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What happened in your marathon?
The public has a right to know.
Dark Horse
I'm a dark horse, running on a dark race course.
I think I was mixed up ... it's today!
Waiting for news with bated breath,
Dark Horse
I'm a dark horse, running on a dark race course.
Finally just got my 3.1 run in to finish up the cut back week of 17.5. Didn't run a planned 5k yesterday, so ran today.
Hats off to Rich and his marathon today. I thought about it as we were driving back from Beloit and enjoying the trees changing colors. Hopefully the weather cooperated and it was an enjoyable experience, as much as 26.2 grueling miles can be enjoyable!! :)
Mike in Minneapolis
Sorry to keep you guys waiting. To my surprise, I found another way to screw up one of these things.
The weather was perfect, 54 degrees at the start and dry. I started out running a few seconds slower than race pace early on and felt pretty good. Actually hit the half in 1:59, which was a little slow, but thought I could pick up the pace in the second half and run a 1:56 coming in to hit my goal.
The bad news is cramps hit at about mile 16 and it got ugly. I never actually stopped running, but the pace slowed considerably and all my plans went up in smoke.
In thinking about what went wrong, lack of sodium probably got me. I carb loaded on Friday and drank a ton of water, my guess is I flushed most of the sodium out of my system without realizing it.
Anyway, I'm disappointed, but not discouraged. All the work I did to get ready has left me really fit and I'm going to take advantage of it by running a couple of shorter races soon.
Sorry to be the bearer of lousy news, I mentioned tapering and getting it right gives me trouble didn't I...? lol I managed to do it again...lol
Enjoy life, this ain't a rehearsal...
Rich, I know you love the marathon, but if it doesn't love you back, the h*ll with it, that's what I say!
I ran a marathon once, five years ago, and haven't been quite the same since. I never hit a wall or anything, I just kept running for 26 miles and felt progressively more like cr*p. My knees took a beating, that's for sure.
I think if you want to run high mileage, that's great, but think what a killer 5K guy you could be, if you ran 70-mile weeks and then sharpened up your speed!
At least you survived--at one point yesterday, when I hadn't heard from you, I went online looking to see if some NH guy had died in a marathon yesterday.
Dark Horse
I'm a dark horse, running on a dark race course.
Dark Horse, that's funny you went searching for a dead guy...lol The people at the med tent actually grabbed me after I crossed the finish line and led me to their tent. I asked one of the women, "Do I really look that bad?" She said, "I figure you've probably looked better." lol
They took my blood pressure, 122 / 72 and pulse, 62, then let me go.
I'm choosing my words carefully because a lot of people run marathons really well and there are new runners in here who I don't want to discourage because of what happened to me.
I REALLY don't know why I had a bad day, I'm just guessing it was sodium, but don't know for sure. I thought my training would pull me through the rough spots, but it didn't happen.
And I'm swearing off marathons for a while, but think I'll give my running log to my "coach" to see if he can figure out what I did wrong.
Enjoy life, this ain't a rehearsal...
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.


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Tolls not likely, Brent Spence funding at a halt officials saidUPDATED 6:40 PM EDT Mar 28, 2014
Government and state officials are gridlocked over the funding of the Brent Spence Bridge project, and it appears tolling will not be the answer. A new P3 Bill prohibits tolls as a means for funding the bridge replacement project. For now the funding is at a stand still, but government officials said they will continue to work through the legislative process.Video Transcript
KENTUCKY'S GOVERNOR SAYS..... HE'S "DISAPPOINTED" BY THE BAN ON TOLLS FOR A NEW BRENT SPENCE BRIDGE... HE SAYS... IT'S THE ONLY WAY. SO, IT'S A STANDOFF. WLWT NEWS 5'S JOHN LONDON... IS LIVE TO TELL US... WHO WILL BLINK FIRST. MAYBE NO ONE. KENTUCKY BUSINESS LEADERS MET THIS WEEK WITH SPEAKER BOEHNER, SENATOR MCCONNELL, SENATOR PORTMAN AND MANY OTHERS... ALL SAYING WHAT'S ALREADY BEEN SAID... THE NEXT STEPS LOOK VERY MUCH LIKE THE ONES ALREADY TAKEN. In its nineteenth year of "functionally obsolete" status, the Brent Spence Bridge appears no closer to a funding solution. ("In the short term, we don't have a path forward at the moment.") Just back from a pow-wow with federal government heavyweights, Brent Cooper tells us they all agree on the need, but not on the how. (Brent Cooper - Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce) ("It's the exact same place we were ten years ago, it's where we were five years ago and it's where we are today. This gridlock in Congress and in Frankfort is keeping us in gridlock.") He and others emphasize staying on this path of no progress is unsustainable. They keep hearing how Washington must figure this out. (applause for President) It has been two-and-a-half years since the President -- with bridge as backdrop -- said this ... (President Obama) ("There's no reason to stand in the way of more jobs. Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge, help us rebuild America.") Since then, approximately $84 million has been spent or designated for planning and design on the Ohio side alone. Yet, the funding fix remains in idle. Covington's Manager says a pause will provide time to truly address his city's concerns about access and design. (Larry Klein - Covington City Manager) ("Well, there's no other community in the whole state of Kentucky that's affected by the bridge project more than the city of Covington.") (Brent Cooper) ("Toyota has seven hundred trucks a day, just as an example, going across that bridge...") Every year, 4% of the gross domestic product crosses the Brent Spence. From Covington to Capitol Hill, all seem to buy the notion that it's a project of national significance. But, that's all they're buying. You'll be driving into a 20th year of functional obsolescence pretty soon. CHAMBER LEADERS WERE TOLD PROJECTS OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE WOULD BE DISCUSSED FOR PURPOSES OF LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS... BUT, NO CONGRESSMAN OR SENATOR IS CHAMPIONING THE BRENT SPENCE AT THE MOMENT... O-K-I ESTIMATES .... BRIDGE COSTS GO UP MORE THAN $300 MILLION A YEAR... FOR EVERY YEAR OF DELAY.
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By Ashley Helms
Fire trucks swarmed a condominium complex in the village on Nov. 16 in response to a fire on the top floor of a five-story building, raising concern and curiosity among residents in the surrounding area.
The complex, located at 490 Bleeker Ave., was evacuated after an oven fire in apartment 5G caused two separate fire alarms to go off and resulted in damage to a Con Edison gas line. When gas in the building was turned back on after the fire was extinguished, gas leaks were discovered. Residents will not be allowed back in to the building until the leaks are fixed, according to Village Manager Richard Slingerland.
Emergency personnel arrived at the scene at about 11:47 a.m. on Saturday and had the fire under control by 12:20 p.m.
"Heat and hot water is restored in the building, but people aren't allowed back yet," Slingerland said. "We're trying to find additional leaks; Con [Edison] locked down the internal valves at the meters. Basically, they've locked gas lines down at the meters."
The apartment where the fire originated, along with six other units that sustained heavy water damage from efforts to put the blaze out, will take longer to become habitable again. These units are located in the east wing of the building, which will remain sealed for the next two to three weeks until the damage can be repaired and residents are allowed to move back in.
Slingerland said village management expects tenants in the west wing of the building, where fire damage did not occur, to be back in their units within the next few days.
"The apartment that had the fire was pretty severely damaged," the village manager said.
The American Red Cross was on scene to assist anyone who required shelter until they are allowed to move back in, but Slingerland said everyone in the building's 70 to 80 apartments were able to find temporary housing.
Debbie Reisner, a Greenhaven resident in Rye City, said she was playing paddle tennis at Beach Point Club at about 11 a.m. when she noticed fire trucks arrive.
"I never heard so many fire engines in my life," Reisner said. "It was crawling with fire engines."
Village of Mamaroneck Building Inspector Bill Gerety could not be reached for comment as of press time.


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Too Good to Be True? How State Charitable Tax Credits Could Increase Federal Funding for California
Phillip C. Blackman
Kirk J. Stark
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law
September 17, 2013
in California Policy Options (2013)
UCLA School of Law, Law-Econ Research Paper No. 13-16
An IRS chief counsel memorandum published in 2010 found that a taxpayer was permitted to claim a charitable contribution deduction for the full amount of a gift, even thought a substantial portion of the gift was effectively refunded to the taxpayer through a charitable state tax credit. In this article, Blackman and Stark explain that the IRS memorandum permits states to adopt charitable tax credits that effectively enable taxpayers to convert state taxes to charitable gifts — a strategy that would be attractive to alternative minimum taxpayers. Those state charitable tax credits (some with extraordinarily high credit percentages) appear to be on the rise, perhaps in part because they effectively enable a transfer of revenue from the federal government to the states. The authors believe the memorandum should be repudiated (as a matter of appropriate federal tax policy), but if it is not, states should consider taking advantage of it. The article discusses how the strategy applies in the case of proposed California legislation that would permit a 60 percent tax credit for contributions to a state fund designed to increase financial support for low- and middle-income students to pursue secondary education.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 31
Keywords: charitable contributions, state tax credit, state charitable tax credits, federal revenue, financial support for secondary education
Date posted: September 18, 2013
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Next: Android shell setup, Previous: Remote Programs, Up: Configuration [Contents][Index]
As explained in the Overview section, TRAMP connects to the remote host and talks to the shell it finds there. Of course, when you log in, the shell executes its init files. Suppose your init file requires you to enter the birth date of your mother; clearly TRAMP does not know this and hence fails to log you in to that host.
There are different possible strategies for pursuing this problem. One strategy is to enable TRAMP to deal with all possible situations. This is a losing battle, since it is not possible to deal with all situations. The other strategy is to require you to set up the remote host such that it behaves like TRAMP expects. This might be inconvenient because you have to invest a lot of effort into shell setup before you can begin to use TRAMP.
The package, therefore, pursues a combined approach. It tries to
figure out some of the more common setups, and only requires you to
avoid really exotic stuff. For example, it looks through a list of
directories to find some programs on the remote host. And also, it
knows that it is not obvious how to check whether a file exists, and
therefore it tries different possibilities. (On some hosts and
shells, the command
test -e does the trick, on some hosts
the shell builtin doesn't work but the program
-e or
/bin/test -e works. And on still other hosts,
ls -d is the right way to do this.)
Below you find a discussion of a few things that TRAMP does not deal with, and that you therefore have to set up correctly.
After logging in to the remote host, TRAMP has to wait for the remote
shell startup to finish before it can send commands to the remote
shell. The strategy here is to wait for the shell prompt. In order to
recognize the shell prompt, the variable
shell-prompt-pattern has
to be set correctly to recognize the shell prompt on the remote host.
Note that TRAMP requires the match for
to be at the end of the buffer. Many people have something like the
following as the value for the variable:
"^[^>$][>$] *". Now
suppose your shell prompt is
a <b> c $ . In this case,
TRAMP recognizes the
> character as the end of the prompt,
but it is not at the end of the buffer.
This regular expression is used by TRAMP in the same way as
shell-prompt-pattern, to match prompts from the remote shell.
This second variable exists because the prompt from the remote shell
might be different from the prompt from a local shell—after all,
the whole point of TRAMP is to log in to remote hosts as a
different user. The default value of
tramp-shell-prompt-pattern is the same as the default value of
shell-prompt-pattern, which is reported to work well in many
During login, TRAMP might be forced to enter a password or a passphrase. The difference between both is that a password is requested from the shell on the remote host, while a passphrase is needed for accessing local authentication information, like your ssh key.
tramp-password-prompt-regexp handles the detection of such requests for English environments. When you use another localization of your (local or remote) host, you might need to adapt this. Example:
(setq tramp-password-prompt-regexp (concat "^.*" (regexp-opt '("passphrase" "Passphrase" ;; English "password" "Password" ;; Deutsch "passwort" "Passwort" ;; Français "mot de passe" "Mot de passe") t) ".*:\0? *"))
In parallel, it might also be necessary to adapt tramp-wrong-passwd-regexp.
tset and other questions
Some people invoke the
tset program from their shell startup
scripts which asks the user about the terminal type of the shell.
Maybe some shells ask other questions when they are started.
TRAMP does not know how to answer these questions. There are
two approaches for dealing with this problem. One approach is to take
care that the shell does not ask any questions when invoked from
TRAMP. You can do this by checking the
environment variable, it will be set to
dumb when connecting.
The variable
tramp-terminal-type can be used to change this value
The other approach is to teach TRAMP about these questions. See
the variable
tramp-actions-before-shell. Example:
(defconst my-tramp-prompt-regexp (concat (regexp-opt '("Enter the birth date of your mother:") t) "\\s-*") "Regular expression matching my login prompt question.") (defun my-tramp-action (proc vec) "Enter \"19000101\" in order to give a correct answer." (save-window-excursion (with-current-buffer (tramp-get-connection-buffer vec) (tramp-message vec 6 "\n%s" (buffer-string)) (tramp-send-string vec "19000101")))) (add-to-list 'tramp-actions-before-shell '(my-tramp-prompt-regexp my-tramp-action))
If you have a user named frumple and set the variable
FRUMPLE in
your shell environment, then this might cause trouble. Maybe rename
the variable to
FRUMPLE_DIR or the like.
This weird effect was actually reported by a TRAMP user!
After logging in to the remote host, TRAMP issues the command
exec /bin/sh. (Actually, the command is slightly
different.) When
/bin/sh is executed, it reads some init
files, such as ~/.shrc or ~/.profile.
Now, some people have a login shell which is not
/bin/sh but a
Bourne-ish shell such as bash or ksh. Some of these people might put
their shell setup into the files ~/.shrc or ~/.profile.
This way, it is possible for non-Bourne constructs to end up in those
files. Then,
exec /bin/sh might cause the Bourne shell to
barf on those constructs.
As an example, imagine somebody putting
export FOO=bar into
the file ~/.profile. The standard Bourne shell does not
understand this syntax and will emit a syntax error when it reaches
this line.
Another example is the tilde (
~) character, say when adding
~/bin to
PATH. Many Bourne shells will not expand this
character, and since there is usually no directory whose name consists
of the single character tilde, strange things will happen.
What can you do about this?
Well, one possibility is to make sure that everything in
~/.shrc and ~/.profile on all remote hosts is
Bourne-compatible. In the above example, instead of
FOO=bar, you might use
FOO=bar; export FOO instead.
The other possibility is to put your non-Bourne shell setup into some other files. For example, bash reads the file ~/.bash_profile instead of ~/.profile, if the former exists. So bash aficionados just rename their ~/.profile to ~/.bash_profile on all remote hosts, and Bob's your uncle.
The TRAMP developers would like to circumvent this problem, so
if you have an idea about it, please tell us. However, we are afraid
it is not that simple: before saying
exec /bin/sh,
TRAMP does not know which kind of shell it might be talking
to. It could be a Bourne-ish shell like ksh or bash, or it could be a
csh derivative like tcsh, or it could be zsh, or even rc. If the
shell is Bourne-ish already, then it might be prudent to omit the
exec /bin/sh step. But how to find out if the shell is
TRAMP redefines the shell prompt in order to parse the shell's output robustly. When calling an interactive shell by M-x shell, this doesn't look nice.
You can redefine the shell prompt by checking the environment variable
INSIDE_EMACS, which is set by TRAMP, in your startup
script ~/.emacs_SHELLNAME.
SHELLNAME might be the string
bash or similar, in case of doubt you could set it the
environment variable
ESHELL in your .emacs:
(setenv "ESHELL" "bash")
Your file ~/.emacs_SHELLNAME could contain code like
# Reset the prompt for remote Tramp shells. if [ "${INSIDE_EMACS/*tramp*/tramp}" == "tramp" ] ; then PS1="[\u@\h \w]$ " fi
busybox /
nc command will be used with the nc method. On
the remote host, a listener will be installed. Unfortunately, the
command line syntax for this has been changed with the different
busybox versions. TRAMP uses the following syntax
# nc -l -p 42
If your remote
nc refuses to accept the
parameter, you could overwrite the syntax with the following form:
(add-to-list 'tramp-connection-properties `(,(regexp-quote "192.168.0.1") "remote-copy-args" (("-l") ("%r"))))
with '192.168.0.1' being the IP address of your remote host (see Predefined connection information).
Next: Android shell setup, Previous: Remote Programs, Up: Configuration [Contents][Index]


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Fed's Bullard Favors Central Bank Putting Floor Under Inflation
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said Thursday that the central bank should enhance its guidance on the future of interest-rate increases by clarifying how weak inflation affects its policy choices.
The official told reporters that he would like the Fed to tell markets and other observers it will not raise rates if inflation goes below 1.5%. He said that offering this guidance "fits well" with the Fed's current system that says it will not raise rates until the current 7.3% unemployment rate falls below 6.5%, so long as expected inflation does not rise about 2.5%.
This tweak in inflation would add more information about what the Fed will do with short-term rates, which it currently pegs effectively at zero percent. Putting a floor on price pressures would convey that "if we are in a low inflation environment, especially one that's threatening to stay low, then we would not raise rates in that environment regardless of what's going on," Mr. Bullard told reporters after a speech.
The central banker, who is a voting member of the monetary policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, has been one of the most prominent worriers about current levels of inflation. Over the summer, his concerns about price pressures dramatically undershooting the Fed's official 2% target led the FOMC to adopt a stronger commitment to defend its price goal from both the high and low side.
Mr. Bullard's comments come as central bankers are considering ways to strengthen their guidance about the future of monetary policy, as they contemplate the start of a winding down in their bond-buying stimulus. Central bankers believe that strong guidance about the future stance on short-term rates can pay economic dividends today.
Mr. Bullard said it would be a bad idea for the Fed to lower its unemployment threshold as a way to boost the potency of monetary policy, as officials like Narayana Kocherlakota have advocated. Cutting the 6.5% jobless threshold would cost the Fed "credibility" and "if we move [the thresholds] around, markets would start to wonder if we'd move them again," he warned.
The official also said it's unlikely the Fed will ever be able to offer any similar formulas to govern the outlook for the bond-buying program. "We've never been able to get to that" because, among Fed officials, "it's just too hard and too controversial," he said.
Mr. Bullard declined to say what he wants the Fed to do with its bond buying effort when it meets in December. But he did say, "If we get a strong jobs report in November, that will strengthen the case for tapering, and will raise the probability of tapering." That said, it is "still an open question of what the committee will do."
In his prepared remarks, Mr. Bullard said the Fed's decision in the final month of 2008 to lower its overnight target rate to essentially zero percent appears to have "unwittingly committed the U.S. to an extremely long period at the zero lower bound similar to the situation in Japan, with unknown consequences for the macroeconomy."
He noted that Japan has had rock-bottom rates for 15 years now. "I don't think we digested that" when the Fed moved to similar levels, Mr. Bullard said.
Central bankers slashed their overnight target rate from 3.50% at the start of 2008 to a range of zero to 0.25% at the final FOMC meeting held that year. The Fed has maintained that rate since. Its current guidance suggests that it will keep rates at rock-bottom levels for much longer, likely into 2015 based on current central bank forecasts.
Mr. Bullard noted the drive toward lower rates appeared to make sense in the context of what was known in 2008. "Some analysis suggests that the sooner policy makers set the policy rate to zero, the sooner the economy will recover and the sooner interest rates can be returned to normal," he said. But he added, "I have seen no evidence that this is true during the last five years."
Mr. Bullard spoke at an event held by the University of Arkansas in Rogers, Ark. The official's formal remarks essentially took stock of the early phase of the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008.
He did note that he's "optimistic" about the U.S. economy's prospects in 2014, and he said Europe's recovery and a reduced pace of debt reduction will help the nation grow more swiftly. He added that even with the large size of the Fed's balance sheet, inflation has not "materialized" even as he continues to worry about the issue.
The central banker pointed to another way monetary policy actions in the initial phase of the financial crisis may have made things worse rather than better.
In 2007 and 2008, "rate reductions were essentially impotent in the face of the storm" boiling out of the financial sector, and they "may have exacerbated the situation to some degree," Mr. Bullard said.
He said in those two years souring returns in mortgage securities were driving some investors into commodity markets in search of better outcomes, creating a surge in such areas as oil prices. That in turn created a big headwind for the economy at a time growth was hitting a wall.
Easy Fed policy quickened the process. "The lower interest rates the Fed engineered seemingly encouraged this activity, as firms borrowed cheaply and attempted to profit in commodities," Mr. Bullard said.


text:
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text:
Hundreds march for immigration reform
6 More than 200 people waving signs and chanting marched in Vista on Wednesday afternoon calling for immigration reform.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for (immigration) enforcement, but we need reform," said John Donofrio, 28, of Vista.
Donofrio, a U.S. citizen, said he is married to a Mexican woman who was brought into the country when she was 2 years old. The couple are now working with a lawyer to legalize her status.
Beatriz Gonzalez, a mother of three U.S.-born children, said she has been in the country for 22 years but is undocumented. Because of her immigration status, she is ineligible for a driver's license and has had three vehicles seized by police for driving without a license.
"We need to have papers; it's the only way we can have a license," Gonzalez said. "Without it, police will take our cars and we can't get them back because we don't have enough money."
The march — which started on North Santa Fe Avenue near Bobier Drive about 3 p.m. and was scheduled to end with a rally at the Vista courthouse — was organized by immigrant, student and Latino rights groups in the North County, including the Escondido Human Rights Committee.
A bipartisan immigration bill in the Senate that would grant millions of undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship has raised expectations among many immigrants.
"We need to come out and be part of this dialogue," said Alejandra Ramos, a spokeswoman for the Escondido group.
Jose Gonzalez, a spokesman for Frente Indigena Binacional Oaxaqueño, one of the organizing groups, said immigrants in North County are eager for reform. He said many immigrant families have been broken up through enforcement efforts in the area.
Since 2010, the Escondido Police Department has partnered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under a program called Operation Joint Effort.
The program allows ICE officers to work out of the Police Department headquarters to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants with a criminal background or deportation orders.
The Sheriff's Department also works with ICE to screen inmates at county jails for immigration violations.
Law enforcement officials say those programs help rid the area of criminals.
Gonzalez and other immigrant rights activists say the programs cast a wide net that catches people with little or no criminal history.
"The people are fed up with all these injustices," Gonzalez said.
Pedro Rios, chairman of the San Diego Human Rights Consortium, an umbrella group for various organizations, said the march was the culmination of months or work. Groups have been organizing community forums on the new immigration reform proposal.
Those events helped create awareness in the community, Rios said.
"The events that the organizations have been organizing have been part of a process," Rios said. "The expectation was that these organizations would reach out to their bases through the forums in Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, Vista and Fallbrook."
Rios said the Senate proposal is far from perfect and that people need to participate to make it better, such as a shorter wait for citizenship. He said that under the bill undocumented immigrants could wait as long as 13 years to be eligible for citizenship.
"In general, there is excitement that the bill has bipartisan support, but there is also hesitation about some aspects of it," Rios said.


text:
Police ammonia incident
A police officer has been treated in hospital after an alleged ammonia attack in Newcastle.
A police officer has been treated in hospital after an alleged ammonia attack in Newcastle.
Police have condemned five attacks on officers in Newcastle over the weekend and say that such behaviour is " completely unacceptable".
"Policing has always been about making communities safer and protecting the public. Unfortunately officers can occasionally be assaulted while carrying out these duties.
"Thankfully serious attacks like those which took place over the weekend aren't common place, and a number of suspects were quickly arrested - however this sort of behaviour is completely unacceptable.
"I have personally visited all the injured officers and they are all receiving the best medical treatment.
"Every officer undergoes a high level of self defence training and carries certain protective equipment but as a force we take any assaults on officers and staff extremely seriously and will take robust action against anyone responsible."
Avoid all of the stress of parking for as little as £5. You can reserve a space in one of the secure car parks.
"Things can only get better. We hope." The latest SAFC blog by Paul Dobson
After a sunny day rain will spoil things tomorrow


text:
Did you know that Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter are related? What about Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair?
Of course everyone knows about the athletic bloodlines of the Mannings and Williams, the auto-racing genes of the Earnhardt and Busch families and the brotherly love of Jim and John Harbaugh. (And if you didn't know that Peyton and Eli are brothers, then welcome out from under your rock. It's nice to see you.)
Today, we will not be discussing these well-known sports clans but rather examining some less-obvious family ties. Whether it's nature, nurture or a little of both, these sets of relatives keep sports all in the family.


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YouTube is a great community-driven resource - not just a place to watch dogs and cats show off their many talents. You can find customer reviews, tutorials, educational videos and artistic music videos. I couldnt reassemble a complicated vacuum cleaner one day, and after an hour of searcing online a Youtube video gave me the right solution. So the next time you venture to Youtube, remember these 10 tricks for a better browsing experience.
1. The SeekbarThe bar that shows you the progression of the video is called the seekbar. When you roll your mouse over it, it enlarges and becomes active. Certain keyboard shortcuts work when the seekbar is active.
2. Skip 10, 20, 30 percentPressing the number 1 will make the video jump to the 10 percent mark of the stream. 2 will jump to 20 percent, and so on. Alternatively, press the left and right arrows to jump through the video by 5 seconds at a time.
4. Pause/PlayThe space bar will pause and play the video, but only while the seekbar is active. Otherwise the space bar will perform its normal action which is to scroll down a page in the browser.
5. Keep it PureView or send a Youtube video to someone without the advertisements, share features and comments. First, grab the link to the video on Youtube, and visit viewpure.com to submit the link to view the pure layout.
6. PlaylistsMake a playlist of your favorite songs. Youll be able to stream your favorite videos, with an occasional commercial in between, and can use it as a background playlist and know youll only hear the songs you love.
7. LeanbackVisit youtube.com/leanback to view Youtube in a digital TV service layout, similar to Hulu and Netflix.
8. View XL on big screensVisit youtube.com/xl on large screens to see a larger version of the video.
9. PlaylistsSign in to Youtube and manage your own channel to have multiple playlists. 10. Play Snake while waiting
This is one of Googles many Easter Eggs, and if you havent heard that expression before, I highly recommend Googling it to see what else they have hidden for users to find. You can play the game Snake by pressing up and left arrow keys simultaneously while the video is paused. Youll see the snake, which is a string of white dots, and you can use the arrow keys to control the snake.
Stacey Mosier is the web content manager of the Aiken Standard and joined the staff in early 2011. She graduated from USC Aiken with a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts.


text:
Brand Strategy Director
- Recruiter
- Tarsh Lazare Marketing Recruitment
- Location
- London
- Salary
- £80K-£110K + Benefits + Generous Bonus
- Posted
- 05 Nov 2013
- Closes
- 05 Dec 2013
- Ref
- Business Type
- Agency, In-house / Client-side
- Specialism
- Account Management, Brand Management, Planning & Strategy, Research
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
Brand Strategy Director
£80K-£110K + Benefits + Generous Bonus
London Area
Strong strategic thinkers with both hands-on line marketing management and brand & marketing consulting experience needed now for these fantastic opportunities to get into the world of strategic marketing consultancy in an award-winning, fast-growth firm based in the London area. Our client is keen to build its team and is one of the few in this arena which is keen to hire client-siders as well as people with consulting experience. In this senior role, you will be managing consulting projects & tasks with major clients across different industries including FMCG, financial services, retail and telecoms with a focus around 3 key areas:
* Brand: Growth Strategies, Brand Positioning, Innovation, Brand Missions, Shopper Marketing, Nudge Activation.
* Marketing Knowledge: Insight Distillation, Knowledge Squeeze, Metrics that Matter, Motivation Mapping.
* People: Mind-set Change, Competency Framework and Skill Build.
With a clear focus on helping clients transform their marketing strategies through the above areas, our client brings together the latest and best understanding about human behaviour and motivation and turns it into practical marketing decisions and actions. In this role, your remit will include:
* Working alongside the senior team to build, manage and extend relationships with clients. This will demand an ability to engage and influence senior managers, typically Marketing Directors and VP level.
* Delivering outstanding consulting outcomes for clients, delivering our marketing approaches to help them unleash the potential of their marketing.
* Playing a leading role in new business generation both within existing clients and attracting new clients through building and maintaining an effective network.
* Managing a consulting team - coaching and mentoring individuals to create great outputs and client relationships, effectively and efficiently.
* Making a significant contribution to the development of the company's direction, turnover and profitability.
Our Ideal Candidate
An exceptional senior marketing leader with at least 15 years' experience, much of it in senior marketing positions in blue chip companies recognised for their marketing excellence AND ideally experience working in a senior client facing role in a consulting company too, you'll be looking for a new challenge. Although ability is more important than background, you will have been immersed in brand issues and marketing decision making with practical experience across all areas of the mix from positioning and innovation to insight, strategy and communications. You will also be able to demonstrate the following:
* Outstanding intellectual abilities and high emotional intelligence
* An ability to work brilliantly with people and inspire them
* A track record of success managing multiple levers of brand and business growth
* The ability to juggle multiple large-scale projects in a very fast-moving environment.
* Commercial savvy with strong analytical, creative and strategic skills
* A passion for brands and understanding customer behaviour
* Personal gravitas, high energy, personal confidence and outstanding communication skills
* A global outlook, having worked on international business a willingness to travel the glob as and if required for projects
* Familiarity with latest thinking impacting marketing today -Behavioural economics, Big Data, Neuroscience and Social/ Digital marketing
* Ability to motivate and coach teams, providing direction and prioritising team goals and workload
Company Profile
Our client, founded in 2010, is a fast-growing consultancy with a highly experienced team. With over 30 consultants - all former senior marketers or agency planners, it works for more than 25 of the world's largest & best companies advising their most senior marketing management. With a unique approach to its work and on a fast-growth trajectory, it has huge growth ambitions and is keen to attract the brightest and the most creative to its team.
Tarsh Lazare is committed to finding the right roles for talented candidates. We are a leading name in marketing recruitment with extensive marketing and recruitment experience working with brand management, communications, category management, customer marketing, brand consulting and insight/research specialists across a wide range of industry sectors. If you would like to discuss this role, or any other roles that might be suitable, please e-mail or call one of the team now on 020 7566 9890.
If you don't feel this role is quite right for you, but think you know someone who might be suitable, do please pass this advert on. We do offer a recommend-a-friend scheme and you could receive £200 in John Lewis vouchers should you recommended someone who is offered and accepts the role.


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In 1880 James T. Butler
was listed as a Druggist residing in Reelsville,
the same area where the Sarah Fox family resided.
On the 26th of November, 1883, he married Miss
Hester Ann McCullough in Putnam Co., Indiana, she
being the daughter of West and Rachel J. (Paul)
McCullough and had been born 09 Sep 1864. They
moved to Kansas where in 1900
they were living in Fall Twp., Chase Co., Kansas
where James continued to practice law. According
to the census, they were the parents of seven
children, though only three were living at the
time: Lona, Paul & Fay.
Not long after the death of his wife, Hester
Ann, on 13 May 1903, James was married to a woman
by the name of Mary H., who appeared with him and
his son Paul in the 1910 census then living in
Guymon Twp., Texas Co., Oklahoma. James died in
1922 and was laid to rest at Prairie Grove
Cemetery in Cottonwood Falls, Chase Co., Kansas
where Hester and his parents are also buried.
Note: According to his
obituary, the photographer, J.W. Pendergast, was
born and reared in Indianapolis; and until 1918
was a photographer.


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February 11, 2011
A tale of two crises: experts and humour hurt more than rumour
On January 22nd 2011, a teenager died from food poisening after a meal in a fast food restaurant in Avignon, France. The restaurant was closed immediately for enquiry and reopened yesterday. And while the tragedy certainly had an impact on the fast food chain's corporate reputation, that dent seems minor compared to those caused by other crises of much less dramatic scope but far more viral in nature (no pun intended).
For example, the following video has been viewed almost 10 MILLION times! It was posted by Dave Caroll after he unsuccessfully tried to obtain reimbursement from United Airlines, for one whole year, when his expensive guitar was mishandled and broken by the company's ground staff.
Contrast this with the fast-food crisis stats:
- In the period since the incident, fewer than 1000 tweets were exchanged on the subject and the buzz trend followed a very conventional bell shape indicating a rapid (3 days) loss of interest in the subject by Internet users, with no rebound or attempt to revive the story.
- During that same period, the fast food company's fan page continued growing at its normal rate, as if nothing had happened. And while there was some rage to be read on the company's Facebook wall, it was more likely to be flame wars between supporters and detractors than a consistent attack on the brand.
- In just ten hours following the announcement of the restaurant reopening, 131 people had "liked" the update (see first picture, above) and 57 had left a comment. That's almost 20% as much as all the tweets in the two weeks the crisis has spanned.
While official enquiries were not able to link the food eaten in that restaurant by the 14-year-old and his death, suspicion was high in initial – well before any official information was released – tweets and Facebook updates on the company's wall. So why didn't the situation flare up into a real crisis as in the much less traumatic broken guitar story?
I see three main reasons:
- First of all, Dave Carroll is a de facto industry expert. "For an Airline company?" you ask! Yes. For any company. Dave's PR campaign to support the propagation of his story would make many agencies dreamy-eyed. It found immediate support from Taylor Guitars and guitar case makers Calton cases. It earned coverage in the LA Times and the BBC and was well enough orchestrated to appear on marketing thought leader David Meerman Scott's blog and as the first chapter of his latest book Real-Time Marketing and PR. Because Dave Carroll is the sort of customer that frequently reports baggage handling problems (guitar owners) and proved to be an expert in communication, his story is very reminiscent of Jeff Jarvis's Dell Hell.
- The song is pretty good. It's good music, it's catchy. It's exactly the sort of stuff that goes viral. Marketing statistics on all kinds of supports show that positive news gets shared much more than negative news. Dave's song could have been whiny, it is humorous and likeable instead. A similar attack on Mobistar example can be found here. Compared to this, the tragic loss of a family is not the sort of news that spreads like wildfire.
- Where it took United Airlines several months to acknowledge responsibility for the incident, Quick's senior management reacted much faster, posting an official declaration that felt human, sincere and heartfelt. The declaration provided hotline information and openly explained how the company would collaborate with the enquiry. It received many Likes and positive comments.
So, what are the take aways for corporate reputation management?
- Engagement is key! Many supporters fought Quick's battle online. And the company's open collaboration with many industry experts (with reports posted on their wall and in press releases) went a long way towards quieting the critics.
- Monitor wisely! Influence is not what an algorithm says it is. Monitoring zillions of consumers like big brother doesn't mean you are monitoring the people who can do you harm. I have written about this on numerous occasions (insights on reputation, learning from the Mona Lisa and mapping stakeholders) and Edelman's 2010 and 2011 Trust Barometers state it clearly: experts are far more influential than the public.
- Corporate values are not just on the surface! While United may have plenty of shiny documentation to send to journalists, it seems that their staff wasn't really supportive of Dave's problems. In contrast, the number of Facebook updates by Quick employees is impressive – and effective. It is obvious internal communications play an important role in the company. Yet another proof that Joe Public shouldn't be reputation manager's exclusive fantasy stakeholder. Reputation management starts from inside.
So, how are you dealing with the world outside? Please share your point of view.
Related posts
2 Comments


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Blog Posts on terrence romeo and vice ganda
Who is RR Garcia, is he Vice Ganda's beau? But who is Terrence Romeo? by WITHOUT WANG² on Jun 2, 2012Former FEU cager Ryan Roose "RR" Garcia is currently trending on Twitter after a [supposed] photo of him was shown on "Gandang Gabi Vice." Apparently, the staff of the weekly show tried to tease Vice Ganda when he mentioned ab...


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A walk through of 10 great interactive ads in iPad magazines created with Mag+ free tools. This is meant as an inspiration for everyone working with (digital) publishing, advertising and tablet magazines/apps.
The examples are:
- Static ad with web link
- Static ad with multiple web links
- Multi page ad with multiple web links
- Ad for iPhone app
- Single page ad with pop-ups and video
- Multi page ad with video
- Multi page ad with layers and video
- Ad with animated background
- Ad inspired by web
- Designer ad
Find out more in our blog post "10 Tips For Creating Better Ads In Tablet Magazines"


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The clitoris is a sexual organ in the body of female mammals. The visible knob-like portion is located near the anterior junction of the labia minora, above the opening of the vagina. Its particular function is inducing sexual pleasure and orgasms.
The word clitoris can be pronounced KLIHT uh rihs (['klɪɾəɹəs] in IPA notation (listen)) or klih TOHR ihs ([klɪ'tɔɹəs] (listen)). The OED suggests that KLY tor ihs [['klaɪtɒɹɪs]) is also used in the UK.
Table of contents
Development and formation
The female clitoris is homologous to the male penis, i.e., embryologically it comes from the same tissue that forms the penis. The trigger for forming a penis instead of a clitoris is the action of testosterone in utero.
The organ is formed out of corpus cavernosum, a rich collection of capillary tissue with a substantial presence of nerve tissue. It is particularly well-suited for sexual stimulation.
The outside portion of the clitoris, the clitoral glans, is entirely or partially covered by the clitoral hood or prepuce, tissue that is homologous to the foreskin in males. In humans, the clitoral body then extends several centimeters upwards and to the back, before splitting into two arms, the crura. Shaped like an inverted "V", these crura extend around and to the interior of the labia majora.
Most of the clitoris is hidden, and external stimulation of the entire clitoris can result in a more profound sexual response. One explanation advanced for the vaginal orgasm is that it results from stimulation of the internal parts of the clitoris during vaginal penetration.
During sexual arousal, the clitoris enlarges as its erectile tissue fills with blood. Shortly before orgasm, this erection often increases further, drawing the clitoris upwards, so that viewed from the outside it actually appears to shrink.
Recognition of existence
Medical literature first recognised the existence of the clitoris in the 16th century. This is the subject of some dispute: Realdo Colombo (also known as Matteo Renaldo Colombo) was a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua, Italy, and in 1559 he published a book called De re anatomica in which he described the "seat of woman's delight". Columbo concluded, "Since no one has discerned these projections and their workings, if it is permissible to give names to things discovered by me, it should be called the love or sweetness of Venus."
Columbo's claim was disputed by his successor at Padua, Gabriele Falloppio (who discovered the fallopian tube), who claimed that he was the first to discover the clitoris. Caspar Bartholin, a 17th century Danish anatomist, dismissed both claims, arguing that the clitoris had been widely known to medical science since the 2nd century.
Noted researchers Masters and Johnson, Boston based researcher John Garabedian, and Dr. Matt Jaeger at the University of Kentucky all conducted extensive studies of the clitoris.
In the 1970s, the word clitoris was considered offensive in the spoken English language and is still seen as a taboo word by many people. The first use of clitoris on television in the United States is believed to have been by Dr. Rich O'Brien, a Harvard colleague of Garabedian's, on the Dr. Ruth Westheimer show.
Female circumcision
Main article: female circumcision
The external part of the clitoris may be partially or totally removed during female circumcision in voluntary or involuntary procedures. The topic is highly controversial with many countries condemning the traditions that give rise to involuntary procedures with some countries outlawing even voluntary procedures. Amnesty International estimates that over 2 million involuntary female circumcisions are being performed every year, mainly in African countries.
Altering the female genitalia
Main article: genital modification and mutilation
In various cultures, the clitoris is sometimes pierced. Piercings of the clitoris include a piercing of the clitoral hood, and the Isabella piercing, among many others. Some cultures at various times in history have practiced stretching, which can enlarge the clitoris, or can make it more visible.
See also
External links
- The-Clitoris.com – a very thorough website about everything related to the clitoris
- Study claims clitoris is larger than thought by Althaea Yronwode
- The Ciba Collection of Medical Illustrations: Vol.2, Reproductive System by Frank H. Netter, M.D. comparing female and male reproductive systems development and anatomy
- Illustrations from Clinical Anatomy Principles by Lawrence H. Mathers, Jr. et al. comparing clitoris and penis anatomy
- Development of the Female Sexual & Reproductive Organs – illustrations comparing clitoris and penis during the early development
|Reproductive system
|Female: Cervix – Clitoris – Fallopian tubes – Bartholin's glands – Hymen – Mammary glands – Ovaries – Skene's glands – Urethra – Uterus – Vagina – Vulva
|Male: Bulbourethral glands – Cowper's glands – Ejaculatory duct – Epididymis – Penis – Prostate – Scrotum – Seminal vesicles – Spermatic cord – Testes – Urethra – Vas deferens
Categories: Reproductive system | Gynecology


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Carriers Drop Mobile Handset Subsidies
Since the start of the mobile revolution, the popular consumer ownership model has consisted of a subsidized, often "free", handset with an 18-month or two-year contract. Apparently, not any more.
According to new research from Informa Telecoms & Media, quoted by GigaOM, almost 30 European carriers have stopped subsidizing handsets for some or all of their customers.
What's taking the place of those subsidies? Leasing and financing plans, such as Vodafone's Red Hot and O2 Germany's My Handy schemes. According to Informa analyst Francesco Radicati, this makes it easier for operators to cope with the growing popularity of expensive smartphones:
"The rising cost of devices like the iPhone means operators have to pay increasingly large subsidies to offer 'free' phones. Financing allows operators to continue offering phones for a low up-front price without subsidizing them; as an added bonus, it makes it easier to market smartphones to consumers on pay-as-you-go."
Why does this matter? Partly because it spells the end for lengthy contract lock-in periods — something operators have to consider anyway due to new consumer protection laws in countries such as Denmark — but also because it means a major shift in consumers' perception of smartphone costs.
If this trend continues — and that assumes that carriers do not lose high-value subscribers to competitors who have retained subsidies — it could have substantial impact on handset manufacturers. Not only could consumers become far more price sensitive if they are paying upfront, but the change threatens the established upgrade cycle. No longer will every 18 months mean: new contract, new phone.
GigaOM: European carriers are moving away from handset subsidies, analysts find


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Each Friday morning through the end of the year, Clark Allison will present a free workshop on year end gifting strategies in our Folsom office. He will discuss:
- Why this year is the best year in history to make gifts
- The relationship between the gift tax and estate tax
- Why you should always use trusts to make gifts to protect gifts from divorce and lawsuits
- How to use Lifetime Exemption Trusts to permanently avoid estate tax while maintaining use of the gifted assets
- ILITs, QPRTs, GRATs and Sales to Defective Grantor Trusts
- Domestic Asset Protection Trusts
- Benefits of prepaying life insurance premiums
- Clawback or recapture of the gift tax – why it won't happen
Join us for this free workshop. Seating is limited so please register early.


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June 9, 2009
Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6 pregame
12 comments:
Datsyuk will be taken of Zatta's line if Bylsma splits Rosby and Malkin. Hank and Pavel will be called upon to minimize damage. Wings 3and 4 lines will score enough. Ozzie will be stellar. Thid, the NHL poster boy, will be crying Daddy all night. I expect a repeat of Penguin frustration as it becomes apparent that they simply have no answers to the DET machine. Wings win, fairly easily.
Where art thou Nannerpuss?
Jeff OKWingnut
- June 9, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Screw the fans. I have a feeling the more boring this game is from an outsider's perspective, the more beautiful it will be for a Wings fan.
My prediciton, Matt Cooke and Maxime Talbot give each other mono from making out on the bench after discussing what's the best way to rough up a guy.
- June 9, 2009 at 2:33 PM
- Cameron Kittle said...
8:00am - I wake up for work, feeling pretty normal.
9:00am - I leave for work and start to feel the stress creeping up on me.
Noon - Am I eating lunch or is stress eating me?
Now (2:51pm) - Done. I am absolutely struggling with the stress and anticipation...wanting to vomit what I ate three hours ago.
There's nothing like gamedays when the Cup is already in the building. Ooh boy.
"Hold on to your ass and hope for win" is exactly right. The next five hours until gametime will be hell...Go Wings!
- June 9, 2009 at 2:56 PM
- Chris Moore said...
My facebook picture is now nannerpus.
Go wings.
- June 9, 2009 at 3:01 PM
As God as my witness(or Colleen Howe - whoever is in charge now)..... I had a banana split for dinner the last 2 nights. Nothing else, just a banana split. Then I read Tyler's comment in a previous post about banana splits and I think - Just a coincidence? I think NOT! Let's Go Wings!
- June 9, 2009 at 3:24 PM
- Triple Deke Staff said...
Nannerpuss didn't take the morning skate, but he's in as of 3:37 PM. It didn't feel right not having him here today.
- June 9, 2009 at 3:37 PM
- cmk said...
My husband--poor, poor baby--is getting ready to leave for work and I will be here watching alone. Hopefully he won't come home in the morning and find me in the corner crying in a puddle of my own drool. I now have to go and find drugs--lots and lots of drugs--to help me get through tonight.
- June 9, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Just so everyone knows who to blame - one of my coworkers starts his shift at 4:00 am tomorrow morning, so he is hoping for overtime so the game is still going on tied 1-1 when he wakes up at 2:00 am.
I told him if that happens, win or lose, he's a dead man. :)
- June 9, 2009 at 5:57 PM
- Brent said...
Pants off: Check
Nannerpuss: Check
Looks like everything's in order for the game.
It's days like this that remind me why i'm a hockey fan (as if I really needed a reminder).
- June 9, 2009 at 7:48 PM
- Chris Moore said...
fuck nannerpuss.
- June 9, 2009 at 10:55 PM
- Brent said...
Feels like I've been kicked in the balls.
- June 9, 2009 at 10:58 PM
- Triple Deke Staff said...
Agreed Chris. We're taking him behind the shed right now.
- June 9, 2009 at 10:58 PM


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Which sex is the worst about washing up? Why is it so important? We've got the dirty truth on how and when to wash your hands.
Hepatitis C Drug Rocks Virus in Early Test
VX-950: Protease Inhibitor Targets Hepatitis C Virus
VX-950 is a designer drug discovered only after huge effort. It targets a key hepatitis C protein. That protein is called protease, an enzyme the virus needs to reproduce.
It's not the first time a hepatitis C protease inhibitor has been tested in humans. Recently, an experimental hepatitis C protease inhibitor called BILN 2061 showed promising results in short-term human trials. But that drug had to be put on hold when monkey studies suggested it was toxic to the heart.
Schiff says that "seven or eight" pharmaceutical companies are nearing clinical trials of their own protease inhibitors against hepatitis C virus. He estimates that more than 20 companies are developing new "small molecule" drugs designed as oral hepatitis C treatments.
The term "protease inhibitor" may sound familiar. Drugs targeting HIV protease were a huge breakthrough for AIDS therapy. However, HIV rapidly develops resistance to these drugs. That's why AIDS drugs have to be taken in powerful combinations.
Whether hepatitis C virus will develop resistance to VX-950 or other protease inhibitors isn't known. Schiff notes that unlike HIV, the hepatitis virus doesn't hide inside cells where drugs can't reach it. So if the drug keeps viral levels low, there's a good chance the virus won't become resistant. It's even possible, Schiff says, that hepatitis C protease inhibitors will work all by themselves, without the need for combination therapy.
Shorter, Easier Hepatitis C Treatment?
In the Reesink study, the most effective dose of VX-950 was a three-times a day treatment. Four of eight patients receiving this dose for 14 days had about a 25,000-fold drop in hepatitis C virus levels. The virus became undetectable in two patients. Larger doses given twice a day didn't work as well, nor did lower doses given three times a day.
In this short study, no serious side effects seemed to happen. Possible side effects included headache, diarrhea, nausea, frequent urination, and sleepiness/drowsiness. All these side effects were mild.
It's not at all clear whether VX-950 really will work all by itself or whether it will work best in combination with other drugs. Unlike current hepatitis C treatments, it's an oral drug. That raises hopes for a much easier-to-take -- and, perhaps, shorter -- treatment regimen.


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Hotel addressNo. 115 Jinshui Road
Zhengzhou, Henan,P.R.China
450003 Zhengzhou
How to reach the hotel
Contact the hotel
- Tel. (+86)371/65950088
- Fax. (+86)371/65950080
- firstname.lastname@example.com
Recently viewed hotels
Sofitel Zhengzhou International - hotel description
Hotel code: 2197
Sofitel Zhengzhou is located in the heart of the capital of Henan province with easy accessibility from Jinshui and Chengdong Road, just 3 minutes' walk from Zi Jing Shan Park and right in the middle of the CBD and New East City Centre. The hotel features 220 new rooms, three restaurants and one bar, fitness centre and swimming pool. The famous spiritual Temple of Shaolin and the remains of the ancient Shang city foundations are nearby.
See the rooms
See the meeting rooms
Extras of this hotel
Located in the heart of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, this deluxe hotel offers superb 5-star accommodation, a spectacular atrium, a wide range of culinary options, and easy access to the famous Shaolin Temple and Shang Dynasty relics.
Message from the hotel manager
Mr Raymond Faulkner, the manager of the Sofitel Zhengzhou International hotel, would like to welcome you.
Work in this hotel
These prices may be based on different room types. Depending on the country, these prices may not include taxes, may include VAT only or may include all taxes (VAT and city tax). When prices do not include all taxes, the relevant taxes (VAT and/or city tax) will be stated in the following stages of the reservation process. The price is only guaranteed at the time of reservation.
2. Paying
Hotel classifications (1 to 5 stars for France) correspond to criteria laid down by local regulations.


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Restore/protect over 50 percent of the floodplain of the Wabash within the next 10 years. To that end, The Nature Conservancy has helped create a partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the State of Indiana and private industry to focus nearly $50 million on restoring a 90-mile-long wetland and forest corridor along the Wabash River.
Continue to develop and implement innovative conservation practices—focusing on two-stage ditch technology. This unique design for agricultural ditches has been shown by the University of Notre Dame to reduce sediment and nutrients, and has been readily adopted by many of the county surveyors in the state.
Reforest 20,000 acres in the floodplain by 2016 to offset the current threat of riparian loss identified by the best available science. To achieve this goal, the Conservancy has successfully secured $18 million in federal funds to date through MRBI and Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP). These funds will restore 5,700 acres toward the goal. In addition, the Governor's Healthy River Initiative funds will bring another $30 million to the table, with a goal of protecting an additional 40,000 acres.
Back to proof-of-concept project list
This 10-minute video explores the two-stage ditch, an innovative tool that benefits both agriculture and the environment.
Learn more about this partnership of agencies and organizations collaborating with landowners to protect floodplains and bottomlands.
Download this map for a detailed look at the Wabash River Floodplain and its diverse wildlife.
Download this fact sheet to learn how the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program brings together partners to help landowners protect, restore and manage high priority wetlands. Or, explore flood impacts with this overview on Indiana's Mackey Island.


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MAR 14, 2014 - TheStreet
A Must Read - Share
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Cooper Tire & Rubber was gaining 6% to 424.18 Friday after beating analysts' estimates for earnings and revenue in the fourth quarter.
For the fourth quarter the tire producer posted earnings of 31 cents a share, beating analysts' expectations of 26 cents a share by 5 cents. The company reported revenue of $861 million for the quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected revenue of $774.3 million for the quarter.
Cooper Tire saw a reduced impact from the failed Apollo Tyres in the quarter, recording on a $9 million hit from the terminated
Read More
Editor's Picks
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© 2011 Comunitee, Inc.


text:
Sufficiency of disclosure under Art. 83 EPC requires inter alia that the subject-matter claimed in a European patent application be clearly identified. This requirement must be complied with as from the date of filing because a deficiency in a European patent application as filed, consisting in an insufficient identification of the subject-matter claimed, cannot subsequently be cured without offending against Art. 123(2) EPC which provides that the subject-matter content of a European patent application as filed may not be extended (G 2/93, OJ 1995, 275).
According to the board in T 512/07, objections under Art. 83 EPC 1973 may under some circumstances be overcome by amending the claims, since thereby the "invention" referred to in Art. 83 EPC may be so changed that it no longer depends on the insufficiently disclosed aspects of the application for its realisation. However such objections cannot be overcome by amendment of the description and drawings, since the amendment would then add subject-matter to the application as filed. In general, the claimed subject-matter at issue had to be examined for compliance with Art. 83 EPC 1973 on the basis of the application documents as originally filed.


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MAR 21, 2013 - San Francisco Chronicle
A Must Read - Share
Man pleads not guilty to slapping toddler on plane
ATLANTA (AP) — A man accused of slapping a toddler on an Atlanta-bound flight and using a racial slur has pleaded not guilty to assault in federal court.
Hundley's attorney, Marcia Shein, says the 60-year-old man has admitted to using the racial slur.
Editor's Picks
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© 2011 Comunitee, Inc.


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The Coleman Family
Now that Taylor is 18, she continues to push the boundaries established by her strict father, Ken, and her mother, Marie. Her desire to be in the limelight as an actress and singer isn't always in line with how her parents feel she should behave and with Ken's failing health, Taylor tries her hardest to be the good daughter; but temptation seems to follow her every step of the way.
Kenneth Coleman has a rare genetic disorder called Nephrotic Syndrome and is in need of a kidney transplant. For more information and to find out how you can help, visit kencolemankidneyfund.com.


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I am not expert in large backups to CD. However with tape backup I have
found that it is the system transfer speed which is the critical factor. In
theory my 'dat' tape drive should transfer data at 100 MBM. In practice in
never does better than 50 MBM whatever the media and backup software. I find
that Sequoia, NTbackup and Bump 4.81 all transfer at the same speed.
So I do not think that packet writing is what matters to you but of the
transfer speed to your CD writer. Try backing up a substantial know slug of
binary files to your drive once using the x24 and once using the x40.
Do not change any settings between the back ups. Then if the write to disk
time transfer time is the same then there is no advantage in using the more
expensive media.
John Butler
In the case of News Groups, please reply to the News Group
not to me.
wrote in message
> I've heard that Backup MyPC uses packet-writing and that because of that
> fact it doesn't make any difference what speed rating your CD media is
> labeled at. Is this really the case, cut and dried? Is a 40x CD not going
> burn a backup any faster than a 24x media no matter what? (Of course, I
> a 40x burner.)
> Is there any chance a future upgrade to the program might change that?
> I'm only looking at whether there's any benefit in using media that's
> above 24x or not, so the 1-4x stuff doesn't apply in the context of my
> inquiry here.
> Thanks!


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Papiss Cisse benefited from a linesman error to score one of the goals of the season as Newcastle held off a luckless Southampton with a 4-2 Premier League win at St James' Park.
Morgan Schneiderlin struck the opening goal for the visiting side before efforts from Moussa Sissoko (33) and Cisse - who appeared to be offside before he walloped a glorious volley over visiting goalkeeper Artur Boruc from 25 yards out on 42 minutes - handed the home side a merited 2-1 lead after a spirited recovery.
Southampton were the sharper side at the outset of the second period and levelled when Rickie Lambert tucked Adam Lallana's cross into the net for his 100th goal for his club on 50 minutes.
Saints looked likely to find a third goal when referee Chris Foy decided to award Newcastle a penalty when substitute Danny Fox was deemed to have intentionally handled the ball from Mathieu Debuchy's cross on 67 minutes.
It was a harsh decision, but Yohan Cabaye stepped up to send Boruc the wrong way from the spot.
Cabaye had scored on his 50th Premier League appearance with a penalty. It was the first penalty he has taken in the Premier League. He had missed his last three for Lille in Ligue 1.
Fox's misery was compounded when he drove an attempted clearance into Jos Hooiveld on 79 minutes and the ball came back off the Dutch defender before beating Boruc to finally end an impressive visiting side's resistance.
Alan Pardew's team last won back-to-back Premier League home matches between March and April 2012 on their way to winning four in a row at St. James' Park.
More importantly for Pardew, sacked by Southampton in August 2010, Newcastle move further away from relegation worries. They are up to 14th place in the standings, three ahead of Southampton and six points clear of 18th-placed Aston Villa.
Rob Elliot was making his Premier League debut for Newcastle in goal having replaced the injured Tim Krul, who damaged his ankle in Thursday's Europa League win at Metalist Kharkiv.
His first job was picking the ball out of the net as Schneiderlin turned in the heart of the Newcastle box to hammer Lambert's downward header into the net.
It was a lovely ball in by Jack Cork to Lambert as the visiting side showed why they doused Manchester City 3-1 a fortnight ago.
The excellent Sissoko began to show his class as he thumped a shot at goal from 25 yards out that saw Boruc dive to tip the ball wide.
But Sissoko would not be denied when he slotted the ball into the net from close range after Boruc had blocked Yohan Gouffran's effort.
It was a spot of luck to break to the midfielder, and Newcastle's good fortune continued when Cisse appeared to be offside from Elliot's long hopeful free-kick from his half.
Cisse had screwed a shot wide when he should have scored earlier in the half, but wasted little time in lifting the ball over Boruc with a goal that rekindled memories of similar memorable efforts against Swansea and Chelsea last season.
Saints came to life early in the second half with Elliot nudging away a Lambert free-kick
But the in-form Lambert showed his brightness when he struck the equaliser from 12 yards out minutes later to improve his haul to 12 for the season in becoming the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League this term.
Southampton were suddenly searching for a third goal with Lallana again providing the cross for Lambert to nod inches wide, but Newcastle steadied themselves to eke out the win.
Full-back Luke Shaw, who was on a yellow card, was replaced by Fox before the hour-mark in a move that signalled the beginning of the end for Southampton as Cabaye's penalty and Hooiveld's own goal finished matters off in Newcastle's favour.
Adam Lallana (Southampton) - Superb performance from the Southampton skipper. So unfortunate to be on the losing side.
Newcastle: Elliot 7; Debuchy 7, S Taylor 7, Coloccini 6, Santon 7; Cabaye 7, Tiote 6; Gouffran 6, Sissoko 8, Gutierrez 6; Cisse 8... subs: Anita 6, Yanga-Mbiwa 6, Perch 6
Southampton: Boruc 6, Clyne 6, Yoshida 6, Hooiveld 5, Shaw 7, Schneiderlin 7, Cork 7, S. Davis 7, Rodriguez 7, Lallana 8, Lambert 8... subs: Ramírez 6, Fox 5, Puncheon 6
- Soccer
- Sports & Recreation
- Premier League
- Artur Boruc
- Rickie Lambert
- Southampton
- Adam Lallana


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M Missoni
Patent Logo Bag
- Color:
- teal
Qty: 1
- 1
- 2
Description: Large patent leather tote with perforated logo on front of bag and two side pockets. Zip top closure, interior fabric lining, interior zipper pocket. Detachable signature print pouch with leather trim. Body length 16 inches; Height 17 inches; Width 5½ inches. Drop handle 5 inches. Shoulder strap drop 18 inches.
Material: Leather
Brand: M Missoni
Origin: Imported


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Acquired: Signed as a free agent on 6/3/13
2013-14: Split the season between Chicago and the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs … Posted a 13-5-4 record, 2.71 goals-against average and .897 save percentage in 25 games in his NHL debut with the Blackhawks … Made his NHL debut on Nov. 19 at COL, turning aside 14 of 16 shots on goal in relief … Earned his first NHL win in his first career start on Nov. 27 at CGY … Notched his first NHL shutout after making 26 saves in a 1-0 victory on Dec. 30 vs. LAK … Registered a 7-5-0 record, a 2.83 GAA and .914 SV% in 14 games with Rockford … Made his North American debut on Oct. 5 at San Antonio … Earned his first AHL win on Oct. 11 at Lake Erie … Made a season-high 46 saves on Oct. 27 vs. Texas.
2012-13: Paced the SM-liiga with a career-best 1.85 GAA and .943 SV% in 45 regular-season games with Assat Pori … Registered a 21-10-11 record … Ranked fifth in the league with a career-high five shutouts … Notched two assists and 10 penalty minutes … Won the Lasse Oksanen Award as the most valuable player in the regular season and the Urpo Ylonen Award as the league's best goaltender … Paced the league with a 1.33 GAA and .955 SV% in 16 playoff games (12-4) en route to winning the SM-liiga championship … Led the league with four postseason shutouts … Awarded the Jari Kurri Trophy, given to the best player in the postseason ... Named a Finnish league All-Star.
2011-12: Registered a 21-10-4 mark in 38 regular-season games with Assat Pori … Ranked seventh in the league with a 2.23 GAA and fourth with a .933 SV% (min. 10 GP) … Notched two shutouts … Posted a 0-3 record, 3.07 GAA and .917 SV% in three playoff games.
2010-11: Recorded a 6-6-5 mark in 20 games played with SM-liiga's Lukko Rauma … Registered a 2.37 GAA and .911 SV% … Appeared in two postseason games (0-1).
Logged a 4-3-0 record with Finland at the 2013 World Championship, posting a 2.09 GAA and .928 SV% with one shutout.


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Atmosphere: Imagine Little Italy meets bed and breakfast meets 50's diner. This place is a little too cute for its own good.
Service: Friendly. The place was pretty busy for a weekday, but our food still came out quickly.
Booze: Bloody Marys and mimosas, as you would expect, and I ordered the latter. They have a few pathetic domestic beers and a short wine list, but I would probably never want either at this particular place.
Pasta Mama | whole wheat spaghetti scrambled with eggs parmesan reggiano cheese and choice of toast $ 6.99 … with panchetta bacon $ 7.99
Swiss Bliss | panchetta bacon, mushrooms, spinach and swiss cheese drizzled with a little parsley butter, served with choice of side and toast $ 7.99
Whole Wheat Pancake | just the way it sounds… $ 1.99
Before I visit any restaurant, I read the menu. My initial thought: BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI?! As a huge believer in bacon spaghetti, I knew I had to try it with the addition of eggs. There was no way that adding eggs could go wrong.
It went. This dish was… weird and a little gross, honestly. Lacking in flavor or any pizzaz at all, I really could only swallow a few bites before asking for a doggy bag. Luckily, I didn't have much of an appetite to begin with so half the english muffin completely sufficed. The omelette was just alright. Mamabird substituted swiss cheese for goat cheese of course. "There's not enough cheese." "For normal people, or for you?" As she opened it to show me, "No…" Not enough cheese. Not up to my standard of fluffiness. Anything but a ringing endorsement, it still did the job and I've had much worse. We are certainly egg spoiled, however; it is an ever-evolving craft of ours. As for the grits, I have never been a fan so I really have no room to speak on the subject. The unexpected star of the show was the lonely whole wheat pancake, which had me wishing I kept things simple. It's texture was velvety smooth and the taste was sweet, not the least bit gritty the way some whole wheat goods turn out. Let's just say I may have frightened the server a bit when she tried pre-bussing the table with one bite lingering on the plate.
Kudos: They have a beyond average selection of cheeses: goat, swiss, gruyère, smoked gouda, monetary jack, aged cheddar, and american. Cheese is very near and dear to my heart; laying my eyes that list made it flutter. Note for next time: ask for extra.
Overall: I wasn't entirely impressed. That being said, I'll definitely return… if only to further enjoy the adorable decor (and wheat pancakes.) Despite my adventurous dish being a flop, I appreciate the creative effort and there are more items I'd like to try: An Elvis sandwich… peanut butter and bacon with the option of adding banana, French toast made with Kahlua and cinnamon butter. The woman next to us was munching on a gorgeous chicken salad plate overflowing with fresh fruit drizzled with yogurt… yum!
1001 E 54th street
Indianapolis, IN 46220


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PEKIN, Ill. -- Tomii O. Craig, 79, died at 5:55 p.m. Nov. 13, 2011, at her home.
Born Sept. 20, 1932, in Tokyo, Japan, to the late Eizabaro and Ushino Shojr Otsuki, she had worked at Hiram Walker and Sons in Peoria for 13 years as a machine operator, retiring in 1979. She was a life member of the George Maple Memorial AMVETS Post No. 235 Ladies Auxiliary in Pekin where she had been a bingo volunteer.
On June 11, 1954, at Tokyo, she married Arthur Leslie Craig who preceded her in death on Dec. 16, 2002.
She was also preceded in death by one son, Jimmy Craig, and three sisters, one brother and one grandson.
Survivors include: three sons and daughters-in-law, John and Penny Craig of Wyanet, Patrick and Martha Craig of Charleston, Mo., and Mark and Kim Craig of Pekin; one daughter and son-in-law, Charlotte Craig and Carl Gibbs of Pekin; and five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Private family services and burial at Trinity Cemetery in Bono, Ark., will be held at a later date.
Arrangements are by the Preston-Hanley Funeral Homes and Crematory in Pekin.
Obituary courtesy of the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.


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Top Definition
Thomas Ryan Murphy at RPI
Ryan (the hamburgler) pre-gamed Meal Plan with a hamburger
by TNFiji November 15, 2004
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
The most notorious criminal in American history. Reponsible for the pickle mutiny of 1932 and heisting millions of Hamburgers from the McDonalds archive.
If the Hamburgler ever stole my burger, I'd shoot him in the back as he fled.
by jerem December 20, 2003
While having ones asshole eaten out, proceed to rip a wet fart on the face of the person eating the asshole. The result being a mask of shit around the eyes looking like The Hamburgler. A.K.A. The Raccoon, the Wrobel Wrobel
While eating out his girlfriends asshole, she let a wet one rip in his face. He looked like the fucking Hamburgler
by tekrc May 08, 2009
One who deems it appropriate to burgle ham.
by assclown October 24, 2003
When one recieves a handjob from a girl that not on that night nor anyother has he ever hooked up with. This act is commonly used when the girl is much to of a fugle to hook up with, but you will still gladly recieve a handjob.
Jeff was not attracted to Sarah at all but he still took a hamburgler due to the fact that he hadn't been laid in months.
by Rahdagh August 09, 2009
a girl that is so fat..all the worlds missing cheese burgers are in her chins
John: hey jason, were where you at this weekend
Jason: over at hamburglers
Jason: over at hamburglers
by urbanjedi23 May 16, 2011
Fred was quite a hamburgler last night with that girl.
by afritz1234 April 17, 2009


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Diagonal Stripes Blanket
Need a baby gift in a hurry that looks soft, cozy and and new mommy will love? This blanket fills the bill! Crocheted in super bulky yarn with a sweet border, this blanket is the perfect gift.
pattern details
Required Supplies:
- Red Heart® Baby Clouds®: 4 skeins 9351 Tutti Frutti Multi A (E710 Baby Clouds is discontinued)
- Red Heart® Soft Baby Steps®: 2 skeins 9600 White B
- Crochet Hooks: 9 mm [US N-13] and 5.5 mm [US I-9] (for Round 3 of Edging only)
- Yarn Needle
|Pattern Number:
|Designed By:
|Nanette M. Seale
|Project Type:
|Throw / Afghan
|Gauge: 7 sts and 8 rows in sc = 4". CHECK YOUR GAUGE. Use any size hook to obtain the gauge.
Step 1.
Choose your size
Throw is 34" x 37½".


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Ronnie Scott's presents 5 shows from Loose Tubes following on from their triumphant 30th Anniversary shows here last year. These masters of musical mayhem and genius in equal measure return featuring most of the original lineup including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Mark Lockheart... find out more Tap to see more
Powerful Australian tenor saxophonist with fiery quartet dubbed "The Most Exciting Tenor Saxophonist In Britain" Click The Video Below For A Taster Of The Late Late Show (actual band on the night varies!) "We haven't had anything like this in New York for over... find out more Tap to see more
Doors open 6pm, closed 3am, Music starts at 9:30 PM (£5 after 8pm, £8 after 11pm) M.U. Free entry PLEASE NOTE THE BAR WILL OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AT 8.30pm ON WEDNESDAY 5th June 2013 Until recently, this weekly session was known only to the coolest of jazz heads, but has fast... find out more Tap to see more


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Sep 02, 2016 - Sep 04, 2016
Beutler Brothers Rodeo Arena, Elk City, OK 73644
For over 75 years, Elk City has hosted one of the most renowned rodeos in the state of Oklahoma. The PRCA Rodeo of ... read more...
Sep 10, 2016
Sheraton Midwest City Hotel at the Reed Conference Center, Midwest City, OK 73110
Bring your favorite books to Sheraton Midwest City Hotel at the Reed Conference Center for a signing event ... read more...
Educational Event
Sep 10, 2016
The Castle of Muskogee, Muskogee, OK 74401
Run as fast as you can across 60 acres at the Castle of Muskogee and dodge your way through zombies and other obstacles ... read more...
Sporting/Recreation Event
Bedouin Shrine Clown Car & Bike Collectors Show
Sep 10, 2016
Honor Heights Park, Muskogee, OK 74402
Visit beautiful Honor Heights Park in Muskogee for the Bedouin Shrine Clown Car & Bike Collectors Show. This one day ... read more...
Auto/Motorcycle Event
Sep 17, 2016 - Sep 18, 2016
Convention Center, Elk City, OK 73644
The Elk City Fall Festival Craft Show, held every third weekend in September, is one of the largest arts and craft shows ... read more...
Craft/Hobby Show, Fall Festivals & Events
Sep 17, 2016
Elk City Model Airpark, Elk City, OK 73644
Watch as vintage-style model airplanes take to the sky at Elk City's annual Flying Aces Fly-In. This exhibition ... read more...
Aviation Event
Sep 24, 2016
6521 SE 29th St, Midwest City, OK 73110
The Sam's Club National BBQ Tour in Midwest City is spicing up the world of competitive barbecue. The barbecue ... read more...
Food Event
Sep 26, 2016 - Oct 01, 2016
Sheraton Midwest City Hotel at the Reed Conference Center, Midwest City, OK 73110
Celebrate all forms of creative arts with OKC Painting Palooza. During this week-long event, learn art techniques from ... read more...
Art Shows, Expo/Trade Show
Haunted Castle Halloween Festival
Sep 30, 2016 - Oct 29, 2016
The Castle of Muskogee, Muskogee, OK 74401
You'll find thrills and Halloween activities for the entire family at the Haunted Castle Halloween Festival in ... read more...
Children's Event, Fall Festivals & Events
Oct 01, 2016
Farm & Ranch Museum, Elk City, OK 73644
Bring the family and enjoy the annual Elk City Chili Cook-Off at the Farm and Ranch Museum. Come hungry and sample ... read more...
Food Event
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Christopher Biasiolli
July 13 - August 19, 2007
517 Stieren, San Antonio, TX 78210 Get directions
(210) 852-4492
Biasiolli draws from childhood devices to make sense of our social and political issues. In an older piece, Homeland Security, he wired together more than 100 panda bear nightlights in a makeshift chandelier. Come see his new installation, which constructs a life-sized electric football game!


text:
Carnival Will Pay You to Cruise for 24 Hours
Thinking of taking a cruise ship holiday, but a bit worried after reading those less-than-dreamy headlines about overflowing toilets and deadly shipwrecks? Carnival Cruise Lines has a new idea to lure you to the high seas.
Cruise-line operator Carnival Corp. said its namesake brand, Carnival Cruise Lines, has rolled out a new "vacation guarantee" program that would allow customers to end their cruises early and receive a 110% refund if they are unhappy with their trips, a move that comes following a series of vessel mishaps.
The program also includes a complimentary return flight home and a $100 shipboard credit for a future cruise and applies during the first 24 hours of a voyage.
"The 'Great Vacation Guarantee' is designed to provide an assurance to those consumers who may be considering a cruise that we stand behind our product and, if they are dissatisfied for any reason, they have a simple and hassle-free means for receiving a full refund and more," said Gerry Cahill, Carnival Cruise Lines president and CEO.
Carnival is in the process of investing $600-700 million on upgrading its fleet as it copes with the fallout from a string of bad publicity in recent years. As the WSJ wrote back in April when the investment was announced:
It is a significant investment for the world's No. 1 cruise operator, its largest in operational enhancements that approaches the cost of its biggest ship order ever. But the chief benefit of the heavy spending isn't how much it repairs vessels but how much it repairs Carnival's public image after multiple mechanical snafus, analysts said.
"At some point, perception becomes reality, and the perception right now is that Carnival's cruise lines are out of date," said James Hardiman, a Longbow Research analyst who covers Carnival. The investments could mean fewer incidents and a higher standard of safety and security, he added.
Carnival has previously told investors it expects it will take 2-3 years for its reputation to recover, powered primarily by word-of-mouth from satisfied cruise customers.
With 4.5 million yearly passengers, "99% of them are coming back happy and telling their friends and getting on Facebook and Twitter and then telling people what a great time they've had," its then-CEO Micky Arison said in late June. "That is powerful, 90,000 folks every single week coming off those ships in the U.S. and talking about the great experience."
But the company is still looking for ways to lure wary vacationers onto its ships, even if that means free return flights home and a full refund — plus 10% bonus money — for anyone who isn't sold on the experience after the first day.
See also:
Reputation, Regulatory Issues Dog Cruise Industry – WSJ
Carnival's Cruise Ship Comeback: Powered By Word of Mouth? – Corporate Intelligence


text: Okay, the WC qualifying has reached the decisive phase. About half of the games in each group have been played, time to check who is going for glory at the moment and how good our predictions were.Group 1, current standings:1 Netherlands - 7 games, 19 points2 Czech Republik - 7, 183 Romania - 8, 13- What we said -Dara: Winners: Czech RepublicRunners up: Netherlands (who will advance in playoffs)Dark horses: RomaniaNoGame:Group 1: Holland is in the worst group imaginable. First of all the Czechs. Those bloody Czechs again. I envision Holland getting only one point from them in the home game, and getting ourselves hammered (again!) in Prague. Finland is not the strongest of teams, but they can prove tricky, and Romania has a good reputation as well. The other countries I don't know, and don't really fear, but that Holland is in a strong group is for sure. winner: Czech Republic.Arlequino:Winner - Czech RepublicRunner Up - NetherlandsBanana Skin - RomaniaEJSunday:1 Czechs2 NetherlandsRomania will certainly have a word in there and also the Finns will certainly not give the big guns an easy pass.Prediction quality: Very good, though we all put the Czechs above the Dutch. Romania is well placed on our lists too.Group 2:1 Ukraine - 8 games, 20 points2 Greece - 8, 153 Turkey - 8, 134 Denmark 7, 9- What we said -Dara: Winners: GreeceRunners up: Denmark (who will probably advance in playoffs)Dark horses: TurkeyNoGame: Group 2: A confrontation between the new European champion Greece and their arch enemy Turkey (came in third at the WC 2002, but missed EURO 2004 due to Latvia) will prove interesting for sure. Of course the Turks are more than willing to prove that they are better than Greece. Honor's at stake here. I'm looking forward to those games between those two countries. Denmark could be the outsider in this group, profiting. Winner: Denmark (hard choice though!).Arlequino:Winner - TurkeyRunner Up - GreeceBanana Skin - UkraineEJSunday:Tough call. Can Greece repeat the miracle of Portugal? I have my doubts, the other big teams will have learned their lesson. So I say:1 Denmark 2 TurkeyPrediction quality: Very poor. Neither of us had the Ukraine on top, at least Arlequino put them the Bana Skin category. Denmark is way off from where we put it and Turkey is a bad bet either.Group 3:1 Portugal - 7 games, 17 points2 Slovakia - 7, 143 Russia - 7, 144 Estonia - 8, 115 Latvia - 7, 10- What we said -Dara:Winners: PortugalRunners up: Russia (who will probably advance in playoffs)Dark horses: LatviaNoGame:Easy one for Portugal. Mind those Russians though.Arlequino:Winner - PortugalRunner Up - RussiaBanana Skin - Portugal - but only to themselves!EJSunday:1 Portugal2 RussiaLatvia will not make it this time.Prediction quality: Okay. Portugal was an easy tip which we all got right but neither of us opted for Slovakia, whose centre forward Marek Mintal was the Bundesleague's top scorer this season with 25 goals. Miracle factor: Mintal plays for Nuremberg who only just avoided relegation! Group 4:1 Switzerland - 6 games, 12 points2 Israel - 7, 113 Ireland - 6, 104 France - 6, 10- What we said -Dara:Winners: FranceRunners up: Ireland (who will not advance in playoffs)Dark horses: SwizerlandNoGame:Easy one for France, although their fame has gone downhill enormously. Again against Cypres... Ireland will have a difficult time, but they should be able to beat Switzerland in the race for second place. Israel, hm, what to think of those guys?Arlequino:Winner - FranceRunner Up - Republic of IrelandBanana Skin - SwitzerlandEJSunday:1 France2 IrelandSwitzerland may cause a few problems but won't be good enough to go through.Prediction quality: Mixed. Of course Ireland and France both have a game at hand and may well storm to the top notches as predicted but we underestimated the rest. Switzerland is pretty good for an outsider and Israel was on nobody's list as a serious contender. NoGame had a suspicion though.Group 5:1 Italy - 6 games, 13 points2 Norway - 6, 93 Slovenia - 6, 94 Belarus - 5, 65 Scotland - 5, 5- What we said -Dara:Winners: ItalyRunners up: Slovenia (who will not advance in playoffs)Dark horses: NorwayNoGame:Italy has a win-lose group. They could loose to teams like Scotland and Norway, but beat them just as easily. If they keep focussed, it shouldn't be too hard. Winner: Italy.Arlequino:Winner - ItalyRunner U - NorwayBanana Skin - BelarusEJSunday:1 Italy2 NorwayPrediction quality: Very good. Italy and Norway as expected, and even Slovenia was mentioned correctly.Group 6:1 Poland - 7 games, 18 points2 England - 6, 163 Austria - 6, 11- What we said -Dara:Winners: EnglandRunners up: Poland (who will not advance in playoffs)Dark horses: WalesNoGame:I think some of the groups are made up badly. Just take a look at England now. At first sight it seems to be a tricky group, but we all know in the end that they will qualify easily. Even though some 'neighbours' are present in the group, good for some heavy confrontations, I still think England got a fairly easy group. Too easy.Arlequino:Winner - EnglandRunner Up - WalesBanana Skin - AustriaEJSunday:Difficult to see who comes second. Number one is of course1 England2 WalesPrediction quality: Very good to bad. England was easy but then some failed miserably by overrating Wales who have even fallen behind Northern Ireland. Exact evaluation by Dara with Poland on two and Arlequino had Austria waiting in the wings.Group 7 1 Serbia & Montenegro - 6 games, 12 points2 Spain - 6, 123 Lithuania - 6, 94 Belgium - 6, 85 Bosnia-Herzegovina - 5, 6- What we said -Dara:Winners: SpainRunners up: Belgium (who will probably not advance in playoffs)Dark horses: SerbiaNoGame:Same goes for Spain. Now what exactly did they do to get into a group as easy as this one? The results of the national Spanish team is to cry about, but they are allowed to come to Germany through a wide open door. I hope Belgium can stunt against them. Arlequino:Winner - SpainRunner Up - BelgiumBanana Skin - Bosnia-HerzegovinaEJSunday:This could be a tight group. Two favourites (Spain, Belgium) but two good outsiders as well (Serbia, Bosnia). As I tend to belive in surprises I say1 Spain2 SerbiaPrediction quality: so-so. Noone expected Serbia to lead the group and only little EJ had them in the top two and Dara saw them lurking in the dark. We all expected Spain to win this group easily, an expectation which hasn't materialized yet.- Group 8 -1 Croatia - 6 games, 16 points2 Sweden - 6, 153 Hungary - 6, 104 Bulgaria - 6, 8- What we said -Dara:Winners: SwedenRunners up: Croatia (who will probably advance in playoffs)Dark horses: BulgariaNoGame:Interesting group. Bulgaria, Sweden and Croatia can all beat each other. But who will do it? Winner: Sweden.No predictions from Arlequino for this group.EJSunday:Noone will stop the Swedish here. But who is second best? If Bulgaria learn their lessons from the EURO they have potentially the best team, but will they defend this time?. Croatia have a new manager and are always a tough beast, but their key players are not getting younger. So I say1 Sweden2 BulgariaPrediction quality: Acceptable. Sweden overrated but still going strong and though noone expected Croatia to lead here they were still expected to do well by some. Bulgaria is a disappointment though.Of course it ain't over 'til it's over - and with so many groups still being so tight many of our predictions may still come true. Wednesday is another match day, we'll see what's up then. And I want to believeIn the madness that calls 'now'