text:
Great cruise on the Spirit!: Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review by Sunshinefish
Overall Member Rating
Great cruise on the Spirit!
Destination: Western Caribbean
Embarkation: New Orleans
Embarkation: Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the cruise terminal at about 11:30 am and were boarding by 11:45. We opted for lunch in Windows dining room. I think many people went to the buffet instead, so there were very few people in the restaurant - it was very relaxing and a nice start to the day. We wandered around, exploring the ship, until our cabin was ready at 2:00 pm.
Cabin: We were in an inside cabin on deck 6 forward. The cabin was small, as expected, but had plenty of storage space for the two of us. There was a small desk with one drawer, a corner unit beside that with four drawers, and five "cubby-hole type" shelves in the closet. In the bathroom, there was a shelf under the sink area where you could store toiletries, as well as two More small glass shelves on each side of the sink. We were very pleased with the condition of the cabin - in fact, with the whole ship - we didn't see the "signs of aging" that a number of others have mentioned in their reviews (other than having a miniature, non-flat screen TV in the cabin - but who wants to watch TV on a cruise, anyway?) We had booked an inside guarantee, and were somewhat concerned about possible noise when our cabin was assigned and we saw that it was under the casino, but it turned out to be no problem at all.
Crew: Our room steward was very friendly - he never failed to greet us (usually in both the morning and evening) and ask about our day. We found all crew members we encountered to be very friendly - nearly everyone would smile and greet us as we walked by.
Dining/Food: We were very happy with the food/dining. We ate most nights in Windows - one night at Raffles buffet and one night in the Garden dining room (smaller than Windows - not as spacious a feeling). We liked the food in the main dining rooms so well that we didn't feel a need to pay extra to try one of the specialty restaurants. We enjoyed the freestyle dining and ate at different times throughout the week - from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm - and never had to wait long for a table. Four nights there was no wait at all and two nights we were given a buzzer, only to have a table open up in less than five minutes each time. One night service was a bit slow and we had to track down our server and then wolf down dessert in order to make it to a show, but otherwise service was very prompt - most nights it was only an hour from the time we sat down to the time we finished our dessert. Raffles wasn't my favorite for dinner, but they had good choices at breakfast and lunch (hot choices, salad, deli station, plus a vegetarian Indian section). We also had lunch a couple of times at the Biergarten when we came back late from excursions and most other venues were closed (hamburgers, sausages, fries). Our favorite treat there was the great pretzel bread!
Ports/Excursions: We were very fortunate to have great weather once we got out of what turned out to be a very cold and windy New Orleans!
Costa Maya: We had pre-booked The Mayan Experience Tour with Native Choice. This was probably my favorite excursion in the eight cruises I've been on so far. We started with a tour of the Chacchoben Mayan ruins. There were 18 of us in two vans. Our guide was Ivan Cohuo, whose father rediscovered the ruins and who grew up in the area. He was a very engaging tour guide - informative as well as warm and friendly. As interesting as the ruins were, the highlight of the tour was going to Chacchoben village afterwards for a lunch with a Mayan family. Three women hosted us in their garden/home, where we ate under a thatched roof, open-air structure. First, we got to shape our own tortillas, which were then cooked over a fire. Next, our guide/interpreter explained and showed us the various spices used in Mayan cooking. The lunch was wonderful, including tamales, a tender chicken dish that had been stewed with onions and spices, red beans, a medley of squash and other vegetables, and flan for dessert.
Santo Tomas: We decided to opt for an NCL tour after reading about various safety concerns in Guatemala. Overall, we were very pleased with the NCL Discover Rio Dulce tour. Be prepared for a very bumpy boat ride to start off, however! The boats hold about 20 people - they have a roof over the top for shade, but open sides, and bench type seats seating four across. It took about 30 minutes to get from where the ship is docked to the mouth of the Rio Dulce and that 30 minutes consisted of a fast, rough, bone-jarring ride. After that, we slowed down and were able to enjoy the ride and scenery. Our favorite spot was a water lily garden, where young children (about 4-8 years old) came up in canoes to try to sell us trinkets or have their pictures taken - they were so cute, we were more than happy to oblige (be sure to bring some $1 bills). We stopped at a dock/home nearby and got out for a few minutes to use the rustic facilities and get a drink and/or snack (including tortillas made over the fire). We then had a stop in Livingston for a little over an hour before heading back on the bumpy ride to the ship. You were free to wander as you wished - we followed the tour guide around, visiting a church and then going to a local hotel where a group of young people performed dances at noon. After returning from the tour, we went to the enclosed market area at the cruise ship dock - we were very pleasantly surprised by the large number of booths of people selling crafts and other items. There was also a stage inside where there was a band playing - it looked as though there were probably performances throughout the day.
Belize City: We had pre-booked the Snorkeling, Bannister Island Beach Break, and Manatee Watch Tour with Coral Breeze. This was the only one of our ports that required tendering - and tendering was a problem that day because of wind/rough seas. The Freestyle Daily said that tender tickets for those not on NCL excursions would be given out starting at 8:30 am in Champagne Charlie's. We got there at 8:00 am (as did quite a few others) and got a ticket for Tender 1, which they thought would be called for boarding at about 8:45 or 9:00 am. We had all of our gear with us and began waiting on the promenade deck for our tender to be called. And we waited and waited, becoming more anxious all the while that we would miss our tour, which was scheduled to leave from Belize City at 10:00 am. Finally, our tender was called at about 10:00 am. By the time we made it down the packed stairway and onto a boat it was nearly 10:15 am. Once we got to Belize City we rushed to our tour meeting place and were glad to find that they had not yet left without us (but were in the process of boarding the boat, so we just made it!) We had fun on the tour (there were about 10-12 people in all), although the water was rather choppy, which made for not the clearest snorkeling. Bannister Island was very pretty, with plenty of shady spots, chairs and hammocks (as well as facilities and a snack bar/grill). We had about an hour and a half there after snorkeling. Next, we went to a marine sanctuary area to look for manatees. One person on our boat spotted one, but none of the rest of us did - still it was a nice day to be out on the water.
Cozumel: We took a taxi from the shopping mall by the dock to Chankanaab Park ($10 each way). I'd been there a number of years ago, and liked it then, but it had been vastly improved since that last visit. The entrance fee was $19 (with a $2 off coupon available on the park's website). The Park has nice facilities, including bathrooms, lockers, showers to enable you to rinse off, snorkel rental, a restaurant, and nice wooden chairs under palm thatched umbrellas (palapas). There is a calm swimming area for children with a nice-looking wooden play structure, and, of course, the Dolphin Discovery area for those wanting to book programs to swim with dolphins and/or manatees. The snorkeling area is very easy to access, with steps leading down from the beach - the water was clear and we saw lots of fish. In addition to beach activities, the Park also houses an archeological trail - a very pleasant, shaded trail on which you can see reproductions of various Mayan statues and a replica of a Mayan house (where a woman was cooking tortillas over the fire). They had just started a dance program the week before and we were fortunate to get to see two fascinating dances at different locations in that area (a "human sacrifice" at the opening archway and a fire dance at another spot that has a replica of a small temple) - as well as a "deer dance" on the beach. (The dance programs were at noon and 1:30). We also had fun watching several large iguanas in the lagoon area/botanical garden.
Entertainment: We thought the entertainment on the ship was great - especially the Second City shows, the Duo Acrobatique, and the last show, Elements, which was amazing! The NCL production shows were also surprisingly good. The only one that was something of a "miss" for us was the R&B duo, which was just so so. The only negative for me in terms of entertainment/activities is that little is offered during the days at sea that does not involve an additional charge - although I also enjoy just reading and relaxing, I'd like to see some enrichment/cultural type programs, free cooking classes, etc. Even the ship tour, which I've enjoyed on other cruise lines, cost $55!
Disembarkation: Like embarkation - disembarkation was a breeze. We carried off our own luggage, so were free to leave when we wanted (although they request that you be out of your cabin by 9:00 am). We had a leisurely breakfast at Windows, collected our luggage from our cabin, got off the ship around 9:00 am and were through customs and getting a taxi to the airport within 15 minutes. Less
Published 02/17/10
Cabin review:
Read Cruise Critic's Norwegian Spirit Review >>
Carnival; never again
Very fun and comfortable
Exceptional Experience
Did not pay a lot, did not get...
All the staff were amazing. An...
Casual, easygoing ship.
Did not pay a lot, did not get...
So great to be part of the ina...
Didn't meet expectations
Sponsored Links


text:
Drought threatens winter wheat grazing plans
Nov 16, 2012
According to USDA's crop and weather report, winter wheat was rated at 21 percent very poor, 32 percent poor, 44 percent fair and 3 percent good. By this time last year, the crop was 98 percent emerged and the five-year average is 97 percent emerged..
You must Sign In or Register to access this content
Not a subscriber yet? Try WLJ free for 30 days!
Register to read WLJ's digital edition and enjoy unlimited access to the news source more livestock producers depend on.
Click here to begin your free 30 day trial subscription.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home4/derok6/public_html/thunderballers/components/com_sh404sef/shInit.php on line 37 Contact Thunder Ballers Login HomeArchives2011 Archives2010 ArchivesContact Contact Thunder Ballers E-Mail Enter your Name: E-mail address: Message Subject: Enter your Message: E-mail a copy of this message to your own address. Send Search Follow Thunder Ballers Legal Information - Privacy Policy - Disclaimer ThunderBallers.com is an Oklahoma City Thunder fan web site and is in no way affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the National Basketball Association or its Properties. This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only. ThunderBallers.com is not an official web site for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Copyright © 2010 www.ThunderBallers.com - All Rights Reserved - Trademarks used herein are property of their respective owners. Bloguin


text:
$16.00 donated in past month
IMC Network
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay FeatureRelated Categories: East Bay | Global Justice and Anti-Capitalism | Police State and Prisons
Occupy Activists Call for Nonviolence on Anniversary – Particularly by OPD
"I believe that I speak for all gathered here when I say that we do not support violence of any kind on our streets, we honor our young people and wish them not to be harmed nor abused within our "justice system", which has no relationship to what a balanced person would consider justice," said Samsarah Morgan.
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
original image (2262x1690)
OAKLAND – A year ago today police raided and dismantled the Occupy Oakland encampment, on October 25, 2011. Occupy activists called for nonviolence at protests commemorating the anniversary at a press conference in front of City Hall this morning. They particularly called on Oakland Police to be nonviolent.
Standing in Oscar Grant Plaza, flanked by an ad hoc group of noteworthy Occupy activists, Samsarah Morgan explained why the press conference was called.
"I believe that I speak for all gathered here when I say that we do not support violence of any kind on our streets, we honor our young people and wish them not to be harmed nor abused within our "justice system", which has no relationship to what a balanced person would consider justice," said Morgan .
"It has also come to our attention that there have been flyers posted in some neighborhoods speaking of violence towards the "Black Bloc," which Morgan said the group opposed.
Morgan introduced herself as a counselor midwife and teacher; and also a member of several committees of Occupy/ Decolonize Oakland.
"With the blessings and support and of the allies surrounding me, I declare a rebirth – and I declare a separation from any group internal or external which says in any way that Occupy Oakland is dead!"
"Occupy Oakland lives! We are here, we will be reaching out to our beloved city, building bridges and assisting in any way to feed, house, educate and provide the means for financial and emotional security and support for the people of Oakland. We are the 99 per cent and we are here to serve the interest of the 99%,"
"I wish to also say that no one person, group or ideology can lay claim to Occupy Oakland – The genius of the Occupy Movement is that is it an open template, given as a gift, that communities all over the world can apply and change to meet their circumstances. "
Morgan was careful to note that the press conference was not called by Occupy Oakland and that her comments were not approved at an Occupy Oakland General Assembly.
Others who spoke at the press conference were Timothy Fong, Shake Anderson, Dafina Kuficha, Pastor Nichola Torbett, and Green Party candidates for the Oakland City Council, Theresa Anderson (At Large), and Don Macleay (Dist. 1).
Fong said all the issues which gave birth to the Occupy movement still exist.
Macleay emphasized that the Oakland Police had been the most violent by far, and has acted as a force of repression.
Theresa Anderson said she was there for her "Occupy family" and to serve the community.
Pastor Torbett said that people connected to the interfaith tent from the encampment were still actively to taking nonviolent action for justice and called for justice for Alan Blueford and Oscar Grant.
Additional coverage: Text of Samsarah Morgan's remarks: http://www.urbannana.com/?p=419
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
original image (2272x1702)
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
original image (2228x1642)
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
behind L-R: Pastor Nichola Torbett, Dafina Kuficha, Samsarah Morgan, Timothy Y. Fong, Don Macleay, and Shake Anderson.
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
original image (2224x1638)
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
original image (2268x1700)
Speaking at press conference on Occupy Oakland anniversary
City Hall/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland, CA
October 25, 2012
Photo: Jonathan Nack
Comments (Hide Comments)
Friday Oct 26th, 2012 12:16 AM
Instead of calling for nonviolence why don't you just organize something relevant ? nobody is stopping you.
Friday Oct 26th, 2012 12:19 AM
Occupy, no matter what location, is not a gift for thugs like Shake Anderson, who publicized unfounded suspicions that one of our comrades is a terrorist, which he based on a vague government document about someone with a similar name, and a small photograph of a man whose face was almost entirely obscured by a thick beard, and looked nothing like the comrade in question.
Slandering a comrade is not about a difference in ideology, nor does it build bridges. It is the polar opposite of keeping people safe from harm and abuse by the injustice system. Endangering a comrade by publishing unproven allegations that he may be a terrorist IS violence.
Friday Oct 26th, 2012 2:57 PM
It was Khalid (Khalid also having robbed the Holdout) who produced the DOOM flier, after having personally threatened a number of people in the local movement in identical fashion. Khalid and Shake run together, and both align with the officially disbanded OO Media committee who have been promulgating disinformation and disruption. It's a very small group of anti-social comrades there, doing their very best to stir up as many shit storms as possible, with themselves emerging as the supposed Occupy Oakland superstars in the corporate media.
Samsarah is cool and ran the Children's Village at the Oakland Commune. Those named above are most definitely not. She should know who she's dealing with when she condemns the laughable DOOM flier. An allie of that irresponsible and counter-productive propaganda was standing right next to her.
Friday Oct 26th, 2012 3:56 PM
It has also been stated that Samsarah Morgan was part of the Media Collective that called a well known Arab-American active in OO a ''terrorist '' ! Based on a Defence dept allegation aimed at a man in South America no less !
A General assembly condemmed this slander overwhemily , approx. 140 to 6 .
Was Morgan allied with Shake Anderson in this outrageous action ? Does anyone know ?
Friday Oct 26th, 2012 6:12 PM
She wasn't part of the original slander crew. She has subsequently has provided cover for this total douche bag. Shame on all the rest of these people that stood with Shake Anderson.
Friday Oct 26th, 2012 9:13 PM
It doesn't take any brains or talent to call a press conference, especially when what you're saying feeds into the media and police agenda to divide Occupy. They stand together because they are ideologically allied, based on middle-class values of Non-Violence (which means not doing anything to threaten the police and the exploitative capitalist social order they protect) and Representational Legitimacy. Those who are actual radicals already know that these clowns who promote themselves as some kind of authentic representatives of Occupy Oakland are charlatans and cannot possibly do so without a binding mandate from the General Assembly. That they continue to promote the fiction that the OOMedia Collective, which was officially disbanded by the GA, represents anything but themselves and their very specific sectarian agendas makes anyone to the Left of them embarrassed to be tagged with the Occupy name. Fuck those reactionary losers and their middle-class agendas.
Saturday Oct 27th, 2012 9:59 AM
get your facts straight. No one was ever called a terrorist, that line of thought shows the utter naivete of much of Occupy. The comparison was made to a freedom fighter, the implication being that should a wanted revolutionary surface within another revolutionary movement that individual had likely been turned.
The methods they used were ill advised and poorly presented, but the basic if/then reasoning was sound. That Occupy chose to align with MSM thought and call a revolutionary a terrorist shows their inability to grasp the term cointelpro other than as a word to loosely brand those they disagree with.
Saturday Oct 27th, 2012 10:51 AM
Calling for nonviolence is an important first step toward *anything* considered "organized" in Oakland at this point, thanks to the property destruction faction of OO.
The amazing thing is how those focused on appearing cool while thinking they are disrupting authority or conformity are the first to reject and undermine any one who organize anything -- their damaged ego is taking over.
Amurica is full of damaged ego's in need of standing on someone else's misery to feel strong, unfortunately, and when you poke at others, claiming it's their job to organize while you or others break things, you expose yourself as yet another one of those damaged egos, no different then the screaming football fans in their orange attire, trying to fill a hole inside with someone else's "win", no matter the consequence.
Saturday Oct 27th, 2012 11:59 AM
Not a roach-- you're full of shit. He was libeled as a drug dealer, terrorist and cop all at the same time without a shred of evidence. Stop lying.
A reader-- we're all waiting for that second step.....crickets....
Saturday Oct 27th, 2012 8:01 PM
This isn't about Jaime Omar Yassin and his worthless reputation. Stay on topic.
So these people had a press conference. Big Deal. You go on about your way and let them go on about their way.
Anytime people who are or were a part of OO try to organize autonomously, OO gets freaked out about it. Stop trying to control the movement already. When people tried to organize for May Day, OO got all possessive over the plaza. When people tried to "Reimagine the GA" (you know, the GA no one gives a shit about), OO sabotaged it. Seriously, get over yourselves. You aren't the only people in Oakland trying to do something.
Saturday Oct 27th, 2012 10:05 PM
Shake Anderson has done an amazing amount of harm both in the past and the very presence tense. Anybody standing with him is fair game for criticism. It has everything to do with self-defense. I could care less about trying to control the irrelevant green party types of Oakland.
Sunday Oct 28th, 2012 8:08 AM
...and the one that is struck barks the loudest.
Sunday Oct 28th, 2012 1:27 PM
"Reimagine the GA" didn't need anyone else to sabotage it. It was sabotaged by itself, with an agenda of altering the decision-making process from which they felt excluded because their agenda of Non-Violence and Oppression/Identity Politics was consistently rejected by the GA. Their attempt to steer things into a majority-rule, winner-take-all model of municipal democracy appealed to so few supporters and curious folks that their big meeting (which was run like a cross between a team-building corporate retreat and a group therapy session) to inaugurate the process attracted about 50 people, while the GAs were still hosting at least four times that many. The bullshit attempt to completely alter the process and the tone of the GA was rejected more than once, without anyone needing to do anything but expose these liberal and social democratic clowns to ridicule; it's clear that they only represent themselves and their political and ideological allies among the establishment left. Some of us don't like to ignore them - especially when they attack us and our friends - but we definitely don't need to attack or sabotage them. They trip over their own ass-kissing wagging tongues whenever they open their mouths.
Sunday Oct 28th, 2012 8:25 PM
The real reason why they were rejected by the GA multiple times is their inability to recognize the fact that OO was co-opted by the "Bay of Rage" people early on and the BOR ideology IS a violent one. After co-optation, the majority of the GA will have the same views as the BOR crew;hence, no non-violent proposals will ever pass. Its no surprise the majority rejected their non-violent proposals. Its to OO's detriment that their policies were rejected because the result is OO being discredited with the vast majority of Oakland residents with the random property destruction.
Sunday Oct 28th, 2012 10:01 PM
You are so stupid and paranoid you don't even realize how idiotic you are. Bay of Rage is made up of perhaps a half-dozen people. There's no way in hell that six - or even sixty - people with a BOR agenda could "co-opt" anything as large as the pre-December GAs, where 2-300 people participated. You're laughable.
Wednesday Dec 19th, 2012 7:22 AM
sunlight, are you saying you saw khalid design, print, and post the doom flyers? hard to believe what you're saying, since you're also saying khalid and shake are somehow aligned. those two don't even speak to each other, and are about as far from aligned with each other as is possible. they have virtually nothing in common, except possibly both being easily distracted by women.


text:
Kodak Gold 200 35mm, 36 exposure, ISO200 (Pack Size Options)
Kodak Gold 200 film is a color negative film that offers the best combination of color saturation, color accuracy, and sharpness at ISO 200. It is designed for general picture-taking situations in daylight or with electronic flash. You can also expose this film under photo lamps (3400 K) or tungsten illumination (3200 K) with filters.
Kodak Gold 200 features excellent color accuracy and saturation and high sharpness and resolution. It also features wide exposure latitude from two stops underexposure to three stops overexposure.
Main Benefits:
Technical Specifications:
These Kodak films are brand new in retail boxes.
We Also Recommend


text:
Want to know the fate of humanity? Why pick up a copy of Rolling Stone, of course. There you'll find the latest eco-extremist prediction designed to scare the world into global warming action. Gaia theory creator James Lovelock is in the latest issue predicting mankind will almost be wiped out by 2100 from global warming.
Lovelock told Rolling Stone that predictions of the earth's warming will be "nearly double the likeliest predictions of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." Rolling Stone summed it up by saying "The human race is doomed," in a story posted on its site October 17. Only as few as 500 million will survive "with most of the survivors living in the far latitudes - Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Arctic Basin."
But Lovelock wasn't a typical Gorean nutbar. The aging scientist didn't advocate for conventional eco-solutions but did push for nuclear power. "To Lovelock, cutting greenhouse-gas pollution won't make much difference at this point, and much of what passes for sustainable development is little more than a scam to profit off disaster," wrote Jeff Goodell. "'Green,' he tells me, only half-joking, 'is the color of mold and corruption.'"
The predictions arrive just in time for the media awash in post Nobel Prize climate change coverage. CNN is devoting a huge effort to promote its two-part show "Planet in Peril" that will be shown on the network Oct. 23 and 24 at 9 p.m.
Lovelock isn't even the first eco-extremist this year to say the earth is over-populated by billions of people. In May, Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society warned mankind was "acting like a virus" and 5.5 billion would die.


text:
Post Open Enrollment Updates
Open Enrollment has ended. No additional online changes will be accepted; however, you can still log onto Open Enrollment to view and/or print your confirmation statement as often as you need through the end of this year.
It is important that you review your January 10, 2014, payroll deductions. If there are any discrepancies between your Open Enrollment confirmation statement and your pay stub, please contact Employee Benefit Services immediately. Please keep in mind that this is not an opportunity to make changes to your plan selections, but to resolve any system errors that may have occurred.
Important deadlines include:
- December 23 – Employees must provide proof of medical coverage elsewhere in order to receive the County's bi-weekly credit of $119.23.
- January 10 – Review your first paycheck deductions
- January 15 – Employees must provide student schedules of Over Age Dependents along with the 2014 affidavit
The required documents can be returned to Employee Benefit Services via interoffice mail, email at firstname.lastname@example.com, fax at 954-728-2777, or in person.
New Combined Health and Pharmacy ID Cards for 2014
We are excited to announce that Humana and Catamaran will be sharing one
ID card for 2014. Members will receive a Humana ID card with Catamaran
pharmacy plan information printed on it for convenience. Current Humana and
Catamaran ID cards will continue to work.
Holiday Identity Theft Training Seminars
The National Crime Program will be providing Identity Theft training
seminars at the following locations:
- December 9, from noon to 1 p.m. at Government Center West Hearing Rooms
- December 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Governmental Center
Conference Room 302
This is a great opportunity to learn how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, fraud, purse snatching and parking lot theft during the holidays. Registration is not required to attend. For more information, contact Employee Benefit Services at firstname.lastname@example.com or at 954-357-6729.
Third Quarter Biggest "Buddy" Winners
The third quarter Biggest Winner Challenge came to a close in October. Congratulations to the winning pairs who focused on maintaining a healthier lifestyle and most importantly, creating a strong support system to drop some pounds!
|Transit Copans Facility – Jose Negron and Ramon Rodriguez
|Elderly and Veteran Services – Violet Alphonso and Verol Collins
|Governmental Center – Katie Lelis and David Stout
|The Mills Center – Brenda Anderson and Roberto Gonzalez
|Port Everglades – Judy Fink and Faye Janofsky
|Weston Library branch – Nuzhat Alam and Geeta Hemnani
|Water & Wastewater Services – Jane Kamara and Roy Gibbons
The Wellness group at Aviation was extremely motivated creating a tie between two groups! Nina Brevett and Garfield Webbe tied with Caron Irving and Sharlene Cooper. In addition, this is Katie Lelis' second consecutive win in the Biggest Winner challenge! Congratulations Katie! The fourth Quarter Biggest Winner is currently underway with many individuals determined to win. Stay tuned for next year's first quarter challenge. For more information in participating in the next Biggest Winner challenge, please visit MyWellness page or contact Wellness Coordinator/RN Lisa Wright.


text:
V6Scripts is a collection of osh and sh6 command files, which provides working examples of how to script these shells.
Release Notes: This is a spit and polish release. It adds symlink and not directory checks to the alarm.osh script. It adds another symlink check to the oshdir.osh script. It also adds a '-v' verbose option to the oshlatest.osh script.
Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse (DCC) is a system of clients and servers that collect and count checksums related to mail messages. The counts can be used by SMTP servers and mail user agents to detect and reject bulk mail. DCC servers can exchange common checksums. The checksums include values that are "fuzzy", or constant across common variations in bulk messages.
Release Notes: This release fixes several modest bugs and updates the copy of the SpamAssassin DCC.pm plugin.
Libiqxmlrpc is an object-oriented library that represents an XML-RPC solution for both client and server. It supports HTTP and HTTPS, both single-threaded and multi-threaded computation models on the server side, method interceptors, and other features.
Release Notes: This release fixes the parser's incorrect behavior for some corner cases. It has moved away from automake to cmake.
PowerDNS Authoritative Server is a high-performance authoritative nameserver with a host of backends. Besides plain BIND configuration files, PDNS reads information from MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and many other databases. Backends can easily be written in any language, and a sample Perl backend is provided. PDNS powers around 30-40% of all domain names in many parts of the world, including >90% of all DNSSEC domains in Europe.
Release Notes: This release is identical to 3.0, except with a fix for CVE-2012-0206 aka PowerDNS Security Notification 2012-01. An upgrade is recommended.
PowerDNS Authoritative Server is a high-performance authoritative nameserver with a host of backends. Besides plain BIND configuration files, PDNS reads information from MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and many other databases. Backends can easily be written in any language, and a sample Perl backend is provided. PDNS powers around 30-40% of all domain names in many parts of the world, including >90% of all DNSSEC domains in Europe.
Release Notes: This release contains a fix for CVE-2012-0206 aka PowerDNS Security Notification 2012-01. In addition, this release contains changes for more recent versions of gcc, a massively sped up master/slaving engine, and fixes for several crashes in the BIND backend.
MCM Website Monitor is a Web site monitoring script. It sends you an email if a Web site appears to be down. It can be useful to make sure clients' Web sites are up and running.
Release Notes: This release has a fix to email headers.
Fork CMS is dedicated to creating a user friendly environment to build, monitor, and update your website. It is designed to be the CMS of choice for beginners and professionals.
Release Notes: This release integrates CKEditor into Fork CMS. It adds a cookie containing a unique visitor id. It adds the ability to add an extra to all pages when installing forkcms with the installer function addDefaultExtra. The extra will be added to all pages without this extra. You can now add items to the search index in the installer of your module. When adding an editor field, the editor will immediately open. The sitemap now correctly displays subpages. Modules may now also include files in /library/external. Actions for which the user has no rights are no longer shown.
MCM Backup is PHP/MySQL Web site backup software. It allows you to back up your Web site files and database and save them to your PC.
Release Notes: This release has a bugfix for fields and tables with reserved names.
AllWorldIT DBackup is a backup system which creates one archive per directory it backs up. This makes searching through the backup much easier, as you can look for which files you're after in the directory hierarchy. It will only back up directories which have changed, which makes it rsync friendly.
Release Notes: Major feature enhancements.
ProcessMaker is workflow and business process management software that allows small to medium-sized organizations to automate document intensive, approval-based processes across various systems including finance, HR, and operations. An entirely Web-based, AJAX-enabled application built on the popular open source WAMP/LAMP stacks, it includes tools to design forms, create documents, assign roles and users, create routing rules, and send alerts. A full service-orientated architecture (SOA) and Web Services interface allows the software to directly connect with popular business intelligence, content management, and enterprise resource planning systems.
Release Notes: This release has several bugfixes specially related to Chrome. This means that starting from this version, ProcessMaker is compatible with Chrome. Dynaforms has been fixed to work correctly in Chrome. Formulas in grids that were not working correctly have been fixed. There is a warning on trigger creation. Parallel join routing has been fixed. Parallel by evaluation has been fixed. There is an improved plugin creation wizard: the wizard will generate a sample plugin with more options and using lists according to ProcessMaker 2.0. Under Documents, the option "Not in folder" was removed and any Input/Output document that has no Folder path configured will be saved at "root" level.
s6-portable-utils is a set of tiny general Unix utilities, often performing well-known tasks such as cut and grep, but optimized for simplicity and small size. They were designed for embedded systems and other constrained environments, but work everywhere. Other sets of small utilities are usually system-specific; for instance, the (otherwise excellent) BusyBox project only works on Linux.
Release Notes: This release fixes a bug in s6-tail, which did not handle non-positive line numbers correctly.
pyexpander is a macro processor based on Python. Instead of simple text replacement, it offers evaluation of arbitrary Python expressions and execution of Python code. It features simple syntax definition: all expander commands start with a dollar sign ("$") followed by word characters, parameters, Python code enclosed in brackets, or a combination of these. The full power of the Python programming language can be used, including all operators, functions and modules. Any Python expression can be used to insert text. It also provides a Python library that you can use to develop other macro tools based on pyexpander.
Release Notes: Bugfixes for the $extend and $nonlocal commands and documentation changes.
newLISP is a Lisp-like, general-purpose scripting language. It has all the magic of traditional Lisp, but is easier to learn and use. newLISP is friendly, fast, and small. Most of the functions you will ever need are already built in.
Release Notes: Development v10.3.10 has more improvements in the extended FFI, and greatly increased speed on read-line with file handles.
Release Notes: This release fixes an artefact problem in Opera 11.60. The ability to pad labels inside a vertex has been included. The hierarchical layout now deals with straightening long edges more effectively.
rdesktop is an open source client for the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which is used in a number of Microsoft products including Windows NT Terminal Server, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, and Windows 2008 R2 Server. rdesktop currently runs on Linux and other Unix based platforms with the X Window System.
Release Notes: This release fixes a few major issues with the 64-bit build with smartcard support, license handling with Windows 2008 R2 Terminal Server, and a few minor bugs.
Aspose.Cells for Reporting Services allows you to export native Excel reports in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services. Unlike the built-in renderer for Excel based reports, Aspose.Cells for Reporting Services provides an extended feature set and allows RDL reports to be converted to: Excel 97-2003 binary XLS format, SpreadsheetML, or the Excel2007 XLSX format. With the Aspose.Cells Report Designer tool, users can design and deliver reports into MS Excel directly without using Visual Studio IDE.
Release Notes: This release includes some general features such as workbook and worksheet protection. The Aspose.Cells for Reporting Services client component now supports Office 2010 x64. Optimization work has been done to improve the overall performance of Aspose.Cells and its modules. This version also fixes a number of internal bugs and includes several new enhancements, for example, the Herder background color bug, a hide column issue, the row merged algorithm module, a page break issue, hyperlink and bookmark links bugs, the row algorithm module, the Excel 2007 (data only) output bug, etc.
Fossil is a distributed software configuration management/version control system built with reliability and ease of use on mind. It comes with integrated bug tracking and a wiki. It is distributed as a single static binary for easy installation and the ability to run in a chrooted environment. Other highlights include a Web interface, autosync, simple networking, and CGI support.
Release Notes: This is the 21st stable release of Fossil. It contains some usability improvements. Most interesting are the side-by-side diffs in the CLI. For the internals, the JSON interface has been merged into the trunk, but needs to be enabled while compiling from source.
Recovery Is Possible (RIP) is a CD or USB boot/rescue/backup/maintenance system. It has support for many filesystem types (Reiserfs, Btrfs, Ext2/3/4, HFS+, ISO-9660, Squashfs, UDF, XFS, JFS, UFS2, CIFS, MS DOS, NTFS, and VFAT) and contains several utilities for system recovery. It also has IDE/SCSI/SATA, RAID, LVM2, and Ethernet/Wireless network support.
Release Notes: The kernel and software were updated.
AWeather is a real-time weather data viewer designed for weather enthusiasts. AWeather is not a weather widget/dockapp that displays a pre-computed forecast. It is designed to be an easy to use program that integrates a variety of meteorological data in a simple unified interface. Currently, AWeather only displays data provided by the United States National Weather Service.
Release Notes: This release adds support for Mac OS X and includes a dmg file for installation. An improved user guide and some bugfixes have also been included.
lshw (HardWare LiSter) is a small tool for Linux to provide detailed information on the hardware configuration of the machine. It can report exact memory configuration, firmware version, mainboard configuration, CPU version and speed, cache configuration, bus speed, etc.
Release Notes: This version corrects bugs, adds support for reporting physical disks sector size, improves support of GPT-partitioned disks, and sports a more flexible GUI (readying for GTK3).
BalanceNG is a modern, IPv6 capable software IP load balancing solution. It is small, fast, and easy to use and set up. It offers session persistence, different distribution methods (Round Robin, Random, Weighted Random, Least Session, Least Bandwidth, Hash, Agent, and Randomized Agent) and a customizable UDP health check agent in source code. It supports VRRP to set up high availability configurations on multiple nodes. It supports SNMP, integrating the BALANCENG-MIB with Net-SNMPD. It implements a very fast in-memory IP-to-location database, allowing powerful location-based server load-balancing.
Release Notes: A major bug with the internal parameter table has been fixed. Upgrading is strongly recommended.
LogAnalyzer is a Web front-end for syslog and other network event data. It provides easy browsing, searching, basic analysis, and some graphics. Data is taken from databases or plain syslog text files, so LogAnalyzer does not require changes to an existing logging infrastructure. Depending on the log data present, it can process syslog messages, Windows event log entries, and some more exotic things. Its troubleshooting support enables users to quickly find solutions to problems seen in the log data. LogAnalyzer was previously called phpLogCon, and has been renamed since v3.
Release Notes: A bug in the Syslog and Eventlog summary reports which consolidated the wrong events when the source filter was used was fixed.
DocumentBurster is a tool for report distribution: split, merge, email, and FTP your reports. It has report delivery for Crystal Reports, SSRS Reporting Services, MS Access, Cognos, PeopleSoft, and SAP. It has report bursting for Pentaho, JasperReports, and BIRT. It can upload reports to MS SharePoint.
Release Notes: A new sample script, ant-mail.groovy, was provided for sending ad-hoc email. A new sample script, skip-current-file-distribution-if.groovy, supports advanced conditional report delivery scenarios. The documentation was improved.
MSR Tools is a source code evolution analysis tool. It consists of a framework for mining software repositories and tools for metric calculation, visualization, and defect prediction.
Release Notes: More defect prediction models, more evaluation results, and bugfixes.
Gearmand is the job server component of Gearman. Gearman provides a generic framework to farm out work to other machines, dispatching function calls to machines that are better suited to do work, to do work in parallel, to balance the load of processing, or to call functions between languages.
Release Notes: A fix for TokyoCabinet and build updates for Ubuntu.
A GCC plugin for fixed-point arithmetic.
A rule-based expert system for manufacturing source code.


text:
The term Bar appears as an open graph type and the translation machinery gets it wrong, at least for Danish, where the term bar (a place to drink) is a very different word than the default Drupal "bar" (a visual element like a bar chart).
So to not confuse non-english users it would be nice with a string context in the opengraph translation of the term (metatag_opengraph/metatag_opengraph.metatag.inc), so translator can distingues.
|567 bytes
PASSED: [[SimpleTest]]: [MySQL] 73 pass(es). View
Comment #1DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
I'm fairly new to dealing with translations, would you mind either providing a patch, explaining what needs to be done or providing a link to documentation on how to do this? Thanks.
Comment #2DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
Comment #3DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
|» Needs review
|568 bytes
Would this work? I've added a the context "location".
Comment #4DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
I've changed it to 'business', added the same context to the other businesses and then also added a new context to some of the other strings.
Comment #5DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
Forgot to hit save before creating the patch.
Comment #6Dave Reid CreditAttribution: Dave Reid commented
Is there some kind of unified way to know what value to use for context? For example: band is music and not noun? Maybe we should standardize all of these and use a context of 'OpenGraph type' instead since that's truly the context being used?
Comment #7Dave Reid CreditAttribution: Dave Reid commented
|Needs review
|» Needs work
Comment #8Gábor Hojtsy CreditAttribution: Gábor Hojtsy commented
Dave: there is no clear consensus in #1035716: [policy, no patch] Decide and document guidelines for using string context but that is the issue for the discussion you are referring to. I agree things like Bar and Band are very ambiguous and would need context provided.
Comment #9DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
@Gábor: Thanks for chiming in. Any suggestion on what should be used in this situation as the context for "bar"?
Comment #10DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
Comment #11Sutharsan CreditAttribution: Sutharsan commented
First, and foremost: A context is only required when a translation conflict exists. Don't add contexts for potential conflicts. This issue was opened for a conflict on 'bar', unless there have been (non-documented) discussion with stonor, please remove all contexts except for 'bar'.
My first guideline for contexts is that a context describes the linguistic meaning in its context. My suggestions for 'Bar' context this case: 'an establishment' or (popular) 'where beer is served'.
Comment #12DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
|Issue summary:
|View changes
|Needs work
|» Needs review
|567 bytes
PASSED: [[SimpleTest]]: [MySQL] 73 pass(es). View
@Sutharsan: thanks for your help. I've updated the patch to use "an establishment", as suggested, and removed the other contexts.
Comment #13DamienMcKenna CreditAttribution: DamienMcKenna commented
|Needs review
|» Fixed
Committed. Thanks for your help, everyone!


text:
Dutasteride for Improving Peri-Operative and Long-Term Outcomes of Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate (DOP)
Recruitment status was: Active, not recruiting
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms
|Drug: dutasteride
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Study of the Use of Dutasteride for Improving Peri-Operative and Long-Term Outcomes of Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate (DOP Study)
- Change in American Urologic Association Sympton Score
- Change in BPH Quality of Life
- Change in urinary flow rate
- Change in post void residual
- PVP operation time, wattage use, estimated blood loss
- Post-operative catheter time
- Incidence of post-operative dysuria and hematuria
- Incidence of expected and unexpected adverse events following PVP
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|January 2006
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|May 2009
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|50 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
1. Men aged ≥ 50 years old 2. Subjects with LUTS due to BPH with:
- AUA SI score ≥ 12 at baseline
- Qmax ≤ 15 mL/sec (on at least 125 mL)
Symptoms for ≥ 3 months 3. Subjects with prostate volume ≥ 30 grams 4. Subjects who are appropriate surgical candidates for Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate (PVP) as determined by a study investigator 5. Subjects able to swallow and retain oral medication 6. Subjects able to comply with study protocol 7. Subjects able to read and write (to complete the self-administered AUA SI) 8. Subjects who sign the approved Informed Consent Form for the study
Exclusion Criteria:
- Subjects who have previously undergone a surgical treatment for BPH including but not limited to TURP, TUNA, TUIP, thermotherapy, prostatic stent, dilation balloon, etc.
- Subjects with a history of prostate cancer
Subjects with a history of bladder or testicular cancer in the past 5 years
Subjects who have been cancer-free for at least 5 years will be eligible
Subjects with a history of superficial bladder cancer will not be excluded
- Subjects who have received radiation to the pelvis or prostate or radical surgery to the pelvic area
- Subjects with persistent gross hematuria, current symptomatic prostatitis
- Subjects with neurogenic bladder and/or sphincter abnormalities for any reason including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or diabetes
Subjects who have used any 5 α-reductase inhibitors in the past 3 months.
Subjects who wash-out of these medications for 3 months prior to screening will be eligible
Subjects taking alpha-blockers within 2 weeks prior to randomization.
Subjects must be off of alpha blockers at the time of randomization for the measurement of AUA Symptom Score, QoL Score, flow rate, post void residual, etc. In the rare case a patient goes into retention during the 3 month period between randomization and PVP, they will be allowed to resume their alpha blocker until the PVP since no outcomes are measured during this period. They will be required to discontinue the alpha blocker after they have surgery
- Subjects on an unstable regimen of antidepressants, anticholinergics, androgens, or herbal supplements including phyto-sterols (such as saw palmetto) Subjects who are on a stable regimen of the above medications for at least 1 month prior to screening and are willing to stay on the same dose for the duration of the study will be eligible
Subjects on an unstable regimen of beta-blockers, antihistamines, anticonvulsants, antispasmodics, or other medications known to affect the clinical symptoms of BPH
Subjects who are on a stable regimen of the above medications for at least 4 months prior to screening and are willing to stay on the same dose for the duration of the study will be eligible
- Subjects with a post void residual > 350 mL
- Subjects with a known hypersensitivity to 5α-reductase inhibitors
- PSA > 10 Subjects with a PSA between 4 and 10 with a negative prostate biopsy and deemed at low risk for prostate cancer by the investigator
- Subjects with serum creatinine >1.5 x the upper limit, ALT > 2 x the upper limit, AST > 2 x the upper limit, ALP > 2 x the upper limit, or bilirubin > 1.5 x the upper limit for normal
- Subjects treated in the last 30 days with another investigational product or currently participating in another study with an investigational drug or procedure
Subjects deemed ineligible for the study by the site investigators or the sponsor
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00274417
|United States, Virginia
|Urology of Virginia
|Norfolk, Virginia, United States, 23510
|Urology of Virginia
|Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, 23454
|Principal Investigator:
|Gregg Eure, MD
|Urology of Virginia Research, Devine-Tidewater Urology
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00274417 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|January 9, 2006
|Last Updated:
|April 17, 2007
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Prostatic Hyperplasia
Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms
Pathologic Processes
Prostatic Diseases
Genital Diseases, Male
Urological Manifestations
Signs and Symptoms
5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors
Steroid Synthesis Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Hormone Antagonists
Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists
Physiological Effects of Drugs
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on August 18, 2017


text:
Each month, Rated People connects over 50,000 homeowners with quality tradesmen - simply enter your job details in the form above to get started.
We'll match your job to the relevant tradesmen in your area - those interested will pay to see your contact details and call you to quote.
As each tradesman expresses interest in quoting on your job, we'll send you their profile and ratings to help you choose the right one for you.
After the work is complete, return to the site and rate your tradesman based on their quality of work, reliability and value for money.
Drainage Specialist
Added 21/11/2015
Break up concrete slabs in front of front door, lay approximately 5 metres of plastic drainage...
Searching for tradespeople
Drainage Specialist
Added 20/12/2013
Unsold lead, updated details: Replace 2 cracked iron down pipes fro guttering. Repair or replace...
Searching for tradespeople
Happy to recommend. Did the work exactly as required and knew what he was doing.
Managing your job is easier with the Rated People Homes App, download it today.


text:
Evening Quickies: Jessica Simpson Figured Out A Way To Make Money Off Pregnancy After All
- The poor thing couldn't sell her big pregnancy news to the tabloids before we all figured it out first. But now Us Weekly claims Jessica Simpson is in talks for a $4 million Weight Watchers deal to lose her baby weight. Whew! She'll be able to buy that diamond-encrusted toilet bowl after all. [US Weekly]
- Ashton Kutcher bought Demi Moore a $100K 2012 Lexus LS two weeks before they split. There's a "Dude, where's my car?" joke in here somewhere. TMZ]
- One of the moms from "Teen Mom 2," Kailyn Lowry, is launching a baby clothing line modeled by her son called The Issac Eliot Collection. Hey, at least she is doing working and doing something creative! [The Stir]
- Paging Dina Lohan: the "Jersey Shore" creator's new show will be called "Mama Drama" and is about moms who party-hardy with their daughters. [Wetpaint]
- My boyfriend Michael Fassbender discusses "A Dangerous Method," spanking, power dynamics … and excuse me, I need a moment alone. [NYmag.com]
- Katy Perry is hosting "Saturday Night Live" on December 10. Hope she's the musical guest that night, too! [Twitter.com/KatyPerry]
- Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez from "The Bachelorette" are dunzo. [People]
- Cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard says he plans to run for office one day so he can give trans and queer folks a bigger voice in government. That would be wild! [F**k Yeah Feminists]
- Southwest Airlines is going to have its own reality show on TLC about employees from Denver and Baltimore. Supposedly this will counteract all the bad publicity they've gotten from booting people (including celebs like Kevin Smith) off their planes! [Perez Hilton]
- French president Nicolas Sarkozy just compared his wife, Carla Bruni, breastfeeding their newborn to slavery. Which … just … no. [The Stir]
Contact the author of this post at [email protected] Follow me on Twitter at @JessicaWakeman.


text:
Beginning in January, the Windham Branch of the Portage County District Library will host two-part workshops on how to write a resume and cover letter.
Also, participants will be able to print five copies of their resume and cover letters for free. Participants should bring with them a USB Drive to save their resume and cover letter.
Workshops will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Jan. 28 and 30, and Feb. 18 and 20. Registration is required. Seating is limited.
To sign up, go to the circulation desk or call 330-326-3145.
The library, located at 9005 Wilverne Drive, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Friday; noon to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and closed Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.


text:
Ancient Future is a musical ensemble popular in the world music genre. Founded in 1978, it is known for starting world fusion music, blending centuries-old music traditions, along with mixing them with modern music, such as jazz, rock or reggae.
Formed in the late 1978 by Matthew Montfort, Ancient Future coined the term "world fusion music" to describe its use of Indian, African, Balinese, Middle Eastern, and South American rhythm, the rich harmonies of Europe Read more on Last.fm
Release date: 04.13.1993
Tracks: 12
Tracks: 7
Tracks: 10
Tracks: 10
Tracks: 7
Tracks: 6


text:
|Mccarty, Gregory
|Reeves Iii, James
Submitted to: Soil Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2005
Publication Date: 2/1/2006
Citation: McCarty, G.W., Reeves, J.B. 2006. Comparison of near infrared and mid infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for field scale measurement of soil fertility parameters. Soil Science. 171:94-102. Interpretive Summary: The increasing interest on the quality of crops has increased the need to assess and monitor soils within croplands. Detailed monitoring of trace metals contents is needed in regions under present or former influence of industrial activities as these activities result in a risk of elevated metal in feed and food. Rapid and nondestructive methods such as infrared spectroscopy provide potentially useful alternatives to time-consuming chemical methods. To assess utility of infrared spectroscopy, we compared results obtained using two different regions of the infrared spectrum (near infrared and mid infrared). The soils used were from a diverse collection obtained throughout metal mining region of Tarnowskie Gory (Upper Silesia/Poland). This region contains soils with elevated contents of zinc, lead and cadmium due to both natural soil forming processes and industrial activities. Results obtained using the mid infrared were much better than those using near infrared; they indicate that mid infrared spectroscopy may be useful for accurate measurement of metals in soil. However, careful development of calibrations will be required for these measurements to ensure accurate results.
Technical Abstract: Use of percision agriculture (site specific management) in agricultural landscapes requires data intensive information on the spatial distribution of soil properties across toposequences found in landscapes. The chemical/physical analysis of the large numbers of soil samples needed for accurate spatial information can be so expensive and time consuming as to place limits on what can be done. For example, traditional methods for determining C in soil require either chemical oxidation which generates wastes which need to be disposed of, or combustion units which are relatively expensive to operate and analyses are time intensive. Where there is a need for the rapid analysis of large numbers of samples, near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has come to be used. We compared the ability of near infrared (NIR) and mid infrared (MIR) spectroscopy for field-scale acquisition of soil fertility parameters. We found that both NIR and MIR formed good calibrations for organic carbon, total N and soil texture. These studies demonstrate the utility of infrared spectral approaches for generating the spatial data needed to implement precision agriculture technology.


text:
Financial Express (Holdings) Limited ("we", "our", "us" and derivatives) are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy, together with our Terms of Use, sets out the basis on which any personal data that we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us relating to your use of any of the below websites ("sites").
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller is Trustnet Limited of 2nd Floor, Golden House, 30 Great Pulteney Street, London, W1F 9NN. Our nominated representative for the purpose of this Act is Kirsty Witter.
We collect information about you when you register with us or use any of our websites / services. Part of the registration process may include entering personal details & details of your investments.
We may collect information about your computer, including where available your operating system, browser version, domain name and IP address and details of the website that you came from, in order to improve this site.
You confirm that all information you supply is accurate.
In order to provide personalised services to and analyse site traffic, we may use a cookie file which is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Some of the cookies we use are essential for the sites to operate and may be used to deliver you different content, depending on the type of investor you are.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or part of our sites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon as you visit our sites.
We store and use information you provide as follows:
We may also send you emails to provide information and keep you up to date with developments on our sites. It is our policy to have instructions on how to unsubscribe so that you will not receive any future e-mails. You can change your e-mail address at any time.
In order to provide support on the usage of our tools, our support team need access to all information provided in relation to the tool.
We will not disclose your name, email address or postal address or any data that could identify you to any third party without first receiving your permission.
However, you agree that we may disclose to any regulatory authority to which we are subject and to any investment exchange on which we may deal or to its related clearing house (or to investigators, inspectors or agents appointed by them), or to any person empowered to require such information by or under any legal enactment, any information they may request or require relating to you, or if relevant, any of your clients.
You agree that we may pass on information obtained under Money Laundering legislation as we consider necessary to comply with reporting requirements under such legislation.
We want to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information that is inaccurate.
You have the right under data protection legislation to access information held about you. If you wish to receive a copy of any personal information we hold, please write to us at 3rd Floor, Hollywood House, Church Street East, Woking, GU21 6HJ. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.
The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). It may be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff may be engaged in, amongst other things, the provision of support services. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing and processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary, including the use of encryption, to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our sites; any transmission is at your own risk. You will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless we have been negligent or in wilful default.
Any changes we make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.
Our sites contain links to other websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.
If you want more information or have any questions or comments relating to our privacy policy please email [email protected] in the first instance.
April 30, 2009
The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC MMK)
announces its consolidated financial results according to IAS for FY2008 ending December 31, 2008.
Income statement Key Financial highlights (USD BILLION)
EBITDA margin
Earnings for the period
** EBITDA calculations: operating income + share in results of associates + depreciation - impairment of investments in associates + Loss on disposal of fixed assets
2008 revenue amounted to USD 10.550bn (up by 29% comparing to FY2007)
EBITDA for the period equaled to USD 2.204bn (down by 8% year-on-year)
EBITDA margin stood at 20.9%
Earnings for the period amounted to USD 1.081bn (down by 17% comparing to FY2007)
ONE-OFF OPERATIONS in the 4th quarter of 2008 which lowered the overall performance for 2008, will ultimately improve the 2009 financial results.
Full year 2008 figures were affected by Q4 2008 results and include a number of nonrecurring non-cash operations for a total amount of USD 617m:
COGS includes the effect from the discount of the inventory and finished goods to the net price of realization at a value of USD 336m. The revaluation allows to reflect company's operational activity in 2009 more fairly.
The item 'Other operating income/expenses' includes the sum of the mark down of financial investments in Russian companies' securities for the amount of USD 225m as a result of negative trends on the global stock markets.
The item 'Impairment of investment in associates' reflects depreciation of investments for an amount of USD 56m.
BALANCE SHEET key highlights
The change in the assets value in 2008 was due to strengthening of USD/RUR rate (for the purpose of IAS reporting transfer from the functional currency RUR is made into the reporting currency - USD).
The Company has the lowest debt among the largest Russian steel companies, with its total amount standing at USD 1.726bn.
Cash and cash equivalents total to USD 1.106bn (which is 4.3 times higher than at the end of 2007).
Cash & cash equivalents cover 85% of the Company's short-term debt.
Historically MMK's Debt/EBITDA ratio has always been less than x1. As of the end of the reporting period this ratio was 0.78.
KEY PRODUCTION highlights
Crude steel production totaled 11.957m tons (9,8% down on 2007)
Production of commercial products totaled 10.911m tons (10,6% down on 2007)
'We have a positive opinion of the overall 2008 results. Negative trends on the market during the 4th quarter of 2008 demonstrated that the financial policy and development strategy chosen by the company proved to be right.
Currently, the company is getting the support from its achievements in recent years, such as the modernized assets, diversified steel smelting technology, the broad range of quality products and the geography of sales. The implementation of the Plate Mill 5000 project in the present situation will be another important factor for strengthening MMK's market positions.
I would like to make a special note of the stable financial position of our Company. It is a priority for us when taking decisions. We continue the successful implementation of the crisis-management programme which allows us to increase the efficiency of our operations.
On the whole, our performance in the first months of the year gives us confidence that the company will operate in a stable way throughout 2009.'
Record-breaking revenue and cash flow
In 2008 MMK reached record results in terms of revenue which had grown 29% year-on-year, and in terms of operating income which totaled USD 2.778 bn. Funds from operations totally cover all the current liabilities of the Company.
The Company maintains its leadership in Russia
MMK has maintained its leading positions in Russia in terms of rolled steel production, accounting for 20% of the total domestic production.
The domestic market remains a priority for MMK. In its exports the Company focuses on meeting the demand of fast growing markets, primarily, the Middle East market.
In 2008 the volume of domestic sales amounted to 7.2m tons, or 66% of the total sales, which has been the maximum annual level so far. In the 3rd quarter of 2008 MMK made 74% of its total sales, an all time high, to Russia and the CIS countries.
Conservative financial policy is yielding good results
The Company's balance sheet is one of the strongest in the sector.
The total debt as of Dec.31, 2008, was USD 1.726bn, including the short-term debt and the current portion of the long-term debt in the amount of USD 1.295bn. About 30% of the short-term debt are revolving loan facilities of MMK Group affiliated traders for financing steel sales.
The amount of cash and cash equivalents (including short-term deposits) was USD 1.123bn, with net debt totaling USD 603m. The cash and cash equivalents almost totally cover the short-term debt.
The Company's Debt/Equity ratio as of Dec.31, 2008, was x0.18, and the Debt/EBITDA ratio was x0.78. 66% of cash & cash equivalents is denominated in foreign currency.
This comfortable debt level allows MMK to raise, if necessary, additional debt capital for implementing the Company's priority projects.
Dividend payments
MMK has fulfilled its obligations on dividends payout for the first six months of 2008 in the amount of RUR 0.382 per ordinary share. Major shareholders of MMK - Mintha Holding Limited and Fulnek Enterprises Limited, both beneficially owned by MMK Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Rashnikov, - proposed that the share of accumulated dividends which was to be paid to them during the period of worsening market conditions be put off. This amount will be paid to them once the financial and economical conditions of MMK improve. MMK obligations to pay dividends to the minor shareholders were fulfilled.
Due to the existing economic situation MMK Board of Directors recommended to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting to pay the FY2008 dividends in the amount of RUR 0.00 per ordinary share.
Efficient currency risks management
Foreign currency earnings of MMK are significantly above its foreign currency spending. That is why the Company has no exposure to ruble devaluation risk.
At the end of 2008 the management took the timely decision to convert the maximum possible amount of available cash to USD, which enabled MMK to make a gain from the strengthening USD position against RUB.
MMK continues with its organic growth strategy. Most of investments were aimed to reduce costs and diversify product mix. In 2008 the total CAPEX volume of the parent company was USD 1.595bn, which is 69% higher comparing to the level of 2007.
Key projects implemented in 2008
In 2008 the Company commissioned Reheating Furnace №4 in Rolling Shop №10, and Hot Dip Galvanizing Line №2. A bell-less charging device was installed on Blast Furnace №10, and the №3 BOF Converter was overhauled, with its shell replaced.
Projects to be implemented in 2009
The key investment projects to be implemented in 2009 are Plate Mill 5000, Colour Coating Line №2, and a production facility comprising a continuous slab caster and a secondary steel treatment unit.
The 2009 CAPEX is mainly intended for expanding the production of readily marketable
downstream products. The parent company's investments will be approx. USD 1.1bn. The most important project of the year is the Plate Mill 5000, which is a part of the Company's crisis-management program.
The Plate Mil 5000: This project is fully in line with MMK's strategy of building up the share of high value added products and increasing domestic sales. The construction of the Plate Mill 5000 is expected to be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2009. This mill will meet the requirement of Russian producers of large diameter pipes, replacing imports into Russia. The Mill 5000 will produce plate for usage in gas and oil sector as well as in the bridge, ship and boiler building industries and elsewhere.
Slab caster № 6 and secondary steel treatment unit: These projects are part of the Mill 5000 complex and are intended to provide input material for rolling plate with strength up to X120 to be used for large diameter pipes and exterior auto body parts.
Colour coating line: This project will increase output of colour coated strip at MMK by 200,000 tons per year. Its implementation is in line with the strategy of building up the share of value added products and increasing sales to the domestic market. The project is scheduled for completion in 2009. It will enable MMK to meet customers' orders for quality colour coated sheet to be used in the construction industry, white goods and furniture manufacturing and mechanical engineering.
The Plate Mill 2500 - The purpose of the project is to increase the production capacity of the mill to 5.0-5.5 mtpy of coils and sheets. It will also allow to expand the set of steel characteristics and grades and also to achieve high quality levels for further production of cold-rolled and coated steel products. The facility will also embrace a cutting unit in order to customize products for end-users. Implementation envisages 3 stages: commissioning of cutting unit №3, gradual commissioning of heating furnaces, replacement of technological equipment and final commissioning of the complex.
The Company continues to explore the possibility of implementing the project of the Cold Rolling Mill 2000 for the production of quality sheet for the automotive sector, with an annual capacity of 2 mtpy. This issue will be considered in detail following the completion of the 5,000 Mill project.
MMK CRISIS-management PROGRAMME IN 2008 AND EARLY 2009
In the 4th quarter of 2008 the Company took a number of urgent actions to respond to the market changes, reconsidering production levels to match the demand and price levels, discontinuing production of low value added products, and expanding the geography of export sales due to the rapidly shrinking solvency of domestic customers. Such actions were possible thanks to the diversified product mix and flexible selling policy.
MMK has adopted a crisis-management programme aimed at maintaining profitability, increasing liquidity, diversification into new lines of products, and expanding into new markets. The effect from the implementation of this plan in the 4th quarter of 2008 is estimated at USD 1.95bn.
Guidelines of the crisis-management plan:
Revision of CAPEX volumes: The company has revised the schedule of its modernization program.
Optimization of the credit portfolio - Centralized actions are being taken within the MMK Group to optimize the credit portfolio.
Use of available stocks: Following negotiations with the main suppliers of raw materials MMK reached an agreement on reducing the minimum supply volumes to avoid excessive stocking in warehouses and storage areas. The Company has achieved the lowest ever inventory turnover period of 38 days.
Reduction of prices for raw materials: MMK doesn't have vertical integration into raw materials which allows it to stay flexible in terms of buying prices. As a result of negotiations with suppliers the Company has been able to reach agreement on price markdowns for the key raw materials. Such markdowns in the 1st quarter of 2009 against the 3rd quarter of 2008 were 70% for coal, 47% for iron ore, and 80% for scrap. These are in line with price reductions for steel products, with the average 1Q 2009 price (USD 418) being 60% lower than the average price in the 3rd quarter of 2008.
Reduced consumption of main raw materials: - MMK is constantly working on upgrading its production processes and reducing consumption ratios. As a result of various projects aimed at cutting production costs (such as installation of bell-less charging devices, construction of a sinter stabilization unit and others) MMK has been able to lower the consumption ratios for the key raw materials.
The above-mentioned measures allowed to significantly decrease cash-cost of slab in the 1st quarter of 2009.
Repayment of accounts receivable: - Currently MMK together with its key customers is working on drafting individual payment schedules and supervising their implementation. MMK receivables turnover period equaled to 110 days as of 01.01.2009 and went down to 56 days as of 01.04.2009
Settlements with suppliers: MMK payables turnover period stood at 67 days as of 01.01.2009 and lowered to 23 days as of 01.04.2009.
Sales diversification: - MMK's flexible sales structure allows to respond quickly to international and domestic market fluctuations. The broad geography of export sales protects MMK from changes in specific markets. Thus, reduced shipments to the EU in the 4th quarter of 2008 were compensated by increased shipments to the Asian and Far East regions (including China).
Diversification into new products: - Completion and commissioning of the Plate Mill 5000 in the 3rd quarter of 2009 is to provide quality material for large diameter pipe makers, bridge, boiler and ship builders.
In the 1st quarter of 2009 MMK produced 2.1 m tons of crude steel and 1.9 m tons of commercial products, which is 25% more than in the 4th quarter of 2008.
Domestic sales grew by 46%, and export sales increased only by 4% compared to Q4 of 2008. The share of domestic sales increased to 58% of the total sales. The domestic market remains a priority for MMK.
With the current market trends persisting, MMK management will continue the implementation of the above mentioned crisis-management steps in 2009 in order to raise the Company's operational efficiency and to overcome negative environment.
* * *
Financial statement for FY2008 results under IAS is to be found at: http://www.mmk.ru/eng/invrelations/b_reports/index.wbp
The presentation of theFY2008 results under IAS is to be found at: http://www.mmk.ru/eng/invrelations/presentations/index.wbp
Information on MMK:
The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works OJSC (MMK) is among the world's largest steel producers and is one of the leaders of Russia's steel industry. The Company is a large steel producing complex encompassing the entire production chain, from preparation of iron ore to downstream processing of rolled steel. MMK turns out a broad range of steel products with a predominant share of value added goods. In 2008 the Company produced 12m tonnes of crude steel and 11m tonnes of commercial products.
*All intraday prices are subject to a delay of fifteen (15) minutes.
FE Investegate takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information within
this site.
The announcements are supplied by the denoted source. Queries about the content
of an announcement should be directed to the source. FE Investegate reserves the
right to publish a filtered set of announcements. NAV, EMM/EPT, Rule 8 and FRN Variable
Rate Fix announcements are filtered from this site.
2017 Financial Express. All rights reserved. Visit other
FE websites
Go to website
FE Trustnet UK
FE Trustnet Offshore
FE Trustnet Hong Kong
FE Trustnet Middle East
FE Analytics
FE Fundlistings
To continue using FE Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor.
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
1. Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
2. Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
3. Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
4. Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
5. Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
6. Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
This website is only for private investors. By using this site, you agree to use the content for private use only.
Please confirm that you are a private investor using the buttons below.


text:
Jungle Island will host its Mega Egga Hunt, three days of Easter egg hunts and other festivities, April 3-5.
The event, which runs 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, will include egg hunts, goodie bags, bounce houses, rides, arts and crafts, music and appearances by the Easter bunny.
During those three days, you can get $7 off admission with a coupon from Publix. Adult admission is $34.95 plus tax, and admission for children ages 3 to 10 is $26.95.
For additional information click here or call 305-400-7000.
Jungle Island is located at 1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Miami, 33132


text:
The town of Berthoud, CO is a small community in northern Colorado with a population of less than 10,000 people. On the third Saturday in June, the Berthoud Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Berthoud Outdoor Quilt Show and Historic Home Tour. The quilt show takes place in Fickel Park, a beautiful park with huge shade trees. It's not too far from my home, so I took advantage of the beautiful weather and drove up with a friend to see the show. There were around 150 quilts on display, strung on lines between the trees–talk about eye candy! Here are some of the quilts for your viewing pleasure (note: I didn't get the maker's names for these quilts)!
There were several sampler quilts, and I was surprised to see a lot of hand quilting as well!
I love the sashing in this quilt.
Each block in this sampler was made by a different person.
After browsing the show, we walked a few blocks to the Laughing Ladies Quilting Shop. Don't you just love the name? They were also a sponsor of the quilt show. What a fun shop full of wonderful fabric, patterns, notions and fun, all in a historic building in Berthoud.
Keep Berthoud, CO in mind if you're in this area in June—the show and shop are not to be missed!


text:
"Being a founder of the company, when you hear your first product out the door's name – and it was the basis for what you kind of started on – it caught my attention, to say the least," Doug Lawson, president and CEO of Kingdom Trust, told CNSNews.com.
On Wednesday, the president ordered the Treasury Department to create a pilot project for a government-sponsored MyRA (My Retirement Account), which can be opened for as little as $25. But Lawson says that nobody from the Obama administration called to ask permission to use the firm's trademarked name.
He described the president's MyRA as a "starter savings account" for people who don't have employer-sponsored 401(k) plans, while his company's MyRA is a self-directed individual retirement account that was created four years ago. The company acts as a custodian of tax-deferred investments chosen by thousands of customers in all 50 states.
"I think what's going to need to be defined in the coming weeks is the fact that what the president's MyRA plan is and the one that's existing here at Kingdom Trust are materially different in their offering," Lawson told CNSNews.com.
"The president's offering an opportunity for people who don't have a current retirement savings plan to start one, where the MyRA that has been offered at Kingdom for the last four years is materially a self-directed IRA account, and so there are differences. Both are geared around the retirement industry, but they share the same name."
He noted that using the same name for two different retirement investment vehicles will undoubtedly be confusing.
"We built our business around educating our clients, and so we'll make sure that they understand before they move on anything which vehicle they're looking for. I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to make the definition 100,000 times within the next six months," Lawson added.
When CNSNews.com asked Lawson if he planned to contact the White House about the name duplication, he replied: "At this point, we'll see. I'm not sure how this is gonna work out. There's a lot of things to consider, and we wish the administration well."
He added that if President Obama is able to develop an IRA program that's simple enough for individuals and small businesses that don't currently have retirement savings accounts, "he might have something that would provide an opportunity for people to get started."


text:
All Tags
Do you want to display informations on your desktop? Well this is the solution for you. This application was developed to be a small tool that displays the current time and date on your desktop.
Publisher: 4rchie
Tags: desktop clock, current time,
From Desktop Enhancements Category:
Of All:


text:
Sep 20, 2013
Happiness in Simplicity
I'm not sure why some people choose to engulf themselves in a drama filled life, but they do. And for some reason, they feel they should allow me to partake in their drama buffet. No thanks! I learned a long time ago...
Dr. Steve Maraboli
The Healthy, Empowered Life
Maximizing your human experience
Tag: relationships
Sep 4, 2013
Five Life-Changing Dynamics
1) Understand that no experience comes labeled, you are the one who labels. The power to choose is yours! As William Shakespeare said, "Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so." You and only you are the one who...
Jul 2, 2013
My Own Greatest Hero, My Own Worst Enemy
Your life is a story you're telling yourself. I like to live each day of my life as if it's a page, a chapter in my life's story. I get to choose how my story plays out. Even if I don't get to choose the events...


text:
WashPost: Rodeo Reveals 'Deep, Personal Hatred' for Obama, 'Often Tinted in Racial Terms'
The Washington Post picked up the Missouri State Fair rodeo brouhaha on the front page Friday under the headline "Rodeo act put racial divisions on display."
Post reporter Philip Rucker painted by the leftist numbers, finding the same man NBC used to trash the audience as a "Klan rally" and highlighting Obama critics who sound racist. Rucker began with Virgil Henke, 65, "a livestock farmer who explained his distaste for Obama with several falsehoods."
"Why, he's destroyed this country. How much freedom have we lost? I don't care whether it's a black man in office, but we have to have a true-blooded American. I think he is Muslim and trying to destroy the country, catering to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt."
Surely, the Washington Post counts the "freedom we have lost" under Obama as crazy talk, along with Obama being a Muslim. Rucker went looking for racial animus:
Whether the scene at the state fair was meant merely as mockery or something more sinister, there was no room for nuance among a dozen fairgoers interviewed Wednesday. There was near universal agreement that the incident was all in good fun, and disapproval of the president crossed into a deep, personal hatred, often tinted in racial terms.
"I was raised to think the blacks were bad; I'm not gonna lie. We lived on one side of the tracks, and they lived on the other," said Margaret Abercrombie, 68, who is white and grew up along the Mississippi River in Sikeston, Mo.
Abercrombie said she voted twice for Obama but didn't find anything wrong with the rodeo act. As she rode her motorized wheelchair to the grandstands at the rodeo arena, which on this day hosted tractor pull races, Abercrombie said the anti-Obama sentiments she encounters are based on race.
"You hear the farmers here, they just don't like him because he's black," Abercrombie said. Pointing across the fairgrounds to the cattle barns, she added, "I'm surprised they ain't got a cow over there named Obama."
The Wednesday crowd at the fair, which lasts 11 days in remote Sedalia, was overwhelmingly white. Some vendors played right-wing talk radio from boom boxes at their tents. One vendor sold "rebel pride" hats emblazoned with Confederate flags for $8 each. Another, who would only be identified as "Dennis the Sticker Dude" because he was afraid of government retaliation, hawked car decal stickers featuring a cartoon boy urinating on Obama.
Henke hesitated at first to provide his name, fearing that if he publicly criticized Obama the Internal Revenue Service would "be up my [backside] and at my door."
Henke said he sometimes surfs the Internet for Web sites making fun of Obama and his family. For instance, he said, one site he looks at compares "Obama's wife to a monkey — they have the same expression. The media makes it all hate. I don't hate a black person. It's just funny."
Rucker then turned to Perry Beam for the Klan comparisons:
In the stands, Perry Beam was so sickened by the scene he began recording it. "It reminded me of a [Ku Klux] Klan rally," Beam said. "It had that hateful aspect. It was the way they cheered, the anger in it. . . . You can disagree with a government policy, but that doesn't prompt you to put a stick up his [backside] and incite the crowd to say how many of you want to see him be trampled by a bull. To wish that on somebody is hateful."
If I were a reporter, I would ask Beam, "So this was like a KKK rally. How many of those have you personally attended?" Then I might ask if it was fair to suggest an entire rodeo audience are viciously racist, or whether they just came to see a rodeo.
Rucker and the Post are employing all the usual big-city media tropes. Wherever you find rednecks in an "overwhelmingly white" and "remote" milieu, disapproval of Obama must be proof of racially "tinted" hatred. A rodeo, a NASCAR race, a tractor pull, the rifle range? Natural racist magnets.
Rucker let a few people express that this was just humor and entertainment, but a reporter usually shows his point of view by how the story ends. Here's how Rucker wrapped up his portrait of Deeply Racist Missouri:
Bernadette Brock, 67, who was square-dancing at the fair, said the rodeo incident was nothing compared with anti-Obama displays at lower-profile events.
"Honey," Brock said, "if you had been in some of our counties down here, this was mild."


text:
Disney Channel has decided to drop Teo Halm, who was supposed to play Cory and Topanga's eldest child, from the 'Boy Meets World' spin-off.
Disney Channel has axed a character on "Girl Meets World". Teo Halm, who was cast as Cory and Topanga's eldest son Elliot, revealed that his character had been cut from the upcoming series.
"So guys, Disney decided that it wouldn't work to have an older brother on the show; I won't be on Girl Meets World," the 13-year-old actor tweeted on Saturday, October 5. "Thank you to everyone."
Danielle Fishel, who will reprise her "Boy Meets World" role as Topanga, responded to the news with a tweet which read, Teo, you are an incredible talent and I adore you. You may still call me 'mom.' " Halm tweeted back, "That means so much to me. Thanks 'mom.' "
A representative from Disney Channel later confirmed Halm's departure. "Various creative changes are often made as a project transitions from pilot to series," the rep told TVLine.
"Girl Meets World" initially would feature Cory and Topanga with their three children. Elliot was the eldest, followed by Riley (Rowan Blanchard), the titular "Girl", and the youngest who is a boy named Louis (August Maturo).
The show is set in New York City in the same vein as its predecessor. Only this time, the focus will shift from Cory and Topanga to their young daughter Riley Matthews. Along with her best friend, the tween will navigate through middle school under her parents' watchful eyes.
The follow-up to the 1990s TV series is expected to premiere sometime in 2014.


text:
What a whale's tale can tell
A whale seen breaching off the coast of Newcastle at the weekend was probably a mother teaching its calf valuable life skills, according to a local expert.
- Print page
- Email this
- Permalink
A whale seen breaching off the coast of Newcastle at the weekend was probably a mother teaching its calf valuable life skills, according to a local whale watching expert.
And dolphins herding fish in and around a local junior surfing competition were most likely chasing mullet, or prey fish being hunted by salmon.
Commercial whale watching operator Frank Future said at this time of the year it is usually mothers and calves at the tail end of an annual summer migration to the Antarctic for feeding.
"Breaching is an essential thing for humpbacks," Mr Future said.
"It cleans them - whales are slow moving and they grow lice and barnacles - so by breeching it knocks the barnacles off, and takes the lice off, and it's also a communication device."
Mr Future responded to this morning's eyewitness report from 1233 surf reporter Dave Anderson, of the weekend's antics by whales and dolphins in plain view off the Newcastle coast.
"The water was crystal clear in and you could just see for miles," Dave Anderson said.
"About 10 o'clock on Saturday morning [dolphins] were herding the schools of fish in towards shore, and then all of sudden. . . a large school of salmon came through the break [each] weighing probably a kilo or a kilo-and-a-half."
Mr Anderson said it was possible to see the dolphins swimming in water beneath the surfers where, 'for about half an hour', the dolphins worked the school 'up and down the beach'.
On Sunday Mr Anderson said the dolphins returned, this time jumping out of the water 'a couple of hundreds yards off the beach'.
"I've never seen them go this high, - it's something that you see out of Seaworld," Mr Anderson said.
Frank Future said it was more likely that the dolphins seen on Saturday were chasing large schools of mullet, although it was not unheard of for the larger oceanic bottlenose dolphins to go after schools of salmon.
"Sharks are more commonly herding salmon - but oceanic bottlenose [dolphin] will have a crack at salmon," Mr Future said.
"They grow to about four and a half metres long, and a thousand kilos.
"Where there are large prey species like salmon, you will more commonly get dolphins around maybe preying on what the salmon are chasing."
Mr Future said the short beak common dolphin is most often seen around Newcastle, and it was likely that's what had been seen jumping in the water, but for reasons that differ from whale breaching.
"Dolphins accumulate a lice that will attach itself, obviously painful for itself," he said.
"When travelling at high speed, they'll often break the surface and come out and do it all together - there'll be hundreds of them all porpoising out of the water - and travelling at very high speed.
"We see lots of off the coast here. . . sometimes in megapods of hundreds, and sometimes thousands. . . following pilchards and prey species like that."
Mr Anderson said some onlookers speculated the breaching by whales may have been attempting to 'scare away' sharks, something that Mr Future said was unlikely.
"They were breaching and bouncing around," according to Mr Anderson, "it got to a stage there where we thought well there may be a bit of trouble out there, maybe they're trying to scare away something."
Mr Future said it was common for whales to thrash their tails when under threat, and for groups of whales and dolphins to respond to a threat as a group.
"Tail thrashing from whales is often a warning, and it can go from just basic irritation to actually defending themselves," he said.
"An average adult humpback will have a tail muscle weighing about 20 tonnes, and it's attached to a four or five metres tail fluke, and it's their main defence system.
"I've seen them being attacked by killer whales, and a few humpbacks will get together and they just thrash madly, hoping to connect and drive off some of these their attackers.
"They do the same with sharks as well, so if you see a whale doing that it could be that they're being bothered by sharks for sure."
Mr Future said a breaching whale was unlikely to be warding off a predator.
"It's mainly mothers with new born calves that do it," Mr Future said.
"Most of the adults that are single have long gone, but the mothers are teaching their claves to do various things - it's an intensive lesson learning for mothers with calves, because calves generally only get two years with their mum, and then they're on their own."
"Lots of reasons are put up for why whales breech, and the humpback is certainly one whale that does it more than any other species; that's why [whalers used to] call it The Merry Whale way back for those antics.
"Ridding themselves of barnacles and lice is one of them; it could also be a part of a mating process for males, but females do it as well so it's not solely that.
"The sound does travel for a long way with the impact of a whale hitting the water, so it definitely marks to other whales that might be in the vicinity that 'I'm here' and it does give warning to boats."
"We've noticed that as you're approaching whales they'll quite often come out of the water, to give you a warning that 'we're here' and 'we're big, take a look at us, be aware, don't run over us', and it also gets their eyes up so they can scan the horizon around them and see what's going on.
"So there's probably a whole bunch of reasons why they do it."
Mr Future estimates between 11,000 and 12,000 whales now travel the east coast, a dramatic increase from the 1,500 that made the migration 14 years ago.