text:
San Andreas rated AO, Take-Two suspends production
[UPDATE 4] ESRB slaps dreaded rating on controversial best seller; Take-Two lowers guidance; Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target pull game from shelves.
After percolating for weeks, the Hot Coffee controversy has finally boiled over. Today, Take-Two Interactive announced that as the result of an investigation by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), all versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will now bear an AO for Adults Only rating for "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, [and] Use of Drugs." Previously, the game was rated M for Mature.
The rerating comes nearly a month after the first reports surfaced of the so-called "Hot Coffee" mod for the PC version of San Andreas. After being installed, the widely available mod lets users play a bonus sex minigame as a reward for completing the numerous "girlfriend" missions in San Andreas.
After video of the mod was widely circulated, such figures as ardent anti-game activist Jack Thompson and US Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) blasted the game. Clinton went as far as to publicly equate violent games with cigarettes and alcohol as a hazard to America's youth. In short order, the ESRB launched the aforementioned investigation, which looked into whether the mod was included in the original game or was made by a third party.
In response to the PC mod surfacing and gaining wide notice, Rockstar Games, the Take-Two subsidiary that develops and publishes San Andreas, issued a carefully worded statement in reference to the mod. "So far we have learned that the 'Hot Coffee' modification is the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes in the official version of the game," it read.
However, Rockstar's statement did little to extinguish the fires of controversy. Soon, reports began to surface that console versions of San Andreas contained code for the sex minigame. Late last week, GameSpot editors unlocked the code from a PlayStation 2 copy of San Andreas bought in October 2004, using an Action Replay Max device and a series of cheat codes. Since console games are written on unalterable DVDs and cheat codes cannot introduce new content, the fact the minigame was playable at all means it was included in the original PS2 San Andreas, albeit hidden.
The AO for Adults Only rating means that, according to the ESRB's official definition, the current version of the game now "should only be played by persons 18 years and older" and "may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity." This doesn't sound too far off from the ESRB definition for the M for Mature rating, which says games bearing it "have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language."
But while they sound similar on paper, the AO and M ratings have one very big difference in real life. Namely, most major chain stores, including the all-important retail behemoth Wal-Mart, will not carry AO-rated games. By contrast, M-rated games aren't even separated from games bearing the T for Teen, E10+ for Everyone 10 and older, and E for Everyone ratings. (Games rated EC for Early Childhood are usually educational in scope and are found in different sections.)
[UPDATE 2 and 3] It didn't take long for the effects of the rating to be felt. Late Wednesday, Target, and Best Buy issued press releases they were pulling all versions of San Andreas from shelves. Unconfirmed reports had GameStop following suit, and Wal-Mart told CNN/Money that it had issued orders to all stores to stop selling the game. "We do not sell games that are rated AO," Wal-Mart spokesperson Karen Burk told the site.
In its statement, Take-Two outlined its response to the commerce-limiting AO rating. "[Take-Two subsidiary] Rockstar Games has ceased manufacturing of the current version of the title and will begin working on a version of the game with enhanced security to prevent the 'hot coffee' modifications," it read. "This version will retain the original ESRB M-rating and is expected to be available during the Company's fourth fiscal quarter." The quarter in question runs from August to October 2005. The company will also release a patch for the currently available PC version of the game, which will lock out the sex minigames.
[UPDATE 4] Wednesday evening, the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA), the main game-retailer lobby, issued a statement in the middle of its annual convention. "Our members intend to immediately cease all sales of the game until existing inventory can either be re-stickered with an AO (Adults Only) rating, or exchanged for new versions of the game that has the hidden content removed and the original M (Mature 17+) rating intact," read the statement. "Though not a policy, IEMA members generally do not carry AO-rated games any differently than we do not carry X-rated videos or DVDs, thus it is likely that our members will be removing all copies of the current version and re-stocking with the updated version."
Take-Two braced Wall Street for the financial fallout of the ESRB and IEMA decisions. Its statement, which was released after markets closed, said the company was lowering guidance for its third fiscal quarter (which ends July 31, 2005) to $160-$170 million in net sales and a net loss per share of $0.40-$0.45. Take-Two also lowered its guidance for the fiscal year (which ends October 31) to $1.26-$1.31 billion in net sales and $1.05-$1.12 in diluted earnings per share. The news hammered Take-Two's stock, which was down $1.82 (6.72 percent) in after-hours trading as of press time.
While not good, today's news was not as bad as it could have been. Most industry watchers had expected a hefty fine from either the ESRB or possibly even the government. Some even speculated that the company would be forced to recall all copies of the game, at a catastrophic expense.
For its part, Take-Two stuck by its contention that the rerating was "due to unauthorized third party 'Hot Coffee' modification." The publisher reminded the public that "the scenes depicted in the 'Hot Coffee' modification are not playable in the retail version of the game unless the user downloads and/or installs unauthorized software that alters the content of the original retail version of the title, representing a violation of Take-Two and Rockstar's end user license agreement (EULA) and intellectual property rights."
Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's president and chief executive officer, also gave his personal thoughts on the matter in the statement. "We are deeply concerned that the publicity surrounding these unauthorized modifications has caused the game to be misrepresented to the public and has detracted from the creative merits of this award winning product," he said.
"The ESRB's decision to re-rate a game based on an unauthorized third party modification presents a new challenge for parents, the interactive entertainment industry and anyone who distributes or consumes digital content," Eibler continued. "Rockstar Games is pleased that the investigation is now settled and they look forward to returning their focus to making innovative and groundbreaking video games for a mature audience."
[UPDATE 1] A Los Angeles Times story on the rating quoted Take-Two spokesman Jim Ankner as admitting that "there is sex content in the [San Andreas] disc. ... The editing and finalization of any game is a complicated task and it's not uncommon for unused and unfinished content to remain on the disc." However, a Rockstar Games spokesperson flatly told GameSpot that Ankner "was misquoted."
There was no misquoting Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB. In a sternly worded statement on the ESRB site, she said "we have concluded that sexually explicit material exists in a fully rendered, unmodified form on the final discs of all three platform versions of the game (i.e., PC CD-ROM, Xbox, and PS2)." She also had harsh words for Take-Two. "Considering the existence of the undisclosed and highly pertinent content on the final discs, compounded by the broad distribution of the third party modification, the credibility and utility of the initial ESRB rating has been seriously undermined," she said. "Going forward, the ESRB will now require all game publishers to submit any pertinent content shipped in final product even if is not intended to ever be accessed during game play, or remove it from the final disc."
Vance did concur with Rockstar's assertion that the sex minigames were "programmed by Rockstar to be inaccessible to the player and they have stated that it was never intended to be made accessible. The material can only be accessed by downloading a software patch, created by an independent third party without Rockstar's permission, which is now freely available on the Internet and through console accessories." A Rockstar spokesperson said the company was considering legal action against Action Replay, GameShark, and other makers of console cheat devices that allow access to the sex minigames.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
There are a variety of sleep aids to choose from. Here is information on two of them.
Tips for getting a good night of sleepHave you been tossing and turning and wondering if you will ever fall asleep? You are not alone. Learn why sleep is so important and what you can do to get some sleep.
Creating a healthy sleep routine
Learn how to get more restful sleep by managing your bedroom environment and changing some of your habits.
Sleep aids: what you should know
Whether your insomnia is occasional or frequent, you know how distressing it is. What's the best course of action? How do you know if sleeping pills or other sleep aids are safe enough for regular use?
Herbal supplements to treat sleeplessness
If you need help getting a good night's sleep, but don't want to take medication, an herbal supplement may be just what you're looking for. Here are the facts on the herbs most commonly used to induce sleep.
Sweet Z-z-z-z-z's: the world of childhood sleep
Healthy child development requires sufficient slumber. So when a young child fails to fall asleep at an appropriate hour, both parents and child suffer.
Why teens need more sleep than they're getting
If sleep debt becomes too great, it causes sleepiness and can negatively affect performance, concentration, reaction time, memory, mood, and behavior control. A teen's physical growth can even be affected by a chronic lack of sleep, since growth hormone is most active during sleep. Read more here.
"Most of us need eight hours of sound sleep to function at our best, and good health demands good sleep," explains Thomas Roth, PhD, Health and Scientific Advisor of the National Sleep Foundation. The problem: Americans are averaging only about seven hours of sleep a night.
Having trouble sleeping?The need for sleep doesn't change significantly, but the natural aging process, certain chronic conditions, and medications all can erode your chances of a good night's rest.
Shiftworkers: solutions for sleep problems
Are you at work when most people are asleep? If you make your living by working "odd hours," here are some tips for getting the best possible sleep.
Parasomnias: things that go bump in the night
Do you sleepwalk or talk in your sleep? Have you ever experienced a night terror? If so, you've experienced a phenomenon called "parasomnias." Here's more about what parasomnias are, why they occur, and how you can handle them.
If you've ever woken up in the middle of the night to find someone sleepwalking around the house, you know that it's an unnerving experience. But should you wake the person up?
American Sleep Apnea Association
National Sleep Foundation

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Bullet for My Valentine's Matt Tuck Reveals AxeWound, Offers Free Download
After much teasing, fanfare and anticipation, Bullet for My Valentine frontman Matt Tuck has finally revealed both the name and first song from his "metal as f—" side project. It's called AxeWound and it features Cancer Bats' Liam Cormier on vocals, Mike Kingswood of Glamour of the Kill on guitars, Joe Copcutt of Rise to Remain on bass and Jason Bowld, formerly of Pitchshifter, on drums.
The band also debuted the first song 'Post Apocalyptic Party,' which you can listen to below and nab via free download by simply providing your email address.
Tuck won't be the frontman of the group, admitting in an interview with the BBC that he is looking forward to not being the singer and leader. "It's going to be different, not being the main vocalist, but it's something I look forward to, [to] just enjoy being a guitar player and a songwriter," Tuck said. "It's not something I ever wanted to do, [to] be the frontman of the band. I was always the guitar player who could sing at the same time and that is how I ended up doing what I do."
Furthermore, he said, "It's going to be a different experience. I've never not been in a band without singing so it'll be quite odd to be up there without a microphone in my face for the whole show. But Liam is a dream to work with and one of the most ferocious vocalists."
Tuck admitted that the band is "invigorating" for him as an artist, especially since he is a family man now. Anything that grabs his attention has to be special.
Previously, Tuck compared AxeWound to Slipknot and Pantera and is adamant that it will be markedly different from his main gig in BFMV. According to the NME.com, he said that the music is "stepping away from the melodic, not giving a f—. Because obviously Bullet for My Valentine is a business and we have our formula, and what we do works so we won't stray from that."
The project is also refreshing as he can do something a little different on a musical level. He said, "It's nice to step out of that comfort zone and do something fucking ridiculous and not worry about what people are going to think, because it doesn't exist yet. We wanted to go in there with kind of like a Slipknot attitude of just everything. Like the 'Iowa' album — just f—ing violent. Let it all out. No holds barred."
Well, we've listened to 'Post Apocalyptic Party' and we think that Axewound's mission is accomplished. It gets our adrenaline surging and is purely metallic. "Violent" is an accurate way to describe it.
AxeWound will perform at Download on June 8 on the Third Stage.
Listen to AxeWound's 'Post Apocalyptic Party'


text:
There is the following question/answer on Arnold´s book Mathematical Methods of Classical page 10.
Arnold's Question A mechanical system consists of two points. At the initial moment their velocities (in some inertial coordinate system) are equal to zero. Show that the points will stay on the line which connected them in the initial moment.
Proof A solution to this problem would be: Any rotation of the system around the line connecting the initial configuration is a Galilean transformation and so sends a solution to the differential equation of motion to another solution. Since these rotations fix the initial conditions, by the uniqueness of solutions of differential equations, it is easy to see that the motion of the points must be constrained to the afore mentioned line. qed.
My qualms with this solution is that it assumes the equation of motion is nice enough and hence has unique solutions. My question is then:
Question Is there a force field with a solution to the equation of motion that contradicts the above exercise question of Arnold? This force field will have to be "pathological" enough so that the solutions to the equations of motion are not unique - is there a known physical configuration (i.e. an existing real physical configuration) with this property?
I came up with the given solution after trying, and not suceeding, to solve this problem via the creation of some conserved quantity (inner product) that would restrict the motion to the given line. Perhaps such an argument would rule out the above pathologies, and hence would be a stronger/better argument.


text:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Small business owners have started 2013 with low expectations for the economy and their companies.
That's the finding of a survey released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business. The lobbying group's Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.9 points to 88.9 in January, but remains at a level that points to continuing pessimism among business owners. The survey questioned more than 2,000 NFIB members.
The NFIB's chief economist, William Dunkelberg, noted that the survey was taken after the government reported in late December that the economy contracted during the fourth quarter. Uncertainty about the economy has kept many small business owners from hiring, borrowing and expanding over the past year.
Owners are worried about their companies. Nineteen percent of the survey participants said weak sales are their biggest problem. One-quarter said they expect their sales to improve over the next three months, but nearly a third expect them to fall.
The NFIB's findings were in line with a survey released last week by the National Small Business Association, another lobbying group. It found that its members' confidence had fallen sharply at the end of 2012 from a year earlier. More than two-thirds of the participants in that survey said the economy is the biggest challenge to the growth and survival of their companies.
The NFIB survey shows that owners did not get a confidence boost from the resolution in late December of the impasse in Congress over taxes and budget cuts, the so-called fiscal cliff. One reason: Lawmakers put off until March decisions on cutting the budget, and many small businesses that have federal contracts could still lose some of that business.
Health care remains another obstacle to small business growth. Many owners are unwilling to make new hires or expand until they know what their costs under the national health care overhaul will be. The law won't be fully implemented until Jan. 1, 2014.


text:
In the middle of our other spring project, the timing was right to get our new pets, but that started the six-week clock for building them a place to live. Because, trust me, you do not want these critters living in your basement permanently. My son helped me start the framing, and after a full weekend of work, we had the beginnings of a coop. After that, the weather stopped cooperating for a while, so it took a couple of weeks to get back to it. In the meantime, I stumbled across a ridge vent at Lowe's on clearance for $2 that seems to work pretty good on top. I guess we'll have to wait for summer to find out if it does a good job of keeping things cool inside.
My design was roughly based on the Catawba Coops design, with some modifications to increase the interior space. It's also a foot wider at the base. Beware of these design changes, however! You will wind up with a portable coop that isn't really all that portable — I think ours weighs about 150 pounds. I also got inspiration from the many designs available on Backyard Chickens. Ours combines features from several different ones.
After another full weekend, we were almost done with construction. One exterior wall and the roof got a coat of primer and two coats of exterior paint, while all of the other exposed wood got a couple of thin coats of Thompson's Water Seal. I also sealed the edges of all the boards with silicone caulk. We ended up taking the fancy waterer back and just ordering some poultry nipples on Amazon and making our own from a couple of plastic juice bottles.
Now for some lessons learned. If you go with a design that involves a ramp, make sure it is no steeper than 45 degrees, and you will want rungs attached to the ramp every three inches, or your pullets will find it difficult to climb. My initial plan involved a removable wall made from a single sheet of half-inch plywood. After the first rain, however, this board warped pretty badly, so I ended up scrapping that and replacing it with hinged panels (patent pending) and some foam weatherstripping to keep the rain out. These have performed flawlessly so far. The most expensive material by far is the wire mesh (which is actually half-inch hardware cloth), but as we have learned from reading up on the subject, chicken wire only keeps chickens in, it doesn't keep predators out. Another indispensable design item is the "poop tray" which is essentially a litter box filled with Stall Dry that completely eliminates the odor and makes collecting the droppings for your compost quick and painless.
We are lucky to have the OK Hatchery nearby for our chicks, feed, and other supplies, and as they have told us, "you chicken people are taking over the world!" Now we are just looking forward to gathering eggs! Stay tuned for pictures of our first omelets!


text:
Группа: Indigo Girls - другие аккорды (99)Аккорды песни: Bury My Heart Просмотров: 2257
#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------# #This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the # #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. # #------------------------------------------------------------------------------## # #----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------# #This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the # #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. # #------------------------------------------------------------------------------# # Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:27:39 -0600 (CST) From: Casey Connor Subject: CRD: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee as done by Indigo Girls Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee W&M by Buffy St. Marie, as covered by the Indigo Girls. Another four-chord song transcribed by guitar GOD email@example.com, with help with the words from indigo-girls listmembers. ------------------- "Emily": (sing freely) D A Indian Legislation's on the desk of a do-right congressman D G But he don't know much about the issues so he A picks up the phone and asks the advice of the D Bm senator out in Indian Country, a G A darling of the energy companies Bm G A They're ripping off what's left of the reservation "Amy": (with more rhythm) A Bm I learned this safety rule I don't know who to thank A F#m Bm don't stand between the reservation and the corporate bank A F#m Bm They're sendin federal tanks, it isn't nice, but it's reality Chorus: (no chord) D C G Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee D C G I said deep in the earth D C G Won't you cover me with your pretty lies D C G Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee A Bm They got these energy companies they're tryin to steal our land (or: who want to take our land) A F#m Bm They got churches by the dozen tryin to guide our hand A (F#m?) Bm and turn our mother earth over to pollution war and greed Get rich, get rich quick CHORUS (With echoing BMHAWK's?) "Jerry Marotta": We've got the federal books, we've got the covert spies (or: federal marshals) They got the liars by fire they got the FBI They go to court and get nailed and still Leonard Peltier goes off to jail The bullets didn't match the gun CHORUS (With echoing BMHAWK's - "Bury my heart at Wounded Knee; It was an eigth of the reservation; It was transferred in secret; You got your murdering heart and intimidation; Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee") (or: you got your murder and intimidation, etc...) We're talking about a revolution My girlfriend Anna May, she talked about Uranium Her head was full of bullets and her body dumped The FBI cut off her hands and told us she died of exposure CHORUS Bury me Bury me We had the gold rush wars, why didn't we learn to crawl? And now our history gets written in a liar's scrawl. They tell me [No Chord] Honey you can still be an Indian, I mean, you know, wear those little moccasins and play those bingo games down at the Y on a Saturday night. ("Bullshit", except I think Amy says "Right" on CompG's) And they should... CHORUS ("...You're going to cover me with your pretty lies...") CHORUS ("...It's an eigth...etc...heart and intimidation...") 'Bury my heart' repeated at end. First voice stays on low D, second does "Bur" and "heart" on F and "y my" on E, third does "Bur" and "heart" on A and "y my" on G, and a last voice can do the high D for "Bur" and "heart" and C for "y my" so it's: Dm C/D Dm Bur y My Heart repeated over and over again. This is pretty much a guess and may be an approxiamtion of the actual sining or may embellish it. Whatever. You might try tuning the low E to D and playing the normal D and then C chords over it with the open bass string allowed to ring. Notes: For the verse, I think the F#m's are sometimes there and sometimes not. And listen to the recording for the syncopated strumming pattern. It's kooky. _ |_ a s e y


text:
Corporate Services
Tax & Accounting
Trade & Supply Chain
Enterprise Solutions
Strategy Advisory
Executive Search
Browse our publications for fresh insights into Greater China's latest market trends, regulatory updates, and business strategies.
Fiducia exhibited a high degree of professionalism in every step of the process and continues to be our trusted advisor for our China operations.
Fiducia was always happy to exchange ideas and thoughts with us, fully contributed to the development of the Einhell AG corporate strategy, and warned us of bad decisions.
Their ability to have flawless communication with our headquarters in Switzerland makes Fiducia extremely beneficial for us.
Within a very short time-frame, the Fiducia team managed to grasp the relevant market dynamics and key issues in the industry.
Fiducia's results and strategic advice significantly impacted our expansion plans and saved us a substantial amount of time and resources.
Most impressive was Fiducia's network within the German speaking community, as well as their close personal contact and constant information exchange with us.
The employees in both China and Hong Kong are consistently friendly and helpful, and even after completion of the [company] set up formalities, we still maintain a friendly relationship with Fiducia's staff members.
Their experience in the medical market makes them a valuable long term partner for our activities in Greater China. We can rely on them for unbiased and honest advice.
From entry support and market analysis to benchmarking competitors, they made actionable recommendations which enhanced our business greatly.
From the headquarter's perspective it is crucial to know that your China subsidiary has the support of a trustworthy service provider who ensures compliance with a compatible work-style and culture.
Fiducia's Executive Search team has done an excellent job in identifying GM candidates to continue the leadership for our WFOE.
Despite the distance between Hong Kong and Switzerland, Carl F. Bucherer headquarters was always in the loop and up-to-date on the progress of the project.


text:
The mother of a man who went on a deadly rampage through Santa Monica last week released a statement read by a neighbor on Monday saying she is mourning her family and struggling to "come to grips with the overwhelming sorrow that has befallen all of us."
"As may be assumed, I am in mourning for my family and for those who are also affected by this horrific tragedy over the past few days," wrote Randa Abdou, whose 23-year-old son, John Samir Zawahri, killed her other son, Christopher Zawahri, 24, and her estranged husband, Samir Zawahri.
On Friday, John Zawahri killed his father and brother at their Santa Monica home and set it ablaze, then went on a shooting rampage through the city, killing three others before police fatally shot him at the Santa Monica College library.
Albert Ramos, a friend of Christopher Zawahri, said he remembers John Zawahri becoming withdrawn after entering his teen years.
"When he was younger, he was just a normal kid," Ramos said, "and high school came and he just separated himself from everyone."
The elder Zawahri suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Christopher Zawahri suffered one gunshot wound to the chest, the coroner's office said.
Also killed were Carlos Franco, a 68-year-old groundskeeper for Santa Monica College, and his daughter, Marcela Franco, 26.
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
An autopsy for John Zawahri was scheduled for Monday.
"I cannot express my great sadness for the families who are also suffering at this terrible time," Abdou wrote. "I do ask the media to please give me time to grieve and to come to grips with the overwhelming sorrow that has befalling all of us. Thank you."


text:
Baku-APA. A Belarusian court has handed out a two-year prison sentence to a border guard who failed to protect the ex-Soviet nation from foreign teddy bears, APA reports quoting Associated Press.
Belarus Supreme Court said Monday the guard has been convicted of failure to report an intrusion of a light plane that dropped hundreds of teddy bears decked out in parachutes and slogans supporting human rights over the tightly controlled country of 10 million. The court wouldn't give his name or rank.
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" in the West, already sacked several top defense officials over the July 4 incident, in which two Swedish advertising agency employees piloted a light plane into Belarus' heavily guarded airspace in a show of support for Belarusian human rights activists.


text:
It has been three and a half years, together with my amazing team, we share Our Beautiful World through our lens.
My daily schedule has gotten busier than it used to be and I am finding hard to keep up with blogging, I think it is time to say goodbye to the blog when it becoming a chores.
Thank you all for linking up with us for the past three and a half years, we truly thankful that we were able to peek into your part of the world through your lens. Thanks for sharing with us. I hope we will "meet" again sometime, somewhere.
Before I present you the final word prompt for OBW, I would also like to say a big THANK YOU to my team, past and present, you gals are the BEST!!!!! Thank you, Thank you!!!!


text:
The song says diamonds are a girls' best friend. But once you're older and more mature, you realize how ridiculous that idea is.
Your best friend is your purse.
It provides all of life's necessities: your phone, your aspirin, your female supplies, your emergency breath freshener; tissues for when the stall is out of toilet paper; just about anything you or whoever is with you might need. And it's also where you stash used stuff, like napkins that have wiped chocolate off some kid's face.
Every now and then you get tired of lugging that big purse around, and decide to restrict yourself to a little tiny purse, with just the bare essentials. But essentials multiply like rabbits, and pretty soon you have everything that was in your big purse compressed like a brick into this little purse, and you're afraid to open it because God-knows-what will spring out.
Now, men do fine with just pockets, because:
a) Men don't serve as everybody else's trash can – like women do. We start out teaching our kids not to litter, so if they eat a candy bar, we have them hand us the wrapper and we stick it in our purse because we can't find a trash can. This goes on, and on, and they grow up, and graduate, and go bald, and they're still handing us candy wrappers, which join with the wrappers of candies that aren't even manufactured any more, and our purse is 30 pounds heavier than it used to be;
b) Men like to look bulky;
c) Men put their stuff into our purses.
My gentleman friend Lust is always handing me something – from a Popsicle stick to an entire newspaper – to carry in my purse.
I draw the line at some things. Like a take-out cup of coffee. I know from experience that if you put that in your purse, even if it has a tight lid, it will spill and drown your new cell phone in coffee. And when you take this phone back to where you got it and say, "It just broke. I don't know why," they will inhale the coffee fumes off it, and you won't get no refund.
Now, my sister-in-law Gloriosa, she got a thing for designer purses. They aren't her best friends; they're her trophies. She has a wardrobe of purses, each kept in a special dust-proof holder. Plus she insists, like my mama did, that your purse must always match your shoes. This makes no more sense than saying that your coffee cup must always match your toenail polish.
Besides, changing purses is risky business. Even if you physically dump everything from the red purse directly into the black purse, like you was doing purse-to-purse resuscitation, you'll always leave one thing behind. It will hide in some pocket or it'll catch in the lining and it'll be something crucial, like breath mints, which you'll realize you don't have just after you ate the onion salad.
But sometimes you have to break down and change purses (like when the old one is full of coffee, for instance). Last month I found a nice big purse for $15 at Payless. So I emptied out my good old purse, sorted through the junk, found things that I'd given up for lost, like my daughter's birth certificate; a Tootsie Roll (still mostly wrapped), which I ate; a lot of stray M&Ms, which I threw out; etc. Then I arranged my essential necessities neatly in my new purse.
The next day, me and Lust went to the Oktoberfest with Gloriosa and her husband. We are standing there watching the Chicken Dance, and Lust gets the urge to go to the john. He says "Take this," and hands me his beer. He thinks he's putting it in my hand, but I'm entranced by some big guys in shorts and suspenders who remind me of the 610 Stompers. So I absent-mindedly hold out my purse, like usual, and he drops his mug of beer in it.
I am a little upset – but Gloriosa is horrified. A purse! Ruint! To Gloriosa, this is like a death in the family. And unbeknownst to me, she pulls Lust aside and tells him he owes me a new bag. (She calls them "bags." I think a bag is what you carry the groceries home in.) She recommends Coach in Canal Place. Coach is evidently the Holy Grail of pursedom. And she lays such a guilt trip on him that he actually goes there. The next day, he surprises me with a new purse.
Well, I think it's very sweet of him to give me something when it isn't even my birthday, and I give him a big kiss and sling it over my shoulder and go home and show it to my daughter Gladiola. Who immediately freaks out and looks it up online and informs me that this Bag, which is now setting on my couch with the cat sniffing at it, cost $698.
And here I was about to dump my things into it. I am so upset, I don't know whether to spit or go blind. Lust expects me to walk around with a bag tha belongs in a safe. What if something spills in there? What if my ballpoint pen marks up the lining? What if, God forbid, it gets snatched?
Finally I dump my purse contents into a Ziploc bag, zip it and place it very, very carefully into The Bag.
And now, every morning after I have coffee with Lust, I strut off to work with The Bag on my shoulder. The minute I'm out of sight, I stash it in a Rouses grocery bag for protection.
So for now I'm carrying two bags and The Bag.
None of them match my shoes.


text:
COMT inhibitors
Important! You should always read carefully the information leaflet that comes with your medication before you start using it. Always check with your doctor or other healthcare professional before altering any of your medications or taking over-the-counter medications as they can interfere with Parkinson's medications and may have unwanted side effects. Remember also to tell your doctor if you take over-the-counter drugs that can be bought without a prescription.
What you should know about COMT inhibitors
Each medication has its own particular properties and important considerations to be aware of. Below are some key aspects to think about before you start taking your medication. Detailed information regarding these can be found in the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL):
- what is it and what is it used for?
- special warnings and precautions
- how to take it
- possible side effects
- contraindications (when not to use it)
- interaction with other medication(s)
- what to do if you forget to take a dose
- what to do if you take more than you should
- possible effects on your ability to drive or use machinery
- safety in pregnancy and breast-feeding
- how to store.
Generic name | Common brand names ® |
COMT inhibitors |


text:
This article is more than 1 year old
RSA: That NSA crypto-algorithm we put in our products? Stop using that
Encryption key tool was dodgy in 2007, and still dodgy now
Security biz RSA has reportedly warned its customers to stop using the default random-number generator in its encryption products - amid fears spooks can easily crack data secured by the algorithm.
All encryption systems worth their salt require a source of virtually unpredictable random values to create strong cryptographic keys and similar things; one such source is the NSA-co-designed pseudo-random-number generator Dual_EC_DRBG, or the Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generator, which is well known for being cryptographically weak: six years ago it was claimed that someone had crippled the design, effectively creating a backdoor [PDF] so that encryption systems that relied on it could be easily cracked.
RSA's BSafe toolkit and Data Protection Manager software use Dual_EC_DRBG by default. Now the EMC-owned company "strongly recommends" customers pick another pseudo-random-number generator (PRNG) in their setups. This comes after documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden allegedly show that the NSA nobbled Dual_EC_DRBG during its inception - which could allow the spook nerve-centre to crack HTTPS connections secured by RSA's BSafe software, for example.
The suspect algorithm, championed by the NSA according to security expert Bruce Schneier, was given the seal of approval and published by the US government's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2006. But a year later researchers at Microsoft highlighted fundamental flaws its design: crypto-prof Matthew Green lays out the history and faults of the PRNG here.
Since Snowden's leaks came to light, NIST has denied weakening this particular PRNG - one of four approved for wider use in 2006 - at the behest of shadowy g-men. However, earlier this month, Schneier said NIST needs to go much further to restore confidence in its practices and procedures, especially when doubts linger about the robustness of Dual_EC_DRBG.
Cryptographers have known for literally years that Dual_EC_DRBG was slow and not especially effective, leading to criticism that RSA was wrong to pick it as a default option for BSafe - and the more paranoid to question its motives.
"Despite many valid concerns about this generator, RSA went ahead and made it the default generator used for all cryptography in its flagship cryptography library," noted Green late last week. "The implications for RSA and RSA-based products are staggering. In a modestly bad but by no means worst case, the NSA may be able to intercept SSL/TLS connections made by products implemented with BSafe."
"So why would RSA pick Dual_EC as the default? You got me," shrugged Green, who is a research professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "Not only is Dual_EC hilariously slow - which has real performance implications - it was shown to be a just plain bad random number generator all the way back in 2006. By 2007, when [cryptographers Dan] Shumow and [Niels] Ferguson raised the possibility of a backdoor in the specification, no sensible cryptographer would go near the thing."
RSA's CTO Sam Curry defended RSA's choices in an interview with Ars Technica. RSA is reviewing all its products, he confirmed. Green was unimpressed by the RSA man's claims.
Curry was quoted as explaining in an email: "The hope was that elliptic curve techniques — based as they are on number theory — would not suffer many of the same weaknesses as other techniques (like the FIPS 186 SHA-1 generator) that were seen as negative, and Dual_EC_DRBG was an accepted and publicly scrutinized standard."
The NSA's alleged weakening of encryption algorithms was part of a wider campaign aimed at making it easier for spooks to decrypt supposedly secure internet communications, first outlined in the New York Times two weeks ago. Other tactics include attempting to persuade technology companies to insert backdoors in their products, including it is claimed Microsoft's Outlook.com, and running so-called man-in-the-middle attacks to hoover up the world's online chatter and transactions. ®


text:
Nightmares: The Adventures 1 - Broken Bone's Complaint
Game controls:
The first chapter of Nightmare series is here. You must help Victor face his fears in the Land of Nightmares so that his nights become restful again. Pick up objects along the way by clicking on it to automatically store in the inventory,then drag and drop it in the game zone where you think you will be able to use them. Good luck!


text:
Racers enjoy beautiful Newspapers Rock 10k
More than 65 runners enjoyed beautiful conditions while racing in the sixth annual Newspapers Rock 10K race on October 13 in Indian Creek Canyon.
Jason Johnson was the overall winner, covering the 6.2-mile course in 43:19. Second place overall is Brian Kirby in 44:20, followed by William McFarland in 44:27.
The top woman finisher is Britta McFarland in 47:02, followed by Penny Ream in 48:06 and Sarah Flannery in 49:29. McFarland was the runner-up last year.
Youth was well served, with eighth grade student Jamikal Shakespeare finishing fourth overall in a time of 45:04. He was followed in the youth division by Eli Beck in 46:26 and Grange Simpson in 46:45.
In the womens 34 and under category, the winner is Michelle Peterson in 50:33, followed by Becky Kirby in 53:24, and Mindy Saunders in 57:23.
In the men's age 35-49 category, the winner is Kevin Webb in 49:01, followed by Worthy Glover in 52:28 and Steven Burt in 53:34.
The men's age 50 and up winner is Robert Hatch in 45:48, followed by John Whitcomb in 50:23, and Ron Dehn in 51:24.
The women's age 35 to 49 winner is Michelle Adams in 50:38, followed by Tammee Sallmon in 52:12, and Kathy Hatch in 55:46.
The women's age 50 and up winner is Laurie Randall in 56:36, followed by Lillian Bayles in 58:44, and Georgiana Simpson in 1:00:11.
Other racers include Clint Behunin, Teresa Bingham, Kara Boyd, Mary Segay Dayzie, Kimberly Glover, James Hook, Jill Hook, Thomas Hook, Mandy Jack, Stanley Jones, Barbie Lawton, and Bert Manheimer.
Other racers include Kit Mantz, Heidi Pehrson, Laurie Schafer, Megan Schafer, Amy Smith, Laurie Steele, Vanessa Young, Kimberly Young and Jessiqua Zufelt.
Additional racers include Steven Simpson, Heather White, BetteAnne Gilbert, Paul Gilbert, Lisa Rarick, Dustin Jones, Erin Jones, Sarah Blackburn, Linda Ward, Cyndy Christensen, Mark Christensen, Lori Webb, Torri Perkins, Lisa Booth, Melanie Frost, Jessica Ellingston and Jan Bradford.
Last years race was dominated by the Monticello High School Cross Country team, which used the race as a pre-region tuneup. This year, the team did not run, in preparation for the state tournament.
While it was cool for spectators, the weather was perfect for runners, who begin at Newspaper Rock and finish near the Dugout Ranch at the mouth of Indian Creek Canyon.
The most seasoned racers this year were 75-year-old John Whitcomb of Pennsylvania and Margaret Garcia of La Sal.
Trent Schafer has run the race all six years.
The Newspapers Rock 10K is sponsored by the San Juan Record. It takes place each year on the second Saturday of October.
The race went off without a hitch, despite several unexpected circumstances. It would not have been possible without the work of many workers and volunteers, including Scott Burton, Anna Adair, Jill Slack, Scott and Melissa Shakespeare, Andrea Montgomery, Chris Adair, Dawn Torres, Sister Peterson, Sister Ward, Brian Boyd, the MHS Cross Country team, City of Monticello, San Juan County, Dugout Ranch, UDOT and many, many more.
- Log in to post comments


text:
Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
We know that there are times when finances can be a struggle, especially if you have more than 1 child that you want to get into a program or class. We would be happy to take payments. Most of our classes run between 6-12 weeks and we can figure out a monthly payment for you. At present, our Karate and Dance instructors offer a multi-family discount too that will help. Please let us know if that might be your case, we don't want to turn anyone away because they can't paid the full price up front.
Show All Answers
At registration, you are given the information regarding the program you signed up for; where the class is, what time and the dates that the class will be, and if there is anything you need to bring. Consider all classes a "go" unless you hear from us. The only reason we might contact you would be if the class is canceled due to low enrollment, or if something came up regarding the teacher of the program.
Please call the Parks office at (719) 547-7400 and we can relay a message to the teacher. We do not give out the teacher's phone numbers but we can email them quickly for you and even have them call you back if you'd like.
It's nice to know that you enjoy a program and come back each session. We do registrations this way because our teachers get paid for that particular period of time. Some people don't sign up again and some do, so it easier all around to know the instructors are paid for each of their sessions for those students that signed up for those class dates.
Most of our classes have a limited capacity, so it would be inappropriate to take early registrations and fill them up before the date stated on our flyers. We want to make it fair for everyone so that is why it's "first-come first-serve" on the Mondays when registrations open. Our online registrations open at 7:00am and follow the same dates for registering like our seasonal flyers state.


text:
Excerpt from NY Times interview by Jennifer Schuessler with Thomas Bradshaw:
Q. What attracted you to the Job story? And why did you decide to stage it with so much graphic violence?
A. Saying I grew up in the Baptist church would be a stretch, but I was baptized and sat through a lot of sermons. Part of me wanted to present a biblical story without any interpretation spun into it. As for the violence, the Bible is full of sex and violence. God said to Satan, "I allow you to visit unspeakable horrors on my faithful servant Job." I wanted to play that out, to see what Job had to experience, or a version of what Job had to experience.
Q. At the show I saw, people started laughing during the most harrowing scenes, despite the fact that they were played very straight. Does that reaction surprise you?
A. Those scenes weren't played for laughs, and that is the thing I'm most adamant about in my work: that actors not tip their hand. It would be O.K. if an audience laughed all the way through, or no one laughed at all.
"A jolting treat…. a bloody, Quentin Tarantino-esque tale, laced with graphic violence and fillips of frat-house humor."
-Ben Brantley from The New York Times
4/5 Stars!
-David Cote from Time Out New York
God and Satan make the ultimate bet.
Meet Job, the wise and powerful judge of an Ancient Israelite tribe. Satan bets God that he can make Job blaspheme God through ever escalating violence and loss. Will Job question God's promise to reward the righteous, even when his prayers for mercy go unanswered?
In this dark, twisted comedy Thomas Bradshaw brings an honest, un-cynical adaptation of the book of Job. "We are living in this oddly religious moment in America. I did a ton of research. The Talmud has like eight different theories about when Job lived and who he was, so I had to sit down with a Jewish scholar and figure out which would be best for my purposes."
Ben Brantley on Thomas Bradshaw:
"But perhaps more than any American dramatist working today, Mr. Bradshaw walks — no, make that tramples — the lines that divide the good, the bad and the plug-ugly, both in art and in life. He aspires to amuse, shock, disgust, enlighten, bore and titillate you all at the same time. And as you watch his work, you may find it hard to distinguish which ingredients in this cocktail of responses swim closest to the surface."
About the Playwright
Thomas Bradshaw's plays have been produced at regional theaters, in NYC as as well as in Europe. Most recently, his play BURNING ran successfully at the New Group in New York City. In 2011, the Goodman Theater produced his play MARY, which they had previously commissioned. THE BEREAVED, produced by Partial Comfort, was named one of the Best Plays of 2009 in Time Out New York. In 2008, two of his plays premiered in NYC: SOUTHERN PROMISES, at Performance Space 122 in September, and DAWN, at The Flea Theater in November, and both were listed among the Best Performances of Stage and Screen for 2008 in The New Yorker. His plays PURITY, PROPHET and STROM THURMOND IS NOT A RACIST and CLEANSED were produced in NYC and LA. A German translation of DAWN was presented at Theater Bielefeld in Germany in October 2008 and published by Theater Der Zeit in that same month. Mr. Bradshaw received his M.F.A. from Mac Wellman's playwriting program and is Professor of Playwriting at Northwestern University. He has been featured as one of Time Out New York's ten playwrights to watch, as one of Paper Magazine's Beautiful People, and Best Provocative Playwright by the Village Voice. He has received Fellowships from The Lark Play Development Center, Soho Rep. (Streslin Fellow), and New York Theater Workshop. He was the Playwright in Residence at The Soho Theatre in London in February 2009, where he wrote THE ASHES. Thomas Bradshaw has received commissions from Soho Theatre (London),The Goodman Theater, Soho Repertory Theater (New York), The Flea Theater, Theater Bielefeld (Germany), and Partial Comfort Productions. He is the recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2012 Award from the Foundation of Contemporary Art.
About the Director
Benjamin H. Kamineis a Resident Director at The Flea Theater. He recently directed the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw's Job at The Flea (Timeout Critics' Pick, "a jolting treat" – Ben Brantley, New York Times). Other directing credits include Medea's Got Some Issues by Emilio Williams (Best International Show 2012, United Solo Festival at Theater Row), Why Me? by Leah Nanako Winkler (Asking for Trouble at EST) and the upcoming The Man Under by Paul Bomba (59E59). He is a resident director at the Jewish Plays Project and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. He also works throughout New York as a sound, lighting, and projection designer, and is a Guest Artist at the Lab School for Collaborative Studies. Previous directing credits for The Flea: The Flying Latke by Arthur Yorinks (2011, 2012); Kathleen Supove and the Electric Sheep; The Shakes: The Honest Whore, Act 4; #serials@theflea: Me, My Girl, and My Grandpa Shmulee by Dan McCabe; Dave Koresh Superstar by Robert Askins (Reading).
The Cast
The production features members of The Flea's lauded resident acting ensemble The Bats: Jaspal Binning, Ugo Chukwu, Alex Coelho, Jimmy Dailey, Edgar Eguia, Eloise Eonnet, Alex Gould, Cleo Gray, Grant Harrison, Layla Khoshnoudi, Finn Kilgore, Abraham Makany, Evan Maltby, Sean McIntyre, Ivano Pulito, Orlando Rivera, Lilli Stein, Stephen Stout, Will Turner, Lulu Ward, and Mari Yamamoto.
The Design Team
Set Design Aaron Green
Lighting Design Jonathan Cottle
Costume Design Ashley Farra
Sound Design Jeremy Bloom
Choreography Joya Powell
Fight Direction Michael Wieser
Stage Manager Courtney Ulrich
Makeup Artist and Special Effects Justin Tyme


text:
Gift Guide: You Da Man
1. LEGO Architecture: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, $39.95, 2. Bodum Fyrkat Picnic Charcoal Grill, $59.95, 3. Mele & Co. Faux Leather Watch Case, $52.12, 4. Gorham 5 Piece Flask and Cigar Set, $99.99, 5. iDevices iGrill Thermometer for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, $99.99, 6. Lomokino Super 35mm Movie Maker and Viewer, $99, 7. Jack Spade Box Dopp Kit, $94.99, 8. Express Striped Fingerless Gloves, $29.90, 9. To Boot New York Warren Boots, $398, 10. Esquire Eat Like a Man, $37, 11. Alexander McQueen Skull Medium Dot Tie, $195
Now that we've picked out presents for just about everyone under the sun (including you, possibly), let's start working on the man in your life. I didn't leave him til last because he's any less important. It's actually quite the contrary. I always find men the most difficult to shop for. While we, as ladies, can be blinded by bling and shriek for anything with a red sole, men are much more particular. They don't like silly gifts and as previously mentioned, they often pick out things that we most likely will never be able to afford on our mid-level salaries alone. So, without selling our ovaries, here are some great manly gifts that are sure to delight even the most practical male in your life.
Man up.


text:
I wonder what would happen if there were some kind of counseling/therapy (non-drug) that allowed an adult who was raped to completely heal psychologically from it, such that it had no emotional color to them anymore. I'm talking about total healing, not just "getting over it". I wonder how this would be reacted to. Would people want to hold on to the damaged-for-life model we currently use so that they could justify punishment of the perpetrator?
Clayton: Yes, it is. Hence, parting ways. I dabbled with postmodernism before discovering Mises... that's when I realized that postmodernism is just the disfiguration of philosophy to save statism from its inevitable death at the hands of any rational philosophy. Postmodernism is "words as war"... aka garbage philosophy. Clayton -
Yes, it is. Hence, parting ways. I dabbled with postmodernism before discovering Mises... that's when I realized that postmodernism is just the disfiguration of philosophy to save statism from its inevitable death at the hands of any rational philosophy. Postmodernism is "words as war"... aka garbage philosophy.
Clayton -
You must not have heard of Poststructuralist Anarchism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-anarchism
ROFL! That is the truest depiction of legal process ever!
Yep, I'm a big fan of casual sex. Legalize it!
We don't own our social reputations.
They are formed by other people observing and judging our behavior.
And any woman indulging in indiscriminate casual sex is actually engaging on a very clear tradeoff.
She is sacrificing her reputation with people contemptuous of such behaviors.
Of course such a tradeoff is more troublesome for some women rather than other women.
For several reasons, chiefly family upbringing, some women don't expect much benefit from being highly esteemed by those people who are usually scornful of female promiscuity. Many of these women seldom have direct social contact with people abiding traditional mores.
For these women, the reputation tradeoff is thus cheaper and we rationally expect (and accordingly observe) a more libertine sexual conduct from them.
That is, they can afford being sluts insofar as the social standards concerning whatever they want for their lives are not so strict.
However some women do strive for respectful social positions, and they understand that this can only be achieved by restraining most lustful desires that might eventually afflict them.
"Slut-shaming" is one of the social mechanisms that allows women to self-select between these paths.
Abolishing "slut-shaming", if possible, would likely result in unintended outcomes, like prostitutes teaching elementary classes, call girls working on investment banking and strippers becoming attorney generals.
Scenarios that are clearly absurd even for those of us who think women of ill reputation in general and whores in particular do have an important role and services to perform in a free society and should not be altogether persecuted for their choice of a living.
One thing nobody has mentioned so far is that what clothes are seen as acceptable for women to wear is not determined by men, but by women. Virtually all "social policing" of women is in fact done by women. That is not to say men don't have opinions of their own, but as it happen women don't care about any of them. Women are as likely to take fashion advice from men, as men are to consult women on engines. Blaming "the patriarchy" for women not being able to do something or dress in a certain way without their reputations suffering is absurd, because all of that is actually the result of what goes on within the sisterhood itself. Men don't know crap about women (witness our resident "male feminists"), ergo if men think a woman who engages in certain acitivities or dresses in a certain way is therefore worthy of condemnation that is because that is what they have been told to belive by other women. That in mind, it is easy to understand how "male feminists" combating alleged "slut shaming" actually means men ("feminists") firstly sticking their nose where it doesn't belong and into what they don't understand, and more importantly results in the ironic but predictable situation of males ("feminists") scolding and lecturing (deviant, socially-policing) women. For all their stated pro-femaleness and enlightment and elevation and what not in the end male feminists are what they allege to hate, testicled moralizers scolding women for activities (sharing an opinion on percieved "loose women") that do not violate any natural law. And how patronising and patriarchal is that?
I'm a male feminist and quick to encourage women to dress as skimpy as possible.
@Marko: You have nailed the nail on its head.... </thread>
http://theweek.com/article/index/99999/how-tiffany-shepherd-teacher-became-leah-lust-porn-star She don't seem to be real empowered to me. And she's getting paid. Or is it like the give up your worldly possesions BS. You have to be promiscuous but it doesn't count if you do it to pay the bills.
This is a good source too: http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/
Clayton's quote: "Rape was never a "women's issue" to begin with."
As long as the elite-orchestrated Battle of the Sexes continues, women will still believe the lie that many men weren't oppressed just like them: physically/sexually, economically, politically. Most men (and women) have been oppressed by a small group of powerful people all throughout history. Divide and conquer--keep them at each other's throats and playing the "we had it worse" game instead of joining together to fight the state. The power of men and women working together is irrepressible.


text:
By Joe McDonald
AP Wire Service
BEIJING (AP) — McDonald's and KFC in China faced a new food safety scare Monday after a Shanghai television station reported a supplier sold them expired beef and chicken.
The companies said they immediately stopped using meat from the supplier, Husi Food Co., Ltd. The Shanghai office of China's food and drug agency said it was investigating and told customers to suspend use of the supplier's products.
Dragon TV said Sunday that Husi, owned by OSI Group of Aurora, Illinois, repackaged old beef and chicken and put new expiration dates on them. It said they were sold to McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants.
The report added to a series of food safety scares in China that have battered public confidence in dairies, fast food outlets and other suppliers.
McDonald's Corp. and Yum Brands Inc., which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, said they were conducting their own investigations.
"Food safety is a top priority for McDonald's,'' the company said on its microblog account. The company said it pursues "strict compliance'' with consumer safety laws and regulations and has "zero tolerance for illegal behavior.''
A third company, sandwich shop chain Dicos, said in a statement that it stopped using sausage patties supplied by Husi.
Dicos is owned by Taiwan's Ting Hsin International Group, and the company website said it had 2,000 outlets in China as of September 2013.
The Shanghai office of the State Food and Drug Administration said it was working with police to investigate Husi.
"At present, the company has been sealed and suspect products seized,'' the agency said on its website.
McDonald's sealed 4,500 cases of beef, pork, chicken and other products supplied by Husi for investigation and Pizza Hut sealed 500 cases of seasoned beef, the city government said in a statement.
A woman who answered the phone at Husi's headquarters said no one was available to comment. The official Xinhua News Agency cited a company manager, Yang Liqun, who said Husi has a strict quality control system and will cooperate in the investigation.
The Communist Party secretary of Shanghai, Han Zheng, called for "severe punishment'' of any wrongdoing, according to the city government statement.
McDonald's, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, said it was suspending the distribution and sale of products from the plant in question.
"If confirmed, the practices outlined in the report are completely unacceptable to McDonald's,'' the company said in a statement.
Yum's KFC is China's biggest restaurant chain, with more than 4,000 outlets and plans to open 700 more this year. The company, based in Louisville, Kentucky, said in a statement that "food safety is the most important priority for us. We will not tolerate any violations of government laws and regulations from our suppliers.''
The company was badly hurt after state television reported in December 2013 that some poultry suppliers violated rules on drug use in chickens. Yum said KFC sales in China plunged 37 percent the following month. KFC launched an effort to tighten control over product quality and eliminated more than 1,000 small poultry producers from its supply network.
In a string of product scandals over the past decade, infants, hospital patients and others have been killed by phony or adulterated milk powder, drugs and other goods.
Foreign fast food brands are seen as more reliable than Chinese competitors, though local brands have made big improvements in quality.
The high profile of foreign brands means any complaints involving them attract attention, while their status as foreign companies with less political influence means Chinese media can publicize their troubles more freely.
Scandal-weary consumers on Monday expressed mixed feelings.
Chen Lu, 24, an employee of an Internet company, was eating a chicken burger and fries at a McDonald's in central Shanghai that was half-empty at midday, a time when most restaurants are crowded.
"My boyfriend called and told me not to eat McDonald's one minute after I ordered this chicken hamburger, but what can I do? I've already ordered and I am in a hurry,'' she said.
"I am worried about my health,'' she said. "I will try to avoid it, at least for a while. I am pretty disappointed in this brand."
Another diner, Liu Kun, a 24-year-old student from Nanjing who was visiting Shanghai, said he was not concerned.
"The incident won't change me eating here,'' Liu said. "There have been negative reports all the time. McDonald and KFC are the leaders in the industry.'' (end)
Associated Press researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.


text:
Plenty of Democrats apparently still feel inclined to believe that this week's successful Colorado recall election was the result of a teeny, tiny but vociferously vocal minority that only managed to pull out a victory because of 1) the egregious gobs of cash funneled their way by the NRA, the Koch Brothers, and other such seedy groups, and 2) the "tactical reasons why Democrats didn't have a chance here," i.e. the far-fetched and baseless claims of "voter suppression" à la Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The truth of the matter, of course, tells rather a different story: In fact, a Public Policy Poll that they, ahem, declined to release showed a large margin of support for the pro-recall side; and what's more, liberal groups outspent the pro-Second Amendment crowd by a 7-to-1 margin. The MSNBC crowd, too, seems happy to gloss over these key pieces of information, but Chuck Todd does point out that this was not, as DWS called determinedly titled it, a "hollow victory." In a lot of areas, gun control is simply not a winning issue for Democrats, and one of the biggest takeaways here is that Democrats are likely to actively eschew any offering of "help" from the contaminating effects of the well-monied and rabidly anti-gun Bloomberg group — and if he persists in providing it, it's the Democrats who'll suffer.
Look, Democrats — when you look at Colorado, the whole reason why it's a state that looked like it's just passing through swing-state status on it's way to being reliably Democratic is because Democrats, starting in 2004, just neutralized the gun issue. And there was never any Democrat that ran state-wide that was not seen as pro-gun, didn't allow that issue to get there, and they were able to sort of marginalize the Republican party on immigration, on social issues, etcetera, and win. And now I think you're going to see, Steve's right, there were unique circumstances in these races, and the rules in mail-in ballots, you can go through a lot of tactical reasons why Democrats didn't have a good chance here. But I can tell you this, you know the way Democrats — James will know this, every Democrat south of the Mason-Dixon line and west of the Mississippi is going to look at those results and say, 'Michael Bloomberg, get away from me, stay out of my state, stay out of my district, I don't want to talk about it.


text:
by Hannah Radosevich, Student Contributor & M. B. Miller
The Save Us Now Tour, featuring popular Christian rock bands Fireflight and Disciple, along with special guest Bellarive, will roll into Pippa Passes on Tuesday, February 12th. Alice Lloyd College is the only scheduled stop for the tour in the state. The one-night event, co-hosted by Alice Lloyd's Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM) and the First Baptist Church of Hindman (Hindman Student Ministries), will provide high-energy Christian music to all in attendance.
"We are one of only 20 locations in the U.S. and Canada to be given the chance to host this tour," says BCM's Director Matt Stewart. "That says so much about how the booking agent felt about his past dealings with the BCM and thought it was positive enough to offer us this opportunity."
Throughout his time as BCM Director, Matt Stewart has regularly sought to bring Christian entertainment, fun events, and community service projects to Pippa Passes. This time, working closely with First Baptist's Steven Bell, Stewart was able to schedule an event that is sure to inspire hundreds of students and young people throughout the area.
ALC is the only place to catch this event in the College's 108-county service area. The concert will be headlined by nationally-recognized and multiple GMA Dove Award-nominee Disciple and the Grammy Award-nominated, female-fronted rock act Fireflight. Bellarive, a fairly new, contemporary worship band, will guest.
In addition, representatives from World Vision (a Christian humanitarian organization) will be set up on campus to help those who wish to become an active partner with World Vision by sponsoring a child overseas.
This is an event not to be missed! Come on out to Alice Lloyd's Estelle Campbell Center for the Arts on Tuesday, February 12th, at 7 PM for what is sure to be a memorable night of Christian entertainment. Tickets bought in advance by ALC students are $5.00. Advance tickets for the community are $10.00, and all tickets bought at the door will be $12.00. To purchase tickets call (606) 831-2860.


text:
Screenshot / Code Snippet
I created this mostly for fun, with a little bit of learning thrown in. It's a super-simple implementation of a client for the Stack Exchange API written in Grails. It served as a quick means of exploring and learning about the API, and I hope others might use it to do the same.
Seeing as I've never released anything with a license before, I pick... the Apache licence.
Source download is available on GitHub at http://github.com/kellyrob99/stackoverflow-api-grails. The implementation is described on my blog in A Grails App Demoing the Stack Exchange API.
This should run on all platforms and has been tested in Tomcat.
Kelly Robinson. Please leave a comment on the blog if you need to contact me.
This is a Groovy and Grails (v1.3.1) applications written using IntelliJ IDEA and its excellent Grails integration. Code is available on GitHub, http://github.com/kellyrob99/stackoverflow-api-grails. Feel free to fork it and do with it what you will. Cheers.


text:
William M. Anderson Center
The new William M. Anderson Center is the home to Eagle basketball and volleyball. The 2,000-seat arena is complete with every imaginable detail, from top-notch locker rooms for teams, concessions and comfortable seating for fans, and video message boards. Also included is a luxurious President's box for game viewing. The site served as host for four rounds of the 2012 NCAA women's basketball tournament, the sectionals of the 2014 NCAA men's basketball tournament, and has also hosted events such as concerts and an appearance by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Goolrick Hall/Fitness Center
The home of UMW Athletics, Goolrick Hall houses all administrative offices as well as coaches' offices, as well as the athletic training room. Goolrick Hall (75,000 square feet of activity space) is also home to Eagle swimming. UMW hosted the CAC Swimming Championships from 1991 through 2005. The newly-refurbished varsity weight room contains more than 50 working stations in an 8,000 square-foot area, and athletes also have a multi-faceted training room at their disposal.
A 15,000 square foot fitness center is connected to Goolrick, and houses approximately 8,000 square feet of activity space for the student body's usage. That facility includes treadmills, free weights, and other state-of-the-art fitness equipment.
Other new additions to the Goolrick facility include a varsity student-athlete lounge and a completely refurbished office suite.
DIRECTIONS TO ANDERSON CENTER/GOOLRICK GYM (GPS address is 2051 College Avenue):
From Interstate 95, take Exit 130A (Route 3 East), and follow through five stoplights. At the sixth light, turn LEFT onto Business Route 3 (William Street), remaining in the LEFT lane. At the first light, turn LEFT onto College Avenue, and the campus will be on your right. Once on College Avenue, go straight through the first stoplight, and turn RIGHT at the second light (Route 1), Drive under the UMW Walkway and make an immediate RIGHT onto Alvey Drive. Visitor parking is located in the parking deck adjacent to the gyms.
The University of Mary Washington prides itself in providing an optimal environment for athletes to practice their craft. Battleground Outdoor Complex plays host to lacrosse, soccer, tennis, field hockey, track and field, baseball and softball, and is regarded as one of the finest facilities of its kind in Virginia.
"The Battleground" has hosted NCAA Division III Men's (1989, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2019) and Women's (1990, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001) Soccer and Baseball (1992) Tournaments, and the 1992 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer, 1993 Field Hockey, 1997 Men's Soccer, 2006 Men's Tennis and 2007 and 2010 Women's Tennis National Championships.
DIRECTIONS TO THE BATTLEGROUND (GPS Address is 1301 Hanover Street):
From Interstate 95, take Exit 130A (Route 3 East), and follow through five stoplights. At the sixth light, turn LEFT onto Business Route 3 (William Street). At the top of the hill, the road splits. Stay RIGHT, onto Hanover Street. The Battleground Athletic Complex is on the RIGHT.
V. Earl Dickinson Stadium (Baseball)
The University of Mary Washington baseball team competes at one of the finest facilities in all of NCAA baseball, V. Earl Dickinson Stadium. One of the crown jewels of the Battleground Athletic Complex, located adjacent to campus along Hanover Street, Dickinson Stadium has seating for more than 1,000 fans, houses a concession stand, restrooms for spectators, and a state of the art public adress system that entertains fans with music and information. The players enjoy spacious dugouts, one indoor and four outdoor batting cages, and the newest aerobic and strength training equipment available at the field each day.
courtesy of UMW PD
Grass Stadium (Soccer)
The grass stadium at the Battleground has been host to two NCAA soccer championships, and is home to the Eagle men's and women's soccer teams. Adjacent to the 1,000-seat stadium is a full practice Bermuda grass field, which perfectly replicates the competition field.
Turf Stadium (Field Hockey, Lacrosse)
The turf stadium at UMW hosts the Eagle field hockey and lacrosse teams. The artificial turf surface served as host to the 2012 NCAA field hockey tournament. The facility was also the host site for the 1993 NCAA field hockey national championship.
Softball Stadium
The University of Mary Washington softball team competes at one of the finest facilities in all of NCAA Division III softball. Located adjacent to campus along Hanover Street, the UMW Softball Stadium has seating for hundreds of fans and possesses a state of the art public adress system that entertains fans with music and information. The players enjoy spacious dugouts, four outdoor batting cages, and the newest aerobic and strength training equipment available at the field each day.
Track Facility
The University of Mary Washington track and field teams compete on campus at an eight-lane facility complete with track shack, throwing pits, and shower/restroom facility. The Eagles have hosted numerous Capital Athletic Conference Championships at the Battleground, and annually hosts the Battleground Relays each spring.
Lighted Turf Practice Field
Located next to the grass stadium is a lighted artificial turf field, which is used for practices for nearly every outdoor sport. The field's versatility allows usage by a number of varsity teams.
Lighted Multipurpose Turf Field
Directly to the north of Goolrick Gymnasium and adjacent to the visitor's parking deck on Alvey Drive, a lighted multipurpose turf field further allows options when scheduling varsity contests. Men's and women's lacrosse and field hockey have used the field for night contests, with expanded use expected in the future.
courtesy of UMW PD
Tennis Center | Indoor Center Website
The six-court, state-of-the-art University Indoor Tennis Center is located next to the award-winning 12-court outdoor tennis facility at the Battleground Athletic Complex. The University Tennis Center hosted the 2006 NCAA Division III National Men's Championships, the 2007 and 2010 NCAA Division III National Women's Championships, and has recieved the 2006 USTA Mid-Atlantic Section "Facility of the Year" Award and the 2007 USTA Outstanding Facility Award.


text:
Cole Clark CEO, Miles Jackson, issues an update on the fire in their Melbourne factory and gives an estimate on when production should return to normal.
Melbourne, Australia (August, 2013) -- On Tuesday, August the 27th, Cole Clark Guitars, located in Melbourne, Australia, experienced a major fire. The outbreak which started in the paint shop and moved throughout the entire rear factory completely destroying a large amount of inventory, the set up shop, drying kilns, a five axis CNC router, all the band saws, cutters, sanders, and the climate control system. The building has also been structurally compromised and the damage is well into the millions of dollars.
"We are working through it with our insurance company and should be back to making the highest quality Australian made guitars in around six weeks." says Miles Jackson CEO of Cole Clark Guitars. This will be done by setting up a temporary workshop facility in an adjacent factory not damaged by the fire. "The plan is to have the damaged factory completely restored and back up and running at normal capacity in around four months". Says Mr. Jackson.
Cole Clark started in 2001 with three clear aims. The first was to make an acoustic steel string guitar utilising the Spanish integral neck method.This produces a guitar thatenables an unsurpassed build quality and a unique sound.The second aim was to build the most natural sounding pickup available into these guitars. This was done with Cole Clarks patent pending DID Face Brace pickup system. The final aim was to use as many local sustainable unique tone woods as possible without sacrificing tone or strength. All of this was achieved.
Cole Clark Guitars now hand craftsover 4,000 guitars a year with over half of these guitars going to the international export market. Cole Clark has a great family of artists using their products including Jack Johnson, Snow Patrol, Angus and Julia Stone, Lloyd Spiegel, Xavier Rudd, and Birds of Tokyo.
"We thank all our friends and partners for their kind offers of help and their patience as we get back on our feet and rebuild the company to an even stronger position". Says Miles Jackson.
For more information:
Cole Clark Guitars


text:
Car Travel
Italy has an extensive network of autostrade (toll highways), complemented by equally well-maintained but free superstrade (expressways). Save the ticket you're issued at an autostrada entrance, as you'll need it to exit; on some shorter autostrade, you pay the toll when you enter. Tollbooths also accept Visa and MasterCard, allowing you to exit at special lanes where you simply slip the card into a designated slot.
An uscita is an exit. A raccordo annulare is a ring road surrounding a city; a tangenziale generally bypasses a city entirely. Strade, strade statale, strade regionale, and strade provinciale (regional and provincial highways, denoted by S, SS, SR, or SP numbers) may be two lanes, as are all secondary roads; directions and turnoffs aren't always clearly marked.
You'll find gas stations on most main highways. Those on autostrade are open 24 hours. Otherwise, gas stations are generally open Monday through Saturday 7–7, with a break at lunchtime. At self-service stations the pumps are operated by a central machine for payment, which often doesn't take credit cards: it accepts bills in denominations of €5, €10, €20, and €50, and doesn't give change. Stations with attendants accept cash and credit cards. It's not customary to tip the attendant.
At this writing, gasoline (benzina) costs about €1.47 per liter and is available in unleaded (verde) and superunleaded (super). Many rental cars in Italy use diesel (gasolio), which costs about €1.31 per liter (remember to confirm the fuel type your car requires before leaving the agency).
Driving in centri storici (historic centers)
To avoid hefty fines (which you may not be notified of until months after your departure from Italy), make sure you know the rules governing where you can and can't drive in historic city centers. You must have a permit to enter many towns, and this rule is very strictly enforced. Check with your lodging or car-rental company to find out about acquiring permits for access.
Parking is at a premium in most towns, especially in historic centers. Fines for parking violations are high, and towing is common. Don't think about tearing up a ticket, as car-rental companies can use your credit card to be reimbursed for any fines incurred. It's a good idea to park in a designated (and preferably attended) lot; even small towns often have a large lot at the edge of historic centers.
In congested cities, indoor parking costs €25–€30 for 12–24 hours; outdoor parking costs about €10–€20. Parking in an area signposted zona disco (disk zone) is allowed for short periods (from 30 minutes to two hours or more—the time is posted); if you don't have an appropriate cardboard disk (check in the glove box of your rental car) to show what time you parked, you can write your arrival time on a piece of paper. In most metropolitan areas you can find curbside parking spaces, marked by blue lines; once you insert coins into the nearby parcometro machine, it prints a ticket that you then leave on your dashboard.
Fiats, Fords, and Alfa Romeos in a variety of sizes are the most typical rental cars. Note that most Italian cars have standard transmission—if you need an automatic, specify one when you make your reservation. Significantly higher rates will apply.
Most American chains have affiliates in Italy, but costs are usually lower if you book a car before leaving home. Rentals at airports usually cost less than city pickups (and airport offices are open later). An auto broker such as www.rent.it lets you compare rates among companies while guaranteeing the lowest price.
Most rental companies won't rent to someone under age 21. Most also refuse to rent any model larger than an economy or subcompact to anyone under 23, and, further, require customers under that age to pay by credit card. There are no special restrictions on senior citizen drivers. Any additional drivers must be identified in the contract and qualify with the age limits. There's also a supplementary daily fee for additional drivers. Expect to pay extra for add-on features, too. A car seat (required for children under age three) will cost about €36 for the duration of the rental and should be booked in advance. In some areas, snow chains are compulsory in winter months and can be rented for €30–€60—it may be cheaper to buy your own at the first open garage. Upon rental, all companies require credit cards as a warranty; to rent bigger cars (2,000 cc or more), you may be required to show two credit cards.
Hiring a car with a driver can simplify matters, particularly if you plan to indulge in wine tastings or explore the distractingly scenic Amalfi Coast. Search online (the travel forums at Fodors.com are a good resource) or ask at your hotel for recommendations. Drivers are paid by the day, and are usually rewarded with a tip of about 15% upon completion of the journey.
All rental agencies operating in Italy require you to buy a collision-damage waiver (CDW) and a theft-protection policy, but those costs should already be included in the rates you're quoted. Verify this, along with any deductible, which can vary greatly depending on the company and type of car. Be aware that coverage may be denied if the named driver on the rental contract isn't the driver at the time of an accident. Ask your rental company about other included coverage when you reserve the car or pick it up. Finally, try not to leave valuables in your car, because thieves often target rental vehicles. If you can't avoid doing so—for instance, if you want to stop to see a sight while traveling between cities—park in an attended lot.
Road Conditions
Autostrade are well maintained, as are most interregional highways. Typically, autostrade have two or three lanes in both directions; the left lane should be used only for passing. Italians drive fast and are impatient with those who don't. Tailgating (and flashing with bright beams to signal intent to pass) is the norm if you dawdle in the left lane—the only way to avoid it is to stay to the right.
The condition of provincial (county) roads varies, but road maintenance at this level is generally good in Italy. In many small hill towns the streets are winding and extremely narrow, so try to park at the edge of town and explore on foot.
Driving on back roads isn't difficult as long as you're on the alert for bicycles and passing cars. In addition, street and road signs are often missing or placed in awkward spots; a good map or GPS is essential. If you feel pressure from a string of cars in your rearview mirror but don't feel comfortable speeding up, pull off to the right, and let them pass.
Be aware that some maps may not use the SR or SP (strade regionale and strade provinciale) highway designations, which took the place of the old SS designations in 2004. They may use the old SS designation or no numbering at all.
Roadside Emergencies
Automobile Club Italiano offers 24-hour road service; English-speaking operators are available. Your rental-car company may also have an emergency tow service with a toll-free phone number: keep it handy. Be prepared to report which road you're on, the verso (direction) you're headed, and your targa (license plate number). Also, in an emergency, call the police (113).
When you're on the road, always carry a good road map and a flashlight—a reflective vest should be provided with the car. A mobile phone is highly recommended, though there are emergency phones on the autostrade and superstrade. To locate them, look on the pavement for painted arrows and the term "SOS."
Emergency Services
American Automobile Association. 800/2224357; www.aaa.com.
Automobile Club Italiano. 803/116; www.aci.it.
Alamo. 888/233–8749; www.alamo.com.
Avis. 800/331–1084; www.avis.com.
Budget. 800/472–3325; www.budget.com.
Hertz. 800/654–3131; 02/69430006; www.hertz.com.
National. 877/222–9058; www.nationalcar.com.
Sicily By Car. 091/6390111; www.autoeuropa.it.
Rules of the Road
Driving is on the right. Speed limits are 130 kph (80 mph) on autostrade, reduced to 110 kph (70 mph) when it rains, and 90 kph (55 mph) on state and provincial roads, unless otherwise marked. In towns, the speed limit is 50 kph (30 mph), which may drop as low as 10 kph (6 mph) near schools, hospitals, and other designated areas. Note that right turns on red lights are forbidden. Headlights are required to be on while driving on all roads (large or small) outside municipalities. You must wear seat belts and strap young children under 4 feet 11 inches into car seats at all times. Using handheld mobile phones while driving is illegal—and fines can exceed €100. In most Italian towns the use of the horn is forbidden in many areas. A large sign, "zona di silenzio," indicates a "no honking" zone.
In Italy you must be 18 years old to drive a car. A U.S. driver's license is acceptable to rent a car, but by law Italy also requires non-Europeans to carry an International Driver's Permit (IDP), which essentially translates your license into Italian (and a dozen other languages). In practice, it depends on the police officer who pulls you over whether you'll be penalized for not carrying it. The IDP costs only $15, and obtaining one is easy: see the AAA website (www.aaa.com) for more information.
The blood-alcohol content limit for driving is 0.05% (stricter than in the United States). Surpass it and you'll face fines up to €6,000 and the possibility of one year's imprisonment. Although enforcement of laws varies depending on the region, fines for speeding are uniformly stiff: 10 kph over the speed limit can warrant a fine of up to €500; greater than 10 kph (6 mph), and your license could be taken away. The police have the power to levy on-the-spot fines.


text:
/* Reentrant time functions like localtime_r.
Copyright (C) 2003, 2006-2007, 2010-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. */
/* Written by Paul Eggert. */
#include <config.h>
#include <time.h>
static struct tm *
copy_tm_result (struct tm *dest, struct tm const *src)
if (! src)
return 0;
*dest = *src;
return dest;
struct tm *
gmtime_r (time_t const * restrict t, struct tm * restrict tp)
return copy_tm_result (tp, gmtime (t));
struct tm *
localtime_r (time_t const * restrict t, struct tm * restrict tp)
return copy_tm_result (tp, localtime (t));