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User talk:The Doctor
From Countdown
It is Currently Sunday, 6 December 2020.
F**ked up beyond all repair/recognition- basically the knock-out table bore no relation to the actual finals as they took place (indeed, it had Allan Saldanha beating Harvey Freeman in the semi-final) and had seedings, where series 33 didn't. Best to rip it out and start again. Nebagram 22:11, 17 May 2010 (BST)
Series 62
Your comment about Nikki being told she's in the finals makes more sense today than yesterday. However, some other contestants were also told when they'd finished their run that they were on the leaderboard at a place one position higher than they should be. One was Peter; another, I believe, was Claudia. So for consistency, either include them all, or none of them. I understand that the reason for these errors was that the leaderboard being maintained by the production team had inadvertently omitted one name. In any case, it's only relevant until the final lineup is known.--Drawoh 22:50, 18 May 2010 (BST)
My reason for reverting your recent edit, twice, is that one of the contestants, Jon Corby, was from Series 54.--Drawoh 21:23, 1 June 2010 (BST)
My Dream Series
Lewis Hamilton v Jenson Button :-D Matt Smith 5 jun 2010, 1217 bst
- The conundrum you used in Round 14 of Episode F6 was a plural. Just sayin. JohnnyCanuck 14:50, 12 June 2010 (BST)
- I watch F1 occasionally, eh, but I'm more a fan of American game shows, eh. Sadly, we don't get Countdown over in the Great White North, eh? JohnnyCanuck 22:18, 12 June 2010 (BST)
- You spelled VUVUZELA wrong.
Felipe versus Heikki or Jenson? The Doctor
Will there be another? Supply and demand. The Doctor 16:55, 12 July 2010 (BST)
I'd love to see another F1 series (I'm kind of nostalgic for Richard and the 9 round format these days), but bring back Carol and Rachel. I want more good storylines with them. Huff FTW! JohnnyCanuck 15:10, 13 July 2010 (BST)
FTW = For The Win JohnnyCanuck 15:48, 13 July 2010 (BST) (Also, maybe you should make a new page for each series, like this: User:The Doctor/Formula Series 2. If you keep going with these episodes, the old one will get way too long.)
In Episode F43, for the benefit of the show's viewers, you might want to make Round 8 easier. I've been trying to come up with the target in my spare time for three days and have no idea how to get it. JohnnyCanuck 19:04, 7 August 2010 (BST)
Could you do a Series Formula Championship of Champions I?--The Countdown Man 19:00, 11 August 2010 (BST)
- Yeah, sure! The Doctor 19:01, 11 August 2010 (BST)
Episode 5058
If you're going to do recaps of certain episodes, there are two things you need to know.
1. I sort out ALL recaps (with the exception of Mondays), so you're not required to do them! 2. If you're going to make a botched-up version of it, at least have the decency to do it all correctly in future! JRTerrier24 18:44, 11 June 2010 (BST)
Clive Freedman
I've undone your attempt at changing the Clive Freedman's page name for a couple of reasons.
- The convention for contestants with duplicate names is to qualify them by the series in which they started their run, even though it may spill over to a second series. There is no advantage in having 6 & 7 in the page title, as it's never seen, other than in the category lists.
- Putting such characters as & in a page title have very unfortunate consequences, one of which results in the page in question not being able to be accessed at times.
BTW, if you do a move again, as you did with Ben Cooke earlier in the week, there's a lot more to be done than just moving the page and creating a disambiguation page. All the pages which refer to the page which as been moved have themselves to be edited. In the case of the Ben Cooke page which you moved, there were 19 references elsewhere in the wiki which needed amending.--Drawoh 19:37, 7 July 2010 (BST)
- No worries. Series 30 references to Ben Cooke have been fixed now. :) --Drawoh 19:25, 8 July 2010 (BST)
Signing your messages
I notice you have been manually signing your messages. Well, you don't need to do that, it is a lot of work. There is a button at the top of the window (where the bold, italic etc. buttons are) which does it automatically for you. You will find this 2nd from the right in the row of buttons. --Vande 17:01, 9 July 2010 (BST)
- You mean like this?--The Doctor 17:20, 9 July 2010 (BST)
- Hooray. It DID IT!!!!!--The Doctor 17:20, 9 July 2010 (BST)
- Glad to be of help ;-) --Vande 17:23, 9 July 2010 (BST)
Episode 2636
Doctor, in round 8, C1 explained that he had a method which used all the numbers. Basically what he did was:
- 8 - 7 = 1
- 2 - 1 = 1
and then he multiplied it by the (5 x 100) + 8, because that still made the right answer.
Hope that clears things up. :) JRTerrier24 16:33, 11 July 2010 (BST)
Featured Articles
Hello Crispy,
Could you give us some notification if there will be another featured article for august. As you will see on Countdown:Featured articles, I have made a few more proposals, going on the basis that they have the same amount of detail as
Harvey Freeman, who went on to become an FA. I'm not going to start nagging about Scott Mearns, but I really do think he should be in there for August. Anyway, back to the point, and could you please tell us whether the will be another Featured Article for August 2010. Please. Please.
Yours Faithfully,
The Doctor 12:09, 12 July 2010 (BST)
- Try and avoid making such a mess around here, Doctor! ;-) I'd suggest the article for Scott Mearns has all of the content prerequisite for a featured article, but is let down by the general tone in places - i.e., it doesn't quite feel encyclopaedic. That said, there will definitely be a new FA for August, for which I will make preparations nearer the end of the month. I normally give articles a little proofread and a tidy during this process, but if you want to you are welcome to have a go at 'beefing it up' yourself.
- As an example, I can see immediately that the introductory paragraph needs extending. It needs to be longer than the Twitter-esque summary that it is at the moment, but not so long that it contains every fact from the body of the article. For a good example of the ideal length in my opinion, see the article for Stewart Holden.
- I hope this helps! Best wishes, Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 11:52, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- Where in the page? The Doctor 16:40, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- Oh, thanks truly. I am doing a "rewrite" "write" now (to use a Richard Whiteley style joke.) The Doctor 12:02, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- OH, DAMN IT! I was giving him a rewrite then I accidentally pressed Delete. [cries] The Doctor 12:12, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- OK, Chris, I've given him a rewrite. By the way, I added a totally Scott Mearns-unrealted comment on the featured articles page. Ryan Taylor, anyone? The Doctor 10:00, 15 July 2010 (BST)
- That's looking a lot better. I'll give it a once over myself as a second pair of eyes shortly before it goes up. Thanks for your hard work! Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 15:31, 17 July 2010 (BST)
- OK, Chris, I've given him a rewrite. By the way, I added a totally Scott Mearns-unrealted comment on the featured articles page. Ryan Taylor, anyone? The Doctor 10:00, 15 July 2010 (BST)
- OH, DAMN IT! I was giving him a rewrite then I accidentally pressed Delete. [cries] The Doctor 12:12, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- Oh, thanks truly. I am doing a "rewrite" "write" now (to use a Richard Whiteley style joke.) The Doctor 12:02, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- Where in the page? The Doctor 16:40, 13 July 2010 (BST)
Dear Doctor,
Just in case you miss my request in the original edit summary, please see and respond to my message to you on Talk:JOLT.
Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 12:53, 13 July 2010 (BST)
12 round format
I only put this in because all the other formats have their own page. I thought it would be best to make up the set. The Doctor 13:44, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- That's fair enough, but I feel that just because there is a gap it doesn't mean it needs filling. As they say, a composition is not about the notes you use but rather the notes you leave out. I'll leave the page for a few days as I am happy to listen if anyone has a particularly strong reason for it to remain. Please don't take my actions on the wiki this afternoon as negative, by the way - your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated. I just have to keep an eye on things like consistency with other pages which are easily forgotten when you're passionately writing away. :-)
- Regards,
- Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 16:47, 13 July 2010 (BST)
Numerical redirects
OK, this one's beyond me... what's with the seed order numerical redirects for Series 2 finalists e.g., Ash Haji (7)? -- Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 18:50, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- I believe he's done this because in series 2 there were 16 seeds rather than the usual 8. So the Coc-progress template has been used, as the finals progress template only allows up to 8 seeds. The finals template adds seed number, whereas the Coc does not. A better way, IMO, would have been (to ask someone) to produce a finals-progress template which allows for 16 seeds.--Drawoh 19:45, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- Unless I am misunderstanding, there is one under the Progress heading. I am just not sure why the seed numbers need to be appended to each seed's name and this link redirected to their article. Heck, even if that form was preferred it would be much simpler just to have [[Ash Haji|Ash Haji (7)]] which avoids having sixteen redundant redirects. (I am ignoring the fact that the seed numbers are never wikilinked anyway!) Am I just missing something? -- Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 22:58, 13 July 2010 (BST)
- Ok Doctor, here's an alternative. I've replaced "Russell Byers" with "Russell Byers{{!!}}Russell Byers (1)", and all seems to work perfectly, without any need for the numerical redirects. I've only done him. You can do the other 15 if you like, and then delete the 16 redirects. I'll do them later if you prefer.--Drawoh 09:29, 14 July 2010 (BST)
- Fixed. :) --Drawoh 12:35, 14 July 2010 (BST)
- Ok Doctor, here's an alternative. I've replaced "Russell Byers" with "Russell Byers{{!!}}Russell Byers (1)", and all seems to work perfectly, without any need for the numerical redirects. I've only done him. You can do the other 15 if you like, and then delete the 16 redirects. I'll do them later if you prefer.--Drawoh 09:29, 14 July 2010 (BST)
- Unless I am misunderstanding, there is one under the Progress heading. I am just not sure why the seed numbers need to be appended to each seed's name and this link redirected to their article. Heck, even if that form was preferred it would be much simpler just to have [[Ash Haji|Ash Haji (7)]] which avoids having sixteen redundant redirects. (I am ignoring the fact that the seed numbers are never wikilinked anyway!) Am I just missing something? -- Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 22:58, 13 July 2010 (BST)
Countdown Wii Game
http://www.apterous.org is the only sensible answer to your query there. Nebagram 15:15, 14 July 2010 (BST)
Supreme Championship II
Not bad, although if Series 64 and 65 are included you may have to wait another year to make the championship. Maybe the Series 63, 64 and 65 champions should be replaced with Natascha Kearsey, Paul Gallen and Steve Briers seeing as they won CoCs but not regular series. JohnnyCanuck 12:46, 15 July 2010 (BST)
- Also, I made up a 16-round format that you might want to use: LNCLLLNCLLLNCLNC.
I've done my best to correct the aspect ratio of the photo of Julie Russell. It's probably not a perfect job as it is a crop of the original freeze-frame and hence not exactly 16:9/4:3. However, it's a lot better than it was. -- Chris 'Crispy' Philpot 15:39, 17 July 2010 (BST)
Episodes category
Hi Doctor. I know that you've seen what I've done to create an alternative letters template to prevent non-broadcastable episodes from being included in the Episodes with round details category. And what you tried out is exactly the right thing to do. So can you now change each of the R-letters templates to Rx-letters in all of your fantasy games. You'll know when you've picked all the lines, as the Episodes with round details category will no longer be generated for the page. Many thanks. If you prefer, I can do it for you. :) --Drawoh 17:32, 20 July 2010 (BST)
- Yep. Could you do it for me, btw i have them on my watchlists so you will not get away with anything... and could you please do one for nums and cons. The Doctor 17:38, 20 July 2010 (BST)
Episode 5085
If you're going to do episodes, at least have the decency to do them correctly, please. I found no fewer than 5 mistakes on your copy of this episode. JRTerrier24 18:53, 20 July 2010 (BST)
- Well, I tried. Still, could be worse. The Doctor 09:19, 21 July 2010 (BST)
Password Problem
Yes, I think that's sorted --The Countdown Man 13:52, 22 July 2010 (BST)
I'll shut up then....
Goodbye, until further notice. :-C The Doctor 17:41, 13 August 2010 (BST)
Hi, do you see a "Show preview" button next to the "Save page" button when editing a page? It would be helpful if you would use it, especially when it takes a few attempts to get something right as you were trying to do on Championship of Champions X. -- smjg 11:28, 28 August 2010 (BST)
- Yes, I did use it, but I stopped when I ran out of time. The Doctor 11:42, 28 August 2010 (BST)
Episode 2694
Hi, what you've given as John's solution in round 4 makes no sense. Could you please check what you intended to write? -- smjg 02:26, 8 September 2010 (BST)
Episode 2701
Hi, I noticed that you removed the erroneous Category:Recaps with missing or incomplete Teatime Teasers from this article. If you're going to do this, it would be to the point to check for other erroneous categories. For example, the format (9-round, 15-round, etc.) category was wrong, and indeed this triggered my recap tidier program to add the missing TTT category. Just something to note for the future. -- smjg 01:45, 30 September 2010 (BST)
Episode 1621
You've lost me somewhat. Firstly, what is the source of the scan you cited in the edit summary? Secondly, while I'm a little confused by the format of the letters round details, it seems that it should at least enable one to begin putting the round details into the page, but you seem to be claiming otherwise. (OK, I haven't done it either, but when I've a bit more time....) Thirdly, have you evidence that whoever wrote that sheet did a thorough search to make sure no better words were possible? Fourthly, it isn't clear why you reverted the other tweaks I made besides removing that sentence. -- smjg 18:13, 7 October 2010 (BST)
- To answer your questions, Mike Brown, They're booking them on the forum, Yes, Sorry. The Doctor 18:25, 7 October 2010 (BST)
Contributing so much
Doctor, you're always looking for new things to do on here, so much so that other people are becoming rather redundant as you step into their breeches. Well, I have an idea - I reckon you should start taking a screen capture of every single contestant on the show from 4OD and submitting it to their page, and not only that, you should also add their occupation and location and any other trivia you see as interesting. That should keep you busy! I look forward to looking at all this - good luck!! --Vande 16:24, 14 October 2010 (BST)
- I'm not really interested in pictures, though, and the wiki is for anybody to edit, right? The Doctor 17:15, 14 October 2010 (BST)
Nice work on making the Masters winners link properly - I couldn't figure out a way of doing that when I did those tables ages ago! --Vande 13:45, 20 October 2010 (BST)
- Simple really, I inputed M1{{!!}}Masters Series 1 and then made a redirect. Simples. The Doctor 13:50, 20 October 2010 (BST)
Dr Phil Hammond picture
Rhys, slight problem with this: Image:GOTD Dr phil hammond.jpg. It needs to be this: Image:GOTD dr phil hammond.jpg.
Hope you can sort that. :D JRTerrier24 15:51, 26 October 2010 (BST)
Oh Poo. The Doctor 16:15, 26 October 2010 (BST)
It's uploaded but not appearing here. The Doctor 18:49, 27 October 2010 (BST)


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Olympic Figure Skater Teaches Seminar
September 28, 2011 | Lynchburg, VA
Olympic figure skating silver medalist Paul Wylie taught a skating seminar Saturday, Sept. 25 at Liberty University's LaHaye Ice Center. Members of Liberty's synchronized skating team, LU Radiance, and members of several figure skating clubs from Virginia and North Carolina attended the seminar.
"It was an exciting invitation to teach a seminar at Liberty. I felt like I could really teach about my perspective on skating as a gift from God, and to inspire this group of skaters to seek to use their gifts to glorify God, and not just to win a medal," Wylie said.
LU Radiance coach Tatiana Gomez, assistant coach Dawn Harter and freestyle skating coach Megan Rollins organized the seminar. LU Radiance and Liberty's singles skating team were sponsors.
Gomez said she thought the seminar was very helpful to all the participants because of Wylie's coaching skills and impeccable technique.
"The best part about it is he's not just any champion, but also a Christian," Gomez said.
Wylie won the men's figure skating silver medal at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. According to Wylie, the win was a surprise to everyone, including himself. He made the Olympic team by one-tenth of a point, and had some poor performances just before the Olympics. He said that while preparing for the competition, he was very focused on the story of Gideon.
"That was kind of how I felt, a little outnumbered, a little weak, and God was really strong in the midst of that. I trained hard, sure, but I really sensed just the amazing supernatural preparation that I could never have accounted for on my own strength," Wylie said.
Since winning a medal at the Olympics, Wylie's career has included coaching and teaching. He is currently working with Respect in Sport, a Canadian certification program to help prevent the maltreatment of young athletes.
This was Wylie's first visit to Liberty University, and he was able to attend the men's hockey game against Niagara University on Friday night.
"I'd never been to Liberty, so it was a great experience. It's really big, and it seemed like everybody was having a lot of fun," he said. "I'm impressed with the facilities and definitely with sort of the demeanor of everybody. It's neat to see a place where you know that the commitment of the student body is so strong for Christ."
Wylie was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in January 2008. He was also the winner of the 1992 U.S. Open Professional Championship and the 1992 World Professional Figure Skating Championship. He graduated from Harvard in 1991 and currently lives in Charlotte, N.C., with his wife and three children.
By: Allison Cundiff

subset: commoncrawl


text:
19th Century Leaf from a Book of Arabic Praise Poetry.
No date (19th century). Double sided manuscript sheet in Naskh script from a book of praise poetry most probably from the Eastern Arabic speaking world. Text in black and red ink with gold borders with blue lines. Few small holes, lower edge a trifle chipped and worn, torn along fold..... More


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What happened next is the revamping of J2EE standard, which was later renamed to Java EE. Still, dominating of this era is the use of opensource framework over the platform proposed by Sun. This practice gives developers full control over the technologies they used but inflating the deployment size. Slowly, when cloud application become the norm for modern applications, I observed the trend of moving the infrastructure service from framework to platform again. However, this time, it is not motivated by Cloud application.
Framework vs Platform
I have never heard of or had to used any framework in school. However, after joining the industry, it is tough to build scalable and configurable software without the help of any framework.
From my understanding, any application is consist of codes that implement business logic and some other codes that are helpers, utilities or to setup infrastructure. The codes that are not related to business logic, being used repetitively in many projects, can be generalised and extracted for reuse. The output of this extraction process is framework.
To make it shorter, framework is any codes that is not related to business logic but helps to dress common concerns in applications and fit to be reused.
If following this definition then MVC, Dependency Injection, Caching, JDBC Template, ORM are all consider frameworks.
Platform is similar to framework as it also helps to dress common concerns in applications but in contrast to framework, the service is provided outside the application. Therefore, a common service endpoint can serve multiple applications at the same time. The services provided by JEE application server or Amazon Web Services are sample of platforms.
Compare the two approaches, platform is more scalable, easier to use than framework but it also offers less control. Because of these advantage, platform seem to be the better approach to use when we build Cloud Application.
When should we use platform over framework
Moving toward platform does not guarantee that developers will get rid of framework. Rather, platform only complements framework in building applications. However, one some special occasions we have a choice to use platform or framework to achieve final goal. From my personal opinion, platform is greater that framework when following conditions are matched:
- Framework is tedious to use and maintain
- The service has some common information to be shared among instances.
- Can utilize additional hardware to improve performance.
In office, we still uses Spring framework, Play framework or RoR in our applications and this will not change any time soon. However, to move to Cloud era, we migrated some of our existing products from internal hosting to Amazon EC2 servers. In order to make the best use of Amazon infrastructure and improve software quality, we have done some major refactoring to our current software architecture.
Here are some platforms that we are integrating our product to:
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) & Amazon Cloud Front
We found that Amazon Cloud Front is pretty useful to boost average response time for our applications. Previously, we host most of the applications in our internal server farms, which located in UK and US. This lead to noticeable increase in response time for customers in other continents. Fortunately, Amazon has much greater infrastructure with server farms built all around the worlds. That helps to guarantee a constant delivery time for package, no matter customer locations.
Currently, due to manual effort to setup new instance for applications, we feel that the best use for Amazon Cloud Front is with static contents, which we host separately from application in Amazon S3. This practice give us double benefit in performance with more consistent delivery time offered by the CDN plus the separate connection count in browser for the static content.
Amazon Elastic Cache
Caching has never been easy on cluster environment. The word "cluster" means that your object will not be stored and retrieve from system memory. Rather, it was sent and retrieved over the network. This task was quite tricky in the past because developers need to sync the records from one node to another node. Unfortunately, not all caching framework support this feature automatically. Our best framework for distributed caching was Terracotta.
Now, we turned to Amazon Elastic Cache because it is cheap, reliable and save us the huge effort for setting up and maintain distributed cache. It is worth to highlight that distributed caching is never mean to replace local cache. The difference in performance suggest that we should only use distributed caching over local caching when user need to access real-time temporary data.
Event Logging for Data Analytics
In the past, we used Google Analytics for analysing user behaviour but later decided to build internal data warehouse. One of the motivation is the ability to track events from both browsers and servers. The Event Tracking system uses MongoDB as the database as it allow us to quickly store huge amount of events.
To simplify the creation and retrieval of events, we choose JSON as the format for events. We cannot simply send this event directly to event tracking server due to browser prevention of cross-domain attack. For this reason, Google Analytic send the events to server under the form of a GET request for static resource. As we have the full control over how the application was built, we choose to let the events send back to application server first and route to event tracking server later. This approach is much more convenient and powerful.
Knowledge Portal
In the past, applications access data from database or internal file repository. However, to be able to scale better, we gathered all knowledge to build a knowledge portal. We also built query language to retrieve knowledge from this portal. This approach add one additional layer to the knowledge retrieval process but fortunately for us, our system does not need to serve real time data. Therefore, we can utilize caching to improve performance.
Above is some of our experience on transforming software architecture when moving to the Cloud. Please share with us your experience and opinion.


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Shipping Cost and delivery
Countries - Zone 2: Belgium , Bulgaria, Denmark , Estonia, Finland , France, Greece, Great Britain , Ireland, Italy, Latvia , Lithuania, Luxembourg , Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Austria , Poland , Portugal, Romania , San Marino , Sweden, Slovakia , Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic , Hungary, Cyprus
The shipping costs will be calculated from the weight of the shipment.
If your country is not listed , please ask for the shipping cost please contact us before you initiate your order.Within Germany, we also offer a shipping and payment option to send via COD .
These fees in the amount of 7.00 € (5.00 NN fee + 2,00 € DHL fee ) plus the shipping costs.


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Will U.S. role at climate talks change after storm?
DOHA, Qatar — During a year with a monster storm and scorching heat waves, Americans have experienced the kind of freakish weather that many scientists say will occur more often on a warming planet.
And as a re-elected president talks about global warming again, climate activists are cautiously optimistic that the United States will be more than a disinterested bystander when the U.N. climate talks resume Monday with a two-week conference here.
"I think there will be expectations from countries to hear a new voice from the United States," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate and energy program at the World Resources Institute in Washington.
The climate officials and environment ministers at the meeting will not come up with an answer to the global temperature rise that is already melting Arctic sea ice and permafrost, raising and acidifying the seas, and shifting rainfall patterns, which has an effect on floods and droughts.
They will focus on side issues, such as extending the Kyoto protocol — an expiring emissions pact with a dwindling number of members — and boosting climate financing for poor nations.
They will also try to structure the talks for a new global climate deal that is supposed to be adopted in 2015, a process in which U.S. leadership is considered crucial.
Many were disappointed that Obama didn't put more emphasis on climate change during his first term. He took some steps to rein in emissions of heat-trapping gases, such as sharply increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. But a climate bill that would have capped U.S. emissions stalled in the Senate.
"We need the U.S. to engage even more," European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said. "Because that can change the dynamic of the talks."
The world tried to move forward without the U.S. after the Bush administration abandoned the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 pact limiting greenhouse emissions from industrialized nations. As that agreement expires this year, the climate curves are still pointing in the wrong direction.
The concentration of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide has jumped 20 percent since 2000, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, according to a U.N. report released last week. And each year, the gap between what researchers say must be done to reverse this trend and what's actually being done gets wider.
Bridging that gap, through clean technology and renewable energy, is not just up to the U.S., but to countries including India and China, whose carbon emissions are growing the fastest as their economies expand.
But Obama raised hopes of a more robust U.S. role in the talks when he called for a national "conversation" on climate change after winning re-election. The issue had been virtually absent in the presidential campaigning until Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast.


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Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf's U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown
Misty May, who became a household name along with Olympic beach volleyball companion Kerri Walsh, was part of a Long Beach State legacy so strong that it defied imagination as to the person that would follow her as the school's setter.
Imagine Garry Maddox taking over center field from Willie Mays in San Francisco.
Or Gene Bartow replacing John Wooden as UCLA basketball coach.
Can anyone remember Phil Bengston? That was the chap that took over as Green Bay Packers' football coach when Vince Lombardi stepped aside.
May's replacement in Long Beach?
Long a major collegiate powerhouse, it was the 49ers' turn in the limelight back in 1997. What must have been running through coach Brian Gimmillaro's mind, however, was how to replace Misty in his lineup one season later.
He reached out to Redlands High School product Keri Nishimoto, the backup to May on that 1997 squad.
Say what you want about college sports, whether it's college football or basketball, the sensational play of baseball and softball players, plus track & field, volleyball may well rest among the most exciting of all women's sports.
It might get lost in the shuffle throughout the USA.
May, who was considered a catalyst for Beach's 1998 NCAA championship triumph, captured the Honda-Broderick Cup as well as Collegiate Women Athlete of the Year title. May captured more awards and titles than any other collegiate volleyball player. She wound up a USA Olympian – a much-decorated, multiple gold medal winner on the beach.
The Beach's heir apparent to May, originally, was Brittany Hochevar. They tried to replicate their May experiment with Hochevar. It didn't seem to go right.
Nishimoto, summoned from Redlands High on a full-ride academic scholarship – she turned down Beach's offer of an athletic scholarship – was the catalyst in leading Redlands High to a Southern Section Division 3 volleyball title.
In her high school setting, Redlands knocked off area powerhouse Rim of the World from mountainous Lake Arrowhead. The finals were played at Cypress College on a Saturday, which wasn't all that far from Beach.
Except for Rim of the World, there had been very little prep volleyball success from the so-called Inland Empire area.
Nishimoto, surrounded by college-level talent like Lindsey O'Reilly (Brigham Young University), Gretchen Levander (Hofstra), plus a few other significant cogs in the lineup, namely middle blocker Janiece Memmott and outside hitter Jackie Ostler in addition to a strong defender, Jamie Hackleman.
That lineup turned volleyball around in the I.E. Nishimoto had long since been noticed, but more at the club-playing level than while wearing Lady Terrier colors.
The CIF-Southern Section Division 3 Player of the Year at Redlands, it was Nishimoto who quarterbacked the Lady Terriers to an unforgettable championship performance over powerhouse Rim of the World at Cypress College in 1995.
One year earlier, Nishimoto actually split time with another player. Redlands coach Gene Melcher had co-setters at Redlands.
At The Beach, Nishimoto's on-court performance seemed to add chemistry. She was small, but dangerous. Mostly a bench-warmer and defensive specialist during the May era, Nishimoto eventually emerged as Beach setter.
Nishimoto already contributed to Beach's chemistry. Taking that academic scholarship instead of an athletic one allowed Gimmillaro to use that additional athletic stipend to stockpile even more talent. It was, perhaps, the ultimate team play.
In 1999, Nishimoto set a record for assists (14.58), having moved back to a defensive position in 2000 for the Hochevar experiment. Once "little Keri" was moved back to the setter role, the 16th-ranked Lady 49ers began rolling even more.
Over a period of time, there were six All-American setters at Beach.
The year after Nishimoto's career concluded, Hochevar shined in 2002 – part of the school's six All-American setters, which includes Nishimoto in 2001, May in 1997 and '98, Joy McKienzie in 1993, Sabrina Hernandez in 1991 and '92, plus Sheri Sanders in 1989.
May was selected as the AVCA Player of the Year for Division I in 1997 and 1998, becoming the first player in NCAA and AVCA history to win the award outright in back-to-back campaigns.
Sanders and McKienzie both quarterbacked the 49ers to national championships. Hernandez took The Beach to back-to-back Final Fours (1991-1992).
May led the 49ers to the 1997 Final Four and captained the 1998 squad to a perfect 36-0 mark and a NCAA national championship. Nishimoto mostly rode the bench was celebrating the team title.
Along the way, the list of teams that Nishimoto and The Beach had been beating were among the nation's richest and glowing programs – Brigham Young, Pittsburgh, UCLA, Arizona, you name it. She totaled 53 assists, 15 digs and three blocks against BYU to lead The Beach to an undefeated regular season record.
Nishimoto, a national player of the week in Nov. 2001, was named second-team All-American in 2001. The Beach went 33-1 and reached the NCAA title match – losing only in the championship to Stanford.
On December 15, 2001 in San Diego, Stanford All-American and USA Olympian Logan Tom led the Cardinal to a three-game sweep.
Check out these scores from Cox Arena in San Diego: 31-29, 30-28, 30-25. A Beach team led by Nishimoto's 34 assists and a team-high nine digs fell after winning 33 straight.
It was Nishimoto's final collegiate match.


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LARCOD Engages In The Following Activities
Providing School Fees, Uniforms and School Supplies for Vulnerable and Orphaned Children
We contribute as LARCOD members, but the number of bright children in need of assistance has grown larger than we can support on our own. We seek additional funds from any who have it in their hearts to help these children achieve education and reach a brighter future.
Providing Feminine Hygiene Supplies For Girls
Did you know?
Over 500,000 girls in Kenya miss at least 4 days of school every month due to difficulties managing their menstrual flow. This is 10-25% of their school time, creating a disadvantage for girls.
Many young girls cannot afford sanitary towels during their monthly periods. They use old rags and sometimes they can't afford soap to wash the rags and many times they get infections which become hard to treat.
Also, many girls do not have underwear to hold sanitary towels in position for effective use, which can lead to staining and embarrassment.
Providing sanitary towels and underwear saves girls from physical and emotional harm and helps them stay in school so that they can learn and work towards becoming productive and happy adults with bright futures.
Health Education Programs
LARCOD personnel visit local schools to teach girls basic hygiene principles as well as provide free sanitary towels. This improves school attendance as the majority of girls miss school during their menses.
There is also a health education program for boys to teach them about reproductive health, their sexuality and forming good relationships.
Shelter, Clothing and Care
LARCOD assists children between the ages of 5 years to 18 years by providing goods such as clothing, bedding, etc. Children are fostered in people's homes to ensure they receive good care, love, and attention.
Access to Health Care
Whenever children are sick they are taken to the sub-district hospital for the area.
Psychosocial Support and Education
The children are counseled about the various issues they face to help them cope in positive ways.
Nutrition and Food Security
This is a great challenge, but donations are distributed whenever they are received.
Legal Protection and Prevention of Abuse and Exploitation
We report cases to the children's department and try to work together to help the child in need.
Educational Programs for Youths
We mobilize Youth Groups within the community and enlightening them on the importance of education and what they can do as energetic members of the community to improve the literacy level.
Programs for Women's Groups
Education and Mobilization
We mobilize women through various Women Groups to sensitize them about their rights and roles with respect to socio-economic development.
Group Savings and Loan Programs:
We organize women into social groups and encouraging them to embrace small scale savings and credit programs. We provide them with links to sustainable financial institutions where the women can get meaningful financial assistance to start viable businesses. This enables women to generate income so they may care for themselves and their children, be independent and improve their bargaining power and influence in the community.


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Purveyors of Happy!
What is Avranches Avenue? ...It is a small corner of audiojungle where you can find music of a upbeat, and all together more jolly nature!
....We make no bones about it… We just love writing happy music, and we hope you'll enjoy using it within your projects.
Videohive authors ...You are always welcome in our neck of the woods! Please feel free to use our preview tracks in your video projects. We only ask you link to our Audiojungle profile in the description of your item, and also drop us a message letting us know. That way we can advertise your video over here to!
If you've made a purchase, fancy giving us a rate? We'd really, really appreciate it if you did!
Thanks for visiting Avranches Avenue, we hope you've enjoyed your visit!


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It was Piqued's anniversary yesterday; we had a lovely night together. Piqued is well dirty, hung like a mule so he is.
The downside to such an event is my being harangued by various service providers and wotnot to upgrade my domain and shit. I've no idea what they're harping on about; so far I've spent about £15 on 'stuff' yet I'm still being warned that unless I renew something or other then Piqued will disappear in the cyber ether. I'd rather this didn't happen, in addition to my stats improving incrementally these dreadful little pages keep my mind focussed away from the mundane reality of employment and stand as a reminder as to what I should truly be doing. That's right, not working.
The weekend was vastly improved by the increasing confidence that Cunt is indeed away, most likely abroad seeing the emaciated mother of his hairy 'quiet' son/daughter. During his absence I've noticed that he's been receiving prospectuses from some of London's top art colleges. Without requiring me to expand on this, I know rather a lot about this sort of thing, there is more chance of him getting into Central St. Martins than me starring in Two Girls and One Piqued. What it does perfectly display is his mendacious state of being, a two-legged fib unable to grasp the tousled shreds of reality, a living breathing fucking lie incapable of containing his misery so it spews out of his cunting head in a geyser of attention seeking supplication. Anyway, he's away, so I'm rather chuffed.
Friday began after work in hospital; Myfwt was seeing a doc about her surgery so I went to meet her. All is well in that department incidentally -I was mildly concerned she was developing an infection. Following that she popped off to babysit her nephew and I went off down the pub for swift half with Frank and his missus before returning home in time for a scheduled appointment with Jamie's Fowl Dinners which was shocking but following a week with Hugh, tolerable. I noticed at Sainsbury on Saturday that virtually all (if not all) the cheap chickens were lined up on the shelves like a battalion of nude Chelsea Pensioners. All of the Organic birds, bar one whose packaging was damaged, were gone. Actually, it was a wonder I noticed anything at Sainsbury on Saturday on account of the post TV rock out on Friday which took me to 5am. I was merely road testing my new headphones and got lost in the melee.
Saturday night was quiet in so far as Myfwt and I stayed in to watch movies and eat. This wonderfully calm quiet evening was aided and abetted by wines and after a while we had an intense conversation that remained civil and upbeat despite the perpetual risk of one or both of us slipping off the precipice into drunken negative conflagration. Sunday was spent very hungover in bed watching Scrapheap Challenge and Death on the Nile, which was a delight, as was the peace and quiet, which I ironically relished with loud acknowledgment. Later in the afternoon Myfwt and I drove (I insisted on the Tube but the former wasn't feeling able to cope with it, she's going through a similar phase to the latter who due to panic attacks was unable to take one for years) to Selfridges to get her some jeans in the sale. The trip was a success and walking back down Oxford Street I noticed some observations made by Russell Brand in his Booky Wook (blokes on BMX bikes, people in doorways, strange looking types in Phone Boxes…). After arriving home I finished the weekend more or less as I had started it, in the pub with Frank supping a pair of fine ales. I arrived home and made some supper, Myfwt and I fancied fish fingers, chips and baked beans, childish back to school Sunday feeling fodder. I don't know if Captain Birds Eye has added a special ingredient to his fish fingers but last night I had the craziest dreams culminating in me meeting a 6.5 foot nonagenarian Ted Baker who actually began yelling at me because I was wearing Doctor Martens. I wouldn't have minded but he was completely naked.
Oh, happy birthday Piqued, you lovely old sod.
(wait til he's finished yakking, if you don't get goosebumps when the distorted guitar kicks off you need help)


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Stop Staring, RAILEEN Dress, Tan Polka Dot Dress, RAILN-02 TNWBM , FALL WINTER 2019
Regular price $ 99.00
$ 0.00
- Even if you don't need Stop Staring dress(es) until later this season or next season, it is in your best interest to order them early because later they may sell out before you need them. Orders are fulfilled on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. (Listings will state what season and year that they are released for order.)
Want to order one or several dresses but you don't want to pay for them all at once? Use our layaway plan. see below
LAYAWAY, COMBINED SHIPPING and RETURN POLICY -http://pippy.co/pages/about-us
It is our pleasure to help you find exactly what you want. Email us at email@example.com AND include the style, size and color that you are inquiring about.
- If you need a style by a certain date. Please include that date in your email.
- If it is an older style shown on our site and you want to know if it is still available.
- If there is a style that you like but don't see it on our site. We'll check to see if it's still available.


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Back by popular demand, we welcome the return of our model Taryn. This adventurous young lady was outstandingly eager to say goodbye to her brunette hair. This 89 minute feature contains loads of cutting action including a variation of bob styles, a short crewcut, a high & tight flat top ½ inch on top and completely buzzed on the sides and back , finished off with a complete head shave. This material contains new full angles and never before seen footage from the original. This one has something for every enthusiast.
Duration: 89 minutes
File size: 790.34 mb
Playback format: MP4
Available Options:
For Download:PC/MAC - MP4


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Workload Consolidation With Intel® Architecture
Global network traffic growth is exploding! And if you're a network provider, you not only need to keep up with that growth, you must also find ways to quickly deploy the rich, innovative services consumers and business customers demand--services that drive new revenue opportunities. But today's networks are comprised of many fixed-function, proprietary resources, making them difficult to ...manage, provision, and scale. These challenges greatly increase capital and operating expenses, and also greatly compromise agility, where it can take weeks just to launch new services. Now imagine your network resources are built on a common, open, virtualized platform based on Intel® architecture--a platform capable of running every type of workload. Open, virtualized Intel-based servers bring modern "Data Center" economics to the network, enabling automated orchestration of your infrastructure from the core to the edge. And that means new service deployment can go from weeks to minutes, and resource utilization can be optimized across the network, while reducing management time and operating costs. Intel® multi-core processor-based servers are already the leading choice for virtualized, orchestrated data centers. And now, those same open platforms can replace the proprietary, fixed-function gear across the network, while delivering outstanding performance with innovations like Intel® Virtualization Technology, optimized software libraries, crypto and compression acceleration technologies, and new instructions. Intel servers can run the four primary workloads across every network infrastructure: applications and services, control plane processing, high-performance packet processing, and signal processing, making them a great choice for all software-defined infrastructure initiatives, like software-defined networking and network function virtualization. And Moore's Law ensures Intel® architecture will continue to extend performance and capabilities over time. So, are you ready for a more agile and efficient network with faster service deployment, lower TCO and improved scalability? Intel Inside®. A cloud-ready network outside.


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We all want to be happy and fulfilled. Conventional wisdom says that if you want to be happy, then you have to look out for No. 1. You have to get out there and do whatever it takes to succeed and whatever it takes to fulfill your own desires and needs. It doesn't matter who you step on; you have to think about yourself. That is what our culture would say.
But does it work? No. Most of us know, most likely having tried that approach to some degree, that it is a complete failure. We know that our happiness ebbed and flowed, and it wasn't lasting.
The problem with happiness is that it is entirely contingent on good things happening. When things are going well, we are happy. But when things are not going well, we are not happy. It is amazing how we can go from one emotion to another so quickly.
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God offers us something better than happiness. That is one of the primary themes in the New Testament book of Philippians, which speaks again and again of joy. In fact, the theme of joy is repeated 19 times in this relatively short book of four chapters. It is a book about joyful living.
God's formula for a life that is meaningful and full runs in a contradictory manner to what our world tells us. Here is how God tells us to live: "[Agree] wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too" (Philippians 1:1-2 NLT).
TRENDING: Judge blocks certification of Pennsylvania vote
Does this not go against the conventional wisdom of how to succeed and be happy in life?
The fact of the matter is the true and lasting happiness we are searching for in life does not come from a formula the world gives us. The Bible offers us something better than happiness, per se. It speaks of something called joy.
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With all of the emphasis in our culture on the importance of self-love, self-worth, self-image and self-esteem, how different the Bible is. The Bible teaches that we already love ourselves. We already look out for No. 1. That comes with human nature. It is not something we need to learn how to do. We don't need to learn how to love self; we need to learn how to deny self. That is what the Bible teaches.
Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23 NKJV).
This is what I call the upside-down life. It is upside down from what our culture says. Our culture says, look for self-fulfillment, and you will find it. But the Bible says, if you look for that, you will never find it. Put God first, others second and yourself third, and you will find joy. An acronym for "joy" is Jesus, others, yourself. That is how it works.
Who is our example in this? Who modeled perfectly what we are to do? The answer is obvious: Jesus Christ. If ever there were someone who walked this earth who deserved to be waited on hand and foot, it was Jesus. If ever there were someone who could justly demand his own rights, it was Jesus. Yet He modeled such incredible humility and gave us an example to follow.
In John 13, we find a wonderful story about the servanthood of Jesus. When all of the disciples were gathered together for a meal, Jesus did something quite unexpected. He took off his outer garment, got down on His hands and knees, took a basin of water and a towel, and began to wash the feet of each and every disciple.
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Peter was so amazed at this that he said, "You will never ever wash my feet!" (verse 8 NLT). In other words, "This is crazy!"
But Jesus told Peter that if he didn't allow him to wash his feet, then he would have no part of his kingdom. So Peter basically replied, "Give me a bath!"
There was God Almighty himself, the creator of the universe in human form, on his hands and knees, washing the feet of his disciples. What was he saying to them? He was saying, "I want to set an example of service."
This also was a picture of what Jesus did when he came down from heaven to us. He set aside that outer garment, the privileges of deity, and he walked among us as a man.
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Another thing that amazes me is that Jesus didn't only wash Peter's feet, John's feet, and James' feet, he also washed Judas' feet. Personally, I would have not washed Judas' feet. I would have wanted to drown him in that basin. But Jesus washed Judas' feet, and he set an example for all of us.
Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35 NKJV). When you are a kid, you don't get that. You think it is more blessed to get than to give. But as the years pass and you become an adult, you start realizing that it is a joy to give.
I love giving presents more than getting them. In fact, once I have found a gift for someone, I can hardly wait to give it to them. I don't like to wait. That is because it brings me pleasure to give a gift. I have discovered that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
We could apply this principle to life in general. What if we were more concerned about the needs of others – about reaching out to them and about helping them? What if we were to take our eyes off ourselves and think about someone else? It could change our lives. And in the process, I think what we'll find is something better than happiness.


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I guess this certainly qualifies as a "first world problem", but recently the link to Google Reader disappeared from the top navigation bar across all my Google Account services (Gmail, Calendar, etc). Now the Google Reader link is an extra click away because it's under the "More" drop down:
I have seen some similar questions about adding custom shortcuts to the top bar using various browser extensions for Firefox or Chrome, but I don't want to do that. I was hoping there is a configuration setting somewhere that I'm just not finding.


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Conference Predictions:
2- Alabama
3- Arkansas
4- Mississippi State
5- Auburn
6- Texas A&M
7- Ole Miss
1- South Carolina
2- Georgia
3- Tennessee
4- Florida
5- Vanderbilt
6- Missouri
7- Kentucky
SEC Title Game: LSU and South Carolina: LSU is SEC Champion
Analysis: The SEC is loaded as usual, particularly the West. LSU loses Tyrann Mathieu which is unfortunate for every college football fan, but if Zach Mettenberger can establish a consistent passing game then the LSU offense is going to absolutely take off. Alabama is extremely talented as usual, but they are replacing so much on defense and at their skill positions on offense that there's no way that they replicate their 2011 season. They are my early 2013 favorites however. Arkansas lost Bobby Petrino and their top three receivers, but unless their defense improves they won't bump LSU or Alabama out of the top of the West. I went back and forth on South Carolina and Georgia a lot because both teams don't have a great track record of delivering when the pressure is on. South Carolina's defense could end up better than Georgia's though, and even though I like Aaron Murray I have some questions about Georgia's offense. Tennesse has talent and should be solid, but Florida's ridiculous handling of their quarterback competition means I can't project them any higher than 4th in the East. Vanderbilt is a bit of a dark horse with a strong core on offense and a bright coach in James Franklin, but just getting to a bowl game would be a successful season for them.
Big 10:
1- Michigan
2- Michigan State
3- Nebraska
4- Iowa
5- Northwestern
6- Minnesota
1- Wisconsin
2- Ohio State
3- Illinois
4- Purdue
5- Penn State
6- Indiana
Big-10 Title Game: Wisconsin and Michigan: Wisconsin is Big-10 Champion
Analysis: If Wisconsin doesn't come out of the Leaders division to compete for the Big-10 title again this year then Bret Bielema should just quit, because outside of Illinois there is no eligible team that has a slightly realistic chance of keeping them out of the title game. Michigan and Michigan State will be a terrific battle down to the end of the season in my opinion, and ultimately it will come down to how well Denard Robinson can deliver the ball and avoid turnovers in big games in my opinion. If he carries the Wolverine offense on his back he could be a finalist for the Heisman as well. Nebraska has some talent, but they will never be a legitimate Big-10 title contender until they get a real quarterback to replace Taylor Martinez, who is one of the worst passing quarterbacks of all the teams that don't run an option offense.
1- Florida State
2- Clemson
3- NC State
4- Wake Forest
5- Boston College
6- Maryland
1- Virginia Tech
2- Georgia Tech
3- North Carolina
4- Miami
5- Virginia
6- Duke
ACC Title Game: Virginia Tech and Florida State: Virginia Tech is ACC Champion.
Analysis: Florida State is incredibly loaded, particularly on defense. Their defensive line is the best in football in my opinion, even better than LSU's, and they return enough talent on offense to be a dark horse contender for the National Championship game. I don't think they'll make it because I'm not a big believer in EJ Manuel, but if he can improve enough to put up points this team could end up in the top 5 by season's end. And yet, I have a gut feeling that this is Virginia Tech's year and I think they will go toe to toe with Florida State in the ACC Championship game and win. I trust Logan Thomas more than Manuel in critical situations even if he is younger with less experience, and Virginia Tech returns plenty of talent on defense as well. Clemson will be nipping at Florida State's heels as well but I don't think Clemson's offensive line has enough talent and experience to keep Florida State's relentlessly deep and talented front four from terrorizing Boyd when he drops back to pass.
Big 12:
1- West Virginia
2- Kansas State
3- Oklahoma
4- Texas
6- Oklahoma State
7- Texas Tech
8- Baylor
9- Kansas
10- Iowa State
West Virginia is Big-12 Champion.
Analysis: I'm sure plenty of people will be surprised that I have West Virginia and Kansas State ranked ahead of Oklahoma and Texas, but I have plenty of faith in West Virginia's offense to pass their way to the top of the Big-12 and if their defense improves at all they could very well win this conference. Kansas State shocked everyone last year by not only being good but by being good enough to get to the Cotton Bowl. And yet, everyone is writing them off again this year even though they return plenty of talent across their roster, and even their losses on defense aren't irreplaceable. Collin Klein is the Tim Tebow of the Big-12 and he will keep Kansas State competitive even if it isn't always pretty, and those writing KSU off will look foolish again this year. Oklahoma continues to be ranked in the top 5 year after year regardless of how many times they fail to live up to their talent level. Landry Jones plays a big role in that, and there aren't many quarterbacks I wouldn't want leading my team more than Jones. He's not reliable under pressure, he panics in big time situations and collapsed when his best receiver Ryan Broyles went down last season. Oklahoma has plenty of talent on defense, but that has never stopped them from failing to live up to expectations, and even though Mike Stoops is back in the fold I don't think it will be enough to win the Big-12 or a National Championship. Texas seemed to be on the right track naming a starting quarterback, but now the competition is back on and when you have two quarterbacks you really have none. So as good as that defense is it won't matter if they don't have any continuity at quarterback.
1- Oregon
2- Washington
3- Stanford
4- California
5- Oregon State
6- Washington State
1- Southern Cal
2- Utah
4- Arizona State
5- Arizona
6- Colorado
Pac-12 Title Game: USC and Oregon: USC is Pac-12 Champion.
Analysis: The Pac-12 is honestly one of the worst conferences top to bottom in the country, I was shocked by how little overall depth both divisions had. The North has three, maybe four bowl game caliber teams and the South has TWO. Look at that 3-6 list, only UCLA has an chance at a bowl game out of those four teams, and ASU, Arizona and Colorado should be awful this season. Oregon and USC both have a pretty easy road to the Pac-12 title game if you ask me, though Washington and Stanford won't be pushovers even in spite of all the talent they lost.
Big East:
1- Cincinnati
2- Louisville
3- South Florida
4- Pittsburgh
5- Rutgers
6- Syracuse
7- Connecticut
8- Temple
Cincinnati is Big East Champion.
Analysis: The Big East is probably the worst big time conference in college football and they are clinging on for dear life and relevance right now. Cincinnati is the best by default this year now that West Virginia bolted for the Big-12, and after Louisville there isn't a lot to write home about in the Big East. There's the potential for some bowl eligible teams, but there isn't a legit title contender in this whole conference and whoever the winner is will likely play a better conference champion in a BCS bowl game and get the tar beat out of them like Connecticut did two years ago at the hands of Oklahoma.
Thanks for reading, and happy college football season to each and every one of you!


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This discussion is now closed.
Discussion 2 Timeline
4 comments10comments3 comments2 comments7 comments
Mar 18-23rd
The growing concentration of people in cities influences water consumption, quality and availability. A substantial part of urban populations lives in areas without proper infrastructure and water services. Coping with this reality requires strong capacities and good governance structures and mechanisms, as well as the ability to share experiences, practices and knowledge. Any action should consider long-term sustainability.
The 8th World Water Forum will host focused discussions on these cross-cutting subjects – capacity, governance, sharing and sustainability – in order to identify the main hindrances and actions required to overcome difficulties that are common to the 6 core themes (climate, people, development, urban, ecosystems and financing).
Past Subjects
- How can education and capacity building be enhanced to ensure an adequate quantity and quality of water in cities?
- In relation to water in cities, what opportunities do new technologies offer for the improvement of water monitoring? What about for information communication technology (ICT) and decision/policy making?
- How do international cooperation initiatives enhance water capacity development for better management of water in cities?
- How do you, or could you, contribute to designing and implementing integrated water resources management (IWRM) policies or projects for issues of water in cities?
- How do you foster transboundary co-operation for better management of water in cities?
- How do you ensure multi-level governance, engage stakeholders and assess the results of policies for urban water?
- How to better share solutions and good practices for the implementation of urban water related SDGs Who must be involved?
- How to involve all in water management and governance related to water in cities: public, private, civil society - women and men - young and old - in bottom up and top down approaches?
- How to ensure respect for cultural diversity, justice and equity in the water sector, while sharing science and traditional knowledge, from the water in cities perspective?
- How can Water in Cities help mainstream sustainability issues related to water to the center of decision-making and strategy definition by governments and business?
- How can Water in Cities help improving society resilience to water issues, giving that water availability is reducing in most countries and the consumption is increasing?
- Water issues are regional, hard to be solved individually by local governments or companies. How can Water in Cities stimulate collaborative actions that will lead to a sustainable use of water resources?
Mohammad Faiz Alam said:
Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the comments and participation in this latest round of discussion. To summarise:
1) Need for integration among different sectors to using water and integration in managing different sphere of urban water use is emphasised
2) Importance of includinng groundwater in urban water palnning is outlined
3) Importance of awareness and infomation disseminaton to achieve sustainability goals is mentioned.
Thanks & regards
Mohammad Faiz Alam said:
Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the comments and participation in this latest round of discussion. To summarise:
1) Need for integration among different sectors to using water and integration in managing different sphere of urban water use is emphasised
2) Importance of includinng groundwater in urban water palnning is outlined
3) Importance of awareness and infomation disseminaton to achieve sustainability goals is mentioned.
Thanks & regards
Mauricio Santia... said:
Somos detentores de tecnologia inovadora, Aquedutos, e estamos precisando de apoio para inserção da mesma ao Mercado, Uma vez que em atitudes de entropia reagem, não dando a devida importância que merece, estamos participando e gostriamos de nos inscrever para parfticipar no processo de seleção das 05 possibilidades .. Seguem alguns links de nossa tecnologia para análise.. e possivel seleção desta técnica para apresentação .....Read more
Sonia Gupta said:
Dear Ian, Love the comment - Frequently 'one group's solution tends to become another group's problem' -because it is so true! And that definitely leads to the 'need for groundwater considerations to be integrated when making decisions on infrastructure planning and investment'. However like so many urban issues across the world, one size does not fit all. Just as the top down integrated approach is vital, I feel that good practices, great potential for celebrating water exists in the by-lanes of every community in my city....Read more
Ian Davey IAH said:
Groundwater is a major source of urban supply worldwide. However, urbanisation modifies the 'groundwater cycle' and can lead to declining aquifer pressures (which can cause land subsidence with building and infrastructure damage) or a rising water-table (which can lead to groundwater flooding with public health hazards and infrastructure damage). Groundwater needs to be used efficiently and sustainably for urban water-supply, and an 'adaptive management strategy' should be applied. Integrated approaches to urban water-supply, mains sewerage and sanitation, stormwater drainage, and urban land-use will reduce the cost and improve the resilience of the urban water infrastructure....Read more
Masroor Ahmad said:
JORGE ANTONIO B... said:
É necessário uma maior divulgação e comunicação, sobre o reúso de água!! O aproveitamento de efluentes sanitários domésticos é fundamental em curto prazo para equilíbrio da crise hídrica, equilíbrio entre consumo e disponibilidade de recursos hídricos, para uso potável.
paulo said:
Prezados, o simples pode parecer arrogante diante da complexidade da questão. Mas, acredito que a água do mar pode ser usada como um justo contra ponto à escassez de água doce. Por exemplo, porque não usar água do mar para cozinhar, para beber numa proporção de 10% (1:10), para dar descarga em sanitários, e para tomar banho no ato de ensaboar e enxaguar e apenas usar água doce para retirar o excesso de sal? Quanta água doce economizaríamos nas áreas urbanas litorâneas? Tecnologia? Creio que há conhecimento suficiente para iniciar um piloto em cidades litorâneas... Mas ainda haverá a inércia do preconceito ao não usual, acredito.
Mohammad Faiz Alam replied:
Dear Paulo,
What you say is right but we also need to consider some issues like cost of purification, access etc. We have some examples like Israel where desalination is quite advanced but there lack of rainfall makes it a necessity. I think we should consider it an option but if we have enough renewable fresh water resources, we should try to manage them first. What do you think ?
Thiago Piazzett... said:
Mohammad Faiz Alam replied:
Hey Thiago,
You are right that we have ample evidence to promote nature based solution, respect urban-rural boundaries and innovate within cities.But we still are not doing much regarding this. What do you think are the constraints and where innovation in governance can play a part ?
Mohammad Faiz Alam said:
Laura Lima Guai... replied:
Hey Mohhamad,
In Brazil we the management unit in water resources is the water basin, which respects natural(phisycal) limits and not political ones.
The reference organization at this level is the Basin Comitee, as defined in the LEI 9433/97 - Comitê de Bacia Hidrográfica - where society participates in planning and implementation of policies.
On the other hand we have urban planning instruments, such as the Urban Masterplan - Plano Diretor Urbano.
Usually there is no integrated management at the city level.
I would like to know more about experiences in other countries.
Masroor Ahmad replied:
Mohammad Faiz Alam replied:
Thamsanqa Rober... said:
More than half the world already lives in urban arears and by 2050, it is expected that more than two - thirds of the global population of a billion will be living in cities. Furthermore, most of this growth will also lead to increase in the number of people living in slums, which often have very poor, living conditions, including inadequate water and sanitation facilities. Therefore, the development of water resources for economic growth, social equity and environmental sustainability will be closely linked with sustainable development of cities.
Mohammad Faiz Alam replied:
taciana replied:
Laura Lima Guai... replied:
TThis initiative of participative monitoring is very interesting!
It is similar to other initiative in Brazil, the observers's network of the National Water Agency
But how could we replicate this experience to other cities?
An how can we use tecnology to improve this experience?
Link for the documentary on the National Hidrometeorological Network
Laura Lima Guai... replied:
Essa iniciativa de monitoramento participativo realmente é muito interessante.
É de alguma maneira semelhante à rede de observadores da ANA.
Penso em dois pontos: Como podemos replicar essas experiências para outras cidades?
Como podemos usar tecnologia para facilitar a experiência do monitormento?
Davi Silva Fagundes said:
Laura Lima Guai... replied:
Angelo Lima said:
Laura Lima Guai... replied:
Mohammad Faiz Alam said:
Dear All,
We had insightful and fruitful discussions during last session regarding urban water issues that you would like to be discussed in World Water Forum, 2018.
I welcome you all to this new session of discussion where we would be discussing cross-cutting subjects of capacity, governance, sharing and sustainability in urban water starting with capacity for first 2 weeks. Please, provide your valuable suggestions and views and encourage your colleagues to participate.


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About Miraflex
Miraflex offers top-quality frames throughout the world, including North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Miraflex frames are designed with the child in mind, whether a few months old or an adolescent. Miraflex has over 20 years of experience with children's eyewear, and offers the largest range of children's frames designed by experts to satisfy the more demanding professionals' requirements.
New technologies and equipment have enabled early diagnosis of vision problems from the very first months of life. With appropriate corrections, these challenges can be resolved early in the child's life, resulting in improved learning and communication skills. However, to achieve optimum results in the shortest time period, it is necessary to intervene using the most appropriate methods depending on the child's age and needs.
For over 20 years, Miraflex has dedicated itself to the development of the most suitable children's frames. Miraflex frames offer the best mix between the practical and the aesthetic for each age bracket.
CoolFrames Designer Eyewear Boutique is an authorized Miraflex online retailer. All frames are guaranteed to be defect-free and authentic. We will replace any defective or damaged items to ensure 100% satisfaction. Our in-house optical lab can install custom prescription lenses into any eyeglass frame and many sunglass styles. We specialize in Essilor presciption lenses including Varilux Progressives, Transitions as well as Crizal Alize and Sapphire (Forte) Anti-Reflective coatings.


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A teaser trailer has been released for The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. Set in a gothic-noir universe resembling a fantastical 19th century Europe filled with monsters, magic, and weird technology, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing will follow the son of the famed hunter, known in-game as Van Helsing, in a tale wrought with wry humor and snappy dialogue. Van Helsing, a larger-than-life hero possessing a dark yet romantic charm, will follow his path to the dismal land of Borgovia where former supernatural foes have enlisted his help to defeat a new scourge terrorizing the ravaged Eastern European city. With an assortment of extraordinary characters, an engrossing storyline, and a beautifully dark and gothic art style, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing looks to bring RPG enthusiasts an anachronistic adventure like no other.
Check out the Teaser Trailer – The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.


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Google launches Evernote rival Keep for the Web, Android 4.0 and above
Google on Wednesday announced Google Keep, a note-taking service similar to Evernote, for both the Web and Android 4.0+ (Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean) devices. You can try the service out now for yourself at Drive.Google.com/Keep or download the Android app from the Google Play Store.
Google describes Keep as a service that lets you "save ideas and organize to-dos the moment they happen by creating notes, lists, photos and voice recordings right from your phone" (don't worry, it also works on tablets). You can access, edit, and create new notes on the Web from the above website, and furthermore, Google says you'll be able to do the same directly from your Google Drive account "in the coming weeks."
Keep also lets you speak to it: the service transcribes voice memos for you automatically. Since we're talking about Google here, there's also a "super-fast search" function so you can find the note you wrote, read it, and then either archive or delete it.
Also in typical Google-fashion, here's a YouTube video to explain the newly-launched service:
Just two days ago, news of Keep leaked out as Google apparently launched the service prematurely and then promptly took it down less than half an hour later. At the time of writing, Keep is having issues (likely due to the heavy load) but Google has announced it in multiple places, so we're confident this isn't another slip up.
Here's what Keep looks like on the Web (if you're lucky enough not to get the message "Oops! An error occurred. Please click here to reload the page."):
Any changes you make save almost instantly. When you visit the site again, you start off exactly where you left off.
Here is Keep on Android (you can drag your notes around and choose the color for each):
As you can see above in the left screenshot, it's a fairly clean and straightforward app. The right screenshot meanwhile shows that Google has integrated it with the Android lock screen (this widget is only available for devices running Android 4.2+).
Google says it is trying to solve the problem of not having your notes and reminders wherever you are. A mobile app launch on its own platform naturally makes sense:
With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what's important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.
We expect Google to follow this launch with a Keep app for iOS. We'll let you know when that happens.
Read next: US holiday site HomeAway partners with Travelmob to list rentals in Southeast Asia


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Facebook Guide Book: Mashable Launches Hub for Facebook Resources
Whether you're new to Facebook or an old hat, the magnitude of features and functionality in the enormous social network can still be somewhat daunting. From personal profiles to brand pages and applications to groups, there's a lot to get up to speed on — and even an expert might have occasion to want a primer on one of the lesser-travelled corners now and then.
We've put together a collection of some of our best resources, how-tos and guides to help individuals, businesses, organizations and non-profits get the most out of your experiences on Facebook. Similar to the Twitter Guide Book before it, this single hub is intended as a one-stop shop for building your mastery and getting more out of the world's most popular social network.
From managing information overload in your feed to finding worthy Facebook applications to best practices for brand-building, the Facebook Guide Book is chock full of tips and tricks to help improve your Facebook experience. We hope everyone from beginner to advanced users will find something of value in the resources we've collected; and we'll continue to cultivate and maintain this space as Facebook itself continues to grow and change.
And if you find something of interest in The Facebook Guide Book, we hope you'll consider passing it on to someone who might enjoy it as well. Happy learning!


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Rethymno Crete Greece - Drone video
Explore The Magical Rethymno via drone!!
Explore The Magical Rethymno via drone!!
The Best & Most Experienced Taxi and Transfers Provider in Rethymno. Comfort, Quality, Safety, Fair Prices and Reliable Services Our Moto is Travel Safety and Customer Satisfaction Professional and Friendly Experienced Drivers.
Rethymno Carnival takes place every year between February and March. Thousand of visitors and locals fill the streets of Rethymno wearing colourful suits which are inspired from multiple themes and current events..


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You are here
Featured Resource
The role, demands, and expectations for those arts and cultural organizations in the museum
community – which includes a vast and diverse mix of aquariums, arboreta, art museums, botanic
Mt. Cuba Center is intent on keeping our employees, guests, and business partners safe while at Mt. Cuba Center.
Below are some tips and things to consider when determining the ideal capacity for your new timed-entry program.
These plans and guidelines are subject to change. You can also view their printable visitor map as a companion resource.
View the Mt. Cuba Center COVID-19 Phased Re-Opening Plan.
Please view Longwood Gardens Capacity Distribution and Guest Circulation COVID 19 Reopening Plan.
The American Alliance of Museums recommends that museums build flexible plans for reopening that are regularly reviewed and refined based on the latest science.
Inspired by the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens' Garden For YOU!
This comprehensive master interpretive plan has been prepared specifically for the Wilbur D. May
Hear from three experts exploring research, strategies, and benefits of connecting people to nature: Louise Chawla, University of Colorado; Lauren Watkins, Impact by Design; and Sheila Williams-Ridge, University of Minnesota.


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Oklahoma bill would allow some felons to have guns
Even those convicted of violent felony could have rights restored
A bill that would allow some ex-felons to have their rights to possess firearms and other weapons restored is one of several gun bills being considered by a House panel.
The House Public Safety Committee is scheduled to hear a bill by Cordell Republican Rep. Todd Russ that would allow individuals convicted of a nonviolent felony who have completed their sentence and probationary period to have their gun rights restored. The bill would allow those individuals to also apply for a permit to carry a handgun.
Even those convicted of a violent felony could have their gun rights restored if they have completed their sentencing and received a pardon from the governor.
Under current law, only those convicted of a nonviolent felony can restore gun rights through a gubernatorial pardon.


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Today I join colleagues across the country in calling for American museums to engage with their communities in the difficult but essential work of racial justice and equality. Please read and circulate our group statement (below) as you see fit.
This has everything to do with city museums. Urban structures of segregation and discrimination have long been major contributors to the complex system of racial inequity that continues to smother so many Americans. And the history of protest is inextricably linked to the history of cities—not just in this country and not just this issue, but all over the world and addressing the broadest spectrum of social and political problems. City museums can document protests by their citizens, use urban history (and urban sociology, politics, and economics) to shed light on complicated racial systems, provide a venue for contemporary urban artists who ask hard questions, convene public discussions, and support community building and civic engagement in the service of racial equality.
Across the United States people are turning out on city streets to seek change. They need cultural institutions that care. Please find ways to let them know you are listening.
And now for the statement:
Joint Statement from Museum Bloggers and Colleagues on Ferguson and Related Events
The recent series of events, from Ferguson to Cleveland and New York, have created a watershed moment. Things must change. New laws and policies will help, but any movement toward greater cultural and racial understanding and communication must be supported by our country's cultural and educational infrastructure. Museums are a part of this educational and cultural network. What should be our role(s)?
Schools and other arts organizations are rising to the challenge. University law schools are hosting seminars on Ferguson. Colleges are addressing greater cultural and racial understanding in various courses. National education organizations and individual teachers are developing relevant curriculum resources, including the #FergusonSyllabus project initiated by Dr. Marcia Chatelain. Artists and arts organizations are contributing their spaces and their creative energies. And pop culture icons, from basketball players to rock stars, are making highly visible commentary with their clothes and voices.
Where do museums fit in? Some might say that only museums with specific African American collections have a role, or perhaps only museums situated in the communities where these events have occurred. As mediators of culture, all museums should commit to identifying how they can connect to relevant contemporary issues irrespective of collection, focus, or mission.
We are a community of museum bloggers who write from a variety of perspectives and museum disciplines. Yet our posts contain similar phrases such as "21st century museums," "changing museum paradigms," "inclusiveness," "co-curation," "participatory" and "the museum as forum." We believe that strong connections should exist between museums and their communities. Forging those connections means listening and responding to those we serve and those we wish to serve.
There is hardly a community in the U.S. that is untouched by the reverberations emanating from Ferguson and its aftermath. Therefore we believe that museums everywhere should get involved. What should be our role—as institutions that claim to conduct their activities for the public benefit—in the face of ongoing struggles for greater social justice both at the local and national level?
We urge museums to consider these questions by first looking within. Is there equity and diversity in your policy and practice regarding staff, volunteers, and Board members? Are staff members talking about Ferguson and the deeper issues it raises? How do these issues relate to the mission and audience of your museum? Do you have volunteers? What are they thinking and saying? How can the museum help volunteers and partners address their own questions about race, violence, and community?
We urge museums to look to their communities. Are there civic organizations in your area that are hosting conversations? Could you offer your auditorium as a meeting place? Could your director or other senior staff join local initiatives on this topic? If your museum has not until now been involved in community discussions, you may be met at first with suspicion as to your intentions. But now is a great time to start being involved.
Join with your community in addressing these issues. Museums may offer a unique range of resources and support to civic groups that are hoping to organize workshops or public conversations. Museums may want to use this moment not only to "respond" but also to "invest" in conversations and partnerships that call out inequity and racism and commit to positive change.
We invite you to join us in amplifying this statement. As of now, only the Association of African American Museums has issued a formal statement about the larger issues related to Ferguson, Cleveland and Staten Island. We believe that the silence of other museum organizations sends a message that these issues are the concern only of African Americans and African American Museums. We know that this is not the case. This is a concern of all Americans. We are seeing in a variety of media—blogs, public statements, and conversations on Twitter and Facebook—that colleagues of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are concerned and are seeking guidance and dialogue in understanding the role of museums regarding these troubling events. We hope that organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums; the Association of Science-Technology Centers; the Association of Children's Museums; the American Association for State and Local History and others, will join us in acknowledging the connections between our institutions and the social justice issues highlighted by Ferguson and related events.
You can join us by…
- Posting and sharing this statement on your organization's website or social media
- Contributing to and following the Twitter tag #museumsrespondtoFerguson which is growing daily
- Checking out Art Museum Teaching which has a regularly updated resource, Teaching #Ferguson: Connecting with Resources
- Sharing additional resources in the comments
- Asking your professional organization to respond
- Checking out the programs at The Missouri History Museum. It has held programs related to Ferguson since August and is planning more for 2015.
- Looking at the website for International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. They are developing information on how to conduct community conversations on race.
Participating Bloggers and Colleagues
Gretchen Jennings, Museum Commons
Aletheia Wittman and Rose Paquet Kinsley, The Incluseum
Aleia Brown, AleiaBrown.org
Steven Lubar, On Public Humanities
Mike Murawski, Art Museum Teaching
Linda Norris, The Uncataloged Museum
Paul Orselli ExhibiTricks: A Museum/Exhibit/Design Blog
Ed Rodley, Thinking About Museums
Adrianne Russell, Cabinet of Curiosities
Nina Simon, Museum 2.0
Rainey Tisdale, CityStories
Jeanne Vergeront Museum Notes


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Could Judge Casper's 2012 recusal pose problem in Bulger case?
By David Frank, Managing Editor, Lawyers' Weekly
Last week, I wrote that it was almost a legal certainty no one would challenge the selection of U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to preside over the James "Whitey" Bulger trial.
Now I'm not so sure.
A 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on March 14 ordered U.S. District Court Richard G. Stearns to recuse himself from the case, finding that his prior employment as head of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Boston and his close friendship with FBI Director Robert Mueller created an appearance of impropriety.
In the ground-breaking decision, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter said the case should be reassigned to a new judge "whose curriculum vitae does not implicate the same level of institutional responsibility" as Stearns'.
Though Casper was a federal prosecutor from 1999 to 2004 and served for a time as deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, there has been no suggestion that she called any of the shots in the Bulger saga or played nearly as active a role as Stearns.
A review of the Bulger docket, however, reveals that an appearance-of-impropriety argument potentially could be raised over Casper's continued involvement in the case.
Less than four months before Casper was randomly selected to take over U.S. v. Bulger, defense attorneys J.W. Carney Jr. and Hank Brennan filed a motion in her courtroom seeking access to sealed documents in the case of Peter Limone. They argued in a Nov. 7 filing that they needed the Limone documents because they were relevant to several contested issues in Bulger.
Rather than rule on the motion, as other judges dealing with similar requests had done, Casper quickly stepped aside. On the same day that Carney and Brennan made their request, Casper responded with the following one-sentence answer: "I hereby recuse myself from consideration of the above-entitled case pursuant to 28 U.S.C., section 455."
That statute states that a judge shall disqualify herself from any proceeding in which her impartiality might reasonably be questioned. It also requires recusal if a judge has a personal bias in the matter, has served as a lawyer in the case, or has a financial interest in it.
While a judge is not obligated to specify the reason for recusal, it's not a stretch to suggest that Casper's lack of explanation could cause reasonable members of the public to wonder what prompted her to step aside.
Was it because she felt that her prior work in the U.S. Attorney's Office required her to do so?
Was it because Limone was prosecuted for extortion and gambling crimes by Middlesex County prosecutors during a time that she served as the office's deputy district attorney?
Or was it something else?
The answer is no one knows.
As Souter wrote in his recusal opinion, public perception is key in this unprecedented case that promises to further expose the unseemly relationship between federal law enforcement and organized crime.
With unanswered questions swirling over Casper's reason for recusing herself in November, it's certainly plausible that a member of the public watching the proceedings could reasonably conclude something doesn't smell right.
If the name of the game in Bulger is to ensure that the trial is conducted in a completely above-board manner, wouldn't it make sense to have a judge in place who did not feel the need, just a few months ago, to step away from the case?
Follow David Frank on Twitter @davidfrankmlw


text: The aim of this workpackage is to create and test learning material which gives students knowledge how different, renewable energy carriers are produced and may be converted into energy. In addition, students realise that there is also other aspects than biological and technical ones involved, e.g. ethics, legislation, politics and economics. The material will include both a global and local aspect as well as connection to companies in energy business in partner countries.


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Rodrigo Palacio says he was only one of numerous options to go in goal for Inter last night after injury to Luca Castellazzi.
Having already made all three of their substitutions in the 2-0 Coppa Italia win over Verona, the Argentine took the gloves for the last 16 minutes – in which he caught the eye.
"I made a great save," he smiled to Inter Channel. "Initially Cristian Chivu said he would go in goal, but then the Coach asked me or Ricky Alvarez to go in.
"I had played in goal a few times as a kid, but luckily it was only for 15 minutes this time…
"We were leading 2-0 so we felt a bit comfortable, but it was important to win the match."
Palacio will come up against his past at the weekend when the Nerazzurri take on Genoa, but he insists he wants the three points.
"It'll be a special game for me, but now I'm an Inter player," he added. "It won't be an easy match for us.
"What do I want from 2013? To win the Scudetto."


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Believe it or not, this ultra-modern looking '70 Chevelle started out as a gasser-style straight-axle machine with a fake blower sticking through the hood. It was for sale at the Goodguys Chicagoland Nationals and nobody was giving it even a passing glance. As The Roadster Shop's Phil Gerber told us, "The car looked solid, complete, and unmolested except for the chassis. It was purchased with the intention of adding to our Chevelle chassis lineup since it would give us the dimensions to build our '68-72 Chevelle chassis to add to the '64-67 chassis already available."
The project evolved from there. Its previous orange '66 Chevelle was sold, but soon the plan to keep this one "simple" evaporated into thin air. Before long, the Chevelle was getting a custom-fabbed dash, BMW headlights, and tons of custom bodywork. As for the unusual color, Phil had this to say, "We were really tired of the silvers, reds, and blues on most cars. One of our customers said that we had to check out the Porsche GT3 RS green. We did, and it was decided upon. The color has gotten mixed reviews. But love it or hate it, people keep talking about it.
"The car was started in the beginning of June and loaded on the trailer in the middle of August. It had less than 50 miles on it when it was brought to California for the testing. Most people thought we took the interior out of the car to save weight. We actually just didn't have time to take it to the upholstery shop to have the interior put in the car. We even purchased a stock set of door and quarter trim panels to make it look somewhat more finished, but we didn't have time to install them before the event."
With so few hours on the car, the crew at The Roadster Shop was less than thrilled with the testing results and knew the car had much more potential and they were right. We later re-tested the car shortly after the SEMA show when it showed at one of our track days in Fontana, California. The surface was different from El Toro and the Chevelle was riding on a more street-friendly set of rubber. It was immediately evident that they had been hard at work tuning the Chevelle's suspension when it knocked down a .98g on the skidpad and 49.71 mph through the cones. It just shows that tuning is as important as the quality of parts installed.
Driver's Impression - On The Autocross CourseOverall, this car was average for all of the evaluated criteria for this autocross. Acceleration was great when facing straight; the car understeered on corner entry and precise positioning was required to get it close to the apex. In transitional sections of the course, the tires lost traction due to weight transfer and the soft suspension that, in turn, lost valuable seconds of time. Feedback was delayed and it was hard to take input and drive this car well. The brakes were very touchy and when applied at speed, didn't stop the car very well. It should be noted that this car was not completed and with further development it should be much better in this testing phase. At present, it's a nice street car that will get plenty of attention. I loved the color, graphics, and wheels.
About two months later, a welcome surprise awaited as this same car competed in the Optima Street Car Invitational. For the autocross, the owners asked me to drive it again and after doing so, I couldn't believe this was the same car. Everything I'd noted above that was off had changed. The Chevelle had excellent turn-in under braking, no insipid understeer, great transition during directional changes and receptive braking. It goes to show what can happen from good, systematic development as this car now offers everything good. I loved the power, brakes, traction, and most important, good manners representing a street ride.-Mary Pozzi
Driver's Impression - On The StreetI'm a sucker for good steering. I hate over-assisted boxes, twitchy steering, and I have little tolerance for slow, indirect steering. That made me appreciate The Roadster Shop Chevelle's steering feel right away. The more I drove it, the better I liked it. It was neither too light, nor too heavy, and it pointed the car right where you wanted it.
Cruising the streets around El Toro, I came to appreciate the well-sorted combo of Eibach springs and Penske shocks. The ride was sports-car firm, but not jittery or harsh. Despite the low stance, the railroad track crossing along our route failed to knock out any fillings. I'd rate the ride/handling combo better than average for the group of cars tested.
Other pluses: Sweet-shifting T56 gearbox, Zoom aluminum flywheel and clutch, Cobra seats, pedal layout and tilt steering column, all excellent. Minuses? Without carpeting, side glass or a backseat, the tailpipe-less exhaust system created quite a din inside. As for the color, well, make mine red-Jim Campisano