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We were just invited to join in the thrilling world of Circus Vargas. We are looking forward to taking a look beyond the sawdust and spangles, and peeking past the wonder and the mystique and discover why Circus Vargas is America's Favorite Big Top Circus!
Unveiling its greatest collaboration to date, Tabares Entertainment joins forces with famed singing Ringmaster Kevin Venardos for a production of musical magnitude in its most exciting, innovative edition ever! Acting as host and master of ceremonies, Venardos skillfully melds melody with movement, adds a bit of Broadway and a splash of razzle-dazzle for an unbelievably entertaining extravaganza!
We plan to arrive thirty minutes early for the interactive pre-show where we will all get a chance to be the stars in center ring. I hear we'll even be guided through a crash course in circus skills with host and the "Iron Chin" Jon Weiss and his lovely wife Laura. Fun times!
IT'S MUSICAL, IT'S MEMORABLE … IT'S CIRCUS VARGAS — It's family entertainment at its finest, and it's coming our way. The blue and gold big top will be in Roseville at the Westfield Galleria August 9 through 13 and in Sacramento at the California State Fairgrounds August 16 through 20.
For more information about Circus Vargas and to purchase tickets visit www.circusvargas.com, by phone at 877-468-3861, or at the circus box office which opens one day prior to the first show.
Enter to win tickets for your family to see Circus Vargas at either the Roseville or the Sacramento location (four tickets total). Just leave me a comment with your favorite circus memory – when you were a kid or with your own kids, what you think of when you hear there is a circus in town, and/or what you look forward to most when the Big Top is in town. You may enter once a day through July 31st.
We were given tickets to experience Circus Vargas in exchange for this giveaway.


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Kip Moore Celebrates Lovely Ladies of All Ages in 'Hey Pretty Girl' Video
Who doesn't love a pretty girl? Any guy with a heartbeat and a functioning set of eyeballs loves to look at a pretty girl. In Kip Moore's video for the heartfelt ballad, 'Hey Pretty Girl,' Moore sings the song and plays his guitar in serious, thoughtful fashion, while footage of couples clinging to one another, staring into each other's eyes and dancing flash on the screen.
The video is somewhat non-linear and is built on the concept that beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, whether she is young, gorgeous and full of life, or if she is elderly, contemplative and full of a life that has already been lived.
Generations of pretty girls are shown as part of the narrative footage.
Pretty girls can also be the females born of one's love with a pretty lady, too. Clearly, the concept of a pretty girl is broad and far-reaching.
It's a contemplative, sweet video that'll make you appreciate the pretty girl in your life. It's simple and relies on little more than the faces of those who populate the clip.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Caching stores recently retrieved data in a local storage location, so that it can be served up for subsequent requests quickly, without having to go to the original source. The original source is often over a network connection, so caching locally saves time, and makes the network capacity available for other uses. Most caches have a time to live value associated with them. This ensures that after a preset period of time the local copy is removed, and the original source is queried to get a current copy of the data. This timeout preset can be set as required. Dependent on how dynamic the data in question is. If it's fairly static in nature then the timeout period can be set to a few hours, or even days. If the data is dynamic, then the caching for it can be a few seconds, or even disabled completely so that the original version is always requested.


text:
This products is out of stock for the moment. Write us an email to know if the product can still be purchased.
Get notified when the product is back in stock:
Number of Players: 2-8 players
Year Published: 2016
Playing Time: 60-90 min
Language: English and French
Description of the game: here


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Rock The Bells 2013 Lineup Announced
Hip hop's biggest music festival just announced the lineup for its 10th anniversary tour featuring some of the industry's most classic names and a ton of newcomers making huge waves on the scene.
Artists include Southern boy Big K.R.I.T., Kendrick Lamar's crew Black Hippy, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Common, Curren$y, Tyler the Creator, rap's most prolific socio-political commentator Immortal Technique, Talib Kweli, Tech N9NE, and of course Wu-Tang Clan.
Unfortunately, some of the really great artists like Kid Cudi, Common, Jhene Aiko and E-40/Too $hort will only perform certain dates, but for a baseline price of $89 (top ticket prices go up as high as $240, and that's not including VIP) we can't get too greedy. My guess, and I got five on it, is E-40 will hold down the Bay Area show. But I'm still hoping for a Kid Cudi appearance.
Check this week's live announcement with Indiana-born, NYC-bred Supernatural (also performing), who set the world record in 2006 for the longest continuous freestyle rap at the Rock The Bells Festival in San Bernardino, CA. He rapped for 9 hours and 15 minutes. Holy shiiiit.
Live Review and Photos: Rock the Bells 2010, Shoreline Amphitheatre
In the hip-hop version of nostalgic rock 'n' roll packages like Art Laboe's Memories of El Monte or Alan Freed's American Hot Wax, the 2010 Rock the Bells tour barreled into a packed Shoreline Amphitheatre to revive the golden age of hip-hop with a particular zeroing in on the magical year of 1993. That year, after all, saw releases of Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders and the Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)—all iconic albums, and all performed "in their entirety" at Rock the Bells on Sunday.
Notably, though, none of the acts adhered to the "in its entirety" concept. Rakim purportedly performed Paid in Full in its entirety, but excluded three songs from the album and scattered the others, out of order, throughout a greatest-hits set. This set the stage of artists bending toward hits from classic albums rather than staidly presenting them cover-to-cover. While at first this seemed like a bit of false advertising in action, it was eventually evidenced that when deep album cuts were dutifully unearthed—Tribe's "God Lives Through," say—energy levels suffered.
At a show like Sunday's, one had to set aside valid concerns about hip-hop getting older and leaning on its past rather than looking to its future. For all the chatter about the genre being in a slump, there is so much life and vitality to the music presented on Sunday to get hip-hop through the longest dry spell. No one tugged at their goatee or scribbled in their notebook about these concerns. You don't worry about shit like that when an epic lineup is playing out in front of your eyes.
Rakim opened with "My Melody," played the part of Eric B. by cutting up lines from "I Know You Got Soul" on the 1200s, got the Bay Area crowd to boo Los Angeles and dedicated songs "to all the mommies out there." Standing like an impenetrable wall of skill, he moved deliberately around the stage to rearranged Paid in Full cuts alongside later hits "Know the Ledge" and "Don't Sweat the Technique."
Scheduled early in the day at 1pm for too many empty seats, it felt like Rakim got little love for someone generally regarded as the most innovative and influential MC of all time. He didn't seem fazed. He told security to lay off so the people could cluster near the front of the stage, absolutely killed tracks like "Microphone Fiend" and "I Ain't No Joke," and at one point planted his Nike shoe on the monitor, licked the back of his thumb and deftly cleaned off a tiny fleck of dirt stuck to otherwise spotless sneakers. Smooth.
"When I get off stage," he warned of the massive lineup to come, "it'll get crazy. And then it'll get crazier."
"Hip-hop is not that Hollywood bullshit!" yelled Immortal Technique, on the side stage. "Hip-hop is being one with the people!"
He then finished a song with a chant of "Fuck Cops," and then explained himself. "I know some of you out there don't agree with that last song. You might be like, 'My dad is a cop. He works hard and put himself in danger to keep the country safe.' Well you know what? Fuck your dad! Fuck your family! And fuck cops!"
This didn't go over well with some. While Immortal Technique talked about his recent trip to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, a dude in the crowd threw a soda bottle at him. It missed, but the audience was all too glad to point the guy out. Immortal Technique's entourage ran off the stage, into the crowd, and cornered the guy. It looked hectic, but then security intervened and dragged the dude to be thrown out at the gates.
"The crowd will always be filled with one agent provocateur," quipped Immortal Technique. "You got off soft." After his set, he stayed at the merch booth for two hours, signing autographs.
Lauryn Hill was 45 minutes late, and by the time she finally came out and finished her extended rock version of "Lost One," her first song, it was 5:35—the end of her set, according to the schedule. If the stickler Bill Graham had still been in charge at Shoreline, he'd have unapologetically pulled her off stage right then as punishment for tardiness. Rock the Bells allowed her a full set anyway, albeit a shortened one; in the ridiculously long wait before she took the stage, roadies twice came out and crossed songs off all the set lists.
In Sally Jessy Raphael glasses, a black sequined cap and a homeless-chic green trenchcoat covering an early-'90s high-waisted getup, Hill displayed all the same hopeful energy of her show earlier this year at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa by churning her arms wildly and strutting in insanely high four-inch heels. Things looked grim when she left the stage ten minutes in, but returned wearing different shoes. Probably a wise move.
The crowd seemed confused by her new arrangements, and didn't move much until she got into Fugees tracks like "Ready or Not" and "Fu-Gee-La," which opened the floodgates for mayhem. Hill performed everyone else's verses, and displayed her recent desire to be taken seriously again after a long rough patch. By the time she ended with "Doo Wop (That Thing)," the sting of her late arrival was nicely salved.
"I can only introduce this next group," said Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg, solemnly, "by saying that this is my favorite group of all time. Rock the Bells, please welcome to the stage… A Tribe Called Quest!" Except Tribe wasn't ready yet, and when a rushed Ali Shaheed Muhammad emerged from the wings and quickly started the intro to Midnight Marauders on the turntables, he shot Rosenberg an icy stare. Oops.
As mentioned, Tribe actually stuck somewhat to the material from Midnight Marauders, even performing late-in-Side-B cuts like "Lyrics to Go," which you'll never hear at a regular Tribe show. The "Midnight Lady" voice popped up from time to time in the set, they did everything on the album except "8 Million Stories," "We Can Get Down," and "Keep it Rollin'," and Q-Tip remarked that Midnight Marauders and Enter the Wu-Tang came out on the same exact date in 1993.
But the heat came when they brought out Busta Rhymes for "Scenario," "Check the Rhime" and "Award Tour," which saw Q-Tip running out into the amphitheater and working the fans in a show-stopping, all-star set closer. Tribe, Busta, Jarobi all onstage, simply sliding into place? Um, best part of the festival?
"It's just like 15 guys all shouting the same thing and shitting on each other's verses," remarked a companion before the Wu-Tang Clan came on, and in a way, he was right. Wu-Tang, however, also adhered pretty strictly to the in-its-entirety thing, and it's pretty thrilling to see all those guys on stage at the same time.
The role of Ol' Dirty Bastard was filled by Ol' Dirty's son, who styled his hair in the same fashion and wore an oversized "R.I.P. ODB" T-shirt. He was clearly the most excited to be on stage, but the Wu held it down, and I tell you, the place was going bazonkers.
"I saw this shit on stage last night," said MC Supernatural, introducing Snoop Dogg, "and what you're about to see is epic. It's like a movie."
Snoop's set was the perfect way to end the long day—laid back, entertaining, and for the sonically inclined, perfectly EQed. He had a tricked-out bike and a fire hydrant onstage. He had a picnic table covered in Olde English 40 ozs. He had the entire Dogg Pound (sans Nate Dogg). He had a giant backdrop of the cover to Doggystyle. He had full-budget video interludes to match all the skits on Doggystyle. He had a guy in a gigantic full-body dog suit. He opened with the bathtub skit, had the Lady of Rage deliver "G Funk Intro" and launched majestically into "Gin and Juice," blunt in hand. It was beautiful.
Snoop also really took time to paint a picture of where he was at when making the record. He explained that "Gs Up, Hoes Down" had to be taken off the record due to sample clearance issues. He told the story of proposing "Ladi Dadi" to Dr. Dre: "When I was working on this album, Doggystyle, I told Dr. Dre I wanted to do something that'd never been done before. I wanted to redo this song I loved when I was a kid. And he said, 'Okay, but we gonna fuck with it.'"
By the whole crew exiting the stage after every few songs, the set had the feel of a theatrical play, divided into acts and narrated by the Greek chorus of video interludes. And yet it was when Snoop broke the fourth wall that the show carried most of its weight. "Who here really did buy Doggystyle when it came out?" he asked. "Who had it on cassette? Who had it on wax? Who had it on CD? Were CDs even out? I was scared of the CD, man, I had the motherfuckin' tape. Yeah. East side, G side."
Warren G performed "Regulate" to represent the non-Snoop hits of the era, and the whole Dogg Pound even performed the posse cut "Stranded on Death Row," from The Chronic. ("We wanted to show the world that we weren't just gangsta rappers, but that we were MCs.") And even though he ended with "Drop it Like It's Hot" and "I Wanna Rock," the set was a very well-done, heartfelt homage to a groundbreaking, bygone era.
"Doggystyle, man," Snoop mused, near the end. "This shit is crazy. All my people on stage right here? I'm havin' a moment right here."


text:
Overlooking the magnificent Glasshouse Mountains, Mount Mee is approximately 90 minutes drive north west of Brisbane and is part of the beautiful D'Aguilar Range. The delightfully bohemian village of Woodford is just 10 minutes drive to the north.
From on top of Mount Mee, expansive and picturesque views of seaside Caloundra and pristine Moreton Bay can be savoured.
The Mount Mee Forest Reserve contains huge expanses of rainforest and eucalypt forest and includes many picturesque bushwalks and four wheel drive tracks. Clear water creeks, lush rainforest canopies and stunning views make the Reserve a perfect place to unwind and get back to nature.
Bushwalkers can explore beautiful, open forests, scribbly gum forests, rainforest remnants, hoop pine plantations and cascading rainforest creeks. For an extra challenge, hike the Somerset trail and be rewarded with glorious views of Somerset and Wivenhoe Lakes.
History buffs can inspect the remains of an antique sawmill and take the Piccabeen Palm walk to learn about the area's forestry and logging history.
The area has a number of good camping spots with toilets, barbecues and firewood provided. Camping and four wheel drive permits are required.
With its rich volcanic soil and good rainfall, this area is also known for its coffee growing and wonderful variety of local cheeses. These gastronomic delights can be savoured at the local restaurants and eateries.
Several charming bed-and-breakfasts offer accommodation on Mount Mee with further accommodation options to be found at nearby Dayboro and Woodford.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


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I am seriously so proud of myself! Check out this before and after photo of my pantry- I painted it, transferred food to Mason jars and tupperwares, and now it looks sooooooo preeeeety :) I actually enjoy putting the groceries away!
I think I might be onto something... this whole "before and after" photo's thing- stay tuned as I tackle my house, one closet, wall, room at a time!
Oh- and if you haven't yet entered the From Frazzled to Focus Giveaway, Click Here to do so now!
Have a great week,


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This column is my soapbox, providing me the opportunity to sing the praises of an alternative lifestyle that some never give a passing thought. By default, I've become a home-school spokesperson.
This column is my soapbox, providing me the opportunity to sing the praises of an alternative lifestyle that some never give a passing thought. By default, I've become a home-school spokesperson.
I know there are readers who are stymied, wondering exactly how our days are colored. How do I know? I run into them at birthday parties and other classes and events. If you home school, you're familiar with them, too. They're the ones who look at you in awe and sometimes mystification. How do you know what to do? Are there any home-school guidelines?
At a recent birthday party for one of Zach's school friends, another stay-at-home-mom, whom I thoroughly enjoy encountering, shared that her 7-year-old son was desperately struggling in the classroom.
The environment she described was a mismatch for her more subdued child -- students chattering, fidgeting and overall distracting. He's losing focus with the overall one-size-fits-all, 25-to-a-room, teacher-to-student format. Feeling overwhelmed and lost, he is becoming more unfocused and falling far behind his peers.
My heart broke for the mom who painfully described her son's turmoil and mounting devastation. Not one to cavalierly offer solutions to acquaintances sharing something so obviously distressing, I thought long and hard before I suggested it, but then I did: "Do you ever think about home schooling?"
I could have predicted her answer. It's typical.
"Oh I couldn't do that. It's not right for our family," she politely replied.
The mere thought seemed daft. I'm not saying that I know all of her family stuff. There are a multitude of issues that could deter a parent from even considering the possibility, but I think more often than not, it's fear of the unknown. Where to begin? How to step outside the norm? No easy answers here, but as with most challenges, you just do it.
Taking a chance with home-schooling a struggling student seems worth the risk. If a trial-run fails, the child can always return to school.
Let love be the guiding force that takes everyone out of the dark and hopefully into a more joyful childhood and family life, where learning becomes as it should be: a wondrous journey together building confidence and knowledge.
Deb Adamson, who lives in Connecticut, is a home school mom who writes about the joys, trials and adventures of days teaching and learning with her 7-year-old son. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Milton is situated in Southern Ontario and is part of the GTA. It is centrally located on Highway 401 and Near Highways 407, 403, 410, 427, 400 and just 20 mins from Toronto Pearson International Airport. Originally named Mill Town, Milton was made a town in 1857 and is now part of the municipality of Halton. Milton became famous when it was announced in 2006 that it was the fastest growing community in Canada. Growth in Milton exploded following the opening up of new development when Milton expanded it water and waste facilities in the early part of the 21st Century. The population as of 2016 is approximately 110,128 with an estimated growth of 228,000 by 2031
Things to Do
Milton is located adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO bio-sphere reserve and boasts many important heritage areas. Milton has double the green space and recreational space than anywhere in the GTA. 5 large parks are operated by Conservation Halton with the town limits. Hikers and nature lovers enjoy the extensive walking and hiking paths on the Bruce Trail which extends from Niagara Falls to Tobermory. Crawford Lake is a meticulously maintained Native heritage museum where visitors can view a recreated Native village. Mountsberg, Rattlesnake Point also provide extensive outdoor activities and great views over the escarpment. The Glen Eden Ski and Snowboard Centre provides winter fun right in town and has an excellent ski school. The highlight of the Fall is the Milton Fall Fair which is now 60 years strong and features an agricultural show, livestock, a demolition derby and other traditional fall fair events.
Real Estate
When the "Big Pipe" projected was completed, bringing water to the town from Lake Ontario, the builders moved in, creating extensive new subdivisions around the town. Services have grown in Milton to serve the growing population. Milton has amongst the lowest residential and business property taxes in the GTA.


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FAQ - Rules for Posting at the Straight Dope Message Boards
This thread lists the Rules for posting on the SDMB. These are the Major Rules and the Important Ones: violations have serious consequences.
First, be sure to read the Registration Agreement
This post is basically a "table of contents" for this thread and these rules:
#01 = List of Rules
#02 = How and when do I report a post?
#03 = What's the policy on copyrights?
#04 = How do I know which forum to post in?
#05 = Are there any forbidden topics, like sex and drugs?
#06 = What happens to rules violators?
#07 = What are the rules about file-sharing software?
#08 = Must I post in English?
#09 = What links are permitted? What's "workplace safe"?
#10 = Are there any rules on insulting the other posters?
#11 = Can I modify other posters' quotes?
#12 = Can I edit my own post?
#13 = What's with ignore lists and buddy lists?
#14 = What are the rules on profile signatures?
#15 = What if I want to change my username?
You might also want to read the companion thread FAQ - Guidelines and Etiquette for Posting
and FAQ - Technical issues
[Note: much of this was written originally by Arnold Winkelried and TubaDiva, I've just re-organized it. There was no way to retain the original authorship posts.]
Last edited by engineer_comp_geek; 02-06-2016 at 01:28 PM. Reason: fixed link for registration agreement
When and how do I report a post?
Q: I see something posted on the message board that I think breaks the rules. What should I do?
A: Use the REPORT BAD POST button -- the little exclamation point in the red triangle in the upper right corner of each post. When you click on that button, you will see a box above a message that says
This doesn't have to be a long and complicated message: "spam" or "personal insult" could be enough. On the other hand, if you want something specific done, such as a thread title change, or if there's a personal insult hidden in a lonnnng post, then please be specific, to help save the moderator's time.
Since the message board is so active, and the moderators are unpaid volunteers, we appreciate any assistance that our members can give us. We can't be everywhere, we can't see everything, so we rely on you to report infractions of the rules.
Q: What happens next?
A: Using the REPORT function automatically sends emails to all the moderators in the forum where the problem post has been made. The moderators who receive the email will look at the post you've reported and decide what action, if any, is needed.
Q: What if I'm not sure if the person is breaking the rules or not?
A: Report the post anyway and let the moderators sort it out. We would much rather get a dozen reports that don't need acting on than have someone decide not to report a problem because they're not positive there's an actual violation of the rules.
Q: What should I do when I see someone "trolling" on the SDMB?
A: Do NOT publicly accuse another poster of trolling. (The only exception to this is in the forum called BBQ Pit where it is permissible to use the term "troll" as an insult.)
Accusations of trolling and similar misconduct are subject to staff discussion and a review of the poster's history. Trolling is an especially contentious issue, as it is inherently open to interpretation; "stupid" or naive beliefs can often be sincerely held. These discussions are private and disclosed only when actionable offenses are found; we do not want posters to feel persecuted.
As for the correct procedure, we prefer that you either report the post in question or PM a moderator with your perspective and cites. This is then forwarded to the mod loop. Please note that a short, coherent and well-cited PM is the best way to get your point across; we usually analyze just the facts and leave the poster's analysis/opinion out of the discussion.
Please note that while the moderators can appear unresponsive to inquiries, that's because moderator discussions can take days of back and forth. Most topics sent to the moderators are discussed, but occasionally yield no consensus or a decision to take no action. But we're always watching you!
Q: Doesn't that make me a tattletale?
A: The SDMB is a community, and we rely on all of our members to make it a community where people want to be. Since it's a community that's active around the clock, and since the moderators are unpaid volunteers, we appreciate any assistance that our members can give us. We can't be everywhere, we can't see everything, so we rely on you to let us know when there's something that needs attention. If you see someone being mugged on the street, calling the cops is NOT "being a tattletale."
Q: What do I do if there's something that needs action from a moderator, but it's not a rules violation?
A: There are other reasons for reporting posts besides rules violations, a lot of them pretty minor. Examples include:
• A thread started in one forum that should be moved to a different forum
• A thread with open discussion of plot points in a book, movie, or TV show that needs a spoiler warning in the thread title
• A thread with a confusing or misleading title, or one that would benefit from a "TMI" (too much information) warning
If you see a thread like this, use the REPORT button exactly as described above -- it's not just for rules violations! However, please be specific about what you think needs to be done (the mods won't always know automatically what title change is needed or what should be covered by spoiler tags.)
Q: What happens if I want to change or correct something I said -- can I report my own posts?
A: If you want to edit your own post (for example, if you made a coding error), you have five-minutes after posting during which you can do so. If you miss that time limit, you can REPORT your own post and explain to the moderator exactly what you'd like changed. Note that moderators will not accept edits that are total revisions; once you've posted, you've posted. But we will be happy to help with typos, mis-coding, etc.
You can also use the REPORT THIS POST function to ask that a thread be closed. To do this, click REPORT for the OP (original post; the first post in the thread) and give your reasons for wanting the thread closed.
Last edited by Gfactor; 08-24-2010 at 05:20 PM. Reason: Minor rearrangements and updates -- CKDH
What's the policy on copyrights?
Our sponsor, the Chicago READER, has a strict policy on respecting copyrights and copyrighted material. They don't want their stuff used by others without permission, and so we don't use stuff created by others without permission. Basically, The policy is : don't do it.
The rules of the Straight Dope Message Board are enforced by volunteer moderators who are not all legal experts in these matters. So we offer a set of guidelines that may be more conservative or stringent than the law in your jurisdiction, but that we think may help avoid the copyright violation issue. In this as in many other matters we depend not only on moderator enforcement, but also ask for the cooperation and goodwill of our posters.
Suggested guidelines:
(1) If you are going to quote something from an article, quote less than 5% of the source. Include a link to the article if the article is available online.
(2) Only quote directly in very rare circumstances. Instead of repeating a source word-for-word, read the article, attempt to understand it, and rephrase what it says in your own words. Again, include a link to the source if the source is available online. Otherwise indicate a reference to the source (e.g. Science News, issue x, pages yy-zz).
(3) Minor changes in quoted text are permitted, as long as such changes are clearly identified (e.g., ellipses ... for omitted material, square brackets for added material, etc.) Changes that alter the tenor or interject editorial comment are not permitted. If you want to comment on a quote, do it outside the quotation marks or quote tags.
(4) If you're quoting from short works -- such as song lyrics, poems, short prose, etc: please quote only what is sufficient to make your point. Generally, that would be a few lines at most. If you want to refer to long passages, provide a hyperlink to a site that has rights to reproduce the material.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 10-13-2008 at 04:01 PM. Reason: Minor grammar -- CKDH
How do I know which forum to post in?
Basically, read the forum descriptions. We try to separate discussions and threads, based on the type of discussion (rather than the subject matter, generally speaking.) The distinction between forums can be somewhat subjective and a bit fuzzy.
PLEASE NOTE: It is generally not a big deal if you inadvertently post in the wrong forum, a moderator will move it. We have the forums as a convenience to other posters. Having your thread moved is not a slap in the face, nor a warning, unless you're doing it persistently.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 09-04-2006 at 06:47 AM.
Are there any forbidden subjects, like sex and drugs?
You are allowed discussion on almost any topic, but...Note that the Registration Agreement prohibits:
Drugs that are illegal in the US: You may discuss the effects of drugs, but not where to obtain them. Limited discussion of past use of drugs is OK, but discussion of current use is not. Please include a disclaimer that the drug is illegal in the US.
Sex: The medical approach is OK, the Penthouse approach is not. If you're not sure, err on the side of caution and/or contact a staff member before you post.
Copyright violations: Are NOT OK, under any circumstances. For copyright rules, see Post #3 in this thread... and see the Registration Agreement for "illegal acts." We consider that discussions of P2P and file-sharing are pretty much discussions of how to evade copyright laws. The excuse "I just want to download public domain movies and Linux distributions" is lame. Very.
Many of the services that used to operate illegally/without paying royalties are now in compliance and so discussion of these services would be allowed, they're legitimate. But we do not want to see recommendations of companies and programs still remaining that operate in violation of copyright law.
How to get around the law: Discussions about legal methods (avoidance) are acceptable; discussions about illegal methods (evasion) are not. Again, see the Registration Agreement.
Calls to Action: Threads calling for folks to take actions (political, charitable, personal, etc) are prohibited unless there is prior approval from a moderator or administrator. Do not instigate members to take action for or against any issue or entity. Do not post phone numbers, email addresses or any other personally identifiable information of any entity in this regard. Exceptions for valid and noble causes may be made with the advance permission of a moderator or administrator.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 09-04-2006 at 07:05 PM.
What happens to rules violators?
Depends on the rules broken, whether the offenses are repeated, etc. Basically, persistent and continued rules violations may result in posting privileges being suspended or lost.
If you break a rule, a Moderator will generally warn you about it. Warnings can be serious (usually called "official" or capital-W "Warning," usually posted in the thread)... but often emailed as well, so be sure your email address is up-to-date.
An individual warning isn't usually the end of the world, although that depends a bit on what rule is broken. A well-meaning poster will suffer no further consequences. Repeated offenses or a consistent pattern of rule violations may result in a 30-day suspension or banning. Warnings usually drop off the radar after a year or two; we're looking for persistent repeated offenses or patterns, not for the occasional goof that we all make from time to time.
If a paying member and reasonably long-time poster is suspended or banned, we usually announce this in the About This Message Board forum. We try to strike a balance between informing our members about what's happened, and respecting the privacy of the individual. If you don't see a thread in this forum with an explanation, then the person was either a sock puppet, a spammer, or a banned person trying to sneak back in.
Also, please remember that you may not be seeing all there is to see. If someone had four or five inoffensive posts and is banned, you probably didn't see the 20 spam posts that led to a porno site -- they'd be "disappeared" along with the poster.
While we post the reasons for banning a long-time poster, we really don't want to post reasons for sock puppets, banned persons trying to sneak back in, or spammers -- we don't want them to have more publicity. The publicity is what they want. If they don't get it, maybe they'll go away and leave us alone.
If you're dying of curiosity and really MUST know or you won't be able to sleep nights, then email a Moderator. We'll be happy to tell you offline.
(* - A "sock puppet" or "sock" is a person with multiple usernames, including "repeat guests." A spammer is a person trying to sell things or just annoy with multiple posts leading to some website of no (or harmful) consequence. A banned person trying to sneak back in is a banned person trying to sneak back in. These are all violations of our registration agreement, and incompatible with the sense of community that we're trying to build.)
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 09-04-2006 at 07:06 PM.
What are the rules about file-sharing software?
File-sharing software (used to distribute files over a peer-to-peer file-sharing network) still has nebulous legal status in the United States of America (the location of the parent company behind the Straight Dope Message Board), and is often used for copyright violations.
At the SDMB we take copyright violations seriously and this is an issue close to the heart for the owners of the SDMB (the Chicago Reader). For this reason, we ask our posters to refrain from discussions on how to use file-sharing software at the SDMB.
Debates on the legality of this practice are allowed, but do not ask questions of the type "How do I get this peer-to-peer sharing software to work?" or "Can someone help me find a copy of (song or movie clip) using peer-to-peer sharing software?"
Must I post in English?
The Straight Dope Message Board is owned by a publication based in the USA. The common language of all the moderators of this message board is English. For that reason we ask that all posts on this message board be made in English. The staff members need to be able to read and understand posts made at the message board.
Exceptions include requests for help with translation, explanation of foreign language words or expressions, foreign words or phrases that have come into English, etc.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 09-02-2006 at 05:29 AM.
What links are permitted? What's "Workplace Safe"?
We allow links to almost everything except things that would violate our other rules (for example: pornography, advertising, instructions on how to break the law.)
In accordance with the Registration Agreement:
(1) Links should be described (in your text, outside the link itself), so that people know what they're clicking on; and
(2) all direct links should be "workplace safe" (the "two click" rule)
In more detail:
When posting links, please be courteous to your fellow posters: describe what you are linking to. It does not have to be a lengthy description, but "See this political cartoon" is better than "This is funny!"
If your link is primary to the topic when starting a thread, please explain not only what the link is, but why you are linking there. Don't just post a link to a news story or video and expect people to start a conversation about it.
INCORRECT: "Ain't this cool?"
CORRECT: "This looks like the coolest electronic cat-feeder ever!"
This means in terms of sounds as well as visual content. A site that is not safe for workplace is sometimes called "NSFW." Note that being "workplace safe" doesn't just mean that there's no nudity or explicit visible sex. A page with a flashing banner in large, bright colors that says "Hot Nubile Young Teens" would NOT be workplace safe. The criteria is: if your boss walked by while that was on your screen, would it cause her/him to stop and stare, and would it potentially cause problems at work? If yes, then don't provide a direct link.
Please understand: we're not trying to impose censorship. We just don't want anyone inadvertently clicking on a link to something that could be career-limiting if their boss happens to walk by. Lots of our members read the boards during work hours, and it's easy to accidentally click a link when you're scrolling or mouse-over-ing or whatever. We basically don't care where you link as long as no one can get there accidentally.
The goal is to set things up so that no one gets to such a website unintentionally; it requires TWO clicks, rather than just one click, to get to a site that is not safe for workplace. That's our two-click rule.
EDITED WARNING: It appears that a software hiccup means that the noparse-command can be undone. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS APPROACH.
You type: [noparse][url]http://www.straightdope.com[/url][/noparse]
You get: [url]http://www.straightdope.com[/url]
- Use spoiler tags [spoiler][/spoiler] around the link. This will hide the link under a spoiler black-out, and those who want to go there will have to click twice (once to SHOW the spoiler and once on the link.) Please be sure that there is some alert OUTSIDE THE SPOILER TAGS to let folks know that the link is not workplace safe. Again, the quote tags will preserve the spoiler tags.
You type: Link to a nude picture, not workplace safe: [spoiler]http://www.marilynmonroe.com/about/photos.html[/spoiler]
You get: Link to a nude picture, not workplace safe
Note the warning is OUTSIDE the spoiler tags. And note that spoiler tags can double-nest, for added security.
- Deliberately mess the link -- for example, putting in extra spaces or an extra character. Anyone who wants to go to the site can do so, just by cutting and pasting and removing the extra bit; but no one can click there inadvertently.
- Use an indirect approach, requiring a second link. For instance, you post a link to some innocuous entry screen or home page, from which the person clicks on some button (told to click on Photo 342, say) to get to the NSFW material.
- It is also possible (but not desirable) to turn off the button below the entry screen, "Automatically parse links in text." That way, someone will have to activate the link first, so that anyone going there will be doing so deliberately. This is not a recommended approach, since if anyone quotes that prior post, the link will be re-activated. Use of either (a) the [noparse] and [/noparse] tags or (b) [spoiler] and [/spoiler] is better.
Please warn people about slow-downloading sites
When linking to a Web page featuring video or audio, or a large file such as a .PDF, please make a note of it in your post so readers aren't caught unawares by the sound or by a document that may slow down their computers. Readers are advised to use a mouse-over to preview links before clicking.
No jack-in-the-box links
We're tired of seeing that site with a picture that has a face jumping up with a scream, or similar. If you're going to post a link to that site, or another site that is intended to startle/annoy by a sudden sound/image, check with a staff member first.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 09-07-2014 at 06:58 AM. Reason: minor grammar
Are there any rules on insulting other posters?
Generally, you may not directly insult or personally attack other posters. The strictness of this rule varies a bit by forum, but the basic rule is that you should attack what the other person says, not the other person. This rule applies to all insults, including jokes and quotes from books & movies, as others may not get the joke. Using smilies (e.g., "You're a jerk ") does not make insults okay.
The only exception is the forum called The BBQ Pit, where flaming other posters is permitted, although even the Pit does have rules. Please read the Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit before posting there.
Hate speech directed against any race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or gender is a violation of our rules in any forum, as outlined in the Registration Agreement.
And please note the difference between an insult directed against a person and an insult against a large group.
ACCEPTABLE: "Anyone who likes the music of Enema is soulless and lacks taste in music."
NOT ACCEPTABLE: "You like Enema's music? Then you're soulless and have no taste in music."
Last edited by Gary Robson; 10-19-2011 at 01:45 PM. Reason: Clarification (changes underlined)
Can I modify other poster's quotes?
Falsely attributing a quote to another SDMB user, or modifying another's post in order to cast him/her in a bad light, is grounds for revocation of your posting privileges. We allow parody quotes under certain conditions. Here are the permissible options:
a. Quote attributed to real SDMB user. Quote must be accurate, whether displayed using [QUOTE] tags or ordinary quotation marks. Normal editorial rules apply: that is, you may indicate omitted portions of a quote by the use of ellipses "..." or devices such as [snip]. You may add text to clarify a word using square brackets (e.g., "her [the sister's] friend"), but you may not add editorial comments or edit a quote so as to change the substantive meaning; nor may you substitute text such as "some blather" or "more nonsense" inside the [QUOTE] tags or quotation marks. This applies to all forums including the Pit.
b. Unattributed quote (no name). Unattributed parody quotes are permitted in all forums provided they don't violate other SDMB rules.
c. Parody attribution. In the Pit only, parody quotes may be attributed to a parody username, provided that (a) the parody username is obviously satirical - we'll be the judge of obviousness; and (b) no other rules are violated. Quotes attributed to parody usernames are not permitted in other forums.
- The mods don't routinely check quotes for accuracy. If you see a violation of the above rules, please report it.
- The above rules apply to quotes of SDMB users only. We encourage accurate quoting of off-board individuals in a serious discussion; links are recommended. If it becomes apparent you're derailing a discussion with fake or misleading quotes of off-board individuals, we reserve the right to take action.
Last edited by Ed Zotti; 03-09-2018 at 12:02 PM. Reason: Rule revised by EZ
Can I edit my own post?
We allow you to edit your own post within a five-minute window of posting. We've felt obliged to put in a time limit to avoid abuse, such as re-writing history. What you've said is what you've said.
If you've made a serious typographical error -- bad coding, say, or typing "now" when you meant "not" -- and the five minute window is gone, then email a Moderator. (Or, REPORT the post above or below yours, and be sure to be clear what you mean.) We'll be glad to fix it for you.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 01-30-2009 at 08:17 AM. Reason: Minor typo -- CKDH
What's with ignore lists and buddy lists?
Ignore list - After much deliberation, we decided to keep the ignore list (and buddy list) available to members. Part of the reason we were hesitant is because we didn't want to see flame wars caused by PosterX telling PosterY "you can say whatever you want to me, I don't care because you're on my ignore list."
Hinting that any particular person or group of people is on your ignore list is very strictly frowned upon. Revealing the usernames of people on your ignore list is forbidden at this board outside of the forum called BBQ Pit
Buddy Lists - Basically, the same rules apply. Try to be discreet about who's on your buddy list, and don't use it as a tool to irritate / hurt the feelings of other members.
For the curious: there is no way to tell (for example in your options screen) if you are on someone's ignore or buddy list.
Last edited by C K Dexter Haven; 10-25-2009 at 10:19 AM. Reason: Added BBQ Pit exception to revealing ignore lists -- CKDH
What are the rules on profile signatures?
Who can use signatures?
Anybody can type a signoff at the end of a post, or may have signatures set up in their profiles (to set one up, click "User CP" on the menu bar at the top of each page, and then choose "Edit Signature" from the menu on the left).
How long can my profile signature be?
Your signature should not be more than 4 lines in length (including blank lines) when the browser window is seen on an average size monitor. If your signature is deemed too long, then a staff member may ask you to change it and/or change it for you.
Can my signature have links to my blog or website in it?
Provisionally, yes.
Are there limits on what I can link to in my signature?
The link must be to a site you have a personal interest in or association with; you can't act as someone else's agent to post links. Links to sites promoting porn, criminal enterprises, or other ventures that in our opinion are at odds with the Straight Dope's ignorance-fighting mission are strictly forbidden.
How many times should I include my signature in a thread?
Once per thread should be sufficient for people to admire the pearl of wisdom included in your signature. If you post multiple times in a thread it is recommended that you only include the signature in one of your posts.
What if I copy and paste the same text at the end of each of my posts? That's not a profile signature.
As mentioned above, text included at the end of all your posts is indistinguishable from a profile signature and should follow the rules for profile signatures and links. However, see below about simple signoffs.
Are there any other restrictions?
Please do not use signatures that distract users with large fonts, flashy colors, and other oddities. Signatures are meant to make a statement without taking away from the discussion in the thread.
I like to sign my name at the end of each of my posts. Is that OK?
You can do a simple signoff of the form:
[complimentary close - optional]
[your name]
... at the end of each post. By "complimentary close" we mean some brief valedictory such as "regards," "peace," etc. Please don't push the envelope.
Last edited by engineer_comp_geek; 10-31-2015 at 12:21 AM. Reason: Update who can use signatures
What if I want to change my username? or forgot my password?
If you want to change your username, or if you forgot your password, please please please do NOT just register under a new username. Contact any Moderator, and we'll be glad to assist you in getting your name changed. A list of moderators may be found here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showgroups.php
You may also navigate to this list by scrolling down towards the bottom of the Straight Dope Message Board's main page and clicking on the View Forum Leaders link.
We want people to be responsible for their posts. There is history and there are consequences to what you post. We do not permit "sock puppets" for exactly that reason -- they are a way of not taking responsibility for what you post, and of trying to avoid consequences. That's not acceptable here.
It's similar with name changes. If you re-register under a different name, you've severed the contact with the old name. That's not acceptable. We're happy to change your name and it will reflect throughout your history.
Well, we're happy to change your name once. Twice, you'd need a damn good reason. We're not about to change your name every other week.
Last edited by engineer_comp_geek; 06-06-2016 at 12:41 AM. Reason: updated info
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Ukraine's once deeply controversial bid to join NATO appears to have died a little-noticed bureaucratic death this week, as incoming President Viktor Yanukovich moved to abolish a commission that had been overseeing the country's preparations for eventual entry into the Western military alliance.
Monday's presidential decree scrapping the commission came as Mr. Yanukovich was meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev amid his second official visit to Moscow since being elected in February. Another commission, whose brief was to promote Euro-Atlantic integration, was cut along with a few dozen other advisory state bodies associated with the Western-leaning former president Viktor Yushchenko.
Experts say there's little surprise in the action, since Yanukovich was elected, at least partly, on a platform of repairing relations with Moscow, which had been so infuriated by Mr. Yushchenko's pro-NATO tilt that Russia refused to send an ambassador to Kiev for almost two years.
"It is definitely not the policy of Yanukovich to join NATO," says Oleksandr Sushko, research director of the independent Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in Kiev.
"Yanukovich's policy is not to move in any direction, but for Ukraine to be a kind of 'bridge' between East and West. The danger is that we are moving into a gray zone, where the security status of Ukraine will become ambiguous."
Moving West since 1991
Since Ukraine achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, most of its leaders have upheld a strategy of gradually integrating the France-sized country of 48 million into the European community of nations. But following the 2004 Orange Revolution, which brought Yushchenko to power pledging to put the country on a fast-track to NATO membership, the issue became a major wedge between Moscow and Kiev.
Though opinion polls over the years have shown Ukrainian majorities favor the idea of eventually joining the European Union, NATO membership has never commanded popular support.
"Our latest poll on this was in October 2009, when 17 percent of Ukrainians supported joining NATO and 53 percent were opposed," says Vladimir Paniotto, director of the independent Kiev International Institute of Sociology. "We've polled on this regularly over the years, and majorities have always been against joining NATO."
Following Russia's 2008 summer war with Georgia, another NATO aspirant, enthusiasm for admitting any more post-Soviet states into the alliance notably cooled, particularly in western Europe.
Finances push Ukraine East
As financial crisis struck last year, hammering Ukraine's economy, Ukrainian voters became even less interested in geopolitical issues and more concerned about fixing relations with Russia, Ukraine's top trading partner.
"I don't believe that Yanukovich is thinking in any grand terms, such as positioning Ukraine as a neutral or non-aligned international player," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading Moscow foreign policy journal. "I think his key goal is to save the Ukrainian economy from collapse, and for this he needs help from all sides, including Moscow. Meanwhile, you don't hear any European countries pressing to have the question of Ukrainian NATO membership put back on the table. Yanukovich is simply behaving in a pragmatic way," he says.
However, the agenda for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Ukraine next week does include a meeting of a new parliamentary group on Russian-Ukrainian security cooperation, and some Russian experts say Ukraine may be moving toward a formal declaration of neutrality.
"Ukraine is turning away from NATO and correcting its foreign policy," says Kiril Frolov, an expert with the official Institute of Commonwealth of Independent States Studies in Moscow. "It is moving toward neutral status, and the next step will be a law to establish that."
Mr. Sushko, a longtime advocate of Ukraine's accession to NATO, says he worries that a drift toward Russia could end up undermining Ukraine's democracy.
"Yanukovich and the people around him are not noted for their strong commitment to democratic values, and it's a big question what might happen if Ukraine's economy continues to deteriorate," he says. "This is certainly a chance for Russia to erode the democratic choices that Ukraine has made."


text:
Sea Dogs holding 20th season celebration
Many former players, managers to attend game
The Portland Sea Dogs will celebrate their 20th season Thursday evening at Hadlock.
The Sea Dogs played their first home on April 18, 1994.
The team said 11 former players and managers will be at the ballpark and represent every team from 1994 through 2008.
Click here for pictures of the Sea Dogs 2013 roster.
Players expected to attend from when the Sea Dogs were affiliated with the Florida Marlins include catcher Charles Johnson, outfielders Fletcher Bates, Glenn Reeves and Pookie Wilson, and infielders Heath Honeycutt and Drew Niles.
Red Sox affiliated alumni expected to attend include pitchers Ryan Cameron and Marc Deschenes, catcher John Nathans, outfielder Jay Johnson, and manager Todd Claus.
The Sea Dogs take on the New Britain Rock Cats at 6 p.m.


text:
While classical (i.e. ancient Greek and Roman) art was influential on western art and architecture from the time of the Renaissance (c1400-1600) on, it received fresh vigor during the eighteenth century. The discovery of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1748, and the subsequent aggressive excavation programs provided new material to inspire artists. Classical art began to have an impact on fashion in the mid- to late 1790s, inspired by the clothing seen on women in ancient Greek vase paintings.
Adapting a narrower silhouette for women's attire and simplified hairstyles (based too on the ancient world) was in part a reaction to the ridiculous extremes of the preceding two decades. That was the period epitomized by Marie Antoinette and the ridiculous side hoops, impossibly corseted diaphragm, and hairdos that were piled up so high they often needed to be on a collapsible wire cage in order to get through doorways. In comparison to the fashions of the 1770s and 1780s, some critics of the new fashion accused women of being scantily clad. Whatever the opinion about the fashion, the rising waistline and simplified hair styles amounted to an emancipation of women from the artifice of the previous period.
After the success of the American Revolution (1776-1783) and French Revolution (1789-1799), designers in France (already then considered the fashion capital of the West) consciously borrowed elements from classical antiquity for women's fashions. Of course the French experiment in democracy ended when Napoleon became emperor (1805), however, French fashions persisted in the neoclassical style.
The style was eagerly adapted throughout Western Europe and, especially, in America. Americans viewed their new country as the first true democracy since antiquity, so even classically inspired fashion was seen as appropriate. Because the style flourished during Napoleon's reign, it is often called the Empire Style. This beautiful, simple, and elegant dress is from Philadelphia, the most influential city in the early American republic. The Empire Style was loosely based on the ancient Greek chiton, essentially a rectangle of material that was pinned or belted at the waist and buttoned at the shoulder. (see the caryatid from the Erechtheum in Athens). The high waist and narrow silhouette persisted in women's clothing into the 1820s, although the train disappeared around 1810.
Correlations to Davis Programs: Explorations in Art 1: 5.30; Explorations in Art 2: 6.35; Explorations in Art 3: 6.31; Explorations in Art 5: 2.10; A Personal Journey: 3, A Community Connection: 3.1; A Global Pursuit: 6.1; The Visual Experience: 3.3, 12.4, 16.3; Discovering Art History 12.1


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The organizations were responding to a draft national patient safety plan issued in December, based on a 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report about the role of health IT in delivering safer care. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) within HHS took public comments on the draft through Monday.
While the IOM said there needed to be an independent body tasked with tracking patient safety and adverse events linked to electronic health records (EHRs) and other health IT, the ONC plan dismissed that idea. CHIME commended ONC for taking a "light regulatory approach" in its proposal.
"In particular, we support the notion that pre-existing patient safety efforts across government programs and the private sector -- including those sponsored by providers, vendors and healthcare safety oversight bodies -- be used as foundational leverage to strengthen health IT and patient safety. While there certainly needs to be more coordination between agencies within HHS regarding health IT and patient safety, we do not believe that the creation of an entity, similar to the National Transportation Safety Board, is necessary," CHIME said in its comments.
[ Is analytics the key to improving healthcare quality? See 7 Big Data Solutions Try To Reshape Healthcare. ]
CHIME said a distinct entity would wall off health IT safety from other aspects of patient safety. "Creating a safety reporting silo that only focuses on health IT would be duplicative, increase unnecessary reporting burden and also result in the failure to capture many relevant events," the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based group said in its official comments.
"The ONC plan makes more sense to us in addressing the concerns of the IOM," Jeffery Smith, CHIME's assistant director of advocacy, explained to InformationWeek Healthcare. He said the organization liked the fact that ONC wants to use established "policy mechanisms" and programs, not create a separate entity and a new bureaucracy.
CHIME said, however, ONC may have "somewhat overstated" its role in assuring the safety of health IT. "We believe that ONC is properly suited to help convene and coordinate other agencies inside HHS in developing an oversight framework for health IT safety," the group said, suggesting that federal agencies merely participate in a "stakeholder-driven organization" to monitor the safety of health IT systems. There already is legislative authority to create an independent "voluntary consensus body" that could work in concert with the existing network of patient safety organizations, the CIOs noted.
A lot is contingent upon the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, a 2005 law that established a network of patient safety organizations and a mechanism for confidential reporting of events and hazards that compromise safety, according to Smith. "I do think that a large part of what we liked [about the draft plan] could be done without further legislation," he said.
In its own comments, the AHA praised ONC for encouraging EHR vendors to take responsibility for design, implementation and safe usage of their systems and for calling on vendors to establish a voluntary code of conduct. The hospital group suggested the code should discourage the practice of including "hold harmless" clauses in contracts that limit the liability of vendors should EHRs cause medical errors or other adverse events.
But the AHA also called on ONC to develop a "single, national approach to matching patients to their records." The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) instructed HHS to create a national patient identifier system, but Congress voted in 1999 not to fund implementation of national IDs after privacy advocates complained.
The AHA framed its argument not in the form of an ID, rather in the context of a master patient index that would be central to health information exchange. "The inability to match patients across silos raises safety concerns about mismatches -- incorrectly matching patients, or missing a match that should have been made. In addition, without a single, national approach to patient matching, hospitals and health systems are forced to expend significant resources on expensive, proprietary solutions to develop master patient indexes that apply only to that particular hospital or health system's patients," the hospital group stated in its comments.
ONC stated in its December draft that: "The accurate and efficient matching of patients to their health information is critical to ensuring patient safety." CHIME lauded ONC for acknowledging the problem, but did not offer a specific means of achieving the goal.
Federal Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements will make your medical organization more competitive -- if they don't drive you off the deep end. Also in the new, all-digital Meaningful Mania Part 2 issue of InformationWeek Healthcare: As a nation, we're falling short of the goal of boosting efficiency and saving money with health IT. (Free with registration.)


text:
Posted 8 years ago
(153 items)
This is a Vietnam Era Mine Detector in the Original Case. I'm not sure of the exact year but was told it was used during the Vietnam War.
I guess it's complete, probably will not get a chance to use it. If you know more about it, would like to hear from you.


text:
Add filters:
Use filters to refine the search results.
Results 1-1 of 1 (Search time: 0.003 seconds).
- previous
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Item hits:
Date issued
- 1 2018
Use filters to refine the search results.
|Issue Date
|3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope Project: Completion and first results
|Kumar, Brijesh; Omar, A; Maheswar, G; Pandey, A. K; Sagar, R; Uddin, W; Sanwal, B. B; Bangia, T; Kumar, T. S; Yadav, S; Sahu, S; Pant, J; Reddy, B. K; Gupta, A. C; Chand, H; Pandey, J. C; Joshi, M. K; Jaiswar, M; Nanjappa, N; Purushottam; Yadav, R. K. S; Sharma, S; Pandey, S. B; Joshi, S; Joshi, Y. C; Lata, S; Mehdi, B. J; Misra, K; Singh, M


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How to get your entry in by 6 November
1. Join the new community
Join the new Microsoft Educator Community at: https://education.microsoft.com/ (if you already had a profile on the Microsoft Educator Network you will be able to move your details across to the new site). Create your profile.
2. Find put more
Find out more about the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert programme here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/educators/miee/default.aspx(if you are not able to access this link – please join the Microsoft Educator Community first)
3. Nominate yourself
If you think you've got what it takes to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert – fill in the self-nomination form here by 30 October 2015: http://aka.ms/mienomination
4. Have your online file ready
As part of this online application form you will be asked to provide a link to an online document, a Sway, Microsoft Mix, online video that:
o Tells the adjudicators why you consider yourself to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert
o Describes a lesson you have taught in which you have incorporated Microsoft technologies in innovative ways.
o Explains how do you think being an MIE Expert will impact your teaching?
4. Find out more about the competition
To find out more about this amazing competition visit these links:
- Sway on the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert process: https://sway.com/333K2FD7bTzPlXbg
- YouTube video on 'What does it mean to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlqK3Nho9YU&feature=youtu.be


text:
AfriGeneas Genealogy and History Forum Archive
Re: Death Certificate Question
In Response To: Re: Death Certificate Question ()
Terribly sorry I tried to help!
Yes I know you want to know Will PARENTS, but sometimes death certificates are not always available to tell us parents names....sometimes screening families in the census will find parents of the person in question.
Best of luck
Messages In This Thread


text:
I think we agree on: * lose "lifecycle" statement. * use MEP in the description of the pattern example Still to be discussed: * If a MEP does not have an identifier, is it still a mep? I think so and therefor suggest "may have" instead of "has" * I also think the definition may be circular if choreorgraphy language can use any mep to change state. That is to say that the signal to change state in a choreography language should be a MEP (not a message). If that is true, then the MEP used must not rely upon a choreography in its definition (I think). Dave -----Original Message----- From: email@example.com [mailto:email@example.com] Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 10:47 AM To: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: RE: MEP text From: Dave Hollander <firstname.lastname@example.com> To: email@example.com Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 09:04:47 -0700 Subject: RE: MEP text Thanks Mark. I have one big concern. > a message exchange pattern may be expressed > in a choreography description language. I fear that this may end up in circular difinition. I expect that Choreography will need to ground upon the definition MEP's. It would only be circular if we said that choreography was subsumed by MEPs, which it is not. The way I see it, MEPs talk in terms of the messages exchanged at a a rather atomic binding/operation level. Choreography builds on the foundation that the MEPs provide. Since one-way messages can also be simple MEPs in their own right, you can potentially express MEPs such as request-response in a choreography language. You would not typically want to do so for things like the SOAP HTTP request-response binding, but you might use choreography to describe an asynchronous request-response rendezvous that uses a SOAP module for callbacks. I am assuming that MEPs describe the arrows in the diagram, not the entire diagram. If not, wouldn't it be clearer to use the word MEP in (2) and (3)? eg: B then uses an MEP to send a separate ... Yeah, since an MEP is a message and its response(s), I was using message and MEP rather interchangeable in (2) and (3). That could be tightened up. ------------------------------ A------------>B \ | \ (3) | (2) \ V --------->C In this pattern: (1) node A uses an MEP (possibly request-response) to communicate initially with B. (2) B then sends a separate, but related message to C. (3) Node A sends another message to C but gets a reply only after C has processed (2). ----------------------------------------------------- I also have a few minor concerns: I inherited both of the following clauses from the original text and left them in. > a message exchange pattern has > a unique identifier There may some merit in keeping this, particularly if the WSDL group uniquely identifies its various patterns. Shouldn't that be "may have"? > a message exchange pattern is > the life cycle of a message exchange I would just as soon lose this one altogether. Is "life cycle" defined somewhere? I doubt there is any widespread understanding of a precise difinition for life cycle. I know I would have difficulty defining when the life cycle ends for a "message exchange". In one sense, the message exchange within this wg will span the entire existance of the WG. I would make the same assumption in thinking about two agents and their message exchanges. daveh Mark Jones AT&T -----Original Message----- From: Mark Jones [mailto:email@example.com] Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 8:49 AM To: email@example.com Subject: MEP text Per my action item to flesh out section 2.2.22 on MEPs, here is a new synthesis of my January f2f MEP text with the current doc structure. It includes a discussion of MEPs at both the binding/operation level and the choreography level. It also includes both the SOAP and WSDL perspectives on MEPs. Finally, there is an example to motivate the choreography issues and a stab at a layering discussion. Some of the material can be moved elsewhere for editorial purposes. Mark Jones AT&T ================================================================ 2.2.22 Message Exchange Pattern (MEP) 220.127.116.11 Summary A message exchange pattern is a minimal set of messages, together with their sender and receivers, that constitutes a single use of a service. 188.8.131.52 Relationships to other elements a message exchange pattern is set of messages between agents that corresponds to a single instantiation of a service a message exchange pattern is a feature of the architecture a message exchange pattern has a unique identifier a message exchange pattern is the life cycle of a message exchange a message exchange pattern describes the temporal and causal relationships, if any, of multiple messages exchanged in conformance with the pattern. a message exchange pattern describes the normal and abnormal termination of any message exchange conforming to the pattern. a message exchange pattern may be expressed in a choreography description language. a message exchange pattern may realize message correlation a message exchange pattern may describe a service invocation. 220.127.116.11 Description Distributed applications in a Web services architecture communicate via message exchanges. A Message Exchange Pattern (MEP) is a template that establishes a pattern for the exchange of (one-way) messages between agents. These message exchanges are logically factored into patterns that may compose at different levels. These patterns can be described by state machines that indicate the flow of the message, the handling of faults that may arise, and the correlation of messsages. At the SOAP messaging level, an MEP refers to an exchange of messages in various invoking-response patterns. Each message at this level may travel across multiple transports en route to its destination. A message and its response(s) are correlated, either implicitly in the underlying protocol (e.g., request-response in HTTP) or by other correlation techniques implemented at the binding level. The exchanges may be synchronous or asynchronous. An asynchronous exchange involves some form of rendezvous to associate the message and its responses, typically due to separate invocations of the underlying transport or to long response time intervals. Web service description languages at the level of WSDL view MEPs from the perspective of a particular service node. A simple request-reponse MEP, for example, appears as an incoming message which invokes an operation and an associated outgoing message with a reply. Extremely simple applications based on single message exchanges may be adequately characterized at the operation level. More complex applications require multiple, related message exchanges; choreography describes patterns where the units of communication are themselves instances of MEPs. Especially at this higher level of abstraction, the communicating nodes are seen as peers which play various roles in more complex applications. These choreographic patterns form the communication structure of the application. Consider the following simple structure: (1) A------------>B \ | \ (3) | (2) \ V --------->C In this pattern: (1) node A uses an MEP (possibly request-response) to communicate initially with B. (2) B then sends a separate, but related message to C. (3) Node A sends another message to C but gets a reply only after C has processed (2). The example makes it clear that the overall pattern can't be described from the perspective of any single node. The pattern involves constraints and relationships among the various messages. It also illuminates the fact that exchange (1) is in in-out MEP from the perspective of node B, and mirrored by an out-in MEP from the perspective of node A. Finally, an actual application instantiates this communication pattern and completes the picture by adding computation at A, B and C to carry out application-specific operations. The following stack roughly captures the typical layering described above: application | | (application instantiates some choreographic structure | and provides message content) V choreography | | (application + choreography yields an XML Infoset, | attachments, and messaging features including the | MEP) V message transport binding | | (the binding produces a serialization, implements | required features, manages MEP-level coordination | for associating request/responses, etc.) V transfer/transport protocol It is instructive to consider to consider the kinds of fault reporting that occur in such a layering. Consider a fault at the transport protocol level. This transport level may itself be able to manage certain faults (e.g., re-tries), but it may also simply report the fault to the binding level. Similarly the binding level may manage the fault (e.g., by re-initiating the underlying protocol) or may report a SOAP fault. The choreography and application layers may be intertwined or separated depending on how they are architected. There is also no rigid distinction between the choreography and binding layers; binding-level MEPs are essentially simple choreographies. Conceptually, the choreographic level can enforce constraints on message order, maintain state consistency, communicate choreographic faults to the application, etc. in ways that transcend particular bindings and transports.Received on Friday, 27 June 2003 13:44:01 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 23:05:53 UTC


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Clients who have purchased variable annuity products containing lifetime guarantees need to watch their mail in the upcoming weeks and months because a recent study by Moody's indicates that insurance companies issuing these guarantees will soon be seeking substantial modifications to outstanding contracts. Though these guarantees are what attracted many clients to VA products in the first place, the inability of insurance companies to accurately predict contract owners' behavior has now put these features at risk. Clients today need to remain alert to modification proposals issued by their insurance companies, or they could find that the guarantees they are relying upon no longer exist.
The Problem With These VAs
Variable annuities offering guaranteed benefits experienced a surge in popularity during the 2009 financial crisis as investors looked for products that offered equity-like returns without the corresponding risk. Variable annuities allow these investors to choose between several investment options and can provide guaranteed lifetime income benefits.
Because these products offer an investment component, coupled with the safety net of guaranteed income benefits and tax-deferral, many clients have found them to be an attractive portfolio product that they have kept despite recent rebounds in the equity markets themselves.
The problem with variable annuities that contain guaranteed lifetime income benefits today is that insurance companies have done a poor job of predicting contract owners' behavior with respect to outstanding contracts. Many companies significantly underestimated the number of owners who would maintain these products even though the markets have rebounded in past years.
According to a recent Moody's special report, this underestimation means that insurance companies will face billions of dollars worth of charges against earnings in the coming years because those companies will be required to maintain higher than anticipated reserve levels. This means that clients need to watch out for potential attempts by insurance companies to modify their existing contracts.
Insurance Companies' Remedies
Many insurance companies have already attempted to modify outstanding contracts, and some have sent notices informing clients that they will actually lose their guarantees if they fail to respond to the proposed modifications. For example, according to The Wall Street Journal, one insurance company, The Hartford, is requiring its variable annuity contract holders to move at least 40% of investments into bond funds to avoid losing their guarantee features. If the client fails to respond to the notice, the guarantee will eventually be revoked even though the client has already paid for the guarantee feature.
Some insurance companies have taken a different course and offered to buy back the guarantee portion of clients' variable annuity contracts. These buyback campaigns began late in 2012 and some insurance companies continue to offer the buyback.
In exchange for allowing guarantees to lapse, clients will be offered an increase in their annuity funds themselves, increasing insurance companies' short-term costs, but eliminating the long-term risk created by the guarantees.
While some clients may be tempted at this option, clients should be advised of the downside—namely, losing the lifetime income guarantees that may have first attracted them to the product.
Because of the large dollar amounts at stake, the Moody's report indicates that many more insurance companies might be making attempts to modify existing annuity contract guarantees in the future. Therefore, clients need to be made aware that it is more important than ever that they carefully review any notices they receive from annuity providers—and seek professional advice when necessary.
For additional coverage of this issue and similar ones, we invite you to sign up with AdvisorOne's Summit Business Media partner, National Underwriter Advanced Markets, for a free trial.
You may also be interested in signing up for a free trial with another Summit Business Media partner, Tax Facts Online.


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Accordance 9.4 is Here
I'm pleased to announce that Accordance 9.4 is now available. This free update for anyone with Accordance 9 includes some really cool enhancements you'll soon wonder how you ever lived without.
The link I just gave summarizes the new features really well, so I'll just mention two of my favorites. The first is the ability to search your library by Module name, full Title, Author, Publisher, or Any Category. This makes it much easier to find your modules even when you can't remember the module name. Want to find every commentary you own? Type "commentary" in the Library search field. Want to see all your Greek texts and lexicons? Enter "Greek."
My second favorite feature of Accordance 9.4 is that you can now hover over a footnote marker in a Bible text to see the note in the Instant Details box. If you click on the note marker, the appropriate Notes module will open in an automatically-tied zone so you can follow hyperlinks or scroll the notes in parallel. It's a feature many of you have been waiting a long time for, and its implementation is really slick.
Be sure to download the update and begin playing with all the new enhancements. Also, be on the lookout for a new update to Accordance for iOS in the coming days (pending Apple's approval).


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No games today so let's see how the Sox prospects are doing:
Jordan Danks: .310/.437/.440/.877 with 22 Ks and 18 BBs in 84 ABs
C.J. Retherford: .250/.328/.367/.695 with 9 Ks and 6 BBs in 60 ABs
Brent Morel: .362/.385/.383/.768 with 6 Ks and 3 BB in 47 ABs
Kyle Bellamy has only 3.2 IP.
Here are the stats as they were on October 25 (Dayan Viciedo was replaced by Brent Morel):
Jordan Danks: .424/.513/.697/1.210 with 3 Ks and 5 BBs in 33 ABs
C.J. Retherford: .346/.414/.615/1.029 with 2 Ks and 2 BBs in 26 ABs
Dayan Viciedo: .333/.350/.556/.906 with 6 Ks and 1 BB in 18 ABs
Danks is slowing down while Morel is heating up after a cold start.
Peoria clinched the AFL West division. They'll be playing in the Championship game next Saturday.
BTW, you can see how all the Sox prospects are doing in their Winter Ball leagues here:
Here are a couple bright spots:
Clevelan Santeliz (DWL): 1.72 ERA with 19 Ks and 4 BBs in 15.2 IP and a 0.89 WHIP
Ehren Wassermann (MPL): 2.49 ERA with 14 Ks and 4 BBs in 21.2 IP and a 0.97 WHIP


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This morning Brian Ward and I recorded Episode 32 of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience, a hot-off-the-presses discussion of events in North Africa and the Middle East. I laid out at greater length than I have so far on this site my belief that the story of what happened in Benghazi doesn't make sense, and that the Obama administration is engaged in a cover-up that it hopes can extend beyond the election. I also explained why I think the administration's cover-up is likely to fail.
Then we did a terrific interview with Andy McCarthy, talking about his new book Spring Fever: The Illusion of Arab Democracy, and how its themes relate to the current crisis in the Islamic world. Andy is one of the world's leading experts on Islamic radicalism, and the conversation is highly revealing.
We wrapped up with This Week In Gatekeeping, where we honored the Associated Press for "outing" the creator of the film that is ludicrously being blamed for the violence in North Africa on an Israeli Jew, and The Loon of the Week award, which went to Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clark for her mastery of American history. It is, I think, one of our better shows ever.
You can listen to the podcast by playing it right here, or you can go to Ricochet to download or subscribe to the podcast in various ways, or you can hit the subscribe button in the graphic above to subscribe on iTunes or elsewhere. Or you can use Stitcher. There are many ways to experience the Hinderaker-Ward Experience, but I think the best is by subscribing on iTunes. That way, you never have to worry about missing an episode.


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A NUMBER of presidents and untold members of Congress have been unable to figure out how to fix the Social Security system. But they could have called on four students from Staples High School in Westport to do it for them, in less than 14 hours.
That is how long the students were given to collect information, build a mathematical model, write a computer program and calculate the most effective solution to the Social Security problem, no politics involved. The four, all top math performers at Staples, were competing in the Moody's Mega Math Challenge, sponsored by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, a math advocacy group, and the Moody's Foundation, part of the Moody's Corporation that owns Moody's Investor Service.
One member of the Staples team, Elizabeth Marshman, 17, who will be attending Yale in the fall and is considering majoring in biomedical engineering, comes from a family of English majors, she said. "They don't know what to do with me," Ms. Marshman said. "They were sort of surprised when I said I had to be at school at 7 on a Saturday morning, but they went with it. They didn't realize the magnitude of it."
Her family soon realized how important the project was, especially on the day Ms. Marshman came home and told them she had just won $5,000 in scholarship money.
"My mom said, 'I can't believe they gave you a problem the government can't even solve," said Ms. Marshman, the only girl on the contest team.
The challenge team beat 128 high schools in New York, New Jersey and Fairfield County. "Some of them have 500 students on their math teams," said Michelle Montgomery, the contest coordinator.
Teams from the Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School and Stuyvesant High School, all renowned for high-performing math programs, lost to Staples, whose math-team membership of 12 to 15 seesaws from month to month. Three math team members, Vikas Murali, 17; Andrew Tschirhart, 18; and Ms. Marshman, competed on the Staples Mega Math Challenge Team, along with Miles Lubin, 16, a junior who has been tinkering with computer programs since he was 4 years old.
Math is not typically known for its cliffhanger moments. But the team, which came to school on Saturday, March 4 to work on a solution, offered a few. The students first researched Social Security, which though solvent, is threatened by a number of factors including increasing life spans and a continuing increase in the percentage of retirees in the population.
In 1950, there were 16.5 workers paying into Social Security for every retiree receiving benefits, according to a study done in April 2005 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. By 2030, the bank estimated, 2.17 workers will pay for every one retiree. By 2044, the Social Security trust fund will be emptied, according to estimates from the Social Security and Medicare boards of trustees.
Team members calculated expected revenue, then expenditures, then devised mathematical functions that would model income and population changes over time, economic growth and other factors. "By lunchtime we had an idea of where we were going," Mr. Lubin said. "But we didn't have anything concrete yet."
They debated whether to consider privatization, but decided the subject was too time-consuming and politically sensitive. Mr. Lubin wrote a computer program to process the data they had collected. The program began producing numbers by dinnertime.
Moments before the 9 p.m. deadline, the school's computer filter censored a word that Mr. Tschirhart had used as an inside joke in the title of his contribution to the final paper. He tried twice, unsuccessfully, to send his information to Ms. Marshman, who was compiling work from each student for the final entry. With the deadline nearing, the students told Mr. Tschirhart that appending the information to the e-mail might work. It did (because, the students did not realize, it removed the offensive title). Ms. Marshman included it, and with nine seconds left, hit send. Social Security, with all its troubles, was solved.
Their final answer was actually two: The system could remain solvent well past 2080 if retirees became eligible for Social Security at age 70 or if the Social Security tax rate could be raised to 18 percent, from 15.3 percent, to continue financing the system.
"We had talked about how we were supposed to be presenting this to Congress," Mr. Tschirhart said. "So we tried to do a range of solutions."
Students involved in the challenge may never see any money from Social Security if Congress doesn't adopt their idea, but they certainly saw the potential for a cash bonus if they won the contest.
Moody's offered up $60,000 in prizes, including a $20,000 scholarship to the winners. The money surely figured in the school's entry into the contest, said Bill Walsh, a mathematics teacher who brought the students pizza for dinner, but was otherwise not permitted to be in the room, per contest rules. He tried to keep track of their progress by periodically peeking through a school window.
"To be really honest, the $20,000 really caught our attention," Mr. Walsh said. "We have many opportunities to compete in a lot of things, but $20,000 does catch your eye."
Moody's, as an internationally known source for financial research, risk analysis and credit ratings, is no stranger to the power of cash. The company's foundation put up the scholarship money, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics organized the competition.
"To be part of a situation where you're able to reward kids, recognize kids, attach status and prestige and give them money for being smart -- smart in math -- that's a great thing," said Michelle Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the society, which has its headquarters in Philadelphia. "We went back and forth on the money thing, and settled on those numbers as decent numbers, enough to get people interested, not so much that it would overshadow the integrity of the competition."
The judging was initially blind, until the judges -- all applied mathematicians with doctorates in their fields -- picked the top six papers. They then heard the six team presentations on April 5 at the Moody's offices on Church Street in lower Manhattan, to determine the order of winners. One hour after the presentations were done, the winners were announced in much the same way contestants on "American Idol" are booted off. The lowest vote getter was announced first, then the next, then the next, until two Mega Math Challenge Teams were left, one from Immaculata High School in Somerville, N.J., and Staples.
Immaculata's name was announced, and the Staples cheering section of teachers, parents and students yelled with joy.
Not that the winners are politically naïve. "The thing is, making a solution and modeling is one thing," said Mr. Murali, a senior on the team. "Implementing it is a totally different, politically sensitive issue."


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In an age when teenagers are forsaking cars for smartphones, it's encouraging to see that some people have the right idea and are getting their children hooked on motoring at a young age.
Evan got his Lightning McQueen Powerwheel for Christmas in 2009, when he was two years old. By 2012, he'd worn out the plastic wheels and had outgrown its capabilities. So Evan and his dad made some modifications. Here's how they did it.
We decided to upgrade the oem plastic wheels to metal rims with rubber tires. From that point more modifications were added every few weeks. Now, Evan's Lightning McQueen Powerwheel is equipped with an aluminum back half chassis, dual sealed gel batteries with an output of 24 volts, a 500 watt .66 horsepower electric motor, disk brake, throttle modulated variable speed control with reverse and sparco battery cut off switch.
Sure, Evan's dad appears to have fancier gear than most of us do, but his approach is brilliant. He's got the kid laying on his back, wrenching on the rear end of an appropriately-sized sports car, then has him out on the track testing what he's built. We can't think of a better way to stoke the enthusiast spirit. (Hat tip to Adam!)
Photo credit: FFTEC Motorsports/YouTube


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Our Commitment to Customer Service
At GB Access, we are firmly committed to 'Delivering Service Excellence' and we believe that every member of our team has a crucial part to play in delivering exceptional customer service.
As part of our efforts to ingrain a 'Customer First' culture throughout the company, we have a dedicated Customer Experience Team. Our ultimate objective is to ensure that each time you deal with GB Access; you receive an outstanding customer experience.
We continuously invest in customer experience training to deliver optimum levels of customer service. Our ongoing initiatives include:
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W.E.T. – s/t (2009)
This is the album I really, really want! I have tried on 6 separate occasions to order this online through some of my favorite online record stores and they are sold out everytime! You've got three major players from three major Melodic Rock bands: Robert Sall (Work Of Art), Erik Marnensson (Eclipse) and Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman). How can this album not be one of the best of 2009? Every review I have read has praised it for being an excellent pice of work and I have noticed this on a ton of year end best of lists…..Melodicrock.com gave this album a perfect score of 100. I am looking to pick up the limited edition with the bonus DVD that contains 3 videos and an interview. I should have this by the end of next week because this is my top prioity.