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Fruity sponge cake
Nutrition and extra info
- Sponge is freezable
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal214
- fat4g
- saturates1g
- carbs40g
- sugars30g
- fibre0g
- protein7g
- salt0.34g
- butter or oil, for greasing
Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…
- 50g plain flour
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp baking powder
Baking powderbay-king pow-dah
Baking powder is a raising agent that is commonly used in cake-making. It is made from an alkali…
- 4 egg, separated
The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a…
- 175g caster sugar
For the filling
- 295g can mandarin segment, drained
- 200g tub low-fat fromage frais
- icing sugar, for dusting
Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease then line the base and sides of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper. Sieve the flours and baking powder together.
Use electric hand beaters to whisk the egg whites until stiff, then briefly whisk in the sugar. Beat the egg yolks quickly, then whisk into the whites. Fold in the dry ingredients using a large metal spoon, then spoon the mixture into the tins and level the tops. Bake for 18-20 mins until risen, light golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then gently remove and leave to cool completely.
Mix the mandarins and fromage frais together. Peel away the greaseproof paper, sandwich the cakes with the mandarin mix, then dust with the icing sugar to serve. Best eaten on the day it's made.
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Comments, questions and tips
Comments (45)
Pleasantly surprised by this cake, I made it to take on a picnic with friends who are all very health conscious so I wanted to contribute a healthier treat. The sponges rose very well but when I took them from the tin they were so light that I thought the cake would be like eating air! I was sooo wrong, everybody loved it. It doesn't have the more dense texture of even a nice, light normal sponge, almost tastes like the ladies fingers you use to make trifles but still felt like you were having a treat. I used low fat cream cheese, a spoon of lemon curd and blueberries for the filling and added lemon essence to the sponge mixture, I didn't use icing sugar on top and the cake was plenty sweet enough. The cake lasted well in terms of texture, for a couple of days, and the filling didn't make it soggy. I'll definitely make it again.
I let the sponges cool in the oven after I switched it off and didn't have any sinking issues.
Mm family have fallen in love with this recipe! we first tried it when my mum was on a diet but now we use it all the time. the sponge has a really lovely flavor and a light and fluffy texture. even the mixture looks beautiful and smooth! the only thing I would say is that the sponges do not look very attractive. they are fine once covered and I also found that turning them up-side down when actually assembling the cake makes them look more even. I also used half whipped single cream and half greek yoghurt as the filling with strawberries and blueberries. delicious!!
Simply Delicious. Very easy. Mine sunk too but it was still incredibly light and once the icing sugar was on no-one could tell. I've had several requests to make it again! Used cream and mandarins to fill the cake. Definately not good for diabetics though, good job there were seven of us sharing it!
i decided to use this sponge recipe as it was straight forward enough and was just what i was looking for. I didn't use the recipe as stated here but used it for fairy cakes/cupcakes instead, therefore i only used the sponge part of this recipe. The final result after i baked the cakes was horrible, the sponge was sticky and didn't taste great at all. In my opinion if you want to make nice cakes just use a normal recipe, don't bother using low fat recipes, i felt like it was a waste of time and money. I will not be recommending this to anyone.
I halved this recipe and made 4 large cupcakes topped with strawberries! I also halved the sugar for sweetener worked just as well! Best recipe ever... All the recipes made with butter are too greasy and not got a nice texture also I found this recipe had a good rise. Why have a slice of cake for 400... 500 calories or more when you can have this for just 214calories! its fantastic!
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Take Action
Tell Congress to Oppose Any Efforts to Cut Medicare Benefits
Tell your members of Congress to oppose to privatize and undermine Medicare benefits. Sign the petition.Sign the petition. »
The AFL-CIO is governed by a quadrennial convention at which all federation members are represented by elected delegates of our unions. Convention delegates set broad policies and goals for the union movement and every four years elect the AFL-CIO officers—the president, secretary-treasurer, executive vice president and vice presidents. These officers make up the AFL-CIO Executive Council, which guides the daily work of the federation.
The Executive Council meets at least twice a year to consider important union movement business and policies. The council regularly passes statements on issues affecting the interests of working families, ongoing struggles for justice for workers and more.
This website includes Executive Council actions from 1995 to date. New statements are posted the day they are issued by the council. Find statements here.
The 2013 AFL-CIO Convention was held Sept. 8-11, 2013, in Los Angeles. Find out about recent conventions here:
The rules under which the AFL-CIO operates are detailed in our Constitution.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hawkins denies allegations
Barbour County Sheriff John Hawkins on Tuesday adamantly denied all allegations contained in a federal civil lawsuit filed last week that accuses him of sexual assault and battery, among other charges.
In a written statement issued to media outlets, Hawkins dismissed the 15-count complaint, filed in U.S. District Court by Brittany Mae Keene, 19, of Moatsville, as a ploy to obtain money.
Hawkins and the Barbour County Commission are named as co-defendants in the suit, which alleges Hawkins sexually assaulted Keene and five other females, who are referred to as Females Nos. 1 through 5.
In May 2012, Keene also filed a domestic violence protection order petition against Hawkins, and at the time, alleged the sheriff had sexually assaulted her in July 2011 in a county-owned trailer at the Barbour County Fairgrounds.
In his statement Tuesday – which is being reprinted below exactly as provided with no edits for grammar or Associated Press style – Hawkins claims Keene's allegations were false in 2012 and are false today.
The Inter-Mountain first learned of Keene's lawsuit just before 4 p.m. Monday, when a Harris Law Office press release on the case was sent to a reporter. The paper subsequently obtained a copy of the original complaint from the Elkins office of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Voicemail messages left for Barbour County Commissioners Timothy McDaniel, Jedd Schola and Phil Hart on both Monday and Tuesday were not returned as of presstime Tuesday; however, the commission's attorney, Keith Gamble of the Morgantown law firm Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe LLC, spoke with The Inter-Mountain about the civil suit via telephone Tuesday.
"The allegations are obviously very serious and significant," Gamble said, "but allegations are just that, they're allegations, and before you can do too much with them, they have to be verified and examined for truthfulness and that's something we do in the litigation process."
Gamble noted that the case was still in the "early stages."
When asked about the complaint's charge that the commission "knew or should have known, of the proclivity and tendency for violence and excessive force of Hawkins in performing his law enforcement duties," Gamble responded, "He's an elected official. … The people of Barbour County elected the sheriff, not the county commission.
"As to what we knew should have known, the problem is, we don't know exactly what they're claiming we knew or should have known other than them making those generalized statements," Gamble said. "The proclivity for someone to use excessive force could mean different things to different people. I don't want to take a position on it at this point."
"Currently, theres no indication that the allegations against us (the commission) are accurate and I don't have any reason to question that right now," the attorney added.
When asked if Hawkins is still on active-duty status as the Barbour County sheriff, Gamble said, "I have no reason to believe that he's not, but nobody has told me that he is."
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Hawkins said he's still serving as the sheriff of Barbour County. Hawkins also said he believes the same attorney who is representing the commission – Gamble – will be representing him.
"If that's who's representing them, that's who's representing me," Hawkins remarked. "We're all one."
Gamble, however, said that "as of now" he's only representing the commission in the case.
Statement by Barbour County Sheriff John Hawkins
"On Monday morning, I was served with a notice that a Civil Suit had been filed in Federal Court, naming me, the Sheriff's Office and the Barbour County Commission as defendants," the sheriff's statement reads. "The allegations in the Civil Suit are the same allegations that were lodged against me in another civil matter during the election in 2012.
"First and foremost, I deny the allegations in the complaint. Unfortunately, in today's society issues like these are tried more in the 'Court of Public Opinion,' than in our Judicial System where they belong. By Monday afternoon, someone had tipped every news agency in the area of the lawsuit. Fortunately, one reporter gave me a courtesy call to allow me to comment and also inform my family of the issue before it went public.
"Over the next few months, this lawsuit will proceed. Both sides have attorneys who will exchange information and negotiate. The outcome, the Plaintiff seeks money for damages caused by her allegations. Either they will get money or they won't. That will be up to a jury to decide. The jury will be picked from the same citizens who will have been blitzed by the media coverage of this.
"Therefore, my comments in the media will be brief. As I posted yesterday to my friends on a Social Media, which was copied to the front page of a newspaper, I am sorry my family and friends have to go through this yet again. No one knows until they live through this the toll it takes on spouses, children and other relatives. A simple task of going to the grocery store can become unbearable. And all of it over false allegations to try and get money.
"As for me and my office, I am surrounded by a competent and caring staff. The Sheriff's Office in Barbour County will continue to operate on a daily basis. We will handle business to the best of our ability and respond to your needs as quickly and efficiently as we can. Some tasks, such as Estates, Grants and other duties may be put on a back burner while I prepare a defense to these allegations, as our staff is limited.
"I appreciate all the support you have shown me and my family by the calls, messages and prayers sent our way so far. It is sad it takes a tragic event such as this to appreciate the friends and support you have.
"When I chose to run for public office it was to serve the citizens in the County I loved. I was born and raised here and this is where I wanted to raise my family. In the next few months I will have to re-evaluate that decision and make the decision that best serves my family. In the mean time, I am still in office and still serving the county."
The statement is signed "Respectfully, John W. Hawkins."
Contact Katie Kuba by email at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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American Scholar Competition to Offer College Awards
For the seventh year in a row, Magic 106.5 and West Virginia Wesleyan will award scholarships that will forever change the lives of families in North Central West Virginia.
The American Scholar Program provides a full, four-year scholarship to Wesleyan that includes tuition, room and board. The first and second runners-up will receive four-year scholarships of $5,000 and $2,500 respectively in addition to other Wesleyan academic awards. In addition, each finalist will receive a Kindle Fire or iPad.
Students from Barbour, Braxton, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Ritchie, Taylor, Tucker and Upshur counties are eligible for the scholarship competition.
Students can apply online at www.wvmagic.com or submit a paper application to West Virginia Wesleyan's Office of Admission.
Scholarship candidates are required to send Wesleyan their high school transcript and ACT or SAT scores. All application materials must be submitted before October 31, 2012.
"The American Scholar Program provides opportunities for every student who applies for the scholarship," noted Dr. Pamela Balch, president of Wesleyan. "Our admission staff ensures that every competitor receives information about every scholarship offered at the College. The program is designed to be a life-changing opportunity, not just for the winner, but also for every applicant. Our partnership with Magic 106.5 and our other sponsors have created one of the most unique scholarship programs in the nation."
The program is sponsored by West Virginia Wesleyan, in conjunction with West Virginia Radio Corporation and the law firm, Columbo & Stuhr PLLC.
For more information about the American Scholar program, contact the Wesleyan Office of Admission at 800.722.9933.


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1700 E Lincoln Highway
Directions Langhorne, PA 19047
Reedman-Toll Chevy is a branch of Reedman-Toll Auto World situated in Langhorne, PA. Over the years, our dealership has grown in its current location, as we now offer a state-of-the-art showroom, Parts & Service Center, a Collision Center and a Finance Department!
If you're shopping around for a new or used Chevrolet vehicle you should jump right in and browse our online inventory of new cars or used cars, to see if you can find the right match for you. Alternatively you could use our handy CarFinder tool which can notify you when cars that interest you arrive! Simply specify the make, model, year or options you're looking for and you will begin receiving photos and details automatically. If you aren't sure which car interests you yet feel free to read some reviews at our research center.
Our dealership is located at 1700 East Lincoln Highway in Langhorne, PA (click for directions) and we proudly serve the greater Philadelphia area. If you have looked at a number of Chevy dealers in PA, look no further than Reedman Toll Chevrolet. View our article on 10 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score.
Did you know we're on social networks? We like to keep in touch with our customers and offer them every available line of communication to contact us and resolve any concerns or questions you might have. We also occasionally run promotions and giveaways so become a fan today using the icons below.
Although Reedman-Toll Chevy is located in Langhorne, PA, many of our customers come from the following cities and townships in Pennsylvania and New Jersey: Bala Cynwyd, Bensalem, Churchville, Delaware County, Doylestown, Ewing, Glenside, Horsham, Hatboro, Jenkintown, Langhorne, Lawrenceville, Levittown, Morrisville, Newtown, Southwest Philadelphia, Pennington, Philadelphia, Richboro, Southampton, Cherry Hill, NJ Trenton, Warrington, West Chester and Willow Grove. Interestingly, we have many customers that come from New Jersey (NJ), and also we have customers that come as far as Staten Island, New York (NY)! If you've bought a car from Reedman-Toll Chevy and are from somewhere not on this list, we'd love to hear from you! To see the full list of cities and towns we serve click here.
Our state of the art service center offers a complete selection of premium auto care. Whether it be tires, batteries, brakes or oil changes you'll be taken care of respectfully and professionally by the Reedman-Toll service staff. You can use our online service appointment scheduler to make a service appointment today quickly and easily. After all we love saving our customers time and effort, feel free to call our service department at 800-396-0476 anytime between the hours of 6 am to 9 pm on weekdays, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm on Saturdays and 9 am to 4:30 pm on Sundays.
Our technicians are all experienced and trained to perform your service work quickly and with integrity. Because we love answering your questions and being helpful auto experts we've built out an Ask A Tech form to be your first stop for any vehicle related issues you might be wondering about.
If there's a specific part you need for your vehicle Reedman-Toll has a dedicated parts center happy to assist you. Our Parts department is always ready to help you out whether you simply have a question or wish to place an order for a new part. Use the parts request form to get more information and availability of the parts you're looking for. You can also reach our Parts Center though phone at 877-702-7808.
Have you signed up for the Owner's Circle program we offer? Register now for a personal web page to track real-time information on all of your vehicles. This includes current repair order statuses, reminders, service history and more!
Our finance department understands that everyone's credit situation is unique which is why our team of auto finance car loan experts work with you to offer the best auto financing and car loan solutions in Philadelphia along with competitive rates for new and used cars. You can get approved for a loan instantly by filling out our Finance Application today.
Do you have a used car you're looking to trade in? No problem! Reedman-Toll has a Cash For Your Car program which promises to be the quickest and easiest way to trade your car in for cash. For more information on this program hop over to our dedicated Cash For Your Car page.
Are you wondering how much your monthly payment would be if you bought a new vehicle? Use our handy online payment calculator! We'll calculate how much your auto payment would be and help you figure out if it's a rate you can afford or not. At Reedman-Toll we're not all about sales, we want our customers to be happy and secure with their purchases. Also for those with bad credit, or no credit, read about how you can overcome this with our how to fix bad credit tips.
Have you been in an accident? Try out our Collision Center for top notch repairs. You can easily schedule an estimate using our online appointment form. We also have a variety of other helpful resources available in the collision center section of our website such as what to do if you're in an accident, towing information, how to make paintless dent repairs and more. You can also call the Collision Center directly at 888-721-4499 extension 476.
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I am due to give birth in 9 weeks. My 1st dd, now 19 months old, was born with a cleft lip, and only nursed for 4 months, the last month and a half sparingly. I pumped from the time I was in the hopsital until her 1st b-day, the latter 8 months full time pumpng. I am nervous about nursing again. I never felt comfortable nursing in front of anyone, except my hubby and my mom. I used to go into bedrooms of houses we were visiting, or bthrooms of restaurants, mainly because I had to use different positions to help cover dd's cleft. I have purchased a sling from Dr. Sears, but I am still quite nervous. I want to be able not to have to leave, especially when I am at my own home and there are guests here! Any suggestions as to get the nerve up?
Colleen, mom to Abi, soon to be mom to Elisabeth


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Integrity in the Conduct of Research
The three major granting councils (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR) issued the following statement in January 1994 to promote and encourage the highest standards of integrity in research and scholarship. Integrity includes adhering to such principles as:
These principles should be interpreted with the understanding that research can involve honest error, conflicting data or valid differences in experimental design or in interpretation or judgment of information.
The primary responsibility for high standards of integrity in research and scholarship rests with the individuals carrying out or supervising these activities. Scientists and scholars have the responsibility of meeting high standards of professional integrity in their research publications or other communications.
See the full policy.
Academic & Related Dates 2010/2011
Other Calendars


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Daniel Ruge
Class Year:1939
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1978
A North Central College Life-Trustee since 1981, Daniel Ruge established himself as an outstanding neurosurgeon in the Midwest. He was a member of the American College of Surgeons, the Harvey Cushing Society and is certified by the American Board of Neurosurgery. He was a professor of surgery at Northwestern University and was deputy director for Spinal Cord Injury Service at the Veterans Administration Central Office in Washington, D.C. Prior to assuming his position in Washington in 1976, Ruge maintained a private practice in Chicago and was senior attending surgeon at Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital and attending neurosurgeon at the Veterans Administration Hospital. Ruge has demonstrated a special interest in North Central College for many years. Since 1961, he has served on the Board of Trustees and was director of the Alumni Association. He has had several medical papers published and is the author of "Spinal Cord Injuries" and "Spinal Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment." Ruge was also the White House physician during the Reagan Administration.


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Because Knetbooks knows college students. Our rental program is designed to save you time and money. Whether you need a textbook for a semester, quarter or even a summer session, we have an option for you. Simply select a rental period, enter your information and your book will be on its way!
Directed primarily toward undergraduate business college/university majors, this text also provides practical content to current and aspiring industry professionals.
Modern Management is a traditionally organized principles of management text that integrates core concepts with cutting-edge skill training—all while keeping the focus on application. The text focuses not only on helping readers learn management concepts but also on developing the skills needed to apply to them through the completion of specifically designed innovation learning activities.
This edition provides the latest concepts and empirical research as well as the most recent examples of management in today's business world.


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Small plane lands on South Florida highway
Published: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 8:50 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 8:50 a.m.
WESTON, Fla. — A small plane made an emergency landing on U.S. 27 in South Florida.
The Broward Sheriff's Office says the two people on board were not injured when the plane landed on the highway Tuesday night. It landed about five miles north of Interstate 75 near Weston.
Officials say the plane went off the roadway and came to rest on the median. No one on the road was injured.
No further details were immediately available.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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September 22, 2011 —
Anyone who has walked in a field or a roadside has probably at one time or another picked a leaf of a milkweed plant and observed its milky sap start to flow from the plant; hence its name. Like all plants, the milkweed contains a myriad of chemical compounds that are used by the plant in various ways.
Among the compounds produced by the milkweed are cardiac glycosides; compounds that are toxic to humans and other vertebrates if eaten. Ingest milkweed and you will probably experience varied symptoms such as nausea, altered mental status, and cardiac-related symptoms such as chest pressure and shortness of breath.
If these compounds are so bad, then why is the milkweed plant a host to a variety of insects? The answer is that many insects are unaffected by glycosides. These insects are actually aided by the milkweed's toxic offering; the insects' ingestion of milkweed makes them unpalatable to would-be predators. Like many other toxic creatures, these insects advertise their bad taste by bright colors and patterns. The monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant's interaction is well known. A host of other insects are also participants in the realm of the milkweed microhabitat.


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Democrats are proposing an 11-month extension, retroactive to Dec. 15, to be paid for with future spending cuts, mostly from Medicare providers. But who knows whether Republicans in either Senate or House will go along? Such an extension of benefits would help the economy now, and the cuts down the line would not undermine our still shaky economic recovery. The need is urgent, but will Congress once again put politics before people?
The minimum wage is currently a measly $7.25 per hour ŌĆö only $2.13 for tipped workers. When I talk with workers in stores and restaurants about their pay and working conditions, they pretty consistently say they canŌĆÖt live on what theyŌĆÖre getting. The last figures IŌĆÖve seen list the average yearly income for restaurant workers at $15,000, while the average for all private sector workers is three times that amount. Add to this the all-too-common illegal practice of ŌĆ£wage theftŌĆØ ŌĆöpaying below the minimum, keeping back tips, not paying overtime, forcing work off the clock, withholding final paychecks, etc. Workers, particularly if theyŌĆÖre undocumented, fear losing their jobs if they speak up. We must take care that such things are not happening locally.
I recently heard on You Tube an actual phone conversation between a 10-year McDonaldŌĆÖs employee and the ŌĆ£McHelpŌĆØ line, during which she was advised to seek help from food pantries, soup kitchens, Medicaid and food stamps if she couldnŌĆÖt make ends meet on her $8.25 per hour wage. In other words, the fast food industry deliberately deprives employees of what they need and deserve, expecting taxpayers and charities to make up the difference.
The minimum wage hasnŌĆÖt been raised since 2009 and hasnŌĆÖt kept pace with the cost of living. The wage for tipped workers hasnŌĆÖt been raised for 22 years. Eighty percent get no paid sick leave, forcing them to go to work sick, creating a major public health menace. How would you like to be served by a waitperson suffering from the flu?
A bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress last year to raise the minimum to $10.10 per hour in stages to 2015, and the tipped wage to 70 percent of that. It got nowhere, so must be introduced again. Already 21 states require a minimum wage higher than the federal ŌĆö but not North Carolina. This time letŌĆÖs get it done. In fact, what we really need is a ŌĆ£living wageŌĆØ enough pay to live respectably ($15 per hour plus benefits?). And since, on average, women receive only 70 percent of what men are paid, an equal-pay-for-equal-work provision is also imperative. ŌĆ£Laborers are worthy of their hire.ŌĆØ
Our economy cannot grow when people lack the money to buy the consumer goods we produce. Instead, it spirals down in a vicious cycle of low wages, outsourced jobs, foreclosed mortgages, loss of homes, declining purchasing power, shrinking of the middle class, fewer goods sold ŌĆö and the cycle goes on. At the same time, tax cuts for the rich as supposed ŌĆ£job creatorsŌĆØ is a myth. They can only spend so much, and just salt away the rest ŌĆö much of it in offshore bank accounts that pay no U.S. taxes.
The Florida Immokalee Workers have come up with a partial solution. For the past decade they have been pressuring the tomato growers ŌĆö and the fast food and grocery chains behind them ŌĆö to pay them a penny more per pound picked. My wife and I visited their office and toured their worksites several years ago, were much impressed with their organization and commitment and have supported them ever since. Together with a coalition of churches, students, pro-bono attorneys and community groups, they have staged marches, pickets, ad campaigns and nationwide boycotts.
The results have been remarkable. Six cases of worker slavery (workers locked in shipping containers, papers confiscated, wages withheld, let out in the daytime only to work) have so far been successfully prosecuted, with the offending growers now in jail. Taco Bell (and parent company Yum Brands), McDonaldŌĆÖs, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods and Trader JoeŌĆÖs have so far signed on. Over $10 million has thus far been paid into the fund for distribution to the workers. But Krogers, Publix, and WendyŌĆÖs are still holding out, and pressure continues to get them to do the right thing. If you are a fast food fan and want to help, patronize the ŌĆ£good guysŌĆØ and boycott the holdouts.
Finally, during the recent holiday season, underpaid workers in places in the McDonaldŌĆÖs and WalMart chains, at considerable personal risk, have staged a minor rebellion through wildcat strikes and walkouts to protest low wages, no health insurance, gender discrimination, shifting schedules, reduced hours, intimidation and pink slips. The median hourly wage for fastfood workers is $8.94, mostly with no benefits. They average only 24 hours a week, adding up to $11,000 a year in gross pay. Nationwide, the average Walmart associate makes just $8.81/hour. Hundreds of thousands live below the poverty line, while together, the Walmart heirs have greater net worth than the bottom 100 million Americans combined. (ThatŌĆÖs us!)
To address this situation, advocates for worker justice invite us consumers to join in what they call the ŌĆ£Lilliput strategyŌĆØ ŌĆö taking a cue from the little folk in Jonathan SwiftŌĆÖs old novel, GulliverŌĆÖs Travels, who together immobilized the big giant by tying him down with hundreds of tiny knots. Joining with students, community agencies, faith-based organizations and the workers themselves, we can protest inequities, boycott the exploiters, patronize fair merchants, pay generous tips, promote local legislation requiring governments and their suppliers to pay a living wage and urge Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. Lilliputians unite! ItŌĆÖs time to start closing the appalling rich-poor gap before our democracy disappears before our eyes.


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Expect Another Great Report From Qualcomm Wednesday
Apple's results have the potential to influence the expected results of Qualcomm. Texas Instruments
Conference calls are occasionally insightful for gauging the health of a particular space. Texas Instruments' conference call was expected after the earnings release. Qualcomm investors should expect an impact on Qualcomm shares if any unforeseen related market conditions were revealed.
52-Week Range: $53.09 to $68.50
Price To Book: 3.1
The analysts consensus profit appraisal is presently $1.16 a share, a gain of 15 cents (12.9%) from $1.01 during the corresponding quarter last year. The lowest analyst estimate this report is $1.12 per share, and the highest is $1.22 per share. If Qualcomm beats this week, the company will have only missed one quarter out of the last 14.
The last time Qualcomm missed was for the third quarter, reported on July 18, 2012. It wasn't much of a miss (only 1 cent) and was "close enough" for Wall Street. Shares jumped higher the next day and have trended mostly higher since.
After Qualcomm's last report on Jan, 30, the shares closed before the release at $63.53 and opened the next day at $67.08, an increase of over 5%. Analysts have lower expectations for this quarter compared to last quarter.
Analyst opinion is mixed with this company. Most of the analysts surveyed don't believe a buy or a sell is currently warranted. The stock appreciated 2% in the last year; however, the average analyst target price is quite bullish at $75.39.


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The man's mother says her son's friends injected him with heroin, causing his death, then took pictures of him after he died of an overdose and posted them on Facebook.
Man dies from heroin overdose, friends post pictures to Facebook
Published On: Mar 03 2014 06:52:44 AM HST Updated On: Apr 30 2014 09:04:00 AM HST
The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use.blog comments powered by Disqus


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24 May 2012
So, anyway, Battleship. Since I really enjoy kicking a loser when it's down, allow me to be the latest to sputter, incoherently: aliens? Somebody decided that the right way to adapt the classic board game of randomly guessing where on a 10x10 grid their opponent has placed five plastic ships of varying lengths was to add aliens? Do you know how many goddamn Navy movies they made in World War II that did not feel the need to bring in aliens? All of them. All of the Navy movies they made in World War II.
The aliens, mind you, don't show up for a really long time, and until that point Battleship honestly does play a lot by the rulebook established by the Navy pictures of the '30s and '40. Incompetently, I should hasten to point out: hilarious in its incompetence, at points. There are two brothers, see, Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) and Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård), and when the film begins, Stone is a U.S. Navy officer, and Alex is a dissolute, unemployed 26-year-old who would undoubtedly have died in a drunken stupor on the streets if not for Stone's incredible generosity in letting him sleep on the couch. On the night of his birthday, Alex ends up committing a number of crimes while drunkenly attempting to secure a frozen chicken burrito for a hot blonde, Samantha (Brooklyn Decker), and the only way out is if he joins the Navy himself. Some number of years go by sufficient for Alex to be a lieutenant and third-in-command of a top-of-the-line destroyer during an international war games event, during which time he has persisted in keeping Samantha sufficiently charmed that they are very much in love and thinking about marriage, though since her dad is fleet leader Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson), and Alex is a colossal fuckup at everything naval, despite being an officer with a not-inconsiderable position, it is unlikely in the extreme that he'll be able to charm the old man anytime soon, especially after he gets in a fistfight with Captain Nagata (Asano Tadanobu), a member of the Japanese delegation to these international war games.
And so this situation plays out for a while in various ways, and it is spectacularly dumb - dumb enough, that I found myself wondering why the film was bombing so hard. It was a hoot and a half, I thought to myself, in which moments are cranked through with a kind of active desperation, like nobody had made this film a thousand times already; product placement is executed with a clumsiness that I can't recall having seen since Michael Bay's exquisitely flatfooted The Island; Taylor Kitsch steadfastly remains grungy and unemotive and absolutely nothing that we want our movie stars to be - he is pretty darn great at being an embarrassing drunk in the opening seqeunce - though whereas John Carter surrounded him with mostly effective co-stars, Battleship can only offer horror shows like Brooklyn Decker's total disconnect from every emotional beat going on around her, and Rihanna's movie debut in a role that could not possibly flag its intentions any more blatantly that it requires nothing but the ability to look at objects and say short declarative sentence; and Neeson just absolutely not trying to do anything at all except growl and even that he sometimes forgets to do and just kind of blabs his threats to emasculate Alex without any conviction at all.
Then, when it could not possibly be any sillier, the aliens show up and it hops on the bullet train to Boringville Heights. The aliens, mind you, are foreshadowed in an opening scene, that posits in 2006 (or 2005? I can't remember and I don't actually care), NASA built a transmitter on Oahu for the single purpose of blasting broadcasts at a single Earthlike planet because, why the hell not, right? And then the plot happens. Incidentally, I haven't mentioned, but the plot skips around hectically, and the way scenes are put together, especially toward the beginning, is relentlessly busy and distracted, with big shiny computer readouts dancing past and editing so flurried that it creates the impression of moments rather than actual cohesive events that you can pin down. It is rather a film to enjoy with handfuls of Ritalin than with popcorn.
Eventually, of course, the aliens show, with an advance force of five vessels come to destroy and colonise, only the communication ship breaks entering out atmosphere and takes out a huge portion of Hong Kong, so the others have to start by taking over Hawai'i to get to the satellite relay and contact the homeworld. This involves shutting the island chain off from the rest of the world with a giant shield dome - and guess where the war games were taking place. This naturally gives Alex a chance to redeem himself, and it is suggested that this makes the deaths of hundreds of sailors and thousands of Hong Kong residents perfectly okay, because we are meant to like him better than them.
So it's destroyers vs. aliens, and then destroyer, singular, vs. aliens, and finally, obviously, vintage WWII battleship vs. aliens. And it is dull as hell: the CGI looks as good as it ought to given the criminally large budget, but the action is perfunctory and unimaginative (the closest we get to an exception are the giant death spheres the aliens use to eliminate local military threats, with a surprisingly large number of POV shots; the number of apparent plot holes this raises is considerable - the spheres' decisions as to what constitutes a present threat is awfully convenient for the plot - but at least it's weird), and the execution of it all is so noisome that the running and shouting and exploding very quickly become white noise. After a good long while, the filmmakers - director Peter Berg, writers Erich and Jon Hoeber, and I am certain many script doctors and executives, because it's that kind of film - actually manage to figure out a way to make a navy vs. CGI alien death fleet movie involve a protracted sequence that a) is set on a grid, and b) involves taking blind potshots at grid coordinates and hoping you hit the other guy. I will admit to being impressed by the inanity of it, anyway. The statement "You sunk my battleship!" is not ever spoken, and this is the second-most disappointing thing about the film, and here is the first: a small boychild, who is wearing a cap though I think we can rest assured that if we saw his hair, he would prove to be tow-headed, asks at one point, "what's the difference between a battleship and a destroyer?" and Alex ruins my entire week by not replying "one red peg".
This is such a crappy, dumb, by-the-numbers piece of filmmaking as product, that some people have become absolutely convinced that it is a satire; there's no actual reason to suppose this other than the fact that Berg hasn't directed anything that really suggests he's interested in making science-fiction action movies, and his last project, the sarcastic superhero picture Hancock, suggests that satire is at least on his radar. If it were true, this would actual make the film's problems worse, not better: at best, it's the kind of nihilistically hip satire that acts as dumb as it possibly can and then is smug about how only somebody smart would know how dumb that was. Starship Troopers it ain't.
But I don't really think that's the point. I think it really was just Hasbro's attempt to turn every brand name they own into a movie running into the implacable brick wall where even the rawest Hollywood mercenary product needs to have some intelligence or artistry; Battleship attains neither the idiot poetry of Michael Bay nor even the relative enthusiasm of a Roland Emmerich picture. It feels like a movie that nobody believed in at all, and made it because this kind of thing is usually profitable. Usually.
10 comments:
- Rebecca said...
When I first heard there was a Battleship movie in the works, I was confused until I heard the plot (and I don't know if this was in the original treatment or just someone speculating) was that it involved aliens that were in some sort of dimensional shift and neither side could see each other, and this sort-of made sense to me. And then I saw the trailer, which is... not that. So now I'm curious how this blind grid battle actually comes to pass, but I wish the first idea was the movie because I might actually have wanted to see that one.
- The.Watcher said...
The sad thing is that it IS profitable, at least worldwide. In a shocking twist, the movie generated, I think, +250M overseas, but fizzled in North America. This has led to me developing a feeling very much akin to pride in my N.A. brethren, something that I am so unaccustomed at feeling that it kind of scares me a little.
- james1511 said...
"Battleshit". I can't believe you didn't come up with that.
- Tim said...
Rebecca- see, now if they had to make a sci-fi Battleship, that's the way to do it. In the actual movie, the blind grid sequence is because the aliens vessels are invisible to radar and - this is the awesomely stupid part - they can't see anything at night.
Watcher- My understanding is that even with a decent foreign take, the thing cost so much money that it's not going to be able to break even. I have also heard speculation that this is directly responsible for G.I. Joe 2 getting bumped to 2013, because Hasbro was going to end up so far in the red for 2012 just on this one picture.
James- Hell yes! I thank you with great thanks, and I am ashamed that I never even got to the neighborhood of such a pun.
- Thrash Til' Death said...
I would suggest "Twattleship", but that would be blatant plagiarism from Zero Punctuation.
- KayMartha12 said...
I liked the BAD-leship idea, but I can see how that's not quick to read.
- Daniel Silberberg said...
"this is the awesomely stupid part - they can't see anything at night."
- Tim said...
Beg pardon. I mean that the aliens, in possession of the ability to travel across the galaxy in a matter of hardly any time at all, have absolutely no means to detect objects without being able to see them directly in good lighting, and this is not just a plot point but how we end up beating them.
- Shalen said...
I agree that it was awful. I'm just here to be a grammar asshat because I've been archive binging again, and noisome means "stinky," not "loud." I bring it up because it recurs, and you're better than that.
- Tim said...
I actually thought it meant "generally off-putting", but I certainly didn't know it had anything to do with smell. Thanks for the tip!


text: To meet the food and fiber needs of a world population projected to double just 20 years from now will require a more productive agriculture and an increased utilization of technology. Surveys conducted of Southern producers since 2000 indicate continued adoption of precision farming technology and a significant increase in the use of GPS guidance. According to surveys of cotton grower adoption in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 seasons, 63 percent of farmers who responded are now using some form of precision farming. The biggest change from 2004 to 2008 was in GPS guidance. By field operation, the most popular use of GPS guidance was spraying, but it is being used more and more today for planting and tillage.


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2012/10/22 Minutes Economics Working Group
1. EWG meeting 15th October 2012 – minutes approved. Friday's meeting notes by Schrapp to follow.
2. GIRO: good meeting with Vince Cable although he was pretty tired; good presentation by Mike and VC nodded in agreement throughout; raised BoI contract – leeway or cancellation; need sight of the contract – he will explore with his department; copy of presentation sent to VC yesterday; it was good for Occupy credibility and means we can take other ideas to him; PO mutualisation is under consideration by the government (pension deficit is an issue for privatisation).
3. The future of Occupy – speculation – media – Tammy and Co. has been the only story of merit recently. Occupy – lack of political culture or ability; organisationally moribund; non- conformist churches organised the unions and movement against poverty etc. Occupy not geographically based – lack of interaction, social occasions not supportive of cohesion; Putney Debates and Socially Useful Banking Group; 1st October agreed EWG speaker would be on the platform; need email addresses of all attendees – who is responsible? Peter will organise the collection of email addresses; clash of Monday's 29th November EWG and – Socially Useful Banking; Occupy website has no reference to Putney Debates or Socially Useful Banking; Putney Debates meeting in August agreed to email venues to Chris and events to Mike; agreed to use social media to publicise but Mike was told that it would be sent out through the usual channels; access to twitter and website; Mike emailed Vica to get the links; Mike hopes to have access to facebook, twitter and occupy while he's in Ireland (November); Mike will table a strategy paper for Occupy EWG to be discussed in December; need people to organise a program of "political education". Surfeit of emails on groupspaces obscures useful emails; Socially Useful Banking – no hierarchy makes organising difficult; Rich organised the event off his own bat; it was offered to the EWG for support which approved it; people speak giving their personal views as a member of occupy rather than representing occupy. Putney Debates website – Julie will work with Vica to get more prominence on the Occupy site; Occupy has an inadequate structure; need more accountability; more democratic structure; EEE need to attend EWG to discuss areas of mutual interest. Two views of occupy but situation is more complex. Truth is something in the middle; other groups are creating associations not necessarily visible in cyberspace. 29th event is important because of links to BoE. Occupy is not like other organisations. A small number of people are organising the Putney Debates; points have been raised since the inception of the group but getting agreement takes time; organise a secretariat? Need to attract people; education is very important; degradation of labour; diverse views difficult to marshall opinion; need to accommodate different views in some structure; identify common ground; divide the group? Reservations about a prescriptive list of economic remedies; share view of inequality; banking , taxation, need to move together ourselves; strategy not policy; Mike strategy paper due in December.
4. Economics session in the Putney debates – 5 EWG events; need stewards and collection; additional stewards: Schrapp, Janos, Ellena, Ines; Nelio; Dave will facilitate on 9th Nov;
5. 24th October 2012 Establishing an economic system that protects the commons 9am – 4:30pm October at School of Economics; http://freecriticalthinking.org/happenings/251-establishing-an-economic-system-that- protects-the-commons
6. 4th November – Open Space Technology day (Annette) throughout the day; no speakers as such but ad hoc discussions (radical organisation mode); Toynbee Hall, Bethnal Green;
7. Monday 5th November 6:30pm LSE Talk Richard Sander – pioneered interest rate derivative; carbon trading mechanism; the good derivative; Series of lectures London Institute of Psychoanalysts "Engagement with Climate Change"
8. GA on Thursday 7pm to approve funding for Putney Debates to pre-pay venues; pre- meeting about Socially Useful Banking event 5pm.
9. Next meeting Friday 5-7pm at Friends meeting house – to plan Saturday and general economic discussion; Note EWG meeting on Monday 29th is cancelled – group members are attending/stewarding the Socially Useful Banking meeting instead


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text: Earlier this week, I highlighted an incredibly easy way to send a care package to a deployed military member, completely free of charge. It was a combined effort between Revision Military, who makes SawFly battle-ready eye wear among other things, and also the AnySoldier charity who helps match military members with individual donors. This started [Read More…]


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lobo in chicago here,
Loved today's show as usual. Especially enjoyed the Fats Domino tune. Play more Fats. Unfortunately before your show came on I heard the sad news of the passing of the voice of our dear Luanne, Brittany Murphy. I really miss the weekly journey into the lives of Unca Hank, Aunt Peggy and the gang. Maybe you can find something to dedicate to Luanne/Brittany.
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text:
Fabric FAQ
- What is MySQL Fabric?
- Is it necessary to use a MySQL-Fabric specific Storage Engine?
- How is High Availability achieved with MySQL Fabric?
- How are MySQL Server failures detected?
- What happens when the primary (master) MySQL Server fails?
- Does my application need to do anything as part of the failover?
- Does MySQL Fabric work with semisynchronous replication?
- What do I do if I need immediately-consistent reads?
- How is scaling achieved with MySQL Fabric?
- Does scaling apply to both reads and writes?
- What if I have table data that needs to be in every shard?
- Can MySQL Fabric introduce contention or deadlock?
- What happens when my data set or usage grows and a shard grows too big?
- Is there extra latency when using MySQL Fabric?
- Does my application need to change when a shard is moved to a different MySQL Server or split into multiple shards?
- Is the MySQL Fabric node itself fault tolerant? What happens when the MySQL Fabric node is not not available?
- What connectors support MySQL Fabric?
- Are transactions ACID?
- Is it possible to perform cross-shard unions or joins?
- Is the routing of queries and transactions transparent to my application?
- How many machines are needed in order to use MySQL Fabric?
- Do I need to run an agent for each MySQL Server?
- How does MySQL Fabric Compare with MySQL Cluster?
- How is MySQL Fabric licensed?
A: MySQL Fabric is a framework for managing groups of MySQL Servers and using those servers to provide services. It is designed to be extensible so that over time many different services can be added. In the current version the services provided are High Availability (built on top of MySQL Replication) and scale-out (by sharding the data).
MySQL Fabric is implemented as a MySQL Fabric node/process (which performs management functions) and Fabric-aware connectors that are able to route queries and transactions directly to the most appropriate MySQL Server. The MySQL Fabric node stores state and routing information in its State Store (which is a MySQL database).
A: No. The MySQL Servers that are being managed by MySQL Fabric continue to use InnoDB (and in the future NDB/MySQL Cluster may also be supported).
A: MySQL Fabric manages one or more HA-Groups where each HA-Group contains one or more MySQL Servers. For High Availability, a HA Group contains a Primary and one or more Secondary MySQL Servers. The Primary is currently a MySQL Replication master that replicates to each of the secondaries (MySQL Replication slaves) within the group.
By default, the Fabric-aware connectors route writes to the Primary and load balance reads across the available secondaries.
Should the Primary fail, MySQL Fabric will promote one of the Secondaries to be the new Primary (automatically promoting the MySQL Server to be the replication Master and updating the routing performed by the Fabric-aware connectors).
A: The MySQL Fabric node has a built-in monitoring function that checks on the status of the master. In addition, the Fabric-aware connectors report to MySQL Fabric when the Primary becomes unavailable to them. The administrator can configure how many problems need to be reported (and over what time period) before the failover is initiated.
A: The MySQL Fabric node will orchestrate the promotion of one of the Secondaries to be the new Primary. This involves two main actions:
- Promoting the Secondary to be the replication master (and any other surviving Secondaries will become slaves to the new master)
- Updating the routing information such that Fabric-aware connectors will no longer send any queries or transactions to the failed Primary and instead send all writes to the new Primary.
A: No. The failover is transparent to the application as the Fabric-aware connectors will automatically start routing transactions and queries based on the new server topology. The application does need to handle the failure of a number of transactions when the Primary has failed but before the new Primary is in place but this should be considered part of normal MySQL error handling.
A: In this version, MySQL Fabric sets up the HA Group to use asynchronous replication. If the user prefers to use semisynchronous replication then they can activate it manually after MySQL Fabric has created the replication relationships.
A: Because replication from the Primary (master) to the Secondaries (slaves) is not synchronous, you cannot guarantee that you will retrieve the most current data when reading from a secondary. To force a read to be sent to the Primary, the application may set the mode property for the connection to read/write rather than read.
A: Horizontal scaling is achieved by partitioning (sharding) the data from a table across multiple MySQL Servers or HA Groups. In that way, each server or group will contain a subset of the rows from a specific table.
The user specifies what column from the table(s) should be used as the shard key as well as indicating whether to use a HASH or RANGE partitioning scheme for that key; if using RANGE based sharding then the user should also specify which ranges map to which shards. Currently the sharding key must be numeric.
When accessing the database, the application specifies the sharding key which the Fabric-aware connector will then map to a shard ID (using the mapping data it has retrieved and cached from MySQL Fabric) and route the query or transaction to the correct MySQL Server instance.
Within a HA group, the Fabric-aware connector is able to direct writes to the Primary and then spread the read queries across all available Secondaries (and optionally the Primary).
A: Yes. Both reads and writes scale linearly as more HA groups are added. Reads can also be scaled independently by adding more Secondary servers to a HA Group.
A: A special group can be created called the Global Group which holds the Global Tables. Any table whose data should appear in its entirety in all HA Groups should be handled as a Global Table. For a Global Table, all writes are sent to the Global Group and then replicated to all of the HA Groups. An example might be the department table from an employee database - the contents of the department table being small enough to be stored in every server and where that data could be referenced by any record from one of the sharded employee tables.
Similarly, any schema changes would be sent to the Global Group where they can be replicated to all of the HA Groups.
A: No. A single transaction can only access data from a single shard (+ Global Table data) and all writes are sent to the Primary server within that shard's HA Group. In other words, all writes to a specific row will be handled by the same MySQL Server and so InnoDB's row-based locking will work as normal.
A: MySQL Fabric provides the ability to either:
- Move a shard to a new HA group containing larger or more powerful servers
- Split an existing shard into two shards where the new shard will be stored in a new HA Group. In the future, different levels of granularity may be supported for shard splitting.
A: Not when the routing is handled within the Fabric-aware connector. This does not require the request to be routed via a proxy process.
A: No. Because the application deals in shard keys and shard keys do not change during shard moves or splits.
The shard key is simply the value of a column from one or more tables. The shard key does not change if a row is migrated from one shard or server to another. The shard key is mapped to a shard id (using either a HASH or RANGE based mapping scheme); the shard id represents the shard itself.
As an example, if an existing shard were split in two then some of the rows would map to one shard's shard id and the rest to the other's; any given row's shard key does not change as part of that split.
Very importantly, shard keys are known to the application while shard ids are not and so any changes to the topology of the collection of servers is completely transparent to the application.
A: There is currently only a single instance of the MySQL Fabric node. If that process should fail then it can be restarted on that or another machine and the state and routing information read from the existing state store (a MySQL database) or a replicated copy of the state store.
While the MySQL Fabric node is unavailable, Fabric-aware connectors continue to route queries and transactions to the correct MySQL Servers based on their cached copies of the routing data. However, should a Primary fail, automated failover will not happen until the MySQL Fabric node is returned to service and so it's important to recover the process as quickly as possible.
A: Currently PHP, Python & Java. In addition the Hibernate and Doctrine Object-Relational Mappings frameworks are also supported. New connectors will be added over time.
A: Yes. Because each transaction is local to a single MySQL Server, all of the ACID behavior of the InnoDB storage engine is experienced.
A: Not at present; all queries are limited to the data within a single shard + the Global Table data. If data from multiple shards is required then it is currently the application's responsibility to collect and aggregate the data.
A: Partially.
For HA, the application simply needs to specify whether the operations are read-only or involve writes (or consistent reads).
For sharding, the application must specify the sharding key (a column from one or more tables) but this is independent of the topology of the MySQL Servers and where the data is held and it is unaffected when data is moved from one server to another.
A: For development, the MySQL Fabric node and all of the managed MySQL Servers can be hosted on a single machine.
For deployment, the minimal HA configuration would need 3 or more machines:
- 2 to host MySQL Servers
- 1 to host the MySQL Fabric process (that machine could also be running application code)
A: No. The MySQL Fabric node is the only additional process and does not need to be co-located with any of the MySQL Servers that are being managed.
A: MySQL Cluster is a mature, well proven solution for providing very high levels of availability and scaling out of both reads and writes. Some of the main extra capabilities that MySQL Cluster has over MySQL Fabric are:
- Synchronous replication
- Faster (automated) fail-over (resulting in higher availability)
- Transparent sharding
- Cross-shard joins and Foreign Keys
- In-memory, real-time performance
MySQL Fabric on the other hand, allows the application to stick with the InnoDB storage engine which is better suited to many applications.
A: MySQL Fabric is available for use under the GPL v2 Open Source license or it can be commercially licensed as part of MySQL Enterprise Edition or MySQL Cluster Carrier Grade Edition.


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Prepping your home for sale
While working on our April cover story we spoke with Colleen Lora of Colleen Lora Designs & Staging about prepping your home for sale. As a realtor and a home stager, she knows a thing or two about what sells. Here's some of her insider advice.
"One of the newer trends—for homes more than 10 years old—is to do a preliminary home inspection," Lora says. "Especially for older homes, it's a good idea to inspect before putting it on the market. This way, you can identify any issues that would otherwise come up later." After all, no one likes a bad surprise.
"Buyers snoop—it's just human nature," she adds. Before showing your home, clean out medicine cabinets and safely store jewelry.
According to Lora, vacant homes do not look bigger—or sell faster. "I've never seen a vacant home sell for more than a well-staged home," she says. "It looks desperate … people will think you've already moved out and are eager to sell. And they'll focus on every little negative thing." If you need to empty your home, stage it and give potential buyers something to look at.
Finally, says Lora, "inspectors and appraisers are more likely to appraise a home at full value if it looks well taken care of."


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text: Just back to work after 7 weeks of wildly successful, pain free nursing. Even introduced a bottle & pacifier at 5 weeks with no issues. Now that I am pumping with the Medela Symphony (hospital pump) 4 - 6 times a day x 10 - 20 min each & the base of my nipples are incredibly raw. I pump that much at work because I work 10 - 12 hour days. Have only been back to work 5 days, noticed the soreness on day 3. was using the lansinoh lanolin but seemed to make the base of the nipples stickier & hurt more. Started using left over mama bee belly balm & that eases some discomfort while pumping but still sore. Am using 27 mm breast shields. Also have the setting on low (3 drops appear on screen in stimulation phase & 5 bars appear on letdown phase). Any advice?


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Alternative keybindings attempt thread!
[Edit - This is a second attempt, which appears to play much better...]
I decided to embark on this mission, though it's proved harder than I thought - for example, you can't just switch on the keylock on the radio, some deeper digging must be necessary.
However, with a bit of rearrangement, I've added the hotkeys (short home), and what effectively amounts to an [almost] always functional 'start / stop' key you can use without having to look (long home). To do this, I've had to move the quickscreen to short down (you crazy kids who want to turn your backlight back on will just have to use short power...), but otherwise I think I've just squeezed out a bit of redundancy in ways to move around the menu. It's not a *great* deal of added functionality, sure, but I think I prefer it, and it's been interesting to play around with anyway.
To use, first you need to uncomment the last line of /firmware/export/config/sansaclipplus.h to turn on the hotkeys.
Then apply this diff to /apps/keymaps/keymap-clip.c
Index: keymap-clip.c =================================================================== --- keymap-clip.c (revision 27995) +++ keymap-clip.c (working copy) @@ -39,9 +39,6 @@ { ACTION_STD_NEXT, BUTTON_DOWN, BUTTON_NONE }, { ACTION_STD_NEXTREPEAT, BUTTON_DOWN|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, - { ACTION_STD_MENU, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_HOME }, - { ACTION_STD_QUICKSCREEN, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_HOME }, - { ACTION_STD_OK, BUTTON_SELECT|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_SELECT }, { ACTION_STD_OK, BUTTON_RIGHT, BUTTON_NONE }, { ACTION_STD_CANCEL, BUTTON_LEFT, BUTTON_NONE }, @@ -55,7 +52,7 @@ static const struct button_mapping button_context_wps[] = { { ACTION_WPS_PLAY, BUTTON_UP|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_UP }, - { ACTION_WPS_STOP, BUTTON_POWER|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_POWER }, + { ACTION_WPS_STOP, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, { ACTION_WPS_SKIPPREV, BUTTON_LEFT|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_LEFT }, { ACTION_WPS_SEEKBACK, BUTTON_LEFT|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, @@ -77,18 +74,17 @@ { ACTION_WPS_BROWSE, BUTTON_SELECT|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_SELECT }, { ACTION_WPS_CONTEXT, BUTTON_SELECT|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_SELECT }, - { ACTION_WPS_QUICKSCREEN, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_HOME }, - { ACTION_WPS_MENU, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_HOME }, + { ACTION_WPS_QUICKSCREEN, BUTTON_DOWN|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_NONE }, { ACTION_WPS_PITCHSCREEN, BUTTON_UP|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, { ACTION_WPS_ID3SCREEN, BUTTON_SELECT|BUTTON_DOWN, BUTTON_SELECT }, #ifdef HAVE_HOTKEY /* down|repeat doesn't work in the file browser */ - { ACTION_WPS_HOTKEY, BUTTON_DOWN|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, -#else - { ACTION_WPS_VIEW_PLAYLIST, BUTTON_DOWN|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, + { ACTION_WPS_HOTKEY, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_HOME }, #endif + { ACTION_WPS_VIEW_PLAYLIST, BUTTON_DOWN|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, + #ifndef HAS_BUTTON_HOLD /* Clip+ */ { ACTION_STD_KEYLOCK, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_SELECT, BUTTON_NONE }, #endif /* HAS_BUTTON_HOLD */ @@ -134,10 +130,10 @@ }; /* button_context_list */ static const struct button_mapping button_context_tree[] = { - { ACTION_TREE_WPS, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_SELECT, BUTTON_HOME }, + { ACTION_TREE_WPS, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REPEAT, BUTTON_NONE }, { ACTION_TREE_STOP, BUTTON_POWER|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_POWER }, #ifdef HAVE_HOTKEY -// { ACTION_TREE_HOTKEY, BUTTON_NONE, BUTTON_NONE }, + { ACTION_TREE_HOTKEY, BUTTON_HOME|BUTTON_REL, BUTTON_NONE }, #endif LAST_ITEM_IN_LIST__NEXTLIST(CONTEXT_LIST),
[removed old versions]
ETA fifty-third-time-lucky: I reckon the posted patch might actually now work!
Last edited by Confuseling; 09-05-2010 at 05:51 PM.
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New version, now pretty much the entire keymap rewritten. Hopefully it's a bit more consistent (with a few notable exceptions - not sure what's going on with the recording screen, for example... It doesn't seem to do as it's told [user error edit - recording screen now fixed])
The patch should now alter both files (hopefully...). The zips are self-contained anyway.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1257491/rock...ate.keymap.zip [power for menu]
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1257491/rock...e.keymap.2.zip [home for menu]
[Have removed the diff - check the flyspray link below]
Last edited by Confuseling; 09-06-2010 at 07:13 AM.
Thanks for working on this,
What about bringing this work on rockbox bug/patch tracker (flyspray) ?
Wasn't sure if this was going to work out, so didn't put it on flyspray initially. I've refined it a little more, so it's there now - personally I consider it usable.
So, this is pretty much ready, the links to the zips above should be the latest version. Anyone up for testing? Version two is slightly 'out there', having some nice functionality, but seeming to have painted itself into a corner consistency wise. Version one, however, to my mind adds functionality and loses nothing. I'd like to propose it for inclusion, but obviously it needs to run the comments gauntlet first...
It's basically the same as it is now, with the addition of the hotkey (short home in WPS, home and select in filebrowser), and a stop/start key (long home). Other than that, hopefully it feels a little more consistent - keep pressing (short power) to get back to the menu, and you can't go wrong. But I can't tell any more, because I've been staring at it for too long...
works great for me. very handy to be able to start/stop with one hand and without looking at the screen. thumbs up.
Thanks for the feedback. You were using version 2 before, weren't you. I quite like version 2, but it is inconsistent - too inconsistent, I feel, to propose for inclusion. Any chance you could give version 1 a spin for a day or two, and report any problems / suggestions? My only real bugbear is that from the WPS, pressing [select] for browse then [home] will take you to the menu, rather than back to the WPS... Doesn't seem to be a lot I can do about it though...
The code is beyond my understanding, but it seems to be quite an elaborate system whereby certain 'contexts' partially override others. In many ways it would be simpler (if more laborious) if you could specify by hand what each button did in each screen (preferably with hysteresis too...), but I imagine this might well make the code unnecessarily large and complex.
Still, my hat goes off to people who have developed the keymaps. It's a lot blinking harder than it looks at first!
Last edited by Confuseling; 09-08-2010 at 12:55 PM.
i tried ver1 and didn't like it as much as ver2. it's more logical that the same button that pauses also un-pauses, so to speak.
ver2 has been very useful so far, at the gym and in other situations. one thing though, that i find a bit annoying is that sometimes you have to press long home twice. i think it's because it's not in WPS by the first click and thats when this happens. not a biggie though
Cheers for testing, and sorry it's taken me a while to have a chance to respond.
In version 1 you can start / stop with [long home], it's just that getting into the menu without stopping is done with [short power].
I agree, the core controls of version 2 are nicer, but unfortunately the way it's set up seems to prevent me making some of the darker corners consistent in version 2. Basically, there's no prospect of separating 'exit to WPS' on [short home] from what [short home] does in lots of other places, so adding that 'breaks' them.
It is unfortunate that it can take up to 3 presses of [long home] to stop play, depending on where you are (and indeed that in some places, it doesn't do anything). I'll see if I can make that better, but it doesn't look particularly hopeful...
Last edited by Confuseling; 09-19-2010 at 10:53 AM.
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Pellerin Milnor offers RinSave water saver software for use with the V-series 40-pound to 160-pound capacity washer-extractors. The software uses a precise G-force to remove the wash liquor from laundry items between the last wash step and the following rinse cycle. Eliminating excessive rinse and intermediate extraction steps can reduce total cycle time up to 10 minutes per load and reduce water consumption up to 0.4 gallons per pound of laundry, according to the manufacturer.


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Headlines (News Releases)
Office of Aboriginal Initiatives
Laurier showcases Aboriginal education with art gallery exhibit
Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing
May 3/12| For Immediate Release
Kristiina Montero, Assistant Professor
Kevin Crowley, Director, Communications & Public Affairs
WATERLOO Wilfrid Laurier University education students, Elder Rene Meshake and Hamilton-area Aboriginal high school students will present their visual and literary art for an exhibit titled Songideewin: Aboriginal Narratives, from May 22 to May 31 at the Robert Langen Art Gallery on Lauriers Waterloo campus.
Songideewin, an Ojibwe word meaning strength of the heart, is a collaboration between Kristiina Montero, assistant professor in Lauriers Faculty of Education, and Meshake, Ojibwe artist and author. They brought together and mentored high school students from Sir John A. MacDonald Secondary School in Hamilton and students of Lauriers Bachelor of Education program to explore Aboriginal teachings and worldviews through painting and dialogue.
I wanted to help pre-service teachers understand more about Indigenous education, said Montero. Faculties across Canada are mandated to bring Indigenous education into our curriculum and to our students, but there is a lack of awareness among teachers of the particular learning styles of Aboriginal students.
Sir John A. MacDonald Secondary School has courses geared toward Aboriginal teachings, such as Aboriginal English and Native arts and culture. For three weeks, five Laurier pre-service teachers joined high school students in an arts class led by Meshake. Then students from the schools Aboriginal English class wrote responses to the paintings.
Both the paintings and responses in the form of poetry and prose will be shown alongside paintings from Meshakes Truth and Reconciliation exhibit. Initially, I was painting on my own, but the students enhanced the project, said Meshake. Working with them in the school made reconciliation even more profound.
Visitors to the gallery may also participate in the program by displaying their own written responses to the paintings in the gallery.
I see it as an opportunity to forge an authentic dialogue between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities, said Montero. We need to create this dialogue so that teachers have real cross-cultural experiences to share when they begin teaching themselves. Its also an opportunity for Aboriginal youth to be seen and heard; to be validated in the public sphere.
Media are invited to attend the exhibits opening reception May 22 at 10:30 a.m. The reception will feature a talk about the exhibit, a traditional smudging ceremony and a performance by Minaade sin Aankote (Blue Stone Cloud), a drumming group from the high school. The high school students and Laurier students who participated in the program will be in attendance. Please contact Montero at 519-884-0710 ext. 3571 or email@example.com to arrange interviews.
The Robert Langen Art Gallery is open TuesdaySunday, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
View all Office of Aboriginal Initiatives news
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By Marc Schoder
Africanized honey bees have been identified in Roosevelt County, according to a release from the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service.
"The colony was discovered in the wall of a house in the Causey-Lingo area," said Bill Moyer, a local beekeeper.
The bees attacked residents of the home, Moyer said, in response to the sound of a lawn mower. The bees, Moyer said, judged the sound of the mower as an attack on the colony.
One person in the home was sent to the hospital with anaphylactic shock, while another just suffered stinging. Moyer declined to identify the residents of the home.
The colony is the only known colony of Africanized bees in Roosevelt County. Roosevelt is the 12th county in New Mexico to confirm presence of the bees.
African honey bees are scientifically recognized as being a subspecies of the more popular European honey bee. The bees are so similar in appearance that their differences can only be distinguished in a lab.
The bees are similar in biological terms as well according to Moyer, who has been a beekeeper in Portales for about three years.
"Both Africanized honey bees and European honey bees have the same amount of venom in them," Moyer said. The difference between the varieties, Moyer said, is that the Africanized bees are more aggressive in protecting either their colony or their offspring.
Moyer suggests not taking direct action on any colony of bees.
"The best thing that any person can do is leave them alone and contact the extension office (356-4417)," Moyer said. "The worst thing a person can do is spray a colony with bug spray (because the bees regard that as an attack)."
Moyer said as a defense mechanism the bees will butt or push against a person that is seen as a threat to the colony.
"These bees are not killers (by choice)," Moyer said. "They defend their colonies aggressively."
Moyer said everyone should be concerned about bees and more observant of the area around them.
"I have removed bees from a city water meter box as well as a dirt pile," Moyer said.
Carol Sutherland, a New Mexico State University Extension entomologist and a state entomologist for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, echoed Moyers' instructions.
"When you come across them, it is a good time to get a professional pest control operator out to remove them," Sutherland said. "I do not recommend anyone trying to remove the colonies themselves.
"Like Mom said when you were younger, you need to leave them alone."
Sutherland said more bee-related incidents may arise in Roosevelt County in the coming months.
"People need to be a lot more alert and observant of bees," Sutherland said.
A report by Sutherland said that Africanized honey bees first arrived in the United States in 1990.
The bees were first introduced into Brazil in the 1950s to breed a honey bee that was a better pollinator and honey producer for the tropical area, but the Africanized bees escaped from a breeding facility there. Since then, the bees have become established in most of South America, according to Sutherland's report.


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Powhatan pool money woes outlined
POWHATAN POINT – The long-awaited spring season brings its own troubles to the tables of village council members. Tuesday night's meeting of Powhatan Village Council saw lengthy discussions concerning the swimming pool, unkempt properties and the need for repairs of village structures.
On the sunnier side, Beverly Necessary attended the meeting to announce a ribbon-cutting for the Powhatan Point Antiques & Crafts Mall.
According to Necessary, the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at the south doors of the former elementary school June 1 at 11 a.m. The mall is located on the second floor of the building.
In other matters, council accepted the resignation of Debbie Berisford, employed jointly by the village and the board of public affairs. Berisford has been employed with the village for five to six years.
Mayor Mark McVey announced that the Summer Youth Program will return this year. Youths from age 14 to 24, meeting income eligibility, are encouraged to sign up for the program. Interested youths should contact the Department of Job and Family Services' Connections Office as soon as possible to schedule an appointment. Interviews are being conducted this month. Work start-up is in June.
Jeff Brown and Jodie DeBlasis, a former manager of the swimming pool, asked if the pool would be open this year. She said she'd received several telephone calls about the matter. Clerk-Treasurer Lisa Armann-Blue, who is one of three board members for the Powhatan Park District, said county funding for the park district has been reduced to $9,000, and the board is unable open and operate the pool on that amount. Armann-Blue noted that she planned to speak to council about financial help.
According to Armann-Blue, the cost for needed painting and concrete work to open the facility is about $7,000.
There was discussion about aid from the village, but the matter was tabled. According to Councilman Jerry Binni, the municipality lost between $300,000 and $400,000 during the time it operated the pool. A Park District was eventually established and the pool turned over to that board as the village could not afford to keep it open. Armann-Blue indicated the facility went in the hole about $9,000 last year.
Mayor McVey suggested those concerned about the pool might want to speak with residents about passing a levy to help in funding it.
Councilman Brady Dierkes reported he has obtained an estimate for work on the municipal building – with the exception of the parking lot. He said letters have been mailed requesting quotations for the project.
In an unrelated matter, Dierkes said work on restrooms at the marina should be completed this week.
Reporting for the street department, Councilman John Mitchell said the roof of the village garage is, "leaking bad." After a short discussion, Council President Pro-Tem Sam Armann moved to replace the roof. The price tag is about $6,500. Money for the project will come from the building construction capital improvement fund. The vote was 5-0, Councilman Rob Caldwell was absent.
A resident approached officials concerning a boat dock, which belongs to a neighbor, on the riverbank and allegedly infringes upon the resident's property. Councilman Binni indicated council cannot help in this situation as it has no jurisdiction with regard to the river and added that the issue would be a civil matter. The resident also noted a dumpster on the alleyway between the properties and feels that, too, should be moved. McVey said he will look at the area.
In a safety-related matter, the resident noted the metal drain cover on the street in that neighborhood tips when driven on or stepped on. McVey said he will pass the information on to street department employees.
Several residents complained about properties which are not being maintained and where grass is uncut and junk has accumulated.
One resident alleged his neighbor's property is more like a junkyard, and he has seen rodents and snakes. "I want it cleaned up," he told council, adding the neighbor " must have 50 tires and the grass is uncut." He noted another property whose owner, according to the resident, has not cut the grass for eight years.
McVey noted that all properties should be properly maintained and grass should be cut. The village has an ordinance concerning lawn maintenance.
Police Chief Joshua Haught is asking that motorists do not park against traffic.
An executive session was held to discuss a contract and potential disciplinary matters.


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Espresso, My Ticket Into The Green Thumb Cult Club
Contributing Monkie V Ol Blak
Published on August 21, 2011
Filed Under Gardening Organically Tags Espresso, gardening, nitrogen
Photographer V Blak
Gardeners, farmers, green thumb people, who can't kill a plant if they tried, and those composting know it alls. You know the type. Always smiling as they guide you through their indoor forest of house plants. Yeah, those people. I think they are all part of some secret club, maybe even an underground cult. It's just too suspicious… how do they know how to keep plants alive? How do they get seeds to sprout? How come they never have brown crusty leaves covering their house plants? Come on, really, their orchids don't turn belly up and die a week after they buy them?
I will admit it, this Evil Dark Flesh Monkie is definitely not a green thumb cult member. To prove it, I kill plants on a regular basis. I burn them alive, I kill them through dehydration and my favorite method is over watering. Drown them in their own pots. Yeah, I kill plants. I have the boy scout patch and eerily empty pots to prove it.
I don't want to be a killer. I was just sadly born this way, you know like Dexter. Of course I have my fairytale dreams of joining the cult, learning the secret hand shakes and eating lunches with dirt under my nails. Hell, I fantasies of indoor house plant forest, acres of gardens, a home surrounded by edible plants consisting of everything an Evil Vegan could ever want to digest. I am drooling even as I write this. Yeah I have dream!
I also have an addiction. I'll admit it. An addiction to that dark rich smooth warm drink called espresso. Better know as heaven in a cup. I am having one now. My girlfriend even turns on the machine first thing in the morning and places a fresh mug in the receiving position, so I only have to walk up and push the two shot please button to get the ball rolling. Lucky for me, I have one of those magic machines which grinds the espresso beans, filters the water, tamps the grounds and makes a perfect cup of espresso all with just a touch of a single button. You have seen him ( the machine) on some of the shows. Everyone calls him Joe. He is my best friend… He has also become my ticket into the that green thumb cult. Yeah, I am sneaking in with a dark brown thumb. Well that is my plan and so far…. Master Joe is proving to be a very wise indeed.
Okay I know, V what the hell are you rattling on about? We are going to stop reading this thing if you don't get to a point. Okay I am getting there. Everyone who follows my post religiously knows I attempted to start a garden back in June. I was all ADD kid excited. I found myself at the local gardening center buying hundreds of dollars of seeds, hoses, seed starting soil and those plastic sprouting trays. Fast forward a month and guess what… no sprouting little plants in the clear plastic dome sprouting trays, no lush rows of plants and no sign of any cult membership forms in the mail. No, the perfect little seed starting soil I bought for $15 each didn't work. The seeds seem to look at me as if I was holding them hostage. They even had the nerve to scream as I kindly put them out in the direct desert sun in the middle of July. How was I to know it was going to get 150 degrees under that plastic dome?
That is all behind me now. Master Joe has shown me the light. I will never forget it. He was pouring me a fresh one when I heard him whisper, GRRRR GEEE GRREEE GREEE GRREEEE GRRRRR Beep Beep Beep… which roughly translated means, empty my tray, and plants will grow they will. I was puzzled for a moment, stunned, then it hit me, Joe knows plants. He grinds their bodies up everyday to give me my fix. He had intimate knowledge of the espresso bean. He was telling me I should use the mangled up bodies of the coffee bean as a type of high quality nitrogen packed fertilizer. I should become a pusher of caffeine and the plants will love me. They will get on their knees pucker up their lips and ask for more… just like me. YES.. why didn't I think of this before. Plants love nitrogen and coffee beans are packed with the stuff. A coffee bean has more nitrogen than even chicken poo and it wont burn the plants. Not unless you pour it directly on them fresh out of the coffee machine. Just saying.
So what is Nitrogen? Nitrogen is one of the 17 chemical elements required for plant growth and reproduction. Nitrogen is in chlorophyll, a green chemical which allows plants to capture energy from the sun and make food for themselves in a process called photosynthesis. It is also the basic element of plant and animal proteins, including the genetic material DNA and RNA, and is important in periods of rapid plant growth.
Pretty cool, right. You can feed your addiction and the plants at the same time. You can even take it a step further and create a coffee compost pile, toss in some hungry worms, some veggie waste and wham bam thank you compost gods, perfect nitrogen / mineral packed compost fertilizer. The plants would do back flips, if they had legs, as you dig in this virtual plant crack around them.
So, now I am guessing your wondering if I actually used the espresso to feed the garden and I bet your wondering how in the world did I have enough espresso to go around. Well, being an evil dark monkie leader, has it's perks. Peet's Coffee & Tea had sent G Living boxes and boxes of organic espresso beans while we shot the GreenChef shows in Venice. I literally had expired out dated vacuum packed espresso bean in every draw of the house. At least $400 worth of beans. I ended up tossing almost all the bags into my trusty Blendtec which turned them into pounds of a crack like fine powder. I took all that powder and tossed it evenly across the garden. I have about 1500 sq ft of growing space.
What happened? Well the pictures say it better than I ever could. The plants sucked in the nitro and haven't stopped growing yet. The sunflowers went from 1/2 inch wimps to 3 1/2 feet punks in just a few weeks. The Arugula bunched up into gangs and raised their 4 inch leaves up to the sky. Things here are booming at V Blaks espresso crack gardens. Now with this new gained wisdom, I have reached out to my local Starbucks, who have agreed to bag up all the spent espresso / coffee grounds they can and will give them to me for free each night just before closing. Starbucks actually does this for anyone (Starbucks Recycling & Reduce Waste Policy). Tonight is my first pick up. I will let you know how it goes. I am taking my trusty electric A2B bike and wagon. I even bought new worms a few minutes ago to start building that crack compost pile. Things are definitely looking up. I can feel it, any day now, those green thumb cult membership forms are going to show up in the mail….. right.. green cult people.. you hear me out there. I am one of you.. I can grow things… I can. I just needed a little help from my wise old friend. Thanks Joe!
Below are photos from the garden this week (Nov 28th). It's been about 6 weeks total so far. I waited for the summer heat to fade into history, before I really started planting the seeds in the garden. This is my first real attempt at gardening, so it turned out kind of like a mixed green salad. A little of everything everywhere. I will post an update in another few weeks and everything should be nearly fully grown I am guessing. The first photo is of the hard dry sandy dirt I started with. Not pretty. Here is my first post on my garden. Blackhearted Monkie Attempts To Start A Garden, Again!


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The FDA is fining the Red Cross close to $10,000,000 for failing to correct violations of its blood safety rules.
That's according to a letter from the FDA to the Red Cross made public on January 13th.
The Red Cross has been cited 14 times since 2003 and fined close to $46,000,000 dollars for similar offenses in the past.
The FDA says staff members lacked blood safety training and that the Red Cross did not supply a list of donors who were disqualified from giving blood.
Copyright Copyright 2013 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Jim Cramer's Best Blogs
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Jim Cramer fills his blog on RealMoney every day with his up-to-the-minute reactions to what's happening in the market and his legendary ahead-of-the-crowd ideas. This week he blogged on:
- how "old" tech names are looking fresh; and
- why it's still too early to take profits and "go away."
Click here for information on RealMoney, where you can see all the blogs, including Jim Cramer's -- and reader comments -- in real time.
Out With the Old, in With the New
Posted at 12:37 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 8
Exploited vs. unexploited. New names vs. old names. Overheated and overowned sectors vs. underowned sectors that haven't heated up yet.
That's where I think we are in this market. Money managers all over the country are looking at the stocks of companies hitting all-time highs and they are saying, "OK, what's still behind the averages longer term that I can make a thesis for buying?" They want to know where there still might be value. Right now they are finding little value in the consumer packaged goods sector of the market, think Clorox (CLX) or Colgate (CLP) , and a ton of value in the once-growth names in hardware and software, companies like Texas Instruments (TXN) or Ciena (CIEN) and JDS Uniphase (JDSU) or even Compuware (CPWR) , BMC Software (BMC) and Computer Sciences (CSC) .
Now before you jump up and down for these names, because I tell you that the hot money is flowing into them, let me first tell you how the money management business works.
You know how when you got to the supermarket and you see something labeled "new" you might be more likely to try it than not, or at least that's what all of the brand people I have ever talked to tell me. It's not that much different in the money management business. There is an insatiable desire to hear new ideas and to take action on them, even if they seem old hat to you.
Take Texas Instruments. When I first got in this business Texas Instruments, along with National Semiconductor and Motorola were the highfliers. At that point many businesses that were mechanical in nature where going digital. Don't understand? Think about all of the electronic instruments that are in your car now, vs. what used to be in it. If you ever get a look at a late-model Ford or Chevy you will be in shock at how little instrumentation there really is. Now, cars are chock full of semiconductors. That revolution is what drove the tremendous growth spurt of what was then called high technology.
Now that transformation, which was so exciting back then, is the stock market equivalent of ancient history. Texas Instruments, which ended up buying National Semiconductor , is now considered a gross domestic product play, meaning if there is growth in the economy then its orders pick up. If there is no growth it languishes.


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The reality of a new state-of-the-art fitness facility in the Res/Rec Center is on the horizon.
"While living in Res/Rec last year, I personally noticed the need for a new fitness center available for all students," says Chris Smith '10.
As treasurer of the College's Student Governing Association (SGA) during his senior year, Smith became motivated to address this facility need on campus. He and SGA announced a pledge of $100,000 toward the $160,000 total cost of completing the fitness center. "Since SGA's purpose is to be the student voice in the administration, we felt it was our duty to jumpstart the facility so it would be ready for the incoming students in fall 2010," Smith says.
At the start of the 2009-2010 school year, SGA had a surplus of $91,000 from student activity fees. With strategic planning and saving, SGA was able to sustain a large sum of money by the end of the school year. In May, Smith and other members of SGA voted unanimously that the money saved throughout the year should go toward completing the fitness center.
"Amy Clarke-Sievers '03 (director of student involvement) and I wanted to make sure the current student activity fees were spent on current students," Smith says.
In order to come up with the remaining $60,000, Smith contacted Rick Spencer, vice president for institutional advancement, to help meet the goal.
"Chris proposed to Rick a campaign that would leave a legacy, but still be something that students can immediately benefit from," says Adrian Aldrich '02, director of alumni relations.
The fitness center will contain elliptical trainers, treadmills, bicycles and weights and other assorted equipment. It will operate during the current hours of the building, 7 a.m. to midnight. The fitness room in Merner Field House will primarily house weight-training equipment and the current weight rooms in Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium will be converted to classrooms.
During the May liaison committee meeting with trustees, faculty and other key administrators, the discussion centered on making sure that students have a voice. For Aldrich, a former SGA president, the organization's decision to proceed with these plans brings him great delight. "Given my experience as president for two years when I was a student, I'm proud of the students of SGA," Aldrich says. "They identified an opportunity to benefit the North Central College family as a whole. Whether you're an athlete or not, you'll have access to this facility and have the chance to enjoy a well-rounded experience during your time here."
The addition of the fitness center continues to promote the active and well-balanced lifestyle of the student body and demonstrates the importance of student voice—a foundation the College holds strong.
Editor's note: Susan Evangelou '10, an English: journalism major, contributed this article.
North Central NOW Fall 2010