text:
Santa Clara, CA (PRWEB) August 29, 2013 - Giva® today announced surpassing FrontRange Solutions HEAT® head-to-head in the competitive law firm IT help desk market. Giva benefits organizations with a strong focus on increasing first contact resolution, improving customer satisfaction, decreasing call volume with root cause analysis and exceeding service level agreements (SLAs). Giva's visual reporting tools make identifying trends and patterns easier and quicker and with less time building, running, sharing and reviewing reports. Based on word of mouth comparisons from customers that have utilized both service management packages, Giva's cloud computing SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution has moved to a leadership role for IT service management for law firms, healthcare institutions and other high visibility professional firms.
For example, Lewis and Roca LLP, which provides IT technical support to 450 attorneys and staff across six geographically dispersed sites used FrontRange HEAT for many years before switching to Giva. Their reported results included a 70% increase in attorney satisfaction, a 70% increase in overall IT productivity and a 95% first contact resolution with Giva's knowledge base, among other significant improvements.
"I used to spend approximately 8 hours per week configuring, customizing, running and printing reports to manage the IT service desk. With Giva, I spend only 30 minutes per week and the quality of the metric information is 80% better," Stacy Bowdish, Manager of Technology Service Operations, Lewis and Roca LLP
"Throughout my career using a number of other IT service desk systems, I used to spend approximately 8 hours per week configuring, customizing, running and printing reports to manage the IT service desk", said Stacy Bowdish, Manager of Technology Service Operations, Lewis and Roca LLP. "With Giva, I spend only 30 minutes per week and the quality of the metric information is 80% better. We have also increased the number of calls and walk-ins documented by 50% since it is much easier to use due to its intuitive design. Our firm was able to get up and running on Giva 75% faster than deployments we had with other well-known tools. Giva has significant expertise working with law firms and that perspective and insight also helped speed the deployment. Overall, it is 80% easier to navigate within Giva as compared to our old system. It is approximately three to four times faster to create a service request in Giva since you have all the information that you need in a single screen so clicking is minimized." [Click to download the case study.]
"Giva has eliminated the need for programmers to manage and maintain the IT service desk application thus saving significant labor hours and costs", said Ron Avignone. "There is no coding or scripts to write or arcane administration to learn. The administration is simple and intuitive. We've built a highly differentiated cloud-based product that provides an extraordinary and easy to use experience. Giva's real-time reports and dashboards can be built without any effort, and our products can be customized without any consultants."
Founded in 1999, Giva was among the first to provide a suite of help desk and customer service/call center applications architected for the cloud. Now, with hundreds of customer driven releases, the Giva Service Management™ Suite delivers an intuitive, easy-to-use design that can be deployed in just days and requires only one hour of training. Giva's robust, fast and painless reporting/analytics/KPIs quickly measure team productivity, responsiveness and customer satisfaction resulting in faster and higher quality decision-making. Customization and configuration are all point and click with no programming or consultants required to deliver a substantially lower total cost of ownership. Giva is a private company headquartered in Santa Clara, California serving delighted customers worldwide.
Email: email@example.com
Phone: 408.260.9000
Giva is a registered trademark of Giva, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.


text:
Most Linux photographers use graphical applications like digiKam, Rawstudio, or darktable as their tools of choice for processing and managing photos. But it is possible to set up a photographic workflow built around command-line tools that can handle a wide range of photographic tasks: from fetching photos from your camera and convert RAW files to the JPG format, to backing up the photos on a remote machine and even publishing them on the web. Here is a sample workflow you can use as your starting point.
The first order of business is to set up a dedicated working directory for storing photos transferred from your camera:
mkdir ~/fotki
Next, make sure that the gPhoto software is installed on your system. gPhoto is available in the software repositories of many popular LInux distributions, so you can install it using your distro's package manager. On Ubuntu, this can be done using the sudo apt-get install gphoto2 command. Connect then the camera to your machine and run the gphoto2 –auto-detect command. If your camera is supported, the command should return brief camera info.
To transfer photos from the camera to the fotki directory, run the following commands in the terminal:
cd ~/fotki
gphoto2 --get-all-files
If your camera supports tethered shooting, you can use gphoto2 to automatically transfer photos from the camera as soon as you take them. To do this, use the gphoto2 –capture-tethered command.
Once the photos have been transferred, you might want to change their names to something more descriptive. One way to do this is to use the exiftool utility (on Ubuntu, you can install it using the sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl command). For example, the following command renames Nikon RAW files using date info from EXIF metadata:
exiftool -d %Y%m%d/%Y%m%d-%H%M%S.%%e "-FileName<DateTimeOriginal" *.NEF
If you shoot in RAW, the UFRaw utility can come in handy when you need to convert RAW files to the JPEG format. To install it on Ubuntu, run the sudo apt-get install ufraw command. Use then the ufraw-batch tool to convert RAW files:
ufraw-batch --out-type=jpeg *.NEF
The command above uses the default options for converting RAW files, and to get the best result, you might want to tweak them. For a full list of supported options, run the man ufraw-batch command. Here is an example of a more advanced ufraw-batch command:
ufraw-batch --wb=camera --rotate=camera --out-type=jpeg --out-path=jpeg/ nef/*.NEF
The good old rsync utility can take care of backing up your photos to a local destination, external storage device, or a remote server. For example, the following command backs up the fotki directory to a server on the local network using a secure SSH connection:
rsync -avhe ssh --delete ~/fotki user@remotehost:/home/user/fotki
Finally, if you want to publish your photos on the web, the llgal tool got you covered. It can generate no-frills static HTML galleries. As any command-line tool worth its salt, llgal supports a handful of options for you to tweak. The -R option, for example, can be useful if you want llgal to include subdirectories into the final gallery. To give the gallery a name, use the –title option as follows: –title "Garden Flowers." llgal doesn't generate thumbnails, so if the source directory contains large image files, it's a good idea to limit their width and height to a specific size. This can be done using the –sx and –-sy options. And you can use the –exif option to display EXIF metadata for each photo. To sum up, here is an example:
llgal --exif --li -L -R --title "Garden Flowers" --sx 800 --sy 600
To see a list of all available options supported by llgal, run the llgal –help command.
These are just a handful of tools you can use to set up a command-line photographic workflow on Linux. There are, of course, many other handy command-line tools out there you can incorporate into your workflow. Using, for example, the HDR script, you can automate the process of creating HDR images, while the Enfuse tool (it's part of the Hugin software) can be used for focus stacking.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I learned that a long walk and calm conversation are an incredible combination if you want to build a bridge.
Local Area
Early Check-In Available
Express Check-In Available
Late Check Out Available
Minimum Check-In Age: 21
Daily Self-Parking Fee
Accessible Parking On-site
Wheelchair Available
Service animals are allowed
Learn more about the IHG Green Engage™ system
Welcome to Crowne Plaza Northstar!
Whether this is your first stay with us or one of many we want to welcome you to our beautiful hotel located in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.
We are centrally located and connected by skyway to most major businesses and entertainment venues.
Our beautiful rooftop Skygarden event space is perfect for corporate and social events. We have exceptional dining in our Café Northstar and Krona Bar & Grill.
All our meeting space is located on the 7th floor for your convenience, and our wonderful staff is here to assist you ever step of the way!
We offer a 24 hour fitness center located on the 7th floor of the hotel. The fitness center offers treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bike and free weights. DISCLAIMER: Under renovation from Nov 19-30 and alternative area will be provided.


text:
Students are learning in over 45 languages
Over 100M students have tried an Hour of Code
Participation of female students in computer science is only 20-25% of high school courses, university courses, and the workforce.
During the Hour of Code, female students make up 50% of all participants!
Here are a few options:


text:
Choose any 3 digits and make a 6 digit number by repeating the 3
digits in the same order (e.g. 594594). Explain why whatever digits
you choose the number will always be divisible by 7, 11 and 13.
Find the number which has 8 divisors, such that the product of the
divisors is 331776.
Amazing as it may seem the three fives remaining in the following
`skeleton' are sufficient to reconstruct the entire long division


text: BEV5TA 24 Posted April 22, 2013 Hey guys, I use to use a pre workout before most went off the shelf, such as the famous jack3d. I have tried one very soon after they released preworkouts without that ingredient that was banned (forgot the name?) and was very disappointed. However, I know most dont recommend using it, but what is a "good" preworkout in the market? Something that you can feel it kicking in and actually working, like or close to the old ones. Thanks in advance. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Thank you for your donation.
Our organization is dedicated to helping everyone who suffers from Scoliosis, and other spinal deformities, enhance their quality of life.
An 80-year-old friend was lifting a corner of the mattress while making her bed when, as she put it, "I broke my back."
In fact, she suffered a vertebral fracture — a compression, or crushing, of the front of a vertebra, one of the 33 bones that form the spinal column. This injury is very common, affecting a quarter of postmenopausal w...
Scoliosis International is dedicated to supporting scoliosis patients and their families from diagnosis through recovery. Scoliosis International recognizes the significant impact having corrective surgery has on patients and their families. The recovery and rehabilitation process can be overwhelming to families whose resources are already strained. In order to assist patients and families in their time of need, Scoliosis International is seeking to bridge the gap between the hospital and home.
Scoliosis House will act as a transitional facility in close proximity to the leading hospitals in spinal care for patients and their families on both a pre-operative and post-operative basis. On a pre-operative basis, Scoliosis House will team with
Scoliosis is an affliction that does not recognize borders, and therefore, Scoliosis International aims to operate as a non-profit without borders. While patients in the United States have access to cutting edge treatments and physicians with the skill to set them on a course toward a normal life, patients in other countries may not be as fortunate. Scoliosis and spinal deformities must be identified early and treated quickly for patients to have full expression of their lives.
Not all people have easy or regular access to medical care, let alone specialists who have the ability to identify and correct spinal deformities.
If you have not suffered a vertebral fracture, adopting an exercise routine that improves posture and strengthens back muscles can go a long way toward preventing one. And if you are already plagued by back pain due to vertebral fractures, the exercises and protective movements described below may bring relief and prevent the problem from getting...
Scoliosis International recognizes the importance of community. When facing a difficult diagnosis, it's comforting to be able to turn to people who have been in your shoes. Scoliosis International will host support groups for families to share their experiences, trials, and happy endings. As membership grows, Scoliosis International will host sessions focused on more individual needs. For example, Scoliosis International will host meetings specifically for patients to gather and discuss everything from their diagnosis, surgery, recovery, and coping mechanisms.
Scoliosis International recognizes the importance of family support, and will also host meetings specifically to meet the caretakers and parents needs. Caretakers will be able to share their stories, their anxieties, and find companionship and support in those in their same position.
Scoliosis International recognizes the importance of innovation and development. Without the labor of researchers, scoliosis would wipe out any opportunity to function on any normal level. It is important that researchers continue in their quest to find more advanced predictors of scoliosis, better screening techniques, and expand the field of treatment options.


text:
Personal Statements, Resumes, and Letters of Recommendation / Re: please butcher my PS« on: October 05, 2009, 09:41:48 AM »
I actually think the content of this essay isn't so bad, if you would just pick one of the examples. Too much of your essay repeats how others thought badly of your decisions and the personal statement is supposed to be about you. It's okay to mention how you were strong and independent enough to make your own decisions, but right now the focus seems to be: "all these people told me not to, but everything turned out well for me, haha to them." If you started out with some hook describing the conflicting feelings inside you as you knew you had to choose between Georgia Tech and Southern Poly, and then really took the reader through your decision making process, it would allow the admission committee to know more about you, instead about your vindication about your decisions. You could do the same thing with your decision about high schools or marriage (although I don't know how adcoms view personal statements about relationships. I've actually always wondered about this, so anyone who does know, please enlighten me) if you choose. However, I agree with lollypotter that your second essay idea seems more interesting and compelling, but I know some schools require additional essays, so I just wanted to tell you that your original idea isn't completely hopeless =)
I actually don't disagree with much of this. But I still think the original essay was scarily not good.


text:
DCF speaks about Cherish Perrywinkle's family
New documents of history released
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Department of Children and Families has released documents showing the history of their involvement with Cherish Perrywinkle's family before the 8-year-old was killed.
Police said the little girl was kidnapped, raped and killed by sex offender Donald Smith last month on Jacksonville's Northside.
Since then, sources have confirmed Cherish's half-sisters were taken away from their mother, Rayne, after a DCF investigation.
There were five different investigations released to Channel 4, all involving the allegations of abuse or neglect in the Perrywinkle home, but DCF officials said there was never enough evidence that Cherish or her siblings were in enough danger for them to be removed from their parents.
"April 29, 2006 -- mother accused of shaking Cherish forcefully because she was crying. We investigated and found no indicators of physical injury," said John Harrell, DCF spokesperson.
Harrell went over some of the things Cherish Perrywinkle's mom, Rayne, has been accused of. According to recently released reports, in 2006 Rayne "did not pick up Cherish" after daycare.
In 2009, DCF investigated after Cherish's father, Billy Jerreau, was accused of spanking the girl and leaving a mark. He has since been accused of other crimes, including molesting a child that wasn't his.
In 2009, Cherish's mom accused someone of molesting Cherish, but the report doesn't say who.
And in 2012, investigators looked into allegations that Rayne and her boyfriend had an argument, one where the mother was left bruised.
DCF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS: January 2006 | April 2006 | February 2009 | May 2009 | May 2012
But John Harrell said all of these claims are just allegations, and DCF never found enough for the kids to be taken away.
"There had been prior times where DCF had been called to the home, where we had investigated reports of abuse or neglect," Harrell said. "There were never cases where there was evidence strong enough to take Cherish into protective custody. We could not find enough evidence that she was in danger due to serious abuse or neglect, and that's the key criteria that we look at."
Sources said that after Cherish was killed, Rayne Perrywinkle's two other children were taken away for the time being. Harrell said he can't speak about anything involved with that case because of confidentiality laws. However, he did say DCF had been working with the family previously, and referred them to places that could help.
"There had been extensive involvement over the years with services, to help the mother, to help the family," said Harrell. "We're talking about counseling, therapy that had been going on over the course of several years."
Channel 4 asked Rayne Perrywinkle if she wanted to comment about the newly released reports, but she didn't want to, except to say that the allegations of shaking Cherish when she was younger were completely untrue.
DCF normally doesn't release documents of open investigations, but after a child passes away, they are allowed to give out more information. DCF said they looked over everything closely to make sure the information they were releasing was legal and appropriate.
Copyright 2013 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
VSI will offer several camps this summer that are guaranteed to meet the needs of all soccer players.
GFL Soccer Camps
July 22nd - 26th
August 5th - 9th
GFL ID Camp (invitation only) August 17th and 18th.
For more information and to register visit www.gflsoccer.com
UK International Summer Camps
June 24 - June 28
Click here for more information and to register.


text:
Experience the fascinating history of the Lake Champlain and Lake George region of Vermont and New York State
as told
by local historian and author James P. Millard and guest contributors. This "coffee table book" on the web
explores through dramatic images and text the story of this vital transportation corridor through the wilderness.
America's Historic Lakes covers the period from discovery of the lakes, through the French and Indian War,
American Revolution, War of 1812, canal boat, steamship eras and beyond.
You've come to the right place. Now sit back and experience the history!
© Copyright 1997, 2018 James P. Millard
America's Historic LakesPost
Office Box 262 • South Hero, Vermont, USA 05486
Published by James P. Millard


text:
It's the car nobody cares about unveiled at a music festival not relevant since 1995. Yeah, I went to Lollapalooza. Once. Back in 1995. Me and my main man Dirty Bogus MC the Third went to see Pavement because they had them opening for Sinead O'Conner. Bald chicks throwing mud bombs at Spiral Stairs. What was Perry Farrell smoking? I should remember, he passed me some at a Jesus Lizard concert.
Pavement destroyed Lollapalooza that day. I'd hoped for good. Mostly, I've just been watching hobos play tin cans in the alley behind the Hideout since. Real music. I did go to Pitchfork this year to see The John Spencer Blues Explosion. Some kid in a "Panda Bear" t-shirt sitting next to me called them the "John Spencer Shitty Nostalgia Experience." Punks.
Hyundai used Pitchfork to show off the new Accent 5-door hatch, which seemed like the worst thing ever until I heard Toyota showed off the 2012 Yaris at Lollapalooza over the weekend.
I'm sure all the Coldplay fans love it. Sell outs.
I drive a gray market 1983 Seat Ibiza, because that was the last car that was real.
Photo Credit: Joe Bruzek/Cars.com


text: Games for Windows Live, that free Microsoft service for social gaming stuff on your PC, has gotten a face lift—partially because the original version, being more or less an Xbox Live port, wasn't actually PC-user friendly. Now the new interface is supposed to be designed "with PC gamers in mind." GWL will keep Achievements, TrueSkill matchmaking, voice and text chats and gamertags, but adds a special marketplace (similar to Xbox Live's Marketplace) for buying trailers, demos and add-on game content. Check out a multitude of pics of the updated interface at Kotaku. [Game Daily via Kotaku]


text:
Griffin (via SoxMachine):
According to sources, the most competitive offers for Halladay came from clubs he was ultimately unwilling to go to – the Chisox, Cubs and Dodgers. Heading to the meetings, Anthopoulos had not asked for a list of teams to which his ace would accept a trade. He could then honestly approach everyone and find out what they had to offer without feeling he was leading them on.
The Blue Jays ended up with Travis D'Arnaud (B), Kyle Drabek (B+) and Michael Taylor (B+/A-). Taylor as traded to Oakland later. Prospect grades from John Sickels. A better package of prospects from the Sox would be Dan Hudson (B+), Tyler Flowers (B) and Gordon Beckham? Boy, I'm so glad that trade didn't go through. Beckham+ for 1 year of 33 years old Halladay.


text:
Jim Spellman/WireImage
It's a girl for Colin Hanks and Samantha Bryant.
"Ms. Charlotte Bryant Hanks has decided to join us," the actor, 35, tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She's as happy and healthy as we are overjoyed and tired."
Charlotte arrived in late June. The couple, who married in 2010, are already parents to daughter Olivia Jane, 2 .
The former Dexter star – who recently appeared in a two-episode turn on NCIS – and his wife announced the pregnancy in April by stepping out for the premiere of Tom Hanks' Broadway play Lucky Guy.
With the show ending its run this week, the timing is perfect for the elder Hanks and wife Rita Wilson to spend some quality time with their newest granddaughter.
"They cannot wait to just dote on this kid with every single fiber of their being," his son joked after the birth of Olivia.
"My wife and I are more than happy to give them our baby and say, 'Here, watch her while we take a nap!'"
– Sarah Michaud with reporting by Julie Jordan


text:
Listening To Britain : Home Intelligence Reports on Britain's Finest Hour
From May to September 1940, during a period that saw some of the most dramatic events of the war - the evacuation from Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the opening stages of the Blitz - the Ministry of Information compiled daily reports on the morale of the nation for circulation within Whitehall.
These reports make fascinating reading: they tell the story of people's hopes and fears - from rumours about German spies disguised as nuns to concerns about anti-Semitism in the heavily-bombed East End of London - in all regions of the country during Britain's Finest Hour - at a time when the fate of the nation hung in the balance. Drawing on a wide range of informants, from the Mass-Observation social survey organisation to a network of contacts including chief constables, postal censors, doctors, parsons, publicans and trade unionists, the reports pieced together from these sources at great speed were by their very nature impressionistic, but provide us nevertheless with a unique record of contemporary feelings and perceptions at this historic juncture.
They include a wealth of curious and idiosyncratic information about the lighter and the darker aspects of life in Britain at the time, illuminating the prevalence of rumours and gossip about the threat of invasion - as well as the importance of the introduction of tea rationing for daily life. Edited and introduced by two leading historians of the period and published here for the first time to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the dramatic events that came to be known as Britain's Finest Hour, the complete and unabridged sequence of the daily Home Intelligence reports provides unique insight into the continuously unfolding drama of Britain at war.


text:
Our Programs
Kid's Fire Safety
Photo Gallery
Media & Links
Important Links
For information
please call
(225) 360-3380
the Professional Fire Fighters Association of Louisiana (PFFALA) has represented the career professional fire fighters throughout the state. Our Fire Fighters are the men and women who have committed their lives to protecting the lives of others. In October 2012 the PFFALA proudly began its first fundraiser. Thanks to the residents of Louisiana who have stood behind our fire fighters we continue to provide many outstanding programs such as:
•PURCHASE and PROVIDE
Pulse Oximeters to fire fighters throughout Louisiana. By measuring Oxygen Saturation (SpO2), Carbon Monoxide (SpCO) and monitoring pulse rate, these specialized devices provide life saving information to our first responders when seconds count.
with the American Heart Association to implement CPR and Automated External Defibrillator instruction to Louisiana high school students as required by state law (Burke Cobb Act) beginning 2015. Thanks to these courses now being taught in our schools, lives will be saved for generations to come.
with the LSU Fire & Emergency Training Institute (FETI) and LSU-Eunice we will continue to sponsor the annual Company Officer Leadership Conference. This event features some of Louisiana's most knowledgeable and highly respected fire service and emergency response professionals as well as special guests from around the country. The courses covered help our fire fighters better serve citizens as well as prevent injury and death in the line of duty.
children to attend "Camp I'm Still Me". This regional burn camp has provided hundreds of young Louisiana burn victims a fun, safe environment in which to help rebuild their lives.
of Fire Fighter and Emergency Medical Technician injuries, occupational illnesses and the hazards Fire Fighters and Emergency Medical Technicians are exposed to as well as supporting efforts to improve benefits for Fire Fighters and EMTs injured in the line of duty.
dedicated to improving lives of the people of Louisiana. These include Muscular Dystrophy Association, Life Shares Blood Drives and Burn Centers.
•SUPPORT of LAWS
that will benefit the members of the fire service and help make Louisiana a safer place to work, live and raise our families.
We do not use a professional fundraiser and instead chose to conduct our fundraiser ourselves. Our benefit concerts will offer quality entertainment, available at a reasonable price and provide our supporters a fun night out for the whole family. Residents who are too far away to drive to the concert may instead sponsor the PFFALA by becoming a booster member and will receive a decal for display. Our fundraiser is new, and is still unknown to most people. But our organization is not and represents the men and woman of one of the most respected professions in Louisiana. Without the help of the community our life saving programs would not exist. Whether it be fire, auto accident, medical emergency or natural disaster, we are the first to respond. As fire fighters, we realize that we may be needed to go beyond the call of duty. That is a call we proudly rise to answer.
Chad Major, President
Professional Fire Fighters Association of Louisiana
8264 One Calais 2nd Floor
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
Association Members
Baton Rouge General
Burn Foundation
Thank you
to all of our supporters who help to make our fundraiser a success.
In order to raise funds for our educational, community and member programs we have begun our new fundraising campaign. We will continue to contact residents in the state with the opportunity for them to become a PFFALA Booster Member or to purchase ticket vouchers for our next benefit.
We ask that if possible, you would continue to support our efforts.
Website Designed
Design a Website
List Your Business


text:
After three months at sea, four Carmelite sisters stepped onto shore in Maryland 222 years ago this month, prepared to establish the first order of nuns in the 13 colonies. Clare Joseph Dickinson was one of those first foremothers of faith. A woman of the word, she left us a detailed diary of her journey.
Her journal chronicles the daily lives of the sisters as they traverse not only an ocean, but unchartered waters for women religious at the time. They carried a few trunks, 1,300 books, and their faith, leaving everything else behind.
Clear in mission, they came to be a spiritual presence among the small but growing number of Catholics in Maryland, to give witness to a faithful way of life.
On a ship called the Brothers, the women began their journey from Belgium in April of 1790. The following three months, they suffered from illness, malnutrition and an unexpected detour by the captain that took them 2,000 miles off their planned route.
Clare's May 3 entry notes the sickness from which they suffered regularly, but also notes the healthy attitude they brought to their circumstances:
- "... all the Sick a little better but not well ... the dog & the goat fell down into the dining room upon the table, & almost fright-en'd mrs Matthews miss nelly & Mr plunked out of their wits, thinking perhaps it was the devil. Bob the cabin boy being there by good luck hoisted the animals up to the Captain again. mr neale laugh'd almost to kill himself."
Later, on June 21, Clare spoke of the sisters' prayer life on the ship, in the midst of rather desperate conditions: "Our Devotions in the morning as usual. Matches & candles like all other provisions almost out. made a devotion to St Aloysius to obtain a Safe & Speedy arrival."
She also noted the conditions that barred them from devotions altogether. On June 27, she wrote:
- "the weather So rough & Stormy th[a]t we were deprived of the comfort of performing our de-votion, the waves very high th[a]t they broke over the main deck & pour'd down upon us in our little room very plentifully. the Ship Creen'd down So low th[a]t the top of the main mast touch'd the water the Ship rowled So th[a]t we could not possibly keep footing Mrs Matthews & myself fell down but did not hurt ourselves. a while after I fell again & bruised my-self very much."
Hunger was also a torment, but Clare drank in wry humor to quell the emptiness. A late June entry mentioned "last night we had Some hogs feet and pullet to our Supper. & a bit of hard Salt Bief in the usual Elegant Man-ner one plate one knife & fork among 4".
Finally, the sisters arrived in Maryland on July 11 and made a home for themselves in what is now Port Tobacco. Later, Clare was named the second prioress of the community -- a community that continues to the present in Baltimore and still treasures her diary in their archives.
Today, Catholic women find themselves again in unchartered waters. When I begin to falter in my faith for our future, I think of my sisters who braved the Brothers ship and those rough seas more than 200 years ago. I remember why they journeyed. Most of all, I remember that we are not sailing alone.
Excerpts are copied with the syntax, punctuation and spelling of the original manuscript. The text was published in a bicentennial edition in The Carmelite Adventure (Carmelite Sisters of Baltimore, 1990).
[Nicole Sotelo is the author of Women Healing from Abuse: Meditations for Finding Peace, published by Paulist Press, and coordinates WomenHealing.com. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, she currently works at Call To Action.]
Editor's note: We can send you an email alert every time a Young Voices column is posted to NCRonline.org. Go to this page and follow directions: Email alert sign-up. If you already receive email alerts from us, click on the "update my profile" button to add Young Voices to your list.


text:
The end of 12th century is nearing. The Pope Innocent 3rd launches a new crusade in order to conquest the holy city, given up few years earlier to the Sultan Solomon armies. While the High Franc Barons mobilize for this new great epic, the meeting with Prince Alexis, Byzantine Empire throne descendant, will change the course of history: This crusade will never go further than Constantinople…
The RPG specialists at Atlus announced a new IP today, an amalgam of dark fantasy and action-adventure set in medieval Europe called The Cursed Crusade. Hack and slash the jump for details. Read More »
Also known as: Crusaders, Invasion of Constantinople [working title]
Release Region: United States
Release Date: October 25, 2011
Publisher: Atlus
Release Region: United Kingdom
Release Date: October 7, 2011
Publisher: Atlus
Also available on: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
The Cursed Crusade at IGN
The Cursed Crusade at GameSpy
The Cursed Crusade at GameStats


text:
Mash writer Larry Gelbart dies at 81
LOS ANGELES -- Larry Gelbart, the award-winning comedy writer best known for developing the landmark TV series "MASH," co-writing the book for the hit Broadway musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and co-writing the classic movie comedy "Tootsie," died Friday. He was 81.
Gelbart, who was diagnosed with cancer in June, died at his home in Beverly Hills, said his wife, Pat Gelbart.
Comic actor Jack Lemmon once described the genial, quick-witted Gelbart as "one of the greatest writers of comedy to have graced the arts in this century."
"Larry Gelbart was among the very best comedy writers ever produced in America," said Mel Brooks, whose friendship with Gelbart dated to when they both wrote for Sid Caesar's comedy-variety show "Caesar's Hour" in the 1950s. Gelbart "had class, he had wit, he had style and grace. He was a marvelous writer who could do more with words than anybody I ever met."
In a statement Friday, comedian and director Woody Allen called Gelbart "the best comedy writer that I ever knew and one of the best guys."
Comic Carl Reiner, who had also known Gelbart since the "Caesar's Hour" days when Reiner was a cast member, said: "The main thing about Larry, he was a comedy prodigy who developed into a national treasure. The man was one of the most gifted satirists who ever lived."
Gelbart is best remembered for his work on "MASH," the long-running series whose blend of laughter and tragedy made TV history.
Set in the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, TV's "MASH" grew out of director Robert Altman's hit 1970 movie written by Ring Lardner Jr., which was based on the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker (the pen name of Dr. Richard Hornberger, who had been a military surgeon in Korea).
Gelbart and his family were living in London, where he was producing the British TV show "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine" in 1971 when producer-director Gene Reynolds called him about writing a pilot script for a TV series based on "MASH."
In writing the pilot, Gelbart recalled in his 1998 memoir "Laughing Matters," he knew that it "was going to have to be a whole lot more than funny. Funny was easy. How not to trivialize human suffering by trying to be comic about it, that was the challenge."
"MASH" debuted on CBS in 1972, with Gelbart serving as executive script consultant. He and Reynolds were both executive producers of the show -- and shared Emmys -- when it won the award for outstanding comedy series in 1974.
Gelbart's influence on "MASH," Reynolds told The New York Times in 1989, was "seminal, basic and enormous."
"Larry not only had the wit and the jokes," Reynolds said, "he had a point of view. He not only had the ribald spirit, he had the sensibility to the premise -- the wastefulness of war."
As for the regulation-breaking surgeon Hawkeye Pierce -- the lead character played by Alan Alda -- Gelbart told The New York Times, "I didn't have to think of why he was saying what he said. He was saying what I felt. I mean, he is an idealized me."
Hawkeye, he said, "is capable -- that is, at work, at what he does. He's an idealist. He's a romantic. Somebody who cares about himself and other people. He's often frustrated by whatever particular system he finds himself fighting against."
"MASH" ran for 11 years. But Gelbart's involvement ended in 1976 after four years and 97 episodes. As he later said, "After four years, I had given it my best, my worst and everything in between."
In a statement Friday, Alda said: "Larry's genius for writing changed my life because I got to speak his lines -- lines that were so good they'll be with us for a long, long time; but his other genius -- his immense talent for being good company -- is a light that's gone out and we're all sitting here in the dark."
Gelbart's more than 60-year career began in radio during World War II when he was a 16-year-old student at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. He wrote for "Duffy's Tavern" and radio shows starring Eddie Cantor, Joan Davis, Jack Paar, Jack Carson and Bob Hope, with whom he traveled overseas when Hope entertained U.S. troops.
He moved into television with Hope in 1950 and spent the next few years writing for the comedian as well as for Red Buttons' comedy-variety series.
In 1955, Gelbart joined the writing staff of "Caesar's Hour," Sid Caesar's post-"Your Show of Shows" TV comedy-variety series, whose writers included Neil Simon.
In the writers' room, as Reiner later told Time magazine, Gelbart "popped jokes like popcorn."
Indeed, after Gelbart went to work for "Caesar's Hour," Hope contacted Caesar to say, "I'll trade you two oil wells for one Gelbart."
During his time on Caesar's show, Gelbart shared three Emmy nominations for comedy writing -- in 1956, '57 and '58. Moving to Broadway in 1961, Gelbart bombed with the musical "The Conquering Hero," for which he wrote the book. The show closed after eight performances.
But Gelbart returned to Broadway in triumph in 1962 with the hit Stephen Sondheim comedy musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Gelbart and Burt Shevelove wrote the book, which they based on the comedies of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus.
"Forum," whose cast included Zero Mostel, ran on Broadway for more than two years and won a Tony Award for best musical, as well as a Tony for Gelbart as co-author.
Gelbart later wrote the 1976-78 Broadway comedy "Sly Fox," his updated adaptation of Ben Jonson's "Volpone"; the 1989 satirical comedy "Mastergate" and the book for the 1989-92 Broadway comedy musical "City of Angels," the Tony best musical winner for which Gelbart won a Tony for best book of a musical.
For films, he wrote the screenplay for "Neighbors" and co-wrote "The Notorious Landlady," "The Wrong Box," "Not With My Wife, You Don't!," "Movie Movie" and "Blame It on Rio."
He also received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for "Oh, God!," the 1977 comedy starring George Burns and John Denver. And he shared a screenwriting Oscar nomination with Murray Schisgal and Don McGuire for "Tootsie," the 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange.
Among his other credits, he wrote the screenplays for the HBO movies "Barbarians at the Gate" (1993), "Weapons of Mass Distraction" (1997) and "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" (2003).
The son of Eastern European immigrants -- his father, a barber, was from Latvia and his mother, a seamstress, was from Dumbrova, Poland -- Gelbart was born Feb. 25, 1928, in Chicago. Growing up on Chicago's West Side, he spoke only Yiddish until he was 4.
"My mother was extremely witty and caustic," he told People magazine in 1998, "and my father knew more jokes than anyone I've ever known."
In 1942, Gelbart's family moved to Los Angeles, where his father's Beverly Hills clientele included actors and agents.
Gelbart had his father to thank for the launch of his comedy-writing career in 1944 at age 16.
One of his father's show business customers was comedian Danny Thomas, who had a weekly segment playing a Walter Mitty-type character on "Maxwell House Coffee Time," a radio show starring comedian Fanny Brice.
After Gelbart's father boasted that his son had a gift for writing comedy, Thomas told him, "Have the kid write something, and let's see just how good he is."
At the time, Gelbart recalled in his memoir, "my only real gift' was for showing off, doing imitations, putting together sketches, speeches, monologues at Fairfax High School."
But he wrote a sample comedy sequence for Thomas, who showed it to the radio show's head writer, and Gelbart suddenly had an after-school job writing comedy for "Maxwell House Coffee Time."
In December 2008, the still-professionally active Gelbart found himself the subject of an Internet hoax on the online bulletin board alt.obituaries, which reported that he was "gravely ill ... from a massive stroke."
He was fine, of course -- and in fine comedic fettle. Referring to his alleged pending demise, he e-mailed alt.obituaries: "Does that mean I can stop exercising?"
But ever the rewriter, Gelbart came up with another witty response in a brief chat with an inquiring Los Angeles Times reporter: "I was dead, but I'm better now."
He continued writing until three weeks ago, his wife said.
Gelbart married Pat, a Broadway actress and singer known professionally as Patricia Marshall and the mother of three children from a former marriage, in 1956. They had two children, Adam and Becky.
In addition to his wife and two children, Gelbart is survived by his stepchildren, Gary Markowitz and Paul Markowitz; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
He was an 18-year-old staff writer on radio's popular "Duffy's Tavern" when he received a draft notice. But his career was not sidelined by his postwar military service. Assigned to Armed Forces Radio Service, he continued to live at home while writing for the star-studded AFRS variety show "Command Performance," as well as continuing his other radio-writing jobs.


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Digital Distribution: Exchanging Control For Convenience
from the all-your-digital-purchases-are-belong-to-us dept
Digital distribution can be a good thing, eliminating shipping, packaging, printing, storage, etc. and allowing instantaneous order fulfillment. Unfortunately, it has its downside, especially when digital products are tied to "walled gardens." The possibility always exists that the product you purchased, for all intents and purposes, never really belongs to you. We've seen it previously with Amazon's decision to suddenly remove purchased e-books from customers' e-readers.
Stuart Campbell at Wings over Sealand has another example of this unfortunate byproduct of digital distribution: the fact that you don't own what you've purchased. This means that at any time, for nearly any reason, the product you paid for can be rendered completely worthless.
"According to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made on the iTunes Store are ineligible for refund. This policy matches Apple's refund policies and provides protection for copyrighted materials."In Campbell's case, the product in question isn't actually a bad piece of software, unlike the many clones and scamware inhabiting app markets. By his own account, he purchased and enjoyed the game (Touch Racing Nitro). After he purchased it, the developer (Bravo) went through a series of price adjustments, trying to find a sweet spot, ranging from £1.19 - £4.99. When this failed to make the impact on sales, Bravo offered a few free trial periods before marking it all the way down to 69p, which moved it back into the top 10 for a short time.
It's at this point that things get ugly.
Last October the game went free again, and stayed that way for four months. Then the sting came along. About a week ago (at time of writing), the game received an "update", which came with just four words of description - "Now Touch Racing Free!" As the game was already free, users could have been forgiven for thinking this wasn't much of a change. But in fact, the app thousands of them had paid up to £5 for had effectively just been stolen.Campbell's paid-for software suddenly became indistinguishable from the free version, despite his having anted up for the game months ago. He fired off an email to Bravo, asking the developers to explain their reasoning for removing previously paid for content and asking these same paying customers to pay up again in order to return the game to its previous state.
Two of the game's three racing modes were now locked away behind IAP paywalls, and the entire game was disfigured with ruinous in-game advertising, which required yet another payment to remove.
He received a reply a day later from Ana Hidalgo, Bravo's "Social Media Manager":
"Hi!For all the supposed "entitlement" game fans have attributed to them constantly, nothing quite matches the entitlement "radiating from Sra. Hildalgo." For starters, if a developer feels that making an app free was a "mistake," it only compounds its errors when it starts taking it out on paying customers, especially when those customers number in the thousands.
Thanks for contacting us.
I'm really sorry about that. I knew that this could happen. The team had no option but to do that.
We're not trying to make money from people who have already bought the game like you did. It is not an excuse, but only 4% of the 2MM downloads have been paid ones. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't provide with any methods to know when an user has paid or not for an app. We just want to monetize the game from that 96% who are enjoying the game for free. Our goal is to monetize them via advertisement. We understand that this is annoying for the players that have paid for it.
Yes, maybe we could have released a LITE version, but if we release a new free version, we couldn't monetize near 2 MM free downloads we already have. And why we have 96% free downloads? A very bad old decision.. We've begun a new phase at Bravo Games and we definitely need some revenues from those downloads.
At the moment all our efforts are focused in new projects. When we finish those projects, we'll evaluate the possibility of adding new content to previous games like Touch Racing Nitro.
I regret to hear that you never buy another of our apps."
If 96% of those were free downloads, that means that a whopping 80,000 people who paid money for Touch Racing have just been screwed. If we assume an arbitrary but reasonable average price of £1.19 (the second-lowest App Store price tier at the time most of the sales were made, though the app has cost at least twice that much for most of its life), that's just short of £100,000 that Bravo have extracted from consumers for what is in effect a "Lite" demo version of the game.Campbell is, unfortunately, right. Digital distribution puts control of purchased products completely in the hands of the developers and the distribution service. There are some game developers who would love nothing more than to go to 100% straight digital distribution, not only for the previously mentioned savings, but to allow them to retain complete control of their products. A fully digital distribution disguises DRM as a facet of the service (constant online connection, some or most content inaccessible offline) and helps eliminate the used game market which seems to rank very slightly below straight-up piracy in their minds.
Imagine if the rest of the world worked this way. Imagine you went to Tesco and bought three boxes of Corn Flakes on a "three-for-two" offer, only for a Tesco employee to turn up at your house one day a month later and confiscate not only the "free" box but also the second one that you'd actually paid for. There'd be riots, or at the very least a long court backlog of assault cases and battered workers. Yet apparently, for videogames it's the dynamic economic model of the future.
Whatever pluses there are for the consumer are greatly negated by these factors. Any dispute between the distributor and the developers puts purchased products in the firing line. Should a developer suddenly pull out of the walled garden, customers may find themselves without support or updates for their purchased products, or worse yet, find themselves without functioning products.
Campbell has adjusted his tactics accordingly:
WoSland is a pretty wily consumer, and currently has eight apps sitting in its iPhone's "update" queue which are never going to get those updates, because the "update" in question is in fact a downgrade, removing functionality and/or adding ads. We've deleted many others altogether for the same reason.Of course, this is far from convenient. Once you run into this situation, you're left with the choice of allowing all updates (even those that downgrade your software) or tediously updating all of your apps one at a time after verifying that said update won't remove functionality. Hardly ideal.
As he points out, console owners aren't so lucky. Most updates are forced, giving you the "choice" of updating or not playing your purchased game. And it's not just games and apps. As referenced above, e-books readers have been victims of distributor meddling in the past. Users of "services" like Ultraviolet and the "drive your DVD to the retailer to rip it to the cloud" may find their copies bricked if these services are shut down or (more likely) get caught in the middle of a contractual dispute.
If it's all about "control" with gatekeepers and walled gardens, digital distribution is playing right into their hands, turning what should be an advantageous situation for everyone involved into little more than a mixed curse.
Filed Under: apps, control, convenience, payment, scams, updates


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Consequences of the 2010 Census: RedistrictingFriday, February 26th, 2010
There are two major political consequences of the 2010 Census that this site will start to discuss on a more frequent basis. They are redistricting and (re)apportionment. That there are three articles I found today from far-reaching corners of the US that all discuss this topic is a testament to the growing discussion of these issues:
First, some historical background from Florida:
Census to alter political districts
Survey could make district lines more fair
By Abraham Aboraya | February 24, 2010
SEMINOLE COUNTY – It's 10 simple questions with a decade of implications.
Every 10 years, as per the Constitution, the United States performs a census – a headcount and snapshot of everyone living in the U.S.
The original intent was to make sure that each state got its fair portion of people in the House of Representatives. But that was more than 200 years ago. What does the census mean these days?
The answer may surprise you, as the 2010 census could drastically change the future of politics in Florida – and in Seminole County. This is the first of two articles which will examine how a questionnaire could change the political landscape for the next 10 years, and maybe beyond.
And it all started with a Massachusetts governor in 1812.
The history
Chances are, you've never heard of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry. But you've probably heard of the term gerrymandering.
Gerry was governor during the 1812 election and was responsible for drawing the voting districts. Gerry drew one district that slithered across the state, in the shape of salamander.
Gilbert Stuart drew a cartoon for the Columbian Centinel's March 26 issue, and editor Benjamin Russel first coined the term gerrymandering to describe the district.
The name stuck, and now when a district is drawn to keep someone elected, or to keep minorities from gaining representation, that's what it's called.
And in Florida, there are some strangely shaped districts.
Florida's salamanders
In South Florida, Florida Senate District 27 touches the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico through more than 140 miles of Florida.
The seat, held by State Senator Dave Aronberg, touches parts of Palm Beach County, Hendry County, Glades County, Charlotte County and Lee County.
Take a look at Florida House District 29: It starts just off the east coast of Florida in Fellsmere and west Vero in Indian River County, snakes west of Palm Bay into Brevard County, and then reaches up like a finger through Cocoa, Port St. John and Titusville. In one area, it's surrounded on three sides like a peninsula by House District 32.
"They're all created in those odd configurations in order to accomplish a certain political result," said Ellen Freidin, the campaign chair for Fair Districts Florida. "They're all created to be a Democratic or Republican district. And that's what we're trying to change."
Freidin has been working for nearly the last four years to get enough signatures together to propose two constitutional amendments. This November, Floridians will be asked to vote up or down on Amendments 5 and 6.
Both would make it a constitutional requirement that the Florida House, Florida Senate and U.S. House of Representative districts be drawn along existing city, county and water bodies, when possible.
The heart of the issue, Freidin said, is making elections more fair. Florida has some of the least competitive elections in the country.
In the last decade, only 10 members of the Florida House of Representatives and one Florida senator have been defeated as an incumbent running for re-election.
Republican Ralph Poppell has represented District 29 since the 2002 elections, the first election after the district was redrawn. Aronberg has also represented District 27 since 2002.
"Incumbents almost never lose," Freidin said. "They're tailor-made to have the voters in there that would want to vote for one of these people."
What about the Census?
When the 2010 census is finished, all those Florida districts – all those salamanders – will be redrawn by the Florida Legislature.
That's a once-in-a-decade opportunity that Fair Districts Florida didn't want to miss.
Mike Ertel, the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections, said that the salamander districts have been an issue forever.
"The whole purpose of the census, if you look at the core and its beginning, the only reason the census exists is to determine the number of people in congress," Ertel said. "Everything else they do is an add-on to its core mission."
Second, some discussions in Illinois to change the redistricting process:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois Senate Democrats want to take the luck of the draw out of legislative and congressional district lines drawn every 10 years.
They proposed a plan Thursday that would allow a "special master" appointed by two Supreme Court justices of different political parties to draw a map in case of gridlock.
The three maps since the 1970 Constitution have been drafted by the political party whose name was drawn from a hat.
The 2010 Census will show population shifts that require new district lines. Chicago Democratic Sen. Kwame Raoul (KWAH'-may RAW'-ool) says his committee's plan would allow the Legislature first crack at map-drawing.
A Republican plan says sitting lawmakers should not be involved at all.
Voters have to approve any proposal to change the Constitution this fall.
Third, constitutional changes in Alaska:
Associated Press – February 24, 2010 9:04 PM ET
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The measure calling for a ballot question and constitutional amendment to add 12 seats to Alaska's 60-seat Legislature appears to be making headway.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed its version of the measure Wednesday, while the House version gained eight cosponsors from both parties in the last two weeks.
The expansion is intended to ease redistricting after the 2010 Census count is in. Through redistricting, rural districts are expected to grow geographically while urban districts shrink to maintain roughly equal population representation. Over the years, the trend has made rural districts harder to manage. Sen. Albert Kookesh's is the most egregious example, covering about half the state's land area across nearly 1,000 miles.


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As the Chicago Fire opened training to the media last Wednesday, the press looked on at a player they barely recognized, leading the side through conditioning drills. Side-by-side with veteran Brian McBride, Fire draftee Drew Yates looked seasoned himself, running through the exercises with ease and determination.
"McBride's a true leader," said Yates. "He's not necessarily vocal, but he leads by example. It's easy to take the players through a drill when you have someone of his stature right next to you."
Selected 29th overall in last month's MLS SuperDraft, the Severna Park, MD product was disappointed at not being taken earlier. As the second round wore on, he began to get the feeling that Chicago was in his future, as the Fire had two picks towards the end of the round.
"[Fire Academy Director] Larry Sunderland was actually my coach at the combine and he put me where I thrive -- in the middle of the park. I think I did enough to impress and as the picks kept coming, my girlfriend just started telling me that it was going to be the Fire - finally 29 in, it was my turn."
Yates' transition to the professional game has been somewhat the norm for a highly rated college player. Terms like "intense", "faster", "physical" and "more skillful" get thrown around a lot. For Yates, previous experience under Sasho Cirovski at the University of Maryland has helped a great deal during the transition.
"Going to Maryland is almost like playing for a professional team. The amount of talented players that come through the system, combined with a great coaching staff help prepare guys for the next step."
While playing in all 92 matches the Terps had during his time in College Park, Yates was used almost exclusively as a super-sub his first three seasons, starting in 39 matches over his four-year college career.
"Maryland has so many good players, it is hard to break into the team no matter how experienced. I embraced the role because it was working for the team but my desire is to be able to start every game, no matter what level. I'm working hard in preseason to earn contract, from there hopefully I can get into matches and continue to improve as a player."
With a new, seasoned coach at the helm, Yates is looking to prove himself good enough to earn a contract with the Chicago Fire. So far, he's enjoying the system that is being implemented.
"This situation is nice, because everyone is new to Carlos and 'el Profesor', [Alvaro Briones], but they have already won our respect. They've eased us into preseason a bit, working into the way they want us to play and understanding their system. The players appreciate Alvaro because most of the conditioning work he's having us do is with the ball - it's definitely something we're not used to. Carlos really likes us to play quickly, pushing the attack and the players seem to respond well to that."
With the first preseason match of 2010 looming next Monday, February 15 against the USSF 2nd Division's Vancouver Whitecaps, Yates is looking forward to the chance to play against some fresh competition.
"It's going to be nice to play against someone else. We'll have been in preseason for two weeks and we're ready to start being a bit more competitive."


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"Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout His praise! Let the fields and their crops burst forth with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise before the Lord!"
—Psalm 96:11-13 (New Living Translation)
The excitement described by the Psalmist above also illustrates how delighted the biology faculty at Northwest Nazarene University is about discovering the intricacies of God's handiwork. From teasing out the details of disease mechanisms, to understanding enzyme kinetics, to determining the habitat needs of sensitive species, our faculty love biology! One of our greatest satisfactions is found in helping our students grow in their knowledge as they work to receive their biology degree, all the while nurturing their faith and preparing them to succeed in their professional endeavors!
Department Goals & Student Outcomes
- Graduates who receive a biology degree from Northwest Nazarene University will demonstrate that they can think logically, analytically, and independently about the scientific principles that affect the world around them. Graduates will acquire a basic informational framework to make decisions related to such areas as nutrition, personal and family health, community policy, and national law.
- Graduates who receive a biology degree from Northwest Nazarene University will be able to collect and analyze scientific data and then integrate and prepare the data into professionally acceptable written and oral forms. Students will become comfortable in the utilization of modern technology to more effectively communicate.
- Graduates who receive a biology degree from Northwest Nazarene University will develop a historical sense of man's scientific advancement through a better understanding of natural phenomena and then apply this knowledge through a variety of scientific endeavors to accurately understand, utilize, control and predict natural processes in a way that will allow the realization of a better quality of life.
- Graduates who receive a biology degree from Northwest Nazarene University will integrate scholarship, faith, and service by exposure to a community of scholars and develop long term personal, spiritual, professional, and social interactions that allow mutual expression of the Lord's redeeming grace. Students should then be better able to excel in their chosen discipline and be effective and compassionate members of their community.


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Whether you're getting your first place or moving into a bigger one, purchasing a home is one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. That's why we make sure you have a full understanding of how the process works, and what loan option works best for you individually. Our licensed professionals will guide you every step of the way, and always be available to answer your questions.
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Mobile games for smart people - m.abroy.com
Play puzzle games, including adventure games, sim games, strategy games, escape games, hidden object games, new games daily!
Piggy vs. Wolf
As if blowing your house down wasn't enough – these big bad wolves just can't get enough of the three piglets. In order to stop them and save your precious bacon you need to shoot them down with bow and arrow. Be quick, be accurate and you won't need to fear them howling at the moon.
Skill, Action Games


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Thanks to ICANtweets I learned that the Today Show aired a live Cesarean section from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston as part of the "Today Goes Inside the OR" series. A healthy 10 pound baby boy was born via scheduled c-section to Carrie and Josh Johnson. According the The Today Show's Dr. Nancy Snyderman, they elected a c-section because babies "run big" in the parents' families and Carrie was "past her due date." Dr. Snyderman adds, "And those are two indications that a Cesarean section is a lot safer than having a vaginal delivery."
A lot safer? Really? You might want to weigh the risks for yourself.
Here's the link to watch the Today Show c-section video
I found it hard to watch how the baby was handled and the way mom seemed to be left out of the process. Why can't they clean up the baby where mom can see?
I also found a few other things quite disturbing.
At one point in the video, the doctor doing the c-section comments to Dr. Nancy that one reason for having a c-section is if the mom has had a c-section before. Then when asked if this mom gets pregnant again and has a "normal size" baby if she can have a vaginal delivery? The doctor responds, "absolutely, absolutely."
That sounds like she's giving mixed signals to me. Not to mention that many doctors and hospitals no longer allow vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) due to insurance costs. I left a message with Beth Israel hospital to find out what their policy is re: VBACs. I'll update if I hear back. Joy Szabo had to move 350 miles from home to have her VBAC. And some women are being denied insurance after having a c-section.
After the baby was weighed (10 lbs.), Today Show co-anchor Meredith Vieira commented: "They chose the right way to deliver that's sure by section."
Dr. Nancy Snyderman agreed: "They sure did."
So having a larger baby vaginally is the wrong way to have a baby? I strongly disagree. I think so would Justine who had her 11 lb. son at home on Jan. 6. And Kara who gave birth to an almost 10 lb baby vaginally. And Cathy who describes herself as petite and said both of her boys weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. at birth. And Arwyn who said, "At home in the water was the right way to "deliver" my 10lb 6oz baby!"
What did you think about all of this?
Email the Today Show your thoughts at: firstname.lastname@example.com
Read more about my reaction to the live c-section.


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The Centre is a registered charitable organization established in 1983. The Centre believes that every worker is entitled to a safe and healthy workplace. They support all workers, both unionized and non-unionized, who need assistance to make their workplaces healthier and safer, or who request help as a result of workplace injuries or illnesses. The Centre's website hosts learning materials on dramatic presentations to school audiences about employment and workplace health and safety law as well as links to publications on workplace rights.
- You are here: Home > Learn More About... > Working & Volunteering > Workplace Safety
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Workplace Safety
Many hazards exist in the workplace, including the risks of working alone. Laws and regulations help protect the health and safety of workers. When injuries occur, compensation programs aim to make up for lost income and treatment costs as well as help with returning to work.
The resources on this page were hand-picked by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta's staff as a good place to start.
You may also find helpful resources listed under these legal topics: Workers' health and safety and Workers' compensation
CPLEA Suggested Resources
Not sure where to begin finding answers to your questions. Get started with our suggested resources. See additional resources below for more information.
Alberta Resources
The Alberta Workers' Health Centre (AWHC) is a small team of workers' advocates based in Calgary, Alberta (Canada). They help Albertans understand and access the rights and benefits they are entitled to as workers under a variety of employment-related legislations such as Employment Standards, Employment Insurance, Workers' Compensation Board and Occupational Health and Safety. The organization helps Albertans understand and access what they are entitled to as workers. They assist workers with filling out forms, attending meetings/hearings, and talking with employers and government agencies in order to help them access their employment related benefits and rights.
This bulletin from Work Safe Alberta explains when students or volunteers are covered by the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act and regulations. (PDF - 4 pages)
Generally, employment refers to work in non-unionized work settings. Employment standards are the minimum standards established by law that define and guarantee rights in the workplace. Each province and territory has its own legislation.This research guide is provided by Alberta Law Libraries.
Related topics include:
- wrongful dismissal
- human rights in the workplace
- privacy
- workplace health and safety
- worker's compensation
- unemployment insurance
New Alberta Workers is a not-for-profit program started in 2013. its aim is to provide workplace health and safety information for Temporary Foreign Workers and other New to Alberta Workers
This division of the Alberta government promotes health and safety through partnerships, education and enforcement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The website includes sections for publications, statistics and reports, legislation, prosecutions, small business, young workers and working alone.
The Office of the Appeals Advisor (OAA) was established to advance the interests of injured workers and their dependants. Appeals advisors are all certified in Tribunal Administrative Justice, are specialists in interpreting and applying the Workers' Compensation Act and WCB policies. They will walk you through the appeals process and act as your representative throughout. The OAA acts independently of WCB when representing workers and, whenever possible, they try to work directly with WCB's customer service areas to resolve issues so that a formal appeals hearing is not necessary. There is no charge to you for this service.
The Workers' Compensation Board – Alberta is an independent organization that manages workers' compensation insurance based on legislation. WCB-Alberta is not a provincial government department or crown corporation. The organization is employer funded to provide cost-effective disability and liability insurance. Workers' compensation provides assistance to injured workers for lost income, health care and other costs related to a work-related injury.
This web page from the Labour Program of the government of Canada contains information on the following: workplace safety; prevention; workkers compensation; ; compliance policy; and mental health in the workplace.
The Young Workers Zone was created by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety to help young people stay healthy and safe at work. Teachers, young workers, parents and employers can get the information and tools needed to venture into the work world on a safe footing.


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Celebrating the countdown to Christmas has never been more exciting thanks to the array of unique and quirky advent calendars on the market.
While waking up to a chocolate each December morning is a tasty treat it's time to shun tradition and think outside the advent calendar box this year.
From socks to skincare and Santa trucks to Sauvignon check out our top advent calendar picks.
1. Debenhams Ultimate Beauty Advent Calendar
Beauty advent calendars are big business this year and this luxury offering from Debenhams features more than £150 worth of leading beauty house products from brands including MAC, Kat Von D, Lancôme, Murad and Elemis.
Debenhams £70
2. Haynes Electronic Games Advent Calendar
Electrify your Christmas with this Haynes advent calendar featuring a new electronic component every day to build 24 different games.
As you count down the days to Christmas, you'll collect everything you need to build awesome, electronic games including Code Breaker, Memory, Wire Maze, Whack a Mole, and much more. Suitable for ages 14 and up.
MenKind £19.99
3. SockShop Wild Feet Christmas Calendar
Countdown to Christmas in style by starting each day of December with a fresh pair of socks
This is a seriously big box of festive fun for feet. The 24 Pair SockShop Wild Feet Christmas Calendar features a range of patterns and fun festive designs.
Sock Shop £79.99 (Available for both men and women)
4. Wooden Santa Lorry Advent Calendar
This beautiful calendar is sure to be a big hit with the children this year.
Fill each drawer with tasty treats, decorations or novelty gifts.
This keepsake calendar can be enjoyed every year.
Gisela Graham London £39.00
5. Aldi Wine Advent Calendar
Filled with 24 mini bottles of red, white, rosé and fizz, including customer favourites such as The Exquisite Collection Touraine Sauvignon and the award-winning Fleurs de Prairie Côtes de Provence Rosé, there's no better way to get into the festive spirit than sharing a miniature bottle or two with your nearest and dearest this season.
Aldi and in store, £49.99
6. Curry Advent Calendar
Perfect for foodies why not put a curry twist on Christmas with this year's 'hottest' Advent calendar. The world's first curry advent calendar features 24 Christmas recipes and four bespoke spice blends to create mouth watering dishes. {https://www.thespicery.com/|The Spicery|click here} £29


text:
Buildroot:GSoC2013 ARM Multimedia
- 1 Status and TODO
- 2 Weekly achievements
- 3 Notes
Status and TODO
Checkout Information
Code is located in Spenser309's Github Account.
To do a checkout:
$ git clone git://github.com/Spenser309/buildroot.git -b <board> <directory>
Board List
|gst-omx patches (Submitted)
|defconfig patches (Brewing)
ti-gfx patches (Brewing)
- ti-gfx patches.
- package opengl benchmarks.
- package arm-fpu openmax libraries.
- omxplayer patches.
- mali driver patches.
- package libhybris.
- get daily builds running.
Weekly achievements
Week 22
- Booted basic Buildroot on BeagleBoard xM.
- Resubmit v9 of gst-omx patchset with webkit fixes.
- Required bump of libgtk2, libsoup, etc.
- Started automated builds at https://gillilanding.com/jenkins/job/buildroot-arm-minimal/
Week 23
- RFC ti-gfx patches
- v10 gstreamer and omx patches.
- Accepted libglib and webkit patches.
Week 24
- Published a Journal Paper which mentions Buildroot :)
Week 25
- Accepted Gstreamer 1.x and gst-omx patches.
- Created Video showing off gst-omx on RPi. See: http://blog.spensergilliland.com/2013/06/accelerated-video-decoding-on-rpi-using.html .
Week 26
- ti-gfx RFC v2 & v3
- ti-gfx v1
- working qt4 integration.
Week 27
- ti-gfx v2
- ti-gfx v3
- Fix headers
- confirm plan of action with prabu on pandaboard support
- newest pandaboard graphics is available from ubuntu launchpad
- only supports hard float
- beaglebone black up and running but no output on display.
- investigating adding cape support as it may be required for hdmi out.
- need to add firmware_install to linux.
- Sent patches for firmware install.
Week 28
- ti-gfx/qt patch
- pvr2d.h and wsegl.h issues. Demos segfault when using WindowSystem=libpvrQWSWSEGL.so.1 . Was a unclean build issue.
- Fix eglimage build.
- PowerVR virtual package.
- Release v4 patch
- Release v5 patch
- Beaglebone Black
- Working HDMI output.
- submit patch for beagle-capes package that installs in-kernel dtbos
- Sunxi Mali
- Created RFC for adding sunxi-mali drivers
Week 29
- Send patch to fix libglib2 autobuild failures.
- ti-gfx/qt patch
- Release v6 patch - Merged!
- Improved and mainlined sunxi-mali, and sunxi-cedarx patches
Week 30
- Out of Town
Week 31
- Out of Town
Week 32
- Attempting to build enc_dec_demo for sunxi in cedarx-libs
- Add includes to fix some build errors.
- preprocessor failures at https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6194508 . File does not exist in repo.
- Talk to #linux-sunxi suggested by wingrime to replace encoder_type.h with type.h .
- Deal with awful makefile which uses CFLAGS improperly so set all -I includes in buildroot.
- Finally beat the preprocessor only to find a bunch of errors at the compile stage. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6194791
- Suggested by wingrime to move to A20 SDK but he did not elaborate further. The errors appear to be an out of date version of types.h .
- Notice libcedarv/<plat>/sample: attempt to build sample. Success!
- New issue on udev created by rebase. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6195121 (possibly due to linaro toolchain)
- Small udev bug fix patch for udev http://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/buildroot/2013-August/076370.html. Accepted.
- Need to find *.pmp for input to sample application.
- Adding glmark2
- Created package dir and added basic info.
- requires jpeglib.h. fixed.
- requires libpng12. Fixed.
- requires libdrm and libdrm requires xlibs. build fails due to same error as https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6195121 therefore switch to soft-float CS toolchain.
- requires mesa3d. Fixed
- Bug in mesa3d build see https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6197590 .
- host-libxml2 does build the python bindings and something is installed (not sure if everything.) Attempting to determine if this is an unclean build issue. It may have been.
- Another bug https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6197871 . It appears -m32 is passed in some absurd way. Added patch from http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/mesa-dev/2012-April/021046.html
- Bug GLchar https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6198693. it's a simple typedef char GLchar; fix.
- Bug need libgbm from mesa only in 7.11.x and up. Bump mesa3d to 7.11.2.
- Bug https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44618. Fixed in 9.1.6 (haha)
- Attempt bump from 7.10.3 -> 9.1.6.
Week 33
- Attempt bump from 7.10.3 -> 9.1.6. Cont'd
- try to remove libdrm_radeon dependency.
- Set all config opts to disabled, except gbm.
- Add glmark2
- It built successfully with Mali on Cubieboard.
- Determine how to handle libpng12 requirement. Either regress libpng to 1.2.x, port forward to 1.4.x or add option to install multiple versions of libpng. Thomas: create libpng12 package. Done.
- Finalize patches currently waiting in build dir. Done.
- New bug https://gist.github.com/Spenser309/6251067 . New patch added to mesa.
- Modify libdrm for reduced dependencies.
- Only pthread-stubs is actually required.
- Modify mesa3d to reduce dependencies provide more control.
- Only libdrm, expat actually required.
- Rewrite mesa3d to support reduced dependencies.
- Really good pic of graphics stack http://people.freedesktop.org/~libv/graphics_driver_stack_%28FOSDEM2010_-_slides%29 .
- Work on a more modular mesa3d.
- Remove --enable-xorg option based on advice from http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/mesa-dev/2013-April/037090.html .
- Test x11 build. Success.
- Test Wayland Build. Success.
- Bump libdrm to latest.
- Enable experimental support for omap, exynos, and snapdragon.
- Testing glmark2 on target
- Kernel Ooops https://gist.github.com/Spenser309/6251569 .
- Try bumping kernel in cubieboard_defconfig. Success past the oops.
- Error need a non-drm based version ie fbdev from https://code.launchpad.net/~laanwj/glmark2/fbdev . Altering packaging for new tree.
Week 34
- glmark2
- Need to test on Cubieboard
- Working! Required a largish patch for mali and the fbdev branch!
- Need to test on RPI
- Need to test on BeagleXM
- Boot failed with new uboot. Debugging.
- Reverting to 2011.06. (no img support)
- Reverting to 2011.12. no luck.
- Assuming broken board. Will attempt on other Beagle XM.
- Need to test on Cubieboard
- mesa3d
- Need to test on Intel system.
- Need to run BBB build with libdrm and see what that gives us.
- Packaging changes
- Create a patch to bump libdrm
- Create a patch with fixes for sunxi-mali
- Create a patch with bump and demo for sunxi-cedarx
- Create a patch with mesa3d bump, modularization, and reorganization.
- Create a patch for libpng12
- Create a patch for glmark2
- Start Wandboard (imx6) based testing.
- Created wandboard_mksdcard.sh <creates sdcard for use with wandboard>
- Created wandboard_sdcard.sh <installs images to wandboard sdcard>
- Success wandboard requires that the sdcard be placed in the onmodule sdcard slot (not the expansion board)
- OpenGL vv_launcher example app runs successfully.
- Attempting glmark2 build.
Week 35
- Added mesa3d-demos and got it to build without opengl.
- Addressed previous patch set issues.
Week 36
- Start work on Odroid U2
- Build error on udev see https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6466511 and config.log https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6466530 .
- This is the same error that I had for sunxi-mali. No known fix. Workaround by building glibc toolchain using buildroot.
- Build error with uboot see https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6467075 .
- selected processor does not support ARM mode `smc 0'
- Attempting patch based on http://ding34.blogspot.com/2013/05/error-selected-processor-does-not.html . Hit by vfpv3 errors.
- Attempting to use odroid-next branch of uboot in github.com/hardkernel/u-boot . Does not compile no config available.
- Stop trying to build uboot.
- Builds without kernel attempting build with opengl libraries.
- Build error on udev see https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6466511 and config.log https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6466530 .
Week 37
- Patch securetty to add ttySAC*
- Interesting site for exynos http://docs.kali.org/development/custom-odroid-kernel-image .
- Replicate in Buildroot.
- http://malideveloper.arm.com/develop-for-mali/drivers/open-source-mali-gpus-linux-exadri2-and-x11-display-drivers/
- Bad USB-Uart driver lead to no output on console. Using version from http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx fixed the issue.
- First successful boot but modules.dep is missing (thus no ethernet, usb etc)
- Doing a pull to see if some of the newer patches for kmod fixes the issue. Yes, fixed upstream.
Week 38
Pandaboard powervr drivers https://launchpad.net/~tiomap-dev/+archive/omap-trunk/+packages . Also, official omap4 & 5 ddx releases http://git.ti.com/graphics .


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'Hot Air' rises: Filmmakers reach $65K, push on to Nolte
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