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Course Numbering
Course Numbering
Effective: September 1, 2011
Last Updated: Approved by EPC December 15, 2010; approved by Campus Assembly April 12, 2011; revision approved by Teaching & Learning committee 5-6-15
Policy Owner: Academic Affairs
Semester Courses
1. Semester courses will have four digit numbers. The first number designates the course level.
0xxx Courses that are remedial and do not carry credit toward any University degree; however, they may be assessed tuition in the same way as courses that carry credit.
1xxx Course content designed primarily for undergraduate students in their first year of study.
2xxx Course content designed for undergraduate students in their second year of study.
3xxx Course content designed for undergraduate students in their third year of study.
4xxx Course content designed for undergraduate students in their third or fourth year of study; graduate students may enroll in such courses if approved for graduate credit.
5xxx Course content designed for graduate students; advanced undergraduate students may enroll in such courses. 5xxx courses should not be required courses in undergraduate programs.
6xxx Courses for post-baccalaureate students in professional degree programs.
7xxx Courses for post-baccalaureate students in professional degree programs.
8xxx Courses for graduate students.
9xxx Courses for graduate students.
Note: 1xxx courses: 1xxx courses are to be at the introductory collegiate level. They should have few, if any, prerequisites. Notable exceptions are where there is a sequence of courses at the introductory level (e.g., one-year sequence of science).
Note: 3xxx and 4xxx courses: 3xxx and 4xxx courses are considered to be upper division, are to be of a more advanced level, and should require a higher level of sophistication. They may require previous work at the college level (lower division courses or a credit total as a prerequisite)
Note: Use of 4xxx Courses in Graduate Programs: a maximum of nine 4xxx course credits may be counted for a graduate degree but a graduate program may restrict the use of 4xxx courses in the program (e.g., by stipulating that no more than y credits of 4xxx courses may be counted or by stipulating that only certain 4xxx courses may be counted). Such restrictions may be applied both for 4xxx courses in the major field and for 4xxx courses outside the major field.
Note: 6xxx and 7xxx Courses: 6xxx and 7xxx courses are to be used primarily for post-baccalaureate professional programs.
Thesis Credit Courses
All thesis credit courses shall use the following numbering conventions.
8555 Thesis/Project Credits: Master of Fine Arts
8666 Doctoral Pre-thesis Credits
8777 Thesis Credits: Masters
8888 Thesis Credits: Doctoral
Graduate Active Status Courses
GRAD 0999 Active status; 0 credit; student pays basic email charge each semester of enrollment.
8333 FTE: Masters; student is considered a full-time student for assistantship considerations.
8444 FTE: Doctoral; student is considered a full-time student for assistantship considerations.
Other Courses
Course component should be consistent with the number of the course (component is listed in parenthesis below). Generally, these courses may be repeated for credit.
xx91 Independent Study (IND)
xx92 Directed Reading (DRD)
xx93 Directed Study (DST)
xx94 Research (DRS):
For xx91, xx92, xx93 and xx94 registrations, the student and faculty member will develop a contract to include number of credits, nature of work to be accomplished, time expectations and the number of periodic meetings between the student and faculty member.
xx95 Special Topics: Umbrella course number for specific topics or issues which are timely in nature. An abbreviated course proposal must be submitted for each new title under the Special Topics umbrella course. A department wishing to offer a specific Special Topics title more than twice must submit a course proposal through the regular approval process to convert this title to a regular course.
xx96 Field Study;, Industrial Assignment (FWK): The student will work as an intern in a professional setting. Clear guidelines will be available as to the student's responsibilities. Grading procedures will be identified: In general, 1 credit requires 40 hours of work in a supervised setting over the course of the term. Full-time (40 hours per week) field study courses should equate to 14 credits (43 hours/cr).
xx97 Internship (FWK or PRC): The student will work as an intern in a professional setting. Clear guidelines will be available as to the student's responsibilities. Grading procedures will be identified: In general, 1 credit requires 40 hours of work in a supervised setting over the course of the term. Full-time (40 hours per week) field study courses should equate to 14 credits (43 hours/cr).
xx98 Reserved for future use.
xx99 Reserved for future use.
Dual-listed courses
A dual-listed course is when a single course is offered at both the 4xxx and 5xxx level. Courses that legitimately meet the needs of undergraduate programs, but are often also used as required or elective graduate courses may be dual-listed 4xxx/5xxx. Students registered at both levels meet at the same time and place, with the same instructor. Separate syllabi are prepared for each level and will evidence respective evaluation criteria and outcomes for the level of the course.
Cross listed courses
A cross listed course consists of a single course offered for registration under two different course designators. A cross listed course must be at the same level (e.g. 1000-level, 3000-level, etc), have the same content, title, description, outcomes, same or equivalent prerequisites, and be offered for the same number of credits. Course proposals and syllabi for the cross-listed courses must be discussed and approved by both departments, collegiate curriculum committee(s), and dean(s) prior to review by EVCAA. A compelling case based on course content and outcomes must be made on the Course Proposal for cross listing a course. The decision by a department to discontinue a cross-listed course is unilateral and must be communicated in writing and routed through the usual curriculum process.


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Six Troup County School System (TCSS) teachers were excited to learn they were selected to attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education this summer. On July 19, they will spend one week immersed in the Project Zero Classroom experience on the notable campus.
For the second year in a row, The Community Foundation of Troup County, an affiliate organization of the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, Inc. (CFCV) helped spur funding to send Troup County educators for this significant professional learning opportunity. Other community organizations joined the effort as well:
Read entire article here.

subset: commoncrawl


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If the Seahawks sign Tarvaris Jackson, Seahawks theoretically only would have traded a 2013 1st rounder + 2014 3rd rounder for Percy Harvin.
Jackson was signed as a free agent from the Vikings (2 yrs, 8 mil), traded to Buffalo in 2012 pre-season for a 7th round pick, that 7th round pick was then traded to the Vikings as part of the Harvin deal.
I know the Seahawks don't recuperate the talent lost in the 7th round pick but the Seahawks had 4 7th round choices in the 2013 draft entering a season where most of the roster would be set from existing players before the draft.
The original talent was Jackson and he is a quality backup QB in this league. His trade was almost necessary if not necessary altogether, the Seahawks needed to dismantle T-Jack's support group in order from Wilson to fully establish control of this team (something that took almost half a season to achieve) and any savings gained helped off-set Flynn's contract.
Getting Jackson back now would be a great move after the necessary excursion ... most likely he'll be cheap, he already knows the system, he already knows the players including new additions like Harvin, Winfield, and Cliff Avril. Jackson also wouldn't sign a contract unless he knows that he'll have to compete with Brady Quinn merely as Wilson's support group rather than competing for a substantial role. However, I wouldn't scratch off the Scouting Team as wholly unimportant, there is value, and Tarvaris Jackson has quality value to this team.
Again, Jackson's value comes from his departure to allow Wilson or Flynn to thrive, as well as a small savings if any towards the cap, and the Seahawks obtaining a 7th round pick for a player that was scheduled to become a free agent in 2013.
Meaning the Seahawks could have traded Jackson and just as well pursued his services in 2013. But if the Seahawks had signed Tarvaris Jackson I'm sure it would have diminished a lot of what little value the Seahawks got in return from Flynn. Jackson was retained by the Bills over Fitzpatrick and Thigpen (Buffalo's 1 and 2 QBs on the DC in 2012) and Seahawks most likely opted out on not pursuing Tarvaris Jackson again to sort of upsell Flynn to the rest of the league.
The moment Jackson becomes a free agent, Seahawks are one of the first teams to come knocking on his door, establishing that Jackson in the least has a consideration of value and the Seahawks know this. Simply, the Seahawks know what they have in Tarvaris on a team that had less support. The Seahawks don't know what they have in Quinn nor Johnson under a critical microscope. So getting back Jackson after trading his services for a 7th round pick is a win for the Seahawks.
In establishing that value for the audience I can reassess the central idea of this thread about Percy Harvin. In that if the Seahawks sign Jackson its almost as getting Percy Harvin for only a 2013 1st round pick (25th overall) and a 2014 3rd round pick (TBD, however, it is commonly known that a future pick is always valued at a round less in the current year i.e giving up a 2014 2nd rounder would only net you a 2013 3rd Rounder. Another example would have been the Broncos giving up their 2010 1st rounder (Earl Thomas) for the Seahawks 2nd rounder (CB, Alphonso Smith) in 2009. Essentially, Seahawks giving up their 2014 3rd rounder is merely worth a 4th round pick in 2013.
The Vikings took CB, Xavier Rhodes with the 25th pick. Seahawks took WR Chris Harper with their 2013 4th Rounder.
Without the Harvin trade, Seahawks are most likely looking at Cordelle Patterson at #25 (perhaps DeAndre Hopkins) and going WR in round 1, do they still take a WR in round 4? Logically, they acquired Harvin but still drafted Harper, so, I'll say yes, they would've still drafted 2 WRs out of this draft.
So Harvin's contract aside, (and if the Seahawks sign T-Jack back), Harvin's trade value ultimately becomes:
Harvin = Patterson/Hopkins + Harper/Patton
Its hard to predict what will become of the 2014 3rd rounder as the future hasn't taken place and we don't even know who will be chosen, or who the Seahawks would have chosen with the pick which is why I establish Harper or Patton (however it plays out if the Seahawks didn't trade for Harvin) as the theoretic 4th round value in compensation as the 2014 3rd Rounder.
The real question to answer now becomes could the Seahawks traded 2013 1st, 4th, and 7th round selections to the Vikings for Percy Harvin, and how much do the Seahawks value Chris Harper to inadvertently tie him to the value that was lost in 2014 3rd rounder. Not really, but thinking about it… Harvin should remain Harvin but better and more grown up as Harvin is merely 25 years old in his 5th season plus now being well paid to contribute and compete. We already know Harvin is worth tremendous value but many believe it isn't a 1st, 3rd, and 7th compensation on top of a hefty contract.
But if Harper becomes a good to great player in the future plus (T-Jack) Seahawks theoretically would break even on the Harvin in added and weighted value of compensation.
25th pick = Harvin + Contract: Seahawks get one of the best young play-makers in the NFL.
2014 3rd Rounder = Chris Harper in value, If Harper becomes a starter, plus a solid to quality contributor (receiving, blocking, and special teams)… Then losing out on the 2013 3rd Rounder almost means nothing (in value).
2013 7th round pick = Tarvaris Jackson. Seahawks had to get rid of Jackson in order for Wilson or Flynn to take full command of the team. It was a necessary deduction, they would have cut Jackson regardless, so the fact they could pick up an extra pick off a player they signed as a free agent and then use it to acquire a marquee player like Harvin even if it was only a 7th round pick is pretty genius. Getting T-Jack back especially when he has more value to this team than Quinn or Jerrod Johnson almost cancels out the initial trade entirely.
NO ONE would have complained if the Seahawks would have traded their 2013 1st round and 4th round selections for Percy Harvin. A lot of people would have labeled it a steal even with considering his contract.
And simply if the pieces fall into place, i.e. getting T-Jack back but he'll have to out compete Quinn and Harper becoming a legitimate starter player and solid contributor in the future , the Seahawks essentially get Harvin for the equivalent value for only a 25th pick and a contract. And that's pretty damn good considering they outbid the 49ers for Harvin.
Furthermore, the real kicker will be this… Harvin most likely will put the Seahawks over the edge, the Seahawks were becoming an offensive powerhouse without him, so he only makes them that much more dangerous, not only that Harvin's presence and influence will make the Seahawks Defense better by preparing them from quick, devastating players such as Harvin. The same players that burned one of the top defenses in the NFL last season. The Seahawks will be that much better and that much prepared, and it is likely they'll be one of the last 4 teams standing giving them a 2014 draft position from 28-32. I would bet safely that Schneider will likely trade out of the first in 2014 to recoup that lost 3rd round and lessen the monetary worth of a draft pick by getting out of the 1st round. Realistically, without looking at stipulating values the Harvin trade becomes a 2013 1st rounder, about 20 spots in a trade down, and a mere 7th round pick.
Arguably, if the Seahawks win the Superbowl and Harvin was a contributing factor, who really cares what we gave up.
I kind of rambled on for probably a good thousands words more than I wanted to but there has been relatively little news to write about…so I kind of went on and on and on… (apologies). I just wanted to show and insinuate that compensation give up for Percy Harvin could almost become the Seahawks giving up little or nothing in return just a 1st rounder and a big contract for a player that is one of the most dynamic at what he does and can do in the NFL.


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President Marzouki visits Russian Orthodox Church and denounces recent attacks
On Saturday, the interim president of the Republic, Moncef Marzouki, visited the Russian Orthodox Church on Avenue Mohamad V in the capital. "Tunisia denounces the recent attacks against the church," the president declared to the faithful who were present at the place of worship to celebrate the feast of Easter.
"These acts are isolated and do not at all reflect the Tunisian people's understanding of Islam's true principles, which forbid blind fanaticism," he emphasized. According to a press release from the office of the president, Marzouki also reassured the faithful who were present that "the performance of their religious rites is guaranteed in Tunisia."
Accompanied by the minister of justice, Noureddine B'hiri, the president of the Republic was welcomed on his arrival by the Russian ambassador in Tunis.


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Back to Main Page / Back to List of Rules
Rule 4. Computation (1961)
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by order of court, or by any applicable statute, the day of the act, event, or default after which the designated period of time begins to run is not to be included. The last day of the period so computed is to be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a SAturday, Sunday nor a legal holiday.
Amended by order of July 26, 1960, eff. Jan. 1, 1961.
|Prior Amendments
|Future Amendments
|Oct. 29, 1940, eff. Sept. 1, 1941
|April 24, 1990, eff. Sept. 1, 1990
|Dec. 13, 2013, eff. Jan. 1, 2014
Question: Rule 101 reads that the citation shall command the defendant to answer on "the Monday next after the expiration of twenty days from the date of service thereof." If the twentieth day falls upon Sunday, will defendant be required to answer on the Monday immediately following or will he be justified in awaiting the second Monday in view of Rule 4 which reads that, in computing "any period of time" prescribed or allowed by the rules "the last day of the period" is to be "included unless it is a Sunday or legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a Sunday nor a holiday"?
Answer: Defendant will be required to answer on the Monday immediately following the expiration of the twenty days because the time between service and answer is a traditional period in Texas procedure and seems to be the principal interval which Rule 101 has in view. In reason the last day of the intermediate twenty-day period is not within the purview of Rule 4 for the above reason and for the further reason that nothing has to be done on that day that requires the presence or aid of an official who would normally be unavailable on a Sunday or legal holiday.
5 Tex. B.J. 15 (1942) reprinted in 8 Tex. B.J. 6 (1945).
Question: In forcible entry and detainer, Rule 742 provides that citation shall be served at least six days before the return day thereof. In the computation of time, Rule 4 provides that the day of the act is not to be included, but the last day of the period so computed is to be included. Forcible entry and detainer, being a special proceeding, is the time under Rule 742 governed by Rule 4? For illustration, could a citation in forcible entry and detainer served on the defendant on May 21, 1946, be properly returnable on May 27, 1946?
Answer: It is the opinion of the Subcommittee that Rule 4 is applicable in construing Rule 742, and that a citation in forcible entry and detainer served on the defendant on May 21st, 1946, would be properly returnable on May 27th, 1946.
Rule 4 provides a general rule of construction, and the fact that forcible entry and detainer is a special proceeding does not make Rule 4 inapplicable if it is otherwise pertinent. By its express terms Rule 4 may be invoked "in computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these Rules, by order of court, or by any applicable Statute .... "
It will be noticed that the service of citation provided for in a forcible entry and detainer suit under Rule 742 calls for service upon the defendant "at least six days before the return day thereof," and its terminology does not follow the wording of Rule 101 in regard to citation in the District and County Courts which provides that the defendant must answer on the Monday next after the expiration of twenty days from the date of service."
Under the proper construction of Rule 742, in the light of the provisions of Rule 4, service on May 21st would constitute service six days before May 27th, and accordingly the citation would be properly returnable on May 27th.
9 Tex. B.J. 262 (1946).
Question: Article 4632 of the Revised Civil Statutes prescribes that a suit for divorce shall not be heard or the divorce granted before the expiration of thirty days after the same is filed. Under the decisions rendered prior to the adoption of the rules, the court held that thirty full days must elapse between the filing of the suit and the date of trial not including the date of such filing or the date of such trial. Rule No. 4 prescribes that in computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules by order of court or by applicable statute, the day of the act shall not be included but that the last day of said period shall be included in computing the time. Under Rule 4 is it legal to try a divorce suit on the 30th day after it is filed not including the day of filing of the suit?
Answer: Under the plain provisions of Rule No. 4, it is the opinion of the committee that the trial of divorce suit may be had on the 30th day after the same has been filed not counting the day of filing. This would permit the trying of a case one day earlier than was permitted under the law existing prior to the effective date of the rules. Since this committee does not believe that the provisions of the statute are jurisdictional but rather a matter of procedure, we believe that the provisions of Rule 4 should be applied to such a cause of action.
We are aware of the cases of Eldridge v. Eldridge, 259 S.W. 209 (Tex. Civ. App.-San Antonio 1924), and Snow v. Snow, 223 S.W. 240 (Tex. Civ. App.-San Antonio 1920), which hold under the law prior to the effective date of the rules that a judgment taken on the 30th day was void, thus indicating that it was a matter of jurisdiction. We believe the reasoning in Aucutt v. Aucutt, 122 Tex. 518, 62 S.W.2d 77 (1933) by the Supreme Court would indicate that Article 4632, was not jurisdictional. The Aucutt case held that Article 4631 having to do with residence of the plaintiff was not jurisdictional but rather a matter of venue. Applying the same rule, we believe that Article 4632 is a matter of procedure rather than jurisdiction. This is supported also by the heading of Article 4632 which is "Procedure."
10 Tex. B.J. 109 (1947).


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Going out is a huge day.
When I'm folding t-shirts into makeshift diapers and I'm on my last scrapings of baby cereal, I pull out my nineteen page list and trek into the city to hit Wal-Mart. It's a carefully thought out day and some would liken our getting ready to paint the town red, similar to preparing for church. Babies are washed, nails are clipped, clothes are laid out the night before. I haul the bambino's out of bed and we have a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls or some baked oatmeal. Lucy Lou, do we ever talk it up! We talk about going to town three days in advance. Last time we drove in, Taylin exclaimed, "Mama! Look at all the nice houses!" We do leave home, um, I guess once in awhile, but all the talk beforehand makes Wal-Mart sort of Disneyland.
My cart is generally so full that I have trouble cranking it to get around the corner. Diapers, wipes, food and cleaning supplies spill out. I have to distract my mind from wanting to open the bottle of bleach and give the cart a good cleaning first. "Kids, don't touch ANYTHING! Yes, hands straight in the air-good idea. It'll make muscles holding them up like that."
I'm always worried someone is going to whip around an aisle and snap a photo of me and I'll become one of those infamous ladies on the "Wal-Mart People" e-mails that circulate the internet. I don't think anyone would know what to make of the unmanageable wilds in the cart and the mama adding up her grocery bill in her head. All the baby washing and nail clipping doesn't prevent Taylin from putting 'lip gloss' with markers on Myla. Oh boy.
As long as our tummies are full, it helps reign in the children for the morning out. I like going to town to be a big deal, for it to be a fun, special day and I do believe that the way to an extra special day, is special food, ladies. Healthy, we are not.
The last recipe for our Wal-Mart morning was found in a Taste of Home magazine and was sent in by the brilliant Arlene Riehl. Try it out! We had canned pears with ours, along with the hollering, 'Come on, let's hurry up! We need to get going!'
|I then may or may not have added chocolate chips to our recipe & realized I'm basically feeding my kiddo cookies for breakfast.
Baked Oatmeal
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
Additional milk
*In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and butter. Stir into oat mixture until blended.
*Spoon into a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 min or until set. Serve warm with milk.
|Now it's grocery shopping time!
linking up here.


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This is the latest I could find: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100000 ... m-position
NFL.com's Albert Breer reported Thursday that Seahawks vice president of football administration John Idzik is expected to be offered the New York Jets' general manager job, according to Seahawks sources.
It's now up to Idzik if he wants to take on the challenge of rebuilding one of the shakiest offenses in football.
It sounds like a done deal and he only needs to accept. PLEASE DON'T ACCEPT, JOHN!!!


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Click the icon above to listen to this audio poem.
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Ellen Bryant Voigt was born and raised on a farm in Virginia. As a child, she showed an aptitude for music and began playing the piano. Initially a music major, Voigt attended Converse College for its music conservatory, but eventually she shifted her studies to literature and poetry. She went on to receive an MFA from the University of Iowa.
She is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently Headwaters: Poems (W. W. Norton, 2013); Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006 (W. W. Norton, 2007); Shadow of Heaven (W. W. Norton, 2002), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Kyrie (W. W. Norton, 1995), a finalist for the National Book Critic's Circle Award; Two Trees (W. W. Norton, 1992); The Lotus Flowers (W. W. Norton, 1987); The Forces of Plenty (Carnegie Mellon University Press,1983); and Claiming Kin (Wesleyan University Press, 1976).
Her work as an editor includes Hammer and Blaze: A Gathering of Contemporary American Poets (University of Georgia Press, 2002) with Heather McHugh; The Flexible Lyric (University of Georgia Press, 2001), a collection of essays on craft; and Poets Teaching Poets: Self and the World (University of Michigan Press, 1996) with Gregory Orr, a collection of essays on the craft and relevance of poetry. She has also contributed photography for Kathleen Peirce's book of poetry, Mercy (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991).
Voigt's earlier work was praised by Stanley Kunitz for its "sense of mutability and loss, an abiding set of loyalties, and a fierce attachment to the land." More recently, Philip Levine noted that her poems "are driven forward by lyrical restraint and by a ferocity of attention... Her writing has achieved the ambition of great poetry, the contact baptism of newly created things."
Voigt's honors include the 2002 Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Fellowship, and the 2002 O. B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize, as well as grants from the Vermont Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
In 1976, she developed and directed the nation's first low-residency writing program at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont—a design for graduate MFA study that has since been emulated by many other colleges and universities. Since 1981 she has taught in the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College.
Voigt served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2003 to 2009. She lives in Cabot, Vermont, where she served as the Vermont State Poet from 1999 to 2003.
Selected Bibliography
Headwaters: Poems (W. W. Norton, 2013)
Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006 (W. W. Norton, 2007)
Shadow of Heaven (W. W. Norton, 2002)
Kyrie (W. W. Norton, 1995)
Two Trees (W. W. Norton, 1992)
The Lotus Flowers (W. W. Norton, 1987)
The Forces of Plenty (Carnegie Mellon University Press,1983)
Claiming Kin (Wesleyan University Press, 1976)


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- Home
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- Using the Library
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Monday: CLOSED
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1 John Street, P.O. Box 100
Killaloe, ON K0J 2A0
Notice: this site is hosted on the new host, siteground.com.
- Darwin J. Groskleg


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I've run here a few times and it's always really kicked my arse. I have now mountain biked here and it also really kicked my arse. Great workout pushing my bike up insanely steep and rocky trails that were impossible to ride up. Slow going on most of what I could ride, with the exception of a fun downhill at the start down a dirt road and another, more technical descent off the summit along the Horse Trail and then the Ring Trail back to the car.
I forgot my Garmin so I downloaded the CarioTrainer app on my phone (Android). It seemed to work pretty well, though I screwed it up at the summit and didn't record the trek down back to the car, so I'll have to guess at my stats a little.
Mountain biked around 4.1 miles @ ~5.0 mph/avg (~23.0 mph/max).
Technical trails, one section of dirt road.
Extremely hilly.
Upper 50s, sunny.
Shorts, short sleeved shirt.


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General Surgery
Cancer Surgery
Kidney Transplants
Weight-Loss Surgery
Robotic and Minimally Invasive Procedures
Trauma and Critical Care
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Gynecological Surgery
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Our program in weight loss surgery allows qualified morbidly obese patients to improve their health and quality of life through weight loss. We believe that for many people, weight loss surgery is a positive step for better health, but it is a serious decision that requires careful thought beforehand.
We are committed to your success and provide support before, during and after your procedure. We have more than 30 years of experience in weight loss surgery (also called bariatric surgery). This level of skill assures you of the best care available in a supportive setting. We are recognized as a Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
Once you begin our program, you will benefit from a team approach that includes consolations with our physicians, surgeons, registered nurses, registered dieticians and nutritionists. You will also undergo a personality evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Because your nutritional needs will change after this procedure, it is important for you to understand and accept those changes before undergoing the procedure.
Among the benefits of bariatric surgery are improved health and possible reduction or elimination of type 2 diabetes. Some other conditions that may improve after weight loss surgery include:
To learn more, please visit our Bariatric Surgery website or contact our office by phone at 252-744-2018.


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Big eighth inning helps Braves beat Reds
Cincinnati, OH – Dan Uggla smacked two solo homers in the Atlanta Braves' 7-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the rubber match of a three-game set.
Juan Francisco added a grand slam as part of a five-run eighth for Atlanta, which had dropped four of its previous six tilts.
Mike Minor (4-2) struck out seven and surrendered a run on four hits and three walks over seven innings to pick up the win.
"Mike gave us a great opportunity to win the game," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
Mike Leake (2-2) fanned six, but allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk over seven-plus frames for the Reds, who had won four of their last five games coming in.
Zack Cozart crushed a two-out solo homer into the second deck in left in the third for the game's first run, but Uggla cracked solo shots in consecutive at-bats to give the Braves the lead.
Uggla knotted the contest in the fourth with a one-out blast into left and gave Atlanta the advantage in the sixth when he ripped a two-out homer into the front row of seats just inside the left-field foul pole to make it 2-1.
The Braves broke the game open in the eighth, as Jordan Schafer and Andrelton Simmons both singled to lead off the frame.
"Schafer made me pay for getting behind. It was an unfortunate hit right after him," Leake said.
Sean Marshall took over for Leake and Freddie Freeman brought Schafer home with a line-drive base hit to right. J.J. Hoover then replaced Marshall on the bump and walked Justin Upton to load the bases. Francisco stepped up to the plate two batters later and launched a grand slam down the right- field line to increase the margin to 7-1.
Jay Bruce led off the ninth with a homer to center.
Game Notes
Atlanta was 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position, while the Reds finished 0-for-5 with RISP ... Simmons went 4-for-5, while Schafer tallied three hits ... Uggla has seven homers this season.


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How Survive Wedding Season Travel with Unbeatable Deals
With wedding season in full swing, millennials are sifting through endless invites for destination bachelor and bachelorette parties, wedding ceremonies, and group honeymoons. According to priceline.com's latest bridal season travel survey, millennials are stretching their budgets for wedding-related travel. The survey reveals that one third of millennials reportedly spend $600 or more on wedding-related events, and that Read more »
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May 25, 2017 Featured Story
Coast into Summer this Memorial Day with Hot Deals from Priceline.com
According to a recent report by AAA, 39.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home this Memorial Day weekend–a 1M increase from last year, creating the highest Memorial Day travel volume since 2005. The data crunchers at priceline.com found that 78% of Americans who travel for the long weekend are going out Read more »
May 19, 2017 Press


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What's good for the goose is not always good for the gander, friends.
After nearly two years of bitter negotiations, it appears that a deal has been reached between County Executive Ed Mangano and the Police Benevolent Association. Mangano announced that a broad outline of an agreement has been approved, and could potentially mean that Nassau County police officers receive their first salary increase in nearly two years, while saving the county over $320 million in changes to salary, pension and benefits packages.
Sounds like a win-win for taxpayers and a no-brainer for the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the state board that has control of the county's finances.
But I'm only half right. Of course it's a win-win for taxpayers. But NIFA, which would have to lift the wage freeze imposed on county workers in 2011 in order for the deal to pass, said its terms seem "flawed" and possibly illegal.
This situation smacks of crude politics at the expense of our taxpayers. NIFA is stopping Mangano from doing things that were allowed to take place regularly when Nassau was under the control of former County Executive Tom Suozzi. Why are things different now? Why is Mangano being held to a different standard?
The proof is in the details. This is a good deal, one that took a long time to negotiate and, in good faith, reach an agreeable solution for all involved. It would extend the existing contract, orchestrated by Suozzi, by two years, through 2017, but with lower annual salary increases each year through 2017.
The new contract requires newly hired officers to contribute 15 percent of the cost of their health care plan and between 3 and 6 percent to their pensions. It also forces officers to work an extra year in order to reach the top salary tier of nearly $130,000, and reduces the number of officers who are eligible to take vacation and personal days at the same time, a move that is expected to cut 200,000 hours of overtime annually.


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Georgia and Rene are joined by Marc Edwards of Bjango and Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac to discuss the idea of a 16:9 aspect ratio iPhone 5. Would Apple do it? How could Apple do it? And what's next for Apple after the iPad? This is iPhone and iPad Live!
The 9:16 iPhone
- The 4 inch iPhone
- If Apple goes to a 4-inch iPhone, which way would you prefer they get there?
- Likely next-generation iPhone with 3.999-inch display, 1136 x 640 resolution in testing (updated: more decimals)
- Steve Jobs rumored to have worked closely on iPhone 5 redesign
- When is the iPhone 5 coming out?
- Steve Jobs given huge star studded tribute at the Webbys
- Steve Jobs wanted to create an iCar according to current Apple board member
- Jonathan Ive says Apple's designs are inevitable, and his best and most important is yet to come
- Diet Coda for iPad (and Coda 2 for Mac) coming May 24
- Instacast vs. Downcast vs. Pocket Casts: iPhone podcast app shootout!
How to
- How to take fantastic photos of your kids with your iPhone
- How to set up, configure, secure, and start using Siri
- Georgia (GeorgiaTiPb
- Marc Edwards (@marcedwards)
- Mark Gurman (@markgurman)
- Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at email@example.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.
We're live every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.imore.com/live
For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows
If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!
Thanks to the iMore Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!
This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more details.


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Welcome to the Asia Stocks live blog, a running account of what the region's share markets are doing, along with other news. Today, Asian equities get off to a lackluster start, beginning the week with a whimper but possibly ending with a bang, given upcoming risk events such as an early read on Chinese manufacturing and, to a lesser extend, a Bank of Japan policy decision.
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- Oldest
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- 8:39 pm
- Japan stocks meander after mad moves last week
- by Mike Kitchen
- Add a Comment
After a wild week of gains and losses (mostly losses), Japanese stocks are quiet this morning, with the Nikkei Average flat and the broader Topix down 0.2%.
With the Japanese yen trading little changed from Friday (the dollar's currently buying ¥101.59), the top tech shares are seeing mixed fortunes.
Tokyo Electron is up 6%, tacking on further gains after solid earnings from Taiwan's TSMC raised sentiment for chip stocks, and Japan Display is up 2.3%, rebounding after a heavy Friday selloff on the back of its earnings. But on the other hand, Sony is down 0.6%, Panasonic is 0.9% lower, and Sharp is down 2.6% after its recent gains.
It's also a mostly mixed picture for industrials after an opening advance for the sector, as data out just before the open showed Japan's core machinery orders for March surging more than 19% in March, blowing past analysts' consensus forecast for a 6.2% gain (or so said a Wall Street Journal survey).
Robot maker Fanuc is up 0.1%, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is up 0.4%, but Kawasaki Heavy is down 0.5%, and NEC is flat.
Retailers are broadly higher, however, with Fast Retailing up 0.6%, Aeon up 1%, and J. Front Retailing up 1.2%. Auto makers, though, are lower, with Toyota down 0.5%, Honda down 0.2%, and Nissan down 0.3%.
Shares of Sotbank are up 0.7% after the telecom announced it plans to issue ¥300 billion (about $3 billion) in new bonds for funds to spend on future investments and acquisitions.
And while financials are mostly weaker (Mitsubishi UFJ down 1.4%, Dai-Ichi Life down 1.1%), shares of Nomura are up 0.3% as the Nikkei newspaper reports the investment bank plans to set up a joint-venture brokerage in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone.
- 8:59 pm
- Sydney starts on bearish note
- by Mike Kitchen
- Add a Comment
Australian stocks are stumbling into the new week with a 0.7% loss for the ASX 200, as mining shares serve as a weight around the market's neck this morning.
With spot iron-ore prices falling to just above the $100-a-tonne level, we have BHP Billiton down 1.2%, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals down 1.8% each, Atlas Iron down 1.1%, and Mt. Gibson Iron down 0.7%.
Likewise, Oz Minerals is 1.5% lower, even as Credit Suisse says the copper-focused miner will probably soon raise its 2014 production outlook.
The "Big Four" Australian banks aren't offering any help for the market either, with ANZ down 0.6%. CBA down 0.7%, and Westpac and NAB down 0.8% apiece.
On the plus side of the ledger, Goodman Fielder is up 4.1% after the food firm (bread and butter are its bread and butter, so to speak) said it would back the improved takeover offer from Singapore's Wilmar and Hong Kong's First Pacific. (See Friday's Asia Stocks blog).
- 9:02 pm
- Markets check -- 10:02 a.m. in Tokyo
- Add a Comment
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) up 0.2%
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 0.8%
Seoul (Kospi) down 0.4%
- 10:20 pm
- Hong Kong slides lower on real-estate stocks
- by Laura He
- Add a Comment
A selloff in mainland Chinese stocks is dampening the Hong Kong market, dragging the Hang Seng Index lower by 0.6% in early trading. The Hang Seng China Enterprises, which tracks Hong Kong-listed mainland companies, is sliding 1.3%, while over on the mainland itself, the Shanghai Composite Index is carrying a loss of 1%.
Property developers are declining across the board. The top losers in Hong Kong include Beijing North Star (down 3.3%), China Resources Land (down 2.5%), KWG Property (down 2.5%), and Fantasia Holdings (down 2.4%). One of Hong Kong's leading developers, Sun Hung Kai Properties, is falling 2%, and rival Henderson Land Development is down 1.9%.
In Shanghai, property stocks are also suffering, as Beijing Capital Development gives up 1.9%, Wolong Real Estate Group pulls back 1.5%, and Metro Land Corp. moves down 1.1%.
China Southern Airlines is down 0.4%, outperforming the Hang Seng Index even as it signs a deal to buy 80 passenger aircraft from Europe's Airbus Group with a combined list price of up to $9.33 billion, in a move to boost capacity. Its rival Air China is losing 2.9%, and China Eastern Airlines is down 1.7%.
China Travel International Investment Hong Kong, a subsidiary of China's state travel-service giant, is off 3.1% after it said its chairman Wang Shuaiting is under investigation due to his "suspected severe violations" of state laws and party discipline. The charges stem from when Wang worked for China Resources Group, another Hong Kong-based Chinese state conglomerate, which saw its chairman fired last month as part of a recent anti-corruption campaign.
- 10:28 pm
- Markets check -- 10:28 a.m. in Hong Kong
- Add a Comment
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) up 0.1%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) down 0.5%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) down 1%
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 0.9%
Seoul (Kospi) down 0.2%
Taipei (Taiex) flat
- 11:18 pm
- Is the China the new Japan (in a bad way)?
- by Mike Kitchen
- Add a Comment
Amid the drumbeat of warnings about China's beleaguered real-estate sector, Craig Stephen looks at the argument that a spike in bad loans from falling property values will lead China to the sort of economy that Japan suffered through in the 1990s.
Some of the possible similarities are discussed in a recent note from Japan's own Nomura brokerage, with the analysts saying China now, like Japan then, might not take the tough line with banks that would be needed to address the issue.
And there are other issues too, ranging from rising interest rates to the hubris of officials and businesspeople.
So are we at the start of the Chinese century, or the start of China's Lost Decade? Check out Stephen's latest "This Week in China" column for the details.
- 11:32 pm
- Markets check -- 12:32 p.m. in Tokyo
- Add a Comment
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) up 0.2%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) down 0.4%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) down 1.1% (at break)
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 0.9%
Seoul (Kospi) flat
Taipei (Taiex) flat
- 12:19 am
- India stocks: A fist full of rupees
- by Mike Kitchen
- Add a Comment
Last week, we saw raging gains for India stocks, as investors got excited about the possibility of a strong, Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.
Now that such a government is, in fact, set to take control of the nation, stocks are … rising further!
In early Monday trade, the Sensex is up 0.7% (though off its early highs), with the NSE Nifty up 0.6%.
So how to play? In comments last week, right after the election results, Aberdeen Asset Management's Adrian Lim said the BJP victory would "fuel expectations of, amongst other things, more aggressive infrastructure investment."
He specifies a trio of infrastructure firms that might benefit from this, though they're seeing a mixed response today: Ambuja Cements is down 0.7%, and Ultratech Cement is down 1.2%, though Grasim Industries is up 1%.
Lims's suggestion to buy "prudently run, shareholder-friendly companies," such as private banks, is proving more prescient today, however, with his picks HDFC Bank and ING Vysya up 2.2% and 1.8%, respectively.
HSBC plays it a little safer, not offering advice on particular shares, but rather sectors with a strong post-election outlook.
Specifically, they predict "strong rotational shifts towards domestic sectors, such as energy, materials, infrastructure and utilities," rather than the previous, more defensive favorites of health care and tech.
- 12:22 am
- Markets check -- 1:22 p.m. in Tokyo
- Add a Comment
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) down 0.1%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) down 0.4% (at break)
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) down 1.1% (at break)
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 0.9%
Seoul (Kospi) flat
Mumbai (Sensex) up 0.6%
Taipei (Taiex) flat
- 1:53 am
- Markets check -- 2:53 p.m. in Tokyo
- Add a Comment
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) down 0.5%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) down 0.5%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) down 1.2%
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 1.2%
Seoul (Kospi) down 0.1%
Mumbai (Sensex) up 0.3%
Taipei (Taiex) up 0.1%
- 2:00 am
- China property cooling further
- by Laura He
- Add a Comment
China's property prices are showing further signs of a slowdown amid government curbs.
For example, the latest data show Beijing's prices for second-home purchases falling in April by the most in two years, while newly built residential-housing price gains eased for the sixth straight month.
But with the government taking action, some economists say the problem may get less severe, even if prices continue lower.
Read details on the latest numbers and analyst reaction here.
- 4:04 am
- Markets check -- 4: 04 p.m. in Hong Kong
- Add a Comment
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) down 0.6% (closed)
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) flat (closed)
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) down 1.1% (closed)
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 1.3% (closed)
Seoul (Kospi) up 0.1% (closed)
Taipei (Taiex) up 0.1% (closed)


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^o^ how happy i am today!
There's 2 good news i'm sharing today. First, I'm 26 today!!
I miss my mom... She called me this morning, i really wish she's closer right now.
I also want to say thank you to all my blog visitor for being part of my life ^^
I feel like sharing one of my pic as a baby :)
So i wish u all having a great summer :)
And a cards set i made as a handmade gift for my friend. I'm back to my favourite stamps Penny Black. Penny black critters stamps are the BEST for simple cards set all occasions like this. When i made this cards set , it didnt consume so much time, effortless, no sweat, no messy desk ! But they will still look nice because of the wonderful illustration. I love Penny black even more now :-)
stamps : Penny black critters party, eat cake and be merry, garden friends stamps set
cardstocks : AC Pastel Cardstocks
Coloring : Copics
Entering this card to Penny Black saturday challenge and Pennyblack June Allsorts
Thank you for peekin' in and.... See in you a couple weeks :-)


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Why Regulators Don't Scare SoftBank's Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son, the fiery head of SoftBank, has never been one to shy away from regulatory battles.
That's useful to recall as Mr. Son ponders a possible bid by Sprint Corp. -- the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, which SoftBank acquired this year -- for the No. 4-ranked T-Mobile U.S., a move that experts say could hit regulatory headwinds.
As recently as this summer, Mr. Son, whose SoftBank also owns Japan's No. 3 wireless carrier, accused Japanese telecommunications regulators of ineptitude and threatened to sue, after a news report said they had decided to allocate bigger chunks of the 2.5-gigahertz wireless spectrum to rival KDDI
Regulators denied a decision had been made yet, and Mr. Son himself later reflected on the incident with a laugh, telling news reporters it was "the first time in years that I got so angry.... I thought I had grown up."
In the end, the bulk of the spectrum did go to KDDI. Mr. Son said subsequently that while the company may eye legal measures, it would tread carefully lest a legal spat with regulators hurt its business in other ways.
"It's easy to sue. We've done it before," Mr. Son said in a press conference at the end of July. "But when we did so, we were unable to gain any access to regulators. I would try to make appointments and not be able to meet anyone for years. It caused much damage to our operations. If I sue this time, I expect repercussions."
A ministry official at the time denied the regulator would retaliate. SoftBank has not filed a suit.
That's only one of the most recent regulatory tussles for Mr. Son -- a billionaire whose ventures have jumped from software distribution to Internet-services investment to broadband to mobile phones. Those confrontations have had mixed results.
SoftBank actually did sue the telecommunications ministry in 2005 over a decision to allocate frequencies in the 800-megahertz band to NTT Docomo and KDDI -- Japan's No. 1 and 2 ranked cellphone companies -- while rejecting SoftBank.
SoftBank later withdrew its suit after the company applied for and received a license to operate within the 1.7-gigahertz band.
Then there was the time in 2001, when Mr. Son threatened to set himself on fire in the offices of the ministry unless an official prodded telecom giant Nippon Telegraph & Telephone to lease optical-fiber lines to SoftBank, for a broadband network it was building.
That time, the official pushed NTT to cooperate, and Mr. Son's high-speed Internet network became Japan's fastest, cheapest and most popular, sparking a broadband revolution in the country.
In 1996, after SoftBank had bought a 21.4% stake in Japanese broadcaster Asahi National Broadcasting Co. with News Corp., the two had a run-in with Japanese telecom regulators, which rejected their plan to put an Australian on the board of the Japanese company.
The telecom ministry cited a law that banned granting a license to broadcasters with foreign nationals as directors. News Corp. said it would be willing to put a Japanese national on the board instead, but a year later, the two companies sold their jointly-held stake to Asahi Newspaper Co., the publisher of the Asahi Shimbun paper.
Dow Jones & Co., which operates the Wall Street Journal (and JRT), is a unit of News Corp.
Still, those battles were all with Japanese bureaucrats, whom Mr. Son has at various times accused of being ignorant and out of touch with global standards. He's generally been complimentary about U.S. regulators, calling them a model of transparency in contrast.
"In America, these important decisions are debated in the open, so that everyone can see the numbers and the facts," Mr. Son said in July, about his feud with Japan's regulators over their spectrum-allocation decision. "It is ridiculous that a decision as important as the allocation of bandwidth -- assets that belong to the people -- should be made behind closed doors."
SoftBank is now beefing up its lobbying staff in Washington, D.C., according to a person familiar with the matter, in order to fortify itself for any regulatory scraps ahead.


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Liberty News
Townhome for resident directors nears completion
Finishing touches are now being made to a new townhome for resident directors, located off Champion Circle. The two-story building, with two apartments, will provide housing to three RDs, allowing them to be more centrally located to the students they serve. The townhome increases the number of RDs on campus to 26, decreasing the RD-to-student ratio.
RDs serve as supervisors to their corresponding dorms, providing students with guidance and leadership. The average RD is responsible for two to three campus dorms. Two of the RDs living in the townhome will be responsible for male dorm 26 and female dorm 27, respectively. Liberty's Campus Pastor and Director of the Office of Student Leadership Dwayne Carson is excited about the addition of the new townhouse.
"The RD for dorm 26 last year lived in dorm 23, which is on the hill. Students [in dorm 26] would never be walking by dorm 23," said Carson. "This is just a tremendous blessing for us to have those RDs closer to our students."


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Game 7 on tap between Heat and Pacers
Monday night is Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the defending NBA champion Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers from South Beach.
The winner meets the San Antonio Spurs for the NBA title. The loser has months to lament over what went wrong.
"Our approach right now is not if we lose we're out. Our approach is if we win, we get to the finals," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel. "And that's what we're going for. We're going to give our best shot and try to win the Eastern Conference championship."
"It's never easy competing for an NBA title," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "And it's a treasure to be part of a Game 7 against a worthy opponent."
Game 7 became necessary thanks to a 91-77 Indiana victory at home Saturday night. The Pacers blew the game open with a 29-15 advantage in the third quarter.
Paul George led the way with 28 points, followed by 24 from Roy Hibbert, who also had 11 rebounds. George Hill chipped in 16 points and the Pacers got a double-double from David West, who battled a 103-degree fever.
LeBron James was the leading scorer with 29 points. He added seven rebounds and six assists, but only two other Heat players -- Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers -- scored in double figures and the Miami backcourt managed only 10 points apiece.
That has become the dominant storyline for the Heat. Wade and Chris Bosh have been awful this series and James has had to revert to his "Cleveland" ways.
"I mean, we can state the obvious; they're both struggling," James said after Saturday's loss. "This is the position we're in and those guys as professionals, as champions, we'll figure it out. And me as the leader, I'll have to help them figure it out."
Wade has averaged 14.5 ppg during this series and Bosh hasn't scored in double figures since Game 3.
"One of the greater strengths about all of us is we own it. And the players and staff alike, we've been through situations where we have failed," said Spoelstra. "And instead of blaming and making it about anything else, let's just come to a solution and fix it."
Another problem that's plagued the Heat in this series is rebounding and that was magnified on Saturday. The Pacers hammered Miami on the boards to the tune of 53-33.
The Pacers had three players with double-digit rebounds Saturday -- Hibbert, West and Lance Stephenson.
Hibbert was sensational, yet again, in Game 6. The Heat have no way of stopping him, but Hibbert got the spotlight for all of the wrong reasons following Saturday's win.
Hibbert used profanity and a gay slur in his postgame press conference and was fined $75,000 by the league.
The Pacers big man issued an apology.
As ugly as Hibbert's comments were, everything gets thrown out the window for a Game 7.
"When you face somebody that's a worthy opponent, you've got to earn it. They're not going to give it to us," said Spoelstra. "We're not going to give it to them. You have to take it. You have to take it and earn it against a team that's not backing up. And that's what competition is all about."
"We have to talk about the poise and the understanding of what the adrenaline is going to do to your body, and that the mental approach and the mental aspect is every bit as important as anything you do physically," said Vogel. "We haven't been perfect this series, but we're going to need to be near perfect to win a Game 7 there."
The NBA Finals start Thursday.


text: Irrigation Journal: Calculate Crop and Ethanol Yields October 4, 2010 05:39 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Sara Brown Farm Journal Livestock and Production Editor Email Calculate Crop and Ethanol Yields and Irrigation Needs in Easy Steps Estimating crop yields based on available water is easier for farmers who use a computer program developed by David Nielson, a USDA–Agricultural Research Service scientist at the Central Great Plains Research Station in Akron, Colo. The MultiCalculator, available on CD or by download, uses three simple Excel spreadsheets to calculate nonirrigated crop yields in the semi-arid Central Plains in four steps. You start by estimating how much available soil water your fields contain. A table on a different screen helps identify this amount, and provides multiplication factors for various soil types. In the next three steps, you choose a crop and location, and estimate the percentage of average precipitation during the growing season. The computer then shows the yield you can expect. The program works for 18 different crops, including cereal grains, seed legumes, oilseeds and forages, and is derived from the data collected from ARS research at Akron, which shows a linear relationship between crop yields and seasonal water use. The MultiCalculator also works in reverse. In five steps, you can choose a crop and target yield. The calculator then reports the amount of irrigation water you will need to achieve the desired yield. In addition, the calculator can determine how many gallons of irrigation water you will need for each gallon of ethanol produced from the corn you grow. To download the free MultiCalculator, go to http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=19206. Pivot Control for Smartphones FieldNET Mobile from Zimmatic allows growers to fully control and monitor their irrigation pivots through the convenience of their smartphone. With full control and monitoring from anywhere, growers can be more efficient with their time and always know the status of their irrigation system. The FieldNET Mobile can turn irrigation pivots on and off—a labor and time-saver during repair or maintenance. FieldNET Mobile's graphical interface is compatible with iPhone, BlackBerry and Android technology. FieldNET is a Web-based irrigation management system. With the addition of FieldNET Mobile, growers can view the current status of all their pivots in one list, receive system alerts, arrange pivots by predefined groups, view water usage reports and receive a history of pivot run-times. FieldNET Mobile is available as an upgrade in all of the areas that are serviced by FieldNET. For more information, go to www.zimmatic.com. Back to news


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Welcome to
Tom Ford BeautyYour passion for style, your appreciation of luxury and innovation and your commitment to the highest standards of service make you the perfect candidate to join TOM FORD BEAUTY as a Consultant.
This new, dynamic brand defines modern glamour and luxury with its collection of iconic fragrances for both men and women.
We can offer an excellent salary and benefits package as well as exceptional training and development opportunities in the future.
If you are interested in being part of this exciting new designer brand please view our current opportunities listed below.


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>> After this month, I better shut up for a while as I seem to have spent an awful lot of time talking about blogging and not getting on with the act of blogging. First up were the Portable talks. I better not show my face in Australia for a while for fear of people going "Oh it's you again…" *roll eye roll eye*. Now I'm about to leave Shanghai for Beijing to participate in Armani's first volume of #ArmaniTweetTalks which coincides with Giorgio Armani's "One Night Only" event.
The subject is a bit more specific though as we discuss China as the new fashion superpower, a subject that's been grazed about but I've yet to see an indepth discussion about it all. I may not be able to pass proper comment on the issue at hand but the other panelists will certainly be able to, as I'll be joined by Angelica Cheung, editor in chief of Vogue China, Federico Marchetti, CEO of Yoox Group, Hung Huang, CEO of China Interatctive media Group and blogger, fashion critic for Fashion Wire Daily and editor Godfrey Deeny and Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil. The talk will be moderated by journalist and head of Show Media creative agency Peter Howarth.
The talk will unfold on Armani's Tweetwall here on 1st June at 14.00 CET and in addition to the discussion, we're all taking questions from everyone about our specific fields of *cough* expertise. Naturally, I'm taking questions on blogging, as if you haven't heard enough from me about that subject.
Here's the full run down of twitter handles and designated subjects…
@angelica_cheung on Editorial
@F_Marchetti on E-Tailing
@hunghuang on Fashion Media
@godfredonia on Fashion Journalism
@jakandjilblog on Streetstyle
@susiebubble on Blogging
All questions can be directed via Twitter with the hashtag #ArmaniTweetTalks or submitted on Armani's Tweet Talks site.
I expect all the subject crossovers and curiosity will create a minefield of questions hopefully. I've never really done a Twitter chat on this scale before and of course, with a frighteningly impressive list of panelists. I'm hoping I don't go into awkward too-scared-to-raise-hand-in-class mode.
On a social media in China note, I'm now on WEIBO, the mammoth Chinese equivalent of Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr all rolled into one. I'm rather enjoying some of the nifty features of it but that doesn't meant I've abandoned my scary list of social media outlets. I'm just being lazy and copying tweets/blogs/posts across all of them but this does mean I also get to practise my reading of Chinese. I'll upgrade to writing in Chinese on Weibo soon enough…


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Copying Stripe data to Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL cannot be simpler. You just need to perform the following three simple steps.
Specify necessary connection parameters for Stripe.
Specify necessary connection parameters for Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL.
Skyvia supports secure connections to Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL.
Select Stripe objects to replicate.
Just select check boxes in a list of Stripe objects (e.g. Charges, Customers, Invoices, Events, etc.). If necessary, you can tweak it in more details - replicate only part of Stripe fields and filter data to replicate.
You don't need to prepare the Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL database - Skyvia creates the tables corresponding to the Stripe objects - Charges, Customers, Invoices, Events, etc. - automatically.
Skyvia can more than just create a copy of the Stripe data in Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL - it can keep this copy in an up-to-date state automatically. All you need is to configure a schedule when to update the Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL replica database.
When updating the data copy in the Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL database, Skyvia does not perform full data copying each time. It retrieves only updated data from Stripe and writes only necessary updates to the Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL database.
With Skyvia you can copy all the data from a Stripe object or disable replication for some Stripe object fields. You can also configure filters for data to replicate.
If you need more than just to copy data from Stripe to Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL, you may use Skyvia's powerful data import functionality. Skyvia's data import tools will correctly extract Stripe data, transform it, and load to Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL when Google Cloud SQL PostgreSQL tables have different structure than Stripe objects.


text: Well, it's finally happened. An issue of Media Monitoring News that's almost entirely concentrated on social media — monitoring, measurement and best practices. Just for fun, we caught the end of the year holiday season, and tossed in some great gifts for businesswomen and the 10 best commercials for 2011.


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AMC has announced that the third season of the hit drama Breaking Bad, starring back-to-back Emmy winner Bryan Cranston, will premiere on Sunday, March 21st at 10:00 p.m. Head on over the jump to read the press release.
Back-to-Back Emmy Winner Bryan Cranston Directs Season Premiere
"The Best of Breaking Bad" Marathon Begins Friday, March 19 at 8pm
"Top 10 Baddest Moments" and Other Exclusive Content on AMCTV.com
New York, NY January 11, 2010 AMC will premiere the highly anticipated third season of "Breaking Bad" on Sunday, March 21 at 10pm ET/PT. Back-to-back Emmy winner Bryan Cranston will serve double duty as director of the premiere episode, "No Mas."
Leading up to the highly-anticipated new season will be a "Best of Breaking Bad" Marathon, featuring six of the series best episodes, on Friday, March 19 beginning at 8pm ET/PT. In addition, season two will be available On Demand beginning in February.
"Breaking Bad" season three will also be complemented by a variety of exclusive online material at AMCTV.COM. Among the special digital content is a "Top 10 Baddest Moments" video special, counting down some of the series most outrageous scenes to date; an interactive graphic novel game, in which users can grill a suspect; all-new "webisodes;" Inside "Breaking Bad" videos; and a Criminal Aptitude Test.
Created by acclaimed writer/producer/director Vince Gilligan ("The X-Files"), "Breaking Bad" follows Walter White (Cranston), a milquetoast high school chemistry teacher who discovers he is dying of lung cancer. Desperate to secure his family's financial future, Walt teams up with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), to turn a used RV into a mobile drug lab.
Filmed on location in Albuquerque, NM, "Breaking Bad" season three stars Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston, Emmy nominated Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito and Jonathan Banks. "Breaking Bad" is produced by Sony Pictures Television is association with AMC.
About AMC
AMC reigns as the only basic cable network to win back-to-back Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series and Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series Drama and boasts a comprehensive library of the most entertaining movies of all time. Whether commemorating favorite films from every genre and decade or creating acclaimed original productions, the AMC experience is an uncompromising celebration of great stories. AMC's original stories include the Emmy Award-winning dramas "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad," the miniseries "The Prisoner" and insightful non-scripted programming such as AMC News. AMC further demonstrates its commitment to the art of storytelling with curated movie franchises like AMC Hollywood Icon and AMC Complete Collection. Available in more than 95 million homes (Source: Nielsen Media Research), AMC is a subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, which includes sister networks IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv and Wedding Central. AMC is available across all platforms including on-air, online, on demand and mobile. AMC: Story Matters HereSM.


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Gallery and Exhibitions
Operated by the department of art & design, the University's exhibition program serves as a vital means for engaging the Ohio Northern community and the Northwest Central Ohio region in the visual arts. The gallery season is designed to serve as an educational and cultural resource, to host national and international touring exhibitions, and to host original exhibits distinctly suited to an academic environment.
The University exhibition venues include two galleries on campus:
- the Elzay Gallery of Art located on Gilbert Street
- and the Stambaugh Studio Theatre Gallery located on College Avenue adjacent to the Performing Arts Center
Providing an important educational experience, this year's exhibition program features shows and events of invited artists and designers who encourage dialogue about the visual arts: studio processes, history, theory and criticism, curation and cultural contexts. The season also provides a window of opportunity which members of the University and local communities become familiar with the work of students and faculty, as well as the broader creative community.
In addition to these exhibition venues, students and faculty present their work throughout the University, the local region, across the State, and nationally. Visit the A&D News section of our Web site to read about these accomplishments.
Admission to the Elzay Gallery of Art and the Stambaugh Studio Theatre Gallery is free and open to the public daily from 1–4:30p.m. The Stambaugh Gallery is also open prior to Freed Center events. For additional information, to schedule a tour or to be placed on the arts exhibition mailing list, please contact the department of art & design at (419) 772-2160 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Ann Hood419-772-2160
Wilson Art Building
525 South Main Street
Ada, Ohio 45810


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So you've landed yourself a sweet deal with a carrier and your BlackBerry® smartphone application is going to be sold and billed through them. Congratulations! Now it's time for you to keep the carrier happy. How do you do that? Increase their revenues and minimize their expenses. If you've got a good app, the revenue part is easy. The expenses part is a little trickier – it could mean that your app is bandwidth friendly; it could mean that you as an app developer are extremely self-proficient; or it could also mean that your app is rock solid and generates very few support calls.
In most cases when a carrier partnership agreement is achieved, the billing and/or authentication is done using the cell phone number of the BlackBerry smartphone. Traditionally, this requirement meant that you'd call Phone.getDevicePhoneNumber(boolean format) to retrieve the user's BlackBerry smartphone cell number. However, if the user is using BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System (BlackBerry MVS), getDevicePhoneNumber() will not return their cell phone number, but instead will return the phone number used for BlackBerry MVS. Uh-oh, did your app just create a support incident? If you've been keeping up with platform features, the answer is no.
When a user is connected to BlackBerry MVS, the whole point is to use it as much as possible, thus getting its maximum benefit. Thus, the user's work number / the number associated with BlackBerry MVS now becomes the user's default phone number – which is exactly what will be returned by getDevicePhoneNumber(). This new default phone number might cause a problem for the billing and/or authentication of your application through the carrier, since your application might be expecting the user's cell number to be returned – not the BlackBerry MVS number.
So how do you handle this situation?
Option A: Make the user do it.
Since the user does have the ability to manually set which phone number to use, you could take a hard-nosed stance and make the user do all the work. In order for the user to change this setting, they need to go into the Phone application, select "Options" from the menu, select "Work line," then select "Line and Network Preferences," and finally choose the right number using the drop down box labelled "Default line for outgoing calls." Save this change and you're done. With no change required to your app, getDevicePhoneNumber() now returns the cell number to you. However, you've now just put a ton of onus on the user, reduced the effectiveness of BlackBerry MVS, and likely still generated a support call.
Option B: Take advantage of new platform features and use the new APIs.
Use the following API functionality added in BlackBerry Device Software 5.0:
int[] lineIds = Phone.getLineIds(); String phoneNumber = null; for( int i=0; i < lineIds.length; i++ ) { if(Phone.getLineType(lineIds[i]) == Phone.MOBILE_TYPE) { //found the user's cell number phoneNumber = Phone.getLineNumber(lineIds[i]); } else if Phone.getLineType(lineIds[i] == Phone.PBX_TYPE) { //found the number used for BlackBerry MVS } }
With less than 10 lines of code, your app is more robust, BlackBerry MVS friendly, and can reliably provide the cell phone number to the carrier. Personally, I like my carrier relationships, so I'll go with option B. But the choice is yours!
Have you tried out this tip? Let us know how it went in the comments!


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Digium AEX2430B Analog Telephony Card Information:
The Digium AEX2430B is a full length PCI-Express modular gateway card used to connect analog telephone stations and analog POTS lines through a PC. The AEX2400 is 1.0-compliant and supports up to six quad port stations or trunk modules totaling 24 lines.
The Digium AEX2400 eliminates the need for a separate channel bank and T1 interface cards. The quad trunk and quad station modules are interchangeable, allowing multiple combinations of interfaces.
Using this card in concert with Digium's Asterisk software, standard PC hardware, and the Linux OS, you can create SMB or SOHO telephony environments capable of satisfying the needs of small or medium business applications at an industry-leading price.
Mfg. Part Number: 1AEX2430BF
UPC Code: 797734472141
Still not sure which Digium product is right for you? Click Here For Live Assistance! You can also call us toll free at 877.434-8647- Our online team of experts will be happy to create a custom quote for you.
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Mt. San Antonio College will hold its 61st annual student art exhibition through May 21 in the college art gallery.
The Tyrone Anthony Group will perform on the patio from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. today, May 7.
The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.


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Back in the dark days of the Internet, a war raged on over who would control the prepubescent HTML. Some folks pressed for a text-based approach, others advocated following the open-standards-based World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and Netscape tried to institute its own set of standards using the "embrace and extend" philosophy of adding its own extensions to W3C HTML.
Netscape understood that open standards work only as far as an extremely dominant market force will carry them. In other words, if a browser has enough market muscle (as Netscape Navigator did in the mid-'90s), web page designers will build their pages to look good in that browser and marginalize everything else. Old-timers will recall that thousands of web pages once sported "Netscape Enhanced" logos, contained messages saying something like "This page doesn't look right? Download Netscape now!," or simply failed to load with other browsers.
This is an old idea, and at a minimum dates back to the growth days of the phone company, when all audio equipment had to play ball with AT&T or die. The pattern was later repeated by Microsoft when it released Internet Explorer, and for a while, conscientious designers had three sets of HTML "standards" to worry about—W3C, Netscape extensions, and IE extensions. As the web grew more complex, scripting languages, databases, and active pages became commonplace, and it simply became too complex to try to cover every base. W3C finally caught up with the desires of web designers and open standards have finally started to make a comeback.
Did somebody mention RSS? Just because the browser world has stabilized somewhat is no reason to think that developers have stopped trying to control the Internet with proprietary standards. Now that everyone and their cat has a blog, RSS is the Hot New Thing® and the next item up for bids in the Price is Right. This time, our latest culprit is not everyone's favorite Evil Empire, but Apple.
Apple recently unveiled iPhoto 6, which contains a new feature called Photocasting. Essentially, Photocasting is a way to publish and share photos in the same way that a blog shares words (or Flickr shares photos). All well and good—different product, similar goal. But note the following tidbit from the Apple web site:
...if Aunt Sophia doesn?t have iPhoto or she has a computer that runs Windows, she can still subscribe to your Photocasts via any RSS-compatible browser or RSS reader.
Turns out, this claim of RSS compatibility isn't entirely true. In user tests, Photocasts have been demonstrated to work nicely in Safari, but result in error in Firefox and Opera. Similarly, some dedicated RSS clients can display Photocasts, while others can't. What's going on? Software developer Mark Pilgrim has called Apple out on the software and its RSS compatibility.
...the "photocasting" feature centers around a single undocumented extension element in a namespace that doesn't need to be declared. iPhoto 6 doesn't understand the first thing about HTTP, the first thing about XML, or the first thing about RSS. It ignores features of HTTP that Netscape 4 supported in 1996, and mis-implements features of XML that Microsoft got right in 1997. It ignores 95% of RSS and Atom and gets most of the remaining 5% wrong.
That's fairly strong stuff, but don't take his word for it. Dave Winer, one of the creators of RSS, has also noted iPhoto's incompatibilities.
It?s pretty bad. There are lots of errors, the date formats are wrong, there are elements that are not in RSS that aren?t in a namespace.
Engadget quoted Jobs as saying they were using "industry standard" RSS. Even if we used terminology like that (we don?t, there?s no standards body for RSS) one company can?t on its own say it?s standard, esp when it has so many mistakes in it. It?s a fairly damaging lie. Yeah, companies lie, I know ? but then sometimes bloggers have to say they?re lying.
Errors aside, there is evidence that Apple's feed contains a Javascript application which determines whether your client can support their format. If it can't, you get an error message. That's unusual behavior for standards-compliant software. We are left to wonder where Apple is headed with this. Since RSS has no real standards body to oversee it, Apple might be innocently aimed in the wrong direction in a simple case of bad planning and sloppy programming. On the other hand, they may be gambling that Photocasting will become popular enough over the next couple of years to force their version of it (and RSS) on everyone else. Now that the enmity between Atom and RSS has quieted somewhat, it will be interesting to see if we are up for another standards battle. I suppose when iPhoto 7 comes out in a year or so, we'll find out if the incompatibilities have been eliminated as bugs or enhanced as features.


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Game Review: Sleeping Dogs (PS3)
December 9, 2012 in Game Reviews, Reviews by pacejmiller
I hadn't played a video game with a storyline since I was immersed in Heavy Rain and Infamous well over a year ago, mainly because such games require a significant investment of time which I don't have these days. Nonetheless, I kept hearing rave reviews about this Grand Theft Auto-like game based in a Hong Kong called Sleeping Dogs (I would have thought Eating Dogs was more appropriate), so I decided to put away some spare time to tackle it.
It turned out to be an investment with great returns, as Sleeping Dogs was an addictive and fun experience that has enough distinctive qualities to separate itself from all the other open world games out on the market. If you're a fan of open world games such as GTA and Infamous and/or fans of Hong Kong gangster movies then it's likely you'll enjoy Sleeping Dogs as much as I did.
You play Wei Shen (a transliteration of "dangerous" in Mandarin), a HK native who has returned after spending years in California to work undercover for the HK police. He infiltrates the Sun On Yee triad organization, starting off from a low-level enforcer and, over the course of the game, rises through the ranks to become an invaluable member of both the triads and the police. As the stakes get higher and higher, Wei Shen finds himself torn between the two sides, blurring the line between good and evil and forcing him to decide where his loyalty ultimately lies.
From a story perspective, it's a game that steals from HK gangster movies such as old classics like A Better Tomorrow and newer hits like Infernal Affairs. The swearing and violence are full-on; there are street brawls with kung fu moves, meat cleavers and machetes, car chases and crazy shootouts. You can drift up and down the mountain paths like Initial D, run all day and swim in the ocean, sample local delicacies, hack computers and install surveillance cameras. It's old fashioned yet refreshing in a lot of ways.
The gameplay also steals from many of the more successful video game franchises. It is based on the GTA foundation which allows open world exploration with a main core mission, dozens of side missions, mini games and plenty of other stuff to check out and do if you can't get enough. It's not quite like Infamous in the sense that you can choose to be "good" or "evil" by selecting a certain route of missions, but it is similar in the way you can attempt both "police" and "triad" missions and level-up both sides to learn different skills and abilities (eg, car jacking without setting off alarms, etc).
The graphics are excellent but by no means revolutionary. The game provides a sprawling, glittering vision of HK that isn't quite "realistic" but captures the city's reputation and charm with a mix of high rise buildings, traditional ghettos and neon lights. The characters' faces look genuine enough, although a little more facial movement could have added to their emotions. It's one of the better looking games out there but you can't really it to the best of the best because of the vastness of its open world nature. As often is the case with such games, camera angles occasionally become problematic, but not to the point where they become annoying.
The voice acting is brilliant, led by Will Yun Lee, who voices Wei Shen. He's not particularly well known right now, but that could change after he plays the Silver Samurai in The Wolverine next year (though perhaps not Mortal Kombat Legacy). Many of the supporting characters are played by Asian and Hollywood stars, including Edison Chen (sorry, no sex scandals this time), Emma Stone, Lucy Liu, Tom Wilkinson, Kelly Hu and Lost's Yunjin Kim — but its Mrs Chu (voice by Irene Tsu), an old-fashioned triad mother who works in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, gets my vote as the best of the lot.
The combat system is apparently modelled on the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City games, which I have not played but understand it is a freeflow combat system which features both hand-to-hand fighting and melee weapons. You can punch and kick, perform roundhouses, tackle people, trip people, break arms and legs — the whole shebang. You can also accomplish cool/sick kills by utilising the surrounding environment, which ranges from phone booths and electrical panels to wood saws and swordfish (!).
As the story progresses, you get to use a variety of guns which adds a new dimension to the game by allowing players to take cover, fire blindly and target specific enemies and body parts. You can even leap over certain obstacles and fire while time slows down. It's all pretty cool, and there are always tutorials to make sure you get the hang of things before you start testing them out on the streets.
The driving system is similar to GTA and allows players to shoot from moving vehicles. Also added is the ability to jump from moving vehicles and guiding indicator arrows to let you know where and when to turn if you have a set destination, which really helps if you have trouble keeping an eye on the road and the map at the same time. My favourite is the ability to hail down taxis to take you to a destination of your choice, which saves a lot of driving time especially when you have to drive all the way across town.
The biggest strength of the game is the compelling core story, which is what makes it as good as any of the other open world classics. I was surprised by the effectiveness of the storytelling and the well drawn out characters. I inexplicably grew to care about Wei Shen's plight and understood his obsession and rage. And some of the multi-part core missions involving one-on-everyone fights and shootouts are simply incredible, as epic as the climax of any HK gangster flick. The introductory mission, the wedding, the hospital shootout and the final mission are the high watermarks in my opinion.
The shorter side missions are nice too. Wei Shen can go on dates with various girls, go drag racing (on a bike or car), do favours for people, go on drug busts, gamble, bet on cockfighting, join a fight club or collect stolen statues to learn new martial arts moves from his master. Most of them will pop up from time to time on your map, but some can be random happenings you stumble across on the street. They do get repetitive after a while, but the same can be said for most open world games.
The trimmings are really for the die-hard fanatics. I'm talking about finding all the health-increasing shrines and locked suitcases littered throughout the city, becoming a karaoke master and improving the collection of outfits, cars/bikes and paintings in your possession.
It's really a question of how much you want to explore. The game took me around 23 hours to finish on its maiden (and probably only) run, which included a lot of time on the fight clubs, side missions and especially the drug busts. A friend of mine, however, told me it took him just over 10 hours to complete when just focused on the core missions, so it's up to the individual how immersed they want to be.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether you want to go straight through to the end or take the scenic tour, Sleeping Dogs is a whole lotta fun. There are ample open world games out there these days but Sleeping Dogs takes the best of those games and adds a unique HK flavour to go with its compelling core story, superb voice acting and timely humour. I might even consider buying the some of the online add-ons, in particular the Nightmare in North Point expansion title with Chinese vampires/zombies!