text:
Party Time
On a cool April evening in the Philadelphia suburb of Haddonfield, N.J., a so-called Pickle Party is in full swing. Thirteen women are gathered in the family room of Denise Dailey, a 35-year-old nail salon owner, where they coo over an assortment of brightly colored cloth handbags and purses. The women flip through sturdy binders of sample fabrics as they compliment Dailey's pregnant sister-in-law and discuss a recent surprise party for Dailey's 75-year-old grandmother. By the evening's end, all of them have combined different shapes, fabrics, and liners to design their own bags. And Susan Murphy, the 41-year-old founder of handbag maker Viv Pickle -- the moniker comes from her nickname at a previous job -- will have collected $862 for 16 bags that will be delivered in seven weeks.
Murphy's company may have a unique name, but it's hardly alone in its use of direct selling. Selling through home parties -- or party planning -- may seem as cutting-edge as your mother's Tupperware. But it's on a roll, as all kinds of entrepreneurs are attracted to its simple business model and comparatively low overhead. "The level of new companies taking this route in the last five years far exceeds anything in my experience," says consultant W. Alan Luce, president of Luce & Associates in Orlando and a 35-year veteran of the direct selling business. The industry generated more than $8 billion in sales in 2004, according to the Direct Selling Assn.
The once dowdy business got a big boost in 2002, when Warren Buffett bought the Pampered Chef, a $750 million direct seller of kitchen goods. And underwear maker Jockey International, bath products retailer The Body Shop, and clothing and accessories maker Jones Apparel have joined the party, offering items not found in their stores or special deals.
For startups, direct selling's straightforward model makes it an especially hot ticket. While Murphy still leads some of her company's parties, typically independent sales representatives line up hosts such as Dailey to open their homes for a party. The reps' commissions, as well as the value of the hosts' gifts, are based on sales. Customers pay before a product is shipped, preventing collection headaches. Sales reps are commission-only, generally getting a 25% cut. And direct sales can certainly be less intimidating than trying to win shelf space in a retail market dominated increasingly by giants such as Wal-Mart Stores.
Party planning has its share of challenges, chief among them rapid turnover among sales reps. And some confuse party planning with pyramid schemes. The latter are powered by reps who are compensated primarily by recruiting other salespeople, not for selling actual products or services. In party planning, reps do get a slice of the sales made by the people they recruit -- maybe 2% to 8% -- but not merely by enticing someone to sign on and sell.
To succeed as a direct seller, you'll need the right product -- one unique enough to motivate people to come out for an evening to hear about it. And one with a fairly high margin, because direct selling comes with steep commissions. Before committing to the strategy, you'll want to throw test parties to gauge potential customers' reactions and refine your pitch. Then you'll need to recruit sales reps and conquer logistics such as tracking sales and handling fulfillment. And if your company uses other means to sell your product -- Viv Pickle has a retail shop in Philadelphia -- you'll want to be sure they dovetail.
As Julie Gordon discovered, home parties can mean solid sales. "I was averse to it at first," says the 35-year-old co-founder of Baby Splendor, a baby products company based in Swampscott, Mass. That was before June, 2003, when she hosted a test party in her home, netting $1,000. "That's when I changed my mind," laughs Gordon. The two-employee company now has about 75 reps who sold $74,000 worth of baby products in 2005.
What sells at home parties? Products that aren't commodities and aren't too pricey. Many products have been dreamed up by entrepreneurs, but some companies sell items made by a variety of manufacturers, with the goal of migrating to an exclusive distribution agreement. Andrew Shure, 43, who founded Shure Pets in Chicago in 2002, linked with small manufacturers who make private-label pet products that Shure now sells under his brand. Shure steers clear of suppliers who do a lot of business with big-box retailers. "We want customers to look at us as offering something unique," says Shure, whose $1 million company has about 1,200 reps.
Home parties are a good outlet for products that customers need to learn about before they buy. That's why Gordon and partner Kelly Majewski, 34, who started Baby Splendor with $5,000 from their savings, last year added a new line of stuffed animals and blankets called Baby Boost. The items contain a patch that releases certain proteins. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who developed the patch, assert that when the proteins are released into the air, they boost the developing immune systems of babies and potentially cut the risk of asthma and allergies. That product line now accounts for 50% of sales.
It's best to offer products at a range of prices between $10 -- opening the party to people on a budget -- and $200. Going much higher can put your products out of the reach of most guests. Just make sure you have hefty margins. Robert J. Hipple, a consultant with direct sales specialists Eaglecap Consulting in Ridgefield, Wash., says products must sell for at least four times the cost of goods -- and preferably six times. That's because a rep's commission typically eats up 20% to 25% of the purchase price. Then there are "downstream" commissions for the rep who recruited the salesperson and gifts for the party host, which reach about 18% when combined. Administrative expenses can run about 11%, and the cost of putting on an annual gathering for reps is in the neighborhood of 3%.
Even the best product won't sell if your party is a dud. "I don't care how well funded you are," says Luce. "If you don't do test parties, you are wasting your time." He recommends holding at least 8 to 10 test parties, inviting 20 to 30 people to ensure that 8 to 12 -- the ideal number of guests -- will show up. Your target for each party, says Luce, is a minimum of $350 in sales and at least one person who is interested in hosting another gathering. There should also be one person out of every two parties who is interested in selling the product. (When you calculate those numbers, throw out the best and worst parties so they don't skew the results.)
Gordon and Majewski knew they were on to something when they tallied the results from their test parties. In their first year, they held 100 parties, averaging eight guests, $500 in sales, and 2.5 people interested in hosting a party. Over time, some hosts became sales reps. Baby Splendor's partners learned which products sold (a stroller blanket with loops to attach toys) and which bombed (teething rings). They also fine-tuned their pitch, getting it down to a brief introduction, a history of the company, and descriptions of some top sellers, all in about 15 minutes.
The party's format, too, should be straightforward. Viv Pickle's Murphy says it is critical to put certain rules in place. She originally allowed hosts to get creative; one hired a fortune teller. But Pickle found that if people spent money on a fortune teller, they'd shell out less for a handbag. Gregory Qualizza, who started ProShop@Home to sell golf equipment, also has simplified his parties since his 1999 launch. They initially resembled rounds of golf, in which guests were grouped into foursomes and scored according to what they purchased. The best-scoring groups won prizes at the end. "I made the parties way too complicated," says the 47-year-old Qualizza. "People just wanted to hit some balls and have fun." Now they can. Qualizza's parties have become less structured, featuring a little golf trivia, a driving and putting contest, and a swing analyzer that shows which set of clubs works best for each person. Sales were $500,000 in 2005.
Finding and keeping sales reps tends to be a direct seller's biggest hurdle. Reps are frequently mothers interested in earning extra cash, but they often enter and leave the business quickly. Claudia Jean, 57, who had a direct selling business specializing in fashionable clothes for older women, found holding on to reps so frustrating that she abandoned the business last year, even though her company was up to $1 million in revenue by 2003. When her first group of reps began to retire, Jean had trouble finding others willing to handle customer questions and complaints. "I couldn't find people that wouldn't fold," she says.
With turnover as high as 80% to 120% a year, training needs to be streamlined. Consultant Jim Northrop of Winfield Consulting in Newport, R.I., says training a new rep should take only two to eight hours. Most companies use a combination of printed material or DVDs, telephone instruction, and time spent trailing an experienced rep. Adding reps only in nearby cities or states, at least initially, will make training easier.
Companies that have multiple sales channels need to be sure other efforts don't undermine their direct sales force. "You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you," says Michael Lee, director of marketing for direct seller Daisy Blue Naturals, which sells body care products. If a customer who has attended one of his company's parties later buys something on the company's Web site, the sales rep in the customer's area gets the usual commission. If a purchase is made by a new customer, an area rep will call the customer to offer help with future purchases.
The chain of commissions generated by direct sales means you'll need software to track sales, and ideally, integrate them with an order processing and inventory system. Be sure to use a package specifically for party planning, such as those from Jenkon and Party Plan Solutions. Applications will run between $15,000 and $25,000. As sales take off, you'll likely need to stop packing orders in your basement, something Gordon and Majewski realized when they inadvertently mailed a phone receiver with a shipment. Now Princess House, a party planning company that sells cooking and entertaining products, handles their customer service, warehousing, and shipping functions. Princess House holds a small equity stake in Baby Splendor, which reimburses Princess House for its costs at a rate lower than what those services would typically cost a startup. Other companies make deals with fulfillment centers, where they rent space for warehousing and pay to have products packed and shipped.
Many party planning veterans say the most important thing an entrepreneur can do is network at Direct Selling Assn. conventions or less formal settings. Qualizza did just that, asking someone he knew at Pampered Chef to put him in touch with Jay Christopher, who founded that company with his wife, Doris. Among Christopher's tips: be sure to treat all your reps equally. Qualizza says that advice prompted him to say no to people who wanted to come into the company at senior sales positions. After all, keeping reps happy is a key to making your parties, and ultimately your venture, a success.
By Amy Barrett


text:
High-quality and timely data is critical to evidence-based advocacy. Unfortunately, it is also often hard to come by. That's why I am grateful to have discovered the World Resources Institute's new Global Forest Watch platform, which provides precisely the kind of data advocates so desperately need to effect change.
Their robust new application allows users to map and analyze an array of forest-related datasets, visit country-specific portals for detailed national-level statistics and context, and sign up for email alerts to be informed when new forest loss occurs in a country. Users can also download raw data, visualize global trends and country rankings, and even view first-hand accounts of forest-related activity on the ground submitted by other Global Forest Watch users. Through this impressive new project, the World Resources Institute (WRI) provides not only indispensable data but also the tools necessary to make sense of that data. With work like this, it is no wonder WRI was named the top environmental think tank in 2012 and 2013 according to University of Pennsylvania's annual Global Go-To Think Tanks Index Report. Kudos, WRI!
Here at PAI, we have already begun incorporating this data into our work. I encourage others to do the same. Find out how Global Forest Watch can be a powerful tool for NGOs, businesses, governments and indigenous communities here.
Visual Insight is a monthly blog series focusing on mapping and data visualizations. To read last month's post, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Discussion in 'Shoes and Apparel' started by NebAce1, May 3, 2007.
What shoe brand is your favorite and you use most often?
Adidas. It used to be Nike but as comfy as they are when you put them (and the really are), the cushioning dies within a week (Breathe Free II and Vapor Speed) and the Vapor Speeds tear apart in less than 3 weeks in my experience. So I switched to the Barricade IV's. They're a bit heavier than the Vapor Speeds, but have a similar glove-like fit and are for more durable than the Breathe Free II's.
New Balance. They fit.
Adidas, best tennis shoe by far.
asics, mi piace il gel resolution
Babolat, surprised?
That is very true, Adidas are the best.
Adidas for tennis. Love em. Then K-Swiss.
Asics for running. Wish they'd do more with their tennis lineup.
New balance makes high quality shoes and I have wide feet (but not superwide). But, what I hate about NB is that there is so much room in the toe, so my toes are swimming around although the midfoot (where I need the extra width) is a good fit. I can never get used to that extra room in the toes.
barricade every time
Design: Nike
Actual Performance: Asics
Retro Look: Adidas
adidas and prince, especially prince t10...they last longer than any other shoe ive ever had
10 characters!
Best cushioning out there.
I'm devoted to the Vapors.
Prince, Prince, Prince.
I use Lotto and sometimes Adidas.
adidas Barricade
Of the 12 guys in my doubles league 8 of us wear New Balance.
Buona sera, amici.
Ufa....Babolat, mi piace il All Court e il Propulse. Che bello! Bravissimo.
Ciao e complimenti.
nike all the way
especially the breathe free line
barricades and tirands, yeah, yeh
^^have to agree nike all the way! breathe free II's and III's.
BIV are the best and look coolest, so I voted Adidas.
Tennis: Adidas, contemplating on trying Yonex
Streetwear: Asics Onitsuka, Puma esp the RPT 2 suede(kick @ss looks and wicked comfort)
oscillates and the breathe frees? 2 of the most classic shoes (and shoe lines) of all time. although honorable mention to adidas for the barricades.
Nike sucks. The durability of nicke shoes really sucks.
All my shoes and boots are DR. MARTENS...... And for tennis and basketball shoes- nike
Yep, put down another advocate for the Adidas Barricade IV. Anything else just feels cheap and nasty in comparison.
adidas shoes ae so much more comfortable and durable. i had the australian open series of nike shoes and they were gne so fast
I guess it wasn't a good idea to put Reebok as a category. Anyways Nike, because they have good all-around shoes.
Another vote for Prince
Once in a while, I try other brands like Nike, Fila, Diadora, etc. But I keep coming back to Adidas. I've been happy with every Adidas pair I've owned. Right now, I wear the ClimaCool Booms. Before, I used to wear the Feathers and the Barricades.
I am curious about the Diadora Speed Pros. But mainly because I think they look really cool.
Adidas CC Feather II are my favs, amazing on clay, they wear down kinda quick on hardcourt though.
I had a girl on the street tell me that my Vapor IV's were "so beautiful". She was totally smitten with them.
The Vapors are a work of art people. Smooth as silk.
Reebok used to be my favorite. Sad to see them going down.
Nike! Nike! I'm not separating from a pair I own for 8 years. And not those lousy Adidas giving me blisters. Never again
the breathe free line has to be the best line yet.
the barricade line however is close behind and on the rise.
asics. nike's are nice, but they wear out too fast, plus too narrow in the toe area.
I had the same problem with blisters in Adidas.
uffa effettivamente
all court originals
Addidas (Barricade IIs) seem to work best for me. Although I wish I could find a local store with a decent selection of tennis sneakers to try on others.
I <3 Barricades
I voted for Nike, because they have Air technology and the best cushioning shoes :mrgreen:
adidas, just love those barricades
i'm torn between nike and adidas... i want something that's a combination of my bIV's and BF2's! the fit and the weight of the nikes and the durability and lasting cushion of the adidas... now that would be a sweet shoe!
Separate names with a comma.


text:
Before Mark Cuban became a "sports fanatic" he was regarded as "just another billionaire." Born in Pittsburgh on the 31 July 1958, he started his first attempt at business by selling powdered milk and garbage bags to people who lived in his neighborhood. He later attended Indiana University and paid for his education by offering dancing lessons and writing chain-letters.
Even in his college days, he became known as "controversial" where he gained the reputation of being outspoken. Also, he became known as a rule-breaker and took advanced courses even in his freshman year. His advisor at the time convinced not to pursue his MBA once he completed his bachelor's degree.
In 1982, when he had completed college, Cuban founded a company called Micro solutions in Dallas. This company became the reseller of numerous other computer-service companies such as Sun Microsystems, Apple, and Novell. Also, this company adopted technology that included CompuServe and Lotus Notes that at the time was way ahead of the average mainstream. In the month of July 1990, Mark Cuban sold the company for an astounding 6 million dollars to CompuServe.
This was just a beginning for Mark Cuban; he went on to make a real name for himself and moved onto owning the famous Dallas Mavericks. In the world of basketball, Cuban is well known for his controversial behavior.
Billionaire Mark Cuban's Philosophy For Success
Mark Cuban states in various interviews that he began to understand his personal strengths at the tender age of 12 where he started his career selling garbage bags in his neighborhood. In selling these items, he quickly realized that he enjoyed the thrill of selling and that he already had a good way of selling. He also realized the value of providing services from selling to his customers.
When he was 16, he began a stamp enterprise where he attended trade shows and stamp shows. He recognized that his strength lies in working that little bit extra where ordinary people usually stop. He even recalls in those days that he began with just one quarter buying only one stamp and later progressing onto $50.00. Mark Cuban realizes that he has always had a passion for whatever path he followed. He remembers clearly while still in school staying up till the early hours of the morning memorizing Scott's Stamp Journals and Linn's Stamp News before heading off to school for the day. Later on in college his diligence flourished where he spent many hours in the college library looking up business biographies and reading any book about business.
When he started up his first real company Micro Solutions, he began with no-money. He used borrowed computers where he would spend sleepless nights teaching him about the software and programming. He goes on to state that he has always really enjoyed the competition related to the world of business and relates his success to working at it 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. He also states that there will always be someone just around the corner who will try to outdo you. And this is where it is always best to stay in the competition and prove that you are the best.
Mark Cuban strongly believes that to gain success and keep it; one must have passion. He believes that any person is looking for success first has to love what they are doing. He also believes that it has nothing to do with who you may know but rather an amount of cash you have to access your success. He believes that to find really true success a person should only pursue a business path that they truly have a passion for. He did not know in the early stages of his success that he had a passion for technology and computers. However, after his very first class in "computers" he decided to purchase his very first PC and began to teach himself how to program. Four hours after working on this computer he realized he had a passion for the computer world. In the beginning, he states that he made a lot of failures, but it was his love for the computer and technology game that made him push on and later find huge success.
Mark Cuban believes that anyone can find success if they are aware of their weaknesses and strengths and then finding something that they enjoy doing. He states that if anyone looks at their career as a type of "job" they are already on the road to failure. Once someone can find something they are truly passionate about, they can use their personal strengths to help others and their business to grow to levels they never dreamed possible.
Mark Cuban Interview by Tai Lopez
This is a very fun interview where Mark Cuban went over to Tai Lopez's house for 4 hours. They talk about success and shoot some hoops. Mark gives away a lot of incredible tips. Tai Lopez was really lucky to have Mark over for such an intensive interview.


text:
Jerusalem (Oct. 18)
Nine persons were injured, including two policemen, as clashes between striking Histadruth workers and Revisionists employed at the Frumin Biscuit factory were renewed today.
Twelve persons were arrested. Two of the injured were removed to the hospital in a serious condition.
Seven persons were injured yesterday in the clashes which resulted when the Histadruth workers objected to the employment of Revisionists in a factory against which they were striking.
Clashes between the Histadruth and the newly formed Revisionist Labor Union have been constant for the past two weeks. Despite a pledge given that hostilities would be held in abeyance for at least a month, they broke out in severe form yesterday, continuing today.
The Palestine press is indignant at the repetition of the clashes.
The "Doar Hayom" features a lengthy article stating that every Jew has the right to work in Palestine.


text:
A number of equipment suppliers have introduced new products in early 2017 to make surface preparation easier, more effective or even hands-free.
After about 20 years of research and development, wet surface-tolerant coating is well established, allowing the expansion of waterjetting facilities in both maintenance and new building shi...
Hughes Pumps, a U.K.-based maker of high-pressure waterjetting equipment and related products, has introduced a new ultra-high-pressure waterjetting unit that the company recommends for ship...
by Philippe Le Calvé, Anticorr Conseil; and Christian Favennec And Nicolas Bocca, DCNS
Studies compare waterjetting and abrasive blasting on zinc primers in severe marine e...
by Duane T. Hough, Champion Painting Specialty Services Corp.
In this article, the author discusses common misconceptions about what waterjetting a...
After about 20 years of research and development, wet surface tolerant coating is well established, allowing the expansion of water jetting facilities in both maintenance and new b...
October 25 - October 27, 2017
September 28, 2016
September 25, 2014
The PaintSquare Pro Video Series: A collection of technical presentations hosted by PaintSquare.com in cooperation with SSPC
A collection of archived webinars hosted by PaintSquare.com focused on coatings application.
A collection of archived webinars hosted by PaintSquare.com focused on coatings technology and their applications.
issued by SSPC
This standard is one of four separate standards that replace SSPC-SP 12/NACE No. 5, which has b...
**Commercial white papers, product videos, and other sponsored documents posted on this site are
paid content from third-party companies; inclusion and posting on this site
does not imply an endorsement nor recommendation of the content by Technology Publishing/PaintSquare.
By signing in and viewing or downloading this paid content, you agree to make your name and full contact
information available to the sponsor of the content.
Technology Publishing Co., 1501 Reedsdale Street, Suite 2008, Pittsburgh, PA 15233
TEL 1-412-431-8300 • FAX 1-412-431-5428 • EMAIL firstname.lastname@example.com
The Technology Publishing Network


text: Slides at Waves of Fun to reopen Wednesday By Kate White July 17, 2012 Story Share CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The slides at the Waves of Fun pool in Hurricane will reopen Wednesday.The three slides, located next to the wave pool, were installed in 1989. They have been shut down since the beginning of this year's season, which began around Memorial Day, according to pool manager Jamie Wright."They didn't pass inspection from the Division of Labor at the beginning of the season. Some work had to be done on the structure," Wright said.Rust damage, deteriorating handrails and aging carpet on the slides' 35-foot-high platform should have been addressed years ago, according to Scott Williamson, director of Putnam County Parks and Recreation."Since I've been here, we've been playing catch-up with the wave pool facility," Williamson said. "The people preceding the gentleman with the Division of Labor that flagged us this year gave us a clean bill ... for the past six years with no mention of anything."Fixing the structural damage to the platform cost about $7,000, Williamson said."The engineer said this was not anything that would have collapsed, but the chance was there, and if we didn't do our part to try and make the structure safe, we would have been negligent and liable for not doing it," he said. "Being overly cautious is not a bad thing." Two years ago, during the winter months, about $250,000 was spent to resurface the slides, Williamson said."We found out actual fiberglass was coming up and didn't want people sliding down," he said.Mike Ayers, a compliance auditor with the state Division of Labor, said he was at the pool Monday to make sure the repairs had been made. The Division of Labor requires an annual safety inspection, among other things."I went and did my inspection and it passed," Ayers said. "We felt it needed to be repaired, and they've done that -- it's safe."A third-party engineer who initially inspected the slides earlier this year also has given approval for reopening, Ayers noted.While the slides were being repaired, pool admission prices were reduced. Beginning Wednesday, prices will return to $9 per person, $7 for children between the ages of 5 and 11, and kids ages 4 and younger get in free.The 30-year-old pool, which is known for creating oceanlike waves, was without its waves last month when a motor that creates the waves stopped working. That also has been repaired, according to pool officials.Reach Kate White at email@example.com or 304-348-1723. Story Share Story Share Trending Now 1 Teen pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Oakes Field shooting 2 Facebook founder visits Cabin Creek Health Systems 3 Toyota announces new $115 million project for WV plant 4 Man allegedly cuts father in Rand over argument about a sandwich 5 'Report for America' pilot project begins in Appalachia Union pickets DHHR over Weston hospital conditions Previous Story Farmers markets picked for networking program Next Story


text:
> Offices > News
Office > News
February 28, 2006
Vietnamese Poetry and Music to be Presented at Smith
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.—The Smith College Poetry Center will present an evening of Vietnamese poetry and music, featuring poet-translator John Balaban and friends at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, in Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall. This event is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.
Balaban's visit to Smith celebrates "Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuân Huong" and will include special guests Nguyen Boi Co, "singing" the originals, and Ngo Thanh Nhan, providing accompaniment on the "dàn tranh," a 16-chord stringed instrument.
A distinguished poet in his own right and recipient of many honors, including the Academy of American Poets' Lamont Prize, a National Poetry Series Selection, the Poetry Society of America's William Carlos Williams Award, and two nominations for the National Book Award, Balaban is also one of the preeminent authorities on Vietnamese literature. His translations of Ho Xuân Huong bring alive the voice of an 18th-century Vietnamese concubine and one of modern Vietnam's most beloved poetic voices. The spare, nuanced language of the translations allows the poems to retain the playful rhythm and frequent double entendre essential to their effect.
Balaban served as president of the American Literary Translators Association and currently teaches English and serves as poet-in-residence at North Carolina State in Raleigh. A conscientious objector in Vietnam during the war, his poetry combines the personal experiences of war, nature and family life with the landscapes of other poets across history and continents. He has published 11 books of poetry, translation and prose since 1974, and a 12th book, "Path, Crooked Path," is forthcoming. W.S. Merwin writes: "Balaban's gift for language has been wholly devoted to his need to face directly and mine sense from the bewilderment and anguish being implicated in the history and suffering of our time."
A conductor by training, Nguyen Boi Co made her highly acclaimed debut with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra at the Hanoi Opera House in July 2002, making her the first woman ever to lead the 50-year-old ensemble. A native of Hanoi, Nguyen returns regularly to perform and to give master classes. She is currently a recipient of the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Scholarship in Orchestral Conducting at the Juilliard School.
Ngo Thanh Nhan is a visiting scholar at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. A specialist in medical language processing (syntax, semantics and web technology) and automatic encoding of clinical narratives for a variety of Indo-European languages, he also works in computer character encoding and, since 1992, has been involved with Vietnam's efforts to standardize "quôc ngu," ideographic-based "Nôm" script, and indic-based "Chàm" script. Ngô serves on the board of The Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education (N.Y.) and is a director of The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation and a founding member of Peeling, a New York Asian-American performing arts collective.
This evening of Vietnamese poetry and music is supported by the Smith College Lecture Committee and will be followed by book sale and signing in Wright Hall. For further information, contact Cindy Furtek in the Poetry Center office at (413) 585-4891 or Ellen Doré Watson, director, at (413) 585-3368.
Office of College
Smith College
Garrison Hall
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
News Assistant
News ReleaseArchive


text:
The first Italian MotoGP since 2000 to take place without Valentino Rossi has been won by Dani Pedrosa, who dominated the race for his and Honda's first victory of the season.
- Home
- MotoGP
- Championships
- Forums
- CrashTV
- Live
The first Italian MotoGP since 2000 to take place without Valentino Rossi has been won by Dani Pedrosa, who dominated the 23-lap race for his and Honda's first victory of the 2010 season.
Reigning seven time MotoGP champion Rossi missed his home race after fracturing his lower right leg in a Saturday morning highside and could be sidelined for months.
Just before the start, Lorenzo held up a message for Fiat Yamaha team-mate Rossi saying "Everyone can feel pain, but not everyone can be a legend", while the whole of the Ducati grandstand displayed the word "Vale" with red and white cards.
Rossi himself then gave a message via telephone from hospital, which was broadcast over the circuit PA system to the fans. Rossi, who was watching on TV (see separate story), said he missed everyone and would be back soon.
In Rossi's absence, Pedrosa converted pole into the race lead and simply rode into the distance, helped by nearest rivals Lorenzo and Dovizioso exchanging second place in the early stages.
Pedrosa's lead over the Lorenzo/Dovizioso battle reached eight seconds, before the Spaniard put his factory RCV into cruise control to claim his ninth MotoGP victory by 4.014sec.
Lorenzo shook off Dovizioso in the closing stages to be the only rider to finish all four races this season on the podium, and the #99 now holds a 25 point lead over new nearest rival Pedrosa, with Rossi slipping to third.
Dovizioso at least had the honour of being top Italian and standing on his home podium, after his third third-place of the year.
On the podium, an unhappy Lorenzo - he later said he wanted to win to dedicate it to Rossi and couldn't understand his lack of pace - wore a "VR 46" t-shirt.
The fight for fourth was the only contest to stay alive to the flag, with Marco Melandri, Randy de Puniet and 2009 Mugello winner Casey Stoner trading places for much of the race.
Stoner secured fourth - his best result of the season - with a last lap pass on Melandri's Gresini Honda, while LCR Honda's de Puniet was left to settle for sixth, having led the group on the penultimate lap.
Ben Spies, who ran as high as fourth in the early laps, lost touch with the trio ahead on the final lap, but seventh place was just the kind of solid race he needed after failing to reach the flag in the past two events.
It will also do his chances of being called up to replace Rossi no harm at all, especially since Monster Yamaha Tech 3 tam-mate Colin Edwards - favourite for the temporary promotion - sunk back to 13th in the race.
Rossi is likely to be replaced by Catalunya at the latest, which follows Silverstone and Assen on July 4.
Stoner was the only Ducati rider to finish after team-mate Nicky Hayden suffered his first DNF of the year, the American sliding out of sixth on lap six. Another Desmosedici rider, Mika Kallio, also failed to finish.
Behind Spies, the top ten was completed by Aleix Espargaro, Marco Simoncelli and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi.
Pramac's Espargaro claimed his best MotoGP finish, while Honda Gresini's Simoncelli charged through the field after running off track on the opening lap.
Italian Grand Prix:
1. Pedrosa
2. Lorenzo
3. Dovizioso
4. Stoner
5. Melandri
6. de Puniet
7. Spies
8. Espargaro
9. Simoncelli
10. Capirossi
11. Aoyama
12. Barbera
13. Edwards
14. Bautista


text:
Greiner, Team USA roll over RedWolves
Sat, 29 Jun 2013 02:59:56 GMT —
The USA National Collegiate Baseball team scored a convincing 9-0 win over the Florence RedWolves on Friday night at Sparrow Stadium on the campus of Francis Marion University. The team of college all-stars improved to 6-0 in its 23 game summer exhibition tour. In addition to playing collegiate league teams, Team USA will travel to Japan for a series of games followed by a six game series across the US against Cuba.
Oregon Stateâ??s Jason Conforto got the scoring started with a solo blast to right field in the first inning. Cal State Fullertonâ??s Matt Chapman added a two run double in the second to make it a 3-0 USA lead. Chapman was 3-4 with 4 RBIâ??s in the win. San Franciscoâ??s Brad Zimmer was 4-5 with four runs scored.
Gamecocks catcher Grayson Greiner went is a part of the USA team and calls it a great honor to wear the USA jersey. He says it hits him every time the national anthem plays and he sees the jersey heâ??s wearing. Greiner was 1-3 with a walk on Friday night.


text:
Detail Information
- Hemodialysis and water qualityAngela D Coulliette
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
Semin Dial 26:427-38. 2013..S. The importance of the dialysis water distribution system, current standards and recommendations, acceptable monitoring methods, a review of chemical, bacterial, and endotoxin outbreaks, and infection control programs are discussed. ..
- Persistence of the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus on N95 respiratorsA D Coulliette
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Appl Environ Microbiol 79:2148-55. 2013..53) and 14.6 × 10(5) mPa (-0.47). This research supports discarding respirators after close contact with a person with suspected or confirmed influenza infection due to the virus's demonstrated ability to persist and remain infectious...
- Risk reduction assessment of waterborne Salmonella and Vibrio by a chlorine contact disinfectant point-of-use deviceAngela D Coulliette
Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Int J Hyg Environ Health 216:355-61. 2013..5 × 10(-9) (IQR 8.0 × 10(-10) to 1.3 × 10(-8)) for cholera. Insights on risk management policies and strategies for public health workers were gained using a simple QMRA scenario informed by laboratory assessment of HWT...
- Evaluation of a new disinfection approach: efficacy of chlorine and bromine halogenated contact disinfection for reduction of viruses and microcystin toxinAngela D Coulliette
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Center for Microbial Risk Assessment, Michigan State University, 1405 S Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Am J Trop Med Hyg 82:279-88. 2010..S. Environmental Protection Agency virus reduction goal of 99.99%...


text:
Hermann Simon; Frank F. Bilstein; Frank Luby
|Format: Hardcopy Black & White
|Also Available In:
|English PDF
|List Price: $7.46
|Source: Harvard Business Press Chapters
|Publication Date: Mar 23, 2006
|Product #: 6479BC-HCB-ENG
|Discipline: Strategy
|Length: 22 p, English Hardcopy Black & White
Getting profits back from your customers involves wielding the full power in your marketing mix: product, promotion, place, and price. This chapter focuses on the ideas and techniques you can use to improve the first three of those elements in your marketing mix. The authors discuss segmentation and how to adapt your product and service portfolio to align it with your segments, and show how the nature and timing of your promotional activities can help you attract more customers, not inadvertently drive them into your competitors' arms.
This chapter is excerpted from "Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share: A Guide to Greater Profits in Highly Contested Markets."
To show you how to find and retrieve hidden profit by making subtle changes to your marketing mix.
Asset management; Business growth; Market segmentation; Market share; Marketing mix; Profitability


text:
search the globe
Today's Globe Globe Archives
News on the go
Globe services
Globe Online Store
Visit the Globe Online Store to find Globe back issues, photos and memorabilia.
Home Delivery
Introductory offer: 50% off home delivery.
Subscribe Now!
Special Reports
Search for 'Whitey' BulgerConnolly trial coverage and
other Boston mob stories
Boston's newest Americans3,032 immigrants become
new citizens at Fenway Park
Department under fireBoston faces questions about pensions and substance abuse
- The mysterious life of Clark Rockefeller
- |
- Firefighter disability probe
- |
- Common diversity
- |
- Gambling in Mass.
- |
- Restaurant violations
Globe Video
Reporters' Questions
Are you retired and worried?
Are you retired or approaching retirement? Have you been hard hit by declining home values or the falling stock market? Contact business reporter Todd Wallack at firstname.lastname@example.com to share your story.
Curious Jobs
What are the quirky, odd, or just plain interesting jobs in Massachusetts? Tell us about someone whose job makes you envious, inspired, or perplexed.
Miss Conduct
Have a quandary? Share it, and your question and Miss Conduct's answer may appear in an issue of the Globe Magazine. Submit a question.


text:
Quick Take
- RadioShack has been reporting disappointing results for quite a while and its Q2 2013 was not very different.
- It has been a prominent player in the retail business for over 90 years but has been struggling lately to survive in the industry with rising competition from online retail giants such as Amazon.
- RadioShack claims to be making strong progress on its turnaround strategy which includes re-positioning its brand, revamping the product assortment and reinvigorating its stores.
- In addition to RadioShack's shifting focus towards its wireless division, its initiative to move through unproductive inventory and test new promotional vehicles put additional pressure on its gross margins in Q2 2013.
- We expect margins to remain under pressure for the rest of our review period since RadioShack derives a majority of revenues from the low-margin wireless segment.
- RadioShack hopes to achieve higher operational efficiency and improving financial flexibility in the future with its turnaround initiatives.
RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) has been reporting disappointing results for quite a while and its Q2 2013 was not very different. While revenues were flat y-o-y, the company's gross margin declined to 37.2%, compared to 40.1% in Q2 2012, which expanded its net loss from $14.1 in Q2 2012 to $41.4 million in Q2 2013. RadioShack has been a prominent player in the retail business for over 90 years but has been struggling recently to survive in the industry with rising competition from online retail giants such as Amazon.
- RadioShack's Q3'15 Earnings Review: The Company Dreams Of A Better Fiscal 2016
- RadioShack's Tussle With Its Lead Lenders Can Leave The Company Bankrupt
- RadioShack's Q3'15 Earnings Preview: The Company Has A Long Way To Go To Turnaround Its Business
- RadioShack Revamps Its Website In Time To Cater To The Upcoming Holiday Season
- RadioShack's Expanding 'Fix It Here' Footprint Can Help Increase Its Customer Base
- RadioShack's Restructured Financial Deal To Provide Much Needed Cash For Its Operations
Last quarter, RadioShack announced its turnaround strategy, offering a broad overview of how it plans to tackle the dire challenges facing the company. It claims to be making strong progress on repositioning its brand, revamping the product assortment and reinvigorating its stores. RadioShack hopes to achieve higher operational efficiency and improve its financial flexibility in the future with these initiatives.
While RadioShack's total sales declined marginally (0.5% y-o-y) driven by the impact of 2.5% fewer stores in the U.S., its comparable store sales grew by 1.3% annually. Comparable store sales increased for the first time since Q4 2012 as the company marked its sixth consecutive quarter of strong growth in its signature line of products.
We have yet to see any significant gains from RadioShack's turnaround strategy. The company claims that it will take several quarters of strategic changes to improve its long-term financial performance.
See our full analysis for RadioShack
Segment-Wise Results – Consumer Electronics Was The Worst Hit
Strong demand for wireless accessories, portable speakers and AC adapters in RadioShack's U.S. company related stores led to 4.6% and 6.4% growth in its signature platform's total sales and comparable store sales, respectively. Within the mobility platform, the company saw double-digit growth in its prepaid business as consumers responded to the expanded assortment of smartphones and the value of the prepaid model. However, gains from higher prepaid sales were offset by soft consumer demand for postpaid phones, in turn lowering RadioShack's mobility revenues by 0.9% y-o-y.
Registering a 9.8% and 11.3% y-o-y decline in comparable store sales and total sales, respectively, RadioShack's consumer electronics business was the worst hit in the quarter. In addition to macro factors, RadioShack's strategy to deemphasize laptop computers, MP3 players and GPS devices from its portfolio contributed to lower sales of these products.
Gross Profit Will Remain Under Pressure
RadioShack's gross margins have declined from 45.4% in 2008 to 36.7% in 2012. The company has been betting big on shifting its focus to mobility devices like smartphones, an area which is expanding fast but offers comparatively lower margins. Its revenue contribution from the mobility division has risen from 44.2% in 2010 to 51.4% and 53.1% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. In Q2 2013, RadioShack's initiative to move through unproductive inventory and test new promotional vehicles put additional pressure on its gross margins.
On the positive side, RadioShack is seeing stable margins in its high-margin signature business and improving margins in the consumer electronics business. As the company focuses on revamping its product assortment and reposition its brand, additional sales volumes can help stabilize margins. However, since RadioShack derives a majority of revenues from the wireless segment, we expect margins to remain under pressure for the rest of our review period.
Some Recent Steps Taken By RadioShack To Turn Around Its Business
1. New Strategic Partnerships: As part of its turnaround strategy, RadioShack has entered into a strategic partnership with two players – Maker Media and NASCORP. With Maker Media it aims to reestablish its brand to go after the younger demographic and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) customer segment. The latter became disenchanted with the company following the 2009 re-positioning exercise by the chain and largely abandoned it.
Partnering with NASCORP, a wholesale distributor and service provider for nearly 4,000 college bookstores, opens an opportunity for RadioShack to enter a non-traditional marketplace. The affiliated colleges will install RadioShack-branded fixtures in their campus bookstores which will be stocked with some of the company's popular items.
2. Revamping Product Assortment: In Q2 2013, RadioShack worked towards removing duplicate inventory and unproductive inventory through promotions and clearance events. The company claims that it has identified those SKUs that drive demand in a given store's trade zone so that it can customize the assortment and focus the inventory on products that generate the majority of its sales and profits. The company is also rationalizing the number of private brands in its portfolio.
3. Concept Stores: RadioShack opened its first concept store in Manhattan with an aim to reinvigorate its store experience. It has 10 locations currently under construction and will have a few more that will open by the year end.
RadioShack also plans to work towards more visible advertising and promotion of the RadioShack brand on new-age media platforms and revamped stores which will emphasize its interactive experience.
We are in the process of updating our price estimate of $3.20 for RadioShack.
Understand How a Company's Products Impact its Stock Price at Trefis


text:
Purchased by Me
As you have already noticed, this palette is not the same Candy Bar as seen in most stores. This Too Faced Candy Bar palette comes with an IPhone 5 Series case. Since I am an Android phone user, I do not get to use this, so it will be passed down to a good friend (I feel so left out). The palette comes with 11 eyeshadows, one bronzer and one blush.
From the outside, the palette looks like an unwrapped chocolate bar. On the inside, the entire palette has been infused with cocoa powder, giving the palette a sweet smell of hot chocolate. YUM! The palette is just small enough to fit in your purse. But just because it is small do not think it comes packed with as much finesse as the larger chocolate palette.
|11 Eyeshadows
|Blush and Bronzer
This palette creates a nice neutral day look to a smokey-eyed, sultry evening look. The colors are highly pigmented, but there was a little fall out with the eyeshadow. The matte colors and the shimmery colors blended well, and went on without creasing.
The palette includes Too Faced's famous bronzer Chocolate Soleil to help give you that sun-kissed glow in this harsh winter weather. Also, the palette has a pinkish-coral blush. The blush is nice, but since I cannot wear coral well, it really doesn't fit me.
The pans area is a little small, and I did have some problems with colors mixing together. But overall, this palette is good. I would gladly carry it in my purse for a touch-up or to create a look to go out in.
The palette retails for $25.00. It may be purchased at Ulta, Macy's and www.toofaced.com.


text:
April 23, 2013 BY Aaron Hope
Supra's third retail location opened in Santa Monica last month, and here's a new tribute to the city that joins New York and Paris with Crown brand flagship stores. This 'LA' Supra Skytop III combines a black waxed suede upper with smoky eyelet cage/heel tab and a white marble outsole with similar translucency. Los Angeles-inspired details include ankle embroidery, footbed script and city hall hangtag, so click through to see more angles, then grab one of 100 pairs this Saturday, April 27th, exclusively at Supra Santa Monica.
Photos: Supra
Filed under: Skate Supra Upcoming Sneakers
Tags: Supra Skytop III


text:
IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R155 Desktop Monitor Stands (Pair)
The IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R155 is a versatile desktop monitor stand that allows you to adjust the positioning of your studio monitors to suit your needs. Each ISO-L8R155 stand can be configured to heights of either 3 inches or 8 inches, using inserts that also allow you to tilt your speakers if required - ideal for if the speakers are positioned too high or too low to begin with. The design of the ISO-L8R155 also helps reduce surface vibrations for optimum sonic quality.
Main Features
- Height- and tilt-adjustable desktop stands
- Configurable between 3 and 8 inches
- Raise monitors off the supporting surface and away from surfaces to reduce reflections and vibrations
- 14 steps of height adjustment
- Compatible with a variety of speakers
- 6.10 x 7.5 inch platform
- Read More
IsoAcoustic's unique patented design provides superior audio performance by supporting the PIF Principles in acoustic design.
Placement – proximity to adjacent and nearby surfaces. ISO-L8R155 audio stands raise the audio speakers or studio monitors off the supporting surface and away from adjacent surfaces to reduce reflections.
Isolation – from supporting surfaces. Decoupling the audio speakers or studio monitors from the supporting surface reduces the energy from exciting other objects, and allows the speaker and enclosure to float independently.
Focus – Raising and tilting the audio speakers and studio monitors creates an ideal listening position by forming an equilateral triangle from the speaker to the listener, with tweeters tilted to the listener's exact ear level.
Height Adjustment
An important aspect of the speaker stand design is the ability to adjust the height and tilt angle of the supported speaker enclosure to optimise its position relative to the listener. Two lengths of tubing along with 2 sets of end-plug pairs provide 14 steps of height adjustment as the combinations are used to tilt the speaker up and down. The stand can be assembled and reconfigured repeatedly to establish the ideal position off the supporting surface and focused towards the listener.
In a typical Desktop Audio Workstation configuration, the listener is positioned 3 to 4 feet from the monitors with ear level approximately 20 inches above the work surface. An enclosure containing an 8 inch speaker may position the high frequency driver 12 inches from the bottom while an enclosure with a 6 inch speaker may position the high frequency driver only 8 inches from the bottom. Raising and tilting these examples to their optimum position can easily be achieved with this speaker stand design. The ISO-L8R155 configuration is also suited for applications over longer distances such as in large recording studios or with consumer products where home stereo speakers may ideally need to be raised 6 inches off the floor and tilted up 8 degrees.
Numerous combinations of height and tilt adjustment allow ideal listening position.
Ideal for: Adam A5X, Adam A7X, Adam S1X, Alesis M1 Active 520, Alesis M1 Active 620, Alesis Monitor One mkII, Behringer MS40, JBL LSR2325P, KRK Rokit 5, KRK Rokit 6, KRK R6, KRK VXT 6, M-Audio BX5a, M-Audio DSM1, M-Audio CX5, M-Audio EX66, Mackie MR5, Samson Resolv A5, Samson Resolv A6, Samson MediaOne 4a, Samson MediaOne 5a, Samson GT, Yamaha HS50M, Yamaha MSP7, Yamaha MSP5, Yorkville YSM2P-II, Yorkville YSM5, Yorkville YSM6 montiors, and many more.
IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R155 Specifications
Base Dimensions: 6.1 x 7.5 inches
- This product is in stock and ready to ship
This item is normally sent to Mainland UK addresses by Interlink who generally provide a one-hour window of delivery on the morning of delivery by email or text message. If you need this item faster, please upgrade to a Before 12 service at checkout.
Mainland UK: £3.50 within mainland UK ( Orders over £99 are delivered FREE )
UK Non-Mainland: £ 12
Rep. of Ireland and Mainland Europe: from £ 15 (calculated at checkout).
Order this item before 4pm and receive it on the next working day, mainland UK only*
2 Recommended Accessories
Related Posts
Related Categories
Computer Music
- A section for DAWs, plug-ins, controllers, etc. Basically, everything to do with making music on computers!
- A section for anything to do with recording, e.g. microphones, interfaces, etc.
Additional Information
Brand IsoAcoustics Condition New Specifications
Base Dimensions: 6.1 x 7.5 inches
Other products to consider
ADAM A7X Studio Monitoring Bundle Add to compare
Regular Price: £1,053.98
Special Price: £949.00
ADAM A77X Studio Monitoring Bundle Add to compare
Regular Price: £1,715.98
Special Price: £1,559.00
ADAM A7X and Sub10 Mk2 Monitoring System Add to compare
Regular Price: £1,912.96
Special Price: £1,729.00
ADAM A77X and Sub10 Mk2 Monitoring System Add to compare
Regular Price: £2,574.96
Special Price: £2,319.00
Ultimate Support MS-80B Angle Adjustable Desktop Monitor Stands (Pair) Add to compare£144.99Ordered on Request*
FeeFo Reviews
|Customer Comment
|Our Response
|Excellent quality, highly recommended
|Whenever I have ordered products from Absolute Music, my order has been processed quickly and delivered promptly by DPD the following day.
|See above. Does what it says on the tin. Definitely worth purchasing if you have spent out on good speakers
|Read more reviews on Feefo


text:
Oxford 1937 Paperback
the Universal Christian Council for Life and Work Conference
by Graeme Smith;
In Stock - Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Free UK delivery when you spend £10 or more
Offer price: £52.00 Free Delivery
Price and PurchaseOffer price: £52.00 Free UK Delivery Go to Basket
If you're buying for a church, school or business, why not Buy Now Pay Later?Find Out More
Oxford 1937
Full Product Description
The Oxford 1937 Life and Work Conference is a highly important event in the history of the ecumencial movement. It met at a time of international political crisis. Within two years the world would be at war. The churches in Europe and North America were confronted by the rise of totalitarian regimes, especially in Germany and Russia. Led by Joseph Oldham the conference delegates analysed this crisis theologically. They understood totalitarian regimes to be a form of Political religion adopted by people whose lives lacked meaning and purpose. The advent of secularism had removed Christian belief and practice from the West and humanity turned to false and pagan religions to fill the void. Oxford 1937 was a call to the churches to reassert themselves against this secular and pagan challenge.
Oxford 1937 by Graeme Smith was published by Peter Lang GmbH in August 2004. The ISBN for Oxford 1937 is 9783631522325.
Reviews of Oxford 1937
Customer reviews and testimonials Write a review
Product Q&A
Got a question? No problem! Just click here to ask us about Oxford 1937.
Details for Oxford 1937
|Author / Artist
|Graeme Smith
|Book Format
|Peter Lang GmbH (August 2004)
|Number of Pages
|210 mm
|148 mm
|Product Code
|Page last updated
|5th March 2016


text:
Thankfully, Test Your Might does nothing but enforce the frantic fighting of Mortal Kombat. Although only available in certain levels -- the Throne Room, Gotham City, and Metropolis -- Test Your Might has a player tackle his or her opponent and begin running the body through walls. As the attack continues and partition after partition is destroyed, you and your opponent are supposed to be pounding all of the buttons on the controllers. See, when this event begins, a meter pops up on the top of the screen with an image of each Kombatant on one side. When you're tapping the buttons, you're getting the triangle in the middle to come closer to your character in a sadistic game of tug of war. When the wall bashing ends, the game will deal out between zero and 30 percent damage based on where the arrow was on the meter. For me, this brutal and good looking fight is a perfect fit for the tooth and nail battles found in this game. Plus, it's cool to see Raiden run Liu Kang from one side of Metropolis to the other.
The final change to your traditional Mortal Kombat fare is Rage Mode. While you're taking damage, pulling off Supermoves, or having your opponent block attacks, a two-tier bar is filling below your health meter. This is the Rage Meter; when you've got one of the tiers filled, you can press toward and block to perform a Kombo Breaker that will bust up an opponent's combination of attacks. If you let both tiers fill, you can press L2 and R2 to unleash Rage Mode, a move that makes your eyes and body glow gold with energy and allows you to absorb attacks without being interrupted as well as break through an opponent's attempted block. The addition of Rage is nice enough -- it's definitely saved me in a few fights that could've gone either way -- but it's a little lame when it works against you. It sucks to have been wailing on the computer the entire match only to have them be rewarded for sucking and be given the chance to come back. It's also lame that the characters squat like they're taking a dump when they deploy Rage.
Rage is actually the driving force behind the single-player story in MK vs. DC. When you choose to start the story mode, you'll be asked to pick a side to play the conflict from. Choose DC, and the tale begins with Superman hoisting Darkseid above a smoldering Metropolis. Seems the ruler of Apokolips tried to take over the Earth again and although the heroes were able to stop the attack, the world's pretty messed up. Superman smashes Darkseid to the ground, Luthor shows up, Clark and Lex jaw at each other, and Darkseid tries to escape through a boom tube. Superman fires off a blast of heat vision, the boom tube becomes unstable, and it explodes with a burst of golden energy. Over on the Mortal Kombat side, the same thing basically happens except that it's Raiden instead of Superman and Shao Kahn instead of Darkseid. When you pick your path and get going, you'll immediately notice that you don't pick your players. Rather, you're assigned people and take them through the chapters of the game. You'll get a cutscene of the Flash talking to Wonder Woman, he'll run to Gotham, Catwoman shows up, and you have to battle the lady. This gives you a taste of nearly every character and a structured story to follow. However, because Midway's building a specific story where everyone needs to be alive, story fights don't end with the opportunity to pull off a Fatality (available for DC Villains and Mortal Kombat characters) or Brutalities (the choice of the DC Heroes because they don't kill).
Back to the tale; these inter-dimensional explosions have created a rift between the planes that is making the worlds merge. Characters begin swapping places at random; Rage power begins infecting folks and turning friend against friend; and with the powers of the universe all out of whack, the powers of the heroes and villains are all over the place. Superman can be hurt (he's vulnerable to magic, people!), the Joker has strength that even he can't understand, and the Green Lantern's ring is suddenly limited. All of these expected issues and story threads are addressed in the typical over-the-top, hokey comic book/videogame story you'd expect and probably appreciate in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The voices are usually a bit overacted, but as long as you come in with expectations of characters more grounded in the comic book vein than the gritty realism of The Dark Knight, you'll be alright.
If you commit yourself to seeing the story from both sides, you're looking at less than six hours of gameplay, but there's still an arcade mode to tackle. Here, you actually choose who you want to play as and then take them up the traditional Mortal Kombat arcade tree of one-on-one battles. In this mode, you're free to use Fatalities/Brutalities and build toward each character's individual ending. See, when you make it all the way through the ten competitors, you'll get a piece of art with an announcer voiceover letting you know what happened to your character after the tournament -- sometimes the character changes the way he or she acts and sometimes the character refines his or her costume, but sadly this new suit shown in the concept art isn't available for gameplay.
This lack of reward for the arcade mode leads me to my main problem with MK vs. DC. Although it seems like there's a lot here -- story, arcade, a ten-part Kombo Challenge for each character, and online -- I don't think much of this will translate into sustainability. The only things for you to unlock in the game are Darkseid and Shao Kahn. The arcade endings and Kombo Challenges give you nothing other than Trophies. In the Kombo Challenge, you get ten sets of move strings that need to be pulled off in succession; it's like this for each character. Sometimes the first challenge will be as easy as uppercutting someone and hitting him or her with a few Supermoves, but eventually the mode starts tossing in pauses, simultaneous button taps, and Pro Moves (additional button combos that need to be deployed when a tiny twinkle happens right after deploying a Supermove). Figuring out these long combos can be a bitch, especially because you need to figure out how long you're pausing for on your own. Although YouTube videos will probably alleviate this challenge, it can be a fairly frustrating process to have Green Lantern juggling an opponent after two sequences only to see Hal consistently fail at guessing how long he needs to stand there before you hit down-away-Triangle.
Meanwhile, online is kind of just there. When you join one of the four game rooms (Gotham City, Metropolis, Netherrealm, and Outworld) or create your own, you're transported to a chat room-like interface. Players and their connection rating are posted on the left and you can choose to challenge or ignore people from this list, while you can talk trash via typeface on the right. When a player wins or starts a streak, the game makes an announcement in the chat room and everyone can marvel at how awesome SolderBoyZZZY is. If getting a random announcement isn't good enough for your ego, you can check out the game's online leaderboard that tracks win/loss records, best streak, and more. Oddly, you can't sort the leaderboard results by your friends list, but you can pop over to see the Hall of Fame trophy room that consistently displays the player with the most wins, the best streak, and the most games played. From my hands-on test, the server runs fine and there was no slowdown or lag for this combo-based fighter. There is Bluetooth headset support, but you can't create private rooms or send match invites to friends as easily as you can on the 360.
Now, if you buy Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Kollector's Edition), you're forking over $10 more for a mini-print of an Alex Ross painting; a 16-page, mini-comic book, and a Blu-ray disc featuring eight segments about the game as well as a digital version of the comic book they already packed into the package. I've seen a lot of collector's editions, and they usually don't justify the extra money; I don't know if MK vs. DC bucks that trend completely because this isn't something you have to own, but ten bucks really isn't that much more for what you're getting. Sure, the mini-comic is useless (it's basically the disjointed thoughts of Dark Kahn with some fights behind it), but the Alex Ross painting featuring some of the characters split down the middle is cool and there's a fair amount of content on the Blu-ray -- we're talking about an hour of original features without including the entire Ed Boon/Jimmy Palmiotti panel from Comic-Con 2008 that's also on there. Some of these features are just expanded versions of the videos you can find here on IGN, but if you're a big fan, you'll enjoy hearing Ross talk about his painting, meeting the folks who did motion capture for the cutscenes, meeting the "FIGHT!" voice, and so on.
In the end, a casual fan sucked in by the allure of DC characters will polish off the six-hour story and maybe a few arcade trees before becoming frustrated by their inability to progress through Kombo Challenge and the mode's repetitive nature in general. The characters look good, but there are clipping issues with capes and whips while some of the backgrounds look weak. Meanwhile, hardcore Mortal Kombat fans are going to be saddened by the fact that a lot of the moves look like the ones they've seen before and that Fatalities/Brutalities -- the focal point of any MK game -- have been neutered.
Yes, since Midway announced that MK vs. DC was pushing for a Teen rating, the Internet has been in an uproar; now that I've put the final product through the paces, I can tell you that the move does make for some lame finishing moves. Baraka just knocks his opponent to the ground, leaps on him or her, puts his fists to the opponent's chest, and deploys his blades; Shang Tsung slowly sucks the life out of an opponent before they keel over; and Deathstroke's Fatality just has the screen go black, a bunch of groans happen, and the screen come back with the opponent on the ground. Lame. Heroic Brutalities aren't much better; Superman pounds his opponent into the ground like a spike with his fists, while Captain Marvel buries his opponent in the ground headfirst with a slam. Worse is the fact that every time you polish off someone with one of these finishers, your winning character stands there awkwardly in an "O'Doyle Rules!" pose from Billy Madison.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Kollector's Edition) is fun and a solid entry into the franchise, but I doubt many folks will find it entertaining past a rental. Casual players will punch through the storyline before burning out after getting stumped by one or two Kombo Challenges, while Mortal Kombat fans will have trouble accepting the toned down Fatalities and somewhat slower gameplay. In short, this game's fun, but its legs probably can't carry it beyond the whole "Wow, Batman's fighting Superman" first impression.


text:
CARLSBAD: The Carlsbad Triathlon will be held today, as will a fitness and health expo.
The Community Health and Fitness Expo will be held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the parking lot at Westfield Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad.
It will include a variety of activities, demonstrations and products to help stay healthy.
Also today, the city will host the 28th running of the Carlsbad Triathlon, which starts at 8 a.m. on the beach at the foot of Tamarack Avenue. The competition includes a 1-kilometer swim, a 25-kilometer bicycle course and a 5-kilometer run in the beach area.
The city will limit parking and close Carlsbad Boulevard during part of the day to accommodate the triathlon.
There will be no parking in the Tamarack Beach lot and on the west side of Carlsbad Boulevard between Tamarack and Pine avenues until 2 p.m. today.
Carlsbad Boulevard will be closed from 5 to 11:30 a.m. today between Cannon Road and La Costa Avenue, and from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Cannon and Pine. –M.B.
Silent auction to benefit library
CARLSBAD: The Friends of the Carlsbad City Library will hold a silent auction today to raise money for the library.
The auction will be from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Gowland Meeting Room of the library, 1775 Dove Lane. Today is the second and final day of the auction.
Items offered include coffee-table books, new and vintage children's materials, antique titles, sets and cookbooks.
Each item will have its own sheet showing a minimum bid and the increment required to raise it.
Books from the geology library of the late Allan O. Kelly will be available for immediate sale.
Winning bidders who aren't present at the auction's close will have a week to claim their books at the library's circulation desk.
For more information, call (760) 434-2914. –M.B.
Watch 'Panda' and go for a dip
POWAY: The family movie "Kung Fu Panda" will be shown at dusk July 25 on a 12-foot-by-12-foot screen at the Poway Community Pool.
Families can bring rafts, inner tubes and boogie boards to float on while watching the show. Bleacher seating is also available.
The pool opens at 7:30 p.m. and will close about 10:30 p.m.
Tickets are available in advance at the pool office or at the door for $3 per child, $4 per adult, and $12 per family (up to five people).
For more information, call (858) 668-4680. –J.H.J.
City will offer rides to seniors
OCEANSIDE: The city of Oceanside is offering transportation services for residents 65 and older.
The program, Solutions for Seniors on the Go, offers taxi service, an on-demand shuttle and volunteer drivers.
Program fees are $7 for the purchase of a taxi scrip booklet worth $20 and for a one-way shuttle ride. The volunteer driver program is free.
To register, volunteer or to obtain details, call (760) 435-5250 and ask for program coordinator Cheryl Stone.
The program is funded by the TransNet sales tax approved by county voters in 2004 and administered by the San Diego Association of Governments. –M.B.
Staff writers Michael Burge and J. Harry Jones contributed to this report.


text:
The PowerCare Chain Saw Files make it easy to keep the saw chain sharp and the saw cutting fast. These high precision spiral cut files provide outstanding sharpness and long tool life. This aggressive spiral cut tooth design enables the user to make fast, score-free sharpening of the saw chain cutters.
- Precision spiral cut design provides clean, fast sharpening without scoring the cutter surfaces
- Hardened carbon steel construction for longer tool life
- 7/32 in. diameter file for all 3/8 in. standard pitch chains, regardless of the manufacturer
- Two files per pack
- Limited one year manufacturer's warranty


text:
Over the weekend I dedicated a few hours to straightening up my office. As I worked, I listened to the oldies I've bothered so far to assemble into a single playlist on "the cloud" — there's about 450 of them, and putting the list into play-once/shuffle mode pretty much assures I won't hear any repeats for most sustained activity. (Because nothing's worse than boredom, right?)
Almost always, when I listen to music I wear headphones; this time, though, I wanted to give the new computer's speakers a rare workout. The office is a room over our garage, and when the subwoofer kicks in you can really feel the floor shuddering beneath your feet…
I've always liked "One Fine Day," despite the decidedly gender-unlightened lyrics; even without them, the music just sings giddy optimism. But on a "Clean up your room!" soundtrack rippling through a wooden floor, it really kicks — especially that jackhammer piano.
[Below, click Play button to begin One Fine Day. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 2:12 long.]
The piano, as it happens, was played by Carole King herself. After she'd written the music for then-husband Gerry Goffin's lyrics, they recorded her at the piano with singer Little Eva (who'd had a hit with "The Locomotion," and who also — cough, cough — coincidentally was the King-Goffin household's babysitter). They weren't crazy with her vocal, though, so they stripped it from the recording… and kept the instrumental when they turned it over to The Chiffons.
(Why to The Chiffons? Apparently, some whimsical genius with the record label wanted to follow up their previous hit — "He's So Fine," with that crazy doo-lang doo-lang hook — with another song which had "fine" in the title. Always good to know that caprice in pop-culture decision-making isn't limited to publishing! :))


text:
The girl is properly nutty. Excellent pictures of dramatic LeAnn at link. Is the money worth the grief that I hope Eddie is experiencing?
[quote]Midway through the show she complained that her high heels were hurting her so she promptly removed them and plopped down onto a rug on the stage, which was adorned with Christmas presents, to finish off belting out her hits.
[quote]The 30-year-old announced to the audience that the stage felt like her 'sitting room' and even needed sheet music in front of her to perform her own songs.
[quote]Dressed in a tight black leather dress the Northern Lights star reclined comfortably with her legs crossed and at one point knelt up to hit a high note in front of the 1,800-strong audience.
[quote]Rimes' chatter in between songs was said to be 'rambling', according to gossip website Rumorfix, especially one comment they reported that seemed to be aimed at her arch nemesis Glanville. She said: 'Anybody ever been p****d off at some point and you just couldn't get it out? 'And if you did, you actually might dig yourself a deeper hole, so you just let the other person dig themselves a hole?'


text:
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:1-3, NKJV). [Thought questions for The … [Click to read more …]
Tag Archives: early Christians
In the interest of full disclosure, I hate conflict. I will go to great lengths and do almost anything to avoid it. But I know folks who appear to thrive on conflict. They are not afraid to say exactly what they mean, even if they're pretty sure it's going to upset someone. When we talk … [Click to read more …]


text:
RHS soccer ladies tie rugged R.S. 2-2; Marcia Ashdown hurtMar 25, 2012 By Craig Blumenshine, Staff Writer
The Riverton Lady Wolverines tied a very physical Rock Springs Lady Tiger team 2-2 in their Class 4-A West soccer conference opener on the artificial surface Saturday at Rock Springs High School.
Riverton (1-1-1, 0-0-1 4-A West) will stay on the road for one more game this coming Friday, March 30, at Casper Natrona before playing its first home game of the season on March 31, against Casper Kelly Walsh at Wolverine Field.
Riverton gave up a goal in the 15th minute to fall behind early Saturday but answered just two minutes later when two-time all-state senior Marcia Ashdown was taken down by the Rock Springs goalkeeper in the penalty box while trying to score.
Ashdown made the ensuing penalty kick but had been injured on the collision with the keeper and sat out the rest of the match.
"She had already been fouled twice. We think she has a broken wrist or forearm," Bergstedt said.
Ashdown will be evaluated this week to determine whether she can play with the injury.
Minus their leading scorer, the Riverton attack played a ball through to Alexis Oaks in the 34th minute and, although the senior was also taken down, she managed to score to put Riverton up 2-1 at halftime.
Rock Springs tied the game for good in the 48th minute when Riverton's defense was not able to successfully clear the ball.
"We played hard but not as well as we are capable of. We were getting mad about their physical style of play instead of ignoring it. Our kids need to keep their heads and recognize that they don't have control over what the referee does but do have control over how they play," Bergstedt said.
Riverton missed a "fair number" of opportunities in the second half and during overtime, according to Bergstedt.
"We had a number of goal-scoring opportunities in the second half to put the game away but we shot wide or we shot high," Bergstedt said.


text:
**BU** services are not currently available in **REGION**. If you would like to learn more about services we offer, you may contact us directly or select another region.
If you believe there has been an error related to the servicing of your mortgage loan or you are requesting information regarding your mortgage loan, please write to us at:
The Northern Trust CompanyP.O. Box 92992Chicago, IL 60675
© 2017 Northern Trust Corporation


text:
- Healthy Eating
- About Our Products
- Recipes
- Online Ordering
- Our Mission & Values
- Blogs
- Store Departments
By Susan Pachikara, October 22, 2012 | More posts by Susan Pachikara
Susan writes the blog Cardamom Kitchen to share her culinary experiences as an Indian-American rooted in the Midwest. Luckily she's also sharing her experiences with Whole Story readers by demystifing essential cooking skills with step-by-step instructions and her own handsome photos.
I try my best to eat seasonal produce, but by February it's a struggle. Like other Chicagoans, I've endured a marathon of gray-skied days and yearn for green grass, green leaves, and green vegetables. Asparagus, leeks, and artichokes won't be harvested in the Midwest for weeks, but I start to fantasize about them anyway, which is a shame, I know. Carrots, sweet potatoes, and other root vegetables offer so much promise this time of year. They can serve as sunken treasures in soup and nuggets of flavor in stir-fries. They can also be transformed into mouthwatering sides using one of the simplest cooking methods of all: roasting.
Thanks to their low moisture content, root vegetables develop a sweet-savory flavor when exposed to high heat. Coating them with a thin layer of oil keeps them from drying out, and cutting them into relatively uniform pieces ensures even cooking. To build in even more flavor, toss root vegetables with your favorite hardy herbs or sprinkle them with a smidge of your favorite spices. Really, there's little more to roasting root vegetables, so if you could use a little warmth in your house and in your belly, don't pass them by.
How to Roast Root Vegetables
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash your favorite root vegetables. Here, I'm using parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes because I love the color combination and the way their gentle flavors blend together.
Cut off the stem ends from the carrots and parsnips. Peel the vegetables and cut them down the middle lengthwise to create a flat surface.
Place the parsnip and carrot halves on a cutting board, cut side down. Roughly chop them into one-inch pieces, crosswise. Discard the very narrow ends.
Place the sweet potato halves on the cutting board, cut side down. Cut them into three large pieces, lengthwise. Roughly chop each piece into one-inch pieces, crosswise.
Line a baking sheet or shallow pan with aluminum foil and layer the chopped vegetables on top. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and just enough olive oil to coat. Rub the vegetables with your fingers to thoroughly coat them with the oil. This will prevent them from sticking.
Cook the vegetables, flipping and stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes, or until they are tender enough to pierce with a fork.
I'd love to see your tips for roasting root vegetables! Share them with your fellow cooks in the comments section below.
To provide feedback or ask a question about our company, a store or a product, please visit our Customer Service page.
For more information about posting comments to our blog, please see our Comment Posting Guidelines.
4 comments
Elizabeth says …
Yolanda says …
Suzé says …
Mary O says …
Welcome to Whole Story, the official blog of Whole Foods Market.As the world's leading natural and organic grocer we're all about healthy food and a healthy planet, and we've got bunches of passionate people in our community doing incredible things. Join in the conversation!
Selecting a store allows you to see that store's content throughout the site, such as sales, store events, and more.
Receive recipes news and tips.
Sign up
Copyright 2017 Whole Foods Market IP. L.P.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Supply Chain Disclosures | Internet Based Ads | CA Privacy Rights
Site Map | Site Information
"Whole Foods Market" is a registered trademark of Whole Foods Market IP, L.P.
We have sent a confirmation email to {* emailAddressData *}. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
Please confirm the information below before signing in. Already have an account? Sign In.{* #registrationForm *} {* traditionalRegistration_firstName *} {* traditionalRegistration_lastName *} {* traditionalRegistration_emailAddress *} {* traditionalRegistration_password *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordConfirm *} {* traditionalRegistration_displayName *} {* traditionalRegistration_postalCode *} {* captcha *} By clicking "Create Account", you confirm that you accept our terms of service and have read and understand privacy policy.
We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed.


text:
UPDATE: Man who helped stop Seattle gunman hailed as a hero
ABOVE: Global's Jill Bennett reports on the dramatic shooting on Thursday at a university campus in Seattle, WA.
The man who helped stop the gunman who opened fire at a Christian university in Seattle last week, killing one person and injuring two others, is being hailed as a hero.
Jon Meis pepper-sprayed and tackled the gunman when he stopped to reload his gun. Several other bystanders also helped hold down the gunman until police arrived, reports Washington Post.
Meis is requesting privacy and is not speaking to the media, but issued a statement describing the events that unfolded.
"On Thursday, my life changed. I was thrown into a life and death situation, and through God's grace I was able to stop the attacker and walk away unharmed," said Meis in a statement. "While my experience left me in physical shock, I know that many people are dealing with much greater grief than I have experienced, and in honesty I probably would not be able to handle it myself right now if I had personally known the victims."
Meis says he finds it hard to accept he is being hailed as a hero.
"While I have imagined what it would be like to save a life I never believed I would be put in such a situation. It touches me truly and deeply to read online that parents are telling their children about me and telling them that real heroes do exist," he says.
Read Meis' full statement here.
Gunfire broke out around 3:30 p.m. local time on Thursday at Seattle Pacific University, in the building that houses science and engineering programs.
A hospital spokeswoman says a 20-year-old woman remains hospitalized after hours of surgery last week. Another man is hospitalized in satisfactory condition.
One of the male victims, a 20-year-old man, has died as a result of his injuries.
Twenty-six-year-old Aaron Rey Ybarra, the suspect in last week's shootings, has been booked in King County Jail for the shooting.
Police say no outstanding suspects other than Ybarra are being sought.
– With files from The Associated Press
© 2014 Shaw Media


text:
Economic Boom Continues. Business Cycle Report of March 2007
The Austrian economy grew by +3.2 percent last year, its strongest growth rate since 2000. Evidence from business surveys points to a continuation of this strong expansion in the coming months. The stimulus to economic activity will shift from exports to investment. Consumer spending is still lagging behind, but the situation on the labour market and the results of consumer confidence surveys give cause for cautious optimism. Inflation remains low, which is unusual in view of the booming economy. The strong performance of the economy and the mild winter weather had very positive effects on the labour market in February, with employment posting sizeable gains and unemployment declining further.
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Volume (Year): 12 (2007)
Issue (Month): 1 (May)
Pages: 62-70
|Contact details of provider:
| Postal: Arsenal Object 20, A-1030 Wien
Phone: (+43 1) 798 26 01-0
Fax: (+43 1) 798 93 86
Web page: http://www.wifo.ac.at/
More information through EDIRC
No references listed on IDEAS
You can help add them by filling out this form.
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wfo:wquart:y:2007:i:1:p:62-70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Ilse Schulz)
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.


text:
This star rating is the opinion of the property owner only. A Self-Rated hotel has not been assessed by the AA or Visit Britain, whose official star ratings we use across LateRooms.com.
Fragrance Hotel - Rose2 Self rated
Price FromView Rooms
This hotel doesn't have any reviews yet.
About the hotel
Fragrance Hotel - Rose is located on Balestier Road just an 8 minutes' drive from the famous shopping belt in Singapore, Orchard Road. This charming city hotel is situated just a 10 minutes' drive from the city centre where guests can find a host of historical and cultural attractions, entertainment venues and dining options. Within easy walking distance guests will find the spectacular Sun Yat Sen Nayang Memorial Hall and the Sasanaramsi Burmese Temple.
The hotel's guest rooms are comfortable and provide a tranquil atmosphere where guests can unwind after a long day's sightseeing. The guest rooms are well-equipped with modern amenities to make each guests' stay as convenient as possible.
Read MoreLess
Facilities Show/hide
- Main
- 24 Hour Reception, Lift to all floors, Public Air Conditioning
- Business
- Wi-Fi Available In Public Areas
Can't find the facilities you're looking for?
- Call us on 0333 300 1007 and we'll help find the perfect hotel for you
- Call
Useful Info Show/hide
- From 14:00 hours
- By 11:00 hours
- Up to 11 years old
- The price shown is based on the occupancy and dates you have searched for. Prices and availability are subject to change based on the arrival date, number of nights and occupancy searched for. All prices are inclusive of all local taxes.
- Pets are not allowed
Customer Reviews
Our reviews are from genuine LateRooms.com customers. We verify that the customer has stayed before leaving a review.
No reviews yet


text:
We have a thermographic printer and will help you to create beautifully printed raised ink products.
Thermography is a process that uses high temperature heat to melt powdered ink onto a variety of printed papers or cardstock. After the powdered ink has been melted over the print, it creates a raised print and graphics effect with a beautiful look and feel. Thermographic printing is the affordable alternative to the expensive traditional engraving process.
This printing process is (also) known as raised ink printing, thermographic printing, and offset thermography.
With our thermographic printer, we can provide printing for, but are not limited to:
We, also, have the option of using several different ink colors to suit your thermographic printing needs.
Custom Website Design by Tammy Hunter. All Rights Reserved.
© 2007-2015 Hunter Creative Group.


text: Looking at the gplt modules, it appears that the necessary function to send commands directly is a hidden function. I ended up needing to use scipy.gplt with time series data that I was logging. There doesn't appear to be a way to do this (Gnuplot can, scipy.gplt makes this not possible) so anyways, I hacked into the pyPlot.py module and added a function that essentially just sends a command to the hidden function that actually calls the plotting routines. This allowed me to use the full functionality of gnuplot which can to way more than just what scipy.gplt does. If anyone is interested, I can post the actual code changes. --Matt Kubilus >From: Alan G Isaac <aisaac at american.edu> >Reply-To: aisaac at american.edu,SciPy Users List <scipy-user at scipy.net> >To: aisaac at american.edu, scipy-user at scipy.net >CC: scipy-dev at scipy.net >Subject: [SciPy-user] Re: plot_func >Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 12:29:40 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) > >On Sun, 1 Aug 2004 Alan G Isaac apparently wrote: > > I noticed that pyPlot.py has: > > def plot_func(self,func): > > self._init_plot() > > if(type(func) == StringType): > > self._send('plot '+ func) > > else: > > print 'error: requires a function as a string' > > but gplt.plot_func is not available. > > > > >OK, I've confirmed that if I make an instance of >scipy.gplt.pyPlot.Plot >then the plot_func method works fine for this instance. > >I don't know enough about Python to guess why gplt is >not giving us access to this. Can anyone help? > >Thank you, >Alan Isaac > > > >_______________________________________________ >SciPy-user mailing list >SciPy-user at scipy.net >http://www.scipy.net/mailman/listinfo/scipy-user _________________________________________________________________ Discover the best of the best at MSN Luxury Living. http://lexus.msn.com/


text:
If you live in Virginia, finding the best insurance company for your needs is important. There are ample option available to you, whether you prefer a national company or choose to work with a local insurance agent. Here we will examine what you should look for when comparing auto insurance quotes.
#1 Compare Prices
One thing you will definitely want to do is to compare the prices of different policies. You will find that even the same coverage can differ in price from one company to the next based on a number of different criteria. Take the time to check out prices, but remember to keep the rest of the criteria on this list in mind as well.
#2 Compare Coverage
When getting a car insurance quote, the difference in price can sometimes be astounding. As the saying goes, though, sometimes it is buyer beware. Sometimes, these price differences come in the form of missing coverage and services. For example, one policy may offer comprehensive coverage with rental car and towing included, while another may offer coverage that includes only state minimum requirements. Always read the fine print and know what coverage you are getting for your money.
#3 Compare Deductibles
The deductible can be a very important part of choosing your car insurance. While we all like to think that we will never be in an accident, the truth is that it can happen to anyone. While a higher deductible can mean a substantially lower rate, you need to be certain that you can meet your chosen deductible in the event that you are in an accident. For some people, a lower deductible can mean much greater peace of mind in the event of an accident.
#4 Compare Reviews
Last, it is highly recommended that you compare reviews before choosing an insurer. This is true whether you are going with a national provider, a Virginia-based insurer, or a local agent from a national company. Take the time to look at reviews from people who have had coverage to find out what their experiences were when it came not only to pricing, but to care and speed of coverage and service following an accident.
By following these simple tips, you will find comparing Virginia's many auto insurance companies much easier. Buying a policy shouldn't provoke you to want to pull your hair out, and making the process as seamless as possible can help prevent such stress. Comparing policies is a great way to save money, and these four comparison tools will help you ensure that you are getting the policy that is right for you.


text:
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Just like he carved up opponents from 60 feet, 6 inches away, Greg Maddux moved through his Hall of Fame speech Sunday with deft precision.
There was family to thank, teammates and coaches he appreciated and a few people who were key to his development at a young age. He showed love and respect to his wife Kathy for holding down the fort at home. He explained why his Hall of Fame plaque won't have a logo on the cap since he was unable to choose between the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves.
He even sprinkled his own deadpan humor into the proceedings, talking about flatulence, how he was mistaken for the batboy before his first major league game, and how he spent much of his time with the Braves watching John Smoltz's hairline recede.
Appropriately at the head of the rotation among Hall of Fame inductees, it took less than five minutes for Maddux to mix in a little potty humor during what he called the first speech of his life.
"My brother, Mike, led by example," he said about his sibling who is also the pitching coach of the Texas Rangers. "Everything I was about to do on and off the field, he had already done. I was very fortunate to have a brother that I could learn from. He even taught me a little bit about science. It has to do with a little methane and a lighter, and I still get a huge kick out of it today. That's funny, huh? OK."
In his more serious moments, Maddux expressed appreciation to the four franchises for which he pitched, focusing most on the Cubs and Braves, obviously. He ended his career with the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.
"With the Cubs, I had the opportunity to play with Andre Dawson, Rick Sutcliffe, Ryne Sandberg and two fine catchers, Damon Berryhill and Joe Girardi," he said. "The city of Chicago and the Cub fans were awesome, maybe the best in baseball."
The comment managed to bring out some groans from a large contingent of Atlanta fans in the crowd estimated to be 48,000 strong. He made up for it seconds later when talking about his free-agent move from Chicago to Atlanta.
"I picked Atlanta because I finally wanted to get a World Series ring and start a family," he said. "All right, sorry, Chicago, but yeah."
Maddux eventually did get that ring in 1995, with his career bringing him back to Chicago in 2004.
"I love Chicago so much," Maddux said. "The first time I played there, that I was very grateful that Gary Hughes and Jim Hendry brought me back over to Chicago. That would give me a second chance to win there, and maybe retire where it all started, but I wouldn't be a Cub if I couldn't handle a little heartache and we missed the postseason by one game my first year back.
"I was thankful I got a chance to play for Dusty Baker and work with Larry Rothschild. I enjoyed throwing most of my games to Henry Blanco and Michael Barrett, and again, it was even funnier when they would get hit in the face [with foul tips]."
For a first speech, Maddux handled the moment with aplomb. He didn't have to explain why he will go in to the Hall of Fame without picking the Braves over the Cubs or the Cubs over the Braves. He did anyway.
"People ask me why I have no Hall of Fame plaque, no logo, or why my Hall of Fame plaque has no logo," he said. "I spent 12 years in Chicago, 11 in Atlanta and both places are very special to me. Without experiences in both cities, I would not be standing here today."