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Creating customer value in a digital age
Creating customer value in a digital age
Consumers are disrupting even the most forward thinking of businesses. They're more informed and increasingly sceptical and they're holding out for higher standards more than ever before. Gaining their loyalty and trust is no longer a differentiator but a factor for survival.
Keeping up with these fast changing customer demands and building a growth strategy can be a challenge. But, help is at hand.
We can help you assess which markets are right for you, prioritise the customers that have the most potential and create personalised products which meet their needs completely and simply.
We've developed a robust framework of tools, solutions and teams to help you build an effective customer focussed strategy. You can rest assured it will be underpinned by analytics and the latest digital innovations so you can evolve at pace while staying focussed on shareholder value.
Request for proposal


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There are some relatively easy solutions to keeping your home safe and secure while you're away enjoying the holiday festivities.
This year, a record number of Americans will hit the road for the holiday season, off to visit family and friends or perhaps even escape the cold weather. With 103 million travelers heading out, that leaves a lot of homes unattended. In fact, according to crime statistics, the holiday season boasts the second-highest burglary rates of the year.
While many of us have seen the movie "Home Alone," we can't count on potential burglars to be the bumbling idiots who terrorized Kevin while his parents were away. But, while it might not be that easy to fool would-be thieves, there are some relatively easy solutions to keeping your home safe and secure while you're away enjoying the holiday festivities.
1) Let your neighbors know you'll be away. If you have a dog or other household pet, you'll probably need to ask a neighbor or friend to come by to feed, water and take care of your furry friend. That's great because it means there's traffic in and out of your home, and someone is around every day to check and make sure things are as they should be. But, if you don't have pets, it's still a great idea to inform a trusted neighbor or friend that you'll be away and ask them to keep an eye on your place. One of the best defenses against any crime is simply keeping an eye on those we care about and taking care of one another.
2) Install programmable lights. Break-ins are often crimes of opportunity. Thieves will drive around the neighborhood and look for signs that no one is home. Mail, newspapers or packages accumulating, cars that sit for days without moving, and a house that's completely dark every evening are all telltale signs. Adding programmable lights to your home that turn on and off at normal active hours can give the illusion that the home is occupied and keep your house from becoming an easy target. Using high-efficiency LED bulbs will offset the "wasted" energy of having the lights on when no one is home, but certainly the cost of a burglary (which is nearly $2,000 on average) is far less than the cost of electricity to prevent it.
3) Bolster your WiFi security. While most of us know we should keep our home WiFi network password protected, many either don't use one or they offer a guest network that allows visitors to connect without a password. This not only allows passersby and/or would-be thieves to suck up your bandwidth, but also allows them access to your network where they can infiltrate your connected devices. We've heard the horror stories of creeps hacking into baby monitors, but access to the entire network could be even more dangerous. Before you head out, it's a good idea to shut off the guest network, reset your router's password and turn on security to prevent intrusion.
4) Add security cameras. According to a survey of more than 400 incarcerated burglars, nearly 60 percent said the presence of a video surveillance system is a factor when selecting a target, and 40 percent said they would choose another target if a camera was present. Most people think of cameras as a way to gather evidence after the fact, but the mere presence of one can be a strong deterrent. With the wide range of models and options, plus WiFi capability and ease of installation, adding one or more cameras to protect your home is a relatively affordable and simple way to make your home less appealing to would-be thieves.
5) Opt for some advanced features. While the mere presence of a camera can be a deterrent, why not choose a system with some added features that offer added return on investment? For example, a camera that offers built-in facial recognition capability lets you know exactly who's at the door, or sneaking around to the back window. Simply program photos of visitors you know into the system, and if the camera captures someone it doesn't recognize, you'll get an immediate alert directly to your mobile phone, along with the ability to see who it is. Then, when that neighbor who you have keeping an eye on your place comes around, they can check for any signs of suspicious activity. Or, if you live in an area where inclement weather may cause utility outages, installing a solar-powered camera can keep your home protected even if the electricity is out. Some, like the Lynx Solar, will continue recording and storing photos and video during a power outage, then upload the captured images to the secure cloud server once utilities are restored. That way, if the power goes out, your programmable lights (obviously) fail, and a thief takes advantage of the situation, you'll still have surveillance footage to provide to the authorities.
It's worth repeating that there's no substitute for a trusted, vigilant neighbor when you're planning to be away from home. Having someone to look after your place—or offering to do it for another neighbor—is one of the best ways to take care of one another during this season of giving. But, even with a watchful eye, adding some technology to the mix can help ensure your home is safe, secure and welcome respite from your holiday travels.
• No Touch, Low Touch
• Going the Distance
• Accelerating Security
• Bringing Rapid Identification
• Shifting Strategies

subset: commoncrawl


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The service allows patrons to browse the library's website, check out with a valid library card, and download eBooks, digital audiobooks, streaming video and periodicals to PC, Mac, and many mobile devices. Before downloading the first time, though, patrons will need to install free software to their devices. For digital audiobooks and streaming video, OverDrive Media Console will be available as a free download from the website. To read eBooks, some patrons will need to install Adobe Digital Editions which is also available as a free download on the website. Titles can be enjoyed immediately or transferred to a variety of devices, including iPad, Kindle, NOOK, and many others. Some audio titles can also be burned to CD to listen to on-the-go. Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period, which means there will never be any late fees!OverDrive is the leading digital media platform for libraries and schools. OverDrive delivers secure lending platform for 30,000 libraries, schools and retailers worldwide. They support all major computers and devices, including iOS, Android™ and Kindle®.Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, Ohio. Visit their website at www.overdrive.com.
The Library is located in the Civic Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike. Contact the Library at 865-425-3455 or visit www.orpl.org for questions and more information about this new service.


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A robber is being hunted by South Tyneside detectives after he snatched a gold chain from a teenager's neck.
The 17-year-old was at Chichester Metro station in South Shields when a youth asked for some money.
When the victim refused he pulled out a knife and ripped the chain and Celtic cross from the victim's neck.
The robbery happened at 12.45am on Thursday. The culprit was a white male, aged 18 to 20, shaven head, of medium build, 5ft 8in to 5ft 9in, and wearing a blue tracksuit top. Call South Shields CID on (0191) 454 7555 with information.


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New Dimensions Training has partnered with one of South Africa's most affordable ecommerce web design agencies to provide our clients with an affordable ecommerce web design service.
Our full ecommerce websites offer the following:
* Unlimited Pages
* Unlimited Email Accounts - each person employed by the agency or each department in the agency can have a personalised email address.
* Estate Agents Module - list up to 999 properties on your website,with descriptions and 12 images per property.
* Blog - write regular blog posts to keep clients updated with the most recent and relevant industry news.
* Bulk Emails - email a database of up to 5000 clients once a month.A maximum of 5000 FREE bulk emails per month.
* Once enabled you will be assigned a unique Estate Agent Code. Each property is assigned a unique Property Code based off your Estate Agent Code. This unique Property Code can be SMS'd to 37995 and an SMS will be sent to the sender with a link to the Property Listing, matching the unique Property Code, on your website. Standard SMS rates, including free SMS's, apply.
For example, if your assigned Estate Agency Code is AX and your Property Code is AX21, then clients must SMS AX21 to 37995 and they will receive a link to that property on your website. The Estate Agency can e.g. put a sticker with the following message on their boards : "SMS the code AX21 to 37995 to receive more info"
* Property videos can be added via Youtube
Our Estate Agency Website Design package is a complete estate agency marketing tool. The estate agency website has a responsive design and will function on all platforms and devices.
The estate agency website design package is offered as both a template design and a custom design.
Cost: Template Website Design - R2500.00 . Custom Design R3500.00
Terms: 70% Deposit. Balance on Completion
How to get started? email us or visit our website shop .


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The November 16th launch of trading in the brand new iShares S&P/TSX North American Preferred Stock Index Fund (CAD-Hedged) ETF (symbol XPF) brings competition to the income-oriented preferred share space. Up to now, Claymore's S&P/TSX CDN Preferred Share ETF (CPD) has been the sole such ETF traded in Canada, though various other ways exist to acquire preferred shares for a portfolio, as we described in a previous post Preferred Shares: an Opportunity for Taxable Accounts. Let's see how the new XPF compares to CPD and to a major closed-end fund for preferred shares, the Diversified Preferred Share Trust (DPS.UN) managed by Sentry Select Capital Inc. We note in passing that Horizons AlphaPro has also just launched a preferred share ETF (symbol: HPR) but the skimpiness of information on the ETF's webpage prevents us from assessing it here.
Key Comparison Factors:
(for details click on the table image below)
Costs: Management Expense Ratio, Trading Costs, Hedging - CPD has the edge due to: a) its low MER; b) its higher trading volume, which keeps bid-ask spreads low and; c) the absence of hedging cost. The decision of iShares to do currency hedging for the US portion (which is about half the total portfolio) of XPF's holdings, in order to remove the often dramatic swings in the US and Canadian dollar exchange rate, costs money and reduces returns, as we discussed previously in Foreign Currency: To Hedge or Not to Hedge Currency. How much return reduction there will be for XPF from hedging only time will tell but it is not negligible.
Riskiness - There are several dimensions to the relative riskiness of these funds.
Credit Risk (the risk of the promised dividends not being paid) -
XPF has the highest number of issuers with about three times as many different companies represented in its directly held Canadian shares and in the underlying holdings of the US iShares ETF (symbol: PFF), through which it indirectly holds US preferred shares. This lessens the impact of a suspension of dividends by any single company. However, XPF has an appreciably higher concentration of its total holdings in financial services. Included are a number of US banks, an exposure that CPD does not have at all. No less than 86% of the holdings of PFF and 85% of XPF in total are in the financial sector. DPS.UN unfortunately does not reveal the sector breakdown or the Canada-US allocation so we are unable to compare this aspect of the credit risk for this fund.
The Credit ratings agencies provide ratings on the credit risk of individual preferred shares and these ratings further confirm the above indication of XPF as a more aggressive and riskier investment than its rivals. The combined ratings on both US and Canadian holdings (unfortunately and disappointingly for the investor, iShares does not give the breakdown for the Canadian holdings and we have estimated using the excellent detailed tables of Scotia McLeod's Guide to Preferred Shares Winter 2010) reveals that XPF has 26% of its holdings in securities rated lower than safe investment grade and a substantial dollop in speculative issues on the US side. By contrast, CPD has only 20% of holdings below investment grade and none of the speculative grades, making it a much safer portfolio overall, while DPS.UN only discloses the overall credit risk of its fund, which is the lower rung of investment grade, PF-2 on our table.
Interest Rate Risk - A rise in interest rates will put downward pressure on the prices of preferred shares just as it does to bonds. The best way to assess this factor is by the type of preferred share since some types can adjust to interest rates, such as floating rate shares, and are much less susceptible to capital declines from interest rate increases. Again, Scotia McLeod's guide comes to our help with explanation and a handy chart, reproduced below, that gives a general idea of the various types of preferreds and how they compare for interest rate risk along the horizontal axis.
CPD has appreciably less interest rate risk than DPS.UN due to its much lower proportion invested in the most interest-sensitive straight perpetuals and higher amounts in the floaters. With XPF the investor is in the dark as this critical information is absent from the documentation on the iShares website.
Leverage - DPS.UN contains an additional risk factor, namely that the fund has borrowed money, which has then been invested. This is done in order to benefit from the fact that the money borrowed at prime rate, which in 2009 averaged around 3% according to DPS.UN's financial statements, can generate returns at higher dividend yields. That boosts investor returns and is evident in the higher distribution yield of DPS.UN, but it increases risk since the borrowed funds must be paid back.
In the event of a jump in interest rates, the borrow-vs-invest yield advantage would diminish or disappear at the same time that the capital value of the preferred share holdings would fall. The DPS.UN managers would then want or need to to cut down the debt but repayment would come from selling those preferred share holdings whose value had fallen. The fund and its investors could take a big hit on capital value. The question is whether the DPS.UN managers will be nimble and perceptive enough to anticipate interest changes and reduce leverage at the right time. The beneficial effect - so far - is seen in the year-to-date results as DPS.UN has gained 11.2% YTD, much more than its simple dividend yield, while CPD is much closer to its dividend yield with a 6.7% YTD gain.
Return, Yield and After-Tax Cash Flow - Both XPF and DPS.UN offer a little more than 1% higher pre-tax distribution yield than CPD.
More than 50% of the annual distributions from XPF will be taxed in a Canadian investor's hands as other income at the higher marginal rate instead of the lower eligible dividend rate. That does not matter if XPF is held in a registered account but it significantly reduces the after-tax net yield in a taxable account (e.g. if you are in the highest marginal tax bracket of 46.41% for 2010 in Ontario, that's how much you will have taken off - see this TaxTips.ca page for all the personal tax rates across Canada). Much better are both CPD and DPS.UN, which give off the tax-preferred eligible dividends (the highest Ontario marginal rate on eligible dividends is only 26.57%) as well as Return of Capital, which is not taxed immediately at all and only later as a deferred capital gain when he/she eventually sells the ETF holding (see our previous post on Calculating Capital Gains in ETFs and Mutual Funds).
Features: Distribution Frequency, Automatic & Commission-Free Purchases and Withdrawals -
For investors wanting to receive and spend / withdraw the income, e.g. while in retirement, the monthly distributions of CPD and XPF can help with budgeting and cash flow.
Another feature, free and automatic pre-authorized systematic withdrawals by selling shares, can boost the cash given off by distributions. Alternatively, in the portfolio build-up years a DRIP that reinvests the income into the purchase of extra ETF shares automatically and without trading commissions is a big convenience and cost saver. CPD offers both systematic withdrawals and DRIP as an optional choice while XPF and DPS.UN do not.
Which is best overall?
For the investor who seeks steady, reliable income with as little risk as possible, Claymore's incumbent CPD is the clear winner. Sentry's DPS.UN and the new iShares XPF are less attractive choices due to their several weak spots or unknowns compared to pluses - the extra return just doesn't seem worthwhile enough.
Disclaimer: this post is my opinion only and should not be construed as investment advice. Readers should be aware that the above comparisons are not an investment recommendation. They rest on other sources, whose accuracy is not guaranteed and the article may not interpret such results correctly. Do your homework before making any decisions and consider consulting a professional advisor.


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Oct. 7, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Irish men's tennis team wrapped up the three-day Bobby Bayliss Invitational Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Freshman Josh Hagar was named the tournament's most outstanding player after he went 3-1 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles play against top competition.
After tallying results, the Notre Dame coaching staff also named five players to the all-tournament team: junior Wyatt McCoy, who went 3-1 in singles and 2-1 in doubles; sophomore Alex Lawson, who went 4-0 in singles; sophomore Kenneth Sabacinski, who went 3-1 in singles; Aaron Pfister of Michigan State, who went 3-1 in singles and 2-0 in doubles; and Michael Treis of Western Michigan, who went 4-0 in singles for the weekend.
Notre Dame won nine of 15 matches played on Sunday, bringing their total for the weekend up to 33 matches won out of 58 played (.568).
"Overall, it was a pretty solid event for our team," said head coach Ryan Sachire. "Wyatt McCoy, Alex Lawson, Eddy Covalschi and Josh Hagar all stood out as having strong tournaments. As a group, we will look to improve over the next ten days and enter out Regional Championships better than we are today."
The Irish travel to Columbus, Ohio next week for the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. You can stay up to date with their play on Facebook and Twitter and here at UND.com.
- Hagar (Notre Dame 2-1) d. Simich (Louisville 2-1) 6-5, 6-3
- Pfister (Michigan State 2-1) d. Covalschi (Notre Dame 3-0) 2-6, 6-3, 10-5
- Lawson (Notre Dame 3-0) d. Kuelker (Cleveland State 1-2) 6-1, 6-4
- McCoy (Notre Dame 2-1) d. Forman (Michigan State 2-1) 6-4, 6-5
- Brown (Louisville1-1) d. Montoya (Notre Dame 2-1) 6-1, 6-2
- Schnurrenberger (Notre Dame 0-3) d. Hamilton (Western Michigan 1-2) 6-1, 6-1
- Tries (Western Michigan 3-0) d. Fredericka (Notre Dame 2-1) 6-5, 6-5
- Sabacinski (Notre Dame 2-1) d. Roy (Michigan State 2-1) 6-3, 0-6, 10-8
- Davis (Michigan State 1-2) d. Dooley (Notre Dame 1-2) 6-2, 6-2
- Pecor (Notre Dame 0-2) d. Van Meter (Cleveland State 2-1) 6-2, 6-5
- Indre/Cahn (Western Michigan) d. Covalschi/Lawson (Notre Dame) 8-5
- Hagar/Pecor (Notre Dame) d. Brown/Derognat (Louisville) 8-4
- Greiner/Shideler (Western Michigan) d. Fredericka/Montoya (Notre Dame) 8-4
- Schnurrenberger/Sabacinski (Notre Dame) d. Lippens/Bonfre (Louisville) 8-4
- Barnard/McCoy (Notre Dame) d. Tries/Mora (Western Michigan) 8-3
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant


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Fried Dough Bites
(Artvin Lokumu aka Hamur Kizartmasi - Black Sea Region)
Bread dough
Sun flower oil
Break the egg size pieces from the dough. Give a ball shape to each dough. Heat up the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the doughs until take a light golden colour. Afterwards, place on a paper towel to soak up any extra oil.
Serve while they are still hot with Turkish black olive, feta cheese, tomato, cucumber, honey, Jam & Marmalade or molasses and Turkish Tea as a breakfast or brunch or for dinner.


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Why not take a look around our website and see what we have to offer? Don't forget that we offer payment plans for up to 12 months with no interest or fees. It's 100% free. It makes purchasing for your collection a lot easier.
We're here to answer any questions you have, take an order, or even setup a payment plan.
Customer service is here & ready to take your call.
We're open Monday - Friday from 9 AM - 5 PM ET
Green faience, 5/8" length with transverse piercing, possibly for mounting as a ring. Barrel form back and flat bottom with progressive intertwine line. Excellent with good color. Tiny chip to one end, as produced and glazed over.


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Do you really believe that staying slim is just the right definition of fitness? Wait a second… it's not the fact. Slim is not just always fit. If you want to stay fit, you do have to look into your food habits, day to day work outs and even maintain a healthy life style.
This is all because our body that does represent a mechanics has been set to work accordingly. The organs are just like machineries that are set connected to each other to work simultaneously.
When there is a blockage or any kind of cutoff with connection from one organ, the complete system faces the trouble. For the reason it is must that you maintain a perfect diet which is just to keep the man like machine going on check this video below..
Impact of food habits on health
Today we are interested to take on the short and simple way. But ever we ask ourselves how far it is justified when it comes to health. We think the packed foods available outside where the calorific value is mentioned is just the best.
But fitness does not get into your body like that. You need to implement a lot of things to stay fit and fine. The simple foods are now taken up by pizzas, burgers and pasta's which though are small in size but even are going to decrease your health and fitness. The components that make these foods delicious to consume are not healthy enough to try on.
Even if you are into profession, try to carry your own Tiffin to your work place. Have some salads, fruits, baked fish, chicken or anything that is with no or less of oil rather than eating these fast yet unhealthy food items.
Avoiding these would surely bring on a great change to your health and would rather keep you moving on with fitness for a long time across the day.
Daily work outs and fitness
Right from top to bottom of our body is a machine as discussed earlier. So if the machine keeps going on it is sure to work for long. And to keep it going the best way is to keep exercising. Fitness is not defined with visiting gym every day. You can just walk for 20 to 30 minutes inside a park or your garden and stay active the whole day.
To add some extra you can meditate and practice Yoga which is proved to be the best way of staying fit and fine since the old era.
For a better life style do try to have a active fitness regime that would keep you stay healthy for ever and do avoid bad and unhealthy eating habits


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Sharks try to slay Vegas Knights
Ryan Duarte,
May 10, 2018
The San Jose Sharks have been in this position before. Most of the team's veterans have had playoff experience in successful and perilous situations. However, this is a new beast entirely in Las Vegas. Yesterday was an important match with Las Vegas leading into game five with the Golden Knights ah...
Warriors face Pelicans in second round of playoffs
Ricky Szeto,
May 10, 2018
The first round of the NBA playoffs has concluded, and all the lesser teams in both conferences have been eliminated. Now the semifinals have started, as the Golden State Warriors take on the New Orleans Pelicans. Golden State is coming off of a hard-fought first round series over the feisty San ...
Golden State Warriors begin playoff journey against the San Antonio Spurs
Ricky Szeto,
April 19, 2018
The NBA Playoffs began on April 14. All the matchups were finally determined as the NBA regular season concluded. The second seed Golden State Warriors faced off against the seventh seed San Antonio Spurs and took a 2-0 lead in the series after a 116-101 win at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Monday. This...
Quinn Cook could be the most important player for Dubs' playoff run
Ryan Duarte,
April 19, 2018
Point guard Stephen Curry is one of the most important players for the Golden State Warriors, but he will definitely not play in the first round of the NBA playoffs, head coach Steve Kerr announced during a March 25 press conference. Until Curry returns from his grade 2 MCL sprain, point guard Quinn...
MLB playoffs lack Bay Area feel
Liam Beyerle,
October 5, 2017
Oct. 1 marked the end of the Major League Baseball regular season. Unfortunately for baseball fans, the last day of the regular season was drama-free as the last of the 10 playoff teams clinched postseason berths the day prior. However, there should be no shortage of action on Oct. 3 when the play...
The Golden State Warriors have no time for losing
Bryon Pointer,
May 10, 2017
After running through the Portland Trail Blazers in a 4-0 spurt in the first round of the NBA Playoffs last month, the Golden State Warriors accomplished yet another 4-0 playoff sweep against the Utah Jazz, concluding the second round of the playoffs with yet another landslide victory. Monday's series-en...
No reason Warriors can't win championship
Marissa Marshall,
Staff Writer
April 26, 2017
It's that time of year, NBA playoff time, and many are wondering whether the Golden State Warriors will take home the championship. In the Bay Area, many people are confident that their home team will win its 5th championship, and their second in 3 years. Many non-Bay Area natives, like myself, b...
Warriors take charge in first two games of NBA Finals
Marissa Marshall,
Staff Writer
June 9, 2016
The Golden State Warriors showed why they are in the finals and have the best record in league history, 73-9, when they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in both of the first two games of the final series. In Game 1 on Thursday, Golden State realized how essential every man on the team is when the star pl...
Warriors come up clutch in game 7
Louis LaVenture,
June 1, 2016
Despite trailing 3-1 after four games in the Western Conference Finals, the Golden State Warriors managed to do the unthinkable: Come back. Their on-the-road victory over Oklahoma City on Saturday, 108-101, set up the game 7 showdown at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Sunday. The Warriors did not disappoint and de...
Pioneers CCAA North Division champions
Marissa Marshall,
Staff Writer
May 11, 2016
The California State East Bay Pioneers had a tremendous weekend of baseball. Not only did they punch their ticket into the California Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs, but they also claimed the CCAA North Division title for the first time in school history. East Bay played a four-game series this wee...
Raiders cheesed by Packers
Louis LaVenture,
News and Sports Editor
December 23, 2015
There will be no playoffs for the Oakland Raiders this year, the Green Bay Packers made sure of that. For the thirteenth consecutive year the silver and black will miss out on the postseason after they fell to the Packers (10-4), 30-20 on Sunday in Oakland. The Raiders are 6-8 with just two games...


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Looking for information and references as to Lab Draws from CVLs with focus in Pediatrics.
1. How much waste is drawn off?
2. Is the waste returned?
3. What method is used for this procedure? Stopcock?
4. Is there a time frame the waste must be returned? i.e. return waste within 1 minute of of drawing?
5. Is the practice to direct access or draw thru the cap and then change the cap after the labs are drawn?
6. Does your policy state to change the cap after each lab draw and is that the actual practice?Â
7. Is the cap change a "sterile" techniqe with sterile gloves, or prep junction/threads with alcohol and "no-touch?
8. When accessing a Mediport that has been Hep locked with 100 Units/ml, is the waste discarded, returned or the first 2 ml of waste discarded?
9. Does anyone have a weight based lab volume/24 hr maximun allowed to be drawn? Please share.
All may be e-mailed to me @ [email protected]
Thank you in advance for your help.


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Family outraged by Santa's standing photo with special needs child
SAN ANTONIO -- The family of a 13-month-old baby with a genetic brain and muscle disorder has received a formal apology from Bass Pro Shops, days after the family said Santa Claus refused to be photographed with the child on his lap.
The incident happened Friday afternoon at Bass Pro Shops in northwest San Antonio.
Megan Self said she unhooked her son Caleb from his breathing apparatus and other medical equipment, after waiting in line for a free picture with Santa Claus.
Self said Santa stood up, took one photo with Caleb, then quickly handed off the child, who has been diagnosed with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy.
The genetic development disorder causes Caleb's muscles to weaken. An MRI this summer revealed Caleb's brain has begun to shrink as well.
"We've been through a lot this year, physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and everything. This was basically the icing on the cake," said Self.
According to Self, Caleb has been hospitalized 11 times since March. Despite his repeated medical setbacks, Caleb's family wanted him to experience sitting on Santa's lap.
"We were trying to work with them so we can get that memory, get the picture of him on his lap and everything," added Self.
Bass Pro Shops said in statement Monday "this is not something we feel great about."
According to the organization, Santa Claus, his elves and store employees taking part in the free picture promotion go through sensitivity training before each holiday season.
The spokesman said while malls and other stores continue to raise the price for pictures with Santa, Bass Pro Shops this year alone will provide more than a million free pictures with Santa.
The company offered Self a gift certificate and a one-on-one photo session for Caleb and Santa. Self declined the offer, and instead suggested Bass Pro Shops donate the money to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.


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digits: Techies Top Forbes' Billionaires List
Forbes has published its annual list of the world's top billionaires and not surprisingly, some high profile techies are near the top of the list. Hint: One techie's net worth will get him a lot of hooded sweatshirts.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... published its annual list of the will to billion as that's when they'd be ... very very well be on the table on the rise in the tech Edna the trouble is build eight so we see Marquess of Billy Mays was fifty six ... billion ... dollars ... from another type Ileana Oracle CEO Larry Ellison of the neon point five billion Larry Page and Sergey Brin approval ... on the was nineteen point eight billion and Jeff BES also from ... amas on eighteen point one billion ... and ... billion billion as of Mark Zuckerberg ... number fifty two estimated with thirteen point lead from billion ... if that's all the abandoned they don't cost much to deny that ... when the model is that it's what it was also remarkable but that is that he actually beat out Steve Jobs as we discuss on Digits good work ... for cash or how much of that wealth is theoretical or how much of his pictures he sold in the second market rate now ... at and you know how much is this cap so but it is notable


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The History of #1 UPDATED
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On March 3, 2015, at around 12:20 PM, Pebble, in its new form as Pebble Time took the top spot from Coolest Cooler as the most funded project in Kickstarter history (complete with a promotional Vine about the whole thing). While Pebble Time is the latest project to hold the crown, it's not the first. Fourteen projects have held the title of Kickstarter's all-time most funded project. Here they are in chronological order.
Raised: $3,329
Goal: $3,000
Most funded for: 22 days
Reign: 4/28/2009 — 5/19/2009
This project was the first #1 mostly because it was one of the first projects on Kickstarter, period. It launched the same day the site did with its creators including two Kickstarter co-founders.
Allison Weiss Makes a Full Length Record
Raised: $7,711
Goal: $2,000
Most funded for: 31 days Reign: 5/19/2009 — 6/17/2009
Just three weeks into Kickstarter's existence Allison Weiss blew past her goal in two days. Her project instantly became the model for everyone else.
Help Polyvinyl Save 10,000 Records From Destruction
Raised: $15,625
Goal: $1,000 Most funded for: 57 days
Reign: 6/17/2009 — 8/14/2009
A great record label sells a lot of records early on in Kickstarter history.
Release the next Five Times August Album
Raised: $20,546
Goal: $20,000
Most funded for: 35 days
Reign: 8/14/2009 — 9/19/2009
A project of this size is typical now, but $20,000 felt like $1 million in 2009. Plus, it did it in just 31 days when a typical project duration was double that.
The Vanderbilt Republic Foundation: "Masters"
Raised: $50,264
Goal: $50,000
Most funded for: 27 days
Reign: 9/19/2009 — 10/15/2009
This photography project was the first Kickstarter mentioned by the blog Daring Fireball, whose posts have generated pledges for many of the projects on this list.
Designing Obama
Raised: $84,613
Goal: $65,000
Most funded for: 235 days
Reign: 10/15/2009 — 5/13/2010
Arguably the first Kickstarter blockbuster, Scott Thomas' art book about the 2008 Obama campaign was especially notable because he served as the campaign's Design Director.
Decentralize the Web with Diaspora
Raised: $200,641
Goal: $10,000
Most funded for: 162 days
Reign: 5/13/2010 — 10/21/2010
Diaspora raised more money in one day than any other project had ever, and became an internet phenomenon in the process.
Save Blue Like Jazz
Raised: $345,992
Goal: $125,000
Most funded for: 34 days
Reign: 10/21/2010 — 11/25/2010
Blue Like Jazz was launched by two fans after the film's financiers unexpectedly pulled out of the production. Four weeks later the project had tripled its goal, and the film opened nationwide in more than 100 theaters on Friday, April 13, 2012.
TikTok + LunaTik
Raised: $942,578
Goal: $15,000
Most funded for: 441 days
Reign: 11/25/2010 — 2/8/2012
The TikTok came out of nowhere to change what everyone thought was possible on Kickstarter, including us. It raised just shy of $1 million on a $15,000 goal, and was the most-funded project on Kickstarter for well over a year.
Elevation Dock
Raised: $1,464,706
Goal: $75,000
Most funded for: 6 hours
Reign: 2/8/2012 — 2/8/2012
The Elevation Dock was the first Kickstarter project to exceed $1 million in pledges and the first to topple the TikTok. However its reign was extremely short-lived. Only six hours later, the next project in our list topped it.
Double Fine Adventure
Raised: $3,336,371
Goal: $400,000
Most funded for: 65 days
Reign: 2/8/2012 — 4/17/2012
Double Fine raised its first $1 million in less than a day and went on to raise more than three times that. Its big funding total felt destined for a TikTok-type reign. And then along came the Pebble...
Goal: $100,000
Raised: $10,266,245
Most funded for: 862 days
Reign: 4/17/2012 —8/26/2014
Meet Pebble, the new #1. How long will it hold the top spot? Where will its funding end? With 30 days to go and funding already over $4 million, it's hard to say. Make your guess at the Pebble's final tally in the comments below.
The Pebble ultimately ended up holding down the number one spot for longer than any other record-holder. Its creators chose to cap the number of watches they would give to backers, slowing its funding toward the end. That opened the door to an eventual challenge from...
Coolest Cooler: 21st Century Cooler that's Actually Cooler
Goal: $50,000
Raised: $13,285,226
Most funded for: 186 days
Reign: 8/26/2014—3/3/2015
When creator Ryan Grepper brought an earlier version of his cooler to Kickstarter in December 2013, he didn't reach quite reach his goal of $125,000. The second time around, he raised more than 200 times his $50,000 goal. Let's raise a tasty blended beverage to perseverance!
Pebble Time: Awesome Smartwatch, No Compromises
Goal: $500,000
Raised: $20,338,986
Most Funded For: ?
Reign: 3/3/2015 - ?
The original Pebble watch held the most funded spot for what seemed like forever. Eventually, The Coolest Cooler would rise to the top on a wave of chilled out good times and blended drinks. Less than a year later though, Pebble took back their crown with Pebble Time. Can they keep the title for another two years? It certainly seems like they've set the bar impossibly high... but only time will tell.
Loretta Fontaine Castagna on
Thanks for the COOLEST update I've ever seen. Ryan Grepper, CONGRATULATIONS!!! With hard work, stellar perseverance and a inventive mind that constantly wraps itself around details and fun equally - you did it! :)
Austin Nieh on
What about Potato Salad???
Rosane Oliveira on
Love this recap! I almost "invested" in the COOLEST last November, but ended up forgetting to do so. It seemed a sure success back then, and I was surprised to see it on Kickstarter again. Exciting to see it reach #1now! Well played and well deserved! :D
Patrick J Winkelman on
Very nice - just what has been needed for a long time. What about an external shelf (retractable) so that you can set the drink or dips on it while still giving access to the cooler?
Chef Jay Valencia on
I still don't get Kickstarter rewards.
Is $180 for the cooler or for your funding?
If you don't hit your goal you don't get anything?
How is that going to make your supporters feel? Confused...
Can someone explain?
Steven Hughes on
$185 gets you a Cooler. All the people who pledge are only charged IF they reach their goals. So you don't lose money by pledging and goals not being met
Osman EL-BABASuperbackeron
Great Summary :) Proud to be a member of this uplifting community
Tom Urbanek on
Wow, very inspiring summary, Yancey, thank you so much! I'm heading back to the drawing board right now to design a project that will be even hotter than the coolest :)
Dena on
Once the funding is closed, in the case of Coolest about this time tomorrow, if the goal amount is pledged (for the Coolest the goal was $50,000) backers will be charged and the project funded. The backers then wait for their reward. For $25 backers, the reward is a cup, similar to a Solo cup with a Coolest logo, for the $200 backers, it's a Coolest cooler in a color of their choice.
A pledge is a promise to donate, so it's a donation. Sometimes a reward arrives, sometimes it doesn't. In the case of the pebble watch now being sold in retail outlets and online (Amazon), many backers are still waiting for their watch, over 2 years later.
Vonna Gissler on
what about veronica mars?
Chuck Peairs on
I would not fund the cooler. This project will be 11 million dollars to put Chinese to work. I am a moldmaker from Portland. Most tooling shops here are closed now. I talked just a few months ago with a very good injection molder in the Portland area. The cheap Chinese prices are killing him. And yes, the quality out of China is inferior to that of the US. I know exactly what production problems you will encounter with offshore tooling. There are many unemployed people in rural Oregon that would be quite capable of producing this item, it is not a "Rocket Science" product. So when all you proud backers show off your coolers, make sure to show off the "Made in China" label too.
Skippy on
I will not back this project, because The Coolest first gets made in China,
then probably gets back to the US, then I have to pay $100 for shipping to my country
AND on top of that 25% on import taxes and cost (so: including shipping),
making it a total of $356,25
I will wait for a distributor in my country. Shipping directly from China to my address would save me a lot of money, because these deliveries are most of the times not taxed.
Zackery Kiernan on
I thought Amanda Palmer once held the #1 spot.
Jeremy Snowdon on
Cool list! I've only seen half of these projects before. If I remember correctly, the only one here that I've actually backed is the Pebble.
Also, I noticed the "Help Polyvinyl" project is missing the paragraph/bold html tags around the "Most funded for" line.
Lindsey Laurain, founder of ezpz on
Great list :) I am hoping to have similar luck with the ezpz Less Mess Happy Mat! Loving Kickstarter
Marita Tobin on
Is this service available in Ireland to fund a product that would surely go Global with the right investment and help.
Does anyone know, or can give a website in Europe that does the same great work for inventors, artists etc.
Gregory Briggler on
This list has it all - humble beginnings, gadgets, ideas, films, music, politics, and of course watches! I love lists, they are always surprising. This one is no exception.
David GaipaSuperbackeron
Proud to have been a part of many of these as well as many of those crossed off ones in that Vine video. It has been exciting to watch the growth of projects in terms of $$ and # of backers.
Manny Salt on
That's so cool!
Namaku Keren on
This comment has been removed by Kickstarter.
Doa Ibu Tersayang on
This comment has been removed by Kickstarter.
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Heading into the new year we have a few exciting opportunities on our plate. What comes with those opportunities is needs, so I wanted to share with you what we have going on, and if you are reading this and have the skills or supplies that we need (or know someone who does) please pray about whether or not God would have you join us in this work!
There is a camp in the area that is shutting down. They have a lodge building that they are looking to get rid of, and coincidently… we really need a building like that. As a campus we do not have a large meeting room where we can gather for worship, prayer, and campus events. Usually we force ourselves into one of the classrooms, but we have been hoping and praying for something like this to come along for a while.
That said, there are a couple of things that we need to work through. Firstly, the camp has not decided who it wants to donate this building too, so we are waiting for word from them. Secondly, even though it seems like an answer to prayer, we are trying to make sure that we hear the voice of God in this and don't just jump ahead with what we "think" He would want. Because of that we are still seeking Him in this venture, and waiting for Him to speak clearly.
If you are an intercessor we would ask that you pray for favor with the camp, but more than that, for God to speak clearly. We know that if God wants to give us this building, we will receive the building (and everything we need to make it usable). Pray that we would hear from Him and hear clearly, and then have the boldness to step out in faith toward what He would have for us.
If you are someone with skills in carpentry, building basements, contracting, electrical, gas, insulating, excavating equipment, etc. and you want to help, please let me know. If God brings this about, we will need expertise in each of these areas (and more) in order to make this a reality, and if God wants you to be a part of this for the sake of His kingdom, we would love to have you here.
If you have supplies (lumber, concrete, electrical, etc.) or money you feel God wants you to give, please let us know. We would love to partner with you in this work and we know that you will be well blessed for your generosity.


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In February 2009, Bruno and the rest of the townsfolk were shut out of the town by authorities for two months whilst the police conducted an investigation and attempted to identify the remains of the victims.
This was a testing time for all Marysvillians, with most of the townsfolk (Bruno included) unable to know how much of their homes and businesses there were left to return to.
Fortunately for Bruno and the family they received overwhelming support from family, friends, acquaintances and perfect strangers from all over the globe during this difficult period. This was a truly inspiring experience that helped them to find the strength to face the challenge of rebuilding their lives. Bruno already knew at this point that his home and gallery were completely destroyed, but the extent of the damage to his sculpture garden was yet to been discerned and it was the thing most on his mind.
The slideshow below contains pictures taken on the day the Bruno was finally allowed to return and behold what had become of his treasured artworks. More stories in the book.


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All of OGTM's couch wheels can be used to replace the original wheels.
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11:13am PT by Tim Goodman
Was There a 'Great' Drama on Network TV This Season?
When CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler recently said The Good Wife was a 'great' series, my eyebrow raised in reflexive skepticism.
In the world of broadcast television, The Good Wife might be considered great, but doesn't come close to holding up against cable offerings. And it seemed pointless then to make a big stink over that categorization, since broadcast folks are notoriously defensive about their quality as compared to cable. And when they get a good show, they get really proud. To the point of losing all connection to reality.
But assessing this last season's dramas, I not only clung to my belief that The Good Wife is, in fact, very good -- but not great -- I went down the list of network dramas to seek out something great.
I found one. And that one is not The Good Wife. It's Friday Night Lights. (And when NBC tried to make the show popular -- during Season 2 -- it almost ruined it in the process. Thank God NBC gave up in frustration). But the larger point here is -- one. That's all.
This shouldn't be shocking news. The broadcast networks play under different rules in many ways. In fact, the very nature of "big tent" programming limits the upside of greatness. It's very difficult to be broad -- successful via the ratings -- and attain greatness. It's a rare occurrence when something is massively popular and also an aesthetic, intellectual triumph. This second-class status, as it were, bothers people in the broadcast business because they are proud -- rightfully -- of their work and more than a little pissy about cable series dominating the awards process.
But you can't have it both ways. CBS produces a number of very good dramas. So does Fox. Almost every network has a drama to be proud of, artistically. But as a commercial venture, broadcast television isn't really worried about its shows winning acclaim. It's more important to win the time slot. To win the demo battle. Everybody in the business understands this. So they shouldn't be so upset that the drama Renaissance they helped usher into the broadcast world somehow falls short of the artistic triumphs on cable. You do good work. Let it go.
This parsing should take nothing away from The Good Wife, even if I think the reason so many people are floored by it has something to do with the quality that surrounds it. But what about poor old Friday Night Lights, still starving for attention all these years later? At the very least shouldn't it get a medal for being a high end product of a manufactured world? Shouldn't it at least be called great?
Sure it should, which is why this post exists (though the first three episodes of this final season nearly put a dent into the show's reputation). In any case, after scouring the network dramas from this past season, here's the scorecard I came up with:
Very Good: The Good Wife (CBS), Chicago Code (Fox) Parenthood (NBC) Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC), CSI (CBS), Fringe (Fox), House (Fox).
Most of the rest of the dramas belong in the "good" category. I mean, we could all split hairs about Bones (Fox), NCIS (CBS), Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC), Supernatural (CW) and Glee (Fox) deserving inclusion in a higher tier or, at the very least, removed from the dreck of say, Hellcats (CW), Off the Map (ABC), Outlaw (NBC), etc., etc. But people should know that difference by now. You can argue the merit of some in-bulk offerings (the other CSI series, Human Target, Lie to Me, Grey's Anatomy) being "very good," if you wish, but there's no real harm in being merely good. Or, for that matter, a fit for your network. The level of quality has risen impressively through the years on broadcast television. Good shows fail. Entertaining shows fail. But those series that make up the majority of "good" shows are what they are -- no shame in that. Plus, with good ratings come renewals and with renewals come paychecks. Don't whine about success -- it makes you look bad.
(There seems no need to point out the obvious -- that The Cape (NBC), The Event (NBC) Harry's Law (NBC) The Defenders (CBS), Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS), Law & Order: Los Angeles (trend alert - NBC) and many, many others were never any good to begin with. Right? Don't make me dredge up the others.)
The point is, again: one. Friday Night Lights can arguably be called a "great" television series, while the others here can not (at least convincingly).
On the plus side, there is more than one great comedy on broadcast television. But that's for tomorrow.
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Tim firstname.lastname@example.com BastardMachine


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Are Dandelions Annuals or Perennials?
Cheerful yellow faces of dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) appear in spring in lawns and roadsides in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 10. This cosmopolitan weed comes from Europe and Asia. The perennial plant is difficult to control because of the long tap root that can produce new plants from even a 1-inch section of root. Plants reseed easily from the familiar puffball seed heads that children make wishes with.
Plant Characteristics
Dandelions have a rosette of serrated-edge leaves on top of a perennial tap root. The root is usually 6 to 18 inches long. Individual plants can live on for many years, eventually forming thick crowns of leaves 6 to 10 inches wide. Flowers consist of 100 to 300 small, individual tubular yellow flowers aggregated together in a flower head that rises 6 to 24 inches above the ground. The plant belongs in the daisy family.
Because of the long perennial root, hoeing or pulling dandelions doesn't eliminate them. Persistent grubbing out of plants is needed year after year with tools such as dandelion knives. Remove the plants before they start to produce seeds. Since seeds can blow in from other areas from as far away as several miles, new infestations can easily start. Dandelions can crowd out ornamentals and turf and reduce their vigor. If possible, remove dandelions while the plants are young and the roots are small.
Photo Credits
- Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images


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Oconór, Hugo (1732–1779)
Hugo Oconór (O'Conor), governor of the Spanish province of Texas, was born in 1732. Before his service in Texas he was stationed in Cuba and Mexico City. He held the rank of major in the regiment of Volunteers of Aragon. Irish by birth, he had flaming red hair that prompted the Indians to call him the "Red Captain." He was inspector general of the Provincias Internas of the east in 1765, when he traveled to Texas to investigate trouble between Governor Ángel de Martos y Navarrete and Rafael Martínez Pacheco concerning San Agustín de Ahumada Presidio. With the removal of Martos y Navarrete on August 28, 1767, Oconór became governor ad interim of Texas. He found the province in a deplorable condition because of the hostilities of the various Indian tribes; the Apaches were raiding San Antonio almost at will. Oconór reinforced San Antonio, brought order to the garrison at Los Adaes, and so thoroughly supervised the area that his return to Mexico in 1770 caused general regret to officers, soldiers, and citizens. In 1771 he was appointed to the command of the Chihuahua frontier. On January 20, 1773, he became commandant inspector of presidios, with the rank of colonel. He and Governor Juan María Vicencio de Ripperdá did not agree on government policy in ordering the abandonment of the missions and presidios in East Texas, Ripperdá favoring and Oconór opposing the petition of Gil Antonio Ibarvo that the settlers be allowed to return to their old homes. From 1773 to 1775 Oconór concerned himself with strengthening the defenses in the Nueva Vizcaya-Coahuila-Sonora sector. In the spring of 1775 he initiated a plan to drive the Apaches from the area. The campaign, which began in the fall of 1775 and continued through the following year, succeeded in killing large numbers of Apaches and forcing the survivors to move further west. In 1777 Oconór, in poor health, requested a less taxing assignment and was reassigned as the governor and captain general of Yucatan. He died at Quinta de Miraflores, east of Merida, on March 8, 1779.


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Ch 13: Using Source Materials in 10th Grade English: Homework Help
About This Chapter
How it works:
- Identify which concepts are covered on your source materials usage homework.
- Find videos on those topics within this chapter.
- Watch fun videos, pausing and reviewing as needed.
- Complete sample questions and get instant feedback.
- Finish your source materials usage homework with ease!
Topics from your homework you'll be able to complete:
- Bibliographies
- Methods for avoiding plagiarism
- Citations for journal articles, magazines and books
- Methods for citing online sources
- Reference material usage in writing
- In-text citations
- Works cited page
- MLA format
- Chicago Style and APA citations
1. What Is a Bibliography and When Should I Write One?
In this video we are going to cover what a bibliography is, why they are used, various types of bibliographies, how to create a bibliography, and when to know if you should use a bibliography.
2. How to Avoid Plagiarism: When to Cite Sources
Plagiarism is a very serious matter in both academia and professional writing. Plagiarism in an academic setting can lead to you failing a course or being removed from school completely. Plagiarism in professional writing can lead to being fired from a job or finding yourself in court being sued. Let's figure out how to avoid this issue!
3. How to Read Citations in Texts and Bibliographies
This video will enable you to crack the code behind reading in-text citations and bibliographies. We'll see what citations look like and the important information they contain.
4. Journal Article Citations
One of the most common citations used in academic writing is that of journal articles. In this video, we will learn all about putting journal article citations into our text and works cited pages. The citations in this video are in APA style; before you sit down to make a works cited page, make sure to check what style your discipline requires.
5. Citations from Authored Books, Edited Books and Revised Books
Depending on the type of book we're using, there are a few rules we have to follow when citing it in our reference page. In this video, we're going to cover authored books, edited books, and revised books. However, there are many different types of citation styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago, and some differ in their exact formatting rules. These citations are in APA style - make sure you check to find out what style you should be using before you complete your reference page.
6. Citations from Magazines
This video covers citing magazines both in text and in the reference page. The lesson addresses citation formats in both APA and MLA. It's important to note the differences, since both expect specific citation styles.
7. How to Cite Online Sources
A large majority of research today is done online, so you'll need to cite web pages for your papers. In this video we will learn the proper way of citing online sources in both APA and MLA styles.
8. How to Use Reference Material in Your Writing
When it comes to writing an essay or a vast array of other academic writing projects, you will often have to refer to the works of others. This video will teach you the skills to use reference materials in your writing.
9. How to Make In-Text Citations
With this lesson, you'll get to know the basics of creating in-text citations. We'll go over both MLA and APA style parenthetical citations and how to use them to cite different types of sources.
10. What is MLA Format?
MLA format is one of the most common structures for organizing a paper in academic writing. In this video, we will cover the basics of MLA format, focusing on citing within the text and creating a Works Cited page.
11. APA Citation: Formats & Examples
APA format citations and references are often required for college-level writing assignments. Students in the social sciences and in healthcare courses are asked to follow these guidelines issued by the American Psychological Association.
12. What Is the Chicago Citation Style?
In this video, we cover the basics of the Chicago Manual of Style. This writing format is popular among those in the editing field and may be the preferred style of many professors in technical writing, law, and even some English courses.
13. How to Make a Works Cited Page
You will have to cite your sources properly whenever you borrow words or ideas for a paper. One part of proper citation is the Works Cited page. This lesson shows you how to put one together.
Earning College Credit
Did you know… We have over 200 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.
To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page
Transferring credit to the school of your choice
Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you.
Other Chapters
Other chapters within the 10th Grade English: Homework Help Resource course
- Text Analysis and Close Reading for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- Developing as a Reader and Writer: Homework Help
- Reading and Understanding in Various Media: Homework Help
- Literary Forms and Genres for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- Shakespeare for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- African American Writers: Homework Help
- British Fiction for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- American Prose for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- Ancient Literature for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- Introduction to Literary Criticism: Homework Help
- Drama for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- The Writing Process for 10th Grade: Homework Help
- Conventions in 10th Grade Writing - Usage: Homework Help
- Elements of 10th Grade Grammar: Homework Help
- 10th Grade Grammar Usage: Homework Help
- Punctuation in 10th Grade Writing: Homework Help


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You can find just about anything at a nice discount this holiday weekend if you know where to look. If you don't know where to start, look at the following choice sales we've spotted.
1. Amazon
Some Amazon Echo smart speakers — which feature voice-activated digital assistant Alexa — are currently on sale. They include the second-generation:
- Amazon Echo Dot (20 percent off)
- Amazon Echo (15 percent off)
Note that Amazon does not specify when these discounts end, describing them as "limited-time offer[s]."
For more ways to save at Amazon, check out "8 Strategies to Save Big Bucks on Amazon."
2. Best Buy
You'll find all types of electronics — even various Apple products — are on sale at Best Buy through Monday. Also, major appliances are up to 35 percent off.
3. Ebates
Through Monday, this cash-back portal is offering double cash back when you go through Ebates to shop at certain retailers.
Those retailers even include Amazon — where you'll earn 3 percent cash back in certain departments, including on Amazon devices. Mind you, that's in addition to any discounts. For example, you would get the Echo Dot at 20 percent off and earn 3 percent cash back on the purchase.
4. Kohl's
A host of items are discounted for Kohl's Presidents Day Weekend Sale.
On top of that, the retailer is having a Home Sale through Monday: You'll save $10 if you spend at least $50 on certain home goods. If you shop online, use promo code HOME10. To redeem this offer in stores, print the corresponding coupon or display it on your phone.
Note that the coupon's fine print says it can be combined with other offers. So, you can stack savings. For more tips, check out "10 Expert Tips for Saving More at Kohl's."
5. Old Navy
Everything at the clothing and accessories retailer is up to 50 percent off.
To boost your savings, try "7 Easy Ways to Save More Money at Old Navy."
6. Target
Home goods are up to 30 percent off online for Target's Presidents' Day Sale. Save an additional 15 percent on indoor and outdoor furniture and rugs by using promo code GEORGE.
And of course, we've got "7 Sly Ways to Save Money at Target."
What sales are you taking advantage of this weekend? Let us know below or on our Facebook page.
Disclosure: The information you read here is always objective. However, we sometimes receive compensation when you click links within our stories.


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Wood heat
Commercial, institutional, and residential thermal demands can be met by selecting one of several advanced heating systems. These systems can be cost competitive with natural gas and will certainly out-compete propane and fuel oil.
Deploying wood-based heating systems may not save money in every circumstance, but there are many situations where it will. And, there are examples across the Lake States that have the numbers to prove it. However, too often, wood-based options are not considered when the time comes to replace aging fossil fuel systems.
With current low natural gas and petroleum prices, the financial argument is more difficult to make. Nevertheless, where might these fuel costs go in the next 20-30 years, over the life of a heating system? Wood fuels are traditionally much more stable with only gradually rising costs.
Michigan exports nearly 30 billion energy dollars each year. Wood fuels keep jobs and energy dollars local. Economies that have well-developed wood-based thermal energy sectors have solid numbers that demonstrate this value. It's not rocket science.
Using wood also has important environmental benefits. Better markets for lower quality harvest products lead to more forest management options, which lead to healthier and more vibrant forests that provide a wider range of services. Rather than burning buried fossil carbon, wood heat simply recycles carbon already in the air. And, healthier forests sequester carbon at higher rates, reducing atmospheric carbon on a landscape basis.
So, what are these wood-based thermal technologies?
There are various configurations for both wood chip and pellet systems. Single buildings with individual boilers are typical. District Energy systems, with multiple buildings serviced by a shared boiler, are both efficient and reliable. Large district energy systems, such as the one in St. Paul, can heat and cool large urban areas, as well as provide power. Micro-grid district energy might heat just a handful of buildings.
Typically, wood chip systems are for larger heating demands, perhaps 100,000 square feet and larger. Capital costs can be high, depending on the existing physical layout of the site. However, operating costs are often below those for natural gas. The payback schedule is an important calculation. If air conditioning is needed, the addition of an absorption chiller may work.
Michigan has one of the nation's top manufacturers of wood chip systems, which helps keep more dollars and jobs within the state.
In considering wood chip systems, the location must be serviceable by existing logging infrastructure – a contractor with a chipper and delivery capability. These contractors are not uniformly distributed throughout the Lake States.
Feasibility assessments should be done to help understand if all the pieces will fit together. Of course, these assessments should be done by firms familiar with wood energy systems, rather than those that only know conventional gas and oil.
Pellet systems work particularly well for completely automated home heating and small commercial applications, especially as a replacement for propane or fuel oil. Pellets are the type of uniform and consistent fuel needed to obtain the high efficiency and reliability of these modern boilers.
A homeowner can expect to burn three to six tons of pellets per year. In some areas, bulk delivery may be possible where a hopper is filled once or twice per year, similar to propane or fuel oil. However, in most locations, hoppers need to be filled by the owner from 40-pound bags of pellets. Different pellet heating designs are available to conform to a variety of applications.
There are many excellent examples of wood energy systems around the state, nation, and the world. The Lake States are just beginning to move in this direction. New England is much more advanced, largely due to their dependence upon higher-priced fuel oil, rather than low-cost natural gas. Parts of Sweden, Austria, Finland, and the United Kingdom have well-developed pellet and wood chip sectors. Larger energy facilities also produce significant amounts of electricity but the thermal component comes first. Large combined heat and power plants are located inside urban landscapes in order to provide efficient distribution of heat. There are few problems with noise, emissions, or truck traffic.
To learn more about wood-based energy systems, visit the website for the Michigan Wood Energy Team at Michigan State University Extension. Remember wood is good!


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Preventative maintenance can save you time and money. Schedule your appointment today.
Contact us directly, or fill out the form below and we will get back to you! All service by appointment only.
Carbon Cleaning of Northeastern USA
565 Blossom Road, Suite G2-B
Rochester, NY 14610
Phone: (585) 484-7872
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How to Record Equity in QuickBooks
When you set up QuickBooks initially, a wizard guides you through a list of your company's assets and liabilities. If you have any remaining funds from previous accounts, this money is deposited into the Open Balance Equity account. You can view your total equity by going to your Chart of Accounts and selecting the Owner's Equity account. To record an equity deposit from another investment or account, you use the Opening Balance Equity account. If you have equity from a previous year that hasn't been distributed to the business owners, you can use the Opening Balance Equity account to send the equity to the Retained Earnings account.
Click the "Lists" menu and select "Chart of Accounts."
Choose the "Opening Bal Equity" account.
Click the "Activities" button and select "Use Register."
Enter the amount of the equity in the "Decrease" column to send the equity from an existing balance to your Retained Earnings account. Otherwise, enter the amount in the "Increase" column to increase your equity. Click "Record."
- Information in this article applies to QuickBooks 2013. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions or products.
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- Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images


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Skip to 0 minutes and 7 seconds Apart from the two new lay reading strategies that we've had a brief look at so far, social reading and hyper reading, this course will also introduce you, or make you better acquainted with four professional reading strategies in the digital age. By professional I mean that they're mostly used by professionals, in this case, literary scholars. Two of these professional reading strategies, historical contextualisation and close reading have been practiced for decades, and are well established in the scholarly community. The other two, distant reading and surface reading, are more recently developed strategies, whose practitioners are still staking out their claims in the marketplace of ideas. Let's begin with historical contextualisation.
Skip to 0 minutes and 58 seconds To many readers of literature, it makes eminent sense to place literary texts in their historical context. And indeed, it makes a lot of sense to ask ourselves how a novel, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin or Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, how these novels relate to their time. How do these novels reflect on, negotiate, and intervene in some of the social and political debates of their time, slavery in Harriet Beecher Stowe's case, the worries of the contemporary American middle class in Franzen's case? But historical contextualisation also means something in addition. It also means placing texts in their literary-historical context.
Skip to 1 minute and 51 seconds Thus, for instance, we could ask ourselves to what extent Harriet Beecher Stowe draws on earlier sentimental formulae of writing to engage her readers' sympathy with the plight of slaves. And with respect to Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, we could ask ourselves, to what extent it represents a return to 19th century realist forms of writing, such as that of the Brontë Sisters or Charles Dickens. Now, like historical contextualisation, close reading is part of the core business of literary scholars, but it works in very different ways. Close readers deliberately ignore all historical, social, political, and biographical contexts to focus on the text itself. Close readers seek to do justice to the singular literary text itself, by zooming in on the words on the page.
Skip to 2 minutes and 57 seconds Close reading is a particularly precise form of reading that seeks to tease out all the subtleties of the literary forms, and devices, and structures that make up a poem, a play, or a novel.
Skip to 3 minutes and 15 seconds Distant reading is a fairly recent coinage. It was introduced by the Italian scholar Franco Moretti. And it's formulated in direct opposition to close reading. The name already implies that. Whereas close readers focus on single individual literary texts, distant readers survey, analyse, and describe hundreds, even thousands of literary texts to identify general patterns and large scale historical developments across centuries and national borders. And in doing that, distant readers often draw on the methods of the natural and the social sciences. And some of their most interesting outputs are not interpretations of literary texts, but visualisations such as graphs, maps, trees.
Skip to 4 minutes and 12 seconds Like distant reading, surface reading is a fairly new professional reading strategy. And like distant readers, surface readers are not interested in interpreting literary texts. Surface readers focus on a variety of things, but one of the most interesting things they focus on is the materiality of books, the stuff that books are made of. For surface readers, it not only makes a great difference, whether we're reading a print book or an ebook. It also makes a great difference, whether we're reading, say, a Shakespeare play in a folio edition, a leather bound first edition, a 21st century cheap reprint, a hardback, a paperback, whether we read any play, novel, or poetry collection in whatever kind of form, in whatever kind of materiality.
Skip to 5 minutes and 9 seconds Surface readers claim that the material and haptic qualities of books, how they look, how they feel in our hands, exert a considerable influence on our reading experience. So these are the four professional reading strategies we'll have a good look at in our course. Next week, we'll start with close reading.
What professional reading strategies are there?
Next to the lay reading strategies discussed in the previous steps, there are also reading strategies employed by professional readers of literary texts. This video explores four of them.
Philipp Schweighauser introduces you to two well-established reading strategies practiced by literary scholars, namely close reading and historical contextualization; and two recently developed professional strategies, namely distant reading, and surface reading, which challenge our ideas of what it means to read.
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8.572764 - DELIUS, F.: Appalachia / Sea Drift (arr. T. Beecham) (Williams, Tampa Bay Master Chorale, Florida Orchestra, S. Sanderling)
Frederick Delius (1862–1934)
Two major European composers were so smitten by American plantation song that their own music was instantly stamped by "Negro melodies". One—as many Americans know—was Antonín Dvořák, who during his American sojourn of 1892–95 predicted that the songs and dances of African-Americans would spawn "a great and noble school" of American music. The other—a story much less well-known—was Frederick Delius. Born in England in 1862 to German parents, Delius was sent by his father to Florida to manage an orange grove at the age of 22. He showed no skill in that department. But he did encounter in Thomas Ward, an organist from Brooklyn, a formidable musical mentor. And the songs of the plantation workers that he heard were an epiphany in which he discovered "a truly wonderful sense of musicianship and harmonic resource". Hearing this singing "in such romantic surroundings", he later told his disciple Eric Fenby, "I first felt the urge to express myself in music". A few years later, after Delius had resettled in Danville, Virginia, as a fledgling musician, his father finally agreed to allow him to study composition formally—in Leipzig.
Decades later, in 1928, Delius was moved to write a preface to the German-language edition of The Autobiography of an ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, who crucially contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. "I believe that if America is one day to give the world a great composer", Delius predicted, "he will have coloured blood in his veins". Both Dvořák's prophecy and Delius's were fundamentally correct. Dvořák, in the 1890s, could not have foreseen jazz; Delius, in 1928, was possibly too much in his own world to learn about Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. But Porgy and Bess is the great American opera Dvořák anticipated. Far more than Aaron Copland, who sought to define American concert music after World War I, Dvořák and Delius gleaned that "Negro melodies" would prove the fundament of the music Americans would most call their own.
Dvořák's American output, between 1892 and 1895, comprises a symphony, a cello concerto, and various piano and chamber works, all of which save the concerto strikingly evoke his "America". At least four Delius compositions explicitly evoke the sounds of the American South: the Florida Suite (1887, revised 1889), the operas The Magic Fountain (1895) and Koanga (1897), and the present Appalachia (1896–1903). Coming last, Appalachia is music on the cusp of Delius's mature chromatic idiom, which translates the harmonic world of late Wagner into a voice unlike any other, a voice whose central application would be the expression of loss of self in rapturous, solitary communion with Nature. (The intense eccentricity of Delius the man is unforgettably conveyed in the greatest of all film portraits of a composer: Ken Russell's Song of Summer.)
When Dvořák returned to Prague in 1895, he dropped his American style. For Delius, by comparison, the American influence was formative and permanent. His frequent elegiac tone, his way of oscillating between sorrow and exaltation may be traced back to plantation song, as can be his frequent recourse to the vernacular. In his invaluable book The Search for Thomas F. Ward, Teacher of Frederick Delius (1996), Don Gillespie pertinently writes:
Appalachia is Delius's New World Symphony, composed less than a decade after Dvořák's. The title does not denote the Carolina region, but appropriates a Native American word for the whole of North America. The pacing of this 40-minute sequence of "variations on an old slave song with final chorus" is leisurely and expansive. Coming first is a preamble: an epic sunrise on virgin terrain. For Dvořák, the vast American landscape was the Iowa prairie, so vacant and flat as to seem (as he once wrote in a letter home) "sad to despair". The elemental vacancy of virgin America is unforgettably limned in the Largo of Dvořák's Symphony 'From the New World'. For Delius, virgin America was Florida's Solano Grove: lush, edenic. Sailing past Solano Grove around the time that Delius and Thomas Ward were there, Lafcadio Hearn (a writer of international reputation, cited by Gillespie in his Ward biography) observed "blue miles of water to right and left; the azure enormity ever broadening and brightening…the immortal beauty of the domed forests crowning its banks, the day-magic of colors shifting and interblending through leagues of light, a sense of inexpressible reverence…a sense of the divinity of Nature, the holiness of beauty"—imagery indelibly inscribed in the epic New World dawn with which Appalachia begins. For Delius, the American landscape here revealed is both physical and metaphysical: untrammeled, life-affirming. We next hear the first stirrings of nature, rising to a high pitch of elation; the orchestra fairly shouts "America!" Then the "old slave song" is sung—as in Dvořák's Largo—by a solo cor anglais.
Fourteen variations follow. Four times, the chorus enters as a murmured pendant. This pianissimo echo remembers Delius's first enthralled discovery, from the veranda of his Florida home, of distant black voices, a siren call floating across the water. A central series of slow variations comprises the work's most hypnotically Delian episode: of forms half-seen, half-imagined in the hazy heat. Only with the penultimate variation does the chorus deliver, a cappella, the "old slave song":
For the finale, a solo baritone joins the singers: "Aye! Honey, I am going down the river in the morning". "Heigh ho, heigh ho, down the mighty river!", the chorus retorts. Though the tone is robust, "going down the river", in plantation song parlance, translates as a sold slave. But this sold slave is resilient:
Delius now builds swiftly toward a refulgent climax capped by wordless choral exhalations ("Ah!" "Ah!"). This pantheistic ecstasy may be the Delian equivalent of "crossing over into campground". The complex affect—balancing the work's ecstatic preface—is of a culminating dawn of the spirit. It is a gesture of New World freedom, of human liberation.
And so both New World symphonies—Dvořák's and Delius's—culminate in an apotheosis: in Dvořák, of the noble savage; in Delius, of the noble slave, or of enobling nature, or both. Solitude and sorrow, nostalgia and rapturous illumination would define Delius's musical expression as he receded into a realm of pure experience. The potency of plantation song as a starting point for this singular compositional odyssey remains ponderable.
In later life, Delius absorbed a further American influence in the nature mysticism of Walt Whitman—and in 1904 (just after Appalachia) composed among the most telling of all the many musical settings of Whitman's verse: Sea Drift, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra. To Eric Fenby, Delius confided: "The shape of it was taken out of my hands…and was bred easily of my particular musical ideas, and the nature and sequence of the particular poetical ideas of Whitman that appealed to me." The outcome is considered by many as Delius's masterpiece.
Whitman's poem, from Leaves of Grass, begins with the poet observing mated birds—and the sudden disappearance of the female, no longer daily tending her nest. The he-bird's bewildered loss transmutes into human loss. The poet imagines the voice of his beloved—"This gentle call is for you"—only to be disabused by the commenting chorus. The permanence of loss erases cherished memories: "O darkness! O in vain!"
Whitman's imagery is of love, death, and the sea—and a tidal ebb and flow informs Delius's setting. Though solo woodwinds evoke birdsong, and a solo harp the glitter of stars, the nature music of Sea Drift is wondrously interior. Its high arc peaks with the ecstasy of apotheosis, then descends to plumb the heartbreak of personal pain. Identifying with the grieving bird, the human sings: "Yes, my brother, I know", a passage ushering distant memories of childhood—and also a distinct memory of a plantation song, wafted from a Florida orange grove long, long ago.
Joseph Horowitz
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Districts Look to Promote Economically Integrated Schools
Some districts look for ways to promote economic integration of schools
When housing policies fail to break up concentrations of poverty in cities, some education researchers say school districts should take an active role in making sure their schools are economically diverse.
That's because schools with high concentrations of poverty are statistically more likely to have fewer resources, higher rates of mobility and absenteeism, and less support from parent groups.
"Economically disadvantaged students come to school behind on average," said Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. "When you separate out family and school effects, there's also this large penalty associated with attending a high-poverty school."
To distribute the enrollment of poor students across schools, districts have turned to alternative student-assignment plans, weighted lotteries, and a method known as controlled choice for enrolling students.
Proponents of such economic integration frequently cite research on Montgomery County, Md., a high-achieving district just to the north of Washington that has been praised for its decades-old scattered-site housing plan.
Montgomery County has a median household income of $96,985, according the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which makes it hard for some families to find affordable housing.
Despite high average income in the region, 34 percent of the 151,000 students in the Montgomery County district qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Montgomery County's policy on moderately priced dwelling units, initiated in 1974, requires that between 12.5 percent and 15 percent of the units in residential developments of more than 20 units be set aside for low-income renters and for subsidized public housing.
Heather L. Schwartz, a policy researcher at the Santa Monica, Calif.-based rand Corp., studied seven years of the school system's achievement data for a 2010 report for the Century Foundation. She found that poor children randomly assigned to public-housing units in low-poverty neighborhoods and, consequently, to more economically advantaged schools, outperformed their peers at schools with greater concentrations of low-income students.
Better Outcomes
"These results suggest that children from highly disadvantaged circumstances benefit from long-term exposure to advantaged school settings," the report says.
Poor students in low-poverty schools outperformed their similarly disadvantaged peers in higher-poverty schools, even when the latter schools received more money from the district, Ms. Schwartz found.
At the time of the study, Montgomery County designated its elementary schools with the highest concentrations of poverty as "red zone schools." Those schools had a maximum class size of 19 in earlier grades, instead of 23, and other resources meant to counteract the effects of poverty.
Today, lower-income schools are designated as "focus schools," and still have smaller class sizes, said Bruce Crispell, the district's long-range planning director.
War on Poverty: Progress & Persistent Inequity
This package of stories is the second in a series of articles in Education Week over the next 18 months to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty and its impact on the lives of children, especially those living in poverty. Read more.
Ms. Schwartz found that by the end of elementary school, the initial gap in test scores between children in public housing who attended the district's schools with the lowest-concentrations of poverty (where fewer than 20 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price meals) and the more affluent students in the district was cut by half for mathematics and by one-third for reading.
In the study, poor children in schools where fewer than 20 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-priced meals had the greatest academic growth as measured by standardized test scores, but academic improvements dissipated for children in schools with higher poverty rates.
Controlled Choice
Despite its heralded housing policy, Montgomery County, like much of the Washington metropolitan area, still has drastically varying poverty rates in its neighborhoods and schools. At the high end, 94.3 percent of students in one school qualify for free or reduced-price meals. In a low-end school, 0.9 percent qualify.
The inclusive housing has affected neighborhoods throughout the county, Mr. Crispell said. But, while it has brought some lower-income students into higher-income neighborhoods, it has not led to an even distribution of income levels districtwide. The district sets economic diversity as one of its priorities when it draws new attendance zones, but it is difficult to create balanced student populations in established wealthy neighborhoods, he said.
"We have to deal with the land-use patterns and the land wealth that exists," Mr. Crispell said.
Nationwide, neighborhood income patterns have spurred debates between educators who favor targeting resources toward high-need schools and those who favor policies meant to even out the proportion of poor children across schools.
Mr. Kahlenberg is among those who favor the method called controlled choice. Under such a policy, districts assign students to schools through a lottery system in which higher-income families are given priority at schools with high-poverty enrollments, and lower-income families are given priority in low-poverty schools. In some cases, families select preferences from all schools in a district, and, in others, they choose from a cluster of schools near their home.
Because lower-income families are more likely to favor schools close home, districts should target schools with popular programs to those neighborhoods to draw higher-income enrollment, controlled-choice proponents argue.
Such a program is in place in the 6,300-student Cambridge, Mass., district, where the goal is for every school's enrollment to reflect the district's overall economic makeup.
Cambridge originally adopted its controlled-choice plan to promote racial integration, but it switched to an income-based assignment method as federal courts began ruling against the broad use of race in student assignment.
Proposal in Washington
Mr. Kahlenberg said larger cities, such as Washington, could use a modified version of controlled choice to promote economic diversity in their schools as young and a fluent people are increasingly attracted to once out-of-favor neighborhoods.
The District of Columbia school system plans to implement new student assignment plans in the 2015-16 academic year. It currently has defined school attendance boundaries, but it allows some transfers to out-of-boundary schools by lottery.
Mr. Kahlenberg co-authored a January editorial in The Washington Post with Michael J. Petrilli, the executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington-based research and advocacy group; and educational consultant Sam Chaltain, arguing that the new plan should bundle some neighborhoods into "controlled-choice zones." They also proposed weighted lotteries for charter schools to ensure that each school's share of poor students would not drop below 50 percent.
The plan would prevent schools from "flipping" from one demographic group to another as neighborhoods change, Mr. Kahlenberg said in an interview.
"Low-income families feel as though they're being pushed out of schools, and middle-class families are wanting to create their own enclaves of students," he said. But, under a Cambridge-like model, "the gentrification could be a positive for the low-income students."
But controlled choice has its critics. Among them is Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Fordham Institute. In a recent blog post, he wrote that the idea "smacks of nanny statism," and that it would unfairly restrict parental choices.
"It restricts families' education options and imposes a top-down, government-run, social-engineering scheme based on somebody's view of the value of racial and socioeconomic integration," Mr. Finn wrote.
Vol. 33, Issue 26, Page 20Published in Print: March 26, 2014, as Beyond ZIP Codes: Should Districts Step In When Housing Efforts Fail?
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Turnout appears to be light for today's runoff elections across the state.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and are to remain open until 7 p.m.
In Liberty and Long counties, there were no local runoffs being contested. Races that were drawing the most attention were the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. The winner between political newcomer businessman David Purdue and longtime U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston will take on Michelle Nunn, who is the Democratic nominee, in November.
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss is vacating the seat.
There were also two runoffs to replace Kingston in the U.S. House. Buddy Carter and Dr. Bob Johnson are vying for the Republican nomination. While Brian Reese and Amy Tavio are trying for the Democratic nomination.
Both parties are also trying to sort out who will run for state superintendent of schools: Thomas Morgan of Austell and Valarie Wilson of Decatur for the Democrats and Mike Buck of Rome and Richard Woods of Tifton for the GOP.