rifts in the party can be healed by a Democratic convention united in opposition to Donald Trump.
Waynesboro Directory
Business Name
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Share Photo
FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)


text:
Stocks to Watch: Arena Pharma, Research In Motion, Caterpillar
By Anna Prior
Among companies with shares expected to trade actively in Tuesday's session are Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) Research in Motion (RIMM, RIM.T) and Caterpillar (CAT).
Arena Pharmaceuticals said European regulators have informed the biopharmaceutical company of issues with its weight-loss drug Belviq. The issues must be addressed in writing and orally before regulators will consider the drug's approval in the European Union. A final decision on EU approval is still expected in the first half of 2013. Shares fell 8.4% to $8.95 premarket.
Shares of Research in Motion rose 6.6% to $16.89 premarket, following comments made by the BlackBerry maker's chief executive about possible licensing deals and asset sales. In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, CEO Thorsten Heins said he could license BlackBerry software or sell the company's hardware division.
Caterpillar said it has uncovered accounting misconduct at a unit of China's ERA Mining Machinery Ltd., which the U.S. machinery manufacturer acquired last year. An internal probe at Caterpillar revealed that several managers at Zhengzhou Siwei Mechanical & Electrical Manufacturing Co., or Siwei, engaged in deliberate misconduct beginning several years prior to the acquisition. Shares fell 1.6% to $96.07 premarket.
Canada's largest single-profession pension plan will acquire SeaCube Container Leasing (BOX) for $23 a share, saying the container-leasing company is a good investment fit for the fund. The per-share offer values Park Ridge, N.J.-based SeaCube at about $466.6 million and represents a 13.3% premium to the company's Friday closing price of $20.30. Shares rose 13% to $22.97 premarket.
Synovus Financial (SNV) fourth-quarter profit surged as the financial-services company was helped by an income-tax benefit associated with the recapture of its deferred tax-asset valuation allowance and by the sale of distressed assets. Revenue topped analysts' expectations. Shares rose 2.6% to $2.78 premarket.
PetMed Express (PETS) saw a 0.75-percentage-point increase in gross margin for its fiscal third-quarter, which helped earnings rise unexpectedly. Shares of the online seller of pet medicines rose 5.4% to $12.15 in light premarket trading.
Celsion (CLSN), an oncology drug-development company, said it has entered into a development agreement with China's Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical (600267.SH), for ThermoDox. Hisun will pay $5 million to Celsion immediately, while Celsion will provide Hisun with support for its ThermoDox manufacturing development program. The agreement comes ahead of Phase III trial results for a ThermoDox study for the treatment of primary liver cancer, expected later this month. Shares rose 15% to $8.08 premarket.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the approved use of Allergan (AGN) Botox to treat adults with overactive bladders who don't respond to other medications. The regulatory agency said Botox can be used to treat patients who can't use–or don't respond adequately to–a class of medications known as anticholinergics.
Saba Software (SABA) said it has received notice of its continued noncompliance with its Nasdaq listing after the workplace-management software company delayed filing its financial report for the latest quarter.
For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.


text:
Obama to CEOs: Quit Complaining
President Barack Obama has a direct message for the leaders of America's biggest companies: quit complaining.
"If you look at what's happened over the last four or five years, the folks who don't have a right to complain are the folks at the top," Mr. Obama said in an interview with The Economist published over the weekend.
Some business advocates have argued that the Obama administration has unnecessarily raised costs for corporations with new regulations, such as the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. He recently threw himself into the politically charged effort to block corporate inversions, where companies buy overseas firms in deals that reduce their tax payments. Reincorporating overseas for tax purposes is "wrong," he said last month, and urged Congress to stop the transactions through quick-fix legislation.
In an interview with The Economist, Mr. Obama maintained that complaints from corporate CEOs in the current environment should be taken with "a grain of salt" as most policies he has implemented have "generally been friendly towards business." Here's an excerpt from the interview:
"They always complain about regulation. That's their job. Let's look at the track record. Let's look at the facts. Since I have come into office, there's almost no economic metric by which you couldn't say that the US economy is better and that corporate bottom lines are better. None.
"So if, in fact, our policies have produced a record stock market, record corporate profits, 52 months of consecutive job growth, 10 million new jobs, the deficit being cut by more than half, an energy sector that's booming, a clean-energy sector that's booming, a reduction of carbon pollution greater than the Europeans or any other country, a housing market that has bounced back, and an unemployment rate that is now lower than it was pre-Lehman—I think you'd have to say that we've managed the economy pretty well and business has done okay.
"There are always going to be areas where business does not want to be regulated because regulations are inconvenient."
In the interview, Mr. Obama said corporations should try to improve the livelihood of the middle class through higher-paying jobs. He noted that wages and incomes have been stagnant for roughly two decades.
"The reason I'm concerned about this is not in any way a punitive notion," Mr. Obama said. "Oftentimes, you'll hear some hedge-fund manager say, 'Oh, he's just trying to stir class resentment'. No. Feel free to keep your house in the Hamptons and your corporate jet, etc. I'm not concerned about how you're living.
"I am concerned about making sure that we have a system in which the ordinary person who is working hard and is being responsible can get ahead and are seeing modest improvements in their life prospects, if not for themselves, then certainly for the next generation," he added.
You can read the interview here and listen to it below.


text: Kat mentioned creating one of these, so I thought I'd take the initiative and create it myself. Ground rules: 1. Positive comments only. Be constructively criticising if you wish, stating any (minor) changes which would improve the cover for you, but no negative comments nor dismissals. 2. No images larger than 600 pixels in height. If you don't know how to resize an image, then just ask. 3. Please try not to hotlink from other sites if you can. That means rather than use links from Amazon, artist websites, Barnes & Noble, etc., you save the image to your computer, and use an image site such as Imageshack to upload it. 4. If the image has no visible attribution (Title, author, artist, etc), then please post at least the title and author of the book. 5. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Let's get posting! Update: 14th October. Message from RobB -


text:
Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) purchase of Autonomy may have turned into a multibillion-dollar disaster, but it hasn't stopped HP -- and other Silicon Valley tech giants -- from making more big bets to bolster their software offerings, reflecting a tectonic shift in the industry.
With sales of personal computers and other electronic gear sluggish, many companies -- even traditional hardware vendors -- view software as a lucrative alternative. HP saw Autonomy as a way to boost its software efforts, and still says the deal will pay off in the years ahead. Santa Clara chipmaker Intel (INTC) has been adding thousands of software specialists in recent years, and nine of Cisco Systems (CSCO)' last 10 acquisitions have been software companies.
Worldwide sales of prepackaged software have surged from $307 billion in 2009 to nearly $375 billion this year and are forecast to exceed $485 billion in 2016, according to market researcher International Data Corp.
"In the 1990s, software represented about $1 in every $10 spent on IT," said IDC Vice President Stephen Minton. "By the end of this decade, it will represent $1 in every $5."
That has triggered what Wells Fargo Securities analysts have termed a corporate "arms race" to get into the business along with a related hiring frenzy. More than 70,000 software jobs have been added nationwide in the past couple of years, according to an analysis of government data by CareerBuilder. On top of that, by 2020, employment in the profession is expected to grow 30 percent nationally and 32 percent in California -- much faster than other professions -- state and federal authorities have reported.
"We are in the middle of a dramatic and broad technological and economic shift in which software companies are poised to take over large swathes of the economy," HP board member and Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen said in an essay last year. Listing Amazon, AT&T, Wal-Mart, FedEx, and Google (GOOG) as among those driving the transformation, he added, "over the next 10 years, I expect many more industries to be disrupted by software, with new world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing the disruption in more cases than not."
Among those counting on that is Cisco. CEO John Chambers last week vowed to boost the San Jose networking firm's annual software revenue from $6 billion to $12 billion over the next three to five years in its quest to become the world's top tech company.
"By 2020, 50 billion new things are going to be connected," said Cisco spokesman John Earnhardt. "Our secret sauce, if you will, is the software that runs over the hardware that we also design."
Intel also has heavily invested in the trend, largely to ensure its chips function properly with software created by others. It has bought 14 software companies since 2004, including security firm McAfee, which it snapped up for $7.7 billion in 2010. Although Intel won't disclose precisely how many software engineers it employ, it says it's in the thousands. "Software has become a bigger part of what we do," said the company's software head, Renée James, noting that her workforce has probably quadrupled in the past four years. Intel's overall employee ranks over that period have grown only about 16 percent.
IBM and computer maker Dell also have jumped heavily on the software train, as have some old-school industrial firms like General Electric. Last year, the Connecticut-based company opened a Global Software Center in San Ramon "to help develop a new generation of intelligent devices." So far, 325 software specialists have been hired by the center. But it has room for 1,000, according to a company statement, which added, "we hope to grow the operation in the future to meet that capacity."
Despite the push on the software side of the tech business, the hardware side is still critical for many valley companies. Apple (AAPL), for instance, has long blended its hardware and software expertise into highly profitable gadgets, and other tech giants would love to do the same. In addition, Google, whose lucrative search engine is essentially a giant piece of software, made a big push into the hardware business by buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
It all makes perfect sense to technology analyst Charles King of Hayward-based Pund-IT.
"When a company goes to the effort of highly integrating software with hardware, they can deliver significantly better performance for their own product and they can also eclipse the performance of competing vendors," he said.
That was the rationale when HP -- long known primarily as a maker of printers and personal computers -- bought Autonomy last year. Despite acknowledging it paid more than $5 billion too much for the company, HP officials insist the acquisition -- along with other software firms it has purchased lately -- will pay great dividends in the future.
During a conference for Wall Street analysts in October, George Kadifa, HP's executive vice president for software, said its software sales already total $4 billion a year, making it the sixth-biggest software company in the world. And that's just for starters, he said, estimating the software market available for HP at $54 billion.
"It definitely has the potential to keep growing," said Technology Business Research analyst Jillian Mirandi, which would be a big plus for HP, whose revenue and profit have stalled worrisomely along with sales of PCs. If it can manage the tectonic shift properly, she added, "I think they'll be very competitive."
Contact Steve Johnson at 408-920-5043. Follow him at Twitter.com/steveatmercnews.
Increasingly, technology companies -- including many that traditionally have sold computer-related equipment -- are investing heavily in software. Here are several examples.


text:
Notes From NFL's Judgment Day
Sunday was the last day of the NFL's regular season, which means that Monday is likely to be the last day of NFL employment for a number of recognizable NFL coaches, at least for a while. This is never fun, even for fans that have spent months clamoring for the defenestration of some coach or GM or other. Andy Reid, whose Eagles were blown out by the Giants in Week 17 and was likely out in Philadelphia regardless of that outcome, was once one of the NFL's brightest young coaches. Lovie Smith, whose Bears went 10-6 but failed to make the playoffs, was being hounded out of a gig before the box score of his team's futile, season-ending win over the Lions was even dry. The inevitable firings of Browns coach Pat Shurmur and the less-inevitable axing G.M. Tom Heckert proceeded as part of an attempted culture change. Tony Sparano, the ultra-doomed offensive coordinator of the soap-operatic Jets, was literally chased out of the team's locker room by a pack of media members, and the Jets announced their pink slip for general manager Mike Tannenbaum first thing Monday morning. There is more of this sort of thing to come.
Quite aside from the fact that there are enough people out of work in the country as it is, each of these firings is a bummer on a human scale. The end of the NFL season is a different kind of bummer for most fans—not all non-qualifying NFL teams will fire people, but most NFL teams did not qualify for the playoffs. So let's spare a thought for them and move on to what's next. Which, after the Redskins and Vikings each triumphed in win-and-in games, is a fully set playoff slate and the best part of the NFL season.
Both the Vikings and Redskins punched their playoff tickets thanks to dominant performances from their respective running backs, although the backs in question don't seem to have all that much in common. Minnesota's Adrian Peterson finished just nine yards short of the NFL's single-season rushing record, but turned in another dazzling, indomitable effort in a season full of them. He finished with two touchdowns and 199 yards on 34 carries, capped by one game-sealing, field goal-guaranteeing surge as the clock wound down. "On the one-year anniversary of his major knee reconstruction, in a game the Vikings had to win to reach the playoffs for the first time in three years, Peterson was his super-human self," Sports Illustrated's Don Banks writes. "It's a game that will go down as one of the greatest clutch performances in NFL history, and for me it's the final tiebreaking factor in an MVP race that might be remembered as the deepest field ever."
Peterson's Vikings were not expected to be in the playoff mix, which gives them one thing in common with the Washington Redskins, who entered the season with the supremely promising Robert Griffin III at quarterback and seemingly little chance in the stacked NFC East. On Sunday night, they edged the Cowboys to win the division outright, in a game in which the still-gimpy Griffin ceded the spotlight to less-heralded rookie Alfred Morris.
Morris, a sixth-round pick out of Florida Atlantic, bested Peterson's Week 17 production with an even 200 yards on 33 carries—and the Redskins benefited from a painful-to-watch meltdown by Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo—but the effect was the same. Morris, like Peterson, ran over and through a team determined to prevent him from doing that, and carried his team to the postseason. Awestruck home fans happily sang his name. And it only gets better from here.
* * *
The UFC has its problems, from a perversely bro'ed-out culture to the more easily quantified issue of declining pay-per-view buys and TV ratings. But one problem it does not have is the lack of a transcendent champion. On Saturday night, Cain Velasquez dominated Junior Dos Santos to claim a unanimous decision and possession of the UFC's heavyweight title, and looked every bit the world-beating, near-unbeatable fighter the sport needs.
Here, though, is where those earlier problems come in. Because while the UFC is clearly lucky to have a fighter of Velasquez's caliber, it's notably less clear whether anyone at the top of the sport will know what to do with him. At Deadspin, Tim Marchman puts the UFC's Velasquez issues—which boil down to their attempts to leverage the Mexican-American Velasquez's "Brown Pride" tattoo as outreach to Latin American fight fans—in context.
"Whatever else it is, that tattoo and what it represents are a marketing tool as well, UFC's best chance to hook some profitable percentage of the tens of millions of brown Americans—who count among them a disproportionate number of fight fans—and convince them that boxing is over and that mixed martial arts is it," Marchman writes. "This is how Cain Velasquez, born in California and educated in Iowa and Arizona, ended up as the avatar of a foreign country his father badly wanted him not to grow up in. 'This fall, Cain Velasquez will try to make history and become the first Mexican heavyweight champion!' UFC had its voiceover man declaim in the ads, neatly eliding the difference between a Mexican and a Mexican-American. There is a vacuum to be filled, and you fill it."
* * *
Because he stole bases, got on base, and played all over the field, former Cincinnati Reds infielder Ryan Freel was a favorite among a certain generation of fantasy baseball players. Of course, those abilities—and more particularly an ultra-passionate approach that allowed Freel to do what he did—also made Freel a valuable on-field contributor, if necessarily one with a limited career span. Freel saw his first significant big league action at the age of 27, and was out of the majors at the age of 33 and out of the sport at 34. Last week, Freel died in his hometown of Jacksonville of an apparently self-inflicted shotgun wound. He was 36.
Freel's approach to the game took its toll on his body, perhaps more than anyone noticed at the time. "An accumulation of concussions, as well as mood swings and troubling incidents, left relatives—and Freel himself—apprehensive about his well-being," Mike Tierney writes in the New York Times. "A reckless style of play marked by crashes into fences, seats and other players helped Freel gain entry to the majors but may have hastened his exit. Ryan Freel knew no other way, even while cognizant that his daredevil ways exacted a price."
Found a good column from the world of sports? Don't keep it to yourself — write to us at firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix. You can email David at email@example.com.