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Sleeping Dogs is an open-world action game set on the exotic island of Hong Kong with brutal martial arts combat, thrilling street races and a celebrated, gripping story. Entirely remade for the new generation of consoles and the very latest PCs The Definitive Edition includes all previously available content and a wealth of new technological upgrades. In this open world game, you play the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop trying to take down the Triads from the inside out. You'll have to prove yourself worthy as you fight your way up the organization, taking part in brutal criminal activities without blowing your cover. Torn between your loyalty to the badge and a criminal code of honor, you will risk everything as the lines between truth, loyalty and justice become permanently blurred.
- A mature and gritty undercover cop drama, set in a high tension underworld where every action is a risk that could blow your cover
- Seamless explosive action
- fueled by a mix of deadly martial arts, intense gunfights and brutal takedowns
- Epic high-speed thrills: Burn up the streets as you ram other cars and drive recklessly while shooting your way through the narrow streets of Hong Kong
- Hong Kong is your playground: Enter illegal races, gamble on cock fights, or kick back with some karaoke
- Includes total of 24 pieces of downloadable content including the story extending episode ?Year of the Snake? and the horror-themed add-on ?Nightmare in North Point?
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Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery
Print version ISSN 0102-7638
BUFFOLO, Ênio et al. Direct myocardial revascularization without extra-corporeal circulation: results in 391 patients. Rev Bras Cir Cardiovasc [online]. 1986, vol.1, n.1, pp.32-39. ISSN 0102-7638. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-76381986000100005.
The authors analyse the results of 391 consecutive non-selected patients who underwent direct myocardial revascularization (MR) without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) from September 1981 to February 1985. In the same period we performed a total of 1568 revascularization procedures; thus 24.9% were MR without CPB. Out of the 391 patients, 318 (81.3%) were male and the ages varied from 35 to 76, with a median of 56 y/o. The surgical procedure was performed due to: chronic coronary insufficiency 286 (73.1%), after coronary thrombolysis 42 (10.7%), evolving acute myocardial infarction 18 (4.6%), ill-succeeded angioplasty 18 (4.6%), redos 14 (3.6%), intermediate syndrome 12 (3.1 %) and chronic aortic dissection 1. Single bypass was performed in 175 (44.7%) patients, double in 192 (49.1%) and triple in 24 (6.1%) with an average of 1.6 grafts/patient. The mammary artery was utilized 10Q times, bovine heterologous mammary 2 and all remaining cases received saphenous vein grafts. The hospital mortality was 2.5% (10/391) which is significantly different from our 5% hospital mortality in 1177 patients operated on the same period with CPB. We prospectively compared the postoperative complications in 378 patients without CPB against 689 patients with CPB concerning arrhythmias, perioperative myocardial infarction, neurologic, infectious, pulmonary and hemorrhagic complications.
Keywords : myocardial revascularization, direct; extracorporeal circulation.

subset: commoncrawl


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Seeing double ... John Hegley
In today's show, beamed to you from Edinburgh's sylvan Meadows, we go keyboard-shopping with David O'Doherty. His stand-up set is underscored by the tinkling of cheap Casio ivories, so we took him upmarket, to sample the wares at the Edinburgh Organ Studio.
Also in this penultimate edition, we wax lyrical with the nation's unofficial poet laureate and all-round excellent fellow, John Hegley, who's back in Edinburgh this year with his latest comic verse compendium, Letter to an Earwig. And we hear from Irish comic and Vikings fan Neil Delamere, who's apparently being touted as the new Dara O'Briain. (Wonder how Dara O'Briain feels about that.)
Which pretty much rounds things up for me, as I reluctantly quit the world's greatest knees-up for another year. But you can hear Pascal Wyse and Lucy Porter on tomorrow's final, extended instalment of the Heckle, as they examine the art of laughter and look back at the Fringe of 2007, with special guests Stephen K Amos and Carrie Quinlan.
· Listen to this edition of the Heckle on your computer (MP3) · Subscribe free to the Heckle feed via iTunes · Get the Heckle feed URL · Puzzled by podcasts?


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In a comfortable chair in his study, surrounded by his books, Dr. George Mason looked back over his 25 years in the pulpit at Wilshire Baptist Church and considered the possibilities of the future.
After all, he's just "57, nearly 58." And he has a list of ways to expand Wilshire's mission while serving the community.
"We seem to be at a great moment in the church. We've paid off all the church property, most of it has been renovated and what we're looking at now is the work of the church in the world," he said. "We're trying to pay more attention — how we should bear witness to the community, advocate in places where we think we can make life better.
"Giving people a greater opportunity for human flourishing is part of God's design."
This notion of expanding the kinds of things a church should do doesn't surprise the people who know Mason best. Friends and acquaintances describe him as "a gentle man," intelligent and compassionate.
Mason grew up in New York, went to college at the University of Miami, where he was a quarterback on the football team, and met his wife, Kim, in Coral Gables. They've been married for 35 years and have three grown children.
And faith has always been a central part of his life.
"I went to a Lutheran school through the eighth grade ... and then in college I was Lutheran for a year before becoming a Baptist," he said. "So I've always been this odd sort of mix of evangelical and ecumenical."
After graduation, he spent another year at the university working in alumni relations "trying to decide what I wanted to do." Then he set off for Fort Worth and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a master's and doctorate in systematic theology.
Mason spent four years as a pastor in Mobile, Ala., before coming to Wilshire, a classically styled red brick church on Abrams Road in East Dallas.
Dot Laux, who has been a part of the 3,400-member church since 1962, still remembers the day when Mason, with his wife, Kim, visited members before becoming senior pastor.
"They were so young, so excited, so delightful," she said.
Some years later, as she lay in a hospital bed recovering from cancer surgery, the Masons touched her heart again when they visited with her "with their three precious little children," she said. "It was a visit I'll never forget."
Mason, she said, "is a great soul."
He recalls those early days as well."When I came here, I was 32 years old," he said. "It's surprising they put up with me in the early years to let me get this far."
'Secret to longevity'
Leading a congregation for 25 years is a milestone, and one not easy to achieve.
"There's a little bit of a secret to longevity, as I've told many colleagues when they think they're ready to leave a church," Mason said. "I tell them, 'You have to ask yourself from time to time whether you'll become pastor of another church, or another pastor of your church.' I've chosen the latter.
"And this is consistent with the personality of this church — it likes longevity in its staff."
His predecessor, Bruce McIver, served as senior pastor for 30 years and as pastor emeritus for years after. Mason, too, sees a continuing role.
While he doesn't have a set date for retirement — "I actually haven't found 'retirement' in the Bible," he said — Mason acknowledges "I'm moving into the final chapter."
"It would be wonderful at a certain point to continue to be a presence here, useful and helpful, but not as a senior pastor."
Final chapter or not, Mason carries a significant list of goals for Wilshire in the years ahead.
One is to share the church's DNA with other moderate Baptist congregations through Wilshire's pastoral residency program. So far, more than two dozen young ministers have completed a paid two-year program at Wilshire and serve as pastors or associates around the country.
"I think it should be a goal of long-term pastors to hand it off and see how it continues without us," Mason said.
Beyond the doors
Wilshire Baptist was founded as a Southern Baptist church but helped start the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
"It helped to accomplish a kind of Baptist church that was true to Baptist tradition and generous and open to other Christian churches as well as interfaith," he said. "We made a commitment to the full partnership of women in all ministries. And finally we made the decision to maintain our Baptist practice of believers' baptism by immersion, but to not require immersion for membership in the church, which allowed us to say something important about how you can be convictional and generous at the same time."
The church is also changing the way it deals with the world .
"We have a generation of people who have increasingly been leaving the church all together, viewing it as an enemy of human flourishing instead of a friend. The question is, rather than always saying what we're against, perhaps saying what we're for is more helpful."
In Wilshire's case, that means an increasing involvement in the world beyond its doors.
"We are beginning to dig in with earnestness in that direction — muting some of the vilest effects of payday lending; beginning to partner with some of the most vulnerable at-risk schools in DISD; fighting childhood hunger," Mason said.
"We think that will be an effective witness for Christ."


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Asaf Sirkis and his trio are back with a brand new album and a UK tour.
The jazz masters will launch new record Shepherd's Stories with a performance at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, London on 17 July.
The show opens at 7pm and tickets cost £15.
If you can't make it don't fret, as the band will be back with a full UK tour in the Autumn. Head here for full details.
For more on Asaf pick up the latest issue of Rhythm.


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BELFAST, Northern Ireland, April 26 (UPI) -- A man who said he got swept up by chance in a protest over the British flag in Northern Ireland was fined Friday for blocking traffic.
William Robinson, 27, of Newtownabbey said he was waiting for a bus in Glengormley, County Antrim, when demonstrators went by on Dec. 6, the Belfast Telegraph reported. Robinson acknowledged being in the road as he walked with the crowd but said cars could get around him.
A vote in December by the Belfast City Council to limit the number of days the British flag is flown at City Hall set off a wave of often-violent protests around Ireland. In the Dec. 6 demonstration, protesters were trying to reach the local office of David Ford, a member of the Alliance Party, which supported the republican Sinn Fein Party to pass the flag restrictions.
Robinson testified at the hearing in Belfast Magistrate's Court: "A woman I didn't even know put a flag around me and said 'Wrap it round you son and come for a protest.' I just went with the flow."
He said he was still wrapped in the flag when he was arrested walking home because he was cold.
But a judge convicted him of obstructing traffic and ordered him to pay a $230 fine.


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Marin Commute Club
Marin Commute Club is an unincorporated commute club that provides public transportation service in the San Francisco Bay Area. The commute club is administered by UCSF Transportation Services[1] and service is administered by Golden Gate Transit.
The Marin Commute Club began service in 1971, providing a link from Marin County to UCSF.[2] There was no scheduled public transit service by Golden Gate Transit at the club's inception, and Golden Gate Transit has never provided regularly scheduled bus service to UCSF.
The club participates in the "Club Bus" program administered by Golden Gate Transit, which provides contract support and a 30 percent subsidy for the cost of service.[3] As required by the program, a not-for-profit organization collects riders' subscription fees and develops schedules.
Since the Valley of the Moon Commute Club hit financial difficulties in 2011, the Marin Commute Club is the only remaining service administered through the "Club Bus" program.[4]
The club provides two southbound morning trips and two northbound afternoon trips per day Monday-Friday.[5] Bus service in Marin County is provided in Novato, San Rafael, and at various bus pad stops along Highway 101. Buses stop at four locations in San Francisco affiliated with UCSF.
Monthly subscription fees for the service, which vary based on boarding location and number of days per week used, range from $62.31 to $292.66 per person. Single rides are available for $8 one-way or $16 round-trip. Prepaid 10-ride cards are available for $70.[6]
- ^ UCSF Marin Commute Club
- ^ Marin Commute Club
- ^ Commute Club Struggles to Break Even. Sonoma Patch. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
- ^ Commuter Club back on the road. Sonoma Valley Sun. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
- ^ Marin Commute Club Schedule
- ^ UCSF-Marin Commute Club Schedule of Fares


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San Diego City Council candidate Howard Wayne has announced plans to donate $65,000 to help firefighters better respond to emergencies.
The high-profile gift from Wayne, who has drawn the endorsement of San Diego City Firefighters Local 145, comes from his "Howard Wayne for State Senate" account.
Wayne and Republican Lorie Zapf are vying to replace termed-out Councilwoman Donna Frye in the 6th District. The Zapf campaign has questioned why Wayne has this Senate committee, which was created before an abortive run for state Senate in 2004, but kept alive for possible subsequent campaigns.
The announcement also comes amid an economic downturn that has forced San Diego to resort to "rolling brownouts" in which they shut down different fire engines on different days, slowing responses to fires and medical emergencies. In front of Fire Station 36 in Clairemont, Wayne last week announced the gift to the San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation, $55,000 of which will be used to buy six thermal imaging cameras for firefighters.
The remaining money will go toward purchasing automated external defibrillators for neighborhood schools through San Diego Project Heart Beat.
The San Diego Fire Rescue Foundation is a nonprofit founded by former firefighters and community leaders to help provide unmet equipment and training needs of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Philip Forgione, board president of the foundation, said the donation would go far to help ensure the safety of residents and their firefighters.
The imaging cameras allow firefighters to spot fires and those in need of rescue through walls and dense smoke. The cameras are considered key tools in firefighters' arsenals, Chief Javier Mainar said.
The defibrillators, he said, also come at an important time for the community. They would be placed at Whitman Elementary, Holmes Elementary, Bay Park Elementary, Carson Elementary and Jones Elementary Schools to help increase regional survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest by providing therapy needed to save lives, said Maureen O'Connor, of San Diego Project Heart Beat.


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Edit Article
wikiHow to Make Traditional Haleem
Harlem is a stew that is popular in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The dish varies from region to region but does always include wheat, barley, lentils and meat. The word Haleem originates, apparently, from a Persian word for 'patience' because of the time and effort required to prepare it. Read on from step one for how to prepare this dish.
- 1/4 kg chana dal
- 1/4 kg masoor dal (yellow)
- 1/3 - 1/2 kg boneless meat or beef
- 1/3 kg wheat grain
- 2 medium size onions
- 3 teaspoons of garam masala
- Coriander green leaf chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking oil
- 100g garlic paste
- 3 tsp ginger paste
- 4 spoons haldi powder (tumeric)
- 2 spoons kala jeera (black cumin)
- Pinch of red chili powder for taste
- Pinch of salt for taste
1Cook onions in oil and heat a little. Put all meat in with a spoonful of garam masala, garlic, and ginger, and fry on low heat until the mixture becomes becomes dry brown. Check if it is done and looks tender.
2Add the rest of the ingredients (except for some of the garam masala) into the pot.
3Add 4 liters (1.1 US gal) of water and cook.
4When you see the mixture turning into thick cream, start stirring and mashing the meat.
5When you see that the meat is mixed and mashed, add the remaining garam masala and coriander leaves. Let the pot sit for two minutes on low heat, but you should mix it well. If it appears thick, then add some water for taste.
- If you prefer not very thick it should appear thin.
6Prepare it with lemon and add extra chili or masala according to taste of each eating it.
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I'd just like to introduce myself as Review Centre's Travel Accessories Expert. If there is anything you want to know about this category, please feel free to ask me a question. I will do my utmost to give you the best possible answer.
So, here is a little bit about me. I am an avid traveller, you name it, I've been there, or want to go there. Travelling abroad is one of my main passions in life. I'm the most compact packer there is, I can easily fit a weeks holiday into a cabin suitcase. The trick? Always pack travel accessories that are built with travel in mind.
I have written a few guides with travel accessories in mind, so please do take a look before you embark on a journey. If you have any ideas for other guides you would like to read about, just send an email to email@example.com, and I will have a look at them for you.
Use the tools below to refine your search by only displaying reviews with a certain number of star ratings or to only show reviews from a certain time period. Eg click on '1 star' to just display the reviews we have which received a 1 star rating click or 'Within the last month' to display just reviews posted over the last month.
Written on: 13/03/2010 by archiechan (2 reviews written)
As a frequest traveller I needed a carry-on that had the capacity for my business suits etc and a LapTop bag...Found just the product...
...An absoloutley amazing Tri-Fold Garment lugguage from James & Longbourne, love the durability, the space, and comes iwth a fantastic Zip-Away Laptop bag. Have travelled many times with this piece and complies even with the Budget Airlines for Carry-On - and what's more, with the Zip-Away Laptop bag attached to the garment bag - it is is only ONE bag! Easy… Read Full Review
Written on: 13/03/2010 by miniTone (3 reviews written)
Fantastic innovative piece of luggage for the Business Traveller from James & Loungbourne.
The tri-fold design, neatly organises your suits, shoes and accessories and the ZIP-OFF fuly featured Laptop bag is a brilliant unique idea!
Complies with all the airlines for Carry-On - not even RyanAir can charge you for this!… Read Full Review
Written on: 12/03/2010 by miniTone (3 reviews written)
As a frequent business traveller, I needed a piece of luggage that I could carry-on and would carry suits etc and my laptop. I was recommended the James & Longbourne Tri-Fold garment carrier with Zip-Away Laptop bag - and have to say is the best luggage I own! The Garment Bag features superb organisation (upto 3 suits) and you simply "zip-away" the full featured laptop bag! Meets all airline requirements for carry-on and very robust fabric/manuacture.
I would highly recommend this unique piece… Read Full Review
Written on: 10/10/2007 by miniTone (3 reviews written)
Their internet services was first class - with next day delivery and professionally packaged goods. James and Longbourne certainly know how to do business on the web!
They do however only have a small range of shirts. But they have an excellent variety of accessories and ideal gifts… Read Full Review
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NEWTON, Mass. — March 16, 2011 — Hospitals using the Web-based eDischarge™ software-as-a-service (SaaS) application have significantly cut readmissions overall for the second year in a row and in 2010 saved on average about $1.5 million each, according to Curaspan Health Group, the industry leader in building secure electronic patient-transition networks for hospitals, post-acute providers and suppliers to optimize patient care.
"This illustrates the power of data," said Thomas R. Ferry, president and CEO of Curaspan. "The business intelligence that we deliver to our customers with the automatic capture and display of data empowers and enables them to achieve better clinical outcomes and financial results. It also helps them avoid Medicare payment penalties that begin next year for higher-than-expected readmission rates."
A review of aggregated 2010 data for 168 Curaspan hospital customers with 150 beds or more reveals a 14% readmission rate overall versus approximately 20% nationwide. Customers access on-demand data via eDischarge as well as a portfolio of 30 standard weekly and monthly reportsthat includes four readmissions-related reports.
The readmissions reports available in the Curaspan Clinical Data Bank enable hospitals to easily track readmissions by diagnosis, physician, placement and provider. By regularly reviewing readmissions data, hospital staff is well-equipped to respond to troubling trends by identifying the root cause.
"The detailed readmissions reports provide important insights that contribute to better outcomes," said Kathryn Bennett, RN, director of case management at Indiana University Health Bloomington. "Data about readmission rates by post-acute provider, for example, help us manage and improve these important relationships."
The 2010 drop in readmissions experienced by Curaspan hospital customers translates into approximately $127,500 savings per month or $1.53 million annually per hospital, based on an average of 17 fewer readmissions each month at a case rate of $7,500.
The 2010 numbers were an improvement from the previous year. In 2009, a hospital, on average, saved approximately $108,000 per month or $1.3 million annually based on 15 fewer readmissions each month. In the aggregate, the 168 hospitals whose blinded data was reviewed saved $257 million in 2010 versus $180 million in 2009. For the two years included in the Curaspan Clinical Data Bank review, hospitals overall cut preventable readmissions and saved $437 million.
"Think about the impact the smart use of data could have on health care nationwide," added Ferry. "If the other 2,000 similarly sized U.S. hospitals followed the same practice of regularly reviewing and responding to readmissions data, there would be a potential savings of about $3 billion a year."
Founded by Ferry, Curaspan is an 11-year old company that has helped set the standard for the secure transmission of clinical data about patients moving from one level of care to another. Curaspan works with more than 3,000 of the nation's top hospitals, health systems and post-acute care providers in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Among them are Johns Hopkins Health System, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Saint Thomas Health Services (part of Ascension Health), Riverside Health System, Vanguard Health Systems, Apria Healthcare, American Medical Response, Gentiva Health Services, Golden LivingCenters, Life Care Centers of America and SunBridge Healthcare.
About Curaspan Health Group
Curaspan Health Group builds secure electronic patient-transition networks for hospitals, post-acute providers and suppliers to optimize patient care. Curaspan software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications empower users with real-time, predictive decision-making data that enables all participants to continuously monitor care, improve communication and ensure compliance. This informatics exchange is integrated with the proprietary Curaspan Provider Data Bank, the industry's most comprehensive and up-to-date system of actionable patient-transition intelligence, and is complemented by the clinical process expertise of credentialed advisors. The Health Care Advisory Board and KLAS repeatedly have recognized Curaspan for its industry-leading software. Curaspan is headquartered in Newton, Mass. For more information please visit Curaspan.com, or tell us how to contact you.
Media Contact:
Sarah Mees
KMC Partners Public Relations
Datawatch Self-Service Data Preparation Platform in High Demand in Healthcare Market
NWN Recognized in CRN Elite 150 For Managed IT Services and Placed on Managed Service Provider 500 List
Bigbelly Unveils Top 2016 Successes for Optimized Collections & Recycling Diversion
Southern California Edison Awards Cadmus MSA to Support Zero Net Energy Schools
April 2017 – MCRC Announces a New Investment in Baynes Electric Supply
March 2017 – Mass Capital Announces a New Investment in Tri-Wire Engineering Solutions, Inc.
July 2016 – Mass Capital Announces a New Investment in The Cadmus Group, Inc.
April 2016 – Andrew DeLorey joins Mass Capital


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Packers Fall 38-10 Against New York - Game Recap
Eli Manning scorched the Packers defense for 3 TDs as New York defeated Green Bay 38-10 on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
New York won and also put money in the pockets of their supporters by covering the 2.5-point spread as favorites. Totals bettors, meanwhile, saw the game go UNDER the closing number of 50.5.
Andre Brown rushed for 64 yards, while Ahmad Bradshaw added 58 yards in the win. Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw added 77 and 61 receiving yards respectively.
James Starks rushed for 35 yards for Green Bay, while Alex Green added 30 yards. Aaron Rodgers threw for 219 yards for the Packers, while receivers Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley had 71 and 51 yards respectively.
Green Bay was outgained by New York 390-317 yards in Sunday's match, while the important battle of first downs was won 23-16 by the Giants.
Green Bay lost the time of possession battle 31:13/28:47, leaving their defense on the field more than they wanted.
Next game, New York takes its act on the road to face Washington looking for another win. For Green Bay, they head home to face Minnesota.


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From Goats to Coats : Institutional Reform in Mongolia's Cashmere Sector
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|Dec 2003
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| Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433
Phone: (202) 477-1234
Web page: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org
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- Philip McCann, 1995. "Rethinking the Economics of Location and Agglomeration," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 563-577, April.
- Padej Sukachevin & John E Leimone & F. Rozwadowski & Elizabeth Milne, 1991. "The Mongolian People's Republic; Toward a Market Economy," IMF Occasional Papers 79, International Monetary Fund.
- Lanjouw, Jean O. & Lanjouw, Peter, 1995. "Rural nonfarm employment : a survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1463, The World Bank.
- Maskell, Peter & Malmberg, Anders, 1999. "Localised Learning and Industrial Competitiveness," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 167-185, March.
- Amin, Ash & Wilkinson, Frank, 1999. "Learning, Proximity and Industrial Performance: An Introduction," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 121-125, March.
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What would be the mother-of-all-nightmares for Barack Obama before next year's presidential election? A nuclear-armed Iran.
President Obama has declared he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability. But his options are limited.
A strike against Iran's nuclear installations? That would mean starting another war in the midst of the U.S. election campaign. Unlikely.
Persuading Israel not to do the job? For Israel, a nuclear-armed Tehran is a potential death sentence. Reining Israel in is unlikely.
Accepting the reality of an Iran with nuclear weapons, but warning Tehran against using them? Possible, but dangerously weak-looking for an American president up for re-election who promised not to let this happen.
I hope someone in the White House is working on this. I hope Iran is not able to do it.
Iran may have overcome the problem of the "Stuxnet-worm," planted, by probably you-know-who, to cause their centrifuges to run wild. Iranian nuclear scientists may have substantially accelerated their ability to produce a type of nuclear fuel enabling them to produce bomb-grade material in a hurry. William Hague, the British foreign minister, speculated recently that when enough 20 percent enriched uranium is accumulated, it would take "only two or three months to convert this into weapons-grade material."
What better time for Iran to produce a nuclear weapon than the middle of the U.S. presidential campaign, when the American president is hobbled in his options?
Could Iran be so foolishly provocative? Reason would say no. But can we count on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the mad hatter of Iranian politics, currently embroiled in a shoving match with Ayatollah Khamenei for power, to be rational?
Endless American and European negotiations with Iran to halt its suspected race to acquire nuclear weapons have gone nowhere. Tougher sanctions have caused some Iranian discomfort but no cessation of nuclear development. Russia has proposed a new approach, but it involves no tougher sanctions. Russia has major economic interests in Iran and will not be party to any further screw-turning. Indeed, the Russian plan is for a step-by-step curtailment of the existing sanctions to reward Iran if it addresses international concerns about its nuclear program. In other words, more carrot and less stick.
For a regime that seeks to impose its will upon the Islamic world, Iran's leaders must be in a calculating mode. Iran is a lingering autocracy in the midst of upheaval throughout the Arab world. It is estranged from many of its own people, whose Green Movement may be dormant but not dead. Syria, its most important ally, may be lost as a platform for projecting support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza. There are reports that Iran has been offering its advice to the Syrian regime on how to repress social media networks and put down opposition demonstrations, but the outcome is uncertain.
As it takes stock of its role in the Islamic world, the Iranian regime must ponder how its friends and enemies in the region would react to its possession of nuclear weaponry. Saudi Arabia would be appalled and probably seek nuclear weapons itself. Syria, which has itself sought to develop a nuclear program, would presumably laud Iran so long as the al-Assad regime is in control. An unfortunate consequence could be nuclear proliferation throughout the Middle East.5 comments on this story
Although many Muslims deplore much about the Iranian regime, a surprising number, both inside and outside Iran, might laud an Iranian nuclear breakthrough. I remember how many strongly anti-communist Chinese throughout Southeast Asia celebrated with vigor when communist China joined the nuclear weapons club. They were not celebrating communism. They were celebrating Chinese prowess.
Some Muslims might react similarly.
With the exception of his gutsy decision to take out Bin Laden, President Obama — fairly or unfairly — has gained a reputation for being weak-kneed in foreign affairs. He should send a confidential message to Iran's leaders that he would react strongly in the event of an election-eve Iranian nuclear surprise.
John Hughes teaches journalism at Brigham Young University. He is a former editor and chief operating officer of the Deseret News and a former editor of the Christian Science Monitor, which syndicates this column.


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Body language At Work
Nearly all management courses in the business world deal with non-verbal communication or body language. In negotiation skills courses trainers emphasize how to "read" one's opponent; in selection skills courses, instructors emphasize how one may detect dissimulation in applicants; in appraisal workshops consultants point out how video feedback indicates how pleased or disappointed appraisees are with particular feedback. And, of course, no sales course is without advice on how and what to watch in customers to maximize sales.
Body language may be coded in verbal language. Consider the following examples taken from the different areas of non-verbal communication:
Body state expression: Emotions are often expressed in terms of body language. We "shoulder a burden," "face up to issues," try to "keep our chin up," "grit our teeth," in the face of pain we have a "stiff upper lip," "bare our teeth," on occasion "catch the eye" of another, and "shrug off" misfortune.
Eye contact: "I see what you mean." "Seeing is believing." "I can't see any other solution." "He has an eye for colour."
Gesture: "He gave me the cold shoulder."
Posture: We have "well balanced," "take a firm stand," "know where you stand on this." When uncomfortable people shift their weight from one foot to the other they can be seen to be "shifty characters."
Odour: "I like the sweet smell of success." "He has a nose for where the money is." "Yet she still came up smelling of roses." "He is always sticking his nose in other people's business." "She always sticks her nose in the air." "I will ensure that I rub his nose in it."
Orientation: "I dislike people who are always taking sides." "I feel diametrically opposed to everything he does."
Territory/distance: "I feel close to him." "She is very stand-offish." "Back off from me, buster!" "I prefer to keep her at arm's length."
Touch: "I touched her for a fiver." "I felt touched by his concern." "Her plight touched me."
Verbal and non-verbal communication are pretty intertwined.
Enthusiasts and advocates of body language are eager to see symbolism in small gestures. Playing with hair, fluff removing and fiddling with cufflinks can all be interpreted with crypto-Freudian glee. They often say that body language is much more powerful than spoken language, but fail to point out why charades is both an amusing and difficult game. What trainers like to point out is that a knowledge of body language makes one more insightful, even intuitive, which helps one to read others like a book. But books are passive objects, and people are not. In most business scenarios both interlocutors are simultaneously trying to read the other while concealing certain information about the self.
As adults, we are all skilled dissimulators. Many people are shocked to discover that weeping parents seen on television calling for the return of their children in fact murdered them the day before. Kim Philby lied blatantly on the BBC soon before his flight to Russia as a quisling. And the current US president, Bill Clinton, has provided excellent data for body-language watchers.
There are a few extremely important points to bear in mind with respect to body language. First, it is not random but follows certain rules. In short, it is law-like behaviour. Take eye contact—or mutual gaze—for example. This is in part determined by physical distance (stand too close in lifts and mutual eye gaze drops), topic of conversation (shame and embarrassment are signalled by reduced eye contact), interpersonal relationships (we look more at those we like), co-operative tasks (we look more at co-operators than competitors), and personality (extroverts look more than introverts).
The following are reasonably good cues for lying, given that the people involved are from the same culture and speak the same language.
Verbal cues
Response latency—the time elapsing between the end of a question and the beginning of the response. Liars take longer and hesitate more than when not lying. They have to think through the lie more.
Linguistic distancy—not saying 'I,' 'he' or 'she' but talking in the abstract even when recalling incidents in which he or she was involved. The incidence of personal pronouns drops.
Slow and uneven speech—the individual tries to think while speaking but gets caught out. He or she might suddenly speak fast, implying something less significant or more exciting. It is the sudden change in pace in response to a particular question that gives a clue that something is not right.
Over-eagerness to fill silences—to keep talking when it is unnecessary. Liars overcompensate and seem uncomfortable with what are often quite short pauses. Good investigators learn this trick and hold silences longer, watching for what their interlocutor does.
Too many 'pitch raises'—that is, instead of the pitch dropping at the end of a reply, it rises like a question. It may sound like "Do you believe me now?"
Non-verbal cues
Squirming/shifting around too much in the chair, indicating that they would rather not be there.
Having too much eye contact—liars tend to overcompensate. They know that liars avoid mutual gaze so they 'prove they are not lying' through a lot of looking. But this may let them down as it occurs simply abnormally too much.
Flickers of expressions—of surprise, hurt, anger. These are difficult to see unless the frames of the video are frozen, but occasionally they can be spotted by observant onlookers.
An increase in comfort gestures—touching his or her own face and upper body. Often fiddling with the hair or, more often, folded arms.
An increase in stuttering, slurring and, of course, 'Freudian slips', where people say exactly what they mean quite inadvertently. Generally, an increase in speech errors and clumsy phrases.
A loss of resonance in the voice—it becomes flatter, less deep, and more monotonous because of the anxiety.
Second, body language is primarily learnt. With few exceptions (such as facial expression), many specific non-verbal features such as gesture and posture are learnt as part of growing up. In Naples, gesture capital of the world, five to six times as much routine, interpretable gestures are used to communicate ideas than in London.
Third, gesture, posture, touch and dress send clearly interpretable messages. Body language can complement and contradict verbal language. It can be used to restate and hence reinforce messages (the size of the fish caught). It can substitute for language (the slightly raised eyebrow at the dinner party). But often it functions to regulate and co-ordinate all communication. Body language helps to let people know when it is their time to talk, when yes means no (and vice versa), when things are getting rather embarrassing, and so on.
Fourth, neither sender nor receiver may necessarily be aware of messages sent. When people are angry, frightened, or sexually aroused their pupils dilate. Women knew that when they put bella donna in their eyes, it dilated their pupils and men found them more attractive....although the men did not know which signal theory they were responding to. Work on odour and pheromones has shown equally surprising results. In one study, a female applicant for a job was judged more technically competent simply as a function of the perfume she was wearing.
Fifth, and related to the above, non-verbal cues give a reasonably good indicator of the emotional state, particularly at extremes. Sweating, trembling, and fidgeting are all known signs of anxiety which 'break out' whether the person wants them to or not. And it is this guide to the emotional state of the sender of body language messages that renders it most interesting.
But all this fascinating research by anthropologists, psychologists, physiologists, and zoologists should not lead one automatically to conclude that communicating with body language (that is, face-to-face, video-linked) is necessarily better than using a more restricted medium such as the phone, e-mail, or old-fashioned snail mail.
Take two examples. Imagine dividing a large group of people randomly into three smaller groups. One reads a message from the CEO; another hears a broadcast of exactly the same message; a third group watches a video presentation, again with the same message. They all have exactly the same amount of time in which to receive exactly the same message but through different media: print; audio-only; audiovisual. Afterward, you test their memory. Who remembers most? The print group remembers most, the audiovisual group least. Why? First, reading requires more mental effort and processing of the material, which results in better memory. Second, readers go at their own pace, not that of a possibly idiosyncratic CEO. Third, the picture of the CEO—that terrible tie, the awful glasses, that orthodontic treatment required—can interfere with concentration on the story line. In this sense, the two things—picture and sound—are not synchronized. Forget the power of television if you want to remember facts.
The second example is that, rather surprisingly, it seems that it is easier to detect people lying through verbal cues only (that is, on the telephone) than in face-to-face communication. Verbal cues include response latency (taking longer to reply to questions because of having to think through the answer); verbal distancing (saying 'one cannot be said to' rather than 'I'); slow but uneven speech; an over-eagerness to fill silences (because liars overcompensate for silences); and too many pitch rises instead of pitch drops at the end of a sentence (which sounds like 'Do you believe me now?').
Of course, there are good body language cues about lying: increased squirming/shifting around in the chair; a decrease in hand gestures; a loss of resonance in the voice; and an increase in face (particularly nose) touching. The last occurs supposedly because the hand is brought up to cover the mouth (unconsciously) to prevent the lies escaping, but also because increased nervous system arousal often leads to the nasal cavity tickling.
Liars get caught because it is difficult to lie about feelings rather than facts. It is difficult to fake powerful emotions even about long past events. Also, old-fashioned guilt means that some people still feel bad about telling serious (as opposed to white) lies. There is also the old problem of fear about getting caught, called detection apprehension. And, finally, liars get caught with 'duping delight'—the relief shown after the lie, believing they have got away with it.
But beware your new-found ability to catch liars. If one is speaking in a second language all the verbal cues may look like lying when they are nothing of the sort. And anxiety—often found in the job interview, or appraisal, or even public performance—can make a person seem to be lying when they are not. This is the whole problem with lie-detector machines, which are more likely to judge the innocent guilty than vice versa.
Certainly, an understanding of body language helps people in business to be better communicators—both senders and receivers. If this were not the case it is doubtful whether politicians, diplomats, and spin-doctors would spend so much time and money on communication skills and body language courses.


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Achievement challenges
Achievement challenges are shared goals that are identified and developed by a Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako based on the needs of its learners.
The challenges are created by the Community of Learning and endorsed by the Minister of Education as part of the formation of the Community of Learning. An achievement challenge plan is a working document that guides the progress and direction of a Community of Learning.
Endorsed achievement challenges
Examples of achievement challenges are available for download below. The most recently endorsed achievement challenges are at the top of the list.
Identifying achievement challenges
Communities of Learning identify achievement challenges that are a priority for their community. Achievement challenges should be common to all or most of the schools within a community, but may be apparent in different ways in different schools, along the learning pathway. Most Communities of Learning identify 3–5 challenges to address.
The following questions may be helpful starters.
- What is our vision of success for our students?
- What are the common challenges across our Community of Learning?
- What do we know about possible reasons for these challenges and how do we know?
- What support will be needed and what resources are available to help?
Understanding links and reasons for the challenges will help define your achievement challenges and set out your goals and objectives towards addressing them.
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Main Street sewage leak left 'toilet paper sculpture hanging off my fence'
ROSEBURG, Ore. - Raw sewage oozed from one Main Street home's leaking line into a neighbor's yard this week. The leak lasted about 10 days, neighbors said.
"I walked the perimeter of my house and noticed that there was this great toilet paper sculpture and fecal sculpture hanging off my fence," said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified.
The neighbor notified the city, which cited the homeowner to fix the problem.
The issue had been resolved as of Wednesday.
"So it was still an ongoing investigation at the time on Wednesday and so that period hadn't ended where we give the opportunity to fix it," said Brian Davis, Roseburg's community development director.


text: Hi Bit, On Thu, 21 Oct 2010, Bit Connor wrote: > On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Claus Reinke <claus.reinke at talk21.com> wrote: >>> After it catches this error, the function returns (line 376): >>> >>> return (fail (show e)) >>> >>> The "fail" is running in the Either monad (The Result type = Either). >>> This calls the default Monad implementation of fail, which is just a >>> call to plain old error. This basically causes the entire program to >>> crash. >> >>> Actually, it appears that simpleHTTP isn't actually supposed to throw >>> an IOException, and it is instead supposed to return a ConnError >>> result. So the real fix is to fix the code to make this happen. But >> >> Sounds like a victim of >> http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/4159 >> >> For mtl clients, 'fail' for 'Either' used to call 'Left'. That was >> changed, though the ticket does not indicate the library >> versions affected. > > This looks like the problem. Any idea how to get the HTTP package > fixed? I could try making a patch myself, but I would prefer hearing > from the HTTP maintainer first, who doesn't seem to be around. I'm just looking at fixing this so I can make an upload as discussed with Sigbjorn. I guess the best thing to do is to make all the calls to fail into something more explicit. BTW, can you confirm that you were using GHC 7.0 (or 6.13) when this went wrong? Cheers, Ganesh


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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1783.1/5977
A wafer-thick trench isolation technology for automotive PIC applications
|Sun, Jingmeng
|Issue Date
|With the anticipation of increasing system demands, the need to integrate multiple functions (e.g. digital, analog, high voltage, etc.) on a single chip has become apparent. PICs (power integrated circuits), which combine high-voltage, high-current output devices with low-voltage logic and control elements, have provided better performance and reliability, and reduced cost and system size compared to the discrete approach. A major issue for the design of this kind of circuits is the substrate cross-talk between adjacent power and CMOS devices, which prevents normal operation of the circuits. The issue becomes more severe in automotive applications, in which a high temperature environment is usually involved. The commonly used isolation techniques in PICs are the traditional p-n junction isolation (JI) and the dielectric isolation (DI). But JI still requires large silicon area, and the electrical isolation is rather poor. Although the superiority of DI offered by SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology results in a much smaller chip area and minimum leakage current, the higher wafer cost and lower heat dissipation capability limit it only to niche applications. In this paper, a novel bulk silicon isolation structure with wafer-thick, front-back trench is proposed for automotive (42V) power integrated circuit (PIC) applications. This technique provides the advantages of complete isolation with lower wafer cost and higher thermal dissipation capability compared with the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. Experimental results show that the novel isolation structure can provide complete electrical isolation and a 13% reduction in the thermal resistance compared to the SOI technology. In addition, this novel isolation technology offers a potential cost reduction of 5X to 10X compared to the SOI technology.
|Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2009
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For a majority of city residents, this should be the last summer until 2015 for experiencing water woes.
For the past three years, city officials worked to expand the Osage Water Treatment Plant, 3900 S. Osage St. With the expansion, the Osage Plant will increase from 40 million to 70 million gallons of treated water per day.
"Next year, we will have a huge surplus again in terms of capacity," City Manager John Ward said. "We will not be at the same point we are right now for many years to come. The capacity greatly increased, and we will be able to deal with these mild droughts."
When the project finishes, the city will be able to sell a total 120 million gallons of water per day, compared with the roughly 90 million gallons today. City residents will not reap the benefits of the expansion until next summer.
The city purchases 40 million gallons of water daily from the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority. With the expansion at the Osage Plant, the city will continue drawing 40 million gallons during the winter and spring seasons. The city will store the unused portions in reservoirs, and will use the saved amount when needed in the summer.
"Next summer, the majority of Amarillo will have adequate water to address the kind of demand we had this summer," said Emmett Autrey, city water production superintendent.
However, not all residents will enjoy more water and full water pressure. People who live west of Bell Street pull water from a separate pressure zone. Residents in that area demand more water than the pump station can handle, Autrey said.
"They could have a repeat of this water problem," he said. "It's a dissatisfying thing because the rest of the city will be in much better shape."
City officials are already planning another pump station to assist residents west of Bell Street. They must wait about three years before they, too, will enjoy the benefits, Autrey said. The approximately $20 million improvements at the Osage Plant have been proposed to last the city's water demands until 2015, Autrey said.
On Tuesday, city commissioners will discuss water consumption and drought contingency
measures again. Since July 17, commissioners have asked residents to conserve water.
If the consumption numbers do not decrease, commissioners could ask residents to participate in a voluntary odd-even watering system. The ending number of people's addresses, whether even or odd, would determine what days they could water.


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Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 | 5:05 p.m.
A member of the Aryan Warrior street gang was sentenced today to 25 years in federal prison for convictions on racketeering and assault charges, U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of Nevada said.
U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson sentenced 48-year-old James Wallis, also known as "Gargoyle," as a leader and organizer in the gang that operates on the streets and in Nevada prisons.
The judge ordered Wallis to serve 15 years of the sentence consecutive to state sentences he is now serving for robbery with the use of a deadly weapon and attempted murder.
Wallis is the first of five gang members convicted by a federal grand jury in July to be sentenced. The other four, Robert Young, Kenneth Krum, Charles Gensemer and Michael Yost, are scheduled for sentencing in December.
Fourteen people originally were charged in the case in 2007. Seven pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 16 years, Bogden said. Ronald "Joey" Sellers is awaiting trial.
In addition, Michael Kennedy, an admitted leader of the Aryan Warriors, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy in a related case, Bogden said. Michael Calabrese, an Aryan Warriors associate, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony gun possession and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Authorities say the gang corrupts guards, extorts money and favors from prisoners' families, distributes drugs and runs extensive illegal gambling operations.
Evidence introduced at trial showed Wallis attempted to murder inmates Dennis Moncrief and Raymond Gossett at High Desert state prison. In addition, gang members murdered inmate Jacob Armstrong at the Nevada State Prison in Ely, committed several violent assaults both inside and outside the state prisons and operated one of the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratories ever discovered in Nevada, Bogden said.
James Wallis was found guilty of participating in the stabbing of co-defendant Guy Almony at North Las Vegas Detention Center.
In addition to the FBI and Nevada Department of Corrections Inspector General's Office, Metro Police and Nye County Sheriff's Department cooperated in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Bliss and Nicholas D. Dickinson and Thom Gover of the Nevada Attorney General's Office prosecuted the case.


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Help! Ds wants to design/engineer spacecraft(63 Posts)
HullyEastergully Thu 13-Dec-12 11:21:09
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Fresh news – Nouvelles fraiches
Dear friends, I'm sorry that I haven't blogged in almost 3 months. Work is keeping me busy and when I get some free time, I don't have the energy to do much. There is also the matter of packing up everything I own as I'll be moving on June 1st. I'm really excited about the move since I'll be closer to work, therefore will be able to walk/bike to work every day, even in winter. Not the case right now. Also, my new apartment is bigger and I will have a space dedicated to my studio. This is the fresh … Continue reading Fresh news – Nouvelles fraiches


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Microsoft has detailed plans for PC-specific Kinect hardware that will let developers create new user interfaces.
The company announced weeks ago that it would launch a programme early next year bringing commercial Kinect services to Windows, but the company has revealed how the motion-sensing device will be adapted for computers.
"Building on the existing Kinect for Xbox 360 device, we have optimised certain hardware components and made firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios," said Craig Eisler, Microsoft's general manager for Kinect for Windows, in a post on the Microsoft blog.
"Coupled with the numerous upgrades and improvements our team is making to the Software Development Kit (SDK) and runtime, the new hardware delivers features and functionality that Windows developers and Microsoft customers have been asking for."
Central to the plans for gesture-based input with a desktop are changes to the camera that enable it to register user movement from much closer than the Xbox version designed for the living room.
"Of particular interest to developers is the new firmware, which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50cm in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40," Eisler said. "Near Mode will enable a whole new class of 'close-up' applications, beyond the living room scenarios for Kinect for Xbox 360."
Microsoft also changed the USB interface for the Kinect, including shortening the USB cable to ensure reliability across varied computers and a "small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals".


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I am going to Dartmoor for a week, staying in Whitchurch near Tavistock at the end of October. Can anyone recommend any routes please. Thanks
Chat Forum
Recommend any mtb routes on Dartmoor...
You need to repost this on the main forum (it is bike related after-all) to get the best response.
What are you after ride wise? The Princetown to the Burrator reservoir then back up the old railway line is an easy going loop (or back the way you came) which I enjoyed whilst there last year (reminded of it on another thread today).
We saw loads of different stuff there, & throughly enjoyed our trip to the area, even when completely lost and tired.
Thanks for the recommendation. This sounds good as I am fairly new to mountain biking and I don't really like going up hills! And yes it was my first post so I put it in the wrong place.
Welcome to the forum afrayedknot ... think about escaping while you can
Some other forums such as bikeradar and mbr have links to routes for many areas (surprised we don't have something like that on here, thinking about it?) or you could try google'ing routes and see what comes up, sometimes even local tourist info offices will have maps and guides, but, yep, you'll probably get a better response on the bike forum ...
You could always do a search on Garmin's site, just filter activity type to mountain biking. It's free to register. Garmin Connect
There's a fair few of us Dartmoor locals on STW, so there's a good chance someone will be around to show you a loop. Your best bet would be to post up a bit nearer the time asking for a guide.
Based in Tavistock a ride from Princetown would probably suit you well. You'll need to so some climbing though to get the best out of the area but the Princetown to Burrator trails aren't excessively steep, as you're already up on the high moor.
widowmaker for a newbie?
the widowmaker is actually pretty tame.
you can ride onto the moors from whitchurch, up around pew tor and along towards cox tor or climb on up to princetown.
grenofen woods is a bit closer and has an hour or two worth of woodsy singletrack.
Gawton or Tavistock woodlands is close if you fancy something a bit more DH
the widowmaker is actually pretty tame.
well ime it's pretty easy to have a v nasty fall particularly if done at any speed cos of the number loose rocks strewn all over the track.
i'm probably a crap rider though.
Post up on here nearer the time and I'm sure you'll get someone to show you around.
You're on the wrong side of the moor for the better stuff though so a car journey or two might be in order.
Topic Closed
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'Further progress' made in Tory-Lib Dem talks
Hopes of an historic power-sharing deal between the Tories and Liberal Democrats are rising as the party leaders began talks with key colleagues about the negotiations.
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said "further progress" had been made at Whitehall talks between the two parties on Monday morning.
Mr Clegg's chief of staff Danny Alexander emerged with a virtually identical statement.
He said: "We are working well together. Good further progress has been made and I'm now going to report on that to Nick Clegg and my parliamentary colleagues."
As Tory leader David Cameron began to brief the shadow Cabinet and Mr Clegg spoke to a meeting of Lib Dem MPs at Westminster, one senior Tory indicated a deal could be close.
"I hope so," said Mr Cameron's Commons aide, Desmond Swayne, when asked if he expected him to be Prime Minister tomorrow.
His comment came as Tory sources revealed that Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron had met face-to-face again this morning while the negotiating teams were locked in talks at the Cabinet Office.
The latest 30-minute conversation, which followed a half hour telephone chat earlier in the day, "went well", the source said.


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PROVO — A woman convicted of starting a fire in an apartment complex that killed two women and injured another was sentenced Friday to spend up to 57 ½ years in prison.
Yvette Kimber, 48, was sentenced in 4th District Court to serve four consecutive terms of one to 15 years for arson, aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and two counts of manslaughter, all second-degree felonies.
Kimber was given credit for 948 days already served. She was also ordered to pay a $40,000 fine and $12,300 in restitution.
Karen Murray and Catherine Crane died in the fire on March 14, 2011, and Jeanette Spahr was injured after jumping from her second-story unit at the Boulders Apartments, 750 S. 650 West. Spahr was later hospitalized and treated for a broken pelvis and burns.
The night of the fire, Kimber called police and said she was suicidal and planned to overdose on medication, a police affidavit said. One minute after her call, firefighters received notice of the fire.
Kimber told on-scene officers that she fell asleep holding a lit cigarette. She and her boyfriend fought earlier, she said, and she started drinking beer and taking pills, according to the affidavit. She also admitted to smoking marijuana.Comment on this story
Kimber told police she dropped the cigarette while sitting on the love seat in her living room and looking at a basketball schedule. The cigarette heated up the love seat and a throw pillow caught fire. Kimber then rushed to a neighbor's home next door to report the fire.
"(Police) asked Yvette if she, because of her suicidal feelings, lit the fire on purpose," the affidavit states. "Yvette stated she did not know."
Prosecutors arranged for a plea deal in late August, at which point Kimber entered a guilty plea to the amended charges.
Kimber was initially charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated arson, all first-degree felonies.
Email: email@example.com, Twitter: whitevs7


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Check out our Calendar of Movement & Meditation Classes, Workshops, Support Groups, Special Events, Holistic Health Immersion and Retreats below. We look forward to deepening our intentional living practice with you!
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11:00 am Zentangle @ Toivo Center
Zentangle @ Toivo Center
Jul 12 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Zentangles are miniature pieces of unplanned, abstract, black and white art created through a very specific method from an ensemble of simple, structured patterns called tangles on paper tile. Zentangles are not only exquisitely beautiful, they are fun and relaxing to create. The process of creating a Zentangle is a form of "artistic meditation" as[...]
2:00 pm Chair Yoga @ Toivo
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Jul 12 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Practice of traditional yoga postures and techniques while seated in a chair or utilizing a chair for support. This is a great alternative for someone who may have trouble getting up and down off of the ground, someone recovering from an injury, or someone who uses a wheel chair. However, this gentle practice is open[...]
3:30 pm (ATS) Alternatives to Suicide Support Group @ Toivo
(ATS) Alternatives to Suicide Support Group @ Toivo
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Jesse Lagers
You say Christmas; Jesse Lagers says Halloween. Jesse discovered his love for costumes and props as a young boy when he found himself continually dressed in disguise even after his favorite autumn holiday. A self-described "geek through-and-through" he pools his influence from science-fiction and Medieval romantic era graphic novels, movies, video games and more. Star Wars, being Jesse's favorite influence, has shown him how powerful and essential movie costumes and prop designs are to the success and popularity of feature films.
An Oregon-bred pirate, Jesse currently lives with on a boat in Portland with his business partner/girlfriend, spending his days building custom costumes and props by request. His realistic cosplay style, down to adding dirt and grit to battle outfits, exemplifies his passion for authenticity within the costume design industry. Contributing to his ability to bring realism to cosplay is his experience as a storm trooper with the 501st Legion: Vader's Fist, a national organization of Star Wars enthusiasts who celebrate the series' mythology and perform community fundraising, charity work and volunteerism. You can see some of his builds on SyFy's show, Heroes of Cosplay.
Photo to by M.Martinez Photography -- https://www.facebook.com/MMartinezPhoto/
Vickybunnyangel has been a long-term member and role-model in the Canadian cosplay community for over a decade. Based in Toronto, Vicky has strutted her stuff in numerous masquerades competing at the Master level, and receives international acclaim for her work. Earning features in magazines, websites, books, and guesting at conventions all over the nation; Vicky has always been proud of her Canadian roots. Vicky strives to inspire others to love cosplay as much as she does with her cosplay builds whether it's armor, sewn couture, or fancy wig work. She's worked with companies like Riot Games, Arda Wigs, Cosplay Supplies and Geekweave.


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NASA rocket blasts off on 700m km journey to red planet
NASA'S newest robotic explorer, Maven, has rocketed toward Mars on a quest to unravel the ancient mystery of the red planet's radical climate change.
The Maven spacecraft is due at Mars next autumn following a journey of over 700 million km.
Scientists want to know why Mars went from being warm and wet during its first billion years to cold and dry today.
The early Martian atmosphere was thick enough to hold water and possibly support microbial life. But much of that atmosphere may have been lost to space, eroded by the sun.
"We want to know: what happened?" said Michael Meyer, NASA's lead Mars scientist.
To help solve this environmental puzzle, Maven will spend an entire Earth year measuring atmospheric gases once it reaches Mars on September 22, 2014.
This is NASA's 21st mission to the planet since the 1960s. But it is the first one devoted to studying the Martian upper atmosphere. The mission costs $671m (€500m).
Maven – short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, with a capital 'N' in EvolutioN – bears eight science instruments. The spacecraft, at 2,454 million kgs, weighs as much as a 4X4. From solar wingtip to wingtip, it stretches 37.5 feet.
Marcia Dunn
Irish Independent


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Stopped in this evening at Bazzini on Oak Street in Ridgewood for dinner. There were five of us, dressed casually, including two kids aged 8 and 12. We were able to be seated quickly, and they were not bothered by patrons in jeans. They told us that they are not usually open on Sundays, but were serving for Valentine's Day.
The decor is relaxing, with dark beige fabric coverings on the walls and plenty of space between tables despite the diminutive size of the place. The restaurant is categorically not accessible to wheelchairs, with one step to get to most of the dining room and a bizarre and extremely steep staircase with high risers leading to the restrooms.
The staff was friendly, efficient (with one overlooked drink order), and knowledgeable. There were two servers working the small room, which was about half full when we arrived (somewhat late). Waits for food were long, but not so long that we were tempted to complain (sorry, I should have noticed the time it took...).
The menu has sixteen items on it, including seven appetizers. Apps range from $8-$11, pastas from $17-$22, and Secondi courses are $19-$27. There were six deserts offered (not included in the above sixteen items), all $7. There was nothing on the menu for the 12 year old, who is picky, so they offered any of their pastas cooked simply with marinara or butter.
Two items were first brought to the table: focaccia with an eggplant tapanade, and bruschetta. The focaccia and tapanade were excellent, with the acidity of the marinade for the eggplant offsetting the salty seasonings of the bread nicely. The bruschetta were fine for the most part, but the bread was over-toasted (read: burned).
For antipasti, people at our table ordered the Beets Carpaccio Salata ($11), which also included greens, goat cheese, fuji apples, toasted hazelnuts, and walnut oil. It was, to use the word of the DC who ordered it, wonderful. I got the sauteed polenta ($11), served with grilled asparagus, white truffle vinaigrette, and topped with shaved grana padano cheese. Excellent, well-balanced.
For main course, we had the following:
Orichiette with butter for the picky eater. She was over the moon.
Orichiette Scaperiello, with Tuscan sausage, broccoli rabe, olive oil, basil, and marsala ($18), which was flavorful, lightly sauced, excellent.
Sauteed Chilean Sea Bass ($25) with roasted tomato, grilled asparagus, potatoes, and hazelnut-citron brown butter. Perfectly cooked, nicely presented. The filet had a few bones, but that didn't bother my DC, who was very happy.
Risotto Limone ($22) with jumbo shrimp sauteed in scampi sauce and olive oil. The eight year old who ordered this doesn't like tomatoes, which usually come on the dish, and ordered it without. The rice was perfectly cooked, as were the shrimp. 8 year old: happy.
I got the Tagliatelle with Sicilian style veal meatballs ($17) braised in a tomato basil marinara and served with shaved Asiago cheese. This one surprised me. It was excellent, but where the chef chose to sauce the Orichiette lightly, this was *very* heavily sauced. I happen to like this, and it provides the opportunity for scarpetta (the scraping up of sauce with bread... Mmmmmm...) if you have room, which I did not. There were three baseball sized meatballs, which were moist and delicious (braising is a wonderful thing...), and the marinara was very good indeed, with big chunks of tomato (San Marzano, according to the menu).
People seemed to like the deserts very much - but I was lukewarm on them. On the table: dark chocolate mousse torta (which was not as dark chocolate as I would have liked), vanilla-orange semi freddo (which others raved about but the 12 year old thought was too sweet - I did not try this), and warm coconut and mascaropne budino with zabaglione (delicious).
Overall, this was a very good dining experience.
Finally, this was indeed the restaurant visited by Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares last May. Our waiter told us the biggest changes in the restaurant were to the decor. Whether the food is changed or not, we experience the work of a very good chef who has good skills and imagination. My only niggle would be that it was a bit slow.


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It's 6 p.m. Tuesday, neddle-exchange time on Duboce Street near the Safeway supermarket, where I'm standing alongside five volunteers from Prevention Point, an organization that - in violation of state and city law, as well as a June 7 attorney general ruling - distributes 1.5 million syringes a year to an estimated 2,500 of San Francisco's injecting drug addicts.
The point of the exchange, so the speak, is to reduce the spread of AIDS and other diseases via needle-sharing, something junkies are notorious for. Theoretically, if you give druggies clean needles in return for their dirty ones, they won't use the dirty ones again - because they can't. Neither will their friends, lovers, or spouses. Kids won't prick their fingers on Dad's used point. Fewer cases of HIV transmission, less hepatitis-B and -C transmission, a whole lot fewer abscesses and heart and blood infections.
By now, everyone knows that bleach can be used to sterilize syringes and needles, but bleach isn't a long-term solution to blood-borne infection. Bleached syringes become weathered and worn, and after repeated use the points on the Micro-Fine IV needles grow dull, making them painful to use. Sometimes the needles turn kinked ot barbed, causing more pain and infection. New needles are a must.
Needle exchange is the boldest example of "harm reduction," a '90s public-policy idea that holds that the enforcement of drug laws should be less harmful and costly to users and bystanders than the dangers inherent in drug use itself. Harm reductionists like Arnold Trebach of the Drug Policy Foundation and the people at Prevention Point posit that drug use is a public health problem, not a criminal problem. They say imprisoning drug addicts for a habit they seem unable to curb makes as much sense as busting children for having chicken pox.
After almost a decade of vilifying heroin users, our culture seems ready to humanize junkies via outreach projects like needle exchanges. Armes with medical evidence that drug users can take better care of their health if given the chance, the harm reductionists are tilting against high political odds to bring drug users inside the medical tent. Help them help themselves, say the harm reductionists, so we can fight AIDS. So we can slow or stop drug users' self-destruction. So we can decrease the costs engendered by drug use to society - theft, illness, the warehousing of drug users in megaprisons. The message is simple: If drug users are sick, a compassionate society should attempt to minimize their suffering.
The Duboce exchange consists of a couple of small steel tables upon which a banquet of condoms, cotton balls, and alcohol wipes is displayed. But these are a sideshow. The main event is the thousands of clean Becton-Dickinson U-100 insulin syringes displayed in their bright orange boxes, waiting for a new home. There's also a "biohazard" bucket beside one of the tables for the safe caching of contaminated needles prior to their incineration.
Prevention Point currently operates nine exchange sites in the city, as regular as a bus schedule. In fact, Prevention Point has printed a schedule in English ans Spanish on a convenient 3x5 card. Each site dispenses needles and accessories one night a week, except for Sixth Street, which runs three nights a week.
The Duboce Street site is popular, garnering 60 to 90 people during each two-hour-long exchange. It's not as popular as the one on 14th Street near Mission, which regularly attracts around 200 exchangers, but businesss is so brisk that the clientele forms a line before the exchange opens.
Located behind the Safeway between Church and Market streets, the Duboce Street site is inconspicuous but not invisible to passers-by. Not inconspicuous enough, if you ask Safeway. Although the exchange is conducted on a public sidewalk, a couple of Ambassador Security guards dressed in cop drag, their radios squealing full blast, approach the exchange as it gets under way. For the fourth consecutive Tuesday, they politely ask just exactly what is going on.
The stream of clients lined up at the exchanges ripples away from the guards. Nobody wants attention. Nobody wants trouble. The clients perform the mental equation in their heads: Is this where the needle exchange finally gets busted, and what happens to people who are caught walking toward it with a bunch of highly illegall, slightly used hypodermics? No way to get out of that one, friends. They can type my DNA. I've seen the O.J. trial.
Might be better to come back after this has blown over.
Yana Wirengard, who is ferrying Prevention Point's supplies between this site and two others tonight, knows the drill. Deftly motioning the guards away from the exchange, she patiently explains that this is public property, that she's tried - without success - to reach the store's manager for a meeting about the exchange.
After a few minutes, she persuades the guards that yes, this has all been talked about before; yes, yes, this a public property, we've been trying to meet with the manager, yes, yes, yes. The guards leave, satisfied until next Tuesday, and the needle exchange begins in earnest. The clients queue up as if a cashier has opened a new register in a busy Safeway. Orderly lines form. Most used points are bundled into groups of five or 10, and there is no limit to the number of needles you can swap. One drug user brought in 500 at the Taylor Street exchange, saying that he was exchanging for his entire household. A clipboard-wielding volunteer ticks off the points as they're deposited in the biohazard bucket and calls the total to another volunteer handling the clean syringes.
"34, huh?" a volunteer says to the client. "OK, you want longs or shorts?" in reference to half-inch or 1-inch needles. The older the client, the more likely he'll want longs - he might have to dig a little deeper to find a vein.


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- Sound: 10
- Overall Impression: 10
- Reliability & Durability: 10
- Features: 10
Users' score:
(13 votes)
Price paid: $ 252
Purchased from: Local Store
Sound — 10
I am using Gibson Les Paul, and a Xplora with EMG 60/81 through this amp. I play punk, classic rocks etc. There is an immediate hum straight after you turn it on, quite noisy to be honest. But when you use it to drive other amp, the problem is gone. In term of sound, both guitar (with totally differnt tonal characteristic) sings more or less the same sound! You can easily get the Brian's signiture sound in the high gain channal. In the low gain, you are hardly get a good clean sound out of it, this is not an amo for clean. The low gain will crack out some solid old school rocks like AC/DC kinda sound. As this is the Brain's special, it does deliver the true Brain May's sound, and this is the sound that I am looking for, so even there is no clean sound, not versitle, it still a 10 for me.
Overall Impression — 10
I have been playing for 2 years. Have got several amps, I had a Behringer GX 10 and Marshall AVT20 (a rob for what it is), and now I have 3 VOXs (Brian May, AD30VT and AC30CC2). This is special amp, In terms of tonal character, it's thousand miles behind the AC 30, in terms of versitle, it's no way getting near the AD 30 VT. But it has something that other doesn't. It's special. If this baby was stolen, will definitly get another one, but there are rare in the market. Hard to get one!
Reliability & Durability — 10
Don't know as this is new! It looks solid alright and there is a little strap to hole the power chord, a sweet touch!
Features — 10
It was made in 2002. This is the ultimate reissue of Brian's "decay" amp that he used. The amp, following the original is pretty small amp. 10 watts into 6. 5" speaker. One channel with high/low gain option, 1 tone and 1 volume control. It doesn't have a EQ section as in the original, there was no such a thing. The special thing about this amp is, there is a treble booster in the pre-amp just like the one brian use! But most of all is, you can use this little baby to drive other amp (I use it to drive my Vox AC30).


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Calibration software
Recently I purchased ColorMunki Photo calibration device and tried it with 3 different softwares - original ColorMunki, Eizo Easypix2 (probably usable with Eizo monitors only) and ArgyllCMS (with DispcalGUI user interface). I cannot compare the quality of produced monitor profiles, they all are sure sufficient enough, just my impression from working with them when profiling my monitor - not yet tried printer profiling.
ColorMunki and Easypix2 are simple and comfortable with very few settings possible, but both use a small amount of color patches. ArgyllCMS has more options, uses more color patches (takes more time), but gives many information about the monitor and its profile. Looks like it is, or at least may be, more precise than the other two. Has anybody any experience with it?
|Post (hide subjects)
|Posted by
|Jan 13, 2014
|Jan 13, 2014
|Jan 13, 2014
|Douaumont Ossuary by Eric 54-BNF
from Armistice Day
|Silhouette at sunset by Jill Hancock
from Portrait Lens (around 80mm or equivalent - please check the full rules)


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With this, India joined the "cryo club", a select group of spacefaring nations having the crucial cryogenic engine technology, which is necessary to carry heavy satellites. Countries which have such a capability are the US, Russia, France, Japan and China.
Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan said: "I am extremely happy and proud to say that Team Isro has done it. The Indian cryogenic engine and stage performed as predicted, as expected for this mission and injected precisely the GSAT-14 communication satellite into the intended orbit."
He said this was an important day for science and technology and for space technology in the country. "Twenty years' efforts in realising the cryogenic engine and stage have now been fructified... toiling of 20 years, excruciating efforts of the past three-and-a-half years after we had the first test flight of this cryogenic engine and stage and all the efforts put by Team Isro for the last few years."
Radhakrishnan lauded professor U R Rao, who in 1992 decided that Isro should have an indigenously developed cryogenic engine and stage for the GSLV programme.
Until now, India has had to depend on other countries to launch satellites of more than three tonnes, shelling out huge money.
According to a senior Isro official, India has been paying $85-90 million (around Rs 500 crore) as launch fee to foreign space agencies for sending communication satellites weighing up to 3.5 tonnes. The successful launch of this rocket was crucial for India as this was the first step towards building rockets that can carry heavier payloads. The launch was also the first mission of the GSLV after two such rockets failed in 2010 and an August 2013 launch was aborted at the last minute following leakage of fuel from the second-stage engine.
Isro said the second-stage engine has now been replaced with a new one, built with a different metal, and some of the critical components were also replaced in the four strap-on motors of the first-stage as precaution. One of the GSLV rockets was fitted with the Indian cryogenic engine and the other with a Russian engine.
The GSLV is a three-stage engine rocket. The first stage is fired with solid fuel, the second with liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine. GSLV-D5, launched on Sunday, is 49.13 metres tall and weighs 414.75 tonnes. Several design changes were incorporated into the rocket for a safe blast-off and design changes were also made in the lower shroud (cover), that protects the cryogenic engine during the atmospheric flight; wire tunnel of the cryogenic stage, to withstand larger forces during the flight; and the revised aerodynamic characterisation of the entire rocket.
"Successful launch of GSLV D5..." And quietly,without fanfare.our ISRO wizards are helping not just their rockets,but India,achieve lift-off
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 5, 2014
Isro has carried out 68 launches since 1975, out of which 26 were from locations outside India.
K Sivan, project director, GSLV, said GSLV has been a "naughty boy" till now and has become an "obedient boy" now. He said the first thousand successful seconds come as a fruit of a thousand sleepless nights before the launch.
GSLV D5 being moved from Vehicle Assembly Building to Second Launch Pad


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Bruniaceae, family of shrubby evergreen plants, comprising 12 genera native to southern Africa, many resembling heather in habit. Members of the family, which is unplaced in the Asterids II clade, have clusters of thin branches and small leaves. Brunia stokoei develops hairy red and white flowers and grows to 1 to 5 m (3 to 16 feet) in height. Species of the genera Brunia and Berzelia are cultivated as ornamentals.
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Did Mark Cuban have a duty to Mamma.com? That question will take center court as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sues Cuban, an Internet entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, for selling his stake in the Web company after the CEO slipped him nonpublic information about an additional stock offering. Cuban, known for his outsize personality, has come out swinging against the SEC and what he calls its "win at any cost ambitions," promising to keep the case and the murkiness of insider trading law in the public spotlight in a way not seen since Martha Stewart's sale of her ImClone shares.
While the popular perception of illegal insider trading may be clear-cut say, a pharmaceutical executive selling stock right before the FDA fails to approve a new drug the law is substantially less black and white. In 1934 Congress passed the Securities Exchange Act but didn't specifically address the topic of insider trading; it was only in the 1960s that the SEC began to bring cases under the law's antifraud statutes. Toward the end of that decade, courts codified the SEC's actions in case law, locking down the idea that everyone in the marketplace should get roughly equal access to information. (See the best and worst sports executives of 2008.)
But the initial legal theory didn't last forever. By the 1980s, the Supreme Court had ruled that equal access was too broad a policy, and that for insider trading to be illegal a person had to breach a fiduciary duty a trust that had been established between that person and the company. In one landmark case, the court overturned the conviction of a printer of financial documents who bought shares of companies he knew were takeover targets. The prosecutors, the court found, hadn't proved the man's responsibility to the firms involved in the transactions. At the same time, the court gave a nod to another interesting argument: the printer had breached his duty to his own employer since he had essentially stolen information.
The SEC has been operating under this "misappropriation theory" ever since. A key 1997 Supreme Court decision upheld the conviction of a lawyer who bought securities tied to Pillsbury while his law firm was representing a company trying to take over the baking-products outfit. The court found that using such confidential information "constitutes fraud akin to embezzlement the fraudulent appropriation to one's own use of the money or goods entrusted to one's care by another." (Read TIME's 10 Questions with Mark Cuban.)
And so the case against Cuban comes down to whether or not he had a duty that he breached to Mamma.com, its CEO and its shareholders. That potential duty, one of "trust or confidence" in legal parlance, revolves around a phone conversation Cuban had in 2004 with Mamma.com's then CEO after the executive e-mailed Cuban to call as soon as possible. When Cuban did, he found out about the company's pending financing deal that would dilute existing shareholders. He promptly got rid of his shares before the information was made public.
"Mark Cuban, the guy, is just a shareholder he has no obligation," says Jonathan Macey, a professor of securities law and deputy dean at the Yale School of Management. "The critical question is if anything happened in that phone call that gave rise to a promise." Under an SEC rule adopted in 2000, if Cuban agreed to keep the information confidential, then he had a "duty of trust or confidence."
What was actually said during the conversation is a point of contention. The SEC holds that Cuban was made aware of the sensitive nature of what was about to be told to him; that he understood he would have to keep it confidential; and that he still agreed to hear it. But the day after charges were filed, Cuban's attorney posted an entry on Cuban's blog bluntly saying, "There was no agreement to keep information confidential." The post also included a partial transcript of an exchange between Mamma.com's former CEO and Cuban's lawyer in which the ex-CEO said he didn't remember Cuban agreeing to confidentiality. That account is completely at odds with the conversations and e-mails presented in the SEC complaint, including a version of the phone call that ended with Cuban saying, "Well, now I'm screwed. I can't sell."
The Cuban case is, in effect, a high-stakes game of he saidshe said. But even if the SEC's version of events holds up in court, there is still a chance that the case could keep going. Stephen Bainbridge, a law professor at UCLA who has followed insider trading law for two decades and written a book on the topic, points out that the case law around whether or not a contract of confidentiality suffices for illegal insider trading "is not as clear as one would like." Some court findings, he says, suggest that it's not enough for two parties to merely agree to keep information confidential they must also have a higher-level relationship, like that of a lawyer and client or a company and employee.
The SEC has brought charges against Cuban under a particular legal theory but the legal theories around illegal insider trading have a long history of getting rewritten in the courts. "He's an interesting guy for them to have picked. He's not going to roll over and play dead," says Bainbridge. "If he wants to, he has the resources to take this case all the way up to the Supreme Court." If it comes to that, the case could take on real significance.
With reporting by Laura Fitzpatrick
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