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Think Globally, Act Rationally
One hundred years ago, millions of poor Europeans and Asians, lured by smooth-talking promoters telling of plentiful jobs and instant riches, made the dangerous journey to America. None found the streets of gold they had been promised, and some failed to thrive. But many worked hard, endured and eventually found the true path to prosperity.
On this November day in 2003, a hundred or so high-ranking executives of large and medium-sized corporations, many of them descendants of successful immigrants, are gathered in a luxury hotel in Houston for a conference titled "Competitive Advantages of Outsourcing to India." From the meeting room's dais a series of confident men, some with exotic accents, flash their PowerPoint presentations and declare that the path to riches now leads away from America, halfway around the world.
Their audience pays close attention. Sending American jobs overseas, or "offshoring," is perhaps the most talked-about corporate strategy of the young 21st century. What's talked about most, at least in closed-door industry conferences like this one, is the fact that amazing savings can be obtained by outsourcing information technology and business-process tasks to vibrant emerging economies like India. That giant country, say the experts, is currently the most employer-friendly because offshoring pioneers Ireland and Israel have maxed out their surplus labor pools, and salaries in those two countries have risen. In contrast, college graduates in India earn one-tenth to one-fifth the salaries of their American or Western European counterparts. In the ranks of low-wage countries, India is followed by the Philippines, China, Russia and Eastern Europe, and Central and South America. Canada is an interesting "near shore" alternative because its much smaller wage differential can sometimes be offset by its closeness, both geographically and culturally, to the United States.
While rock-solid figures are hard to come by, the amount of business that is outsourced to these countries and others is rising rapidly. In 2001, according to a study by McKinsey & Co., offshoring was a $25.75 billion industry. McKinsey estimates a growth rate of 30 to 40 percent a year over the next five years. Another prediction, quoted by several at the conference, was made by Forrester Research last year. Despite the fact that only 60 percent ofFortune 1,000 companies have yet begun offshoring, Forrester has estimated that over the next 15 years, 3.3 million U.S. service-industry jobs and $136 billion in wages will be relocated abroad.
Unfortunately, it's easy to get caught up in all the enthusiasm and miss the sound of history repeating itself. In truth, as even offshoring proponents will admit, corporate emigration is more often than not a risky journey. It's not appropriate for every company, and while most businesses survive the trip and a select few eventually hit their financial targets, there are numerous economic, managerial, political and cultural problems to navigate along the way. The biggest problem, however, is that many managers don't appreciate the hazards until it's too late.
India, Inc.
The keynote speaker at the offshoring meeting in Houston is Som Mittal, an Indian businessman with 25 years' experience in the information technology industry, who is a former managing director of Compaq India. "Anything that can be outsourced can be offshored," Mittal says. By sending work like computer coding, document scanning, customer-service call-center staffing and payroll processing to his country, companies can achieve a 20 to 25 percent gain in productivity, he says. By offshoring their work to Indian vendors, American and multinational companies can reduce their labor costs and increase or decrease their workforces quickly to reflect peaks and valleys in production.
But there are other important factors to consider, Mittal says. By sending their work to Indian subcontractors, American companies can also reduce their investment in equipment and increase or decrease their workforces quickly to reflect the fluctuations in demand. During the past decade the Indian government has embraced free trade and cleared away much of its legendarily suffocating bureaucracy.
Because the Indian workday begins when the American workday ends, companies can conduct labor-intensive activities, like software testing, both at home and abroad and save time by having the work continue around the clock. All educated Indians speak English fluently, a legacy of British colonialism. The Internet and fiber-optic technologies make worldwide communication cheap and reliable. As workforces in America, Europe and Japan are graying, the population of Indians under 25 will increase by 47 million by 2020. Each year the Indian educational system turns out 3 million college graduates, most of whom will happily become new members of a burgeoning middle class. "And remember," Mittal says, "when many of them wake up, they'll brush with Colgate, eat Kellogg's cornflakes and drive to work in a GM car."
The speakers who follow him describe how much-admired American companies like Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Citibank and IBM have had great success with offshoring. How self-contained knowledge-industry enclaves have sprung up in cities like Mumbai (Bombay), Hyderabad and Bangalore, home of the John F. Welch Technology Center. How young software engineers or customer-service representatives can vault into affluence on salaries of $10,000 a year. Only occasionally do the speakers mention problems with erratic power grids, obdurate local officials, inexperienced managers and unmotivated employees.
Just before lunch, however, a no-nonsense attorney named Mark Riedy, a partner in the firm Pillsbury Winthrop, reads his sobering treatise "Adverse Government Actions Facing the Outsourcing Industries." In a stern voice he summarizes the approximately 20 anti-offshoring bills now under consideration in the United States at the federal and state levels. He mentions the current controversies over H-1B and L-1 visas, and the possibility that the flow of foreign workers into and out of the United States could be sharply curtailed. He details a pending Indian government proposal to start taxing the offshoring-related dollars streaming into and out of that country. Last, he describes some potential problems created by sending intellectual property, such as software code, and private personal information, such as medical records, overseas.
The attendees settle a bit more deeply into their seats, but during a half-hour break they rise and surround the speakers eagerly. One of the experts answering a steady flow of questions is Juergen Reiners, Hewlett-Packard's director of global shared services, who has built and run operations in Germany, Belgium, France, Singapore, Japan, India, Mexico, the United States and the United Kingdom. Earlier, he participated in a panel discussion titled "The Value of Outsourcing to India: The Customer Perspective." A visitor elbows his way through the circle and asks him whether offshoring operations are always successful. Reiners smiles. "Fifty percent of them fail," he says quickly, before turning to another questioner.
A world of decisions
It's now several days after the Houston meeting, and Reiners is asked if that 50 percent failure rate is accurate. "Oh, yes. That's the right figure," he says during a hurried telephone interview from his office at H-P. The basic reason for the high failure rate, he explains, is that executives at parent companies, whether intentionally or not, sabotage the offshoring project from the beginning.
"Sometimes they're set up in the wrong location," he says. "Or they don't get the funding and staffing they need. They're squeezed from day one. They're not seen as an asset, but as something for people to hate." They're hated, Reiners says, because in many companies offshoring is initiated for the wrong reasons, begun without proper planning and assigned to managers who are ill equipped to handle problems.
The basic reason for the high failure rate, is that executives at parent companies, whether intentionally or not, sabotage the offshoring project from the beginning.
The first big hurdle is resisting the hype and misconceptions about offshoring. Among the worst reasons for offshoring ever heard by Bob Cecil, vice president of EquaTerra, a consulting firm that specializes in outsourcing and offshoring, was "My CEO sat next to Jack Welch on an airplane. That's why we're here at this meeting." Just as bad, says M.M. Sathyanarayan, head of Global Development Consulting Inc., of Cupertino, California, is the common error of equating the differential between U.S. and offshore salaries, the so-called "labor arbitrage," with expected savings from offshoring.
Sathyanarayan recounts the story of a client, a Silicon Valley software-development firm, that hired him after experiencing a 50 percent employee-turnover rate at its operation in India. "I talked to one of the executives. The guy complained to me, 'We're a training ground for other companies to poach people from.' I asked him what was his business model, what kind of cost savings he expected. He said he expected to save about 75 percent." The consultant asked him what kind of salaries he paid. "He said, 'Not quite competitive in the marketplace but close enough.' " This company, concludes Sathyanarayan, went to India purely to pinch pennies. "Which meant they were unwilling to do what it takes to make it work."
What it takes, veterans say, is a willingness to "settle" for savings in the 30 to 40 percent range, realistically predict the advantages and drawbacks as they apply to a particular business, and then methodically plan the operation before committing serious money and labor to it. The first question, obvious but often bypassed, is whether the operation can be more efficiently performed overseas than at home. A rule of thumb is that basic back-office functions, unconnected to the "core competencies" of the company, should be the first to make the trip.
"Where the offshore solution is advantageous is with rule-based decision making," says Lesley Pool, chief marketing officer for the Dallas outsourcing firm ACS. "We're talking about fairly repeatable and automated tasks where adherence to guidelines is clear-cut, like payroll and ledger functions." Well-known success stories include those of giants like Citibank and Perot Systems, which have sent jobs like credit-card-balance retrieval and medical-record scanning overseas. Legendary horror stories often involve Silicon Valley start-ups that have taken their new, unproven software products and "thrown them over the wall," i.e., sent them offshore to underqualified and undersupervised personnel for further development and/or customer support.
"Where the offshore solution is advantageous is with rule-based decision making. We're talking about fairly repeatable and automated
The next major decision is determining what type of offshore presence to establish. There are two basic models. Wholly owned, or "captive," offshore subsidiaries have the advantage of being under total control of the onshore company, so that the offshore labor force concentrates entirely on its needs. This model also tends to attract long-term commitments from employees and managers. Disadvantages include high initial investment and the temptation to turn offshore employees into second-class corporate citizens performing relatively menial tasks with substandard benefits. This invites high turnover. Conversely, sending the most interesting work overseas can "hollow out" an onshore operation by convincing American employees that the road to advancement lies elsewhere.
The other model, known as "shared services," avoids most of those drawbacks by relying on offshore contractors to hire, manage and pay the foreign employees working on offshore tasks. Its obvious advantage is lower initial investment. Disadvantages include longer lines of communication, less control over important projects and the risk of productive employees being transferred to projects for other clients.
In any case, far more time must be devoted to managing and monitoring offshore employees. "General Electric did it right," says Robert Kennedy, a professor of corporate strategy and international business at the University of Michigan Business School. "They spent money up front to hire topflight managers, and several months training them, integrating them into the GE way."
Juergen Reiners says that when you set up offshore operations, you need strong support at every level of the company. "You need to hire great people and you need to be on the road and visit to listen, fix issues, give [the employees and their managers] a role to play." Other experts counsel providing at least six months of cross-training for offshore managers and their American counterparts, and one stateside liaison for every 4 to 10 offshore managers. To maintain communication despite the time-zone difference, work hours can be adjusted to provide at least two hours of overlap daily.
M.R. Rangaswami, cofounder of the Sand Hill Group of San Francisco, which specializes in research on the enterprise software industry, says that American firms that send foreign-born executives back to their home countries have an immediate advantage. "When they apply their American salaries back there, they enjoy a tremendous standard of living, and they're perfectly equipped to address language and cultural issues." These issues, even in English-speaking countries, can be formidable.
Peter Schneeberger, owner of Samudra Software, a shared-services provider in the coastal city of Vishakhapatnam, says that managers must be prepared to handle cultural differences such as the importance of weddings. During the three months viewed as the most auspicious time for weddings, for example, up to half his staff is out of the office. What is even more significant, he says, is that the educational system emphasizes rote learning over independent research, and most relationships are more hierarchical, family and caste dependent than Americans are used to. He says that his employees expect a lot of direction. "You can't just say, 'This is the project. You'll be reporting to this person.' I try to break it down to some degree, but they don't respond so well to me," Schneeberger says. "We emphasize a team concept, but at the same time they work better with direction."
Trouble on the home front
The entire direction of offshoring angers American workers, who worry that they'll be losing their jobs to what have been described derisively by critics as "cybercoolies." They've found sympathetic ears at such organizations as the AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America, and are forming advocacy groups such as The Organization for the Rights of American Workers and Mad in USA. Offshoring advocates of the kind found at the Houston conference and many other business gatherings counter with free-market logic that they find compelling—and say that displaced workers should have patience. The unstoppable growth of offshoring, they say, is nothing to worry about. It's merely a periodic restructuring of the American economy, much like the industrial revolution or the Rust Belt migration to service and information jobs of the last three decades. They're confident that the problem will sort itself out and lead to a more dynamic economy in 5 or 10 years.
Just how dynamic is summarized by Sand Hill's Rangaswami. "Be ready for America to rebound," He writes in a company report on offshoring. "Unions kept wages high as manufacturing companies rushed overseas in the 1970s. Software workers are not represented by unions. That means that wages for developers and other workers will drift down to a more palatable level. At the same time, the tech staffing crunch in India is driving wages up. When the delta between the two becomes smaller, software companies must decide whether it makes sense to begin growing technical staff in the United States again. Could America's highly skilled developers become offshore staff for overseas vendors and software developers?"
Workforce Management, January 2004, p. 40-45 -- Subscribe Now!


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Men's Soccer Hosts Lewis in Exhibition Finale Saturday Night
Aug. 17, 2012
CHICAGO - The UIC men's soccer team will wrap up the exhibition portion of its season Saturday, when the Flames entertain Lewis University under the lights of Flames Field beginning at 7 p.m. CST. As part of Community Day and Alumni Day, admission to the match will be free-of-charge.
Along with the Community Day festivities, the annual Alumni Day event will be held. Former UIC men's soccer players will be in attendance, and be recognized at halftime.
UIC is coming off a 1-1 draw at No. 12 Indiana in the exhibition opener on Tuesday night. Senior Ivan Stanisavljevic broke a scoreless tie with a goal in the 66th minute of a three-period game, all of which were played in 30-minute intervals.
Against the Hoosiers, head coach Sean Phillips was able to take a look at various lineups and combinations, starting five freshmen in the first period, five in the second stanza and a total of seven freshmen in the third period. In all, 17 players saw action in the contest.
Lewis finished the 2011 season with a 9-8-1 (9-5-1 GLVC) record, and a fifth-place finish in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings. The Flyers return three players that scored at least three goals last season, including Cristhian Ramirez, who led the team with nine goals in 2011. Goalkeeper Alec Pickett, who started 16 matches last season, also returns as the Flyers' primary net minder.
UIC defeated Lewis, 3-1, in Romeoville during the spring season. Slobodan Aleksov scored two goals for UIC, while Ivan Stanisavljevic scored off a header. Ned Pavlovic assisted on both of Aleksov's goals. Last year's scheduled exhibition game with Lewis was canceled due to inclement weather.

subset: commoncrawl


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Yesterday was an important day in New Orleans. The Regional Transit Authority is moving to release its schedule, route and real-time GPS data to the public. Yesterday's meeting of the RTA Board of Commissioners signaled the start of an era when residents will be empowered with information and riding public transit will be more predictable and less stressful. It's the dawn of Open Data in New Orleans, and both the RTA commissioners and the management staff should be applauded for being local leaders in the effort.
New Orleanians themselves also deserve credit. Here on Neighborland, residents voiced a broad consensus that open transit data is a public priority. In fact, improving transportation is such a common refrain among the Neighborland community that it caught the attention of local transit-advocate Transport for NOLA . As a result, Transport for NOLA partnered with Neighborland to launch a petition campaign asking the RTA to release their data to the public. After only a few weeks almost 300 people signed the pledge.
What happened next is a testament to the power of combining public opinion with personal relationships. The exceptionally charming and talented Executive Director of Transport for NOLA, Rachel Heiligman, and her brain-trust of board members, have worked hard to build a trusting and constructive working relationship with RTA commissioners and management staff. This didn't happen overnight–it happened over months and years. In fact, Transport for NOLA had been working with the RTA on Open Data specifically for some time.
The Neighborland-inspired petition endowed TfNOLA's efforts with the leverage that comes with broad public backing, and as a result Open Data moved way up on the RTA's long, long list of priorities. At the board meeting, the RTA agreed on language from their legal counsel on license agreements, which will allow third-party developers to access RTA data and add value to it. The management staff also committed to having map and schedule data released by March 4th, with the hopes that they will be able to release GPS data for the city's bus network by that date as well.
In the meantime, Transport for NOLA will continue to work hard to help the RTA implement best practices. Rachel and her board will facilitate conversations between agency management, stakeholders and transit riders themselves. We will continue to follow their progress here on Neighborland.
The role of regular New Orleanians has not diminished, but rather grown. In fact, their petition campaign inspired a thoughtful consideration of Open Data in its broader context by Tung Ly, a User Adoption Specialist at the City of New Orleans. As Tung illustrates, there are deeply entrenched procurement practices in our governments that should be re-examined. He raises the possibility that an Open Architecture Procurement policy could result broad improvements to government services.
Now, procurement isn't as hot of a topic as open tansit data. But the Neighborland community is proof-positive that New Orleanians are interested in making their city a better place, and are eager to learn and discuss new ways to improve our quality of life. In the coming weeks, we will try and bring together local practitioners, national experts, and New Orleanians of all stripes to learn more about how we can create more just and more efficient institutions.
For now though, we celebrate. Though there is hard work ahead, it can be reasonably said that in the near future, the daily routine of tens of thousands of people will be at least a little bit better. Maybe they won't have to stand in the August heat as long, or maybe they'll avoid getting soaked. Or maybe they'll just be able to spend a little more time with their family, friends, and neighbors.


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Biblical Studies
The Epistle to the Romans
Careful scholarship and spiritual insight characterize this enduring commentary on Romans, generally considered to be Paul's most profound letter. In The Epistle to the Romans, John Murray offers an exposition of Romans deeply penetrating in its elucidation of the text … Learn MorePaperback $62.00 $48.00 Add to Cart
The Doctrines of Grace in John
Teaching Series by Steven Lawson
Twelve 23-Minute Messages. Over 4 Hours of Teaching. How does God love the world? Debates about Reformed theology and the Five Points of Calvinism almost always include the use of John 3:16 as a proof text against the Reformed position. … Learn MoreDVD $48.00 $43.20 Add to Cart
Also available in six other formats
Magnifying God in Christ: A Summary of New Testament Theology
Book by Thomas Schreiner
Thomas Schreiner's substantial New Testament Theology examined the unifying themes that emerge from a detailed reading of the New Testament canon. Magnifying God in Christ provides a student-level digest of Schreiner's massive work, exploring the key themes and teachings of the New Testament in … Learn MorePaperback $25.00 $20.00 Add to Cart
June 2007 Tabletalk
Tabletalk by Various
The Lord's Prayer is used to justify all sorts of methods and styles of prayer. One way to avoid the risk of shaping this portion of Scripture into whatever we see fit is by applying sound exegesis that rests upon … Learn MoreMagazine $3.00 Add to Cart
February 2006 Tabletalk
Tabletalk by Various
The February 2006 issue of Tabletalk is on the historical books of the Old Testament — from the conquest of Canaan to the post-exilic restoration. It is a sad fact that most Christian's do not know their own history. As members of … Learn MoreMagazine $2.25 Add to Cart
Book by R.C. Sproul
Mark presents the fruits of Dr. R. C. Sproul's lifetime of biblical study as expressed in his most recent calling. After a long and distinguished ministry as a teacher in various settings, Dr. Sproul accepted a call in 1997 to preach … Learn MoreHardcover $27.00 $21.60 Add to Cart
Also available in two other formats
Teaching Series by R.C. Sproul
From the earliest days of his ministry, the Apostle Paul was concerned to explain salvation in Christ. In the book of Galatians, considered by many to be his earliest epistle, Paul gives us one of the clearest explanations that salvation … Learn MoreDownload Audio $22.00 $17.60 Add to Cart
Themes from Ecclesiastes
Teaching Series by R.C. Sproul
"Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Ecclesiastes was written long ago, but the teacher's message couldn't be more relevant. His ancient voice of despair is echoed by countless intellectual and cultural elites in our era. Into this darkness the beauty … Learn MoreDownload Audio $12.00 $9.60 Add to Cart
Let's Study Philippians
Book by Sinclair Ferguson
Ferguson skillfully leads us through this wonderful letter, explaining its teaching with masterful simplicity and showing its importance and relevance for the church today. Designed to be used by individuals, in family devotions, or by groups, each volume of the … Learn MorePaperback This item has sold out.
The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans
Book by R.C. Sproul
Dr. Sproul explores the themes of the book of Romans. He shows why it profoundly impacted great Christian leaders such as Augustine, Luther, Wesley, and others. Drawing from Romans, R.C. demonstrates how God has revealed Himself and His plan of … Learn MorePaperback - out of stock $20.00 $16.00 Backorder
Moses' Self-Denial
Book by Jeremiah Burroughs
Reflecting on Hebrews 11:24–25, Jeremiah Burroughs ponders how Moses relinquished his noble and comfortable rights as the son of Pharaoh's daughter to find greater honor as a suffering son of Abraham. Burroughs explains how Christians are called to deny all … Learn MoreHardcover $22.00 $17.60 Add to Cart
The Hard Sayings Collection
Teaching Series by R.C. Sproul
Our Christian faith can involve so much uncertainty. Do all of Paul's words have apostolic authority or are there exceptions? Did Isaiah say that God actually creates evil? How should we interpret passages of the Bible where the meanings are … Learn MoreCD $89.00 $57.85 Add to Cart
Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy
Book by C.E. Hill
It is now widely said that the four Gospels rose to prominence only after a long battle within early Christianity, a battle finally won in the fourth century, after the establishment of the Church by Constantine the Great. In Who … Learn MoreHardcover - out of stock $28.00 $22.40 Backorder


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The drop bar conversion on my old Cousin It is coming along but I'm seriously thinking about changing direction a bit. Rather than stick with 26" wheels I'm considering moving to 650B. I was about to order White MI6 hubs with 26" Aeroheat rims, but I'm thinking of switching to the 650B Synergy rims (36 hole). There's lots of clearance on the front and back (in fact there is room for 700c rims with about a 35 mm tire). I've got a Cannondale Fatty fork so I'll be running disc brakes on the front (the new Shimano calipers with ICE rotor). I haven't taken a torch to the frame so it's still canti's on the back. If I go to 650B I'll need to put Paul's Moto BMX brake for the pad adjustment. The primary use will be gravel roads and fire trail. Planning on riding D2R2 this August as well. We're a just under 300lb team.
Any thoughts before I place my wheel order?


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« Web Junk 20 Returns To VH1 | Home | The Next Wandering Golfer To Air Blooper Special »
America's Most Wanted Asks Viewers For Help In Profiling Unknown Assaliant
November 18, 2006 12:01 AM by Joe Reality
For 20 seasons, FOX's AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK has presented law enforcement's toughest cases and asked viewers to submit their tips. The success rate has been phenomenal: to date, 911 fugitives have been taken down as a result of AMW viewer tips, and 51 missing children safely returned home. On Saturday, Nov. 18 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX, AMW will ask its viewers to go beyond anything they've done before. To help unmask and capture an elusive serial sexual predator, AMW will give viewers the tools to become criminal profilers, asking them to create and submit their own psychological profiles of the suspect for review by law enforcement. The profiles will be created from special case file documents available for downloading at the AMERICA'S MOST WANTED website, www.amw.com.
Clues gathered by police thus far point to the suspect as a sick individual with an unusual fetish: wedding dresses. In most of the incidents, cops say the attacker targeted women advertising bridal gowns for sale. While it appears the attacker knew a lot about his victims before targeting them, the police know a lot about the attacker, too. Victims describe him as an older man with a red face, oily hair and stiffness in his right hand. Many of the women who endured attacks say he was dressed in outdated clothing from the 1970s.
Viewers will be able to add their own notes to these and other clues contained in the case file documents and on AMW's broadcast, enabling them to draw their own conclusions about the attacker's motivation and methods. AMW will forward the viewer profiles to investigators working the case, in hopes that viewers' ideas will open up new avenues in the investigation.
The case file documents and more information about the investigation can be found online at http://amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=39229.
AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK, currently in its 20th season, is produced by STF Productions, Inc. and Lance Heflin is executive producer.
Topics: America's Most Wanted |
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Officials discussed the request placed on the agenda by Chief Deputy Robert Ebrom, Jr. during the April 30 meeting of Commissioners Court.
Sheriff Dwayne Villanueva told the court that the new deputies were needed to respond to an ever-increasing number of traffic accidents.
"Our current manpower right now is not sufficient enough to cover all of the calls for service and will not be able to adequately enforce traffic laws," Villanueva said.
Deputies responded to 40 accidents last month, and several months last year deputies responded to between fifty and seventy accidents per month, Villanueva explained.
County Commissioner James Rosales, who served as county judge pro tem during the meeting due to the absence of County Judge Richard Butler, asked Villanueva how long it would take to train the new deputies.
"About ninety days," Villanueva answered.
Chief Deputy Ebrom told the court that one of the positions would be as a full time license and weights officer.
"They would have to go to a minimum six-week program to learn license and weights," Ebrom said. "The number of traffic violations, the number of people violating the law on the highways and county roads is what is causing that large amount of accidents, so we want to focus on that," Ebrom said.
The plan is to concentrate enforcement during "rush hours" when local traffic is at its peak.
The six new deputies would concentrate on traffic, Villanueva explained, but would be available for other duties as well, when needed.
Rosales noted that the number of citations issued by deputies this year was fewer than last year.
Villanueva explained that was largely due to the resignation of the county's license and weights deputy, and that the position has not yet been restaffed. Also, Ebrom noted, because deputies are having to spend so much time responding to accidents, they have been unable to perform routine traffic enforcement and issue citations.
County Auditor Lajuana Kasprzyk said based on the local government code, the request does not qualify as an emergency or unforeseen circumstance.
"It was discussed during the budget workshop to hire 12 additional positions and the commissioners court voted to only hire six," Kasprzyk said. "I don't see how this can be done mid-year. Of course it is at the discretion of the court."
Maurice Yarter, who was in the audience at the meeting, said he disagreed with the auditor's opinion. He said the current situation is not only an emergency, but a crisis. He said in one situation, the response time to a call was 45 minutes because the manpower was all tied up responding to traffic accidents.
"I am a very conservative person," Yarter said. "I don't believe in spending money that we don't need to spend, but there are some areas we need to spend money on and one of them is the safety of this county."
Commissioner Tracey Schendel reminded the court of the recent speed limits approved by the court.
"We all voted on the speed limits and everything but if we don't hire any more deputies, how are we going to control those speed limits?" Schendel asked.
Commissioner Shelby Dupnik said that he was in favor of hiring the additional deputies.
Rosales asked County Attorney Herb Hancock if the item could legally qualify as an emergency or unforeseen situation.
Hancock said that in his opinion, the situation is an emergency and would legally qualify as an emergency expenditure.
Dupnik made a motion to approve the request to hire the additional six deputies. Schendel seconded the motion the motion carried with all voting in favor.


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Time : 10:00 am - 3:00 pm (Weekdays Only) - Exhibition on View
Entry : Free
Place : Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre (HICC), 1-A, Janpath, New Delhi- 110 001
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'Event Details : 'Syntactics in Glass' Exhibition by eminent glass artist Vijay Kowshik.
The corroborations of the feelings within, touching the heartstrings into implosions of light giving hope and happiness. These are the artist's response to his art works which gets its inspirations to a great extent from Hungary because of his deep friendships with many people there.
Vijay Kowshik Born 1949 s/o Prof. Dinkar Kowshik & Mrs Pushpa Kowshik. Pioneering Indian Glass artist, founding Gen. Secretary of the ARTS-GLACERHI (Art Society for Glass Ceramic & Handicrafts of India), and ISAA (Interdisciplinary Society for Art & Aesthetics) an authority in the field of art glass. Advisor C.G.C.R.I (Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata) & member Ceramic Society of India. Well known in the field Internationally and has organized and conducted various workshops, symposiums and exhibitions in India and other countries. Was also the Director of the IX Triennalle India (Lalit Kala Akademi). Many major works in public and private places, has worked in glass in various countries like France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Slovak, U.S.A and Japan and has organized and participated in various workshops and symposiums around the world.
Related Events : Exhibitions


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Cloud Computing
Where does the ROI in cloud computing come from?
Ria Hyman 06000032P4 email@example.com Tags:  computing svcmgmt management service payback guide ibmontwitter cloud cloudburst cloud-computing ibmcloud 3 Comments 2,966 Visits
As organizations examine the business value of cloud computing, it is important to understand how cloud can lower IT expenses. Understanding how long it takes until your business can recoup the investment it has made or is considering making in cloud computing is what is known as the "payback" period.
To give you the lowdown on the key areas of cost savings that are associated with every cloud infrastructure implementation, IBM has created a guide based on hundreds of client implementations that lists the underlying projects that comprise each cost saving area. These projects are the "action steps" that can be undertaken to obtain the savings for your organization. Download the new IBM Cloud Computing Payback Guide to read about the areas of cost savings.
If you want to know more about maximizing cloud ROI and have an opportunity to ask questions about the information in the guide, register for a webcast on December 15th with Rick Mayo, Senior Marketing Manager, IBM Cloud Computing. Rick will be discussing the fiscal argument for cloud computing.
if you have issues registering in the window below, please register here.
Re: Industrialize and automate your service delivery with IBM cloud computing
Ria Hyman 06000032P4 email@example.com Tags:  cloudburst smart ibmcloud ibm business tivoli servive-management cloud systems ibmontwitter service cloudcomputing infrastructure smarter-cloud cloud-computing dynamic management 6 Comments 2,876 Visits
In response to: Industrialize and automate your service delivery with IBM cloud computingIf you're having issues registering for this IBM CloudBurst webcast on December 2nd, please try going direct to this url http://www.brighttalk.com/webcasts/7326/attend
You don't want to miss this Dynamic Infrastructure virtual event - now available on demand
Ria Hyman 06000032P4 email@example.com Tags:  asset ibmcloud management smarter event services cloudburst you planet comes pulse dynamic-infrastructure security service-management storage infrastructure cloud dynamic dyninfra service virtual to svcmgmt clouds 1 Comment 3,453 Visits
Interested in learning how a dynamic infrastructure can integrate your business and IT and make you - and the planet - smarter? Well you're in luck because IBM has a virtual forum available for your access on demand. Arm yourself with the information you need to enable a dynamic infrastructure. Learn how to respond quickly to changing business requirements and effectively manage your IT assets to more efficiently deliver quality services to your customers. See examples of how peers in your industry have attained a dynamic infrastructure partnering with IBM.
This online event features webcasts highlighting trends that are shaping how customers are managing their infrastructures efficiently. Plus you'll gain access to white papers, demos, videos, podcasts and more.
Topics include security, asset management, storage, service management, cloud computing and more.
Access information you need on your path to a dynamic infrastructure.
Register now for Pulse Comes To You Live!
Industrialize and automate your service delivery with IBM cloud computing
Ria Hyman 06000032P4 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  business service systems ibmcloud cloud smarter-cloud cloudcomputing servive-management ibmontwitter tivoli ibm cloudburst dynamic infrastructure management cloud-computing smart 12 Comments 11,364 Visits
IT infrastructure is reaching a breaking point. The facts here startling.
• In distributed computing environments, up to 85% of computing capacity sits idle.
• Consumer product and retail industries lose about $40 billion annually due to supply chain inefficiencies.
• An explosion of information is driving a 54% growth in storage shipments every year to accommodate the data.
• Security breaches are becoming more common.
• Challenges to automation mean highly skilled individuals are supporting basic operational tasks in data centers instead of innovating to serve customers.
The result: new services to customers that are vital to the organizations bottom line are delayed. Even worse are problems that arise from human error associated with mundane, repetitive tasks that severely impact customer satisfaction. The answer? It's time to start thinking differently about IT infrastructure.
Over time business operations have industrialized to become smarter. Breakthroughs like these required the use of technology-based systems. What if you could industrialize the delivery of your services and reduce the headaches of integrating and maintaining servers, storage & software with a service management system that can provide dramatic improvements in time to market, delivery of services to clients in minutes – rather than weeks -- through self-service, and hands free operational support that eliminates mundane tasks from skilled personnel, all with the lowest cost per unit?
Introducing IBM CloudBurst V1.2, designed from IBM client cloud implementation experiences quickly enables a private cloud in your IT environment. The new release, available now, is optimized to support production workloads with specific needs related to elasticity, security, availability, green monitoring, usage and account management. Join Kristin Lovejoy, Director of IBM CloudBurst Project Office for a webcast now available for replay where she discusses the exciting and expanded service management features. Click on play in the window below to start the webcast or go here.
announcement letter
to stay connected on what IBM is doing in the cloud computing space and check out the cloud videos on ourYou Tube channel
Re: CloudBurst: New IBM Cloud Computing offering for improved Service Management
Ria Hyman 06000032P4 firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  storage cloudburst cloud-computing automation ibmcloud overview dynamic-infrastructure service-management vmware green virtualization data-center bladecenter capabilities cloud it development smarter-planet features private tivoli 2,495 Visits
In response to: CloudBurst: New IBM Cloud Computing offering for improved Service ManagementToday IBM announced a new release of IBM CloudBurst, version 1.2. Read about the expanded capabilities of this release - it will allow organizations to pilot and prove a cloud computing model, and provide the tools needed to extend cloud offerings into production. Check it out here http://ow.ly/yZmh
Cloud Technologies for a Dynamic Infrastructure
Tiffany Winman 12000065XB firstname.lastname@example.com Tags:  cloud smart-business systems pool fastprotect storage dynamic-infrastructure cloudburst pools cloud-computing computing virtualization infrastructure dynamic dyninfra virtual 1 Comment 4,433 Visits
Yesterday, IBM announced new offerings for helping clients build dynamic infrastructures to "address today's challenges to improve service, reduce cost and manage risk, while also laying the foundation to take advantage of future business and IT opportunities."
The announcements focused on three key areas:
A replay of the Webcast covering these announcements is available in case you missed it.
If you're not sure why building a dynamic infrastructure is important, take a look at the Gartner analysis outlining the need for a dynamic infrastructure, a strategy for developing one, and some best practices and options to consider when getting started.
Video: Responding to Today's Demands with a Dynamic Infrastructure
Cloud technologies and solutions were a key part of the Dynamic Infrastructure announcements that covered such things as integrated systems design with private cloud deployments, virtual system pools and management, and next-generation virtualized storage and security technologies.
Here are just a few of the Cloud-related offerings:
My favorite part the day's activities, of course, was that IBM used Twitter for a question and answer session immediately following the Webcast by using the #dyninfra hashtag. Lots of great interaction and participation by the public and IBM experts and Business Partners.
You can continue online conversation and sharing around Dynamic Infrastructure and Cloud via any of these venues:
WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance and IBM CloudBurst--A Winning Combination!
Clint Sherwood 270002F7UT email@example.com Tags:  websphere tivoli ibmontwitter cloud computing cloudcomputing cloud-computing cloudburst ibmcloud 3,447 Visits
Submitted by Ria Hyman (firstname.lastname@example.com), SWG Marketing Manager for Cloud ComputingWe're frequently asked about the similarities and differences between the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance and IBM CloudBurst (TM) solutions. These products are complementary, and together they accelerate payback in a private cloud environment. The WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance helps bring together deep expertise in building and managing application environments, while IBM CloudBurst creates broad cloud management capabilities, along with the necessary hardware.
WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance is a new hardware appliance that provides access to software virtual images and patterns that can be used as-is, or easily customized, securely deployed, managed, and maintained in a private cloud.
The first hardware appliance of its kind, the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance stores and secures WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition images and patterns to be dispensed into a cloud. It helps customers easily and quickly develop, test and deploy business applications, ending the use of manual, complex or time-intensive processes associated with creating application environments.
IBM CloudBurst is a complete IBM Service Management package of hardware, software and services, which simplifies your cloud computing acquisition and deployment. Built on the IBM BladeCenter® platform, IBM CloudBurst provides pre-installed, fully integrated service management capabilities across hardware, middleware and applications.
WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance helps developers and operations personnel establish and deploy software images and patterns into a cloud environment. IBM CloudBurst offers a ready-made cloud environment into which these images and patterns can be deployed, and is designed to be used by an organization that doesn't want to create a cloud environment using existing assets.
Think of WebSphere Cloudburst as the "dispenser" of software environments into a private cloud, and IBM CloudBurst as the "recipient" private cloud environment.
Hand-in-glove, a match made in heaven, call it what you will, these two critical offerings complement each other to help our clients more easily, quickly and cost-effectively leverage IT function.
For more information, contact Ria at email@example.com
CloudBurst: New IBM Cloud Computing offering for improved Service Management
Tiffany Winman 12000065XB email@example.com Tags:  virtualization ibmcloudcomputing smarter-planet it automation data-center ibmcloud cloud-computing tivoli cloudburst cloud storage bladecenter ibmtivoli private service-management dynamic-infrastructure development vmware green 7 Comments 8,821 Visits
What is Cloud Computing? Let me Google that for you.
•Self-Service Portal – allows Developers self-service access to IT infrastructure
•1 42U rack
•IBM CloudBurst service management pack
•Built on proven technologies already deployed at customer sites


text:
Daniel Yates - Photophrenic
Welcome to my little corner of the internet, a place where I rant, rave, share and show a variety of things from my photography to gaming with a look at theology and reality mixed in for good measure. Take a moment and ponder the statement above for it will give you all the insight you need to understand where I am coming from with a lot that I do. Be yourself, think outside the box and don't let anyone else dictate how things should be.


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See You at NRF
By David Dorf-Oracle on Jan 06, 2010
Here are my goals for the show:
1. Learn more about what retailers are doing with social media.
You may believe that investing in social media has little return, but not investing while your competition does will be detrimental. Fortunately, it doesn't take much to get your feet wet with Facebook, Twitter, and blogging so most retailers have at least dabbled in this area. I'm particularly interested in learning more about measuring the results of social networking endeavors. How do we know which things work best?
If you're interested in following the progress of ARTS, you should check out the ARTS session on Sunday at 10:15am. The big project at ARTS is the Mobile Blueprint, which I've mentioned before. There's a good Q&A on the Mobile Blueprint at the NRF Blog, and the committee chairs (including me) will in the ARTS booth to answer questions on Monday at 11:30am.
3. Answer questions about Exadata.
Regardless of the economy, retailers are always looking for ways save money, and the synergies obtained by tuning hardware and software to work closely together offer better performance, higher availability, and of course lower costs. So I'll be hanging around Oracle's booth to answer questions about Exadata's use in retail.
4. See old friends.
Between my years at Schumberger Banking & Retail (smart cards), AMF Bowling, Circuit City, and 360Commerce I've met lots of interesting people, many of which will be at NRF. Looking forward to catching up over beers.
Please stop by the Oracle booth and ask for me; I'd love to talk about some of the interesting things we're working on and hear about your views as well. See you in New York!


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Appeal for witnesses to an attack on 27-year-old man assaulted in the Sagger Makers Bottom Knocker pub in Burslem
Officers are appealing for witnesses following an assault which took place in the Sagger Makers Bottom Knocker pub in the Market Place in Burslem.
At approximately 12.55am on Sunday 27 November a 27-year-old man was assaulted by two men.
The victim, a local man, received serious, but not life threatening, facial injuries. He was taken to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire where he remains receiving treatment.
Two men, one aged 41 from Newcastle and the other aged 21 from Stoke-on-Trent, were arrested in connection with the incident and released on bail pending further enquiries.
The investigating officer, DC 4453 Mick Smith, said: "It is believed there were several customers in the pub at the time and other people passing by that may have witnessed this incident and we urge them to contact us."
Anyone with any information is asked to contact DC Smith at Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting incident 50 of November 27, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Issued: 30/11/2011
Contact name: DC Smith
Contact number: 101
Crime reference number: 50 27/11/2011


text: I have an old 95 trek 930 that I would love to put a fork on...so I can use it as a banger bike. I have been told I can put in a new threadless headset or just have the new steerer threaded. I think it is a one incher? Any ideas on how to solve this problem economically.


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- Tuesday February 15th, 2011 :: 04:58 p.m. EST
Please see Milan Police NIXLE email regarding subscribers receiving unwanted messaging from outside agencies.
Sometimes government geographical boundaries may over lap the City of Milan as it relates to NIXLE messaging. Recently, I've received complaints that citizens are getting messages they did not subscribe to from outside police agencies. This is not a problem for a NIXLE user, open your account, go to settings, you may subscribe to any agency or service that is listed which you feel is relevant to your needs by checking the appropiate box.
The Milan Police Department encourages NIXLE membership for our community. We send out important messaging pre/current/post event. We've had great success communicating with citizens, and received many positive results. If you have any problems selecting or deselecting an agency or service; please contact the Milan Police Department for assistance.
Milan Police Department
35 Neckel Ct
Milan, MI 48160
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 734-439-1551
Jeff Lewis
Chief of Police


text:
Get the latest Flash player
Views: 8496
Runtime: 5:17:00
Added: 8 years ago
Service ********21
Joey delivers another kinky boatload of gorgeous young talent ready for full-service fuck-duty. This movie contains 46 minutes of extra footage.
Studio: Joey Silvera - Evil Angel | Production Year: 2005
Performers: Jasmine Byrne Hillary Scott Jeanie Marie Sullivan Karina Kay Ria Lynn Kara Mynor


text:
It's an Exceptionally Bad Day for Nostalgic, Failing Family Restaurants
Sundae, bloody sundae.
Sundae, bloody sundae.
Plus: the glory of New Bridge Cafe, and remembering Brigham's lime rickeys, all in our weekly message board roundup.
Plus: your disgusting fridge, all in our morning news roundups.
The Westgate mall is suing Brigham's for nonpayment of rent.
Plus: a Real Housewife writes a cookbook, and Target's misleading soy milk ads, all in our morning news roundup.
All the corporate-owned shops have shuttered, but the independents remain open.
The Wellesley Brigham's is the latest casualty in the chain.
Plus: Brigham's owner vows to save jobs, and France cottons on to fast food, all in our morning news roundup.
Plus: soon we'll all be obsese, and Moldova fights swine flu like it's a vampire, all in our morning news roundup.
All but eight locations will close.
The South Shore Plaza locations are now cash only.
Hot on the heels of the last Boston Brigham's closure, an Arlington location shutters for the same reason.
The High Street location's last day of business was yesterday.
Did your favorite ice cream parlor make the cut?


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Samsung LA40A550p1R Manual
Preview of first few manual pages (at low quality). Check before download. Click to enlarge.
Samsung LA40A550p1R, size: 9.7 MB
|Related manuals
Samsung LA40A550p1r Open Source Guide (ver.1.0)
Samsung LA40A550p1r Quick Guide (ver.1.0)
Here you can find all about Samsung LA40A550p1R like manual and other informations. For example: review.
Samsung LA40A550p1R manual (user guide) is ready to download for free.
On the bottom of page users can write a review. If you own a Samsung LA40A550p1R please write about it to help other people. [ Report abuse or wrong photo | Share your Samsung LA40A550p1R photo ]
User reviews and opinions
|9:45pm on Friday, July 23rd, 2010
|Never seen an LCD that GOOD Perfect TV for Home theater or Gaming nope The Best LCD Out-There Gorgeous Images and sound Nothing
|5:23pm on Thursday, July 15th, 2010
|i bought 2 of these systems for our pub to show live sport. fantastic image and overall quality.
|10:33pm on Friday, June 25th, 2010
|the tv comes with great costomization options on the picture menu. well the price and quality beats all all none well, i caN SAY its CHEAP for this full hd, but its picture quality, i would say think twice... Good design only Lack of colors of picture quality.
Comments posted on www.ps2netdrivers.net are solely the views and opinions of the people posting them and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of us.
SAMSUNG LA40A550P1 40" Full HD Entertainment TV
With its elegantly stylish design the SAMSUNG LCD TV SERIES 5 offers an outstandingly rich Full HD TV experience. With phenomenal picture quality and superior features, sharper, clearer, more detailed images are delivered with incredible intensity on its clear panel screen, enabling you to enjoy quality and versatility that indulge all of your senses. 1080p Full HD - photo realistic details
Be amazed by the SAMSUNG LCD TV SERIES 5's inspirational 1920 x 1080 Full HD images. Richer, more realistic colours create an enhanced experience of entertainment. Moving images become more fluid and lifelike, and action scenes are more powerful and vibrant. Once you have experienced the range of emotions expressed by entertainment at the highest resolution, your world will never be the same again.
Clear Panel - high visibility, low reflection
The increased readability and reduced reflection of the Clear Panel allow you to view clean and clear images at all times. By reducing glare and enhancing contrast, the Clear Panel allows you to enjoy images that are displayed with comfort and clarity, ensuring that what you see is as clear as can be, and your entertainment is as pure as possible. Movie Plus - fluid motion for greater clarity
SAMSUNG Movie Plus eliminates motion judder by calculating the motion factor of an incoming video signal and interpolating the appropriate new frame. In simpler words, unlike conventional TVs, it does not repeat the same frame to create the image. Instead, it increases the number of frames by intelligently estimating the position of the moving object and creating additional frames based upon that estimate. Entertainment Modes - a TV made for entertainment
To provide you with the best entertainment possible, the SAMSUNG PDP TV has three different picture and sound modes optimised for Sports, Movies and Games with hot keys for instant remote control access, so you can be sure that the picture quality you are experiencing is optimised for what you are watching. Fast motion imaging, dynamic detail enhancement, and down-firing speakers all combine to deliver the most exciting entertainment experience you have ever had. Sports Sports mode places you right in the middle of the action.Whether its the gridiron, the playing field, the race track, surfing or a yacht race, the action comes to life in vivid colour and detail providing a superior spectator experience for all sports. And you can enjoy upcoming big sports events, like the Olympic games, right in your living room and feel like youre part of the action! Cinema Experience TV that feels just like a movie theatre. Cinema Mode guarantees the very best moving
image quality while the enhanced speakers deliver powerful cinematic sound. With the specially adjusted colour temperature, you can enjoy the warm feeling of the movies right in your own living room. Game Game mode enhances your gaming experience by providing you with smooth moving images, incredible sharpness of detail, and sound that is clear and powerful. When the Game mode is turned on, the contrast in dark areas is amplified, the bass sound is enriched, and the response time to game console movement is shortened, creating the best possible environment for fast moving video games. Enjoy the sense of total immersion in your game and all the excitement that you can handle. 3 HDMI - one cable for audio and video
The SAMSUNG LCD TV SERIES 4's 3HDMI (High DefinitionMultimedia Interface) inputs enable you to connect quickly and conveniently to a broader range of external devices. HDMI allows uncompressed streams of digital data to be transmitted via one cable, delivering a purer picture quality to be displayed for your appreciation and enjoyment. Appreciate the best that digital entertainment has to offer with SAMSUNG. Digital Natural Image engine+
Indulge your eyes with the clearest, most natural images imaginable. DNIe + produces an incredible depth of detail that captures your eyes and unlocks your senses. Its advanced Colour and Motion Optimisers and Contrast and Detail Enhancers combine to provide you with inspirational images and precise pictures. 30,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
SAMSUNG LCD TV SERIES 5 provides powerful images that are vivid and realistic. By reducing the duty ratio, the black level can be minimised, allowing deeper black colours to be made. The internal dimming and brightening of the backlight generates more intense colour; dark colours become darker and light colours become lighter. Wide Colour Enhancer 2 - provides natural, realistic colours
Wide Colour Enhancer 2 expands the colour gamut into a third axis and creates a 3D diagram of luminance. This, in turn, creates a dynamic display of on-screen colour and reinforces traditionally weak colours such as green and blue, so that they appear vivid and deep. Red colours are also enhanced to provide strong colours across the spectrum and the perfect balance of RGB. WISELINK - music and photo on TV
The WISELINK connection allows you to share music and photos with those who are closest to you. By simply using the USB 2.0 interface you can delight your friends and family with the things that delight you.
Energy Star - the evolution of ecology The Energy Star certification means that the SAMSUNG PDP TV is dedicated to helping you do your part to protect the environment. The energy efficiency of the SAMSUNG PDP TV allows you to be secure in the knowledge that you are doingyour part to protect the delicate balance between technological advancement and conservational awareness.
1080 24P Real Movie - true to the original The SAMSUNG PDP TV 450 gives you the power to watch movies in their original 24-frames-persecond format-so you can see them the way they were intended to be seen. The latest in digital technology allows Blu-Ray Disc Players or Game Consoles to output content in its original forms of 24 fps. The SAMSUNG 450 PDP TV supports these 24 fps sources through the HDMI input, and is capable of showing scenes in the maximum resolution of 1080p.
remote controller
The highly-textured universal remote control is comfortable in the hand, and by grouping the buttons in an intuitive manner, the right button is easier to find, enabling exceptional ease of use. Swivel Stand - innovative swivel stand
The innovative swivel stand offers unparalleled positional flexibility for viewing. It allows you to mold the screen to suit your needs without lifting or repositioning the set. Full mobility is delivered with minimum fuss by simply swiveling the stand so that you can view the screen the way that suits you. Enjoy the convenience of the clearest, most visible TV screen at all times.
VIDEO Screen Size Resolution 40" 1920 x 1080
Dynamic Contrast Ratio Viewing Angle Response Time DNIe AUDIO Sound Effect System Sound Output(RMS) Input & Output(Side) HDMI composite (AV) S-Video Headphone Input & Output(Back) HDMI composite (AV) S-Video PC input (D-sub) Component(Y/Pb/Pr) Feature Picture-in-Picture Dimension Set size (WXHXD) with stand Set size (WXHXD) without stand Package size (WXHXD) Weight Set weight with stand Set weight without stand Package weight Input & Output(Back) RF Input Component(Y/Pb/Pr) S-Video Headphone
30,000:1 178/178 (H/V) 5ms DNIe+
SRS TrusurroundXT 10W x 2
No 1 2
1 Tuner PIP
1,058.0 x 671.9 x 240.0mm 1,058.0 x 607.5 x 90.8mm 1,203.0 x 796.0 x 320.0mm
19.3kg 16.4kg 25.0kg
Composite(AV) HDMI PC input (D-sub) Video Monitor out, L/R RS232C (for Service only) Power consumption Operation power consumption Stand-By power consumption
1 1(Audio Only) 1
Information displayed is accurate at time of launch. Features and specifications are subject to change without prior notification.
21-230 HV KB 10 RX685 CCD-TR425E Beach C31 VGN-CS11s Q TA-RW311 Phonefax 4840 Autoloader Sram T3 KV-13TR27 DCR-SR58E Power FG 534 HC Cle USB ESL 63 3351 CA UP-895MD NV-XYZ777EX Avic-9DVD-II Korg TM40 Moov 360 Aficio 1060 B1342N0EU Kettler EXT7 09 12BE FSM7352S KX-TCM418B Escalade 2000 DPP-MP1 Dvdr 3480 Solar MDX4600 Maker ICM4 RSH1feis 32PFL9603 A Cafe 8 0 Aspire 5332 DES-3852 MB-910 AR-M450 GR-L207DEQ SBH600 AVH-P6650DVD Popper DE4844 Ultra Kxtg8220G VLT4100 SC-DC575-XAX XR-C5300RV DI-624S 25PT4403 Module 2 4G SRT 5010 XR-3753 SU-V500 D1740 DMR-EZ47VEB TC-14B KX-TG1100FX 5008MG B89090-5 110 8708 MCP651 RDR-HX1010 Review 17000 2500MF Trouble Metroverb WD-14401TD 5500G Samsung WP10 Thinkpad R50E Laserjet 6MP EOB68713X Yamaha M-65 XR-4200R CJ-N773W DGS-1024T NT9110 Handheld PC Q Cdma VCL-ECU1 WSP4010 Motorola EQ7 GA-8I915g-MF 26556 EU DKW DUO APC 500 Optio L50 Elna SP 24540 VGN-FJ270-B Pentax P50 32X-MAX ZKG2100 Image 1200
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We keep trains moving in the right direction.
Original OEM Parts
At Reduced Costs and Shorter Lead Times
Qual-Tran Products Company, LLC specializes in aftermarket parts for rolling stock and wayside use and is a premier supplier throughout North America.
We specialize in providing original OEM products – but at reduced costs and shorter lead times.
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Please contact us at 215-699-9102 or firstname.lastname@example.com to learn more about the services and products we can provide.
Qual-Tran Products Company, LLC Phone: (215) 699-9102
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© 2014 Qual-Tran Products Company, LLC


text:
6 P.M.: Getting Ready
You want him to open the door and think, Wow!—but without looking like you're trying too hard. Strike the balance by pairing your cutest jeans with an off-theshoulder tee or a strappy tank—something that shows just a touch more skin than usual. (He'll definitely notice!) Give yourself an extra 30 minutes to get ready, so you don't have to rush or make him wait.
7:15 P.M.: At the door
Even if you and your guy talk all the time, the first moment of a Real Date is nerve-racking — so much buildup! Keep your cool and calm his jitters by giving him a warm hi and a quick hello hug.
Then make a joke that acknowledges the weirdness ("Full disclosure: I changed three times!") — it will diffuse any pressure. (If he honks from your driveway, wave him in for just a minute while you grab your purse and jacket.)
7:25 P.M.: On the way
Your instinct may be to ask a bunch of questions to get him to open up, but that can feel like a college admissions interview. Instead keep the convo moving by making funny observations. ("Do you ever accidentally make eye contact with the people stopped next to you at a red light? I hate that!") Don't worry about silences — you can always default to talking about what's playing on his iPod. Since he picked the music, he'll have stuff to say about it.
8:10 P.M.: At dinner
If you think he might pick up the check or don't know how much food to order, ask him what he's getting and choose a dish around the same price. When the check comes, offer to split it. If he insists on paying, don't push it — just thank him and say you'll buy him ice cream next!
10:30 P.M.: Saying goodnight
If you want to go out again, let him know by bringing up something you talked about earlier ("So when do I get to beat you at Guitar Hero?"). Ready for a kiss? Don't rush out of the car when he drops you off — move closer to him and keep eye contact. If it's on his mind too, he'll lean in!
11 A.M.: The next day
Play it cool and let him reach out to you: Texting first can seem overeager. If he's interested in you, you'll probably hear from him by the end of the day. In the meantime, enjoy the rush you get after an awesome date — it's exciting to know anything could happen next!


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Guy Maddin's "Dracula": A Beautiful, Odd Ode to Bloodsucking and Ballet
by Amy Biancolli
Good movies always get us thinking, and the best ones raise issues that linger long after the climax fades. But when it comes to "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary," a single, noisy question burns:
What IS this thing?
Is it a silent movie? A ballet? A stylized retro-Vampyr schlockfest? A paean to the mannered gothic films of F.W. Murnau? A meditation on female sexual empowerment and the twin seductions of money and death? An ode? A romp? A fugue? A joke?
It's none and all of that, and more: It's Guy Maddin's latest film, which is just another way of saying it's both rapturously beautiful and ecstatically odd. Maddin, a darling of the Canadian indie scene, has made his metier in parsing the language of movie history, and the result is a seductive coupling of old and new. His films mix obeisance to his elders with a rapscallion's fondness for cheese; you'd be hard put to find a 21st-century director who's more conversant in past styles and more willing to tweak them mercilessly. Surely a film that beheads its heroine with a shovel and a loud SPLICCHHH can't be all in earnest.
Yet Maddin takes his high art damned seriously. "Pages from a Virgin's Diary" is based on Bram Stoker's nod to Vlad the Impaler, but its more immediate source is Mark Godden's "Dracula" as adapted and choreographed for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The cast consists of company dancers, and the action revolves (literally) around toe-shoes and pas-de-deux, all of which appear in tinted monochrome -- sepia, fuchsia, turquoise -- above excerpts from the symphonies of Gustav Mahler.
There is no audible dialogue. Aside from that SPLICCHHH and other comic-book effects, there is no sound beyond the Mahler. Characters occasionally have their say on title cards ("Death! It is only the beginning," or, "She's filled herself with polluted blood," or, "No one knows till he does it what it's like to feel his blood drawn away into the woman he loves"), but by and large, the plot unfolds without much in the way of verbal communication.
It's hardly needed -- the dance is expressive enough, and the tale is told as most vampire tales are, with the titular bloodsucker despoiling virgins while getting trailed around by angry cuckolds. Maddin isn't the first to find protofeminism in this horny little story, but he's surely the first to turn it into such a mesmerizing goulash. The movie is 75 minutes long. You'll wish it were 30 minutes longer.
That said, let us pause to consider this fully. Here we have, and it's best not to pussy-foot around, a classical ballet set to classical music filmed in black and white with no spoken words and no (pardon the phrase) "movie stars," all of it tricked out with surrealist touches. Just think of all the phobic moviegoers this film might repel: silent-movie-phobes, black-and-white-movie-phobes, classical-music-phobes, ballet-o-phobes, and anyone who harbors a secret phobia of dimestore fangs. The toe-shoes business alone could scare off a goodly portion of the moviegoing public.
And yes, it's all plenty strange. But it's a lovely strange, a strange that piques and charms. What's remarkable is how seamlessly Maddin fuses the visual and aural cues of grand guignol silent horror with the twin disciplines of classical dance and music. The end product is a kind of graceful Frankenstein, a radiant, flaked-out hybrid of disparate art forms that shocks, then seduces, then wows. So many scenes are indelible: Zhang Wei-Qiang, as Dracula, draping an airy scarf on the neck of the virgin Lucy Westenra (Tara Birtwhistle); Lucy's servants, crosses in hand, swirling around the bed of the ravished maiden; Dracula dancing with Lucy in a gentle snowfall, lifting her through graveyard mists.
The whole film is full of such unexpected poetry, all of it illumined by Paul Suderman's fairy-light cinematography. Maddin owes a great deal to the cast and choreographer, of course; it's thrilling to see gifted and sexy dancers in a gorgeous and sexy ballet rendered with imagination and wit on the big screen. (Someone had better give the charismatic Zhang a role in another movie, and soon.) It's been a long time since dance -- REAL dance, not the quick-cut sleight-of-hand we saw in "Chicago" -- has had a starring role in a movie, and "Dracula" reminds us just how cinematic the art of terpsichore can be.
In another sense, Maddin's work recalls the gyno-centric Maya Deren, whose underground films incorporated dance and Dali-esque surrealism in equal measure. But Maddin has more faith in narrative storytelling, and he has more faith in cinema, too; his love for the form infuses every frame. No one could make a movie this resonant and not feel the tug of history.


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Sonics, Sonics and more Sonics
I had a telephone conversation with a Seattle City Councilman for the first time earlier today, and I hung up the phone with a better understanding of just how toxic the situation has become up there.
During our 10 minute conversation, Councilmember Richard McIver made it clear that he wants to keep the Sonics in Seattle. He also made it clear that they are in no way interested in building a new arena.
My direct question: "Is there anything else you guys can do to try to get a deal done?"
McIver: "I think there's some things I hope the Mayor's office is working on. I believe if they chose to stay there might be some opportunity at doing some remodeling of the existing facility, provided that they're willing to put a substantial stake in it. I think we will be willing to do something in that way as long as we're in a partnership."
OK. Let's review. Not only has Clay Bennett said a countless number of times that he's not interested in a renovated facility, but not once has the ownership group said anything about putting up their own funds. Sounds like irreconcilable differences to me.
But then I press the issue and ask McIver in these exact words: "What's the climate of the civic leaders in the area? Are you all completely against a new arena? Are renovations the only way you guys see fit?"
McIver: "I think that's all that you're going to see in Seattle. "
Now, McIver, it's worth noting, is the Chair of the Finance and Budget Committee, which according to the Council's Web site, "makes recommendations on legislative matters relating to the financial management and policies of the city and its agents."
From what I gathered of his explanation, much of the reason why McIver is against a new building is because it doesn't make sense for long term economics.
"My basic premise, and one that I think even Oklahoma needs to be worried about, is if you build a new stadium and you have a 30 year bond and you have leases that last about 10 years. Then you find that the facility is determined to be not adequate. So over a 10-year lease, you still have a 20-year payment left on a facility."
McIver makes great points, and, without having talked with them (yet), I'm sure his fellow Councilmember's agree with him, especially considering Seattle recently built Safeco and Quest Fields for the Mariners and Seahawks. This thing is not going to get done before Oct. 31. The best solution I see for Seattle is NBA commissioner David Stern stepping in. But that still might not do much. Seattle is tired of paying for arenas. Nothing Stern can do about that.
I do, however, think Seattle's political leaders are now ticked at the ownership group and are going to try to get them to stay for the heck of it. Aubrey McClendon's comments had a lot to do with it. Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley points that out in his piece today. There's also a good story in the Times about whether or not the city can hold the Sonics to their lease. All worth reading.
- Darnell Mayberry


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Chocolate Holidays
Happy belated holidays!
For the past week I've either been scrambling to get ready for Christmas, celebrating with the family, or recovering from all the scrambling and celebrating. The whole time I was trying to figure out just where chocolate fit into the whole mess. It really doesn't feel like there is a whole lot of chocolate in our holiday tradition. There are cookies and candy canes and eggnog (even eggnog soda) but aside from the odd cookie there really isn't a lot of chocolate in the mix. We have never had a yule log so any chocolate that gets involved (usually lurking in a cookie, as a present, or in the form of Hershey's Kisses in stockings) is lucky to do so. The biggest role chocolate plays in our tradition is the presence of York Peppermint Patties which have been a part of Christmas in our family for as long as I can remember. In my experience Christmas just isn't much of a chocolate holiday.
December 26th, however, is all about chocolate. I don't know a thing about Boxing Day beyond what I just read over at Wikipedia, but I do know for fact that it is one of MY chocolate holidays. In stores and on websites all across the country all that lovely holiday chocolate is put on sale at half off! That, my friends, is a reason to celebrate. And it only takes a day or two more for the chocolate to drop to 75% off! What could be better than cheap chocolate? Ok, I'll admit that cheap good chocolate and free chocolate are both better, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. Most of the time, actually.
So in the end while Christmas itself isn't that much of a chocolate holiday (in my experience), it does usher in one of the biggest chocolate holidays of the year in my book. Go forth and partake of the great bargains. I know I will.
Anyway, I hope everybody had a good holiday, whatever it may have been. I'm still working on a little gift for my readers that may or may not happen. It requires equal parts luck, skill, and memory and I'm sorely lacking in all three.


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|A Message from the Dean
|Soldier of Misfortune
|Beyond the Big City
|Yesterday's News
|Investing in the Penn Law Mission
|The Brief
|Faculty News & Publications
|The Campaign for Penn Law
|Alumni Briefs
|In Memoriam
|Case Closed
Paul Clothier Van Dyke, C'39, L'42 of Willow Valley, Pa. and formerly of Delaware County, died on March 25. Mr. Van Dyke practiced law in Delaware County and was a member of the Delaware County Bar Association for more than 50 years. He wrote and composed music and played the organ at many area churches. He studied genealogy and was the author of many papers and a book, "The Van Dyke Family; A Glimpse of the Dutch Settlement in N.J." He is survived by four daughters, their husbands, six grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Stephen F. Weltman, L'66, Jan. 31.
Marcella C. White, CW'43, L'45, Dec. 18, 2006.
|Previous Page


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How does one convert a
Graphics3D object into an
Image3D object? E.g., start with
Plot3D[x^2 - y^2, {x, -1, 1}, {y, -1, 1}].
How does one convert a
If you already have a
Using the following rudimentary "slice" function, we can generate slices of the function at a given value of $x$:
Now generate such slices for all $x$, rasterize and grab the
As you can see, the reconstruction is not perfect, and this arises from having to artificially sample the
A much better reconstruction can be obtained either by generating frames using
or by directly obtaining the samples as Kuba showed.


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Please wait while the player loads...
Jul 1, 2013
Butler BIG EAST Day - Barry Collier & Trip
Butler BIG EAST Day concluded with Barry Collier throwing out the first pitch at Monday night's Indianapolis Indians game. Trip was also on hand to give the Butler AD some help. July 1, 2013.


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Spoken when you did something that you wanted to do, and everyone else just wasn't smart, or dumb, enough to do it.
Why did I just punch you in the face? Because I do what I want.
by AngryPOPTART January 12, 2011
Top Definition
To do what you want, with the aim to have fun while sometimes diregarding others.
The guy screamed, "Idowhatiwant" after he slaps a girls ass.
by Devon Parsons January 18, 2008


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I have always had an affinity for my single or childless family members. Who will remember them long after they are gone? Who will pass on their contributions to the family? Who will tell their stories?
I am woefully ill-equiped to due any justice in attempting to answer these and other questions. I do know, that if I don't pass on what little information and stories that I have, their lives will blurr into the past and be long forgotten that they walked upon this earth.
Johanna was born 18 December 1873 in Leer, Niedersachen, Germany. Leer is located in the northwest part of Germany. She died 4 August, 1959 and is buried next to her parents in Ad Matha Cemetery (AKA Jenkin's Cemetery) northwest of Flush, KS. She had been ill for some time and was in a nursing home in Wamego, KS, at the time of her death.
Much of the information I have on the Tieking – Heickman family came indirectly from Johanna. When she passed away, the things she saved were kept by her brother Herman and his son Fred. Fred Tieking later passed the "treasures" onto me. She wrote and received letters from her cousins on her mother's side and saved all letters and pictures, newspaper clippings and the German bible the family brought with them from Germany with the family information recorded.


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Frolicat Sway Toy: Reviews
|< Back to the Frolicat Sway Toy
|Please login to write a review
Wish the elastic was stronger
posted on 13/02/2013 17:55:03 by HanSpan
Our madcap kitten loved this but she chewed through the elastic in quick time We tied it back togvether and she did it again Unfortunately its now far too short to be of any use and I dont think we can get inside it to attach new elastic Shame as she really did love it hanging from the dining room table
Love it
posted on 26/12/2012 07:48:02 by sarahaspden
This is really good I have put this on a cat scratching tree that we have and thet really love it
nice extra
posted on 09/10/2012 22:26:59 by Catchy
Handy extra toy very strong magnet so easy to fit to a table The cats use it every now and then in passing was worth buying if in sale
kittens love it
posted on 04/10/2012 12:31:14 by vickiestar
although the kittens dont play with it for long they just keep coming back they love it i move it about from on top of the table and they chase it around bounces up and about and the feather and bell keeps them coming back for more
Its ok
posted on 15/02/2012 19:11:42
My cat played with it for 2 minutes and hasnt gone back to it She normally likes hanging toys Ive even tried moving it around Its a good quality product though
Play n Sway away
posted on 24/04/2011 12:32:13 by jelman
Its a great sturdy product and does stay in place so the Cats can play as rough as they like. But doesnt keep my cats interested for long until I rubbed catnip on it that is. Only buy if your cat is really into playing with this type of toy mine seem happier with a bit of string.


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I need to find a piece of software that searches the folders of my hard drive and when it finds a duplicate FOLDER NAME then it will merge (or suggest to merge) it with a previously found folder of the same name.
Does anyone know of something out there that can do the job?
[Something freeware or portable would be great but not essential]
p.s. For Windows please: XP/Vista/7 etc.


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John Goode
June 16, 2014
Saluki Athletics Director of Group Sales and Special Events John Goode was one of 13 FCS administrators who were selected by the FCS Athletic Directors Association (FCS ADA) to attend the 2014 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention in Orlando, Florida last week via the Borden Perlman Insurance Professional Development Grants.
The grants, which cover registration fees and travel expenses for the convention, are awarded to senior level FCS administrators who meet the requirements.
"On behalf of the FCS ADA, I'd like to congratulate the 2014 Borden Perlman Grant recipients," said FCS ADA President Brian Hutchinson, who is also the director of athletics at Morehead State. "I also want to thank Borden Perlman for its continued support in engaging and advancing our members educational and professional development opportunities through the FCS ADA grant."
Goode is a 2011 graduate of SIU and has been the director of group sales and special events since March of 2013. He was a first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference fullback on the Saluki football team.


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See All Contributors »
That dumb or drunk?
Slurred.... Stupid announcement....
What are you talking about
Nobody but HB knows for sure. You pretty much know nothing....like Knownothing would like to say.
I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm going to guess "stupid"; Jim Delany's never seemed like that bright of a bulb from any interviews I've seen/heard/read.
At the trophy presentation I swear he was wasted.
Everyone was off though. They were called big 12 champs and PAC te.... Champs. Pretty ugly.
I don't know if Delany was drunk or not but Tim Brewster is an idiot as an announcer. He should go back to coaching long snappers for a living.
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colchicine - oral (cont.)
HOW TO USE: Read the Medication Guide provided by your pharmacist before you start taking colchicine and each time you get a refill. If you have any questions regarding the information, ask your doctor or pharmacist.Take this medication by mouth with or without food, exactly as directed by your doctor. Dosing recommendations vary widely and may be different from the following recommendations. Taking more than the recommended dose may not increase this drug's effectiveness and may increase your risk for side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more details.If you are taking this medication to treat a gout attack, carefully follow the directions given by your doctor. This medication works best if you take it at the first sign of an attack. The recommended dose is 1.2 milligrams at the first sign of an attack, followed by 0.6 milligrams one hour later. The maximum recommended dose is 1.8 milligrams taken over a 1-hour period. Ask your doctor ahead of time about how soon you can repeat treatment with this medication if you have another gout attack.If you are taking this medication to prevent gout attacks, ask your doctor about the dose and schedule you should follow. Carefully follow your doctor's directions.If you are taking this medication to prevent attacks of pain caused by familial Mediterranean fever, the usual dose is 1.2 to 2.4 milligrams daily. The total dose may be taken once daily or divided into two doses a day. Your doctor may need to adjust your dose to control your symptoms or if you have side effects.The dosage is based on your medical condition, other drugs/foods you may be taking, and response to treatment. To reduce your risk for serious side effects, do not increase your dose, take it more frequently, or take it for a longer time than directed by your doctor. Serious side effects may occur even at usual prescribed doses.If your doctor directs you to take colchicine regularly, use it regularly to get the most benefit from it. To help you remember, take it at the same time(s) each day.Avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice while being treated with this medication unless your doctor instructs you otherwise. Grapefruit can increase the amount of certain medications in your bloodstream. Consult your doctor or pharmacist for more details.If you are taking this medication to treat symptoms due to familial Mediterranean fever, tell your doctor if your condition does not improve or if it worsens.
Report Problems to the Food and Drug Administration
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit the FDA MedWatch website or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Need help identifying pills and medications?
Back to Medications Index


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After College
Alumnae Initiation
Since 1898, Sigma Sigma Sigma has provided women
with friendship, a sense of purpose, commitment to values and much more. Sigma
Sigma Sigma's mission is threefold: To establish among its members a perpetual
bond of friendship, to develop in them strong womanly character, and to impress
upon them high standards of conduct. Our core values are simple and essential:
wisdom, power, faith, hope and love.
The Alumna Initiate program invites women of character to join our national sisterhood who believe in the mission and values of Sigma Sigma Sigma. The invitation extends well beyond the traditional environment of the college campus and offers the opportunity for membership to women of various ages and situations. The friendship, sisterhood, and support of Sigma Sigma Sigma is truly a lifetime experience, no matter when you join the bonds of sisterhood. A member who is initiated as an alumna has all of the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges as a member who is initiated as a collegian.
Potential Alumnae Initiates:
· Campus administrators, faculty, and staff members
· Friends and relatives of Tri Sigma members
· Personal mentors
· Community leaders, volunteers, and noteworthy citizens
· Former collegians who were pledged into a Tri Sigma collegiate chapter, but were not initiated
· Women interested in a social, service, and/or mentorship experience
· Women who have given their time and talents to a Tri Sigma collegiate or alumnae chapter
Advantages of Becoming a Member of Sigma Sigma Sigma:
· Networking – Interaction and support from a national network of women.
· Social Engagement – The enjoyment and support of the Tri Sigma sisterhood.
· Alumnae Chapter Membership – Social engagement and service learning opportunities through membership in an alumnae chapter.
· Mentorship – An opportunity to serve as a mentor to collegiate women through a Chapter Advisory Board or Housing Corporation.
· National Volunteer – An opportunity to utilize your time and talents as a national volunteer through ongoing committee work, special projects, and/or advisory roles.
· Professional Development – Leadership and skill development opportunities at National Convention, Regional Conferences, the CAB and Volunteer Summit, and other alumnae resources and programs.
· The Triangle Magazine – subscription to the Sorority's magazine, when annual dues are paid.
· Sigma Connect – Lifetime access to the members-only social networking site and resource database.
· Service and Philanthropy – An opportunity to participate in service learning projects in the local community and to support Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation projects.
· Scholarships/Grants – An opportunity to receive scholarships for continued education and grants for local hospitals in your community.
· Civic Involvement – An opportunity to participate in congressional lobbying in Washington, DC.
· National Panhellenic Conference – Recognized membership in a National Panhellenic Conference Sorority and an opportunity to serve on the local Alumnae Panhellenic.
· Endless Possibilities – As the Sorority moves "ever forward", the opportunities available as a Tri Sigma member grow greater each year.
Qualifications for Alumna Initiation:
· Candidate must have an interest in Sigma Sigma Sigma and recognizes the value of membership.
· Candidate may not be a member of another National Panhellenic Conference sorority (May be a member of a local, honorary or service sorority).
· Endorsement by two members of Tri Sigma (collegian, alumna, advisor, national officer, etc).
· Agreement by collegiate chapter or alumnae chapter that will initiate the candidate.
· Candidate must be ineligible for collegiate membership.
· She has the ability to contribute her own special talents. Her interests may lie in the social aspects of the alumnae chapter activities or in their philanthropic projects. She may be an ideal CAB or Housing Corporation member for a collegiate chapter or colony.
· She will make time for Sigma (after personal and professional obligations).
Once these criteria have been met, Alumnae Initiate candidates will receive Arc Degree, entering the New Member phase of the Sorority. Before initiation, women must pass an open-book test on essential Tri Sigma knowledge.
Women are then initiated in one of two ways: by members at a nearby Collegiate Chapter or by an Alumnae Chapter. After initiation, new Tri Sigma alumnae may wear the Sorority's badge.
Financial Obligations:
· Prior to initiation candidates pay a $60 Loyalty Fee. The fee includes:
1. Essential Sigma , member education manual
2. Membership Certificate
3. The Triangle , sorority magazine – subscription based upon paying annual alumnae dues of $45.00 beginning the year after initiation
4. Full payment to the Loyalty Fund – used for the financial stability of the Sorority and for chapter housing investments)
5. The History Book of Sigma Sigma Sigma
· Initiates must also purchase the official badge of the Sorority
· Alumnae dues, $45 paid annually
After Initiation:
Alumnae are encouraged to remain actively engaged with Tri Sigma through the variety of opportunities including Alumnae Chapter life, serving as a Chapter Advisory Board member or national volunteer, and/or participating in the programs and resources offered for alumnae members. Alumnae are expected to pay either annual national alumnae dues of $45 in the year after initiation or Lifetime Dues, as well as any local dues as determined by individual Alumnae Chapters. Alumnae support the Bylaws and National Policies of the Sorority and they should keep their contact information current with National Headquarters.
For further information regarding Alumna Initiation, please contact Sigma Sigma Sigma National Headquarters at (540) 459-4212 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Recommendation of an Alumnae Initiate candidate:
To nominate a woman for Alumnae Initiation, please submit a completed Recommendation for Alumnae Initiation Form (AR-4) and Membership Record Card (M-476) for the Alumnae Initiate candidate to National Headquarters:
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Fax: (540) 459-2361
Mailing Address: Sigma Sigma Sigma
225 N. Muhlenberg Street
Woodstock, VA 22664
Chartering a New Alumnae Chapter
It's as Easy as 1, 2, 3! While Sigma Sigma Sigma alumnae chapters are located in most major metropolitan areas across the United States, new chapters in areas where none are located are always welcomed. There are many benefits of alumnae chapter membership. Alumnae chapters have the opportunity to operate and function much as the members wish, with very few stipulations. Requirements and obligations of members are much less than that of collegiate chapter membership. Opportunities for sisterhood activities, local service projects, social events and long-term friendships are just some of the things belonging to an alumnae chapter can provide. Sigma sisters of all ages and collegiate affiliations are welcome to belong to any alumnae chapter.
1. Contact National Headquarters. The staff, through the Alumnae Membership Coordinator, will alert the Alumnae Department, who will determine if enough alumnae reside in your area to support a chapter. Once the determination is made that sufficient numbers of alumnae reside in your area, the Alumnae Coordinator for your state will work directly with you in the process of chartering a new chapter.
2. The Alumnae Coordinator will assist you in planning an interest meeting for area alumnae. A geographical listing of all alumnae will be provided for you, and National Headquarters will generate the first mailing for the interest meeting. You may also want to use the E-mail addresses that are on file as well to contact people that way.
3. Submit a petition. If the alumnae in the area wish to petition Executive Council to become an official alumnae chapter, National Headquarters will provide a petition for these alumnae who wish to be part of the new chapter. A minimum of 10 women is required to sign this petition; they should have paid their annual alumnae dues, and they should all live in the area where the chapter will be formed.
After the petition is submitted to National Headquarters,
Executive Council accepts the petition, and an Alumnae Department National
Officer will plan a visit with the new chapter to officially present the
charter and conduct the new chapter workshop. From that point on, the chapter
will rely on the guidance and support of the National Organization through the
Alumnae Coordinator, who will assist the new chapter in recruitment and program
The new chapter is then on its way to building a support system of sisterhood for all Sigma alumnae residing in the area.
If this sounds interesting to
you, contact
For a current listing of alumnae chapters click here .


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One of the first issues sure to come up in this year's legislative session beginning on Jan. 30 is voter identification. This is an issue Republicans in the General Assembly hoped to pass last session, but were stymied by Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's veto and the inability of the House to override it. What the bill eventually looks like, though, is apparently still up in the air.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), held a press conference Wednesday in which he laid out his position on the issue. From Berger's perspective, any ID legislation must include a government-issued photo ID, though not necessarily a driver's license, and it must meet constitutional standards. Berger's position is essentially what was proposed in the last session.
However, Berger's statement at yesterday's press conference differed somewhat from recent comments by House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) and Gov. Pat McCrory. Both Tillis and McCrory have recently said they would be open to accepting alternate forms of identification at the polling place, such as voter registration cards or other government documents, instead of a strict photo-ID-only requirement.
Again, it's unclear what any voter ID legislation will ultimately look like, and this could be an interesting case of political "good cop, bad cop" from the three Republican leaders. Either way, there continues to be a lot of concern about requiring a photo ID in order to vote and its potential impact on North Carolina voters.


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There isn't much you need to actually know about "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." There are no books to read, or mythology to know and hell, you probably didn't even have to see its predecessor, "G.I. Joe: Rise Of The Cobra." But one thing you should probably know as you make your decision to buy a ticket is this: the movie has ninjas. We know, ticket bought, right?
Because no matter how good or (likely) not good the sequel is, we'll get ninjas, and that's pretty awesome. But it seems Paramount wants to give away that whole big money scene for free, so here's a pretty generous 4 minute clip of the zomg-they're-fighting-on-a-fucking-mountain scene. This seems like the reason you would actually pay for a 3D ticket and see it on the big screen, but here it is to watch on your computer or mobile phone or whatever because marketing. After that, you can watch a brief featurette which confirms that the movie is a giant playbox for a bunch of adult dudes.
"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" makes toy stores happy on March 29th.