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Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-04-26/WikiProject report
WikiProject Gastropods
This week, we're highlighting the efforts of WikiProject Gastropods. For readers unfamiliar with gastropods, Invertzoo introduces them as "snails and slugs of every kind. I know that may sound repugnant, but in reality they are extraordinary creatures; many of them are very beautiful and have quite fascinating lives." WikiProject Gastropods was created by JoJan in May 2004 and has grown to include 18,000 articles, including 6 good articles and 1 A-class article. The project maintains a portal, watchlist, to-do list and tools for starting new articles. Project members JoJan, Invertzoo, and Daniel Cavallari joined us for an interview.
What motivated you to become a member of WikiProject Gastropods?
- JoJan: I started WikiProject Gastropods in May 2004 at the request of an admin, after I had made some changes to a gastropod article. Little did I know about gastropods, but in those early days of Wikipedia everybody was very enthusiastic. And so was I. Soon I realized the enormous scope of the task I had undertaken with about 60,000 to 80,000 known species in the class Gastropoda. I had to learn all the facts about these little creatures in the shortest possible time, and this at the age of 60 ! But the taxonomy was the hardest nut to crack. Most sources I consulted used different taxonomies, some of which were very old. This was a real shambles. Since I was at that time the only participant in this project, I sought cooperation from malacologists all over the world by making an appeal for cooperation in a scientific journal. The few responses I received turned out negative when they were told that their contribution would come under GFDL. Then finally I was able to find the most recent taxonomy and I started to write articles about gastropods and also related biographies of naturalists and malacologists. Gradually, a few years later, new participants started to join the project, a few of which became very active. Since then, and mainly thanks to their input, this project has been growing fast. This is a very international project, since the participants are distributed all over the world, some are native speakers, others (such as I) are not.
- Invertzoo: I have been interested in mollusks since I was a toddler in Great Britain, when I fell in love with seashells and the shells of some of the more attractive land snails, specifically dune snails in North Devon, where my grandmother lived. I myself was fortunate enough to live in Kent, 5 miles from Charles Darwin's house, Downe House, which my family visited several times a year. I guess it was not surprising that I become a biologist, or at any rate a naturalist. Although all mollusks are very interesting, gastropods are by far the biggest class of mollusks and the most diverse.
- As well as living in the sea, gastropods also live on land and in freshwater. They are almost everywhere actually! Their asymmetrical anatomy is fascinating. The shelled ones (the snails) also have amazing spirally-coiled shells, and the shell-less ones (the slugs) are equally interesting, in fact one group of sea slugs, some of the nudibranchs, in particular the chromodorids, have been claimed to be the most beautifully colored organisms on earth, even more so than butterflies.
- On Wikipedia, many of us enjoy writing about what we love, and this is what I love. It seems to me that when you have loved a certain kind of creature for many decades, you end up knowing a great deal about them and enjoy writing about them.
- Daniel Cavallari: I, as a biologist in training, was curious about how to edit articles in Wikipedia, and made a few attempts at a certain day last year. I was invited soon after to be part of the project by one of its members, who was very polite by the way. At times I had made small contributions to some gastropod articles, and even tried to create one article alone, mainly on a watch and learn basis. I've always loved the mollusks, they are my favorite subject in biology, the shells in particular. In fact, one could say that the mollusks led me to study biology! I ended up seeing the project as a delightful way to exercise my knowledge, and also discover new things and better understand the biology of many species unknown to me (mainly, terrestrial snails). In my humble opinion, being in an university and having access to academic journals and papers is a privilege, and to write free-access articles using this information is very satisfying to me.
The project is home to one A-class article (Chittenango ovate amber snail) and six good articles ranging from Byne's disease to love darts. Were you involved with any of these articles and which article are you most proud of being involved with? Overall, what have been some of the project's greatest achievements?
- JoJan: I wasn't involved in these articles, They were in able hands and there was no need for me to intervene.
- The article I'm most proud of is Radula, the anatomical structure by which mollusks feed. I wrote this in June 2004 (when I was still the only participant in this project) adding very technical stuff to a short article. This was necessary, as the radula is one of the main determining features of a gastropod. User: Debivort made, at my request, a magnificent drawing of the different types of radulae. I remember he had great difficulty understanding the technical differences between the different types but his detailed drawing explains this problem so much better than words.
- As one of the greatest achievements of this project I could name a few basic articles such as Gastropoda and the ones named above, but the aim should be to make them featured articles. Only lack of time and manpower prevent us from doing so. But perhaps the greatest achievement, in my opinion, is the application of the latest taxonomy of the gastropods, partly based on cladistic research, in all our articles. By doing this, wikipedia is one of the few websites about gastropods with an up-to-date taxonomy.
- Invertzoo: Yes, I was involved to some extent with all seven of those articles. The least I did on most of them was to fix up and smooth out the prose, because a lot of the writing was by non-native speakers of English, of which our project has several. Out of those seven, the article I had the most to do with, and the one I am most proud of, is love dart, which at the time it came out as a DYK had the second largest response ever. Three of us put it together completely from scratch in just 5 days, and I have to say, that was a real tour de force! If we could have put it out for Valentine's Day, I am certain the DYK numbers would have been totally through the roof!
- I think the greatest achievement has been for our Project to have grown over the last 2 years or so from a scattered collection of almost random articles to a well-organized structure, with a standardized way of composing an article. We now have at least a stub for every family and every taxon above the level of family, and at least a stub for almost every genus that is mentioned in any article. That means a reader can navigate all the way up and down through the tree of life taxonomy structure without interruption. That's very important.
- Daniel Cavallari: I've been involved with some of these articles. I made only some minor contributions to Kerry slug, but worked hard on Byne's disease (which I created, and wrote with a great deal of help by another project member) and Eustrombus gigas. As a matter of fact, I am mostly proud of the latter two articles, and seeing them listed as good articles feels wonderful, specially the one about the queen conch, which is a well known, economically important and possibly endangered species. Drawing the average reader's attention to such important subjects is one of my main objectives as a wikipedian.
There are no unassessed articles within your project. How did you accomplish this and do you have any advice to other projects with large backlogs of unassessed articles?
- Invertzoo: Well, really, it's true that getting a huge number of unassessed articles assessed is grunt work. Basically two of us just ploughed through it all alphabetically over the months. Actually we are still finishing up rating the importance of all of the articles, and other routine clean-up. This kind of work does take time, and most people do not want to do it. It does not seem glamorous! But if you do want "your" project to be in reasonable shape, someone just has to decide to go ahead and do the clean up. I think you have to motivate yourself out of pride, wanting your project to be really pulled-together, and then just bite the bullet and go ahead and work until it is all done, no matter how long it takes. I suppose you have to shift your emphasis, to think of the encyclopedia as a whole, and not just focus on the narrow range of tasks that you most enjoy doing.
- Daniel Cavallari: It was no easy task, but a necessary one. Someone has to do the job, little by little if needed, but the outcome certainly ought to compensate all the effort.
The articles on snails, pearls, and gastropoda each receive over 2,000 views daily, however two of the three articles are only at C-class status. What are some of the biggest challenges to improving popular articles like these?
- JoJan: At this time we are in the process of adding a lot of species and genera articles using a bot (already close to the 11,000 mark). Checking the facts takes a lot of work and leaves little if no time for doing other work. Only the cooperation of many new participants can contribute to the quality of existing articles.
- Invertzoo: Well there are various factors. The article Pearl is primarily outside our scope because most pearl-producing creatures are bivalves, not gastropods, but we felt we should include it in our Project because there is as yet no "WikiProject Bivalves" or "WikiProject Mollusks" so for the time being, we can try to keep an eye on the biology part of the Pearl article. As for the other two popular articles snail and Gastropoda (which has a B assessment), they are both gigantic overview articles, and I think everyone who has worked on really big overview articles would agree that those are the hardest articles to pull together well, especially because gastropods are so very diverse that it is quite hard to generalize about them. Also it is simply a matter of people in the Project being so busy doing other things that they forget to try to work on those two big articles. We will go ahead and remind people, thanks for bringing that up!
- Daniel Cavallari: Since I am not a native speaker, it is difficult for me to find reliable references in English when the subject is too broad or general. This happens mainly because the literature available to me about this kind of subject is usually written in my native language (Portuguese). I believe it is not convenient to use such references in this case, because it could bring verifiability problems in the future. Anyway, I think the subject deserves a little more attention from us, and I intend to redirect my focus in the future.
Writing articles on the taxonomy and anatomy of living creatures can become fairly technical. What can the average editor contribute to gastropod articles, even if they don't have specialized knowledge in the field?
- JoJan: Indeed this stuff can be very technical. Reading a malacological journal sometimes equals to reading the technical report of an examination by a radiologist to your family doctor. Nevertheless anyone with some intellectual baggage can contribute. It only takes some research, a clear mind and the ability to digest the facts into a new article (or by adding to or improving an existing article), Others are ardent photographers and may be able to upload their photos of gastropods to the Commons and add them to existing articles (or write that article themselves).
- Invertzoo: Judging by what I have seen over the last almost 3 years, I think the average editor seems to enjoy adding a short article about one species of snail or slug or a seashell, something they have perhaps come across in the news or in their everyday life. We very much welcome anything like that. People mustn't feel that they are obliged to delve into the taxonomy or the anatomy. If anyone wants to make a new stub article but needs help with the taxonomy or anything else they can ask at our Project talk page; we will be more than happy to help them!
- And yes, there are close to 100,000 species of snails and slugs, and we need images for most of them. Even just shell images are good, but images of live animals (especially in their natural habitat) are even more valuable. With very few exceptions, no matter where you live you can find snails and slugs to photograph and we will be happy to have the images.
- Daniel Cavallari: I believe that the average editor can contribute in several ways, i. e. drawing attention to a particular source of information, assisting with the writing and prose, with problems related to the manual of style, and many other things in fact. It does not take an expert to contribute positively to an article, in my opinion!
Anything else you'd like to add?
- JoJan: The ever changing knowledge and information about gastropods is distributed among thousands and thousands papers in scientific journals (most of which are behind a paywall) and in a number of websites, most of which are pleasing to eye with photos but with little information (except a few). Our long term aim is to provide general and technical information about every family, genus and species in this project and keeping abreast of every new development in this field. This is an enormous project, almost a "mission impossible." It will take several decades to bring it to adulthood. Only the influx of many more participants can force the pace.
- And as a final note, it is encouraging having received an email from one of the most eminent malacologists in the world, stating that he finds our work "very interesting."
- Invertzoo: I feel very strongly that Project Gastropods is right now poised on the brink of emerging into people's awareness worldwide as a very useful resource, both for amateurs who are interested in finding out more about malacology, and also to some extent for professionals, at least in areas that are outside their particular area of expertise. If we can keep up our quality standards as we expand, and if we can flesh out our huge number of stubs to include more images and more text, I think we will go from strength to strength. I am very optimistic about the future.
Thank you to the contributors at WikiProject Gastropods for an interesting interview and some fascinating images. Regular readers of the Report should fix up their cars for next week's road trip! In the meantime, enjoy the 24-hour drive-through at the archives.
Questions answered by --Snek01 (talk) 15:14, 27 April 2010 (UTC)
Question: "The project is home to one A-class article (Chittenango ovate amber snail) and six good articles ranging from Byne's disease to love darts. Were you involved with any of these articles and which article are you most proud of being involved with? Overall, what have been some of the project's greatest achievements?"
- That is not important if I am proud of these articles or not. I am not proud of them. Writing them was very easy. But I am proud of wikipedians like User:Antarctic-adventurer and User:Anna Frodesiak, that are writing valuable articles although they are not biologists. Featured articles are viewed about 13× times more often than DYK hook gastropod-related articles. But writing DYK hook articles is even much more easier (and more effective) than writing featured article and more articles provide more general point of view. It would be fine if they could reach featured article status, but it will not improve their quality. Standards for featured gastropod-related articles are much higher than for example for birds, for example no bird-related featured articles contains anatomy of the animal although detailed anatomy section is demanded for gastropods. Writing featured articles or trying to get articles to featured articles status is not my priority. I can easily tag my article with A-class article status without peer review as I did with Chittenango ovate amber snail and nobody cares.
Question: "There are no unassessed articles within your project. How did you accomplish this and do you have any advice to other projects with large backlogs of unassessed articles?"
- That did User:Invertzoo and User:Daniel Cavallari. This as an example of bad organizing of the project, such wasting of human power is very non-effective. That work could be done with a Bot. My advice is: tag unassessed articles by a bot as stub article with a low priority.
Question: "The articles on snails, pearls, and Gastropoda each receive over 2,000 views daily, however two of the three articles are only at C-class status. What are some of the biggest challenges to improving popular articles like these?"
- C-status for popular gastropod related articles is absolutely enough. Gastropods are out of scope of public, of scientists and out of scope of the whole human society. All informations about gastropods are usually very unbalanced and thus the project should belong to Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.
Question: "What can the average editor contribute to gastropod articles?"
- This is the most important question.
- Go to the library or send an email to the right person and verify copyright status of malacological works published in the USA in 1923-1977. Wikipedia:WikiProject Gastropods/Texts#1923 - 1977 from USA without a copyright notice and later section. There are only two articles (written by me last week) that uses public domain text from the USA from that era. I believe that no other articles on the whole Wikipedia(!) uses public domain texts from USA from that time athough over 95% of books are PUBLIC DOMAIN. This is very interesting in comparison with about 5000 commons:Template:PD-US-no notice images about 5000 commons:Template:PD-US-not renewed images on commons. "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" should also support using free texts. Maybe it is a phrase for other projects, but for gastropods using such texts is the only way how to reach the full scope. Do you live in a city with English library or are you diplomatic enough? So do this task and you will be much more useful for the project than you think. (Links: malacologist, Category:American malacologists.)
- Example: Go to the library and (carefully) check if there is copyright notice it this book: Pilsbry H. A. (1948). Land Mollusca of North America north of Mexico vol. II part 2. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. pp. 521-1113. [1]. - Do this for every valuable book and let us to know on the project page. Every result (negative or positive) is useful. Thank you.
- Then you can add these public domain or Creative Commons texts and images from these sources. Me or wikiproject members will help you how to start. 20% of non-stub gastropod related articles contains incorporated some free text. This means that every fifth gastropod related article has text copied from some book or journal. This is the (maybe) highest amount of using such texts on wikipedia. But it is necessary, because nobody of us and of you can write it better than experts who wrote those books. I believe that ammount should get even higher in the future.
- I am (probably) the most active member of the wikiproject gastropods but I can contibute only at intermediate level of English and I there are (nearly) no English malacological books in libraries in the country where I live. So if I can write gastropod articles, than EVERYBODY OF YOU can write gastropod related articles also. The only need is your motivation. Your motivation can range from "I like gastropods" or "I want to be useful to Wikipedia" (there is not enough project members) to your intention, that you want to learn something new. I can guarantee for you, that you will certainly learn new things.
- You can translate from original German, French and Japan huge number of public domain sources. But I am not sure if there is enough useful sources on other wikipedias.
- There appeared no gastropod related featured image on the Main page since 2008... - and many more tasks...
Question: "Anything else you'd like to add?"
- When evaluating the project, there is necessary to evaluate also its effectivity. For example the WikiProject Gastropods is approximatelly (now) as big as for example WikiProject Mammals and WikiProject Birds altogether in its number of articles, but even bigger in its scope = in number of species, but number of its members is 9× (for all 20 listed Wikiproject gastropods members) or 17× (for about by guess 10 active members) lower for Wikiproject gastropods. So I think, that WikiProject Gastropods belongs to the most effective Wikiprojects. This is because effectivity has the highest priority in the project.


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TRC 2016 web site coming soon!
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Rail travel from Haywards Heath to Stansted.
Haywards Heath has cctv payphone phone wifiStansted, Stansted Airport, Round Coppice Road, Stansted, Essex, CM24 1SF.
Airports by rail, with My employer, who I work for. I am not earning a fee on this (damn).
To take advantage of the best prices you will need to prove you are a leisure traveller, en route to the airport, so you will need to provide either yr flight details or yr holiday booking reference. I don't think you will need to give this when you arrive at the station but you may be asked to give them on your travels from the station to the airport.
Going to stansted airport by train is great, you can take a nap, read (even at night), play a game, or just stare out of the window... The other restriction to buying these cheap train tickets from haywards-heath station to stansted airport is that there must be at least two adults travelling together. But another great benefit is that children go free. All children under 5 go free, and then one child over five but under 16 per grown up travelling by train to stansted airport.
be sure to leave plenty of time to get to stansted airport early enough to eat, shop etc, so check the times of trains from the station before you go. If you end up with spare time at the airport you can always read a book or play travel scrabble again! As you have bought yr ticket in advance, you don't need to worry about the opening hours of the station.
the station opening hours: Monday-Sunday 24 hours, Monday-Friday 05:55-20:45, Saturday 05:55-20:45, Sunday 07:10-21:15, .
Or maybe you meant


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I have set my "medium" image size for uploaded media to be 500px wide maximum in the misc settings. But it doesn't seem to want to work. It seems to be ignoring the fact I am selecting medium image, likewise thumbnails don't work.
I manually resized the images so they all look ok at the moment, but I thought I'd show you the URL anyway incase it's a problem with my theme.


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Ready to watch this entire course?
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- Overview
- Transcript
- View Offline
- Setting up a workspace
- Working with the seven key selection tools
- Using the Color Range command
- Automating masking
- Matching a scene with Smart Filters
- Choosing the ideal base channel
- Converting a channel to a mask
- Painting with the Overlay and Soft Light modes
- Using History to regain a lost mask
- Working with the Calculations command
- Extracting a mask from a Smart Object
- Masking and compositing light
- Masking with black and white
- Working with path outlines
- Combining pixel and vector masks
- Creating and feathering a vector mask
Skill Level Intermediate
In this exercise we are going to come up with a better even more flexible approach, this time using a knockout layer. I've saved my progress as Tepid highlights.psd found inside that 09_layer_masks folder and the first thing I want you to do is Shift+Click on the mask that's associated with that group to turn it off. Then go ahead and click on the screen layer to make it active, because we're to make a new layer and we are going to do so by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N, Command+Shift+N on the Mac and I'll call this new layer knockout and click OK.
Notice because I had screen selected I automatically create this new layer inside of the group and that's very important. You generally need a group to successfully pull off a knockout inside Photoshop. Now we need the Gradient tool once again because we are going to draw a gradient. We are going to draw that same gradient we drew before. However, we are going to change the style slightly from foreground or background to instead we need foreground to transparent. So go ahead and select that second item and then press the Enter key or the Return key on the Mac in order to accept that change.
This time we are going to drag down in the opposite direction we drew before. So drag even with the top bubbles in the left-hand glass downward while pressing the Shift key to the bottom of that third bubble along the left-hand side of the right-hand glass in order to create this gradient right there. So what we've got is a black to transparent gradient on an independent layer. It looks like it's messing everything up, but it's altogether separate from the rest of the composition. Here is how you create a knockout. Now this is really weird, I have to say.
If you've ever seen this one before it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's a pretty quick approach. You just have to remember how it works. You start by double-clicking in an empty portion of that knockout layer in order to bring up the layer Style dialog box, and then you change the Knockout style from None to Shallow. Shallow will go ahead and bore to the bottom of the group. If you were to choose Deep you would go all the way down to the background layer, which in our case because we don't have a background, would burrow through to transparency.
So Deep is not what we want. I will go ahead and change it to Shallow once again. Now you may look at this and say, well, Deke obviously you're wrong, because nothing is happening whatsoever. No matter what you set that Knockout to we are not seeing anything knockout. And that's because you also have to turn around and adjust the Fill Opacity value. So I am going to take that Fill Opacity; not the Opacity value, because that will reduce the opacity of the entire layer, including this effect. You want to take Fill Opacity down to 0 % like so and now we have gone ahead and completed the knockout.
So it's a combination of having a group putting the knockout layer at the top of the group, setting the knockout option as shallow, and changing the Fill Opacity to 0%. Then what happens when you click OK is that any portion of the knockout layer that was formerly opaque cuts a hole in the layers below, any portion of that layer that's transparent does not cut a hole. So suddenly we are in this wacky world where opacity translates to transparency and transparency translates to opacity.
But that's the way it works with knockout layer. Now you might say, well, Deke, this is the exact same effect we had before. After all I could now Ctrl+Drag or Command+Drag this gradient up and down in order to achieve the same effect I was showing you in a previous exercise. Here's the difference. I'll go ahead and press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z on Mac to undo that modification. Now rather than let's say erasing into this layer to add transparency which would introduce those highlights that we achieved using those little white fingers inside of the group mask, this time we will create a layer mask for the knockout layer so that the knockout and its mask are independent from each other.
So I'm going to drop down to the Add layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and click on it. Now I'll switch to my Brush tool and I want to paint with black because I want to paint transparency into this layer mask. So I will press the X key to make my foreground color black, and then I'll paint up like so in order to introduce the highlights. Now notice that my highlights and my knockout are independent of each other, so I haven't harmed anything. I could click the link icon between the layer mask and the layer itself and now Ctrl+Drag those highlights to a different location without affecting the gradient that is dropping out the gas inside of those glasses.
Here is the thing though, now I am looking at this thinking those highlights are way too thick. Alright, fine! Let's go ahead and restore the layer mask to white by pressing Ctrl+Backspace or Command+Delete on the Mac, because white is my background color. That went ahead filled the layer mask with white, got rid of my former highlights, and I am going to right- click inside the image window and take the size value down to 100 pixels let's say and press the Enter key a couple of times or the Return key couple times on the Mac in order to hide that panel and now I'll click right there, right at that location, and I will Shift+Click upward in order to brush in a straight line and now I'm in the click at this location down in the bubbles in left- hand glass and I will Shift+Click up and slightly to the right in order to create a straight line of highlight at this location.
So I have all the flexibility in the world. Now problem is even though these highlights look thinner they still don't look as good as the one inside the file called The perfect evening.psd, but the beautiful thing is I have almost everything I need to pull off this effect at this point, because I have such a fundamentally flexible composition to work with in the first place. So what we are going to do is take the mask associated with the knockout layer and we're going to convert it into a couple of brushstrokes that we will then clip inside of another layer and we will ultimately achieve the effect that you see before you in the very next exercise.


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I would like to incorporate a family blog whilst using WP Family Tree. I am using f8 Lite Theme from Graph Paper Press.
Is this possible to do with WP Family Tree. I guess I'm not sure how to designate a blog "page" and then create posts under the "blog" page. In other words:
I know how to make a category titled "blog". I know how to make posts. I just don't know how to make a menu item for "Blog" and have all the subsequent blog posts, post on that Blog Page.
Let me know if you need me to explain this better and I'll do my best to explain in an even more detailed way.
P.S. I really love this plugin and the way it works! Thanks!


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digiKam is a mature open-source project (more than 14 years old now) that provides a digital asset management application oriented to photography post-production.
The Event
It had been almost three years since the last time the digiKam team had an opportunity to meet, talk, code and spend some time together. Gilles Caulier, the lead coordinator, was a victim of a serious car crash two years ago and was thus unable to organize or attend such an event. Now, we finally had an opportunity to meet again. After a lot of effort finding a suitable place and a date suitable for all developers to work together under optimal conditions, the digiKam coding sprint 2014 finally took place in Berlin, between November 14th and 16th 2014.
Before going through what happened during these days, we give sincere thanks to Digia, the company in charge of Qt development, for hosting the event, and also in particular Tobias Hunger, who welcomed us at Digia's offices located in the South of Berlin. Many thanks also to KDE e.V. for financial support that made the sprint possible.
People participating in the sprint (below, from left to right) :
What happened during the sprint
The next major task is to port digiKam to Qt5. Approximately 10% was already ported by Gilles before the sprint, and the objectives for this coding sprint were as follows:
Long discussions evolved around these topics. Gilles explained the experience he already gained with this sort of work, which tools are available to facilitate the porting, and where manual work is required. The libraries which are part of the digikam project were prioritized for the port, and tasks were assigned.
There were also discussions about the KIPI framework and its plugins. After many years of development, some plugins are essentially unmaintained and no longer needed by digiKam as their functionality was superseded or moved, leaving them out of the porting task. We also talked about APIs to provide better integration between KIPI and digiKam for a task-based framework such as digiKam's batch queue manager. The KDE Frameworks 5 (KF5) port seems like the right time to integrate binary incompatible as well as architectural changes where needed.
Shourya Singh Gupta worked on implementing the KIPI tools functionality in the Batch Queue Manager (Tools Settings). To do this, there were discussions regarding what API changes must be done to the stack to facilitate a generic way to plug kipi-plugins into BQM. By the end of Coding Sprint, there were changes made to APIs to allow a generic way to plug kipi-plugins' settings widgets into the user-interface, tested by converting two plugins (DNG converter and KIO export tool) to take advantage of this feature. Later, the background processing part of DNG converter—responsible for doing the real work—was also ported. This work is currently still in its separate feature branch, waiting to be merged after the frameworks porting branch becomes more stable.
Marcel worked on memory consumption problems with the database functionalities as well as several reported memory leaks. As soon as he could reproduce the problems under valgrind, many cleanups and fixes were committed. Among other fixes a long-standing bug (https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=205776) was fixed.
He also worked to complete the Removable Collection support. The goal is to show thumbnails from disconnected media without actually having access to the full file, as this information is stored by the digiKam in its internal metadata database. In practice this means that users can continue to search and preview collections with thumbnails and other metadata. Feedback to the user is provided to indicate items and collection that are not available for editing (See bugs https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=191494 and https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=114539). This feature was completed during the train ride back from Berlin, and committed Sunday evening following the Sprint.
Gilles polished the whole libkgeomap public API to be ready for the KF5 port. A lot of changes have been applied to reduce binary compatibility issues. This is especially needed if a library is to become a KF5 library to be more easily reused by other projects. A similar move has recently been made to libkface to make it available for KPhotoAlbum.
Veaceslav worked on porting libkdcraw from the old KDE4 Threadweaver API to the new KF5 Threadweaver implementation. Unfortunately, the new API was not quite stable nor documented, and Gilles decided to port it one more time to use a pure Qt thread pool implementation.
Teemu fixed some crashes as well as some small annoyances and introduced his plans to work on cleaning up the codebase, starting with cleaning up the CMakeLists and moving misplaced source files to their proper places. This will be an on-going process.
Dmitry, who is a long time digiKam user and who has written the famous Recipes Book, reported the need to have digiKam be less dependent of the KDE desktop so that it can be more suitable elsewhere. This does not mean losing KDE support, but rather wrapping properly all specific KDE features used by digiKam as optional when it's possible. Dmitry took lots of photo of the event and shared user experience with developers, which introduced some long and instructive discussions about photographer methodologies and workflow.
After long days of coding, the tired developers went out in search for food in the quarter around the hotel at Rosenthaler Straße. Sushi on Friday and Vietnamese food on Saturday managed to sustain the developers for the following day of coding.
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Willie Fowler lived the good life by remaining provincial. He didn't go searching for paradise. He found it in Athens.
Click here for the original story.
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Search crews hope to resume searching the Cumberland River for the body of Paul Slusher, 70, by the end of the week.
Investigators say the water is too high and is a danger to search crews.
Police believe Lora Amburgey, 32, and Joshua Parsons, 27, robbed Slusher before throwing his body from a bridge in the Page community.
The two were back in court today and the case was sent to the grand jury. Amburgey and Parsons remain in jail without bond.


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Better safe than sorry, right? That may be your reasoning behind buying product warranties. But in these four instances, warranties definitely aren't worth it.
There's an app for everything now — even banking. Before you pull out your smartphone to bank, understand the security risks and how to avoid them.
When an emergency occurs — and you don't have an emergency fund — you may be need to borrow. Skip these terrible loan offers if you can!
It pays to know your rights when it comes to collections agencies. Here are four things that debt collectors definitely can't do.
Target, Home Depot and JC Penney are just a few of the stores that lost your credit card info. Learn how to protect yourself from future breaches today.
You don't need to be in trouble with the law to need a lawyer. Find out when you should really spend the money to lawyer up.
Forget about plane crashes, war, and Ebola. The biggest risks to your health are things you encounter every day.
Remember when 3D TVs were all the rage? Sometimes even smart people make bad purchasing decisions. Consider that and six other doozies.
A yard sale is one way to get rid of your old stuff, but it's a pain. Fortunately, the Internet (and your "Friendnet") both offer an easier way.
Scammers are always finding new ways to trick people out of their money — learn how they do it so it doesn't happen to you.
Trader Joe's fans love the store, and with good reason. But how do they manage to keep all of those great products so cheap?
Amazingly, these schemes were all real. Thankfully, they also all offer real lessons on how to avoid losing your shirt.
Magazines are fun to read — but buying them at the store can get crazy expensive. Learn how to get magazine fix and save.
In the 1600s, tulip trading nearly ruined Holland. Yup — tulips.
Learn some true facts about everybody's biggest dream — beating the long odds and winning the lottery. (Including how to guarantee a win!)
CrossFit isn't the only routine to come under scrutiny lately, so make sure that if you're doing one of these workouts, you at least understand the risks.
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A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Program
NJNI's Faculty Preparation Program has supported 61 New Jersey Nursing Scholars who are pursuing, or have completed, master's or doctoral degrees in New Jersey nursing programs. These nurses are poised to assume nurse faculty roles in the state.
View profiles
New Jersey Nursing Program Map
March 10, 2016
NJNI Alumni Update
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January 21, 2016
New Paths to Professional Nursing – NJHI
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Woman in Vt. car crash says husband did itThe Associated Press | March 21,2013BENNINGTON Police say a woman crashed her car in Bennington while texting and then tried to blame the accident on her estranged husband.
Tanya Taylor, 30, pleaded not guilty to a felony count of impeding a public office and misdemeanor counts of false information to a police officer. She also pleaded not guilty to careless or negligent operation of a vehicle and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.
Police responded to the crash Feb. 25. The car had a shattered windshield, tire damage, and the shape of what appeared to be a yellow highway sign on the hood. Taylor said her estranged husband had vandalized her car after the two argued.
She eventually said she crashed the car into a sign.MORE IN This Just InCASTLETON - Head coach Eric Ramey has announced that the Castleton softball team will once again... Full StoryMONTPELIER Vermont state officials are blaming a lack of seat belt usage, speeding and driving... Full Story
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Meet Our Partner Organizations
Our deepest appreciation goes out to organizations that partner with us to contribute to our causes and present wonderful special events every year, raising funds and awareness that help CPMC continue to provide exceptional patient care.
Retail Partners
- glassybaby
CPMC Foundation is partnering with glassybaby a Seattle-based company that donates 10% of the sale of their handblown glass candleholders to non-profit organizations committed to healing. Every sale of the candle "dawn" will benefit CPMC's Women's Health Resource Center
- Saks Fifth Avenue
CPMC Foundation and Saks Fifth Avenue partnered up for Key to the Cure, a charitable initiative to fight women's cancers. This is the fourth year in a row Saks has chosen Sutter Health CPMC as beneficiary; over $64,051 has been raised to date!
Special Events Partners
The Women's Board of CPMC Foundation
Hosts of the Annual Debutante Ball, benefitting the Medical Center's areas of greatest need
The Guild of CPMC
Contributors of 100 years of volunteerism promoting excellence of health care at CPMC
The St. Luke's Auxiliary
Hosts of the popular Musée event, a benefit for areas of need at CPMC's St. Luke's campus
Current Events Calendar
To learn more about CPMC Foundation's special events and partner organizations, please contact:
Lindsey Thomson-Levin
Community Relations Manager
CPMC Foundation
2015 Steiner Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-600-4418 Phone
415-387-7817 Fax
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text:
Solutions for Chapter 3
An organic catalyst or enzyme is a substance that hastens a chemical reaction, and it does so by lowering the activation energy needed to launch that reaction. In other words, the reaction may have happened anyway, but now it happens quickly, more often, and more efficiently.
When amino acids fold together into a complex protein, they can leave a physical concavity on the protein's outer surface. That concavity fits and binds to only one type of substrate (another term for reactant) material, so it's described as an active site for that particular reactant. In other words, an active site on a protein's surface can capture and bind to only one kind of substrate.
Thus, an enzymatic reaction has the following steps.
1. The appropriate substrate reaches and binds to the active site for that substrate on an enzyme protein, thereby uniting into a so-called enzyme-substrate complex.
2. The binding of the substrate alters the physical structure (or confirmation) of the enzyme so it pulls the substrate in even tighter.
3. This pull weakens the substrate's chemical bonds, thus lowering the activation energy required to disrupt them. This causes the reactant to break down into component products.
4. The enzyme releases the products, thus exposing them to new reactions even as it re-exposes its own active site.
You're given that tyrosine is an amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and some enzymes can bind with amino acids to initiate chemical reactions. In this case, that reaction is the synthesis of melanin.
Hence, the correct option is (c), an enzyme, specifically the enzyme tyrosinase.
Fatty acids are the substrates of beta-oxidation reactions in the citric acid cycle of cellular respiration, but they are not involved in converting amino acids to pigments like melanin.
Hence, option (a), fatty acids, is incorrect.
The amino acid tyrosine is already free and available for this reaction, so it needn't be extracted from any larger protein first.
Hence, option (b), a protein, is incorrect.
A cofactor (or, if organic in chemical structure, coenzyme) is any substance that allows an enzyme to function properly, as when a zinc ion activates the enzyme carbonic anhydrase by binding to it. A cofactor couldn't convert tyrosine to melanin directly.
Hence, option (d), cofactors, is incorrect.


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Follow-Up | Dow Indicator | Preview
Jot this down in your notebook: Just because Picasso liked something doesn't mean it will work as an IPO.
Shares of Moleskine, maker of those black, hardcover notebooks popularized by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway, have plunged more than 20% since an initial public offering a few weeks ago, and there's little reason to expect a recovery.
Paper Loss: Shares of Moleskine, whose notebooks have long been a favorite of aspiring artists, have plunged 22% in three weeks. William Waitzman for Barron's
It's an unfortunate blemish on an illustrious history. Introduced by Parisian bookbinders in the late 19th century, the notebooks took on their name in 1986, when the British travel writer Bruce Chatwin referred to them as moleskines in his book The Songlines. A Milanese stationer, Modo & Modo, grabbed the name and ran with it. In due course, Moleskine notebooks became must-have accoutrements for aspiring artists and writers, which in turn prompted interest from financial types. Syntegra Capital, a European private-equity firm, bought a majority stake in 2006. Last month, Moleskine became the first IPO in Milan in more than a year.
At a recent 1.77 euros, the shares (ticker: MSK.Italy) are off 22% from the offering price, even as Milan's market has risen 3.7%. The outlook isn't good. Though sales climbed 16% last year, to €78 million ($102 million), that was way off from 26% in 2011. The notebooks, sometimes $25 a pop, are clearly becoming a harder sell in budget-stressed Europe, Moleskine's top market.
The stock, traded only in Europe, isn't cheap either, at 20 times 2012 earnings. It would be great if Moleskine put the IPO proceeds to effective use, but most of the money went to selling shareholders—Syntegra, Index Ventures, and founder Francesco Franceschi and management. We'd prefer a Picasso, thanks.
Last Week: Review
Terror Comes to Boston
The Boston area was locked down as authorities hunted for one of two brothers of Chechen descent, described as terrorists, who are believed responsible for two bombs at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 170, and for the shooting death of a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a police action in the Boston suburb of Watertown. The other, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was still at large.
System Risks on the Rise
Massive monetary stimulus by major economies is raising risks to financial stability, the International Monetary Fund said. Prolonged stimulus could create "significant adverse side effects," a report said. At the IMF spring meetings, finance ministers of the biggest economies were expected to call for avoiding competitive devaluations.
Signs of Weakness
General Electric GE -0.03202049311559398% General Electric Co. U.S.: NYSE USD31.22 -0.01 -0.03202049311559398% /Date(1472072405874-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 21763021 AFTER HOURS USD31.22 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 282090 P/E Ratio 22.880175888603883 Market Cap 279859314931.076 Dividend Yield 2.9468289557975655% Rev. per Employee 381222 More quote details and news » warned that Europe's economy softened in the first quarter, and weakness there was worse than expected. International Business Machines IBM -0.7550230874828404% International Business Machines Corp. U.S.: NYSE USD159.05 -1.21 -0.7550230874828404% /Date(1472072503123-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 3536282 AFTER HOURS USD159.05 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 109555 P/E Ratio 12.867081951298438 Market Cap 153183553250.369 Dividend Yield 3.520905375668029% Rev. per Employee 212467 More quote details and news » missed profit estimates for the first time since 2005, on a hardware-revenue drop.
Still Tarnished
Gold prices recovered a bit after Monday's 9% rout. On the week, the yellow metal fell 7%, or $105.70 a troy ounce, to $1395.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2%, or 317.55 points, to 14,547.51, suffering its worst week since last June.
Sprint Further in Play
Dish Network DISH -0.78031212484994% DISH Network Corp. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq USD49.59 -0.39 -0.78031212484994% /Date(1472072400266-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1579667 AFTER HOURS USD49.59 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4487 P/E Ratio 26.518716577540108 Market Cap 23233662801.7089 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 840918 More quote details and news » is offering cash and stock valued at about $7 a share, or $25.5 billion, for Sprint Nextel, S -0.49019607843137253% Sprint Corp. U.S.: NYSE USD6.09 -0.03 -0.49019607843137253% /Date(1472072426262-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 12557111 AFTER HOURS USD6.1 -0.0300000000000002 0.16420361247947454% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 853212 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap 24347575355.2595 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 1072170 More quote details and news » in a bid to derail Sprint's acquisition by Softbank 9984.TO 1.6229334142272107% SoftBank Group Corp. Japan: Tokyo JPY6700 107 1.6229334142272107% /Date(1472155200000-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 20m) : 8555600 P/E Ratio 15.421442710491185 Market Cap 7726249513125 Dividend Yield 0.6567164179104478% Rev. per Employee 143747000 More quote details and news » of Japan.
A Stern Warning
The head of Germany's central bank warned that Europe's debt crisis would take as many as 10 years to overcome. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann told The Wall Street Journal that the European Central Bank could lower rates if necessary, but that wouldn't turn around the bloc's fortunes.
Mixed Bag
Citigroup C 0.15024683408456752% Citigroup Inc. U.S.: NYSE USD46.66 0.07 0.15024683408456752% /Date(1472072476493-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 15998872 AFTER HOURS USD46.61 -0.0499999999999972 -0.10715816545220745% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 55484 P/E Ratio 9.897545765012833 Market Cap 135361376195.278 Dividend Yield 1.3716245177882556% Rev. per Employee 368502 More quote details and news » posted a 30% jump in first-quarter net income, on a 3% rise in revenue, much of it on capital markets activities. Bank of America's BAC 0.3257328990228013% Bank of America Corp. U.S.: NYSE USD15.4 0.05 0.3257328990228013% /Date(1472072421264-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 61306506 AFTER HOURS USD15.42 0.0199999999999996 0.12987012987012986% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4178354 P/E Ratio 13.28158689090125 Market Cap 156643680894.775 Dividend Yield 1.948051948051948% Rev. per Employee 431596 More quote details and news » earnings disappointed, and Morgan Stanley's MS 0.6184895833333334% Morgan Stanley U.S.: NYSE USD30.91 0.19 0.6184895833333334% /Date(1472072627448-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 12406683 AFTER HOURS USD30.91 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 46795 P/E Ratio 14.244239631336406 Market Cap 58730769937.265 Dividend Yield 2.588159171789065% Rev. per Employee 626792 More quote details and news » first-quarter report was surprisingly weak.
Gun-Control Bill Defeated
The Senate defeated the most far-reaching gun-control legislation in 20 years, rejecting expanded background checks for buyers of firearms and a ban on assault weapons. President Obama said "this effort isn't over." Also, senators unveiled a bill to overhaul immigration.
IMF Cuts Growth Forecasts
The International Monetary Fund lowered its estimate for global economic growth two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.3%, on Europe's persistent recession. It said the U.S. economy would expand 1.9%.
In Brief
• Blackstone Group BX -0.2479631597591215% Blackstone Group L.P. U.S.: NYSE USD28.16 -0.07 -0.2479631597591215% /Date(1472072576972-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1990367 AFTER HOURS USD28.16 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 15608 P/E Ratio 94.27519250083697 Market Cap 17729977578.4705 Dividend Yield 5.113636363636363% Rev. per Employee 1603730 More quote details and news » ended its effort to bid for Dell, citing declining personal-computer sales.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO -2.128760918796506% Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. U.S.: NYSE USD151.26 -3.29 -2.128760918796506% /Date(1472072577578-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1448389 AFTER HOURS USD151.26 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 65273 P/E Ratio 30.312625250501004 Market Cap 60933347928.6591 Dividend Yield 0.3966679888932963% Rev. per Employee 338571 More quote details and news » plans to pay $13.6 billion for Life Technologies. LIFE -7.384615384615385% aTyr Pharma Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq USD3.01 -0.24 -7.384615384615385% /Date(1472072400465-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 216944 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap 77086749.5536804 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee N/A More quote details and news »
• Twelve bodies were recovered from a fertilizer plant explosion that rocked West, a central Texas town.
• The EU will cap bankers' bonuses at twice their salaries in 2014.
• Pakistan's ex-president was put under house arrest pending a trial on 2007 moves against the judiciary.
He Said:
"Our fidelity to our way of life, for a free and open society, will only grow stronger…in the face of evil, Americans will lift up what's good."
President Barack Obama on Boston Marathon bombings.
The Numbers
Affluent investors are feeling more confident about the state of their financial affairs, UBS Wealth Management Americas found in a quarterly survey:
64%: share of investors who say their financial condition is "excellent" or "very good"
44%: investors six months ago who called their financial condition excellent or very good
70%: share of those who feel tax increases were about right
40%: share of under-50 investors who are optimistic, compared with 49% of over-50
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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- Report: #325225
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: Reunion.com
Reunion.com12100 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 150 Santa Monica, California U.S.A.
Reunion.com Con-Artistry Veiled as Social Networking. Deception from the First Step in the Door. Santa Monica California
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Then, how to reverse? I called the company in Santa Monica and understand why rating agencies grade them with an "F" for customer service. Unfortunately, I was also stuck with AOL tools to collect the same 2030 names to send an apology. But AOL won't send any such mail without first correcting every single address that is old, hyphenated incorrectly or enclosed in paranthesis. I patiently tried repeatedly correcting addresses for every failed attempt to send out a correction notice to my mail list. After about 1 hour I realized I might have just accomplished 1% of the task.
In the space of that hour, I was chagrined to be called by all too many...including my former fiance, a number of important business clients not to mention, of course, emails up the wazooo. Some were asking whether they should trust this invitation of mine to join reunion, others were clearly wondering what I was smoking.
My day went from bad to worse. I felt I was going straight off a cliff. And then I started getting reverse spam invitations from email addresses from my database who made the same mistake...Ohhhhhnnoooooo! and worse yet, I got a mail from a Reunion.com member who was happy to have me "join". (I was once a member of the Insight Seminars cult along with Arianna Stassinopolis Huffington located at 21st and Wilshire but that's another story and another reunion I never want to have!) Anyone know a good attorney in Santa Monica?
Complaints to the customer service at Reunion.com are blown off by individuals who are aggressively unappreciative the hardship that Reunion.com represents to those it violates. People inadvertently give the company more than they can be trusted with. An IT manager for a large concern in the Twin Cities had this to reply to my apology email:
"This is an evil system. It is attempting to post a mail list to the [his company domain] site."
What the reunion system is automated to do apparently includes posting mailing list to domains that haven't requested it. SPAMMING by definition.
It is invasive, it is destructive of trust, its methods are underhanded and deceptive.
I deleted my membership. Even that was not easy. Reunions often make you recall old songs, "you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave"...
I am compiling a file documenting all the blow-back from my original, and failed, attempt to find a business contact through reunion's "service". If the damages end up be proportional, I will be demanding Reunion.com to share the burden. I will be looking to link with those with like stories to tell and similar damage to repair.
st paul, Minnesota
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/10/2008 09:54 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Reunioncom/Santa-Monica-California-90025/Reunioncom-Con-Artistry-Veiled-as-Social-Networking-Deception-from-the-First-Step-in-the-325225. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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text:
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
10:00 a.m.
Panel I
Russ Ehnes
Executive Director
National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Scott Jones
Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Dick Lepley
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Off-Highway Vehicle Association
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Karen Umphress
Board Member
Coalition of Recreational Trails Users
Minnesota Motorized Trail Coalition
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Panel II
Don Amador
Blue Ribbon Coalition
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Tom Crimmins
Lead Spokesman
Professionals for Managed Recreation
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Sutton Bacon
Nantahala Outdoor Center
(Truth in Testimony Form)
Jim Akenson
Executive Director
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
(Truth in Testimony Form)
The hearing will focus on access to federal lands for recreational use and the economic benefits of recreational activity on federal lands. Several of the witnesses will highlight the economic impact of motorized and off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation. OHV users contribute billions of dollars to state and local economies through the purchase of vehicles, operation and maintenance of those vehicles, accessories, as well as food, fuel and lodging for daylong and extended recreational trips. In spite of this, the various federal land management agencies, particularly the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, continue to take steps to limit or outright restrict OHV access to federal lands.
Today, President Obama, despite opposition by Maine's local residents and elected officials, unilaterally created a national monument in Maine's North Woods. House Committee on Natural Resources Chair......
Read more
Guy F. Caruso, U.S. Energy Information Administration's administrator from 2002-2008. Thanks to technological advancements, like Russia's creation of the world's largest icebreaker Arktika, oil and n......
Read more
Earlier this week the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the U.S. Department of Energy's application of the Social Cost of Carbon in rulemakings that govern the federal government's evaluation o......
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text:
Full-back Webb has been charged along with Warrington's England forward Ben Westwood with a grade B offence of fighting after both were sin-binned eight minutes from the end of a tempestuous Super League match at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Stand-off Pryce is facing a grade A offence of striking with his leg on Wolves scrum-half Richie Myler and has until 11am on Tuesday to submit an early-guilty plea and accept a one-match ban.
Catalan prop Julian Bousquet's appeal against a four-match ban for striking with his shoulder will also be heard on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Bradford prop Nick Scruton has been accused of striking with his shoulder on Castleford half-back Gareth O'Brien in the fourth minute of his side's 38-12 win over the Tigers on Saturday.
Scruton is also eligible to make an early-guilty plea and avoid a disciplinary hearing.
The players were charged by the Rugby Football League's match-review panel, which issued formal cautions to Wigan prop Gil Dudson and Huddersfield full-back Scott Grix for kicking out at each other during the Giants' 22-10 win on Saturday.
- Sports & Recreation
- Rugby
- Halliwell Jones Stadium
- Richie Myler
- Ben Westwood


text: Public Sector Conflict Resolution Tensions can run high in today's fast-paced workplaces, making the ability to effectively deal with conflict an essential skill for public administrators. Learn to manage difficult situations with Hamline's Public Sector Conflict Resolution Certificate. With a certificate in Public Sector Conflict Resolution, you will: Develop skills in three conflict resolution formats: negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Produce solutions to a variety of disputes in each of the resolution formats. Build your conflict resolution skills through full-day role plays based on real-life events and compare outcomes to the actual event outcomes. Understand the laws governing employee and citizen rights. Learn methods and techniques for conducting meetings and facilitating decision making. Register Now Program Overview Certificates classes meet at Hamline's Minneapolis location. Students must complete 90 hours of training to receive the Public Sector Conflict Resolution Certificate from the Hamline University School of Business Public Administration program and 8 Continuing Studies credits. Cost for the certificate program is $2,950, payable in two installments in September and January. Schedule Students meet the third Thursday and Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., September 2016 through April 2017. Continental breakfast and lunch are included. Classes meet on the following dates: Session 1: September 15-16, 2016Session 2: October 20-21, 2016Session 3: January 19-20, 2017Session 4: February 16-17, 2017Session 5: March 16-17, 2017Session 6: April 20-21, 2017 About the Instructor William S. Joynes' career in public service spans 32 years in executive level positions. For 18 years, he served as the city manager/human resources director for the city of Golden Valley, Minnesota, retiring in October 2002. Bill teaches human resource management and public sector dispute resolution, concentrating on negotiation, mediation and arbitration skills. Bill holds a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Minnesota, a master's degree in urban studies from the Occidental College in Los Angeles, and is a graduate of the Coro Foundation of Public Affairs Fellowship Program in St. Louis, Missouri. Bill has consulted with Minnesota cities and counties in the areas of labor relations, management structure, executive search and human resource systems. He has helped spearhead projects like management reorganization in Goodhue County, mediation of the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department and Multi-City Governance Structure, and visionary efforts in Ramsey and Coon Rapids. Bill served as the director of Hamline's Center of Public Administration and Leadership from its inception until his retirement from full-time teaching in 2014. Degree Candidacy Participants are eligible to earn graduate or continuing studies credit. Graduate-level elective credits from all certificates may be earned and applied to the Master or Doctorate of Public Administration. Additionally, elective credits may be earned and applied to the Master of Business Administration or Master of Nonprofit Management from the Building Resiliency and Sustainability in the Workplace and Leadership Communication Skills certificates.


text: IF U SEE K-A-H-L-I-L (vilain_garcon) wrote in fashin, 2010-10-10 10:07:00 IF U SEE K-A-H-L-I-L vilain_garcon fashin 2010-10-10 10:07:00 Previous Share Next THE PREVIEW YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR YOU GET ME SO EXCITED!!!oh and some girl called lady gaga or something released her preview tooI THINK SHE HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL. SHE WILL TAKE OVER POP MUSIC ONE DAY!!! Post a new comment Error Comments allowed for members only Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal We will log you in after post We will log you in after post We will log you in after post We will log you in after post We will log you in after post Anonymously switch LiveJournal Facebook Twitter OpenId Google MailRu VKontakte Anonymously default userpic Insert Bold Insert Italic Insert Underline Insert Strikethrough Insert Link Insert LJ User Insert Photo Insert Media Your reply will be screened Your IP address will be recorded Post a new comment Preview comment Help 54 comments Post a new comment 54 comments foamhands wrote in fashin: ←(No Subject) mortgagepayment wrote in fashin: →MARY KATRANTZOU'S FIRST FORRAY INTO MENSWEAR


text:
Erislandy Lara Believes Canelo is Hyped Up, Arrogant
By Miguel Rivera
WBA 'regular' junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12KOs) is not impressed with the record of Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (43-1-1, 31KOs). They are set to collide this Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Lara points to Canelo's record being built on victories over smaller and older fighters like Jose Miguel Cotto, Carlos Baldomir and Matthew Hatton. He thinks Canelo has a bad attitude and walks around with a big chip on his shoulder.
He doesn't believe Canelo will be capable of dealing with his style, because he never faced the best competition at junior middleweight, and says that is reason why Canelo struggled against boxers like Austin Trout and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"Canelo is arrogant and an inflated boxer. I really don't like him for his character, in addition to him being inflated. But it's not something that's personal [for me]. He doesn't realize what kind of trouble that he's going to have when he faces me. I am superior to Canelo Alvarez in every area," Lara said.
[QUOTE=Skills-Kill;14736184]Like I said before, I don't start the racist comments but I will join the battle if someone gets funny. Like kozone says, it's all fun and games till it hits home. Btw you are a real hypocrite, you come…Comment by garfios on 07-08-2014
[QUOTE=drenlou;14735636]I never said hernandez was a bum, i said he is unknown! I mean wayne braithwaite and oneil bell are probly more known then hernandez!! Lol and braithwaite koed him in 3!![/QUOTE]Anyone can get clocked and lose, where is braithwaite…Comment by LouIE G on 07-08-2014
[QUOTE=Skills-Kill;14736184]Like I said before, I don't start the racist comments but I will join the battle if someone gets funny. Like kozone says, it's all fun and games till it hits home. Btw you are a real hypocrite, you come…Comment by Skills-Kill on 07-08-2014
[QUOTE=drenlou;14735369]Exactly, i haven't been on a thread on here where the racism is at an all-time high! I hate to think of what it looks like when it all said and done saturday night. Like my good friend jack nicholson…Comment by kozone on 07-08-2014
[QUOTE=garfios;14735533]I didn't want to get into this mess but you are right, some mexican fans get avis of de castros brothers and they think it is funny, fvck them, I have family members that had been killed by those mfvckers…Post a Comment - View More User Comments (243)


text:
Maurice Chambers staked a claim for a Warwickshire contract with his maiden first-class fifty and two wickets to leave Derbyshire staring relegation in the face in the LV= County Championship match at Derby.
Chambers, who is on loan from Essex, scored 58 in a Warwickshire-record ninth-wicket stand of 166 in 55 overs with England all-rounder Chris Woakes, who made a career-best unbeaten 152 from 273 balls before the visitors declared on 391 for nine.
Keith Barker then took 3-21 and Chambers 2-21 to leave Derbyshire 44 for five when bad light ended play, a seemingly hopeless position in a game they must win to have any chance of staying up.
Rain washed out the morning session but when the game resumed under the floodlights, Woakes and Chambers continued their history-making partnership to deny Derbyshire a third bowling point.
The home side had 14 overs to claim another wicket but, although the ball beat the bat numerous times, Warwickshire took the game away from their hosts.
Chambers passed his previous highest score of 30 for Essex against Leicestershire at Grace Road in 2011 and the previous record ninth-wicket stand at Derby of 135 between Harry Parks and Tich Cornford for Sussex in 1935 fell soon afterwards.
Woakes beat his career-best 136 versus Hampshire at Edgbaston in 2010 and when Chambers drove spinner David Wainwright back for a sharp single, he raised his bat to acknowledge a fifty spanning 195 minutes.
For a man with a batting average of just over five, it was a remarkable effort and the next milestone to be left behind was Warwickshire's previous highest record ninth-wicket stand of 154 by George Stephens and Alfred Groom at Birmingham in 1925.
Chambers was finally stumped giving Wainwright the charge but Woakes completed an outstanding 150 before Varun Chopra let his bowlers off the leash to push Derbyshire to the brink of relegation.
After his heroics with the bat, it was no surprise that Chambers was soon among the wickets and, with Barker also moving the ball late, Derbyshire were quickly in desperate trouble.
Ben Slater was lbw to the third ball of the innings, skipper Wayne Madsen edged Chambers to first slip and Paul Borrington was snared at gully to leave the home side reeling at nine for three.
Chambers then had former Warwickshire wicketkeeper Richard Johnson caught by ex-Derbyshire skipper Rikki Clarke at second slip with only 14 on the board and when Alex Hughes was caught behind off Barker Derbyshire were crumbling at 33 for five.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul played a couple of defiant drives before bad light and then drizzle brought a halt at 5:15pm but, unless there is an amazing turnaround over the last two days, Derbyshire are heading back to Division Two after just one season.


text:
- Report: #1007834
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: FITNESS CONNECTION
FITNESS CONNECTION5390 Longley Ln Reno, Nevada United States of America
FITNESS CONNECTION DO NOT TRUST! ABSOLUTE SCAM! THEY WILL SCAM YOU IN A SHADY MANNER! DISHONEST MARKETING! UNAUTHORIZED FEES WILL BE CHARGED TO YOUR ACCOUNT! Reno, Nevada
*Author of original report: NO THANKS! I PREFER TO ALERT THE PUBLIC AND CONTACT MY BANK AND THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU!
*UPDATE Employee: Business Response - Fitness Connection
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I was approached by a guy named, Rich P., at my local mall. He began bragging about how Fitness Connection is the cheapest in town and how he's out there giving people thirty (30) days to try out the gym.
He even says to both my sister and I, that within those thirty (30) days, if we don't like it for whatever reason, to just go in to the gym and cancel and that nothing would be charged to my debit card.
According to what he had just said, I decided to give it a try with my sister. In the form he filled out it states that if I don't cancel within thirty (30) days, both my sister and I would be charged $19.99 a month each.
I absolutely did not like the gym! First off, when I asked this Rich P. where they were located (as location is definitely important to me), he said that they were right behind the mall. Turns out that they are not right behind the mall, they're further down the major street on McCarren.
I only attended that gym once with my sister and the location was not really what he made it sound, it was too far. So I definitely went in to the gym to cancel WAY BEFORE the thirty (30) day trial period.
Surprise! Surprise! The young lady there says, "OK! The way this works is that now you have to mail out our main guys in Texas your Cancel Request Form!" Right there and then, I found that to be quite inconvenient!
First off, because this Rich P., had told me and my sister (yes, my sister is my witness) that all we had to do was go in to the gym and they would cancel for us. He never mentioned that there had to be something sent out to Texas in order for them to cancel.
Not only that, so read this following part with all your undivided attention, because this is where this becomes a scam and a ripoff. When he was talking to us he put it all in words that we had thirty (30) days to go in to the gym as many times as we wanted and to just go in (in his words was physically go in to the local gym) and cancel. He even said something along the following words:
"Yeah! So you got thirty (30) days to try it out and if you don't like it, just cancel before those thirty (30) days and you won't get charged and hey, I mean you can be taking advantage of a free trial period."
So what I want all of you to know now is that in order to cancel and not get charged anything you need to let them know thirty (30) days ahead! This is something that Rich P. did not say at all. Even if he had told me this, it makes no sense to sign people up to "try out" the gym for thirty (30) days, but in reality if you don't want to be charged you need to cancel thirty (30) days before!
This IS A SCAM! Especially given the fact that he used words prior to signing us up that clearly suggested you can go in an out of that gym to try it out and that you could cancel if you didn't like it. So how can we know if we like it or not if you would have to cancel that same day in order to not get charged? Even if someone did try and cancel that day, there is no way that their office in Texas will receive that cancel request form that very day! THIS IS A SCAM!
But that's not the worse part of it all! They had their abc financial company harassing me. I called them back and let them know the situation and alerting them that their client is committing fraud! They simply told me to call them and that did me no good. They all wise asses in there.
So OK! Whatever! I can deal with them charging the amount specified on the form, because this can be a lesson well learned to not trust a guy by the name of Rich P. from Fitness Connection, but turns out that they have charged my account over $80.00! That's outrageous! It clearly has it in the form that they are charging $19.95 a person a month.
I spoke to the very dishonest Rich P. earlier over the phone, he certainly showed his true colors! He immediately got a nasty tone of voice with me and was taunting me over the phone! Well they've stepped on the wrong toes, because I'm definitely filing a fraud report with my bank and I am taking all the evidence I have and my witness to the mall and speaking to the General Manager there to prove to them that they are renting out a spot to scam artists that are ripping off the mall's customers! Oh no, the are not getting away with this! Atleast, they're not doing this to me and getting away with it just like that!
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/02/2013 12:28 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/FITNESS-CONNECTION/Reno-Nevada-89511/FITNESS-CONNECTION-DO-NOT-TRUST-ABSOLUTE-SCAM-THEY-WILL-SCAM-YOU-IN-A-SHADY-MANNER-DIS-1007834. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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#1 Author of original report
AUTHOR: Salvador - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, February 06, 2013POSTED: Wednesday, February 06, 2013
You say that you want to pull up my contract to see what services I purchased?? You clearly did not read my report all the way! I NEVER purchased any type of service.
Rich P., the guy from Fitness Connection Reno in the mall is deceitful and misrepresenting Fitness Connection and agreements! He gave my sister and myself a "thirty day trial period". He used specific words that assured us that if we didn't like the gym for whatever reason within that thirty day "trial period" we could simply go in to our local Fitness Connection to cancel and that we wouldn't be charged anything! LIES!
He also lied about the location just to get us to sign up. I told him that location was important to me and he decided it was easier to lie about that too. He said it was right behind the mall, when in reality, it's a nice distance away from the mall! The distance and because I was lied to about that is what made me want to cancel.
I signed up on 12/26/2012 and according to what Rich P. said, I had until 1/26/2013 to physically go in to the Reno Fitness Connection and cancel if I didn't want to get charged anything! This was his exact way of explaining it! He never mentioned that you need to cancel thirty days in advance to not get charged and that you have to send out a letter to Texas to get that done! My sister is my witness! She was standing there the whole time!
I sent in my cancel request form on 1/15/2013 and I have the receipt and proof that someone signed for that cancel request form way before 1/26/2013!
So not only does Fitness Connection have a liar and deceitful Rich P., but Fitness Connection Corporate is charging twice the amount on each agreement! That my good friends is a little something called FRAUD! It's against the law!
I have begun to dispute the fraudulent charges done to my card, I have contacted the better business bureau, and I will be submitting evidence that Texas Fitness Connection received my cancel request form way before that initial trial period ended! Not only that, but there is also evidence of the fraudulent transactions that Fitness Connection did, because HAD we decided to stay with Fitness Connection it would have only been $19.99 for two people. So why Fitness Connection charged $80.00 even though they received that cancel request form before the initial "free trial period" ended is something that my bank and the better business bureau will be able to see right through them!
In case I forgot to mention in my original report, I did contact corporate Fitness Connection. You guys have the rudest and most unprofessional customer service agents. Not to mention that the girl I spoke to had a wise-a*s remark or response to everything.
Then I contacted Rich P. at the Reno Fitness Connection and he had a totally different side of him. He began to raise his voice at me and he sounded totally SCRIPTED! It was almost like he knew exactly why I was calling and what type of complaint I had and everything he said sounded very organized and like he's said those exact words to other people.
So, all I've got to say to Fitness Connection is that once you receive the dispute from my bank you guys better refund me a FULL amount, because I won't stop posting reviews and staying in touch with the Better Business Bureau until I get my money back! Furthermore, I will keep alerting the public about my experience on the internet so no one falls for this type of scam again! Is it really worth the $80.00 you are ripping me out of to have your name all over the internet in such a negative way?
You tell me how it makes sense for someone to approach you and give you thirty days of a free trial period and if you don't want to be charged you can cancel ANY DAY WITHIN that free trial period. But, in reality, when you try to cancel, turns out that you need to give them thirty days to process that for you? How does that even give you time to "try out the gym?"
It doesn't add up! Even if you tried cancelling that VERY same day you sign up so they don't charge you, there is absolutely NO WAY that their corporate office in Texas will get it! So this is a scam! No matter what or how they make it sound, you end up getting ripped off!
Plus, they're also in the malls signing people up on Sundays. So Sundays there is no way that someone can try and cancel the same day, because Sundays it is closed at the postal office. Even if it's on a weekday you can't cancel in time! NO WAY that Texas will get that cancel request form the same day!
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?
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Business Response - Fitness Connection
AUTHOR: Lori-Corp Office Fitness Connection - (USA)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, February 05, 2013POSTED: Tuesday, February 05, 2013
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text:
- Report: #928574
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: hotwire.com
hotwire.comInternet United States of America
hotwire.com expedia false advertising Internet
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I went on hotwire.com and found what seemed like a good deal at sailport water front resort resort. The website for the resort says in has a private beach, so i thought "this will due perfect" here is a copy and paste from there website "During your stay at Sailport Waterfront Suites, we hope you will enjoy the private beach where sand volleyball and various other recreational activities are offered." According to every dictionary i looked in, a beach has to connect to the water, but not this one ,it has a man made sea wall about 6' or so high at the edge of the beach with huge jagged rocks piled up against it all the way to the water and a sign posted on the wall that says " stay off rocks" or somthing like that.
Basicly they don't want anyone climbing over the sea wall onto the rocks going down to the water, and i don't blame them, it looked very dangerous. After finding out we were misled there wasn't much we could do but get a rental car and start driving to the beach everyday. My wife was very unhappy and i was very frustrated having spent extra money to stay at a supposed resort with a private beach! When we returned home ,the following day i contacted Hotwire they were very nice ,but stupid. They kept insisting that they were not responsible for the info provided on there website because they copied it from the resorts website. I tried to explain that by making a profit off the sale they accept responsibillity for the acuracy of the info.
I talked to a supervisor named "logan" he gave me a reference # 63853256. I placed that phone call on 7/10/12 aprox. and have never heard back from anyone. The supervisor told me he could do nothing for me and that i always have the right to challange the charges on my credit card. If i was the CEO of hotwire i would fire that guy, why loose all the money from the sale when the customer might be happy with a partial refund?
Needless to say there has been no further development since the phone call to hotwire, i even sent a email to the resort letting them no what's going on, no reply!
I'm going to challenge the charges today and hope something gets done about this.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/17/2012 08:52 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/hotwirecom/internet/hotwirecom-expedia-false-advertising-Internet-928574. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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text:
New Hampshire Health & Educational Facilities Authority Wentworth-Douglass Hospital; Hospital Mar 11
- March 2011
- Region: New Hampshire
- Standard & Poors
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'A' rating to the New Hampshire Health & Educational Facilities Authority's $88.25 million series 2011A bonds, issued for Wentworth-Douglass Hospital (WDH) in Dover, N.H. The outlook is stable. Factors supporting the rating include WDH's: Consistent operating and financial profile over the past several fiscal years; Dominant market share of 62% in its primary service area; and Enhanced and growing clinical affiliations with local tertiary providers. Offsetting factors include WDH's: Elevated debt burden and leverage ratio with this debt issuance; and Sizable losses for its medical group, although management is implementing a plan to reduce these future losses. With this debt issuance, the organization will use approximately $45 million to build a four-story inpatient...
Companies mentioned in this report are: Wentworth Douglass Hosp,New Hampshire Hlth & Educl Facs Auth
Action: New Rating
Standard and Poors RatingsXpress Credit Research provides in-depth coverage of international corporates, financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, sovereigns and structured finance programs. RatingsXpress Credit Research lets users determine the credit rating of holdings and identify key factors underlying an issuer's creditworthiness, distinguishes the different risk exposures for new and existing deals, and provides an understanding of how their analysts interpret key regulatory, political and environmental events and their economic impact.
Research Type: Full Analysis
Wentworth Douglass Hosp,New Hampshire Hlth & Educl Facs Auth


text:
Curiosity Finds…SOMETHING…on Martian Surfaceby Jason Major
While scooping its first samples of Martian soil, NASA's Curiosity rover captured the image above, which shows what seems to be a small, seemingly metallic sliver or chip of… something… resting on the ground. Is it a piece of the rover? Or some other discarded fleck of the MSL descent mechanisms? Or perhaps an exotic Martian pebble of some sort? Nobody knows for sure yet, but needless to say the soil samples have taken a back seat to this new finding for the time being.
See a ChemCam image of the object below.
ChemCam shot of a recently spotted unknown object on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The ChemCam image, although monochrome, reveals some interesting and curiously organic-looking edges on the object… although it could be a bit of something that came loose from the rover itself. Perhaps a bit of plastic wrap or tape from a cable? Or a flake of metal from the back shell?
Or, as MSNBC's Alan Boyle jokingly (?) suggested, another piece of "Martian macaroni"?
The MSL mission page states:
Curiosity's first scooping activity appeared to go well on Oct. 7. Subsequently, the rover team decided to refrain from using the rover's robotic arm on Oct. 8 due to the detection of a bright object on the ground that might be a piece from the rover. Instead of arm activities during the 62nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission, Curiosity is acquiring additional imaging of the object to aid the team in identifying the object and assessing possible impact, if any, to sampling activities.
Stay tuned for more info on this intriguing news as it's available!
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
P.S. Of course, the now-famous "Sarcastic Rover" had something to say about it on Twitter:
Curiosity, Mars, metal, MSL, object
…or an insect that somehow got in while the robot was in training maneuver on Earth soil.
Do you honestly think that could happen? Blimey. (////,)
"…curiously organic-looking on the edges on the object", the article said.
For clarity maybe, I could have added smiley at the end of my first comment
When you look at the scoop, it appears that it is chipped in one corner, kind of matching the piece of metal. Just a guess.
It does kinda look like that doesn't it!
This will be on ATS within seconds with some strange and fantastical UFO / Alien / NWO conspiracy theory lol
More like GodlikeProductions.com
It looks like a sheared-off clip / staple from a cable. Although I like the 'lost earring' theory . . .
oh god… the nutters are going to spazz out on this…
It's a street-light!
tell me about that filter…
Okay, that's interesting. I'm assuming in the end it will be innocuous – but it's certainly weird and merits closer scrutiny.
Look closely, is't chewing gum?
maybe it's a Alien Nano-bot!
ha, there it is…
If only it could turn out to be some kind of Martian bling. I bet that we'd get a manned mission their b4 2035 then!
It isn't the first craft to go to pieces.
More seriously, an 8 g shaking would get rid of remaining scrap in the mechanisms.
A piece of Mars Climate Orbiter.
You Know? There is something just not right with that photo!! It is like a studio type photo; like it is a artificial type of photo from a studio/lab sort of! It does "not" appear real from Mars! The sand is tooooo uniform like it's been raked, etc!
Maybe it's a piece of disintegrated Russian Mars lander
Are we landing everything in the same place? It's a freaking planet, how lucky could we get that we find our own stuff from years ago?
Yes, everything lands in much the same place. All of the mars landers have aimed for the same basin on mars. Although they've gotten a lot more accurate about landing over time.
That's just a flat-out lie, as can be seen by looking at a map of Mars landings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_landing
No we are not. If it's from Earth, it's from Curiosity or it's landing system.
There were some missions years ago, that disappeared off the radar! Was referred to as the Mars curse! Maybe this is a piece of history!
My first thought as well
Looks like perry the platypus to me
it sounds nice
I think Transformers live there.


text:
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