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To request a refund, you must use RITA Form 10A, which can be found here: Refund request Form 10A. Please be aware that for tax year 2020, a refund of the tax withheld for your pre-COVID-19 work municipality, while you worked from home or another location, may not be available until litigation over this issue is completed (see Buckeye Institute, et al., v. Columbus City Auditor, et al, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Case No. 20-CV-004301.) RITA will hold your request for refund in a suspended status until this litigation is concluded. Should the conclusion of this litigation determine that a refund is allowed, your request for refund will be processed at that time. Should the conclusion of the litigation determine that a refund is not allowed, you will receive a notice that a refund is not available to you. If the refund is allowed, you may have to file an amended or an additional city tax form. You should still file the refund request form as soon as possible, as there is a three-year statute of limitations to request a refund.
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There could be many reasons why this happens. The best thing to do is contact RITA at 800.860.7482, and they will tell you why you are getting bills.
Please note: Penalty and interest are charged on unpaid income tax and unpaid employer withholding tax. The interest rates are set annually by state law. The interest rate applied to each calendar year is the July Federal Short-Term Rate, rounded to the nearest whole percent, plus 5% (Federal short-term rates are found here.)
Here are the interest rates:
All residents of Wadsworth 18 years of age or older who had reportable income are required to file an income tax return, even if all the tax you owe was withheld. In addition, all nonresidents are required to file if they engaged in any business activity within the City and had no tax withheld from their earnings, or they have rental property located in Wadsworth. Each business located or performing services within the City is required to file. There is no threshold or benchmark for income or loss; returns are required without regard to the amount.
Retirees are only required to file and pay any tax due if they have earned income of any amount (such as wages for part-time employment, lottery/gambling winnings, rental income/loss, or if they engage in any business activity.) No one pays tax on interest or dividend income, and retirees are not taxed on pensions or Social Security. A retiree who has no taxable income must file a Declaration of Exemption form only the first year they are completely retired (had no taxable income at all), and attach a copy of page 1 of the Federal tax return. By doing this, the account will be inactivated by RITA and nothing would need to be filed in the future for city taxes unless there is earned income.
Any non-retiree over the age of 18 who has no taxable income must file a Declaration of Exemption form each year. Anyone who is on permanent disability can request their account be inactivated by contacting the City Income Tax Office at 330.335.2745, or by contacting RITA at 800.860.7482.
No one under age 18 is required to file a return. However, if your employer withheld Wadsworth taxes, you can and should request a refund, using Form 10A from the RITA website. You will need to provide your W-2 form and a copy of your driver's license, birth certificate or ID card for verification of age.
The filing deadline is the same as your Federal and State returns, usually April 15. For tax year 2023 (returns due in 2024,) the filing deadline is April 15, 2024.
Waiting to file until the last couple of weeks or the due date may result in being closed out of available appointments if you need assistance at City Hall. You can file at the RITA website at any time, but their site may slow down near the due date. You can file your city tax return as soon as you have all of your tax information. Whether you have the City Tax Department provide assistance, or file at the RITA website, your return will be filed electronically, and you do not need to submit anything further unless you are contacted by RITA. You can pay when filing with a debit or credit card, or via direct debit ("ACH") from your bank account, or you can have RITA bill you for any balance due (penalty and interest charges may apply even if you pay the balance due when filing.) NOTE: As of October 1, 2018, there is a 2.75% fee charged when paying by debit or credit card. This fee is charged to RITA by a third party vendor and is not retained by RITA or the City of Wadsworth. This fee does not apply when paying by ACH. When paying by ACH, you must provide your bank routing and account number.
You can also e-file or obtain the tax forms you need at the RITA website. All completed paper returns, as well as returns prepared by your tax professional, must be postmarked by the due date if mailed to RITA.
A federal income tax filing extension also acts as an extension of time to file your City tax return. You do not need to submit a copy of the extension by the annual filing due date. When you file your City tax return, please attach a copy of your extension to potentially avoid a late filing penalty. If you have not requested or received a federal extension, you may receive a six-month extension for filing your City tax return by submitting Form 32-EXT to RITA on or before the annual filing due date. This form is available at the RITA website. Remember: An extension to file the annual return is not an extension to pay - the tax owed is still due by the annual filing due date.
Yes. The City has a mandatory filing requirement, so every resident over the age of 18 who has earned income must file an annual return, even if your employer withholds all of your taxes.
You cannot always rely on a mailing address to determine the city in which you live or work. The U.S. Postal Service establishes mailing addresses based upon the post office that services the address. Similarly, you cannot rely on your school district, since those do not always follow city boundaries.
If you are a registered voter, it is easy to determine your city of residence; if you voted for the mayor, you live in the city.
If you moved recently, or are not registered to vote, you may call the City Income Tax Office at 330.335.2745 to verify if you live in the city, or whether your Wadsworth employer is located within the City.
Employers may also call the Income Tax Office to verify whether their employees are working within Wadsworth City limits.
Yes, you have to pay a residence tax on income taxed by another city. You receive credit for up to 1% of the tax that you pay to the city where you work, so if you are paying at least 1% to your employment city, your Wadsworth residence tax is 0.4%. (As of January 1, 2012, the Wadsworth City income tax rate changed to 1.4%, effective for income earned/paid after January 1, 2012; for tax years prior to 2012, the Wadsworth City income tax rate was 1.3%.)
The City of Columbus Income Tax website shows income rates for every municipality in the State of Ohio. To view detail data for listed municipalities, you must configure your system to allow pop-up windows to appear while viewing data from this site.
The City of Wadsworth income tax ordinance states that if your tax liability is greater than $200, at least 90% of your tax liability or 100% of your prior year tax liability must be paid by the due date (see note below) to avoid potential penalty and interest charges on underpaid taxes. We can estimate your taxes based on your pay stub, and you can pay the estimated amount by the due date. After you get your W-2, your actual tax liability for the year will be calculated, and any estimates paid deducted from the amount due. Overpaid taxes will be credited to next year's liability or a refund will be issued under certain circumstances.
Note: For individual taxpayers, for tax year 2018 and beyond (returns due in 2019 and beyond), the final due date for paying estimated tax is January 15. This is a change in the law mandated by the State. For business taxpayers, the final due date remains December 15.
Yes, you absolutely should file your return by the due date whether or not you are able to pay the entire amount of tax that you owe. You will receive a bill for the balance owed including late payment penalty and interest charges. You should contact RITA to make arrangements for payment of the billed charges.
No, and in fact, if you are still married, since there are no advantages or disadvantages one way or the other, we would prefer you file a joint return. However, if you need to file separately, you may do so, and you should continue to do so for each year thereafter.
You are required by State law to pay estimated taxes only If your estimated tax for the year is greater than $200. You can receive quarterly bills for your estimated taxes by completing the estimated tax section on the annual tax return or by creating an account at the RITA website and setting this up. Effective for tax years beginning in 2016, you will not be penalized for not making estimated tax payments if your tax liability is less than $200, provided your return was timely filed.
Effective for tax years beginning in 2016, you will not be penalized for not making estimated tax payments unless your tax liability is greater than $200. There are two ways to avoid being penalized:
If you do one of these two things, you will not be subject to penalty or interest, provided your annual tax return is timely filed.
Outside agencies have available many resources for compliance to which the City cannot gain access. Additionally, we have evaluated the cost of doing all of the work associated with administration of income taxes versus the cost of outsourcing, and it was decided several years ago that contracting with an agency was the most cost-effective way to go. For many years we used CCA (The Central Collection Agency), and as of January 1, 2016 we changed to RITA (The Regional Income Tax Agency.) As of this date, all tax filings should be sent to RITA, even for prior years.
We work closely with these agencies, and if you ever have any issues or concerns with them, please contact the City Income Tax Office at 330.335.2745 or email@example.com.
The most common mistakes when completing a city income tax return are:
Failure to:
If reading this list raises a question for you, please contact the City Income Tax Office at 330.335.2745 or via email: email@example.com.
On a cash basis, the City of Wadsworth collected $13,945,967 in income taxes in 2023. For more information, please visit the City of Wadsworth Tax Allocations page.


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WEC officials announced today that lightweight Ed Ratcliff has been forced to withdrawal from his fight with Canadian Chris Horodecki due to injury. Stepping in to replace Ratcliff this Sunday is unbeaten 24-year-old Danny Downes of Milwaukee, Wis.
The Duke Roufus-trained product is 6-0, with five wins coming by way of knockout. Known for his electric striking, Downes is also a cerebral fighter who owns degrees in International Affairs and German from Marquette University.
Downes vs. Horodecki will be featured on the televised portion of the WEC fight card emanating from Rexall Place in Edmonton, AB, Canada. VERSUS will televise the event live in the U.S. at 9pm ET/6pm PT. Canadian viewers can catch the card live on The Score at 9pm ET/6pm PT.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tag: cafeteras-monodosis
Coffee Capsules
Coffee capsules or coffee pods are a type of coffee express in which is inserted a sealed capsule containing coffee, through which pretends to be hot water at high pressure, thus obtaining a cup of coffee. Coffee capsules have been a commercial success for your convenience and ease of use, by the quality and homogeneity of the coffee, and require very little maintenance or cleaning, multi-bebida models that can also prepare tea, chocolate or tea to exist. Features coffee capsules are a type of express coffee using coffee pods, a container that contains the correct amount of coffee for one cup of coffee (between 5 and 7 gr). The main advantages of the coffee capsules are: comfort and ease of use. Easy to clean. Quality of the coffee, since the capsule retains the aroma of coffee and protects it from the humidity. Homogeneity of coffee obtained, since in the coffee capsules dosage or tamping of the coffee are always the same. There are available capsules from tea, cappuccino, coffee with milk, chocolate or tea coffee capsules become multi-bebida machines. The disadvantages are: high cost, both machines and capsules. They are not interchangeable closed proprietary systems, so the user is forced to use coffee capsules and the distribution network of the capsules of the patent holder manufacturer. Coffee capsules systems there are many formats of coffee capsules, see the main: Nespresso: developed by Nestle, stands out for the quality and variety of its coffees. It has different coffee capsules from manufacturers such as Krups, Siemens and Delonghi. The capsules are distributed by Internet, phone or in their stores, present only in capitals. They only have coffee capsules, being its higher price than Dolce Gusto, Tassimo or Senseo. Dolce Gusto: developed by Nestle, like Nespresso. Krups manufactures their coffee capsules and they are solid and easy to use. Not they have variety of Nespresso coffees but have chocolate and cappuccino and their capsules are available in supermarkets, being its price lower than Nespresso. TASSIMO: Kraft system, their coffee capsules manufactured them Bosch and they are multi-bebida, since it has wide variety of brands (Milka, Starbucks, Carte Noire, Jacobs, Kenco) and preparations (coffee, coffee) with milk, cappuccino, chocolate and tea. The machines are semi-automatic, a barcode embedded in the capsule controls the preparation of the drink, being similar to Dolce Gusto capsules cost. Senseo: Philips system, coffee capsules, coffee with milk, cappuccino and chocolate, standing for the price of capsules and machines, is lower than the competition.


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If you take testing seriously as I do, you most likely know test code coverage tools. And in the Flex Universe the de facto standard is Flex Cover. Now let's be honest here, the tool does the job but it isn't simple. Using it requires a special compiler to run code on Flex projects, which is the main reason why test code coverage never got into Flexmojos. The available tool was too complex to use, and so I never gave it any serious thought.
Since day one, Flexmojos has tried to follow the KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple Stupid Smartguy). With that in mind, Flexmojos is proud to announce state of the art test code coverage support.
How does it work
Flexmojos test code coverage support is extremely easy to use. You just need to set coverage to true.
Flexmojos uses Apparat - a framework that optimizes ABC, SWC and SWF files. Apparat allows people to manipulate actionscript bytecode; and instrument flex test code without a custom compiler. Taking the lead of Apparat author Joa Ebert, who made it possible to instrument the Flexmojos test runner SWF, I made the changes to Flexmojos to collect the code usage flag by Apparat.
Once the code usage information is collected, Flexmojos uses Cobertura to process information and generate reports. This allows Flexmojos to generate html, xml and/or summaryXml. For more on this, click here.
I shoud point out that this feature is only available on Flexmojos 4. So if you never thought about Maven 3, that may be the time.
Sample project
To show how simple it is to enable test code coverage on Flexmojos 4.x, we will edit a Flexunit sample project to enable code coverage. The project can be found here. Once you get the sources, edit pom.xml. There are just two simple changes to make:
- change the %{flexmojos.version} property to 4.0-SNAPSHOT;
- add <coverage>true</coverage> to flexmojos configuration section;
Next, running $mvn clean install will produce the following report:
The original report can be found here.
And so, with just a few simple changes you can enable test code coverage on Flexmojos.


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OIP 25. Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak, Volume I. Ramses III's Temple with the Great Inclosure of Amon, Part I
By The Epigraphic Survey
The two temples published in Volumes I and II (OIP 35) of the series Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak were both erected by Ramses III.
- Oriental Institute Publications 25
- Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1936
- Pp. xix; 5 figures, 78 plates


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As the daughter-in-law rolls open the rusted doors to her garage, light spills onto a small figure on a straw mattress. A curious face peers out.
It's the face of Kuang Shiying's 94-year-old mother-in-law better known as the little old lady who sued her own children for not taking care of her.
The drama playing out inside this house reflects a wider and increasingly urgent dilemma. The world's population is aging fast, due to longer life spans and lower birth rates, and there will soon be more old people than young for the first time in history. This has left families and governments struggling to decide: Who is responsible for the care of the elderly?
A few countries, such as India, Singapore, France and Ukraine, now require adult children to financially support their parents. Twenty-nine US states have similar laws, though they are rarely enforced because the government provides aid.
In China, where family loyalty is a cornerstone of society, more than 1,000 parents have sued their children for financial support over the last 15 years. But in December, the government went further, amending its elder care law to require that children also support their parents emotionally. Children who don't visit their parents can be sued by mom and dad.
The law pits the expectations of society against the complexities of family, and begs the question: How do you legislate love?
Zhang Zefang, with her thin frame and soft smile, hardly looks like the vindictive matriarch many assume she must be.
She is one of about 3,800 people in the village of Fusheng in southwest China, where the pace is slow and the atmosphere placid.
But inside Kuang and Zhang's home, there is war.
Resentment hangs in the air, acrid and sharp like the stench from the urine-filled bucket next to Zhang's bed. This is the epicenter of a family feud that erupted amid accusations of lying, of ungratefulness, of abuse and neglect and broken promises.
"I never thought about whether my kids would take care of me when I was old," Zhang says. "I just focused on taking care of them."
Inside her room, there is no heat, no window to the outside world.
From the shadows, she begins to speak.
It used to be in China that the idea of filial piety, or honoring your parents, was instilled from birth. A Chinese proverb calls filial piety "the first among 100 virtues," and the ancient philosopher Confucius credited it as the bedrock of social harmony. As a 2008 bulletin from the US aging advocacy group AARP said: "For thousands of years, filial piety was China's Medicare, Social Security and long-term care, all woven into a single family virtue."
This is the world Zhang was born into, on Aug. 15, 1919.
She married at 14, but her husband died of dysentery. Her second husband was too poor to support her, so they moved in with his parents.
That's when her nightmare truly began.
"She's not making sense!" Kuang snaps.
Zhang barely acknowledges her daughter-in-law's insult. In fact, she barely acknowledges her at all.
Kuang hovers over her mother-in-law, interjecting constant critiques: Zhang is messing up the story, Zhang cannot remember a detail, even if she is in the midst of delivering it.
Zhang tries to remember her age when her first husband died....24? Or 21?
"Don't make up nonsense!" Kuang says, voice rising. "It was 22! IT WAS 22!"
Zhang is crying.
Her father-in-law, she says, was a gambling addict with a violent temper. Yet Zhang never considered leaving that would have made her a social outcast.
Three decades later, her husband died, leaving her at the mercy of her offspring. But the world had changed.
Zhang murmurs that she wants to say something, but is afraid to talk in front of her daughter-in-law. Kuang steps outside and Zhang pleads: "Don't let her know that I told you this..."
Her family locks her in this room all day. She dares not scream for help for fear she will be beaten.
She pinches her cheek hard, slaps a visitor's arm. That's what they do to me, she says.
Her bones ache. Her feet ache. The stench from the toilet bucket sickens her.
All she wants is to go to a nursing home, she says. But the few nursing homes in China supply only 22 beds for every 1,000 seniors, and most families can't afford them.
Zhang has no money. She says her children took it all.
She presses a filthy rag to her wet eyes.
"I'm too old to go through this."
This village lies within the district of Changshou, which means "long life." But living long has transformed from a dream achieved by few into a nightmare endured by many.
China is projected to have 636 million people over age 50 nearly 49 per cent of the population by 2050, up from 25 per cent of the population in 2010, according to the US Census Bureau. So who will care for them?
Across the world, rapidly increasing life spans have left many adults scrambling to look after their parents, their children and themselves. In China, one-child urban policies over three decades have led to even fewer working youngsters. And a lack of jobs means rural youth must leave their parents to find work in distant cities.
The result is an emotional and generational tug-of-war.
Frustration is etched into every line of Kuang's face. Zhang's accusations, she says, are lies.
Kuang has become the true family matriarch. Ask to speak to her husband, and she'll insist she knows best, so just ask her. It's not an offer it's an order.
But it is also Kuang who looks after her mother-in-law, because in China, women shoulder most of the responsibility of elder care.
Her mother-in-law is no victim, Kuang says. If anyone is suffering, she says, it is everyone in the family who has thanklessly cared for Zhang, even as their own desperation grows.
When Zhang claims the lawsuit was her sons' idea, her daughter-in-law explodes.
"She doesn't know the whole story!" Kuang barks. "Let me tell you what really happened..."
China is going grey faster than it is growing rich, and aid for the elderly is not keeping pace. A new rural pension scheme does not cover everyone. Monthly payments are meager, and health care is inadequate.
Where the government falls short, the kids are left to solve the problems except they often can't, and sometimes won't.
Zhang's children have all come up with reasons why they can't care for her.
The oldest son, Zhou Mingde, only receives $13 a month from his pension and must pay for his paraplegic wife's medicine. He is still farming at 71 because he cannot afford to stop.
The middle son, Zhou Yinxi, argues that at 68, he is broke, and won't receive his pension for two years.
The youngest son, Gangming, says he is 56 and too poor to handle the care alone. All he and his wife, Kuang, have is a $16 monthly pension, two pigs and a cow.
And the daughter, Zhou Yunhua, says she lives too far away.
No one knew what to do. So they went to the village court.
After stories of elder abuse persisted, China amended its elder care law late last year to require that adult children visit and emotionally support their parents.
Court officials told Zhang she could sue her children. Then the court could force them all to care for her equally.
Suddenly, everyone in the village knew her story.
The court ordered Mingde, Gangming and their sister to take turns caring for their mother, and Yinxi to pay her $10 per month.
So far, Yinxi has paid nothing.
And so Zhang returned to Kuang's garage.
"I won't get any appreciation for taking care of her," an exhausted Kuang says. "I also can't abandon her."
Kuang wants to move in with her own daughter when her mother-in-law dies: "I tell my children, 'If you can take care of me like I have taken care of your grandmother, then that is enough."'
She is, she says, setting the example.
Zhang Zefang now temporarily lives with her eldest son, Mingde, as the court ordered.
Her new home is crowded with clutter and complaints. Mingde frets about the cost of medical care. A frustrated Yinxi cries. Zhang stares vacantly at the ground as she talks.
"I just wish I could die."
Associated Press researcher Flora Ji contributed to this report.


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Brand: Via Natural Colour: Crystal Colour Code: Number 10 Type: Semi Permanent Hair Dye Volume: 114ml / 4oz Lasts: Can last upto 8-12 washes Packaging: Bottle with full instructions Possible results: See manufacturers swatch above. Extra Info: No Alcohol, No Peroxide, No Ammonia This is a new colour to Beeunique and the swatches are based on samples from the manufacturer - these will be updated/changed once we have more photos showing the actual results.
You can see more photos in the Beeunique Hair Dye Gallery The following page gives more information on Via Natural Hair Dyes
NOTE: Due to the large amount of factors that can affect the final colour, dye results cannot be guaranteed Please always try a strand test first.
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Y'know, there's a lot of talk these days about hate. Hate is cool. It's big business. So called "extreme metal" fans revel in feelings of self-loathing and impotent rage. They say things like, "This ain't the Summer of Love, bro" or "I hate _____ (insert religion/band/ex-girlfriend/movie/book/vegetable/hygienic accessory/etc.)." Blah, blah, blah. Not me. I just dimmed the lights and lit my Sexual Inspiration™ candle. The sheets are silky soft. My blog is almost touching you. That's right, lover...it's Gross Anatomy time! But even love is not entirely without its frowns. Unfortunately, according to the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, about 50% of all first marriages will end in divorce and most will end in about eight years. The odds get worse for second and third marriages which, according to a casual google search five minutes ago, hover around 67% and 74% respectively. Why am I so concerned about love, marriage and divorce today? Because it's May Day- a time to celebrate spring fertility and the promise of new beginnings- so today we take a look at a wedding invitation I designed recently for my old friend Kevin and his lovely fiance Amy. This is a private commission but the happy couple have graciously permitted me to post their invite here for your enjoyment, dear reader. I'm pretty sure they're in good shape in the face of all these dour marriage statistics because Amy has already put up with Kevin's necro-shenanigans for quite some time and she knows exactly what she's getting herself into by tying the knot with a cursed weredude (note to Amy: even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers at night will stagedive onto his cellphone when the Wolfbane blooms and have new scars by the time the autumn moon is bright). Anyway, this was a fun drawing so let's take a look...
My only "artistic direction" was this goat adorned incense burner which they loaned me for inspiration. There are some funny stories about how this poor thing was misplaced several times before finally making it to my home due to celebratory drinking headbanging binges but I'll spare everyone those details.
I started with these god awful scribbles as usual to work out the basic composition for a border that would not grossly offend everyone's grandmother and great aunt on the big day. I considered the idea of using bind runes to underpin the symmetry but ultimately decided to simply include the phonetic interpretation of their names in runes.
Incidentally, you ever have one of these days?
They turned out looking really nice and I'm pleased to hear that both families approve. In fact Amy's dad is rumored to have commented, "Very occult." In all seriousness, I wish the soon-to-be-newly weds all the best. Congratulations, Kevin and Amy!
Until next time...Happy May Day!
"Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop!"
"Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop!"


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An international team including University of Colorado Boulder researchers has found the first direct evidence for a new particle that likely is the long sought-after Higgs boson, believed to endow the universe with mass.
Comprised of thousands of scientists, students and support staff working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, the team has been conducting experiments at a facility known as the Large Hadron Collider, a $10 billion, 17-mile underground loop below the Swiss-French border in Geneva that is the world's most powerful atom smasher. Scientists have been using the LHC to attempt to recreate conditions immediately following the Big Bang by smashing protons together, searching for answers about dark matter, dark energy, gravity and the fundamental laws of physics.
A huge target of the LHC effort has involved looking for evidence of the elusive Higgs boson, a theoretical elementary particle that has been predicted by physicists. Thought to give other elementary particles their mass, the Higgs boson is the only particle predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics -- a scientific theory of how the universe works at the simplest level -- that has not been directly detected.
The CERN team is reporting evidence today of an anomalous "bump" in a particular search region of the energy spectrum targeted by the scientists that has a mass of about 125 billion electronic volts, or 125 GeV, said CU-Boulder physics Professor John Cumalat. The research team designed their searches around the theoretical expectations for the decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson particle, he said.
"What we have found is incontrovertible evidence for a new particle at around 125 GeV," Cumalat said. "To prove it is the Standard Model Higgs particle we will need to carefully measure the new particle's properties, but with more data these properties can be determined."
The CU-Boulder high-energy physics team, which includes 15 faculty and students, is involved with the Compact Muon Solenoid, or CMS, one of two massive particle detectors in the LHC and which weighs more than 12,500 tons. The CU team helped design and build the CMS forward pixel detectors -- the "eyes" of the device -- that help researchers measure the direction and momentum of subatomic particles following collisions, providing clues to their origin and structure.
CU-Boulder Professor William Ford said there were strong hints of the existence of the Higgs boson particle during the CMS particle collisions in 2011. "Now, with the new data looking so similar, it's hard not to be a believer," he said. The CERN team hopes to accumulate about four times as much data as they have now on the Higgs boson search project by the end of the year, according to Ford.
While the Higgs boson was nicknamed "The God Particle" by physicist and Nobel laureate Leon Lederman because its existence would bring mass and order to the universe -- a nickname that has been seized on by the media -- it is a term physicists do not particularly care for because of its connotations, said Cumalat.
The existence of the Higgs boson theory is crucial to helping to explain the underpinnings of the universe by confirming the Standard Model of physics that explains why fundamental particles -- the building blocks of the universe -- have mass. Mass is a trait that combines with gravity to give an object weight. Without Higgs boson, there could be no galaxies, stars, planets or people, say researchers.
"It is a very exciting time to be in particle physics and to be involved in an experiment unlocking the meaning of mass," said CU-Boulder doctoral student Brian Drell.
In addition to Cumalat, Ford and Drell, there are 12 other CU-Boulder people involved in the project: faculty members Uriel Nauenberg, Jim Smith, Kevin Stenson and Steve Wagner; postdoctoral researchers Alessandro Gaz, Eduardo Luiggi, Keith Ulmer, and Shilei Zang; graduate students Bernadette Heyburn, Andrew Johnson and Troy Mulholland; and technical staff members Eric Erdos and Douglas Johnson.
Sixteen years in the making, the $3.8 billion LHC project involves an estimated 10,000 people and staff from 60 countries, including more than 1,700 scientists, engineers, students and technicians from 94 American universities and laboratories supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. The United States is providing about $530 million, primarily for the LHC detectors.
Photo courtesy CERN.


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Published by EducationNews.org — Manufacturing supports an estimated 17 million jobs in the U.S.—about one in six private sector jobs. The sector badly needs more trained workers.
Eighteen years ago, on his first day as the new Superintendent of Blackstone Regional Vocational Technical School (BRVTS) Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick found an envelope on his desk, left by his predecessor. At the time, enrollment was declining. Voc schools in general were out of fashion among young people.
So in the envelope was some strong advice from the out-going BRVTS Superintendent. For example: bite the bullet and close the old machine shop.
After all, it was probably in the 1950s when the Defense Industry Reserve lent the school's shop its surplus machining tools. The hand-operated lathes and drill presses were good for teaching woefully-obsolete skills. Robotic automation had replaced the old repetitive-motion assembly jobs, when possible. When not possible, those jobs were being off-shored to cheap labor forces in Mexico and later China.
The death knell of factory closings reverberated among the general public and students.
Most importantly, upgrading the shop with current, industry-standard equipment would be a guaranteed battle with the School Committee's budget hawks. One computerized numerical-control machine would likely run around $55K. A shop might need two or more, along with other pricey equipment. And to be truly useful to the development of a high-tech manufacturing workforce, both the skills and machines would need constant upgrading. Machine shops anywhere are incredibly expensive to equip and keep up.
So the advice was: eliminate the program. At the time most voc schools were doing just that anyway, so why not?
A careful, impeccable man, Fitzgerald decided to investigate among local businesses first. Mid-Massachusetts has no big plants building airplanes or submarines. But a significant number of small machining shops were doing brisk business supplying large plants.
In fact, he found the sector to be surprisingly robust. For a current image of the field, theNational Association of Manufacturers reports these eye-opening facts:
* The United States is the world's largest manufacturing economy, producing 21 percent of global manufactured products. China is second at 15 percent and Japan is third at 12 percent.
* U.S. manufacturing produces $1.7 trillion of value each year, or 11.7 percent of U.S. GDP.
* Manufacturing supports an estimated 17 million jobs in the U.S.—about one in six private sector jobs. Nearly 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing.
* In 2010, the average U.S. manufacturing worker earned $77,186 annually, including pay and benefits. The average worker in all industries earned $56,436 annually.
* U.S. manufacturers perform two-thirds of all private sector R&D in the nation, driving more innovation than any other sector.
* Taken alone, U.S. Manufacturing would be the 9th largest economy in the world.
Furthermore, Fitzpatrick found that right there, in his own community's backyard, fabulous, high-paying jobs were going begging. Lots of them.
So he could make his own life easier. Or he could figure out how to engage and empower the local business leaders in a conversation about what kinds of training their workers need, and how on earth he'd acquire the hardware he'd need so his students could meet industry standards.
He says, "We recognized the need to recalibrate the competencies and skill sets. Then we had to back-map the professional development for the teachers — both academic and vocational — to teach the new skills. Finally, we had to get access to the machines themselves, the programs and so forth."
Gone were the basic skills that could be mastered quickly by school drop-outs. BRVTS geared up to teach a wealth of 21st-century skills — programming, math, communicating well with teams.
His first order of business was to formalize a close relationship with local industry leaders. By now Fitzpatrick has a team of private-industry advisors for each of BVRV's 17 programs.
His real-world advisors paint the technical picture of what they need, and Fitzgerald assembles the faculty — both academic and technical — to design a curriculum and teaching strategy to meet those needs.
Together, they've developed a course of study that allows a BRVTS manufacturing graduate to go directly into the workforce, if she wants. The grads are also ready for a 2-year program to become a fully-certified CNC programmer, a foreman, or a production or quality control engineer. Still others go on to 4-year colleges for various kinds of engineering.
The school's job-placement record makes Fitzgerald beam.
"Last week Connecticut's Rolls Royce representative showed up on our doorstep wanting us to help fill his jobs. He needs capable machinists, and we would LOVE to do that. Rolls Royce is also involved in shipping, oil and manufacturing, other than their cars. They're in Norway, Sweden and Brazil. This is an incredible opportunity for our students!"
Fitzpatrick had guts and vision to reach out to forge new relationships 18 years ago, with neglected partners. It's remarkable how isolated most schools are from their own communities, never mind the real world of work. Kudos to BRVTS for making itself so useful.
Julia Steiny is a freelance columnist whose work also regularly appears at GoLocalProv.com and GoLocalWorcester.com. She is the founding director of the Youth Restoration Project, a restorative-practices initiative, currently building a demonstration project in Central Falls, Rhode Island. She consults for schools and government initiatives, including regular work for The Providence Plan for whom she analyzes data. For more detail, see juliasteiny.com or contact her at [email protected] or c/o GoLocalProv, 44 Weybosset Street, Providence, RI 02903.


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In August 2010 The New York Times exposed the persistent failure of both the Zen Studies Society of New York and the larger American Zen Buddhist community to address Eido Shimano Roshi's forty year history of sexual abuse of women - and the desire, even now, to excuse or "explain" him. Equally distressing were Robert Aitken's posthumous letters, recently made available, revealing that Aitken, a deeply respected founder in American Zen, had lied for decades about Shimano's misconduct in order to protect, as Aitken explained it, "the American Dharma."
Were this an isolated case, it would not matter very much, except, of course, to the victims. But it's an old and discouraging story in American yoga and meditation communities. In forty-six years of Zen practice I've observed Asian (and now Western) swamis, tulkus, roshis, rishis, dharma heirs, lineage holders, and masters of various stripes, as well as their disciples, explain that the master's fiscal extravagance, alcoholism, cruelty, sex addiction, violence, and even rape is - of all things - "a teaching!"
We are told that the master "dwells in the absolute," or is a lineage holder in "crazy wisdom," or can raise the kundalini energy, or read our chakras and past lives, or help "burn up" our karma, or is offering to share our wife, husband, girlfriend, or boyfriend so as to assist us in breaking our unfortunate attachments - all of this, of course, to stretch us beyond our parochial notions of right and wrong and bring us to the ultimate attainment enjoyed by the master himself (the master almost invariably being male).
We have seen some dwellers in the absolute require absolutely better automobiles and accommodations, while their disciples labor at low wages in community businesses; we have seen some destroy their health with alcohol, while another infected students with AIDS, deluded that his spiritual "power" would block viral transmission. Shockingly, governing members of his organization knew his secret, yet did nothing to warn potential victims.
This is a Mad Hatter's tea party, where hierarchical robes and titles, sadomasochistic austerities, and subterranean libertinism mix together in incestuous "spiritual communities" filled with distrust and rivalries - all this in a scramble for the summit of some distant "spiritual" mountain. This would be comic if it weren't tragic.
And it is tragic.
It is tragic because countless Americans hunger for genuine meaning - meaning unavailable in the toxic mimics offered by game shows, professional sports, "reality" TV, ugly politics, "free-market" competition, and unimaginably wasteful wealth accumulation at the top.
"Yet meaning is available - above all in the penetrating explorations into the mysteries of consciousness we undertake in meditation and yoga. And the most important thing we can bring to these inquiries - and to those we hope to further in these inquiries - is our sincerity and selflessness.
"I think I needed everything to open out before me. And to see the little lake cradled below in the arms of the mountains. The lake was alive - golds and blues rippling as the light and wind changed. There's more. It's hard to find the words."
The Shimano scandal reminds me of why, some years ago, I refused the opportunity to become a Zen "dharma heir." I refused, knowing that, without this title, despite forty years of training and practice, I would never be a recognized Zen meditation teacher. The offer was generous. But to have accepted would have been tacitly to endorse a credential that conferred great authority - yet was given at the pleasure of a single person and based on a fantasy.
The doctrine of dharma transmission hangs on four overlapping assumptions, all of which must be true to establish its credibility. The first two are beyond proof, and the third and the fourth obviously false.
The first, that the historical Buddha attained a mind of absolute perfection, is pure poetry - fascinating, mysterious - and if accepted, accepted simply as an article of faith. Did the Buddha have such a mind? A wonderful question! Maybe he did. Or maybe, somewhere in the cosmos, he's still exploring, expanding, and perfecting his infinite wide-awake seeing. Or maybe all of us are, exactly at this moment, his eyes opening again and again - and wider and wider as our practice deepens.
The second, that the Buddha's disciple Mahakasyapa also attained this perfect mind and that the Buddha recognized it, depends upon the first. Perhaps, indeed, a perfect being could recognize and attest to the perfection in another perfect being.
The third, that an unbroken chain of such "mind to mind" transmissions has descended, generation after generation, in a known lineage, down to today's living dharma heirs, is simply false on historical grounds. As Edward Conze, the great scholar of Indian Buddhism noted, "much of the traditions about the early history of Ch'an are the inventions of a later age" - inventions befitting a Chinese culture that deeply honored family lineages traced through renowned ancestors.
The fourth, that every such transmission from master to disciple over the last 2500 years was genuine, is contradicted by the behavior of Shimano himselfand, sadly, of any number of Asian and American teachers.
Stated simply, the doctrine of dharma transmission is just one more among the many attractive delusions held by human beings. Unfortunately, adherence to it gives the dharma heir a very powerful - and potentially dangerous - authority within the community of Zen practitioners, much as does the doctrine of the Apostolic Succession in the Roman Catholic Church, where the recent child abuse scandals illustrate the dangers of priesthoods that claim an authority beyond the ordinary and human. Those in such positions are sorely tempted to protect each other, ignoring or covering up the harm done by their colleagues.
So long as American Zen relies on dharma transmission as a credential, there will be one Shimano after another - and dharma heirs who will go to great lengths to protect the master that conferred authority upon them. For if the master who has declared me awakened has erred, if he does not, indeed, "dwell in the Absolute," then my own credential is called into question - along with my prestige and authority in the community and my ability to confer this power upon others.
Even if the magical claims of dharma transmission are discarded and it is recognized as an ordinary human institution, it still should not be retained as a method of training Zen meditation teachers. No truly meaningful credential can be conferred simply at the pleasure of one person. Indeed, as a method, it creates toxic interpersonal dynamics in communities, for the future recognition or preferment of a student is entirely dependent upon pleasing a dharma heir, or a presumptive dharma heir. If I wish to rise in this hierarchical system, I must pay court to the dharma heir and his or her favorites, and as a courtier in such a system, I can never openly acknowledge my self-interested pursuit of attention, for my goal is always, theoretically, "spiritual" development. Yet, of course, my ability to please a dharma heir and receive, in my turn, recognition and/or authorization will give me status and even employment opportunities. The dynamics of court, courtier, and courtship create endless distortions of human behavior even in ordinary institutions - a business, political party, or college. These run wild when the king, queen, pope, or dharma heir has imputed "special" powers. Anyone connected for a length of time to a Zen Center can cite examples.
Of course, many Zen teachers will refuse to discard this false credential. Those with the courage to act can take comfort from the Buddha's words in The Mahaparinibbana Suttanta, words that E.A. Burtt suggests bring out "one major and authentic note" among the various presumed "final" teachings attributed to the Buddha.
As the Buddha prepares for death, Ananda begs him to leave "instructions as touching the order." The Buddha responds that he has nothing more to offer. He has taught freely to everyone, his teaching is complete, and the community must now find its own way forward.
"What, then, Ananda, does the order expect that of me? I have preached the truth without making any distinction between exoteric and esoteric doctrine; for in respect of the truth, Ananda, the Tathagata has no such thing as the closed fist of a teacher, who keeps some things back."
Then the Buddha hints at the possibility of a coming power struggle, suggesting wryly that if any person now thinks he should run things, he should just go ahead and try. "Surely, Ananda, should there be anyone who harbors the thought, 'It is I who will lead the brotherhood,' or, 'The order is dependent on me,' he should lay down instructions in any matter concerning the order."
To illustrate the absurdity of such thinking, the Buddha even goes so far as to insist that he, himself, does not "lead" the order. "Now the Tathagata, Ananda, thinks not that it is he who should lead the brotherhood, or that the order is dependent upon him. Why, then, should the Tathagata leave instructions in any matter concerning the order?"
The Buddha is said to have said many things. But these words ring true. Monks seeking to establish governing hierarchies modeled upon patterns of royal or imperial lineages must have lamented their inclusion in the canon. These words were, to the hearers, most probably unforgettable - told and retold in the community too many times to be expunged. If they are indeed authoritative, the Buddha himself never had any notion of the creation of a lineage of dharma heirs.
We must move beyond dharma transmission and construct approaches by which teachers of American Zen Buddhist meditation can be prepared effectively - and transparently. There are many models in a myriad of professions, both religious and secular. I would suggest that for Zen in America to speak to people, to become more than an odd, idiosyncratic subculture, it must draw sustenance from America's deep roots in the democratic and egalitarian. English Dissenters brought the first churches to these shores. Their polity was congregational, where the minister served at the pleasure of the congregants. The minister was understood to be as susceptible to error as any in his flock.
Having moved beyond the fairy tale of dharma transmission, Zen communities can begin work on truly thorny questions. Why did so many of the Asian "masters" who came to America, especially during the Sixties, behave in ways that to the objective beholder seem narcissistic, even sociopathic? What was their experience coming to maturity in monasteries and ashrams? Were they damaged in some way as children? And how, today, can the traditional Hindu and Buddhist emphasis on "non-attachment" be meaningfully taught in an America where many suffer "attachment disorders" - an inability to receive or return love?
To matter much in America, Zen must undergo its own painful Protestant Reformation - the deconstruction of lineage. This will free practitioners to learn from trained and accountable teachers in the spirit of the Buddha's final admonition: "Therefore, 0 Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves. Rely on yourselves, and do not rely on external help. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Seek salvation alone in the truth. Look not to assistance to anyone besides yourselves."
Copyright © 2019 Erik Fraser Storlie, all rights reserved
Erik Fraser Storlie (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1976, M.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1965, B.A. University of Minnesota, 1958) began a practice of sitting meditation in 1964 with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. He studied with Dainin Katagiri Roshi, helping to found the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. His publications include Nothing on my Mind (Shambhala 1996)), "Zen On Ice" (Quest Winter 1998), "Earth's Original Face" (Shambhala Sun March 2001 ), "Sawtooth Sesshin" (Shambhala Sun March 2002), and "Notes on a Friendship with James Wright" (Five Points: A Journal of Literature and Art vol. II, no. 3, 2007). He currently leads retreats and teaches meditation and mindfulness for the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota.


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How to Read a Nutrition Label in Four Steps
Six of 10 people find nutrition labels confusing — now you won't be one of them.
A new Nielsen report looking at healthy eating trends from around the world recently revealed that six out of 10 people find nutrition labels confusing. Tellingly, it also showed that 56 percent of the 25,000 who were surveyed describe themselves as overweight. North America topped every other region of the world — 56 countries total — with 63 percent of its population admitting they are overweight.
It is not exactly breaking news that the world, and particularly, America, is struggling to maintain a healthy weight. The real news is that people are working really hard to fix this without the proper tools in hand. The same report showed that the first thing people do to lose weight is to change their diet, yet it is nearly impossible to do that effectively if you don't know how to read a food label.
Let's fix that. I have taught hundreds of classes on label reading, helped clients navigate the complexities of grocery store, and purged pantries around Boston. Here is my four-step guide for understanding the nutrition label on any food product:
The 4-Step Guide to Reading Nutrition Labels:
Step 1: Check the serving size and the servings per container at the top of the label, both listed at the top of the label (green). It's important to check how many servings are in the container: if you eat two servings, then you must multiply everything on the label by two; if you eat three servings, multiply by three, etc.
In this example, the serving size is one cup, but there are two servings in the entire container. So, if you ate the whole container (two cups of this macaroni and cheese), you would need to double everything on the label (i.e. calories would be 250 x 2 = 500, total fat would be 12g x 2 =24 grams).
Step 2: Consider the calories (in the gray box): Based on your calorie needs for the day, how does this product fit into your budget?
The number of calories that you need per day varies based on gender, age, and lifestyle. The best way to determine your needs is to work with a Registered Dietitian, but for a rough estimate, try using this calorie calculator from the Mayo Clinic. Think about the serving size: will a quarter of your calories for the day be met with one serving? Would that serving be satisfying?
Step 3: Limit Total fat (especially saturated fat and trans fat), cholesterol and sodium and get enough of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals by using the '% Daily Value' as a guide (outlined in purple).
People often overlook the% Daily Value column, but it can really provide you with a lot of information. It's based on a 2,000 calories-per-day diet but regardless of your calorie budget. Twenty percent or more in considered high and 5 percent or less is considered low. Generally, you want fat (specifically, saturated fat and trans fat), cholesterol and sodium (shown in yellow) to be low, and the dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals (shown in red) to be high. Remember that this is per serving, so if you eat more than one serving, the saturated fat, for example, could go from low to high.
This tool is helpful when comparing products in the grocery store. Just make sure that the serving sizes are similar on the products you are comparing.
Step 4: Check the ingredients. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. When searching for whole grain products, the first ingredient should be "whole" (i.e. whole grain, whole wheat, whole rolled oats).
The ingredients will also help you put "sugar" in perspective. Fruit and milk products naturally contain sugar, and that will be listed in the total grams of sugar on the label. When it comes to weight management, the primary concern is "added sugars." To know if there are added sugars you need to look at the ingredients, where they will turn up under a variety of different names. Here are some examples: Fructose, maltose, sucrose, dextrose, cane sugar, turbinado, organic sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, corn sugar, malt syrup, honey, agave nectar, and fruit juice concentrate.


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"For the development of a new self-consistent equation of state of nuclear matter that provides a unified description of nuclei and hot dense matter, and is suitable for use in numerical simulations of core-collapse supernova, neutron star merges and related extreme astrophysical phenomena."
Background:Gang Shen received a B.E. degree from Zhejiang University, China in 2002, and a M.S. degree in physics from Peking University, China in 2005. He then came to Indiana University at Bloomington and worked under the guidance of Professor Charles Horowitz. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 2010 for his thesis on new equation of state (EOS) of hot dense matter in a self-consistent framework for both nuclei and nuclear matter. As a graduate student in Bloomington he received the William Koss fellowship.
Following his Ph.D. he moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory as postdoctoral researcher, working on both neutrino-nuclear matter interaction in supernova and neutrino-nucleus cross section for laboratory experiments. Currently he is a research associate in the National Institute for Nuclear Theory at University of Washington. His current research interests focus on the neutrino interactions in astrophysics, and how the uncertainties in EOS/neutrino interactions lead to observable differences in extreme astrophysical phenomena, in particular core-collapse supernova and binary neutron star mergers.


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Blake Shelton's Ole Red Nashville will officially celebrate its grand opening during CMA Fest on June 6–10. The restaurant, bar and music venue will host multiple events throughout the week, including a Blake Shelton and Friends concert on June 6, which will not be open to the public. However, fans can enter for a chance to win tickets to the show.
Located at 300 Broadway, the multi-level, 26,000-square-foot entertainment venue features a two-story bar and restaurant, retail area, performance space, dance floor and private VIP booths for small groups. The complex will also include a large, private event space and a 6,000-square-foot rooftop featuring an indoor/outdoor bar and restaurant with panoramic views of Lower Broadway.
"Lower Broadway is the centerpiece of Nashville," says Blake. "There's so much great music and fun going on down there all the time and it's exciting to now be a part of it—it's a dream come true."
The Ole Red concept first came to life in Blake's adopted hometown of Tishomingo, Okla., last fall. Nashville is the second location, with a third planned for Gatlinburg, Tenn., set to open in 2019.
photo by Jim Casey


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Where's "The" and "Next?"
It seems like only yesterday that we were launching this show called The Next Food Network Star. We premiered the show in the summer of 2005 and immediately you made it a success (you also made a few people big stars). Is it as hard for you to recall that Guy was once a competitor on this show as it is for me? It feels like he has always been a Food Network talent. But look at us today. Here we are on the cusp of season 7. We've dropped "The" and "Next" from our show title ( Food Network Star is cleaner) and we've added more finalists (15 this year) along with new twists and turns to the show. (You'll have to watch to find out what those are.)
What can you expect this season? Look for great food, tears, not-so-great-food, more tears and truly outrageous moments. Did I mention tears? This show is dramatic, but the most exciting season to date. Here's a small glimpse of what's to come. Also, starting Monday I'll be blogging here weekly to give you my firsthand account of the previous night's episode. I'll share my honest opinions and I expect you to do the same. If you disagree with Susie, Bobby or myself (I expect you to disagree with them more than me), lay it on me.
Sunday night's premiere (9pm/8c) is two hours and doesn't disappoint. Check out our finalists then vote in our pre-season poll.
I'm excited to start another journey with you. Buckle up.


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Millbridge Elementary red carpet literacy event
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Come one, come all to the event of the year! Children, parents and staff dressed as their favorite story book character on Feb. 7 and walked into Millbridge Elementary School like a star on a red carpet.
Photo opportunities were all over the building, awaiting young characters for a snazzy capture. Upon arrival parents received schedules to follow, as they had pre-registered for sessions. Sessions were presented by each grade level and highlighted a specific element of literacy.
Kindergarten focused on beginning reading; first grade shared the importance of phonemic awareness; second grade emphasized comprehension; third grade showcased the Daily 5 Literacy Program; fourth grade discussed writing across the curriculum; and fifth grade shared the impact of fluency through readers' theater.
The school's administrators welcomed guests in their costumes. Christopher Smith posed as the Mad-Hatter, and Dr. Angela Lingle-Linder was Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat. Approximately 215 parents and children attended the event and each family heard three literacy sessions and enjoyed supper. Staff members created a literature-rich environment by dressing as book characters, and some grade levels even were themed like the fifth grade "Herdmans" from "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever" and "The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf" from the second grade teachers. The event was a success and everyone is looking forward to it again next year.


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Hooked on Nails is an education provider for the nail industry as well as interested consumers.
Acrylic Nails
Acrylic nails are called many different names, with the nail technician's least favorite being "fake nails". We much prefer the term artificial nails. There are several different types of artificial nail enhancement products as well as application procedures. The most commonly applied enhancement is traditional acrylic, which is a two-part system of liquid (monomer) and powder (polymer). This type of product can be applied with one color of acrylic, pink and white acrylic for a Permanent French look, or can be applied with colored acrylic, glitter acrylic or in any combination. Pink and white acrylic nails are often referred to as "Solar Nails". Solar Nail is a product made by Creative Nail Design Systems and includes their Original Solar Nail, Radical Solar Nail, Retention + , and Moxie acrylic systems. Unless you actually see this product in its original bottle on the nail table, your nails may not be 'Solar Nails".
Gel Nails
Gel acrylic is a one-part system consisting of the application of a thick viscosity gel acrylic. Gel is normally 'cured' under a UV light. Do not confuse gel with traditional acrylic. Even though the two products are actually acrylic, they apply and wear differently. Gel applied over acrylic to seal the surface does not make your nails "Gel Nails". Gel nails are actually acrylic nails; they are made from the same class of acrylates, but with different molecular structures, appearance, application procedures and different curing methods. Be certain you are receiving the artificial nails you requested.
Nail Chemistry
Acrylics contain cross-linking monomers. Cross links are like rungs on a ladder; creating strong net-like structures. Cross-links can also join many other layers of cross-linked nets. The result is a three-dimensional structure of great strength and flexibility. This is how many types of artificial nail enhancements are made. See Product Chemistry for more information on nail product chemistry; how and why it works.
These pages will show you how to perform a basic manicure and how to apply the Perfect Polish. Whether you are a novice nail tech, a veteran technician or an interested consumer, these tips will work for you.
Learn how to perform a basic pedicure and a Spa Pedicure for a perfect relaxing 'feet treat'.
Thank You for Visiting Hooked on Nails


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Can any spanish guitarist play my favourite song?
Professional spanish guitarists will often take requests, but you will need to give them plenty of notice. Please also keep in mind that spanish guitarists may ask for an small additional fee to prepare songs that aren't already on their song list. You can view the spanish guitarist's song list on their Encore profile.


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The summer of 2012 was tough for king salmon runs. Economic disasters were declared in the wake of poor returns on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, and in Cook Inlet. Users in all of those areas faced severe restrictions.
Although setnetters and sport anglers on the Kenai River were allowed more fishing opportunity than the near-complete shutdown in 2012, this past summer was a record-low return for king salmon. The minimum escapement goal of 15,000 kings to the Kenai River spawning grounds was achieved, however, but not until early August.
An escapement goal is the amount of fish needed to reach the spawning grounds to ensure sustainable returns in future years. For the second year in a row, the king salmon return to the Kenai River was later than usual and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, or ADFG, didn't count enough kings to meet the goal until August after all sport and commercial fishing had been closed.
In the wake of the disastrous 2012 season for king salmon on several rivers, the state of Alaska convened a two-day symposium in Anchorage with fishermen and scientists from Alaska and Outside to talk about what had gone wrong that summer, and what can be done about it.
"We're not sure what is causing the downturn, and in many cases, we do not have the basic information needed to understand the causes," said ADFG's Bob Clark,
summarizing some of the symposium's findings.
Commercial fishing and tourism are two of Alaska's largest businesses, and in Cook Inlet those users collided in 2012 as setnet fishermen catching sockeyes along East Side beaches and sport anglers on the Kenai River targeting kings were completely closed to conserve king salmon. The closures cost each group tens of millions of dollars, and the threats to the Alaska economy from an ongoing decline in king salmon numbers in Cook Inlet are behind the Morris Communications Co. decision to publish this series entitled, "The case for conserving the Kenai king salmon."
From the 2012 symposium came a report by the ADFG Chinook Salmon Research Team that identified 12 indicator stocks from major river systems to portray the health of Alaska's kings, and research priorities to better understand the forces at play.
The problem is more complex than just blaming the poor returns on managers, and data suggests that the statewide king salmon decline may be outside of the realm of control for area biologists and attributable to ocean conditions such as changes in temperature, currents or food competition.
Some evidence of that is river systems around the state that have very little fishing pressure and few habitat concerns also have seen crashes in king salmon runs.
Robert Begich is an area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game based in Soldotna. He's worked on other rivers in Alaska, and seen the cyclical returns first hand.
"The canary in the coal mine for me is the Nelson River," Begich said.
The river, also called Sapsuck, is on the Alaska Peninsula between Nelson Lagoon and Cold Bay.
"They've closed the king fishing there the last couple of years and nobody sport fishes there," Begich said.
The Nelson River is just one of many waterways with cyclical returns.
During the 1990s, Begich said he worked on the Karluk River on Kodiak, an island in the Gulf of Alaska.
"That's a wilderness, it's in a refuge," he said. "It was 22 miles long from the lake to the lagoon. We would get maybe, it'd be a stretch to say 50 rafts on wilderness trips, people on wilderness trips to fish for king salmon. We used to get runs of 8,000 to 14,000 consistently."
Now, the Karluk is a stock of concern, and one of the chinook team's indicator stocks. That Karluk and the Ayakulik, Kodiak Island's other major king run, have had king restrictions in most recent years.
On the Ayakulik, which usually has the strongest king run on the island, the total weir count at the end of the season was 2,368 fish, less than half the 2012 count, and slightly lower than the 2009 count, the prior low year for the past decade. The high for the past decade was 24,742 kings, in 2004, according to ADFG data.
Likewise on the Karluk, 1,824 fish were counted in 2013, down from 3,198 in 2012 but up from the recent past, when the count was 1,208 in 2009 and 752 in 2008, the lowest count on record.
Those rivers, like others, have seen restrictions for in-river users. Ocean fishermen also saw certain restrictions to protect kings. But there is some indication that the lows are cyclical. The Ayakulik and Karluk saw a decline in king returns in the 1970s, but stocks rebounded from those lows, according to ADFG data.
Yukon, Kuskokwim
The Yukon and Kuskokwim, both indicator stocks, have faced some of the most severe restrictions, but those rivers, and others in the northern part of the state, had another year of low escapements in 2013.
On the Yukon, which flows 1,980 miles from British Columbia to the Bering Sea across the width of Alaska, the king declines began in the late 1990s.
The most recent runs have been even lower than ADFG predictions, and those estimates accounted for the low productivity in parent years in the late 2000s.
Both ADFG and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service have jurisdiction on the Yukon, and kings are managed under a treaty with Canada. In 2013, like many in the recent past, the U.S. did not meet its treaty obligation to send between 42,000 and 55,000 kings past the border.
An estimated 30,725 passed the sonar at Eagle, which is about 10 miles from the Canadian border, by late August 2013. That's less than the historic low of 2011, and despite significant limitations to subsistence fishermen and the shutdown of commercial king fishing on the river for the last six years.
Protections enacted last winter by the state Board of Fisheries were aimed at conserving the stock, including using different gear to target chums in an effort to leave kings in the water or return them safely, and a prohibition on fishing on the lower river to allow the first pulse to pass upstream.
Now, the Kuskokwim could be following a similar trend: since 2010, that river has had historically low king returns.
The Kuskokwim flows through western Alaska from the foothills of the Alaska Range to the Bering Sea, and has one of the state's largest king runs.
ADFG estimated in January 2013 that subsistence users reasonably needed 67,200 to 109,800 kings from the entire drainage. But restrictions in 2012 and 2013 limited the subsistence harvest to just a fraction of that amount.
In October 2013, Fish and Game released a season summary saying that it planned to work on a more conservative management strategy for 2014.
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay's Nushagak River, another indicator stock, is a bright spot among the king returns. The bay is a major salmon fishing region, with the largest natural sockeye run and a significant commercial king fishery.
During the summer of 2013, ADFG data said 113,743 kings were counted on the river, up slightly from 110,117 fish in 2012 and ahead of the 75,000 fish in-river goal, which meant liberalized fishing opportunity for all users.
The Nushagak return was more than any other river in the state, and a turnaround from years with particularly low runs in 2007 and 2010.
Kings have had more variable performance on the Nushagak, with strong runs some years and weaker runs others. In 1999, the river was closed to fishing for part of the season.
Copper River
Copper River kings are doing better than some Alaska runs, but it took in-season restrictions this year to meet escapement goals.
The Copper River, another indicator stock, runs from the Wrangell Mountains to Prince William Sound, in Southcentral Alaska.
By mid-October, ADFG's Mark Somerville, an area management biologist, said the department expected the king run to fall within the sustainable escapement goal range, although the numbers were not yet finalized.
That came after restrictions to all users. The sustainable escapement goal calls for an escapement of at least 24,000 kings. While this year's return looks to meet that, it hasn't been the case every year. According to ADFG data, returns have ranged from 16,771 to 27,994 fish since 2009.
The Native Village of Eyak estimates the run each year, based on a mark recapture effort at a fish wheel there.
Southeast Alaska
King salmon runs in Southeast Alaska also have experienced significant fluctuations in the past several decades.
The Taku and Stikine rivers have the largest king salmon runs in Southeast Alaska, according to ADFG, but returns have varied and hit record lows in recent years. Both are indicator stocks for the chinook project.
The Taku runs from the Coast Mountains in British Columbia to the Taku Inlet, just south of Juneau. The Stikine starts farther south in British Columbia, and ends near Wrangell.
The recent lowest estimated escapement on the Taku River was 14,854 kings in 2007. Prior to that, the river hit 9,795 in 1983, but rebounded from that low in subsequent years, according to ADFG data.
The Stikine has had a stronger run. The king run there plummeted in the 1970s, and, like other rivers, rebounded in later years. Despite stronger escapements in the early 2000s, runs have declined again in recent years.
This year, 17,025 kings returned to the Taku, and 18,172 to the Stikine, according to preliminary ADFG estimates.
Both rivers are managed under a treaty with Canada that calls for a certain number of fish to swim upstream to Canada. Fishing opportunity has been limited to meet the treaty goals in recent years.
Molly Dischner is a reporter with the Alaska Journal of Commerce in Anchorage. Rashah McChesney is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai.


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Quadratus, 2412 disciple of the apostles, after Publius bishop of Athens had been crowned with martyrdom on account of his faith in Christ, was substituted in his place, and by his faith and industry gathered the church scattered by reason of its great fear. And when Hadrian passed the winter at Athens to witness the Eleusinian mysteries and was initiated into almost all the sacred mysteries of Greece, those who hated the Christians took opportunity without instructions from the Emperor to harass the believers. At this time he presented to Hadrian a work composed in behalf of our religion, indispensable, full of sound argument and faith and worthy of the apostolic teaching. In which, illustrating the antiquity of his period, he says that he has seen p. 368 many who, oppressed by various ills, were healed by the Lord in Judea as well as some who had been raised from the dead.
Flourished 126 (125)? Not the Athenian bishop (Salmon). Work not extant.
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Find software for filing company documents
You can use software to file your company accounts, file changes to your details and returns to Companies House electronically.
You can also file your annual accounts and confirmation statement (previously annual return) with Companies House online.
Using software or filing online you'll:
- be less likely to get late filing penalties
- get confirmation that your documents have been received
- find out if they're accepted or rejected
How to file electronically
You must register for an online filing account - fill in the online filing credit account application form and send it to the address on the form.
You can then either:
- get a software package from a Companies House (and HMRC) authorised provider
- develop your own software - check the Companies House technical specifications


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Single Stock Dividend Futures | |
Contract size | Dividend payments in relation to a contract size of 10,000 shares |
Unit of trading | 10,000 at contract initiation [1] |
Pricing unit/quotation | EUR/USD/CHF/GBX/NOK/SEK per share |
Minimum price movement (tick size and value) | Central Order Book: EUR/USD/CHF/NOK/SEK 0.0001 (EUR/USD/CHF/NOK/SEK 1 per contract); GBX 0.01 (GBX 100 per contract) Large-in-Scale Facility: EUR/USD/CHF/GBX/NOK/SEK 0.0001 (EUR/USD/CHF/GBX/SEK 1 per contract) |
Expiry months | For SSDFs with annual expiries: 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months (of the December cycle for non-US underlyings; of the January cycle for all US underlyings) For SSDFs with semi-annual expiries (non-US underlyings only): For SSDFs with quarterly expiries (non-US underlyings only): |
Introduction of new expiry months | New expiry months are available for trading on the first business day after the expiry of a maturity. |
Wholesale services | Large-in-Scale Facility. See the "LIS Thresholds" document for the minimum size thresholds. |
Euronext Market | Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Paris |
Last trading day | Trading ceases at 12:00 CET on the third Friday of the expiry month. In the event that the third Friday is not a business day, the Last Trading Day shall normally be the last business day preceding the third Friday. |
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Exchange Delivery Settlement Price (EDSP) | The final settlement value as established by Euronext at 12:00 (CET) on the third Friday of the expiry month, determined to four decimal places. The final settlement value is equal to the cumulative value of ordinary dividends declared by the relevant company without an adjustment for withholding taxes, tax credits or tax repayments. Declared ordinary dividends are taken into account if their ex-date falls on or between, the start and end date of the reference period of the relevant expiry. For non-US underlyings, the reference period starts on the day following the third Friday in December and ends on the third Friday of June (the expiry date) half year later or in December (the expiry date) one year later. For US underlyings, the reference period starts on the day following the third Friday in January and ends on the third Friday in January (the expiry date) one year later. The complete dividend rules are explained in the document "Dividend rules SSDFs" in "Related documentation". |
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Last update | 25 February 2021 |
[1] Apart from exceptions or temporary adjustments for corporate actions. See the document "Unusual Contract sizes" in "Related documentation" to find an overview of non-standard contract size classes. | |
This product may not be offered and sold to US persons | |
Regarding Corporate Actions in SSDFs with US underlyings the following applies for technical reasons: in case of a Corporate Action where the price of the underlying is needed to calculate the adjusted contract specification, no trading is allowed in the respective SSDF on the effective date of the Corporate Action. The adjustment will be based on the official US close price of the underlying on the day before the effective date of the Corporate Action, and the changes to the referential of the SSDF contract will be entered into the system on the effective date.
If the effective date is not a Euronext business day, the contract will also be closed the business day after the effective date. In case the effective date of an adjustable event is on the last trading day of the contract (normally the last trading day is a Friday), the expiry day will be changed to the following business day. Please note that trading in this case is not allowed on both the Friday and the following business day. |


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Get A Good Laboratory For Your Laboratory Testing .
The need for a good and reliable laboratory like Lifebrite Laboratoriesis something that people occasionally find ourselves in need of given the increase in diseases including lifestyle diseases around us that may occasionally require to be diagnosed so that we can access the appropriate treatment and so given the fact that laboratory services are very sensitive services that lab technicians offer to us, there is need to ensure that the next time you are in need to one lab services that you take time to check several things to ensure that their costs are affordable for you so that you ensure that you can work within your proposed budget and you also need to check out the lab intend to visit to ensure that it has necessary capacity to deliver reliable lab results successfully.
You Need To Consider Your Budget As You Look For A Good Laboratory For Your Laboratory Testing Like Lifebrite Laboratories .
It is very advisable for you to consider putting together a good budget the next time you are looking for a lab technician to do your laboratory tests like Lifebrite Laboratories because a good budget helps you to have a list of all the tests that you require to do so that you can have some money enough for every test that you intend to run to ensure that your testing process once started can run unhindered from the beginning to the end which is a good thing instead of having to interrupt the flow of the test for the reason that you forgot to put aside a certain amount of money for a certain test and to achieve this, you need to with your professionals or even neighbors who might have engaged in in laboratory tests similar to yours the recent past to help you to compile a list of all the details of the tests that you need to do by the time you are getting to a laboratory.
Some Of The Ways You Can Use To Establish The Capacity Of A Laboratory As You Look For A Good Laboratory Like Lifebrite Laboratories For Your Laboratory Testing.
Knowing how established a laboratory is and establishing its capacity in terms of equipment and other things like reagents as well as its personnel.


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Three of the most prestigious trophies were awarded next, the Winsor McCay Awards. The first went to animation historian, educator, lecturer, and Academy award winning animator John Canemaker, who admitted backstage that he was nervous. "This award is more important [than his Oscar]," and he thanked everyone from the bottom of his heart.
Glen Keane, son of cartoonist Bill Keane, director of Disney's upcoming film Rapunzel, and whose influence on Disney has earned him endorsement of one of the "Nine New Men," was the second to receive the award. He has worked as supervising animator for Beast in Beauty and the Beast, and title characters for Tarzan, Pocahontas, Aladdin, and Little Mermaid. He took the stage to another standing ovation. He thanked many of his own heroes, but the one that drew the first "awwwwww" of the evening, elicited almost involuntarily from the crowd was when he thanked his wife, "Linda, who was the inspiration for [Little Mermaid character] Ariel, and also my live-in own special fairytale princess."
John Kricfalusi took the third Winsor McCay. His unique style such as the Ren & Stimpy Show has made his stand out as one of the most "original and outspoken directors." He was accused of making every step creative, and now shares his knowledge on his blog, "All Kinds of Stuff."
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Winsor McCay Awards Ceremony
The Annie Awards were presented last Friday. Here's a report about the three Winsor McCay recipients... The entire article can be found here: A Night Out at the Annie Awards
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Whither went wargaming, so goes D&D?
This two page document took the wargaming community by storm. Within a year, a commercial version of the rules had been generated. From 1990 to today, DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) is a very popular, and easy to learn, wargame. It has gone on to branch into different versions of varying complexity, but the basic DBA game remains very accessible, with few changes. It has gone through only 6 "official" change versions, with the last being in 2004.
What an amazing story and what interesting parallels it holds for D&D.
In my observation and participation, wargaming, and historical miniature wargaming in particular, can be a community obsessed on details and complexity. If we also look at the evolution of wargames from a very broad perspective, we see it going through a cycle of simple leading to complex, then back to simple. I find that very interesting in light of how D&D has progressed - from the simplicity of OD&D, to the building complexity of AD&D, 2E, 3E and now 4E. Contrast that progression of complexity and expense to the real interest these days in the simpler versions of the game: Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry and the like.
It seems to me that there is real heartening lesson in looking at how DBA came about and how it changed the historical wargaming community. There is still a vibrant and active DBA community and there is still a great deal of interest in the rules. It made its mark on a community that needed a simpler option and it opened the door for a great many people to enjoy what had become an expensive, complex niche of a niche.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - my main mission is to share my love of the original editions of D&D. I think that is best done with simple rules, open games and an accepting attitude. Just as DBA paved the way to provide an extremely viable alternative to the complex rules at the time, I think what we do in the "old school revival/renaissance" can echo that. I don't think the RPG world is an exact parallel, but I do see how the retroclones and the OSR have opened the door to a simpler and perhaps more accessible version of the game we all love. I think that by stressing alternatives to the expensive entry point for D&D, we will find more and more interest. I think this is especially true, considering the fact of the continuing "Core Book" churn that I hear about - the plan by WotC is apparently to release +1 x 3 so-called-Core Books each year for 4E.
For what it's worth, I've been reading DBA so I can learn how to play - and perhaps have an endgame to my campaigns where massive armies can duke it out using DBA (or perhaps the fantasy based offshoot of DBA - called Hordes of the Things.) I'm also reading it to gain a perspective of going back to simple - and then in looking at my copies of the retroclones, feeling like I'm in good company all around.
Sharpen your pencils, get out the graph paper and enter the One Page Dungeon Contest! A "metric ton" of awesome prizes awaits those who dare! Contest ends May 14th.
13 comments:
- Zachary Houghton said...
Wow! I'm going to have to check this out. Interesting paralells, indeed!
- April 30, 2009 at 9:19 AM
- greywulf said...
Amen to all that. I love me some DBA too. My lovingly painted Achaemenid Persians get an airing once every 4-6 weeks to clash against the massed Greek hordes of a couple of other wargamers. Makes a change to rpg'ing and gives the old tactical braincells a good workout.
DBA wins because that one tiny booklet contains everything you need to play. D&D needs (nay, DEMANDS!) a similar one-book solution that folks can just pick up and play straight from the bookstore. The 4e Starter Kit came close, and good though it is, managed to Epic Fail by not including character generation. The Last Good one book D&D was, and still is, the Rules Cyclopedia. Ah well. - April 30, 2009 at 9:28 AM
- Michael S/Chgowiz said...
:channeling Yoda:
*cough* No, there is another... *cough* - April 30, 2009 at 9:36 AM
Far too many RPGs are written for folks experienced with RPGs. No way I'd have gotten into D&D when I did if there wasn't a Basic D&D set at the time and I was playing avalon Hill war games at the time so I had some tolerance and experience with large rule books, which I figure is anything over 4 pages for normal humans.
- April 30, 2009 at 9:49 AM
- Michael S/Chgowiz said...
@jsemaj - agreed. That's why Jeff Rient's 2 page player handout rocks at a con to get people started - those kinds of quick intros can lower the bar. The thing I find slightly disingenuous about the whole 4E "Quick Start" is that you really can't progress with it beyond the pregens. I think basic rules need to provide a complete game, much like Holmes and B/X did.
That's why I like the retroclones today - written in accessible language and you really can spin them down to a simple set of rules. I did it for Swords & Wizardry for my CODCon game in this player handout (which I adapted/adopted/stole from Jeff Rient's Players Handout). I guess you could call it the Swords & Wizardry Quick Start, if I wanted to really tweak my nose at WotC *g* - April 30, 2009 at 10:10 AM
- Chris said...
As Colin Chapman (the man who founded Lotus Cars) used to say: "Simplify, then add lightness."
What's good for cars is good for RPGs, wargames, computer programming... - April 30, 2009 at 10:14 AM
- Badmike said...
This is the biggest reason I support the retro-clones. I don't play them myself, and can't imagine more than a one-shot with any of them due to my propensity to fiddle and diddle with the rules. However, the game NEEDS a simple, playable entry into both RPGS in general and D&D in particular. S&W, Labyrinth Lord, etc fit the bill...if I was running a con game, these would definitely be a good choice on my part simply because of the quick start up.
BTW, the BRP document by Chaosium is a good start in that direction by a major company.
Mike B. - April 30, 2009 at 10:26 AM
- Michael S/Chgowiz said...
@BadMike - Well, the quick char gen documents are a good start - we just need a quick/dirty summary of combat and a really huge dose of "You imagine it, you say it, the Referee says Yes or rolls dice" type of instruction.
- April 30, 2009 at 10:34 AM
- Nope said...
The funny thing is that a lot of people I know didn't get into D&D until 4e and felt that 4e was more accessible to them than the previous editions. 4e stripped down on the rules set considerably compared to 1st through 3rd edition. I don't think any of them has played od&dthough, but 4e parallels other aspects of wargaming similarly to the old school "movement". 4e is the flames of war of D&D.
- April 30, 2009 at 11:44 AM
- Rick Krebs said...
sssshhhhh !! I asked you to keep this quiet.
- April 30, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Would "Phil Barker" = M.A.R. Barker of Tekumel fame, perhaps?
I know he's a minis wargaming guy in addition to RPG'ing. - April 30, 2009 at 2:09 PM
- Michael S/Chgowiz said...
No, he's not - and the note at the bottom of MAR Barker's wikipedia entry has an interesting note about Phil and the Professor.
- April 30, 2009 at 2:13 PM
- Unknown said...
Played a game of Field of Glory last week, quite enjoyed it. Looks to be a lot more complicated than DBA or HoTT, but mostly it is just common sense rules being standardised by example, possibly for tournaments.
- May 1, 2009 at 6:02 PM


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Anna Maltz is charming and delightful, and her voice is strong…as an artist, designer, entrepreneur and story-teller. If you follow her on Instagram, you're probably familiar with her sweater spotting adventures along with her ingenious new book, Marlisle – a beautiful combination of marled and fair isle knitting. Anna has spent her life exploring as a maker, and observer of beauty, both in the expected and unexpected. Here she share's a bit of her story and what drives and inspires her. Grab your latest project and have a listen…I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. You can find anna at annamaltz.com and on Instagram @sweaterspotter.
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Anna Maltz / Guest site
Marlisle / Anna's new book
Farrell Hat / Anna's hat design in Making No. 5 / COLOR
Woollenflower / Julia Billings, natural dyer
Garthenor yarn / Yarn mentioned by Anna and used in Farrell Hat – Find it at makingzine.com
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This weeks giveaway is sponsored by Anna and Making and we're giving away a copy of Anna's book Marlisle and 2 skeins of Moeke Elena yarn in Natural. To enter this giveaway, visit this episodes blog post at makingzine.com and comment.
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Video game violence never fails to garner more attention than it deserves, but a new title called Glorious Mission has become something of a controversy. The game comes from PLA, which is not an acronym for a development firm but instead the People's Liberation Army of China. The PLA collaborated with Wuxi Giant Interactive Group to create the game which pits Chinese soldiers against their main opposition, the US military.
Glorious Mission (also known as Mission of Honor) is being used a training tool for PLA recruits treads on some dangerous territory by piquing U.S. concerns of nationalism and anti-American sentiments. Using video games for military training methods is nothing new; in 2008 the U.S. Army invested $50 million to develop games for combat preparation. What's raising eyebrows with Glorious Mission is the choice to focus on American troops as China's primary enemy.
"The game, with a soldier's personal story in the military camp as the background and participating in a large-scale actual-troop confrontation drill code-named 'Glorious Mission' as the main line, is divided into three parts including basic training, individual soldier's task and squad/team confrontation. In squad/team confrontation part, 32 soldiers can log on at the same time to start confrontation combat according to the rules in selected scenes," says the PLA Daily [translation via ChinaMil and China Daily].
According to the report, the Chinese military has made use of training via video games before, but the software was often developed by companies outside of the country. The PLA wanted to create a game closer to home in order to instill Chinese values and avoid any elements that could "mislead Chinese army officers and soldiers."
Military games of this variety have been accused of being tinted with propaganda, something America's Army was not immune to. The game, introduced in 2002, was said to further the US military agenda and has been called the best recruitment tool for our armed forces. Many have criticized such games for capitalizing on the "Xbox mindset," which claims that these cause potential and current soldiers to distort the very harrowing reality of war as if it were a video game.
And now Glorious Mission is subject to these same criticisms, except that it specifically focuses on an enemy, versus similar games that feature various opponents. But will this unsubtle hint have any effect? The saturation of first person shooters might make gamers immune to developing ill-will toward any particular adversary.
Check out a video of Glorious Mission to see the game in action.