text: By NAOMI SNYDERStaff WriterDOYLESTOWN The Doylestown Telephone Co. is celebrating its 105th year as a part of the community."The village has been here for 175 years, and our company has been here 105 really just about when commercial telephones were introduced," director of marketing Alex Desberg, said.Established in 1899, DTC is one of only 34 independent telephone companies in Ohio and provides local exchange service to more than 4,000 customers in Doylestown and surrounding Chippewa Township."The fact we're so small is something that allows us to do things bigger companies can't," President Tom Brockman said.According to Brockman, this means knowing customers by name and accepting payments in person."We have regulars that come in to pay their bills and just stay a while to chat," Desberg said.Doylestown Communications Inc. was founded in 1996 as a subsidiary of DTC to provide additional services to the community. Doylestown Cable TV and Bright.net and Ohio.net Internet services are provided through DCI.The company offers Chippewa Local School District a channel on its cable service and sponsors the fireworks show at the annual Rouge's Hollow Festival.Community involvement led council and Mayor Terry Lindeman to issue a proclamation in the village's honor."I didn't know it was coming it was an honor," Brockman said.The proclamation mentions DTC's cable and Internet services and stated that "a grateful community offers heartfelt congratulations to The Doylestown Telephone Company as they celebrate their 105th anniversary."Business Editor and health reporter Naomi Snyder can be reached at (330) 287-1623 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Two things set the University of Colorado Boulder's Public Achievement program apart from other service learning and civic engagement initiatives: mentorship and empowerment.
"The public achievement motto is 'We are the ones we've been waiting for,'" Director Elaina Verveer said. "It essentially means that we can't expect elected officials, we can't expect adults, we can't expect 'experts' to solve our problems. What we need to do is tap into our existing capacities, our existing talents to build social capital and work collectively with others to find common solutions."
Considered by many the beating heart of the PA program, Verveer has been an instructor with CU-Boulder's INVST Community Studies since 2004 and helped establish the program in 2007 at CU-Boulder and participating K-12 schools (Centaurus High School, Casey Middle School and Pioneer Elementary School). Originally founded in 1990 at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota, the program is an international civic engagement initiative that seeks to empower young people through student to student mentorship and exploration of public issues the students themselves identify.
"What is unique here is that you have college students serving as mentors, rather than traditional teachers," said Verveer. "And the other piece is that our program taps into both community organizing and empowering pedagogy, or empowering education."
Kenny Nguyen was mentored through the program and is now mentoring other students. A CU-Boulder sophomore majoring in communication, he oversees student coaches at Casey Middle School in Boulder.
"PA allowed me to become a leader in my school," Nguyen said. "That's the big thing about PA. It empowers youth, mainly high schoolers, or middle schoolers, and at times elementary schoolers. I fell into it on my own, because I've always wanted to give back to the community."
Nguyen is working with a group of female 6th grade students who proposed a project on teen pregnancy. Other students are exploring topics like animal abuse, teen depression and suicide, drug abuse, texting and driving, youth homelessness, gun violence and human trafficking. All of the topics were chosen by K-12 students.
About 80 CU-Boulder undergraduates participate in the Public Achievement program, which is administered through CU-Boulder's Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement. About 60 are enrolled in the freshman course where they act as PA coaches to K-12 students, while the other 20 students are teaching assistants -- like Nguyen -- who mentor the coaches at their offsite locations. Though many participating "coaches" are PA alumni – students who were first exposed to CU's PA program in high school – the course is open to all CU students. Currently, about 250 local K-12 students are involved in the program.
"The coaches, or college students, are only involved as facilitators," said Nguyen. "They're not there to lead. So the kids are the ones who lead."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
IMLS Press Contacts
Natasha Marstiller, email@example.com
Mamie Bittner, email@example.com
OCLC Press Contact
Bob Murphy, firstname.lastname@example.com
Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services IMLS is funding an innovative yearlong project linking libraries nationwide to share strategies for helping unemployed patrons find work. Project Compass, launched by OCLC WebJunction and the State Library of North Carolina, features four regional summits where state library officers are sharing best practices on meeting the workforce needs of their communities.
"In the last 12 months, approximately 30 million people used library resources to help address career and employment needs," said Marsha L. Semmel, acting director of IMLS, citing the new IMLS/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-supported report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries. "Project Compass is developing the tools libraries need to help patrons who are already using library resources."
"WebJunction is thrilled to be a partner in this project," said Chrystie Hill, director of Community Services for WebJunction. "With so many states sharing their approaches, challenges, and successes, we are well on our way to achieving the goal of improving and expanding library services related to employment."
The Summits
At the inaugural Project Compass summit held March 10-12 in Atlanta, representatives from 11 state libraries showcased their states' responses to workforce needs in tough times.
South Carolina State Library representatives highlighted an IMLS-supported Web site for workforce recovery. It provides library staff across the state with a well-organized and consistent set of resources for patrons, providing them with a number of pathways toward employment. The "Next Steps" section, for example, provides resources for starting a small business.
Along with a job and career resource Web site, the Tennessee Public Libraries featured an impressive array of partnerships that it has leveraged for staff training, workforce development tools, and promotion of library services. Partners include the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce, the University of Tennessee, Adult Education Centers, and State Technology Centers.
"A lot of eyes were opened and people were exclaiming, 'Oh, you're doing thatω We could do that too! Oh, you have those resourcesω Could we get those from youω Yes!'" said Project Compass's program manager, Betha Gutsche. "I was surprised at the level of connectivity among participants."
After the showcase, the Atlanta group identified three key needs:
- Training for library staff to meet the needs of job seekers.
- Strategies for funding, including information about how to maximize support, gain visibility, and minimize budget cuts.
- A Web site with centralized resources on workforce recovery provided by the state library. For examples of state Web sites that have been established, please go to: http://wiki.webjunctionworks.org/index.php/Workforce_Resources.
The project has great potential for national impact because states are coordinating their efforts and sharing information and resources, Gutsche noted. In addition to working together in person, Project Compass is facilitating development of a "community of practice" with an online hub to help librarians share ideas and resources designed to help get their communities fully employed. To reach greater numbers, Project Compass staff will adapt the in-person summits into live, online sessions and self-directed work that will be offered for free in June.
Each state library was invited to send two representatives to one of the summits. In addition to summits in Atlanta and Portland, OR (March 21-23), two more are scheduled, including:
- May 5-7: Providence, RI
- May 26-28: Denver, CO
Additional IMLS resources:
Libraries to the Rescue is the story of how libraries in five states, North Carolina, Washington, Connecticut, New York and Michigan are helping citizens access all types of employment assistance. A list of Online Resources for Libraries and Jobseekers is available here www.imls.gov/news/2009/062409_list.shtm.
About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.


text:
Professors William Harris (Chair),
Christine Leverenz and Homer White (Coordinator);
Assistant Professors Rebekah Robinson and Kristine Roinestad
Contact the Department
Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science
Georgetown College
400 East College Street
Georgetown, KY 40324
Mathematics is the unique language of all physical and social sciences. Students who pursue the study of mathematics are trained to solve problems and to communicate such solutions effectively. This gives the foundation for further professional study in many fields as well as for employment in business and industry.
The various disciplines represented within the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science are united by their reliance upon:
- methods for discovering and demonstrating patterns, and for constructing structures that exhibit, unify and illuminate these patterns;
- application of these structures to model a wide variety of phenomena in mathematics and the sciences;
- precise language as a means to express patterns and describe structures.
Accordingly, graduates of the Math/Physics/Computer Science department will:
- demonstrate knowledge of basic content appropriate to the chosen major;
- communicate precisely and effectively on quantitative matters;
- perform basic modeling and interpret the results in terms of the phenomena being modeled;
- read quantitative material, interpret correctly what has been read, and apply it correctly.
(B.A. degree) Thirty-three hours required. A minimum of thirty hours in Mathematics including MAT 125, 225, 301, 310, 325, 415, and 431. The remaining nine hours in Mathematics must be chosen from courses numbered above MAT 225. Allied course: CSC 115. (Secondary education mathematics majors are required to include MAT 331 and 335 in the major course selections. Total hours in Mathematics and Computer Science required: thirty-three)
(B.S. degree) Thirty-nine hours required. A minimum of thirty-six hours in Mathematics including MAT 125, 225, 301, 310, 325, 415, 431 and 432. The remaining twelve hours are to be chosen from courses numbered above 225, and nine hours must be chosen from MAT 331, 332, 343, 345, 405 or MAT/CSC 327. Allied course: CSC 115. (Secondary Education Mathematics majors are required to take MAT 331 and 335 in the major course selections. Total hours in Mathematics and Computer Science required: thirty-nine.)
Eighteen hours required. A minimum of eighteen hours in Mathematics including MAT 125, 225 and 301. The remaining hours must be chosen from courses numbered above MAT 301.
Students with strong backgrounds in mathematics will be placed at course levels commensurate with demonstrated ability. Students with a math subscore on the ACT of less than 19 (or its equivalent) must begin GSS105 (or pass a by-pass exam or transfer an equivalent and previously approved course) no later than the third semester of full-time enrollment. Students must enroll in this course every semester until they have successfully completed the course with a grade of C or above; grading will be X or C or above. Students are not eligible for their Essential Proficiency math or computer science class until they have successfully completed GSS 105 or its equivalent. Drop slips must be approved by the Department Chair or the Mathematics Program Coordinator.
A prerequisite must be taken before the course; a co-requisite may be taken before or concurrently with a course.
100. Mathematics and Computing. (3 hours) A survey of computer science including some basic mathematical foundations of computing and a gentle introduction to computer programming. This is a Foundations and Core quantitative course especially for students other than mathematics and computer science majors and requires minimal math background. It can also be an informative gateway into a computer science major or minor for students with little prior exposure to computer programming or who are uncertain about whether they want to pursue computer science. Fall and Spring
107. College Algebra. (3 hours) A survey of algebraic techniques and of functions. Topics include theory of equations and inequalities, graphs, transformations of functions, inverse functions, and exponential and logarithmic functions. Can be used as preparation for calculus. Not applicable to a major or minor in mathematics. Prerequisite: Math ACT subscore of 19, GSS 105, or bypass credit for GSS 105. Students with a grade of C or higher in MAT 109 or MAT 125 (or their equivalents) may not subsequently take this course for credit.
Fall and Spring
109. Calculus for Business and the Social Sciences. (3 hours) An introductory survey of calculus, less theoretical in nature than MAT 125. Topics include derivatives of algebraic, exponential, and logarithmic functions, the definite integral, and applications to business and the social sciences. Not applicable to a major or minor in mathematics. Prerequisite: Math ACT subscore of 22 or MAT 107. Students with a grade of C or higher in MAT 125 (or its equivalent) may not subsequently take this course for credit. Fall and Spring
111. Elementary Probability and Statistics. (3 hours) An introductory study of statistics and basic probability theory including such topics as frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, variation, the normal distribution and tests of hypotheses. Not applicable to a major or minor in mathematics. Prerequisite: ACT math subscore of 19, GSS 105, or bypass credit for GSS 105. Fall and Spring
123. Precalculus. (3 hours) A survey of algebraic and trigonometric techniques and functions designed to prepare students for the study of calculus. Topics include a review of algebra, exponential and logarithmic functions, trig-onometric functions, analytic trigonometry, and vectors. If time permits, sys-tems of equations and conic sections will be introduced. Not applicable to a major or minor in mathematics. Prerequisite: Math ACT subscore of at least 22 or consent of instructor. Students with a grade of C or higher in MAT 123 (or its equivalent) may not subsequently take MAT 107 for credit. Fall
125. Calculus I. (3 hours) A study of the derivative, its applications, and an introduction to the integral. Topics include limits, continuity, techniques of differentiation, optimization, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and indefinite integrals. Prerequisite: a C or better in MAT 107 or high school precalculus and knowledge of trigonometric functions. Fall and Spring
170. Special Topics in Mathematics (.5-3 hours) As needed
203. Mathematics for Elementary Education I. (3 hours) A detailed development of the mathematics taught in elementary school using a problem-solving approach. Topics include numeration, proportional reasoning, number theory, and, for whole numbers, fractions, and decimals, number sense and standard and non-standard algorithms. For elementary education majors only. Prerequisite: ACT math subscore of 19 or GSS105 or bypass credit for GSS105. Fall
204. Mathematics for Elementary Education II. (3 hours) A continuation of MAT 203. A detailed development of the mathematics taught in elementary school using a problem-solving approach. Topics include further development of the real numbering system, informal geometry, probability and statistics. For elementary education majors only. Prerequisite: MAT 203. Spring
208. Science Careers Seminar. (2 hours) An interdisciplinary seminar in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines that will introduce students interested in scientific research to an array of professions and professionals in these fields. This introduction will emphasize comprehension and analysis of published scientific research and provide students with the opportunity to meet the science professional who produced the work. Prerequisites: One science or mathematics course for majors, sophomore or junior standing, and approval of the instructor. Fall
225. Calculus II. (3 hours) A continuation of the study of the integral and a study of infinite series. Topics include techniques of integration, applications of the definite integral, introduction to differential equations, tests for convergence of series, and power series. Prerequisite: MAT 125 or high school calculus.
Fall and Spring
301. Discrete Mathematics. (3 hours) An introduction to fundamental theoretical concepts of mathematics and of mathematics in computer science. Topics include logic, techniques of proof, elementary set theory, mathematical induction, numeration systems, relations and functions, counting techniques, and Boolean algebra. Co-requisite: MAT 225 or CSC 215. Fall and Spring
310. Linear Algebra. (3 hours) A theoretical study of systems of linear equations and vector spaces. Topics include matrix algebra, linear transformations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, determinants, and linear programming. Prerequisites: MAT 225 and 301. Spring
325. Calculus III. (3 hours) A continuation of the study of single-variable calculus, and a study of multivariable calculus. Topics include parametric equations, polar coordinates, vectors and vector-valued functions, partial differentiation, Lagrange multipliers, double and triple integrals, and line integrals. Prerequisite: MAT 225. Fall
327. Introduction to Numerical Methods. (3 hours) An introduction to the analysis and implementation of numerical methods. Topics include number representation and errors, locating roots of equations, interpolation, numerical differentiation, numerical integration, numerical solution of linear systems of equations, approximation by spline functions, numerical solution of differential equations, and the method of least squares. Prerequisites: CSC115 and MAT301. Odd Springs
331. Probability Theory. (3 hours) A study of chance phenomena and probability distributions. Topics include probability laws and elementary combinatorics, random variables, mean and variance, discrete and continuous probability distributions, the Central Limit Theorem, and laws of large numbers. Prerequisite: MAT 225. Even Falls
332. Mathematical Statistics. (3 hours) A study of statistical methods and tests of hypotheses. Topics include estimation of parameters, tests of hypotheses, linear regression, and analysis of variance. Prerequisite: MAT 331. Odd Springs
335. Advanced Geometry. (3 hours) A rigorous but non-axiomatic treatment of advanced geometry on the Euclidean plane, from two or more points of view. Possible viewpoints include synthetic geometry, vector geometry, and geometry using complex numbers. Usually additional topic(s) will be covered, with such topics typically being drawn from axiomatic development of elementary geometry, geometry in higher dimensions, non-Euclidean geometries, and historical studies, especially geometry in non-Western cultures. Prerequisites: MAT 125 and 301. Odd Falls
343. Mathematical Modeling. (3 hours) An introduction to the study of modeling real-world phenomena, with an emphasis on applications to science. Topics include modeling using difference equations and differential equations, simulation, matrix modeling and Markov chains, and dimensional analysis.Prerequisite: MAT 125 and CSC 115. Odd Falls
345. Ordinary Differential Equations. (3 hours) A study of solution methods and applications of differential equations. Topics include first order equations, higher order linear equations, the Laplace transform, and power series techniques. Corequisite: MAT 325. Spring
405. Complex Analysis. (3 hours) An introduction to the study of functions of one complex variable. Topics include the algebra of complex numbers, analytic functions, contour integrals, power series, the Residue Theorem, and conformal mappings. Corequisite: MAT 325. Odd Springs
413. Number Theory and Cryptology. (3 hours) A survey of topics in elementary number theory, with an emphasis on applications to cryptology. Topics include modular arithmetic, the Chinese Remainder Theorem, the Euler phi function, pseudoprimes, and various cyptosystems, including affine substitutions, the Vigenere square, and RSA. Prerequisite: MAT301. Even Springs
415. Abstract Algebra. (3 hours) A theoretical development of basic algebraic structures, with an emphasis on group theory. Topics include cyclic groups, Lagrange's Theorem, quotient groups, and homomorphisms. Rings, integral domains, and fields are introduced. Prerequisites: MAT 225 and 301. Even Falls
431. Real Analysis I. (3 hours) A theoretical development of the elements of calculus. Topics include sequences, continuity, derivatives and integrals of single-variable functions. Prerequisites: MAT 225 and 301. Odd Falls
432. Real Analysis II. (3 hours) A continuation of MAT 431. Topics include integration theory, infinite series, and series and sequences of functions. Prerequisite: MAT 431. Even Springs
440. Independent Study. (1 to 3 hours) As needed
470. Advanced Topics. (.5 to 3 hours) As needed


text:
Talk is cheap in my opinion.
What's more concerning to me is that BC has apparently already spoken to the team regarding the sense or urgency in stepping up and being accountable. Look what that's done.
Club president Bryan Colangelo says the buck stops with him as the team tries to end a five-game losing streak in which they've dipped to 11th in the standings.
At the end of the day, there's a lot of talk about this being about coaching and systems and things like that, said Colangelo, who was en route yesterday to meet his team in Washington for tonight's game against the Wizards. But at the end of the day if you're looking for someone to blame, you can point to me because I'm ultimately the one responsible for putting this group together.Source - Click hereColangelo said he had been previously scheduled to fly to Washington for today's game and wasn't planning to read the riot act, saying he's already addressed the team once this season.


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Photographer John Fielder Appearing December 4th in Avon to Support Land Trust
Experience an awe-inspiring visual extravaganza while supporting local land conservation… and pick up some great holiday gifts too!
Renowned Colorado nature photographer John Fielder will return to Eagle County for a free photography presentation on December 4th at 6:00pm in Avon at The Walking Mountain Science Center. The event is being hosted by the Eagle Valley Land Trust and will showcase photos from John's recently published book Colorado's Great Outdoors: Celebrating 20 Years of Lottery Funded Lands.
We hope you can join us on December 4th for this intimate evening with our friend, John Fielder. John will lead attendees in an inspiring photo presentation set to beautiful music. The show will feature photographs of hundreds of county and city open spaces; wildlife habitat; state parks and wildlife areas; local and regional trails; community parks, ball fields, and playgrounds; and private ranches throughout Colorado's 64 counties. State lottery funds were invested in all of the lands featured in this exciting photo presentation. Several of the lands are right here in Eagle County, and we know you will enjoy John's wonderful photos of our great outdoors.
This fun evening will also feature a book signing with John Fielder. John's classic photo books and popular calendars will be available for purchase. Autographed books and calendars will make great holiday gifts for your friends and family this year! And, 30% of gross proceeds from the sale of books and calendars will be generously donated by John to the Eagle Valley Land Trust for our ongoing conservation work in Eagle County.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), Fielder recently published two new books – a guide book, Guide to Colorado's Great Outdoors: Lottery-Funded Parks, Trails, Wildlife Areas & Open Spaces, and a picture book, Colorado's Great Outdoors: Celebrating 20 Years of Lottery-Funded Lands, depicting many of the places invested in by GOCO with lottery funds.
Admission to this event is FREE. Join your local Land Trust and John Fielder on December 4th at Walking Mountains Science Center in Avon. For more information firstname.lastname@example.com call 970-748-7654.


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Mayor Bob Filner may have resigned in August, but the conversation on sexual harassment in the workplace is only picking up.
That's why two of his accusers, Patti Roscoe and Joyce Gattas, spoke to about 50 professionals at a panel Wednesday, recounting their experiences with the ex-mayor, and also offering advice on how to handle future situations. They were joined by employment attorney Dan Eaton at the Carmel Valley event, hosted by the nonprofit San Diego Employers Association.
Roscoe said she decided to come forward in July when she felt earlier claims weren't being believed.
"We felt that it was going to be pushed aside," said Roscoe, a businesswoman. "We each had had experiences with Filner and really wanted this to come out."
Filner is gone, but other issues in the professional world can still be pervasive.
"As long as there is power in the workplace, there will be abuses of power in the workplace," said Eaton, of downtown firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek. "That includes sexual, racial, the whole gamut of things."
Gattas, dean of the College of Professional studies at San Diego State University, said the silence on Filner's behavior lasted too long.
"This behavior was well known, it was in the air and I began to realize that I was engaging in this collusion," she said. "This was well worth doing and I think the outcome is one that is good for the city right now."
But even with Filner out of office, there remains the issue of inappropriate behavior in the workplace. The women offered advice on how to handle uncomfortable situations at work, such as unwelcome hugs.
"There are social hugs and sexual hugs and men know the difference. And women sure do," Roscoe said. "I think from a woman's standpoint, if you're getting into an uncomfortable situation in a hug, I think you quietly say to that person, 'I'm not really comfortable with this.'"
Gattas offered a suggestion to take the initiative and go for the handshake.
"If women don't want to hug somebody, your hand ought to be out there," she said. "And if a man comes in for a hug, you just keep putting your hand out there."
All three said one of the best things to do is tell a girlfriend about an uncomfortable situation to get feedback and advice. From a personal perspective, provide guidance and resources can be key.
"You really need to talk about this and in this city, unfortunately, or fortunately, now we're talking about a lot," Roscoe said.
From a legal perspective, Eaton said it's vital to tell someone with similar characteristics, such as age and gender. If that person agrees, then a next step would be to go to another supervisor or the human resources department with the complaint.
"If you don't do a reality check, the law will," Eaton said. "You should really do this reality check with someone to say, 'Am I being hypersensitive? Because if you don't do that reality check and it turns out you are being hypersensitive, then you take that ultimate step of suing, you're going to lose."


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Dodgers, UnitedHealthcare beautify playgrounds, encourage children to get active
LOS ANGELES - As part of their support for back to school activities in August, the Los Angeles Dodgers alumni and staff will join nearly 275 UnitedHealthcare employees and Playworks staff Monday, Aug. 25, Tuesday, Aug. 26 and Wednesday, Aug. 27 in "Days of Service and Play" at 11 "Dodgers Community of Schools" locations surrounding Dodger Stadium.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and UnitedHealthcare are continuing their partnership to promote health and wellness and give children a clean, safe place to play at their schools.
The 11 Dodgers Community of Schools locations include Allessandro, Ann, Castelar, Clifford Street, Dorris Place, Elysian Heights, Logan, and Solano elementary schools as well as Irving, King and Nighingale Middle Schools. Volunteers will meet at Dodger Stadium for a kick-off rally and where they will be assigned service projects at each of the schools.
Volunteer activities will vary at each school, but will include recreational play and school beautification. Representatives from Playworks will work with volunteers to bring the power of play to the schools by playing four square, catch and jump rope with the children. The Los Angeles Conservation Corps will lead school-beautification projects, which include cleaning playgrounds and landscaping and restriping play areas.
"Being able to help our youngest fans through the 'Dodgers Community of Schools' is one of the initiatives we're most proud of," said Stan Kasten, president, Los Angeles Dodgers. "We are thrilled to work with UnitedHealthcare on the 'Days of Service and Play' again this year."
The Los Angeles Dodgers' "Community of Schools" is a partnership effort that focuses on student achievement, health and wellness and recreation through educational programs, civic engagement, strategic partnerships and student incentives.
"As a mission-driven organization that's dedicated to helping build healthier communities, we are excited to partner with the Dodgers to ensure children in Los Angeles have the tools to live healthier, more active lives," said Brandon Cuevas, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of California.
This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare's "Do Good. Live Well." employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to prevent hunger and obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or "like" Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.


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Ronald Chilman
Mortgage Broker at Homestart Mortgage in Chicago, IL
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The 2014 edition of the free Miami Made Festival is March 6-9.
The Miami Made Festival is a free annual celebration of theater and dance works in the progress of being created by South Florida writers, actors and artists. This year's events take place at the Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.
Here's the schedule:
- March 6, 7:30 p.m. Shira Arbegel's Appalachian Squall. Multimedia performance/
- March 7, at 7:30 p.m., and March 8, at 3 p.m.: Johnathan Spikes' I am What I am and Not What You Call Me. New play reading.
- March 8, at 7:30 p.m. Stuart Meltzer's Better Than Damn Good. New musical play reading.
- March 9, at 4 p.m.: Dellaventura, Hammad, and Sirios' Two-Merz. New Play reading.
All the performances at the Carnival Studio Theater require free tickets, which are available starting at 10 a.m. the day of the show at the Arsht Center box office, in person only.
The Arsht Center is at 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132.


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Everybody loves a secret. Uncovering a hidden gem makes it all the more special. Trouble is, this one has gone unnoticed--at least by us--for more than three and a half decades. It's the Plastic Fantastic show, hosted in San Diego by the North County Corvette Club (NCoCC).
OK, maybe we're a little late to the party, but we finally made it, after enduring a couple swipes like, "You've never been here before, have you?" and "You've been missing all the fun." Well, that's not exactly true, since we have featured several cool Corvettes from this area, but judging from the standouts we spotted on May 6 at Seaport Village, we need to come back--again and again.
Perhaps our lapse in our editorial diligence has been due to the comparative size of the event, which is somewhat smaller than others we regularly cover, but ultimately it's really more about the quality of the Corvettes. Which is what Plastic Fantastic has in spades, living up to its name. Among the few hundred positioned on some grassy knolls overlooking the San Diego Harbor, we came across everything from '50s fuelies to sharp Sting Rays, from supercharged C5s to dazzling ZR1s.
To make amends, we'll not only highlight some of the heavy hitters we spotted at this year's Plastic Fantastic (some of which we plan to revisit for future feature articles), but also take a brief look back at the history of the show.
Some say it's all in the name, and this title has been fitting right from the get-go. Members of the NCoCC felt that they needed to do something to honor the Corvette, and so a show was planned. The first Plastic Fantastic was held at the Mira Mesa Mall in 1977, when the club was only 5 years old. To everyone's surprise, 85 cars showed up. The event was such a success--for both the attendees and the onsite food vendors, whose supplies were very nearly depleted--that the Mall invited the NCoCC back the following year. And so a tradition began, one that would last nearly two decades.
By 1996 the Plastic Fantastic had outgrown the Mira Mesa Mall, so the NCoCC moved to its current location at the pleasant Seaport Village (adjacent to the Embarcadero Marina Park North). One of the most beautiful venues in all of Southern California, the Village offers a view of San Diego Bay, the Coronado Bridge and Island, San Diego Marina, downtown, and more. The event has become so well known and popular that cars now come from all over the country, not just San Diego county.
Besides trophies awarded in several show categories, the event also includes raffles, vendors for Corvette accessories, and good eats grilled up by the Kiwanis Club of Rancho Bernardo, along with upscale dining at the many Seaport Village restaurants just a short walk away. The whole setup runs as smooth as a well-tuned LS engine, while a DJ spins CDs of classic rock 'n' roll tunes.
Last, but far from least, is the charity aspect. The income generated by the Plastic Fantastic allows the NCoCC to donate thousands of dollars to the USO as well as the Wounded Warrior Olympics, in which veterans from all over the world come to San Diego to compete in sporting events.
As a tribute of sorts to both Vets and Vettes, we posed a couple of classic Corvettes at the base of a statue located near the aircraft carrier Midway. The statue--Seward Johnson's Unconditional Surrender--is based on Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous Life magazine photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. The structure has been the subject of some controversy (along with a number of mimicked poses by tourists for snapshots), yet it still makes a dramatic statement. We'll be revisiting this site and others in an upcoming touring feature, so nobody can say that the San Diego Corvette community is such a big secret anymore.
Show Stats
Total Corvettes
- Approximately 300 Participating Clubs
- Pacific Coast Corvettes
- Millennium Corvettes
- Fast Glass Corvettes
- North Coast Vettes
- OC Vettes
- Corvettes Limited
- Corvette Club of Arizona
- Desert Sands Corvette
- Inland Empire Corvettes
- Southern California Corvette Club
- Corvette Super Sports
- Pomona Valley Corvette Association
- Sun Country Corvette Club
Select Award Recipients
- Best of Show: Vicki Alter
- Sponsor's Choice: Harry Lekites
- Club Participation: Pacific Coast Corvettes (38 cars)
- Long Distance Award: Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Kendrick (1,158 miles)


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In this tutorial, we will examine a challenge that many developers face: how to build a scalable application that performs resource-intensive tasks.
The specific application we will build is a stock market quotes application. Figure 1 shows the the client portion.
Figure 1 - Stock Market Quotes Application client
The functionality of the sample is relatively straightforwardthe user specifies a list of stock symbols, and the application retrieves quotes for these symbols from a financial web service.
However, what makes this sample special is how this functionality is implemented. The symbol for each quote is gathered by one or more worker processes. The client and workers communicate using Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS). By using SQS, we can process more stock quotes by simply adding more workers. SQS also gives us reliability; if a worker crashes, the messages it needs to read will simply just stay in the queue. When the worker recovers, it can pick up where it left off, or another worker can take its place.
We will examine this sample from two perspectives. First, we will see how using SQS yields a great deal of reliability and scalability with a minimum amount of effort. Second, we will see how SQS has been encapsulated into a Microsoft Visual Studio component, which integrates SQS with the rapid application development nature of Visual Studio and facilitates easy re-use.
This sample can be downloaded from http://s3.amazonaws.com/sqs-public-images/StockQuotes.zip
Stock Symbols as a Unit of Work
The best way to visualize how the Stock Quote Example works is by thinking of each stock symbol as a unit of work. We can use our client to add stock symbols, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Adding a stock symbol
For the sake of creating a substantial set of work, we also populate our application with a set of default stock symbols. These symbols are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 - StockQuoteClient.cscode listing
For each symbol we have, the "work" involved is obviously to get a quote for that symbol. The service we are using in our sample is from Yahoo Finance; the code to invoke this service is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 - StockQuote.cs
We could have implemented our sample in a number of different ways. First, if we took a very na�ve approach, we would sequentially gather quotes for each symbol we have. The problem with this approach is that even the highest-performing web service takes a few seconds to return a value. If we were to sequentially process our stock symbols, our client would "hang" for an indeterminate amount of time as it found a quote for each symbol. This is not an ideal behavior for our sample.
Another more sophisticated approach would be to use threads. We could either spawn a new thread for each stock symbol, or use .NET's built-in thread pool. In either case, we would be able to process our symbols with a degree of parallelism. This solves the main problem with our first approach.
However, we are constrained by the resources of a single machine. Even though we are using multiple threads, they all have to share the CPU and network access. Even in the case of multi-threaded and multi-core CPUs, we are still working with a finite amount of resources; this will limit our scalability at some point.
This is where the advantages of our implementation become apparent. Since we are treating each stock symbol as a unit of work, this work can be divided among a number of workers. This gives us the concurrency that the multi-threaded approach gave us.
And, by using Amazon SQS to facilitate the communication between our client and the workers, we can host our workers on separate machines.
This gives us scalability. When there is more work to do (i.e. a long list of stock symbols), we can simply spin up more workers to process this work. Once that work is done, we can shut down these workers.
This is an example of the elastic scalability that SQS enables in an application.
Scalability and performance (via concurrency) often come with a price, which is usually reflected in the complexity of implementation. However, as we will see, our sample has been implemented to take advantage of the componentized, rapid application development nature of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.
Drag and Drop SQS
The Stock Quote Example is actually two samples in one. It is an example of how to use Amazon SQS in an application, but it is also an example of how SQS can be integrated into a development environment like Visual Studio 2008.
The Requestor.cs and Worker.cs files shown in Figure 5 are where the bulk of the interaction with SQS is encapsulated.
Figure 5 - Visual Studio Components
In addition, these two files implement the attributes of the Component class, which allows them to be added to the Visual Studio Toolbox; this is illustrated in Figure 6.
Figure 6 - SQS Components
Because they are part of the Toolbox, these components can be simply dragged and dropped onto any visual designer that Visual Studio offers.
Figure 7 illustrates the Requestor component as part of our stock quote client (StockQuoteClient.cs).
Figure 7 - Requester component on a Windows Form
The attributes you would normally set when using SQS are available as properties in Visual Studio, as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8 - Requestor properties
(Our AWS ID and secret are blacked out in the illustration for privacy reasons. Please use your own Amazon Account information.)
The Queue property specifies the name of the SQS queue that we will use with our workers to communicate. We will examine the other properties later on in this document.
Since we are using workers (which we will examine shortly) to do the actual work of retrieving a stock quote, we just have to send messages to our queue. From the perspective of the client, the only data that we have to supply is the stock symbol; this code is illustrated in Figure 9.
Figure 9 - Sending messages to our queue
Once our messages are sent to the queue, they will be securely stored by Amazon for up to 4 days. This is one of the ways that Amazon SQS enables an application to be more reliable. Since the message is persisted for a long period of time from a computing perspective, there is ample time for a worker to pick up the message and process the work. If there are no workers available, the work simply stays ready to be processed in SQS until one is.
At this point, a logical question to ask would be how the client determines that a stock quote is ready to be displayed. Again, because our requestor was created as a Visual Studio component, we have simply defined an event handler. Figure 10 illustrates the delegate being used from the Properties window.
Figure 10 - Event handler
The code for our event handler is listed in Figure 11; the stock quote is delivered to us as a comma-delimited string that we parse with our StockQuote class.
This event handler could be triggered by any worker that is processing our messages; from our perspective as a client, we do not care where this processed work came from.
Figure 11 - Handling responses
Our Requestor component makes it nearly trivial to add SQS to our applicationwe simply drag and drop it onto our form, enter our Amazon credentials, and start adding work and processing responses.
Figure 12 - Worker
The next step in our examination of the Stock Quote Example will be to see how work is pulled from the queue and processed. There are two places we can see this work. Our workers will do this to get a stock symbol to process. But, our Requestor class does the same thing to process responses
from workers and trigger the response delegate.
Since we have not examined the worker side of our architecture yet, that is where we will go to see how messages are pulled from the queue.
Polling for Work
The Worker aspect of the example (shown in Figure 12) is implemented as a Microsoft Windows Forms application for the purpose of clarity. As a Windows Forms application, we can easily view how it is pulling work from the queue and processing it. In a real application, workers are usually implemented as services.
Figure 13 - StockQuoteWorker.cs
As you might recall from Figure 6, the Worker is a component on our Toolbox as well. However, for our worker example, we have chosen to use it programmatically, rather than put it on our design surface. This decision was made purely to show that you could do both with the control.
The code to initialize our Worker component is listed in Figure 13. As you can see, we have a corresponding delegate in the Worker componentour worker application will be notified when a message has been retrieved from the queue. Also note that StockQueue is the name of the queue we are working withthis is the same value as in our client. Our id and secret are blacked out.
Looking at Figure 8 and Figure 12 you will notice that both our client and worker have a property called PollingMode. As its name would suggest, this property determines how we poll an SQS queue and check for messages.
There are many different ways to poll a resource like a queue.
The simplest way is to sit in a simple loopif there are no messages in our queue, we sleep for a fixed period of time. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it is not optimal when using SQS.
Figure 14 - Amazon SQS Pricing
Figure 14 illustrates Amazon's pricing scheme for SQS as of February 2008. As you can see, you are charged 1 cent per 10, 000 requests. This includes a request to ReceiveMessage, which is the message you use to check for the presence of a message.
Since Amazon charges for each request (granted, it is a fraction of a penny), our straightforward approach to polling on a regular schedule is not optimal. If there are no messages, then it makes sense to reduce the frequency of our polling to reduce our cost.
Figure 15 - Polling modes
Our Worker application helps us illustrate this. If you change the polling modes (see Figure 15), you can see the cost per hour to run the application change (see Figure 16).
Figure 16 - Cost per hour
Again, the net cost we are discussing is a matter of pennies, but it can become a concern for applications that run for a very long time, or applications that use a large number of queues.
A more efficient approach to polling is what we call adaptive polling. Simply put, we will poll more frequently when there are lots of messages, and we will poll less when there are fewer messages.
This algorithm is implemented in the SQSManager.cs file, and best examined starting from the AdaptiveDequeue method listed in Figure 17.
Figure 17 - Adaptive polling
We will examine this method line by line. First, on line 406, we make a call to PollSQS. This method simply tries to receive one message from our SQS queue. Our algorithm really begins when we determine if we were able to read a message or not.
If we received a message, lines 416 and 417 from Figure 18 show that we are setting a counter and a delay value. We will use the delay value later on in the method to pause the current thread of execution. If we were able to read a message, we will not pause very long (i.e. 1 millisecond) because we want to see if there are more messages. With adaptive polling, we want to read messages out the queue as fast as possible. If you look through the source code in SQSManager.cs in more detail, you will see we actually spin up more threads to read messages faster.
Figure 18 - We received a message
Once we have read all of the messages, we will scale down our threads and pace. Figure 19 lists the code that is executed when we are not able to read a message.
Figure 19 - Scaling down
On line 423, we can see that when we do not get a message, we will set our delay back to a reasonable amount. The _receiveDelay variable is set to 500 milliseconds elsewhere in the code. We also increment our emptyReceiveCount variable; this variable helps us track how many times we read from the queue and were not able to get a message back.
Line 426 is where this variable comes into play. There are two clauses in this conditional statement. The first one is true; we have come up empty 20 times or more. The second clause requires a little bit more of an explanation. We use the _messageCount variable in a separate thread. This separate thread sends a request to SQS to determine the number of messages in our queue. This code is listed in Figure 20.
Figure 20 - Determining the number of messages
At first glance, this logic may seem redundant; if we have not been able to read a message 20 times in a row, then shouldn't we be able to assume that the queue is indeed empty? With Amazon SQS, we cannot make this assumption.
In order to provide scalability and reliability, Amazon distributes your queue and messages across its vast datacenters.
This mitigates the risk of a single datacenter outage affecting you. However, the consequence of this type of distribution is that it will take time for your data to replicate. Amazon uses a model of data availability that is called eventual consistency. An in-depth examination of this principle is beyond the scope of this document, but more information can be found on the December 19, 2007, entry in Werner Vogels' weblog on building scalable and robust distributed systems.
What we have to be cognizant about in our code is that when we do not get a message back from a read operation, it might be due to eventual consistency; there are messages in our queue, there just might not be a message in the particular distributed instance of our queue that we tried to read from.
This is why we also check the number of messages. In Figure 20, we are getting that value in line 590. We are encapsulating the details of getting the number of messages from SQS behind our ApproximateNumberOfMessages method. The name of this method is very apt because this is another case where we have to be cognizant of eventual consistency.
Figure 21 - Worker Efficiency Ratio
Sending a request to SQS to get the number of messages is a more accurate way to determine if a queue is empty compared to just trying to read a message from it. However, the number of messages that we get back is an approximation. Amazon will not try to find every distributed instance of our queue and sum up the number of messages. Instead, it will sample a few distributed instances of our queue and return an approximate count back to us.
Looking back at Figure 19, line 426, when both conditions are truewe have had 20 empty reads in a row and the approximate number of messages in our queue is 0we will scale down our polling. We will shut down our message counting thread and fall back to minimal polling.
If and when we read a message from the queue, we will scale things back up again. One metric that can be very valuable for tuning your polling algorithm is the Worker Efficiency Ratio shown in Figure 21. This value is determined by the number of messages received divided by the number of receive operations.
No matter how we choose to poll our queue, one obvious benefit to using SQS in our application is that we are able to de-couple our client and worker. As long as our client and any number of workers have access to the Internet, they can communicate via SQS. It does not matter what hardware environment we choose to execute our application on. However, there are some factors we will examine when making that decision.
Choosing an Execution Environment
One of the most important facts to remember about using the Amazon Web Services in general is that communication within the Amazon environment is extremely fast. Any network traffic between EC2 instances, S3 buckets, SimpleDB, and SQS will be carried out within the Amazon infrastructure and will be highly optimized.
This fact is a key factor in deciding whether to execute an environment within your own infrastructure or within Amazon EC2. In 2008, Amazon added support for Microsoft Windows in EC2. With this support, it is now entirely possible to develop and deploy a distributed application on Windows within EC2.
Windows images are treated just like any other AMI, so you can use the same tools as you would normally.
Once you have started a Windows AMI, you can use Remote Desktop to access it, just like any other Windows machine you are using.
Figure 22 shows Windows AMIs listed in the open-source Elastic Fox tool.
Figure 22 - Windows AMIs listed in ElasticFox
In most cases, the most network latency is experienced when your application is using your network to connect to Amazon Web Services. We can measure this latency with the MeasureNetLatency property on our Requestor component as shown in Figure 23. (Again, our ID and secret are blacked out for privacy.)
Figure 23 - Capturing network latency
When we set this property to true, we are able to gather the amount of time it takes for our client's request to get to Amazon SQS. Figure 24 and Figure 25 show the network latency inside and outside of Amazon.
In Figure 24, our client is executing in an environment outside of Amazon.
Figure 24 - Network latency making call to Amazon
In Figure 25, both the client and workers are executing within the EC2 environment. The values are really just representative since we did not use a completely sanitized external network, but the differences are expected to be significant.
Figure 25 - Network latency inside of Amazon
Besides improved performance, another important side effect of using Amazon EC2 as your execution environment is pricing. Figure 26 shows a snippet of the Amazon pricing documentation. A key passage has been highlighted; data that is transferred between SQS and EC2 is free of charge. This is also true for EC2 to S3 transfers.
Figure 26 - Snippet of Amazon Pricing
It is probably not surprising, or unintentional, that we are gently guiding you toward using Amazon EC2 as your execution environment. Improved network performance and cost savings are two examples of the benefits of doing so. However, the most compelling reason to consider Amazon EC2 as your execution environment is scalability.
Stretching Out Scalability with Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 offers what is practically an unlimited amount of computing power; you can use as many machine instances as you need and pay only for what you use.
The Windows EC2 instance that we used for this example consisted of the following:
- Windows Server 2003 (pre-installed)
- Visual Studio 2008 C# Express
We installed Visual Studio 2008 C# Express on our instance because we did the actual development within EC2 as well. As stated earlier, in our example, we created our worker as a Windows Forms so that we could more easily examine statistics like network latency. In a more realistic application, we would have wrapped our worker logic as a Windows Service; this is a simple matter of using the Project Wizard to create the framework for us (as illustrated in Figure 27).
Figure 27 - New Project Dialog
Once we have our worker configured as a Windows Service, we can package our instance as an AMI itself. By doing this, we can instantiate as many of these custom machine images as we need to process incoming requests. When the amount of requests subsides, we can start to terminate instances.
This is the same type of adaptive processing that we saw earlier, however, we are now doing it at the machine level.
Hopefully what you have seen is how using Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) enables you to add reliability and scalability to your application. And just as importantly, hopefully you have seen that the Requestor and Worker components allow you to add Amazon SQS with a great deal of productivity. Once SQS is part of your infrastructure, you are able to decouple your client and workers.
This decoupling opens up the possibility of using Amazon EC2 as an execution environment, where you can realize significant performance advantages.


text:
Updated Emergency Operations Plan Approved
Fairfax County Office of Public Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
Contact: Merni Fitzgerald, Director of Public Affairs
703-324-3187, TTY 711, Fax 703-324-2010
Media Pager: 703-324-NEWS (6397)
June 18, 2007
Updated Emergency Operations Plan Approved to Enhance Fairfax County's Preparation for Disasters
A comprehensive, updated version of Fairfax County's Emergency Operations Plan was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors today.
- The plan more clearly establishes Fairfax County department roles and responsibilities for response and recovery during disasters and large-scale emergencies.
- The plan brings the county into compliance with new federal emergency management standards that have been introduced in recent years. The National Response Plan and Homeland Security Presidential Directives require all governments to follow the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a consistent framework for response and recovery.
- The plan also recognizes the significant role partner agencies and community organizations perform during emergencies and disasters.
The county's plan was last updated in 2002; by Virginia law, all cities and counties must update plans every five years (though beginning July 1, plans must be updated every four years).
"The updated Emergency Operations Plan builds upon the strengths of our previous plan and it will serve our first responders, our county employees and our community partners well in knowing the chain of command during an emergency," said County Executive Anthony H. Griffin, who also serves as the county's director of emergency management. "We are now even more prepared in light of all hazards that potentially threaten Fairfax County."
For more information about the plan, contact the Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management at 703-324-2362, TTY 711, or visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/oem.
For more news and information, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news.


text:
Caterpillar Drops On Sluggish Dealer Sales
Shares of Caterpillar (CAT) were down 2% at recent check after the company said this morning that global sales from its dealers fell in the last three months.
The world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment said that total world machine orders were down 10%, on the heels of a 9% decline in July and an 8% drop in June.
In the most recent period, only North America showed strength, with orders rising 1%, no small feat as Caterpillar was facing difficult comps. Yet the picture was bleaker looking overseas, with the Asia-Pacific region down 30%, its largest drop since November 2009 and Latin America falling 3%. Europe, Africa and the Middle East were down 12%.
BMO Capital Markets' Joel Tiss maintained his Market Perform rating and $86 price target on the stock following the news, writing that "While weakness in the August month could have been expected given the summer slowdowns in many regions, the report still suggests many end markets remain quite soft and dealers are likely continuing to reduce inventory. We believe shares could give back some of the 5% gain we've seen over the past two weeks. On a positive note, comps will begin getting easier over the next few months as the first dip below the double-digit growth range in 2012 didn't occur until September, suggesting this report could be one of the last months of declines at or above the high-single-digit range."


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Undercounter Glass Washers: The Busy Kitchen's Secret Weapon
This week at ShortOrder, we'd like to spotlight undercounter glass washers in keeping with the "undercounter" theme (see last week's undercounter ice machine post), Although undercounter glass washers may be rather under-celebrated in the world of commercial restaurant equipment, the fact is that they're an extremely useful asset in a kitchen or behind a bar. Read on for ShortOrder's glass washer exposé.
Did you know that in order for dishes to be truly sanitized, the water they're washed in needs to reach at least 140° F? Unfortunately, this scalding temperature can be hard to reach when washing glasses by hand. Additionally, washing glasses one at a time is slow work, which in turn slows down operations in the kitchen and behind the bar, two areas that require a quick and steady pace throughout the day. The advantage of undercounter glass washers is that they both save time and fully clean and sanitize your glasses. Glass washers like the Hobart Glass Washer LXEC-3 wash 34 racks per hour, and provide auto chemical priming, detergent, a rinse aid, and sanitizer pumps.
And undercounter glass washers aren't just efficient; they're good for your employees, too. Bartenders in particular have to wash a large volume of glasses over the course of a day, and doing so manually can be hard on the hands, thanks to the scalding temperature that true sanitization requires, as well as any harsh chemicals in the cleaner. Automatic glass washers eliminate this problem, as they generate the high temperatures and cleaning agents you need.
On the whole, when it comes to undercounter glass washers, it turns out that less is more. Undercounter glass washers tend to be less expensive than their full-size counterparts, they use less water per cycle, and most are designed to fit underneath a standard bar counter, so you won't have to sacrifice space at the expense of efficiency.
Do you use undercounter glass washers in your establishment? Look up ShortOrder on Twitter and Facebook and let us know what you think of your undercounter glass washer.
Tags: bar equipment, commercial restaurant equipment, glass washers, undercounter glass washers


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Monogramming Gifts
Unique to Her
Personalise My Burberry with up to three engraved initials, adorn The Rucksack with embroidered gold lettering, and monogram our leather accessories with embossed coloured foil.
Personal to Him
Personalise our signature the Heritage Trench Coat with embroidered initials. Leather accessories, Mr. Burberry and our cashmere scarves can also be monogrammed.


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21, 2017
Although just a short drive from the mainland across the three-mile causeway, Sanibel Island, Florida treats visitors to an authentic tropical island experience that only feels like a million miles from everyday life. This inviting barrier island, just 12 miles long and five miles wide, is graced by year-round sunshine, balmy breezes and a refreshing, laid-back lifestyle. More than 60% of Sanibel Island is protected wildlife preserve, and its beaches are havens for nesting sea turtles among other unique marine life. Don't be surprised to catch sight of bottle-nose dolphins frolicking right offshore. As night falls, you will be captivated by magenta and orange-hued sunsets, and night skies studded with bright stars.
Along with its pristine beaches, Sanibel Island also showcases colorful shopping, fine dining and popular attractions just waiting to be explored. Visit the iconic Sanibel Island Lighthouse. View the spectacular migrating birds at J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, part of the nation's largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem. Kayak or golf to your heart's content, or stroll along sun swept beaches blanketed by exotic seashells. Because of the island's unusual East/West orientation, Sanibel is also famous for the abundance of beautiful shells and sea life that wash up on its shores.
Sunny Sanibel Island, Florida enjoys nearly perfect weather year-round with an annual average temperature of 75º, and cooler summer evenings. All you need to pack are some casual clothes, a shady hat, and a bathing suit!
2255 West Gulf Drive ~ Sanibel Island,
Florida 33957
Sanibel Island 1-800-276-4753 or
Sanibel Island 1-239-472-3145
Copyright © 2017 Casa Ybel Resort
Hotel Internet Marketing by Cendyn


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High Schools: Outside the Box, Oct. 5
Updated 10:58 pm, Thursday, October 4, 2012
From inside the lines to out, Express-News staff writers Lorne Chan, Blake Hurtik and Terrence Thomas take a look back and a look ahead at the high school sports landscape.
19 Quarters played this season before Judson threw its first touchdown pass. Rayjohn Austin-Ramsey's 15-yard scoring toss to Andre Wilson with 10:37 remaining in the third quarter of the Rockets' 59-0 win last week over Corpus Christi Carroll snapped a streak of 205 minutes, 23 seconds that Judson went without throwing a TD.
97 Consecutive district volleyball matches won by Poth before losing to Hallettsville in five sets on Sept. 28. The streak, which began after a loss to Stockdale on Oct. 29, 2002, was the second-longest in Greater San Antonio history and sixth-longest in state history. Devine won an area-record 112 district matches in a row from 1986-93.
Sports Channel
Jinks named All-American Bowl coach: Steele football coach Mike Jinks was selected to coach the West team in the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which will be held Jan. 5 at the Alamodome.
Jinks has guided Steele to a 67-17 record in seven seasons, including the 2010 Class 5A Division II state championship. The Knights have won 33 of their past 34 games. Jinks also was an assistant coach at the 2011 All-American Bowl.
Barlow is Built Tough: D'Hanis quarterback/defensive back Chance Barlow was named the Class A Built Ford Tough Texas player of the week for his performance in a 35-33 victory over Brackett last week. He passed for 241 yards and four TDs, rushed for 79 yards and a score and recorded 15 tackles.
Area commitments:
• Julie Essick: Boerne Champion soccer — New Mexico Highlands
• Moriah Mack: Reagan girls basketball — New Mexico State
• Kasen Schneider: Churchill boys golf — Sam Houston State
Twitter: @mysahighschools


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Male Swivel 90 D Elbow, Brass, 5/16In, Pk5
ALPHA FITTINGS| Zoro #: G2158563| Mfr #: 87110-05-06
Zoro #: G2158563Mfr. Part #: 87110-05-06
$43.91 /pk
Orders over $50.00 ship free. DetailsStandard ground shipping
Technical Specifications
|Zoro #: G2158563 Mfr #: 87110-05-06
|Temp. Range: 0 Degrees to 160 Degrees F
|Item: Male Swivel Elbow, 90 Degrees
|Max. Pressure: 250 psi
|Hex Size: 43/64"
|Country of Origin (subject to change): Italy
Product Description
Male Swivel 90 Degrees Elbow, Push to Connect, Tube Size 5/16, Pipe Size 3/8 In, Tube Outside Dia. 5/16, Material of Construction Nickel Plated Brass, Length 1.102, Pressure 0-250 PSI, Connection Universal,NPT,BSPP,BSPT, Special Features Universal Thread, BSP/NPT, Thread Size 3/8-18, Temp. Range 0 to 160 Degrees F
Restrictions and Compliance
- This product is not intended for potable water applications (human consumption – drinking and cooking) and has not been designed to be compliant with the "Safe Drinking Water Act" requirements for low lead in potable water applications. This item is for use, only, in non-potable (non-human consumption) water applications.
- ***
- This is a restricted item. It cannot be used in the USA for potable water applications.


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Availability: In stock
Drawing inspiration from simplistic yet functional Shaker craftsmanship, we created the Devon Bed to fit into any interior, from urban to traditional. With a precise, clean edged design, inset panels on the headboard and footboard and tapered legs, you're sure to make a statement with this modern classic. Make it pop with one of our many vivid colors, or go sharp with a stain.
An accent color is included free of charge with the Devon Bed. The accent color is applied to the inset panels on the headboard and footboard.
All Newport Cottages furniture is made to last for years as an heirloom piece. Starting with solid hard woods, we bench make our furniture using old-world techniques for a sturdy, enduring construction. This bed is available in Twin, Full and Queen sizes.Our beds are low profile and we recommend using a bunkie board. For extra mattress support, we offer bunkie boards. An optional trundle bed in is available is Twin or Full sizes. An optional 3/4 length guardrail can be added.
Some assembly is required.
Options for the Devon Bed:
• The Trundle Bed fits neatly under your bed or bunk bed. This option adds an extra bed for company. When not in use, it slides perfectly under the main bed and it can be used as a storage space that doesn't sacrifice any additional room.
• The Standard Guardrail is perfect for the child that's transitioning into a bed or for protecting the restless sleeper. The guardrail spans 3/4 the length of the bed.
• The Bunkie Board is a replacement for a box spring which provides similar support without the extra height. It's a necessity for low-profile beds and most latex or foam mattresses.
Please note that different types of woods may vary in terms of finishes, and each has its own inherent qualities. Finish treatments and the antiquing process will create a unique finish on each piece. Color lots may vary slightly from batch to batch. Antique Silver, Cream and Platinum Silver finishes incur a 10% paint upcharge.
The time between when the order is placed and when the order is shipped is 12 weeks. Once your order ships, please allow 10-15 business days transit time.
For many more custom options, such as glass knobs and appliqués, please email us at email@example.com or call us at 951-549-0590 so we can help provide you with the perfect furniture for your home!
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Devon Desk
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Devon 6 Drawer Dresser
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Warminster West councillor Stephen Welling resigned from the town council today.
With the growth and expansion of his business Mr Welling is being called upon to test and inspect small fairground devices and inflatable play equipment all over the UK.
Mr Welling, who sat as a Conservative, said: "I feel that I am no longer able to serve the constituents of Warminster to the best of my ability as some of my work comes in at short notice and can take me anywhere in the country.
"It is with regret that I tender my resignation as a member of the council."
Mayor Paul Batchelor said "I respect Councillor Welling's reasons for his resignation and fully understand that he is unable to make a full contribution to the council."
Wiltshire Council's electoral services will now publish a notice of vacancy on the May 16 which will invite any ten electors from the electoral area to request an election.
If a request is received an election will take place no later than August 11.
If no such request is received within 14 working days, authority will be given to co-opt a replacement to Mr Welling.


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On Nov. 19-20 in Atlanta, Ga., Washington and Lee School of Law Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson will participate in a Georgia Supreme Court commission family law summit. Georgia's Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law and the Institute for American Values, have drawn together national experts to debate and discuss the future of the institution of marriage.
Prof. Wilson will first discuss the American Law Institute's proposed changes in the conception of parenthood. The sweeping changes in the legal conception of parenthood would confer custody and visitation "rights" on "de facto parents," and strip legal parents of the prerogative to decide who has contact with their child. Also, in a session titled "Reconceiving the Family," Prof. Wilson will explore the trend in family law to reduce marriage to a creature of statute, a set of legal benefits created by the law, and to imagine marriage as just one of many equally valid lifestyles.
A specialist in Family Law and Health Law, Prof. Wilson is the editor of three volumes: Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty: Emerging Conflicts (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008) (with Douglas Laycock and Anthony A. Picarello); Reconceiving the Family: Critical Reflections on the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and the Handbook of Children, Culture & Violence (Sage Publications, 2006) (with Nancy Dowd & Dorothy G. Singer). She has published articles in the Cornell Law Review, the Emory Law Journal, the North Carolina Law Review, and the San Diego Law Review, as well as in numerous peer reviewed journals.
Prof. Wilson received her J.D. and B.A. degrees from the University of Virginia where, at the School of Law, she served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review. Before entering practice, she clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.Email This Page


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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Alabama's Ground and Pound never looked more sound and profound—not to mention BCS title-bound—than it did in the SEC championship game vs. Georgia.
Together, Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon rushed for 334 yards and three touchdowns in that 32-28 victory over the Bulldogs. They were simply unstoppable as the Tide fought back from a 21-10 third-quarter deficit to take a 25-21 lead, one obscenely talented running back or the other carrying the ball on 15 of 16 total snaps on consecutive touchdown drives.
"There was really not a need to do anything else," Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier explained, five weeks later.
Of course, Lacy and Yeldon—Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco calls them the "battery" of the Tide offense—weren't acting alone.
They were running behind an offensive line—talk about obscene talent—that's as celebrated as any wall of blockers the college game has seen in perhaps decades. If this isn't the best line in the country … well, we can stop right there. It is.
"This is an angry, intense group of players who play hard and finish blocks," Diaco said.
Ground and Pound is more than a perfectly fitting nickname. It's the key to Monday night's championship game.
Somehow, the Irish must stand up to it.
And you know what? Maybe, just maybe, they can.
"I think our defense is the most dominant defense in the country," Notre Dame center Braxston Cave said, "and the stats prove that."
Actually, Alabama is No. 1 in the country in both rushing defense and total defense, but, hey, those are just facts. The Irish are tops in scoring defense (10.3 points per game) and have allowed a measly two rushing touchdowns—mighty impressive stuff, all would agree.
In fact, there are many reasons to believe Notre Dame can stand up to the Ground and Pound. One—a huge one—is the attitude of this defense.
"They're good," defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore said, "but we're not intimidated by any means."
We'll get back to that attitude in a bit.
Gallery: Notre Dame and Alabama through the years
Notre Dame's 3-4 front could give the Tide some real trouble. Everybody here is dying to see 340-pound nose guard Louis Nix go at it with two-time All-American center Barrett Jones, because that's where it all starts for both teams. If Jones handles Nix one-on-one, All-American guard Chance Warmack goes unfettered at superstar linebacker Manti Te'o—and that's bad news for Te'o. At least, that's one way it could go.
But as Nix points out, "It's hard to steer me." Indeed, it is.
"I just have to be strong at the point of attack, try to get my hands on a quicker guy," Nix said. "I have to work hard to try to overtake him before he overtakes me."
Notre Dame's ends—the 6-4, 306-pound Lewis-Moore and 6-6, 303-pound Stephon Tuitt—are enormous and extremely good at getting into inside gaps. And between the tackles is where Alabama does the lion's share of its business.
"They're probably the most fundamentally sound defense I've seen on film," Jones said.
Take that, LSU and the rest of the SEC.
And then there's Te'o. Some say he's overrated. Some call his pure athleticism rather ordinary. Frankly, those people are foolish. But there's no question Te'o benefits from his guys up front—and vice-versa.
If the Heisman Trophy runner-up has a target on his chest leading up to the biggest game of his life, just know that he's ready for it.
"Manti has actually practiced harder the last week since the award circuit," Diaco said, "practiced harder than he has all year long. So he himself has raised his game."
Which brings us back to attitude—a driving force for the 2012 Irish more than it is for most teams, even teams that reach the title game.
What's going through Te'o's head these days?
"Just make sure he doesn't cross the (goal) line," he said. "Make sure that nobody crosses the line."
The first time a ball-carrier actually did that against the Irish—in Game 8 at Oklahoma—the defense couldn't believe it.
"We were looking around like, 'What's going on?' " Lewis-Moore said.
It isn't complicated: Brian Kelly and his staff have built a defensive front that most any SEC coach would covet. It starts with the brick wall up front—three extraordinarily physical guys who know how to play the game.
Wall and Ball.
You know how you can tell the Irish are ready for this Ground and Pound machine? They're relishing the matchups. Relishing the impending collisions.
"I'm happy about it," Nix said of going grill-to-grill against Jones. "I can't wait."
It isn't just Nix, Tuitt and Lewis-Moore who can knock Alabama out of gear. It's more than those three and Te'o. The back-line guys are terrific in run support, too.
"They're both great running backs," hard-hitting safety Zeke Motta said. "Probably our best challenge to date."
Wait, best? He makes it sound like a good thing.
"It'll be fun," Motta said.
Fun. Sounds like a good attitude. Sounds like a team with a real chance.
Linemakers: One book skeptical that Alabama-Notre Dame will set wagering record


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Mitsuko Uchida first recorded a cycle of Mozart piano concertos in the 1980's with Jeffrey Tate and the English Chamber Orchestra. At that time, she says, if anyone had told her she'd be playing the complete Mozart Piano Concerto cycle again with the Cleveland Orchestra, she would have laughed in disbelief. Performing with players of this quality was something she could only imagine in her wildest dreams. After spending five years as the orchestra's artist-in-resident, Uchida has had the last laugh. She also earned her first Grammy Award this year for one in a series of live recordings of Mozart's concertos. On her latest disc she continues that series with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing two of Mozart's most popular late piano concertos: No. 20 (K 466) and No. 27 (K 595).
As a child in Japan, Uchida fell in love with Mozart while listening to her father's massive record collection. Her father was a diplomat and at age 12 this budding pianist moved with her family to Vienna, where Mozart lived his last decade. Her relationship with Mozart deepened as she studied at the Vienna Academy and attended performances in Vienna's concert halls and opera house. "In his music, she explains, "every note means so much, as if it has its own life. Every note is almost a human being with its past and its future. Unless you understand it, it is very difficult." Uchida has spent years deepening her understanding of Mozart's music. What she's discovered is that at the core, Mozart is like Shakespeare. He uses the simplest means to elevate the listener into a universal world of absolute joy and sorrow.
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor, K. 466, is the stormier of Mozart's two concertos written in a minor key. Nervous syncopation opens the first movement, setting the stage for its restless atmosphere. This powerful work made an astonishing impression on the young Beethoven. He wrote two cadenzas for this concerto, both of which Mitsuko Uchida plays on this live recording. The cadenza in the first movement sounds simple at the start. The tension and drama climax into a wave of dazzling passagework played effortlessly by Uchida. Mozart gives no tempo indication in the slow Romance. On her 1985 recording, Mitsuko Uchida played this movement slower, and more deliberately. Twenty-five years later with the Cleveland Orchestra, she approaches this lush Romance with a stronger sense of balance and a quicker tempo. This time Uchida and the orchestra are listening more intently to one another because Uchida is also leading the orchestra, "If there is no conductor, but the soloist is actually conducting from the keyboard," she explains, "the orchestra players have to listen more carefully, they are not playing with the eyes, but they are listening with their ears. That means, the collaboration is that much closer. They are listening to my sound," she continues, "I am eyeing every single person in the orchestra." Uchida says having the soloist lead the orchestra can be very beneficial. "The advantage of playing without the conductor with the soloist directly at the keyboard is that my back is to the audience. I am having my entire wind section just in front of my nose, and I see everybody. I can look at every face and they look at you. And that is often enough. You don't need any hands for that." The finale of this concerto is propelled by the piano. One charming feature of this closing movement is an almost awkward tune sung in F Major by the woodwinds.
Mozart's final piano concerto, No. 27 in B Flat Major, was written for what turned out to be his last concert appearance, a benefit concert for the clarinetist Joseph Beer in March, 1791. This work is whimsical and a bit mischievous, especially in the first movement during the long orchestral introduction. This concerto calls for a pared-down orchestra where clarinets, trumpets and timpani are noticeably absent. The flirtatious strings and the fleeting piano passages add to its light-hearted mood. Mozart makes his most profound statement in the introspective Larghetto. Time seems to stand still as Uchida luxuriates her way through the captivating melody. It's a simple statement of sublime beauty.
Mitsuko Uchida believes that no matter what direction life has taken her, or how she has developed as a performer one thing remains the same: her sound. "My sound is like a human voice," she explains, "When I play piano, the piano sounds like my voice. The DNA of my voice does not change, but the voice changes every day." As you enjoy the latest in her series of live Mozart piano concerto recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, you'll hear that Uchida's voice still sparkles. Her eloquence, and passion will still enthrall you.


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Super Secret Crisis War: Cartoon Network Stars Assemble In IDW's Cutest Crossover Yet
When the evil Aku, Vilgax, Mandark and Mojo Jojo join forces in an axis of awfulness, their respective nemeses are going to have to team up to stop them, right?
That's the idea behind IDW's new series Super Secret Crisis War, which brings together Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory; Samurai Jack; The Powerpuff Girls; Ben 10, and Ed, Edd and Eddy to form a super-team of characters with different skills, backgrounds and art styles. The six-issue event, written by Louise Simonson and with art by Derek Charm, starts in June.


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It's an ambitious blogging project, reviewing the 51 weeks of Weekend Herb Blogging that came before this one, but the fantastic headers designed by my uber-talented brother, Rand, have gotten me into the spirit. I quickly discarded the idea of creating individual links to past WHB posts; there are too many good ones, and I'd hate to leave someone out. Instead I've decided to summarize each week's offerings, with a link to the recap for that week so that if you missed it you can go there and find the individual recipe that catches your eye. Happy surfing everyone!
Week 2: Indira Joins the Fun
Week 3: Check Out The Comments
Week 4: The First WHB Recap
Week 5: We Finally Get a Dog
Week 6: More People Join the Fun
It's week six, and each week a few more people are joining. New this week is Ruth from Once Upon a Feast, who talks about basil and rosemary, and Mae from Rice and Noodles who has an amazing garlic plant. Vijay is back with the date palm this week, and Cookiecrumb shows Beansprout in the sage. Still participating are Farmgirl who has escarole with a lone stalk of dill, Indira with several great Indian recipes featuring spinach, and Ilva with her flowering rosemary. As far as my own offering, this week my nephew Jake declares, "It's time for Thyme."
Week 7: It's Meant to be Mint
Who knows how these things get communicated across the continents, but this week Vijay and I both wrote about mint, along with Heather from Heather's Space, a new herb blogger. Also new was Brett from In Praise of Sardines, who wrote about Cardoons. By now people in the northern hemisphere are glad that the rules for weekend herb blogging allow any kind of herb, plant, veggie, or flower, especially Ruth whose herbs were under the snow but managed to send a recipe featuring parsley and a touch of mint. Cookiecrumb posted about the Meyer lemon, Farmgirl wrote about flat parsley, and Ilva picked chives. Four more new bloggers this week! First, Squeezeweasel from Gastronomy Domine, who wrote about flowers in Cambridge, then Paz from the Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz, who talked about marjoram, and Sweetnicks (who had not yet revealed her identity as Cate) who roasted potatoes with herbs. Last but not least, all the way from Australia, Ed of Tomato posts about chives.
Week 8: Happy Thanksgiving!
It's now Thanksgiving weekend and I'm showing off my herbs with Frost. I start off the recap with an apology to new participant Rokh from Tham Jiak because Blogger mangled my original post and when it was fixed, I accidentally left out her great entry about curry leaves. Another new herb blogger this week was Eggy from Greedy Goose who wrote about Laksa, my introduction to this southeast Asian type of soup. (I've been wanting some ever since!) Cookiecrumb has a photo of Beansprout with some rosemary, Heather is doing sage, Paz has a recipe of Zucchini from the Food Network's Lidia, and Squeezeweasel has photos of wild violets. Vijay has some very intersting radish recipes this week, Ilva has a great recipe for Tuscan Kale, and Farmgirl has some tips from growing mint. Over in Australia Ed is growing poppies, and I'd like to be growing herbs, but my herbs are all covered with frost this week.
Week 9: Spotlighting the Locations
I finally realize it might be fun to spotlight the location of the people who participate each week, a tradition that continues to the present day. Two new herb bloggers join in this week, Sury from (Lima) Beans and Delhi Cha(a)t joins from New Delhi to write about ginger, and Sailu's Food in India writes about the Indian Gooseberry. Brett is back writing about the world's most unpopular vegetable (can you guess what it is?) Cookiecrumb is doing chives this week, Mae is writing about lemon thyme, and Paz talks about sage. Heather is doing flowering begonias and Farmgirl is talking about growing endive and escarole. Once again I mention what my very favorite herb is, and end the post with A's for all the herb bloggers, since nine weeks is an entire term of school.
Week 10: Lentils for Kalyn
It's now week ten and winter is here in Utah. Every week the WHB entries are getting more interesting, and this week Rokh writes about Pandan leaves. Cookiecrumb shows us Beansprout with some oregano, and Mrs. D. from Bellytimber joins for the first time and gives us Cuban oregano. Paz has an interesting sounding salad with arugula, and another newcome, Pille from Nami Nami has a great sounding gratin with arugula, feta, and tomatoes. Kitchenmage is also new this week and wows me with her multigrain crackers with rosemary and sage. Ilva has a herb I've never heard of, Nepitella or lesser calamint. Finally, since my herbs are completely under the snow, I'm doing close-ups of lentils that week.
There you have the first ten weeks of Weekend Herb Blogging, with ten more to come each day this week, counting down to the big week 52 event on Sunday. If you're a blogger, don't forget to send me a link for that Special Weekend Herb Blogging event where where you post a great recipe using your very favorite herb. Send it to kalynskitchen AT comcast DOT net. Entries need to be sent by 3:00, Utah time, on Sunday, October 1. Feel free to use one of the daily post headers or the WHB icon if you'd like. Not a blogger? You can leave a comment any time this week telling what your favorite herb is and your vote will be tabulated with the results.
Favorite Herb Tally Update
(Added at 4:30 P.M. since it won't be fun if I'm the only one who knows how the voting is going! These are the links received. I'll try to update a couple of times a day on the latest post.)
shiso 1
basil 2
oregano 1
dill 1
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes
Weekend Herb Blogging