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ARKON, Ohio - Ohio is the crossroad to America and players from Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and even as far away as Washington D.C. traveled to the second Rivals.com Junior Day on Saturday at the University of Akron.
The event attracted more than 200 Division I prospects, including several kids that already have multiple scholarship offers.
The event held in Akron's new Indoor Athletic Complex gave prospects a chance to learn more about the recruiting process from Joe Hornback, a coach that has sent prospects to the Division I level and also lettered at the University of Kansas, and Sean Adams, who recently penned a book called Sports For Life. Hornback focused on everything from academics to how to talk to college coaches for the first time during the spring evaluation process. Adams spoke to the prospects about what it takes to get emotionally and mentally prepared for the next level.
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The program hit home for a lot of prospects.
"I learned a lot, especially about what reasons you should or shouldn't go to summer camps," said Detroit Country Day receiver/defensive back Chris Rucker, who reported offers from Bowling Green and Cincinnati.
"I also learned that you have to always be on top of your game and to not take any thing for granted. If you're not working hard somebody else out there is, and they'll get the spot that was meant for you."
Miamisburg, Ohio, tight end Kendrick Bruton said the event was a worthwhile experience, even though his older brother recently went through the recruiting process and is now at Notre Dame.
"I didn't know what all these letters I'm getting mean," said Bruton, who recently picked up an offer from Akron and measured in at 6-foot-2 � and 201 pounds. "This really helped me prepare for what to expect over the next few months."
Tony Tucker, who came to the event all the way from Washington (D.C.) St. John's College Prep, was pleased he made the trip in the end. He said it was well worth the trip over from the Washington D.C. area.
"This really gave me a good idea at what the college coaches are looking for in players," said Tucker, a 6-foot-1 � and 225 pound defensive end that reports an offer from Boston College. "The part about the academics was also very good. I learned how important it is to do well on the ACT. If you do well on that, then it makes it a lot easier for you to qualify."
The eyeball test
Rivals.com will have more over the next couple of days on some of the top players that looked physically like Division I prospects from Saturday's event, but there were several that clearly stood out from the crowd.
Three linemen that looked the part were Walsh Jesuit offensive lineman Nick Schepis, Westlake lineman Mike Flood and Maple Heights lineman Shawn Sailor.
Schepis, a player that Rivals.com profiled last fall, has an amazing frame of 6-foot-3 and 271 pounds and should be able to easily add more solid weight to his frame by the time he hits college.
Flood looked great at 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds, and Shawn Sailor earned recognition as the biggest prospect at the event at 6-foot-6 � and 307 pounds.
The linemen weren't the only ones that looked college ready.
There was a great collection of athletes that ranged from 6-1 to 6-6, each of which were lean and had great frames.
Northmont quarterback Clay Belton already has picked up offers from Bowling Green and Cincinnati, and he seemed in great shape and measured in at 6-foot-6 1/4 and 219 pounds. He probably was the most impressive looking non-linemen at the event.
Weakside defensive end Solomon Thomas of Lakota West is a name that has been talked about quite a bit and it's easy to see why college coaches are already offering scholarships (Cincinnati, Illinois and N.C. State). He looks the part of a high-level prospect with a 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame.
Safety Carlton Peake and Carson Byrd were two of a very impressive looking crew from Trotwood Madison. Madison had has many as seven or eight kids at the event that are expected to sign Division I scholarships, but Peake and Byrd are the starts of the team.
Peake appeared to be in peak condition with long arms and a great frame. He measured 6-foot-2 � and 216 pounds. Byrd measured in at 6-foot-1 and 229 pounds.
A few other guys that passed the eyeball test on first glance were quarterback Chris Schneider (6-2 � and 234) of Findlay, receiver Mark Dell (6-1 � and 177) of Farmington Hills (Mich.) Harrison, Jeff Lucas (6-1 � and 222) of Lakewood St. Edward, and quarterback Tyler Sparks (6-3 and 189) of Olmsted Falls.


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Ultra Glitzy Nude Pink Gold - Pretty French Manicure Option.Finish - Metallic
How to use Zoya Glimmer Nail Polish2 coats of colour is recommended.
Ingredients in Zoya Glimmer Nail PolishZoya Nail Polishes (Lacquers) are vegan, free of toxic Toluene, Formaldehyde and DBP.
Reviews for Zoya Glimmer Nail Polish
No reviews have been written for this product.

subset: commoncrawl


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Long Beach, Calif. is home to a gay vice mayor, a thriving bike culture, and lively lesbian scene. The second-largest city in Los Angeles County is also the home to one of the nation's largest sand sculpture contests.
The 81st annual Long Beach Sand Sculpture Contest takes place August 10 and 11, welcoming both individuals and teams to compete for most impressive sand sculpture. This event, taking place at Granada Beach, benefits the Long Beach Library Foundation. Fittingly, this year's theme is "Sculpting Literacy in your Community," so expect lots of sandy libraries, books, and Kindles.
Click here for more info on the fun event, which also includes arts and crafts and live music.


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PriceRite Job Application
PriceRite started in the year 1995 when its first store was opened in West Springfield, MA. Presently, it has grown into several stores located in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Since then, it is the Price Rite's mission to provide their customers with a new way to shop for their families. The company caters to customers who valued quality at affordable prices.
Job Descriptions/ Salary Ranges
Cashier: The person in this position will be the in charge of collecting money in a form of cash or electronic money from the customers' purchase of goods. Ringing up customers, you'll also ensure that they were happy with their purchase as well as make sure that they have all their orders rung up in a timely fashion. If problems arise, the manager will have to be alerted. The annual salary ranges $14K to $22K.
Store Manager: The manager oversees all store operational issues including store housekeeping, store administrative duties, physical inventories, price changes. He/She must also effectively manage employee turnover; ensure positive working environment and handle employee issues appropriately and in a timely manner; deal customer problems or complaints accordingly; ensure interior and exterior of store is maintained to company standards; conceptualize marketing programs and implement them; manage store revenue like cash handling, deposit reconciliation and delivery of deposits to bank. The expected annual salary is $54K to $65K.
Sales Associate: This position is basically tasked in generating sales. He/She is to assist and work to meet the sales quota and to work according to the conceptualized marketing agenda. He/She attends to customer needs and inquiries and will also do up-selling if necessary. His expected annual salary is $13K to $17K.
Grocery Department Store Supervisor: This person is responsible for managing the department. He/She supervises the inventory, in-stock position, pricing integrity, merchandising, labor, and other operational procedures in accordance to company standards. He/She will be the one to plan, order, and process grocery products according to work plan and standards to optimize sales and gross profit. The annual salary ranges $35k to $44k.
Related Searches:
If you are fortunate to become a part of the company's team, the benefits you will be receiving depends the position assigned to you. To know more about this, you can check out the company's website.
How to Apply
The company is constantly seeking individuals to join their team. If you think you are qualified and would like to work with the company, navigate this link: http://www.priceritesupermarkets.com/join-our-team/
MY name is Magdala, I Search a job here but no call back?


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Although less famous, internationally speaking, than Magnolia Lane, Broad Street, the arterial heart of Augusta's trying-to-thrive downtown district is just as historic and much easier to drive down.
Legend has it that the aptly named avenue was once the widest street east of the Mississippi. Whether that's true or colorful Garden City lore is tough to determine. What is fact is that Broad Street has become a mecca for independent businesses and is one of the best places in the city to get a sense of the real Augusta. Here's a look at a few of the essential stops, Broadly speaking.
Soul Bar (984 Broad St.):A hole-in-the-wall in the very best sense of the word, the well-weathered bar is considered by many the font from which Augusta's downtown revitalization sprang. Although named in honor of Augusta's own Mr. James Brown, it's a bar as rooted in rock as its titular soul.
Sky City (1157 Broad St.): Over the past several years Sky City has become one of the premier live music venues in the region. While national acts have become particularly fond of it's professionalism and eager audiences, it's the local acts that remain the foundation on which the venue's reputation is built.
Still Water Tap Room (974 Broad St.): A lovely living room of a bar, Still Water's warm wood interiors, generous selection of taps and Americana and bluegrass soundtrack will make even the most tired golf fan feel at home.
Metro Pub And Coffee House (1054 Broad St.): By day a quiet coffee house and by night a raucous bar, Metro has a real Jekyll and Hyde personality – assuming, of course, that both Jekyll and Hyde are the most engaging of hosts.
The Eagle's Nest (640 Broad St.): This bar, located atop one of the tallest buildings in town, offers the very best view of downtown. Well, the best view equipped with a cocktail napkin and a glass of something relaxing.
And don't miss …
• The Playground (978 Broad St.)
• Firehouse (1145 Broad St.)
• 1102 Bar and Grill (1102 Broad St.)
Tire City Potters (210 10th St.): Although not officially on Broad, this gallery is a welcome grotto of local art. Take home a piece of pottery by owner Shishir Chokshi. It will look excellent on the mantle, right next to the new golf cap.
Vintage Ooollee (1121 Broad St.): A first stop for anyone looking for just the right frock – or frock coat, for that matter – for après tourney celebrations, this combination vintage clothing boutique and costume shop is more than merely a place to play dress up. It's a serious store for fashion that never grows old.
Marketplace Antiques (1208 Broad St.): Equal parts garage sale and museum, Marketplace is all about the thrill of discovery. There's always some interesting golf memorabilia to be found, as well as a seemingly endless array of jelly jar tumblers, should that be your thing.
The Book Tavern (930 Broad St.): Walk in and breathe deep. Soak in the scent of old paper, binding glue and cloth covers. That's what nostalgia smells like. You can't get that with a tablet. Of course, a trip to Book Tavern is about more than remembering how great a truly fine bookstore can be. It's also an excellent spot to buy something to read.
Psychotronic (859½ Broad St.): It's quite possible that nobody needs the vintage movie posters, comic books, pulp paperbacks and vinyl records that make up this small shop's inventory. But we aren't talking about need. We're talking about desire. Fulfill your longing for pop culture. After all, nothing hits quite the spot as flipping through a '70s Superman while Sabbath spins on the turntable.
And don't miss …
• Zimmerman Gallery (1006 Broad St.)
• Gallery On the Row (1016 Broad St.)
• Rock Bottom Music (758 Broad St.)
• Merry's Trash and Treasures (1236 Broad St.)
• Pyramid Music (824 Broad St.)


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DESPITE Carruthers Shield defeats against Pyle and Barry Romilly, the Rhoose Bowling Club men's teams are enjoying a fairly successful season.
A win against Barry club Millwood in the Munro Cup was followed by home and away friendly successes against Barry Central.
On a carpet green at St Mellons on June 7, Rhoose were hopeful of doing well in a Municipal League fixture and so it proved as they returned with 12 points from a convincing 97-58 win. Winning rinks were skipped by Paul Williams, Ron Ball and Les Parsons, jnr. The result was welcome revenge for a home defeat at the hands of the Cardiff side last year.
On June 14 Rhoose welcomed Abercynon for a second league match and secured another convincing win despite Paul Williams' rink losing heavily. This was balanced by captain Geoff Lages' rink which won 37-5. Overall, Rhoose won 91-64.
Playing their second league game away at Llantwit Major, the Rhoose ladies lost heavily on two rinks although there was success for Anita Shears' four. In the Double Rink competition, Rhoose secured a convincing 49-19 win against Pontyclun.


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Nathan H.wrote a review of Backcountry Chalice Stainless Steel Bottle on August 2, 2010
Tough Bottle
I took it up to the mountains in Fort Irwin CA. It went to the top of Mt. Tiefort a couple of times and survived. It got a couple of dings but it held its own and the water which is what it is supposed to do. I recommend it to anyone due to its great price and durability.


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Paul PozniakCBS 3 Sports Producer @CBS3Kickoff
No Michael Vick should not take another snap as Eagles quarterback this season.
At 3-6 the season is pretty much over. It's the perfect opportunity to get Nick Foles experience and see if he is truly the quarterback of the future.
Vick had a nice run two years ago but hasn't been the same player since. His days in Philadelphia should be over.
Rickie Ricardo94WIP Host / Phillies Beisbol Network @darickman
Yes!! Michael Vick still gives the Eagles the best option to win a game!
With the Giants having four losses and obviously slumping, and seven games remaining on the schedule, Andy Reid deserves to ride out his final season as Eagles head coach with the best possible chance to win each week!
Nick Foles needs to sit until the Eagles are mathematically eliminated, PERIOD!!! Ride or die with Mike!!


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Elder Ordonez/INFphoto.com
Elder Ordonez/INFphoto.com
Whoa, mama.
We turn our backs for one second—OK, fine, five months—and suddenly Jennifer Connelly looks ready to pop!
There's no firm word on when Connelly and her hubby Paul Bettany are expecting their next stork delivery (they stayed equally mum when announcing the pregnancy back in December), but the 40-year-old actress certainly has that glow about her.
Not to mention, quite a bump. Our guess is soon. But then again, we're not the ones with the beautiful mind (just the ability to spot a well-developed baby bump).
Whenever the family's new addition comes, the babe will join big brothers Stellan, 7, and Kai, Connelly's 13-year-old son from a previous relationship.


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There's too much money in politics. Elections are for sale to the highest bidder. Public officials spend all their time asking special interests for campaign contributions.
Everybody, even the politicians, finds the system distasteful. Maybe it's even corrupt. But is it unconstitutional?
That's the novel theory of a federal lawsuit soon to be argued before an Atlanta appeals court that has put Georgia campaign finance laws in an unflattering national spotlight.
The Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute is using Georgia as a national test case in its quest to force states to provide taxpayer financing for non-wealthy candidates.
Basically, lawyers from the institute argue that state elections are so stacked in favor of well-financed candidates that citizens are denied a meaningful right to vote.
``The dominating influence of wealth in electoral politics amounts to a `wealth primary' that limits access to political participation,'' says the suit, filed on behalf of civil-rights groups including Georgia NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
That argument didn't fly in U.S. District Court, which threw out the complaint last year without a trial. But the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is set to hear the appeal May 18, in a case being watched by voting-rights lawyers nationally.
``This is the first case in the country to challenge the constitutionality of a state legislative election process,'' said attorney John Bonifaz, executive director of the Boston institute. ``I think Georgia presents a microcosm of the nation.''
Four states have adopted near-total public funding of campaigns since 1996, three of those by statewide voter referendum. Such legislation has been introduced, but never seriously considered, in Georgia's General Assembly.
Even taxpayer financing, however, is no Good Housekeeping guarantee. Presidential elections have been publicly financed for two decades, and there's no fund-raising hanky-panky there, right?
The lawsuit is pegged to a watchdog group's study of Georgia's 1990-96 elections that found it cost, on average, $68,000 to win a state Senate seat that pays $11,000 a year. The bigger spender won 83 percent of the time, researchers from the National Institute on Money in State Politics reported.
The suit could have been filed just about anywhere, Bonifaz admits, but attorneys discovered their perfect test case in Southwest Georgia.
Former state Rep. John White, one of a half-dozen individual plaintiffs behind the lawsuit, lost a 1996 Senate primary to fellow Democrat Mark Taylor - now the lieutenant governor - after Taylor outspent him 17-to-1.
Taylor, the son of a wealthy trucking executive, put $90,000 of personal money into the campaign. By itself that was five times what White raised, despite his network of contacts from 22 years in the House.
Though Taylor is white and White is black, the suit is not about race. However, lawyers are relying heavily on earlier cases that struck down racial barriers to voting.
The challengers hope to reach the U.S. Supreme Court with their argument that the unfair advantage of rich, corporate-backed candidates denies people access to the political process just like the poll taxes and literacy tests of the segregation era.
So far, the argument has been rejected by federal courts in New York and California, where Bonifaz's group sued over judicial and city council elections.
Armed with those earlier rulings, attorneys for the state say the suit was properly dismissed. The state didn't create the unequal playing field that favors candidates with better fund-raising ability, so it can't be held accountable, say lawyers for Attorney General Thurbert Baker.
NAACP lawyers disagree. They contend the state fosters money-driven campaigns because its laws are so slack - there is no cap on the amount candidates can take from corporations, candidates can loan unlimited sums of personal money to their campaigns, and money left unspent in one race can carry over indefinitely.
The state responds that some of those seemingly obvious ``reforms'' would themselves be unconstitutional, since the Supreme Court says freedom of speech prevents most attempts to cap campaign spending.
Ultimately, that's what the NAACP plaintiffs are hoping for - a Supreme Court showdown inviting the justices to choose one basic right (voting) over another (speech). If they prevail, then a handful of Southwest Georgia voters will have cast one mighty ballot indeed.
Snap judgments...
State bank regulators say they'll order extra examinations of any lending institutions that haven't proven they're immune from the ``Y2K'' computer bug that could shut down millions of microprocessors on Jan. 1, 2000. The Department of Banking and Finance also is urging banks to be more aggressive in reassuring customers that their deposits will still be safe and accessible after New Year's. Regulators have set June 30 as the deadline for banks to prove they're fully prepared for the possible computer crash, caused by faulty programs that can't comprehend the year 2000. David Sorrell, deputy state banking commissioner, said he's not worried about a run on banks, but about people getting robbed as they take out extra cash. ``Does your mattress have a vault or a safe deposit box built into it?'' he said.
Democrats are bragging about new survey results in the North Georgia 7th Congressional District indicating strong support for Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes. Party polling shows that, of voters familiar with the governor, more than 80 percent have a favorable opinion. That might portend bad news for 7th District U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., whose seat is a Democratic target - except that Democrats don't have a candidate yet. Their best prospect, State Corrections Commissioner Wayne Garner, is damaged goods after the disclosure that he ran up tens of thousands of dollars of cell-phone bills at state expense, including calls for his family funeral home business and calls to a lobbyist pal whose company won the state contract for private prisons.
Frank LoMonte covers politics in Georgia and around the South for Morris News Service.
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YOLO Event Center & YOLO Garden
- Address: 4201 N Wells St. Fort Wayne, IN 46805
- Phone: (260) 483-2929
- Email: E-mail
- Website: Visit Website
The walls of the large banquet room – it can easily fit up to 300 guests at a time – are a metallic gray liberally decorated with original artwork. The chandeliers and other lighting fixtures are modern and streamlined to give the space a sophisticated feel. State-of-the-art technology that includes not only LCD and LED capabilities but also WIFI access and a built-in DJ booth, allows for the room to transition quickly and easily from a wedding reception to an acoustic concert or a business function. The staff at YOLO Event Center, which includes wedding planner and professional photographer Kristin Smith, are more than happy to cater to the individual needs of their clients. Yolo Event Center is a fully staffed catering business that will work for you on your on your happy day, whether it is a wedding reception, anniversary celebration, corporate retreat or any other sort of gathering that you need catered.


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So much of wine making is about the art of blending, and no one understands this more than Hall Wines Winemaker Steve Leveque. Hall takes what the earth provides from small blocks across the Napa terroir and lets each wine express itself purely and simply.
I've had the pleasure of tasting the current line up from Hall. All the wines showed extremely well, but one stood out above them all. The Hall Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2008 expressed pure cherry, a melange of dark berry fruit, scorched earth, and was framed with well integrated tannins. The texture and complexity of this wine puts it at the top of all wines I tasted in 2011. At $45 it dominates over others at this price and I dare say even at twice that.
Richard Newell, Colony Wine Market
Hall Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Napa
"A dense, full-bodied wine with lots of creme de cassis, charcoal, licorice and forest floor, the wine is opulent and already delicious and powerful." 95 points Robert Parker, Wine Advocate


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Siemens Hits Major Milestone in SECA Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Program; No Degradation After 1,500 Hours
22 November 2006
|Siemens' high power density (HPD) planar design (top right) compared to its existing tubular cell design ( top left). Next-generation HPD Delta 9 design at bottom. Click to enlarge.
Siemens Power Generation announced the successful testing of its latest solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology that incorporates its high-power density technology being developed under the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA).
In August 2002, under the SECA program, Siemens Power Generation entered into an $80 million cooperative agreement with DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory to develop low-cost Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) power systems for residential, automotive and military applications.
Under the agreement, entitled "Small-scale, Low-cost SOFC Systems," Siemens Power Generation was to develop a new seal-less planar SOFC system.
A prototype 5 kW-class complete system using the SECA technology has operated for 2,800 hours and continues to operate at the Siemens facility near Pittsburgh, PA. It has met or exceeded all of the DOE technical and economic objectives for Phase 1 of the SECA program.
The successful operation of the SECA system is especially noteworthy in that there has been absolutely no degradation of cell or system performance during the period of operation, according to Siemens. With lifetime a key factor in the commercialization of fuel cells, Siemens asserts that its program is the only SECA program to have achieved no cell degradation during extended operation.
A Delphi SOFC system for application in an on-board auxiliary power unit (APU) in vehicles that achieved Phase 1 goals earlier this year, for example, experienced power degradation of 7% over 1,500 hours of operation. (Earlier post.)
While the test duration required by the DOE was 1,500 hours, the system continues to be operated to determine lifetime, peak power and efficiency potential as the performance of the cells improve. They will also be put through further tests in the coming months to assess the robustness of the new stack technology.
Siemens' new high power density cells are a further development of its tubular cell design and represent a significant step forward towards commercialization of SOFC systems. This new technology has already demonstrated volumetric power density four times greater than the tubular cells, which translates into significantly reduced volume and reduced cost per kW. A number of configurations have already been tested, and further development and tests are planned to qualify the optimum system configurations.
In a tubular SOFC design, air flows through the interior of the cell, and fuel flows on the outside of the cell. At elevated temperatures, the oxygen in the air ionizes and the resulting ions flow through the electrolyte and combine with the fuel on the cell's exterior. This is an electrochemical reaction, so electrons are released. With proper connections, they can flow through an external circuit as electricity.
The program will be executed in three phases over a ten-year period, and at the end of each phase a prototype SOFC system in the 3-10 kW range will be tested for one or more of the targeted applications. Specific cost targets for each phase will be addressed with the ultimate program target being $ 400/kW in high volume production.
The SECA Phase 1 prototype system test has exceeded our expectations and clearly shows we can successfully enhance our proven SOFC technology for higher performance and lower cost. As we move forward, we are examining various cell designs that substantially increase cell power, stack power density and module simplifications, and results to date have been outstanding.—Thomas Flower, president of Siemens' Stationary Fuel Cells division
Recently, Siemens implemented a number of design, material and process changes, and this latest SECA system test validates new manufacturing processes intended to enhance reliability and reduce cost. The next steps are to continue to develop the high power density technology as part of a program that merges the subsequent phases of the SECA program with DOE's coal-based fuel cell systems program. The ultimate objective of this program is for SOFCs to provide clean power fueled by syngas from domestic coal resources as part of DOE's FutureGen program.
Siemens plans to commercialize SOFC generators and systems in the 5 kW to multi-megawatt range, with pre-commercial deliveries in the 2006/2009 time frame depending on rating. Siemens is developing SOFC technology under cooperative agreements with the US Department of Energy, through its National Energy Technology Laboratory and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
SECA Program Review—Siemens (Sep 2006)
November 22, 2006 in Fuel Cells, Hydrogen | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
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Another point is that SOFC are not poisoned by carbon, like PEM fuel cells are over time. They can use CO from Syngas a fuel too. Also, a 2kW cell would be enough for a APU. That comes out to ~$800, somewhat affordable, and part of a system that reduces engine idle. Onboard reformer or gasifier, of diesel or other carbon/hydrogen/oxygen rich fuels, would likely be necessary. That component will drive up costs.
One of the newest gas-fired (steam only) powerplants in Denmark came at the cost of $ 1000/kW, so $ 400/kW is pretty cheap for stationary applications, where efficiency really counts.
And the fact that SOFC efficiency does not depend on the scale of the powerplant is a very important benefit. This heralds a more flexible and efficient use of natural gas for power production.
I'm missing an efficiency figure, with and without combined cycle operation.
The efficiency of the bottoming cycle would depend on the scale of the powerplant.
Another recent SOFC announcement came out at 49%, and microturbines seem to start at about 26% at the 30 kW size and work up as they get bigger. That would give a compounded efficiency of about 62% at a combined power of around 150 kW.
Paul Dietz -
whenever a new power technology is developed, mobile applications tend to come after the stationary ones. It will take a number of years yet before SOFCs will be cost-competitive against natural gas ICEs and turbines in electricity co-generation, never mind vehicle propulsion.
Longevity is the key hurdle at this point and, Siemens appears to have just extended it substantially for small-scale installations. Note, however, that stationary gensets are expected to operate very reliably for 50,000 hours or so between major overhauls. It will be interesting to see how long the new design will last.
I think there was a link on here about SOFC electrolysis. It is essentially a reversalble SOFC fuel cell. High temperature from concentrated solar thermal or rejected heat at turbine power plants could make H2/O2 production more efficient. You find that oxygen blown gasifiers can produce a more controlled product. This is one way of getting the O2 and H2 to round out the processes.
There are DME developments in China today!Since DME has an advantage of decomposition at lower temperature than methane and LPG, R&D for hydrogen source for fuel cell has been carried out.
If you would like to know more on the latest DME developments, join us at upcoming North Asia DME / Methanol conference in Beijing, 27-28 June 2007, St Regis Hotel. The conference covers key areas which include:
DME productivity can be much higher especially if
country energy policies makes an effort comparable to
that invested in increasing supply.
National Development Reform Commission NDRC
Ministry of Energy for Mongolia
Production of DME/ Methanol through biomass
gasification could potentially be commercialized
Shandong University completed Pilot plant in Jinan and
will be sharing their experience.
Advances in conversion technologies are readily
available and offer exciting potential of DME as a
chemical feedstock
By: Kogas, Lurgi and Haldor Topsoe
Available project finance supports the investments
that DME/ Methanol can play a large energy supply role
By: International Finance Corporation
For more information: www.iceorganiser.com
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SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) is a highly scalable appliance for enterprise data warehousing. The PDW works by using Massively Parallel Processing Software and Appliance hardware to control several physical servers each running their own instances of SQL Server 2008. This control process allows the PDW to scale out query processing and objects across multiple nodes of CPU, storage etc.. This provides a significant boost of performance to even the widest queries for the widest tables. These instances all still appear as one instance to the end user even though a single PDW table may be distributed across several servers.
The MPP functionality comes from an acquisition of Datallegro by Microsoft in summer 2008. The engineering teams at Microsoft have been working on rewriting the software to work with SQL Server and have now accomplished their goal of releasing V1 of the PDW offering. As V1's go it is very strong and already competing directly with the Teradata's and Neteeza's of the world. Currently the PDW offering is scaling up into the hundreds of terabytes without breaking a sweat.
The benefit to the MPP architecture and Microsoft's implementation is that from a cost per TB or query perspective, Microsoft comes out way ahead. This is because the PDW is built on and expanded by commodity hardware. Not to say these are netbooks chained together, but we are talking midgrade to enterprise quality HP and Dell servers, not $800K Teradata racks.
This is a new direction for Microsoft since they have, until now, operated in the Symmetric Multi-processing (SMP) world, where the only option is larger more powerful single servers. In the SMP world, all the processing takes place on a single node or physical instance of the database. Limits are created by the CPU, memory and storage capacities. In PDW large tables are partitioned across multiple physical nodes, where each node has its own CPU, memory, and storage. This is called a "shared nothing" architecture.
PDW Architecture
In PDW those multiple nodes controlled by the software and appliance are referred to as "Control Nodes". Remember there are no proprietary hardware components in a PDW system all of it is commodity hardware, networking and storage. As the environment grows over time more control nodes can be added or upgraded individually with faster CPU, memory or network components. As new hardware comes out those servers can be repurposed for other roles in the enterprise that don't require the same level of performance such as file servers. I have included some diagrams from Microsoft's official documentation to help highlight the architecture. The first one is below.
For those of you who aren't familiar with what the term appliance means I'm definitely not talking about your refrigerator. I am hungry though, not to self, no more in depth writing without packing a lunch. In computing an appliance is a special purpose application whose software and hardware work together in a single unit for a specific purpose. In PDW the software and server running it work together to accomplish scaling the queries and data across multiple nodes and tracking metadata, query response etc... The PDW appliance has a set of nodes that look like the diagram below from Microsoft.
The architecture of a typical PDW system would look something like the next diagram.
Some important things to note about the design of this architecture:
- The components are balanced with each other to avoid bottlenecks and all components are mirrored for enterprise quality redundancy.
- The control node sends the queries to the proper compute nodes, then organizes and returns the results.
- Queries are much fast then on an SMP system since the data is spread evenly over the different nodes and their storage.
- Scaling the architecture requires simply adding capacity to the appliance, eliminating the need for a replace or forklift style upgrade.
Server Roles in the PDW
There are several different server roles in the PDW architecture so let's explore those.
Control Node
Clients connect to the control node since the PDW MPP engine runs here. These nodes contain no permanent user data, they only collect and display the results from queries. The control node is the central point for all hardware monitoring and contains the metadata about the PDW configuration, databases and objects. Its instance of SQL Server is there primarily for metadata and to make use of TempDB for some query types.
Compute Node
The compute nodes store the user data and perform most of the query execution. They are not typically accessible to the outside world since the Control node is doing all the connecting, collecting and correlating.
Landing Zone
We are not going into much detail on loading data in this article but there are some very specific things we will cover later in the series including the new adapters for SSIS and DWLoader utilities. The landing node is where the data can be "landed" prior to final loading into the compute nodes. This server CAN be access by windows users and can also run 3rd party hardware and software to help with data loading. Think of this as your staging or final load sandbox on the PDW.
Backup Node
This node will store your appliance backup files, and can also be access via windows and loaded with 3rd party hardware or software.
Management Node
If the control node is the slave driver, then the management node is the safety net. This node runs the domain controller for the PDW. You didn't think Microsoft was going to trust this bad boy to your rusty old domain controller? No way, a shiny new one comes right in the rack. IT also is used for patch deployment and holds images of the different nodes in case a reimage is required.
Hub and Spoke Architecture
Enterprise Data Warehouses typically fit into one or several of the following areas:
1. Centralized data warehouse with the "single version of the truth" – These can be expensive and difficult to maintain depending on your companies staff and capabilities.
2. Decentralized data marts or departmental analysis with no central repository or EDW. – These can be more responsive to the business but are not generally the best tools for company analysis since they contain different versions of the truth and are very difficult to keep aligned across the organization. In addition they are often designed and built using whatever toolset the business unit has at hand so the technologies involved are often at odds as well.
3. Hub and spoke architectures with a central EDW and department data marts, fed from the EDW. Hub and spoke architectures are typically the best solutions for the largest enterprises. Those enterprises that would be looking at a PDW solution. It offers the combination of a strong centralized EDW which provides company wide data and single sources of truth for important information, while allowing for synchronization to smaller data marts for more customized departmental analysis. See the diagram below for an example of a Hub and spoke architecture.
The parallel copy capabilities from PDW provide a lot of improved flexibility here to move large amounts of data to the data marts. This parallel copying functionality is in theV1 release of PDW.
There are two types of tables in a PDW implementation. Replicated tables are tables where the table is stored in its entirety on each compute node. Distributed tables are split evenly over each compute node using a hashing algorithm. As you can imagine typically your replicated tables would be your dimension tables and those giant fact tables would be distributed across the compute nodes.
Connecting to PDW
PDW ships with a client tool to connect to the system called Nexus. Nexus looks and acts similarly to SSMS or SQL Server Management Studio but it is not Management Studio, it only runs PDW implementations. See an example of connecting to a PDW with Nexus below.
Creating Objects in PDW
There are several new object types in PDW but overall creating them is still essentially the same, with a twist. For instance:
Create Database
Creates a new database and the files used to store the database.
CREATE DATABASE database_name
[ WITH ( <database_option> [ ,…n ] ) ][;]
<database_option> ::= AUTOGROW = ON | OFF
| REPLICATED_SIZE = replicated_size [ GB ]
| DISTRIBUTED_SIZE = distributed_size [ GB ]
| LOG_SIZE = log_size
CREATE DATABASE bidnPDW
You'll notice a trend beginning here. We are specifying options for replicated table areas and distributed table areas. These apply for the database as a whole and will be stored individually or spread evenly based on the type of table we create.
Creating Tables
A. Creating a replicated table
The following example creates a replicated table with three columns and with no partitions. The id column includes a NOT NULL constraint. Notice there is no "distributed" flag engaged here.
CREATE TABLE bidnTable1
( id integer NOT NULL,
lastName varchar(20),
zipCode varchar(6)
B. Creating a distributed table
The following example creates the same table as the previous example; however, in this example the table is distributed (on the id column) instead of replicated.
CREATE TABLE bidnTable2
( id integer NOT NULL,
lastName varchar(20),
zipCode varchar(6)
WITH ( DISTRIBUTION = HASH (id) );
C. Creating a partitioned table
The following example creates the same table as in example A with the addition of RANGE LEFT partitioning on the zipCode column.
CREATE TABLE bidnTablePart
( id integer NOT NULL,
lastName varchar(20),
zipCode integer
( id RANGE LEFT FOR VALUES (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90)));
In this example, data would be sorted into the following partitions:
col <= 10
10 < col <= 20
20 < col <= 30
30 < col <= 40
40 < col <= 50
50 < col <= 60
60 < col <= 70
70 < col <= 80
80 < col <= 90
90 < col
If we created the table with RANGE RIGHT instead of RANGE LEFT (default), the data would be sorted into the following partitions (this is the same as in your normal SQL Server partitioning:
col < 10
10 <= col < 20
20 <= col < 30
30 <= col < 40
40 <= col < 50
50 <= col < 60
60 <= col < 70
70 <= col < 80
80 <= col < 90
90 <= col
E. Creating a table with date partitioning
The following example creates a new table, bidnTableDatePT, with partitioning on a date column and distributing the data over the compute nodes on the OrderKey. This will provide the scalability and increased seek speed gained from partitioning. Notice we have to specify the distribution key since it's a distributed table and then our partitioning information second.
CREATE TABLE bidnTableDatePT (
l_orderkey bigint,
l_partkey bigint,
l_suppkey bigint,
l_shipdate date,
l_commitdate date,
l_receiptdate date,
l_shipinstruct char(25),
l_shipmode char(10),
l_comment varchar(44))
( DISTRIBUTION = HASH (l_orderkey),
PARTITION ( l_shipdate
We can also do some old favorites in PDW such as Create Table as Select and regular joins between distributed tables and replicated tables. The two examples below are simple versions of these queries.
Create Tables as Select
CREATE TABLE FactResellerSalesNew
DISTRIBUTION = HASH(ProductKey),
PARTITION ( OrderDateKey
(20010101, 20020101, 20030101,20040101, 20050101))
,CLUSTERED INDEX(OrderDateKey))
SELECT * FROM dbo.FactResellerSales
Query Tables with Join
SELECT b.ProductKey, b.OrderQuantity
FROM dbo.DimPromotion a /* Replicated Table*/
JOIN dbo.FactInternetSales b /* Distributed Table*/ ON a.PromotionKey = b.PromotionKey
WHERE a.PromotionKey = 13;
In this article I covered the basics of the PDW architecture, how it fits together and what the major components are. We also discussed why this is an exciting new offering and how it compares with other solutions you or your company may be considering. These units are already up at Microsoft training centers around the country and available for testing with your data if you're interested. Please let me know or contact your Microsoft TSP in your area to get you setup for a proof of concept.
In the next article we'll talk about working with additional objects in the PDW environment, how to create and manage them as well as some of the new flags and options for those objects. It's important to understand that while not all companies will jump on this PDW appliance it provides an industry leading, cost effective and easily scalable solution and options over the competition. Next week I will shoot you some resources on the new PDW system from Microsoft, but for now I will leave you with some terms to remember.
Terms to Remember
1. MPP – Massively Parallel Processing – Scaling processing across multiple nodes or servers
2. SMP – Symmetric Multi Processing – Processing occurs within ones instance of SQL Server and its CPU, memory and storage.
3. EDW – Enterprise Data Warehouse
4. Hub and Spoke – Central EDW with departmental or business function data marts for specialized analysis.
5. Distributed Tables – Tables that are spread across the compute nodes in a PDW environment. These are typically fact tables and are evenly spread using a hashing algorithm.
6. Replicated Tables – These tables are all located in their entirely on the compute nodes and are typically dimension or lookup tables that do not require the distribution capabilities of PDW to manage them.


text:
The Main Street Armory Presents
Insane Clown Posse
Marina Jeep Arena @ The Main Street Armory
900 East Main Street
Rochester, NY, 14605
Doors 6:00 PM / Show 7:30 PM
This event is 16 and over
When Insane Clown Posse (ICP) emerged from the darkness surrounding Detroit's underground music scene in the early 90s, the world had yet to imagine the impact that the hardcore hip-hop style spawned by these two artists — Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope — would bring to bear on mainstream music. Shunned by mainstream music players like MTV and castigated in the media, banned from radio airwaves and yanked from the shelves of "conventional" retail outlets, ICP was dealt a hand that seemed destined for swift and certain failure. Instead, the duo amassed a following of millions of fans endearingly called "Juggalos" and smashed through the ceiling of music industry expectation.
Over the course of a career spanning three decades, ICP repeatedly spat in the faces of industry experts and popular convention, building what is now recognized as the "Dark Carnival," a mythological community shrouded more with speculation than understanding. Based on the idea of an afterlife in which souls await their ultimate destiny in heaven or hell, the Dark Carnival was revealed in a series of ICP productions that vaulted the duo to uncharted industry heights in music, films, wrestling and festivals. ICP's underground messaging was led by Psychopathic Records, whose rally call of "defiance" prompted independent success amid an industry packed with short-lived, industry-manufactured artists with fickle fan bases.
Over the past 30 years, ICP has released more than 23 albums, including more than 10 RIAA certifications and the Billboard Top 200's longest running hip-hop record. Their latest release, "Bang! Pow! Boom!" debuted as Billboard's No. 4 album in September 2009.
Despite ICP's astounding album success, the true essence of the Dark Carnival emerges in the duo's live performances, perhaps best-known for huge stage sets, multiple costume changes, character extras and the trademark spraying of hundreds of liters of Faygo on the twisted mass of painted Juggalos in the audience.
Tickets Available at the Door
Upcoming Events
Marina Jeep Arena @ The Main Street Armory
Fri, December 1
Sun, February 11
Halestorm + Stone Sour


text:
Happy to try but I have "no clue" as to were to start. If you could give a couple of pointers on what to do...
(btw, removing NVDAResman, adding NVEnabler and enabling GraphicsEnabler seems to have given a reasonable boost but still not fully accelerated).
Ok so I am looking for the 8600M efi string but cannot find it. Someone has a post/url I can get it from?
Then I assume its a case of setting it via EFI Studio?
Will need a backup plan if all fails.
I'm in the same position as you regarding the graphics. I can perhaps help with the backup plan.
The easiest solution I know of is to use an external USB drive, to clone a copy of your OSX installation to it and to make it bootable. This way you can (if you're paranoid about making mistakes) remove your hard drive from your laptop and boot it only off the backup image on the USB drive and start experimenting. If it breaks, simply restore the image again using your working laptop.
The basic procedure:
Obtain a copy of Chameleon RC4 and Netkas's PC EFI 10.6. Create a folder somewhere on your drive and unzip the archives there. You'll need it later to make the USB drive bootable.
Log into your Hackintosh, free up as much space as possible before starting (move data elsewhere). Empty the Trashcan. Then start Disk Utility and perform a Repair Disk Permissions.
Reboot the laptop off an installation DVD, (I think in my case I used IPC 10.5.6 or perhaps Hazard's one, it doesn't really matter which you use).
Instead of installing, start Disk Utility. Now's also a good time to attach the external USB drive which will be reformatted / overwritten. Format it to MacOS Journaled.
Select your Hackintosh system drive in Disk Utility's lefthand pane. Click on File, New, Disk Image from Disk0. You can give it whatever name you like, the "save to" location should be the USB Drive.
Image format - choose compressed
Encryption - None
Save it.
This will take some time to complete depending on the size of your installation. (Better to free up as much space as possible before starting).
Once this is done remove the Installer DVD, boot your working Hackintosh system again. Copy the Hackintosh disk image on the USB drive (the dmg) to your Hackintosh desktop. (You'll obviously need enough remaining space on your local drive for it to fit.)
Now start Disk Utility again in the running system. Click on "Images" in the top menu bar, select "Scan Image for Restore". This will take some time to complete. Once it's done, click on the "restore" tab and click on Image and select the image you just scanned.
For Destination, select your USB drive, drag it into destination. Leave "Erase destination" ticked. The restore operation will overwrite your USB drive with the image you created before. Click Restore.
Once this is complete you'll need to install Chameleon on the USB drive to make it bootable.
Open a Terminal. Type df -k
It should give you a clue what disks are on your system, for example:
/dev/disk0s1 (local harddrive)
/dev/disk1s1 (USB drive)
or whatever.
disk0 should be your local drive, disk1 should be your USB drive.
cd to your chameleon installer files and install boot0 to the MBR of the USB drive:
sudo fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk1
Install boot1h to the USB drive bootsector:
sudo dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk1s1
Copy Netkas EFI boot (NOT the Chameleon one) to the root of your USB drive:
sudo cp boot /the_path_of_your_USB drive (look for whatever /dev/disk1s1 is set to)
Shutdown Hackintosh, remove internal harddrive, reboot with USB drive attached. It should now boot from USB and run the OS off the USB drive. If anything gets messed up during experimentation just restore the image again using the same procedure.


text:
This item is sold out and
will no longer be available
Understanding State Aid Policy in the European Community: Perspectives on Rules and Practice
ISBN 13 978-90-6779-128-1 EIPA Code #: 1999/03 Year: 1999 Pages: 260
Downloads : 300
Suggest this page to a friend
Why do the Member States of the European Union still grant aid and is that aid compatible with the objective of integration which should result in a better allocation of resources? The main purpose of this book is to explain the principles and methods of EC state aid policy in a manner which is both accessible and useful to practitioners and policymakers by bringing together contributions from Community and national officials, industry representatives and academics. In particular, it examines both theory on the role and objective of public assistance and current practice controlling such assistance. It addresses the issue of state aid from an economic, legal and administrative perspective and offers detailed information on current practice through case studies. It also considers likely future developments in the Community framework of state aid control. This book identifies major weaknesses in the present system of state aid rules and paves the way for a proper economic analysis of the effects of forty years of state aid policy in the European Community.


text:
Expand Messages
- DISCLAIMER: This story does have some original characters, but the x-
men and the brotherhood belong to marvel and FOX entertainment.
This is for entertainment only. No profit will be made from this
SUMMERY: Well this is my attempt at the movie's sequel.
Rating: NC17 There's gonna be sex in this one but not right away. M/F
F/F (M/M maybe I haven't decided just yet.)
FEEDBACK: Please, please, please!!! adnilnosnhoj@...
ARCHIEVE: Just tell me where, so I can tell my
Chapter 13
It was 8:00am when Storm called the mansion to let Scott know that
she and the professor were on they're way back home.
"You missed the interview?" Storm sounded in bit shocked to hear
Scott say yes.
"Well, something came up." Scott was especially glad Storm could not
see him blushing. "Did I miss anything?"
"Well, no, not really." Storm informed Scott on her cell phone while
she and the professor patiently sat motionless in a traffic jam.
"They gave the professor just enough time to make a quick statement
or two and then cut him off so they could go to the weather. But I
think they are planning to re-air the interview later this morning."
"I'll try to catch it then." Scott explained to her.
"Scott, there's something I need you to do for me." Storm politely
"What is it Storm?"
"It looks like I won't be getting back in time for first hour. Would
you mind letting Mercy know I need her to sub for me until I get
"No problem Storm. See you later."
Scott was trying hard to fight this eerie feeling he was starting to
get. Almost as if he could see in his mind a dark cloud glooming over
the horizon.
Jean had mentioned something at breakfast about going back to the
dispensary for a moment, but he still had this uneasy feeling to need
to know EXACTLY where she was at all times.
He blamed this sudden over-protectiveness for his fiancé on Toad's
and Sabretooth's presence in the mansion, though if he were honest
with himself, he still wasn't over the little drama caused by Logan
and Jean's mutual attraction.
`She's fine.' He kept reassuring himself. `If she were in trouble she
would *call* me.'
Charles too was having an eerie uneasy feeling.
Even if the Rolls had stood still in traffic many times in the past
there was something very unsettling about this time.
Charles thought hard about this feeling for several minutes.
"Storm; stay on guard." The professor's voice was calm. "We're being
`OK, history is covered, that leaves physics.' Scott thought to
himself as he walked toward the rec-room.
Forge and Maddrox were already quietly sitting in the room watching
the TV, drinking their morning coffee only making small talk to each
other as they all waited for Charles' interview to be re-played.
Scott found himself a seat on the couch.
"Forge would there be a problem with you taking physics this
morning?" He politely asked the mechanical genius.
Forge gave him a curious look. "Take it where?"
Scott laughed at the joke. Laughter was something he felt he really
needed right now.
He was so tempted to check on Jean but knew what a big mistake that
would be. `Just ignore it.' Scott told himself.
The net-work was still in commercial break when Mercy along with
Clarice and a medium sized boy named Marshall came to the rec-room.
"Mercy!" Scott seemed surprised to see her.
She was dressed and ready for the day even if she was still half
"You're up bright and early."
"Mmmm Thanks to this living alarm-clock here." Mercy said sleepily as
she gently patted Clarice on the head and leaned against the doorway.
"Good job. Clarice." Forge smiled and winked at the shy little girl
who held onto Mercy's pant leg, while nibbling on her thumb-nail.
Suddenly the boy with Mercy and Clarice transformed his body into a
giant rooster and began flapping his wings wildly and crowing.
"Morph, sit down!" All the men yelled at once.
He then transformed himself into a short fat Rodney Dangerfield with
extra-bulgy eyes, and frantically pulled at his neck-tie saying, "I
tell ya, I never get any respect around here!"
But before his audience got TOO upset with him he returned to his
natural form, which was a bizarre looking creature, with ghost white
skin, colorless eyes, and a bald-head.
Marshall went ahead and took a seat next to Scott while Clarice and
Mercy watched the TV from the doorway.
Scott spoke quietly to Mercy. "Charles and Storm won't be back for a
while yet. You have history this morning."
She nodded her head in response.
The show had returned form its station break, when suddenly there
came an incredibly loud, thunderous roar from Sabretooth's bedroom.
Instantly the adults in the room recognized it was Sabretooth's roar.
"Oh, he doesn't sound happy." Mercy remarked.
Scott put his hand up to his fore-head. "Damn-it! I forgot to get
that son-of-a-bitch up for breakfast this morning."
"If you'd like Scott, I can go get him." Mercy innocently offered.
But Scott frantically shook his head to say no.
"Mercy, stay away from him." Scott flatly asserted.
As much as he would like to scare her away from that monster, he
wouldn't tell Mercy about Sabretooth's fondness for rape as long as
Clarice or for that matter any child was in the room.
Soon another roar was heard; then another and another.
This time Forge offered to go and get him just so they wouldn't have
to hear that obnoxious sound any more, but Scott informed him that
Sabretooth could go without eating for a little bit longer.
"He is our prisoner Forge; NOT our guest." Scott answered somewhat
irritably; and neither Mercy nor Clarice understood why.
"Well he sounds awfully hungry, Scott. How would you like being
locked up and just left to go hungry?" Mercy tried her best to make
Scott feel guilty, but it was useless.
Suddenly Mercy noticed someone was missing.
She began looking around the room, then up and down the
hallway. "Clarice where are you?" Mercy whispered, hoping not to
disturb the men.
Finally, she had no choice be to interrupt.
"Did any of you see where she went?" The men just shook their heads.
"She did it again!" Mercy huffed in frustration and tossed her hands
in the air.
"I've NEVER seen a kid who could skid-daddle that fast before!" Mercy
declared as she left the rec-room to search for the little girl.
Mercy's voice echoed through the hallway as she continued her search
for the bashful child.
"Clarice? Where are you?" But there was no answer.
It wasn't the first time the child had disappeared and most likely it
wouldn't be the last. The men just turned their attention back to the
TV just in time to see Charles' interview being replayed.
REPORTER: "Professor Xavier from the West-Chester school for the
gifted; could you give us a brief description of what kind of
students your school accepts and what do they study?"
PROFESSOR: "We focus on children with high IQs or exceptional
physical attributes. They come from all over the world to be taught
and educated so that they may some day be a valuable and productive
member of society if they so choose."
REPORTER: "Well thank you for coming down and clearing all that up,
Professor. Next it's Ryan with the weather."
Everyone in the room just looked at each other in disbelief.
Finally, Jamie broke the silence. "That has to break some kind of
speed record." Suddenly Morph was back on his feet now in the form of
the woman reporter who had just interviewed the Professor.
"*Well thank you for coming down and clearing that up, Professor.*"
He mocked the woman in her own voice.
"*But my face lift is slipping now and I have to run to the hospital
before my eye brows turn into side burns!*"
The shape-shifter went as far as to let his own face start to droop
off his skull toward the floor.
"That's enough Morph." Jamie chastised while trying very hard not to
break out laughing.
"Yeah, well so much for equal access." Scott shook his head and got
up out of his seat.
"Hmmm Sabretooth's been quiet for a while now. I wonder if he died
from starvation." Scott was sorry that Mercy wasn't around to hear
his sarcasm.
As he walked towards the villain's bedroom he tried to remember
everything he still had to do this morning.
`There just aren't enough hours in a day.' Scott realized.
Meanwhile, in Sabretooth's bedroom:
Victor took turns beating on the door, yelling, roaring and cussing
in no particular order, then flopping back onto his bed. Only to
repeat his actions a few minutes later.
He was unhappy yes; but he was no where near the `out of control'
state of mind just yet.
His feelings were more hurt than anything. As far as he knew, he had
been a good kitty so far, and he really felt that he deserved to be
treated better than this.
He sighed to himself and once more went to the metal door that was
electronically locked on the other side.
`If I really wanted to I bet I could knock this fuckin' thing down
with one good shove. But what good would that do me.' His leaned up
against the door for a moment and sighed in despair.
"Hey, asshole! Let me outta here!" He pounded on the door wondering
if anyone at all was coming for him.
Then strangely from behind, he heard something he had never heard
before. It was a quiet noise- not easily noticed.
`What the hell was that?' He turned around and quickly caught a whiff
of a person's scent coming from the bathroom. He recognized the scent
immediately and his eyes widened like saucers with confusion.
`What the fu ' He thought to himself as he slowly walked in his
bathroom and looked inside the shower stall.
There standing in the stall looking up at him was Clarice. She had
only a blank expression on her face as she kindly offered the
felinoid a blueberry muffin she had taken from the kitchen.
Sabretooth's appropriate language and manners in general around small
children was poor to say the least. But he was not in the habit of
entertaining company; especially little tykes who "popped" in
"How the fuck did YOU get in here?" He was more curious about her
mysterious appearance than actually being angry at the girl.
Clarice opened her mouth and quietly whispered. "I just think of a
place and I'm there."
Sabretooth nodded his head as he accepted the muffin from the child's
"Cool mutation. Wish I could do something like that." His voice was
remarkably gentle though he did not smile.
He then peeled the paper off the muffin and in three bites the muffin
was gone. Clarice smiled at him. "Mercy said you were hungry."
"OH she did huh?" His voice sounded a little tense. "Then why the
hell didn't she come and get me outta here so I could get something
to eat?" He asked Clare as he turned away from her and walked out of
the bathroom. He was not really expecting her to answer him.
"Sh she wanted to, but Scott told her to stay away from you."
Sabretooth's ears twitched under his long hair in her direction. This
information was very interesting indeed.
He sat down on the edge of his bed with his legs spread apart. He
leaned in toward Clarice as she followed him out of the bathroom and
came closer to him.
He set his elbows on his knees letting his fore-arms hang between his
legs. His eyes and Clare's were nearly level to one another.
"Hmmm really?" Sabretooth was interested in knowing more. "Did he say
Clarice seemed a little embarrassed to answer his question. "He said
you were our prisoner not our guest." She shyly whispered.
He nodded his head. "You know something squirt? He's right. I ain't
no guest `round here, and I ain't somebody you want to get to know.
But thanks for the snack squirt. Thanks."
He was careful to smile in a way where his fangs would not show and
gently patted her on the head.
That moment Sabretooth turned his head towards the bedroom door as he
caught scent of Scott approaching.
"Runt I think its time for us to end this lil' chat." But by the time
he turned his head to see her again, she was already gone.
A couple of moments later Scott had the door open as Sabretooth
casually got up from sitting on the side of the bed.
Scott was pleasantly surprised to see Sabretooth remaining so in
control of his emotions.
"I was beginning to think there was a DO NOT OPEN `TILL CHRISTMAS
sign posted on my door." Sabretooth joked. Then he added, "Hell I'd
make you wait all day if I was getting laid."
Scott was shocked at Sabretooth's rude and blunt words, wondering if
this is what the felinoid considered guy talk.
"Well Sabretooth, no one ever told me you were psychic." Scott put
his hands on his hips as if expecting an answer from the felinoid.
Sabretooth just shook his head. "Not a psychic, just got a really
good sniffer, that's all." He tapped his index claw on the side of
his nose as he went on to explain.
"Your testosterone level dropped recently; and I can smell that Jean
bit er um gal all over you."
"And that leads you to believe that I got laid this morning?" Scott
tried to sound as if Sabretooth's deduction was off.
"Sure does." He proudly announced.
"Hmmm." Was the only response Scott would give. Even so, Sabretooth
knew he was right.
The two men walked out of the door and casually headed down the hall.
"First, we'll get you something to eat, and then you need to go
apologize to Mercy for destroying her pen yesterday."
Sabretooth didn't answer right away. Scott was beginning to wonder if
he had heard him or not. Finally, the felinoid asked him something
with a twisted grin on his face. It was as if Sabretooth was thinking
of something he wasn't willing to share with Scott. "Tell me
something, Red-eye. Did I piss Fluffy off?"
"Possibly, but that's not the point. You're not allowed to destroy
other people's property." Scott began to explain.
"Because it's against the rules." Sabretooth mocked.
"Frankly Sabretooth, it is." Scott said flatly. "One more thing,
Sabretooth. You can thank her for going out the other day and buying
you new clothes."
Sabretooth gave Scott one of his grunts as an answer and as far as
Scott could tell, he was saying 'sure'. TO BE CONTINUED
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text:
Sanare and BrightSky Announce National Strategic Partnership with American Diabetes Association
RENO, Nev., April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanare, LLC, a leading provider of care management solutions for people with diabetes, and its new consumer brand, BrightSky, have become National Strategic Partners of the American Diabetes Association.®
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110414/FL83264LOGO)
The sponsorship makes Sanare and BrightSky founding sponsors of the American Diabetes Association's newly diagnosed patient initiative called "Living With Type 2 Diabetes." The program provides new patients with resources and information about living with type 2 diabetes at regular intervals over a 12-month period.
"The Association's proactive approach to diabetes education aligns well with the mission of both Sanare and BrightSky to empower patients to manage their diabetes," said Dr. Ron Geraty, Sanare CEO. "Both parties are focused on creating better health outcomes for people living with diabetes and on lowering health care costs. We're very excited and honored to be working with the American Diabetes Association in this capacity."
Additionally, Sanare/BrightSky and the Association will be implementing a free, one-hour educational program, Diabetes Review (SM), in 10 strategic metropolitan areas throughout the country. This program, initially launched in Southeastern Michigan in 2006, promotes diabetes education and encourages attendees to attend in-depth diabetes education via the Association's recognized education programs. Diabetes Review has helped provide free education to over 5,500 people, with 71% (1) of attendees requesting to attend or have already attended further diabetes education.
Sanare recently acquired Great Lakes Medical Supply (GLMS) and Doctor Diabetic Supply, and on April 12th introduced BrightSky, a comprehensive, patient-focused brand designed to inspire total health for people living with diabetes. "BrightSky will change patient behaviors, improve physician/


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Devils know how to finish
Updated: May 19, 2003, 11:31 AM ETBy By Jim Wilkie | NHL Insider
New Jersey has been in this position before, up three games to one with a chance to win a playoff series, and it has shown a ruthless killer instinct. Eight times as a matter of fact, and not once has the opposition rallied back to win the series. Now the Devils have a chance to make it 9-0, with their collective boot on the throat of the Ottawa Senators heading into Monday night's Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals at Ottawa's Corel Centre. But the Devils aren't making reservations for the Stanley Cup finals yet because they know a comeback from 3-1 can be done, just as they did to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern finals in 2000.
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- Bruins Get Big Win
- Boston dealt a blow to Florida, while other Eastern playoff contenders looked to keep pace.
Inside the NHL
- Future Is Strong In Columbus
- While it's too late for this season, the Blue Jackets are getting healthy and showing how tough they will be moving forward.
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- Inside The NHL
- Marc-Andre Fleruy has to prove he can dominate in the playoffs before anyone will expect the Penguins to make noise this spring.
Inside the NHL


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Ive been working diligently to get this fabulous wedding up on the blog, I just couldn't let them go unposted! I mean seriously, blue suede Wedding shoes!? (well not really, but they felt like it!)
The only way I could ever start this post is by telling the world how much I adore Vanessa and Kevin. Since they live in Palm Beach which is a 5 hour drive from Tampa, the last time we saw each other was back in July so I was SO excited to see them again! They were completely in the moment and remained laid back throughout the course of their rainy wedding day. I always seem to be blessed with fabulous and laid back clients who are absolutely beautiful from the inside out and for that I am extremely grateful. Okay, enough rambling…on to the images…
The afternoon of December 5th, 2009, Nicholas and I checked out of our hotel and it began POURING down rain on our way to the Pelican Grand in Ft. Lauderdale. You can imagine our delight as we walked into Vanessa's room and the sun started pushing its way through the clouds to give Vanessa and Kevin just enough time to have their ceremony without a drop of rain. The day started with hair and make-up and me attempting to contain my squeals of delight over Vanessa's fabulousness:
Meanwhile, my assistant photographer, Mike was right around the corner hanging out with the guys and taking some images as they were getting ready.
The rain decided it was okay to show itself again, luckily we were moving fast enough to get finished with the wedding party and family photos. As we were walking back, I saw Kevin's dear father holding the umbrella over her – it pulled at my heart then and it pulls at it even more now. Maybe Im just a sap. : )
Squeezing in some Bridal Portraits after the cermony, I could have taken portraits of her all day long. Who wouldn't want to? That sweet smile you're seeing begins on the inside.
You are a devastatingly beautiful woman, Vanessa.
Favorite bride and groom images EVER.
I couldnt leave this one out. Oh my gosh.
I was so impressed during a late night text session with Vanessa, she told me that she did everything. All of these little details, the programs, the centerpieces-everything. She's definitely a girl after my own crafty little heart. Their reception was GORGEOUS!
I have to say that the staff at the Pelican Grand were so accommodating. They let us have free reign of the hotel and made sure we were taken care of. It wasnt even a question that we would take them up on their offer to shoot in the ice cream parlor! Hot meet cold.
Vanessa and Kevin choreographed their first dance. All I can say is salsa + first dance + adorable couple = giddy photographer having trouble keeping the camera to her eye.
But I got it. And I love it so.
and I love them so.
Now on to the photo-booth!
This was the first time we offered the photo-booth add-on and Vanessa and Kevin were on board! I never realized how much I would LOVE IT! Ill have more info later on how we do this and how you can have it at your event but for now just enjoy Vanessa and Kevin's crazy awesome wedding party and guests:
Click here for a crazy cool slideshow of all of the photo-booth images!
But First, while you are here, leave a comment on this post to help Vanessa and Kevin hang up a free print from their wedding on their wall! Really, it takes only a few moments!


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ALEX Salmond has defended the decision to allow the £200,000-a-year chief executive of Scottish Enterprise to earn further pay of more than one-quarter of that sum by sitting on the board of a private company.
Challenged on the issue at First Minister's Questions, he told Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie to look at the widespread support for the appointment across the business community before criticising the move.
He also highlighted the fact that, in common with 80% of senior public sector figures entitled to bonuses under contracts dating back to the Labour-LibDem coalition at Holyrood, Lena Wilson had decided to forego that bonus.
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"Lena Wilson has a contractual entitlement to a public sector bonus, a contractual entitlement because the contracts were drawn up in the years of the Labour and Liberal Democrat administration in Scotland, where they were commonplace to have bonuses in the contracts of the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise," he said.
"She has relinquished that right to a public sector bonus. It seems to me that is something Willie Rennie should support because it's in line with Government policy that we have been trying to eliminate from public sector contracts entitlements to bonuses."
But this did not satisfy Mr Rennie, who has led criticism this week of the decision by the board of Scottish Enterprise to give Ms Wilson permission to accept an appointment to Intertek's board, which will earn her £55,000 for around a day's work per month.
Mr Rennie said a former senior official at Scottish Enterprise sent him a letter expressing his anger at the appointment. He added: "Most people, perhaps not those on the SNP benches, would not accept that £55,000 for 12 days' work can be justified for someone who is already being paid £200,000 every year.
"I can't really believe that the First Minister supports this appointment. If he reverses this decision today, he'll get my support."
Although Intertek has received nine grants from Scottish Enterprise in the past, the agency has insisted that procedures will be in place to prevent any conflicts of interest after Ms Wilson joins the board.


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No doubt that Windows XP is one of the best Operating Systems, but there are still some who don't know much about it; just as normal Window. I am going to tell you five awesome tips which Windows XP users can try on their Operating systems. These are some untold tips which are hard to find on internet. These are:
How do I get the "Administrator" name on Welcome Screen?
– To get Admin account on the "Welcome Screen" as well as the other usernames, make sure that there are no accounts logged in. Press "CTRL-ALT-DEL" twice and you should be able to login as administrator. It will work fine just remember all accounts have to be logged out first.
Create a Password Reset Disk
– If you're running Windows XP Professional as a local user in some work group environment,
you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your
password. To create the disk just follow these simple steps:
- Click Start, select Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
- Click your account name. Under related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
- Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk.
- Store the disk in a secure location because anyone using it can access your local user
Change Web Page Font Size on the Fly
– If your mouse contains a scrolling wheel, you can change font size of the web pages while
viewing them. To do so:
Press and hold CTRL. Scroll down to enlarge the font size and Scroll up to reduce the font
Create a Shortcut to Lock your Computer
You can create a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display. To create a
shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:
- Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut.
- The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
- Click Next.
- Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it Lock or choose any name you like.
- Click Finish.
- Now just double click this shortcut next time you want to lock your computer.
Instantly Activate a Screen saver
– Now you can activate a screen saver just by double clicking a shortcut on your desktop:
- Click the Start button, and then click Search.
- In the Search Companion window, click All file types.
- In the file name box, type *.scr
- In the Look in box, choose Local Hard Drives (C or the drive where you have system files stored).
- Click Search. You will see a list of screen savers in the results. Pick a screen saver you want. You can preview it
by double-clicking it.
- Right click on the file, choose Send To, and then click Desktop (create shortcut).
- To start the screen saver, double-click the icon on your desktop.
I hope you liked the tips. Do share your comments. :)
Tips by Arun, who works for Go-gulf.com, a web design Kuwait Company that provides web design solution in Qatar, Sharjah and Middle East.


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Early last year, Mike Daisey was getting a lot of attention. His monologue, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, in part about the working conditions in the Chinese factories that manufactured Apple products, had been adapted for the radio show This American Life. It quickly became the program's most-downloaded episode. Two months later, Daisey got a different kind of attention, when This American Life issued an episode-long retraction of the segment after it was discovered that he had invented certain stories in the piece.
The controversy did not temper Daisey's vigorous work ethic — he continued to perform a revised version of The Agony and the Ecstasy through 2012 while developing new work. He will bring his latest monologue, American Utopias, to the Paramount Center Mainstage on Feb. 15 and 16. The piece kicks off ArtsEmerson's The Next Thing Festival: a 10-day series of film, theater, music, and workshops that looks at new work and how it is created. The festival is also sponsored by the Center for the Theater Commons and the New York-based Under the Radar Festival.
In American Utopias, Daisey examines Disney World, the music and arts festival Burning Man, and Zuccotti Park, the site of Occupy Wall Street — three places that, before the project, he said he had limited experience with.
"All my monologues are born out of an obsession that I've cultivated," he said. "For this piece, I got an invitation to accompany a large group of my family members to Disney World. This particular group, Disney is their religion. Nominally, they're Catholic. But really they worship the mouse."
For reasons he couldn't put his finger on, thinking about the obsession around Disney World brought Burning Man to mind — and so he began studying the similarities between the two. Around that time, the Occupy Wall Street protests broke out in Zuccotti Park.
"For certain people, it became a very charged environment where a social experiment was taking place. It really spoke to a lot of the things I was becoming fascinated with," Daisey said.
In each performance, he will flesh out connections and comparisons among the locations extemporaneously — he improvises his storytelling based on prepared notes.
"It's built and composed the same way a jazz piece is," he said. "It's refined over time, but fundamentally it's living in the space."
David Dower, ArtsEmerson's director of artistic programs, has been familiar with Daisey since his 2001 monologue-turned-novel 21 Dog Years, about his time as a customer service representative during the early years at Amazon.
"He's a very astute cultural critic. He has a real knack for crafting a story, and a knack for crafting the story of himself," said Dower. He said that Daisey's extemporaneous style adds a thrill to his performances. "Each time, no matter what place you come into the process, it's something of a high wire act."
Dower said he had always known Daisey made up stories in his solo performances. But he was surprised when Daisey claimed the stories in The Agony and The Ecstasy were true outside of the context of the performance.
"I have always known that Mike had the capacity to create a fiction that helped to market his shows, that he was exceptionally good at that," Dower said. "The sadness is that it got to that level. I wasn't expecting him to take it that far. My sense watching it was that it got away from him."
But when programming the festival, Dower said that he did not want to ignore Daisey as an artist because of his handling of The Agony and the Ecstasy.
"The issues that were created in the way he handled the press aren't controlling what he does next," he said. "How many different ways would we be without an artist if there was only a concentration on behavior?"
Daisey said the controversy with This American Life made him think about how he frames his work, but that it has not affected the way he researches or tells a story.
"It made me think about the fundamentals of fiction and non-fiction, which is an obsession of mine," he said. "In a sense, it's affected a lot of the work in that it took a huge amount of my energy and time; and in another very real sense, it hasn't changed anything about the way the works at its core. All the things that truly matter were unaffected."
Though the show's posters label Daisey as a "controversial monologist," Dower said that as a programmer he did not find the controversy attractive.
"It's actually the opposite. We had to think about why are we programming this piece in this context, and we had come to a place of saying, 'Yes, let's program Mike Daisey and his next piece in spite of that fact that he's still working on the problem that he created,'" he said. "Controversy isn't in and of itself something tantalizing as a programmer. This is not a pleasant controversy."
Junior Dylan Manderlink, who studies Investigative Theatre for Social Change, an interdisciplinary major, said that while she is skeptical of Daisey's actions in the past, she is looking forward to seeing his work.
"I would just like to see another perspective on documentary-style theater. It's supposed invoke a dialogue," she said. "I'm not going to have my own preconceived notions. I'm going to go in as blindly as I can."
Senior journalism major Grace Gibson said that she does not have a problem with Daisey's work as long as it is not positioned as anything other than theater.
"I've heard a lot about him, but I'd like to actually see him," said Gibson. "I wouldn't know what in a monologue should be taken as fact. I think if you just view it as entertainment, it becomes more enjoyable."


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Polo Ralph Lauren Chambray Printed Short-Sleeve Shirt
Ships and delivers within 4 DaysAdd to wishlist
- Size medium has a 29-1/2" back body length
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- Dyed with true indigo which may rub off onto fabrics leather and upholstery
- Model is 6'1"/185 cm and wears a size medium
- Cotton
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No questions asked return or exchange*: items may be returned or exchanged for a full refund in the original form of payment or a Vogily Credit within 14 days after shipping. Your satisfaction is our biggest prize, so we do everything to ensure that you are happy with your purchase. All products are 100% authentic, procured from brands directly and are backed by our purchase protection with 10 times money back guarantee. *Please refer to the detailed return policy on the site for exceptions
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SoilPro 100 from Valley® Irrigation recently won an AE50 award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).
Deemed one of the year's most innovative designs in engineering products for the food and agriculture industries by ASABE, Valley SoilPro 100 is an innovative, low-cost solution for developing markets and growers new to center pivot and linear irrigation. It uses simple, reasonably-priced components to provide growers with soil moisture information, without the need for computerized pivot controls or Internet access.
Currently sold in China, SoilPro 100 combines a soil moisture sensor and a programmable cellular modem to monitor soil water conditions. Farmers receive SMS text messages when the sensor measures either dry or saturated conditions.
Farmers new to center pivot irrigation often request support for irrigation timing decisions, said Valley Product Manager Scott Mauseth.
"Scheduling irrigation is a critical skill that many growers just don't have when they convert from flood to center pivot and linear irrigation," Mauseth said. "Most often the result is over watering, the SoilPro 100 bridges that gap without expecting the user to understand complex charts or graphs. Simply put, it tells them when to irrigate and when not to, easing the transition of implementing new technology."
The award is a testament to the ongoing commitment of Valley Irrigation, the leader in precision irrigation, to develop innovative products for growers around the world.
"We are pleased that the ASABE recognizes the value of SoilPro 100 as an ideal solution for beginning irrigators in emerging markets," Mauseth said.
Companies from around the world submit entries to the annual AE50 competition and the best products are chosen by a panel of international engineering experts. The judges select products that will best advance engineering for the food and agriculture industries.
Previous Valley products recognized with an AE50 award include: GPS Guidance and BaseStation2-SM (2010), Tracker Mobile and AutoPilot Linear (2009), Pocket Pro (2003), Precision Corner® (2000), BaseStation (1992), and Computer Aided Management System (1991).
About Valley Irrigation
The Valley brand is recognized worldwide as the leader in sales, service, quality, and innovation, and has been recognized as such since Valmont® founded the center pivot irrigation industry in 1954. With historical sales of more than 200,000 center pivots and linears, Valmont-built equipment annually irrigates approximately 25 million acres (10 million hectares) around the world. The Nebraska-based company remains dedicated to providing innovative solutions now and well into the future. For more information please visit www.ValleyIrrigation.com.


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It's hard to overlook four interceptions and one fumble in a 23-14 season-opening loss. But Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville wasn't all displeased with sophomore quarterback Brandon Cox's first p...
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Blogging has become one of the most common ways for people to express themselves and let their opinions be heard. Sometimes, it seems as if almost everybody you know has a blog, in addition to all the major companies you follow through your social networking. For some people, their blogs have basically become public, interactive journals. Others have made their blogs more professional, in hopes of connecting with people of their desired profession.
While the reason behind blogging is different for every person/company who becomes involved in it, one aspect of blogging is universal: you want people to see your work.
Some blogs will have an easier time building an audience, others not so much. There are, however, a few things that will help build any blog and make it better. If you're looking for some new tools to improve your blog, look no further. Here are three things that you should start implementing, in order to make your blog more attractive:
People love taking quick polls and surveys. It's a fun, quick, anonymous way to let the blogger know how you feel about their content. You can post questions ranging from who their favorite superhero is, to what they think you could improve on your blog. Polls are one of the most effective ways for you to gauge your audience's interest in your work and see what they think you could work on. Make sure you post polls frequently (probably once a day), and give people a wide variety of choices to answer from, so that you can get a more accurate reading of what the people want. Once you find out what people think of your blog, improve it. Polls can help you develop a blog that is more user-friendly and engaging.
Guest Blogger
I realize that guest bloggers aren't technically "tools", but they are still great resources that can yield surprising returns. Getting someone else to write on your blog should expand your audience, and it will increase the variety in writing styles and topics for your readers to enjoy. You could even invite a friend or another writer to contribute to your blog permanently if the guest post is well enough received. If your guest blogger just wants to write one thing on your blog, have them advertise via word of mouth and social media. If they want to become a permanent fixture, make sure to advertise them and tell about their capabilities. Promote your work with your guest blogger and you should be getting many more hits than you were before.
What better tool is there than one that will tell you what kind of audience you're drawing, where they are from, what browser they are using, etc.? Once you find out what kind of demographic that you're drawing in, you'll be able to specifically design your site and your content to expand your audience, or help your existing audience have a better site experience. Many blogging sites will give you some type of free analytics to use with your blog, but they are usually pretty rudimentary. Instead, you could look into getting Google analytics, which are much more in depth, and will help you further your blog. Analytics also will allow you to see which of your posts does the best, where the traffic is coming from, and what more you can do to get more. This is a huge tool to help you with the content marketing on your blog. If you are trying to monetize your blog, this will be one of your biggest assets.
Whether you're starting a personal or professional blog, there is a lot for you to offer to the blogging community and a lot for you to learn, as well. There are a host of other blogs that have been run very well that you can get an idea or two from.
Once you follow these tips and start to see your blog grow, it will be a bit more hectic to manage and keep your audience happy, but it will also be much more fun to work with. Your audience will become more vocal and demanding, but they'll also be more pleased with the final product of your work.
David Glenn is a freelance writer and retired business owner with over 30 years of experience in the construction/home improvement industry. He enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his family and traveling to new places. David loves writing about his experiences in life, business, and family, and hopes his writing can benefit his readers in any way.


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Sun 23rd Dec at 11:00am - 4:00pm
Festive Fun At The Fort Birmingham - Look Out For Santa Claus!
@ The Fort Shopping Park, Birmingham
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Festive Fun At The Fort Birmingham - Look Out For Santa Claus!
"Santa will be making an appearance throughout The Fort. No doubt he'll be hiding in some of your favourite shops so make sure you look out for him as he'll be handing out treats for the kids too!"
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Venue Facts
Venue: The Fort Shopping Park
Website: thefort.co.uk


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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The Trump Plaza is where gamblers from all over the country come to strike it rich, but on Thursday afternoon Bobby Bowden came away with the biggest jackpot of them all. Princeton (N.J.) The Hun School five-star athlete Myron Rolle announced in front of a national television audience in the Plaza's Imperial Room that he was heading to Florida State.
Rolle, who is 6-foot-2 and 214 pounds, is ranked as the No. 1 athlete in the nation and the No. 3 player overall according to Rivals.com. His recruitment was nothing short of a roller-coaster ride with much of it twists and turns being played out under the constant glare of the national media.
Heading into Thursday's announcement six teams – Florida, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma and Penn State – all felt like they had a chance to land Rolle, so it was only fitting that he threw everybody for one final loop by keeping his choice quiet all the way until the end.
Article Continues Below
"I'm going to Florida State University," Rolle said.
"There were a lot of reasons that went into Florida State. I think Florida State combined the best academics and athletics for me. When I went there for a visit, I just felt it was a tremendous place. I thought I could get all my academic goals done, which are to graduate in three years in a science program as well as develop on the football field as a player."
Rolle first burst onto the national recruiting scene before his sophomore season had even started. That's when he shocked everybody in attendance at Oklahoma's summer camp in 2003. Nobody knew who Rolle was heading into the camp, but by the time he left he had an oral offer from Sooner coach Bob Stoops.
"That was exciting," Rolle said in his first ever interview with Rivals.com minutes after the Oklahoma camp completed. "This is really, really new to me, but I already like it."
Indeed he did.
Rolle would go on to become one of the most highly-covered recruits with more then 65 articles written about him over the past three years on Rivals.com. He also appeared in numerous national magazine and television shows, but what was most impressive about Rolle is that he did not let the attention get to his head.
He's a strong student in the classroom with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and his future has medical scrubs and research grants along with football pads and Super Bowls.
"Basically it was in fifth grade," he said talking about when he realized what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. "We had talked a little bit about the brain, how even the wiggle of your toes was controlled. We had to move quickly through the curriculum. I kept asking the teacher, 'Can we go back over this?' "
Rolle has been fascinated with neurology ever since. He sees medicine not just as an avenue for moneymaking, but also as a channel for public service. And in the end he felt Florida State was the best fit for him to reach those goals.
"I think Mickey Andrews is one of the best defensive back coaches in the nation, if not the best," Rolle said. "Florida State has a long line of tradition for defensive backs, and I'm just happy that I can be part of it."
Rivals.com will have much more on Rolle's decision, including exclusive photos from the press conference shortly. Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree contributed to this report.