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Asteroid extinction theory confirmed according to articles in BBC News and ScienceDaily 4 Mar 2010 and Science Vol. 327, p1214, 5 March 2010. An international panel of scientists has reviewed the evidence that an enormous asteroid impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago and concluded that it was. They looked at evidence from rocks around the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) boundary, which is considered to mark the end of the dinosaur era and the beginning of the age of mammals. The reviewers decided that the presence of iridium-rich rocks and "shocked" quartz in the rocks close the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Joanna Morgan, from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College, one of the reviewers commented: "We now have great confidence that an asteroid was the cause of the KT extinction. This triggered large-scale fires, earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale, and continental landslides, which created tsunamis. However, the final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs happened when blasted material was ejected at high velocity into the atmosphere. This shrouded the planet in darkness and caused a global winter, killing off many species that couldn't adapt to this hellish environment."
Gareth Collins, another member of the review panel from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, commented: "Ironically, while this hellish day signalled the end of the 160 million year reign of the dinosaurs, it turned out to be a great day for mammals, who had lived in the shadow of the dinosaurs prior to this event. The KT extinction was a pivotal moment in Earth's history, which ultimately paved the way for humans to become the dominant species on Earth."
Editorial Comment: This interpretation of the evidence is based on the belief that difference between Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks represents the passage of time. However, Cretaceous rocks are classified as such because they have particular kinds of dinosaurs in them, e.g. Tyrannosaurs, Triceratops, duckbilled dinosaurs. Tertiary rocks are classified as such because they don't have dinosaurs, but do have mammals. If these layers did represent the passage of time then the dinosaurs were already dead when the iridium was deposited. Geologist Derek Ager suggested that the iridium rich layer is the result of the extinction, not the cause. He notes that many Cretaceous rocks are formed from deposits of marine forams (microscopic shells) but if 99% became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous era and this would have "caused a halt in the build up of carbonates and resulted in a long break in deposition that allowed meteoric dust to accumulate." He also points out the iridium-rich dust can come from volcanoes. (See Derek Ager, The New Catastrophism, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p182) The asteroid theory does not explain how many other reptiles, such as crocodiles (supposedly older than dinosaurs), along with mammals and other creatures survived the event. It cannot be just their size - dinosaurs came in all sizes, and some were quite small. The idea that dinosaur extinction led to humans dominating the world is totally fanciful. The fact that some animals die may allow already existing animals to flourish, but it won't make them develop into any other animals or humans. (Ref. geology, death, K/T boundary)
Evidence News 24 Mar 2010


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THE UK's best bartender shows us how it's done as he urges people to sign up to the annual Best Bloody Mary Competition.
James Fowler, from the Larder House in Southbourne, will be judging the contest at this year's Bournemouth Food and Drink Festival, which runs in Bournemouth Square from Friday, June 20 until Sunday, June 29.
The competition, which was thought up by James four years ago, will be held from 6pm on Thursday, June 26, and some 20 local chefs and bartenders have already signed up to showcase their own versions of the classic drink.
James, who recently won the World Class UK Bartender of the Year, said: "Competition will be fierce this year, and literally anyone can win it.
"There are always some surprise ingredients; everything from sherry to crab stock. And Bloody Marys can be mixed, stirred, built or even thrown. So it's a feast for the eyes, as well as the palate."
- To find out more about the festival highlights, and how to book, visit bfdf.co.uk.
Other highlights of this year's ten day food and drink extravaganza include demonstrations by award-winning chefs, open-air cookery workshops, themed events, street food and farmers' markets, all accompanied by live music. For more information, don't miss our special Taste supplement on Saturday.


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Welcome to our weekly edition of what's hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What's New This Week?
Twitter Allows Direct Messages From All Followers: Up until now, you could only send a direct message on Twitter when the other person followed you back. Now you can change your setting so that anyone can send you a direct message even if you do not follow him or her back.


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Unsure what to do with your child when relatives are arriving and the house is full of holiday chaos? Send them to us! ZooCamp activities include stories, puppet play, games, craft projects, science activities and of course, animals. Visit our Winter ZooCamp page for more information.
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm / See Additional Information for a complete list of dates
Program Fee: Members $110 per workshop / Non-members $120.00 per workshop.
Parking Fee: Waived for parents dropping off and picking up participants.
Zimmer Auditorium. Please park in the Lower Parking Lot and proceed to the Maddie's Center for Science and Environmental Education. Check in outside the glass doors on the ground level.
Pre-Registration is required. Please review the information regarding Winter ZooCamp registration to learn how to sign up for this program.
Contact: Sarah Cramer or Liz Low
Email: email@example.com
Phone: (510)632-9525 x280
Newsletter Signup
Virtual Zoo Map
Press Releases
Newsletter/Annual Report
Happening at the ZooFamily Sundown Safari *SOLD OUT*8/19/2017Arroyo Viejo Creek Clean Up (9am-12pm)8/19/2017Senior Summer Free Day (10am)8/21/2017Family Sundown Safari *SOLD OUT*8/26/2017Grandparents Day at Oakland Zoo9/10/2017Teacher Open House9/13/2017


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Mumbai, Sep 27 (IANS) Automobile manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Friday said it will increase the prices of its vehicles by up to two percent from next month.
According to the company, the price increase will be effective from Oct 1, 2013 and would be in the range of Rs.6,000 to Rs.20,000.
"We have been holding back prices for a while but now it has become necessary to raise them due to increasing input costs, devaluation of the rupee and increase in some raw material costs," said Pravin Shah, chief executive, automotive division, Mahindra & Mahindra.


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Alcoa's U.S. portfolio includes four smelters, a refinery, hydroelectric power, a calcined coke plant and a spent potline treatment facility. Our Massena West smelter in New York State, established in 1902, is the longest continuously operating smelter in the world.
Intalco Works
4050 Mountain View Road
Ferndale, Wash. 98248
(360) 384-7061
Business: Aluminum
Products: Billet, foundry, T-ingot, and standard ingot
Size: 279,000 mtpy (Nameplate capacity); 580 employees
Certification: ISO 9001
Massena Operations
45 County Route 42
P.O. Box 5278
Massena, NY 13662
Business: Aluminum and Castings
Products: Rod, billet, sow
Size: 130,000 mtpy (Nameplate capacity); 480 employees
Certifications: ISO 9001:2008
Rockdale Works
4069 Charles Martin Hall Road
Rockdale, TX 76567
(512) 446 5811
Business: Aluminum
Products: Ingot, billet, rolling slab, cast rod
Size: 191,000 mtpy (Nameplate capacity) (Production Curtailed)
Wenatchee Works
6200 Malaga Alcoa Highway
Malaga, WA 98828
(509) 663-9246
Business: Aluminum and Castings
Product: Ingot
Size: 184,000 mtpy (Nameplate capacity) (Production curtailed)
Certification: ISO 9000
Alcoa Point Comfort
State Highway 35
Pt. Comfort, TX 77978
(361) 987-2640
Business: Alumina
Products: Alumina and alumina chemicals
Size: 2,305,000 mtpy (Nameplate capacity) (Production curtailed)
Certifications: ISO 9001.2000, ISO 9002, and QS-9000
Lake Charles Carbon Plant
4040 West Tank Farm Road
Lake Charles, LA 70605
(337) 480-7600
Business: Aluminum
Products: Calcined coke (curtailed) and carbon anodes (curtailed)
Size: 10 employees
Certifications: ISO 14001 and ISO 9001
Gum Springs
500 E. Reynolds Road
Arkadelphia, AR 712923
(870) 245-2700
Business: Aluminum
Process: Spent potlining
Size: 60 employees
Alcoa Warrick Operations
4400 State Route 66
P.O. Box 10
Newburgh, IN 47629-0010
Business:Primary Aluminum / Sheet
Products:Primary Aluminum, Sheet (Litho and Packaging)
Rolled Products
Alcoa Energy – (Alcoa Power Generating Inc.)
Certifications: AS 9001, Q-1, ISO 9001, ISO14001 certified


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You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!
The most common complaint that people have about their memories is that they forget people's names, even a few minutes after meeting them. You may be able to recognize their face, but you just can't dig up their name. There are two reasons why recognizing faces is much easier than recalling names.
The first reason is simply that recognition is much easier than recall. This is because with recognition, you are presented with something and you only have to determine if it is familiar or not. With recall, you actually need to retrieve a piece of information from your memory. If you were given the person's name in a multiple-choice quiz, it would become a recognition task, and you would probably pick it correctly.
The other reason is that pictures are much easier to remember than words. Since faces are things that you see and names are things that you hear, you already have an advantage towards remembering the face and not the name. This is why nametags are a helpful aid when meeting people. It lets you hear and see the names, which gives you two different ways to remember it later.
Similar Articles
Reviewing People's Names
Making Names Meaningful
Repeat Their Name
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At the end of the military exercise in the Republic of Tehachaipi, General Disarray and his Russian associate Sgt. Dobroff helped War Lord Miller break out of the maximum security prison. UN Intel located General Disarray, now President Disarray, ruling over the Republic of Hesperistan in the high desert.
The rugged desert and unforgiving mountains of Hesperistan have long been a convenient hiding place for terrorists, and a traffic corridor for illegal weapons and contraband. The recent "democratic" elections proved to be only a campaign of terror that allowed the nefarious General Disarray to legitimize his control over the entire region. The UN has reported widespread voter intimidation and intelligence analysts have asserted that the political pariah, Warlord Miller, and the relentless rabble-rouser Sgt. Dobroff are the real power holders in this dangerous and inhospitable region.
Armed with special weapons and special operators, Task Force McKnight will clash with Task Force Mullen, each believing to be acting the "most appropriate way" to stabilize and enforce international law in Hesperistan. But, the land itself resists authority, and is rife with struggle! These forces will have to work fast and hard if they hope to gain a foothold in this treacherous country.
Operation Lion Claws VIII - SPECIAL OPERATIONS, be ready to deploy May 22, 2009. It will take more than luck.
Part# OPLC8


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Beyond Star CrossedRiddles are little poems or phrases that pose a question that needs answering. Riddles frequently rhyme, but this is not a requirement.
She so peaceful, yet causes fear
Him so bright and full of cheer
She rests the body, he wakes the soul
Him so light, she black as coal
Her with mole and tiny bright freckles
He covers us with tiny tear speckles
She hides us, he beams with pride
He her husband, she his bride
He in bright silk, her all in velvet
A yin-yang marriage as they tell it
Two lovers who meet but twice a day
When he must go, she need stay
Now I ask you, who are they?
HintOne more thing you should know
She tucks us in, he bathes us in glow.
AnswerDay and night.
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Oxford Water-Resistant Duffle Bag
Item: 1455100-001
Travel in style with this water-resistant nylon duffle with genuine leather detailing. This go-to destination bag features a roomy interior with zip closure, an interior zip pocket for your important odds and ends, and an exterior side zip pocket for easy access.
General measurements
- Dimensions: 11" L x 21.5" W x 13" D
- Handle straps: 14" L
- Detachable & adjustable straps: 52"
- Interior zip pocket: 5" L x 5.5" W
- Side zip pocket: 7" L x 6" W
Customer Reviews
Spot clean only.


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Streamlining production with the Copy Folio feature
About This Episode
Streamline the production process and improve collaboration with new Copy Folio functionality. Copy an entire folio to your account using one-click access from the Folio Producer Service, eliminating the need to copy and rebuild a folio article-by-article. Insert content, including editorial and advertising, from content contributors and agencies more easily with the streamlined Copy Folio workflow. In addition, automate folio copying with access to the Copy Folio API.
Get the latest tutorials, information and more about any Adobe cloud solution on Adobe Learn.


text: News Article Lifesize: HD Video Conferencing for Small Businesses Stuart Johnston Published July 22, 2010 in Small Business Computing Lifesize VP of Federal Business Paul Cantwell says GSA doesn't need an eye chart to tell that it may not need any telework centers. Most fed employees would be happier telecommuting from home, and he has the survey results to prove it. See the Report


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|Ancestry Library Edition Level 1
Event Type: Education & Learning
Age Group(s): Adults
Date: 6/21/2017
Start Time: 5:00 PM
End Time: 6:00 PM
Want to trace your family history? Learn tips and tricks on how to find information by exploring the Ancestry Library Edition database offered free at the library.Library: West Oaks Branch
#genealogy #gtec
Location: West Oaks - Meeting Room 2
Registration Ends: 6/22/2017 at 12:00 AM
Other Information:
Most classes are free to Orange County district resident cardholders, Fee cardholders, and Orange County Property Owner cardholders. Some classes include a fee to cover the cost of materials. Registration is required. To register, you can do so online, call 407.835.7323 or stop by any of our locations.Status: Closed
Out of district residents will be charged a non-refundable fee to register for a class. Please check event details for applicable fees. Where they apply, registration fees must be paid prior to class time.To pay for your class please call us at 407.835.7323 or visit any of our locations in person.
A $5 late cancellation fee will be charged unless reservations are cancelled by 11:59 pm the day before the event is scheduled. For more information visit www.ocls.info/cancelfee or call 407.835.7323. In order for us to get accurate statistics of our attendance, please do not cancel your event if the date and time of the event has passed.
Any person requiring special accommodations to participate in a class or program due to a disability may arrange for reasonable accommodations by contacting the location at which the event is held at least seven days prior to the event.
|Please Note
We're sorry. The registration deadline was 6/22/2017 at 12:00 AM.


text:
Featured performers include:
Sandra Tsing Loh
Illeana Douglas
Taylor Negron
Paul F. Tompkins
Charlayne Woodard
Carol Leifer
Maxine Lapidus
Scott Carter
Tonya Pinkins
And many more!
Annabelle Gurwitch's Fired has also led to a book (Fired: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized and Dismissed) and a movie, released in February 2007. She is a contributor to the NPR program Day to Day.
(P)2005 L.A. Theatre Works. All Rights Reserved.
Audie Award Nominee, Humor, 2005
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Who Hates Who?Logic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.
Kayla, Jenna, Beth, and Shelby each hate one of Hannah, Chelsey, Jorden and Austin. Find out who hates who.
1. Kayla does not hate Chelsey or Austin.
2. Shelby and Austin are best friends.
3. Jenna hates a male.
4. Beth and Jorden are never apart! That's why Kayla is never with them.
5. Hannah and Beth got in a HUGE fight last year and have never made up.
AnswerKayla hates Jorden
Beth hates Hannah
Shelby hates Chelsey
Jenna hates Austin
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The Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED) will host its June luncheon on Tuesday, June 5 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the Phoenix Country Club, located at 2901 N. Seventh St. in Phoenix.
The topic of this month's luncheon will be "Roads and Rails: Future of Arizona's Transportation." Guest speakers will be Scott Omer, director of the Multimodal Planning Division for the Arizona Department of Transportation, and Tim Kanaval, economic development manager for Pima County.
The two will discuss the economic impact from both the proposed Interstate 11 that would connect Phoenix and Las Vegas and Union Pacific's new 950 acre classification yard in southern Pinal County.
The cost of the luncheon is $40 for AAED members and guests and $50 for non-members and late registrants. To register or for more information, call AAED at 602-240-AAED (2233) or visit www.aaed.com. The registration deadline is Friday, June 1. Vegetarian meals must be requested in advance.
AAED was originally founded in 1974 as the Arizona Association for Industrial Development (AAID). The organization, which was dedicated to expanding the industrial and economic base of Arizona, changed to its current name in 1991 to better reflect its broader mission.
The strategic vision of AAED is to be the leading advocate of responsible economic development for all of Arizona by leading the facilitation of public/private cooperation and fostering teamwork to address the growth and quality of life issues that face Arizona.


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With AFSupply.com, we attempt to give you the best possible experience for your project. We do realize sometimes you may receive something that turns out to be not what you needed or wanted. We aim to make the return process as easy as possible. Any item purchased on AFSupply.com (non-special order) can be returned up to 30 days of receipt of the product. A 15% restocking fee may be charged. Customer will be responsible for return shipping fees. All products must be returned in 'AS NEW' condition - which requires the product to be in its original packaging and in 100% resalable condition (unless product is deemed defective). Please call us at (973) 482-4444 to receive a Return Goods Authorization (RGA) number. Only items returned with a pre-authorized RGA number will be credited. We are here to provide you with the best possible customer service experience, so please call (973) 482-4444 for any questions about completing the return process.
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Baby Seal Invades New Zealand Home, Claims Couch for Itself
A baby seal invaded a New Zealand woman's home and made itself comfortable on the couch. For real.
-Lucia Peters
This is quite possibly the most hilarious home invasion story ever—largely because the invader in question was a baby seal.
According to the New Zealand Herald, last Sunday night, New Zealand resident Annette Swoffer was upstairs in her Bay of Plenty home when she heard a racket issue from downstairs. Thinking her cats had brought a rabbit in or something, she wandered down to the kitchen—and found a seal pup in it.
That's right: Somehow, the seal had made its way from the Welcome Bay waterfront, through a residential area, across Welcome Bay Rd. (which the Herald notes is quite busy), up another road, along Swoffer's driveway, under a gate, through a cat flap, and up a set of stairs. Talk about one adventurous seal.
Understandably, Swoffer thought she might have been hallucinating—after all, how often do you expect to find a seal in your kitchen?—so she called a nearby friend to come and make sure that she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing. And yes, the friend confirmed that they were looking at "flippers and not paws." Then the baby seal wiggled over to the couch and made itself comfortable.
Read The 2011 Golden Globe Nominees Have Been Announced!
But it gets better. Swoffer called the SPCA (New Zealand's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), who in turn contacted the Deaprtment of Conservation. Luckily, the DOC had already had a heads-up about the roaming seal, as someone had reported seeing it making its way along Welcome Bay Rd. Subsequently, Chris Clark, a biodiversity program manager for the DOC, was dispatched to remove the pup and release him back into the water.
Interestingly, this particular seal seems to have been very friendly, which is unusual for wild seals; Clark caught it without any trouble and put it in a net and box for transportation. Wuile the seal was in the vehicle, however, it escaped, made its way up to the front, and ended up in the front seat, accidentally turning the radio on in the process.
Best. Seal. Ever.
Attention: As hilarious as this story is, it should be noted that Annette Swoffer and her friend did exactly the right thing by NOT messing with the seal and calling the SPCA. Should you find a strange animal wandering around your home, you should leave it alone and immediately contact the appropriate authorities—no matter how cute it is.
You do have to admit that it WAS absolutely adorable, though.
Lucia Peters is BettyConfidential's associate editor.


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Did you know?
The Cathedral Peak crags are so jagged Zulus call them 'abaMponjwana' – the place of little horns.
Local and foreign travellers in their 70s will tell you childhood stories about Cathedral Peak Hotel, nestled in the beautiful, jagged Drakensberg range in KwaZulu-Natal.
They will speak with fondness of holidays spent hiking the valleys and mountains, of running down the corridors to breakfast, and of time spent in the games room and in the lush gardens of this historical hotel.
Visitor reviews will show you just how popular the Cathedral Peak Hotel is with both South African and foreign travellers, and how much repeat business the hotel enjoys.
People who arrive here tend to spend their first day simply drinking in the magnificent mountain views and enjoying the great menu items on offer.
By day two they're out in the mountains on guided tours, arriving back at the hotel exhausted in the late afternoon. A quick nap charges the batteries for an evening in the restaurant and an after-dinner chinwag at Harry's Bar.
Children have their own programme, dining arrangements and games room.
The Cathedral Peak Hotel was built in 1938 by Albert van der Riet, a young man who knew these mountains well.
He was also a world-renowned deep-sea fisherman who once landed a record-sized broadbill swordfish. It was Van der Riet who stocked some of the local rivers with brown trout, whose descendants are being fished by hotel guests to this day.
Van der Riet and his wife, Doreen, turned out to be perfect hoteliers, full of charm and the kind of personal touch that turns guests into long-time friends.
The hotel is now owned and run by their son, William, and his wife, Belinda.
The hotel officially opened in 1939, and during World War II was the perfect place for wounded Allied soldiers to rest up and recuperate: the surrounding mountains of the Cathedral Peak Nature Reserve and the fresh air were great antidotes to the ravages of war in North Africa.
Travel tips & Planning info
Who to contact
Cathedral Peak Hotel
Tel: +27 (0)36 488 1888
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Drakensberg Tourism Association
Tel: +27 (0)36 448 1557/2455
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Didima Rock Art Centre
Tel: +27 (0)36 488 8025
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
How to get here
From Johannesburg, take the N3 highway past Harrismith. Turn off at the Bethlehem/Phutaditjaba sign and keep on the Bethlehem road until you get to the Bergville turn-off. Follow this road over Oliviershoek Pass (be patient here, there may be road construction), pass Bergville and follow all the Cathedral Peak signs to the hotel. The distance from Johannesburg to the hotel is approx. 450km. Plan for about driving time of 5.5 hours.
Best time to visit
Winters (June to August) in the Drakensberg are always cosy in the hotel, and it is often snowy outside – but check weather reports for closed roads, etc. Summer (November to February) is delightful, with spectacular afternoon thundershowers, good light for photography, alpine flowers and mostly clear days.
Around the area
Visit the Didima Rock Art Centre in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site. The area has more than 600 identified San rock art sites. The centre tells the story of the San who lived in the Drakensberg by way of a multimedia show, displays and crafts.
Tours to do
Check with the hotel reception desk for details on guided walks and helicopter sightseeing flights – an absolute must if you have the time. Also, there are many generic tours of the Drakensberg – see the listed websites.
Get around
Once at the Cathedral Peak Hotel, you can walk, ride mountain bikes, horse ride or take helicopter flips.
What will it cost
Rates at the hotel range from R1 115 to R1 245 per person per night sharing, which includes dinner, bed and breakfast, and 2 sessions of tea servings. Check with the hotel for weekend specials, honeymoon specials and summer specials.
Length of stay
You could stay at least 2 nights at the Cathedral Peak Hotel – possibly even more once you start exploring the area.
What to pack
Pack the best hiking boots in your cupboard, the floppiest hat on your rack and a light rucksack with space for lots of water and a warm, waterproof garment.
What to eat
A group of top-shelf chefs runs the kitchen at the hotel, offering excellent and varying buffet choices at mealtimes.
What's happening
The celebrated Drakensberg Boys' Choir holds its annual Music in the Mountains Festival at the end of April/May. They also hold a Christmas in the Berg performance early in December. Check the listed website for details.
Best buys
Walking sticks from the local craft shops – good presents and useful for your hiking trips.


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Language Access is a Feminist Issue
Special thanks to Jill Laster, this week's guest blogger on Feminism from Grassroots to Full Bloom. Jill agreed to share her thoughts on this critical issue.
I don't pay much attention to cars, but one of my all-time favorite stories is about Henry Ford and his bizarre struggle to make cheaper rubber tires.
In the late 1920s, Henry Ford decided his company should start growing rubber to avoid the high costs of buying from Asia. So he came up with an idea for a colony in the middle of the Brazilian Amazon –Fordlandia – that would use local labor to harvest rubber to be shipped north for use making tires. It would also be Ford's ideal American town – a sort of social experiment - deep in the heart of the Amazon.
As you might expect, it didn't go very well.
He served brown rice, whole-wheat bread, peaches and oatmeal to Amazonian workers – foreign foods that locals didn't care for, according to a 2009 NPR story. The cozy brick cottages Ford commissioned for his American officials fared poorly in the sweltering heat. Henry Ford even made his employees learn to line dance – which, as you might guess, is not necessarily a universally loved activity.
Fordlandia was finally abandoned as a failure in 1945, leaving a pile of ruins that remains semi-intact today deep in the Amazon jungle.
I think about Fordlandia a lot when I do work on language access because it strikes me as a perfect example of how – like it or not – language and culture are inextricably linked. It wasn't enough that Ford's American workers could literally communicate with natives. It failed in part because there wasn't a clear understanding of how native Amazonians worked– concepts such as what best motivated them, what sort of work schedule they preferred and what they liked to eat.
When feminists – including those in the sexual violence movement – try to build relationships with communities that speak different languages, it's important to be aware that more than just language is "in play." There is also a whole world of cultural considerations that must be taken into account. With sexual or domestic violence, culture can shape a person's individual experience, what their response is, how much responsibility or blame they shoulder, and their access to or trust of local services.
Cultural relevance is a difficult task for organizations while critical shortages remain for the "bare necessities" of language access – organizations' and systems' capacity to provide basic services to people with limited English capabilities, people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and people with varying levels of literacy, among others. So what can you do with limited money, limited time, and way too much need?
One basic step is to just gather some information on culture considerations and language access. A Powerpoint by the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence titled "What Does Cultural Competency Mean and Why Should I Care?" is a great place to start, as is NSVRC's one-page statement on the importance of language access. If you want to take the next step forward, the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence also has some excellent documents on building organizational capacity (visit this page and scroll to the topic header "Language Access, Interpretation, Translation").
You can also email me – either to find resources related to language access or to share what you love. I'd also love to hear what questions, concerns or ideas you have on how NSVRC – or the anti-sexual violence movement as a whole – can improve language access.
Building linguistic and cultural capacity can be an intimidating task, but that doesn't mean that it can't be done or that we shouldn't try. If we don't, the anti-sexual violence movement will start to look like Fordlandia – and ours isn't a cause we can afford to abandon.
Jill Laster is the language access specialist for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.


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The situation is this: You regularly hear that our nation's overall unemployment rate is high, yet as a hiring manager, you also know that finding just the right person can be quite a difficult and time consuming process. You feel that the supply of candidates is mysteriously tight, but you don't know why. You thought that the market would not get tight until unemployment went down some. Here is the news: Your supply of qualified professional candidates has already become tight for many employers in many areas.
Refer to our White Paper written in November, 2012, titled Worker Shortages (http://www.ag1source.com/for-employers/employer-resources/): synopsis (From recent information, the true unemployment rate for college educated workers is somewhere in the 4% range and less.) The November, 2012 paper explains the "why" we have had difficulty finding key employees. This paper starts to address the "how" we can deal with the current market.
Once you accept the fact you are dealing with a tight market for the candidates you are seeking and you need a solution, the next step is to review strategies for both improving retention amongst your existing work force, as well as improving your process to land some of the best new employees. A great place to start is to consider Why Employees Leave the jobs they are in. Ultimately, as we identify the causes, we can take steps to improve the retention by attacking the causes. We can also use that information to more effectively recruit new employees by solving their "pain."
Why Employees Leave
When most managers are asked why employees left them, their first answer is usually that it must have been for the money. In fact that assumption could not be more wrong. Departing employees will indicate that money is the key factor only 12% of the time. Take a look for some of the cues we can get from surveys on why employees leave. Our original source of information is a multi-year study done by the Saratoga Institute. Similar results have been reported by many of our industry companies in recent years.
The key takeaway from these studies is that much of employee turnover may be largely preventable and many of the solutions that can be deployed do not involve a substantial financial investment on the part of an employer. What they do involve is attention to a business's internal climate or culture, specifically, how well employees and managers communicate.
Take a look at the chart depicting the study. The two largest categories to focus on are those dealing with the supervisor and limited growth. How they perceive their supervisor contributes to a huge 32% of the departures. Are the employees and the supervisors matched up well and do they communicate well? Can a business improve this by additional supervisor training?
The second most important category involves growth and development in an employee's job, or lack thereof. We've often said that an employee will take a job because they need a job, but they will keep that job if the FUTURE that they see aligns well with their career objectives. How is your business doing to develop employees?
Compensation equates to 12% of the departures. A periodic review by compensation benchmarking can keep a business on par with competitors. The remaining key categories are: 10% for a work environment that is not challenging; 4% for lack of recognition, 3% for poor working conditions, and 3% for training. The end result is that at least 2/3 of the reasons employees actually leave a current employer may be preventable.
Knowing why employees leave an organization is the first step in ensuring your organization retains its valuable talent. Attracting other good employees to join is the next step. Prospective candidates will take notice on just what the current business culture is like. Take a step away from your place of business and look from the outside in, just like a prospective candidate would. What do you see? If you have taken steps in improving your retention, then it can be time to employ your new found knowledge on the new hire side.
In most traditional HR hiring processes, we can be so focused on the screening process that often it is forgotten that the candidate needs to be sold on the opportunity as well. This is particularly important when a prospect is currently employed and must make a decision on whether the opportunity is attractive enough to risk leaving their current role for the promise of something better, yet unknown. We call this creating the Value Proposition.
The Value Proposition
From the very reasons that employees say they would leave their current job, we can create a value proposition; one that helps the prospective employee draw a conclusion based on both the current and the future value of the opportunity. For a prospect to make a decision to make a change, it must be a measurable improvement. Employers that can make a case, for example, where their supervisor is a better mentor, advisor, and in general just a great person to work for are helping to create value in the case of the Pros and Cons in the table.
This table is a simple way to calculate how the candidate will think about the new opportunity. They will mentally ADD the anticipated "Pros" value of a new position and will also then SUBTRACT the "Cons" or problems associated by making the change. Very simply, an employee knows what they already have. In order to consider other opportunities they will seek an improvement by a margin large enough to overcome any unknowns about the change, also known as a risk premium. Risk premiums will be higher for opportunities such as commission oriented jobs, remote locations, and in general where the Value Proposition was not very well sold.
By demonstrating clarity about the new opportunity, the Pros as well as the Cons, a case can then be made. Focus on the non-compensation factors first. As the unknowns are answered for the candidate, the decision to make a change becomes much easier. A well sold and well explained value proposition will, in most cases, save on the amount of "risk premium" in compensation an employer must pay to get the good prospect, because much of the added value may be seen in the non-compensation factors. In short, the solution is to remove the "unknowns" and in particular explain on what the prospect's future might look like.
In summary, the solutions for both retention and new hires involve virtually the same list. Match up your solutions to the Reasons Why Employees Leave:
1. Improve your supervisor–employee relationships. Consider some training in management communications to help make the difference.
2. The picture of the FUTURE is a very key selling point to get a great new employee on board. Provide a clearer image on how a person will and can grow within your company, a path to their goals.
3. Keep compensation on par with competitors.
4. Offer challenging projects to employees from time to time, and if they excel, perhaps those can be good tests on the paths to a promotion.
5. Recognize employees. Certain behavioral styles respond better than others, but most all will appreciate the fact that they've been recognized for their contributions.
6. Improve working conditions, perhaps something as small as a fresh coat of paint on the office walls.
7. Offer targeted training.
8. The senior leadership should be the first to offer a positive attitude.
Any employer should begin by improving the value proposition with existing employees first. Try to imagine that you, as a supervisor will apply to your own company for a key position. Can you list all of the good reasons why one should join your company? If you can, then you are well on your way to creating your own good Value Proposition.


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Last week, I received an email about a new online genealogy service called tpstry which, I have to say, is somewhat unique in its approach to gathering genealogical information. With the byline "Weaving life into family history," tpstry takes the concept of a family group sheet – a form with which most genealogists are familiar – and asks that family members add information through a series of online questions.
How It Works
Once you create an account at tpstry – which is free – you should set up a profile and then create your family page and begin entering information about yourself.
You will be prompted to complete a series of questions such as "Who is the father of _________" or "Where was _______ born?" The process proceeds in this manner and as you answer more and more questions, you can actually view the results as a family tree or even a timeline.
How many times, as a genealogist or family historian, have you told yourself that you need to call up Aunt Tilly to get information on her children or her parents for your research? Or that you'll send out blank family group sheets to your cousins and hope they'll fill them out and get them back?
With tpstry, as long as family members have access to the Internet, they can participate in the project of adding information about the family. When questions appear, you can type an answer or you can actually ask other family members for help.
In addition, tpstry allows you to create your own questions – which is great since each family is different. I could see this being used to verify certain family stories or events such as, "Did you ever attend the State Fair in Springfield, IL?"
tpstry – Not a Family Tree Site
While it might seem like a family tree website similar to Geni or others, in reality the family tree feature is just a means of displaying the information gathered from the questions. The real strength of tpstry is the ability to prompt participants with questions that provide valuable family history information.
Some Possible Uses for tpstry
Always one to think "out of the box," I've come up with some ways in which genealogists and family historians can leverage tpstry to expand the genealogy experience:
- ancestor interview – this could be a fun way to conduct an "interview" of an ancestor and publish it as a booklet or blog post
- family stories – use the create question feature for this and use open-ended prompts to get family members to enter their memories about specific events
- interview scripts – if you were conducting an audio or video interview, you could use tpstry to help develop a script of questions to ask your family member being interviewed
- client collaboration – for professional genealogists, this might be an easy way to have your clients provide the "known" information for your research project
In speaking with the creator of tpstry, Matt Johnson, I get the sense that he and the rest of the tpstry team are very open to exploring all possible ways in which the genealogy community will want to use tpstry.
One possible use is to solicit family health history / genogram information similar to what is currently done at traitwise. In the future, you'll see more and more emphasis on family health and genealogy and I can see tpstry being used to gather this information.
I've also suggested the development of a widget that can be placed in a blog sidebar to entice other family members to join tpstry and provide information. Also, having the ability to embed the resulting family tree and/or timeline in a website would be useful as well.
I also hope that down the road there is an API or collaboration with other genealogy service providers to pull in their information to a family's tpstry page. One example: let's say your family was involved with the Boston Molasses Disaster in 1919. Wouldn't it be great to pull in text and images from a site like GenDisasters as well as have your own family's recollections be added to the content at GenDisasters?
Privacy Issues
As with any website that collects personal information, users will want to know not only what is done with their own personal account data, but the information entered by family members on the tpstry site. Tpstry is a "permission based" site which means that you, as the creator of the family page, must grant permission to other family members before they have access to the data and can answer questions. The information is never picked up by search engines such as Google and displayed publicly.
So far, I've enjoyed using tpstry and I think I may create new family pages for specific branches of my own genealogy research. I also may try to use it with new clients for gathering the "known information" as part of the research process.
Right now, tpstry is a free service and a premium version – with a monthly subscription price model – is in the works. I'm excited to see what new features will be added and how tpstry can help others with their own genealogy and family history research.
tpstry might be a fun way to involve your family this holiday season to gather information about living relatives as well as ancestors. I suggest you take it for a spin and see what you can "weave."
Don't forget to follow tpstry on Twitter and Facebook!
Note: Later today I will be posting an interview with Matt Johnson, creator of tpstry, here at GeneaBloggers – stay tuned to find out more about Matt and his work.
* * *
Disclosure statement: I do not have a material connection with tpstry or its creator, Matt Johnson. To review the other material connections I have with genealogy vendors, please see Disclosure Statements.
©2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee


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• endeavor •
Pronunciation: en-de-vêr • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive
Meaning: To try hard, attempt, to take pains, to make an effort.
Notes: Today's Good Word is spelt endeavour in Jolly Old, like labour and colour. This word was immortalized on the ship that carried Captain James Cook on his "voyage of discovery" around the globe in the late 1660s. This trip made such an impression on history that we placed her name on the fifth and final NASA space shuttle to be built. The verb may be used as a noun, as in, "His work was a monumental endeavor." An endeavor is an extraordinary attempt; any lesser attempt is just a try.
In Play: As viewers of the British mystery series Inspector Morse will know, the good inspector preferred to be called just "Morse", without revealing his Christian name. Toward the end of the series we learned why: his father was an admirer of Captain Cook and in his fervor had named his son, Endeavour. Remember that endeavor means "to try hard": "Susan Liddy-Gates endeavored to retrieve the money Hans Opp had taken from his clients in a Ponzi scheme, but failed to do so."
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from the French phrase se mettre en devoir de faire quelque chose "to make it one's duty to do something". Devoir came from Old French dever "duty, obligation", in turn from Latin debere "to owe". The neuter past participle of debere is debitum, which also served as a noun meaning "thing owed". English borrowed its terms debit and debt from this word, even while it was borrowing its French grandchildren. Debere originally meant "to deprive someone of something", because it came from Latin de- "away, un-" + habere "to have". (We shall endeavor now to offer Chris Berry the show of gratitude he so deserves for submitting today's extraordinarily Good Word through the Alpha Agora.)


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The music festival landscape, an event production universe in its own right, has changed drastically over the course of the past decade and a half, or so. What had begun some half a century ago as a naïve, albeit admirable attempt at youth liberté and rebelliousness, turned into a global-scale business undertaking some time in the '90s, only to, perhaps inevitably, become a gargantuan money-making machinery in the '00s, abandoning any semblance of ideology or topicality.
Latest Blog Posts
When renowned festivals make the ambitious business decision to expand their activities, namely by creating satellite festivals, there are only two ways in which this tapping into new territory plays out -– either the satellite festival is small, shoddy, cheap, and generally serves only to raise awareness about the queen bee event, or it becomes a rogue sensation in its own right, breathing a new life into the entire franchise and providing ace entertainment for audiences thirsty for new events.
It's June in New York and there's rain spitting down on everyone stuck outside. But I'm inside at Warsaw, the Polish National Home in Brooklyn, one of a crowd of a thousand whose eardrums are being ripped to shreds. The bandleader is standing up on a crowded stage, using the neck of his guitar as a baton, his whole body pivoting between swells of violent noise that feel like blinding light. I have decided to take my earplugs out.
The band onstage is Swans, and I leave that night physically exhausted, as if I'd done something other than stand stock-still for two-plus hours. I have a hard time explaining to everyone just what was so pleasurable about the experience, that this all-rhythm, no-melody approach actually heightened the show's sensory assault, and pushed it into territory generally never trod by touring bands: the transcendent.
It was early June 2013 when I found myself in London by complete chance, on a long weekend with nothing but time. Waking up to a lazy Sunday after a heavy Saturday (those pub crawls will get to you after the fourth or fifth shot), I figured I should try and see a show at the West End since I had never done it. I had heard good things about Jersey Boys, so I went to Leicester Square around 9 AM. The bookie had just opened the shop and didn't look very happy to see me.
Who doesn't love a music festival? Well, me, actually. I've never been the energetic type, the "let's bounce from one stage to another amid the swirling masses for like three days" type. I wish that I were, of course. You miss a lot of great stuff when you're lazy. But even if I could get over my basic preference for standing relatively still during a performance, then there's the whole "swirling masses" thing. Lolapolooza, Bonnaroo, Osheaga, and Coachella all attract me with their offerings but cause me to feel the gurgling jellies of anxiety every time I imagine finding myself in a sea of people, unable to escape, stretch out, find a place to take a breath. I like bars with clearly-marked exits, is what I'm saying.
But I've always wanted to change this, and have been looking for the right festival to ease myself into the whole thing. And, then I heard about the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic.
Small (fewer than 10,000 people, by my estimate), sponsored and supported by local non-profits and smallish businesses, and featuring a decidedly stellar lineup fronted by Feist, Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris, Gord Downie & the Sadies, Mix Master Mike, and Sarah Harmer, this seemed like a worthy place to test the waters.
Million Miles "Ice Cream & Cigarettes" (video) (premiere) // Music
Andrew Belle 'Dive Deep' (album stream) (premiere) // Music
Miami Dolphins "Fluoride" (audio) (premiere) // Music
'Inside' and the Monstrosity of Collectivism
// Moving Pixels
"An ability to manipulate a collective is a hint at what a little boy's power as an individual might be.READ the article


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In Stock & Shipping!!!Introducing the 2011 Proto Rail Paintball GunTaking over the field, the Proto Rail™ is your stepping stone to greatness. High-end performance in a durable and reliable setup, the Proto Rail™ is for the serious competitor. Featuring Boost™ Forward Technology, giving you a cushioned push on the ball and delayed bolt speed for increased air efficiency and high rate of fire.All new 3-D milling, color coded seals for simplified maintenance, and a host of other features make the 2011 Rail the gun of choice. The durable Rail solenoid features consistent air flow, and with a dwell of 40 milliseconds. The small, light Hyper 3 In-Line Air regulator comes standard. The Hyper 3 regulator provides high flow and smooth velocity adjustment, with non-slip grip rings. The ultimate in ergonomic comfort, the Ultralite 45 frame with fully adjustable trigger, comes standard on the Rail. The solid construction consists of an aluminum body, bolt and trigger. We've designed the Rail with the goal of providing you with the top-level performance at a reasonable price. Comes with a parts kit, Dye Slick Lube, and 9-Volt battery to keep your paintball gun of choice at it's peak level. The Rail™ is available in Dust Black, Dust Blue, Dust Red, and Dust Olive.This package kit includes:2011 Proto Rail PMR Paintball GunProto Primo Loader - Black Proto EL Switch Paintball Mask - Black
Feel free to contact our customer service with any questions or concerns regarding your order at:
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All photography and text on this site is the original work of Punishers Paintball Supply and manufacturers.
Contents may not be used for any commercial or non-commercial purpose without prior written consent from www.punisherspb.com.


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For those who have followed the scrap between Raghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and his counterparts at the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve on the ill-effects of Fed tapering, Benoît Cœuré's thoughtful speech today is worth a read.
In Mr Rajan's view, the way the Fed conducts its monetary policy is irresponsible. The US central bank acts merely on the basis of national interest, with scant regard for the ramifications of mass dollar printing in a world where the dollar remains the dominant reserve currency.
These attacks have usually been parried with remarks that central banks such as the Fed (and, given its role as issuer of the only other real reserve currency, the ECB) have little choice but to act within the national interest given the scope of their mandates. From Mr Coeure's boss Mario Draghi earlier this year:
Draghi: Mr Rajan is really an excellent economist. What one would have to demonstrate to speak of selfishness is the following. One would have to show that monetary policy actions within the United States, the ECB and so on were decided for reasons other than for the sake of the mandate and that, as a result, they were harmful to other countries. As I said, the priority for all of us is compliance with our mandate, which for us is maintaining price stability and for the Federal Reserve Board is the dual mandate.
Mr Cœuré's speech is interesting as, while he does not go so far as to side with Mr Rajan, he is not so intellectually dishonest as to say that all is fine with the pre-crisis orthodoxy. In short, this said that if everyone just sticks to their inflation targeting mandate and flexible exchange rates everything will be just great. Read more


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UNB Faculty of Law
"Canada's great small law school" is how students, faculty, and graduates regard the University of New Brunswick Law School. What sets UNB apart is our success in bringing together ambitious students and committed teachers in a demanding but supportive learning environment.
Founded more than a century ago in Saint John, since 1959 the Faculty has been part of UNB's Fredericton campus. Increasingly, we are recognized as one of the country's leaders. Independent evaluations by Canadian Lawyer magazine have consistently ranked us among the very best.
A great student-teacher ratio
UNB's greatest asset is its small size. We admit approximately 92 students each year and the total student body is about 265. With 17 full-time faculty, the student-teacher ratio is an impressive 14:1.
The school is a close-knit community, where students from all regions of Canada and around the world form friendships that last a lifetime. All classrooms, professorial and student offices, the library, the bookstore, and lounges are located in stately Ludlow Hall, a notably pleasant physical space.
Competitive tuition
At UNB Law, classes are taught primarily by full-time faculty members who are nationally and internationally known in their areas of expertise. And in an era of dramatic increases in law school tuition, ours remains very reasonable. The scholarship and bursary program provides students with outstanding financial support.
UNB Law enjoys an excellent reputation with the practising bar across Canada. Graduates have included judges on the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Canada as well as the premier of New Brunswick and ministers in the federal cabinet.


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The Master's University is accredited to award bachelor's and master's degrees by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the:
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100
Alameda, CA 94504
(510) 748-9001
Membership in the Association of Christian Schools International provides The Master's University involvement in programs and services that aid our educational ministry.
NASM is the national accrediting agency for music and music-related disciplines. Membership certifies that The Master's University has met the Association's standards for music degrees and verifies the quality of the music program on a national level.
The Master's University is firmly committed to proper stewardship of the funds entrusted to us. To ensure our financial accountability, we are a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.


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Student Membership
MOPA Member Benefits:
For one individual.
- Unlimited FREE admission to the galleries
- Invitations to Exhibition Preview Openings
- Subscription to MOPA's e-newsletter, Snapshot
- 10% discount on purchases in the MOPA store
- FREE or discounted admission to MOPA events
- Access to MOPA's exclusive research library, The Dubois Library, that holds 20,000+ items
- Discounts on education workshops, programs and classes
- Reciprocal admission and/or discounts to 15+ photographic institutions
- 2 guest passes
- Student Membership is 100% tax-deductible.
Community Partner Benefits:
- $25 off scanning and printing services at ScanDiego
- $25 off print or rental services at George's Camera
- 15% off your entree at Alchemy Cultural Fare & Cocktails
- Discounted one-year subscription to Aperture Magazine
- 20% off all custom framing at The Frame Maker
- 15% off best rate; 15% off 2 entrees; 10% off event food and beverage at the Pearl Hotel
- Flat any-time rate of $125 at The Sofia Hotel
- $25 Early Enrollment discount at any time throughout the quarter at UC San Diego Extension
- 2-for-1 tickets at all 4ARTS partner organizations (MOPA, Malashock Dance, Cygnet Theatre & Mainly Mozart)
Learn more about our Community Partners.
Please allow 2 - 3 weeks for processing.


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Uxmovement has a new article discussing some experiments done with progress indicators.http://uxmovement.com/buttons/how-to-make-progress-bars-feel-faster-to-users/It's not set up as a link, but there's a URL to a youtube video showing the progress bars.
Perception of speed is actually even more important than real speed most of the time, but assuming of course you've done all you could to improve real speed, here are the article's suggestions:
Progress bars: they look like they move faster if there are backwards-moving "ripples" in the bar.
Radial progress indicators (which do not show how much time is remaining): make them "spin" faster.
This is kinda lawlz but people are strange.
The best progress "bars" are those that doing something interactive or different. For example I always find a glass filling up or a picture being drawn to be really neat.
I actually saw a loading bar that was nyan cat flying across the screen. I'll see if I can find it again.
Now that is just awesome! It's so amusing that a progress bar becomes somewhat of an enjoyable experience.
What about a progress bar that goes from right to left?Or from 100% to 0%? and keeps loading at 3%
One would think going from 100 to 0 would be viewed the same, a countdown, but personally I get more impatient for some reason : )
Keeps loading at 3%? I think I'd cancel the action : )
Would be cool to have some graphics guys/animators make all sorts of progress bars for testing.
No you wouldn't... according to this post, you'd just leave, or log out and leave
Haha, yeah


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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Daytona Beach police are searching for a man who robbed a Sunoco gas station early Tuesday morning and fled after the clerk fired four rounds from a handgun into his getaway car.
Police say the suspect entered the Sunoco at 300 N. Ridgewood around 4 a.m. and requested a carton of cigarettes, along with a few other items. The suspect then snatched the items off the counter and fled outside, where the clerk followed him.
After seeing the suspect pull what he thought was a weapon from his front seat, the clerk fired his .380-caliber handgun four times at the car, damaging the grill and hood.
The car was last seen heading westbound on MMB Boulevard from the gas station. The official description is a light gray older model two-door Chevy pickup in poor condition, including multiple scratches.
Police described the suspect as a white male in his early 30s last seen wearing a white button down T-shirt with colored stripes and a black wool cap with blue jeans.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. William Brown at 386-671-5238 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Copyright 2013 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Wittenberg's Upward Bound Program Accepting Applications For 2013
November 26, 2012
Filed in Community
Springfield, Ohio – The Wittenberg University Upward Bound Program is accepting applications for new students.
Upward Bound works to stimulate interest in college among students of low-income families or families in which there is little history of college study. The program provides role models of college-educated students and academic assistance to prepare participants for the challenge of study beyond high school.
Students requesting an application must be entering the ninth, 10th or 11th grades and live within the City of Springfield and the Springfield City School District.
During the school year, students are in weekly contact with Upward Bound staff members, including teachers and tutor-counselors, through classes, home visits, counseling sessions, and tutorials. During the summer, students live on Wittenberg's campus for six weeks and participate in a variety of academic, cultural and social activities. After graduating from high school, students attend the summer "Bridge" program where they are given the opportunity to earn eight college credits from Wittenberg.
To request an application, contact Phyllis Swanigan, assistant director, at 937-327-7535 or via e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com. For more information, visit Wittenberg's Upward Bound website at http://www5.wittenberg.edu/academics/upward_bound.


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View unanswered posts | View active topics
Board index » Question and Answer » Sharpening Q&A
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Umberto wrote:52100 is pretty fabulous. How long do your edges last on the Takamura? The 210 for sale right now looks mighty tempting...if only it were in 240 size.How long have you been using the Takamura? How does she handle carrots? I do think the 210 would serve a great purpose in my tight little prep area. But the thin edge seems scary delicate. Have you abused it much?
MadRookie wrote:I love to cuss & swear....so I loove the hard ones.....M390, K390, S90V etc.....Good challenge.
Lunatic wrote:The edge is thin, however the steel is strong and robust. It doesn't roll even after two cases of bell peppers and a 50 lbs bag of onions. If the edge does roll simply strop it and good as new.
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Quote:In MT, there is no slip. Slipping will result in you eating that knee, with your front teeth.Duck however is used as it is not allowed to bash someone at the back of his head. So in MT, there are to evasive motion, duck and sway back. Nothing to the side, if need be, MT boxers would sidestep their whole body.
Quote:You just crouch down on the spot with your back straight. With luck, your opponent's kick will fly pass your head and you'll be standing behind him.
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citizen model. Very effective.


text:
Quote:What's personal? Where's the attack?
Quote:You are just as clueless as
Quote:Lesson for today:Get on Google, search for "clue" and get one...
Quote:And aren't you a mod?
Quote:Why are you calling me a phallus? Doing the exact same thing you did got me booted from FA.com. What's up with the double standard mods?
Quote:Look I never said anything about you specifically.
Quote:You are just as clueless as the folks who thought having a BB in karate or kung-fu meant you could fight.
Quote:If what I posted hit home and your conscience is calling you out then so be it, but don't blame your self-esteem issues on me. Where I grew up we call that "showing your a--".
Quote:I can gandle ANYTHING anyone on here, even you, dishes out. Beyond that I looove to debate. Bring it on...
Quote:Yeah you know Chen, I really don't mind anyone speaking their mind, so long as there is a certain measure of respect shown. -John
Quote:Everyone's always talking about how the punches in boxing are so powerful and simple and such, however I've never heard someone talk about the advantages of the straight and reverse punches used in Karate and TKD. Could anyone fill me in on the pros and cons of this style of punching?
Quote:Yeah and people who train real karate keep their hands up and in front of them when they fight.
Quote:This is the truth- you can either fight or you can't. You can either draw or sing or you can't.
Quote:Get real and quit lumping every TMA type into the category of wackling who can't squabble.
Quote: You are just as clueless as the folks who thought having a BB in karate or kung-fu meant you could fight.
Quote: Most that go to learn how to fight without that in them, environmentally implanted in them, will still be weak when it comes to the real deal.
Quote:So to reiterate: you can either fight or you can't. Certain activities may enhance your skill-set, but nothing will make a grown person who is past their neurologically/biologically most plastic stages of life a real fighter.
Quote:Fighters are born, bred then groomed, but if it ain't innate and learned at a young age the best you can hope for is to be in good shape and to learn some combat principles. Luck is your best weapon in a self-preservation scenario if all you do is practice limited fighting and ring sport. It's been proven over and over.
Quote:Lesson for today:Get on Google, search for "clue" and get one...IMHO
Quote: This is the truth- you can either fight or you can't. You can either draw or sing or you can't.
Quote:I'm betting when he comes back, he's on his BEST behavior.-John
Quote:I believe that boxing hands are better then Karate hands in gloved sparring using the basic 5-6 punches, but not in the street. If my intent is to injury or end a fight quickly, Karate hands are better, target selection, use of entire body and control. How many work the bags with different hand formations, elbow, forearms, shoulders, hips, knees and head butts??? You fight how you train.No wrong or right just a poll?
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Hey there i am just starting to try pdo in OO. I am getting this error Call to a member function prepare() on a non-object
I have a constructor
public function __construct($pdo){
$this->pdo = $pdo;
and then i am calling the prepare like so
for those of you that work with pdo in OO how do you set it up. Am i on the right track?
Thanks in advanced!
You may need to show a bit more code than that.
We cannot tell if there is a problem with the class you seem to have created whose constructor you are showing.
Do you have PDO working correctly on its own, outside of this class?
Yes it is working correctly outside of the class.
here's the full concturctor for the class
public function __construct($pdo,$clean){
$this->pdo = $pdo;
$this->clean = $clean;
Here is the login function
public function login($email,$rawPass){
$this->email = $this->clean->text($email);
$this->rawPass = $this->clean->text($rawPass);
$loginSelectQuery = "SELECT COUNT(*) AS num_rows FROM users WHERE email=:email";
$values = array('email' => $this->email);
try {
$checkEmail = $this->pdo->prepare($query);
} catch (PDOException $e) {
$title .= "Error";
$check = $checkEmail->fetch(PDO::OBJ);
if($check->num_rows == 1){
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = :email";
try {
$getUserDetails = $this->pdo->prepare($query);
} catch (PDOException $e) {
$title .= "Error";
$password = hash('sha256',$this->rawPass).$getUserDetails->hash;
if($password == $getUserDetails->password){
$_SESSION['name'] = $getUserDetails->name;
$_SESSION['id'] = $getUserDetails->id;
$_SESSION['farmName'] = $getUserDetails->farmName;
$_SESSION['authLevel'] = $getUserDetails->level;
$title .= "Logged in!";
$referer = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
header('Refresh: 3, url='.$referer);
$output .= "You have been logged in as {$_SESSION['name']}. You well be redirected to the previous page within five(5) seconds";
else {
$title .="Wrong Password";
$output .= "The password you entred was not correct";
$tile .= "User does not exist";
$output .= "Hello there. We could not locate the email <strong>{$this->email}</strong> in our database";
You're doing:
$checkEmail = $this->pdo->prepare($query);
But your query variable is actually called $loginSelectQuery.
Also, I'm pretty sure you're missing a colon from the 'email' array key for the $values array:
Think it should be this:
$values = array(':email'=>$this->email);
Try that?
I think these instances are incorrect:
Yes Cups that was it. So now it's executing fine. i just have to figure out the sessions are not being set.
if i use return on a variable that well said var. to be displayed on a page? Correct?
Probably because you are not stating session_start() anywhere ... that I can see anyhow.
Overall this login method (never mind the class) is taking on an awful lot of responsibility.
A class ought to do one single thing, and do it properly.
It is OK to have a class which does very little but tells lots of other smaller classes what to do, delegating and orchestrating if you will.
Here are some pseudocode-ish ideas, not to strip your class down to one single thing, but to achieve a bit of a halfway house, so you should still recognise what it does - but also appreciate how some of the complexity and rigidity can be stripped out.
class LoginValidator {
function __constructor(PDO $PDO ){
// set up your pdo as a member (property)
function checkCredentials($user ='', $password=''){
// just do one single select here ;
$query = "SELECT id, name, farmname, level FROM users WHERE email=:email AND password = :password";
on success -- tell $this->startSession($session_vars) to start the session
return true;
else (on fail)
return false;
private function startSession($session_vars){
// this imagines using another class which serves to be used in many places in your code
// either pass an array of values as an argument
// or access private members which checkCredentials() would set up for you
$s = new Session($session_vars);
// usage -- where $pdo is created elsewhere, it is already set up, you just pass it as an argument...
if( user and password are set ) {
$lv = new LoginValidator($pdo);
if( $lv->checkCredentials($_POST['user'], $_POST['password']) is false ){
NOW redirect the user to somewhere else
} else {
redirect the user back to the page
I am hinting at the existence of a simple Session class which does not yet exist, but is simple enough to code up (never mind find on the web somewhere)
Going back to the CheckCredentials class idea above (I have no idea what your class is called) even this name CheckCredentials is not accurate because as I have written it it is more accurately a CheckCredentialsAndStartSession class (I remember calling a similar class "Bouncer" -- as in a doorman )
But still, it is now orchestrating, delegating to other classes what to do.
It does one basic thing (sort of), it checks to see if an instance of user and pass exist in the dbIt delegates to a Session classIt is given an instance of a PDO which it needs to do its job (it should not care whether that is using a mysql or sqlite driver)It leaves the responsibility of redirecting the user to the userland coder, though this could be another class too ...
You will notice I have completely ignored your clean() method, I can only guess what that does and surmise that it is not adding anything to the party at all.
Notice it does NOT check whether user and pass are even set, it is pretty dumb in that respect. You could smarten it up, you could start adding an array of different error messages ... but they would differ depending on which application was using it -- the downside would be that it would start cluttering up your LoginValidator.
Now the trick is, can you alter LoginValidator slightly so that it is not forever tied to your users/farm application?
Then you can use it, like the Session class, in many more of your development tasks.
My example is not meant to be perfect by any means, just some ideas to get you thinking, if some of this makes sense to you and interests you then it could be time to do some OOP study.
Some good comments cups...
I was thinking, perhaps it might make sense to have the session class completely outside of this class, and in the calling code have something like:
$loginValidator = new LoginValidator($pdoObject);
$sessionObject = new SessionObject();
if ($loginValidator->checkCredentials($username, $password)){
Something along those lines anyway...
Actually having thought about it more, perhaps you could have a user object, which the loginValidator could return if the user was successfully logged in, so it could go something like this:
$loginValidator = new LoginValidator($pdoObject);
$sessionObject = new SessionObject();
if ($loginValidator->checkCredentials($username, $password)){
Then from there you could grab the user object out of the session with something like:
And could then call methods on the user object such as:
$userObject = $sessionObject->getLoggedInUser();
echo $userObject->getUsername();
Etc... what do you reckon?
I mean, yeah, now we're off ... thanks for replying, it underlines and supports a point I did not make very clear, that there are many ways of doing the same thing.
If it works for you then great. We could now go off and play with trade-offs between responsibilities, degrees of coupling and will no doubt feature factories vs Dependency Injection and all the OOP buzzwords.
This is all grist to the OOP mill, and I am happy to discuss for as far as my Pattern knowledge will carry me (which is NOT as advanced as many on here may think).
The thing is, I don't want to leave the OP behind when it is clear from the method example posted there are some fundamental OOP principles that are being broken and clearly the OP could do with some help to shed some light on what is going on with the code.
I don't want to come across as being pretentious here but even if it we can have the OP think (or anyone else watching -- why not say hello?), "Crikey, there is a bit more to this OOP lark than I first thought" and that he/she would come back and ask more questions about objects then that would be really, really great.
Because, you know what, some of the old OOP Gods that used to hang out on here might come back and share some of their wisdom.
I don't know about you, but when I start thinking about OOP, I find it helpful to imagine I am talking to my dogs.
They are fantastic at doing one thing.
Eat dinner.Chase a stick.Chase a rabbit.if (you see another dog) growl.if (I call you) come back here.
But if I tell them to "bring back the stick, and if you do not growl at that dog, and you can eat 50% of your dinner" -- then it can go wrong in so many ways I never dreamed of.
(off to walk them now as it happens...)
Ok. So let me see if i get this.
It is better (when working with OO style) to break things down in to there own functions in side a class. Say if i was to make a document function and i wanted to validate that the title and document field could i use one class to validate both the title and document and then if both are valid have a variable returned as true then use that in a different class.
class documents{
public function __construct($pdo,$clean,$document){
$this->pdo = $pdo;
$this->clean = $clean;
$this->document = $document
public function charCount(){
$this->chars = substr($this->document,0);
return $this->chars;
public function validate($title,$document){
$this->title = $title;
$this->document = $document;
if(empty($this->title) || $this->title == 0){
$title .= "Empty feild";
$output .= "The title is empty. Please fill in the title";
$this->error['title'] = TRUE; }
if($this->chars === 0){
$title .= "Document Empty";
$output .= "We can't save the document! There are no characters in it! We can only save documents with words in them!";
$this->error['docChars'] = TRUE;
if(!$this->error['title'] && !$this->error['docChars'] == TRUE){
$this->validated = TRUE;
return $this->validated;
publixc function insert(){
if($this->validated == TRUE){
$query = "blah"
is that more of the way it should be done?? Also this may be a basic question, but do i have to put
in the function. Or can i execlude and well it still work. Or what is recommended?
It is better (when working with OO style) to break things down in to there own functions in side a class.
A class should do one thing properly. It can have as many moving parts as you want (methods). You can have your class call its own methods.
Your documents class does not seem to do much at all, it checks that the title and the document themselves are not empty, but lets stay with it and look at a few of the options you could take into consideration.
Perhaps it would help to think about how you'd like to initiate and call the class methods from user land:
// presumably this is coming from a HTTP request ...
$document = "Incoming data forming the document"';
$title = "The document Title";
// $pdo this has been instantiated somewhere else, and is perhaps included
a) You could do this:
// go ahead and instantiate your class
$storer = new DocumentStorer($pdo);
if( $storer->checkNotNull($title) && $storer->checkNotNull($document) ){
$storer->save( $document, $title);
OR b) you could design it to react to this:
// go ahead and instantiate your class
$storer = new DocumentStorer($pdo);
if( $storer->save($document, $title) === false ){
echo $storer->getMessages();
One difference is that in a) you leave the option open to store a document without a Title, or, in the future you could add a new field, Author, without having to go back and change the insides of your DocumentStorer by just doing $storer->checkNotNull($author);
Some might thing this is academic, e.g. why would you even want to instantiate a class when a simple empty() check on the incoming variables prior to starting, but we will leave that aside for the sake of illustrating my points.
Now you could also do c) which is what I think you are trying to do, the big single bang.
// feed the class everything it needs in one go
$storer = new DocumentStorer($pdo, $document, $title);
// I don't much care how you do it, either be successful or get an error message back
if( $storer->save() === false ){
echo $storer->getMessages();
How you would build your class would then depend on whether you want to do a) b) or c) (or d, e, f for that matter).
The code to satisfy c) would look something like this, I put some echo statements in there so you can see what is happening, you can add getMessages() or a getErrors() method yourself.
class DocumentStorer {
public $pdo, $title, $doc;
public $errors = array();
function __construct($pdo, $doc, $title){
$this->pdo = $pdo;
$this->title = $title;
$this->doc = $doc;
function save(){
echo 'doing save attempt.... ';
$this->checkNotNull($this->doc, 'Document');
$this->checkNotNull($this->title, 'Title');
if( count($this->errors) > 0) {
echo 'Fail ...';
return false;
// this is where you'd save your data or delegate its storing
echo "Saving $this->doc with $this->title using $this->pdo";
return true;
function checkNotNull($var, $type){
echo 'doing not null check .... ';
if( strlen(trim($var)) === 0) {
$this->errors[] = "$type has no contents!";
$doc = "this is a doc";
$title = "this is a title";
$pdo = "PDO instance";
$storer = new DocumentStorer($pdo, $doc, $title);
if( !$storer->save() )
var_dump( $storer->errors);
Thanks! You guys (And gals?) on SPF are the best! Now i like the idea of a, checking to see if it is null with checkNotNull and think it would be way easier to add stuff in the future if i needed to.
Can any one recomend a OO php book. I have a few from SP but would deffently like to read more.
Would you do some thing like this ($name would be to set the error array and some thing to return to the users if empty)
public function checkNotNull($var,$name){
$this->var = $var;
$this->name = $name;
if(empty($this->var) || $this->var == 0){
$title .= "Empty feilds";
$output .= "The $this->name is empty. Please fill in the $this->name feild";
$this->error[$this->name] = TRUE;
if(!$this->error[$this->name] == TRUE){
$this->validated = TRUE;
return $this->validated;
Or how would you do it. I just want to learn. I appreciate your help so much!!
Well, a guy here actually. You are free to rename the methods to something that means more to you if you want, I just found it easier to rewrite what you had as a way of illustrating what could be done than to line by line tell you where I think you were going wrong.
There are just so many ways of approaching your particular problems, but yes, your reply "... think it would be way easier to add stuff in the future if i needed to." makes me very happy
There have been lots of threads about OOP books if you search this forum, but it'd be interesting to see if there are any new ones.
I have not read them all, so have nothing to add to those old forum posts you should find.


text:
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Example: If the average standard individual market base rate in a state for a 30-year old male is $100/month, a medically uninsurable male of the same age would pay $125-$150/month for comprehensive coverage in a risk pool.
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Thirty-three states have high-risk pools. NAHU's Health Care Coverage Options Database can tell you if your state has a pool, provide you with contact information for that pool, and also tell you the basic participation requirements.
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text:
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/11/2012 (1737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
If you want to beat up on the City of Winnipeg, there's no shortage of services or functions to criticize.
Inner-city residents would love to see the police devote more officers to beat patrols. Developers would love to speed up the permit-approval process. People all over the city would love trees to be pruned more than once every few years, grass to be cut in parks at least a couple of times each summer and recreational facilities to be maintained to a degree that doesn't require the budgetary equivalent of emergency triage.
Urbanists would love to see city planners lay down the somewhat-nonexistent law when it comes to putting the brakes on low-density development. Suburban residents really just want road improvements, such as the long-delayed widening of Kenaston Boulevard.
Fiscal hawks want less overall spending. Social-service groups want more funding for anti-poverty initiatives. People under the age 30, recent immigrants and other people who largely don't drive cars would really love public transit options to improve.
In short, everyone wants something more from their city, all for entirely legitimate reasons, because they perceive they deserve better from the public servants they support with their tax dollars and the elected officials they place in office.
There are, however, a number of functions the City of Winnipeg performs about as well as could be expected from any municipality, anywhere on the planet.
Our flood-protection protocols are amazing. Our insect-control programs are excellent. And at the risk of annoying the significant minority of Winnipeggers who don't appreciate change of any sort, this city also does a fantastic job of clearing snow.
Yes, you read that correctly: Winnipeg's public works department ought to be commended for the efficient manner in which snow is cleared from the city's major arteries and residential streets.
In 2012, this city devoted $30.4 million toward snow-clearing operations. That represents about 3.4 per cent of the $900 million the city intended to spend this year on all services, including big-ticket items such as policing, firefighting and paramedics.
While emergency-service costs consistently rise, snow-clearing tabs tend to vary widely from year to year. That's because Winnipeg is just as likely to experience a warm, dry winter such as the one we enjoyed last year as it is a winter like 1996-97, when blizzards hit the city in November, March and April.
To make up for this variability, Winnipeg maintains a snow-clearing reserve, which is topped up after mild years and drained during snowy ones. But this bit of budget wisdom pales in comparison to the city's actual snow-clearing operations, which have been fine-tuned over the past quarter century.
Following the Blizzard of '86, a November storm that wound up crippling Winnipeg for days, the city decided it would be smarter to clear streets during heavy snowfall events instead of waiting for all the white stuff to descend first.
Over the ensuing decades, this snow-clearing policy was refined to ensure major arteries were cleared first, followed by secondary and residential streets, with the latter deemed deserving of a visit from plows and graders only when they're rutted or congested. Generations of officials concluded it would be a waste of money to plow residential streets more frequently, as the goal is merely to make them passable to ordinary vehicles.
In 2008, after a flurry of complaints about tows and tickets resulting from street-clearing operations, the city decided it was time to refine the way it enforces overnight parking bans on residential streets.
That resulted in a new enforcement system in which bans are only in place on streets actually slated to be cleared. This new system, entitled Know Your Zone, was a logical response to the complaints of 2008.
An early version of this system was actually implemented in January 2011, when the city started posting detailed snow-clearing plans on Winnipeg.ca
This was refined into the zone system, which was announced on Nov. 28, 2011, when the city launched a Know Your Zone advertising campaign as well as a Know Your Zone press conference.
"We're hoping people will take the time to find out what letter their zone is," public works spokesman Ken Allen said at the time.
Given the meager amount of snow that fell last winter, not many Winnipeggers did.
So almost a year later, with actual snow on the ground, some residents are now crying foul. The city should have done more to inform them, they complain.
When it comes to any new service initiative, the city tends to take a multi-pronged approach to public education. It sends letters in the mail, takes out newspaper and radio ads and posts information on Winnipeg.ca.
That's because there's no single way to reach the public any more. Some people immediately recycle any form letter that arrives in their mailbox. Others have no access to the Internet. Still others don't read newspapers, listen to radio stations or watch the news on television.
There are, in fact, some people who are all but immune to public-education efforts, as they take extraordinary efforts to insulate themselves from any information they do not actively choose to encounter.
They have their iPods. They log on to Facebook. They have their PVRs set to The X Factor. To be blunt, there's no bloody way the City of Winnipeg could ever hope to reach these solipsists, about snow-clearing, property-assessment notices, municipal elections or frankly anything.
To be fair, the vast majority of Winnipeggers are receptive to some form of media, whether it's the traditional mainstream or social variety. Also to be fair, the city could do way more when it comes to beefing up its presence on Twitter and Facebook.
But it is not the city's fault when the public chooses to disengage itself from civic life. And this societal trend is certainly not the fault of Winnipeg's public works department.
As Winnipeggers who've lived in other Canadian cities can attest, snow-clearing in this climate is unusual, in that we don't receive all that much snow but wind up with all of it remaining on the ground.
Toronto, which receives a bit more snow than we do every year, simply lets it melt. Quebec City, Ottawa and Montreal, which all receive far more snow than us, have no choice but to rush out and clear it all immediately.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, has achieved a reasonable balance in that we keep streets clean without breaking the bank. Refinements to this system should be applauded, not harangued.
So yes, while there are many valid reasons to blast the City of Winnipeg, snow clearing simply isn't one of them.
Unless, of course, you use a wheelchair. But that's another topic for another day.
We're hardly
No. 1
Average annual snowfall for selected Canadian cities, 1971-2000
Quebec City: 315.9 centimetres
Ottawa: 235.7 cm
Halifax: 230.5 cm
Montreal: 217.5 cm
London: 202.4 cm
Hamilton: 161.8 cm
Toronto: 133.1 cm
Calgary: 126.7 cm
Edmonton: 121.4 cm
Winnipeg: 110.6 cm
Regina: 105.9 cm
Saskatoon: 97.2 cm
Vancouver: 48.2 cm
-- Source: Environment Canada