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Contact: Kate Geller, (202) 785-8683 or email@example.com
COLORADO – The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund, which works to elect candidates who will implement sound environmental policies, today announced its endorsement of Sal Pace for election to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Colorado's 3rd district.
"Sal Pace has proven himself a champion in protecting the spectacular natural beauty of the Colorado landscape, the quality of its rivers, and the health of its citizens," said LCV Action Fund President Gene Karpinski. "LCV Action Fund is proud to endorse Pace for Congress because he understands the power of clean energy jobs to boost our economy and will be a leader who stands up for our environmental values."
As former Colorado House Minority leader and a member of that body since 2009, Sal Pace has proven his support for environmental issues in the Colorado House of Representatives, earning a stellar lifetime score of 97% from LCV's state league partner, Colorado Conservation Voters. In 2003, Pace first worked with environmental leaders and organizations in Colorado to defeat Referendum A, a two billion dollar blank check for unnamed water storage projects, and since entering the state house, he has continued his dedication to improving water quality.
"The 3rd congressional district includes so much of what makes Colorado a great place to live, work, and play," said Pete Maysmith, Executive Director of Colorado Conservation Voters. "Spectacular wilderness areas, unparalleled recreation activities for everyone, and many of Colorado's ranching and farming communities are in the 3rd Colorado District. We are thrilled that LCV is endorsing Representative Pace and we are confident he will be an effective steward of western Colorado's environment as a member of Congress."
"I am honored to receive the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters. I am proud of my record in Colorado's legislature to support the creation of more than 1,000 clean energy jobs in the state, support the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, fight to clean up Colorado's rivers, protect agricultural land from the Pinon Canyon military training expansion, develop responsible energy production policy, and promote the recreation and tourism-based economy which is critical to the people of the 3rd Congressional District," said Sal Pace. "I look forward to continuing to work on policies and priorities that balance economic opportunity with protecting our water, air and land."
Pace is challenging Representative Scott Tipton (R-CO) for Colorado's 3rd district. As a freshman representative in Congress, Rep. Tipton has repeatedly supported corporate interests over public health and environmental protections, including voting to weaken the Clean Water Act and to halt implementation of off-road vehicle management plans in national forests. Rep. Tipton's single year in Congress has earned him a LCV environmental score of 14%.*
Sal Pace is featured on LCV Action Fund's GiveGreen website, http://www.givegreen.com/, the only bundling website devoted exclusively to raising money for environmental champions and candidates.
# # #
Paid for by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, http://lcvactionfund.org , and authorized by Sal Pace for Congress.
*The non-partisan LCV National Environmental Scorecard is the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate Members of Congress on conservation and clean energy issues. Based on key conservation votes in the House and Senate, it is often used by the media to quickly describe a Member's record. For more information, visit http://lcv.org/scorecard.


text: In the crisper this week: Fig season is short and sweet, so why not enjoy them in their birthday suits? And if you prefer the slightest bit of embellishment, try this dead-easy recipe for broiled figs with vanilla and honey. You'll have little jewels of jammy goodness on your hands in less than ten minutes. Get the recipe here on Serious Eats.

subset: commoncrawl


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Could You Be Suffering From Wheat Intolerance?
Wheat Intolerance Testing and Treatment
What is wheat intolerance?
Wheat intolerance affects around 15% of the population who react to the gluten ingredient found in many wheat products. Gluten is a complex protein used so that the wheat will stick together and rise when baked. Gluten can be found in other grains such as rye and barley, but wheat is the most common form of grain intolerance because it contains more gluten than other grains.
People with wheat intolerance may be able to eat small amounts of the offending foods, but larger amounts can cause them to feel unwell.
Wheat intolerance, wheat allergy and Coeliac Disease are all associated with eating foods containing wheat. Wheat can also trigger or worsen the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Wheat intolerance should not be confused with wheat allergy. Click here to learn more about wheat allergy.
What are the symptoms of wheat intolerance?
The most common symptoms of wheat intolerance include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Fever
- Abdominal pain
- Headaches
- Aches and stiffness
- Depression and mood swings
- Anxiety
- Fatigue/tiredness
As with wheat allergy, symptoms can also extend to include asthma, sneezing, runny eyes, runny nose, sore/itchy throat or skin rashes.
Wheat intolerance symptoms can take up to 48 hours to surface after eating wheat, which makes connecting the cause and the effect very difficult.
Most people suffer wheat intolerance symptoms for years without knowing their cause. The main reason that people don't realise they are suffering from wheat intolerance is because the symptoms can be attributed to many different medical conditions, including Coeliac Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Which foodstuffs do I have to absolutely avoid in case of a wheat incompatibility?
Those who suffer from wheat intolerance should eliminate the following foods from their diet:
- Cereals, breads and pastas containing wheat, rye or barley.
- Sauces, yogurts and beer containing wheat stabilisers.
- Some types of sausage and beef containing wheat ingredients.
Who is most likely to be suffering from wheat intolerance?
If you are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, there is a strong possibility that you are suffering from wheat intolerance. The most common symptom experienced by those who are suffering from wheat intolerance is abdominal bloating.
How do I find out whether or not I have wheat intolerance? Intolerance testing is the key.
Taking a Food Intolerance Test enables you to eliminate uncertainty and confirm whether or not you have food intolerance. The ImuPro300 test can detect whether a food intolerance is present. It is possible to have a Type III IgG allergy or intolerance to certain foods and additives without your knowledge; you may be experiencing any one of a number of symptoms, whilst remaining totally oblivious to the cause.
When you receive your ImuPro300 test results and put your personalised diet rotation plan into practice you will soon notice the difference in your general wellbeing.
For more information on which foods are tested with ImuPro300, consult our list of foods tested.
Why is ImuPro the best way to find out if you have wheat intolerance?
ImuPro300 is the most comprehensive IgG test available, covering 270 foods. Tests that cover only 90 foods can often miss the foods that are causing you problems. It is an easy, fast method of pinpointing exactly which foods are causing a reaction. This way, you have a clear guideline to begin eliminating only those foods that are causing your symptoms, rather than having to maintain a strict diet that eliminates entire food groups.
If you suspect that you may be suffering from wheat intolerance and would like to discuss the best testing option for you, please contact us online or call us on 1300 481 151 for a free, no-obligation chat with a food intolerance testing specialist.
We're here to help you. Call us now & speak to our experts…
1300 481 151
Find out more about food intolerance:
- Read case studies of successful patient results
- See food intolerance testing options and prices
- Self Assessment: Do I Need a Food Intolerance Test?
- Contact us to enquire about food intolerance testing


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March 29 – April 9
At Tower City
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Year: 2014
Country: USA
Run Time: 97 minutes
The price of college in America has risen 1120% since 1978. In the same time period, prices for health care—the poster industry for excessive costs—have risen by only half that percentage. IVORY TOWER is an unprecedented look at the American higher education system, once thought of worldwide as the model for educating the people, and how it has now become a vehicle for the mass creation of debt. American student loan debt has topped 1.1 trillion dollars (that's with a "T"), and IVORY TOWER asks if it's all worth it, especially when you consider that more than one-third of universities, having accrued more and more debt at the hands of competition over the years, are on a path to financial unsustainability. Containing interviews with the very people involved in the push to fix higher education—including those offering alternatives to the current model, those rebelling against the current model, and those looking at options to higher education altogether—IVORY TOWER is a fascinating look at what could possibly be one of our nation's foremost challenges and one of our biggest remedies: affordable education for all. —T.W.
CIFF38 Screenings
Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Friday, March 21, 2014 at 11:50 AM
Saturday, March 22, 2014 at 2:00 PM
This screening is on Stand By.
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Director Bio
After graduating from Yale College and Harvard Law and working as an associate lawyer, New York-born Andrew Rossi made the move to documentary filmmaking. He is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker whose work has been produced for CNN, HBO, Sundance Channel, and the History Channel.
Select Filmography
"Eat This New York" (2004), "Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven" (2007), "Page One: Inside the New York Times" (2011), IVORY TOWER (2014)
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Twice in the past two years I've taken a hard fall on ice: once at night walking on a dimly-lit sidewalk and another time on black ice in broad daylight. The first time no one was around. The second time I was in a public parking lot. My first act after the fall—before getting up—was to look around to see if anyone had observed my embarrassing fall.
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text:
Pair of garage sales raise funds for charity
Moose Jaw was host to several garage sales over the weekend, including a pair for charity.
© Justin Crann
A volunteer folds blankets to be donated to charity near the end of the Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers fundraising garage sale in the basement of St. Andrew's Church on Saturday afternoon.
The annual SCRAPS fundraising garage sale was held at the Wildlife Federation Building Saturday, throughout the day.
Glady Bell, president and founder of SCRAPS, said "the public really came through" by donating plenty of goods for the sale and coming out to support the event by making actual purchases.
The sale also drew more than 30 volunteers over several days, loading and unloading goods and working the day of the event.
Bell said the sale is vital to her non-profit's operations.
"Our biggest expense is veterinary costs … that is 90 per cent of our expenses," she explained. "We spend every penny we get back into the cats, and we get no subsidies from governments or the city. Everything we do, we do through fundraising."
At St. Andrew's Church, Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers were hosting a garage sale of their own, also for a good cause.
"We are collecting money for the grandmothers of Africa, who are raising their grandchildren (without the parents)," explained Dagny Marshall, one of the sale's organizers.
Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers is a local group — comprised not only of grandmothers — who raise funds to sponsor grandparents in Africa who are left raising children that might otherwise be orphaned.
Like the SCRAPS garage sale, all of the items for sale by Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers were donated and could be purchased for cash donations.
"Nothing has a price, it is just whatever someone wants to donate," said Marshall.
Over the day, there was a "steady stream" of people who visited the sale, but no estimate of how much had been raised was available.
"We haven't figured it out yet … (but) every little bit helps," said Marshall.
At the end of the sale, Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers planned to help even further – by donating whatever went unsold to various needy groups and charitable organizations.


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The committee organizing Fairfield's Memorial Day parade is issuing an invitation to Vietnam War-era veterans to march as a special unit in the May 28 parade.
Fairfield residents who served in the military from Feb. 28, 1961, to May 7, 1975, are invited to march as a unit in the first division of the parade. Uniforms are not required.
Those interested in participating are asked to contact the Fairfield Memorial Day Committee at 203-414-0246 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Going into Tuesday night's game with UT Arlington James Young had made only five of his last 23 3-point shots. Thanks to his coach, Young found his shooting eye against the Mavericks.
The University of Kentucky women's soccer team defeated Vanderbilt 6-1 Friday at the UK Soccer Complex in Lexington, Ky., to advance to next week's SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala. Photo by Chet White
After Sunday's game with Robert Morris, Calipari corrected Young's form. "His shoulders were going back." Calipari said. "I've watched him shoot for two years now and that's not how he shot."
Tuesday night, Young finished 8-14 from the field including 5-10 from behind the 3-point arc. "I was frustrated." said Young. "I usually make shots, so when coach Cal showed me that, I was just mind blown and we easily fixed it."
Kentucky returns to action in Rupp Arena next Monday night against Cleveland State. Tipoff will be at 7:00 p.m. on FSN.


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Tests have been completed and it is very interesting to see how much of a gain we get when we increase the memory frequency that dramatically? At first let's compare the performance of a system working in nominal mode with the system where memory frequency is increased to 1867MHz. We'll start with special memory benchmarks, such as Everest 5.0, BenchDLL version 2.4.258.0.
The performance boost is gigantic, between 30 and 52%! And what will we see if the performance depends not only on the memory subsystem, but also on the CPU or graphics card?
Here things a little more modest, I should say, and the minimal frames per second in Crysis Warhead are even considerably lower. However, these results vary too much during different test cycles. For example, during the first test cycle the minimal fps rate was only a little over 17fps in all ten runs. The table below shows the average of the second ten runs, and third time we would have most likely got a third number, so I wouldn't take this parameter too seriously. However, the overall performance boost resulting from the increase in the memory frequency from 1067 to 1867MHz is not very breath-taking. Let's check out the results during overclocking, to see if the performance gain is going to be more noticeable. We will start with Everest benchmarks.
The improvements are quite noticeable for the latency and read speed, while for the write speed and copy speed – not really. What will the tests in other applications show?
Unfortunately, the performance gain is mostly minimal, less than 1%, i.e. could be considered being within the measuring error. I have to admit that it is very disappointing. However, we did have to lower the memory frequency quite noticeably, even though the timings have been lowered accordingly. Maybe this is why we do not see a significant performance boost? Let's repeat the tests with the CPU overclocked to 181MHz base frequency. In this case not only the memory frequency is close to the maximum, but the timings can be lowered from CL9 to CL8. It is a simply ideal situation to reveal the advantages of high-frequency memory:
The situation in Everest test reminds us of what we have just seen I the very first table: the system with high-frequency memory is way ahead. Let's check out other applications now:
Unfortunately, we didn't see any significant advantages. Like in the previous cases, the performance improvement is most evident in a multi-threaded Custom PC Bench test. During this test there is a video being played back while 7-zip archives some files in the background. It is a very real situation: say, you are watching a movie and the operating system starts backing up and archiving the files. It's a pity that this is the only other type of scenario besides Everest benchmarks when we see an indisputable advantage of high-frequency memory.


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JACKSON (AP) – State health officials are reporting a third death this year from the West Nile virus in Mississippi.
The state Department of Health says Wednesday the most recent death occurred in Forrest County. Other deaths were reported in Madison and Yazoo counties.
New human cases have also been confirmed in Hinds (2) and Lauderdale counties.
So far this year, a total of 18 human WNV cases have been reported in the following counties: Adams (2), Bolivar (1), Covington (1), Forrest (1), Hinds (4), Lauderdale (1), Madison (1), Newton (1), Rankin (4), Yazoo (1) and Wilkinson (1) counties.
The Health Department only reports laboratory-confirmed cases to the public. In 2013, Mississippi had 45 WNV cases and five deaths.


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On behalf of all Central California staff members, I would like to welcome you to the official website of Central California ASA. It is my hope that this site will assist our members to become familiar with our ASA programs and answer any questions you may have about the many programs offered by this organization and ASA.
Tom Dowd
Central California ASA


text: Few other travel destinations in the world can compete with Palau when it comes to diversity, sharks, mantas, wrecks, caves, reefs and the unique Jelly fish lake. Palau is a scuba destination like no other. Many of the dive sites are reachable from both Resort and Liveaboard. If you're looking to maximise your diving the liveaboards here sometimes do up to 6 dives a day. There is just so much fantastic diving to do! Scuba Travel have worked for many years with the premier scuba diving operators in Palau and we're more than happy to help you discover this fantastic destination.


text:
9/11 the worst man-made disaster, says Mahathir
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today laid bare the repercussions of the 9/11 attacks on America, labelling it as the worst man-made disaster for the world since the end of the last World War in 1945.
He said the events of 9/11 had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans as well as a few thousand American and British soldiers, besides causing devastation to two Muslim countries .
"It has divided the world into Muslim and non-Muslim, and sowed the seeds of suspicion and hatred between them," he said, adding that it had also undermined the security of nations which had to spend trillions of dollars on security measures.
"Yet the threat remains, not so much from alleged terrorists as from the powerful states and their crusade to change the world," Dr Mahathir said in his speech at the international conference on '9/11 Revisited – Seeking the Truth', here, Monday.
The Malaysian statesman said it was important to seek the truth behind 9/11 "because when the truth is revealed, then we can really prepare to protect and secure ourselves".
Sharing his views on the aerial attacks on America on Sept 11, 2001, which, among others, destroyed the iconic Twin Towers in New York, Dr Mahathir pointed out that the attacks involved very complex elements which needed detailed planning, precise timing and disciplined execution. –Bernama


text:
What is in this article?:
- What South Carolina farmers are looking for in 2014
- Making faster, better quality hay
Opportunities for both long and short-term investments were offered at the South Carolina AgriBiz Expo held in January.
A QUICK PAYBACK means a lot to farmers contemplating irrigation. Keith Allen (second from left) had some good questions for representatives of companies connected with Reinke. From left: Myron Kellehan of PPS Irrigation, Kingstree, S.C.; Keith Allen, farmer, Latta, S.C.; Garrett Byrd, farmer, Latta, S.C.; SECO Building Systems, Kingstree, S.C. and James Black, Palmetto Irrigation, Denmark, S.C.
With the price outlook for many commodities still appealing, the farmers who came to the South Carolina Agribiz Expo in January seemed willing to make needed investments for an efficient operation. But many were looking for inputs that had potential for a quick payback.
Keith Allen and Garret Byrd of Latta, S.C., were looking at irrigation. "We are thinking about investing in irrigation," said Allen. "We are looking for increased yield in a dry year."
But if irrigation won't give that, "We're not interested," he said.
The high price of corn in recent years has brought many Southeastern producers into irrigation, said Mike Mills, southeast territory manager for Reinke Irrigation.
But with corn prices softening over the past few months, demand for new systems has declined as well.
"We have seen a little softening, but it is still too early to tell [how long it will last]," Mills said. "We have had some other activities going on with late planting and harvest and that is pushing folks back in terms of making decisions. But we are still confident that things will be positive in North and South Carolina (for irrigation in 2014)."
Containerized seedlings
An expected upswing in the timber business seems likely to mean good business for companies that provide products for reforestation. One such company had a popular booth at the Expo. Bodenhamer Farms & Nursery of Rowland, N.C., introduced visitors to its containerized pine seedlings.
"We raise long-leaf pine seedlings for reforestation now, and next year we will have loblolly pine seedling as well," said Aaron Bodenhamer. "Foresters are our main customers."
The heavy rains this summer did not affect their seedling production. "Our seedlings are grown in containers in tee rails off the ground," said Aaron.
Business is going well, and in 2014 Bodenhamer is upgrading its trays in response to customer demand. "There are new timber mills coming on line, and that will mean more need for reforestation."


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This is the tale of how three of my engineering friends and I won brief fame and fortune…
A long time ago (i.e. 3 Months)…
Stephen Colbert, host of the eponymous political TV satire, The Colbert Report, sent out a call to his loyal college fans. The call was to found your SuperPAC, a political organization capable of raising unlimited funds to unofficially support candidates
… and also to find a treasure hidden somewhere in the continental US. Some people might say these two points are completely unrelated. Those people need not apply.
Allow me to skip over the hidden, golden elephant in the room for a moment. If you're not familiar with the SuperPAC concept, in a nutshell, it is a legal method for subverting campaign finance limits imposed on individual candidates. With some clever legal work, you can also get around the reporting process so that all donors remain anonymous. Moreover, you probably have to fill out more paperwork at the DMV to replace a stolen license then you do to create your own SuperPAC. The cover letter is essentially a mad lib with only two blanks. Stephen Colbert saw through the smoke and mirrors. The contest put forth was to have the demographic with the most amount of free time (i.e. college students) to ridicule this system. The only smoke and mirrors allowed are when Stephen Colbert enters the room.
In addition to creating a SuperPAC, Colbert put forth a competition to search for a treasure hidden somewhere in continental United States. The Prize: A 100 year-old antique silver bell in the shape of a turtle (a.k.a. 'Turty'). Clues to the location where given on a map included in a SuperPAC Super Fun Pac kit, along with instructions to start your own SuperPAC.
Watch the following clip for an explanation of the contest and the launch clue the treasure hunt!
When the kit arrived, it was like Christmas morning, or shooting a unicorn out of a cannon into a rainbow; there's was something magical about it. In addition to the map and a leaflet containing instructions to create your own SuperPAC, there was quite a mix of Colbert merch and random items, including:
If you look at the map, it doesn't give much away. Aside from a very clear cipher text in the right hand margin, the map only consists of colored arrows hopping across a map of the US, with a seemingly random set of pictures thrown in. It was easy to decode the cipher text with the ring in in the kit, which leads to the clue, "OER THE LAND OF THE FREE".
This momentous competition called for backup. An excerpt from my email:
So this is the part in the movie with the montage of getting the crew together, vis-a-vis Armageddon. I am clearly Bruce Willis, in that I am leading the effort to collect a top-notch and rowdy team to kick-ass and blow shit up. I am also Ben Affleck, because I live to the end of the movie and sleep with Liv Tyler. I ask to all of you, who will be the Steve Buschemi to my Willis/Affleck?
Not a lot of people want to be Steve Buschemi, likely including Steve Buschemi, but there were takers. Namely Daniela Aizpitarte, Justine Buchman and Ben Zaczek. With the players on the dream team defined, it was time to play the game.
Enter Dropbox, a free file sharing service that allows one to synchronize files between multiple computers, or in our case, between different members of the team. This was the key to solving the puzzle portion of the treasure hunt. While I had created a word document logging all the clues that I was finding in the kit, Justine created a spreadsheet with a tabular listing of the map features. I could also post scans and pictures of the materials in the kit to the Dropbox folder, that way people without the physical kit had access to all the materials.
We found many clues scattered through all the Fun Pac Materials, logging them in the Word document. There is a good summary of them in the solution video that follows. Justine was clever enough to break the braille and the pigpen ciphers once we found the location of these clues.
Here is a link to the solution video!
The big break was the word search that was sent out in the beginning of June. View the wordsearch! If you solve the word search, the unused letters spell out "THE ANSWER YOU SEEK IS WRITTEN IN THE STARS". Up until this point, the best idea that I had was using the streets in Washington DC, which are named mostly after states, to locate the treasure. But this lead to an epiphany! The clues "OER THE LAND OF THE FREE" and "THE ANSWER YOU SEEK IS WRITTEN IN THE STARS" were related. What has stars and symbolizes freedom better than the US flag. Literally taken, the new clue told you to connect the stars to find the answer. The other clues makes sense in this context, as explained in the video. Using the colored paths, I found the first part of the GPS coordinate (N 41.53358)!
The excel spreadsheet revealed the other interesting trends that are shown in the solutions video. Everything was already in alphabetical order according to the states with little pictures on the map. Odd that it was only the first 30 states or so! Finding the captions was easy; Google Goggles lets you take snapshots of the photos and find there source on the interwebs. Knowing now that we need states names to play connect the dots on the flag, we found that only the first and last letter of each caption could produce the requisite state abbreviation. This lead Justine and I to the second part of the GPS coordinate (W 89.29683). This puts you in the middle of a corn field outside La Moille, IL. Who was I to argue with this though? For all I know it could be hidden in a scarecrow wearing a Reagan mask.
Make sure to follow up on the next page for the slideshow!


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iPad mini and wifi iPods head for October iTunes event
This afternoon it would appear that not only has the name "iPad mini" been tipped once again, a couple new iPods have been updated as well. According to Asian sources speaking with Macotakara, the new iPad will have a 7.85-inch display and will indeed be called the "iPad mini." A couple new iPods will be popping up at the same event as this iPad mini, each of them with the ability to connect to wireless internet so that they might connect with iTunes in the Cloud.


text:
Hi I have to problems reggarding combination I really need some help with.
The first one:
In have many ways can 3 cards be drawn from an ordinary card deck (52 cards) so that all of the 3 cards have the same color (3 spades, 3 hearts, 3 diamonds or 3 cubs)?
I know that just 3 cards out of 52 can be drawn in C(52, 3) ways but how do I do it when all of these must have the same color?
The second problem is very much simpler.
12 people are going to stand in an circle. in how many ways can this be arranged?
Is 11! the correct solution? It would be 12! if 12 they where standing in a straight line, right?
I got stuck on another question of the same character:
"4 identical wonderful tasty tomatoes are to be distributed (as in divided, spread) among 3 people. In how many ways can this be arranged?"
Is this even possible to solve this one purely combinatorial? Or is it a trick question?
1) Are the tomatoes identical?
2) Does each person necessarily get at least one tomato?
3) Must all tomatoes be distributed?
Assuming yes, no, and yes, I get
{0,0,4} -- multiply by 3
{0,1,3} -- multiply by 3!
{0,2,2} -- multiply by 3
{1,1,2} -- multiply by 3
This gives 15 ways.


text:
Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule.
Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines
Timmy may have been 13-14 in 2011, but he was far from terrible. A 2.74 era (5th in the NL), 220 k's (to 86 walks) in 217 IP, and a 1.21 WHIP is pretty solid. Run support was the bigger issue then.
Yeah, last year was a mess, but hopefully Timmy turns it around and finds his groove.


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The top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels have used the past 10 days to refresh themselves after capturing their first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 17 years.
The Tar Heels took a few days off after that exhilarating day in Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill to focus on academics and exams while also beginning to practice in preparation for the upcoming 2013 NCAA Tournament.
Receiving votes in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media and USILA Coaches polls as the top-ranked team in Division I during the week, North Carolina's players and coaches watched during Selection Sunday as the tournament field was announced.
Many expected the Tar Heels to receive a one or a two-seed, particularly after completing one of the most challenging schedules in the country and riding an unbeaten streak into postseason play, which included beating six ranked teams — four of which were in the top-10.
However, according to the calculations and reasoning that the NCAA Selection Committee used in announcing the tournament's top eight seeds, North Carolina ended up in the fifth spot behind Syracuse, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Denver.
A fifth-seed for the top-ranked team in the country did not make sense to many and whatever the reasons given were, they still couldn't understand it.
Controlling your destiny
It seemed as though the Tar Heels were not rewarded for playing a challenging schedule, finishing with a 12-3 record, and possessing the longest current win streak in the country while heading into postseason play.
However, for North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi, it didn't matter.
"At the end of the day, you kind of make your own bed, if you will," Breschi said. "I think our schedule is extremely tough. I'm proud of what we put together from a schedule standpoint. I'm proud of our record. The one thing you can't control is how the teams you're playing are doing. I think sometimes the RPI and strength-of-schedule reflect that. In any given year, anything can happen. You can look at it in several different ways and how we looked at was certainly as motivation. From our standpoint, to go out there — we're certainly thrilled to be a part of this tournament — we have the motivation to go out there to continue to compete."
With eight spots provided to conference champions and the remaining eight being allocated to at-large teams like the Tar Heels, this year's tournament field is considered one of the tightest and most unpredictable in terms of selecting a clear-cut favorite to win it all.
Growing pains
According to Breschi, an unintended consequence of providing more spots to conference champion automatic qualifiers is that the number of at-large bids available to the sport's traditional powers has been reduced.
While giving opportunities to less prominent programs to compete in the NCAA tournament, it will help to increase the overall reach and exposure of the game.
"Obviously, it's going to be more challenging," Breschi said. "When you have some great teams not in the field, it's going to be more challenging to get one of those eight at-large spots. It's obviously tough. You knew you had to win some games to gain an at-large bid. With one less opportunity to get an at-large, I think it does make it tougher for those at-large teams, including our conference, the ACC. I think at the end of the day, I think at-large qualifiers are great for the sport."
Breschi's former team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, took many by surprise in earning the third seed in the tournament, but they did it by winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament by beating No. 9 Loyola and No. 4 Denver in succession.
While first-time tournament qualifiers like Detroit Mercy and Bryant will take to the field, NCAA championship programs from Johns Hopkins and Virginia will not.
By providing automatic bids to conference champions, and with more conference champions being crowned, the need to inevitably increase the tournament field will arise and it's something that the ACC Coach of the Year is in favor of.
"I think at the end of the day, I think at-large qualifiers are great for the sport," Breschi continued. "I think it's great for the sport and the expansion's been fantastic. I think it's going to continue to grow. Just the growth of the game has been tremendous and I think that we're all excited for that. You hope down the line we get a little more expansion on the amount of teams that are invited to the NCAA tournament, but right now I think it's a great thing."
Focusing on what's important
With talk regarding their seeding subsiding as the week has progressed, and as the time to prove their worth arrives, Breschi and his close-knit team have focused on preparing to face their first-round opponent, the 10th-ranked and unseeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
While doing so, he and his staff have been careful to keep everyone grounded and to appreciate everything that they have achieved up to this point in the season.
"I think not many gave us a chance in the ACC this year and we were fortunate enough to break a 17-year drought by winning the ACC Tournament, so that was a great success for our guys," Breschi said.
"I'm so proud of how hard they worked and have battled throughout the year. And our coaching staff — coach Myers, Feifs, and Holman — have done a terrific job in preparing our guys and sticking to the game plan. We want to play fast, we want to get up and down the field, and not really worrying about things you can't control, including the seeding. We're one of 16 teams remaining and we're thrilled for the opportunity, and the fact that we have a home game is awesome. We look forward to competing against a great Lehigh team."


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The queen of hip-hop and R&B, Mary J. Blige, will bring her passion, struggles, and heartache to the big screen this fall when she appears in Tyler Perry's upcoming release "I Can Do Bad All By Myself." The Grammy-Award winner plays a familiar role as a singer and nightclub manager in the film. MJB will be acting alongside a stellar cast including Taraji P. Henson and music icon Gladys Knight.
"I Can Do Bad All By Myself" is scheduled for release September 11, 2009.


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" Life's a Bender and so is my shoe"
The Bender, Jake Duncombe's first pro model shoe, was inspired by Jake's nautical flare. He and the Globe design team set out to create a skateable boat shoe that was lightweight, and had mad grip, with a lightly padded tongue and ankle collar.
The Bender is a vulcanized, mid-top deck shoe equally at home on a board, in the bar, or manning the helm. It has distressed details, and a mix of canvas, suede and leather with a hand-stitched moccasin toe and is held together with Ballistic Grade Thread. Keeping with the boat vibe, there are leather laces and the lace through the heel to finish it off.
The footbed art consists of a nautical " Terra Australis" map for extra flare points.
Get your Bender on!
Technical Features:
Mid height vulcanised style with mixed canvas /suede panelling Hand stitched moccasin toe Deck shoe styling cues – lace through heel and tongue detail Natural leather square cut and cotton replacement laces Minimal tongue and collar padding "Terra Australis" nautical map print on footbed


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Samplings of recent calls received by Clovis-area law enforcement officers, according to reports:
Police were dispatched Thursday to the 1200 block of East First Street in reference to a criminal damage report.
The complainant reported a break-in to truck located on the west side of the building.
The officer discovered a $500 DVD player missing from the truck. The damage to the truck door was estimated at $2,000.
• • •
Police responded Thursday to the 2900 block of Jefferson Street in response to a criminal damage report.
The female complainant said that morning she went to her car and discovered both of the front tires flat.
She looked closer and saw both tires had been cut.
The damage estimate was $200.
• • •
Police were dispatched Thursday to a hotel in the 2700 block of East Mabry Street in reference to a criminal damage report.
The on-duty manager said housekeeping staff found a small hole in the wall of one of the rooms.
The housekeeping staff said when they entered the room, it smelled like marijuana. On a table they found cigar tobacco and possible marijuana seeds, they said, which they threw away.
In the bathroom the officer examined the hole but was unable to determine how the damage was caused.
The manager did not wish to pursue charges but said the damage would be charged to the account on the room.
Police blotter is compiled by CNJ staff writer David Irvin. He can be contacted at 763-6991 or: email@example.com


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----- Core Business -----
>> Mining & Export
>> Power
>> Renewable Energy
>> Calcined Petroleum Coke\n>> Contract Mining
>> Billets
The Atha
Group of companies has in
the long six decades of its
operations built a commendable
and enviable portfolio of one of
the most lucrative business
organizations in the country.
Owing to its diligent
management, skilled workforce,
moral work ethics and customer
driven work methods, all the
undertakings of the group have
been remarkably successful.
Narbheram Vishram is the
flagship enterprise of the Group
formed in the year 1953. It is
one of the oldest mining
business houses in the states of
Orissa and Jharkhand and still
operates as one of the most
lucrative business units of the
Group. The current iron ore
mining capacity is 2.2 MTPA.
Armed with state-of-the-art
crushing and screening
facilities, this unit is one of
the most advanced mining
business units in the country.
It is complemented by an equally
efficient and modern logistic
set up having its own fleet of
vehicles and a private railway
The Mines
Division known as Khatau
Narbheram & Co., has one of the
oldest mines in the state of
Orissa – the lease dating back
to 1953. The firm has leasehold
rights in Roida Iron Ore Mines –
II in the Keonjhar District in
Orissa with rich mineral
reserves. The company has
approval to mine up to 2.20 mn.
Tones per annum.
The mines have a substantial
resource base of superior
quality iron ore with high Fe
(iron) content and bulk density.
The Fe content varies between 63
to 66 per cent, which makes it
one of the best quality
materials available in the
The company holds a leading
position in the Indian mining
industry for its superior mining
techniques, equipment, scale,
flexibility of operations and
The potential of the proven
deposit, as well as the quality
and quantity of reserves, are
good enough to sustain the
mining operations for more than
next two decades at the current
operating capacity. The main
products are:
Calibrated iron ore lump –
inputs for steel making
through the DRI/BF process
Iron ore
fines – inputs for sinters
and pellets, used for making
The mining
operations are mechanised,
adopting state-of-the-art
technology and equipment namely
hydraulic drifter, in-pit
crusher, cone crushers and
mobile crushers. Flexibility in
operations enables the division
to maximise the utilisation of
resources, as well as cater to
the needs of diverse customers.
Control over logistic
infrastructure is the key to
long-term growth in the mining
business, and to strengthen this
aspect, the company has taken on
a number of initiatives:
Development of private
railway sidings (one near
completionand another under
The Group
has iron ore handling plots
at Haldia and Paradip and
recently acquired a plot at
The company's
mining roadmap includes
exploring further mining
acquisitions and leveraging both
greenfield as well as brownfield
opportunities. Further, to
capitalise on the wealth of
experience and expertise
garnered in the mining sector,
plans to venture into coal
mining are on the anvil.
The 100% EOU Division is
a custom bounded area within the
mining area and is solely used
for export of iron ore fines.
The power division's total
capacity stands at 19.65MW of
wind energy at present with 15
MW under project as well.
(5 x 1.5 MW at Karnataka, 3 x
1.5 MW and 4 x 850 MW at Tamil
Nadu, 1 x 1.5 at Rajasthan,
1 x 1.25MW at Maharashtra and 1
x 1.5 MW at Gujarat)
As the Group plans to foray into
Solar Energy, first lot of 10MW
will be operational within next
12-18 months.
The Group has a goal to achieve
100 MW of wind and solar power
generation capacities by 2015
In July 2007, the Company Scaw Industries Pvt. Ltd. was taken over by ATHA Group, the current promoters, who restarted operations from August 28, 2007. Later the Company's name was changed to Narbheram Power & Steel Pvt. Ltd. (NPSPL) in 2009.
Basic raw
material requirement of the
Company is iron ore and coal.
The Company has been allotted
Coal Mines jointly with M/s Tata
Sponge Ltd and M/s SPS Sponge
Iron Ltd at Radhikapur (East)
block in the state of Orissa,
which is just 60 Km away from
the plant site. The estimated
reserve of the Coal Block is 115
million tons, out of which
NPSPL's share of 36% i.e.41.40
million tonnes; this will be
more than sufficient enough to
meet company's vision to be
power and steel focused player.
The Group
also has its own iron ore mines
under its partnership firm M/s
Narbheram Vishram located at
Keonjhar District, Orissa which
is about 150 Km away from the
plant site. The firm has
approval to mine up to 2.20
Capacity Chart as per (MOU) with
Govt. of Orissa.
advantage as a steel
manufacturer and consumer
comprise the following – the
cost differential required to
switch from domestic supply to
imports is about 35%, the cost
of steel production in India is
lower than in developed
countries and India will find it
more cost-effective to
manufacture steel than import.
Despite being the world's fifth
largest steel producer, India's
per capita steel consumption is
one of the world's lowest,
indicating large potential. CARE
Research estimates that during
FY 09-11, steel demand in the
domestic market would grow at an
8% CAGR. Steel demand from the
construction sector is expected
grow at a 9.5% CAGR. With huge
steel capacity in the pipeline,
India is all set to increase
production growth.
ATHA Group
has presently one of the best
management team to execute the
expansion plans as envisaged by
the Group to the tune of Rs 495
crores. It will take the sponge
iron capacity to 2,60,000 tonnes
from presently 1,00,000 tonnes
per annum; SMS capacity will be
increased to 1, 45,000 tones
p.a. from current capacity of
45,000 tonnes p.a. The biggest
value addition will happen
through expansion of power
generation capacity from 8 MW to
The ATHA Group is focused on
making NPSPL a power and steel
giant and will be the flagship
platform for the ATHA Group's
strengthening position into the
energy sector. The ATHA Group's
vision to become formidable
player in the energy sector will
be taken ahead by NPSPL.
In the
The Group
is on an acquisition spree
and is looking for mining
opportunities globally.
With this
respect, ATHA Group has
already set up a 100%
subsidiary of NPSPL in
The Group
is looking to acquire mines
abroad and amass a 1 billion
ton capacity by the end on
2015 globally.
The Group
has already crystallized its
initial expansion plans in
NPSPL worth Rs. 495.00
crores with major focus on
Group's mission is to have
minimum 1000 MW of thermal
power capacities under
project stage by 2015
It has successfully signed a MoU with Trade & Investment Facilitation Corporation (TRIFAC) in Madhya Pradesh for strategic investment towards installing a 1.20 MTPA Iron ore benefication and pelletization
The Company has also signed a MoU with the Government of Gujarat for strategic alliance with Gujarat Mineral and Development Corporation (GMDC) in both domestic as well as overseas projects in Iron ore, Coal and other minerals
The Company has a large number of PL/ML in states like Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttarakhand that are in advanced stages
The Company is strategically positioned to take up Mine Development and Operation (MDO) mining contracts by forming a JV to explore opportunities in India or South East Asia
AMPL exports iron ore fines predominantly to China to the tune of about 1 MTPA and are well positioned to take on other countries in the near future
AMPL is poised to setup a coal desk for the efficient marketing and distribution of imported coal to the Indian corporations as well as cater to the increasing demand of coal in the entire subcontinent
AMPL has a strong presence along the entire mining value chain from reconnoiter studies, exploratory drilling, advance studies, proper drilling, resources to reserves, obtaining mining licences and finally securing mining operations as per UNFC classification in India and SAMREC in South Africa
Calcined petroleum coke
(CPC) is the product
from calcining raw
petroleum coke (RPC).
The raw coke is the
product of the coker
unit in a crude oil
refinery. The calcined
petroleum coke is used
to make anodes for
aluminium smelting, and
is also in dioxide
industry steel and
PCCPL was incorporated
on 5th November, 2007
under the Companies Act,
1956 with its Registered
Office at Avani
Signature, 6th Floor,
91A/1 Park Street,
Kolkata-700 016 This
Company was formed to
purchase the assets of
an existing unit
manufacturing CPC
located in Haldia in the
Purba Midnapore District
of West Bengal. The
Plant is comprised in an
area of around 30 acres
with good infrastructure
facilities like railway
siding for facilitating
unloading/ loading of
wagons, along with
yard/shed to store raw
petroleum coke/ Calcined
Petroleum Coke.
This plant was
engineered, designed and
erected under the direct
supervision of Engineers
India Ltd., a very well
known and recognized
Public Sector
organization. The plant
was commissioned in the
year 1975 by the former
promoters and had been
in operation since then
except for a short time
in 2007. This plant has
been taken over/
purchased by ATHA Group
from the former
promoters on 21 May,
2008. The plant has been
thoroughly repaired,
revamped and upgraded.
The plant has a capacity
of approx. 1, 00,000
tons per annum of CPC
and started production
from November 2008.
For more details
click here :
NPSPL Mineral
RSA Proprietary Limited was
incorporated on December 29th
2009, having it's corporate
office in Johannesburg and JV
partners office in Harare. The
Company has rich experience in
South Africa across diverse
geographies and varied minerals.
The Company has a strong team of
highly qualified Geologists &
Mining Engineers with a combined
experienced of over 100 man
years. The Company has ventured
for the exploration of a Coal
Block in Zimbabwe and has
already undertaken more than
10,000 meters of exploration in
the last 12 months in South
Africa. It also boasts of an
expansive and detailed
electronic database for bore
hole data, farms and geographies
covering the entire South
African continent.


text:
The Style Gallery is a great new way for you to view, love, and share outfit photos. It's meant to showcase
all the expressive, creative, and inspirational personalities of our community!
Love you too!
Your email has been sent!
When it's this pair of pink underwear you choose as your under-most layer, plan for your day to be filled with endless merriment and delight! Pale amber lace trims these boy-cut shorts with bliss, while a cotton-blend construction makes comfort unmatched by any other undergarment you own. Worn with your favorite bralette beneath a drop-waist dress, these panties guide you through a jewel of a day!
Final Sale: This item cannot be returned or exchanged.
Sorry this item isn't available anymore


text:
Your support is crucial for the continued success of Miami Valley Crime Stoppers. Since we are a not for profit, charitable organization we rely on donations from the community to continue to pay rewards for tips that lead to the arrest of criminals. You can help by making your tax-deductible contribution to Miami Valley Crime Stoppers.
You can also help by showing your support of one of our annual fundraisers. Crime Stoppers hosts an annual fundraising dinner in the spring. During this event we have a raffle of several great prizes and a silent auction. Crime Stoppers also hosts an annual golf outing in the fall. At this event we also have a raffle and lots of prizes to give away. We are always looking for donated prizes or services to use at any of our fundraisers.


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In other words, we not only executed some commands incorrectly! We also lost these four micro-operations, and even when the requested data is found we will not be able to re-execute this part of code anew. You saw that these micro-operations were taken from the Trace cache, put into the queue, processed by the scheduler and then sent to the execution device. And it is not their fault that there was no data in the L1 data cache. In other words, the CPU simply "lost" this part of the code.
Of course, this scenario is absolutely unacceptable for us.
That is why the Pentium 4 processor has a special sub-system intended to prevent the loss of micro-operations like in the situation described above. This sub-system will "hunt" micro-operations down before they retire and resend for execution.
It means that we need a kind of reverse mechanism. The simple idea behind it is that we need a possibility redirect micro-operations for execution in case the "miss L1 signal" arrives, i.e. we need a "side exit" from the pipeline.
As soon as the "lost" data is received, the micro-operations should once again go through the execution units. And only after that, once the correct results are obtained, the notorious micro-operations can retire.
So, the replay system should work as an "initial task keeper": no matter what happens inside the CPU, we should anyway execute the code correctly.
Another important question is how many micro-operations can be sent to replay and how long can they stay there. Since replay is a kind of "emergency exit", it cannot be of large capacity. After a while the command should be sent for re-execution. Of course, the micro-operations can only be sent for re-execution when the requested data arrives, but then these commands should be stored somewhere in the meanwhile and then selected from the storage location. Besides, all these data availability checks, the commands transfer to replay and release for re-execution should all be performed at very high speeds (as you remember, the schedulers and execution units belong to Rapid Execution Engine working at twice the processor frequency).
As a result, we have to compromise: on the one hand, we need to lose as little time as possible while waiting for the requested data, and on the other hand, we need to work at twice the core frequency that is why complex algorithm will not do.
To minimize the idling time, the "pause" should be as long as it takes to deliver data from the L2 cache. This is the next fastest memory hierarchy after L1 data cache. Besides the L2 cache is usually much bigger than the L1 data cache, which makes the probability of the requested data being in the L2 cache very high.
In fact, it is evident why the "pause" should equal the L2 cache latency. If we make the pause shorter, the data will have not enough time to reach the execution units in time, and the problem will not be solved. If the pause is longer, the data will arrive to the execution unit before the micro-operation is there, which will result into the same consequences: we will have to run the uop again.


text:
First Roy Hodgson complains that the fixture list hasn't been meddled with enough. Then David Moyes gives voice to his dark suspicions that it has been meddled with too much — that it is, indeed, entirely the product of meddling.
Who is right? Is the season's schedule the output of an inexorable, computerised force, an algorithm beyond the power of man to interrupt, even if that would mean Manchester United avoiding a high-intensity encounter with Manchester City in the week of an England World Cup qualifier?
Or is it an entirely man-made thing, constructed by a committee of shadowy, anti-Manchester United


text:
Return To Wood Store
Marblecake English Walnut Gunstock Blank
2 1/2" Thickness x 5 13/16" to 6 3/8" Wide x 19 1/2" Long
Only one out of many thousand english walnut trees across the globe will yield the characteristics displayed in this one of a kind blank. The high-end collectible gun market refer to the striking color contrast and grain flow as marblecake. This blank was sawn from a variety of english walnut known as franquette. The wood is flawless and comes with a perfectly matched forearm measuring: 2 3/8" thick x 3 1/4" wide x 14 1/4" long. The template pictures were shot dry with no finish applied. The blank has been air dried 4 years and planed on both sides. On a scale of 1 to 5 in grading english walnut for hardness with 5 being the hardest this blank rates 5. Price: $1,250
Happy to answer any questions: (530)268-0203 - ask for Michael.


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Kemmerer, Wyoming is the sort of middle-of-nowhere small town that doesn't see many visitors. The closest major city is Salt Lake, two hours away, and its only claim to semi-fame is the J.C. Penney Mother Store, circa 1902. But for Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, Kemmerer is a must-stop—one of 117 on last year's tour, that had this rising country-rock band crisscrossing the country, ultimately logging a whopping 57,000 miles.
Home is technically San Francisco, but, really, this one-woman-five-man band lives in the van, in musty motels, at greasy diners. At the whims of the saloons, clubs, and festivals that book them, their routes are often illogical and backtracking is frequent. In summer 2012, they passed through Idaho Falls, Idaho three times in one month. Which is to say, this talented group understands what a road trip is all about: the off-the-beaten-path places—and what happens as you ramble between them.
On this warm summer evening, they've hightailed-it 340 miles from Bond, Colorado to roll in right on time to headline Kemmerer's annual Oyster Ridge Music Festival. The vibe is more '70s than 21st century—and not just because Nicki looks (and sounds) like a dead-ringer for Karen Carpenter. The grassy square is filled with camping chairs and coolers and a motley crew of locals who quickly become friends—gray-haired men in overalls; toddlers bopping on shoulders; a scattering of twirling hippie-chicks; even a real-life Smokey the Bear, wearing the same Wrangler jeans as Nicki. All congregating for corn dogs and Coors and the sort of free Friday night fun every road-tripper hopes to just stumble upon.
Except, the thing is, we don't. In these time-crunched, overly efficient days, we're too busy bee-lining from Yosemite to Yellowstone, Telluride to Santa Fe, to bother being carefree. The modern-day road trip has become more like a micro-managed death-march between big-name attractions, carefully choreographed to maximize a week's worth of vacation time.
Not so for Nicki and her Gramblers. They may not have time for a guided tour of the Tetons, but so what? They know where to find cold PBRs and warm waffles for breakfast at 10,000 feet. A steamy hidden hot springs off the highway. The best places for a pit stop.
Their white rental van might as well be a wood-paneled station wagon, without the Are We There Yet? gripes and sibling squabbles and crackly 8-track radio. There's no radio whatsoever, actually. None needed. Not with Tim on harmonica; Deren on mini-guitar; Mike banging on a drum; Dave clapping to the beat...and Nicki blowing your best car-karaoke efforts away, singing her heart out at 70 miles per hour.
Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers' five million YouTube viewers of their wildly successful Van Sessions would agree: these guys just might be the last real road trippers.
Watch their Hall & Oates cover and you'll hear the hallmarks of the young band: their soft harmonies and shaggy confidence, Nicki's voice, soulful, outward-reaching. But listen closer, just beneath the music, and you can hear something else, something more familiar. A low, steady hum. It's the sound of the open road.
"We're kind of food snobs," says Tim Bluhm, digging into a plate of braised short ribs, paired with pinot, at the Cascade Grill, in Jackson Hole, following a late afternoon performance in Teton Village. For once, the band is being fed—well. The night before, it was "the worst pizza I've ever had in my entire life," as Tim put it in Pocatello, Idaho, as he tossed a piece of half-baked crust over his shoulder.
And the morning before that: It was Café Ritz, in Kemmerer Wyoming. Puffing on his tenth cigarette of the morning, Bob, of Bob's Rock Shop, warns us Café Ritz is expensive. But at six bucks for biscuits and gravy, it's not the prices that are the problem. It's the service. Apparently, when you're the only place in town for pancakes, turning tables is not a priority. Finally, the harried waitress brings over seven mugs of burnt coffee and takes a pen from behind her ear. But then a baby cries. "Uh, be right back," she says. "I've got my two-month-old in the kitchen." When she returns 20 minutes later with a hot pot of coffee in one hand and, indeed, a newborn—neck dangling—in the other, Tim Bluhm up and bails on his yet-to-arrive waffle. Mike the drummer follows him out the door.
"Tim calls it the Food Desert out here," says his wife and bandleader, Nicki, digging into her scrambled eggs, which eventually arrive. Cold. "I think it's the toast that took them so long," says guitarist Dave Mulligan, holding up a flimsy piece of un-browned white bread.
A four-row passenger van crammed with six band members (half of whom hover around six-feet or taller) and manager, Scotty, behind the wheel, can look pretty lived-in pretty quickly. But apart from paper plates with leftover tamales from the lady in town; a jar of raw cashews in the center console for snacking; and a few Sierra Nevada empties rolling around (consumed during a game of Frisbee when the van broke down in Wyoming), the Gramblers are a relatively clean crew. Not to mention, mellow. It's more like a roving college dorm (of 30-and 40-somethings) than a raging party. Conversations over the seats take as many twists and turns as the roads themselves. On one eight-hour drive, they'll cover everything from polygamy to making pizza to missing their moms to the contorted facial expressions made by Olympic divers mid-air. (Google it. Very cool.) But Van Time also doubles as Quiet Time. Nicki points out all the pretty horses along the side of the road while writing thank you-notes ("I heard Alison Krauss does that, and I thought, that's so nice.") Tim reads a book written by his childhood friend Mark Sundeen, Car Camping: The Book of Desert Adventures. (Apropos as the band was soon headed to the Southwest.) Deren logs onto Facebook before sharing the good news, "Guys, we just broke 16,000 Facebook fans!" (Now, a year later, they're pushing 30,000.)
They haven't made it to the Chateau Marmont (yet), but occasionally the Gramblers do luck out, with a room with a hot tub in Teton Village or an Internet fan's horse ranch in Washington. More often than not, though, "It's a Priceline Night," as Nicki puts it. Which means they wing it, scrolling for affordable rooms on their iPhone app, as they roll into town. ("$40 at the Red Lion Inn, in Boise! Who cares if the elevator wasn't working, the lobby bartender was.") It might be a local motel decorated in ceramic owls. Or, the supposedly romantic Black Swan Inn in Pocatello, Idaho, where the band gathered for après-show beers in Tim and Nicki's "Enchanted Forest Suite," among faux leafy trees and murals of unicorns. The Applegate River Lodge in Southern Oregon was "idyllic." But, once in awhile, accommodations are downright disgusting… As Darren recalls: "In Oregon, I once spied a bunch of Saltine crackers mixed with hairballs on the carpet. I called my dad and said, 'I'm going to law school.'"


text:
Paper Defense
Published on August 29, 2011. Played 614 times. Editors' rating 2.1
An amazing action-defense game. The best defense is a good offense. Place walls and guns around your base to defend it from the marauding hordes! Different types of walls earn you different bonuses - choose carefully or it's game over!
Make sure to take the tutorial.


text:
Miley Cyrus Spotted Smoking Mysterious Substance And Giggling On A Hotel Balcony In Miami
Miley Cyrus was spotted on Saturday relaxing on the balcony of her Miami hotel smoking a suspicious looking cigarette. The 20-year-old star also wasn't wearing her engagement ring, which is sure to spark more rumors that she and long time boyfriend Liam Hemsworth are done.
Miley recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg (under new name Snoop Lion) on his latest single, "Ashtrays And Heartbreaks," singing the lyric, "Now my buzz is gone / I need to re-up on reality."
Looks like she was re-upping on that reality on that Miami balcony.
The former Hannah Montana star was seen giggling with friends while smoking and also exposed her backside while hanging out on the balcony. She appeared to be wearing no underwear with a long t-shirt (photo on page 2).
Last month Miley was also spotted without her engagement ring while Liam had returned to his native Australia to spend time with his family. She said that the ring was being repaired at the time she was photographed without it, and even addressed rumors of a split on Twitter.
"I didn't call off my wedding," she wrote.
She even added to her collection of body art during the couple's downtime, having celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D ink a pair of hearts on her arm.


text: × Please take a short survey to help us improve our data-related literature resources. Search Results Studies Variables Publications (1) Your query returned 1 citations. Sort by: Pub Date (newest) Title Recent Additions Author Clear All Pub. Year Citation 1. 1992 Jabine, T.B., King, K.E., Petroni, R.J., Carlson, L. Survey of Income and Program Participation SIPP quality profile. Journal of Marketing Research. 29, (2), 275-276. Full Text Options: Worldcat Google Scholar Export Options: RIS EndNote XML Results 1 - 1


text: A new report shows that the number of "adverse health events" in Minnesota hospitals remained relatively unchanged in 2012, although patient deaths and serious injuries were up. The state Health Department says there were 14 deaths last year compared to five in 2011, and the number of serious injuries went from 84 in 2011 to 89 in 2012. Officials blame serious falls for the increases. During the same period, serious bedsores decreased 8%, retained foreign objects declined by 16% and medication errors dropped 75%. The New Ulm Medical Center reported 2 incidents of the wrong surgery being performed, out of the more than 16,500 surgeries performed there last year. The Sleepy Eye Medical Center reported only a single fall of a person being cared for there. The Renville County Hospital also had only 1 patient fall, while the Glencoe Hospital reported an incident of a foreign object being left in a patient after a surgery.


text:
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is have a nice lunch out during the week. Breaking the everyday norm is always a good idea when it comes to managing stress, and it's especially a good idea when it involves burgers and fries.
Having opened barely a week ago on February 19, DMK Burger & Fish was just begging for me and my friend Caroline to try it out. Neither of us had class this afternoon, so it was the perfect opportunity to make the voyage up to Noyes in the freezing temperature to check it out.
I'm really glad we chose a Wednesday to eat here – seating is communal, and the restaurant is quite petite, yet even for a Wednesday at 1 p.m., there was little seating to be found.
The menu is small, but from what we found, it delivers what you're looking for, and more. We may have just found our new favorite Evanston burger joint.
DMK, one of 6 Chicago-area restaurants managed by restauranteur David Morton and award-winning chef Michael Kornick (get it – DM, MK), both of whom live right here in Evanston, is a combination of the popular DMK Burger Bars and DMK Fish Bar throughout Chicago, remade for Evanston and its student population. While the menu is small, the offerings are well-thought-out, and the prices aren't too bad either for such a big name.
You can get a good old Coke here, but if you pay a dollar more, you can try a couple of yummy craft sodas. They were out of Cheerwine, a North Carolina black cherry soda Caroline insisted I try, I ended up getting Ale 8 Ginger Ale from Kentucky. The label was super cute and vintagey, and it tasted great too.
Then came the food. Being that I had been awake since 6 a.m. with a mere cookie for breakfast, I was so ready. I ordered the #1, a burger piled with aged Cheddar, smoked bacon and Rufus Teague's BBQ sauce. By the time the waitress brought it to the table, I could barely contain myself, hence the fact that I don't have any photos of the burger before I sliced into it. Whoops. Oh well.
It was the perfect size, nice and thin but super filling. I ate it so quickly that it was basically a happy whirlwind of tender hamburger, chewy bacon and mildly spicy BBQ sauce. And now I want another one just as I think of it.
The other place I like to get burgers here in Evanston is a bit more expensive at $12 a pop, so I might be coming here more often when I need to fulfill that burger craving.
On the side, I ordered sweet potato fries with lemon tabasco aioli. The fries were seasoned really well and had a nice, crispy texture. I tried the aioli, and that was interesting because of how sweet it was, especially when paired with the sweet potato fries. It wasn't my favorite dipping sauce ever, but the fries were great at least.
Caroline ordered the Crabby Patty (I love the name), and she had nothing but great things to say about it. If I ever reconcile my distaste for seafood, I'll keep this one in mind. She also ordered the parmesan fries with truffle cream, and oh my gosh, I think that's what I might get next time too. That truffle cream was super flavorful, and I'd happily put it on anything. It would be awesome on a burger. But dipping fries in it is definitely a treat of its own.
I love trying out new restaurants that come to Evanston, especially when they're so unique like DMK. It's a tiny place that probably gets super crowded around dinnertime, but it felt like I was on Randolph Street in Chicago instead of Noyes in Evanston. DMK has a great atmosphere and music, and even better food.
Best Hump Day ever? I think so.


text: › Academics » Neuroscience » Major Requirements Home Major Requirements Meet Our Faculty Students Links Contact Us Plan a Visit ›Apply Now ›Give to Furman › Main Content Column 1 1. Core Courses: These are required for all students. BIO-111 Foundations of Biology PSY-111 General Psychology BIO-222 Research and Analysis or PSY-202 Research Methods and Statistics II BIO-221 Genetics BIO-460 Neurobiology CHM-110 Foundations of Chemistry CHM-115 Kinetics, Thermodynamics and the Environment CHM-120 Organic Chemistry CHM-220 Bio-Organic Chemistry MTH-150 Analytic Geometry and Calculus I NSC-401 Current Topics in Neuroscience NSC-502 Research PSY-320 Introduction to Biopsychology PSY-327 Functional Neuroanatomy 2. Electives: Each student must complete at least one course from each of groups A, B, and C, plus one additional course from any group. Note that none of the classes a student uses as electives for the Neuroscience major may also count toward another major. Group A - Molecular Group B - Physiological Group C - Behavioral Group D - Other BIO-300 Cell Biology BIO-320 Animal Physiology PSY-211 Childhood and Adolescence BIO-420 Comparative Anatomy & Embryology BIO-302 Molecular Genetics BIO-322 Human Physiology PSY-213 Adulthood and Aging BIO-426 Human Anatomical Systems BIO-303 Biochemistry of the Cell IDS-310 Pathophysiology PSY-218 Abnormal Psychology BIO-442 Human Genetics BIO-444 Pharmacology & Toxicology PSY-322 Memory and Cognition BIO-450 Microanatomy BIO-455 Neurochemistry PSY-323 Animal Behavior PHL-321 Philosophy of Psychology CHM-460 Biological Chemistry PSY-324 Learning PSY-214 Health Psychology PSY-321 Psychopharmacology PSY-414 The Sleeping Brain PSY-404 Autism 3. Empirical Research Experience: Each student must complete an approved empirical research experience related to neuroscience. This will be counted as NS 502 Research in Neuroscience (0 credits), and should be completed before the beginning of their senior year, in preparation for parts of NS 401 (see below). It will typically involve work performed in a research setting, either at Furman or at another institution, and be comparable to 10 weeks of half-time work. The student will typically confer with his Neuroscience major advisor, and receive approval for the experience from the Neuroscience Major Advisory Committee beforehand. NS 502 Research in Neuroscience (0 credits) Prerequisite: permission of the instructor Original and independent research. Working through the Neuroscience Major Advisory Committee, the student poses a question of significance in neuroscience, devises an experimental protocol, and collects data to evaluate the question. Projects may be performed either on campus or at other locations. Presentation of the research in the context of NS 401 is required. 4. Capstone course: The following course is required of all students, and will normally be taken during their senior year. NS 401 Current Topics in Neuroscience (4 credits) Prerequisite: permission of the instructor, PSY-327 and BIO-460 Year-long capstone course for neuroscience majors that will provide students with knowledge of current research practice and implications. Discussions of seminal or innovative research papers in a seminar format, and of individual research experiences in the context of progress in the field as a whole. 5. GPA requirement: All students must have a 2.0 average in all courses used towards the NS major in order to graduate with a NS major. Download the Neuroscience Major Requirement Checklist [PDF]


text:
Interest Level
Grades PreK - 3
Reading Level
Grade level Equivalent: 3.3
Lexile® Measure: AD350L
Guided Reading: K
- Fables, Folk Tales and Myths
- Counting and Numbers
- Colors
- Five Senses
- Shapes and Sizes
About This Book
Here is a creative spin-off of "The Blind Men and the Elephant," a classic that introduces young readers to the days of the week, ordinal and cardinal numbers, and ranges of color.
Based on an Indian fable, seven blind mice set out to discover the "Something" (an elephant) by the pond, only to learn that "knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole." Each mouse visits the "Something" on a different day of the week and imagines what it really looks like — only to return home with an incorrect description of the elephant's body parts. They see a cliff, a spear, a pillar, a snake, a rope — but it is only when the seventh mouse searches the whole "Something" that he is able to "see" the elephant. Caldecott Medalist Ed Young uses collage, bright colors, and the contrast of black and white to complement the simple text.
Children ages four to eight will be engaged by the book's educational text and artistic flair. An eclectic elementary library resource.
Items Added to Cart:
1 Paperback
2 Hardcover
1 Teacher's Edition
$48.99 Subtotal


text:
Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:44 pm
Wed Nov 16, 2011 10:51 pm
Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:17 am
Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:22 pm
michaeljohn wrote:ryan and tubby gibson are locked for life, i wouldnt be suprised if tony jr stays with danica for those 10 races, just to have a familiar ear, then when she goes full time, find someone else
Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:14 pm
Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:16 pm
michaeljohn wrote:its my job to spread the bad news and i take it seriously
Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:31 pm
Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:47 am
Sat Dec 17, 2011 4:38 am
Sat Dec 17, 2011 4:32 pm
Sat Dec 17, 2011 7:27 pm
racer1 wrote:Well as many CC as we see being switched around in Nascar, I have a question--who is more important, the CC or the driver? Yes i know the perfect answer is both but??
A good example is mr popular Dale jr switching CC this yr and having much better results and JJ did well, but then again not so much during the chase? Then we have Tony who let his CC Grubb know mid season he would be fired at season end due to his poor reg season, but still won the chase, so how crazy is that?
Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:00 pm


text:
New Carbon Paddles
April-May 1997
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
by Laurie MacBride
Aqua-Bound AMT
Aqua-Bound now offers 5 AMT mod- els in carbon. These paddles, using Advanced Molding Technology (AMT), are more durable than standard carbon-graphite, and weigh in at 900 grams - 32 oz. For lighter weight, these paddles have carbon shafts and carbon reinforced AMT blades. Best of all, these lightweight paddles provide high performance, excellent durability at a very attractive price.
Models include 3 for sea touring and 2 models for white-water. $180.00 US, $240.00 Cdn.
Aqua-Bound Technology Ltd. USA 1160 Yew Ave, Blaine Washington 98230. Aqua-Bound Technology Ltd. Canada #1 - 9520 192nd Street, Surrey, BC, V4N 3R8. Tel (604) 882-2052, Fax (604) 882-9988.
An ancient Inuit tradition, with Eng- lish craftsmanship, German fibers, French epoxy, and a Scottish shaft, Toksook is a world class paddle. Produced in England this paddle is a Derek Hutchinson creation of an ancient Bering Sea design. Its distinct three dimensional shape evolved in an unforgiving environment. The shape successfully counteracts a blades' natural tendencies to dive in sculling and bracing strokes. Forward paddling strokes are devoid of common torque twisting and flutter.
This carbon fiber paddle is available in standard fiberglass, heavy duty fiberglass, carbon, kevlar, and oversized (large diameter) carbon. Dealer inquiries are welcome.
The Toksook is available in North America exclusively from Paddle Plus +, PO Box 1047, Glastonbury, Connecticut 06033, telephone 860 659-1223, 860 657-1472 FAX,


text:
When I first started properly training BJJ in a class and not just printing step-by-step instructional pages from the internet and bringing them to try in my judo class, things were not like they are today. Finding an affordable way to learn the grappling art on your own was damn near impossible. My first set of instructional tapes, in fact, were Kimo's "Fierce Fighting" series from Panther Video (which were mostly educational thanks to Joe Moreira doing the BJJ tapes), cost me around $160 for a nine tape set. I caught that as a special, normally it would have been around 30-40 per tape and up. Finding a good book seemed to be the best option, but in those early days of MMA before the big TUF boom happened, good luck getting one. Thankfully, I managed to find one eventually.
Released back in 2003 by Human Kinetics, "Mastering JuJitsu" is the original BJJ textbook for the masses. Written by Renzo Gracie and John Danaher, this book became my "go-to" for learning outside of class, and opened up the flood gates for my deeper understanding of grappling and love of MMA as a whole. Does this book still hold up a decade later? Let's find out!
Weighing in at over 230 pages, "Mastering JuJitsu" covers the fundamentals of BJJ, including takedowns & throws, guard passes, sweeps, and (of course) plenty of submissions from a variety of positions. You also get a history lesson on BJJ and the early days of MMA, as well as a quick rundown of what to expect when you compete in both. You might recognize a few familiar faces in the book too, as Matt Serra and his brother Nick appear throughout it in the photos to demo moves, as well as Shawn Williams. The book is filled with BJJ black belts and Renzo's top students showing you how to beat your opponent in a dominant manner.
The book is mainly written by John Danaher, who treats BJJ as a science as much as he does a martial art, and breaks down every move with a critical analysis that would make Greg Jackson jealous. Compared to the MMA instructional books that I have reviewed in the past four years of doing this site, some might find this book heavy on the text, although there are plenty of photos. Seeing as how this was one of the earlier BJJ books on the market, pundits would be right to say there is far more writing than other books. The pay-off is the amount of knowledge that you are getting in these longer explanations, a kind of detail that we rarely get in books out there today.
Techniques are broken down not just with physical moves, but strategy on when and why to use them, as well as how to use them more effectively. Danaher's combat theory and philosophy shines in his explanations, and Renzo's skills glow just as much when demonstrating them. This book was also one of the first ones I remember seeing that referenced fighters not in the book to showcase a certain technique, like sections on Randy Couture to discuss the clinch, or Chuck Liddell's strikes on defending and preventing a takedown from an opponent. These real-life examples are scattered liberally through the instructional and add a lot of interesting depth to the techniques and how you can use them in your own game.
Like many MMA instructional books, there is a small section on self-defense. Unlike many MMA instructional books, this part is actually useful and discusses the differences between BJJ and a street fight, as well as how to apply what you know in that sort of situation, and the moves to do it. You might be surprised to see strikes covered with as much detail as they are in this section, but frankly, it's another reason why I love this book so much. "Mastering JuJitsu" gives you everything you need for every situation with precision and detail, and leaves you wanting more – and you will want to know more.
You can order "Mastering Jujitsu" on Amazon.com for under $14 and is absolutely worth picking up. This book was highly influential to me when I first started, and I still see the value in it today. "Mastering JuJitsu" is perfect for any level, and while it might not have flashy moves in it, it has what works and how to do that the best damn way possible. Is the information outdated? Not at all, especially as the sport has grown so much in the ten years this book came out, it seems even more necessary since it will take the fundamentals of your game and make them rock solid. Since it is an older book (although I prefer to call it a modern classic), the price is perfect, so there is no better time to pick this up than now!


text:
And the optimism continues
Yesterday, I kind of became a drag about the tough spot our financial system is in, and how close it is to collapse. We could fix it, of course…but we probably wont.
The thing is, I'm increasingly getting the feeling that it's not just our economy that's teetering, it's our very civilization. I'm reminded of this by today's events in Egypt, where an Islamist mob stormed the US Embassy in Cairo, tore down the American flag, and raised an al-Qaida-associated flag, while yelling, "We are all Osama." Apparently, there's a film of sort—that I've never heard of—being produced by some Coptic Christians here in the US that's insufficiently servile in its treatment of Mohammed. The Egyptian Islamists who attacked the embassy today were upset about it.
The response of the the US Embassy in Cairo was to go on Twitter to assure everyone that they condemned those who "abuse the universal human right of free speech", presumably a reference to the filmmakers—if they actually exist outside the fevered minds of the Islamists who apparently have a better inside scoop on the American film industry than I do. Thus began as embarrassing a failure of public diplomacy as I've every seen in my lifetime. (Some background here and here.)
The response of the US Embassy to this assault was to condemn the "abuse" of free speech. Just think about that for a minute.
Civilization is a lot like the skin of an apple. It can be brilliantly colored, flawlessly smooth, and brightly polished. But it's very, very thin. It's fragile. So, it has to be protected.
Barbarism, on the other hand hand, is tough. It doesn't have to be nurtured. It is, in fact, the natural state of man. It grows spontaneously, and so, like weeds in a beautiful lawn, it must be ruthlessly stamped out. And the only thing that's ever been effective in stamping it out is a robust and vigilant civilization; one that is not afraid to do the dirty work of crushing the barbarians mercilessly.
When the British Empire decided to end the African slave trade, they did not bring the issue up at a transnational diplomatic council, and request a commission of enquiry and hope that a Security Council resolution would support them—and not run into a Russian or Chinese veto. No, they simply sent the Royal navy to patrol the coast of West Africa, boarded and searched slave vessels, and hung their crews. I'm also reminded of General Sir Charles Napier in India, who, when told by the Indians that the custom of suttee, where the surviving wife was burned with her dead husband, had to be honored replied,
Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.
When it comes to barbarians, we're not big on gibbets these days. No, our Embassy condemns an exercise of freedom that upsets the poor dears.
Since the 1960s, we in the West have more or less had a hands-off attitude towards the world's barbarians. Huge swathes of Africa have descended into nightmare lands of atrocity at the hands of child soldiers. The entire Middle East has devolved from colonialism, to secular socialist and military dictatorship, and now into 12th-century Islamism.
A full 1/3 of the world have become modern day Goths. And not the good kind, with extravagant vampire makeup, listening to sad Cure songs on their iPods, but the bad kind with the light of fanaticism in their eyes, and knives always keen for a beheading of their enemies.
We think it's because we haven't tried hard enough to understand their unique cultural point of view. And woe to any president who tries to do otherwise, because he's in for a constant parade of criticism and demonstrations against "blood for oil" or some other nonsense.
And, of course, even then, such a president feels obligated to follow the "you broke it, you bought it rule" and embark on a decade-long project to rebuild the enemy's country and create a stable, functioning democracy in Kaplokistan.
Because a simple punitive expedition would just be…wrong.
Our civilization, by which I mean modern, technological civilization, is more fragile than we can even understand. Our entire way of life is predicated on the constant, uninterrupted flow of electricity, and the sophisticated electronic devices that store our records, run our stoplights, enable us to communicate, and even fix our cars.
There is an entire substrate of technology beneath the surface of what we see, but it is no less important for being almost completely hidden. But think about just two things: You bring up Amazon in your web browser right now, find an item you like, buy it with a simple button click, and a nice man will deliver to your door tomorrow. You can go to a supermarket in January and buy fresh strawberries from Chile.
Imagine the technological complexity that has to exist for either of those two things to happen. We are truly living in a Golden Age.
And yet, we are, at all times, less than 20 years from its complete collapse. Why?
Because each generation of children is a vertical invasion of barbarians. They will only know about our civilization, how to run it, and how to defend it, if we invest 12 or 16 years in training them to do so. Indoctrinating them in the benefits of civilization.
And have no doubt that it is a necessary indoctrination, because for young men especially, it will always be more fun to run around in the hills with rifles and shoot people you don't like than it will to get up every morning at 6am, and fight traffic to get get to a relatively boring job that you really don't want to do.
But, in my lifetime, we've done a progressively worse job at conducting that indoctrination.
From the beginning of public education until sometime in the late 1970s, the mission of the public schools was to raise children who were properly educated and civilized, especially children whose culture at home was sub-standard. Somehow, in the last 40 years, that has completely reversed itself. Now the education establishment says that a poor culture at home makes the schools powerless to teach. So, increasingly, they don't.
Schools used to have as one of their primary missions the assimilation and Americanization of immigrant children. Now, of course, no culture is superior to any other, and as far as assimilation goes…well, it's just easier to teach the immigrant kids in, say, Spanish, rather than force them into English immersion. And why should we teach the culture bequeathed to us from a bunch of dead slave-owners anyway? They were just hypocrites whose high-sounding phrases about freedom and equality just glossed over a squalid reality of racism and sexism.
So, about half of high school graduates now can't even read at an adult level. Fully a quarter are functionally illiterate.
But, somehow, 20 years from now, when they're running things, they'll still be able to get a new thumb drive to your door within 24 hours after you click "Buy Now With 1-Click" button on Amazon.
Right. Good luck with that.
We seem to have forgotten that, just because we're the richest country on earth, that is not an ordained end. It won't remain so unless we continue to do the things that made us such a wealthy civilization in the first place. There's no magical goose that lays golden eggs. It's the result of hard work, saving, investment, innovation, and a culture that celebrates individual liberty and rewards individual success.
But we're turning—if we haven't already—into a culture that thinks wealth is the by-product of some sort of chance or luck, and that the reward of success should be to share it with everyone else. Nearly half of the country hears about those who "profited unfairly in the 80s" as Bill Clinton once put it, and thinks, "they need to share the wealth." A significant number of people in this country today hear "You didn't build that", and thinks, "Yes. That's right. You owe society for giving you the means to be successful."
We've lost the meaning of what free markets mean. We've replaced it by a cronyism so deep that, no matter if the Republicans or Democrats win the presidency, there'll be representatives of Goldman-Sachs running the Treasury Department. We've imposed so many layers of regulation that small business is constantly squeezed, while large corporations can cover the costs. We're creating a corporatist, cronyist economic system that's increasingly impoverishing the middle class bit by bit.
As a libertarian, I distrust all groupings of power, whether the group is the government, or large corporations, yet I've watched as both Democratic and Republican administrations have made both government and corporations—and unions—more powerful, and individuals less so. And, as far as I can tell, half the population is perfectly happy with that—as long as their party is in charge of the cronyism, of course.
In 1972, the mildly Leftist George McGovern was beaten like an egg-sucking dog by Dick Nixon, but today, the much more leftist Barack Obama may actually be re-elected. Which, I suppose, would really worry me about the future, if it wasn't for the fact that we're due for the Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st, anyway.
So, I guess it doesn't matter.
If you were a betting man, what odds would you give for the future of a civilization that won't kill the barbarians in the hinterlands, or civilize the barbarians they breed internally? What odds would you give for a civilization that doesn't even seem to know—or want to know—that it's teetering on the abyss of an existential crisis?
Tom Kratman, in his book H-Hour: Countdown, wrote, "'Should' and 'ought' are mere meaningless fantasies. 'Is' and 'real' and 'works' are what matter." Sadly, we've increasingly become a society of "should" and "ought". A robust civilization would call that "decadence".
The barbarians call it "an opportunity".
Decadent civilizations don't collapse overnight, usually. It took more than a century for Rome to fall. But it was an increasingly hard century, and when Rome fell, after the Vandals danced through the streets of the sacked city, it was followed by hundreds of years of barbarism. Much of the technical and engineering knowledge that Rome brought to the world disappeared, and had to be relearned over a millennium.
But Rome didn't face the utter collapse of their monetary and financial system overnight. I fear that the fall of our civilization could be much faster, and, therefore, much more traumatic. Happily, I don't expect the following centuries of barbarism to be more brutal than that which followed the fall of Rome.
But, of course, that's only because it really couldn't be.
Dale Franks
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A vertical invasion of barbarians
Children are widely believed to be a blessing, and I suppose, in many ways, they are. But children are also a problem, in that each new generation of kids is a vertical invasion of barbarians. They have to be taught the details of how to behave in civilized society, to be instructed in its standards and norms. Moreover, those norms must be enforced, and violators must face the appropriate penalties for violating those norms. Doing all of this is an important charge, and you fail in it at your peril. Because, as the London riots show, the result of that failure is this:
The first line of defence against crime, the justice system, is not seen as sufficiently threatening to deter the youths. One of the group says this would be my first offence, "the prisons are over-crowded. What are they going to do? Give me an ASBO? I'll live with that."
The government has failed to keep order, according to the group. They agree that their motivation is partially that "the government aren't in control – because if they was we wouldn't be able to do it could we?".
The low rate of arrest of looters is then also brought up as an incentive to loot, with one youth saying "they failed, innit? How many people have they arrested really, though? Ten." He then says "I'm not really bothered. I'll keep doing this every day until I get caught."
The incentive to make money from their crime spree is clear: one of the youths says he has been looting because he didn't want to "miss the opportunity to get free stuff that's worth, like, loads of money".
Powerless families are also shown to be a major factor in allowing the looting to take place. One youth admits to warning his family he was going to be present at the riots, and then describes a subsequent telephone conversation with a family member: "He said 'get home, you're in trouble' I said 'no' and just put the phone down. They can't get into town, they can't get me, and when I get home, nothing's going to happen to me, I'm not going to get grounded or shouted at. I might get shouted at but that's it, I'll live with it and keep doing it."
These youths are not being irrational. Quite the opposite. They've quite fully absorbed the reality of modern life in the UK, a society that has largely abandoned the fundamental norms of civilization, giving them lip service, but without enforcing them.
Think of the very real shortcomings the attitudes above inculcate.
- The justice system is a farce, and no severe penalties need be feared.
- The government cannot effectively control lawlessness or protect property.
- The property of others can be taken without real fear of reprisal.
- Family discipline is toothless.
The larger society aids and abets these attitudes by defining self-defense as criminal vigilantism, and punishing the victims of crime for having the temerity to defend themselves, and perhaps injuring their assailants if attacked.
These youths in London and Manchester have learned their lessons well. Property owners cannot resist them, the police can't control them, and if they are unlucky enough to get caught, sanctions will be minimal. These are not cultural attitudes that promote civilization. Quite the reverse, in fact. They are the attitudes of barbarism, in that they reduce all of society to victims—except for those that choose to be predators. The cultural message these youths have received is that predation pays and is relatively risk free.
They're acting on that cultural message, in a perfectly understandable and rational manner, while authorities dither for days about whether the use of water cannons or rubber bullets are an appropriate response.
What these rioters need is the type of lesson that armed property owners convey with an immediacy that the police are unable or unwilling to provide. But, of course, in modern "civilized" Britain, that's literally the last thing they have to fear.
Dale Franks
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text:
Mad Men's January Jones has bared nearly all for her new movie, gritty Western Sweetwater.
The sexy star, who wowed in some very revealing lingerie in 2011's X-Men: First Class appears topless while bathing in a small river in one scene, where she guns down a villain wearing only her undergarments. She also stands naked while burning her clothes in another scene.
Jones plays prostitute Sarah in the film, about a fanatical religious leader (Jason Isaacs) who always gets his way and kills her husband Miguel (Eduardo Noriega) when he decides he wants the couple's land.
She seeks vengeance after Miguel's murder and will stop at nothing to see those responsible all dead.
"She reminded me of Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider, kind of dark and mean," the actress tells EW.com. "She has a stalking, predator type quality that I'd only really seen in male roles, and I tried to summon that up when I was playing her."
An eccentric sheriff (Ed Harris) gets involved when he's sent to investigate a pair of murders in the town, and the paths of the three "collide in a blood triangle."
The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and has yet to receive a release date in the U.S.
Check out the trailer below...