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Oak Hill Hospital will sponsor a political candidate forum from 2 to 4 p.m. today in the fourth floor conference room, Suite 403, at the hospital, 11375 Cortez Blvd.
Participants include Hernando County Commission Districts 1 candidates Jeff Stabins and Ramon Gutierrez; County Commission District 3 candidates Diane Rowden and John Druzbick; County Commission District 5 candidates Christopher Kingsley and James Adkins; Supervisor of Elections candidates Annie Williams, Gus Guadagnino and Shirley Anderson; Spring Hill Fire and Rescue Seat A candidates Amy Bronan, Robert Giammarco and James Monk; Hernando County Sheriff candidates Richard Nugent and Marc Reusch; School Board candidates Gene Magrini and James Yant; Brooksville City Council Seat 2 candidate Yvette Taylor; and U.S. House of Representatives District 5 candidate John Russell.
For information, call Dajana Dankic at (352) 597-6120.
Swiftmud's watershed workshops next week
Hernando County and the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud, will conduct additional public meetings to present preliminary floodplain information to develop preliminary Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
A workshop on Hernando County's Oman Quarry, Powell and Toachodka watersheds will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday and another workshop focusing on Hernando County's Blue Sink, Croom and McKethan watersheds will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, both at Swiftmud headquarters, 2379 Broad St.
During the meetings, preliminary models and floodplain information and public comments will be received.
Hernando County anticipates adopting new FIRMs starting next year, once the FEMA process is complete. The FEMA process can take nine to 12 months, but based on appeals, can take several years.
The floodplain information will be used by the county for land use and zoning decisions, to help manage development in and around floodplains and wetlands, reduce flood risks, preserve land and water resources, and planning for emergencies. It also serves as information for the public for decisions about purchasing and protecting property.
For information, or to find out which watershed you live in, go online to www.watermatters.org/floodrisk or call Swiftmud at (352) 796-7211, ext. 4297.
Church holiday bazaar, bake sale on Nov. 7-8
First United Methodist Church will have a Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 7 and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 8 at the church, 109 S Broad St.
There will be Christmas wreaths and decorations, hand-crafted American Girl doll clothing and other small quilted and stitched items, baked goods and potted plants.
For information, call (352) 796-3363.
Heather Community flea market, yard sale
The Heather Community Flea Market and Yard Sale will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Heather Golf and Country Club, 7406 St. Andrews Blvd.
There will be numerous residents participating in the flea market and bake sale, which will be at the clubhouse and adjacent grounds. Coffee, doughnuts and hot dogs will be available, and the snack shop will have sandwiches, snacks and beverages available throughout the day.
County boards seek to fill vacant positions
Hernando County Commission is accepting applications from individuals wishing to volunteer on these county boards that will have vacant positions as of Dec. 31:
- Aviation Authority - two positions
- Board of Construction and Regulation - four positions (consumer, electrical contractor, general contractor and roofing contractor)
- Citizen Ordinance Advisory Team - four positions
- Elder Affairs Council - five positions (District II, District III and District V representatives, fine arts representative and public relations industry representative)
- Enterprise Zone Development Area Advisory Board- two positions (one law enforcement and one code enforcement representatives)
- Environmentally Sensitive Lands Committee - two positions (one botanist and one geologist)
- Fine Arts Council - two positions (one managed care representative and one community health organization representative)
- Library Advisory Committee - four positions (three regular positions and one alternative position)
- Personnel Advisory Board - two positions (one employee and one layperson representatives)
- Planning and Zoning Commission - four positions (two regular positions and two alternative positions)
- Port Authority - one position.
Applications are available in the county administrator's office, Room 460, Hernando County Government Center, 20 N Main St., Brooksville. All applications must be returned to the office no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 4.
All those applying for these volunteer, nonpaid positions must be residents and registered voters of Hernando County. For information, call (352) 754-4002.
Autumn Fest, yard sale on Timmons Road
The Timmons' Autumn Fest and Yard Sale will be Nov. 1 at Ballard's Wayside Park at Buck Hope and Timmons roads, off Barnett Road (behind Wal-Mart). The yard sale will start at 7 a.m. and the festival will start at 1 p.m.
The event will include a horseshoe tournament, playing cards tournament, kids' games and food. For information, call Gina Hall at (352) 346-8116 or Viennessee Black at (352) 584-4158.
VFW Post to sponsor events next month
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10209 and Ladies Auxiliary will sponsor theseevents:
- Flea Market, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 1. Vendor spaces are available. This will be the first of monthly flea markets at the post. Vendors will be able to set up starting at 6 a.m. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be sold throughout the day.
- Elvis On Tour, featuring Kenn E. Grube, 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 1. Tickets are available in the canteen.
- Together at Last - The Ultimate Band Concert, featuring Southern Exposure and the Company Swing Band, 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 8. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.
All events are open to the public. The post is at 14736 Edward R. Noll Drive. For details, call the post at (352) 796-0398.
Pets and their owners invited to Fall FURfest
Pets and their owners are invited to the Humane Society of the Nature Coast's first Fall FUR-Fest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Lake House, 1202 Kenlake Ave.
The event, which will be at the surrounding park and Palmwood Pavilion, will feature games, vendors and contests for pets and their owners. Pets will have an opportunity to demonstrate their artistic talents at the Art for Pet's Sake booth, participate in the pet costume contest, pet and parent dance contest, pet singing contest, pet and parent face painting and other activities.
Entertainment will be provided by Teri Lyons and the Non Breeders.
Food and refreshments for humans will be provided by the Spring Hill Community Association. Pet refreshments will be provided by the Humane Society of the Nature Coast.
All pets attending must be on leashes. Children younger than 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Admission is free.
Vendor opportunities are available. For information, call (352) 796-2711.
Calling writers, poets for library workshop
Creative writers, poets and writers of memoirs will gather for a workshop at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the East Hernando Branch Library, 6457 Windmere Road.
Interested writers or wanna-be writers are invited to attend. For information, call (352) 583-2441.
Quilt show on Nov. 8 at botanical gardens
The Spring Hill Garden Club and Hernando County Quilt Guild will have a quilt show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, 1489 Parker Ave.
Quilts made by guild members will be on display throughout the gardens. A hanging quilt will be raffled off during the show.
Admission will be $3, payable at the gate. For information, call (352) 683-9933. In case of inclement weather, the show will be on Nov. 15.
Fall gun, knife show at fairgrounds Nov. 1-2
The Hernando Sportsman's Club will have its Fall Gun and Knife Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 1 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Hernando County Fairgrounds, 6436 S Broad St.
The show will include all types of new, used and antique firearms, knives and related accessories. Admission is $6, with children 16 and younger admitted free (must be accompanied by an adult).
For information, call Randie at (352) 799-3605.
Flea market to benefit All Children's Hospital
A Craft and Flea Market to benefit All Children's Hospital will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 8 at Sam's Club, 13360 Cortez Blvd.
The event will include music, clowns and food. Vendor spaces are available for $15 per table, which will go to the hospital.
For information or to reserve a space, call Sandy at (727) 858-5906 (call between 4 and 6 p.m. or leave a message).
Business women plan holiday bazaar Nov. 13
The Hernando County Business and Professional Women's third-annual Holiday Bazaar will be at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Palace Grand, 275 Della Court, off Commercial Way.
Five-foot-round tables are available for $30, or two for $50. To participate or for information, call JoAnne Clay at (352) 686-0360 or Karen Lund at 686-2891.
John Leggio's arts center to have festival
John Leggio's Center for the Performing Arts will sponsor a Fall Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 1 at 10455 County Line Road.
The event will include horse rides, a bounce house, scavenger hunt, open dance, face painting, bobbing for applies, a 50/50 drawing, holiday ornament decorating, family photos, food and drinks.
Admission is free for adults. Tickets for children 17 and younger are $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Tickets include all games, crafts, food and drinks.
Craft and flea market vendors are invited to participate. Spaces are $10 (must provide your own table).
For information, visit www.leggioarts.com or call (352) 683-8395.
Chinsegut's Pioneer Day set for Nov. 1
Chinsegut Nature Center will have the annual Pioneer Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 1 on center grounds, 23212 Lake Lindsey Road, north of Brooksville.
The event is a living arts demonstration of the past, and will include broom making, lumber jack demonstration, spinning, horse-drawn wagon rides, hand-cranked ice cream, butter churning, rope making, open hearth cooking, an archery exhibit and numerous other activities.
Admission is free. In-service credit is available for educators.
Other events and programs at the center include:
- Birding 101, 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 8. This is an introductory birding class for all ages. Bring binoculars and birding field guide, if you have them.
- Pine needle craft class, 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 13. Participants will make holiday decorations out of long leaf pine needles.
- Introduction to geocaching, 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 15. Center volunteers will show participants how to use GPS units to find geocaches.
All programs are free, however, seating is limited for programs and reservations are needed. For reservations or information, call (352) 754-6722.
Church women sets flea market for Nov. 8
The United Methodist Women will sponsor a flea market from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Ridge Manor United Methodist Church, 34350 Cortez Blvd.
Lunch will be available. Proceeds will benefit local missions. For information, e-mail Pauline Miller at email@example.com.
VFW Post 9236 plans benefit food drive
The Ladies Auxiliary to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9236 is sponsoring a food drive in support of the Dawn Center.
Donations of nonperishable items can be dropped off at the post, 3435 Shoal Line Blvd. through Nov. 16. For information, call (352) 596-9236.
Philippine cultural show, dinner Nov. 8
The Hernando County Philippine-American Association will have its first cultural show and dinner, "Barrio Fiesta Sa Hernando County," from 6 to 11 p.m. Nov. 8 at the SNPJ Lodge, 13383 County Line Road.
Tickets are $15. Those attending are encouraged to wear their favorite Philippine attire.
For tickets or information, call Cobie Atienzo at (352) 666-5381, Celia Sigua at (352) 398-6207 or Giezel Tadlip at (352) 397-9730.
British entertainer takes tour of 1950s
Brookridge Entertainment will present Jimmy Keys at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Brookridge Clubhouse, 8150 Hampton St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
The British entertainer takes his audience back to the 1950s through songs, costume changes and comedy.
Tickets are $15. To purchase tickets or for season ticket information, call Barb at (352) 597-4620.
Spring Mermaids part of Pioneer Day events
The Spring Mermaids Service Unit of Girls Scouts of West Central Florida will participate at the Pioneer Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 1 at Chinsegut Nature Center, 23212 Lake Lindsey Road, north of Brooksville.
Girl Scout troops will help children make a pioneer toy called a bullroarer. It was used by pioneer and native American children to scare wolves and other predators away from their livestock. The activity will be provided free.
The Spring Mermaids will also host a registration rally at the event. Membership is open to girls in kindergarten through 12th grades. Annual fees are $10; financial aid is available. Adult volunteers are also needed.
For information, call Sarah Johnston at (352) 592-7897 or e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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I discovered Oslo Press via oh joy! recently, and just had to pass along these amazing images. I would seriously be blown away if one of these beautiful, laser-engraved wood veneer invites appeared in my mailbox! Has anyone ever received one of these?
Oslo Press
8 Comments
I wonder how much these things must cost to mail. Really cool, though.
i love their products!
soo beautiful, i wish they make cards, not just custom invitations.
love your blog!
58 cents. That's what an invitation, outer envelope, reply card, and reply envelope cost to send via first class mail.
Thanks for the feature!
here is a blogging game (hooray for no-brainer posts!) and I've nominated you as one of the lucky recipients. :) Here's how it works: Players list 8 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post, players then tag 8 other bloggers by posting their names and making sure they know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at the tagee's blog.
Those are fab! I'd love to get one it the mail. Maybe I should be the one to send some out…perhaps I need to plan a party.
Wow! These are amazing. I have never seen these before but they are awesome!
What a beautiful invitation!
Those are absolutely gorgeous! They will look gorgeous framed in the living room too!
Comments are closed.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Recently, many people have discovered that going gluten free helps them to feel better. In some cases, medical issues require gluten free menus. Carriage House Catering, our in-house caterer for the Whitlock Inn will be happy to work with you if you have some dietary restrictions. While our kitchen is not entirely gluten-free, most items can be made gluten free. For example, crab cakes can be made using substitute flours. Rice crackers can be substituted for wheat crackers for most appetizer items. Fried foods can be coated in cornstarch instead of flour before frying. Even your wedding cake can be gluten free from us for a small additional charge or we also recommend Gluten Free Cutie, a bakery that can produce cakes and cupcakes gluten free. When you meet with our caterer, feel free to discuss your choices with them and let them know about allergies and other requirements. The Whitlock Inn wants your wedding to be happy for everybody and everybody's tummy!


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What are you doing this summer? Cross-country roadtrip, Coachella, relaxing with the family? What about fitness-wise? Yes, there are plenty of 5Ks and marathons in and around San Diego but lucky for YOU, there are also nearby triathlons just about every weekend from here on out. Why not?! What have you got to lose?
So here's the lowdown on triathlons:
A triathlon is technically an event that involves running, swimming, and cycling. Contrary to popular belief, you do not necessarily have to complete a 2.4 mile swim, 26.2 mile run, and a 112 mile bike race in order to complete a triathlon. PHEW (although if you're up for an Ironman, go for it!)!! Luckily, there are plenty of triathlons in the greater San Diego area that consist of roughly half of the Iron Man stats.
How to Sign Up for a Triathlon
Words of wisdom – always know what you're getting into before just spontaneously signing up. We know those streaks of courage that sneak upon us causing us to do crazy things sometimes, but just remember this event is not just a walk in the park. If you're used to flat courses and smooth water, then look for those when searching for a race!
How to Train for a Triathlon
Training for a triathlon can seem intimidating – you are going to need to incorporate running, swimming, and biking multiple times into your weekly routine along with cross training like yoga and resistance work. The good news is that because your body will be working so many of its muscles rather than putting repeated stress on the same ones, there is a decreased chance that you will get injured!
To train for the swimming portion, it is recommended to take a lesson or two at your local health club for any stride correcting and strengthening. Once you've got that down pat, head out to open waters and get comfortable with the increased resistance. For biking, you really just want to work on endurance so call up some friends and plan a weekend trip along Highway 1 or bike to work if you can. Running is the easiest because you don't need any equipment – you just have to do it! Don't overkill – work up from a jogging pace to a running pace and eventually include hills and speed-work. Don't forget to practice running right after biking when you can – it is an extremely different sensation then running with fresh legs. But you can do it! You're a Bootique girl!
Pre-Race Day
According to REI.com, some of the most important things to do to ensure you are race ready include making sure your bike is all tuned up, labeling your gear and equipping it with appropriate reflective gear, clipping your toenails!, and making sure you know the directions to the race start. Even more importantly, study the course ahead of time so there are no surprises and also don't try out any new gear or foods right before a race. Pack your bag the night before (here's a useful packing list) and get a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP! Ready-set-go!
What are you waiting for?
Strap up your sneakers, tie up your helmet and fasten those goggles. Triathlons sound intimidating but with a little research and a lot of motivation and training, you can totally knock one down. Imagine THAT feeling of accomplishment?! Here is a list of California triathlon events for 2013: – what have you got to lose?


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Uh. This may or may not be why I haven't posted. My bad, y'all! But but but. In my #GoddessVoxBox, I was sent a Sinful Colors polish for review so that's what I'm going to share today!
Cheshire China is from the new Kylie Jenner Trend Matters Satin Collection and I was pretty excited about it. I don't go for matte or satin finish because textures and I aren't getting along BUT, I wanted to at least give it a try.
In all honesty, I don't like it. The color is absolutely beautiful, but nothing else about it will make me want to reach for it again. It's a shame. It's marketed as a satin finish, so I knew not to top coat it. I tried not to. I did my usual Yellow Stopper base and then did one thin coat about 15 minutes later. After about 30 minutes, it still seemed kinda… squish? I waited another 15 before adding a second coat. It was nearly opaque in one, so I probably could have left it alone. Either way, it never. ever. ever. ever. dried. It's a good thing I work on a computer and don't have to fuss with my hands a ton because I waited two hours before the "oh f*** it" moment happened, and Seche Vite quickly topped my nails. I just couldn't. But you know what sucks? It was so uneven that I had ripples from when I took the top coat. It just. No. Nonononononono.
Oh yeah. And cleaning up? THE WORST. It was such a creamy formula that it just kinda dissolved under my acetone and the edges were all murky and gross. I'm actually pretty embarrassed to show these photos. I tried numerous cleanup brushes to no avail.
I'm sad. I really, really wanted to like this polish. The color was just so gorgeous, but that alone didn't make up for everything else wrong with it. I hope the other colors in the line aren't as bad. I'm tempted to snag a few just to try.
But, I am done. I'm going to get some sleep. We've done a ton of Pokehunting over the last few days and I'm absolutely beat. I hope y'all have a wonderful evening and an awesome tomorrow!
Velasha out!
****I received this nail polish complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions are my own and any clickable links in my post are non-affiliate. I do not make any money from these posts.****


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There are two activities in this lesson, the Fly Prison and the Water Maze. The fly Prison is a hands-on modeling activity designed to introduce students to the area of nanotechnology and give them a basic understanding of how researchers build very small devices by the self-assembly of molecules. The water maze is a follow-up activity to give the students a chance to practice and demonstrate what they have learned.
Product category
Download link
Teacher's Guide - Fly Prison163.44 KB
Student Worksheet - Fly Prison111.64 KB
Teacher's Guide - Water Maze353.11 KB
Student Worksheet - Water Maze46.43 KB
Nano Content Map
Nanometer-sized things are very small, and often behave differently than larger things do.
Year created
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) funded by the National Science Foundation
Owning institution
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN); © 2007 University of Washington and California Board of Regents
Development Process
NISE Network products are developed through an iterative collaborative process that includes scientific review, peer review, and visitor evaluation in accordance with an inclusive audiences approach. Products are designed to be easily edited and adapted for different audiences under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. To learn more, visit our Development Process page.


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Should a Woman Pick out her Engagement Ring
Did you know that 28% of women reject a proposal if they hate the ring? Although this might seem like a stretch for some women it does happen. So our question to you is do you want to be completely surprised when your significant pops the question, or do you want to help choose the engagement ring?
This is a tricky subject because all women are different, but according to Tacori.com less than 25% of women want the proposal to be a surprise. Another statistic to throw your way is that approximately 70% of women agree that the woman should have some input on deciding what the engagement ring should look like, but they want to be surprised for the actual proposal. 6% of women said that they would prefer a joint decision on what the ring is and what the proposal will be.
In our opinion, we think that if you are concerned about the ring tell your friends and family so that your boyfriend has a source of information on what he can get for you. We also think that the proposal is a sentimental moment that the woman should be surprised for. It doesn't have to be a big ordeal it can just be family or in private, but making sure the future bride has a proposal story to talk about can be a monumental story to look back on.


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Product 244/672
These throwback high tops catch eyes everywhere you go. Our collaboration with FACE Stockholm continues with bold colours that match the FACE eye colours. Your authentic style is supported by the double ankle straps and stabilising mid-cut design. The lightweight midsole and padded foam sockliner add all day comfort. The durable rubber outsole doesn't know the word 'quit' so you're covered from morning to night.


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Featured Text
A great place to share about a sale!
Written by Diana Perkovic
Posted on October 29 2018
If you're looking to be encouraged, inspired, motivated or empowered, you've come to the right place. Good Girl Mafia is on a mission to encourage, empower & entertain women worldwide. Welcome.
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Join The Good Girl Mafia because we all need to be encouraged and empowered. And a little entertainment goes a long way.
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ADAIR, IOWA – October 2, 2017 – Owner Revolution Inc. (ORI), an employee-owned company, announced that it has acquired Blue Wave Ultrasonics, Inc. (Blue Wave), a world-class manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems. The purchase is an important addition to other Iowa companies owned by ORI and furthers ORI's strategy of acquiring successful manufacturing businesses in niche markets in the Midwest region of the United States.
"Our acquisition of Blue Wave Ultrasonics, Inc. helps us achieve our goal of acquiring manufacturing businesses that have achieved dominant positions in niche markets. We are on a journey to build a diverse portfolio of manufacturing businesses that have demonstrated success in their particular markets," said Don Hudak, President, and CEO of ORI.
"Joining with ORI will help support the continued growth and success of our business. We look forward to collaborating with the ORI team and expanding our opportunities to serve existing and new customers," said Jeff Hancock, President of Blue Wave.
Blue Wave Ultrasonics has a vast history of manufacturing ultrasonic cleaning systems for industry and healthcare. It's predecessor, Bendix Corporation, developed a superior ultrasonic technology in the early 1950's and marketed cleaning systems and detergents under it's Sonic Energy Cleaning Products line. In 1981, a group of Bendix executives purchased the manufacturing and distribution rights under Swen Sonic Corporation and continued to improve and expand the technology. Blue Wave Ultrasonics, Inc. acquired the assets of Swen Sonic Corporation in 1992, continuing on the tradition of manufacturing the most reliable ultrasonic cleaning systems in the marketplace.
Blue Wave works with a diverse group of customers in the Automotive, Aerospace, Hospital/Surgical, Molds/Tooling, Textiles, Medical Device Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Electronics / Semiconductor, and Marine, Heavy Duty & Off-Road Equipment Manufacturing industries.
ULTRASONIC CLEANING involves the use of high-frequency sound waves (above the upper range of human hearing, or about 18 kHz) to intricately remove a variety of contaminants from parts immersed in aqueous media. The contaminants can be dirt, oil, grease, buffing/polishing compounds, and mold release agents, just to name a few. Materials that can be cleaned include metals, glass, ceramics, etc.
ORI is an Iowa based holding company for four wholly-owned subsidiaries. Schafer Systems is a recognized leader in the production of lottery ticket dispensers and promotional displays worldwide. A second business is Connect-A-Dock which sells floating modular dock and personal watercraft float systems in the worldwide marine industry. A third subsidiary is The Plastics Professionals which produces a wide variety of rotationally molded plastic products serving the needs of many industries and customers. A fourth subsidiary is Schafer Solutions providing eye-catching, complete, turn-key point of purchase plastic displays, dispensers and products and solutions designed around our customers' special needs.
ORI has facilities in both Adair and Atlantic, Iowa with combined manufacturing and office space of over 300,000 square feet. ORI was founded in 1986 and became an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) company in 1999.
David W. Fitch
(641) 742-5148


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The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is urging increased efforts in the development of tourism through the promotion of attractive sites to locals and the international community to help create awareness, increase arrivals and rake in more foreign exchange for the country.
The bank is optimistic the increased foreign exchange through high tourist arrivals will help absorb the foreign exchange pressures that it has been struggling to contain since the beginning of the year.
A significant reduction in the foreign exchange pressures through an inflow of sufficient forex to match demand would help ease the current pressures on the cedi, reduce the rate at which prices of goods are rising and also lower the cost at which government and businesses are servicing their foreign currency denominated loans and other payments.
Although the Central Bank is banking its hopes on tourism as one of the sectors that could help relieve the economy and the current forex related challenges, its Governor, Dr Henry Kofi Wampah, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in an interview that BoG would not rush to propose suggestions on how to fully exploit the nation's tourism potentials.
The bank, he said, saw the tourism sector "as one with a strong potential for foreign exchange earnings" and would, therefore, table its concerns and suggestions on the sector to a wider group of experts capable of translating them into programmes that would result in more revenues for the country.
That group of experts, the Governor said, included participants of the recently concluded dialogue on boosting the country's foreign exchange. The programme was initiated by the Ministries of Trade and Industry (MoTI) and Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) with support from the Central Bank.
Tourism Authority reacts
The Governor had, in his welcome address, praised tourism as one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy of which most developing countries had recently shifted attention to as they search for increased foreign exchange beyond those earned from the export of their traditional commodities.
"There is no doubt about Ghana's potential as a tourism destination in West Africa and we must harness these advantages to increase our earnings," Dr Wampah said at the opening ceremony of the dialogue.
The comments by the Governor are the first of their kind from a person of his stature and as a result of the forex squeeze that the bank and the economy in general has suffered over the last six months.
The acting Deputy Executive Director in-charge of Finance and Administration at the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr Samson Donkor, said the Governor's observations "are facts and things that we have been saying over the years."
"However, tourism, as he said, still remains a potential in this country and as a potential, we can't earn maximum returns from it unless we master the courage to invest in developing it," he observed.
The authority has been advocating increased government allocation to the sector to help upgrade tourism sites, promote them to the international community and build the capacity of adjourning businesses to be able to fully exploit the country's tourism potential.
Although that advocacy has received some little attention through the introduction of the Tourism Levy and the incentives, Mr Donkor said more needed to be done if the country was to turn that potential into a money making venture.
Tourists arrivals
International tourist arrivals to the country has been picking up over the years, rising from a handful of about 286,000 tourists in 1995 to 1.1 million visitors in 2012 before peaking at about 1.3 million visitors last year.
The same applies to the earnings. Revenues from the sector in general rose from some US$237,200 in 1995 to US$1.87 billion in 2010 and then to US$2.5 billion in 2013, data from the Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MoTCCA) showed.
The 2013 earnings meant that tourism had overtaken foreign remittances to become the third highest foreign exchange earner after gold and cocoa.
However impressive that growth is, the acting Executive Director of the Tourism Authority said earnings from the sector could be higher should the sector receive the needed financial resources.
As a result, Mr Donkor suggested that the BoG, which was the holder of the nation's purse to dedicate some funds to tourism development.
"They can ask for grants to finance specific tourism projects. They can also allocate some resources to the sector so that if the returns come by way of increased tourist arrivals and the money, the bank can rely on it to stabilise the currency," he added.
Source: Graphic Online
|Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.


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The California Air Resources Board announced Wednesday that it has penalized Conopco Inc. d/b/a Unilever $1.3 million for illegal consumer sales of AXE Deodorant Bodyspray for Men.
Air Resources Board spokesman Dimitri Stanich says the deodorant spray contaminated California air with the volatile organic compounds used as a propellant.
The propellant used to spray deodorant is an air pollutant. (Photo by Joshua Coopa)
Stanich said deodorant sprays sold in California have a very small specific level of volatile organic compounds, VOCS, that they are allowed to emit and this product exceeded that level.
Between 2006 and 2008, Unilever's parent company, Conopco, sold, supplied and offered for sale in California more than 2.8 million units of deodorant body spray that failed to meet the state's clean air standards for aerosol deodorants.
"We have enforcement officers that go to retail stores, check labels, take random samples and test them," said Stanich. "The process usually is testing within our lab in Sacramento."
Air Resources Board Enforcement Chief James Ryden said, "Consumer products, because of their pervasive use, contribute a growing portion of VOC emissions throughout California. Therefore, it's important that every can and bottle of product be compliant with ARB's standards."
"The good news for California is that Unilever, after being made aware of the violation, took the steps necessary to correct the violation, mitigate the impacts, and ultimately reduce the emissions from this product," Ryden said.
The violations resulted in what the Board called "significant excess emissions" from volatile organic compounds.
These emissions contribute to ground-level ozone, or smog, said Ryden. Exposure to ozone can cause lung inflammation, impaired breathing, coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and worsening of asthma symptoms. Over 90 percent of Californians still breathe unhealthy air at some time during the year.
Conopco cooperated in the investigation and will make two equal payments of $650,000 into the California Air Pollution Control Fund for projects and research to improve California's air quality, Ryden said.
The California Clean Air Act adopted in 1988 requires the Air Resources Board to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds from consumer products as a means to reach health-based state and federal ambient air quality standards.
Deodorants, hair spray, cleaning products, spray paint, and insecticides are examples of common consumer products that use VOCs as propellants.
Since 1988 Air Resources Board regulations have curbed these emissions by 44 percent, nearly 200 tons per day, and cut toxic air contaminants by 13 tons per day, according to Board figures.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2010. All rights reserved.


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I found a chapter called "Object Pascal Grammar" in the Delphi 6 Object Pascal Language Guide, and have been using that as a starting point for my Delphi parser. It gives a decent (though incomplete) overview of the parser, but nothing on what the lexer should look like.
(For those curious to see it for yourselves, download d62pro.zip, open del6op.hlp, and search the index for "grammar". Or you can get the Delphi 5 Object Pascal Language Guide as a zipped PDF.)
Here's something I found really peculiar:
SimpleExpression -> ['+' | '-'] Term [AddOp Term]... Term -> Factor [MulOp Factor]...
The peculiar thing is that the '+' and '-' prefixes are introduced in SimpleExpression. This is weird on several levels. First of all, when I took math, we learned that the negation operator binds more tightly than multiplication. "-A" should parse as a Factor, not two levels above that as a SimpleExpression.
On a more practical level, this grammar would disallow some language constructs that I would expect to be perfectly reasonable, such as:
Now, I suppose you could just write A – B instead. But this one would also be disallowed:
Odd. I don't have Delphi installed on my home PC, but I'll have to check tomorrow and see whether these actually are accepted. If so, the grammar documentation is hosed.
(Just to test, I downloaded and installed the FreePascal compiler, and it happily parses both of the above. But according to a Pascal EBNF grammar I found, neither one should parse, and neither should A * -1, because numbers are inherently unsigned — if the grammar is right (and it does carry a big disclaimer), numbers only obtain signs once they become SimpleExpressions. Very strange.)


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The imapi.exe is a Image Mastering API.
This file is part of Microsoft® Windows® Operating System. Imapi.exe is developed by Microsoft Corporation. It's a system and hidden file. Imapi.exe is usually located in the %WINDOWS% sub-folder and its usual size is 161,280 bytes.
The imapi.exe process is safe and disabling it can be dangerous, because programs on your computer need it to work correctly.
Author: Microsoft CorporationProcess: Image Mastering APIPart Of: Microsoft® Windows® Operating SystemCommon path(s): subfolder in %WINDOWS%
subfolder in %SYSTEM%Keywords(s): system, hiddenFilesize(s): 161,280 bytes, 150,528 bytes, 118,784 bytes, 150,016 bytes, 123,904 bytes, 144,896 bytes
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Thomas Eugene Samp Taylor, 61
Thomas Eugene "Samp" Taylor
of Bremerton
Oct. 31, 1952
to Jan. 14, 2014
Thomas E. "Samp" Taylor was born on 31 October, 1952, in Lawton, Oklahoma, to Clarence "Skinny" Jones and Frances (Taylor) Thomas. He died on 14 January, 2014, in Bremerton, Washington.
Samp was raised and attended Dunbar Elementary, Tomlinson Junior High and graduated from Lawton High School. He was a dedicated member of Christ Temple, where he was an active member in the youth department.
After high school, Tom joined the United States Army where he served in Okinawa, Japan, until he was medically discharged in 1973. After his discharge, he attended Okmulgee Tech to become a welder. Upon graduation as a certified welder, Tom moved to Seattle, Washington, to pursue his goal as a certified welder. Tom was hired as a Naval welder at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. At the shipyard, Tom was constantly recognized by the leadership for his excellent work. He labored on ships for 35 five years before retiring in 2013.
Tom never stopped learning. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in international studies from the University of Puget Sound. He was an avid gardener and naturist. His yard was immaculate and he had a knack of building raised flower beds. One of Tom's last acts building was building above ground flower beds for his mother. They were so very close.
He enjoyed fishing and raised chickens at home. He was constantly building coops for his chickens and hens. His favorite rooster "Red" will be interred with him.
In addition to his work as a welder, Tom worked as a counselor with troubled youth. Tom had many friends. One of his favorite passages in the Bible is Apostle Paul's exhortation in Romans 12:18: "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." He spent many hours trying to give hope into the lives of troubled youth in the Seattle area.
I have known Tom all of my life and I have yet to see him feud, fuss or get angry with anyone.
Tom was preceded in death by his dad and a sister Rose Ione Jones and his dear niece Kidada Bentley.
Memorial services will be held Sunday, Feb.9 at 4 p.m. at the Emmanuel Apostolic Church in downtown Bremerton.


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This blog post intends to be a replacement for the "PVRTrace.Quick Start Guide for Android Rooted" document included in the latest PowerVR Graphics SDK v3.2. My article aims to better reflect the current content of this SDK and get you up to speed with PVRTrace on Android in just a few minutes.
- You have installed the PowerVR Graphics SDK v3.2
- You have a rooted Android device (Android 4.4 "KitKat" is not yet supported)
Notice that a device with a PowerVR GPU is not needed in order to trace the graphics API calls. On the other hand, we don't usually test our tools on non-PowerVR devices.
If your target device cannot be rooted just check this older blog post of mine on PVRTrace and rootless recording on Android.
(Recommended) Further reading
- Joe's blog post introducing PVRTrace
- Joe's follow-up blog posts covering the PVRTrace GUI in detail:
Step 1: Installing PVRHub
PVRHub is the Android application used to install the PVRTrace recording libraries in our device. It can be installed using ADB.
adb install /path/to/PowerVR_SDK/PVRHub/Android_armeabi_armeabi-v7a_x86_mips/PVRHub.apk
Step 2: Installing the PVRTrace recording libraries in the device
The installation can be done both manually (adb push) or by using PVRHub. The manual installation is out of the scope of this blog post, you can find the detailed instructions in the PVRTrace User Manual.
Simply click the "Install" (A) button.
Step 3: Tracing an application
Click on "Trace an application…" (B)
and choose the app of your choice (C).
The logcat output should display something like:
I/ActivityManager(247): Displayed com.powervr.OGLES2Water/.OGLES2Water: +337ms I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): The current working directory is / I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Config file found: /data/data/com.powervr.PVRHub/pvrtrace.cfg I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Config File HostEs1LibPath: /system/vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv1_CM_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Config File HostEs2LibPath: /system/vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv2_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Config File HostEs3LibPath: I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Processes excluded from recording: com.powervr.PVRHub I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Processes included for recording: com.powervr.OGLES2Water; I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recorder enabled for current process: com.powervr.OGLES2Water I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Opening trace file to record: /data/data/com.powervr.PVRHub/recordings/com.powervr.OGLES2Water.pvrt D/libEGL(3818): loaded /vendor/lib/egl/libEGL_PVRTRACE.so I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Loading host library '/system/vendor/lib/egl/libEGL_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so' I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Host library '/system/vendor/lib/egl/libEGL_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so' loaded I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Loading host library '/system/vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv1_CM_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so' I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Host library '/system/vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv1_CM_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so' loaded I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Loading host library '/system/vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv2_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so' I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Host library '/system/vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv2_POWERVR_SGX540_120.so' loaded D/libEGL(3818): loaded /vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv1_CM_PVRTRACE.so D/libEGL(3818): loaded /vendor/lib/egl/libGLESv2_PVRTRACE.so I/com.powervr.OGLES2Water(3818): PVRShell: EGL 1.4 initialized I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 1 I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 2 I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 3 I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 4 I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 5 I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 6 I/PVRTrace(I)(3818): Recording... Current frame: 7
Congratulations, you are now tracing all API calls! Let your app run for as many frames as you consider necessary.
Step 4: Getting the trace back from the device
Due to a known bug, PVRHub does not change the recorded trace file permissions so in order to pull it you'll need to manually change the permissions:
adb shell "su -c chmod 7777 /data/data/com.powervr.PVRHub/recordings/com.powervr.OGLES2Water.pvrt"
Then you can pull it back:
adb pull /data/data/com.powervr.PVRHub/recordings/com.powervr.OGLES2Water.pvrt
You can change the name and location of the recording from the "Options" menu. Notice that writing to the SD card requires the permission:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
Now you are all set up and ready to analyse the trace using the PVRTrace GUI. As you've seen, it only takes a couple of minutes. We are preparing similar quickstart tutorials for other tools so if you have any questions or requests, please use the comment section to let us know. Make sure you follow us on Twitter (@PowerVRInsider) and come back to our blog for more articles from the PowerVR Developer Technology team.


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I am SO excited to share with you our laser cut desk calenders, the first of our 2015 Paper Cut Collection. I had originally planned on designing these for 2016 but they turned out so cute that I just couldn't wait.
Each of the calenders has a unique concept, one is based on a flower and the other is inspired by argyle. The intricate design cut into each sheet overlaps to create a colorful new pattern for every month. They are only $25 each so go grab one or both right now!


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Enterprise Fayre
You are here:
Come and join us from 1.30pm this Friday afternoon for our school enterprise fayre!
The children will be performing, playing and selling their wares to raise funds for our own school and our sister school in Gambia. All classes will be open for business and look forward to welcoming you.


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Product Description
Product Description
Advance Thresher Calendar: Early Advance Thresher Co. (Battle Creek, Michigan) advertising calendar, featuring powerful images of Co.'s early traction engine and harvesting machine. Clean, bright and very attractive in appearance (basically displays as a strong C. 8++), although close examination will show a few light in-painted touch-up spots in background area. Nicely framed.
Size: 26.25 x 15.5 (24.25 x 13-5/8 visible)
Date of Sale: 6/10/11
Looking to sell or consign this or a similar item? Send an email and photo to Antique Advertising


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Data Visualization and D3.js Newsletter
Data Visualization and D3.js Newsletter - Issue 45
Data Visualization and D3.js Newsletter Issue 45
Hi Friends -
Welcome to the forty-fifth issue of
's Weekly Newsletter
Onwards to this week's links...
Why We Hate Infographics (And Why You Should)
Infographic is not another name for Data Visualization. An infographic is a picture, it's made with a graphical design package like Illustrator, not with a data analysis package. It's usually embedding several sub-images, aiming at delivering a specific message. But a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
D3.js Screencasts To Make You Awesome
Master D3 With Weekly Bite-Sized D3 Videos (26 Videos and counting); Fresh New Screencasts Every Monday; HD Quality Videos (1080p); Access To Full Catalog And New Weekly Additions Made For Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced D3.js Developers only $9 per month...
Data Visualization Reading and Videos
Visualization: Big Money In Tax Breaks
The federal tax code includes hundreds of tax breaks designed to encourage certain activities that lawmakers deem beneficial to society. Tax deductions, credits, and exclusions are all different kinds of tax breaks. This visualization, based on NPP's tax break dataset, shows some of the most expensive tax breaks, who benefits, and how their costs have changed over time.
Looking Beyond Radar Charts
Since I started working in coffee I'm very well aware of these charts. This blog post is basically a collection of reason why I think one should avoid using radar charts. When it comes to coffee, cocoa or any other food product, radar charts are omnipresent and the de facto standard for documenting sensorial profiles. I think we can do better. There are superior solutions and we should embrace them.
Five Steps to Storytelling with Data
Data visualization has come a long way since its formative days as the basic pie chart invented over 200 years ago. So regardless of whether you're bringing shape to data on health and wellbeing, shopping habits, or in editorial, Fjord has identified five core principals to follow when embarking on a data visualization challenge...
prettyplotlib: Painlessly Create Beautiful Matplotlib Plots
A while back I wrote a few tutorials about how to work with Python's plotting library, matplotlib, so that it behaves nicely and produces beautiful plots. Well, I got tired of tweaking every single figure individually so I wrote this library, prettyplotlib to have pretty default plots in Python's matplotlib.
Easy Web Applications In R
Shiny makes it super simple for R users like you to turn analyses into interactive web applications that anyone can use. Let your users choose input parameters using friendly controls like sliders, drop-downs, and text fields. Easily incorporate any number of outputs like plots, tables, and summaries.
D3.js Reading and Videos
D3.js Bubble Chart + Histogram + Range Slider By @enjalot
Video Published on Sep 20, 2013 of Ian Johnson (@enjalot) completing a non-trivial d3.js demo.
Using D3 To Capture User Input
Using D3 for visualizing the output is quite straight forward. But then, we wanted to have some easy to use user input - we graded mood on a scale, but how to represent it best? Numbers from 1-x as they are often used didn't seem very intuitive (is 1 best or 10 best?). After thinking about it for a while we had an idea of using a smiley as a slider - the smiley would smile if happy and look sad if dragged to a sad status...
Very Easy Way To Create A D3.js Line Chart Using Vida.io
Impressive video created by @vidatalk for how to quickly create a line chart with vida.io.
Reusable Responsive Charts With D3.js
Colin Gourlay / @collypops presentation - Using D3.js and d3.Chart to create visualizations that can be customized to use different features / styles and fit multiple viewports.
A Simple Visualization Of Selected Stream Measurements During The 2013 Colorado Flood
Created by Justin Lewis (@JMapping) with D3.js and Leaflet.js to show the dramatic increase in river levels during the 2013 Colorado flood.
Hope that you had a great past week and that next week is even better!
Wishing you the best,
Sebastian Gutierrez
Want to better understand this topic?
Check out these super-useful D3.js Screencast Videos (1 in 3 are free...)
D3 Screencasts Videos
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CIP Training Management Programs Impacted by NERC Requirements
Conducting a cybersecurity training management program gap analysis is critical for regulated utilities to ensure NERC compliance in 2017 and beyond.
Cyber Security Qualifications Bolstered
NERC has always had high expectations when it comes to a utility protecting its physical infrastructure but as technology continues to play a more and more important role in our lives, agencies like NERC and the FDA recognize that cybersecurity is an equally important consideration. That's part of the reason NERC bolstered a number of qualifications in 2016, including setting a July 1, 2016 enforcement date on parts of its personnel and training requirements for utilities (CIP-004-6).
Training Management Emphasized In New NERC Regulatory Reality
While some of these requirements have not changed significantly since 2012, regulatory scrutiny and expectations appear to be on the verge of an upswing. That new stringency means the time is truly now to assess personnel training programs and implement a strong training management program that includes a strong document management component with proactive record-keeping to let the utility know that its employees have viewed and otherwise demonstrated familiarity with new training tools and regulations.
For obvious reasons, training management is a significant and important piece of a utility's compliance management program. Since AssurX's tools can be integrated with a whole suite of related pieces, training courses can be tied to the applicable NERC requirement to monitor compliance, issue notifications, and escalations on upcoming training requirements or training that has not been completed by an employee on time.
NERC CIP Awareness
For example, NERC's CIP Awareness (CIP-004-6) mandates that utilities remind employees of their security requirements quarterly. Utilities must have a training management tool that alerts them to deadlines and, perhaps more importantly, allows them to track whether employees have viewed the reminders. CIP Training must occur every fifteen months (CIP-004-6). Again, utilities expose themselves to regulatory and service interruption risks if they fail to meet these deadlines.
Our compliance management webinar details best practices for automating #NERC and #cyber security compliance. http://ow.ly/hvYS307tSyY
— AssurXEnergy (@AssurXEnergy) December 16, 2016
Training Employees to Manage Visitors
NERC also makes clear that it is up to the utility to train its personnel regarding how to handle visitors such as vendors. To be safe, it is advisable to have in place a policy that requires visitors to be escorted at all times while on the premises. Being escorted means visitors remain in the sight of their designated chaperone at all times during the visit. In addition, they must be identified with a visitor badge that is easy to read. They must be carefully logged in when they enter and leave the premises.
Obviously these are important policies to follow. However, it is equally important to be able to demonstrate to NERC that a policy has actually been implemented and engaged employees in a direct – and trackable – manner.
NERC Compliance Creates New Efficiencies
In addition to all-important regulatory compliance, many regulated utilities may find the programs create new efficiencies that speed operations. Time is money, so that's a key consideration. Integrated training management and document management tools like those offered by AssurX streamline activities, close up gaps, and leave less room for human error. Automating notifications, reminders, and alerts saves considerable time. Dashboards provide configurable summary information on overall compliance with training requirements. Easy access to historical records delivers the ability to monitor the effectiveness of a training management program over time.
There are some common themes that run throughout these and other NERC personnel training requirements, not the least of which is their importance and seriousness. Utilities must be certain their training management plans are up to the challenge and that they have a relatively simple and iron-clad way to determine that the training management program is being implemented with the right employees receiving the right training at the right time.
In upcoming blogs, we'll dig deeper into important issues including Access Control and Document Control.


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This holiday season, don't run out of ideas for the athletes on your list. We compiled a list of perfect gifts for a wide variety of runners, from the Foodie Fastie to the the Stylish Strider. Maybe you'll even find a gift for yourself?
Fast Foodie – This is the runner who always has the best recipes and brings the best food to eat post-run. They are always cooking something delicious and healthy … and then giving you the recipe.
Best Running Cookbooks:
- Run Fast, Eat Slow: This cookbook is amazing. Every recipe that I have tried is delicious and is perfect for the runner who loves to cook. Don't be startled when you get a fig quiche on your doorstep after gifting this cookbook. Plus, one of the authors Shalane Flanagan just won the New York City Marathon, so if you eat like her you'll be as fast as her. Logical right? Buy it here
- Racing Weight: Lean, Light Recipes for Athletes: What I like about this cookbook is it divides the book into sections based on cooking ability. As you progress with your cooking skills you get harder recipes. These recipes are super simple to make and the Vanilla Chai granola bars influenced this blog post. Buy it here
- The No Meat Athlete cookbook: I actually don't own this cookbook, I've only obsessed over it in the aisles of Barnes n' Noble. It contains so many plant-based recipes that are hearty enough for hungry runners. Buy it for the vegetarian in your life.
Best Cooking/Dining tools:
- Personalized Spoon: If you're Fast Foodie takes pictures of everything they eat, they'll be glad to add this spoon to their pictures. Hand-stamped with anything from "Food is fuel" to "Running on PB." Buy it here
- Bib coasters: This Etsy shop turns your friend's favorite race bib into coasters for those fabulous smoothies they are always making. Buy it here
- BRUNCH shirt: Actually anything from Sarah Marie Design Studio any runner will love, but this brunch shirt with "run" in bold is both stylish and representative of my life mantra: "Run then brunch". Pair with a gift card to their favorite restaurant and you're set. Buy it here
- A gift card to Whole Foods or Trader Joes is always appreciated to any Foodie Runner. If you don't think that is personal enough, sign them up for a subscription to UrthBox for one month. Urthbox sends them a package of personalized healthy snacks according to their dietary needs.
The Runnerd- This is the runner who analyzes their heart rate on every run and keeps a diligent log of their miles. They love numbers and anything concerning the logistics of running.
- Hydration Tracking Water Bottle: Hydration is key. This 80 oz water bottle tracks how many bottles you consume in a day, making it easier to avoid dehydration (a runner's nightmare). This will take one thing off the mind of a busy runner. Find it here.
- Believe/Compete Training Journal: I love this training journal. Written by Lauren Fleshman, the running guru, it contains pages of self-reflection and places to log mileage. Perfect for someone who likes to track their training and learn from their rough areas. Buy it here
- Wahoo Heart Rate Monitor: Strap this on during runs and instantly get feedback through the connected app. The app tells you how hard you're working, target heart rate, and can even plan workouts for you around your past heart rate data. In summary, science the hell out of your runs. Buy it here
- Runner's World Subscription: The gift that keeps on giving. These magazines are the holy books of running. They include everything from strength training tips to nutrition. Give them a personal coach every month. Register here
- Scientific running tank: This tank spells out "I run periodically" with the elements of the periodic table. Very stylish and a must have in any runnerd's element. Buy it here
The Stylish Strider- This is the runner who always has the cutest running outfit and easily transitions from run to brunch in almost no time.
- Gift Cards: Okay, this is kind of a given, but gift cards are always welcome. A runners wardrobe is never complete! If you procrastinated on gift buying, pick up a card to your local running store or an athletic brand like Nike; your Stylish Strider will seriously love you forever.
- Motivational Tattoos: No matter what age, everyone can use a good temporary tattoo. They not only look super cool but can also motivate your runner through the last few miles of a half marathon- thanks to you because you're the one who gifted them. Plus, tattoos are super cheap! Throw them in with any gift. Check them out here.
- This pouch to carry anything from makeup to prerace essentials is uber cute with little pictures of running bibs, shoes, and tiny peanut butter. Plus it's Oiselle, one of the greatest running stores of all time (by women athletes for women athletes) and honestly you can find anything here for a runner on your list. Buy the bag here
- Dot Be Free tight: These cute tights are great for running at night with a reflective polka dot print. They are from Athleta, so they are great quality and covered with sneaky pockets. Buy it here
- Fly-by Hoodie: This ultra comfy jacket is for pre-run warm-ups or post-run warmth. All of the Brooks pros wear this jacket. Trust me, I met them (read about it). I was so jealous of this coat when I went to the Kickin' it with Katie camp.
- Snack Pack: The name says it all. This Patagonia gift set comes with a super cool, quality backpack and a whole bunch of healthy snacks like jerky and almond bars. Buy it here
- Run it Out Ear Warmer: Lululemon is always sure to please. Give the gift of warm ears with this stylish and functional ear warmer. I always love a good warmer that has a ponytail hole and this one is decorated with reflective seams and comes in three different colors. Order it here


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NOTE: Due to the coronavirus we regretfully announce that the Kick-Off event that was scheduled for January 9th has been cancelled. We are working on several virtual events and will post them here as they are developed.
Events listed by our Partners may have been either cancelled or postponed. If you view the event here, you will see an Event Website link which you can visit for updated information.
- This event has passed.
Circus History Trolley Tour
March 21 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
An event every week that begins at 1:00 pm on Saturday, repeating until May 23, 2020
An event every week that begins at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, repeating until April 22, 2020
Learn about the Circus Side of Sarasota by visiting key landmarks and hearing stories of the colorful cast of circus characters, showmen, and performers who called Sarasota home.
All event submissions must be from Centennial Partners and approved by the Sarasota Centennial 2021 Committee.
This Website contains links to third party websites ("Third Party Sites"). The Sarasota Centennial Steering Committee is not responsible for any content or privacy policies for any Third Party Sites or their advertisers or clients.


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Roll Call Loses Kate Hunter to Bloomberg
Roll Call's Kate Hunter, who is on the publications congressional leadership team, is leaving for Bloomberg. In March 2010, Hunter moved from CQ to to Roll Call to take Jen Bendery's spot. Bendery, at the time, was moving to the White House beat. She has since left for HuffPost.


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The New York Times posted a $335,000 loss in the first three months of this year, one of its worst-performing quarters in history, according to the International Herald Tribune.
The main reason was a 10.6 per cent fall in advertising revenue – worse than the US sector-wide fall of around eight per cent.
"While this is a challenging time for the media industry, we are diligently manging our business for the long term," New York Times Company chief executive Janet Robison says.


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We all know how important comfort is when you have a baby and you go out for a walk. That is why this small product will become a great solution. Dry&Go can be used for your baby's pram, on wheelchairs or golf carts. It is adapted to different profiles and also allows you to carry your umbrella comfortably.
Try it, Dry&Go and let nothing get in your way!


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Weapons of mass body-image destruction are everywhere these days – on the side of a bus plastered with a 7-foot high image of a girl with an 8-pack, who is unlikely to be menstruating. At a yoga class, where the "spiritually evolved" teacher has a fake pair of everything.
Even on the back of a friggin' toilet door in a shopping centre where you think you'd be safe… boom there's a pharmaceutical ad for weight loss drugs. Featuring a photo of a normal looking woman high-fiving her GP whilst standing on a set of scales, apparently in celebratory mode having lost some weight. Because I need to be told how fat I am whilst taking a dump. Thanks alphapharm!
So if you've managed to rise above this bullshit, you deserve a huge fucking round of applause. Because it's not easy to dodge constant body image-destroying bullets and self-confidence cannonballs, all day, everyday.


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Sunday Brunch
Every Sunday Sanctuaria is now serving brunch!
We've put together a delightful menu of breakfast and lunch treats that will delight your tastebuds and make your mouth water!
Featuring fresh, local, farm foods from Foundations Farms:
– Biscuits and Gravy made with Foundations Farms Pork Sausage
– Farm-fresh Chicken Salad sandwich with Foundations Farms quail eggs
– BLTE made with Hendricks BBQ's nitrite-free house-smoked bacon & Foundations Farms duck egg
– Eggs Benedict made with poached Foundations Farms eggs and duck egg hollandaise
– Handmade Foundations Farms Venison burgers
– Foundations Farms Turkey Sausage
– Bourbon pork sandwich made with farm-fresh pork loin
– Omelets, Seasonal Fruit Pancakes, salads, sides & much more!


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Since Hulu hired bankers Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners to advise on a potential sale, the company has been setting up meetings with potential buyers. Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Times reported today that "Google is in preliminary talks to buy online video pioneer Hulu," a number of sources very close to the negotiations tell me that all talks are "very preliminary" and it is "impossible to characterize anyone as being in the lead."
Hulu is less than half-way through its presentations with 10 to 12 companies, a group my sources describe to me as "all the usual suspects." Those talks are scheduled to continue through next week and the following week.
Who are the potential buyers? We can expect Hulu to sit down (or have already sat down with) Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Verizon, AT&T, Dish, DirecTV and even AOL.
One company that is definitely not on that list is Netflix, which sources tell me is not interested, and which simply isn't considered a good match because of its pre-existing relationships with content providers.
Another company which is unlikely to be interested in Hulu is Apple, because it's already created a robust Hulu-alternative with its iTunes offerings, which already has secured deals with media companies.
Sources tell me that the initial round of meetings is not focused on private equity players like KKR. If one of these private equity companies expresses interest, Hulu will indeed meet with them, but it's not the priority in this round.
Hulu's sale is sure to be a hot topic at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley next week. Though the corporate presentations won't have wrapped up by then, all the big players will be there—the CEOs of all of Hulu's co-owners, NBC Universal*, News Corp, Disney, plus pretty much all of the potential buyers.
It would be unlikely that a deal would wrap up after next week, but we can certainly expect the lunches and cocktails between CEOs to move things along.
While Hulu shops itself around, it's in the process of finalizing its deals with its co-owners. It's made a handshake deal with Disney and Fox for how it'll compensate for content. Whatever deal Fox and Disney strike, NBC Universal has to match—a term Comcast agreed to in its purchase of a majority stake of NBC Universal.
The fact that these deals are in the process of being nailed down is likely one reason the company's management feels comfortable reaching out to potential buyers. And sources tell me that the owners are serious about selling, provided they can draw a reasonable price. The number that's been thrown out there for Hulu is $2 billion to $2.5 billion.
* NBCUniversal is the corporate parent of CNBC.
Questions? Comments? email@example.com


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UP politically crucial for the country - Rahul's meeting for introspectionThe dust has now settled after state elections. The performance during state election has shocked the Congress. This happened in spite of the fact that the election campaign was led by Rahul Gandhi which had shown promise because of the unexpected performance during 2009 Lok Sabha election where Congress succeeded in securing 22 out of 80 seats. But 28 seats out of 403 Vidhan Sabha seats is a great set back for Congress. Rahul will now have a meeting on Aprl 6 for introspection.
Sonia Gandhi had earlier commented that it happened due to poor oranisation, too many leaders and wrong selection of candidates. HamaraUP members may comment on this poor performance of the Congress party and its chances to revive because they that any road to power at Delhi passes through U.P.


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- 2 large onions
- 2 red bell peppers
- 3 zucchini
- 2 firm but ripe avocados
- 4 firm but ripe peaches (or 2 mangos)
- 2 lemons
- 1 lb. asparagus
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 2 heads radicchio, quartered through the root
- 4 hearts of romaine
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese, or to taste
- Good-quality extra-virgin olive oil for brushing on fruits and vegetables before placing on hot grill
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cover a large sheet pan with foil to prepare vegetables. Have a large platter ready for when they come off the grill. Preheat grill to medium- high and prepare fruit and vegetables. Place the vegetables and fruit on the sheet pan in the order you'll be placing them on the grill (as listed above). Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. Grill vegetables starting with those that take the longest (in this case, onions and peppers).
When everything has grill lines or is slightly charred, place on platter, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and more pepper if desired. When the grilled lemons are cool enough to handle, squeeze on lemon juice to taste. Sprinkle with feta.
This is great with grilled salmon. Try other combinations - nearly all fruits and vegetables can be grilled.


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She believed in me in a way no one else ever had and no one else ever will, and I betrayed her. The worst part is she doesn't know. She still thinks I'm her best friend, keeper of her secrets, and most of all human. The human part might be negligible, and betrayed might be a bit strong of a word. You never know how someone will react to you being Other, and I only told him every detail of her life to protect her. That had to count for something, right?
I internally cringed away from her bright smile as she approached the table, but outwardly I planted a warm, welcoming smile across my face.
"Erik! I thought you said you wouldn't be able to make the study session today?" Dani—Danielle—asked, and sat down at the table.
I pushed her favorite drink, an iced cinnamon dolce latte, across the table to her. It was my job to remember the nuances about her, is what I told myself, but after she sat down and moaned in pleasure at the first sip my mouth went dry.
"Change of plans," I said, and shuffled my books across the table to make room for her.
I was the youngest pack member, a mere pup at thirty, but thanks to the curse I didn't look a day over eighteen. I fit right in on the college campus, but even that would not have gotten me this particular honor if I hadn't proven myself beforehand. Countless scars and battles over the years meant I was decently high up in the pack structure, and a life-debt meant I'd sooner cut my own throat than betray the pack leader. That combination had earned me this assignment.
Dani leaned back in her seat, eyes closed, and sipping on the sickly sweet drink that left her smelling of espresso and cinnamon for hours after she finished it. My keen sense of smell was usually a disadvantage in places such as this, but I gripped the edges of my chair to keep me from leaning forward and inhaling her scent as deep as my lungs would allow. It was only when the wood groaned in protest did I release it.
"You okay? You seem a little tense," Dani said, and quirked an eyebrow. Her luxurious, brown sugar curls framed her slender face and shoulders in the same carefree manner as her personality. She looked more like her mother, Shannon, with her rich caramel skin and plump lips, but her storm gray eyes were all her father's, Arthur. Werewolf genetics were funny that way.
"Just nervous about the finals, I guess," I said, prying my eyes away from her long legs, and shrugged.
She scoffed. "You have a 4.0," she said, incredulous.
"Even the mighty fall," I said.
She rolled her eyes at that, and I couldn't help the half-smile that broke across my face.
"I told you not to take that drama class. It's turned you positively angsty," she said, and wrinkled her nose.
A full-blown grin broke across my face.
"Much better. Now, should we study for our dreaded finals?"
I cracked open a book to our Biological Physics class and sighed. "Well, if you insist."
She just laughed and opened her laptop.
My eyes scanned the page, but my heart wasn't in it. Dani had no idea she was the pack leader's daughter, which was something her mom and dad had agreed on in the divorce. The 90s hadn't been a good time for supernaturals, or Others. Some Senator's kid was killed, mangled, and partially eaten by a ghoul, and there was a lot of angry shouting about putting us on lists, making us register. It even got bad enough that at one point there was serious consideration about putting us on a hunting list. Open season on all Others, anytime, anywhere.
It never passed, but when you're a human married to the werewolf pack leader of a big chunk of your state and you've got a toddler, it puts things in perspective. Arthur only asked that Shannon keep Dani with the pack until she was three. If, during her third year, she hadn't exhibited any supernatural abilities they could go on their way. The time passed, Dani was as normal a toddler as one could hope for, and Arthur signed the divorce papers and gave Shannon full custody.
It tore him apart. However, when I took the assignment, the one thing Arthur was adamant about was not asking Dani if she knew her father.
I snuck a quick glance at her. She had her head in her hand, tangling her fingers in her hair, and her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. It was a bitch of a class we were taking, but the sight sent tendrils of warmth through me.
"You could help instead of stare, you know?" she teased.
"How are you supposed to learn if I gave you all the answers?" I asked. I turned a page, even though I hadn't really read it.
She let out a disgusted scoff, dropped her notes, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You sound just like my mom."
"Oh, no, not the parent comparison. I'm wounded," I said, monotone, and then flipped another page.
She crumpled up an errant paper and threw it at me. It hit my head, and I looked up at her, mouth hanging slightly open. "Ouch."
She smirked. "You'll live." Then she turned her gaze to my notes, eyebrows lifting slightly. "But I won't if you don't share your notes," she said.
I sighed, and the smirk grew to a wide grin. "You only want me for my brains," I lamented, and slid them across the table to her.
"That's not true," she protested, and took the notes from me like a hungry child taking a cookie. "You buy me coffee, too."
"Pardon me." I laughed, but the noise caught in my throat as though I would choke on it. I caught a scent that didn't belong: wolf. My fists clenched beneath the table on reflex. I slipped my hand into my right pocket and grabbed my phone. I'd practiced the movements countless times to make sure I could do this without looking, but my hand shook as it moved over the touch screen, and I could only hope it worked.
Dani's eyes flicked up to me and stayed, perhaps sensing some tension, and her brows drew down in a frown as she tilted her head.
"Look, I know this is going to sound weird," I said, my voice low. I scanned the crowd as I spoke, my eyes flicking over far too many faces in such a small space. "But I need you to walk over to the end of the counter, and when it starts, hide beneath it." My eyes locked with a male's not far inside the door.
His eyes were a glowing amber, and tension sang through him like an over-tightened guitar string ready to snap. He was a beast, and I wasn't just noting his Were nature. His shoulders were wide, arms gorilla-like, and legs so thick they could kick a hole through my soul. Since introductions weren't likely, I'd decided to call him Behemoth.
"You're right, that does sound weird," she said. She laughed, but when I didn't respond it died on her lips. "You're serious," she said, and this time she clenched her jaw when she frowned.
"I need you to move. Slowly. Please," I said, adding a hint of pleading to the request.
She looked at me for a moment before shaking her head. "I must be crazy," she said under her breath, and likely to herself, but my hearing was beyond that of a human's.
I stood when she did, and being a head taller than her allowed me to keep Behemoth in my sights. She started to gather her things.
"Leave it. It's not worth your life," I said, my voice already deepening with an edge of a growl.
Her spine went rigid. "What the fu—" She stopped midsentence when I turned my eyes to hers, breaking eye contact with Behemoth to bring my point home.
Her eyes widened as mine bled from their usual cornflower blue to the yellow of molten gold.
"Move," I growled.
As she moved, her body trembling, Behemoth moved, too. We frequented the café enough that Dani and I knew everyone here, so when she made it to the counter she said something to the girl. Just as I went around the table to confront the male, the barista pulled the fire alarm. The jarring scream made me flinch, and that was when Behemoth attacked, leaping over the heads of everyone as they fled the café.
I used his momentum to carry him past me, dropping low and pushing him with my hands. Chairs and tables snapped beneath Behemoth's weight, and people screamed as he crashed through them like a bowling ball through pins. I growled against the pop of pain in my jaw as it elongated to compensate for the larger, sharper teeth. My fingers broke and reformed in a smooth, agonizing transition, and my nail beds burned as claws pushed the human nails out of the way. Even having one of the most effortless and best partial transformations didn't save me from the pain.
Behemoth was breathing hard as he stood up, but it didn't keep him from growling at me. His hair was an indeterminate color, since it was shaved so close to his head, but it made it easy to spot a few cuts already knitting themselves back together. Behemoth had to outweigh my lean frame by at least thirty pounds of muscle, probably more, which meant I had to go with a brain over brawn strategy. Of course, that wasn't anything new for me. Most of the pack outweighed me.
This time when he charged he kept his feet firmly on the ground. When he was close enough, he tried to throw a punch, but I slipped into his guard, and used my shoulder to redirect his movement, again.
"Leave. Now." I said as he stumbled.
Behemoth let out a barking laugh and recovered easily. "Not a chance, boy. I'm here for the girl. Leader's orders."
My insides froze. The whole reason I'd been assigned to Dani was because Shannon said she'd received threats against her life and Dani's. One of the female pack members who didn't hate Shannon had been assigned to her. Even though people were skeptical about the situation at first, when the formal challenge for pack leadership came to Arthur it was far more plausible. Shockingly, werewolves weren't always honorable in how they take over a pack. Arthur's territory was substantial enough that he'd had a fair few challengers over the years, but this was the first time they'd targeted his family. Why have a physical fight, when you can bring someone to their knees by capturing their family?
It was about this time that the remaining people scrambled for the exits. The staff who hadn't thought to run for the door, tripped over each-other in their rush to the employee area.
In a few moments, only Behemoth, Dani, and I remained in the building.
He planted his foot behind him and lunged to close the distance between us. Unlike before, he was expecting a redirection of energy, and as we connected, he slammed his fist into my ribs.
I pushed his head towards the floor, hoping to unbalance him at worst, or slam him at best. I achieved neither as he ducked, dug his newly forming claws into my waist, and slung me back towards the counter.
Thankfully, throwing a person's body against the wall behind a bar, like in action movies, is hardly the deadly affair they make it out to be. Messy? Sure. Deadly? Not so much. It has even less effect on a Were, considering most of the items were coffee-making paraphernalia. I could feel some broken mugs crunching underneath me, but I was otherwise okay. Except for an odd burning sensation on my hand.
He was stomping closer from the other side, obviously intending to finish what he started before making off with Dani. I started to rise, and that's when I noticed it—I had put my hand on some schmuck's hidden flask that hit the floor during the scuffle. Some snobby trust-fund college kid was about to lose his heirloom.
Behemoth peeked over the bar and smiled menacingly. "There you are."
I did the only thing I could think of as he lunged at my neck for the kill. I slammed the flask as far down his newly-formed muzzle as I could, my own arm be damned. His eyes went wide as the burning silver of the flask took full effect, and I realized my hand was stuck in his mouth. In a panic, I dug my other hand under the bar and upended it from the mounts, shoving it towards his body in an effort to dislodge us. As he swung wildly and gagged, frothing and smoking at the mouth, one of his claws managed to snag the neck of my shirt, and he dragged us onto the main floor, stumbling over the broken bits of bar.
Behemoth must have decided this wasn't his day and he needed to heal and regroup, because he made for the exit with me in tow like a wolf on a mission. I grabbed for anything with my other arm, desperate for something solid to use as a weapon against him. He gripped my shirt tighter and began shaking his head back and forth, slinging me like a ragdoll. When he finally made it to the exit, my hand closed on something solid and heavy near the door. I then proceeded to smash him over the head with a wild swing from a fire extinguisher.
He let out a muffled yelp and stumbled, as smoke billowed out of his mouth like a demented dragon. Then he started to bleed from his new head wound, and my inner nature took over. I generally function okay in front of blood and violence when I'm not in a life or death struggle with another Were and in my human form, but it's quite different once the animal side takes over. A short time later I came back to myself, deformed extinguisher in hand. Behemoth lay in the doorway, smoldering skull now a flattened mess just inside the door. His jaw must have relaxed and released my hand at some point, because I had reacquired ownership of it—or what was left of it.
"I guess sometimes alcohol is the answer," I wheezed, trying not to think about my hand. Of course, my eyes strayed down to it, and I quickly looked away and swallowed. Silver worked on us like acid but worse. If I didn't take care of this soon, losing my hand would be the least of my worries. I could die from silver poisoning form too much contact with the flask. My options weren't looking too fantastic.
My head snapped up, and I met Dani's wide eyes. I'd seen the look before. It was usually a combo platter of fear, loathing, and a primal urge to murder the Other before it ate you. I tried to walk away, but my traitorous body was having none of it, and I stumbled and fell to my knees.
There was a gentle touch at my shoulder, and instinct made me jerk in surprise and try to get away, but I was too weak. The hand gripped my shoulder tighter to help keep me from falling completely over, but it also trapped me. In this much pain, so close to my full form, the beast inside me howled and snarled in fear and anger. It came out as a low growl that should never come from a human throat.
Then nails were digging painfully into my shoulder. "Erik!" The voice was familiar, but there was a thread of command in it like a pack leader. All pack leaders had a mantle of power that came with the stations. It allowed them to exert almost complete and total control over the members of their pack. But all alphas had this magic quality to them that compelled subordinates and betas to obey. Not all alphas were pack leaders, but all pack leaders were alphas.
"We have to get you to my dad," the voice said.
My brain wasn't keeping up very well, but I did manage to look up at whoever was speaking and give one long, slow blink. It looked a lot like Dani, but it couldn't be Dani.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Shit. The silver's eating your brain, or something. It's me: Dani," the voice said.
"You can't be Dani."
"Why?" she asked, incredulous.
"Because Dani doesn't know her dad, or know I know her dad."
If she rolled her eyes any harder they would have fallen out the back of her head. "Oh, please. My mother told me about him eons ago. Hard not to, really," she muttered.
Then, for the first moment in the last few moments, I noticed something different about her.
"Your eyes!" I said.
"Caught on, have you?" she asked. "It wasn't easy, you know, keeping all this from you. Mom thought they'd just send some brooding, stalker-looking guy to watch me from the bushes, but no, they sent you. It was so hard to keep my real scent masked. It's been a pain and a half. Looks like I don't have to do that anymore, though," she said, and smiled.
Dare I say it was almost wolfish? I could only gape.
She sighed. "That big brain of yours can grasp so many things, but a late bloomer werewolf is what confounds you? Weak, dude." Then she hauled me up and threw me over her shoulder.
This was the closest I'd ever been to her, and despite my injuries I couldn't resist. I inhaled deeply and for the first time I was able to truly smell her, and it. That unmistakable scent of werewolf.
"Satisfied?" she asked, and huffed in amusement.
I blushed, and was thankful that she couldn't smell the blood rushing to my face any more than it already was.
I grunted, and then hissed as a fresh wave of hellish pain pulsed from my hand. We made it to her car and she set me down on my feet to lean on it while she opened the door. Sirens were wailing in the distance, and my heartrate picked up. I'd never be able to show my face here again, and then my heart squeezed as I realized the same went for Dani.
"Don't worry about it," she whispered, "I'll figure something out." Despite her brave words, I could smell regret washing off her in waves.
She got me in and buckled, and pulled out of the lot slowly just ahead of the emergency vehicles. A tightness in my chest eased, and I finally relaxed back into the seat. Well, as best I could given the state of my hand.
"Looks like it's finally time to meet dear, old Dad. Won't this be fun?" she joked.
I could only groan in response. Fun wasn't what I'd call it, but with Dani, who knew? One thing was for certain, everything was going to change. But as I was being dragged under by the darkness eating at my consciousness, I couldn't say that was a bad thing. I just hoped my text got to Arthur, otherwise this was all going to be one hell of a surprise.


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Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Yep, any thread I go I can see who has viewed it. I appreciate the nosiness lol. At least someone uses it.
Mods can see who views the VOTB? lol I subscribed to that subforum so it shows up in my "Settings" subscriptions and whenever I see that red X I check to see who & why. (I'm nosy)
Thank you for actually using the VOTB. More than half the clowns crying for it don't even bother to look anymore lol
Haha well she did make a profile so who knows, maybe a little kid or disabled or something
Haha yeah. I banned one of those once who wasn't a spammer. I want to say the authority has made it so spammers can't make threads upon registering but I can't remember if that was followed through with or not.
There's no way that's a legitimate human extremely clever bot though, like seriously
I'm still not sure based on her posting although I'm leaning towards yes.
lol "can't tell if spam or not"
There's the reason why I avoid the MLB forum. Stats, stats, stats, stats and nothing else.
Ban me now, I can't take this anymore xfipWARwRC+ for the love of god make it stop!


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A nice New York Times piece summarizing the purpose of nostalgia:
Most people report experiencing nostalgia at least once a week, and nearly half experience it three or four times a week. These reported bouts are often touched off by negative events and feelings of loneliness, but people say the "nostalgizing" — researchers distinguish it from reminiscing — helps them feel better.
To test these effects in the laboratory, researchers at Southampton induced negative moods by having people read about a deadly disaster and take a personality test that supposedly revealed them to be exceptionally lonely. Sure enough, the people depressed about the disaster victims or worried about being lonely became more likely to wax nostalgic. And the strategy worked: They subsequently felt less depressed and less lonely.
Nostalgic stories aren't simple exercises in cheeriness, though. The memories aren't all happy, and even the joys are mixed with a wistful sense of loss. But on the whole, the positive elements greatly outnumber the negative elements, as the Southampton researchers found by methodically analyzing stories collected in the laboratory as well as in a magazine named Nostalgia.
I'll forever associate nostalgia with this Mad Men bit on "The Carousel":


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By: Marisa Borreggine
Campus Sherpa Staff Writer, University of Washington
Set aside a Syllabus Day
At the beginning of every quarter, I sit down with each syllabus for my new classes and schedule like no one ever has. Take it one syllabus at a time and check out the schedule the teacher has laid out and write down your homework (reading assignments, due dates, test dates) for every day of that quarter. That way you don't have to think about that assignment or fear missing a deadline until the day you've scheduled yourself to think about it! It lifts a great weight off your shoulders and makes you feel so much more prepared for the class you're walking into
Addendum to Syllabus Day
Whilst putting together the aforementioned beautiful syllabus that will make your life 1000x easier, remember that assigned homework is not the only thing you need to stay on top of! I put test dates in a big highlighted box for each class, then backtrack two to three weeks in my agenda and write 'make a study schedule.' It's hard to predict what kind of studying you'll need to do for a class early on, or even for each test as the class moves along and material changes. This way, again, you know you won't have to worry about being prepared for the test because you have that little reminder to get ready! Some of my favorite go-to study methods are highlighting my important notes and re-copying them a few times, making really detailed quizlets and testing myself mad, and reviewing lecture slides with a friend from the class. Usually we take turns off and on reminding each other the important notes about each slide—talking about the material and explaining it to someone else really helps you retain it!
Don't forget the essentials
You're a busy college student—admit it, there have been times where you've forgotten to eat. Well, that agenda can yet again come in handy. Freshman year you usually have constant access to food, time between classes, you live on campus or very close, and that shiny meal plan card. Once you move out, and especially if you're someone like me that lives a 30 minute walk from campus, you'll find you spend only the hours where you're sleeping and showering at your actual house. I can be on campus for anywhere between 6 to 13 hours in a day, and you're going to have a pretty bad time if you don't bring snacks! Write in a big highlighted box as a homework assignment, "pack snacks and lunch!" on the day before those long days. You'll thank yourself after your two hour lecture and two hour lab back-to- back classes when all you really want is a banana.
There are not enough words in the English language for me to emphasize this enough—make a meal plan every week. It truly changed my day to day life and made my schedule and mind so much less cluttered. Here's how I do it—every Sunday, I open up my notepad on my phone labelled with the days of the week. I erase last week's meals and put in what I want to eat for lunch and dinner each day that week. Then, I go to my larger checkbox grocery list note and fill up on the essentials—snacks, fruit, milk, etc. This works really well for me because I don't mind eating the same kind of breakfast every day—if you keep a solid supply of fruit, eggs, milk, bread, and cereal you can switch it up when you're feeling something new. Smoothies have been my go-to breakfast this summer. I pack pretty much the same lunch every day (in reused jam and pasta jars and a reusable sandwich bag, by the way. Less plastic the better!), a sandwich, some chips, an apple, a peach, some pretzels, whatever I'm feeling will fill me up that day. I set reminders in my phone to defrost my fish the night before and move my veggies to the front of the fridge if that's what I'm having that night. It'll make your day less scatterbrained and make sure you get the nutrition you need!
Wake up earlier.
I don't care if it takes you five melatonin pills to get to sleep at a normal time, start going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier too! Yes, it's painful at first, but once you get a good breakfast in you and a nice walk (to the gym, to class, round the neighborhood, round your house, do some yoga in your room, etc) you will than yourself for the extra time. I used to wake up at 5:30 and do my homework every day winter quarter, which sounds hellish now, but only because I got so used to it that waking up at 6:30 now feels like sleeping in. Your body is capable of amazing things, especially if you give yourself some extra hours in the day to do those things! I don't drink caffeine and I wake up at 6 every day, so chug that coffee and get going because if I can do it, you can too. Good luck!