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Sidebar to the article Cold Cases: Resources for Agencies, Resolution for Families by Charles Heurich
The definition of a cold case varies from agency to agency. The National Institute of Justice currently defines a cold case
as any case whose probative investigative leads have been exhausted. In essence, this means a case that is only a few months
old may be defined as being "cold."
Attention continues to be focused on cold cases — or "historical" cases as they are called in many countries outside the U.S.
— due to the popularity of television dramas and the increased involvement and public visibility of family members.
Recent advances in DNA technology also are allowing officials to take a fresh look at these cases. Short tandem repeat analysis[1] allows officials to test samples that, in the past, were too small to examine and to use statistics to confirm that a DNA
profile belongs to one specific person. Using mitochondrial DNA,[2] they can also test hairs (as the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department did in the case of Kizzy Brooms; see main story)
and unidentified remains that may accompany a cold case as evidence.
Along with these technological advances, the creation of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) has improved the chances of
solving cold cases with DNA. Established and managed by the FBI, CODIS allows DNA profiles to be uploaded into a database
and searched against other profiles at the local, state and national levels. There are two main indices in CODIS: the forensic
index, which houses crime scene or evidence DNA samples, and the convicted offender index, which contains profiles for convicted
offenders from all 50 states. CODIS also contains profiles of missing persons and arrestees (if state law permits the collection
of arrestee samples). (For more information on CODIS, see https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis).
Back to Cold Cases: Resources for Agencies, Resolution for Families.
[note 1] Short tandem repeat (STR) technology is a forensic analysis that evaluates specific regions (loci) found on nuclear DNA.
STRs are multiple copies of a short identical sequence arranged in direct succession in particular regions. The variable (polymorphic)
nature of the STR regions analyzed for forensic testing intensify the discrimination between DNA profiles. For example, the
likelihood that any two individuals (except identical twins) will have the same 13-loci DNA profile can be as high as 1 in
1 billion.
[note 2] Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has provided forensic scientists with a valuable tool for determining the source of DNA recovered
from damaged, degraded or very small biological samples. mtDNA is a small circular genome located in the mitochondria, which
are located outside of a cell's nucleus. Most human cells contain hundreds of copies of mtDNA genomes, as opposed to two copies
of the DNA located in the nucleus. This increases the likelihood of recovering sufficient DNA from compromised DNA samples,
and for this reason, mtDNA can play an important role in missing persons investigations, mass disasters and other forensic
investigations involving samples with limited biological material.
National Institute of Justice, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531


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2013 Ford HBCU Community Challenge to give away $40,000 in scholarships to Black college students
Deadline to Apply is November 10, 2013
Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — Ford Motor Company is reaching out to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities for the 2013 Ford HBCU Community Challenge Competition. Up to $75,000 in scholarships, university and community grants will be awarded for the first-place student team and its project. The new program, conducted in partnership with the "Tom Joyner" and "Rickey Smiley Morning Shows," encourages HBCU students to design community projects that address pressing local needs.
The challenge is a request for proposals addressing the theme of "Building Sustainable Communities." The Proposal should take an innovative, fresh approach in defining what building a sustainable community means to one's local community. The Proposal should not be restricted specifically to environmental issues; rather, "sustainable community" refers to all elements of a healthy, livable community which can thrive in a global economy encompassing a wide range of issues, including education, safety and mobility.
"We are thrilled to be able to continue in our efforts to support students attending HBCUs with the launch of this program," said Shawn Thompson, manager, Ford Multicultural Marketing. "This program will allow students to make a difference in their education, schools and ultimately their communities."
For more details about the Ford HBCU Community Challenge, visit:
To search hundreds of other 2013-2014 scholarships, visit:

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Although I do not have formal testing of my students, I often hear from students of other dojo who have recently tested. I always urge students to try their best and give my best wishes when I hear that they are promoted. Even if they are not promoted, I pretty much do the same thing.
I recognize that there is a place for testing, particularly in classes with many students or where testing is required because the class is part of high school or college. But since my dojo is small and personalized, there is no compelling reason for a formalized testing system. Instead, we are always observing and testing our students.
I do not charge my students to test, nor do I charge them when they are promoted. I do not give certificates (just a letter for yudansha) and I do not present an embroidered belt to yudansha, just a plain black welt (like I wear). I do not throw a party!
I have heard of schools where a black belt is guaranteed in a certain time period. Now we are talking about contracts: if you comply with the terms specified in the contract (train for the specified time period (and pay the required fees), you have a rightful expectation that you will be promoted. If you comply with the terms of the contract and are not promoted, then there will be a problem ( a breach of contract).
I do not promote students to shodan (first degree black belt) until they are 17. However, being 17 does not mean that a student will be promoted to shodan. A student can expect to train for several years before becoming shodan (my second and third sons trained for 12 years). Some will take longer than others (and vice versa). My students understand that it will take an unspecified time period.
On good thing in our dojo is that students are promoted (at the yudansha level because we give no kyu ranks) as a surprise. Basically, we say, "Surprise, you are promoted!"
This way, a student is not disappointed by failing a test. Failure has such a negative connotation. We want to pass, not fail. If a student comes home from school with an "F", he will be in trouble with his parents. Students want to get an "A".
So when a student fails a Karate test, he will have all that emotional baggage and feel terrible. He will feel like a failure and a loser... at least some students will.
Of course, other students will be motivated to try harder, which is a very good thing. But there will be some students who will feel badly, and I imagine that at least some instructors have received calls from parents wanting to know why their child had "flunked."
I am fortunate to be able to avoid this -- because I avoid the testing process itself. I do not get complaints from parents when I promote their 17 year old to shodan (something that has happened only rarely). Instead, they are pretty happy. Adults who are promoted seem pretty happy too -- although those who understand the process feel a weighty sense of responsibility instead of jubilation.
You have to watch out for quid pro quo (literally something for something). If a student pays for something, he expects something in return. My students do pay tuition and the expectation is that we will teach them the best we can. There is no formal expectation of promotion. I make clear that I do not award kyu ranks and that all mudansha wear white belts. When black belts from other schools or styles want to join our dojo, I tell them that I do not recognize rank outside my own juku (Kishaba Juku Shorin-Ryu) and that in some cases it could take 3 years or so just for the student to get back to zero and start learning from me cleanly (without past habits and mechanics). So generally, people seeking rank do not join our dojo -- people seeking to train and learn do).
Here is my advice for students who take tests in other schools or dojo. If that is what you Sensei wants, then you should try your best, not only for you but for the other students. Take the test seriously and be thoroughly prepared. If you pass, good. Be humble and quiet about it and try harder. If you do not pass, find out why and try your best again. Don't complain.
Don't worry about why someone else might have passed and you did not. Karate is at least partially an art of self defense. If you are attacked, other students won't be there and testing results won't matter. Testing and rank will be the last thing from your mind.
I want to add something else about testing. In school (through graduate school), I was always one of those students who tested better than my ability. I was a really good guesser and sometimes could figure out the answer by getting into the head of the test writer. This is not necessarily a good thing (although it was useful to me), but it has enabled me to see that there might be some students who test better than their ability, and others who test below their ability. What counts is their ability in Karate, not their ability in testing.
Testing is necessary because of rank. Rank is necessary because... why is rank necessary? My point is that we should not assume that testing has always existed and is a necessary thing. When there was no rank, I'll bet that there was no testing -- at least not they type we have today. I think that the testing in the old days was shobu, a challenge match.
To me, the best test of Karate is how the student conducts himself in daily life and in the dojo.
By the way, for my own students I want to announce that the next test will be... all the time, as usual.
Charles C. Goodin
Testing Results
Although I do not have formal testing of my students, I often hear from students of other dojo who have recently tested. I always urge students to try their best and give my best wishes when I hear that they are promoted. Even if they are not promoted, I pretty much do the same thing.
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Sunday, December 13, 2009


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Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till (July 25, 1941 %u2013 August 28, 1955) was an African-American teenager from Chicago, Illinois who died in what has been characterized as a "brutal murder" in a region of Mississippi known as the Mississippi Delta in the small town of Money in Leflore County. His murder was one of the key events that energized the nascent American Civil Rights Movement. The main suspects were acquitted but later admitted to committing the crime. Till's mother had an open casket funeral to let everyone see how her son had been brutally killed. He had been shot and beaten; he was then thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire as a weight. His body stayed in the river for three days until it was discovered and retrieved by two fishermen.
Emmett Till was the son of Mamie Till and Louis Till. Emmett's mother was born to John and Alma Carthan in the small Delta town of Webb, Mississippi ("the Delta" being the traditional name for the area of northwestern Mississippi, at the confluence of the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers). When she was two years old, her family moved to Illinois. Emmett's mother largely raised him on her own; she and Louis Till had separated in 1942.
Emmett's father, Louis Till, was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. While serving in Italy, he was convicted of raping two Italian woman and killing a third. He was executed by the Army by hanging near Pisa in July 1945. Before Emmett Till's killing, the Till family knew none of this, only that Louis had been killed due to "willful misconduct". The facts of Louis Till's execution were only made widely known after Emmett Till's death, by segregationist senator James Eastland, in an apparent attempt to turn public support away from Mrs. Till just weeks before the trials of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, the implication being that criminal behavior ran in the Till family.
In 1955, Till and his cousin were sent for a summer stay with Till's great-uncle, Moses Wright, who lived in Money, Mississippi (another small town in the Delta, eight miles north of Greenwood).
Before his departure for the Delta, Till's mother cautioned him to "mind his manners" with white people.
Till's mother understood that race relations in Mississippi were very different from those in Chicago. The state had seen many lynchings during the South's lynching era (ca. 1876-1930), and racially motivated murders were still not unfamiliar, especially in the "Delta" region where Till was going to visit. Racial tensions were also on the rise after the United States Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education to end segregation in public education.
Till arrived on August 21. On August 24, he joined other teenagers as they went to Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market to get some candy and soda. The teens were children of sharecroppers and had been picking cotton all day. The market was owned by a husband and wife, Roy Bryant and Carolyn Bryant, and mostly catered to the local sharecropper population. Till's cousin and several black youths, all under 16, were reported to have been with Till in the store.
Depending on who tells the story, as Till was leaving the store, he either whistled at or physically assaulted and propositioned Carolyn Bryant. She stood up and stormed to her car. The boys were terrified thinking she might return with a pistol and ran away. The news of this greatly angered her husband when he heard of it upon his return from out of town several days later.
Till's cousin, Wheeler Parker, Jr., who was with him at the store, claims Till did nothing but whistle at the woman. "He loved pranks, he loved fun, he loved jokes ... in Mississippi, people didn't think the same jokes were funny." Carolyn Bryant later asserted that Till had grabbed her at the waist and asked her for a date. She said the young man also used "unprintable" words. He had a slight stutter and some have conjectured that Bryant might have misinterpreted what Till said.
By the time 24-year-old Roy Bryant returned from a road trip three days after his wife's encounter with Till, it seemed that everyone in Tallahatchie County had heard about the incident, in every conceivable version. Bryant decided that he and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, 36, would meet around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday to "teach the boy a lesson."


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Falco, Fox, Fox McCloud, Gamecube, Krystal, Nintendo, Peppy, Prince Tricky, Rare, Slippy, Starfox, Starfox Adventures, Tricky
Usually when I replay games I tend to stick to the classics, titles that score 9.0 or above. I have precious little time to play games that I have to make sure I'm always playing something worthwhile but every now and again I get the urge to load up something lesser, a game that I would merely describe as 'good'. My latest replay is one such occasion, 2002's Starfox Adventures.
This game had a fairly unusual development. It started life as Dinosaur Planet, Rare's answer to The Legend of Zelda, a 3D action adventure title for the N64 but never made it to the platform due to a new generation-transition taking place before development cpould be completed. The title moved on to the newfangled Gamecube but underwent more than a graphical makeover when Nintendo approached their developer, liking the anthropomorphic charcter style to ask if they could make it a Starfox game. Rare agreed and the game's hero, Sabre was replaced by Fox McCloud, the heroine, Krystal was morphed into another anthropomorphic fox and the title eventually changed to Starfox Adventures, becoming the third game in the series although it shares little in common with the other titles.
The game opens with Krystal searching Dinosaur Planet for answers about the extinction of her people riding a Cloudrunner pteradactyl. An encounter with a strange, flying galleon causes her to drop her staff before she lands on the vessel and meets General Scales, nasty boss of the Sharpclaw army. After escaping him she flies to the Krazoa Palace, answering a distress signal. At the palace she learns from several injured Earthwalker Triceratops dinosaurs that the place was attacked by General Scales who sought the power of the Krazoa Spirits, which, in reaction to the attack where dispersed across the planet. Krystal manages to retrieve one but is then trapped by a mysterious unknown being. Soon afterwards the Starfox Team minus Falco receieve a job from General Pepper who explains the predicament of Dinosaur Planet, large pieces of which have actually broken away from the surface into orbit. Fox flies down and soon learns that this is because General Scales has removed the four Spellstones from the Force Point Temples breaking the seal on the terrific magical energy contained in the planet, an energy so strong it is constantly pushing the planet apart. It's up to Fox to retrieve the Spellstones and save both Krystal and Donosaur Planet.
It's a big departure for the series having Fox step out of the cockpit for most of it. There are still some Arwing missions in there but the vast majority of time will be spent on foot exploring the planet, fighting bad guys and tackling puzzles. The game's structure runs like this. Each of the four Spellstones is located on one of the orbiting regions that have seperated from the planet. Upon finding them they will open the gateway for him at which point he must return to his Arwing and fly a brief on-rails approach to the orbiting location. After landing he negotiates the many traps and puzzles and defeats a boss to claim the Spellstone before returning via the Arwing to the planet and taking it to its corresponding Force Point Temple. Then he will have to track down a Krazoa Shrine where he will have to undergo a challenge to free a Krazoa Spirit which must in turn be taken back to Krazoa Palace. Then the whole process repeats. Much of the gameplay revolves around Krystal's staff which Fox finds early on. Aside from handling combat the staff can be imbued with a number of useful powers from firing projectiles to causing minor earthquakes. The staff has a power gague that can be refilled by collecting colour-coded energy crystals. You are also accompanied by Prince Tricky, a young Earthwalker to whom you can give a number of commands such as to find buried treasure or breathe fire on enemies or objects that need to be burned. Each time you command tricky his energy will be depleted a little and you will have to keep his stamina up by feeding him GrubTub fungus, little mushrooms that hop away from you and must be stunned to collect. Tricky basically acts like Navi in The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time.
And that's a pertinent point to bring up because this game owes a real debt to the 3D Zelda franchise. The open-eneded overworld structure and dungeon-driven gameplay bears a close resemblance to Link's adventures and the similarities don't stop there. Many of the puzzles are borrowed from Zelda such as block-pushing target-shooting and wall-bombing, you can assign abilities to a shortcut button, not to mention the staff's energy gague looks and acts a lot like Link's magic meter. And most blatantly of all Zelda's famous 'puzzle-solved' fanfare is copied note for note and used for the exact same purpose. But there's one way in which the game isn't much like Zelda. It's nowhere near as good.
Starox Adventures is at best a reasonably varied romp through gorgeous landscapes, at worst a bloated, repetitive drudge with next to no gameplay merit. More than half of the puzzles and challenges in the game revolve around fetch quests. More often than not in order to progress you'll need to find something and return it to its proper place, discovering any such object activates just about the most stupid 'item-foun' animation in gaming history and you have to watch it again and again. The environments themselves aren't teribly well-designed, dominated by a lot of featureless corridors and a strange quirk in which waypoints feature a symmetrical design forcing you to pass by performing the exact same action whether you're coming or going. You'll have to revisit many locations to perform a lot of the same tasks and there's tons of boring backtracking. The combat looks pretty flasy but is in reality rather shallow with Fox's handful of staff combos handled entirely by the A button. The standard Sharpclaw enemies have a habit of letting you take them all out one at a time, even when there's five or six surrounding you they attack one by one. The Arwing missions are short and pretty weak, capturing none of the frantic, intense action of Lylat Wars. The story isn't great either. The idea of bits of the planet breaking off into orbit is cool but there's not much more to it than that and General Scales isn't a very threatening viallain. Worse is the painfully bad script and laughable voice acting, much of which was done by the Rare dev-team. A lot of characters have fairly cheesy regional British accents which might be oddly amusing if not for the atrocious delivery of the cliched lines. After Lylat Wars' legendary writing and voice work it's a real downer. Oh, and Prince Tricky is really annoying too.
Sounds like a stinker doesn't it? Well don't let the game's many flaws put you off because it's not in fact a bad game. There's a decent bit of variety, with decent vehicle sections, including a couple of places where you ride dinosaurs as well as some first person shooting challenges. The gameplay, whilst totally unoriginal works perfectly well, Fox is responsive and quick, the controls are tight, the combat smooth and the various powers and commands all work well. The quiet, understated score perfectly evokes the tribal motif of the world although there are no real standout tunes and the sound effects are decent enough. It may be reptitve but having Zelda as your main influence is no bad thing and many of the puzzles are decent.
There's even one way in which the game surpasses Zelda. The item selection interface that has always necesitated frequent pausing and unpausing of Zelda games is handled with the C stick. Flicking it opens up the inventory menu which has three columns, one for the various items you have gathered, another listing your staff powers and a third for Tricky's commands. You switch between the coloumns by titlting left or right on the C stick and scroll through the options by tilting up or down. To choose an option you press A or you can press Y to assign it to that button for a shortcut. All this is done in real time without pausing the game and streamlines the experience in a way that Zelda is only just getting round to doing in Skyward Sword. Starfox Adventures also manages to nail down some of the atmpsohere that Zelda is famed for with locations like Moon Mountain Pass and Krazoa Palace proving nice and moody. Some of the dungeons are also pretty nice to explore, particularly Cloudrunner Fortress.
But there's one aspect of game design in which Starfox Adventures really excels, the graphics. The game boasts seriously pretty visuals, a wide colour-palette brings Dinosaur Planet to life with brilliantly detsailed textures and character models. If the camera zooms in you can see Fox's fur swaying in the breeze, defeated enemies disappear in a blaze of gorgeous purple light, indeed the lighting is fantastic throughtout painting a vivid sense of reality about the pretty locations. This game is neartly ten years old but it still looks absolutely great and surpasses most Wii games in the looks department. It's technically impressive too. Most of Dinosaur Planet is one great big environment free to explore from Moon Mountain Pass to Cape Claw with large environments linked by long corridors. It's in these corridors that the game does its loading with a loading spike noticeable by slight, forgivable glitches. Very impressive, at least for 2002.
Starfox Adventures is a story of highs and lows then. It looks superb and plays well enough, offering some decent variety but is nevertheless repetitive and sometimes lazily designed with little of real value to distinguish it. That said it always manages to be engaging. The difficulty level could be better with only occasional spikes in the challenge, such as the Test of Fear and there are almost no side quests to speak of, which is strange given the open ended design of the world and the fact that it only takes about ten hours to complete. Still, somehow this game is always likeable and inviting, and although it's a major departure for the series I don't think there's anything wrong with focusing the Starfox story on a single planet. It's not like it was a permanent change and the series' mythology is developed fairly well.
Presentation – 7
The visual angle is outstanding but it's all let down by a terrible script and hopeless voice acting.
Gameplay – 7
Everything works well but there's just not that much to it.
Graphics – 10
Simply gorgeous throuhgout. One of the prettiest games on the Gamecube.
Sound – 7
A well judged tribal soundtrack is marred by that damned voice work.
Difficulty – 6
Generally a breeze with only the occasional challnege slowing progress down.
Longevity – 6
Not the longest game out there and not much to do after it's over but there's a bit of replay value.
A serviceable action adventure that fails to live up to its lofty ambition but is nevertheless quite entertaining.
out of 10


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U18 Program
Try-outs - We hold tryouts for this age group in early July. Players will be introduced to the Nordic coaching staff and will experience a typical Nordic practice. This will also give our coach's a chance to meet the players and get to know them on a more personal basis. After try-outs players will be sent appropriate paperwork to register for Nordic and initial payment is expected to accept your spot in our program within 2 weeks of try-outs.
Winter season – This team will kick off their season in early November once players are finished with their High School season. Teams will practice twice per week for the month of November prior to College Showcase tournament(s) in late November/early December. Practices will be at the Tree Farm soccer facility and/or at South Burlington High School. Your indoor season at the Nordic Indoor Soccer Center (NISC) at the CVE Expo in Essex Jct will start in session 2. Players will practice twice per week with their team and also have an additional technical training opportunity during the winter. NISC runs 3 indoor sessions through-out the winter: Session 2 is held during January and February with session 3 during March and April. There will be breaks through-out the winter for school holidays and certain CVE Expo shows
Spring season – Teams will start to prepare for their outdoor spring season with mid-week outdoor practices on the turf field at South Burlington High School starting in early March (weather permitting) to prepare for 2 to 3 College Showcase tournaments in March/April/May in addition to Nordic Cup in mid June. Nordic teams start outdoor practices at the Tree Farm Soccer Complex in Essex Jct after the April school break. Teams will practice twice per week (Mon/Weds or Tues/Thurs) for 90 mins. This team will compete in the Vermont Soccer League (VSL) in their U19 division. This league includes U17 and older teams from other local clubs. Games are typically on Sunday's through-out the state of Vermont and Plattsburgh, NY. We will also enter Vermont State Cup and teams have the opportunity to advance to the Region 1 Championships in late June/early July. Your season will end in late June/early July after Regionals.
Cost: $1725…this includes all costs except uniforms.
What this fee includes:
Late fall – 2 practises per week. Goal-keeper practises.
Winter session 2 - 2 practises per week, technical training, NISC league games (2 teams per session where numbers allow). Goal-keeper practises.
Spring - 2 practises per week, technical training, VSL games, State Cup and Regionals entry fee, coaches' tournament travel expenses upto $1500 and $1100 for Regionals. Goal-keeper practises.
Tournaments - Coach will attend upto 4 tournaments through-out the year in addition to Nordic Cup, State Cup and Regionals.
Anything in addition to the above is NOT covered by your player fees and addition costs will be at the team's expense! Additional expenses may include but are not limited to: additional tournament entry fees (other than Nordic Cup), coach's expenses for these additional tournaments/games and a coach's per diem of $75 per day.


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Innovations in Education
Carl C. Icahn Charter School Bronx, N.Y.
School Profile: Selected Variables a
|Year First Chartered
|Grades Served
|Student Ethnicity b
|59% African-American, 41% Hispanic
|Special Education
|Free or Reduced-price Lunch b
|Annual Cost per Student
a Unless otherwise indicated, these data are reported by the school and are for the
school year 2006–07.
b These data are drawn from the Carl C. Icahn Charter School school report card for 2005–06 posted on the New York State Education Department's Web site.
Mission and Founding
Known as a "turnaround" principal, Jeffrey Litt has been working in the same five-mile radius of the South Bronx for most of his 38 years in education. "I won't take an easy assignment," he says. "I always work with the population that most people run from." Given the opportunity to build a charter school from scratch, Litt jumped at the chance and has created a new elementary school based on E.D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge curriculum, which focuses on key concepts of western civilization in mathematics, language, science, history, music, art, and more. With the financial backing of billionaire Carl C. Icahn, the eponymous school received its charter in March 2001 and opened in September 2001 with grades K–2.
Constructed in three months out of modular portables on an empty lot, the Carl C. Icahn Charter School has outgrown its original space. As of 2006–07, the child care and K–1 classrooms were located across the street in the Icahn Homeless Shelter* while the school was completing building an $11 million, five-story facility that will accommodate eight classrooms, a library, and multipurpose rooms. Once this building is finished, the school will be able to expand from a K–7 to a K–8 school.
* This shelter also is funded by Carl C. Icahn but as a separate entity from the school.
The school's portable buildings are protected by a locked metal fence with curled barbed wire at the top. A television monitor in Litt's office enables him to view the entire campus at any time. Understanding that, as he puts it, "A reputation is everything in the inner city," Litt has worked tirelessly to ensure that the school has a good reputation and commands respect. Prior to opening the school, Litt walked floor to floor in neighboring high-rise housing projects to introduce himself, spread the word about Icahn Charter School, and encourage parents to send their children to the new school.
Litt sets high expectations for school and students alike. The school's mission is to prepare its 278 students to be productive citizens through rigorous academics. As Icahn Charter School board member Seymour Fliegel, president of the Center for Educational Innovation, underscores, the school is dedicated to giving kids from the South Bronx the chance to succeed at high levels: "Carl C. Icahn has a big thing for poor kids," Fliegel explains. "He cares about the leadership of the school."
Based on Litt's previous positive experience with the Core Knowledge program at another school, he selected it as the path to implementing the school's mission. Visiting a model Core Knowledge program in Florida, Litt was told the curriculum would not work in the Bronx because "the kids are too poor." Undaunted, Litt listened and learned, ultimately choosing to use the curriculum, but to make some adaptations that would render it more accessible to his particular inner-city students. For example, Litt made sure to emphasize minority history and culture and connect those areas to mathematics and science. In addition, Litt decided to extend both the school day and the school year (September through July) to increase teachers' opportunity to teach necessary skills and instill a love of learning in students.
As the school looks forward to initiating an eighth grade, it intends to prepare students for the New York City high school admissions tests for selective public schools, as well as for applications to prestigious boarding schools, such as Connecticut's Choate Rosemary Hall. Students accepted to Choate may apply to become an Icahn Scholar, thus receiving full scholarship.
School Operations and Educational Program
Icahn Charter School is a safe oasis in a tough urban neighborhood. Litt describes the school as "a huggy, kissy school," adding that "students don't want to leave us at vacation." Parents comment that Litt respects their families, noting that Litt always signs his letters, "Thank you for your wonderful children."
During the school year, many students attend Icahn Charter School's Saturday Academy from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and almost half the students stay for extended care Monday through Friday until 6 p.m. The school population is 59 percent African-American and 41 percent Hispanic. Eightynine percent of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. It also has a 95 percent attendance rate. In the lower grades, students work at group desks in classrooms with colorful displays on the wall and engaging materials on the shelves. In the older grades, students sit in individual desks, lined up in rows, and focus on workbooks or textbook assignments. Every classroom has three computers and a library of books for students to use.
Siblings of current students are automatically enrolled in the school, and a lottery assigns the remaining slots. In 2006, 652 students were on the waiting list. Older children may apply for openings in later grades. While many who enter in an upper grade must catch up to their peers, those who have worked hard have been successful. Litt points to a third-grader who entered Icahn Charter School unable to decode or read and ended the year passing the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) on grade level. "After the Iowa results in June, I called his mother to tell her his results," Litt says. "She was screaming and crying into the phone, 'Mr. Litt, I love you,' and I told her, 'No, love him. He worked hard.' "
The Core Knowledge program accounts for about 50 percent of the Icahn Charter School curriculum. It is used in all subjects, and teachers supplement it with the McGraw-Hill reading and mathematics program, an internal writing and literacy program, and manipulatives in science and mathematics. As one teacher points out, Core Knowledge is about "exposure, introducing students to phrases, art, music, geography, science, giving them a well-rounded education." The program offers teachers a clear outline of what to teach, as well as a sequenced grade-to-grade learning map that promotes consistency in instruction.
Teachers send home monthly syllabi that detail the topics or themes to be taught in the month, a list of nightly homework assignments with due dates, and a schedule of quizzes and tests. One parent refers to the school's no-nonsense approach. The school's teachers have developed detailed rubrics to assess literacy and writing at every grade level. Whether talking about a writer's notebook, looking through a writer's poetry portfolio, or grading bimonthly assignments, such as literature responses, research reports, and narrative memoirs, teachers, students, and parents are all in sync about how work is assessed. Thus, it's easy for parents to understand how their children are progressing.
To be promoted to the next grade, students must demonstrate 90 percent attendance, satisfactory growth, a score of average or better on the ITBS, or a level 3 or 4 (out of four) on the New York State English language arts (ELA) and mathematics exams, and be judged by teachers as able to succeed at the next level. A full-time director of assessment monitors academic progress using pre- and post-ITBS results as a baseline. Because the New York state exams begin in third grade, the school has K–2 students take the McGraw-Hill Fox-in-a-Box literacy assessment and uses the Waterford Early Reading Program to monitor these younger students' reading progress.
The assessment director also identifies students who need skill development in the same area and places them in four- to five-member groups for 40 minutes of remediation work five times a week with the targeted-assistance teacher. These students also may receive help from a paraprofessional during school, after-school tutoring, homework assistance, and weekend tutoring. When all is said and done, the school will retain students who are not considered ready for the next grade. As Litt says, "We don't hesitate to hold them if we need more time." For the 5 percent of students who qualify for special education services, there is a part-time special education teacher. Students who are referred to speech therapy can receive help from an afterschool speech teacher.
Icahn Charter School also offers after-school activities, including a step team, cheerleading, school newspaper, Girl and Boy Scouts programs, and mathematics and ELA targeted- assistance tutoring. Students can play on basketball, flag football, volleyball, and softball teams. Through the Charter School Athletic Association of New York, on Mondays, its students can play flag football in the fall and run track in the spring at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island.
External Partnerships
Parents or guardians are instrumental to their children's success in school, and school staff are in constant contact with them. If a student is absent, parents know to expect a phone call checking up on their child's well-being and asking why the child missed school. The school sends narrative progress reports to and holds conferences with parents six times a year, but teachers stay in touch more frequently by phone. Because 87 percent of the students are brought to school by their parents, teachers see and speak with parents in person. At a schoolwide open house at the beginning of every year, Litt makes clear that he wants to meet and talk with parents. He starts by saying, "Don't ever call the office to make an appointment with me." After waiting to see the concerned expressions pop up on parents' face, he cracks a big smile and continues, "Come in, make yourself a cup of coffee. … Wait [and] I will make myself available as soon as possible to meet with you. I am here every day until 7 p.m."
Parents also contribute their time to the school. They organize class parties, chaperone field trips, and sign the reading logs, homework, and tests sent home. The school PTA meetings are standing room only and have been known to last five hours. When seventh-grade teachers wanted each of their students to have a calculator at home, all of the families found money to purchase them. "You give parents a school that takes care of their kids, and you will get all the parental support you need," comments board member Fliegel. Icahn Charter School also has created opportunities for parents. At the school's math fair, students present research on professions to their parents, and then the parents learn how to navigate Excel spreadsheets to look at information students compiled and engage in learning with their children.
Within the community, the school also partners with several organizations. Staff can refer students to the Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center for counseling. Grants from the Charles Hayden Foundation support both operating expenses and camp opportunities for students. The school also arranges summer camp experiences through the New York Times' Fresh Air Fund, and it connects students to twice-yearly arts programs at Columbia University.
Community partnerships also support professional development for teachers. Icahn Charter School contracts with the City University of New York's Creative Arts Team to conduct storytelling and questioning skills workshops with teachers. Lehman College provides five scholarships for graduate school and, together with the New York City Mathematics Project, the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, CUN Y, provides two mathematics consultants.
Governing for Accountability
Authorized by the Charter Schools Institute, the school's charter was renewed for five years in 2005. A 10-member charter school board led by chairperson Carl C. Icahn oversees the school, which is supported by collaboration between the Foundation for a Greater Opportunity (which Icahn created in 1997) and the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association. Representatives from area foundations and institutions, as well as from the PTA and the school management team, have positions on the board. In contrast to the school principal who concentrates on curriculum and school operations, the board focuses on accountability, advocacy, and long-term planning.
The principal, the assistant principal of operations, the director of assessment, and the staff developer meet daily as the school's management team. There is also an administrative team, which consists of the principal, the assistant principal of operations, the director of assessment, the staff developer, the math coach, and the ELA coach. The teaching staff is made up of two teachers at every grade level, three targeted-assistance teachers, two cluster teachers for history and geography, three paraprofessionals, and one school aide.
Teachers have a designated common planning period every day, during which they can plan together, develop instructional units, compose the monthly syllabi, and meet with support staff to coordinate student assistance. The staff developer and curriculum specialists provide in-depth support to teachers who submit their weekly lesson plans every Monday. The team of coaches and the staff developer maintain a log of consultations to keep track of areas needing improvement. There are also ongoing professional development workshops for teachers on such topics as differentiated mathematics classrooms, research and grade-level rubrics, and teaching grammar. Together, the teachers and staff developers have created high-frequency word lists as well as rubrics for ELA standards, expository writing, poetry and narrative, research reports, literature responses, and grade-level writing mechanics.
The school operates on a budget of $3,006,721, of which $198,884 comes from federal categorical sources, $2,766,764 comes from the state, $32,173 comes from grants, and $8,900 comes from donations. The school expects to spend $10,815 per student during the 2006–07 school year. Teachers are paid a salary on par with the public school district, but are not eligible for the district's pension, its housing allowance for math and science teachers, or the larger salaries given to experienced teachers. To help compensate for this discrepancy, the school offers teachers a 401(k), life insurance, and bonuses based on schoolwide student performances.


text:
A FARMER HARVESTS corn growing on Border Acres Farm in Cornwall Tuesday afternoon.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell
September 6, 2007
By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — Addison County town clerks have developed their own policies on releasing citizens' property tax information until the Legislature revisits the manner in which education funding information is reflected in public tax records.
That was the word from officials in several area towns last week, as they continued to grapple with the new way in which property tax prebates are distributed to qualifying taxpayers under the Vermont's education funding laws.
To spread the cost of education equally, the state's Act 60 and Act 68 education funding laws until this year mandated that the Vermont Department of Taxes set a statewide property tax rate, calculate property owners' tax bills based on local conditions, and send checks, called prebates, to homeowners whose incomes do not surpass a given threshold.
By MEGAN JAMES
WHITING — The Whiting Free Library has no heat, no electricity and no plumbing. Operating out of the town's old Baptist church pressed right up against Route 30, it doesn't provide patrons with anywhere to park either. The building is equipped with a small woodstove, but librarian Tammy Wilbur says the ceilings are so high it never really warms up. So for as long as anyone can remember, the library has been open only an hour a week, and during the winter it is always closed.
But all this could change, if Wilbur and a group of library trustees and volunteers get their way.
Inspired by some classes she recently took with the Vermont Department of Libraries, Wilbur decided it was about time to revitalize the old library, open it for more hours during the week and work to transform it into a welcoming community center.
"It's not that it hasn't been open, kids have been using it," Wilbur said. "But if we're going to really make something of this we have to really jumpstart it a little."
By LEE J. KAHRS
BRANDON –– Nothing like a little pressure for a good cause.
Brandon building contractor The McKernon Group this weekend not only will build a dream home for a needy family in all of four days, but viewers nationwide will be able to watch the house come together in a future airing of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" television show.
Starting Friday, the company will have four days to construct a brand-new home from the foundation to the roof for the Vitale family in the Windham County town of Athens.
"This family has gone through a lot and they deserve a new home," McKernon Group President Jack McKernon said at a press conference on Wednesday. "We are thrilled to be able to help them."
Lou and Sara Vitale have been living in a run-down hunting camp for the past five years. They have two children, Kane, 3, and Louie Jr., 2, who was born with several birth defects. He suffers from arthrogryposis, a contraction of the joints, club feet, and skeletal dysplasia, or dwarfism.
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Copyright 2011 Addison Independent | 58 Maple Street, Middlebury, Vt. 05753 | All Rights Reserved
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text:
Line Lexington is located in Pennsylvania.
Line Lexington, Pennsylvania has a population of
Line Lexington is
family-centric than the surrounding county with
22.14% of the households
containing married families with children.
The county average for households married with children is 33.88%.
The median household income in Line Lexington, Pennsylvania is
The median household income for the surrounding county is $76,824
compared to the national median of $53,482.
The median age of people living in Line Lexington is
52.3 years.
The average high temperature in July is 84.5
degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 18.5 degrees.
The average rainfall is approximately 48.2 inches
per year, with inches of snow per year.
No weather information available.


text:
Summit League Men: South Dakota Routed at Western Illinois
Despite a perfect 3-0 start to the Summit League season for South Dakota, there were still plenty of questions about the Coyotes as they played at Western Illinois Thursday night.
Topping the list of questions: how would USD do away from the DakotaDome for the first time in the conference this season?
Answer: Western Illinois 79, South Dakota 61, stopping a five-game USD winning streak.
The Coyotes knew points would be a premium against the defense minded Leathernecks, and in the first half in Macomb, USD barely managed more made baskets (8) than turnovers (7), shooting 38%.
Western Illinois meanwhile strung together two different runs, one of six points, one of 11 straight, keyed by the three point shooting of freshman Garret Covington, who nailed three of the Leathernecks five 3-pointers in the first half, pacing them to a 12-point lead at the break.
Defensively, Western Illinois threw a blanket over Coyotes center Trevor Gruis in the first half, double and triple teaming him, and keeping him off the scoreboard until the 17:20 mark of the second half.
The Leathernecks came out red hot in the second half, hitting 9 of their first 10 shots, while USD started 2-of-9, that's all the Leathernecks needed to quickly push their lead to 24, as they coasted to an 18-point win.
Covington finished 5-of-8 with 4 three's for 21 points, Jabari Sandifer had 13, Rapid City native Tate Stensgaard had 10 points and 4 rebounds for Western Illinois.
The Leathernecks shot 62% for the game.
South Dakota had three players in double figures. led by Tyler Flack with 11 and Brandon Bos and Adam Thoesby with 10 each. Gruis was just 2-of-4 for five points.
The Coyotes (9-10/3-1) play at Omaha Saturday afternoon at 1:00pm.


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Image 1 of 1
Candids and Details_040.jpg
The American College Personnel Association held its 2011 convention in Baltimore. The association, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the nation's leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery.
- Copyright
- Robert Dodge
- Image Size
- 576x864 / 308.2KB
- Contained in galleries


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TRESemme Beauty-Full Volume Collection Review
Today I am partnering with Walmart to share about a new line of hair products, from TRESemme, that are now available on their shelves. I am a bit of a beauty product junkie so I couldn't raise my hand fast … Continue reading
Bissell Symphony Vacuum & Steam Mop Review
If there is one thing this girl loves it is a floor steamer. Today I am sharing my thoughts on the new Bissell Symphony that not only steams your floors, but also vacuums them at the same time! In conjunction … Continue reading
Review: Just Dance 2014
When Walmart needed a family to review the latest incarnation of the UBISOFT Just Dance series, they knew who to call. To outsiders, our obsession with dance-related games may not make sense, but they don't understand how hard we can … Continue reading
Review: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Our entire household has been fans of the LEGO series of videos games. That is why we were so excited to be provided this opportunity to test out the new LEGO Marvel Super Heroes game for the Xbox through Walmart … Continue reading
Fusion Juicer Review
For the first time ever, I got the opportunity to try making my own juice with the new Fusion Juicer. Walmart sent me the Fusion Juicer to review for my blog to share how this appliance can help a health-conscious … Continue reading
Review: BISSELL DeepClean Premier Carpet Cleaner
I have always been a huge fan of BISSELL products and I am excited to share my review of the new BISSELL DeepClean Premier Carpet Cleaner. The BISSELL DeepClean Premier is one of the newest additions to the BISSELL cleaning … Continue reading
Review: Garden Lites Souffles
Eating healthy can truly be a challenge, especially when you are a busy mom. To add to the dilemma of healthy eating, factoring in allergies and food sensitivities can make convenience food eating nearly impossible. As someone who has recently … Continue reading
Review: Cuties Juice
Am I the only one who is completely addicted to Cuties California Clementines We buy a crate a week and I could eat them by the handfuls. I couldn't wait to review the new Cuties Juice that has hit grocery store … Continue reading
Priceless Chicago: Rock Your Palate Event
It has been a long time since I have updated The Motherloot blog, but I couldn't wait to share with you our experience this past month getting to be a part of the Priceless Chicago Rock Your Palate series that … Continue reading
Review: Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure
We were recently given the chance to try out "Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure", a new game for the Xbox 360 Kinect. As we are big fans of the movies (oh, and our kids too), we were really looking … Continue reading


text:
I'm not sure where the year went, but by golly it's nearly 2013!
In honor of the end of the New Year, it's been fun for me to look back on posts from this year, and see what projects got YOUR wheels turning the most.
Instead of a month-by-month recap (I'm too lazy for that today), check out the most popular posts from The V Side in 2012.
Who knows, there may have been something you missed!
In no particular order....
Nailhead Trim Corkboard [Ballard Inspired]
Bunny Napkin Fold Tutorial [Easter]
Beachy Bathroom Makeover
Custom Photo Gift Tags
Ballard-Inspired DIY Wreath
How to Frame a Bathroom Mirror
If I haven't said it enough, then shame on me. So thank you, THANK YOU for continuing to stop by.
Thanks for your feedback, your kind comments, your encouragement, and for coming back over the past year. I'm very grateful, and I'm looking forward to another year of blogging with you!
See you in 2013!


text:
A sworn declaration from a Los Angeles detective in a legal filing in Los Angeles Superior Court Friday claims former NFL safety Darren Sharper is a suspect in seven alleged rapes from September 2013 through January 2014.
In the court filing, which was obtained and posted by the New Orleans Times-Picayune and which was cited by multiple other media outlets, detective John Machiarella alleges, via review of police reports and his own investigating, that Sharper has been accused in rapes in New Orleans, Tempe, Arizona, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. According to the filing, Machiarella also alleges that Sharper is accused of supplying a controlled substance on 11 different occasions, according to the filing, which argued Sharper's bond should be raised to $10 million.
Sharper was charged with two counts of rape by use of drugs in Los Angeles County on Friday. He has not been charged in connection with the other accusations.
Sharper's attorney, Blair Berk, professed his client's innocence on Friday.
"We look forward to the true facts being revealed in this case and we are hopeful that Mr. Sharper will be fully exonerated before this case is concluded," Berk said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
According to the Times-Picayune, Sharper remains free on $200,000 bail but had to give up his passport and cannot leave the Los Angeles area. He will be arraigned on February 20.


text:
Braised Greens with Garlic
Quick Facts
Servings: 4
Cook Time: 15 min.
Any dark green leafy vegetable will work with this dish. Try kale, mustard or chard: mustard will be more bitter, while kale has an earthier flavor.
- 1 lb kale, mustard greens or chard, (about 8 cups)
- 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt (sea salt if on a corn-free diet*)
- Lemon wedges
- Wash greens thoroughly by soaking in lots of cold water. Drain. Chop greens into about 3-inch (8cm)pieces.
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Sauté garlic for 2 minutes. Add greens to skillet. (They do not have to be dried off, as the water will evaporate during cooking.) Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring once in a while to coat all the greens with garlic and oil. Sprinkle with salt.
- Serve with lemon wedges.
* Allergy notes: People following a corn-free diet should avoid iodized salt since it contains dextrose, which should be avoided by those allergic to corn.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 83
Calories from Fat 35 (42%)
(6%)Total Fat 4g
(3%)Saturated Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
(0%)Cholesterol 0mg
(15%)Sodium 371mg
(15%)Potassium 525mg
Total Carbohydrate 11g
(8%)Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 0g
Sugar Alcohols 0g
(7%)Protein 3g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Nutrition facts are calculated by a food expert using nutritional values provided by the USDA for common products used as recipe ingredients. Actual nutritional values may differ depending on the amounts or products used and can be affected by cooking methods.
Copyright © 2019 Healthnotes, Inc. All rights reserved. www.healthnotes.com
Read our healthy recipe definitions.
Learn more about Healthnotes, the company.
The information presented here is for informational purposes only and was created by a team of US–registered dietitians and food experts. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements, making dietary changes, or before making any changes in prescribed medications. Information expires December 2019.


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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Cookie Jars for Holiday Treats: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
If you're baking a lot this holiday season, you may be interested in some cool cookie jars. This one — "the ugly" — is actually one of three Uglydoll cookie jars.
And let's look at one more cookie jar designed to make you smile: the Zombie Head cookie jar. [via ThisIsWhyImBroke, which I found through Nancy Wisser]
The bad? Those are all the cookie jars I'm not subjecting you to, that I sorted through before writing this post! So let's go on to a whole bunch of "good" ones, in a wide range of styles.
Emma Bridgewater makes a number of biscuit bins, but the one I like the most is this Big Love one. You can also find it in blue. The Emma Bridgewater site says it has a "tight fitting lid to keep all your biscuits very fresh."
Another fun biscuit bin comes from Creative Tops; I found it here and here. Again, the sites say there's a "tight seal."
Brabantia has biscuit barrels in neutral colors. You can find them many places, including here and here. Kitchen Critic explains the appeal of this one, beyond the nice looks: "The ingenious Brabantia Keep-Fresh lid features a compartment filled with moisture-absorbing crystals. Even better, the crystals never need replacing. Every couple of months you just pop them in the oven for a few minutes and revive them! The clever design even has a handy calendar to remind you when they need refreshing."
The Guzzini biscotto container, made from molded plastic, comes in five colors. Forma in the U.K. carries it in green, orange, red and yellow. [via Retro to Go]
And I'll end with the drop-dead gorgeous cookie jars from R Morales Pottery — so lovely I couldn't pick just one to show you. [via Apartment Therapy]
Related Post:
Sweet Storage: Cookie Jars and Biscuit Barrels
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 10:13 PM
2 comments:
- Claire Josefine said...
And the just plain kitschy... I just gave a Dr. Spock (Star Trek) cookie jar to a friend. He'd been making noises about wanting one for over a year, so I surprised him with one for his birthday. He loves it!
- December 14, 2011 at 9:41:00 AM PST
- TheAL said...
The 'ugly' jar is actually very cute! I also love the last two pottery ones. So earthy and beautiful.
- December 16, 2011 at 3:39:00 PM PST
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|Words on a Screen - by Cat LeDevic
Oh, how the gods laugh. The following happened to a good 'friend' of mine we'll call Pal.
|Celebrity Big Brother Celebrities Revealed
Meet to celebrities entering the first Celebrity edition of Big Brother (US)
|Group Psychosis, Communicated Insanity & The Social & Serial Bullying Dynamic in "The Big Brother House"
"Folie ŕ deux-Communicated Insanity"
|#BigBrother19: "Bullies, Banshees & Clowns"
A Bullying Circus Hits the House
|The Voice Finale: Broken Hearts & Exploding Farts
Just this ole country girl's thoughts on Voice winner.
|Bored? Here are my favorite clicks from TheBoredButton.com
Beware... some of these will keep you busy for hours!
|#BBOTT Finale, Last Moments
#BBOTT Last Moments: Pride For the Final Three . #BBWARRIORS All.
|BB OTT: Shane's Eviction Interview
Joker's speaks with the latest BB OTT evictee, Shane.
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Snake Joke
Final thoughts on the finale, and out of context quotes
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Social Justice
The varied meanings of "social game", end of the season awards, and out of context quotes.
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Rodeo Clown
Tracking James's bizarre Big Brother devolution, and out of context quotes
|Paul's "roommate" analysis of himself and the 15 other Houseguests he's spent the summer with
Paul gives the lowdown on how shady it is to live with some of the Houseguests
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Revolution
Showmance hell, reconsidering Paul, and out of context quotes
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Feminism Type Thing
Paulie's take on feminism and Jersey girls
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Girl Power
The resurgance of the Spy Girls, and the many complications of America's Care Packages
|Big Brother 18 "To Vic"
A poem better than Victor's
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Mateship
James accidentally says too much to Da'Vonne, and Bridgette's Big Brother life without Frank
|BB18 - Meow: Claws will Clash with Class
Meow: Claws vs. Class
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: It Ain't Me, Babe
Big Brother interventions, and Bridgette vs. the Mean Girls
|Big Brother 18 House of Mirrors: Just Kiddin'
The comedic stylings of Frank, and Nicole as America's Player


text:
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Traffic IQ Professional in conjunction with the Traffic IQ Library will enable you to quickly and effectively assess and enhance the capabilities of network based security devices such as intrusion detection and prevention systems.
IQ Solutions by idappcom, Traffic IQ Professional and Traffic IQ Library.
"Traffic IQ enables us to simulate thousands of attacks in just a matter of hours. It also allows us to replay benign user operations, in the form of pcaps, in so little time which gives us peace of mind that our rules won't cause false positives. By means of extensive features like command line tool we can integrate packet replay tightly with our products and we have a built a full regression suite around it. TIQ also allows us to do variations in tests e.g. delay in packet replay, repeatability testing, etc."
Pawan Kinger, Senior Manager, Trend Micro.
Traffic IQ Reviewed in SC Magazine 2016 Vulnerability Management Group Test
Click here to read the full SC Magazine report.
IQ Solutions
The IQ Solutions range of products started life in 2004, with the 'IQ' name featuring prominently in our product naming conventions, marketing materials, and in our IQID referencing scheme.
We would like to make clear that other vendors in the security field who may also use the term 'IQ' are absolutely nothing to do with Idappcom Ltd. We are not responsible for any products or rules that may bear the name 'IQ' in whole or in part that has not been distributed by Idappcom Ltd.


text:
Find Your Perfect Home.
Scotts Real Estate
Scotts is located in Michigan. Scotts, Michigan has a population of 3,473. Scotts is more family-centric than the surrounding county with 40.14% of the households containing married families with children. The county average for households married with children is 30.15%.
The median household income in Scotts, Michigan is $69,167. The median household income for the surrounding county is $46,356 compared to the national median of $53,482. The median age of people living in Scotts is 40 years.
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The average high temperature in July is 83.1 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 18 degrees. The average rainfall is approximately 38.1 inches per year, with inches of snow per year.
Scotts Map
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Nearby Cities Homes for Sale
Scotts Zip Codes


text:
Before placing his seed order, Jim Meyer of Odebolt, IA, studied research from a new independent seed-testing group. As a result, Meyer chose three top-yielding hybrids from the group's research summary to plant on his farm this spring.
The research was conducted under a new program in Iowa called Farmer's Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST). It is patterned after a FIRST program in Illinois that has conducted independent research trials for three years.
Grower interest in these programs shows that many farmers are turning to outside seed-testing sources for help in buying seed. Organizers of the Iowa FIRST program estimate that farmers used its research results to buy seed for 400,000 acres. The Illinois group distributes about 6,000 reports of its findings.
Unbiased testing Growers like Meyer want seed information from independent comparisons. "I'm not much on company information," he says. "The seed companies are in business to sell corn and I'm in business to pick the top yielders. I'd rather have people verify tests who aren't selling the corn."
During its first year, the Iowa FIRST program tested 96 different hybrids in 12 research plots around the state. The trials were replicated and randomized according to standard research methods. Fifteen companies offered hybrids to be planted in the trials. Results are summarized in a 64-page booklet.
When selecting hybrids in the past, Meyer relied heavily on other growers' experience. He also checked university research trials. This year the FIRST information played heavily in his seed selection.
"I think FIRST has a premier system for trying to duplicate outstanding corns," he says. "If you look at a comparison of the north and south halves of Iowa, the top hybrids tend to cling right up there in the top, even in different soil types.
"I see there is a thirst for information like this," he states. "Some people are concerned now that some companies finance research [at universities] out of necessity for dollars. We are concerned about purity of research."
Iowa FIRST Crop consultants Chris Clark and Byron Peters of Ida Grove, IA, licensed the rights to use the FIRST program from its developer in Illinois. In his nine years as a crop consultant, Clark learned that farmers want more independent seed testing.
The key to FIRST, Clark says, is that it evaluates a limited number of hybrids in each region through replicated and randomized tests.
"The whole idea of testing a limited number of entries is it encourages the seed companies to only enter those hybrids they know should perform within those specific geographies," Clark says. "We're not trying to test everything that is available. So really, the test is a summary in itself."
Within each plot, a hybrid is planted three different times in randomized selected strips, which are 110 ft. long and eight 30-in. rows wide. This way, the hybrid is planted next to a different hybrid every time; planting a hybrid next to the same hybrid each time can affect yield.
Six plots are located in the major soil associations of the northern part of the state, and six plots are in central Iowa.
Clark and Peters planted and harvested the plots. Their meticulous data are published in the 1999 Better Hybrids Performance Summaries. Hybrid data are summarized by region, individual site and maturity zone. The 24 or 36 top-yielding hybrids are listed, as well as the top hybrids in moisture and in income/acre. They also are sorted according to whether or not they have the Bt trait. Color photos of the top hybrids show a whole ear, cob color and kernels.
The corn also is tested for grain quality traits: protein, starch, oil, density and test weight. Results are published in the summary.
"We think the summary is what really sets us apart," Clark says. "We really try to position the summary as a complete management tool, not just a bunch of raw data that growers have to sort and sift through."
The booklet is sold to growers, crop input suppliers, farm managers, crop consultants and seed companies. A subscription includes the summary and two newsletters with information about the companies and hybrids involved. Cost is $40. Contact Iowa FIRST, Dept. FIN, 410_1/2 2nd St., Ida Grove, IA 51445, 712/364-4488.
FIRST in Illinois The FIRST program in Illinois has published three years of research results. Due to high grower interest, this program is expanding outside the state, conducting trials in southern Wisconsin and a tri-state area along the Mississippi River.
Founder Kevin Coey is adding to his consulting staff to conduct the 2000 program. They will plant and harvest six test plots in each of six regions. Each plot tests 48 to 64 hybrids, including experimental ones, from 15 to 20 companies. The group will plant and analyze about 9,000 strips.
"I find what farmers really want is to stack these hybrids side by side and see what they do when treated the same," Coey says. "The idea is to get all these seed products and the technology randomized together and let them shake out."
Coey publishes the plot results in a booklet titled Better Hybrids. It includes results of the top-performing 50% of the hybrids. During harvest, he sends out postcards, faxes and e-mails to give quick, early results.
Test results from the past three years show that seed companies generally have very good products. But farmers may be wise not to use the same hybrids from the same company every year.
"If a farmer wants to stay with one seed company, he will probably do okay," Coey says. "But it would be far better having to write more checks and deal with more companies. There are greater differences between hybrids than ever before. Dropping a few thousand more kernels or adding more fertility won't make as big a difference as selecting hybrids."
To purchase an Illinois FIRST summary for $22.50, contact Agronomic Seed Consulting Inc., Dept. FIN, Box 6675, Champaign, IL 61826, 217/356-3563.


text:
Oil slips ahead of Fed policy meeting
The price of oil slipped to near $106 a barrel Tuesday as investors got ready for an expected reduction in the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for October delivery was down 51 cents to $106.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.62 to close at $106.59 on Monday.
The central bank has been buying financial assets, such as bonds, over the past few years in an attempt to push down interest rates and make loans more easily available. Global stocks and commodities surged as the new money generated by the program -- currently running at $85 billion a month -- flowed through the financial system.
But recent data have shown the U.S. is slowly recovering from the severe downturn that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, convincing Fed members that it might be time to wind down the stimulus program. Oil markets have reacted negatively to the prospect that the stimulus will start to be reduced -- so-called tapering -- at the end of the two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.
"Tapering might derail the recovery, and if that happens, there is less growth and then less demand for commodities like oil," said Stan Shamu, market analyst at IG in Melbourne, Australia.
Prices were also under pressure from the deal on Syria's chemical weapons and reports signaling the return of Libyan crude to the market, where production and exports had slowed to a trickle due to labor conflicts and technical glitches.
"The Middle East risk premium has started to dissolve in the crude oil prices after concerns about a possible military action in Syria eased," analysts at Sucden Financial Research in London said in a note. "Libyan oil production is expected to increase to 400,000-450,000 barrels a day in the next few days as the El Sharara field has restarted."
Investors will also be monitoring fresh information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Data for the week ending Sept. 6 are expected to show a draw of 1.5 million barrels in crude oil stocks, while gasoline stocks are expected to remain unchanged according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later Tuesday, while the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration -- the market benchmark -- will be out on Wednesday.
The contract for November delivery for Brent crude, the benchmark for international crudes used by many U.S. refineries, was down 55 cents to $109.52 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading in New York:
- Wholesale gasoline fell 0.5 cent to $2.7015 per gallon.
- Natural gas rose 1.9 cents to $3.757 per 1,000 cubic feet.
- Heating oil declined 1.29 cents to $3.0508 per gallon.


text:
Description:IBM 36.4GB 10K Ultra160 68-PinNon-Hot-Plug SCSI Hard Drive 68-pinPart Number(s)IBM Part# 06P5367IBM Part# 06P5751
Overview:This high-performance 10 000rpm Ultra160 hard disk drive (HDD) delivers next generation technology to complete your IBM eServer xSeries or IntelliStation storage solution. Through advanced areal density technology this HDD stores a large amount of data on its platter. This optimizes the storage capacities of supported systems while providing solid storage subsystem performance.??The HDDs 3.5-inch 1-inch high slim-line form factor allows maximum installations in supported xSeries servers and Netfinity systems. This Hard Drive option supports enterprise server and workstation applications.


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My Content
14 Dec 2013
Last night I was coming home from work, went to turn onto a road and hit an ice patch and slid into a curb doing about 15mph.
My front wheel was the only thing that hit the curb, but now there is a grinding/rubbing noise when the wheel is spinning.
As far as I can tell nothing looks visibly messed up besides some scrapes on the rim itself.
Does is sound like the wheel hub/bearing? I don't have a mechanic as we work on all our cars, but should I take it to a shop?
25 Apr 2013
I've been browsing and posting here long enough, that I have now decided to start a project log.
I bought the car in February 2012 and since then I have only had to change the tires, fix the oil cap and a leaking radiator hose.
The day I brought it home with 73,000 miles on it. Now it has 85,XXX
It was bought with
Boss 318 18x8
Front and rear camber kits
Lowered on the eibach pro kit
Viper alarm and remote start
35% tint all around
Slotted and drilled rotors
Boston Acoustic S60 6.5 components
Pioneer DEH-P690UB
Pioneer TS-A6964R
Sony XM4S mounted under passenger seat
Muffler delete with new tip
I've since bought or changed
Shorty antenna
2 MTX audio Thunder 55 & MTX Jackhammer 600
Normal maintenance
I have R1 concept slotted rotors and pads coming monday and I need to buy new struts since I'm pretty sure the previous owner lowered it on the stock ones.
As it sits now
17 Apr 2012
What do you guys think of these rims going on my car?
9 Apr 2012
I walked out to my car today to see a semi flat tire. So I drove home, checked the psi 12, air it up to roughly 42 and when I come back outside an hour later to leave for work it looks like this..
It was a Goodyear Eagle GT. Put on in February of 2012 and had about 1200 miles on it. 75% highway
14 Mar 2012
I have searched every way I can think of and didn't find an answer. My drivers side door NEVER wants to stay open even on level ground. Is their a way to fix this problem?
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Cisco 8850 One Port Fast Ethernet Co-processor Back Card, Cisco MGX-RPM-1FE-CP.
* We have limited quantity of MGX-RPM-1FE-CP in stock. Our inventory changes constantly and quantities listed are based on available stock. This item comes with our 100% Money-Back Guarantee.
I purchased a battery for my Gateway cx2610 laptop from Code Micro. I was very happy with the produ...
Jason G.
Great NorthWeb
Our department needed two discontinued drive modules for our servers. Code Micro delivered on time. ...
Mark E.
Citi Corp


text:
Motorola tried to anticipate the success of its newly released flagship device but this didn't seem to work quite well. The DroidX is currently out-of-stock in many retail store and on Verizon's online store. Current orders have a ten days delay and things aren't looking like it's going to change any time soon. On the other hand those who are lucky to have one should be happy to know that a software update is about to be pushed OTA starting tomorrow. Check out the details of the 1.13.604.MB810.Verizon.en.US/Baseband: BP_C01.09.04P firmware below:
Continue reading Motorola Droid X update coming, handsets out-of-stock →


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All prices are in All prices are in CAD
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Have tons of fun using balance techniques that are guaranteed to improve your performance. If you are serious about cross training for your paticular sport or activity, then the Indo Board is the ideal device to keep you tuned when you are not in the water. The Indo Board works for all surfers, whether you ride a shortboard or a longboard. Leg strength is the most overlooked physical necessity of all surfers. Improve your leg strength and your core strength and athletic parformance will improve guaranteed!
Colors: Blue, Wave, Green,
Primal Surf, Rasta and


text: Map and Directions Street View Commute Time Walk Score Driving Walking Transit Get Directions Close No driving directions were found. Please adjust your search. To: 46 1840 160, Surrey, BC From: Via: Directions turn left on street 4 minutes 2.5 miles Driving Directions - View this Property Today 46 1840 Property Details Property ID: 101409201 New Construction: No Style: Residential Status: Sale Pending Listed By Diane Thompson of CENTURY 21 Seaside Realty Ltd.


text:
Supply of the Fleet has posed a logistic problem that is virtually as old as the Royal Navy itself. In the days of wooden warships the requirements were relatively simple - powder, shot, timber, canvas, victuals and, of course, rum. But as the Navy grew in size and complexity its logistical needs became evermore diverse. By the end of the 19th century, wooden hulls and sails had given way to ironclads and steam.
The Royal Navy's supply chain was spread across the world with a network of base ports, coaling stations and depots. These were serviced, in the main, by Merchant Navy ships, owned or chartered by the Admiralty. Then, in 1905 the Lords Commissioners issued an instruction that stated: "Auxiliaries which belong to the Admiralty will be styled Royal Fleet Auxiliaries'... those on charter will be styled Merchant Fleet Auxiliaries'." Thus the RFA came into being.
Despite having this network of re-supply and refueling stations, the Royal Navy wanted the facility to refuel and resupply its ships while at sea, and this was initially carried out with stores and bags of coal passed from the stern of the supply ship to the bow of the warship by a system of ropes and blocks. Later, techniques were developed for the transfer of fuel oil, still using the astern method, but with oil pumped over through a flexible bronze hose.
It was not until the Second World War that replenishment at sea (RAS) became well established. The German method of transferring fuel in rubber hoses was adapted, and experience, particularly gained from Pacific operations, led to the abeam method of fuel replenishment and the heavy jackstay method for transfer of stores. Today, replenishment at sea is a routine operation, carried out from RFA ships in operations, exercises and deployments throughout the world. It remains, nevertheless, an evolution calling for the highest standards of seamanship as the ships sail in close proximity, linked together, in daytime or at night and in all weathers.
Reflecting this task as their core role, the RFA's current flotilla of 16 ships contains thirteen tankers and stores ships. The newest additions to the flotilla are Largs Bay and Lyme Bay, which are Landing Ship Dock with the latest diesel-electric propulsion system.
The two fleet support tankers, RFA's Bayleaf and Orangeleaf were all built as commercial tankers, but underwent conversion to bring them to RFA standards and equip them for naval support when they entered RFA service. One of this class is normally based permanently in the Gulf to support the Royal Navy's Armilla Patrol ships. The two small fleet tankers, RFA's Black Rover and Gold Rover complete the tanker fleet.
These ships, too, are normally deployed away for long periods, one to support the Falkland Islands Guard ship the other normally undertaking FOST (Flag Officer Sea Training) duties. RFA's Fort Victoria and Fort George are combined fleet support tanker and stores ships, designed to give "one-stop" support to naval task groups. Large ships of 31,500 tonnes displacement, they are able to supply both fuel and stores to ships at sea.
The other two Fort class ships, RFA's Fort Austin and Fort Rosalie, are fleet support stores ships to replenish warships with stores such as food, spare parts and ammunition.
All tankers and stores ships, with the exception of the Leaf-class, have large flight-decks, hangars and facilities to embark helicopters. These are used to carry out re-supply by transferring underslung loads, but can also operate from the RFA's as anti-submarine or troop carriers, thus making the RFA ships "force multipliers". In the 1998 Gulf crisis, both Fort George and Fort Victoria carried 5 helicopters with all their crews and support staff on a permanent basis.
RFA Argus's primary role is to provide operational flying training for Royal Navy aircrews. More than two-thirds of her length is given over to a five-spot flight deck, enabling her to operate all types of helicopters. The ship is effectively a small aircraft carrier, with a flying control position, and her two lifts built into the flight deck serve four hangar spaces below, where embarked aircraft are serviced and maintained. She can also function as an operational helicopter carrier, particularly in the amphibious warfare role, and as a logistic ship, able to transport cargo and vehicles in the hangars and on the deck. This flexible ship has one other important secondary role - that of primary casualty reception ship. Equipped with a hospital complex comprising two operating theatres and 95 beds, she can accept casualties flown straight out to the ship by helicopter.
Forward repair is the final element of the RFA's capability. This is provided by RFA Diligence, a complex ship fitted with workshops and equipment to cater for a wide range of repair and maintenance requirements at the front line of maritime operations. While battle damage repair is her wartime role, the ship is used extensively in her forward support role, acting as mother ship in support of Royal Navy units - usually minehunters or submarines - on distant deployments. Besides her heavy repair facilities, she is equipped to provide auxiliary electrical power, fuel, fresh water, sullage and crew accommodation.
Over the years the RFA has developed into a complex multi-purpose Flotilla, providing the Royal Navy with replenishment, training and forward repair capabilities, and the Army and Royal Marines with secure sea-borne logistical support. Despite all the changes one thing remains constant. The RFA continues to be manned by British seafarers who are part of Merchant Navy.
25th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict
Week by week summary of the RFA 25 Years Ago during the time of the Falklands Conflict.
Read More on the Falklands Conflict