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DiS presents the debut album by David's Lyre, streaming here in full ahead of its name-your-price release on February 20th via Bandcamp.
The words captivating, baroque and 'eccentric' seem to be over-used when describing the work of the ladies and gents of the indie-sphere. Sure, you can sling these words on the page of a Sunday supplement and bash things out onto the web about how sensational something is (in your humble opinion) but there's only so many times you can dog a man with superlatives before he has to stand up on a stage and deliver on those promises. I saw Paul Dixon, aka David's Lyre live last year and he was charming to watch but he was not a mad man or a cabaret pop turn, nor was he some sort of street urchin pulled kicking and screaming into the future. He isn't a poster boy for the post-Patrick Wolf generation either, and he certainly isn't the antidote to the LDR pandemic. What he is however, is a skilled songsmith with a great deal of talent. He's a lyricist with a candor not heard in 'indie' since Eugene McGuinness or that soundtrack record Alex Turner concocted for Submarine. He's a creator of worlds, and if that imagineering makes him some sort of bonkers-baroque-pop eccentric then so be it...
So without further ado, make room between your Fionn Regan and Ed Harcourt records, and welcome David's Lyre into your world....
...and no sooner has he arrived, he's gone. This is the final David's Lyre album but it may not be the last we hear of the man behind it. Paul explains:
"David's Lyre began a little over 2 years ago. I signed a record deal with a Major label 6 months after starting the project, and this relationship ended just before Christmas 2011. When we first signed we had hoped that the album would be out Summer 2011 but for various reasons, as you know, this didn't happen.
The hardest part of this process has been creating music I felt excited about, and proud of, but not being able to share it with you. I remain hugely grateful for the opportunities and patronage given to me, but it is evident that the natural tension in the relationship between art and business within the music industry, is currently at its most strained. I join an ever-expanding group of artists who are opting out of this model in order to bring you, the fans, our best.
I leave you with 'Picture Of Our Youth' and hope that you choose to journey with me into my new projects and beyond."
For now, Paul will be joining Spector on their UK tour as planned and will play a stripped-down solo performance without his band.
14th Newcastle Cluny
15th Glasgow King Tut's
16th Leeds Cockpit
17th York Duchess
18th Manchester Deaf Institute
21st Oxford Jericho Tavern
22nd Liverpool Masque Theatre
23rd Birmingham Rainbow
24th Bristol Louisiana
25th Brighton Green Door Store
1st London 100 Club
To pick up your copy of the record on Feb 20th and to follow his future adventures visit davidslyre.co.uk.


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Why do our faces go red and hot when we feel embarrassed, ashamed or guilty? No other species is known to do this, and yet most humans can recall experiencing something that made them blush at one time or another.
In this quick and illuminating video, ASAPScience's Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown deliver a crash course on the mysterious science of blushing — a physiological and evolutionary riddle that Charles Darwin once called "the most peculiar and most human of all expressions."

subset: commoncrawl


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Micky Flanagan – Back in the Game
Time Out says
'In 2011, my career took off, and I became famous,' says Micky Flanagan, not beating around the bush at the start of his new solo show. But it's not the paparazzi, or signing autographs, or having to keep his trademark locks so bouncy, that frustrates the 50-year-old comic about his newfound fame. It's that he's 'not allowed to steal anymore'.
Yep, despite being a member of the stand-up elite (with a swelling bank balance to prove it), Flanagan's held on to his working-class roots – he's still a rebellious teenager at heart, and still prone to a spot of low-level skullduggery.
'Back in the Game' focuses mainly on Flanagan's marital grumbles, turning 50 and nostalgia-tinged anecdotes about a no-nonsense '70s upbringing. Not exactly new comedic territory, you might think, and you'd be right – in fact, the material does slip into clichéd ground on occasion, especially when on the subject of his domestic life.
But Flanagan's sneaky delivery and extended Cockney vowels help extract every possible laugh from each routine, and there are some 'tasty' stories in this hour-and-a-half. His tales of small but important victories resonate the most – we're all rooting for him when he cunningly attempts to catch up with the 37 bus at Clapham Junction.
Those expecting the 'hits' from the 'Out Out' tour, the show which rocketed Flanagan to his superstar status, will be disappointed – there's not even a nod to them here. But by the time 'Back in the Game' wraps up in a neat callback to the show's title, the audience has forgotten those old routines ever existed. Bosh, job done.
|Event website:


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Blake Shelton and Kansas are the headline acts for this year's Fulton County Fair.
Slated Sept. 3-9, the 153rd edition of the Fair is expected to draw more than 250,000 people to the "Top of Ohio" Fairgrounds, just north of Wauseon on State Route 108.
On Labor Day Monday, county music star Blake Shelton will entertain the grandstand crowd with such favorites as "Home," "Hillbilly Bone," "Some Beach," "She Wouldn't Be Gone," and "Playboys of the Southwestern World."
The Oklahoma native, whose first three albums went gold, has enjoyed six Number One hits and been nominated for four ACM and two CMT awards.
Kansas, which bills itself as "America's greatest and most progressive rock band," takes the grandstand stage Sept. 5.
Best known for its hits "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind," Kansas released its first album in 1974. Thirty-five years later, in 2009, the group had the Number 5 DVD on the Billboard Chart for "There's No Place Like Home."
Back by popular demand, the Van-Dells will perform in a free South-Stage concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
New activities at this year's Fulton County Fair include a family-friendly Firefighter Training Show that selects kids from the audience to act as "firefighter heroes," while learning important real-life information about fire safety. And, for the first time, the Fair will feature a kids' fishing pond where young anglers can try their luck.
No Fulton County Fair would be complete without favorites such as the Demolition Derby, Rough Truck Challenge, Clashing Combines, animal judging, plus the Miller Tire Tri-State Tractor Pull which won the 2009 #1 NTPA Regional National Tractor Pull Award.
Also on the schedule are plenty of agricultural displays, including a major exhibition titled "Tillage Through Time."
Reserved tickets go on sale July 6 and can be ordered at www.fultoncountyfair.com or by calling 419/335-7469.
Anyone who camped inside the Fairgrounds' fence during the 2009 Fair who wants camping space this year must send a $175 camping fee (check or money order) to Fulton County Fair Board by June 1 to Fair Secretary, Fulton County Fair, 18655 County Road RS, Fayette, OH 43521, or they will forfeit their reservation.
Others who want to camp in 2010 can get on a waiting list by calling 419/335-6006 on or after April 1. Spaces that come available will be filled after June 1.


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If your course has been funded by Training Services NSW under Smart and Skilled, you may be contacted by a Training Services NSW representative to discuss your experience at OTEN.
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This qualification reflects the role of frontline retail team members who use a defined and limited range of operational skills to undertake workplace activities. They are involved in mainly routine and repetitive tasks and work under direct supervision of others. This qualification provides a pathway to work in a diverse range of retail settings including specialty retailers, supermarkets, department stores and quick service restaurants. Individuals with this qualification are able to perform roles such as frontline team member, customer service assistant and point-of-sale operator. No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this qualification at the time of publication.
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Demi Lovato Dishes Advice on Confidence, Impulsive Tweeting + Dealing With Bad Daysby Mandi Salerno | PopCrush
Demi Lovato has had her ups and downs, just like the rest of us, and now she's sharing her advice on how to be confident, stay strong and always remain true to yourself.
Wearing bright red lipstick and rocking purple and blue hair, the 21-year-old singer covers Seventeen Magazine looking like the cool older sister everybody should have. She's stepping in as guest editor at the mag so she can speak directly to girls about her personal struggles and how she consistently has the courage to face them. Check out what Demi shared:
On being confident: "I used to think that confidence came from what other people thought about me, and boys and everything else. But now I realize that confidence comes from what I feel about myself, and reassuring myself that I can do whatever I want and be whoever I want. Just knowing and setting up my future for a great life."
On overcoming obstacles: "If things go wrong the first week of school it's not the end of the world. I know it may seem like that, but it's really not. There are going to be times where you will have bad days, bad weeks and even sometimes bad months — but rainbows always come after the darkest storm."
On knowing things won't always be easy: "Since I went to treatment, there have been days when it's felt really easy, and I've felt great about where I am. But then I have moments when it's not. That's life. You can't just take your mind and your body into the shop and get it fixed. It doesn't come out repaired. It's not like a car. It takes time — pace yourself. Every day is a new opportunity to change your life and be who you want to be."
On giving back: "When I give back, I don't question my self-worth. I know that if my career were to fall apart tomorrow — even if I were to never have money or fame again — I'd still have value in my soul, because I know that I can have an effect on someone else's life."
On standing up for yourself: "I'm impulsive when it comes to fighting back, but I've learned to reel it in. Tweeting without thinking does more harm than good. So take a second. Journal what you want to say, and then if you still feel the same later, that's when you can tweet it."
Lovatics and PopCrushers, what do you think of Demi's advice?
See Demi Lovato + More Pop Stars Without Makeup


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Hey. I'm Tim VanMiddelkoop, I like long walks on the beach, sappy movies and making people laugh. Two of those are true but I'll let you decide which two.
Sometimes we don't realize our greatest gifts because they come so naturally to us that we think everyone must have that gift. This has been true for me. Fall Into Timtation is about life and how we learn from the situations we find ourselves in usually with hilarious results. I call it " ". I've been told more than once that I can't be serious and I try to disprove that myth in my posts, although my attempts have been mostly unsuccessful.
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Displaying items by tag: disability
Just a little placeholder to let the world know that we are alive and kicking despite neglecting update of this website!
Working hard on a wide variety of efforts, including:
- Organizational study for Arlington County
- Work in support of the Housing and Supportive Services Consortium (HSS)
- Developed and delivered capture and proposal training for a national nonprofit agency
- Developed and delivered a website for Delta Consulting Group, will add it to my portfolio shortly
- Serving on the board of the Washington Metropolitan Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (WMCCAI)
- Continuing to serve as secretary of the Northern Virginia Joomla! Users Group, President of Talltree South and MapleTree Pool Associations
- Will have an article in Quorum Magazine and shortly, a video
- Supporting other web and proposal-related clients
- And much more. Helping others debug code and write stories!
The Virginia Housing and Supportive Services Consortium (HSS) is an inter-agency collaboration supporting planning for integrated community-based housing opportunities and supportive services for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD). The HSS Consortium includes:
- Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS)
- Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
- Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), and
- Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA).
On January 7, 2015, the HSS Consortium convened a meeting with regional and state-wide stakeholders to initiate collaborative planning, incuding the regions of Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and the Richmond metropolitan area. Additional regional meetings are planned, leading up to a Summit anticipated in May 2015 to achieve and sustain rapid results and increased options for housing and services choice for people with ID/DD.
Ursa Major Consulting is pleased to be supporting the HSS Consortium. We worked witth Catoctin Consulting, Rapid Results Institute, and TAC, Inc. in this effort, and are now continuing with the development of the Housing Resource Guide (2017).
We are pleased to announce that we are assisting Virginia Industries for the Blind (VIB) with their strategic planning effort.
VIB is is a division of the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI), and provides employment opportuniities for Virginians who are blind or visually impaired in two manufacturing plants, eleven base supply stores, and six service locations. They have diverse contracts with federal agencies through the AbilityOne Program (e.g., contract management and closeout services for the U. S. Army), contracts through State Agency agreements such as the Virginia Court Debt Collection Office, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Virginia Employment Commission, and manufacture items as diverse as mattresses for the U. S. Navy and state colleges and universities and reflective vests for the Virginia Department of Trnsportation.
Given the improvements in assistive technology and more ambitious expectations of young people who are blind and people who lose their sight after gaining work experience, VIB is exploring ways to attract workers who are looking for more than traditional product manufacturing. In fact, some of VIB's experienced contract closeout employees have already been hired by the government, which is quite a successful outcome for those people.
We look forward to helping VIB plan the modernization of its business to meet the evolving needs of people who are blind or vision impaired.
We are pleased to announce that we are assisting Goodwill Industries of South Florida in implementation of new case management software. Goodwill is dedicated to providing rehabilitation, on-the-job training, work experience, and placement services to help people with disabilities and special needs overcome barriers to employment and become employed in the community. Goodwill of South Florida is one of the largest Goodwills in the country and serves a diverse population.
The anticipated benefits from this change include:
- Streamlined processes
- Reduced redundant work
- Better data and improved ability to access data on clients, programs, and services provided, both for daily operations and for strategic decisions
- Better insights into outcomes achieved, and
- Improved and easier reporting.
With Catoctin Consulting, we will assist Goodwill with the change process, from requirement validation and planning onward. We look forward to working closely with them to make this effort a success!
A major passion of ours is advocacy for employment and other opportunities for people with disabilities. For example:
- Disability employment research. We have experience conducing research related to the employment of people with severe disabilities. We have analyzed Social Security, census, and other employment data on incentives and barriers to work and have written policy papers for the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel.
- Policy and program improvements. We understand disability employment programs and the barriers faced by people with disabilities who want to work, yet are afraid of losing their benefits, supports, and healthcare. We have planned and facilitated meetings focused on legislative advocacy.
- Enabling Voices for Change. We planned and facilitated the first ever Beneficiary Summit for Social Security disability beneficiaries from every state and territory of the U.S. We facilitated a series of in-person and teleconference planning meetings with a committee of Federal staff and beneficiaries, designing and developing background white papers and read-ahead materials, designing agendas, coordinating conference calls to prepare participants. In this three day summit, we facilitated six concurrent session tracks and out-briefs to the full group. We developed a report of summit results that was presented to the President, Congress, and the Commissioner of SSA. The final report, "Voices for Change: Beneficiaries Paving the Way to Work, A Roadmap to Program Improvement", is available here: Beneficiary Summit Report with Photos.
- Nonprofit funding mechanisms. We are familiar with the challenges faced by nonprofit organizations in identifying, capturing, and applying funding streams to support their programs and implement practices that result in a quality work environment. We researched and compiled sources of funding including Federal, state / local, and private / foundation funding that could potentially be available to fund employment supports and services for people with disabilities.
- Quality Work Environment (QWE). We supported development of a clearinghouse of good practices for a quality work environment for people with disabilities, and supported development of the QWE Implementation Plan and the QWE Guidebook for the AbilityOne Program.
- Information systems. We have worked with nonprofit organizations across the country to develop requirements for and support development of the Employee Research System (ERS), to provide employee-level data on outcomes for employment of people with disabilities, and are now supporting system deployment.
- Collaborative websites. We developed the website for the Institute for Economic Empowerment, a research institute focused on employment of people with disabilities, and the website for the Alliance for Full Participation, a partnership of leading developmental disabilities organizations.
Contact us to learn more.
On February 6 and 7, 2007, Voices for Change: Beneficiaries Paving the Way to Work, a summit planned by and for Social Security disability beneficiaries, was conducted in Atlanta, Georgia by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel (Panel).We worked hard on making this Summit happen, and the resulting report, Voices for Change: Beneficiaries Paving the Way to Work captured the views of the participants who hailed from every state and territory of the United States.
Unfortunately, that report and the other reports of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel are no longer available on the Social Security Administration's website. Does that mean the recommendations have been addressed? Do beneficiaries have greater input into these programs? Not that I know of.
Read the report again!


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Royal weddings tend to feature some head-scratching guest lists.
The 1999 wedding of Elizabeth II's youngest son, Edward, to Sophie Rhys-Jones saw British comedians John Cleese and Billy Connolly rubbing shoulders with American celebs like John Travolta and Harry Connick, Jr.
Prince William and Kate Middleton's impending nuptials also features a just-as-intriguing "Not" list.
U.S. & World
But first, the people who will be watching a "commoner" become a princess in Westminster Abbey on April 29th are a varied group indeed: Headlining the celebrity guests are the now L.A.-based British power couple David and Victoria Beckham, who became close with the royal couple during England's failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup. David, you see, is president of the English Football Association and worked very closely with Prince William during the campaign. It's also rumored that fashion designer Victoria is sending a collection of dresses to Kate as a gift.
Joining them is "Sherlock Holmes" director Guy Ritchie - getting invited, apparently, is one of the perks of being the bride-to-be's sixth cousin. A recent study of the Middleton bloodline linked Kate with Guy, and also with American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres (she and Kate are 14th cousins). However, DeGeneres has not been invited to the wedding.
With the exception of the Beckhams, the most intense guest list attention was focused on Elton John. The "is he?/isn't he?" drama played out for a few weeks - tabloids insisting he was going, John refuting them - until finally the "Candle in the Wind" singer admitted he was simply "trying to be discreet" and that, yes, he and partner David Furnish would be there.
The rest of the celebrity list is rounded out by some serious eyebrow-raisers: Comedian Rowan Atkinson (yes, Mr. Bean), rapper Kanye West, and former Bond girl and "Absolutely Fabulous" star Joanna Lumley. Prince Charles is known to be a big fan of Atkinson, which may explain his invitation, but Lumley's inclusion is especially odd seeing as she recently ripped into Kate's style and suggested the soon-to-be princess seek the help of "a fleet of stylists." And as for Kanye? His direct connection to the royal family is murky, but who doesn't half-hope he runs up the aisle in Westminster Abbey: "Archbishop, Imma let you finish, but Princess Diana had one of the best royal weddings of all time!"
One thing that is clear when scanning the guest list: Will and Kate are very comfortable around their exes. No less than six former boyfriends and girlfriends will be filing into Westminster Abbey on the 29th including two - the surname-laden lovelies Davina Duckworth-Chad and Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe - who at one time seemed to be groomed for potential princess-hood.
Others on the guest list include the Sultan of Brunei, the King of Jordan, and a man named Basil Charles. Who is Mr. Charles? He's the owner of a beachfront speakeasy called "Basil's Bar" on the island of Mustique, a favorite of Will and Kate's whenever they happen to be visiting the Caribbean island. The inclusion of such "Mustique friends" has led to rumors that the royal couple will be heading there for their honeymoon.
But as we suggested earlier, this year it's really all about the snubs. Maybe it's the Internet's endless, 24-hour appetite for gossip, but the public seems to be quite aware of who is not going to be there on the big day.
First and foremost is the perpetual trouble-magnet, the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson. The Royal auntie appears to have been deliberately singled out by Queen Elizabeth II, especially seeing as Fergie's daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, received invitations. Many believe the Queen sees Fergie as a distraction that is not needed on the grand occasion.
Tongues were also wagging about the royal family's failure to send an invitation to President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The official explanation was that, because William is not yet heir to the throne, his wedding is not classified as a "state occasion," which would require inviting heads of state. Still, it seems to most that this is snub-by-technicality, especially since Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and the King of Bahrain all received invitations (although Bahrain's King Hamad declined to attend given the current state of unrest in his country). But at least the Obamas are not alone - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and wife Carla Bruni are still checking their mailbox, too.
Also not in attendance, some of Britain's wealthiest celebrities including Sir Paul McCartney, J.K. Rowling, and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
Perhaps they can head down to Basil's Bar and have a cold one while watching the event on TV.
Selected Reading: The Daily Mail, Globe and Mail, Boston Herald


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Get an impression of the latest AMP 2016 in Stavanger:
Please visit our Flickr account to view the pictures taken during the AMP.
All presentations are now online and can be viewed through ICCA's Slideshare account. To view and download the presentations click here.
The Association Meetings Programme (AMP) is ICCA's new annual event, where ICCA members and international association executives will learn from each other and from a top faculty of experts about key aspects of bidding and decision-making, organising, promoting, and designing international association meetings. AMP replaces ICCA's long-standing Research, Sales and Marketing Programme (RSMP), which had only been open to ICCA member delegates. Just as with RSMP, this programme is designed for any ICCA members who work with international associations through research, bidding, sales, marketing, ambassador programmes, or who provide organisational or technical services for these meetings. Attendance at AMP is capped at a maximum of 150, to enable the delivery of highly personalised sessions and advice to every attendee.
Success in tomorrow's meetings industry will increasingly depend on an ability to partner and collaborate with clients and with other suppliers. To avoid becoming caught up in a commoditised marketplace where low cost and standardised services are the norm, ICCA members need to learn new skills and adopt new business concepts. Likewise, to reach the often ambitious objectives of their meetings and deliver ROI to their delegates, international association executives need to learn how to build more constructive relationships with destination marketers, venues, PCOs, and airlines. AMP aims to bridge this gap: to build mutual understanding of objectives and business cultures; to identify practical new ways to work together; to generate ideas for improving the effectiveness and value of the meetings themselves.
Provisional topics for the education programme are:
• Congress bidding and decision-making, seen from multiple perspectives.
• Delivering associations' meeting-related and beyond-meeting-related objectives
• Local ambassadors – understanding their potential value to both association HQs and local suppliers
• Risk management challenges (especially when booking meetings years in advance)
• Delegate boosting/event marketing tips and tricks
• Finding sponsors for association meetings, delivering sponsor value
• Using meeting design concepts to improve ROI at association meetings
• Does my website "suck"? Hard-talk honest feedback on ICCA members' sales and marketing.
• Partnerships, innovative business & financial models
• Communicating the value of meetings – association and destination perspectives
• Business cultures and other barriers to collaboration
• Transfer of trust (how to turn relationships built on one-off events into long-term value)
• Creating new events – opportunities for associations and destinations
• Disruptive changes (eg AirBnB) at international association meetings – impact on associations and suppliers
Latest news
|Speaker's Corner:
Spencer Waldron
Spencer Waldron is European Regional Manager for Prezi.com, the synamic presentation tool used by more than 60 million people around the globe.
Read more about him on the speaker page.
|Meet Our Faculty Leaders
Silke Schlinnertz from Euroheat & Power and Christian Mutschlechner from the Vienna Convention Bureau will be this years faculty leaders.
Read more about them here and watch the interview with Silke on why you should attend the AMP here.
Quick links: FAQs | Registration | Contact us | Programme | Hotels | Venue


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Promoting Your Website 0
How to gain users and keep them engaged
So, after starting your own business and diligently taking it online, you sat back with anticipation waiting for your site to welcome tons of visitors. Subsequently, it seems as though the waiting game hasn't dealt you the hand you'd hoped for – your numbers have yet to budge. How do I gain an audience and keep their attention? You wonder. Well, you've come to the right place! From driving users … Read more


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Times are tough right now, but do we need our leaders in Washington using words like "catastrophe," "absolute collapse" or "Armageddon" when they're talking about the economic crisis?
Times are tough right now, but do we need our leaders in Washington using words like "catastrophe," "absolute collapse" or "Armageddon" when they're talking about the economic crisis?
We don't think so.
In the days leading up to the approval of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, the president and his Democratic allies in Congress ramped up the rhetoric to convince reluctant lawmakers and the American people of the necessity of its passage.
Obama spoke of a possible "catastrophe" if the stimulus bill wasn't enacted, while Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., talked about "absolute collapse," and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., evoking visions of a biblical apocalypse, used the term "Armageddon."
The current economic downturn is a far cry from the Great Depression, which has been referenced repeatedly in the last few months. As Bradley R. Schiller pointed out recently in the Wall Street Journal, unemployment peaked at 25.2 percent in 1932, the worst year of the Depression. The latest unemployment rate is about 7.6 percent.
He says it would be more accurate to compare the current situation to the recession of 1981-82.
"In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs," Schiller wrote. "That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2 percent of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost – fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2 percent of the labor force, the same as now."
We got through that recession without an economic collapse.
Fear-mongering does little beyond creating fear. The last thing we need right now is for Americans to heed the advice of a recent "30 Seconds" caller, who urged that we stay at home and only buy the bare necessities. That is a sure-fire recipe for a "catastrophe."
The president is fond of drawing upon the memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led America through the Depression. FDR told the nation more than 70 years ago, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
That's what we need to be hearing from Barack Obama now, words of hope – not fear itself.
The Times-Reporter


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An evening of extraordinary a cappella singing
The Danbury Mad Hatter Chorus annual show features international champions
When The Traveling Men first formed as a Danbury-based barbershop quartet, scheduling time to rehearse was a bit complicated.
For one thing, the group's tenor commuted between Connecticut and a coffee plantation in Nicaragua. Its baritone was doing research in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Despite that situation, the group managed to perfect its art, and went on to distinguish itself in competition. The Traveling Men will be among several quartets performing Saturday in the Danbury Mad Hatter Chorus' 49th annual show.
Danbury resident Andrew Bayer, who sings bass for The Traveling Men, is chairman of the annual show. The Saturday event, "Almost Like Being in Love," will be presented in Ives Concert Hall at 181 White St. in Danbury.
The 7:30 p.m. performance will take listeners on an a cappella musical tour of love songs, from old-time ballads to Broadway standards to rock 'n' roll and doo-wop.
"You'll hear everything from Irving Berlin to The Turtles to Queen," Bayer said. " `Happy Together,' by The Turtles, is an upbeat number; it knocked The Beatles from the No. 1 spot on the charts in 1967."
The Queen song is "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," he said.
St. Louis-based Vocal Spectrum, the Barbershop Harmony Society's 2006 International Quartet Champion, will be the featured artist.
"They are just phenomenal; they are the best of the best," Bayer said.
Vocal Spectrum will perform solo and do an extended set with the Mad Hatter Chorus. The chorus will perform on its own, too. Quartets from within the chorus (such as The Traveling Men, Loco Fedora and Real Chemistry) will round out the show, along with guest quartet Surefire!
Surefire! made its public debut Dec. 22, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary Family Benefit Concert in West Hartford. All four members are music directors for choruses in the international Barbershop Harmony Society.
Last spring, Surefire! won the Yankee Division quartet championship; in October it earned a top 10 spot in the Northeastern District Competition of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
Bayer said the annual show is fun for all ages, and the finale will feature all of the performers in a rendition of "The Impossible Dream."
General admission is $20 and $18 for students and seniors 62 or older. You can buy tickets at the door or order them in advance. The show will last about two hours, including intermission.
The Mad Hatter Chorus has been entertaining audiences with its a cappella performances and barbershop harmonies since 1966. Bayer joined in 2008.
"I joined because of my love of music and the camaraderie of the group," he said. "We are from all different walks of life, from construction workers to educators, to doctors and lawyers. Our commonality is our music and our excitement for what I call `busting a chord.' "
In March, the Mad Hatter Chorus captured the title of Best Small Chorus in the Yankee Division of the Northeast District of the Barbershop Harmony Society for the fourth time in five years.
Bayer said barbershop quartet music is known for its harmonies.
"There's nothing better than a perfect harmony," he said. "That's the really exciting thing. The first time I went to a rehearsal the men got me up and had me singing tags -- the little refrains at the end of a song. It makes you feel like you're a phenomenal singer because the harmonies ring. It's great to be able to make that type of sound. I was hooked at that moment."
M.B. Tuccio is a freelance writer in Connecticut; email@example.com


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"Virtual Teams will become as important as Web to companies" (Nader Ale Ebrahim)
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
"Virtual R&D Team" definition
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Virtual R&D Teams definition
References1. ^ ALE EBRAHIM, N., ABDUL RASHID, S. H., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2011. The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: Experiences of Malaysian SMEs. Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, 10, 109-114.
Nader Ale Ebrahim
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Virtual R&D Teams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virtual R&D Teams
- ^ POWELL, A., PICCOLI, G. & IVES, B. 2004. Virtual teams: a review of current literature and directions for future research. The Data base for Advances in Information Systems, 35, 6–36
- ^ ALE EBRAHIM, N., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2009b. Virtual Teams for New Product Development – An Innovative Experience for R&D Engineers. European Journal of Educational Studies, 1, 109-123.
- ^ ALE EBRAHIM, N., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2009a. Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature review. Scientific Research and Essay, 4, 1575–1590.
- ^ ALE EBRAHIM, N., ABDUL RASHID, S. H., AHMED, S. & TAHA, Z. 2011. The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: Experiences of Malaysian SMEs. Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, 10, 109-114.
Virtual R&D Teams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
To demonstrate various aspects of working in a virtual team environment. Survey
I am a PhD candidate from the Department of Information Systems, and I invite you to participate in my research study.
Project: To measure the relationship between the various aspects of working in a virtual team environment (Ethics ID: 1136589)
There are two surveys involved. You can take one, or increase your chances of winning by taking both!
Each survey will only take you about 20-30 minutes to complete.
So help me out with some PhD research and be in the running to WIN!
Contact: Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ariff
Title: PhD Candidate (The University of Melbourne)
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
To demonstrate various aspects of working in a virtual team environment. Survey
The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: Experiences of Malaysian SMEs
10-2-03-Nader_IEMS.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Virtual Collaboration Network - News
News, Announcements, and Call for Papers
Please send us news and announcements (conferences, call for Papers, etc.) that might be interesting for the visitors of the virtual collaboration network.
|News and Announcements
|5 March 2010
|Update in Tools section: MotiSim ToolKit 2.0
|22 January 2009
|Special Issue of the Journal of Managerial Psychology - Excellence in Teams: How to Achieve Performance Gains in Working Groups
Call for Papers (pdf)
|20 January 2009
|Relaunch of the Virtual Collaboration Network website on a server provided by the University of Münster.
Design & code reengineering by ds-WebWorks
|28-30 August 2007
|ITA2006 - 12th International Workshop on Telework (Lillehammer, Norway)
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|29-31 July 2007
|IFIP Working Group 8.2 Working Conference on Virtuality and Virtualization (Portland, Oregon, USA)
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Saturday, 26 November 2011
The band in cyberspace - a description of management practices in multicultural virtual teams Infosys
- Details
- Zaneta Leduchowska, Bozena Wujec, Staff and Management No 7 / 256, July 2011, p. 26
About AUTORKACH:
Zaneta Leduchowska The author is a manager at Infosys BPO Ltd.. z oo in Łódź.The Business Transformation division provides consulting services for clients in the international market. It is the manager and coach of virtual project teams.
Bozena Wujec The author is executive coach and teacher at Kozminski University.Works in Europe and Asia as a consultant and intercultural teams coach. Inspired conducts consulting firm.
In view of globalization and the development of communication media away from working with people who are in sight, to work in cyberspace. In many organizations, virtual teams are formed, which very effectively cooperate with each other despite the geographical distance, time differences, cultural and organizational.
Infosys BPO is a subsidiary of Infosys Technologies Ltd. The company employs nearly 20 thousand. employees on four continents. Provides services including bookkeeping, customer service, sales and customer database management, services related to administration and personnel management, purchase order processing, and services for reporting and analysis. One of the departments of the company - Business Transformation is an example of advanced service units, in which the work is based on virtual teams. The aim of department is to help customers achieve better business indicators, lower costs and increase efficiency in their business processes. The main area of operation of the department is seen as a business transformation best fit the business strategy into three basic components: people, technology and processes. Daily activity TB department is based on the conduct of the projects implemented by virtual teams operating in a multicultural environment.
Virtual Teams
The concept of teamwork in business has emerged in the U.S. in the 60s, and his extensive development occurred in the 80sTwentieth century, with the popularization of philosophy of TQM. Self-managing teams had to cut bureaucracy, reduce time and improve the quality of services. Employees of the lowest ranks began to be entered into the decision-making processes and solve problems that previously were the domain of managers.
At the end of the last century, a considerable number of companies such as Goodyear, Motorola and GE began to introduce the principles of teamwork to their foreign affiliates in Asia, Europe and South America in order to integrate the principles of personnel management. Currently, this becomes the norm, because in connection with globalization and the development of communication media away from working with people who are in sight, to work in cyberspace, with people in different locations in the world. In this way virtual teams. Their task is to perform a specific task or project within the company, or sometimes even beyond. To coordinate the work of the team uses a variety of specially designed computer systems to enable virtual interaction at work, as well as e-mails, instant messaging, video-and teleconferencing.
Virtual teams in global companies tend to have a multicultural character, because their members often differ in terms of ethnic, racial, national or cultural. These differences result from the perception of the world from different perspectives, mainly differing work styles, approaches to the challenges faced, the assimilation of information and deadlines. Culture in its various forms, determines what we pay attention to and what we ignore. Going beyond your own perspective and seeing the world through the eyes of others is a valuable resource that fosters personal development, social and professional, which often becomes a predominantly multicultural virtual teams.
For Division of Business Transformation multicultural elements are extremely visible. The department includes managers, junior project managers, specialists and experts in virtual teams who play the roles of project managers or members. Department has extensive experience in the global market in the projects in the fields of finance: the achievements of seven years over 300 projects. Geographical scope of their projects include four continents: Europe, United States, Latin America and Asia, mainly India and China. Hence, the composition includes a virtual project team, as collaborators, and 2-3 people from a given location, according to customer needs.
Figure 1 Infosys BPO locations in the world
Virtual pros and cons
The challenges of cultural differences, geographical distance and time do not necessarily have a negative impact on the effectiveness of the team, may also be an advantage. The advantage of multi-cultural teams is their international composition that provides a much broader perspective of perception tasks, making it easier to deal with potential problems during its implementation.
Fast-paced virtual teams affect the short time of arrival of the product or service to the customer. This period is one of the key success factors in manufacturing, since implementation time (time-to-market) almost 1:1 translates into cost. Faster is also a reaction to a changing market environment and competition activities.
The most remarkable is the possibility of effective use of human resources. Flexible working hours means that you are working virtually around the clock regardless of geographical distance and availability of office space. Employees can be assigned to several tasks simultaneously, and the temporary form of the team can move people from one project to another. At the same time it also takes place in a virtual way, because physical movement is not necessary. This allows efficient use of the best talent and attract the best employees to the company regardless of location.
The main challenge for virtual teams are low social interactions and misunderstandings arising from cultural differences reveal themselves in the style of communication, how to work and the hierarchy of values. Besides, different time zones make it difficult arranging meetings, tele-or video-conferencing and cause nuisance trip. Besides low growth of non-verbal communication, a small amount of time to establish relationships and chat over coffee have a negative impact on team spirit, resulting in limited trust.
Share leadership
Managing a virtual team managers require new methods of leadership, skills and international międzyfunkcyjnych and to thrive with different personality types. The key here is experience manager, his coaching skills and a clearly defined strategy for managing the virtual team.
Team members must work largely independently, autonomously, performing multiple roles. Teamwork is an expert, and the members are not only the project manager, but also to direct the heads of others, which may hinder the setting of priorities and the objectives of the project. Hence the most appropriate for the group are flat hierarchical structures or lack of them. Members share their leadership at different times of the process. This new style of leadership, in which team members are leaders for each other, is called a share and leadership in virtual teams is a multi-cultural norm.
Virtual team has its own cycle of life, comparable to the natural, albeit with a bit more intensive and stronger dynamics of phase turbulence. Projects in virtual teams are usually very complex. During the proving more difficult than in the planning stage and require much more time. Often already during the project the client changes its expectations or there are unforeseen problems random. In these times of tighter group is exposed to stress and conflict. Therefore of great importance that mutual trust and encouraged feedback coaching team members. It helps teams to function effectively and efficiently overcome the challenges without much effect on the duration of the project and its costs.
Coaching in virtual teams
Limiting the use of negative and positive factor is the task of the team manager, who often acts also as a coach. Coaching is an intervention designed to extract the full potential of team members. Coach, as the captain of the vessel safely carried out by the project team, paying attention to cultural differences and meanders virtuality trap work. It has at the same time essentially to deal with three types of coaching intervention:
- Coaching and development, for the good functioning of the team and its members as the team awaits the further development of many new projects.
- Coaching intervention (repair) when the team encounters difficulties in the operation and collaboration.
- Coaching changes, the challenges for the team are the variables associated with its objectives and high growth group.
Full coaching intervention for virtual teams contains a lot of different activities. Essentially consists of the elements of traditional coaching, such as a contract with stakeholders, understanding and assessment phase, setting goals, etc., to which their cultural issues, organizational and technological. Topics discussed during the coaching relationship and are usually communication between team members, the level of business skills, differences in styles of work, timeliness of tasks, styles, motivation, cultural differences affecting the quality of their work and others.
The specificity of the work in multicultural virtual teams presents many challenges both to the manager - a coach of this team, as well as against its members. In addition to the planning and implementation of a virtual project, you must also take care of the realm of communication, understanding cultural differences and different personality types. Aid in the implementation of this challenge becomes a coach, who supports the team in this virtual journey. Working in virtual teams of international corporations is a daily reality. Coach or manager as a coach facilitates the interpretation of the same world, but seen in other prospects in the dimension of cultural differences. This allows virtual teams to effectively operate and achieve common goals, thus contributing to the success of the organization.
Zespół w cyberprzestrzeni – opis praktyki Zarządzanie wielokulturowymi zespołami wirtualnymi w Infosys BPO


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This week in the food rail, an easy bacon recipe, The Dish On "CakeLove," critics weigh in on a new Wendy's fish sandwich and more.
Easy Recipe: Peppered Bacon Twists How simple are these peppered bacon twists? So easy a 6-year-old can make them. No kidding. I put my first-grader to the challenge, and she handled them with no trouble at all. Bacon and bread are entwined in a tasty twist that gets a kick of flavor from a light coating of brown sugar and black pepper. Baked golden and warm from the oven, these twists make a great side with any meal, even breakfast. My daughter likes them as a toast substitute for dunking into her "dippy eggs." 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or less if desired 1 tube refrigerated bread sticks Ready-to-serve bacon, heated as directed on package Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix brown sugar and pepper in shallow dish; set aside. Unroll dough and separate into strips. Top each dough strip with bacon slices, pressing bacon into dough. Add to sugar mixture; turn to evenly coat both sides. Twist dough strips, then place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until lightly browned. (Jennifer Mastroianni/Canton Repository) The Dish On … "CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch," by Warren Brown Warren Brown wants you to bake your cake and eat it, too. And he wants you to conquer your fear of flour and learn to love every step of cake baking — including, of course, the step in which you present your made-from-scratch masterpiece to bedazzled, hungry-eyed family and friends. For Brown, love and baking are inseparable. After all, he abandoned an unrewarding career in law to do the work — baking cakes! — that he finds truly emotionally satisfying. Every page of "CakeLove" communicates that satisfaction, as well as Brown's can-do approach to the art of baking. As he asserts, baking cakes isn't a cakewalk, but it's not rocket science, either — and getting it right isn't nearly as hard as you think. (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) Food Quiz A president was criticized after saying he loved French soups. What soup was it, and which president was it? A. Clam chowder, John F. Kennedy B. Hamburger soup, Ronald Reagan C. Corn chowder, Franklin D. Roosevelt D. Chicken noodle soup, Bill Clinton Answer is at bottom of column. (Source: www.funtrivia.com) Critic's Cupboard: Wendy's Premium Fish Filet Spatula Up: If your wallet can take the hit, the new Premium Fish Filet sandwich from Wendy's is a knockout. The secret ingredient is panko. (If you've been off planet a while, you might not know that panko is Japanese-style bread crumbs, much coarser than the sawdust style we're accustomed to seeing.) Wendy's uses panko on its cod filet, resulting in a crispy, crunchy crust. Enrobed in the crust is a decent-sized piece of flaky cod. The only misstep is the oily, flat tartar sauce. Wendy's fish is the best choice for dieters at 450 calories for a 6.2-ounce sandwich. Burger King's Big Fish is 520 calories for 6.5 ounces, and the ever-shrinking McDonald's fish sandwich is 5.5 ounces yet 470 calories, in part because of the tiny strip of American cheese on it. If you're watching calories, ask for the sandwich without tartar sauce and shave about 100 calories. (Saimi Bergmann/Canton Repository) Spatula down: Fast-food fish sandwiches -- in all their deep-fried, tartar saucy glory -- rate exceptionally high on my list of favorite comfort foods. So boy did my eyebrow raise when I saw the commercial for Wendy's new panko-crusted cod sandwich. I love the ultra-crispy texture of Japanese bread crumbs, especially on fish. Unfortunately, the somewhat-greasy breading is all you taste with this sandwich. In fact, I barely tasted the fish. For $3.19 without cheese, there certainly are cheaper, tastier fish sandwich options out there. (Jennifer Mastroianni/Canton Repository) Number to Know: 148 Calories in one serving (2 tablespoons) of Kraft ranch salad dressing. (www.calorie-count.com) Wise to the Word Varak (VAH-ruhk) – or vark, varakh or varaq – is a foil of pure elemental silver that is used for garnishing Indian sweets. The silver is edible, though tasteless. Large quantities of ingested elemental silver can cause argyria, but the use of varak is not considered harmful to the body, since the quantities involved in normal use are minuscule. Varak is made by pounding silver into a thin sheet a few micrometres thick. When sold, varak is backed with paper and peeled before use. It is extremely brittle and breaks into smaller pieces if touched. Varak sheets are laid or rolled over Indian sweets made from dates, nuts and various fruit and vegetable based rolls or sheet candies. (Wikipedia.org) From The Beer Nut's Blog I like a good bottle of wine every once in awhile, but my passion is beer. My friend Karen is the total opposite. Given a choice, nine out of 10 times, she'd rather drink a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio than a good India pale ale. However, I recently introduced her to Dogfish Head's Red & White, a Belgian-style wit beer aged in Pinot Noir juice and with Pinot Noir juice added. It's one of my favorite beers, and I think it is the perfect marriage between beer and wine. Now she wants some other suggestions. I know Allagash Brewing Company has several beers that are brewed using wine grapes, including the Victoria, which uses Chardonnay grapes and the Victor, which uses red Chancellor grapes. Are there others out there? What would you recommend? Let me know. For more beer-related articles, visit Norman Miller's blog at http://blogs.townonline.com/beernut. Food Quiz Answer B. Hamburger soup, Ronald Reagan GateHouse News Service


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[Brian] Ralph's... page layouts are complex, and there's a whole lot of detail, but his lines are easy to follow and never too overwhelming. In this way, they're a perfect complement to the writing, which is simple and charming and cute-but-not-too-cute...This is a hard book to explain, but an easy book to love.The Stranger
Hang out with a young robot hero in his fortress of not-so-solitary solitude
What if Osamu Tezuka's beloved hero Astro Boy were a young robot with endless enthusiasm who lived with a bumbling sad sack robot friend, a self-centered wise-cracking cat, and a well-meaning but forgetful inventor? Why, then he'd be Reggie-12!
Reggie-12 is classic Japanese adventure manga cartooning reworked in Brian Ralph's trademark style and told with the episodic wit and structure of the contemporary American sitcom. Laughs explode from the page (and the reader's belly) as mishap follows caper follows disaster. Brian Ralph (Daybreak, Cave~In) first presented this hilarious pop culture send-up of the infallible boy hero in the back pages of seminal Asian culture magazine Giant Robot, and it instantly become one of the magazine's most popular and enduring features.
Come along for a wild ride with Reggie-12, Casper, and Professor Tinkerton as they eat pizza, play video games, and get dissed by bad guys.
Praise for Reggie-12
...Most of the humor simply comes from the interactions of the characters, their different personalities and their different points of view. It's a slacker sitcom in anime trappings, filtered through Ralph's often cuter (and weirder) than Tezuka style.Robot 6 - Comic Book Resources
Reggie-12 is both full of terrific jokes and crafted with great care...The action sequences are full of heft and detail. Each corner bears some nice and thoughtful element—surprised citizens peering from the ruins, the contents of a monster's stomach, an especially jaunty slouch—all rendered in two glorious colors. Reggie-12 is a winning book, full of gleeful goofiness that never quite gets squashed by reality.Paste Magazine


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UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Pop group Train and "The Voice" winner Cassadee Pope are to lead the lineup on "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly" special in Los Angeles, NBC said.
The two-hour special is to air live Dec. 31, beginning at 10-11 p.m. ET, and continuing from 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET. In addition to the live performances by Train and Pope, the program will offer viewers a look back at the most memorable musical moments of 2012.
The 2012 musical retrospective will include Justin Bieber in Mexico City, Coldplay at the Paralympics Closing Ceremony, Madonna's halftime show at the Super Bowl XLVI, Adele at London's Albert Hall, The Spice Girls at the Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony, PSY at the MTV European Music Awards, Beyonce at World Humanitarian Day and David Guetta at Copacabana Beach in Rio De Janeiro.
Among other highlights from the show's segments will be: coaches Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, CeeLo Green and Christina Aguilera from NBC's "The Voice" talking about their New Year's parties; Jay Leno and Nick Offerman discussing New Year's resolutions; Donald Trump offering real estate advice for buyers in the New Year; Amy Poehler and Adam Scott explaining "Auld Lang Syne" and NBC's "Parenthood" cast giving new celebrity mothers parenting advice.
Actress Angela Kinsey of "The Office" will join Daly with live reports from the heart of New York's Times Square where 1 million spectators are expected to gather.


text:
Palace of the Marquis of Santa Cruz
Contact details
Plaza del Pradillo, 12
13770 Viso del Marqués, Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha)
Tel.:+34 926337518
Tel.:+34 926336008
- Autonomous region: Castilla-La Mancha
- Province/Island: Ciudad Real
Next to the Palace is a beautiful small garden, modern but with a classic look: highly compartmentalised by box hedges and sculpted cypress; a beautiful fountain with a round basin, also surrounded by a thick hedge; and on the façade, two unusual niches with the funeral statues of Don Alonso de Bazán, second Marquis of Santa Cruz, and his wife, María de Figueroa, shown in prayer. The brick floor with details in blue ceramics and some benches covered with multi-coloured tiles remind visitors of the proximity to Andalusia. The walls that enclose the garden are densely covered with tall climbing plants. In the midst of the green foliage is the figurehead of an old ship, an element that brings to mind the maritime environment from which the creator of this place came.
Practical information
- From Aug 01 to Aug 31
From Tuesday to SundayFrom 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM
- Closing days: Monday
- From Sep 01 to Jul 31
From Tuesday to SundayFrom 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM From 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
- Closing days: Monday
- Admission free
Guided tours


text:
Reward offered in Sanford Army-Navy store break-in
Culprits used bolt cutters, tried to steal guns
SANFORD, Fla. – Police are offering a reward to help find the men who broke into Al's Army Navy Store in Sanford.
Investigators say the men used a crow bar and bolt cutters Monday morning to get into the store, which is located on South French Avenue.
The men tried to steal handguns and a semi-automatic rifle, but dropped them when they heard officers arriving, police said.
Police are encouraging anyone with information to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS. A $1,000 reward is being offered for tips leading to an arrest.
Copyright 2013 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Mosquitoes are more than just a buzzing, itchy annoyance – they're a threat to public health. Two types of mosquitoes capable of transmitting a deadly virus are invading Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, including areas that were previously thought inhospitable to the disease.
A new National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report released today has found that outbreaks of dengue fever may now be possible in 28 U.S. states, with the potential to affect up to 173.5 million Americans.
"Milder winters, hotter, wetter summers and even droughts can bring this insect-borne threat closer to home," said Dr. Kim Knowlton, NRDC senior scientist. "Usually relegated to tropical and exotic locales, dengue fever has rarely been an issue in the United States outside of the Texas-Mexico border region. But a changing climate may allow certain species of dengue-spreading-mosquitoes to flourish in nearly half of the United States."
A national map included along with the NRDC report entitled 'Fever Pitch: Mosquito-Borne Threat Spreading in America' highlights vulnerable regions, which include states as far north as New York and New Hampshire.
Physician-reported incidences of the disease have already doubled in the past decade in the U.S. Worldwide, dengue fever has increased 30-fold over the past half-century to an estimated 50 to 100 million infections, with 500,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths annually in more than 10 countries.
Dengue fever is also known as "Breakbone Fever" because its symptoms manifest as aching in the bones, joints and muscles. There is no cure or vaccine against the virus – preventative care is the only line of defense.
The NRDC recommends that individuals protect themselves and their families by wearing loose-fitting long sleeves and pants while outdoors, using DEET on exposed skin, making sure windows and doors have tight-fitting screens and getting rid of anything that can catch water and breed mosquitoes in their yards.
The report also urges the government to take action by improving mosquito tracking programs, making dengue fever a nationally notifiable disease, upgrading housing and municipal services in poor communities, addressing global warming at its source and providing information for travelers visiting high-risk dengue areas.


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With luminaries ranging from Vice President Joe Biden to television game show host Alex Trebek in the audience, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel poked a bit of fun at himself and his bruising Senate confirmation hearing during a formal swearing-in ceremony at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Pausing for the applause after his introduction, Hagel told the crowd that, "this kind of warm welcome - the last time I received something quite like this was in the United States Senate in my confirmation hearing. I'm a better person for it."
During his confirmation hearing, Hagel faced fierce opposition from GOP senators who challenged the former Republican senator's truthfulness and patriotism.
He joked Thursday that he doesn't have much skin left, and added that he appreciated President Barack Obama's support through it all, "when it wasn't easy to support me."
Hagel was sworn in Feb. 27 in a private ceremony. Thursday's gathering was more ceremonial and came in front of a packed audience of former Senate colleagues, top military commanders, congressional and Cabinet members and several men who served with Hagel and his brother in Vietnam.
Biden, who issued the oath of office to Hagel, recalled trips to the current war zones with Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry, who also was in the audience, when all three were senators. Biden said that often while he and Kerry met with commanders on the front lines, Hagel often made a point to go out and talk to the troops.
Hagel is the only enlisted military member to become secretary of defense who never rose to an officer's rank.
In his remarks to the crowd, Hagel vowed to always do what is best for the men and women in uniform and their families. And he said that these days of challenges and security threats present a unique and critical time in the nation's history.


text: Friday, May 06, 2011 Deadline Approaches to Register for PT Day on Capitol Hill Time is running out to register for PT Day on Capitol Hill. This year PT Day on Capitol Hill will take place June 8-9 with events at National Harbor, Maryland, and on Capitol Hill. The 2-day event replaces APTA's annual Federal Advocacy Forum and runs in conjunction with APTA's Annual Conference & Exposition (PT 2011). You can register for just the June 9 rally or for both the rally and Capitol Hill visits. Call or e-mail APTA member services at 800/999-2782, ext 3395, or firstname.lastname@example.com by May 11 to register and bring your voice to Capitol Hill to advocate for your profession and patients. If you have any questions about PT Day on Capitol Hill, contact email@example.com.


text:
Aortic valve stenosis is a narrowing of the aortic valve between
the lower left chamber of the heart and the aorta, which supplies blood to the
body. A narrowed aortic valve forces the lower left chamber of the heart to
pump harder to get enough blood through the valve.
Aortic valve stenosis can be caused by a structural problem called
bicuspid aortic valve, which develops before a baby is born (congenital heart
defect). In these cases, the valve has only two flaps, or leaflets, instead of
the normal three.
Aortic valve stenosis also occurs as a person ages and the valve
becomes hard and thick from calcium buildup. Most cases of aortic valve
stenosis caused by calcium buildup occur in people who are older than
Last Revised:
November 2, 2011
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Rakesh K. Pai, MD, FACC - Cardiology, Electrophysiology & John A. McPherson, MD, FACC, FSCAI - Cardiology
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Jimmy Frank Howell, M.D.
William L. Winters, Jr. Jimmy Frank Howell, M.D.. Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal. September 2015, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 200.doi: https://doi.org/10.14797/mdcj-11-3-200
Dr. Jimmy Frank Howell died quietly and peacefully on Monday, December 22, 2014, at the age of 82. He was born in Winnfield, Louisiana, to Burley DeSoto Howell and Maggie Penola Howell and was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Billie June Howell Murphy. His wife, Roberta Blankenstein Howell, survives as do six children, thirteen grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
Dr. Howell graduated at the top of his class from Baylor Medical School in 1958 and was thereafter never less than "best in class" at everything he did. He remained an active member of the Baylor faculty as a professor of surgery until his death. After completing his general surgical residency program in 1962, he remained at Baylor for a year of thoracic surgery training under the guidance of Drs. DeBakey, Cooley, Crawford, Morris, and others. He then joined Dr. Stanley Crawford at the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Surgery before starting his own practice. His particular interest was in vascular surgery, and he served for many years as director of the Vascular Surgery Training Program at Baylor and Houston Methodist Hospital. This, combined with his interest in ischemic heart disease, led to the first successful coronary artery bypass performed by Drs. Howell and Edward Garrett in 1964. This event was not published until 7 years later, when the patient returned for follow-up and a coronary angiogram demonstrated a widely patent vein graft from the aorta to the left anterior descending artery. In the years to come, Dr. Howell would be recognized as one of the world's most accomplished cardiovascular surgeons. He continued operating until 2 years before his death, when an accident caused the loss of vision in one eye. After that, he continued to provide counsel to patients and colleagues until his death.
Over the course of his career, it is estimated that Dr. Howell performed more than 60,000 surgical procedures, 30,000 of them being in the cardiovascular area. He was not the kind to write scientific papers; he let others do that. Rather, recognizing his talent, he perfected his skills in the operating room by working 12-, 14-, even 16-hour days. Weekends were never a sanctuary for him. His records were so complete that we were able to publish the first 40 years of his cardiovascular accomplishments encompassing nearly 30,000 patients and procedures from 1964 through 2004 in this journal (Vol. 7, No. 1). From day one, his statistics for morbidity and mortality were better than any benchmark ever published. In 2014, the Jimmy Frank Howell Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery was established in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital. His professional activities led to the opening of another chapter in his life: the oil and gas business with Joe Walter, founder of Walter Oil & Gas Corporation. He and Joe Walter became close friends and business associates, and it is said that Dr. Howell was able to analyze an oil well property as well as anyone.
The other love of his life was his wife, Roberta. They enjoyed nearly 60 years of marriage and raised six children. Roberta often was seen at Houston Methodist Hospital bringing him lunch, and even dinner on occasion. His colleagues often marveled at how they supported each other. As a couple, they loved to dance; he reminded me of a high-stepping Tennessee walker as he moved across the dance floor with Roberta, magnificently matching him step for step.
Dr. Howell loved the outdoors and spent as many hours as he could on his beloved ranch in Liberty, Texas. His friends swore that he could operate a bulldozer with the best. He loved to hunt and fish with his friends and often with patients. His travels took him to Africa for big-game hunting; to Georgia, South Texas, California, and the Methodist Hospital Duck Lodge for duck, goose, and quail hunting. He was a deadly wing shooter. His fishing sorties included trips to Galveston Bay, the Rocky Mountains, and the rivers of Alaska for trout and salmon. Not long before his death, we two pondered how we could get back to Alaska, never admitting to ourselves that neither of us was up to the trek.
In 2012, a celebration was held to honor Dr. Howell's 50 years at Baylor and Houston Methodist Hospital and his 80th birthday. More people showed than there was room for, and additional rooms had to be recruited. For several hours, friends, patients, and colleagues spun tales of his prowess in and outside of medicine. Dr Howell sat quietly for a while, then found himself alternately splitting his sides in between tears. It was a night he was never to forget.
In a way, he lived a charmed life, and in doing so made a better life possible for many hundreds of people. Upon his passing, one of my sons remarked, "Now he is in the big operating room in the sky, where we'll all find him one day: operating on angels."


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The authority, as a public corporation and governmental instrumentality exercising public powers of the state, shall have and may exercise all powers necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this article, including the power:
(a) To cooperate with industrial development agencies in efforts to promote the expansion of industrial, commercial, manufacturing and tourist activity in this state.
(b) To determine, upon the proper application of an industrial development agency or an enterprise, whether the declared public purposes of this article have been or will be accomplished by the establishment by such agency or enterprise of a project in this state.
(c) To conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof, under oath or affirmation, at public or private hearings, on any matter relevant to this article and necessary for information on the establishment of any project.
(d) To issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers relevant to any hearing before such authority or one or more members appointed by it to conduct any hearing.
(e) To apply to the circuit court having venue of such offense to have punished for contempt any witness who refuses to obey a subpoena, to be sworn or affirmed or to testify or who commits any contempt after being summoned to appear.
(f) To authorize any member of the authority to conduct hearings, administer oaths, take affidavits and issue subpoenas.
(g) To financially assist projects by insuring obligations in the manner provided in this article through the use of the insurance fund.
(h) To finance any projects by making loans to industrial development agencies or enterprises upon such terms as the authority shall deem appropriate: Provided, That nothing contained in this subsection (h) or under any other provision in this article shall be construed as permitting the authority to make loans for working capital: Provided, however, That nothing contained in this article shall be construed as prohibiting the authority from insuring loans for working capital made to industrial development agencies or to enterprises by financial institutions: Provided further, That nothing contained in this subsection or any other provision of this article shall be construed as permitting the authority to refinance existing debt except when such refinancing will result in the expansion of the enterprise whose debt is to be refinanced or in the creation of new jobs.
(i) To issue revenue bonds or notes to fulfill the purposes of this article, and to secure the payment of such bonds or notes, all as hereinafter provided.
(j) To issue and deliver revenue bonds or notes in exchange for a project.
(k) To borrow money for its purposes and issue bonds or notes for the money and provide for the rights of the holders of the bonds or notes or other negotiable instruments, to secure the bonds or notes by a deed of trust on, or an assignment or pledge of, any or all of its property and property of the project, including any part of the security for loans, and the authority may issue and sell its bonds and notes, by public or private sale, in such principal amounts as it shall deem necessary to provide funds for any purposes under this article, including the making of loans for the purposes set forth in this article.
(l) To maintain such sinking funds and reserves as the board shall determine appropriate for the purposes of meeting future monetary obligations and needs of the authority.
(m) To sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, and complain and defend in any court.
(n) To adopt, use and alter at will a corporate seal.
(o) To make, amend, repeal and adopt both bylaws and rules and regulations for the management and regulation of its affairs.
(p) To appoint officers, agents and employees and to contract for and engage the services of consultants.
(q) To make contracts of every kind and nature to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for carrying on its business.
(r) To accept grants and loans from and enter into contracts and other transactions with any federal agency.
(s) To take title by conveyance or foreclosure to any project where acquisition is necessary to protect any loan previously made by the authority and to sell, by public or private sale, transfer, lease or convey such project to any enterprise.
(t) To participate in any reorganization proceeding pending pursuant to the United States Code (being the act of Congress establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States, as amended) or in any receivership proceeding in a state or federal court for the reorganization or liquidation of an enterprise. The authority may file its claim against any such enterprise in any of the foregoing proceedings, vote upon any questions pending therein which requires the approval of the creditors participating in any reorganization proceeding or receivership, exchange any evidence of such indebtedness for any property, security or evidence of indebtedness offered as a part of the reorganization of such enterprise or of any other entity formed to acquire the assets thereof and may compromise or reduce the amount of any indebtedness owing to it as a part of any such reorganization.
(u) To acquire, construct, maintain, improve, repair, replace and operate projects within this state, as well as streets, roads, alleys, sidewalks, crosswalks and other means of ingress and egress to and from projects located within this state.
(v) To acquire, construct, maintain, improve, repair and replace and operate pipelines, electric transmission lines, waterlines, sewer lines, electric power substations, waterworks systems, sewage treatment and disposal facilities and any combinations thereof for the use and benefit of any enterprise located within this state.
(w) To acquire watersheds, water and riparian rights, rights-of-way, easements, licenses and any and all other property, property rights and appurtenances for the use and benefit of any enterprise located within this state.
(x) To acquire, by purchase, lease, donation or eminent domain, any real or personal property, or any right or interest therein, as may be necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of the authority. Title to all property, property rights and interests acquired by the authority shall be taken in the name of the authority.
(y) To issue renewal notes, or security interests, to issue bonds to pay notes or security interests and, whenever it deems refunding expedient, to refund any bonds or notes by the issuance of new bonds or notes, whether the bonds or notes to be refunded have or have not matured and whether or not the authority originally issued the bonds or notes to be refunded.
(z) To apply the proceeds from the sale of renewal notes, security interests or refunding bonds or notes to the purchase, redemption or payment of the notes, security interests or bonds or notes to be refunded.
(aa) To accept gifts or grants of property, funds, security interests, money, materials, labor, supplies or services from the United States of America or from any governmental unit or any person, firm or corporation, and to carry out the terms or provisions of, or make agreements with respect to, or pledge, any gifts or grants, and to do any and all things necessary, useful, desirable or convenient in connection with the procuring, acceptance or disposition of gifts or grants.
(bb) To the extent permitted under its contracts with the holders of bonds, security interests or notes of the authority, to consent to any modification of the rate of interest, time of payment of any installment of principal or interest, security or any other term of any bond, security interests, note or contract or agreement of any kind to which the authority is a party.
(cc) To sell loans, security interests or other obligations in the loan portfolio of the authority. Such security interests shall be evidenced by instruments issued by the authority. Proceeds from the sale of loans, security interests, or other obligations may be used in the same manner and for the same purposes as bond and note revenues.
(dd) To procure insurance against any losses in connection with its property, operations or assets in such amounts and from such insurers as the authority deems desirable.
(ee) To sell, license, lease, mortgage, assign, pledge or donate its property, both real and personal, or any right or interest therein to another or authorize the possession, occupancy or use of such property or any right or interest therein by another, in such manner and upon such terms as it deems appropriate.
(ff) To participate with the state and federal agencies in efforts to promote the expansion of commercial and industrial development in this state.
(gg) To finance, organize, conduct, sponsor, participate and assist in the conduct of special institutes, conferences, demonstrations and studies relating to the stimulation and formation of business, industry and trade endeavors.
(hh) To conduct, finance and participate in technological, business, financial and other studies related to business and economic development.
(ii) To conduct, sponsor, finance, participate and assist in the preparation of business plans, financing plans and other proposals of new or established businesses suitable for support by the authority.
(jj) To prepare, publish and distribute, with or without charge as the authority may determine, such technical studies, reports, bulletins and other materials as it deems appropriate, subject only to the maintenance and respect for confidentiality of client proprietary information.
(kk) To exercise such other and additional powers as may be necessary or appropriate for the exercise of the powers herein conferred.
(ll) To exercise all of the powers which a corporation may lawfully exercise under the laws of this state.
(mm) To contract for the provision of legal services by private counsel, and notwithstanding the provisions of article three, chapter five, such counsel may, but is not limited to, represent the authority in court, negotiate contracts and other agreements on behalf of the authority, render advice to the authority on any matter relating thereto, prepare contracts and other agreements, and provide such other legal services as may be requested by the authority.
(nn) To develop, maintain, operate and apply for the establishment of foreign trade zones pursuant to and in accordance with all applicable provisions of federal law.
(oo) To exercise the powers and responsibilities previously vested in the state building commission by section eleven-a, article six, chapter five including, but not limited to, the authority to refund bonds issued in accordance with that section.


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Roam Bad Daddy - Kill Me [Pure Pain Records Submitted]
#1 Indie Artist & Label in the Country!!
We Do What We Say!!! #NoGames
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Dear sir,
It is indeed my pleasure to write you this letter, which I believe will be a surprise to you. I
actually I got your e-mail address on the Internet while searching for a reliable and
reputable person to handle this transaction.
I am Wilson Korede, head of Accounts Department in the Federal Ministry of Mines and
Power, and a close associate of the immediate past Minister of Finance(Mallam Adamu
The Minister has mandated me to transfer the sum of US$20 millions recovered from over-
invoiced contracts involved in the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power (FMM&P) into
several private accounts in Overseas. A total sum of US$14,700,000.00 has been
transferred leaving a balance of US$5,300,000.00, before the emergence of this present
Civilan goverment.
I have made proper arrangement/documentation to transfer the balance which is retained
in a suspense account of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power with the Central Bank of
Nigeria. I am soliciting that you help me receive the fund in trust. I cannot complete this
transaction without the participation of a foreign partner who would provide an offshore
account where the funds could be lodged, as the Federal Legislature does not permit
government workers to operate offshore accounts.
The remittance of the funds requires little documentation that would be completed as soon
as you provide me with a secured bank account that you have absolute control over,
where you may wish to receive the money. There is no risk involved on your part in this
transaction since the former Minister and I have covered this transaction with adequate
contract and external credit documents.
What I require from you via email are viz:
(i) Acceptance of this offer
(ii) Your company name/address, a secured telephone/fax numbers and a bank
account where the funds would be transferred into.
(iii) Convincing Honesty, Trustworthiness and Willingness to abide by the
requirements of this proposal paramount of which is CONFIDENTIALITY
I am proposing that you will retain 40% of the entire US$5,300,000.00 for your involvement
in this transaction, and 60% for me. If you are interested, please reply immediately via my
email address. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details.
Please be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable to both of us because
I will require your assistance in investing my share in your country.
Awaiting your urgent reply via my email address
Yours faithfully,
Wilson Korede.
I am so excited, i am gonna be rich according to my new friend Wilson. My goal in the transaction is not to actually get the millions of dollars but to get a picture of my new friend and pull his leg for as along as possible with long winded somewhat senseless on the fence replys switching between giving him great hope that he has found a sucker. And dispair that another fraudster has found me also and is gonna beat him to the scam.With a small dollop of scepticism so he doesn't catch on.I shall build a large and wonderful emotional rollarcoaster just for him. I see this as a great opportunity to meet that friend in africa i have always wanted!!. Any guesses on how many replys i can get out of him before he ditchs me for a sucker somewhere else? I am willing to give 50% of my 40% of the 5.3 million dollars to the person who guess the correct amount of replys i get!!!!
ps. this is CONFIDENTIAL so shhhhhhhhh don't tell anyone it could jeapordize this multimillion dollar transaction.


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SPARKS, Nev. (AP) ? Authorities say five people remained unaccounted for following a fiery crash involving a big rig and an Amtrak train in the Nevada desert, but investigators say they've yet to find any more bodies in the wreck that left six dead.
SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — Authorities say five people remained unaccounted for following a fiery crash involving a big rig and an Amtrak train in the Nevada desert, but investigators say they've yet to find any more bodies in the wreck that left six dead.
Amtrak lowered the number of unaccounted passengers Sunday, a day after authorities said they couldn't locate 28 of the more than 200 passengers believed to be on board at the time of the collision Friday. The company also said 14 crew members were on the California Zephyr from Chicago.
Churchill County coroner officials sifted through the rubble of two rail cars gutted by the fire that sparked after the truck slammed into the side of the train.
The blaze was so hot that authorities "want to make sure they are not missing anything," so the coroner's office has asked at least one forensic anthropologist to help, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen said.
"They want to figure out if there are any more bodies and if so, how many," Allen said.
"They want to rule out the possibility that, yes there are more, or that no, there are not."
Earl Weener, a National Transportation Safety Board member, has said there were unaccounted passengers because some of them may have gotten off the train before the crash or walked away from the scene without checking with officials. Unlike airplane travel with seat records, "on a train, you can get off without necessarily being tracked," he said.
The driver of the truck, a conductor and four others on the train were killed when the semi-trailer truck plowed into the California Zephyr at a highway crossing about 70 miles east of Reno. The big rig, the lead in a three-truck convoy, skidded about 320 feet before smashing through the crossing gates.
Investigators looked for clues as to why the driver failed to stop before the crossing, which had its gates down and warning lights on. Weener said examining the truck tractor has been difficult because part of it was stuck in a rail car.
Weener said that the flashing lights at the crossing, which were set to blink for 25 seconds before a train approaches, would have been visible from a half-mile away if a motorist was driving at the highway's 70-mph speed limit.
Toxicology and autopsy results of the driver were due within days. Allen said authorities would consider "not necessarily just drugs or alcohol, but fatigue, driver inattention."
"Did he have a (citizen band radio)? Was he talking to his buddies behind him? If so, was he looking in the side-view mirror and not looking at the road ahead? I don't think we'll ever know for sure," Allen said.
"Just from handling or being on the scene of so many accidents, there are so many alternatives to consider," he added. It's expected to take up to a year to pinpoint the cause of the crash.
The driver was working for John Davis Trucking Co. in Battle Mountain, Nev. Its website said it was family owned and specialized in hauling ore from local mines, as well as moving gravel and sand. The company did not immediately return a call or email Sunday.
Federal records reviewed by The Associated Press showed the Nevada Department of Public Safety has cited the company for crashes, unsafe driving, and most seriously, operating a truck with tire treads so exposed that it had to be taken off the road.
In that January inspection, authorities deemed the rig an imminent hazard to public safety. The company was also cited for two crashes in the last two years, including one in February 2010 that injured a person in Washoe County. Federal records do not detail who was at fault.
Weener said the company had received seven violations since 2010 and that one of them forced a truck to be taken out of service, but he provided no other details. It was difficult to say whether the company's record was significant or atypical in the industry, he added.
The federal records showed the other citations were for issues such as oil leaks and inoperative lamps, a company driver who didn't use a seat belt, and lane restriction and cargo violations. They were not deemed sufficiently serious to order the vehicle off the road.
Allen said it was not unusual for state public safety officials conducting spot roadside inspections to take trucks out of service for unsafe driving practices or discrepancies in travel logs.
He said he wasn't familiar with the trucking company's record but that "having just a couple of tickets, I don't think is an alarming issue."
Weener said investigators would meet with the company Tuesday and review the driver's medical history, training and experience. He also has said the driver's professional commercial driving record "is an area we will be taking a very close look at."
More than two days after the accident, a variety of factors remained unknown, including how fast the driver might have been going, Weener said.
Two other truck drivers in the convoy and the train's engineer watched the semitrailer skid the length of a football field before crashing into the train. The other drivers stopped when they saw the gates come down and the warning lights go off as the California Zephyr approached, Weener said. The driver of the big rig in the lead did not.
The train's engineer slammed on the emergency brakes, but the train, which was going about 78 mph in an 80-mph zone, traveled a half-mile more before it finally stopped, Weener said. The man watched "the collision in a rearview mirror. He was hoping the train was not going to derail."
Burke reported from San Francisco.


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Torres undergoes ACL surgery
San Jose, CA – San Jose forward Raffi Torres underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Arthur Ting.
"Raffi's surgery went very well and we look forward to having him back in our line-up later this season," said Sharks general manager Doug Wilson on Thursday.
The Mercury News reported Monday that Torres sustained the injury to his right knee during a collision with Anaheim's Emerson Etem during last Friday's preseason contest.
Torres, 31, posted two goals and six points in 11 games last season after being acquired from Phoenix, then was suspended for the duration of San Jose's postseason after delivering an illegal hit to the head of Los Angeles Kings forward Jarret Stoll during Game 1 of their second-round series.
Heading into his 12th NHL season, the Sharks signed Torres to a three-year contract back in June.
San Jose opens its 2013-14 schedule against Vancouver on Oct. 3.


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A really sad report from just outside Calgary the other day. A seven-year old lad was standing in his driveway about to cross the road to board the school bus which had stopped to pick up him and his sister and brother. A seventeen-year old driver was speeding along the road, snow was apparently falling at the time, and according to his quoted statement to police, didn't see the bus, swerved at the last minute to avoid it - and ran down and killed the boy.
An unimaginable tragedy for the family, and of course for the teenaged driver too - he has to carry that around with him for the rest of his life.
Impossible to see anything good coming out of this.
But please – the law prohibiting passing of a stopped school bus is there for a reason.
Especially during the critical to-and-from-school hours, keep your eyes open, and up…