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Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau today (Tuesday, March 13) announced he is stepping down at the end of 2012 as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. When he leaves office on Dec. 31, he will have served more than eight years as head of the world's premier public research and teaching university.
"I am deeply grateful to have been entrusted with the profound responsibility of leading this great institution and its outstanding faculty, staff and students through one of the most challenging periods in its 144-year history," Birgeneau said in a letter today to the campus community.
The internationally distinguished physicist plans to remain at UC Berkeley to teach and conduct research.
Appointed as UC Berkeley's ninth chancellor in September 2004, Birgeneau initially hoped to serve for seven years, but said he remained in his post longer because of the California economic crisis and the extraordinary challenges posed to the university by "the most extreme disinvestment by the state in UC's history."
Birgeneau's leadership enabled the campus to maintain and expand its excellence, preserve its unique public character, develop new sources of funding, improve investment strategies, streamline operations, and launch a groundbreaking middle-class financial aid plan.
"Although challenges still remain," Birgeneau said in his letter, "I am confident that we have put into place a clear pathway for the years ahead and strategies that will support Berkeley's ongoing excellence and its impact on the world."
University of California President Mark Yudof said Birgeneau "has proven to be a passionate, dedicated and effective steward of the world's greatest public university. He has been an ardent champion of academic excellence, as well as an unwavering advocate for the underdog.
"The chancellor has aimed high in his efforts to make UC Berkeley a truly global force in higher education and research, but he also has managed to preserve its historic standing in California as a beacon of hope and opportunity for all prospective students."
Said Hunter Rawlings, president of the Association of American Universities, ""Robert Birgeneau is a leading national spokesman for public higher education and for making sure that all qualified students, no matter what their income level, have access to an excellent education."
The first of three ideals: Leadership
In his inaugural address on April 15, 2005, Birgeneau listed three core values he would uphold as chancellor: leadership, connection and inclusion.
To keep UC Berkeley a leader in higher education, Birgeneau strove to maintain its excellence in research, education and public service. In all disciplines, the faculty continued to garner awards and honors, including three Nobel Prizes, in 2006, 2009 and 2011. Since 2004, UC Berkeley and MIT have led all universities in the United States and Canada with 43 Sloan Fellowships each for junior faculty who are outstanding early-career scientists.
The campus remains a destination for top graduate students and the top choice, along with MIT, for winners of National Science Foundation fellowships. In the 2010 National Research Council rankings, UC Berkeley ranked second behind Harvard University, and well ahead all other schools, in the number of graduate programs in the top-most group. A new record has been set in the past several years for applications to UC Berkeley's undergraduate program — more than 60,000 freshman applications were received for the 2012-2013 school year.
The campus's research funding has grown from some $500 million since Birgeneau arrived in 2004 to well over $700 million in recent years, and UC Berkeley is consistently ranked in the topmost tier of research and teaching universities in the world.
To support the campus's academic preeminence, a $3 billion fundraising campaign, the largest in UC Berkeley's history, was launched in 2008 and to date has raised $2.4 billion. Between 2005 and 2010, philanthropic giving to the campus grew faster than at any other university in the country, public or private, according to the Council for Aid to Education. Birgeneau also established the Berkeley Management Company to bring a new level of professionalism to stewardship of the campus's endowment.
Multidisciplinary connections
The chancellor's second pledge was to foster multidisciplinary connections on a campus with phenomenal breadth and depth of academic expertise, with the goal of solving pressing societal problems. UC Berkeley today is a leader in fields including alternative energy and climate change; the biosciences, bioengineering and stem cell research; and in finding ways to alleviate global poverty.
Multidisciplinary initiatives and centers launched under Birgeneau include the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute; the Energy Biosciences Institute; the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences; and the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies.
The connections Birgeneau has fostered include not only those on campus, but those made between UC Berkeley and society. Last year, the campus celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, which has dispatched in its history more UC Berkeley students than any other school, and established the Cal Energy Corps to send undergraduates worldwide to develop and deliver sustainable energy and climate solutions. The Blum Center's Global Poverty & Practice minor became the fastest-growing minor on campus.
"It is a privilege to be a student at Berkeley,…but with that privilege comes the obligation to give back to society in proportion to the benefits received," Birgeneau said at his inauguration.
Inclusion for all
Birgeneau felt his third ideal for the campus – inclusion – was so threatened as he took his post that he already was speaking publicly about the importance, post-Proposition 209, of access for all to public higher education.
Although tuition and fees have risen on campus due to loss of state funding, some 40 percent of UC Berkeley undergraduates now pay no tuition, and the cost for Pell Grant recipients, whose families usually have incomes under $45,000, has dropped over the past five years. The number of students with Pell Grants now constitutes 35 percent of UC Berkeley's student body –- about the same number of undergraduates as in all eight Ivy League schools combined.
Birgeneau recently made UC Berkeley the first public university to provide substantial financial aid for middle-income families. The Middle Class Access Plan limits parental contribution to 15 percent of family income for families earning between $80,000 and $140,000 annually. Overall, UC Berkeley students graduate with the lowest student debt among all public teaching and research universities nationwide.
A tireless advocate for the right to higher education for undocumented students, Birgeneau testified in Sacramento on behalf of the California DREAM Act, signed last October, which provides undocumented students the same opportunity to attend college as all Californians.
He also took up the cause of students who are former foster children, and upon winning the 2008 Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation, gave $50,000 of his prize to seed an endowment fund for UC Berkeley students from the foster care system, saying "they face unique and substantial financial challenges."
Birgeneau's 2009 Pathfinders to Peace Prize from the Shinnyo-en Foundation commended him for his "commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and to the integration of public service as an essential component of the academic experience."
UC Berkeley became, under Birgeneau's leadership, one of the first universities in the country to create a Division of Equity & Inclusion at the vice chancellor level. A 10-year strategic plan for equity and inclusion that engages the entire campus community was launched, along with the Haas Diversity Research Center.
Securing the future
In today's announcement, Birgeneau commended the UC Berkeley staff, who have experienced reductions and organizational change during the budget crisis, for responding "with great resilience and their engagement with Operational Excellence." The comprehensive effort, begun in 2009 to cut $75 million in costs by streamlining administrative operations, already has achieved more than $20 million in annual savings.
He also praised the financial management plan for Intercollegiate Athletics that saved four sports teams and the loss of Intercollegiate Athletics' status for another. "With the support of donors…," he said, "we were able to maintain these teams and establish viable plans for their sustainability."
Physics professor Robert Jacobsen, chair of UC Berkeley's Academic Senate, said that for eight years, "Chancellor Birgeneau has worked tirelessly to improve access and excellence at UC Berkeley, and I wish he weren't leaving. He has accomplished so much for faculty, staff and students, and his hard work and commitment have made a big difference in a tough environment."
"Bob Birgeneau has been a strong advocate and leading national thinker on the future of public research universities. He has had a deep commitment to educating a diverse student population, including Pell Grant-eligible students," added Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. "We will miss his thoughtful voice at the council of presidents and chancellors."
President Yudof plans to establish a committee to conduct a nationwide search for a new chancellor for UC Berkeley.
"I will continue to devote my full energies to leading Berkeley until my successor is appointed by the UC Regents," said Birgeneau, "and will work with him or her to effect a smooth transition."
The chancellor added that, after he steps down, he will return to the departments of physics and materials science and engineering as "a regular faculty member and hope I have one more truly significant physics/materials science experiment still to come in my academic career."
He said he also intends to work at the state and national levels to "to ameliorate the deplorable funding situation of our nation's great public teaching and research universities" and that he would continue his efforts, especially advocating for passage of the federal DREAM act, on behalf of "our most disadvantaged students."


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Before teams play their first matches, all players should read and completely understand the rules.
We'll do our best to keep this section updated at all times, but in certain circumstances this may not be possible. In the case of a discrepancy, decisions made by CEVO Staff will take precedence.
CEVO reserves the right to make changes to any/all rules as deemed appropriate by CEVO at any time in an effort to maintain the spirit of fair play.
All members are required to uphold and observe a universal level of sportsmanship. Any unsportsmanlike action which can include, but is not limited to racism, profanity, rude/vulgar acts, abusive remarks, and disrespect of an official are not tolerated. Users who engage in unsportsmanlike conduct are subject to suspension, match forfeits, or any other punishment that CEVO deems necessary.
Any accusations of unsportsmanlike conduct should be submitted in the form of a dispute and will be investigated by CEVO staff. UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT DISPUTES WILL NOT RESULT IN ROUND OR SCORE CHANGES.
Member game handles containing any of the following will not be tolerated: profanity, racism, sexism, drug use, or general vulgarity. Players found with offensive names may be contacted by an official and asked to change their name to something more appropriate.
Team Captains are in control of every aspect of the team. Team Captains have the right to edit team information, add or remove members on the team, schedule matches, report scores, and file disputes. Every team is required to have a Team Captain.
Assistant Captains are able to schedule matches, report scores, and file disputes. Assistant Captains are not required, but CEVO recommends that every team designate an Assistant Captain in case of an absence of the Team Captain.
Schedulers are able to schedule matches and report scores. Schedulers are not required, but CEVO recommends that every team designate a Scheduler in case of an absence of the Team Captain or Assistant Captain.
Coaches are currently only available in CEVO premium divisions and events. Coaches must be on the roster and marked @ready in order to participate in matches for their teams. Users who are assigned as a "Coach" can also in times of a man down, play as a player but must be marked as a member on the roster and rejoin the server after this change has been made and vice versa.
Team Names containing any of the following will not be tolerated: profanity, racism, sexism, drug use, or general vulgarity. Teams found with offensive names may be contacted by an official and asked to change their name to something more appropriate.
Team name changes are allowed at any time, but are limited to one change every 30 days. Additional changes may be requested from CEVO Support and will be approved on a case by case basis.
Team rosters are established during the registration period prior to the start of an event. Changes to team rosters may take place at almost any time before the event's final roster lock, this will vary by event type.
Players are not eligible to play in a match unless they are on a team's official roster and all teams are required to have the minimum number of players required to play a match on their roster to be considered an active team.
CEVO reserves the right at anytime to modify rosters for their events due to ongoing roster changes in professional teams and organizations. This mainly applies for CEVO-P and Professional Placement Tournaments.
Rosters that transcend events via qualification or placement must retain a majority of the qualifying roster in order to be considered the same roster and maintain eligibility.
Changes to the player designated as the Team Captain are permitted if the Team Captain would like to transfer leadership to another member of the team, has been removed from the event by an official, would like to leave the team, or has been mutinied by the other members of the roster.
The members on a team roster reserve the right to oust the Team Captain at any time during the event. For a team to enact this rule, a simple majority of the members on the team must cast their votes for a new Team Captain. In the case of a mutiny, the player with the most votes will be set as the new Team Captain.
NOTE: To be eligible to cast a mutiny vote, a player must have been on the team roster for at least one week.
Matches are to be scheduled and played on or before the deadline date of each round. Failure to schedule and play a match before the end of the deadline date could result in forfeit loss.
Teams are required to contact their opponent through the CEVO match communication thread prior to the match deadline date to establish the match time and arrange server information for any and all matches without a default time set by CEVO. Teams will be notified via email that a proposal is going to be automatically accepted in 8 hours if it isn't rejected by the expiration time. Teams will be limited to 5 active proposals per match at any given time.
While communicating via other third party applications (IRC, Skype, STEAM, etc.) is commonplace, CEVO will only accept communication logs from the CEVO match communication thread as evidence in the case of dispute.
When a match time is proposed the other team will have 24 hours to respond. Failure to accept or reject the match time proposal within 24 hours will result in the proposed time being auto-accepted.
Teams are NOT allowed to schedule or play their matches after the match deadline date without explicit permission from CEVO Support. Teams that require an extension to their match deadline date, should contact CEVO Support immediately. Match extensions are given by on a case-by-case basis and may not be permitted in certain events under any circumstances.
Teams that receive any forfeit wins may be automatically rescheduled against another opponent wherever possible at the discretion of CEVO. Forfeit losses will never be rescheduled. Playoff matches, group play matches, and ladder matches that end in a forfeit will not be rescheduled and will be counted towards standings.
All members are REQUIRED to install and run the CEVO CSGO Client application prior to playing in any CEVO event. This program will communicate directly with CEVO content servers, dedicated servers, and the member's client machine to provide game environment authentication.
Members that experience difficulties running the client are required to contact CEVO Support before starting their match. Players that are not running the client are NOT allowed to participate in any CEVO matches.
All players are required to be logged in to the client for the entire duration of the match. Players who do not meet this requirement may face a penalty to their team.
We insist that all members planning to play in any and all CS:GO events provided by CEVO keep their client up-to-date and ensure the client is working properly well before matchtimes. Delays caused by negligence resulting from this will warrant forfeits and forced gameplay such as 4v4 or 4v5 situations.
Teams may utilize their own dedicated server ONLY in the FREE/Open division, as long as it falls within the ping imbalance rule, is not hosted locally, and has the most recent CEVO configuration files installed.
In the event that a Non-CEVO server is used, ANY and ALL issues that arise from server problems will be the sole responsibility of the hosting team. This includes, but is not limited to, server reboots, round restarts, and map changes. Matches may be split and played on two dedicated servers only in the event of server problems and with CEVOs discretion.
All FREE servers are issued on a first come first served basis. The RCON holder is responsible for starting the match and should never alter any illegal commands when setting up the server for a match, (rcon status, sv_cheats, etc) or they risk suspension.
All PAID divisions are REQUIRED to use CEVO official servers unless otherwise explicitly stated by an official.
All teams that host a CEVO match on their own match server must ensure that the latest versions of CEVO's server configuration files are installed and running properly. It is the hosting team's responsibility to ensure that the proper configurations are installed and working as intended, prior to the start of the match. Once a match has officially started, teams may not file disputes for the use of incorrect game settings. CEVO does not typically allow modded private servers for use for official match use however upon both teams agreements, these may be allowed (ex. Warmod, eBot, etc) and in which you waive all rights to dispute illegal configurations.
The following server locations are available through CEVO:
Amsterdam, NL
Frankfurt, DE
London, UK
Los Angeles
New York
Paris, FR
Washington, D.C.
The difference between each team's average pings can be no greater than thirty milliseconds. Pings must be confirmed by logging into the agreed upon server and not through 3rd party tools like HLSW, or HLIT. Loss and choke will not be an acceptable reason not to play in a server; ping will be the only determining factor.
If the difference between the average team pings is less than (30) thirty milliseconds, the server is acceptable for play.
North America:
Members outside of the continental United States, Canada, & Mexico waive their right to the ping imbalance rule. CEVO officials reserve the right to force servers that may fall outside this ping imbalance rule to be played, in the event of another more equally balanced server not being available.
Members outside of the countries within the European Union waive their right to the ping imbalance rule. CEVO officials reserve the right to force servers that may fall outside this ping imbalance rule to be played, in the event of another more equally balanced server not being available.
Teams should propose server locations prior to their match scheduled start times. CEVO by default will set a default server if a prior server arrangement is not officially made and these servers MAY fall outside desired locations or ping imbalance rules. CEVO officials will determine what server MUST be used for the match if a dispute of ping is made.
If a server crashes during any match, all rounds that have been fully completed will count towards the final score. All remaining rounds of the match may be played on a new server using the CEVO configuration and a backup file (match medic) being restored as determined by CEVO.
Any and all server instability issues should warrant the match be paused immediately. In the spirit of sportsmanship, the round should be called "Not Live" by both teams in all chat if the issue is so severe fair play is not possible. All users should remain in the server and contact support immediately. CEVO reserve the right to restore or not restore match medics to servers that become unstable if both teams failed to agree upon calling the round unplayable and void.
Please contact support in order to have matches restored if a CEVO server was used.
A match can be formatted in several ways, Single Maps, Best of Threes, or more. A map within a match consists of two fifteen round halves. A map is considered complete once one team wins sixteen rounds or wins within regulation overtime.
Members are encouraged to play their matches from a LAN Center; however LAN centers MUST be able to run the CEVO CSGO Client.
Players that are going to be playing from a LAN CENTER need to notify CEVO Support prior to the match so there is no confusion regarding ringing.
All matches are to be played with a minimum of (4) four players per team. If a team does not have the required minimum of (4) four players at the deadline of fifteen minutes past the scheduled match time, the match should be reported as a forfeit win. Teams are not allowed to play with less than (4) four players unless the match has already started and a player(s) has disconnected.
Unless knife for sides is enabled, the home team has the right to choose which server and side they would like to start on. Teams are required to play one half as CT and one half as T.
Both teams have the right to play one half on their own server as long as it meets the CEVO Ping Imbalance requirements.
CEVO has the right to force teams to play their match on a specific server for any reason, regardless of the Ping Imbalance requirements for one or both halves (including overtimes).
It is each team's responsibility to verify that the opposing team's roster and player's Game ID's are correct prior to the start of any match. Once a match goes LIVE there can be no dispute filed for incorrect or missing Game ID's.
All players MUST enter their Game ID's prior to playing in their first match of the event as they will be used by CEVO for authentication purposes.
In Counter-Strike games, CEVO uses a player's personal SteamID as our Game ID.
All players in the FREE/Open division are required to record first person demos of all official matches. The players must keep first person demos for at least ten days after the match in case of an evidence request by CEVO staff.
Should CEVO staff request demos from a player, the player in question must upload them. If the player in question cannot produce the demos, they may face suspension and/or have their match score overturned.
If a player has been requested to submit evidence to CEVO, the player has 48 hours to comply.
Player substitutions are allowed at any time during the match. Only players with ready status on the team's roster page are allowed to substitute. A player is only allowed to join the game after the player who they are replacing has left the server.
Once a match has started, teams are not allowed to restart the match, unless a player drops from the server within the first minute of play and no recorded kills or bomb plants are on record.
CEVO is not responsible for players who experience connectivity problems. Teams should have substitute players available to join if a player gets disconnected from the game server. If a player disconnects for any reason, the server should be paused at the first available freezetime. If the lag out occurs within the first minute of play of the half and no recorded kills or bomb plants are on record, the round can be restarted via match medic. All disconnects after freezetime that do not occur during the first round or halftime rounds are subjected to be played out without match medic unless both teams come to an agreement for one to be issued.
If a match medic is needed, ensure the game is paused and contact CEVO support immediately through our TeamSpeak3 server.
In the instance of a tie after thirty rounds of play, overtime will be played. Overtime consists of two, three round halves. The startmoney will be set at $10000. If the score is still tied after the first overtime, another overtime will be played, this process will be repeated until one team wins. No CEVO matches are allowed to end in a tie. Overtime starts automatically within CEVO.
Players are allowed to edit their user configuration files in the native game directory provided that no changes are made to give the player an unfair advantage inside of the game.
No players, team managers, senior staff or management of participating organizations may be involved, either directly or indirectly, in betting or gambling on any of the their own matches in any CEVO hosted tournament, including sponsors. Any betting or gambling for OR against your own organizations matches can lead to player suspensions, match overturns and/or team disqualifications of the involved organizations as well as any addition sanctions CEVO wishes to apply. Any facilitation of "throwing" or "match-fixing" will also be a violation of this rule and all parties involved will penalized and suspended from CEVO.
In accordance to Valve, we will be respecting the following message and any bans they wish to implement for violating users:
"Professional players, teams, and anyone involved in the production of CS:GO events, should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches, associate with high volume CS:GO gamblers, or deliver information to others that might influence their CS:GO bets."
ALL players MUST use default game models. If a member is found using ANY NON-STANDARD models during an official match, it will be considered a violation of the rules and may result in a loss and/or termination from the event.
ALL players MUST use default sprites. If a player is found using ANY NON-STANDARD sprite during an official match, it will be considered a violation of the rules and may result in a loss and/or termination from the event.
Cheating in any form is considered a violation of the rules and will result in an immediate one year suspension.
Cheating is considered any manipulation of server configurations, client configurations, models, skins, weapons, graphics settings, or sounds to gain an unfair advantage in game. This can also include, but is not limited to, the use of any third party program not deemed legal by CEVO.
In order to maintain the maximum sanctity, integrity, and security of the anti-cheat application, CEVO will not reveal any information/evidence collected by the client to the public, player in question, nor his/her teammates in the event that a cheating suspension is issued.
Users found Cheating or Ban Evading current active Cheating suspensions will have their matches overturned.
Players that are going to be playing from a place other than their original point of registration should notify CEVO Support prior to playing a match. Failure to do so may result in a ringing violation, unless there is sufficient evidence to prove otherwise.
Any team caught using a ringer will have any affected matches overturned. The team captain and the player in question will also face suspension.
To discourage ringing and roster jumping, CEVO limits a users account from being able to play the same round / match for multiple teams within a single event.
It is illegal for any player to play on multiple teams at the same time. Players are not allowed to use multiple accounts to join different teams participating in the same event for any reason (even if they are separate divisions).
Players who are having trouble accessing their CEVO accounts should contact CEVO Support before creating new accounts.
It is illegal to intentionally utilize any game exploits including any exploits that are not explicitly covered in the rules. CEVO staff have discretion to determine the intention and extent of any exploit used in game. Players found intentionally utilizing game exploits to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents may face suspension or a reversal of rounds.
It is illegal to use a map exploit in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage that was not in the original intent of the game or mapmaker. Players found in violation of these rules will be penalized at the discretion of CEVO staff.
Account sharing is the act of allowing other user(s) to use your CEVO and/or STEAM account on our network.
Any and all users who account share are subject to ANY and ALL penalties imposed on any one of their accounts.
"ex. Account 1 was banned for CHEATING, Account 2 being owned and operated by the same user or being used by the user in violation also receives the same ban"
We strongly encourage all users to never share their accounts with anyone, including family members, otherwise risk joint suspensions.
•Undefusable Bomb Plants
It is illegal to plant the bomb in places where it is impossible to defuse.
•Floating Bomb Plants
It is illegal to plant the bomb in a way that it is not touching a solid entity.
•Silent Bomb Plants
It is illegal to plant a bomb in a location where it doesn't make the regular "beeping" noise.
•Covered Bomb Plants
It is illegal to use objects to cover a bomb where the opposing players cannot defuse.
•Bomb Defusing
It is illegal to defuse a bomb through any solid object.
At the completion of the match the winning team should report the final score. Team Captains, A-Captains, and Schedulers all have access to report match scores on the website.
If you have reported a match score incorrectly contact CEVO Support immediately to have the match score fixed and avoid potential punishment.
Currently for the FREE/Open divisions we require an end of game scoreboard screenshot and the console "status" screenshot of the game to report match scores.
Forfeit wins may be issued when teams do not have the minimum number of required players in the game server 15 minutes after the scheduled match time.
Teams that forfeit multiple times in the same event may be deactivated depending on the limits set and reached.
Forfeits are NOT to be reported as 16-0 victories. Teams must submit FFW requests and are either awarded automatically due to lack of check-ins or await admin approval.
Only the Team Captain or A-Captain has the right to dispute a member(s) or team that they feel is in violation of the rules. All disputes must be filed within 8 hours of the completion of the reported match. Playoff disputes or other events with stricter schedules are subject to dispute filing times anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Timely resolution of disputes is very important to us and usually rulings will be made within two weeks in normal seasonal play and within 24 hours for fast paced tournaments and playoffs. All parties will be kept up to date on the details of a dispute via email.
If you suspect a player(s) of violating the event rules, please list the specific instances where you believe the infractions occurred in the match, along with a detailed explanation and any supporting evidence.
Disputes that are submitted without specific descriptions will be rejected.
In the event of a match dispute, CEVO Staff may contact the parties involved via email and request all necessary evidence. Players will have twenty-four (24) hours to submit the requested evidence. Events with accelerated timelines, such as events where multiple rounds/matches are played in a single day, are subject to shorter deadlines.
Players/teams who fail to submit the requested evidence within the deadline may be subject to penalties.
In the event that a player or team is found in violation of any rule or CEVO Terms of Use, unless otherwise noted by the specific rule or term violated, the member or team in question may be warned, suspended, or immediately disqualified from any or all CEVO events as determined by CEVO staff.
Any team found with a cheating player during season or ladder play will have any matches the player in question participated in overturned. Any team found with a cheating player during any playoff, tournament, or bracket-based event will be immediately disqualified and removed from the event. Teams found with 2 or more cheaters/ban evaders or other serious violations will be subject to removal from any and all CEVO related events as well.
CEVO reserves the right to arrange shared or exclusive casting and broadcasting of any match for any CEVO event. Media partners may be given the right to contact teams directly for server information to facilitate casting. Teams failing to cooperate with CEVO's media partners or CEVO staff may receive a forfeit loss or be removed from the event. CEVO also reserves the right to allow multiple or exclusive "betting" sites to post CEVO matches regardless of participating teams approval. Teams or players that fail to play their matches or refuse to cut personal broadcasts because of the above can and will be forfeited, not awarded any refunds for entry fees paid for the said event and potentially suspended.
Teams are allowed and encouraged to arrange their own match coverage and casting provided both teams agree and CEVO does not reserve the right for exclusive coverage. This agreement should be posted in the official match communication thread. Either team may refuse unofficial (not arranged by CEVO or CEVO's media partners) live casting at no penalty. CEVO does not provide match spectator information for their own servers and no casting is allowed on CEVO Premium servers without consent from CEVO.
All outside casters must have a delay set at no less than 120 seconds. It is the responsibility of both teams to verify that the coverage delays are set properly before starting the match. Matches that begin without the proper delay will be accepted as is, and cannot be disputed after the fact.
Every "Ready" player on the roster will receive an equal share of the team's prize money, regardless of whether or not they participated in any matches, and only players who have submitted their earnings forms within 30 days of the conclusion of the event will be paid out.
All fully registered domestic players on qualifying / winning teams are eligible to claim prize winnings. If an individual or team qualifies to receive event prizing, the following policies MUST be observed.
Physical Prizes: All individuals eligible to receive physical prizing (computer cases, graphic cards, etc.) will need to submit a CEVO earnings form. These forms will not only provide as acceptance of your prize, but will provide CEVO with the physical address for the delivery of the prize. CEVO will pay for all costs associated with the shipping of the prize but will NOT be liable for any associated customs duties or taxes. Any physical prizes NOT claimed within 30 days of the conclusion of the event will be forfeited. Any cash prizes NOT claimed within 30 days of the conclusion of the event will be subject to a 30% fee to cover taxes and additional administrative fees.
(FOOD AND DRINK PRIZES: CEVO cannot by law send food or beverage internationally and will provide the winning individual with a cash supplement equal to the value of the prize.)
Cash Prizes Under $600.00 USD: All individuals eligible to receive prizing less than $600.00 will need to submit a CEVO earnings form. ALL winnings less than $600.00 will be distributed via PayPal within 14 days of CEVO receiving the earnings
Cash Prizes Over $600.00 USD: All individuals eligible to receive prizing greater than $600.00 will need to submit a CEVO earnings form. ALL winnings greater than $600.00 will be distributed via company check 30 days after the conclusion of the event.
If a winner is under the legal age of majority in his or her state of residence, the winner's parent or legal guardian must also sign the Competitive Earnings Release Form. Sales taxes, if any, and income taxes, are the responsibility of each winner. Each winner, by entering in any CEVO event or contest, consents to the inclusion of his or her name on a list of winners made available to any and all sponsors.
CEVO prides itself on fair and expedient distribution of prizes to all players for whom reward is rightfully earned.
In the event that a team is disqualified from event for any reason, the entire team will forfeit their prizes to which the team would otherwise be entitled.
Any team that willingly retires from an event prior to its conclusion (for example, opts to forfeit the final match rather than play) will forfeit their rights to all prizes.
If any player or team is currently under formal dispute by an opponent or internal review by CEVO, prize claim forms will not be processed until the resolution of said dispute or review.
CHEATING IN A CEVO EVENT CONSTITUTES A FORM OF FRAUD. In the circumstance that a player is awarded monies or product and then later found to be cheating at any point by a retroactive examination of the player, that player will be required to repay CEVO the full amount of money earned or full market value of product distributed (at the time of distribution) before being allowed to return to competitive play at the end of the suspension.
All event prizes are determined prior to the event opening for registration unless otherwise stated by a contributing sponsor.
For a copy of the Winners list, send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to the following address:CEVO Inc.
[NAME OF EVENT / CONTEST] Winners List, c/o CEVO Inc.
PO Box 1844
Sykesville, MD 21784
To obtain a copy of these Official Rules, send a stamped, self-addressed business-size envelope to the following address:CEVO Inc.
[NAME OF EVENT / CONTEST] Rules Request, c/o CEVO Inc.
PO Box 1844
Sykesville, MD 21784
To the extent permitted by applicable law, all events, contests, and these Official Rules will be governed, construed and interpreted under the laws of the state of Maryland, USA.
These Official Rules are subject to any requirements/limitations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission.
All CEVO events and contests are subject to applicable Federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations.
Members agree to be bound by these Official Rules and by the decisions of CEVO, which are final and binding in all respects.
CEVO reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify any contest or event, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures or any other factor beyond CEVO's reasonable control affect the administration, security or proper play of the event or contest or CEVO otherwise becomes (as determined in its sole discretion) incapable of running the event or contest as planned. CEVO reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual found in violation of the Official rules, tampering with any of our software applications, or tampering with the registration process or the operation of any event or contest.
CEVO's failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.
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CEVO reserves the right to modify these rules as needed. This includes changes due to software updates or releases, and all other changes deemed necessary by CEVO, Inc.
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All contact with CEVO officials should be performed through (http://www.cevo.com/support/) or Teamspeak3 at ts.cevo.com

subset: commoncrawl


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On NBC News' live Wednesday night debate coverage a clearly upset David Gregory was shocked that Barack Obama didn't hit Mitt Romney with the liberal media's favorite talking point, as he whined: "He didn't bring up the 47 percent!" Obama not mentioning the hidden camera video of Romney talking about the 47 percent also stunned NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams who asked Savannah Guthrie: "Were you surprised we didn't hear the number 47?"
Obama's debate performance threw the NBC News crew for a loop as even the normally liberal team admitted Romney scored a stylistic victory, as he appeared more "energetic, aggressive" and "crisp" than the incumbent Obama. (video after the jump)
After the initial praise for Romney, NBC's reporters quickly turned on Team Obama as they seemed to be urging them to get their boss to do better. Williams pestered White House adviser David Axelrod "Would your advice to your boss be, do the same thing next time? Present the same President Obama as you presented tonight or would you counsel the President, your boss to make some changes?....So you're perfectly happy with his energy level and his demeanor tonight?"
After the Axelrod interview, Gregory, Williams and Guthrie kvetched about the lack of "47 percent" talk:
DAVID GREGORY: But I think the entire Obama team and the Vice President are gonna get a lot feistier here. I mean the President made a decision not to get in Romney's face a little bit more. Stop him, disagree with him. He didn't bring up the 47 percent! He had a whole, you know, area to discuss the role of government and he didn't talk about a philosophical divide! I think they're now gonna go and become a lot more aggressive, because they see an aggressive challenger. And it's not enough to do rope a dope and sit back and try to sit on a lead. So I think there is gonna be a different thought process that goes on.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Savannah were you surprised we didn't hear the number 47?
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: I was and in fact an Obama adviser told me earlier today: "We're not gonna play it safe. Don't believe those stories that say we're just playing not to lose." And yet I think that's what we saw the President doing. The other thing he needs to do is, is, it's really the unfinished business of this campaign is tell the American people what's the unfinished business of this presidency. Why does he need another four years to accomplish what he needs to accomplish. I'm not sure we heard a very crisp and coherent message from the President on that tonight.
The following are the elevant exchanges as they were aired on NBC's October 3 live coverage of the first presidential debate:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: It appeared that an energetic Mitt Romney showed up for this face time tonight before a national audience.
DAVID GREGORY: Energetic, aggressive. Came like he understood that the stakes were high. That he's behind in this race. And what a contrast Brian? President Obama looked like a president who felt like he had a pretty comfortable lead in the polls and wanted to stay above the fray. Decidedly un-feisty in his approach. A lot of people felt that he was not very crisp in his presentation. Perhaps, should have been more crisp after four years in the White House. Governor Chris Christie, on Meet the Press Sunday, said there would be a different narrative in this race, come Thursday morning. I think a lot of Republicans are gonna feel that, that's indeed the case.
WILLIAMS: Out to Denver we go. Our political director Chuck Todd. Chuck, first of all how did it play in the room? And second your impressions of what a national audience will take away. How this changes things going into the next two gatherings between these two men?
WILLIAMS: Tom Brokaw is another member of our team in the arena, in Denver. And Tom the conventional wisdom has a way of kind of bubbling up during the event. And I imagine one of the plotlines tomorrow will be here's Mitt Romney, as we said energized, coming right from the game. He has been in an active, very active campaign heretofore and the President has been on the job, in that realm, during this whole time.
TOM BROKAW: Well Governor Romney did spend a lot of time in this debate and it paid off. He had a well-organized narrative. He knew his brief and this is the candidate that the Republican Party has been waiting to show up, as a matter fact. And a lot of businessmen I have talked to have dealt with Mitt Romney in the past have been bewildered by his performance as a candidate. But this is the Mitt Romney that they described to me, as he sat down at a table and did a deal.
He had a cycle of themes that he wanted to keep coming back to. The objective realities of the economy and what's going on within it. The fact that he would not raise taxes, he insisted, on the middle class. He accused the President, at one point, of not knowing what he was talking about when it came to deductions for jobs overseas. And at the conclusion he came back, again, to the whole idea that he thinks the private sector can do a much better job than the federal government can do and that the President has not delivered on his own promises of four years ago.
The President has a tough brief to defend on the other hand. The economy is still not in very good shape. Obamacare? However you may feel about it, is a complex piece of legislation. So tonight probably – and I don't like to make these kinds of judgments generally – tonight will gladden the hearts of a lot of Republican operatives and the people who are working for him in the states around the country.
GREGORY: You had, in a challenger tonight, someone who was feisty. Who was, who was long on ideas and vision. And it does remind me a little bit of Bush/Kerry 2004. An incumbent who falls into that trap of saying, "Look I know this material. I've actually governed." and doesn't seem quite as sharp. And again this was about getting a second look for Mitt Romney. I think he's earned that tonight.
WILLIAMS: Now to David Axelrod. David, I want to read Ron Fournier tonight in National Journal. "Call it the curse of incumbency. Like many of his predecessors, President Obama fell victim Wednesday night to high expectations, a short fuse, and a hungry challenger." Guilty as charged?
WILLIAMS: Let me ask this a different way, because as we've been saying perhaps north of 50 million Americans watched tonight as a television presentation as the first chance to see these two men, their demeanor side by side. Would your advice to your boss be, do the same thing next time? Present the same President Obama as you presented tonight or would you counsel the President, your boss to make some changes?
WILLIAMS: So you're perfectly happy with his energy level and his demeanor tonight?


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The following are the terms and conditions of entry to the 2020 Stevie® Awards for Great Employers. By submitting entries to the competition you assent that you have read and agree to abide by these terms and conditions.
Entry Fees
Entry Fees differ per category and are listed on the awards web site. Entry fees must be paid before entries will be submitted to judges for review.
You may withdraw one or more entries from the competition and receive a refund of entries fees paid for those entries through June 3, 2020. After that date entries may still be withdrawn, but no refunds will be issued. If for extraordinary circumstances after June 5 we must submit your entries for judging before entry fees are paid, your entries will be nonrevokable and entry fees will be payable.
Acceptance of Stevie Awards Correspondence
Every entrant has a designated point of contact: a person with whom we communicate about the disposition of entries submitted. We will send regular email correspondence to your organization's point of contact, especially after Stevie Award finalists are announced in August 2020. Your organization's point of contact agrees to:
Maintenance of Your Entry Account Information
Your organization's entry-submission account on the Stevie Awards for Great Employers website, through which your entries are submitted, will contain the contact information for your point of contact, including that person's name, postal mailing address, email address, and telephone number. Your organization's point of contact agrees to maintain the information in this entry-submission account and update it if and when necessary.
Final Decision
In the event of a dispute as to the category in which an entry(s) will be judged, the decision of the Stevie Awards staff will prevail. Judges may recommend that an entry be switched to a different category, and at their discretion Stevie Awards staff may change an entry's category.
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Any offline materials submitted as part of your entries will not be returned.
Payment of Shipping Fees
Stevie Award winners who are not represented at the September 17, 2020 awards dinner in Las Vegas, Nevada USA to accept their award(s) will be assessed a shipping fee for their award(s). Only sponsors and honorary nominees will not have to pay shipping fees. Shipping fees payable will be as follows:
Stevie Award Winners in the U.S.A.
• U.S. $30 per Gold Stevie Award trophy
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• U.S. $300 per Gold Stevie Award trophy
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If you are liable to pay shipping fees, they will be automatically charged to the credit card to which entry fees were charged, approximately 10 days after the awards banquet, unless you first provide us with an alternate means of payment. Your organization's point of contact with us will receive an email in advance of the charge, noting the date that the charge will be made. If entry fees were not charged to a credit card, you will be invoiced for your shipping fees and payment is due upon receipt of your invoice. That invoice will be emailed to your point of contact.
Non-payment of shipping fees is not an option: if you submit entries to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, you agree to pay the fees due if any awards you win are not accepted at the September 17 awards dinner in Las Vegas. You may not opt out of paying them by asking to not receive your awards.
See the section above headed Maintenance of Your Entry Account Information. We reserve the right to charge you shipping fees twice if your award shipment is returned to us because the shipping address in your entry-submission account is wrong, or you otherwise did not provide us with an alternate shipping address, and your awards are returned as undeliverable to us or to one of our award manufacturers.
Publication of Stevie-winning Entries
The full-text of Gold Stevie Award-winning entries will be published on Stevie Awards for Great Employers web site approximately 90 days after the awards dinner. Gold Stevie Award winners will be given the opportunity to redact any confidential or non-public information from their entries before publication. If you should have one or more Gold Stevie Award-winning entries in the 2020 Stevie Awards for Great Employers, you agree to respond promptly to our request for edits or redactions to those entries before publication.
Failure to comply with these Terms & Conditions will render your entries ineligible. Entry fees will not be refunded.


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For Information Contact Public Affairs
Charming Phillips (202) 514-6933
Telephone Technician Convicted in $1 Million Fraud Scheme Against the US. Department of Education
Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Roscoe C. Howard, Jr., Inspector General for the Department of Education Lorraine Lewis, and Van Harp, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, announced that Maurice W. Hayes, 54, of Fort Washington, Maryland, who was a participant in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Department of Education was found guilty today by a jury in United States District Court of the three charges against him: one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States with respect to false claims and two counts of theft of government property.
Hayes' convictions arose from his participation in a schema through which the Department of Education was defrauded of more than $1,000,000. Each of the counts of conviction carries a maximum of ten years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for June 21, 2002, before the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan.
According to the Government's evidence, Maurice Hayes was a technician employed by Bell Atlantic Federal Systems (now Verizon) who was assigned full-time to the Department of Education to install telephone systems. He worked alongside Robert Sweeney, who also was a Bell Atlantic Technician, and William Cousin, who was a technician with Lucent Technologies. Any hours, including overtime and holiday hours, that these technicians claimed to work for the Department of Education were billed to and paid for by the Department of Education. Sometime in the 1990's and continuing up until December 9, 1999, Hayes, Sweeney, and Cousin began to claim that they were working far more overtime hours than they had actually worked. Sweeney and Cousin testified that they met with Hayes in the mornings to discuss how much time they should put on their time sheets for the prior day's work. They decided that because they were supposedly working together that their time sheets should reflect the same amount of time or it would appear suspicious.
In addition to adding hundreds of unworked hours to their time sheets, the evidence showed that the technicians also were involved in conspiring with Elizabeth Mellen, who was a telephone specialist at the Department of Education. First the technicians began to perform personal services for Mellen She sent the technicians during the workday and on weekends to drive her daughter to doctor's appointments, to buy her crab cakes from Baltimore, install phone jacks at family members' homes, to perform yard work at family members' homes, and other personal errands. In exchange for these favors she permitted the technicians to claim that they were working overtime on legitimate Department of Education work at the time they were performing these personal errands, When Robert Sweeney was in Bermuda getting married, Mellen allowed him to claim he was actually at work for the Department of Education. Hayes submitted Sweeney's false time sheets for him while he was away and also fabricated a false time sheet claiming that Sweeney had put in eight hours of overtime on the Saturday. The government's case also included extensive evidence that Hayes and Sweeney were outside the District of Columbia making cellular telephone calls at times they claimed to have been working at the Department of Education.
The evidence also showed that the technicians assisted Mellon with her plan to obtain large amounts of electronic goods for her family members through the Bell Atlantic contract. Sweeney ordered the goods on the Bell Atlantic contract and helped deliver these to the family members. As a reward for the technicians' assistance with her personal errands and obtaining the goods, Mellen approved their false labor charges. The technicians kept quiet about all of these activities to ensure that they could continue to double their normal wages with their vastly overstated overtime claim.
As a result of this scheme the Department of Education was charged for over $800,000 of false overtime charges and over $300,000 worth of illegitimate goods. Elizabeth Mellen, Robert Sweeney, and William Cousin had previously pled guilty for their roles in the scheme. Fourteen people have pled guilty as a result of their participation in this scheme, including nine of Mellen's family members. Three more family members are pending trial in April.
In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Howard, Inspector General Lewis, and Assistant Director Harp commended members of the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Government Fraud Squad. In particular, they praised the outstanding investigative efforts of OIG Special Agent Brian Hickey and FBI Special Agent Thomas Chadwick. In addition, they commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara A. Grewe and Greg Marshall of the Public/Corruption/Government Fraud Section, who prosecuted the case.


text: ingramator 70 Posted February 2, 2013 Windows to Go Hey guys this is a tutorial on how to set up a Windows to Go (a live Windows 8 boot) USB using any version of Windows provided you have a copy of Windows 8. Things you will need: A USB or external HDD with 16GB of space (It is actually possible to do it onto an 8GB drive but depending on its actual formatted capacity you may have to remove a few drivers etc.) A copy of a Windows 8 disc or ISO (Any version is fine including upgrade ones) you can grab a free 90 trial here Less that 30 minutes of time depending on your hardware Instructions: Locate your Windows 8 disc or ISO and mount it Navigate to \sources and copy the install.wim file to your desktop or other convenient location Insert your USB or HDD and format the partition as NTFS with the default allocation Download the free GImageX (http://www.softpedia...s/GImageX.shtml) and extract it Run the x86 or x64 version depending on the version of Windows you are using Navigate to the "Apply" tab In the source section enter or browse for the location of the install.wim we copied earlier In the destination section enter or browse for the location of the device you want to use for Windows to Go Leave the checkboxes unchecked and hit apply After imaging process is complete navigate to Disk Management (type in partition at search and you will find it) Find the partition you are using for Windows to Go and right click it then -> "Mark partition as active" - this will allow us to boot from this partition, if its already active then don't worry about this step Navigate to your Windows to Go disk and go to \Windows\System32 Open up CMD from this location (or change directory to the above folder) and enter bcdboot.exe X:\Windows /s X: /f ALL[/CODE] where "X" is your Windows To Go drive letterCongratulations! Your Windows to Go device is now ready and all you will have to do is boot from the USB at startup then run through the one time configuration settings![b]Tips:[/b]Double check the drive letter when flashing the device because if you have other partitions then you will screw them up Use a USB device with a high read/write rate because it will enhance disk IO performance on the machine you are running it on. USB 3.0 and or an SSD will greatly increase performance! Copy a few installers to a folder on the USB for easy setup when you're up and running Try not to unplug your Windows to Go device whilst the computer is still running because it may cause data corruption but if you do you will have 1 minute before it shuts down You can use this method to quickly flash SSDs, HDDs, USBs and SDs with a custom image of Windows 8! If you have any problem feel free to comment below and PM me! 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall; at Puzzle Warehouse we have them all! Find jigsaw puzzles perfectly suited to match the weather no matter what season.
Use the filters to the left or select from the categories belows:
Copyright © 2008-2020, Puzzle Warehouse, All rights reserved.
Puzzle Warehouse recycles everything it can to save the environment and to keep costs and prices low.
We are Hiring! Please fill out the employment form or send your resume to email@example.com.


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WWC Checks
Acquiring and Displaying Images of Children
PCA Member Protection Policy
Privacy Policy
Extreme Weather Policy
PCA Concussion Policy
Fire Plan - PCVEC
Health Policies
First Aid
Anti Doping
Anzac Day Sport
Death-Major Accident
Event Organising Committees should manage the risks associated with running events in hot weather and always seek to provide a safe environment for participation by riders, spectators and officials.
Guidelines have been created to help clubs/event organisers make informed decisions on managing their activities during hot weather.
The Guideline for Event and Activiies on Hot Days is based on information obtained from EA, Sports Medicine Australia and The Bureau of Meteorology. Guidelines for Events and Activities held on Hot Days
Bureau of Meterology
Information on temperatures including WBT can be found on the Bureau of Meterology website which is updated daily for all regional weather stations.
State Thermal Comfort Observation direct links can be found below:
Hot Weather Resources


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princess parties necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 138 diseños de 35 diseñadores freelance.
Princess Parties (or Kids Birthday Parties of Utah parent company) http://aprincessparty.net http://kidsbirthdaypartiesofutah.c
I'm a stay at home mom (4 kids). We love parties. We send Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid, Spiderman, a pirate to do birthday parties for kids. The actors sing, tell stories, play games, do a craft and face painting or balloon twisting at birthday parties. I'm looking for a bright, fun, logo.
Our target audience is moms of young kids (ages 3-10). Affluent moms who would rather pay somebody than to handle their own party.
I want a log that incorporates the words Princess Parties or Kids Birthday Parties of Utah. Bright or pastel colors in a legible font. No font that looks like kids writing or curlz font. Professional and clean bright colors and font requested. Perhaps a simple picture behind the words or incorporated as part of the business name. Something that incorporates the birthday party theme like a cupcake, balloon etc... Would love to see any ideas. I really like the colors of parentsconnect at http://www.parentsconnect.com/paren…ntertainer but I would like the letters to have consistency of thickness (instead of how the letters go from skinny to thick and back to skinny on the parentsconnect site) The colors are great.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Yummy Plants: a vegan lifestyle website and community. We can help you start a vegan diet!
vegan latina
Texans, get ready for a day of live music, guest speakers, cooking, and fun! Venture out to the first ever Austin Texas VegFest Saturday, March 31, at the Fiesta Gardens West End from 11am to 6pm. The festival will promote and celebrate plant-based diets for a healthier and sustainable future.


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Tennessee Mortgage Broker & Loan Officer License Education
Obtaining a mortgage license and becoming a Tennessee loan officer is very simple, but it's not for everyone. It takes a willingness to learn the basic ins and outs of the industry as well as a desire to work hard. The mortgage industry is a great one to get into and it provides a lot of flexibility. If you like to work hard, you are a people person, and you have a desire to learn, becoming a mortgage loan officer is the perfect choice for you.
This bundle is now available at discounted rate of $399 $259
Use Coupon Code: TNPEDEAL
Already licensed in another state? Purchase the 2 hour course separately!
Use Coupon Code: TNPE39 Only $39
For questions about ordering or other information, call (801) 676-2520
Mortgage Broker vs. Mortgage Loan Officer – What's the difference?
Mortgage brokers and mortgage loan officers are often confused with each other. Because of this, most people looking to get a mortgage broker's license are actually looking for a mortgage loan officer's license. So what is the difference?
Generally speaking, a mortgage broker is a company that employs mortgage loan officers. The loan officers are employed by the broker to originate loans for home buyers when they are looking for a loan for their mortgage.
So what kind of courses do I need to do to get started on my license?
Tennessee requires 20 hours of national mortgage education, in addition to a 2 hour TN state-specific laws and rules course. Mortgage Educators offers both of these courses in a low price bundle of $259. It includes both education courses, and a comprehensive test prep course to help you score well on the NMLS national test.
New mortgage license education, or "pre-license education" must be completed in either a live classroom or online instructor-led format. Mortgage Educators & Compliance provides these courses weekly in an Online Instructor-Led (OIL) format. These courses are presented by instructors via pre-recorded video with slideshow presentations. Courses are broken up into chapters comprised of 5 minute sections and quizzes that make up the overall content. At the end of the course, students should expect a short test to check for comprehension. All hours are reported to the NMLS upon completion by Mortgage Educators & Compliance.
Additional questions?
Mortgage Educators & Compliance is here to answer any questions that you may have in regards to your Tennessee mortgage license. Feel free to call us at (801) 676-2520 or email us at email@example.com.


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FCADV recognizes that law enforcement officers play a critical role in responding to domestic violence calls. A victim's initial contact with officers is more likely to occur after s/he has experienced multiple incidents of violence at the hands of the perpetrator. Historically, the criminal justice system's involvement with victims and perpetrators began only after serious injury and after a pattern of abuse had been well established. Today, law enforcement officers have more tools than ever to enhance the safety of victims and to hold perpetrators accountable for their violence.
The FCADV, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, and the Florida Sheriffs Association are working together to provide tools and resources to assist law enforcement officers in responding effectively to domestic violence. FCADV's Advanced Law Enforcement Training emphasizes evidence based prosecution and seeks to focus on the crime and its impact, without relying on the victim's participation in the prosecution. A victim may not feel safe to participate in the prosecution because of threats made by the perpetrator. Danger for victims often escalates when s/he pursues legal remedies through the criminal justice system. Evidence based prosecution of domestic violence cases relies on the prosecution of the offender without testimony from most or all of the key witnesses. Instead, the attention is placed on gathering alternative forms of evidence including, but not limited to, excited utterances, photographs, 911 calls, and other important forms of evidence.
To request more information, please contact us here
School Resource Officers and Teen Dating Violence
School Resource Officers have the ability to make a difference in their schools and be a positive influence in the lives of their students. One area of significant impact is in Teen Dating Violence. These videos address the laws and philosophies that deal with Teen Dating Violence as well as best practices for engaging students as they make decisions about their dating relationships.
- Video: School Resource Officers- Engaging Students to Understand and Recognize Teen Dating Violence
- Video: School Resource Officers – Identifying Your Role In Responding To Teen Dating Violence
Photographing Domestic Violence Evidence
Photographic evidence collection is a critical and very powerful tool during the investigation of domestic violence crimes. When physical injuries are evident to an officer who responds to a domestic violence call, photographic documentation of those injuries will assist in the prosecution of the batterer, without the victim's direct testimony.
- Photographing Domestic Violence Evidence-Guidelines
- Video: Photographing Domestic Violence Evidence
- Request Cameras and/or Information (InVEST)
Additional Resources
- Video: Risk Assessment Training for Law Enforcement
- Video: Excited Utterances - Law Enforcement Training
- Video: Use of Body-Worn Cameras for Law Enforcement
- Video: 911 Operators: Handling A Domestic Call For Service
- Video: Trauma Informed Interviews - Part 1
- Video: Trauma Informed Interviews - Part 2
- Invest Palm Card
- Law Enforcement Update - Volume 1
- Law Enforcement Update - Volume 2
Related Links
- National Institute of Justice: Digital Evidence & Forensics
- International Association of Chiefs of Police (I.A.C.P.): Bringing Sexual Assault Offenders to Justice Video
- I.A.C.P. Investigative Strategies and Supplemental Report
- Police Response to DV - Reference Card
- Stalking Resource Center: A Program of the National Center for Victims of Crime
- Stalking Resource Center: A Program of the National Center for Victims of Crime, 'The Use of Technology To Stalk'
- Responding To Domestic Violence, Model Policy Number Two For Florida Law Enforcement
- Florida's Model Policy on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence
- Responding To Sexual Violence, Model Policy Number Two For Florida Law Enforcement
- Contact Us


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After 20 years of website design I have reached a conclusion, at least one for the time being.
Having been self-taught in HTML from 1995 I have tried Joomla, ModX and a variety of other CMSs before settling on WordPress. It's pretty good now, having started as a clunky web-blog like all its contemporaries.
However, having gone through dozens of themes and plugins over the last few years, WP does have its drawbacks. Anything related to the blog aspect it is unsurpassed but to web pages, it still holds no candle to HTML code. I cannot count the times I have tried to customise some aspect of a web page using WP and come away – hours later in some cases – completely frustrated. Frustrated because what I wanted to do would have been accomplished in a few minutes with a straight HTML site.
I have taught HTML to a number of students over the years and some have gone on to take up web design as a career. Their environments have dictated other software such as Dreamweaver. To a man, they have all reverted to driving the code with straight HTML even though it may have eventually imported into Dreamweaver.
I think that more effects are possible through standard jQuery plugins than through WP plugins. To implement an effect using one takes a few minutes and to customize it takes a few more. A WP plugin can also be implemented quickly – though not as quickly – but to customize one means CSS mining at best. At worst, the customization may not be possible, at the end of struggling for a couple of hours. It is no wonder that jQuery plugin authors design for jQuery first and then – maybe – for WP.
Further, HTML sites have one tenth the code of WP sites and load very much more quickly and their content therefore is far more visible to search engines.
So, I would say that for websites that do not need updating frequently, use HTML. If the client wants a blog then tack one on.


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Dealing With Today's Teen IssuesSkip to the navigation
Topic Overview
Imagine growing up today: Your best friend got a nose ring, tattoos abound in gym class, and classmates talk about everything from hairstyles to sexual orientation in Internet chat rooms. Think about raging hormones, a need to rebel, and peer pressure in your child's daily life. It's no wonder that teens and preteens have the potential for making mistakes that could affect the rest of their lives. Some of these mistakes may involve alcohol and drug use or abuse , high-risk sexual behavior , or violence . Your teen may also be dealing with stress or depression .
The world has changed so quickly that parents may not recognize the pitfalls awaiting their children. You may be shocked and confused by your child's completely unfamiliar world. Help your child to make good choices by understanding the daily pressures he or she must deal with. Don't isolate yourself from his or her reality out of fear or feeling uncomfortable.
Ask your child to tell you about anything that bothers him or her, such as bullying or a concern about a friend's actions. And have ongoing talks about your child's everyday activities.
- Stay involved. Know who your child's friends and their parents are. And know where your child is and what your child does in his or her spare time. This doesn't mean you should grill or nag your child. Instead, show interest and demonstrate that you care about his or her general welfare.
- Remember to listen, listen, listen. The best way to find out the issues your child faces is to keep discussion open and listen to what he or she talks about. Avoid the 2 Ps-patronizing and preaching.
- Support his or her interests. Ask questions about which subjects and activities excite him or her, and try to expand on them. For example, if your daughter loves to draw, consider visiting a museum to expose her to other art forms.
- Don't panic. Just because your child expresses a desire for something you disagree with, don't jump to conclusions. For example, if your daughter wants to get a tattoo or a navel ring, it does not mean she is on drugs and on a downward spiral. If she gets good grades, has good friends, and responsibly juggles a full schedule, she is likely just trying to express her individuality-separating herself from her parents by trying to identify with her peers-and a navel ring is one way of doing that. Regardless of the solution, attentively listen and try to understand her viewpoint. Be willing to say: "The problem is ours. We are worried because of ... "
- Seek compromises. Although parents need to set clear boundaries about what is acceptable to them, older children often rebel against parental dictates and absolutes. A navel ring may be one way your child tests his or her limits. As a compromise, you might offer more acceptable ear piercing or temporary tattoos.
Set clear limits about the Internet and text messaging. Email, chat rooms, instant messages, social networking websites, and text messages are being used to taunt kids or hurt their feelings. And most kids have Internet access-which virtually brings the world into your home, including pornography, hate propaganda, and intense advertising. Internet safety tips for your family include:
- Keep the computer in a shared area where you can see what your child is doing online.
- Check the Web browser history.
- Don't let your child use chat rooms. Your child may not realize he or she is communicating with a predatory adult.
- Use filters or other parental control features and block certain websites.
- Talk to your child about the potential dangers of the Internet. Get to know your child's online friends. And tell your child not to give out any personal identifying information or meet with an online contact.
Related Information
ByHealthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics
Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
John Pope, MD, MPH - Pediatrics
Current as ofMay 4, 2017
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Previous Section:Related Information
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Current as of: May 4, 2017
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review: Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics & Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine & John Pope, MD, MPH - Pediatrics


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Did you know you know #FF is short for #FollowFriday? A Twitter trend created by Twitter users as a shout out, a show of appreciation, a nice thing to do. Each Friday, you recommend Twitter profiles that you appreciate and enjoy to all of your followers. I've decided to bring the Follow Friday feeling to my blog, too, and each week I'll try to dedicate this post to the top posts or bloggers of my weekly theme.
Going forward this also means, that if you want me to consider your blog, or a particular post, please email me on firstname.lastname@example.com – if you want me to mention you that week, please make sure to email me before Wednesday @8pm (UK time). Oh and to make things easier on me, please write "Follow Friday" in the subject field.
Before I mention the bloggers I've chosen, I want to address something! A few people have contacted me and accused me of only mentioning my friends. Let me just make something completely clear: I don't have to mention anyone!! This is a post I enjoy writing, and where I feature the best blog posts I've read that week. I don't play favourites!!! But if you do want your blog featured it's pretty dang easy. All you have to do is follow the above instructions and I'll mention you. See… EASY!!!!! Okay, rant over!! 🙂
Without further ado, here's my chosen ones to show this week:
🌺 Ally is looking at the types of book reviewers in her discussion post.
🌺 Krysta is talking about HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHERE TO DONATE BOOKS? such an interesting subject, even if I am a greedy one and keeping all my books to myself.
🌺 SE White is giving A Tool for Detecting Passive Voice: Author Toolbox and by zombies, it's both good and funny!
🌺 Jay wants us to get to know him better in DID YOU KNOW?…NEW SERIES, EPISODE 1.
🌺 Siobhan is talking about Do Bloggers Need to Use Trigger Warnings?
🌺 Jamsu is Learning to Let Go
🌺 Sofii is celebrating that she reached 3000 blog followers with a Twitter giveaway
What is the best post you've written and read this week? And don't forget that if you would want to participate by having your blog mentioned, send me an email as mentioned above.
Twitter 🌺 Goodreads 🌺 Pinterest


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KISS – Sonic Boom (2009, KISS Records)
- Modern Day Delilah
- Russian Roulette
- Never Enough
- Yes I Know (Nobody's Perfect)
- Stand
- Hot And Cold
- All For The Glory *
- Danger Us
- I'm An Animal
- When Lightning Strikes **
- Say Yeah
*(Eric Singer on lead vocals)
**(Tommy Thayer on lead vocals)
Band Lineup:
Paul Stanley – Guitars & Vocals
Gene Simmons – Bass & Vocals
Tommy Thayer – Guitars & Vocals
Eric Singer – Drums & Vocals
Producers: Paul Stanley & Greg Collins
Country: USA
Total Time = 43:19
It's been 11 years since KISS released a brand new album of new material. Back in 1998, the band released PSYCHO CIRCUS, the first album from the original KISS lineup of Peter, Paul, Ace and Gene in 20 years. The band was deep into their reunion success and the album came out to initial success…..then the power of the Internet took over and the project was exposed. PSYCHO CIRCUS was hyped as a unified band effort but plenty of information came out that not all the members contributed, some barely even played their instruments! The KISS machine took it's first serious hit broadside and I never looked at my favorite band the same way again. Now I have SONIC BOOM in my hands, the first album with the current masked lineup including Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. The album is the first to be released independently by the band (with Wal-Mart distribution) on their own label (KISS Records) and it's being hyped as "Klassic KISS" in line with albums like KISS (1974), DESTROYER (1976) and LOVE GUN (1977). Co-founder Paul Stanley has taken over the reins of KISS musically as producer and he basically forced all the members (Gene Simmons in particular!) to write songs and play their own instruments to make this a true band effort. To call SONIC BOOM a classic KISS record in line with the band's roots is what the KISS hype machine usually says about any new album that comes out. KISS is always going to hype anything they do with their usual grandiose bombast so the band's credibility is always on the line. After the Reunion Tour of 1996-1997, the band took a ton of shots with PSYCHO CIRCUS, the Farewell Tour, replacing Ace & Peter with Tommy & Eric, Gene's reality TV series and tons of merchandise. Any normal band would duck tail and run for cover but to KISS any press is good press and they have remained in the spotlight despite all the criticism. Even the talk of never releasing a new album was all talk!
The opening track is the first proper single, 'Modern Day Delilah'. Having heard this song the most with local radio airplay and seeing the band in concert pre-release date, I have to say it's a solid KISS song. It's like a cross between the CREATURES OF THE NIGHT & REVENGE eras with a driving bassline and solid vocals. The song has a typical thick chunky Thayer riff, Singer uses his double bass technique to the fullest and there are good background vocals. There are a couple of lead vocal lines that sound a little familiar and KISS has never been afraid to borrow from themselves. I can hear a slight similarity on a couple of lines to a line from 'When Your Walls Come Down' on CRAZY NIGHTS (1987). Paul also sounds a little strained when hitting the high notes just like he did in concert, that could also be the way the song is supposed to be sung. Many KISS diehards will recognize the song title 'Russian Roulette' as one Gene has been trying to use for years. He finally gets to use it on SONIC BOOM and it's another pretty good song recalling more REVENGE era. It has that heavy thick sound that defined mid-'90s KISS and you can hear some quick basslines that have similar counterparts in 'Spit' and 'Paralyzed' from REVENGE. It's not a total copy, just a quick hit here and there, and Gene's voice sounds pretty good considering that he's had vocal issues live since 2003.
Every KISS album has an anthem and 'Never Enough' fits the bill perfectly. It kind of reminds me a little of 'Raise Your Glasses' from PSYCHO CIRCUS due to the song's upbeat positive attitude and celebration of all good things. The problem is that the song sounds exactly like Poison's 'Nothin But A Good Time'…..seriously. The main guitar and vocal lines on the verses sound almost exact! I've sat there and sang the Poison lyrics and they fit. Paul had a problem like this on PSYCHO CIRCUS with 'Dreamin' because it sounded like Alice Cooper's 'Eighteen' in certain parts. Eventually Alice sued and a settlement was reached, I hope Bret Michaels isn't listening! Take the Poison connection out and you have a pretty good song, very upbeat 'Shout It Out Loud' style with a solid vocal from Paul. The return to the classic KISS style starts with 'Yes I Know (Nobody's Perfect)' with Tommy Thayer channelling Ace Frehley for his guitarwork and Eric Singer simplfying his drum style to do his best Peter Criss. The song is very Rock 'n' Roll, not Hard Rock, and it could easily be mistaken for a late '70s KISS song. Another good vocal performance from Gene with the classic lyric of "it's time to take off your clothes". Listen to the guitar solo and tell me Tommy can't do Ace to a tee and Eric has Peter down to a science with that small touch of cowbell. A very '70s style song and that's what Gene & Paul mean when they say "Klassic KISS".
Paul Stanley guided the direction of the album this time around and his influence is heard on 'Stand'. It's a strong co-lead vocal between Paul & Gene, something that they did successfully throughout their '70s heyday, but it has that modern edge that could have fit onto Paul's recent solo album LIVE TO WIN (2006). Very catchy and melodic with good background vocals and a breakdown mid-song that reminds me a little of the harmonized part in 'God Gave Rock 'n Roll To You II' but not as long. This is one of my favorites of the album. More sexual innuendo from papa Gene with 'Hot And Cold' and more cowbell from Eric Singer. This is another solid Gene song with a '70s style because Thayer does another good Ace impression and Singer drums down to Criss' level. The background harmonies at the end of the song give it a vintage sound that could place this song on one of the first three KISS records. I'm not sure I like the fact that Thayer and Singer do good impressions of Ace and Peter, I would much rather have them put their own stamp on the songs. Singer has a solid double bass drum sound and Thayer has always been a talented guitarist, I just wish more of their personal talents would be used but the Starchild and the Demon are in charge.
The first chink in the armor comes with the Eric Singer lead vocal debut on 'All For The Glory'. The vocal is pretty good, anyone who has seen KISS in concert since 1992 knows that Eric sings well with his performances on 'Nothin to Lose' and 'Black Diamond' specifically. It's just a weak song lyrically but the performance is good. 'Danger Us' is another Paul Stanley song that could have easily fit on LIVE TO WIN with it's modern edge. It has a bit of '80s era KISS to it as well but the guitar work from Thayer sounds like Ace again so it gives that classic Kiss sound again. I like the bass line from Gene, it drives along with the main riff and provides a good base. This would be any even better song if Tommy could use his own guitar tone. Gene Simmons is the "God Of Thunder", he is "Dr. Love", and he's a "War Machine"…..now he's an "animal". 'I'm An Animal' follows the direction of those type of big Gene songs and it has the heavy CREATURES/REVENGE sound…..I'd say more CREATURES. Of all the Gene songs on SONIC BOOM, I like this one the best. Very heavy, good vocal, heavy drums and crunching guitar…..Tommy finally gets to do his own thing and not the Ace thing. He gets to do his own thing again when he makes his lead vocal debut on 'When Lightning Strikes'. Tommy sounds a lot like Gene vocally and I almost couldn't tell the difference, if you put Gene on lead it would sound almost exact. Tommy's vocals are complimented well with the background harmonies and the song has a modern feel to it. The guitar solo continues with the Ace Frehley tone but the overall song sounds mostly up to date. If you compare 'All For The Glory' with 'When Lightning Strikes' the difference is the songwriting but I'll give both new masked men credit for performing very well. The final song is 'Say Yeah' and it has that modern upbeat sound Paul used on his last solo record. It's got a melodic hook on the bridge to get you singing along but the main chorus is a little simple with it's "say yeahs". More Ace inspired solo work from Tommy but the overall guitar sound is very thick and modern. Another favorite from the album.
Let me just take some time to also mention the packaging and bonuses. The 4 panel full-color glossy digipak is very similar to ROCK AND ROLL OVER (1976). The artist, Michael Doret, was brought back to give KISS a larger than life, iconic image in the same style as the ROCK AND ROLL OVER cover. A couple of added bonuses are also included: a second CD of re-recorded KISS songs and a bonus DVD of KISS live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 2nd disc is actually the 2008 Japanese release JIGOKU RETSUDEN and the DVD from Argentina isn't a full show but it is from the band's ALIVE 35 international tour and is a multi-camera Pro Shot show. For $15, that's a lot of KISS.
Bottom Line:
I bought SONIC BOOM at Wal-Mart on October 6 when it was officially released and it's been my Album Of The Month for October. I've taken so long to review it because I wanted to live with it, listen to it daily and give a fair unbiased opinion. KISS fans are passionate fans and a lot of us always like to look at the positive aspects when it comes to our band…..even if it's plainly obvious to everyone else that things aren't always what they seem! If you take away all the issues surrounding lineup changes, the makeup, the merchandise and all the "final" tours and focus on the actual music then you'll hear a very good, a very solid KISS record. The best thing that could have happened was letting Paul Stanley oversee the album, he's been the talent in KISS and the driving force to keep the band going creatively since the early '80s. If anyone knows what a KISS album is supposed to be, it's Paul Stanley! By making the actual band members write and perform, Paul has given KISS more respectability. Overall, I would say that this is a strong KISS album. I would classify it as the natural progression from REVENGE (1992) and CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1997) and definitely better than the last KISS studio album PSYCHO CIRCUS (1998). There is a "classic" feel to some of the songs mainly due to Thayer & Singer performing as their masked couterparts Ace & Peter would, as well as, Gene's songwriting. The "classic" sound isn't limited to the '70s era as you can hear plenty of '80s & '90s KISS influences and some of the more modern moments from Paul's lst solo venture. For me, the strongest moments are when the band stays in the heavy modern range like on 'Modern Day Delilah', 'Danger Us' and 'Russian Roulette'. The weakest songs are the two debut lead vocals of Singer & Thayer, 'All For The Glory' and 'When Lightning Strikes', and they aren't even that bad! I also just realized that there isn't a ballad included on SONIC BOOM, usually KISS throws in that ballad just to have a ballad but they've stayed the course with the heavier uptempo songs. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with this album, I admit that even I was a little skeptical and I've been a KISS diehard since 1978! SONIC BOOM is very well done and is a good album, it's definitely one of my favorites of the year.
Favorite Songs:
I like the entire album but the standout songs for me are 'Modern Day Delilah', 'Russian Roulette', 'Stand', 'Danger Us', 'I'm An Animal' and 'Say Yeah'.


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My what a big stick you have there. Mike Banks covers the current issue of Inside Lacrosse and may shatter a few stereotypes about the complexion of the sport. The 6'3 and 205 lbs University of Albany player is described as the "next best defensive linesman" in college lacrosse. Banks has an interesting personal story. He is an ex-offender and former gang member and turned his life around while incarcerated. Banks was all-American in high school and is now one of the leading lacrosse players in the country.
A few more scans of Mike Banks and his very, very big stick.


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- CMC C-123 (PHO Box #2).
- Fonds
- [ca.1895] â [1945], copied 1998.
Items consist of photographic images featuring Hyma Helen Newland, Caryl Patricia Johnston, and (presumably) Catherine Haimes on the occasion of their marriages. Also found here is a photograph of Georgina M. Jury, from whom the donor's grand...
Line, Catherine


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During the course of life, man is tested in his reactions to the incidents he encounters and in his inner thoughts. During this trial we encounter two alternatives: we either listen to the voice of our divine guide, our conscience, or we conform to the lowest form of our selves, which initially always lead to wrong. Allah draws attention to these two voices in the following verses:
And the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity or taqwa. (Surat ash-Shams: 9-10)
The unregenerate self, which is the lowest form of the human self (nafs) turns to rebellion, evil and disobedience of Allah's commands. It actually obeys evil prompting man to disregard attaining the good pleasure of Allah and to be committed to his own desires. The evil does this stealthily. If a person does not listen to the voice of his conscience, he will simply be deceived by evil whisperings of his self.
However, in every circumstance, the conscience never remains quiet until one breathes his last. Despite the stealthy inculcation of the evil, the conscience commands us to do virtuous and blessed deeds.
Surely this is a matchless system and a great favour Allah grants man. No matter which incident man encounters in life, no matter where he goes or what origin he has, he possesses a guide to the truth. Always keep in mind that you possess a guide to the truth. Never pretend that you don't understand this inner voice.
Furthermore, conscience is not an inspiration peculiar only to believers. It exists in every individual, including disbelievers. However, that believers always comply with the voice of their conscience makes them different. Disbelievers, on the other hand, satisfy their own desires despite what their consciences tell them. Allah draws attention to this subject in a story about Ibrahim. In the Qur'an, Allah relates the following dialog between Ibrahim and his people which occurred after Ibrahim broke the idols, which his people worshipped, except the biggest one:
They said, "Did you this to our gods, Ibrahim?" He said: "No, this one, the biggest of them, did it. Ask them if they are able to speak!" They consulted among themselves and said, "It is you yourselves who are wrongdoers." But then they relapsed back into their disbelief: "You know full well these idols cannot talk." (Surat al-Anbiya: 62-65)
The people who uttered these words were actually the ones who decided to cast Ibrahim to the fire. Even these people, so cruel in attempting to kill a prophet who was assigned the duty of guiding them to the truth, had consciences telling them the truth. Yet as the verse suggests, "they were blind and deaf" (Surat al-Ma'idah: 71), they pretended not to understand the truth.
Like every other man, you have both a conscience and an evil who misleads you. You also hear the voices of your conscience and your evil. If you want to attain the good pleasure of Allah and truthfulness, don't pretend that you don't hear the voice of your conscience.
A person may feel concerned that he is not able to distinguish these two voices. Yet, keep in mind that conscience does not fail to see the truth for a moment; it instantly tells the truth. However, as one hears this voice, the evil immediately tries to mislead the self. The self makes various excuses. The evil strives to thwart one from doing what one's conscience whispers. In other words, encountering an incident, what one initially hears is the voice of the conscience. All the excuses we make against following this voice are the voice of one's self. At the moment you hear this voice of the conscience, don't pretend you don't grasp that this voice, calling you to the good pleasure of Allah, is your conscience.
If one ignores the voice of the conscience, in time, one becomes almost a slave of the self, becoming prone to any kind of wickedness. Since such an attitude is merely an expression of one's own preference, one fails this test, and loses the blessed eternal life - unless Allah wills otherwise - whose loss is eternal deprivation. Man bears the sole responsibility of being a slave of Allah, which can only be achieved by acting by the Book and by following one's conscience. Allah calls the end of those who pretend not to understand this fact 'failure' in the following verse:
He who purifies it has succeeded, he who covers it up has failed. (Surat ash-Shams: 7-8)
Surely almost every one has experienced the inner pain that regret gives. The main cause of this feeling is not following the commands of conscience, which is also a divine warning to man. In some circumstances, this pain is not relieved until one amends one's misdeeds or changes one's flawed preferences; it simply turns into spiritual torture. So, do not pretend you don't grasp it, when you are full of remorse. This is surely a sign of a misdeed you have done; your conscience has already told you what you did wrong and where you did it. Take this chance to compensate for your misdeeds in this world, while there is still a chance. In the Hereafter, the regret you will feel will be unbearable and will remain with you for all eternity, unless it is for the forgiveness of Allah and His mercy.
Even though your self thinks of it as a difficult task or it is unwilling to follow the conscience, don't pretend that you don't grasp your conscience is guiding you to the truth. Be certain that Allah has infinite conscience; if you persist in following the Qur'an and are alert to what your conscience commands, then Allah will bountifully reward you for all your deeds, even for the ones that may seem insignificant to you. Meanwhile, surely those who remain heedless of the Book and about their consciences will not be treated the same in the presence of Allah.