text:
Position Summary
Under the broad direction of the Board of Directors, the Chief Staff Executive is the chief staff officer who has overall responsibility for the management of the Association. The Chief Staff Executive recommends and participates in the formulation of new policies and makes decisions within existing policies as they have been approved by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. The Chief Staff Executive plans, organizes, directs, and coordinates the staff, programs, and activities of the Association to ensure that objectives are attained, plans fulfilled, and member needs met. The Chief Staff Executive maintains effective internal and external relationships. Through management and leadership, the Chief Staff Executive achieves economical, productive performance, future programming, and constructive growth of the Association.
Strategy and Governance
Management & Operations
Legislation & Advocacy
Membership & External Relations
Other Responsibilities
Education- Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience in an executive level role within a trade association. Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation a plus.
Experience- Five or more years of management experience, preferably in a professional trade association or other nonprofit agency. Five or more years of experience directing total operations through community engagement, volunteer development, supervision of staff, development and monitoring of association budget, marketing and public relations.
All qualified candidates will be expected to embrace RAM's and to present the following:


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Looking to get more fibre for your buck? ACME Fibres offers Quantity Discounts on undyed yarns and spinning fibres!
If you order:
The discount total will appear in a line marked "Quantity Discount" during Step 2 (Payment Information) of the checkout process. If you click on it, it'll give you more details showing how your discount was calculated.

subset: commoncrawl


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Doumbe pens Toulouse deal
Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe has put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal with Ligue 1 side Toulouse.
Last Updated: 09/10/09 7:48am
Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe has put pen-to-paper on a two year deal with Ligue 1 side Toulouse.
The former Celtic full-back had spent the last two-weeks on trial with Les Violets, who have been struck by injuries in defence.
Having fallen out of contract in the summer, the Cameroon international sought the perfect opportunity to play regular football.
Delighted with the deal, he told the club's official website:"I am very happy to have joined Toulouse.
Another chance
"After long injury problems and difficult moments I am happy to be given the opportunity to play again."
He admitted regular football became a priority in order for him to maintain his place in the Cameroon national team.
"The World Cup with Cameroon is and objective to me," he said. "My dream as a footballer is playing in a World Cup.
"Toulouse can help me realise that dream, hopefully I can help them achieve their ambition."


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The 49-year-old leaves his job with Blackpool to take the reins at Selhurst Park on a four-and-a-half-year deal, following former boss Dougie Freedman's departure for Bolton
Steve Parish, the London club's chairman, had confirmed to the BBC on Friday that an approach had been made for the Tangerines boss and the switch has now been made official, the 49-year-old signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.
Holloway was unhappy with his rolling contract with Blackpool and made clear that he wanted a more secure deal for himself.
He told reporters days before his departure: "Will I be the Blackpool manager for the rest of my life? No, I can't see that happening."
"I wish Ian all the best in his new role," Blackpool's majority shareholder Owen Oyston told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"He has done a fantastic job for us during his time here and will be remembered as the most successful manager in the club's history.
"Things happen in football very quickly, as in this case, so I am not shocked by his decision. It suits him to be nearer his family and I am sure he will enjoy the new challenge he has set himself.
"There is no animosity, he goes with my best wishes having served our club so well and the success he brought to the club during his three years here.
"Steve Thompson will take charge of the team at Derby this afternoon. I will then be making an appointment as soon as possible."
Blackpool 's head of coaching Keith Millen also followed Holloway out of Bloomfield Road, taking up the assistant manager's position at Selhurst Park.
Holloway left the seasiders after three years at the club which included promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2010.


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This trip starts at the Deep River town landing, which can be reached from River Rd. in Deep River (the junc. of Rt. 154 & Rt. 80) or from Kirkland St. (Main. St. & The Piano Works Condos) on the west bank of the CT River. The landing is also the dock for a local Riverboat and the Essex Steam train has a depot there, so be aware of traffic particularly in season (May-Sept.)
There is a floating dock that I use to put in, and a cement ramp that can be used, boat traffic must be observed sometimes, but I haven't seen it to be a high use ramp.
Looking east across the river you will see Selden Island, gazing upriver about 3/8 of a mile you can observe a white house just back from the east bank of the river. This house is just to the north of the entrance to Selden Creek. So we set off from the ramp to the northeast upriver. You could depending on conditions, go upriver on the west side, slightly north of the creek entrance and then cross the river with the current, or go straight across and then paddle upstream. Just see what is going on in the area and decide for yourself.
Upon reaching the Creek entrance, everything becomes more peaceful and relaxing. If you have read my previous article, you know, if not please read the previous article to find out about the creek. I'll just advance to the exit of the creek and return to the ramp. It was another great trip down the creek though and I did see more wildlife and signs of said wildlife. I think I saw an otter slip into the water at one point, but the camera was in the waterproof pouch.
At the mouth of the creek, I turned north and paddled up river along the east bank (west bank of the island). The Island is a state forest and there are a few campsites located on the island(check a guidebook). There are some shallows right as I turned north that might be a fun spot to stop and lounge around in at the right time of year. I went north about a mile and half then headed northwest across the river to the north tip of Eustacia Island, which is directly in front of the ramp from which I started. Rounding the island it is about 5pm and just about high tide, I have traveled maybe 6 -7 miles in a bit over 2 hours. I could certainly have taken more time on this trip, there is lots more to see and side trips to take(another day), but for an afternoon paddle, this was fun.
I load up and head home, I live in Deep River so I will be back and explore more of Selden Creek and I'll try Whalebone Cove just up the river, and Hamburg Cove just down the river and more of Essex cove downstream. Quite a few daytrip options from this point on the river, a number of different put-ins available and take outs if you utilize 2 vehicles or care for a walk after a kayak trip.
A few great B & B's in the area, Riverwind in Deep River, good food available and a nice small town community area between Middletown and Old Saybrook on both sides of the river.
Try this spot if you're in the area, I think you'll like it.


text:
Product Summary
Laminated TZ Tape features standard adhesive that is designed for flat surfaces like office paper, file folders and binders. Tape resists water, grease or grime. Use in hot and cold environments as well as outdoors (water-resistant). Tape is best suited for smooth, flat surfaces. Use with Brother PT-1400, PT-1500PC, PT-1600, PT-1650, PT-2200, PT-2210, PT-2300, PT-2310, PT-2400, PT-2410, PT-2430PC, PT-2500PC, PT-2600, PT-2610, PT-2700, PT-2710, PT-330, PT-350, PT-3600, PT-520, PT-530, PT-540, PT-550, PT-580C, PT-7500, PT-7600, PT-9200DX, PT-9200PC, PT-9500PC, and PT-9600. Cartridge yields 26.2'.
General Information
|Product Type
|Label Tape
|Manufacturer Part Number
|Manufacturer Website Address
|Brother Industries, Ltd
|Product Model
|Product Name
|TZ Label Tape
|Product Series
|Brand Name
Product Information
|Media Size
|1" Width x 26.20 ft Length
|Print Technology
|Thermal Transfer
Physical Characteristics
|Country of Origin
|Recycled Content
|Assembly Required
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text:
Farmers are facing new challenges every day. They work hard to produce safe and nutritious food for a growing population. But… they also have to keep their animals healthy, protect the environment, and pay the bills. All the while, raw material costs are climbing through the roof.
Farmers need game changing solutions to meet rising expectations and costs. We want to hear from farmers.
If you are a farmer, create a video that tells us about a game changing idea or technology on your farm. If you're not a farmer, find one and help tell their story.
First prize is $2,000 and the winning videos will be shown at our annual Symposium. For more information visit innovations, our agriculture and science blog.
It's really easy to enter.
Create a video » Upload it to YouTube » Send us an Email » Tell Your Friends!
The Farming Film Festival is just one of the reasons to attend our 27th International Animal Health and Nutrition Industry Symposium. We have a great line up of speakers this year. Don't miss the discussion.
How To Enter
Create Your Video
- Video may be up to 2 minutes in length (including credits)
- Video must tell the story of a farmer's game changer (an idea or technology that is helping them meet tough challenges).
- Video must include footage of the farmer on the farm.
Post Your Video: Post your video on YouTube
Email Us: Send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Deadline: The deadline for posting your video on YouTube and emailing us is May 13th at 11:59PM EST.
Eligibility: Legal residents of the United States are eligible to enter.
For more information:


text: On Friday 10 August 2007, Alan Cox wrote: > On Fri, Aug 10, 2007 at 02:44:29PM +0300, Ville Skyttä wrote: > > I don't think the kernel packages until early 2005 provided anything that > > would have made arch-qualified dependencies possible (eg. requiring a > > specific i586 kernel over a i686 with the same NEVR), see bug 143160 > > The file paths are different so you can depend on the exact file as well > as the package The point of the above bug report is that even no paths that could be sanely used like that existed, and still don't today. Well except of course if one bases the dependency on whether some quite possibly unrelated modules are built or not (eg. powernow-k6.ko is for i586 but not i686, and p4-clockmod.ko is for i686 but not for i586) but I suppose you didn't mean that, and in any case I don't think it satisfies "sanely". Fedora 1: $ rpm -qlp kernel-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.i586.rpm | grep 586 (no output) $ rpm -qlp kernel-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.i686.rpm | grep 686 /lib/modules/2.4.22-1.2115.nptl/kernel/drivers/sensors/via686a.o Fedora 7: $ rpm -qlp kernel-184.108.40.206-41.fc7.i586.rpm | grep 586 /lib/modules/220.127.116.11-41.fc7/kernel/arch/i386/crypto/aes-i586.ko /lib/modules/126.96.36.199-41.fc7/kernel/arch/i386/crypto/twofish-i586.ko $ rpm -qlp kernel-188.8.131.52-41.fc7.i586.rpm | grep 686 /lib/modules/22.214.171.124-41.fc7/kernel/drivers/hwmon/via686a.ko $ rpm -qlp kernel-18.104.22.168-41.fc7.i686.rpm | grep i586 /lib/modules/126.96.36.199-41.fc7/kernel/arch/i386/crypto/aes-i586.ko /lib/modules/18.104.22.168-41.fc7/kernel/arch/i386/crypto/twofish-i586.ko $ rpm -qlp kernel-126.96.36.199-41.fc7.i686.rpm | grep i686 /lib/modules/188.8.131.52-41.fc7/kernel/drivers/hwmon/via686a.ko After early 2005 it's no longer a problem due to the added Provides that contain the arch.


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This morning, expect to hear that the unemployment rate in the Tampa Bay area has breached double digits. You'll also learn more about looming state and local budget cuts.
Will you soldier on, bravely absorbing the latest assault to your financial senses? Have you reached a saturation point on economic angst?
At 15 months and counting, this recession is on the cusp of becoming the longest economic downturn since that other really big one in the 1930s That Must Not Be Named.
Many say they want to turn away from the bad news barrage. Yet, unfortunately, we appear programmed to pay attention.
University of Chicago psychologist John T. Cacioppo has a term for it: negativity bias.
In a test showing people an array of images placed on different parts of a computer screen, Cacioppo found that subjects were far more inclined to remember negative images than positive ones.
He explains our attraction to the negative in terms of human conditioning.
"There's an adaptive value to learning from other people's unfortunate circumstances," he said.
In simplest terms, we remember the bad stuff much more than the good stuff so we can survive.
It's the same reason, Cacioppo said, that our taste bud receptors are 10 times more sensitive to bitter food than to sweet. We want to quickly spit out that bitter-tasting poison.
So, economically speaking, it's true that some may be tossing their quarterly 401(k) statements in a file cabinet without glancing at them. But when it comes to noticing and remembering tales of rising unemployment and economic distress, it's like passing a car wreck on the freeway. Hard to look away; hard to forget.
That doesn't mean we don't tune out negative news from time to time.
Consider Victoria Heller, who works for the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, the Tallahassee-based group responsible for tracking our growing jobless population and trying to steer them into gainful employment.
Heller considers herself a National Public Radio aficionado, glomming on to the latest news from the financial front. But driving to work Wednesday morning, even she had her fill, flipping the radio off when Marketplace came on.
"I wanted to walk into the office today not worrying about what's happening with my savings," she said.
Even financial journalists who seem to relish reporting on Wall Street's woes aren't immune.
Across the pond, Paul Berton, editor in chief of the London Free Press, opined back in January about bad news overload. "At our news meetings," Berton wrote, "we've taken to asking the business editor to read only the first few items from his news budget — the list in its entirety is altogether too depressing."
Still, even Berton acknowledges some truth to the old saw that bad news sells, and that's why papers tend to display articles about "crime, destruction and fighting" prominently.
Little wonder that Jay Leno pulled in his biggest ratings in 10 years when President Obama stopped by his late-night show last week to chat about the crummy economy.
Cacioppo says we "habituate" to bad news eventually, but at a much slower pace than we do with good news. And even if we manage not to dwell on the recession, the professor says, we'll still be inclined to track what's going on by virtue of the economy's omnipresence in our life.
"We're fully aware it's there. We can't turn it off," he said. "We can't exactly step out of this environment."
So sit back, take it all in and learn.
It's what you're programmed to do.


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True to Form, Dell Updates the Inspiron Lineby Dustin Sklavos on 6/5/2012 9:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- Dell
- Ivy Bridge
- Inspiron
- Notebooks
13 Comments
Back to Article
retrospooty - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - link"The Inspiron R series are the budgetest of the budget, available in 15.6" and 17.3" form factors with both regular and Special Edition versions. The difference? Special Edition systems use aluminum lids instead of glossy plastic, sport full 1080p displays (both 15.6" and 17.3"), "
I am soooo glad to see even the lowest of the low end cheap machines are starting to have high res screens , at least as an option. Reply
Rand - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkI wouldn't call a $900 and $1100 starting price the lowest of the low end, that's still well over the typical laptop selling price. Reply
retrospooty - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkThe artivle above has them starting at $549...Which is right about the normal for Dell. You can actually get them for $400 to $450 if you browse th3e online deal sites. a screen upgrade in generally $50 to 100 more. Reply
kyuu - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkThe 1080p screens are included with the Special Edition models, which start at $900 and $1100. The base models have the same crap 1366x768 screens as always. Reply
retrospooty - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkMaybe not... It doesnt specifically say that the upgrade option isnt available to the low end. Typically $50-$100 will get the 1080p upgrade. If the LCD already exists for the same model on the high end, it may be available on the low as well. That is the way it always used to be done up until the past few years when 1366x768 was the only option. Reply
tayb - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkYou can't upgrade the $499 model to the 1080p display. That's just how they roll. Reply
retrospooty - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkIf that turns out to be the case, then defintely pass. I'd rather get a freegin 5 inch galaxy note with higher res than that. Reply
lowlymarine - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkWell now technically the Galaxy Note still has a lower resolution than these notebooks:
1366*768 = 1049088
1280*800 = 1024000
Unless you simply meant pixel density, in which case good luck finding a notebook that does beat your typical smartphone. Reply
mfenn - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - link"Complexity creep may be an issue that affects more than just game designers."
Been reading a little MaRo, eh Dustin? Reply
Yuniverse - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkI still wouldn't touch dell. It's been ages since i recommended dells to my customers and they're still awful. Reply
jabber - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkSo you haven't used them for 'ages' but say they are still awful?
Okay. Reply
retrospooty - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkmeh, the consumer stuff is still pretty aweful, at least as of the past few years, but the enterprise stuff is good. We buy a lot of latitude and precision laptops at work and never have any issues other than an occasional hard drive failure which happens to all vendors. Reply
agent2099 - Tuesday, June 05, 2012 - linkMy 2011 Dell Inspiron 14r has both display port and HDMI out. It seems these new inspiron models have VGA instead of display port, why the step backwards?
Also, why have they gotten rid of the 14 inch model? Reply


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On Saturday February 13, 10 members of Greater Atlanta Day Alumnae Chapter and 10 members of Eta Omega from Kennesaw State organized a Valentine's Day party for the residents of the Interfaith Outreach Home. We had gifts for the Moms and Grandmothers and served them lunch. We also had pizza, crafts and gifts for all of the children. The Eta Omega girls were great with the children.
What a wonderful time to spend with these courageous families. Thank you for having us!


text:
Stuart O'Grady has made a low-key return to cycling, joining the new president of Cycling Australia and owner of his former pro team, Gerry Ryan, among the guests at Saturday's stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.
The Olympic gold medallist and Paris-Roubaix winner, who admitted, last year, to using banned blood booster EPO before the 1998 Tour de France, is resettling in Australia after his sudden retirement.
O'Grady, who is also expected to attend Sunday's final Sun Tour stage at Arthur's Seat, had no official role on Saturday but was invited to a small breakfast at Ryan's Mitchelton winery before the fourth day of racing started among the vineyards.
O'Grady was also invited to a race dinner on Saturday night after a day of racing finished at Nagambie. The 40-year-old is a close friend of race director John Trevorrow, who does not want the ex-pro - previously a popular member of the elite peloton - to become a stranger to the sport.
Before returning to Australia, O'Grady discussed his trepidation about coming home after the bombshell of his past drug use.
He was seen in the crowd at Adelaide's Tour Down Under last month - the race in his home town where he would have received a hero's welcome in what was expected to be his final year with Orica-GreenEDGE - but had no role in official proceedings around the World Tour event. While O'Grady spoke at a charity dinner that took place in Adelaide during the tour, it's anticipated he won't speak again at length publicly until the release of his book. Additions had to be made to the manuscript after O'Grady's confession - last July - to EPO use.
O'Grady and his family returned to Australia last month, leaving what had been a long-time home base in Europe. At the time of his admission, he said he experimented with EPO once in his career. O'Grady's insistence it was a one-off has caused figures in the Australian cycling community, notably veteran coach Dave Sanders, to say their devastation has been lessened.
In a recent interview, the new head of world cycling, Brian Cookson, said he hoped O'Grady would disclose everything he knows about doping - in the appropriate forum - for the sake of cleaning up the sport.
The International Cycling Union has appointed an independent reform commission to establish a process that will encourage riders still concealing secrets about doping to come forward and confess.
''I understand the difficulties that he's in,'' Cookson said of O'Grady. ''But I'll encourage him to come forward and speak to the commission and tell everything that he knows.''


text:
Pittsburgh native wins Friars Club roast contest
Amadeo Fusca's entrance into the Frank Sinatra Room at the Friars Club in New York City on March 15 was nothing less than unforgettable.
Portraying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, riding in on the back of a Secret Service agent, the Churchill native waved an American flag while shouting greetings to the former NBA star he was there to roast.
The crowd laughed as Fusca, in the role of Kim, bellowed, "Dennis, I miss you!" referencing the very real and controversial meeting Dennis Rodman and Kim had just a few weeks earlier in North Korea.
The 2004 Woodland Hills High School and 2009 Point Park University graduate, now a New York-based actor, continued the impression for two minutes then transitioned back to himself in take-no-prisoners-roast mode, delighting the audience, including Rodman, who traded good-natured quips with him.
The performance also captured the judges, who named Fusca, 27, the winner of the Friars' "So You Think You Can Roast!?" contest.
It earned him the grand prize of a place on the dais April 5 at the 2013 Friars Club Roast to skewer actor-comedian-musician Jack Black at the New York Hilton ballroom.
Fusca will be joined by a celebrity panel of roasters that includes Ben Stiller, Cyndi Lauper, Gene Simmons, Sarah Silverman, Bob Saget, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Oliver Platt and Jeff Ross, among others, all of whom he also can roast. It will not be televised.
The talent-search started with 55 men and women competing for the coveted industry spotlight. Fusca survived the three rounds, including the Jan. 15 opening, in which contestants were given two minutes in front of a panel to pretend to roast a celebrity of their choosing.
He selected Owen Wilson, earning a place in the second round March 1, where he and others directed their comical observations at Ricky Schroder at a dinner attended by the actor. The effort advanced six hopefuls, including Fusca, to the Rodman finals.
Fusca already has had some high-profile opportunities in his fledgling acting career, including a role on CBS' soap opera "As The World Turns" and Discovery ID network's "I Married a Mobster," a supporting role in the forthcoming feature film "A New York Heartbeat," filmed in Pittsburgh, as well as commercials for ESPN, Glamour magazine and the World Wildlife Fund. But he believes emerging victorious in the Friars club contest is his "big break."
"This was a big achievement, and I have been meeting with many great industry professionals who are now, all of a sudden, listening a little bit harder to the beat of my drum," he says.
Fusca says he "couldn't be less nervous" at the prospect of performing April 5 in front of some of entertainment's biggest names.
"It's an adrenaline rush. It's exactly where I want to be. This is the most exciting event of my life thus far," he says. "I will get nervous when the time comes, but that will be a good kind of nervous."
He is quick to credit his longtime friend, writer Mike Smith of Wilkins, who was in Fusca's graduating class at Woodland Hills, for the current opportunity.
"I say 'We won,' because he truly is my partner in crime when it comes to all of this," Fusca says.
Smith, a 2008 University of Pittsburgh graduate, is not being honored in this contest, because the focus is on the performance and delivery of material. "But, to be honest, the only reason I have made it this far is because the material Mike has written has just been so stellar," Fusca says. "He's a genius."
They have a creative relationship reminiscent of the early days of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, having collaborated on screenplays, short films and roasts since high school.
"Mike basically comes up with 85 to 90 percent of the punch lines, maybe more, and we collaborate on constructing the script together," says Fusca, who also is helped by family members. Older brother, filmmaker Damiano Fusca, has supplied some jokes, and it was his brother Vinnie's idea for the Kim Jong-un impression.
"I have the most supportive and inspiring family behind my entire journey," Amadeo Fusca says.
Smith, hard at work writing material for the Jack Black roast, says he considers this contest "a game changer" for his friend.
"It's been such an amazing ride. Seeing a guy come out of the woodwork like this and win such a prestigious opportunity against established standup comedians has been a thrill," he says. "And just being able to say I was a part of it has been the greatest moment of my writing career. Amadeo's about to be part of one of entertainment's biggest events, and he's going to nail it."
Details: www.amadeofusca.com


text:
Almay Bright Eyes Liner/Highlighter Duo Reviews
Good colors but...I like the color combo's, but they only last about 2 hours on me. — 7 years, 3 months agoMissPurple | 611 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 1 of 1 people said helpful
OKExpensive for what it is - cheaper ways of same effect — 6 years, 2 months agoliz48170 | 43 reviews
I like it!It brightens my eyes, but so does every other highlighter. I have green eyes and the brown liner makes them pop! — 6 years, 2 months agosladjana | 5 reviews
Pretty golden highlighter.I really like the highlighter portion. It is a great color and texture. I put it on under my eyebrows and near the inner corner of my eyes and I think it looks very pretty. The brown eyeliner end is pretty useless but I love it nonetheless. — 6 years, 4 months agobrownbunny | 6 reviews
Alternative for brighter eyes!Dual tip- one side is a highlight the other side is a eyeliner, comes in three shades for light, medium and dark skin tones Pros: the colors match accordingly to the corresponding skin tones, easy to apply, gives a instant eye bright effect, its inexpensive;,the light catches the highlight colors nicely Cons: the pearl color on the light duo seams to apply drier than the other two highlight shades...read more; all eye liner colors are have good pigmentation and are creamier than the highlight shades so they tend to fade easily — 7 years, 10 months agohkrnpma | 19 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 3 of 3 people said helpful
Love itI have dark circles all around my eyes. This product looked similar to the Smashbox eye lightener pencil but much, much cheaper so I bought it. It really does lighten the eyes and the eyeliner stays on forever. I haven't had it long enough to sharpen it so I'm not sure how that will go but I do recommend this product to brighten your eyes. — 8 years, 2 months agoImperfect_Me | 41 reviews
loved it untilI loved this product, perfect color for the eyeliner and the highlighter. Easy & Gorgeous! That is, until I tried to sharpen it. The liner end is not sharpening well at all which is really frustrating because I want to use it again but can't end up with a splinter in my eye — 8 years, 4 months agoJaclynKayS | 24 reviews
love itI got this on a whim. I like to browse the makeup aisle in pharmacy stores. Im glad I did. It's a great on the go tool, especially for those days where there isnt must time/or desire to apply a full face. It really brightens the eyes and adds just enough color to give a natural/neutral appearance. I use this with mascara, and my look is complete. I would def. buy this again. — 8 years, 4 months agoiluvmac2 | 9 reviews
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text: Race: Rumbler - to upload a more specific image, click here . other resources LootDB · EQ2LL · ZAM EverQuest II Monster Information Race: Rumbler Level: 24▼▼▼ Tier 3 Solo Aggressive Social Zone: Rumbler Caves Location: Throughout the zone What does this information mean? You may upload a JPG or PNG image of the in-game picture of this mob Retrieved from "http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/An_under_rumbler?oldid=564130" Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you've made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Categories: Monsters LU02 Monsters Rumbler Tier 3 Monsters Solo Monsters Rumbler Caves Monsters Monster pages that need EQ2MAP uid Add category Cancel Save


text:
Maybe the electrical failure that killed the tropical fish finally prompted them to pull the plug. Whatever it was, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster and a majority of the City Council did the right thing Wednesday by agreeing to demolish the Pier and build something new on the downtown waterfront. The inverted pyramid is not worth renovating, and it is time to replace the outdated landmark with a more modern, useful building.
This was the next logical step in the public debate over the Pier's future that has stretched more than 18 months. A citizens task force has methodically examined the options, and it is not financially feasible to make the repairs needed to keep the status quo. That would cost $87 million, far more than the $50 million the city has set aside for the project.
Foster correctly described the state of the Pier debate as "analysis-paralysis'' as he urged council members to support his recommendation to build something new. The options have been thoroughly discussed, and it is time to refocus the conversation on moving forward with a new vision rather than clinging to an old one that no longer fits the character of the city. By clearing the way to start contacting engineering and architectural firms, an exciting new phase begins with all sorts of possibilities. And St. Petersburg residents should be just as involved as those options come into sharper focus as they have been in the discussions so far.
The consensus to demolish the Pier and to scrap suggestions to replace it with a building on land offers some direction. Now further research is needed on how much shorter a new pier approach should be and whether that would increase the viability of building a wider causeway approach. There is an opportunity now to create a public space that is an impressive destination for both tourists and residents, connecting a vibrant downtown area with the waterfront.
It is understandable that it is hard for some to let go of the existing Pier. On Wednesday, council members Bill Dudley and Wengay Newton still wanted to renovate it, and they talked of the emotional attachment to a landmark that has been a city symbol for more than 35 years. But this building replaced the Mediterranean-style Million Dollar Pier that was built in 1921, and both the approach and the building are in bad shape. Friday's fish kill at the Pier's aquarium because of an electrical failure only underscored the depressing state of affairs, and it is time to start fresh just as the downtown has reinvented itself in recent years.
St. Petersburg has had a landmark destination on its downtown waterfront for nearly a century. There is no reason it can't again have one that reflects the city's character in the 21st century.


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JIM LEHRER: We get three other perspectives now from Ken Button, director of the Center for Transportation at George Mason University — he's also a professor of public policy there — Steven Simon, former terrorism specialist at the National Security Council in the Clinton administration — he's now with the Council on Foreign Relations — and Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush administration. He's now director of the Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Program.
Mr. Ervin, just a few moments ago, the White House issued a statement, or issued a statement that the president reportedly said to his folks that he met with, in other words, his team, his 12 folks that were there, and he — he — the president said this — quote — "This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous. We dodged a bullet, but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals, not because the system worked. And that is not acceptable. While there will be a tendency to finger-pointing, I will not tolerate it."
What do you make of that?
CLARK KENT ERVIN, former inspector general, Department of Homeland Security: I think that's absolutely spot on.
The president was exactly right to say that. He has said essentially in the public statement. You can't fix a problem until you acknowledge it. And the president has said this before. This was a systemic failure. It is the first impulse of government always to downplay crises. That was the first impulse here with the Department of Homeland Security.
And, so, the president is quite right. And the sense of urgency that he conveyed is also important. And, most importantly, to say that it was a failure to connect the dots, we created four entities after 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security, TSA, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, the director of national intelligence, and, most importantly, the National Counterterrorism Center, precisely to make sure that we do connect the dots in the future.
We had the necessary information to prevent this plot, but it was thanks to passengers, as the president said, and not our own government, that this plot was foiled.
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Simon, how do you read the president's term "I will not tolerate this"? He has said before it's unacceptable and whatever, but he hasn't said, "I will not tolerate."
What does that mean? How should that be read?
STEVEN SIMON, Council on Foreign Relations: Well, I think he's doing a couple of things. First, he is in an adversarial political context in which it's very important for him to show resolve, because the other side is saying that, actually, he showed insufficient resolve.
JIM LEHRER: You mean the Republicans?
STEVEN SIMON: The Republicans, absolutely.
JIM LEHRER: Right.
STEVEN SIMON: Secondly, he's got to send a message to the national security bureaucracy that they have really got to be careful in the future.
And, secondly, he's sending a message of reassurance to the American people that this very near miss registered on the White House screen, and they understand it was a problem, and they're going to do something about it.
So, I think the message was clear, but it was intended for three audiences.
JIM LEHRER: Yes.
Do you agree? There are three audiences here, at least?
KENNETH BUTTON, George Mason University: Oh, I think there's at least three audiences. The fourth is the international audience as well.
The president really has to address two major audiences, the U.S. people. He's the president of the United States. And, of course, the United States is a world power. Americans travel throughout the world, and foreign citizens come to this country.
I was rather disappointed when he didn't mention the fact that there were not only Americans on that flight to Detroit. You have a bomb go off in this country on a plane, you're killing foreign nationals as well.
And I think he was sending a message that the U.S. may perhaps take a stronger leadership role in counterterrorism. It does seem to have fallen back recently and become I think slightly defensive is a — probably a good word. And I think he's reassuring perhaps the world community, as well as the American population.
JIM LEHRER: Well, what about the bureaucracy of the U.S. government?
KENNETH BUTTON: Well, the bureaucracy is difficult. Bureaucracies do tend to have failings. They inevitably are not perfect. And people talk about having a totally safe airline system or totally safe transportation system. That's simply not possible.
On this occasion, I think the system did fail exactly the way he pointed out. There was information there. It was handled badly. You find out why that happened. You make sure it doesn't happen again. And you also look forward, because the terrorists will be playing games with you. And you have to look forward to ways they're going to try and tweak the system, get around the system in the future.
And I think that's the real challenge for the security people.
JIM LEHRER: And, Mr. Ervin, right after 9/11, the same words were spoken: This — we must do things now to make sure this never happens again.
CLARK KENT ERVIN: Precisely. Jim, it's so reminiscent of 9/11. The NSA collected information. It was not translated and the significance was not grasped until September 12.
The CIA had watch-listed two of the hijackers, not shared with the State Department. Had it been, presumably, their visas would have been denied, once those hijackers came to the country, not shared with the FBI. Had it been, the FBI presumably could have tracked them down because they were living under their own names in San Diego in the phone book.
Similarly, here, as the president said again today, the NSA intercepted messages saying that a terror attack was being planned in Yemen using a Nigerian. In this instance, the suspect's own father, not just anybody, but a respected Nigerian banker, went to the State Department, not once, but twice, talked not to just the State Department, but also the Central Intelligence Agency, and then followed up with telephone calls and with written communication.
And, as the president said, that was enough, at a minimum, to get him on the no-fly list, in which case he wouldn't have boarded the flight at all.
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Simon, you have — you know this. You have worked in government. You watch it for — as a career. And you're a specialist in this particular area.
Do you leave the words for the president — hearing the words of the president with a sense of confidence, now, finally, they're going to get their act together and we're going to stop this, and they're going to stop connecting — they're going to start connecting the dots, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera?
STEVEN SIMON: Well, look, this case was complicated by the fact that, under the way we use intelligence, Abdulmutallab's father really didn't give the system what the system needed to move, to move expeditiously.
Normally, a walk-in to the embassy who provides information on a suspected terrorist is not going to be put at the top of the queue unless he's imparting some actionable intelligence, which means something really specific. And this man wasn't.
JIM LEHRER: OK. But — but let's move it to the next step.
If something similar happens today because of what almost happened over the landing in Detroit, this will not — this will be averted because of the fact that the president is moving and the United States government is moving and the world is moving?
You don't — I don't think your answer says yes.
STEVEN SIMON: Well, see, what's going to happen now is that the threshold for reporting this kind of information and for allocating a lot of attention to this information, this sort of information, is going to go way up, which means that the people whose job it is to interpret it, analyze it, and assess its significance, their job is just going to be more difficult by an order of magnitude.
JIM LEHRER: When in doubt, put them on the watch list. When in doubt, put them on the watch list.
STEVEN SIMON: Oh, well, of course. If you were in an embassy at this point and somebody came in and said, you know, my son is hanging out with the wrong people, and, you know, he's taken a real anti-American line, and I'm not really happy about this, and I think you should watch him, well, you know, you're going to send a flash cable to Washington, saying, we have got to do something about this guy.
JIM LEHRER: Yes.
You agree that things are going to happen, Mr. Button? I mean, do you agree they are going to be the right things?
KENNETH BUTTON: Well, things are going to happen.
KENNETH BUTTON: And I think the point about this case was, the bomber basically had a visa. And it's not too difficult to check someone who has a visa and, in that sense, pull him out.
JIM LEHRER: Well, it really — let me stop you there. It really isn't. You can go to — there are data banks within the U.S. government that has the name of everybody who has a visa, right?
KENNETH BUTTON: Exactly. Exactly. So, you get some report. There's nothing to hold that visa back while you check. You can be safe, rather than sorry, in a sense. I'm surprised they didn't do that.
I think one of the dangers of the current situation, though, is we're moving a lot towards focusing on the aviation sector, because that's where recent events have occurred. And we're trying to stop foreign nationals coming into the country who are undesirable.
The big danger, it seems to me, is, you could get complacent about domestic terrorism or sleeper cells within the country. And in many places outside of America, the standard method of terrorism is not to attack the airlines. I'm obviously English. We have bus bombs. We have bombs on the metro system.
We have the situation in Tokyo, where we had gas pumped into subway systems. I think the situation is rather more complicated than simply handling foreign nationals which are coming into the country and collecting intelligence on them.
There's a lot more intelligence out there which we have not heard about, which needs to be dealt with.
JIM LEHRER: But isn't — to pick up on that with Mr. Ervin, that said, what Mr. Button just said, the fact of the matter is, it's an airplane incident that we just had, not another one of these kinds of incidents that you were talking about.
So, is that — that's still going to be the focus, is it not?
CLARK KENT ERVIN: Well, unfortunately, yes.
I say unfortunately because we do have this tendency, which we suffer from, to always fight the last war. This was an airline attack. Therefore, we're going to redouble our efforts in the aviation sector. We have done more already in the aviation sector than any other, because that's how 9/11 happened again.
I think he's right to say that there are also vulnerabilities in the maritime sector, mass transit sector, and we need to focus on those as well.
JIM LEHRER: But, meanwhile, do you have a feeling of confidence now? You have been involved in this also in the government right after 9/11. And you were involved in this very piece of work.
CLARK KENT ERVIN: Right.
JIM LEHRER: Do you think, oh, now they're going to get it?
CLARK KENT ERVIN: Well, Jim, I'm getting there.
The president said the right things, point one. And he's already taken a number of steps in terms of terror watch lists, as he mentioned, and in terms of enhanced screening procedures. And there are more to come, as he also said today.
But the one thing he didn't talk about today is accountability. We have not yet heard whether any individual in the bureaucracy who didn't connect the dots is going to be held accountable for it by losing his or her job. And that needs to happen.
JIM LEHRER: That does need to happen? Somebody should be fired for what happened on Christmas Day?
CLARK KENT ERVIN: You know, this whole phrase that we got from the Nixon administration, mistakes were made — well, mistakes were made by people. And unless and until people are held accountable for those mistakes, the mistakes will continue to be made.
JIM LEHRER: Do you agree somebody should be fired for what happened on Christmas Day?
KENNETH BUTTON: Well, I go back before Nixon to Truman and the buck stops here. Someone has to be accountable.
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Simon, do you agree?
STEVEN SIMON: I think you would find that people did their jobs.
They had intelligence that was of an ambiguous nature. It was put in the track that ambiguous information is put into.
The dots…
JIM LEHRER: So, don't fire anybody?
STEVEN SIMON: The dots would have been connected eventually.
JIM LEHRER: Eventually, but — OK.
Quickly, starting with you, Mr. Simon, is the president right on the no Yemenis from Guantanamo back to Yemen?
STEVEN SIMON: I don't think there are going to be any Yemenis going back there.
JIM LEHRER: So, I mean, he's right to say that?
STEVEN SIMON: Well, one of the Yemenis who went back happens to be at the head of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is the group that we're really worried about. So…
JIM LEHRER: Enough — enough said?
STEVEN SIMON: Yes.
JIM LEHRER: Mr. Button?
KENNETH BUTTON: Exactly the same. I think public confidence demands they stay at least in some form of security detention.
JIM LEHRER: Kind of an automatic decision, Mr. Ervin?
CLARK KENT ERVIN: Absolutely. It was inevitable. There's no question but the president had to say that: We're going to suspend the repatriations to Yemen for the foreseeable future.
If I could just briefly disagree with my friend Steve…
JIM LEHRER: Sure. You may.
CLARK KENT ERVIN: … intelligence is always ambiguous. It doesn't get any clearer than it was here. And unless we connect dots in this instance, heaven help us in future cases.
JIM LEHRER: You still don't want to fire anybody, Mr. Simon?
STEVEN SIMON: Well, it — the thing is, it is so often ambiguous. And Clark is absolutely right about that. But it does get less ambiguous.
And, if Mr. Abdulmutallab had come in to the embassy and said, listen, my son wants to blow up an airplane, and he wants it to be a Christmas present to the American people, and I know he's really serious about this, and he gave the names of some of his son's associates, it would have been different.
JIM LEHRER: But isn't that more than a little dot? That would — I mean, that would be a huge…
STEVEN SIMON: No, it's a big dot, but there are walk-ins who do come into embassies with that kind of information.
JIM LEHRER: OK. OK. We will leave it there.
Gentlemen, thank you all very, very much.


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Was Your Dad An Original Hipster?
A few weeks ago, my brother and I were looking at old family pictures and we came across a photo of my dad in the '70s. He was wearing giant Terry Richardson-style glasses, short shorts, some kind of subversive message T-shirt, and rocking a full beard. We looked at each other, and I whispered, "Oh my god. Was our dad the first hipster?" My brother quickly filed the picture away, saying, "We can't let the government know about this."
According to an awesome new Tumblr, Dads: The Original Hipsters, my dad's not the only one. From bearded beer-brewers to deep V-neck wearers, the baby boomer generation was chock full of hipsters who had no idea they were hipsters. Was your dad one of them? Submit a photo and let the world know.


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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Friends and family are still grieving after the loss of their friend, 56-year-old Terry Sikes. Sikes was killed last weekend while riding his bicycle. He was one of the victims of the Westside crime spree that is still impacting neighbors in the area.
Sikes was hit by a car and killed on La Moya Avenue Sunday during an early morning bike ride. Police believe the crime started at a bus stop on Weconnett when two men approached a man and robbed him. After that, police said the two men confronted another man at a bus stop, where the victim told police the men robbed him and then hit him with a car. Not far from the post office is where police say Sikes was riding his bike. The crooks hit Sikes and left the scene, dumping the car at a nearby apartment complex.
Investigators arrested 23-year-old Eddie Postway on Sunday on charges of possession of a firearm by convicted felon, carrying a concealed firearm and theft of a firearm. They also arrested 20-year-old Cyrus Benjamin on Monday on charges of armed robbery and tampering with evidence. In addition, both are now charged with felony murder in the death of John Sikes and also attempted murder.
Rodney Smith grew up on the northside with Terry Sikes. He told Channel 4 Thursday that he'd reconnected with Sikes when the two became interested in running. Smith said when he heard about Sike's death, he couldn't believe his friend was gone, and killed so senselessly.
"I was shocked, I saw it in the paper, that it was John Sikes, but I didn't make the connection that it was Terry Sikes until yesterday. I was shocked," said Smith.
Sikes was well known among runners. Thursday night, his weekly running group met in San Marco where many said Sikes should have been.
"Terry was the nicest, kindest, most loving man I know," said Elaine Davis.
While the tragedy that took Terry's life has left his family and his friends hurt, the obituary in today's paper sums up how his family feels about a man they called "a champion of good."
"For if there is anything we can do to truly honor Terry, it will be to forgive and harbor no ill will," the Obituary reads. Forgiving the people who took Terry's life is something friends say they still struggle with, but something they will do.
"I think it's terrible how this happened. I'm real angry about it. I've been advised by friends to tone it down a little bit," said Doug Tillett. "We know people have been arrested, and we hope they're going to be brought to justice this time instead of out on the street to hurt other people. "
There will be a gathering Friday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church on 225 East Duval Street downtown. The funeral will beheld at the church Saturday at 11 a.m.
Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text: MT. AIRY, N.C. (AP) ¿ Shares of Pike Electric Corp. fell Tuesday after the power services contractor posted fiscal first-quarter results below Wall Street expectations and withdrew its guidance due to market uncertainty. Pike said Monday after trading concluded that for the three months ended in September it lost $2.7 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a profit of $18.3 million, or 54 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected profit of 9 cents per share. Revenue dropped to $127.2 million from $185.5 million. Analysts predicted revenue of $128.3 million. "The general economic weakness and a longer-than-anticipated deferral of maintenance spending by our customers is the longest and most significant we have experienced," said CEO J. Eric Pike in a statement. "These facts, coupled with the lack of storm restoration work, negatively impacted our earnings for the quarter." FRB analyst Alex Rygiel on Tuesday downgraded the shares to "Market Perform" from "Outperform" and cut his share price target to $11 from $15. In premarket trading the stock tumbled $1.86, or 15.1 percent, to $10.50. The stock has ranged from $7.28 to $12.99 over the past year.


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The project I am going to share today is SO easy. I made six headbands for under $4.00. True story.
All you need for this project is:
fabric scraps
cheap headbands
hot glue
needle & thread
The first thing you will do is cut your fabric into long, thin strips. Mine were about one inch wide, and I just guessed on the length. Even if you don't have fabric scraps, you can buy fabric scraps at Walmart for under $1.00, so the project is still dirt cheap!
The headbands I bought were little girl headbands in a pack of six at Walmart. Here is how this whole project started, I like headbands, but I hate wearing them because they always give me a massive headache after an hour! Somehow I discovered that the little girl ones don't do this. They come up a little higher than most headbands do (not right over your temples) because my head is bigger than a little kid, and they aren't as tight, I love them! The problem is, they always come in bright, cheesy colors.
Enter fabric scraps.
Next, you just start gluing and wrapping your headband. All it takes is a very light line of hot glue down the middle of your scrap. The end is a tiny bit tricky, but just fold and wrap until you're all covered.
I left some of my headbands plain (without flower) for days when I want to be a little more casual or unobtrusive.
If you'd like to add the flower on yours, first, create your flower. For detailed instructions on how to do the one pictured, see this post. Basically, you cut another long fabric scrap about an inch wide. Then, turn your fabric around itself tacking into place with your needle and thread to secure until you reach desired size.
After your headband is wrapped and your flower is made, cut out a little circle (of felt or fabric) just smaller than your flower. Place the flower on one side of the headband and your circle on the other and hot glue into place!
Oh, and did I mention this whole thing will take you less than 1/2 hour? My kinda craft! Let me know how yours turn out!
**This post has been featured by our awesome friends at:
House of Hepworths
Ginger Snap Crafts
The Gunny Sack
***If you enjoyed this post, make sure to check out these other posts that use fabric scraps:
Tie and Suspenders Onsie
Fabric Scrap Wreath
Fabric Nursery Board Art
Monogram Fabric Letters
Scrap Map
15 Minute Wreath
Fabric Scrap Banner


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McCrory's budget likely to target education, Medicaid
Posted March 19, 2013
Updated March 20, 2013
Raleigh, N.C. — As governor, Pat McCrory gets his first formal crack at the budget on Wednesday, but it is not the last – not by a long shot.
The Republican will offer his first spending plan at 10:30 a.m., laying out how he would spend roughly $20 billion in state tax dollars.
McCrory's staff has been tight-lipped about specifics from the proposal, although they did send out a video meant to give a broad outline of what the governor might talk about.
Legislative budget writers say they hope McCrory will address some basic needs, like paying for building maintenance and stopping overruns in the state Medicaid program for the poor and disabled.
"It's not real sexy stuff," said Sen. Pete Brunstetter, R-Forsyth, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. "These are all basic types of things you have to get settled if your budget process is not going to be a fire drill every year."
Two years ago, Republican lawmakers encountered a roughly $2.5 billion budget deficit. They were also working with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, who did not see eye-to-eye on budget matters. Perdue vetoed both the two-year budget passed in 2011 and a budget revision passed in 2012. Lawmakers overrode those vetoes.
This year, the state may avoid a budget shortfall, and Republicans control the House, Senate and governor's mansion. That said, legislative leaders said Tuesday they did not know what would be in McCrory's budget proposal. And recent history puts the state on notice that just because different branches of government are controlled by members of the same party does not mean all of those individuals will see eye-to-eye.
Although the complete budget document won't become public until Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., there are some items McCrory will almost certainly include:
SCHOOL SECURITY: On Tuesday, McCrory announced the creation of the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools to examine the best school security programs nationwide and determine which fit best in school districts across the state. The new center is at least partly a response to the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., and a spokeswoman for the governor confirmed it will feature in his budget proposal.
DRUG COURTS: During the State of the State speech in February, McCrory called on lawmakers to restore funding for drug treatment courts. These specialized judicial proceedings divert certain offenders away from jail and put them in treatment programs.
MEDICAID: Overspending in the health insurance program for the poor and disabled has been a thorn in the side of both lawmakers and governor for years. Recently, McCrory ordered state agencies to hold back funding in order to back-fill a Medicaid shortfall, something that has recently been an annual occurrence. When he rejected a federal offer to expand Medicaid as part of the federal Affordable Care Act, the governor talked about the need to get the state's current Medicaid spending under control. Now, lawmakers like Brunstetter are hoping to see the governor's ideas for doing just that.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The day after he was sworn into office, McCrory declared costly and aging information technology systems "are broken in almost every department." Audits since then have been particularly critical of work on an IT project meant to assist with Medicaid billing. After spotlighting the issue for several months, it is reasonable to expect McCrory might address IT problems as part of his budget.
EDUCATION: McCrory highlighted a number of education policies during his State of the State speech. Clips in his budget tease video emphasized his calls to use technology in the classroom, including a drive to replace hardcover textbooks with electronic resources.
STATE BUILDINGS: Another theme that McCrory has repeatedly touched on is the need to better maintain existing state buildings. During his first three months in office, he has mentioned finding the funding to pay for a multi-billion dollar backlog of repair and renovation projects as well as limiting the construction of new buildings, particularly on the UNC campus.
JOBS: McCrory reveled in the recent high-profile announcement that MetLife would bring more than 2,600 jobs to the state, and he has said that recruiting jobs would be a top priority for his administration. The budget is the biggest and most sweeping policy document a governor gets to offer, so it's likely to contain some mention of this top priority. What is less clear is what kind of jobs program he might offer. One possible hint might be found in his recent travels. McCrory has been visiting small town main streets roughly once a week for more than a month, and footage of those visits was included in his budget preview video. It doesn't seem much of a stretch to imagine any new jobs program might have a "Main Street" component.
GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION: Throughout the 2012 campaign and the opening months of his administration, McCrory has stressed the need to create what he calls "a culture of customer service" in government. His budget preview video also features a clip of him speaking about the need to streamline government. "We have the opportunity to transform our culture of government through a top-to-bottom assessment of efficiency, of effectiveness, and more than anything a culture of customer service," McCrory said during his inaugural address. Lawmakers said Tuesday they were interested in what ideas McCrory might have in terms of reorganizing government.
For those who haven't been paying attention to the budget process up until now, here is some of the context for what you will hear from McCrory and lawmakers going forward.
WHAT IT IS: The state constitution says North Carolina and its agencies can't spend any money except for that which is appropriated by the General Assembly. So, at its most basic level, the budget allocates what money may be spent for what purposes.
It is also a sweeping policy document. Governors and lawmakers regularly use the budget to order their priorities, create new programs and generally set state government up in their own vision. No other piece of legislation passed during the year will touch as many lives, deal with such a variety of subjects or have such sweeping consequences for the day-to-day management of the state as the state budget will.
FISCAL YEAR: The state's fiscal year starts on July 1 and runs through the end of June.
BIENNIUM: The draft budget McCrory offers Wednesday and the final budget lawmakers draft will technically be a two-year budget for the biennium that starts July 1, 2013, and ends June 30, 2015. However, lawmakers almost always return to Raleigh in the second year of the biennium to "adjust" the budget. Often that budget, which in this case will run from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015, represents a major rewrite of the budget's second year.
SIZE: The state's general fund budget, that portion of spending paid for with state tax dollars, was roughly $20.2 billion. But it's worth noting that when federal grants, special revenue funds – like highway spending paid for through gas taxes – and other non-tax-and-fee revenue is tallied, the actual amount of state spending for 2013-14 is $52.2 billion. Don't expect to hear about this bigger number much over the next few months. Politicians and news reporters will be talking about a roughly $20 billion state budget.
EDUCATION: Public schools and the university system consume more than half – $11.1 billion – of the general fund budget.
MEDICAID: The state's Medicaid budget was $3.1 billion for the current fiscal year, the biggest spending piece outside of education.
BOTTOM LINE: A February outline of the state's fiscal situation showed North Carolina will raise more money this year than in the previous fiscal year. That's good news both because there won't be a shortfall and because that means lawmakers will have money to meet the growing needs to the state.
That fiscal memo anticipates the state could have $460.5 million more during the fiscal year that starts July 1 than it did during the current fiscal year. However, that doesn't mean there will be a lot of new spending or programs in the budget.
The additional money will be eaten quickly by growing enrollments in K-12 and higher education, pressing needs to repairs buildings and roads and nagging problems in the state Medicaid system.
"There's not enough growth in the budget to allow us to do a lot of expansion," Brunstetter said. Any new programs proposed by McCrory, or anyone else, will have to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere.
Both McCrory and legislative leaders have talked about undertaking a major overhaul of the state's antiquated tax system. Over the past several years, governors have included potential tax changes in their budget.
McCrory has not signaled whether he will offer tax reform as part of his budget plan or make a separate proposal. But the following points suggests tax reform will come later:
- Both McCrory and lawmakers have insisted that any tax reform effort be "revenue neutral," which simply means any tax reform proposal won't raise more or less money than the current system. In addition to easing the minds of fiscal conservatives, the approach allows them to swap out a tax system at any point. As long as the amount of availability – wonky speak for the amount of money lawmakers may spend on government programs – is the same, taxes can be handled separately from spending.
- McCrory has not been talking about tax reform recently. His last public mention appears to be his State of the State address, when he embraced calls for lowering the personal and corporate income taxes. Tax reform will require a big sales job by the governor. If he were getting ready to make a pitch, one might expect him to begin signaling his intent as he did with the school safety center, education reform and other items.
- It's controversial. Lawmakers in the House and Senate don't necessarily agree on what needs to be done. And any industry that stands to lose an exemption or pay more would immediately mobilize against any tax measure they saw as harmful to their interests. Attaching a tax measure to his budget could weigh down his spending proposals.
The budget process is really a series of estimates, negotiations, philosophical fights and good, old-fashioned backroom deals that happen over a series of months. An abbreviated outline would include:
JOINT MEETINGS: Since the legislative session began in January, lawmakers have been receiving a series of briefings on the state of the economy, status of the current budget and programs funded by the budget. Most of this work has taken place in joint budget subcommittees, meetings of House and Senate members that are focused on particular program areas such as education or economic and natural resources.
These briefings have been mainly information, meant to give lawmakers the tools they'll need to craft the budget. This has been an especially urgent task this year as more than half of the serving General Assembly was elected in the past four years, so most members don't have deep institutional knowledge about what the state funds and why.
Expect joint meetings to end in the next week.
THE GOVERNOR'S BUDGET: McCrory's budget is a key step in the process. The governor is responsible for putting any spending plan in place.
Gubernatorial budgets have received varying amounts of deference over the past two decades. Sometimes, lawmakers made a show of giving the chief executive's ideas careful consideration; other times, budgets were declared "dead on arrival" when lawmakers spied items with which they took particular exception.
In general, governors are not aiming to have their way on every little detail, but sketch up major programs they want to see as part of any final plan.
When Perdue, a Democrat, sent budgets to the General Assembly during the past two years, Republicans generally ignored her spending plans.
McCrory, it seems, will at least get the benefit of the doubt. Senate budget-writers have held off moving forward with the budget until he had a chance to formulate his spending proposal.
"I think we'll have a more realistic point to start from," said Rep. Nelson Dollar, the senior budget chairman in the state House, said in anticipation of McCrory's budget.
APRIL NUMBERS: Before lawmakers can begin budgeting in earnest, they need a firm idea of how much money they'll have to spend. While the February fiscal memo gave them some idea, the legislature won't know for sure until revenue numbers for April income tax returns come in. Better-than-expected numbers will give legislators breathing room; lower-than-expected returns will require cuts.
SETTING TARGETS: Once the amount of revenue is available, a small group of senior budget chairmen will set the "target" for each major spending area. Education, Health and Human Services, Environment and Natural Resources, Justice and Public Safety, Transportation and General Government budget subcommittees will be given specific dollar amounts to work with.
SUBCOMMITTEES: Senate budget subcommittees will meet, choosing which programs to cut and which to expand. Those recommendations will go to the full Senate budget committee.
BIG CHAIRS: In action behind closed doors, the senior budget chairmen will stitch together the various subcommittee proposals. The bulk of the budget document will look as it was written by the subcommittees, but there are almost always changes and additions not vetted by the subcommittee.
BIG COMMITTEES and THE FLOOR: The budget then gets vetted by the full Appropriations Committee, with members proposing amendments in what is sometimes a day (or days) long committee hearing. The bill then moves to the floor for approval.
LATHER, RINSE, REPEAT: The House will now have a chance to put together its version of the budget. It will follow the same process from setting budget targets to passing a bill as the Senate did. The House is expected to be done with its budget in late May or early June.
CONFERENCE: When the House votes on its final budget, the Senate has the option to accept the House changes as is. That's what happened two years ago for the first time in decades. During that budget year, the House had first crack at drafting the bill. Top leaders were able to meet and agree with a compromise before the measure left the state Senate, allowing the House to vote for concurrence on the budget.
The much more likely scenario involves a conference committee. This will happen if the Senate rejects the House changes to the budget.
Budget conference committees involve dozens of lawmakers and are designed to work out differences between the House and Senate plans. In some years, the bulk of the differences are worked out by subcommittee chairs from the two sides, only leaving a few big ticket items for "big chairs" like Brunstetter and Dollar to work out. In other years, the negotiations are handled mainly at the top level.
Expect the governor, or rather his surrogates, to be involved at this stage of the negotiations as well. In years past, when Democrats held the legislature and the governor's mansion, the governor would be lobbying to ensure his priority programs were included in the budget's final draft. There's also an opportunity for the chief executive to try to broker deals should the House and Senate reach an impasse.
DEADLINE: If the state doesn't have a new budget in place by July 1, it creates problems and lawmakers would almost certainly pass what's known as a "continuing resolution" to keep the state operating. That hasn't been an issue for several years, and budget calendars circulated among lawmakers show budget work wrapping up the first or second week of June at the latest.
FINAL BILL: Whatever bill emerges from the conference committee, it is only supposed to include items that were put forward by the governor, the House or the Senate.
The final "conference report" will be voted upon by the House and Senate and then sent to the governor for his signature or veto. While Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed two Republican-drafted budgets, it seems unlikely McCrory, a Republican, would be inclined to do so.


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In puff piece on Newsmax, Forbes.com quoted Dick Morris without noting he writes for Newsmax
Research ››› ››› BRIAN FREDERICK & TOM ALLISON
A Forbes.com profile of Newsmax and its co-founder, Christopher Ruddy, quoted Dick Morris praising Newsmax without noting Morris' affiliation with the outlet. The profile also omitted key information on Ruddy, including his history of promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about the 1993 death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster.
In a March 6 Forbes.com article headlined "A Great Right Hope," profiling the conservative news outlet Newsmax and its co-founder Christopher Ruddy, Forbes.com writer Dirk Smillie quoted columnist and commentator Dick Morris praising Newsmax without noting Morris' affiliation with the outlet. Smillie identified Morris as a "former Clinton political strategist" and quoted his comment that Newsmax "is the most influential Republican-leaning media outlet in the country." But Smillie did not inform readers that Newsmax frequently publishes columns and "exclusive election analysis" by Morris on its website and in its magazine, and a 2007 press release listed Morris among its contributors. Further, Newsmax sells Morris' book Fleeced in its online store and has promoted the book by offering a free copy with the purchase of a one-year subscription to Newsmax magazine. Morris is also listed as a speaker during a planned Newsmax-sponsored Mediterranean cruise later this year.
(UPDATE: Following publication of this item, the Forbes.com article was updated to note that Morris' "column appears on the [Newsmax] site.")
In addition, Smillie wrote that Ruddy worked "as a journalist first at the New York Post, then as a national correspondent for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, owned by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife" but did not note that Ruddy devoted a significant portion of his career -- including while working at the Tribune-Review -- to spreading discredited conspiracy theories about the 1993 death of Clinton administration deputy White House counsel Vince Foster. Numerous official investigations have conclusively established that Foster committed suicide.
In the March/April 1996 Columbia Journalism Review, contributing editor Trudy Lieberman reported:
That Christopher Ruddy would win the Western Journalism Center's first "Courage in Journalism Award," with its crystal trophy and $2,000 check, is hardly surprising. Ruddy is a free-lance writer for the Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Tribune-Review, whose oeuvre is the 1993 death of White House aide Vincent Foster. The Western Journalism Center, based in suburban Sacramento, bills itself in a biweekly newsletter as a "nonprofit tax-exempt corporation promoting independent investigative reporting" and "the only national news agency supporting a full-time probe of the mysterious death of White House deputy counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr." What this means, it seems, is that the Center mostly recycles stories written by Christopher Ruddy.
Ruddy was a reporter for the New York Post until the summer of 1994. A few months later he was hired by the Tribune-Review, which is owned and published by Richard Mellon Scaife, a Pittsburgh philanthropist well-known for funding right-wing causes and media watchdog organizations (see "Citizen Scaife," cjr, July/August 1981). At the Tribune-Review, Ruddy, who did not return calls to cjr, turns out frequent Foster stories, often on Sunday. The Western Journalism Center, too, has a strong connection to Scaife: last year a good chunk of its funding came from the Carthage Foundation, one of several foundations connected to him. Another large Center contributor is James Dale Davidson, who co-edits the newsletter Strategic Investment and is also chairman of the National Taxpayers Union, a conservative group whose research arm has received thousands of dollars from Scaife foundations.
One of the Center's major activities is trying to inject the dark view of Foster's death into mainstream reporting and thinking. Last year, to this end, the Center bought full-page ads in several major newspapers, including The New York Times, to showcase Ruddy's work and to offer for sale special Vince Foster reports, including a compilation of Ruddy's stories, titled "The Ruddy Investigation," for $12, and a forty-minute "riveting new video documentary" titled "Unanswered -- The Death of Vincent Foster," which Ruddy helped produce, and which goes for $35.
In an October 19, 1997, Slate.com review of Ruddy's book The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation, Michael Isikoff wrote:
Ruddy, of course, is the Inspector Clouseau of the Foster case -- a determined, if bumbling, former New York Post reporter who has virtually single-handedly spawned a cottage industry of conspiracy buffs dedicated to the proposition that a foul and monstrous cover-up surrounds the circumstances of Foster's death.
Financed by a cranky right-wing philanthropist, Richard Mellon Scaife, Ruddy's repeated bromides about the Foster case have been republished in newspaper ads across the country; his sheer persistence has led some casual observers to conclude he might be on to something. The Strange Death, published by The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, is endorsed as "serious and compelling" by former FBI Director William Sessions. In the New York Times Book Review, National Review senior editor Richard Brookhiser chides political journalists for failing to pursue Ruddy's many "unanswered questions" about the case.
Don't worry, when it comes to how Foster died, there aren't any -- or none that matter. Ruddy's book -- and the entire movement he has helped create -- is utterly preposterous. Turgidly written and dense with 534 footnotes and seven appendixes, Ruddy's plodding book repeatedly confuses the evidence and chases after scores of imaginary holes in the official verdict -- without ever positing an alternative scenario that makes the least bit of sense.
From the March 6 Forbes.com article:
Christopher Ruddy wasn't invited to President Barack Obama's dinner with conservative columnists at George Will's Maryland home in early January. Maybe he should have been.
Says former Clinton political strategist Dick Morris: "Newsmax is the most influential Republican-leaning media outlet in the country." Why? It taps "what Republicans in the heartland are really thinking."
Raised in suburban Long Island, Ruddy earned a master's degree in public policy from the London School of Economics, signed on as a journalist first at the New York Post, then as a national correspondent for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, owned by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.
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TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index rebounded on Wednesday in a broad-based rally following five straight days of losses that took Canadian shares to their lowest level this year.
The market took its cue from a rebound on Wall Street a day after aluminum producer Alcoa Inc (AA.N) surprised investors with a first-quarter profit, an encouraging start to earnings season.
The most influential gainer was Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), up 2.4 percent to C$77.84, after its smaller rival Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) on Tuesday forecast a four-fold increase in first-quarter earnings.
CP Railway was up 1.6 percent to C$74.40.
Among other heavy advancers, Suncor Energy (SU.TO) rose 1.5 percent to C$30.12, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) added 0.6 percent to C$56.30 and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) climbed 1 percent to C$54.91.
"We've been down for so many days in the last week that we're finally due for an up day, but I still think we're going to have some continued weakness in the markets from here," said Arthur Salzer, chief executive officer of Northland Wealth Management.
The recent string of selloffs was prompted by a resurgence of fears about global growth, including disappointing U.S. employment data, signs of soft domestic demand in China and a flare-up of European debt jitters.
"We are getting a lot of news from Spain in regards to their banking system and their availability of money. Things look very very tight," added Salzer.
"Although we're comfortable with the Canadian banking system, I still think we're in a bit of a liquidity crunch and we could have weaker markets for the next four or five weeks from here."
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended up 91.47 points, or 0.77 percent, at 12,026.76.
"Toronto is more oversold than New York at this stage," said Ron Meisels, technical analyst and president of Phases & Cycles in Montreal.
The index broke below 12,000 in the previous session and turned slightly negative for the year. Meisels noted that 12,000 is not only a key psychological level for investors but also the 50 percent correction point between the lows of December and the highs of February. The next major support level is eyed at 11,500.
"We peaked in February, then people just got turned off when they saw that Toronto was already turning down, so a lot of people went towards New York," added Meisels.
"But there is a ray of hope, given that we're nearing the end of this bull move and given that Toronto usually does best in the tail end of the market."
Bill Horton, chief investment officer at MD Physician Services, cautioned against getting too excited about the market rebound.
"The mistake might be to assume that everything is back to normal when we're really still highly dependent on policymakers getting it right," said Horton. "So when we see broad moves in similar directions on the same day, it means that there's a correlation that is more reflective of the risk-on/risk-off environment we saw last year."
In individual company news, Canada's Dollarama (DOL.TO) shot up nearly 7 percent to C$51.70 after the dollar-store chain posted a surge in fourth-quarter profit and boosted its dividend by 22 percent.
Editing by James Dalgleish


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Mt Rosa Lodge
A wine and food experience set amoung the vines at Mt Rosa Lodge near Queenstown.3 suites with stunning views over vineyards. Watch spectacular sunsets with a glass of our own Pinot Noir and local cheese from your luxuriously appointed suite.
- Per night
- $380 - $525
Contact Us
1 / 2
Mt Rosa Lodge is set amoung many acres of Pinot Noir vines near Queenstown.Guests can take a walk through the vines with a wine judge Brian Dennis and get to taste several of the wines of the region by the fireplace at night.
Nearby are some of the award winning wineries of Gibbston Valley, Perigrine and Amisfield.
Golf courses abound as well with Millbrook, The Hills, Arrowtown near.
4 ski mountians are within an easy drive from Mt Rosa Lodge.
Relax in this spectaular surroundings at the end of the day.
Complimentary dinner is provided with a 3 night stay.
Maureen is Cordon Bleu trained and originally from Burma and Brian has been the Air New Zealand Wine awards director and wine judge and well as having retails outlets.
Physical address
Mt Rosa Lodge, 55e Gibbston Back Road, RD1, Queenstown, Central Queenstown, Queenstown, 9371, New Zealand.
Opening times
- Business hours:
- 7am - 10pm, 7 days.
- Months of operation:
- All months of the year
Facilities and Features
- Proximity to airport:
- 27Kms from Queenstown Airport
- Proximity to coach terminal:
- 32 Kms from Queenstown terminal
- Proximity to town:
- 32Km from Queenstown
- Number of rooms:
- 3
Pricing and Conditions
|Per night
|$380.00 - $525.00
- Further pricing information:
- A complimentary dinner with a 3rd nights stay.


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OUTSTANDING 400m prospect Jake Ness of City of Salisbury Athletic and Running Club has jet-setted to America to represent Great Britain in the World Junior championships this week.
By far the biggest stage Ness has competed at during his up-and-coming career, the massive event in Eugene, Oregon, has drawn 1,500 of the world's top young athletes from more than 170 nations around the globe. The GB team will comprise the country's leading 46 athletes up to the age of 20 for the six-day biennial fixture, to be held from Tuesday to Sunday.
Earlier editions of the World Junior Championships have spawned some of the biggest track and field names from all over the world - including Usain Bolt, Haile Gebreselassie and Colin Jackson.
Little more than a month after his 17th birthday the Salisbury athlete will be among the youngest athletes to make it to the US venue.
Set against some of the world's best, who are up to three years older, the athlete has been earmarked for the 4x400m relay.
As part of the high speed GB squad of six, his first task is to be picked for the fourman team. The heats are scheduled to start on the championships' penultimate day, with the final on Sunday, July 27.
His form this season has been impressive, continuing a steady progression through local and regional titles and the UK rankings table. He produced his fastest ever 400m performance last month, with a brilliant 47.94sec in the England under-20s' championships.
Ness is coached by his father Lee, who has led a programme of huge progress and success.


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Normally you'd expect a left-winger like MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to do cartwheels if current-day Republicans agree with opinions held by Franklin Roosevelt during the depths of the Great Depression.
This is not one of those times, however, as we are learning during the ongoing battle in Wisconsin over public-sector unions.
What's happening in Wisconsin, according to Maddow, is an existential threat not just to unions but to the Democratic Party. Since the Supreme Court ruling last year in Citizens United v. FEC, Maddow said on her show Friday, Republicans have increased their advantage in political donations from outside groups such as corporations, unions and advocacy groups --
MADDOW: In terms of substantial, game-changing money players in politics, unions are it. They are the only big players on the liberal side. They are the only fish of any real size on the liberal side. And so they must be destroyed. The Republican Party right now has the most direct incentive you can possibly imagine to use public policy to destroy unions. Thirty-six percent of public employees are unionized? Oh no, that cannot stand.
Maddow then showed a brief clip of her MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews interviewing Wisconsin Republican state senator Glenn Grothman --
MATTHEWS: Get rid of the public employee unions all together, just get rid of them.
GROTHMAN: Personally ...
MATTHEWS: Yeah!
GROTHMAN: ... I cannot see that Scott Walker would. Personally I would, yes.
MATTHEWS: You'd like to get rid of the unions. So you don't believe in collective bargaining for public employees, period.
GROTHMAN: No, I don't think public employees need collective bargaining. That's correct.
Back to Maddow, who sarcastically echoed Grothman's remarks --
MADDOW: That's correct, absolutely. Public employees should not be in unions, says the Republican state senator from Wisconsin. Democrats do not tend to think like this.
... with the awkward exception of Franklin Roosevelt, the definitive Democrat of the last century. In a devastatingly effective column titled "FDR's Ghost is Smiling on Wisconsin's Governor," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran writes --
Somewhere, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is grinning past his cigarette holder at Wisconsin's governor. They are on the same page regarding government unions.
Except that Scott Walker -- Republican cheapskate, his visage Hitlerized on signs waved by beet-faced union crowds besieging the Capitol -- is kind of a liberal squish compared to FDR. He's OK with some collective bargaining. ...
Roosevelt's reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35 percent of the nation's workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.
But only for the private sector. Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions. (emphasis added)
"The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be translated into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government."
If you're the kind of guy who capitalizes "government," woe betide such obstructionists.
McIlheran points out it was "orthodoxy" among Democrats well into the 1950s "that unions didn't belong in government work." The shift away from this belief started in 1959 in -- you guessed it, Wisconsin -- when Gov. Gaylord Nelson signed the law allowing collective bargaining for state workers. Other states followed suit, and teachers were soon unionizing as well.
Still, opposition to this trend remained in place on the political left -- in, of all places, again Wisconsin -- according to McIlheran --
Frank Zeidler, Milwaukee's mayor in the 1950s and the last card-carrying Socialist to head a major U.S. city, supported labor. But in 1969, the progressive icon wrote that the rise of unions in government work put a competing power in charge of public business next to elected officials. Government unions "can mean considerable loss of control over the budget, and hence over tax rates," he warned.
There was "a revolutionary principle rather quietly at work in American government," he wrote.
Flash forward four decades, and Gov. Walker is a revolutionary seeking to dismantle this dubious "principle" while union apologists are shrill reactionaries defending an unsustainable status quo.


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Glentoran fury as Rory Patterson goes to Plymouth
Glentoran chairman Aubry Ralph last night claimed Rory Patterson is being "poorly advised" and has been "disrespectful" towards his future employers.
Coleraine striker, Patterson, travelled to Plymouth Argyle on Sunday for three days training — without touching base with The Oval club, with whom he has signed a pre-contract agreement.
The Carling Premiership's top scorer is scheduled to join the Glens in the summer, but Ralph was last night annoyed he wasn't contacted before the Northern Ireland international's trip to Plymouth.
"I spoke to Hugh Wade from Coleraine on Saturday and he told me Rory would be in Plymouth this week, but despite texting him, I didn't hear anything before he left for Plymouth," said Ralph.
"I think the advice he is receiving is poor and it is a bit disrespectful not to let us know he was going to Plymouth.
"Maybe he is just being a little naive.
"As far as we are concerned he will be a Glentoran player next season and if Plymouth want to sign him, then they will have to negotiate with us."
Twenty-five-year-old Patterson (pictured) has set the local game alight this season with his goals, that have fired Coleraine into the final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup and the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup.
The Bannsiders have Portadown breathing down their necks in the battle to make the top six and thanks to his visit to Plymouth they will miss Patterson in tonight's league game with Newry City — when Gerry Flynn will be back in the border club's dug-out.
He was reinstated on Saturday night — with John McDonnell leaving the post — less than six months after quitting the club when his already strained relationship with club chairman Paul McKenna reached breaking point.
Flynn is now looking forward to sinking his teeth into the football management game once more.
Belfast Telegraph


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Does Food Cause Acne?
February 12th, 2011
Many people over the years have asked me if certain foods cause or exacerbate acne. I'm not a dermatologist, but I can go to pubmed and do a search. After reading for a while, these are my opinions about the topic.
Yes, I'm a doctor, but don't do anything without discussing it with your own personal doctor.
Most people have acne at some point in life. Over 80% of adolescents suffer with it at one time or another. In my life the pendulum over diet and acne has swung back and forth. When I was young, everybody said fat and chocolate made it worse. In college, the popular notion was that diet did not play a role. Now, it seems obvious that diet is an important factor in the control of acne.
Sugars and Fats–
In societies without refined sugar, acne basically does not exist. As societies become "more Western" and add more fats and sugars, acne starts to appear. Even in modern societies, people who have acne are more likely to eat high fats and/or high sugar foods. Studies have shown that changing diet patterns by decreasing sugar intake can decrease acne.
Interesting enough, I could not find any association with chocolate. Chocolate is unlikely to have a role–thank goodness.
In overly simplistic terms, sugars cause stimulates the insulin pathway which changes the hormonal balance and increases the likelihood of acne. Bad fats are pro-inflammatory and increase follicle stimulation which ultimately increase acne severity.
As much as a dairy fan as I am, good evidence exists that high daily intake can increase risks of acne. Both whole and skim milk seem to have this effect. It's unclear if this is a hormonal or lactose effect.
The evidence is fairly strong that diet does affect acne. Multiple, multiple studies have now shown that refined sugars and dangerous fats are very bad for the body for multiple reasons. It should not be surprising that the skin shows these affects as well.
Milk is a tough one for me. Many studies exist that milk in a balanced diet is helpful; however, I can not argue that the research also suggests that it contributes to acne.
Many articles on pubmed are no longer free, but Ferdowsian has an article about diet and acne that is an easy, free read.


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One of the comments I usually get about OpenFlow is "sounds great and I'm positive Yahoo! and Google will eventually use it, but I see no enterprise use case." (see also this blog post). Obviously nobody would go for a full-blown native OpenFlow deployment and we'll probably see hybrid (ships-in-the-night) approach more often in research labs than in enterprise networks, but there's always the integrated mode that allows you to add OpenFlow-based functionality on top of existing networking infrastructure.
Leaving aside the pretentious claims how OpenFlow will solve hard problems like global load balancing, there are four functions you can easily implement with OpenFlow (Tony Bourke wrote about them in more details):
- packet filters – flow classifier followed by a drop or normal action;
- policy based routing – flow classifier followed by outgoing interface and/or VLAN tag push;
- static routes – flow classifiers using only destination IP prefix and
- NAT – some OpenFlow switches might support source/destination IP address/port rewrites.
Combine that with the ephemeral nature of OpenFlow (whatever controller downloads into the networking device does not affect running/startup configuration and disappears when it's no longer needed), and the ability to use the same protocol with multiple product families, either from one or multiple vendors, and you have a pretty interesting combo.
Actually, I don't care if the mechanism to change networking devices' forwarding tables is OpenFlow or something completely different, as long as it's programmable, multi-vendor and integrated with the existing networking technologies. As I wrote a number of times, OpenFlow is just a TCAM/FIB/packet classifier download tool.
Remember one of OpenFlow's primary use cases: "add functionality where vendor is lacking it" (see Igor Gashinsky's presentation from OpenFlow Symposium for a good coverage of that topic).
Now stop for a minute and remember how many times you badly needed some functionality along the lines of the four functions I mentioned above (packet filters, PBR, static routes, NAT) that you couldn't implement at all, or that required a hodgepodge of expect scripts (or XML/Netconf requests if you're Junos automation fan) that you have to modify every time you deploy a different device type or a different software release.
Here are a few ideas I got in the first 30 seconds (if you get other ideas, please do write a comment):
- User authentication for devices that don't support 802.1X;
- Per-user access control (I guess NAC is the popular buzzword) that works identically on dial-up, VPN, wireless and wired access devices;
- Push user into a specific VLAN based on whatever he's doing (or based on customized user authentication);
- Give users controlled access to a single application in another VLAN (combine that with NAT to solve return path problems);
- Layer-2 service insertion, be it firewall, IDS/IPS, WAAS or some yet-unknown device;
Looking at my short list, it seems @beaker was right: security just might be the killer app for OpenFlow/SDN – OpenFlow could be used either to implement some security features (packet filters and traffic steering), to help integrate traditional security functions with the rest of the network, or to implement dynamic security services insertion at any point in the network – something we badly need but almost never get.