text:
Goncalo Guedes Wiki
Date of Birth: 1996, November 29
Age: 23 years old
Birth Nation: Portugal
Height: 5 Feet 10 Inch
Birth Name Gonçalo Manuel Ganchinho Guedes
Birth Place: Benavente, Portugal
Famous Name: Goncalo Guedes
Father: Rogerio Guedes
Mother: Unknown
Net Worth: above $ 15 million
Salary: Around $ 4.4 million he gets as an annual salary
Nationality: Portuguese
Currently: Working For Valencia CF as a loan from Paris Saint-Germain
Currently: Married Unknown
Married: to Unknown
Divorce: Unknown
Children: Unknown
Affair with Madalena de Moura Neves
Girlfriend yes ( Madalena de Moura Neves)
Boyfriend: Unknown
Religion: Unknown
Tattoo(s): Unknown
Goncalo Guedes Biography
One of the top hit football players is Goncalo Guedes. He plays as a winger for Portugal national football and Paris Saint Germain Football Club and nbsp. He played in the adolescence team of Portugal and made his debut for the senior team in 2015. Goncalo Guedes's full name is Goncalo Manuel Ganchinho Guedes. He was born on (29 November 1996)at Benevento Portugal. Goncalo Guedes joined S.L Benfica in 2005.
Gonçalo Guedes was part of the UEFA adolescence League in 2013-2015. Gonçalo Guedes also made his great professional debut for the team. He also played as center-forward for the team when the striker was injured. Gonçalo Guedes also joined Paris Saint-Germain on 25 January 2017. He made his debut in Ligue 1 and played in plenty of matches.
Goncalo Guedes was loaned to Spanish Club Valencia in 2017. He played well from the club. Gonçalo made his La Liga debut. He was praised by the international sporting press as well. Goncalo Guedes was called by Portugal national team in November 2015. He scored his first international goal in 2017. He was also named in the 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Goncalo Guedes net worth 2021 is estimated to be $3 Million. His earning are the team and Paris Saint-Germain Club.
Social Media Accounts
Instagram: goncaloguedes15: Verified
Posts: 234
Following: 404
Goncalo Guedes Facts
- Goncalo Guedes began his great career with the club Benfica in the year 2005.
- He then debuts at an initial age of 8 from that club.
- After playing for the reserve team of Benfica, he debuted with the senior team in October 2014 and made his Primeira Liga debut against Penafiel in 2015. He scored his first goal against Penafiel FC in September 2015.
- While with the club, for his top hit performance, he was awarded Segunda Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2014 and was a part of Benfica team that went on to win Primeira Liga in three consecutive seasons ( 2014-2017), Taca de Portugal title in 2016-2017 as well as Taca da Liga in 2014-2015 and 2015/16.
- He scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League against Atletico Madrid in September 2015.
After his lucky spell at Benfica, he signed with a French professional football club, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in January 2017 on a four-year contract for a reported transfer fee of $ 36.96 million.
- He played his first match for the French Ligue 1 club on 29th January 2017 against Monaco.
- With the French side, he was able to win top French titles such as Coupe de France during the 2016-2017 season and Trophee des Champions in the year 2017.
- As of today, he is currently playing for the Spanish La Liga club, Valencia CF on a loan from Paris Saint Germain on September 2017 and made his debut for La Liga side against Atletico Madrid on 2017, and scored his first goal for Valencia against Real Betis on 15th October 2017.
- He scored twice and assisted Santi Mina in a 4-0 win over Sevilla, the Che team's fifth consecutive victory.
- He played in the 2019 Copa del Rey Final in May, with his team beating FC Barcelona 2-1 to win the club's first honor in eleven years.
Goncalo Guedes Awards
Best Male Model, Vogue Portugal Fashion Awards 2012.
Golden Globe Award Portugal (2011-2012) Best Male Model.
National Team‡
2011:Portugal U15
2011–2012: Portugal U16
2012–2013: Portugal U17
2013–2014: Portugal U18
2014:Portugal U19
2015:Portugal U20
2015–2017: Portugal U21
2015:Portugal U23
Senior Career
2014–2016:Benfica B
2017–2018:Paris Saint-Germain
2017–2018:Valencia (loan)
2018– Valencia
Read More: Caleb Coffee

subset: commoncrawl


text:
FOREIGN KEYs in MySQL Cluster is a big step forward. It is now possible to run enterprise software with NDB Cluster as the storage backend. Over the years, the lack of FOREIGN KEYs have been one of the most limiting pieces of functionality. Who wants to fiddle with TRIGGERs or recode applications to enforce data integrity?
But finally, it is here. It is implemented natively at the Data Node level, where NDB stores its data. It is well known that FOREIGN KEYs come with an overhead. E.g., when writing a record into a child table, the existence must be checked in the parent table. Since data is distributed across multiple Data Nodes, the child record and parent record may be on different nodes or shards (Node Groups). Hence there is extra work to be done in terms of internal triggers and network communication, the latter being the more costly. The performance impact must be taken into account when doing capacity planning of the cluster.
The question is how much the impact is, and that is what we will look at next.
We will do a simple test to get some initial numbers; insert random records into a table containing FOREIGN KEY constraints, and repeat the test on a table without the constraints. We created the following tables:
create table users_posts_fk (uid integer ,fid integer ,pid integer auto_increment,message varchar(1024),primary key(uid,fid, pid),constraint fk_forum foreign key(fid) references forum(fid) on delete cascade,constraint fk_user foreign key(uid) references users(uid) on delete cascade) engine=ndb;
The table above references to two tables, forum (on the key fid), and users (on the key uid). To insert a record in users_posts_fk requires that the user and forum exists in the parent tables. The users_posts table below does not have any foreign key constraints:
create table users_posts (uid integer ,fid integer ,pid integer auto_increment,message varchar(1024),primary key(uid,fid, pid),key forum(fid)) engine=ndb;
The parent tables (referenced by users_posts_fk) looks like:
create table users(uid integer auto_increment primary key,name varchar(255),email varchar(255),view_cnt bigint unsigned default 0,created bigint unsigned default 0) engine=ndb;create table forum(fid integer auto_increment primary key,name varchar(255)) engine=ndb;
We used the Cluster Configurator to install a test cluster on Rackspace cloud servers:
- two data nodes (4 cores, 4GB RAM)
- two mysql servers (4 cores, 2GB RAM)
- Severalnines bencher co-located with one mysql server
It is not a powerful setup at all and not intended to break any benchmark records, but it is good enough for our comparison.
Bencher was used to drive load and to insert random records the users_posts/users_posts_fk table. Each record inserted had a record size of 168 bytes, and bencher was started with 8 threads, each inserting 125 000 records for a total of 1M records:
./bencher -ucmon -pcmon -h127.0.0.1 -t8 -l125000
No FOREIGN KEY constraints:
Summar (No FK)y:
Average Throughput = 2793.55 tps (stdev=52.96)
95th Percentile Latency (us)=3712.00
With two FOREIGN KEY constraints:
Summary (Two FKs):
Average Throughput = 2289.81 tps (stdev=52.39)
95th Percentile Latency (us)=4689.00
So, with two FOREIGN KEYs, we saw an 18% performance penalty.
Wtih one FOREIGN KEY constraint:
What if we have only one FOREIGN KEY in the table? For the next result the fk_forum is dropped:
alter table users_posts_fk drop foreign key fk_forum;
Summary (One FK)
Average Throughput = 2280.83 tps (stdev=58.84)
95th Percentile Latency (us)=4867.00
There is hardly no difference in performance when having one or two foreign keys in the table. This is mainly because NDB Cluster makes a fantastic job at batching requests so sending one or two requests in a tcp packet does not make any difference and executing the foreign key check on the target node is very cheap compared to the network cost.
Well done MySQL Cluster Team, you guys rock!


text:
Warner Theatre board president, Ken Merz, resigns, theatre recovery team established
TORRINGTON >> The Warner Theatre's board of directors announced Tuesday that they had accepted the resignation of their board president, Ken Merz, who made final recommendations for solving the theatre's financial problems before stepping down from his post Monday.
Merz resigned through a letter to the board on Monday evening in which he also recommended the immediate establishment of a "Warner Recovery Team" to focus on the development and execution of a plan to reestablish the Warner's reputation and standing in the theatre industry.
"For the past 16 years, I have worked in partnership with colleagues and friends to secure, restore and build a future for the Warner Theatre," wrote Merz in his letter. "I care deeply for the organization and continue to believe in its potential. With a combination of steady leadership from existing board members and friends, along with new blood and new ideas, I am certain the best days of the Warner lie ahead."
His resignation comes just weeks after John Bonanni stepped down from his position as executive director of the theatre.
According to a Tuesday press release, the recovery team, which will consist of existing board members and external individuals, will be charged with developing a multi-pronged planning process to address leadership, governance, finance and programming, while also advising the board on a strategic course toward recovery and stabilization.
Following Merz's resignation, the board approved the appointment of Louisa Roraback, of Goshen, to serve as interim board president until June 30. Roraback has served on the Warner board since 2001, most recently as vice president.
"I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for the years of hard work and support Mr. Merz provided to the organization, " said Roraback in a statement. "Ken has been, and always will be, a valued member of the Warner family; he and his wife Betty have been true friends of the theater. We look forward to building on the legacy that people like Mr. Merz created, and securing the future of the theater."
The theatre reportedly posted a $350,000 deficit last year after numerous shows were financial failures and has been trying to turn things around in 2013.
Barry Hughson, executive director of the Boston Ballet and a member of the Warner Theatre's board of corporators, spoke to the Torrington Rotary Club in February and made suggestions for techniques the Warner could use to overcome the struggles they face.
"The global economy has changed and we have to find the new normal," said Hughson. "The costs of producing arts at the highest level are always going to exceed the amount of returned revenue."
Citing how the subscription model, which once kept arts organizations afloat, no longer provides security, Hughson said that the Warner needs to been persistent and consistent with its message to make people understand it's value and continue supporting the venture.
"The only way to compete is to compete," said Hughson, stressing that anchor productions and concerts are key to keep annual finances on track. "That's number one and number two is you have to tell the story. You have to be able to show the value in an institution like the Warner."
According to the press release, Elissa Getto, a consultant hired through Arts Consulting Group, has been working with the Warner officials on a plan for the future and will continue to serve as general manager for the theatre until key management personnel is in place.
The board voted unanimously to establish the recovery team.
Chairs of the team will include Roraback, and Brian Mattiello, of Torrington, among others.
A complete list of participants will be announced in the near future.
Tom Caprood can be reached at 860-489-3121, ext 315.


text:
Research projects
Search the project listings by datasets requested or used. You may select multiple datasets by using ctrl click.
Projects that pre-date the year 2000 are not in our database of research project applications, but you may find them in our project archive.
You may also sort by Principal Investigator.


text:
Our Mission
BlackSun delivers reliable, high-performance webhosting with guaranteed satisfaction and uptime. We host on the most sophisticated and modern equipment available.
Combine this with our extensive marketing and promotional knowledge base, and you will find our company is the perfect fit for your Minecraft server needs.
Those who know technology or need the most from it will be suitably impressed with our high-tech equipment and network. BlackSun utilizes state of the art technology from Dell PowerEdge, Equallogic, and Cisco Systems.
Access to our data center is provided by multiple redundant Gigabit connections through Bell/Group Telecom and Shaw/BigPipe, linked through Gigabit backbones to all major peering points in North America.
Our fiberoptic network is part of two concentric fiber rings from Edmonton to Calgary, and Saskatoon to Winnipeg, allowing us to instantly route East or West depending on any network conditions. We also have directed routed paths connected out of the fast access hubsite from the 151 Front Street Toronto Hub.
BlackSun operates state of the art Dell PowerEdge webservers powered by multiple Hexacore Xeon processors, in a clustered VMWARE environment.
All servers utilize the fastest SAN drives available combined with systems to optimize maximum read/write times. The latest CentOS Linux operating system is enhanced for optimal software performance.
Coupon Codes: Click here for a free trial offer of the best Minecraft servers available
Website: http://www.minecrafthost.ca


text:
Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos dies in plane crash
SAO PAULO >> Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos died Wednesday when the small plane that was carrying him and several campaign officials plunged into a residential neighborhood in the port city of Santos, a City Hall official there said.
All seven people aboard the plane, including a campaign photographer and cameraman, a press advisor, as well as two pilots, died in the crash, City Hall press officer Patricia Fagueiro told The Associated Press.
In a statement on her official blog, President Dilma Rousseff declared three days of official mourning in honor of Campos and said she would suspend her campaign during that time. "All of Brazil is in mourning," the statement said. "We have lost a great Brazilian."
Polls show Campos, the scion of a political family from the northeastern state of Pernambuco, was running in third place, trailing far behind Rousseff and another political rival. But his Brazilian Socialist Party ticket was widely regarded as among the best-placed to challenge Rousseff and her popular Workers Party, thanks largely to his running mate, the popular former Environment Minister Marina Silva, who joined Campos after she was prevented from running herself.
Silva's press adviser said that she was on the way to Santos, but it was not immediately clear whether she would assume Campos' spot as the party's presidential candidate. Under Brazilian law, in the event of a candidate's death, the party has 10 days to decide on a substitute.
Pundits were already predicting that Campos' death could complicate the presidential race for Rousseff.
Brazilian television broadcast a continuous loop of images of the wreckage, a smoldering pit in between buildings of several stories, with emergency response officials picking through the rubble. Brazil's top broadcaster Globo ran interviews with eyewitnesses who reported the plane was already ablaze before the crash that took place at around 10 a.m. local time (9 a.m. EDT).
Aeronautical authorities said the craft, a Cessna 560XL, was attempting to land in bad weather.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone on the ground was injured in the crash, which reportedly at least partially damaged a gym, local media reports said. The plane took off from Rio de Janeiro, where Campos had appeared in a television interview on Tuesday, and was headed to the city of Guaruja, where he was to give a talk about Brazil's ports.
The country's top politicians expressed their shock and sorrow over the accident, with Vice President Michel Temer calling it a "tragedy for Brazilian politics."
"Eduardo Campos was a politician of principles and values," Temer wrote on his website. "Along with the entire country, I am shocked by this accident and by the loss for friends and family."
Eliseu Gabriel, a Sao Paulo city councilman who heads Campos' PSB in Sao Paulo, said the party has yet to make any decisions on how to move forward, saying only the campaign was "stopping" for the moment.
"The campaign was about to start, and he had a big chance of making it to the second round" of Brazil's two-round race, Gabriel said. "Eduardo Campos represented a great hope for a profound change in Brazilian politics."
As the initial shock of the crash passed, pundits began to speculate about how Campos' death would affect the Oct. 4 presidential race.
David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia, told the AP that Campos' death was "bad news for Brazil and very bad news for Dilma."
Should Campos' running mate Silva assume the candidacy, she would likely pull votes away from Rousseff, forcing the race to go into a second round between Rousseff and the other main candidate, Aecio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party. Silva's support of Neves in a runoff could threaten Rousseff's chances of re-election, Fleischer said.
Rousseff, the hand-picked successor of popular former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has seen her popularity flag in recent months amid popular dissatisfaction with slowing growth, high taxes and poor public services — although she remained the strongest candidate. A survey by the Datafolha polling agency released Wednesday ahead of the accident showed 8 percent of those questioned said they intended to vote for Campos, compared with 36 for Rousseff.
Campos, 49, was married and the father of five children, the youngest of whom was born in January. The heir of a political dynasty that stretched back to his grandfather, he served two terms as governor of Pernambuco state.
His brother, Antonio Campos, told Globo and other broadcasters that Campos would be buried in the family tomb in Pernambuco, where his grandfather's body lies. The grandfather, Miguel Arraes, died on the same date, August 13, nine years earlier.


text:
Also in Personal Banking:
Mobile Banking
Our mobile banking service allows you to access your cash wherever you are at any time. It works seamlessly with M-Pesa and gives you the power to control your finances with nothing more than your mobile phone.
With the rise of mobile banking in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, CBA were in fact first to market with a number of mobile products. This has given us the experience necessary to provide a refined mobile banking solution that meets your various needs.
Services accessed on CBA mobile banking
- Balance inquiry
- View mini-statement
- Fund transfer to M-Pesa, between your CBA accounts, to any other CBA accounts, to other local banks
- Credit card information (i.e. available balance, amount due for payment, payment date, etc.)
- Customer service requests (i.e. ad-hoc statements, banker's cheques, new PIN, etc.)
- Airtime purchase
- Information services (e.g. branch locations, ATM locations, foreign exchange rates, contact details, etc.)
How to register for the service
Visit any of our branches and fill in the Electronic Banking Form available at our customer service desks. You can also download the application forms from our website and drop them off at a CBA branch nearest to you once completed.
Accessing the service
Once registered you will receive a confirmation SMS containing your PIN and an additional three messages that contain the links to download the CBA mobile banking application depending on your phone make and model.
The three links for the three operating systems currently supported
- Java (Nokia, Samsung, LG, etc.)
- Android (phones with Android software including new generation Samsung handsets)
- Blackberry for all BlackBerry phones
Accessing with phones that are not internet enabled
Dial *654# (currently on Safaricom and Airtel lines only)
Mobile banking is a fast, easy and secure way to access your bank 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from wherever you are. It allows you to carry out menu driven transactions without having to visit the bank physically.
No charges to register. However once registered, normal charges are levied on your transaction e.g. EFTs KShs. 75
N.B. Normal mobile network operator charges will apply for internet services when using the CBA mobile application.
In case you forget your PIN
Please call our Customer Contact Centre on +254 711 056 444 to request a new PIN. Your PIN will be sent to you via SMS and you have the option of changing your PIN once you log in.
Will you be able to access all your accounts?
You can access all your accounts apart from your loan accounts. Fund transfer services however, are currently only accessible for the Kenya shilling current accounts.


text:
CIA to Arm Syrian Rebels Within a Month
The Central Intelligence Agency has begun moving weapons to start arming small groups of vetted Syrian rebels within a month. Adam Entous reports.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... the the ... welcome ... new sub at the beest live I'm Simon Constable ... this EIA is moving weapons in a bid to home semi unravels as the U S plan to aid assets follows take shake ... hand with the latest exclusive as Wall Street don't Pentagon correspondent Adam and styles ... and that is Washington thank you Adam without being that this ... is I will emphasize again isn't exclusive to ... the aunt's aam moving and tell us what's happening ... well what we've learned from diplomatic sources ... is that said this EIA had dead in stocking up on Soviet era weapons including Kalashnikov for ammunition ... and anti tank weapons ... and they've begun ... over a period of the last week or so ... moving that stop I owe it to Jordan to position it for what said they expect to be a very intense ... training in bidding program ... where for a period of two weeks that they will work with the small groups of ten to twenty rebels ... I'd to ensure that the pm The U S standards in that they know how to use the weapons ... and then they will begin to move into Syria probably in the late July early August timeframe ... content ... now won one of things that they are also doing as a Demi a no-fly zone ... or Apostle no-fly zone on across the whole of Syria tells a little bit about that ... well that that that is a proposal that was made by a Pentagon war planners because the ... VFL said that it would be necessary to provide some protection ... to the CAA now offer to settle some other ... personnel that would be involved in this arming and training program ... however at that program and that idea of the no fly zone ... he's not moving forward this time they ran into considerable opposition within the White House ... which is still hasn't ruled it out and that could decide to to look that way ... but at this point what the White House has given this EIA permission to do ... is to begin the learning process ... one of the one of the WA Reis that some people have found the calming process is that these ... these Wallace will end up in our enemy's hands I'm an awful game at an asset for sizzle forces loyal to asset ... but folks that all links with al Qaeda ... and that is what these this vetting process and it's gotta be someone whiskey has been a you know that showing up and getting on so many dozens of the battlefield ... I'm you don't really know where it's coming throat area ... great most certainly this was the main reason why President Obama ... and mixed at this exact same proposal last year ... when it was presented to him ... they were very concerned that the ... Islamists with debt would be able to get some of these weapons particularly the more a ... heavy weapons that could be used against tanks are for example anti-aircraft unmanned pads that can be used against aircraft ... what's changed according to administration officials is that to this EIA has a much better ... handle on now who's who ... within the rebel ... opposition forces ... ally and that's given and increasing confidence to go forward ... um but in many ways what you're seeing here is a shift in strategy by the Obama administration ... that reflects the recognition of the changes that have occurred on the ground ... we'll have her research into the side and in increasing number of Hezbollah fighters in ... in Syria ... to tip the balance of the of the fights ... and now the administration fears that the rebels could debt could lose Aleppo ... yet in the coming months ... it sounds sounds like it's gonna get rather interesting over that we appreciate time and Adam ant house ... all the Wall Street John all


text:
FlyAnglers OnLine
The fraternity of fly fishers
Since 1997
Hello DeadDrifting -
Just wanted to welcome you to the Bulletin Board.
Great part of the world you live in. Didn't spend all that much time in Wyoming when I lived in the Idaho Falls area, but did get on the Greys River a few times and had a really interesting time on Lake Alice a few years ago. Got to love the Wyoming Range, and the Salt River Range ain't all that bad either. Wyoming Peak is still on my list for a return trip one of these days.
If you've been up to the Tri-Basin area lately, how are the LaBarge and upper Smith Fork doing ?? The LaBarge had bunches of small Colorado Cutthroat and the Smith Fork was dead when I was there in '08. Had the impression that they had poisoned the Smith to get rid of the bows and brookies so they could start a wild cutthroat fishery.


text:
My wife gave me a nudge recently, reminded me that Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I should do a beer and chocolates pairing. I'm pretty sure she just wanted some chocolates but it was a great suggestion, so here are a few options I put together that you might enjoy.
Lindeman's Framboise and Raspberry Truffles. The Framboise is a raspberry Lambic; it's sweet and sour, fruity and tart. The raspberry flavors in both the beer and the truffles make them a great pairing; the tart beer is a nice contrast to the creamy, chocolaty truffle. I found the dark chocolate raspberry truffle paired better than the milk or white chocolate but they were all good.
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA and Salted Caramels. I like this pairing a lot, the IPA has a malty caramel flavored body that matches up well with the caramel candy but has enough bitterness from the hops to cut through the salt and chocolate leaving your palate cleansed.
Founders Breakfast Stout and Chocolate Dipped Bacon. I can't visit Fore Street in Portland without stopping at Old Port Candy for some chocolate dipped bacon. Similar to a salted caramel the chocolate dipped bacon is a sweet and salty treat and bacon makes everything better. Founders breakfast stout is a double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout, breakfast in a bottle; the only thing missing is bacon.
I checked in with Bangor Wine and Cheese and the Bier Cellar in Portland, both of them carry the beers I've selected. I picked up the truffles and caramels at Specialty Sweets in Bangor. I need to thank Old Port Candy for sending me a photo of their awesome chocolate dipped bacon.


text:
When drug giant Pfizer announced in July that it would roll back price hikes on its drugs, it made clear that the change was temporary. Facing intense pressure from President Donald Trump, the company said it would defer price increases until the president's blueprint for lowering prescription prices took effect or the end of the year, "whichever is sooner."
The end of the year came sooner, and the deferrals will ultimately have lasted about six months. The company said Friday it is planning to raise the list prices on 41 of its drugs effective January 15. Most of those drugs will see prices rise by 5 percent, while three drugs will see increases of 3 percent and one will go up 9 percent. Combined, the 41 drugs represent 10 percent of the company's medicines. The other 90 percent will stay at their current list prices, Pfizer said.
"The drug price pledges made earlier this year were just for show — it was obvious at the time, and it's obvious now," Walid Gellad, director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh, told Politico. "The bully pulpit doesn't work, and even if it did, we don't want a system in which the only way to bring down drug prices is for the president to publicly berate a company — that's not a healthy market and not good policy."
Pfizer said that it expects the list price increases will be offset by higher rebates and discounts paid to insurers and the pharmacy benefit managers who administer prescription plans — and that it expects those companies to share those benefits with patients so that out-of-pocket costs don't jump.
"We believe the best means to address affordability of medicines is to reduce the growing out-of-pocket costs that consumers are facing due to high deductibles and co-insurance, and ensure that patients receive the benefit of rebates at the pharmacy counter," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Ian Read said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told reporters that the announcement illustrated the "perverse incentives" in drug pricing. "Drug companies raising their prices and offsetting them with higher rebates benefits everyone but the consumer, who routinely pays out of pocket based on list price," spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said, according to CNN.


text:
Model: 7430
Chateau Chrome one-handle low arc kitchen faucet
The Chateau collection delivers Moen performance and reliability with a simple, understated appeal. A chrome finish creates a bright, highly reflective look, while the low-arc spout is designed for the more conventional kitchen.
four hole
Spout Height
8.50 "
Spout Reach
9.13 "
Connection Size
Connection Type
Spray Type
aerated stream
Water Usage
1.5 gpm (5.7 L/min) max.
Side Spray
- chrome finish is highly reflective for a mirror-like look that works with any decorating style
- features Duralock™ quick connect system for easy installation
- one-handle
- lever handle makes it easy to adjust the water
- includes side spray hose for convenient, flexible cleaning at the sink
- aerated stream for everyday cleaning
- standard design mounts on the sink or countertop
- complies with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specifications
- meets current legislation, including ab1953 (california) and s152 (vermont)
- limited lifetime warranty
The Chateau Collection
The Chateau collection delivers Moen performance and reliability with a simple, understated appeal.View Collection
Aromatherapy Showers
Whether you're fresh off a workout or feeling stressed from work, the best way to wash it all away is with a luxurious shower. Elevate your shower routine by infusing the water with essential oils and spa-inspired fragrances. Relax. Rejuvenate. Reinvent your time in the shower with Moen.
Nebia by Moen™ Showers
As you step into your shower, a billowing spray of warm water invites you to step in. You are instantly soaked from head to toe. Your daily concerns dissolve away. You breathe calmly and deeply, taking it all in and letting it all go. You're making the most of every drop of water even as you indulge in a private ritual that prepares you to engage in your day. You are fresh, revived and ready to take on your day.
U by Moen Smart Faucet™
The U by Moen Smart Faucet™ offers convenience, precision and intuitive voice-activation technology to help complete tasks in the kitchen. It was designed to speak our consumer's language and in doing so streamline tasks, making our faucet an indispensable part of anyone's kitchen.


text:
FOUNTAIN VALLEY – When Cassidy Lynn Campbell became Orange County's first transgender homecoming queen last month, she collapsed in tears as celebratory balloons and students' cheers rose up around her on the Marina High School football field.
"They chose me," Campbell would say of her peers at a news event after the awards ceremony. "That's what means more to me than anything."
But Campbell's Cinderella moment would not last long. Within minutes, Twitter was aflame with hurtful remarks, and hours after Campbell made Orange County history, her makeup was streaked with tears.
As those insensitive tweets demonstrate, Campbell's win does not signal an end to LGBT discrimination in Orange County. But it does show how far the county has come with regard to LGBT and transgender acceptance.
In honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month – which included National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 – here is a look back 20 years, to what is arguably one of the most important moments in Orange County history for LGBT youth.
In October 1993, a group of students at Fountain Valley High School formed the Fountain Valley Student Alliance, Orange County's first gay and lesbian support group on a high school campus. The idea was to provide a forum for gay, lesbian and straight students to share their feelings openly and not be judged or bullied for being different.
The unofficial club provoked massive controversy. Parents and students held multiple protests. An anti-gay student group called the Future Good Boys of America was formed to intimidate the Alliance. The issue eventually went before the school board to determine whether the club could continue to meet.
The Alliance became a cultural touchstone, with the American Civil Liberties Union lending its support and the Traditional Values Coalition expressing its condemnation.
Today, many LGBT kids have benefited from the trail blazed by the Alliance. Two-thirds of all public high schools now have a support group on campus.
Ron and Don Katz have the same last name. They look the same. They even talk the same. So when Ron came out as gay in 1993, at the end of his junior year at Fountain Valley High, the question on everyone's mind was: Is Ron's twin brother gay, too?
Turns out, he was. He just didn't realize it yet.
Don was struggling with his sexuality, he said by phone 20 years after he came out as gay.
"But everyone wanted an answer, so I had to figure it out pretty quickly," he recalled.
As a junior, Ron had written about being gay in his college application essay, essentially outing himself to his teacher, counselor and classmates.
The brothers were interested in the idea of starting a support group that would provide a safe, supportive environment where gay, straight and questioning students could share their stories and be heard without fear of rejection.
"We knew it would be an adjustment for the school to welcome this sort of organization, but we didn't expect the reaction we received," Ron said, also by phone. The two brothers now live in New York.
The Student Alliance started up without much fanfare. The group was small – fewer than 10 members – and met quietly in a teacher's classroom every Friday at lunch.
Then one day, Ron and Don came to school to discover a number of students passing out anti-gay fliers in the parking lot. The group of mostly boys was protesting the activities of the Student Alliance.
"It was a statement to the school," recalled James Fuller, who helped found the Future Good Boys of America.
"A lot of them thought we were bigots and hate-mongers. … We continued to tell them we were fighting this on a Christian foundation," Fuller said in a phone interview.
The Katz brothers were livid.
"I'm sure there were people that wanted to attend that didn't because they felt they couldn't go (to the meetings) safely," Ron said.
According to Alliance co-founder Jennifer Tang, a "feeling of hatred" permeated the campus.
Good Boys would sit in on Alliance meetings with audio recorders and intimidating looks. They started wearing T-shirts with the letters FGBA on the front and the words No Gays with a line through them on the back.
There were rumors that FGBA secretly stood for Future Gay Bashers of America. While the former Good Boys deny this, it's not surprising how such rumors got started.
"I would hit a kid with a baseball bat just because he is gay," a 17-year-old Greg Tillman told the Register in 1993.
When the Register reached Tillman 20 years later, he described his involvement with the Good Boys as a form of "screwing around and having fun."
"It was a reason to smoke weed and ditch school," he said.
There were never any instances of physical violence during the Alliance controversy, but anti-gay slurs were thrown around liberally and Alliance members were careful not to walk alone through certain parts of campus.
Despite the intimidation, the Alliance continued to meet every Friday at lunch. At its height, the group had about 40 members, most of whom were straight.
"I felt like I was doing the right thing," said Tang, who is straight but joined the club with her boyfriend at the time, who was bisexual. "We weren't going to let a group like the Future Good Boys win this battle."
The harassment scared people, but it also brought the group closer, Ron Katz said.
"It made us stronger."
Mike Henigan heard his fair share of homophobic one-liners during his 12-year stint as Fountain Valley's assistant varsity football coach, but they didn't bother him that much. Then his son Patrick came out as gay.
When Henigan and his wife got the news, they cried.
"When it's your own son, it's a bit more difficult to deal with," Henigan said.
Henigan's first reaction was shock. Patrick Henigan was an all-league offensive lineman for Fountain Valley's star football team. He was in student government. He was a member of the homecoming court. His 4.2 grade-point average helped earn him a football scholarship to Harvard.
Henigan's second reaction was fear. The year was 1991, and the AIDS epidemic was decimating the gay community. In 1988, there were 21,000 AIDS-related deaths. In 1990, the year before Patrick came out to his parents, the annual death rate had jumped by 50 percent.
Patrick gave his parents some books to read, and over the next few months, they gradually came around. But the couple kept their son's sexuality a secret.
"We accepted him, but we were kind of in the closet," Mike Henigan recalled. "At that time, we didn't have the courage. We had no reason to."
But then the Student Alliance controversy flared up, and homosexuality became a common topic of conversation – and the brunt of the occasional joke, even in the faculty lounge.
One day, Henigan overheard a group of teachers making derogatory remarks about gay people during lunch. He felt he no longer could keep quiet.
"I said, 'Well, what if that happened to be my son? What would you do then?'" he remembered saying.
The table became completely silent.
From that moment on, Henigan became an outspoken champion of the Student Alliance. He and his wife arranged to speak at the next meeting.
At this point, the Good Boys had started attending – and recording – the Alliance meetings. Henigan remembers the confused look on their faces when they walked in to the meeting and saw the former football coach and current athletic director sitting there.
His support was a major coup for the beleaguered club.
"It definitely kept the jocks on the right side of the table," co-founder Ron Katz recalled. "They were either 'pro' or just quiet."
The controversy surrounding the Alliance by this time was national news.
More than 100 parents signed a petition calling for the ouster of the club from campus, and the issue went before trustees of the Huntington Beach Union High School District.
The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed calling for the school board to affirm the students' right to meet, and the ACLU stepped in to help the Alliance make their case before the board.
According to the Equal Access Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1984, schools cannot choose which non-academic student organizations can meet on campus. The trustees had to decide whether the district would continue its equal-access policy, which allowed noncurriculum-based groups to meet on campus at lunch and before and after school.
If they banned the Student Alliance, they would have to ban the district's 67 other nonschool-related clubs.
So many people showed up to the first board meeting that a second public hearing was held before a decision was made.
More than 120 people voiced their opinions, but the most memorable moment came when Mike Henigan stepped in front of the podium, according to Christine Baron, the student adviser and a teacher at the school.
"When he spoke, you just felt like you were really a part of something big," Baron recalled. "It was kind of like a movie, him talking about how his views changed when his son came out."
Henigan read a letter that his son Patrick had written to the board. In it, Patrick talked about how he had felt worthless in high school, despite all of his accomplishments.
Like a lot of people in Orange County, Patrick wrote, his understanding of homosexuality was informed by negative stereotypes – stereotypes with which his teenage self did not identify.
"In the midst of praise and admiration, I wanted my life to end," Henigan said, reading his son's words. "I believe, or should I say know with certainty, that education and support for gay individuals as well as their families and friends saves lives."
The board voted 4-1 to continue the equal-access policy, and the Alliance was allowed to stay.
The board's decision affected more than the students at Fountain Valley. The publicity surrounding the protests and the board meetings put the Student Alliance on the national media circuit, and students from around Orange County took notice.
Within weeks, O.C.'s second gay and lesbian high school support group was started at Huntington Beach High. Those students had been inspired by the Alliance's story and sought the group's advice for holding meetings on their own campus.
Alliance members were honored at the Orange County Federation of Lesbian, Gay and AIDS organizations, and the gay magazine Blade asked them to appear on its cover.
Henigan was invited to speak at Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and to attend the first Gay Games in New York. Tang, inspired by her first taste of social activism, moved to the San Francisco Bay area and now works as an aide for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.
The Fountain Valley Student Alliance is still around, although it now calls itself the Gay-Straight Alliance. The club has 25 members who meet weekly to discuss LGBT issues and promote greater awareness and acceptance of minority groups.
Next week, the group is celebrating Ally Week, when the club encourages all students to sign a pledge not to discriminate against difference. Each spring, the group holds a Day of Silence, with some students walking around with tape over their mouths to call attention to minority groups that do not have a voice because of discrimination or fear of bullying.
Kenneth Barrios, a junior who has been involved with the group since he was a freshman, said anti-gay harassment at Fountain Valley is not a problem.
"The GSAs, one, make it more comfortable for still-closeted LGBT youth to come out and, two, educate people that don't know much about the LGBT community," he said. "They create a bridge so that we can know each other better and so that tensions between people of different sexual orientations can work together."
Today, there are about 50 gay-straight alliances on high school campuses in Orange County, according to Stephanie Van Dyke, a youth leader at The Center OC, an LGBT advocacy group in Santa Ana.
"They create a bold visibility where youth can find a connection with other LGBT students and allies that are there to help create safer spaces," she said.
Greater acceptance of LGBT students means some kids are coming out earlier, Van Dyke said.
An eighth-grader in Aliso Viejo is lobbying his school's administration to allow him to start an alliance on campus, she said. If he is successful, it would be Orange County's first alliance at a middle school.
"It's amazing to see how brave these youth are," Van Dyke said. "They're out – and they're not taking any crap for it."
"I got involved because I faced bullying through middle school and I didn't want that to happen through high school. It's amazing. You're able to talk to people that know what you're going through and they're very accepting. Without a club like this, I feel I wouldn't know that many people."
– Brandon Ha, a junior, came out as gay in 6th grade
Kenneth Barrios is a junior that came out as gay in middle school
"Being in this club has given me a lot of leadership skills and social skills that I'd been lacking. I've been able to open up to more people, to talk to people without the fear of being judged or ridiculed. "
– Kenneth Barrios, a junior, came out in middle school
"Some people don't understand that you don't have to be gay to be in the gay-straight alliance. But the S in GSA stands for straight. After joining, I realized why sister was so quiet and reserved when she was younger. I wanted to show my support not just for my sister but for anyone that feels silenced."
– Alyx Merickel, a senior, is straight but was inspired by her gay older sister to join the GSA
Contact the writer: 657-217-2328 or firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
What is the Peshtemal?
The Peshtemal is highly absorbent hand loomed authentic Turkish towel / Cover-up. It dries very quickly, light in weight and takes up little space in you closet or luggage. It's great for bath, pools, spa's, beaches, sport facilities, baby care, even as part of your home decor, and possibilities are endless!
Peshtemal has came to us from the historic Turkish hammam era. Its history reaches nearly six hundred years in Anatolia. You can hear people calling them fringet towel, tassel towel or Turkish towel. Variety of cultures have similar towels, but call them differently. Some examples are sarong, kikoy, kangas, shukas or fouta. Sarong or sarung is a given name in Asia. Kikoy or kikoi is used in East Africa. Shukas, Kangas or kanga also met in Africa. Fouta generaly used in the Mediterranean region.
Traditionally Peshtemal is a cloth made of 100% cotton woven on looms, it has been used to cover bodies in Turkish steam baths with a history of nearly 600 years.


text:
Rocksteady vibes this Sunday evening November 10th
From 6pm
Come on down to Cafe Lounge at 277 Goulburn Street, Sydney for Señor Bambu and Raul Panui's sweet tropical blend of ska, rocksteady, soulful reggae, and other Caribbean flavours.
Cheap beers, good food, great people...y'know all the right stuff.
And it's FREE. What else do you want...?


text:
Mark Thomas
Juniper berries add a wintery, almost piney flavor. They're available in the spice section of many supermarkets and online from deandeluca.com.
- Yield
- Makes about 64 cookies
- Cookies
- 2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
- Glaze and decoration
- 3/4 cup half and half
- 1/3 cup (1 ounce) juniper berries, lightly crushed
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- Assorted decorations (colored sugars, nonpareils, and dragées)
- For cookies:
- Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in molasses. Beat in dry ingredients. Gather dough; divide into 4 pieces. Shape into disks. Wrap; chill at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Roll out 1 dough disk to 1/8-inch thickness. Using 3 1/2-inch cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer to sheet. Gather scraps; chill.
- Bake cookies until almost firm in center, 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 2 minutes, then cool on racks. Repeat, using all dough. Do ahead Store airtight at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.
- For glaze and decoration:
- Bring first 2 ingredients to simmer. Cover; chill 5 hours. Strain. Place powdered sugar in bowl. Whisk in half and half by spoonfuls until glaze is spreadable. Frost cookies; decorate. Let stand until glaze sets. Do ahead Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.


text:
S.1704 - Affordable College Textbook Act113th Congress (2013-2014)
BillHide Overview
|Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (Introduced 11/14/2013)
|Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
|Latest Action:
|Senate - 11/14/2013 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8051-8052) (All Actions)
This bill has the status Introduced
Here are the steps for Status of Legislation:
- Introduced
Subject — Policy Area:
- Education
- View subjects
Summary: S.1704 — 113th Congress (2013-2014)All Information (Except Text)
There is one summary for S.1704. Bill summaries are authored by CRS.
Shown Here:
Introduced in Senate (11/14/2013)
Affordable College Textbook Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) to support pilot programs that expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students.
Requires the grants to be used for:
- professional development for IHE faculty and staff, including the search for and review of open textbooks;
- the creation or adaptation of open educational resources, especially open textbooks;
- the development or improvement of tools and informational resources that support the use of open textbooks;
- research evaluating the efficacy of using open textbooks to achieve savings for students; and
- partnerships with other entities to carry out the preceding activities.
Requires the full and complete digital content of the educational resources created or adopted using such grant funds to be made available free of charge to the public: (1) on an easily accessible and interoperable website; and (2) in a machine readable, digital format that anyone can directly download, edit, and redistribute.
Directs the Secretary to give special consideration to grant applicants that demonstrate the greatest potential to:
- achieve the highest level of savings for students;
- expand the use of open textbooks at other IHEs; and
- produce open textbooks that are of the highest quality, that can be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members, that correspond to the highest enrollment courses, and that are created or adopted in partnership with entities that will assist in their marketing and distribution.
Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include any educational material developed to accompany a college textbook as supplemental material that is subject to college textbook information disclosure requirements.
Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should encourage the consideration of open textbooks by faculty within the generally accepted principles of academic freedom that establish the right and responsibility of faculty members to select the most appropriate course materials for their classes.


text:
Despite the lead of rack servers over blades in terms of market sales, IT giant Hewlett-Packard touts the blade as "the future of servers" for the midsize market. During the recent launch of the HP "Shorty" BladeSystem c3000, Sreehivas Narayanan, regional business manager for industry standard servers at HP Southeast Asia, said the new blade system is "the way for all SMBs to deploy their servers."
"Although the rack form is still leading, this will eventually be stagnant and taper down," said HP Philippines blade system product manager, Veronica Escalante. According to Escalante, blade servers are the "growth engine" of the server market, citing an International Data Corporation (IDC) study which said the growth rate for blades in the next five years is continuously rising, posing 235 percent year-on-year growth in sales as of the second quarter of this year. Also in mid-2007, HP's blade server segment grew no less than 200 percent year-on-year.
Escalante said that, although this market shift from rack servers to the blade will not be immediate -- especially since rack servers are what people have gotten used to, increasing management and maintenance costs, which are now turning out to be even higher than new server spending, are making IT managers realize that the blade system is becoming the more practical server platform.
Blade for SMBs
Constrained by limited budgets and small IT staff, midsize companies are challenged to do more with less and, therefore, want technology offerings that are created just for them and their specific needs, not the scaled-down enterprise solutions. Designed specifically for the smaller technology sites, branch offices, and remote locations, the c3000 is supposed to reduce the time and cost necessary to deploy new business applications, even with a small IT team. "Businesses with space and IT staffing constraints can now utilize the full benefits of bladed infrastructure," said Escalante.
The c3000 is said to give customers power and cooling savings of up to 30 percent, storage area networking connection cost savings of up to 60 percent, and cabling reduced by 94 percent--thereby lowering cost and complexity. "Everybody's talking about carbon footprint nowadays, you have to have systems that are energy-efficient and easy to deploy," said Narayanan.
In addition to the c3000, the company also unveiled the HP StorageWorks All-in-One SB600c storage blade which works in both the new c3000 and the existing HP BladeSystem c7000. According to Escalante, the SB600c delivers network-attached storage, iSCSI SAN (storage area network) capabilities and data protection in one device, allowing growing businesses to expand their storage and have data protection without additional cables or management requirements.
Designed to offer greater benefits, savings, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) versus rack servers through high density and lower power consumption, as well as reduced overall management and data center space requirements, blade servers are expected to become more ubiquitous in data centers in the next four to five years -- specially with growing initiatives in consolidation and virtualization.
"Customers are now realizing the advantages of the blade," said Esacalante, adding that this is also why HP is currently investing more, in terms of innovation, on the blade server platform.


text:
By Ezra Marcus, Radio.com
As if Ice-T reading an audio book wasn't enough, Shad Moss, perhaps better known as Bow Wow, also has a new day job: he'll soon be appearing on TV with Patricia Arquette and James Van Der Beek in CBS' new series CSI: Cyber.
He will play a hacker named Brody "Baby Face" Nelson, who must work with the police or go to jail.
Nelson must assist the cops in the shadier corners of the web without falling back into his criminal ways. According to creator Anthony E. Zuiker, "Bow Wow is a gifted young actor who will have the responsibility, through his character, to set an example for young people who watch the show to 'do what's right' even when you know 'nothing but wrong.' It will be a redemption story and a cautionary tale all wrapped into one.
"The role of Nelson required someone with deep acting chops and off the charts smarts. Shad Moss is a unique talent that possesses both."


text:
The Hurricane Season along the Atlantic Coast premiered last week. It extends from June 1 to November 30, where before it was August 1 to September 30. The powers that be apparently think we should all get nervous and stay that way. Practically everybody loves a good scare, when nobody gets hurt. That's entertainment. We've got a warmer ocean, melting glaciers, El Nino that goes nuts every other year and extreme weather that everybody loves on YouTube and the Weather Channel.
Actually there are now two powers that be. One is the old tried and true NOAA weather service in Silver Springs, Maryland, which has been tracking hurricanes since 1956. This year, they predicted a year with 12 to 18 named tropical storms, of which six to 10 are expected to become hurricanes and three to six of the hurricanes to become major hurricanes (category three or higher) screaming our way.
Then there is the new kid on the block, the weather service put together by Colorado State University. Apparently they may have more accurate instruments. They say there will be 16 named storms, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes. These are exact numbers. Really, really scary.
And this, both services claim, is to be an above-average year along the Atlantic Seaboard. For the last 10 years, NOAA has predicted above average years. But every year for the past 10 years there have been below average numbers of hurricanes. And last year there wasn't even one that hit the Atlantic Seaboard. Of course this, by reverse logic, means that every year it is below it is finally more likely to go up the next. We are now WAY, WAY overdue.
It was luck, said environmentalist and marine scientist Jane Lubchenco that we didn't have even one last year. "Winds steered most of the season's tropical storms and hurricanes away from our coastlines. However, we can't count on luck to get us through this season."
Dan: Hurricane Season Debuts
Truth is, here on Long Island, there hasn't been a major hurricane in 20 years. Look out the window. Here comes the first.
Two years ago, our sitting longtime Congressman Tim Bishop of Southampton, a jovial fellow with a white beard, a good heart and a resume that includes a lengthy run as the provost of Southampton College, ran for office against a young upstart named Randy Altschuler from St. James. Bishop had won in four prior elections. But this would be different. Altschuler, when in his late 20s, had made millions by founding companies that arranged for call-in tech service operations to be handled from places like India and the Phillipines, where people work for $2 a day instead of Cincinnati and Akron where people work for $200 a day.
In spite of this, Altschuler gave Bishop an incredible run for his money. Altschuler allegedly outspent Bishop four to one. The campaign photographs of Altschuler showed a big happy lug of a guy embracing a pretty young wife, a little son and a big dog. Now in his 40s, he projects a down-home aw-shucks gee I made it good sort of demeanor. How could he be bad? Also, he was a Republican, and Republicans were in the ascendency two years ago while Bishop was a Democrat and Democrats were in the descendency.
Personally, I forgot to vote. I live just five minutes from the firehouse here in Springs. I always vote. So it made no sense that I forgot to vote. But on this day, at 9 p.m. when I realized I had forgotten, I thought oh well, dammit. But it shouldn't matter. Nobody wins by just one vote.
Or did they? With 200,000 votes cast, after the dust cleared, Bishop was ahead by 105 votes. Two days later, they counted the military votes and Altschuler was ahead by 22 votes. Altschuler at that point declared himself the winner and on the advice of aides, flew down to Washington to shake hands with all the important people. But when he came home, some write-ins from the Upper East Side of Manhattan had come in and he was ahead by only 8. Then more write-ins came in and he was behind by five. Then somebody left a note on my front door. WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? it asked. It was unsigned.
A week later, they were still tussling over re-counts and hanging chads and so forth. And then Altschuler conceded. The final margin was under 600 votes.
Now people are looking ahead to November 2012. Altschuler, saying the tussle with Bishop was behind him, declared himself, two weeks ago, a candidate for County Executive. But then, two days ago, he thought better of it. He's looking forward to having another go at kindly, uncle Congressman Tim. It will be an interesting year and a half.
In North Haven, the heavily wooded peninsula north of Sag Harbor where 1,000 people live contentedly alongside approximately 1,250 deer, there was a meeting at Village Hall last week where only those without hooves were allowed to attend and where the matter of a previously approved cellphone tower was discussed.
On May 3, Local Law #1 had been passed, which allowed for the erection of this 140-foot cellphone tower deep in the woods. Now they were meeting to discuss the outrage generated by the passage of Local Law #1 and to consider Local Law #3, which would repeal Local Law #1 just in the nick of time before the developers had gotten the material together to build what had been allowed by Local Law #1.
"This is not just an 800-pound gorilla," said resident Don Sacker, referring to the just approved 140- foot cellphone tower proposal. "It's a 14-story high gorilla."
Indeed, fourteen 10-foot-tall gorillas standing atop another's shoulders would indeed be 14 stories high.
Mayor Laura Nolan explained why the Village was backtracking on what they had passed earlier. She said backlash to the tower and the law "came at the last minute," and because of the volume of opposition in the community the board is repealing the law.
"That's how the process works."
The trustees approved the motion to rescind Local Law #1 unanimously. Now they had Local Law #3.
Then everybody left Village Hall and ran over to that one corner of the parking lot where there is cellphone service sometimes, shooed away the deer and checked their messages.
Seven months ago, Suffolk County offered to sell Long Wharf to Sag Harbor for $1. Lots of people thought, at the time, that Long Wharf belonged to Sag Harbor. How the hell did Suffolk County get a hold of it?
Actually, Sag Harbor Village, which DID own Long Wharf and had owned it since 1770, gave it to Suffolk County in 1945. The idea was, at that time, that since the Village was near to bankrupt, and the County was not, the County would be better able to afford to maintain it—paint it, reinforce it, rebuild it as necessary and so forth and so on. And indeed, the County did a pretty good job of it.
Now, as I like to say, the Foo is on the other Shut. Sag Harbor Village is thriving with tourists from all over the world, many of them walking out onto Long Wharf to take pictures of the famous place where whaling ships once berthed after their long journeys into the South Pacific. But the County is sucking air for every penny they can find, looking here, there and everywhere to try to figure out how to balance their budget.
Would Sag Harbor like it back for that dollar? Today's dollar is only worth 28 cents as we all know, but still.
Sag Harbor officials mulled it over this way and that. The dock needed a paint job. Maybe it would need to be re-constructed soon. Could the County provide them with an engineer's report?
People at both the County and the Village put forth ideas for different ways the tourists going out onto Long Wharf might be persuaded to part with a little bit here and a little bit there to help out Long Wharf. The County proposed parking meters. The Village said they'd rather die than have parking meters. There was talk of putting out a giant barrel where tourists might put in a buck or two. There was talk about charging tourists for sitting on a bench on Long Wharf, or just standing still on Long Wharf for more than 10 seconds or something. The wharf has no railings. That's bad. What about that?
Then after months and months of this, it seems, the County got tired of talking about Long Wharf. Negotiations are now stalled. They'd keep the damn thing. You can keep the dollar, Buster.
According to Sag Harbor Mayor Brian Gilbride, what they'd really like back is not Long Wharf, but the part of Long Wharf that's been made into a beach just alongside it. That's worth a dollar.
This little strip, which used to be grass, is now festooned with sand, and now goes by the name Windmill Beach.
Forget it, said somebody from the county. It's over.
County Legislator Schneiderman of Montauk, who had proposed selling Long Wharf back to Sag Harbor in the first place has another idea. How about we put together a group called Friends of Long Wharf? Anybody could join.
People are now going to discuss that.


text:
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #13)368
NOOK Book(eBook)
Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.
When a shocking murder rocks the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, psychic cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse learns that she has more than one enemy waiting to get vengeance for the past. Beacuse nothing is ever clear-cut in Bon Temps. What passes for truth is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough...
Product Details
|Penguin Publishing Group
|Publication date:
|Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series
|Sold by:
|Penguin Group
|NOOK Book
|Sales rank:
|File size:
|Age Range:
|18 Years
About the Author
Hometown:Southern Arkansas
Date of Birth:November 25, 1951
Place of Birth:Tunica, Mississippi
Education:B.A. in English and Communication Arts, Rhodes, 1973
Read an Excerpt
The New Orleans businessman, whose gray hair put him in his fifties, was accompanied by his much younger and taller bodyguard/ chauffeur on the night he met the devil in the French Quarter. The meeting was by prearrangement.
"This is really the Devil we're going to see?" asked the bodyguard. He was tense—but then, that wasn't too surprising.
"Not the Devil, but a devil." The businessman was cool and collected on the outside, but maybe not so much on the inside. "Since he came up to me at the Chamber of Commerce banquet, I've learned a lot of things I didn't know before." He looked around him, trying to spot the creature he'd agreed to meet. He told his bodyguard, "He convinced me that he was what he said he was. I always thought my daughter was simply deluded. I thought she imagined she had power because she wanted to have something . . . of her own. Now I'm willing to admit she has a certain talent, though nowhere near what she thinks."
It was cold and damp, even in New Orleans, in the January night. The businessman shifted from foot to foot to keep warm. He told the bodyguard, "Evidently, meeting at a crossroads is traditional." The street was not as busy as it would be in the summer, but there were still drinkers and tourists and natives going about their night's entertainment. He wasn't afraid, he told himself. "Ah, here he comes," the businessman said.
The devil was a well– dressed man, much like the businessman. His tie was by Hermes. His suit was Italian. His shoes were custom made. His eyes were abnormally clear, the whites gleaming, the irises a purplish brown; they looked almost red from certain angles.
"What have you got for me?" the devil asked, in a voice that indicated he was only faintly interested.
"Two souls," said the businessman. "Tyrese has agreed to go in with me."
The devil shifted his gaze to the bodyguard. After a moment, the bodyguard nodded. He was a big man, a light–skinned African American with bright hazel eyes.
"Your own free will?" the devil asked neutrally. "Both of you?"
"My own free will," said the businessman.
"My own free will," affirmed the bodyguard.
The devil said, "Then let's get down to business."
"Business" was a word that made the older man comfortable. He smiled. "Wonderful. I've got the documents right here, and they're signed." Tyrese opened a thin leather folder and withdrew two pieces of paper: not parchment or human skin, nothing that dramatic or exotic—computer paper that the businessman's office secretary had bought at Office Max. Tyrese offered the papers to the devil, who gave them a quick glance.
"You have to sign them again," the devil said. "For this signature, ink is not satisfactory."
"I thought you were joking about that." The businessman frowned.
"I never joke," the devil said. "I do have a sense of humor, oh, believe me, I do. But not about contracts."
"We actually have to . . . ?"
"Sign in blood? Yes, absolutely. It's traditional. And you'll do it now." He read the businessman's sideways glance correctly. "I promise you no one will see what you are doing," he said. As the devil spoke, a sudden hush enveloped the three men, and a thick film fell between them and the rest of the street scene.
The businessman sighed elaborately, to show how melodramatic he thought this tradition was. "Tyrese, your knife?" he said, looking up to the chauffeur.
Tyrese's knife appeared with shocking suddenness, probably from his coat sleeve; the blade was obviously sharp, and it gleamed in the streetlight. The businessman shucked off his coat and handed it to his companion. He unbuttoned his cuff and rolled up his sleeve. Perhaps to let the devil know how tough he was, he jabbed himself in the left arm with the knife. A sluggish trickle of blood rewarded his effort, and he looked the devil directly in the face as he accepted the quill that the devil had somehow supplied . . . even more smoothly than Tyrese had produced the knife. Dipping the quill into the trail of blood, the businessman signed his name to the top document, which the chauffeur held pressed against the leather folder.
After he'd signed, the businessman returned the knife to the chauffeur and donned his coat. The chauffeur followed the same procedure as his employer. When he'd signed his own contract, he blew on it to dry the blood as if he'd signed with a Sharpie and the ink might smear.
The devil smiled when the signatures were complete. The moment he did, he didn't look quite so much like a prosperous man of affairs.
He looked too damn happy.
"You get a signing bonus," he told the businessman. "Since you brought me another soul. By the way, how do you feel?"
"Just like I always did," said the businessman. He shrugged his coat back over his shoulders. "Maybe a little angry." He smiled suddenly, his teeth looking as sharp and gleaming as the knife had. "How are you, Tyrese? " he asked his employee.
"A little antsy," Tyrese admitted. "But I'll be okay."
"You were both bad people to begin with," the devil said, without any judgment in his voice. "The souls of the innocent are sweeter. But I delight in having you. I suppose you're sticking with the usual wish list? Prosperity? The defeat of your enemies?"
"Yes, I want those things," the businessman said with passionate sincerity. "And I have a few more requests, since I get a signing bonus. Or could I take that in cash?"
"Oh," the devil said, smiling gently, "I don't deal in cash. I deal in favors."
"Can I get back to you on that?" the businessman asked after some thought. "Take a rain check?"
The devil looked faintly interested. "You don't want an Alfa Romeo, or a night with Nicole Kidman, or the biggest house in the French Quarter?"
The businessman shook his head decisively. "I'm sure something will come up that I do want, and then I'd like to have a very good chance of getting it. I was a successful man until Katrina. And after
Katrina I thought I would be rich, because I own a lumber business. Everyone needed lumber." He took a deep breath. He kept on telling his story, despite the fact that the devil looked bored. "But getting a supply line reestablished was hard. So many people didn't have money to spend because they were ruined, and there was the wait for the insurance money, for the rest. I made some mistakes, believing the fly–by–night builders would pay me on time. . . . It all ended up with my business too extended, everyone owing me, my credit stretched as thin as a condom on an elephant. Knowledge of this is getting around." He looked down. "I'm losing the influence I had in this city."
Possibly the devil had known all those things, and that was why he'd approached the businessman. Clearly he was not interested in the businessman's litany of woes. "Prosperity it is, then," he said briskly. "And I look forward to your special request. Tyrese, what do you want? I have your soul, too."
"I don't believe in souls," Tyrese said flatly. "I don't think my boss does, either. We don't mind giving you what we don't believe we have." He grinned at the devil, man to man, which was a mistake. The devil was no man.
The devil smiled back. Tyrese's grin vanished at the sight. "What do you want?" the devil repeated. "I won't ask again."
"I want Gypsy Kidd. Her real name is Katy Sherboni, if you need that. She work at Bourbon Street Babes. I want her to love me the way I love her."
The businessman looked disappointed in his employee. "Tyrese, I wish you'd asked for something more lasting. Sex is everywhere you look in New Orleans, and girls like Gypsy are a dime a dozen."
"You wrong," Tyrese said. "I don't think I have a soul, but I know love is once in a lifetime. I love Gypsy. If she loves me back, I'll be a happy man. And if you make money, boss, I'll make money. I'll have enough. I'm not greedy."
"I'm all about the greed," said the devil, almost gently. "You may end up wishing you'd asked for some government bonds, Tyrese."
The chauffeur shook his head. "I'm happy with my bargain. You give me Gypsy, the rest will be all right. I know it."
The devil looked at him with what seemed very much like pity, if that emotion was possible for a devil.
"Enjoy yourselves, you hear?" he said to both of the newly soulless men. They could not tell if he was mocking them or if he was sincere. "Tyrese, you will not see me again until our final meeting." He faced the businessman. "Sir, you and I will meet at some date in the future. Just give me a call when you're ready for your signing bonus. Here's my card."
The businessman took the plain white card. The only writing on it was a phone number. It was not the same number he'd called to set up the first rendezvous. "But what if it's years from now?" he said.
"It won't be," said the devil, but his voice was farther away. The businessman looked up to see that the devil was half a block away. After seven more steps he seemed to melt into the dirty sidewalk, leaving only an impression in the cold damp air.
The businessman and the chauffeur turned and walked hastily in the opposite direction. The chauffeur never saw the devil again. The businessman didn't see the devil until June.
Far away—thousands of miles away—a tall, thin man lay on a beach in Baja. He was not in one of the tourist spots where he might encounter lots of other gringos, who might recognize him. He was patronizing a dilapidated bar, really more of a hut. For a small cash payment, the proprietor would rent patrons a large towel and a beach umbrella and send his son out to refresh your drink from time to time. As long as you kept drinking.
Though the tall man was only sipping Coca–Cola, he was paying through the nose for it—though he didn't seem to realize that, or perhaps he didn't care. He sat on the towel, crouched in the umbrella's shade, wearing a hat and sunglasses and swim trunks. Close to him was an ancient backpack, and his flip–flops were set on the sand beside it, casting off a faint smell of hot rubber. The tall man was listening to an iPod, and his smile indicated he was very pleased with what he heard. He lifted his hat to run his fingers through his hair. It was golden blond, but there was a bit of root showing that hinted his natural color was nearly gray. Judging from his body, he was in his forties. He had a small head in relation to his broad shoulders, and he did not look like a man who was used to manual labor. He didn't look rich, either; his entire ensemble, the flip–flops and the swim trunks, the hat and the dark glasses, had come from a Wal–Mart or some even cheaper dollar store.
It didn't pay to look affluent in Baja, not with the way things were these days. It wasn't safe, gringos weren't exempt from the violence, and most tourists stayed in the established resorts, flying in and out without driving through the countryside. There were a few other expats around, most unattached men with an air of desperation . . . or secrecy. Their reasons for choosing such a hazardous place to live were better not discovered. Asking questions could be unhealthy.
One of these expats, a recent arrival, came to sit close to the tall man, too close for such proximity to be an accident on a thinly populated beach. The tall man gave the unwelcome newcomer a sideways look from behind his dark glasses, which were obviously prescription. The newcomer was a man in his thirties, not tall or short, not handsome or ugly, not reedy or muscular. He was medium in all aspects, physically. This medium man had been watching the tall man for a few days, and the tall man had been sure he'd approach him sooner or later.
The medium man had carefully selected the optimum moment. The two were sitting in a place on the beach where no one else could hear them or approach them unseen, and even with satellites in the atmosphere it was probable that no one could see them without being spotted, either. The taller man was mostly hidden under the beach umbrella. He noticed that his visitor was sitting in its shadow.
"What are you listening to?" asked the medium man, pointing to the earbuds inserted in the tall man's ears.
He had a faint accent, maybe a German one? From one of those European countries, anyway, thought the tall man, who was not well traveled. And the newcomer also had a remarkably unpleasant smile. It looked okay, with the upturned lips and the bared teeth, but somehow the effect was more as if an animal were exposing its teeth preparatory to biting you.
"You a homo? I'm not interested," the tall man said. "In fact, you'll be judged with hellfire."
The medium man said, "I like women. Very much. Sometimes more than they want." His smile became quite feral. And he asked again, "What are you listening to?"
The tall man debated, staring angrily at his companion. But it had been days since he'd talked to anyone. At last, he opted for the truth. "I'm listening to a sermon," he said.
The medium man exhibited only mild surprise. "Really? A sermon? I wouldn't have pegged you for a man of the cloth." But his smile said otherwise. The tall man began to feel uneasy. He began to think of the gun in his backpack, less than an arm's length away. At least he'd opened the buckles when he'd put it down.
"You're wrong, but God won't punish you for it," the tall man said calmly, his own smile genial. "I'm listening to one of my own old sermons. I spoke God's truth to the multitudes."
"Did no one believe you?" The medium man cocked his head curiously.
"Many believed me. Many. I was attracting quite a following. But a girl named . . . a girl brought about my downfall. And put my wife in jail, too, in a way."
"Would that girl's name have been Sookie Stackhouse?" asked the medium man, removing his sunglasses to reveal remarkably pale eyes.
The taller man's head snapped in his direction. "How'd you know? " he said.
The devil was eating beignets, fastidiously, when the businessman walked up to the outside table. The devil noticed the spring in Copley Carmichael's step. He looked even more prosperous than he had when he was broke. Carmichael was in the business section of the newspaper frequently these days. An infusion of capital had reestablished him very quickly as an economic force in New Orleans, and his political clout had expanded along with the money he pumped into New Orleans's sputtering economy, which had been dealt a crippling blow by
Katrina. Which, the devil pointed out quickly to anyone who asked, he'd had simply nothing to do with.
Today Carmichael looked healthy and vigorous, ten years younger than he actually was. He sat at the devil's table without any greeting.
"Where's your man, Mr. Carmichael?" asked the devil, after a sip of his coffee.
Carmichael was busy placing a drink order with the waiter, but when the young man was gone he said, "Tyrese has trouble these days, and I gave him some time off."
"The young woman? Gypsy?"
"Of course," said Carmichael, not quite sneering. "I knew if he asked for her, he wouldn't be pleased with the results, but he was so sure that true love would win in the end."
"And it hasn't?"
"Oh, yes, she's crazy about him. She loves him so much she has sex with him all the time. She couldn't stop herself, even though she knew she was HIV positive . . . a fact she didn't share with Tyrese."
"Ah," the devil said. "Not my work, that virus. So how is Tyrese faring?"
"He's HIV positive, too," Carmichael said, shrugging. "He's getting treatment, and it's not the instant death sentence it used to be. But he's very emotional about it." Carmichael shook his head. "I always thought he had better sense."
"I understand you wish to ask for your signing bonus," the devil said. Carmichael saw no connection between the two ideas.
"Yes," Copley Carmichael said. He grinned at the devil and leaned forward confidentially. In a barely audible whisper he said, "I know exactly what I want. I want you to find me a cluviel dor."
The devil looked genuinely surprised. "How did you learn of the existence of such a rare item?"
"My daughter brought it up in conversation," Carmichael said, without a hint of shame. "It sounded interesting, but she stopped talking before she told me the name of the person who supposedly has one. So I had a man I know hack into her e–mail. I should have done that earlier. It's been illuminating. She's living with a fellow I don't trust. After our last conversation, she got so angry with me that she's refused to see me. Now I can keep tabs on her without her knowing, so I can protect her from her own bad judgment."
He was absolutely sincere when he made this statement. The devil saw that Carmichael believed that he loved his daughter, that he knew what was best for her under any circumstance.
"So Amelia had been talking to someone about a cluviel dor," the devil said. "That led her to bring it up with you. How interesting. No one's had one for . . . well, in my memory. A cluviel dor would have been made by the fae . . . and you understand, they are not tiny, cute creatures with wings."
Carmichael nodded. "I'm astounded to discover what exists out there," he said. "I have to believe in fairies now. And I have to consider that maybe my daughter isn't such a screwball after all. Though I think she's deluded about her own power."
The devil raised his perfect eyebrows. There seemed to be more than one deluded person in the Carmichael family. "About the cluviel dor . . . the fae used them all. I don't believe there are any left on earth, and I can't go into Faery since the upheaval. A thing or two has been expelled out of Faery . . . but nothing goes in." He looked mildly regretful.
"There is one cluviel dor available, and from what I can tell, it's being concealed by a friend of my daughter's," Copley Carmichael said. "I know you can find it."
"Fascinating," the devil said, quite sincerely. "And what do you want it for? After I find it?"
"I want my daughter back," Carmichael said. His intensity was almost palpable. "I want the power to change her life. So I know what I'll wish for, when you track it down for me. The woman who knows where it is . . . she's not likely to give it up. It was a legacy from her grandmother, and she's not a big fan of mine."
The devil turned his face to the morning sun, and his eyes glowed red briefly. "Imagine that. I'll set things in motion. The name of your daughter's friend, the one who may know the whereabouts of the cluviel dor?"
"She's in Bon Temps. It's up north, not too far from Shreveport. Sookie Stackhouse."
The devil nodded slowly. "I've heard the name."
The next time the devil met with Copley Carmichael, three days after their conversation at Café du Monde, he dropped by Carmichael's table at Commander's Palace. Carmichael was waiting for his dinner, and busy on his cell phone with a contractor who wanted to extend his credit line. Carmichael was unwilling, and he explained why in no uncertain terms. When he looked up, the devil was standing there in the same suit he'd worn when they'd met the first time. He looked cool and impeccable.
As Carmichael put the phone down, the devil slid into the chair across from his.
Carmichael had jumped when he recognized the devil. And since he hated being surprised, he was unwise. He snarled, "What the hell do you mean coming here? I didn't ask you to visit!"
"What the hell, indeed," said the devil, who didn't seem to take offense. He ordered a single malt whiskey from the waiter who'd materialized at his elbow. "I assumed you'd want to hear the news of your cluviel dor."
Carmichael's expression changed instantly. "You found it! You have it!"
"Sadly, Mr. Carmichael, I do not," said the devil. (He did not sound sad.) "Something rather unexpected has thwarted our plans." The waiter deposited the whiskey with some ceremony, and the devil took a sip and nodded.
"What?" Carmichael said, almost unable to speak for anger.
"Miss Stackhouse used the cluviel dor, and its magic has been expended."
There was a moment of silence fraught with all the emotions the devil enjoyed.
"I'll see her ruined," said Copley Carmichael venomously, keeping his voice down with a supreme effort. "You'll help me. That's what I'll take instead of the cluviel dor."
"Oh my goodness. You've used your signing bonus, Mr. Carmichael. Mustn't get greedy."
"But you didn't get me the cluviel dor!" Even though he was an experienced businessman, Carmichael was astonished and outraged.
"I found it and was ready to take it from her pocket," said the devil.
"I entered the body of someone standing next to her. But she used it before I could extract it. Finding it was the favor you requested. You used those words twice, and 'locate it' once. Our dealings are concluded." He tossed back his drink.
"At least help me get back at her," Carmichael said, his face red with rage. "She crossed us both."
"Not me," said the devil. "I've seen Miss Stackhouse up close and talked to many people who know her. She seems like an interesting woman. I have no cause to do her harm." He stood up. "In fact, if I may advise you, walk away from this. She has some powerful friends, among them your daughter."
"My daughter is a woman who runs around with witches," Carmichael said. "She's never been able to make her own living, not completely. I've been researching her 'friends,' very discreetly." He sighed, sounding both angry and exasperated. "I understand their powers exist. I believe that now. Reluctantly. But what have they done with those powers? The strongest among them lives in a shack." Carmichael's knuckles rapped against the table. "My daughter could be a force in society in this town. She could work for me, and do all kinds of charity stuff, but instead she lives in her own little world with her loser boyfriend. Like her friend Sookie. But I'll even the score there. How many powerful friends could a waitress have?"
The devil glanced over to his left. Two tables away sat a very round man with dark hair, who was by himself at a table laden with food. The very round man met the devil's eyes without blinking or looking away, which few men could do. After a long moment, the two nodded at each other.
Carmichael was glaring at the devil.
"I owe you nothing for Tyrese any longer," said the devil. "And you are mine forever. Given your present course, I may have you sooner than I'd expected." He smiled, a chilling expression on his smooth face, and he rose from the table and left.
Carmichael was even angrier when he had to pay for the devil's whiskey. He never even noticed the very round man. But the very round man noticed him.
What People are Saying About This
"The Sookie Stackhouse series seamlessly mixes sensuality, violence, and humor."—Boulder Weekly
"Harris's creation offers a magical and mysterious twist on traditional vampire stories."—Houston Chronicle
"What sucked me in? Definitely the books' oddly charming, often funny mix of the mundane and the absurd. And the chills and thrills in boudoirs and various locales around the South aren't too bad either."—The Seattle Times


text:
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Mexican authorities have detained the country's former drug czar on suspicion that he may have accepted $450,000 a month in bribes from drug traffickers, Mexico's attorney general said Friday.
Noe Ramirez Mandujano was in charge from 2006 through August of fighting organized crime in Mexico.
Noe Ramirez Mandujano was in charge from 2006 until this August of the attorney general's office that specializes in combatting organized crime.
Ramirez is accused of meeting with members of a drug cartel while he was in office and agreeing to provide information on investigations in exchange for the bribes, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza said at a news conference Friday.
The arrest was part of an ongoing investigation called "Operation Limpieza," or "Operation Cleanup," the attorney general said. The operation targets officials who may have passed information to drug cartels.
The arrest was announced Thursday night, four days after the house arrest of Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, the director for International Police Affairs at Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency and the head of Mexico's Interpol office.
Authorities say more than 30 officials have been arrested since July in connection with the anti-corruption operation.
Interpol, which is based in France, announced Wednesday it is sending a team of investigators to Mexico to investigate the possibility that its communications systems and databases may have been compromised, a prospect raised by the arrest of Gutierrez, the top official working with the agency in Mexico.
"A war of master proportions" between authorities and narcotics traffickers and traffickers among themselves has left more than 4,300 dead so far this year, according to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, an independent research and information organization. By comparison, the council said in a report this week, there were 2,700 drug-related deaths in 2007.
"Homegrown drug cartels operating from both within and outside the country are engaging in a vicious turf war to seize control of major trafficking corridors while engaging in almost open warfare against the mobilized forces of the state," the council said about what it calls "narco-fueled crime."
Mexican leaders have been trying to tamp down the violence by tightening controls on money-laundering and cracking down on corruption among local and municipal police forces infiltrated by drug traffickers. It may not be enough.
"Due to pervasive corruption at the highest levels of the Mexican government, and the almost effortless infiltration of the porous security forces by the cartel, an ultimate victory by the state is far from certain," the Hemispheric Council concludes.
Drug trafficking in Mexico is a $20 billion- to $50 billion-a-year industry, as much as the nation earns from tourism or remittances from Mexicans living in the United States, said Robert Pastor, a former National Security adviser to President Jimmy Carter and now a professor of international relations at American University in Washington. He has been studying Latin America for more than four decades.
"This is a huge industry with an extraordinary capacity to corrupt and intimidate the country. And they're doing both right now," said Pastor, also a former director of the Carter Center's Latin American and Caribbean Program.
The drug cartels are paying some Mexican officials bribes of $150,000 to $450,000 a month, authorities have said. This in a country where the per capita income is $12,500 a year and one of every seven Mexicans lives in poverty, according to the CIA World Factbook.
All About Interpol • Carter Center • Mexico • Illegal Drugs


text:
Fortaleza is the capital city of Brazilian state Ceará and meaning of the name of this city is "Fortress". The first constructing from the what is called these days Fortaleza had been the Castle Schoonenborch, built-in 1649 by the Dutch, which at that time got penetrated and also ended up inhabiting towns inside Sting bikini northeastern part of Brazil.
The state of Ceará can be defined by only a pair of words; party & sun. Fortaleza is the coastal area of Brazil with most sunny days over summer and winter. Party is the everlasting point out associated with character of those as well as the town. Forró, normal music genre for the area of northeast, can be around the peoples' blood vessels, about the seashores, about the dance clubs, about the cafes, for the restaurants, around the motels, around the roads. (more…)


text:
Re: HALO:Combat Evolved: Heretic
Aegob sneaked up behind a covenant on the machine gun and put his pistol barrel onto his head. "prepare to die" aegob said
"Wait im on your side im name is Obvidious but call me ob. im here to help you." ob said
"Ok but dont let the others see you"
"sartok knowes about me" ob said
"Ok" aegob jumped off the building and got onto his ghost and blasted abanshee out of the sky


text:
I enjoy being open to spiritual experiences while on the road, and there's no more spiritual experience than traveling to the developing world. To be with the world's desperate and downtrodden is to be with Christ. My expertise as a writer and guide, however, is traveling through Europe, which also offers plenty of opportunities to get close to God. Here is my guide to five places in Europe that stoke my spirit.
High in the Alps
As I walk high on a ridge in Switzerland, the Alps strike me as the greatest cathedral in Europe. Ride the rack-railway train from Wilderswil (near Interlaken) up to Schynige Platte, then hike along a ridge to Faulhorn, with its famous mountaintop hotel, and on to the perch called First. As you tightrope along the ridge, lakes stretch all the way to Germany on your left, and on your right is a row of cut-glass peaks—the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. The long, legato tones of an alp horn announce that the helicopter-stocked mountain hut is open, it's just around the corner—and the coffee-schnapps is on. It's enough to have even a staid Lutheran raising his hands in praise.
Spain's Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage Trail
There's a reason pilgrims have hiked from France to the distant northwest of Spain for more than 1,000 years. Trekking with people of all spiritual stripes—or none at all—across the vast expanses of Spain, it's easy to be one with nature and get caught up in a private talk with your maker. Everyone's heading for the same point: the Cathedral of St. James in the city of Santiago de Compostela. And to be there as well-worn and sunburned pilgrims step on the scallop-shell pavement stone in front of the towering cathedral, overwhelmed with jubilation to have reached their personal goal and succeeded in their quest, is a joy in itself.
Assisi, Italy
I have a personal ritual of sitting quietly on the rampart of a ruined castle high above Assisi, the town of St. Francis. I look down at the basilica dedicated to the saint, then into the valley—where a church stands strong in the hazy Italian plain that marks the place where Francis and his "Jugglers of God" started the Franciscan order, bringing the word of God to people in terms all could embrace. Hearing the same birdsong that inspired Francis, and tasting the same simple bread, cheese, and wine of Umbria that sustained him, I calm my 21st-century soul and ponder the message of a saint anyone can love.
St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican
Worshiping upon the tomb of St. Peter under the towering dome of Michelangelo in the vast expanse of the greatest church in Christendom—where incense gives earthly substance to ethereal sunrays—I ponder the centuries of devotion and tradition that have gone into building both this magnificent church and the Catholic faith. Throwing out my Lutheran cynicism, I appreciate it all as a humble and noble quest to better understand and get close to our heavenly Father.
Taizé, France
In the wine country of Burgundy, just down the road from Cluny (where the greatest monastic order of the Middle Ages was born), a rough lane leads to the ecumenical monastic community of Taizé. It welcomes all to gather with no regard to culture, language, or denomination. With a perfectly ecumenical embrace, people gather at Taizé to celebrate diversity, tune in to God's great creation and the family of humankind, and become comfortable with silence, praise, meditation, singing, and simple living. Taizé gets you close to God.
This article appeared in the June 2011 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 76, No. 6, pages 18-22).
Photos courtesy of Rick Steves