text:
- Merkel Pushes Back Against Hollande Call to End Austerity Drive (Bloomberg)
- ECB's Draghi throws crisis ball back to governments (Reuters)
- Greek Bank Chief Warns of a Possible Euro Exit (WSJ)
- China's Wen Says Economy Will Maintain Robust Expansion (Bloomberg)
- North Korea's nuclear test ready "soon" (Reuters)
- Hong Kong Peg Architect Says Convertible Yuan `Long Way Off' (Bloomberg)
- Hollande seeks wider EU fiscal pact (FT)
- Gavyn Davies: Why UK GDP continues to lag the G7 (FT)
- U.S. Lost AAA on Danger of Liquidity Crisis, S&P's Kraemer Says (Bloomberg)
Overnight Media Digest via Reuters:
* Despite a recession in Europe and slower growth in China, some big U.S. industrial companies are reporting surprisingly robust results for the first quarter and sounding confident about the rest of the year.
* News Corp's James Murdoch, at a media-ethics inquiry, was grilled about the company's relationship with the U.K. government minister who oversaw a crucial regulatory review of its effort to gain full control of BSkyB.
* A former BP engineer was arrested and accused of destroying evidence relating to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
* Ford Motor completed its long journey back to Wall Street's good graces when Fitch Ratings became the first debt-rating firm to lift its rating on the auto maker's debt to investment grade.
* The U.S. Agriculture Department said Tuesday that a California dairy cow tested positive for mad-cow disease, the first appearance of the brain-wasting illness in the U.S. since 2006.
* American International Group sued Steven Udvar-Hazy, the co-founder and former CEO of its giant aircraft-leasing business, accusing the industry veteran of stealing trade secrets and other confidential information for a rival company he now runs.
* Shutterfly Inc will acquire Kodak Gallery from Eastman Kodak Co for $23.8 million after no other bidders came forward with a higher bid for the online photo service, people familiar with the matter said.
The U.S. government has filed its first criminal charges in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, accusing a former BP engineer of intentionally destroying evidence about the size of the disaster.
Peace has broken out in one of Russia's longest-running corporate battles, with the oligarch Alisher Usmanov set to take over the country's second-biggest mobile operator.
David Ganek, a hedge fund manager and prominent art collector, participated in a phone call when colleagues allegedly discussed Dell's confidential earnings, according to people familiar with a U.S. insider trading investigation.
A new company backed by Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt has revealed plans to mine asteroids using robots with the aim of bringing precious metals such as platinum back to earth.
The world's largest commodity trading houses have revealed how they are courting outside investors including private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds as they seek to expand beyond their traditional business of buying and selling raw materials.
Fitness First is looking to sell more than a third of its UK gym portfolio following a debt-for-equity swap with lenders in which the company's owner, BC Capital Partners, could see its shareholding wiped out.
Lloyds has launched the sale of its 360 million euros ($475.31 million) portfolio of Irish property loans as the government-controlled lender pushes to shed the legacy of its ill-timed takeover of HBOS.
* Accretive Health, one of the United States' largest medical debt-collection companies, is under fire in Minnesota for placing employees in hospitals and demanding patients pay before receiving treatment, documents show.
* An inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission is focused on at least three Hollywood movie studios and creates a potential roadblock for the industry's plans to expand in China, one of the world's largest markets.
* Allegations of widespread bribery at Wal-Mart's Mexican subsidiary continued to reverberate on Tuesday, with the company beginning a campaign to limit the damage as its shares declined further.
* Two years after the BP oil spill, federal prosecutors have filed the first criminal charges related to the accident, accusing a former company engineer of destroying evidence by deleting text messages that discussed the amount of oil leaking from the stricken well.
* With a rising portion of Spain's $876 billion in home mortgages at risk of default, many economists say some of Spain's biggest banks will need a bailout.
- Canadian house prices are now almost five times higher than incomes, the latest illustration of why policy makers are worried about parts of the housing market.
Reports in the business section:
- No single proposal to fix Canada's retirement savings woes, such as expanding the Canada Pension Plan or increasing retirement age, will be enough, a new study says.
- Magna International Inc's founder has raised the ire of a leading investor-advisory firm over a series of transactions in which the company sold property to him and a former executive at a loss.
- A Serbian man has been barred from entering Canada on suspicion that he belongs to a secret police service in the former Yugoslavia that spied on Western governments and institutions during the Communist era.
- Alberta provincial officials denied any wrongdoing in a case involving a toddler who was put into foster care for nearly two years following an autopsy that wrongly classified his stepbrother's accidental death as a homicide.
Reports in the business section:
- Rogers Communications, Canada's largest wireless operator and leading cable power in Ontario, saw its position in both markets slip again as competitors continued to chip away at the company's market share.
- The Bank of Canada is counting mostly on consumers to carry the economy on their shoulders this year, but two key measures of consumer spending and spending intentions showed Tuesday that consumers are in fact pulling back.
http://r.reuters.com/cec87s Keywords: CANADA/PRESSDIGEST
European Economic Data:
- Spanish Producer Prices 0.8% m/m 3.3% y/y. Previous 0.6% m/m 3.4% y/y.
- UK GDP 1QA -0.2% q/q 0.0% y/y – lower than expected. Consensus 0.1% m/m 0.3% y/y. Previous -0.3% m/m 0.5% y/y.
- UK Index of Services -0.4% m/m – lower than expected. Consensus 0.2% m/m. Previous 0.2% m/m. Revised 0.0% m/m.
- UK CBI Trends Total Orders -8 – lower than expected. Consensus -6. Previous -8.
- UK CBI Trends Selling Prices 7 – lower than expected. Consensus 26. Previous 24.
- UK CBI Business Optimism 22 – higher than expected. Consensus -18. Previous -25.


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Clay's Quilt
They were in a car going over Buffalo Mountain, but the man driving was not Clay's father. The man was hunched over the steering wheel, peering out the frosted window with hard, gray eyes. The muscle in his jaw never relaxed, and he seemed to have an extra, square-shaped bone on the side of his face.
"No way we'll make it without getting killed," the man said. His lips were thin and white.
"We ain't got no choice but to try now," Clay's mother, Anneth, said. "We can't pull over and just set on the side of the road until it thaws."
Clay listened to the tires crunching through the snow and ice as they moved slowly on the winding road. It sounded as if they were driving on a highway made of broken glass. On one side of the road there rose a wall of cliffs, and on the other side was a wooden guardrail. It looked like the world dropped off after that.
They met a sharp curve and the steering wheel spun around in the man's hands. His elbows went high into the air as he tried to straighten the car. The two women in the back cried out "Oh Lord!" in unison as one was thrown atop the other to one side of the car. Anneth pressed her slender fingers deep into Clay's arms, and he wanted to scream, but then the car was righted on course. The man looked at Anneth as if it were her fault.
The women in the back had been carrying on all the way up the mountain, and now they laughed wildly at themselves for being scared. They acted like going over the crooked, ice-covered highway was the best time they had had in ages, and the man kept telling them to shut up. It seemed they lit one cigarette after another, so many that Clay couldn't tell if the mist swirling around in the cab of the car was from their smoking or their breathing.
The heater in the little car didn't work, and when one of the women hollered to the man to give it another try, the vents rattled and coughed, pushing out a chilling breeze. Clay could see his own breath clenching out silver in front of him until it made a white fist on the windshield. The man wiped the glass off every few minutes, and when he did, he let out a line of cusswords, all close and connected like a string of paper dolls.
Anneth exhaled loudly and said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't cuss and go on like that in front of this child."
"Well, God almighty," the driver said. "I ain't never been in such a mess before in my life."
Clay knew that his mother was getting mad because a curl of her hair had suddenly fallen down between her eyes. She pushed it away roughly, but it fell back again.
"They ain't no use taking the Lord's name in vain. I never could stand to hear that word," she said. She patted Clay's hands and focused on the icy highway. "Sides, you ought to be praying instead of handling bad language."
"Yeah, you're a real saint, ain't you, Anneth Sizemore?" the man said, and a laugh seemed to catch in the back of his throat. He pulled his shoulders up in a way that signaled he was ready to stop talking. Clay watched him hold tightly to the steering wheel and look out at the road without blinking. He knew this man somehow, but couldn't figure how exactly, and he didn't feel right with him. He wished that his father had been driving them. He reconsidered and simply wished he could put a face to the word daddy. He was only four, but he had already noticed that most of his cousins had fathers, while his was never even spoken of. He wondered if his father would smell so strongly of aftershave, like this man, and have a box-bone in his cheek that tightened every few minutes. He started to ask his mother about this but didn't. He had so many questions. Today alone, he couldn't understand what all had gone on.
Clay looked out at the snow and wondered if the world had stopped. Maybe it had frozen, grown silver like the creek water around the edges of rocks. They had not met one car all the way over the mountain, and the few houses they passed looked empty. No tracks on the porches, no movement at the windows. Thin little breaths of black smoke slithered out of chimneys, as if the people had left the fires behind.
The windows frosted over again, and Anneth took the heel of her gloved hand and wiped off the passenger window so they could look out. The pines lining the road were bent low and pitiful, full of clotted ice and winking snow. Some of the trees had broken in two. Their limbs stuck out of the packed snow like jagged bones with damp, yellow ends bright against the whiteness. There was not so much sunshine as daylight, but the snow and ice twinkled anyway. The cliffs had frozen into huge boulders of ice where water had trickled down to make icicles.
"Look," Anneth said, "them icicles look like the faces of people we know."
She whispered into Clay's ear and pointed out daggers of ice. The one with the big belly looked like Gabe. One column of ice looked like a woman with wigged-up hair, just like his aunt Easter. There was even one that favored the president, who was on television all of the time. Clay put his hands inside hers. The blue leather gloves she had on were cold to his bare hands. He didn't move, though, and hoped the warmth of her fingers would seep down into his own.
"I need to get this baby some mitts," Anneth said, to no one in particular. The women were singing, and the driver was ignoring every one of them. "His little hands is plumb frostbit."
She undid the knot at her neck and slid the scarf around her collar with one quick jerk. The scarf was white, with fringes on each end. She shook out her hair and picked at it with one hand. The car was filled with the smell of strawberries. She always washed her hair in strawberry shampoo, except on Fridays, when she washed it with beer. She took his hands and lay the scarf out across her lap, then wound the scarf round and round his hands, like a bandage.
"I'm awful ashamed to have on gloves and my baby not," she said as she worked with the scarf. "There," she said. There was a fat white ball in Clay's lap where his arms should have met.
One of the women in the back put her chin on the top of the front seat. "I hain't never seen a vehicle that didn't have a heater or a radio. This beats it all to hell."
The man shot her a hateful look in the rearview mirror.
She fell back against her seat and began to sing "Me and Bobby McGee." The other woman joined in and they swayed back and forth with their arms wrapped around each other's necks. Their backs smoothed across the leather seat in rhythm with the windshield wipers. They snapped their fingers and cackled out between verses.
"Help us sing, Anneth!" one of them cried out. "I know you like Janis Joplin."
Anneth ignored them, but she hummed the song quietly to Clay, patting his arm to keep in tune.
The man said that he would never make it off the downhill side of the mountain without wrecking and killing them. There was more arguing over the fact that they couldn't pull over. They would surely freeze to death sitting on the side of the road. They were on top of the mountain now, far past the row of houses. There was nothing here but black trees and gray cliffs and mountains that stretched out below them. Everybody started talking at once, and it reminded Clay of the way the church house sounded just before the meeting started.
Clay looked over his mother's shoulder at the women. One of the women was looking at herself in a silver compact and patting the curls that fell down on either side of her face. She snapped the compact shut with a loud click and looked up at him happily.
"Don't worry, Clay," she said. "We'll make it off this mountain." He could see lipstick smudged across her straight white teeth.
The other woman stared blankly into space, and it took her a long moment to realize that Clay was studying her. She was beautiful, much younger than his mother, but as Clay looked at her, she aged before his eyes. Her face grew solid and tough, her skin like a persimmon. Her eyes looked made of water, her nose lengthened and thinned, and her mouth pinched together tightly. He caught a glimpse of what would never become of her, because she was killed that day, alongside his mother and the man driving the car.
The man's voice was suddenly harsh. "Well, I was good enough to take you over there, now dammit. I need to pull off and calm down some," he said loudly. "My nerves is shot all to hell."
"I'll never ask you to do nothing else for me, then," she said with disgust. "I ain't worried about myself--I have to get this baby home."
"Hellfire, I'd rather be home, too, but this road is a sight," he said. "You ought not got that child out in this. I'm pulling over, and that's all there is to it."
"Go on, then," Anneth shouted in a deep voice. She turned toward the window and didn't speak to him again.
"Let's just set here a few minutes and figure something out," the driver said.
The shoulder widened out and they could see the mountains spread out below. The white guardrail was wound about by dead vines that showed in brown places through the thick snow. The mountains looked like smudges of paint, rolling back to the horizon until they faded into one another in a misted-over heap.
Anneth wiped the icy window off once more and said, "Look how peaceful. Look at them mountains, how purple and still."
Clay knew that the mountains looked purple under that big, moving sky, but they didn't look still at all to him. They seemed to be breathing --rising so slowly, so carefully, that no one noticed but him. He watched them, concentrating the way he did when he was convinced a shadow had moved across his bedroom wall. It seemed to Clay that they rose and fell with a single pulse, as if the whole mountain chain was connected.
Everyone had grown silent looking out at the hills, and later this struck Clay as strange. They were all accustomed to seeing hills laid out before them, but there was something about this day, something about how silently the mountains lay beneath the snow.
It was so quiet that Clay was certain that the end of the world had come. Everybody on earth had been sucked up into the sky in the twinkling of an eye. He was used to hearing people talk about the End and the Twinkling of an Eye; his Aunt Easter constantly spoke of such things. She looked forward to the day when Jesus would part the clouds and come after His children. "Rapture," she called it, and the word was always whispered. Easter said if you weren't saved, you'd be left behind.
He pressed against his mother and felt the warmth of her body spread out across his back. She ran her fingers through his hair and began to hum softly again. He could feel the purr of her lungs against his face. It was the same song the women had been singing. Clay knew it by heart. He'd watched his mother iron or wash dishes while she listened to that song. Sometimes she would snatch him up and dance around the room with him while the song was on the record player. She had sung every word then, singing especially loud when it got to the part about the Kentucky coal mines. The vibration in her chest was as comforting as rain on a tin roof, and he fought his sleep so that he could feel it. She must have thought he was asleep, too, because finally she took her hand from his head and stopped humming.
She pressed her face to the window, leaning her forehead against the cold glass. "I ain't never seen it so quiet on this mountain," she said.
That was the last thing Clay was aware of, but afterward, he sometimes dreamed of blood on the snow, blood so thick that it ran slow like syrup and lay in stripes across the whiteness, as if someone had dashed out a bucket of paint.
Clay's Quilt
- Genres: Fiction
- paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books

subset: commoncrawl


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Indians announce Progressive Field additions
Indians announce Progressive Field additions
The installation of a wind turbine atop the right-field corner of the ballpark is one of several new features at Progressive Field for the 2012 campaign.
Cleveland State University aided the Indians in developing Major League Baseball's first wind turbine, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Indians first approached CSU about the endeavor in 2008, in an attempt to enhance their environmental initiatives. The club was the first in the American League to install solar panels in its venue.
The wind turbine has enough electricity to power two typical homes for an entire year.
"It's an incredible, collaborative effort between us and our neighbors down the street at Cleveland State University," said Indians senior vice president for public affairs Bob DiBiasio. "It is a continuation of how we are trying to be creative and innovative in our organization and at our ballpark."
The addition of the wind turbine could have long-lasting, city-wide ramifications, according to Majid Rashidi, chairman of the engineering technology department at CSU. Rashidi had a hand in overseeing the development of the wind turbine.
"We have all the infrastructure in Cleveland to undertake this initiative of adding renewable energy to our portfolio and to our manufacturing," Rashidi said. "Cleveland is known for heavy industry. Whether we like it or not, renewable energy should participate in the direction of energy for the country. With this, we are hoping that young minds that come to the ballpark see this and get encouraged to think about it and think out of the box and participate for the next generation."
The Indians have instituted two new policies for their fans this season. Attendees will be allowed to bring a water bottle into the ballpark and can exit and re-enter Progressive Field at their leisure through a specified gate.
"That's a major new initiative," DiBiasio said about the permission of water bottles. "We've heard loudly and clearly from our fans regarding that one."
The club has also expanded its social media footprint. The Indians were the first team to create a social media deck, which in 2010 hosted up to 10 active members of the social media community to interact at each game. The deck became the Social Media Suite last year and will return for the 2012 season.
In addition to the suite, the Tribe will connect with fans through four new platforms: TribeVibe, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google+, while maintaining its presence on Facebook and Twitter.
"If you live in a cave, that will be the only way you cannot connect with the Indians," DiBiasio said.
The Indians will continue to broadcast certain ticket deals through social media avenues. For the first time, fans can also choose a paperless ticket option, which allows for entry into the ballpark after presenting the credit card used to make the purchase. When using this alternative, fans receive a half-price ticket to a select game.
Of course, it wouldn't be a new season without new concoctions to appeal to fans' taste buds. The Indians have adopted several Food Network items, including a hot dog and sausage bar and buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese, that will be served at specified ballpark locations. Progressive Field will also showcase a daily creation from one of the organization's chefs.
The new "Spuds and Suds" stands will serve veggie dogs and sausage, gluten-free snacks, hot dogs, fries and the "twisted potato." "Onion Lovers" stations will feature every color and style of onion with which to top a hot dog or burger.
"Food matters to you when you come to a baseball game," DiBiasio said. "When you walk in, you say to yourself, 'All right, what am I going to eat today?' We have an incredible array of quality chefs that put together 50-60 items that are available for fans throughout the concourse."
The Indians begin the 2012 season against the Blue Jays on April 5, when Progressive Field will play host to its 19th consecutive Opening Day sellout.
"Whether you're a first-time visitor here at our ballpark, or you're a veteran season-ticket holder," DiBiasio said, "each and every time you come to the ballpark, it's a uniquely personal experience. We have asked for, and have listened to, what our fans what."
Zack Meisel is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @zackmeisel. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Toll Free: 888-850-4615 Local: 970-887-2709
Golf Granby Ranch (formerly Headwaters Golf) is on par with the finest of Colorado's mountain golf courses. This championship course weaves naturally through native grasses and wetland along the Fraser River, with 18 holes that will challenge and reward every player.
Facility Amenities: Course Designer: -
General Information: Seasons of Operation: May - October, Year Built: 2000, Year Last Renovated: 2007
Tee Information: Championship Par: 72, Championship Slope: 127, Championship Yardage: 7196, Men's Par: 70, Men's Slope: 121, Men's Yardage: 6601, Senior Par: 67, Senior Slope: 113, Senior Yardage: 6609, Women's Par: 68, Women's Slope: 121, Women's Yardage: 5276


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What a nice little church!
You are always welcome chickie, it was only tiny. It stands on a sort of cliff. The view, if I turn round, is of course, the sea. I've made it into a puzzle but have to wait 13 hours as I've published my quota. Here it is for you. http://www.jigidi.com/puzzle.php?id=44H82JEHAnd yes Aggie, it was scorchio.
Wow, and the secret your door has now been revealed! Cute church and I love the stone under the railing of course. Thank you ladycharnley. : )


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D.A.D. (Disneyland After Dark) Singer Jesper Binzer on Band's Early Days, Recent U.S. Tour, Unique Sound And More!
Fans of the Danish hard rock band D.A.D (Disneyland After Dark) have had a lot to be happy about in 2013. The U.S. release of their last album, "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK" (say it slowly) their first North American tour in over 20 years and now can wait for the release of a new 30 song career spanning package called "30/30/30" which will be coming in 2014. It's all a little bit of validation for a band who have been at it since 1984 and are known as one of the very best live acts in hard rock. I had the chance to talk with guitarist/vocalist Jesper Binzer about it all, read on…. -Lead Photo Credit: metaltraveller.com
Legendary Rock Interviews: Thanks for talking to me, your last album "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK" has so much of that sound that made me originally like the band back in the "No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims" days and so much of that includes some classic melodies from musical eras past. How much of that comes from the music you grew up on in Denmark?
Jesper Binzer: I think that everything evolves and everything becomes a part of your musical DNA once you're exposed to it long enough. I think that what's important is that you don't become a clone or copycat of your influences. I think the audience looks for your own personal touch so maybe you could say that over the years we have been able to find our own way of working within those influences.
LRI: You guys were finally able to tour here in the United States this year for the first time since 1996. I know you released many great albums but the touring just wasn't in the cards until this past year, how did it feel to get off the plane and come back to the U.S. for shows and how were the audiences?
Jesper Binzer: It was great. The people in the States were so supportive. Someone posted a clip on our Facebook page of a show and we were playing a song which wasn't released there, it hadn't been out in America and wasn't even anything in Europe. It was just a little, stupid song that we enjoy playing and the guy who was taping it and uploaded it to YouTube was singing along and the people next to him were singing along and it was just such a cool and funny thing that all these people stuck with us and remember us there. It felt like love, it was beautiful, just beautiful especially since it had been so long. I mean all of us have taken holidays and visited friends in America but as a band, D.A.D. it had been maybe 23 years. It was totally wild but then again, the internet has made it so that audiences can follow your career, including albums that maybe weren't even released there but also the internet makes it so you can communicate immediately with your audience. Of course, nothing compares to playing the live show and I think having been around as long as we have, our audiences are confident that we are….. experienced enough, I'll say that because I don't wanna say "old" (laughs) but experienced enough, to put on a solid live show.
LRI: For some of those younger fans who might not be aware of the band's initial burst here I wanna ask you a question that I'm sure you've answered a million times but maybe you could indulge once more…..How did you originally come to the attention of Warner Brothers Records when you were signed here in the States?
Jesper: It was pretty funny. We were doing our own thing. "No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims" had been released in Denmark and suddenly there was a lot of interest, it started and just grew from there until it got to Warner Brothers attention. They flew over to Denmark to watch us play a festival and some other shows outside Copenhagan and then there was kind of a bidding war going on. There were some of the top, top, top players at Warner Brothers which was fantastic, it was guys like Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker who were the big guys there at the time. We treated them to a stupid, stupid party at our rehearsal space where they had to compete riding tricyles while we were mixing them drinks. They didn't know what was in the drinks because D.A.D were the bartenders, we were basically giving them the D.A.D. treatment and then after that we signed with Warner Brothers.
LRI: You guys are a bunch of bastards (laughs)
Jesper: Yes, we were (laughs).
LRI: Obviously you have matured a little bit, did coming back to the U.S. remind you of any of those wild old days?
Jesper: That's actually a good question because I was trying to put things in perspective recently. I think that I have matured and it's been so long since we've seen America as a place of opportunity for D.A.D……like I said it's been more of a place for us to hang out and relax so it has taken on another shape for us in a sense so it felt so natural for us to come over and just relax and play music. It's a whole new ballgame, it's a whole new time and on top of that maybe, maybe we have changed.
LRI: How many strings does Stig Pederson have on his bass these days?
Jesper: He's got two strings, he doesn't need any more (laughs).
LRI: You guys play a lot of shows in Europe and tour pretty relentlessly. How does that affect your approach as far as making records?
Jesper: Well, the latest record that came out this year in America was already out in Europe and it took us a step forward here at home because you could tell it was definitely made while we were touring. We toured a lot the past few years and were in that mode all the time. We would be out playing live and then get into the studio with so much of that energy was put into it and I think the audience can hear that. Of course we spent all the time and effort we could in the studio to make it sound good but we also wanted to keep a lot of that live energy flowing. Nick Foss produced it and to be quite honest, we had been without him for a number of years because we didn't really have the balls to call him for the previous two albums. We didn't want to admit that maybe the songs weren't quite strong enough but i think we can be honest now and say that perhaps they just weren't. So it said a lot when we felt confidant enough to call Nick for the last album.
LRI: It almost sounds like he's the fifth member of the band.
Jesper: Yeah, he is pretty much. As a person he is very much a "from the heart" kind of person. He doesn't bear grudges, he doesn't play games, he's just a heart with ears so to speak. That means that he carries the whole D.A.D. story with him without any bitterness or anything. He's just with us and he's been with us for so long and he's extremely important for us to have a guy like Nick. With an old band like us it is so easy to surround yourself with Yes-men and that is such a dangerous thing to do. It makes far more sense to hang on to your old friends and the people who know who you really are, that's who we chose to surround us.
LRI: When you guys arrived and "Sleeping My Day Away" started getting airplay it was clear that you were very, very different from so many of the 80s hard rock and hairspray bands you were getting lumped in with. I think the fans who bought the album and related to you were almost picking up on that difference and this was well before grunge or alternative started to take hold here. Do you think that served you well in the long run?
Jesper: Thank you, I'm very glad you picked up on that. When we started out it felt like we were part of a subculture that spanned the globe and wasn"t really mainstream but could still relate to people all over the planet in our own little quirky, intellectual, break out of the mold kind of way. We knew we weren't like every band and we had a feeling that there were other people, maybe not many but definitely other people who felt the same way, like we felt. I think that's our perspective on our audience as well as ourselves in a way, maybe we weren't shooting for the mainstream so much as trying to catch the attention of people who liked to smirk a little higher towards the ceiling so to speak.
LRI: Obviously, now that you've grown along with that audience do you think you're inspired to write by totally different things?
Jesper: I think I'm at my best age at the moment. I'm 47 and I feel like I'm not so insecure anymore. I feel like I'm carrying my own and I feel like I still have all the energy and all things going for me. I think that if you can reach that point where you feel comfortable in your own skin totally that it's beautiful and I'm pretty sure that it was rock and roll that gave me that opportunity to be able to fill out my skin at this point. On the other hand, I'm not alone here in D.A.D. so I have that luck of being able to chip away at the same stone so at least at this point we all really know each other. We also know what kind of assholes we are underneath (laughs) so it's a pretty fun social experiment. It's a life. It's not a career, it's not business, it's life, there were three or four guys going into this and there will be three or four guys going out of this. What's in between, doesn't really matter, what matters is that we did it and we did it together. That's one of the reasons we came back to play some in America again, we need to be a gang again, us against the world and we need to get ready to make another album and keep coming up with more songs. Before that we will be releasing our new greatest hits, career album celebrating 30 years of doing what we do. When I say we, I mean the band, because the record company really doesn't really exist anymore and we fired the management because we know how to do D.A.D. (laughs). So stay tuned!
Category: Interviews


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The gigantic HTC Inspire is here, and its blazing fast. You can check out our HTC Inspre Hands-On Review for anything you'd like to know about this beast of a phone. It is a beautiful device. Today HTC has released a new commercial for the Inspire called the HTC Inspire Cop. A fast phone for fast people is their motto.
The HTC Inspire is AT&T's first 4G phone, its got all the specs you'd want and come to expect from an Android device. It's blazing fast says AT&T despite many reports of AT&T capping Android speeds. The commercial shows a cop flying through the middle of a busy city, using Google Maps to track a suspect, and in the end using his blazing 4G speeds, and blazing fast feet to catch a criminal.
HTC is pretty famous for these short but sweet commercials, if you'd like to watch a few more we've got you covered. Check out the HTC Desire HD in two commercials , or another minute long showing of the Inspire right here. Also while you are here feel free to read and learn how to overclock the HTC Inspire.
[via YouTube]


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Capital Noun Synonyms: head, top, crown, cap
Capital Adjective Synonyms: chief, main, major, important, cardinal, central, principal, prime, primary, paramount, pre-eminent, foremost, leading
Loss Verb Synonyms: deprivation, bereavement, privation, denial, sacrifice, forfeiture, disappearance
Loss Noun Synonyms: diminution, erosion, reduction, impoverishment, depletion, shrinkage
Business / Taxes / Unrealized Loss: If the market price of a security you own drops below the amount you paid for it, you have an unrealized loss. The loss remains unrealized as long as you don't sell the security while the price is dow MORE
Business / Finance / Net Realized Capital Gains Per Share: Capital gains realized by an investment company minus any capital losses divided by the total number of the company's outstanding shares. MORE
Business / Taxes / Long-Term Capital Gain (Or Loss): When you sell a capital asset that you have owned for more than a year at a higher price than you paid to buy it, any profit on the sale is considered a long-term capital gain. If you sell for less th MORE
Business / Finance / Capital Gains Distribution: When a stock is sold for a profit, the capital gain is the difference between the net sales price of the securities and their net cost, or original basis. If a stock is sold below cost, the difference MORE
Business / Finance / Nondiversifiability Of Human Capital: The difficulty of hedging one's human capital (the unique capabilities and expertise of individuals) and employment effort. MORE
Business / Accounting / Number Of Days Sales Invested In Working Capital: An alternative measure of the amount of working capital used in generating the sales of a period: computed by dividing 365 days by the working capital turnover. MORE


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Oh, my Aiken Feet
Called "One of the finest small museums in the world," The Courtauld Gallery has one of the most important and best-loved collections of European paintings and drawings in Britain, displayed in the elegant 18th century setting of Somerset House in Central London. The Courtauld's collection ranges from the Renaissance to the 20th century and includes a world-famous group of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings with masterpieces by Manet, Monet, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin, amongst others.
John suggested we come here as an added treat before our "Third Day of Christmas" dinner at Tom Aikens Restaurant in Chelsea, and while I admit that I had not heard of it before, John has wanted to visit The Courtauld for decades, literally. Best known for its outstanding collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, drawings and prints, the Courtauld Gallery is easy to reach by public transport from central London rail stations. We chose however to stroll from Waterloo station across Waterloo Bridge and the short distance up The Strand to Somerset House. The view of the Thames and its bustling activity got us in the mood for our visit to this delightful museum and its amazing collection.
As we gazed at pieces from the Renaissance to the 20th century adorning the galleries over three floors, we took great delight at recognising so many works of art and actually seeing them in the flesh, as it were. The gallery is a manageable size so that all the collections can be perused in something over an hour without rushing around, and of course much longer if one is so inclined. While the Courtauld was not crowded, we were delighted to see so many visitors supporting the arts.
After our visit we stopped at The Café for a warming cup of coffee. Had we not been en route for a two Michelin star meal at Tom Aikens we would have succumbed to the enticing cakes on offer, all homemade in the kitchen at The Courtauld Gallery Café. In their honour (and a sensible amount of time after digesting our glorious Tom Aikens meal) I have made a Thermomix carrot cake for your pleasure. But you will have to wait for a later post to virtually taste it, so watch this space!
Upon leaving The Courtauld Gallery we hopped on a bus across town to do a spot of shopping. I spied the most amazing arcades on our way and so we hopped off the bus for a bit of what the French call "licking shop windows" or "lèche-vitrine." Piccadilly Arcade and the surrounding streets house an eclectic mix of shops of all sorts, running from world-renowned brand flagship stores to small, independent, highly specialised shops.
Our next stop was the ever-delightful food hall at Fortnum and Mason, a veritable treasure trove of gourmet delights both savoury and sweet. Because we were going to be inside for the rest of the day and evening with no refrigeration possibilities, we were obliged to resist the manifold temptations calling out to us like so many Sirens and walk out of Fortnum and Mason empty handed. Believe me, this was a first!
Only a bit farther down the road our resolve was destroyed as we passed a golden grotto filled with Ladurée macarons. Having tasted these this summer and having made my own, there was no choice but to buy a small but expensive box of almond-flavoured heaven. I agreed to carry this precious cargo and yes, Dear Reader, it made it home in one piece!
Night was falling and we still had not reached Chelsea and our target destination of the evening, Tom Aikens Restaurant. Despite my achin' feet (sorry about the pun) we decided to walk the rest of the way, through some of London's most impressive neighbourhoods.
Upon our arrival at the restaurant we indulged in a well-deserved glass of Champagne before indulging in Chef Tom's fabulous Tasting Menu. More about that in my next post. Oh yes, and I changed into some comfortable shoes!
4 Comments
On the Third Day of Christmas « Why is There Air?8 March 2011 at 18:25
[…] The Courtauld Gallery and Fortnum and Mason's glorious Food Hall. You can read more about this in Oh, my Aiken Feet, the preamble to this review. Canapes at Tom Aikens […]
Jo @ Quirky Cooking1 March 2011 at 22:49
Yee ha!! I wish 🙂
Jo @ Quirky Cooking1 March 2011 at 09:20
Sigh… what a lovely day that would've been! The Impressionists are my favourite artists – that would have been wonderful to see those paintings in real life! And the Fortnum and Mason shop – WOW – I don't think I could've gotten out of there empty handed – what self control! 😀


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The OCZ Z-Drive R4 Series represents a turning point in the evolution of PCIe attached solid state storage by merging the best feature sets of both the pure hardware and pure software based approaches to data management. Designed and manufactured for a wide range of enterprise environments including cloud computing and data centers, the Z-Drive R4 features OCZ's Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) 2.0, providing the utmost in performance, flexibility, durability and enhanced reliability, allowing data centers to rely on a PCIe-based SSD as their primary tier one storage solution for the first time. Additionally, the Z-Drive R4's level of concentrated performance enables system architects to design more productive infrastructures while lowering operating costs associated with hard drive technology.
VCA 2.0 supports the industry standard SCSI command set and, among a litany of other things, provides highly efficient performance aggregation due to OCZ's exclusive Complex Command Queuing Structure (CCQS), that handles balancing with OCZ's unique Queue Balancing Algorithm, that extends the NAND flash life at a block level, manages redundancy, and is the software interface with the host system.
Z-Drives integrate seamlessly with servers at the system bus and kernel level, creating a new flash memory tier and dramatically increasing throughput and application performance all while slashing capital and operating costs. The OCZ Z-Drive R4 Series is available in half height and full height configurations (full height form factor for CM88 version).
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Gaxa, Mashamaite, Gould, Masilela
Tshabalala, Katsande, Yeye, Lebese
Parker, Nkhatha
Jele, Mahamutsa, Gcaba, Matlaba
Myeni, Klate, Manyisa, Jali, Segolela
Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates will meet in the third Soweto Derby of the 2013-2014 season on Saturday, when the two giants of South African football renew their rivalry in a PSL clash at Soccer City.
AmaKhosi will be without Knowledge Musona for the all-important derby, due to a shoulder injury sustained by the star striker in the Telkom Knockout.
However, Stuart Baxter will be able to call on the services of midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala after the player was passed fit on Thursday.
Chiefs currently sit in fourth place on the PSL standings and will target a win against their greatest rivals in order to match Mamelodi Sundowns on 14 points at the summit of the table.
Pirates' PSL season is still in its infancy, as the club has only played two league matches this season, due to their Caf Champions League commitments.
The Buccaneers will battle fatigue after their exploits in Tunisia, which saw them reach the final of the continental tournament. Roger de Sa's side were also in action on Wednesday night, defeating Golden Arrows 4-0 in the Telkom Knockout.
The club's current run of form are menacing signs for Chiefs ahead of the derby, as the Buccaneers will be brimming with confidence despite their heavy fixture list taking its toll.
Lucky Lekgwathi will not take to the pitch on Saturday, while Happy Jele is set to retain the captaincy due to Lekgwathi's absence.
The most highly anticipated clash on the PSL calendar will be watched by a sell-out crowd at Soccer City, and fans will hope for a scintillating display from the two Soweto Giants.
Catch all the action LIVE on Goal South Africa, with commentary starting at 14:30 on Saturday afternoon.
- Roger de Sa's charges have already tasted success against AmaKhosi this season, defeating their rivals 2-1 in the MTN 8 semi-finals over two enthralling legs.
- In head-to-head stats, the last 26 matches between the sides has seen Chiefs win on eight occasions, while Pirates have been victorious seven times. There have been 11 draws.
- In league encounters, the two sides played to successive draws last season.
- Pirates were runners-up in the MTN 8 earlier this season, losing to Platinum Stars in the final.
- The Buccaneers will play Al Ahly in the finals of the Caf Champions League, with the first leg set to kick-off on the 2nd of November at the Orlando Stadium.


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I'm making this quilt totally off the top of my head and have run into an problem. As you can see in the attached picture, the second block - the rail fence pattern - is smaller than the first block, which is the size it is because I want to highlight the sunflowers. It is rectangular. From the picture, you can tell I need to add 3" to the sides and 1" to the bottom. What is the best way to do this? I think that I should make the rail fence pieces larger (they are 1" finished), but I don't know how to figure out how much larger to make them. Anybody?
Layout showing what is wrong


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The minimum entitlement to time off work for employees on adoption leave. This leave is irrespective of length of service.
The law on adoption leave, including timing of adoption leave, working during the adoption leave period through keeping-in-touch days, curtailing adoption leave, and statutory rights during and after adoption leave.
Definition from the XpertHR glossary.
HR and legal information and guidance relating to statutory adoption leave.


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When VCs Run Out of Energy: The New Era of Cleantech Investing
The hasty promotion of cleantech to the high expectations of high-tech and biotech led to well-documented investment disasters. Capital intensity, time to exit—as we all know by now, energy simply isn't IT (with all due respect to the plucky, if likely short-lived, promotion of "clean Web").
The apparent decline of the word cleantech may be a good thing. In fact, its composition from "clean" and "tech" suggest the cause of its demise. The moral inflection of "clean" in cleantech suggests a subtle flaw in its origin. For many, cleantech was (and is) a cause. A non-financial motivation like environmentalism is admirable and even necessary, but it can muddle investor judgment. One frequently hears indignation in response to political opposition to comprehensive energy and environmental legislation and sanctimony in the wake of prominent investment failures. Neither has proven to be effective in overcoming the current malaise. We need some big wins, but how do we get there?
First, we should recognize that the fundamental macro trends that favor cleantech remain in place: GDP per capita in emerging economies continues to grow, with unsustainable middle-class material aspirations; energy security and energy independence continues to be a key driver of geopolitics; our electricity grid is aging, inefficient, and susceptible to cyberattack; and the effects of climate change, vividly demonstrated by Hurricane Sandy, already have the attention of our national security establishment and may yet overwhelm anti-scientific political intransigence.
Taking an Efficient Investment Approach
In response to these challenges, multi-trillion dollar global energy markets are undergoing a technology-driven transformation. Innovation and entrepreneurship related to energy and resource efficiency is producing a wide range of emerging companies seeking to address these markets. The contraction of the venture capital industry in general, and the retrenchment from cleantech in particular, should yield better returns for those investors who stay with it, assuming they can find a way forward that doesn't repeat the mistakes of the past.
But the big change, of course, is cheap, abundant, domestic natural gas. The merits of natural gas compared to its fossil fuel siblings as a way to mitigate climate change are debatable—as are the environmental effects of fracking. But until there is a price on carbon, natural gas will loom over renewable energy like clouds over a solar farm or the desultory calm of a windless day.
So is it time to give up cleantech and energy investments and join the digital media party? It's tempting, but I believe that resource efficiency and energy innovation are the wealth creation opportunity of this generation. Here are three ways to think about exploiting this opportunity:
1. Disentangle environmental considerations from your investment analysis. Many of us in cleantech are motivated by environmental concerns, but factors that enhance personal satisfaction may cloud professional judgment. Cleantech investment opportunities should be able to stand on their own business merits. Vinod Khosla recently declared that Khosla Ventures would not invest in any green tech startup that could not achieve cost competitiveness in an unsubsidized marketplace within five years of it launching. Good idea.
2. A dominant energy infrastructure, unforgiving commodity markets, and a natural gas supply spike enabled by fracking won't be overthrown by a cleantech revolution. In fact, these factors comprise the context for cleantech investment decisions. Solazyme, a public biofuels company, has diversified into skin and personal care, nutrition, and chemicals in addition to fuel. In our own backyard, Oasys Water, which was initially conceptualized as a water desalination technology solution for agricultural and drinking water purposes in 2009, has re-focused to go after the domestic multi-billion dollar fracking market. Energy technology innovation and entrepreneurship must find a way to thrive in existing market conditions.
3. Although it is frequently pointed out that cleantech stumbled in part because it blindly followed habits developed in other sectors, the fundamentals of venture capital investing still apply: team, technology, markets. There are good arguments for the primacy of any of these, but for me it is ultimately the team—through perseverance, creativity and execution—that determines success. Where would Tesla be without Elon Musk? Matthew Nordan's secret formula for identifying a great cleantech team is to look for bands of brothers and sisters—including the core inventor—that come together on their own, form a complete team, and have a leader fit for the long haul. I could not agree more. Terawatt's first investment, MC10, was just such a band of brothers with a phenomenal platform technology. Since then, we have seen this band work beautifully through every early-stage startup challenge, from building a world class team to signing its first customer deal.
Is it time to jettison the word "cleantech"? There are no clear successors, but I prefer "resource efficiency", which encompasses energy, water, food, land, and other critical resources. In any case, there are probably as many different ways to describe the investment category as there are investment strategies to address it.
All that said, I think we should keep the word "cleantech" (and not just to preserve Rob Day's Twitter handle): neither the irrational exuberance that inflated it nor the knowing hindsight that disparages it are the true arbiters of its value. It is still early, and given the size of the opportunity, cleantech is an investment category that may well redeem itself.
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Matthew Davis
Jump to
Utah native Matthew Davis initially gained notoriety with supporting roles as the all-American male alongside stars like Colin Farrell and Reese Witherspoon, before settling into more varied character roles in both film and on television. As so many had before him, Davis' first break came with a role in a horror film, in his case the sequel "Urban Legends: Final Cut" (2000), although his performance opposite Farrell in the Vietnam-era drama "Tigerland" (2000) provided a better demonstration of his talent. He was perfectly cast as the rich, shallow boyfriend of Witherspoon in the comedy "Legally Blonde" (2001) then performed well as a stalwart naval officer in the WWII thriller "Below" (2002). Following a period of credits in smaller film projects and an unsuccessful television series, Davis found a home on the small screen when he was cast as the teacher-slash-vampire hunter, Alaric Saltzman on the supernatural teen drama series "The Vampire Diaries" (The CW, 2009- ). Having proven himself capable of tackling leading man roles, or contributing as a quirky supporting player, Davis ensured himself a lengthy career as one of young Hollywood's more dependable actors.


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Royal Standard Portable with Touch Control c.1935
- Price: $200.00
- Item Category: Antiquities
- Type: Item for Sale
- Date Posted: Feb 02, 2011
- Seller Type: -
I have a Royal Model O typewriter in fine condition. All of the keys are good working order and none are frozen or sticky. The case is intact and functions properly. The paint is 99% intact and still looks new. There is the normal amount of dust but that can be cleaned before shipping. The ribbon is dry so it will need to be replaced. The only item missing from this deal is the owner's manual.


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Andre Villa-Boas' team are currently fifth in the Premier League, two points behind Arsenal, who have played one game more, and three adrift of Chelsea.
And the French goalkeeper admits any more slip-ups will signal the end of their top-four hopes.
"We want to be in the next Champions League but we know that if we don't get three points against Southampton our chance will be finished," said Lloris.
For Spurs to achieve their aim of playing in Europe's main competition next season, Lloris says they need star man Gareth Bale to be on top of his game in the remaining fixtures.
"He has had a great season for Tottenham and helped the team to be in this situation," said Lloris.
"I am sure he will help us realise this objective and we need him to win the next four games to finish in the top four."
The Frenchman has cemented his place in Villas-Boas' side after initially sitting on the sidelines following his move to White Hart Lane from Lyon last summer.
And he insists his first season in England has been a success.
"It was a big step in my career and it was very important to have a good adaptation in my life but also in football," he added.
"I have enjoyed this season. It is true that it was not easy at the beginning, but after it was better."


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In London, plans to introduce a £10 charge for the most polluting diesel cars are being considered by Mayor Boris Johnson.
These could come into force by 2020.
The Mayor's plans for the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) are still subject to full consultation, but it is expected it will require diesel cars to be Euro 6 standard - no more than five years old.
Older petrol-driven vehicles beyond Euro 4 - more than 14 years old - will also be hit by the ULEZ charge.
The final figure for the ULEZ levy is expected to be a similar amount to the congestion charge.
The hike in motoring costs would be on top of the congestion charge, pushing up the cost to at least £20 to drive into the capital's ultra-low emission zone.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that unless action is taken, London, Birmingham and Leeds would face dangerous levels of pollution from vehicle exhausts by 2030.
Diesel exhaust emissions are responsible for about a quarter of the 29,000 premature deaths caused by air pollution, according to experts from King's College London.
The number of diesel cars in Britain has grown to 11 million, nearly a four-fold increase since 2000, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
This was largely due to motorists switching to diesel because of greater fuel economy and lower road taxes.
But diesel engines also produce toxins including nitrogen dioxide and particulates, which irritates the lung lining and can cause respiratory disease.
The Labour Party has reportedly planned a countrywide network of low emission zones that would push older diesel cars out of city centres.
Oxford has already introduced a low emission zone for buses and could expand this for other vehicles.
London Mayor environment adviser Mathew Pencharz told The Times: "We want to see an unwinding of incentives that have driven people to diesel.
"Euro engine standards on emissions have not delivered the savings expected, meaning we now have a legacy of a generation of dirty diesels."
All of these initiatives are being driven by the need to meet tighter European regulations on clean air and avoid the threat of heavy fines for breaching them.


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Excessive dog barking is a real nuisance, but before you can address the problem you need to understand why your dog is barking. Remove the problem and he'll stop. It's as simple as that... well almost. Find out why dogs bark and discover 5 effective methods to stop barking dogs.
It's a fact of life - dogs bark!
Dog barking is a natural canine behavior. It's how they communicate and a bark can mean anything from 'Let's play!', 'I'm hungry', or 'I'm bored' to a warning of danger...'there's a burglar in the house!'.
Your Cocker Spaniel should be allowed to bark in order to communicate with you or to let you know of a potential danger. However, once your pet has 'made his point' the barking should stop.
Excessive barking shouldn't be tolerated for any reason and it's best if the problem is addressed quickly, before it becomes a habit.
If your dog's barking does become habitual it will be much more difficult to stop.
In many cases you can stop your dog's barking simply by removing what's upsetting him.
For example, your Cocker may be lonely, he may be able to hear intruders lurking outside, or the children may be teasing him.
Remove the problem and you'll likely stop your dog barking. for example:
Tired, well-fed and watered, contented Spaniels are happy Spaniels and happy Spaniels don't nuisance-bark!
In the above examples, it was the causes of the dog barking that needed to be addressed, not the barking itself.
However, where the cause can't be removed, you must find other ways to address it.
That's the reason you need to work out what's causing your dog to bark before you can begin to tackle the problem.
A dog barking for a prolonged period usually means that there's something wrong and he's trying to let you know.
If you can't work out why your dog is barking and you're confident he's not ill or injured it's possible that his barking has simply become a habit (as unsociable and annoying as it is) and he's barking simply for the sake of it.
Continued, incessant dog barking is excessive and unnecessary and is exactly the type of barking that we want to discourage, especially before it become a habit.
If your Cocker has developed this annoying habit, take a look at some of the methods below that you can use to help stop your dog barking.
As I mentioned earlier, different situations may require different ways to stop your dog barking. By understanding what's causing your Cocker Spaniel to bark will allow you to decide which is the most suitable method to use.
One of the best and easiest remedies is to teach your dog to bark and then teach him to stop. Yes, it does sound contradictory, doesn't it? But I promise you, it works.
Learn how to teach your pet to stop barking using this "Be Quiet" command. Although it's much easier to teach this command to a young puppy, it can also be taught to an older dog, however it may take slightly longer.
If you have a puppy with an excessive barking problem, and the above simply isn't working for you, you may find this article called 'How To Stop Your Puppy Barking' very useful to help you nip it in the bud.
Many of the methods used also work with adult Cocker Spaniels.
Sometimes our dogs bark at visitors, either because they're over-excited, or because they believe the visitor is a threat to his pack.
If your dog is barking at visitors, delivery men, garbage collectors, or the postman, I recommend you follow the link and try these training exercises.
Most Cocker Spaniels enjoy being outdoors, but unfortunately some turn into barking demons as soon as they're let into the garden.
Vocal pets can sometimes drive you (and your neighbors) to distraction, barking at everything from birds and rustling leaves, to their own bloomin' shadow!
'Barking Mad In The Garden' will help you to remedy this and in no time at all you and your neighbors will once again be able to enjoy the peace and quiet of your own yard...ah bliss!
There are many owners who recommend using a barking correction collar on their dogs, usually because all else has failed.
A correction collar is a device worn around the dog's neck which triggers a spray or a mild current each time your pet barks.
The aim is to teach him that each time he barks something unpleasant (but not harmful) will happen and this unpleasant experience will make him think twice about barking again, and eventually he will stop completely.
One of the down sides to a correction collar is that another dog's barking can set it off.
If you're on a tight budget, a simple and cheap alternative to the correction collar is a water spray. You can use an ordinary toy water pistol or garden spray bottle, simply fill it with water or water and lemon juice.
The problem with a spray that you activate is that he can only be 'punished' for barking when you're around; if he barks when you're not around he won't be sprayed which results in inconsistency, making this method slightly less effective.
The methods listed below follow a punishment based approach (and/or are a last resort) to prevent a dog barking.
I've known of, and seen, many owners employ these 'tactics', however, I believe that they're harsh and rather drastic. Judge for yourself.
Personally, I believe all of these methods to be a little over the top as they are too aggressive and I would never recommend any of them.
Apart from
being harsh (and in some cases, downright cruel!) they're also only short-term
'solutions' as they'll only work when you're near enough to your pet to give the 'correction'.
Wherever possible I recommend you stay away from the negative, punishment based approaches shown above and use positive, reward-based training methods instead.
Use punishment based training methods at your peril. If you do, you may end up creating other behavioral problems in your Cocker Spaniel, for example, biting or aggression, particularly towards the person giving the punishment - you.
"Reward based training is much more effective and kinder to your dog than negative, punishment based training."
Look at it this way.
When the postman or a delivery-man comes to the door, your dog is whacked for barking, whether it's with a newspaper or something thrown at him, and he feels pain each time. It won't be long before he begins to associate his pain with visitors to your home which could eventually make him aggressive towards all visitors as a result.
Our dogs learn by association.
If you're going to give your pet a (reward-based) correction you must 'catch him in the act' so that he understands why he's being corrected. I'm talking seconds here. Leave it too long and he won't make that connection.
Acknowledge your dog's bark (he's telling you that you have a visitor, say the postman) and then tell him to 'Be Quiet'. Let him see the treat in your hand and if he stops barking, reward him.
If you reward your pet the moment he stops barking, he'll soon learn that when the postman arrives it's treat time...the postman is no longer a threat. Learn more here.
Always acknowledge your Cocker Spaniel's barking.
Let him see that you understand what he's trying to tell you. For example, if he's barking at the door or the window, go and take a look. If there's nothing to be worried about tell him and lead him away.
If you've taught him the "Be Quiet" command, use that but add something like, 'it's okay', or 'we're safe'. Choose words you feel comfortable using and stick with them. Be consistent.
As you're reassuring your dog, take hold of his collar and gently guide him back to where you were sitting and give him a pat.
your dog's eyes, he's let you know that there was a potential problem and you (as
his pack leader) have investigated and have decided that there was no
danger. You have acknowledged his warning.
If you don't investigate the problem, his barking will continue, probably even louder, so ignore it at your peril!
If there's a possibility that your Cocker is simply barking for attention, you could be making matters worse by fussing over him when he barks. That's why it's necessary to understand the cause of our pet's barking so that we can use the correct solution.
If your Cocker Spaniel is often attention seeking, ask yourself whether or not you're spending enough time with him. Do you give him enough exercise? Do you play with him? Is he bored?
Your Spaniel needs at least an hour's walk and 15-20 minutes play each day to burn off energy; more if you have the time. Wear him out!
Reward him with your attention and praise only when he's quiet and well-behaved to encourage and reinforce good behavior.
Read more about attention seeking behavior in dogs and how to deal with it.
Do you shout at your dog to stop barking, throw your slipper at him, or grab his his collar?
If you do, in his eyes, that's attention. His barking worked. He got your attention and he's learning to do it each time he wants something from you.
The worse thing you can do to stop your dog barking is to shout at him, but as frustrated dog owners, this is sometimes exactly what we do!
To your pet, shouting simply sounds like you're barking too and in his eyes, you're either reinforcing his decision to bark in the first place or you're joining in the fun.
Shouting will only encourage him all the more, usually louder and with more determination!
If after trying some of the above methods you still haven't managed to stop your dog barking, I recommend you consult your vet.
If your vet gives him the all clear, then perhaps you should consider contacting a professional trainer, or animal behavioral therapist for advice?
They might suggest that your Cocker stays with them for a few days so they can monitor his behavior for themselves before deciding which is the most suitable therapy for your dog.
Alternatively, they may prefer to work directly with you and your pet to come up with a strategy to stop your dog barking. They'll help you to communicate better with your pet and work on his barking problem.
Either way, it's a win-win situation, don't you think?
Happy spaniels don't bark!
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All quotes by Frank Zappa
(54 quotes found)
"The language and concepts contained herein are guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business"
"Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something."
"Some people crave baseball - I find this unfathomable but I can easily understand why a person could get excited about playing a bassoon"
"No change in musical style will survive unless it is accompanied by a change in clothing style. Rock is to dress up to."
"People, wake up Figure it out Religious fanatics Around and about The Court House, The State House, The Congress, The White House Criminal saints With a "Heavenly Mission" - A nation enraptured By pure superstition"
"The manner in which Americans ''consume'' music has a lot to do with leaving it on their coffee tables, or using it as wallpaper for their lifestyles, like the score of a movie -it's consumed that way without any regard for how and why it's made."
"Do we really want to know how Michael Jackson makes his music? No. We want to understand why he needs the bones of the Elephant Man -- and, until he tells us, it doesn't make too much difference whether or not he really is ''bad.''"
"If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine- but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you've been bad or good- and cares about any of it- to han"
"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians."


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Chicago - The Chicago Blackhawks have activated forward Marian Hossa from injured reserve and placed forward Patrick Kane on injured reserve.
Hossa was sidelined by a lower-body injury that he suffered during a November 29 practice in a collision with teammate Nick Boynton.
The 31-year-old Hossa has collected eight goals and 10 assists in 21 games so far this season. He also missed seven games from late October through early November with an upper-body ailment.
Kane has not played since December 5 due to a lower-body injury. The 22-year- old has registered 11 goals and 27 points in 28 games this year.
The Blackhawks also recalled goaltender Hannu Toivonen from Rockford (AHL), where he was 5-5-3 with a 3.12 goals-against average in 16 appearances.


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La Maison Champs-Elysées consists of two buildings, one dating from the Second Empire under Napoleon III, the other built more recently. Maison Martin Margiela, appointed after winning the competition to design the historical part of the building, has re-thought this space to create hotel suites, a restaurant, a smoking room, a bar and a reception area. In designing this project Maison Martin Margiela aimed for continuity in relation to its own artistic history by offering a place where contrasts harmonize that are further tinged with surrealism.
La Maison Champs-Elysées, Paris, by Maison Martin Margiela


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This 2 disc compilation is the first collection that covers nearly his entire career from his time with Elf, through Rainbow, through Black Sabbath, through Dio (band) to his last days with Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath). Rhino's decent 2 Disc "Stand Up And Shout: The Anthology" stopped short at his final Warner Brothers LP ("Strange Highways) but is a better overall (but still flawed) set since there's some glaring omissions on "Mightier Than The Sword" that were logically included on the Rhino set ("The Last In Line" being the most shocking). Only those not familiar with all the albums Dio was involved with will be pleased with this sampler. It does give a more comprehensive portrait of the man's career but it simply is not possible to fit all the essential tracks from Elf to H & H on two discs (not even three could cut it). It earns a point for including one track from his guest work on Roger Glover's "The Butterfly Ball & The Grasshopper's Feast" ("Love Is All") , which was ignored by the Rhino set but loses more points for omitting the most popular Rainbow track ("The Man On The Silver Mountain") and some essential Dio band tracks ("Stand Up And Shout", "The Last In Line", "Hungry For Heaven", "Dream Evil", "Lock Up The Wolves", etc.. Now, being that there was limited space only the absence of "The Last In Line" is completely unforgivable. They chose only "We Rock" from the "The Last In Line" album instead but since the disc clocks in at only 69+ minutes space was left for atleast one more track and "The Last In Line" is a no brainer!)
Elf was not a metal band but a boogie-woogie blues rock band so not much is needed despite three full albums being recorded by the group. It's not who Dio became and not what made him famous. Only "Carolina Country Ball" from the LP of the same name represents Elf of the 27 tracks offered here. After The Glover track that follows comes the Rainbow years- represented by a surprising 8 tracks. While the great "Stargazer", "Catch The Rainbow" & "Run With The Wolf" are here where is "The Man On The Silver Mountain" for crying out loud?!
The first two Black Sabbath stint is represented by six tracks ("Heaven & Hell", "The Mob Rules", "Children Of The Sea", "Voodoo", "Die Young" & "Country Girl"). This is acceptable even though "Die Young" & "Country Girl" could have been replaced with "The Sign Of The Southern Cross" & "Turn Up The Night" and made it slightly better. There's nothing from the infamous "Live Evil" set but "Neon Nights" appears later being the live version from Heaven & Hell's 2007 tour and subsequent album/DVD "Live From The Radio City Music Hall".
Next up is the Dio band years. Not including the weak live EP "Intermission" Ronnie's namesake band released five albums before Ronnie rejoined Black Sabbath. Those five Dio albums are represented by a paltry five tracks. Two from "Holy Diver" (title track, "Rainbow In The Dark"). one from "The Last In Line" ("We Rock"), one from "Sacred Heart" ("Rock And Roll Children"), one from "Dream Evil" ("All The Fools Sailed Away") and nothing from "Lock Up The Wolves". Now while all five of these tracks belong here more tracks from these albums should have been chosen in place of too many Rainbow tracks (based on the premise something would have to be cut to make room).
The Black Sabbath reunion LP "Dehumanizer" is represented by "I" (not a bad choice even though "Computer God" is better) and then three more Dio band albums are completely ignored (yep, nothing at all from "Strange Highways", "Angry Machines" & "Magica") as the collection jumps to 2002's "Push" from the album "Killing The Dragon" followed by "One More For The Road" from the LP "Master Of The Moon". While these were the logical choices for the "KTD" & MOTM" albums "Magica" deserved at least one track here (such as "Fever Dreams") instead of "Shadow Of The Wind", one of three tracks recorded by H&H for the "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years" compilation. Then comes the aforementioned live "Neon Knights", the penultimate track before we get to the fantastic final cut, "Bible Black". It was the best pick from an overall great album by Heaven & Hell, entitled "The Devil You Know" in 2009- one year prior to Ronnie James Dio's death.
The first lesson is that you shouldn't try to cram onto two discs a career that consisted of over 20 studio albums, many live albums and guest appearances. The second is that if you're gonna try find someone hip who will narrow it down to the bare essentials. Sometimes they got it right ("Stargazer", "Heaven & Hell", "The Mob Rules", "Holy Diver", "Rock And Roll Children", "Push" & "Bible Black) and often they got it wrong (leaving off "Man On The Silver Mountain", having too many Rainbow tracks, the omission of "The Last In Line", "Hungry For Heaven" and nothing at all from four Dio albums: "Lock Up The Wolves", "Strange Highways", "Angry Machines" & "Magica").
All in all. Another incomplete "best of" comp that will have a short shelf life until someone does it right with a four disc box set.


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Suction Vacuums
- best value
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The Suction Vacuum is the high-performance suction pool cleaning robot that cleans faster and more aggressively than any cleaner in its class. It utilizes Cyclonic Suction technology to capture maximum debris while maintaining cleaning power. They scrub your pool walls and floor, dislodging stubborn dirt particles with its rows of little rubber scrubbers. Next, it instantly vacuums away the debris and sends it to your pools filtration system, where it belongs. No more time wasted battling a filthy pool.


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" Manufacturer: Husqvarna / Product Type: Hedge Trimmers / Fuel Type: Petrol "
"Combining superior ergonomics with solid build-quality and excellent cutting-performance, the Husqvarna 123HD-65X excels at lighter-duty commercial hedge-trimming applications. Its 60cm double-sided, dual-reciprocating blades ensure a fast work-rate; while its rotating rear-handle makes it possible to tackle the sides and tops of hedges with ease. This lightweight machine (it weighs just 5.2kg) also features Husqvarnaâs LowVib technology, whereby a series of shock mounts serve to keep vibration levels to an absolute minimum. Power comes from a 22.5hp two-stroke engine with Smart Start and a fuel pump for dependable starting with minimal effort."


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" Brand: Singer "
My lot are all very weird sizes. OK mainly one child in particular.
My step daughter isn't fat.... far from it. She has a few problems. Anyway, store bought clothes wise, we have to buy her age 12 clothes, but she's got short legs and I always have to shorten them 3 - 4 inches then they look daft etc so I just make her clothes now as I can tailor them.
One of the most intricate things to need to do when tailoring clothes is button holing. I hate button holing. Well I used too.
Memories of being 7 and my Nan sitting me in-front of her Janome and using the setting was daunting... it also wasn't always foolproof.
When I got lucky on Ebay a couple of years back with a Singer 185k lowshank straight stitch, a friend of mine dragged me through ebay for the attachments (which I am now only missing one lol) and the best, and my most favouritest (is that a word?) attachment EVER is the Singer buttonholer.
I simply open a plate, slip in a template... attach to the machine, put on the thought plate cover, thread and within 30 seconds..... a professional strong buttonhole is sewn just waiting to have the centre opened up.
I have used mine so many times now its silly. I just completed a pattern for a school skirt for my step daughter that specifically needed 2 button holes in the front.
Addicted? Yeah I need Singers anonymous desperately now....
The attachment cost me around $30 including postage to the UK.... if you see more templates... let me know!!!
So there I am, happily sewing straight seam, after straight seam. At long last, I hold the garment up, and look satisfied at the garment I have all but finished. The shirt collar is perfect, the sleeves set in just so, the cuffs straight, the hems even, and all the seams pressed flat beautifully. The pocket is on straight and the top stitching detail spot on. Now if I could just button it! But buttoning a shirt requires two things. One is a set of buttons. The second thing is buttonholes. Sure, I could mark the buttonhole spaces with chalk, and then spend ages doing hand worked buttonholes, agonising over every small hand stitch lest it spoil the look of my otherwise beautiful garment. Or I could take my straight stitch sewing machine, remove the foot, and attach one of these beauties and be done with the whole affair in under 10 minutes, including the time to hand sew on a few buttons!
Being a sensible sort, I of course elect to use the gadget. And what a gadget it is too. Simply by placing this in where a sewing foot normally goes (after changing the sole plate as well so the feed dogs won't move the fabric), and popping in a cam that corresponds to the size of the button I wish to use, I can simply start up my straight stitch machine and have professional looking buttonholes zigzag their way into existence without further ado from myself. Yep, zigzag. Like the zigzag attachment that does the fancy stitch work, this gizmo, which upon close inspection is VERY similar in design, follows the shape of the cam and moves the fabric along, going back and forth to make small zigzags that overlap each other to make a buttonhole. Once sewn, you simply use sharp embroidery scissors or a seam ripper, and cut the fabric within the stitched buttonhole opening.
Knowing where to place the fabric so that the buttonholer makes the buttonhole in just the right place is also very simple. You simply use tailor's chalk to mark where you want the buttonholes, in the same height or width (depending on which way up or across you want the buttonhole) as teh proposed hole, and turn the fabric so that the lines are vertical to you. Pull a little ratchet handle on the right so that the "foot" part of the attachment is at its closest position to you. Now line up the top of a buttonhole chalk mark with the second row from the top lines painted within the "foot", lower the presser foot, and start the machine. It does all the rest.
Selecting the correct cam is dead easy too. The size of the openings are marked on the back of the cams, so you simply match that up with the size of your button.The cams that come supplied are for flat round buttons, but you can buy additional cams that were sold as accessories for it. These will make small round holes (stitched eyelets) for rounded pearl type buttons and lacings, as well as keyhole shapes for a designer look and which are fantastic for toggles on duffle style coats.
Caring for the buttonholer is pretty easy too. Like all mechanical gadgets, it does need looking after, so you cannot simply use it and toss it aside til later without performing the occasional light piece of maintenance. It is the simplest sort of maintenance and nothing to be frightened of at all. Simply check it over for lint and dust, and oil it in the areas pointed to in the booklet to keep the mechanical bits moving freely, and all shall be well. If you sew a lot as I now do, you will want to oil it once a month, and I do this with the indicated sewing machine oil on the same day I oil my sewing machine. Also be careful to never put it away without a cam inside it so that its innards don't get rattled about and inadvertently damaged, and it is best to always keep it and its cams in its provided box or case. Some are in cardboard boxes, and others come in plastic snap closing heavy duty plastic cases of varying designs according to actual manufacture date and which range of machine they were offering it with. Earlier versions will be in a cardboard box, later ones in snap fastening cases, and even later ones in cases that are space age in design with a distinct Jetsons feel.
These were made between the 1940's and the mid to late 1960's, whereupon machines generally came with built in buttonholers, so you will have to look for one via the second hand market. They produce a much nicer buttonhole with a particularly fine hand finished look seen on the professionally tailored clothes, so are still in popular demand by persons with such low shank modernish machines who are in the know. So while you might be lucky and pick up one for under £5, be prepared to spend up to £20 plus another £12 for shipping from abroad, as the demand for these means it is more likely to be obtained where there are more readily available, and that would be in the US and Canada. More people, so more machines; more machines, so more accessories and attachments still floating about! EBay is one such place to look, but another good bet, and one that will ensure a fair, set cost with a working and undamaged model, would be online shops that specialise in vintage sewing machines and accessories, such as the Singer Featherweight site operated here in the UK by expert Graham Forsdyke (http://www.singer-featherweight.com/), Vintage Singer Sewing (http://www.vintagesingersewing.com/catalog/), and others. Despite their age, they perform as perfectly as the day they were made as long as cared for, thanks to their exceptionally fine design, and will help you get just the right finishing touches you need on the project you are finishing.


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Kukla's Korner Hockey
Sabres Knocking On The Door
by Paul on 09/26/06 at 05:11 PM ET
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The Sabres will once again finish a season without one of the top snipers in the league at the conclusion of the 2006-07 campaign, but that doesn't mean this team won't be successful. Like last year, expect this team to have balanced scoring up and down the lineup, with a new hero emerging almost every night.... The health of two key players, Tim Connolly and Teppo Numminen, may also be a concern during the year. Connolly (16 G, 39 A in 63 games) is still not fully recovered from a concussion he suffered last season and Numminen underwent off-season surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat. If either or both of these players can't aren't ready for the 2006-07 season, the Sabres may have to unload Biron to bring back a replacement or replacements. Where they'll finish Division: First Conference: Secondmore
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4K, 3-D, 2 companies, 1 cinema experience
While it's still making inroads for moviegoers, 4K resolution seems to be the display tech of the future. At around 4096 x 2048, 4K digital cinema has four times the resolution of 1080p high-def video. Many filmmakers are filming their movies in 4K, and 4K digital projectors are (very) slowly creeping into theaters across the country.
Two-character number/letter combinations never before seemed to destined to combine forces, though not perhaps in the way you might think.
Sony is working with RealD to produce a complete projection system that displays 3-D movies in high-def. With a single Sony 4K digital projector, a 3-D dual lens adapter, optical filters, and a lot of clever programming, the two companies hope to create a single device that can put 3-D images on the silver screen at high-def resolution.
Instead of displaying a single 4K picture, the projection system would produce two 2K (high definition) pictures that would be displayed simultaneously on the same screen. Filtered glasses would separate that picture into two, giving the audience a 3-D experience.
A 4K 3-D experience is certainly possible form a technical perspective, but until 8K projectors become readily available and the same technology can be used, the picture would have to be made with two different carefully aligned and filtered 4K projectors. Since 4K digital projectors are currently so expensive and new that they're only available in a handful of theaters, the odds of seeing two pointed at a single screen at a cineplex near you are pretty slim.
Sony and RealD hope to have this system ready to ship in March. Don't expect to see it in homes any time soon, though; considering regular 4K digital cinema projectors start in the low hundred-thousands, 3-D will probably remain strictly in the realm of high-end movie theaters.
— Will Greenwald
Source [via EngadgetHD]


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A woman who barely survived a domestic assault that disfigured and nearly decapitated her has a new face, thanks to an organization and doctor who voluntarily performed reconstructive surgery.
Ilianexy Morales was attacked by her then 38-year-old boyfriend in her New York City home six days after she broke up with him in 2005.
Using a butcher knife, he stabbed Morales more than 100 times, nearly decapitating her.
She was 23 at the time.
"Suddenly he just took a knife from his sock and... he started attacking me, all I could do was scream for help," Morales told NBC 4 New York.
Morales was put in a medically induced coma for two months and underwent several surgical procedures. Afterwards, she was in shock and denial.
"When I actually saw myself in the mirror, it was really shocking to me, really shocking and sad," Morales said.
A friend referred her to Face to Face, an organization in Virginia that donates medical services to those in dire situations who don't have the resources to afford intensive plastic surgery.
New York facial and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Andrew Jacono voluntarily performed flap surgery on Morales in an effort to remove the scars from her ex-boyfriend's knife.
Jacono used the healthy, non-scarred skin on Morales's face to replace severely damaged skin from the stab wounds. The six-hour surgery helped remove the appearance of deep wounds on her face and neck.
"I think that she probably had between 70 and 80 percent better scarring," Jacono said.
Morales said the surgery Jacono performed dramatically changed her life.
"It was like being born again. Before, I wasn't able to face people. I would hide and stay home and tried to avoid people as much as I can," Morales said.
Morales is now working as a makeup artist while her ex-boyfriend is serving a 15-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon. She hopes anyone in a potentially violent domestic situation will learn from her experience and speak up before he or she gets hurt.
"My advice would be that domestic violence can be in many shapes," Morales said. "You are not alone, you just have to look for the help."


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Posted by ESC on April 23, 2001
In Reply to: "Draw a blank" posted by R. Berg on April 23, 2001
: : Does anyone know of any theoris on the origin of the phrase "to draw a blank"?
: Among the Oxford English Dictionary's definitions of "blank" as a noun is "A lottery ticket which does not gain a prize." The OED gives quotations beginning in the year 1567 to illustrate that sense, and the last one (year 1824) is from Washington Irving: "When one has drawn a blank."
TO DRAW A BLANK - "To search hard but fail to find out about something. The reference is to the losing ticket in a lottery in which people buy numbered tickets to win prizes; a blank ticket wins nothing. The expression dates back to the late 19th century." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)
I used it to mean the old mental computer can't crank up and retrieve a name or other fact.
See also - the meaning and origin of Draw a blank.


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FBI names new special agent in charge of Buffalo office
The next head of the FBI in Buffalo will be an agent with a background in cyber threat investigations.
Brian P. Boetig. former director of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, was named today as Special Agent in Charge of the FBI office in Buffalo.
Boetig, who began his career with the FBI in 1998, most recently served at the federal center that serves as multi-agency coordinator for cyber threat investigations.
He also has worked for the Joint Terrorism Task Force, as an instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia and as an FBI Counterterrorism Division Liaison Officer to the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center.
Before joining the FBI, Boetig worked as a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and as a police officer in Auburn, Alabama.
He replaces Christopher Piehota, who left Buffalo in April to become director of the Terrorist Screening Center in Washington D.C.


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- Waterproof, windproof, breathable GORE-TEX® fabric lining
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Rugged yet lightweight, waterproof, breathable, and warm. When it comes to protection from the elements nothing works better than GORE-TEX® fabric outerwear from Blauer. The first duty jacket with GORE-TEX is still the best there is. Ask any officer or soldier who owns one. Blauer GORE-TEX duty jackets breath like no others, keep officers warm and dry, and seem to last forever. Blauer and Gore are the best combination in the duty uniform jacket business. There are countless Gore-Tex duty jackets still in the field every day that we built in the 80's. Buy once, buy right, buy GORE-TEX for the best value in uniform outerwear.
Our ripstop nylon shell is specially back-coated with a patented breathable polymer that gives the shell wrinkle resistance and improves durability while allowing moisture vapor and sweat to escape through it. We often demonstrate its capacity to breath by forcing steam from a handheld steamer through all of the layers of the jacket, including the insulated lining.
The GORE-TEX Cruiser Jacket was one of the fist ever duty jackets designed with a drop shoulder, even before the first tactical jacket was ever designed. This Blauer innovation to police outerwear moved the shoulder seam off the shoulder slightly and allows the arms to rise up without the waist of the jacket climbing up the back. Blauer duty jackets are fully cut and allow for a little extra sleeve length and two piece sleeves to shape the arm for driving comfort. This Cruiser Jacket comes with a removable B.WARM insulated liner for all-season versatility.ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
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- 241/2" long
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To arrange an interview, please contact the NHLBI Communications Office at 301-496-4236 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
David A. Lathrop Ph.D.
David A. Lathrop, Ph.D., joined the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1997. Since 2003, he has been the Leader of the Arrhythmias, Ischemia, and Sudden Cardiac Death Science Research Group in the Institute's Division of Cardiovascular Diseases.
Dr. Lathrop earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Medical Physiology from Indiana University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. He subsequently performed postdoctoral fellowships in Cardiology at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology in Indianapolis, the University of Chicago, and the University of Cincinnati. After completing his fellowship with the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Lathrop maintained joint appointments there in the departments of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics. In 1990, he became professor of Medical Physiology at the University of Tromso in Norway. When Dr. Lathrop joined NHLBI in 1997, he also maintained an adjunct professorship in Pharmacology at Georgetown University, a position he continued until 2002. From 2001 to 2002, he served as Acting Leader, Bioengineering and Genomic Applications Science Research Group, in the Clinical and Molecular Medicine Program, Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases, NHLBI, and from 2001 to 2003 Dr. Lathrop served as Assistant Director of the Clinical and Molecular Medicine Program.
Dr. Lathrop has published over 85 articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of both the American Heart Association and the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society.
Lathrop In the News
Boston Scientific Corporation entered into an agreement to acquire privately-held Rhythmia Medical, Inc., a developer of next-generation mapping and navigation tools to better detect and treat abnormal heart beats, or cardiac arrhythmias. Rhythmia Medical, Inc. developed this innovative technology that measures the heart's electrical activity with support from a small business innovative research grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
"The study provides us with more insight about how both genders of heart failure patients may be impacted by the obesity paradox," noted senior author Dr. Tamara Horwich, an assistant professor of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He added, "Heart failure may prove to be one of the few health conditions where extra weight may prove to be protective."


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February 12, 2014
The Mabton City Council reviews documents before awarding a contract for construction of a new wastewater plant. Pictured from left are Mayor Mario Martinez, Councilwoman Oping Hutson and Councilwoman Vera Zavala.
Stories this photo appears in:
Kennewick firm lands contract to build new wastewater facility
The Mabton City Council took an important step forward last night when it awarded a contract to construct a new wastewater treatment plant.
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