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This article is more than 1 year old
Universal Credit? Universal DISCREDIT, more like, say insiders
Government sources reveal 'one dole to rule them all' in 'total disarray'
Exclusive The controversial Universal Credit online benefits system is so flawed that skilled IT staff working on a pilot scheme have been forced to enter data by hand, two high-ranking whistleblowers have told The Register.
The senior civil servants contacted us separately to warn that a trial of the new benefits system shows it is simply not working at the moment.
The Universal Credit is intended to replace the laborious and complex manual benefits system with one monthly payment which can be claimed by applying online using an automated system. But one of the moles said the project was "in total disarray, with the government trying to do something massive and unprecedented, yet without the culture or operational infrastructure to do so".
The system is currently being tested at a "Pathfinder" project in several locations around Greater Manchester. Our sources painted a woeful picture of mismanagement, bureaucratic bumbling and organisational chaos which could mean the system may never live up to the promises made by Iain Duncan Smith, the scheme's greatest champion.
Whitehall wants to start rolling out the Universal Credit in October, but our sources warned that the system was "not scalable", meaning this deadline could be little more than a pipe dream.
They warned that unless there were drastic changes to this system, it would not work as advertised and would still require full time clerical staff to handle applications and "hold the hands" of dole claimants.
IT work 'paused' while staff plug holes
During the test period, our sources claimed, civil servants have had to do the sort of basic tasks that were originally intended to be done automatically, like data entry and the verification of basic information about a client such as date of birth, address or right to claim the dole - even though a small number of clients with relatively simple personal situations have been chosen to take part.
The current Pathfinder system is so flawed that IT work has been "paused", so that staff can concentrate on plugging holes, our source claimed.
He also alleged that absolutely fundamental and basic facts had been left out of the infrastructure, such as the scheduled change to minimum wage, which will be nudged up 12p an hour to £6.31 for adults and up 5p to £5.03 for 18-to-20-year-olds by October. This change would impact on the payments given to claimants.
The whistleblower said: "The whole thing needs a lot of work to allow for national rollout. There are big IT changes which need to be made and if they are not, the whole service will have to rely on clerical data entry, rather than automated data gathering.
"There are big gaps in the system which are currently being plugged by manual processes. The whole thing needs a lot of work to allow for the proposed national roll out, because the current solution is not scaleable."
Once in, never out
The Universal Credit relies on a "lobster pot" principle, which means that once a dole claimant has had their application processed, they cannot be switched back to the old system.
This has meant that even though the new Pathfinder infrastructure is inadequate, DWP staff are forced to find a way of making the applications work, often relying on distinctly low-tech techniques which take up so much time that IT work to make the Universal Credit system work has been sidelined.
Our source continued: "IT work on Universal Credit has been paused, because the focus is on making the Pathfinder work. The majority of design is being focused on the manual processes being used to prop up the IT system. The lobster pot principle means that even the most complex elements of policy the IT doesn't deal with are being hand-cranked.
"Also, every claim is being reviewed by a micromanagement team who triple check everything on each claim for accuracy."
Most claims made by participants on the Pathfinder scheme contain at least one mistake, he continued, requiring the sort of manual intervention the system was supposed to avoid.
Currently, there are understood to be some 600 civil servants working on the Universal Credit project, which includes shared pool staff who work across government departments or projects. Our source claimed this would be cut to between 350 and 400 staff.
Another well-placed DWP source confirmed the first source's allegations and added: "I'm not surprised they are moving staff onto another project. The political pressure is mounting because the costs have soared with very little to show."
Our second source warned that the Universal Credit was in such poor shape that it could cost Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith his job. "He is very exposed," the mole said. "What he is trying to do is quite admirable, yet the civil servants just aren't up to it. They wouldn't last a minute in the commercial world due to their poor work ethic, interpersonal skills and competency levels."
Our first source's main concerns were the security of the system, which he claimed might be vulnerable to fraud, and what this might mean for dole claimants who are used to weekly payments.
He said: "If the most needy people in society don't receive their monthly cheque, the impact is huge. Moving to a monthly payment is a big cultural shift. But look at the Pathfinder, which is dealing a tiny number of very simple cases, and you will see it still relies on manual processes.
"There will be a big fallout from this which will require more face-to-face interactions with clients, not less [as promised]. There is a pain barrier to go through and there will be a lot of hand-holding needed to make sure people get through it."
Insider: Gangsters shaking down the welfare system... it could happen
He added: "I am also concerned about criminal gangs finding creative ways to extract money from the system. What better place is there to do this than the Universal Credit System? There needs to be some sort of review of IP addresses* and the DWP needs to be at the forefront of next-generation cyber-security, which I don't believe they are anywhere near."
It is understood that there are high-level discussions due to take place in Whitehall soon to discuss the next stage of IT development. The Work and Pensions Select Committee is meeting this morning to discuss concerns about the scheme.
The Universal Credit scheme will replace benefits including working tax credits, child tax credits, housing benefit, income support, income-based jobseekers' allowance and income-related employment and support allowances.
According to a government policy document (PDF), the Universal Credit system will "offer a simpler support, with one system replacing multiple systems, therefore reducing administration costs and the propensity for fraud and error".
It has met with massed criticism, with an early day motion opposing it on the grounds that just 15 per cent of deprived people have ever accessed a government website.
MPs have previously warned that the Universal Credit scheme could lead to more fraud.
We put all the allegations to the DWP, who replied with the following statement:
The Universal Credit IT has been working well during the Pathfinder and we've been testing all aspects of the system to better understand what works and what can be improved.Our plans for a progressive national rollout of UC from October have not changed.
Do you know anything else about the development and testing of the Universal Credit system? Are you working on the Pathfinder project? Please get in touch and let The Register know. We guarantee your anonymity. ®


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Like many other tech companies, Twitter is largely made up of white, male employees, pointing to a lack of diversity in the industry.
The company revealed statistics about its organizational demographics, noting that almost 60 percent of Twitter's U.S. employees self-identify as white. Just under 30 percent of the workforce identifies as Asian. Combined, blacks, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics account for a total of less than 7 percent.
Of Twitter's global workforce of around 3,000, 70 percent are male, and only a tenth of workers in the tech department are women. The non-tech workforce is split evenly between males and females, but women hold just a fifth of leadership positions.
Industry Issue
Twitter follows in the footsteps of peers like Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Google, all of which revealed demographic information about their organizations over the last two months.
Those companies disclosed that they were between 62 percent and 70 percent male. Whites and Asians made up between 88 percent and 91 percent of their workforces. Black people accounted for just 2 percent of staff members at each of those four companies.
"I think diversity issues, as well as a public push for transparency from tech companies, have become more of a hot topic in the public forum and in the media," Lauren Williams, a technology reporter at ThinkProgress, told TechNewsWorld.
"More tech workers are coming forward with their own stories of discrimination or harassment. There have been a couple of very public firings and resignations, such as Adria Richards and Julie Ann Horvath. So I think prominent stories like that, as they happen more frequently, have caused the industry to be more introspective and open with consumers."
Civil rights organization ColorOfChange was among those that pressured Twitter into revealing the statistics after the other companies did so. The group gathered more than 25,000 signatures petitioning Twitter to release the figures.
'Good First Step'
"After thousands of ColorOfChange members raised their voices last week, Twitter took a good first step in the right direction," said Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change.
"Transparency and a public commitment to improving the recruitment and retention of Black, Latino, and women employees are critical first steps. But the hard work begins now. We will continue to shine a light on Silicon Valley's diversity problem, and push tech companies toward real inclusion at every level," he told TechNewsWorld.
"I think [Silicon Valley's diversity problem is] complex," ThinkProgress' Williams said. "There's a cult effect where people in Silicon Valley hire or bring on people from the same elite circles and colleges. There's also an early education problem where minorities and women aren't exposed to coding or computer science. And thirdly, there's an outreach problem."
'Ready to Address It'
"It's not a new problem. Execs have known about it for years, but — maybe I'm an optimist — I think they didn't really know where to start or how to address the problem," Williams added.
"Google had led the way with their diversity report and has been having internal discussions about it for years. Definitely, not wanting the bad publicity and putting hard numbers to decades of discriminatory anecdotes was part of the delay," she said, "but ultimately, I think companies are releasing the numbers now because, for whatever reason, they're ready to address it."
For its part, Twitter is trying to combat the problem in the interests of better representing its global user base. The company has several employee-led groups attempting to make Twitter a more inclusive place to work. Among them are WomEng (women in engineering), SWAT (super women at Twitter), TwUX (Twitter women in design), Blackbird (employees of color), TwitterOpen (LGBTQ persons) and Alas (Latino and Latina employees).
Twitter says it's actively recruiting from communities that may be under-represented, at places like women's colleges and historically black colleges and universities. It also has partnered with a number or organizations in an attempt to shift the diversity balance.
Twitter has been a staunch supporter of the Girls Who Code group since its formation. It has hosted Geek Girl Dinners. It also has a partnership with sf.girls, which aims to inspire and aid middle school girls in chasing technology educations and careers.
It also has sponsored conferences like LGBT-focused Out for Tech, and it has frequently presented at the Grace Hopper conference, which is focused on highlighting the research and careers of women in the technology industry.
Bias Mitigation
Meanwhile, Twitter is carrying out bias mitigation training throughout the company.
"Progress first starts with admitting there's a problem and then actively working to remedy it," Williams noted.
"Twitter is not alone. Its numbers look very similar to Google's and Yahoo's. So the industry as a whole is going to have to work together to step outside of their comfort zones to make sure they have a variety of voices developing products, leading teams, and at the top executive levels," she suggested.
"It's important for every company, not just Twitter, to have a diverse workforce. Innovation doesn't happen in a silo with a homogeneous group who all come from the same neighborhood and have the same friends," Williams pointed out.
"Disruptive innovation — that which truly revolutionizes the way we live and interact with one another — comes from having great minds come together and hash it out," she maintained. "It comes from people who see the world a little differently and together can solve a problem that they wouldn't be able to on their own."

subset: commoncrawl


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The visa application process to enter the United States continues to be subject to a great degree of scrutiny. For this reason, the application process can take up to six months or more. You will need to apply for your visa as early as possible but no later than three months before you wish to enter the United States.
Personal Interviews can be critical to successfully and efficiently obtaining a visa to enter the United States. One factor contributing to the increase in the processing time is a personal interview that is now required for most applicants as a standard part of visa processing. Group interviews are not recommended. Applicants need to be prepared to clearly present their intent to return from the U.S. as well as explain in detail how they will be spending their time while in the United States. It is not enough to just state "I will be attending a meeting". Embassies are looking for more details as well as documents and information that demonstrate and support these intents.
Individuals are strongly encouraged to contact the embassy or consulate to schedule a personal interview as soon as it is known a visa is necessary for travel.
WAI is not able to contact U.S. embassies in support of an individual attempting to gain entry into the host country to attend the conference.
For detailed information about applying for a visa, refer to the Department of State website.
Individuals requiring letters of invitation to obtain travel visas must complete the Interwire 2023 registration process which includes the form to submit to WAI:
- Online invitation/Registration to Interwire 2023:
letter of invitation via Interwire 2023 registration - Email - to be used only for inquires on submitted forms:
Please include your full name as it appears on your passport, your complete mailing address, and your phone and fax numbers. Be sure to indicate which meeting you will be attending. If you are presenting a paper, include the title and the session in which that paper will be presented, or if you are exhibiting, please indicate that in your request. When requesting letters for more than one individual, please include all information above for each person. Individuals should include passport number, date of birth and the gender of each person requesting an invitation letter. All letters of invitation will be sent by email or fax unless a Federal Express account number or credit card number with expiration date is provided on the original request. Please allow ample time for processing requests. WAI is not able to contact US Embassies in support of an individual attempting to gain entry into the host country to attend an WAI meeting.
Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)
As of 12 January 2009, all nationals and citizens of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries will be required by law to obtain a travel authorization prior to initiating travel to the United States under the VWP. This authorization may be obtained through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), a free internet application administered by the Department of Homeland Security though a U.S. government Website.
Register Online for entry to the United States
Visa Waiver Program Frequently Asked Questions
*The Visa Waiver Program FAQ's contain a list of countries that are a part of the VWP.


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A closer look at professor of philosophy Ruth Groenhout.
College freshmen are notorious for quite a few things. One is changing their area of study. Professor of philosophy Ruth Groenhout was no different when she was a Calvin student.
Change of plans
Groenhout came to Calvin as a student in 1980. Her love of the sciences impelled her into the pre-medicine program.
Plans changed, though. Groenhout enrolled in an introductory philosophy course with then-Calvin professor Nicholas Wolterstorff. Almost immediately, she discovered, philosophy fit. "The logical structure appealed to me …," Groenhout said. "There was no question, once I took a philosophy class—philosophy was the right place for me."
Dual majors
Groenhout did not completely abandon her love of science; she pursued a major in both philosophy and pre-medicine.
She attributes her penchant for philosophy not only to Wolsterstorff's class, but to an international upbringing. From the age of four up until high school, she lived in Oaxaca, Mexico, where her parents worked as missionaries. Groenhout's time there forced her to contemplate the basic structures of human life:
"Growing up across different cultures, you see very early on that things one culture takes for granted aren't normal in another culture," she explained. "If one culture emphasizes community, and another culture emphasizes individualism, is one emphasis better than the other? By what criteria?"
The future looks philosophical
After finishing up her dual degrees at Calvin in 1985, Groenhout had to make a decision about the future. "I decided to go to graduate school because I loved philosophy and couldn't think of something I wanted to do more than study it for the next several years of my life," she said.
The University of Notre Dame in Ind. was Groenhout's pick for graduate school because of its reputation as a good place for Christian philosophers, among them former Calvin professor Alvin Plantinga. Also, its Midwest location was attractive to Groenhout and her husband Todd, (whom she married in 1985) because both of their families lived in Michigan.
Groenhout had three of her four children while studying at Notre Dame. "It was a lot of work," she explained. She completed her dissertation on ethics in 1993 and began teaching at Spalding University in Louisville, Ky. Groenhout stayed for a year and then started a two-year appointment at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Miss. Groenhout is grateful that her husband's line of work, carpentry, affords them the opportunity to move easily.
In the back of her mind, however, Groenhout, wanted to return to Calvin as a professor. The family's journey back to Michigan in 1996 was instigated by a loss; Todd's father had passed away. They came back to Michigan for the funeral and stayed to be close to family. Groenhout began teaching at Calvin in the fall of 1996.
Feminism: the inevitable subject
One of the staples of Groenhout's scholarship is gender studies. Though her graduate research did not involve the philosophy of gender, she thinks that her study of it was inevitable. Studying gender is simply her attempt to understand some of her own experiences.
For a Christian college, Calvin has a strong gender studies program, said Groenhout: "Many Christians assume that thinking about gender roles is not a good thing," she explained. "Probably this is because many conservative Christians assume that those who question traditional gender roles must be feminists and also assume that feminism is a bad thing."
Groenhout pointed out this misunderstanding: "All gender studies classes are not just about women … Men have a gender too," she said. "Sometimes people think it is more ideological than it is. There is lots of room for exploration—different answers and disagreement."
Calvin professor of philosophy Kelly Clark described Groenhout as a conscience for the philosophy department: "She reminds us of things we don't want to be reminded of. But she does so in a gentle, kind way. She takes courageous and sometimes unpopular moral stands, and she is willing to stick her neck out."
She is the first female philosopher in Calvin's philosophy department to receive tenure.
For Groenhout, engaging students in discussion is rewarding, whether it is about the philosophy of gender, ethics or philosophical anthropology. "Students actively try to make sense of their lives …," she said. "Philosophy, when it's done right, makes sense of their lives."
Quilts and Gardens
To retreat from philosophical quandaries, Groenhout quilts. There is an intricate quilt thrown over a chair in her office. Always an educator, she taught a quilting interim in January 2007. Groenhout also likes gardening: "I like getting my hands dirty," she said.
She pays homage to her childhood in Mexico by making trips back to that country whenever she can and regularly cooking up Mexican cuisine.
Her family is outdoorsy, spending their free time camping and hiking, especially in northern Michigan's Porcupine Mountains.
On her call
"I love being able to ask substantive questions about meaningful issues," Groenhout said. "Things like what it really means to live a good and happy human life."
Calvin College, Biology, Philosophy, 1985
University of Notre Dame, PhD, Philosophy, 1993
Research Interests
feminist ethics
healthcare ethics
philosophical anthropology
Selected Publications
Connected Lives: Human Nature and an Ethics of Care (2004)
Transforming Care: A Christian Vision of Nursing Practice, with Mary Molewyk Doornbos and Kendra Hotz (2005)
Little Known Fact
Her family will be moving into a geodesic dome in the fall of 2008.


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73-Year-Old Japanese Woman Climbs Mount Everest
In 2002, 63-year-old Japanese women Tamae Watanabe scaled Mount Everest. In doing so, the former office worker became the oldest woman to reach the famed mountain's 29,035-foot-high summit.
That record stood until Saturday. That's when Watanabe, now 73, set it again.
Watanabe had some extra motivation for climbing Everest this spring. Rival Japanese climber Eiko Funahashi, 72, was aiming to break Watanabe's record for the oldest woman atop Everest. Funashashi, who was attempting the climb from a different side of the mountain than Watanabe launched from, was still on the ground waiting for the weather to clear when Watanabe reached the summit.
Everest has been hit by difficult conditions in recent weeks, but that didn't stop Watanabe.
"It has been a very hard climb and it has been made harder by the weather, but she had a good team," Ang Tshering, a sherpa who coached the climbers, explained.
The oldest person to ever scale Everest is Nepalese climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, who reached the top in 2008 at age 76.


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- Viðskiptavinir
- COPD Foundation
Community outreach and support for COPD patients enhanced through natural language processing and machine learning
SAS helps health nonprofit turn unstructured data into valuable insights.
Improving quality of life
for those living with pulmonary disease
COPD Foundation achieved this using • SAS® Visual Analytics and SAS® Visual Text Analytics powered by SAS® Viya® on Amazon Web Services hosted by Pinnacle Solutions
Text analytics and sentiment analysis from SAS help the COPD Foundation provide health resources and emotional support for patients and caregivers
Breathing in and exhaling. It's something the average adult does about 22,000 times a day – often without thinking about it. But it's not that simple for more than 320 million people around the world who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For many, breathing isn't an involuntary action – it's something they actively think about as everyday activities can result in shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and tightening of the chest. Even when symptoms are at bay, the ability to breathe is still top-of-mind for those affected by the disease as they wonder what might trigger their next flare up.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the stress of living with COPD increased even further. Patients and those who care for them needed an organization like the COPD Foundation that connected with researchers, health care professionals and patients, actively reaching out to listen, learn and take collective action.
Since its founding in 2004, the nonprofit foundation works to speed innovations that make treatment of COPD more effective and affordable. Through a unique 360-degree approach, the foundation mobilizes partnerships among individuals with COPD, caregivers, health care professionals, researchers, academic institutions, government agencies and industry leaders. Their mission is to prevent COPD, improve the lives of those affected by it and stop the progression of the disease.
Online community provides wealth of knowledge
Because people living with chronic lung conditions may also have mobility challenges, the COPD Foundation wanted to use technology to better reach its demographic in a more efficient way. In 2014, the foundation established its online community, COPD360social. Since then, it has seen significant engagement and growth in its user base and substantial gains in knowledge and information sharing.
With nearly 50,000 community members representing 150 countries, the foundation can gain first-hand insights from those who are affected by COPD, enabling it to better serve this community by learning what they need and want. But sometimes an abundance of information can be problematic. While the foundation's staff could search on individual topics to gauge community sentiment, as the community grew, these individual searches were neither scalable nor efficient.
"You could collect data all day long, seven days a week, but unless you can properly analyze the data set, you can't get much value out of it," says Vincent Malanga, Chief Information Officer of COPD Foundation. "While we have a fantastic platform to collect information, we needed to partner with someone who could help us expertly gather and analyze everything coming in so that we could understand what the data was saying and how to best respond."
Using SAS to sift through volumes of text data and analyze sentiment, we were able to quickly pivot our focus and concentrate on topics relevant to our community. It's extremely valuable for us to obtain feedback so quickly because we're able to provide answers and support in real time. Ruth Tal-Singer President and Chief Scientific Officer COPD Foundation
Finding the right solution
The COPD Foundation did not want to use a third-party analytics solution where another company would own its data, as this could limit its access to the data.
"Our goal was to make sure we had total ownership of the data we collected in COPD360social. We recognized early on that we wanted to use the data for research and analysis to ensure that we support our community's needs, and we knew that artificial intelligence – particularly natural language processing and machine learning – would become more prevalent," says Malanga. "There's tremendous value in being able to analyze the data collected through members in the community discussing their real-world experiences living with this disease."
And it's not just the patients the COPD Foundation wants to hear from. It seeks insights from family members, friends and care providers. "Everyone who is impacted by the disease in one way or another can communicate on COPD360social," Malanga says. "This diverse community gives us a lot of information on their challenges, accomplishments, goals and concerns, along with the everyday tips and tricks that people share with each other."
The foundation chose SAS for in-house natural language processing of text data generated by survey responses on COPD360social.
"SAS has world-class analytics, and it met the needs of our enterprise architecture approach, where it's scalable, secure, flexible and extendable," Malanga says. We want software to be able to conform to what we need to do in the future – like possibly integrate with open source solutions and pre-trained language models – and SAS gives us that freedom.
"Once we decided SAS was the way to go, we knew we wanted our SAS solution hosted in a cloud environment, which is why we partnered with Pinnacle and went with an Amazon Web Services infrastructure to support it," Malanga says. "While there are many moving parts, everything runs seamlessly, and we've had a very positive experience."
Insights from patient surveys
At the onset of the pandemic, there were many unknowns. The foundation launched a series of global surveys to get first-hand perspectives and answers. Responses came from around the world, including the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, East Timor, Nepal, Pakistan and Israel, representative of both urban and rural areas.
"Through our direct interactions with the COPD community, we were in a position to understand what's really important to this unique population," says Ruth Tal-Singer, President and Chief Scientific Officer of COPD Foundation. "We had reports from China and Italy indicating that COPD patients and people with lung diseases were susceptible to poor outcomes, so we wanted to respond very rapidly to the growing pandemic."
The foundation soon launched a dedicated COVID-19 webpage.
"In a patient advocacy setting, it's essential that you don't try to force an answer and predict what people are thinking," says Danielle Boyce, Senior Research Data Analyst at the COPD Foundation. "It's vital that the surveys the foundation conducts have free-text fields where participants can answer open-ended questions, rather than closed surveys with predetermined answers they can choose from."
Natural language processing uncovers hidden insights
Using text analytics and sentiment analysis, Boyce generated word clouds, enabling the foundation to explore volumes of unstructured data, identify patterns and create reports to help with community outreach and support.
"The speed at which we can analyze data with natural language processing software is unheard of in traditional research settings," Boyce says. "What would have taken me three months to do in another setting, line by line analysis, I can do very quickly with SAS."
The foundation analyzed open-ended text to rapidly gain insights from the COPD community.
"We could quickly identify top-of-mind issues for this population, as words began jumping out at us – like medications, mask use, gloves, grocery shopping, curbside pickup – and we could see how these words were connected to other words, like doctor, fear, isolation, social distancing and depression," Boyce says. "SAS allows us to pinpoint topics, enabling us to understand our community members' concerns and needs, both now and as they evolve throughout the duration of the pandemic."
Unexpected discoveries lead to coordinated action
There were a number of surprising findings for the COPD Foundation – and these discoveries directly influenced the foundation's response to its community members. Here are four of the most noteworthy concerns:
Access to oxygen: Some respondents were worried about maintaining home oxygen delivery and pickup services. They were physically unable to carry empty oxygen tanks outside their houses, but the delivery service would no longer come inside to exchange tanks because of social distancing mandates.
Supply chain: Numerous community members voiced distress over supply chain issues that could prevent them from receiving their essential medications. This could result from bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution process, as well as increased demand for inhaler medications such as albuterol for COVID-19 patients.
Employment: Essential workers with COPD were worried about wearing face masks – especially for long periods of time – due to their breathing difficulties. Some were concerned they would no longer be able to keep their jobs during the pandemic.
Exercise and pulmonary rehabilitation: The ability to continue physical fitness routines during COVID-19 was top-of-mind for many. Respondents were concerned about their access to gyms, supervised exercise programs and pulmonary rehabilitation services – particularly after hospitalization.
Based on concerns raised on COPD360social and in the surveys, the foundation conducted Q&A sessions, webinars and other advocacy activities, as well as created helpful fact sheets and reference guides. For example, in response to the concerns about exercise, the foundation generated specific webpages and videos that demonstrate at-home exercises people could do with their doctors' approval.
"Using SAS to sift through volumes of text data and analyze sentiment, we were able to quickly pivot our focus and concentrate on topics relevant to our community," Tal-Singer says. "It's extremely valuable for us to obtain feedback so quickly because we're able to provide answers and support in real time. The concerns brought to light helped form some of our public policy and advocacy efforts on behalf of the COPD community.
COPD Foundation – Facts & Figures
year founded
online community members
320 million
people diagnosed with COPD
Operational improvements and preparing for what's to come
Another benefit the COPD Foundation sees as a result of using SAS is the ability to achieve more with limited resources – both funds and headcount.
"We have hard data to support what we're doing at the foundation, which is so important when you're a nonprofit," Tal-Singer says. "Nonprofits only have so much funding, and we must be judicious with how we spend money. The more we can do with analytics, the better we can serve all our partners, our patients and our caregivers. We can allocate resources more effectively through the ability to be nimble and successfully integrate information from different sources."
The work that the foundation is doing in response to COVID-19 is enabling recovery and helping reimagine a brighter future for the COPD community. Lessons learned will help shape the foundation's practices and responses to upcoming threats.
"We have this great connected infrastructure," Boyce says. "We can ask questions, quickly analyze data, publish the findings and share everything on COPD360social again and again – a loop of information that helps a vast number of people. It's truly amazing."
"Our response to COVID-19 has demonstrated our ability to be agile and explore new things," Tal-Singer adds. "We have a major effort to make sure we address our community's needs because our world is not going to go back to baseline. Much of what changed during the pandemic is likely here to stay for a long time, so we're adapting the way we work and serve the community now and in the years to come."
Benefits of running SAS on Amazon Web Services
There are many advantages of running a SAS solution on the cloud, such as ease of use, speed to deployment and lower cost. In addition to these factors, three more benefits were key for the COPD Foundation, according to CIO Vincent Malanga:
Scalability: When it comes to implementing an infrastructure to support software, scalability is always a key component – especially when you're looking at tremendous amounts of unstructured data. We needed a system that could scale, and we knew that AWS could do that.
Security: Security is paramount, and AWS provides a much more robust security infrastructure than we could implement with an on-premises solution.
Uptime: With the redundancy in place in the cloud environment, you have much more availability of services when they're needed. You don't have to worry about disaster recovery plans as much, because all of that is taken care of in AWS.


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DeLorme Earthmate GPS PN-40
The Earthmate GPS PN-40 has been discontinued. If you're looking for something new, check out the best handheld gps receivers for 2024.
I really like this unit. I've owned a number of portable GPS units, stating with a Garmin nautical GPS in 1991 (at 3 pounds and 2 feet long, it wasn't really a handheld); a Magellan handheld unit (since lost, so I can't tell you the precise model), a Garmin Etrex Legend, a Delorme PN-20 and now the Delorme PN-40.
Every 5 years, GPS capabilities have improved and I've been absolutely pleased with each of my purchases (less pleased with the PN-20, see my review in these pages). But I'm more than pleased with the PN-40: it is a truly amazing little gadget. Delorme has fixed the limitations of the PN-20 and has gone on to add all kinds of further improvements.
Of the various features of the PN-40, three of them especially appeal to me: (1) rapid acquisition, (2) ability to handle huge SD cards, up to 32 GB, (3) Topo maps of the whole USA plus street maps of the US and Canada.
In my back yard, which is ringed with tall trees, I did a "cold acquire" (meaning that I hadn't used the thing in about 2 weeks). Within a few seconds of turning it on, it found 6 satellites (showing red bars, indicating a signal received but not yet usable) and within 40 seconds, all the red bars had turned green and it had a 3D fix. A "hot acquire" (meaning that I turned it off, waited a few minutes, then turned it back on) took only 10 seconds, and two of the satellites had WAAS fixes as well (indicated by blue bars).
This is a huge improvement over the PN-20, and it is among the fastest receivers I have ever seen. (The PN-20 map display also became quite slow if the memory card was loaded up with maps; the PN-40 doesn't seem to suffer from this deficiency.)
TOPO-USA maps are pretty good. I currently have version 7 but ver. 8 has recently been released and I've sent in my "free update card" (good for 6 months after you buy the unit; be sure to keep the UPC code from the box) to receive them. Delorme claims TOPO-USA ver. 8 is much improved, and it is true that ver. 7 maps are a bit spotty when it comes to their coverage of hiking trails, but I've found them to be decent.
I did some hiking in various dry washes of the Anza-Borrego desert in California, and they were all indicated on the maps. (It's pretty hard to get lost in a dry wash which may only be wide enough for one person, but once you've climbed out of one wash and into another, and done that a few times, suddenly they all start to look alike, and having a GPS may be the only way you can get back to your 4x4.) With the huge memory cards, you can load the whole USA into the GPS, and throw in all of Canada too, and still have room for aerial photos and such.
Street maps: Even without loading the DVD containing "street maps of the US and Canada", the street maps in TOPO-USA are great. I've used them while driving (or rather, my navigator used them) in the car, trying to find our way to a road in central NJ. The PN-40 saved us from a number of wrong turns.
The first release of the PN-40 did not provide any maps of Canada, and so far as I know, the PN-40 still doesn't work with Street Atlas USA (why the heck not, Delorme???) but it appears that the Canada/USA street maps that are now bundled with the PN-40 are pretty much the same as Street Atlas USA, so I'm happy now. Wish list: Topo maps of Canada; street maps of Europe, please.
Other features: I only have comments on four of the many additional features of the PN-40:
--The display is bright and clear; I can read it in midday (as long as I'm wearing my reading glasses: I'm on the "wrong" side of 50 years); the colors are spectacular.
--Delorme fixed the "go to waypoint" function that I complained about in the PN-20 review; in fact they even fixed it in the PN-20, not long after I wrote my review. It is now very easy to click on a waypoint and find your way back to it using the unit.
--The PN-40 comes with "pre-cut" topo maps which makes it much easier to load them into an SD card. For the early PN-20 units, you had to run TOPO-USA on your (windows or mac) computer, select the regions you were interested in, select the range of magnifications you wanted, then click on "download" and wait, sometimes for quite a while, as the computer re-coded those map regions in a format that could be used by the PN-20. The whole process is fast and efficient with the new pre-cut maps.
--I don't really use the downloadable aerial photos, but I did test them out: Delorme has developed a remarkable overlay system that places the aerial photos exactly on top of the topo maps, much as Google Earth does. If you've ever tried to do something like this by hand you'll appreciate how clever Delorme's and Google's algorithms must be.
The first is the price. (I bought mine through Amazon which had the best price at the time. It has come down a bit since then.) It's no more expensive than similar units with similar capabilities, but it's still a serious amount of money, plus you'll want to shell out another $30 or more for a high capacity SD card. (It comes with a 1 GB SD card which for most purposes is adequate if you're willing to "cut" the maps that you are likely to need, and then to install them on the memory card. But it's much easier to get a huge memory card and then dump everything into it.)
Second disadvantage is the size and weight: it is a little bulky, and it's not because of the LCD screen. The LCD display is 3.5 cm x 4.3 cm. = 15 square cm. The glass area around the LCD display is not rectangular, but it has about 30 sq. cm. So if the whole glass area was LCD (probably technically infeasible) this would double the screen area, which would be great. With batteries, my unit weighs 7.1 oz. and it is 3.5 cm thick. For comparison, my Garmin Legend with batteries is 5.4 oz, and only 2.7 cm thick. The Garmin's screen area is 3 cm x 5.5 cm = 16.5 sq. cm., which is nearly the same size but less square. I'm sure Delorme has crammed everything into the tiniest area they can, but you'll be carrying around something that you wish was a bit smaller.
Third disadvantage is battery life: like most GPS units, this thing is hard on batteries, and (also like most gps units) it drains the batteries even when it's turned off, because it's keeping track of the time. So if you haven't used it for a few months and then you go off on a trip, be sure to start with fresh batteries (and take along a couple of spares as well).
Yes, it's true that I'm getting soft. I used to hike with topo maps and a compass, and I had a sense of accomplishment at the end of the journey. But the GPS is so darn convenient: no folding/unfolding; you don't run off the edge of the map; you don't worry about the rain getting the map wet, you don't spend an hour rummaging through your map collection, searching for the right topo maps before you leave on your hike while your hiking partners are out there waiting for you in the car with the engine running. I have friends who have sworn never to use GPS, and I completely agree with their point of view, but for me, the PN-40 is the right solution.
No, I am not paid by Delorme, nor have we ever been in contact. They didn't even ask me to remove my complaint about the PN-20 after they made the software correction. I just like this GPS and I've even gone out on a limb and recommended it to several friends, who, it seems, are still talking to me.
Price Paid: $245
This is a solid, but frustrating, GPS with high bang-for-the-buck value.
It has a bright display and the option to use all sorts of maps, including aerial photography and USGS topos, but it and the PC software to use its biggest features are somewhat cumbersome.
I bought the predecessor to this, the PN-20 (which was my first GPS), and it was very nifty but v-e-r-y s-l-o-w. (When I can hike faster than the screen can update, that's slow.) When DeLorme announced the PN-40, I switched and have been using it off and on for more than a year, for a combination of day hikes and backpacking trips. One of the PN-40's big selling points is its paperless geocaching, but I don't geocache.
Things I like about the PN-40:
- bright screen: the screen is bright and clear and easy to read.
- free road routing: the unit includes 1:100K topo maps of the entire US including routable roads. The included software (Topo USA) will do routing on roads and trails and transfer those routes to the PN-40.
- lots of map imagery: The unit comes with a coupon for free data imagery and you can buy a subscription from DeLorme, to have real (scanned) USGS topos, aerial imagery, etc displayed on the unit. It's really cool to have your GPS show you exactly where you are on a USGS topo, and then be able to switch to an aerial view.
- dedicated waypoint button: makes it really easy to place a waypoint Right Here.
- customer/technical support is GREAT. Sadly, I had problems with my unit, but DeLorme tech support was really knowledgable and easy to deal with.
Things I don't like about the PN-40:
- signal acquisition and retention: hiking in the SF Bay Area, which is pretty thickly forested, I have lost GPS reception or never been able to (re)acquire it several times. It's particularly bad when I haven't used the unit in more than a few days, which is most of the time -- I'm lucky if I can get out once a week (sigh). This has improved through the various software releases but it's still not as good or as reliable as my Garmin Oregon. (It has worked fine in the Sierra Nevada.)
- battery life is AWFUL. I have used both AAs and the DeLorme Li-Ion rechargeable battery in this unit. Usually a day hike (not a full day, mind you) is enough to drain a pair of AAs and I might get an overnight backpacking trip out of the Li-Ion if I'm really careful. On the plus side, it has a built-in charger for the Li-Ion so you can recharge the battery in your car while driving to and from the trailhead.
- The unit really forces you to use the DeLorme Topo USA software. If you geocache (again, I don't), they have mechanisms to get geocache data on and off the unit, but to transfer maps, routes, waypoints, etc. you need to use Topo USA. Topo USA is Windows-only (I use a Mac) and while it is incredibly powerful, it's also really hard to learn and get started with. You can't even get GPX files (standard for transferring GPS info) on and off the unit without using Topo USA, and it's not really obvious how to do so.
- You can install different imagery types, but you're restricted to what DeLorme provides. There is a mechanism to install custom user data but it requires buying DeLorme's XMap Pro software for another $100.
Things that bug me but aren't really THAT important:
- Typing (to enter waypoint names, descriptions, etc) is annoyingly slow. You have to scroll around to select each letter/number/etc. DeLorme's done the best they could by having shortcuts but that only ameliorates the pain a bit. But every GPS has this problem except for the Garmin touchscreen units.
- It's not "pretty." I find this embarrassing to admit, but my Garmin does a really nice job of presenting map information visually; it's a nice-looking map and it's easy to understand what it's presenting. The DeLorme maps are just not as smooth, not as easy to read. It's like comparing a Windows 95 display to Windows 7, or even XP -- there's nothing wrong with the former, it just doesn't look as good.
- Continuing with that theme, the 'feel' of the device is similarly clunky; this device was created by a bunch of GPS geeks who are not UI designers. There are lots of options and lots of controls and you can get the unit to work exactly the way you want it-- but there's a learning curve to get there.
In the end, I found myself liking the unit but frustrated enough by its flaws (especially the battery life) and annoyances that I wound up buying a Garmin Oregon, and I find myself using that a lot more. But the Oregon is easily twice the cost, even before you include all the map data that you get for free with the DeLorme. (And you can get a lot of legal, free mapping data for the Garmin units if you're willing to hunt a bit on the Internet.)
As I said above: the value of what DeLorme provides with the PN-40 make this a great buy, but it also has some serious drawbacks. If you can deal with those, you will find the PN-40 to be a really good unit.
Price Paid: $399
If you are looking for a handheld GPS that you can also use in the car, stop reading and go look at Garmin's website or somewhere else. This is not the GPS for you. If you are someone who wants a GPS to give you the basics and is as easy to use as a "point-and-shoot" camera, this is likely not the GPS for you. If you are a hiker, hunter, mountain biker or any other kind of outdoor enthusiast that needs a powerful land navigation tool... this is the BEST GPS going.
I will start with the negatives. The biggest is that the mapping software that comes with the PN-40 takes some time to get used to. It's not bad software, it just takes some time to learn how to use many of the more advanced features. That being said, you can be up and navigating almost immediately. Also, the forums on Delorme's website are FULL of excellent people more than willing to help you with any questions or issues.
The second biggest negative is that it eats batteries pertty quickly. Get some GOOD rechargables and you will be okay.
The third is the small screen size. Honestly, there is no way to mitigate this, you just have to deal with it. Considering the overall package though, this really turns out to be a minor inconvenience.
Now, the positives. I could go on and on about this but I'll try to keep it to a minimum. The biggest advantage of this GPS over its competitors is the cost of getting additional maps. For $29 A YEAR, you have access to DeLorme's (a map company by trade) online library of maps with unlimited downloads. This includes their base maps, USGS 7.5 minute quads, Color Aerial Imagery, Black and white aerial imagery, NOAA Nautical charts and Satelitte imagery. And the unit itself can display any of those on screen as the navigation map. Yes, actually aerial imagery like you see on Google Maps can be used to navigate.
Another big advantage is the accuracy. I have never used the Garmin 60Csx (the standard in handheld GPS accuracy) but from what I have heard it is very close. Based on my usage, I can tell you that I can easily tell which side of the street I am walking on in my neighborhood. My wife had it in the car once and I could tell which side of the garage she parked on.
The third major advantage is the Topo7 software that comes with the unit. True, it's takes some effort, but it is insanely powerful and quickly becomes an indispensable tool.
Some others nice features are the fact the unit is light and rugged. The screen is easy to see in direct sunlight. It can use up to a 32GB SDHC card to hold a TON of maps or imagery. It has sunrise and sunset data, a compass and altimeter, and even hunting/fishing forecasts.
I was very hesitant to spend a lot of money on a GPS when I was looking at the Garmins and the Magellans because I could not find one I really thought was perfect. I am so glad I found the Garmin, it's a GREAT unit.
Price Paid: $350
This is the first GPS I have owned so having nothing to compare it to. I truly love this device. I have to agree with the other reviews that the unit is big and clunky and a bit goofy to navigate at first but once I got the hang of it I found it rather easy to use.
I mainly only use my unit as a tracking and navigating source for backpacking trips which it performs flawlessly for. I am able to trace my trip then return home and transfer that data to the software on my computer.
My lack of technological skills makes this unit the ideal mate for me. No fancy bells and whistles, just good ol navigation.
This is an easy to use device. It has all the features that you need for any type of hiking adventure. I find it easy to read. To test it out I took it cross country through heavy woods between trails. It is fast, and accurate. Loading in waypoints is a snap.
The only thing I did not like was the computer interface. It took a few days to get it to work right--I followed the instructions to the letter, it just for some reason would not load up the maps I needed.
Price Paid: $299
Very good unit. Great color screen, with the ability to upload maps. Waterproof, and drop proof.
Only drawback is it eats the batteries.
Price Paid: $250
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Historic Range: $199.98-$399.99 Reviewers Paid: $250.00-$399.00 |


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Xiph.Org: QuickTime Components
- saved on: 2009-03-05
- uri: http://xiph.org/quicktime/
- about: A "plugin" solution for Mac and Windows users who want to use Xiph formats in any QuickTime-based application. It allows, for instance, to play Ogg Vorbis in iTunes or pto roduce Ogg Theora with iMovie. And it will add support for open video in the "video" tag implementation in Opera
- tags:


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August 3, 2007
Nanofiber Cartridge Filters
Dust collection cartridge filters with nanofiber technology last twice as long as cellulose and 80/20 commodity filters. They also lower total dust collection costs by reducing the number of replacement filters needed, lowering maintenance costs, and decreasing total energy use. Longer filter life is a result of advanced surface loading capabilities. Filters with nanofiber technology include a surface treatment of the finest synthetic nanofibers used in any current filtration product. These fibers form a microscopic mesh that traps dust particles on the filter's surface, where they easily release during the cleaning cycle and lower the pressure drop over the life of the filter. The fibers measure only 70–150 nm (0.07 to 0.15 µm), which is approximately 1000 times thinner than a human hair.
United Air Specialists, Cincinnati, OH 800-252-4647 www.uasinc.com
Stroke Monitor
The VibraTrac II stroke monitor tests vibration amplitude and frequency, critical indicators of the performance of vibrating equipment. When equipment is operating correctly, these indicators are constant. Conversely, changes in amplitude and frequency are signs that a component such as a bushing or spring has failed or that an upset condition such as product surges or sticking has occurred. If these conditions go unnoticed, failure or structural damage can occur. The monitor can be used to spot-check the performance of vibrating equipment or continuously monitor important vibration characteristics that affect processing performance and equipment reliability. Continuous monitoring provides digital outputs for indicators or alarms, quickly alerting personnel to potential problems.
Carrier Vibrating Equipment, Louisville, KY 502-969-3171 www.carriervibrating.com
Insertion Weigh Belt Module
The weigh belt feeder Series "SI" insertion weigh belt module has been designed to easily fit into an existing belt or vibratory conveyor line and comes in a scale-over or scale-under design. A short support framework and a 24-in.-long V-guided conveyor (12-, 18-, and 24-in. wide) makes this a practical weighing module for insertion into a transition space between existing conveyors or equipment. The weigher uses a patented Model 15L precision flexure plate suspension scale with FMSS technology, which provides for complete mass counterbalancing of the dead load of the conveyor, permitting the load sensor to react only to the net material load. This system is unaffected by dirt, shocks, or vibration and can withstand overloads in excess of 1000 lb without causing damage or affecting calibration.
Thayer Scale-Hyer Industries Inc., Pembroke, MA 781-826-8101 www.ThayerScale.com
Industrial Vacuum Cleaner
The Model 850 industrial vacuum cleaner handles dry debris ranging from fine powders up to 2-in. solids and disposes of them in a safe, dust-free manner. The unit can be used as a stand-alone vacuum for fine powders or with a 55-gal intercept drum for bulky products. It features a continuous polybagging system for easy disposal of collected powders or for carryover dust from bulk cleanup. The well-balanced 26-in.-wide frame with easy-rolling wheels and 50-ft hose capacity allows the operator to cover nearly an 8000-sq-ft area without moving the vacuum. The reverse-jet filter cleaning system does not require compressed air and provides longer vacuuming times without clogged filters, even with the finest powders. The unit features an 8.5-hp vacuum producer and supports a single 2.5-in. ID hose, a 3-in. ID hose, or smaller hoses for multiple operators.
Vac-U-Max, Belleville, NJ 973-759-4600 www.vac-u-max.com
Hydraulic Bulk Bag Conditioning System
This system is designed to break up hardened materials inside bulk bags. The operator typically loads bulk bags via a forklift and then uses hydraulically actuated compression frames to break up materials, returning materials to a flowable state within minutes. The integral hydraulic lift table and rotary turntable provide maximum conditioning results, while machine guarding protects employees. Robust construction, quality components, and an application-specific design ensure reliable performance. In-house testing is available prior to equipment investment.
Material Transfer & Storage Inc., Allegan, MI 800-836-7068 www.materialtransfer.com
Air Transfer Tubes
TT-series transfer tubes are air-operated for pneumatic conveying, hopper and bulk loading, dust-and-trim waste removal, and related applications. The air-powered tubes provide an effective maintenance-free method for conveying materials at high speed. Featuring a smooth bore that lets materials pass freely without clogging, they operate using the Venturi principle, which creates a powerful vacuum from compressed air, and are offered in several sizes to match product and flow requirements. Designed to provide air movement the moment compressed air is applied, the tubes' transfer speed and output can be infinitely controlled by regulating the input air pressure. Available in sizes from 0.375 to 1-in. ID with airflows from 15 to 95 scfm, the compact transfer tubes do not use gaskets or O-rings and are explosionproof.
Anver Corp., Hudson, MA 800-654-3500 www.anver.com
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If you were to take a tour of Europe's tiny, rocky Faroe Islands in Google Street View, you might see a lot of sheep.
But you can't take a tour of the Faroe Islands in Google Street View, unlike much of the rest of Europe. A resident of the North Atlantic islands has turned to her sheep to try and fix that.
Durita Dahl Andreassen, of the tourist organization Visit Faroe Islands, has fastened a 360-degree camera, powered by a solar panel, to the back of her sheep. The camera takes photographs as the animal grazes along the hillsides that she can then upload to Street View.
She's using this "Sheep View 360" program to get Google's attention, starting a petition to entice the Internet giant to turn its eye on the archipelago located roughly midway between Scotland, Iceland and Norway.
"The Faroe Islands may be rugged and remote but this collection of 18 islands in the North Atlantic also provide some of the world's most magical landscapes and it is time that this hidden Nordic nation is revealed to the world," Andreassen said in a post on the Visit Faroe Islands website Monday.
The Faroe Islands, a part of Denmark whose name may in fact derive from the Old Norse word "faer," meaning sheep, according to the CIA Fact Book, has a population of just over 50,000 people. That compares to 80,000 sheep, The Guardian reported.
The sheep rarely notice the camera and continue to graze as it captures a picture a minute, Andreassen said in a video promoting the project.
U.S. & World
Sheep View imitates Google Street View, which captures images in 360 degrees that give users a sense of what streets look like from their computers or phones; it's available on most of America's roads, and throughout much of Europe as well, including even a few spots in the even-more-remote Greenland. Parts of Germany, Austria, Belarus and a few other nations are not included in Google's current European coverage.
Of course, Sheep View doesn't have quite the same reach as Street View, and Andreassen's project aims to have Google bring Street View cameras to the Faroe Islands, where she argues they're much-needed.
"In order to cover the big sweeping Faroese roads and the whole of the breath-taking landscapes, we need Google to come and map them," Andreassen said.


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Prep sports participation drops, led by decline in football
Led by a decline in football for the fifth straight year, participation in U.S. high school sports dropped in 2018-19 for the first time in 30 years, according to an annual survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
The 2018-19 total of 7,937,491 participants was a decline of 43,395 from the 2017-18 school year, when the number of participants in high school sports reached a record high of 7,980,886.
The last decline in sports participation numbers occurred during the 1988-89 school year.
The group said 11-man football dropped by 30,829 to 1,006,013, the lowest mark since the 1999-2000 school year. It was the fifth consecutive year of declining football participation.
"We know from recent surveys that the number of kids involved in youth sports has been declining, and a decline in the number of public school students has been predicted for a number of years, so we knew our 'streak' might end someday," said Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director. "The data from this year's survey serves as a reminder that we have to work even harder in the coming years to involve more students in these vital programs — not only athletics but performing arts programs as well."
Although the number of participants in boys' 11-player football dropped, the number of schools offering the sport remained steady. The survey indicated that 14,247 schools offer 11-player football, an increase of 168 from last year. A comparison of the figures from the past two years indicates the average number of boys involved in 11-player football on a per-school basis dropped from 73 to 70, which includes freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams.
While participation in boys' 11-player football dropped in all but seven states, participation in six-, eight- and nine-player football gained 156 schools and 1,594 participants nationwide, with the largest increase in boys' eight-player football from 19,554 to 20,954. In addition, in the past 10 years, participation by girls in 11-player football has doubled, from 1,249 in the 2009-10 school year to 2,404 last year.
"The survey certainly confirms that schools are not dropping the sport of football, which is great news," Niehoff said. "Certainly, we are concerned about the reduction in the number of boys involved in the 11-player game but are thrilled that states are finding other options by starting six-player or eight-player football in situations where the numbers have declined.
"While we recognize that the decline in football participation is due, in part, to concerns about the risk of injury, we continue to work with our member state associations, the nation's high schools and other groups to make the sport as safe as possible."
The NFHS said combined basketball participation was down 23,944 (13,340 girls and 10,604 boys), and the girls basketball total of 399,067 was the lowest total since the 1992-93 school year. The decline was largely attributed to a 25,000 drop in Texas during a two-year period.
Four of the top 10 boys sports registered increases, topped by track and field with an additional 5,257 participants. Other top 10 boys sports that added participants last year were soccer, wrestling and tennis. Among girls top 10 sports, volleyball, soccer and lacrosse all added participants.
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-Sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


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Sarah Palin | Barack Obama | |
Office being sought | Vice President | President of the United States and Leader of the Free World |
Full name | Sarah Louise Heath Palin | Barack Hussein Obama II |
Nickname | Sarah Barracuda | Barry Obama; "The One" |
Public opinion | Smoking hot in a "naughty librarian" sort of way | May be The Messiah |
Age | 44 | 48 |
Children | 5: two sons, three daughters | 2: two daughters |
Religion/Church attendance | Evangelical Christian; attends Juneau Christian Center when in Juneau and grew up attending Wasilla Assembly of God | Attended Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years, a "black liberation theology" church formerly led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright and governed according to the Black Value System |
Current Job | Governor of Alaska | Junior Senator from Illinois |
Previous Public Jobs | Mayor of Wasilla, AK (1996-2002); President of Alaska Conference of Mayors; City Council member (1992-1996) | State Senator (1997-2004); Community Organizer |
Executive Experience | Governor for 2 years; Mayor for 10 years | None |
Foreign Relations experience | Governor of state that borders two foreign countries (Canada and Russia) | Chaired Senate subcommittee on Europe but never called it into session; once gave a speech to 200,000 screaming Germans |
Military Affairs experience | Commander in Chief of Alaska National Guard; Son is enlisted Infantryman in U.S. Army | None |
Private Sector Experience | Sports reporter; Salmon fisherman | Associate at civil rights law firm |
Speaking ability | Beautifully executed initial stump speech in Dayton, OH hockey arena without a teleprompter | An enter…wait–did you say without a teleprompter?? |
Spouse's name | Todd Mitchell Palin | Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama |
Spouse's occupation | Salmon fisherman; Former North Slope production supervisor for BP Oil | Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals; former Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago; former Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies; former Assistant to the Mayor of Chicago; former associate at Sidley Austin law firm |
Reaction to spouse's political success | Quit 17-year BP oil job when BP became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with wife's administration | Promoted and given 160% pay raise by UofC hospitals within months of husband's election to U.S. Senate; Employer received $1,000,000.00 federal earmark, requested by husband, after her promotion |
Coolest thing about Spouse | Tesoro Iron Dog Snowmobile race champion (longest snowmobile race in the world); In 2008, while defending his championship, was injured when he was thrown 70 feet from his machine. He was sent to the hospital but still finished in fourth place | Sister of Oregon State University head basketball coach Craig Robinson |
Most Courageous Moment in Public Service | Resigned in protest from position of Ethics Commissioner of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders, including the former state Attorney General and the State GOP Chairman (who was also an Oil & Gas Commissioner), who was doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. | Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators in Hyde Park in 2002 |
In Current Office Because… | Upset sitting Governor in GOP primary due to public support for her efforts to clean up corrupt government establishment | Republican opponent, who was leading in the polls, was forced to leave race after unsealing of divorce records exposed a sex scandal |
Theme: | Change and Clean Government | Hope and Change; "Bringing Change from Outside Washington" |
What they've done to live that theme: | Replaced entire Board of Agriculture and Conservation because of conflict of interest; Resigned from position of Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose corruption among members of own party | Selected 36-year incumbent Senator as running mate |
Family Affairs | May have removed State Public Safety Commissioner as part of effort to protect sister in messy divorce and child custody battle | Often says, "I am my brother's keeper"; Brother lives in a hut in Nairobi on $12 per year |
Union affiliation | Union member, married to Union member | Endorsed by a union |
Iraq and Troop Support | Formerly (pre-surge) critical of apparent lack of long-term strategy for Iraq; Visited wounded U.S. soldiers in Germany; visited AK National Guard soldiers deployed to Kuwait; Son deploying to Iraq on 9/11/08 as Army infantryman | Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators; almost visited wounded troops in Germany, but decided to go shopping in Berlin instead |
Bipartisan/"maverick" credentials | Married to a non-Republican; Exposed corruption within own party; Campaigned for Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell against corrupt GOP congressman Don Young; Called out Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) to "come clean" about financial dealings that are under fed investigation | Talks about bipartisanship |
Legislative Record | Passed a landmark ethics reform bill; Used veto to cut budgetary spending; Prevented "bridge to nowhere" that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars. | Voted "present" over 100 times as IL state senator |
How they dealt with corrupt individuals in home city/state | Exposed legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders; Campaigned against corrupt GOP Representative; Ran against and defeated corrupt incumbent governor in GOP primary | Launched political career in home of unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers (and still refers to him as a part of "mainstream Democratic Chicago"; Purchased home with help of convicted felon Tony Rezko |
Guns | Lifetime member of NRA and avid hunter; video can be found on YouTube of Palin firing an M4 at a military firing range | Worked to pass legislation in Illinois that would prevent all law-abiding citizens from owning firearms |
Earmarks | Opposed "Bridge to Nowhere" project; Said Alaska should avoid relying on federal money for projects; Campaigned against porker Don Young (R-AK) in 2008 primary | Secured federal earmarks for wife's employer and for campaign bundlers |
Abortion | Pro life; gave birth to 5th child knowing that he would have Down's syndrome | Pro-choice; only IL state sen. to speak against the Born Alive Infant's Protection Act, which required medical care to be given to live infants who survived abortions |
Energy | Believes energy independence is a matter of national security; For drilling in ANWR, which is in her state | Says Americans should "get tune-ups" and "check tire pressure"; Says "we can't expect the world to be okay with" our use of heating and air conditioning |
Environment | Chair of Alaska Conservation Commission (2003-4); Announced plans to create sub-cabinet group of advisors to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in AK | Talks about the environment a lot |
Athletic prowess | Runs marathons | Has reporters tailing him to the gym |
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May 1st is generally considered the "New Year" in
the ski training world. We have all had April to run wild, and come May we
start to refocus and buckle down a little more. Since I'm no Hoff when it comes
to blogging I thought I should at least start the year off right. This means I
have to rewind all the way back to the Olympics- here goes…
The Olympics were obviously an unreal experience with Russia
putting on the show of the century. That side of things was far better than I
had imagined. When we were in Sochi the year before for our test event I was
fairly certain at that time that nothing would be finished. But it was, and so
the show went on. For me, although the races didn't go as well as I'd been
imagining for the last year, in the grand scheme of things it was ok given the
year I was having. Sometimes you just have to step back and put things in
perspective. In November it was looking like I might not even make it around
the sprint course once, so to qualify, and ski a heat with three ladies who I was
sure were going to be on the podium that day was a small success, and for Dasha
and I to be so close to the final in the teamsprint was hard to swallow given
what we had done the year before and what our goals were.
Following Sochi I flew straight to Finland to continue on
with the rest of the world cup. Lahti weekend was agonizingly close for me, I
was just outside the top 30, which is always frustrating, but I channeled my
frustrations into the next sprint in Drammen, Norway. This is one race I've
never done well in, in the past I haven't even been close to making it into the
heats. My usual routine is to ski the qualifier, then go to the bakery and warm
up and dry out while my teammates get ready to ski the rounds. This year though,
I was determined not to let that happen, and I didn't. Although the end result wasn't amazing, to
finish in the 20's in Drammen was a great way to end my world cup season. The
following day I travelled home to Canmore a place I hadn't been in over three
Although I love being on the road, it's always really nice
to come home, use my kitchen, do my own laundry, drive myself to go skiing, and
visit with friends. The last stop of the year was Cornerbrook, Newfoundland for
Nationals! The Blow Me Down Club hosted an awesome event, and it was great to
see a different part of the country, my first trip to Newfoundland was
incredible. I hope I make it back there again sometime soon.
Post Nationals I was in Canmore for one more week before
heading to Nicaragua with a group of friends and SchoolBOX to work on a school not
too far from Granada. This was a project we had in the works for the better
part of a year, so to actually get down there and get into it was awesome. It
was a total shift from ski-life, and just what I needed. The community we were
in was a truly incredible one. It seemed like everyone was lending a hand to
make this project happen. Either cooking meals for the construction crew, and
us, or coming out to help on the building site everyone was excited and doing
what they could to make a school in their community a reality. It really is
impossible to put into words the effect that SchoolBOX is having over in Nicaragua,
but one thing I can say is it doesn't take much. Simple things like notebooks
and pencils make a huge difference in the lives of these kids, and open up
opportunities that wouldn't otherwise be there by giving them the gift of
education. For five dollars you can give a child education for a year. And from
our experience they are thrilled to have an opportunity to learn.
What now? I'm back in Canmore and not done yet! I'm eager
and motivated to get back into training, but just want to make sure I'm 100%
healthy and recovered first. That's the last three months in a nutshell!
I'm heading home to Almonte at the end of May, and can't
wait to share my Sochi experiences with everyone, and say thank you to my incredible
community for all of the amazing support.
See you soon!


text: Just for folks interested in the gsl rngs (and so far ONLY the gsl rngs) I'm announcing the first 0.1.0 cut of a rng benchmarking and testing tool called "rand_rate" that is directly integrated with the gsl. You can get a (linux "only", as it uses /dev/random to seed) tarball of the source from http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/rand_rate.tgz which "should" just make on a linux box with the gsl installed. It seeds from /dev/random, and will need to be hacked to support a different seeding mechanism (like the one indicated in the gsl manual) if you don't have a /dev/random device on your machine or use a different OS. This snapshot isn't documented anywhere but in this note and in the source, so ignore the "man page" and output from -h. All that works is: If entered as rand_rate -v 2 it will list all the gsl random number generators (if your gsl revision is far enough along that e.g. gsl_rng_name() etc. exists). If entered as rand_rate -t gsl_num (where gsl_num is the index number of one of the tests from the -v 2 listing) it should run the benchmark, e.g.: rgb@ganesh|T:454>rand_rate -t 12 #======================================================================== # Timing "Empty" Loop # Samples = 100 Loop iterations per sample = 8388608 # Time(sec): 2.34589458e-09 +/- 9.09979502e-12 #======================================================================== # Timing test 12 # Time(sec): 4.33561719e-05 +/- 5.91981762e-08 # Samples = 100 Loop iterations per sample = 256 #======================================================================== # Benchmark of the gsl_rnd_int() for the mt19937 generator: # and vector size = 1000 (4000 bytes) # Average Time: 43.35 nanoseconds # BogomegaRate: 23.07 mt19937 megarands per second Actually, one should still be able to use e.g. -s and -n options to vary vector size and number of samples, but I don't think they'll be important for this benchmark. Note that the benchmark for /dev/random doesn't yet work, and I don't yet have any homemade tests (ones not yet in the gsl) wrapped so ignore the final /dev/random index. I'm hoping to put a nice gsl wrapper in this testing program so that anything from a hardware generator to a new software generator can be wrapped up for testing (preferrably without having to rebuild the entire gsl library:-) and then simply added to the gsl if it is deemed worthy. At this moment, rand_rate only times the tests and returns their "bogomegarate" of a gsl rng -- a very respectable 23 million unsigned long random integers per second, for the excellent mt19937 generator on my 1300 MHz Athlon desktop, for example. My next chore (after arranging for importing hw/sw generators consistently in gsl wrappers) is going to be integrating this tool with all the tests I can from both diehard and sts (and any additional ones that come to mind or are suggested). The same tool should eventually be able to both benchmark a rng and automagically test its overall quality against a decent sized set of well-known tests. This would greatly simplify rng selection and implementation, as well as act as an "importing tool" for potential rng algorithms to facilitate their addition to the gsl. I also want to test the speedup that should result from filling a vector (a quite long vector) of rands all at once WITHIN a single subroutine call -- I'm betting that major factor in the speed of a gsl rng is the subroutine call overhead and cache thrashing, as the actual arithmetic required for most rng's suggests (according to e.g. stream benchmarks) rates that should be perhaps twice this, if not more. If so, it might be a good idea to create a macro interface to a "streaming" implementation that generally returns the next rand from a vector of rands and increments a pointer and only calls gsl subroutine to refill the entire vector all at once when the pointer reaches the end of the vector. Monte Carlo folks can consume a LOT of rands in a computation, and a factor of e.g. even 10-20% speedup can make a major difference in time of completion, and who knows, it might be even more. Hope this helps somebody. If nothing else, the rand_rate source makes it very clear how easy it is to generate rands using the gsl and provides at least one way of "reliably" seeding it (presuming that /dev/random ultimately passes e.g. diehard and sts:-). The timing and quality results are certainly useful to me, anyway, which is why I'm writing it. rgb Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:email@example.com


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XIX International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS 2011)
April 11-15, 2011
Newport News Marriott at City Center
Newport News, VA USA
DIS 2011 is the 19th in the series of annual workshops on Deep-Inelastic Scattering (DIS) and Related Subjects. The aim of these workshops is to review the progress in the field of DIS and Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and to lay the groundwork for future experiments. DIS 2011 will cover the most recent results from international laboratories such as CERN, DESY and KEK as well as from US national laboratories such as Jefferson Lab, BNL and FNAL. Related subjects and novel theoretical topics will be presented and discussed. DIS 2011 will be the third in this successful and well-attended workshop series held in the US, after 1997 (Chicago, IL) and 2005 (Madison, WI).
"The registration deadline has been extended to April 1!"
International visitors: please see the International Visitors information under the Travel link. Note also that during registration you can explicitly state if you need a letter of invitation.
Previous Workshops:
2010: Florence, Italy | 2009: Madrid, Spain | 2008: London, UK | 2007: Munich, Germany |
2006: Tsukuba, Japan | 2005: Madison, USA | 2004: Strbske Pleso, Svovakia | 2003: St. Petersburg, Russia |
2002: Krakow, Poland | 2001: Bologna, Italy | 2000: Liverpool, UK | 1999: Zeuthen, Germany |
1998: Brussels, Belgium | 1997: Chicago, USA | 1996: Rome, Italy | 1995: Paris, France |
1994: Eilat, Israel | 1993: Durham, UK |


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On 7th May, 1999, Barnabas claimed to have recieved the following message from the Virgin Mary:
"My sorrow is great, join Me in the battle against the wicked dragon, all who are sealed with the Blood of the Lamb. Fight with Me against the heresies that destroy the foot of the Church. Fear not their great number. Through the Blood of the Spotless Lamb, the faith of the true Church, of the true doctrine and of holiness will soon be restored." (See here).
This was followed soon after by another message concerning the "Seal of God":
(Ezek 9:3-4)
The Hebrew word for "mark" in the Book of Ezekiel is taw - which is a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And in the ancient Paleo-Hebrew script which was used at the time of the Book of Ezekiel, the letter taw was written as a cross-shape. So the "mark" put on the foreheads of the righteous in Ezekiel 9 is the shape of the cross, which as the centre of salvation, was to become the universal symbol of Christianity. And to this day, Catholics are marked with the symbol of the Cross on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of the season of Lent.


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This is an animated gif of Frank Lampard's free kick goal against Hull on August the 18th, 2013. This was during the opening game between Chelsea and Hull. Lampard's goal put Chelsea 2-0 up.
Lampard Free Kick goal against Hull
This is an animated gif of Frank Lampard's free kick goal against Hull on August the 18th, 2013. This was during the opening game between Chelsea and Hull. Lampard's goal put Chelsea 2-0 up.
I should buy a boat
This is an animated gif of "Sophisticated Cat" saying "I should buy a boat." This is from a meme of a cat sitting at a kitchen table while wearing a suit. Typically used to describe epiphanies.
I don't know who you are
This is an animated reaction gif of Hank Schrader from Breaking Bad saying the words "I don't know who you are. I don't even know who I'm talking to." This is from the final half of the fifth season.
Cannonball floating in mercury
This is a cool animated gif of a cannonball floating in mercury. If you're worried about the health implications of this, rest assured that this is elemental mercury and that it is OK to touch over short periods of time. i.e. It isn't as dangerous as the mercury that you find in thermometers.
Walter White - You Got Me
This is an animated gif of Breaking Bad character Walter White holding up his hands and saying "You got me!" He is portrayed by actor Bryan Cranston.
Chloe Grace Moretz clapping
This is an animated reaction gif of American actress Chloe Grace Moretz sitting on a couch and clapping in a rather emphatic fashion. I'm not entirely sure what TV talk show this is from.
Joffrey clapping
This is an animated reaction gif of Game of Thrones character Joffrey Baratheon clapping. Joffrey is portrayed by Irish actor Jack Gleeson, who is from Cork, Ireland.
This a cool timelapse gif showing crowds of football fans entering Wembley Stadium as police officers on horseback stand firmly still. Wembley is England's national football / soccer stadium.
Putin - Family Guy
This is a funny animated gif of the characters in Family Guy visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin. At first, he takes out some nunchucks, only to use them to create a clothes hanger. Then, he takes out a crossbow, only to fire an arrow at the wall and use it to hang his tie up. Finally, he takes out a gun, before revealing that it is just an over-sized novelty cigarette lighter.
Goose Laughing
This is a funny animated gif of a white goose laughing. I saw another version with the caption "Huehuehue" on it, but I prefer subtlety myself. Great reaction to use whenever you laugh at something that's a) corny or b) distasteful.
Booker T
This is an animated gif of pro wrestler Booker T taking off his sunglasses and staring in shock. Booker T's real name is "Booker Tio Huffman, Jr.".
Funny Dwarf Prank
This is a funny animated gif of a bunch of dwarfs pranking onlookers by pretending to be dolls. The look of terror on their faces as these "dolls" come to life and chase after them is hilarious.
Inception Box
This is an animated gif of a guy in a cardboard box harassing somebody on a park bench. When the person gets annoyed and responds, he rips off the box, only to find that there is another box beneath. Hence the text "Inception Box".
Adrian Deltre
This is an animated reaction gif of baseball player Adrian Deltre smiling. Deltre plays as third baseman for the Texas Rangers.
Look up "idiot" in the dictionary
This is an animated gif of a funny exchange between Val Kilmer and Robert Downey, Jr. in the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was released back in 2005. The conversation goes like:
Perry van Shrike (Kilmer): Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?
Harry Lockhart (Downey, Jr.): A picture of me?
Perry van Shrike: No! The definition of the word "idiot". Which you fucking are!
Unnecessary censorship
This is a funny animated gif of some unnecessary censorship. If you're wondering what the term means, its typically used to describe the act of blurring out innocent things. By doing this, you can actually make it look as though something seedy is going on. In this case, footage of one of the many cooking shows has been blurred in a way that makes it look like a bunch of men are sitting in a kitchen and... yea... you get the point.
Boy twerking
This is a funny animated gif of a young boy attempting to learn how to "twerk". Understandably, he gets a bit annoyed when he realizes that somebody is recording him. The strut at the end kills me. God, I am glad that I didn't grow up in an age full of cameras...
Dragon's Breath shotgun shells
This is an animated gif Youtube celebrity FPS Russia firing Dragon's Breath shotgun shells. These are basically incendiary rounds that will mess you up!
I'm kind of a big deal
This is an animated reaction gif of Ron Burgundy / Will Ferrell confidently saying "I'm kind of a big deal". This is from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which hit movie theaters back in 2004. There are so many great quotes in this film.
Tiger cub falling
This is a cute animated gif of a Tiger cub clumsily falling over a fallen tree bark as it attempts to climb over it.
Austin Aries
This is a perfectly looped gif of TNA wrestler Austin Aries holding out his arms and laughing sarcastically.
Luger being fired in slow motion
This is a cool animated gif of a Luger handgun being fired in slow motion. The Luger was first developed by in the early 1900s. It was primarily used by the German army in World War 1 and World War 2.
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- Home
- Government
- Departments A-G
- Finance
- Procurement & Contract Services
- Vendor Resources
- Small Works Roster Information
Small Works Roster Information
Frequently Asked Questions about Pierce County's Small Works Roster
What is Pierce County's Small Works Roster?
It is a listing (by various rosters) of Washington State licensed contractors who have registered with Pierce County to bid on public works projects estimated to cost between $35,000 and $300,000. Small works projects are not advertised; instead we notify all contractors on the roster used for the project.
Notices about small works bid opportunities are sent by email to all contractors on the roster used for the project.
Do I have to be registered to submit a bid?
Yes; bids will only be accepted from contractors who are on the roster at the time of bid submittal. Bidders must also meet all responsibility criteria set out in the bid documents and as required by law including the requirement to submit a 'Certification of Compliance with Wage Payment Statutes' sworn statement per RCW 39.04.350.
How do I register?
Pierce County participates in a shared Public Works Contractor Roster, Consultant Services Roster and Vendor Roster for Public Agencies (including cities, counties, districts) in Washington State to find project bidders. To receive automatic notification of small contracts and projects with Pierce County, please register your company with the Municipal Research Service Center (MRSC) Rosters link:
Is a bid bond required for Small Works bids?
No; Pierce County does not require bid bonds on Small Works Roster bids.
Is a Performance and Payment Bond Required?
Yes, a performance and payment bond for the full amount of the contract is required from the successful bidder.
5% retainage is held on all payments. Retainage will be released as required by law after date of final acceptance, and receipt of all necessary releases and settlement of any liens.
What are the insurance requirements?
For projects over $35,000, the County requires:
- Commercial General Liability - $2,000,000 per occurrence; $4,000,000 aggregate
- Commercial Auto Liability - $2,000,000 per occurrence or $2,000,000 single limit
- Commercial General Liability - $1,000,000 per occurrence; $2,000,000 aggregate
- Commercial Auto Liability - $1,000,000 per occurrence or $1,000,000 single limit
Some projects may have additional requirements, which will be set out in the bid documents.


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Florida Aerial Imagery
We are a drone solutions company based in Jacksonville, FL. Our goal is to provide excellent products and service at the most competitive prices.
Florida Aerial Imagery is your home! We are a drone solutions company based in Jacksonville, FL. Our goal is to offer excellent products and services at competitive prices. We offer professional services in Real-Estate, Inspection, Survey, and many other areas. If there is something you need done with a drone we can probably do it, just ask us! Our operators have years' experience and are licensed under FAA Part 107. Florida Aerial Imagery is owned and operated by Steve Rucinski, a commercial pilot and flight instructor. We love what we do and aim to please, if you are searching for a company to provide you with top notch service, quick turn around and attention to detail we are your company. We are happy to answer any questions that you may have and discuss how we can help your business.
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of Florida, the most populous city in the state, and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. Consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits. As of 2020, Jacksonville's population is 949,611, making it the 12th most populous city in the U.S., the most populous city in the Southeast, and the most populous city in the South outside of the state of Texas. With a population of 1,733,937, the Jacksonville metropolitan area ranks as Florida's fourth-largest metropolitan region.Jacksonville straddles the St.
Arlington, Avondale, Bayard, Baymeadows, Beach Haven, Beauclerc, Brooklyn, Deercreek, Deerwood, Downtown, Eastside, Five Points, Golden Glades/The Woods, LaVilla, Lakeshore


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Watch Pinoy Tambayan I Left My Heart in Sorsogon February 10 2022 full episode. I Left My Heart in Sorsogon is a GMA Pinoy Teleserye Replay. Heart Evangelista, Richard Yap, and Paolo Contis are the leading cast of this GMA Teleserye.
I Left My Heart in Sorsogon February 10 2022
I Left My Heart in Sorsogon Cast:
- Lead cast
- Heart Evangelista as Celeste Estrellado-Wenceslao III
- Richard Yap as Tonito Wenceslao III
- Paolo Contis as Mikoy Estrellado
- Supporting cast:
- Kyline Alcantara as Tiff Wenceslao
- Mavy Legaspi as Basti Estrellado
- Michelle Dee as Hazel Estrellado
- Elizabeth Oropesa
- Shamaine Buencamino
- Aubrey Miles
- Marina Benepayo
- Isay Alvarez
- Jennie Gabriel
- Jeniffer Maravilla
- Elias Point
- Rey Abellana


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Supreme Goddess Wrap Band For Apple Watch
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