text:
The tenth day passed: the prince again
Was free from every legal stain.
Ha bade them on the twelfth the great
Remaining honour celebrate.
Much gold he gave, and gems, and food,
To all the Bráhman multitude,
And goats whose hair was white and fine,
And many a thousand head of kine:
Slaves, men and damsels, he bestowed,
And many a car and fair abode:
Such gifts he gave the Bráhman race
His father's obsequies to grace.
Then when the morning's earliest ray
Appeared upon the thirteenth day,
Again the hero wept and sighed
Distraught and sorrow-stupefied;
Drew, sobbing in his anguish, near,
The last remaining debt to clear,
And at the bottom of the pyre,
He thus bespake his royal sire:
'O father, hast thou left me so,
Deserted in my friendless woe,
When he to whom the charge was given
To keep me, to the wood is driven?
Her only son is forced away
Who was his helpless mother's stay:
Ah, whither, father, art thou fled;
Leaving the queen uncomforted?'
He looked upon the pile where lay
The bones half-burnt and ashes grey,
And uttering a piteous moan,
Gave way, by anguish overthrown.
Then as his tears began to well,
Prostrate to earth the hero fell;
So from its seat the staff they drag,
And cast to earth some glorious flag.
The ministers approached again
The prince whom rites had freed from stain:
So when Yayáti fell, each seer,
In pity for his fate, drew near.
S'atrughna saw him lying low
O'erwhelmed beneath the crush of woe,
And as upon the king he thought,
He fell upon the earth distraught.
When to his loving memory came
Those noble gifts, that kingly frame,
He sorrowed, by his woe distressed,
As one by frenzied rage possessed:
'Ah me, this surging sea of woe
Has drowned us with its overflow:
The source is Manthará, dire and dark,
Kaikeyí is the ravening shark:
And the great boons the monarch gave
Lend conquering might to every wave.
Ah, whither wilt thou go, and leave
Thy Bharat in his woe to grieve,
Whom ever 'twas thy greatest joy
To fondle as a tender boy?
Didst thou not give with thoughtful care
Our food, our drink, our robes to wear?
Whose love will now for us provide,
When thou, our king and sire, hast died?
At such a time bereft, forlorn,
Why is not earth in sunder torn,
Missing her monarch's firm control,
His love of right, his lofty soul?
Ah me, for Ráma roams afar,
My sire is where the Blessed are;
How can I live deserted? I
Will pass into the fire and die.
Abandoned thus, I will not brook
Upon Ayodhyá's town to look,
Once guarded by Ikshváku's race:
The wood shall be my dwelling place.'
Then when the princes' mournful train
Heard the sad brothers thus complain,
And saw their misery, at the view
Their grief burst wilder out anew.
Faint with lamenting, sad and worn,
Each like a bull with broken horn,
The brothers in their wild despair
Lay rolling, mad with misery, there.
Then old Vas'ishtha good and true,
Their father's priest, all lore who knew,
Raised weeping Bharat on his feet,
And thus bespake with counsel meet:
'Twelve days, my lord, have past away
Since flames consumed thy father's clay:
Delay no more: as rules ordain,
Gather what bones may yet remain.
Three constant pairs are ever found
To hem all mortal creatures round: 1
Then mourn not thus, O Prince, for none
Their close companionship may shun.'
Sumantra bade S'atrughna rise,
And soothed his soul with counsel wise,
And skilled in truth, his hearer taught
How all things are and come to naught,
When rose each hero from the ground,
A lion lord of men, renowned,
He showed like Indra's flag, 2 whereon
Fierce rains have dashed and suns have shone.
They wiped their red and weeping eyes,
And gently made their sad replies:
Then, urged to haste, the royal pair
Performed the rites that claimed their care.
186:1 The Sáma-veda, the hymns of which are chanted aloud.
186:2 Walking from right to left.


text:
Navy Plans to Beef Up Cyber Workforce
Service's 2014 budget also includes $340.1 million for shipboard networks.
Cyber, shipboard networks and unmanned systems stand out as key Navy technology investments in 2014 and for the next several years, top service officials told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
The Navy requested an operations budget of $22.6 million for its Fleet Cyber Command in 2014, up $2.3 million from 2013. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, told the hearing that the service plans to man and train a cyber force increase of about 1,000 personnel by 2016, in addition to the 800 billets realigned in 2013 from other specialties.
Greenert said these cyber specialists will help form 40 computer defense, attack and exploitation teams at the U.S. Cyber Command. The Cyber Command plans to field 100 cyber teams by 2015.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the hearing the service also needs "an equally sophisticated officer corps" to lead cyber forces, backed up by plans to "make the construction of a cybersecurity studies facility at the U.S. Naval Academy a top priority in developing the fiscal 2015 military construction program."
Greenert said the Navy needs to develop what he termed good cyber "hygiene" by reducing the number of networks it operates and developing standard networks, an effort supported by the shipboard Consolidated Afloat Networks or CANES project.
The Navy requested a $340.1 million budget for CANES in 2014, down $1 million from 2013, and Greenert said this will help the service equip new amphibious ships used to transport Marine forces. He said CANES will only address part of the need to develop improved communications systems. "We are analyzing the need for upgraded communications on our older amphibious ships and will correct those shortfalls in the near-term," he said, without providing details.
Mabus said unmanned systems will continue to be key military platforms at sea and ashore and said the Navy and Marines have made significant movement in drone development, including using unmanned MQ-8B Firescout helicopters to support sea and land Marine operations in Afghanistan. The Navy requested $61 million to buy one additional MQ-8B in its 2014 budget.
The service also requested $52 million for its version of the Air Force long-range Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-4C Triton, which Mabus said will "play a central role in building maritime domain awareness and prosecuting surface targets."
NEXT STORY: So much for the cyber medal...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A View of the World Trade Center Site from the Hudson River.
Lower Manhattan's revitalization includes a transportation system that will need to accommodate a range of changes brought about by September 11, 2001, such as the creation of a memorial that will attract at least 5 million visitors a year, the transformation of the World Trade Center site, and the broader revitalization of Lower Manhattan into a community bustling with new cultural institutions and public spaces. Substantial upgrades to the area's rail, bus, ferry and street systems are key to retaining and growing Lower Manhattan's commercial base, improving visitor experiences, and raising the quality of life for residents and workers. Projects Underway
Jamaica/Long Island and JFK Airport Access New Tunnel Alternative Identified in Feasibility Study In 2004, a feasibility study recommended a direct rail link from Jamaica to Lower Manhattan via the existing Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Atlantic Branch and a new tunnel underneath the East River, with an intermediate stop in Downtown Brooklyn. The study recommended new train service from Jamaica to Lower Manhattan (leaving every six minutes during the peak periods) and a one-seat train ride from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Lower Manhattan. In 2005, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and NYC Economic Development Corporation initiated the Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Airport Transportation Project, the next step in the effort to rebuild Lower Manhattan�s transportation system. This project will ensure that the required environmental review is undertaken before construction begins. For more information, see the
MTA Web Site Overall Transportation Priorities In April 2003, a set of priority projects to restore Lower Manhattan's transportation infrastructure and lay the foundation for the area's future growth was announced. A blueprint prepared by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, in collaboration with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, the New York State Department of Transportation, the City of New York and other partner agencies, outlined strategies for creating a 21st century integrated system. The blueprint, Lower Manhattan Transportation Strategies, addressed the steps needed to create a world-class regional and airport access system linking Lower Manhattan to Long Island and all three of the area's major airports, and revitalize downtown's antiquated and damaged transportation network. Download 2003 Lower Manhattan Transportation Strategies report. |


text:
Wow Aanika - you have written this with palpable zest! Electric, succinct, direct writing. Thanks so much, a pleasure to read.
My theoretical take on this is based on Jonathan Haidt's excellent book - The Righteous Mind. This goes someway in explaining why we are so tribalistic, when it comes to politics. We are essentially intuition-driven information processors, constantly scanning the world around us, morally interpreting information and colouring narratives with our unique worldview. A liberal worldview pegs a conservative as a traditionalist, xenophobic, capitalistic, flag-waving, tax-dodging, climate change denying, warmongering, pseudoscientific, Churchgoing, anti-vaxxer incapable of rational thought. Whilst to the conservative, a liberal is a virtue-signalling, tree-hugging, anarchist vegan gay snowflake citizen of the rainbow-world. We readily allow intuition to lead us and then use our rationality to come up with evidence to support our beliefs - the absolute arse-backward way it should be.
I'd really appreciate if you could read my article and feedback - the parallels between your take for WHY we are so polarized, enraged, partisan, seemingly undemocratic and HOW our brains are literally wired to be this way according to Haidt, are uncanny.


text:
Explore resources for adults at the Library like databases, language, audio books and more.
Find It Virginia is a carefully curated selection of authoritative databases, online learning products, and digital reading content (both text and audio) for Virginians of all ages.
Discover resources for kids to find books, reading materials and study materials.


text:
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council |
Press Release
For Immediate Release | August 6, 1998 |
Tables are in Portable Document Format (PDF).
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) today announced the availability of data about 1997 mortgage lending activity in metropolitan areas and released analyses of nationwide summary statistics regarding lending patterns. The nationwide summary statistics are attached to this release; the following provides a general overview.
The data reflect lending activity for 7,925 institutions, both depository and non-depository, that are covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and that reported data to member agencies of the FFIEC--the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Thrift Supervision, National Credit Union Administration, and Federal Reserve System--and to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The 1997 data include 16.4 million reported loans and applications, an increase of about 11 percent from 1996, resulting primarily from increased refinancing activity (table 1). The number of home purchase loans extended in 1997 compared with 1996 increased 12 percent for Asians, 4 percent for Blacks and Hispanics, and 2 percent for Whites, while decreasing 1 percent for Native Americans. During the five years from 1993 through 1997, the number of home purchase loans extended has increased 62 percent for Blacks, 58 percent for Hispanics, 29 percent for Asians, 25 percent for Native Americans, and 16 percent for Whites (table 9).
The number of home purchase loans extended to applicants in all income categories increased in 1997 compared with the prior year. The number of such loans extended in 1997 to lower income applicants (applicants having incomes less than 80 percent of the median family incomes for their metropolitan statistical area, or MSA) increased 6 percent over 1996, while the number of such loans extended in 1997 to upper income applicants (applicants having incomes equal to or more than 120 percent of their MSAs median) increased 5 percent over the prior year. During the five years from 1993 through 1997, the numbers of home purchase loans extended to lower income and upper income applicants increased 38 percent and 27 percent, respectively (table 9).
In 1997, 34 percent of Hispanic applicants and 26 percent of Black applicants for home purchase loans sought government-backed mortgages; the comparable figures for White applicants, Asian applicants, and Native American applicants were 15 percent, 12 percent, and 11 percent, respectively. Twenty-seven percent of lower income applicants for home purchase loans applied for government-backed loans in 1997, compared with 11 percent of upper income applicants (table 2).
Denial rates for conventional (non-government-backed) home purchase loans in 1997 were 53 percent for Black applicants, 52 percent for Native American applicants, 38 percent for Hispanic applicants, 26 percent for White applicants, and 13 percent for Asian applicants (table 5). Except for Asian applicants, each of these rates exceeded the comparable rate for 1996.
The denial rate for conventional loans was 29 percent in 1997. This rate has increased in each of the past several years, reflecting, in part, the increasing share of applications for conventional loans filed by lower income applicants.
In recent years, a growing share of the applications reported under HMDA has been filed with lenders that specialize in manufactured housing and subprime lending (table 3). In 1997, the lenders of these types that report under HMDA denied 56 percent of all applications they received for conventional home purchase loans, compared with 12 percent for other lenders (table 4).
The disclosure statements underlying the statistics presented above and in the attached tables are available for public inspection at central depositories throughout the nation. The disclosures include individual financial institutions' disclosure statements and aggregate data for each MSA. (The location of the central depository for an MSA can be obtained by calling the FFIEC at 202/634-6526 or by visiting the FFIEC Web site (www.ffiec.gov) at this page: www.ffiec.gov/hmdacf/centdep/main.cfm. In addition to the disclosures available at central depositories, HMDA data are available from two other sources: at offices of lenders subject to HMDA and directly from the FFIEC in Washington, D.C.
The FFIEC makes HMDA data available in various formats, including paper, magnetic tape, PC diskette, and CD-ROM, and at the FFIEC Web site. Tables showing the nationwide aggregates and key demographic information for MSAs can be obtained in paper form. The data for all individual loans and applications, submitted by the reporting institutions, are available on CD-ROM, magnetic tape, and PC diskette. An order form, with descriptions of the various reports and formats available, is attached to this release.
The HMDA reports contain data about loan originations, loan purchases, and applications that did not result in a loan; and they give information about three characteristics of applicants or borrowers: race or national origin, gender, and annual income. For most loans relating to property located in MSAs, as well as some loans relating to property located outside MSAs, the reports identify the geographic location, usually by census tract.
The HMDA data also include information on loans that are sold, showing the type of purchaser of the loan. Among other things, this information is used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in assessing the performance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in meeting their legislatively mandated affordable housing goals.
The FFIEC also provides data on mortgage insurance applications. Data from the nation's eight private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies were compiled under the auspices of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, and are available at individual PMI companies, at the central depositories in each MSA, and from the FFIEC.
Documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF).
Residential lending activity reported by financial institutions covered by HMDA, 1981-97
Disposition of conventional home purchase loan applications, by characteristics of applicant, 1997
Disposition of conventional home purchase loan applications, by income and race of applicant, 1997
Conventional home purchase loans by racial or ethnic group and income of borrowers, 1990-97
Government-backed home purchase loans by racial or ethnic group and income of borrowers, 1990-97
All home purchase loans by racial or ethnic group and income of borrowers, 1990-97
HMDA Data Order Form ( PDF)
Maintained by the FFIEC. For suggestions regarding this site, Contact Us.
Last Modified: 08/29/2018 1:11 PM


text:
A friend reminded me about this section of the book. This is an excerpt from early draft of Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy. Given the bankruptcy filing today, it is totally suitable. (The final version is thematically similar, but different in actual content).
The current no strings attached bailout demands of the Big 3 stands in stark contrast to the 1980 Chrysler deal. Regardless, the subsequent decades post-bailout reveals the deal wasn't particularly good for either the industry or the firm's employees.
In the 1950s, Barron's described the Detroit automakers as the big two and a half – with Chrysler, the perennial sales laggard, as the half. When the embargo hit, Chrysler suffered the most of the Big Three.
By the mid-seventies, the company was hemorrhaging cash. Chrysler lost $52 million in 1974, and a record $259.5 million in 1975. As smaller, less expensive and more fuel-efficient from Japan and Europe gained increasing market share in 1970s, Chrysler found itself in an ever-deepening hole. It looked like they might have to declare bankruptcy.
As soon as the energy crisis ended, it was back to business as usual. 1976 a hugely profitable year: the company's net income was $422.6 million. 1977 was profitable, but less so: $163.2 million net income. By late 1978, they were running in the red again, losing $204.6 million. The fall of the Shah of Iran and a new US Oil embargo sent prices higher once again. By 1979, Chrysler was looking at its first billion dollar annual loss.
Management decided to was time to visit their Uncle Sam.
The Chrysler bailout was everything Lockheed was – its predecessor in the bailout timeline by 9 years – and more. It was bigger and more expensive. Lockheed had loan guarantees worth $250 million dollars; Chrysler's were for six times that amount,. The rationale for the rescue of Lockheed, the country's biggest defense firm, was national defense. With Chrysler, it was the economy, and saving 200,000 jobs in the U.S.
But the big difference between the two was that the Chrysler recue package was much more complex. The terms of the Chrysler loan guarantees required an additional $2 billion in commitments or concessions from: "its own owners, stockholders, administrators, employees, dealers, suppliers, foreign and domestic financial institutions, and by State and local governments. "
The Chrysler bailout of 1980 was not quite a pre-packaged bankruptcy reorganization. It left the company with the same management team, the same union contracts, the same pension obligations, and the same health care coverage; all the bailout did was buy the company a few more years. Indeed, the pre-bailout industry looked almost identical to the post-bailout industry. None of the Detroit automakers, Chrysler included, received any long-term benefits from the bailout.
Chrysler survived, but a slow necrosis gradually handed over the dominance of the US automobile market to the Japanese, Koreans, and Germans. In 1980, Detroit had a ~75% market share of autos sold in the US. For the first time ever in May 2008, that number slipper under 50%, and its now down to ~48%.
You read that right, the majority of automobiles sold in the USA are no longer vehicles made by US companies.
The UAW's membership suffered even more than Detroit's market share. It peaked in 1979, a year before the bailout, when the Union had over 1.5 million dues paying members. 25 years, UAW membership had fallen by two thirds — down a million to to 538,448 (2006).
And, year-over-year totals are still falling. From 2006 to 2007 (the most recent full year of data ) the union saw its membership decrease yet another 14% –down another 73,538.
Had Chrysler been allowed to fall into bankruptcy, it's not too difficult to imagine a vulture investor obtaining all of the aforementioned assets, and putting them to good use. Just picture a refurbished Chrysler Corporation – newly recapitalized, minus the onerous labor contracts, pension obligations, and healthcare overhead. Its new owner would have been free to pursue new manufacturing methods, new automobile designs, even new markets – with all the advantages Chrysler itself had, but without the defunct company's baggage.
A post bankruptcy Chrysler would have been as leaner, meaner and more cost-efficient, and maybe even more fuel-efficient machine than the rest of Detroit. Surely, they would have been willing to take chances on some new designs that broke free of the stodgy boring cars put out by Detroit in the 1970s and 1980s.
Not only would Chrysler have been much more competitive in the US and world markets, their mere existence would have forced GM and Ford to streamline their own processes improve their vehicles in terms of attractiveness, mechanical reliability, and fuel efficiency.
Down Below 50% "Detroit 3"U.S. Market Share 1986 –June 2008
(Sales of Detroit 3 N. American "owned"production)
Source: Center for Automotive Research


text:
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text:
- Home
- Departments
- District Attorney
- Crime Victims Services
Crime Victims Services
The court system can be a strenuous experience, especially for crime victims. To aid victims throughout the process, the District Attorney's Office has a Crime Victims Services Coordinator. It is the responsibility of the Coordinator to ensure that victims are aware of and gain access to services available to them. As a victim of a crime, one may be eligible for certain kinds of assistance through both the New York State Office of Victim's Services (NYSOVS) and the Crime Victim's Services Coordinator. Some of the services that are provided by NYSOVS include but are not limited to:
Helpful Numbers Catholic Charities First Step Victims Services: 607–535–2050 24 Hour Hotline: 607–742–9629 This program provides counseling, personal advocacy, court accompaniment, OVS assistance, transportation, information and referrals to all victims of crime within Schuyler County. These services are completely confidential and are available to you at no cost. Sexual Assault Resource Center Planned Parenthood Services of the Finger Lakes: 1–888–810–0093 SARC provides comprehensive, free services that include a 24-hour hotline, 24-hour medical advocacy and accompaniment, legal advocacy and accompaniment, OVS assistance, information, referrals and counseling to victims of sexual assault. SARC serves Schuyler Co., Chemung Co., & Steuben Co. These services are completely confidential and are available at no cost to you. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline 24 Hour Hotline: 1–800–273–TALK (8255) The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is available 24 hours a day. By calling you'll be connected to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area. You can call regarding any issues that are bothering you, including but not limited to substance abuse, economic worries, relationship and family problems, sexual orientation, illness, getting over abuse, depression, mental and physical illness, and many other issues that may be affecting you. New York State Office of Victim Services NYSOVS: 1–800–247–8035 OVS offers compensation related to personal injury, death, and loss of essential personal property. As the payer of last resort, OVS will compensate for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by insurance or other resources. New York State Sheriff's Victim Hotline (VINE) VINE: 1–888–VINE4NY (846–3469) VINElink: www.vinelink.com/vinelink/siteInfoAction.do?siteId=33004 Mobile App: Vinemobile Vine, Vinelink, and their mobile counterpart are resources that allow you to search for information regarding an offender incarcerated in the New York City Department of Correction, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and the 60 County Correctional Facilities. If you want to be notified of an offenders release from incarceration you can also register to be notified by phone call or email. This service is provided to assist Victims of Crime who have a right to know about their offender's custody status and when they are being released from incarceration. New York State Department of Corrections (NYSDOCS) NYSDOCS: 1–518–457–8126 Mobile App: NY Alertz The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is responsible for the confinement and rehabilitation of individuals in custody and parolees supervised throughout seven regional offices. You can also use this site to check the location of an inmate and check on parole eligibility dates. SAVIN – NY This system is a service available to victims, or their designees, who have been granted certain Family Court Orders of Protection. It allows the victims the option of registering for notification when an Order of Protection is served. Other Helpful Numbers: |
Schuyler County Sheriff's Office: New York State Police: District Attorney's Office: Legal Aid: Schuyler County Family Court: Department of Social Services: Child Protective Services: Adult Protective Services: Mental Health: Schuyler Outreach: |
(607) 535 – 8222 (607) 535 – 6562 (607) 535 – 8383 (607) 734 – 1647 (607) 535 – 7143 (607) 535 – 8303 (607) 535 – 8322 (607) 535 – 8303 (607) 535 – 8282 (607) 535 – 2815 |
Contact Us
Crime Victims Services
Adrienne Minichello, Coordinator
105 Ninth St. Unit 26
Watkins Glen, NY 14891Ph: (607) 535-8387
Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday
8:30 am - 4:30 pm


text: We see the same sky and inhabit the same earth as the ancient Egyptians, Athenians, Mayans and Islamic thinkers did thousands of years ago. But unlike the modern world, ancient worlds do not separate earth from sky: for them, to understand human life in its natural environment is to understand its relation to the sphere of the heavens. Students in both courses in this two-course connection will learn to view the earth and sky together through the lenses of different ancient cultures.


text:
The shooter, named as Mohammad Ashraf, then fled during the chaos prompting a tense search for him through the shared base and at least two more separate exchanges of gunfire before he was hit and arrested.
It was unclear if Ashraf had been a spectator or player in the match, when he opened fire on Sunday afternoon at Patrol Base Shawqat, in Nad-e Ali district, said Maj Adam Wojack, a spokesman at Nato headquarters in Kabul.
No one was killed in the initial burst of fire, but a soldier from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, died during a second exchange as troops hunted for the shooter.
The soldier's family have been informed and he is expected to be named later today. Nato officials would not say how many more were wounded. Afghan officials had initially put the death toll at three.
Ashraf, originally from Panjshir province north of Kabul, fled again after shooting the soldier and was then shot himself in a third clash.
He was initially taken alive, but died overnight from his wounds.
Early reports had been unclear if the attacker was a genuine member of the Afghan army, or an infiltrator, but Afghan military officials have now confirmed he was a soldier.
Gen Syed Malook Safi of the Afghan army's 215 Maiwand Corps said Ashraf had been posted to Helmand two and a half months ago.
He said: "They were having some kind of football match. The British and Afghan soldiers do this sometimes when they have finished their work."
He said Ashraf had suffered from some kind of "mental problems", without elaborating what they were.
Ashraf's home province, Panjshir, is renowned for its resistance to the Soviet-backed government during the 1980s and then to the Taliban during the 1990s.
Sunday's death occurred just hours after simple Remembrance Sunday services were held in Kabul and at bases in Helmand, including at Camp Bastion and British headquarters in Lashkar Gah.
At least 12 British troops have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year alone, with other deaths still under investigation.
The spate of deaths, which have increased dramatically this year, have sown deep distrust between foreign forces and the Afghan forces they are supposed to be training and supporting.
At least 54 members of the Nato-led coalition have in such attacks in 2012. The attacks have been corrosive to domestic support for the campaign among alliance members and led France to withdraw its combat contingent a year early.
Measures to stem the attacks, including re-vetting Afghan personnel, scaling back joint patrols and posting "guardian angel" sentries to watch out for potential assassins, have failed to prevent the deaths.
Major Laurence Roche, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: ''I am very sorry to report the death of a soldier from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, who was shot by an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform at his base in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province.
''This is incredibly sad news for the battalion and everyone serving in Task Force Helmand."


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As previously announced I will only be at this weekend's FAN EXPO CANADA for a limited period of time. However I will be doing TWO SIGNINGS at the DC Comics booth, Friday from 3-4 and Sunday from 3-4. I will also be on the DC ALL ACCESS Panel in Rm 716 from 1-2 on Friday.
DC COMICS PANEL: FRIDAY AUGUST 24 1-2pm Rm716
SIGNING: FRIDAY AUGUST 24 3-4 pm DC BOOTH
SIGNING: SUNDAY AUGUST 24 3-4 pm DC BOOTH


text:
Novation's latest synth has obviously been inspired by the microKorg but at its heart lies the sound engine and majority of features from the Ultranova, which means that patches can be shared between the two.
The Ultranova is well regarded for packing a very deep synthesiser engine into a compact space and the MiniNova takes this concept further but loses the audio/midi interface.
The three-octave full-size Ultranova keybed has been replaced by a three-octave mini keyboard. The whole package is light enough to pick up with one hand and the keybed feels much the same as the original microKorg.
However, it's too stiffly sprung for truly expressive playing and it lacks aftertouch. It's a shame a similar keybed to the one in the microKorg XL couldn't have been used, after all they are at similar price points.
Also note that the MiniNova doesn't take batteries, though it can be USB powered. The rest of the interface is a fair compromise bearing in mind the amount of space available.
Lay it out
The pitch and mod wheels are a good size for a small instrument and are backlit bright blue (the lights can be turned off if needed). Perhaps the pitch bend could have been made a little less floppy in action and, while the octave up and down switches always help on a keyboard of this size, we wish they would change the sound immediately when holding a chord or note down, like on many analogue synths.
Build quality is great for the price and the switchgear feels tough with Minimoog-inspired dials for volume, data and for accessing the performance matrix on the right of the front panel, supplemented by a large filter cutoff and genre select dial. All the dials have little play in them and should stand up well to finger abuse.
In the middle of the panel the microKorg XL-inspired genre dial sorts sounds into genres for quick selection. You can scroll through sounds in each genre using the tough rubber patch buttons, or scroll through all 256 (+128 user) onboard sounds one by one when the dial is in the 'all' position.
Patches can also be sorted by number or alphabetically using the metal flick switch. Genres include Rock/Pop, RnB/ HipHop, Dubstep (again like the microKorg XL+!) Classic Synth, bass, leads and more.
The white on blue display is similar to the Impulse range of controllers and does a good job of relaying the often-large amounts of info clearly. Bearing in mind how deep the sound engine is, the system of screen, menu/ page buttons, data wheel and patch select buttons does an admirable job and it's easier to get to grips with than the cryptic system implemented on the first MicroKorg.
There's still a lot of page scrolling and button pressing involved when editing but once the editor is available this should speed things up considerably. The Ultranova's editor is excellent so we have no doubt the MiniNova's will be of a similar design when it's launched (which will hopefully be soon)!
Panel points
Looking further into the front panel design, the 6x4 performance matrix with four dials works well from a performer's point of view. You simply switch the slider to the line of performance parameters you want to edit and turn the corresponding dial.
Functionality of these controls can change depending on the patch selected and the first two rows of parameters (called 'tweaks') can be user assigned. Most of the key parameters you would wish to access or assign are available here from ADSR's for filter and amp, to FX levels, drive, oscillator sync and filter resonance/type.
Just above the keyboard are eight rubber buttons that can be used for 'animation' (as on the Ultranova) for muting in and out any of the eight steps when using the arpeggiator, or as eight favourite sound buttons.
The flick switch flips between either 'animate' or 'arpeggiate' and the animation function is probably our favourite aspect of the MiniNova's design as you can assign any of the vast number of mod functions/parameters to these buttons to augment your performance. We wish this system was implemented on other manufacturers keyboards as it really does open up the performance side of things.
The 'hold' button allows you to keep the animation held at any desired level when performing, so if you stumble upon a great filter setting you can capture it and carrying on playing with both hands. Neat!
The MiniNova's sound engine is lifted directly from the Ultranova and is deep to say the least, though it's worth bearing in mind that it's mono-timbral, so no assigning of different sounds to different Midi channels or splitting/ layering of sounds for playback from your DAW/sequencer.
Max polyphony is decent at 18 notes and this trumps the MicroKorg XL's 8 notes, though let's not forget the MicroKorg XL is two-part multi-timbral, allowing basic splitting and layering. If you need splits and layers then maybe this isn't the synth for you but having said that, there's a staggering array of parameters to work with when editing and tweaking the patches.
If you like designing sounds then the MiniNova is hard to beat and it's eminently tweakable, plus the presets only show a small snapshot of what this board is really capable of.
Certainly they're catered towards harder electronic styles rather than softer and more acoustic tones and it's obvious Novation want to sell this board to producers of Dubstep, House, Techno and more contemporary glitch styles rather than those wanting uber-realistic acoustic patches.
In fact, it's almost impossible to find a convincing acoustic piano, Rhodes, guitar or string section emulation within the presets which is a shame, though the MiniNova is capable of pulling these kind of tones out of the bag with a bit of programming.
Sound perspective
Each sound (patch) can have up to three oscillators with square, sine, tri, sawtooth, pulse and nine different saw/pulse combinations. You can also select from 20 digital waves, 36 wavetables, a noise generator and two ring mod generators.
The analogue-style oscillator waves sound great, with a wide frequency range and plenty of punch; they're perfect for aggressive upfront electronica, which is the MiniNova's intended market. There are also six envelopes onboard with various trigger options.
Envelopes one and two are hard wired to amp and filter as expected but three-to-six can be freely assigned to any parameters, allowing the creation of extremely complex patches and evolving soundscapes. The envelopes are pretty snappy too, so it's easy to sculpt punchy attacks for powerful basses, cutting leads and tight percussive sounds.
When it comes to filtering, the MiniNova is no slouch either. There are two main filter blocks that can be balanced against each other using a balance control, plus they can be placed in series, parallel, one at a time, drum mode, or bypassed completely. The best bet here is just to try them all out and you'll quickly get a feel for your favourite modes and combinations.
Not only this but external signals can also be processed through the filters and by an envelope follower which is real bonus.
There are 14 different filter types available including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, high-pass without resonance and several variations thereof, including 12dB, 18dB and 24dB slopes.
The filters sound very respectable in general, with smooth almost step-free resonance and cutoff response and, although the general tone errs more towards hard electronic rather than warm juiciness, the MiniNova is perfectly capable of warmer tones with a bit of tweaking.
On price and features alone, you'd be crazy to ignore the MiniNova. Though it has a lot in common with Korg's microKorg series in terms of overall design aesthetic, the sound engine sounds completely different and runs far deeper in just about every respect, though it does miss some more natural acoustic instrument samples.
Also, while the reverb and effects aren't the greatest and the vocoder isn't as clear as we would have liked, there is enough to keep most people hooked for a long time and at the price you can forgive these small shortcomings.
If you're into electronic music with a tough edge, love deep sound design and need something that's super-portable yet well built at a reasonable price, then the MiniNova is very appealing.


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Yom Kippur
Leviticus 16:1-34; Numbers 29:7-11
This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh
Leviticus 16
1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses:
Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in the cloud over the cover. 3 Thus only shall Aaron enter the Shrine: with a bull of the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. — 4 He shall be dressed in a sacral linen tunic, with linen breeches next to his flesh, and be girt with a linen sash, and he shall wear a linen turban. They are sacral vestments; he shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. — 5 And from the Israelite community he shall take two he-goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
6 Aaron is to offer his own bull of sin offering, to make expiation for himself and for his household. 7 Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; 8 and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for the Lord and the other marked for Azazel. 9 Aaron shall bring forward the goat designated by lot for the Lord, which he is to offer as a sin offering; 10 while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before the Lord, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel.
11 Aaron shall then offer his bull of sin offering, to make expiation for himself and his household. He shall slaughter his bull of sin offering, 12 and he shall take a panful of glowing coals scooped from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground aromatic incense, and bring this behind the curtain.13 He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud from the incense screens the cover that is over [the Ark of] the Pact, lest he die. 14He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger over the cover on the east side; and in front of the cover he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 He shall then slaughter the people's goat of sin offering, bring its blood behind the curtain, and do with its blood as he has done with the blood of the bull: he shall sprinkle it over the cover and in front of the cover.
16 Thus he shall purge the Shrine of the uncleanness and transgression of the Israelites, whatever their sins; and he shall do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 When he goes in to make expiation in the Shrine, nobody else shall be in the Tent of Meeting until he comes out.
When he has made expiation for himself and his household, and for the whole congregation of Israel, 18 he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and purge it: he shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat and apply it to each of the horns of the altar; 19 and the rest of the blood he shall sprinkle on it with his finger seven times. Thus he shall cleanse it of the uncleanness of the Israelites and consecrate it.
20 When he has finished purging the Shrine, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, the live goat shall be brought forward. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and it shall be sent off to the wilderness through a designated man. 22 Thus the goat shall carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.
23 And Aaron shall go into the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen vestments that he put on when he entered the Shrine, and leave them there. 24 He shall bathe his body in water in the holy precinct and put on his vestments; then he shall come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, making expiation for himself and for the people. 25 The fat of the sin offering he shall turn into smoke on the altar.
26 He who set the Azazel-goat free shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may reenter the camp.
27 The bull of sin offering and the goat of sin offering whose blood was brought in to purge the Shrine shall be taken outside the camp; and their hides, flesh, and dung shall be consumed in fire. 28 He who burned them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may re-enter the camp.
29 And this shall be to you a law for all time: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall practice self-denial; and you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. 30 For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before the Lord. 31 It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; it is a law for all time. 32 The priest who has been anointed and ordained to serve as priest in place of his father shall make expiation. He shall put on the linen vestments, the sacral vestments. 33 He shall purge the innermost Shrine; he shall purge the Tent of Meeting and the altar; and he shall make expiation for the priests and for all the people of the congregation.
34 This shall be to you a law for all time: to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year.
And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him.
Numbers 29 (Maftir)
7 On the tenth day of the same seventh month you shall observe a sacred occasion when you shall practice self-denial. You shall do no work. 8 You shall present to the Lord a burnt offering of pleasing odor: one bull of the herd, one ram, seven yearling lambs; see that they are without blemish. 9 The meal offering with them — of choice flour with oil mixed in — shall be: three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 10 one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. 11 And there shall be one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of expiation and the regular burnt offering with its meal offering, each with its libation.
Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the JPS website for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.


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Japan is on the cusp of a cleantech revolution, with landmark new feed-in tariffs ushering in a clean and green post-Fukushima future. How can North American cleantech companies tap the Japanese market? In partnership with JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, Kachan & Co. surveyed 52 Japan and North America-based professionals in cleantech, manufacturing, consulting and academia for their tips and advice.
Cleantech Opportunities in Japan
Insights and recommendations for companies seeking to do cleantech business in Japan
A report by JETRO and Kachan & Co., June 2012.
As the world's third largest economy, and with a government committed to renewable energy, the market opportunities for clean technology in Japan today are real and lucrative. Additionally, a vibrant manufacturing industry makes it an attractive place to do business if a company knows how to navigate the system and understands the country's immediate and future cleantech needs.
Japan is known for its technological innovation, vis-à-vis its multinational, technology and automobile companies. While other countries are just starting to delve into the clean technology industry, this is not a new area for Japan: companies like these, as well as others, have been developing and providing cleantech solutions since the 1970s.
Japan's reinvigorated focus on renewable energy and supporting technologies was triggered by the Fukushima disaster, the energy crisis that followed, and dramatic new feed-in tariffs (FITs). While solar is expected to lead the way—Japan is projected to become the second largest solar market (up from its current rank of sixth)—there are other renewable energy projects projected for the country.
In partnership with JETRO (the Japan External Trade Organization), Kachan & Co. administered an online survey in June 2012 to Japan and U.S.-based professionals, experts and academia involved in cleantech in Japan. Kachan & Co. also conducted interviews with select executives and experts in the industry to get their perspectives, advice and feedback on the cleantech landscape in Japan.
Report essential for
- Cleantech companies considering doing business in Japan
- Companies already doing business in Japan
- Governments
- Service providers
- And others
JETRO and Kachan & Co. administered an online survey in May-June 2012 with senior Japan and U.S. based professionals, consultants, academics and venture capitalists extensively involved in cleantech.
The 52 survey respondents, representing a mix of Japanese and foreign companies, covered functional areas such as equity investment, technology, manufacturing and professional services, and included multinational corporations, cleantech & energy companies, green organizations and engineering firms such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Digital Grid, Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd, Q-Cells, Green Japan, Sumitomo Corporation, Fujitsu Research Institute, PADECO, and UFJ Mitsubishi Capital.
Kachan & Co. conducted 10 phone interviews during May-June 2012 with the following: Andrew DeWitt, Professor of the Political Economy of Public Finance, Rikkyo University and an Asia-Pacific Journal coordinator; Ichiro Fukue, Senior Vice President, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; Luke Johnson, CEO & Co-Founder, Sunpulse; Rob MacGregor, Managing Director, StrategyCore; Hal Morimoto, Managing Director, Astoria Consulting Group; John Raymont, President & CEO, Kurion; Kiyotaka Fujii, President, Better Place Japan; Kevin Kuhn, Manager, Business Development, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas); Keith Gillard, General Partner, Pangaea Ventures; and Paul Gipe, renewable energy industry analyst.
"It's important to have a unique solution to enter the Japanese market, and it's equally imperative to have an extraordinary level of flexibility, adaptability and patience."
-From the report


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In the Fall of 2006, the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Museum & Galleries opened The Annette Green Perfume Museum, a permanent installation open year round. At the end of the 20th century, Annette Green, now president emeritus of The Fragrance Foundation, developed and opened America's first and only museum dedicated to fragrance as well as the olfactory arts and sciences. In 2004, the collection was donated to the FIDM Museum & Galleries in Los Angeles.
The museum's collection, devoted to the artistry and understanding of the historical cultural roles of fragrance, includes over 1,000 vintage and contemporary bottles and boxes from more than 165 international fragrance houses, perfumers and private collectors beginning in the 18th century. Other objects in the collection are two 18th century Adams Cabinets (a gift of Elizabeth Arden), an Erté sculpture called Perfume (a gift of Givaudan), four rare historic fragrance-themed posters (gifts of Firmenich and Dragoco [now Symrise]) as well as ephemera. The three-pronged purpose of the Annette Green Perfume Museum at FIDM, includes outreach and inspirational programs for the fragrance industry, the public and academia.


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Home | Reviews | Extras | Forums |
What's Michael?SynopsisWhat's Michael is loosely based off the manga of the same name, which deals with an ordinary tomcat named Michael, and his various misadventures with humans, felines, and whatnot in modern Japan. Again, we reiterate: loosely based. This OAV has various shorts dealing with couples, but very few shorts relating to cats. ReviewThis is by far the strangest thing I have ever seen. Not just anime, not just anything on VHS. I mean *thing*. My sister picked this up in a bargain bin in Chinatown in Los Angeles. Why she wasted two dollars (and shelf space) on this video, I have no idea. To hear her rave about it, you'd think this was the funniest thing ever made. At least that was the impression I got when she called me and told me she found it. Being a fan of the manga, I was really looking forward to this OAV. Then she sat me down and showed it to me. Did that impression evaporate fast ... Now I know why my dad fled the room screaming the second my sister announced she was putting that thing in the VCR. There were five people in the room when tape started rolling. All except for me were comatose within the first *five* minutes, including the Chief Reviewing Editor (NOTE: Hey, I had better things to do, okay? - Ed.), and it's no wonder. The opening credits alone, with Michael just sitting there while bad Muzak played, were as good a sedative as anything a doctor could possibly prescribe. And this was one of the more exciting scenes. Whatever stories were actually taken from the manga are drawn out, badly animated, and paced so slowly that they lose all their humor and charm. Michael comes across as a fat lump rather than Japan's answer to Garfield, which he is in the manga. Some of my favorite manga stories were animated on par with Crying Freeman, where each frame stood there for minutes on end with no action to speak of. And whenever Michael's not on screen, we're treated to random, bizarre clips featuring a strange couple who either batter each other or undress each other, usually while dancing. Then there are the eyecatch sequences, which feature Michael licking himself in undescribable places while a strange synthesized voice screams, "What's Michael!" It's not so much a question of What's Michael ... but Where ... and Why? As if the shorts weren't bad enough, halfway through the tape, you're "treated" to a bonus music video featuring a bad Filipino Michael Jackson impersonator (ie "Billie Jean" complete with one white glove) singing about how "sexy" and "hot" Michael is. For crying out loud, he's a CAT! (Even if he's glowing neon green and dancing superimposed on top of a photo of the Eiffel Tower.) Very 80s, very weird, and about as entertaining as watching family sleep ... which they did. I'm sure they had more fun. If you're a fan of the manga, or anyone else for that matter, AVOID THIS TAPE AT ALL COSTS! It's only good for insomniacs, as this beats Tale of Genji and Night on the Galactic Railroad for the ultimate sedative anime ... heck, this beats codeine! (By the way, sis, I've not forgiven you yet!) Raph, why can't we give zeroes? PLEASE? — Christi Recommended Audience: None. Your cat would be insulted. Version(s) Viewed: VHS, raw Japanese Review Status: Full (1/1) What's Michael? © 1985 Kobayashi Makoto / Kitty Film |
© 1996-2015 THEM Anime Reviews. All rights reserved. |


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There's even a little bearcake in there for the fur contingent! Truly, this film has it all.
It is by now common knowledge that Microsoft is extending the warranties on all Xbox 360 hardware by three years, specifically for failures that manifest in le dreaded Cirque Rouge. Short of it working correctly the first time (always the best option!) this is as good as you're likely to get out of a company.
I always imagined that this was going to culminate in a Class Action Lawsuit, that pressure would build (most likely overseas) and we would all sign up and get our four dollars or whatever. There is something very tribal about the whole thing, the idea of digging in the barbed spears and hauling down the mastodon, but in terms of genuine satisfaction such activities rank very low for anyone who is not a lawyer affixed to it, writhing in pleasure like some pumping tick.
Individual payouts tend to be low, and typically the mastodon being dragged to earth admits no wrongdoing as a result of a settlement, which keeps the psychological payout low. Compare that with this case, where Peter Moore says with his own mouth that the number of repairs are "quite frankly unacceptable," and then goes on to apologize directly. Then he wrote a nice letter. This is the kind of robust apology your mom would put you up to. I expect a call at any moment, and my flowerpots replaced.
After my own 360 failed, I swapped it with one of the boxes from PAX, holding the other one in reserve for a bit of Yellow Journalism - pushing it through the system and cataloging its almost certainly dire fate. It's completely irrelevant, now. If I had paid, I would have been reimbursed. The warranty would be extended. Implicit in all this is that they have a reliable solution for healing this diseased equipment, and I believe it because a) I've seen it, as you have - and b), they are betting a billion dollars that it is so.
Similar to N'Gai Croal's article over at Level Up, this is a bit of PR housecleaning before the big guns are leveled next week. It's good news, I suppose, but it's good news about bad news. And with the PS3 moving into striking range pricewise, E3 needs to launch clean.
(CW)TB out.


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Torrent trackers The Pirate Bay have had the authorities tightening the noose around their operations for years now, but this week things have taken a twist for the absurd/awesome.
Last night, the group's existing domain, thepiratebay.sx (operating out of the tiny Caribbean hamlet of Sint Maarten), was seized by authorities. TorrentFreak speculates that the Dutch were behind it, both because a Dutch group has recently been spearheading efforts against The Pirate Bay, but also because Sint Maarten is a remnant of Holland's colonial adventures.
Not that this has brought the famous site down. The Pirate Bay lives on at a new domain working out of the volcanic rock known as Ascension Island, a tiny British possession in the middle of the South Atlantic.
While there's a certain romantic charm to picturing a bunch of Swedish nerds being holed up inside a volcano, holding out against paramilitary copyright enforcers, reality is sadly a little more mundane. It's just the domain name that's based on Ascension Island, not the site's operations.
And it's not staying there for long, either. As Ascension is under UK control, it's just a temporary stop, a Pirate Bay "insider" telling Torrent Freak that they'll likely be moving onto a more permanent home at a Peruvian domain.
Or Dantooine. Or Yavin IV. Or Hoth.
The Pirate Bay Moves to .AC After Domain Name Seizure [Torrent Freak]


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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
But on the upside I bleached my entire kitchen and got the living room cleaned up. It'a amazing what I can get done with I'm stressed out.
Went to Jessica's practice game this afternoon. Got there right when she got up to bat. She struck out but at least we were there to see it lol. She played 3rd base and catcher, one inning each. They had to switch off with the sophomore team because of lack of fields or something. It was just a practice game though so whatever!
Here she is up at bat.
Going to have to dig out the chairs and put them in the car for the next time we travel somewhere. I wasn't expecting there not to be any bleachers so we sat on the damp grass. The boys played with a football and Trevor's puppy dog that he carries around. They were covered in little bites at one point. Not sure what the heck was flying around out there but apparently they were tasty little boys!
Oh look what I found on my camera card!! My "Scene" Jock girl lol. She cracks me up the pictures she takes of herself.
Just watched The Biggest Loser. WHY OH WHY do they have the freaking drama thing with changing the teams.
"oh woe is me, I have a different trainer, the world is ending"
Get a freaking life people!! You are there to lose weight, the other trainer knows what they are doing also and you will probably benefit from having a different work out plan. Suck it up already. I swear half the show was about their changing teams drama. Makes me wish I had Tivo so I could just skip past it all.
And seriously?? Bob CRIED.
I keep telling Scott that Bob has to be gay. He keeps saying no but after that he was agreeing. Going to have to look up if he's gay or not lol.
::off to google::
Jessica just gave me a shirt to wash. Needs it tomorrow morning.
Yeah it's 9:30
Did I mention I got Trevor's cold?
That reminds me, I took him to the doctor yesterday. She says he has asthma, no more bronchitis. Gives us a prescription for cough syrup and another inhaler.
Okie dokie no problem.
Go to Target (see I changed pharmacies finally, no more bitching about Wal Mart!), drop it off, go shopping and buy my million things that you can't get at Costco (GRAPE jelly anyone??).
Get back to the pharmacy and she tells me the cough syrup the doctor prescribed is for children over 16. She put in a call but they hadn't called her back. So ok she starts to ring up the inhaler.
Are you fucking kidding me?? That is with insurance.
UM NO. Not paying that. We have enough random inhalers hanging around the house from Jessica & Me the kid isn't going to die.
So she said she'd call about that too but I never got a call back about anything today.
Maybe Target doesn't have very good service in their pharmacy.
I bet Wal Mart would have called me back.
But they have lines.
And one hour waits for meds.
So I guess I should call tomorrow. But really he seems better today and not much coughing.
But my throat hurts so I think he just gave it to me.
NICE.Pin It
5 comments:
- honkeie said...
I will NEVER go back to WalMart. I have had 4 bad problems there. And none at Target. I have been shopping at Target for about 10 years and never had a problem. I started shopping at WalMart about 5 years ago and its was nothing but nightmares. I go there now only to look at the freaks that shop there, its like going to the zoo lol.
I think its time to get hubby his own blog, I am curious as to his near death exsperience! - February 25, 2009 at 5:16 AM
- Sarah said...
How about Costco pharmacy??? Target always annoyed the heck out of me. I told you they are ripping you off on inhalers..ugg. Hope today is better!! :O)
- February 25, 2009 at 5:40 AM
- Nick James said...
I'm glad that I don't have to worry about this stuff right now. Sounds frustrating--
My sister was a softball coach, so I remember the days of going to all of the games. Your daughter is going to do great!
I hope your son feels better. - February 25, 2009 at 9:43 AM
- Chris H said...
WHAT did your husband do? Never mind anything else! I am NOSEY~!!!! I know.
- February 25, 2009 at 8:00 PM
- ~Sheila~ said...
I use Walgreens Pharmacy. I'm so excited because a new Walgreens is being built right around the corner from my house.
- February 28, 2009 at 1:56 AM


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Thoughtful living is a non-profit, non-partisan organization promoting careful consideration of the choices we make as individuals and society. It is intended to be a resource for parents, their children, teachers and others.
It is hoped that young people and those who care about them think before making choices or advocating for positions that may be harmful to themselves and others: Genetically – modified foods, marijuana legalization, medical marijuana and veganism.
Some of these articles wish to counter excessive hype and inaccuracies posted on the Internet. Health choices, such as using marijuana or following a vegan diet, are marketed to children, not the mature adults who stand to lose far less if beginning at an older age.
We have no connection to politicians, government or industry, but are united in our concern for the physical and psychological health of today's youth. Guest columnists are invited to write articles and/or letters to be reviewed by the staff before publication on this website. Contact email@example.com.


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A recent study has shown that cognitive impairment is evident early on in preschool children with epilepsy, which is consistent with results of similar studies in older children. Age of onset of first seizure is a significant predictor of cognitive impairment according to this study — the first to evaluate cognitive impairment in children age three to six.
The report is available in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE).
Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures that range from mild staring spells to major convulsions, and frequently develops in early childhood. Studies have found that in the U.S. alone there are more than 325,000 children under the age of 15 who are diagnosed with epilepsy, with 45,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Medical evidence further suggests that early onset of seizures is a significant factor contributing to cognitive impairment in children.
For the present study, researchers reviewed medical data and psychological evaluations for 64 preschool children (3 to 6.11 years old) with active epilepsy in order to determine the frequency of cognitive impairment and the epilepsy-related factors contributing to the impairment. Children in the study group had a mean age of five with seizure onset between 0 and 75 months.
"Our study is the first to examine cognitive performance in preschool children with epilepsy," said lead researcher Kati Rantanen, a PhD candidate at the University of Tampere in Finland.
The study showed that the prevalence of epilepsy was roughly 3 per 1,000 children, which is consistent with prior studies in Finland and other developed countries. The team identified 27 children with focal seizures, 31 with generalized seizures, and 6 with unclassified seizure types. More than half of the children (64%) were receiving monotherapy of an anti-epileptic drug for seizure control. The seizures were well-controlled in 37% of children, partially controlled in 16%, and poorly controlled in the remaining 47% of participants.
Researchers determined cognitive function based on psychological evaluation, parental reports, and observations from daycare. The intelligence quotient (IQ) was used to measure cognitive function; children were classified as having normal IQ (IQ over 70) or with mild (50-69), moderate (35-49), or profound (less than 34) intellectual disability. In the preschool cohort, 50% of the children displayed normal cognitive function, 22% had mild cognitive impairment, and 28% showed moderate to severe intellectual disability.
The study found that early onset epilepsy is a risk factor for cognitive impairment. The authors caution that lower (IQ) test scores in young children with epilepsy may be partly a reflection of development delay rather than mental disability.
"Early intervention programs may help to improve cognitive and psychological outcomes in preschoolers with epilepsy," Rantanen concluded. "Further prospective research is needed to explore the developmental course of children with epilepsy."
Material adapted from Wiley-Blackwell.
Reference / Abstract
"Cognitive Impairment in Preschool Children with Epilepsy." Kati Rantanen, Kai Eriksson and Pirkko Nieminen. Epilepsia; Published Online: May 13, 2011 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2011.03092.x).


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AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The wife of rock guitarist Ted Nugent could face a felony weapons charge in North Texas after airport police caught her going through a security line at a Dallas-area airport with a loaded pistol, according to a police report released on Friday.
Shemane Nugent, 51, told authorities that she forgot that the Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver, packed in its case with 10 extra rounds, was in her bag when she prepared to board a flight Thursday morning to Fort Lauderdale from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas.
The police report did not say if Ted Nugent, equally well known for his outspoken advocacy of guns and hunting rights, as well as his 1970s hit songs "Stranglehold" and "Cat Scratch Fever," was travelling with his wife.
After a security officer with the Transportation Safety Administration saw the gun inside the bag as it went through an X-ray machine, police asked about the bag's contents.
"She immediately stated, 'I know what the problem is. I forgot the gun was in the bag,'" according to the police report.
Nugent told officers that "she had received death threats and had been carrying the weapon for protection," and that she usually used the bag to go to the gym, the police report said.
Nugent, who reported that she carries a valid concealed handgun license, was handcuffed and arrested by the airport's public safety officers on a third-degree felony weapons charge, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
Her attorney told the Dallas Morning News that it was an honest mistake and that he doubted she would be indicted by a grand jury.


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The Terrible Idea That Won't Die: Solar Roads
Solar Roadways' dreams of sunlight-gathering paths are one step closer to taking shape. Missouri's Department of Transportation is aiming to install a test version of the startup's solar road tiles in a sidewalk at the Historic Route 66 Welcome Center in Conway. Okay, it won't be on Route 66 just yet, but that's not the point -- the goal is to see whether or not the technology is viable enough that it could safely be used on regular streets. You should see it in action toward the end of the year.
The tiles will be familiar if you've followed Solar Roadways before. Each one combines a solar cell with LED lighting, a heating element and tempered glass that's strong enough to support the weight of a semi-trailer truck. If successful, the panels will feed the electrical grid (ideally paying for themselves) and make the roads safer by both lighting the way as well as keeping the roads free of rain and snow. They should be easier to repair than asphalt, too, since you don't need to take out whole patches of road to fix small cracks....
As the Transportation Department's Tom Blair observes, it would be odd to push self-driving cars in the state's Road to Tomorrow initiative when the streets aren't as smart as the vehicles using them.
This has so much stupid in it, I don't even know where to start. First, solar roads are a terrible idea. Even if they can be made to sort of work, the cost per KwH has to be higher than for solar panels in a more traditional installations -- the panels are more expensive because they have to be hardened for traffic, and their production will be lower due to dirt and shade and the fact that they can't be angled to the optimal pitch to catch the most sun. Plus, because the whole road has to be blocked (creating traffic snafus) just to fix one panel, it is far more likely that dead panels will just be left in place rather than replaced.
And who in their right mind would ever accept the statement that the solar panel roads would be cheaper to fix than a roadway? What agency anywhere takes out whole patches of road to fix small cracks? Square foot for square foot a solar road would be orders of magnitude harder to fix than just patching a pothole somewhere.
I love the line about "ideally" paying for themselves. I am sure this is their ideal, but what is the reality? I will bet anyone a million dollars that if all installation and maintenance costs are included, these will not come close to paying for themselves. The first rule of alternate energy in any news article is to give the installation cost or the energy output, but never both, so actual return on investment can't be calculated. If they give neither, as in this case, it really sucks.
And finally, what is not to love about the last paragraph, which says effectively that roads should be as smart as the cars that drive on them. I have toyed with the idea of creating a whole new blog category on things people say that get millennials excited but make absolutely no sense. This would be a good example. Embedding solar panels in a road when just about any other flat surface anywhere would be a better place to put them is not "smart", it is painfully stupid. A smart road might embed guide wires or some other technology to aid self-driving cars, but nothing like this.


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text: What is the fastest Intel processors available to the public? Have the 2.0 Ghz been released? I have also heard rumors that the 2.0 Ghz has problems running with Red Hat 7.1. Has anyone else heard this? Ciao, Rob. ====================================================== Rob Simac -- Therma-Wave, Inc. -- rsimac at thermawave.com ====================================================== "Remember this, foolish mortals, when ye stare headlong into the mind-paralyzing void, the inky black nothingness of existence, the hellish yawning maw of the abyss -- it's pretty damn dark, so give it a few minutes for your eyes to adjust." Frank M. Carrano, Branford, Conn. (Bulwer-Lytton Writing Contest Runner-up) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://www.beowulf.org/pipermail/beowulf/attachments/20020111/d6719885/attachment.html> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rob Simac.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 117 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://www.beowulf.org/pipermail/beowulf/attachments/20020111/d6719885/attachment.vcf>


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Mattel profit rises, Monster High sales climb
NEW YORK Move over Barbie. Mattel said Wednesday its first-quarter net income more than quadrupled helped by strong sales of dolls like Monster High, Disney Princess and American Girl.
Results beat expectations and shares rose more than 4 percent in morning trading after briefly hitting its highest level in 15 years.
The fashion doll category has been one of the toy industry's strongest, helped by new entrants such as Monster High -- a doll line based on the offspring of famous monsters -- which has grown to the No. 2 doll category in just three years of existence, according to Mattel.
Barbie is still the No. 1 doll in the sector, but Mattel's results show that other doll brands are gaining steam.
Barbie sales slipped 2 percent, hurt by the stronger dollar. It's the third straight quarter of domestic revenue decline for the famous 54-year-old fashion doll. Mattel declined to give specific sales figures, but said Monster High results drove its total girls brand category up 56 percent worldwide. American Girl sales rose 32 percent.
"As we look at Barbie it's a very competitive category," said CEO Bryan Stockton. "The total fashion doll category is growing and Barbie is holding her own."
The first-quarter is the seasonally smallest for toy makers -- accounting for just 17 percent of annual sales, with ad spending at a minimum -- coming after the busy holiday quarter. The latest earnings increase was helped by comparison with a period that included a big charge a year ago.
"We continue to see the first quarter as our pre-season and we remain focused on a strong 2013 and delivering in the all-important holiday season," Stockton said.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson noted that "hotter" toy brands, like Monster High drove results rather than basics like Barbie, Hot Wheels or Fisher-Price, which all had slightly lower sales.
"That doesn't bode well for Hasbro, which has few 'hot' products," he said. Mattel's smaller rival Hasbro Inc. reports results on Monday.
El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel said net income for the January-to-March quarter totaled $38.5 million, or 11 cents per share. That's up from $7.8 million, or 2 cents per share, a year ago.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 8 cents per share.
The prior-year period's results were weighed down by costs tied to its $680 million acquisition of HIT Entertainment, the company behind Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder.
Revenue climbed 7 percent to $995.6 million from $928.4 million. Wall Street expected $984.2 million.
The company saw solid sales across North America and overseas. American Girl gross sales increased 32 percent, while worldwide gross sales of other girls' brands which includes Monster High surged 56 percent.
Barbie's worldwide gross sales dipped 2 percent, marking the fourth time sales have fallen in the past five quarters. Sales for the Wheels category, which includes the Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Tyco R/C brands, also fell 2 percent. For the Fisher Price brands, sales declined 7 percent.
Mattel also said Wednesday that it declared a second-quarter dividend of 36 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on June 14 to shareholders of record on May 23. The company anticipates an annualized dividend of $1.44 per share, which would be a 16 percent increase over last year's annualized dividend.
Mattel (MAT) shares rose $1.93, or 4.5 percent, to $44.91 in morning trading Wednesday after rising as high as $45.37 earlier in the session. FactSet said that was its highest price since March 1998.
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As recently as 2008 there were fewer than 6,000 18-24 year olds who had been on Jobseekers' Allowance for more than a year. That number is now 55,000 - nearly ten times as many. This is not just the recession and its aftermath: after falling back somewhat in the year to May 2011, the number has more than tripled, as shown in the chart below. The same is true for the proportion of claimants who have been claiming for more than a year.
[Source: ONS Labour Market Statistics, April 2012. Chart by Holly Curl]
In some regions, the figures are even worse - the North-East and South-West have seen a five-fold increase.
This is astonishing. For comparison, the total number of people claiming JSA has gone up by only 8%; the number of 18-24 year olds by 12%. Long-term JSA receipt among prime-age workers has increased substantially, as Tony Wilson points out in an excellent and detailed analysis here, but still not by anything like these amounts. Moreover, these sharp increases in long-term benefit receipt don't appear to reflect developments in the wider labour market. While youth unemployment as measured by the wider Labour Force Survey (LFS) measure has increased - and remains at unacceptably, and unnecessarily, high levels - the increase since last year is much more muted. Long-term youth unemployment has hardly risen at all. [See note at end for explanation of the differences between the JSA measure and the LFS one].
So what is going on? Two factors that have affected the JSA statistics more generally, but seem unlikely to be driving this phenomenon, are changes to eligibility for Income Support (lone parents) and for Employment and Support Allowance (people unable to work because of illness or disability). The former affects lone parents with older children, who are unlikely to be in this age group, while young people do not represent a large share of the ESA caseload.
So it seems clear that the JSA system is becoming much less efficient at preventing young people from getting "stuck" on benefit (again, Tony's analysis discusses the possible explanations). In part, this reflects the ending of the Future Jobs Fund (FJF) and the sharp reduction in the number of people on training allowances. This can be seen in published DWP data here and here. I have argued before, although there were clearly design issues with FJF, the Government's decision to cancel it at a time of high and rising youth unemployment, without waiting for proper evaluation evidence of its effectiveness, was a major and avoidable policy mistake. These data seem to provide further evidence to that effect.
Even more worrying, though, is what the data may indicate about the effectiveness of the government's Work Programme for this group. The Work Programme is the government's flagship policy in this area, and is supposed to be the main answer to long-term youth unemployment. But the sharp rise in the chart coincides almost exactly with its introduction June 2011. It seems reasonably clear that, as yet, the Work Programme is not working for young long-term JSA claimants (Ian Mulheirn's blog here suggests this is also true for the over-25s). This could be for a number of reasons:
- teething problems (new welfare to work programmes generally take a few months to settle down, but the sheer scale of the increase suggests it is more than that);
- incentives; it may be that, given the poor state of the youth labour market, providers are not finding it profitable to work with young people compared to other categories of Work Programme participants, such as ESA claimants, who are potentially much more profitable. If so, this is a major design flaw;
- broader problems with the Work Programme; as yet we have no meaningful overall performance data, and it will not be published until the autumn.
Whatever the reason, this situation is clearly unacceptable; the government needs to investigate what is going on and explain what action it proposes to take. It is far from clear what, if anything, in the government's Youth Contract will address this issue. It should adopt the recommendation of the independent Commission on Youth Unemployment (a version of which was subsequently adopted by the Labour Party) which suggested:
"After one year looking for work on the Work Programme, young people should have access to a part-time 'First Step' job guarantee – combined with responsibilities for job search and preparation."This would by no means solve all the problems associated with long-term youth unemployment, as the Commission's report makes clear. But at the moment things seem to be getting rapidly worse.
Note: JSA and LFS
Statistics on the number of people on JSA - often referred to as the "claimant count" - just reflect people claiming benefit. The claimant count is an accurate, up-to-date, administrative measure, but, by definition, only measures those who actually claim, which excludes many people who are in fact unemployed. Many people who are looking for work aren't eligible for JSA (they might have too much income or a working partner, they might be students, or they might, especially if young, have dropped out of the system entirely). So the standard, and internationally comparable measure, of unemployment is taken from the Labour Force Survey, which asks people if they are looking for, and available for, work, regardless of their benefit status. The ONS explains the differences here.


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Charging a mobile phone by simply using a solar charging panel on the back cover is possible but challenging, Nokia has concluded after ending a research project on the subject.
There's still some way to go before a workable and care-free solution can be achieved, according to Nokia. When carefully positioned, prototype phones developed by the company and tested as part of the project were able, at best, to harvest enough energy to keep the phone on standby mode but with a very restricted amount of talk time, Nokia wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
The biggest challenge is the limited size of a phone's back cover, which restricts the size of the panel and the extent to which the battery can be charged, according to Nokia.
Reasonably good results were obtained when carrying the phone while moving around outdoors, for instance in a holder around the neck. However, that isn't "the most stylish or convenient arrangement, and another solution is needed," Nokia said, without proposing what that could be.
The best test results were achieved in Kenya. Nokia's prototype was also tested in southern Sweden, at the Arctic circle and on the Baltic Sea.
Charging mobile phones using sun rays isn't a new concept. For example, Nokia launched what the company contends was the first solar-powered phone back in 1997.
More recently, vendors such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics introduced smartphones with a solar panel on the back cover. The Samsung S7550 Blue Earth and LG GD510 Pop were both announced in 2009.
The vendors thought they would be able to capitalize on public interest for environmentally friendly products, according to Francisco Jeronimo, research manager at IDC. But consumers were not willing to pay more for the addition of a solar panel, and the technology was and still isn't mature enough to go mainstream, he said.
Still, in parts of the world where electricity is a scarce resource it makes sense to use solar power, even though the technology is far from perfect, according to Jeronimo.
American inventor Charles Fritt is credited with creating the first working solar panel back in 1883, according to Nokia. Fritt coated the semiconductor material selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold, creating a panel with just 1 percent efficiency, it wrote in a blog post last year.


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In a move that could herald a new level of danger for Facebook users, third party application developers are now able to access your home address and mobile phone number.
Facebook has announced that developers of Facebook apps can now gather the personal contact information from their users.
I realise that Facebook users will only have their personal information accessed if they "allow" the app to do so, but there are just too many attacks happening on a daily basis which trick users into doing precisely this.
Facebook is already plagued by rogue applications that post spam links to users' walls, and point users to survey scams that earn them commission – and even sometimes trick users into handing over their cellphone numbers to sign them up for a premium rate service.
Now, shady app developers will find it easier than ever before to gather even more personal information from users. You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies.
The ability to access users' home addresses will also open up more opportunities for identity theft, combined with the other data that can already be extracted from Facebook users' profiles.
You have to ask yourself – is Facebook putting the safety of its 500+ million users as a top priority with this move?
Wouldn't it be better if only app developers who had been approved by Facebook were allowed to gather this information? Or – should the information be necessary for the application – wouldn't it be more acceptable for the app to request it from users, specifically, rather than automatically grabbing it?
It won't take long for scammers to take advantage of this new facility, to use for their own criminal ends.
My advice to you is simple: Remove your home address and mobile phone number from your Facebook profile now. While you're at it, go through our step-by-step guide for how to make your Facebook profile more private.
If you're a Facebook user, you should also consider joining the Sophos Facebook page where we regularly discuss how you can use Facebook more safely, and warn of the latest scams and internet attacks.
You could also do a lot worse than check out our best practices for better privacy and security on Facebook guide.
Update: Judging by reactions on Facebook and Twitter, I'm not alone in finding this new ability for Facebook apps concerning. Here's an example of how one user has responded:
Since Facebook will now let apps access your address & number, I have set my no. to 650-543-4800 (FB Customer Service) http://bit.ly/gkJvYD
— Chris Miller is @anotherlab.bsky.social (@anotherlab) January 16, 2011
Update: Facebook has temporarily rescinded this new option to further improve its clarity to users.


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Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill said he received multiple death threats after favorably comparing his new quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, to his former Kansas City Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes.
"Every social media account I own, I got death threats on," Hill said during the second episode of his It Needed To Be Said podcast.
"I just feel like a lot of people overreacted for no reason," he added. "… They really didn't see what I said. A lot of people are just acting off emotion."
During his podcast's debut episode, Hill said he thought Tagovailoa, a former No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, was more accurate than Mahomes, a former regular season and Super Bowl MVP, specifically on short routes.
"Obviously, like I'm going to go with one-five as the strongest arm," Hill said. "But as far as accuracy-wise, I'm going with Tua all day. … I love the deep ball, but guess what though? I done expanded my game, so now I'm doing a lot more than just the deep ball now. I'm doing intermediate routes, I'm doing short routes, so now I actually need a guy who can just get me the ball now on a dagger route, on a corner route, on a shallow cross route -- you know, right now, right in my chest, so now I can do the rest."
Tagovailoa enters his third NFL season in a prove-it scenario, having to not only meet the growing expectations of having more experience, but also the addition of one of the NFL's best receivers in Hill, who was acquired in a massive sign-and-trade deal this past offseason.
Mahomes has already solidified himself as one of the NFL's brightest current and future stars at the quarterback position.
"We all know Patrick Mahomes is great," Hill said during the latest episode of It Needed To Be Said. "We know that. We know that. But right now, I'm going into a new season with a new quarterback who's trying to head in the same direction as Patrick and do great things and lead this team to a Super Bowl championship who's also great, in my opinion. He just doesn't have the accolades of yet. I believe in him."


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LYNNWOOD — Washington's aerospace industry has a new advocate: Gov. Jay Inslee.
"If you are a company that maybe can see some opportunity in Washington state, I want to be your best friend," Inslee told about 400 industry representatives Wednesday at a conference here. "If you're considering doing work elsewhere … then we need to talk right away."
Inslee's address to the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference came just hours after he outlined a $120 million jobs program for the state. Part of that program includes investing millions of dollars to educate and train workers for the aerospace industry.
The Democratic governor's proposals include up to $20 million in tax breaks for businesses hiring recent military veterans and another $8 million in tax incentives for startup companies in fields ranging from industrial-machinery manufacturing to software publishing.
The governor, a self-described aerospace addict, vowed to take a sustained, proactive approach to keep Washington competitive in the aerospace business. That includes bolstering the state's education and transportation systems.
The state faces some tough competition for aerospace jobs from the likes of Texas, South Carolina and Alabama. But Washington's governor thinks he and the state are up to the challenge.
"We've got to be in the game of competition," Inslee told reporters after his address at the PNAA conference. "If you're standing still, you're going backwards."
The first competition on the docket for Inslee and Washington: winning work on the Boeing Co.'s 777X, an upgraded version of the twin-aisle jet built in Everett. Boeing hasn't begun taking customer orders for the aircraft but is expected to do so within the next year.
Inslee is seeking $5 million to add 500 slots in high-demand aerospace-related courses at community and technical colleges throughout Washington. He also wants to pump another $1 million into a revolving loan program for students in the state's three aerospace training centers, including the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center in Everett.
And the governor said he will ask lawmakers to provide $750,000 for Washington State University to launch an electrical engineering program at the University Center on the campus of Everett Community College.
Inslee's multi-pronged approach also calls for boosting instruction of science, technology, engineering and math in high schools and colleges, encouraging expansion of clean energy companies and underwriting research and development which might spawn new industries.
"The most important thing I can do is to provide skilled workers to you," Inslee told aerospace leaders Wednesday night.
Rodney Tom, a Medina Democrat who leads the Republican-dominated state Senate majority, said his caucus is broadly supportive of Inslee's job-creation goals and said he looked forward to seeing more details from the governor.
Inslee said he doesn't know how many jobs might result from the total $120 million plan.
"If I did have a crystal ball, I would tell you how many," he said. "I do not have a crystal ball."
With his aerospace plan proposed, Inslee also promised to do his best to market Washington to the industry, including attending this summer's Paris Air Show.
Inslee doesn't seem worried about how companies outside the state or country would perceive ongoing issues between Boeing and labor unions. The company's 22,950 engineers and technical workers are voting soon on a new contract and whether to give union leaders strike authority. After a 2008 strike by Boeing machinists, the company selected South Carolina over Everett as home for a second 787 production line.
"I think we are an extremely attractive place to do business," Inslee said after his speech.
And "we have a governor who is totally committed to aerospace."
Inslee's aerospace proposals are part of a package that would provide tax breaks for new companies in certain targeted fields and create a commission to ensure that state colleges and universities turn out students with math- and science-based skills relevant to the needs of the economy.
"We're rolling out today an action agenda for a working Washington" with an underlying focus on innovation, growing human intellectual capital and aligning the state with the needs of new and expanding industries, Inslee said earlier Wednesday in Olympia.
With climate change a central campaign theme for Inslee, who was sworn in last month, he said he planned to engage the Legislature in creating a plan that would grow the state's economy while limiting its carbon footprint.
Along similar lines, Inslee proposed several million dollars be spent on electrical energy storage and building electric car charging stations.
Inslee also said he expected that the state's expansion of Medicaid using federal dollars — approval of which is under consideration in the Legislature — would create more than 10,000 jobs.
The governor added that he supported a robust transportation spending plan and did not rule out backing a rise in the state's gas tax to help fund it.
Republican leaders in the Legislature declared themselves broadly supportive of Inslee's job-creation goals but insisted time is of the essence, with only a few days left for legislative committees to hear new policy-related bills.
"It's one thing to go out and say you're going to change the world and do something different," said House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, a Republican from Chehalis. "But if you miss your timelines — oops — then that doesn't work for anybody. So he's got to pick up the pace."
The Associated Press and Herald writer Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report from Olympia. Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454; firstname.lastname@example.com.
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- Home
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Professional Standards
Chief Steve Graham encourages each of his officers to treat the public with the utmost respect and to follow our values:
Ensuring that others are treated with respect, dignity and sensitivity; managing our official duties in a judicious, responsible and caring manner.
A commitment to moral principles and ethical behavior, requiring candor, honesty, and sincerity in all that we do while avoiding even the least showing of impropriety.
Providing for uniformity of direction and action toward the organizational mission; motivating others to action through setting an example in both work ethic and conduct.
A commitment to the organization, to our co-workers, to the City, and to the State, over and above the commitment to any particular individual or personal agenda.
Recognizing and promoting one's sense of personal value and worth, and fostering the enrichment of that value and worth, thereby acknowledging that organizational pride emanates from the collective dignity and self-respect of others.
Promoting, by example, the highest standards of appearance, conduct and propriety in all that we say and do; recognizing that EACH of us must set the standard for others to follow.
Procedure to Make a Commendation or Complaint
However, there are times when the public may feel they may need to take issue with an officer's actions. As part of the process of continual improvement, Chief Graham has outlined procedures for the public to bring forth concerns regarding officers'/ employees' actions. Whether you wish to commend an officer/employee, or if you believe an officer/employee of the Winter Garden Police Department has acted improperly, you can register your commendation or complaint in any of the following ways:
- You can speak with a supervisor by telephoning the Communications Center at 407-656-3636. Inform the communication operator of your desire to speak with a supervisor and you will be assisted.
- You can telephone Professional Standards (Internal Affairs) at 407-656-3636, ext. Number 4054 and speak with Lieutenant James Capeletti. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After hours you may leave a message with a return telephone number and you will be contacted as soon as possible the next business day. You may also submit a commendation or complaint by fax at 407-877-0166.
- You can make your commendation/complaint in writing directly to Professional Standards by mailing it to:
Winter Garden Police Department
Professional Standards
251 W Plant Street
Winter Garden, FL 34787 - You can also make your commendation/complaint by emailing the Professional Standards Division
When making a commendation/complaint via U.S. Mail or email, you are encouraged to include your mailing address and/or your telephone number so you can be contacted in the event additional information is needed.
It will also enable us to inform you of the disposition of your commendation/complaint. Thank you for taking your time to notify us about your commendation and/or complaint of an officer.