text:
Tiny Step Edges, Big Step for Surface Science
Experiments at the Vienna University of Technology can explain the behaviour of electrons at tiny step edges on titanium oxide surfaces. This is important for solar cell technology and novel, more effective catalysts.
It can be found in toothpaste, solar cells, and it is useful for chemical catalysts: titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an extremely versatile material. Alhough it is used for so many different applications, the behaviour of titanium oxide surfaces still surprises. Professor Ulrike Diebold and her team at the Vienna University of Technology managed to find out why oxygen atoms attach so well to tiny step edges at titanium oxide surfaces. Electrons accumulate precisely at these edges, allowing the oxygen atoms to connect more strongly. In solar cells, this effect should be avoided, but for catalysts this can be highly desirable.
Microscope Pictures of Titanium Oxide Surfaces
Titanium oxide is Ulrike Diebold's favourite material. In her latest publication, she and her team studied the behaviour of titanium oxide surfaces using scanning tunnelling microscopy and atomic force microscopy.
Titanium oxide can be used for solar cells. In the so-called Graetzel cell, an inexpensive but inefficient type of solar cell, it plays the central role. "In a solar cell, we want electrons to move freely and not attach to a particular atom", says Martin Setvin, first author of the publication, which has now appeared in the journal "Angewandte".
The opposite is true for catalysts: For catalytic processes, it is often important that electrons attach to surface atoms. Only at places where such an additional electron is located can oxygen molecules attach to the titanium oxide surface and then take part in chemical reactions.
Electrons Distort the Crystal Structure
Usually, it takes a considerable amount of energy to have the electrons bond to a particular atom. "When an electron is localized at a titanium atom, the electric charge of the atom is changed, and due to electrostatic forces, the titanium oxide crystal is distorted", says Ulrike Diebold. To create this lattice distortion, energy has to be invested – and therefore this effect does not usually occur by itself.
However, the surface of titanium oxide is never completely flat. On a microscopic scale, there are tiny steps and edges, many of them with a height of only one atomic layer. At these edges, electrons can localize quite easily. The atoms at the edge only have neighbours on one side, and therefore no major lattice distortions are created when these atoms receive an additional electron and change their charge state. "We have observed that oxygen molecules can connect to the surface precisely at these locations", says Diebold.
Better Solar Cells, More Efficient Catalysts
Important conclusions for technology can be drawn from this: for photovoltaics, such step edges should be avoided, for catalysts this newly discovered effect yields great opportunities. Surfaces could be microstructured to exhibit many such edges, making them extremely effective catalysts.
Original Publication
Picture Download
Further Information:
Prof. Ulrike Diebold
Institute of Applied Physics
Vienna University of Technology
Wiedner Hauptstraße 8
Martin Setvin, PhD
Institute of Applied Physics
Vienna University of Technology
Wiedner Hauptstraße 8
|Materials & Matter ist – neben Computational Science & Engineering, Quantum Physics & Quantum Technologies, Information & Communication Technology sowie Energy & Environment – einer von fünf Forschungsschwerpunkten der Technischen Universität Wien. Geforscht wird von der Nanowelt bis hin zur Entwicklung neuer Werkstoffe für großvolumige Anwendungen. Die Forschenden arbeiten sowohl theoretisch, beispielsweise an mathematischen Modellen im Computer, wie auch experimentell an der Entwicklung und Erprobung innovativer Materialien.
TU Wien - Mitglied der TU Austria


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Freevo is a Linux application that turns a PC with a TV capture card and/or TV-out into a standalone multimedia jukebox/VCR/PVR/HTPC/DVR/set-top box. It uses MPlayer and other applications to play and record audio and video. It is optimized for use with a TV and remote, but can be used with a monitor and keyboard.
Plugger is a multimedia plugin for Unix Netscape 3.0 or later that handles Quicktime, MPEG, MP2, AVI, SGI-movie, Tiff, DL, IFF-anim, MIDI, Soundtracker, AU, WAV, and Commodore 64 audio files. MPEG audio and video can be played streaming. Plugger is a very small plugin which uses external programs to show/play the different formats.
CDfs is a file system for Linux systems that `exports' all tracks and boot images on a CD as normal files. These files can then be mounted (e.g. for ISO and boot images), copied, played (audio tracks), etc. The primary goal for developing this file system was to `unlock' information in old ISO sessions. The file system also allows you to access data on faulty multi session disks, e.g. disks with multiple single sessions instead of a multi session.
Asunder is a graphical audio CD ripper and encoder for Linux. You can use it to save tracks from an audio CD as WAV, MP3, Ogg, FLAC, Opus, WavPack, Musepack, AAC, or Monkey's Audio files. It has CDDB support and can create M3U playlists. It's independent of any desktop environment. It can rip and encode at the same time. It aims to make CD ripping as quick and easy as possible.
Podget is a simple podcast aggregator optimized for running as a scheduled background job (i.e. cron). It features support for downloading podcasts from RSS and XML feeds, for sorting the podcasts into folders and categories, for importing podcast URLs from iTunes PCAST files and OPML lists, automatic M3U and ASX playlist creation, and automatic cleanup of old podcasts. It also features automatic UTF-16 conversion for podcasts hosted on Windows servers and includes the ability to handle authentication for premium podcasts.
Perl Audio Converter is a tool for converting multiple audio types from one format to another. It supports the following audio formats: 8SVX, 3G2, 3GP, AAC, AC3, ADTS, AIFF, AL, AMB, AMR, APE, AU, AVR, BONK, CAF, CDR, CVU, DAT, DTS, DVMS, F32, F64, FAP, FLA, FLAC, FSSD, GSRT, HCOM, IMA, IRCAM, LA, MAT, MAUD, MAT4, MAT5, M4A, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, MPP, NIST, OFF, OFR, OFS, OPUS, OGA, OGG, PAF, PRC, PVF, RA, RAM, RAW, RF64, SD2, SF, SHN, SMP, SND, SOU, SPX, SRN, TAK, TTA, TXW, VOC, VMS, VQF, W64, WAV, WMA, and WV. It can also extract audio from the following video extensions: RM, RV, ASF, DivX, MPG, MKV, MPEG, AVI, MOV, OGM, OGV, QT, VCD, SVCD, M4V, NSV, NUV, PSP, SMK, VOB, FLV, WEBM and WMV. Parallel Processing, a CD ripping function with CDDB support, batch conversion, tag preservation for most supported formats, independent tag reading and writing, service menus for KDE Dolphin/Konqueror, a Gnome Nautilus script, and action scripts for Nemo/Thunar are also provided.
The FAAC project includes the AAC encoder FAAC and decoder FAAD2. It supports several MPEG-4 object types (LC, Main, LTP, HE AAC, PS) and file formats (ADTS AAC, raw AAC, MP4), multichannel and gapless en/decoding as well as MP4 metadata tags. The codecs are compatible with standard-compliant audio applications using one or more of these profiles.
cdparanoia reads audio from the CDROM directly as data, with no analog step between, and writes the data to a file or pipe in WAV, AIFC or raw 16 bit linear PCM. Cdparanoia will read correct, rock-solid audio data from inexpensive drives prone to misalignment, frame jitter and loss of streaming during atomic reads. cdparanoia will also read and repair data from CDs that have been damaged in some way.
Baudline is a time-frequency browser designed for scientific visualization of the spectral domain. Signal analysis is performed by Fourier, correlation, and raster transforms that create colorful spectrograms with vibrant detail. Conduct test and measurement experiments with the built in function generator, or play back audio files with a multitude of effects and filters. The baudline signal analyzer combines fast digital signal processing, versatile high speed displays, and continuous capture tools for hunting down and studying elusive signal characteristics.
The Extended Module Player is a command-line mod player for Unix-like systems that plays over 90 mainstream and obscure module formats from Amiga, Atari, Acorn, Apple IIgs, C64, and PC, including Protracker (MOD), Scream Tracker 3 (S3M), Fast Tracker II (XM), and Impulse Tracker (IT) files.
A scientific plotting package.
A server operating system with an integrated identity and infrastructure management system.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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JD & The FDCs
Based in the East Midlands in the UK, JD & the FDCs are a rock 'n' roll band. And then some.... Comprising Panic, Teenage Casket Company, The Dangerfields, Patchwork Grace and DIP alumni, the quartet released their debut album "Recognise" in 2012. The collective talent and pooled experience of these seasoned musicians has been put to work in the service of one of the most popular and acclaimed live shows to be found on UK shores.
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Wayne, Pa.-based Renaissance Health Network has chosen physician-directed population health solution Well-Being Direct from Healthways Inc. to improve the quality of its population health management solutions. Renaissance Health Network provides Population Health Management services to 150,000 people, including about 32,000 Medicare Beneficiaries.
HWAY's Well-Being Direct will help Renaissance Health Network – a group of roughly 250 independent primary care physicians – to monitor their patients closely and efficiently manage their overall well-being.
Well-Being Direct makes forecasting models to detect patients who are susceptible to high-cost utilization or poor outcomes. As soon as these patients are identified, physicians can improve their well being by several interventions.
Presently, interventional treatment procedure is highly recommended by physicians as they have better patient outcomes. According to Healthways, patients undergoing regular counseling have 35% to 55% more chance to quit smoking and making changes to their diet and lifestyle than those who only sit back and read about how to improve well-being.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Healthways makes available targeted and tailored intervention for each person, regardless of the individual's health condition, age or health care payor. Its fact-based prevention and well-being services providing specific and personalized intervention are presented to consumers in a variety of formats, such as phone, mail, and Internet.
In the second quarter of the year, Healthways reported second-quarter 2013 loss per share of 3 cents in sharp contrast to the year-ago earnings of 15 cents per share. However, the loss was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the company's expectations of a loss of 5 cents per share.
Revenues declined 4.7% year over year to $162.3 million in the quarter, trailing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $171 million. However, upon exclusion of the two terminal contracts, revenues improved 11.7% from the prior-year quarter.
HWAY affirmed its sales guidance for 2013. The company continues to expect sales in a band of $710 million–$750 million, reflecting a rise of 5%–11% year over year. It expects higher revenues for 2013 despite a drop of $80 million on account of the termination of two contracts. Healthways expects higher sales in the second half of 2013 as fresh contracts inked in 2012 take off in the upcoming quarters.
Healthways tweaked its outlook for bottom line to reflect the effect of its cash convertible senior notes due 2018. The company expects earnings per share of about 18 cents–28 cents compared with the prior outlook of 25 cents–35 cents for 2013.
We are disappointed about HWAY's continued losses and lower year-over-year revenues since the beginning of the year as well as its tapered guidance. Currently, Healthways carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). The company expects to release its third quarter results tomorrow after the closing bell.
While we prefer to avoid this stock, other scrips that are worth a look in the medical services industry include Omnicare Inc. with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We also consider Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (BIO - Free Report) and INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. (INSY - Free Report) , both with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), from the medical products industry as worth considering at present.
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In December last year, Brooklyn couple Jonathan Mann and Ivory King broadcast on YouTube a song that quickly went viral: "We've Got to Break Up." While, true, the song smacks of self-promotion and features a truly puzzling musical interlude/freakish dance number, at its core it speaks to an issue many couples increasingly face: one wants kids, the other one doesn't. The lyrics make it clear that their five-year relationship is ending amicably, but on this one issue they are both resolute, and therefore the musician and the artist must part ways, he to presumably find a vessel for his eager seed, she to continue pairing Mr. Wickham's castoffs with eye makeup from a '70s Bowie cover.
Now, I won't hazard a guess as to the percentage of people reading this who initially thought I meant that it was the male half of the couple who didn't want the kids rather than the female, but if you were one of them, ask yourself… why? Why is it always assumed that a woman must want to have children? And especially, why is it always assumed in romance novels that without them a woman, a family, cannot possibly be complete?
I have to admit, this was not a subject to which I had given much thought before recently reading Emily Giffin's 2007 novel Baby Proof, but as I became immersed in the travails of our heroine, Claudia, and her seemingly endless quest to justify her decision not to procreate to disbelieving friends and relations, it occurred to me just how insidious, how endemic to romantic fiction is the idea that the only good woman is a good mother. Or, at least, potential mother.
Children abound in Romance, both category and single title, with popular themes like Secret Baby (ugh!) and Single Father appearing month after month after month. Inherit the Kid is another one, a trope of which not only romance novels but also movies are fond: Diane Keaton in Baby Boom, Kate Hudson in Raising Helen, and to a lesser extent Katherine Heigl in Life as We Know It, in all of which the carefree career woman finds herself trying to have it all, failing, and then choosing kid(s) over job every time.
Hell, even the infamous Fifty Shades books gave the long-suffering Anastasia two tiny tots—and wow, are they going to grow up well-adjusted or what? (Sequel suggestion: Fifty Shades of Child Psychotherapy.) As Carey Purcell points out in her Huffington Post, er, post on the subject: "When Anastasia finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and shares the news with Christian, he rages at her, asking if she did it on purpose and storming out of the house, disappearing for hours. Even though Anastasia thinks to herself that the pregnancy happened too soon in their marriage, she never considers terminating it." Because being a doormat plaything in Grey's Red Room of Pain is acceptable; pondering whether she should even have a kid, considering her own deficiencies and the volatility of her (to be charitable) "relationship," would put her entirely beyond the pale.
How many epilogues have you read where the longevity of our couple's happiness is illustrated by either the joyous news of a pregnancy or the tender reflection on the fruits of their union, already prepared earlier? In fact, I can't think of a single romance novel epilogue that did not, in some way, relate to either imminent or extant spawn, as though life beyond love and marriage is somehow not worthy of note without the baby carriage.
Certainly, in historical novels the prevalence of this can be forgiven. Back then, a woman's major role in life
But surely now, when we women are more than property, more than dynastic currency, and much more than the means to an heir, surely our fiction can more fully reflect our changing roles, and changing desires. Don't just have a heroine who is a truck driver and think that's equality. Have a heroine who's a truck driver and insists on our hero having a vasectomy as a wedding present (if indeed they must get married—but that's a whole other post). Or give us an epilogue that talks of, I don't know, their recent Kenyan safari or the fact that her long-awaited book got published, and then don't have them also discussing what to name Hero, Jr.
Urban Fantasy is one refuge from all of this, Julie Kenner's entertaining Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series aside. Usually our UF heroines are single (or, at most, "It's Complicated"), and willfully childless—indeed, many of them are vampires, and could not have children even if they wanted to. But in almost every other subgenre of the wider arena known as Women's Fiction (including much of Paranormal Romance; looking at you, sundry hellren), "motherly" is up there with "sense of decency" and "unique specialness" as a not only desirable but utterly expected trait in a leading lady.
In her post on all the children in contemporary romance lately, H&H blogger Kwana Minatee-Jackson makes mention of "kids the ultimate wingmen," and suggests that their presence in a book is often merely as catalyst to romance—they are the means by which our two parties meet, or at least continue to meet. This is definitely the case, and has been for a long time. One of my favorite category Regencies is Judith A. Lansdowne's The Bedeviled Duke, which features a hero owning four sets of twins, and a heroine who comes to love them. Certainly my favorite Medieval is Theresa Madeiros's very amusing Charming the Prince, in which our hero, Lord Bannor the Bold, finds himself in possession of a bunch of sprightly little tykes and soon finds in his hastily acquired bride, the spirited Lady Willow, rather more than he had bargained for. And I love, love, love Michele Bardsley's Broken Heart Vampires series, every one of which has a cute kid or several up to some sort of matchmaking mischief, often all unwittingly.
Elsewhere, I have previously mentioned my abject devotion to Lee Damon's Again the Magic, in which the hero has an adorable son, Gus. He is not the reason for our couple's meeting, nor for their continuing acquaintance, but even there, the non-maternal soul is demonized: Gus's biological mother was a party girl who had wanted to terminate her unplanned pregnancy, but our hero, O'Mara, insists on her carrying the child to term. Later, of course, she becomes the villain of the piece, basically selling her kid to her one-time fling, because if you're the kind of woman who doesn't want a child, then obviously you're the kind of woman who would kidnap him for ransom. In contrast, our heroine, Kitt, loves Gus on sight, becomes his substitute Mama in record time, and thereby proves herself a fitting mate to this rich and handsome man. Think about it. Motherless kids in Romance novels are, in many ways, there to make our leading lady look like a paragon of all the virtues—either they're the selfless foster mother, like in a favorite Loveswept of mine, Marcia Evanick's Perfect Morning, or the plucky single mother, like in a favorite Nora Roberts of mine, The Best Mistake, or they're the Nurturing Angel there to replace the Cold-hearted Career Woman, like in another favorite of mine, True Confessions by Rachel Gibson.
You'll notice a number of "favorite" novels mentioned above, so obviously the omnipresence of the Good Woman = Good Mother trope in romantic fiction isn't a deal breaker for me—personally, I love other people's kids, and love to see them in Romance, as long as they're at least vaguely well-written. (And are preferably not named silly things like Renesmee.) All I'm saying is, not every woman wants to be a mother, so can we please get a little more acknowledgment of this reality, and consequent validation of this life choice, in our reading material?
Which brings me back to Baby Proof. As we commence our story, Claudia is happily married to the dashing Ben, a successful architect with whom she reached a mutual understanding on their very first date: neither wanted children. Their families talk babies, their friends have babies, and then Ben has a change of heart, leading to a very swift divorce when he chooses his longing to replicate his DNA over his wife. Throughout, and following, the breakdown of their marriage, Claudia faces incessant charges on her uterus, until finally she decides she wants Ben more than she wants to avoid TGI Fridays and moving to the suburbs, and is willing to get pregnant after all.
I have never gone from loving a heroine to despising her so quickly and thoroughly as when this happened—no, not even when some pleasingly feisty tomboy in a bodice ripper falls in love with her rapist… sorry, "forcible seducer." I found the last quarter of the book difficult to read, as Claudia becomes increasingly pitiful, yearning for her stupid, deal-breaking ex-husband and indulging in constant, irrational jealousy over some girl she has no real evidence he's even dating. Still, for all that I would have loved Claudia to remain true to herself, to not compromise her beliefs so utterly on the mere chance of winning back such a douche, there can be no denying that her actions, and reactions, were entirely too human, and certainly very female.
Forget that the need to breed has been hardwired into our blood and bone and every bodily system, we have also been raised to be mothers, our earliest playthings dolls, our earliest idols the likes of Mrs. Brady, Mrs. March and Maria from Sesame Street. Our childhood stories showed us that women who didn't like or want kids were Bad: from Snow White to Hansel and Gretel and from The Witches to Ghormenghast, we were everywhere confronted by these relentlessly selfish and/or downright wicked monsters who were to be feared and, occasionally, defeated. Even Anne of Green Gables' beloved Marilla was given to us as a harridan until she finally fell under the young Miss Shirley's excitable spell; it was not the King of Vulgaria but the Queen who outlawed children in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; poor, eponymous Eloise's mother abandoned her in a New York hotel, only occasionally recalling her existence; and in The Juniper Tree, dear old stepmom cooks up the kid and serves him to her husband as a light snack. Which may explain why Regina (Lana Parilla) of Once Upon a Time was given the "redeeming feature" (as so many commentators have it) of her deep love for the precocious Henry (Jared S. Gilmore), because without it she would, of necessity, have to be our ultimate villain instead of some new breed of anti-I-almost-think-I-like-her-now-quasi-hero. Apparently, if she had wrought so much misery in the Fairy Tale world and didn't like kids, we could have no sympathy for her at all.
And here we thought the times had a'changed.
In some ways, of course they have. Anyone questioning this need only check out sites such as The Childfree Life, which bears the legend "A safe haven in a baby-crazed world," and the mission statement to be: "… a gathering place for people who share the common bond of choosing to be non-parents, and for those in the process of making that decision." The site reviews books with such titles as Complete Without Kids and Kidfree & Lovin' It!, while a busy forum features such topics as "Keeping the Babies Away" (Birth Control and Sterilization) and "Our Non-Children" (Pets & Animals). This is just one example of what can only be considered a growing movement of deliberate suppressed reproduction, and as Baby Proof's Claudia struggled to come up with valid "reasons" for her decision, I couldn't help wondering why, especially in this day and age, she needed one at all. Whether financial, emotional, logistical, environmental, or any one of a dozen other possibilities, can we not all agree that a woman is good and whole and fulfilled and perfect, even without having obeyed all of her biological imperatives?
In fact, maybe they are no longer imperatives at all. There is a somewhat fringe theory among anthropologists that war breaks out in a society when the population becomes too large, in an attempt to thin out the herd—especially of extraneous men, and the future generations they might produce. There is another, even more controversial, theory that suggests that we, as a species, are producing a larger proportion of gay people now than ever before because procreation is no longer so vitally important to each member of our global tribe. (More likely, it's just more open closets, but academics/random bloggers on the internet love to theorize.) Is it not then at least remotely possible that the women—and men—who are now more and more choosing not to have children are simply another lane along the evolutionary highway, one that leads to an off-ramp because the rest of the species have already caused a traffic jam?
There are over seven billion people on this planet; just once, I'd like to see a romance novel in which our happy couple decides they don't wish to add to that number, and then they stick to it, and they don't even adopt, and then they do other fun stuff instead, like buy Jet Skis.
Crib image by Kenziepoo via Flickr
Rachel Hyland is Editor in Chief of Geek Speak Magazine.


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National insurance cut cheers small firms
Small business groups welcomed measures announced in the Budget that will ease the strain on their stretched finances, but fear that for many enterprises it will be a case of too little too late.
On Wednesday the Chancellor announced an Employment Allowance, worth £2,000, pushed forward a controversial share ownership scheme, introduced a simpler way of calculating income tax and froze fuel duty.
However, there was disappointment that there was no reduction in business rates, which have soared in recent years.
Alex Jackman, of the Forum of Private Business, says: "Ask any small businesses what they wanted to see from this Budget and many will have said: 'action on business rates'. It was really a case of enough already years ago, and April's increase which…


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Looking for first Jeep
I am in the process of looking for a daily driver and would like to find a Jeep. I would much appreciate any input that you can offer. Such as things to look for or things to be mindful of. Here is a posting of a Jeep I am interested in. Thank you for your time.
Looks like rust is eating it up. A search a good bit south and you will find jeeps with no rust. May take a days drive but you are years ahead on dealing with rust.
Check the frame out very close. In addition pick up the carpet and check the front and rear floor pans.
If the frame shows any signs of rust through I would run away as fast as you can. Floor pans can be fixed but could be a clear sign of bigger rust problems.
Trying to save and patch a well rusted frame can get expensive and be a loosing battle.
do you know anyone on this forum that has more knowledge of TJs in your area that can go with you to look at jeeps? If not, we all can and will still help...It will just be a little more time consuming... Anyhow, some pointers from me would be look for a bone stock jeep that has what your looking for in the engine / tranny of your choice. I would also look for jeeps just outside your price range and go look at those. look for some stuff wrong with it and negotiate the price into your budget ( or hopefully less!!) good luck!
Just by the photos, rust appears to be a issue. No spare tire?, might be a sign that the rust may be into the tailgate hinge area and can't hold up the tire? nice shinny tires, they probably also sprayed the engine with that crap to make it look "new".
I bet if you see it in person you will find more rust. If your serious about this thing, I would have them put it up on the lift which will give you a better idea of the rust, bet there are some leaks too.
I say keep looking, and buy the most jeep you can possibly afford.. sometimes its cheaper in the long run:)
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Prenups and postnups help form the foundation of a happy marriage. I understand how, at first, it may be difficult to believe that negotiating a postnup could actually make your marriage happier, but its true.
Money is often cited as one of the top reasons for tension in a marriage. Its extremely difficult to agree about what to spend, how much to save, when/where to invest, etc. Why add arguments about career paths and earning potential to this volatile mix? Have those difficult conversations now, while you have a clear head not years down the road, when youre feeling frustrated after reading about a colleagues big promotion while you stayed up all night with a kid who has a stomach bug.
As you draw up your postnup, both you and your husband can thoughtfully consider important factors, such as the amount of salary youre sacrificing and the value (in dollars and cents) of the childcare youre providing.
Because your postnup clearly defines the issues surrounding your decision to leave your job, its likely youll find it strengthens your marriage. It can blunt future disagreements and will form the basis for continued constructive dialogue about your family finances.
A womans child-rearing years are usually her highest-earning years. Theres no mistaking the cruel timing here. For most women, the phase of life devoted to child-rearing and the phase of life devoted to corporate-ladder-climbing tend to overlap.
So, when you leave the workforce to become a stay-at-home mom, youll also be walking away from a career that is just starting to gain traction. Unfortunately, you wont be able to rewind the clock and get that time back. A postnup establishes how youll be financially compensated for those lost years if you and your husband end up divorcing.
When a stay-at-home mom re-enters the workforce, shell probably earn less than she did before. Lets say you work exclusively as a stay-at-home mom for 10 years. During that decade, youll sacrifice more than just paychecks and promotions. Youll also lose out on contacts and networking opportunities, and with the exponential advancements in technology these days, your skills will likely become rusty or obsolete. In short, your résumé will suffer as the workplace continues to evolve (without you). Put all of this together, and its clear that after your stint as a stay-at-home mom, your earning potential will be significantly diminished.
Ive heard divorcing husbands chide their wives with mistaken statements like, Before you stayed home you were making $50,000 a year, so you can go out and get a job for that, if not more and Well, its not my fault. It was your choice. You wanted to have children. You wanted to stay home with them. You could have gone out and worked, and in the meanwhile I was busting my rear end, and why are you entitled to any of this?
Of course, these husbands are choosing to ignore the way the real world works and comments like these just underscore why I feel postnups for stay-at-home moms are so absolutely critical.
If you are ready to explore the option of a postnup, talk to a family law attorney and a divorce financial expert for advice. Do it for yourself, and for the health of your marriage.
If your spouse is sincere in the wish to R, they will not balk at this.
Sending strength and peace.
[This message edited by cancuncrushed at 11:53 AM, December 18th (Wednesday)]


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Southampton grateful for gift
Southampton 3 Fulham 3
IT WAS great stuff for the neutrals, not bad for Fulham, but purgatory for the home side. Harry Redknapp, the Southampton manager, described last night's match as a must-win game, but the message had obviously not got through to his defenders.
Kevin Phillips scored twice to bring his total of Barclays Premiership goals for the season to seven, but Southampton were a shambles at the back and were lucky not to have conceded more than three themselves. They needed an own goal to claim a draw, a result that leaves them rooted in nineteenth place.
Chris Coleman, the Fulham manager, was pleased to have maintained the seven-point gap between the teams, but Southampton, who have won only twice in the league all season and not…


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Maximising the Nutritional Impact of FSL Interventions - Optimiser l'impact nutritionnel des interventions Sécurité Alimentaire et Moyens d'Existence
The approach promoted in the manual is the systematic use of a 'nutrition lens' at each step of the project cycle and a close collaboration between sectors. It is divided in two sections: Section 1 outlines the basics of undernutrition, and explains the interlinkages and synergies between food security & livelihoods, and nutrition. Section 2 provides simple and practical guidance on how to adopt and promote nutrition-sensitive practices and interventions. It is written using bullet points, and key messages are highlighted to ensure easy access and enable quick reading in the field.


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Austrian Parliament Speaker Meets Syrian President
Visiting Austrian parliament speaker Heinz Fischer held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and other officials Thursday on regional questions and ties between Damascus and Vienna, Syrian sources said.
Assad's spokesman Gebran Kourieh said they discussed "developments in the Middle East and the expansion of relations" between Syria and Austria, in talks also attended by Fischer's Syrian counterpart Abdel Qader Qaddura.
Another official source said Fischer had earlier talked with Prime Minister Mohammad Mustapha Mero about "ways to boost economic, commercial and cultural cooperation between Syria and the European Union."
He also met Foreign Minister Farouq Shara on "the stalled Middle East peace process and the need to activate a European role" in the region.
Relations are generally good between Syria and Austria, which has some 500 men serving with United Nations peacekeeping troops on the disputed Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - DAMASCUS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)


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The room in the basement of the All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing that received Archbishop Desmond Tutu last Thursday was outfitted as best it could for a man who has been compared to Mahatma Gandhi.
The tablecloths, in sea foam green and white, had a foliage pattern, and placed on top were pink geraniums. A spread of crust-free finger sandwiches, Saltine crackers, green and purple grapes, Brie cheese and lemon bars was on a table in the center of the room, and off in one corner was an empty glass punch bowl.
The room, including its drop ceiling and folding chairs, was decidedly church basement bazaar. But while awaiting Tutu, the sizeable crowd of practicing Episcopalians, clergy and churchgoing Michigan State University students mingled and chatted excitedly no matter their location. Tutu especially prizes the potential and vibrancy of younger people, according to Bishop Wendell Gibbs, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, who was on hand. "If there are too many adults around," said Gibbs, who Tutu had dinner with Tutu last year in Ann Arbor, "he'll push them aside and say that he wants to talk only to the children."
Tutu's arrival was slated for 10 a.m., but he was running a little late. Julie Powers, a congregant, was wrangling the whole affair, feverishly running around, receiving communiqués by cell phone about the archbishop's whereabouts. Shortly before 10, Powers stood in the doorway of the room and announced Tutu would be arriving "at any moment."
The room went silent and there was a collective snapping of necks as the 30 or so in attendance all turned their heads toward Powers.
In the back of the room, someone poured ice into that empty punch bowl.
When Tutu did finally arrive, he did so like an apparition. All of a sudden he was standing in the doorway, head to toe in casual black clerical garb, smiling and with his arms out as if ready to give a hug.
"Please forgive me for running late," he said, smiling. Gibbs approached him first and the two embraced. Tutu then went around the room and shook everyone's hand. (Upon reaching this reporter and a Channel 10 newscaster, he pointed his finger and in mock anger said, "You! You look like reporters!")
The room belonged to Tutu, and everyone moved around him like he was some sort of reanimated ancient deity.
And for Episcopalians, it seems, he is. Before Tutu arrived, there was some discussion of whether one would have to kiss a ring or use a very formal designation in addressing him. But his "archbishop" (of Cape Town) title is in emeritus, and he appeared to prefer being called just Desmond, or perhaps Mr. Tutu.
Tutu's renown is for his role in stopping apartheid, the brutal South African system of segregation, through non-violent activism and successful lobbying of private and governmental interests to divest of that country. But for a man who took on such an unfathomable challenge, and who won a Nobel Peace Prize for it, he was humble, friendly and quite funny — like when he joked that being referred to in the third-person usually only happens to people confined to wheelchairs. Or later, when a MSU student asked how to prepare oneself for receiving a Nobel Prize, Tutu said that you only need three things: a big nose (points to his own nose), an easy name ("Like 'Tutu'") and sexy legs.
Tutu declined an invitation to food, tea or coffee because he had already eaten breakfast (he stayed at the Kellogg Center) and took a seat in the center of three large tables that had been put together in the shape of a "U." The MSU students sat around him with their plates of food as the adults stood around eager for a speech.
"I'm very, very thrilled to meet up with yourselves," he began. "I've been upset with the media because of the whole way you tend to get portrayed. When one or two kids go awry, they get very widely publicized. Hardly anything is said about the incredible things young people are doing."
After Tutu spoke, one student stood up and asked, "Will I be bogged down by work, or will there be a point where everything is fulfilling?"
"No!" Tutu said.
Another student, Harold, who said he had just finished his doctorate, asked what Tutu thinks about a potential schism in the church between congregations that allow gay ministers and those that are opposed to it. It took him a bit of time to get there, but Tutu said he thinks the hubbub is un-Christian.
"We have a Jesus Christ who consistently stands on the side of minorities who are clobbered," Tutu said. "(To persecute people) goes contrary to all the principles."
After answering the question, Tutu said a prayer, part in English and part in Xhosa, a South African language.
"Lord make us instruments of peace …" he began.
After the prayer, Tutu spent what seemed like an excruciatingly long time patiently posing for pictures with a humbled and grateful flock.


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This week's guest: Sarah VanTassel, a photographer living and working in Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania. Please have a closer look at her work at sarahvantassel.com. Thank you for being our guest, Sarah!
This week's guest is Sarah VanTassel – please have a closer look at her work at sarahvantassel.com.
This week's guest was Sarah VanTassel from Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania. Please, visit sarahvantassel.com for a closer look at her work.
Thank you for having been our guest, Sarah!
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text: what time do you stop mowing residentials at night... all the way till the sun sets say 8:45 pm. seems pretty late since alot of parents probably put their young kids to bed around 8:30pm. just trying to get a feel for how late i can schedule jobs to. doing this partime and my fulltime i get off at 3:30, ready to start mowing at 4:15 want to get as many jobs in as i can.


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PHAMALy celebrates 20th Anniversary with 'Man of La Mancha'
The Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League (PHAMALY) celebrates its 20th anniversary with "Man of La Mancha" now playing through August 16 in the Space Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. through August 16.
Directed by Steven Wilson with Musical Direction by Donna Debreceni and Choreography by Debbie Stark and Cindy Bray, the reviews are in!
"Man of LaMancha is a triumph!" - Denver Westword
"... PHAMALy once again proves that no star is unreachable. And the world will be better for this."
- The Denver Post
This critically acclaimed American musical written by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, is inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote. The play chronicles the misadventures of a mad Spaniard who imagines himself the knight Don Quixote on a quest to attain the unattainable.
The theme celebrates the journey of our lives as enhanced by the passionate gift of imagination with memorable musical numbers including "The Impossible Dream" and "Dulcinea."
The cast includes Leonard E. Barrett Jr. in the role of Cervantes/ Don Quixote and Regan Linton in the role of Aldonza/ Dulcinea. PHAMALY welcomes Jeremy Palmer back to the company as Sancho Panza. Palmer was last seen as Joseph in PHAMALY's award-winning 2005 production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Joining him on stage for "Man of La Mancha" is wife Lyndsay Palmer, who was last seen this past January in "Steel Magnolias." Daniel Traylor, last seen the 2007 production of "Urinetown" shines in the role of Anselmo.
Rounding out the cast are many veterans and new actors to the PHAMALY stage including Mark Dissette (Innkeeper), Jenna Bainbridge (Antonia), Amber Marsh (Housekeeper of Quixote), Don Mauck (Padre), Jason Dorwart (Dr. Carrasco), Nick Ortiz Trammell (Barber/Juan), Stephen Hahn (Pedro), Chaz Jacobson (Governor), Kevin Pettit (Tenorio), Laurice Quinn (Paco), Alex Marin (Jose/ Guitar Player), Muleteers; Devin Vogal Woodall, Leslie Rusher, Samantha Barrasso and Kevin Ahl, Jodi Hogle (Maria the Innkeepers Wife),Briana Berthiaume (Fermina the Serving Girl at Inn), Edward Blackshere (Duke), Lyndsay Palmer (Ensemble/ Lead Gypsy Dancer), Michael Danahey (Ensemble/ Captain) and ensemble members Tara Cowan, Ray Angel, Angie Aguilar, Donna Gunnison, Molly Nash, Esha Mehta, Genevieve Kawamoto and Julius Gordon.
Tickets are $30 adult, $28 senior/student/military and can be purchased by calling Denver Center Ticketing at 303-893-4100; online at www.phamaly.org; at Tickets West outlets in all regional King Soopers stores; or at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. $22 tickets groups of ten or more call 303-931-7241.
Audio Described and signed performance on Sunday, August 9. Post performance talk backs with the cast will be offered on August 9 and 15th.
Now celebrating its 20th season, PHAMALY is an award winning Colorado based Theatre Company comprised entirely of performers with a wide variety of physical challenges. PHAMALY's core mission is to enable persons with disabilities to showcase their talents and abilities through live performance and to make the performing arts more accessible to everyone.
Photos by: Todd Debrecini
Donna Gunison, Samatha Barrasso, Lyndsy Palmer, Esha Metha and Ray Angle
Leaonard E. Barrett, Jr.
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From This Author Greg Rice


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Dancer Finds Shen Yun Gorgeous
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Shen Yun Performing Arts enchanted the audience at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Feb. 3.
Connie Sparrow, a real estate agent, and her friend Pat, who does ballet, ballroom, and jazz dancing—"not for living, but for love"—were enthralled by the performance.
"I thought it was gorgeous; the costumes, and the dancing," Pat said.
Ms. Sparrow, meanwhile, had a previous connection to China, given that her great aunt had been a missionary to China from 1919 to 1924.
"They were just beautiful costumes. The way the women glided across the floor was amazing. The men are very athletic, to say the least," Ms. Sparrow said. "We like the way it went from the stage into the screen, it was an excellent use of multimedia.
New York-based Shen Yun has one mission—to revive the 5,000 year old, divinely inspired Chinese culture, according to its website.
"A Shen Yun performance features the world's foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending the sounds of both East and West, breathtaking backdrops, splendid costumes, singers—together creating an experience that's leaving millions in awe," the website states. The company travels to more than 100 cities and 20 countries each year.
Pat, who preferred not to share her surname, said she really loved the dancing and the dainty movements.
Ms. Sparrow said that she was particularly taken by the performance Sewing the Flowers of Heaven, including the use of props. "It was very interesting how they incorporated that into the dance and story line," she said. In that performance the dancers sew a gossamer silk cloth with their delicate fingers. "They unfurl their masterpiece in the heavens, where it scatters flowers of blessing for all of humankind," says Shen Yun's program book.
Both Ms. Sparrow and Pat, who preferred not to share her surname, were interested and moved by the several dance pieces that portray the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China, and their struggle for freedom of belief. A Shen Yun performance titled An Unexpected Encounter brought that subject to life.
Falun Dafa was introduced in China in the early 90s and has helped over 100 million Chinese 'understand and return to the essence of traditional Chinese culture—Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist schools of thought," according to Shen Yun's website. Later, the Chinese Communist Party launched a campaign against the practice, but the practioners have stood strong and, with their spirit of compassion and tolerance, "manifest the very essence of China's 5,000 year old divine culture."
Ms. Sparrow said her mother went to China the year before the Tiananmen Square massacre, during which pro-democracy students were killed on June 4, 1989.
Ms. Sparrow continued: "She had a wonderful time. The Chinese are so friendly and loving. It's a shame that the government stamps everything out."
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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JACKSON — Entergy Mississippi Inc. announced an investment of approximately $500 million in upgrading and bolstering transmission facilities within the state between 2006 and 2013.
These projects represent the completion, initiation and planning of major phases in Entergy Mississippi's comprehensive plan to upgrade, improve and strengthen its transmission system.
From 2006 through 2008, Entergy Mississippi completed and put into service new substations, upgraded substation equipment and upgraded transmission lines representing nearly $90 million in investments. In 2009, that number was more than $38 million.
During the years from 2010 through 2013, the company expects to invest an additional $376 million-plus in further upgrades and expansions. While the number of jobs created is not yet known, these investments represent a positive impact on Mississippi's economy through dollars spent on both contractors and materials necessary to complete these projects.
Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO of Entergy Mississippi, said, "We spent significant time and effort analyzing and designing the most cost-efficient solutions that provide the greatest benefits to our customers, while at the same time helping improve reliability and meeting the power demands the future will surely bring."
Entergy Mississippi said the investments will contribute to customer reliability by providing redundant routes of electrical service so that if there is a transmission line fault, the number of customers affected will be greatly reduced. Additionally, many of these projects provide stronger power ties to alternative sources. By having more sources, new ways to move power and flexibility in the system to adapt to changing conditions, system operators have more ways to provide service under widely varying load conditions.
Throughout the planning, design and construction phases, Entergy teams worked closely with local and state government officials, permitting agencies, regulatory bodies and communities where these projects were built.
While the company's transmission engineering and construction group spearheaded these projects, multiple departments within the company worked together to bring these projects to reality. Regulatory, customer service, distribution and economic development employees, among others, all played important roles in getting these projects designed, planned, approved and built.
Projects include new substations, equipment upgrades at existing substations, upgrading transmission lines, new transformers, voltage regulators and other items that will bolster and strengthen the company's transmission system. Projects are located throughout the Entergy Mississippi service territory.


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Mises Daily Articles
Smokers Away
The hypocrisy of the federal government appears limitless. Now it's suing the big tobacco companies for $25 billion. Mind you, they're not going after the cigar companies, which, of course, don't have "deep pockets." Just cigarettes smokers and makers—America's most embattled minority.
How can the government sue these companies? It sanctioned the sale of cigarettes for years. It collected billions of dollars in taxes. It gave free butts to its military for decades. It knew for years that smokes are dangerous. But it waits until now to say anything about illegality?
Moreover, the government is headed by a man who smokes cigars, and the number two man in the government used to brag that he farmed tobacco (that is until he found out that he could exploit his sister's death from lung cancer to win re-election in 1996).
On what legal or moral basis can the government sue? It's one thing for an individual to sue big tobacco--although how someone could say he or she didn't know that too much smoking causes health problems is a great mystery. But the government has all the legal authority to do this as a bunch of shakedown artists.
The government has gotten rich off the profits of big tobacco. Now, apparently, it wants a lot more. If there's any crime here, the government is virtually a co-conspirator. The government was delighted to collect huge taxes. If smoking was wrong---and apparently only smoking cigs is evil, not, for the moment, cigars or pipes---why did the government accept the billions of dollars in taxes? Why did it push these products with its military?
By the way, the government, with its vast resources at both the federal and state levels, can sue you, me or any industry. It can destroy a person's life (see the Sedition Act period of World War I, FDR's political prosecutions, and recent targeted audits). It can destroy an industry (private railroads, housing in New York City that was ruined by idiotic, politically motivated rent control laws, etc), but what practical recourse does the individual have when a government blunders? Meanwhile, Janet Reno will never have to worry about the consequences of any ridiculous lawsuits she's filed.
Even if you don't care about the fate of tobacco companies per se, you should care about private property. If the government can arrogate the private property of tobacco execs, then it can take the property of anyone and everyone.
I am reminded of the Robert Caro biography of Robert Moses ("Power Broker"). In the 20s, the New York public seemed to cheer when Moses ran roughshod over the rights of the rich who owned estates on Long Island so he could start building the state park system. That was ok. Who doesn't hate the rich? Along with obese people in 1999, these are minorities who one can rip and suffer no consequences.
However, later in his career, when Moses moved against working-class neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn, then---and only then---did Moses finally run into some opposition, although the Cross-Bronx Expressway (a monument to the stupidity and arrogance of government planners) was still built. Every time my car goes over this nightmare of a road I think of the poltroon pols who were happy to allow Moses to have unlimited power as long as he trampled on the rights of politically impotent groups.
Where will this all end? Today, the tobacco industry. Tomorrow the liquor industry. What's after that? Who knows? But remember hooligans don't stop after one or two successes. They become emboldened and will go after anyone and everyone that the pc police momentarily decides has run afoul of their standards. Careers are wrecked. Businesses destroyed. Liberty is endangered.
Woodrow Wilson, the great hero of today's liberals (who really are more socialists than liberals) should read up on history. Wilson illegally jailed tens of thousands of Americans whose "crime" was they opposed World War I. FDR not only jailed loyal Japanese-Americans, he connived in the theft of their property. Wilson's actions, of course, encouraged government and private "patriotic" groups to outlaw the teaching of German and the playing of Beethoven.
That this same government sets itself up as a moral authority; that it implicitly claims the right to persecute people for ex-posto facto crimes, is why I believe the only way for liberty to be safe in any country is to have a weak, de-centralized, limited government. Wasn't that the promise of the original constitution, which, unsurprisingly, is scorned by today's pc types?
The rule of law---especially the concept of the Der Rechtsstaat, a German philosophical legal tradition holding that governments must be subject to law, a tradition spanning Immanuel Kant to Gneist---becomes a mockery. Why do we accept this? Remember, like Vietnam, the idiotic Gulf War and the despicable 79 days of useless bombing in the Balkans, it's all being done with our money and in our name. This is what we want? In the words of income-tax hating W.C. Fields, "include me out."
Let's face the truth: The government wants to go ahead with various health care and other new social welfare boondoggles. The average American will not accept higher taxes to pay for more failed social programs that have a wonderful record of building dependency and of discouraging independence.
So where does the government go for more money? Attack the rich. Attack the big fat tobacco companies. After all, many people think, it's not going to affect me. So why should I get excited when an injustice is perpetrated? After all, these people think, I was never particularly fond of some minority, anyway.
Myopia has always been dangerous to liberty. I don't smoke; why should I care if the tobacco companies are destroyed? Let the wolves have their fun, the average person thinks, as long as they leave me alone. That is a terrible mistake. If the government gets away with this, then the security of all private property is endangered.
The idea of private property is that it supposed to be a brake on the power of government. It is a place where, supposedly, we can enjoy our lives in our own way. Where we can feel secure. If there is a justification for a minimal government, it is to ensure that people can enjoy their property under law.
How can any property owner feel secure if every property owner doesn't feel secure? What's happening to big tobacco can happen to any other business, any other industry. What happens to any business can happen to any individual. Many of us who think we are law-abiding people may be today committing crimes that will result in disastrous lawsuits costing millions and maybe billions of dollars in damages. And for those with the greatest potential for success, for entrepreneurial success, are the most in danger.
Sinclair Lewis, who over 60 years ago wrote a novel about a fascist America, was right: It can happen here. Buzz Windrip (The central character of the novel who is obviously Huey Long) may well turn out to be Bill Clinton. Will we let these "economic populists" succeed?


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|You are in: World: Africa
Friday, 2 March, 2001, 15:00 GMT
Mozambique: Prepared but overwhelmed
By Joseph Hanlon, co-author of a new book on last year's Mozambique floods
As floodwaters rise on the Zambezi, Mozambique's navy has picked up more than 8,000 stranded people using rubber boats donated by the international community for last year's floods.
This is the second year of major flooding, and a similar pattern is emerging.
Both this year and last year, predictions of heavy rain led to flood warnings and extensive preparation by the Mozambican government, local non-government organisations such as the Red Cross, and United Nations agencies such as the World Food Programme.
International help is needed to provide fuel for the boats and helicopters, and to provide tents, food and clean water for the tens of thousands who are forced to flee to high ground.
Media images
Dramatic television pictures and appeals for help by international agencies tend to present a picture of helplessness.
But they miss the extensive preparation and organisation which had already been done at local level.
Research for my book on last year's floods pointed to three months of preparation, which provided an essential foundation and infrastructure for the massive international support.
Local input
The result was remarkably successful international cooperation, with human, material and financial international aid providing vital help to the Ministry of Health, Red Cross and local government who were already in action dealing with huge numbers of displaced people.
Last year the Mozambican military rescued 17,000 people, but with very few boats and no helicopters. This year, the boats donated by the international community for last year's flood were put to use quickly.
Mozambique's air force has only two helicopters, but this year, because of the advance warnings, both were serviced and ready to fly, and are now in use for rescue and reconnaissance.
Rescue efforts
In the same way as last year, many people are currently refusing to abandon their homes and cattle even though they are being given adequate warning.
As the water rises, some of these need to be rescued.
But the South African helicopters and planes now arriving in Mozambique will mainly be used to get food and other supplies to the tens of thousands of people forced to flee to high ground.
In many cases they are camped in places totally cut off by floodwaters from access by road and can only be supplied by air.
With a record flood in a very poor country, international help is essential. But that help is only effective because of local organisation.
"Mozambique and the Great Flood of 2000" is available from James Currey Publishers, at �11.95 (about $18) plus postage.
See also:
02 Mar 01 | Africa
Picture gallery: Mozambique floods
16 Nov 00 | World
Human cost of dams 'too high'
25 Feb 01 | Africa
Eyewitness: Malawi flood misery
23 Feb 01 | Africa
Mozambique fears more rain
22 Feb 01 | Africa
Mozambique in $30m flood appeal
24 Jan 01 | Africa
Climate problems predicted for Africa
Internet links:
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Links to more Africa stories are at the foot of the page.
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It's really hard to make a good musical because what works on Broadway won't necessarily sell to a mainstream audience. Alterations and compromises must be made, but the truly great musicals, the Greases and The Rocky Horror Picture Shows live well beyond their sell by dates. It's all risk/reward, but as these things go, the upcoming Rock Of Ages is shaping up to be one of the surest musical bets in a long time.
According to Deadline, Russell Brand looks to be the next in a long string of A-listers excited about coming on board. The adaptation of the over-the-top musical already has Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise very interested, and now the Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek star is working out the details. It all comes back to Cruise. Once he makes it official, the others will fall into place.
If rumors are correct, Brand will play Lonnie, the underling of Baldwin's character, and his duet partner in an epic REO Speedwagon rendition. You may remember REO Speedwagon as Billy Madison's favorite band, and while the t-shirt may not have earned him cool points when he went back to high school, it'll certainly score big with nostalgic hair metal fans the world over. I can't fight this feeling Rock Of Ages will be awesome. Who wouldn't want to hear these three belt out the most ludicrous anthems of the me decade? Big hair, big box office returns.
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Marvell enters switch-chip market with DSP-embedded device
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SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Marvell Semiconductor Inc. here has entered the switch-chip business, rolling out an integrated solution for low-cost systems in Ethernet- and Fast Ethernet-based networks.
The new product from high-flying Marvell will compete in the switch-chip market against the likes of Broadcom, Galileo, Intel, Lucent, and a slew of Taiwanese vendors that have recently entered the fray.
Built around Marvell's digital signal processor (DSP) technology, the new 88E6050 is a five-port product that integrates several components on the same device. The functions include five 10BaseT/100BaseTX transceivers, five independent Fast Ethernet media access controllers (MACs), a non-blocking switch fabric, an address look-up engine, and 1-megabit of embedded frame buffer memory.
The 88E6050 also features what the company claims is true "plug and play" networking installation. Based on the company's Automatic-MDI/MDIX crossover technology, this "plug-and-play" feature enables systems to automatically detect wired cables, making installation easier and less expensive for the end-users.
"A critical factor in the high-volume, cost-sensitive SOHO market is to ensure ease of installation," said Weili Dai, executive vice president and general manager of the Data Communications Group at Marvell. "Marvell's integrated, DSP-based Ethernet switch, targeted at end-users that may not have access to an IT support infrastructure, is a true 'plug and play' solution," he said.
Marvell's product is compliant with the applicable sections of IEEE 802.3, 802.3u, and 802.3x standards. The device can be configured as a standalone, five-port 10/100BaseTX switch. The fifth port can be used as a 100BaseFX fiber uplink.
The shared memory-based switch-fabric utilizes Marvell's switch architecture. The look-up engine allows for up to 4,096 active nodes to be connected with the switch.
The chip is now available in a 128-pin PQFP package, but the company did not disclose pricing.


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What's the worst part about falling in love with a British television series? You've got to wait way too long for the show to hit DVD in the US. The first series of Life on Mars was released on DVD in the UK back in May of 2006, and the second in April of 2007. Over three years later, the first series hit shelves in the states and the second is following close behind. Thanks to Acorn Media, you can own Life on Mars, Series 2 on DVD November 24th.
Normally, after someone is hit by a car, they wind up in the hospital. In Sam Tyler's case, he winds up in 1973. He still works for the Manchester and Salford Police as a Detective Inspector, but now works for his boss' predecessor, who isn't thrilled with his modern law-enforcing tactics. Sam's show-opening monologue says it all, "My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? Whatever's happened, it's like I've landed on a different planet. Now, maybe if I can work out the reason, I can get home."
In addition to eight episodes, the DVD also comes with the documentary "The Return of Life on Mars"; behind-the-scenes footage for the third, fifth, and seventh episodes; as well as a tour of the set and the featurette "The End of Life on Mars." I've never seen the show, but if you go by the generally positive critical consensus and the series' International Emmy Award for Best Drama, the $59.99 is likely worth spending.
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Since we opened in March of 2010, we have strived to be local in every way--a product of its place, dedicated to local farmers and local tastes, local vendors and local artisans, local community and local people.
All of our vegetables and fruit, all of our meat and fish, all of our dairy and eggs, all of our olive oil and rice, all of our wine and beer are sourced from the astounding bounty of California.
We serve casual, counter-service lunch and brunch and more formal, table-service dinner.
DINNER Tuesday - Saturday 5:30 - 10:00
3111 24th Street San Francisco, CA 94110
info @ localmissioneatery.com


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Nafisah's 5th Natural Hair AnniversaryThe Big DayApril 6th, 20184 months to go.
Hair Stats
Last Relaxer Application: 6th April, 2013
Big Chop: 9th August, 2013
Hair length (October 2015) : 11"/APL
Trims: 5
Last trim: October 2015
Next trim: August 2017
Current Hair Colour: Natural black
Goals: Retain 16 inches by April 2018
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Category Archives: Book Reviews
My Summer Reading List…Inspired by http://amckiereads.com
Inspired by http://amckiereads.com Yellow Yellow By Kaine Agary —-CHECK! I'll be keeping you up to date with the book reviews. Advertisements
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Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie's Americanah
I have fallen do deeply in love with Ngozi Chimamanda's previous novels "Half of a Yellow Sun" and "Purple Hibiscus' so couldn't help posting something about her new novel "Americanah"; this one I haven't read. I am encouraging you all … Continue reading
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She's from Texas and she's a font-a-holic (aren't we all?) Learn more about her by reading the interview below.
I'm a native Texan. I grew up in North Texas, near the Dallas area. I went to college at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, which is in west Texas. My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Fredericksburg and fell in love with the Hill Country. We plan to retire there one day and he promises I can have a goat named Wynona. But for now we live in a small-ish town south of Dallas.
2. Can you tell us a bit about your blogging/TpT journey?
About 3 summers ago I was looking for classroom decorating ideas. I found a few blogs and I was blown away by all of these amazing teachers. I noticed that most of them were K – 2 and I taught 3rd Grade Reading so I felt there might be other Upper Elementary teachers looking for ideas. Since then, I have changed positions to a GT Specialist. I also blog on two collaborative blogs, Adventures in Literacy Land and Who's Who and Who's New.
|Deniece's mermaid-themed classroom
My favorite way to communicate with followers is through Facebook. This summer we had great conversations! I also showcase freebies there and I think my followers appreciate the help.
3. Does Texas influence the way you create resources?
Texas doesn't use Common Core, our teaching standards are called TEKS (I say t-ee-ks). Every resource I make for TpT is aligned to the TEKS. Normally they also align to CCSS as well. We also take a high stakes test called the STAAR. Many of my resources are written in a STAAR – friendly format. One of my top sellers is a testing strategies pack for 3rd – 5th Grade, STAAR Reading Test Prep Posters & Song.
4. Your daughter has just started kindergarten. Being a teacher, is it weird to see the classroom/school from the point of view of a parent? Is it easier or tougher?
I knew when my daughter went to Kindergarten it would be emotional. But, I didn't expect it to be so busy! She doesn't go to school in the district I teach in, so scheduling has become an issue.
It has become incredibly clear to me that Teacher-Parent Communication has a huge impact on student success and on teacher success. I have made such improvements in that area this year. I see my students once a week and after every class I use Class Dojo to message parents what we did in class and a few questions they can ask their child/ren.
|Deniece is now "the parent"
5. I know you're a font-a-holic and your free fonts are super fun! If you had to select one of your fonts to represent your state, which one would it be? Why?
If I had to pick a font to represent Texas it would be Little Piggy's Peaches. I made it when my husband and I were on our 5th Anniversary trip in Fredericksburg, Texas and we were eating our way through a paper sack full of Hill Country peaches! YUM! Every letter is different and every part of Texas is so different. We have hills, mountains, beaches, prairieland and skyscrapers.
Click to download a FREE set of fonts that includes "Little Piggy's Peaches"!
If you don't follow Deniece's blog, what are you waiting for? And don't forget to check out her FB page, Pinterest boards, and Twitter profile!
READ: Teaching Across the USA: Heather from Virginia
And if you're teaching in the US, join the party! If you're not in the US, you're welcome, too!
ETA: I had a lovely blogger from Canada ask me if this linky wouldn't be open to teachers in other countries. Originally, it wasn't, but being myself from Brazil, I sure couldn't say no to her. So that's how it goes now. I'll keep on interviewing American teachers, but the linky is open to every teacher-blogger!
Grab the image below, complete the sentences, blog about it, and come link up! The linky will be open for a week!
After linking, stop by the blog of the two people who linked before you and comment :)
Thank you so much for reading and linking!


text: The ever-growing popularity of WordPress has resulted with several marketplaces for selling WordPress related products. While there are lots of marketplaces for selling WordPress themes, you won't find more than a few online shops for selling WordPress plugins. Among the handful of plugin marketplaces, CodeCanyon is undoubtedly in the leading position. At the time of writing this post, there are 3,635 plugins available there. This huge collection includes all types of plugins for different purposes. Have you ever wondered what the most popular (11 comments)


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Enroll in summer art camps
Summer Art Camp, weekly partial and full-day classes for preschool through teens in pottery, drawing, painting, sculpture, mosaic, animation, fiber arts, jewelry-making, creative dramatics, musical theater, and much more, offered through Aug. 24, remains open for enrollment at The Phipps Center for the Arts.
Classes are taught by area artists with extensive education experience, including "Just Add Water", an art and science class for ages 8 through 13, on Monday through Friday, July 16 to 20, from 1 to 4 p.m. taught by Liz Malanaphy; "Sculpture in 3-D" for ages 7 through 13 on Monday through Friday, July 16 through 20, from 1 to 4 p.m. taught by Karron Nottingham; and "Fun with Clay" for ages 4 through 6 on Monday through Wednesday, July 16 through 18, from 9 to 10 a.m. taught by Ben Gavin.
Summer Art Camp class fees range from $19 to $265. For more information on these and other classes, or to enroll, go to http://www.ThePhipps.org/events/summer-art-camp, or call (715) 386-2305.


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Occasionally, I am reminded of this memo. One of the best memos I have read. And coincidentally (synchronistically, perhaps), I had a guest speaker throw me a t-shirt in a presentation today and I left it there. Not only because I am not an XL (I could have made pillows out of that thing...several), but because I have fashion sense. And because long ago, after the novelty of branded t-shirt wore off (perhaps 6 months after I started here and I started giving a while the several I had stacked in my closet...back then, the concept of "more" was still resonating with me), I stopped picking up t-shirts when offered. I am more of a sticker gal so I can use them to graffiti up my laptop (trust me, nobody gets my used laptops, I use them until they die (and sometimes that happens with a cute little puff of smoke from a foul smell emitting motherboard....how's that for n-1?). And I had a conversation today that involved the utterance of the word deeply meaningful across the Microsoft campus (if you have been here for some length of time): "towels". Oh, gawd, the towels.
Here I go with the cosmic messaging thing again. In one day, I have a meeting about sending out an RFI for services ($$), I have a t-shirt tossed my way and we plan reservations for a team dinner (which interestingly serves shrimp but no weenies) and sits over a restaurant that serves weenies and no shrimp. 10-4, message received.
Yesterday (was it yesterday?) , I'm getting those "you can have it all" messages. I just watched "Tori and Dean" (don't judge, I want her to be my friend and I want my own "gay posse"!) and the whole episode was about her finding difficulty striking a balance between her role as mother and her work. Interesting. Something discreet sent me over the edge about that topic yesterday. Gotcha universe. I'll be paying more attention to improving my life outside of work. Cuz lawd knows, the work side of the equation, well, my cup overfloweth.
And the speaker we had today talked about creating life rules. And I was just worrying about the fact that I'm low on blog fodder, mostly because I find very few things interesting when work is humming. Anyhoo, what I get from this (and tell me if you would draw the same conclusion) is that I need to create my own life rules, not just for work (where I am pretty consistently n-1), but also in my personal life. Even if I have to date some weenies.
Wait, what?


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I have a thing for iPhone wallet cases. The ability to carry my iPhone and my credit cards in one unit and leave my wallet at home really pleases me, and I'm disappointed when I have to use a case without this functionality.
When I stumbled across the Zenok leather wallet case on Etsy, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. This unique iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S case is made using a silicone shell that is stitched inside a handmade, leather wallet, which boasts three card slots, and a pocket for your cash.
Each Zenok case is dyed by hand and purposely built to be different and unique, which is why I'm yet to see another iPhone case like it. As you'd expect, it also provides access to all of your iPhone's buttons and ports, as well as its camera.
It might be pretty and unique, then, but is it worth its $60 price tag?


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Product Review -
Balanced Power Technologies BP-2 AC Line Conditioner - September, 2001
John Kotches
Model BP-2, Ultra Edition
Fully Balanced AC Power Line Conditioner
8 Outlets
Maximum Output: 17.5 Amperes
Dimensions: 5" H x 12" W x 12" D
Weight: 40 Pounds
for Ultra Edition
Balanced Power Transformers, Inc., Phone 314-603-1483; E-Mail [email protected]; Web http://www.b-p-t.com
Several months ago, I am loathe to admit, I was running without any kind of power conditioning whatsoever. In my old home, with old wiring, I didn't really feel the need for any power conditioning because hey, my system sounded pretty good.
Then I started getting transformer mechanical hum from one of my amplifiers, and I simply could not get rid of it. I was discussing this problem with JJ and Stacey to try to isolate the cause. At that point, JJ decided to send me the Equi=Tech 2Q product to see if that might resolve the issue. In the span of a single weekend, I became a power conditioning convert. No more transformer hum, and without changing volume, my system seemed louder.
The time came to send the Equi=Tech back, as it was more expensive than I could afford, and a posting on one of the Internet forums led me to the company whose product is under review.
Balanced Power Transformers is headed up by Chris Hoff, and I purchased this unit untested, which is the norm for a company that sells factory direct. Not everyone is comfortable making these types of purchases, and I can understand the hesitation. The good news is that most factory direct companies offer a money back trial period. If you aren't satisfied with the product, you have a certain number of days in which to return it. In BPTs case, you have 30 days to make your decision, and you may return for full credit anytime within that 30 days. In that case, you are out shipping to and from the factory, and that's it. I consider this a fair and reasonable cost for the privilege of an extended in-home audition.
BPT's goal is to deliver a quality balanced power unit at a more reasonable cost than their competitors. By eschewing some of the bells and whistles, they are able to come in at their (relatively) modest price.
Balanced Power Means 60V + 60V = 120V
You've read about various and sundry balanced power solutions in Secrets for some time, and the results of our DVD benchmarks bear objective evidence that some power solutions can make measurable (and audible and visible differences) within our A/V systems. The concept of balanced power is considered by some to be a tweak. However, for countries using 240V power delivery (much of Europe for example), they're already receiving balanced power.
The US National Electric Code now recommends that Audio/Video systems be connected to balanced power systems, lending further credence to our objective results that using balanced power wherever possible is a substantial improvement for your entire system.
Here's my read of balanced power, and you can compare it with JJ's and Stacey's explanations in other Secrets reviews.
In the United States, our power standard is 120V from the wall. Most electronics are wired with 3 prong outlets, labeled Hot, Neutral and Ground. The normal (which could correctly be referred to as single-ended) delivery method provides 120V potential between the Hot and Ground lines, and 0V potential between the Neutral and Ground lines. That is what it's supposed to be. Unfortunately, since everyone in the neighborhood is on your power grid, we end up with significant voltage between neutral and ground.
Balanced power delivers +60V between Hot and Ground and -60V between neutral and ground. This gives a total potential of 60V + 60V, or 120V, the same as your component is expecting. The positive benefit is that most power line noise is common between the two lines, and will get cancelled when summing the two circuits together (called Common Mode Rejection) or CMR).
A differential (a.k.a. balanced) circuit topology in an audio component (if it's truly balanced) will also get the same noise reduction benefits (again, called CMR).
The Ultra Edition I purchased includes BPT's CA-7 power cord instead of their usual CA-10 power cord, along with upgraded capacitors, chassis damping, hospital grade outlets, and the Stainless Steel (vs. powder coated steel on the standard edition). You'll have to decide for yourself if you consider the Ultra Edition worth the extra $200, but that is what I purchased.
What's underneath the hood?
The heart of this product is front and center, a 2 kVA (2,000 watts) balanced power transformer. The connections off the transformer are fed to each of the four sets of hospital grade duplex outlets. This is where almost the entire weight of the BP-2 is concentrated.
Here's a shot of the backside of the "business end", and you can see the wiring to the outlets, along with the various capacitors used within the BP-2. The capacitors help filter out high frequency noise (RF).
Finally, we get to the power outlets. These are hospital grade, and you have to exert a bit of force to insert your power cords into them. You also have to give a solid tug to remove them, which means your power cord probably won't get pulled out accidentally. Yes, in the snarled mess behind my system, I've had that happen.
BPTs CA-7 power cable is hard wired (non-detachable), and it's silver plated copper, with Teflon dielectric. It's nicely made, and unlike most audiophile water hoses (I mean power cables), it is flexible. You can work it around the rack easily for organizing that snarl of cables. For vibration isolation from your rack (or wherever the transformer resides), brass footers are used. They're barely visible beneath the unit in this picture.
Internal vibration control (on the Signature and Ultra editions) is accomplished by the damping material pictured here, which is a rubbery pad attached to the inside top of the case.
This leads me to the one area that I feel could be slightly improved, the fit and finish.
I think that the chassis could be a little stronger than it is, and I thought the cover was less than a perfect fit. I had to plug the power cord into the outlets to align the cover and the screw holes inside the chassis to reattach the cover. Once reinstalled though, you'd never know it was a mild adventure to get it all reconnected, and it is unlikely a consumer would have to open the case in the first place.
So, what doesn't this product have that its more expensive competitors do? Obviously some features have to give to deliver the BP-2 at this price. Voltage regulation isn't included, so you get ostensibly what is put in, but balanced. This isn't quite true, as there seems to be a slightly greater than 1:1 turns ratio between primary and secondary. When I measured voltage from my wall, it was at 122.4V. When measuring the output of the BP-2, I came up with 63.3V on both hot-ground and neutral-ground. This indicates a 1.034:1 turn ratio from secondary to primary taps. You get a little more voltage, and a little less current. There is no on/off switch, and there are no delayed turn-ons for components attached to the BP-2. BPT make no secret that this is a basic product, designed to do one thing well, namely provide balanced power to your audio/video system.
Also, neither this product (nor ANY of its competitors) can be 100% efficient. To do so would violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, paraphrased as "There is a price for all actions". The maximum draw on the circuit is 20A, and the maximum output is 17.5A, indicating a loss of 2.5A or 87.5% efficiency. Not exactly chopped liver. The power that isn't used for output ends up getting dissipated as heat, and indeed the case of the BP-2 gets slightly warm to the touch.
What it does for my system
At the present time, I don't have the luxury of a perfect electrical environment for my listening room. In fact, it's probably like most of our reader's rooms. I have presently a single 20A circuit which so far has sufficed to this point. At various times I have multiple high power amplifiers, and to this point I had not tripped my circuit breaker.
When my BP-2 arrived, I did what any self-respecting audio journalist would do. I immediately plugged it into the wall, and lost power to the room. I tripped the breaker. So, grudgingly I picked up the instruction sheet that comes with the BP-2 and read the simple directions. When you go to plug this in, turn everything else on the circuit breaker off. There's a massive inrush of current when the BP-2 is plugged into the wall ("Look Ma, no switch"), and if other items are powered on, you will likely trip the breaker. Learn from my experience if you purchase one! After the usual grumbling of having to go down to the basement to cycle the breaker, I got started again, and all was dandy. As an aside, the more expensive Equi=Tech has developed a way of avoiding this problem.
The effects of balanced power were to my ears easily detected. At any given volume level, the system sounds "louder" subjectively. Because the noise floor of your components is lowered (from the Common Mode Rejection of the balanced power transformer), you will perceive your system as louder even though the SPL meter isn't lying when it continues to blare the same 87dB at you.
The other noticeable effect is that none of my system's power transformers gave out a mechanical hum that was audible without literally putting my ear onto the chassis to hear the hum. Before using the BP-2, I could induce transformer hum and buzzing by simply turning on a halogen lamp on the same circuit as the power amplifiers. After installing the BP-2, with the halogen on low, a nasty buzz is emitted from the BP-2s transformers, yet all connected equipment remains blissfully silent, as if in testament to the ability of balanced power to remove the evil noise! By turning up the halogen to full, the buzz is gone from the BP-2s transformer.
In case you think the transformer hum is subjective, I measured the hum from one amplifier plugged straight into the wall, without the BP-2 attached, and got 63 dB at 1 foot. With the BP-2 powering the amplifier, the hum was not measurable with the Radio Shack meter, and undetectable by my ears without putting my ear to the amplifier chassis. This would indicate an attenuation in excess of 30 dB if my estimate is correct.
I was unable to connect my TV set to the BP-2 (too far from the unit), so I don't know what effects it would bring to display devices. Also, note that you are not supposed to use lighting equipment with balanced transformers. This is electrical code, not anything from BPT.
Balanced Power Technologies delivers tremendous bang for your power conditioning buck with the BP-2. In my system, it delivers most of the performance of its competitors at a small fraction of the price.
In an industry rife with sketchy science from some products, and particulate matters of mystical qualities from others, we have here a product which is based on a foundation of proven science. Inclusion of balanced power into the US' National Electrical Code lends credence to the validity of balanced power within your Audio/Video system.
If you want to investigate what Balanced Power can do for your system, and if you don't have the budget to investigate the balanced power offerings from BPTs more expensive competitors, give this product a look. You can always get your money back if you aren't satisfied.
- John Kotches -
© Copyright 2001 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
Return to Table of Contents for this Issue.


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So far, as a Virtual Assistant, I have been working mostly with agents that work with Keller Williams Realty. Prior to becoming a VA, I spent 6 years working with a team of agents who worked for Keller Williams and because of that experience, I can say I am an expert at KW's compliance rules. Things are different between each individual Keller Williams Broker, as I have learned working with several different Keller Williams branches, but they are all using a system called DotLoop for their paperwork, a system I know very well. The differences between each KW branch I have worked for are minor and easily learned. I have worked with other Brokers besides KW, but so far as a VA for those individuals, I have not dealt with their paperwork compliance outside of emailing a copy of the paperwork to the Broker, which is not difficult. Well, today I was asked by a client who has recently decided to changes brokers to go to their agent orientation with her. The new broker is Virtual Property Realty. It is very exciting to learn a new company's ways and master them like I have with KW. I am going to take all the classes a new agent would take with them to learn their system, and look forward to broadening my knowledge base so that I may offer my assistance to other Virtual Property Realty agents in the future.
Sarah has been very helpful with making some changes to my eAgent website. She is very knowledgeable about what she is doing and when in doubt, she was quick to find an answer. I think Sarah is a great asset and it is comforting to know she is there when I need her helpKaren Coleman - Keller Williams Realty Lanier Partners
It is my pleasure to recommend Sarah Frech to you. She meets a need for someone who needs help with things a personal assistant would do in an office setting. Any thing one would ask her to do she is well able to do.Judy Winfrey - Virtual Properties Realty.Com
I highly recommend Sarah for any and all your Real Estate "errands", market analysis, flyers etc. She is the best money I have spent in a long time. She is very personal and professional. She always gets my work done in a timely manner. Giver her a try, I think you'll like her.Oma Millwood - Virtual Properties Realty.Com
Sarah has been a true asset to my business from day one. It is wonderful to be able to give someone a list of task like posting something to my Facebook account, process a new contract in eEdge, put a listing in MLS and FMLS, check on the availability of homes sent to me from a client, and do a quick CMA and know she WILL get them done. She is very knowledgeable about how to get all these things and more done and in a timely and efficient manner. I have given her the nickname of "Salvation Sar…Shannon Stephens - Virtual Properties Realty.Com
Sarah has been the best thing that ever happened to our business. She is prompt, knowledgeable, professional and treats our business like her own. I worry about bragging about her though because I don't want to lose her or get her too busy!Brenda Burke - Keller Williams Realty Lanier Partners
Sarah Frech and REVA Services, LLC have been a life saver for my business. When I met Sarah, my book keeping for my two real estate businesses was almost a whole year behind! Sarah took the mess that was my accounting system and turned it into a current and manageable picture of my business cash flow. I have trusted Sarah completely with the most important aspect of my business, and she has performed with professionalism and integrity. Kathline Collins, Associate Broker Collins Property Gr…Kathline CollinsAssociate Broker
"Sarah Frech is the best. The BEST! She provides the ultimate in real estate support – and at a very reasonable rate. We think the neatest thing about Sarah's services goes even beyond her high quality and personal creativity. Even beyond her huge work ethic and friendly manner. The neatest aspect of Sarah's services is that she needs no instruction, direction or follow up. She picks up whatever pieces we give her and produces works of art. We know that when we ask Sarah to do anything…Bryant and Glenda Green - Berkshier Hathaway Georgia Properties
Brenda and I are very happy we found Sarah. Having her as a virtual assistant has helped us be much more productive. The ways she has helped us be more productive are the following: • Doing tasks immediately, instead of having to wait till we get back to the office, or when we have time, I can call or e-mail Sarah and have her get started right away. • She does many tasks better than us, so the quality of our work has gotten better. • She is able to do tasks that keep us from doing ou…Pat Burke - Keller Williams Realty Lanier Partners


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When Nintendo's Wii U launches this weekend, it won't arrive with most of its primary multimedia features — namely, Nintendo TVii, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, or Netflix. All were said to come pre-loaded on the new console, but reviewers found out early that a launch day patch would enable the functionality. As it turns out, that patch will actually arrive at some point in December, bearing Nintendo TVii, with the rest of the apps arriving "in the coming weeks" (no hard date is given for any of the apps). Read the full story at Engadget.
About Shelly Palmer
Named one of LinkedIn's Top 10 Voices in Technology, Shelly Palmer is CEO of The Palmer Group, a strategic advisory, technology solutions and business development practice focused at the nexus of media and marketing with a special emphasis on machine learning and data-driven decision-making. He is Fox 5 New York's on-air tech and digital media expert, writes a weekly column for AdAge, and is a regular commentator on CNBC and CNN. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com or subscribe to our daily email http://ow.ly/WsHcb
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Out with the Old, in with the New Hard Rock Stadium
As we head into the 2016-2017 season for NFL and NCAA Football, fans will encounter a fresh experience when they visit The New Miami Stadium. […]Continue reading »
As we head into the 2016-2017 season for NFL and NCAA Football, fans will encounter a fresh experience when they visit The New Miami Stadium. […]Continue reading »
After months of jockeying for position, the top teams in college football await the final College Football Playoff rankings. The CFP committee will choose the […]Continue reading »
Football has always been a huge part of my life, but not being a native Texan, understanding the way Texas folks talk about and view […]Continue reading »
The inaugural college football championship game at AT&T Stadium is only a few days away and signals a new era for college football. But with […]Continue reading »
Last night was one of the most exciting moments in the history of college football. Ohio State stunned Alabama, and Oregon gave Jameis Winston his […]Continue reading »
The 2014-15 college football bowl season is full of intriguing matchups. But no game offers the coaching duel that the Sugar Bowl does. The battle […]Continue reading »
In 2014-15, there are over 35 bowl games, meaning that the spectacle of college football's postseason has never been bigger. Still, over 100 years later, […]Continue reading »
This week's meeting between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals has a considerably higher amount of intrigue than what fans expected entering the season. […]Continue reading »
The Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl is one of five bowl games taking place on December 20th, the first day of the 2014-15 bowl season. […]Continue reading »
Bowl season officially begins this Saturday with the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. In celebration, we decided to pick a winner for all 39 bowl […]Continue reading »
Tomorrow marks the final weekend of the college football season before Bowl Games start and will feature a rivalry game like no other in sports. […]Continue reading »
After months of CFP rankings, the day has finally arrived when we will find out the 4 teams that will be selected to the inaugural […]Continue reading »