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I will go if I can, and the traits talk is definitely something I'd like to see.
While making tests run faster is also of interest, I suspect I could work out for myself how to do it by reading your module's documentation. Whereas traits, being a conceptual thing, benefit from exposition — understanding the fundamental idea, not just learning about some steps to follow.
Actually, the testing talk is about far more than just Test::Aggregate. I'll be covering a lot of issues regarding databases, different aggregation strategies, refactoring, making tests easier to write (and therefore faster to write) etc.


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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Southeastern discount banner Fred's on Thursday morning reported that the consumer continues to be challenged by economic pressures. "In key markets we continue to see swings in sales [tied to] the payroll cycle," Bruce Efird, Fred's president and CEO, told analysts during a conference call this morning. Efird also reported an increase in government assistance utilization.
As many as 23% to 25% of consumers in those markets where Fred's operates are receiving some form of government assistance, Efird said. "I'ts really hard to separate the effect of gas prices, the inflation that we've seen on core products, in addition to the debt crisis."
Other tell-tale signs that today's customer is spend cautious — Efird reported significant declines across several segments considered as a discretionary cost by many consumers, including apparel, home furnishings and entertainment/electronics.
But not all necessarily is doom and gloom, Efird noted. A decent back-to-school period, currently in season, could serve as a good prognosticator that holiday sales, while not stellar, may be good as well. "I wouldn't say we're very bullish on the back half, [but] we've seen some easing on our customers," which should mean increased discretionary spending, Efird said.
"Back to school has done better than we anticipated, that is somewhat discretionary, [there has been] a lot of the growth in the basic and consumable products," reported Jerry Shore, Fred's EVP, chief administrative officer and CFO.
As a deep discounter, Fred's certainly has been successful communicating its value proposition to its core consumers. Fred's reported net income of $5.1 million, up 3%, representing 14 cents per diluted share, for the second quarter ended July 30. That performance beat out the Capital IQ Consensus by one penny.
Pharmacy also continues to be a key traffic driver for the Southeastern chain — prescriptions filled were up 2% over the quarter. "Pharmacy is a strong differential factor in drawing customers to our stores," Efird said. And while the strong number of new generics has been negatively impacting top-line sales and same-store sales comps, the profitability of pharmacy going forward will be a positive considering the upcoming generic introductions to the blockbuster Lipitor (atorvastatin).
Fred's total sales for second quarter of fiscal 2011 increased 1% to $452.7 million. Comparable-store sales for the quarter decreased 0.4% versus a 2.5% increase for the second quarter last year. Fred's total sales for the first half of fiscal 2011 increased 2% to $937.1 million from $921.1 million for the same period last year. Comparable-store sales for the first half of 2011 increased 0.4% on top of a 2.4% increase for the same period last year.
In third quarter 2011, Fred's expects total sales to increase 2% to 4%. Comparable-store sales are expected to increase 1% to 3% versus an increase of 1.5% in the third quarter last year.
"Looking ahead, with the federal debt crisis behind us for this year, our strategic initiatives well under way and the cost-reduction programs that are now in place, we are confident that we will regain the momentum experienced in the first quarter and expect income growth of 10% to 20% for the final two quarters of 2011," Efird stated.
During the second quarter, Fred's opened two new stores and one pharmacy as part of its 2011 operating plan. One franchise store closed during the quarter. The company also remodeled and refreshed 68 stores with its new Core 5 elements in the quarter, bringing the total stores upgraded to 332 during 2010 and 2011.
Currently, Fred's operates 674 discount general merchandise stores, including 22 franchised Fred's stores, in the southeastern United States.

subset: commoncrawl


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School district to principals: 'Use best judgment' for kids, cold
BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - Wrap those kiddos with another layer the next couple of days.
It's a little brisk outside.
With high temperatures expected to only be in the lower 20s Thursday and Friday, some parents have asked how cold is too cold for schools to allow children to play outside at recess and lunch. | Full Forecast
Dan Hollar, Boise School District spokesman, said Thursday that district officials emailed principals throughout the district today about the cold and urges them to use their best judgment.
Hollar said 20 degrees is used as a baseline to keep students indoors for activities.
The last time the BSD closed down its schools was Dec. 1, 2010 for a snow day.
But it could be worse. In eastern Idaho, several schools had to close for the day after temperatures dipped below zero.
Here's the full email from the BSD:
A reminder regarding cold weather - please use your best judgement as you decide whether to allow your students outdoors for activities/recess. Consider keeping your students inside when the temperatures dictate such a decision (historically the District has used 20-degrees as a baseline). Please take into account age of students, temperature at your site, and wind chill factor in reaching your decision. Thank your for your attention to this important matter.


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ORLANDO, Fla. - An Orlando area mother, duped into giving a fortuneteller more than $100,000 to help lift a curse, has had that small fortune returned.
Priti Mahalanobis was allegedly lured into the ordeal by Peaches Stevens, who advertises under the name of Mrs. Starr.
Stevens told her the curse "would affect us in the areas of love, health and money" and would harm her children, as well, Mahalanobis told Local 6.
Instead, she said, "I got financial devastation and a lot of mental turmoil" after admitting to family she had provided more than $135,000 in cash and jewelry to Stevens, mostly to purchase "tabernacles," small tent-like structures that Stevens said would help lift the curse.
After talking with family, Mahalanobis contacted private investigator Bob Nygaard, who specializes in confidence scams. He helped prepare evidence used by state investigators to charge Stevens with three felony counts involving "scheme to defraud."
The charges were dropped after Stevens repaid Mahalanobis.
"I was very, very fortunate that we were able to receive full restitution," Mahalanobis said. "Usually it never even results in legal action whatsoever. Usually the victims just walk away feeling helpless, feeling humiliated and many times it even breaks up their families."
She is now trying to counsel others who have fallen for similar scams.
Stevens, 30, whose business and home numbers have been disconnected, could not be reached for comment.
Copyright 2012 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Ryan Newman already knew he was out at Stewart-Haas Racing, so reports of the team wooing Kurt Busch doesn't have him questioning the organization he still drives for.
Newman, who joined SHR when Tony Stewart became part owner starting in the 2009 season, still doesn't have a ride for 2014.
MORE: Martin-Stewart deal | Busch to SHR? | Why Kurt Busch | Kyle Larson future
SHR has hired Kevin Harvick for next season. When Newman's pending release was announced last month, Stewart said the organization wasn't ready to start a fourth team for Newman.
"I truly wish we were able to facilitate four teams at this time," Stewart said. "We are just not able to do that."
PHOTOS: Memorable moments from Bristol Motor Speedway | 2013 winners | Danica
But apparently the organization either has landed sponsorship for Kurt Busch or wants the 2004 Cup champion bad enough that it began talking to him about the possibility of racing for the team next year. Neither Busch nor SHR officials denied the reports, and SHR Competition Director Greg Zipadelli said Monday that the organization is open to a fourth team if the right situation comes along.
The 35-year-old Newman, who this year's Brickyard 400 for Stewart-Haas, didn't seem bitter about news that the team might start a fourth team for Busch.
"They already made their announcement — I'm done and out," Newman said Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway. "Whatever they want to do, they can do. It's in their power. They have to budget it out."
So was Newman surprised by recent talk of SHR courting Busch?
"If it didn't surprise me as well as every other person on this planet that has anything to do with motorsports, we'd all be lying to ourselves," Newman said.
Newman, who is 15th in points and still fighting for a Chase wild card, is considered a candidate for a fourth team at Richard Childress Racing. Another possibility is Furniture Row Racing, which could expand to a second car if Newman could bring sponsorship or if Busch leaves.
The Earnhardt Ganassi Racing No. 42 car also is open after Juan Pablo Montoya was told last week that the team would not renew his contract for next season.
"The performance of all three of them has been good — some better than others and some better than others at certain racetracks," Newman said. "It's good that there's good equipment out there but it's also tough because you're competing against good drivers, too."
Just in the last week, the Busch-Stewart-Haas rumors surfaced in the garage at Michigan, just days after EGR told Montoya that he wouldn't return.
As talks heat up, Newman said that he has made progress in landing a new ride.
"I'm a little further along (than last month) but we're still working on it hard," he said. "There's nothing really to talk about. … Everything kind of changed last week with some of the rumors that went around.
"Ultimately, you never know. Anything can change again next week."
Newman said he does not have any deal signed with any sponsor to back him in 2014.
"There's nothing written down yet — that's all I can tell you," Newman said.


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Voice Comm 6585 AMERICAN STARS (6585-WF1290)Item#: 646465 | Model#: 6585-WF1290
- Price:
- $7.99
Free Shipping Today!
- Shipping:
- Temporarily out of stock. Order today and we'll deliver when available. (Details)
6585 AMERICAN STARS Product Details
Manufactured by: Voice Comm
UPC No:
Mfg Part No: 6585-WF1290
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Shipping Weight: 1.2000 pound(s)
Click here for full warranty and support information
- Voice Comm logos are registered trademarks of Voice Comm. All others trademarks and copyrights mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.


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American families are struggling to find affordable health insurance coverage. Rising health care costs are straining family budgets as well as state budgets, forcing employers to drop or scale back health insurance coverage for their workers, increasing the number of uninsured Americans, and impeding access to needed health care services. Over the last eight years, little progress has been made in reducing many of the disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in accessing health care, with lack of insurance coverage constituting a major barrier to reducing those disparities.
Unfortunately, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have allowed the problem to worsen on their watch and made covering the uninsured a low priority. In fact, the health care proposals put forth by the President each year in his budget request, upon close examination, would do little or nothing to make health coverage more affordable and would actually leave many Americans worse off than they are today. The Republican nominee for President, Senator McCain, shares President Bush's misguided vision and promises four more years of the same harmful proposals.
Democrats are committed to containing health care costs, reducing disparities, and securing guaranteed affordable health coverage for all Americans. While we have made a significant down payment towards achieving these ends, Senate Democrats are far from satisfied. All too often, Bush-McCain Republicans have stood in the way of progress and refused to work with Democrats in good faith to address the needs of the nation. The American people are tired of these partisan tactics, and Senate Democrats share their frustration. That is why Democrats will not rest until we have fully addressed the key priorities of our nation. Democrats will continue to lead the way for change that benefits all Americans.
Congress voted overwhelmingly to override President Bush's veto of critical Medicare legislation. Both the House and the Senate approved H.R.6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, by veto-proof majorities. Despite the overwhelming bi-partisan support for this bill, however, President Bush vetoed it. While the President and his Republican allies in Congress fought to protect the health insurance industry, Democrats fought to protect seniors. That is why under Democratic leadership, Congress voted overwhelmingly to override the President's irresponsible veto of this bill, and on July 15, 2008, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act became law (P.L. 110-275). This legislation prevented a 10.6 percent cut in payments to physicians who care for the 44 million American seniors in the Medicare program and the estimated 8.9 million beneficiaries in the military's TRICARE program. Approximately 75 percent of Hispanic Seniors are enrolled in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program.
The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act will also:


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Gamesa says it has sold an 8 MW wind project in France to Impax New Energy Investors II LP, an investment fund managed by London-based Impax Asset Management Ltd., via its portfolio company, Epuron France.
The La Souterraine wind project, located in the Limousin region of France, will be equipped with four Gamesa G97-2.0 MW turbines. The construction of the project, which was developed and will be built by Gamesa, will start by the end of the year.
Gamesa has had a presence in France since 2000. As a wind farm developer, it has since brought 126 MW of capacity online in the country and has a project portfolio of more than 570 MW at varying stages of development. The company also performs operations and maintenance services on turbines totaling 412 MW at 30 wind farms across France.
Impax New Energy Investors II LP has 330 million euros of capital committed to the renewable energy sector and a growing portfolio of wind power projects, including over 200 MW in construction and operation in France, Germany and Poland.


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Discount applied in shopping cart. Items must be marked Sold by Sears to be eligible. Offer valid on regular and sale merchandise sold by Sears. Excludes Clearance, Everyday Great Price, Hot Buys, Items sold by Sears Marketplace, and Timberland PRO. Additional exclusions may apply. Discount applies once per cart. Void if copied or transferred and where prohibited by law. Any other use constitutes fraud. In the event of a return, deal savings may be deducted from your refund.
It's important to have the right shoes for days at the office or brisk runs through the park. Sears carries a wide selection of quality men's shoes and men's boots to provide the perfect mix of comfort and performance for any occasion. Find men's shoes in a wide selection of colors and designs to fit any outfit. Whether you're choosing running shoes or formal shoes, you can find footwear for any occasion.
Durability and dependability in your work shoes is of utmost importance. We carry rugged yet comfortable men's shoes in styles that let you work with minimal strain. Your feet are critical to your work performance so care for them with added cushions to help you stay more comfortable when you're on your feet all day long. Quality men's boots keep your feet dry, while helping to protect them from dropped equipment and impacts.
Stay comfortable in any weather with seasonal shoes for men. Men's boots with warm fleece lining and waterproof exteriors are ideal wintertime foot protection. In warmer months, open sandals protect your soles and offer breathable comfort as you enjoy outdoor activities in the hot summer sun. No matter the event or season, shop Sears for the best in quality men's shoes.


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6 Shelf Pantry Rack
10 0
false pdp {"scheme":"product1_cr"}
false pdp {"scheme":"product2_cr"}
6 Shelf Pantry Rack is rated out of 5 by 392.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Jacksons from Pantry Shelving We love it! It is just what we were looking for and it does not take up a lot of space. We will be buying another one soon. Thank you!
Date published: 2015-10-20
Rated 5 out of 5 by clutterless from great product I purchased my first rack a couple of years ago to fit a small space in my basement. It was exactly what it claimed to be, sturdy and easy to assemble. i was so happy with it that i just purchased a white one to go next to my fridge. Amazing how something so small fits so many things! Thank you for a great product
Date published: 2013-02-25
Rated 5 out of 5 by R9o9x9i9e from Replace closet Shelves We tore out our pantry shelves and replaced them with 4 of these rolling carts. Canned foods, baking supplies, kitchen gizmos, etc are sorted on different rolling carts. When I need something I can roll out the cart with those items and easily see that we have. NO MORE digging in the dark to the back of the shelf to try to see if we have spaghetti sauce or canned spinach. For cooking equipment or supplies, I can easily roll the cart to the place in the kitchen where I am using them and roll them back - a BONUS for the older person who may not be able to carry their kitchen aid from storage to counter to use.
Date published: 2016-01-03
Rated 5 out of 5 by cognac from Great Storage Organizer Perfect for my under stairwell storage; wheels a major plus for mobility
Date published: 2017-04-19
Do the castors have locking mechanisms?
There is usually a push down lever that will lock the castor in place to keep them from rolling.
There were locking mechanisms for two castors. We put them on the front wheels.
Date published: 2017-04-29
Can the shelves be installed upside down so the lip is on the bottom?
Good question. I actually tried it. It works. However, the way the shelve holes are made in a narrow to broader opening that "sit" in the plastic holders and would not really lock in. In other words, the plastic would keep the shelf from sliding down, but the shelf will be a bit wobbly because it wouldn't be properly seated.
Date published: 2017-03-28
Do the shelves come with a shelf liner to prevent things from falling through?
No it doesn't.
Date published: 2017-08-05
Is the shipping package plain with no identifying photos
Yes it is just a plain cardboard box.
Date published: 2017-08-05
Can this be properly assembled without the extended handle?
Does the package come with extra vertical parts that can replace the space the handle would normally occupy? If I have to use the handle it won't fit in my space.
Yes. I forgot to put it on and actually you really don't need it except for looks.
Date published: 2017-08-05
Product:399392-6 Shelf Pantry Rack


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One of the housing sectors that can sometimes slip under the radar is the rental market. The media machine is seemingly forever in a tizzy over house prices. Not a month goes by without a front page update on the latest miniscule rise or fall in house prices, by the likes of Halifax and Nationwide (amongst many others).
Call me an old cynic, but this initiative on the part of lenders is more about maintaining their profile than imparting useful information.
However, more pertinent perhaps, is a new report from housing charity Shelter that shows rents are rising by an average of almost £300 a year in England. With average wages remaining static, many people are left unable to save for a deposit – and are trapped in a cycle of unstable renting.
The "Rent Trap" report also reveals that in 1 in 7 local authorities rents rose by more than £500 in a year and six areas saw equivalent rent rises of more than £1,500 in a year.
As a result, 72% of renters say they are only able to put aside £50 a month or less in savings. 58% report being unable to save anything at all. Campbell Robb, Chief Executive of Shelter, said: "The renters we speak to have never been less hopeful. A relentless stream of rent rises means that most feel they will never move on from a life paying 'dead money' to landlords, in a home they can't make their own".
"And for some, rising rents have more immediate consequences – not enough money to spend on food, fuel or other essentials".
"Unless something changes, the chances of the next generation getting a home to call their own look increasingly bleak. The Government needs to show young people and families exactly how it plans to dismantle the rent trap for good."
I don't see the rental landscape fundamentally changing anytime soon. House prices have held up pretty well throughout the economic malaise. My feeling is prices won't fall too much further – if at all.
Also, with the austerity programme well underway, it's hard to imagine where the money would come from to dramatically alter the current housing environment.
My appraisal of the current state of the housing market can be summed up as "steady as she goes". However, tenants unable to progress into home ownership are in many ways the worst off. In comparison, it's not so bad for home owners who are more concerned about the value of their property, which will likely recover to previous levels in time.
NEIL THWAITES, Westfields Property


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Many things have changed at Bettencourt Dairies since an undercover video showing alleged animal abuse made headlines last August.
The claims at Bettencourt Dairies' Dry Creek Dairy facility near Hansen, Idaho, led to the conviction of a former worker earlier this year and prompted Bettencourt and other dairies around the state to improve employee training and vetting.
Now, thanks to Mireille Chahine, associate professor and extension dairy specialist at the University of Idaho, more education on animal welfare is "on the horizon" for the state's dairy workers, according to a report by the Twin Falls Times-News.
"You have to have good animal care to have good animal production," Chahine said. "Dairy producers understand that."
While classes on feeding, dairy reproduction and milk are already offered at the University of Idaho extension office in Twin Falls, animal welfare classes are scheduled to be added this summer. Employees will also soon see signs around dairies that explain 10 guidelines for animal welfare -- thanks to funding from the Idaho Beef Council and Idaho Dairyman's Association (IDA).
With better education, employees could do more than just avoid mishandling animals. They would also be able to identify abuse and report it. The "See it? Stop it?" initiative hopes to empower workers across both the dairy and pork industry to report improper animal care immediately.
"If you're an employee, you help stop that," says Bob Naerebout, executive director of the IDA. "Don't just watch. "
Click here to read, "Officials: More Education Is Needed in Wake of Undercover Animal Abuse Video."


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Moderators: Timko, Fritz, Solty, Booter, Blake_T, Frank Delicious
Blake_T wrote:but only a handful are capable of really taking a legit run at the record. the pro orc, dx orc, z spectra, dx wraith, etc. show promise in that department, but nothing else really in champ/z/star.
Thatdirtykid wrote:i would geuss surge would be around the wraith, it does seem to have a less harsh fade.
the teerex, i bet thats a big no, quite a bit too low speed stable. the reason pro orcs and others are on the list is that alittle beat in they loose a bit of low speed fade.
how about x avengers ?
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 1 guest


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Is your kid a reluctant learner?
Find out how to get your kid excited about being back at school. more
My six-year-old boy is still in nappies at night; he was toilet trained at three years old. He is a deep sleeper, so waking him up can be hard, and he simply tells me he doesn't wake up when he wees. I've tried minimising drink and food after 6pm, waking him up every two hours; the GP even did a urine test for UTO, which was all clear. My GP said he'll grow out of it. Is there anything else I can do?
Except in unusual circumstances bed wetting at night (termed 'nocturnal enuresis') is typically related to development. It is most likely that your son is presently not creating enough of the relevant hormone that allows the bladder to 'hold on' through the night. Your GP is not concerned, and based on physiological developmental milestones, he will probably be right in most cases.
There are a few things you might try to be aware of, if you are not already:
You can purchase a range of products to assist with this issue. If you feel comfortable with those ideas, there is no evidence that I'm aware of that indicates they could be harmful. But if you don't feel comfortable with them, don't feel pressured into using them. You know your son best. You're the best person to work with him to decide the best way to tackle the issue. But in short, my suggestion is patience, love, and a midnight (or early morning) wake-up to empty his bladder.
Image: Shutterstock
This article was written for Kidspot by Justin Coulson, Ph. D. Justin is a relationships and parenting expert, author and father of five children. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, and at happyfamilies.com.au.
You can find more information that will help you with this situation in Dr Justin's book What Your Child Needs From You: Creating a Connected Family, at my website: www.happyfamilies.com.au.
You can get parenting advice from Justin Coulson by emailing your questions to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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AN ISLAMIC tutor who inappropriately touched a pupil during lessons has been handed a suspended prison sentence.
Suleman Maknojioa, of Audley Range, Blackburn, was found guilty of five counts of sexual activity with a child after a week-long trial.
Preston Crown Court heard how the defendant, 40, rubbed the girl's lower leg, and touched her upper leg on top of her clothing.
He also touched the youngster on her chest area underneath her headscarf which she wore for prayers.
Maknojioa had denied the allegations, saying he only ever touched the girl to show encouragement.
Passing sentence, Judge Michael Byrne said Maknojioa had breached his position of trust.
He told the defendant: "The parents trusted you and left you alone with their children.
"The girl was of a tender age, young, vulnerable and impressionable.
"Secondly, by far and away the most serious aggravating feature, is this conduct represented a most profound breach of trust. There can be no greater recognition of trust than that between a minister of religion and his pupils.
"You breached that trust deliberately and repeatedly over a period of something like eight-and-a-half months."
The court was told by prosecutor David Traynor that the girl's father had gone round to Maknojioa's house with a friend to confront him about the allegations after the victim's brothers, who were also present in the lessons, were overheard discussing them by their mother.
Mr Traynor said the defendant admitted the accusations at the time but that he later claimed any touching was 'justified and appropriate'.
A letter written to the court by the girl described how she had been left with feelings of 'confusion'.
Judge Byrne sentenced Maknojioa to 40 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years.
He must comply with a supervision requirement for two years and a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years.
He will be on the sexual offences register for seven years.
Mr Traynor said: "If this man is left alone with young children, there is a risk of offences similar to these occurring in the future."
Frida Hussain, defending, said her client was no longer working as a teacher and was now claiming benefits for the first time to look after his six children and wife, who speaks no English.
The defendant has also not been able to work because of serious ill health, the court was told.
Miss Hussain said: "This is a man who has not been teaching and he is going to be prohibited from teaching."


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SANTA CLARA — Jim Harbaugh plans to announce his quarterback decision on Wednesday. Until then, the 49ers coach took the diplomatic approach and handed both players the job.
"Alex Smith is our starting quarterback. He has not done anything to lose that job. In fact, he's playing at a very high level," Harbaugh said Monday. "Also Colin Kaepernick, you can't categorize him as a back-up quarterback because he's started games and played very well in those games."
Harbaugh's public wavering aside, other signs point toward Kaepernick making a third consecutive start, on the road this Sunday against the St. Louis Rams.
Kaepernick completed 16 of 25 passes for 231 yards and showed flashes of his running ability in leading a 31-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The second-year player from Nevada threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Frank Gore, scored on a 7-yard touchdown run and earned praise for his handling of the raucous Superdome crowd.
When Harbaugh was asked Monday whether he will eventually have to settle on a guy — Kaepernick or Smith — the coach responded: "Well, they're both our guys."
A week ago, the coach delayed his announcement because Smith was not medically cleared from a concussion. Now, with Smith getting the green-light Saturday, the hold-up might have more to do with handling the situation respectfully inside the locker room.
Smith, an eighth-year veteran, had been enjoying a solid season until sustaining a concussion against the Rams on Nov. 11. Smith still leads the NFL with 70.0 percent completion percentage and he ranks fifth with a 104.1 passer rating. The players ahead of him: Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Robert Griffin III.
"He's a class act all the way — team player," Harbaugh said Monday. "That's why he has been voted captain by our players."
Harbaugh said he wanted to review the game with his coaching staff and then discuss his decision with the players on Tuesday before announcing his QB choice to the media.
But, unlike last week, he will make this ruling public. "And the biggest reason is so our players aren't all pressured into answering, ''Who is it?' Everybody hammering them for the information," Harbaugh said.
The quarterback debate has divided former players, with some arguing that the 49ers should show more loyalty to Smith, who has persevered through every hurdle that has come his way. Kurt Warner, the former Super Bowl quarterback, said on the NFL Network that this is no time to be disrupting team chemistry by rolling the dice on an unproven player.
"Week 12 of a season is not the time that you start playing with 'potential.' Potential is for training camp, preseason. You figure out during that period of time, 'Does he allow us the opportunity to win?'" Warner said. "Alex Smith, what he's done over the last two years for this football team ... needs to be the guy."
But Michael Irvin, on the same network a day later, argued in favor of Kaepernick.
"The 49ers have reached their ceiling with Alex Smith," the former Super Bowl receiver said. "They are at their floor with Colin Kaepernick."
Kaepernick has a 102.1 passer rating, a tick behind Smith. But he averages 9.19 yards per attempt while Smith averages 7.98.
Kaepernick is also an elusive runner whose four rushing touchdowns are already the most by a 49ers QB since Jeff Garcia had seven in 2003.
"This is what he brings that Alex Smith doesn't," former coach Tony Dungy said in picking Kaepernick on NBC's "Football Night in America." "(Kaepernick) throws the ball well from the pocket, but this dimension of the quarterback running is really going to make San Francisco tough."
So which player will trot out to the huddle against the Rams? Which one will be the starting quarterback for these first-place 49ers?
"At the end of the season, you look back on it and say that the job was shared," Harbaugh said. "We've got two good guys."
49ers at Rams ·Sunday: 10 a.m. ·TV/Radio: FOX/KION (1460)
49ers at Rams
·Sunday: 10 a.m.
·TV/Radio: FOX/KION (1460)


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White Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
I've been searching for a go-to white cupcake recipe for a while now. I feel like any baker should have go-to recipes for a few classics. White cake, chocolate cake, brownies, pie crust, chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookies are the ones I would like to have a go-to recipe for.
To have a go-to recipe is a huge deal. It means that no matter what other recipes you see of that type, you're not even interested in trying them because you know that your recipe is awesome. It's the recipe that you learn by heart and don't even need to read because you've made it so many times. It's the recipe that everyone loves and asks for when they taste it. It's a recipe that people request over and over again even though they know you love to try new recipes and your to-bake list is a mile long.
The go-to recipe can make your life easy. But getting to a go-to recipe is not easy. Trying multiple recipes, making tweaks, having restless nights contemplating ingredients are all part of the process. At least that is what the process has been like for me. I've tried multiple white cake recipes and I'm still not completely sold. This one is great. I love the texture of this cake, but I really want a cupcake that will rise up a bit. I like domes on my cupcakes. Maybe I'm asking too much to have a delicate tender cake that also produces a dome on top. This will be my go-to-for-now white cupcake recipe until I can find one that has everything I'm looking for. But don't let me give the wrong impression. These cupcakes are AMAZING! Everyone really enjoyed them.
I got this recipe from Bridget over at The Way the Cookie Crumbles. Have you seen her blog? It's awesome. I love her photographs and her comparison posts! She inspired me to do a sugar cookie comparison post a couple years ago and I took her advice on the outcome of the red velvet cupcake comparison post with great results. So I've been wanting to try her white cake recipe. She combined the favorite parts of a couple recipes to make her own. How cool is that?
Note – this recipe calls for 6 egg whites. Bridget recommended actually separating out the eggs as opposed to using liquid egg whites. I made these the same day I made the lemon bars since those called for 7 egg yolks so it worked out perfectly for me. Another great idea is to make some creme brulee with the yolks!
One Year Ago: Sugar Cookie Bars (a go-to bar recipe for sure!)
Don't forget about my giveaway. Be sure to enter by Midnight this Friday for your chance to win a Make-Ahead Meals Cookbook.
White Cupcakes
These white cupcakes are perfectly tender and moist.
Yield: 24 cupcakes
1 cup + 2 Tbsp whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 batch buttercream
Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.
Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.
Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15-17 minutes. (If baking layer cakes, this recipe will make two 9-inch layers. Bake for 23-25 minutes).
Cool completely prior to frosting.
Recipe from The Way the Cookie Crumbles
20 Responses to "White Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream"
Hm…domes…good for cupcakes, sorta annoying for layer cakes. 🙂
I wonder if you bumped up the baking temperature a bit, if the cupcakes would have a more dramatic rise? Obviously you'd need to reduce the baking time…but you knew that. 😉
It doesn't look like any of the white cakes I've made in cupcake form have had a nicely domed top, but Dorie's Perfect Party Cake was the most rounded. It's a great tasting cake too.
Go-tos are ALWAYS good to find. I'm going to have to try these because I am still on the lookout for a go-to white cake. They look awesome!
These look awesome! I understand your desire for that perfect dome, though.
I'm happy to have one for chocolate cake, but I wish I had more go-tos! I think part of my problem is that I rarely repeat things. I just keep trekking down that endless "to bake" list of mine… Haha
Oh my word! You sound like me talking about "go to" recipes. That is my quest in life…well, in baking anyway. AND white cake is one that I have NOT found a "go to" recipe for and believe me, I have been searching for years. Literally. I also came across Bridgette's blog where she did the white cake comparisons and I forget which one I chose to make, but I did not care for the results at all. Sigh. I was disappointed because I was certain that I would no longer have to search. I'm still at it. I also agree with you on the dome part. I definitely want my cupcakes to have a dome on them and if they don't, I consider them a failure – no matter how good they taste. I'm kind of obsessed with the whole doming aspect.
Well, it looks like you have possibly found your "go to" white cake recipe. I guess I will keep searching. Your look amazing. Seriously – I feel like reaching through my computer screen and eating that cupcake that you have cut in half. Yummy!
Good post! Thanks for sharing.
These are beautiful! I also like domed cupcakes, but it never works out that way.
This recipe is my go-to for white cake, too!! I'm so happy to see someone else post about it.
I love the crumb on those!
You might try starting your cupcakes at about 25 degrees more than usual, then when they just start to doom, reduce the temp back down. This has worked for me when I have had a flat top type batter.
I have always had a similar problem so I thought i would do some searching and came upon this comment…
Give it a try and let us know if it works!
i found it, this is my go to white cupcake recipe. even tho they dont rise like i would like i have been searching and searching for months for a white base cupcake. i took this recipe and made from it a chai cupcake with cardamom whipped cream frosting. it was amazing!!!! now am trying a peaches and cream cupcake, am a little concerned, it was very wet. we will see may need to cut some of the milk. thanks!!!!!!
i found it, this is my go to white cupcake recipe. even tho they dont rise like i would like i have been searching and searching for months for a white base cupcake. i took this recipe and made from it a chai cupcake with cardamom whipped cream frosting. it was amazing!!!! now am trying a peaches and cream cupcake, am a little concerned, it was very wet. we will see may need to cut some of the milk. thanks!!!!!!
Is this beaten or unbeaten egg whites? Thanks!
where is the recipe for the buttercream?
Hello. I found your site off pinterest in a continuing search for the perfect white cake. I have possibly a very strange question, and i'm hoping you can help guide me here. I'm doing a birthday cake for my husband and my daughter, and I'm making it a flag inside (red and white layers w/ a blue center circle). my husband loves red velvet, so i'm hoping to do that for the red layers, but i'm having a hard time figuring out the perfect mix of flavors to do the white layers? would this recipe mix well w/ red velvet?
My first cake made from scratch and this recipe made it a success. Super happy with the results. Thank you!
Hi! I found this recipe whilst searching for one to make a purple ombre layer cake for my best friend's birthday. However, I am from the UK and whilst having US measuring cups, I don't really know what cake flour is? I'm sorry if this sounds ridiculous but we don't have it over here! Can I use Plain Flour instead as the recipe includes a raising agent? And is it the cake flour that gives the cake its white colour? Please help! Kindest regards, Naomi x
Hi, I'm baking a bday cake for my sis and I'm attempting to make the purple ombré cake too. Will be using the white cake recipe. Just wondering
1. Can I still use the same 24 cupcakes quantity to make 3 layers of 6″ round cakes?
2. Would the cake be still moist if I bake the cake 1 day ahead?
Thank u so much!


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Hires and promotions, Feb. 20
Updated 8:31 pm, Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Zelle Hofmann elected Michael Christian as a partner. Christian is a commercial litigator with a practice that includes antitrust, employment and intellectual property litigation.
The Buckelew Programs board of directors appointed Steve Eckert the organization's new executive director. For the past eight years, Eckert served as executive director of the East Bay Agency for Children.
Hanson Bridgett LLP promoted Anne Hydorn to a partner in the employee benefits section, Annette Mathai-Jackson to a partner in the real estate section and Steven Miller to a partner in the public agency section. The firm also promoted Christine Hiler to senior counsel in the insurance recovery section.
- Scottie Nell Hughes: Rape Allegation Got Me Kicked Off Fox NewsFortuneTime
- FOX Business Report - 9/15Fox7
- Hanson Robotics Close to Making 'Truly Alive' Artificial Intelligence RobotRuptlyTV
- Both Parties Begin to Explore Legislative Action Against Facebook And Other Tech GiantsBuzz60
- The Evolution of the Happy MealFortuneTime
- Here's What Your iPhone or Android Says About YouFortuneTime
- CCleaner Malware Hack: What to Know and How to Protect YourselfTMTime
- Kevin Hart Has Released a Family-Friendly Mobile GameFortuneTime
- Emerson Electric CEO: Young Leaders Don't Like Taking RisksFortuneTime
- Flu Season Is Almost Here, So Prepare Your WalletsFortuneTime
Duane Morris LLP named special counsel Meagen Leary and Laurie van Löben Sels to partnership. Leary practices in creditors' rights, bankruptcy and real estate law and van Löben Sels practices in intellectual property law. The firm also opened an office in Palo Alto with the addition of litigator Karineh Khachatourian, who will serve as managing partner of the new office. Khachatourian joins the firm from K&L Gates LLP.
Vocera Communications Inc. appointed Dr. Bridget Duffy chief medical officer. Duffy was previously founder and CEO of ExperiaHealth.
The global law firm Jones Day named Steve Smith a partner in the San Francisco office, where he will be part of the firm's global disputes practice. Smith was previously partner and chair of the international arbitration practice at O'Melveny & Myers.
Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Kim Colwell, principal of Meyers Nave, to the Alameda County Superior Court. Judge Colwell was the head of the litigation practice group at Meyers Nave and a litigator in the state of California.
Skanska USA hired seven team members. Adam Ryssdal and Jorge Morales are project managers and Christopher Bodniak is a senior project manager for a major bio-pharma client. Erick Lolin joins Skanska as a project engineer for the same bio-pharma client in the Bay Area. Julie Fang is a project accountant for the Palo Alto Medical Center project in San Carlos. Neal Wickersham joins the Regional Medical Center of San Jose team as a superintendent. Heather Strand joins the administrative team as a receptionist in one of Skanska's field offices.
Kimberly Gomes is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Movers and Shakers runs Wednesdays and Sundays. Send submissions to firstname.lastname@example.com. Color photos should be at least 300 dpi. Search the archive at www.sfgate.com/columns/moversandshakers.


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found a new home!
Plenty of my friends are looking
for one too. Find a pet to adopt.
I am already neutered, purebred, up to date with shots, and not good with cats.
Chad, a Oak Ridge Greyhound dog was adopted! Here's how you can benefit by looking at adoption as an option to buying a Greyhound for sale in Oak Ridge, or seeking a Greyhound dog from a breeder in Oak Ridge.


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HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE -- A crowd of more than two dozen were on hand to watch the host Middletown Mustangs take down the Cloverdale Eagles 3-2 in a hard-fought varsity tennis matchup Friday.
The contest came down to a tense three-set No. 1 doubles match, which Middletown's Ariana Diaz and Chris King took 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
"They just dug deep and won it for us," Mustangs coach Eric Soderstrom said of the Diaz-King duo. "The crowds were all into it. It was just incredible tennis."
Cloverdale started the day out strongly, claiming the first two singles matches. Eagle Omar Ruiz beat Jeremy Turner in No. 1 singles, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, and Aidan Reynolds defeated Mustang Nika Gibbs in No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-2.
Middletown's No. 3 singles player, Maddie Kucer, earned a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Mustangs Christian Nikolov and Trevor Smith controlled the No. 2 doubles matchup, 6-0, 6-0.
"I'm really happy with the progress, and it's a testament to how deep our lineup is," Soderstrom added.
Middletown, off next week for spring break, puts its 3-1 league record to the test April 9 at Clear Lake High.
An exhibition friendly match Friday saw Middletown's Robert Amante and Jonathan Wilson beat Ruiz and Hannah Pope 8-4 in a pro set.


text: Founded in Germany by Bruno Held in 1923, the Held Glove Company has a history about as long as any in the motorcycle industry. The company is still run by the Held family, and although the stitching and some of the manufacturing is sourced worldwide, the design, raw material sourcing and final inspection is still done in the Held factory in Burberg, Germany. The Held brand has a reputation for quality and many consider Held motorcycle gloves to be the best in the world.


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This content is reviewed regularly and is updated when new and relevant evidence is made available. This information is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with questions regarding a medical condition.
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Glucose is a type of sugar. It comes from food, and is also created in the liver. Glucose travels through the body in the blood. It moves from the blood to cells with the...
Anemia is a low level of healthy red blood cells (RBC). RBCs carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Iron is needed to build healthy RBCs. Lower RBC counts m...
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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Cancer Genetics
Long Term Effects of MRI's
Over the past two years I have had eight MRI`s, five of the eight MRI`s were just within the past week. The five MRI`s were mainly on my head(brain, arteries in head and neck, and inner ears). For the five MRI`s I spent a total of four hours(spread across 4 days) in a .3T MRI machine. I know this MRI uses a .3T magnetic field in conjunction with a strong RF field. With a SAR of 3-4W/Kg, is it correct to assume I was exposed to >320W of continuous RF (1-100Mhz) energy (assuming I weigh ~80kG)? I am very concerned that I am now at a higher risk for a brain tumor or some type of lymphoma which I always hear associated with strong electric fields. I have been trying to determine how many other folks have had greater then 8 MRI`s and how they are doing several years down the road? Can you help answer these questions? It`s amazing to me that MRI`s have been used for more then 20 years and no major studies (that I can find) have been done on the long term effect (of short term exposure)of MRI`s.
Thank you for visiting NetWellness. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this query is out of my area of expertise. For a more complete response to your questions, you should consult with a radiologist or imaging specialist. However, I would say the evidence for the association between cancer and EMF and RF exposures is pretty weak. It will be a while before that question is answered definitively.
J Mac Crawford, PhD, RN
Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
College of Public Health
The Ohio State University


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What's a Bachelors Degree Worth?
Academic Year 2008-2009
Credit: AIP Statistical Research Center, What's a Physics Bachelor's Degree Worth?
This graph shows typical salaries offered by campus recruiters to graduating bachelors, sorted by field of degree. Typical salaries are in the middle 50%, i.e. between the 25th and 75th percentiles.
What's a Bachelor's Degree Worth?


text:
Coat Tails
Get pretty, polished toes in four simple steps —no appointment necessary
"From reverse French nails at Prabal Gurung to neon brights at Tracy Reese, eye-catching polish is this summer's best accessory," says celebrity nail guru Jin Soon Choi, who lacquers the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Anne Hathaway. While a relaxing beach getaway can instantly deliver on the promise of a golden glow and tousled waves, summer-ready feet require a little more effort. Here, Choi's step-by-step guide breaks it down.
After removing chipped polish, trim nails straight across with steel clippers and smooth uneven edges with a fine-grit emery board or metal file. Opt for a slightly rounded shape to prevent painful ingrown nails, advises Choi. Then, lightly buff out ridges and any discoloration on the nail plate with the coarse side of a four-way buffing block.
MC TIP: Constantly sporting dark polishes can turn nails a yellowish hue. To lift really stubborn stains, try using teeth-whitening strips or bleaching gels on nails for 20 minutes.
What I Love About Me: Scottsdale, AZ


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Hey all,
The Colorado State Championships have returned to the Western Slope of Colorado for the 2011 Season. We were the hosts of the 2008 CO State Championships which was won by Dave Feldberg shooting an even Par, fighting off Cale Leviska, Joe Rovere, Pat Blazek and Mitch Sonderfan to name a few. On the woman's side, the awesome Valerie Jenkins took the title fighting off Melody King and company.
We are looking for sponsors for this seasons event. Please PM me if you are interested, can help out and we'll talk details.
Also look for registration to be coming online mid-summer 2011. Fall Disc Golf on the Western Slope cannot be beat.


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Here's some of what's in plan for the event. Remember that you can ask as many questions as you wish to our team of experts about any of our sessions.
Day 1:
- IBM technical experts will kick off the event on day 1 with a session on the IBM development and test cloud and you'll see the cloud in action in a live demo. Our experts will discuss use cases and scenarios that will help you as you develop and test in the cloud.
- Next we'll discuss a roadmap on how you and IBM can move your application to pattern-based middleware and why infrastructure-as-a-service alone is not enough to reduce implementation challenges when making the move to software-as-a-service.
- Then you will learn how IBM's new Cast Iron Cloud Integration Platform has helped hundreds of customers just like you connect their cloud and on-premise applications in just days with its 'configuration, not coding' approach. You will see an engaging live ERP to cloud CRM demo.
- The final day 1 session will demonstrate how to efficiently package middleware and/or applications so that they can be easily deployed into dynamic "cloudified" IT infrastructure. Techniques addressed in this session will include Anatomy of an Open Virtual Appliance, OVA repository and lifecycle, single and multi-image OVAs, best practices and examples of OVF.
That's not all folks, remember we have a full set of sessions on the 2nd day to. Remember, you'll have to register separately for day 2.
Day 2
- We'll start the day off showing you how solutions such as eXtreme Scale can scale the database layer. And you'll learn how eXtreme Scale and XC10 help solution-wide HTTP session management, and the WebSphere Application Server dynamic cache service for page fragments.
- Ever wondered why iSeries may be an ideal platform for cloud computing? The next session will show you how iSeries has been architected for applications that can be delivered in a hosted or SaaS environment, drilling down into the capabilities that make IBM iSeries well suited for SaaS.
- I'm sure you will not want to leave before you hear best practices for designing databases for multitenancy and resiliency which is the topic of the next session. Learn about use cases of AWS and DB2 instances, database schemas as well as a demonstration of setting up HADR in the cloud.
- We'll wrap up with a final session examining some technical considerations associated with building a secure application in a cloud environment and then discuss how they can be addressed with IBM products including DataPower, TFIM, TSIEM and TSPM.
We are giving you a choice. Choose the 2-day event best suited to you depending on where you are in the world. Both events will have very similar sessions. Register for the event that is best timed for North American (October 12-13) or European (October 26-27) time zones.
Visit the IBM Cloud for developers group to view the agenda and session descriptions, or register here.
We are looking forward to learning with you so join us this month to get a little smarter.


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The most popular liquid plant nutrients now available in convenient kits for lush plant growth. Fundamentals Kit includes Flourish, Flourish Iron, and Flourish Excel. Enhancer Kit includes Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorus, and Flourish Potassium. 100 ml each.
Please click on "More Information" for recommended dosage and guaranteed analysis.
| Flourish Fundamentals Kit
Flourish Iron
*1.0% Soluble Iron (Fe)
Flourish Excel
Flourish Enhancer Kit
Flourish Nitrogen
Expert: The beginner dose raises nitrogen by the same degree that 1 mg/L nitrate would. This dose is sufficient to provide approximately 4 g of growth (dry) or about 20 g (hydrated) over a 1 month period (assuming all other necessary nutrients are provided). For increased growth, use proportionately more. To target a specific nitrogen increase, dose according to the following formula: 0.25vn=m, where v= volume of tank in gallons*, n=desired nitrogen increase (if using a "nitrate equivalent" value for "n" then use a factor of 0.05 instead of 0.25 in the formula) and m=volume of product to use in mL. For example, to raise 20 gallons* by 0.20 mg/L nitrogen, you would use: 0.25*20*0.20=1 mL.
Because one-half of the nitrogen in Flourish Nitrogen™ is from nitrate you can get a reasonable estimate of nitrogen levels by doubling a nitrate reading.
*1.5% Soluble Nitrogen
Flourish Phosphorous
Expert: The beginner dose raises phosphorous by 0.05 mg/L (0.15 mg/L phosphate). The ideal phosphate level will vary, but generally ranges from 0.15-1.0 mg/L. Use Seachem's MultiTest: PhosphateTM test kit (#901377) to monitor phosphate levels. To target a specific phosphate increase, dose according to the following formula: 0.8vp=m, where v= volume of tank in gallons*, p=desired phosphate increase and m=volume of product to use in mL. For example to raise 20 gallons* to 0.1 mg/L phosphate you would use: 0.8*20*0.1=1.6 mL.
Derived from: Potassium Phosphate
Flourish Potassium
Derived from: Potassium Sulfate
Elemental potassium is present at a concentration of 50,000 ppm (e.g 5%). Archaic fertilizer laws require us to list potassium in terms of equivalence to a material that is not present (K2O) rather than the more scientifically sound method of simple elemental equivalence.


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I know many do not read this forum, but I have noticed a growing trend of user signatures growing larger and larger.
I understand I can turn signatures off, but I do not mind some signatures, and truthfully, some even make me laugh. However, when a signature takes of a quarter of the page, that just seems excessive, especially when it has a picture, lots of text, then another picture.


text:
Wild is My Middle Name Tank Top
Product Color:
Product information
The Tank Top Wild is My Middle Name is the no-sleeve version of the popular favorite t-shape, ladies style. Perfect for use in sports where you are bound to sweat and need wide range of movement as well as on hot and sunny days, to avoid those tan-lines across your biceps.
Put Wild is My Middle Name on the finest combed jersey which feels soothing against your skin. Wild Tank Top is available in 10 different color options. Heather Grey: 80% Peruvian Cotton/20% Polyester. Remaining Colors: 100% Cotton.
Sku: TT1DG0000003930808080780YGVR00000


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A STORE that was once home to a wedding dress business is now available to rent in Winchester.
Formerly Ivory Boutique, the Chesil Street shop has been advertised to let by property agents Goadsby.
Allan Pickering, commercial surveyor, said: "We are delighted to bring to market this exceptionally well appointed unit. Winchester is a very popular location and this property presents a unique opportunity for the ingoing tenant to create unique premises with a very good road frontage.
"The unit extends to 1,047sq ft and benefits from three parking spaces, available on a new lease direct from the landlord.''


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Rosenthal nearing spring debut after live BP
JUPITER, Fla. -- Minutes after throwing 15 pitches in live batting practice on Wednesday, closer Trevor Rosenthal said he anticipates making his Grapefruit League debut by the end of the weekend.
Rosenthal was recently slowed by a groin strain but has not had any recurring issues since stepping back onto the mound on Monday. He threw a side session then before facing three batters in this latest test. All went smoothly, and Rosenthal finished the exercise with additional conditioning work and fielding practice.
"Everything felt normal," he said. "I feel strong. I'm excited. My schedule is normal now."
Rosenthal is in some uncharted territory as this marks the first time in his career that he has come into Spring Training knowing he'll pitch out of the bullpen. The 23-year-old right-hander threw 13 1/3 innings last spring, though five of those came when he was still a part of the starters' competition.
Rosenthal said that after taking into consideration his program from last spring and advice from guest instructor Jason Isringhausen, he would like to make "at least six or seven" game appearances this month. Last year, when the spring slate of games was longer and Rosenthal had no injury setback, he pitched in 10 games. None was on back-to-back days.
"Looking back at last year, I felt like that schedule was pretty good," Rosenthal said. "I feel pretty much close to game ready. I don't think we'll be too worried about back-to-back days, at least immediately. Hopefully, I'll have the same amount of opportunities to pitch as last year."
Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, By Gosh, It's Langosch, and follow her on Twitter @LangoschMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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The Amazon DynamoDB support provided in the AWS SDK for .NET can be divided into three layers:
- Base API
- Functionality found under the namespaces Amazon.DynamoDB and Amazon.DynamoDB.Model. This is the API most closely related to the service model, with little overhead or helper functionality.
- Document Model
- Functionality found under the namespace Amazon.DynamoDB.DocumentModel. This is an API based around the Table and Document classes. The Document class represents an arbitrary mapping of attributes to values.
- Data Model (object persistence layer)
- Functionality found under the namespace Amazon.DynamoDB.DataModel. This API provides a way to markup .NET classes for easy marshalling and unmarshalling of data. The functionality in this namespace removes much of the complexity of using Amazon DynamoDB.
Amazon DynamoDB Object Persistence Framework
The object persistence functionality in the AWS SDK for .NET enables you to easily map .NET classes to Amazon DynamoDB items. By using your own classes to store and retrieve Amazon DynamoDB data, you can use Amazon DynamoDB without worrying about data conversion or developing middle-layer solutions that interface with the Amazon DynamoDB service.
The example in this article requires that you have AWS credentials. If you haven't already signed up for Amazon Web Services (AWS), you will need to do that first in order to receive AWS credentials. You can sign up for AWS here. After you have signed up, you can retrieve your credentials at this page.
In this article, we design a simple data model representing movies and actors. These are stored in two different Amazon DynamoDB tables: Movies and Actors.
To start, let's first model the .NET data types that represent this data on the client:
public class Movie { public string Title { get; set; } public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; } public List<string> Genres { get; set; } public List<string> ActorNames { get; set; } public Movie(string title, DateTime releaseDate) { Title = title; ReleaseDate = releaseDate; } } public class Actor { public string Name { get; set; } public string Biography { get; set; } public DateTime BirthDate { get; set; } public float HeightInMeters { get; set; } public TimeSpan Age { get { return DateTime.Now - BirthDate; } } public string Comment { get; set; } public Actor(string name) { Name = name; } }
Movie and Actor are their own classes. The Movie class does not reference Actor objects. Instead, it only lists actor names.
Attribute Markup
To begin using the object persistence functionality in the AWS SDK for .NET, a class must be annotated with (or must inherit) at least the following attributes: DynamoDBTable and DynamoDBHashKey. The class might need to have the DynamoDBRangeKey attribute applied as well. With the exception of the DynamoDBTable attribute, which is applied to a class, all attributes are applied to fields or properties. These members must be public and must support both read and write operations.
Primary Key
In Amazon DynamoDB, a primary key can have one or two components. The first component is called the Hash Key. The second - optional - component is called the Range Key. Whether to use one or two components depends on how the data is structured and how you expect to interact with it.
If your data has a single attribute, the value of which can uniquely identify each item, and one item is not related to another item, you can use just the Hash Key. In our example, we are going to assume that actors have distinct names, and thus this name can be our single unique identifier - or Hash Key - for the Actors table. If items in your data set are related to each other in some way, the Hash Key can be an attribute that links related data together, while the Range Key uniquely identifies a particular item in that subset. In our example, we expect multiple movies to share the same name (for instance, there are at least 8 movies named "Titanic"), but to have been released at different times. So the Movies table will use the movie name as the Hash Key and the movie release date as the Range Key.
A different example involving Hash and Range Keys would be one for forum posts: one table would contain Questions; another would contain Replies. The Questions table would have only a Hash Key. The Replies table would have both a Hash Key and a Range Key: the Hash Key is the question, and the Range Key is the time of the response. This way we can easily query all replies to a question and retrieve chronological results.
Required attributes
- DynamoDBTable
- This attribute designates the target Table and must be applied to a class. This is the table that will hold our data items. All data operations (save, load, query, etc.) will be run against this table.
- We must define this attribute on the Actor and Movie classes. Actor objects are going to be stored in the Actors table, while the Movie objects will go into the Movies table.
[DynamoDBTable("Movies")] public class Movie {...}
- DynamoDBHashKey
- This attribute marks the Hash Key, that is, the hash component of the primary key.
- On the Movie class, we're going to place it on the Title property. For the Actor class, it will be placed on the Name property.
[DynamoDBHashKey] public string Title { get; set; }
- DynamoDBRangeKey
- This attribute marks the Range Key, that is, the range component of the primary key. If the target table defines only a hash primary key, then this attribute should not be present.
- On the Movie class, this attribute will be placed on the ReleaseDate property. We're not going to add this attribute to the Actor class because the Actors table does not have a Range Key component.
[DynamoDBRangeKey] public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }
Optional Attributes
Now that we've defined where our data should be stored and what the primary key is on each class, we can customize our data a bit more.
- DynamoDBIgnore
Some properties that we have in our class definitions are there for ease of use,
but don't really need to be stored in Amazon DynamoDB. By default, all public, read-write
properties and fields are stored in Amazon DynamoDB. We can markup those
fields and properties that should be ignored.
- This attribute, DynamoDBIgnore, forces the member to be ignored. The data in the target member will not be stored to DynamoDB, and will not be set upon item retrieval.
- On the Actor class, we have a property called to Comment. This is a field that we can use client-side, but don't want to store it. Thus, we apply the DynamoDBIgnore attribute to it.
[DynamoDBIgnore] public string Comment { ... }
- DynamoDBProperty
- We might prefer to store some properties under names that are different than those used in our class definition. For instance, a name that is helpful for a .NET developer may be too verbose to store in Amazon DynamoDB. Or it may not match what a different client/SDK is expecting. We can rename these properties without altering how the client sees them.
- By default, attribute data is stored in DynamoDB under an attribute name matching the name of the member (field or property) that is defined on the client-side type. This attribute, DynamoDBProperty, allows a user to specify an alternate attribute name, which is the name that will be used in the target table.
[DynamoDBProperty(AttributeName="Bio")] public string Biography { get; set; } [DynamoDBProperty(AttributeName="Height")] public float HeightInMeters { get; set; }
Now that we've prepared our data to be stored in Amazon DynamoDB, let's talk about how to actually handle the data.
All operations using the object persistence framework are managed using the DynamoDBContext
class. This class exposes methods to Save, Load, Delete and Query/Scan items.
A DynamoDBContext object needs to be constructed with an AmazonDynamoDB client. All data operations are then executed against the provided client. The DynamoDBContext object is thread-safe, so it is a good idea to construct it once per application and reuse it.
The sample below illustrates the construction of an AmazonDynamoDB client and a DynamoDBContext. Note that this approach retrieves both Access and Secret Key values from ConfigurationManager.AppSettings. The values must be stored under "AWSAccessKey" and "AWSSecretKey", respectively.
AmazonDynamoDBClient client = new AmazonDynamoDBClient(); DynamoDBContext context = new DynamoDBContext(client);
CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
We have almost reached the point where we can store and retrieve our data in Amazon DynamoDB.
Before the next step, make sure that the tables you will be working with are already
The object persistence layer does not attempt to create tables. But it will verify that the table you're using matches the schema of your data. For instance, if we define the Actors table to contain a Range Key, but don't add one to our Actor class, we will encounter a runtime exception.
For an example of the code that creates a table, refer to the Amazon DynamoDB documentation or take a look at the sample app that is provided with the AWS SDK for .NET.
The sample below illustrates basic CRUD operations: an Actor object is Created, saved to Amazon DynamoDB, Reloaded from Amazon DynamoDB, Updated on the client and saved, then Deleted.
Actor actor = new Actor("John Doe"); context.Save(actor); actor = context.Load<Actor>("John Doe"); actor.Biography = "Current email: email@example.com"; context.Save(actor); context.Delete(actor);
Here is a similar example with a Movie object. The difference here is that Movie has a Range Key, so we need to specify that in addition to the Hash Key when loading an item.
Movie movie = new Movie("Casablanca", new DateTime(1943, 1, 23)); context.Save(movie); movie = context.Load<Movie>("Casablanca", new DateTime(1943, 1, 23)); movie.Genres = new List<string> { "Drama", "Romance", "War" }; context.Save(movie); context.Delete(movie);
As you can see, it's fairly simple to interact with Amazon DynamoDB once we've sufficiently marked up our classes. This is the power of the object persistence layer: the marshalling and the unmarshalling of data occurs behind the scenes and the developer doesn't need to concern themselves with this "plumbing" in order to talk to Amazon DynamoDB.
If we are looking for items in a table, there are two ways to search: a Query and a Scan. Both are supported by the object persistence model, but there are limitations to each:
- Query
- Query only operates on a table that has both a Hash Key and a Range Key.
- Query must specify the Hash Key and can define a Range Key filter.
- Scan
- Scan can operate on a table with or without a Range Key.
- Scan processes all items in a table, returning only those that match the specified criteria.
- Scan is an expensive operation and should be used with care to avoid disrupting your higher priority production traffic on the table.
- See the Amazon DynamoDB developer guide for more recommendations for safely using the Scan operation.
When should we use Query and when Scan? If our data has a Hash Key and a Range Key and we already know the Hash component, we should use Query. Otherwise, we could use Scan. However, if we find ourselves in a situation that requires frequent Scans on large tables, we should rethink how our data is stored or used. Perhaps the data could be restructured to make less-expensive Query operations possible.
In a given scenario, we might find ourselves performing a search for the movie "Casablanca", with the added condition that it must have been released before 1960. Below is an example of a Query that would accomplish this.
DateTime date = new DateTime(1960, 1, 1); IEnumerable<Movie> queryResults = context.Query<Movie>("Casablanca", QueryOperator.LessThan, date); foreach (var result in queryResults) Console.WriteLine(result.ToString());
Examples of using Scan in the object persistence framework will be shown in a future Amazon DynamoDB article.
This article described how to prepare your .NET classes to work with the object persistence functionality of Amazon DynamoDB; and how to use object persistence to create, retrieve, update, and delete data in Amazon DynamoDB. We also saw how to Query tables and retrieve matching items. Aside from these basic operations, the object persistence functionality supports a number of advanced features, such as custom data conversion, optimistic locking, batch item retrieval, scan operations and working with both the document model and base APIs. These will be covered in a future article.
Find more information about Amazon DynamoDB here.
A sample app that includes this code is provided with the AWS SDK for .NET. The download links can be found here: AWS SDK for .NET.
Please feel free to ask questions or provide comments in the .NET Development Forum.


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
An especially clever community member was kind enough to reverse-engineer the video stream for me, and came up with a direct link to the PASS TV video stream for my Query Tuning Mastery: The Art and Science of Manhandling Parallelism talk, delivered at the PASS Summit last Thursday. I'm not sure how long this link will work, but I'd like to share it for my readers who were unable to see it in person or live on the stream.
Start here.
Skip past the keynote, to the 149 minute mark.
If you would like to receive an email when updates are made to this post, please register here
Subscribe to this post's comments using
It's also available at http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012/, at least right now - yesterday had Days 1 & 3 combined into one gigantic video, but today is Day 2, with yours at the 140 mark. FWIW, it's labelled "Replay of PASS Summit 2012. Enjoy!". Maybe there's some way to get PASS to leave it up?
mbourgon: I'm sure they'll publish individual videos on their own time, probably months from now. This is a much more expedient path to getting the goods :-)
Thanks for the link! I followed link pattern and found David DeWitt audio:
http://pass.bethereglobal.com/demand/day3p2.mp4 at around 17th minute. No video, just audio.
Wait, wait! Don't skip everything at the beginning...check out the Geek Girls at 45 second mark!


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That is all.
Can this thread be deleted. We don't need this type of gross profanity on a family friendly board.
Why was the girl in the audience crying in the first place?
Because Sanjaya is soooo damn sexy and is a crooner of epic, unparalleled proportions.
Girls want to date him... Guys want to be him... The Sanjaya Movement cannot be stopped!
By Deborah Netburn
Times Staff Writer
March 28, 2007
If you are an "American Idol" fan, then chances are Ashley Ferl broke your heart last week. She was that awkward 13-year-old girl with blond pigtails and braces who cried her way through the entire two-hour Tuesday night show. The camera kept cutting back to her as she wailed uncontrollably and looked downright miserable.
But as it turned out, she was having the time of her life.
Since then, life has been hectic for the Ferl family, who hail from Riverside. As they have now repeated many times in their multitude of radio, television and newspaper interviews since Wednesday morning, Ashley and her mother had obtained tickets to a taping of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" which allowed them to go to the dress rehearsal of "American Idol." Ashley started crying from the get go. (Despite being cast as a Sanjaya Malakar fan by the media, Ashley's crying was indiscriminate. She cried for every performer.) The producers liked what they saw and invited her back for the taping of the show. "Before they asked us to stay my mom kept telling me to stop crying, but I didn't listen to her," said Ashley in a phone interview this week.
She was right not to listen: Because of her crying, she was invited on stage at the end of the show to hug each contestant, and was introduced to the judges during a commercial break. Paula Abdul gave the young fan a pair of earrings that Ashley describes as dangly gold hearts.
By Wednesday morning it was clear that Ashley was well on her way to temporary stardom. She woke up to find television vans from E!, "Access Hollywood" and Fox outside her door, and that evening the entire family flew to New York on NBC's tab so that Ashley could be interviewed on Thursday's "Today" show.
After that, Ashley was interviewed by MSNBC, Fox News and "Entertainment Tonight." This is not the first time that Ashley has cried her way into an enviable situation. Last year she was at the dress rehearsal for the top 3 episode of "Idol," where she saw Mikalah Gordon, her favorite contestant from Season 4. Ashley got so excited that she started to scream. An usher agreed to take her over to meet Gordon. As Ashley tells it, she was practically hyperventilating, and a concerned Gordon offered to take her backstage for a Sprite and candy to calm her down. "I didn't calm down," said Ashley. "I went back to my seat and watched the show, and then Taylor [Hicks] waved to me and I got all excited again."
Ashley and her family hope that Fox invites them to sit in the "Idol" audience again. The producers should know that Ashley is a sure thing when it comes to the waterworks. She said she's been to at least 10 "Idol" concerts in the last five years and she's cried at every single one.
I'd like to say I'm sorry I've never seen one episode of American Idol.
But I can't, cause I'm not.
Will trade this space for a #1 starter.
So, how would this girl have responded to this...
...or this...
WilyMo, you are coming REAL close to getting negged for supporting that freak. AI should have pushed through his cute sister rather than this joke.
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After turning up on the wrong end of three straight nailbiters in Texas, the Angels returned home to Anaheim and eliminated all the suspense early from Thursday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
A four-run first inning set the tone as the Angels won 8-2 before an announced crowd of 37,179 at Angel Stadium.
Kole Calhoun, Mark Trumbo, Chris Nelson, Erick Aybar and Chris Iannetta had two hits in the Angels' 12-hit attack.
The Angels scored seven runs off Blue Jays starter Josh Johnson (1-8) in just 2 1/3 innings. Maybe that was more an indication of Johnson's struggles than the Angels' new-look lineup, but a team desperate for victories won't analyze its fate.
Johnson, who has maintained a thin grip on his spot in the Jays' rotation through a series of injuries, saw his earned-run average rise to 6.60. The Angels batted around against the veteran right-hander in the first inning and new leadoff man Kole Calhoun was already 2 for 2 with a pair of runs and a walk when Johnson was removed in the third inning, down 7-0.
That made for a fairly easy outing for Garrett Richards (3-4)
The 25-year-old right hander made another strong case to remain a starter, allowing two runs and four hits in seven innings. Richards took Joe Blanton's spot in the rotation last Saturday in Oakland, and now has a 1.50 earned-run average in two starts since.
Richards walked two batters and struck out four. The only blemishes on his record were a pair of runs in the fifth inning -- Colby Rasmus doubled home Adam Lind, aided by a bobble in the right-field corner by Calhoun, and former Angel Maicer Izturis grounded out to score Rasmus.
Otherwise, it was smooth sailing for Richards. Toronto only managed to hit eight balls to the outfield against Richards, and four went for outs.
The Angels' offense made sure that would be enough.
Calhoun, making his first major-league appearance in the leadoff slot, began the game with a single to left field. Johnson got two quick outs before Howie Kendrick singled and Mark Trumbo launched a home run deep into the left-field seats, giving the Angels a 3-0 lead.
J.B. Shuck drove in Erick Aybar for the Angels' fourth run before the inning was over.
Josh Hamilton's sacrifice fly in the second inning scored Calhoun to make it 5-0.
In the third inning, a bizarre error by Blue Jays left fielder Melky Cabrera -- he threw the ball about three feet behind himself -- allowed Trumbo to score all the way from first base on a single by Erick Aybar. Shuck picked up his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly, making it 6-0.


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Did you know?
Because CTA won a case on behalf of a member, you can have a "robust" conversation on religious topics. "As always," says CTA General Counsel Emma Leheny, "be sensitive to students' personal beliefs as you construct lesson plans."
Back in 2007 a Capistrano Valley High School student sued his Advanced Placement European History teacher over remarks made regarding religion. Recognizing the importance of protecting the "robust exchange of ideas in education," the court determined that in preparing students for "adult roles in a democratic society" teachers and schools must maintain an atmosphere of free inquiry.
"This academic freedom will sometimes lead to the examination of controversial issues," the court wrote. "Teachers must also be given leeway to challenge students to foster critical thinking skills and develop their analytical abilities. This balance is hard to achieve, and we must be careful not to curb intellectual freedom by imposing dogmatic restrictions that chill teachers from adopting the pedagogical methods they believe are most effective."
In the end, the federal court of appeals decided that the teacher could not be sued for damages because he did not violate a clearly established law - an argument first raised in the case by CTA staff attorney Michael Hersh.
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'Tis the Seasonal Trade
Let the games begin! The official kickoff to holiday shopping 2012 has arrived.
Earlier this week many headlines touted early openings at Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), Best Buy (BBY), Toys 'R' Us and other retailers in a bid to grab consumer dollars in exchange for good-to-great deals and door-buster specials. With 32 days to Christmas, this year's holiday shopping season is one of the longer ones in recent years. That likely means a barrage of deals, promotions and sales in coming weeks, particularly if retailers are falling short of fourth-quarter 2012 forecasts....318 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
There's no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.
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Annapurna wrote:Why so late Ben? Wasn't the hype last year?
retrofuturist wrote:Greetings Anna,
Don't feel bad... despite me entering my location into the Wii, our Wii Fit still thought it was Winter when it was Summer. Snow drops falling on the television screen, scorching hot temperatures outside.
Thankfully Swine Flu didn't really become a "summer flu" like some were worried it might.
cooran wrote:Hello Ben, Retro, all,
Ben - I'm glad your family has had the immunisation. Retro - the alert period is March/April .... we are just into it now.
The pandemic is not over and to date more than 14 000 laboratory-confirmed deaths have been reported world wide.[b] Europe and the Americas experienced a second outbreak of Swine flu in the early months of the Northern Hemisphere winter. This "second wave" of swine flu is expected to return to Australia in March/April 2010.[/b]
with metta
Ben wrote:Hi Chris
Thanks. I think it was on 7.30 report last night that deaths among pregnant women in Australia as a result of swine flu are 13 times greater than seasonal flu. I think a lot of people think its no big deal, but people are dying from it.
kind regards
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If the developers of the Monterey Downs racetrack complex had come to town a decade ago and announced grand plans for a horse-racing track, housing, retail space, an indoor arena and more, the community likely would have welcomed them and pointed out locations where they could build with relatively little muss or fuss.
For better or worse, that's not the way it happened. The project evolved, starting out small as a potential equestrian competition site and growing into what it is today, the largest and most controversial development project to hit the Peninsula in many years.
As much as we would have preferred a location with fewer trees, a location less popular with hikers and dog walkers, traffic plans and development decisions on other parcels have essentially locked the project into its site on a Fort Ord rise overlooking the Salinas Valley. All things considered, it is a worthwhile project that deserves enthusiastic community support.
Monterey Downs would be a tremendous addition to the tourism industry and an important source of jobs and income for the city of Seaside, which sorely needs both. The project also could provide space for indoor events, world-class aquatics and tennis facilities and other amenities at a location detached enough from the rest of the community to prevent any clash with existing uses.
Like it or not, tourism fuels our economic engine. Monterey Downs and the visitors it attracts would provide a burst of new energy to contractors, real estate agents, small businesses and job seekers—people who have held on through tough times and deserve a break. Unlike other projects that would consume farmland, Monterey Downs can help balance the books without harming our other economic driver, agribusiness.
Often we stand with the environmentalists when major projects are proposed, especially those with problems of design or proportionality, but this is not one of those cases. Even the staunchest tree-huggers need to face reality from time to time. The decision-makers on this well-designed project also must consider the needs of local businesses that have watched their bottom lines shrink each year, the unemployed who have run out of benefits, the government entities that have cut services beyond reason.
We do sympathize with those who oppose the project. Many are upset about the loss of thousands of trees, which is a painful proposition. Plantings elsewhere could never fully make up for that, but the developer still should be required to pay for such a program or to protect other even more environmentally sensitive property. No, it won't be the same, but the status quo wasn't helping to make anyone's rent payments.
Others are understandably bothered by the process so far.
Monterey Downs did sort of sneak up on us. Some important decisions about location, road construction and other elements should have been made openly instead of in the back rooms.
But rather than fight the result, a valuable addition to the region, we urge the activists to instead challenge the politicians who accommodated the stealth approach and to work with the city of Seaside to bring about the best project possible.


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The Regnum Christi Movement offers its members some guidelines of a gospel-based spirituality as an ideal of Christian life. The spiritual path that Regnum Christi members walk mainly consists in knowing, loving, imitating, and proclaiming Christ. This is the path and these are the goals.
Below, we offer some resources that can help nurture the spiritual life of Movement members and of any Christian.
Daily Prayer 2013-11-18
Listen to podcast version here.
Father John Doyle, LC
Luke 18:35-43
Now as Jesus approached Jericho a
blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and
hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was
happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on
me!" The people walking in front rebuked him, telling
him to be silent, but he kept calling out all
the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!"
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought
to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
"What do you want me to do for you?"
He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told
him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." He
immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to
God. When they saw this, all the people gave
praise to God.
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, you
are the Alpha and the Omega. You have given me
life and offer me eternal life with you. You
deserve my honor, gratitude and love, and yet you
never impose yourself upon me. Thank you for respecting my
freedom so that I can offer myself to you.
All that I have is yours; I return it to
Petition: Lord, grant me greater faith
in your constant and continual presence in my life.
1. Begging
by the Roadside: How many times in life have
we felt like this blind beggar sitting by the
roadside, down-and-out and hard on luck – physically, spiritually
or emotionally? Witnessing our distress, some people simply walked
by without a care. Maybe they tossed us a coin,
though they didn't really help us out of our
discouragement or difficulty. Others might have jeered at us or
not dared to look at us. Some may even
have scolded us, like the people in the Gospel
telling the beggar "to be silent." Just as the blind
beggar of today's Gospel could not give himself what
he most desired – sight, we are unable to
give ourselves what we most need – faith. Do I
regularly ask for an increase of faith? Am I
aware of how much I need a strong faith?
2. Jesus
Is Passing By: The book of Job tells us that
"human beings have a hard service on earth" (Job
7:1). It shouldn't be surprising, then, when in our
lives as Christians we take some real blows and even
some falls. God doesn't want us to become discouraged.
He wants us to see these as opportunities to
turn to him, the source of the strength and help
we need. Other voices will tell us to be
quiet and not bother the Master: "After all, you
just need to work things out", "With so much going
on, how can you find time to pray?" Jesus
constantly passes by. He is the only one who can
bring me the peace my heart desires and longs
for. "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
3. Lord, Please Let Me See: Jesus promises us
that he will listen to our request, just as
he did to the blind man. But what should our
request be? To have a more comfortable stool so
as to sit by the road and beg with
ease? To have a beautiful silver cup to collect coins
in? Or to see? Often what we really need
is not what we ask for in prayer. We need
the vision that only the supernatural virtue of faith
can give. We need the ability to see everything
from God's vantage point and to see how the difficulties
and trials we experience are part of a bigger
picture. We need to have the firm assurance of
the final victory of the Lamb, Jesus, and the strength
to persevere in fidelity. Lord, please let me see…
Please increase my faith.
Conversation with Christ: Lord
Jesus, allow me to praise and glorify you for your
constant companionship and for never leaving me alone in
my struggles and trials. Increase my faith so that
I will be able to experience your love even amidst
difficulty and trials.
Resolution: I will pray
three "Our Fathers" for an increase of faith among my
family members.
The daily meditation is a service of Regnum Christi that offers people a Gospel reflection through e-mail. You can view the weekly meditation on this link or listen the podcast version here.
If you would like to subscribe or send a gift subscription, please fill out this form.


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Chicago is the funniest city in the United States, according to a University of Colorado Boulder study.
Boston is the No. 2 wise guy, followed by Atlanta in third place. Denver made the top 10 list at No. 8.
The study out today is the most comprehensive analysis of humorous cities and was led by Peter McGraw, associate professor of marketing and psychology at CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business. His team collected data across the nation using an algorithm created at his Humor Research Lab (HuRL).
According to the findings, the following are the top 10 funniest cities in the United States:
1. Chicago
2. Boston
3. Atlanta
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Portland, Ore.
6. New York
7. Los Angeles
8. Denver
9. San Francisco
10. Seattle
The project grew out of McGraw's new book co-authored with Journalist Joel Warner, "The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny."
"We found humor often has a local flavor," said McGraw. "The jokes that get laughs at comedy clubs in Denver seem unlikely to fly with a cartoon editor at The New Yorker, for example. The kind of torturous game shows that some Japanese find amusing would likely fall flat to a sitcom producer in Los Angeles."
Over a nine-month period, McGraw and his team surveyed the 50 largest U.S. cities to track the frequency of visits by community members to comedy websites; the number of comedy clubs per square mile; traveling comedians' ratings of each city's comedy club audiences; the number of native-born famous comedians; the number of local funny tweeters; the number of local comedy radio stations; and the frequency of humor-related Web searches originating in each city.
Co-authors of the study were Warner, Adrian Ward, senior research associate at the Leeds School and Caleb Warren, assistant professor of marketing at Texas A&M University.
"A city's humor score isn't just a measure of historic reputation or big-name productions," said Ward. "It's a way of looking at the day-to-day lives of people in that city. A city's sense of humor is a living, breathing thing, created by everything from coffee shop conversations to Web videos shared between friends to the laughter that erupts at comedy clubs."
The researchers also conducted a survey of more than 900 residents from the top 10 cities deemed funny by the algorithm. The team asked the residents about the kinds of funny entertainment they enjoy and whether they look for humor in their friends and partners. In addition the residents took a personality test assessing their "need for levity."
Participants also described their city's sense of humor and told their favorite joke.
"The result was a window into the humor profiles of each of the top 10 cities," said McGraw. "Boston residents balance high-brow intellectualism with drunken rowdiness while Washington, D.C., finds humor in the absurdities of political systems. Portlanders are just plain weird."
Also involved in the study were CU-Boulder undergraduate students Christopher Miller, Alexandra Weiner, Allison Paul, Anthony Levy, Hayley Dunn, Alec Wilkie and graduate student Erin Percival Carter.
To see the study, including a list of all 50 funniest cities and humor profiles, visit http://humorcode.com/funniest-cities.
"The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny" details McGraw and Warner's international journey inspired by McGraw's benign violation theory of humor.


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I noticed many people on the forum are quite knowledgeable in regards to the Vinaya and the different levels of offenses. I wondered if there are any useful online training guides or books which help study the material, or whether anyone has any good suggestions for studying it. I have Thannisaro Bhikkus books but I am unsure if this is something I just read whole
Thank you