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In 1978 Duke Truong and his family risked their lives to flee their native Vietnam and avoid persecution from a ruling government that was none too kind to American sympathizers. Their plan was simple: set a course for the United States in search of the political freedom and economic opportunity unavailable to them in their home country. Now, 25 years after the fall of Saigon, Duke Truong would have you believe that freedom is a relative thing, no matter what country you call home. The 27-year-old finds himself incarcerated at the T.L. Roach Unit outside Childress after perhaps pursuing his American dreams too vigorously. During a two-year span, the quiet, well-mannered Truong was arrested three times: twice for theft and once for burglary and aggravated assault, and is serving an eight-year sentence. In each case, he claims that he was wrongly accused, that he was coerced into pleading guilty, as if he had lost his freedom in a complex American judicial system, one he used to hold in high regard.
Truong, it would seem, either is the victim of really bad luck, or is a really bad liar.
In a blue and white interview room in the Texas prison near the Red River, Truong looks like a teenager, and occasionally weeps like a baby. Stopping frequently to wipe away the tears from his eyes and blow his nose, he talks about his delayed, if not shattered, dream of becoming a business entrepreneur, about opportunities lost and friendships severed -- and about his own 15 minutes of fame.
At the age of 12, while living in the Allen Parkway Village housing project, Truong caught the interest of librarians as he led his three younger brothers and sister on their daily sojourn to the downtown library in a quest for knowledge. Their story was brought to the attention of a reporter from The Houston Post, and the paper put him on the cover of its Sunday magazine. The Truong family's saga intrigued several area educators, who pushed him to excel. He virtually became their cause. Truong was accepted into Houston Independent School District's magnet school for the engineering profession. At the University of Houston, he attended business classes; he also helped found a fraternity of Asian students and ran a T-shirt printing business on the side with the goal of qualifying for the university's entrepreneur program -- a fast track for the young would-be businessman.
But Truong came of age during a time known for its greed and in a city known for its conspicuous consumption; his love of quick money, fancy cars and attractive women made the boyishly handsome Truong a poster boy for the American male cruising in life's fast lane. Yet it still wasn't fast enough. Truong apparently decided to take a speedier, if not entirely legal, track in pursuit of his goals. In 1995 he received deferred adjudication, two years' probation and 300 hours of community service work after pleading guilty to credit card fraud involving the purchase of some computers. Less than two years later Truong was in even more serious trouble, this time after allegedly forcing his way into the home of the woman for whom he was doing his community service work and putting a pistol to her head. Once again Truong pleaded guilty. Although his family refuses to discuss his situation, at least one person truly believes, like Duke Truong himself, that the young man is innocent.
"It's just a gut feeling, but I am convinced Duke was railroaded," says Alice Freel, a retired English teacher who informally adopted the Truong family after reading about them in the Post.
Despite Freel's intuition about him, Truong is no longer on the fast track, and his runaway train of a life will remain derailed for some time to come. It will be another year at least -- he is eligible for parole in spring 2001 -- before he will be going home. For now, his dreams of a corner office and his own business remain on hold, as far away as his native Vietnam, while he does his time in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison cell.
When Duke Truong was born in September 1972, Vietnam was in flames. The Nixon administration's Christmas bombing of Hanoi was still three months away.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Truong family, fearing that anyone with ties to the United States would be placed in a concentration camp, fled to the countryside. Duke's father, a former soldier in the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese army, worked as a fisherman while searching for information about boats that took refugees out of the country and to the safety of United Nations camps in nearby Thailand. It would be three years before they would get their chance to slip away. They knew the escape was dangerous, that they would likely drown or be killed by either the Vietnamese military or floating groups of bandits.
It was sometime in 1978 -- he doesn't remember the month, but he was not yet six years old -- when Duke's mother awoke her children in the middle of the night and told them they were going to visit their grandmother in Saigon.
"It was a way to calm us down," Duke says. Instead of going to Grandma's house, the Truongs were about to board a 35-foot-long boat with about 100 other refugees, hoping they wouldn't sink or be noticed by Vietnamese soldiers.
"You really couldn't trust anyone during that time," says Duke. "Your neighbor could be your worst enemy."
It was raining, Duke remembers, when his family rendezvoused with the others at the stealthy location along the coast. With enough provisions for about a week, the boat people, as they would become known in the international media, headed out to open sea in their small overloaded vessel. It wasn't long before the motor blew out from the strain. Twice during the trip they were assaulted by pirates who took their supplies and small valuables, such as gold and diamonds, items that they had hoped to use to start a new life.
"We were lucky," says Duke. "Because a lot of people were killed [by the pirates]. They'd rob you, then drown your whole boat."
Out of food and water, the expedition was luckily discovered by the crew of a navy ship -- Duke doesn't know from what country -- who gave them provisions and directions to Thailand. But instead of reaching Thailand, the group drifted southeasterly across the South China Sea and made landfall in Malaysia. There they were put into a refugee camp, where they remained for about a year.
They watched as their friends were sent off to make new lives in places such as Canada, Switzerland and West Germany. As Duke was turning seven years old, he and his family were packed up and sent to the United States, the place they had dreamed of going. In the fall of 1979, after stopping first in California, they finally reached their destination: Houston. Their new home was a small space in Allen Parkway Village, the decaying public housing project which at the time had not yet met with the wrecking ball. Duke recalls being more impressed with some of the inhabitants of his new country than with his accommodations.
"I'd never seen anyone with blond hair and blues eyes," says Duke. "It amazed me."
Although he spoke no English, Duke was immediately enrolled at Pugh Elementary, where he was faced with either learning the language or being left behind. His inability to speak English caused him to have self-esteem problems. Duke was determined to overcome that barrier, and he credits the school's music teacher with helping him quickly learn the language through rhymes and songs.
"When the American students would laugh at me," says Duke, "I would work hard to say it right the next time. I came to speak English better through peer pressure. It was a way to communicate with other kids. When I couldn't communicate with them, I couldn't play with them. Back then, Star Wars [computer games] were popular. And to play with their Star Wars, you had to speak good English."
Duke soon got a handle on his new language. With the help of an old classroom-size blackboard reclaimed from the junkpile, Duke began teaching the new sounds to his younger siblings. They became so fluent that they began to irritate their mother, Hoa, who forbade them to speak English at home. Duke's mother worked at a Vietnamese bakery, where she made egg rolls. His father was employed as a welder. Despite his mother's initial aversion to English, Duke says both his parents eventually encouraged their children to embrace the American way of life. Their father, Tony, even allowed his children to become naturalized citizens and to take American first names. For example, Duke's name was originally Duc. (Ironically, the one Truong child who was born in the United States elected to keep his Vietnamese name.)
Though discouraged in their own home for a time, the Truong children soon found an alternative venue to practice English: the central Houston Public Library, their portal to new worlds and adventures.
Allen Parkway Village in the early 1980s might have been a step up from the structure the Truongs had occupied in Vietnam, a thatched hut with a sand floor, but it wasn't much of one. Their small un-air-conditioned APV apartment, located in the shadows of downtown's glistening skyscrapers, had gone to seed long before the Truongs' arrival. As in Vietnam, where the family had to tread carefully around neighbors, the Truongs soon realized that they also needed to exercise caution around their new APV-area neighbors, some of whom were drug dealers and gang members. Sometimes bullies would chase Duke and his siblings, or steal their money or backpacks. To escape the problems and dangers of the housing project, Duke and his friends explored the downtown tunnel system. They also delighted in the sanctuary of the downtown library: It was beautiful, at least to them. It was air-conditioned. It had elevators to play on. And of course, they could also check out books at no charge.
In 1984 Duke and his siblings and friends enrolled in a summer book-reading program at the library after learning that they could get certificates for free hamburgers if they finished a certain number of books. But soon they were reading simply for the pleasure of escaping, at least for a time, from their own miserable surroundings. That summer Duke read 109 books -- more than any other child in the program. His love of reading did not go unnoticed. A librarian contacted The Houston Post, and reporter Bonnie Gangelhoff (also formerly of the Houston Press) was assigned a story on the young refugee. Gangelhoff spent a good deal of time visiting the Truong home and following the kids on their treks to the library. Her subsequent article appeared in the October 4, 1984, issue of the paper's Sunday magazine. Twelve-year-old Duke was featured in the cover photograph, sitting barefoot in front of his recycled blackboard reading a large hardback copy of Return of the Jedi. Although he was smiling, he recalls being apprehensive about talking with the reporter.
"We were very scared," he says. "I didn't deal with a lot of Americans. Only when I was in the principal's office. So when I talked with Bonnie, it was like I sort of subconsciously felt like I was in trouble. I didn't know the impact of what she did at the time."
The impact was that Duke, on a small scale, suddenly experienced fame. The story moved many Post readers to drop off books for Duke at the paper; within the confines of the Houston Independent School District, he became something of a semicelebrity. He visited other schools, and everywhere he went other children gave him even more books. Duke's principal frequently invited him to her home on weekends to play with her children and eat fajitas. It wasn't until he visited her two-story house -- without burglar bars or broken glass, with a manicured yard in a nice neighborhood -- that he finally understood the concept of "the better life" that his mother and father often said awaited them, if they just worked hard enough.
"At Allen Parkway Village," he says, his voice cracking, "you could always look up and see the skyscrapers. And Mom would say, 'Son, one day you're going to have a corner office.' That's what she told me. And so I always wanted that corner office."
It was during this period of celebrity that Duke also began a relationship with a woman who would become something of a third parent to him and the other Truong children.
Alice Freel lives alone in her second-floor one-bedroom apartment in a modest but pleasant retirement home on the west side of San Antonio. Despite her assisted-living environment, her acute deafness and her reliance on a walker, Freel remains a fiercely independent, sharp-witted and very proper woman who looks and acts considerably younger than her 93 years. Freel moved to San Antonio 12 years ago to be closer to two of her three children who live in the Central Texas area. Before the relocation, Freel spent 50 years in Houston.
When her first husband was killed in the Pacific Theater in World War II, Freel was forced to support her children and began a career as an educator, working as the registrar and an English teacher at The Kinkaid School. She was still at Kinkaid in October 1984 when she came across the story of the education-hungry Truong children in the Post. The article so touched Freel that she and Fran Harrell, a Milby High School English teacher who has since died, decided that they had to meet the precocious Duke Truong and his family.
"I was so interested in a family that was so interested in getting an education and going to college and being good citizens," says Freel.
Freel and Harrell called the Truongs and arranged to visit them. On a rainy Sunday afternoon, they drove to the vicinity of Allen Parkway Village but ended up getting lost. From a nearby gas station, Freel telephoned the Truongs, and Duke was dispatched on his bicycle to retrieve them.
"They were such a tight-knit family," recalls Freel. "Their mother made sure they came straight home from school and weren't out kicking the can. We just fell in love with them. And we just simply adopted them."
Every Christmas Freel and her friend took them small presents or sent them cards. One year Freel knitted house shoes for each of the kids. On another occasion the family brought egg rolls over to Freel's home for lunch. Later that day they had ice cream at Harrell's house.
"We went over there, and we all had ice cream cones," remembers Freel. "She had them eat them in the kitchen because she was so afraid that they might spill something on her carpet. But they did not spill one drop. They were so well brought up, and so careful. Such marvelous children."
More than anything else, she and Harrell began corresponding frequently with the children. She and Duke developed an especially close pen-pal friendship. Mostly she inquired about his studies. Sometimes she enclosed a check for $25 or so. Duke still recalls how proud he was of his letters from Freel, how special they made him feel.
"When she wrote to me, I didn't think about her as old," says Duke. "To me, it was just a person who cared about me, and I would brag about her letters to my friends -- that I had an American friend. That was pretty cool. It was nice and beautiful. Something between us just clicked, and we've been writing to each other ever since."
Almost ever since. Three years ago Duke stopped answering Freel's letters for a time. And when he finally resumed writing to her, Freel was disappointed and shocked to learn the reason behind the silence.
Following his 15 minutes of fame, as he was navigating that awkward course from boyhood to manhood, Duke Truong experienced two traumatic events that trouble him even today.
In the fall semester of 1989, Duke and his Vietnamese friend Vinh Doung enrolled in Washington High School's magnet program for the engineering profession. It was a situation that met with great approval from Duke's parents, who very much wanted their son to become an engineer. They often spoke about how much money engineers made, what nice families they had and what nice cars they drove. That sort of lifestyle -- especially the part about the cars -- greatly interested Duke and his pal.
That September Duke and Vinh hooked up with a friend of theirs, Minh (Duke says can't remember his last name), who was a couple of years older than the two engineering students and who had just purchased a 1965 Mustang. Up until then the boys had been able to see Houston only from the window of a Metro bus. Now, they were mobile.
"We had this little car," says Duke. "We could finally do things. Look at us! It was the greatest thing that ever happened to us."
Two weeks after the start of fall classes, according to Duke, Minh decided to drive to San Antonio, ostensibly to borrow some money to buy a sound system for his new car. Duke and Vinh went along for the ride. On the rainy evening, somewhere outside San Antonio on Interstate 10, the car went into a spin and slid off a bridge, landing in a stream. Only Duke made it out alive, suffering a few minor cuts. He says he was overwhelmed with survivor's guilt. Just like Duke, Vinh had been the oldest male in his family -- the person counted on to do something great, and to help his brothers and sisters.
"When Vinh passed away," says Duke, "it really crushed his family, and it put a lot of responsibility on me. I was still alive and enjoying life, but I felt so guilty. One time later I saw his mom at a mall, and she just looked at me and started crying. It was so painful to see her. I just said hello and disappeared."
After the accident, an HISD counselor was assigned to Duke, and he attended a special school for kids in crisis for a few weeks. But after returning to regular classes, Duke saw his grades decline. Then, in 1992, just a couple of months before his graduation from high school, Duke, along with the rest of his siblings, was dealt another setback when their father suffered a fatal heart attack. The death left both Duke and his mother stunned. Tony's control over the family's finances had been so total that no one else in the Truong home even knew how to pay a bill. When Duke took a bill and some cash and asked one of his teachers to pay the account for him, the instructor asked the boy if he had run away from home. Only then did school officials learn of the Truong family's private pain.
Tony Truong's death also jeopardized his dream of putting his children through college. Duke was mere months away from a post-secondary education, and his sister, Victoria, was just a year away from college herself.
"We didn't know how we were going to do it, or what was going to become of our family," says Duke.
Despite their fear and grief, the Truongs moved forward. Duke's mother, who had left the bakery, got a manicurist's license and went back to work. Duke had wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin, but instead enrolled at the University of Houston-Downtown. His junior year he transferred to the university's central campus.
Although his parents wanted him to be an engineer, and although he attended a high school with an emphasis on engineering, Duke developed an interest in computers. He recalls an early trip to the downtown library, when a librarian told him that all those books he was reading would one day be on computers. The forecast made an impression on him.
With the hope of qualifying for UH's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Duke set up his own company, Zygon Marketing. One of the company's projects was the design and production of personalized T-shirts. Through Zygon, Duke became a sort of geek-gone-bad, dealing in the resale of computer software, a venture through which Duke apparently first began to push the boundaries of legality. Duke proudly admits that he and some other hackers -- his "associates" -- would take existing software, "improve" it and then resell it, in probable violation of copyright law. Duke saw Zygon Marketing as a quick ticket to a prosperous and limitless future. He applied for and received his own corporate American Express credit card, a sort of badge of honor for a U.S. businessman and the means to immediate purchasing power.
For a short time, life was apparently very good for Duke. He was making money. He drove an Acura coupe. He dated lots of women. He even helped found the University of Houston chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon, an Asian fraternity. One of Duke's fraternity brothers, who asked not to be identified, says Duke was flashy.
"He liked to come off as a player, but he was also a gentleman," says the fraternity member. "But he also relied a lot on his charm."
His charm, however, was about to run dry.
During his prison interview with theHouston Press
, Duke beams with pride while recalling his halcyon days as a mini-mogul of the software world, staying out late at after-hours clubs such as Tantra and Club Some. It is one of the few times during the interview he ever smiles. When it comes to answering hard questions about his arrests, Duke is less forthcoming. His answers to queries about the deeds that actually landed him in prison are vague or contradictory, and when pressed for clarification, he physically withdraws within himself, like a turtle into its shell.
Duke dodged his first legal bullet in September 1994, but his felony problems began in February 1995 when he was charged with felony theft. According to court documents, approximately two months earlier Duke had convinced one of his associates, Arnold Febre, to take two credit cards belonging to Duke and purchase four computer printers, a monitor and a modem at an Office Max store on the Gulf Freeway. Duke explained to Febre that he would then report the cards as stolen to the credit card companies so that the equipment would not be billed to his account. Office Max, however, apparently got wise to the scam and contacted the authorities. The Houston Police Department then put the squeeze on Febre, although it's unclear how they caught up with him. With an officer listening in, Febre telephoned Duke, who proceeded to incriminate himself during the conversation.
In May 1995 state District Judge Doug Shaver sentenced Duke to two years' deferred adjudication, $5,000 restitution and 300 hours of community service work. The sentence was handed down after he pleaded guilty to the charges. Duke still insists he is innocent. However, his explanation of the events is downright nonsensical.
According to Duke, what actually happened was that Febre stole his credit cards and his checkbook during gym class a couple of months before the computer purchases. Duke says he didn't learn of the theft until the woman who lived next door to him told him about it the day before his own arrest. His neighbor learned of the theft, says Duke, because she just happened to be dating Febre. Although he had lived next door to the woman for several years, and had been in business with Febre for a couple of months, Duke says he had no idea the two were seeing each other. Additionally, he says, he didn't confront Febre when told of the credit card theft "out of respect for her."
By the time he finishes the story, Duke is no longer making eye contact with the questioner and is damn near in the fetal position. As he continues his story about his brush with the law, each word seems to have less veracity than the one before it. His next tale also stretches credibility.
In early 1997 Duke was making good progress toward fulfilling the terms of his probation. He had completed more than 200 of his 300 hours of community service and had repaid the cost of the stolen computer equipment. He was well on his way to completing his deferred adjudication, which meant the crime would be removed from his record.
But in March 1997 the wheels came off when Duke was charged with burglary and aggravated assault. Amazingly, the incident involved the woman responsible for keeping track of Duke's community service hours at Texas Special Olympics.
By all accounts, during the previous two years Duke had been doing well in his role as clerical grunt at Texas Special Olympics: stuffing envelopes, answering phones or doing whatever needed to be done at the organization's Houston office on Fondren. Even the woman with whom he got crosswise, Heidi Barriga, says Duke had become a trusted and valued worker.
"When I told people at work what happened," says Barriga, "he was the last person anyone would have suspected to do it. It was a big shock."
In fact, says Barriga, Duke had been around the organization for so long, and was so highly thought of, that he was treated differently from other people sent there to do their community service work. For example, if Duke had homework, she says, he would be allowed to tend to his studies while answering the phone. This special treatment was apparently also the root of the problem. According to Barriga, Duke began taking advantage of his status. After Barriga became pregnant around the first part of the year, she was frequently at the doctor's office. She says others in the office told her that Duke took advantage of her absences by signing in when she was gone, then immediately leaving for the rest of the day. Around the same time, some of the petty cash in the office began to disappear.
Finally Barriga decided to confront Duke about the situation and left him a note informing him he was not going to get credit for the time he was not there, and that they needed to talk. But when they finally did talk, it was not under the circumstances Barriga expected.
On a weekday afternoon that March, Barriga pulled into the driveway of her Meyerland-area home with her two children, ages five and six. Since she badly needed to use the restroom, she hurriedly made her way inside. On her way to the bathroom, she realized she had left the door to the garage open. In order to keep her kids from wandering outside, she went back to close it. When she got there, she saw Duke standing in the doorway. He brandished a pistol and pushed his way inside.
"He started telling me that having to do these community service hours was ruining his life," says Barriga, "and that he wanted a letter saying that he had completed all of his hours."
During the confrontation, Barriga says, Duke seemed torn about what tact to take. At one point he put the gun to her head. Then a few seconds later he put the gun down. He asked about how her children were doing, and if there wasn't some way they could just talk this thing out.
"He'd say he wasn't going to hurt me, then turn around and say that if I called anyone he'd kill me," says Barriga. "It was kind of like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be the bad guy or the good guy."
Barriga was scared and angry at the same time, and when Duke didn't have the gun on her she was screaming at him to get out of her house. When he finally did leave, Barriga called the police. Duke turned himself in the next day. Five months later he again pleaded guilty before Judge Shaver.
As with his earlier guilty plea, Duke now insists that he is innocent of the assault charges. He admits going to Barriga's home but says that he went there at her request. He claims that when Texas Special Olympics was relocating to another office in its building, Barriga asked him to help move some of the furniture. In exchange for moving the furniture, Duke says, Barriga promised him that she would tell his probation officer that he had completed his community service hours. (Duke told the Press that he needed only eight hours to fulfill his community service hours. Probation department records indicate that number was closer to 70.) A couple of days later, he says, Barriga asked him to stop by her house to sign papers that would show his community service work had been completed. But when he got there, he says, she reneged on the deal. Duke concedes that a heated argument ensued, but he denies pulling a gun on Barriga. However, he admits he did carry a pistol for protection -- protection from people who he says were jealous of his lifestyle.
"When I went out [on the town], not a lot of people like what I do," says Duke. "I had a lot of girlfriends. I was young, and I went out a lot. I partied a lot. I was 24 years old and on top of the world. I was making money, and I liked to celebrate."
The money, says Duke, came from a couple of sources. In addition to his studies and his community service work, he says, he had developed a little laptop computer sales business on the side. He bought Toshiba laptops wholesale and then jacked up the prices to his customers. "Toshibas are very user-friendly," he says, smiling ever so slightly.
What's more, he proudly and voluntarily boasts that he was involved in an "ambulance-chasing" scheme, apparently blissfully ignorant that rounding up accident victims for attorneys is illegal.
But while he may not have known the illegality of barratry, Duke insists he did not assault Barriga or force his way into her home. In fact, when he left her house that afternoon, Duke says, he told Barriga that he was going to report her to probation department officials. Unfortunately for Duke, she beat him to the punch, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He says he pleaded guilty because his attorney convinced him that he could not beat the rap, and that he should take the best deal possible. Aggravated assault and burglary carry a combined maximum sentence of life in prison. When the Harris County district attorney's office offered an eight-year sentence in exchange for Duke's guilty plea, Duke says, his attorney urged him to take it.
Brian Coyne, the attorney who represented Duke, declined to comment on the case, explaining that he has a policy of not discussing his clients' affairs with the media. However, former assistant district attorney Brendan Gowing, now in private practice, says he never doubted Barriga's version of what happened at her house. He also says that just after Duke's arrest, Duke tried to convince him that Duke was the father of Barriga's child, but later admitted that was a lie.
Nor does Duke's portrayal of himself as a naive youth overmatched and victimized by the American justice system ring true, especially in light of the fact that he had beaten the system several years earlier. According to Harris County criminal court records, in September 1994, five months before his arrest for credit card abuse and computer theft, Duke was charged with the theft of an undisclosed item or items with a value of between $20 and $500, a class B misdemeanor. On that occasion, Duke elected to go to trial and was eventually acquitted.
It's hard to ignore three arrests in two years, but each time Duke gets in trouble he points the finger at someone else. He is either very persecuted or very troubled.
Duke Truong has been imprisoned since his last arrest, in March 1997, a fact he hid from his good friend Alice Freel until last summer, when he finally caved in to pressure from his sister, Victoria, who is now a pharmacist. For two years, when Freel would inquire about Duke, Victoria and the other Truong children would cover for their incarcerated brother by telling Freel that Duke was frequently out of town on business. Finally, however, Victoria told Duke that he had to come clean with Freel before it was too late.
But even after confessing to Freel that he was in prison, Duke was still being evasive with her, as recently as March, about the events that sent him to jail.
"I am ashamed for being less than forthcoming about my credit card offense," wrote Duke in a letter to Freel, "but it is a greater shame to elaborate about [it] without a firm holding of the facts, documents and records. I cannot make clear of the credit card offense because I can't remember the facts -- and to elaborate on what I am not sure of will lead to more questions and speculations."
Despite Duke's obvious dodge of her questions, Alice Freel appears to be a very forgiving woman, and a very loyal friend. Overlooking the holes in his stories, his lack of candor and the fact that he has twice pled guilty to felonies, Freel insists that it is Duke who is the victim.
"I am convinced Duke was railroaded by [Barriga], who knew she had done the wrong thing and was afraid he would report her and she would get in trouble," says Freel. "She said to herself, 'Who would believe this little Asian boy who is already in a bit of trouble? They'll certainly believe me. They'll believe whatever I say.' That's the way I can see the whole situation. That's my view of it. Duke is my dear friend, and I want to help him any way I can."
In an attempt to help her friend, Freel decided in February to contact Gangelhoff, who wrote the Post article about Duke, in hopes that she might write another story. These days Gangelhoff is an editor at Southwest Art magazine, so she passed Freel's letter on to the Press. Several weeks after her inquiries, however, Freel suddenly had second thoughts about whether she wanted a story published, since the Truong family refused to be interviewed -- even after Duke encouraged them to cooperate.
From his cell in the Roach Unit, Duke Truong looks out a small window and watches small planes land and take off again from a distant airfield. Some of them spray pesticides on the cotton fields that seem to stretch forever.
When he first came to prison, Truong says, the boredom nearly drove him insane. Childress is almost 500 miles from Houston, and his family has been able to make the trip only once. To pass the time, he became a frequent visitor to the prison law library and filed numerous writs challenging his incarceration. In one Truong admits, although he doesn't concede guilt, that prescription pain medicine may have impaired his thinking during his confrontation with Heidi Barriga.
Truong also notes that ever since he informed Alice Freel about his situation, doing time has become a bit easier. The two write each other almost weekly. Her letters, he says, have inspired him to make the best of the situation. For the first time in a long time, perhaps since his days at Allen Parkway Village and the downtown library, he is reading for pleasure again. His reading list includes numerous books on art, a biography of Bill Gates and subscriptions to Newsweek, Time, Wired and, of course, Penthouse.
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He also thinks about how his situation and Freel's are not that dissimilar, that in a sense they are both prisoners: he of the state, she of old age. Now, more than ever, he appreciates Freel's friendship.
"She is my spirit, and she gives me a reason to fight this," says Truong.
But there's also a parallel between Duke Truong and the two countries he has called home: Twenty-five years after the fact, the United States continues to grapple with its role in the only war it ever lost, never quite admitting to many of the offenses it has been accused of. Truong would appear to be in a similar situation. It has taken him two years to come clean with Freel about his crimes. Maybe he should come clean with himself.
E-mail Steve McVicker at firstname.lastname@example.com .


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I keep trying with mixed results. I have come to the conclusion that indoors with no temp. variation does not work for me. I also still have them die in the summer heat here. Here are two Alionopsis bought last spring from Lowe's. I suspect I have been too stingy with the water. Wonder why one is so much more pitiful than the other. I did step up the watering and see improvements in both. One day I will figure out how to grow more of this group!
Alionopsis or Why can't I grow a nice mesemb!
Hi, I think your golden periods will be around fall and spring. If the summer night temps do not go below 18C (more or less) they will not grow, or rather the roots will mostly go inactive, just like cold dark winters. If they plump up when given water they are still active, but you may give them a little more water. I have also noticed recently that my plants always react immediately when transplanted, and come to realize that my soil might have been keeping to little moisture, I added coconut peat/coir. My main issue was our water has a great buffer action and show very little reaction when I try and lower the pH with vinegar and living by the sea the rainwater off the roof also gives me issues, so recently I switched to bottled water and lower the pH to 6-6.5 in order to improve the ability of the plant roots in utilizing available nutrients. The pH of the soil remains around 7.
Because Aloinopsis has a tuberous root, the roots may be damaged but the plant will survive on the tuber for a while, so pots need to take into account space for tuber, but you would also like to see the leaves plump up with watering - too much and they will burst. Now in summer I mist my plants almost every evening to assist in cooling down the pots, the mist water is gone in 15-20 minutes, but it drops the pot temps and thereby helps the keep the roots from dying/drying out.
Hope some of these observations may be of help or at least give some direction in thinking.
I keep trying different things Rian and hopefully will figure out something that works here. Some SA plants are doing ok as completely house plants but I would not say they have put out much growth. Some mesembs decline over time here and I suspect its because they do not get enough warmth in summer in my air conditioned home. Early this spring I am going to move most of them out in a shady spot and try to acclimate them to the weather here. I am learning and it's not as easy to keep them going as I thought!
On a positive note my two pots of baby toes are blooming but those were out in a semi shady spot all summer.
I think consensus is that when night temps reach 75F, you can bring them in and leaves them in a light area until the temps drop (without water) and then taken them out and give them a good watering to see what happens, once you see growth you are good until it warms up again. Not sure what winter brings, but cold/frost need protection. Many of them do best with morning sun and afternoon shade, and the length would also depend on the season.
So you think they might do ok with being out for spring and brought in when it gets hot, which is around May or spring here.
Nice T. calcarea.
Let me give you my reference points. We are now in mid summer, our average Temps since beginning is 86F with the highest 100F on a few occasions and humidity starting at average of 85% in the morning falling to 50% around 2pm, then climbing again. I think the difference may be the night temps on average is 64F, 68F being a oddity. This means they cool down sufficiently at night to grow in some cases. I have my whole collection under 2 30% nets with a layer of plastic in between, and recently I measured the lux to be around 2000-3000 in full sun under the net, where it would be around 10000 (guess) in full uncovered sun. The second layer is protection of the plastic against 100km/h winds we get from time to time. Many growers use 1 x 40% net.
I mist them nearly every evening and water them every 7-10 days. I never water enough to run through the pot. Of the 2000+pots, I have no issues, but as I said, nearly had, because I used too much perlite in some and it dried out too fast which cause the roots to die off.
We have a very short spring with temps similar to your summer. Summer here has temps 102+ for months on end with night time temps dipping into the high 80's or low 90's. Imagine a mild version of hell. I do know some people keep mesembs alive here and keep them outside during the warmer months. I just haven't quite figured out how to do it yet. Plants like lithops, conos. and baby toes do ok indoors for about a year and then decline. Conophytum in particular seem to stop completing their life cycles when kept under constant temperatures alll year. I only started growing plants from your part of the world a couple of years ago so my experience is very limited. Plants that I have put out for the summer have done much better. The Titonopsis in the picture was put into a cactus bed in early spring. It didn't grow at all and actually shrunk and lost many leaves over the summer but with cooler temps it showed minor improvements and made the one flower. Not sure it would survive a colder winter which we do sometimes get but this winter it is fine so far.
I think you should maybe try and mail S. Hammer and ask for some guidelines. He will give you more direction I am sure.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
palm wine drinkard wasnt anything special either
Digging: NoMeansNo - Wrong
Good lyricsm on the mike finito cuts. AD has good cadence, the bieber montra is funny.
I like ad's self obsessed humor, ill take it over pusha t talking about choppa's in the closet 100x for the next few days at least
If two circles of a Venn Diagram are constantly overlapping... you do not have two circles... you have one that encompasses basically what his style is?
Pusha T is actually really talented though
yeah that Venn Diagram bit was off nigga
Ok replace constantly with, like, almost constantly or w/e
(For the record I would say this definition is legit / doesn't make the [pretty strained but stfu] analogy legit: "3 : continually
occurring or recurring : regular ")
I have no clue who/what/when/why this is to be.
I just saw "fuck" on a staff review summary and said :D
i aint no fuckin staff
Album Rating: 5.0I'M DAVE THOMAS...SQUARE BURGERS.
"sick of these fucks not living up to their potential, irks the shit out of me"
this, this so hard. relax was amazing, sure it had a few dull tracks but even those weren't so bad
no reason why they had to break up as far as i'm concerned :
63 is better but I can still ride for this
fools like Kassa Overall and Fat Tony? ugh. Besides that, you're on point.
fat tony might be ok idk about kassa overall tho i think were gonna have 2 abandons hop
this album is weird yo
ye this is way too long
Album Rating: 1.5FAKE BASED
Eroika steals lil b's swag
didnt really care for palm wine drinkard so yea not gonna bother with this one. RIP Das Racist
how do you like das racist and not stuff like lil b and riff raff?
its the same kind of hip hop
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
Some of the country's finest computer brains gathered on Saturday at the offices of Sophos - an internet security company - for a cyber war game designed to fish out the most talented individuals.
Cyber security firms say it is becoming increasingly difficult to find the best computer minds because the teaching in schools and universities is not sophisticated enough.
The Cyber Security Challenge UK is designed to bypass the education system and spot raw talent and aptitude.
The challenge sees candidates taking on the role of forensics and defence specialists working for the UK Government.
For nearly three hours they encounter the nastiest creations of both cyber criminal gangs and nation states, as they run rampant in a virtual environment.
All of the attacks are based on real-life scenarios.
Candidates presented their findings to a judging panel and made recommendations on actions to be taken.
The most successful participants are likely to be offered jobs or bursaries that will help them forge a career in the industry.
It is thought computer "malware" poses one of the greatest risks to national security.
As many as 250,000 new viruses are unleashed on the internet every day, and 30,000 websites fall victim to malicious software every 24 hours.
Governments around the world - including the UK - are desperate to boost cyber capabilities in order to protect everything from banks to nuclear reactors, water purification plants to the national grid.
Online security expert James Lyne told Sky News: "Many of the successful candidates here today will likely go on to positions in banking, utilities or even national security.
"They will literally be on the frontline in the battle against nation states and cyber criminals.
"Armies of the future will be made up of brains like we have here today.
"Make no mistake, every country around the world is developing their cyber capabilities. It's effectively an arms race and the UK wants to lead the charge."
The Cyber Security Challenge UK is sponsored by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) and Raytheon - a major defence contractor.
- Related Stories:
- Facebook Targeted In 'Zero-Day' Hack Attack


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Go for it!
- Jun 11th 2012
I've got a little story for you today. I've never been really into team sports or activities and deep down I'm pretty shy. I wanted to meet new people and decided to take part in a performance with 99 other people. The plan was to dance a piece in a festival called Figment, 100 people with hula hoops and choreography.
With the exception of constantly wearing leg-warmers in high school, working at a Club Med for a few weeks and taking part in a grunge music video, I've got no real dance experience. I'm not a natural when it comes to pretty and delicate, let alone having to remember a sequence of dance steps and do them in that particular order.
Normally I'd run far, far away from the opportunity given to me, but I wanted to get myself out of my comfort zone and try something new. I went to a bunch or rehearsals and practiced my ass off. It took a while but I got it, and when I did, it felt great.
We performed 4 times over 2 days, it was magical. I wasn't perfect, but it didn't matter, I did my best and I'm proud of my efforts. (I'd be happier if I had caught my hoop after throwing it really high in the air but it wasn't meant to be. I had a speedy recovery and filled an empty spot so it all worked out.)
What did I get out of this? Lots more than I ever thought possible. I met a whole bunch of truly amazing, fun, funny, smart, lovely people who I'm really looking forward to seeing again. I made some new friends who have similar interests. I got to wear crazy, fun carnival clothing and walk through my neighborhood at 10 in the morning, (that was pretty interesting, I recommend it if just for the looks alone). I got to dance with a group, take part in something very special and learn a bit about myself. It was way too much fun.
I shoved myself out of my comfort zone and the reward was more than worth it. Thank you to Bex, our incredible, unstoppable leader/choreographer/cheerleader, you are a firecracker! Thanks to everybody else, I'm still beaming today.
Next time you ask "Should I?" Do it! Life's too short to hide on the sidelines.


text:
Despite the late concession of a goal, which stretched Barnsley's winless run to 10 games, assistant manager Dave Flitcroft was proud of their efforts.
"It was very disappointing to concede the late equaliser but at the same time there was a sense of pride that we had taken a point against one of the best sides in the league," said Flitcroft.
"Leicester are a team I think can win the Championship, so it is a real positive to have earned something against them.
"We came here with a game plan to press them and be in their face. We knew we had to match them, and I thought we did.
"Our goalkeeper Luke Steele was incredible early on, and then we scored the two goals that I felt were deserved.
"I think that, as a group, we are coming together but, at the moment, we are just missing that last little bit. In golfing terms, we are getting on the green well enough but missing our putts. The aim at the start of the season was to stay in this division – and it still is."
Leicester chief Nigel Pearson was a relieved man after seeing his promotion-chasing side grab a late equaliser at the King Power Stadium.
Substitute Jamie Vardy struck home from close range after good work from David Nugent in the 90th minute to seal a draw after the Tykes had led 2-1 at the interval.
The Foxes, who had scored 10 goals in the previous two home games, took the lead in the eighth minute through Anthony Knockaert but then gifted Barnsley two goals with poor defending.
Stephen Dawson scored in the 26th minute and Reuben Noble-Lazarus fired the Reds in front 12 minutes later. A shock result looked on the cards until Vardy's late strike and while Pearson was glad to finish the game with a share of the spoils he was frustrated Leicester could not claim all three points.
"I didn't think Barnsley were ever in the game, but we gifted them two goals and then had to fight very hard to get something out of it," he claimed.
"We could have had a penalty at the end for handball, but I don't blame the officials for us not getting three points.We've not been ruthless enough really.
"We got something out of the game and that has got to be a positive. But we've got to win those sort of games.
"Right through the second half they were never a threat, and we were probably as dominant as you can be without winning the game."
Leicester City: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Whitbread, Konchesky, Knockaert (Marshall 60), King, Drinkwater, Dyer (Futacs 76), Nugent, Waghorn (Vardy 68). Unused substitutes: Logan, James, Moore, Lingard.
Barnsley: Steele, Stones (Perkins 80), Cranie, Wiseman, Golbourne, Dawson, Buzsaky (Tudgay 68), Greening, O'Brien, Noble-Lazarus (Etuhu 80), Davies. Unused substitutes: Alnwick, Hassell, Foster, Sinclair.
Referee: J Adcock (Nottinghamshire).
Man of the match: Luke Steele.


text:
Only hotels in Claremont are listed below. Find discounted hotel accommodations in or close to Claremont, CA for your upcoming individual or group travel. We show the best Claremont, California motel and hotel rooms. Browse the Claremont area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the Claremont hotels. Group booking? Search Claremont Group Hotel Discounts
The Claremont center point is about the area of Claremont School of Theology and the area of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.
How should we direct your call?
Claremont is a town located in California, L.A. just thirty miles east of downtown L.A. The town is well known for its seven prestigious colleges and New England style. It is also not far from Disneyland, and has many nearby beaches offering a lot of options for keen water sports fans. For those interested in outdoor pursuits there is much to do here, as the town is located at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The town boasts many independent boutique shops and the well-known Claremont village, which is the town's historical shopping district.
There are quite a few cheap hotels in Claremont including Claremont Lodge. It provides comfort and convenience for those on a budget. Located just off the freeway, and then a short distance away from all the major attractions in Claremont. It's also within walking distance of the Claremont Colleges and nearby is the Rancho Santa Monica Botanical Gardens too, so there is plenty to see and do. Another option for those looking for cheap hotels is The Knights Inn, another one of the hotels in Claremont centrally located near Claremont Village. Continental breakfast is included, and there is also an outdoor pool for guests to take advantage of. Another one of the Claremont hotels good for people on a budget is the Hotel Claremont and Tennis Club. This two-star hotel provides very basic, simple accommodation set in a low rise building a block away from the interstate.
Two good luxury Claremont hotels are The Doubletree by Hilton and The Sheraton Fairplex Hotel and Conference Center. The Doubletree promises a peaceful atmosphere as it is set in the foothills of the mountains. There is also an outdoor pool to make use of, and fantastic scenery surrounding it. The hotel is located less than a mile away from the Claremont colleges and Claremont Village. Fairplex is a traditional property opposite the Fairplex Exposition Complex, and a ten minute drive into Claremont. There is also an on-site restaurant, an outdoor pool and a fitness center. Each room is modernly furnished with two TVs, a coffee maker, refrigerator and high-speed internet connection.
Hotel Casa 425 is one of the only boutique hotels in Claremont. It offers a sophisticated atmosphere and stylish rooms all in a great location. Just a short drive away from Ontario International Airport, and located on the town square near many fine restaurants, cafes and close to the nightlife area. Also included in the cost of a room is a continental European style breakfast, and complimentary parking. King sized guest rooms also have a shared patio, and in deluxe king spa rooms there is a jetted spa tub. This hotel has a lounge as well, with a full evening menu and an outdoor living room for guests to gather during the warmer nights.


text:
Thread: Whole tree chipper.
Results 1 to 9 of 9
#1 Whole tree chipper.05-05-2012, 11:29 AMPffffffffffffffffffffff! Buh Bye Big Ears
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Posts
- 3,269
Big Iron! I love that stuff
Will It Shred? The Badass PRI-MAX Industrial Shredder Says Yes
By Nathan Hurst
Email Author
March 15, 2012 |
6:30 am
We wanted to pick a badass paper shredder, one that lurks in the corner of the office and chaws down paper by the ream, mangling staples and paper clips and the occasional necktie, all without flinching. There are plenty out there to choose from, like Staples Drop & Go micro-cut shredder, but here at Gadget Lab, were interested in superlatives. Why shred 500 sheets of paper at once when you can shred, say, a VW Beetle?
Like many things you can do with a badass gadget, shredding a car in SSIs PRI-MAX industrial shredder falls into the not that you should, but that you could category. The PRI-MAX is actually made to reduce waste. You can toss in debris from a demolished building by the ton, and the gnarled mixture that comes out takes up less landfill space and ships easier.
And who can be worried about details like the 700 horsepower diesel hydraulic motor and processing rates up to 150 tons per hour when SSIs list of shredables includes wood, brick, mattresses, titanium, and whole animal carcasses?
Video at link>http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/...-max-says-yes/Pffffffffffffffffffffff! Buh Bye Big Ears
My first thought on seeing this was that it was a good way to get rid of troublesome witnesses, my second was that watching the trees go in, I was reminded of some of the death traps from the old Batman TV show.
Question: Does the first thought make me a bad person, and does the second thought out me as a geek?--Odysseus
Sic Hacer Pace, Para Bellum.
Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people!
#6 why there are no more lumberjacks05-05-2012, 03:51 PMIt's not how old you are, it's how you got here.
It's been a long road and not all of it was paved.
A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. Gandhi
05-06-2012, 02:49 AM--Odysseus
Sic Hacer Pace, Para Bellum.
Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people!
The spotted owl put the lumberjacks out of work.
|« Previous Thread | Next Thread »


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The Sands Unit 21
Apartment, Yamba
Rated 4 out of 5 stars 5 reviews
From $124 per night {{quote.pricing.message}} Total {{quote.pricing.price | format:'currency':'short'}} for
Min 1 - 7 nights stay
The Sands resort at Beachside encases units in a new development located opposite Pippi Beach and offers luxury accommodation for a relaxing holiday.
These units include a security garage and are situated within a secure complex.
Features of the resort include a tennis court, BBQ and in-ground pool.
This unit contains three bedrooms, with an ensuite featuring spa bath to soothe those limbs after a day exploring this beautiful Yamba.
Located on the top floor of The Sands resort, this unit enjoys expansive views from Angourie to Lovers Point from not only the spacious balcony but also the main bedroom. Enjoy romantic evenings watching the stunning sunsets.
This beach front apartment will definitely evoke holiday excitement for the entire family
2 bay Security Garage. Fully Self Contained. No Linen Provided. Accommodates 6 persons Beds - 1Q, 4S
2 Car Spaces
Resort Holidaying at it's Best, The Sands Resort, pool, tennis courts and ocean views
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text:
According to the official mouthpiece of China's Communist Party, North Korea's newest supreme leader, Kim Jung Un, is the sexiest man alive for 2012.
China's People Daily reached their oddball conclusion after taking an article from the satirical news Web site The Onion seriously.
"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true," the People's Daily quoted from The Onion.
"Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile," China's newagency continued in their quotation.
China is the second foreign power to take The Onion too seriously, earlier this year Iran's official news agency plagiarized The Onion's article, "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama."
In Iran's case, the Persian country simply lifted fake information from The Onion which said that rural white Americans would rather vote for their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, than President Obama.
China, on the other hand, seemed to have simply missed the fact that The Onion's article was a joke, thus overlooking some obvious clues to the article's falsity.
For example, The Onion has a history of choosing clearly unsexy men for their award. In 2011 they chose Syria's despotic President Bashar al-Assad, in 2010 they went with ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and in 2008 they picked Ted Kaczynski, The Unabomber.


text:
Injury-struck Seattle team with 11 players forfeits at halftime
It's not entirely unique when a high school football team forfeits a game. After all, scheduling issues arise, weather intervenes, and any among a host of other issues can throw off a scheduled matchup. Forfeiting a game at halftime, however, is a rare occurrence.
Yet that's precisely what happened last Friday in Washington state, where West Seattle pulled out a white flag of surrender at halftime during a game against O'Dea (Wash.) High School. Yes, the Wildcats were trailing 48-0 through two quarters, but the reason West Seattle coach Davis Lura called off the game wasn't because of the scoreboard. Rather, it was because of a sheer lack of players. Despite starting the season with a 36-member varsity squad, West Seattle was down to just 11 healthy players at halftime against O'Dea, a disaster scenario that was the product of academic ineligibility and six game-ending injuries in the first half.
[Video: The worst high school football play, ever]
"The kids were ready for something like this," Lura told the Seattle Times. "They know the score. We told them, 'Hey guys, if it comes down to it, I'm going to protect you guys.' That doesn't mean it didn't upset the kids because they're competitors. We talked and said, 'This is a situation we can't control. It's nobody's fault.'
"No coach wants to make that decision. Safety is the No. 1 decision in high school sports for me."
Of course, West Seattle isn't the only program to deal with small numbers on the sidelines. On Thursday, Hannan (W. Va.) High School was forced to forfeit this week's matchup with Buffalo (W. Va.) High because of a rash of serious injuries. Just down the Pacific coast from West Seattle, the Sacramento Bee reported that three teams near the state capital are struggling to field enough players but are still finding ways to remain competitive.
Unfortunately, California ingenuity can't help the Wildcats, who are left to try and put one of the most ignominious moments in school history behind them while trying to salvage their season. West Seattle still has the chance to get a lot out of 2010, too. Despite an 0-3 start -- three brutal losses each by 30 points or more -- the Wildcats still have five games remaining. Lura, for one, said he was sure his team could compete if its expected roster is ever healthy and eligible.
"They know what's up," Lura told the Seattle Times. "They know once we're full force, we've got a good football team."
West Seattle gets another chance to prove that Friday night, when it hosts Franklin (Wash.) High School.
Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
• MLB pitcher makes a very unfortunate accomplishment
• Athlete benched by odd pizza parlor injury
• Video: Quarterback scrambles for all-time great touchdown


text:
Court best practices for avoiding a "mistrial by Google"
At the Annual Meeting in Toronto, Herbert B. Dixon Jr., a judge on the District of Columbia Superior Court, told several recent stories of juror misconduct related to the use of technology—incidents that are happening with increasing frequency as adoption of mobile devices such as smartphones skyrockets.
To help stem these types of incidents, Dixon and other members of the Judicial Division's National Conference of State Trial Judges developed "A Fair Trial: Jurors' Use of Electronic Devices & the Internet."
The paper recommends best practices that courts can adopt. First and foremost, the authors stress that courts adopt "a clear policy that addresses the use of electronics by lawyers, litigants, jurors and courtroom observers," and that policy should be clearly communicated to those participants, say the authors.
Among other recommendations:
Before selection process – The initial summons sent to potential jurors should admonish them not to discuss or seek information on pending cases. It should also detail the court's policy regarding possession and use of electronic devices while in the courtroom. This information should be reinforced during the initial orientation.
Jury selection process – The court's policies on electronic devices and their use should be reviewed by the trial judge for the benefit of everyone in the courtroom. Additionally, either the attorneys or the judge should question jurors about their Internet usage, and have the jurors make a commitment to refrain from using their electronics to gain or send information on the case at hand and the involved parties.
Preliminary instructions – The trial judge should give, in both oral and written form, specific and concrete preliminary instructions precluding the use of electronics during trial. These instructions should be stressed throughout the proceedings, during breaks as well as at the evening recess. As part of the instruction, jurors should be encouraged to report questionable activity by other jurors.
Final instructions – The judge's final instructions on the law should again include the prohibition on electronics.
Collection of devices – If the court does not have policy that precludes jurors from bringing their electronics to the court, court personnel can collect these devices when jurors are in court, in deliberation or both. However, collecting electronics requires secure storage and the possibility of liability from loss or damage.
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text:
GBP/USD (a 4-hour chart)
General Overview
The positive data on the U.S. labor market pushed the pair slightly down last week; but dollar did not receive significant support. Investors doubt about the program of quantitative easing which Fed is going to curt. The speech of the BE head - M. Carney and the member of FOMC U.S. - D. Bullard did not surprise with any interesting news.
Tenkan-Sen and Kijun- Sen have formed a «dead cross», Kijun-Sen is horizontal, Tenkan-Sen is directed upwards. Ichimoku cloud is changing its direction, Chinkou is below the chart, the price is above the Ichimoku cloud. The upward movement will be continued as long as the Kijun-sen is below the price.
Bollinger bands are directed upwards they are changing a direction, turning down.
MACD histogram is in positive zone, its volume grows.
Trading recommendations
We recommend going short with a take-profit at the level 1.6100.


text:
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1783.1/6067
Pathwise sensitivity estimation for expectations of discontinuous functions
|Liu, Guangwu
|Issue Date
|Expectations are important measures of random performances. They are widely used in practice. For instance, in financial industry, probabilities and the so-called conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) are expectations that are used to characterize financial risk. Sensitivities of the expectations provide information on how changes in input parameters will affect the output performance. They play important roles in modeling, analysis and management of random performances. Calculating the sensitivities of expectations could be difficult, especially when the expectations are taken for discontinuous functions, and hence one may have to resort to Monte Carlo simulations. In this thesis we develop a Monte Carlo approach to estimating sensitivities of expectations of discontinuous functions. We prove that these sensitivities can be written as conditional expectations, and devise pathwise sensitivity estimators based on the conditional-expectation forms. We show that the proposed estimators are consistent and follow central limit theorems. Applications of this approach include sensitivity analysis of probabilities and CVaRs, and estimating price sensitivities (or called Greeks) of financial options. We discuss in details each of these applications, and illustrate the performance of the proposed approach using numerical examples. Empirical results show that the proposed approach works well for practical problems.
|Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2009
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The employment world's legal landscape is changing constantly, presenting a unique challenge for businesses and their HR teams. There is not much that our team of experienced employment specialists has not seen before, meaning we are well placed to deliver cost-effective commercial advice without the 'legalese'.
We pride ourselves on taking time to fully understand your business and your objectives so we can deliver the support you need, when you need it most.
Each year there seem to be more and more rules and regulations, which can seem overwhelming at times. Through our regular training events and briefings, we offer a painless way to keep your organisation up to speed.
Whatever your requirements, we can provide tailored, innovative and practical advice, strategies and solutions.
For more information on employment click here.
Here is a flavour of the sort of products and services we regularly deliver:
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- Training — we can deliver bespoke training sessions for your staff across the full range of employment topics
- Other services — our specialist pensions, health and safety and employee benefits teams are at your service as part of our integrated approach


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In case you're wondering if Tiger Woods will tee it up again this year, wonder no more. According to his good friend Notah Begay's website, Woods will be part of the field for the annual Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation Challenge. An elite group will tee it up on Wednesday, Aug. 31 at Turning Stone Resort's Atunyote Golf Club on Oneida Indian Nation lands near Verona, N.Y.
The question is, of course, will that be Woods' first event back? If that's the case, he would miss the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, but I'm thinking if Woods feels pretty good, he'll want to tee it up in the year's final major, but who knows?
In any event, Turing Stone, which until this year hosted a PGA Tour event, might be getting its just due. No matter what you think of Woods, he's arguably the most recognized athlete in the world, and any chance to see him, albeit not in a PGA Tour event, will draw huge galleries. Add Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Begay as well as Annika Sorenstam, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen and Natalie Gulbis, and it should be pretty entertaining.
By the way, the event, which is designed to raise awareness and funding for the well being of Native American youth on Indian reservations nationwide, was originally scheduled to be played July 5, but moved to "ensure the strongest possible field for the event." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what that means, but good for Begay and Turning Stone getting Woods to commit.
The retired Sorenstam is a pretty good draw as well.
"Notah's Foundation does wonderful things for Native American youth, and I'm happy to be a part of that mission," Sorenstam said. "The great work his foundation does aligns closely with my efforts to fight childhood obesity. It's a cause we can all get behind, and one I'm excited to continue supporting by playing in the NB3 Foundation Challenge."
The event has raised more than $2.4 million to support the foundation's mission during its first three years.
Click here to leave a comment for Mike Bailey (AKA The Accidental Golfer).


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Written on: 06/11/2008 by lizajdorr (1 review written)
Good Points
Great for beginners as has many articles relating to setting up aquaria, and an ask the experts section for sorting out problems.
Bad Points
A lot of advertising, also many of the articles are repeated essentially re hashing the same info. The writing team has also changed over the last few years and in my opinion there has been a drop in quality.
General Comments
A good mag for the beginner, but otherwise I think it is a bit of a waste of money, the info within is the same every other month, a lot of the pics are stock pictures, and some of the newer writers are not of the same quality as the older contributors.
" Not as good for exspert opinion as the flyfisher magazine " Read More
Improve Your Coarse Fishing has a lot of infomation and techniques. " Read More
" Although i don't fish competitions i pick up lots of tips from Matc... " Read More
" I find articles I am wanting to learn about very easy to follow. Th... " Read More
" A good mag for the beginner, but otherwise I think it is a bit of a... " Read More
Written by lizajdorr


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Pet Sitting & Drop In Visits in Rodarte, NM
Book a pet sitter to stop by your home a few times a day to feed and play with your cat or dog.
Rover also offers pet setting & drop ins in:
|Chamisal, NM
|El Valle, NM
|Llano, NM
|Ojo Sarco, NM
|Penasco, NM
|Picuris Pueblo, NM
|Rio Lucio, NM
|Trampas, NM
|Vadito, NM
|Vallecito, NM
Rover.com is the simple, savvy way to find and book Rodarte drop in pet sitting. It's easy to find the perfect pet sitter — many sitters have offered pet sitting on Rover for years, and 95% of reviewed stays have received a perfect five-star rating. You'll get daily photo updates, and every stay booked through Rover also includes premium pet insurance, 24/7 support, and a reservation guarantee. Pet sitters on Rover have the option to complete a free background check, which you can see from their background check badge. Pet sitters are booked on Rover every minute of every day, and 92% of the population lives within a short drive of one of the more 60,000 sitters who've listed their services on Rover, so you're sure to find the perfect pet sitter in Rodarte. When you book with one of our trusted pet sitters on Rover you get peace of mind that your home and pets are in loving hands.


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RACVB recognizes Rockton business
A Rockton, Ill., business is honored for its excellent customer service. The Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (RACVB) recognized Fatt Cat Café (formerly the Elderberry Tea Room) with the August "It's a Great Day in Rockford" service award. This is the first time a Rockton business has won the award.
Customer service is a critical part of the visitor industry. Each month, RACVB recognizes those in the visitor industry who go above and beyond by providing excellent customer service. Award recipients can include front-desk staff at an attraction or hotel, wait staff, sales staff, cleaning staff or businesses that take customer service to the next level.
RACVB Executive Vice President Monica Krysztopa said: "Customer service can make or break an experience. If you receive great customer service, you're more likely to recommend a business or destination to your friends, and we all know a friend's opinion carries more weight than any paid advertisement. RACVB wants to make sure we recognize those businesses and employees who go out of their way to make that difference."
Area residents are invited to submit nominations. Have you experienced excellent service? Were you "wowed" by someone going the extra mile? If so, send an e-mail to Monica Krysztopa, RACVB vice president, at firstname.lastname@example.com, or call (815) 963-8111.
From the Oct. 3-9, 2012, issue


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Karner Blue Butterfly
Lycaeides Melissa Samuelis
The Karner blue butterfly is listed as "Endangered" by the U.S. government.
Small Butterfly Endangered from Habitat Loss and Degradation
A subspecies of the Melissa blue butterfly, the Karner blue is a relatively small butterfly, averaging around one inch in wingspan. Males' wings across the top are silvery blue to dark blue with narrow black margins; females are graying brown with bands of orange inside the blade border. Found around the Great Lakes and the northeast United States, the Karner blue typically inhabits semi-shaded areas with sandy soil. It is a fairly sedentary creature, rarely venturing farther than 300-600 feet from its hatching place.
There are two broods each year of the Karner blue butterfly. The first winters as eggs, hatching in April and emerging at the end of May and June. Adults are in flight the first 10-15 days of June. Then they lay eggs, which hatch about a week later and feed as larvae for three weeks before flying as adults into mid-August.
The second brood hatches the following spring. Individual adults usually live only five days or so, though some females live as long as two weeks. Larvae feed only on the wild lupine plant and are tended by ants, which feed on a liquid it secretes.
The Karner blue butterfly experienced drastic declines in the 1970s and 1980s. It is now believed to be extirpated in Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Hampshire, and in the Canadian province Ontario. It is listed as "Endangered" by the U.S. government. The main threat to the species has been habitat loss and degradation. Because the larvae feed only on wild lupine, habitats are also lost to succession, the lupine being eventually shaded out by pines, oak and shrubby vegetation.


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Alan Jenkins (poet)
Alan Jenkins (born 1955 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey) is an English poet.
Jenkins was brought up on the outskirts of London in Richmond, and educated at the University of Sussex, and has worked for The Times Literary Supplement since 1981, first as poetry and fiction editor, and then as deputy editor. He was also a poetry critic for The Observer, and the Sunday Independent from 1985 to 1990. He edited the "Collected Poems of Ian Hamilton" (Faber & Faber, 2009).[1]
He has taught creative writing for the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Arvon Foundation, the Poetry Society, London, and at the American University in Paris. He was a judge for the Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes.[2]
- 1981 Eric Gregory Award
- 1994 Forward Poetry Prize, for Harm
- 2000 shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, Poetry Book Society Choice, for The Drift
- 2005 shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize, for A Shorter Life
- 2006 Cholmondeley Award
- "Street Life". The Poem. Archived from the original on 2008-12-31.
- The Hot-House. Chatto & Windus. 1988.
- Greenheart. Chatto & Windus. 1990.
- Harm. Chatto & Windus. 1994.
- The Drift. Chatto & Windus. 2000.
- A Short History of Snakes: New and Collected Poems. Grove Press. 2001. ISBN 978-0-8021-3811-8.
- The Little Black Book. Illustrated by Robert McNab. Cargo Press. 2001. ISBN 1-899980-09-1.
- A Shorter Life. Chatto & Windus. 2005.
- Drunken Boats. Illustrated by William Pownall. Sylph Editions/AUP. 2008.
- The Lost World. Clutag Press. 2010.
- Blue Days. Illustrated by William Pownall. Redstone Press. 2010.
- Revenants. Clutag Press. 2013.
- Marine (with John Kinsella). Enitharmon. 2015.
- Paper-Money Lyrics. Grey Suit Editions. 2015.
- Five Poems. Clutag Press. 2015.
- The Guardian:
"One sometimes thinks that the personal past, those childhood reveries and glints of sunlight on far-off summer lawns that FR Leavis so detested in the work of Edith Sitwell, is about all the modern English poet has left - that, and a fatal habit of parading his influences to the point where what gets written is often only a variation on an existing text. To suggest that the dominant note of Alan Jenkins's new collection is elegiac is not, in the end, to say a great deal, either about his poems, Jenkins himself or even his development as a writer. In the Hot-house (1988), his first outing - this is the fifth - came crammed with exactly the same kind of aching reminiscence: maternal shadows in the Eden-era nursery, the "flushed, unfussed, unreluctant, dapper" figure of Jenkins senior, the rueful acknowledgment of influence, the sail-boat nosing along a pre-lapsarian Thames. All these - taken out, dusted down and re-examined - contribute something to A Shorter Life's prevailing air of lamp-eyed brooding."[3]
- The New York Times:
"Late in this American debut by the British poet Alan Jenkins, the speaker asks himself, "Are you still that suburban / boy who dreamed of taking opium with Baudelaire / or wine with Byron?" Yes and no, the middle-aged poet seems to answer. Throughout this stylish, bitingly autobiographical collection, selected from four previous volumes dating to the late 1980s, we see how Jenkins's early idealism has been transformed by the passage of time. What remains constant is his cool, velvety use of traditional prosody and forms."[4]
- The Independent:
"A Shorter Life, Alan Jenkins's fifth and best collection, finds the poet less than impressed with his behaviour. The court of the self proves implacable. It is not enough to confess: there has to be judgement, too, in the form of ineradicable self-knowledge. Confession is the mode of the American Robert Lowell, of whom there are faint echoes here, while much of Jenkins's imaginative furniture is French: how interesting, then, that at times he should so strongly recall Philip Larkin, who did not like Abroad but had clearly read its poets all the same."[5]
- ^ http://www.cargo-press.co.uk/jenkins.html
- ^ http://www.towerpoetry.org.uk/prize/2008/index.html
- ^ D. J. Taylor (5 March 2005). "Flotsam on the human shore". The Guardian.
- ^ Megan Harlan (20 January 2002). "Books in Brief: Fiction & Poetry". The New York Times.
- ^ Sean O'Brien (3 June 2005). "A Shorter Life by Alan Jenkins". The Independent.
External links[edit]
- "Alan Jenkins", The British Council.
- David Harrolsson, "The Poetry of Alan Jenkins", Parameter Magazine


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Cherry Orchard Residents Move Out of Apartment Complex
Health officials are moving forward with a plan to transfer residents living in Rantoul's Cherry Orchard apartments to new homes.
This is in response to health concerns that have marred the apartment complex for nearly two and a half years. Health inspectors learned in Sep. 2007 that there was something wrong with the Cherry Orchard apartments after discovering sewage seeping from a septic system into nearby farmland. Since then, there have been reports of mold, inadequate heating, and power outages.
The landlords of the property, Bernard Ramos and his father, Eduardo, promised that by late last year they would address the septic tank issue by moving tenants into housing units that were up to code. Ramos told health officials that he would vacate two of the apartment buildings (#7 and #8) by Dec. 3. Then two other complexes (#2, #3, and #4) were supposed to be unoccupied by Dec. 20. Jim Roberts is the Director of Environmental Health with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD). Roberts said there is only one building known to have a fully functioning septic system (#6).
"Ramos agreed to move people from occupied buildings to maybe another building that would have a properly treated sewage, and he failed to do so," Roberts explained. "What we're trying to do is we're trying to eliminate the people from the places that we know have raw, untreated sewage."
By Wednesday afternoon, there were still around a dozen residents living in the apartments. The landlords of the Cherry Orchard apartments are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 24 for failing to move their tenants and fix their sewer and septic systems as originally promised.
"I don't have enough money to move to another apartment," said one tenant who has lived at Cherry Orchard with her four children for the last year and a half. "It's not good for someone to live there."
The Cherry Orchard apartments are home to many migrant workers who spend part of the year in Rantoul working for one of the large agricultural companies, like Pioneer, Monsanto, or Syngenta. Many of those workers move to Rantoul in the summer to work during the harvest season, and leave before the winter.
"We need to prevent people from moving in there until this (health) issue is addressed," CUPHD administrator Julie Pryde said.
After a meeting Wednesday night between health officials and the tenants, the Salvation Army agreed to temporarily move Cherry Orchard's current residents into hotels. The CUPHD is now trying to move those individuals into permanent homes with assistance from other human service agencies, like the United Way and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
The Cherry Orchard apartments, located on U.S. 45, are in an unincorporated part of Rantoul, making it difficult for health officials to enforce zoning ordinances. Pryde said her department is pushing to tighten the county's housing codes.
"It's not a problem that does not have a solution," she said.
(Photo courtesy of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District)


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Ticketing Policies
For under 18s, full-time students,Passport to Leisure, Junior Passport to Leisure, people in receipt of a state pension or Jobseeker's Allowance and people in receipt of DLA (patron's carer comes free). Proof of entitlement may be requested
Parties & Schools
Group bookings of 8 or more seats benefit from a 10% discount on all Taliesin events, (discount may be taken on both full price and concessionary tickets). Special schools prices are often available and school parties may bring one free accompanying teacher for every ten pupils. This does not apply to private hire events.
Refunds and exchanges
Please note tickets are not refundable. In certain circumstances, tickets may be exchanged for an alternative performance, however tickets must be returned and received at Box Office at least 24 hours in advance of the screening or performance. We must have the tickets returned to us in order to offer this service. There is a charge of £1 per ticket for this service.
If you lose your tickets, we are able to reprint them for a £1 fee as long as a named customer booked the tickets.
Children under 2
Where your child is under 2 years of age, and is sitting on your lap, you should purchase a Parent & Baby lapseat. The ticket is one standard ticket price and allows a parent and baby to take up one seat.
Children/Certificated events
Our Duty staff reserve the right to refuse admission to unaccompanied children if deemed inappropriate to the event. For cinema screenings we abide by classification decisions made by the BBFC, and reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone felt to be underage who cannot provide identification to prove otherwise. For further information regarding film certificates please click here.
Waiting Lists
We offer a waiting list service for sold out events, so that customers can be contacted should seats later become available. Customers wishing to be placed on the waiting list for any event must provide an e-mail address for contact, plus the number of seats required. The customer at the head of the list will be notified of available seats and must book within 24hrs. Reservations not paid for within 24hrs will go to the next person on the waiting list or put back on general sale if no customers are waiting.
Live Stream events
Live stream broadcasts are classed as 12A by default, except where noted otherwise. The 12A certificate is a temporary certificate for content which the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has not examined, and is valid for 7 days after the live performance only. When the production company then submits a recording of the same performance to the BBFC for classification, it may receive a higher or lower delayed live stream performance classification.
For further information regarding film certificates please click here.
The live stream performance timings given in the brochure and on this website are approximate as they are under the control of the production company e.g. National Theatre.
The Spice Time Credit scheme
This autumn we have introduced a scheme run by the charity Spice, where those who give their time for free in the community can earn Time Credits which can be exchanged for tickets for Taliesin performances where the Spice logo is shown.
As a thank you for the contribution of time to their community or service, individuals can earn one Time Credit for each hour of time given. They can then 'spend' Time Credit vouchers to access events at Taliesin.
Selected shows are linked to the Spice scheme. Spice community members should simply call in to Taliesin box office with their vouchers stating that they will be redeeming them as part or full 'payment' for tickets (at a rate of 2 Time Credits per performance).
The following logo can be seen against selected events on our website, brochure, posters and/or flyers, which are included in the scheme.
Hynt - a national access scheme for Welsh theatres and venues
In order to support our customers with disabilities, Taliesin Arts Centre has operated an informal scheme for some years, which gives a complimentary ticket to carers and personal assistants.
Since March 2015 , we have joined a new national access scheme in Wales called Hynt, which is a network of thirty venues across Wales committed to making sure that art and culture is for everyone.
Hynt cardholders will be entitled to a ticket free of charge for a personal assistant or carer at all the theatres and arts centres participating in the scheme.
This means we will not be continuing with our existing scheme and you will need to re-apply to become a Hynt member. We are making this change because we believe that Hynt will be of huge benefit to our customers. It will enable you to access performances and activities across a range of venues in Wales by being part of the national scheme.
You can get an application form online at www.hynt.co.uk or www.hynt.cym or if you would prefer, you can request a paper version by contacting our box office on 01792 602060.
We have been phasing out our existing access scheme gradually since March 2015. We are at the stage now where those eligible for the carer/assistant free ticket concession should be a holder of a Hynt card. If you have not yet obtained a Hynt card, we strongly urge that you follow the advice above as soon as you can.
If you have any questions or concerns about Taleisin Arts Centre's switch to Hynt, please do not hesitate to contact s on 01792 602060.


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Police are looking for the man who threatened a 13-year-old girl with scissors, forced her out of an elevator in her Coney Island building and tried to rape her in the basement, authorities said.
The girl encountered the suspect, who is described as being in his 30s, as she was walking into the elevator the afternoon of April 30 and the two rode down together.
When it stopped at the basement level, police say the suspect pulled out a pair of scissors and tried to rape the girl. Then he ran off.
The suspect was last seen wearing all black clothing. Police released a sketch of him (above).
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800)-577-TIPS (5477).
Published at 6:29 AM EDT on May 3, 2013 | Updated at 9:00 AM EDT on May 3, 2013


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The North Face Women's Glacier 1/4 Zip - Patriot Blue Heather
Perfect for layering during cool-weather excursions, this 100-weight classic fleece is as warm as it is soft. This lightweight and breathable jacket has a quarter zip, allowing you to ventilate during highly aerobic activities. Quick-drying fleece won't remain soaked and cause your temperature to drop if you get wet outdoors.
Available in women's sizing - see size chart for correct fit!
- The North Face apparel
- For women
- Style: Glacier 1/4 Zip
- Colour: Patriot Blue Heather
- Materials: 100% polyester
- Fit: Relaxed
- 100-weight classic fleece pullover is easy to layer on-the-go
- Unique microfibres provide an unparalleled soft hand feel
- Quarter zip for venting
- Dries quickly to minimise heat loss
- Pill-resistant face and back
- Machine washable
- Our model wears a size S and is 172.7cm tall
- Country of origin: Jordan
With over 40 years of innovation and exploration, The North Face are all about providing high-performance, technical mountaineering apparel, footwear and equipment. They push the boundaries of innovation, so that you can push the boundaries of exploration. With an unwavering commitment to design and innovation, The North Face strive to deliver an extensive line of performance gear for all outdoor enthusiasts.


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This must be music to the left's ears who will use it to further their anti-gun cause, all while ignoring the real reason for this tragedy, mental illness.
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage shot his mother four times in the head before going to the school and gunning down 26, authorities said Sunday as details emerged suggesting that Adam Lanza had planned an even more gruesome massacre but was stopped short.
Lanza blasted his way into the building and used a high-powered rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal who tried to stop him, authorities said.
The unthinkable bloodshed might even have been worse. Gov. Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot himself when he heard police coming. Authorities said they found multiple 30-round magazines and hundreds of bullets at the school, enough ammunition on him to carry out significant additional carnage.
"There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," State Police Lt. Paul Vance. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved."


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The Must List: Sand Blast Weekend, Asbury Park
As a lover of country resorts and former Fire Island fiend, I never put much thought into Sand Blast weekend—and the staff at GuySpy know that I'm kind of a gay, straight shirt, get-home-by-11-to-walk-my-dog kind of guy. So when I first heard about Sand Blast weekend in Asbury Park, I rolled my eyes and went back to sleep.
Until last year. I had to hit the town for an assignment, and like a kid in a candy shop, wanted to cry when I was forced to leave the sweets behind. For guys like me, the thrill of Sand Blast is in the casual beach community that offers activities galore in a charming seaside town. You don't have to spend the day in Speedos rocking out to the DJ (but, hey, Tony Moran and Hector Fonseca are in the house, so get up on the dance floor!). And you don't have to worry that someone else has a better summer share.
Sand Blast has a true communal feel, with guided bike tours, art gallery walks, pool parties, dance parties, a burlesque show, and… need I go on? Oh, yeah, lots of handsome dudes. Seriously handsome. And last year there were 4,000 of them. Like the love children of Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. And you know, half-naked. The kind of guys who tempt me to let my dog fend for himself.
The creators of Sand Blast like to compare it to a gay cruise because of all the activities offered. While I understand that line of thought, I think of it like Disney World. When you're done with the rides, find your hotel for the real thrill. Tinker Bell never saw so many fireworks.
Sand Blast hits Asbury Park this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 19, 20, and 21st. For more information on Sand Blast, click here. Oh, and if you see me this weekend, don't be a stranger. My dog doesn't bite, but I might…
Abu (Guest)4 years, 4 months ago
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