text:
2013-14 Girls basketball Dream Team
Ashley Bunker, Jackson Northwest senior
The Mounties' leading scorer for the last two seasons, Bunker closes her four-year varsity career as one of the area's top all-around players. The 5-foot-10 forward led Northwest with 14.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.4 steals per game. She scored 20 or more points in seven games and helped Northwest win its first conference championship since 2009.
Kelsey Crockett, Stockbridge senior
Crockett's skill and versatility made her one of the area's top players. At 5-foot-11, she played both in the post and the point for the Panthers and is as capable of shooting 3-pointers as she is blowing past her opponent with the dribble and driving to the basket. Crockett averaged 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds a game, along with two assists and two steals as well.
Chelsy Hall, Jackson senior
Whether she was shooting 3-pointers or driving to the basket, when Hall had the ball in her hands, opposing teams knew she was dangerous. The 5-foot-11 forward/guard was the Vikings' go-to player. Hall averaged 18.3 points per night in the tough CAAC Blue Division along with 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.6 steals. She also connected on 26 3-pointers and shot 78 percent from the free-throw line.
Angela Hubert, Jackson Lumen Christi senior
The Titans' 5-foot-7 guard scored 18.8 points per game, grabbed 4.5 rebounds, had 4.2 steals and 2.6 assists. She also shot 44 percent from the field, 52 percent inside the 3-point line, and, despite being the focus of the defense, averaged less than one turnover per game (18 turnovers in 19 games played). Hubert was also all-state Class B honorable mention.
Bailey Manis, Homer junior
Perhaps no player was more responsible for her team's success on a nightly basis than Manis. The Trojans' 5-foot-4 guard used her speed and aggressiveness to compile three triple-doubles and lead her team in all categories. Manis averaged 19.9 points a night along with 7.5 rebounds, 5.7 steals and 4.3 assists and earned Class C all-state honorable mention.
Lexie Khon, Jackson Northwest sophomore
Northwest's emerging dominant force under the glass, Khon averaged just shy of a double-double while battling down-low with girls older, taller and more muscular than she. Khon, a 5-foot-11 center, scored 11 points, grabbed nine rebounds and 2.1 blocks a night while shooting 48 percent from the field and 88 percent from the free-throw line.
Brittany Leutz, Napoleon sophomore
A terrific ball-handler, comfortable going to her right or left and adept at making nice passes or shooting from the outside, Leutz is the straw that stirs the drink for the Pirates. The 5-foot-8 guard averaged 8.5 points and three assists a night for Napoleon while grabbing 5.5 rebounds. She also led her team in 3-pointers made (27) and 3-point shooting percentage (42.9) and free-throw percentage (67.3).
Jessie Manders, Manchester junior
One of the Flying Dutch's top returners from their 2013 state championship team, the 5-foot-6 Manders found herself thrust into a leadership role and flourished. She led Manchester with 12.7 points per game, along with 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals. She helped the Flying Dutch win another district championship and was honorable mention Class C all-state.
Kristin Montecinos, Michigan Center junior
Standing 5-foot-7, Montecinos was Michigan Center's top post player as well as the Cardinals' point guard. The slick-dribbling Montecinos led Michigan Center in nearly all offensive categories, scoring 12.1 points with three assists and 2.7 steals. She also grabbed 4.5 rebounds as well.
Ciara Sundermann, Springport senior
The 5-foot-6 forward/guard has been the Spartans' most dynamic player for the last two seasons. A 42 percent 3-point shooter who is adept at driving the lane as well, Sundermann used her varied skill set to lead the Spartans to a district championship by scoring 12.6 points a game and 2.8 assists. She also shot 66 percent from the free-throw line.
Kelsey Hendricks, East Jackson senior
The Trojans' top threat inside, Hendricks averaged 8.2 points and seven rebounds a night.
Kaylee Jester, Napoleon junior
Jester led Napoleon in scoring with 10.3 points per game and grabbed 6.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Sophia Prokos, Michigan Center junior
Prokos averaged 11.3 points a game along with 5.1 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.8 assists.
Kennedi Showerman, Vandercook Lake senior
A force in the paint, Showerman averaged 9.7 points a game and led the Jackson area with 13.1 rebounds and 5.7 blocks
Gabby Spangler, Jackson Christian senior
Spangler averaged 14.2 points along with 5.2 rebounds, 4.1 steals and 2.4 assists and led the Royals to a district championship.
Emma Bearinger, Jackson Northwest
Libby Bretton, Parma Western
Jillian Bulloch, Concord
Allison Compton, Grass Lake
Sarah Maple, Hillsdale
Ashley Medcoff, Leslie
Ashleigh Shay, Brooklyn Columbia Central
Ashleigh Spencer, Jackson
Kalie Spencer, Jonesville
Jessica Stroede, Hanover-Horton
Sarah Thompson, Manchester
Kassidy Thomsen, Addison
Dominique Whitehead, East Jackson


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subset: commoncrawl


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HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4734
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
By Mr. Speliotis of Danvers, for the committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, on House, No. 4227, a Bill authorizing the town of Clinton to issue additional liquor licenses (House, No. 4734) . June 8, 2010.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
In the Year Two Thousand and Ten
An Act authorizing the town of Clinton to issue additional liquor licenses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1 . Notwithstanding section 17 of chapter 138 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the licensing authority of the town of Clinton may grant an additional license for the sale of all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises to ERCOLI, Inc., d/b/a Via Alto 27, located at 27 High Street in the town of Clinton under section 12 of said chapter 138. Said license shall be subject to all of said chapter 138 except said section 17.
Notwithstanding any General or special law, or any rule or regulation to the contrary, the local alcohol licensing authority shall not approve the transfer of said license to any other location. Said license may be granted by the local alcohol licensing authority at the same location if an applicant for said license files with said authority a letter in writing from the department of Revenue indicating that said license is in good standing with said Department and that any and all applicable taxes have been paid.
If the license granted under this section is cancelled, revoked or no longer in use, such license shall be returned physically, with all of the legal rights, privileges and restrictions pertaining thereto to the local alcohol licensing authority. Notwithstanding section 17 of chapter 138 of the General Laws, or any other General or special law or rule or regulation to the contrary, the local alcohol licensing authority may then grant the license to a new applicant at the same location and under the same conditions as specified in this section.
SECTION 2 . This act shall take effect upon its passage.


text:
So. Baptists to Plant Churches in D.C. Area With Goal of Reaching 6 Million People
The Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board will focus part of its efforts on planting churches in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with the aim of reaching nearly six million people.
- 06/05/2014
- 8 Comments
- Tag: Church Planting Southern Baptists


text:
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Nine Real-Life IT Horror Stories
Nothing can screw up a well-managed network faster than the people for whom you built it. Whether it's user error, optimistic expectations, or simply that bastard Murphy, IT's job is rarely predictable.
Lucky for you, there are lessons to be learned from others' misfortunes. So rather than wait to make your own forehead-shaped dent in the office wall, familiarize yourself with the screwups detailed below. It will make you that much more prepared to safeguard your IT environment from the ever-evolving boneheaded tendencies of those you serve.
Stupid user trick No. 1: Home is where the malware is
It happens at least once a year, and this year it happened twice, writes one IT admin: "And though we make the point with memos and lectures, there always seems to be someone who gives their work PC to the kids at night."
[ Users are by no means alone when it comes to hard-headedness in the IT world. See "Stupid user tricks 3: IT admin follies [1]" and "True IT confessions [2]" for real-world tales of folks who should know better fouling up. ]
The situation is familiar: To save on expenses, folks buy fewer home PCs, but their kids want to use them more than ever. Enter the corporate laptop into the home Web surfing environment -- a recipe for disaster for IT.
And it's not just kids playing games and doing homework. It's spouses using social networking -- and that uncle nobody talks about surfing porn on your corporate machines.
"Our security tends to be better than the average home box, but that won't protect you forever if you actually run out and look for attack sites," our admin warns. Sooner or later, one of your user's laptops will get compromised, leaving your network exposed to infection the next time he or she logs on at the office.
"We've gotten better at catching these compromised machines early, so instead of it being the big problem it used to be, last year it mainly just confirmed our investment in end-client security," the admin says.
The worst offender? A procurement manager who was found to have a keyboard logger installed on his company-issued laptop. "And this was a guy who spent several $100K a year online for the company," the admin informs us.
Solution: End-point security goes a long way toward preventing infected machines from gaining access to the corporate net, but they'll never be 100 percent effective. Web browsers are the gateway to hell when it comes to attack entry points. Let your users surf helter skelter and your attack potential goes way up. The only preventative measure: a strong fair-use policy and a management staff that'll enforce it.
Moral: Users will continue to break your official-use policy as long as money is tight and they believe the consequences are minor. Include disciplinary action in your policy, and make sure users know you're tracking Web site visits and system access. Otherwise, you are simply setting yourself up for disaster. Another solution: Sponsor employee discounts on netbooks. That way, your users will be less tempted to transform company property into their home PCs.
Stupid user trick No. 2: Message to self: E-mail isn't for everything
Sometimes all it takes is a well-meaning IT management decision to set stupid users in motion, writes P. Lindo, an IT admin at a New York-based organization with more than 1,000 e-mail inboxes, which the firm first maxed out at 100MB per mailbox, then at 500MB.
"In 2007, we hired a new IT manager who got placed in charge of e-mail management," says Lindo. "He saw the load of user requests for larger mailbox space and decided this was where he was going to make a big difference."
And so he set about purchasing enough hardware to increase individual mailbox sizes to 1GB -- barely.
"He also used all the user requests to get backing to upgrade everyone to Office 2007 -- the one with the new Outlook mailbox search," Lindo says.
Throw in a new policy for teaching users proper inbox maintenance, and watch inbox utilization hover at a manageable 75 percent -- until you put policy into practice.
"Turns out users don't read documents titled 'Proper Inbox Space Management,'" Lindo says. What they see instead is the fine print that tells them they now have 1GB of mailbox space. And then they start using Outlook's handy new search feature to turn their e-mail clients into personal information managers.
"Nobody deletes attachments anymore. Instead they leave them in their inboxes so that they can run quick searches against them, where all they need to remember is a rough description of the attachment and the name of the person who might have sent it to them," Lindo explains.
Worse, they send attachments to themselves just so the doc will be in the inbox somewhere.
"Our mail servers got maxed out inside of three months."
The small saving grace?
"We actually saw a 35 percent decrease in the amount these users used their network home directories," Lindo reports. "Outlook became the main network gateway for personal storage. So we were able to repurpose some storage from the file server machines on the e-mail infrastructure, but we still had to make several large and unscheduled server purchases to keep up with new demand."
Solution: A big inbox may sound like a good idea, but proper capacity planning is an even better one. Moreover, planning for 75 percent utilization is a recipe for trouble. Instead, target 50 percent or less, or run a pilot project before committing. A low-cost SAN can help here as well; adding capacity to one of those is significantly easier than installing new servers.
Moral: If it seems like everyone's working harder these days it's because they are. Users will utilize any tool you put in front of them to get the job done. And if they're more familiar with their e-mail client than other network resources, they'll use it as a substitute -- as long as you let them. Expand your definition of "desktop management" to include reaching out to users to train them on the tools your company is spending money on.
Stupid user trick No. 3: Outsourcing Web development to the corner office
Here's a thought: Don't let the CEO design your company's customer-facing Web site just so he can save a few bucks, advises an IT consultant.
"We tried to sell a medium-sized company client on both a network install and a Web site design project," the consultant says. "We got the install contract, but the CEO figured he could design his site himself.
"When his general manager -- who was also his wife -- called us back in, she pulled the site up and it was hard not to wince. He'd used an open source editor with what looked like every freely downloadable template, fonts, and flashy widgets he could find. It looked like a teenage MySpace page."
[ More manager mishaps when meddling in IT can be found in "More stupider user tricks: IT horror stories redux [3]" ]
Sure, the company's product information was now available on the Web, but the lack of customer-facing tools and analysis features did not bode well for the company's Web future.
"Even the Webmaster e-mail link didn't work," the consultant says. "Needless to say, the site was not attractive to customers, so Web revenue was low, and all those new and expanding Web marketing possibilities were crippled. The same CEO who built the site started spouting about how the rumors of e-commerce revenue were false."
Solution: Today, Web site design is cheap. From local outfits to eBay or Craigslist, the cost of a decently designed Web page has dropped from thousands of dollars per page to hundreds -- or less. Stop being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Moral: Company Web sites can't be an afterthought investment, especially for small businesses. Not just an important face to your customer, your Web site is possibly the best way to analyze exactly who your customers are and how to sell to them. Treat it professionally, and you can leverage it for additional opportunities, including market research, customer analysis, and more.
Stupid user trick No. 4: Keep your enemies close, but your Linux talent closer
Going open source can save big bucks -- unless you leave your entire open source infrastructure in the hands of a single college intern, warns an admin at a small IT services firm.
"I finally find a small-business client who made the jump to Linux -- well, Linux and HP-UX due to a silo app they had to run for two big clients," the admin says. "Our new client had used his college intern to setup the basic network, but the kid had left for summer vacation a day earlier and suddenly the network was down. We were the first outfit in the phone book that didn't shy away from the phrase 'Debian on the desktop.'"
When the admin and his cohorts arrived, all the client's server lights were green, but nobody was connecting to anything and no one could log in to the system.
"We had to restore the servers from the ground up, which took about an hour. Everything was humming after that, so we took the time to sit down with the CEO and discuss plans for the network," the admin says. Stoked to locate someone unafraid to talk about open source software, the admin and his team got a little carried away shooting the bull with the CEO and stayed for more than an hour.
"As we were on the way out, the servers dumped again," the admin says. "Same story as before. Not wanting to lose our new penguin client, we rolled up our sleeves, restored the servers, and started digging for root cause."
What they found was a cron job set up off root.
"The cron 'cd'ed to a backup directory that tried to remove the files from a lengthy list of source directories, including several that didn't exist," the admin says. "Seems the kid had been changing these on the fly for some reason -- and he apparently liked doing sys admin as root. Academics."
Solution: Protect root access. Test your cron jobs. And maintain those server backup images.
Moral: Linux has definite benefits, but there's no denying that managing it requires a certain skill set. It's not something to trust entirely to an intern.
Stupid user trick No. 5: Facebook
Face it, even the most stringent social networking policies can't diffuse the ticking time bomb that is Facebook. Throw in a little Jäger, some IT naivete, and you're set for devastating corporate embarrassment.
"About a year ago, I get a call from a junior VP who's yelling at me that he's desperate and needs me to do a 'recall on Facebook,'" says one admin who wishes to remain anonymous. "I try and get a word in edgewise, but he's ranting about what crap Web technology is and why computer people can't just leave well enough alone and how everything was fine when we just used the telephone. Then he ends with, 'Is it done yet?'"
"'Is what done?'"
"'The Facebook recall, for @#$%'s sake.'"
Which gave our admin the obvious pleasure of asking, "What the @#$% is a 'Facebook recall'?"
As it turns out, the junior VP had updated his Facebook page from his phone while having a few drinks with some senior VPs and potential new clients.
"He stated that he'd dated one of the clients' wives and made some nasty comment about what she looked like naked," the admin says. "All his college buddies were on Facebook in their college group, and he knew her when they were both at school. Turns out that's where she met her husband, too, and he was on the college Facebook group as well, which the genius junior VP figured out when he got back to the table and started a conversation about Facebook with the potential clients."
As for the "Facebook recall," it appears that the junior VP thought updating his Facebook page was like sending an e-mail in Outlook.
"I told him how to lock down his page, but apparently that was a little late," the admin says. "We didn't get that account."
Solution: There really isn't one, other than trying to make sure your users have some idea of where the power of IT ends and the big, bad world begins.
Moral: The beauty of social networking is that it connects you with millions of other people. The danger of social networking is that it connects you with millions of other people.
Stupid user trick No. 6: Offshoring while under the influence of MBA
Whoever said offshoring was idiot-proof? After all, it often involves upper management -- potentially the worst IT offenders of all.
"We got a new CIO just before the bubble burst back in 2000," says D. Aubrey, who at that time worked at a Web services firm with a solid market position that it now had to defend against upstarts. "She was one of those MIS MBAs -- emphasis on MBA. All you press types started writing stories about the benefits of outsourcing around then, so she jumped on the trend, canned our Web dev team, and outsourced the whole shebang to an outfit in Mumbai that worked for $25 an hour."
The plan looked good on paper -- until you looked at the paper.
"We got a hold of the plan spreadsheet she presented to the CEO, and all she'd done was compare the cost of software tools and staff from in-house to out-of-house, so obviously the savings looked huge," Aubrey says.
"Then came the phone bill, which I think had quadrupled for that project," he adds. "And the security audit bill, since the data our Web dev guys were working with was quite a king-size waffle of personal customer data. And the hardware/services bill for moving our data out of the outsource outfit's internal datacenter -- which as far as we could tell was four servers in a closet somewhere -- and into a professional data hosting facility in Europe."
If that weren't enough, the final product -- a redesigned site -- "looked so average it might as well have been beige."
"Just a vanilla template with shoddy JavaScript and Perl behind it," Aubrey says.
As it turned out, the new CIO had outsourced not just development, but project management and QA as well.
"There was literally nobody on our side proofing the work. They just kept showing her screenshots and she kept approving them until the day the redesign flipped," recalls Aubrey.
The volume of customer complaints about the site's new look and lack of functionality was put to a stop by the site itself, which crashed twice on the first day.
"The CEO ordered her to pull the plug and go back to the previous design," Aubrey says. "When they added it all up, she'd spent about 75 percent of the original project budget and had nothing to show for it."
"Normally, we'd have just snickered as they walked her out the door, but this was a down economy and this crap just cost us about five months of competitive advantage," he says.
The company never recovered. And though our intrepid offshorer was the first out the door, the rest of the crew followed by year's end.
"I'm not saying outsourcing doesn't work," Aubrey says. "But it takes a hell of a lot more planning than just comparing staff costs."
Solution: Go back and reread No. 3, and then realize that this submitter didn't go far enough. Web site development doesn't have to be isolated to be cheap.
Moral: If the Web site is a key revenue stream, do not entrust site development to a single exec.
Stupid user trick No. 7: Duct tape doesn't fix everything
"This one still makes us laugh over beers," says H. Foreman, an admin at a Midwest-based organization.
"We were growing pretty well in 2004 and 2005, so we opened an office across the street," Foreman says. To connect the two offices, they decided to buy two microwave bridges.
"The setup is easy enough that we were able to do the job ourselves, though we had professional carpenters install the bridges to the walls of each building, just under the roof, pointing through double-paned office glass, so we would have no weather worries."
Success carried over into 2006, when the company decided to extend its leases.
"As part of the deal, they get permission to put up a fancy sign near the top of both buildings -- indoors but facing outward through the windows," Foreman says. "The day the sign goes up, our network goes down for about 15 minutes. We're still doing the basic set of troubleshooting diagnostics when it suddenly comes back up. Our guy shrugs, verifies everything again, and lets it go."
The next morning wasn't as forgiving. The network went down and stayed down.
"The basic software diagnostics aren't working, so we go to physical link monitoring," Foreman says. "Pretty quick, we see that one of the bridges isn't responding anymore. Upstairs we go."
Apparently the bridges had been in the way of the signs.
"The outfit that put up the signs just detached the bridges and moved them -- outside," Foreman says. "There was a balcony on the upper floor and they just moved both bridges out there and then duct-taped both of them to the railings.
"What kills us is that the network somehow recovered the first time," he says. "The duct tape across the street held, but the one on our side slipped off during the night and the bridge fell eight stories, bounced off the dumpster, and landed behind it. The sign installers apparently left a note explaining what they'd done with the receptionist across the street and she hadn't passed it on."
Naturally, Foreman and company had fun pointing the finger at the sign company in front of the CEO, who then ran out to chew out the install rep.
"But as soon as he left the room, the CIO, who is a really good ex-tech, pointed out that if we knew someone was going to be doing construction around a critical piece of network infrastructure, why the hell hadn't we gone up there to check it? Especially after the network went down during the construction process," Foreman says. "He had a point."
Solution: The basic network monitoring software this company was evidently using is as good a technology solution as you need in this instance. Without such software, however, this would have been a much nastier adventure.
Moral: What the CIO said. Construction around network infrastructure requires personal attention from your IT staff. Remote monitoring is no substitute for "eyes-on" during critical times.
Stupid user trick No. 8: Executive privilege
This one hits close to home, as some tech magazine editors epitomize the worst kind of user an IT admin can encounter: those who have read so much about IT that they simply assume hands-on expertise. What results are "special requests" of IT not unlike those we find dealing with higher-up execs.
Let me set the stage: I was working as a technical editor for an IT magazine some years back and happened to be in the executive editor's office three days in a row when this little drama went down. I can't remember whether Windows 95 or Windows 98 had just come out, but it was one of those two. The executive editor had requested the new OS on his honking Toshiba notebook -- a $6,000 box, the price of which I still can't fathom. IT had obliged and installed it. He'd happily used it for a day, taken the box home, and when he returned the next morning it was dead. Windows wouldn't boot. The conversation went something like:
IT tech: "So what did you do?"
Executive editor: "Nothing, it just didn't reboot."
IT tech: "It couldn't have just stopped for no reason. Did you install something?"
Executive editor: "No. Really. It just wouldn't reboot."
IT tech: [sigh] "OK. Fine. I'll fix it."
The next day, the tech returned the notebook, Win 95/98 fully reinstalled and working fine. The day goes well; no crashes. The next morning, the executive editor returns yet again with a $6,000 paperweight. I'm in his office for this part and had to work hard not to shoot coffee out my nose.
IT tech: "Come on, you had to have done something. Everything was working yesterday!"
Executive editor: "No, really. I didn't install a thing. I was just working and organizing."
IT tech [suspicious]: "What do you mean 'organizing'?"
Executive editor: "You know, just arranging folders so that I can find things more easily."
IT tech [still suspicious]: And which folders were you 'organizing'?"
Executive editor [annoyed]: "What does that matter?"
IT tech [equally annoyed]: "Trust me. Which ones?"
Executive editor: "My personal folder, the issue folders, the system folder --"
IT tech [squeezing his eyes shut]: "What did you do in the system folder?"
Executive editor [slowly dawning]: "Uh, well it was so messy. They had one folder for 16-bit DLLs and another for 32-bit DLLs, so I thought it'd be more efficient if they were all, you know, in a single folder."
I'm not sure who the tech wanted to kill more: the executive editor for what he did or me for sitting there, shoulders shaking, beet red, with my mouth clenched shut and tears coming out of my eyes.
Solution: Don't let your users become case studies for denying administrative access to local machines. Deny them administrative access to begin with. With senior execs, however, it still takes a social engineering degree to keep that rule enforced. That's a line of patter every IT guy needs to develop.
Moral: Even Microsoft computers don't suddenly quit for no reason. There's always a guilty user somewhere on the chain of causality. Find him early and you can avoid a large load of trouble down the line.
Stupid user trick No. 9: User populations are like bacterial ecosystems from distant planets
This particular stupid user trick hails from my days as an IT consultant, when our clients' CIO types, who had read about Shadow Copy, immediately wanted to engage on it. After all, in many cases they'd paid for it already, so they wanted it up and running right away.
Rolling out Shadow Copy was easy -- once we had Windows 2000 on every desktop and a working Active Directory domain controller. Then I used my vaunted writing skills to pen a short and sweet "Shadow Copy Advisory" memo and e-mailed it to every user. We followed that up with personal visits to all the managers in the company, explaining how the feature worked and what they needed to tell their employees about it.
The upshot was that My Docs was now being shadow-copied for every user, so all those folders they had on their desktops should be moved to My Docs to make sure everything got backed up to the network automatically.
In retrospect, I might as well have been asking them to bite off their own fingers for my amusement.
Everyone nodded excitedly, but nobody had any intention of using it.
To be fair, this was our fault as much as theirs. Assuming that users will put data exactly where they say they will is a newb mistake. But like true consulting newbs, we set up a backup policy to perform daily backups of "data" folders -- the shadow-copied stuff and the file shares users said they were going to be using -- and weekly snaps of the full server. Desktop backups relied entirely on users making My Docs their sole data dump.
Naturally, when a nasty virus hit and took out a large percentage of the desktops and simultaneously dumped two out of three servers, we found only 8 percent of users had been taking advantage of Shadow Copy. The rest were simply screwed. Worse, we found out that they had decided to build new "informal" network shares right off the server's hard disk (exactly where we hadn't expected them to), so those files were lost, too.
Solution: First, realize that you will never get away from users using their desktops as data storage. Ever. That's why it's called the "desktop." Whatever desktop backup strategy you employ, it needs to cover the desktop -- My Docs and any personal folders they've built themselves -- automatically. On the server side, you need a daily snap, so just thank God for block-level change technology.
Moral: Great ideas are fine, but you have to weigh them against every user's inherent resistance to change. User populations are like bacterial ecosystems from distant planets. You can't predict with very much precision how they'll evolve, so things like backup need to use the word "holistic" rather than "targeted."
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[Previous] | [Session 57] | [Next]
C. Lee, S. R. Lewis, P. L. Read (Oxford)
A simple bulk cloud model implemented in the Oxford Venus General Circulation Model (GCM) is used to investigate the transport of passive tracers.
A description is given of the parameterizations used to provide a source and sink for the sulphuric acid vapour, and of the additional physics required for the simulation of cloud particles in the model. Results from the cloud model are related to the atmospheric velocity and temperature fields in the model and compared to observed cloud features in the atmosphere of Venus.
The waves present in the model wind and temperature fields are then investigated to construct a global picture of the wave activity in the model, and of the contribution of the MRG wave and Kelvin wave to the zonally averaged flow and. Significant super--rotation is produced in the model. The horizontal and vertical components of the Rayleigh stresses are used to study the barotropic and baroclinic instabilities in the atmosphere and their correlation with the large scale waves is investigated.
Current development of the Venus GCM is discussed, including the thermodynamic effect of the cloud and vapour in the atmosphere and the feedback effect between the cloud formation and the waves in the atmosphere. The cause of the apparent lack of cloud in the model polar vortex is also discussed.
[Previous] | [Session 57] | [Next]
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.


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Sebring West Automotive Center
Fresno, CA 93703 USA
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- ScorecardDetails1yrNationwideWarranty
Sebring West Automotive has been a member of the Fresno community since 1971. Our team found this established shop to be a family affair. Tony Pasco is the owner and his son Brian manages this certified shop. Together they have assembled a well trained, ASE Certified, staff of experienced individuals. They combine for over 100 years of experience. Most of the technicians are formally trained and many have dealership training. Keeping current on the latest technology and having access to some of the best automotive tools and computer diagnostic equipment make this shop able to professionally repair your late model computer controlled vehicle. ASE Certification, ongoing training, and up to date skills are all things we like to see in a shop and we found this shop has all 3 as well as a shuttle service, wireless internet, and early bird drop off for your convenience.Reviews
Auto Repair Experience
- Brian Pasco, Manager
- Established 1971
- 4 Auto Repair Mechanics on Staff
- 3 ASE Certified Auto Technicians
- 91 Years of Car Repair Experience
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Makes We Serve
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Message from the Shop
Sebring West is your factory authorized, dealership alternative for service, scheduled maintenance and repairs in the Fresno area! Don't pay the high dealership prices! Whether you need a simple oil change, major service, or repair, our ASE Master-Certified Technicians can service any luxury, foreign or domestic vehicle.
At Sebring West Automotive Center, we specialize in service and repair for:
Luxury vehicles including Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Acura, and BMW
Foreign vehicles including Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai
Domestic vehicles including Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler
Overall Rating25 Verified Reviews
Customer Reviewsby Verified Customer February 23, 2016
They do good work. It is quality work at a reasonable price.by Doug - Verified Customer February 23, 2016
They provide honest, trustworthy, and prompt service.by Verified Customer February 18, 2016
We are pleased with the service.by Paula - Verified Customer February 18, 2016
Good service.Show more reviewsby Kathy - Verified Customer February 15, 2016
They do good work. I have been pleased with them so far.by Verified Customer February 15, 2016
Great service. A little high on price point.by Verified Customer February 11, 2016
I am a long time customer. I have always been happy with their service.by Richard - Verified Customer February 09, 2016
Good service, done on time at a reasonable rate.by Frank - Verified Customer February 08, 2016
They are good, but they are a little pricey.Show more reviewsby Noelia - Verified Customer February 02, 2016
One time I had asked them if my insurance covered a certain part and he said that he didn't know. I had already paid for the service.I wish he would have checked for me.by Stafford - Verified Customer January 28, 2016
I think they are honest. They are competent. When they make mistakes, they acknowledge that and fix it. I think they are reliable.by Lynn - Verified Customer January 27, 2016
They took good care of my car.by Verified Customer January 26, 2016
I just have faith in their operation. They have treated me fair.by Verified Customer January 26, 2016
I was charged $509 for the labor. I didn't have enough money to do the transmission. In January, I went to have it checked and it came out that they didn't do the emission right. They didn't even double check to see if the emission was okay.Show more reviewsby Jacki - Verified Customer January 15, 2016
Very courteous, friendly and fast service.by Larry - Verified Customer January 11, 2016
They get the job done right, they have very good customer service and their staff is very knowledgeable.by Verified Customer January 11, 2016
They did everything they said they were going to do. It was the price that they said. It was in a timely manner.by Verified Customer January 07, 2016
I take my car in there and they know what to do, and they've always taken good care of me. They've always done an amazing job for me.by Marta - Verified Customer December 31, 2015
I like the service. They are the cheapest. They are very fast and they work with you. They accommodate my time.Show more reviewsby Verified Customer December 31, 2015
They just do good work and they're nice people.by Eric - Verified Customer December 22, 2015
They're honest and they get the job done quick.by Verified Customer December 08, 2015
The service manager, he was exceptional and trustworthy and within the budget that he said it was going to be. It was on time. Their staff is always very helpful and friendly.by Harry - Verified Customer December 04, 2015
They know what they're doing. If something is wrong with the car they let you know what's wrong with it. They are always right on time and the car is always ready when they say it will be ready. Also they're really good at getting you appointments whenever you call them.by Terri - Verified Customer December 01, 2015
Every person I have dealt with at Sebring has been extremely friendly and goes out of their way to help their customers.1 verified customer did not leave comments but provided this rating:by Dennis
- High quality repair
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Now that CD Projekt has done its part in extending the life of The Witcher 2 via the Enhanced Edition, it's going to be leaving the rest up to modders, helping them out with a suit of tools dubbed REDkit. If you are a modder, you'll want to check the video below which offers a first look at the kit, straight from this year's Gamescom convention.
As noted in the video, beta applications are on now, so if you're interested in this sort of thing and have some experience, hit the source to sign up for a chance to tinker with it early. According to CD Projekt, the word at the moment is the tools are pretty easy to use, and efficient.


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Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue at the WorkPlay SoundStage Thursday night. Four out of five stars.
Trombone Shorty is something of a local hero in New Orleans.
Born and raised in the city's Tremé neighborhood, Troy Andrews played in brass bands all his life, becoming a bandleader at age six. Since then, he's performed with everyone from The Neville Brothers to Lenny Kravitz to Green Day, and he's been featured several times in HBO's "Tremé" series. With over two decades of experience, he's been well known in his hometown for quite some time.
Now, with three major-label albums under his belt, Shorty is steadily making a name for himself throughout the country.
So when he came through Birmingham with his Orleans Avenue band, the WorkPlay SoundStage was close to full for a weeknight show.
The set kicked off at 9:15 with a pair of instrumental songs, including the live show staple "Suburbia." By waiting until the third song to start singing, Shorty let the crowd know right away that this show was all about the instrumentation on display.
That doesn't mean that the band leader doesn't know how to work the crowd, though. On lyrical tracks like "One Night Only," "On Your Way Down," and "St. James Infirmary," he alternated between his trombone (or trumpet), standard verses and choruses and audience participation to keep things interesting.
It's easy to make the mistake of labeling Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue a jazz band – they're from New Orleans and, including Shorty himself, they have a three-piece brass section.
But this six-piece band is more rock 'n roll than anything, and really, they're a little bit of everything. Hard rock, funk, blues, jazz, hip-hop – a rock 'n roll gumbo, if you will.
While Shorty is, predictably, the most talented member of the group, the rest of his band can more than hold their own. Each bandmate got at least one solo during the show, and they thrived in their opportunity to shine.
The best and most endearing moment of the show came just before the encore.
"We lost an icon today in Nelson Mandela," Shorty said. Then he paid tribute to the revolutionary leader the way only a New Orleans musician could: with a reverent yet uplifting rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In." For a brief moment, the WorkPlay SoundStage felt like a jazz funeral – rather than shedding tears, the crowd celebrated Mandela's life with song, dance and outright jubilation.
Ending the show on that note would've worked quite well, but Shorty wasn't ready to leave just yet.
"You know we can't leave like that," he said as the band returned to the stage. "Not in Birmingham we can't leave like that. Oh no, oh no."
The band kicked off a 10-minute encore with "Do To Me" and wrapped things up nicely by huddling around the drum set for a six-man drum solo. The set clocked in at 110 minutes.
Trombone Shorty may only be 27 years old, but his two decades of experience are apparent whenever he picks up his instrument. He's earning his success from the ground up, and he deserves every new fan that he gets.
Next time he comes to town, you'll want to be in that number.


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AMHERST – The Amherst Selectboard voted Monday night not to recommend a town meeting article that seeks to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
The matter will go before voters at a special town meeting on Wednesday night, but the selectboard voted unanimously to announce at the meeting that they cannot support the measure, in part because they feel it would harm town businesses.
"My heart is in favor of it but I feel we can't afford it," said Selectboard member Diane Stein. "We have to be realistic. It would put Amherst at a disadvantage and we would suffer."
Representatives to the Amherst area Chamber of Commerce also spoke against it.
The biggest sticking point with the article was that it would force Amherst merchants to raise their prices to cover the higher salaries, and this would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Competing merchants in Hadley, Northampton and Belchertown would still be paying $8 an hour, the state minimum wage.
Board member Aaron Hayden said raising the minimum wage is an issue that should be addressed statewide or even nationally, but not at a municipal level.
"This particular attempt to deal with it would backfire in interesting ways," he said. "It would put Amherst at disadvantage in many way to other towns. I don't know know if you've ever noticed driving down Rt. 9 and seeing the number of businesses that could be doing business in Amherst but don't."
Board member James Wald said the article in its present form is "a feel-good measure that makes people feel morally righteous but does more harm than good."
Like Hayden, Wald also said the issue should be addressed at the state and federal level.
The special town meeting was called after more than 200 people signed a petition in support of placing the article before voters.
If supported by town meeting the request would go to the state Legislature for a special act.
The state current minimum wage is $8 an hour but there is legislation to raise it to $11 an hour over three years.
Selectboard members seemed irked that the people behind the petition did not appear at the meeting to discuss the article or to explain it further.
Board member Alisa Brewer said supporters of the article have not provided any information prior to the Selectboard meeting, other than an e-mail sent just prior to the meeting that no one had a chance to read.
Wald called the failure to communicate "amateurish."
Town manager John Musante said if approved, it would immediately cost the town more than $400,000.
Town departments employ 200 people, many of them seasonal employees, who earn less than $15 per hour.
The total cost would be more than $200,000 to town departments, another $163,000 for the school department and $45,000 for the Jones Library.
"It would be a very significant impact all at once," he said.


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Did you know that giant panda bears love wintertime? So much that they somersault and play in the snow??
According to BuzzFeed, the adorable, furry pair is named Hua'ao and Qingfeng and they live at Nanshan Park in Shandong, China. The two look forward to the snowfall every winter and frolic in the white stuff for hours like a couple of kids.
See more cute and funny animal videos:
» Siku, the orphaned polar bear cub
» Kittens love Japanese ice skater
» Dog rides a shark
Viral Video of the Day is a daily feature on syracuse.com where we'll post the latest funny, interesting and popular Internet videos. If you've seen a video you'd like to see featured here, e-mail us your suggestions at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board will wait until its July retreat to evaluate and discuss the contract of schools Superintendent Courtney Millet. The School Board had scheduled an executive session at a special meeting on Wednesday for the item at the request of board member Rodney Nicholas, who asked that board members perform the evaluation in...
The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board will wait until its July retreat to evaluate and discuss the contract of schools Superintendent Courtney Millet. The School Board had scheduled an executive session at a special meeting on Wednesday for the item at the request of board member Rodney Nicholas, who asked that board members perform the evaluation in a timely manner so it could be presented to Millet before July 15.
Millet's contract requires the board to present her with a written yearly evaluation no later than July 15. But that has rarely been done in the past, including last year when Millet not only did not receive a written evaluation by the July deadline but also did not receive notice whether her contract would be renewed by a Sept. 1 deadline.
That missed deadline lead to Millet's contract being automatically renewed through July 1, 2013.
Despite putting off the evaluation, board members still chose to go into an executive session, a move that was questioned by board member Russ Wise.
"Are we going to evaluate the superintendent today?" Wise said. "Then I'm not sure why we're going into executive session."
Board legal adviser Lloyd LeBlanc said the board could go into executive session to discuss personnel matters. Louisiana's open meetings law allows government entities to go into executive session to discuss such matters relating to "the character, professional competence, or physical/mental health of an individual."
But board members both before and after the executive session said the closed-door session was only to discuss when they would evaluate Millet.
"We were going into executive session to talk about how the superintendent's contract is going to be discussed during our biannual retreat," board President Patrick Sanders said. "It was brought to our attention that the best place to evaluate her is at our July retreat."
The board evaluates Millet twice a year, Sanders said, informally in January and formally in July. Sanders said he would be calling an executive committee meeting to set dates for the retreat and expects the board to be able to have the evaluation in Millet's hands by the July 15 deadline.
In addition to questioning the legality of the executive session, Wise similarly blocked an attempt to have an item added to the special meeting agenda because he said the public had no advance notice.
The item would have addressed $27,000 set aside in the Head Start budget for a resource teacher to work at a literacy lab. However, no one was ever hired for the position and teachers used the lab instead as a resource center. The agenda item would have reallocated $5,000 of the money for pre-kindergarten math kits for Head Start teachers, $7,150 for staff members to attend a Head Start training conference and the remaining $14,850 to go into group insurance and Medicare accounts.
Sanders said the money must be spent by the time the district's fiscal year ends on June 30 or it will lose it.
Because the addition of an item to the agenda requires unanimous approval by board members it was not discussed. After the meeting, Wise said he had two reasons for opposing the addition.
The first, he said, is that he is opposed to governments rushing to spend money at the end of the fiscal year, saying if the district did not need the money for the teacher it should not be spent.
"Equally important, I'm never going to vote on an item involving money that is added at the last minute to the agenda," he said. "I'm not going to make decisions regarding taxpayer money without giving people on a regular agenda a chance to speak up."
Wise's stance drew the ire of some fellow board members, both publicly and reportedly during the executive session.
"I'd like to thank Mr. Wise for losing $27,000," board member Gerald Keller said after Wise opposed the agenda addition.
Jennifer Boquet can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or 985.652.0952.


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Sam Burnett didn't always like writing.
Back in middle school, he was far from the model English student. The Franklin High School senior remembers failing to pass a state writing test.
Even two years ago, the notion of performing his own poetry onstage seemed unthinkable.
He ended up getting fourth place. That was his ticket to Verselandia, the districtwide poetry slam, which opened up his eyes to the energy of spoken word.
Burnett said he was surprised that slam poetry was a more natural fit than he had initially believed.
"I wanted to combine these two loves: of hip hop and rap with more traditional writing," said Burnett, who counts Detroit rapper Danny Brown as one his favorite artists. "Slam poetry was the perfect union of these two."
This year, Burnett graduated to first place at Franklin High's poetry slam.
At Franklin High's slam earlier this month, he beat out nearly 30 student performers with a poem about income inequality called "The Riot."
Burnett will perform at Verselandia on Tuesday night with winners from other PPS high schools. The event, which will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Gerding Theater at the Armory, costs $10.
In his winning poem, Burnett called minimum wage a "corporate prison," and railed against the people and structures that make up the wealthiest one percent in the country.
"If money is power, then the 'one percent' are gods," he said on stage. "And we've heeded these false prophets for far too long. They're too caught up in their profits to see what's going on."Burnett was inspired after reading Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," he said, which looks into the inequalities and racism facing African Americans. His poem was born from seeing some of those same struggles persisting today.
"It's about the oppression that is put on us that we don't really see, and the day to day struggle to get by," he said.
Burnett was much more deliberate about his practicing this year. He spent nearly four hours a week to memorize his poem, which he said made a big difference.
Over time, slam poetry has become easier for Burnett. A peculiar thing happens to him when he steps onstage, he said.
He's nervous right up until that very moment he starts speaking.
"Once I get that line out, the nerves dissipate into the air," he said. "Then, it's just the excitement and emotion that I feel."


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This deal has ended.
Get a Melannco 8 Piece "Love" Decorator Photo Frame Set, originally $50, for $21 at Housewares Deals. Even with $4.95 shipping, that's the lowest price we could find - we saw comparable sets for $40 and higher. It holds a total of 8 photos, all 4" x 6", 6 portrait, 2 landscape. Plus, there is no sales tax (except CA, MA, NJ, NY, PA).No longer available


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Castro seizes control of Cuba in 1959 and survives everything since, from Cold War to CIA assassination attempts.
Secret planning leads to an unbeatable battlefield strategy.
An account of the Cuban missile crisis from the Soviet point of view.
Covert missions in Vietnam; foreign policy failures; inside investigations.
The youngest U.S. president holds the reins during a tense period in the Cold War.
Eisenhower becomes the supreme Allied Commander during World War II.
Josef Goebbels' diary reveals secrets of Hitler's final moments as the Third Reich fell.
The White House battles for public support during the Vietnam War.
The enigmatic Japanese leader masterminds the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The underwater campaigns of World War II.
Disillusioned students become the most successful spies of the 20th century.
Former POW's reveal their methods of coping while being held captive.
Techniques used to obtain information during World War II.
An examination of the treatment of prisoners of war in the early 20th century.
The secret strife behind the Balkan states.
The elaborate propaganda campaign behind the efficient Nazi war machine.
Electronic trickery used in battle.
Plans for a Japanese invasion of the United States are revealed.
Franklin Roosevelt places spies around the globe.
The race to develop the atomic bomb encourages daring Russian spy missions.
Hitler's grand deception of Stalin and his extensive spy operations are examined.
The Nazis keep their atrocities a secret from the rest of the world.
Chemical and biological warfare can be traced back at least 4,000 years.
America's leading code-breaker cracks the Japanese codes.
The Office of Strategic Services.
Stalin's secret agents are profiled.
Outnumbered Israeli forces use covert means to rewrite the map of the Middle East.
The development of the terrifying super guns.
The Germans employ a barrage of terrifying weapons during World War I.
Viet Nam's air war is examined.
The evolution of aerial eavesdropping, photographic reconnaissance units and spy satellites.
Clandestine operations by British SAS Commandos and the US Special Forces.
The stories of Operation Desert Storm that weren't told on the evening news.
The Americans plan an invasion on Panama in 1989.
Members of the French Resistance aid the Allied effort after the fall of France.
Misleading maneuvers and false information insured the secrecy of the D-Day invasion.
Stealing plans for rockets, jets and missiles is a top priority in World War II.
Declassified evidence sheds light on Rommel's early advantages in North Africa.
The use of camouflage and instruments of propaganda helped confuse the enemy both on and off the battlefield.
The men and women who made victory possible in the battle of Britain.
Spies, diplomats and opportunists take part in a secret sham of a war.
Code breakers struggle to protect Britain from German submarines.
The Nazis fund a war machine with possessions they steal from people expelled or executed.
World War II tools of espionage.
The secret world of women at war.
British codebreaking during World War II.
Internal conflict affects the Third Reich's ability to win the war.


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The Rochester Stoney Creek hockey team traveled to East Kentwood Saturday and left with a 3-2 overtime victory.
"Stoney Creek has a good squad and plays a chippy, grinding brand of hockey," East Kentwood coach Shawn Jensen said. "The refs were letting everybody play, especially in the third period, and it might have gotten a little out of hand, but I scheduled our schedule for our guys to get better by the end of the year to help us to make playoff and conference runs.
"If we have more games like this, it will."
Sarah White, a junior goal keeper in her second her on the team, made 32 saves on 35 shots for East Kentwood and kept it a competitive game even after Stoney Creek went up 2-0.
"Sarah, who also happens to be an all-state golfer, loves hockey and played her best game of the year tonight. Even when things aren't going well, she knows what she needs to do and never gets down - she's always positive. We could have mailed it in down two, but we fought back instead and Sarah was a big part of it."
During a five minute power play, East Kentwood netted two goals - one by Blake Hinds and another by Bronson Foote a minute later - to force an overtime period.
"In the end, Stoney Creek was just a little bit better tonight and in general, we tend to take too many penalties," Jensen said. "In hockey, momentum swings back and forth and penalties can disrupt that rhythm. Tonight it worked against us, but I honestly believe if we can stay out of the box, we can skate with anyone."
East Kentwood will play in conference against Grand Rapids Catholic Central Friday.
"Losing is never fun and it gets tough in high school, but it's a wide open conference and at this point in the season, still anybodies to win," Jensen said. "We're going to get back to work Monday, continue to improve and hopefully end this little skid soon."
Please flag inappropriate comments for review.
on December 14, 2013 10:05 PM
12/14 - 1:00 PM Boys Ice Hockey Team 1 2 3 FinalEast Kentwood 2Rochester Hills Stoney Creek 3
The Rochester Stoney Creek hockey team traveled to East Kentwood Saturday and left with a 3-2 overtime victory.


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If you're not in the holiday spirit just yet, maybe this will help.
People braved the chilly temperatures tonight to check out the annual holiday lights display at Grings Mill in Spring Township.
The lights are on Wednesday through Sunday evenings from six to nine until the end of December. Musical acts perform most nights.


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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It was the march of the teddy bears on Long Island Thursday.
Nassau court officers collected about 1,000 teddy bears across the entire county's court rooms. The officers then dressed up as Christmas characters and helped santa deliver the gifts to children with cancer at several hospitals.
Joseph Cannella, the president of Fraternal Order of Court Officers, told 1010 WINS' Eileen Lehpamer this is the 10th year they have collected teddy bears for sick children.
One 7-year-old at Nassau University Medical Center wore her princess dress after learning santa would be making a special visit, Lehpamer reported.
"When you see a kid whose deal with cancer smiling at us, it warms our hearts," Cannella said.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com:


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You may have heard an urban legend or ghost story that goes something like this:
A young man is out walking late at night. The next day he's starting a new job in a new town and he's too restless to go to bed. Turning down a deserted street he is startled to feel a hand on his arm. He turns and sees a young woman in a white dress.
She's scared. Someone -- some man -- has mistreated her, she says. She can't bring herself to say what he has done to her. She begs that the young man won't ask her questions, only that he will help her get to a part of town where she might get a cab.
He's a good natured fellow and he does help her. They talk a little and he discovers that she has a history in the very same town where he'll go the next day for his new job. She even mentions the name of his employer. But she refuses to divulge her story. They find a cab and the man reluctantly lets her go without ever discovering her secret. The cab is barely out of sight when another vehicle arrives. A man has urgent questions..."Have you seen a young woman? Dressed all in white? She's just escaped from the asylum..."
That last line -- or some variant on it -- would be the end of the urban legend. But it is just the beginning of The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
Now, I'll be honest with you The Woman in White is a big book. And it's not going filled with two-fisted action. It's a Victorian novel, after all.
But if you don't quite have the gumption to pick up such a heavy thing, why not download the whole thing as a FREE audio book from Librivox.org.
The story is, rather famously, told by different narrators. Wikipedia calls it "a complex web in which readers are unsure which narrator can, and cannot, be trusted."
The Librivox.org folks made a wise choice in having different readers perform the parts of the different narrators.
back to main page


text:
Communication and Perception
Seastars lack a brain and also do not possess well-defined sensory network. However, they are sensitive to touch, light, the water that surrounds them, and orientation. The pedicellariae of the sea star aid in touch sensation as they function to free the organism of any sediments. The tube feet function as chemoreceptors and are used by the sea star to locate food.
Communication Channels: tactile ; chemical
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical


text:
Policy cancellations: Obama will allow old plans
November 14, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he hears Americans who are upset about losing their health insurance "loud and clear" and is offering a fix....
A Parable or A Fable?
from previous pronouncements employing their version and skills incorporating
"critical thinking",
some here can't understand, or
don't like comparison's old or new,
used or original..
Let the dolts decide.
A parable is a
didactic story,
in prose, or
which illustrates
one or more
instructive lessons or principles.
It differs from a fable in that fables
employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or
forces of nature as characters,
whereas parables
have human characters.
A parable is a form of analogy...
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
The Mousetrap -
A poor mouse looked through the crack of the farmhouse wall...
to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?"
the poor mouse imagined.
He was devastated to discover it was a republican mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard,
the poor mouse proclaimed this warning:
"There's a republican poor mousetrap in the house!
There's a republican poor mousetrap in the house!"
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
The chicken clucked, scratched and clucked more,
raised her head and said,
poor mouse,
I can tell this is a grave concern to you,
but it is of no consequence to me.
I can't be bothered by it."
The poor mouse turned to the pig and told him,
"There is a republican mousetrap in the house!
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
The pig sympathized,
but said,
"I am sorry, poor mouse,
but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.
Be assured you are in my prayers."
The poor mouse turned to the cow and said,
"There's a republican mousetrap in the house!
The cow said,
"Wow, you poor mouse that lives in a House...
I'm sorry for you,
but it's no skin off my nose."
So, mouse returned to his house,
head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's republican mousetrap...
ALONE - all.. alone....
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house ...
-- like the sound of a republican mousetrap
catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.
In the darkness,
she did not see it was a venomous republican snake
whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital ,
and she returned home with a fever...
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Everyone knows
you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup,
so the farmer,
hatchet in hand,
headed off to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient...
But his wife's sickness continued …
friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them,
the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well.
She died.
Many people came to her funeral…
the farmer had the cow slaughtered
to provide enough meat for all of them.
The poor mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall
with great sadness...
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
if you're not rich,
not a republican
not a corporation or
not a business man…
you work for wages, or poor like a mouse…
the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem...
and think it doesn't concern you…
-- when one of us who works for wages,
is threatened,
we are,
of US who work for WAGES …
we ALL are
threatened and
face increased risk and loss…
while we sit idly and
allow OUR vote and
OUR elected officials
to marginalize,
pros.titute, or disenfranchise OUR VOTE,
in favor of their financiers and their lobbyists with our taxes...
remember, the rich republicans, democrats, their corporations and their businesses
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Frog, How was I a freeloader? I was uninsured, and if I went to the doctor, I paid the whole bill. If I needed to get a prescription filled, I paid for it. If I had incurred bills I couldn't pay off right away I would have paid them off over time. I would not have asked or expected anyone else to pay for me.
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Can't you READ?
How many times do we have to pose this question to you?
To quote myself…
Not you.
I said:
As it is, and, as it has been,
there are too many not paying into the system, and
once-upon-a-time, by your own admission
you were a free-loader…
BTW, are you over-weight
FAT or SLOPPY?
I'd definitely say you are sloopy,
and unable to concentrate and lack attention to detail,
your thoughts and writing are ample evidence that are incriminating...
just saying.
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Frog, I am in no way interested in "coughing up" one thin dime to support the overweight slobs whose idea of a workout is going to the fridge to get another beer and walking from their car to the store to buy a pack of cigs all in the same day. I will pay my own way, and if necessary "cough up" to help pay for those who have fallen in hard times, but I am sick of the entitlement mentality. When half the population of this country is on some kind of government dole, there is something wrong.
0 Agrees | 3 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Your words quoted below was
"once upon a time" in a different utopia
That was then,
The world turned a few times since then, yesterday.
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Your words:
"I was only without insurance when
I was single and on my own.
When I was young, single, and very healthy,
I went without health insurance for years.
I knew the risk I was taking,
I saved a ton of money…
But if a young healthy person chooses to buy a "cheap" plan or take the risk of going without insurance,
they should be able to do so. "
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
One more time bravescrock,
now is different than then,
back in "once-upon-a-time land you're fond of remembering"...
"Society being what it is today,
ALL of us are forced to pick up the tab for public [thrift] stupidity."
Whether the price tab hit's us squarely up front,
or is hidden in increased costs of goods and services...
it will be paid.
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"Once-upon-a-time, "
has passed you and me behind,
the new day dawned, and is where everyone should contribute the price of their own funeral,
even if they choose not to, and
shove the burden of digging the grave into someone else's wallet.
For those who want to
'save a ton of money'
the time has come to meet reality.
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Everyone shoul Cough up, quit your whining…
even if it means:
a few beers less every night, every week…
a few more stay-at-home-at-night with the family,
with the wife or insignificant other,
a few less shopping days at wal-box,
a fishing boat,
a new gun,
a motor home,
a ball that no-longer bowls,
a second house in the woods of Hiawatha…
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
A new day has dawned,
an old song has become your new song:
"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away…
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday…
Suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Yesterday was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday..."
Now, is different than then, yesterday...
You may believe in yesterday, but at today's prices, yesterday is a pipe dream, that passed us by.
Say it one more time...
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Just to be clear, Frog, I did not risk the health of my family. I was only without insurance when I was single and on my own. And the plan I have now in no way puts my family at risk. I know a lot of folks don't like to hear this, but if people exercise, eat right, don't smoke, don't drink excessively, and maintain a healthy weight it's amazing how much more healthy they are. I'm not saying that it's the answer for everything -- tragic accidents happen, there are genetic conditions, and so on, but lots of people don't do a thing to take care of themselves and then wonder why they are sick all the time and don't have the energy to walk around the block. Along those lines, I am all in favor of insurance plans that encourage and reward healthy lifestyles, as well as providing preventative care.
0 Agrees | 2 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
That was then, now is different.
You could risk the health of yourself and your family, and you had the choice,
there were no bleeding hearts around to pickup the actions of your stupidity.
You chose to expose your family to risk, and they were left to suffer from your mistakes.
Today, we have discovered more ailments that never existed 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 years ago.
Somehow, these medical mysteries inserted themselves into the public health,
and today, are too costly for one insurance deficient dope to cope with and provide for his family.
Healthcare for the insurance deficient has become a burden to society...
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
society being what it is today,
unwillingly all of us must pick up the tab for public stupidity.
Whether the price tab hit's us squarely up front or is hidden in increased costs of goods and services... it will be paid.
You may assert your 'right's' as stupid and ignorant as they are,
because you believe, they are your inalienable right to your 'freedom to choose",
but reality strikes up and hit's the rest of us in the A.ss, and pocket books
because of your obsession to save a shekel.
One more time bravescrock,
now is different than then.
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Even the King can not legally be doing this change, that change. That is how a dictator bahaves. Obama is an slef absorbed, arogrant, non job holding idiot. If it was only the stupid democrates losing their insurance I would not care. People who voted once or twice for this fool deserve what they get. Big Gov. has NEVER worked through out history you dummies. Get off your******and do honest work people and quit looking for hand outs.
0 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Frog, I (and many like me) am willing to pay more to get a better product. But if a young healthy person chooses to buy a "cheap" plan or take the risk of going without insurance, they should be able to do so. When I was young, single, and very healthy, I went without health insurance for years. I knew the risk I was taking, I saved a ton of money, and I didn't expect anyone to bail me out if something happened and I needed health care. I took an informed risk, and I should still have the right to. Now that I am no longer young or single, but still very healthy, I choose to purchase a plan that provides a safety net for emergencies as well as reasonable preventative care. I will not buy a high-end plan that covers all kinds of stuff I don't need. By the way, I hunt, fish, and occasionally wear camo and drink a beer. But I, and many of my camo-wearing, beer-drinking friends, am perfectly capable of making choices without the nanny state telling me what is best.
1 Agrees | 3 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
If you are in an open season for renewing your health insurance, look closely at the changes in policies for next year. Why? premiums and office visits may not increase much, but other co-pays and deductibles are going up a lot. Why? Well, because someone has to pay for this boondoggle. Read the fine print!
0 Agrees | 3 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
THEIR CORPORATIONS AND their
DECIMATED the original dream of what healthcare should be.
has created what is left of the original plan.
If people don't like the legislation,
look not at the plans creator's,
look at those who provided the pressure to
insert special privilege FOR
the insurance industry and their
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
If you remember,
as originally envisioned, the proposed insurance plan was decimated
had lobbied HEAVILY,
to make sure their,
soon to be ILLEGAL insurance schemes wouldn't be halted,
or ELSE,
they'd unleash huge piles of
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
As reported,
one of the provisions of the original plan was to ELIMINATE what was commonly called the 'doughnut hole' non-coverage.
Insurance companies and their schemes were raking in,
huge amounts of money selling coverage for this so-called donut hole coverage.
The original plan, as envisioned would have eliminated the doughnut hole, and
cut off a pig of money, insurance companies felt they were 'entitled' to.
O'bama was between a rock and a hard place,
fearing the unleashing of a HUGE LOBBYING effort
on behalf of the industry and the rich, he caved,
to avoid a showdown at 12:00 noon,
this is the best he could wring from the rich,
and now, the rest is history
2 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
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text:
Lung cancer is cancer that starts in the lungs.
The lungs are located in the chest. They help you breathe. When you breathe, air goes through your nose, down your windpipe (trachea), and into the lungs, where it spreads through tubes called bronchi. Most lung cancer begins in the cells that line these tubes.
There are two main types of lung cancer:
If the lung cancer is made up of both types, it is called mixed small cell/large cell cancer.
If the cancer started somewhere else in the body and spread to the lungs, it is called metastatic cancer to the lung.


text:
Nintendo E3 2008 Media Briefing
If location was the deciding factor when assessing the success of a media briefing at E3, then Nintendo would probably have gone home with the gold, the firm unveiling their line-up to an enthusiastic crowd, gathered this morning at the Kodak Theatre in glamourous Hollywood.
Nintendo US executive Cammie Dunaway kicked-off the proceedings, with a few carefully chosen skiing jokes, before a screen was pulled skyward revealing none other than Shaun White, swerving atop a Balance Board playing his new snowboarding game; to be delivered to the Wii by Ubisoft (CEO Yves Guillemot was sat in front of me, and looked perturbed when part of my seat disintegrated, but I digress).
White extolled the virtues of the board-based control, adding that he was working hard to deliver a boarding game that accurately portrays the perspective and feeling he enjoys playing the sport. The new title will be out in time for Christmas.
Cue the arrival of big Japanese boss Satoru Iwata, who waxed lyrical on the "paradigm shift" introduced by the DS and Wii; the manner in which non-gamers are playing Nintendo's products, and admitting that even Nintendo's staff could never have predicted.
Iwata said that the paradigm shift could be demonstrated by three key factors: slow-burning sales success over months and years, not weeks; emphasis on game elements other than graphics; and the expansion of the gaming audience to include more girls, and older people.
The big cheese also teased that the Mario and Zelda teams are hard at work on new projects, but declined to elaborate.
Nintendo also used their briefing to talk about the success third-party publishers are starting to enjoy on the Wii - Guitar Hero III, for example, has now sold more copies on the platform than any other. The DS is also still selling like hot cakes, while the Wii appears to be growing in success exponentially, every year.
Iwata-san promised more surprises in the future, before taking a sly dig at the competition who are desperately chasing their non-hardcore crown, before introducing Katsuya Eguchi's Animal Crossing: City Folk.
Eguchi spoke of a free-form gaming experience, with an emphasis on explorative fun, and creativity, rather than set goals. A real virtual world is the order of the day; time-passing as the land around you evolves. Social features are looking impressive, players able to send letters and pictures to each other, or even to the Wii message board.
Perhaps one of the briefing's most interesting announcements was word that Animal Crossing will also use a new microphone peripheral, called Wii Speak. A community mic is what we're told to expect, allowing rooms full of people to communicate with other rooms elsewhere.
With Eguchi's segment out of the way - Reggie Fils-Aime takes to the stage, delivering various impressive numbers about the growth of the Wii platform. He let slip that June's NPD data from the US could crown the Wii as the nation's top seller for the month.
A few third-party trailers followed, Nintendo highlighting Raving Rabbids TV Party, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Call of Duty: World at War. The latter is looking rather visually impressive, for a Wii title, players using the Wii Blaster to plough through bad guys. Co-op play will be a key feature.
Cammie Dunaway returned to the fore next, telling us that nearly as many girls as guys now play the DS, before lifting the lid on a brand new Guitar Hero for the platform - Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades. You'll be able to share songs between the two versions of the game, and the guitar 'grip' controller will also be evolved.
Bombshell time, Nintendo revealing to a genuinely surprised auditorium that Grand Theft Auto is en route to the DS. The game will be built using a new engine, and will feature the same free-roaming gameplay as its next-gen big brothers. It'll be out this winter, we were told, and will be called 'Chinatown Wars'. This is clearly a major announcement for Nintendo - although quite whether the firm's family-focussed audience are ready for GTA is another matter.
With excitement subsiding, Dunaway then told the crowd that DS airport software is possible; allowing players to check flight information, review destination details, and more via the handheld. More 'digital companion' style features come in the shape of word that the Seattle Mariners are using the DS in their stadium. Users can check scores in other games, order drinks and food, even taking themed quizzes and the like. More of this is to come. And cooking games. Yum-yum.
The MotionPlus peripheral, previously announced, was also detailed somewhat further in the briefing. The Wiimote attachment makes subtle movements possible, opening up new gameplay possibilities for developers. Enter the super-cute new Wii Sports game, called Wii Sports Resort. Beach based activities are planned, Ninty showing off a frisby game (you throw it, your dog catches it), a jet-ski game, and a sword-duelling game. Looking like a well-thought out evolution of Wii Sports, the title will be released in Spring 2009.
Nintendo's already impressive briefing was wrapped up with some style however, a drummer hammering away in mid-air with the Wiimote and Nunchuck, while hitting invisible foot pedals on the Balance Board. None other than Shigeru Miyamoto then took to the stage, playing a saxophone with the Wiimote.
Yes, Nintendo have announced Wii Music, which will be out this festive season. Over 50 instruments will supported, with a piano and taiko drum also spied. We're told you won't need to be able to read music, you'll just have to play at a rhythm of your choosing.
Conducting and note matching diversions will also be included, and the Balance Board will be supported via a unique section of its own. Miyamoto also let us know that we'll be able to make our own music videos using Miis in the game, before playing us out as part of a four-person jam.
Overall, Nintendo's conference demonstrated the confidence of a firm on the up, who are getting scarily good at creating mass market temptations. They are also promising to look after hardcore gamers, and games like Animal Crossing should help with this. For Microsoft and Sony, this briefing probably made terrifying viewing - Ninty are stretching ahead, and getting to know their audience apace. More from E3 as we get it.
Latest News
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 after all
- Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third gets a release date
- Adr1ft is coming to PC and consoles at the end of the summer
- EA gives the new Mirror's Edge a name – Mirror's Edge Catalyst
- ZombiU PS4 and Xbox One port reportedly in the works
- Mike Bithell's Volume to be released this August
- Gearbox's new shooter Battleborn gets a pre-E3 trailer
- Steam Controller launches in October, Steam Machines arrive in November
- Gears Of War devs Black Tusk change their name to The Coalition ahead of E3


text:
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Response from Dish on Native Passthrough
Posted 09 October 2008 - 07:01 PM
I realize many customers (including yours truly) have been asking for a native passthrough resolution feature to the 622, 722, 612, 211, etc. receivers for quite some time. I emailed them the other and received this response from Dish today (it may come to no surprise for many):
Dear Mr. -------,
Thank you for expressing your concerns and interest in DISH Network. Customer input is an important tool in our efforts to continuously improve the quality of the DISH Network service.
The intent of this email address is to work with customers to resolve their audio/video discrepancies. This topic was directed more at our receiver design and software teams. We forwarded your email through to some of our top corporate engineers. It brought on quite the discussion. They were developing ways to do this, however; it was creating adverse affects with current receiver configurations, so they had to back out. While there is still a possibility this will be added in the future, our understanding is that there are currently no near term plans for implementing native pass through.
We appreciate the time DISH Network customers take to email their audio/video quality concerns Thank you for your patience and for being a valued customer.
EchoStar Broadcasting Corporation
Quality Assurance Department
Posted 09 October 2008 - 11:41 PM
"In a hundred years there'll be a whole new set of people."
"Always poke the bears. They sleep too much for their own good."
"If you're good enough, they'll talk about you." - Tom Harmon
A GEEZER who remembers watching TV in 1951 and was an Echostar customer from 1988 to 2008, now a Dish Network customer.
My AV Setup (Updated 3/11/2016)
My Blog: The Redwood Guardian
Posted 10 October 2008 - 08:25 AM
Posted 10 October 2008 - 10:44 AM
Dish does a good job scaling HD material but compared to the high dollar scalers, Dish is good but not in the same class.
It is something I have hoped they would add and it was mentioned about a hear back that they were working on it. I am sorry to read the reply and hope that they do figure out how to make it happen. But then again.. as more and more stuff moves to HD I think the usefulness of this feature diminishes.
One other thing. This feature always is the top vote getter when we run Wish list polls.
Posted 10 October 2008 - 11:16 AM
Posted 10 October 2008 - 02:34 PM
I'm sure it's obvious, but why is this a huge feature? Is the scaling in the receivers so bad, it would look significantly better letting the TV scale?
Some of us have display devices that do not have a native resolution -- CRT projectors.
Posted 10 October 2008 - 04:10 PM
I've played around with that some and to be honest, the difference is only discernible sometimes, and even then it's very subtle. (And I have a Pioneer KURO which supposedly scales well.)
The only improvement I've noticed occasionally is sometimes when the I'm watching SD material, with the DVR set to 1080i, you can see small black horizontal lines in text on the screen, looks like some kind of scaler artifact.
If you set the receiver to 480i, these lines go away.
To be honest though, I watch so little SD (news, speed, etc.), and when I do it's so non-critical, I just don't care really.
As far as HD, I can set the receiver to 1080i or 720p, and from normal viewing distance, it is pretty much impossible to see a difference, regardless if the source is 1080i or 720p (like NBC 1080i vs FOX 720p for example). Now I've noticed if you are viewing side-by-side or PIP, the small image looks sharper on 1080i, but full size image almost impossible to see a difference. (My TV is 1080p)
Regarding CRT projectors, I thought about that too, and I can definitely see an advantage to always sending native resolution to it, so in this case, the only advantage to NPT would be not having to switch manually?
For a fixed-resolution display like mine, I actually don't think I'd want NPT. Every time I switched channels the TV would have to re-sync, that would suck actually. I'd rather just set it manually if I want to watch a long 480i show, and it looks better letting the TV scale.


text:
Grrr… This is annoying… and it's 100% my fault. Well, one could say that it's the fault of complicated fare class requirements along with obscure rules for upgrades with a partner airline, but in reality, the rules were there, and I didn't check close enough.
We're off to Europe for a couple weeks, and we're flying on an open-jaw economy revenue ticket, purchased through United Airlines, to get there.
We're starting our trip in Stockholm, and we're flying SFO-LHR-ARN to get there, SFO-LHR on United and LHR-ARN on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System International). As a 1K, I'm using United Systemide Upgrades (SWUs) to upgrade our flight to London. United has a minimum fare code requirement for using SWUs. You need to book a W fare or better. Here is United's language below:
Upgradeable Booking Classes fares: This upgrade may be used on United Business booking classes (C,D,J) and United Economy booking classes (Y, B, E, M, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, K, L, G) for travel in Region 1. This upgrade may be used on United Business booking classes (C,D,J) and United Economy booking classes fares (Y, B, E, M, U, H, Q, V, W) for travel in Region 2.
I made sure that when we booked our tickets, they were on W fares or better.
We're ending our trip in Prague, and we're flying PRG-FRA-SFO. This leg is also a W fare code, and it is operated by Lufthansa. The FRA-SFO segment happens to be on an Airbus A380, which I am SUPER excited to fly. It will be my first time on this plane. I was even more excited because United allows 1Ks to convert their SWUs to "paper SWUs" that can be used for standby upgrades on Lufthansa flights. Here's the language for that below:
Lufthansa Standby: This upgrade may be used on a standby basis, subject to availability, on the day of travel on any eligible Lufthansa flight in accordance with the terms and conditions of this certificate, except when booked in LH booking classes X, I, R, N, W, S and E. In addition L and T fares are also excluded for Intra-Europe flights. Please note: This upgrade requires a 14-day advanced notification to Mileage Plus in order to print and mail the certificate for presentation to Lufthansa on the day of departure. Please contact the MPI Service Center to have certificates printed.
In preparation for the trip, I converted two of my SWUs to Luftansa SWUs, and they arrived in the mail shortly thereafter.
This all happened months ago. Everything was set, and I went about my merry ways. Now as the trip approaches and i get my things in order, I have stumbled across fine print that I SHOULD have known about, but didn't. It turns out that even though United pegs the minimum upgradable fare at W, Lufthansa actually has slightly different fare code requirements. In fact, if you read the fine print above, you'll see it. W fares are no good for SWUs.
Crap! I'm sitting on a W fare, and I assumed that Lufthansa had the same rules as United. You would think that after four or five years of being a 1K, I would have been familiar with the fine print, but clearly I was not.
There is something you can do called "upfaring" a ticket, where you call an airline and try to pay the difference in fare code, in order to get a different fare. Unfortunately, because it's last minute for me, the lowest available fare on this flight is a B fare - that is nearly a full-fare economy ticket. That would cost me thousands.
I'm still excited for the trip back home from Frankfurt on the A380. In fact, it's not an overnight flight, and I've heard that the current business class product on the A380 isn't that impressive in the first place. I'd still much rather fly that than economy! I've got these darn LH paper SWUs in my bag now so we're going to try and use the SWUs at the airport to see what happens, but i'm not expecting much… Maybe the agent will forget the fare code restrictions.
What's the lesson to be learned from all this? Well, read the fine print! That's the first lesson. And the second lesson is to just remember this nugget of information: United and Lufthansa, despite offering reciprocal upgrades, do not have the same fare code requirements for using these upgrades. Sigh… this is one of those few times I'm jealous of American's SWU system, with no fare requirements.