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Ahhh those theropod forelimb. They are a bit of an enigma, no? As bipedal primates descended from a brachiating pedigree of ape we have an intuitive awareness of our ability and utility to reach out and grab things. Predatory theropods, despite being bipedal and equipped with arms and fingers like us, were a bit more constrained in their forelimb movements. The neck and head would be the first to contact with prey, the arms and claws being substantially rearward. Furthermore, the range of forearm extension and wrist movement was severely limited. Essentially the forearm and wrist acted as one single unit with the wrist unable to rotate and the radius and ulna locked together unable to rotate as well. The shoulder was likewise constrained to a relatively smal range of motion. Would it not have benefited predatory theropods to have freed up their forearms, wrists, and shoulders for a wider range of motion to assist in prey capture and manipulation? So that they could "reach out and grab stuff" like we do?
|Suchomimus credit Duane Nash
Interestingly, there appears to have been at least one instance of theropods increasing both wrist and shoulder mobility and thus evolving the ability to "reach out and grab stuff" (Zanno et al., 2006). From wikipedia: "Within Therizinosauridae, broad changes to both the structure of the forelimb, pelvic, and pectoral girdles likely corresponded to changes in the lifestyle of the animals. The forelimb has undergone a drastic increase in robustness, the flexibility of the wrist has increased, and the presumed reach of the animal is believed to have lengthened. Moreover, the pectoral girdle has been modified to further augment upright reach, however the grasping ability of the animals is thought to have decreased. As with the modifications to the head, these adaptations are thought to have assisted with an herbivorous lifestyle, as they may have increased the ability to harvest and collect vegetation.[3]" The obvious implication is that when the need arose to "reach out and grab things" the commensurate forelimb adaptations did arise - except that they did not arise in a predatory theropod but a likely herbivorous/omnivorous one!! Maybe the predatory theropod forelimb arsenal was not functionally adapted for "reaching and grabbing things" but served a separate purpose? Perhaps we are not satisfied with theropod forelimbs - that they are a bit enigmatic - because we are assuming the wrong job for them?
|credit IsisMasshiro
There is currently a strong notion that whatever the forelimbs were doing - they were of secondary importance to what the head was doing in predatory theropods. And that if the hands were involved in prey capture they stabilized and held prey for the benefit of the head to deliver the dispatch. This notion is actually impractical for several reasons. Theropods neck musculature studies on Allosaurus indicate a design optimized to strike ventro-flexively (Snively et al, 2013). In other words they struck down and out away from the body. They were not optimized to strike back towards the body as would be expected if they bit into prey held in place by the arms. Furthermore the sheer implausibility of such a design is patently obvious when one tries to align the kinematics of such an action in the theropods with especially reduced forearms and short powerful necks such as tyrannosaurids and carcharodontosaurids. Can anyone point me to one convincing depiction of short armed theropods holding prey with their arms as the bead bites into it? It is also a bit of a myth that grasping hands are even necessary for the killing and dispatching of reluctant prey items by the mouth. Even a cursorary overview of both terrestrial and aquatic predators reveals that this is not the case - that the skull can be both a grasping and killing instrument - no hands need be involved.
|Crylophosaurus credit Duane Nash
For this piece I am going to approach these "limitations" in wrist/arm/shoulder mobility from a different perspective. That these limitations were not at all limitations - they were in fact adaptive benefits. And that these benefits were not actually in place to assist in the capture of prey i.e. "the reaching out and grasping of prey", that was the job of the head. The forearms and wrists of predatory theropods were in fact so severely limited because of two, not mutually, exclusive reasons; 1) many theropods would have dispatched prey with hand claws after the initial grasp by the jaws and 2) all predatory theropods - with notable exception of abelisaurids - would have used their forearms to transport food parcels to localized feeding locations and perhaps mates/offspring.
In other words it proves useful in flipping the equation: " the arms held prey for the head to dispatch" into " the head grabbed prey for the arms to dispatch" in order to understand the forearm use in a great many predatory theropods.
|credit Brian Engh.
An important distinction that will color these arguments arose from an observation that Andrea Cau brought up to me in discussions on abelisaurids, theropods, and forearms. That there is a roughly inverse relationship between the power and bite of the head and the bulk and importance of the forearm in predatory endeavors. That is, for the theropods with weaker, slashing, and more modest skulls and teeth, forearm strength and killing capacity are enhanced: spinosaurids, allosaurids, neovenatosaurids, megaraptors, basal tyrannosauroids, among others . Alternatively, where head power is enhanced arm strength and killing capacity is diminished: carcharodontosaurids, ceratosaurids, tyrannosaurids, abelisaurids. Now certainly this is not a hard and fast distinction, there were shades of grey, but I think it is a useful way to parcel out the discussion. No I am not saying that Suchomimus never killed with its mouth, nor am I saying that T. rex never killed anything in its hand claws. But they did invest in different arsenals and this should matter.
*Note that only in abelisaurids do we see the arms mutated into vestigial structures. This is an important distinction because even in theropods with reduced forearms they were not vestigial but offered an important functional usage in the transport and relocation of food resources. Dromaeosaurid forearm use will be discussed in a future piece.
In order to disabuse ourselves of the notion of theropod forearms as tools for "reaching out and grabbing" or "holding onto prey for head dispatch" I want to revisit a term often used in the discussion of predatory theropod hand claws: meathooks. The term is a useful one, not only because it alludes to a human contrivance, but expresses quite succinctly the use of these forearms with due credit to notions of form and function having applicability not only in natural systems but culturally mediated systems of butchery. In both situations form follows function.
|Megaraptor hand. author raffaeli serge CC2.0
Enough with all these academic pedantry I want to give you, the reader, an immersive feeling on what it was like to be young sauropod skewered alive on the Megaraptor meathook claws.
Ladies and gentlemen it is disturbing because the Mesozoic was disturbing - a real horror show. Now keep in mind the meathook claws of theropods, combined with a rather inflexible, strong, and stoutly built arm, work in conjunction to lock a food item in place. Such food items are pinned by either the opposing arm and claws or are wedged in against the torso. It is the meathook morphology of the claw combined with the limited range of motion of the arm and wrist that actually make escape from such a contraption very remote. In other words, the exact flaws that we have felt for so long are built into the system actually in this view are benefits. The prey can't squirm out of the arms due to the inherent inflexibility of the arms!!
|credit Brian Engh used w/permission
There have been some detailed studies on large predatory forelimbs. One of the most interesting and little heralded studies is by Senter & Robins 2005. What I want to draw attention to in this abstract is; the extreme flexibility of the manus - the fingers can hyperextend; the permanently locked and bent elbow, unable to straighten; the notion of struggling prey further impaling itself on digit 1; and the noted difference between coelurosaur finger flexibility (they were doing different stuff) and other theropods .
What this study gets really right I believe is where they say "Acrocanthosaurus could manually grasp prey that was beneath its chest, towards which it may have used its mouth to move prey. Struggling prey would have impaled itself further upon the permanently and strongly flexed first ungual." Perfect, they really nail it here because they are the first - that I know of - to really decouple the forearms from the head as killing instruments in their own right. That is, it is not the claws holding the prey for the head to dispatch it is the head moving prey towards the claws for dispatch!! And this notion of the head deliberately moving prey items towards the killing hand claws does mesh well with the idea of sub equal sized prey items (i.e. loads of baby dinos) forming a heavy part of the diet of these animals. So while I am not the first to make this distinction - that the hands were killing implements independent of the head - I see no reason why this method can not be extended out to a whole range of other meathook handed theropods. Again, I'm not the first to advance this idea but I still maintain it has not garnered widespread exposure and knowledge.
The almost preternatural flexibility of some theropod fingers is something that does not get enough press. Once you look at the range of extension one has to wonder, why? The answer I would suggest is that the fingers took a lot of abuse from prey items squirming while engaged in the meathook bear hug. In order for the fingers to remain hooked in such flexibility would be paramount. No matter how hard and strongly the prey item squirmed the fingers would just flex and move to keep the hapless victim ensnared. Furthermore the basic function of an animal lifted off the ground and struggling against gravity would dictate that the claws dug in deeper to the animals; body cavities penetrated; lungs punctured; ribs cracking; viscera perforated; tendons gouged; and spinal integrity compromised. Abso-fucking-lutley brutal.
It is an ingenious solution: the fingers can bend and extend all over the place to absorb the struggles of the prey item, alternatively the extremely inflexible wrist, forearm, and shoulder maintain a rigid "meathook bear hug". Diabolical.
Probably the best visual I can find for the crazy hyper extendable meathook claws of some theropods is this visual from the recent study on Australovenator forelimb motion.
|"I'll Show You the World" Australovenator credit Duane Nash
The megaraptoridae took this forearm dominance to the hilt, they also appear to show a bit more forward mobility in the shoulder joint perhaps even allowing food clenched in the hands to be brought up to the face - an unsettling manner of eating due to the similarity to our own feeding style.
|credit Matt A. White, Phil R. Bell, Alex G. Cook, David G. Barnes,
Travis R. Tischler,Brant J. Bassam,David A. Elliott
Of course I would be remiss to not give a mention to the several studies documenting abundant - and often extreme - forearm pathologies in predatory theropods (Senter & Juengst, 2016) in which a Dilophosaurus got absolutely wrecked, like freaking Monty Python style.
|from Senter & Juengst. credit L. Walters (LWPaleoArt)
Earlier in this discussion I alluded to some of the reasons why a T. rex or other "mouth killing" theropods would have put a live or still struggling prey item in the grasp of its forearms. I also want to suggest some reasons why we should be optimistic about the utilitarian benefits of hauling parcels of food around in the arms (except for abelisaurids of course wink, wink). Let's remain mindful that as reduced as tyrannosaurid arms were, they were not vestigial. They were actually pretty damn powerful, conservative estimates give T. rex about 430 lbs on the bicep curl - a feat no human, not even pro-body builders can ever hope to achieve.
Removal of food from a highly competitive/dangerous arena to a more secure locale. Modern predators do it all the time. Hyenas haul off bits or whole carcasses. Raptors will take their prey off the ground to a safer location to eat. Leopards haul their kills up into trees. Carcasses can attract a lot of undue attention and if you have a way to move your larder to a more secure locale all the better for you.
*Note that, unlike quadrupedal predators that have to carry food in their mouth, theropods carrying food in their hands can still lash out and defend against would be usurpers with their mouth.
Transport of food to a mate and/or offspring. It is weird to think of such prosocial behavior in these animals but not without merit. Especially in light of the recent incubation lengths given for some dinosaurs - if such lengths were emblematic of theropods - then I think the discussion swings more and more into this realm.
|Southern Ground Hornbill feeding mate. credit Steve Upton
|Greedy Daspleto credit Duane Nash
|Atlantic Puffin w/sand eels credit Paul Mcllory CC2.0
So to review some of the main points:
- Predatory theropod forearm use has been stymied by our own intuitive understanding of having flexible, grasping forearms. We expect that theropods should have the same use of forearms in "reaching out and grabbing stuff" as we do, so that when we see they are limited in this regard it is thought of as an imperfect, problematic system.
- A study on the forearms of Acrocanthosaurus is one of the first mentions of theropod forearms being decoupled from the head as a killing mechanism in their own right. Forearm killing dominance has also been suggested for megaraptorids but can be extended out towards other theropods to varying degrees.
- There is a general pattern showcasing a trend from more mouth dominant predators to more arm dominant predators. Towards the extreme of forearm dominant predators would be spinosaurids and megaraptorids, towards the mouth dominant extreme would be tyrannosaurids and carcharodontosaurids.
- A meathook type claw morphology combined with a rigid arm anatomy would allow predatory theropods to not only kill but to carry prey/remains manually, useful for several very practical and not mutually exclusive reasons i.e. relocation of carcass, feeding of mates/offspring, hoarding of ephemeral rich food source.
- Forearm pathology in theropods is consistent with a heavy dependence on forearms in acts of predation.
Rothschild, B., Tanke, D. H., and Ford, T. L., 2001, Theropod stress fractures and tendon avulsions as a clue to activity: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 331-336.
Senter, Phil; Robins, James H. (2005). "Range of motion in the forelimb of the theropod dinosaur Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, and implications for predatory behaviour". Journal of Zoology. 266 (3): 307–318.doi:10.1017/S0952836905006989
- Snively, E., Cotton, J. R., Ridgely, R. & Witmer, L. M. Multibody dynamics model of head and neck function in Allosaurus (Dinosauria, Theropoda), Palaeontol. Elect. 16(2), 11A 29p (2013).
White MA, Bell PR, Cook AG, Barnes DG, Tischler TR, Bassam BJ, et al. (2015) Forearm Range of Motion in Australovenator wintonensis (Theropoda, Megaraptoridae). PLoS ONE 10(9): e0137709. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0137709
Zanno, Lindsay E. (2006-01-01). "The Pectoral Girdle and Forelimb of the Primitive Therizinosauroid Falcarius utahensis (Theropoda, Maniraptora): Analyzing Evolutionary Trends within Therizinosauroidea". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 26 (3): 636–650. JSTOR 4524610. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[636:tpgafo]2.0.co;2.
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More UVA athletes arrested in break-in/brawl
Four more UVa athletes were arrested by Charlottesville police on Monday in connection with a break-in and brawl at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house last month.
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This module corresponds to chapters 2 (OpenAL Operation), 3 (State and State Requests), 4 (Listener and Sources) and 5 (Buffers) of the OpenAL Specification and Reference (version 1.1).
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.BasicTypes
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Errors
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.StringQueries
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Attenuation
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Doppler
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Listener
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Source
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Buffer
- module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Extensions
OpenAL Fundamentals
OpenAL is concerned with rendering audio into an output buffer and collecting audio data from an input buffer. OpenAL's primary use is assumed to be for spatialized audio. There is no support for MIDI.
OpenAL has three fundamental primitives or objects:
Sources, and
a single listener (see Sound.OpenAL.AL.Listener). Each object can be
changed independently; the setting of one object does not affect the setting
of others. The application can also set modes that affect processing. Modes
are set, objects specified, and other OpenAL operations performed by sending
commands in the form of function or procedure calls.
Sources store locations, directions, and other attributes of an object in 3D space and have a buffer associated with them for playback. When the program wants to play a sound, it controls execution through a source object. Sources are processed independently from each other.
Buffers store compressed or uncompressed audio data. It is common to initialize a large set of buffers when the program first starts (or at non-critical times during execution, between levels in a game, for instance). Buffers are referred to by sources. Data (audio sample data) is associated with buffers.
There is only one listener (per audio context). The listener attributes are similar to source attributes, but are used to represent where the user is hearing the audio from. The influence of all the sources from the perspective of the listener is mixed and played for the user.
Basic AL Operation
OpenAL can be used for a variety of audio playback tasks, and is an excellent complement to OpenGL for real-time rendering, see Graphics.Rendering.OpenGL. A programmer who is familiar with OpenGL will immediately notice the similarities between the two APIs in that they describe their 3D environments using similar methods.
For an OpenGL/OpenAL program, most of the audio programming will be in two places in the code: initialization of the program, and the rendering loop. An OpenGL/OpenAL program will typically contain a section where the graphics and audio systems are initialized, although it may be spread into multiple functions. For OpenAL, initialization normally consists of creating a context, creating the initial set of buffers, loading the buffers with sample data, creating sources, attaching buffers to sources, setting locations and directions for the listener and sources, and setting the initial values for state global to OpenAL.
Time and Frequency
By default, OpenAL uses seconds and Hertz as units for time and frequency, respectively. A float or integral value of one for a variable that specifies quantities like duration, latency, delay, or any other parameter measured as time, specifies 1 second. For frequency, the basic unit is 1/second, or Hertz. In other words, sample frequencies and frequency cut-offs or filter parameters specifying frequencies are expressed in units of Hertz.
Space and Distance
OpenAL does not define the units of measurement for distances. The application is free to use meters, inches, or parsecs. OpenAL provides means for simulating the natural attenuation of sound according to distance, and to exaggerate or reduce this effect. However, the resulting effects do not depend on the distance unit used by the application to express source and listener coordinates. OpenAL calculations are scale invariant. The specification assumes Euclidean calculation of distances, and mandates that if two sources are sorted with respect to the Euclidean metric, the distance calculation used by the implementation has to preserve that order.
Coordinate System
OpenAL - like OpenGL - uses a right-handed Cartesian coordinate system (RHS), where in a frontal default view X (thumb) points right, Y (index finger) points up, and Z (middle finger) points towards the viewer/camera. To switch from a left handed coordinate system (LHS) to a right handed coordinate systems, flip the sign on the Z coordinate.
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.BasicTypes
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Errors
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Attenuation
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Doppler
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Listener
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Source
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Buffer
module Sound.OpenAL.AL.Extensions


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So, I thought my profile pictures are so popular (due...
Secret's Cover Contest435830180
- by Aldrin, spongebobninja☕ & River_Summers ☕
- Rating:
- Published: 2 Aug 2014
- Updated: 16 Oct 2014
- Status: In Progress
You may have heard of these cover makers before, dear friends of mine and great cover makers, well now they are my competitors for the cover contest; hosted by me! What will happen is the contestants will receive a challenge on a previous chapter, where they may make one, and one only, cover each. When all three are in, I and maybe some helpers, will decide the worthy winner. This will happen a number of times. What? What do they win I hear you say? Hm... Honour, I guess, and pride. I may compete as well sometimes, but I won't be a judger for when that happens. Anyway, enough of this, let's get this show on the road!
*The cover you see is made by River_Summers*
*The cover you see is made by River_Summers*
Join MovellasFind out what all the buzz is about. Join now to start sharing your creativity and passion
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text:
Food is the fuel that keeps you alive and when you give your body the right type of foods it responds in a positive way.
A diet that is full of sugary, high fat and processed foods is extremely damaging to your internal health and can equally have a negative effect on your external health too; your skin.
If you don't follow a healthy eating diet then instead of bright, blemish free, glowing skin you will end up with greasy acne prone skin, full of blemishes, pimples, and more skin problems than you care to imagine.
A nutritious wholesome diet is something you should be following on a daily basis. For radiant, problem free skin your daily diet should contain foods in their natural state, free from any chemicals and man-made preservatives.
Processed foods can have a detrimental effect on your skin as your body finds them extremely difficult to digest and your skin is one of the main areas it affects, and can cause skin eruptions.
Natural foods are loaded with vitamins and nutrients that are essential to your skins health.
Vitamin A which can be found in egg yolks, green and orange fruits, vegetables and dairy products can help your skin from becoming dry, scaly and rough which is ideal if you are suffering with eczema.
Essential fatty acids are found in vegetable oils, nuts, seeds and fatty fish support cell membrane health and should be eaten by anyone wanting to keep their skin healthy.
Selenium is also an incredible nutrient for skin which can be found in mushrooms, nuts, whole grains and onions. Many types of fish are also an excellent choice of food for skin health.
Your diet should contain (organic) fruit and vegetables, lean (grass fed) red meats, (non-farmed) oily fish, (organic) white meats and legumes. Avoid drinking too much caffeine, alcohol and steer clear of pore clogging sodas too!
Your diet can either hinder or help your complexion; watch your food choices if you really do want skin perfection.


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For participants in Power in Practice, an in-house business coaching program offered by Commonwealth Financial Network, the course can sometimes feel like drinking from a fire hose. The program content is designed for advisors who are committed to transitioning their practices into true businesses, but its unique framework—including workshops, peer group meetings and coaching calls—gives participants the tools, structure and motivation they need to take their businesses to the next level.
A new approach to practice management
Advisors frequently comment that they just don't have enough time to attend to practice management issues. In fact, many advisors spend more than enough time on practice management; they're simply not focusing on activities with the highest ROI. To help advisors develop an effective practice management infrastructure, Power in Practice breaks down their responsibilities into six fundamental areas:
- Small business leadership (i.e., embracing the CEO role and leading a thriving entity)
- Human resources management
- Operational efficiency and scalability
- Consistent, targeted marketing
- Risk management
- Ongoing and enhanced rainmaking
Most participants can point to at least one aspect that they already have in place, an area in which the program presents an opportunity for improvement rather than completely new material.
In Workshop No. 1, (See "Power in Practice: A Coaching Program to Last a Career—Part 1," Investment Advisor, May 2012), participants were introduced to several of the key practice management topics, including business planning, marketing and production enhancement. Their individual follow-up activities included:
- Writing a two-page business plan, strategic directives for the next three years and up to seven SMART goals for the current year.
- Creating or refining their firm's human resources documents, including job descriptions for all positions as well as for the CEO, a performance review template and an employee handbook.
- Completing a niche-specific marketing calendar with tactics to be implemented throughout the year by designated staff members.
These materials will become part of the practice management manual that each advisor assembles over the course of the program. Participants keep their manuals in electronic format, organized by the six key topics. The advisors are encouraged to bring a copy of their manuals with them to the workshops to share with their colleagues. Throughout the program, they jot down new ideas and changes in the hard-copy manual. Then, after the final workshop, they incorporate their revisions in the electronic version, ensuring that they start the next year with a complete, up-to-date manual.
Workshop No. 2
In the three months since the first workshop, the 40 participants had been talking at least monthly with their peer groups. By the time Workshop No. 2 rolled around, many of the advisors had built relationships with their fellow participants, enhancing our discussions of the session's main topics: operational efficiency and revenue enhancement.
Operational efficiency
Advisors often say they want their practices to run like a well-oiled machine, but achieving operational efficiency isn't second nature for most advisors. You may not love thinking about process improvement, making policy decisions or figuring out how to best use technology, but these are the areas that can yield true efficiency for your office.
Process improvement. As the famous Chinese proverb says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." That's the guiding idea behind this part of the workshop, in which participants use flowcharts to design efficient processes and checklists to document how those processes are carried out.
Almost all offices use the following core processes on a daily basis:
- Preparing for client review meetings
- Conducting review meetings
- Following up on review meetings
- Handling specific service issues, such as when a client calls requesting cash
- Converting prospects to clients
Flowcharting how these processes are completed in their respective offices had a triple benefit for participants. First, they gained an understanding of all the steps in the process. Second, they realized how their own actions sometimes impede the flow of work in their offices. And third, by sharing and comparing their flowcharts with other advisors, they began to form ideas for process improvement.
Post-workshop, the advisors will use the flowcharting technique again with their staff members, working through the nine most critical processes for their offices and then converting the flowcharts into concise, easy-to-follow checklists. Indeed, working with staff to document processes—flowcharting the current steps, exploring options for improvement, making decisions about the best flow for the office and documenting the steps in a checklist—helps cement the procedure and goes a long way toward increasing a firm's efficiency.
Power in Practice takeaway: Trying to document a current process, identify areas for improvement and decide on a new process all at the same time usually doesn't work very well. Taking a sequential approach is more conducive to success.
Policy decisions. Another component of operational efficiency involves making policy decisions regarding:
- The type of client best served by the practice (versus clients who would be better served elsewhere)
- Client categorization and the criteria for each category
- How you will define which services each client category receives (i.e., creating a tiered service matrix)
Many of the advisors were particularly interested in the time-saving potential of a tiered service matrix. For instance, if it's established that each "A" client has a quarterly review meeting, staff can proactively schedule appointments without any direction from the advisor. Defining the service matrix can also help you think through what clients really value. Do "A" clients need or even want a quarterly review meeting?
And what about the trend of using conference calls? Would clients be just as happy or happier with two face-to-face meetings and two conference calls per year? While conference calls typically require similar preparation, the call itself is usually shorter than a face-to-face meeting. As the client population ages, many advisors are shifting toward using conference calls for clients who seem to value them.
As their post-workshop assignment, advisors will document their client categorization criteria and create a tiered service matrix—tasks that can open up big questions about a practice. One advisor left the session asking herself, "Are my higher-income clients subsidizing the work we do for smaller clients? If so, should I reduce the number of smaller clients through a partial sale or a referral to an outside advisor? And finally, how can I more distinctly define my service matrix for A, B and C clients?"
Power in Practice takeaway: Most advisors want to ensure that clients are "touched" a certain number of times per year. This is something to consider when creating your tiered service matrix. For example, "A" clients may get 12–16 touches, "B" clients 8–12 touches, and "C" clients six or fewer touches, depending on whether you're trying to retain them.
Technology. A final component of operational efficiency is maximizing relevant technology. The key word here is relevant. Researching the many technology options available, deciding which applications fit your practice, implementing new systems and learning to use them can be a process unto itself. Often, advisors are so bedazzled by the latest technology that they overlook whether it can actually save them time. Tools for performance review and reporting, client relationship management, investment research, financial planning and model management are the few critical pieces most advisors require.
Power in Practice takeaway: The more fully integrated your technology is into your practice, the greater its potential for saving you time.
Revenue enhancement
For a thriving firm, rainmaking activity is just as essential as a strong practice management infrastructure. That's why in every Power in Practice workshop we talk about revenue enhancement, with a focus on the three A's—aptitude, attitude and activity.
In the movie "Invictus", Morgan Freeman (who plays Nelson Mandela) asks Matt Damon (who plays the captain of South Africa's Springboks rugby team) a powerful question about his players: "How do you get them to be better than they think they can be?" That's a great question for advisors to ask themselves, too. Along those lines, the Power in Practice participants considered the following questions:
- What self-limiting attitudes interfere with maximizing potential?
- What attitudes spur advisors to their own personal greatness?
- What attitudes do high-producing advisors exhibit?
- Why do some advisors get stuck in their comfort zones?
- Why do some advisors reach a point when enough production is enough while other advisors never experience it?
Power in Practice takeaway: Every advisor has a different definition of production success; there's no right or wrong answer. But there is value in being aware of your own attitude and how it supports or interferes with revenue generation.
Building a community of peers
It's always fascinating to see how different people take away uniquely different lessons from the very same workshop. One hypothesis is that, in highly interactive experiences, a great deal of the learning comes from talking and sharing with the other participants. That's certainly the case with Power in Practice; while the program content is important, peer interaction is often just as valuable to the advisors.
Participants left the second workshop eager to apply the concepts in their own offices and to continue developing their practice management infrastructure. Knowing that they would have the support of their peer groups in the months until the next workshop certainly helped.
You may not be participating in Power in Practice, but seeking out a coach or peer network can provide that same sense of camaraderie and support—an essential ingredient when you're seeking to make big strides in your practice.


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Yu-Gi-Oh! Card DB1-EN044 Banisher of the Light
- Played with condition (Detailed pictures available upon request)
- No tears
- Will be shipped in a sleeve/toploader
- Common
We ship FREE in the United Kingdom, and also offer shipping to Europe. If you have any questions on whether we ship to your country, please let us know using the contact us form.


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The American Legion's Public Relations Division has released its slate of materials for Veterans Day 2012. The more directly public-focused material is a pair of ad slicks, in black/white and color, thanking all veterans for their service. The PR Division is sending the slicks to newspapers around the country to use as a free public service; Legionnaires are encouraged to download and distribute them to publications in their area – school, corporate and church bulletins/newsletters, etc.
The suggested Veterans Day speech is available at www.legion.org/veteransday/speech. All patriotic-holiday speeched prepared by the PR Division are meant only as starting places, for members delivering a speech publicly or just at the post, to amend in whatever ways they feel best relate the Legion's message to the audience. Both the speech and the ad slicks can also be accessed on the Publications page of the national website.
Stay tuned for more news and announcements on Veterans Day 2012.


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Randolph leads Grizzlies over Suns
Zach Randolph scored 21 points and Rudy Gay added 20 to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 92-81 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.
Tony Allen scored 11 and Marc Gasol had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who have won three of their last five games.
P.J. Tucker scored a career-high 17 points and Marcin Gortat added 12 points and rebounds for the Suns. Guards Goran Dragic and Sebastian Telfair combined for just 12 points and seven assists.
Phoenix has lost eight of nine and 15 of 20 dating to November 28.
Despite shooting in the mid-30 percent range for the bulk of the game, Phoenix trailed 71-65 when Markieff Morris converted a three-point play 31 seconds into the fourth quarter.
But Gasol scored four points, including a fallaway 17-footer, and Gay added a 21-foot jumper to key a 10-3 run that put the Grizzlies ahead 81-68.
Randolph, who entered the game shooting 66.7 percent from the floor in the team's two prior meetings, shot 9 of 11 and added eight rebounds.
The Suns shot 78 percent in the first quarter of a loss Friday to Utah, but struggled from the beginning against Memphis, the NBA's top team in opponent scoring. Phoenix missed its first seven shots and 11 of its first 13 on the way to a 23.8 percent shooting quarter and a 32.5 percent first half.
Yet the Grizzlies held only a five-point lead after the first and a 41-38 advantage at half, largely due to eight turnovers and 0-for-3 shooting from beyond the 3-point line.
NOTES: Memphis became the first team in the series to win on the road since the Grizzlies won in Phoenix on December 8, 2010. . The Suns had one fast-break point. . Phoenix remained stuck on 1,999 franchise victories. . Memphis is 7-28 in Phoenix. . Suns guard Wesley Johnson played in the first half for just the seventh time in 35 games, scoring his six points on a pair of 3-pointers. . The Suns' 38 first-half points were one more than the team's season low. . Gay is nine minutes short of become the franchise leader in minutes played.


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Florence Griffith Joyner is the author of 'Running for Dummies', published 1999 under ISBN 9780764550966 and ISBN 0764550969.[read more]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2, 2014
The 2014 Legislative Session: Creating More Opportunities for Oklahoma Families and Businesses
By Governor Mary Fallin
At the beginning of the 2014 Legislative Session, I asked our lawmakers to work with me to build on the considerable momentum we have helped to create in Oklahoma. That momentum includes:
- Over 90,000 new jobs created since 2011 and a reduction of the unemployment rate from over 7 percent in 2010 to just 4.6 percent today
- Per capita income growth of 6.3 percent from 2011 to 2013, the second-highest growth rate in the nation during that time period and
- The restoration of the Rainy Day fund, which went from broke ($2.03 in 2011, to be exact) to a high over $570 million
We have achieved these results through hard work and a commitment to fiscally conservative, pro-growth policies as well as the elimination of government waste. When Washington tried to push irresponsible, costly policies down our throats – like Obamacare's unaffordable Medicaid expansion – we stood with the people of Oklahoma and loudly told President Obama, "No."
I am proud to say that 2014 was a productive legislative session that continues to build on that previous good work. Some of the highlights include:
Lower taxes for families and businesses:
This year I signed into law a responsible, measured income tax cut that will save families an average of $158 per year once fully implemented and return over $200 million annually to the private sector. Reducing the income tax rate in Oklahoma makes our state more competitive and able to attract good jobs, something that is especially important as neighboring states continue to reduce taxes.
I also signed a continuation of a key tax incentive program that reduces costs for oil and gas companies drilling new wells in Oklahoma. That incentive will continue to make our state the best place in the country for the energy industry, which supports one in four Oklahoma jobs, to operate and invest in.
A conservative budget that cuts bureaucracy while increasing resources for education:
The budget passed this year is a responsible, balanced budget that closes a $188 million budget shortfall by making necessary cuts while still adequately funding state government.
While many agencies will receive cuts, the budget delivers a much needed $80 million funding increase for K-12 education, getting more money into the classroom and funding reforms that will improve accountability and boost student performance. With that increase in resources, K-12 public schools have now received more than $154 million in the past two years, more than any other area of government during my administration.
Better compensation for public employees
It is no secret that many state employees are underpaid, making it hard to recruit and retain qualified workers, and ultimately eroding the quality of service for taxpayers. To begin addressing that problem, this year's budget includes $36.8 million in pay raises for over 12,300 state employees, including corrections workers, state Highway Patrol troopers, and child welfare workers. It also includes raises for the state's most underpaid employees, as identified by the state's recent comprehensive employee compensation study.
Addressing pay disparities is only half the solution when it comes to state employees; we also need to address the state's fiscally unstable pension system. With $11 billion in unfunded liabilities and a stagnant, mid-20th century model in place, today's pension system was threatening to collapse under its own weight, jeopardizing the promises the state has made to our current employees and retirees. To fix that, I signed a bill to move future hires to the 401K-style pension model commonly used in the private sector. The new system will offer employees more portable and flexible retirement benefits while getting the state back on sound fiscal footing.
I'm excited about the direction our state is headed in, and I'm proud that the 2014 legislative session continued to push us in the right direction. Oklahoma has always been a strong, caring community; and we are providing our families and businesses with more and better opportunities to flourish each and every day.


text: This Deluxe rustic style Villa situated in the seaside area of Xlendi bay, just a few minutes' walk to the beach. This Villa has eight double / twin bedrooms of which seven bedrooms have ensuites, air-conditioning, colour TV with cable. This is a deluxe property ideal for groups or individuals.Options consists of: Renting the whole ground floor which consisting of three double/ twin bedrooms all having private bath or shower rooms, large open plan kitchen / dining / living room and private use of the pool and deck area. Sizable bar be que. And or A few rooms from the first floor which consists of five double / twin bedrooms, all bedrooms have a private bath / shower room. The first floor can be accessed from the internal staircase which can be locked or from the external separate outside staircase.So you can rent the Ground floor and part of the first floor or the whole Villa depending your requirements. General Information. * 5 Minute walk to the Xlendi bay area. * Nicely furnished Villa. * Large pool and deck area. * All Bedrooms have a bath / shower room. * Seven bedrooms have air-conditioning and TV with Cable. * Maid Service, linen and towel change once weekly. * Ideal for groups or large families. * Three good scuba dive shops in Xlendi bay.


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Here is a study that shows how quickly we distort our memories: Event completion: Event based inferences distort memory in a matter of seconds. The study concludes, in part, that "…results suggest that as people perceive events, they generate rapid conceptual interpretations that can have a powerful effect on how events are remembered."
This study shows that our memories of events are dynamic and can become distorted very quickly. These findings well support FIML practice, which is based on quick interventions while we are speaking to capture sound, usable data that both partners can agree on.
Blogger Your memory of events is distorted within seconds)." Well-put. From a FIML point of view, we generate or maintain neurotic interpretations (mistaken interpretations) by believing we are "observing a consequence…that implied an earlier causal action had happened." When we misinterpret an utterance during a conversation, we tend to do so in habitual ways; we tend to respond to that utterance as if it had meant something it did not; we tend to understand the "consequence" that happens in our minds as "implying" or being based on something that our partner actually had intended when they had not had any such intention.writes about this study saying that "memory invention was specifically triggered by observing a consequence (e.g. a ball flying off into the distance) that implied an earlier causal action had happened and had been seen (
This study illustrates very well why FIML practitioners want to develop their skills so that both partners are able to quickly disengage from their conversation while taking a meta-position that allows them to gather and agree upon good data that they can discuss objectively and rationally. When your partner denies that they meant what you thought they meant, this study will help you believe them.
The sociological Thomas theorem states: "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences." Leaving aside the irony of how the gender-laden language nicely supports Thomas' theory, the study linked above shows how quickly we can turn a small mistake into something that is "real in its consequences". Long ago, the Buddha said fundamentally the same thing: "The mind is everything. What you think you become."


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How can I leave a review for a resource in Commons?
You can leave a review for a resource in Commons. Reviews are a way for users to evaluate the quality of a resource. A few things you might consider when evaluating a resource: Did you use this resource in your course? Do you think it improved studen...more


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What's on offer?
Get the latest ABC News delivered to your email Inbox every morning and afternoon. You can choose the news of interest to you or receive news from all the categories.
We also offer a text only ABC News Mail. It contains the entire text of the items in our Top Stories section. With this format you are unable to select specific areas of interest.


text:
Skull & Rose Shirt - Blue
Our intention is to ensure our customers are 100% happy with their purchase.
Somersberry Clothing is pleased to offer a 30 day returns policy excluding sale items.
The easiest way to return an item for exchange is simply to post the item you no longer want back to us for a refund and simply repurchase the item you now would like on our site.
We do not cover the shipping costs of returning the item back to us.
Should you receive any item that is defective we will replace this immediately. Please contact our customer service department.
- Products that have had tags removed, have been worn or washed.
- Garments where the packaging has been damaged that it would render the product unsaleable.
- Sale items
how to process a return
- Please take a copy of the original invoice.
- Please pack up your return and return to :
- You will be refunded within 5 days of us receiving your return parcel.
All refunds are refunded to the original payment method.
Somersberry Clothing offers A FLAT RATE fee for all Australian orders.
Express delivery
- We offer an express delivery to most areas for a flat rate fee of $19.95 (within Australia).
Shipping times within Australia -Standard
- Delivery times for standard shipping depend mostly on location and take 1 to 7 business days, sometimes a little longer to remote areas. All parcels are sent with full tracking information - details of which are sent with your dispatch confirmation. Deliveries are only made on weekdays.
Shipping times within Australia -Express
Delivery times for express delivery are typically 1-3 business days. Major metro areas are typically the next business day after dispatch.
All parcels are fully trackable - details are sent with your dispatch confirmation.
How do I track my parcel within Australia
Please click on the below link and enter your delivery tracking number.
New Zealand Customers: For any purchase, a flat rate of $14.95 applies
Rest of the World: For any purchase, a flat rate of $14.95 applies.
On the rare occasion customs may choose to delay individual shipments as a random security measure. Please be aware if you are ordering for International deliveries you warrant, understand and agree to the following:
* Customers are liable for any relevant customs charges, duties or tariffs for their country.
* Customers understand that if the goods sent from us are impounded by customs, delivery charges and cost of goods will not be refunded.
* Customers understand that if the goods are returned, the customer will be charged for all shipping charges (to and from the customer)
Shipping times Internationally
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How do I track my parcel Internationally?
Please contact our customer service team.
Our shirts are beautifully made and true to Australian size. Our long and short sleeve designs are a slim fit, not too tight, and tapered in all the right places. To make sure you get the fit you're looking for, we've got an easy to read sizing guide to ensure you get the right fit every time.
But don't forget, if in doubt, send us an email to firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll get back to you the same day.
Luxury Fabrics that are so comfortable to wear
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Fit: Slim Fit
Material: Japenese cotton


text: Hi, I just started this game two days ago and I love it. But I think I found a bug with one of the badges in the strength column called, rattlesnake. Long story short, it doesn't always take affect. Sometimes it doesn't work at all during a match so I made sure to stop using that badge. Just wanted to let you guys know because again, I love your game. Oh, and when does the game launch?


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Hoyer Discusses Supreme Court Ruling on Health Care Reform and House Contempt Vote on MSNBC
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) discussed the Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act and the contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" last night. Below are excerpts and a link to the video:
Click here to watch the video
http://www.democraticwhip.gov/content/h ... vote-msnbc
On the Supreme Court Ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act:
"We thought the bill was constitutional. The Supreme Court has said it's constitutional. It's within our powers and we think the American public can be more secure today than they were yesterday with the assurance that they're going to have access to affordable, quality health care."
"We think this is a bill that is good for America and will bring down costs. We'll provide for seniors with lower prescription drug costs; we'll give young people the ability to stay on their parents' policy until they're 26 if they haven't been able to find a job; we'll make sure the insurance companies can't put caps on insurance benefits when people get really sick; and we'll particularly importantly make sure that people that already have an illness – a preexisting condition - will be able to get health care insurance which they need. We think it's a good day for Americans."
On the House Contempt Vote Against Attorney General Eric Holder:
"I thought this was a very sad day for the Congress of the United States This was politics, not due process. That was choosing confrontation over cooperation."
"The normal number of days between a Committee action and Floor action is 87 days. This was 7 days. [Note: Mr. Hoyer misspoke, it was 8 days.] It was rush to judgment. This is all about politics and not in my opinion about the ability for Congress to get the information it needs. The Attorney General has been extraordinarily cooperative - turned over 7,600 pieces of documents for the committee to see. And in fact the committee's investigation of the underlying substance of this issue was superficial, and they shut out witnesses [who] asked to be called who knew about … the so-called 'Fast and Furious' process. That's not what this is about. This is simply about politically going after the Attorney General for partisan purposes."
Visit http://www.democraticwhip.gov/ for more press, floor and member resources.


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A better random number generator by using an entropy pool.
(Stock RNG sucks) The stock random number generator (RNG) provided in Q3A uses a cyclic PRNG (pseudo-random number generator) function. In effect, such a PRNG marches through a very long and predetermined (predictable) list of pseudo-random numbers; where the PRNG starts marching down is determined by the seed value. There are many way of mixing up the manner in which a PRNG marches down its list, but many of them tends to involve deterministic mechanisms, that is, using another function to predictably alter the way another function predictably works.
(How RNG can be improved) Among the better ways of mixing up a PRNG is to sample sources of nondeterministic (unpredictable) numbers as seed values. Common nondeterministic sources include TV/radio static, user's mouse movements, background noise (aural, atmospheric, cosmic), the radiation from a small amount of radioactive isotope, and the time it takes for MS-Windows to crash. Within the confines of the Q3VM, there are few choices of nondeterministic numbers. These choices include the initial random number seed provided to G_InitGame(), usercmds, and some structs associated with non-bot players.
(The entropy pool)
An entropy pool holds a large number of ordered bits (this implementation uses 2048 bits), nominally a random collection of bits (0's and 1's scattered randomly).
Samples from a nondeterministic source are mixed into the pool by using a stirring function.
This stirring is a way of
spreading out the bits from the source throughout the pool, instead of pushed into one little corner.
Though the stirring function itself is inherently deterministic, the nondeterministism of the source value "taints" the predictability of the stirring function -- that is, though "how" the function works is predictable, the "what" it uses and makes is not -- aka Garbage-In-Garbage-Out (GIGO).
Ideally, a random number can be pulled from anywhere in the pool.
The first 32 bits ought to be just as good as the last 32 bits.
Create an instance of a noiz_t struct in g_main.c:
noiz_t noiz;
Make the instance globally visible in g_local.h:
extern noiz_t noiz;
Initialize the entropy pool in G_InitGame() (in g_main.c):
(optional) Deinitalize the entropy pool in G_ShutdownGame() (in g_main.c):
(optional) Call noiz_alarm() to enable autosaving of pool state in G_RunFrame() (g_main.c):
Stir the pool with noiz_stir() (anywhere...):
noiz_stir(&noiz, (unsigned char*)&somestruct, sizeof(somestruct));
Or use the NOIZ_STIR macro, which assumes "noiz" and "sizeof(somestruct)":
NOIZ_STIR(somestruct); /* no & needed */
Retrieve a random number by storing the return value of noiz_stir(); use NULL for the source if nothing else is adequate, or the macro NOIZ_RAND (use in place of rand() or Q_rand()):
int randomval = noiz_stir(&noiz, (unsigned char*)&somestruct, sizeof(somestruct));
int randomval = NOIZ_STIR(somestruct);
int randomval = noiz_stir(&noiz, NULL, 0);
int randomval = NOIZ_RAND();
The quality of random numbers depends on the sampled sources of entropy.
Bad sources result in bad
randomness of this RNG has not been tested,
though it is certainly more nondeterministic than the stock Q3A PRNG
(if the noiz_stir() calls are used properly...).
The RNG is based on noiz-0.5.
When noiz_stir() is given a NULL or zero-length source ("retrieve-only without stirring"), the function starts stepping through each 32 bits in the pool without actually stirring. After a sufficient number of NULL stirs, the function stirs with a NULL source anyway. Doing so introduces determinism, but it avoids recycling bit sequences.
The entropy pool state is saved in an encoded format into cvar "g_noiz", marked for Archive (written to q3config.cfg). The format is a hex digit for each nibble. With 256 bytes in the pool state, the format (513 bytes) exceeds the Q3VM (but not the Q3 engine's!) limit for a cvar string value (256 bytes). Using a vmCvar_t is not possible without changing the conversion format.
Storing the pool into an archived cvar means the pool state can be persistently restored on next server (re)start. This helps maintain the nondeterminancy across server (and game) sessions, instead of starting over with the same initial pool all the time.
The stirring function is the RSA Message Digest 5 (MD5) algorithm. The implementation used was written by Ron Rivest, and priorly tested for equivalence to RSA's implementation (the code comments say it's equivalent).


text:
Ten Ten
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Rock On!
My son's Webelos Geology achievement badge was completed today with a trip to the Lucky Lake Gem Mine in fabulous McKinney, Virginia:
I was worried that we'd get there and it just wouldn't be what we were hoping for (details are skinny on the website). We were very pleasantly surprised!
For starters, we got to dig ourselves:
There is an option to buy buckets of material (soil and rock and planted goodies) and sluice away at the giant sluicing area, but my son really wanted to dig.
Lots of muck and rocks to dig up and plop in a sieve. Once washed clean in the creek, the treasures start to show up:
I dug one spadeful - and struck it "rich" immediately:
Here's my daughter's haul for the day:
One of the best parts of the place is that a gemologist sits own with you when you're done to explain what each rock you have is:
My daughter was in sorting heaven!
Not sure how great this pic is, but this turned out to be my favorite rock from my daughter's haul. Naturally, we've already forgotten the name and forgot to get a copy of the handout, so now I'm not really sure why I'm posting this:
except that is looks like hay running through a crystal and is sometime known as Aphrodite's Hair. Cool!
My son found a Dalmatian Stone:
and you can tell why I had a hard time with Geology class in college. Cannot remember the real names to save my hide. Oh well, the common names are usually much more fun!
The trip was a culmination of a mini-unit study on geology at our house. After studying lots of rock books this week, we were excited to think that we might have found some petrified wood:
Turned out to be a piece of burnt wood (thus the charcoal marks on the picnic table) and a special type of rock.
Despite the long drive, the gem mine was a great trip. Not only were cool rocks in abundance, but to have someone handy for identification really made the education level worthwhile. The setting with the shade and picnic tables made for a comfortable place to spend a day and the staff couldn't have been more helpful.
No field trip is complete (at least for my group) without treats! McKinney seems to be completely frozen in time 50 years ago. Couldn't you see this place on and episode of "Happy Days"?
Once home, we tried out my son's gift shop purchase, a crack-by-yourself geode.
And here's what we found inside:
Not as high-tech spectacular as could be, but more than expected and better than most. Just like our field trip!
Labels: field trip, kids
Monday, July 06, 2009
We had a fabulous time on the fourth, just hanging out at home as a family.
Of course, there were required items:
Big, honking box of fireworks:
Patriotic decorations:
Good seats to watch the fireworks show:
Check and check!
Pyromaniac 10-year old:
Labels: chickens, crafts. kids, fourth of july, holidays
Broody Business
Petunia is persisting in her quest to become a mama chicken and won't get out of the nesting box without force. We're gathering eggs more often and taking her out a couple times a day to help. She will wander about with the other ladies for a bit, only to return to her box. Yesterday, I found her sitting sadly in the coop run (in the rain) and was happy she was out, but when I checked the nesting box I saw Chick Pea doing her thing and realized that Petunia was just pushed aside momentarily. She's got it so bad that we're calling her Looney Tunie. She's not a happy chicken.
Another distressing effect of her broodiness is that she isn't laying. I wasn't sure how to confirm this, but informal egg polls seem to indicate that we are getting fewer of the bigger eggs that Marigold and Petunia are known for. She even looks different - not only is she even bigger (all that snacking and no exercise - as if I needed another visual reminder!) - but her comb has changed color. That confirms it - she's no longer laying.
Here is Petunia on the 4th of July:
And here is Marigold:
Can you see how Marigold's comb is a much brighter red? My very smart father-in-law pointed out that trait to me.
I was trying to get a picture of them together to illustrate the difference and I thought that the feeder was a good focal point. Just look at Marigold's comb shoved up in the feeder:
Petunia is on the right, but it's not so easy to tell the difference in the comb colors.
And here's another attempt:
It just looks like they are posing for the chicken equivalent of Town & Country. Petunia is in the front and Marigold is the rear. Chick Pea is just butting in to be a ham. Beats being BBQ!
And this concludes comb class...
Labels: chickens
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Baby Bird
About a month ago (already?) a friend stopped by and noticed a bit of a fuzz ball in our red twigged dogwoods. Could that be....?
How's that for a handsome close-up? I have never seen a bird this age up so close. He was perching as pretty as can be on the twig, obviously staying off the ground. I wanted to bring the chickens up for a tutorial.
I also noticed that there was a beautiful adult tanager about that day and finally put the two together. The mama/daddy bird was watching out for junior! I kept an eye on the little guy off and on that day and he stayed in the shrub, moving up and down his branch.
I'd love to tell you that there was a spectacular ending, but there was a booming thunder downpour that night. Next morning - no baby bird. But also no adult bird. I keep hoping that somehow they encouraged junior to get his hopping/flying on and got him to a safer spot in time. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Long May It Wiggle!
I think I was born in the wrong decade. I LOVE Jello and could have seriously excelled at the gelatin arts had I been a 1950's June Clever. As it is, I only get to break bad for special occasions. Because, you know, not everyone has Jello love in their hearts and may think that I've lost it.
But today is just such an occasion here in the U.S.A. Independence Day means two things around here - fireworks (my son is becoming quite a pyromaniac, but don't all boys at 10?) and the Jello United States!
In a proud, passing-of-the-torch moment, my darling daughter took the helm for all the mixing and pouring to create this masterpiece (and no, I don't use the word lightly!). The kids chose to sing "God Bless America" for the unveiling. What a hoot! Maybe some year we'll get a platter that is more fitting for our favorite form.
But 'til then: hope you all have a fantastic Fourth!
Beach Bound
We had a chance to slip off to Virginia Beach for 1 night, so we jumped at the chance to use Daddy's free conference hotel room.
I packed lightly and we hit the beach hard.
I snapped photos:
My daughter really enjoyed the waves (when did she stop being the toddler afraid of waves bigger than her feet?):
Lots of sand castles and pit digging occurred:
After our "relaxing" mini vacation, I drive home with my daughter only to get a call from my husband AFTER I passed through the tunnel that I had his car keys and had to turn around and go BACK through the tunnel. On a Friday afternoon. After at least a half-hour of stop-and-go congestion on the way back, I see this sign:
Glad some one's on top of the situation! In case you're wondering, it took almost 2 1/2 hours to drive from the beach through the tunnel twice and back to the beach. Longer than it "should" take to get home. But all ended well and we got home the long, scenic way.
I'm not sure that you get to call it a vacation when you spend more time in the car than on the sand...
Labels: kids, virginia beach
Blast From the Past
If visiting Winchester wasn't a walk down memory lane, visiting with a good friend from high school sure was! A. and I have been good friends since middle school, but we have always have had a pattern of years going by between visits. We just pick up where we left off. Love that kind of friend.
How we became good friends is a testament to how kind and fun she is. We were complete opposites as kids and now have parallel lives. Kids do that to you (see below). I was the "good" girl and she liked to have a lot of fun. I'd even take a fake hall pass and get her and her boyfriend out of class by saying they were "called them to the office". Needless to say, they never made it to the office and I had a blast exploiting my nerd persona. Great laughs. Can you even imagine that happening now?
My son snapped this photo while we were visiting at her farm in Summit Point, WV:
and chickens and a few dogs (Rip and Lucy):
One advantage of visiting infrequently is that there is always something to new to see. My friend is a antiquing/junk store/estate sale/thrift shop kind of gal, and scores the most striking, large scale finds, which she has no problems displaying proudly. Here's one of the sheds out back:
And here are the corn cribs she asked a farmer friend for, set by another friend over existing junipers with a crane, to house her chickens:
And in the middle of it all in the back yard are swings and rings everywhere. It started looking a little like a circus:
Did I mention that this was a friend who tried out for American Gladiator at her kids' request (and flew through the physical screening tests)?
Her daughter came to my wedding in utero, her son followed, then mine, and then another bookend daughter. And Lucy. All but the dog even used the same crib.
Despite the years, the kids, and our "real" lives, we're still the kids in high school looking for fun, doing it our way, and having a blast. After seeing all the impromptu home renovation projects (My husband went hunting for two weeks so I built an addition! Then he went on another trip and I ripped out the bathroom!) and hearing how hard she's working on her new career as a pharmacist, I am amazed at how far we've come. Can't wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store!
Labels: crafts, winchester
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
We wrapped up staycation by leaving town. A fitting finale, don't you think?
The kids and I headed to Winchester to visit with my parents and a friend of mine from high school. We stayed at a hotel to have more time to explore on our own time. My parents are just not into leaving the house unless it involves a packaged bus tour. And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to hang out "downtown", so the kids and I made an adventure of it one morning. It was like returning to my old stomping grounds.
I lived all summer at the Handley Library. Dad would give me a ride into town at some point in the day and pick me up after work. I think that I read every book in the kids' biography section. It was fun to show my kids the building, but once inside, everything was different. And I couldn't really tell what was different and what was my faulty memories - must be what Alzheimer's feels like setting in.
But the library was beautiful. Lots of curves and round shapes in the original part, like these stairs:
Here's the stained glass dome from inside (how could I now remember that!):
And don't you know that Winchester is the (self-proclaimed) Apple Capitol of the World? Here's the proof, that my daughter is trying to eat:
And a fancy one showing famous locals such as James Wood (founder? and namesake of my high school - Go Colonels!) and Stonewall Jackson (who headquartered there one winter):
We even made it to Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters and discovered that canon barrels are the same diameter as a child's arm:
and unearthed Mary Tyler Moore's connection to the HQ - her great x ? grandfather was the owner of the home and while he was recuperating from a Civil War injury elsewhere, offered his home to Jackson for use as a winter headquarters. So there. It's not really a vacation until momma makes you go through a museum.
All that walking made us hungry, so we hit the downtown pedestrian mall (which used to be filled when I was a kid with mentally ill adults and general riff-raff shopping at the five-and-dime and the liquor store):
to check out the Snow White:
They've installed a pick-up window and added outdoor seating, so we were in seventh heaven. Listen developers and planners: if you want to revitalize a pedestrian mall - add outdoor seating and plenty of restaurants. It's that simple. And cut down on the crazy bums. That helps, too.
Look at all that love on some greasy paper:
And tots! They had tater tots:
Who says you can't go back home?
Labels: kids, vacation, winchester


text:
AMANTADINE (a MAN ta deen) is an antiviral medicine. It is used to prevent and to treat a specific type of flu called influenza A. It will not work for colds, other types of flu, or other viral infections. This medicine is also used to treat Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.
Take this medicine by mouth with a full glass of water. Follow the directions on the prescription label. Take your medicine at regular intervals. Do not take your medicine more often than directed. Take all of your medicine as directed even if you think your are better. Do not skip doses or stop your medicine early. Contact your pediatrician or health care professional regarding the useof this medicine in children. While this drug may be prescribed for children as young as 1 year old for selected conditions, precautions do apply. Patients over 65 years old may have a stronger reaction and need a smaller dose.
Side effects that you should report to your doctor or health care professional as soon as possible:
allergic reactions like skin rash, itching or hives, swelling of the face, lips, or tongue
breathing problems
changes in vision
color changes on the skin
depressed mood
eye pain
falling asleep during normal activities like driving
hallucination, loss of contact with reality
new or increased gambling urges, sexual urges, uncontrolled spending, binge or compulsive eating, or other urges
signs and symptoms of low blood pressure like dizziness; feeling faint or lightheaded, falls; unusually weak or tired
swelling in your legs and feet
suicidal thoughts or other mood changes
trouble passing urine or change in the amount of urine
trouble sleeping
uncontrolled movements of the mouth, head, hands, feet, shoulders, eyelids or other unusual muscle movements
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report these to your doctor or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
dry mouth
antihistamines for allergy, cough and cold
certain medicines for bladder problems like oxybutynin, tolterodine
certain medicines for stomach problems like dicyclomine, hyoscyamine
certain medicines for travel sickness like scopolamine
sodium bicarbonate
some flu vaccines
If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can. If it is almost time for your next dose, take only that dose. Do not take double or extra doses.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Store at room temperature between 20 and 25 degrees C (68 and 77 degrees F). Keep container tightly closed. Throw away any unused medicine after the expiration date.
They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
depression or other mental illness
heart failure
if you drink alcohol
kidney disease
low blood pressure
sleep apnea
suicidal thoughts, plans, or attempt; a previous suicide attempt by you or a family member
an unusual or allergic reaction to amantadine, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives
pregnant or trying to get pregnant
Tell your doctor or health care professional if your symptoms do not improve.
You may get drowsy or dizzy. Do not drive, use machinery, or do anything that needs mental alertness until you know how this medicine affects you. Do not stand or sit up quickly, especially if you are an older patient. This reduces the risk of dizzy or fainting spells. Alcohol may interfere with the effect of this medicine. Avoid alcoholic drinks.
If you are taking this medicine for Parkinson's disease or a movement disorder, be careful. Slowly increase your daily activities as your condition improves. Do not suddenly stop taking your medicine because you may develop a severe reaction.
You may get dry mouth or eyes, or blurry vision while taking this medicine. Try sugarless gum or hard candy, and drink 6 to 8 glasses of water daily. Brush and floss your teeth regularly and carefully to avoid teeth and gum problems. You may want to wet your eyes with lubricating eye drops. Talk to your doctor if these symptoms become a problem.
There have been reports of increased sexual urges or other strong urges such as gambling while taking some medicines for Parkinson's disease. If you experience any of these urges while taking this medicine, you should report it to your health care provider as soon as possible.
You should check your skin often for changes to moles and new growths while taking this medicine. Call your doctor if you notice any of these changes.
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text:
IBM Sterling Ideas
formerly Watson Supply Chain
Submit new product ideas for IBM Sterling solutions. Before you submit, please review existing ideas; if an idea close to yours already exists, it's better to add comments or vote on the existing idea. We will review your ideas and use them to help prioritize our product development. Best of all, the portal will automatically update you when the status of your idea has been changed. Order Management, Store Engagement, Watson Order Optimizer, Inventory Visibility, CPQ and Call Center are now part of Watson Supply Chain
Connect with IBM experts and your peers on the
Supply Chain Collaboration Community and the Order Management Interest Group
NOTICE TO EU RESIDENTS: per EU Data Protection Policy, if you wish to remove your personal information from the IBM ideas portal, please log into the ideas portal using your previously registered information then change your email to "email@example.com" and first name to "anonymous" and last name to "anonymous". This will ensure that IBM will not send any emails to you about your idea submissions.


text:
In the wake of the 2012 presidential election, some political commentators have written political obituaries of the "red" or conservative-leaning states, envisioning a brave new world dominated by fashionably blue bastions in the Northeast or California. But political fortunes are notoriously fickle, while economic trends tend to be more enduring.
These trends point to a U.S. economic future dominated by four growth corridors that are generally less dense, more affordable, and markedly more conservative and pro-business: the Great Plains, the Intermountain West, the Third Coast (spanning the Gulf states from Texas to Florida), and the Southeastern industrial belt...I'm so old I remember when all those Californians who were escaping from high taxes to Southwestern states like Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado were going to become Republicans, but hey look what happened. When places get more developed they tend to get more liberal. (Kotkin's got a better bet in those areas where growth will come from gas and fracking jobs. The ensuing poisoned air and water ought to keep Louisiana from going Democratic for generations.)
I don't know how long they can keep telling themselves stories like this before they try to win votes by changing their policies instead of trying to grow new Republicans in shale oil.
UPDATE. vista, in comments: "If this is the case then our future is the growth of the undereducated, working low wage jobs with zero benefits, living in polluted areas with crumbling infrastructure." I believe that's the plan.