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Investors caught up in the euphoria of the nascent bull market were given some loud wake-up calls on Tuesday from the Reserve Bank of Australia and one of the first top 100 companies to deliver disappointing results in this profit-reporting season.
The RBA's slightly opaque approach to communication always divides market opinion about what it is really trying to say.
But astute observers such as
Evans says RBA commentary about the domestic economy "highlights new concerns around the outlook for employment growth and credit while the description of the housing market is hardly exuberant".
A rising jobless rate is hardly the environment for raising interest rates, which is why Evans's prediction of one more 25-basis-points cut to 2.75 per cent is plausible.
Many high-yielding dividend stocks will benefit from the prospect of another rate cut, which explains why many bank stocks rose yesterday on down day for the market.
But the near 10 per cent decline in shares in medical device maker
It is understandable that Cochlear was hit hard. A price earnings multiple of more than 25 is not justified when revenue growth is 1 per cent. The company did well to manage its cost base in the face of a strong dollar but its valuation was too heady.
The other stock with a heady valuation was
They are: head of Macquarie Funds, Shemara Wikramanayake; head of fixed income, commodities and currencies, the reclusive Andrew Downe; and the head of Macquarie Capital, Tim Bishop.
But all anyone wanted to know about was the likely 2013 earnings that Moore said would be up about 10 per cent on 2012, which means about $800 million. This is about $35 million below consensus and up to $113 million below the bullish forecast of Goldman Sachs.
The bottom line is that Macquarie's not delivering on the big securities market acquisitions bought with funds supplied by the federal government's guarantee after the financial crisis.
It is against this background that many leading fund managers are taking profits and looking for alternatives to the high valuations payable in Australia. For example, Perpetual sees better relative value in the shares of United Kingdom retailer Tesco compared with Woolworths.
Hidden away in the market presentation delivered on Tuesday by Macquarie's Andrew Downe was a reference to something that could end up having a profound effect on the local home loan market.
Downe said residential mortgage-backed securities markets (RMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS) markets continued to rally in Australia and Europe, resulting in an improved issuance pipeline.
The revival of the RMBS and ABS markets is a reflection of increased risk taking by investors in Australia and overseas. In fact, one popular investment strategy for wealthy individuals is to buy Australian RMBS issues at about 150 basis points over the bank bill swap rate, and sell them at 95 basis points.
There have been false dawns before in the RMBS market. Spreads narrowed sharply last year but this rally fizzled after another crisis in Europe.
This year, the demand for RMBS could be sustained given the boom in indicators of risk-taking, such as the yield on high-yield debt or junk bonds.
It has not escaped the attention of investment bankers that the yield on junk bonds in the United States is now below the yield on the S&P 500 stock index. This creates an arbitrage opportunity that ought to encourage mergers and acquisitions.
Macquarie, which was a pioneer of RMBS in Australia under the PUMA brand, has much to gain from a revival in RMBS issues.
First, it can earn fees from structuring the transactions.
Second, it can earn money through its relationship with Yellow Brick Road (YBR), the financial services company controlled by entrepreneur
Macquarie is funding YBR's home loan business, which involves distributing loans through a network of about 150 YBR-branded outlets.
The relationship between the two has resulted in the launch of a highly competitive product that has a 1.15 per cent discount below the base rate of 6.4 per cent for the first 12 months on residential loans and a discount off the base rate of up to 0.86 per cent guaranteed for the life of the loan.
Other online home loan providers have lower rates, but the YBR offer undercuts the standard variable rates offered by the big four banks through their branches.
A sustained recovery in the RMBS market driven by the higher risk appetites of global fixed interest investors seeking AAA-rated mortgages would be a big boon for YBR and other non-bank distributors of home loans.
The spread between the bank bill swap rate and RMBS securities has come in from about 150 basis points a year ago to about 95 basis points now.
The market recovery has been helped by the demand from investors to diversify their risks both by geography and by seasoning of loans.
Macquarie has been careful to keep its name in the fine print of all YBR announcements. But its support for Bouris is potentially a threat to the major banks which don't want to see a share of new lending and refinancings going to a challenger brand such as YBR.
Twitter @Tony__Boyd
The Australian Financial Review


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Mike Taylor : End Of The Week Thangs
It seems 15 teams didi fairly well with the NFL free agency sweepstakes .
(Courtesy: Getty Images )
For better or worse here's the results after 48 hours worth of teeth grinding and nail biting.
Dallas Cowboys fans...if you are a player who has stated countless times over the 2013 season that you plan to "go to the highest bidder" once free agency rolls around . Would you be shocked if management of the team you are currently on throws you to the curb for potentially better options? Good or bad timing ? According to former Dallas Cowboys player Jason Hatcher "They no longer wanted me" .
(Courtesy : Getty Images)
After being drafted in the 3rd round by the Dallas Cowboys in 2006, Jason's new home ironically is with the ........Washington Redskins.
Congratulations to Rick Barnes and the Texas Longhorns mens basketball team after a impressive win last night against the West Virginai Mountaineers in the Big 12 Championship Quarter finals. With West Virginia only shooting 30% from the field the Longhorns took advantage and placed the win in their back pocket as they prepare to face seventh seeded Baylor tonight.
Here is the Big 12 Championship semi-finals games set for Friday starting at 6pm Eastern / 5PM Central.
The San Antonio Spurs are back on the floor tonight in the AT&T Center as they take on the Los Angeles Lakers . You can hear all the action starting at 6:30pm on our big brother station News Radio 1200 WOAI .

subset: commoncrawl


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In 1961, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer produced King of Kings, the first major Hollywood film about the life of Christ since the silent era. The virgin Mary was played by Siobhan McKenna, a respected Irish actress in her late 30s, and the villainous Herod the Great was described by the narrator as "an Arab of the Bedouin tribe."
Nearly half a century later, things have flipped around. The Nativity Story, produced by New Line Cinema (the same studio that made The Lord of the Rings), casts an Irishman as King Herod; and several of the supporting actors were born in primarily Muslim territories, such as Iran and Sudan, or can trace their family roots there.


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Father: ROBERT EDWARD EPPERLY b: 1850 in ADAIR CO MO c: in MOVED TO KAY CO OK IN 1898
Mother: LENETTA LIZZET DAVIS b: 28 SEP 1858 in LAFAYETT WISCONSIN
Marriage 1 FLORENCE COLEMAN
Marriage 2 JUANITA MARY
RootsWeb.com, Inc. is NOT responsible for the content of the GEDCOMs uploaded through the WorldConnect Program. If you have a problem with a particular entry, please contact the submitter of said entry. You have full control over your GEDCOM. You can change or remove it at any time.


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INDIO - Post-hardcore's At the Drive-In and underground hip-hop's Company Flow each reunited for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and each group's fans couldn't be more passionate.
At the Drive-In, of El Paso Tx., turned the main Coachella stage into a monster with its loud and heavy sound along with charismatic singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who at one point was caught on camera spitting on the very camera filming the performance.
The group started off with the chaotic "Arcarsenal" before going into the superior sounding "Pattern Against User" and "Chanbara" while their fans were reciting lyrics and creating mosh pits but I had to leave to watch Florence and the Machine. I plan to be back for their second week performance.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn, New York's Company Flow drew a much smaller but no less rabid response at the Gobi Tent Sunday night at the Coachella festival.
Consisting of El-P, Mr. Len and Bigg Jus, the group are pioneers in the underground hip-hop world with the classic "Funcrusher Plus" released in 1997 on Rawkus Records.
I caught the tail end of their set as their fans were reciting lyrics and loudly cheering the group, who thanked the audience and the Coachella festival for having them perform. I was able to hear a complete version of the raw yet amazing "8 Steps to Perfection" but like At the Drive-In I will make time to catch their whole set next week and report back.
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Mansard Inn has pride in serving classics
My parents would like this place, I mused, looking at the Mansard Inn menu. ¶ Lots of restaurants take pride in offering customers their chef's spin on the latest culinary trend. Not the Mansard, where the menu's Old English typeface is perfect for a lineup of steak-house classics, New England seafood favorites and touches of old-school French cuisine that haven't changed much in 40 years. There is nothing on it my mother would need explained. ¶ There's meat and potatoes and seafood, all served with time-honored accompaniments. The "duet of loin lamb chops" arrives with mint jelly. Every dinner comes with salad, potato or rice pilaf, vegetable and rolls. ¶ The Mansard's interior doesn't seem like it's been updated much either, but when we settled in for dinner on a dark and stormy night, the atmosphere was cozy, not tacky.
The appetizer lineup includes filet of marinated herring in sour cream ($6.95), and it's been a while since I've seen escargot Bourguignon ($7.95). Clams raw ($7.25) and casino ($8.25), shrimp both cocktailed and sautéed (both $8.25) join mushrooms Florentine ($7.95) and French onion soup ($6.50).
The entrees include rack of lamb ($29.95), scrod filet ($17.95), liver and onions ($17.95), sirloin ($26.95), filet mignon ($28.95), filet and lobster tail ($44.95) and baked stuffed shrimp ($28.95). But the two dishes recommended by Southtowns tipsters were the turkey Jerome ($17.95), a sort of croquette, and the chicken almondine ($17.95).
Specials, paper-clipped to the pages, included sole francaise ($19.95) and filet in bourbon sauce ($24.95). Throughout our meal in the mostly empty restaurant, our server was attentive and helpful.
Our table ordered escargot, clams casino, mushrooms and French onion soup for starters. Our guests had the turkey Jerome and filet of scrod. Cat asked for chicken almondine, and I got stuffed shrimp.
First to arrive was a basket of warm, puffy, yeast rolls, faintly sweet and big as peaches. There also were fresh corn and orange muffins, but the obviously fresh rolls were an old-time touch that still satisfied.
My appetizer of clams casino featured six clams in a crabmeat-cracker stuffing with bacon. The filling was tasty, loaded with butter and quite rich, but I didn't like the texture, as the cracker crumbs dissolved into a paste in all that butter.
Now the escargot – that's right, snails – were all about the butter. In this case, garlic butter. The firm but tender snails, six to an order, were soaking in it. (They taste rather like mussels, if you're wondering.) After they were gone, the pool was good for soaking up with torn rolls.
The mushrooms with spinach and cheese didn't skimp on the greens, and were built on fresh white mushrooms. But they were pale in flavor, even with bits of bacon.
The French onion soup was a pleaser, with plenty of soft, sweet onions in beef broth given depth with a dash of sherry. The bubbled cheese quilt topping it rode a thick crouton that there really was no neat way to eat. It was tasty so we didn't care and made a mess.
A bowl of Italian wedding soup was hot enough, sported decent meatballs and got added savor from Romano cheese. But the pasta balls in it had cooked to the point of mushiness.
A house salad included fresh field mix, sliced red onion and tomato, with dressing on the side, as requested.
The turkey Jerome was a surprise hit, the table's favorite. It was two fist-sized rounds of moist turkey bound with an unobtrusive white sauce, browned on the outside and covered in smooth chicken gravy. Also on the plate was a decent baked potato and a little paper cup of sherbet, for palate cleansing, our server informed us. (The baked spud was acceptable, but another potato choice, "cottage fries," thick house-made potato chips, were a crunchy delight.)
My stuffed shrimp were four jumbo crustaceans split open and covered with more cracker-crab stuffing before getting run under the broiler. The shrimp came out properly cooked, not chewy, but as with the clams casino, the lack of texture in the stuffing left me unsatisfied.
Cat's chicken almondine had two chicken breasts that had been battered and browned before being topped with more of that hearty chicken gravy and almonds. (She also got sherbet.) It was a winning combination, even if pounding out the chicken might have made it more delicate, and toasting the almonds would have lent a deeper flavor.
Dusted with paprika that added more color than taste, the scrod filet was mild and flaky, plain and simple. The mashed potatoes were solid and getting more gravy on them was the right call.
The vegetables included Brussels sprouts cooked to a proper tenderness and crisp canned corn.
Desserts include rice pudding ($3.75) and peach Melba ($5.25), which I had to order. The pudding was not dense but more milky, with raisins that had pretty much been rehydrated to grapes. The Melba, consisting of peaches, cake and ice cream with raspberry sauce and whipped cream, was a simple pleasure, sort of like a glass of English fool, and I was glad to make its acquaintance.
Classic dishes with old-school touches make the Mansard Inn feel like a place to come home to.
Mansard Inn: 7 plates out of 10
Old-school favorites, classic seafood dishes bring regulars back for reliable meals.
WHERE: 3365 Abbott Road, Orchard Park (828-1115, www.mansardinn.com)
HOURS: 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.
PRICE RANGE: Appetizers, $6.50-$8.25; entrees, $16.95-$45.95.
PARKING: Lot.
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: No.
Correction: Previous versions of this review incorrectly indicated the restaurant was wheelchair accessible.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Download the Game Design and Indie Game Marketing Freebook 07/19/17GameDev.net and CRC Press have teamed up to bring a free ebook of content curated from top titles published by CRC Press. The freebook, Practices of Game Design & Indie Game Marketing, includes chapters from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing, and An Architectural Approach to Level Design. The GameDev.net FreeBook is relevant to game designers, developers, and those interested in learning more about the challenges in game development. We know game development can be a tough discipline and business, so we picked several chapters from CRC Press titles that we thought would be of interest to you, the GameDev.net audience, in your journey to design, develop, and market your next game. The free ebook is available through CRC Press by clicking here. The Curated Books The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition, by Jesse Schell Presents 100+ sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game's design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, anthropology, and more. Written by one of the world's top game designers, this book describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design, demonstrating how tactics used in board, card, and athletic games also work in video games. It provides practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again. View it here. A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing, by Joel Dreskin Marketing is an essential but too frequently overlooked or minimized component of the release plan for indie games. A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing provides you with the tools needed to build visibility and sell your indie games. With special focus on those developers with small budgets and limited staff and resources, this book is packed with tangible recommendations and techniques that you can put to use immediately. As a seasoned professional of the indie game arena, author Joel Dreskin gives you insight into practical, real-world experiences of marketing numerous successful games and also provides stories of the failures. View it here. An Architectural Approach to Level Design This is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. The book presents architectural techniques and theories for level designers to use in their own work. It connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with this space. Throughout the text, readers learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. View it here. Learn more and download the ebook by clicking here. Did you know? GameDev.net and CRC Press also recently teamed up to bring GDNet+ Members up to a 20% discount on all CRC Press books. Learn more about this and other benefits here.
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benjamin bunny replied to krisiun's topic in Graphics and GPU ProgrammingQuote:Original post by spek I might talk rubbish now, but I guess gamma correction is a final 'effect', just like brightness enhancement or saturation. Gamma correction is not just a final effect. Gamma correction is important because doing any kind of math or blending in gamma space will give incorrect results. This will lead to tone shifts and other incorrect results. All maths operations should be linear space, especially if you're doing HDR. That means all input colours (diffuse textures, shader constants etc) must be converted to linear space either in the shader or in a tool before you use them in a shader. At the very end of your graphics pipe (probably at the end of your tone-mapping pass), you need to convert the linear-space pixel into gamma space, but there's no point in doing that if you're not working in linear-space in the first place.
benjamin bunny replied to d000hg's topic in GDNet LoungeWhat is the oil level like? If you tip it upside-down and no oil comes out then you need to give it a top-up. If you can't afford premium guitar oil, you can use cooking oil, 2-stroke, olive oil, sunflower oil, butter or live hamsters.
benjamin bunny replied to 2 Fresh 4 U's topic in GDNet LoungeSeriously, don't bother with a game degree. Just go for CS. There is absolutely no advantage to a game-specific degree, and it can even be a disadvantage, since it's not seen as a proper degree in some circles. Obviously CS will give you a lot more options career-wise if the games career doesn't work out. You are not expected to know everything about game development when you join a company as a graduate. And what you need to know will depend very much on the development practices of the studio you join, and you can learn that after you join them. What you need to demonstrate when applying is you understand the fundamentals and you have the ability to learn. Some kick-ass demos can really help too.
benjamin bunny replied to Oluseyi's topic in GDNet LoungeQuote:Original post by Promit Quote:Original post by Oluseyi EA has had some issues porting games from the 360, true. Fortunately, they led Burnout Paradise development on the PS3. Hmm... maybe I'll rent Orange Box first.Yeah, but Burnout is built on the EA core tech that has been built off what was originally Criterion Renderware and is shared across all of their studios and most of their games on various platforms. Orange Box came from Valve's core tech, which is heavily PC centric and really rather messy. Personally I'm impressed they managed to do it at all. The main thing is, developing with PS3 as a lead platform (as with Paradise) is a lot easier than developing on X360 or PC and then porting to PS3. If you want to make good use of the SPUs, you really have to design your tech with them in mind. I expect a lot of ports will suffer due to this.
benjamin bunny replied to srikanth sri75's topic in For BeginnersFrom someone who works in the industry (as a programmer), I really would avoid any college that specialises in games programming. It really isn't worth it, and it won't give you any particular advantage over other candidates if you have ability. Get a decent degree in CS/Comp Eng, that shows you're capable of learning and understand the fundamentals of computing, then apply for graduate jobs in the industry. Game programming isn't really the exclusive club it's made out to be. Getting a job (in the UK at least) is not hard if you have a degree and you have some amount of talent. The best way to learn to make games is simply to make them. If you're really interested in working in games then you'll be doing that anyway.
benjamin bunny replied to Toolmaker's topic in GDNet LoungeQuote:Original post by Lazy Foo Quote:Original post by benjamin bunny Quote:Original post by LoPing This isn't about gun control, it's about logic, and logic says absent all firearms in the world, people will find other ways of murdering large numbers of other people efficiently. In France, there aren't mass pencil stabbings making the news every 6 months. In Britain, we don't hear every year about another mass spoon massicre. These mass killings are perpetuated by people with firearms. "Logic" (and all the available evidence) does not support your argument. What about the Osaka school massacre? What about it? I'm sure you can find a few examples to the contrary if you google enough, but statistically it's pretty insignificant.
benjamin bunny replied to Toolmaker's topic in GDNet LoungeQuote:Original post by LoPing This isn't about gun control, it's about logic, and logic says absent all firearms in the world, people will find other ways of murdering large numbers of other people efficiently. In France, there aren't mass pencil stabbings making the news every 6 months. In Britain, we don't hear every year about another mass spoon massicre. These mass killings are perpetuated by people with firearms. "Logic" (and all the available evidence) does not support your argument. Insanity + access to firearms is a very bad combination. The former you can't legislate against. The latter you can.
benjamin bunny replied to juanmanuelsanchez's topic in Graphics and GPU ProgrammingQuote:Original post by juanmanuelsanchez that was the first thing I tried, include the header, lib is linked, but still dosent work, I get glActiveTextureARB' : undeclared identifier if I dont initialize. Don't declare any extension functions yourself. Just #include GLee.h and make sure you've got an OpenGL context before you call any GL functions or use any extension querying variables. To be extra safe, you can GLeeInit() after you've got your GL context and check whether it returned GL_TRUE (success) or GL_FALSE (failure). If it returns GL_FALSE then you should check the error with GLeeGetErrorString() Before using an extension function, you should check that your drivers support it by using the GLee querying variable for that extension (e.g. GLEE_ARB_MULTITEXTURE).
Yep, MythTV does all the standard DVR stuff. It has a built-in guide which allows you to record shows, or whole series of shows, using a number of scheduling options. For example, I have mine set to record the Channel 4 news every night and delete old episodes. As with any DVR software, you can pause, rewind live TV, or record and watch a show at the same time. It also has other playback features like time stretch (watch a show at 1.5X speed if you're in a hurry), PIP etc. MythTV is probably the most advanced HTPC software out there in terms of the sheer number of features. SageTV, Freevo etc, are pretty basic by comparison. For example, Myth is probably the only DVR software which includes a web server (MythWeb) for scheduling shows over the web. The software is free, but it does take some time and effort to get it set up. Fortunately there's a wealth of information on the web from people who have done it before. Tom's hardware has an article on MythTV here which includes a few screenshots and a brief comparison with other HTPC solutions.
Software-wise, MythTV is definitely worth a look if you don't mind the effort of setting it up. It's probably the most configurable DVR software out there. It runs as a separate backend/frontend which is great if you want to run multiple frontends on your network. Although there's nothing stopping you from having the frontend and backend running on the same machine, which is how mine is set up. The power of Myth is really in the plugins. These include MythMusic (music playback), MythDVD (play or import DVDs), MythArchive (back up shows to DVD and play them back on an ordinary DVD player). Personally I find it really handy to be able to import full DVD isos to the hard disk and play without needing the disk to hand (I'd like to see Windows Media Center do that [smile]) MythNews is the integrated RSS reader, and when used in combination with MythWeb (web browser plugin), it allows you to read news web sites by selecting stories from the menu. There are a bunch of other plugins too, but these are the ones I use. I use LIRC to handle the remote (which came with the Hauppauge DVB card), and XMLTV to download nightly listings data for the TV guide, although if you're using digital, you can just use the on-air guide data if you want to. Hardware-wise, don't bother with a really fast processor, especially not if the TV card does the encoding (or the signal is encoded already, as with digital cards). My machine was happily running an 800mhz Athlon with a couple of DVB-T cards until recently. The front-end was a little sluggish at times, but really it coped pretty well. 256MB should also be adequate memory-wise. The main thing is to get a big hard disk, and make sure it's a quiet one if it's going to be sitting in your front room. One more thing, unless you're going to be playing games on it, don't bother with an expensive video card. You're better off with a cheap video card and separate capture cards. As long as it supports has TV-out (assuming your TV doesn't have a DVI or VGA port), it should be sufficient. I'm using a 6-year-old Geforce 2 card in mine and it does the job adequately.
benjamin bunny replied to JBourrie's topic in GDNet LoungeSeems like a gimmick to me. Why would you want to start up a game console just to check the news? I just use my MythTV box (which is always on) to read news stories on the web via RSS feeds. I browse the headlines via the MythNews menu, if the summary looks interesting, I hit enter on the remote and it loads up the page in the built-in browser. I can choose what sites I subscribe to and they're very readable. Admittedly, this was a crappy experience on a standard-def CRT with nasty 50hz flickering, but now I'm using an LCD TV @ 1280x768, it's pretty good.
benjamin bunny replied to Dmytry's topic in GDNet LoungeWhat is this "hand writing" of which you speak?
benjamin bunny replied to Ravuya's topic in GDNet LoungeI wonder how fast this will be in a straight line though. Presumably these cores only do in-order execution (like the 360 and PS3 CPUs) so the performance won't be that great for non-parallel applications. Still, it'd be great for graphics. Real-time ray-tracing anyone? [smile]
benjamin bunny replied to Kylotan's topic in Engines and MiddlewareNobody thought of my library :(, so I'll have to suggest it myself GLee A cross-platform OpenGL extension loading library.
benjamin bunny replied to 4everlive's topic in Graphics and GPU ProgrammingI wouldn't recommend it, since different implementations may or may not expose the correct functions. If you want this stuff handled correctly then why not use GLee (which I should mention I wrote) or GLEW to handle your extensions? These libs use the #defines from GL.h to only define extension functions which aren't included in the default implementation.


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Al Jazeera English gains cachet in U.S. during Egypt rallies
There has been a cloud over Qatar-based television news service Al Jazeera English since its launch in late 2006. An Arab channel about world affairs seemed too arcane, and potentially controversial, to cable and satellite companies here. Most declined to carry the channel.
That cloud may be lifting as the world waits to see what will happen as thousands of Egyptians clamor to oust President Hosni Mubarak. Audiences are flocking to Al Jazeera English's website (english.aljazeera.net), which some people consider to be one of the most dependable news sources about the situation in Egypt.
"We've seen an exponential increase in demand, interest and viewership for Al Jazeera English since this story has begun," says Al Anstey, managing director.
MORE NEWS: Go to our Media front page
The channel says that Web traffic is more than 1,000% higher than normal since the protests in Cairo began on Jan. 27. More than 7 million U.S. users visited the website through Feb. 2. At least 2.5 million have gone there to watch video streams.
Visitors to the site also find a plea to "Demand Al Jazeera in the USA." There's a box where they can send a message to their local cable provider.
In Washington, D.C., Comcast, Verizon FiOS and Cox carry the channel. Elsewhere, it's only on a few independent systems, including Buckeye CableSystem in Toledo, Ohio, and Burlington Telecom in Vermont.
Anstey says that Al Jazeera English has struggled to convince pay-TV companies that it is fair and professional, not an outlet for political propaganda.
"There aren't a lot of slots left" for cable channels, adds Tom Rosenstiel, director of Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The potential audience for a foreign news channel "might be a lot smaller than a channel that focuses on baseball, soccer or food."
That could change. The upcoming Pew Research Center survey of public interest in news stories will show that attention to Egypt was "markedly higher" last week than it was the week before, center President Andrew Kohut says.
That's the opening Al Jazeera English has been waiting for. "We've been talking to (pay-TV) operators in the last week, and we want to push that conversation forward," Anstey says.
Last week, Link TV, carried by DirecTV and Dish Network, began to carry Al Jazeera English for up to 12 hours a day.
"If this story continues, (Al Jazeera English) might get quite a bit" of carriage, says Paul Maxwell, CEO of Media Business, a pay-TV data and publishing company.
Posted | Updated


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Squares Afghan and Pillows- Pillows (Archive) by Bernat Design Studio
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© Bernat Design Studio
Squares Afghan and Pillows- Pillows (Archive)
This pattern is available for free: Bernat_Harmony530126_03_kn_afghan.en_US.pdf
Pattern yarn has been discontinued.
Bernat pattern is available as pdf archive only.
Bernat® Harmony
(Solids: 100 g/3.5 oz)
Pillow A
Black 2 balls
Grey 2 balls
Pillow B
Black 2 balls
White 2 balls
Size 10 mm (U.S. 15) knitting needles
2 pillow forms 16 ins 40.5 cm square
Work front and back alike.
Make 4 tassels and attach to corners.
Tassel diagram and pattern charts are provided in pdf download.
See also coordinating afghan.


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Figure 5 U.S. Oil Imports
Figure 5 U.S. Oil Imports
Thousand barrels per day, average
Excel | CSV | Table Version
Notes: OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) members are Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Former members Ecuador (until 1992) and Gabon (until 1994) are included in 1990 and prior years.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, September 2005, tables 3.3d and 3.3h, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/petro.html, as of October 2005.


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Having occupied the controls at "Rock & Roll Roots" for 24 years, you can well imagine I have amassed my share of music trivia questions.
Well...in anticipation of the Packers biggest game of the year this Sunday, let me pose this question: What do Da Bears and divorce have in common?
Back in 1977 Dave Mason (former member of a great band Traffic and member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) released the hit single "We Just Disagree." A beautiful song about no fault divorce. It's one of those "even if you don't know the artists you know the song" songs.
"So let's leave it alone because we can't see eye to eye. There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy. There's only you and me and we just disagree.e"
Great song! A little while before Dave had the big hit with it, the actual writer of the song released it on his own solo album. That writer is none other than the late Jim Krueger from Manitowoc. In fact, Jim plays on the Dave Mason version of the hit and spent about 20 years recording and touring with Mason. In 1988 Jim, also known as Bruiser, tired of the West Coast music scene and came back to our lovely state. Still undoubtedly proficient with his 12-string guitar, his creative talents overflowed into starting a little band in which the accordion took a little more prominence than his prior assignment. Jim Krueger was "Otto" in The Happy Schnapps Combo.
While the sentiment is ageless, and recently the Lambeau Field crowd has used it as a chant, the words "The Bears Still Suck" were both put to music and sung by none other than Jim Krueger!!! Go ahead, check the credits. The same Jim Krueger that wrote "We Just Disagree" created the song "The Bears Still Suck."
"If you drive to Soldier Field they make you pay a toll For cripes sake they only won one lousy Super Bowl They make fun of Wisconsin, but we don't get upset Where do you think that they're all headed every chance they get
We don't really hold a grudge 'cause this is all in fun As far as football rivalries we're both number one Still we wouldn't mind seeing Ditka run over by a truck 'Cause the Bears...Still...Suck
The Bears still suck, the Bears still suck The Bears still suck, the Bears still suck They really really really really really really suck Yes the Bears...Still...Suck "
So if you, like me, are driving up to Green Bay on Sunday ... as you pass Manitowoc, think about the TWO great songs written by the late Jim Krueger. And if you like, feel free to use the trivia question to win an extra drink on New Years Eve. Happy New Year and Go Pack.
xheralt | Dec. 30, 2010 at 3:54 p.m. (report)
There's also the great lyrics of a song by Madison band Sunspot called "Go Pack!" featured on the "Tailgate Tunes II" compilation --
When we see that green and gold / We! Say! Go! Pack! / When other teams say that it's too cold / We! Say! Go! Pack! / Living in Wisconsin / we only have one choice / when we see those colors fly, we have to raise our voice, / Go Pack!
Disclaimer - I'm not making money from saying this, just a fan of them and the Pack.
The album's on cdbaby, check it out! Worth having for that one song alone, IMO...
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After reading Lori Fredrich's condensed wrap-up of 15 of the more than 50 new food items at Summerfest's big anniversary, Steve Palec took his own look at the entire list to see what he considers his "must haves." I see 20.
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The news of the Rolling Stones and Ringo Starr coming to Milwaukee brings up memories of the `60s debate in which people were relegated to being a Stones fan or a Beatles fan. I got the connotations then about the inherent differences, but I loved them both ... and still do. That's why a great way to celebrate the Stones announcement with a little bit of Beatles pleasure would be a trip to Kohler this weekend.
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Stand up, damn it!
Published May 5, 2014
Watching the Brewers on TV the other day I saw a guy standing next to the woman singing "God Bless America" (more on that later) with his hat on while eating french fries. Really? If it is the national anthem, you SHOULD stand up. As for "God Bless America," will it really kill you to show some respect?


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RICHMOND, Va. – There is an excess of
snow shovels around the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University
after two very unusual weeks of wintery precipitation in the Metro
Richmond area.
The Rams men's tennis teams needed brooms on Friday afternoon at Thalhimer Tennis Center, where they swept their way past the Owls of Temple University in a 7-0 victory.
"It was good to get our guys back out on the courts against solid competition," Head Coach Paul Kostin said. "We're still a very young team, so we still have a lot of room to grow and get better."
Veterans Thibaut Charron (Sens, France) and Tim Johannsen (Hohenlockstedt, Germany) got things started with a 8-4 win at first doubles. The freshmen duo of Krisztin Krocsko (Budapest, Hungary) and Camil Salomon (Limoges, France) then locked down the doubles points with an 8-3 win.
All four players picked up straight set wins, along with sophomore Filip Svensson (Angelholm, Sweden) and freshman Max Wennakoski (Helsinski, Finland), who had straight set wins at #4 and #5 singles.
Johannsen, Svennson and Salomon all remained undefeated in dual matches this spring.
The Rams return to the courts on Sunday morning in an 11 a.m. match-up against the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest.
VCU 7, Temple 0
Singles Competition
1. Thibaut Charron def. Filip Rams (TU), 6-3, 6-3
2. Krisztin Krocsko def. Stekolshikov (TU), 6-0, 6-1
3. Tim Johannsen def. Dmitry Vizhunov (TU), 6-3, 6-2
4. Filip Svensson def. Mansur Gishkaev (TU), 6-2, 6-1
5. Max Wennakoski def. Kacper Rams (TU), 6-3, 6-3
6. Camill Salomon def. Andrey Morozov (TU), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles Competition
1. Charron/Johannsen def. Rams/Rams (TU), 8-4
2. Krocsko/Salomon def. King-Morozov (TU), 8-3
3. Gishkaev/Vizhunov def. Svensson/Williams, 8-6
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,5,4,1,3,6)
RICHMOND, Va. – There is an excess of
snow shovels around the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University
after two very unusual weeks of wintery precipitation in the Metro
Richmond area.


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Man sentenced to 10 years for cocaine conspiracy
Man had been living in Janesville
MADISON, Wis. - A citizen of Mexico who had been living in Janesville has been sentenced on cocaine conspiracy charges.
Omar Velazquez, 21, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb to 10 years in prison for conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and conspiring to distribute cocaine.
Velazquez pleaded guilty to this charge on December 5, 2012.
On April 11, 2012, Velazquez delivered a kilogram of cocaine to a confidential informant in Beloit. He also arranged for the informant to purchase two kilograms of cocaine on April 23, 2012.
The court found Velazquez was responsible for 15 to 50 kilograms of cocaine during the short time he was involved in the conspiracy. The court also held the defendant responsible for guns that were found during a search of his home.
Other people charged in the conspiracy along with Omar Velazquez are Emeterio Velazquez, Rosalina Velazquez, Ruperto Ruiz, Nicholas Covarrubias, and Jose Castillo-Madrigal.
Emeterio Velazquez is scheduled to enter a plea on March 1. Covarrubias has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. The other defendants are awaiting trial. No other dates have been set.


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Knitwear has recently been thrust into the high fashion spotlight with a range of designers choosing to focus on natural fibres.
One such designer is Michael van der Ham, a leading Dutch name, who made sure that his creations stood out on the autumn-winter catwalks.
Ditching home comforts such as knitted socks and big jumpers, he put his own spin on the world of haute couture knitwear, largely using vivid geometric patterns, juxtaposed with bright colours and heavy layering.
Van der Ham has even paired up with Scottish cashmere firm Brora to create a capsule collection using his signature bold knits.
Speaking to the independent he explained that his mainline consists of collages of texture and colour, with zig-zag stripes in bright shades, contrasting with block colour and borders of delicate lace knit.
Adding to the eccentric mix, the designer also favours using intarsia patterns across his jumpers, gloves and hats, as he fuses prints and a variety of fabrics.
Van der Ham told the newspaper: "The colour palette was really important.
"I used a lot of vivid shades to offset the pastels we used, and all different types and weights [of stitches] so I could mix them within the range."
He then went on to add: "I love that with knitwear you can control every detail from the core fibre."
Van der Ham is fast making a name for himself across the world, but has a particular following in the UK after graduating from Central Saint Martins and going on to work With Sophia Kokosalaki and Alexander McQueen.
His autumn-winter collection 2012 was very well received at London Fashion Week back in February, while his contrasting combination of floral prints and exaggerated tailoring helped his spring-summer 2013 show stand out during September's London Fashion Week.


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After three straight wins over a trio of the UFC's toughest and most durable lightweights, including a first-round TKO of Donald Cerrone at UFC on FOX 6 last night, former WEC champion Anthony Pettis is content to wait for a shot at the UFC lightweight belt if a crack at it is set in stone for him.
"If it's a guaranteed title shot, I'm waiting," Pettis said at the event's post-fight press conference. "That's what my goals are. It's one of my goals this year. If it's next, I'm going to wait, get better and get what's mine."
Pettis has been guaranteed a UFC title shot once before. As the last reigning WEC lightweight champion, Pettis was slated to meet the winner of a January 2011 title fight between then champion Frankie Edgar and rival Gray Maynard.
Continue reading "UFC on FOX 6 Notebook: Pettis will wait for title shot, Dana White on Rampage & more"
A much-anticipated rematch between former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and reigning DREAM 155 lb. king Shinya Aoki has reportedly been targeted for Bellator 66 on April 20. A venue and location for the bout has yet to have been announced.
The news comes from MMA Junkie, citing sources close to the event. Both fighters have agreed to the bout and contracts are expected to be finalized in the coming days.
Alvarez and Aoki first clashed at K-1 Dynamite!! 2008 in Japan, where Aoki forced Alvarez to tap from a heel hook just over a minute and a half into their bout. Rumors of a rematch have been swirling for about a year now, but talks between both parties seemed to have heated up in recent months.
Continue reading "Report: Alvarez vs. Aoki Set for April 20"
Former Bellator lightweight king Eddie Alvarez has voiced his frustration over his current situation with Bellator and continued to do so over the weekend. According to Alvarez, Bellator officials are adamant that he would have enter and make his way through another tournament in order to get another crack at new champion Michael Chandler, who upset Alvarez in November of one of last year's best fights.
"I'm definitely not happy with the decision of putting me back into the tournament and having me do all that. I feel like if I went out and I fought Mike Chandler and he just completely dominated, I could understand them saying, 'alright go back to the tournament, go back to the drawing board, and work your way up.' I sort of look at it like you work your way up the corporate ladder and you show up 15 minutes late for work one day and you drove me back to the mail room."
"I put more effort and more love into the promotion and I expected a little bit better back, but it is what it is and I understand the business. I'm just glad that they were able to get Aoki over here so that I can avenge my loss. When the fans scream for a rematch because it was Fight of the Year and when it doesn't happen, I'm kind of sad about that."
Alvarez says that he has "eight or nine months or one or two fights" left on his Bellator deal. With an entry into the tournament fold highly unlikely, it looks like a rematch against Aoki and another superfight before Eddie jumps over to the UFC.
CHICAGO, Ill. (September 20, 2011) — Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that reigning Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez has suffered an injury that will force the title holder off of the October 15th card at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
The Philadelphia fighter was scheduled to square off against Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner Michael Chandler in a Bellator Lightweight title fight. The fight has yet to be rescheduled, but the possibility remains for a title fight later this season.
"Eddie suffered an injury that will keep him out of our October 15th show at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City," said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. "Eddie Alvarez has a huge heart and if there was any way for him to fight on the 15th, I know he would. Ed's in spectacular condition, so both of us are hopeful that this fight can potentially still occur later this fall."
Continue reading "Alvarez Injured, Chandler Title Bout Postponed"
Fighting and Entertainment Group today announced details regarding DREAM.12, which will take place on October 25 at the Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka, Japan. For the first time in the organization's short history, it will use a six-sided cage.
DREAM also released a promotional video for the event, which features eight of the nine announced participants for the fight card. The video can be seen above.
Continue reading "DREAM.12 to Feature Six-Sided Cage"
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal. Photo courtesy of M-1 Global.
— Popular heavyweight prospect Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman are reportedly in talks to face each other at Sengoku's "Eleventh Battle" event, which would take place on November 7 in Japan. Lawal's manager, Ryan Parsons, has confirmed that he has received a bout agreement from World Victory Road and is "currently looking it over". [Sherdog.com]
— Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who has fought for DREAM on three separate occasions, could reportedly be headed back to the organization for a bout against Katsunori Kikuno at DREAM.12 on October 25 in Japan. Alvarez's participation overseas seemingly depends on the level of fighter DREAM would be willing to send over to Bellator in a talent exchange for Bellator's upcoming second season this winter. [MMA Weekly]
Continue reading "Quick Hits: Lawal-Randleman Targeted for Sengoku, Alvarez Possible for DREAM & More"
Eddie Alvarez. Photo courtesy of Bellator Fighting Championships.
Philadelphia native Eddie Alvarez and American Top Team product Hector Lombard were both awarded title belts from the upstart Bellator Fighting Championships promotion following clinching wins in their respective tournament finals on Friday night.
Those in attendance at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida saw Alvarez score a second-round submission of Toby Imada in the Bellator welterweight final while Lombard bloodied and battered previously unbeaten prospect Jared Hess until the ringside doctor halted their middleweight title bout in the fourth round.
Other notable fights saw Jorge Masvidal submit Eric Reynolds with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their bout and Rosi Sexton defeat Valerie Coolbaugh via submission as well.
Continue reading "Alvarez, Lombard Earn Bellator Titles"
Eddie Alvarez. Photo courtesy of Fighting and Entertainment Group.
Philadelphia native Eddie Alvarez secured his spot in Bellator Fighting Championships' first-ever lightweight tournament finals on Friday night, controlling upstart opponent Eric Reynolds for over twelve minutes before submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their main event attraction.
Strikeforce veteran Jorge Masvidal was expected to meet Alvarez in the finals but will instead be watching the remainder of the tourney as a spectator. Masvidal played down the skills of Toby Imada during the weeks before their semi-final fight, but ended up succumbing to an impressive modified triangle choke in the third round of their fight.
A number of notable veterans were also in action on Bellator's fifth event. Former EliteXC heavyweight standout Dave Herman picked up a much-needed win over Josh Barnes. Dan Evensen also scored a second-round stoppage of Raoul Romero while fellow UFC veteran Sherman Pendergarst fell to Total Combat product Joey Beltran.
Complete results from the event:
Eddie Alvarez def. Eric Reynolds - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), R3
Toby Imada def. Jorge Masvidal - Submission (Triangle Choke), R3
Dave Herman def. Josh Barnes - TKO (Strikes), R2
Dan Evensen def. Raoul Romero - TKO (Strikes), R2
Joey Beltran def. Sherman Pendergarst - TKO (Strikes), R1
Justin Edwards def. John Troyer - Submission (Guillotine Choke), R1
Matt Jaggers def. Peter Dominguez - Submission (Choke), R1
Waylon Lowe def. Frank Carabello - Unanimous Decision
Jessica Pene def. Tammie Schneider - TKO (Strikes), R1
From the Mix Fighting Championships "USA vs. Russia III" event in June 2006, here's Eddie Alvarez vs. Derrick Noble.
Eddie Alvarez. Photo courtesy of Fighting and Entertainment Group.
After reports had circulated for several weeks that a highly-anticipated lightweight attraction set for New Year's Eve between Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki would decide the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts' (WAMMA) first-ever undisputed lightweight champion, WAMMA officials announced Monday that it will recognize the winner of the bout as its first-ever lightweight champion.
The undisputed WAMMA lightweight title bout between Alvarez, WAMMA's number two ranked lightweight, and Aoki, WAMMA's number three ranked lightweight, will take place December 31 in Saitama, Japan at the Saitama Super Arena during FEG's "FieLDS Dynamite!!"
Continue reading "Alvarez, Aoki to Fight for Vacant WAMMA Lightweight Title"


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After a solid start, the Sixers sputtered in the second quarter, but were definitely born again hard when they came out of the locker room for the second half. I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall in there for Eddie Jordan's halftime speech. The Sixers are back to .500 after cruising though the fourth quarter to a 99-86 win over the rudderless Milwaukee Bucks.
Let's start with the rotation chart, then get to the analysis:
Jordan's substitution pattern was night-and-day from the first half to the second. With 4:34 left in the first quarter he called on Speights, Kapono and Ivey for Williams, Brand and Dalembert. Personally, I thought at the time this was a terrible idea, considering the starters were really clicking and had built an early 6-point lead. Effectively, this lineup is small, without an interior defensive presence and extremely poor rebounding. He continued to toy with the lineup throughout the remainder of the first half, struggling to find a combination that could regain the offensive rhythm and defensive intensity the starters had enjoyed. It didn't happen and they were outscored by 12 in a 6-minute stretch in the middle of the second quarter. If you missed the game thread, let's just say that most of us were less than pleased at this point.
After the half, Jordan started with a move that I absolutely loved. The starters pretty much put the screws to Milwaukee in the first 7 minutes plus of the third quarter, thanks mostly to Iguodala and Brand. Then, Jordan tapped Speights as his first big off the bench, but he put him in for Elton Brand. This was the front court combo I wanted to see. Sammy's defense coupled with Speights' offense. That lineup went +6 over the next two minutes and change. Once Sammy went to the bench, the team was able to tread water for the rest of the quarter.
The game was out of reach for basically the entire fourth and we got a look at a closing lineup of Sammy, Thad, Kapono, Iguodala and Lou for the final 6:10.
The player execution and effort was obviously much better in the second half, I'm assuming due to a stern talking to from Jordan in the locker room and/or pure pride (they were playing the Bucks, after all. They must've been embarrassed by that first half), but Jordan did something very, very smart with his rotations in the second half. He kept in one defensive big (either Dalembert or Brand) for the majority of the second half. Check out these splits:
- With either Sam or Brand on the floor in the second half, the Sixers were +21 points.
- Without Sam or Brand on the floor in the second half, the Sixers were -2 points.
Speaking of Sam, he had 4 turnovers and two goaltends tonight (one of them was a bs call) and you know what? I'll take that game from him just about every night. He was on the floor for 35 minutes, grabbed 12 boards, blocked 2 shots, only committed 1 foul and scored 10 points on only 6 shots. The turnovers are troubling, but you can live with it when he's controlling the glass and protecting the rim.
And his front court partner in crime, Elton Brand, looked much better tonight than he did in the opener. 6/11 from the floor, 5/5 from the line, 6 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals and 2 blocks for 17 points in 31 minutes of work. I'm not sure if Brand looked more explosive, but he definitely looked more comfortable. The biggest change for Brand, though, was his touch. He was hitting his short jumpers and he made a few really nice passes out of the post to guys for wide-open threes. Most importantly, he was a game-changer on defense. 3 steals and 2 blocks from your PF is big. Again, keep in mind that this was the Bucks and a 65 year-old Kurt Thomas was checking him most of the night.
It's hard to believe I made it this far into the wrap without mentioning Iguodala, who had a typical Iguodala game, meaning excellent. 19 points on 12 shots, 9 boards, 7 dimes, 2 steals, a block and some of the nastiest defense Michael Redd has ever seen in the first half. Iguodala took over for a stretch in the third quarter, dominating the glass, driving coast-to-coast, dishing, hitting jumpers. This was another night where he was clearly the best player on the floor, and it still feels good.
Not a whole lot to say about anyone else, Thad was a non-factor, Lou didn't play especially well, but he didn't turn the ball over and he was recovering from the flu, Speights didn't have the offensive impact he had against Orlando, but I thought he played solid D when he was in there with the right group, which is more important. Willie Green continues to prove my point for me, he's now 1/8 on the season with 3 turnovers, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 4 points.
Rodney Carney was MIA and I'm not quite sure why. Jrue Holiday played 7 unremarkable minutes in his pro debut, but did manage to score his first points on a nice dribble drive as the clock was expiring, finishing with a nice lefty layup in traffic.
Player of The Game: Iguodala.
Team Record: 1-1
Up Next: The Knickerbockers, tomorrow night. Happy Halloween.
by Brian on Oct 31 2009
Tags: Andre Iguodala | Basketball | Bucks | Elton Brand | Sixers |
Tags: Andre Iguodala | Basketball | Bucks | Elton Brand | Sixers |


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Posted by Adam
I went to Justin Baxter of Baxter and Baxter after an internet search, for help with problem with a debt collector. He treated me with respect and was very knowledgeable. He made sure that i knew my rights, responsibilities, how the case would be handled, possible outcomes, and possible risks.
Although I hope to never be in need of his services again, If the need arose, I would contact him and his firm without hesitation. I would definitely reccomend him to anyone in need of help with a debt collector.
Posted by anonymous
Mr. Baxter was extremely knowledgeable! He kept me in the loop at all times. With his professionalism and experience I recently won a big settlement.


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ITM 416/604: Communications Networking & Security
Professor Goel's AssignmentsAssignments can be in-class or take-home and will be designated as individual or group assignments depending on the specific assignments.
Professor Duchessi's AssignmentsIn the first third of the course, Professor Duchessi will give one homework assignment. Details are listed in WebCT.
PROJECTThis project will involve doing a qualitative risk analysis project based on either a case or an organization that you are currently apart of. Students should work in teams of four and will use provided Excel spreadsheets in order to input the values in the analysis. When creating the values, students should also provide written justification for each value citing relevant sources and/or assumptions similar to those shown within the lecture. Download Risk Matrices: riskmatrices.xls
PAPER ON SECURITY-RELATED TOPICStudents will be offered a set of topics and be required to specify their preference by ranking their top three topics in order. Students will be assigned topics based on these rankings. Other non-listed topics are welcome as long as they are pre-approved by the instructor. The paper should be 5-6 pages (SINGLE-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman, 1-inch margins on all sides). Sources should be scholarly, i.e. journal articles, conference proceedings, government documents, and at a smaller level newspaper/magazine articles(not Wikipedia or other websites if at all possible) and cited in APA style. The paper should have an abstract, introduction, literature review, discussion, and conclusion in some way, shape, or form.
The quality of references will be considered during the grading
DO NOT CUT AND PASTE. YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR THE PAPER. In addition, use many different sources. You should not just summarize 1-2 sources as part of your paper. Use sources where they are able to best support your arguments. Use quotes sparingly when it is impossible to word something in a different way and in general avoid block quotes (quotes with more than 4 lines). At most have 1 block quote in the paper.
Writing a paper should be a sustained activity that should last several days. The first phase is to understand the subject that you are writing about. Secondly, you need to develop your own ideas for the paper. Thirdly, you need to pen your ideas in a cohesive and structured manner. If you are able to read the paper from one end to the other and it flows/makes sense like a story, you have done well. One good way of structuring a paper is to ask several questions to yourself.
- What is topic that I am writing about?
- Why is that topic interesting?
- What have other people written about the topic?
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By the time hurricane Katrina's floodwaters had been pumped from New Orleans, up to 250,000 homes had sat in stagnant water for weeks — some for months. The combination of wet homes and warm weather created a petri dish environment in which black mold flourished. Spore counts reached as much as 12 times the acceptable limits as mold quickly covered the insides of homes. The demand for mold remediation mushroomed, and it also raised the question of how much training a contractor really needs to do this type of work. The answers apply not just to the Gulf Coast but to any contractor faced with cleaning a flooded, moldy home.
Contractor Beware
While Louisiana requires contractors to be licensed for mold remediation, the need for thousands of homes to be gutted to the studs outstripped the supply of qualified crews. According to George Harrison, co-owner AirScrubbers, a New Orleans mold remediation firm, many inexperienced and unlicensed crews have been performing such work, and he has seen them make a lot of mistakes that may come back to bite them later. These include trying to kill mold with ineffective chemicals, leaving materials in place that should have been torn out, insufficiently drying the house before starting to rebuild, and not supplying workers with adequate protective equipment.
Improper removal can even make a mold problem worse. And it doesn't take a Category 5 hurricane. A tropical storm or brisk nor'easter blowing rain through soffits and windows can soak drywall, insulation, and carpets, which must be addressed quickly to avoid mold growth. It doesn't necessarily take a storm: Last July, Dante DeCapri, a building diagnostician and certified remediator of the Richmond, Va.-based EnviroGroup, visited a $1 million home in Williamsburg that had mold growing in part of a walkout basement. The problem: The insulation contractor had sprayed wet cellulose insulation between the wall studs, but the builder didn't give it enough time to dry before having the drywall installed. "We told him that the drywall had to be removed," DeCapri recalls. "It wasn't that he didn't want to spend the money. He just didn't believe it was a problem." Instead, the contractor hired someone to spray a sealant over the drywall and repaint it. It didn't work. DeCapri was called back in December to find that the mold had spread throughout the basement. The only solution was to gut the walls of drywall and insulation after the space had been finished and the customer had moved in. "What had been a $7,500 problem was now a $75,000 problem," DeCapri exclaims.
Mold work requires basic worker protections, including nitrile gloves, an N95 or N100 mask, safety glasses, shoe covers, and a Tyvek suit. If a remediation firm isn't providing this level of protection for its crew, it may not be paying attention to other industry guidelines for safe mold removal.
Insurance companies are increasingly likely to deny claims against contractors who try to solve mold-related problems themselves, rather than calling in a specialist
That job illustrates an important point: While the health effects of improper mold remediation are debatable, the financial liability isn't. In fact, the Williamsburg builder was lucky not to have found himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit that his liability insurance wouldn't cover. According to David Governo, a Boston lawyer who defends builders against construction defect and mold-related claims, insurance companies are increasingly likely to deny claims against contractors who try to solve mold-related problems themselves, rather than calling in a specialist. Mold remediation may include familiar processes like tearing out drywall, but insurers see it as equivalent to doing plumbing without a license. "If you haven't done everything that the current state of the art [in mold remediation] calls for, you're not complying with the standard of care in the industry," he emphasizes.
That standard includes the ability to measure moisture in wall cavities and other inaccessible places, something few contractors have the equipment or know-how to do. It also includes precautions to protect workers: nitrile gloves, an N95 or N100 mask, safety glasses, shoe covers, and a Tyvek suit. If you don't require the right protection and one of your workers files a workers' comp claim, you could have big problems. The safest way to stay out of trouble, says Governo, is to subcontract all mold-related work to specialized companies.
Specialists include companies that test the house, dry the house, and remove or clean moldy materials. DeCapri advises builders to hire only mold professionals certified by the Indoor Air Quality Association (www.iaqa.org) who follow industry guidelines published by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification. (The institute's Web site, www.iicrc.org, lets you search for qualified contractors by city and state.) He also warns that a number of so-called remediators are doing restoration work without proper insurance, so be sure to ask for proof of coverage.
Testing, Testing
A qualified testing company can earn its keep by bringing some rationality to an often-emotional situation. "We talk with a lot of mothers who are terrified that their kids are going to die because there's mold in the house," says DeCapri. He blames it on media hype about "toxic mold."
Ed Light, a certified industrial hygienist and president of Building Dynamics in Ashton, Md., agrees with DeCapri's assessment. "There is a lot of misinformation and exaggeration concerning mold," he notes. "Much of mold remediation that is going on is based on the idea that it is like asbestos or is toxic, but mold is normally present in all our environments. It's not toxic and does not cause diseases. It is simply an allergen, and that is how we deal with it."
On a significant mold job, the testing company will ask a hygienist like Light to write a testing protocol that takes the people who live in the house into account and outlines the conditions under which various types of tests should be done. A good protocol will minimize costs by specifying only the tests that are necessary. "There are a lot of specialized and highly priced experts who are generally not needed," explains Light. "Issues with mold are pretty straightforward and so are the corrections. For instance, when something has been underwater for any length of time, it needs to be replaced."
While black mold has been a rampant problem in post-Katrina New Orleans, it doesn't take a Category 5 hurricane to cause a problem. The mold growth in a walkout basement of a $1 million home in Williamsburg, Va., was caused by wet-spray cellulose that was covered over too quickly.
Remediation Basics
That length of time is typically 48 hours, which is how long something has to stay wet before mold begins to grow. Because of this, drywall that has been soaked for two days or more will have to be torn out and discarded, as will other porous materials such as furnishings and carpet.
A research project led by Gina Solomon, a physician with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), showed what happens when these materials aren't fully removed. Solomon led a team that sampled mold levels in homes across New Orleans in mid-October and then went back for follow-ups a month later. Indoor mold levels remained very high in homes that had been only partially cleaned. By contrast, homes that had been thoroughly cleaned, and where carpeting and drywall had been removed, had indoor mold levels comparable to mold levels outdoors.
The ability to accurately test for mold is an important reason to hire a specialist. Test procedures vary and must be specific to the site conditions. Not all tests are required in all situations. A remediator's final report should outline every step taken, including details about measurement techniques, calibration procedures for the measurement tools, and control samples used to evaluate the severity of the problem.
Tear-out. If you want to minimize liability, don't approach gutting a mold-infested home as normal demolition. What you can do depends, in part, on when you come onto the scene. Because it takes 48 hours for mold to appear, drywall that has been soaked for less than two days can probably be safely torn out, if done immediately. If it has been wet longer, consider hiring a professional remediator.
The proper way to do tear-outs and remediation includes using containment barriers and negative air pressurization techniques to keep mold from spreading to places where it wasn't present before. Containment often means sealing the area that's being torn out with plastic barriers. DeCapri says that most professionals use the ZipWall product (www.zipwall.com), a dust-barrier system that uses telescoping twist-locking poles and plastic sheeting. Negative pressurization is simply a blower that sucks air out of the room. The blower should have a HEPA filter to catch spores as they pass through, to keep them from spreading to other areas. Before tear-out, George Harrison of AirScrubbers sprays drywall with ShockWave, an EPA-registered ammonium chloride cleaner (available from Fiberlock Technologies (www.fiberlock.com) that helps prevent spores from becoming airborne.
Containment also protects occupants from airborne spores, so how tight the barrier needs to be will depend in part on the occupants' sensitivities, according to Light. "Most of the time we look at site-specific circumstances. In cases where no occupants will be exposed and the area can be protected before their return, we may not suggest full containment."
Mold removal. Once the drywall has been hauled away, any mold on the framing will have to be physically removed. Sometimes it has to be scraped off the surface, and doing this incorrectly can also send spores airborne, so the containment barrier and fans need to be in place during this part of the job as well.
Semiporous materials like wood studs are usually cleaned and sanitized with antimicrobials. Most people assume that bleach is an effective mold remover, but while it may work on countertops and other hard surfaces, it's ineffective on porous materials such as wood or drywall. "We've already had one call from a lady whose contractors sprayed studs with bleach, and mold is now growing behind the drywall," reports Michael Gurtler, president of Gurtler Bros. Consultants, a New Orleans remediation company. Instead, remediators use special cleaners, like Fiberlock Technologies' AfterShock, to kill spores. Gurtler also coats wood framing with an antimicrobial sealant that dries to a plastic-like film, permanently trapping the spores in the wood (available from Foster Products, www.fosterproducts.com). He cautions that some contractors are using the right chemicals but not following the instructions from the manufacturer. "These products are very expensive, and some people try to spread them thin to save money," he says. "But each manufacturer requires specific amounts of coverage, and if the sealant isn't applied thickly enough, it will shrink as it dries, leaving gaps that allow microscopic mold spores to creep in."
Drying. A house must be dried out before the walls are reinsulated and drywalled. If you want the job done quickly, you can't beat "vortex drying." This technique uses a series of blowers set up around the room's perimeter, 10 to 14 feet apart, to move air in a counterclockwise direction. The moving air creates a low-pressure area, or vortex, in the center of the room, which sucks moisture from the circulating air — a miniature hurricane, in effect. The drying company sets up industrial-strength dehumidifiers in this low-pressure area to dry the air.
The standard of care for mold removal operations includes containing the work area using plastic barriers and depressurizing the area with large blowers — both techniques that will keep the mold from spreading to areas of the home where it was not previously a problem.
The principles of vortex drying are used in numerous systems but may be called by other names. Insurance companies may use the term "applied structural drying." Other terms such as "top-down drying" and "in-place drying" are also used in the industry to refer to the vortex-drying principles. Rainbow International, a drying company based in Waco, Texas, prefers the term "rapid structural drying" to describe the system used by its franchises worldwide.
In tandem with blowers used to create low-pressure areas within a room or building cavity, Rainbow International applies concentrated air pressure (either positive or negative) using equipment that targets slow-drying areas — floors and subfloors, cabinet kickspaces, and other confined spaces — to minimize demolition. To train its crews to use this equipment, the company built a completely furnished 1,200-square-foot home that it repeatedly soaks with water. "We hose down sofas, walls, and floors. We actually wait until hardwood flooring edges start to curve up a little," explains Rainbow International vice president Bruce Vogt. After this soaking, Vogt says the company can dry the house in a few days. Carpet is the first thing to dry; sill plates the last. "When we're done, you can walk across the hardwood floor and not feel a ripple."
One of the biggest mistakes made by contractors attempting to cure a mold problem is using a simple bleach to kill mold spores. Bleach is only effective on nonporous material like countertops and finished floors. Semiporous material, such as wood studs, are usually cleaned and sanitized with specialized antimicrobials.
To minimize demolition, Rainbow International employs equipment that applies concentrated air pressure to dry floors (above), cabinet kickspaces (left), and other confined spaces. This equipment is used in tandem with blowers arranged in the larger spaces that create a vortex, drawing moisture to low-pressure areas, where industrial-strength dehumidifiers rapidly dry the air. Post-remediation assessment. At the end of a job, the home must be tested to confirm successful remediation. A good remediation firm will not only perform these tests but will provide a final report outlining the results as well. This report should include documentation of all the steps taken throughout the remediation process, explaining details such as the measurement techniques the company used in sampling spore counts, calibration procedures for the measurement tools, and control sampling (measurements taken outside the home that provide a point of comparison for indoor samples). "I can't stress how important this last step is," notes Dante DeCapri. "It's the assurance you have that the homeowner can safely move back home." And if a problem does arise in the future, thorough documentation may be enough to send an attorney elsewhere to look for causes instead of pointing at your work. ~
Charles Wardell writes on construction topics from Vineyard Haven, Mass.


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A schoolboy has reeled in what could be the BIGGEST goldfish ever found in Britain!
The monster was caught by 16-year-old Nick in Dorset. It weighs a whopping 2.3 kilos and is 40cm long.
Nick was fishing for common carp in a lake in Poole when he saw a big fish dash past under the water.
He said: "At first I thought it must be a really fat koi carp, but... I realised it was a common goldfish - just like one you might keep as a pet."
Once Nick had posed for a photo with the gigantic goldfish, he released it back into the lake.
It's thought the fish was abandoned after growing too big to fit its tank, but no-one really knows.
Nick decided to call the big fish Billy: "It looked like it was healthy and in good condition. The lake is sheltered with plenty of food, so it's doing pretty well.
"Earlier in the day I'd joked that if I caught a big fish I'd call it Billy, so of course the goldfish got the name."


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Atlanta Braves Activate Jason Heyward, Place Jordan Walden on Disabled List » rsz_jason-heyward-4_l
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Little Free Library sprouts small, green roof
When Toni Spott saw a Little Free Library a few years ago, she immediately wanted one for her Bay View yard.
"I grew up in a library, reading voraciously," says Spott, who was born and raised in Sacramento, Calif. "Everything I have learned in life, I learned through reading."
Spott was attracted to the concept because little free libraries allow people to peruse books, which seems to happen less and less.
"A lot of people are too busy to go to libraries or they just go online now," says Spott. "So I particularly love the idea that people can stumble upon a little library when they are walking around their neighborhood."
Determined to get a Little Free Library in her front yard, Spott found design plans online and her husband of 25 years, Michael, planted a cedar post in the front yard. The post stood there, library-free, for about a year while Spott sporadically worked on the structure.
Last fall, she finally finished it.
"When I started the project, there were not any little libraries in my neighborhood, but now there are four or five," says Spott. "But it's all good. In my opinion, you really can't have too many."
Spott's Little Free Library, however, has a stand-out feature that makes it very different from all of the others. It has a green roof.
The green roof was installed last week by John Lottes, the chief marketing officer for Hanging Gardens, a small company in Walker's Point offering stormwater and green roofing services.
"At three square feet, Spott's library may have the smallest green roof in the world," says Lottes.
Just like the larger versions, the library's roof is slanted and topped with sedum tiles. There is also a side drainage system on the roof so it doesn't fill up with rainwater.
Sustainability and "being green" is extremely important to Spott. As a realtor with Keller Williams, she has a green designation and she also lives her life in accordance with sustainability as much as she can.
Michael attests to his wife's ongoing commitment to recycling and reusing.
"Toni has always been a big believer in recycling written content. She feels this stuff is worth so much that it should be in other people's hands," he says. "She used to make me go to the laundromat with magazines so other people would read them."
As a native of California, it's no surprise that Spott decorated her LFL as a "beach library." She has collected beach glass for years and used it to make fish and water patterns on the outside walls. She also painted "one drip makes waves, save water" on the back of the structure.
Spott stocks a wide range of books in her Little Free Library. Most of her books come from Goodwill, rummage sales or boxes in her basement. She says she always tries to have at least a few kids' books available and would like to stock more Spanish language books in the future.
She also noticed that books on the subject of sex seem to fly out the little door.
"I recently put a book on orgasms in there and it was gone less than a day later. Then I put another sex book in there and boom, gone. I'm getting ready to put another one in there soon," she says. "It's great. I'm glad people are finding these books so interesting."
While out and about for work, Spott says she enjoys spotting Little Free Libraries throughout the city and often pulls over to check them out.
"I always have books in my trunk, just in case I want to take a book," she says. "And leave a book."
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Three of the 10 worst ETF performances in April were China ETFs. Chinese stocks in general haven't had a good year, with the Hang Seng down 5.6% through May 6 and the Shanghai SE Composite down 4.8%.
China still represents an enormous investment opportunity, and ignoring it completely would be unwise. But with the Chinese economy shifting to a business model dependent on domestic consumption rather than investment and import/export it becomes a guessing game which China ETFs make sense for the average U.S. investor.
Nonetheless, here are three China ETFs I believe are worth betting on.


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Citation Edit
Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), Pub. L. No. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1666-1730 (2002), codified at 42 U.S.C. §§15301-15545.
Overview Edit
One of the primary HAVA provisions relates to encouraging states and others to upgrade antiquated voting systems and technologies and authorizing $3.86 billion over several fiscal years to support states in making federally mandated improvements to their voting systems.
HAVA also includes minimum requirements for such systems, to include providing voters with the ability to verify their votes before casting their ballot, producing permanent paper records for manual auditing of voting systems, and complying with ballot counting error rates set out in specified federal voting system standards.
HAVA also requires that such systems provide individuals with disabilities the same opportunity for access and participation by providing for the use of at least one DRE or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities at each polling place. The deadline for states and jurisdictions to comply with specific minimum requirements for voting systems, such as producing a paper record for audit purposes, was January 1, 2006.
In addition, HAVA established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and assigned it wide-ranging duties to help improve state and local administration of federal elections. To assist EAC in establishing voting system standards and performing its responsibilities, HAVA established three organizations and levied new requirements on a fourth. Specifically, it established a technical guidelines committee to develop and recommend voting system standards to EAC. To assist in an independent review of these standards, EAC chartered, as required by HAVA, a Standards Board, comprised of 110 state, territory, District, and local election officials, and established the Board of Advisors to review the voluntary guidelines developed by EAC's guidelines committee and provide comments and recommendations to EAC.
Role of NIST Edit
The Act gave the NIST a key role in helping to implement nationwide improvements in voting systems by January 2006. To assist the Election Assistance Commission with the development of voluntary voting system guidelines, HAVA established the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) and directs NIST to chair the TGDC. NIST research activities include:
- security of computers, computer networks, and computer data storage used in voting systems;
- methods to detect and prevent fraud;
- protection of voter privacy; and
- the role of human factors in the design and application of voting systems, including assistive technologies for individuals with disabilities (including blindness) and varying levels of literacy.


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One of my goals in life is to travel with friends to a new place at least once a year. So far I've been to Las Vegas, the beaches in North Carolina, and the mountains of Aspen, Colorado.
I'm looking for someone who I can not only share my interests with, but is also inspired to try new things. Another plus is a girl who is passionate about her goals in life.


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Cavuto Downplays Hardship Caused By State And Local Budget Cuts
Blog ››› ››› DAVID SHERE
On today's edition of Your World, Neil Cavuto hosted Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, to talk about a leaked proposal from the president's upcoming budget that will provide "short-term relief to states saddled with unemployment insurance debt." Cavuto asked Meckler of the idea, "Well, it's just like more drugs, Mark, isn't it?"
Cavuto also asked, "Are people open to the serious kinds of cuts that would be necessary to do this? Because it's one thing when, let's say, a Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey is cutting a lot of programs, and a lot of people who aren't affected by those programs say, 'Well, that's OK, it's not me.' But then when it gets closer to home, then it's a big issue, right?"
In reality, since 2008 46 states have made drastic cuts "that hurt families and reduce necessary services." And regardless of whether Uncle Sam helps out - or Neil Cavuto notices - more cuts are coming.
A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities detailed the breadth and depth of the massive budget cuts, as well as how these cuts hurt the most vulnerable and weaken the economy. The full report goes into much greater detail, but here's just a sampling of the cuts, from CBPP:
States began cutting their budgets in the spring of 2008, as the recession brought sharply weakened revenues. The cuts have intensified in the face of high and persistent unemployment. Even as the need for state-funded services rose, states cut funding for services by 4.2 percent for fiscal year 2009 and an additional 6.8 percent for 2010, according to estimates by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). NASBO projects that state spending for 2011 will remain 7.6 percent below 2008 levels. Indeed, the cuts that many states have enacted for FY2011 have been even more severe than those implemented in previous years. For example:
- An estimated 8,200 families in Arizona lost eligibility for temporary cash assistance as the time limit for that assistance is cut back to 36 months from 60.
- Colorado cut public school spending by $260 million, nearly a 5 percent decline from fiscal year 2010. The cut amounts to more than $400 per student.
- Florida's 11 public universities raised tuition by 15 percent for the 2010-11 academic year. This tuition hike, combined with a similar increase in 2009-10, results in a total two-year increase of 32 percent.
- In Minnesota, as a result of higher education funding cuts, approximately 9,400 students lost their state financial aid grants entirely, and the remaining state financial aid recipients will see their grants cut by 19 percent.
- Virginia's $700 million in K-12 education cuts for the current biennium include the state's share of an array of school district operating and capital expenses, and funding for class-size reduction in Kindergarten through third grade.
- Washington will reduce assistance for thousands of people who are physically or mentally incapacitated and unable to work in early 2011. For 28,000 adults receiving cash grants through the state's Disability Lifeline program, the typical monthly benefit will fall by $81 to $258 from $339.
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- Economy, Budget
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- Neil Cavuto
- Show/Publication
- Your World w/ Neil Cavuto
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An old supervisor of mine once told me that patience is a virtue and the customer is always right. On occasion, it has helped to remember this advice; however, nine times out of ten, I had to rely on my patience in situations where the customer was, in fact, wrong.
When I worked on the help desk as a desktop support tech, I had a myriad of different quick-fix calls that I would get done without leaving my station. Most of the calls were password resets, keyboard/mouse issues, and the good old "check the nut behind the keyboard" fixes.
[ Also on InfoWorld: Read memorable Off the Record stories from 2009 in "Tall tales of tech -- that happen to be true." | Send your IT Off the Record story to firstname.lastname@example.com -- if we publish it, we'll send you a $50 American Express gift cheque. ]
Unless they were a high executive with deadlines breathing down their necks, the customers often laughed at their little mistakes.
One day, I received a call from the CFO's assistant, who needed me upstairs ASAP to help the CFO with a login issue. He had to access some emails for a meeting that was to occur in 10 minutes, and he was getting highly irritable and panicked about being unable to log in. From my desk I checked Active Directory to ensure his password was not locked out and found no incorrect logins. I advised changing the password, but the assistant said there wasn't time for that and to come up. I ran to the elevators and went to the executive areas to help.
Once I arrived, the CFO berated me with questions: "Why isn't this like my access at home? When will this be fixed? BLAH BLAH BLAH Hurry up." I attempted to give him some quick answers while walking toward his computer, but he brushed me off and said, "Just fix it."
I sat down and made sure there was an active connection on the LAN, and once assured, I logged in as myself, accessed emails and the Internet, and then logged off. I then suggested that the CFO try.
He sat down and entered his information and was denied access. He was impatient and wanted me to fix this problem. I sat down again and logged in as myself without an issue. I was perplexed by the problem. I then had him try again.
I watched as he typed and looked away for a minute. That was when I noticed it as I looked at his pictures on the wall and saw his MBA diploma.
That's when I asked him to stop typing his password and compared the last names: He was misspelling his last name.
I pointed this out, to which he replied, "It couldn't be that easy."
After correcting the spelling of his name, he logged in and was prompted to change his password. His face turned a crimson shade, and he graciously apologized for being belligerent.
As I walked out of his office, his assistant stopped me and asked me what the problem was. I told her that he forgot who he was and explained, to which she burst out laughing.
All in a day's work.
This story, "Troubleshooting a CFO's login problem," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more crazy-but-true stories in the anonymous Off the Record blog at InfoWorld.com.


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Restaurants On-site: 2
Cocktail Lounge
Off-site Restaurant Delivery Available
Room Service Available in Executive Rooms, Suites and Rooms from
Hotel Restaurants
Whether you dine in or order room service, Marlon's Pub and Grill provides a relaxing atmosphere, including a beautiful courtyard deck. You can choose from sandwiches, salads, wraps, pasta specialties, steaks, homemade pizza and much more!
Location: 1st Floor
Serves: Dinner
Hours of Operation: 4:00 PM-11:00 PM
Serving breakfast daily. Order from our extensive menu or our fresh full hot buffet.
Location: 1st Floor
Serves: Breakfast
Hotel Bars & Lounges
Relax with friends in Marlon's Lounge! Marlon's features local craft beers as well as a full bar. We have free popcorn and a full dinner menu featuring late night pizza. There are TVs, a digital juke box, a pool table, for your entertainment.
Location: Lobbly level to the left as you face the Front Desk
Hours of Operation: 4:00 PM - 12:00 AM


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Welcome to
It's a Piece of Cake
Please take some time and browse our site for a look at a few of our creations. We are primarily a specialty shop. Our favorite creations are the ones inspired by you. It's a Piece of Cake by Cathy strives to delight our customers with the perfect dessert. Anything is possible when the main ingredient is YOU!
Contact Us
About Us
Everyday Specialites
Wedding Specialties
Holiday Specialties
Special Occasions
Children's Birthday Specialties
Teen/Tween Birthday Specialties
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