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Hi! My name is coconut
I am Domestic Shorthair from Bushnell, FL
Nicknames: kitten, fat cat, mox, sweety baby,
Age: 7 years old
Gender: M
Coat: short haired
Education: he ate a marshmallow!!!
My favorite tricks and treats are: he eats marshmallow and vanilla yogurt and temptations
Where I hang out: the windows
My favorite grubs: kitten chow
My pet peeves: to be held to long
What I love about my owners: he says I don't know I just do
My cat hobbies: sucking on his blanket
Pet motto: no touchy
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I rescued him from a stormdrain
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I'm the 50,959th member on CatChannel.com.
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Come visit me, Shadow <3 Button, Yoda- <3 Strudel-she said yes!!!, manchester &,snuggles,elivs & kali house, Sir Manchester <3 Queen Snuggles & SIR M's & ANA'S ANNIVERSARY #247289.
Come visit me, Team RAGDOLL PAWesome PURRsonality #235194, :¦:Chloe:•:(¯`v´¯):•- :208036:¦: & Team CHLOE, a PAWSitively PURRfect NAME #234964.
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Why China's blocked Kaspersky and Symantec
11:46, August 4 2014
Anti-virus firms replaced by Chinese companies.
China's procurement agency has removed Kaspersky and Symantec from its list of approved anti-virus software vendors for use in government departments, citing security concerns.
Only five anti-virus software vendors have been approved by the agency, and they're all Chinese: Venustech, CAJinchen, Qihoo 360 Technology Co, Rising and Beijing Jiangmin.
After Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA, China has increased scrutiny of foreign companies like IBM, Qualcomm, Cisco and Microsoft, whose operating system Windows 8 was excluded from the government purchase order in May, before China labelled it a US government "pawn" in June.
The latest developments are part of the Chinese government's plan to limit its reliance on foreign IT products and services.
According to representatives of Public Security Ministry of China, Symantec's Data Loss Prevention software had backdoors that could provide access to unauthorised parties and it contained high-risk security loopholes.
However in a statement given to Bloomberg, the company said: "Symantec does not put hidden functionality or back doors into any of its technologies - not for the NSA or any other government entities."
Kaspersky spokesman Alejandro Arango told Reuters: "We are investigating and engaging in conversations with Chinese authorities about this matter.
" It is too premature to go into any additional details at this time."
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Top Definition
Parody of Northern English accent. Shortening of The Internet to "T'Internet, to Tinternet. Made popular by Peter Kay.
"You can look it up on tinternet."
di Miles Walkden 27 novembre 2003
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
"The internet", cleverly merged with each other, to form a Northern slur....
Pupil: Can I go on t'internet?
Mr Humphrey the Computer Legend: No! Goodbye!
Mr Humphrey the Computer Legend: No! Goodbye!
di Bob 28 giugno 2004
'The Internet', in a stereotypical Northern English accent in which the word 'the' is shortened to 't'. Used normally in a tongue-in-cheek or self-parodying fashion. The word 'tinterweb' also exists, but is rarely used.
Research? Log onto tinternet and let's see what we can find.
di Blue Jack 09 ottobre 2008
t'internet, short for 'the internet'.
"t'" can be used in conjuction with other words with the exception of "th'police"
"t'" can be used in conjuction with other words with the exception of "th'police"
It's amazing what you can find on t'internet
di James Frost 20 aprile 2004
a common term used in reference to the world wide web, in places that are yet to experience cyber-evolution.
tourist: excuse me, where is the nearest wifi or internet cafe?
local: oh no dear theres no tinternet round here
local: oh no dear theres no tinternet round here
di zozab 24 giugno 2011


text:
|Key Info
Torre di Amalfi is located just ten minutes' from the beach by coach or you can make wonderful promenades in the village. You can also arrive in Amalfi by steps. Quiet and peaceful, the residence has easy access to all amenities, including the local market, and many excellent restaurants for eating out.
The apartments benefit from its own roof garden and private parking. Leading from the living room is a spacious balcony with stunning sea views and a terrace furnished with a table and chairs to enable you to dine al fresco. With one double and one twin bedroom, the residence is ideal for families and young couples, with plenty in the surrounding area to see during your stay. The location is near to the most important touristique sites like Ravello, Positano, Capri, Sorrento, Ischia, Pompei, Paestum and more.
|Sleeps up to 5, 4 bedrooms
|4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms of which 2 family bathrooms, Solarium or roof terrace
|Nearest beach
|Amalfi 1 km
|Car advised
|Nearest travel links
|Nearest airport: Salerno 45 km, Nearest railway: Salerno 24 km
|Family friendly
|Great for children of all ages
|No pets allowed, No smoking at this property
|Internet access, DVD player, Sea view
|Air conditioning, TV, Wi-Fi available
|Kettle, Toaster, Iron, Hair dryer
|Cooker, Fridge, Freezer, Washing machine
|Double Beds (2), Single Beds (1), Dining seats for 6, Lounge seats for 6
|Linen provided, Towels provided
|Balcony or terrace, Private garden, BBQ
|Secure parking, Not suitable for wheelchair users
Campania is a region of southern Italy in Europe. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy, its total area of 13,595 km˛ makes it the most densely populated region in the country.[1] Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, the small Flegrean Islands and Capri are also administratively part of the region.
Throughout much of its history Campania has been at the centre of Western Civilisation's most significant entities. The area was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was within Magna Grćcia, until the Roman Republic began to dominate. During the Roman era the area was highly respected as a place of culture by the emperors, where it balanced Greco-Roman culture. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire and some Lombards.
It was under the Normans that the smaller independent states were brought together as part of a sizable European kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period that especially elements of Spanish, French and Aragonese culture touched Campania. Later the area became the central part of the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons, until the Italian unification of 1860 when it became part of the new state Italy.
The capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regards to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, which translates into English as "fertile countryside". The rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri.
Amalfi is a town and commune in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno, 24 miles (39 km) southeast of Naples. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery. The town of Amalfi was the capital of the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Amalfi was a popular holiday destination for the British upper class and aristocracy.
Amalfi occupied a high position in medieval architecture; its cathedral of Sant' Andrea, of the eleventh century, the campanile, the convent of the Capuccini, founded by Cardinal Capuano, richly represent the artistic movement prevailing in Southern Italy at the time of the Normans, with its tendency to blend the Byzantine style with the forms and sharp lines of the northern architecture.
In 1206 Saint Andrew's relics were brought to Amalfi from Constantinople by the Amalfitan Pietro, cardinal of Capua, following the Sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders after the completion of the town's cathedral.[4] The cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the relics of the apostle. A golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used for processions through Amalfi on holy days can also be seen.
During Mass on these holy days, St Andrew's relics are said to exude a liquid called "St. Andrew's Manna". The faithful are anointed with the liquid, and many believe it to be miraculous.


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From melferi:
Why is this an issue? She is not being forced to participate in the prayer portion of the meetings. Did she ask the other members of the council to give her 5 minutes to say her prayer as well??? I cant imagine that they would tell her no. Instead she rather bring in the drama of the ACLU for her 5 minutes of fame and for the sake of having her name in the paper. I believe in freedom of religion, but this seems to be a rather small problem that could of been handled much differently. There is no reason why she cant say her own prayer before the council meetings begin.
From sp33dbump:
ACLU is in the right, here. Pray on your own time... hell, do it outside with the smokers just before the meeting if you're so inclined... We don't have another undiscovered continent to sail off to and secure our 1st amendment rights.
From JustSomeGuyyouknow:
The fact is , and we all know it , if it was anything but a christian prayer people would be FREAKING OUT. People who want to loosen the separation of church and state always assume they're loosening it for their particular version of faith. Its why the separation is one of the founding principles of our great republic.
Visit the story's comments section to post your own take.


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From San Francisco General Hospital and Philip R. Lee Institute of Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Graduate School of Business, Center for Primary Care Outcomes Research, and Center for Health Policy, and Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California; and Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California.
Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Acknowledgments: The authors thank Phil Lavori, PhD, Department of Health Research and Policy, and Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, and Matthew Franzen, Centers for Health Policy and Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University, for their help and guidance with the analysis. They also thank Kristin Sainani, PhD, Department of Health Research and Policy, for her comments on a previous version of the manuscript and Elaine Steel, Beth Thew, L. Marie Dach, and Antonella Vassallo for their administrative support.
Grant Support: Funded in part by the American Heart Association Pharmaceutical Roundtable–Spina Outcomes Research Center (0875162N), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Stanford University, and the University of California San Francisco.
Potential Conflicts of Interest: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M13-1999.
Reproducible Research Statement: Statistical protocol: Available from Dr Kazi (firstname.lastname@example.com). Statistical code and data set: Not available.
Requests for Single Reprints: Dhruv S. Kazi, MD, MSc, MS, Division of Cardiology, San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue, Room 5G1, San Francisco, CA 94110; e-mail, email@example.com.
Current Author Addresses: Dr. Kazi: Division of Cardiology, San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue, Room 5G1, San Francisco, CA 94110.
Dr. Garber: Office of the President and Provost, Harvard University, Massachusetts Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Dr. Shah: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 200 Lothrop Street, B-571.3 Scaife Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
Dr. Dudley: Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94118.
Dr. Mell: Stanford Medical Center Vascular Surgery Clinic, 300 Pasteur Drive H3600, MC5642 Stanford, CA 94305.
Mr. Rhee: 13078 Via Escuela Court, Saratoga, CA 95070.
Mr. Moshkevich: 544 Guerrero Street, #3, San Francisco, CA 94110.
Dr. Boothroyd: Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Health Research and Policy, HRP Redwood Building, Room T150, 259 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5405.
Dr. Owens: Stanford University, Center for Health Policy and Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, 117 Encina Commons, Room 201, Stanford, CA 94305-6019.
Dr. Hlatky: Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Health Research and Policy, HRP Redwood Building, Room T150, 259 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5405.
Author Contributions: Conception and design: D.S. Kazi, M.W. Mell, C. Rhee, D.K. Owens, M.A. Hlatky.
Analysis and interpretation of the data: D.S. Kazi, A.M. Garber, M.W. Mell, S. Moshkevich, D.K. Owens, M.A. Hlatky.
Drafting of the article: D.S. Kazi.
Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: D.S. Kazi, A.M. Garber, R.U. Shah, R.A. Dudley, M.W. Mell, S. Moshkevich, D.B. Boothroyd, D.K. Owens, M.A. Hlatky.
Final approval of the article: D.S. Kazi, A.M. Garber, R.U. Shah, R.A. Dudley, M.W. Mell, D.K. Owens.
Provision of study materials or patients: D.S. Kazi.
Statistical expertise: D.S. Kazi, A.M. Garber, R.U. Shah, D.B. Boothroyd, D.K. Owens, M.A. Hlatky.
Obtaining of funding: M.A. Hlatky.
Administrative, technical, or logistic support: D.S. Kazi, A.M. Garber, R.A. Dudley, M.A. Hlatky.
Collection and assembly of data: D.S. Kazi, R.U. Shah, M.W. Mell, C. Rhee, S. Moshkevich, D.B. Boothroyd
Background: The choice of antiplatelet therapy after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is complicated: Ticagrelor and prasugrel are novel alternatives to clopidogrel, patients with some genotypes may not respond to clopidogrel, and low-cost generic formulations of clopidogrel are available.
Objective: To determine the most cost-effective strategy for dual antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention for ACS.
Design: Decision-analytic model.
Data Sources: Published literature, Medicare claims, and life tables.
Target Population: Patients having percutaneous coronary intervention for ACS.
Time Horizon: Lifetime.
Perspective: Societal.
Intervention: Five strategies were examined: generic clopidogrel, prasugrel, ticagrelor, and genotyping for polymorphisms of CYP2C19 with carriers of loss-of-function alleles receiving either ticagrelor (genotyping with ticagrelor) or prasugrel (genotyping with prasugrel) and noncarriers receiving clopidogrel.
Outcome Measures: Direct medical costs, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs).
Results of Base-Case Analysis: The clopidogrel strategy produced $179 301 in costs and 9.428 QALYs. Genotyping with prasugrel was superior to prasugrel alone, with an ICER of $35 800 per QALY relative to clopidogrel. Genotyping with ticagrelor was more effective than genotyping with prasugrel ($30 200 per QALY relative to clopidogrel). Ticagrelor was the most effective strategy ($52 600 per QALY relative to genotyping with ticagrelor).
Results of Sensitivity Analysis: Stronger associations between genotype and thrombotic outcomes rendered ticagrelor substantially less cost-effective ($104 800 per QALY). Genotyping with prasugrel was the preferred therapy among patients who could not tolerate ticagrelor.
Limitation: No randomized trials have directly compared genotyping strategies or prasugrel with ticagrelor.
Conclusion: Genotype-guided personalization may improve the cost-effectiveness of prasugrel and ticagrelor after percutaneous coronary intervention for ACS, but ticagrelor for all patients may be an economically reasonable alternative in some settings.
Primary Funding Sources: American Heart Association, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Stanford University, and University of California San Francisco.
Cost-effectiveness plane.
Results of the base-case analysis are presented on the cost-effectiveness plane, with clopidogrel at the origin. The lines indicate the cost-effectiveness frontier, and the slope of the frontier that connects 2 strategies is the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (in 2011 U.S. dollars per QALY). Both low- (solid line) and high-discrimination scenarios (dashed line) are shown; strategies that are inside the corresponding frontier (hollow markers) are eliminated by strict or extended dominance.
Sensitivity analysis on the association between genotype and clinical outcomes.
The value of genotyping depends on its ability to discriminate between patients at high and low risk for thrombotic events. In this analysis, the base case assumes a low-discrimination scenario: that carriers of loss-of-function alleles are at modestly greater risk for thrombotic events than noncarriers. The ICER of genotyping with ticagrelor is measured relative to clopidogrel, and the ICER for ticagrelor is measured relative to genotyping with ticagrelor. As the discrimination of the test is dialed up (moving rightward on the x-axis), carriers have more thrombotic events and fewer bleeding events relative to noncarriers. This results in improved outcomes associated with genotyping, making genotyping with ticagrelor more cost-effective and treating all patients with ticagrelor independent of genotype less cost-effective. As a point of reference, the rate ratio for cardiovascular death (carriers to noncarriers) was 35% greater in the high-discrimination scenario than in the base case. ICER = incremental cost-effectiveness ratio; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.
Tradeoff between bleeding and thrombosis.
In 2-way sensitivity analyses, we simultaneously varied the rate of cardiovascular death and fatal bleeding among patients receiving ticagrelor (relative to patients receiving clopidogrel), holding constant the event rates among patients receiving prasugrel. In the low-discrimination scenario and at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $50 000/quality-adjusted life-year, genotyping with ticagrelor was the most cost-effective strategy at baseline (dotted lines), but relatively small improvements in the efficacy or safety of ticagrelor (e.g., 1.3% decrease in cardiovascular mortality rates) made treating all patients with ticagrelor the most cost-effective option. In the high-discrimination scenario, genotyping with ticagrelor was robust to large changes in the efficacy and safety of ticagrelor. CV = cardiovascular; HR = hazard ratio.
Effect of population frequency of CYP2C19 loss-of-function polymorphisms.
As the population frequency of CYP2C19 loss-of-function polymorphisms increases, treating all patients receiving a percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndrome with ticagrelor (independent of genotyping) becomes more cost-effective. At a threshold of $50 000/QALY, ticagrelor is the most cost-effective strategy when carriers constitute 52.7% or more of the population. ICER = incremental cost-effectiveness ratio; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.
Probabilistic sensitivity analysis.
Results of the probabilistic sensitivity analysis are illustrated as acceptability curves, which plot the proportion of simulations in which a certain strategy is "optimal" (or most cost-effective) against the amount one is willing to pay per QALY gained. In the low-discrimination scenario, genotyping with ticagrelor is the preferred strategy in 42.3% of the simulations at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $50 000/QALY (green vertical line) and ticagrelor is the preferred strategy in 32% of the simulations, reflecting the underlying uncertainty. Greater thresholds make ticagrelor more economically attractive. In the high-discrimination scenario, which assumes stronger associations between loss-of-function genotype and the rate of thrombotic events, genotyping with ticagrelor is the optimal strategy in 63.4% of the simulations at a threshold of $50 000/QALY. QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.
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Dr. Marciniak highlights some of the numerous sources of uncertainty regarding choice of an antiplatelet agent for patients receiving percutaneous coronary intervention after acute coronary syndrome.
Uncertainty in results of clinical research is common, which is precisely why a systematically and transparently designed simulation model is useful. We reviewed more than 100 publications, including publicly available FDA documents, to identify the most credible estimates of each parameter in the model. A key feature of the model is that beyond the use of the single best estimate of key parameters (the "base case"), it explicitly assesses the impact of uncertainty in the input parameters. We reported extensive sensitivity analyses, and interpreted our results cautiously, noting that genotyping-guided use of prasugrel appeared to consistently outperform the prasugrel-for-all strategy, even as the role of genotyping with ticagrelor was less certain (1). While we acknowledge the limitations inherent in such analyses, we disagree that mathematical modeling is equivalent to "slavishly counting p values" and that data quality issues "make…calculations meaningless." Indeed, we would counter that use of a model to determine whether the inevitable uncertainty in parameters matters enough to change conclusions is a fundamental strength of our approach (2).
We agree that patients may differ in their response to antiplatelet agents, but, like the FDA advisory committees that evaluated these drugs, we were concerned about over-interpreting subgroup analyses. We did not separately model patients presenting with and without ST-elevations because this factor did not appear to modify the effectiveness of either ticagrelor or prasugrel. The tests for interaction of ticagrelor with dose of statin or aspirin were post-hoc analyses and not pre-specified – and we were concerned that making multiple comparisons would result in an unacceptably high type I error (3). For instance, the test for interaction between ticagrelor and statin dose was one of at least 45 analyses; at an alpha of 0.05, the probability of finding a spurious association would be greater than 90%.
The strategy of switching anti-platelet agents suggested by Dr. Marciniak is interesting, but as he acknowledges, untested. It overlooks what we know about genotype-specific responses to antiplatelet agents, and minimizes the risk in switching between drugs with distinctly different pharmacokinetics. Instead of relying on anecdotal clinical experience or a back-of-the-envelope cost-effectiveness, we suggest a formal simulation model of this strategy, which would provide useful insights and could guide the design of an empirical test.
Dhruv S. Kazi, MD, MSc, MS
Douglas K. Owens, MD, MS
Mark A. Hlatky, MD
Author Affiliations: From the University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California (DSK), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Healthcare System, Palo Alto, California (DKO), and Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California (DKO, MAH).
1. Kazi DS, Garber AM, Shah RU, Dudley RA, Mell MW, Rhee C, et al. Cost-effectiveness of genotype-guided and dual antiplatelet therapies in acute coronary syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 2014;160(4).
2. Basu S, Andrews J. Complexity in mathematical models of public health policies: a guide for consumers of models. PLoS Med. 2013;10(10):e1001540.
3. Sainani KL. The problem of multiple testing. PM R. 2009;1(12):1098-103.
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All Posts In » 2009 » June » 15
Sydney Supanova 2009
Hi everyone! As your Australian Correspondent, part of my duties would be to attend some of Australia's conventions. This year I plan on attending "Supanova Pop Culture Expo" in Sydney which runs from June 26th until June 28th, however lucky Sydney folks will only see me there on June 27th (Saturday). Supanova is a convention that features Anime, Cosplay, Gaming, Fantasy, Comics… a whole bunch of stuff really! The last time I went (which was about 2 years ago) they had a WWE show in the middle of the dome. Not that it interested me personally, but it was hard not to take notice with the noises they made and the crowd they had gathered. My point is though, that the next year I believe they didn't have it at all, so there is always something different at Supanova! Anyway, after a long wait, they have finally announced their guestRead more →
Dante's Inferno E3 Preview
One of the titles I was looking forward to most at E3 was Dante's Inferno. The title was at EA3 but was for Judges only. At E3, we still weren't able to play the title but instead received a demo introduction to Dante's Inferno. Dante's Inferno is an adaptation of the poem. The demo EA showcased took place in Limbo. From what was shown, EA has a commitment to holding true to the poem. Hell is supposed to be dark and Visceral Studios does not intend to sugar coat it. Players control Dante who has vowed to get his love, Beatrice, out from hell. Because it was a demo, I can't give actual impressions. I can say that the combat system seemed very similar to the God of War system. Only it seemed much slower. Hopefully that is only true of the demo. Using the God of War system inRead more →By GamingAngel in Angel Life · E3 2009 No comments yet
GameStop gives you giftcard for surveys
GameStop has teamed up with E-Rewards to give people special GameStop gift cards for their participation in surveys. The email I received says the following: By answering online surveys that match your age and interests you can earn gift cards. The ad does not say what amounts the gift cards are in or how many surveys you have to do before earning a gift card. After signing up, you will be directed to answer a survey of questions. It's rather long so make sure you have time to do it. Also look for small checkboxes that allow the company to share your information. There are plenty of those and you want to make sure you uncheck them before you end up receiving a ton of spam. Not sure if this is also an indication to their service, but the surveys that are available for me are from 2007. FollowRead more →By GamingAngel in News 7 Comments »
Snowboarding TNT is Now Available for the iPhone/ iPod Touch
Today mobile games developer TiltnTwist announced Snowboarding TNT is available. Snowboarding TNT is fast-moving and requires players to tilt and twist their handsets to control the downhill action and avoid obstacles with out the hassle of tiny buttons to control game action. Players can become a male or female boarder, and can pick the language of their choice among English, Spanish, French, Italian, or German. The game also features six downhill courses starting with Easy Street and Bunny Slope, and increasing in difficulty as they slide through Turtle Run, Quickdraw, The Chute, and Holy Moses. Snowboarding TNT is a fast paced challenging game as gamers are required to do lots of things simultaneously – control downhill maneuvers and speed, avoid crashing into trees and smashing into huge rocks (Wipeout!), maneuver through narrow tunnels with hanging ice cycles, and slice through strategically placed course gates – while performing over 30 coolRead more →
Virgin Media to offer unlimited music
Virgin Media is going to take Apple iTunes head on with their new unlimited music download subscription service. Virgin Media has teamed up with Universal to offer the world's first service to allow users to listen by streaming or download and keep as many tracks and albums as they want from Universal's catalog. The service will cost 10-15 pounds ($16.30 – $24.50) a month and the music will be in MP3 format. Virgin Media says the service should launch later this year. Virgin says it's in talks with other major and independent music labels and publishers to add to the service by the time it launches. "We see this as completely ground breaking," Universal Music chairman and chief executive Lucian Grainge told reporters. "We've listened to our customers, our fans and our artists and we think that this is an opportunity to bring music to a wider audience." [source viaReuters]Read more →By GamingAngel in Music No comments yet
E3 First Look – Fairytale Fights
One of the most surprising adorable and simultaneously violent games I saw at E3 was Fairytale Fights from Playlogic. Fairytale Fights is a game with fairytale characters, like Snow White or Little Red Riding Hood that have lost their fame, and are setting out to reclaim it. The game has a very Monty Python-eque humor to it, where you control the characters and fight against lumberjacks and cuddly creatures, and sometimes even another player (the whole game can be played cooperatively, but it doesn't have to be nice). Fairytale Fights is a hack 'n slash adventure game where the violence is real, and the blood stays on screen. What I think I loved most about this over-the-top game is the picture-in-picture view of your recent kills where you can see exactly where your blows landed, and which limb (or half of the body) you sliced off your enemies. Because ofRead more →
Tweet Mystery
A murder has come to twitter. Tweet Mystery is a murder mystery being tweeted by several authors each controlling a character or two to complete the story. You can keep track of the characters, and their authors at TweetMystery. The story started today, June 15th, and the authors will keep tweeting until the story is complete. You can follow the story through the #tmod hashtag, through the TweetMystery website, where there's RSS feeds and daily digests to subscribe to, or find the authors and their character accounts and follow them to keep up-to-date. This is a pretty cool storytelling method, are there any other social media stories you're following? I also really enjoy Shadow Unit, another group story being told in seasons and released online for free – with an interactive community and lots of easter eggs and various social media tools being utilized to expand character bios and storyRead more →
Call of Duty: World at War breaks 11 million
Call of Duty: World at War has sold more than 11 million units since it's November launch. Activision confirmed in a recent blog post. The Map Pack 2 sold over 2 million units. "These outstanding feats would have never been possible without the continued dedication and support from all of the loyal Call of Duty fans. For that, we at Treyarch and Activision would like to extend our sincerest Thank You. We're honored and humbled to have one of the greatest online communities in video game history behind our products!" FollowRead more →By GamingAngel in News No comments yet
E3 2009 – Tony Hawk Hands On First Look
A hands on preview of Tony Hawk Ride using the new skateboard peripheral.Read more →By April Carlson in E3 2009 · PS3 · Wii · Xbox 360 No comments yet
New Controller to Wii makes players exercise
The Wii is already getting people off their feet and working out. But that is limited to specific titles. New Concept Gaming has created jOG which will keep things moving during most regular Wii titles. The jOG is an add-on controller for the Wii that detects body motion. When the player takes a step so does the game character on screen. If the player runs, so does the game character. Brendan Ludden, Managing Director of NCG said: "We're really proud that we've achieved what we set out to do – to produce a unique accessory that adds to the sense of immersion as you play your favourite games, that is great fun and contributes to your daily recommended exercise." Register to win a jOG at their website. FollowRead more →By GamingAngel in News No comments yet


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Welcome to my Five Favs. This is my personal list of things I'm currently digging hard on. Like, so hard it's bleeding. I'm sure you all know the feeling. You can't get it out of your head, and you can't place it, but you LOVE IT! It doesn't have to be the newest thing out there. It could even be something you loved, left, and came back to. So, this is my list. I hope you love it and it becomes one of your five favs. Current and nostalgic all mixed together is just fun. Feel free to send in your Five Favs. BTDubs, the numbering system is in no particular order. Enjoy!
Ducktails – "Undercover"
Ducktails – "The Flower Lane" & "Under Cover": This band is the N.J. project of Real Estate's Matthew Mondanile. Their latest cd The Flower Lane has these two songs I totally love. "The Flower Lane" and "Under Cover" sound like 70's era pop with an indie synth flare and "Under Cover" being a little more upbeat. You can tell Ducktails knows what they're doing in creating their own sound that is uniquely theirs. SO good! Follow @mattmondanile for any Ducktails deets.
Grey Gardens (2009): Woah! I love this movie! I wanted to see it when it was first out, but I didn't/don't have HBO. Thank goodness for Netflix because when the movie randomly popped in my head, I watched it and so so enjoyed it. It shows a history of "Big Edie" Edith Beale (mother) and "Little Edie" Edith Beale (daughter), high society dropouts and aunt and cousin to Jackie O. It virtually shows the answers to the questions left from the Maysles brothers documentary of the two (which I'll be watching soon) revealing their less than normal living conditions. Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore are great in it. Please watch it for me if you haven't seen it yet.
The 1975 – "Sex"
The 1975 – "Sex": Yeah, right off the bat. Sex. This song comes from their EP Sex. They're a Manchester, England band and "Sex" is such a great song. It sounds slightly like a Killers song, but with Matt Healy's own special vocals and lyrics. "…we got one thing in common; it's this tongue of mine. She said ew…" Very cool song. I keep imaging listening to it in a pick-up truck and in a black and white color font. Yeah. Follow @the1975
Donora – "Play Nice"
Donora – "You Dream" & "Float Away": This fun band is from Pittsburgh. Their style is indie pop rock and they have a new EP out Play Nice which is where you'll find these songs. "You Dream" and "Float Away" sound like a spacey dream pop Katy Perry. Their lead singer, Casey Hanner, echoes beautifully in the chorus'. She's great. Next time you host an 80's theme party, which I know you will, play these fun numbers. The songs are hard to come by but are on spotify if you have trouble finding them elsewhere, or just buy the EP! Follow @donora
Haim – "Forever"
Haim – "Forever" & "Better Off": Let me be honest for a second. I didn't want to like this group. I don't know why, I think it's because everything I like expects me to like them. I wanted to be fair though, so I finally listened to their music and I think it's great! You can hear both songs on their EP Forever. It's clear this three-piece sister group, plus a drummer, really knows their stuff. Este, Alana, and Danielle are going places. You can hear the L.A. in their music, which I love. "Forever" is a real sunshine song, you know what I mean? Indie pop at its best. Follow @HAIMtheband
You can find all these songs on the lovely Spotify.
SO Note: Tell some of your favs @Serial_Optimist.


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Accurate estimates of prognosis are crucial for clinical decision-making as well as risk adjustment. Current methods for prognostication, based on comorbidities captured in administrative datasets, can identify significant predictors of mortality at the aggregate level but fail to produce meaningful estimates for individual patients. We begin with an example of what is at stake, both for patients and the health system, by showing preliminary data on the costs of caring for patients with end-stage cancer in the US. We then illustrate the challenges of applying current predictive models to individuals and propose directions for future research.


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by Kevin
April 4, 2010
Get more colors. I'm dying for these in black. They'd be perfect.
2 out of 3 people
found this review helpful.
by Luke
March 5, 2010
Whats up with the colors? I like how the fit looks but I'd like to see them in colors like gray, black, and navy; then I'd buy some.
1 out of 2 people
found this review helpful.
by JL
September 3, 2009
Nice shorts. Bring back the black and navy they look great in all of those colors.
by ERIC!
April 6, 2008
by jake
April 2, 2008
i tried this on at the hillcrest, ca store and LOVED them. please make more sizes because there's only 32s and im a 30/31...also they came in yellow. i would kill for more colors. please please please.
by Devin
March 6, 2008
i tried these on in the NY store soho area; i felt like crying. i tried on sizes 28 + 29, if you have really boney skinny legs like me (5'11" 140 lbs). I wouldn't recommend these.
The cut of the short is very simple and anyone with a needle and thread could make these, AA needs to make these with a better fit around the butt and leg openings, they need to hug more.
On the other hand one of my friends has thicker legs than I do and they fit him okay, not great just okay. knowing this, one should try these one before buying.
i still love AA, since everything else i've bought fits amazingly (about 25% of my wardrobe!) =)
1 out of 3 people
found this review helpful.
by dustin
March 4, 2008
can someone who has these tell me the inseam on them? thanks
by Brian W.
January 3, 2008
I like the cut, fit, style of these. But it's true, disappointing to have these finally available after summer is over. And why so few and such wack colors available online? What about black, grey, navy, tan, stripes?
by Zeb
December 27, 2007
more colors?
by Rick
December 12, 2007
I just got a pair in red and they aren't see through. They fit perfectly and feel great. Good product.
by j
December 9, 2007
I tried these on at the store. They're really comfortable and light but the fabric is so cheap. AA doesn't even have a proper logo tag on the inside of the shorts! On top of that, they're just too expensive. If you know basic sewing, you can make these.
by Joe
December 4, 2007
AA needs jeans. big time.
by ...
December 2, 2007
I too, like many others, watched the summer days go by as I waited for this item to be released... (sigh of disappointment).
Looks pretty good on the model. Want one in red. Wished there were more colors to select from.
by z
November 21, 2007
they're see through!
by tyler
November 15, 2007
key words people , travel short .
by CHIQUITA BANANA
November 13, 2007
"This was a great idea, for the summer. I really wanted to pick up a pair of these, but since it's fall/winter I don't really need shorts now. It's disappointing that a cool idea wasn't put on shelves quick enough...and they aren't even in the blue, bummer..."
AGREED! how are you going to release BRIGHT colored SHORTS in November? I was patiently waiting for these babies to come out since I first saw them a month or two back on the "coming soon" page, the Grey color that was shown looked great and the fit looks nice but I'm extremely disappointed in the color selection. IT'S NOVEMBER - RELEASE DARKER COLORS.
by brett
November 12, 2007
yeah...lets put these on just in time for winter....
i waited all summer for those.
by Cole
November 12, 2007
Why are they 10 american dollars but 21 british pounds?
They look good with long johns underneath.
by justin f.
November 12, 2007
look nice, but more colors.
by c
November 12, 2007
from looking at the pictures on the models these shorts appear to be see-through in the crotch area. the thighs however have double lining because of some monstrous pockets. i bet if i could see the back, that too would we see-through. american apparel needs to understand the strengths and weeknesses of some of their materials, such as cotton-nylon, and develop products that effectively maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses.


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Defending Dirk in Game 2
For the San Antonio Spurs, defending Dirk Nowitzki in Game 1 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal Series was damn-near a lost cause. The Dallas Mavericks forward torched the Spurs for 36 points on 12-14 shooting from the field.
How the Spurs choose to defend Nowitzki in Game 2 will go a long way in determining the outcome of the game. And how this series plays out. Win Game 2, and the Spurs go back to San Antonio with a split and the momentum.
But leaving Dallas in an 0-2 hole puts a lot of pressure on this Spurs team. Suddenly, whispers about the Mavs having the Spurs number and the impact of 2006 start getting louder.
So what do the Spurs do to slow down Dirk? It's obvious there's no stopping him. He's an elite offensive player; the Spurs only hope is to make it as hard as possible for him to score and limit his opportunities to set up his teammates.
The battle starts before Dirk even gets the ball.
If he gets the ball in scoring position, which is almost anywhere inside half court for him, then all bets are off. The Spurs already lost that possession and can only hope for the best. Instead, the Spurs need to deny the Mavs forward the ball with reckless abandon.
The Spur guarding Dirk should have no help responsibilities on the defensive end of the floor. For instance, if Antonio McDyess is guarding Nowitzki and Jason Terry beats Tony Parker off the dribble, McDyess stays at home and makes sure that Dirk doesn't get the ball with a good look at the basket. The other three defenders for the Spurs can figure out what to do about Terry. McDyess needs to stay disciplined and stay at home. The only time Nowitzki's man should help is if he's the last line of defense and giving up a layup.
Several times during Game 1, Matt Bonner and McDyess left Dirk to help. Only once did Dirk miss the resulting open jumpshot. If the Spurs can keep one person at home on Dirk at all times, they can spend more time keeping the defensive end of the floor a 4-on-4 game.
There are two sets where the Spurs will have trouble denying Nowitzki the ball. The first scenario is when Dallas sets a screen for Nowitzki on the weak side of the floor, away from the ball. When Dallas did this in Game 1, Dirk went baseline off the screen and received a pass near the mid post. There's so much space on this play for him to create separation from his man off the screen and get the ball.
San Antonio's best bet on those plays is for the help defense to communicate to the Spur guarding the ball that he needs to pressure the passer. Getting good pressure on the passer can discourage a pass, result in a deflection or steal, or alter the pass enough to give the Spur guarding Dirk time to recover or take Nowitzki out of position.
As my high school coach used to say, "the best post defense is pressuring the passer."
The second situation where San Antonio will struggle to deny Dirk the ball is when he is the roll man on a pick-and-roll. The Mavericks like to free Nowitzki up by using him to set picks for the ball handler, usually for Terry or Jason Kidd. When Dirk sets the pick, the man guarding him usually has to help on the ball handler. Depending on what the guard who was picked does, Nowitzki either ends up wide open or with a smaller man guarding him. Both are an advantage for Dallas.
The tactic the Spurs employed in Game 1, and what is probably their best option, was to have a rover watching the German on the pick-and-roll. After the guard came off of Nowitzki's screen, both the Spur guarding the ball and the man guarding Dirk went with the ball handler. As Dirk rolled to a spot on the perimeter, a Spur defender away from the play rotated over to cover Dirk and discourage a pass to the Mavs forward.
The concerns with defending Dirk on the pick-and-roll this way are rotations. If the other two Spurs defenders away from the play aren't aware of where the other Mavs are, Dallas will have their choice of open shots. Luckily for San Antonio, Dallas missed many over their open shots in the first half of Game 1. Crisp rotations are key here.
If Bonner or McDyess is defending Nowitzki, his job is simple, hedge the pick and roll hard and then get back to Dirk as quick as possible. If they hedged the pick-and-roll right, the guard's path to the basket was impeded or blocked altogether. From there, it's the other Spur's responsibility to fight through Nowitzki's pick and get back in the play. Bonner or McDyess' priority is Nowitzki.
In the event Dallas brings the ball up court and looks to post-up Dirk early on the shot clock, the Spurs must front him. Nowitzki scored a significant portion of his points in Game 1 from the post. Playing behind him and allowing the entry pass is an open invitation for two points. But playing in front of him with backside help not only denies him entry pass, but nearly takes Nowitzki out of the play. Dirk isn't the type of player who's going to pin his man under the rim as the ball rotates around the perimeter.
But as much work as the Spurs can do to deny Dirk Nowitzki the ball in Game 2, he's still going to get it. Plenty. And it's when that occurs that most of the discussion around how to guard Nowitzki begins.
The farther from the basket the Spurs can force Dirk to get the ball, the more potential for success their defensive possession has. If Nowitzki's defender can deny him the ball and usher him out to the perimeter to catch the pass, it increases the likelihood that Dirk will get rid of the ball with out forcing a double- or triple-team.
This also makes it more likely that Dirk will be in an isolation situation. When the Mavs isolated their star forward this season, he scored just .92 points per possession and shot 40.5%. Compared to his averages of 1.05 points per possession and 48.2% from the field in all situations, Dirk simply doesn't do as much damage when isolated one-on-one as he does in other sets. (Note: Thanks to Synergy Sports for the data.)
In the first half of Game 1, San Antonio played Nowitzki one-on-one in most situations. Occasionally, Coach Popovich would send a late double-team to throw off Dirk's timing, but it was mostly single coverage. And despite the efficiency from Dirk shooting the ball, San Antonio was able to limit other Mavs players' effectiveness. Except Caron Butler, who had the best game of his season, which I don't expect him to repeat.
In the fourth quarter, the Spurs furiously double- and triple-teamed Nowitzki with less success. Nowitzki only scored four points in the quarter, but involved the rest of his team by spreading the ball around. Nowitzki had one assists and three Greztky's – or hockey assists – where Dirk made the pass that lead to the assist. The resulting points were all scored in the stretch of the fourth quarter were Dallas put the game out of reach.
Personally, I don't like the idea of sending multiple defenders at Dirk because of the areas on the floor he tends to occupy. He spends the majority of his time near the free throw line, the mid-post or on the perimeter. In these spots, there are no boundaries, like the baseline or sideline, to use as extra defenders.
Instead, Dirk can admire the landscape and distribute the ball where he wants it. He is a good passer, tall enough to see over most defenders and he possesses the discipline not to bring the ball down below his chin – unless he's dribbling at the basket. By playing him one-on-one, the Spurs discourage ball movement from the Mavericks in hopes of preventing Dallas' complimentary players from getting in rhythm.
So who draws the short straw and has the pleasure of defending Mr. Nowitzki? The majority of that duty went to Antonio McDyess and Matt Bonner in Game 1, and for good reason. McDyess did the most commendable job on Nowitzki, though foul trouble limited his time on Dirk in the second half. Bonner also played well on Dirk, but Bonner's strength on defense lies in his ability to play a help role and rotate properly (which is why his Adjusted +/- is usually so high).
However, Bonner and McDyess rarely see the floor at the same time, so it's usually one or the other guarding Dirk. And if the other option is putting Tim Duncan or DeJuan Blair on Dirk, I'd stick with Bonner. Duncan can defend Nowitzki, but the potential of Duncan getting in foul trouble is too high for my liking. I'd rather keep Duncan in a help role, quarterbacking the defense.
And I'd keep Richard Jefferson as far away from guarding Dirk as possible. Jefferson is not physical enough on Nowitzki and at a disadvantage height-wise. You can be one or the other when guarding Dirk, but not both.
On Nowitzki in Game 1, Antonio MyDyess did an excellent job staying in front of Dirk and getting a hand in his face. Many times, it was McDyess' left hand too, which is the right way to do it. Nowitzki is a right-handed shooter. However, many defenders are right-handed also. So when a right-handed defender puts his dominant arm up against a right-handed shooter, their reach is usually an inch or two shorter, because they are reaching across the shooter's body. But left-handed defenders don't reach across the body and thus appear to have a longer reach. It's a game of inches, and any little bit counts.
McDyess also excelled at staying on the floor against Nowitzki. Along with Rasheed Wallace, Dirk has one of the highest release points in the league on his jump shot. Very few players can actually block his shot, and I doubt many Spurs can do it. So when he throws a pump fake at a defender and they bite, it opens up a world of hurt for the rest of the defense. The defender guarding Dirk needs to stay on the floor and put a hand in his face, preferably their left.
Can Dirk torch this gameplan just as easily as he torched the one the Spurs used on him in Game 1? Sure, he's a great offensive player, and that's what they do. But there were holes in the way the Spurs defended Nowitzki in the first game of this series and some changes need to be made, and others reinforced, against one of the toughest covers and mismatches in the league.
Have fun with that.


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Wednesday, December 25, 2013
The Berkeley Stags posted five players in double figures in a 73-60 rocking of Cane Bay on Dec. 16 to improve to 4-2.
And while the Stags stumbled a little in their 60-57 loss to Stratford the next night, taking a 4-3 record into the break is OK with Coach Joe Wallace.
Against Stratford, we started out a little slow, he said. We began the game with our normal starting five, but quickly had to make an early substitution because Keyshawn Matthews wasnt 100 percent.
Wallace wound up sitting his point guard for the remainder of the contest as he struggled with an ankle sprain suffered late in the game against Cane Bay the night before.
Matthews came into the Stratford game averaging more than five points and almost three assists per game over the seasons first six games. Sitting out wasnt part of Matthews game plan.
He really wanted to play, but I didnt want to risk him making it worse, Wallace said.
The Stags fell behind after leading 12-11 near the end of the first quarter, trailing by four points 29-25 at the half.
In the second half, DAndre Richardson kept us in the game with some big baskets, Wallace said.
Richardson led all scorers with 19 points. Diamonte Harley and Alex Taylor made some key shots in the fourth quarter, but we came up short.
The Stags took a 46-45 lead into the fourth quarter but couldnt hold on.
Taylor finished the game with 12 points, including six rebounds and two blocked shots. Harley chipped in nine points for the Stags.
Stratford is a very well coached team, Wallace said. Like the first game, this one went down to the wire.
Berkeley won the first meeting between the two teams in overtime, 53-47, on Dec. 4.
In the 73-60 win over the Cobras on Dec. 16, the Stags played their most complete game of the season.
Cane Bay normally shoots well at home and they did against us Monday night, Wallace said. We would make a run and then they would make a run. We led by 14 at the half, but that means nothing when you have shooters and youre playing at home.
Wallace told his team at the half a run-and-gun game would not end well.
We told the guys that sound defense was what was going to win this game for us, he said. Cane Bay came out firing and hit five three-pointers in the second half. We stayed steady and pulled out a 13-point road win.
Four Stags finished with double figures in the win. Matt Harkness, Malik Meggett, Richardson and Harley all paced the balanced Berkeley attack with 11 points each.
Payton Thompson added eight points.
Berkeley will travel to Santee over the break to take part in the Lake Marion Christmas Tournament on Dec. 26. The Stags take on Military Magnet in the opening round of action.
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text:
on September 28, 2012 - 1:12 PM
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Carter of Buffalo celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with renewal of marriage vows at Knox Presbyterian Church, Kenmore. Mr. Carter and Marion N. Marsh were married July 18, 1942, in Riverside Methodist Church, Buffalo. He is a retired supervisor for DuPont, Town of Tonawanda. They have two children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.


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16 April 2015
US private equity house Siguler Guff has promoted Tony Cusano to managing director according to his LinkedIn profile.
Read full story
28 January 2015
US private equity house Siguler Guff recently closed its second distressed real estate vehicle well above target, pulling in $877m, but managing director James Corl said the market dynamics are unlikely to be right to raise another one for several years.
15 January 2015
Multi-strategy private equity firm Siguler Guff & Company has destroyed the $750m target for its second distressed real estate fund by closing on $877m.
9 September 2014
Multi-strategy private equity firm Siguler Guff & Company has appointed Remy Kawkabani as managing director and head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
23 May 2014
Private equity firm Siguler Guff is on track to hit the $750m target for its Russian fund this year if the political crisis over Russia's actions against Ukraine doesn't deepen.
2 April 2014
Private equity firm Siguler Guff has closed its latest emerging markets fund on $650m.
6 February 2014
Private equity firm Siguler Guff has secured more than $100m for its latest real estate fund over the past five months, AltAssets has learned.
16 April 2013
Private equity firm Siguler Guff & Company has gathered almost $655m across three vehicles that it is currently raising, AltAssets has learned.
25 March 2013
Independent private equity firm Mediterra Capital has raised €164m for a new fund focused on Turkish mid-market companies.
11 December 2012
Multi-strategy fund of funds investor Siguler Guff has hired Jay Koh from the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation as a managing director and partner.
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text:
(based on 7 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
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1 Stars
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Reviewed by 7 customers
Displaying reviews 1-7
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Perfect Special Request!
By RetiredRebelPoet
from North Carolina
Comments about Levenger Special Request Blank (100 sheets), Circa Junior:
So far, I have purchased in a short time, four or more orders of this paper. I have two Circa Juniors and both are filled with Special Request BlankJunior Circa paper. I absolutely am in love with it. Perfect size. Love smoothness of it. Fountain pen Friendly. Love sheer blank pages, which are not stark white, but have character as each sheet is cream and perfect mid weight texture. What else can I say? I have found the perfect paper for my needs and it just happens to be by Special Request blank to accommodate my every writing need and writing pleasures.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Not advertised properly.
By DMFARREY
from Cabot, Ar
This is not 60lb weight paper as advertised. It might be 24lb at best. A lot of money spent on this item when I could have just went to local office supply store and bought it for $5. Very disappointing. Not the Levenger quality I come to expect.
Bottom Line No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Merchant response: Thank you for sharing your review of the Blank Special Request Refills in junior size. We apologize that the refills did not exceed your expectations. Your concerns regarding the paper weight are being researched by our product development team. You will be contacted shortly by one of our customer service representatives to discuss a resolution.
It's Paper
By luluc
from West Linn, OR
Not exciting but it's a good product at a decent price and the service is excellent. It's just replacement paper but I plan to use the small notebook for a long time. It's easy to work with and comfortable to write on.
(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
By sharkmissle
from Falls Church VA
I agree with other reviewers that this doesn't seem like 60lb paper.It will work fine for doodling and sketching, but isn't as nice for drawing as it once was. It'll suffice, but is no longer awesome (as it once was)
Merchant response: We appreciate your review of our 100 Special Request Circa Junior Blank Refills. I'm sorry to hear that you have experienced difficulty with the weight of this paper. We've communicated this quality issue to our product development team for review. I would like to assure you that our paper is 60lb text stock. Providing exceptional customer service is very important to us, and we offer a 100% guarantee. If you would like to return this item for a refund back to your original payment method, please contact our customer service center at 1-800-545-0242. We would be happy to email you a pre-paid FedEx label.
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Definitely NOT 60 lb. paper
By LynA
from Claremont, Ca
I special ordered these earlier, about a year ago, as I like having a blank sheet to draw and take notes on, and when I received this refill, it was 20-24 lb. paper and very disappointing. Not the standard Levinger Circa paper at all.The description should be corrected so people know what they are and are not getting. Perhaps the quality of this refill has improved now, I don't know. But I do know it was not 60lb. paper - it was thin and flimsy.
Merchant response: Thank you for taking the time to review our Special Request Circa Junior Blank Refills. Your observations regarding the paper weight have been forwarded to our product and development team for review. We apologize that it was not what you expected. It's important to us that our customers are satisfied with every purchase. If you would like to return this monogrammed item for a refund back to your original payment method, please contact our customer service center at 1-800-545-0242. We would be happy to send you a pre-paid FedEx label for your convenience.
Finally back!
By MyNeChimKi
from Northern Virginia
I am in love with these blank Circa pages. I often need to print pages to be included with my Circa agenda and this is so much more efficient than having to use the hole punch every time I need to make an addition!As someone who likes a paper-backup of my electronic calendars, it's also easy to simply print my google calendar and stow it in my agenda!I was devastated when this product was removed from the general catalog and I couldn't be more happy that it's been added as a special request product now. Thank you Levenger for listening to your customers!!
By GradStudent35
from Undisclosed
These are listed as 60-lb sheets. I'm not a paper expert, but they are as thin as my 20-lb sheets of printer paper, not the thick robust sheets I expected. If I had known these would be so insubstantial, I would have just printed two-up on my printer paper and used that.I've wasted $20 on 100 sheets of printer paper and now I get to go spend more money to buy a punch and do what I should have done in the first place. Unfortunate.
Merchant response: Thank you for your review. I am sorry that the Special Request Junior Blank Refills are not working out for your needs. We really appreciate feedback from customers like you that help us to make our products better. I will send you a personal email on how we can handle this for you. I will also forward you comments on to our Product Development & Design Team for further review.
© Copyright Levenger Company
2016. All Rights Reserved.


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Urging the local populace to use Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which turns 75 this weekend, is nothing new. Apparently there was some unusual marketing to get more traffic into the Canyon going back to the 1950s.
Don Williams of Amarillo recalls a gimmick initiated by then-superintendent John McCarty back in the 1950s. Getting into PD Canyon was harder in those days, so McCarty, frustrated by that, had an idea to make it worthwhile.
According to Williams, McCarty had fake gold coins made, each one with a serial number, and a Panhandle merchant donated a prize for each serial number. He had an airplane fly over strategic parts of the Canyon and drop the coins.
"I can remember my family of four spending so many Saturdays or Sundays hiking the canyon looking for those coins," Williams wrote. "My Dad, Mom, and Sis did find some coins but only three I remember. One was for 100 pounds of potatoes from a Hereford produce wholesaler. Our whole neighborhood shared in this prize. Two was a floor lamp given by Taylor Furniture and three was a dinner for four at Myer's Fried Chicken."
For some reason, that sounds something right out of the 1950s.


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Top Definition
Originally used as a slang term for "What's Up?". popular use extended it's meaning to such definitions as: "hello" "good day to you sir" "your foot is in my pie" "I think I have fractured my pelvis" etc.
"yo dude!" "WAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!?!?!?!?!?"
by Zombiekiller23 January 19, 2004
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
what is going on or how r u
waz ups foo. i haven't seen u in a while
by Scott gibbons October 06, 2003


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IF this isn't a great trade by the Clippers, then it is definitely a very good one...
I'm sure a lot of you die hards have heard this a million times, usually the team that gets the best player(in his prime) gets the better of the deal, usually 3 for 1 or 4 for 1 or whatever.. And that is the case here, i really do believe this...
Yes it would of been much better obviously if the Clips didn't give up Gordon who is a young talented player but still...
They get Paul, a future hall of famer in his prime for 2 years and after that im pretty sure they will convince him to play because Paul will have a lot of fun throwing lobs to griffin and DeAndre jordan all game long. And no one throws better lobs than paul. Chandler made a living off those lobs when he was in New Orleans..
So they lose Gordon (very talented but slightly undersized at 6'3 SG), they lose Kaman (injury prone, getting old, and would not of been happy coming off the bench to Jordan), they lose Aminu (no big loss here), and they lose a very good draft pick (you never know who you will get in the draft, this is an unknown even top 3 picks can end up being a huge bust, we dont even know if this would be a top 2 or 3 pick)
In return clips get Paul.. Like i said, this guy is a super talent, a proven top 2/3 PG in this league for many years now... If anyone saw those playoff games vs the Lakers last year, that alone would show you how this guy can dominate ... [More]
Seattle at home +5.5 and you might as well take the ML +218 cause if they cover they are going to win.
Yes i know i may be on crack but i just like this bet...
Seattle is a weird bunch, they seem to have a monster game blowing out their opponents (even last year even though they sucked overall at i think 5-11) anyways, they win big then they get crushed (happened so far the first 2 games this season, they win big beating SF at home then losing huge their next game on the road)
Looking at last year, they seem to bounce back big after a big loss if their next game is at home. I think it will be similar to this one and they will come out and beat the Chargers.
yes i know it seems strange to want to bet on the Hawks after they got crushed but they are different at home and they are getting 5.5 and +218 on the ML. Not a bad deal especially when SD usually starts off a bit slow.
A lot of people are asking why it went from around -180/-200 to now like -120... Ill give the coles notes version of why and i might be leaving out some stuff but very quickly a list.
A) Brocks long layoff
B) Brock was very sick, lot of critics are wondering if he will come back strong from it.
C) Brock lost a lot of weight, a shitload, people are unsure what this will do. He could be faster but he could loose a lot of strength and that is what he does best which is bully smaller opponents but Carwin is apparently as big weight wise as Brock.
So pretty much those are the main reasons why brocks line has gone down that i know of. Of course a bit goes to Carwins hype whether warranted or not.
And before some of you jump on what im saying, these arent all based on my opinion. This shit is coming from what ive read or from what i have seen on TV in interviews and such...
I would actually rather have Darko than Amir Johnson. Darko is at least a big man who blocks a lot of shots and we all know big men are hard to find in this league. Centers are always overpaid cause decent players over 6'10 (260+) are rare. Guys that play like amir 6'9 210 on the other hand are a dime a dozen. He does try hard though and seems to have a good attitude but still..
After years of crap, no talent... i gotta say its has to be the heavyweight divy. Its become very compelling and lot of possible scenarios, and very exciting right now. With all the new very talented heavyweights making big splashes in the last year or so, how can we not say the heavyweight division is at the top.
Funny how things change, it used to be the light heavyweight division for a long time when Chuck/Tito/Couture then it was the welterweight with GSP/Penn/Hughes and so on...
At first glance this looks like a solid bet. Atlanta has been pretty sharp and them going into SF and destroying them like they did, then beating a pretty good chicago team... Cowbells havent impressed me this season.
Falcons +4 looks solid.
Copyright © 1995-


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Day to day adventures of an excitable, bubbly, and sometimes shameless vegan. Tales from the kitchen and the road.
Monday, December 26, 2011
But I love this stuff (soy creamer). If it's not around, I will drink my coffee black.
Coffee! I love it so much. How do you make yours? I like mine super strong with some cinnamon sprinkled on the grounds during the brewing process.
Posted by Jenny Bradley at 2:02 PM
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Kingsley Library Equipment
An Explosion of color, style, and durability
For over 55 years Kingsley has been on the cutting edge of Library Book Returns. Our military grade aluminum construction can never rust and is 20% stronger than stainless steel. Now, we offer all six of our capacities in your choice of 15 colors, plus custom graphics and artful custom skins. All Kingsley Returns are fire suppressant, theft deterrent, and weather resistant. Plus, they carry our exclusive 4ever Warranties. We invented outdoor library returns. We know how they should be built for a lifetime of trouble free service.


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A Greeley man is being held in the Weld County Jail under suspicion of sexual assault and second-degree kidnapping.
Gabriel Pimental, 24, was contacted by police Saturday at his house and did not refuse arrest. His bond was set at $250,000.
Pimental is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on Wednesday morning at his home, according to an arrest affidavit. The girl told police she left after the assault took place. She did not tell police of the assault until Friday.
According to the police report, staff at the North Colorado Medical Center said the girl had injuries consistent with sexual assault.
Pimental admitted to being acquainted with the girl, but disputed any assault charges. While the girl said Pimental had asked her to come to his house to help watch his child, he said he had consensual sex with the victim last Monday, but didn't answer his door for her on Wednesday.
Pimental is also accused of violation of a protection order. A woman with whom he has a child was present at his home when the arrest was made. She is holding a protection order against him that only permits for them to meet in public places.
Under Colorado law, sexual assault of persons between 15 and 18 years of age is not considered child sex assault if the assailant is 10 or fewer years older than the victim.


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Knoblauch steadies Otters
Kris Knoblauch's message to his team has stayed the same since the day he arrived in November: Put in the time and effort to improve each day because winning takes hard work and attention to detail, while shortcuts lead to disaster.
"Last year, we took the little things for granted," said Knoblauch, who replaced Robbie Ftorek as head coach midway through a season that ended with only 19 wins and a last-place finish in the OHL's Western Conference. "This year, there's been more attention to the little things -- (getting) pucks in deep, less penalties, blocking shots, the things that often go unnoticed. We've been doing a lot of them. We've been doing a lot of the little things, and they've been going a long way."
The Otters are a much different team now. They're hungrier, more focused -- and most of all, they're winning. They entered the league's schedule today atop the conference at 9-2-1-0, tied for third overall with a .792 winning percentage and in the midst of a league-best, seven-game winning streak.
Now that the Otters are winning, Knoblauch said, it would be easy for players to slack off. It would be natural to take undisciplined penalties, lose faceoffs they ordinarily would win or expect a top-end goaltender like Oscar Dansk to make up for their mistakes.
"Then you've got a recipe for disaster," Knoblauch said.
The players won't allow that to happen, veteran winger Stephen Harper said, because they believe in what Knoblauch preaches every day.
"Even though we're that much better and older, he still has the same goals," Harper said. "He's done a good job of staying the same."
Knoblauch said he has an easy job. With assistants Chris Hartsburg and Vince Laise infusing a renewed energy and focus into the team, and leaders making sure every player follows the Otters' team-first approach on and off the ice, "Everyone has meshed and bought into the system," he said. "They're buying into it."
The players appreciated the fresh start with a new coach a season ago. They had learned from then-coaches Robbie Ftorek and Peter Sidorkiewicz, but were losing.
"(Given) the record we had, something wasn't working out," Harper said.
However, the Otters didn't win much more after Knoblauch took over as coach. They finished the season with a 12-25-2-2 record under Knoblauch and were 19-40-4-5 overall.
"They were probably a little frustrated with me. I was frustrated with them," he said. "I was asking them to do things I thought were important."
He didn't change anything; he never backed off. Those things, such as players perfecting their roles, were important then, and are still important now.
"There's a real relationship" between these coaches and players, said Sherry Bassin, managing partner and general manager. "It's a respectful relationship. He's designated responsibilities to all those guys, and they know what their expectations are and what they have to work on."
The players are convinced. The proof has been displayed on the ice.
"It's a completely new team. Guys are on the same page," forward Hayden Hodgson said. "If we keep doing that, we'll have tons of success."
VICTOR FERNANDES can be reached at 870-1716 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/goeriehockey. Read the Shootout hockey blog at GoErie.com/blogs/shootout and post comments.


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LP (12"/10" Album)
Label: STAMFORD AUDIO
Release date: 20/04/2009
Barcode: 5060188660026
Catalog no.: STAMLP0001003
Item ID: 327773
REPRESSED!! Sandy Denny's very first recordings on a high quality, limited, hand-numbered 500 only vinyl release. Stamford Audio, in association with Fledg'ling Records and by special arrangement with the Sandy Denny Estate, is very proud to present the first pressing on beautiful 180 gram vinyl of Sandy Denny's first recordings, unavailable on vinyl until now! The five songs on this LP, recorded at home in London in 1967, capture Sandy proving her vocal and, on two songs, writing mettle at the age of 19, around the same time as her first professional recording sessions with the Saga label, but before her work with The Strawbs, Fairport Convention and Fotheringay. The beauty and purity of Sandy's vocals shine through on these haunting early recordings, setting the template for an all too short career as one of, if not the, finest female singer our shores produced.
Side One: Geordie, She Moves Through The Fair. Side Two: Boxful Of Treasure, They Don't Seem To Know You, Go Your Way My Love.
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Created in this Craftsy class
Beginner Serging: Machine Basics & Techniques taught by Amy Alan
Take your serger out of the closet! Learn the fundamental setup stitches, then make three posh projects: an exposed zipper bag, an ombré ruffled apron and a striped knit scarf.
Other projects made as part of this class:
SewingSugar skulls bag!
SewingExposed Zipper Bags
SewingExposed Zipper Bag
Offer some kudos...
Join the conversation...
Ask a question...
Add your comment...
Love this class and love this project! I couldn't help but make 3 of these. I got lazy and used ribbons for tabs on 2 of them.
10/27/2013 Flag
I looooove the strap! What a great idea!
10/28/2013 Flag
Beautiful! The little whale print is my favorite, but they're all gorgeous bags. I'm glad you've enjoyed making them. :)
10/28/2013 Flag
Love the strap. I found it was hard to carry the bag, but that would make it easier. I would have to work on where to place the strap.
01/23/2014 Flag


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I recently discovered Bubbies sauerkraut - awesome appetizer straight out of the jar!
I recently discovered Bubbies sauerkraut - awesome appetizer straight out of the jar!
ad astra per aspera
You can find Kerrygold in Milwaukee at Trader Joes for $2.79 for an 8 oz block. Or you can get it at Whole Foods for $5.something. As usual WF sets the bar high in price.
coconut oil, cauliflower, grass fed beef in whatever configuration and cut it comes in. delish
I still can't believe Canada has NO distributors of ANY grass-fed butter
A Post-Primal PrimalPat
Do not allow yourself to become wrapped up in a food 'lifestyle'. That is ego, and you are not that.
I discovered Kerrygold Dubliner cheese last night, how awesome is that? pretty fucking awesome.
Grass-fed beef and butter. The grain-fed version tastes really disgusting now.
Now that my meat is more expensive, I'm more willing to spend the $$ on more expensive exotic meats because they're not that much more expensive than my regular meat, lol. So far I've tried ostrich, elk, and venison. Ugh on the last one.
I'll have to track down some Ballyshannon and try it. Sakura_girl, ugh on venison? I love the stuff. I'm having venison steaks for dinner tonight. I'll probably melt some dubliner over it with sautéed mushrooms and onions.
Yeah, not very partial to the taste. I thought I would have liked it, but it has its own flavor apart from other gamey meats that I don't like Pity.


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Submitted by Megan Kindelan on Wed, August 03, 2011 - 01:27 pm EDT
Authorization bill H.R. 2480 passes in the house. The Conference's recommendations are noted to have historically led to millions of dollars in savings across government agencies. ACUS is exploring and promoting the most efficient means of sharing information and responsibility among the federal government, state and local governments, businesses and citizens. This includes new models of collaborative governance, such as third party or audited self-regulation, as well as the use of established techniques that ACUS pioneered, such as Regulatory Negotiation. Committee meetings begin in August. For additional information, look to our website and upcoming Federal Register Notices. Read more about the H.R. 2480 in the Hill's Blog.


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Treating back and neck pain often requires the collaborative expertise of many health care professionals. Our multidisciplinary team of experts works together to restore your spine health and return you to a full and active life.
Because of our innovative approach to the diagnosis and treatment of spinal conditions, our spine program is one of the busiest in the region.
Most patients are seen first at the UPMC Outpatient Center in Wexford where they undergo evaluation, testing, treatment, and rehabilitation. We bring together an interdisciplinary team of experts trained in diagnosing and treating back and neck pain, spine disorders, and spine injuries — all under one roof.
If needed, spine surgery is performed at UPMC Passavant's Patient Pavilion in McCandless.
Spine Services at UPMC Passavant9100 Babcock BoulevardPittsburgh, PA 152371-877-967-2225
Schedule an appointment, call 1-800-533-UPMC or request an appointment online.
Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit www.healthwise.org
For help in finding a doctor or health service that suits your needs, call the UPMC Referral Service at 412-647-UPMC (8762) or 1-800-533-UPMC (8762). Select option 1.
UPMC is an equal opportunity employer. UPMC policy prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected group status. Further, UPMC will continue to support and promote equal employment opportunity, human dignity, and racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. This policy applies to admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in UPMC programs and activities. This commitment is made by UPMC in accordance with federal, state, and/or local laws and regulations.
Medical information made available on UPMC.com is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should not rely entirely on this information for your health care needs. Ask your own doctor or health care provider any specific medical questions that you have. Further, UPMC.com is not a tool to be used in the case of an emergency. If an emergency arises, you should seek appropriate emergency medical services.
For UPMC Mercy Patients: As a Catholic hospital, UPMC Mercy abides by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, as determined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. As such, UPMC Mercy neither endorses nor provides medical practices and/or procedures that contradict the moral teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Pittsburgh, PA, USA UPMC.com


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Hi! My name is Isabella
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What I love about my owners: she feeds me everyday and is always nice to me
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Anna Chapman, Failed/Sexy Russian Spy, Is Back (Kind Of)
Anna Chapman, the failed/sexy Russian spy, almost seduced a member of Barack Obama's cabinet! So says the Post, the Daily News, Huffpo, and almost every other media outlet covering the recent news.
But breaking developments suggest that this might not be true.
Citing federal officials, ABC's reporters claim: "A female Russian agent got 'close enough' to a sitting U.S. cabinet member that the FBI felt they had to swoop in and arrest the lot -- but it wasn't the famous femme fatale Anna Chapman."
So what's up?
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Apparently, Frank Figliuzzi, head of counterintelligence for the FBI, discussed this issue in an interview with the BBC but never named the Russian agent in question." Still, the network "ran images of Chapman -- as well as shots of a look-a-like -- during the interview. Instead, officials at the Department of Justice told ABC News Figliuzzi was referring to another of the arrested spies, Cynthia Murphy."
Cynthia who?
Of course, some conservative media have their own interpretation of events: "Were Russians About To Catch Hillary In Lesbian Honey Trap?"
Runnin' Scared will try to figure out what's up. Check back for updates.
Follow Victoria Bekiempis @vicbekiempis.
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WASHINGTON — Lurking mortgage problems left over from the collapse of the housing market sent bank stocks tumbling for a second day Friday and the cost of buying protection for bank debt, now perceived to carry new risks, climbed steadily higher.
Bank of America Corp.'s stock hit a 52-week low and Wells Fargo & Co. tumbled nearly 5 percent. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and other major mortgage players slid as well.
The big banks had recovered strongly from the crisis that ensued when home loans began to sour during the real estate bust that started in 2007. But recent revelations about mortgage fraud and flawed foreclosure paperwork fueled doubts about the health of major banks and the how quickly they will be able to put the mortgage mess behind them.
Standard & Poor's downgraded Bank of America stock to "Hold" from "Strong Buy" Friday. S&P analysts said the nation's biggest bank may not have set aside enough cash to cover losses on fraudulent loans that were resold to investors. They also are concerned about costly legal bills after the bank agreed to review paperwork for thousands of foreclosures that may have been done improperly.
The same issues drove higher the cost of insuring the debt issued by banks.
On Friday morning, it cost between about 10 percent more to insure bonds issued by Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan than it had just two days earlier, according to financial data firm Markit Group Ltd. The cost of insuring debt from Bank of America was up 8 basis points, to 200 basis points, meaning that it would cost $200,000 per year to insure $10 million for five years.
The swings reflect investors' view that the banks are weaker and the chances are greater that they would be unable to repay bondholders.
The mortgage problems at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan are deeper because they took on billions in bad loans from companies that failed during the crisis. Bank of America bought Countrywide Financial Corp., Wells Fargo bought Wachovia and JPMorgan bought Washington Mutual.
Banks hold trillions dollars worth of home loans on their books at close to face value. Yet the loans may be worth far less. Many are held by borrowers who can't afford to pay and secured by real estate whose value has plummeted. The banks don't have to acknowledge these losses as long as they don't plan to resell the loans.
"You have a pile of loans that are being carried near face value, but they're underwater," meaning borrowers owe more than the properties are now worth, said Daniel Alpert, managing partner at the New York investment bank Westwood Capital LLC. "There's a limit to how far they can kick it down the road with a moratorium" on foreclosures, he said.
Investors now are questioning whether the loans could cripple banks and mortgage investors with years of drawn-out losses.
Bank of America's stock was trading lower than it had at any time since June 4, 2009. Documents surfaced this fall in which bank employees acknowledged approving thousands of foreclosures per month. The employees swore in court filings that the foreclosure paperwork was accurate, though they had not even looked at the documents.
Bank of America, JPMorgan and others have suspended foreclosures as they follow the paper trail backward to ensure the accuracy of their records. At Wells Fargo and Citigroup foreclosures continue, despite near-identical allegations.
Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo face the biggest hits from the foreclosure do-overs, because they originated the most loans. Those banks also face billions in losses on fraudulent loans that were resold to the government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Fannie and Freddie can force banks to buy back loans that appear to be fraudulent. JPMorgan set aside $1 billion in the last quarter to cover such losses, the company said this week.
The foreclosure halts aren't all bad for banks. Seizing property pushes banks closer to acknowledging that it lost value when the real estate bubble burst. The slow foreclosure process allows them to delay writing down loans in foreclosure — not to mention the 600,000 slated for foreclosure that are backed up in the pipeline. Those loans probably lost value, too.


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So I've finished implementing gunzip in Julia! I paired with a lot of wonderful people along the way, so I ended up trying to explain how the file format works a lot of times, probably often in a fairly confused way (sorry!). Here is another disorganized attempt at explaining gzip, mainly for my own benefit.
The basic idea behind gzip (aka the DEFLATE algorithm) is that there are 2 passes:
- LL87 pass: Replace repeated sequences with pointers to where they appeared previously in the text. There is a good diagram of this at the beginning of this page
- Huffman coding pass: Use Huffman coding to represent the text and pointers in an efficient way
There is a pretty good explanation of what Huffman coding is on the aforementioned page, so I'm just going to go ahead and talk about the gzip file format. Probably this will make no sense if you have not been absorbed in gzip for the last 5 days.
That said, here is how a gzip file is laid out, and some of the code I wrote to decode it. The github repository is here: github.com/jvns/gzip.jl
Gzip headers and metadata (20 bytes or so)
This part of the file isn't that interesting. Every gzip file has to start
with the magic bits
1F86. There is a 9 byte header, followed by some
variable length metadata, which includes the filename and some other stuff.
I am not sure why the filename is included in the metadata!
Apparently gunzip also knows how to deflate some other legacy compression
format, but for our purposes
compression_method is always
Here are the Julia data structures I used to store the header & metadata:
The rest of the gzip file after the headers and metadata is a series of blocks, to be read in order. As far as I can tell it is impossible to decompress gzip files in parallel -- there's no way to know when a block has ended without fully decompressing it.
Block header (3 bits)
Each block starts with 3 bits indicating
- Whether this block is the last block (1 bit)
- How the block is compressed (2 bits). My gunzip only supports one compression method, though one of the options is "not compressed", so that would be easy to add.
Header for the Huffman codes (14 bits)
There is a recursive thing going on where there is a Huffman tree encoded with another Huffman tree. This header is the metadata that helps you get started with reading all these trees.
hclenis the number of codes in the first tree (minus four)
hlit: the number of 'literal codes' in the second tree
hdist: the number of 'distance codes' (minus one) in the second tree
This minus four and minus one business basically drove me insane. But they are easy to represent at least:
Code lengths for first Huffman tree (
(hclen + 4) * 3 bits)
Next, there is a series of numbers from 0 to 7 which you can use to put
together a Huffman tree. I read these in
Code lengths for second Huffman tree (unknown number of bits)
The second Huffman tree's code lengths are encoded using the first Huffman tree.
So you have to read
(258 + hlit + hdist) code lengths, using the first
Huffman tree as your guide. I read these in
You actually end up with two Huffman trees here -- they're called
literal_tree and
literal_tree is made from the first
257 + hlit codes, and
distance_tree is made from the next
hdist + 1
codes. This was really not obvious and took me forever to figure out.
The compressed data! (unknown number of bits)
To read the compressed data, you have to
- Read a code
- If it's the stop code, stop!
- If it represents a literal character (like 'a' or '2'), just add it to the decoded text
- If it instead represents a pointer to some previous text, figure out the length and the relative distance and copy the text.
Here is the actual code I wrote to do this!
Main function for reading a block!
And here's the main block-reading function! It does a lot of things, but it came out in (I thought) a fairly readable way.
It modifies
decoded_text in place because it turns out that blocks can refer
to text in previous blocks. So there needs to be some shared state.


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The Dow is up slightly on a positive U.S. economic report. As of 1:10 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) is up 47 points, or 0.34%, to 13,991. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC ) is up 0.51% to 1,517.
There were two U.S. economic releases today.
U.S. trade deficit
Wholesale inventories
This morning the Department of Commerce reported that the U.S. trade deficit declined to $38.5 billion, its lowest level since early 2010. That's down from $48.6 billion in November and far below analyst expectations of a drop to $45.5 billion. Imports fell 2.7% to $224.9 billion, while exports were up 2.1% to $186.4 billion.
The better-than-expected U.S. trade deficit number is good new, as it suggests that the fourth-quarter drop in GDP of 0.1% will likely be revised upward. The advance GDP report last week estimated that exports decreased 5.7% in Q4 while imports decreased 3.2%. Today's trade deficit report suggests that those numbers are an overestimate.
In today's second U.S. economic release, the Department of Commerce reported that wholesale inventories were down 0.1% in December. That's below November's growth of 0.6% and analyst expectations of 0.4% growth.
At the halfway point of yesterday's trading session, 27 of the 30 Dow stocks were down. Today is markedly more positive, with 23 Dow stocks up and seven in the red.
Today's Dow leader
Today's Dow leader is Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) , up 2.5%. The company announced yesterday that it had put in place new guidelines for its suppliers in an effort to improve working conditions in China. The company said employees must get "fair remuneration and social insurance." This effort is similar to the policies other companies have put in place -- most notably Apple, which was in the news last year for problems at Foxconn, its major Chinese supplier.
While that's the news on HP for the day, the stock is more likely up on the rumor from earlier this week that the HP board is again considering a breakup of the company. While the rumor appears unfounded, the company is in the midst of a major turnaround, and a breakup is definitely an option available to CEO Meg Whitman.
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