text:
Sprint Length (By Time)
By request, we're looking at how the length of World Cup sprints has changed over time. Specifically, since the length in time of the effort is really more meaningful than the length of the course in terms of distance, that's what we'll consider.
So the following graph shows the average of the top five qualification times for each World Cup (and Olympic and WSC) sprint race for the past six seasons or so:
The races in red are all, roughly speaking, short courses. Many are city sprints. The actual cutoff I used wasn't exactly 1km, but you get the idea. I was just trying to highlight the fact that there's a set of sprint courses that are quite a bit different than the rest. But snow conditions, weather and hilliness can create a fair bit of variation themselves, as well.
The trend line in blue represents the median time per season (excluding the shorter courses in red).
I'd say that the women's freestyle sprints got a bit longer last season, but other than that things are mostly unchanged. In fact, it seems like they have the men's freestyle sprint courses pretty well dialed in at 2.5-3 minutes or so. The men's classic courses look like they got a hair longer in 2009 and 2010, but have come back down on average.
Three minutes seems like a reasonable length to me (although I'd be curious what racers and coaches feel like is the "optimal" length for a sprint race effort), and we're certainly in that general ballpark. Perhaps the women's classic courses could be shortened slightly, but that's the only adjustment I'd make, I think, assuming the women's freestyle times drop back down again next season.
Whether or not you like the really short courses is an entirely different matter, of course.
Sprint Heat Time Trends
Since I'm starting to accumulate a reasonable collection of heat times from World Cup sprint races, I thought it might be interesting to compare general trends between the few seasons I have data on.
The biggest trends that you can typically see are the differences in tactics between the men and women. Generally what I've seen is that the women will ski qualification fairly conservatively and then the heat times will get progressively faster with each round, although possibly tailing off slightly in the finals. The men are generally more "tactical" in that they tend to really hammer qualification and then get a bit more cagey during the heats.
I was curious if these characteristics had changed much over the short time period I have data:
The units on the y axis aren't in seconds, since I have to standardize the time differences to compare values from different races. But larger values are slower, smaller values are faster, and everything is relative to the median heat time for the entire day, which is pegged at zero.
You can see that the general impressions that I outlined above were strongly influenced by what I saw in the data during the 2010-2011 season, which was where these trends were most stark. This most recent season was mostly similar for the men, although somewhat more variable (shaded region indicates, roughly, variability). Interestingly, though, the women's data changed pretty dramatically this past season. The qualification round times were in general quite a bit faster relative to later rounds than they have been in the past, and the later rounds became slightly slower, or more "tactical" perhaps.
Do Europeans Race Slower In North America?
Travel is a big issue for cross country skiers, particularly those of us living in North America. Flying back and forth to Europe can be both time consuming and exhausting for athletes. Obviously, this can have some serious effects on performance. Of course, this works both ways. Presumably it's difficult for Europeans to travel to World Cups in North America as well.
Let's see if we can see any general trends in the data. Read more
WJC Qualification Follow-Up
In a post last week I talked about how I felt that a single early season result wasn't necessarily a great predictor of how someone will tend to ski (on average) during the rest of the season. I feel like most people would accept that this is, in principle, generally true. Just because you pop a great race in November doesn't mean you'll be killing it in February.
A commenter pointed out, though, that while that person with a single great early season result might have worse results in an absolute sense for the rest of the season, they might still do better than everyone else. And that's really all that matters if you're selecting people for an event. That's a good point, so I went for a somewhat more specific comparison and found that my statistical intuition wasn't quite as correct as I had thought.
The following plot shows the the ranks of the minimum FIS point result versus the rank of the median FIS point result for US juniors:
So the people with the best minimum early season FIS point race really do tend to have the best median late season FIS point results. I was not expecting these to line up nearly this well at all.
Of course, there's still some variability here that means it's not perfect. (What in life is?) So you can see several instances where the person with the best FIS result in the early season only had the 4th-5th best median FIS point races for the rest of the season. But it's much more highly correlated than I would have thought based solely on my mathematical intuition. Chalk one up for my commenters!
How Useful Is A Single Good Result?
Following up from last time, we're still discussing the recent USSA rule changes for qualifying for WJC/U23s. Now, it's not like USSA has a ton of options here, but I would like to point out a few difficulties with pre-qualifying an athlete using only a single result.
Being a stats guy, I always think about things in terms of variability. So when I think about a skier's performance, I visualize it as having a distribution. An athlete's best races come from one extreme end of that distribution, but they are necessarily fairly rare. So to my way of thinking, a skiers best race isn't a good estimate of how well they're likely to ski. Rather, it's a good (-ish) estimate of how well they might ski, if we're really lucky.
To give you some context on this, I took all the FIS point results for Americans since 2006. Then I counted up how often each skier matched (or bettered) their best FIS point race from the early season (11-01 to 12-31) during the rest of the season. I counted this separately for men/women and sprint/distance and only kept folks who had at least 4 early season results, and at least one result from the remainder of the season. Here's what we have:
I'm not quite so interested in the sprint numbers, since FIS points are such a dicey way to measure performance for sprinting. But if you look at the men's distance panel, what this is saying is that they ski as well (or better) than their best early season result at most once more that season around 60% of the time. The drop-off is a bit less dramatic for the women, but still it is much more likely that you aren't going to see a race with FIS points that low for the rest of the season.
And this trend is even more stark when we focus in on just the group of skiers who've managed a sub-50 point race during the early season:
Granted, this simple method of counting the number of results at a certain level may obscure some things. For instance, maybe folks don't race quite that fast ever again, but they come pretty close fairly often. That will require a different sort of analysis that we'll delve into next week.
New FIS Point Criteria for WJC Qualification
As often happens, FasterSkier gifted me with a handy topic for a few posts to kill time with over the summer by publishing a summary of USSA's new criteria for automatic qualification for WJCs/U23s.
For WJCs, the FIS point cutoff has been lowered to 50 for both men and women (it used to be higher for women than for men) and it can come from any FIS sanctioned race between Nov 1st and Dec 31st.
Generally, I'm skeptical of the wisdom of allowing people to automatically pre-qualify based on a single race (albeit a good one). But I'll come back to that issue in a subsequent post. For the moment, I was curious where US juniors might be able to find races with penalties under 50 during that time of year (excluding WC races, of course). So here's a summary of all such races that fit that bill for recent seasons:
This is showing the number of FIS races in each country within those dates with a penalty less than 50. (Of course, this doesn't reflect how many skiers in that race broke 50 points, just that someone did.) I wasn't expecting there to be such a big disparity between the distance and sprint races, to be honest. Part of me is wondering if this rule change will favor juniors who make the effort to get over to Europe during the fall in the hopes of popping a great race. Now that I write that, it occurs to me that encouraging juniors to "go to Europe for their points" might be part of the intent here, but that's just speculation.
Performance Trends In US Alpine Skiing
This is just a quick note as I sift through some of the alpine skiing data. I've made similar plots as these for XC skiing in the past, so these are just the same idea but for the US alpine folks. First a look at the men:
This is tracking the results (per race) for US men over all WC, OWG and WSC races in these events for each season. Since in alpine skiing you routinely have final results with barely more than 30 skiers, I dropped the 'Top Thirty' category. The Bode Miller effect is fairly evident, particularly in the speed events (Downhill and Super-G). The GS results have been generally pretty stable over the last decade, with the usual ups and downs from year to year. Slalom has probably been the weakest event, although it's interesting to note as a XC fan that they're still pulling down a top ten result fairly regularly.
And here's a look at the women: Read more


text:
Model: RE10G
The Redline Engineering RE10G rolling oil drain is a perfect choice for large drain projects. With a quality ball valve to stop leaks along with a grate cover for keeping oil filters from falling in while draining, this rolling pan is handy in any oil draining scenario. Order yours today!
• Ball valve drain
• Steel holding pan
• Powder coated finish
• Removable grate with handles
• Handle 29" L
• Holds up to 10 gallons
• Back wheels 4.5" diameter
• Work dims 17" W x 27.5" L
• Front caster wheels 3" diameter
• Overall dims without handle 21" W x 9" H x 35" L
• FREE shipping via FedEx
• Local pickup available in Como, MS
• Ships 33 lbs. at 33" W x 6" H x 18" L
Free shipping only applies to products that are marked "free shipping" or "ships free" in the title. Freight ship items have a predetermined max amount that can be spent under our free shipping policy. In the event you reside in an unusually high cost shipping zip code we may alert you that a shipping surcharge may be necessary.
Click OK to view our full shipping policy. Clicking cancel will keep you on the current page.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
2017 already is going to kick off with presentations. Besides Microsoft Cloud Summit I'm also going to speak at the Basta! conference in Frankfurt Germany. This time about Visual Studio Code. I hope to see you there. It's the first time I'll be speaking in Germany so I'm looking forward to the adventure.
Powered by: newtelligence dasBlog 2.3.9074.18820
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent
my employer's view in any way.
© Copyright 2018, Kris van der Mast


text:
The stage is along these lines set for a turbulent Christmas occasion where the Kendalls are tried by Kent's weakening perspective and DeeDee's developing connection to Willy, a kindred unique needs individual with whom things appear to be getting uncomfortably playful in Bad Hurt. Yet as much as Todd tries to be a decent child and sibling, his kinsfolk constantly show signs of improvement of him, while the association with his dad goes from tormented to anguishing in a last demonstration that takes everybody as far as possible and back once more.
With a variety of emotional firestorms that start after the principal scene and pepper the story till the end, Kemble conveys us more profound and more profound inside an affectionate family that is perpetually very nearly imploding, and whose typical working state is by all accounts one of semi-turmoil. Giving his on-screen characters bounty to bite on, the executive and co-author Jamieson Stern has created a script that can feel stagy now and again which is not as a matter of course an issue with such solid entertainers, yet still feels plainly substantial amid specific arrangements (particularly those including the mental war injuries of the Kendall men).


text:
436 Tasting Notes
This tea has the type of bergamot I like in it, bright and complex, fruity citrus with notes from lemon to tangerine with spicy notes that remind me of lavender and ginger. The flavouring is bold and strong which blends well with a strong heavy bodied tea.
Using 1.5 tsp this tea brewed up to a nice red after around 3 minutes. The first flavour note was of sweet potato, followed quickly by citrus spice with lavender and light ginger notes, underlain by deep malt and cocoa. This is quite nice, bright and light tasting on top, with depth underneath and a lovely citrus spice aftertaste.To check out their teas go to http://www.justea.com/#!home/mainPage .
I have had this tea twice so far, once using 1 tsp/225ml and the second time using 1.5 tsp. I enjoyed the tea both times but I think I prefer the later.
Using 1 tsp the tea liquor was a rich copper red and
smelled sweet and spicy, with hint of berries, citrus, roasted sweet potato, cinnamon, malt.
It produced a comforting rich cup with a nice body with malt, cocoa, grain ( almost barley) and a hint of potato notes at first opening up to sweeter berries with citrus fruit, and cinnamon and a hint of chocolate with a light floral notes. The aftertaste was tangy with citrus malt and chocolate cinnamon note. The tea was smooth with little to no astringency.
With 1.5 tsp of tea the liquor smelled of roasted sweet potato, malt berry, spice and a deeper cocoa note
The malt, cocoa, grain with a little sweet potato, notes opened to citrus, with at times faintly peppery berry notes, and a hint of cinnamon that had deeper cocoa notes underneath. There were tangy citrus and deep cocoa bitter notes in the aftertaste.
It re-steeps well with the tea tasting brighter and fruitier with spice elements more prominent, and a new rosemary like element coming out.
This method had a little bit more astringency than the 1 tsp method but had a much richer flavour.
Thanks once again to JusTea for this sample. Definitely one of the nicest Kenyan teas I have tried to this date. Check them out at
This is a nice contrast to the roasted sweet potato flavoured Panyong, I've been drinking all day. As this one is all spice and chocolate and cherries, when I get it right.
This tea is a little rugged in appearance and texture unlike some of the beautiful tippy version I have seen of this type. I don't know if this is the style of preparation or has to do with the youth of the plants, this tea is from 1-2 years old( whether this is age, or years in production I'm not sure). However when you get it right the flavour of this tea is wonderful. Unlike most of my blacks I find that this tea is best made with boiling or near boiling water and allowed to steep for 4-5 minutes. Sometimes this tea has some grainy notes but today it released this wonderful flavour which reminds me of kirsch and dark chocolate sprinkled with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg, with a bit of caramel underneath. The tea has a thick, rugged body and a touch of astringency but it's worth it for that flavour. This tea doesn't re-steep forever like some of the teas I've had lately, but I should get one or two more cups out of it.
I bought this from aliexpress as an affordable introduction to this type of tea. The store owner seems to have expanded into taps but he has tried to source all of his teas directly from the producers. His shop can be found here:
It is, its quite different from a lot of the teas I've been drinking lately but when I get it right it is really nice.
It's been fun exploring teas on aliexpress. It's been a neat way to discover/ explore new to me regions of china. Many of the dealers are really knowledgeable and very passionate ( even the ones who's main business is cloths, hardware or electronics), sometimes their family has produced tea for generations, and in some cases it's a learning experience on both sides, but most of my experiences have been good ( though I sometimes wish they sold tea in smaller quantities), the times that I have had trouble are the time I should have known better ( ie. they never responded to questions etc), but most of the time if there is a problem one side cancels the order and you get your money back (most of the time this happens it is stocking issue and usually it has been with a dealer who's main business is with larger wholesale sales)
yeah tastybrew has bought a few through them for us…i'll have to spend more time checking it out in november..no orders until then!
I know, I keep on telling myself that too… but then I feel obligated to support one store or other( and really $15.00 for 250gms of the autumn harvest of a pretty amazing tea is not a lot compared to NA prices) or I see an amazing deal on ebay ( 0.99 auction on a 50g of tea I'd like to try and they're including bags of other tea without asking and I'm hooked.
I wanted something a little bit fruity so I decided to try this sample today. The dry leaf smells like grape juice and prunes. I think I was expecting this to be a brighter scent, but what it smells like is baking, a little bit like a cross between date squares and apple crisp.
The flavouring has scents of fruit, more of baked apple or peach to me than lychee, and cinnamon. The base has a mix of pastry and leather\licorice notes.
The first sip has a floral, lily like note opening upto a peppery lychee note, the base adds a deeper malty note, a slight biscuit note and a hint of fruit. The tea has an aftertaste of floral accented lychee. Without sugar the taste seems disconnected from the scent. Sugar brings out more of the baked good notes and actually minimizes the lychee note and makes it taste slightly more floral. Altogether pleasant for an occasional sip.
I was craving a darker oolong yesterday so I decided to sample the second of four Da Hong Pao's from the sample pack I purchased from the Fu Tea Store. As a testament to it's quality I drank it all last evening and have been drinking it throughout today, so far I have taken it through out 16 steepings (8, 10, 12, 18, 21, 26, 35, 55, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135, 180, and 240s). Chen Cha refers to an aged tea and the advantage of this is it allows the charcoal like tones of some heavier roast oolongs to dissipates and allows some flavours to deepen and develop within a well stored tea.
At 8s this tea smelled of dark bread crust, raisin and currants , tobacco, and biscuit. It tasted of sweet fruit like the aftertaste of banana and dried apricot, combined with biscuit and oatmeal and cream
notes. Raisin and cream flavours lingered in the aftertaste.
Over time this tea released flavour notes of raisin scones, faint dark crust, sweet banana aftertaste, vanilla and unsweetened cream, mineral notes, sugar cane, floral vanilla orchid, licorice root, and aged resinous wood. It released a lot of flavour even with these short steeps.
Overall I've been impressed with this Da Hong Pao's from the Fu Tea store.
I look forward to trying the Jin Xuan and Shui Xian flavours I have remaining.
This is a really elegant well balanced assam. It is not in your face with strong bitter malt notes, but rather a well made tea that presents a smooth mix of the fruit, cocoa, malt, spice, biscuit and floral notes that assams often have.
The dry leaf has a cocoa, molasses, floral scent, with rich brown leaves scattered with gold. After 3 minutes at around 94* C. The tea is a deep copper red colour with a scent of spice, red fruit, malt, cocoa, baked goods, and spicy floral.
The tea tastes smooth and elegant with a medium body, with a sweet flavour with notes of light biscuit, blackberry and cherry, cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, light floral note, and malt.
It re-steeps really well with cocoa and malt notes strengthening over the sweet fruit spice and biscuit notes.
A really good example of a well made assam.
I really need to try more unsmoked or lightly smoked zheng shan Xiao zhongs because I love the one I'm sipping on right now. The dealer I bought this one from is in the process of re-setting up his e-store or I'd direct you there because I've loved all the wuyi blacks I've had from him so far.
This particular one smells like dark chocolate with some grain notes when dry and has thin shiny dark leaves with a few red brown leaves. It is best brewed between 80-90*c. I prefer brewing it at around 80 because then it is buttery like an oolong and the chocolate and caramel notes it has dominate.
It has notes of cocoa, caramel, and honey note's over sweet potato, cinnamon and some grain notes it has some fruity citrus lychee notes and dark crust toast notes as well as a hint of vanilla.
When brewed at a higher temperature the lychee/citrus and sweet potato notes become stronger.
This tea holds up to 5+ brews when brewing 1tsp/200ml.
Really nice tea, so I hope I can get it again. If not I'm going to have to experiment with more sweet and un-smoked teas of this type.
I normally don't buy Chai as I prefer to make my own. However, when I smelled this tea it's scent brought me back to memories of waiting out Curfew at a chai stand in front of the train station in Jaipur.Jaipur is semi-arid and can get quite cold at night, especially when it is just coming out of it's winter season. So, there was a large group of us huddled together around a fire drinking Chai and eating those flaky, unsweetened pastry like biscuits all the Chai Wallahs seem to sell. I remember being asked for my passport by a police officer who seemed to think I was Kashmiri (this was during another period of tension between India and Pakistan over Kashmir) and even after kept trying to trip me up by speaking to me in Urdu. My ancestors are mostly of Irish, Scotch and British descent, but for some reason people have trouble placing me. I have been told at times that I look like a vey tall and pale person from Portugal, Italy or Ireland at times but also have been asked whether I was Afghani, Turkish, or Kashmiri as well, In a way this makes sense and I could truthfully answer yes, because the Celts originated somewhere north of Turkey before migrating west.
Anyways, back to the tea. It smelled pretty authentic in the box, I was nostalgic so I bought it.
The dry tea is a mix of grades of tea ranging from CTC to OP and smelled heavily of cardamom with the other spice enriching it in the background.
Once brewed, the tea smelled of cardamom with a hint of cloves with cinnamon and ginger in the background/ The base tea smelled deep and biscuity and fruity.
The tea is smooth with little astringency. Cardamom is the strongest flavour. While, cloves provides a cooling top note. Ginger and cinnamon follow these flavours. The base is still present and is fruity, and malty with biscuit notes underneath. It is quite a naturally sweet tea with the base and spices blending nicely. It is not peppery and hot like some Chai's can be. Although Ginger Chai, is still my favourite, I can definitely appreciate this one. The Cardamom is lovely in it and the other spices nicely support it.
They're actually in the GTA, but you can pick up some of their teas at Whole Foods. They're often better stocked at the one in Mississauga, but they do carry them at Yorkville as well. Whole foods mostly carries the basics, Earl grey, Darjeeling, English Breakfast etc. but, the company carries many flavoured teas and some Japanese and Chinese teas. They're in Markham and you can pick up an order there in order to avoid shipping. There shipping was around $10.00. However, their teas are really affordable. Their sample size is 25g.
This tea is quite lovely well made Assam that is lighter and more fruity than the Borsapori Assam I have from Capital Tea.
This one smells like dark chocolate mixed with molasses ginger cookies, with allspice. The dry leaves are twisted shorter fat dark brown leaves with lots of shiny furry rich golden tips, which produce a beautiful dark golden red copper coloured clear tea.
It smells of a fruity plum and berry mix, honey, chocolate, and spice(almost like it had a pinch of Chinese five spice powder with nutmeg) with a light spicy floral note.
It tastes smooth with a bright sweet top note of honey, fruit and a little bit of the top note of malt, then a brief floral note, followed by slightly bitter note of malt, molasses and chocolate. It has a mild astringency. The fruit has a jammy/compote note of stewed fruit mixed with spice.
It re-steeps really well (I'm on the fifth steep) with honey an bright fruit notes ( lychee and citrus) mixing with spice and malt, with a light floral. The aftertaste is of milk chocolate mixed with floral spice and a bit of citrus.
I quite enjoyed this tea it make a nice afternoon tea. It is a little lighter in body than some of my Assams. I brewed the first steep at 3.5 minutes at around 90*C. I think I might try it a lower temperature to minimize astringency. The fruity spicy notes in this tea are quite nice and memorable. Once again thanks very much to Capital tea for providing me with this very generous sample.
This has a pretty nice strawberry flavour, tart, bright and fairly natural. Tastes convincingly like fresh strawberry. The flavouring is pretty strong over a light Ceylon base. The tea was more bop size rather than the dust you usually find in bags, faintly astringent and enough body to give the tea depth, but it`s flavouring is pretty lost to the flavouring. I taste just a bit of bitterness underneath. The tea has enough depth that it could take milk. Not bad for a tea I only bought so that I could meet the minimum for debit!


text:
Monday, January 22, 2007
Our "Unnatural Aristocracy"
What strikes me as odd is why the hubbub now, with 10 of those 28 years the subject of future speculation? Where was the hand wringing all along about our existing "unnatural aristocracy"? After all, the Republicans haven't nominated a national ticket without a Bush or a Dole on board since 1972, 35 years ago.
Just because Bill Clinton had the good fortune to marry a formidable partner named Rodham, we're supposed to believe our unnatural aristocracy is suddenly a bipartisan problem?
2 comments:
I just wanted to show some love. I really appreciate your blog. You should post more often. I obviously don't post very often, but I wanted to let you know that I do read and enjoy your comments. I especially enjoyed the economic comparison between Democrats and Republicans. Thanks.
- Richard said...
Thank you Ralph. I appreciate your comment. As you said, I don't post very often, and otherwise don't manage this blog as a business (which is obvious given that I haven't even bothered to post Google blog ads on the site). Still, it's great when someone stumbles onto this site, even if by accident, and leaves a hello. Each time we do that for each other personalizes the internet just that much more. Hope your day is going great Ralph, and I'll 'see' you later.
Kind Regards,


text:
News, commentary, and insights on adventures, and adventurers, from around the globe.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Video: Exploring Japan's Spiritual Connection with the Mountains
The Japanese practice of Shugendo is a spiritual practice of seeking a connection with nature, particularly in the mountains where Japan's forefathers believed their gods resided. This connection can bring on a zen-like state, with the person seeking a oneness with the natural world around them. In this video, Salomon athletes Rickey Gates and Anna Frost make the journey to Japan in search of their own unique connection with the natural world. As you'll see in the video below, what they find there is a powerful attachment to nature that is unlike anything found in other cultures. Be sure to turn on subtitles to get the entire story.
Posted by Kraig Becker at 4:00 PM
Labels: Japan, Ultra Running, Video
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
The Raimonds Macats Quintet (26/05/2014)
RM5 (The Raimonds Macats Quintet) is a professional music ensemble from Latvia, who perform fusion and smooth jazz compositions. This is the debut CD for the group. The leader and composer is the multi- instrumentalist, and internationally renowned musician and arranger, Raimonds Macats. The compositions on this album have been created over the past ten years and were recorded in Riga, Latvia, from 2012-2014.
Dear Miss Jordan and Mrs Morris,What an excellent post about the Victorian State School Spectacular! It looks as tgohuht you had an amazing time and I'm sure it would be an experience to remember.I have peformed in front of a very, very large performance before and it was at the You Can Do It concert back in 2011. I was so scared on that stage!3000 students? That's a lot to perform in a performance! What school had the most amount of participants?Well, I wouldn't call it like a singing or dancing performance or anything like that but I have been to a type of live performance The Australian Open, 2012!And I absolutely loved it! Best live performance of my life If I had a choice of doing a type of performance at the Victorian State School Spectacular, I would go for the acrobatics, if I was any good at it! But like Bronte said, I'm not sure I'd have enough courage to even step on the stage in front of all those people!I'm sure every performance would have been mind blowing See you tomorrow!Liv


text:
This summer is brought to you by the letter "S".
It's the summer of Sony with its slate of eight major releases including Spider-Man, Men in Black 2, Stuart Lilttle 2, and XXX.
It's the summer of sequels (when is it ever not?) with seven in multiplexes now or on the way like Spy Kids 2, Halloween: Resurrection and Austin Powers in Goldmember.
It's even the summer of movie titles that simply begin with the letter "S"—12 in all including Spider-Man, Star Wars and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron already in the marketplace.
But apropos to the weekend of May 31, it's also the summer of spies and secret agencies which are featured in seven upcoming pictures—Bad Company, The Bourne Identity, Men in Black II, Austin Powers in Goldmember, XXX, The Tuxedo and Spy Kids 2—and the just released The Sum of All Fears and Undercover Brother.
The big question, though, is will Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones stay at No. 1 for the third weekend in a row—as its predecessor The Phantom Menace did three years ago—or will it fall faster than Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side? The answer is likely the latter.
For one thing, Menace faced a less competitive marketplace, with only the modest Anthony Hopkins drama Instinct opening on this frame. What's more, Clones has been tracking behind Menace for 11 days now and has fallen behind in total gross by $6.5 million. The No. 1 Memorial movie has fallen an average of 61% on the following weekend in the past five years with Menace holding up the best, dropping 51% from $66,904,298 to $32,891,653. Clones has been burning off at nearly double the rate so far, so a more precipitous fall should be in store. Coming off its $60,003,949 four-day frame, it could pull in around $25 million, lowering the bar enough for The Sum of All Fears to snatch the top spot.
Ben Affleck takes over for Harrison Ford who took over for Alec Baldwin to resurrect Paramount's Jack Ryan franchise after an eight year hiatus in The Sum of All Fears, the adaptation of Tom Clancy's best-selling novel of the same name. The subject matter for the long brewing $68 million thriller is perhaps more timely than ever, a point stressed in the news where the movie itself has become a hot button issue in regards to its appropriateness in today's tenuous climate. Paramount's marketing campaign has struck close to home, emphasizing how the picture's scenario could become a reality such as with the tagline "27,000 Nuclear Weapons. One is Missing" and glimpses of a bomb exploding in a civilian setting.
The first Jack Ryan picture The Hunt For Red October, starring Baldwin, surfaced on March 2, 1990 and grossed $17,161,835 at a modest-by-today's-standards 1,225 theaters in its first weekend, a record spring bow at the time. It went on to earn $122,012,643, which would equal $165 million today adjusted for ticket price inflation. Ford's first foray in the role Patriot Games launched June 5, 1992, opening to $18,511,191 at 2,365 venues on course to $83,351,587 ($115 million adjusted). Clear and Present Danger followed on August 3, 1994, debuting with $20,348,017 at 2,378 sites en route to $122,187,717 ($167 million adjusted).
The Sum of All Fears gives Affleck the perfect opportunity to silence nay sayers who have doubted his ability to put butts in seats after a mixed track record ranging from bombs like Reindeer Games to mid-level successes like Forces of Nature to Pearl Harbor, which had the perception of failure despite blockbuster-sized grosses.
Just seven weeks ago, Affleck showed promise in another Paramount thriller Changing Lanes opposite Samuel L. Jackson. It opened at No. 1 with $17,128,062 from 2,613 venues and has earned $64,812,000 so far. In Sum, Affleck gets strong support from Morgan Freeman, who's had his greatest successes in thrillers be they on his own (Along Came a Spider) or with a younger heartthrob co-star (Seven).
Changing Lanes demonstrated another dictum: Paramount Pictures is the master at marketing thrillers, seemingly as sure a thing as Disney is to family fare. Detonating at 3,183 sites, The Sum of All Fears should prove this once again with the biggest opening for the Jack Ryan franchise, possibly coming in at around $32 million.
Universal's Undercover Brother infuses some much-needed funk into a marketplace rife with straight-laced CIA agents, geeky superheroes, sleep-deprived cops and stiff Jedi knights. Coming off as a cross between Austin Powers and Shaft, the comedy is practically the sole and definitely the soul choice for urban audiences and those looking for laughs instead of nuclear blasts.
Starring rising comedy star Eddie Griffin, Brother looks like it could be the start of a new franchise, much the same way the first Austin Powers was five years ago. Universal already has a sequel planned, and is just waiting for solid box office returns to give a sequel the greenlight.
This weekend should give them plenty of encouragement, thanks in part to a marketing campaign chock full of laughs. Among other gags, the trailer includes Griffin trying to keep his big gulp from spilling as he's spinning out in his car and a cat fight involving Denise Richards that becomes every man's fantasy a la Wild Things. There're also catch phrases aplenty such as "You mess with the 'fro, you got to go."
Griffin has already showed some box office clout. Last year, his action comedy Double Take debuted to $10,009,828 from 1,631 theaters on its way to $29,831,583. Earlier this month, if one didn't know better, one would have thought Griffin was the star of The New Guy based on his prominence in the movie's ad campaign. That picture became a surprise hit, opening to $9,007,833 and is on track to a final gross of over $30 million.
Though he may try, "The Man" won't likely bring Undercover Brother down. Infiltrating 2,167 theaters, the picture should have a superbad opening weekend, possibly in the $18 million range.
Meanwhile, the amazing Spider-Man is poised to scale to No. 5 on the all time chart by Sunday or Monday at the latest, surpassing Jurassic Park's $357,067,947. A 50% drop from the Memorial Day frame would give it around $17.5 million this weekend. Sophomores Insomnia, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Enough look to fall in the 50-55% range to respective grosses of about $12.5 million, $11.5 million and $7.5 million.
On the same frame last year, Pearl Harbor, also starring Affleck, clung to the top spot but dove 61% in its sophomore session to $29,558,276 en route to $198,542,554. Not far behind was Shrek, which dipped 49% to $28,175,869 in its third weekend on its way to $267,665,011. Rob Schneider's The Animal bowed in third with $19,610,520 from 2,788 theaters, rounding up $57,743,062 by the end of its run. Moulin Rouge expanded into wide release and dazzled with $13,718,306 at 2,279 venues, can-canning its way to $57,386,607. While What's the Worst That Could Happen? lived up to its title for Martin Lawrence, lifting $13,049,114 from 2,675 on course to $32,269,834.
An company
© IMDb.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Box Office Mojo and IMDb are trademarks or registered trademarks of IMDb.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy under which this service is provided to you.


text:
Appeal to hire temporary staff
Tipperary County Council urged to give priority to making temporary staff fulltime
The appeal was made by Cllr Ger Darcy at the January meeting of Nenagh MDC. He was supported by Cllr Michael O'Meara, who maintained it was "only fair that they were given a fair crack of the whip".
The council was urged by Cllr John Carroll to be "more aggressive" with repairs and maintenance when the new staff is hired instead of reacting to problems. He claimed that maintenance was "haphazard" at present.
Area engineer Michael Hayes replied that the council was deciding when to bring the temporary staff back, but that, hopefully, it would be this week.
District manager Marcus O'Conor pointed out that staff recruitment was a matter for HR.


text:
Kingdom Myth 4. Christians are called to build the kingdom.
Young people are often captured by a vision to improve the world. When they get older, however, most of them realize that the vision was mostly informed by idealism. There has been progress made, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a dent.
The problems of injustice, oppression, racism, sexism, hatred, and war have been with us since the fall. (The first child ever born into this world was a murderer.)
These problems will always be with us until Christ returns and sets all things right.
While there have been improvements to society, few if any of them have brought Jesus Christ into unmistakable prominence.
The kingdom message of the New Testament isn't about "building" the kingdom. It's one of "manifesting" the kingdom by being an alternative to the world system, and then demonstrating the grace and glory of the King to society as the Spirit leads.
It's about living in, as, and for the kingdom of God in the midst of a fallen world.
If you study all the references in the New Testament on the kingdom, you will never see a single text that says we are to "build" the kingdom. God is the one who advances His kingdom, and we are called to cooperate with Him by submitting to the lordship of Christ individually and collectively (as a local community of believers).
So God builds the kingdom. We simply labor with Him in this work.
Stay tuned for next week's installment – it's perhaps the most controversial.
Click here for all the articles in the Kingdom of God Series


text:
- Wales
- 35 updates
Welsh Government reshuffle
The Welsh Government announces a surprise reshuffle of the Cabinet. Cardiff West AM Mark Drakeford enters the Cabinet for the first time, taking over from Lesley Griffiths as Health Minister.
Live updates
Minister showed 'disgraceful ignorance' claim Conservatives
The Welsh Conservatives have condemned the former Health Minister's decision to refer back objections to changes to hospital services in west Wales. They claim Lesley Griffiths effectively ignored the Community Health Council's concerns about the Hywel Dda Health Board's proposals.
- Nick Powell
Former minister told health council to rethink its objections to change
Just before she was moved in the cabinet reshuffle, former Health Minister Lesley Griffiths signed a letter to Assembly Members telling them she could not consider in their present form objections from the local Community Health Council to proposed changes to hospital services in west Wales.
The proposals by the Hywel Dda Health Board are some of the most controversial of the proposed changes across Wales, involving hospital closures and other hospitals losing some of their services. The Health Minister must consider any objections formally raised by the local Community Health Council.
Lesley Griffiths wrote that there was "no clarity" over which of the changes it can support and which it judges should be referred for ministerial determination. She has told the council to hold fresh talks with the Hywel Dda Health Board and resubmit any remaining objections by 5 April.
Welsh Government reshuffle: Mark Drakeford made Health Minister
There's been a surprise Welsh Government reshuffle - which sees Lesley Griffiths has been replaced as Health Minister by Mark Drakeford in the midst of massive NHS reorganisation.
Owain Phillips reports.
First Minister completes reshuffle with swipe at UK Government
The First Minister says the new Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Huw Lewis, will renew the Welsh Government's efforts in, as he puts it, "mitigating the worst effects of the UK Government's welfare reform agenda".
- Nick Powell
Two new faces -and no sackings
Carwyn Jones has completed his cabinet reshuffle with the appointment of Alun Davies as Natural Resources and Food Minister. He steps up from the deputy rural affairs portfolio to take over from his old boss John Griffiths, with responsibility for the environment.
No-one has left the cabinet but two have joined it, meaning there will be fewer deputy ministers as the total size of the government is limited by law. The two new faces have come to the top table by very different routes.
Mark Drakeford was a defeated Labour candidate in 1999 and served Rhodri Morgan as a special adviser. Alun Davies is a former Plaid Cymru parliamentary candidate who changed parties to become a regional AM before successfully taking on the task of winning back Blaenau Gwent at the last election.
Alun Davies appointed Minister for Natural Resources and Food
FSB: New Cabinet must focus on developing small businesses
"Ultimately, jobs, growth and the economy needs to be everybody's business in the Cabinet" says Iestyn Davies, from the Federation of Small Businesses.
"We do need to see more energy put into the Business portfolio, to ensure that some of the clear failings are addressed".
- Nick Powell
Two still survive from Alun Michael's cabinet
Jane Hutt keeping finance scotches rumours there might be a 'budget and business' minister -a role with which Cardiff Bay gossip had linked with Leighton Andrews. Jane Hutt and Edwina Hart, who some had tipped for the sack, have both been in cabinet since Alun Michael announced his team in 1999.


text:
4 Questions That Could Change Your Life
Can you imagine how your life would change if you chose to follow the Sufi '4 Gates of Speech' tradition? It would mean that before you say a single word you have to pass a 4-question test.
Can you imagine how your life would change if you chose to follow the Sufi '4 Gates of Speech' tradition? It would mean that before you say a single word you have to pass a 4-question test.
When I was single I experimented a great deal to see what really worked in getting and keeping a guy. Most people I know at that time were quoting passages from the book 'The Rules' which told us that it was better to play 'hard to get'.
Want to know how to argue without damaging your relationship? Check out these 3 tips that show you how to do exactly that with happiness expert, Sophie Keller, in '60 Seconds with Sophie.'
Been Stuck on Your Ex for Longer Than You Care to Admit? Are You Upset, Angry & Scared You Might Never Get Over It? Do negative thoughts keep running around your head like… 'Why didn't it work?' 'Where did I go wrong?' 'I'm never going to find somebody.' I'm Sophie Keller and with my program…
"I'll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour), I'll be there for you (like I've always been before), I'll be there for you (because you're there for me too).†The chorus to the theme song of the hit TV series 'Friends' is indelibly marked in my brain forever.
Rule 1. If you're single and looking for love, remember, there are 7 billion people on the planet and that means there's someone out there for you.
When I wake up in the morning and one of the first things I do is read the BBC news. Often, without fail a politician or celebrity is apologizing. Whether it was Chris Brown for his behavior on "Good Morning America", Kristen Stewart for cheating on her boyfriend Robert Pattison or Tiger Woods for his affairs with multiple women.
You know you are in a good relationship if you both bring out the best in each other. Do you remember in the film 'As Good as It Gets' when Jack Nicholson's character tells Helen Hunt's character why he thinks they should be together?
Always let your partner know how much you appreciate what he or she does for you. Let him know the ways in which he makes you happy. Tell him how great he is in bed.
The way that you argue is often modeled on the way that your parents argued when you were young and this can often be a pattern that we carry with us through time. I want to teach you a method that will stop your discussions from turning in to arguments


text:
The "Begin Again" songstress sizzled on the red carpet at this year's Country Music Association Awards. Sporting a sparkly nude gown embellished with scarlet flowers, Swift was all smiles as she posed for photographers.
The 22-year-old could barely contain her excitement for country music's big night, writing on her personal Twitter:
Just walked the red carpet at the CMAs.. Who's gonna watch tonight? Cool thanks 🙂
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 1, 2012
Her red carpet look is fitting, considering Swift has been basking in the success of her latest album, Red, which sold a total of 1.208 million copies in the U.S. in its first week — making it one of the biggest debuts the music industry has seen in a decade.
"They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week. How is this real life?! You are UNREAL. I love you so much. Thanks a million," Swift wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.
Swift better prepare her infamous surprise face once more as she's also up for the prestigious Entertainer of the Year award tonight. According to a voters poll by Taste of Country, the "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" crooner is the predicted winner, followed closely behind by Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton.
Do you think Swift should win her fourth CMA Entertainer title? Sound off below.
No changes are to be made to this player


text:
From Alzheimer's Disease Research
October 17, 2011
University at Buffalo scientists have discovered a tiny piece of a critical receptor that fuels the brain as a promising new drug target for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
"This is the first time that this site has been shown to be useful as a drug target," says Gabriela K. Popescu, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry in UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and senior author on the study. The research on the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor was published online October 11 in Nature Communications.
"If we could find a drug that attaches itself to this site and locks together NMDA receptor subunits, that would be huge for fighting disability from stroke, Alzheimer's, and other neurodegenerative diseases," Popescu said.
The research focuses on the brain's receptors for the neurotransmitter, glutamate, which is implicated in these diseases as well as in other conditions, such as glaucoma. The two main glutamate receptors in the brain are NMDA and AMPA receptors, both of which play critical roles in human learning and memory. Both types of receptors are made of four subunits and within each receptor these subunits are organized in pairs called dimers.
Because these receptors are similar in structure, scientists had assumed that they function in much the same way.
"But when we altered the dimer interface, the site where two subunits come together within each pair, we found that the NMDA receptor works just the opposite of the way that the AMPA receptor works," Popescu said. "Cementing this interface in AMPA receptors leads to more activity, whereas we found just the opposite to be true in NMDA receptors."
By locking the subunits together, the UB researchers were able to achieve a marked reduction in NMDA activity and, subsequently, a marked reduction in the amount of calcium that enters neurons in response to the neurotransmitter glutamate. Calcium overload due to overactive NMDA receptors is what eventually kills off neurons, Popescu said, leading to the symptoms that occur after a stroke, and in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
"The fact that by cross-linking the subunits, we could so dramatically reduce NMDA receptor activation demonstrates, for the first time, the tantalizing possibility that we may be able to develop new therapies that can much more effectively treat, or even one day prevent, some of these devastating diseases, like Alzheimer's and stroke," Popescu says.
And, because each type of NMDA receptor has a slightly different dimer interface, Popescu says, this finding represents a new opportunity for rationally designing drugs that would preferentially inhibit only a select population of NMDA receptors in the brain, thus reducing the possibility of side effects.
Currently, the Alzheimer's drug called Namenda, one of the only existing pharmaceuticals that inhibit the NMDA receptor, targets a different site within the receptor.
"If a new drug could be developed to target the dimer interface, which we discovered to be inhibitory, it would allow more specific effects than current drugs," Popescu said. "That's because at this particular interface, the interactions between these subunit interfaces are more precise than those currently being targeted."
Disclaimer: The information provided in this section is a public service of the American Health Assistance Foundation, and should not in any way substitute for the advice of a qualified healthcare professional, and is not intended to constitute medical advice. Although we take efforts to keep the medical information on our website updated, we cannot guarantee that the information on our website reflects the most up-to-date research. Please consult your physician for personalized medical advice; all medications and supplements should only be taken under medical supervision. The American Health Assistance Foundation does not endorse any medical product or therapy.
Some of the content in this section is adapted from other sources, which are clearly identified within each individual item of information.


text:
Law-enforcement officers have been buzzing ever since Miramar adopted an ordinance prohibiting lawns over 6 inches.
The word is that it is going to be a brute to enforce. After all, there is an awful lot of grass in Miramar.
As a result, many officers already have declared they want no part of it, should they be called in for backup.
Even Edward Werder, Miramar`s departing police chief, said his people are staying clear.
``While we are involved with people who try to clip the public, this won`t be one of those occasions,`` he stated flatly.
Carl Carruthers, acting commander of the sheriff`s organized crime division, sends regrets that he cannot be on the front line of this battle.
``We`re busy enough handling the day-to-day stuff here,`` he said. ``But if they give me extra manpower, I might consider looking into someone`s lawn -- if they provide the rulers.``
The Broward State Attorney`s Office also said Miramar is on its own.
``Put it this way: This is not the kind of grass problem we are concerned with,`` said spokesman Dave Casey. ``We`re more concerned with the stuff being flown in every day.``
In this same spirit of cooperation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Miramar can take its lawn ordinance and water it.


text:
The pilot involved in a fatal crash Sunday night in Delaware has been identified as Clifford Turen, an orthopaedic trauma surgeon for Bayhealth Medical Center, according to a report on the Dover Post.
Turen was the sole person aboard a single-engine, Piper aircraft that vanished from radar in rural Delaware about 7:10 p.m. Sunday, just after the air control tower at Dover Air Force base received an emergency call.
Troopers, local firefighters, and the officers from the Department of Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Division combed the area of Bayside Drive and North Little Creek Road in Little Creek, Del. A crew from the Little Creek Fire Company discovered the wreckage about 9:35 p.m., police said.
Turen's body was found inside.
Bayhealth officials released a statement Monday afternoon identifying the pilot as Turen, and expressing their sadness in the news of his death, according to the news report.
"Dr. Turen was an exceptional orthopaedic surgeon, a passionate teacher, a strong leader and visionary," said Gary Siegelman, Bayhealth's senior vice president and chief medical officer in a prepared statement. "He was also a friend and a colleague. He will be sorely missed."
Turen joined the staff at Bayhealth in 2011 from the Georgia Orthopaedic Trauma Institute, where he worked as director and chair.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.


text:
Words containing alammonia
Found 1 words containing alammonia. Browse our Scrabble Word Finder, Words With Friends cheat dictionary, and WordHub word solver to find words that contain alammonia. Or use our Unscramble word solver to find your best possible play!
- Scrabble
- Words With Friends
- WordHub
- Crossword


text:
Welcome to YookaMusic.com (the "Site"), owned and operated by United Media SPRL.
YookaMusic.com simplifies music licensing by bringing together those who need music (Licensees) and those who offer music (licensors) to allow the use of upcoming and hit music for any kind of production: films, television programs, video and computer games, advertising campaigns, mobile phones or websites.
United Media SPRL ("we", "us" or "our") collect user submitted personal information such as name, company name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, fax number, job description, professional sector of activity, age and bank account number to authenticate users, and to send notifications to those users relating to, without limitation, the Site and its services ("Service").
We also log non-personally-identifiable information including IP address, profile information, aggregate user data, and browser type, from users to the Site. This data is used to improve the Services, to analyse trends, to administer the Site, to track users' movements around the Site and to gather demographic information about the user base as a whole. We will not use the information collected to market directly to that user. This non-personally-identifiable information may be shared with third parties to provide more relevant services and advertisements to users. User IP addresses are recorded for security and monitoring purposes.
YookaMusic.com uses "pixel tags" to tell us what parts of the Site have been visited or to measure the effectiveness of searches users perform on the Site. Pixel tags also enable us to send email messages in a format users can read. They also tell us whether emails have been opened to assure that we are only sending messages that are of interest to the users. We store all of this information in a secure database.
User Profile information, including users' pictures and names, is displayed to people in order to facilitate user interaction in the YookaMusic.com social networking community. We may also use a user's email address to send updates, a newsletter or news regarding the Services. We may send email messages that use a "click-through URL" linked to content on the Site. When a user clicks one of these URLs, he/she will pass through our web server before arriving at the destination web page. YookaMusic.com tracks this click-through data to help determine interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of user communications. If you prefer not to be tracked simply avoid clicking text or graphic links in the email.
We may also collect information for market research purposes to gain a better understanding of the users and thus provide a more valuable Service. We also collect information regarding user activities on the Site. This helps us to determine how best to provide useful information to users and to understand which parts of the Site and Services are of most interest to them.
YookaMusic.com may uses cookies to store users' preferences and to record session information, for purposes including ensuring that users are not repeatedly offered the same advertisements, to customise newsletter, advertising, and Web page content based on browser type and user profile information, to help track usage to help us understand which parts of the Site are the most popular, where the users are going, and how much time they spend there, to make usage of the Site even more rewarding as well as to study the effectiveness of user communications and to customise each user's experience and provide greater convenience.
We do not link the information YookaMusic.com stores in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on the Site. You may be able to configure your browser to accept or reject all or some cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. You must enable cookies from YookaMusic.com in order to use most functions on the Site.
YookaMusic.com users may modify or remove any of the personal information contained in their Profile Page at any time by logging into their account and accessing features such as Edit Profile and Account Info.
We or one of our web-advertising partners may deliver ads appearing on YookaMusic.com to users. Our web-advertising partners may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. In this way, ad servers may compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which ads are clicked on. This information allows an ad network to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. Our Privacy Policy covers only the use of cookies by YookaMusic.com and does not cover the use of cookies by any third party advertisers.
Each account on YookaMusic.com is secured by password. We take precautions to ensure that account information is kept private. We use reasonable measures such as encryption to protect private information that is stored within our database against loss, theft, and misuse, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, and we restrict access to such private information to those employees who need access to perform their job functions, such as the user service personnel and technical staff. Please note that we cannot guarantee the security of account information. Unauthorised entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time. Users are urged to also take precautions to protect their personal data by changing passwords often using a combination of letters and numbers, and using a secure web browser.
All YookaMusic.com registrations become the exclusive property of United Media. We reserve the right to use and reuse all registration and other personally identifiable user information in the terms set out in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise described in our Privacy Policy, we will not disclose personal information to any third party unless we believe that disclosure is necessary: (1) to conform to legal requirements or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by us, whether or not a response is required by applicable law; (2) to enforce any terms and conditions or legal agreement posted on the Site or to protect our rights; or (3) to protect the safety of users of the Site and Services. We reserve the right to transfer personal information to a successor in interest that acquires rights to that information as a result of the sale(s) of United Media or substantially all of its assets to that successor in interest. For more information, see the "Acknowledgements" section below.
We take your privacy very seriously. We do not sell or rent your personal information to other marketers. To help us provide a superior service, your personal information may be shared with United Media's licensees that will safeguard it in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
There are also times when it may be advantageous for us to make certain personal information about you available to companies that we have a strategic relationship with or that perform work for us to provide products and services to you on our behalf. These companies may help us process information, deliver products to you, manage and enhance user data, provide user service, assess your interest in our products and services, or conduct user research or satisfaction surveys. These companies are also obligated to protect your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Without such information being made available, it would be difficult for you to purchase products, have products delivered to you, receive user Service, provide us feedback to improve our Services, or access certain Services, offers, and content on the Site.
You acknowledge that we may change the terms of this Privacy Policy, and any other legal agreement posted on the Site, by posting new agreement(s) on the Site. You acknowledge that it is your responsibility to check the Site regularly to ascertain if changes have been made and we will use our reasonable endeavours to advise you of any changes. However, your continued use of the Site after such a change will constitute your acceptance of the change.
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this Privacy Policy and we hope you enjoy our Services.
Privacy Policy
Last update January 2011
Copyright © 2009-2016 United Media SPRL
Follow us on :
Copyright © 2009-2017. United Media all rights reserved. Yooka Music is a registered trademark of United Media. Back to top


text:
Google Earnings Preview: Why a Range Bet Is Worth Considering
Google's strong sales growth has been a bright spot, but its declining margins and overall pricing weakness in the online ad business raise red flags.
Event: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) reports Q3 earnings tonight after the close. The options market is implying about a 5.5% move, vs. the trailing 4 qtr avg move of ~6% and the 8 qtr avg of ~7%.
Sentiment / Price Action: GOOG is actually down on the year, as it closed 2012 at $707.38, one of the few large cap stocks currently down in 2013. The consensus 12 month price target is around 802, and analysts have 33 buys and 11 holds, no sells.
Fundamentals/Valuation: In its Q3 earnings report from October, GOOG had the first year-over-year quarterly earnings decline since the stock went public in 2004. Not surprisingly, the stock declined 8% on the news, and has had trouble rallying ever since. As much as GOOG has tried to diversify away from its online advertising business, it still gets 95% of its revenues in one form or another from that source.
In the process of trying to diversify into other businesses, GOOG management has hurt its gross margins as expenses have grown faster than revenues in the past year. Sales actually grew more than 40% from 2011 to 2012 (the best performance in the past five years), but earnings only grew 11% (the worst performance in the past 5 years). Here is a chart of gross margins for GOOG over the last 10 years, courtesy of Bloomberg:
GOOG Gross Margins as Percentage
Courtesy of Bloomberg
For 2013, analysts are projecting 22% sales growth and 16% earnings growth, so a stabilization in the margin compression story.
In addition to the trend in margins, I will be watching for the overall trend in online ad pricing, which was declining last year. Mobile ad trends will be important as well, but that's still a small part of the business.
At a P/E of 21x, GOOG does not look cheap, but its sales growth expectations are still 20+%. As a result, if earnings can actually grow 15-20% over the next two years as expected, then the current valuation is understandable. But the move in margins over the past year is concerning, as it's becoming harder to translate sales growth into earnings growth for this behemoth.
Technicals: The 5-year chart of GOOG shows the 2 important levels where the stock is bounded. Obvious support is around $650, from where the stock broke out last year after years of testing that resistance level, while current resistance now lies around the previous high from last year around the $780 level.
Google 5-Year Chart
Courtesy of Bloomberg
My first impression is that this setup lends itself to a longer-term range trade based simply on the technical setup, playing for GOOG between 650 and 750.
Volatility: GOOG's current implied vol is lower than usual heading into earnings vs. the past eight quarters (as seen by the peaks on the red line marked by an E). Of course, like the broader market, GOOG realized volatility is at 2 year lows. Here's the 2-year chart of 30-day implied vol (red) vs. 30-day realized vol (blue):
GOOG IV vs. HV
Courtesy of LiveVol
Options are cheap, but for good reason, given the lack of volatility in the past month.
My View: GOOG's strong sales growth has been a bright spot, but its declining margins and overall pricing weakness in the online ad business raise red flags. The stock's inability to rally in a strong market is also not encouraging price action. My hunch is that online ad pricing has not recovered just yet, but expectations into this quarter are lower than in the past after last quarter's miss.
In addition, GOOG does have many levels for cost control, so any signs that it's reducing expenses to address the margin issue could be a significant positive.
Put it all together and I see a mixed picture, particularly with the broader technical picture indicating a range trade. If I do a trade, it will likely be along the lines of a range bet.
This item by Enis Taner was originally published on RiskReversal.com.
More from RiskReversal.com:
Chart of the Day – Clicking on $GOOG 's Gross Margins
$IBM Q4 Earnings Preview
Macro Wrap – A Tale of Two Companies, $SLB, $JCI
- 1
Daily Recap Newsletter
entertainment, education and
smart market commentary.


text:
A Quick Thought on the Louisiana Senate Runoff Ads
by Courtney C Horne @FireezDragon
If you live in Louisiana, you are currently swimming in a sea of campaign ads related to the upcoming Senate runoff. They are pretty attack ad heavy and the ones from the conservative super pacs are especially nasty.
Obviously they try and draw parallels between Mary Landrieu (probably the most conservative democrat in the Senate) and Obama. They also try to paint her as being far left which from the perspective of someone actually on the left seems pretty laughable. But it isn't the words of the ads that I find weirdly troubling. It's the photos.
They – not just one or two of the ads either, a bunch of them- seem to have spent a tremendous amount of effort and time to find pictures to make Mary look ugly or older. Some of the ads use photos with obvious filters that give that same impression. I know one generally isn't going to pick a flattering photo of their opponents. Goodness knows the Obama photos in those ads aren't super flattering either. Thing is, the photos of Mary seem to take this choosing unattractive photos thing to a new level.
I can't help but think this is gender related- maybe not consciously, but maybe so. We pay far more attention to the appearance and age of female politicians than we do to males. Hillary Clinton's previous presidential campaign lead to an insane amount of public discourse on her appearance. One article I saw about what Hillary planned to do after quitting the state department mentioned she was looking forward to being able to just wear her hair in a pony tail and wear glasses instead of her contact lenses. In a related theme, Nancy Pelosi seems to get more comments about her age than her male colleagues- many of which are older than her. So would it really be surprising if the ads focus on making Mary Landrieu look less attractive had something to do with that same bias?


text:
An Open Letter to Sec. Clinton and a Serious Warning
Let's all be realistic and look at what's going on right now in politics and the presidential election. Sec. Clinton will win and be the first female president of the United States. This is a huge accomplishment and a well deserved historic and congratulatory moment in our history.
Sec. Clinton I beg you to take the anger in the country seriously. We saw extreme anger on the left, which led to the huge success of Bernie Sanders. We also saw it on the right with the even more hugely success of Donald Trump.
This anger cannot and must not be ignored.
If you do get to the Oval Office your first main priority must be to understand and deal with the anger that is going on. Ignoring it won't make it go away; it will just make people even more angry.
What do I think you should focus on immediately?
- The economy. As your husbands advisor James Carville said "It's the economy, stupid." That was true back then and it's even more true today. There are tens of millions of people who can't find a job, can't find a job that can support their family and many millions who have given up.
- The lackluster/failing economy is what fuels most people's anger. People can't find jobs, can't get ahead and justifiably are very angry about that. You're first priority is to get a job creation bill going. Not just for 'infrastructure' but also for all jobs. Young people can't find employment and neither can people over 45. This must immediately be addressed.
- Don't make the mistake of the Obama administration of flaunting all of the job creation. Everyone knows that the jobs created are subpar and have not helped the economy grow. Under GWBush the economy was growing at over 5%; Obama's average is under 2%. That can't continue.
- Another thing I think people are very angry about is the complete lack of faith in the government. You must try to make the government work for people. All everyday Americans see are politicians who earn way more than they do, do nothing all day but block bills. That makes people furious and not want to participate in the voting process because, does it make a difference?
- You can prove it does make a difference.
Bernie Sanders is correct in many of his views about how dysfunctional our government actually is. He does not give many details about how to change it, that will fall on you Sec. Clinton.
The anger, the income inequality, the corporate greed at the expense of the people are going to explode. You, as our hopeful next POTUS, need to put these issues front and center to start changing them.
Lip service won't work, we have a public that is about to explode in their anger. You need to not only acknowledge the anger of the people and accept responsibility for the governments role in it but you must address and work to fix the issues.
Now is the time to leave no one behind. Now is the time to address the public anger. It is critical that you do this as the anger is so high on both sides of the aisle.
Sec. Clinton, I know you can do this as long as you focus on the immediate priorities. Call me, I have many ideas to fix things.
Prove people wrong, you aren't a corporate owned politician and that you have the peoples best interest at heart.
You can rise higher than anyone would have guessed or not. Your choice
A Second Open Letter To Bernie Sanders
Mr. Sanders, I see that you have ignored my first open letter to you as to how best to use what you have accomplished to the best for the country.
What I have seen you do in recent weeks is a desperate and pathetic posturing to try to make yourself be the president. Your claims of wanting to make the country better seem to have vanished.
Your goal has changed from helping our country to helping yourself. This is something you might not see as being too caught up in the moment. This is definitely something your blindly faithful fans are unable to see. They trust you. They are inspired by you.
They aren't able to see that you are leading them down the path of fraud and destruction. This is tragic as that many of your fans can't afford to send you $27 donations and your claims of electability are fraudulent.
Senator Sanders, you have lost the 2016 Democratic primary. It is time someone called you out on it and let the truth be told.
Mrs. Clinton will secure the nomination on Tuesday before the polls close in CA. Yes, that's right, she won fare and square.
You have two fatal flaws in your strategy that few understand:
- You're whining for months about the rigged system and then admitting that you knew the rules going in is inexcusable. You have a group of very faithful followers who thought your (lying) stance on a rigged system gave them hope you could be their real savior. Had you been honest about the rules and just told people you didn't win I could have some respect for you. Lying to millions of people saying you were unfairly treated then a few months later saying you knew the rules but thought they were stupid is inexcusable. You have zero creditability.
- Now, your argument is that because of a few polls you are beating Trump more than Sec. Clinton is. This stance is beyond absurd. As you and anyone educated know hypothetical match ups at this early date have no accuracy. Knowing that your argument to the superdelegates has no basis, what you are asking for is even more outrageous. You want the superdelegates to override the pledged delegates and also the popular vote of 3 million voters more that you have received is not only preposterous it's outrageous.
Mr. Sanders, the good will you had created is being ruined by your irrationality. You had started a good movement. Now I fear you will not only alienate all Republicans but also all Democrats too. Your sore loser attitude is going to sink everything you gained.
So, my advice to you is to salvage as much as you can. Try to be a voice of a future movement and not act like a 5 year old boy having a tantrum. No matter what you do it might be too late for you to regain respect.
But, you must try.
An Open Letter To Senator Sanders
They say you want a revolution…
Senator, I wanted to take this time to reach out to you to help you make all of your ideas come to fruition.
I don't need to tell you that you and your campaign have done better than anyone could have ever imagined. You went up against the 'Clinton Machine' and came very close.
I think you're focusing on this presidential election is short sighted. You have awakened a sleeping giant of unsatisfied people who want change. Now is not the time to abandon them, now is the time to embrace them and move your movement forward.
You don't have to be president to keep your movement going. There are so many things that you could accomplish to help the Democratic party and the American people.
Your bringing income inequality to the front of the line in conversation has been essential. I agree with you that we have a deeply flawed economy that truly works only for the most well off. Your voice can be a loud and longterm one that can address and fix this issue.
But, there is so much more. If you continue your movement you can help get excited Dems to show up and vote in the midterm elections. I think congress is much more of a danger than the presidency. You have peoples' ears, use that to get people motivated to change the congress to Democratic majorities so we can get things done that need to be done for the American people.
One area I do not agree with you is that the system is rigged. I do not think it is rigged toward helping anyone to win or lose. But, you have brought this major issue to peoples attention. Now is the time to relook at all of the 'rules' and make changes. For instance, getting rid of superdelegates is probably a good idea. Changing primary states to winner take all makes sense to me. The open/closed primary states I don't know enough about to know if they can be changed or if every state must rule on the changes.
Mr. Sanders, now is your time to rise above the political fray and make a huge contribution to our country. You have spoken about so many things that need changing, now you can have the voice to change them. Don't let yourself go down a false road of scorched earth antics.
Know that you have the ear of many Americans who are frustrated and unsatisfied with the status quo. Know that most Americans would like single payer healthcare, higher wages and vacations. Knowing and wanting this doesn't mean we can get it in the course of 6 months. I am sure you have noticed during the last eight years the GOP blocking everything president Obama has tried to do.
A real revolution sounds great, but it takes time. Be patient stick with your goal and it can happen.
Continue to be the leader of the movement you started. Keep it all positive and be in it for the longterm. This can really happen.
Media Bias, Calling Out Falsehoods in 2016
I just noticed it's been a long time since I have posted so it's time for my input into what's going on right now in the media and 2016 election cycle.
So much is wrong, factually incorrect and biased I hardly know where to begin.
Of course I know, let's start with Sen. Sanders:
When he first came on the scene I liked what he was talking about, I liked that he was moving the conversation to income inequality and fairness for all. I liked the ideas of free healthcare, free college and free everything. Upon doing research and finding out this would add $18 trillion to our debt I took a step back. When Sanders was asked how he would accomplish this without adding to the debt he had no viable plan, answer, solutions, except that other countries do it. That's not good enough.
The day I lost all respect for Sen. Sanders was when he stood on the streets of my city, Manhattan, and said NY voters have been disenfranchised of their vote because of the state rules about who could vote in the NY primary. This to me was a complete lie and a desperate way to try to get sympathy for himself.
Every state sets its own rules about who can vote in primaries. Some are 'Open' meaning both Dems and GOP can vote for either a Dem or GOP candidate. Some state laws rule that you must be registered as a GOP/Dem to vote for GOP/Dem candidates in a primary.
Mr. Sanders this is not voter disenfranchisement. These are sates laws. Being ignorant of the laws isn't an excuse for your claims. You have been in congress for over 25 years, you should know the rules and should have advised your base what they needed to do.
Instead you didn't do your homework and then cried a 'rigged' election when it was you, yourself who was way in over his head and crying for mercy when losing so badly.
On another note of misinformation (lying) coming out of the Sanders campaign has to do with Superdelegates. Bernie has claimed that the Superdelegates are unfair and have been against him from the start. He claims the deck was stacked against him before he got in the race.
There is nothing I hate more than a liar, this SD charge is an out and out lie Sen. Sanders. You know, or should know, SDs don't cast their votes until after all of the primaries. No one stacked any deck against you. No one. If you don't like the SD system work on changing it in the future, not during an election.
Your 'electability' argument isn't worth talking about. Polls this far out have zero relevance. At this time in 2012 Romney was up 8 points over Obama, we saw how that turned out.
Hillary Clinton: As Hillary herself has pointed out, she is not the best politician. However, even with 25 years of unproven negative publicity she still has achieved more than 3 million votes more than Sanders and 2 million more than Trump.
This should alert people to her ability to turn out the vote and invoke excitement.
When elected president Mrs. Clinton will be the most experience and tested president to take office in modern history. Her grasp of knowledge from knowing how deals are done in congress to knowing global leaders on a first name basis is breathless.
Clinton being compared to Trump by Sanders is preposterous. I can't think of anything more absurd.
The most qualified should win for a change rather that the buffoon in a cowboy hat that people 'wanted to have a beer with.'
Donald Trump: Perhaps the most dangerous candidate in the history of the United Stated. Trump isn't in this election to make the world a better place, he is in the election to satisfy his ego. Yes, it's all about him. How he can make himself feel and look better.
His followers are mind boggling. They don't care that he lies all the time, has no business aptitude or success; has no caring about suffering people in the US and around the globe. He just wants the biggest trophy he can put on his wall.
It is time that Dems and sane Republicans come together to literally save the world. It's time for us all to back Hillary as president. Sanders has lost. Trump is an unacceptable candidate.
PS For you #BernieOrBust people, get a life.
The Media Still Trying to Kill a Clinton Presidency
The media failure and complete bias was worse than ever this weekend. The media proved again that they will do anything they can to kill a Hillary Clinton presidency. Even if they need to stoop to lies, half truths and delinquent reporting.
As I have said in the past, the media and the GOP have been out to get Sec. Clinton since 1992 when she said something about not being the stay at home and baking cookies kind of mother. Ever since then we have heard a continuous feed of accusations, from murdering people to being dishonest to putting National Security at risk.
Years, decades of accusation and not one has been proven to be accurate. Nothing. The media never says "oh yeah, we accused Hillary of murdering people, but turns out we had no proof so therefore she is innocent."
The media being complicit with the GOP has led to decades of false charges, negative press and character assassination. And, no one is held responsible.
What is different today is that many Dems now believe this narrative; they sound like they are reading GOP talking points. All being led by Bernie Sanders.
Let's start with the last few days. Sanders ignorantly and arrogantly tried to label Clinton as being bought and owned by large donors at the Clooney fundraiser. Sanders was outraged at the obscene amount of money being raised. Cut to Clooney himself being interviewed on Meet the Press.
Clooney agreed the amounts of money were obscene but told a global TV audience that the bulk of the money from his fundraisers was going to the down ticket Dem races, not to Hillary. He also stated that in order to get money out of politics a major amount of money was needed to fight off the influence of GOP members like the Koch brothers.
Clooney went on to say that he liked Sanders a lot and thought Sanders should stay in the race until the end. When asked why he was backing Clinton over Sanders Clooney spoke in depth about his experience in working with Sec. Clinton and how knowledgeable she was on issues and his confidence that Mrs. Clinton would be the best and most qualified person to get things done.
Post interview, Sanders response: Clinton is indebted to these big money people. CNN response: to play a clip that stops the Clooney interview at "it's an obscene amount of money" while cutting off why the money is needed. Countless other media sources reported that Clooney said (only) the money raised was obscene.
It should be noted loudly and clearly that Clinton is raising money for senate and house races while Sanders refuses to. This, another point the media won't report on.
Minimum Wage, Sanders/GOP Media report that Clinton is flip flopping about what she would like to see as the target. The media doesn't report this and Sanders and his Zombie followers can't seem to understand a simple fact. Leading economists think $15/hour could seriously damage many county economies. So, Mrs. Clinton is striving for a $12/hour wage for everywhere and those that can afford go as high as possible.
This is the same position Elizabeth Warren has taken. Recently NY State has instituted a $15/hour wage to take effect over 5 years. Each year they will evaluate if the higher wages hurt economic growth and adjust the wages by economic realities.
This isn't a hard concept to understand. But when you have the media ignoring the facts and Sanders erroneously stating Clinton is changing her stance it's almost impossible to get the facts out. Primarily because no one wants to hear the facts.
The meme of the super delegates are stacked against Bernie is preposterous. If you do some research you'll know that those super delegates don't vote until all primaries are over, so nothing is stacked in anyone's favor. Again, hard to get facts out when both Bernie and media are misrepresenting facts.
I'd like to see a media that reported facts, not just snippets to boost their ratings. I'd like to think fellow Dems would want to know the whole truth, not just listen to fairytales they want to hear. That is not reality in our world today.
My advice? Get out and Vote that is the best way to move things forward. Also, try to be curious and want to learn more information.
More to come
More Extreme Media Bias to Kill a Clinton Presidency
As you know I hate any kind of media bias, spin or completely inaccurate 'reporting.' I like hearing the truth and what actually happened. Today, again, the media completely failed to report an accurate version of what happened yesterday.
Instead, they reported in such a way to create drama; and most of all to create readership, clicks: profit.
I looked at the headlines this morning and all I saw was the 'devastating blow to Hillary Clinton,' would she be able to recover?' 'the huge upset that Sanders had caused by winning Michigan.'
Not one media outlet reported that the win by Mr. Sanders was in the one percent range, not exactly a defeating triumph. More importantly, not one of the news media outlets reported that MI has what is called an 'open' primary system. What that means is that Republicans can vote for Democratic nominees; thus using the GOP to once again try to get rid of Hillary by voting for Bernie.
This is extremely important. Rather than every major news outlet having blaring headlines about can Clinton survive this loss, not one pointed out how minute the loss actually was and, more importantly, that the GOP could very easily have been responsible.
The facts are that Sec Clinton won the majority of Dem voters in MI last night. What made Sen. Sanders pull slightly ahead was the votes of the GOP and IND. No one is reporting on who pushed him over the edge. If it was the INDs this is a big win for Sanders. If it was the GOP, this has nothing to do with Sanders, it's all about trying to take down Hillary.
No, we don't know which is true and we will find out more next Tuesday. But, to jump to such drastic breathless conclusions is not only wrong it's completely irresponsible news reporting. It is just presenting one side of the story.
We need to demand better.
What also sickened me was to see the so called BernieBots out in full force declaring complete victory. Many foolishly said the race could be over in less than a week. I do think it is so wrong for twitter users to so distort what is going on. I have personally found most of the BernieBots unnecessarily hostile and inaccurate. I have rarely heard such nonsense from a particular group; that includes from Trump supporters too.
There is very good reason for this. Many of these BernieBots are actually GOP trying to turn Dems against Clinton by pretending to be Bernie supporters. Their objective? To crucify Sanders in the general election.
I am calling on all true Democrats to stop this petty nonsense of trying to vilify Mrs. Clinton on unsubstantiated claims. This is what we do in democracy, we fight it out. But, let's do it only with facts and not speculation.
In the end what every true Dem should want is a Dem POTUS in 2016. Whether that is Hillary or Bernie, we shall see. But, the hysterical headlines, the complete lying on twitter need to stop.


text:
Centerline Solutions is a rapidly growing wireless services firm. Centerline offers a full suite of services; RF engineering, field services, site development, structural and architectural engineering and site construction.
Centerline is looking for a Transport Coordinator to work in Upstate New York. The Transport Coordinator will coordinate site walks, track deliverables, report big picture reports to upper management and provide daily status updates for all sites. The ideal candidate will have strong communication and problem solving skills and has the ability to provide clear direction, when needed. Travel across the Denver Metro area is required on a regular basis.
* Experience with transport solutions to include: Fiber and T-1s microwave experience a plus
* Experience with LECs and scheduling LEC walks
* Familiar with Power companies and submitting power applications
* Coordinating site walks for vendors and LEC and tracking deliverables
* Ability to create reports and track project status
* Track construction bids from vendors and insure adherence to CDs within a budget
* Use of problem solving skills by removing roadblocks
* Attend daily calls, keep a detailed project tracker and provide status updates
* Ability to defuse conflict and move towards solutions
* Proficient with MS Office and basic computer programs
* Be able to review and redline construction site drawings
* Strong organizational, communication skills and ability to communicate with multiple groups
* Outside Plant knowledge is key: copper and fiber cable design, aerial cable design, underground cable design, permitting, poles, strand, terminals, fiber cable size and counts, etc
Apply Here: http://www.Click2Apply.net/pydqqdz


text:
Why don't some Project Managers?
"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things."
In "The Prince" (1513). Machiavelli (1469-1527), was an Italian statesman and philosopher. This quote was published on Ah-Ha-Moments on June 24, 2010.
Projects change the environment
Even for a small impact project, remember that a project induces change. And this change is an intended one. In fact, it's common to do a project because someone wants to implement a business vision: projects are the way to turn visions into reality. In any case, project exists solely because someone wants to change something.
This relationship between projects and change is crucial for a simple reason: it's all too easy to be so busy trying hard to deliver on time, on budget and on scope that you forget why the project exists and what is the change it is implementing. And doing so you miss you target: the intended change.
Imagine the following scenario
Your company wants to cut the time it takes to get quarterly results. To do this it's necessary, amongst other things, to upgrade the accounting software. Now suppose you're the Project Manager in charge just for that upgrade. It's not too hard to imagine that somewhere along the line things get hot and you get stressed: because you found bugs in this new version of the software, or some changes were introduced in the software that requires changing some processes, or your hardware supplier is late on delivering the new servers or some other reason. You do your best and focus on what a good project managers must focus, but guess what? Even if you did an excellent job and found out why this upgrade was needed (this doesn't always happen), delivering on time is more pressing than delivering on scope and so you will probably deliver on time, and not so much on scope. And in the end you're not able to deliver what your company really needed: to cut the time it takes to get quarterly results.
Questioning things is a good principle but asking "Why?" is something that is mandatory in Project Management. If you ask "Why?" enough times, "Why do stakeholders want your project?" you'll probably get to the point: What is it people want to change that requires your project? Or rephrasing it enough to apply directly to most cases: What vision is your project implementing?
Projects induce change. Changes are hard. So, projects are hard. And even harder if you forget what change is your project trying to turn real.


text:
- laura.batty
- 5 years ago
- Wedding: November 2014
I found these AMAZING nails but I am having a hard time picking just one set.
We are having an Addams Family themed wedding, and I think these will look amazing with my dress and our theme.
Red and black:
Red & Spider:


text:
Tag Archives: Running
Running Down the Roads Again
Summer 2014 is looking prime for travel. All I have to do is get through May. Highways, by ways, all in my OWN way. Camera and confidence armed for the challenges that the hottest time of the year brings. This … Continue reading
Posted in From The Road, Photography, Uncategorized Tagged America, architecture, camera, Disclosure, Ebon Soul Photos, Ebonsoul Photos, From the Road, Jessie Ware, landscapes, Music, Nature, Photography, Rufus P Funk, rufuspfunk, Running, Running Down the Roads Again, Texas, travel, TX Leave a comment


text:
The most comprehensive tracking product for your car!
Rover 101 is a premium, highly accurate vehicle GPS tracking device with multiple options to connect peripherals!
Track your vehicle using your Smartphone or a Web browser
See your vehicle on India's best highly-detailed, house-number level maps*
The device comes with:
Internal Antennae
Motion Sensor for accurate tracking
Immobilization to safeguard your vehicle from theft
LDetailed & immediate SMS/ Email Alerts
Location fetch through SMS
*Available for 94 Cities in India
Rover 101 is a tracking device that comes with MapmyIndia's robust web-based Fleet Platform!
Accurate GPS based live tracking of your vehicle
Highly accurate Distance Calculation to get accurate mileage readings
Mark 'Areas' and color coded 'Places' on the map with your customized address name for better understanding of vehicle location.
E.g. Vehicle standing at "Rishabh's School"
Immobilizer helps you to cut your engine during vehicle theft and save your car
Exhaustive list of Alerts to help you keep informed about the whereabouts of your car
Over Speeding, Vehicle Entering/ Leaving an Area, GPS/ GPRS Disconnection, Vehicle Entering/ Deviating from a Route, Engine On/ Off, Vehicle Idling, Auto Current Location Update Get SMS/ Email for Alerts: Engine On at Anubhaya near *Nan Trauma Centre, Safdarjung Enclave at 22:00, 12/12/13
Multiple Email Id's/ SMS Numbers support
Get location of Vehicle instantaneously by sending an SMS (Example: "FIND Vehicle Number"to 56161)
Track your vehicle using your Smartphone's browser on the go
Get highly accurate, map linked reports for your vehicle daily/ weekly/ monthly over email automatically
Helps you keep a check on vehicle running & keep a track of over speeding instances
Trips & Drives I Trip & Stops I Drives by Day I Stops by Day I Get stops at my places
Vehicle alarms I Over speeding I Get stops at my areas I Movement Report


text:
EXCLUSIVE: Rolf Harris to teach Welsh in exchange for cushy prison transfer
JAILED entertainer Rolf Harris is so desperate to move to a cushier nick he is even offering to teach other inmates Welsh.
The 84-year-old – born to Welsh parents – was banged up last month after being found guilty of a string of indecent assaults.
Following an attack by a fellow inmate he has applied to move to a "safer" jail that houses sex offenders.
A source claims the convicted sex beast has tried to help his case for a move by saying he will teach inmates a range of skills, offering Welsh alongside art and music.
"Harris was very depressed on entry and his position was made worse by an incident within the chapel when a scuffle broke out and he was spat at by another inmate"Prison source
Harris, who famously painted a portrait of the Queen, is a fluent Welsh speaker and is said to have an "encyclopaedic mind".
A source said: "Harris was very depressed on entry and his position was made worse by an incident within the chapel when a scuffle broke out and he was spat at by another inmate.
"For a time he was on a 24/7 supervised watch.
"A move to another prison is currently under consideration and he hopes to start a teaching plan for Welsh studies, arts and music."
Harris, who was born in Perth, Western Australia, is currently being held at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, Oxon.
Sources say he may be moved to HMP Littlehey in Cambs, which offers specialist rehabilitation courses for sex offenders.
Last week it emerged his legal team has asked for permission to appeal his conviction.
He was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison after being found guilty of 12 indecent assaults against four young women from 1968 to 1986. Some of his victims were aged seven or eight.
The new Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, recently decided he would not be referring the sentence to the Court of Appeal over claims it was "too lenient".