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The Saturday Thread
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Hey you! Reader! Want to be a part of the GREATEST COMIC BOOK AND GEEK COMMUNITY on the web?! Well, they're not accepting new members, but we'll take anyone here, so why not sign up for a free acount? It's fast and it's easy, like your mom! Sign up today! Membership spots are limited!*
*Membership spots not really limited!
by Keb » Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:30 pmCome by my place. Parks everywhere.
by oogy » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:20 amI woke up around 4:30 am to what sound like 5 quick gunshots to the south and then a car driving away. My wife didn't hear it so I though maybe it was a dream. An hour later the police rang my door bell and asked if I'd seen or heard anything. He confirmed that it was indeed a drive-by, but it was 3 houses to the north of us. The house is inhabited by a trashy young white couple that moved in a few months ago, and apparently the officer that I was talking to has had dealings with them. He said that it was drug related and that they have a good idea who the shooter is.
by Grayson » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:23 am
Glad you and the family are ok!
by Garofani Spruzzo » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:35 amgroooooan
Spent yesterday helping this couple move, supposed to be plenty of help and just some of the heavy stuff.
So of course almost nobody showed up and it turned out to be 2+ 20 ft. trucks of massively heavy stuff and a lot of it wasn't cleaned off or immediately ready to move. I don't mind helping people out, but this was a 2 day job even if there had been more help. And it really bothered me that the wife, who is in good health and not a small woman, never lifted or carried a single thing--in fact, all I saw her do the entire day was eat donuts and smoke cigarettes!
Was there pizza? No. Was there beer? NO!
That was some bullshit.
by Grayson » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:44 am
Happened to me last year man. That absolutely sucks.
by oogy » Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:51 am
Maybe all of the other people who were supposed to be there had already learned this experience by helping them move before.
Pizza and beer in return for helping people move should be a worldwide law.
by S.F. Jude Terror » Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:53 am
That's fucked up.
by Rockman » Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:59 am
There is an interesting article over at Cracked.com from Mara Wilson (the young lady from Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire) that talks about what kind of goes behind the scenes with these Disney and Nickelodeon kids. One of them is that when you're under their umbrella you're watched like a hawk, but once they're finally free they rebel hardcore like any teenager would. It's pretty interesting.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-c ... rspective/
by Rockman » Sun Jul 07, 2013 12:01 pm
It's very difficult for me not to get flippant when I arrive somewhere to help someone move like that, and they don't have everything packed.
by Keb » Sun Jul 07, 2013 12:51 pm
Oogy +100 street cred!
Glad you and the fam is okay.
by Garofani Spruzzo » Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:18 pm
Thank you for your commiseration, I appreciate it. Really really do. Today I woke up and my sunburned face was broken out with swelling and a rash, too. I am in total sulk mode and can't talk myself out of it, July has been a bum month from the beginning.
by Garofani Spruzzo » Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:23 pm
From the looks of it, that's been a while!
And cat owners. 'Nuff said.
This part is in response to Rockman, my reply got mis-formatted:
Guy is a carpenter too, so lots of heavy home-made stuff made from lumber. Cinder blocks. Actually moving the cinder blocks. Old manual typewriters. Bowling balls. I kid you not, it was like some kind of TV prank show deal.
by Garofani Spruzzo » Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:30 pm
I think I spent $15 in gas driving back and forth across town.
Man, I really try to take stuff IRL with a certain healthy degree of casual disregard, but this was just too much. It's not like we're best friends or anything.
by S.F. Jude Terror » Sun Jul 07, 2013 3:19 pm
Extremely long PM incoming.
by Keb » Sun Jul 07, 2013 3:38 pm
Yeah I don't help people move unless it's my boys who I know will help me move. I hate when people call like 10+ people to help them move and all these people show up and shit.
Usually I just hire movers. They get shit done.
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1955 Topps #146 Dick Donovan ROOKIE [#x] (White Sox) Baseball cardPrice = $ 12.95
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MINT (MT) - while we rarely use this grade, occasionally it can be found for items that we appraise as appearing nearly perfect to the naked eye. With respect to cards, it would be defined as one with 50/50 centering all around, razor-sharp corners, a photo that is well-registered and completely focused, and no visible imperfections on card front or back.
NEAR MINT-MINT (NRMT/MT) - is qualified by at least 60/40 centering, only the slightest hint of corner wear upon close inspection, and may have a barely visible print spot, lack of intense color, or a slight focus imperfection.
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FAIR TO GOOD - in this grade, card has rounded corners and other major defects such as scuffing, pinholes, loss of gloss, multiple creases. In general, a markedly worn card and often used as a "filler" until a better one comes along.
1967 Topps WHO AM I ?NM/MINT to MINT COMPLETE 1976 Crane Potato Chip Football Discs Set.
It's easy to see why the 1967 Topps "Who Am I? set is a favorite of both sports and non- sport collectors. The set's 44 cards feature mostly important figures from world history but what makes this set even more popular was the inclusion of 4 of baseball's most popular players: Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax !!!
The players picture on the front is covered with a scratch-off disguise with silly, exaggerated features like hair, moustaches, hats, noses... and clues to help kids identify the famous person pictured. The backs contained additional clues and instructions to "Scratch off disguise on front to discover Who I Am. Use a coin or fingernail."
Cards with their scratch-off coating intact are worth many, many times cards with the coatings removed. For example, NM/MINT Babe Ruth with the coating is in the $200-$400 range while a NM/MINT Ruth with the coating removed is closer to $25.
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1972 Topps Baseball Cards AUTOGRAPHED Set info/informationBy now you all heard of the rash of counterfeit autographs on the market.
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Frankenhooker (US - BD)
Gabe takes a high definition date with Frank Henenlotter's sleazeterpeice...
When Jeffrey Franken's (James Lorinz) fiancée Elizabeth (former Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen) is accidentally chopped to pieces by the blades of a remote-controlled lawnmower, he decides to use his dubious medical knowledge to bring her back to life. Jeffery hatches a plan to reassemble his beloved Elizabeth using the body parts of New York City's finest prostitutes, and resurrect her during a heavy lightning storm. Rather than disassemble the hookers the old fashion way, he develops a 'super-crack' that causes the user to explode. Unfortunately, following her resurrection Elizabeth's brain is scrambled and she runs amok on 42nd Street, turning tricks and bringing high-voltage death to her customers.
New York sleaze meister Frank Henenlotter is not a great filmmaker, but he is a singular filmmaker, and he's got a lock on his wheelhouse. He is one of a small group of filmmakers (Larry Cohen and Stuart Gordon for example) that can mark themselves as horror/comedy auteurs, and masters of classic camp cinema. Henenlotter's films don't exactly cover a wide range of subjects and themes, but he's great at finding fun, new ways to explore the same exploitation horror, physical deformity, raunchy sex, psychotropic drugs, and the delightfully disgusting creatures that stalked 42nd Street in the early 1980s. Though I own the original Basket Case, and quite enjoyed Brain Damage, I don't count myself very high among Henenlotter's fans, and hadn't seen his Basket Case 2 follow-up, the tastefully entitled Frankenhooker until Synapse sent me this Blu-ray. My only memory of the film was the garish VHS box art that featured a button that would blurt 'Want a date?!' when pressed. Well, kind of. Usually the tiny speaker was overused, and kind of broken, so it sounded more like 'Angga Ate!'.
Frankenhooker is a very Henenlottery take on both Mary Shelly's classic motifs, and James Whales' classic visuals, but beyond even that it's also a pseudo-remake of Mystery Science Theater 3000 favourite The Brain That Wouldn't Die (which was also informed by Shelly and Whale). As a director Henenlotter is at his best when he's stuck in dark, dingy corners, or filming on the savage streets of New York, but he shines when filling these stages with eccentric characters, and bathing them in garish colours. I tend to find Henenlotter's calculated camp brand moves a bit out of my comedy comfort zone, which leads me to consider the film's basic concept not all that funny, but I enjoy the fact that somebody does. Frankenhooker's sense of the absurd is relatively amusing too, but it's the dry interactions, and surprisingly affecting characters that really make the experience. This is what is ultimately special about Henenlotter's best films, and what sets his (let's be honest here) unattractive films apart from a very busy low-budget late '80s, early '90s field (though apparently the budget on this one was somewhere around $2.5 million, which I find hard to believe). Actor James Lorinz gives a sometimes great, but generally uneven, performance that skirts the edge of ostentatious with frantic, sarcastic self-talk that flows so naturally I'm assuming it wasn't scripted. It might be the best performance in any of the Henenlotter's films. The rest of the cast is delightfully wooden in that specific fashion the director tends to cherish with thoughtful purpose, including some beguiling cameos from the Basket Case and Brain Damage casts.
The film has a relatively notorious reputation for being particularly dirty, but I think the people that adhere to this haven't actually seen the film, they just read the box. The 'unrated' violence is plenty grotesque, but really more in theory than actual visual practice. For instance, Jeffery often whips out an electric drill to literally bore the morality out of his brain. This is a hideous idea, but the action is staged as ordinary, without any actual gore. Special effects artist Gabe Bartalos' make-up and technical effects aren't given much room to shine, at least not compared to Henenlotter's Basket Case 2 (which was released the same year), where he was given a chance to create a bunch of cartoonish freaks. Eventually the violence picks up with a hilariously bombastic (though not particularly wet) sequence featuring a roomful of whores who take Jeffery's 'super crack', and explode into sparking pieces. The 'Frankenhooker' make-up isn't particularly impressive, but it adds to the strange sense of charm. The finale, which I'd rather not spoil, stops just short of the gnarled, gooey and outrageous practical effects Screaming Mad George produced for Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator and Society. I also find the film's sexuality, which I believe was cut for the R-rated release (which I've never seen, but which Henenlotter discusses on the excellent commentary track), relatively innocent to boot. Sure, there's a lot of nudity, but it's almost all of the 'cheesecake' variety, and outside a few brief shots of folks partaking in particularly icky toilet humping, there isn't anything approaching actual on-screen sex.
Synapse continues doing its best with some pretty unimpressive source material. This 1080p, 1.85:1 transfer isn't going to win any awards, and I'm unable to compare it to Unearthed Film's anamorphic release, but given basic expectations I think there's little more fans could ask for. Even by Henenlotter's terms Frankenhooker is pretty unattractive, mostly because it went through three cinematographers, and was made under pretty heavy creative stress. But it's a really colourful film, and colour tends to work in the film's favour. The most gaudy lighting designs, which often include a wash of lilac, green and soft blue, are both reasonably clean, and vibrant. The colour schemes are never as bright or clean as, say, Blue Underground's similarly hued Inferno, but are likely more striking than any DVD release of the film. Detail levels are inconsistent, but this is usually clearly the fault of the material, not the disc's producers. Shots of the city streets feature generally more depth and variation, and tend to look better than the more stagy shots, which is pretty unusual. The heavily lit and smoky bars, hotel rooms and bathrooms are also comparatively sharp in the detail department. There is plenty of grain if you're looking for it, but not an excess of the stuff, and the frequency of grain is relatively consistent. There are some minor aliasing effects, and edge haloes, but even the most excessive red-caked scenes are generally clear of digital compression artefacts and other impurities.
Synapse has done their best to reconstruct this 2.0 mix as a 5.1 mix, but the effect is a little strange. The disc's producers have also included the 2.0 mix for comparison's sake, and both tracks are presented in the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio format. The 2.0 track is a bit fuller, and features more natural element separation, but is also noticeably distorted at high volume points. The 5.1 mix is cleaner, and features more consistent overall volume levels, though it to is a bit inconsistent in terms of dialogue clarity. The 5.1 track doesn't feature too many artificial sounding additions, outside of the more widely-stretched electronic noise, which is definitively artificial in the first place. Even during the noisiest scenes, like the one where the hookers strip and scream a bunch while smoking the super-crack, are generally centered outside of musical influences. Of course, the following scene where the women explode features a fair number of directional effects as body parts blast throughout the room. Joe Renzetti's surprisingly layered and effective electronic score sounds significantly better on the 5.1 track. It's cleaner, warmer, and features a more rounded bass feel. The stereo field isn't all that much more impressive, but also doesn't suffer from the minor audio bleeds found on the 2.0 track.
All the extras here were previously available on Unearthed Films' special edition DVD release, and begin with a commentary track featuring writer/director Frank Henenlotter and special effects make-up artist Gabe Bartalos. Henenlotter is the main attraction here, and orders Bartalos, who acts as straight man/interviewer for most of the track, to cut in when he needs to say something about the effects. The pacing is fast and furious, with Henenlotter cutting through the entire production of the film with utter ease and a wonderful sense of storytelling. There's surprisingly little on the internet about the film's production (save maybe reviews, which I wanted to avoid in case they swayed me too much), so as a new comer I found the track incredibly educational. For instance, Henenlotter never wanted Frankenhooker to be a horror film, which lead him to exploding the prostitutes with super-crack, rather than having Jeffery rip them apart. I also learned that the film was pitched on the spot when producer James Glickenhaus politely told the director the other script he was trying to sell was unfilmable. This fun, and infectiously energetic also acts as a decent marker for the footage cut for the R-rating.
Next up are a series of interviews, starting with 'A Salad That Was Once Named Elizabeth' (8:50, SD), an interview with actress Patty Mullen, who recalls her experience on the film, including her opinions on Henenlotter, the fun of the role, and basic trials and tribulations. 'A Stitch In Time: The Make-Up Effects Of Frankenhooker' (21:00, SD) features effects artist Bartalos discussing his part on the film, and his history with Henenlotter. Bartalos appears to have set the camera up himself throughout his workshop, and in local a strip club, and basically interviews himself. A lot of behind the scenes video footage and continuity stills are spliced in with the discussion, a some of which feature sound. 'Turning Tricks' (19:30, SD) features actress Jennifer Delora basically interviewing herself, and buoyantly talking about her part in the film. She refers to herself as the best character in the film, and complains about the other actors way too much, but you forgive her hubris because…well, I'm not sure, she's somehow amusing? Delora apparently took a lot of photos on set, and though some are included with the interview, the bulk are delegated to 'The Jennifer Delora Photo Gallery' (11:20, SD) – a narrated slideshow. All of the interviews begin with the an audio sync issue that is corrected a few seconds in. The extras end with the original theatrical trailer.
Frankenhooker isn't going to convert anyone that has already decided they don't like Frank Henenlotter's film, and it isn't the best place for those unfamiliar with his work to start (that would be Basket Case or Brain Dead), but it's a fun enough camp comedy exercise, and more entertaining than I was expecting. Synapse has done as good a job as any of us could've expected from the source material, and there are both 5.1 and original 2.0 sound mixes to enjoy. Extras aren't super-extensive, but do include an adorable commentary track with Henenlotter and make-up effects artist Gabe Bartalos.
* Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray image quality.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Existing Posts
this is a movie i ALWAYS saw at the video store when browsing the horror section as a kid but for some reason i never gave it a try. but i've always remembered the name and cover. lol
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Disc Details
Release Date: 8th November 2011
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 1.78:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 English
Subtitles: None
Extras: Director and SFX Artist Commentary, A Salad that was Once Named Elizabeth, A Stitch in Time, Turning Tricks, Photo Scrapbook, Trailer
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Cast: James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, Louise Lasser
Genre: Comedy and Horror
Length: 85 minutes
6Review Guide
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FARGO, N.D., Feb. 8, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Otter Tail Corporation (Nasdaq:OTTR) today announced it has sold substantially all of the assets of ShoreMaster, its waterfront equipment manufacturing business, to High Street Capital, a longstanding private equity group based in Chicago, IL. The impact of this transaction on the 2012 Otter Tail Corporation consolidated financial results will be disclosed in the company's earnings release on February 11, 2013.
ShoreMaster will continue to operate independently, with its headquarters remaining in Fergus Falls, MN. "This is a good outcome for Otter Tail Corporation, High Street Capital and ShoreMaster," said Otter Tail Corporation president and CEO Edward J. "Jim" McIntyre. "It fits with our ongoing strategy of business portfolio alignment, while also adding a great opportunity for High Street Capital to acquire an experienced leader in the production of waterfront equipment."
Joseph R. Katcha, Principal at High Street Capital added, "This transaction will enable us to leverage High Street Capital's experience in growing middle market companies with the knowledge of ShoreMaster's management team in the waterfront equipment industry. With the management team, we plan to grow the business and continue to offer the quality service ShoreMaster's customers have come to expect from this market leading company."
About ShoreMaster: ShoreMaster is a premier manufacturer of boat lifts, docks, and accessories for residential and marina use in the waterfront equipment industry. ShoreMaster's products can be found near the water's edge, providing value to the owners of first-class marinas and residential lake homes the world over. www.ShoreMaster.com
About High Street Capital: High Street Capital, founded in 1997, is a leading lower middle market private equity firm headquartered in Chicago, IL. They provide flexible capital and operating expertise to drive high-quality manufacturing, services and distribution businesses to the next stage of their growth. www.HighStreetCapital.com
About Otter Tail Corporation: Otter Tail Corporation has interests in diversified operations that include an electric utility and energy services company, and infrastructure businesses that include manufacturing, construction and plastics. Otter Tail Corporation stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol OTTR. The latest investor and corporate information is available at www.ottertail.com. Corporate offices are located in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota.
The Otter Tail Corporation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4958
CONTACT: Media contact: Michael J. Olsen, Sr. Vice President of Corporate Communications (701) 451-3580 or (866) 410-8780 Investor contact: Loren Hanson, Manager of Investor Relations (218) 739-8481 or (800) 664-1259
Source:Otter Tail Corporation


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Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta won his first vote of confidence in parliament on Monday after promising to press for a change to the European Union's focus on austerity and pursue economic growth and jobs.
Letta said Italy could not afford to focus simply on trying to cut its huge public debt and needed a new emphasis on lifting the economy out of recession.
The confidence motion in his right-left coalition government easily passed as expected, by 453 votes to 153 in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house.
Letta was backed by his own center-left Democratic Party(PD), Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party as well as centrists led by former prime minister Mario Monti. The government will be fully empowered after a second vote in the Senate on Tuesday.
(Read More: Italy Will Die From Austerity Alone: Prime Minister)
However, the first opinion poll published since his cabinet was announced, conducted by the EMG agency, gave Letta an approval rating of just 41 percent, showing that many Italians are unconvinced by the coalition of former adversaries.
Just 13 percent of Italians said they wanted Letta as prime minister, suggesting he may struggle to obtain the honeymoon period usually enjoyed by new governments. Monti began his government with approval ratings as high as 70 percent.
"We will die of fiscal consolidation alone, growth policies cannot wait any longer," Letta said in his speech to the Chamber of Deputies, describing the country's economic situation as still "serious" after more than a decade of stagnation.
Positive Reaction
Financial market reaction to Letta's appointment and the end of months of political stalemate in the euro zone's third largest economy has been positive, with bond yields falling and shares rising.
Italy's cost of borrowing dropped to its lowest since October 2010 at an auction of mid and long term bonds.
(Read More: Is Italy's Economy Minister Draghi's Man in Rome?)
Letta, a 46-year-old moderate with strong contacts outside Italy, pledged to stick to Rome's budget commitments to its European Union partners, announcing he would visit Brussels,Paris and Berlin this week.
He joined the growing numbers of European politicians attacking the former consensus on budget austerity but offered few specific proposals about how to restore growth to Italy's economy, which has shrunk below the level it was in 2001.
"We all have the clear and strong feeling that our destiny will be the destiny we want only if the choices Europe makes are different from the choices made up to now," he said.
Stefano Fassina, the PD's main economic spokesman, said Letta should renegotiate Italy's budget target to gain more breathing room. "Other countries have done it and so should we,"he said in parliament.
Letta was pushed into a coalition with Berlusconi after the center-left fell short of a viable parliamentary majority in February's inconclusive election, which left no side with the numbers to govern alone.
(Read More: Italy's New Government Passes First Market Test)
Berlusconi, who is fighting legal battles over a tax fraud conviction and charges of paying for sex with a minor, will not be in cabinet but will exercise a powerful influence behind the scenes, to the disgust of many on the left who find the idea of working with their old enemy abhorrent.
Points of Conflict
In a speech that ranged from tax to constitutional reform and touched on issues including tourism, prisons and two Italian marines at the center of a diplomatic standoff with India, Letta avoided points of conflict between members of his coalition.
He made no reference to a law tackling conflicts of interests, which was promised by his PD party before and after the election but would be unacceptable to media tycoon Berlusconi, who has staked a claim to chair a special commission examining institutional reforms.
Responding to center-right demands for an unpopular housing tax to be scrapped, Letta said payments due in June would be halted although he did not promise to abolish the tax altogether as Berlusconi has demanded.
(Read More: Why Italy Is a Safer Bet Than Spain: Strategist)
He hoped a planned increase in sales tax, which would seethe main rate rise from 21 percent to 22 percent in July, could be delayed and said payroll taxes that dissuaded companies from hiring should be lowered.
He did not indicate how he would pay for tax changes, which together with proposed measures to extend unemployment protection would require as much as 10 billion euros ($13 billion) in 2013.
The current electoral law, which contributed heavily to the inconclusive election result in February would be changed before the next election and he proposed a special commission to consider other political and constitutional reforms.


text:
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Air Canada will cancel any purchased ticket and provide a full refund without penalty up to 24 hours after purchase.
Beyond 24 hours of purchase, a non-refundable ticket offers no options in the event that an unexpected medical emergency or other unforeseen circumstance forces you to cancel your trip or modify your travel plans. And we can't make any exception to the fare rules.
The best advice is to prepare and plan for the unexpected. Many travellers consider the purchase of cancellation insurance as a good investment against such risks. Some payment cards also cover trip cancellations; check with your bank or service provider. The time to make these decisions is when you purchase your ticket.
Can I get a refund for the ticket I didn't use?
Air Canada will cancel any purchased ticket and provide a full refund without penalty up to 24 hours after purchase.
The best time to decide about getting a refund is when buying your ticket. Familiarize yourself with our refund policies, and take the time to select a ticket that suits all of your needs at the outset. You should always be aware, at the time of purchase, if your ticket is refundable and under what conditions.
Refundable tickets:
If you purchased a refundable ticket on aircanada.com and you have not travelled yet, you can cancel your booking online by going to My Bookings. This will automatically initiate your refund process.
If you didn't purchase your refundable ticket at aircanada.com, you'll need to present your refund request via your original point of purchase.
Our Refund Services page gives you all the information you'll need.
Economy Basic fares:
When purchasing an Economy Basic fare, it's important to remember that it comes with the following restrictions:
- No flight changes or cancellations
- No refund after 24 hours
- No credit for future travel
All other non-refundable tickets:
Beyond 24 hours of purchase, most of the great promotional or seat sale tickets are seldom refundable - that's part of why they're such great deals. In most cases, the words "non-refundable" or "non-ref" are clearly printed on the ticket and ticket receipt. Certain tickets allow for no changes or refunds at all. Other tickets may allow changes (other than a name change) for a fee.
One fully unused non-refundable ticket may be applied as a credit towards the purchase of one new ticket in the same passenger's name. Travel must start within 1 year of the date the original ticket was issue. If the fare for the new journey is lower, any residual amount will be forfeited. Additional fare amount and change fees may apply.
About my special needs
What services do you offer for customers with limited mobility, extra physical considerations or particular dietary needs?
Just the facts:
With a little advance notice, we're happy to help meet your special needs at each step of your journey.
We'll be happy to help with:
- Pre-selecting seats,
- Check-in and proceeding to the boarding area,
- Boarding and deplaning,
- Special meals (not available on Air Canada Bistro flights),
- Tagging mobility aids (e.g. canes, walkers and wheelchairs) as priority baggage,
- Stowing and retrieving baggage and mobility aids,
- Proceeding to the public arrivals area
We'll also provide individual safety briefings to visually and/or hearing impaired customers and, in most cases, will accommodate certified and trained service animals aboard our flights.
Behind the facts:
Special services are one way in which we try to serve all our passengers according to their needs and preferences. It's also one of the ways we differentiate ourselves from other airlines.
Our only request is that you give the Air Canada Medical Assistance Desk as much advance notice as you can (48 hours or more is required) so that we can be ready to make your flight as smooth as possible. Please also give yourself extra time when arriving at the airport and checking in to allow us to better serve you.
You can reach the Air Canada Medical Assistance Desk as follows:
1-800-667-4732 (toll-free between Canada and the U.S.)
1-514-369-7039 (long distance charges apply)*
Hours of operation (ET):
Monday to Friday: 6am to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday: 6am to 6pm
*If you're calling from outside Canada or the United States, contact Air Canada Reservations and ask for the Medical Assistance Desk.
You can also ask your travel agent at least 48 hours before departure to arrange the services you need.
I am travelling with my baby – what do I need to know?
Just the facts:
Apart from the obvious need to have infinite patience, we'd like to offer some useful advice on travelling with an infant or child.
Beyond the facts:
The wonder of flying is infectious to people of all ages, and to none more so than a young child. Make the flight as stress-free and entertaining as possible by arriving at the airport early, bringing your child's favourite food and a small (quiet) toy or blanket. If your child hasn't quite caught the wonder of travel yet, a small smile and acknowledgement to your grimacing neighbour usually goes a long way in breaking the ice.
How do you take care of young children travelling alone on your flights?
We offer a special Unaccompanied Minor (UM) service for children age 8 and up who are travelling alone. The service is available on non-stop flights only.
Our UM service is highly personalized for your child. Accordingly, a fee applies each way per child.
Beyond the facts:
This service makes sure that your child travelling alone is accompanied by our staff in airports and looked after on board by our in-flight crew. At the final destination, our airport staff will ask the person meeting your child for proof of identification in the form of a photo ID. It is imperative that the UM service be requested at the time of your reservation so we can get all the information we need and make the necessary arrangements. The UM service cannot be arranged on the day of departure at the airport.
Do you offer special fares in case of a death or imminent death in the family?
Just the facts:
Our Bereavement Fares page has all the information you'll need. You can also contact Air Canada Reservations for more details.
Beyond the facts:
You'll be asked to submit appropriate documentation. This is simply to help us make sure that those benefitting from bereavement fares are the ones for whom it was intended. While we apologize for this extra step, it's necessary to maintain the integrity of this important program.
About my trip
What travel documents do I need before I travel?
Just the facts:
- Our Travel Documents page provides important information on passports and other documents needed when travelling for landed immigrants, permanent residents and passengers travelling with children.
- To find out about additional entry requirements for your trip, contact the local consulate or embassy of the country you plan on visiting.
- You'll find a list of embassies on the Embassy WorldOpens in New Window website.
- For more information, visit the Transport CanadaOpens in New Window or Passenger ProtectOpens in New Window websites.
Beyond the facts:
Don't wait until the last minute to check your travel documents. Do this well in advance of your travel dates in case some of the documentation requires preparation and lead-time.
One key thing to remember is that your name on your travel documents must perfectly match your name on your ticket. (That's a legal requirement, not an airline rule.) Out of concern for security and because of heavy government fines, we will refuse boarding to passengers who are deemed to have improper documentation.
What is 'code sharing' and how does it affect me?
Just the facts:
Code sharing refers to a practice through which a flight operated by one airline is jointly marketed as a flight by one or more other airlines. Through our codeshare partnerships, we place our designator code (AC) on flights operated by our codeshare partners, which allows us to provide you with worldwide services through an extensive network of convenient flight connections.
Your Air Canada itinerary receipt or your travel agent will tell you if any portion of your trip is on a non-Air Canada airline.
Behind the facts:
Airlines, including Air Canada, codeshare because it's a way to share resources and offer more frequent service. The effect of code sharing on our customers is minimal because we only codeshare with high-quality airline partners. But, we do believe it's important for customers to know which airline they will actually be travelling on, and that's why we will tell you at the time of ticket purchase if any part of your trip is actually on another airline.
Learn more about code sharing and what it means to you, the customer.
What's the difference between a direct flight and a connecting flight?
In the aviation industry, a direct flight is any flight between two places that carries a single flight number, but which may include one or more stops where customers don't have to change planes.
Customers travelling on connecting flights need to change from one plane or airline to another at an intermediate point, called the connecting point, en route to their destination.
How do I choose my own seat?
There are a few ways to choose your seat ahead of your flight:
1. When booking a new flight
Select your seat from the seat map when you reach the Seat Selection screen.
2. After booking
From the My Bookings tab on the homepage, retrieve your booking and then look for the Change Seats link.
If you're booking through an Air Canada reservations agent or your travel agent, you can also take advantage of advance seat selection. If you don't choose advance seat selection, then you can select the best seat available by checking 24 hours in advance on aircanada.com or at check-in time at the airport.
You can also select your seat when you check in for your flight online, on your mobile device, or at an airport check-in kiosk.
Remember that advance seat selection comes included with some fares, whereas a fee will appy for others. Learn more about advance seat selection.
Looking for more legroom and convenience?
You may want to choose a Preferred Seat.
Are check-in times really important?
Yes, they're critical to the on-time departure and, more importantly, the on-time arrival of your flight.
Online check-in is simply the best way to check in for your flight, and You can check in and print your boarding pass as early as 24 hours before your flight.
You can also check in at one of our airport kiosks up to 12 hours in advance, and print your own baggage tags at airports across Canada, in the U.S. and at London Heathrow.
Learn more about Check-in and boarding times.
Behind the facts:
Customers sometimes question the need to arrive so early for check-in and boarding. The fact is there's a lot that goes into making sure a flight leaves on time. For our part, we need to have an aircraft and crew ready to leave at the scheduled departure time. When you respect the check-in times, you're giving us a tremendous advantage in terms of getting every checked bag on the plane and issuing all the boarding passes - without a last minute rush. That's something we really appreciate.
Early check-in also gives you the time you need to pass through the various security screening points en route to your gate. These security processes and procedures are a fact of life in today's airports and they often take time. In the case of flights to the United States, you may also need to go through U.S. immigration and customs formalities before boarding.
What can I expect to eat or drink on my flight?
Just the facts:
It depends on where you're going, the length of your flight, and the cabin you've chosen to travel in.
Take a minute to see what meals and beverages are typically served in all of our cabins, from Economy to Business Class. You can also learn more about our policy regarding customers with allergies, as well as our NutriCuisine products.
What happens if my flight is delayed?
Just the facts:
Our prime objective is to let you know as early as possible if there's a schedule change or delay, so please make sure to provide us with accurate contact information at time of booking. We can't contact you if we don't have the right telephone or email information.
The best way to stay on top of the latest arrival and departure information for your flight is to sign up to receive an automatic email or SMS text message on your cell phone with one of our Flight Notification services. Real-time flight information is also available on our Flight Status page, or by calling our automated flight information system at 1-888-422-7533.
Passengers hate to arrive at the airport only to find that their flight has been delayed, and we hate to have to tell them. But, if you've already arrived at the airport, we'll do our best to let you know what's going on at regular intervals and keep you updated about the status of your flight. In the case of last-minute cancellations, we'll help you rebook on the next Air Canada flight with available seats, or cancel the ticket and refund you if you prefer.
What happens if there's a long delay – the kind where I could be on a plane for hours or wind up sleeping at the airport?
Just the facts:
In the case of delays caused by Air Canada, which are expected to last longer than 4 hours, we'll offer a voucher for use at an airport restaurant or for our Air Canada Bistro service. We'll also communicate with you at regular intervals to provide an update on the flight status with the latest, most accurate information available. In the case of an unplanned overnight stay caused by Air Canada, we'll provide out-of-town customers with meal vouchers, transportation to and from the airport as well as hotel accommodations (subject to availability).
Behind the facts:
Without a doubt, long delays are one of the worst airline experiences, and we do everything we can to avoid them. But, they do happen.
We can't control the weather, power outages, acts of God, riots, traffic congestion, airport construction or security-related situations. In these cases, we won't provide compensation, but we'll do our best to get you on your way as quickly as possible.
But when it's our fault, we'll take full responsibility for the situation. If the delay continues for a matter of hours, we'll do our best to see that you get something to eat and drink. We'll look after out-of-town customers who are trapped at the airport overnight and find them hotel accommodations (subject to availability).
About my bags
What's my baggage allowance?
Just the facts:
Checked baggage allowances are fully outlined on our Checked Baggage page.
Please note that we can't check your bag for delivery to another airline to carry it to your destination unless you can show a single ticket for travel on both Air Canada and the other airline.
I arrived safely at my destination but my bag didn't. What can I do about it?
Just the facts:
The best course of action is to check with an Air Canada baggage service agent in the arrivals area who will take immediate steps to find your bag and return it to you quickly. You'll be asked to describe your baggage, and to provide detailed contact information. We'll then give you a File Reference Number. (This number is needed in all communications regarding your delayed baggage.)
Our Delayed and damaged baggage page gives you all the information you need.
Behind the facts:
We appreciate the inconvenience a delayed bag can cause, and know that the many reasons for it (including possibly a late delivery from another airline, your late check-in, or our failure to put it on the right flight) are not as important to you as being reunited with your bag is.
Beyond the facts:
One of the best ways to protect against misplaced bags is to clearly identify your bags by placing an up-to-date identification tag on the outside as well as on the inside of all baggage. (Many travellers forget to put identification inside their bags.)
What do I do if my bag is lost or damaged?
Just the facts:
The best thing to do is report the loss or damages to an Air Canada baggage service agent within 24 hours for domestic travel and 7 days for international travel. Our Delayed and damaged baggage page gives you links to all the information you need.
Behind the facts:
You should know that there are existing regulations and legislation which govern airline liability on domestic and international flights. The Warsaw Convention, for example, is an international convention that regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage or goods performed by aircraft.
Like most international airlines, we settle claims for lost or damaged baggage in accordance with these regulations. The Warsaw/Montreal Convention's international rules for liability are listed in the 'Insurance and Baggage Liability Limitations' section of the delayed baggage and damaged baggage pages.
Beyond the facts:
You may want to consider purchasing additional liability insurance if the standard liability limits don't meet your needs. We have negotiated preferential rates with RBC Insurance.
The following items should not be included in checked baggage: passport or other travel documents, medication, money, jewellery, cameras and electronic devices, business documents, samples, valuables, fragile and perishable items. It makes good sense to store these items in your carry-on baggage for your own protection and convenience, and also because all these items are excluded from our liability.
What items are not allowed on board?
Our Restricted and prohibited items, carry-on and checked baggage pages provide essential information. We also encourage you to visit the Canadian Air Transport Security AuthorityOpens in New Window (CATSA) website.
About Air Canada
Does Air Canada overbook its flights?
Just the facts:
Yes, we do.
Behind the facts:
Airline passengers place a high value on refundable tickets (in case they can't make their flight, don't show up or decide to change travel plans). In these cases, overbooking is a means (certainly not perfect but, on the whole, pretty viable) that lets us offer refundable tickets without losing a lot of money.
In the rare circumstances (and it is rare) where you can't get on a flight due to overbooking, we offer compensation (in the form of a travel voucher or cash) and we make alternate arrangements to get you to your destination as quickly as possible.
I know that my air travel has an impact on the environment. What can I - and Air Canada - do about it?
We all know that carbon dioxide (CO2) has an impact on climate change. You can make a difference by offsetting the CO2 emissions generated through your flight. We have partnered with Less Emissions to provide the highest quality carbon offsets to reduce the environmental impact of your flights. You can choose to purchase offsets to mitigate the CO2 emissions associated with your travel while supporting carbon reduction programs in developing countries and here in Canada. Learn more
For our part, we're working on a number of fronts to be a better environmental citizen. We've adopted more fuel-efficient procedures for take-offs and landings, reduced engine usage on the ground during taxiing and ground delays, cut fuel consumption in the air with more efficient aircraft and flight plans, expanded our on-board recycling program and employed hybrid technology for airport vehicles. Learn more about what we're doing.
I've got something to say to Air Canada. To whom do I write?
Just the facts:
Our Customer Relations page has all the information you need.
Behind the facts:
Start with our Customer Relations department! Some people want to send their letter right to the President, but, our Customer Relations employees are the experts at making sure that your comments get to the right people at the airline, and are shared with the appropriate department or group. If you have specific comments or complaints, give us as much information as possible, including any documentation you have, so we can follow up. You can expect to hear back from us within 30 days.


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BBC2 series Made In Britain, co-produced by The Open University and the BBC, was crowned 'Best TV Programme of the Year' in the prestigious 2011 Wincott Awards for Broadcasting announced today ( Thursday 24th May 2012).
The three-part show was presented by former BBC Economics Editor and presenter Evan Davis and looked at the British economy, asking what our country is good at. Evan Davis addressed the myth that Britain is no longer an industrial nation and revealed Britain as a manufacturing powerhouse, the seventh biggest in the world, with almost half our exports being manufactured goods including bikes, software, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cars and jet engines.
The OU academic consultants on the programme, which aired in June and July last year, were Dr Leslie Budd and Dr Matt Hinton. It is the third time an OU/BBC production has won in the Wincott Awards for Broadcasting, which recognise outstanding achievement in the field of economic, business and financial journalism. Love Of Money, the documentary series examining the causes and consequences of the financial crisis, received a Wincott Award in 2010. In 2007, the series Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS? was the first OU/BBC co-production to win the award.
Dr Leslie Budd, Reader in Social Enterprise, from the Open University Business School (OUBS) said: "We are delighted to hear that Made In Britain has won the best programme award. It is a great testament to the Open University and BBC partnership. OUBS academics provided academic advice, which made the quality of the series possible and demonstrated the public impact of our expertise"
After becoming Visiting Professor at the OUBs, presenter Evan Davis gave an inaugural lecture as on the Made In Britain series, which celebrated Britain's achievements as the 'workshop of the world' and marked 100 years since the Empire Exhibition of 1911, 160 years since the Great Exhibition of 1851 and 60 years since the Festival of 1951.
Direct line : 01908 858434
Notes to Editors
The Wincott Awards


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Leflore students have a Bash blast
Leflore School celebrated its third annual Back-to-School Bash. Students, as well as adults, enjoyed free hot dogs, snow cones and cold drinks. The kids cooled off with two giant water slides and several took a surprise dip in the dunk tank. Many remained in doors under the air conditioner playing the Wheel of Fortune, winning cakes in the Cake Walk and receiving free haircuts by Brooke Dorsey and Tiffany Castillo. Amanda Lloyd with The Back to School Ministeries made it possible for all students to receive free school supplies with many receiving back packs.


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Let's not worry about fake online drugs
Roger Bate has a curious op-ed in the NYT today. He's the lead author on a study which bought 370 drug samples from 41 online pharmacies around the world, and then tested their authenticity. The results? With the exception of Viagra bought from non-verified websites, every single drug was 100% authentic. But you'd never guess that from his op-ed:
In 2007-8, when counterfeit versions of heparin, a blood-thinning drug, were shipped from China to the United States market, 149 people died. In the last few months, bogus versions of the cancer drug Avastin, apparently shipped from the Middle East, have surfaced in clinics in California, Illinois and Texas. Thankfully, so far as we know, they haven't killed anyone, but more and more cases of dangerous fake drugs are being reported by the Food and Drug Administration. Numerous incidents surely go unreported, the evidence swallowed, the deaths incorrectly attributed to natural causes.
Fighting the fake drug menace is like playing whack-a-mole. It is technically illegal for individuals to order drugs online from other countries. And yet no sooner does the F.D.A. shut down one dubious online pharmacy than another pops up. According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, only 3 percent of the 9,600 online pharmacies it has reviewed complied with industry standards. Many were based overseas, so their sales to Americans were illegal; others did not require doctors' prescriptions. And some were very likely peddling dangerous counterfeit drugs.
This is all highly alarming — but also highly misleading. The "more and more cases" of fake drugs being found by the FDA? The FDA's counterfeit medicine page lists exactly six cases in the past 24 months, of which just two — Tamflu in June 2010, and Vicodin ES in March 2012 — were linked to online pharmacies. The bogus Avastin, by contrast, was being distributed through legitimate channels by two distributors: Quality Specialty Products (QSP), a/k/a Montana Health Care Solutions, and Volunteer Distribution in Gainesboro, Tennessee. It had nothing to do with online pharmacies at all.
Realistically, the US simply doesn't have a "fake drug menace". Yes, fake drugs exist, and they're not all that hard to find if you're based in, say, Ethiopia. An earlier study by Roger Bate found that 7 of 36 drugs bought by secret shoppers in Ethiopia failed a stringent authenticity test. (On the other hand, 100% of the drugs bought in Turkey were legitimate, and Brazil, Russia, and China all performed very well in the test.)
What's more, even if the US did have a fake drug menace, which it doesn't, the menace would not be coming from internet pharmacies. As Bate himself has found, internet pharmacies sell authentic drugs at low prices; the only exception to this rule is unlicensed sites hawking Viagra.
But Bate doesn't seem to believe the evidence of his own eyes. Instead, he relies on urban myths: his July 2011 paper, for instance, said in its second sentence that "according to the World Health Organization, substandard and counterfeit drugs have been found in both developed and developing countries, accounting for more than 10% of the global medicines market and over US$32 billion in annual earnings." This is a classic bogus counterfeiting statistic: if you go to the WHO page he links to, the WHO in fact makes no such assertion at all. Instead, it attributes the factoid to the FDA, with no footnote.
I've been trying to track down these statistics to their source for years, and I've never yet found one with a solid empirical grounding. Certainly Bate's own studies would seem to disprove this assertion, but that doesn't stop him, in his op-ed, talking authoritatively about "criminal networks" which "launder billions in profit". As far as I can tell, no such network has ever been identified, and while there might be billions of dollars of profit in illegal drugs, that money is much more likely to come from marijuana and cocaine than it is from fake pharmaceuticals.
And in any case, concentrating on fake drugs is itself dangerous, because it diverts resources from the real problems with US drugs — legitimate drugs where there has been either a flaw in the manufacturing process or which have degraded because they've been stored badly or for too much time. Fake drugs are dangerous; real drugs can actually be more dangerous, just because people aren't nearly as worried about them.
Still, Bate does at least appreciate that if you're buying drugs from a licensed online pharmacy, those drugs are going to be authentic. As such, he says, that behavior should not be criminal. But he's still a very long way from the logical conclusion, which is that there should be a free market in authentic drugs:
Buying drugs online from overseas isn't for everyone. It should remain a limited option for desperate cash buyers — sick people with limited resources and insurance coverage — not a way for well-insured patients to reduce their co-pay. American health insurance companies should not be required to reimburse consumers for these drugs, because that would effectively import foreign governments' price controls into the United States and undermine American companies' research and development budgets.
This really doesn't make sense. If authentic drugs are perfectly good for "desperate cash buyers", why can't they be used by the rest of us with health-insurance plans? There's no reason why I would want to reduce my co-pay when buying drugs online; I'm perfectly happy to make exactly the same co-payment when buying at a Canadian online pharmacy as I would when buying at the drugstore down the street. But my insurer would save money, and maybe, ultimately, that would reduce the total cost of healthcare and health insurance in this country.
Yes, if the cost of healthcare and health insurance comes down, that might mean — that should mean — lower profits for Big Pharma. But would lower profits mean lower R&D budgets? And would lower R&D budgets mean fewer great new drugs coming to market? No one knows; all we know for sure is that Big Pharma's R&D expenditure is enormous, and is increasingly bad at creating great new drugs. In general, if you want to look for billions in profits, you should be looking to the big pharmaceutical companies, not mythical organized-crime syndicates. And it's definitely worth asking why and whether we have a societal interest in protecting those profits instead of opening up the market in US pharmaceuticals to a modicum of competition.
What we're faced with here is a tradeoff. On the one hand, there are clear financial benefits to letting Americans and American insurers buy their authentic drugs wherever those drugs are cheapest. On the other hand, there are extremely vague worries that were that to happen, some hypothetical new future drug might fail to make its way to market. Given the massive economic and fiscal costs of healthcare price inflation, it's surely a no-brainer to go for the option which unambiguously saves money. Especially since, as Bate himself has demonstrated, the drug-safety risks of going down that road are essentially nonexistent.


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Children's early shape concepts represent the building blocks for later mathematical knowledge (Clements & Sarama, 2007). As preschoolers begin labeling shapes in their environment, they must distinguish features and patterns and create abstract categories of each shape. Yet young children find this very difficult! Preschool children start out categorizing shapes by visual similarity and orientation irrespective of geometric properties (Burger & Shaughnessy, 1986). These concepts are global and holistic in nature, in which the most salient shape properties bind together to form an overall feature or a 'gestalt view' of each shape (Ganel & Goodale, 2003; Keil, 1989; Smith, 1989; Tada & Stiles, 1996). For instance, the angle on top of a typical triangle is the most distinguishing feature and thus defines the overall concept for the child (e.g., triangles have a point on top and wide horizontal 'bottoms'). If children see a triangle that is turned on its side or has irregular angles (e.g., obtuse, scalene triangles), they will say it is not a true triangle. Only later do they shift to rule-based classification systems that rely on the number of sides or angles for shape identification (Clements, Swaminathan, Hannibal, & Sarama, 1999; Keil, 1989).
In a series of studies we explore how different learning experiences influence children's developing shape concepts. In one such study, we examine how dialogic inquiry (i.e., questions that pose a dilemma/prompt curiosity) and physical exploration influence preschool children's shape learning.
Preschool children were randomly assigned to one of three groups. In guided play, the experimenter helped children 'discover' each shape's features by asking questions and prompting physical exploration of circles, triangles, rectangles, and pentagons (+dialogic inquiry, + physical exploration). In direct instruction, children were taught rule-based classifications for shapes in a passive learning style (- dialogic inquiry, -physical exploration). In the control condition, children participated in a dialogic reading activity for approximately the same amount of time as the shape lessons. To assess shape knowledge, groups were asked to complete a shape sorting task (Satlow & Newcombe, 1998). Children were shown 10 novel instances of typical, atypical, and nonvalid forms of each shape (40 total) and asked to place 'real' instances of each shape in a special box and the 'fake' shapes in a trashcan.
To determine the extent children's category decisions were guided by rule-based classification systems versus visual similarities, rates of rejection were calculated across typical, atypical, and nonvalid shapes. As hypothesized, children in the control condition appeared to rely on visual similarity when sorting shapes, signified by small rejection rates of typical shapes and larger rejection rates for atypical and nonvalid shapes (see Figure 1). Conversely, children in both experimental conditions used rule-based classification systems to sort shapes, indicated by small rejection rates for typical and atypical shapes. Also, guided play showed a slight advantage over direct instruction. In Figure 2, guided play and direct instruction appear equal in learning outcomes for simple, familiar shapes (e.g., circles), yet children in the guided play condition showed significantly superior geometric knowledge for a novel, highly complex shape (pentagon).
These results suggest both direct instruction and playful learning approaches promote rule-based shape concepts; however, guided play may be more advantageous for complex concepts. Future research should explore how guided play may facilitate knowledge acquisition and concept formation for complex concepts in other domains. Additional research should explore the differential impact of dialogic inquiry and active exploration on the learning process.


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DIY Pillbox Lipstick Palette
A Do-It-Yourself Holiday Gift: Pillbox Lip Palette
What's bigger than a breadbox — er, pillbox? Why, a pillbox filled with some awesome lipstick shades — all chosen by you, of course. If you're on a budget for the holidays, why not go the route of DIY by making friends and family their own lipstick palettes?
Here's what you'll need:
- A pillbox — Try this festive green Inventures Product Pill Box ($4.99) or head over to your local drugstore to seek out varieties that cost even less.
- Inexpensive lipsticks — Seven or more, depending on how customized you want to get and how many palettes you want to gift. Pick a few neutral colors and some bold or unexpected ones, too. I recommend NYC lipsticks or Wet 'n' Wild Silk Finish Lipsticks ($1.16). Try to choose colors that fit your friend's own unique personality and shades that correspond with days of the week. Saturday deserves a bold red, don't you think?
- A cutting object — A butter knife will do.
- A microwave — To melt the lipsticks down.
To see how to make 'em,
First, lop off your chosen shade and drop it in whichever slot you'd like. You'll probably be able to get two to three uses per lipstick, so eyeball accordingly. Fill in each slot with a different color. When you're done, it's time to nuke it — in about 10-second increments. The point is for the lipstick shades to settle into their new space by molding to the shape of the pill box. No bubbling liquid hot magma, mmkay?
While your loved ones can always use their fingers to dip into their new treat, consider tying a lip brush to the box, too. Also, if you're not feeling the whole "days of the week" theme, try decorating the pill box with stickers, and have some fun!


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To add another car to the Compare Vehicles tool simply continue to browse our cars and then click on "Add to Compare". You can compare up to five cars at once.
Select additional vehicles from Search Results
1.2 Pop
3 Dr Hatch, Manual, Petrol, Red, 2014 (64), 17,716 miles
To ensure we can offer all our customers the best value we have tailored our administration fee to our customers individual circumstances. This fee is a compulsory fee and applies to all our cars depending on your below circumstances:


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sol11211 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 94 designs submitted by 32 freelance designers.
Interior, Design, Wood, Mahogany, Gold, Royal, Rich….
Molding Décor
Desired Color Scheme:
Mahogany, Wood, Gold,
Desired Style:
elegant, classy, clean, Creative concept.
Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Coral Draw
A small but very quality firm, who is doing Molding installation, and some interior designing, in new houses / apartment, Ballrooms, Halls, stores etc.
He is not doing construction, so I don't need any heavy bulky bold designs, needs to be very elegant, classy , something creative!
He would prefer to see a "Text Logoâ€, no seperate icon outside the words, but if you have some amazing idea, it wont hurt to give it a shot, maybe he will like it, after all.
in short:Â a creative nice concept, you could just customized a font, but anyway, clean, strong, creative, design, nice!
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Hi there!
I'm brand new to this site and had posted the same question in the 'Entry Level' section but realized that this section would be more appropriate.
I just bought myself a used starter turntable as well as came upon a very large collection of excellent records.
The only thing I was asked to do as a favour for the record collection was to do create a number of CDs from some of the records and tracks.
Which sound card and software would be appropriate for this type of conversion on the computer? My turntable is Music Hall MMF-5 and I have Mission Cyrus 1 amp (which I still love to this day) so phono jack isn't an issue.
I was recommended to use M-Audio Audiophile 2496? Your thoughts? What about the software?
Currently, I have Creative Sound Blaster Live (basic card) and have Nero and Cakewalk (I'll have to check the version but had it for over 6 years, without ever installing it on the PC) for softwares.
I don't want to spend crazy amount of money to do this but still want high quality results? Yes, I know...you get what you pay for.
Thanks in advance!!!!


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David Goldman/ Associated Press: In this March 26, 2012 file photo Jaquan Kelley of Atlanta wears a Skittles wrapper over his mouth during a rally in memory of slain unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.
George Zimmerman, the Florida 'neighborhood watch' volunteer armed with a gun, has been acquitted of charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the shooting death of unarmed African American teenager, Trayvon Martin.
This verdict is at once so shocking and so expected to me that without a doubt it exposes the lie at the heart of the American 'criminal justice' system. We do not have, especially where African Americans are concerned, a "justice" system. It is often an injustice system that results in unequal treatment.
Perversely, in fact, it seems that 17-year old Trayvon Martin was just found guilty of his own shooting death. Is this justice? Is this right?
The Psalms teach us that threat is all around, and that human justice is not God's justice, as in Psalm 55: For I see violence and strife in the city;
making rounds on its walls day and night.
Within are mischief and trouble;
Treachery is in its midst;
Oppression and fraud never leave its streets.
While we pray for God's ultimate justice to prevail, this can seem far off; it can even seem that God has "forsaken" (Psalm 22) us, and the violent are winning. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often said "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But the arc of the moral universe is one thing, and injustice in the here and now is another.
But God's justice must be our compass; it points to what is broken here and now, and where we have to go in order that true justice may be achieved. And right now, the unequal American justice system, especially when you are African American, is filled with "oppression and fraud."
Consider another Florida case, this time of an African American woman: in 2012, Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville, Fla., received a 20-years prison sentence for firing warning shots against her allegedly abusive husband. The judge rejected a defense under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. She told police it was to escape a brutal beating by her husband, against whom she had already taken out a protective order. Alexander had never been in trouble with the law before.
Marissa Alexander, an African American woman, fired warning shots at her abusive husband, and got 20 years. George Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed African American teenager and was acquitted.
Yet, in the up is down, "white is black" world of white racism, an hour after Zimmerman was acquitted, his attorney, Mark O'Mara, reframed the arrest and charging of his client as motivated by racism against George Zimmerman. "Things would have been different for George Zimmerman if he was black for this reason: he would never have been charged with a crime," O'Mara said.
Really? When arrest and incarceration rates of African Americans in the U.S. are through the roof, even twice as high as as their population in the U.S.?
"There is violence and strife in the city" and "oppression and fraud" are rampant says the Psalmist.
With no apparent sense of irony, after the not-guilty verdict, the brother of George Zimmerman, Robert Zimmerman Jr., said on CNN that he was worried about the safety of his brother, George Zimmerman, because there are "people that would want to take the law into their own hands as they perceive it, or be vigilante's in some sense."
Yes, it's terrible when people who are not law enforcement, like, for example, George Zimmerman, 'take the law into their own hands as they perceive it.'
Vigilantism does violate God's justice. It should violate human justice as well, for all Americans.
What now?
"For Trayvon to rest in peace, we should all be peaceful," said Benjamin Crump, the Martin family lawyer, and he compared the 17-year old to Medgar Evers and Emmet Till and their role in the ongoing struggle for equal civil rights. Demonstrations around the country were, in fact, by and large peaceful despite fear-mongering that they would not.
Beyond peaceful demonstrations, however, the struggle needs to continue in and through the law. "We are outraged and heartbroken over today's verdict," NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said in a statement. "We will pursue civil rights charges with the Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the removal of Stand Your Ground laws in every state, and we will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed."
On Sunday, Trayvon Martin's parents went to church, "leaning on a higher authority," said Benjamin Crump.
In truth, this is how we bend the "arc of the moral universe". We must work from both ends, leaning on the anchor in God's justice at one end of the arc, and pushing hard on the mechanisms of the law at the other.
And the arc of the moral universe does bend. But how long, Oh Lord. How long?


text: I had my DD (my first) on december 21st, & I've been trying to breastfeed. I say trying because no matter how long she nurses, she's still always hungry. At her first doctor's appointment, the doctor says all the breastfed babies he sees all tend to be past their birth weight already but she's lost 7 oz off her birth weight of 6 lbs 15 oz in her first week. He told me to give her formula, which I really didn't want to but I was worried she was going hungry. She wasn't having enough wet or poopy diapers either, well enough poop maybe but not enough pee. So I started her on the formula after I get her to breastfeed. The problem is I'm really upset because I feel like I can't provide for her soley on my milk, & feel like the formula just isn't as good for her but again she always seems so hungry. I can have her nurse for 2 hours & still be sticking her hands in her mouth. I've watched countless videos on latching & good drinking & even try compressing my breasts while she's latched on. As far as I can tell she has a good latch, no pain & her head is tilted up with her chin touching. I can't tell however if she has enough aeriola in her mouth, but her bottom lip isn't ever tucked in. I don't know if maybe I'm just not producing enough for her or what. There is no LLL in my area, only one about an hour & a half away in Corpus. The nurses in the hospital didn't teach me a thing about it either so it's been internet research & videos for me. I'm so upset because I feel like a failure both by not being able to satisfy her hunger & for having to give her formula. I'm ready to quit but at the same time I know my milk is the best thing for her. Has any one else experienced this constant hunger? She's at 10 days & I know it could just be a growth spurt but how can I keep her from going hungry other than formula? Is it too late to get her off the formula & back on breastmilk only?


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The mission of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) is to promote the health of babies, children and adults and enhance the potential for full, productive living. The center includes three divisions - the Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, the Division of Human Development and Disability, and the Division of Blood Disorders. It works to identify the causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities; help children to develop and reach their full potential; and promote health and well-being among people of all ages with disabilities, including blood disorders. NCBDDD seeks to accomplish these goals through research, partnerships, and prevention and education programs.
Review Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
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Review Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011
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The Head Start program provides grants to local public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families, with a special focus on helping preschoolers develop the early reading and math skills they need to be successful in school. In FY 1995, the Early Head Start program was established to serve children from birth to three years of age in recognition of the mounting evidence that the earliest years matter a great deal to children's growth and development.
Head Start programs promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. They engage parents in their children's learning and help them in making progress toward their educational, literacy and employment goals. Significant emphasis is placed on the involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start programs.
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When Ghana's Project Director for Major Disaster Training Seban Laryea went looking for disaster response training for his Boy Scouts,who did he turn to? The Scientology Volunteer Ministers.
Laryea is preparing the Ghana Boy Scouts for any catastrophe that could strike Africa. "Disasters are either man-made or natural as an agent of God," says Laryea. "The objective of the training is to equip the scouts and guides with the skills of preventing disasters that are avoidable and to manage those that are not preventable.
"Africa has not been seriously tested on a large scale disaster except a few earthquakes, flooding and ethnic conflicts. When the program succeeds in Ghana, our objective is to take it to all other African countries," says Laryea.
With Volunteer Ministers training and in the spirit of their motto, "Be Prepared," Ghana's Scouts will be ready to deal with any potential disaster that could threaten Africa's people and property.
To accommodate the Scouts, a full regimen was developed for training on first aid administration, relief services, environmental sanitation, health and safety measures, search and rescue operations, fire prevention and fighting as well as conflict resolution skills. Using The Scientology Handbook, the Volunteer Ministers will cover a range of subjects as part of the program.
Training starts soon, so stay tuned for future Ghana Scout updates and photos!
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VM) deliver seminars and courses based on the practical technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard. VMs are trained to respond in times of major disaster and personal crisis. Proficient in Scientology technology, they have solutions that apply to any area of life, from marriage counseling and conflict resolution to alleviating emotional trauma and resolving problems with study. In the last ten years alone they have helped over ten million people.


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Looking for Burkett Family of Tennessee & Arkansas
My great grandfather was born Jefferson Davis Burkett possibly in or near Hot Springs, Arkansas or Tennessee and probably shortly after the Civil War. He was all or mostly Cherokee, and I do not know if he had any siblings. He married and had at least 2 or 3 sons by his wife there. One day he arrived home from work to find another man sitting on his front porch and shot him dead in a jealous rage. As the story goes, his mother then gave him a horse and aided in his escape before authorities arrived. He fled to Louisiana, changed his name to Smith, began working for the railroad and married my great grandmother. They lived in a box car that moved from place to place as the railroad lines were laid in Louisiana, and started a large family. Over the course of 15 or more years, they proceeded to have 8 children and eventually migrated to Houston, TX. When his youngest son was 3 yers old, some or all of his sons that he had abandoned from his first marriage knocked on the door and divulged their father's true identity and the fact he indeed had a wife and family that until then were completely unknown to my great grandmother and their 8 children. She divorced him or had the marriage annulled (not sure which) and their children had their names changed from Smith to Burkett. He then went on to marry a third time in Houston and fathered twin girls by his third wife (names unknown).
My grandmother and her siblings were not fond of their father, who was reportedly a very abusive man, and would not talk about him or answer most of my questions, so I have no other information regarding him at all. I would like to find any relatives who might be able to provide information to fill in the blanks for me with regard to him and his side of the family.
If this story sounds familiar, and you have any information, please let me know!
Thank you.