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NowGamer: Black Tusk Studios, a newly formed Microsoft studio, hints it could be working on a new IP that might be a new space shooter like Gears Of War or Halo.
I don't really want anymore shooters -_-
Holy crap! Are there any xbox fans in here?
Don't think they leave the PS3 articles.
BitbyDeath you got that backwards
Nice try though
It goes both ways, was just trying for a bit of lighthearted humour. :-)
It goes one way much more than the other on this site.
Your wrong it goes three ways.
Hmm... That sounded so wrong...
"Could Be Like Halo & Gears"
....so, it's a shooter?
What do Halo and Gears really have in common, other than being shooters? One is a very horizontal game (Gears) and the other is a fairly vertical game. You make Gears any more like Halo in gameplay and it isn't Gears. You make Halo any more like Gears and it loses many of its gameplay strengths.
Sounds like NowGamer just trying to bolster their obvious choice of favorite for next gen (since it will have an "X" on it, most likely) by hyping with two popular titles, excusing it with a random Twitter post.
Exactly. Seems developers aren't capable of unique ideas anymore, so they just slap together something that seems to be a trend. Instead of coming up with their own unique ideas, they're just trying to combine two things which wouldn't work too well together to cash out easily.
Don't blame the developers just yet.
Nowgamer got that idea from a "twitter sleuth"; and being very.....eh, "oriented" towards a certain brand....they'll gladly spread the rumor to create hype.
Well both are sci fi shooters with alien races and bad ass protaganists. Personally, I think they should branch out from that though.
Developers try unique stuff
Journey,Uncharted,Heavy Rain,Beyond Two Souls,The last of Us(a 2nd NEW AAAAAA IP from ONE developer),the unfinished swan and a lot more...
BUT WHAT DO "GAMERS" aka shitheads of this gen buy?CALL OF DUTY AND COPY+PASTE Garbage in general cause the justin Biebers took over.
@ BerttlSenix
The "unique" games you mention aren't as unique as you say.
Journey - third person puzzle game.
Uncharted - third person explore/shoot 'em up.
Heavy Rain - this gens version of the point and click adventure game.
The Last Of Us - another third person game with an AI partner.
All great games but nothing new, just spruced up versions of games from the past. Not too sure about Beyond and Unfinished Swan.
Uncharted might have exciting, spectacular set-peices but it's still a third person game with bells on.
Journey might have drop in/out co-op but it's still a third person puzzle game.
Let's face it, original ideas are few and far between these days.
"Could Be Like Halo & Gears"
MS is amazing!!! Innovation.
Your sarcasm is awesome, surprise! They are making something unoriginal like there yearly halo/gears/forza.
I love how small a percentage of N4G Commentors read articles prior to commenting on them.
1) The Gears and Halo similarity is in regards to scale and genre. In regards to gameplay Gears and Halo hold massive differentiations.
2) This is by no means a confirmation of the unannounced games genre as this particular quote was taken from an "Internet sleuth".
Read the article next time.
OMG! PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Little Big Planet Karting! Twisted Metal! Wheeee! So $#@#ing Original!
hmmm, so in your other comments, you praise TLOU which looks ALOT like UC, then come in and troll...
Good job.
well easier said than done. also if there already is gears and halo why would we want another game that similar. give us something new and fresh
i really hope MS takes advantage of crackdown franchise because that IP has a lot of room to grow and huge potential
Yea I think we've gotten enough shooters, and maybe Dev's should focus on giving us combo/hybrid game types on the next gen.
* Give us more customization
* Give us more options
* Give us more replay value
* Give us Better Art Styles, and not just HD Brown & Grey graphics.
* Humans can see over 5 million different colors....Use Them !
* Give us good stories that aren't cliche.
* Give us something unexpected
Then don't get new MS console... that's pretty much most of what you're going to get. Oh, and kinect :-/
I do want more shooters. Oh well for you I guess?
I love that MS has an exclusive coming out, and now it's... "Oh.. another shooter."
LMAO at the SDF.
Kinect: Space Heroes
If the 720 is indeed integrated with Kinect 2, definitely expect Kinect features (or even controls in the worst of the cases).
I am sure most will take that over a Wonderbook title any day. Some of you people try too hard sometimes for any of it to really matter.
Given what halo and gears did for console first person shooters and third person shooters respectively, i'm excited to see what emerges.
I understand Halo but what did Gears do, it pretty much had things that were done before like the over the shoulder gameplay from RE4 or even had things which during it's development at the time other games like Uncharted which was in development longer then Gears. already had the same ideas.
Gears of War (2006) was unveiled and shown off at e3 2005 and Uncharted (2007) was unveiled at e3 2006.
Gears was still a huge success that further put gaming in the spotlight and became a staple/household name.
All games have ideas from others it doesn't mean they're bad or shouldn't be recognized. There were games before Uncharted that that did the same thing too. That arguement could be applied to almost any game.
Come on now. Epic games are the creators of the Unreal Engine. Don't say that they're not creative.
Just because someting is shown off and released first dosen't mean anything
As I said Uncharted was in development longer, Nolan North since he had played the character since 2005 when they brought him in to do the motion capturing, then they would of had to start planning it before they got to that development stage.
They started Uncharted under the codename "Big" straight after Jak 3 was finished and went gold. So that would of been October/November 2004
Uncharted was in development for longer and didn't release untill later because ND had to do the motion capturing which apparently took nearly a year to complete and thats just the mo cap.
What...when did I say they that. Please don't make crap up to try and start an argument.
Good lord Jinkies take your own advice.
You don't think Gears was in development and planning well before 2006? It takes year(S) to make these types of AAA games.
And what does Uncharted being in development longer have anything to do with what Gears brought to the table? Nothing.
Don't come off as an arse maniacmayhem, thats how you went from 5 bubbles to 3, remember that.
"You don't think Gears was in development and planning well before 2006? It takes year(S) to make these types of AAA games."
Yeah but they didn't do motion capturing did they.
"And what does Uncharted being in development longer have anything to do with what Gears brought to the table? Nothing."
because people keep saying "Oh Uncharted copied Gears" all the time even though Gears wasn't shown off when Uncharted was 2/3 years into development. If it wasn't shown off then it couldn't of coped, people make out because Gears was released first that they didn't copy anyone despite Killswitch being a massive infuencea and RE4
OMG thank you CalvinKlein...perfect timing, you've just help me prove my point. As I said above if Uncharted was in development longer how could it NOT "exsist" without Gears which probably hadn't even started development or was shown off
"and sony puts out WAYYY MORE SHOOTERS than MS"
Are you serious...
Sony puts out more of everything...racing, platforming, third person shooters, RPGs, indie games etc. MS just does shooters
Wrong 1: Gears was already shown behind close doors to other developers before GDC 2005 - it was a selling point of the new unreal engine. And regardless of motion capture, ND didn't show any cover based gameplay until way after Gears introduced this mechanic.
And it was identical - with the exact same cover to cover manouvers, something that was never shown before gears. You don't have to be such a fanboy: admitting that Uncharted copied the mechanics from gears 1to1 is practically admitting a fact. It doesn't make any less of a game.
Wrong 2: Sony makes more shooters, hack&slashers and platformers. MS makes more racers, RPGs and obviously more indie games (not to mention the indie channel alone on the X360 has more games than the entire PS catalog).
If you don't count simply go to gamerankings.com and browse each platform by genre.
Hey, but that's pretty good trolling what you did here :) sidetracking the topic from the next-gen game a new studio is working on.
For all I care, this gen can die and it's time to bring out the next gen, so that' really good news.
"Don't come off as an arse maniacmayhem, thats how you went from 5 bubbles to 3, remember that."
Funny how you know I had 5 bubbs even though your account was made this year in October. Which tells me this Jinkies must be a multiple account maybe from another that was banned or stuck at one.
You just remember that.
"because people keep saying "Oh Uncharted copied Gears" all the time even though Gears"
And nice edit after the fact that Klien stated it and who else says that Uncharted is a Gears clone and how is that even relevant to the topic of this article which you have still managed to not answer and continue to troll.
So Uncharted is a copy of Gears because of cover mechanics?
Are you guys implying Gears invented the cover mechanic?
Are you the same people that say that Halo invented a lot of things of its own such as regen, driving cars, melee and grenade buttons?
@ CalvinKlein
Wow! Okay, so let's begin:
"uncharted was a copy of gears, without gears uncharted would not exist"
So Gears came out November 7, 2006. Uncharted 1 came out November 19, 2007 - a year later. You can't completely redesign your game and its gameplay to copy another game in the space of 12 months. Since Uncharted would've already been in the advanced stages of development with all its mechanics working as designed (after years of work following Jak 3), I don't think that's feasible. Though, even if they did copy Gears's cover mechanic, the games are fundamentally different in their design and gameplay elsewhere. So it's not exactly a strike against Uncharted or Naughty Dog. Nice try.
Killzone was a self-proclaimed foray into sci-fi from Sony's Guerrilla, going after the Halo gamer. No one is denying that, and it's well documented. I do like Killzone's more grounded background and gamplay which added something valid to the sci-fi shooter genre.
Resistance 1-3 is INSOMNIAC GAMES, not Sony.
All-Stars (and LittleBigPlanet Karting to some extent) is the game that Sony fans were actually asking for for quite some time, so your point as some sort of downside to Sony's developmental stirring pot is irrelevant. Gamers wanted it based on existing Nintendo games that they knew were good. They wanted it, they asked for it, they got it.
PlayStation Move was in development as early as 2000 with videos of proof out there on YouTube. Now I'm not saying Nintendo weren't also working on Wii as far back as that, but we have proof that Sony were working on motion tech before Nintendo announced anything of a Wii-mote controlled technlogy in development. This is just some more misinformation that you guys love spreading. We tell you the facts and now I'm convinced that you're just ignoring it to troll.
Sony creates way more shooters, just like with most genres by comparison to Microsoft, because they have more studios making games. Now that's common sense. When it comes to shooters, Killzone 2 is more highly rated than Halo 4. It's rated that same as Halo Reach. KZ3 is rated lower than Halo 4, but not much lower. Halo 3: ODST is rated lower than KZ3. I don't like using aggregated sites like Metacritic, but make of those stats what you will.
Sony's shooters are varied when compared in terms of background, story and gameplay. And they did put guns in inFamous, but it was the enemies using them. Cole doesn't need guns because he had fuggin lightning coming out of his hands. Idiot.
@ humbleopinion
I don't think Microsoft MAKES more racers, RPGs or indie games. They have and always have had third party companies making games exclusively for them, but not making themselves. Perhaps racers because of Forza and what was Project Gotham some years ago, but that's it.
I know this is ridiculously off topic, but just clearing things up.
"Don't come off as an arse maniacmayhem, thats how you went from 5 bubbles to 3, remember that."
Actually no, he went down to 3 bubbles because in this site your opinion must always be that Sony is Godlike and anything else just suck and is inferior and if you dont agree be ready for the horde of disagrees that awaits you, the bubble system is broken you can't let a horde of sony fanboys control your opinions because you dont agree with them i rarely post here because of that and i have 2 bubbles lol ready for one after this post.
Has for the topic i think Gears did alot for this gen lets face it Uncharted one was a ripoff from a lot of series especially tomb raider but it has things from gears, even tho gears was that great i like it alot and MS should stick making them.
Actually, Gears of War had been in development prior to Uncharted's.
Gears of War started development shortly after the release of the original Unreal Tournament back in 1999. It was originally titled "Unreal Warfare" and was intended to be a large multiplayer title. Development was delayed and following the release of Unreal Tournament 2004, the titles development was resumed, taking on the new identity of Gears of War.
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was in development following the release of Jak 3, of which released at the tail end of 2004, development hasn't begun of the game until the technical staff had been assembled, presumably making the starting date early 2005.
Lol Jinkies, you just got caught out really badly for your multi account making antics. For shame!
And regarding your point about Gears of War, I think it's safe to say, you have been well and truly schooled by manicmayhem and others.
You shouldn't even have bothered, Jinkies.
The same way they claim that "you can't say anything negative about Sony," that's also true in this, a Microsoft-themed article. No way would they let you see anything resembling "correctness" while you weren't kissing Microsoft's rear.
Simply put, they're not gonna hear it.
Neither Uncharted and Gears are original or creative. They both copied concepts and gameplay mechanics from other games so who gives a shit about wich one came 1st? You know what came 1st? Killswitch, RE4, Pitfall, MGS, PoP etc etc. Those are the games that really pushed the bounderies and moved gaming forward and those are the games that ND and Epic copied. LMAO arguing about wich copy came 1st!
BTW @ humbleopinion Indie games made by MS? Really? Indie games? REALLY?!!
gears was a rip off killswitch a ps2 title
to the new kids who started this gen go check this game....gears brought some stupid aliens,zero story and 4 steroids typical americans marines,nothing that innovated the genre,moving on
To all of you, who cares what came first, uncharted is ten times better than gears of war. Part one two and three, the awards speak for themselves. Anyone who says gears is better hasn't played uncharted. Plat-former/shooter/cinematic/ great writing/great voice acting. Gears just sit there and shoot. And i play all games own ever console including the wii u. So suck on that!
Uncharted 1&2 were great, but 3 was a letdown. Campaign and multiplayer bigtime letdown. If they just kept part 2's multiplayer the same and fixed the disconnects and added sprint it also would have been great,...but they chose to copy call of duty,...plus the graphics and textures looked not as good as the first two games,...i think maybe adding 3-d had something to do with that, because killzone 3 also did looked dummied down compared to the previous installment.
I dont know why you guys take these comments so seriously. Its not like you designed the games. You would think someone was dissin your mother.
Gears 1 had better graphics then part 2,...but part 3 was fixed nicely.
God of war was tight.
Halo was a "B" or "B+" maybe.
Resistance series was average although part 3 looked good.
Both infamous games were awesome.
Lesson of the day...both consoles got good games, competition is good for both sides, don't be a slave to a brand,...because quite possibly apple, samsung, valve, can come along and knock their dicks in the dirt. Every dog has its day.
Take the pebble from my hand grasshopper!
The gears of war franchise is overall higher rated then the Uncharted franchise stated by the industry.
The gears of war franchise has sold more then the Uncharted franchise as voted by the gaming community.
I own both franchises and I prefer the gears franchise over the uncharted franchise....
If you enjoy the uncharted franchise over the gears franchise then that is simply your preference....but your opinion is far from fact and clearly you don't speak for the gaming community since reviewers and gamers have voted and they chose the gears of war franchise
Level up gamer you are smoking crack. Uncharted has won ten times the awards gears has, and no you are flat out wrong, gears is not rated higher then the uncharted series. Go a head and flat out lie, whatever helps you sleep at night/. 88 to 91 gears. 96 to 91 uncharted 2, 94 to 91 uncharted 3. You do the math smart guy. And these are the metitcritic scores. Not to mention everyone knows uncharted two has won more awards then any game in one year ever!!!!!!
The Gears of War franchise has an average score of 92.67.
The Uncharted franchise has an average score of 92 precisely. (89 including Golden Abyss)
If you prefer the Uncharted franchise, that is perfectly acceptable, but don't attempt to belittle the fantastic quality of the Gears of War franchise.
actually is opposite for me
what has halo done that it hasnt done in the other games
gears was awesome when it first came out and thats mostly what everyone played on xbox live
Cover mechanics. From a third person shooting game released in 1999.
So, tell me. What's this discussion really about? What does Uncharted and Gears have in common, besides both being third person shooters with cover mechanics?
Nothing. They're as different as two games can be being in the same genre.
And i thought that Killswitch was the 1st TPS with cover system.
+ helpful.
More exclusives to bolster Microsoft's first party line-up is only a good thing in my opinion. They seem to be relying a bit too heavily on Halo, Gears of War and Forza, so something to add to that and provide an incentive to invest in their next generation console would do them well I think, especially since many people have doubts given their heavy focus on Kinect.
As long that it's not another kinect on rail game maybe there is hope.
I agree. I'm all for Xbox 720, but if this title is a kinect title, then I'll be bummed.
Would love for them to re-visit Perfect Dark and Crackdown and really do those two titles justice.
Its one thing to be on top of the industry, its another thing to actually stay on top. Congrats Microsoft, looks like the future is as important as the present.
Microsoft on top ?
The only thing that ms has on other gaming company or system is a great Eco-system with xbl but it's going downhill with all the ads all over the place. They need to start refocusing and no they are not "on top" not even close.
MS sold 50% more XBL gold subscriptions than last year.
Please check the 2012 best sellers in video games on Amazon.com
1st: 1600 MS Points (digital)
5th: 12 months of XBL Gold (digital)
5th: 12 months of XBL Gold
17th: 3 months of XBL Gold (digital)
49th: 3 months of XBL Gold
75th: 800 MS Points (digital)
77th: 1600 MS Points
So the best selling video game item is money to spend on XBL. XBL Gold for 12 months is probably second, given the split between digital and non-digital.
MS just announced that never before people spent more time on XBL in the past weeks than ever before!
So stop spreading nonsense. XBL is healthier than ever before.
When did the guy attacked XBL? He said that XBL was healthy. He did not say it was bad or in danger.
By the way, You do know that Amazon.com = USA. Of course the sales are going to be astronomical, but what about Amazon in the Europes, Japan, etc?
_____________________________ ________
Regarding the REAL topic, I always thought that maybe they can do a crossover between Halo and Gears. I do not like Halo at all and I think Gears is great, but I have not played any of them (not an xbox user) so I don't know if the stories are "open" enough for something like that, but maybe fans will go crazy with a crossover like that. Marcus Fenix meets Master Chief.
they're going downhill because of the ads on the dashboard??
How does that make any sense? The majority of those ads are for games anyways, while other ones are for movies, music, etc., things that actually get me interested in them to check it out.
By that definition, should tv be going downhill because of all the ads on it??
What do Microsoft and Naughty Dog have in common?
One major franchise per console generation...
BUT, that's about to change.
The Last of Us is coming out for PS3.
Please step up the new IP game, MS.
I can tell you what they don't have in common....creativity, ND is bursting with it since they like to try new things, MS on the other hand don't and this article proves it.
Why not make a Platformerr, RPG, RTS, Open world game instead.
A platformer? MS has plenty of those try Ms. Splosionman which is an MS title and a platformer.
RPG? Well MS has Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon and many other third party rpg's that are exclusive (Magna Carta, etc.) and third party.
RTS? Well the only MS made one is Halo:Wars but there are others made by third parties for the 360.
Open World? Crackdown 1 and 2 is the only ones that that come to mind and maybe Nuts and Bolts.
And ND bursting with creativity? Besides Uncharted what else have they done for Ps3?
I'm not disagreeing with you.
I think you can make a better list than that, because that was awful in regards to new IPs.
Two of those are not new Ips, one of them is an XBLA title, most of them are third party, one of them is not even exclusive.
Meanwhile, inFamous, Uncharted, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, Motorstorm are all major franchises that have spawned several sequels and performed well on the shelves as well as with the critics.
Then you have things like ModNation, MAG, Journey, The Unfinished Swan that would all be more suited in the company of your list. Also, new IPs are still coming out for the PS3 (Beyond, Last of Us, Last Guardian). While they pretty much ended in 2008 for Xbox. (Even though Gears was really the major one this gen)
Not hating on MS though, I'd like to see Nintendo back to its former "a new IP each day" glory too.
@360ICE actually @maniacmayhem was responding to the other poster saying Naughty Dog was this creative genius studio on the PS3 compared to what MS has created on the 360...not a fulll comparison of PS3 vs 360 IP.
@Jinkies... MS has made all of the game genres you suggested this generation...and more. Why not ask Naughty Dog to make something other than a 3rd person cover shooter this generation?
You do realize that the developers for the Microsoft games you are bashing are third party don't you? Microsoft is in charge of Halo, that's pretty much it. It has plenty of those genres you mentioned made by third party developers. You are a massive fanboy.
You blow my mind... You clearly have no idea the breath of IPs that MS owns... just on creative side... how about Viva Pinata... Kodu and ilomilo... you don't need to go big to create something awesome... they also own huge franchises that I'd like to see make a come back this coming generations... Black and White... Age of Empires/Mythology, Lost Odyssey, MechAssult/MechCommander, Phantom Dust, Sudeki, True Fantasy Live Online oooh and PGR... where is our new PGR? And Voodoo Vince... I loved that game and WTF Killer Instinct please

subset: commoncrawl


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Botanical-Inspired Home Decor
What is it about spring that makes us want to go out into fields and identify plants from a handy pocket-sized plant guide? Probably the really nice weather. If you can't get enough of botanical-themed home decor accessories, you'll enjoy the items we gathered that have us excited to bring a little scientific spring into our home.
Bringing botanical-inspired home decor into the home is kind of like a geeky way of incorporating spring—without any danger of causing allergies. Whether you like to celebrate spring with a good spring cleaning or just like to bring in festive colors and patterns, botanicals are a soft, subtle and instantly natural way to get yourself ready for the new season. And while we focused a lot on the more traditional idea of a botanical graphic, we did include a fresh and fun modern take on a botanical print.
Top Row:
1) Botanical Handprinted Towel $12
2) Botany Pillow $165
3) 1898 Antique Engraved Colour Plate "Common Poisonous Plants" $7
4) Queen For A Day Magnet Set $20
5) Antique Botanical Print Pillow $68
Bottom Row:
6) Spring Awakening Botanical Fabric Embroidery Hoop Wall Art $12
7) Peach and Orange Embroidered Wall Flower $36
8) Antique French Botanical Prints $12 each
9) Vintage 1970s Henry Evans Botanical Prints Book $14
10)The Neighbors - Large Archival Print $40


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Ramping up line and hangar safety.
Increased focus on human factors is making ramps safer and hangars less hazardous. That focus appears to translate into fewer workplace accidents, and fewer lost workdays.
Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance employs a pair of full-time ergonomists. "We integrate ergonomics at the very beginning of any industrial project," says Pierre Girault, AFI KLM E&M's senior vice president of quality, safety, environment and sustainable development. "We organize the project around a process."
At its Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, work stair design and protective headgear were issues. A rework of both allowed the maintenance facility to see a 30% drop in related accidents, says Girault. For six years running, overall workplace accidents have plummeted 10% per year, he says.
This emphasis on ergonomics is helping AFI KLM E&M's safety efforts. Many of those projects are accomplished high above unforgiving hangar floors. AFI KLM E&M's work stair initiative was partially driven by technicians, as was a project at ST Aerospace.
ST Aerospace designed a new modular rail system to reduce the risk of technicians taking a tumble from elevated aircraft docking platforms.
Lim Serh Ghee, ST Aerospace's COO, says the lightweight, adjustable modular rail system "has improved safety, [because] it can be set up to close any gaps as soon as the dockings are repositioned." He says the system is faster and easier to install than temporary wooden structures and "has helped increase productivity on the work floor."
At Delta TechOps, ergonomics and physical preparation work in tandem to control workplace injuries. "First and foremost, we want our employees to come to work mentally and physically prepared to go to work," says Lee Gossett, Delta's managing director for line maintenance and director of maintenance for the carrier's Part 121 certificate. Technicians stretch and flex at the beginning of each shift. "Getting prepared to perform the task [is critical]," says Gossett. "We're all over the aircraft. We're up and down— squatting and bending and twisting."
While Delta mechanics may be up and down all day, injuries have been down during the past five years, dropping 3-5% per year. Not all of this decrease is attributable to stretching. Devising an ergonomically friendly workplace entails communication, too.
"You've got to be willing to listen to the people that are actually doing the work," says Douglas Cohen, safety chairman for Local 565 of the Transport Workers Union at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Cohen contends TWU and American Airlines have made significant strides in making ramp and hangar more habitable. PPE (personal protective equipment) is a big part of the reason why. "We watch mechanics" as they perform a check, says Cohen. "Everything they encounter, we document." Then the union makes recommendations.
A case-in-point is bump caps. American's MD-80s are low-slung flying machines. Cohen says mechanics have injured themselves running into trailing edges of wings, gear doors, antenna, or pitot tubes, a hazard which he characterizes as "a real bad one."
TWU recommended head protection by teaming with PPE distributor Medsafe. "We've already seen a reduction in injuries," says Cohen. But that doesn't mean the union and American have stopped listening. "The feedback from the guys in the field is they'd like something lighter weight, that's not as hot, that's a little more stylish."
Propagating proper PPE is a head-to-foot pursuit. Calling it a "huge win for the company and the union," says Cohen. American now mandates brighly colored reflective vests for every employee whose foot touches the ramp.
Lots of safety initiatives percolate up from the shop floor, which was the case of a Delta mechanic who ran afoul of a Boeing 757 brake assembly. Gossett says there's a pinch point in the assembly where a technician disconnects one of the linkages to remove some bolts. When the technician pinched a finger and had to have the appendage stitched up, he devised a small aluminum tool that could be put where one's finger might go, thus eliminating the hazard. Delta TechOps tooling department produced the part and distributed it throughout the operation.
Many of the improvements seen out on the line and in the hangar are reflective of a systems approach to safety. Individually tailored as the answers may be, "These are fundamental, long-term questions" the industry is facing, says Eberhard Mueller, director of occupational safety and health for Lufthansa Group. To anticipate what might happen, "We are doing risk assessments," he says, "putting this material in our management database."
The single most significant leap in ramp and hangar safety is safety management systems, says Bill Johnson, FAA's chief scientific and technical human factors advisor for aircraft maintenance systems. The approach is being promoted by the International Civil Aviation Organization and adopted by member states.
Supporting safety management systems are initiatives such as FAA's aviation safety action program (ASAP). FAA has memoranda of understanding with about 46 maintenance organizations to implement the voluntary program. Volition is the heart and soul of the initiative. By electing to report problems technicians can "save [themselves] from certificate action, or even serious disciplinary action from his or her company," says Johnson.
Pairing ASAP with a line operations safety assessment (LOSA) can make for a potent line and hangar maintenance safety system. LOSA is also predicated on voluntary, confidential and non-punitive participation. Those data are often collected by peer observations, during normal operations. Both unions and management buy into the process. Johnson says the beauty of this approach when properly applied is that it can help predict accidents. Say a peer observer is watching an aircraft as it's parked. Because there are no other aircraft in the immediate area, the person on the right side of the aircraft might not be using proper hand signals to the pilot. It's not a major mistake. Because the ramp was uncrowded, there was no harm done—at least not this time. If an employee is lax one time, it could become habitual. By focusing on the human failure to use proper procedure every time, LOSA can help predict that sometime in the future there's going to be a real problem with potentially serious consequences.
Ed Jonak, Southwest Airlines' manager of maintenance and engineering safety programs, is a true believer in predictive systems. The carrier invests a lot of credence in key performance indicators. There are two kinds: lagging and leading. A major lagging indicator is lost workdays. Another, intimately related to it, is injury. Incident-only or so-called "near misses" are leading indicators. Nobody gets hurt, goes to the hospital or loses any workdays in near misses. The company uses data from these incidents to intervene and stop potential future injuries in their tracks.
Lost workday cases at Southwest dropped by 15.5% from 2010 to 2011. At the same time "Incident reports have actually gone up by 6.2%," says Jonak. The implication: "Maybe if we see six near misses, we can jump on that and hopefully prevent three accidents."
Proving ROI
The FAA recently developed a tool to prove return on investment for human factor interventions, such as training. By inputting the estimated investment and results, the tool calculates the return on investment (ROI). A major MRO in the U.S. that elected to remain unidentified focused was how money invested in fatigue training correlated with ROI.
The MRO reported that a $205,000 investment to train up 2,500 employees for two hours each lead to a 10% reduction (amounting to $935,000) in aircraft damage, compared to 2010, when it incurred $10 million in losses due to damaged aircraft. The company also wanted to trim OSHA injuries by 10% or the equivalent of $119,000 compared to 2010. When the numbers came in, the ROI for the MRO was 312%. Actual aircraft damage was cut by $3 million, or 30%, and OSHA injuries by $184,000, or 15%.
Is this the breakthrough metric the industry's been seeking? Does safety then become an economic imperative? "That's the feeling this [MRO] had," says Johnson.
CLICK mxfatigue.com to visit FAA's Maintenance Fatigue site and find the ROI Calculator and other fatigue risk management resources.


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Introducing Carmen Gabriela Baldwin!
Alec Baldwin and wife Hilaria just unveiled their newborn baby girl, showing her off just days after her birth.
"EXTRA" was behind the scenes with the couple as they did a photoshoot with their baby for People, where the 55-year-old actor looked like one proud papa.
"I hope she looks like her mother, what a waste of time it would be to marry a woman like that have the kid look like me," Baldwin jokes about little Carmen.
"I have that feeling that I am so lucky and blessed, all those things everybody feels when you have a baby and you want to have that family," Baldwin gushes.
This is the first child for the couple, who tied the knot in 2012. Alec has 17-year-old daughter Ireland with ex-wife Kim Basinger.
"It's a love that hurts," Hilaria says of being a new mom. "I want to make sure she's ok, every single step of the way. It's just absolutely indescribable."
Check out the video of the adorable little girl above -- and more celeb kids below.


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Question: What are the possible pitfalls of using two different credit card processors for Internet sales and storefront sales?
Continue Reading Below
Answer: When you're setting up sales for both your physical store and the Web, you'll need to consider carefully how to choose a payment processor to handle credit card transactions. For small companies, making the wrong decision could break your business in high fees or penalties if, for instance, your site incurs high charge-backs. Many processors charge more for online versus physical store sales, and may charge your business the higher rate for all sales regardless of channel. This reality makes the prospect of having two payment processors appealing.
"We use two different processors and that helps us," says Devesh Dwivedi, a business coach and consultant based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who manages the finances at his wife's medical spa and skin care business. The dual-processor strategy helps the spa company keep fees low and provides a snapshot of sales performance for each sales channel.
Yet, there are drawbacks to this strategy. For one, there are the hidden bookkeeping costs to manage both processors. " You'd have more information to keep track of," says Sterling Jackson, a Denver-based software developer. "You may also incur additional costs, paying membership or subscription fees for each account."
Using two processors may increase or complicate security and privacy risks, since customer card data is now stored with two vendors, according to Ken Koch, a management consultant in Minneapolis. On the other hand, one could make an opposite argument that having two processors spreads the risks. Dwivedi suggests that dual processors can offer a comforting backup plan, protecting sales if something goes awry with one processor. In the end, the question for a small business might be this: Why not have a single payment processor? Consider asking your preferred vendor to offer separate fees for online and physical sales, and appropriate and fair policies and guarantees for fraud, security and privacy protection. Unless your business warrants two processors due to volume, security or other special needs, or can't attain favorable fees for managing both online and offline sales with one company, simplifying operations through a single payment processor might be the way to go.
© Business on Main. Sign up for our Main Street Authority newsletter to get articles like this delivered monthly to your inbox.


text: outfitYOURS.com sells all the best bags for MacBook Air made by top brands like Incase, Hex, Booq and more. This wide selection of MacBook Air Bags includes messenger bags, briefcases and backpacks made with an integrated padded pocket for both 13" and 11" MacBook Air. Order with free shipping and your bag will arrive at your door within 2-4 days and come with a one year warranty.


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Matt Sayre has no doubt that his buddy, former Southern Oregon University quarterback Mark Helfrich, will succeed as Oregon's new head football coach.
Sayre, now the Raider athletic director, began his coaching career in 1995 as an SOU assistant to Jim Palazzolo, working with receivers and quarterbacks.
That was Helfrich's senior year, and the two struck up a friendship that continued the following year, when Helfrich was a graduate assistant, and beyond.
Helfrich was hired Sunday to replace Chip Kelly following the latter's jump to the Philadelphia Eagles, and a number of former SOU coaches and teammates are confident the bright, witty, engaging person they've known will live up to lofty expectations in Eugene.
Sayre shared a story about when Helfrich was on a recruiting trip in his first year under Kelly.
Helfrich liked to call from random recruitment places, said Sayre, like Delaware, Oklahoma, southern Florida. It was even better if the town was small and in the middle of nowhere.
One time, a call came from deep in Alabama, where a high school coach had dissuaded Helfrich from offering a player a scholarship.
Helfrich adopted a "perfect Alabama drawl" and repeated to Sayre what the coach told him.
"Mark," Sayre recounted, "that kid'll run a hole in the wind, but he ain't seen nuthin' but two cricks and a stump in his whole life. He won't make it at Ory-gun."
In a way, Sayre said, the story is a metaphor for Helfrich's situation. He comes from a small town, Coos Bay, and now is on a big stage. The difference, according to those who know him, is that Helfrich is fully prepared and capable to keep the Ducks' atop the college football world.
Steve Henninger was a defensive lineman on those Raider teams of the early 1990s and, as vice president, took over Helfrich's duties as student body president when the quarterback's schedule became too crammed.
"We knew he had the 'It' factor," said Henninger, who works for a global logistics company in Portland. "Whatever he ended up doing, it would be out of the ordinary and exceptional. It doesn't surprise me that he climbed this high."
Nor has Palazzolo been taken aback.
"He's fully equipped beyond what most people understand," said Palazzolo, who was head coach of the Raiders from 1989-95 and is now a mortgage loan officer in Medford. "We're talking about a very special guy."
Helfrich starred at Marshfield High, leading a resurgence under coach Kent Wigle. As a senior in '91, Helfrich quarterbacked the Pirates to the state quarterfinals, and his passing and running skills, to say nothing of his intellect — he was class salutatorian and intended then to go into medicine — made him a sought-after commodity.
Most of the small schools on the West Coast recruited him, said Palazzolo, and Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti beseeched him to walk on.
"It wasn't easy," said Palazzolo of getting his man. "It was extremely competitive."
The Raiders needed to replace David Searle, and they landed Helfrich, who was born in Medford but moved away at an early age. Both his father, who played football for SOU in the 1960s, and his mother graduated from the school and would be able to watch him play at their alma mater.
As a freshman, Helfrich shared time with Medford's Brent Barry. But when the senior Barry was injured, Helfrich took over and showed flashes of what was to come.
A year later, with a full offseason of workouts and study, Helfrich impressed from the get-go. He soaked up information at a remarkable rate and put it to use on the field.
"We had a virtual computer behind center," said Palazzolo.
There was seemingly nothing the signal caller couldn't handle. Spread option out of the shotgun — what many are doing now but few were back then. No-huddle. How to utilize numerical advantages. Recognizing mismatches and angles in the running game. Identifying and changing protection schemes.
You name it, Helfrich knew it.
"I hardly ever called a play, he understood the defenses so well," said Palazzolo. "We would signal in concepts, that would be about it. We were able to take what we were doing and expand it much further just because of his mental capacity."
Indeed, said Henninger. No matter what stadium they were in or how crowded it was, Helfrich was probably the smartest person in attendance.
"I don't know if we ever got into a bad play," said Palazzolo, "because he understood what we were trying to accomplish so well."
Palazzolo recalled a couple of the instances Helfrich audibled out of plays and struck gold.
In the first game of his sophomore season in '93, Helfrich called "Awol" at the line, sending the 'A' back through the hole to a post pattern, resulting in a touchdown of 60-some yards.
"I knew right then we had something special," said Palazzolo.
And as a senior, Helfrich checked out of a play against Linfield, luring the Wildcats to collapse into the middle while he took off, untouched, around an end for 83 yards and a score on "one of his great, great plays," said Palazzolo.
Jason Bauer, for 15 years a South Medford teacher and assistant football coach, was the Raiders' starting running back and Helfrich's roommate.
He spoke to the cerebral side of his friend, with whom he remains in regular contact. They took biology, for which Helfrich has a degree, and science courses together.
"It was always a joke that we wanted to dispel the dumb-jock perception," said Bauer, who teaches biology and horticulture. "We worked hard and studied together and did well in school. He's a bright guy."
When a lecture got "dry," said Bauer, they'd pass notes. He still has an old biology notebook in which Helfrich drew a caricature, put Bauer's No. 34 on it and labeled it the "Albino Rhino."
Bauer in turn teased Helfrich about being "Everybody's All-American."
Kidding aside, Bauer did marvel at how Helfrich, as a sophomore, stood in front of the team during Friday night meetings and gave motivational speeches.
"He was just a natural leader, and it definitely showed," said Bauer.
They also shared one unfortunate trait: a penchant for injury.
Helfrich burst onto the scene as a sophomore, leading the nation in total offense with 3,196 yards. He passed for 2,712 yards, with 23 touchdowns, and ran for 484, with three scores.
The ensuing winter, spring and summer, he worked exceedingly hard and was "the near-perfect" quarterback when fall camp opened, said Palazzolo.
But on the first day of practice, when players weren't even in pads, Helfrich came down the line on an option drill and was poked in the eye. So severe was it there was concern the loss of sight in the eye would be permanent.
"I'd go home and he'd be sitting there with no lights on and the drapes and everything closed," said Bauer. "He was super sensitive to light."
He returned at the tail end of his junior season, wearing a dark shield on his face mask.
A year later, in the second game against Linfield — against whom he'd already broken off the long TD run — he suffered a lower leg injury that ended his season.
"I do know," said Palazzolo, "that if he had not gotten injured, the record book at Southern Oregon would be quite a bit different."
Helfrich still owns single-game records for passing touchdowns (six) and passing attempts (62) and ranks among the leaders in many categories. His passing yardage total of '93 was a record until Austin Dodge shattered it last fall.
When Dodge did so, Helfrich asked Sayre to pass along his congratulations.
Surpassing Helfrich's numbers would have been more of a chore had he played all of his final two seasons. During that time, former Ashland standout Chad Guthrie stepped in an put up stats that would rival or surpass Helfrich's career numbers.
For all he did on the football field, Helfrich is credited by Palazzolo and others with helping to save sports at SOU.
Budget cuts were a primary concern in the early '90s, and football and other sports often were deemed expendable by various entities.
Palazzolo often trumpeted his players of outstanding academic achievement and character, and no one epitomized that more than Helfrich, he said.
It was Palazzolo who encouraged his players and other school athletes to get involved in student government and have a say in the decision-making process regarding student funds.
"Jim knew we should be involved in the process, and we were not," said Henninger. "He encouraged us to get involved not only from a learning perspective but for what it meant to the college."
Helfrich was inducted into the SOU Sports Hall of Fame last fall. He couldn't attend because of obligations as the Ducks' offensive coordinator, but he provided a 3ÿ1D2-minute video for his acceptance speech.
In it, he said he was very proud to have run for office and for his part, along with others, in "quote, unquote, saving Southern Oregon athletics."
He thanked his former coaches and other school personnel and teammates and recalled great times in Ashland: the Fourth of July parade, trying to get dates for the Shakespearean Festival and the flood of 1997, when so many people grabbed shovels to fix things and, he said, "somehow that turns into a great experience."
Helfrich played a year of football in Vienna, Austria, upon graduation, then served as a graduate assistant at SOU in '97 under then-coach Jeff Olson. He was to return for another year, but Bellotti — remembering how impressed he was with Helfrich when he asked the high school senior to walk on — intervened and offered a grad assistant position that Helfrich jumped at.
So began a coaching sojourn that would take him from, then lead him straight back to, the Ducks.
A recurring theme, according to friends, is that Helfrich is supremely competitive, yet equally cool under fire.
"He doesn't get ruffled," said Doug DeGroote, Helfrich's center at SOU.
DeGroote is a financial planner in Westlake Village, Calif., and his brother, Tim, played on the Ducks' 1995 Rose Bowl team.
"(Helfrich) fits right into what Oregon has built over the last decade," said DeGroote, "with that win-the-day mentality."
It makes sense, then, said Sayre, that Helfrich will run a hole in the wind, that he'll do very well at Ory-gun.
Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 541-776-4479, or email firstname.lastname@example.com


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Style # 164046
Time to mesh around. This body hugging mini dress features an envy-inspiring open stitch design that reveals the barely there hue underneath. The sultry off shoulder style is gorgeous for a night out with friends or a first date.
- 92% nylon, 8% spandex
- Hand wash
- Center back to hem: 31.5"
- Model is 5'10" and wearing a US size S
Rated 0 out of 5
0-0 of 0


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Recording Industry Making It Impossible For Any Legit Online Music Service To Survive Without Being Too Expensive
from the good-job dept
Of course, it's really no surprise that most of these sites have struggled. Beyond the ridiculously high licensing rates that the labels forced on them (often by negotiating through lawsuits), none of these sites put together a well thought-out business model. Instead, they all seemed to think that they could just slap ads on the site and that would be enough. But, of course, when you're listening to music, you're not looking at that website or paying attention to the ads -- and if the ads got too intrusive, they'd just go elsewhere. A real business model would have been setting up something more comprehensive, that gave listeners a real reason to buy associated with the music. Eventually we'll get there, but in the short-term, the graveyard of failed "licensed" music startups will grow, just as more and more "unauthorized" sites grow in popularity.


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The man-shaped robot recently delivered to Worcester Polytechnic Institute is named Atlas, and it looks the part. It's 330 pounds of black and silver metal and over 6 feet tall.
And like its namesake, Atlas looks strong. It's easy to imagine Atlas's hydraulic arms smashing a flimsy wooden door to reach the humans cowering inside.
If that ever happens, the humans will probably cheer. Designed by Boston Dynamics, a Waltham company founded by MIT engineers, Atlas is intended to be a first-responder or rescue robot, working in environments too dangerous for humans.
But while Atlas may have the body for the job, it's short on brains. So the Department of Defense is sponsoring a $2 million contest to smarten it up, with seven institutions vying to program Atlas for a real-world test responding to a disaster, scheduled for later this year.
"We're in the playoffs," said Michael A. Gennert, director of the robotics engineering program at WPI, one of the teams in the competition.
And so is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "We're in this to win it," said Seth Teller, who leads an Atlas programming team at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab.
The intra-state throwdown underscores Massachusetts' prominence as a center for robotics research. In addition to Boston Dynamics, local firms include Bedford-based iRobot Corp., maker of the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. IRobot also designed a mechanical hand for Atlas.
All this hardware and software is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, the Pentagon research department that sponsored the development of the Internet.
DARPA and Boston Dynamics launched Atlas following the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan. Plant managers used tracked robots from iRobot to remotely inspect areas too radioactive for humans. But these machines couldn't reach parts of the facility that were accessible on foot.
"Those robots couldn't really do much more than look around," said Teller.
The iRobot machines ran on caterpillar treads. But Boston Dynamics cofounder Marc Raibert believes that for moving through rocky or rubble-strewn terrain, robots with legs are the best solution.
"They can go places where cars and wheeled and tracked vehicles can't go," Raibert said.
Boston Dynamics has built a small six-legged surveillance robot for US forces in Afghanistan and is developing a four-legged machine powered by an internal combustion engine and capable of carrying up to 400 pounds.
The two-legged Atlas is designed for rescue, not combat.
"Many of the places where disasters might occur are places that are designed for people," said Raibert. "People can fit in there and maneuver through them."
So too will Atlas, using the same tools as human first responders. A humanoid robot could climb into a car and drive itself to the disaster scene. Once there, it could open doors, climb ladders, turn valves or throw switches, just like a person.
In an early phase of the competition, 26 teams from eight countries wrote software to control a computer simulation of Atlas.
A consortium of Florida universities took first place, but WPI was runner-up and MIT was third. The two Massachusetts schools and five other teams will each get a real Atlas robot and financial support from DARPA.
In December, they'll go to Homestead, Fla., to compete against each other, and against at least six more teams building their own robots from scratch.
"We're moving from a simulated world where everything is neat and clean to a real physical world, which is apt to be messier," said Teller.
All the teams will tackle a series of challenges. For example, each robot must drive an emergency vehicle, climb a ladder and traverse a catwalk, stop a fluid leak by closing a valve, and connect a firehose to a water source.
The robots won't work independently; they'll be tethered to electrical power cables, and controlled remotely by humans. But the testers will deliberately interfere with the communication signal to simulate an environment with poor radio reception. Teams will be graded partly on how well their robots overcome this handicap.
The top-scoring teams will qualify for the finals, to be held in December of 2014. By then, Boston Dynamics expects to be able to provide a generator module for each Atlas, which will eliminate the electrical tether and allow the robot to walk freely. And again, the machines, controlled only by radio commands and built-in software, will be given the same eight tests, with $2 million for the top performing team.
Despite the high stakes, the various schools have worked together, sharing ideas on solving tough problems. And the WPI and MIT teams seem determined to keep it classy.
"Those guys are great," R.J. Linton, project director for WPI's Atlas team, said of his Cambridge rivals.
MIT professor Russ Tedrake praised the Worcester team for beating his squad in the preliminary round. "I think they did an amazing job."
For Linton, it's not a matter of money or bragging rights.
"What this is about is pushing technology and advancing the state of the art so we can save people's lives," he said.Hiawatha Bray can be reached at email@example.com.


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ESPN - Chauncey Billups officially opted out of his contract Monday, making him an unrestricted free agent as of July 1.
"Chauncey's first intention is to come back to Detroit, and we'll continute to explore that as an option, but if we're unable to make a deal with the Pistons my obligation is to look at other possibilities that will provide long-term security for Chauncey and his family," agent Andy Miller told ESPN.com.
Billups was due to make $6,819,000 next season in the final year of his contract, which had an early termination option.
Pistons president Joe Dumars has consistently said he is confident the Pistons will be able to re-sign Billups, whose negotiating leverage will be impacted by the small number of teams with significant salary cap space.
Milwaukee and Memphis are two teams with cap space and a need for a point guard, but neither team is expected to have enough space to make a better offer than the one Billups will get from Detroit.


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partners. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Smith, PhD
Clinical Associate Instructor of Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Suzanne Smith is a clinical health psychologist specializing in treating adults with emotional and social issues associated with chronic illness, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and chronic pain. She also treats people with depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and personality disorders.
Dr. Smith is a PhD graduate of Ohio University. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship training with the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program at the Cleveland Clinic. She is a member of both the American Psychological Association and Ohio Psychological Association.
Dr. Smith is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center. She also is a Clinical Associate Instructor at the Case School of Medicine, Department of General Internal Medicine.


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For The Record Dress, Off White
Product Details
Returns & Exchanges
Our goal at Glitzy Girlz is to make every customer happy, but we understand sometimes things don't fit, and a return is needed.
Need to just return an item from your order? No problem at all. Please make sure your return meets the following guidelines:
- All return items must be received within 14 days of the date you receive your shipment.
- Shipping will not be refunded on any returned items and is the responsibility of the customer when shipping items back to us.
- All items received as a return must be unworn, unwashed, unaltered, and in smoke-free condition. Returned items that appear to be worn, washed, altered, or smell of smoke will be refused. All tags must be intact.
- Shoes must be returned inside their original shoebox.
- All returns are processed for store credit only via the form of electronic Gift Card, which will be emailed to you, within 5 business days.
- Do to high order volume, we do not process exchanges.
To return an item by mail, please send your package back to:
Glitzy Girlz - Returns
100 S. Crockett Street
Sherman, Texas 75090
We recommend insuring your package when sending it back. We are not responsible for items that are lost while in-transit to us. Shipping charges for mailing back returns are the responsibility of the customer, and we do not reimburse for shipping return items back to us.
Once we receive your returned merchandise, it will be processed within 5 business days&you will be issued an electronic gift card for store credit, for the price of the item and any applicable taxes. You will receive this electronic gift card via e-mail to the address that was given during your order. Shipping charges are non-refundable.
Damaged goods
All damage claims must be made within 48 hours of receipt of merchandise
Use your smartphone to take pictures of the defective or damaged area and email the images to firstname.lastname@example.com
including the tag in the image showing it is still attached.
Indicate "Defective" or "Damaged" in the subject line.
Include the first and last name on your account, order number, and name of the product.
You will receive a response from someone in our online department within 24 hours
Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction. If you have any concerns or questions regarding your return or exchange, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call our sherman store (903) 893-3622


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Will he or won't he? It's been the most famous question since "to be, or not to be?" Now it appears that we have the answer.
According to multiple sources this morning, Brett Favre has told the Minnesota Vikings that he will not play in the 2010 season.
So what do you think? Is this the real deal? Will Brett change his mind next week. I'll tell you what, with all his flip flopping, he'd make a great politician. I think that's his next profession once he hangs them up!
From ESPN:
Favre has sent text messages to teammates saying, "This is it," league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
Neither Favre nor the Vikings have confirmed the news but a press release is expected Tuesday, the sources said.
The Associated Press also reported that Favre is saying that he's not returning this season.
This would be the third retirement for Favre, who also retired after 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers after the 2007 season and one season with the New York Jets after the 2008 season.
The 40-year-old Favre has been working out at his home in Hattiesburg, Miss., still rehabbing a surgically repaired ankle that was injured in Minnesota's overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC title game. He has yet to inform the team if he will honor the second year of his contract and come back for another run at the Super Bowl.


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For Carou, the secret to an enriching life—both professionally and personally— is to constantly seek new experiences. And that mindset is what helped her land a globally focused internship at PUMA's marketing and brand management department in Boston.
Acing the Interview
When Carou heard about the position at PUMA, she was immediately interested.
"It was exactly the type of internship I was looking for. I'm passionate about brand management, and I love learning about a brand's relationship with consumers and the psychology behind it," said Carou, a senior who's earning a double major in marketing and global business, with a minor in advertising.
She submitted her resume right away, knowing it would be competitive. But what came next was unexpected. PUMA asked Carou to send a video of herself to Boston managers who were away on business trips in Germany and England. She had just a few days to develop her personal brand and market herself to complete strangers across the globe.
Carou's video was a success, and PUMA hired her to work part-time during the fall and spring semesters.
"I think my international experience helped me stand out against other candidates," said Carou, whose parents are from Argentina. In addition to traveling for fun, Carou has studied abroad for two semesters in London and Madrid. And she frequently volunteers abroad. Most recently, she spent a couple weeks in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, volunteering at a children's day care. Before that, Carou, who's fluent in Spanish, volunteered to teach first grade in Guatemala.
"Immersing yourself in new cultures teaches you so much about the world. It doesn't matter what you plan to do for work—global experience can be life-changing," she said.
What's it Like to Work at PUMA?
"It's amazing! The internship is very hands-on. I work directly with my supervisors for most of my projects, so I get a lot of personal feedback," Carou said.
For instance, when her supervisor came back from China and Japan, Carou helped draft a report on PUMA's Asian market. Carou read through transcripts, compiled research, edited copy, and added photos to the report.
She's considered a valued member of the team and frequently sits in on meetings and conferences calls.
"I have been exposed to amazing professionals who have mentored me. They have taught me valuable international business skills. I really do learn something new every day," Carou said.
Plans after Graduation
After interning at PUMA, Carou knows she's going into the right field. "There's no question—I know I want to work in global marketing. My goal is to find something that involves brand management and international travel," Carou said.
Carou is set to graduate this May with honors.


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Defy the Dark
On Sale: 06/18/2013
Spend $49 and get FREE shipping on HC.com
The seventeen original stories in Defy the Dark, an eerie, mind-bending YA anthology, could only take place in darkness.
Open the pages and discover: A creepy guy who stares too long. The secrets of the core of the earth. Dreams of other people's lives. A girl who goes mad in the darkness. Monsters in Bavaria. A generational spaceship where night doesn't exist. And other mysteries and oddities.
The contributors to the enthralling collection are: Sarah Rees Brennan, Tessa Gratton, Rachel Hawkins, Christine Johnson, Valerie Kemp, Malinda Lo, Myra McEntire, Saundra Mitchell, Sarah Ockler, Jackson Pearce, Aprilynne Pike, Dia Reeves, Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Jon Skovron, Courtney Summers, and Kate Espy, winner of the Defy the Dark new author contest.
- Imprint: HarperTeen
- On Sale: 06/18/2013
- Trimsize: 5.31 in (w) x 8.00 in (h) x 1.49 in (d)
- Pages: 496
- List Price: 17.99 USD
- Age: 13+
- BISAC1: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Short Stories
- BISAC2: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / General (see also headings under Family)
- BISAC3: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Romance / General
With contributions that range from frightening to romantic, action-driven to lyrical, there should be something here for everyone. - School Library Journal
The menace of darkness in these stories is...more campfire shivers than real danger, but that's precisely the appeal. - ALA Booklist
The collection's range of genres, from science fiction to vampire stories to realism, gives it broad appeal. - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books


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My dog with only pee and poo in the backyard if there is snow.
Why won't dog pee and poo in the backyard unless there is snow on the ground?
I have a 3 year old french bichon which came to our home at 8 weeks old in November 2007. We were pleasantly surprised that she has very few accidents in the home at all as she quite enjoyed the back yard and such.
Around April 2009 she stated peeing and pooing in the house (the snow had melted). We tried working through many reasons, crate trained her, and various different practices. She can hold it, she will hold it for days it seems as we now have different areas of the house boarded off to prevent her just going where no one is looking.
Come November 2009 the snow fell again. For the next 4 months there wasn't a single accident in the house. Snow melted and we were back to square one. This now happens each year.
We have tried everything short of getting our own snow maker for the back yard in order to ensure that she goes outside to do her business. We have put carpets outside, she seems to have no problem peeing on the carpets inside so it was a hope, but we just can't understand why she won't go outside in the backyard unless there is snow on the ground.
Please any ideas you may have? So frustrated here.
Sorry, it's not a laughing matter. But - some of the kitties in the Catuary do the same thing!! Well, they use litter boxes the rest of the year but --- they seem to like the texture of the snow and being able to bury it.
Maybe a white sheet bunched up to resemble snow?
Do you go out with her on a leash or just let her out the back door?
Sounds like it's back to basics. Leashed, someone taking her out every hour on the hour, rewarded for going, as soon as she goes it's back inside (no playing outside), etc, etc............
Assumptions do nothing but make an ass out of u and me.
We can stick our heads in the sand for only so long before it starts choking us. Face it folks. The pet population is bad ALL OVER THE WORLD!
I think you are having a generalization problem with your pup. They have learned that snow (and maybe carpets) not outside means "appropriate spot" to urinate/defaecate. All you need is a little time and patience to go back to basics.
Here's a good video
Basic breakdown:
1. never let your dog out of your sight or leave them uncrated when you cannot watch them, even for a moment.
2. start taking them out at regular intervals - after sleep, meals and play
3. reward HEAVILY when the go in the right place
4. if/when you catch the dog peeing in the house do not punish them - this will not teach them peeing in the house is bad, it will teach them that going in front of you is dangerous (meaning they will work harder to hide it) - try to interrupt them with a clap or an "oops" and take them outside (gently) to finish (reward HEAVILY if they do).
5. Have them looked at by a vet to make sure there are no health reasons for this behavior.
Gradually your dog will associate eliminating outside with good things and that eliminating inside proves unrewarding.
Hope this helps
I have the same issue with my Boston. When the snow melts she doesn't like the dead wet grass. It's seems ok by the summer when it's drier. It's pretty funny to see her seek the little patch of snow to do her business, as this melts it is more of a challenge. One thing that has helped is training her to pee on command. I send her out by actually almost chasing her, I tell her to go pee and she gives me a look and hops along the wet grass, pees and be-lines right back on the deck. Have you tried taking yours on a leash? I have to say that after a few accidents in the spring she gets it again and is back on track.
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Phoenix police said nothing dangerous was found on a United Airlines commercial flight en route from San Francisco to San Antonio that was diverted and forced to make an emergency landing due to a possible threat.
Dozens of passengers were escorted from United Express Flight 5573, operated by Skywest Airlines, after the plane landed at 4.45 p.m. at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, according to Reuters. Police spokesperson Sergeant Steve Martos said a bomb squad searched the plane and luggage, but did not find anything threatening. Further investigations were still ongoing, he said.
Sky Harbor International Airport spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher told the Associated Press that passengers were rescreened to resume their trip to San Antonio.
The United Airlines fight resumed its journey to San Antonio before 8 p.m., according to 3TV News. No other flights were delayed by the incident.


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A dance club, hotel or public house where one goes with the sole intention of picking up another person usually of the opposite sex purely for a sexual encounter. one night stand Colloquially, somewhere to go for a "jump".
"How did you get on down Blanco's last night guys? I hear it's such a parachute club anyone can score there."
by Woweegoodstuff February 28, 2012
buy the domain for your art site


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Shea-Porter labels as 'false' new GOP radio ad hitting her on ACA supportBy JOHN DiSTASO
Senior Political Reporter
December 09. 2013 7:18PM
(Tuesday, Dec. 10, update:)
MANCHESTER — A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter said Tuesday a new Republican radio ad accusing her of breaking a promise on the Affordable Care Act is "false" and should not be aired.
"Washington Republicans should take down their misleading attack ads and stop frightening Granite Staters who hold individual policies from Anthem, because they can indeed renew their policies and keep their current doctors and hospitals," said Shea-Porter spokesman Ben Wakana.
The 60-second ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which began airing on Tuesday, depicts a woman whose husband has lost his insurance policy because Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the lone New Hampshire ACA network provider, includes only a portion of the state's hospitals. The ads says Shea-Porter, like President Barack Obama, broke a promise that under the ACA, those who like their existing health insurance plans could keep them. (See earlier story below.)
The Shea-Porter spokesman said she "worked this out" with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield last month: "New Hampshire residents who hold individual policies from Anthem have until Dec. 16 to renew their current policies and keep their hospitals and doctors in 2014.
"In fact, under the Affordable Care Act, families in a situation like the one depicted in this ad no longer face lifetime limits on coverage, they won't suffer from bankruptcy due to overwhelming medical bills, and they can't be kicked off their insurance or kept from getting insurance because of illness," Wakana said.
"Washington Republicans should stop trying to take people's insurance away and start working to improve the Affordable Care Act."
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Marc Brumer said, "This new attack is just more proof that Republicans, including (1st District U.S. House seat candidates) Frank Guinta and Dan Innis are on a vicious mission to repeal the Affordable Care Act and go back to a broken system that was leading hardworking Granite Staters into bankruptcy."
A spokesman for the Innis campaign responded, "Faced with the consequences of their bad law, Congresswoman Shea-Porter and the DCCC have retreated to same old campaign style talking points that got us into this mess in the first place. That's why Dan has proposed the Innis Agenda for Health Care, a bold set of reforms that will move us beyond the ObamaCare squabbles, and actually do something to make health care more affordable and accessible."
(Our earlier story follows.)
MANCHESTER — The National Republican Congressional Committee on Tuesday will begin airing a radio ad accusing Democratic U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter of breaking a promise on the Affordable Care Act.
In the 60-second NRCC ad, a woman says her sick husband's health insurance plan no longer exists "because of Obamacare" and his new policy "doesn't cover the hospital where my husband is being treated."
A narrator says that more than one-third of New Hampshire's hospitals "aren't covered through Obamacare" and, "That's not what the President — and Carol Shea-Porter — promised."
The NRCC says that Shea-Porter, like President Barack Obama, promised that under the ACA, those who liked their current health insurance plans and doctors could keep them.
Republican sources say the ad will air on radio stations in Manchester and Portland, Maine, which reaches the eastern part of the state, for 10 days.
The NRCC ad buy is $21,000 and is part of a larger $50,000 buy also targeted at two other Democratic incumbent House members, Scott Peters of California and Nick Rahall in West Virginia, according to GOP sources.
Shea-Porter has been a supporter of the Affordable Care Act but in November supported Republican-sponsored legislation that would allow Americans to keep their individual health policies and purchase new ones that do not comply with the requirements of the ACA for an additional year.
Republicans Dan Innis and former Rep. Frank Guinta have announced candidacies to try to take on Shea-Porter in the 1st District U.S. House 2014 mid-term election.
The new ad is the second by the NRCC focused on Shea-Porter and the ACA. The first was in October and also focused on 2nd District Democratic U.S. Rep. Ann Kuster.


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Style # 216646
A super-soft fabric, waist-cinching self-tie and always-chic-never-boring stripes make this bebe maxi dress irrefutably chic. Try yours with a pair of wedge sandals and a denim jacket.
- 96% rayon, 4% spandex
- Center back to hem: 42" (107 cm)
- Jersey lining
- Dry clean
- Made in USA with imported materials
- Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S
Petite Stripe Maxi Dress is rated out of 5 by 4.
Rated 5 out of 5 by danagrando from LOVE THIS DRESS! I am 4ft 10in and I weigh about 103 pounds. This dress is AWESOME. I ordered an XXS and it's perfect. I am always an XXS at bebe and this fits true to size as well. It is perfect from day to evening..LOVE THIS DRESS!
Date published: 2013-08-20
Rated 5 out of 5 by Lovely18 from Love it! Perfect fit but still needs length alteration because its too long on me.
Date published: 2013-05-23
Rated 5 out of 5 by Bebedenim from I love the way this dress fits ... I love this dress because its not only cute, its slimming.
Date published: 2013-05-19
Rated 5 out of 5 by Tootot from A great maxi dress especially for petite women! I highly recommend this dress! Gorgeous! Great summer colors. It was the perfect length .
Date published: 2013-05-12


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SOC (réédition)Michel Doneda (soprano saxophone), Lê Quan Ninh (percussion), Dominique Regef (hurdy gurdy , israj)
Dryna (7:59), ggk (8:58), La flamme dévorante (4:29), Triangles et carrés (7:19), Sexus-plexus-nexus (5:36), Sep (8:32), Le paradoxe en long (10:42)
Recorded from July 27 and August 1, 1992 in Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy | Graphic design by Lê Quan Ninh
In Situ
Reviewed by: Chris Blackford for the magazine The Wire #114 (UK) - August 1993
Pretentious sleeve notes apart this is a thoughtful and rewarding album which makes genuinely fascinating connections between ethnic and improvised musics. Doneda's soprano is an edgy companion to Ninh's sharply executed,never profligate percussion. "ggk" draws inspiration from the captivating soundworld of Japanese gagaku ceremonial music, and the concluding "Le Paradox En Long" is also stately but with near hysterical undertones -- Regef coaxing a multitude of frenetic, gauze-like textures from the hurdy-gurdy. The perfect antidote to all those fluffy world music concoctions. I'm hooked.


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ecoBonnet in organic daydream
Do you want to protect your little one from the sun in style?
Then the UB2 Urban Baby Bonnet is for you!
Often imitated but never duplicated in style, functionality, fabrics, design, or craftsmanship, the UB2 bonnets are cool, fun, funky, functional, super-cute and distinctively original. They're a postmodern twist on an heirloom classic!
UB2's unique design protects your little one from sun, wind, and rain-in style!!
Our totally reversible bonnets feature a seamed brim, which allows you to fold back as much or as little of the brim as you like. The wide brim also allows discrete breastfeeding, and UB2 bonnets work beautifully in front or rear facing baby carriers-unlike most baby hats. The bonnets fasten snugly under baby's chin using an adjustable snap closure that allows flexible sizing and a comfortable, custom fit.
Our bonnets are made using ultra-hip, modern fabrics; our unique fabric combinations are part of our trademark specialty!
All UB2 modBonnets feature easy-care 100% cotton.
With hip & modern fabric combinations for BOYS & GIRLS, your UB2 is guaranteed to grab everyone's attention. People will (literally!) stop you on the street to ask where you've purchased such an adorable hat!
Designed by a mom, the bonnets have been rigorously kid-tested and mother approved. We're proud to say that we're dedicated to quality-actually, we're crazy about it! Each and every piece is double-checked individually and by hand. You can be sure that your Urban Baby Bonnet will become an heirloom treasure to pass on to the next generation! UB2 is a woman-owned company and our products are handmade in the USA!
We are committed to domestic production, social equity, and environmental sustainability. You'll see these commitments in our manufacturing practices, our support of work-at-home women, and in our use of organic fabrics and minimal, environmentally responsible packaging.
We hope you LOVE your UB2!
this bonnet is made from two layers of organic cotton sateen, so you know it's safe for you, your babe, and the earth!
like all of our ecoBonnets, this sweet hat is handmade in Ohio, totally machine washable, packable, and reversible. and, it provides stellar sun protection in an amazing new design that almost all babies will keep on their heads. your UB2 will truly be the only baby hat you ever need!
how do i know what size to order?
our bonnets come in 6 sizes. our smallest size fits most newborns and our largest size fits most kids ages 4 and up-- and adults! although we have made rough estimates as far as age of the child they'll fit, there is a very large range of head sizes within each age range. this means that the best and most reliable way to size a bonnet for your darlin' guy or gal is to measure their head circumference.
how should i wash my bonnet?
although it's best to wash your bonnet by hand and line dry it (or dry it flat on top of your washer or dryer), you can toss it into the machine with your other wash and it'll do just fine. wash only using COLD WATER, and if you place the hat in the dryer, dry it on low. use a warm, cotton-setting, steam iron to press your bonnet if necessary. we like to dry out hats flat because it saves energy and they don't need to be pressed. they'll have a softened, worn look as opposed to a crisp press, but that's what we (personally) prefer. if you love the crisp press, just run a steam iron over the bonnet when it's slighlty damp or spritz it & press. usually pressing the back of the bonnet and the brim will polish it up nicely. make sure not to hit the little ribbon tag with your iron or it can melt.
once your package ships we'll send another email with a link so you can track your order & know exactly when it'll arrive on your doorstep. we normally ship orders within 1-3 business days for in-stock items. but, since we're a small company, sometimes we are a little slower. if you need your order **FAST** please email us and we'll do everything we can to accommodate your request. if you live in the US, you can expect your order to arrive within about 2 weeks, usually quite a bit sooner than that. if you're overseas, things are more complicated (and slower) because of both distance and customs.
we offer many options so you can choose a shipping method that meets your needs.
domestic shipping methods:
first class * priority mail * priority mail express * ups
prices increase accordingly.
international shipping methods:
first class * priority mail * priority mail express
you can get an exact quote by adding items to your cart and choosing "shipping quote" on the cart page.
we never expect that there will be a problem. but we're human and our items are handmade. everyone once in a while, a stinker of a snap or an off-kilter seam slips through.
no matter what the problem is, if you're not happy, we're not happy. it's that simple.
and so, our bonnets are totally guaranteed against manufacturing defects, for LIFE. shirinkage, wash fading, and color-bleeding when exposed to pool chemicals are not considered maufacturer defects. if you have a problem, email us and we'll work with you to make it right. take a moment, please, to read our returns & exchanges page as they're explained in more detail there.
warranty coverage extends even to people you pass the bonnet on to. they're guaranteed, forever. once we see the defect, we will repair or replace your hat at our discretion.
of course, we can't really help if your dog chews up your hat or if you accidentally put it in the blender.
please note that because of variability of washing methods, washing machines, water temperatures, and detergents, we do not guarantee that your 100% cotton bonnet will not shrink or fade in the wash. but if it's something we didn't do quite right, we'll MAKE it right.
we're proud of our products and we stand behind them. 100%.


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February 26. 2013 7:01PM
Economist: Rochester should invest in potential job growth
By JOHN QUINN
Union Leader Correspondent
Economist Brian Gottlob, of PolEcon Research, talks shop with Ken Ortmann, Rochester's director of planning and development, following the sixth annual Economic Update Breakfast at the Rochester Elk's Club on Tuesday. (JOHN QUINN PHOTO)
ROCHESTER - The economy has taken longer to bounce back slower than anyone wants, but the city can use the momentum from an international company filling 500 high-skilled jobs to help shape the future, a local economist told business and community leaders Tuesday.
Economist Brian Gottlob, of PolEcon Research, spoke to about 50 people in the Rochester Elk's Lodge during the sixth annual Economic Update Breakfast.
Gottlob, who lives in Dover, said he's always reluctant to explain the data he's seen about a community as he's looking at them from "a 20,000-feet perspective." He estimates the national gross domestic product - which represents the total value of all goods and services produced within a country in a year minus foreign investments - could grow about 2 or 2.5 percent this year, but the loss of $85 billion in sequestered federal funds could reduce the growth by a full point.
The relatively flat growth will continue to affect New Hampshire, which has struggled for some time, despite being ahead of neighbors in the past.
"We've gone from being a leader to a lagger," Gottlob said, adding New Hampshire companies may have stopped laying employees off, but the jobs have not returned yet. "The bleeding has stopped - now it's time for a transfusion."
Gottlob said the high cost of living - even though New Hampshire may be more reasonable compared to the rest of the region - and fewer job opportunities inhibit growth in the state.
"For most states, it's been a lost decade of growth," Gottlob said, adding while New Hampshire has some job growth, it was hit hard by the economy and has had a tough time recovering.
Gottlob said the Rochester area seems to be recovering slower than its neighbors.
"You really took a beating during the recession," Gottlob said, adding this is prevalent in areas that rely on manufacturing.
On the other hand, Gottlob said there is a shift of focus of a variety of factors - economic competition, activity and innovation - from the areas around Nashua and Manchester to the Seacoast.
"Being a part of that shifting focus is important for any community in this region," Gottlob said, adding Safran's decision to build in Rochester is a good sign.
Last summer, Albany International and Safran USA announced their partnership to build a new facility to produce next-generation composite aircraft components at Granite State Business Park in the city. While the groundbreaking is scheduled to take place in April, the companies also planned to bring their suppliers into the area, which will create additional opportunities for the Seacoast. Gottlob said this will bring innovative, cutting-edge technologies and require 500 skilled employees at the new Saffron facility. He asked how the city can use this opportunity to encourage more growth.
"I think there's a great opportunity here," Gottlob said. "You just have to get over the hump.
"At a whole, Gottlob said small businesses - those which have less than 50 employees - haven't taken part in the recovery process yet since they suffer from a lack of confidence as consumers are also reluctant.
"They're not hiring because they don't see the opportunity," he said, adding small businesses rely more on the local community rather than worldwide markets.