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Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
Opinion Letters - Fair Labor Standards Act
March 2, 2009
Dear Name*:
Enclosed is the response to your request for an opinion letter signed by the then Acting Wage and Hour Administrator Alexander J. Passantino on January 15, 2009 and designated as Wage and Hour Opinion Letter FLSA2009-10. It does not appear that this response was placed in the mail for delivery to you after it was signed. In any event, we have decided to withdraw it for further consideration by the Wage and Hour Division. We will provide a further response in the near future.
The enclosed opinion letter, and this withdrawal, are issued as official rulings of the Wage and Hour Division for purposes of the Portal-to-Portal Act, 29 U.S.C. § 259. See 29 C.F.R. §§ 790.17(d), 790.19; Hultgren v. County of Lancaster, Nebraska, 913 F.2d 498, 507 (8th Cir. 1990). Wage and Hour Opinion Letter FLSA2009-10 is withdrawn and may not be relied upon as a statement of agency policy.
John L. McKeon
Deputy Administrator for Enforcement
This Opinion Letter is withdrawn.
January 15, 2009
Dear Name*:
This is in response to your letter regarding the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to community members who coach athletic teams for a public school. First, you ask how to calculate the amount that can be paid as a stipend to these coaches if they are volunteers under the FLSA. Second, you ask whether these coaches, if not volunteers, are eligible for the exemption for teachers in section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA and 29 C.F.R. § 541.303.[1] It is our opinion that the coaches you describe qualify as teachers under the Act and are exempt from the FLSA's minimum wage and overtime pay provisions. Because of this conclusion, we do not address your first question about the stipends paid to the coaches.
In this case, the school employs no full-time coaches, but relies on community members to meet its coaching needs. Coaches spend most of their time instructing student athletes in the rules and fundamentals of their respective sports. Head coaches and assistant coaches share those teaching duties, although head coaches are responsible for determining the fundamental philosophy, skills, and techniques for each team. When not instructing players, coaches devote the balance of their time to activities such as recruiting students to play sports, supervising team members during trips to and from games, disciplining team members when necessary, and accounting for all equipment in their care.
Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA and its implementing regulations exempt "any employee with a primary duty of teaching, tutoring, instructing or lecturing in the activity of imparting knowledge and who is employed and engaged in this activity as a teacher in an educational establishment by which the employee is employed." 29 C.F.R. § 541.303(a). Coaches whose primary duties are not related to teaching—for example, performing general clerical or administrative tasks for the school unrelated to teaching, including the recruitment of students to play sports, or performing manual labor—do not qualify for the teacher exemption. See Wage and Hour Opinion Letter August 24, 1998 (copy enclosed). For purposes of this response, we assume that the coaches are not employed in any other capacity by the school or the school district. We also assume the school meets the definition of an educational establishment under 29 C.F.R. § 541.204(b).
Coaches qualify for the exemption if their primary duty is teaching and imparting knowledge to students in an educational establishment. "Those faculty members who . . . spend a considerable amount of their time in extracurricular activities such as coaching athletic teams . . . are engaged in teaching. Such activities are a recognized part of the schools' responsibility in contributing to the educational development of the student." 29 C.F.R. § 541.303(b).
Section 541.303(c) specifies that possession of a teaching certificate provides a clear means of identifying employees who qualify for the exemption. There is no requirement, however, that the employee possess a teaching certificate to qualify for the exemption.


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What in the name of…?
We stayed up all-night long, eagerly awaiting this Royal Wedding business. Finally the program came on, and we were confused as hell – isn't this supposed to be the royal affair celebrating a Crown Royale/RC Cola cocktail? Apparently not.
Nevertheless, we downed our drinks at that ungodly hour as we desperately tried to figure out the question EVERYONE was asking…
"What is going on with that crazy-ass hat?"
[photogallerylink id=37335 align=left]

subset: commoncrawl


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CodePlexProject Hosting for Open Source Software
The hosts file is a computer file used by an operating system to map hostnames to IP addresses. The hosts file is a plain text file, and is conventionally named hosts. (Wikipedia)
Developers who frequently need to switch their hosts entries between development, testing and other environments will find the convention based approach of Easy Hosts both intuitive and simple.
New in this release:
1. If you already maintain separate hosts file for your different environments, simply rename those files with ".host" extension (eg. DEV.host, QA.host) and drop them into the Easy Hosts installation directory. Restart the application and the files
will show up in the available hosts list for quick switching.
2. Need to quickly create hosts file from selected text? Select the required host entries in the editor, right click, and select "Save selection as new file...". Provide the file name and the new host file is added to the available hosts list.
3. Based on feedback, ability to add new hosts file added with Easy Hosts 2.
Try it out today.
Last edited Aug 4, 2015 at 5:59 PM by sharma_vaibhav, version 19


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A LONG-SERVING councillor said he fears overgrown grass verges on a busy diversion route could cause a serious accident.
Conservative councillor Bill Stenson has called on Darlington Borough Council to trim the grass verges lining Staindrop Road, near Darlington, as he believes they are making it hard for motorists and cyclists to see oncoming traffic.
The road is on the main diversion route for motorists travelling towards Barnard Castle following the temporary closure of the A67 after it was damaged by a landslip.
Loading article content
It will remain closed until April next year while the authority and Northumbrian Water repair the road.
Cllr Stenson, who was first elected in 1965, said he feared the increased volume of traffic and poor visibility could lead to a serious accident.
He has written to David Winstanley, the council's assistant director of transport, to ask for the verges to be cut back after he was approached by a number of concerned residents.
In his letter he said: "If they are not cut back there will be a serious accident.
"There are a lot of cyclists using this road and the volume of traffic has now grown since the landslip at High Coniscliffe.
"If we cut the verges back it will give more room for lorries to pass each other, but with the verges encroaching into the road there is no room for wagons to pass.
"I have travelled up this road myself and I have seen the dangers.
"Vehicles are not going slowly and I fear there will be a serious accident."
He also raised concerns that the verges make it difficult for motorists to see cyclists.
He added: "A lot of cyclists use the road so it will be safer for them if they are cut back too.
"I would hate to read in The Northern Echo that a cyclist has been hit.
"I am sure that prevention is better than a cure."
A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said: "We have received the letter from Councillor Stenson this morning.
"The issues he has raised will be investigated by our officers and any necessary action taken."
Staindrop Road will be used as the main diversion route while engineers carry out major structural repairs to the embankment along a 400-metre stretch of the A67 between Piercebridge and High Coniscliffe.
Northumbrian Water engineers also have to divert pipes out of the unstable section of road.
The council won £2.4million of Government funding to help pay for the works.


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The upcoming new-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class could allow full hands and feet-off driving, eventually, said a Mercedes-Benz bigwig – if global lawmakers will allow it.
"Our goal is to offer full autonomous driving during the life of the current (2014) S-Class," said Thomas Weber, a board member for Mercedes-Benz research and development, in Toronto this week, where Mercedes-Benz is hosting international media previews of the 2014 S-Class for the first three weeks of July. The top-line Mercedes-Benz full-size sedan is scheduled to arrive in Canada this fall, in both regular and long wheelbase versions, and each generation typically lasts about eight or nine years on the market.
Weber's goal, if realized, would put an autonomous version of the S-Class he demonstrated to me in a 45-minute drive around downtown Toronto, on the road by 2021. British magazine Auto Express speculated that it could come as early as the S-Class mid-cycle refresh in 2017, although that time frame seems unlikely in safety-conscious and rules-heavy North America, where safety and convenience technologies (such as spotlighting headlights, front DVD) are often delayed or don't come at all, thanks to the fear of American lawsuits or the U.S. government's notoriously long law-making process.
Weber says Mercedes-Benz has the technology to implement it now, but global regulations that standardize how a passenger car is steered – for example, with a steering wheel – still don't allow it on public roads. He said Google's jump into this research area has helped to make it a priority for lawmakers and auto makers alike, and Benz is working with the online powerhouse to integrate its mapping software into the car's navigation system.
As such, global rules are adopted and autonomous systems allowed by local transportation laws, Weber aims to make increasingly advanced self-driving systems available to S-Class owners through software updates, either at the dealership or potentially over a WiFi network.
"The S-Class is the spearhead of our autonomous drive function (Intelligent Drive)," said Weber from behind its polished wood steering wheel, sweeping his hand across a digital "gauge" cluster and centre screen that are all electronically customizable.
And while the Night View function was a key part of the system that is only available on the S-Class, the ability to stop, start and steer itself on gentle curves in both traffic and at higher speeds will also come this year to the '14 E-Class, as well as the new generation C-Class scheduled to arrive next year.
Its current capabilities were enough to stop the car using the optional Intelligent Drive's radar-cruise and camera-guided Steer Assist system, with an interesting taillight warning flash from the S-Class up ahead when we came up quickly behind it. But that slight steering assist wasn't enough to keep the car in its lane on the curvy Don Valley Parkway, where it gave a visual and then an audible warning to after 10 seconds for Weber to put his hands back on the wheel. At less than 60 km/h, the system can handle relatively straight steering for a few minutes at a time, he said, especially in heavy traffic.
Mazda3 hatchback unveiled digitally on Xbox
Mazda introduced its new 2014 Mazda3 hatchback to the world on June 26 with five simultaneous launch events in five cities, and the first-ever online reveal of a car on Xbox Live, which streamed a live performance by Metric as part of the event from New York.
Formerly a close rival to the Honda Civic for best-selling car in the country and still in the top five, the Mazda3 sedan and hatchback will continue to offer two four-cylinder gas engines, a 2.0-litre and a 2.5, both using Mazda's efficient SkyActiv technologies.
It will compete with a similarly new Toyota Corolla when both new generation versions arrive this fall, though Toyota looks likely to drop the hatchback Matrix sooner rather than later. The tall five-door that was previously called the Corolla Matrix won't be sold in the United States as of September, and will continue to be sold only in its current form here.
GM, Honda to link up on fuel cell vehicles
Honda and GM announced this week that they will collaborate on new generation fuel cell technologies, with the aim of coming to market with the zero-emission vehicles around 2020.
The group expects the co-development deal will help both companies bring fuel cells to market at lower cost and quicker, with Honda confirming that it will go ahead with plans to market a successor to its limited volume (fewer than 100 unit) FCX Clarity hatchback in the U.S. and Japan in 2015. GM hasn't announced its plans for its own production fuel cell yet, but has long studied fuel cell technology, with a fleet of 119 hydrogen-powered prototypes, the largest in the business, it says.
Critically, the two companies will also work together to advance the availability of compressed hydrogen, which can refuel fuel cell cars in the same amount of time as gas ones, with similar range, while emitting only water vapour after transforming the hydrogen to electricity to power the car.
North American Concept Vehicle award handed out
The Hyundai's HCD-14 Genesis concept was voted the Most Significant Concept Vehicle of the 2013 auto show season, it was announced this week, after it beat out the Ford Atlas concept pickup and BMW i8 Spyder.
More than two dozen jurors from across North America judged 23 concept vehicles introduced this past auto show season from the international shows in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, and New York.
Speaking of awards, it has come to my attention that, even after previewing the finalists to the World Car of the Year awards in various categories, I never published the actual winners, announced earlier this year.
The Volkswagen Golf won the overall 2013 World Car of the Year award, after it also won the 2012 trophy for its impressive up! line of subcompacts. The Porsche Boxster and Cayman were announced as joint winners of the World Sports Car award, beating out the contrasting finalists of the Toyo-baru twins (Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ) as well as the exotic Ferrari F12.
The futuristic and all-electric Tesla Model S was declared the World Green Car for 2013, while the sexy Jaguar F-Type two-seater was honoured as the World Car Design of the Year for 2013. The Jag beat out fine-looking finalists too, in the Aston Martin Vanquish and the Mazda6.
Please send your automotive maintenance and repair questions to email@example.com


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Christian Songwrote a review of Saucony ProGrid Kinvara 3 Running Shoe - Men's on October 5, 2012
Awesome ride
Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
Just flat out, this is an awesome shoe. I've run trails, on the road, and on the track with it. Just such a good ride, it has a softer forefoot than most, which is good for me because I'm a forefoot striker. I give it 4 stars only because of the durability, it only lasted me about 2.5 months. Makes me pretty sad :( Definitely a shoe that can be used everywhere, but make sure you rotate it in, the 4mm drop can take a little time to get used to.


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Mexico City Hosts Patriots-Raiders Today NASCAR's France: '17 Was A "Great Year" Notre Dame To Host Bruins, Blackhawks In '19 Construction Delays Move Herd To Bradley Center Bettman: Montreal Lacked Outdoor Venue Cowboys Lead League With 40th Game On NBC's "SNF" Jerry Jones Issues Apology For Racial Joke Ganassi Considers Adding Patrick For Daytona, Indy Goodell Deal Done By Owners' Meeting Ford Looks To End Cup Championship Drought
SBD/July 12, 2013/FacilitiesPrint All
Chicago Landmarks Commission OKs Wrigley Sign Changes Over Tunney's Opposition
The Cubs have won a "key endorsement to put up a giant video board and oversize advertising sign that would rise above the outfield walls of Wrigley Field, two key revenue generators for the team" as part of its $500M plan to renovate the ballpark, according to Hal Dardick of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. The 6-0 approval by the Chicago Landmarks Commission now "clears the way" for the Plan Commission and City Council to consider the team's full plan to "not only renovate Wrigley Field, but also redevelop surrounding land in the Wrigleyville neighborhood with a hotel and an office-retail complex." The 5,700-square-foot Jumbotron-like screen will be "nearly three times the size of Wrigley's famous old-fashioned scoreboard in center field." With a horizontal script sign on top and new night lights, it "would be 60 feet tall and 95 feet wide." The three-panel video screen itself "would be 95 feet wide and 48 feet tall." The videoboard will "spell the end of the vertical Toyota script sign in left field, but the commission approved a new script advertising sign for right field that would be about 80 percent larger than the old one." The approval "marks a potential turning point in negotiations" among Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts and city Alderman Tom Tunney "over the scope of the ballpark changes." Tunney had "argued for smaller signs but in the end the Cubs and Emanuel agreed to only minor changes on the video board; the script sign was reduced from 1,000 square feet to about 650 square feet." Emanuel and Ricketts are "expected to have further discussions before the Plan Commission meets next Thursday." The role Tunney will play is "uncertain, but Emanuel and Ricketts want the whole deal worked out and approved by the end of the month ... so construction can start right after the regular season concludes" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/12).
TUNNEY HOLDS FIRM: In Chicago, Fran Spielman reports Thursday's meeting was "delayed for two hours, in part, to allow" city Office of Legislative Counsel & Government Affairs Dir Matt Hynes to "huddle privately with Tunney in hopes of softening his opposition." Tunney in talking to the commissioner "choked back tears as he declared his opposition to a video scoreboard with lights." He said, "I can't support a proposal that so dramatically affects the quality of life for residents. ... The enormity of this sign in your front window is obviously something that I have to be very attentive to" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/12). But former ESPN Radio 1000 Chicago host Harry Teinowitz called Tunney's stance "silly." Teinowitz: "Anybody that moves into Wrigleyville realizes that the Cubs are the attraction and you put up with stuff like lights beaming and picking up beer cans in the morning. Whatever keeps them at Wrigley Field, I am for." Comcast SportsNet Chicago's David Kaplan said, "What I don't understand is people in the community who complain that there's going to be more people. You moved in where a ballpark is." Teinowitz agreed and said, "For the people that complain about all of the stuff going on at Wrigley Field, why'd you move there? You're nuts, you're insane. Wrigleyville is one of the coolest places to live in the world" ("Sports Talk Live," CSN Chicago, 7/11). Meanwhile, the SUN-TIMES' Rick Morrissey wonders of the Cubs' negotiations with the city, "It's over now, right? No more talk of square footage and LED wattage? Don't hold your breath." Until the renovations are done, the story "isn't dead." Morriseey: "I envision Tunney making more demands from his soapbox even as the last bolt is being affixed to the video scoreboard" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/12).
CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: Cubs historian Ed Hartig said Wrigley Field "has undergone changes pretty much from the opening" of the venue in 1914. Hartig said, "Change is inevitable, you have to make changes. But if you can actually bring the changes in slowly as well as try to capture some of the character of the ballpark as it existed, that's really the best way to preserve the look and feel of the ballpark." He added, "In order to survive, Wrigley Field has got to change. The fans' requirements for amenities at the ballpark, the players' requirements for amenities at the ballpark, they've changed. If you don't change, you'll die. Wrigley Field will always survive if it is allowed to change with the times. It's changing, but it's still essentially the same ballpark that I first went to 43 years ago" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 7/11).
Detroit Opera House Set For Opening Of Sky Deck That Has View Into Comerica Park
The Coors Light Sky Deck at the Detroit Opera House "celebrates its grand opening Friday, offering a rooftop beer garden, modest aluminum bleachers and a one-of-a-kind view straight into Comerica Park from straightaway center field that takes in nearly the entire diamond," according to a front-page piece by Mark Stryker of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. It is "approximately 450 feet from the roof to the center field wall, which means it's a little more than 900 feet from home plate." By comparison, some of the "famous rooftop seats across the street from Wrigley Field in Chicago are as close as 450 feet from home plate." Detroit Courtyard Marriott GM Jon Coutts, who was given a tour of the new area, said, "It's a fantastic view. You feel like you're in the mix, but not in the crowd." Stryker reports the the deck encompasses 250 patrons who will be "paying a nominal charge to sit some 900 feet from home plate." MLB teams "haven't always looked kindly on squatters taking in games for free or others profiting off their product." But Michigan Opera Theatre Operations Dir Jason Warzecha said that the building, in the "interest of neighborly relations, had its sponsor, MillerCoors -- already a longtime partner of the team at Comerica Park -- talk to Tigers officials to make sure there were no objections to going forward with the idea" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 7/12).
An Avalanche Of Entertainment: Pepsi Center Announces Plans For New Scoreboard
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment has announced plans for a new scoreboard and sound system at Pepsi Center to be manufactured and installed by Daktronics. The scoreboard will feature four large screens: two of them approximately 27 feet high by 48 feet long, two of them about 21 feet high by 24 feet long. The new end-facing displays will be about 300% larger than the old displays, while the center displays will provide an image that is more than 800% larger than the previous display (Pepsi Center). In Denver, Adrian Dater noted the arena's current scoreboard had been in place since the venue opened in '99 and wrote going to Pepsi Center is "going to be a lot more fun now" for Avalanche and Nuggets games. Dater: "Hats off to KSE for shelling out for this" (DENVERPOST.com, 7/11). Dater adds it will be "a whole new atmosphere at the Pepsi Center this season." The news screens are "massive, and will really change the in-arena experience." It is "about time," as the arena atmosphere "the past few years was stale; old Jumbotron, bad sound and outdated music" (DENVERPOST.com, 7/12).
Man City Unveils Plans To Expand Etihad Stadium To Hold 60,000 Fans
EPL club Manchester City plans to "expand capacity at both sides of their Etihad Stadium, giving them the potential to reach a 60,000 capacity after they have added a third tier to their South Stand," according to Ian Herbert of the London INDEPENDENT. Man City will "leapfrog Newcastle and Sunderland to command the third highest capacity in the Premier League, after Manchester United and Arsenal." The club, which "embarked on an exhaustive public consultation with local residents, intends to "add 6,000 extra seats in the new tier, allowing them to introduce" a $452 (all figures U.S.) season ticket. There also is a "demand for an additional 2,400 seats for supporters seeking an element of upmarket hospitality at games." The team's owners have "always insisted that they will not expand the current capacity until they can be sure that they will fill it." Man City Head of Corporate Responsibility Pete Bradshaw said that the "decision on how radically to expand would be taken by next April" (London INDEPENDENT, 7/12). Man City execs said that ticket demand is "soaring, with the ground more than 99 per cent full last season." The stadium expansion would create more $452 season tickets "although more than one in three will be a new type of 'premium' seat." Bradshaw said that the expanded ground, alongside the $181M Etihad campus "being built next door, would create a 'world stage of football'" (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 7/11).
College Facility Notes: Minnesota Leaders Concerned With Facility Upgrade Plan Price
In Minneapolis, Kaszuba & Youngblood in a front-page piece report some of the Univ. of Minnesota's "biggest contributors conceded Thursday" that the school's $190M athletic facilities renovation plan "could prove difficult, with one calling it a 'huge bite.'" School officials one day after introducing the plan reiterated that state money, which "provided the bulk of the funding for the $288 million TCF Bank Stadium, has been ruled out for the proposed series of athletic upgrades." State Sen. Terri Bonoff said that people should not "count on state money for the U's menu of upgrades." However, fundraisers and school officials "remained optimistic, and hinted that corporate contributions -- and even naming rights for practice facilities -- might be possibilities for enticing support" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/12).
NAMING RIGHTS STIPULATION: Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said that if naming rights to a renovated Rupp Arena are sold, he "keenly wanted 'Rupp' to remain part of its identity." Former Kentucky men's basketball coach Joe B. Hall "agreed with Gray." Hall said the arena "can always be 'Something-Rupp Arena.'" Hall: "I'm OK with that. ... It could be Alltech Rupp Arena. It could be the Ashland Rupp Arena. It could be the IBM Rupp Arena. Whatever" (KENTUCKY.com, 7/11).
CORNHUSKERS HOPE TO BREAK GROUND: Nebraska AD Shawn Eichorst is "proposing new facilities" for the soccer and tennis teams that would be "built on the former State Fair Park campgrounds." The women's soccer team would "get a new stadium with lights and seating for 2,500," while new tennis facilities would "include 12 lighted outdoor courts and six indoor courts, with room for a combined 1,400 spectators." The estimated $20.4M cost would be "paid for through private donations." The NU Board of Regents will "consider the proposal" Thursday (Lincoln JOURNAL STAR, 7/12).
Facility Notes
In Boston, Mark Arsenault cited sources as saying that Suffolk Downs and the City of Boston "have agreed on the framework of a deal that will allow the track's casino project to move forward to a referendum vote." The deal will be the state's "richest casino host-community agreement to date, with payments to Boston dwarfing the $25 million annually that a rival developer, Wynn Resorts, has agreed to pay" to Everett, Mass. (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/11).
WORD IS BOND: In St. Louis, David Hunn reports St. Louis Regional Convention & Sports Complex Authority board Thursday "unanimously approved" a resolution to refinance bonds for the Edward Jones Dome. If bond rates "do not rise too much higher, the refinancing should close in August." The move "should save the state of Missouri about $8 million and St. Louis County about $4 million, and earn as much as $300,000 for the Dome itself" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/12).
ALL IN THE FAMILY: In Detroit, Louis Aguilar cites sources as saying that there is a "good chance much of the $200 million of development intended to be built around" the new Red Wings arena "could end up on land controlled" by team Owner Mike Ilitch. Public records show that "much of the property is clustered behind Ilitch's Fox Theatre headquarters between Grand River and Grand Circus Park." A "good deal of that land is surface parking lots and empty historical buildings, which has made the Ilitch organization the target of criticism through the years for sitting on the property" (DETROIT NEWS, 7/12).


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Big thanks to Grady Mitchell, and the entire crew at Mosaic for coming by the other day for an interview, and a few glasses of beer. We're big fans of what they're doing, and with a bit of loudmouth soup in me, I gave away all my brewmaster secrets.
Kidding, of course.
Hoyne Brewing Co. did, however, get featured on their blog. And we are pumped! Thanks, Mosaic, for contributing to the success of our launch by helping spread the word.


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Alan Pardew hails Gallic input into Newcastle United victory over Aston Villa
Alan Pardew lauded the French connection that set Newcastle United up for their first away victory in nine months and admitted he did not believe his team would have beaten Aston Villa without Moussa Sissoko.
Villa were among Newcastle's rivals for the £2 million signature of Sissoko from Toulouse and Pardew was a relieved man after his purchase paid immediate dividends. Newcastle's first away win of the season carried the collateral benefit of dropping Villa into the relegation zone of the Barclays Premier League as Pardew's reinforced side climbed to fifteenth place.
Sissoko dominated in midfield and set up Papiss Demba Cissé's goal to which Yoan Gouffran, the £1.4 million arrival from Bordeaux, also contributed. With Mathieu Debuchy playing strongly at right back, despite conceding…


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Now that you've landed the penthouse at the Four Seasons, Shangri-La or one of the many luxury residential buildings in downtown Toronto, it's time to visit the local Lamborghini dealership to find something to stash into that empty parking space. After all, why walk to Yorkville when even Pusateri's has valet service?
Lamborghini has just unveiled the 2013 Gallardo LP 560-4 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, which runs until Oct. 14. The 2013 edition comes complete with a facelift, a new range of colours, such as yellow, pictured above, and is rumoured to be the last edition to bear the Gallardo nameplate.
[np-related /]
With the LP-550-2 starting at just over $200,000, this isn't your average entry-level supercar. The Gallardo is guaranteed to turn heads as you slowly roll down Cumberland Street. The base LP 550-2 (and LP 550-2 Spyder) remains largely unchanged and features Lamborghini's celebrated V-10 power plant, which delivers 550hp and 397 pound-feet of torque.
The LP 560-4 and 560-4 Spyder, on the other hand, were given a more aggressive nose and tail featuring a diagonal and triangle theme, which distinguishes the 560-4 from the rest of the Gallardo herd. (Lamborghinis, incidentally, are named after celebrated Spanish bulls.) New, larger air intakes are found in front of the 19" lightweight aluminum-alloy wheels, which were also redesigned for 2013. The V-10 in the 560-4 is configured to deliver a few extra horses, generating 560hp and 397 pound-feet of torque. If you can get your hands on one in Canada, expect to pay $230,000 or more.
At the top end of the Gallardo range is the LP 570-4 Superleggera and Spyder. For 2013 these will be available with the "edizione tecnica" package — or "technical edition" for those who flunked Italiano 101. Please don't let all of that "technical" badging fool you into thinking Lamborghini's German overlords have taken all of the fun out of the 570-4. On the contrary, the special-edition model comes with a sharp two-tone paint scheme (available in three varieties) and a robotized sequential system E-gear gearbox. Coupled with Lambo's famous V-10, this version fires out 570hp and propels its occupants to 100 kph in a speed-bike-like 3.4 seconds. Pricing for the 570-4 edizione tecnica is not yet available, however, it will likely start in the $300,000s.
For those requiring more pep, $425,000 will get you into the flagship Lamborghini Aventador. New for 2013, the Aventador will feature fuel-saving technology, including start/stop capability as well as a cylinder-deactivation system that will allow the Aventador to run on six cylinders at speeds below 135 kph. All of this fuel-saving technology won't impress enviro-enthusiast Ed Begley, Jr., though. The Aventador is billed by Lamborghini as "a relentless force" with a V-12 power plant that delivers 700hp, 507 pound-feet of torque, which will launch you to 100 kph in a mind-bending 2.9 seconds.
Won't that look sweet in the underground garage?


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Freddi Fish 2 is a game children will return to time and time again and the objects are randomized, keeping the program fresh every time a child starts a new game.
Big Thinkers! 1st Grade (see our full review) is another previously released title that delivers some fun educational activities. Curriculum-based activities cover important first grade skills such as phonics, coin values, time, math, and more. The main characters morph into all sorts of things, including puzzles and a crane! Smart Stars are FUN to collect and they pop up on the screen after some successful game-playing, and kids love to click on them and watch their antics as they drop down and even parachute into their BrainBank.
Becky and Ben's house is filled with "clickables" as well as an excellent variety of activities. This title is more challenging than most first grade programs.
The Freddi Fish Notebook is an approximately 5"X5" vinyl-covered binder with a snap closure. The kids loved their special little book full of activity pages. There are mazes, dot-to-dots, coloring pages, scrambled words, stickers, and assorted activities. The smaller size is fun and makes the notebook more portable. However, the pages seemed to have been designed for larger paper, but reduced in size. As a result, some of the activities are tiny and numbers and letters are small, and kids of this age group generally don't quite have the fine motor skills necessary to work with such tiny numbers and letters.
Technically Speaking
Minimum requirements are Windows 3.1 or higher, 486/33, and 8 Mb RAM. For Macs, a 68040/25 with 8 Mb RAM, System 7.0 or higher.
No installation is required for Windows 95/98 and Mac users simply plug in the CD and play!
No installation is required for Windows 95/98 and Mac users simply plug in the CD and play!
Skills Covered
problem solving, strategy, thinking skills, first letter identification, measurement & estimation, sequencing & patterning, spelling, phonics, time telling, alphabet skills, reading, sentences, counting, computation, geography, directions, environmental science, thinking skills, spatial perception, art, creativity, music
Educational Value
Both software titles have a good amount of educational value. Big Thinkers! 1st Grade is more challenging than most first grade programs, but for kids who are up to a challenge, it has a tremendous range of educational content. Kids learn problem-solving skills while playing the adventure with Freddi Fish, and the Notebook provides some away-from-the-computer activities.
Entertainment Value
This package has above-average entertainment value with its colorful characters and activities.
Both titles are designed well, though the activity Notebook contains some numbers and letters that are too tiny to work with. Freddi Fish 2 features randomized objects to make each game a little different, and Big Thinkers! 1st Grade has adjustable difficulty levels.
There doesn't seem to be an end to the number of activities in Big Thinkers 1st Grade, and the Freddi Fish adventure can be played over again because the objects change their hiding places when a new adventure is started.
Dollar Value
At $20 US, you can't go wrong. Buyers get two high quality software titles and an activity notebook. Comparatively low system requirements mean families with older computers can still enjoy this package without feeling cheated in terms of graphics and entertainment value.


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Artist description:
i just love this song... kagamine rin and gumi - chemical emotion.... hope u like it ^_^
Flash Draw Created May 19, 2012 640 x 460px Unless noted Copyright 2012 wnhafizah.
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i also luv this song! haha :p u drew rin quite well here--d coloring is fab n im luvin the shapes/colors in d bg; favorite~
looks amazing!! love ya character and her clothing!! great expression too ^^ 5/5
Excellent!! fav 5/5
i love your wonderful character the great detaits her clothes and expression aswell as the wonderful space background 5h fav
wow this looks awesome :o i love the blue eyes so much *_* great coloring,and a great style hihi :D and i want to hear the music ^.^ hehe 5/5h and favorite C:
very creative work i like the lace print on the neck line she looks pretty i like the Victorian style clothes :) her hair looks so lovely and adorable i like the space background really artistic this is so impressive:)
I love song as well! I had listened to it not long ago actually haha. I am glad someone drew something for it. (now I don't have to-jk lol) I adore Rin's clothing, sapphire eyes and short blonde hairstyle here. I really like the bg. 5/5 and favorites
Great looking draw. 5/5h
this is great! :D


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The last time Jamario Moon shared a court with the Philadelphia 76ers his life changed.
He's not expecting anything similar in the life-changing spectrum tonight when the Sixers pay a return visit to Toronto, but Moon will never forget that first matchup back on Nov. 9 at the Wachovia Center.
That was the night he scored his first NBA regular-season points and soon afterwards went from an end-of-the-bench afterthought to an every day starter.
The starting role came the following night in Chicago when he shut down Luol Deng in another road win for the Raps. Since that performance, Moon has started the past 27 games and has become as integral to the team's success as any Raptor, with maybe the exception of Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon.
"I'll never forget two teams in the NBA," Moon said. "Philadelphia and Chicago. Philadelphia is where I scored my first bucket and Chicago was where I got my first start, so I will always remember those two teams."
But seeing the Sixers for the first time since, Moon says, does not make it special.
"Thirty-four games into the schedule you have to be ready for everyone," Moon said. "I'll never forget (Philly and Chicago) but you have to let it go."
Moon laughed when a reporter asked if he considered himself a grizzled veteran now with 28 starts under his belt, "You can say that if you want," Moon said laughing, but he is feeling more and more comfortable with each passing game.
What hasn't changed is the importance of that first rule Moon learned. "Always listen to Sam," Moon says without hesitation. "If I do that everything else will be okay. I don't try to do anything otherwise," he said.
Moon's focus remains defence and rebounding, the two things that got him in the lineup in the first place, but now there are some limited offensive expectations as well.
"Sam wants me to take shots, but take good shots," Moon said. "He wants me stepping inside the three-point line and taking those 15 and 17 footers. As long as they are good shots, he won't complain."
But Mitchell also wants Moon to use his athleticism to get to the hoop for easy baskets and free-throw attempts.
"He wants that to be everyone's first option," Moon said.
Moon's development continues to be a work in progress. While his defence has been steady for the most part, there have been lapses which have landed Moon on the bench.
"(Coach) just wants you to work hard and if he doesn't think you're working hard, he'll sit you down or he'll come and talk to you and let you know so you can pick yourself up," Moon said.


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Medicine disregarded it. Antibiotics can't control it. MRSA—drug-resistant staph—may be the most frightening epidemic since AIDS.
Welcome to my website. Let me tell you about this book.
I'd been an epidemics-and-disasters reporter for years before I heard of MRSA — and once I discovered it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I was following a group of disease detectives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, through an investigation of bizarre skin infections in Los Angeles. The CDC wanted to know where men were picking them up. I wanted to know something more fundamental: How could a minor problem — something that the victims all described as looking like a tiny spider bite — blow up into massive infections that ate away at skin and muscle, put people into the hospital for weeks and drained their health and their bank accounts? Where had it come from? And if it could do that, what else was it capable of?
SUPERBUG: The Fatal Menace of MRSA is my account of what I found when I tried to answer those questions: a global epidemic, hiding in plain sight. It has been building for five decades. Every year, it kills thousands of people, sickens millions and costs billions of dollars. It affects hospitals and families, schools and prisons, children and seniors, and now, most troublingly, farms, livestock and food.
The story of MRSA — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or drug-resistant staph — is the story of how we took the antibiotic miracle for granted, and how we failed to plan for the creative survival tactics of the bacteria that are mankind's oldest companions. But it is also a tale with many threads woven through it: How we schedule our work lives. How we choose to feed our families. How we take care of people confined to institutions, whether those institutions are prisons or nursing homes. How much we're willing to trust in technology. And when something new and different emerges — something extraordinary, something threatening — how, and whether, we recognize it in time.
On this website, you'll find more information about SUPERBUG, including an excerpt; more about me and my adventures chasing diseases across most of the continents; and much more information about MRSA. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
— Maryn


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Monona Grove, Wis., offensive lineman and Wisconsin Badger commitment Gabe Carimi made his official visit to Madison over the weekend. All went as expected.
"It was great," Carimi said. "Andy Kemp was my host. We did a lot of things together."
Carimi was already very familiar with the Wisconsin football program. But he learned what to expect next fall.
Article Continues Below
"I learned more about registration," he said. "I found out what we are supposed to do when we get there."
When asked if he learned anything new about the football program, Carimi said, "Besides the change in the coaching staff, everything was about the same as it has been."
Carimi has a goal in mind in terms of getting on the field for the Badgers.
"I'd like to play by my redshirt sophomore year," he said. "Coach Huber told me I'd probably redshirt my freshman year."
The 6-foot-7 and 268 pound Carimi is the No. 32 offensive tackle prospect in the Rivals.com player rankings and the No. 3 prospect in the state of Wisconsin.


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Microsoft's Takashi Sensui Gets Trendy with Nikkei
Find out what the chief Xboxer has to say about reaching a million units and more.
Nikkei's tech website, which has the wonderful name of "Trendy Net," is in the middle of its annual feature on the gaming industry. As it does every year, the site is currently running through a series of lengthy interviews with major industry execs.
Following recent interviews with Square Enix's Yoichi Wada and Bandai Namco's upcoming president Shin Unozawa, Microsoft Japan's Home & Entertainment chief Takashi Sensui was placed in the hot seat for the latest interview. Here's a quick recap of what he had to say.
The story first begins by recapping the state of the 360. Did you realize that the system is on the verge of topping the million mark? Citing Media Create figures as of March 1, the 360 has sold a total of 940,000 units. If you'll allow me to speculate here, the system could see a surge of sorts from Resident Evil 5, meaning it may manage to top the million mark some time in April.
Nikkei's first question to Sensui began by noting that that the 360, for the first time, reached its forecasts in yearly sales (it's unclear what the site is referring to by "forecasts," although it could be system sales). But something else made the Xbox division even happier than that, said Sensui. Last year, hardware sales for the 360 for the full year were up 70%. No one had been expecting that, he said, referring to the error as a mistake that they were happy to make.
Microsoft's strategic goal for 2008 was to expand its share in Europe, according to Sensui. It reached that goal, but Microsoft's Japanese offices were also able to offer good news, he said.
The thing that drove the increase in sales, reflected Sensui, was the Xbox 360 RPG Premier 2008 event from last June (I covered this mostly for IGN, but click here for some pics in the gallery section of the main site). He feels that the reaction to the showing of major RPGs like Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4 is showing in the latest sales results.
"We'd like to keep on continuing with this flow of RPGs," he said of the string of RPGs offered by Bandai Namco and Square Enix. "It's presumable that players who like RPGs would like to keep on playing RPGs, so we believe it's important to continue offering good titles to these people."
Continuing to please fans appears to be Sensui's style, even when faced with a bleak situation like the original Xbox. "Business for the first generation Xbox did not go well at all. Despite that, we kept on going, working to bring enjoyment to the people who bought [the system]. After the Xbox 360 release, we've continued with activities to bring people more and more enjoyable experiences. As a result, we're at the point where we're at last feeling that we've earned the trust of consumers." Sensui has apparently become famous as well, as he remarked to Nikkei that Xbox 360 users will recognize him at events or on the street and call out to him.
[end_p text="Continue reading for more from Sensui's latest interview" /]
Asked to name a title that performed well on the 360 last year, he listed Tales of Vesperia as being the number one selling title (he's right!). In Sensui's eyes, there are two notable characteristics to the games sales. First, Vesperia was long selling title, with sales continuing from the original August release on through the year-end season. Sensui also cited user surveys in which Vesperia continued to remain the number one title that people listed as having purchased with the 360 console.
The other notable feature of Vesperia's sales is that it brought in new users, notably a higher percentage of girls, and a younger crowd than normal (click here for pics from the Vesperia launch event where there definitely were quite a few ladies in line).
Moving on to more general matters, the site asked for a few thoughts on the recent trends towards Western gaming in the Japanese market. Sensui turned the question into something broader -- the general case of games selling well outside their territory of origin, including Japanese-developed titles selling well in overseas markets. In Sensui's mind, Western development has improved over the past years, supported by advancing technology, resulting in good titles and a certain degree of success in Japan. At the same time, Japanese developers have been strengthening their development in order to achieve success in North America and Europe, and also making use of the same technology as their overseas counterparts. As a result, the line has blurred between homegrown European titles and Japanese developed titles that target European markets. Soul Calibur IV and Dead Rising are examples, he believes.
The interview next turned to the Japanese version of Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace video service. For those who aren't based in Japan, the Japanese 360 still doesn't have a proper video service in place. It's all just "a matter of time," said Sensui, adding that he'd like to start it soon. The infrastructure is in place thanks to the start of the service overseas. All that remains is preparing content for distribution and finalizing the timing.
Asked about what will separate Microsoft's service from its competitors, Sensui did not get too specific, but said that Microsoft would like to offer something typical of the platform. He also expects to have original content, with the focus on content that is believed to be appealing to Xbox 360 owners.
He doesn't believe that the video service will be the number one reason for that people choose to buy a 360. However, he does feel that the service will add to the 360's value, even for those considering a purchase.
Now for the juicy stuff: talk of upcoming plans.
First, portable systems and next generation hardware. Obviously, Sensui didn't have much to say in these areas.
For portables, the site recounted a claim made by John Schappert at the Tokyo Game Show that Microsoft does not have plans for a portable game machine. "There's been no change," responded Sensui. "If you ask if, in the future, [a portable machine] 100% won't be released, I can't make such a claim, but at present we have no plans." As a reason, he cited a need to keep up resources for the Xbox 360, noting that the system is still in its development phase. As another reason, he suggested that the portable machine market will change in the coming years, with music players, game machines, cell phones, and even small PCs merging with the help of Windows Mobile.
On an Xbox 360 successor, he said, "We have no specific plans, and I can't even imagine what form it will take."
Moving on to his picks of big titles for 2009, he said he's hoping for the recently released Star Ocena 4 and Biohazard 5 (the interview was actually conducted before the latter's release last week) as being big draws. He also mentioned Halo Wars and Halo 3 ODST, saying that Microsoft would like to make these banner titles for the North American and European markets big in Japan as well.
There are other unannounced titles as well, but he said to wait for E3, Tokyo Game Show, and Microsoft's own announcement events.
The site asked specifically about Gears of War 2's release. "I have nothing specific to announce at this time," responded Sensui, "but we'd like to release it as quickly as possible to Japan. Although it appears that there are quite a few people who couldn't wait and picked up the import."
In closing, the interview asked Sensui about the coming platinum milestone for the 360. Noting that Microsoft has thus far not made announcements regarding Japanese sales feats, the interviewer asked that Microsoft do something in commemoration of the upcoming milestone. To this, Sensui responded: "We have policies regarding the release of figures, so I'm not sure how far we can go, but I would like to share something of some form, particularly with the players."
"For other companies, one million units is probably not a great amount, but for our Japanese Xbox business, its a big milestone -- new territory that we've yet experienced. That we were able to come this far is due entirely to the support of the players and our partners. I'd definitely like to share the joy of reaching [the milestone] with everyone."
Sensui is apparently not getting big-headed, though. Admitting that 1 million was just one point of passing, and that even with a million units, Japan's software makers cannot recoup their investments on titles sold just in Japan, he added that he'd also like to use the milestone as a starting point for the next development. "I can't make public specific numbers, but after crossing the million mark, the natural next expectation is two million. We'd also like to aim for beyond that."
He closed with: "2008 was, for the Xbox, the best year in history. For 2009, we'd like to go even beyond that and make this the number one year in history."


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AP tagline (08/14): "President Barack Obama used the anniversary of Social Security to trumpet Democrats' support for the popular program and accuse Republicans of trying to destroy it."
Remember the (stacked) Deficit Commission? Key relating quote: "everything on the table." That was President Obama – including Social Security in the "austerity" mix. As a result, this is Ripe – as election season ploys (note recent articles on the sway of using Social Security as a mid-term campaign issue). "Obama said he's 'committed to working with anyone, Democrat or Republican, who wants to strengthen Social Security.'" Somehow, the person who put Social Security "on the table" is also supposed to be the same person who is a champion of "strengthen[ing]" it? (Word game/setup alert: cutting can lead to solvency, even if there are no actual solvency problems.) On one hand, he scores points by "accus[ing] Republicans of trying to destroy," based on the privatization issue. On the other, he had already opened the door to destruction, based on "self-sacrifice" and "personal responsibility" (after 75 years – and millions upon millions have lost their jobs).
This is what's happening – with "everything on the table": "Housing crisis reaches full boil in East Point; 62 injured."
This is what's at stake – under the auspice of "austerity: "Individual Mandates Bootstrap the Homeless."
This is what's still going on – while we hear condescending updates on "self-sacrifice": "How Goldman gambled on starvation."
Again, what was the (immediate) main target of Bush II after the 2004 (second stolen) election? Social Security. Since 1935, what has been at the top of ongoing goals for the conservative elite, as far as dismantling programs? Social Security. What was one of the main safety nets we Believed Obama would never allow to be Changed (gutted, step by step)? Social Security. As another domino is set to fall because of his administration's continuous sellouts, there are no doubts of (progressive) betrayal remaining. The "collective good" they promote is a fascist focus as a guarantee for chosen corporations – and bootstraps as the only guarantee for the masses.
FDR, August 14,1935: "Today a hope of many years' standing is in large part fulfilled. The civilization of the past hundred years . . . has tended more and more to make life insecure. Young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age. The man with a job has wondered how long the job would last. This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty millions of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health."
And now, we are maybe two "only a sliver" PR cycles ("heated rhetoric") away from the next Change We Can Heave In.
[Other notes: 1) Associated Press: "Unless Congress acts, Social Security's combined retirement and disability trust funds are expected to run out of money in 2037." Pure talking points propaganda. Reality: "The wildly pessimistic projections are based on assumptions that the economy will grow an average of 1.8 percent per year for the next 75 years – less than half the rate of the previous 75 years." 2) Republicans: "An increase in Social Security taxes is out of the question, even for the wealthy." But, of course.]
I think that we need to refraim this issue. Here is a much nicer way of looking at it.
Many allude to a resentment of older people, who have not saved for their own retirement, as being a "burden" on the working class. I know that there is not any wilderness available anymore for someone to go start over in, but if you could imagine being able to go out in a forest in Canada and start over, without the "burden" of having to pay social security to buy the infrastructure of America; would you really be better off. Maybe after felling trees for a cabin and clearing land to till the soil to plant crops, maybe, in a few generations of hard work in primitive conditions you might be able to produce something for export to trade for a generator. You certainly would still not be able to produce anything like that for yourself, much less internet and modern healthcare.
Social security is not charity, it is a great deal if you consider that it is purchasing the infrastructure of our nation from those that built it. It is the same as letting gramma and grampa Walton continue to live in the house and eat at the table even when they can no longer work, out of appreciation for passing along to you the house that they built. You could go build your own house, but you wouldn't be better off. You could kick them out and keep the house, but that wouldn't be right. Paying social security is something that I am grateful to be able to do and I want to improve the infrastructure of America, just like every previous generation has, so that I can be proud of what I pass along to my next generation. I don't think that those who would kick gramma and grampa out of the house and trash the place represent the best of America. There is no legitimate question of whether or not we can afford it, it is the first bill that we MUST pay, and then decide what else we can afford.


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Originally published May 21, 2011 at 10:01 PM | Page modified May 23, 2011 at 7:13 AM
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Seattle's Best Coffee president Michelle Gass turning around brand
Seattle's Best Coffee president Michelle Gass is known at Starbucks' headquarters for transforming Frappuccinos in the 1990s into its most popular beverage. The key was her insistence on a visually appealing drink with caramel drizzle and a plastic domed lid.
Seattle Times business reporter
Seattle's Best Coffee1969: Jim Stewart opens Wet Whisker in Coupeville, on Whidbey Island, selling only ice cream. The next summer, he adds coffee.
1971: Brother Dave joins business, which adds location at Pier 70 on the Seattle waterfront.
1991: After a couple of name changes (Stewart Brothers Coffee, SBC), the chain becomes Seattle's Best Coffee.
1994: Jim sells 60 percent of Seattle's Best to investors, and they merge it with a small chain called Torrefazione Italia.
1998: Seattle's Best and Torrefazione are sold to AFC Enterprises in Atlanta, which owns Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits.
2003: Starbucks buys Seattle's Best — which had 129 stores — and Torrefazione from AFC.
2009: Michelle Gass becomes president of Seattle's Best Coffee and its 550 cafés, most in Borders bookstores. Now there are 336, due mostly to Borders' bankruptcy, but Seattle's Best is sold at 50,000 Burger King, Subway and other locations.
Michelle GassPresident,
Seattle's Best Coffee
Early years: Grew up in Maine and majored in chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
Early career: Worked for six years at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, focusing on Crest toothpaste and "helping bring white smiles to lots of people."
Family: Married Scott, another engineer, in 1995. He now cares full time for their two children.
Starbucks connection: Hired by Starbucks while working on her MBA at the University of Washington.
Early jobs at Starbucks: Head of marketing for Frappuccino; head of all marketing and products.
If Howard Schultz has a go-to executive, Michelle Gass is it.
When Schultz returned as Starbucks' CEO two years ago, he quickly snatched her away from marketing and product oversight to serve in his new, two-person "Office of the CEO," which meant talking strategy and next steps with him one-on-one.
"We were courageous and disruptive," Gass says of that effort. "I felt unleashed, with his energy and vision and willingness to be courageous. For someone like me who thrives on that, it was like, 'Wow! This is going to be a ride.' "
After their turnaround plan jelled, Gass orchestrated some of the chain's biggest moves — including putting together teams to launch Starbucks' loyalty-card program and its instant coffee.
Having joined Starbucks when it had just 1,000 stores — compared with more than 16,000 now — Gass knows the company well and has a strong sense of what customers want after years of successes and flops — notably, a chocolate drink called Chantico that lasted only a year.
She is known at headquarters for transforming Frappuccinos in the 1990s into Starbucks' most popular beverage. The key was her insistence on a visually appealing drink with caramel drizzle and a plastic domed lid.
When the head of operations complained about the added complexity, Gass refused to launch without the embellishments. She had customer feedback to support the idea that theater was important for that particular beverage, and she had the gumption to stand behind it.
Frappuccinos now bring in more than $2 billion a year in sales, out of the company's $10 billion total.
As Schultz puts it, Gass "possesses a rare leadership combination of courage, conviction and belief in her people that has made her an invaluable asset to Starbucks."
About the time Gass and her team rolled out Starbucks' instant coffee in 2009, Schultz called her into his office. He wanted her to head up Seattle's Best Coffee, a chain Starbucks had bought in 2003 and not done much with. It had about 550 cafes, most of them in Borders bookstores.
Her only orders were to "make it huge, and you get to own it all."
On a mission
In fewer than two years on the job, she is well on her way.
Gass — which rhymes with "floss" — has overhauled the identity of Seattle's Best, making it big and bold and completely separate from Starbucks.
Seattle's Best Coffee is sold now at 50,000 locations, including Subway and Burger King shops, AMC Theatres and the United Nations building in New York; Schultz has said he expects it to become a $1 billion brand. It's growing in the double digits now, but Starbucks won't say how big it is.
Gass, 43, has no illusions about Seattle's Best becoming the next Starbucks, which is known for its cafés.
Her vision is for Seattle's Best to bring good coffee to people wherever they are, from fast-food restaurants to hotels.
"What if Seattle's Best could be the brand that basically eradicates all the bad coffee out there?" she asks, eyes lit by the possibility.
Gass wants to "create an emotional connection around fun and optimism and a level of approachability and simplicity."
It sounds a lot like her.
A runner who majored in chemical engineering, she learned while working at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati that she prefers consumers to chemical plants.
"It's about the humanity, the emotion," Gass said. "People are complex; they're ever changing and evolving."
After six years at Procter & Gamble, she moved with her husband, Scott Gass, to Seattle, which they loved for its entrepreneurial opportunities and vibrancy.
Gass met someone from Starbucks while working on her MBA at the University of Washington, and started as the Frappuccino marketing manager in 1996.
It was a year-old drink at that point and well-liked, but nothing indicated it would be a sales wonder until Gass added her touches.
She has made changes to the Seattle's Best look, too, unveiling a new logo for the brand and numbering and color coding its packaged coffees so that customers can easily understand what kind of roast they are buying.
"I would literally stand in a grocery store and watch people try to pick their coffee, and in some cases they would turn away without anything," Gass said. "Everything had gotten pretty serious and dark, and everything looked the same."
No. 1 and No. 2, which are yellow and orange, are lighter blends than either Seattle's Best or Starbucks has offered before — the kind of roast that often appeals to people coming off a Folgers habit. And the lineup of five coffee packages is conspicuously missing Starbucks green.
Gass has a talent for knowing what customers will like, said Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks' online chief, who has worked with her closely during his five years at the company.
"When we're in meetings and she says something is a 'big idea,' that's when you know you've got it," said Bruzzo, who remembers Gass using that phrase to describe many ideas during Starbucks' turnaround — including the notion of using a taste challenge to persuade customers to try its new instant coffee.
Head for details
Experience with Starbucks products obviously helps, but Gass also spends a lot of time talking to customers, he said, "understanding what they think and care about."
She also knows how to motivate people, Bruzzo said.
Gass moved the 200 people who work for Seattle's Best Coffee from disparate cubicles all over the building into a new, separate space at headquarters that features red-carpet red as prominently as the rest of the building does green.
"She gets people to work stronger, harder, to be more committed and have an 'everything matters' mentality," Bruzzo said.
Gass' engineering background gives her a strong grasp of numbers and details, which help make her a clear thinker who conveys her ideas easily to the people she works with.
But her heart leans toward marketing and branding.
Take her enthusiasm about even Seattle's Best Coffee's name. The name — Seattle — oh my gosh, not only will that translate in the U.S., but it will translate globally."
There are no plans to move Seattle's Best into foreign markets beyond Canada. Focus Brands operates Seattle's Best locations in a handful of countries, including Japan, an arrangement that was struck before Starbucks bought the company and does not bring it any money.
Gass' fun side comes out in all aspects of the brand. Seattle's Best business cards are now color coded to match its new coffee packages, and they include feisty quips like, "Your eyes won't open themselves" and "My other business card takes cream and sugar."
And she gets jazzed about the carton for Seattle's Best Coffee's new canned coffees. On the bottom are icons of a rain cloud, a coffee mug and a bicycle — along with a reminder that it's from Seattle, "where folks drink more coffee than water."
"I'm a zealot about the thoughtfulness of the details," Gass said. "To start over with a brand is so refreshing, because everything we do is an opportunity to connect with the consumer or a potential business partner."
Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or email@example.com


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Mar 26, 2013 Jason Emerson Uncategorized
The Friends of Lorenzo had a very successful year in 2012 in terms of fundraising, membership and programming and plans to continue the positive trend into 2013. This was the message conveyed to the FOL board of directors at its annual meeting Thursday, March 21, at the Lincklaen House.
"Lorenzo is such a vital, important piece of Cazenovia, and it's nice to know so many people stand behind us and support what we do," said FOL President Casey Frazee. "We're proud to be able to offer programs and support, and we are so grateful to all our members and supporters who make all these possible throughout the year."
Friends of Lorenzo is a non-profit group dedicated to preserving the Lorenzo mansion and grounds by supplementing on-going programs, interpreting the site to the public, underwriting restoration projects and acquiring objects for the mansion. The FOL also supports Lorenzo research and publication projects and sponsors social, historical and cultural programs at the mansion.
"Truly this is a community effort. Please know that you are appreciated," Lorenzo Director Barbara Bartlett told the board. "We depend so much on what you offer us in terms of time, funding, passion and everything. It really makes a difference to us."
In 2012, the Friends continued their annual program offerings of Casino Night, garden gala, garden tours, movies at Lorenzo, community day in the fall and the Christmas preview party, along with numerous other smaller events and programs. It also supported new initiatives at the site such as providing fake food in the mansion kitchen and dining room to "add life" to those rooms, hiring a groundskeeper to help maintain the grounds beyond the formal gardens (which have been supported for more than 30 years) and a hiring a new schoolmarm for the Rippleton Schoolhouse summer programs.
The organization sent out its annual fundraising appeal to the community last December, and as of March 20, 2013, had raised $15,500, while 52 percent of previous members had already renewed their memberships, said Chris Jenner, member of the FOL membership committee. Another mailing will go out soon, and is expected to garner continued support, as it is a trend of the organization to receive donations and memberships throughout the year, she said.
In 2012, the FOL also offered a membership initiative to those who added an extra $50 to their donations. That benefit will be a "secret spaces" tour of Lorenzo on May 4, during which participants will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the mansion and be shown sections of the site typically unseen by the public. Thirty-nine couples have already signed up for the tour, Jenner said.
On the financial side, the FOL comes into 2013 with a cash balance of $68,492 – which is $12,550 more than last year, said FOL Treasurer Carolyn Benzing.
"We are financially viable and even growing during a time of economic downturn, which says a lot about the community," Benzing said. "Obviously this shows that people care about Lorenzo."
Part of the board's raised funds will be used for a new "lasting legacy" project to help preserve the interior plaster of the mansion, Frazee said. The plan is to accomplish plaster repairs in the kitchen, and plaster restoration of the two second floor west bathrooms and a second floor servant's bedchamber, she said. The project will not begin until the winter 2013-14 months when the mansion is closed for tours and after coordination with the state conservation experts who will advise on the protection and security of the building interior while the work is in progress.
For more information on the Friends of Lorenzo or to become a member, visit lorenzony.org.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican and Eagle Bulletin newspapers.
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For this month's episode, Signal Snowboards' Founder Dave Lee leaves the factory to travel across the sea to an Italian glass factory to create a handmade glass snowboard-the most delicate build to date! The glass snowboard is cut, pressed, tempered, and ever so carefully transported to the slopes. Signal Snowboards Italian team rider Giorgio "Iannino" Morell takes it for the all important test ride at Abetone ski resort in Tuscany. See how this glass artwork performs under pressure-will it slide or shatter?
Check back every third Thursday of the month for another custom snowboard build from Signal Snowboards.
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jake oe woulda shattered it and it would be awesome.
Fragile…must be Italian…
Well done. Would make a nice wall piece.


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We caught up with Ferraro at a gala four years ago, as Hillary Clinton's campaign was about to get underway and Nancy Pelosi had just been elevated to House speaker — but she had no regrets that she was no longer in the political game. "My life has moved in a different direction. I want to experience my grandchildren" — seven at the time, "but we're not done counting yet."
Always striking, she looked especially "silver-fox" glamorous that night, we reported, "in a slim-cut black pantsuit, daringly underbuttoned white blouse, Hermes-looking scarf (and, yes, since you ask, we'd have described Walter Mondale's wardrobe too if he had ever dressed that sharp)."
Read earlier: The Reliable Source: A Heartfelt Nod to One Who Paved the Way, 3/8/2007


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Hector Zazou & Swara: In the House of Mirrors
Zazou was an eager cross-cultural collaborator. It seems right that his final album should be a cross-cultural collaboration.
Hector Zazou & Swara
In the House of MirrorsLabel: Crammed
US Release Date: 2008-11-18
UK Release Date: 2008-09-22
Hector Zazou died in early September at the age of 60. "[A] legendary figure in contemporary French music," mourned World Music Central. Jon Lusk at The Independent called him "an adventurous, eclectic and prolific musician." Zazou, he wrote, "made an international name for himself with his sensitive and accessible world music fusions." In Lusk's obituary there is a translated quote from the French journalist Jean-François Bizot: "In England they have Peter Gabriel, in America they have David Byrne, in France we have Hector Zazou." ("Les anglais ont Peter Gabriel, les américains David Byrne, les français Hector Zazou")
Idolator admired Zazou's "well-loved body of work," which accommodates collaborations with Värttinä, Björk, Siouxie Sioux, Laurie Anderson, various Inuits, Nanai, and Ainu, the Zairian singer Bony Bikaye, and Uzbekistan's Sevara Nazarkhan. "[O]ne of world music's great adventurers," reported RFI Musique. He "travelled to the four corners of the globe, bringing his musical finds back to Paris. Here, he would reconstruct, rebuild, rework and remix his raw material into albums that proved to be both innovative and timeless." His discography is not only innovative, it is also large. Between 1976 and his death, he released 20 albums and worked as a producer on nine others. In the House of Mirrors was the last. This is album 21. There will be no more.
Zazou was an eager cross-cultural collaborator. It seems right that his final album should be a cross-cultural collaboration. For Mirrors, he travelled to India where he worked with a core group consisting of three Indians and an Uzbek. The guest musicians come from Spain, Hungary, and Norway. There is an oud, a violin, a Gaelic-sounding pipe. Zazou was never timid in his choice of instruments. He liked music that flowed and engulfed: swimmy washes of sound, veils and curtains of it, miasma like scented candlesmoke. I sometimes found him cloying. When I heard the backing he provided for Sevara Nazarkhan on Yol Bolsin, I wished that she had worked with someone else. Other people thought differently. "It's a difficult trick, to protect a distinctive regional style while rendering it accessible to a more general audience, but French studio wizard Hector Zazou has pulled it off here," wrote Charlie Gillet, reviewing Yol Bolsin for the BBC.
House of Mirrors is India-themed. The swimmy washes have a raga sound, but declassicalised and shortened. The spaciousness of this music is an Indian spaciousness, the sound of notes plucked and left to linger and be contemplated. The first noise we hear is the sound of slide guitar strings being struck. They are allowed to fade slowly. Little murmuring electronic effects nose their way in. The guitar goes on: more strings are struck, there are more long, lingering die-aways, more electronic murmurs, and the noise of tiny insectoid electronic peeping. Eventually the guest musicians make their appearances. None of them stay for very long. Diego Amador and his piano arrive, vamp for a while, spar with a flute, then go away. The piano is too loud. A gong sounds. Why a gong? Why the piano? There's a war going on here between the simplicity of the composer's evocative soundscape ambition and the obstacles he keeps throwing in to make it more complicated, these pianos and gongs. They are distractions. They're in the music for a little too long, or they leave before we have a chance to relax into them and soak them up. (This is an album made for soaking and wallowing.)
In Debashish Bhattacharya's Calcutta Chronicles, which was released earlier this year, you had two men, one with a guitar, one with a tabla, also working with the idea of raga spaciousness. With only two instruments to draw on they had to be ingenious. The opposite seems to have happened in House of Mirrors. With a larger stable of instruments and a library of electronic noises, Mirror sounds lazier. It might have been better if they had left the three Indians and the Uzbek to provide all of the acoustic instrumentation, and limited the ornamentation to a controlled palette of Zazou's electronics. A more delicate contrast between roominess and precision might have stopped this itch of mine, this longing for something less cushiony, less flumpy and spreading and soft.
However. If Zazou is your man there's nothing here you won't like. In the House of Mirrors is a roomy, enveloping, generous work. This is probably the way he would have imagined his last album sounding, if he had thought at all, years and years ago, of death -- if he had imagined that he would have to stop making music as regrettably soon as he did.


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Meg Foggwrote a review of Icebreaker Allure Dress - Women's on May 14, 2014
My go-to summer dress
Familiarity: I've used it several times
Fit: True to size
Yes, pricy, but worth every single penny! I got this dress for a trip this spring, but I will end up using this all summer for a variety of plans. It's great for traveling but also for a really nice dinner out with heels and a cool necklace, or dressed down for a walk on the beach. I love the belt, it can be worn different ways, but also not at all (with no weird loops at the waist). That means you can also change the height of the belt, blouse out the top or make it flat. And the comfort, doesn't get much getter than that! I plan on using this dress for birthday parties, weddings and work all summer long! I can even wear it in the fall with some thick tights or leggings with boots and a nice denim jacket over it. The blue is a beautiful shade, goes with every single skin tone.


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Many people do not realize that the car repairs for your car can increase its value. I know that when I look for a car or a truck, I'm looking for one that is in good condition. Yes, there are people who are looking for cars that need repair, but these people are few and […]
Posts Tagged 'sell'
How well maintained cars sell faster and put more money in your pocket?
June 16th, 2013 admin


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Sprint stumbles. Shares of Sprint slid on Monday after at least six analysts downgraded the stock due to liquidity concerns in the wake of a company conference with investors and analysts held on Friday. At the conference, management announced plans for a costly network upgrade which may require the company to hit the market to raise additional cash. Sprint plans to go it alone in constructive a high-speed wireless network based on a standard used by rivals AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ), a plan which would distance itself from 4G provider Clearwire (CLWR), whose shares also tumbled on Monday.
Additionally, the company will face rising costs as it begins to subsidize sales of the newest version of Apple's iPhone. CFO Joseph Euteneur told investors at the conference that the company would look at reducing its $4.3-billion cash balance, tap its $900-million credit facility or go to the market to help cover costs.
One analyst speculates that the company may need to raise as much as $3.5 billion by the end of 2013 to fund the network expansion as well as the iPhone subsidies. Sprint has committed to purchasing 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years, a commitment worth as much as $20 billion according to people familiar with the company's plans.
Sprint Nextel (S : NYSE : US$2.22), Net Change: -0.19, % Change: -7.88%, Volume: 305,382,597


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Orlando Bloom must have heard about the Brink trucks that Disney have been renting just to drive over all the cash to Johnny Depp's house in order to keep him on their "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, because after skipping out on part 4 along with fellow onscreen girlfriend Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom is now looking to return to the Seven Seas and plunder more booty.
During the UK premiere of his upcoming swashbuckling film "The Three Musketeers", The Daily Star quotes Bloom as saying about the possibility of returning to the "Pirates" franchise:
I was quite sad not to be in the fourth and I really miss working on them.
If they said they wanted me back, of course I'd do it. It's great to see the franchise still doing well.
Bloom played Will Turner alongside Knightley's Elizabeth Swann in the first three "Pirates" film, but only Depp returned for the fourth movie, "On Stranger Tides". It's open to debate if the filmmakers just realized that Turner and Swann's arc had just run its course, or if the two actors decided not to come back, thus paving the way for part 4's solo Captain Sparrow adventure.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", meanwhile, has cleared over a $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Via : BH Reader 'Josh'


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ACParadise Network: American Cosplay Paradise American Cosplay Experience American Cosplay Snapshots
Cosplayer Ichigo Tahata > Costume of Kagamine Len (Vocaloid 2)
- Most Recent Photo
- 09-05-2012
- Series
- Vocaloid 2
- Character
- Kagamine Len
- Special Variation:
- Servant of Evil
- Year Completed:
- Construction Difficulty:
- Normal
About this Costume
- Construction Details:
I used regular cotton fabric for Daughter of Evil's dress. because it took so much I was being cheap when it came to the fabric. Then I got the idea to put lace on the yellow and I loved how it looked! As for Len I used a black suiting for the jacket, and the same yellow cotton for the vest. I got all the buttons on ebay for pretty cheap. The necklace for Daughter of Evil was made by me real fast. The only things I didn't make was the fan, the shoes and the gloves.
- Personal Thoughts:
- I made both this outfit and the Daughter of Evil dress. I love being both but I'm really stingy on letting people cosplay Len so I usually let my friends wear the Rin costumes. xD The outfits were relatively easy. Original I made Len's look like the the yellow outfit that he usually wears but I didn't like it. So I made my own version. Then I made a Daughter of Evil version to match it. Besides all the fabric it wasn't too hard.
Wig Details
- Wig Brand
- FM-Anime
- Wig Name
- Vocaloid Len Kagamine
- Styling Time
- 10 minutes
- Wig Quality Rating
- 5 / 5.00
- Styling Notes
- Cut the bangs a little bit, and combed it for a while to get it in a ponytail. I would have sprayed it a little but had no spray.
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Marfan Syndrome Support Group
Marfan syndrome is a connective tissue disorder characterized by unusually long limbs. The most serious conditions associated with Marfan syndrome primarily involve the cardiovascular system. Marfan syndrome may cause leakage of the mitral or aortic valves that control the flow of blood through the heart. This may produce shortness of breath, an irregular pulse, and undue tiredness.
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Hello, my name is Riley Smith, I'm 19 years old and I am a Marfan Syndrome suspect. I went to the doctors awhile back and had a lot of testing done on me. Measuring, blood drawn, the whole deal. This all started when I noticed my rib cage was bending inwards. The biggest concern for me is my lungs being punctured by my ribcage. The last visit I had with my doctor he told me, "The results are...
Hi there. I have just joined as a member. just saying Hi and sharing my story. I am a Nutritionist and was diagnosed with MFS at age 20 (long before I studied nutrition) which explained and clarified alot! And came with its own set of emotional difficulties. Now I am 51 and have got a handle on so much in terms of my body, my health and my mind and emotions! I am so grateful that Pretty much...
Just looking for an opinion from someone who has the condition or someone knows a bit aboutI think I might have Marfan's, I had a doctor suggest it, and i asked my cardiologist, he said I had the long fingers but not the heart issues, but he told me I had trace leakage in 2 of my heart valves. I'm 6'1 175lbs but look slim, really flexible, using my other hand I can bend my thumb competely to my...
Hello, I'm almost 7 weeks post op from an Aortic Dissection I was blindsided by & almost died from. My Cardiothoracic surgeon told me I have a connective tissue disorder that accounts for it and believes it is Marfan's. I have not had anyone else diagnose me and am little surprised I guess. I had Pectus Excavatum (had surgery to correct it), hernia (surgery to correct it), cyst on my ovary (it...
Last week, I went for my annual aorta check. It's not normal anymore. I've always known I was at risk but there was reason to hope for a while. Sure, I have the screwed up gene but it wasn't really affecting me. I'm flexible but I never reached the 6 foot plus height of my mother or most of the Marfan's cousins. It's a large extended family and you can pick them out at the family reunion, by...
My mother unexpectedly passed away January 11, 2012 from heart complications related to her Marfans. She was 62, and my best friend. I guess I'm here to find out more about Marfans, get support, and be support.
Hello everyone,This is my first time using a site like this so hopefully good results will come from it. I am a 22-year old male from Michigan who is pursuing a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering. I was diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis at age 12 and have been treating it with irregular chiropractor visits ever since. Besides for scoliosis, I have almost no medical problems or allergies...
being 6'7 and 130 lbs is a bit hard to find clothes... any thoughts about what i should do? im considering custom suits and shirts,im male, and im sick of having "high waters" pants lol, and i still want to look fashionable... any thoughts or things not to do would be apprciated
My son has been diagnosed with Marfan's since he was approx. 15 yrs. old. He will soon be 20 yrs. old. My question is this. I have heard that young men can continue to grow until they are almost 24 or 25??I have concerns about this, because he is already 6 feet and 6 1/2 inches tall and he only weighs 143 pounds. Doesn't matter how much he eats...never seems to gain any significant amount of...
Hello all, My son was diagnosed with Marfanoid type habitus, assuming Marfan Syndrome in lay terms. He has had a hard time gaining weight, he is 14 and 6 foot 2 already a foot taller than me. He doesn't seem to have to much of an indent in his chest, but there is a small one. He has really long limbs and fingers. He has hypermobility and problems with his knees. To me he has a hard time with...
I decided to create a few youtube videos for a few reasons. To demonstrate what the Social Security Administration considers "Normal Range of Motion," spread awareness of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome - Hypermobility Type (a rare connective tissue disorder similar to Marfan Syndrome), and to show people what dislocations/subluxations look like. Most physicians are unaware that hypermobility basically...
I'm new here, found out about a year ago did the research then but my eating/weight gaining has been a large goal of mine this summer...that being said, does our metabolism ever slow down?My friends look at me in awe when I am able to out eat anyone I know and being 20-30 pounds under weight.
I'm to skinny and pectus excavatum on my chest makes me not to take of my shirt...I am 21 and my weight is 106lbs with a height of 6'...Is there any ways i can increase my weight and make increase my body size.
Hi,I've just been researching Marfan's and related disorders for a short while now, and I haven't seen much on people with kidney anomalies.My cousins who all show signs of Marfan's are also the same side of the family with three and four kidneys.In the past, doctors have told me that many people live their whole lives not knowing they carry this trait. I thought maybe now with more CT scans and...
My husband saw a doctor a few years ago, to become established at a new practice.. The doctor talked about marfans the entire time my husband was there.. My husband came home frustrated and asked "wtf is marfans syndrome?" I researched it, and he threw it off like the doc was crazy, and never went back.Well I have a friend who's son is being evaluated for marfans syndrome.. it got me to...
Sharecare Resource Center
Benefits of Grapefruit: Metabolic Syndrome Symptoms & Risk Facto
A study revealed grapefruit could keep metabolic syndrome symptoms in check. The benefits of grapefruit include weight loss and improved insulin resistance.
Your Bad Mood Could be Metabolic Syndrome - Stress
Being angry or stressed out puts you at higher risk for metabolic syndrome which predisposed you to diabetes and heart disease.
What are genetic diseases?
Like eye color, certain illnesses are determined genetically. Learn more from our experts about genetic diseases.
What Happens During Genetic Counseling for Genetic Disorders?
Learn more from Dr. Peter Hulick on behalf of NorthShore University about what happens during genetic counseling for genetic disorders.


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Release Date: 2010 |
Ponton EMERITUS (2.5)The sound of the band slowly pulling themselves together, in more ways than one....Mikesn EMERITUS (3)While Avenged Sevenfold have previously been able to overcome their weaknesses, the strong...lessermaster (3.5)Avenged Sevenfold's "Nightmare" exceeds all of their past efforts in terms of musica...Chob8 (4.5)The first album since the tragic passing of Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan expresses emotion...
Alexd93 (3.5)May not be the best album of their career but nightmare serves well in remembering The Rev...NocteDominum (3.5)After the passing of their drummer does a band still release quality or consistant music?...DreamScapeVirus (3)While A7X is not for everyone i recommend people who liked the last album and modern hard ...cshadows7 (2.5)If you like myself was anticipating something along the lines of their self titled, you mi...
Starblind (2)Enough is enough....WicKed110 (4)Overall a really good modern rock album with a few heavy metal tracks....kajeybby (4.5)This band's latest effort is one of their best, despite losing their drummer, the late Jim...TheMabee (3.5)...
johnny21874 (5)Dynamic, aggressive, strong. Words cannot express the acclaim this album deserves. A great...bluehaze54 (3.5)A step in the right direction...
Album Rating: 4.5First review. Big Sevenfold fan, tried to be unbiased. Also tried to avoid bringing up The Rev's death as an integral feature of the album.
All (constructive) criticism is welcome!
Album Rating: 3.0I'm glad to see a positive review for this that isn't track-by-track, I was gonna write one if no one else did. Great review for a first, just a couple things:
That's not to say they can be (painfully) generic at times,
pleasant blend of the bands previous three records
This is, while opinionated, the bands best record
they could possibly rise to be one of the best bands of the 2000's
Album Rating: 3.5Addressing the "best bands of the 2000's" thing: Do you perhaps mean they will be one of the bands well remembered from the decade? I would change it to that, because I figure they might be one of those bands people look back on.
Album Rating: 4.5tiesthatbind, thanks for the up! and yeah, I meant the decade, but I have a feeling that these guys are going to be looked on in the future as a Metallica-status band. A bold claim, but whatev hahaha I'll try and word it better.
You guys wanna tell me how to edit this ?
Album Rating: 3.0Go to your profile and click "Edit My Reviews/Albums."
Album Rating: 4.5Grammar cleaned up a bit, changed closing sentence. It's worded awkwardly to me, but I cba to try harder haha
Album Rating: 3.5Well, I don't know about Metallica...
Let's see... "they could become one of the most remembered bands of this decade."? That sounds like your thought.
Album Rating: 3.5OH, you meant how to get to the process, not a suggestion on what to change it to... My bad.
Album Rating: 3.0I mostly agree with the review though. I've liked a few songs here and there from the band, but this feels like the most complete album they've released, and the first one I can actually listen to from start to finish. They should have scrapped Nightmare and started the album with Welcome To The Family, but otherwise this is a pretty strong mainstream metal album.
Album Rating: 3.5Yeah, I'm pretty sure I agree, too. Though I need to listen to City of Evil and Waking the Fallen again so I can sort out exactly how i feel.
Album Rating: 3.0The Rev
Album Rating: 3.0Idk, that would suck. In all likelihood that was probably the only song he didn't write, wasn't he the main song writer for the band?
He was yeah, but Nightmare was really the worst track on the album.
Digging: Beastmilk - Climax
Album Rating: 3.0Yeah, the title track sucks.
Album Rating: 3.0Record sells weren't going to be an issue with this one. Considering how big their fan base is and alot of people will check them out just from the publicity of Jimmy's death.
Album Rating: 3.0Their self-titled is a guilty pleasure of mine I'm not gonna lie. But I see what your saying, isn't the release date the 27th for the album in the US?
Album Rating: 3.0Yeah, Scream made me laugh isn't the song about rape or something along those lines? Have you seen M. Shadows live he is a hell of a patriot, it surprised me considering their image.
Album Rating: 3.0I think the self-titled had some awful tracks like the ones you guys just mentioned, but Almost Easy and Afterlife were pretty good.
Album Rating: 3.0Dear God was so bad, I can't even put it into words.
Album Rating: 3.0Avenged Sevenfold should definitely steer clear of acoustic songs. Forever.
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


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Canvas Draw Created Jul 05, 2011 640 x 460px Unless noted Copyright 2011 DemonWolfgirl77.
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This is a beautiful drawing!!! 5h ...maybe the ghost will find this drawing and make a friend :)
I love how you made the fur outline! owo So simple yet it's sooper nice :D