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So once again someone pays over the odds for something Bill didn't invent........
Bill Gates' used car sells for $80,000
Proving that the pixie dust of fame can enhance the value of most anything, a 33-year-old Porsche 911 Turbo once owned by Bill Gates was sold at auction for far above its estimated value. "There was enormous interest in this item from all over the world," Wolfgang Humer, spokesman for the Viennese Dorotheum auction house that …
A comparable 911 classic would cost less without Bill Gates name on the log book.
I reckon to buyer is a secret seat sniffer.....
Oh well
A fool and his money so the saying goes....
Yes, but...
... you could always check the seats for loose change. I would.
one very careful owner ; perhaps that explains the price
Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
Apparently he bought one of the *very* limited run of Porsche 959s, importing it direct from Germany, but it was impounded on arrival in the US (didn't have type approval for safety, or something like that...) and apparently not even Bill could wangle its release.
I wonder how that story ended... it certainly has potential to be a real low-mileage deal.
Re: Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
The "Show and Display" law was passed and in 1999/2000 and allowed some non-street legal vehicles to be registered on a limited basis. Bill Gates had more than a little bit to do with passing this law and he did take delivery of his 959, it was just 13 years after he ordered it. I have no idea if he still owns it (although a Porsche 959 is work a GREAT deal more than $80,000 these days).
Re: Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
"didn't have type approval for safety, or something like that..."
I think that should read
"fell foul of the huge web of restrictive practices put in place by the US motor industry as is sticking plaster to cover the self inflicted gaping wound that 40 years of non-innovation and profit taking had created".
Re: Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
But Bill and Paul Allen together could wangle it. The catch was they had to buy a few more for.... hard to type this... crash testing. Remember, you asked. With all the trouble getting it in the country and a 30 car garage under his pad on Lake Washington, I imagine he still has the 959.
I looked at getting a skyline into the US some years ago. Flat out the most asinine f'ed up restrictions you could imagine-- the "piecemeal" method would be easy enough, but get caught... they crush it. For real.
Re: Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
Many European manufacturers (French, Italian) pulled out of the US market in the early 80's after rules seemingly designed specifically to exclude them from the market were introduced. Essentially a law was passed saying that cars had to become significantly more efficient on fuel - somewhere around 25%.
This was easy for US manufacturers to achieve as they just had to tune their engines properly, maybe fit something smaller than 3 litres in even the tiniest car. European manufacturers who tended to sell small, already efficient, cars couldn't achieve the required savings whilst also complying with new safety rules that required them to fit huge, heavy bumpers that ruined aerodynamics and increased weight.
Re: Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
new safety rules that required them to fit huge, heavy bumpers that ruined aerodynamics and increased weight
Which is how the MGB came to have rubber bumpers and the increased suspension height that ruined the handling, since the US was a major market for MG. The increased height was down to the Californian impact test, which swung a weight on a chain at the front of the car. The length of chain was calculated for the typical US whale, which meant the weight skittered across the bonnet and into the windscreen on the older MGB. The impact test was also supposed to leave the car with no visible damage, hence the reinforced rubber bumpers that replaced the chrome ones.
I actually liked the profile of the rubber bumpered MGB, but the first thing I did when I got one was to lower the suspension back to the same height as the chrome bumpered model. I was eventually going to drop a Rover V8 into it, and even got offered a donor car at a reasonable cost. I absolutely loved that car, but before I could get the V8 fitted some twonk stole it. Now I'm rapidly approaching mid-life crisis time I plan on getting another one.
Re: Thought it was the _other_ BillG Porker
"Flat out the most asinine f'ed up restrictions you could imagine-- the "piecemeal" method would be easy enough, but get caught... they crush it. For real."
That's one thing that makes me thankful for living in the UK. In theory, unlike in many countries, I can drive *anything I want* on the public highway so long as it has passed inspection and I am qualified/insured to drive it. Obviously the inspection bit weeds out the wackier and dangerous stuff, but If you really want to roll something particular, you can with enough perseverance without fear of the heavy hand of the state.
In some ways it's a shame more people don't choose to exercise that right over here. The coolest thing I have ever seen pulling out of a pub carpark was a totally rusted 1927 truck that had been recently dragged out of the Arizona desert, still on its original (solid rubber) tyres.
#5 - behind the Ford Model T, Mini, Citroen DS, and Volkswagen Beetle ?
I'm no fan of porsches but i'd put it in front of that pile of junk!
Re: no5
I think each one of those cars is there for a different reason. The Porche for being an inexpensive, high-performance car; Model T for being the first to be mass produced; VW for being cheap, fuel efficient and so very ubiquitous. The mini might be for its ability to get idiotic white upper-class Americans to shell out $30,000 for one, or maybe being the only British made vehicle where all the parts don't fall off of it immediately.
Re: no5
Porsche is just a tarted-up VW Beetle anyways...buy a Karmann Ghia and save!
Re: no5
uh-hu. I'm guessing you would probably begrudge the porsche because there's something newer / faster . . . ;)
I am the proud co-runner of an Austin Big 7. Guess they would probably go as 'too boring' for your liking. Fortunately some people drive classics for the history, not the ego.
One day you will enjoy driving, and the novelty of it will dissipate. Incidentally, I'm not that old, my d*ck just got bigger.
Re: no5
You presumably have some interest in technology, this being The Register and all, and yet describe the Citroen DS as a piece of junk? A car with a suspension system so advanced that it can be driven at high speed with *a wheel missing*.
Re: no5
The DS also has a beautifully designed body and a great engine since it was created when Citreon owned Alfa-Romeo. The downside was the fragility of the sophisticated suspension, and the low quality of steel used in the body which made them major rustbuckets (typical of all French and Italian cars of that era). The suspension problems were eventually solved though.
Re: no5
Alfa Romeo? I think you mean Maserati...
Re: no5
Hey Nanki ,
just to fill you in on my car history , I have a 20 year old Jap sports car (supra) , thats probly not faster than the porsche, but I prefer it.
And restoring a 1975 spitfire , iconic eh?
I wish i'd never bought the rusty little 70bhp noddy car now though :)
Re: no5
yes i like technology. I like cars too and have worked as a mechanic.
Not sure what a citroen DS is , but i spent the last couple of years trying to keep the suspension on a citroen zantia working. Pointlessly complicated , overengineered and expensive to repair.
Those "spheres" that all citroens use are regarded as consumables, and that fancy green mineral oil in em is more expensive than whisky!
never again
Re: no5
Saved me saying it. I think the first incarnation was around '55 or '56 - compared to a similarly-priced Rover 100, it was just unbelievable. If only they hadn't rusted so badly.
Presumably the correspondence between Gates and Porsche was along the lines of "Wind the windows down and back up again, then see if it starts"
Mines the tail happy one
ha ha
I was going to ask if anyone had seen Bill along-side the highway rotating the tires?
I think it went for about its true value. A 911 chick magnet in mint condition? Never raced. Careful owner who knew what he was buying. No history of being totally destroyed. Looks about the right price. Wait another 30 years and see what it sells for.
Re: 911
$80K is WAY more than the going price for this vintage pristine 930 Turbo. It was bought on spec no doubt. It may retain the $80K value but I doubt it will appreciate.
it sometimes has an issue starting, and you have to turn it off and back on again.
*the one with windows for dummies in the pocket, ta
There's a line in here somewhere for...
...the Blue Screech of Death.
Must have been a late night for Rik...


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3/5 (60 %), 1 vote
Store located in Shopping mall/center : Le Boulevard Shopping Center
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Friday, January 15, 2010
What I like to do with chia seeds
14 comments:
Interesting that you just made a jell-o thing with them! I need to find some - I seem not to digest flax seeds all that well, maybe chia seeds will be easier!ReplyDelete
They're GREAT to bake with as well. I've been experimenting with them and they are really magical. Not to mention that they are an omega 3 powerhouse.ReplyDelete
Thank you so much sharing the great recipe with us. And wondered about idea where we can by chia seeds?And is there a possibilty of eating too much chia seeds?What would you recommend as a daily dosage?ReplyDelete
Best Regards,
- Anonymous2:08 PM
Hi There,ReplyDelete
My name is Madison and I'm a manager at NutsOnline.com. I was searching online for sites related to ours when I stumbled upon your site--and from the looks of it, your Hey That Tastes Good page is quite comprehensive and relates nicely to the products we sell.
As a site that has so many recipes with diversified ingredients such as Chia Seeds, I assume that a good number of your visitors are people searching for these seeds. As such, we thought you might be interested in sharing a website with your readers where high quality Chia Seeds are available for a very reasonable price.
Being so, we would be delighted if you could place a link to
http://www.nutsonline.com/cookingbaking/chia-seeds/premium.html within the text "Chia Seeds", so that if people are interested in buying Chia Seeds, they know exactly where to go!
I feel that we can be a valuable resource for visitors to your website, and considering the relevance of your page to our product, we feel a link placement would benefit all parties.
Let us know your thoughts or questions, and feel free to contact me directly via email at firstname.lastname@example.com. We're more than happy to tell you more about NutsOnline and provide any follow up detail.
Very Best Regards!
Madison Harris
Outreach Manager
so it turns out chia seeds are nothing spooky afterall - its an ethnically well-known and loved plant of the salvia genus from central america = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_hispanica - pretty decent looking garden plant like most salvias and easy to grow - gooey and nutritious - who knewReplyDelete
- Travels4Food10:24 AM
Agua Fresca de Chia is evidently a very popular South American beverage - make a lemon or lime-ade, stir in chia seeds, let sit for 5 minutes, then refrigerate for at least another 10 minutes. You get a chewy, crunchy, refreshing drink with enormous health benefits. If you discover other ways to use these, please let us know!ReplyDelete
I like it with oatmeal.Like you said it makes the sauce or water thick.Sprinkle with chia and other berries.Mmmmmmmmmm...........yummy!!!ReplyDelete
Thanks to Hidalgo Foods for my chia and berries.


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WOODSTOCK – With little debate, the McHenry County Board filled the last remaining vacancy on a Mental Health Board that has undergone significant reform and change.
The County Board voted Tuesday evening, 17-4, to appoint Huntley attorney Sam Melei to the Mental Health Board, bringing it back to a full nine members for the first time in more than eight months. The board over a year of explosive change has undergone almost a complete turnover of its membership and its administrative staff.
Two of the opposing votes came from dissenting members of the Public Health and Human Services Committee that recommended Melei on a 4-3 split. Committee Chairwoman Donna Kurtz, R-Crystal Lake, and member Michael Walkup, R-Crystal Lake, voted no, and were joined by board members Ersel Schuster, R-Woodstock, and Diane Evertsen, R-Harvard.
Melei could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He was one of five candidates who applied to fill the vacancy.
The Mental Health Board is tasked with helping the county's mentally ill and developmentally disabled, mainly through a property tax levy it disburses to qualifying social service agencies. But new board members are grappling with shrinking revenues that have forced cuts long sought by critics who have alleged that past boards allowed the agency to become a top-heavy bureaucracy that spent too much on administration, overhead and a large headquarters it did not need.
The board at its peak employed about 50 people when the County Board gave it permission in 2010 to borrow $4 million in economic stimulus bonds to build a 22,000-square-foot expansion next to its 8,000-square-foot Crystal Lake headquarters. It cut its workforce this year from 33 to 19 as a result of budget cuts prompted mostly by sagging property tax revenues.
Melei's status as the vice chairman of the Democratic Party of McHenry County did not come up in the public health committee meeting or during Tuesday evening's vote – all but two of the County Board's 24 members are Republicans.
The vacancy filled Tuesday was supposed to be filled last November, but the public health committee could not agree on a candidate.
The new Mental Health Board is working to create a mission and vision statement, and is searching for a permanent executive director – interim directors have been filling the gap left when the last full-time director left in November 2012.
How they voted
The McHenry County Board voted Tuesday evening, 17-4, to appoint attorney Sam Melei to the last remaining vacant seat on the Mental Health Board.
Voting no were Donna Kurtz, R-Crystal Lake, Ersel Schuster, R-Woodstock, Michael Walkup, R-Crystal Lake, and Diane Evertsen, R-Harvard.
Members Ken Koehler, R-Crystal Lake, Sandra Fay Salgado, R-McHenry, and Yvonne Barnes, R-Cary, were absent.


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Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
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WHATS UP EVERYONE!YES...DONNY AND I ARE ON THE AMAZING RACE!!! (remember when I had togo spend some time away.......well I did....FAR FAR AWAY)I can't talk about it really....but it is true.So have fun watching!It airs the same night as big bro...so this should be quiteinteresting!LUV YOU ALLali
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey guys. the Ali/Donny on TAR is not a hoax. It's definite, I got first hand info. I went to U of Pitt. And Puddin, i think you are the only person that liked her unless like many others you dont really know her.
Allison was ok, until she started crying about not going to have a bf after she got out of the house, and she was ALWAYS flirting with Nate or someone! That is what made me not like her!
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What's there to do in Jamestown?
The other day I overheard a teenager complaining to his parent that he was bored – there was simply nothing to do in Jamestown.
If only we could roll back the years. I know that I could find plenty to do with a free summer to play on the island.
• Going fishing. The waters are teaming with fish around Jamestown. Ask Greg Zeek at Zeek's Creek. He can tell you where to find them.
• Read a book or a magazine at the Jamestown Philomenian Library.
• Go sailing. Surely someone you know has a sailboat!
• Go skateboarding at the town skateboard park on Lawn Avenue.
• Visit the aquarium at the Beavertail Lighthouse and explore a few of the tidal pools on the rocks.
• While you are at the Beavertail Lighthouse, visit the museum.
• Play a round of nine holes at the Jamestown Golf Course.
• Take a bicycle ride around the island. Or go roller blading. Or go for a run.
• Fly a kite at Beavertail State Park or at Fort Wetherill State Park.
• Go birding at the Conanicut Island Sanctuary.
• Play basketball at the recreation center.
• Go for a swim at Mackerel Cove Town Beach.
• Visit Watson Farm. See the livestock and hike along the upper pastures.
• Speaking of hiking, take in a long hike at one of the many parks on the island.
• Swing at the Jamestown playground next to the library.
• Go kayaking or paddleboarding.
• Visit the Jamestown Museum.
• See the Native American artifacts at the Jamestown library.
• Take a class at the Jamestown Arts Center.
I'm sure there's more that I've left off. But this list of island-oriented activities is certainly a place to start. Don't be bored. Enjoy the summer and have fun!
— Jeff McDonough


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Cristi Tannnnnerrrr @ExampleButter 4minSo the amazing race is being filmed in Curaçao and the participants are staying at my hotel #CoolAsking for more info.
25 and 33 are in front of Kite Beach Hotel.
I have no idea if this fits in at all with the route.. just thought I'd post it here and see.http://www.dr1.com/forums/north-coast/135097-amazing-race-cabarete.html
Caps 20, 27, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 42, 44, 45 and 46 probably are the 27 Charcos of Damajagua (27 pools of Damajagua), 10 kilometers distance from Puerto Plata.Pics of the place in this blog:http://livingoncaicos.blogspot.com.ar/2010_04_01_archive.html
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A talented defender that represented Canada at the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Daniel Stanese joined Whitecaps FC Residency on Sept. 7, 2010, after spending 10 seasons with Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club.
2012: Stanese made his MLS Reserve League debut as a second-half substitute for Whitecaps FC reserves, as they won 2-1 at Portland Timbers reserves on May 27.
2011: Stanese made 11 appearances during his first PDL season with Whitecaps FC Residency, as they finished third in the Northwest Division of the PDL's Western Conference. The defender made his PDL debut during the 2-0 home defeat to Kitsap Pumas on May 1. He then assisted on Long Tan's spectacular winner during the 2-1 home win over British Columbia rivals Victoria Highlanders FC on June 5.
2010-11: In his first year in the Residency program, Stanese started all six matches of the Residency team's tour of Mexico in Nov. 2010. This included matches versus both the U-18 (Nov. 10) and the U-19/U-20 (Nov. 16) sides of Mexican Primera Division club Estudiantes Tecos, as well as the U-18 side of Mexican Primera Division outfit Atlas de Guadalajara (Nov. 14). The defender then started all three Bracket C matches in the U-19 Super Group of Dallas Cup XXXII. This included the 3-2 win over Brazil's Sport Club Corinthians Paulista (Apr. 17, 2011), the 2-0 defeat to Mexico's Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Tigres UANL) (Apr. 18, 2011), and the 2-0 defeat to Real Salt Lake U-17/U-18 Academy (Apr. 20, 2011).
U-20: In Dec. 2011, Stanese was one of five Whitecaps FC Residency players to be called up by former Whitecaps FC player and assistant coach Nick Dasovic to a 10-day training camp with Canada's U-20 national team in Sunrise, Florida. U-17: Stanese led Canada's U-17 national team to a runners-up finish at the 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and with it, qualification to the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. The defender appeared in all five matches at Jamaica 2011, with Canada making their first U-17 World Cup since 1995 in Ecuador. At Mexico 2011, Stanese started two Group C matches for Canada U-17's. This included a 3-0 defeat to U-17 World Cup finalists Uruguay (June 19, 2011) and a 2-2 draw with England (June 22, 2011). As a result, Canada missed out on the 'Round of 16' at Mexico 2011 after finishing third in Group C.
Stanese spent most of his youth career with Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club, where he captained the club's teams to many significant achievements. This included a stellar 2006-07 campaign, where he led his Metro-Ford side to a league championship, as well as victory in the Westminster District 'B' Cup. 2008 was also a successful season for the defender, as Stanese was part of three runners-up finishes in the Puma Pacific Coast, Metro-Ford Labour Day, and British Columbia Coastal Cup tournaments. He also trained at the Roman Tulis European Soccer School of Excellence in Coquitlam, BC, where he featured for the side that won the 2007 Dana Cup in Frederickshaven, Denmark, and claimed a third-place finish at the prestigious Gothia Cup tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden. In addition to his club and academy experience, Stanese was also an essential member of the BC provincial team program from 2008 to 2010. The defender captained his home province to a third-place finish at the 2010 Canadian U-16 All-Star Championship in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Between 2007 and 2010, Stanese was also a member of the Canadian Soccer Association's National Training Centre (British Columbia region) program.
Born in the New York City borough of Queens, and raised in Pitt Meadows, BC, Stanese holds dual American and Canadian citizenship. His parents are Georgeta and Sorin Stanese. As a student in Pitt Meadows, BC, the defender attended Highland Park Elementary School and Pitt Meadows Secondary School.
When not concentrating on his soccer career, Stanese enjoys listening to music.


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Undead Attackers - tymon555
Gorgar and the Bone Beast gang on Apollyon, who loses 1 hp. The spear skeletons fail to do any damage.
Elven Reinforcements - Alex
Valeera flies up, then swoops down on her gryphon.
While the Angel of Death counters the aerial charge, it only manages to kill the gryphon.
Valeera successfully lands after striking (-1 hp, lost flight).
Dawnriders switch to their swords and deal damage to the other AoD. (-1 hp)
Silver spears march forward and kill 2 skeletons. The spellcaster fails to cast a spell.
Elven Defenders - Falk
Mosshide summons wind again to toss away the other flying AoD.
Remaining amazon and centaurette units attack Gorgar but without any success.
The archers on the other hand land a perfect hail of arrows, dealing damage to Gorgar (-1 hp).
Apollyon kills a skeleton.
Then swiftly he picks up its spear...
... and jabs it right into the BB's eye! (Bone Beast is now blind: at the start of the round it has to roll whether it's able to find the enemy, otherwise it'll always attack the nearest unit, friend or foe alike)
Undead Reinforcements - Stormblessed/Runswithlegos
The AoD rolls an epic charge as it lands a crushing blow on Mosshide (-1 hp).
The crippled AoD slays a dawnrider.
Ghost advance closer to the fight.
Overwatch and kills:
Falk - 6
tymon555 - 7
Apollyon - 2
Alex - 5
Stormblessed/RWL - 2
Send orders for turn 5!


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Dr. Gerard J. Abood, surgeon, Loyola University Health System
Dr. Gerard J. Abood, a gastrointestinal oncology surgeon, has joined to Loyola University Health System. He also is an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. His medical interests include surgical oncology for the treatment of cancer in the esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, bile duct, small bowel and colon as well as laparoscopy and robot-assisted surgery for GI malignancy. He earned his medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. He completed his residency in general surgery as well as a research fellowship in tumor biology at Loyola University Medical Center. He completed his fellowship training in surgical oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with a special focus in minimally invasive approaches to complex GI malignancy.
Copyright © 2018, Sun Sentinel


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A debt-ridden man who tried to sort out his financial problems by growing cannabis at his Halifax home has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Judge Jonathan Rose told 38-year-old Andrew Dempsey that suspending his 14-month prison sentence for two years was the only chance he would ever get and he faced going to jail for breaching any terms of the order.
Prosecutor Heather Weir told Bradford Crown Court how police officers acting on information went to Dempsey's property at Fairfax Crescent in January and noticed a strong smell of cannabis.
During their visit they discovered 15 plants growing in the loft of the semi-detached property and a further 15 plants in an out-building in the garden.
Mrs Weir said the electricity meter had been by-passed and the plants were being grown using high-powered lighting and other equipment.
Dempsey, who had no previous convictions, told police immediately that he had been growing the cannabis to sell to friends so he could make a bit of money.
The court heard that the plants seized could have produced cannabis which would have had a street value of just over £11,500.
Dempsey told police that he had bought the equipment second-hand off the internet and had also got information about how to grow the cannabis.
He even admitted that he had tried to grow cannabis about four years earlier but he had ripped out that crop after a neighbour saw what was happening.
Dempsey, of Woodbrook Road, Mixenden, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and in addition to the suspended prison sentence Judge Rose ordered him to do 220 hours of unpaid work for the community.
The judge was told that Dempsey had been in work for 19 years and his offending had been out of character.
His barrister Helen Chapman said Dempsey had made a stupid and impulsive decision to grow the drugs after being turned down for a bank loan.
She said he had now sorted out a debt repayment plan and his former matrimonial home had been sold.
Judge Rose told Dempsey that he appreciated the difficulties that caused him to embark on the enterprise, but it didn't excuse his offending.


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Anna & Jamie
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To place an order, click on the image and choose from the dropdown menu, or if viewing the slideshow click "Place Order". You will have the option to order more than one item should you wish to do so. You can also order the same image in different sizes using the "View Order Options" link.
For couples making their Wedding Package selections the image reference can be found in the top right-hand corner of each page, or you can use the favourites option.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best wishes
Phil and Kate
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Connecting Asia and Europe
As FedEx continues to expand and grow in Europe, we have improved the FedEx network --- both the business infrastructure and people network --- throughout the past years. FedEx EuroOne™ network now provides an outstanding footprint and connectivity, which gives Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) more control and reliability for their international express shipments between Europe and Asia.
Extensive Ground and Air Network
Since 2012, we have more than doubled the number of stations across Europe, bringing the number to 90. The existing stations have expanded their service offering to better meet increasing customer demand. We have also expanded our air routes between Europe and Asia, so that customers benefit from faster connections and additional capacities, including direct round-trip flights between Paris and Hong Kong.
With every new station opening and new flight point, we have introduced significant service improvements for our European customers, from faster shipping times to later cut-off points to greater access to the Asia Pacific region.
Technological Solutions
With its highly efficient state-of-the-art facilities, FedEx provides shipment tracking for every leg of the journey, giving you complete peace of mind. Through its partnership with EU customs, customers can take advantage of pre-customs clearance for Asia-to-Europe shipments, resulting in faster customs processing once the shipment reaches its final destination.
Local Expertise
When you are shipping a package to Europe, FedEx offers local expertise not only from where you are shipping, but also to your shipment's final destination. The entire network is supported by a team of more than 15,000, all with years of experience providing outstanding service to manage every step of your shipment's journey.
Innovative Solutions
Our FedEx innovations have led to new solutions and advanced technology for shipments between Europe and Asia.
- FedEx Priority AlertTM combines priority boarding with advanced shipment monitoring, pro-active notification, as well as shipment recovery through transit re-routing and expediting.
- SenseAwareSM combines a powerful web-based application with an advanced multi-sensor device, to be used for monitoring the temperature of critical healthcare shipments or as a security device for high-value shipments.


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Did you read today's front page stories & breaking news?
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From the Wires
State of Tennessee and Puget Sound Health Alliance Honored by NBCH for Value-Based Purchasing Leadership
By: PR Newswire
Nov. 14, 2012 09:44 AM
Awards recognize efforts to improve health and health care
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The State of Tennessee was presented with the Employer Excellence in Value-Based Purchasing Award and the Puget Sound Health Alliance received the Value-Based Purchasing Membership Award today at the National Business Coalition on Health's (NBCH) annual conference. The recipients were recognized for their leadership and efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of the health care delivery system, control health care expenditures at the community level and improve the health of employees.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111005/DC81080LOGO)
The State of Tennessee received the Employer Excellence in Value-Based Purchasing Award sponsored by Ethicon Endo-Surgery and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems. The State provides health insurance benefits for 270,000 public sector employees, retirees and their dependents. Through 2010 the State had traditionally offered three separate plans with no major benefit changes. With health care cost increases, finite resources and a growing population health risk burden, a change was required to preserve health benefits.
Tennessee's new benefits program expected to save over $1 billion
"I want to thank NBCH and Tennessee's two business coalitions for recognizing the State's efforts and in partnering with us to lead these market changes," said Mark Emkes, Commissioner of Finance and Administration for the State of Tennessee. "Change isn't easy, even if it's necessary, and anyone can do the math to design a new benefit. Our challenge was to create a benefit design that matched the unique needs of our population and to get everyone on board. The health plan changes we introduced in 2011 provide a framework that holds all stakeholders – providers, members and contractors – accountable for outcomes that help preserve this important benefit for public sector employees and their families."
The State of Tennessee works with two NBCH member coalitions to look for and implement additional opportunities engaging members and holding health plans accountable including participation in eValue8 and the National Diabetes Prevention Program. Gaye Fortner, President and CEO of HealthCare 21 Business Coalition and Cristie Travis, CEO of the Memphis Business Group on Health, are proud to recognize the State for a strong commitment to their workforce to provide high quality health benefits while creating an innovative approach to engage employees in their health.
"The State is honored to receive this award and to have the benefits team be recognized for their exemplary efforts in offering value based benefits to our workforce," said Rebecca Hunter, Commissioner of Human Resources for the State of Tennessee and HealthCare 21 Business Coalition Board Chair. "They have developed a model that rewards choices resulting in improved health status as members agree to take responsibility to engage in their health and health care decisions and, in return, pay lower premiums and have lower cost-sharing."
Puget Sound Health Alliance focused on improving quality and costs
The Puget Sound Health Alliance is leading numerous public reporting and value-based purchasing initiatives. A key goal for the Alliance is that by 2017, regional physicians, other providers and hospitals perform in the top 10 percent nationally in the delivery of quality, evidence-based care and reduction of unwarranted variation, resulting in a significant reduction in medical cost trends.
"The Alliance is committed to working with purchasers to implement innovations that will lead to high-value, high-quality care for their employees and members," said Mary McWilliams, executive director of the Alliance. "Our foundational competency is performance measurement and reporting, which provides our members with the data that they need to make informed decisions about benefit and network designs. We're honored to receive this award from NBCH and look forward to expanding our work to further the efforts of our members to improve quality and cost in the region."
A cornerstone of the Alliance work is the Community Checkup, a regional report to the public comparing the performance of clinics and hospitals for basic measures of quality care in the Puget Sound area.
About the National Business Coalition on Health
SOURCE National Business Coalition on Health
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I'm no stranger to banana bread scones! I made a version of them last year that my banana-loving heart hasn't been able to forget.
So when a bunch of ripe bananas begged me to bake with them it was completely natural for me to create a new version. One with chocolate chips to speckle the batter and a peanut butter glaze. A magical trio. A trio that shows up again and again in my baking and is always a hit.
These have a subtle banana flavor with just the right amount of peanut butter to not be overwhelming. With the craggy texture of a scone and all the goodness of banana bread they are the perfect little treats.
Delectable banana bread scones speckled with chocolate chips and covered in a peanut butter glaze.
- Mash the bananas and if needed add enough milk to make one cup. Stir in the milk, yogurt and vanilla extract.
- In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together. Cut the butter into pieces and cut it into the dry ingredients using a fork, pastry cutter, or your finger tips until there are no pieces of butter larger than a pea.
- Add the banana mixture to the flour and stir just enough to incorporate all of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Line a dinner plate with a piece of parchment paper and turn the dough out on top. Pat it into a disk about 1-inch thick and cover with another piece of parchment paper. Put in freezer for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and invert the scones onto the baking sheet, peeling off the second layer of parchment paper.
- Slice the scones into eight wedges and pull them apart a little to give them some room to expand. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the scones are firm to the touch and golden-brown around the edges.
- Cool completely and cut apart any scones that baked together.
- In a medium bowl whisk the peanut butter, milk and vanilla together until creamy. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar until smooth. Dollop over top of the scones by the spoonful and spread it out with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle with walnuts.
Adapted from The Kitchn
Copyright ©2013 Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice by Reeni Pisano All Rights Reserved.


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BEIJING (AP) — Suntech, one of the world's biggest solar panel manufacturers, said Monday it had defaulted on a $541 million bond payment in the latest sign of the financial squeeze on the struggling global solar industry.
Suntech Power Holdings Ltd.'s announcement was a severe setback for a company lauded by China's communist government as a leader of efforts to make this country a center of the renewable energy industry. Its founder, Shi Zhengrong, became one of the industry's most prominent entrepreneurs and a billionaire, only to see most of his fortune evaporate as the company's share price plummeted.
The company is "exploring strategic alternatives with lenders and potential investors," David King, who replaced Shi as a CEO last year, said in a statement.
Suntech was due to make a $541 million bond payment on Friday but ran short of cash following heavy losses over the past year.
The company said it reached agreement with holders of 60 percent of the bonds to postpone payment but Monday's announcement said the bonds' trustee had declared a default. It said that triggered defaults on other debts to the International Finance Corp. and Chinese lenders.
China's solar producers have been battered by a glut of supply in the market brought on by their own government's efforts to promote the industry.
Lured by tax breaks and subsidies, hundreds of small Chinese producers piled into the industry and new arrivals were springing up as late as 2011, when weak demand and a glut of supply forced producers to slash prices.
Other major Chinese producers including Yingli Green Energy Ltd., LDK Solar Co. and Trina Solar Ltd. have reported heavy losses. That has prompted expectations the government will intervene and force companies to merge or shut down.
Prices of polysilicon wafers used to make solar cells plunged by 73 percent from 2010 to last year. The price of cells fell by 68 percent and that of modules by 57 percent.
Major manufacturers amassed debts of $17.5 billion, according to Maxim Group, a research firm in New York City.
Forbes magazine estimated Shi's fortune at $2.9 billion at its peak in 2008. It said last year that had tumbled to about $500 million as Suntech's share price plunged.


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Sat 23rd Feb 2008 23:03 UTC, submitted by michuk
"KDE 4.1 will be what everyone expected 4.0 to be - a fully functional revolutionary Linux desktop. I took a look at the revision 777000 of this desktop environment and what you get is a visual changelog describing the current progress in terms of look and feel and the features." It has
Bejeweled KDiamond? I'm sold.


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"Credit When It's Due" to Bolster Arkansas' college completion efforts
(LITTLE ROCK) - With a goal set by Gov. Mike Beebe to double the number of college graduatesin Arkansas by 2025, the state took another step towards that goal today by announcing an initiative to award more associate degrees to students who have completed the relevant coursework.
Shane Broadway, interim director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and Dr. Ed Franklin, president of the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, announced the "Credit When It's Due" initiative, a partnership between the 22 two-year colleges and all 11 four-year public universities, to award associate degrees to students who have earned the required credentials after transferring to a four-year university. The project will be funded by a $500,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation.
"Credit When It's Due, also known as reverse transfer in the higher education community, is a higher education partnership to significantly increase associate degrees awarded to transfer students when they complete the requirement for the two-year degree while pursuing a bachelor's degree," Broadway said.
"In Arkansas, 45 percent who transfer from a two-year college to a four-year university never complete the bachelor degree program, yet have 60 degree eligible hours. So on paper, these Arkansans look as though they only graduated high school," Franklin said. "This campaign is about recognizing the value of an associate degree, and recognition for what has already been achieved."
Franklin announced that the Arkansas Research Center is gathering student data from higher education institutions and will notify the awarding institution of the students' status for credentials. He referred to research recently conducted by the Arkansas Research Center in Conway that shows students who complete even a few college courses will make more money than if they never went to college, but getting the degree is worth even more.
"It's never too late to earn a degree," Franklin said.
To be eligible for an Arkansas Credit When It's Due associate degree, a student must have transferred from an Arkansas public two-year college to an Arkansas public four-year university in the fall of 2008, and subsequently earned enough combined college credit hours to meet the state requirements for an associate of arts degree. This is according to the grant guidelines of the University of Illinois-Office of Community College Research and Leadership, the 12-state project manager. Arkansas has plans to add additional enrollment years in the future.
"This is just another strategy to improve Arkansas' competitiveness in a global economy, by creating more economic opportunities for our citizens," said Director Broadway. "This is one more way to reach out and close the deal for those who aspire to earn a higher education degree."


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Predators Need Editors
Killer drones aren't robots. And to protect civilians, let's keep it that way.
Now that NATO is using unmanned aerial vehicles to destroy Libyan artillery—now that drones are a mainstream global weapon—it's time to clear up a misconception about them. Drones aren't robots. They're remotely piloted by humans. And our challenge is to keep it that way.
Critics of the Libya campaign call U.S. drones "death robots," "flying death robots," and "flying robots that vaporize people." Headlines speak of "Robots in the Air" and a "Robot War Over Libya." And check out the coverage of a new British report on unmanned weapons. The Daily Mail: "Rise of the machines: Unmanned aircraft are moving us towards a 'Terminator-like' world, says Ministry of Defence." The Telegraph: "Drone strikes herald 'Terminator-like reality', MoD warns." The Guardian: "The Terminators: drone strikes prompt MoD to ponder ethics of killer robots."
Some idiot in Slate called U.S. drone patrols in Pakistan a "robot proxy war" and now frets about "Terminators to Tripoli." Oh, wait—that's me.
The robot metaphor implies that drones reduce the human judgment that goes into each firing decision. The opposite is true. Drones increase our ability to scrutinize targets before we hit them. Our job is to exploit that ability.
The British report explains this paradox. It notes
the greater situational awareness provided by the sensors on a persistent unmanned aircraft that observes the battlespace for long, uninterrupted, periods which enables better decision making and more appropriate use of force. This is enhanced by the fact that the decision-maker is in the relatively stress-free environment of an air-conditioned cabin instead of in a fast jet cockpit.
In other words, a drone pilot can think more clearly and at greater length before firing, precisely because he isn't there.
In today's Washington Post, Walter Pincus highlights another way in which drones can increase human input. Summarizing a conference on unmanned air power at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Pincus reports:
Lt. Col. Bruce Black, program manager for the Air Force Predator and Reaper aircraft, noted that some 180 people are involved in each drone mission. The result, he said, is that "there is more ethical oversight involved with unmanned air vehicles than with manned aircraft." At the same conference, former CIA director Michael V. Hayden described how, with a Predator circling overhead, those involved in ordering use of its missiles from thousands of miles away can call up computer maps that show the potential effects of each weapon. Before any of the Hellfire missiles are launched, he said, the back-up team asks for the "the bug splat" of the attack—a readout of the impact the missile would have on its ground target. Nothing comparable can be done with ground-supporting manned aircraft, he said.
Everything these British and American officials say makes sense: Drones can give us more time, more composure, more eyes on the screen, and more voices in the weapon command and control chain to avoid civilian casualties. And that's exactly what's happening in Libya, according to a NATO statement issued Sunday:
NATO destroyed an SA-8 surface-to-air missile yesterday evening at 2040 GMT in Tripoli using the Predator Unmanned Aerial Surveillance weapon system. The operators of the Predator were able to detect a number of civilians playing football near the missile and firing was delayed until the people had dispersed.
But happy stories like this one assume we'll use drones to minimize mistakes. We might not. We might use them instead to replace human oversight. We might treat them, in short, as robots.
Britain's report says its defense ministry is "looking to increase levels of automation," in part "to make systems more effective in performing increasingly complex tasks," and in part "to make manpower savings—enabling one operator to oversee a number of unmanned systems simultaneously." The report notes:
An unmanned aircraft with an automated control system that is designed to reduce pilot workload, so that it is monitored rather than directly controlled, may well react rapidly to self-generated inputs, but the remote operator will be less aware of what the platform is doing on a real-time basis.
This is the real danger of drones: that we'll turn them into labor-saving devices. We'll take people out of the weapon control chain because they're expensive. We'll trade civilian safety for cost control.
But that tragedy hasn't happened yet. And nothing about drones makes it inevitable. The menace at the heart of the unmanned weapons revolution isn't robots. It's us.
(Readings I recommend: David Ignatius opposes drones in Libya because they've " become for many Muslims a symbol of the arrogance of U.S. power." Glenn Greenwald says if we use drones to target Libya's leaders, we're violating Obama's promise not to seek regime change. Kenneth Anderson at the Volokh Conspiracy thinks the drones will be used to distinguish enemy combatants from civilians—and can do this better than jet pilots can. Steven Metz argues that drones will serve NATO's initial mission in Libya, not expand it. Adam Serwer at the Plum Line says drones will probably kill fewer civilians, but they signify " a long, open-ended involvement in Libya with no foreseeable endpoint." James Fallows doubts the U.S. has a plan beyond the drones.)
Like Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Human Nature's latest short takes on the news, via Twitter:


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TAUNTON — City police responded to eight heroin overdoses throughout the weekend, bringing Taunton's 2014 overdose tally to 95, according to the city's Department of Human Services.
Statistics released by the department show that heroin overdoses in Taunton this year have involved a comparable mix of men and women, ranging from 19 to 59 years old.
Three overdoses took place within a span of six and a half hours on Sunday night, including one case that involved an arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct at Morton Hospital, after a woman "flipped out" and demanded money from an overdose patient being treated in a bed at the hospital, Taunton police said.
Chayner Kelly, 35, of 50 Washington St., was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after an initial call for an overdose in the parking lot at CVS Pharmacy in downtown Taunton. Police said they arrived at the scene at 10 p.m. to find paramedics and firefighters, who had administered the overdose-reversing drug naloxone to a man who collapsed and stopped breathing at the location. When the man was revived, he demanded to know what was going on, arguing that he wasn't using heroin (the duo later admitted to each snorting a half gram of heroin), a police report said. But then he began experiencing difficulty breathing again and had to be "given breaths" by paramedics, who put him into an ambulance and brought him to Morton Hospital, the report said.
Taunton police said that the man who suffered the overdose has been a "common name and face" for the police department during the past several months, from previous calls for overdoses, domestic disturbances and other problems at houses such as 40 Tremont St., which police have described as a hotbed for heroin-related problems in recent months.
At the hospital, Kelly, who was also administered naloxone as a precaution, stormed into the room where the overdose victim was being treated and began screaming about money that belonged to her, according to police.
The man was put in a room with a teenage girl being treated in an adjacent bed, and the girl's mother had her daughter walk out and try to get another room because of the disruption. However, the hospital was "full" with some patients in beds in the hallway, police said. At one point, Kelly threatened to assault the man, police said.
A nurse demanded that she leave and police had to escort Kelly away, at which point, police said she began flailing and screaming in the emergency room lobby in front of everyone.
"She was throwing her body side to side in an attempt to break away from us and get to (him)" the report said. "She was demanding we let her back in there to get her money from (him). She was shouting profanity calling him a loser and a piece of (expletive). I was advising her she was going to be arrested if she did not stop yelling and keep moving."
After she planted her feet and started flailing around, police attempted to arrest Kelly, but she put her arms inside several sweatshirts to make it difficult for the officer to handcuff her, continuing to scream, swear and threaten a lawsuit.
"As I looked around the ER as we escorted her through the door I took note of all the staff and patients looking on at her with a look of disgust and horror," the report said.
No one died this weekend from a heroin overdose, police said. So far this year, city police have investigated seven fatal overdoses.


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It may not be played at Yankee Stadium and it may not have a championship on the line, but Saturday's 151st edition of the Lafayette-Lehigh football rivalry will be special.
It always is.
Along with the Easton-Phillipsburg game that will follow five days later, Lafayette-Lehigh is one of the best-attended events on the Lehigh Valley sports calendar.
This year's game, set to begin shortly after 12:30 at Lehigh's Goodman Stadium, will get its lion's share of TV and radio coverage.
Last year, the game was broadcast by the CBS Sports Network and was a little hard to find, depending on your cable system.
There are several options for this...


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Whether you've been a devoted Twihard or made fun of all the Edward-swooning people lining up for tickets, you have to acknowledge that the success of the Twilight saga has been a major boon for authors of young adult novels, with similarly supernatural or sci-fi stories getting snapped up for their own movie adaptations. Between Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games, movies based on novels for young adults are about as big as it gets in movies these days, and every Hollywood studio is working hard to make their own franchise that's just as big a hit.
No matter how you feel about sparkly vampires, there's something in literature aimed at young adults for everyone, and there's at least one movie coming up that will fit your taste. So with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 closing out the mega-series, we're looking ahead to 10 more movies and the books that inspired them. Pick up any of these titles and be ahead of the game when the next big thing hits Hollywood.
Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Warm Bodies follows R, a zombie living with other zombies at an airport in a post-apocalyptic world where people are in hiding (or become food). When R encounters a living girl named Julie during a routine hunt, he decides to protect her rather than eat her, and so begins the start of an unlikely romance.
The plot sounds a little ridiculous, but it really isn't Twilight with zombies. Marion approaches the story with humor, easing us into R's mindset and building up to the character's slow awakening as he begins to fall for Julie, and she for him. It's less a romance as it is the story of two people who find each other at just the right time in their lives (or in R's case, his un-death), and their growing connection could be the start of something huge for humanity, which is on its last legs.
THE MOVIE VERSION: Jonathan Levine, who previously made the coming-of-age film The Wackness and the dramedy 50/50, shot the film late last year, with Nicholas Hoult starring as R and Teresa Palmer as Julie. Recent glimpses at the trailer and the poster-- both of which you can check out here-- reveal that the movie has held onto the book's dark sense of humor. Warm Bodies is set for release February 1, 2013.


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Sunday School – 10:00 am
Worship Service – 11:00 am
Bible Study – 12:00 pm
12859 Martin Road Spur
Northport, AL 35473
Who We Are:
Thank you for visiting the SGBCNorthport website. We are thankful that you are interested in our congregation.
SGBCNorthport is an assembly of believers with a heart for the ministry of Jesus. Our desire is to follow His direction, which is revealed to us as His Spirit guides us through His Word. The aim of our church is to follow the Bible exclusively. No creed, covenant, confession of faith or historical tradition will guide our church. Our cry is "Sola Scriptura" – by Scripture alone.
We are a church that has a love for people. Our desire is that you would visit here so we can extend Christian hospitality to you. The true objective of SGBCNorthport is to share the truths of God's Word with all who visit. We want to be used by God to equip His people to serve Him.
Within the people at SGBCNorthport is a heart of worship. Through the singing of praises to Him and the preaching of His Word, we desire to lift up the One Who saved us – the One Who is worthy of our worship and praise.
Please accept this invitation to join us soon. Sunday School begins at 10:00. We have a children's class, a younger adult class and an adult class. Worship begins at 11:00. Rather than an evening service, we have a Bible Study at 12:15, which is generally the study of a Biblical book.
We hope to see you soon!


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Financial Therapist Delivers Reality Check
February 05, 2010
Brian Farr joined the fray in the pits of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1977, shouting and gesturing to make his bids and offers on financial futures. A member of the Board of Trade and a broker at 23, he felt at ease in the frenzied world of commodities trading.
"I was fortunate to make good money, which offered me a degree of financial security and freedom," he says. "I also got a glimpse into the lives of some very wealthy people. Other than a few extra zeroes attached to their portfolios, they had many of the same problems as everyone else."
After his nine-year stint in Chicago, he purchased and managed a San Francisco personnel agency, which he sold for a profit to a regional firm in 1993. He then moved to Oregon and cofounded a successful investment management firm. But something was missing.
"By 1999, I realized I was more interested in people's relationships with money than with their rates of return," he says.
Farr went back to school and earned a master's degree in counseling psychology from Lewis & Clark's Graduate School of Education and Counseling. He worked in public mental health agencies, and then opened his own counseling practice, specializing in financial therapy.
At his office in downtown Portland, Farr counsels both individuals and couples. To begin to get a clear picture of clients' relationship with money, he asks them to write down every dollar they spend for two to four weeks. He finds that some are spenders, and some are savers. Spending habits, in particular, are frequently fraught with assumptions and miscommunications.
"Money can be a proxy for power in relationships. It's also related to self-esteem issues," he says. "Most people don't grow up in families where finances are talked about openly. They arrive in adulthood without having seen money management modeled in a healthy way."
Farr's new clients fill out a financial balance sheet, a snapshot of their monthly income and expenses, and take a self-test for financial troubles, all available for free on his website.
"Americans have more secrets in their wallets than they do in their bedrooms," he says. "There's an entire population out there, 20to 40-year-olds, who grew up with increasing affluence and are now having to adjust their expectations."
When the economy tanked and real estate values tumbled, so did creative financing options.
"People got away with sloppy financial habits because they could refinance their homes every three to five years to pay off credit card debt," he says. "In the past five years, the financial therapy portion of my practice has increased from 10 percent to 60 percent."
Some of Farr's clients arrive at his office knowing something is amiss, but need help sorting out the details. Others, often referred by local counselors, come to the first session ready to tackle their financial problems head on.
"Some couples are truly fond of each other. They have a good relationship, but deal with money in a don't-ask-don't-tell silence or live in a financial battle zone," says Farr. "I feel blessed when I can help them open up, tell the truth, and develop successful financial strategies. It strengthens their partnership, romantic relationship, and parenting skills."
When it comes to his own style, Farr considers himself a saver. His wife, Jeanne, he says, is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, leaning toward the spender side. Early on in their relationship, Farr included conversations about finances as part of their getting-to-know-you courting ritual.
"Lucky for me, she was open to it," he says. "Having the right tools doesn't insulate us from stress, but it allows us to have difficult conversations about finances that ultimately bring clarity."
—by Pattie Pace


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The underwater volcanic eruption off El Hierro Island continues four months after it began.
Collected on February 10, 2012, this natural color satellite image shows the site of the eruption, near the fishing village of La Restinga. The beautiful aquamarine water indicates high concentrations of volcanic material. Right above the vent a patch of brown water can resemble a turbulent hot tub when the eruption is strongest.
This image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. The eruption is just off the southern coast of El Hierro, the youngest of the Canary Islands. El Hierro is about 460 kilometers (290 miles) west of the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara.
According to El Hierro Digital measurements of the sea floor by the Instituto Oceanográfico Español showed that the volcano's summit is now only 120 meters (390 feet) beneath the ocean surface—10 meters (30 feet) higher than it was in mid January. The height of the erupting cone is about 210 meters (690 feet) from the former ocean bottom, with a total volume over 145 million cubic meters (512 million cubic feet) of new material.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data. Caption by Robert Simmon.


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Bollywood Debuts of these popular TV stars did not really make a mark.
Its celebration time for the leading channel Colors as it successfully ...
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Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was defiant in his assessment of Samir Nasri's dismissal against Norwich City, insisting "it was not a red card".
The midfielder was given his marching orders just before halftime after appearing to headbutt Canaries defender Sebastien Bassong following a strong tackle by the latter.
Nasri will now serve a three-match ban – unless the club protests the red card - which includes the trip to former side Arsenal on Jan. 13, but Mancini was adamant the Frenchman was innocent.
"It was not a red card. It was not a red card," he told Sky Sports News. "I can't understand why the linesman told the referee it was a red card. Samir did nothing.
"It changed the game. We would have won the game no problem, but with 10 players it was difficult. Norwich is a good team.
"But today we showed that we are there for the title because we [showed] fight."
City was two goals to the good after just four minutes thanks to a double from Edin Dzeko, but a resilient Norwich side battled throughout before eventually succumbing to a 4-3 defeat.
Mancini was pleased to get back to winning ways after the 1-0 loss to Sunderland, but reiterated his belief his team deserved all three points on Boxing Day before dismissing the seven-point gap between themselves and title rival Manchester United.
"We played well and deserved to win [against Sunderland], we just failed to score. It is like that every year at Sunderland, we have 21, 22, 23 chances to score, and we don't score. But, that is in the past. We won today," he said.
"It is not important to look at the table. We just need to work, win and win many games in the row. Then we can look at the table in February."


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This is my own work. It is an article I originally wrote for my About.com site on Internet / Network Security. Part of the article is included below as well as a link to the original at About.com which has links to other sites and resources on the subject:
Full Article: Introduction to Wireless Network SecurityIt wasnt too long ago that computers were a luxury rather than a necessity. Only the lucky and the wealthy had even one in their home and a network was something reserved for large corporations.
Fast forward a decade or so and everyone has to have their own computer. There is one for the parents (sometimes two if the parents cant share nice) and one or more for the kids to use for homework and games. Home users have gone from no Internet access to 9600 kbps dial-up Internet access beyond 56 kbps dial-up access and are moving on to broadband connections to rival or match the T1 connections they relish at work.
As the Internet and the World Wide Web have exploded into our culture and are replacing other media forms for people to find news, weather, sports, recipes, yellow pages and a million other things, the new struggle is not only for time on the computer at home, but for time on the Internet connection.
The hardware and software vendors have come forth with a variety of solutions allowing home users to share one Internet connection among two or more computers. They all have one thing in common though- the computers must somehow be networked.
To connect your computers together has traditionally involved having some physical medium running between them. It could be phone wire, coaxial cable or the ubiquitous CAT5 cable. Recently hardware has been introduced that even lets home users network computers through the electrical wiring. But, one of the easiest and least messy ways to network computers throughout your home is to use wireless technology.
It is a fairly simple setup. The Internet connection comes in from your provider and is connected to a wireless access point or router which broadcasts the signal. You connect wireless antenna network cards to your computers to receive that signal and talk back to the wireless access point and you are in business.
The problem with having the signal broadcast though is that it is difficult to contain where that signal may travel. If it can get from upstairs to your office in the basement then it can also go that same 100 feet to your neighbors living room. Or, a hacker searching for insecure wireless connections can get into your systems from a car parked on the street.
That doesnt mean you shouldnt use wireless networking. You just have to be smart about it and take some basic precautions to make it more difficult for curiosity seekers to get into your personal information. The next section contains some simple steps you can take to secure your wireless network.


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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man is accused of trying to settle an argument about noise by shooting his neighbor with a flare gun, setting his jacket on fire.
The Providence Journal reports (http://bit.ly/W2udOE ) that Mark Hitchner was arrested after he shot 59-year-old Joseph Motta in the neck with the gun.
The 49-year-old Hitchner told police he yelled at Motta about noise coming from his Providence apartment Monday evening. Police say Motta told Hitchner to "bring it on" and followed him into his apartment where Hitchner pulled out the flare gun.
Motta declined medical treatment.
Hitchner is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. A phone number could not be found for Hitchner and it was not known if he's represented by a lawyer.
Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com


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Microsoft Corp. is turning to an unlikely ally to boost its presence in mobile phones: archrival Google Inc.
Nokia Corp. NOK, +1.26% FI:NOK1V plans to introduce a smartphone powered by a version of Google-backed GOOG, +0.78% Android mobile software this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Nokia engineers had been developing the Android phone before Microsoft MSFT, +0.15% struck a 5.4 billion euro ($7.4 billion) deal last September to buy Nokia's handset business and license the Finnish company's patents. It hasn't been clear before now whether Nokia would move ahead with the Android handset, expected to be introduced at the Mobile World Congress industry trade show starting Feb. 24.
The decision to release the Android device underscores how badly Microsoft and Nokia each miscalculated in the mobile market. For technical reasons, Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system doesn't yet work on the low-cost smartphones that have become big sources of growth, particularly in emerging markets.
At least for now, Microsoft appears willing to outsource part of its phone lineup to Android to boost volumes and support its handset-manufacturing operation. Higher sales would help cover the high cost of competing in a smartphone industry dominated by Google, Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.52% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930, -0.34% according to people familiar with the matter.
At the same time, Microsoft will focus attention on Windows Phone devices to better compete with pricier smartphones such as Apple's iPhones or Samsung's Galaxy lines.
The Nokia phones will differ from most other Android smartphones, and won't access some Google-developed features or Android apps from the Google Play storefront, said the people familiar with the matter.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Yellen stresses continued low-rate policy
Scary 1929 market chart gains traction
Bill Gates on his new job at Microsoft
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Content Management & Social Media
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Uploading multimedia content across multiple channels has never been easier. With templates and timeframes the content management system is a breeze, while SEO/SMO tools ensure you're fully optimised for social networks and search engines. And you'll never duplicate effort or miss deadlines with our workflow module.
Want your community to contribute? Then make it simple – even for non-technical users. SITEFORUM is hosted in the cloud so authorised editors can securely create or post to blogs and wiki's wherever and whenever they want, while followers can rate and add comments.
With half a billion people on Facebook, 200 million on Twitter, and You Tube serving more than 2 billion videos a day, you're going to want to share your content and extend your influence. And you'll want to do so automatically, instantly, and through you own secure, branded portal. Guess what…!
You've optimised your website for search but you want to be proactive too. A key element of our Social Business Suite is its direct marketing functionality. Simply connect with your customer database to deliver highly targeted, impactful and completely trackable campaigns.
< Social Networking and Community
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© by SITEFORUM - Smart Up Your Business


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We gave you a taster of the Television X 'Royal Romp' earlier today and here are some really hot pictures of the main star, Pornstar Megan Coxxx:
Pornstar Megan Coxxx plays Kate Middleton is the Royal Romp, which is Television X's porno version of the royal wedding, you can watch it online now on televisionx.com.
I can't get over how much Megan looks like the real Princess Kate!
Congratulations to William and Kate from everyone at RedTube. If you ever fancy making a real royal porno, you know we are always here for you at RedTube!
Allan Lake
Your RedTube Blog Host
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City of Grand Forks, NDHome Sitemap Contact
Get my Utility Bill by E-mail
In an effort to provide customers convenience and the opportunity to go green, the City of Grand Forks is offering email delivery of Utility Bills.
Important Information:
Important Information:
- The bills will arrive as an email with an attachment on the first or second business day of the month.
- If you receive billing statements for multiple accounts, please contact Utility Billing at 746-2670.
- After you sign up for email statements you will receive an email confirmation within two business days.
- The verification and billing emails will originate from email@example.com or email@example.com.


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November 21. 2012 10:45PM
Black Friday? Try Furry Friday
By KATHY REMILLARD
Union Leader Correspondent
Mark Hayward's City Matters: Plenty to be thankful for
The Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire in Bedford and the Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter will join their retail counterparts on Black Friday, featuring a major sale on all adoptable animals that includes an early morning opening, doorbusters and special promotions.
In Bedford:
The ARL's doors will open at 6 a.m., and until 10 a.m., the league is offering free small animals and special pricing on cats and dogs.
During that time period, all cats ages 7 and up will be free, cats 6 months and older will be $25 and all kittens will be $50.
Senior dogs can be adopted for $25, with dogs older than 6 months $75 and puppies $150.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., all animals are 50 percent off.
There are currently 90 animals on site and ready to go, with an additional 62 still waiting to be cleared, said Danielle Snyder, director of adoptions.
At 10 a.m., a winner will be drawn for a $5,000 raffle. Ticket sales ended Tuesday evening.
Chief Development Officer Win Saltmarsh said with only 200 tickets printed, odds of winning are good.
"It's a great way for the League to raise funds to support the animals in our care," Saltmarsh said. "The odds of winning are 1 in 200. That is significantly better odds than any scratch ticket!"
The animal sales continue beyond Black Friday, with all black pets 50 percent off on Saturday and Sunday.
Christmas trees will also be available at the ARL, ranging in size from tabletop to nine feet.
Supporters can also get some holiday shopping done, as the ARL will have 2013 Cash Calendars available for sale, which feature pictures of different adopted rescue animals each month.
The calendar includes 15 chances to win $100 or $250 in raffle drawings throughout the year.
"Basically, we will operate as a one-stop shop on Black Friday," said Snyder.
She said the event proved to be successful last year, with about 70 animals finding good homes.
"That allowed us to clear space, so if someone has a need to surrender, we can take them sooner," she said.
According to Snyder, the wait time just to surrender an animal was two months at this time last year, and the event helped to eliminate that wait for the remainder of the season.
"We don't euthanize for time or space," Snyder said, and with a backlog of animals waiting to be adopted, the wait time increases.
In Manchester:
For those looking to adopt a homeless animal this holiday season, the Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter (FMAS) offers Special Black Friday Weekend Adoption Rates. The special rates will apply to cats over 6 months old and shelter dogs over 1 year old, from Friday, Nov. 23, through Monday, Nov. 26.
Cats older than 6 months will be available for a $20 adoption fee, regularly $85, and dogs older than a year will be available for a $97.50 adoption fee, regularly $195. All animals have been spayed or neutered, are up to date on vaccinations and are microchipped. Discounted adoption fees exclude kittens, puppies and transport dogs.
Currently, FMAS is home to nearly 150 animals who are waiting to meet their new families. There are another 60 homeless cats on a waiting list to receive shelter and medical care before they can begin their journey to a new home.
To view available animals, visit
or visit the shelter at 490 Dunbarton Road, Manchester. Black Friday weekend hours are Friday from noon to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from noon to 3 p.m., and Monday from noon to 4 p.m.
For more information on the Bedford Animal Rescue League animals, contact the Animal Rescue League of N.H. at 472-DOGS (3647) or log on to


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John Oliver has something new for his anchor desk: A Peabody Award.
The British-born host of HBO's satirical news program "Last Week Tonight" was among those cited Thursday as entertainment winners for the prestigious prizes, along with Comedy Central's "Inside Amy Schumer," the CW's "Jane the Virgin" and FX's "The Americans" and "Fargo."
Also on the list for the 74th Peabody Awards were the BBC drama "The Honorable Woman," Cinemax's historical drama "The Knick," Sundance TV's "Rectify" and "Black Mirror," an anthology drama from Britain's Channel 4.
The Peabodys -- awarded by the...


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Mini Blinds - Custom Aluminum & Vinyl Mini Blinds
- Aluminum or vinyl material choices
- Clean lines, sleek design & many colors
- Economy pick for a good value
- Strong durability and will not warp
- Family safe cordless and motorized options
Mini blinds are affordable yet durable window treatments. Also called venetian blinds, mini blinds are typically constructed from vinyl or aluminum. They are also easy to clean, long lasting, and provide excellent privacy. You can customize the slat size and color of your mini blinds along with several options for upgrades including cloth tapes, routeless slats for improved room darkening, cordless and motorized options.


text: Start A Revolution is a big epic sounding energetic track with British influences, rock and funk in the mix. Sounds like a mix between Prodigy and The Rolling Stones. Very upbeat and happy, with a killer groove. If you need positive energy and feel good enthusiasm, then this rocking track is for you! Would work well for upbeat trailer music, the end of a positive presentation, and lots of other places. Breaks and breakdowns, easily editable for your project.


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You are being redirected to Apple's internal jobs site.
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STOCKTON - It might not happen on the spot at today's court hearing, but a judge ultimately will rule that Stockton has made a good case for bankruptcy protection despite creditors' loud objections.
STOCKTON - It might not happen on the spot at today's court hearing, but a judge ultimately will rule that Stockton has made a good case for bankruptcy protection despite creditors' loud objections.
That's the belief of attorney Michael Sweet, who has been closely monitoring Stockton's Chapter 9 case.
"Certainly, the city should have done things differently one year ago or five years ago," Sweet said. "It didn't."
At today's hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein of Sacramento will lead a discussion on what to do next to resolve the question of Stockton's eligibility.
A short trial lasting a few days is likely in the city's future, said Sweet, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP.
Stockton filed on June 28, making it the nation's largest city to have sought Chapter 9 protection. Eight months later, the city has yet to overcome the first major hurdle - proving it is broke and did all it could to negotiate with creditors to avoid bankruptcy.
Before filing, Stockton engaged a long list of creditors in three months of mediation under a new state law called AB506. That forced Stockton to outline its finances and ask creditors to take losses on their investment into the city.
When that failed, city officials filed bankruptcy, arguing that under previous management, Stockton had overextended itself in debt and paid salaries and benefits that were too generous.
Its bookkeeping wasn't great either, City Manager Bob Deis has said.
Stockton's creditors, who stand to lose millions if Stockton prevails in bankruptcy, have mounted stiff challenges. Chief among them is Assured Guaranty Corp., which insured Stockton's bonds.
Assured Guaranty maintains that it is being asked to take a "hair cut," while the city didn't ask anything of California Public Employees' Retirement System, which manages the retirement pensions of city employees.
Stockton needs to tighten its belt and pay them in full rather than filing bankruptcy, Assured Guaranty further argues.
Sweet said that out of an abundance of caution, Judge Klein will likely set a trial to let the attorneys make their last-ditch arguments before making his ruling.
The trial will consist of attorneys cross-examining witnesses, Sweet said, adding that the city won't get its wish that Klein declare Stockton eligible for bankruptcy today.
"Given the weight of the issues," Sweet said, "I think it's unlikely that he just rules on it (immediately)."
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/smithblog.


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English actor and model Eddie Redmayne began his pursuit of a stage career at a young age. He nabbed his first stage appearance in the Sam Mendes production of Oliver!, in London's West End, but his first real professional gig came in 2002 when he played Viola in Twelfth Night at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was this role that really helped to launch his stage career.
In 2004, Redmayne won the prestigious Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award for his working in Edward Albee's play 'The Goat'. Similar successes followed and in 2009 he starred in John Logan's 'Red' at the Donmar Warehouse in London. This part earned him huge critical acclaim, and he took home an Oliver Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The play transferred to Broadway in 2010, and Eddie went on to win a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.
Alongside his stage career, Redmayne's notable film and TV projects include Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008), The Pillars of the Earth (2010), My Week with Marilyn (2011) and Hick (2011). He's currently working on the 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables, where he's signed on to play the character of Marius.
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By Kelly Bates
Our Country can take a simple idea and make it complex. I have a deep abiding respect for our founding fathers that came up with great ideas for how our country should run. But I also recognize they made some mistakes. Certainly making a slave three-fifths of a person in our constitution was one, and denying women the right to vote was another. But I take special issue with the obscure and quite bizarre Electoral College system that we use to elect Presidents.
In just one year, election campaigning will start in earnest for the 2012 Presidential election. It feels like yesterday when Obama and McCain were touting the slogans "Change we can believe in" and "Country first". Yet in the blink of an eye, a new Presidential season will be upon us.
The Massachusetts legislature is considering a bill that calls on our country to adopt a national popular vote system. Changing this system may prove difficult, but it's certainly not impossible and it's worthy of every voter's serious consideration.
The United States elects our President not by direct election where each voter casts a ballot and whoever gets the majority vote wins. That would be too easy and too democratic. Instead, each state has a number of electors equal to its total Congressional representation. Most states award all electors, usually state elected officials or party leaders, to the winner of the popular vote in their state, regardless of whether the winner was ahead by one vote or by millions. The founders didn't trust ordinary voters to make their own decisions. They were also concerned about the fate of smaller states that have smaller populations.
Because of this, Presidential candidates only campaign in the states that are equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, so called "battleground" states. More than 98% of all campaign events and spending take place in only 15 states. And Massachusetts isn't one of them. That is not fair to our state, our voters, and our democracy.
Four times in history, the candidate who placed second in the popular vote actually won the presidency under the current system. The most recent example was in 2000, when Presidential contender Al Gore won the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, but ultimately lost to George Bush who had more electoral votes.
In order for the system to change to a popular vote, states representing a majority of the Electoral College will need to pass laws like the bill in Massachusetts. Five states have already passed the popular vote proposal. Every vote and every state should count. Let's see if Massachusetts agrees.
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Congress is scrambling to redress the scandal of long waits and falsified records at the Department of Veterans Affairs. High on their list of remedies is making it easier for veterans to get care at civilian hospitals.
On Sunday, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the Restoring Veterans Trust Act, which would make it easier for the VA to hire and fire employees, lease new space for clinics and hospitals, and send veterans to outside providers if care isn't available within 30 days.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that he supports giving veterans the option of seeking medical care from non-VA doctors.
"Why should a veteran have to get into a van and ride three hours to get to Phoenix in order to have routine medical care taken care of?" he said. "Why doesn't that veteran have a card and go to the caregiver that he or she needs and wants?"
Dr. Tony Macchiavelli couldn't agree more.
Macchiavelli is not only in charge of the Hospitalist Program at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, he is a disabled American veteran who learned to navigate the VA system after a serious injury ended his military career in 1985 — just two years after he graduated from West Point. The VA's vocational rehabilitation program sent him to medical school.
He wants to see AtlantiCare increase the services it provides to veterans and help relieve the backlogs and delays at the embattled VA system if there were a national system in place that allowed it.
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Macchiavelli, who leads the AtlantiCare employee group "HONORS," which focuses on helping address the needs of the military and veteran communities, said his Hospitalist Program already provides emergency care to veterans for which they are typically reimbursed by the VA.
But Macchiavelli said he hopes the latest moves and proclamations out of Washington allow him to fulfill his ultimate goal: To provide the full range of medical care to South Jersey veterans who are a two-hour drive from the VA hospital in Wilmington, Del.
Macchiavelli said AtlantiCare could help ease backlogs at those facilities.
"(VA clinics) are necessary, but they are not sufficient to meet the need," he said. "What we have to think about is the volume of people that are seeking treatment from the VA. We are willing to help to bridge that gap."
Macchiavelli feels private help is long overdue. After all, the U.S. has been at war since 2001.
"We have a lot of veterans and returning military who are seeking care," he said. "And we know that the VA is clearly overburdened and overextended as they deal with the problems of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"When we look at the number of people who are seeking help from the VA, you can't help but understand that the system is completely overtaxed and needs help."
While the topic has been in the news this spring, Macchiavelli said he has been speaking to government officials and veterans' group about providing more options for veterans the past three years.
"We know there is a need from the VA for help and we basically want to build that bridge as a civilian hospital and health care system to see what we can do to help care for our veterans and our military people," Macchiavelli said.
Allowing veterans to use civilian hospital for non-emergency care, he said, is the policy solution he hopes will emerge from the current debate.
He said doctors in the AtlantiCare Physician Group accept government health insurance plans for veterans when they provide care that is approved by the VA — and he would like to see the role of civilian doctors and hospitals expanded.
Macchiavelli, 53, was an Army lieutenant serving in Texas in 1985 when he was injured.
"The vehicle I was in went off a cliff and blew up," he said. "I wound up in the hospital for the better part of a year."
The medical team at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. did extensive bone reconstruction; he had a collapsed lung and ultimately lost the use of his right leg. Today he lives in Brigantine with his wife Helen.
And he has nothing but praise for the care he received.
"I can tell you firsthand that I saw excellent care, based on my own personal experience," he said. "The quality of the care in the military hospitals as well as the VA was phenomenal. But I had to learn to navigate the system. It wasn't something that was easy to do and it could be challenging. And I can say that right now what I'm hearing is a system that is completely overwhelmed and needs help."
He said the VA will pay for veterans who use AtlantiCare for emergency treatment — and the hospital will treat any patient who comes to the ER, regardless of ability to pay.
"But what about routine care?" he asks. "Let's say you have a patient who requires chemotherapy or a more specialized procedure? They would have to travel to Wilmington, Delaware, or to Philadelphia for that. And I think that is an opportunity to fill in some of those gaps, which would allow them to use primary care services and have our AtlantiCare Physician Group provide specialty care without the two-hour trip."
In 2009, Cooper University health care introduced an outpatient office of Veterans Affairs its sciences campus in Camden. Since the opening, it has welcomed any veteran in need of health care treatment, not provided at the VA Hospital in Philadelphia.
"We would be honored to provide all levels of care to veterans and their families and hope to establish a deeper relationship with the VA Affairs office to provide our service men and women the health care they need and deserve," the hospital said in a prepared statement.
Port Newark-based FAPS provides modifications for automobiles coming in, going out of the country
NJMET feels it profits most from its philanthropy
RWJ, Somerset hospitals complete merger