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Rim to Rim to Rim - Page 2
The author at the North Rim.
I quickly discovered that ours was not a crew that struggles to get out of bed in the morning, so, by 4:30, every man was up, fed, packed, "evacuated" and ready to roll.
We piled into the car, making the dark journey to the South Kaibab trailhead. Of course, we became lost on the way, missing a turn. But this was a smart group, so we only went a few minutes out of our way before we corrected.
At the trailhead, we were greeted with cold, wind and precipitation, which was more like mini hail. Some opted for layers, until running and lower altitude would bring warmth. I was the lone fool that went with short pants and short sleeves, augmented by the classic LDR black garbage bag. I looked ridiculous, but would be thankful for my wardrobe choice at many points during the day.
At 5:05 a.m., we snapped a few pictures, then approached the trail. Someone turned our walk into a jog and our odyssey had begun.
Descending into the depths of the canyon before sun-up is a magical experience. What you miss in scenery is made up for with mystery and tranquility. If you're lucky, it is punctuated by stars and moonlight (we got a small peek). But, at the very least, you're treated to chains of "fireflies," the headlamps of your fellow man, above and below, weaving their way down the trail. That is soon replaced by the glow of the sunrise, which changes the colors of the wall each minute.
Somehow I found myself at the front of our group, by silent vote given the responsibility to: a) set a reasonable pace, and b) call out the obstacles and hazards that were invisible to our headlamps, but likely to inflict the most damage. We kept the pace even and comfortable, running within ourselves.
While the cold and the rain and the wind kept coming, our spirits remained high. Even though I was trying to take it easy, my quads were already lighting up—such is the pitch on South Kaibab.
As the sun came up, the river came into view, and before our trip was even two hours old, we had crossed to the other side and were making our way toward Phantom Ranch.
We were concerned that, with the late start, we may encounter mule trains on South Kaibab, but the only mule train we saw that day was just pulling out of Phantom Ranch as we arrived.
The departure from Phantom Ranch represents the ceremonial ascent to the North Rim. But for the first seven miles, the trail grade is slight and manageable. We settled into a relaxed pace, picking up some altitude without much of a struggle. This portion of the trail follows a creek, making for impressive scenery augmented by a natural soundtrack. Along the way, there is a short detour to Ribbon Falls, which we could see from the trail. The signage around the falls led to some confusion about the correct route, and even a little doubling back, but we eventually solved it and hit our next bogey, Cottonwood Campground, at about four hours into the run.
At Cottonwood, we took a short break to snack, refill water and mentally re-set. The biggest pull of the day would unfold over the next seven miles, so everyone needed to take a deep breath.
Shannon, ready to push on, finished his business, and hit the trail a few minutes in front of us. Tom, Tim and I soon followed.
During this stretch, we encountered one of the day's stranger sites: a women crossing north to south who was wearing no shoes. No shoes! Through the rock, mud, snow and other shrapnel. We paused to photograph her and kept moving.
Eventually, the flow was such that, around Roaring Springs, I was moving a little faster than Tom and Tim, and, with their encouragement, decided to push on solo. It was here, about four miles from the rim, where things began to get real.
First came the wind, strong and biting. Then came the rain, fat and sideways. I stopped to retrieve my gloves and to slip on my black garbage bag. Back to looking ridiculous.
There was some runable terrain here, so I took advantage. But shortly after passing across the bridge, the rain changed to slush, and then to snow. Against the backdrop of the peak-fall-colors trees, it was epic, although I didn't get the panoramas I was hoping for.
And maybe the limited visibility was a good thing, because I was now in a box canyon on a narrow, slippery trail. Hugging the upper edges of these cliffs was enough to set off my vertigo.


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Release date: 11/25/2013
Raleigh: Many North Carolina consumers have already started shopping for the holidays, and Attorney General Cooper today encouraged them to take steps to avoid common problems such as items that can't be returned, gift cards that can't be used and orders that never arrive.
"For many of us, giving gifts is an important part of holiday celebrations," Cooper said. "Make your holidays even more enjoyable by avoiding potential headaches, shopping smart and spending wisely."
Media Contact: Noelle Talley (919) 716-6413

subset: commoncrawl


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Vote also about trust, judgment
Bill Thiebaut was a state senator, representing Pueblo from 1993-2002, a former district attorney and has been selected to be a member of the Colorado Transportation Commission.
Our system of government in Colorado, a republican form of government created by the guarantee clause of Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, does not require an elected member of the General Assembly to vote a certain way on any issue. A voter may have expectations about how an individual senator will vote, formed on the basis of political party affiliation, campaign promises or prior voting record.
However, a Colorado senator is answerable first to his or her conscience, then to constituents who may at any time express individual concerns or wishes to him or her and, finally, to the electorate on a primary or general election day.
This may sound strange to some citizens who simply expect representatives to act as their messenger in Denver. But whose messenger? Because of the competing views of constituents, representative democracy expects more from our elected senators. We expect them to reflect the basic values of the communities they represent, to provide leadership, to demonstrate initiative, and to take a major role in the process of democratic education. In other words, we expect them to be something of an expert, on whom we can rely for sound judgment.
Wanting the best of both worlds —retaining authority over our senators as if our system was a direct democracy and the freedom from responsibility in a representative democracy — can create confusion in the senator. Does he or she do what the people want (a complex of opposing forces) or what he or she believes needs to be done?
The recall of state Sens. Angela Giron and John Morse will create a new and unacceptable method of decision-making in our representative system by taking away our elected officials' right to exercise their own judgment and vote in the best interests of their constituencies, as they perceive them to be. A recall election because of a disagreeable vote risks the imposition of majoritarian will on lawmakers and will effectively silence minority viewpoints. It deprives our elected representatives of their legislative discretion. In our system, people set policy by choice during a primary and general election — not by control with the threat of recall — of their elected representatives.
Vote "no" to recall.
During the elections of 2014, vote for those people whose judgment you trust and whose wisdom seems greatest.


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Moderator: Mike
mr h atom wrote:yup
still...tis a nice, tight list...very glad to see it start off w/LR
...hmmm, mayhap replace the out-of-time 'jet' w/RDR ??
...and RTR ??? totally underappreciated, glad to see that, too !!!
while i understand (and love) 'highway...that'd be tough for me...
efghijiloveyou wrote:Mattal, there are a lot of people who say that GENYC is an inferior product, but I don't get it. I'm not sure what they hear when they listen to it, but I guess they feel there is some fakery involved...oh well, to each his own.
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14 CFR Appendix C to Part 91, Operations in the North Atlantic (NAT) Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications (MNPS) Airspace
NAT MNPS airspace is that volume of airspace between FL 285 and FL 420 extending between latitude 27 degrees north and the North Pole, bounded in the east by the eastern boundaries of control areas Santa Maria Oceanic, Shanwick Oceanic, and Reykjavik Oceanic and in the west by the western boundary of Reykjavik Oceanic Control Area, the western boundary of Gander Oceanic Control Area, and the western boundary of New York Oceanic Control Area, excluding the areas west of 60 degrees west and south of 38 degrees 30 minutes north.
The navigation performance capability required for aircraft to be operated in the airspace defined in section 1 of this appendix is as follows:
(a) The standard deviation of lateral track errors shall be less than 6.3 NM (11.7 Km). Standard deviation is a statistical measure of data about a mean value. The mean is zero nautical miles. The overall form of data is such that the plus and minus 1 standard deviation about the mean encompasses approximately 68 percent of the data and plus or minus 2 deviations encompasses approximately 95 percent.
(b) The proportion of the total flight time spent by aircraft 30 NM (55.6 Km) or more off the cleared track shall be less than 5.3 × 10−4 (less than 1 hour in 1,887 flight hours).
(c) The proportion of the total flight time spent by aircraft between 50 NM and 70 NM (92.6 Km and 129.6 Km) off the cleared track shall be less than 13 × 10−5 (less than 1 hour in 7,693 flight hours.)
Air traffic control (ATC) may authorize an aircraft operator to deviate from the requirements of § 91.705 for a specific flight if, at the time of flight plan filing for that flight, ATC determines that the aircraft may be provided appropriate separation and that the flight will not interfere with, or impose a burden upon, the operations of other aircraft which meet the requirements of § 91.705.
Title 14 published on 2015-11-17
The following are ALL rules, proposed rules, and notices (chronologically) published in the Federal Register relating to 14 CFR Part 91 after this date.
Title 14 published on 2015-11-17.
The following are only the Rules published in the Federal Register after the published date of Title 14.
For a complete list of all Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices view the Rulemaking tab.


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The Carrier Mills-Stonefort Wildcats may be the only class 1A school in southern Illinois to open their season up against a class 3A team.
Tournament newcomers, the Massac County Patriots began the initial game of the Vienna Classic Tournament Monday, winning 72-37. Despite the Wildcats youth and inexperience, the Patriots 35-point spread didn't come without a fight.
After going 19-11 last season, the Wildcats graduated three starters, Gabe Morgan, Collin Crimm and Jordan Walker, who had a lot of points, height and varsity experience between them.
Even with the return of 5-foot-9 guard Josh Bailey, who led the team with 16 points and 6-foot-2 forward Cameron Taborn, this is a young team who looks to use Monday nights loss as a learning experience for the lengthy road ahead.
"We knew it would be a tough game going in, but I think this loss will pay off for us in the long run," Carrier Mills-Stonefort head coach Mark Motsinger said. "Our younger guys need to go up against this kind of competition, but I'm pleased to see that it didn't break their spirits because they fought the whole way through."
Massac County guards Dalton Mitchell and Dazmeon Nickerson opened up the game with a pair of 3-pointers, while 5-9 junior Dalton Huckleberry answering back for the Wildcats with a three of his own.
At the end of the first quarter the Wildcats came as close to they would to the Patriots, trailing by only four points.
However, with height and speed on their side, Massac County took off in the second quarter and left the Wildcats behind 31-13 before half time.
Taborn, the Wildcats' tallest player, was held to only two points as the Patriots' height in the paint proved dominate, getting stick-back after stick-back.
"We have a lot to work on, but Coach Motsinger always puts together a good team and tonight it was evident that we just have a lot more kids to choose from and run in and out," Massac County coach Joe Hosman said. "Their kids really hustle though, and I think my guys would tell you that the final score was hard fought."
Slayden Figg, the Wildcat's 5-9 sophomore guard, scored all of his nine points in the third quarter but couldn't help his team hang on with a 54-31 score at the end of the third quarter.
The Wildcats had a lot of trouble getting their shots to fall scoring only six points to the Patriots 18 in the fourth quarter.
"This may be one of the better teams in the River-to River Conference," Motsinger said. "We fought the whole way through and intend to do so all season long."
Century 81 Eldorado 70
In the tournament's nightcap senior guard Cordon Hight led the Centurions to victory with 21 points.
Page 2 of 2 - As the Eldorado Eagles fell in their first game of the season, 5-10 senior guard Joel Boulds led the Eagles with 20 points, with 5-10 junior guard Tyler Deaton pitching in 12 points as well.
Richard Graceffa scored 11 points and Dillon Street added eight points. Brennan Unthank tacked on seven, while Justin Wiseman, Dylan Lawrence had three points, while Dylan Roberts, Andy Pena and Derek Mitchell all had two points.
The Eagles will play Saline County rival Carrier Mills-Stonefort tomorrow night at 7p.m in the second game of the night.
Caleb Motsinger
can be reached
@ email@example.com
Location, ST | website.com


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Local Viewpoint
Even in the ashes of a devastating fire in Alcona County last weekend some encouragement still can be found.
First, the fire demonstrated the cooperation of small fire departments working together toward a common goal. While ultimately the fire consumed the Alcona County Road Commission garage, the destruction could have been worse and damage could have extended elsewhere had not the various fire departments worked together in containing the fire and rescuing what vehicles and equipment they could.
All in all fire departments from Lincoln, Barton City, Mikado, Harrisville and Alcona Township battled the blaze together.
Second, it didn't take long for offers of help and assistance to come rolling into the road commission. Offers of equipment that could be borrowed, as well as garage space to work on vehicles were made to county road commission members.
We're not surprised. We've seen such generosity before in similar situations. It's the type of spirit that defines the character of Northeast Michigan residents.
The fire at the garage is a terrible tragedy that leaves the county's road commission in poor shape heading into winter. Despite that, we expect Alcona County residents still will be serviced well and still will have clean roads to travel on this winter.
At this point we're thankful for the vehicles that were salvaged from the fire. We're thankful for the equipment that was able to be moved and thus, not damaged.
The road commission faces a long road ahead of them.
We expect for them, it's just another two-lane of life waiting to be tackled.


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Family will travel for trial
May 26, 2007
The family of Odis and Doris Newman is expected to be in Albuquerque from the opening arguments to the final verdict in the case of a man accused in their deaths.
It's a necessary commitment to her parents, daughter Vickie Dixon of Portales said, as opening arguments are set to begin Wednesday in the trial of Stanley Bedford.
Bedford, 43, of Portales, is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping and other lesser charges in connection with the deaths of the Newmans. They lived in Portales all of their lives and were longtime owners of Valley Electric, which Vickie and Stanley Dixon now own.
"My parents had lived here all their lives, and their grandparents had lived here all their lives," Vickie Dixon said. "When my son takes it over, it will be a fourth-generation business."
That's not lost on the citizens of Roosevelt County, part of the 9th Judicial District that District Attorney Matt Chandler serves.
"It's a case that's been fresh in the minds of many individuals in the community," Chandler said, "especially the senior citizens who had daily contact with the Newmans."
Defense lawyer Gary Mitchell said he understands how respected Odis and Doris Newman were in Roosevelt County as business owners and citizens, but hoped anger over their deaths wouldn't be conflated into overlooking Bedford's innocence.
The bodies of Odis Newman, 70, and his wife, Doris Newman, 69, were found March 3, 2005, in the trunk of a burned-out car.
According to court documents, the Newmans were alive when they were put in the trunk before the car was set on fire.
"This is a case people want to see somebody hanged for," Mitchell said. "Stanley Bedford doesn't have any status in the community. He's not the head of some company that employs a lot of people. He's not a local sports hero. He's not a school teacher."
Relatives of Bedford declined comment for this story, and Dixon had no comment regarding the trial itself or the death penalty.
Jury selection is still not complete in the case, which is scheduled for the next five weeks at District Court in Albuquerque. About 10 more panel members are needed for 60 people, which will be pared down to 12 jurors and up to four alternates.
Both Chandler and Mitchell expect to finish up jury selection Tuesday and begin opening arguments Wednesday.
Mitchell, who has worked more than 100 death penalty cases in 30 years of practicing law in New Mexico, said most cases have a conservative jury because people opposed to the death penalty — like Mitchell — get knocked out in the screening process more than people in favor of the death penalty.
From what he sees in panel questionnaires, this case is no exception.
"They'll be a conservative jury," Mitchell said, "but I hope they're going to be able to look at the evidence with an open mind."
Chandler has said throughout the process the evidence was convincing enough for a grand jury in Roosevelt County to indict Bedford, and he's confident a jury in Albuquerque will think it's enough evidence to convict Bedford.
Chandler will be assisted by Michael Cox, one of the state's leading death-penalty prosecutors.
"He is extremely good," Mitchell said of Cox. "He is extremely capable. We both work extremely hard. We're both experienced, so there's not too much that escapes either one of us."


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Victims' attorneys pleased that Sandusky will pay for crimes
BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Jerry Sandusky's child sex abuse case attracted national attention since the very beginning, and Tuesday was no different.
Media outlets from across the country put Bellefonte back in the spotlight. Everyone outside the Centre County Courthouse did not have to wait long to learn Sandusky's fate.
He was once a Penn State powerhouse, but now Sandusky has been deemed a sexually violent predator who will live his remaining days in a state prison.
Outside, swarms of media gathered as prosecutors celebrated.
"I believe the sentence imposed today was a wise and proper one and it reflected the seriousness of the defendant's crimes," said Joe McGettigan, the lead prosecutor.
McGettigan admired Sandusky's victims who testified during trial, and the three who braved the spotlight again Tuesday.
Sandusky may have been clad in a different type of outfit, but McGettigan said his statements in court Tuesday were the same, "self delusion and cowardice we've seen before."
"He displayed deviance narcissism, a lack of healing for the pain he caused others, and to the end unwillingness to accept responsibility," said McGettigan.
Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, told the crowd his client re-wrote that 15-minute statement Monday night.
"The purpose of sentencing is to hear good qualities about the defendant, to hear positive things from the defendant," said Amendola.
Everyone heard all that, but not once an apology.
Amendola called it, "a sad day," and said his team is ready to take on the appellate process, and cited a lack of time to prepare for the trial.
"We were literally preparing the night before each day with material that in some cases came in within days of the trial starting," said Amendola.
Sandusky's team has 10 days to file the post-sentence motion.
Many attorneys who represent Sandusky's victims were at Tuesday's sentencing, and said they believe the avalanche of evidence will make the sentence stick.
It was a day many of the attorneys believe Sandusky had coming for awhile.
After all this time though, they could not believe the ignorance Sandusky showed in court, even after all the pain he's caused.
The ramblings of a mad man, and continued manipulation.
That is how the attorneys described Sandusky's 15-minute statement he presented in court, and his actions that left 10 young men destroyed.
"It's truly shocking he will not accept responsibility, acknowledge what he did and help in the healing process for all the harm he's caused," said Joel Feller who represents victims two, three, seven and 10.
Some of the attorneys called Sandusky's sentence conservative, but all were pleased the former Penn State coach, who betrayed the trust of the kids he served, will pay for his crimes.
"My client is pleased the judge recognized the victims' courage and is pleased the day has come for Mr. Sandusky," said Michael Kline, who represents victim five.
His victims went face-to-face with their abuser and painted him as a monster. Sandusky stood defiant, and never once apologized or admitted his wrongdoing.
"The fact that's what he needs to say at this late stage is sad," said Michael Boni, who represents victim one.
Now, almost a year since Sandusky's sexual abuse came to light, attorneys told 69 News their clients are far from healed, but they're standing taller, knowing the man who once showered them with gifts will be far away from the comfortable suburban life he once led, and unable to hurt anyone else.
"My client was determined to come back so Mr. Sandusky understood the consequences this had on his life," said Kline.
Sandusky will spend the next 10 days in the Centre County jail before he's permanently placed.
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Lakewood Man Threatens Police, Charged
A Lakewood man is in Jamestown City Jail after threatening police and obstructing traffic Friday afternoon.
William R. Lindberg III, 51, was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest. While in an unmarked police vehicle at the intersection of McDaniel and Harding avenues, officers observed Lindberg stop rapidly behind a vehicle at a red traffic light.
According to police, Lindberg allegedly exited his vehicle and approached the driver of the vehicle in front of him. He then began swearing at the driver and made threats, police said.
Officers activated their lights and confronted Lindberg.
According to the driver of the first vehicle, Lindberg had been following him for a while and was trying to fight him for an unknown reason.
During an investigation, Lindberg became aggressive with police and refused to comply with verbal commands. Lindberg then allegedly made multiple threats to kill officers.
He was taken into custody after repeated warnings and transported to city jail.


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Alison Blosser is a State Department Representative/Political Officer with the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Asadabad, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Alison's previous post: On the Ground in Afghanistan
Thanks to those who have commented already. Many of the questions so far are about the State Department's role and the pace and process for development activities, so I'll try to address those. The situation in Afghanistan is one of simultaneous fighting against insurgents and also post-conflict and preemptive-conflict development and reconstruction. The Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) are designed for the latter activities. The teams are constituted under NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and are staffed by Coalition partners across most of Afghanistan's provinces. American troops are stationed at the PRTs in the Eastern Region, but many other troop-contributing nations have PRTs across the country (for example, the Germans run the PRT in Kunduz, New Zealand has troops and a PRT in Bamiyan, among others), and we all fall under NATO/ISAF purview. Since the PRTs are mandated to work on primary pillars of security, development, and governance, policy makers decided early on to blend civilian expertise into the military mix. We now have a U.S. State Department and a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spot at each PRT, not only the ones with U.S. soldiers. In some places, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also contributed personnel to assist with agriculture, forestry, and hydrology since a large part of Afghanistan's population relies on farming or agricultural industries for subsistence and livelihood.
Most PRTs have now aligned their management in an "executive team" comprised of PRT Commander, Department of State Officer, USAID Officer, USDA Officer, Civil Affairs Lead, Engineering Lead, and Information Officer (the military's equivalent of a Public Affairs Officer), or a similar mix of the PRT's personnel. This team is essentially the decision-making and vetting body for the PRT's activities.
The Department of State officer serves in this executive team in several roles. S/he is tasked with getting to know the key personalities, leadership, and inter-personal dynamics of the province to serve as an advisor on how the PRT's activities might fit into the political, economic, tribal, and historical local landscape. On mentoring and working to improve transparency and effectiveness of provincial government, the State representative's role overlaps with Civil Affairs to some extent. Luckily, in most PRTs this partnership works well (and there is plenty of work to do), so the Civil Affairs team and State rep can work closely to avoid duplicating efforts. Much of the mentoring is about connecting the provincial government to itself, to its districts, and to the respective national ministries. It's also about helping the province to extract nationally-controlled budget resources so the provincial government can provide the services to its citizens that a government is supposed to provide (sometimes this is called "extending the writ"-- convincing citizens that their government works for them, thus gaining their faith and support for the government rather than insurgents). The State representative is also the province's link into U.S. Government-sponsored opportunities -- officers stationed in the field can help the Embassy to identify candidates for exchange programs such as the International Visitor Leadership Program or other training opportunities. From the field, diplomats can also engage the Afghan people from local TV, radio, and print media, reaching a completely different sector of Afghanistan's population than national programming to explain U.S. foreign policy objectives, or more often, U.S. Government engagement with Coalition Forces on local rebuilding efforts.
As to development prioritization, I'm happy to say we are beyond simply asking elders for a "to do" list (though we often do spot-check whether local priorities are being captured in provincial planning). It is critically important to note that Afghanistan's own government is leading the development efforts -- the Coalition, through the PRTs and other national-level mentors, serves as a facilitator. After adopting the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, the Afghan Government required that the provinces create Provincial Development Plans (PDPs). During the initial phase of creating provincial strategies (a process facilitated by the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, UNAMA), many provinces came up with "laundry lists" of detached projects without any priority order. However, through the process of the PRTs and UNAMA working with Provincial Development Councils, Community Development Councils (representative bodies of local populations at the district and provincial levels), and "shuras" (traditional councils of elders, often by tribe or by village) culminating in a PDP brainstorming and drafting exercise, the provinces now have strategic plans that were created through grass-roots consultations, community participation, and finally consensus voting on prioritization.
Now, the PRT takes very few direct-applications for projects from local communities. When villages ask for a project, the PRT tries to link the village leadership or elders with the relevant Line Directorate (Health, Education, Irrigation, etc.). The project proposal usually then goes to that provincial Line Director, who aligns it either within the existing infrastructure or the Provincial Development Plan. Once the project "passes muster" through the Afghan Government, it comes to the PRT for the executive team to evaluate and request funding. Whether the Department of Defense or USAID funds the project is another matter, often linked to the timeline or the scope of the project.
Here's a concrete example from Asadabad. The Directorate of Education (which falls under the national Ministry of Education) already manages and staffs approximately 315 schools in Kunar Province. These are not all hard structure schools - some are open air. Many villages have applied to the PRT for a school building, so the PRT first took these requests to the provincial Director of Education. He saw that most of these school requests were among his 315 - i.e., he could confirm he has the capacity to staff them with teachers, supply them with books, give them a curriculum, etc. The Director of Education compared the request list to his list of Afghan Government-funded development projects already committed through the National Solidarity Program (another development mechanism), and came back to the PRT saying, "OK, we'll build these 21 schools. Can the PRT help to build these other nine?" Projects in other sectors (roads, irrigation schemes, wells, micro-hydroelectric projects, district centers, health services) are similarly vetted.
On security and operational effectiveness: the security scenario varies from province to province. I won't disguise that Kunar Province has significant, regular insurgent activity. That said, the PRT is still able to cultivate partnerships with local elders of villages, local leaders, District Administrators, and provincial government officials. We have projects in some "dodgy" areas. We've noticed though that local buy-in makes an enormous difference in the sustainability and the protection of the projects, and thus in most of our contracts, contractors are required to hire 75% of unskilled laborers from within a 10km radius of the project site. The PRT's engineers hold "how-to" sessions with unskilled laborers in masonry, carpentry, and other trades, developing skills that increase the chances of people being re-hired in future projects. Doing quality assurance monitoring requires that we get "out of the wire." So we do, and we take what precautions we can.
I'll be in Afghanistan for a year, so please keep the comments coming!
GFR writes:
The short answer might be that if one needs to ask this question about reporters, NGO representatives, USAID fundingand NGOs and insurgencies in the south in the first place, then it's logical to conclude there's vast room for improvement on the implementation side of the State Department Representative/Political Officer.
Thomas in Pennsyvania writes:
I work in the educational technology field so your example of rebuilding schools with limited resources struck me.
One of the trends I have seen in developing nations is the use of satellite or other large footprint technology to deliver primary and secondary education as well as community outreach and development information such as agriculture and public health programming. Bypassing traditional land-based infrastructure allows them to reach a much larger segment of the population for significantly less cost, and at a higher level of reliability. But accessing the information still requires the use of radio, television, or computer equipment at the receiving end and some sort of power supply. Some countries are making great use of hand cranked shortwave radios and laptops for accessing these centrally provided educational services.
Has a similar solution been considered in Afghanistan? By moving the means of information transmission off the ground it makes them significantly harder to disrupt by the insurgents and offers a way to spread the best quality instruction to large numbers of people.
This brings to my mind the larger question of how DoS and USAID use technology in their development and public diplomacy efforts.
Eric in New Mexico writes:
Thanks for answering my question Allison, I think a friend of mine ( Godson of the late Zahir Shah) will be interested in your take on things as they develop.
He remains hopeful for his homeland's future. We were talking about it at the time of the first Loya Jirga, and he said, rolling his eyes, "Now that the King no longer wants to be King, everybody wants to be King!"...I replied, "Well, that's democracy for you."
When a people have an irrepressable sense of humor there's no stopping them in their success.
Loring in Colorado writes:
Ms. Blosser,
Thank you for this excellent and informative blog entry. I teach foreign policy at the University of Colorado at Denver, and I will be sending my students the link to your blog so they can also read it. I present foreign policy to my students from a "ground-up" approach, so your blog is a perfect illustration of what I see as a fruitful and effective way for our government to engage with the international community. What great work you are doing! We will keep you in our thoughts as you continue your work.
Brian in California writes:
Hi Alison,
Love your posts. They are informative, clearly expressed (if a bit heavy with acronyms and abbreviations -- but I suppose that 's the nature of the business!), and give a window into a fascinating part of the world -- and an important one.
Thank you for doing the work you do, and here's hoping it's effective in helping that nation rebuild and thrive.
Ronald in New York writes:
First Things First...
Reconstruction, whether regional or national, in Afghan or Iraq, requires rule-of-law, security, and unity of purpose.
In Afghanistan today, we have corrupt government leaders, drug traffickers, Taliban warlords, organized gangs, and other terrorist factions. Reconstruction is not possible in this climate. First, secure the national and regional governments, and then begin the process of construction or reconstruction under the rule-of-law.
Bjorn in Iceland writes:
Hey there!
It's always cool to read about people who are trying to help rebuild Afghanistan. I spent a winter there at KAIA in 2004-5.
It's a place I will never forget and wish I could go back and help some more.
Let me know if you need some men over there.
Good luck.
Yama in Afghanistan writes:
I am from Afghanistan, the land where everyone is eager to be supported and helped, so please don't stop your support and help our poor people. Like me, everyone in Afghanistan is happy from such support.
Best of luck.
Diane in Ohio writes:
I'm a Navy Chief,I was recalled to active duty with the PRT in Asadabad Afghanistan from 2006 -2007. I worked as the S1 Admin there, but had several other jobs which were rewarding. I worked the Postal, Camp Mayor, Security, Blood Donar Program working directly with the FST. I would love to go back to Asadabad again. I found that because they did not have many females, I helped out other units on MEDCAPS, as a female doctor, I had an interpeter and a Hospital Corpsman, we also handed out Humanitarian aide. What I found out was lack of training for the female locals, in teaching in medical. If I were to go back, I would want to work with the locals helping them and educating them, teaching english and basic medical.
I have been researching civilian jobs to go over and help them out in anyway that I can.


text:
Thursday, October 7, 2010
New From Sigma: Sigmax High Definition Brushes
Sigma Makeup is on a roll with new brush releases. Their newest release is totally drool-worthy. They took my favorite sigma brush, the F80, and make two companion brushes to complete the Sigmax Synethic Brush Set.
Click here for more!
These brushes are definitely on my shopping list. Sigma's newest trios are all made of synthetic sigmax HD filamanet. These brushes are super amazing at blending which will definitely help you get an HD ready look.
You all know about the original...my love...the F80. It's my go-to foundation brush. Combined with my MAC Studio Tech cream foundation in NC43, I always get a flawless finish.
The Roud Top Synethic Kabuki (F82) is modified with rounded edges to fit in areas like around the nose and eyes. This almost looks like an improved version of the MAC 109 minus the shedding problem.
The Angled Top Synthetic Kabuki (F84) is great for blending products on the cheeks. I can totally see this working for using cream foundations as contour colors, and blending them into the foundation. Having the synthetic top really moves the foundation on the skin.
Can't wait to get my hands on these to test them out! I bet whoever gets their hands on these will have the smoothest looking, airbrushed foundation around!
You can find these products at http://www.sigmamakeup.com/. You can pick each brush up for $16 or get the set of three for $42, which is an awesome deal. Happy Shopping!
Let me know if any of you guys pick it up and what your thoughts are on these brushes. Ciao bellas!
FTC Disclosure: No one asked me to write this post. I am not reviewing the product, merely sharing my opinion on new products.
Atlanta Makeup Artist
9 comments:
- Ginney said...
Will be buying these stat!
- October 7, 2010 at 12:01 PM
- BO - Makeup Is Art said...
Hi Ren,
we cant get these in Nigeria. besides, you are yet to upload the rest of the Girls Night Out looks.
- October 7, 2010 at 12:24 PM
- Tysh said...
This is a must have I have the 197 (F80)and that is all I use for any foundation, I hate the 109 brush sheds to much so I will be getting the other 2 brushes thanks for the update.
- October 7, 2010 at 12:39 PM
- Charming Vanity said...
OMG...those brushes are sooooo tempting!
- October 7, 2010 at 12:47 PM
- Christiana Divine @ Memoirs of A Shopping Addict said...
my bf was being sweet and bought these for me! they're actually being delivered today! i'm so excited! =D
- October 7, 2010 at 1:15 PM
- Hardcore Makeup Junkie said...
Sweet! I am planning on switching to MUFE HD makeup soon, so these brushes will be a MUST for me! :) I am going to order these ASAP. Thx :)
- October 7, 2010 at 2:27 PM
- Trina J said...
Haven't tried the Sigma brushes yet, but this set is enticing and affordable!
- October 7, 2010 at 5:14 PM
- Rockdabells said...
Really need to get these! Thanks for posting!
- October 8, 2010 at 11:30 AM
- Marcela said...
I really want to try the f80
- November 23, 2010 at 1:50 AM


text:
We have three database trials for April. Let us know what you think! Send your comments toquery[at]grinnell[dot]edu.
Filmakers Library Online (http://flon.alexanderstreet.com/help/view/about_filmakers_library_online) provides award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculum—race and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more. It presents points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide. It includes documentaries such as Who Killed Vincent Chin?; Aging Out: Teens Leaving Foster Care; Critical Condition; Dax's Case: Who Should Decide?; Sound and Fury: The Communication Wars of the Deaf; and Waging a Living. Please try out this online streaming service and let us know what you think. The trial is active now and runs through May 30, 2011.
Rock's Backpages (http://www.rocksbackpages.com) is an online database of rock music writing, sourced from the pages of the music and mainstream press, it is a library of articles (reviews, interviews, features and more) from the early 1960s right up to the present day. There are thousand articles on the site (in excess of 16,000 at the time of writing). These feature over two thousand artists and range from 500‐word album (or concert) reviews to 10,000‐word interviews and features. There are also over 200 exclusive, and previously unpublished, audio interviews with major rock music artists. Rock's Backpages is an ever expanding and unique archive, making the database an essential resource for any serious student of modern music, journalism, literature, popular culture and the media. The trial is active now and runs through April 30, 2011.
National Security Archives (http://tinyurl.com/3gcdeke)
The Digital National Security Archive contains the most comprehensive set of declassified government documents available. The resource now includes 35 collections consisting of over 80,000 meticulously indexed documents, with more than 500,000 total pages. Each of these collections, compiled by top scholars and experts, exhaustively covers the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century. Together, these collections offer unparalleled access to the defining international strategies of our time. Glossaries, chronologies, bibliographies, overviews, and photographs are included. The trial is active now and runs through April 30, 2011.


text:
British Periodicals Colleciton II consists of more than 300 journals from the ProQuest microfilm collections English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts together with additional titles, amounting to almost 3 million pages. All of this material is available in page image format with fully searchable text. Users can filter results by article type and download articles as either PDFs or JPEG page images. Topics covered include literature, music, art, drama, archaeology, and architecture.
Miami University has a long and proud tradition of student involvement in both radio and television productions. This exhibit will celebrate five decades of students in broadcasting. Many of these productions can be found online in the WMUB Archives. For questions about the exhibit, contact Marcus Ladd at email@example.com or (513) 529-0462.
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A man of many hats, Bricker reflects on his Miami Libraries career
Grabach maps an ambitious course for retirement
Havighurst Special Collections included in $2.3 million estate gift
Staff Spotlight—Thom Gerrish


text:
Four Men's Beach Teams Set for Berlin Main Draw
Deb Stadick
Intern, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: email@example.com
@USA_Volleyball - @USAVBeach - USA Volleyball Facebook
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 10, 2012) – Four U.S. men's beach volleyball teams are slated to compete in Wednesday's main draw at the smart Grand Slam Berlin, part of the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour.
On the women's side, Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) won the country quota match to advance to Wednesday's qualification bracket.
Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Calif.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) received the No. 2 seed at Berlin. The Olympic-bound duo is coming off a fourth-place finish in Gstaad, Switzerland, and will open pool play on Wednesday against Venezuela's No. 31-seeded Igor Hernandez and Jesus Fane. Next, they will face the Swiss team of Patrick Heuscher and Jefferson Bellaguarda (No. 18).
Dalhausser and Rogers will close pool play on Thursday against Poland's 15th-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel.
The first and second rounds of single-elimination play are also slated for Thursday. Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), seeded No. 3 at Berlin, are coming off straight gold-medal performances in Rome and Gstaad. Their win in Rome cemented their spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. Gibb and Rosenthal's first pool-play match will pit them against the Netherlands' 30th-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen. Next, they will face the Kazakhstani team of Alexey Sidorenko and Alexandr Dyachenko (No. 19).
Gibb and Rosenthal will conclude pool play on Thursday against the Czech Republic's No. 14-seeded Premysl Kubala and Petr Benes.
Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), seeded No. 7, will open pool play against Canada's No. 26-seeded Ben Saxton and Christian Redmann. Next, they will face New Zealand's Jason Lochhead and Kirk Pitman (No. 23).
Fuerbringer and Lucena will close pool play on Thursday against Brazil's 10th-seeded Pedro Solberg Salgado and Marcio Henrique Barroso Araujo.
Bradley Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and John Mayer (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) did not have enough FIVB ranking points to earn automatic entry in the main draw. They opened play on Tuesday in a qualifying bracket.
Keenan and Mayer, seeded No. 23 in qualifying, defeated Norway's 10th-seeded Iver Andreas Horrem and Geir Eithun 21-18, 18-21, 15-12 in 55 minutes.
Their second-round match pitted them against the Swedish team of Hannes Brinkborg and Stefan Gunnarsson (No. 7), whom they defeated 23-21, 21-18 in 42 minutes to earn their main-draw berth.
Keenan and Mayer received the No. 28 seed in the main draw. In their first match of pool play they will face the German team of Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann (No. 5). Their second-round match will pit them against Latvia's 12th-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins.
Keenan and Mayer will close pool play on Thursday against the Polish team of Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz (No. 21).
Akers and Hochevar faced Emily Day (Torrance, Calif.) and Heather Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.) in the country quota bracket and earned the 21-15, 23-21 victory in 35 minutes.
"It is really important to establish being aggressive and to get on the attack." Akers said in an FIVB press release. "We wanted to go on the attack and get them on their heels because when you're on your heels you can't be as aggressive and that is why we wanted to attack and push them back."
Akers and Hochevar, seeded No. 3 in qualifying, received a first-round bye and are slated to face the winner of Slovakia's No. 19-seeded Andreja Vodeb and Simona Fabjan and the Italian team of Laura Giombini Viktoria Orsi Toth(No. 14).
For complete information on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour, visit their website.


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text:
Skip to comments.Ambassador Kennedy Chides China's Move to Create Air Zone
Posted on 11/28/2013 1:21:53 PM PST by bkopto
The new U.S. ambassador to Japan has weighed in on escalating tensions between China and Japan over the East China Sea.
On Wednesday, Caroline Kennedy criticized China's recent move to create its own Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which requires that all aircraft notify Chinese authorities before entering the airspace.
"Unilateral actions like those taken by China with their announcement of an East China Sea Air-to-Sea Identification Zone undermines security and constitutes an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea. This only serves to increase tension in the region," the ambassador said.
The new ADIZ includes disputed islands claimed by both China and Japan. On Tuesday, the U.S. flew two unarmed B-52 bombers there -- a move some say was a show of force in support of Japan.
(Excerpt) Read more at 630wpro.com ...
Yet again, a big "THANKS FOR NOTHING" to President Jarrett.
Ambassador BootlegMoney speaks!
The Chinese military is really gonna be askeered now...
Another know nothing Kennedy with their finger on the trigger.
I suspect her appointment is what has emboldened China to take this action!
Y'know... That's, y'know, not, y'know, cool.
"ummmm ummmmm, you know, China is bad....ummm-kay....."
I'm curious. Who has the lower IQ—John Kerry or Caroline Kennedy? Anybody have the numbers?
Wonder how many "ya know's" they had to edit out of that quote.
We've heard her speak -— those are not her words.
I wonder who wrote it for her.
Obama? Bwahahaha!
Uh, you know China you know ah is ah you know is ......
So Obama had the forethought to have a speech writer assigned to her every hour of the day ya know.
Kennedy: "Um, y'know, like, what IS this, I don't y'know, read Japanese or, something!"
[Another aide looks at the paper] "Sorry, Madame Ambassador, we'll type it up for you." [hands the paper back to the lackey] "Idiot! She can't read cursive!"
I imagine there will be more provocations overseas because of Obama's weakened status too.
That quote had to be read off a cue card or prompter. If you've ever heard her speak before...it doesn't get any more painful this side of hell.
I bet Caroline would win at a corn on the cob eating contest. Ambassadorshipping? Not so much.
Well, I believe that princess caroline can see China from the embassy steps.
So now we know what Obama's foreign policy toward Japan will be for the remainder of his term.
Every time China makes a provocative action relative to Japan, Caroline Kennedy will be brought out to make a meaningless statement. Realizing that's all they have to fear from the U.S., the Chinese will escalate their anti-Japanese actions.
Inevitably, the hawkish faction of the Japanese government will demand Japan make some reprisals and the threat of Sino-Japanese hostilities will become serious, and a war may be in the offing.
John Kennedy gave us the Cuban Missile Crisis, and maybe his daughter will continue the family tradition by giving us the Japanese Missile Crisis.
She's proof of the Curse of the 3rd Generation.
No one in this world is afraid of the girls and girlie men that the O is sending out there. I cringe every time I have to listen to one of the girls who are State Department spokes girls. arrrggggg.
Caroline Kennedy just like every other Free Trade Liberal who whines about Communist China...but refuses to take action...like raising tariffs on Communist Chinese (the only way Communist Chinese aggression can be checked without major military intervention)
I guess, like, um, she didn't write that statement, and um, whoever did has, like, ratched grammar.
Maybe we should start a pool on how soon the Obama administration will cave in to China and reach an "accommodation".
Sweet Carorine
Good times never seemed so good.
I've been incrined,
To say, this ain't your neighborhood.
Years ago when her children were small, she collaborated with another woman on a book about the Constitution, guess it was the Bill of Rights. She's got several other books about poetry, history, family album, etc.
"The Bill of Rights defines and defends the freedoms we enjoy as Americans -- from the right to bear arms to the right to a civil jury. Using the dramatic true stories of people whose lives have been deeply affected by such issues as the death penalty and the right to privacy, attorneys Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy reveal how the majestic priciples of the Bill of Rights have taken shape in the lives of ordinary people, as well as the historic and legal significance of each amendment. In doing so, they shed brilliant new light on this visionary document, which remains as vital and as controversial today as it was when a great nation was newly born."
Lots of writings on ebay and Amazon.
Now is the time.
Confront Chinese aggression now.
Not later.
Inquiring minds want to know how many youknows it took to " weighed in"?
Well Miss Obvious makes her first official pronouncement!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
Skip to comments.Bill & wife speak out (Hail her past as lesbian pioneer)
Posted on 12/12/2012 4:22:44 AM PST by Liz
Chirlane McCray and husband, NY Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a mayoral candidate, respond to her declaration in 1979 Essence magazine, I am a lesbian. McCray said, Im going to use this as a platform to go out and do a lot of good. Asked if she was no longer a lesbian, McCray said, Sexuality is a fluid thing and its personal. I dont even understand the question, quite frankly. A top aide to Mayor Bloomberg applauded the couple. De Blasio insisted he wasnt exploiting the issue for political gain. Were very proud of who we are. We want to tell people what were about, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
"Sexuality is a fluid thing"
Uh, no, it isn't.
In typical faggot fashion. "It's all about me"
It seems that all "homosexuals" are afflicted with narcissism
So much for the "I was born this way" argument.
Uh, no, it isnt.
Exactly correct Everyone is heterosexual (biology doesn't lie). Some are just mentally damaged
Uh, what platform?
Maybe she was into water sports.
The core of liberalism requires hypocrisy.
We want to tell people what were about, he said.
...and I said if it is about your principles I'm certainly interested, if it is about your sexual orientation, tell me why I should be interested.
ok, let's rephrase it, are you still QUEER???
Asked if she was no longer a lesbian, McCray said, Sexuality is a fluid thing and its personal. I dont even understand the question, quite frankly.
Quite frankly then you must be a special kind of stupid!
Why is it personal today but not when you announced it in a magazine??
Sexual diversity is ever-evolving dontchyaknow. Get with the program Lizzie. ('
But it is impossible for homosexuals to change. That is why they want to make conversion therapy illegal.
"It seems that all homosexuals are afflicted with narcissism."
Proves my theory that homosexuality is caused by weak boys playing with girls when they were children and adopting girlish ways. It would only make sense then that while the girls will meet boys, the boy with the new traits would also want to meet boys.
Same applies to strong girls playing with boys and taking on those traits. When it is time to meet girls, the strong girl, with the boyish traits she developed would also want to meet a girl.
Narcissism is developed during the period of confusion when they cannot understand why this happened and start to look at it as being everyone's fault but their own.
Now where is my government grant?
"claimed" her "space" in the world? bravo sierra, God gave her the physical body that claims "space" in this depraved world
wait- so she IS NO LONGER GAY?
Usually the "homosexual" has been sexually assaulted in childhood
Sexuality is a fluid thing
Uh, no, it isnt.
Exactly correct Everyone is heterosexual (biology doesn't lie). Some are just mentally damaged
C'mon, you stuffy old conservatives! Of course, sexuality is fluid, just as morals and ethics are.
yeah, according to the libs, truth is fluid too
She likes that he's a city sLicker.
It's not personal in NYC if it's over 16 fluid ounces.
I've known several "bi" women (including a girlfriend in college).
I really don't care that his wife is a dyke.
Why don't we look at the role Bill had in the housing market crash?
"Lesbian Pioneer"
Yup, many's the time I'd hear old Gran tell the tale about the wagon trains of lesbians that settled the west, how every night they'd unhitch the bulldykes from the Conestoga wagons and leave their dildos pointing to the North Star...
think RECREATIONAL as the "fluid" (no sarcasm intended) she mentions.
If it is fluid and changing then there can be no designation for discrimination. It is not an immutable trait.
Just like society frowns on canibalism or animal/human sex, so too does society have the ability to say there are boundaries for recreational conduct.
meanwhile some girl is being pushed by her liberal mother to petition for an "easy bake over" just for boys.
It just became the DO NOT BUY FOR BOYS toy. (see also ken doll.)
Only the weirdos of the cooking chanel endorse the concept.
Well, I like the Dennis Prager theory:
Women make emotional attachments that sex goes along with, and they can have them with women or men. In a normal life, they form them with men.
Men are just horny, and some horndogs will find recipients who are male, female, animal, vegetable mineral, whatever. In a normal life, they are horny with women.
So true!
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quote D3structorkkRight guys, I've skipped well ahead without any updates. I'm sorry about the horribly long wait but updates shall resume probably Tuesday.Spoiler:Notification Nuke
quote GonzalesWow. I've just seen that now you have pointed it out. That's pretty incredible haha.1 goal scored...
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Wallace is more a product of Ben's talent than he is of his own making.
As long as Haley runs this type of Offense then Wallace will be mediocre. He is telling it like it is. Maybe he shouldn't but he is right. Losing concentration is probably the reason for his performance. It makes sense and it sounds better then I didnt get the money I wanted. Haley doesnt go deep and that is Wallaces strong point. I think Haley needs to go deep at least once a game to keep D's honest, but Im not the OC and he is.
We go deep more than once a game but if the only time he is happy is when it's in his bread basket then bye bye Wallace. Can't expect top money if you are butt hurt when you don't get a ton of passes every game and drop em when called on.
My bet on his next stop is: Tampa Bay. Lots of cap space and no state tax. They are few pieces short of being a very good team.
Regardless of what happens with Mike Wallace, I can't believe that he actually said those things out loud where anyone other than himself could hear them. The Steelers and, in particular, Haley, can't be happy to have heard that. Other teams considering hiring him can't be happy to have heard them, it's going to be interesting. I still think the Steelers would like to have under contract, but I'm thinking their offering price just went down a little more.
This is a head scratcher.
1.25) Artie Burns - CB, Miami
2.58 ) Sean Davis - S/CB, Maryland
3.89) Javon Hargrave - DT, S. Carolina St.
4.123) Jerald Hawkins - OT, LSU
6.220) Travis Feeny - OLB, Wash
7.227) Demarcus Ayers - WR, Hou
7.246) Tyler Matakevich - OLB, Temple
The referee said that you hit Brian Sipe too hard. Did you hit him too hard?
I hit him as hard as I could - Jack Lambert
I think he lands in Indy... Arians would love to have him with Luck and his philosophy is more in tune with Wallaces skill set.
The only problem is this gives a few members on the board some weight when talking about how a guy is thinking based on his production or body language.


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Henderson Community College academic advising empowers students to become responsible for their own academic success. Faculty advisors are committed to providing accurate and comprehensive academic advising. Working together, students and advisors develop one-on-one relationships and share responsibility to assist students to make choices and define goals; guide students through administrative processes; connect students to campus services and resources; and encourage the intellectual growth of students.
HCC has adopted a first-semester advising syllabus for use during a student's initial semester in college. The advising syllabus is electronically generated during the required New Student Orientation. The advising syllabus contains a wealth of information for students new to college, including important advising contacts and a checklist of items to complete during the student's first semester in college. Beginning the 2015-2016 academic year, the second-tier syllabi will be used by the student and his or her assigned academic advisor as a path for student success.
Every applicant at HCC is assigned an academic advisor whose knowledge and experience will help you succeed. Your advisor can do much more than help you register for classes. He or she will help you map your academic career; explore career options; work through academic difficulties; or just talk about your classes.
The process of academic advising is a two-way interaction where the advisee and the advisor work together to achieve a common goal. Both the advisee and the advisor have responsibilities to fulfill (noted below) for the process to work effectively.


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Database Sharding Platform at NHN
posted 5 years ago in Dev Platform category by Jeon Won Hee
"Ins and outs of NHN" is a series of articles that compares platforms and services from third-party vendors with NHN's own solutions. The topic of this first article in the series is Database Sharding Platform. I will introduce about the efforts being made from inside and outside of NHN to implement Database Sharding. I will first explain the concept of Sharding data vs. Partitioning data. Then review the common methodology to implement sharding. And finally I will compare all sharding platforms. This article is recommented for developers interested in big data management.
Database Expansion
To store and search a volume of data which is so big that it cannot be handled by one database, you must find a way to use multiple databases. Although there are some databases made for distributed environments, such as Cassandra or Dynamo, these have many functional constraints, such as weakness in terms of search range or inability to use the JOIN operations. In order to expand data while using a relatively feature-rich functionality, it is recommended to use RDBMS by sharding the databases.
In the past, the Sharding logic was implemented directly on the application layer, but now there is an increasing number of examples which introduce Sharding platforms which allow to move the Sharding logic from the application layer to database or middleware layers. At a core level, Sharding platforms must respond effectively to ever-increasing data without failure, and handle different data characteristics and models depending on services.
In this article I will compare Spock Proxy, the Sharding platform based on MySQL Proxy, Gizzard, created by Twitter, and CUBRID SHARD, native database sharding feature in CUBRID which is set to launch in the first half of 2012. A table of other solutions was previous posted at Database Sharding with CUBRID.
Horizontal Partitioning and Sharding
Horizontal partitioning is a design that divides and stores data, such as a schema, into two or more tables within one database. For example, to handle large data of user messages, such schema may be created so that messages by users from city A are stored in one table, while messages by users from city B are stored in another table. This allows to reduce the size of the index and increase the concurrency of operations. The key point in this approach is that the data is partitioned between tables within a single database.
Sharding, on the other hand, is the distributed approach where data is horizontally partitioned between tables created in physically different databases. Thus, Sharding is a method to store the messages by users from city A in database A and messages by users from city B in database B. Here each database is called a Shard.
As you have to work on multiple databases, there could be functional limitations based on circumstances and also drawbacks in terms of consistency and replication, including JOIN operations. In many cases, Sharding used to be implemented at the application server level. There have been many attempts to provide this at the platform level. These can be classified into a pattern that operates in the application server, such as Hibernate Shards, a middle tier pattern such as CUBRID SHARD, Spock Proxy, or Gizzard, and a pattern that provides the Sharding functionality from a database itself, e.g. nStore or MongoDB.
Middle Tier Sharding Platform
By default, a Sharding platform should consider the following items:
- Database location abstraction
- Scalability
- Monitoring/Ease of operations
Database location abstraction and scalability are different from each other but connected. Database location abstraction ensures that on the application layer you do not need to know which data (which Row) is located in which database. The application is connected only with the Sharding platform. Connecting to a database is what the Sharding platform should do. In addition, Sharding platform should carry out the task to add a replicated storage to a specific Shard (one of the partitioned databases) in order to migrate database for replacement without restarting or changing the application code. When the Sharding platform comes to a stop, it is obvious that an application server will not be able to access the database. For this reason, the Sharding platform should provide redundancy.
For monitoring, the Sharding platform should be able to provide a number of requests and error information according to Shard keys (a standard to determine which data is stored in which database).
Comparison between Spock Proxy and CUBRID SHARD
The key function of the Sharding platform is the CRUD operation (CREATE, READ, UPDATE, DELETE) which chooses one database among many according to 'a standard set by a developer', in other words the Sharding strategy. We will compare Spock Proxy, a typical Sharding platform of MySQL, with the CUBRID SHARD platform developed by NHN.
Spock Proxy
Spock Proxy is a Sharding platform designed based on MySQL Proxy. In MySQL Proxy, you can execute the Lau scrip code, which is written by a developer before and after performing SQL. The primary purpose of using MySQL Proxy is to analyze and modify SQL. To use Spock Proxy, you need to create a MySQL database to manage the information about shards and how the data should be distributed. The row is a rule for Sharding.
Figure 1: Specifying Sharding rules in Spock Proxy.
CUBRID SHARD is the Sharding platform for CUBRID. The uniqueness of CUBRID SHARD is that it can also be used with MySQL as well as Oracle. It is set to be launched in the first half of 2012, and is planned to be used for processing the meta information database system of NDrive service, the cloud storage system developed by NHN.
The following table shows a summary of a comparison between Spock Proxy and CUBRID SHARD.
Table 1 Comparison between Spock Proxy and CUBRID SHARD
|Spock Proxy
|Sharding rule storage
|DBMS Table
|Configuration file
|How to create Shard keys
|How to find a Shard key
|SQL parsing
|Using HINT
|No need to change SQL
|Requires the change to SQL queries to insert sharding HINT
Spock Proxy stores Sharding rules in the table in MySQL universal_db database. The SQL received from an application server is parsed and checked whether the query has shard keys. If shard keys are provided, the MySQL instance will be identified according to the standard recorded in universal_db, then SQL will be relayed to that MySQL instance.
When using this method, you do not need to describe information related to shard keys in SQL, unlike in CUBRID SHARD. Therefore, if you did not use Sharding before for your coding, but recently had to use due to the data increase, you may use Spock Proxy which will work without requiring you to change the SQL in your application. Note that this is limited to cases where there is no need to change the schema for Sharding, or when Sharding can be applied without changing the SQL that you use. However, the method used to find the Shard after parsing SQL, as used by Spock Proxy, has weaknesses in terms of performance. It could lead to unnecessary work, as SQL should be parsed twice: once by Spock Proxy to determine the MySQL instance, then by MySQL itself.
In CUBRID SHARD, SQL HINT is used which allows to avoid parsing SQL twice. Suppose there is a table as follows:
To use the student_no column data as a shard key, an application server sends the following prepared SQL to CUBRID SHARD.
SELECT student_no, name, age FROM student WHERE student_no = /*+ SHARD_KEY */ ?
CUBRID SHARD checks if a HINT displays /*+ SHARD_KEY */ in SQL, in which case the column data with the corresponding HINT will be used as a Shard key. It then reads the student_no value, which follows the hint, and identifies RDBMS based on the configuration file and transmits the corresponding query. As such, the benefit of using HINT is that you can improve processing efficiency by avoiding parsing SQL twice, and react to various RDBMS without violating the database location abstract.
- CUBRID SHARDING provides various HINTs, in addition to /*+ SHARD_KEY */.
- Typically, there is /*+ SHARD_ID(__id__) */, a HINT that allows you to find a special shard.
- The /*+ SHARD_VAL(__shard_key_val__) */ HINT can also play a role in finding a special shard for tables which have no shard keys. While this HINT is the same in that it searches for tables that have no specific shard keys, it configures a value for shard key column directly without choosing a shard, and selects the shard according to the internal rules of the middleware.
Unlike Spock Proxy, where Sharding rules are inserted into a database table, in CUBRID SHARD Sharding rules are specified in the configuration file. If there are three access addresses for actual RDBMS storage, you should specify DB addresses to CUBRID SHARD as follows.
0 shardDB shardNODE1:3306 1 shardDB shardNODE2:3306 2 shardDB shardNODE3:3306 3 shardDB shardNODE4:3306
If you want to use the Modulo method, write the corresponding value in the configuration file as below.
In addition, specify [MIN..MAX] according to the value generated from SHARD_KEY_MODULAR, and describe which shard to send the corresponding query to.
#min max shard_id 0 63 0 64 127 1 128 191 2 192 255 3
If you need a more subtle method than Modulo, you can create program code of your own that calculates the Shard ID for Shard keys.
SHARD_KEY_LIBRARY_NAME = libshardkeyid.so SHARD_FUNCTION_NAME = user_get_shard_key
As shown in the above example, you can register your own library which will calculate the Shard ID logic.
The common weakness of both Spock Proxy and CUBRID SHARD is that they both require additional network IO time for each additional hop because they are implemented as a middle tier.
The following figure displays a general process of internal execution in CUBRID SHARD, which is performed when a developer executes a query. When a developer executes a query, the query is analyzed by the DB shard middleware, which determines to which shard it will be sent. Then the query is transmitted to the selected shard, and finally the middleware delivers the response to the client.
Figure 2: CUBRID SHARD process.
Gizzard is a Sharding platform developed by Twitter. It is also a middle tier just like Spock Proxy and CUBRID SHARD. However, its usage and architecture are quite different from Spock Proxy or CUBRID SHARD.
The following figure shows how the data can be shared between several databases deploying two units of Gizzard.
Figure 3: Gizzard deployment diagram.
In this case, the interface being used by an application server is Thrift, an RPC protocol, not JDBC. Therefore, it is similar to DBGW (CUBRID SHARD) platform developed by NHN. When the schema of a storage changes, Gizzard may also need modifications. While it can be a constraint, it could also open up access not only to RDBMS, but also to various other databases (e.g. Lucene).
Gizzard is written based on Scala, and you can expand its functions by adding Scala codes as needed. Instead of viewing it as a complete product, we recommend that you download the source and modify it to suit your needs.
The biggest advantage of Gizzard is that you can perform hotspot response and database migration in the middle tier platform level. For example, Gizzard provides the direct replication feature, as shown in the following figure.
Figure 4: The replication feature of Gizzard.
Spock Proxy or CUBRID SHARD do not offer this feature, as they do not need it. CUBRID, MySQL, and Oracle have their own replication feature, thus they do not need to offer the feature from the middle tier.
The replication feature provided by Gizzard is very simple - send each request to several replicas - but cannot handle variety of requests that may occur while running the replication feature. However, it can be useful when using a database without the replication feature.
Figure 5: The migration feature of Gizzard.
As shown in the figure above, it offers the replication feature which does not require a service halt. When migrating a certain database, the feature replicates the details of a database storage before replication configuration, after allowing the new data to be written in two locations by configuring the replication. This approach, of course, cannot be used on RDBMS due to consistency issue.
Limitations of Sharding
Sharding, on the other hand, also has its own limitations. Typical constraints of Sharding are as follows:
- It cannot perform JOIN operations for two or more Shardings.
- auto_increment (serial) values can vary depending on Sharding.
- last_insert_id() value is no more valid.
- shard key column value must not be updated; requires delete, then insert.
- does not allow to access two or more Shards from one transaction.
When using Sharding, therefore, it is important that you perform right data modeling and schema design to prevent the above constraint issues.
To learn more about Sharding and other features of CUBRID I suggest you to see the Slideshare presentation at:
- http://www.slideshare.net/cubrid/growing-in-the-wild-the-story-by-cubrid-database-developers.
- http://www.cubrid.org/blog/cubrid-life/database-sharding-the-right-way-easy-reliable-open-source/
By Jeon Won Hee, Senior Software Engineer at CUBRID DBMS Development Lab, NHN Corporation.


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