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Chemistry 101: Not Much 'Gee!' in Gigli
Sometimes actors who hate each other can still create sparks on screen, and sometimes off-screen chemistry can't be captured by the camera (and sometimes even if it is it can't save a lousy movie).
Even the 12 people who saw Two Much don't remember it, yet it rates a footnote in history as the picture Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas were making when they fell in love.
Gigli merits the same kind of footnote– and the same-sized audience– for bringing Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez together. Their Chasing Amy 2 romance is set against the background of an incompetently scripted gangster comedy that ranks with the worst of its genre, such as The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight.
The performers are like a bunch of high school drama geeks trying to play tough guys. That includes Affleck, who is pumped up and dressed in what look like Travolta's hand-me-downs. There are basically four characters, with guest stars Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan popping up for one scene each. Pacino is obviously repaying a debt to director Martin Brest, who guided him to an Oscar in Scent of a Woman.
Affleck stars as Larry Gigli. He says it "rhymes with really" but J.Lo fans can pronounce it "G.Lee" and be close enough. He's a low-level thug, basically a screw-up, in L.A. He takes his marching orders from Louis (Lenny Venito, a less-than-third-rate knockoff of Joe Pantoliano).
One day Louis entrusts Larry with an important job, the kidnapping of Brian (Justin Bartha), a mentally challenged teenager. It turns out Brian's big brother is the federal prosecutor who's about to throw the book at a New York mobster (Pacino) unless he can be persuaded to drop the charges to get his brother back.
Larry gives as little thought to the execution of the caper as writer Brest did to its planning. Working alone, he walks into the institution where the youth resides and walks out with him, taking him to his own apartment, where he doesn't bother to close the curtains.
Soon a woman who gives her name as "Ricki" charms her way in before announcing Louis sent her. Apparently Louis thought the job could be better handled by "two unacquainted, possibly hostile contractors" than, say, a well-oiled team.
For the next few days, while Brian is presumably the object of an intense manhunt, "Ricki" and Larry drive around town in Larry's open convertible with the volatile youth, who is prone to attention-getting outbursts. At night they sleep in the bedroom while Brian is in the living room with nothing between him and the exit. He's happy watching the Cartoon Network but could easily switch to the news and see himself.
The frustrating but endearing Brian brings out "Ricki's" maternal instinct the first time she sees Larry slap him. "Leave him alone or I'll kill you," she orders. They're both such desperate characters that they turn to jelly when Louis orders them to cut off Brian's thumb. Maybe their aptitude tests got mixed up with other people's.
At the end a situation that should bring a full S.W.A.T. team (if only to cross-promote that movie) within a couple of minutes allows time for about 10 minutes of resolution without a single siren or flashing light.
But all that stuff is just an excuse to bring the stars together for Gigli's real raison d'etre, the love story. It begins from the guy's point of view: There's this hot babe in his apartment who accepts an offer to share his bed rather than sleep on the floor (or make him sleep on the floor). It seems to end when she interrupts his seduction attempt with, "I'm gay. I'm a lesbian."
At this point viewers will assume she's telling him that to end the conversation– she's not available, period– and that later she'll warm to him and the movie will get back on track.
The last part is right but not the first. Her name's not really Ricki, but she really is a lesbian. (At least you can't say the trailers give too much away on this one.) He introduces her that way to his mother (Kazan), who understands: "I used to be quite experimental." The lover (Missy Crider) "Ricki" recently dumped tracks her to Larry's and attempts suicide.
While they're still on opposite sides of the orientation divide they have a cute conversation where Larry expounds on the Power of the Penis and "Ricki" trumps him with a Vagina Monologue while scantily clad and doing exercises that drive him wild.
Even as she becomes quite experimental, "Ricki" teases Larry about his own orientation and makes him question whether he can compete with the women she's known. When she offers herself to him she says, "I thought you wanted to be my bitch" and he replies, "This is so fucked-up"– as good a capsule review of Gigli as I can come up with.
Brest peppers his screenplay with crowd-pleasing elements (mainly Bartha's Brian) and devices from Screenwriting 101. Louis is learning a new word a day. Pacino repeats himself a couple of times and explains, "I say everything twice." He gives a couple of examples, then never repeats himself again. At least no one's trying to quit smoking.
In the long run, your tolerance for Gigli will depend on how much you like the stars, individually and together. I've enjoyed each of them in some of their films but think they're half as interesting as a couple than they are separately. So I'm not the kind of fan who would forgive them anything, which is what's required here.
How far would Tracy and Hepburn have gotten as a team if they'd had to spout dialogue like, "Come over here and practice your heterolingus on me"?


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Cthulhu Tiki Mug, by Horror In Clay
- 16 oz. Capacity (470ml)
- Dishwasher and Microwave Safe
- Olive Green Ceramic
- 7.5" Tall
The Cthulhu Tiki Mug, the ultimate in cocktail mugs (also works for coffee and tea) and holds a nice 16 oz beverage. This olive green tiki mug is fashioned in the liking of Cthulhu, a cosmic entity from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft. This cosmic entity has been designed and crafted from Ceramic by the folks at Horror In Clay.
Unlock your inner Cthulhu.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ömer Kamber-aura Cleanmax/Roboclean Splus Vacuum Cleaner/Cleaning Robot
At Design Interviews
Interview with Ömer Kamber : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. Ömer Kamber : The main principle of our design is living in a healtier home. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. Ömer Kamber : we wanted to achieve a machine that makes the jobs of 6 separate machines. .Frank Scott: What are your future plans for this award winning design?. Ömer Kamber : we will improve this awarde design. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. Ömer Kamber : It took about six month to design this particular concept. .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. Ömer Kamber : This design was commissioned. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. Ömer Kamber : Our design is being produced. .Frank Scott: What made you design this particular type of work?. Ömer Kamber : Suffering of people, especially children because of asthma make us design this particular type of work. .Frank Scott: Who is the target customer for his design?. Ömer Kamber : Housewifes .Frank Scott: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?. Ömer Kamber : It is more stylish and functional according to other similar ones. For example in our device there are remote control and negative ionizer. .Frank Scott: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?. Ömer Kamber : Our design has two name. One of them is Cleanmax SPLUS for domestic usage and other one roboclean SPLUS is for export. In cleanmax we emphasize on the maximum cleaning in the home and in roboclean we emphasize on the cleaning robot. .Frank Scott: What is the most unique aspect of your design?. Ömer Kamber : There are no touch control, remote control and negative ionizer function in other similar designs. .Frank Scott: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?. Ömer Kamber : All the our customers collaborated with us for design. We listened to their requests and have revealed such a good design. .Frank Scott: What is the role of technology in this particular design?. Ömer Kamber : The role of technology is one the most important part of this particular design. For example touch screen control panel. .Frank Scott: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?. Ömer Kamber : For example we made research od negative ions in scientifiec magazines and we decided to add this feature to our design. .Frank Scott: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?. Ömer Kamber : we thought that our design must be awarded because it is a very good design. And also we know that A Design Award Competition is one of the most important international competition in the world. .Frank Scott: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?. Ömer Kamber : I learned that we can bring the air in forest in the nature to your home. We feel good in forest or nature because there are too much negative ions in the forest air. .Frank Scott: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?. Ömer Kamber : I want to thank you for making such a prestigious and good competition. .
Ömer Kamber-aura Cleanmax/Roboclean Splus Vacuum Cleaner/Cleaning Robot Images:
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New MMBase-server
12 August 2010 12:00
Tomorrow a new server will be installed for MMBase.
The new server ('alfred') will replace the old ones ('james' and 'jeeves'), and is sponsored by the MMBase foundation. It will be administrated by Andre and Michiel. Alfred seems to be the name of some butler too; Andre came up with it.
It will cause a down time of several hours for the website and jira. Subversion may be down for longer, and possibly will only work again after the weekend.
Jun 12, 2012 :
Release of 1.9.6
The release team just released a new version of MMBase, version 1.9.6.
Nov 8, 2010 :
Release of 1.9.5
We have recently release a new update of MMBase: version 1.9.5 with a few bugfixes and new features.
Aug 16, 2010 :
Mailing lists moved
We stopped maintaining our own mailing lists and moved them to Google Groups. Visit http://groups.google.com/group/mmbase-discuss/subscribe to subscribe again.
Aug 13, 2010 :
MMBase server is successfully upgraded!
If your are reading this your doing so are from our new piece of hardware. But of course Friday the 13th could be a bit risky date when you believe in such things...
Aug 12, 2010 :
New MMBase-server
Tomorrow a new server will be installed for MMBase.
Jul 31, 2010 :
Release of 1.9.4
It is already two weeks ago, but we released MMBase-1.9.4. It is a bugfix release, containing a few small new features.
Apr 14, 2010 :
Release of MMBase 1.9.3
A bugfix release of the stable MMBase 1.9 branch.
Jan 12, 2010 :
MMBase 1.9.2 released (and 1.8.7)
The latest release of MMBase with a ton of new features and bugfixes. One of the most notable new features is the new Streams application that encodes uploaded video and audio to other formats. Besides 1.9.2 a bugfix release of the 1.8 branch was released.
Nov 26, 2009 :
MMBase 1.9.2 release candidate
For all your testing pleasures the release team has made a MMBase 1.9.2-rc2 available.
Oct 26, 2009 :
Annual CMSc and MMEvent: 15 december (Dutch)
Het jaarlijkse CMSc/MMEvent wordt in 2009 gehouden bij Kennisnet in Zoetermeer.


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16 June 2012
12 June 2012
11 June 2012
GIRL DAY. Pauline and I spent the whole day doing nothing really clever. Gossips, pictures, talking about fashion, this is actually a pretty good summary of our day.
Libellés : Friends, Random, The Blond Minute
02 June 2012
Pretty Girls
ALICE ET PAULINE DEVANT L'OBJECTIF. Mes amies sont plutôt canons. Saturday afternoon wtih Alice & Pauline. Decided to take pictures of them 'cause I liked thir outfit. Alice is wearing a simple floral dress for H&M.. Pauline is wearing a simple H&M Short, with a white H&M shirt and a hat to complete the outfit.
Libellés : Style, The Blond Minute
28 May 2012
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


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Train Montpellier → Valencia
Duration 69J 10h -
Montpellier, a vibrant city
Montpellier, a pioneer of ecological urbanism Montpellier is one of the most important cities of France in terms of population. It is located in southern France, in the very heart of the Languedoc-Roussillon region and about 12 kilometres away from the Mediterranean Sea. Montpellier is a fast expanding city, and it is one of best places to experience the art de vivre of the southern region of France. This makes Montpellier an ideal holiday destination as well as a renowned student city. Montpellier is a pilot city for ecological urbanism in France. Discover its wide pedestrian area and blue decorated tramways. You'll be amazed to learn that its trams are designed by artists including Garouste, Bonetti and Christian Lacroix. Montpellier can also be visited by using the bike along the brand new bike path that follows the Lez River. The bike is also great to visit vineyards or to go to the beach. Learn more about Montpellier
Valencia, the 3rd largest city of Spain
Valencia, the 3rd largest city of Spain Valencia is one of the most important cities of Spain. It is actually the third largest Spanish city after Madrid and Barcelona. Valencia is home to about 890,000 inhabitants, with a metropolitan population reaching 2.3 million people. The city is located on the eastern shore of Spain on the Iberian Peninsula and is the 5th busiest container port in Europe. Valencia is mostly known for its football team, as least as far as football fans are concerned! But the city is also widely known for the Falles (Las Fallas), a local festival held in March, as well as for paella valenciana, traditional ceramics, traditional dress, the architecture of the City of Arts and Sciences. Another popular event is La Tomatina, an annual tomato fight which takes place in August. Celebrations in Valencia are the most colourful in Spain. Learn more about Valencia


text: ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II overclocked graphics card with 2GB memory Engine overclocked to 830MHz for faster and smoother performanceSpeed up heat dissipation with doubled airflow via exclusive DirectCU dual fan designPump up graphics performance with Super Alloy Power delivering a 15% performance boost, 2.5 longer lifespan and 35C cooler operationGPU Tweak utility helps you modify and tune clock speeds, voltages, and fan performance via an intuitive Shop Modal header Raging Cool Power For the Win! ASUS Exclusive Innovation Super Alloy Power Super Alloy Power technology uses special alloy formula in critical power delivery components for a 15% performance boost, 35°C cooler operation and 2.5 times longer lifespan. DirectCU II Based on ASUS DirectCU architecture, which uses copper heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU to speed up heat dissipation for over 20% cooler performance, DirectCU II takes cooling further with twin 80mm fans for doubled airflow. Overclocked on Arrival Factory overclocked to perform at 830MHz, 10MHz faster than stock performance, resulting in higher frame rates in games. GPU Tweak GPU Tweak provides a professional yet intuitive graphics tuning interface for real time card adjustment and monitoring Graphics GPU Features Powered by NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX560 Ti NVIDIA® CUDA™ Unlocks the power of GPU's processor cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks. NVIDIA® SLI™ Supports multi-GPU technology for extreme performance ode NVIDIA PhysX™ Delivers dynamic visual effects like blazing explosions, reactive debris, realistic water, and lifelike characters. NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ Immersive yourself in 3D gaming world DirectX® 11 Done Right Brings new levels of visual realism to gaming on the PC and get top-notch performance Microsoft® Windows® 7 Compatible Enable PC users to enjoy an advanced computing experience and to do more with their PC I/O Ports Highlight


text:
- Advertise
- Contact Us
- Store
Dear Member:
Thank you for deciding to take the next steps necessary to help promote the Enrolled Agents Credential Act. With your help, we can get the congressional support needed to give the EA credential the credit it deserves. If you have not had the chance to read the bill or our emails asking you to contact your elected representatives to ask them to support and co-sponsor the bill, we encourage you to do so.
The text of the bill can be found on THOMAS, the Library of Congress' legislative research website. The text of the two companion bills is identical. The language of H.R. 2313 can be found here, while the bill text of S. 1134 can be found here. You may check THOMAS periodically to check the status of the bill in its respective chamber. You can also monitor which representatives and senators have co-sponsored the legislation as it moves forward and builds momentum. You can do all of this by visiting THOMAS and typing in "enrolled agents" in the search box. You should see the two companion bills after performing your search.
Here is what you can also do to help your profession:
Write your representative and both of your senators and ask them to co-sponsor the Enrolled Agents Credential Act. Here's how you do that:
1.) Visit the CongressMerge website, type your address into the appropriate fields and click the "Submit It" button.
2.) After submitting your address, you should see all three of your elected representatives. To the right, you will see phone and fax numbers and an email contact form hosted on each of their
congressional websites. Click on those links one-after-the-other until you have contacted all of them.
3.) In your email to your representative in the House, ask your representative to support and co-sponsor H.R. 2313. In your emails to both of your senators, please ask them to co-sponsor S. 1134.
If you find that your representative or senator is an original sponsor or co-sponsor, please write to thank your legislator for his/her leadership on an issue of great importance to you.
Please take a minute to protect enrolled agents and strengthen the profession by contacting your elected representatives and asking them to support the Enrolled Agents Credential Act of 2013.
Should you have any questions, please contact Justin Edwards or Bob Kerr.
Elizabeth "Betsey" Buckingham, EA
National Association of Enrolled Agents


text:
Critical Red Hat Enterprise Linux Kernel Updatelast updated in Categories GNU/Open source, Linux, Linux distribution, package management, RedHat/Fedora Linux, Security Alert
Red Hat issued an update version of Linux operating system core called kernel that plugs various security holes for RHEL 5.x. This update has been rated as having important security impact. All users are advised to upgrade kernel package.


text:
63 Merchant Reborn
After being covered up in plaster for decades, one of Honolulu's most historic buildings gets a dramatic new look.
(page 1 of 2)
Sometimes buildings become historic just because they're old. Stick around long enough and someone will pin a medal on you. Other buildings, however, earn their historic status, hosting landmark events and acting as cornerstones of their cities.
63 Merchant is one of these, and it's finally getting a facelift worthy of its lineage.
Originally commissioned by Charles Reed Bishop in 1877, the two-story brick building became the home of the Bank of Bishop, the first bank in the kingdom. Honolulu was a much smaller town in those days; the bank was just about the center of town. Its intersection, Merchant and Kaahumanu Streets, was known as "The Corner," and was famous for its gossip.
Of course, Bishop was more than just a banker; his offices at 63 and 77 Merchant became the birthplace of both the Bishop Estate (today known as Kamehameha Schools) and the Bishop Museum.
The Bank of Bishop moved to a new location in 1925, after which the Merchant Street building hosted a series of tenants ranging from a Japanese steamship line to the Hawaii Meat Co.
In 1950, 63 Merchant was occupied by what would become its most well-known tenant: the law firm of Bouslog and Symonds. Its offices would go on to be the prepping grounds for some of Hawaii's most significant court cases.
Harriet Bouslog is credited, for example, with helping to abolish the death penalty in Hawaii, thanks to her work to win a stay of execution for accused murderers John Palakiko and James E. Majors. She was also a staunch advocate for labor in Hawaii; she helped defend ILWU head Jack Hall and six other union activists in 1953 against accusations of communist sedition and violations of the Smith Act.
Bouslog retired in 1978, but bought the building in 1980 and used it as the headquarters of the Bouslog Sawyer Charitable Trust, which she founded with her husband, Stephen Sawyer, to provide scholarships to children and grandchildren of ILWU members.
By the end of Harriet and Steve's lives, the building had fallen into a state of disrepair. When Harriet died, Steve reportedly lost all interest in inhabiting the building, visiting it maybe three times after her death. Lawyer Mark Bernstein, the trustee of the Bouslog Sawyer Charitable Trust, continued to use the offices, but it was far from a perfect work environment.
"Electrically speaking, this place was a catastrophe waiting to happen," Bernstein says. "Plumbing-wise, there were galvanized pipes laid in the floors that had essentially disintegrated. We had a massive water leak that no one knew about until the water company came and knocked at the door. We had used 200,000 gallons of water that month." It turned out that the ground underneath Merchant Street is porous coral; the water had been seeping right into nearby Honolulu Harbor.
In addition to the normal ravages of time, there were more than a century's worth of additions and kludges that had piled up over the building's lifetime as a working office space. One of the most obvious was the bricking over of the first-floor windows and the original corner entrance—a renovation bemoaned by a 1971 HONOLULU article as "hideous," but required by early air-conditioning technology. "When I first came into this building and started working here, it was 1979, and they had a Carrier air conditioner the size of an aircraft carrier, right above the side entrance door," remembers Bernstein.
But behind all the plaster and dropped egg-crate ceilings, Bernstein could see the potential. "Steve wanted the building to become the Harriet Bouslog Building, and he wanted it to be as beautiful as Harriet. This was one of those real, romantic love stories," says Bernstein. He started hashing out the details of a renovation project with contractor and wine buddy Mitch Kyser around the end of 2009.


text:
Invensis Learning's CRISC Training Course in Bursa is delivered by highly qualified trainers with extensive experience in CRISC techniques. Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control™ (CRISC™) is the most current and rigorous assessment which is presently available to evaluate the risk management proficiency of IT professionals and other employees within an enterprise or financial institute.
CRISC help enterprises to understand business risk, and have the technical knowledge to implement appropriate IS controls. This CRISC Certification training course accredited by ISACA is ideal for IT professionals, risk professionals, control professionals, business analysts, project managers, compliance, professionals and more. Participants attending this training will receive a hard copy of the course material.
We deliver CRISC Training in Bursa through classroom and live online virtual modes. Enroll now and gain this CRISC certification in Bursa today.
|Training Modes
- Instructor-led Classroom Training ( Request for Training )
- Instructor-led Online Training ( Request for Training )
- On-site Group Training ( Request for More Information )
- Focused 1-to-1 Training
|Areas of Study
- The Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control exam
- The concepts of enterprise risk
- Plan, execute, scrutinize and retain information systems controls
- Risk: identification, evaluation, assessment, response, and monitoring
- IS control design and execution
- IS control maintenance and monitoring
|CRISC Training
|Request for CRISC training in Bursa
|CRISC Course Duration
|CRISC Training Course Syllabus
|CRISC Certification Eligibility Criteria
There are no prerequisite to take the exam; however, in order to apply for certification you must meet the necessary experience requirements as determined by ISACA. A minimum of at least 3 years of cumulative work experience performing the tasks of a CRISC professional across at least three 3 CRISC domains is required for certification.
|CRISC Exam Format
|Who Should Attend CRISC Certification Training
Job roles that can benefit from CRISC training course in Bursa include, but are not limited to:
Candidates will learn to differentiate between risk management and risk governance, identify the roles and responsibilities for risk management, identify relevant standards, frameworks and practices, explain the meaning of key risk management concepts, including risk appetite and risk tolerance, differentiate between threats and vulnerabilities, apply risk identification, classification, quantitative / qualitative assessment and evaluation techniques.
Candidates will learn to list various parameters for risk response selection, list the different risk response options, describe risk responses may be most suitable for a high-level risk scenario, describe how exception management relates to risk management, monitor existing risk, report noncompliance and other changes in information risk, describe how residual risk relates to inherent risk and risk appetite, describe the need for performing a cost-benefit analysis when determining a risk response.
Candidates will learn to explain the principles of risk ownership, List common risk and compliance reporting requirements, tools and techniques, describe various risk assessment methodologies, differentiate between key performance indicators and Key Risk Indicators, describe, at a high level, data extraction; aggregation; and, analysis tools and techniques, differentiate between various types of processes to review organization's risk monitoring process.
Candidates will learn to list different control categories and their effects, judge control strength, explain the importance of balancing control cost and benefit, leverage understanding of the SDLC process to implement IS controls efficiently and effectively, differentiate between the four high-level stages of the SDLC, relate each SDLC phase to specific tasks and objectives, apply core project management tools and techniques to the implementation of IS controls.
Candidates will learn to describe the purpose and levels of a maturity model as it applies to the risk management process, compare different monitoring tools and techniques, describe various testing and assessment tools and techniques, explain how monitoring of IS controls relates to applicable laws and regulations and understand the need for control maintenance.
The daily agenda of the 5-day CRISC Course is detailed below:
As part of your CRISC training, you will receive:
At Invensis, we provide CRISC training in Bursa in three different learning modes in instructor-led classroom training, instructor-led online training, and on-site group training.
No, the examination fee is not included in the course fee.
The CRISC Certification has to be renewed every 3 years with annual reporting to ISACA.
Individuals and Enterprises can make payment for the training through 2 different modes such as –
For more information on payment details, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com
Please call us, join our Live Chat for instant support, or Request a Call Back to have your query resolved.
Bursa is one of the most industrialized cities in Turkey and is situated in the region of Anatolia in the northwestern part. The city has many educational institutions and has the highest levels of education in all of Turkey. Bursa is one of the biggest automotive hubs in the country and is one of the largest contributors to the economy of the city. There are other sectors which contribute to the economy of Bursa such as food industry, textile, dairy industry, agriculture and tourism. The city's industries employ a large number of workforce and some of these employers are Fiat, Oyak Renault, Bosch, Delphi, Borcelik, AdoksanTekstil, Tofas, Karsan, Bursa Pharmacy Cooperative and Prysmian Group.
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text:
Classes are currently being taught online. All physical facilities are closed to the public at this time, and employees are working remotely.Please visit
dcccd.edu/coronavirus for additional information and to
find contact information for various departments.If you need additional assistance, please visit
My Community Services and our
Community Employment Resources.
Dallas County Community Colleges use
eRefunds to distribute disbursements and refunds to students.
eRefunds is a service that the colleges of DCCCD have partnered with to process and distribute refunds and disbursements to students. This includes financial aid disbursements, refunds, grants and any other payments you may be owed.
eRefunds allows you to receive refunds and disbursements "Delivered Your Way."
The software that connects DCCCD to the eRefunds service is called
Heartland/TouchNet, and the eRefunds refund processor and student support hotline is called
Heartland/ECSI. You will see both names as you use the various functions of eRefunds.
If you don't have a bank account, don't worry — we will mail you a check.
eRefunds lets you designate your own bank account where all your refunds and disbursements can be directly deposited.
If you do not have a bank account, don't worry — we will mail your disbursements and refunds to you in a check to the address we have on file for you.
The best part is you can open a bank account wherever you choose. By shopping around at local banks and credit unions, you can find the bank and terms that fit your needs.
It's easy! All you need is your bank account number and routing number. When you have located that information:
No. Students do not pay any fees to use eRefunds.
If you don't have an account already, see our list of financial institutions that offer students
checking accounts and reloadable cards that can be used for direct deposit.
Absolutely. You can log in to the system and provide new direct deposit information for a different checking account or prepaid/reloadable card, switch from direct deposit to paper check or switch from paper check to direct deposit at any time. Just log in to eRefunds following the first four steps listed above, and click on the green button that says "Choose Your Refund Delivery Method".
Visit the
Registrar's Office at your primary college. They will require a photo ID and address verification documents. Ask the Registrar's Office exactly what they need.
You can:


text:
"A roundup of the week's tech news including the new Boston Dynamics, AI waiters, and predicting gentrification." notes Dan Swinhoe, Staff Writer at IDG Connect.
Facebook held its annual developer conference this week. The company
kindly laid out its 10 year plan for world domination, including video,
search, messaging, connectivity, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual/Augmented Reality.
There was a big focus on FB Messenger
and the introduction of bots; the company has partnered with over 30
companies to provide automated customer service, and will open up the
platform to allow others to develop their own bots. M, Facebook's own
chatbot assistant is reportedly still months away from released.
The company also revealed it had poached one of Google's executive to lead its new hardware division. The company laid out its vision for the day when AR/VR glasses were indistinguishable from regular spectacles, as well as revealing its design for a high-quality 3D-360 video capture system.
Internet.org and Facebook's Free Basics service may have a low take-up, but more than half of users switch to a paid service within a month of joining, suggesting Zuckerberg's Facebook for All plan is slowly working.
We also learned that FB at Work – the social network's attempt at moving into the enterprise, is still happening, but has been delayed until later this year...
Who needs chatbots, when you've got robot phones?
While automated chatbots are taking over customer service, and
artificial intelligence will be taking over the world, Sharp have made
the most adorable little robot phone you'll ever see.
The $1800 RoBoHon,
first revealed last year and due to go on sale next month, is a
walking, talking cute-as-a-button robot with smartphone capabilities.
Apparently its AI capabilities will enable it not only to understand
voice commands, but also recognise your face and greet you by name.
Standing at nearly 8 inches and featuring arms & legs, it's not
particularly practical to put in your pocket. Despite the steep price
tag and general ridiculousness of the product, Sharp hopes to sell 5000
RoBoHons a month.
Read more...
Source: IDG Connect


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Remember the old Mike Myers "Coffee Talk" sketches on Saturday Night Live?
When Myers' character, Linda Richman, would get a little verklempt, she'd throw out a topic for the viewers to discuss amongst themselves. She'd give them a topic, such as Transitional Romanesque architecture was neither transitional nor Romanesque, and let them discuss it. While we're not particuatly verklempt about anything at the moment, let's steal that idea and throw this one out there for discussion:
The advent of the idea that the Super Bowl was all about the commercials had nothing to do with the quality of the commercials or the amount of casual viewers stuck at Super Bowl parties and everything to do with the rancid quality of Super Bowl games.
U.S. & World
In the 20 years between 1980 and 1999, when the commercials and alternative halftime shows became nearly as big a part of the game as the game itself, there were only five games decided by less than double digits. There were two other games decided by 10 points, but one of them was Neil O'Donnell's interception fest against the Steelers and that hardly qualifies as a good football game to watch.
When you're stuck in a room with a bunch of other people after a few beers, you want to talk about something. A discussion about whether or not the winning team will crack 50 points just isn't going to get it done. That leads to people caring about Bud Bowls and talking about advertisements for Diet Pepsi as if they were works of art.
Something changed in 1999, though. That was the year when the Titans came up a yard short of tying the Rams on the final play of the game and touched off a run of great games that made other activities on Super Bowl Sunday largely irrelevant. There was a slow start, with two blowouts in the next three years, but since then we haven't had one truly terrible game.
Some have been a bit boring -- no one's clamoring to watch a tape of the Colts' victory over the Bears -- but all of them have seen the outcome in doubt into the fourth quarter. Some of that has to do with the painstaking attempts to create parity around the league, some has to do with the leveling effect of making two weeks off before the game an annual happening and some is just dumb luck, but the combination has been a boon to football fans.
There's good reason to hope that this year's game will continue the trend. The teams match up fairly well and two potent passing offenses means that there's always going to be a chance for a team to strike quickly to get back into the game. The Giants' pass rush is strong, but we're not quite ready to write off Tom Brady before the game even gets underway. On top of all that, the lack of a strong rushing attack on either side makes it unlikely either team can get out to a lead early and then just sit on it by running out the clock.
Beyond all that, the Patriots have been the biggest benefactors of this golden age. All four of their Super Bowls have come down to the final drive of the game and they have played in the best Super Bowl ever (XLVII against these same Giants), the best fourth quarter ever (XXXVIII against the Panthers) and defended against the funniest two-minute drill of all time (XXXIX against the slow-moving Eagles of Donovan McNabb).
None of that guarantees us a thriller in Indianapolis, but recent history and the two teams make us like our chances. Give a little thanks for this, unless you're an ad exec who though that the game was about you and not the football.


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The Financial Services Institute unveiled Tuesday at its first Advisor Summit a revamped website and a social network called FSI Social to help increase its online advocacy and help independent advisor members grow their businesses.
FSI Social provides a secure virtual environment for both FSI member firm executives and financial advisor members so that they can collaborate and share best practices. FSI members "don't feel LinkedIn is enough," Chris Paulitz, FSI's senior vice president of membership and marketing, told reporters during a morning briefing. However, he said FSI Social allows advisors to import their LinkedIn profiles.
While FSI's membership has experienced rapid growth, FSI's website "has not kept pace with the success of FSI," Paulitz said. "We nuked our website and built a new one."
FSI President and CEO Dale Brown added that FSI's new website will help advisors "stay better informed and be more effective citizen advocates."
Via the site, advisors can learn about such issues as the 70 social media bills that are wending their way through state legislatures, Paulitz said. The state social media bills, which cover compliance with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, "are almost always in conflict with FINRA rules," he said.
FSI also unveiled two new resources to help its advisor members retain their current clients and attract new ones.
A one-minute video and a corresponding one-page infographic are now available for FSI members to download for free. These tools help advisors explain the value of independence to clients and prospective clients, FSI says, and are client ready, having been reviewed by FINRA.
Says FSI: The video can be embedded on a website or emailed to clients or prospective clients. The infographic can also be posted on the website or emailed, or printed and placed on a lobby coffee table to act as a conversation starter.
FSI also gave a sneak peak at its new all-in-one member mobile app that will allow members to advocate on the go, get industry news and use as an on-site conference app. FSI will be releasing the new app for download in about a month.
Check out DOL Fiduciary Plan Hits Delay, Borzi Says on ThinkAdvisor.


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Over 100 FSU alumni and friends headed to Pittsburgh on June 15th to see the Pirates take on the Dodgers as part of the Fairmont State Alumni Association's 2013 PNC Day in the Park. The sold-out event included a pre-game tailgate, the Pirates game and a post-game Fan Jam concert featuring Blues Traveler.
Photos by Mariah Roth '11


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2 bedroom New Style Woodland Lodge
Media Hub
Updated style
Our two-bedroom, single-storey terraced New Style Woodland Lodges have all the lovely touches of a Woodland Lodge, plus a few extras. We've refreshed the interiors with more than a lick of paint – there's a 40" inch flatscreen TV in the living room and a media hub.
Bedrooms feature crisp white bed linen, and there's a generous family bathroom. The fully-equipped kitchen includes a microwave and dishwasher so you can spend more time exploring. From your private patio, you can enjoy a morning coffee while wildlife-spotting, or fire up the coals in your brick-built barbecue stand when the weather's fine.
Practical and stylish – your family's base for exploring the forest


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Microsoft offers a selection of free Office 365 migration tools to assess readiness and manage deployment. The Exchange Server Deployment Assistant queries deployment objectives and creates guidelines for the migration. The Directory Sync tool assists the migration process by synchronizing users, groups and contact data from local Active Directory to Office 365. Office 365 provides the Exchange Admin Center to help with remote moves, cutovers, staged migrations and third-party email (IMAP) migrations.
Third-party tools can add extra features such as creating user accounts, moving email, contacts, appointments, tasks, folders, archives and settings to Office 365.


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Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
Manuel Carpina cleans food debris left after the garbage was collected at his restaurant, Scarpina Bar & Grill in New York, N.Y. on Nov. 1, 2012. Flooding and lack of electricity caused by Hurricane Sandy left parts of New York City in a mess.
By Andrew Mach and Maggie Fox, NBC News
NEW YORK -- Fish guts flowing down a Union Square street. Untreated sewage in the Hudson River. Spoiled Haagen-Dazs dumped on a deli floor. Toilets that won't flush.
Superstorm Sandy has left a mess behind in a city never exactly known for its cleanliness.
In Manhattan, as power remained out for many customers below 39th street, Rod Zindani, owner of the Best of New York deli on Water St., stood by large plastic trash bags filled with melted single-serve tubs of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. "That's $1,000 to $1,500 worth," he told CNBC.
It's all got to go.
"Everybody's throwing out food. All the cooked short ribs, cooked pork, salsas had to go," said Alfredo Vicuna, the head of kitchen at Tortaria, near Union Square in lower Manhattan. "It will stay good for about 24 hours, but after it got above 40 degrees, we can't use it. I don't even want to think about how much we had to throw out. It's not nice to see. The boss is literally crying right now about how much we lost."
Nearby, Carlos Solorzano watched a restaurant worker in a white chef's coat hose away fish guts left behind in the street by sanitation workers. Along the curb, a tiny river of pink liquid, sprinkled with fish bones, blue and red octopus parts and bits of mackerel, flowed away.
"When we came back after the storm, some of the food was already rotten, all of the ice cream was melted, all of the fish had already spoiled. We had to throw out about 200 pounds of meat. That's a lot of business, that's their whole menu," said Solorzano, superintendent of the building housing the restaurant.
Jonathan Sanger / NBC News
A large pile of garbage sits outside Petropolis in the Financial District of New York, N.Y. on Nov. 1, 2012. Flooding and lack of electricity caused by Hurricane Sandy left parts of New York City in a mess.
Refrigerators will keep food cold enough only for about four hours with the door closed. While bottled drinks and nonperishable foods such as peanut butter won't go bad, any meat, cheese, eggs or cooked food has to go. Freezers only stay cold enough for about 48 hours.
At least one group of New Yorkers might be happy to see all that food tossed into the street: the rats. However, despite fears that rats would invade the city to feast on the garbage or that thousands would be flushed from the depths by floodwaters, a spokeswoman for the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said there's no evidence of an increase in rat activity.
As wary New Yorkers eye the soggy mess left behind by Sandy, some have expressed concern about an outbreak of disease. But experts say fears of cholera or dysentery from the floodwaters likely are overblown.
"The truth is, it's fairly rare" in developed countries such as the United States, said Dr. Martin Makary, a gastrointestinal specialist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. That's because people aren't putting infected sewage into the system in the first place. Even after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf states in 2005, water-borne disease was not a widespread problem, Makary said.
Also, people who collected water in bathtubs, bottles and other containers ahead of the storm should be able to drink it safely even after a few days without refrigeration, Makary said.
Andrew Mach / NBC News
In Battery Park City, a long, blue pipe snakes out of a flooded store near the 9/11 memorial. The brown water flows ankle-deep into the street past a large, yellow dumpster and under parked cars as it collects near another mound of black track bags, broken chairs and other furniture.
"The GI system is extremely resilient to contaminated water," he said. "Sometimes people insist on sterile water, bottled water. But the most important thing is to avoid cross contamination with sewage. Water that simply been in the tub or out on the counter for a couple of days is likely safe."
Brett Sherman, 59, and her husband had filled the bathtub and stocked up on bottled water as emergency experts advise. But they finally fled their West Village apartment when their high-rise ran out of water.
"We live in a building about 18 stories high with a water tank on top," Sherman said by telephone from Montclair, N.J., where her stepdaughter lives and has power. "Somebody said that the water in the tank would last a couple of days but it didn't even last 24 hours. I was surprised by that."
That meant toilets stopped working. Lucky for that bathtub full of water. "A lot of the toilets in buildings like that don't have tanks," Sherman said. "You can just take a bucket of water and pour it in and it flushes. We discovered that," she added. "But can you imagine that going on in hundreds of buildings?"
Seth Wenig / AP
Shopping carts full of food damaged by superstorm Sandy await disposal at the Fairway supermarket in the Red Hook section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. The food was contaminated by flood waters that rose to approximately four feet in the store during the storm.
The city health department has advice for what people can do when the water comes back on after having been off -- just run the water for 30 seconds until it is cold and clear. " Replace all ice machine filters and beverage dispenser filters, and flush all water lines for five minutes," the web site advises.
Many of the restaurants and shops in Tribeca were still closed and boarded up, save for the few that had generators. But the streets were largely clear and devoid of any excessive amounts of garbage on Thursday. The scene was a far cry from only two days ago, when locals said many of the streets were completely flooded.
According to the website of the New York City Department of Sanitation -- which says it collects 12,000 tons of refuse and recycling on a normal day -- the city was making its regularly scheduled garbage collections "as storm conditions permit." Recycling pickup was suspended; on its Twitter feed Thursday, @NYCSanitation was advising customers to "try to store [recyclables] as long as you can, please." The sanitation department was also handling hurricane debris cleanup citywide. "Hang in and we will all get through this. We're New Yorkers!" it tweeted.
The waters that surround Manhattan -- The Hudson River, East River, New York Harbor -- remain filthy because wastewater treatment plants dumped untreated sewage into them. People shouldn't even touch the water, authorities said.
"Activities such as swimming, canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing or any other water activity that would entail possible direct contact with the water should be avoided until further notice," the Department of Environmental Protection cautions.
Bacteria in the water can cause an itchy rash and could cause infections if it gets into cuts.
Many residents in high-rises without electricity and people living in flooded areas still lack fresh water supplies. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city's Department of Environmental Protection say water coming out of the taps is safe. And the department has set up portable drinking water stations to areas where water service is down, such as Breezy Point and Rockaway, which were especially hard hit by the storm and by fire.
With contributions from Elizabeth Chuck.
You've probably stocked up the refrigerator in preparation for Hurricane Sandy, but if you lose power, how long will your food last? Madelyn Fernstrom, TODAY's diet and nutrition editor, talks about what foods you can save and what you should throw away.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- 'Pure mayhem' as New York City tries to get back to work
- Wind, flames, Our Fathers: The inside story of Breezy Point's terrible night
- War veterans hit Sandy's front lines for rescues, cleanup
- NYC-area airports up and running, albeit slowly
- New York trick-or-treaters defy Sandy to celebrate Halloween
- As National Guard comes to rescue, so do NJ residents — with power outlets
- How to avoid post-storm insurance and repair scams
- For some New Yorkers, it's back to business as usual
- New Jersey investigating reports of price gouging
- Your Sandy photos: Show us the heroes in your life
- Sandy's aftermath: How you can help
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook


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Indicative Rate * AU$309 to AU$925
Overlooking a stunning palm-fringed beach, just 20 minutes from Cairns Airport, Peppers Beach Club and Spa is set in the heart of the charming Palm Cove village.
Choose from elegant Suites, Spa Rooms, One, Two and Three Bedroom Apartments. There are also Penthouses with private rooftop terraces featuring lounge areas, a barbecue and private pool or heated spa. If you enjoy cooking while on holidays, the Apartments and Penthouses will be perfect with fully equipped kitchens and spaces perfect for entertaining.
Guests can indulge at Lime and Pepper Restaurant, while enjoying beautiful ocean views. The modern menu features the very best local and quality tropical ingredients. If you are looking for a stunning wedding venue or a unique corporate retreat, the conference centre and events space provides unlimited opportunity for a truly memorable experience.
Palm Cove showcases an abundance of activities, from the rainforest to the reef – scuba diving, deep sea fishing, white water rafting and rainforest walks. To organise a day trip or truly unique North Queensland experience the Tour Desk will be more than happy to help organise your holiday activities.
The Garden Spa has looks out over a tropical garden and has the convenience of a kitchenette and laundry facilities. There are ceiling fans as well as air-conditioning, plus a plush king-size bed.
The One Bedroom Ocean boast spectacular ocean views from the living area. These rooms feature a full kitchen, generous lounge/dining area, separate laundry, one king size bed or two singles.
The Resort Spa features a king size bed, balcony with spa bath, pool or garden views, in-room movies, air-conditioning, ceiling fans, bathrobes, mini bar, coffee and tea facilities.
The Two Bedroom Ocean boast spectacular ocean views from the living area. These rooms feature a full kitchen, generous lounge/dining area, separate laundry, two king size beds or one king and two single beds.
One Bedroom Lagoon Suites feature a king size bed or twin single beds as well as an entertainment area, laundry, full kitchen and dining room. These rooms are located near the formal, rainforest or beach style pool.
The Two Bedroom Resort connects the One Bedroom Resort and Resort Spa Room. There are ceiling fans as well as air conditioning and either two king-size beds or one king and twin singles.
The One Bedroom Garden Penthouses features two levels along with a private rooftop terrace and Jacuzzi. You'll find spacious living areas with ceiling fans, air-conditioning and bedding consisting of either a king zip-bed or twin singles.
Dual key, the Two Bedroom Garden Penthouse connects a One Bedroom Garden Penthouse and a Resort Spa room. You'll love the private Jacuzzi on the rooftop terrace complete with a barbecue area, along with your own private spa bath on the balcony. Features also include ceiling fans, air-conditioning and either two king beds, or one king bed and two singles.
The Two Bedroom Grand Ocean Penthouses offer breathtaking ocean views, a plunge pool overlooking the Coral Sea, private rooftop terrace, along with separate living and dining areas. Facilities also include ceiling fans, air-conditioning and either two king-size beds or one king and twin singles.
In the Three Bedroom Resort you'll find bedding consisting of two king beds and one double bed or one king bed, twin single beds and one double bed. Facilities including a full kitchen, separate dining room, entertainment area, full laundry facilities, two bathrooms and a spa bath on your very own private balcony.
The Three Bedroom Ocean room is boasts breathtaking ocean views, with two bathrooms, ceiling fans, air-conditioning and either two king-zip beds and one double, or one king zip-bed, twin singles and a double.
The Three Bedroom Ocean Penthouse boasts ocean views, a spacious living and dining areas, designer kitchen, two bathrooms, a spa bath on the balcony, along with a private rooftop terrace with plunge pool and barbecue. The bedding configuration includes either two king-size beds and a double bed; or one king-size bed, a double bed and twin singles.
The Ocean Spa boasts views of Palm Cove Beach and Coral Sea and features ceiling fans, air-conditioning, in-house movies, a mini bar, balcony and a plush king-size bed.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


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Hidan Cosplay
Hidan is the foulmouthed partner of Kakuzu and oh yeah... he's immortal. The biggest problem you might have cosplaying this guy is that you need his weapon. They don't come cheap! If you want one made for ya, write us at firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll get you set up ^_^
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realXtend Association has an open members meeting on the coming Monday the 12th at 13:00 EET. In Oulu in the center and also on-line if people from elsewhere want to join!
WebTundra based VirtualOulu at Web3D Conference
University of Oulu's realXtend Tundra & Webtundra based VirtualOulu environment was presented and analyzed at Web3D 2016, presented in late July in Anaheim, California. Article is in open access at ACM: VirtualOulu: collaborative, immersive and extensible 3D city model on the web
VirtualOulu has been in testing for long already, is hosted on Meshmoon and features Jonne Nauha's early stab from a couple of years ago on kd-tree based scalable scene management, with prioritized asset loading etc. The test for measurements in the article is this walk from the market square to the cultural center near town hall:
3D Models in City Planning
realXtend is making it's way into city planning processes.
The city of Oulu organized a seminar about 3D models in city planning (Finnish) on 16th March 2016 with a hall full of participants from architect companies & technology providers working with point clouds and other 3D models.
Timo Mukari presented how the city provides 3D models automatically from the official city databases. Jere Klami explored the possibilities with 3D models in participatory city planning. Tommi Hollström presented the MAPGETS application platform — based on realXtend's WebTundra — which features automated generation of 3D cities from map and building databases. Toni Alatalo described Playsign's approach to utilize lessons from games to bring action structures on top of the models and showed the Playsign product for publishing city and building plans as game-like mobile and web apps.
The technologies are getting on-board to be actually utilized for city services and planning — stay tuned for updates we'll post when actual end user applications come online!
Intelligent Open Data 3D Maps in a Collaborative Virtual World
A good example of realXtend and Meshmoon in academic research: http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/4/2/837
3D Web & Open Data for Smart Cities using realXtend and Meshmoon
An intense week of realXtend based app development is going on here in Oulu now! As a part of the 7th Summer School on Ubiquitous Computing organized by the UBI (UrBan Interactions) research program, I and Cvetan & Koste from Adminotech are running a hackathon with prof. Ojala.
Focus of the hackathon is open Open Data and Smart Cities, and area with much activity around realXtend also otherwise:
- EU's FIWARE announced global Open Data activities at CeBIT 2015
- the Finnish national 6Aika project is getting started and there's a plan to harmonize on the realXtend open source base to get an open innovation platform for the cities in Finland (and hopefully globally eventually :)
- Adminotech has good business going on with their smart city offering and the new Meshmoon Geo plugin.
The realXtend application portfolio
Since the release of the first generation of realXtend technology in 2008 the number of applications created by the main development companies as well as people all over the world has grown continuously and today we have a rather comprehensive collection of realXtend-based worlds and apps for many different kinds of uses. This post details some of them while also assessing the usefulness of virtual reality technologies for various purposes – understanding how technology can be applied for maximum benefit is one of the more valuable things we have learned during the years of development work.
7 Training Events Around Europe in FIWARE Startup Weekends
Here are the times and places of the bootcamps / FIWARE Startup Weekends which referred to in the earlier post about the app dev funding. We do the part on Advanced Web UIs.
Basic info copy-pasted below from the FIWARE site, see there for more info.
October 2-5
Germany: Hamburg
Italy: Milan
October 16-19
Germany: Berlin
France: Sophia-Antipolis
Spain: Valencia
November 13-16
Portugal: Lisbon
France: Rennes


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A federal judge has struck down a section of a 2011 Georgia law targeting people who knowingly harbor or transport an illegal immigrant.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash on Wednesday issued an order to eliminate that section of the law because it's pre-empted by federal law. He also ordered the state to inform a number of state agencies that would have been involved in the enforcement of that provision of his decision.
Omar Jadwat is a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who is involved in the challenge to Georgia's 2011 law. He says this marks a victory because Thrash is the first federal judge to permanently strike down the harboring and transporting provision of a state law targeting illegal immigration.


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Soak up the atmosphere in Marrakech's famous Djemaa el Fna, explore Ait Benhaddou - the legendary fortified Kasbah, star gaze in the vast and silent Sahara desert and step back in time in Fes - the world's oldest medieval city.
Trip Highlights
Not Included
Arrival in Marrakech airport where you will be met by the On the Go guide and transferred to your hotel or riad in the centre of town. Meet your guide for a tour briefing and then spend the rest of the day at leisure. Explore the vibrant Djemaa el Fna square in the evening with the snake charmers, story tellers , food stalls and souks all in full swing.
Overnight: Marrakech
The Old Medina of Marrakech
This morning enjoy a guided tour or Marrakech, taking in all of the highlights of the Medina (old city centre) - the Koutoubia Mosque, palaces, souks and the old mellah (Jewish quartier). In the afternoon perhaps a visit to the peaceful Jardins de Majorelle to relax.
Overnight: Marrakech | Breakfast
Ait Benhaddou
Marrakech - Aït Benhaddou - Ouarzazate. It's an early start today when the transportation and your mountain guide arrives at the Hotel to take you towards the desert. From the flat plain of Haouz, the route climbs southwards and up to the passes of the High Atlas mountains. Along twisty roads with marvellous views and over the high point before descending to the rocky red foothills near Ouarzazate. En route to Ouarzazate we visit Ait Benhaddou, an ancient fortified city, boasting beautiful examples of Kasbahs, some of which remain inhabited today. Granted UNESCO World Heritage Listing, the site has been the setting for many films including Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. Night in the Ouarzazate, the film capital of Morocco.
Overnight: Ouarzazate | Breakfast
Discover the Sahara
Ouarzazate - Erg Chebbi sand dunes. The journey continues along the valley of the Roses and the Skoura oasis, passing Amerdhil Kasbah. Stop for lunch in the scenic gorge du Dades before continuing towards the Sarhro mountains and the first signs of the Sahara. Along the route there are Khettara , the ancient wells dug by the nomads to find water, now dry. Finally we reach Merzouga at the foot of the great sand dune Erg Chebbi. Time to watch the sun set and the sand change colour as night falls. Spend the night in an Auberge.
Overnight: Erg Chebbi | Breakfast
Opt for a Saharan Camel Trek
Erg Chebbi - Merzouga. Enjoy a relaxing day at leisure. Perhaps climb up Erg Chebbi before dawn to see the sunrise over the dunes, or enjoy a lie in and take a camel trek across the rolling sand dunes later in the afternoon.
Overnight: Merzouga | Breakfast
Scenic drive to Fes
Merzouga - Fes. Take a long but very scenic drive today, heading north from the desert and up into the High Atlas past the Ziz Gorge. Past Midelt, the route crosses a grassy plain (in winter) where Nomads of the tribe Ait Atta Tafoukht can be seen pitching their tents and finding grazing for their camels and goats. The road carries on over the next set of mountains – the Middle Atlas and another facet of morocco is seen, the Cedar forests. Ancient forests that cloak the hills and are inhabited by monkeys, wild boar and deer. Finally we descend into Ifrane (a swiss style town and ski resort)and continue onward to Fes.
Overnight: Fes | Breakfast
Fes is the oldest and largest medieval city in the world and a bustling hive of activity. This morning take a guided tour around the incredible, old medina - a heady mix of aromas, sounds and sights from the tanneries, spice tubs, pottery and donkeys! Enjoy free time in the afternoon to explore independently.
Overnight: Fes | Breakfast
Roman City of Volubilis
Fes - Volubilis - Rabat. Today we leave Fes to see the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis, past the fields of lentils and chickpeas, into the hills around this well preserved city where its possible to explore the mosaics and forum. After lunch you pass Moulay Idriss and set off for Rabat. Spend the night in the Capital of Morocco.
Overnight: Rabat | Breakfast
Djemaa el Fna by night
Rabat - Marrakech. You will have free time in the morning to explore Rabat before heading back past Casablanca to Marrakech. Arriving into Marrakech early evening there will be time for you to do some last minute souvenir shopping!
Overnight: Marrakech | Breakfast
All good things come to an end and it's time to head home. Transfer to airport included.
Prices & Dates
Prices shown are 'per person', based on a travelling party of at least 2 adults. The single supplement price needs to be added to the per person price if single rooms are required. If travelling solo, an additional '1-person' supplement will apply.Read More


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The short-lived 2006 HBO show "Lucky Louie," a vehicle for comedian Louis C.K., came off as sort of a modern-day, R-rated version of "The Honeymooners."
C.K. played a muffler-shop worker living in a bleak Kramden-like apartment, with his wife, a tough, foul-mouthed nurse, and their young daughter. Instead of having an Ed Norton, Louie's best pal was played by comedian Jim Norton, whose character was a degenerate pot dealer.
"Lucky Louie" was uneven, but struck the occasional moment of emotional truth in the serio-comic portrayal of a frustrated, trapped loser approaching 40 – like when he impulsively quit his job out of a misplaced sense of pride after his wife intervened to get him a raise.
U.S. & World
The dozen episodes, including one where Louie deserted his sick daughter to go to a ball game and another where his wife decided she hated him, generally ended on notes of dark humor and resigned futility, instead declarations of "Baby, you're the greatest!"
Now C.K. is back, in a new show, called "Louie," that premieres Tuesday at 11 p.m. on FX. The show marks a prime opportunity for C.K. to expose his often hilarious – and bitter – brand of humor to a wider audience.
The venue is a good one for the comic, who has written for David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Chris Rock. He may not have the near-total freedom of HBO (thankfully, we won't have to see him naked anymore). But C.K. hopefully will get ample creative space on the cable channel that spawned the bawdy and irreverent "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
The new program mixes filmed comic vignettes about his life as a divorced dad of two with bits of standup, the latter gimmick ala early "Seinfeld." Like Jerry Seinfeld, C.K.'s standup is observational. But unlike Seinfeld, C.K. primarily sees a bleak world in which he's a not-so-lovable loser.
He is bluntly honest and self-confessional, and shows no interest in being likeable (on "The Tonight Show" last week, he talked about volunteering in his 7-year-old daughter's class – and referred to her classmates by an unprintable epithet. "I don't love, you're not my kids," he reasoned).
C.K., much like Seinfeld's old partner, Larry David, deals in the comedy of the uncomfortable.
Ricky Gervais in "The Office" and Sarah Silverman, in her late, lamented Comedy Central show, explored similar territory, but both in the guise of clueless characters very much mired in their own fantasy worlds.
Louie is a realist, without a pretense of a sunny disposition – and without much optimism that things are going to turn out well.
But we'll hope for him that he has better luck finding the TV audience he deserves this time around.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NY City News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the , where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.New York Daily News


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The fundraiser was hugely successful, said Maruta Gardner, past women's club president and fundraising co-chairwoman, along with Phylicia Cicalo-Aiken.
"We had a silent auction and games with 284 donated items largely from businesses and people in the community," said Gardner. "It was amazing. The support we got from the community, with about 350 people attending at the Mission Bay Yacht Club, which is a great venue donated to our club as their contribution."
Donated items for the fundraiser included tickets to the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Zoo.
Firefighters now join a select group of recipients of MBWC's largesse over the years, which has included the San Diego Junior Lifeguards program, the music program at Mission Bay High School, the Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP), lighting along the Mission Beach boardwalk and a canine for the San Diego Police Department.
Gardner said Fire Station 21 was selected as this year's fundraising benefactor because "the city just isn't able to provide them with all the things they need. This is our fire station and it covers all of PB, south La Jolla and all of Mission Beach."
Pacific Beach firefighters, who sometimes work 24-hour shifts, will put such donated funds to good use.
"The money will go for new Tempur-Pedic mattresses and new refrigerators, as well as helmet lights, fencing for their parking lot and a rowing machine to complete their work station at the command center," said Gardner. "Those things make their fire station more comfortable and their work environment better for them."
MBWC presently has about 120 members. Members nominate organizations each year that the group feels are deserving to be recipients of the club's annual fundraiser profits. Gardner said the recipient group is selected in December by a club committee.
Established in 1926, the MBWC is the oldest philanthropic social organization in Mission Beach, said Gardner. The club "gives away anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 every year to different charitable organizations in the community."
The club is continuing to accept tax-deductible donations for PB firefighters. Those wishing to contribute can do so at: Mission Beach Women's Club, 840 Santa Clara Place, San Diego, 92109.
For more information about the club, visit www.mbwc.org.


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Does E-Reading Cause Eyestrain?
Real Simpleanswers your questions.
Q. Is reading on an e-reader bad for my eyes?
Megan Hupp
Washington, D.C.
A. Not in moderation. So says Harvey Moscot, a New York City–based optometrist. That said, if you spend a long period (more than two hours) staring at a screen—on an e-book, a smart phone, or a laptop—you could suffer from what is sometimes called computer vision syndrome (CVS), a repetitive-stress condition characterized by some uncomfortable side effects, including headaches, blurred vision, and eyestrain.
To prevent CVS, some e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle, use "electronic ink," which has sharply defined type and is easy on the eyes. Reading on electronic-ink devices compares most closely to doing so on paper (which is what our eyes tolerate best). Other e-book models, like Apple's iPad and Barnes & Noble's Nook-Color, have a backlit LCD screen, similar to a computer monitor. Even though these devices generate their own light, you may want to keep a lamp on close by (no reading under the covers!). A stark contrast between the screen and your surroundings is hard on the eyes.
Also take brief breaks to avoid eye-strain, says Moscot, who recommends the 20-20-20 rule: After 20 minutes of reading, focus on an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.


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LONGMONT — For the third consecutive year, 81 percent of the St. Vrain Valley School District third-graders who took the English Transitional Colorado Assessment Program exam scored in the proficient or advanced ranges.
Burlington Elementary's scores bounced back to 84 percent proficient or advanced, a 10 percent increase from 2012, and closer to 2011's 89 percent.
Principal Janis Hughes said last year's score was an anomaly because the class had an unusually high number of special-education students, 25 percent of the students rather than the usual 10 percent.
She credited the school's third-grade teachers, as well as the specialists in literacy, special education and English-language learning, for this year's scores.
SVVSD third-grade TCAP at a glance
St. Vrain Valley School District: 9.8 percent advanced; 71.6 percent proficient; 12.9 percent partially proficient; 5.9 percent unsatisfactory
Colorado: 6.9 percent advanced; 66.4 percent proficient; 16.7 percent partially proficient; 9.6 percent unsatisfactory
Schools with 90 percent or more proficient or advanced: St. Vrain Community Montessori, Flagstaff Academy, both 96 percent; Blue Mountain, 94; Niwot, 93; Aspen Ridge Preparatory School, 92; Black Rock, Red Hawk, 91
Schools with biggest increases in proficient or advanced scores: Spangler, 59 percentage points; St. Vrain Community Montessori, 22; Hygiene, 15; Sanborn, 12; Frederick, 11; Burlington, Carbon Valley Academy, both 10
Schools with biggest decreases in proficient or advanced scores: Central, 20 percentage points; Legacy, 18 percentage points; Rocky Mountain, 13 percentage points; Prairie Ridge, 10 percentage points
Schools with no unsatisfactory scores: Aspen Ridge Preparatory School, Lyons, St. Vrain Community Montessori
St. Vrain Valley School District: 22 percent advanced; 56 percent proficient; 16 percent partially proficient; 5 percent unsatisfactory
Colorado: 13 percent advanced; 51 percent proficient; 20 percent partially proficient; 15 percent unsatisfactory
See statewide results at the Colorado Department of Education website.
"We try to make sure nobody falls through the cracks," Hughes said.
The staff is focusing on teaching students to use what they read to answer questions about the text, she said. For example, when asked how a story's character felt, the student needs to say the character felt a certain emotion and cite examples from the reading to support that answer.
The reading TCAP asks students both multiple-choice and questions that require them to write out answers.
In class, teachers and students discuss their readings and such evidence, Hughes said.
"They've been practicing that a lot orally," she said.
At least every six days, teachers meet and review assessment data to determine where students need more work, she said.
Renee Collier, who is in her first year as principal at Hygiene Elementary, was excited that her school's proficient and advanced scores increased 15 percentage points.
"It's huge growth," Collier said, adding that it shows the teachers' hard work.
"You've got to have outstanding teachers first," Collier said.
As at Burlington, teachers are meeting regularly to review assessment data and determine what students need to work on.
"It was really important to me to provide … intervention for those students not reading on grade level," Collier said. Those interventions include working in small groups to focus on specific issues such as fluency or vocabulary.
While scores held steady, the district's percentage of low-income students, as measured by free and reduced lunch eligibility, rose 1 percentage point over last year to 33.4 percent, including charter and alternative schools.
At Burlington, the percentage of free- and reduced-lunch students rose nearly 6.6 percentage points since last year.
Hughes said her teachers are focusing on what they can control, not on external factors.
"They never give up on the kids," Hughes said. "There's an understanding that we know we can do this."
Scores at Spangler and Frederick elementary schools also rose dramatically — 59 percentage points and 11 percentage points, respectively.
Assistant superintendent Amy Weed said the district has provided high levels of support at the two schools, such as visiting at least once a month to look at and discuss data, and provide feedback on improvements.
At the end of this year, Spangler Elementary will close and most of its students will attend the new Timberline K-8 School, which will include Heritage Middle School and Loma Linda Elementary. Those two schools are being remodeled to accommodate the change.
Similarly, Frederick Elementary will close and move next door to the former Frederick High School to become Thunder Valley K-8 School.
"Their kids are prepared for the transition," said Regina Renaldi, assistant superintendent for priority schools.
St. Vrain one of best large districts
Of the 10 school districts with more than 2,000 third-graders tested in English, St. Vrain had the third-highest percentage of third-graders in the proficient and advanced ranges — the same percentage as Douglas County.
Boulder Valley, with 84.3 percent of its students scoring proficient or advanced, and Poudre, with 83.9 percent, were ranked first and second, respectively.
Cherry Creek (79.6 percent), Jefferson County (79.6) and Adams 12 (66.7) school districts all had lower percentages of students with proficient or advanced scores than St. Vrain.
Among those districts, though, St. Vrain has one of the higher percentages of low-income students, according to the Colorado Department of Education, which calculates the percentage differently than the school district does.
Using CDE figures, St. Vrain's percentage of free- and reduced-lunch students was 33.23 percent in the fall of 2012. Boulder Valley's was 18.44 percent; Poudre's was 29.36 percent; and Douglas County's was 11.61 percent.
Cherry Creek School District's enrollment includes 25.59 percent low-income students, while Jefferson County has 34.4 percent and Adams 12 had 37.17 percent.
Because of that high percentage of free- and reduced-lunch students, St. Vrain's schools have to provide additional supports, such as opening their labs and libraries early, Renaldi said.
The test results show that the district's ongoing programs such as extended summer school are effective, district officials said.
Spangler Elementary is in its third year of having seven weeks of summer school, focusing on literacy, Renaldi said.
"They've had two good years of summer intervention, which has helped them a ton," Renaldi said.
Assistant superintendent Connie Syfred pointed out that this is the fourth year that all St. Vrain schools have offered preschool and full-day kindergarten.
"We're starting to see the payoff with that," Syfred said. The programs increase the time that students are in school and help narrow the achievement gap between low-income and middle-income students, she said.
MyOnReader, a computer-based reading program, is another way the district supports reading instruction, district officials pointed out.
Since October, St. Vrain students have read 320,000 books through MyOnReader, not including books checked out from libraries, Renaldi said.
Weed added that there is not one singular reason for the district's results.
"It's all the things that we're talking about," Weed said.
Victoria Camron can be reached at 303-684-5226 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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NIA Grants Technical Assistance Workshop application deadline extended to August 10July 31, 2012
The deadline for applications has been extended until August 10th for Taking the Next Step: Grants Technical Assistance Workshop. The workshop is an interactive forum for pre- and post-doctoral students and recent recipients of Ph.D., M.D., or related doctoral degrees with the National Institute on Aging, the world's largest funding source for research on aging and geriatrics. During this intensive 1.5 day workshop attendees will gain an understanding of the NIH grants process from application to award, and NIA staff will discuss research priorities and opportunities in the basic biology of aging, neuroscience, behavioral and social research and clinical geriatrics and gerontology. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet in small groups with NIA staff representative of their field of interest. A session focused on research and funding opportunities in health disparities and aging will highlight this GSA pre-conference workshop.
See more information and application.
Page last updated: July 31, 2012


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Holly Madison truly had the wedding of her dreams on Tuesday night.
E! News has confirmed that the former "Girl Next Door" married longtime beau Pasquale Rotella at Disneyland and proceeded to celebrate in true fairy-tale fashion.
A source told E! that Cinderella's glass carriage was commissioned to drive the couple down Main Street and a footman (presumably one who wasn't going to turn back into a dog at midnight) was on hand to help the bride get in and out of the gleaming coach.
U.S. & World
The park shut down early for the very special occasion and the ceremony got underway at the Blue Bayou restaurant in New Orleans Square, shortly after 9 p.m.
PHOTOS: Stars enjoying Disneyland and Disney World
The source said that about 150 guests were ferried by train to the nuptials site and in addition to friends, family and the couple's baby daughter, Rainbow Aurora (whose middle name is from "Sleeping Beauty," remember?), some very special characters made the guest list as well.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald and Daisy Duck were to be involved at the cake-cutting, which was scheduled for 1:15 a.m. by the fountain in New Orleans Square, and chipmunk Clarice (Holly's "fave obscure character") would be making an appearance at the Disney Dream Suite, where the bride was primping with a little help from cast members dressed in 1930s-era costumes, with the main colors being blue, yellow and red.
Once they had said their I-do, the newlyweds planned to ride Pirates of the Caribbean with the wedding party and watch Disneyland's long-running fire-and-waterworks show Fantasmic! before the cutting of the cake.
Longtime pal of the bride Bridget Marquardt seemed to be in the area for the festivities as well, tweeting a pic of a Mickey-shaped pretzel earlier today.
Madison and Pasquale went to secure their marriage license on Monday morning, after which Holly showed off the official piece of paper on her blog, noting that it was the "last wedding prep item taken off the checklist."
The bride had previously teased pics of place settings, gowns and more wedding-related items online, but she ultimately left the real dress reveal for the big day itself.
We can only hope that her fairy godmother managed to make the gown pink...and then blue...and then pink again...no, blue!...as she and the groom made their way around the Magic Kingdom.
Madison and Pasquale welcomed daughter Rainbow in March and announced their engagement in June. This is the first marriage for both. Us Weekly was first to report that they had made it official.
PHOTOS: Check out some celebrity brides who didn't wear white wedding gowns


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It's been quiet. Too quiet.
Interest in Parrot has waned over the past 18 months. The most recent flurry of activity happened when Allison Randal brought up the fact that The Parrot Foundation was in shambles and suggested shutting it down. This naturally brought up the state of Parrot itself and what the future holds for it, if anything. The situation is perhaps less than ideal. The short answer is that Parrot's immediate prospects are iffy at best, but there is at least one niche where Parrot still has a chance to shine.
The surface problem with Parrot is that there's a lack of people who can find the tuits to hack on it these days. Different people have their own analyses as to why this is happening. My best answer is that Parrot doesn't have a compelling value proposition. Hosting every dynamic language was pretty revolutionary around the time Parrot was started more than a decade ago. Today that's no longer the case and the bigger language runtimes like the JVM, CLR and JavaScript (not a VM but a very poplar compilation target) can run circles around Parrot on most of the axes that matter.
Those of us who care about Parrot need to find a way to make it matter and to do so quickly.
Rakudo is the current most complete and active language implementation that runs on Parrot, and even *it* is moving toward running on many backends. Parrot's best bet is to focus exclusively on supporting Rakudo and give it a reason to stick around. If supporting all dynamic languages was ever a good idea for Parrot, that's no longer the case. The reality of Parrot's effective niche has become much harder to ignore. The best move is to adapt accordingly.
Parrot has been inactive (among many reasons) because its developers can see that the goal of hosting all dynamic languages isn't realistically attainable given Parrot's current resources. With a new and more tightly defined plan, Parrot has a fighting chance to find a useful niche.
Parrot's new niche and reason for existence needs to be to support Rakudo and nqp until those languages either fail, succeed, or have no further use for Parrot.
This will be a liberating shift for Parrot. The official policy is now "make nqp and Rakudo better". Within that constraint, any change is welcome. In a bit more detail, the two goals by which any potential change should be judged are:
1) Does it provide a benefit to Rakudo, especially a *measurable* *non-theoretical* benefit?
If a change makes Rakudo happy, sold! This includes requested features, optimizations, bug fixes and the like. This is *the* primary concern and the best way to provide value to nqp and Rakudo.
2) Does it make Parrot's code simpler without increasing complexity elsewhere?
Simplifying Parrot is valuable, but only in a much more indirect way. This goal is a distant second in importance to performance improvements. That said, simplifying Parrot is still helpful. Some of Parrot's problems come from the decade of accumulated cruft. A simpler Parrot is more approachable and easier to profile, maintain and debug. Simplicity should be pursued as long as that simplicity doesn't mean shuffling complexity elsewhere and *especially* if the simplification comes with a performance bump.
That's all there is to it. With simple and immediate rules rather than a slow and deliberate deprecation policy, half-done features that were kept around for years "just in case" can safely be removed.
Another implication of all this is that our deprecation and support policy are going away. They were well-intentioned but appropriate for a project in a much more mature and stable state. Our new support policy is "we'll try to fix bugs and keep nqp running". We'll continue to make monthly releases but they will not be labelled as "supported" or "developer" as in the past.
Observers of Parrot will note by now that this isn't the first time that Parrot has tried something radical. This isn't even the first time that *I've* tried something radical. What's different this time is that we're no longer trying to be all things to all languages; we're trying to be one thing to one language that's already our customer. This will still involve a ton of work, but the scope reduction shrinks the task from Herculean to merely daunting.
So here's where you, the reader come in. Whether you've hacked on Parrot in the past or came for the lulz and accidentally got interested, you can help. The big goals are to make Parrot (and by extension nqp and Rakudo) smaller and faster. Below are a few specific ways you can help. Whatever you do though, don't make any changes that will be detrimental to nqp and Rakudo, and coordinate any backwards-incompatible changes before they get merged into Parrot master.
Grab a clone of Parrot and nqp. Build and install them. Play with the sixparrot branch, where some initial work is already in progress. Already there? Great! The next steps are a little harder.
Remove code paths that nqp doesn't exercise. This can be single if statements or it can be whole sections of the source tree. Tests are the same as code; if the nqp and Rakudo's tests don't exercise them, out they go. Tests exist to increase inertia, but are only useful to the degree that they test useful features. When in doubt, either ask in #parrot or just rip it out and see what happens.
Relatedly, profile and optimize for nqp. If you like C, break out valgrind, build out a useful benchmark and see how fast you can make it run. If you find some code that doesn't seem to be doing anything, you've just found an optimization!
Learn nqp and Perl 6. There's been a lack of tribal knowledge about nqp's inner workings ever since Parrot started distancing itself from Rakudo. We need to reverse that tendency so that nqp is regarded as an extension of Parrot.
Overall, the next few months will be interesting. I don't know if they'll result in success for Parrot, but I'm willing to give it one more shot.