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Very happy with the picture, but would highly recommend that you get this framed before they send to you because once I framed it I can see where is was rolled. The light reflects on it and you can see that it it not perfect. But they did take great care in the packing. | {
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These 5 automated technologies provide more headaches than help
When Elon Musk famously said in 2017 that “robots will be able to do everything better than us,” he conveniently neglected to propose a timeframe for that future.
Because while automated and autonomous systems have become a common sight in 2019, they don’t all do their jobs better than people could. In fact, many of them perform worse than human staff, and manage to find ways to make more work for the people around them.
“Please place on flat surface”
The robotic vacuum is capable of cleaning your home and charging itself without human intervention. The utopia is finally here… as long as your home doesn’t have multiple surfaces, raised surfaces, cords on the ground, or corners where the walls meet the floor.
That’s not to say the robotic vacuum doesn’t have its fanbase, having hit global sales of 29 million in 2017. But the restrictions require owners to pitch in every time the little machine can’t get the job done right, and carry the device back to its dock whenever its gets “lost” and runs out of charge. To truly achieve the Jetsons-esque dream, autonomous cleaners will need to be capable of fulfilling their purpose without requiring humans to vacuum-proof the home.
“Unexpected item in the bagging area”
It’s an experience that’s all too familiar to anyone who has used self-checkout at the supermarket: being told that the item you just scanned doesn’t belong in your shopping bag. Or there’s the reverse, where you place the item in your bag but the machine doesn’t believe you did it. Whatever the case, it’s clear that the self-checkout has some serious trust issues.
Though these errors require store staff to step in and fix the issues, companies have reason to embrace self-checkout beyond cost reduction. Many retailers believe having the customer actively involved in the purchase process makes it feel faster, and a McDonald’s study found that patrons spend more when they’re not being rushed. Some grocery stores are taking a different approach, however, removing the checkout altogether.
“Your call is important to us”
Whereas the self-checkout machine intentionally offloads labor to the customer, interactive voice response (IVR) is designed to make calls easier for customers. The results suggest otherwise.
IVR, which most people will know as the automated phone system that asks callers to navigate menus using voice and keypad inputs, is almost universally loathed. A 2016 survey found that 90 percent of respondents would rather deal with a human on the phone. And while IVR usually exists to direct callers to the right person to solve their problems, 69 percent say the automated service makes it more difficult for them to explain why they’re calling.
“ETA_PESSIMISTIC”
The June Oven promises to make cooking far simpler. It’s a toaster, a broiler, a slow cooker, and more, all in one unit. It uses image recognition to work out what food you’ve put on the tray and how to cook it, and it allows you to follow the progress via a live video stream or with slick charts through (you guessed it) an app. It’s a boon for those who can’t or don’t have time to cook… when it works properly.
But this isn’t to poke fun at a single product. Rather, the device is among a breed that seeks to replace existing technology through over-engineering. Most kitchen appliances can be controlled with one button or dial, yet the June Oven is so jam-packed with options that cooking anything requires a multitude of taps on a phone.
“Could you repeat your request?”
A Japanese hotel made headlines a few years back when it hired a fleet of robotic staff. Now that same hotel is making headlines for firing them.
Henn na Hotel was recently forced to lay off its automated employees because their labor-reducing functions were creating more labor for the human employees. The assistant bots had a tough time answering simple tourist questions, the luggage bots were incapable of reaching most rooms, and the receptionist bots couldn’t fulfill administrative tasks without help. It seems not even robots’ jobs are safe. | {
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Corrupt Border Patrol Agent Gets 15 Years in Prison
A corrupt Border Patrol agent was sentenced to 15 years in prison for taking bribes in exchange for helping a drug-trafficking organization do its work.
Former Agent Ivhan Daniel Herrera-Chiang actually got more prison time than his partner-in-crime Michael Lopez-Garcia, a former Arizona Department of Corrections employee who personally smuggled meth across the border, according to federal prosecutors.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Herrera was working with a Border Patrol intelligence unit when he helped a drug-trafficking organization get information "including sensor maps, combinations to gates located near the U.S/Mexican border, computer records concerning prior drug seizures, and the identity of confidential informants."
Lopez, the corrections officer, helped in "guiding" cocaine traffickers around Border Patrol agents and checkpoints, personally delivered drugs, and relayed the Border Patrol information from Herrera to the drug traffickers.
The problem, for Lopez and Herrera, was that Lopez had actually been working with an undercover agent, not a drug-trafficking boss.
Both men, who were working in the border town of San Luis at the time, faced charges that could have kept them locked up forever, but both took plea deals.
Herrera pleaded guilty to four counts of receiving a bribe as a public official, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release.
Lopez pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, landing him nine years in prison, plus five years of supervised release. | {
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Like new wheel chair, used once, chair has handel's for pushing, brakes, seat belt, foot rests and bars on back of chair for safety so no rolling over backwards. Chair is in immaculate shape. Text Sean at 9026201078. | {
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spent 1.5 hours last nite wrapping gifts , took my kids about 20 minutes to tear them all open. It is very exciting I will admit. So far however 2 things already do not work. I cannot beleive how badly toys & games are made now days.Happy Holidays to all. | {
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Soldier of Fortune
The Cambodian Jungle is an easy place to die for most men, but not Casca Longinus. Cursed to live and fight as a soldier through millenia, the eternal mercenary finds himself deep in the misty heart of a jungle war. | {
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There have been a number of articles recently about the Occupy Fort Myers protestors “camping out” in Centennial Park without first obtaining a Special Event permit from the City as required. The Fort Myers Police Department began issuing citations last night to those refusing to abide by the city’s rules and leave the park at 10:30PM.
Code Section 58-153 Recreation Activity Restrictions in a City Park
No unauthorized person in a park shall:
(3) Set up tents, shacks, or any other temporary shelters for the purpose of overnight camping. No person shall live in a park beyond closing hours in any movable structure or special vehicle to be used or that could be used for such camping purpose, such as a tent, house-trailer, camp-trailer, camp-wagon or the like.
Those that accepted the citations were actually allowed to stay, even though they may be violating other code sections for Park Hours, Loitering and Sanitation. Now Occupy Fort Myers is suing the City in Federal court for what it claims is a violation of the movement’s rights to freedom of expression.
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The retirees came from near and far, gathering in a muggy auditorium here to listen to an urgent pitch: give back a big chunk of your pension or risk losing it all.
This city of 19,000 is broke and headed for bankruptcy, partly because it has promised retired police and firefighters millions of dollars in pensions and benefits that it cannot begin to afford.
And so Robert G. Flanders Jr., a state-appointed receiver who is trying to right the city’s finances, found himself on the stage at Central Falls High School on Tuesday, asking retirees to help solve “a horrible dilemma” by giving up a significant part of what they had always assumed was untouchable income.
“No one blames any of you for this situation,” Mr. Flanders told the retirees, many of whom appeared well into their 70s and 80s. “We understand, believe me, that we are asking for great unanticipated sacrifices. But there is simply no money in the city to continue on the current path.”
By way of warning, he pointed to the example of Prichard, Ala., which stopped paying retirees in 2009 after its pension fund ran out of money.
Under Mr. Flanders’s plan, which he calls The Big Ask, some retirees would lose almost half their benefits, with the goal of cutting a total $2.5 million a year in retiree costs. Someone who retired at 55 after 30 years on the job, for example, would see his pension shrink to $21,217 a year, from $40,037.
No recipients, including widows of retirees, would see their pensions cut by more than half or to less than $10,000 a year, said Mr. Flanders, a retired Rhode Island Supreme Court justice. The 141 retirees will have to vote on the proposal in the coming weeks, and he pressed them to accept it, saying bankruptcy could lead to “even more drastic” changes. The city’s annual budget is about $17 million, and it has an operating deficit of about $5 million.
“I would advise you that a haircut still looks a lot better than a beheading,” Mr. Flanders told reporters after the meeting. “I hope upon reflection they will at least consider the idea that it’s better to get something than potentially nothing.”
But the initial response suggested it would be no easy sell. Why should they be punished for the city’s financial missteps over the years, some retirees asked? Why not keep raising taxes instead?
“Where is the fairness?” said Michael Long, a retired police sergeant who lives in Attleboro, Mass. Mr. Long, 54, said he would rather “take our chances” and let the city file for bankruptcy, drawing hearty applause from the crowd.
“We put our money in,” said Walter Trembley, a 74-year-old retired police officer who drove to the meeting from his home in Lake Worth, Fla. “And the city, through their callousness and everything else, just blew it.”
Mr. Flanders said taxpayers in the city of just over one square mile, including many poor immigrant families, had already been hit too hard. Property taxes rose by 20 percent last year and by 4.5 percent this year, he said. Mr. Flanders closed the city’s library and community center last month and said he had to preserve the basic city services that remained.
Jenny Galligan, whose husband, a former Central Falls police chief, died last year, said that she was living on his pension of about $24,000 a year and that it would shrink to about $16,000 under the plan.
“That’s all I got,” said Mrs. Galligan, 78, of Pawtucket. “I’m just about making ends meet, and now they want to do this?”
Like many other municipal workers around the country, public safety employees in Central Falls do not pay into Social Security and thus get no Social Security benefits after retirement, a point that several complained about at the meeting.
Although many of the retirees were elderly, some in the crowd were still in their 40s and 50s, people who were allowed to retire early under the city’s rules.
Under Mr. Flanders’ plan, firefighters and police officers would generally have to work until age 60. The current system allows them to retire after 20 years of service, no matter how old they are. The plan would allow early retirements, but with smaller pensions.
Bruce Ogni, a former police captain who retired six years ago on a disability pension after being injured on the job, said he “might as well go on public assistance” if the plan was approved.
“It’s just insane that this is happening in America,” said Mr. Ogni, 48. “How do I tell my children now that you get rewarded for doing the right thing? I did all the right things, and look how I’m getting rewarded.”
State Senator Elizabeth A. Crowley, a Democrat who grew up in Central Falls, had tears in her eyes as she greeted retirees she had not seen in years and listened to them vent about their predicament.
“These are the faces I knew growing up,” Ms. Crowley said. “I’m hoping we don’t have anybody here who has a heart condition because what they’re hearing is not pretty.”
FORT MYERS
Included in the proposed reforms is reducing the amount the city sets aside for retirement from 3 percent of an employee’s salary a year to 1.6 percent. Tom O’Malley, president of the general city employees union, said that for an employee earning $50,000 at retirement after 30 years on the job, that would decrease his or her annual pension from $40,000 to $30,000 annually, a 25 percent decrease.
As an alternative, he said the union proposes to increase the amount of salary that employees contribute to their own retirement from 3.1 percent to 6 percent. Firefighters contribute 8 percent of their salaries and 106 police officers contribute 10 percent of their wages to their respective pension plans.
CAPE CORAL
In Cape Coral, costs for life and health insurance benefits for employees were factored into the institute’s calculations for pension plans, said Connie Barron, city spokeswoman. She said the city meets those costs annually.
The city set aside $1 million two years ago to start saving for those insurance costs. No extra money for long-term funding was set aside this year because the city is re-evaluating factors involved in calculating the costs.
Pension plans for employees of three cities inSouthwest Floridaand other large communities across the state received average to failing grades in a recent report, meaning millions of taxpayer dollars are being diverted to shore up funding.
The nonpartisan LeRoy Collins Institute – working with the state university system – gave F grades forFort Myers’ general city employees, police and firefighters, based on 2009 records.Naplesreceived D grades in all three categories, andCape Coralreceived C grades for police and firefighter pension plans and a D for other city employees.
BonitaSpringsand Sanibel were not included because the report focused on the 100 largest cities inFlorida.
Higher grades mean plans are mostly self-sufficient or there are enough assets to cover pensions. An F grade means less than 60 percent of the plan is funded at the city level.
“We are looking at pension reform. We’re not pleased. Who would be?” said Debra Emerson, the city ofFort Myerspension plan manager.
The report states that Cape Coral– along with Miami, Jacksonville and Hollywood– has initiated pension plan reforms after facing budget shortfalls. Naples officials said they have also made recent changes to bring up their grades.
The poor grades don’t mean that employees won’t get their pensions but that more taxpayer money must be used to help. This is money that could instead be spent for services instead of retirement benefits for municipal workers, said David Matkin, assistant professor inFloridaStateUniversity’s Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, who contributed research for the report issued this month.
“Escalating pension costs mean that taxpayers are on the hook to make good the promises made on the pensions,” Matkin said. For example, about $40 million was needed to shore upFort Myers firefighters’ $81.7 million pension plan, money that could have been spent elsewhere if the plan were fully funded, according to Matkin’s findings. Specific Fort Myers city and police dollar amounts were not readily available.
Connie Barron, spokeswoman for the city ofCape Coral, said in 2009 the liability for the city’s general employee pension fund was $189 million and the assets were $117 million. Barron stressed that the 2009 numbers were static and assumed no changes in the plans since then. She said the city had more than 80 percent coverage in 2007 – a grade of “B” – but a buyout in 2008 bumped up the liability/asset ratio and dropped the grade.
Cape Coral was 70 to 80 percent funded for police and firefighter pension plans in 2009 and 60-70 percent funded for general city employees pension plans. Specific dollar amounts were not readily available for police and firefighter plans.
Naples police, fire and general city employee pension plans were between 60-70 percent funded in 2009. Specific dollar amounts for Naples were not available.
Matkin said theFort Myers plan would need contributions of at least $32 million to bring the grade up to an “A.” Barron said theCape’s general employee pension fund would need an additional $53 million in assets to raise its grade to an “A.”
Consultants from Foster & Foster, an actuary firm that works with public pension plans inFlorida, disputed the Collins Institute report and said the findings were based upon information officials there didn’t understand and that assigning grades to the plans is too simplistic.
‘Basically broke’
Times are tough inFort Myersand ways have to be found to provide money for other needed services, saidFort Myers attorney and taxpayer Neil Potter.
“The city’s basically broke. They’ve let half of code enforcement go,” Potter said. He said that means there aren’t enough people to clean up abandoned properties, which is a vital service.
Matkin said that pension reforms, including cutting benefits and requiring more employee contributions, are needed.
The poor economy might be responsible for dropping a pension plan’s grade by one letter because of poorer returns on stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investments, Matkin said.
However, he said the major cause of a bad grade resulted from increases in benefits.
“In many situations, there are higher pay increases during the end years” just before retirement that bump up pension obligations, Matkin said.
That leaves many pension plans underfunded for the long term and cities have to refinance the obligations over terms as long as 30 years to keep up, Matkin said.
For example, the Fort Myers General Employees Pension Plan in 2009 was only funded at a rate of 52 percent, or 52 cents on the dollar, the study shows.The city’s firefighters’ and police pension plans were both funded at almost 51 percent.
One reason for the Fort Myers’ plans failing grades are the more than 200 employee buyouts initiated citywide in 2008, the year before the statistics were compiled, said Matt Galewski, chairman of the firefighters pension fund, which has 167 members.
“It increased the unfunded liability of the plans tremendously by giving employees four more years under the buyouts,” Galewski said.
Indeed, “it was a sweetheart deal for those who took advantage of it, but we’re paying for it now” with a larger unfunded portion of the pension plan with some 548 members, said Tom O’Malley, president of the general city employees union.
Galewski said he doesn’t foresee a change in the plans for firefighters and police, until the current contracts expire in two years.
“The only way the grades would change is if we have a greater return on our investments,” Galewski said. He said that the firefighters’ plan used to get a 15 to 20 percent return on investments, but the current bad economy has dropped that to 8.5 percent.
Pension reforms are now being negotiated withFort Myersgeneral city employees in current negotiations to renew their contract, which expired last year, Emerson said.
“I’m thinking if we can get to a C or B grade, that would be our goal in the short term,” she said.
Never before in the 32 year history of Foster & Foster have we felt compelled to issue a public response to a publication regarding Florida public pension plans, but the recent Collins Institute report was so far off the mark, we felt an immediate desire to respond.
As the actuaries for nearly 200 public pension plans in the State of Florida, we are qualified to comment on the accuracy of the findings in the article. It should be noted that our firm shares in the Institute’s objective of attempting to improve transparency and increase public awareness of all pension funds in the State. With that said, however, the findings in this report were based upon actuarial information that the Institute clearly does not understand. While our objective in this response is not to attack the Collins Institute or the individual authors of their report, we feel a responsibility to correct many of their findings so that plan sponsors, taxpayers, and members of these plans do not draw the wrong conclusions or ultimately make misinformed decisions. The report begins by stating that it “focuses on two critical measurements of a municipal pension funds’ sustainability—funding levels and costs.” The report goes on to assign letter grades to funds based upon funding levels and cost per active plan member.
Unfortunately, the Institute (of nonactuaries),do not understand how funding levels are calculated, nor do they understand what makes a plan sustainable. Furthermore, we feel that it is borderline irresponsible to label a pension as passing or failing based upon these two measurements. The balance of our response will correct some of the misinformation found in their report.
First, let’s address the issue of sustainability. Contrary to what the Institute may infer, the sustainability of a pension plan has very little to do with funding level or absolute cost. The sustainability of a pension plan has far more to do with the sponsor’s ability to continue to make the annual payment each year. If the sponsor is flush with cash, the funding level or cost per member does not matter. Likewise, a plan could have a funded ratio of 100% and a relatively small annual payment, but if the sponsor’s tax revenues will not support this payment, the plan’s sustainability may be in question.
In its description regarding the sustainability of a pension plan, the Institute provides an illustration on page 1 (continued to page 2) that describes how an actuary determines the funded ratio. Unfortunately the Institute’s example is materially incorrect, and this illustration helps to form the basis for their conclusions. The author describes how the plan’s total liability of $4 million is calculated by discounting all of the projected future payments. This is a true statement. The author continues, however, to describe that the funded ratio of 75% is calculated by taking the $3 million in plan assetsdivided by the total liability ($4 million). Unfortunately, this characterization is false. The funded ratio is calculated by dividing the Actuarial Value of Assets (which the author also misrepresents) by the Actuarial Accrued Liability. The Actuarial Accrued Liability is NOT the present value of projected future payments. It is a description of the liability that is developed in accordance with one of a few acceptable actuarial cost methods. Depending upon which actuarial cost method you employ, you will develop significantly different answers. For example, there are plans that received an “A” grade that could have gotten “C” or “D” grades if a different actuarial cost method was used. Furthermore, plans who were given “C,” D”, or even “F” grades could have been given “A” grades if a different method was used. Not every public plan uses the same cost method. The point is that assigning letter grades to a subjective, non-uniform measure is dangerous, and reflects a material misunderstanding of the actuarial information being reflected.
After providing the erroneous funding level illustration, the Institute attempts to refute the “mortgage analogy” by stating that a plan with a 75% funding ratio “is misleading because it implies that the plan is well on the way to covering a fixed liability that is not due in full for many years.” The author later attempts to simplify the mischaracterization by stating that “if the pension plan was terminated today and no further contributions were made to the fund, a pension plan that is 75% funded would be expected to pay about 75 cents on the dollar of pension benefits earned.” Both statements are false.
First, a portion of the sponsor’s contribution each year is made to systematically improve the funded ratio, and many pension boards have made the decision to increase the size of the payments so that funding levels increase at a faster rate than what is statutorily required. Second, as mentioned in the prior paragraph, the funded ratio is dependent upon the actuarial cost method used, and is not a fair reflection of the percentage of earned benefits that are covered by current assets. In fact, it is possible that the plan with the 75% funded ratio in this illustration could cover 100% of the liabilities that have been accrued to date based upon current levels of compensation and service. So yes, a plan that has a 75% funded ratio could easily be 100% funded on a “plan termination” basis.
There are two additional thoughts to consider with regards to the funded ratio that have not already been mentioned. In addition to being largely dependent upon the actuarial cost method chosen, it is also dependent upon the age of the plan, much like a mortgage. When someone purchases a home and makes a 20% down payment, he is 20% funded in his house. A 20% funded ratio for that individual should not be frowned upon, and if that individual had increased the ratio up to 40% in 10 years, that would not be too bad either. The same can be said for pension plans. Many ofFlorida’s municipal pension plans have not been around as long as others, and therefore it is unfair to compare these plans to one another.
Secondly, there are many municipalities that have deliberately lowered their funded ratios in order to serve an alternative purpose.Fort MyersandCape Coral, for example, have implemented Early Retirement Incentive programs to provide increased pensions to employees in return for immediate
retirements. The idea is that the cities would be able to replace the older, higher-paid workers with younger, lower paid workers. In some cases, the retirees were not even replaced. Did this tactic lower the funded ratios? Yes. Did it increase pension costs per member? Yes. Did it also likely save the cities millions of dollars in annual cash outlays and prevent a citywide layoff? Yes. The pension plan, therefore, was a tool to accomplish a financial and human resources objective. By lowering the funded ratios in the pension plans, the cities were able to balance their budget, restructure their workforce, and save cash in a difficult economic time.
It is stated on page 5 of the report regarding the “D” and “F” plans that a “full market recovery should not be expected to fundamentally improve the condition of these pension plans.” We are not sure on what basis the Institute makes this observation. Our firm is the actuary for several of these plans, and we vehemently disagree with this conclusion. In fact, for each of the plans listed that we represent, the Boards have made a conscious decision to ramp up funding over the next 10 years to completely pay for the underperformance of the market in the last ten years. If the actuarial assumptions are met prospectively, these plans will see dramatic declines in funding requirements ten years from now.
The Institute comments that the general plans tend to be better funded than either police or firefighter plans, and that general plans tend to make up a larger percentage of grade “A” plans and a smaller percentage of grade “F” plans. While this is true, the author leaves it up to the reader’s imagination as to why this might be. The reason is mostly because police and firefighter plans are partially funded by taxes on auto and home insurance premiums for city residents. The premium tax dollars are partially used to offset the funding requirements for the city, and partially used to facilitate pension plan improvements for the membership. These improvements are typically always made retroactively, but also are usually highly subsidized (if not fully funded for) by prospective premium tax dollars. So, for example, let’s say that City X Firefighters’ Pension Plan has a funded ratio of 80%. City X approves an improvement to the plan that reduces the funded ratio to 70%, but the improvement will be entirely paid for by prospective state premium tax revenues. The City’s annual cost has not increased whatsoever, but the funded ratio dropped by 10%. Should this plan receive a poorer “grade” even though an outside source is covering a piece of the bill? Since premium tax revenues only subsidize police and fire plans, naturally these plans tend to be richer and have lower funded ratios than general employee plans.
In conclusion, while we appreciate the Collins Institute’s initiative to provide an evaluation ofFlorida’s public pension plans, we believe that assigning letter grades to these plans based upon two subjective factors is misleading at best, and could potentially result in decisions that adversely affect the lives of those who serve the public. As actuaries who consult to plans in other states, we can say that the Floridapublic pension system is far better than anywhere else. First, the plans are administered by an independent Board of Trustees, who is entrusted to ensure that the plans operate efficiently and effectively. The sponsors are required to contribute AT LEAST the minimum required contribution set by the actuary (as approved by the Board), which is developed in accordance with the Actuarial Standards of Practice and reviewed by the actuaries at the Florida Division of Retirement. The system itself is very sustainable and has adequate checks and balances. The costs of these plans, unfortunately, have risen substantially over the last decade primarily due to the poor investment market, not because they have been mismanaged, misguided, or manipulated. Finally, the Senate Bill 1128 requires that the Florida Division of Retirement develop a more comprehensive evaluation of our public plans. Our understanding is that these plans will be evaluated based upon a laundry list of different criteria (as opposed to two). While we believe that this will still likely be a subjective measure, we expect it to be more comprehensive and informed. In the meantime, let’s shift our focus away from the subjective actuarial criteria for purposes of evaluating these plans, and focus rather on the benefits and associated costs with providing lifetime benefits for public servants. If these costs have risen to unsustainable levels when compared to the overall operating budget, then we should all work together to find ways to bring these costs in line. Until then, the plans will take care of themselves.
Congress’s Government Accountability Office Visits city of Fort Myers For Potential New Legislation related to Foreclosures
In 2010, United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) staffers travelled from Washington, D.C. to meet with City of Fort Myers Community Development staff. In addition the team also met with leaders in Cape Coral, the courts and Lee County. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area led the nation for the number of foreclosures for two years and moved to the number two spot a year ago, only surpassed by the greater Las Vegas, Nevada area.
The GAO was tasked with providing a report and recommendation to the Congressional Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs regarding the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Specifically the GAO looked at additional mortgage servicer actions that could help reduce the frequency and impact of abandoned foreclosures.
In the report the GAO identified that entities responsible for managing home mortgage loans – called servicers – may initiate foreclosure proceedings on certain delinquent loans but then decide to not complete the process. Many of these properties are vacant. These abandoned foreclosure – or “bank walkaway” – properties can exacerbate neighborhood decline and complicate federal and local stabilization efforts.
In their recommendation to Congress, the GAO recommends that the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) require servicers they oversee to notify borrowers and communities when foreclosures are halted and to obtain updated valuations for selected properties before initiating foreclosure.
For local communities, both of these recommendations are steps in the right direction for dealing with abandoned properties. If adopted by Congress, these actions will add additional tools that City staff may utilize in addition to the City of Fort Myers Abandoned/Vacant Property Registration Program ordinance passed by the City Council in early 2010. | {
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It’s hard to see anyone but the Cleveland Cavaliers winning the Eastern conference and making the NBA Finals. Maybe, the Chicago Bulls, although they fell in six games a few months ago in the playoffs. Anyone else? Not a chance.
The Miami Heat might have gotten a little better, but also a little older. The Washington Wizards seem to be in a year of waiting for Kevin Durant. The Toronto Raptors haven’t won a playoff series in over a decade, and don’t look capable of doing much more than just one, even if they’ve learned a valuable lesson from getting swept against the Wizards.
The Milwaukee Bucks will be better, but they aren’t there yet. The same can be said of the Boston Celtics, and probably the Detroit Pistons. Don’t be surprised if the Orlando Magic are finally in the playoff mix, for the first time since Dwight Howard left them in 2012, but a threat on winning a title? Nope. And not the Indiana Pacers either. The Atlanta Hawks? They’re not going to top what they did last season.
Did the Bulls get better? They stayed the same. They’re counting on Bobby Portis having an impact as a rookie under a head coach who has just came in from coaching college basketball. They’re relying on Jimmy Butler getting even better (and he should), and the same for Derrick Rose, hoping this time he’s healthy for the entire season, and along with Butler be part of the best backcourt in the league. Most of all, they’re counting on Fred Hoiberg figuring things out on offense; the kind of things that Tom Thibodeau seemed to struggle with for quite a few years.
But are they a match for the Cleveland Cavaliers? Irving wasn’t 100% and Kevin Love wasn’t even playing when the Cavaliers beat the Bulls in six games in the conference semifinals, which should have been the de facto conference finals. The Cavaliers haven’t added anyone except for Mo Williams, but they were loaded last season. Tristan Thompson will re-sign, and J.R. Smith probably will too. Anderson Varejao is back from injury. The Cavaliers should be as strong, and maybe even the best in the league, if no one gets injured when it matters the most.
But the Bulls are probably the best team suited to give the Cavaliers problems. But there are a lot of ifs in that possibility. It will be the collision we’ll be waiting for all season. This time, hopefully, both teams are good enough during the regular season in order to make it the conference finals in the playoffs and there, maybe it’ll be a bit more even than in the 2015 postseason. | {
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(CNN) - The Supreme Court will undertake a major examination of privacy in the digital age, after accepting review Friday of a pair of appeals over whether police must obtain a warrant to search data on the cellphone of a person under arrest.
Criminal suspects in Massachusetts and California were convicted, in part, after phone numbers, text
soundoff(8 Responses)
Rudy NYC
I hate to say it, although I wouldn't want the police rummaging around through my phone or tablet, the fact remains if you get arrested then they look through your wallet should you have one in your possession. How is a digital device any different? It could be stolen for all they know. Besides, if you don't want them going through your device, then don't get yourself arrested in the first place. Problem solved.
January 17, 2014 03:44 pm at 3:44 pm |
Malory Archer
smith
@Malory-The other protests on that day did not involve RPG`s and AK-47`s, to make a comparison is not logical.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Right, because all protesters protesting a certain subject behave exactly the same way all over the world. Honestly, I'm embarrassed for you.
January 17, 2014 03:55 pm at 3:55 pm |
Tony
Rudy NYC
I hate to say it, although I wouldn't want the police rummaging around through my phone or tablet, the fact remains if you get arrested then they look through your wallet should you have one in your possession. How is a digital device any different? It could be stolen for all they know. Besides, if you don't want them going through your device, then don't get yourself arrested in the first place. Problem solved.
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Not that cops would ever make up stuff just to stop people and search everything in their possession. I live near a town that you simply cannot drive through late in the evening without getting stopped because of the mythical plate light being out. Cops need to be given hard boundaries because right now there are NONE. They can concoct anything and soon you find yourself bent over undergoing a cavity search.
January 17, 2014 04:10 pm at 4:10 pm |
Rudy NYC
Tony wrote:
"Not that cops would ever make up stuff just to stop people and search everything in their possession. I live near a town that you simply cannot drive through late in the evening without getting stopped because of the mythical plate light being out. Cops need to be given hard boundaries because right now there are NONE. They can concoct anything and soon you find yourself bent over undergoing a cavity search."
---------------------------
Rogue cops and 'stop and frisk' aside for the moment, the police have no right to search you or your vehicle without suspicion of a crime or your consent. A dead taillight is not a crime. I taught my sons to not be intimidated by the police. Many police have been trained in ways to trick you into giving them consent to search your vehicle or person. They don't ask you. They simply tell you what that want to do.
"I want to search your vehicle."
What do you say to the officer? Most people would say yes, or otherwise give consent. I'd ask him why. "May I ask why?"
January 17, 2014 04:25 pm at 4:25 pm |
just asking
Malory Archer
just asking
i give him one term if this is his first offering out of the starting gate. if he stays in there, nyc will go the way of detroit.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yeah, except Detroit was totally dependent on the auto industry for its survival. NYC has a great many industries which would enable it to weather the storm in the event an entire industry packs up and leaves town.
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the decline in the auto industry didn't kill detroit. decades of democrat control killed detroit. giving unions everything they wanted without regards to how it would get paid. rampant corruption. spending wildly even when they know they couldn't afford it.
democrats did the same thing to nyc a few decades agao until republican mayors got the city back in good shape. that decline can start all over again with this leftist clown in the mayors office.
January 17, 2014 04:27 pm at 4:27 pm |
anonymous
Malory Archer
smith
@Malory-The other protests on that day did not involve RPG`s and AK-47`s, to make a comparison is not logical.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Right, because all protesters protesting a certain subject behave exactly the same way all over the world. Honestly, I'm embarrassed for you.
-–
you are embarrased for him with a totally dumb answer like this from you? too funny!
January 17, 2014 04:28 pm at 4:28 pm |
Tommy G
There is no such thing as privacy anymore. The government has the means of seeing you and listening to you any place on this planet. But don't worry... The government is your friend and here to help you. Really. Just bend over and cooperate and everything will be fine.
January 17, 2014 05:03 pm at 5:03 pm |
GonzoinHouston
Just as a theoretical counterpoint, if a cop was allowed to check someone's cellphone after a traffic accident, they could quickly tell if the driver was texting or talking while driving. | {
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Inside Mark Salling’s ‘isolated’ final days
MARK Salling's friends have opened up about the disgraced star's troubled final days, revealing that he was living a secluded life.
The former Glee actor, 35, was found dead on Tuesday after an apparent suicide, just weeks before he was due for sentencing for possession of child pornography. In December, he pleaded guilty after having more than 25,000 explicit photos and videos of children discovered on his laptop and hard drives and was facing up to seven years in jail.
Salling's death has proven divisive, with many - understandably - believing he shouldn't be remembered fondly, and criticising his former Glee colleagues for their tributes to him.
In the years before his death, the disgraced star had been living a reclusive life, the spotlight having shifted away from him after the series wrapped in 2015.
"He was close with his family, but as far as friends go - he maybe had those acquaintances he communicated with every once in a while, but he pretty much isolated himself," said one source
"He didn't really have a relationship with too many people."
One source went on to describe what he was like before his downfall.
"The Mark I knew was charismatic, he was funny, he was musically talented - he was a really cool person," the friend said.
"This other dark side of him was completely shocking to everyone close to him ... Close people who didn't talk to him are still sad about it.
"They loved him because of the person he was before all of this happened. There's a level of sadness with everyone, but the sadness is from afar."
Meanwhile, another friend admitted that Salling had been tortured by his waning career, even before his arrest.
"His career was off the boil, though; he was kind of the quarterback that peaked in high school, still dining out on Glee. Eventually, though, he started to focus on his music, which seemed like a good thing. That's where he should have been focused to start with," the source told People.
"But then the child porn thing came out, and people were so shocked. … It quickly started to become clear it was real, and then the few people still around him iced him out."
According to the Daily Mail, sources claim Salling felt he had "nothing to come back to" after prison.
His worried family called 911 on Tuesday at 3am, after realising he was missing. In the frantic call, they told the operator that he was "depressed and suicidal" and hadn't been seen since the night before. His body was discovered hours later at the Los Angeles River in Sunland, near where he lived.
If you are experiencing mental health issues or suicidal feelings contact Lifeline in 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue 1300 224 636. If it is an emergency please call 000. | {
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Refuse to be labeled
July 2, 1986
THE little girl had been playing ball with a doting uncle. Finishing the game, she ran to her mother and announced happily that her uncle had said she was definitely going to be ``the athletic type.'' The mother had been finding release from parental anxieties about her young children by daily affirming in prayer that God is the one Father-Mother. As she pondered the uncle's statement, she recalled the Bible teaching that God has created man in His likeness. God, as the one creator, saw all as the manifestation of Himself and saw all to be good.1 How could God's good or His man be restricted by a particular human categorization--either flattering or disparaging? Man reflects God, not partially but in God's fullness and perfection.
A few years later the daughter complained about her inability to do well in her algebra class, though she had fine marks in all her other classes. She said, ``I was told I would have a hard time in algebra because I get good marks in English, and when you are good in English, you aren't good in math.'' Her mother reminded her that she always had with her the qualities of God for the meeting of every demand; that she included those qualities as God's likeness. Grasping the practical meaning of this spiritual truth, the daughter found that she was able to do the work.
One day when she was completing her junior year in high school, she had a scheduled appointment with a guidance director who was to help her in her choice of a college and future courses. When she returned home, recalling the former experiences, she laughingly reported: ``He said he couldn't type me. I can do whatever I want to do--the choice is mine.''
Then, toward the end of her freshman year in college, she called home and said, ``I've just come from a conference about my choice of a major and--guess what? --I was told I couldn't be typed so I should just make any decision I felt led to make.'' She later completed graduate studies in a subject that she felt had the broadest spectrum and gave her the greatest opportunities in a college teaching career.
Paul said that there is ``one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.'' He explained that God has given grace to all and that we demonstrate it in individual ways, ``till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.''2 The perfect man, the likeness of God, is our real being.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ``Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.''3
We will not be judged so much as a particular type of mortal, or be limited by mortal judgments, if we will first honor God as the origin of the good that is truly our heritage as His offspring. Then we will be protected, to an increasing degree, from the impositions attached to gender, age, ethnic background. If we're faithful in claiming and expressing the good that is God, we won't be limited by people or places, by an imbalance between supply and demand. We won't be quickly labeled--stamped for a dead-end destination, harshly branded for life.
The one supreme and infinite Being is God. He is Spirit, and that which exists to express Him must be spiritual and unlimited. This understanding doesn't wipe out our individuality but heightens it, showing us the true source and nature of individuality as an expression of the infinite God.
We are inseparable from the source of all good. God is the infinite, perfect Principle, or cause; and man individually, as His likeness, reflects the unbounded nature of that perfect divine cause. | {
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Fashion
Vintage Vs Retro
Is your wedding dress packed away or in the back of a closet? Your wedding dress can be made into a beautiful one-of-a-kind quilt that you can display in your home and enjoy! Your dress will be carefully de-constructed, and the fabric will be used to create a lovely quilt (or pillow). I will work with you to custom design your quilt, which can include a copy of the invitation, picture(s). bridesmaids’ dress fabric, the options are endless! If you are looking for a wedding dress boutique that specializes in making affordable high quality wedding dresses then be sure to check out the Modest Wedding Dress collection at Ieie’s Bridal Dress Boutique. Takhjami is a celebration after the wedding where the guests give gifts, greet and bless the couple for starting their new life. It is held after a week passed of the wedding and is thought to be the time when the girl becomes an actual family member and no more a guest. The traditional wedding is an occasion to alleviate the drudgery of normal life and are greatly anticipated by friends and well wishers. We ended up putting it on Craigslist and sold this beautiful $1100 dress for $450. The lucky girl who purchased it, saved $650. With an amazing selection of wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses and more, Pearl Bridal is your one-stop bridal shop on the Gold Coast We specialise in every little thing required to make your special day unforgettable. Our highly personalised, attentive service will be on hand as you try on as many of our gorgeous bridal dresses as you desire – until you find the one”. The best wedding dress transformation I have seen is from Pam of Threading My Way She upcycled her daughter’s wedding dress into this lovely number complete with matching clutch. Sexy wedding dresses dependably get the consideration of ladies. When it is your special wedding, you must choose the most delightful wedding outfit that makes you appealing and sure. As the bride to-be, you have to pick the style suitable for the function. A floor length wedding wear in cream, white, champagne or ivory can be suitable for a formal night wedding service. A semi-formal dress in pastel with a short cover is additionally a decent recommendation for the wedding night. A short or long wedding outfit or a two-piece suit may be a decent decision for a less formal wedding or a second marriage.
Ashamed to say, I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, but I bet I’d like the costumes of that time period. Thanks so much for stopping by! Plain white came into greater prominence in ordinary dress around this time, and was particularly fashionable in cotton muslin. To elevate the muslin into being appropriate for a bride on her special day, white or off-white silks would often be added to the ensemble in some way. Eunice Hooper’s 1799 wedding gown was made of off-white satin, worn with a silver-spangled mull muslin petticoat. No wedding is ever perfect, but every wedding has a little bit of perfection in it. Sometimes every single one of these no-nos occurs. Sometimes the bride’s friend from high school is going around from table to table crying to anyone who’ll listen because his wife just dumped him. In the end, people usually end up having a good time, and it’s that little bit of perfection that they remember. Most women with this type of figure want to draw the eyes upward away from their lower body. In order to do this, you will want to create a balance between your body and the dress you choose with a ball gown or A-line silhouette. A skirt that gradually flares out from the natural waist to the floor, highlights the most narrow part of the midsection and floats away from the hips and thighs. Adorable 1960’s New-Old raspberry wool and Persian lamb coat by Modelia. Size small, from the Bette Collection! Thank you so much for all of your help in selecting my bridal gown. After a dozen of bridal boutiques and after trying on over 100 dresses, I was able to find ‘it’ with your assistance! Thanks for listening – REALLY listening!
After the date is set, the bride and groom choose an invitation card that appeals to both families. Details included on the card include the date of the wedding, the venue or venues, the name of bride and groom, RSVP information, and, most importantly, the color code for the day. The bride’s family may choose a different color code from the groom’s family and friends so that on the marriage day each family is represented by a color. Independent with a strong country background these folks have been known to go out hunting for their supper fare. Use the buttons below (in the thumbs up/down section) to leave feedback on what you thought about this article. Thanks for reading! For the reception the new princess hitched up the full flowing skirt with a wrist clip so that she could waltz into the night with her new husband. The images of them dancing show the flow of the skirt of this wedding gown. Perfect for layering, stylish cardigans can be worn over a top, blouse, or dress and can give a boost to your entire look. And if you want a wedding dress that looks aged( kind of antique) you can always buy a white dress and have it professionally dyed to make it look like a timeless piece, an heirloom. Believe it or not, a gold pocket watch isn’t just for old timey train conductors and Christopher Walken’s derriere (crazy, I know). Normal, everyday people actually wear them too! Well, in the 1920s they did at least. Today, with the invention of cellphones and the addition of digital clocks onto all of our daily used devices, the majority of us rarely even have a need to wear a watch (let alone carry around a small timepiece on a chain). But there was a time, way back when, when these little clocks were all we had — and they looked way cool. None more cool than the classic pocket watch, which we see being worn by most male characters in Boardwalk Empire.
Buffet. Allow a 10′ x 10′ area for each 8′ buffet table (this also allows room for the buffet line to form). Usually your caterer will be the one to tell you how many buffet tables you need. If my make-believe party needs four buffet tables, that’s 400 extra square feet. It is not about low esteem, it is about feeling good and looking at your best during the event. So, if you are not proud about some fats, (let’s call it baby fats) in any part, there is a way to hide that. White plastic fanback chairs. These are available at a lot of rental companies and are a little fancier-looking than the white plastic folding chairs. The last really huge British Royal Wedding was that of Prince William’s parents, Princess Diana and Charles, Prince of Royal Wedding took place on 29 July 1981, at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Princess Diana’s wedding dress was designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel.Diana’s royal wedding dress was a huge, wide silk wedding dress with an enormous train that filled the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Diana was just 19 when she got married, and Diana’s wedding dress was a young girl’s fantasy, typically 1980s in style. wow beautiful dresses.. i feel like getting married to put on these kind of dresses. So, now, what’s the apparent reasoning behind the choice of white? Well, this is rather boring, but – it’s the association with purity that’s usually given as a post-Victoria rationale. Lined frame tent with chandeliers and fabric swabs. Much more economical than a custom-colored liner, and looks awesome.
This was a fantastic hub. Your pictures were so nice, and the attire that you wore was gorgeous. My favorite picture was where your husband was glancing over at you. Priceless! May you have many wonderful years of happiness together. Congrats on Hub of the Day! Moonlight Bridal has a great overall website when it comes to the bridesmaid dress search. Of course lilies or any other type of flower can also be pinned to the dress using tiny sewing pins! Just keep in mind if your wedding dress is satin, there will be teeny tiny holes. One thing you should check for though, is that if the flowers are real, you will need to check and make sure they are completely dry when added, and won’t stain your dress. I dress’d myself in a rich white satin night-gown, that had been my good lady’s, and my best head clothes, &c. Make beautiful wine glasses for your bridal table using rose petals and pearls. Find the tutorial for this project at Amazing INTERIOR DESIGN So very easy, and so very, very elegant. I share this hub of yours with all my friends and relatives in South Africa. Just like me they will find this awesome and enlightening. Personalizing could mean adding a flower to it, a colorful petticoat underneath it, or your wedding date embroidered in blue in the hem. If your dress is just perfect the way that it is, maybe a simple wrap would be enough. If you’ve found the dress but changing just one or two things you can do yourself would REALLY make it perfect, this is the chapter for you! Color matters when we talk about parties or those who are attending a wedding ceremony. For brides, white still stands to be the rule. Some brides, which I say are a bit radical, opted to use the opposite – black. Other brides choose to accent their bridal gown to manifest their chosen motif. | {
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What Do You Know About Resources
Organize Your Transport Business with the Help of the Automatic Bus Wash Company
Starting a transport business can be a slight bit befuddled. You may be required to get lots of licensing and regulations, but once you have completed every complex process of it, you will see how rewarding is to have a transport business since it is a well-known industry wherein you can obtain greater returns. But as transport business owner, you should understand that the automatic bus wash is one of the most important services that you need to avail every now and then since the automatic bus wash is your key to maintain the quality service of your transport business.
The benefits of hiring the best automatic bus wash company can provide lots of help to your transport business. Notwithstanding whether it is a travel transport, school transport, paratransit transport, or tour transports, you can verify that the automatic bus wash can give the best cleaning solution for your business. The automatic bus wash is very different from the cleaning frameworks that you used to know. The automatic bus wash organization utilizes a touchless centri-spinner framework which will help in securing your crossover mirrors, rear light covers, and safety side signs. In other words, in case you will consider the automatic bus wash, you can be 100% sure that none of these basic parts of your vehicles will be hurt. Moreover, the automatic bus wash can lessen the board and body disintegration since the cleaning system used as a piece of an automatic bus wash are inside and out best in class and equipped with inventive cleaning features. So if you have a transport company, make sure to hire the best automatic bus wash company and ensure that the design information of their automatic bus wash is all up to date.
That being stated, there are more things to consider when you have a transport business. So other than acquiring the best automatic bus wash company, you should similarly consider the competition in your industry. Since the vehicle business is the hottest industry now, you ought to apply more exertion with regards to the promoting of your business. You have to consider courses on the best way to get the consideration of many individuals and how you can get the best spot for your brand awareness and for you to get the chance of working with more potential customers.
Having a vehicle business won’t automatically give you a profit. Not just because everyone is in need of your service, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to make any marketing strategies for your business. Because every business needs a good marketing strategy for them to run a more successful business growth. In this way, if you should be productive with your vehicle business you need to enroll the best automatic bus wash association to guarantee that security standards and quality organizations are being met, work out your marketing procedure to get an edge over your adversaries, and guarantee that your approach to managing to get more clients and openings are 100% capable for you to get more chances of winning a course of action and returns for your business. | {
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Air Quality Bureau
Open Burning
The open burning regulation applies to almost all types of outdoor burning, including trash burning and small-scale weed, yard waste, agricultural, and prescribed burning. The regulation applies statewide, except in Bernalillo County and on Tribal and Pueblo Lands (where NMED does not have authority over air quality).
For complaints about specific open burning incidents, please contact your local Environment Department Field Office or the Air Quality Bureau in Santa Fe (505-476-4300 or 1-800-224-7009).
WHY ARE TRASH AND VEGETATION BURNING REGULATED?
The primary purpose of the Open Burning Regulation is to reduce air pollution and protect human health. An additional reason for limiting open burning is to protect New Mexico's scenic vistas.
Backyard trash burning is far more harmful to our health than previously thought. The pollutants produced by backyard trash burning can increase the risk of heart disease, aggravate respiratory ailments such as asthma and emphysema, and cause rashes, nausea, or headaches. Backyard trash burning also produce harmful quantities of dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemicals that settle on crops and in our waterways where they eventually wind up in our food and affect our health. Backyard trash burning is the biggest source of dioxin emissions in New Mexico.
The open burning of slash, weeds, and yard waste produces particulate matter and hydrocarbons, which contain a number of toxic, irritant, and carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds. The smoke also contains carbon monoxide. The air pollutants produced by burning vegetative material can irritate the lungs, cause breathing problems, trigger asthma attacks, increase the chances of respiratory infection, heart attacks and strokes, and cause cancer. Prescribed fire is needed for health of New Mexico's forest and grassland ecosystems, so it is not reasonable to prohibit such burning entirely. Restrictions in this regulation are intended to minimize the impacts of smoke on people, and to prevent burning in residential areas.
Under state law (Section 74-2-14 NMSA), violation of the Open Burning regulation is a petty misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. Anyone may file a complaint in Magistrate Court for violations of this regulation. The New Mexico Environment Department also has authority under state law to assess civil penalties for violations.
During the transition to the new regulation, the Environment Department will emphasize information, education, and warnings for first-time violations. | {
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I Agree With Scott
I like to read Scott Bourne’s blog each day, and not everything he writes about is of interest to me, but every once in a while he touches on something that I totally agree with his opinion. This is something that I have been talking about forever, that images are not about what camera you use., it’s about the image. The subject matter, the composition, the lighting, is what is important, and the viewer (unless the viewers a photographer) really doesn’t care which camera, or lens, or processing tools you used. Check out Scott’s blog post. Here
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That particular post is just what Scott says it is from the very beginning, a rant. I’m not particularly fond of rants in general because in the end they really are nothing more than one person’s opinion. That isn’t to say that I don’t have opinions and can’t agree with the opinion of another person but ultimately, no matter how many people respond, even favorably, the argument isn’t validated by numbers. It’s still just opinion/s.
People seem to forget that the ‘greats’ that people often study, even today, in fact emulate sometimes when they are learning, didn’t create their photos with the technology we have in this age [digital cameras and a vast array of specialty lenses]. The people like Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier-Bresson and so on.. were able to capture photographs that are just as breathtaking today as when they were first seen and they did this using rather crude equipment in comparison to what one can buy even at a Walmart right now. And processing via software? Where do you think the terms burning and dodging and masking came from– that’s right, film.
There is far, far too much emphasis on who has what gear and too much push from manufacturers and sponsors of those manufacturers telling people what they must have and what makes a good photo. It really is crippling. People can feel discouraged because they don’t have a full frame camera instead of their crop sensor dslr or even ‘worse’ a point and shoot. Who says you can’t get nice photos with a point and shoot camera? In film?– a leica rangefinder rather than a leic-a-like [because all rangefinders if they aren’t leica are leicalikes aren’t they, nonsense], Lenses? How about Canon L glass instead of EF-S lenses– or hey a lensbaby. Forget all that, just get out and shoot, and have fun!
At the end of the day its the results you get.. not how you got them. If someone views a photo they are either going to be moved by it or walk away. They don’t care how long your setup took, how cold or how wet it was, they don’t care if you used film or digital or how much money your gear cost you. Good photographs are the result of a lot of practice, of understanding the gear you are using be it film or digital, being in the right place at the right time and on rare occasion even dumb luck.
So, while I can agree with Scott that older cameras or film cameras don’t necessarily make you a better photographer, they don’t stop you from being one either. I’m sure he is responding to the hipster movement extolling film and old film cameras, the lomographers that like light leaks and the purists that say [for them] it must be film. Well good for them! Sometimes it’s nice to play a record on a turntable too. I have both digital and film and I like both methods of capturing images. it really is okay to enjoy both. And some people [“But hey – it’s your choice. If you want to go live in the woods with nothing but stone and fire – go for it.” – Scott] like to go camping.
There just is no one way– except for the way that works for each individual. | {
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VIENNA -- International negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program wrapped up Thursday with few details released about the talks, but with signs of an ongoing thaw between Tehran and world powers.
Tehran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton shared jokes and looked relaxed during a briefing with reporters in Vienna. Both sides announced an agenda for the next round of meetings had been agreed.
“We have had three very productive days during which we have identified all of the issues we need to address,” according to a statement in English and in Persian. “It won't be easy but we have made a good start.”
Ashton, who is coordinating the talks on behalf of the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia, also looked set to visit Tehran in mid-March, ahead of the next round scheduled to start on March 17.
In another sign of warming relations between both sides, members of the Iranian press were invited to State Department background briefings for the first time.
Despite the apparent thaw, both sides are still far apart when it comes to the details of how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. A key point of dispute revolves around how many centrifuges Iran can keep can or what to do with its Fordo and Arak facilities.
"I am not optimistic about the negotiations and they will lead nowhere but I am not against them"
Western powers want to be sure that they could halt Iran's nuclear capability before nuclear bombs are developed. Tehran, which is intent on the complete removal of bruising economic sanctions, strenuously denies that it wants to develop nuclear weapons.
While the diplomats leading the negotiations might appear to be working together well, hardliners on both sides cast doubt on whether talks will be successful.
"I repeat it again that I am not optimistic about the negotiations and they will lead nowhere but I am not against them," he added. "The work that has been started by the foreign ministry will continue and Iran will not violate its commitment, but I repeat it again, it will lead to nowhere."
In the United States, meanwhile, the White House has been battling efforts in Congress to slap new sanctions on Iran, saying such measures would only increase the chance of war.
The administration is facing pressure from the likes of Virginia Republican and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who criticized an interim agreement easing sanction on Iran and called the regime a “brutal theocracy.”
“Human nature has not changed since World War II. Evil and hateful ideologies still exist in the world,” he said during a speech at Virginia Military Institute on Monday. "Already, the limited sanctions relief provided by the interim deal has undermined the perception of international pressure so critical to convincing the Iranians to change course." | {
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Supezas
Supezas reached out to me recently to let me know about their new Kickstarter campaign, and I’m genuinely excited about the products they’ll be offering. They’re launching a custom dress line made in India with eco-friendly silks. For a limited time and $100, you can get a silk dress made to order. That doesn’t happen every day.
The dresses are super cute and are as unique as you. I’m personally loving the bright blue and chevron print fabrics, and LOVE the lace keyhole back you can see on the blue dress above! I think these would be a fantastic and inexpensive bridesmaid dress option–let your ladies know what color/print they can get, and let them design the dress to fit their own body and style. Bonus: You’ll know you’re helping support the art of hand-weaving in India, and are supporting eco-friendly silk that’s collected without harming any silk moths.
Want a dress? Hurry! The $100 and $125 early bird pricing is going quickly, and the dresses will end up retailing for $175. And if you do get one, send me a pic once they arrive–I’d love to see the dress you designed! | {
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The CBC has been running a contest around Canada’s seven wonders. First people got to submit their favourite entries. From the 18,000 (!) entries, they created a shortlist of 52 favourites. The public then got a change to vote for their favourite seven wonders from this list. A panel will now choose the top seven, based on the votes and other (unspecified) criteria. The CBC is featuring the wonders on a regular basis on the National, so is getting a lot of traction from them.
Also near the top: Museum of Civilisation, 15,015, Prairie skies, 14,836, Trans-Canada highway, 14,753, Haida Gwaii 14,501, Iceroads, 14,650, The igloo 11,082.
This list shows that the Canadian icons (Niagara, Bay of Fundy, CN tower, and the Rockies) are still favourites, but it is refreshing to see that a lesser-known park like Nahanni (Virginia falls is twice the height of Niagara!) made the list too. It’s great to see true Canadian icons like the northern lights, the canoe, igloos and the Stanley cup near the top too. It’s too bad Snow didn’t make it to the top 52 (it was one of the original entries). It, (with the canoe, the snowshoe, and the beaver) is certainly played a huge part in shaping Canada, and is one of our primary differentiating factors in tourism.
The final top seven will be announced June 7. If the sleeping giant makes it into the top, it could be a huge boon for tourism around Thunder Bay. I do hope Quebec city makes it too the list, as it is an amazing city, unequalled in north America. And let’s hope the canoe creeps up as well. | {
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[Note:
Recently, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that the new book
by a Navy seal about Osama bin Laden's death contained information that
could jeopardize future military operations. What Panetta did not explain
was if the book's information is valid, then why did the Obama administration
tell a different story about his death? Both accounts cannot be true
because they are contradictory. And why hasn't the press/media raised
this issue of whether the government originally presented a false account
of the operation?]
The
film series "National Treasure" begins with a young Ben Gates'
grandfather telling him about a secret treasure found by the Knights
Templar about 1000 years ago. He said it was brought to America by freemasons
who "left us clues (on the back of the dollar bill) like these,
the unfinished pyramid, the all-seeing eye, symbols of the Knights Templar,
guardians of the treasure. They're speaking to us through these"
regarding the location of the treasure here.
In
the 11th century A.D., Hasan-i Sabbah became the founder and first grand
master of the Assassins. According the a famous Ismaili story, he had
gone to school with Omar Khayyam, who wrote:
"Dear
Love, Couldst thou and I with fate conspire
To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire.
Would we not shatter it to bits, and then
Remould it nearer to the heart's desire!"
The
last line of this later became the motto of the Fabian Socialists, as
in their famous stained-glass window two of their leaders are seen about
to shatter the world to bits upon an anvil.
In
1118, the Burgundian knight Hugues de Payens founded and became first
grand master of the Order of the Temple (of Solomon), also referred
to as the Knights Templar. They were modeled after the Assassins' attire
in that the knights wore red crosses on a white background similar in
color to Assassins' rafiqs, and they wore red caps and belts and white
tunics.
Prior
to the Templars, the Order of Sion had been founded in 1090 just south
of Jerusalem by Godfroi de Bouillon, and in R. Rohricht's REGESTA REGNI
HIEROSOLYMITANI (1893), there is a charter dated May 2, 1125 with the
name of Prior Arnaldus at Sion linked to Hugues de Payens. After a later
Templar grand master, Gerard de Ridefort, lost Jerusalem to the Saracens
in 1187, the Order of Sion separated from the Templars.
This
was the time of the Crusades, during which Richard the Lion-Hearted
fled from the Holy Land disguised as a Templar. The Templars by the
early 1300s had amassed great wealth, and English king after king was
in constant debt to them. King Philip IV of France plotted to take their
wealth by accusing them of plotting against the thrones of Europe as
well as against the church, and he had their grand master, Jacques de
Molay, and three others burned at the stake in Paris on March 18, 1313.
De Molay denied he had been guilty of spitting on the cross and of denying
Christ, but the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY says that
the Templars had introduced Gnosticism into their rites, and had "institutionalized
homosexuality in their Order."
We
are generally told that with the execution of De Molay, the Templars
organizationally ceased to exist as an entity. However, in the 1874
edition of C. G. Addison's KNIGHTS TEMPLARS (originally published in
1842), on page 541 there is a list of the grand masters of the Templars
from De Molay (1313) to Sir William Sidney Smith (1838). The list comes
from Albert Mackey's LEXICON OF FREEMASONY published in 1855.
There
is some controversy over whether the list is legitimate, but it seems
clear that De Molay, anticipating his own death, appointed John Mark
Larmenius his successor as grand master. In Addison's book, it states:
"The Charter by which the supreme authority has been transmitted
(from De Molay to Larmenius) is judicial and conclusive evidence of
the Order's continued existence. This Charter of transmission, with
the signatures of the various Chiefs of the Temple, is preserved at
Paris, with the ancient statutes of the Order, the rituals, the records,
the seals, the standards, and other memorials of the early Templars....The
Grand Master Bernard Raymond, in 1838, was succeeded in the regency
of the Order by Admiral William Sidney Smith, who held sway till his
death in 1840; and that at that date it numbered amongst the British
subjects enrolled as its office-bearers the names of the Duke of Sussex,
Grand Prior of England; the Duke of Leinster, Grand Prior Of Ireland;
the Earl of Durham, Grand Prior of Scotland; the Chevalier Burnes (Grand
Master of Scottish Freemasons in India), Grand Preceptor of Southern
Asia; the Chevalier Tennyson D'Eyncourt, Grand Prior Of Italy; General
George Wright, Grand Prior of India, etc. etc...."
We
know that all of the Knights Templar were not captured or killed by
King Philip IV in Fance at the time their leader, Jacques de Molay,
was burned at the stake, because some of their graves have been found
in Kilmartin, Scotland dating back to the early 14th century. Masonic
leader Albert Pike has indicated that before De Molay died, he instituted
what came to be known as the occult Hermetic or Scottish Masonry, the
lodges of which were later established in Naples, Edinburgh, Stockholm
and Paris. In this latter city, the lodge was the Grand Orient, perhaps
one of the most occultic.
Sir
William Sidney Smith was a former admiral of the British navy who had
supposedly been given a Templar cross (left by Richard the L:ion-Hearted)
by a Greek archbishop. Associated with Smith at this time was Chevalier
(Charles) Tennyson D'Eyncourt mentioned above. He was the uncle of Alfred
Lord Tennyson, who wrote in "Locksley Hall" (1842) about "the
Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." The latter Tennyson
was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research, about which
I have written previously. What is notable about the former Tennyson
being Grand Prior of Italy, General Wright being Grand Prior of India,
etc., etc. is that the work of these new Templars of the 19th century
was global!
What
may have happened was that from the beiginning of the 14th century to
the middle of the 16th century, the Templars perhaps merged with the
Hospitallers, as there are references to the "Order of the Knights
of St. John and the Temple." In J. Maidment's TEMPLARIA (1828-1830),
there is a charter granted by King James IV of Scotland dated 1488 which
refers to "Fratribus Hospitalis Hierosolymitani, Militibus Templi
Solomonis" and seems to indicate recognition of the continued existence
of the Templars in some form.
On
the cover of the 1987 edition of KNIGHT TEMPLAR is a picture of "Jonathan
Swift, Satirist." Swift was probably the illegitimate son of Sir
William Temple, whom I mentioned in my recent series on "The Power
Elite's Historical Outline." Therefore, Swift was descended from
the Templars because Sir William Temple's family was descended from
a Knight Templar in Leicester, England in the 1100s. And one of Swift's
friends was Alexander Pope, who wrote:
"Vice
is a monster of so frightful mien
As to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
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Relevant
to this Pope epigram is the following from the 1874 edition of Addison's
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. It is from an account of the fall of Jerusalem
to the Muslim leader Saladin during the Crusades in which the Templars
were involved in October 1187, and reads as follows: "Barefoot
processions of women, monks, and priests were continually made to the
Holy Sepulcher to implore the Son of God to save his tomb and his inheritance
from impious violation. The females, as a mark of humility and distress,
cut off their hair and cast it to the winds. The ladies of Jerusalem
made their daughters do penance by standing up to their necks in tubs
of cold water placed upon Calvary. But it availed nought, for our Lord
Jesus Christ, says the chronicler, would not listen to any prayer that
they made. For the filth, the luxury, and the adultery which prevailed
in the city did not suffer prayer or supplication to ascend before God."
Could this be what awaits America and its people and for the same reasons?
Dennis Laurence Cuddy, historian
and political analyst, received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill (major in American History, minor in political science).
Dr. Cuddy has taught at the university level, has been a political and
economic risk analyst for an international consulting firm, and has been
a Senior Associate with the U.S. Department of Education.
Cuddy has also testified before members of Congress
on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Cuddy has authored or
edited twenty books and booklets, and has written hundreds of articles
appearing in newspapers around the nation, including The Washington Post,
Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He has been a guest on numerous radio
talk shows in various parts of the country, such as ABC Radio in New York
City, and he has also been a guest on the national television programs
USA Today and CBS's Nightwatch. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Rosetta is currently chasing down Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it will become the first space mission to rendezvous with a comet, the first to attempt a landing on a comet’s surface and the first to follow a comet as it swings around the Sun.
But for 31 months it has been radio silent. It is powered by solar energy and was placed into deep space slumber in June of 2011 as it cruised out to a distance of nearly 500 million miles from Sol, beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Now it is only about 400 million miles from the Sun and has enough solar energy to power back up.
To everyone's relief, it did.
Since its launch in 2004, Rosetta has made three flybys of Earth and one of Mars to help it on course to its rendezvous with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, encountering asteroids Steins and Lutetia along the way.
It's still 5.5 million miles from its target but Rosetta’s pre-programmed internal ‘alarm clock’ woke up the spacecraft. After warming up its key navigation instruments, coming out of a stabilizing spin, and aiming its main radio antenna at Earth, Rosetta sent a signal to let mission operators know it had survived the most distant part of its journey.
Credit: ESA
The signal was received by NASA’s Goldstone ground station in California at 18:18 GMT/ 19:18 CET, during the first window of opportunity the spacecraft had to communicate with Earth. It was immediately confirmed in ESA’s space operations centre in Darmstadt and the successful wake-up announced via the @ESA_Rosetta twitter account, which tweeted: “Hello, World!”
“We have our comet-chaser back,” says Alvaro Giménez, ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration. “With Rosetta, we will take comet exploration to a new level. This incredible mission continues our history of ‘firsts’ at comets, building on the technological and scientific achievements of our first deep space mission Giotto, which returned the first close-up images of a comet nucleus as it flew past Halley in 1986.”
Happiness. Credit: ESA/Jürgen Mai
Comets are considered the primitive building blocks of the Solar System and likely helped to ‘seed’ Earth with water, perhaps even the ingredients for life. But many fundamental questions about these enigmatic objects remain, and through its comprehensive, in situ study of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta aims to unlock the secrets contained within.
“All other comet missions have been flybys, capturing fleeting moments in the life of these icy treasure chests,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist. “With Rosetta, we will track the evolution of a comet on a daily basis and for over a year, giving us a unique insight into a comet’s behavior and ultimately helping us to decipher their role in the formation of the Solar System.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
IPhone 5 draws praise, iPod gets camera
SAN FRANCISCO -- Analysts generally praised the new iPhone 5, noting that with its upgraded iPod Touch Apple is attacking both the consumer point-and-shoot camera market as well as handheld games.
Apple rolled out its much anticipated iPhone 5 here Wednesday (Sept. 12.). As expected the device features an upgraded custom applications processor (the A6), support for LTE, a smaller docking connector and a range of media and software enhancements.
The company provided few details about the chips inside the handset which was expected to include a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and a Qualcomm MDM9600 baseband processor. It did say the new A6 is 22 percent smaller than the prior A5X chip, delivering performance boosts of 70 to 100 percent.
The most visible difference with the iPhone 5 is a new four-inch, 1,136 x 640 pixel resolution display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Legacy apps are surrounded in black borders to simulate the size of the former display. The touch screen sensor is now built into the LCD, an emerging industry trend.
The iPhone 5 supports a higher fidelity audio quality Apple calls
“wideband audio,” which it says 20 carriers will support. The handset
also sports improved speaker with five magnets, up from two.
Apple did not opt to use near-field communications in the iPhone 5, a design decision at least one analyst had expected. It also did not provide technical details on the A6, such as whether it uses four A9 cores, or specs on the Lightning interconnect.
The iPhone 5 uses a new 8-pin adapter called Lightning, echoing the Thunderbolt interface used in the Macintosh. It is 80 percent smaller than the 30-pin connector Apple has used since the iPod debuted in 2003.
Apple provides Lightning adapters to dock to older peripherals. Bose, JBL, Bowers and Wilkins and others said they support Lightning.
The company also rolled out a new iPod Nano and Touch MP3 players that uses the Lightning connector. The Nano uses a 2.5-inch display and supports Bluetooth. The Touch has the same four-inch screen as the iPhone 5.
The Touch also uses the Apple A5 apps processor to drive new features such as a camera with 1,080-pixel video resolution. It supports Bluetooth Low Energy and 802.11n Wi-Fi and measures 6.1 mm thick and at 88 grams, Apple's thinnest and lightest iPod Touch to date.
"With the camera in the new iPod Touch, they clearly are going after point-and-shoot cameras--and it now becomes the best hand held gaming device available as well," said Tim Bajarin, president of market watcher Creative Strategies, Inc. (Campbell, Calif.).
The iPhone 5 uses iOS 6, integrating many new features that Apple disclosed at its separate developer’s event in June. Apple will ship the phone Sept. 21, targeting 240 carriers in 100 countries by the end of the year.
"Apple's decision to redesign every component in the iPhone allows it to be the thinnest, lightest and most powerful smartphone on the market," gushed Bajarin. "There is huge pent up demand for this new iPhone and it should drive record sales for iPhones in the next year and force all smartphone competitors back to the drawing board again as Apple just raised the bar."
That is interesing indeed. I did not see the mention of A15 anywhere - is that reliable? If that is true then it opens a wider market for Apple to deploy the A6. E.g A15 gets around the 4GB limit in memory. This means the A6 could appear in smartbooks (macbook air??) sometime soon.
Rick, the biggest news on the chip side was that the A6 would be based on a dual-core A15, not a quad-core A9. This is significant as it's the first consumer implementation of the A15, and they seem to have cracked the battery life issue.
Please, forget that "US-centric" mindset from time to time. NFC is a framework that brings services for transport, payment, loyalty, etc...
For your information, all of the new POS from Ingenico and VeriFone are now NFC compliant and ready for Paywave and Paypass payment applications. Regarding swipe of credit card, just have a look at the level of fraud. It's huge.
For those of us looking for practical NFC implementations, there is a way to do it -- China style. China Mobile is using SIM card to embed NFC technology, so that consumers need to just replace their SIM cards instead of phones.
Read the story I just posted here:
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4396106/NFC-enabled-mobile-phones---China-style
Re NFC, I think you are right. A lot of infrastructure building is required before the NFC phone becomes useful. Of course, if it is a place like Japan, where NTT Docomo can create a closed NFC environment, your NFC phone works everywhere, and it is actually pretty cool. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Industries
Auto Aftermarket
Experience:
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Recent notable transactions include representing the sale of three long time SEMA member companies that are fixtures within the industry. These transactions include the sale of Pilot Automotive, a leading distributor of aftermarket accessories, parts and electronics, to Narrow Gauge Capital; the sale of Bully Dog Technologies to SCT, a marquee transaction in the aftermarket tuning software industry; and the sale of Rosen Electronics, a pioneer manufacturer of rear seat entertainment systems, to Audax Private Equity.
Principal Sector Focus:
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“Working with Cascadia was both rewarding and insightful. It was a pleasure watching the team expertly navigate a process that I personally was quite familiar with. The Automotive Aftermarket group was the best team of bankers I have worked with.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Good news...
The news lately is so depressing...not even that I listen to it all that often, but you can't help but hear the tidbits lately and they aren't good. So, I think I will post some "news" of my own that is good:
Yesterday I heard a weird noise: Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. I look upstairs at the hallway and here comes Nathan, wearing Daddy's slippers! He was very proud of himself. He knew he couldn't walk down the steps with them, so he proceed to take them off, haul them down the steps, and then put them back on once he got the family room. I was laughing so hard I almost had tears in my eyes.
I tried a new recipe yesterday: Hashbrown Quiche. I don't like quiche, mostly because I don't like the crust and it doens't feel right to eat something that looks like a pie but doesn't taste like one (I also have the same problem with pot pies). Anyways, I digress. So, I made this quiche, but instead of the crust, the bottom/side is hashbrowns. I wasn't too sure at all about it, and even when I placed it on the table before us, I was wondering if it would be any good. But then I took a bite, and was delighted! It was very good! Chris and I both had two helpings. Nathan had a little, but he has been infactuated with pears lately, so he was scarfing one of those down.
The moon and the weather - how wonderful its been! and did you see the moon on Monday night? A beautiful, huge, harvest moon. I called my mom but because she is a moon-watcher, and everytime the moon is beautiful, I call her up to ask if she's seen it yet. Sometimes at night, when the moon is shining in my bedroom window, I shut the lights off and watch it slowly move across the sky...
I have decided to re-organize the basement. I sew down there, and since Chris has a laptop now, he rarely plays computer down there. I have thought about it a lot, and I want to move my sewing table closer to the window, and take my big desk and make that my ironing table. I never sit at that desk and do anything anyways, its pretty much storage, and its big enough to hold the full ironing pad Anne borrowed me, which I never gave back. I thought I could move the couch, across to where it is now, and thus have some more space for Nathan to play. In this whole process, both Chris and I could clean out our drawers and desks and eliminate things we don't need. Also, if Chris can sell that weight set, it will make the basement even more spacious and clutter free. Here's hoping that happens soon!
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My Three Sons
Gigi
Mystro
About Me
Its me, the cats, and the four boys! We are a fun, loving, busy household sharing a little bit of our journey on this site -- we have good days and bad, but most of what you see here are the good days. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The Queen Victoria cruise ship a queen, all the same
"Welcome to my office," Capt. Paul Wright said as he opened the security door to the bridge of the Queen Victoria. Through the expanse of windows, the ocean seemed endless, glimmering in the sun.
It was, as it turned out, the calm before the storm.
FOR THE RECORD: Queen Victoria: A story in Sunday's Travel section on the new Queen Victoria ocean liner incorrectly referred to passenger Michelle Grant of Santa Monica as a travel manager. She is a talent manager. —
The captain, a genial chap from Cornwall, England, was soon laughing about the rumors aboard Cunard's newest ocean liner.
No, he assured me, no one had been lost overboard. And had I seen the reports in the British tabloids blaming every glitch on this, the ship's second voyage, on the "Curse of Camilla," Prince Charles' wife, the first non-monarch to christen a Cunard queen in nearly 75 years?
This Queen Victoria did have its share of bad luck, but that aside, I preferred it to the Queen Mary 2, which I accompanied on its maiden voyage to the Caribbean in 2004.
Like the Mary, the Victoria is an ocean-worthy liner (a liner generally makes oceanic crossings and may not return to its port of embarkation for some time), rather than a cruise ship (which generally leaves from and returns to the same port or one close to it). Purists sometimes dismiss cruise ships as clusters of floating flats.
The Victoria's signature black and red livery and elongated bow identify it immediately as a Cunard ship, but it is no mini-Mary.
Yet the two ships share a common trait: elegance. If Cunard can't yet replicate the graciousness of the 1930s in this age of inelegance, those who sail its ships -- myself included -- hope it keeps trying.
Let the others have their casual dress, free-choice dining and rock climbing. Formality is fine with me, and, flaws and all, a Cunard voyage is special.
PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS
Only the most superstitious -- or the most ardent Camilla bashers -- could blame the problems of this voyage on the Duchess of Cornwall, even if the Champagne bottle did fail to break at the christening.
Nor could Cunard be blamed for an outbreak of a highly contagious stomach virus that struck just before Christmas and ultimately sickened about 140 aboard. (The 24-hour virus, common in enclosed places, causes vomiting, diarrhea and cramps but is rarely fatal.) Ship personnel responded quickly to contain the bug, thought to have been carried on when we boarded Dec. 21 at Southampton, England. Hand-cleaning before entering dining spaces was mandated, and passengers were advised to avoid public restrooms.
Neither could Cunard be faulted for canceling a stop at Casablanca, Morocco, on advice of the British and U.S. governments -- "for security reasons," the captain said. And Gibraltar had to be scratched when gale-force winds made it too dangerous to dock. Several days of rough seas followed.
With time to kill as we headed back to Southampton, the ship slowed, which also made for a more comfortable trip. The Atlantic was choppy, the horizon shrouded in mist. Waves 11 feet high crashed against the hull. The captain reported "rogue swells" of up to 30 feet that caused the Victoria to creak and shudder as it rose and fell.
The good news from the bridge: "The ship has handled these big ocean swells very well" on this, its first real test, said Wright, who kept passengers abreast of the big waves and the bad bug.
VICTORIAN TOUCHES
Misfortunes aside, not everyone was thrilled with the cruise, for which passengers paid from $4,100 each for an inside cabin for two to $34,000 for the grand suite in upper class. Passengers had expected lavish Victorian Christmas decorations but got little more than a pair of towering trees in the Queens Room and some greenery here and there. Others described the food in the handsome two-deck Britannia dining room as merely adequate. It wasn't on a par with the food in the intimate Todd English restaurant, where a supplement -- $20 a person for lunch, $30 for dinner -- was charged.
Veteran Cunarders also criticized the uneven service: missing cutlery, mixed-up orders, largely invisible wine stewards, the feeling of being rushed through meals. One night, I asked for a tall J&B Scotch and got a short Tanqueray gin. (Some of the multinational staff seemed less than fluent in English.) But I have only praise for Vivian, my cabin steward, who anticipated my needs and never made me feel as though I had to plan my day around her schedule.
On one thing almost everyone seemed to agree: The Queen Victoria is a beautiful ship with elements of Victorian décor -- marble and mosaics and crystal chandeliers -- and touches of Art Deco and Art Nouveau. It's smaller and cozier than the Queen Mary 2. The Queen Victoria occupies a different niche, Wright said: "It's intimate, a ship where people can get to know people."
Alastair Greener, the ship's entertainment director (a new Cunard title replacing cruise director), said: "A lot of people didn't like the size of the Queen Mary 2. The Queen Mary 2 is big and grand," the Ritz-Carlton of liners; the Queen Victoria is more like "a five-star luxury country hotel."
Lessons learned from Queen Mary 2 influenced the design. Mary's library was tucked away on Deck 8, but it is a showpiece on the Victoria, an inviting Deck 2 space with a spiral staircase, a skylight and leather chairs. The Royal Court Theater, all red plush and gilt, has private boxes ($50 a night per couple). Many passengers liked how most of the Queen Victoria's bars and lounges were clustered on Deck 2 around the three-deck Grand Lobby; with its make-an-entrance staircase, it's the hub of the ship.
There's a casino, of course, but unlike on the Queen Mary, it doesn't abut the Britannia dining room, so it is much less jolting. The popular Commodore Club, forward on Deck 10 with wraparound windows, is clubbier than the Queen Mary's.
The Todd English restaurant proved such a winner on the Queen Mary 2, where it was tucked away on Deck 8, that it was moved to Deck 2 on Victoria. The Golden Lion pub, larger than the one on the Queen Mary, attracted a noon lunch crowd keen on bangers and mash and fish and chips. During the day, it was a hangout for team trivia addicts; at night, the destination of karaoke fans.
In all, public rooms seemed well placed. And getting from one to another wasn't a marathon-ish task.
LITTLE BRITAIN
Several of the Queen Victoria's shortcomings are not open to debate. Standard outside staterooms (that's what mine was) are a good size for a cruise ship, about 180 to 200 square feet. The décor, gold and blue with blond woods, is pleasant, and the beds are great. But there's little drawer space, and baths are so skimpy there's just enough room to turn around in the shower. Malfunctioning toilets also were a problem.
Sixteen days make a long cruise, especially with two ports scratched and seven at-sea days. But the entertainment staff worked overtime to keep passengers amused, even though the paucity of big-cast production shows disappointed some.
Theater acts included a politically incorrect British comedian, an overreaching soprano, a magician, a juggler and two men playing one piano. "What's next, an accordionist?" asked Cunard devotee Randy Randolph, a retired high school teacher from Pompano Beach, Fla. The Brits onboard (1,165 among the 1,880 passengers) loved the Victorian music hall show, enthusiastically waving miniature Union Jacks, but it seemed to leave many Americans bewildered.
Along with elegance, Cunard sells Britishness. It clings fiercely to British traditions, including afternoon tea -- cucumber sandwiches and scones, served by white-gloved waiters.
But some Cunarders seemingly can't forgive the company for becoming American. (Miami-based Carnival Corp. bought the line a decade ago and later moved Cunard's U.S. headquarters to Valencia, Calif.) Some think acquisition by Carnival was the beginning of the end.
Roger and Janet Birkin of Derbyshire, England, were among unhappy voyagers. (It didn't help that Roger got the stomach virus.) Janet found it "quite vulgar how they're trying to extract every dollar out of you. They're exploiting the Cunard name."
There's some truth to that. We had to buy our own drinks at the sail-away parties. Shore excursions cost as much as $129 per person. But the two I took -- to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain and to Lisbon, Sintra and Cascais in Portugal -- were well organized, with excellent English-speaking guides and included first-rate lunches ashore.
The "daily programmes" included fencing classes, napkin folding, whist (similar to bridge), line dancing and electronic photo editing. Some were free; some weren't. There were lectures by British actress Sylvia Syms (the queen mother in the 2006 movie "The Queen") and motor-car racer Jackie Stewart.
I met happy passengers as well as disgruntled ones. Lorcas Martin, a Dublin psychiatrist and self-described cruise addict, said of the ship: "When she gets her character, she'll be fantastic." He had already booked the ship's cruise to Russia in May.
Martin pointed out that the 1,000-member crew was still "getting to know the ship, just as we are. Until you've got a shipload of passengers, it's very hard to know how it's going to work. Given time, I think it will become people's favorite."
Patricia Heinlein, a Portland, Ore., homemaker, praised the ship's beauty but said, "I don't think they need to have everything so British," especially the entertainment. Her son Sam, a 21-year-old college student, lamented: "There's no one my age here." He was excited to learn about the Royal Arcade but less enchanted when he learned that it was not about games but rather high-end shopping. Very high end, with one shop offering a $15,000 Fabergé egg.
Cunard's demographic is decidedly mature. There were 55 passengers under age 17 but few in their 20s. One man collapsed in the ballroom but was resuscitated. Another passenger's death was announced about 3 a.m. on New Year's Day; an urgent "Code Alpha" accidentally was piped into staterooms.
"There's always something" with an older demographic, said the ship's chief medical officer, Dr. Peter Hawthorne. "That doesn't mean you should sit at home and wait for the grim reaper."
THE GOOD, THE BAD
The ship's food might not have thrilled everyone, but no one could accuse Cunard of skimping. Both quantity and variety were staggering. If three meals weren't enough, the Lido buffet on Deck 9 served sandwiches, salads and hot dishes 24 hours a day. A midnight Christmas Eve buffet in the Winter Garden was beautifully presented, with ice sculptures and treats such as a croquembouche, a Christmas tree of custard-filled cream puffs.
Maybe there was a lot of sell-sell-sell. Jewelry and cosmetics hawked at tables in the Royal Arcade, together with logo clothing and souvenirs. Expensive spa treatments. (I had a wonderful massage, $129 for 55 minutes, and was pleasantly surprised that the therapist only suggested but didn't push a high-priced product.) And maybe the ship's photographers were a little too in-your-face taking their expensive pictures.
But there was also much to like on this ship -- the talented lounge pianists, the harpist at tea, the string quartet in the Grand Lobby, the collection of historical Cunardiana.
And I met many happy passengers. Michelle Grant, a travel manager from Santa Monica and first-time cruiser, said she was having a "wonderful trip. There'll always be people who are cranky, even if it was picture-perfect."
Michael and Jean Crowe, who are from the Isle of Wight, were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary with a three-generation party of 10. "We've had a thoroughly good time," Jean said. "Christmas was lovely. The cabins are beautiful. The crew are wonderful."
David Lilliard, a retired farmer who lives two hours from Southampton, and his wife, Jo, on their 30th cruise, were disappointed overall, but they did like the ship. "Give them a chance," David said, "They'll sort it out." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Date
agriculture cutting Articles
About the Pacific Institute The Pacific Institute is one of the world’s leading independent nonprofits conducting research and advocacy to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. Based in Oakland, California, we conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in ...
Castor is an important non-edible oilseed crop of the family Euphorbiaceae with great utilitarian value in industry, agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors. The presence of hydroxyl group and double bonds in ricinoleic acid (D-12-hydroxyoctadec-cis-9-enoic acid) imparts unique chemical and physical properties for castor oil which makes castor oil a vital industrial raw material and ...
Farmer-owned renewable energy enterprises are increasing rapidly — with alternative fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol and distiller’s grains becoming mainstream. MINNESOTA is home to 16 ethanol plants generating approximately 550 million gallons per year. Most of these new facilities are producer-owned. Many others are under construction or are in the planning process. In 2005, Minnesota farmers ...
The agricultural sector is believed to be the backbone of the Zambian economy thereby alleviating problems associated with poverty and food security. The development of the sector is viewed as one sustainable way of economic growth and ‘Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger’ which is goal number one of the Millennium Development Goals (UN, 2000). The sector contributes to the growth ...
Gene editing offers dramatic advances in speed, scope and scale of genetic improvement. It also offers an opportunity for more nuanced GMO governance. Very few technologies truly merit the epithet “game changer” — but a new genetic engineering tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 is one of them. Since we first developed the ability to alter the genetic material inside a plant or animal in ...
All living creatures need two things to survive: food and water. A new WRI analysis shows just how much tension exists between those two essential resources. A new interactive map from WRI’s Aqueduct project reveals that more than 25 percent of the ...
The recent discovery of the bio-waste and excreta treatment of a former civilisation in the Amazon reveals the possibility of a highly efficient and simple sanitation system. With the end product that was black soil they converted 10% of former infertile soil of the region: Terra Preta do Indio (black soil of the Indians). These soils are still very fertile 500 years after this civilisation had ...
The stabilization roles of two species, Gleditshia caspica and Parrotia persica, were studied on slopes in northern part of Iran. Landslides developed in this area because of incorrect land use and clear cutting of forest to change to agriculture land. Spread planting of Gleditshia caspica and Parrotia persica can help to control instability of soil in this area. Bishop’s method was used to ...
Composting of waste plant materials and its use in agriculture and landscape sites is an environmental friendly way of reducing waste material and conserving the environment. In this perspectives a survey has been performed at the Dubai based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture to compost the plants based waste material (lawn cuttings-grass) to compost. The material was inoculated with ...
Agriculture imposes a heavy and growing burden on Europe's water resources, threatening water shortages and damage to ecosystems. To achieve sustainable water use, farmers must be given the right price incentives, advice and assistance. Food is intrinsically bound to human wellbeing. Besides the importance of good food for good health and the pleasure we derive from eating, agricultural ...
The modernisation of farm-to-market supply chains is important for increasing farmers' income, alleviating poverty, cutting food waste and improving the affordability of food staples, according to the authors of a book. The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains: Enter the Dragon, the Elephant, and the Tiger is a joint ...
The Sirmour district, Himachal Pradesh, India, lies in the western Himalayan range. Mixed-farming is the main occupation in the mid-hills and basically consists of agriculture, livestock and forest produces. Hence, communal forests (mushtarka), common grazing lands (ghasnies) and gravity-flow irrigation systems (kuhl) were found to be the three major common pool resources in the villages of ...
The surface required to grow sufficient feedstock for today’s biobased fuel production is less than 0.008% of the global agricultural area of 5 billion hectares. In a world of fast-growing population with an increasing demand for food and feed, the use of feedstock for non-food purposes is often debated controversially. The Study Report “Non Food Biodiesel – Enhanced Economics ...
Italy is faced with increasing pressures to reduce the amount of refuse disposed of in landfills. Compost represents a contribution to solve this problem. To give information for the correct management of composts as nitrogen fertiliser, it is necessary to assess their nitrogen release rhythm compared with the crop needs. This semi-field trial investigated the performance of three different ...
We often hear about big global environmental issues such as deforestation, poaching or overfishing and forget that there are individuals at the heart of these activities. Have you ever stopped to wonder, what motivates someone to cut down trees in the first place? How often do they contemplate the impact they’re having on the environment? And what experience or insights lead to ...
The world’s agricultural system faces a great balancing act. To meet different human needs, by 2050 it must simultaneously produce far more food for a population expected to reach about 9.6 billion, provide economic opportunities for the hundreds of millions of rural poor who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, and reduce environmental impacts, including ecosystem degradation and ...
By 2050, 80% of the earth’s population will live in cities and 3 billion more people will need to be fed. The simple fact is we are running out of available land to grow enough food to feed them. If we can’t grow our cities outward to find more arable land, the only solution is to grow them upwards. This may change the way we design cities forever.The problem is real and immediate. Even by most ...
Is it possible to reduce pesticide use without compromising crop yields? Yes — and then some, according to a new study published in the journal Insects. Researchers at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom measured pesticide use and crop yield at 85 project sites in 24 Asian and African countries practicing integrated pest management ...
As of 2007, the shrinking forests in the tropical regions were releasing 2.2 billion tons of carbon per year. Meanwhile, expanding forests in the temperate regions were absorbing 0.7 billion tons of carbon annually. On balance, a net of some 1.5 billion tons of carbon were being released into the atmosphere each year, contributing to global warming. The tropical deforestation in Asia is driven ...
The pump installed at Shirley Farm, near Montgomery in Powys, transfers water from a 15 feet deep well, along 20 yards of 1” diameter pipework to a 100 gallon tank located in the top storey of the farmhouse. The water is then delivered for use throughout the 20 acre dairy farm as required. Farmer Austin Griffiths, now retired, replaced the original hand pump with a rotary pump when he first moved ... | {
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AcaWiki is a promising new project to build a body of scientific knowledge that is free to use, study, improve, and redistribute. Instead of waiting for journals to make papers more available, they're building a free equivalent that will be just as useful.
Even though sharing knowledge is one of the most basic principles of science, and even though much scientific research is funded by public institutions or universities, the vast majority of scientific papers end up in inaccessible troves controlled by private journals. AcaWiki is a brand new project to change that, using free sotfware and with freely licensed contributions.
From their announcement: "Currently, it can cost up to $35 to download an academic paper—a significant cost, especially because thorough research on any topic usually entails downloading many papers. AcaWiki’s approach takes advantage of the fact that copyright does not apply to ideas, only to the written expression of those ideas. Scholars can thus post summaries of their or others’ research online as long as they are not copying verbatim beyond what fair-use laws permit."
In other words, scholars can now access long, meticulously detailed summaries of the articles they're interested in. Summaries can be written by any community member with access to the original article, or by the original team of researchers themselves. Even if academics face strong incentives or requirements to publish in private journals, nothing in copyright law prohibits them from republishing a summary elsewhere.
AcaWiki is built on Semantic MediaWiki, which is free software available under the GNU GPL (it's the same software the FSF uses for LibrePlanet). But beyond just using free software, AcaWiki takes a free software approach: rather than waiting for journals make papers more available, they're organizing a community of experts to build a free equivalent that will be just as useful to students and scholars.
If you'd like to be an advocate for AcaWiki in your institution, or help summarize key papers in your field of expertise, get involved. | {
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Don’t Manage Your Time, Manage Your Attention
In our efforts to be more productive, sometimes we focus too much on writing down our to-do lists and schedules, but not on actually implementing them. This happens because every day we are surrounded by many distractions that take our attention away from what matters. And sometimes, if there are no distractions, we make one up. This is a valid point made by Srinivas Rao founder of the popular podcast, the Unmistakable Creative.
To-do lists are indeed a crucial part of the process, but only if you use them right. Let’s take a look at what we can do to better manage our attention.
Have Some Device-Free Time When You Wake Up
Checking your smartphone first thing in the morning does not help your ability to focus. Instead, it leaves you worried or anxious to reply to a certain e-mail or a Facebook post made by a friend. So, try to avoid this if possible.
Focus on Important Activities
This is the key point. You ultimately want to be able to focus on the task you are doing and don’t give in to distractions. Of course, this is easier said than done for those without discipline.
If your problem is small distractions like constantly checking your phone, try a method to help you focus. For instance, the Pomodoro technique is a good one. It consists of short periods of intense work, followed by small pauses when you can finally check your Facebook account.
Avoid Multitasking
We’ve talked about this in previous posts. The thing is, multitasking might give you the illusion of productivity but have you stopped to check your progress on each individual task? You will probably find that it is minimal. This is because your brain takes some time to get into a task and start flowing. If you’re always switching, you’re never reaching true focus.
This is where to-do lists are important. Organize your tasks into a list so you don’t forget them and tackle them one at a time. You’ll see you’re much more productive this way.
Learn to Value Downtime
Unfortunately, we don’t have true downtime nowadays, because during downtime we instantly get our phones out and start doing whatever. So try to really embrace downtime and don’t mess with your smartphone. This allows your brain to rest, organize your ideas, and even come up with new ones. | {
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A blog about Rectal Cancer, and the roller-coaster it takes you on. No matter how sick you start to feel you just can't get off until it stops - one way or another - and in the meantime life goes on pretty much as normal.
So this is a blog both about rectal cancer and life going on as normally as possible... :-)
Please do feel free to leave comments, comments are great :-)
About Me
I'm Carole, living in London, happily married and mum to two amazing boys.I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Rectal Cancer in April 2010.
Surgery took place in November 2010 and I now have a permanent colostomy...Spinal mets were then diagnosed in October 2011...In January 2012 I was told of further spread to the hip area (multiple lesions)..My life expectancy is now 6-9 months. Walk alongside me on the last part of my experience with this..
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Some Memories of Christmases Past.....
Recently my mum sent me some old pictures by email of past Christmases when we were kids...it brought back some (very) distant memories indeed.
What do I remember about Christmas as a child? Well, we didn't have much money but we always got a pile of presents to open - not expensive, top of the range stuff or the latest craze, just good stuff that contained many hours of potential play.
We had plenty of food in the house, items that we normally wouldn't have such as nuts in shells, Christmas pudding and cream, mince pies and a selection of sweets.
Mum would have a Babycham and Dad would have a Pale Ale - we would get squash...Christmas crackers would be on the table and we'd all wear those daft paper hats - you know, the ones we all still wear now every year :-))
I've always remembered my doll's house and the tiny little items that went inside and was pleased to see that my mum had captured it in a photograph from all those years ago....looking at this photo I can still remember how happy I was when I found it that Christmas (I was 3 1/2 yrs old) and how much I loved the tiny little chairs and other accessories that went inside. It had a particular smell of wood that I immediately recalled on seeing it again.
For many years I actually believed my dad when he said he'd made it himself just for me....then I grew up and realised that this is a man who bangs nails into anything that moves (including shelves) so there was NO way in the world he made it - however it was still great.....
You can see my lovely dolls house here in the pic and my clever mum even managed to capture the excitement I felt this on getting this lovely present. (try to ignore the awful wallpaper and patterns that were 'everywhere' in the early 1960's..LOL)
You can also see that by todays standards, the 'pile' of presents was much less than what some children seem to get nowadays. The difference was that what we received was always appreciated because we knew that mum and dad had gone without things themselves to make sure that we three children always had presents from 'Santa' on Christmas morning.
We had extras to open of course, things like colouring books, pens, plastic hair clips - 'extras' nowadays seem to involve designer labels, latest trainers, top of the range latest craze toys that will be dumped into the bottom of the toy box a few weeks after Christmas.
Parents still go without themselves but also get deeply into debt so that their children can compete with others.
Has Christmas lost it's meaning for some? Yes, I do think so.
We've spent far less money than usual on Christmas gifts this year and it's a tradition I intend to continue with.
I've always liked the fact that we all spend Christmas together as a family, eat lots of rich food, watch traditional Christmas TV and play board games in teams - however in the past I've also worried about what to buy for people, whereas this year I've tried to buy gifts that 'mean' something and spent less in the process.
No more jumpers that Dad doesn't really want or like - this year something smaller but more personal that I'm convinced he'll love.
As children we used to wake before mum and dad, usually around 4am, sneak downstairs and open our parcels whilst they were still sleeping - then we'd go back to bed and wake up hours later to play.
I wish that mum and dad had made us wait really, because it must have been a little disappointing to wake up and find that we'd already found our piles, ripped the paper off and then gone back to sleep after all their planning, preparing, rushing around buying, wrapping and hoping we liked what they'd found.....
I've always made my boys wait until we're all up and about - I wanted to see them open presents, not hear about it afterwards.
Our routine now is get up, have breakfast then Dj can open presents...this isn't rushed and sometimes he'll actually start to play with something then suddenly remember he's still got something else to open...
When he was younger he LOVED Action Man and would spend ages just examining one and totally forget that there were other presents left unopened :-)
Around 1pm mum, dad, Sarah, James will arrive (this year James and Leanne are coming Boxing day as it's Wendy's turn this year to feed them Christmas day) then it's time for Dj to show what he's received and maybe play a board game or two whilst the Christmas lunch is cooking.
After we've eaten and relaxed for a while it's adult present time and Dj then receives his gifts from family too - we introduced this a few years ago and it works really well. Before that we used to give out presents as people arrived but that always felt rushed to me, so I changed it to after we eat.
Everyone seems to like it and says the day feels fuller as there is still something to look forward to after food, so we've stuck with it.
Later on in the evening we have toasted turkey and pickle sandwiches and finger food, plus Louise's lovely yummy Christmas cake, chocolate biscuits, Cheese board, Olives, Roasted Peppers, crisps, dips etc and put on another few pounds (or stones) or two.
Alcohol is not a big part of Christmas for us - we have a glass or two of wine with lunch then most people go onto soft drinks or tea/coffee.
So that's how we spend Christmas....looking forward to reading about some of your Christmas traditions on your blogs.
More pictures from Christmases past.........
Eddie, my younger brother playing with dolls instead of his own stuff (we used to swop regularly)
Me with cousin Elizabeth - neither of us looking particularly happy in this pic!
Us kids with Aunt Lou
This one is Sarah back in 1969 -
She was absolutely mad on Cowboy stuff hence the cowboy hat and toy rifle present from Grandad Lea - LOL....never mind 'Annie get your gun' this is 'Sarah's got her gun, so run'....
This is one of my favourite memories of James as a little boy...he LOVED this print of BA from the A Team and it had pride of place on his bedroom wall for many years.
It was one of the least expensive presents I'd ever purchased and one of the most loved....
Djamel's first Christmas - 1999....
And finally below, this is one of those pictures that you just can't plan.
Took this shot of James, Leanne and Djamel concentrating on a puzzle book that James had received for Christmas (2008) and when we looked at it, realised the man in the background on the TV seemed as though he was studying the book over their shoulder as well - always makes me laugh when I see it
Lovely post Carole, Love the photos (especially that last one!), lots of memories of happy Christmas by the sounds of things :D I too make sure the children wait to open the presents, my parents always made us wait too. I keep meaning to go for a very low key - a present each style Christmas to reinforce the true meaning of it all - fun laughter families etc etc but then can't help myself and by too many presents as that was how it was for me as a child, maybe next year we'll go low key :) Love always xxx
What gorgeous photos.We have cut down a lot over the past couple of years for the simple reason that everyone goes out and buys what they want all year,no waiting any more,so we also keep more as a social occasion.Hope you have a fabulous timeRose xxx
Thanks for the Christmas memories, Carole. It's fun getting to know more about you beyond the cancer. I like your family and your traditions. Not sure what's up with the paper hats. Fiona mentioned them as well (and a picture!) Sounds fun and silly. Our children can only open their stockings before we join them. All other presents are opened together. I took your offer and posted a few memories with photos for you as well. Enjoy.
Hi Debbie, LOL, you're right, I've taken out the 'very' and just let it as 'old photo's'...:-)
Alli - life was simpler back then for a variety of reasons. Now technology rules and therefore life is more complex - that's my theory anyway. When we were younger our pleasures were simpler ones because that's what we had. I loved your Christmas post Alli - brilliant to hear you so upbeat
Steve - just seen your blog on your Christmas and pics of you from the past. Great post and exactly in line with the sort of things we *should* be thinking about at this time of year - families and our connections to them.Great to see the real you and hear about your memories Steve - also you're looking so well.
Really enjoyed reading about your Christmas's, Carole. I also remember getting a dolls house one year and I loved it! It's now in my 6 year olds room and she enjoys playing with it now.For me, this year, I have been lucky to be surrounded by my lovely family. We have had a lovely relaxed time - so different to this time last year. It's been very special and has meant a lot to everyone. I didn't realise quite how much until my dad made a very teary speech on Boxing day.hope you've enjoyed yourself the last few daysMuch love as always,Shents xxx
Hi Carole glad to hear you've had a great xmas and thanks for our super thornton choccies Mmmm!so smooth just luv them. Itoo had a dolls house looked much like yours wow that bought back great memories can you remember did it have a red roof?Love the last picture they all look well puzzled.Love and best wishes for a Happy New Year to you all take careLots of LoveWendy and Georgexxx | {
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Sanders comments came a day after excerpts were published from Clinton’s upcoming campaign memoir, “What Happened.” In the book, Clinton claims that the “attacks” Sanders leveled at her during the 2016 Democratic primary “caused lasting damage,” made it harder to “unify progressives” and paved the way for Trump’s “Crooked Hillary” refrain during the general election.
“I don’t know if that bothered Bernie or not,” Clinton writes. “He certainly shared my horror at the thought of Donald Trump becoming President, and I appreciated that he campaigned for me in the general election. But he isn’t a Democrat.”
Sanders lost his bid for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Clinton two weeks before the Democratic National Convention.
“He didn’t get into the race to make sure a Democrat won the White House,” Clinton continues. “He got in to disrupt the Democratic Party.”
And while Sanders “was right Democrats needed to strengthen [their] focus on working families” and engage younger voters, “he was fundamentally wrong about the Democratic Party,” Clinton argues, ticking off a list of Democrat-led accomplishments including Social Security, Middle East peace, the auto industry bailout and health care reform. | {
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For simplicity we have a matrix that has same width(n) as height(m). Or you could say same number of columns(n) as rows(m). That means m=n and we don’t have to differentiate between them.
First for cycle is same like example 2.
Second for cycle is different because it will be executed n-times, because it is inside for cycle that has size of n. => n(3(n)+1)
And also everything that is inside second for cycle will be executed n-times. => n(2(n))
When we solve the equation the result is: 3 + 4n + 5n^2
Time taken by this algorithm is quadratic.
Details:
My demo contains methods that have detail suffix like TotalDetail. These methods are the same like the methods without suffix however these methods count total units of time. With this functionality you can check your equation result.
So for example our linear example has equation: 5n + 3.
And we know that n = array length. For array lenght = 10, the number of operations must equal 5 * 10 + 3 = 53 units of time.
If you try the demo with different numbers the result of equatuon will always match the number of operations.
Don’t forget that for quadratic equation you have to use matrix that has same number of columns as rows!
For example: n = m = 3.
Result will be: 3 + 4*3 + 5*(3)^2 = 3 + 12 + 45 = 60 units of time.
Summary
Growth of these methods are:
Constant: 2 => O(1)
Linear: 5n + 3 => O(n)
Quadratic: 3 + 4n + 5n^2 => O(n^2)
I mentioned O in my last post, it is called big-oh and it basically tell us aproximately what function our algorithm will copy. I will talk more about big-oh in my next post. | {
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felt wreath tutorial {in ombre!}
First up, the winner of the Signs by Andrea giveaway is Gailanne, who said “You are My Sunshine is my favorite!” Please contact me, Gailanne!
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of guest posting on one of my very favorite blogs, Everything Etsy. I shared a tutorial for creating my newest felt ombre wreaths, and I wanted to repost it here for anyone who missed it. I hope you aren’t tired of seeing these felt wreaths…everytime a holiday or event comes around, I brainstorm new color schemes-can you tell I’m smitten?
Step 2: Cut your felt. I cut each sheet of felt into 6 strips (cutting lengthwise). I then cut each length into 5 rectangles…
Next, take your rectangles and cut out teardrop-shaped pieces…
Use a good pair of scissors so you can cut multiple pieces at once. When you are done, you should have a big ‘ol pile of felt goodness…
Step 3: Warm up that hot glue gun and start gluing! Since a picture is worth many words, here are two images that should help you get a feel for the layout…
I started with the white felt pieces, and glued a row across the width of the wreath. I did 2-3 rows of each color (I had 10 colors total of felt). In the second image, I had just finished up the teal portion and am about to start on the green. Gluing onto this size wreath form takes approximately 30-40 minutes.
Easy, fun and beautiful-hope you love this felt wreath tutorial as much as I do! The color combinations are endless (and so are the places in your home where you are going to want one of these lovelies!)
Hey Linda – I LOVE this tutorial…it is the perfect addition to a blank wall in our house! What are the blues that you use in this wreath? I’m doing turquoise accents and was looking for which color is the closest to a turquoise. It is always hard to tell with a computer screen. thanks so much for sharing this tutorial… | {
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Potentially Harmful Herbs
There are many natural remedies that are quite safe and effective for treating a variety of ailments. The vast majority of herbs commonly available on the market from reputable sellers are perfectly safe for most people. Pregnant or nursing women and those with health conditions should consult a doctor or herbalist before taking any herbal remedy.
Likewise, if you combine conventional medical treatment with herbal treatment, make sure you tell your doctor all the herbs (as well as vitamins and minerals) that you are taking. Some herbs contain compounds that are similar to those in prescription drugs, since, after all, that’s where the ideas for prescription drugs originally came from. So you shouldn’t, for instance, take valerian and Valium, or really any barbiturates, sedatives or antidepressants.
Still, there are some herbs that are obvious no-nos for everyone. Hemlock, for instance, is a poison that can easily be fatal. Jimsonweed, which has been used in the past to treat asthma, whooping cough and bronchitis, can also be a fatal poison. Hellebore is another toxic herb; it is extremely narcotic and causes violent vomiting. Obviously you won’t find any of these on the shelves at your local herb seller.
Potentially Harmful Herbs.
Some herbs you may be able to find for sale, but that doesn’t mean you should use them. Wormwood, which used to be used to make the drink Absinthe, is supposed to help with gastrointestinal problems, but it also causes hallucinations and regular users are prone to violent behavior. Many people are also allergic to wormwood.
Rue is another problematic herb. It’s been used through the years for all sorts of things, from aiding menstrual problems and circulatory disorders to treating sprains and hysteria. It can cause severe liver and kidney damage, and was once used as a chemical means of abortion, often with fatal results to mother as well as child. Even when it doesn’t kill people it can cause melancholy, sleep disorders and dizziness. Does that sound like something you want to put in your body?
Other herbs that are for sale fall under the category of potentially dangerous. People who take them may have no side effects, or they may have very serious side effects that can be fatal. Take Ephedra, for instance. Also known as ma huang, this herb has been used for thousands of years, particularly as a treatment for asthma, colds and flu.
Ephedrine, a compound found in ephedra, increases the metabolic rate, so it became a popular additive to diet pills in the 1990s. Several deaths have been blamed on the used of such pills, mostly when ephedra is broken down into its chemical components instead of being used as a whole herb. Countless people through the centuries have taken whole-herb ephedra with no health risk, but for others the chemical compounds can be fatal.
Bitter orange is a similar herb that is often used as a substitute for ephedrine. Like ephedrine, bitter orange is a stimulant that can raise blood pressure and increase risk of heart attack.
Harmful to your Liver?
Many herbs have a potential for causing liver damage, including chaparral (sometimes used to promote healthy skin), comfrey (used to ease pain and inflammation), skullcap (a sleep aid and relaxant) and kava (a sedative popularly used in diet supplements).
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, following the lead of Canada, Germany, Switzerland and others, has even issued a warning about kava (also known as kava-kava) causing liver-related injuries. These herbs may be fine for most people, but you might want to check with your doctor or an herbalist before taking these herbs if you have a history of liver problems.
The bottom line is, if you don’t have experience with a herb and find mixed reviews about an herb online or in your favorite herbal source books, please consult with a knowledgeable herb dealer, herbalist or doctor before consuming an herb. Again, the vast majority of herbs commonly available on the market are perfectly safe for most people to take, but this is a case where you are truly better safe than sorry. | {
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Below is a recent article from Elkader’s Clayton County Register. Great summary of Jon’s stance on the crisis in leadership Iowa faces…. he’s getting consistent media coverage in the smaller towns throughout Iowa!
If you have not already, PLEASE take five minutes and visit Jon’s campaign site: www.NarcisseForIowa.com … there is so much depth there that outlines and explains Jon’s thoughtful and logical strategies to fix Iowa government. White papers, embedded newspaper, videos… a vastly more comprehensive showing than the Branstad/Culver ticket has to offer.
I’m very transparent, everyone online knows who I am. I have your words, I have your videos & I have all links. How can you dispute what you have said and the facts from your own mouth and writings? There is nothing to discuss. Bye, bye in November 2010!
Well, if you are determined to misrepresent me that is your choice. You’re like the little boy who got into trouble and when his father prepared to discipline him his response was “dad, the Bible says spare the rod and spoil the child.”
When I got into this contest I had three objectives:
1. Advance an agenda – AnIowaWorthFightingFor.com
2. Engage Iowans in solution oriented discourse
3. Develop a statewide impact mechanism
All three of those objectives will be accomplished so I’ll be around long past November – win or lose. Beyond that you simply don’t know what you’re talking about and aren’t interested in the truth.
First you are wrong on my age, second, my gender, then my revelation. You have an axe to grind and an agenda to fulfill and it has nothing to do with the entire populace of Iowa.
hmm? Building a name on the backs of a portion of the populace “…Should Narcisse win 2 percent of the vote this fall, the Iowa Party becomes a full-fledged political party in Iowa with caucuses and a primary in 2012…” or how about your very own piece “New Agenda For Black America?”
You are not my father, husband or any other relative so keep your admonishments to yourself. You have my full and undivided attention, I am sure the citizens of Iowa would appreciate more of my insight.
Once again, you Jonathan Narcisse, confirm via standard Alinsky tactics, that you are not worthy of any support from the good citizens of Iowa to gain any political position in that state. You attempt to denigrate anyone who would enlighten the people with a full and transparent vetting background check. You continually resort to baiting, that game is over, it’s a non-playable card. One would think that you had a better use of your time than to read blogs on the internet. You know your own failings, but do the good people of Iowa? Monday’s article should prove to be an awakening of the highest magnitude. You have no defense but you are offensive. You should really brush up on your Alinsky or put it away altogether, Conservatives have no use for radical tools. And a good morning to you too!
Mr. Rangel and Ms. Waters it appears that the subcommittees are comprised of two different groups. That creates independent results. Pulling the “Race Card” is a nice touch, but everyone sees the hypocrisy. You had jobs that you were elected to, on your word and by your oath of office, by your constituents. You let them down. There shouldn’t even be an opportunity for an ethics committee to investigate you, unless there was a reason to begin with. There are better people waiting in the wings, to gladly take care of all that you failed to do within your job description and ethical conduct, this November via the polls.
Don’t whine after you are caught and exposed and attempt to deflect guilt and place the blame upon others with false innuendos. You deserve the highest penalties that can be handed down from your fellow Representatives and/or the Courts!
President Obama’s $4 billion education initiative to spur school reform has become a veritable piñata as the program heads into its second round. Not only has Congress raided the account to pay for teacher layoffs to be averted, prompting a White House veto threat of the war supplemental to which it’s attached, but there’s a quiet rebellion going on by some in the education community to ditch the program.
So why has the contest lost some of its shine? According to the ranking member on the House Education and Labor Committee, it’s a loss of confidence in the system.
“Competition is generally a good thing,” says Minnesota Republican Representative John Kline. “The question is fair, whose doing the judging? How’s the point system put together? Let’s face it, in anything like this where you have judges, whether it’s an Olympic diving competition or something like this, you have some subjectivity. In your state you would like to know what the rules are and want as little subjectivity as possible.”
Minnesota recently joined eight other states in opting out the second round of the contest.
Race to the Top’s aim is to prepare students for a better future. States participate by competing for a federal grant, administered in phases, and fulfilling what the program calls the four assurances: instituting rigorous standards and assessments, recruiting and retaining effective teachers, turning around low-performance schools and establishing data systems to track student achievement and teacher performance.
Phase I winners were announced on March 29th, and the deadline for submitting Phase II applications was June 1st. The winners for this phase will be announced later in September.
The $4.35 billion dollar incentive program was designed by the United States Department of Education and is funded by the ED Recovery Act as part of the American Recovery Act of 2009. It was announced by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on July 24, 2009.
The National Education Association, the largest labor union in the U.S. representing teachers and other support personnel, gave the program a vote of “no confidence” earlier this month. Many saw it as a symbolic slam on the Obama administration. The item would eventually pass, but only by a razor-thin margin.
One member at the NEA convention where the resolution was approved actually offered a resolution to call for the ouster of Secretary Duncan, in part because of the program. That resolution was never approved.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Teachers Union, called the program a mixed bag. “The real issue is that ‘Race to the Top’ in principle would be a good program if we didn’t have the kind of budget shortfalls that we have right now. It’s hard to be innovative and to do new and different things that require time and resources when we’re seeing state after state having devastating budget cuts.”
But that hasn’t stopped several states, 35 of them in fact, plus the district of Columbia, from lining up for a slice of the grant money.
Representative Jared Polis, D-Co., told Fox News, “For every dollar they spend they’re getting reforms all across the country. Reforms that encourage good teachers to stay in teaching. Reforms that intervene in changing schools, removing caps for the number of charter schools. These are all things that are happening nationally because of ‘Race to the Top.'”
Bottom line – has this contest overstayed its welcome, particularly in the face of rising deficits? Or should Congress reinstate funding and add even more money than President Obama is seeking?
Fox News’ Trish Turner contributed to this report.
The glaring offense from above:
“Competition is generally a good thing,” says Minnesota Republican Representative John Kline. “The question is fair, whose doing the judging?”
Why don’t they just ask the Japanese how to educate properly? Their system works. And, if you can’t tell the difference between whose and who’s in a news article about education what sense does any of this make? | {
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Uganda: Tribal king arrested after 55 people killed in Kasese clashes
Ugandan police stormed the palace of a tribal king and arrested him after fierce clashes between security forces and a separatist militia they believe is linked to him killed at least 55 people.
Police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi confirms. “We took time to talk to the king to get those people out but the king was non-compliant. The only option was to storm the palace and get those people out and get him out for his own security and safety.”
Mr Kaweesi added that he has to explain his involvement in these incidents. He will be charged with inciting violence and brought to Kampala.
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Around 14 police officers and 41 suspected attackers were confirmed killed in running battles between the two forces that cut across Kasese District in Uganda’s Rwenzori region on Saturday.
Gunfire rocked Kasese Town on Saturday afternoon and went on through the night as security operatives pursued people suspected to be involved in the fresh attacks.
Some of the houses in King Mumbere’s palace were set ablaze during the attack in the palace (D. Monitor)
The clashes went on across different parts of the district until late in the evening, leaving a police vehicle burnt in Kagando, in Bukonzo West.
Police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi told journalists in Kampala on Sunday that more 14 police officers and 41 Rwenzori assailants were killed in the Kasese clashes and also two UPDF soldiers were injured on Saturday.
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Mr Kaweesi said the attackers — not all of whom were royal guards — had guns, spears and improvised explosive devices, Daily Nation reports.
The Rwenzururu kingdom is a traditional monarchy based near the Rwenzori mountains which straddle Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its members are mainly the Bakonzo people — also found in both countries. | {
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I am new to this forum so forgive me if i am asking a question answered a lot. But, I wonder if this phone is ok since it runs out of power in four hours with no use other than receiving emails (not even answered on this phone).
The charge this morning took only an hour but then in 4 hrs was down to one bar.
The thread is almost a month old but I hope I can still help out. A lot of people don't realize that the brightness level on their device is sometimes set to 100%, which can kill the battery VERY quickly. Try lowering it down to 30% or so, where it's still very visible and still saves a lot of battery. | {
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Research Grants1
..Recent advances in the development of reagents coupled with this novel culture model will advance our understanding of this essential structure of the outer blood-retinal barrier. [unreadable] [unreadable].. | {
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Chris Bumstead: What I was Born to Do | Inside Look at My First Olympia
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fantastic.. epic training in flannel shirt.. Chris is better looking than his sister Melissa
Canada finally has another hero in bodybuilding along with the late and great big Paul Dillet..
Chris has surpassed Fouad and big Ben Pakulski with his looks alone
fantastic.. epic training in flannel shirt.. Chris is better looking than his sister Melissa
Canada finally has another hero in bodybuilding along with the late and great big Paul Dillet..
Chris has surpassed Fouad and big Ben Pakulski with his looks alone
fantastic.. epic training in flannel shirt.. Chris is better looking than his sister Melissa
Canada finally has another hero in bodybuilding along with the late and great big Paul Dillet..
Chris has surpassed Fouad and big Ben Pakulski with his looks alone
buffguy- couldn't disagree more but hey BB is subjective so you're entitled to your opinion for sure.
My only wish for Bumstead is that he'd pursue open bb. Guys with the great structure shouldn't be limiting themselves on size the way he does. Let the man grow into his frame. A 255 bumstead (+30lbs stage weight) would be an unreal sight.
buffguy- couldn't disagree more but hey BB is subjective so you're entitled to your opinion for sure.
He is trolling.
My only wish for Bumstead is that he'd pursue open bb. Guys with the great structure shouldn't be limiting themselves on size the way he does. Let the man grow into his frame. A 255 bumstead (+30lbs stage weight) would be an unreal sight.
buffguy- couldn't disagree more but hey BB is subjective so you're entitled to your opinion for sure.
My only wish for Bumstead is that he'd pursue open bb. Guys with the great structure shouldn't be limiting themselves on size the way he does. Let the man grow into his frame. A 255 bumstead (+30lbs stage weight) would be an unreal sight.
Yeah. Heís unreal
Iíve talked to him. And heís even stated he has no interest in doing what it takes right now to put on a quick 50#. Heís young and seems to value health.
I cant stand it when people make this comment , "i was born to do this " it makes no sense at all . pre determination can not exist. life is about the choices we make . I don't want to turn this into a religious thing . but if god did exist , im pretty sure he wouldnt say ........ im putting this person on this earth to be a good bodybuilder....... | {
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If multiple, complicated concerns are included, we may recommend a property examination so our medical professionals could find out much more regarding your circumstance as well as establish the very best strategy of action. Our strategy encourages young people to recognize the adverse consequences of making use of alcohol and various other medicines. We work very closely to assist teenagers learn ways to make far better decisions, begin a program of healing and also sustain soberness.
What You Should Know Regarding Inpatient Medication Rehab For Adolescents
Teens and also young adults might have different treatment demands than older compound abusers, as well as numerous in this population may not see the requirement for treatment by themselves. Secrecy concerning substance misuse as well as denial could prevail in young compound abusers, and typically therapy could initially be sought for them by their moms and dads or guardians. Age-specific and also specialized programs dealing with young adults as well as young adults could be beneficial in lowering problematic drug or alcohol usage along with enhancing addiction healing.
Could You Expect Substance Misuse Programs For Teens In Order To Help in VA
Methods that have actually been clinically evaluated as well as have evidence to support their usage are usually called research-based therapies. These therapies incorporate clinical proof as well as the expertise and also individual experiences of a treatment carrier. While a lot of the very same therapy designs that are utilized for adults could be made use of during drug rehabilitation for a teenager or young person, several of the specifics of the program might differ to deal with the distinct conditions of this population.
As parents see the nightmare unfold when their teenager ends up being suicidal, they wonder how they will certainly ever before reconnect with the child that they fear they are losing. It is the most helpless, hopeless feeling in the world, and also it could overwhelm an entire family with unbelievable pain, disorder, and also anguish.
The Best Ways to Take Back Control Of Your Life as Well as Eliminate The Manacles of Dependency in Painter VA 23420.
Life-controlling problems of teens are not restricted to medications or alcohol. A lot of them battle with the debris of divorce, have experienced injuries like sex-related assault or physical violence, intimidation, peer stress, and awkwardness that goes along with the difficulties of growing up.
Proper assessment of teen actions is essential since the line between normal and undesirable habits can be difficult for moms and dads to determine. Since numerous treatment programs concentrate on obtaining teens to accept that they have a medication trouble, it is necessary to figure out first whether that is truly the instance.
Heroin, long thought about among the most hazardous leisure medications, is a semi-synthetic opioid, like several of the generally utilized prescription painkillers. It was synthesized in 1874 as well as used for several years in health center settings. Quickly sufficient, dope dealer started selling unclean doses to customers looking for a fix, and heroin mixed a national headache of dependency and also overdose.
Locate Drug Rehab Centers For Teenagers Near You
Roughly 23% of teenagers making use of heroin will create a dependency, and also 75% of heroin individuals were linkeded on opioid medicines before changing to heroin. Heroin impacts the brain similarly, and also is in fact less expensive than most prescription opioids– it’s also being marketed in tablet type currently on the roads and around senior high schools. If your son or little girl is hooked on medicines, it’s vital to resolve their problem before they count on heroin or various other illicit medications. | {
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Lindsay Goldberg is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies in such sectors as consumer products, commodity-based manufacturing, energy services, business services, financial services, energy transmission and waste disposal. The firm, which is based in New York City, was founded in 2001 by Alan Goldberg, who had previously served as chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley Private Equity (later Metalmark Capital) and Robert Lindsay, who played a central role in the Bessemer Holdings private equity business, serving most recently as Managing General Partner since 1991. Goldberg and Lindsay had worked together in the 1980s at Morgan Stanley and were founding members of the private equity business in 1984. The firm has raised approximately $10 billion since inception across three funds. The firm raised $2 billion for its first fund in 2002. In 2006, the firm completed fundraising for its second fund with $3.1 billion of investor commitments. In 2008, Lindsay Goldberg commenced raising its third fund with a target of $4.0 billion. On December 31, 2008, the firm had raised $4.6 billion for its third fund. | {
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Explode with power every block, steal and run-out dunk. These basketball shoes have a four-way-stretch upper with a raised puff print. Cut low for speed, they have a padded collar for stability as you cut to the hoop. boost™ returns energy every time your foot hits the floor. | {
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Just So Stories
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The Just so Stories is a 1902 publication by Rudyard Kipling, containing fictional and deliberately fanciful tales for children. The stories pretend to explain animal characteristics, such as the origin of the spots on the leopard. | {
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Victor 23 Brewing
Victor 23 is a small-batch craft brewery that embraces the adventurous history of the Pacific Northwest. The brewery is named after the airway that runs from Portland to Seattle (and passes directly over Vancouver) - the same route that the infamous D.B. Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 and parachuted to an uncertain fate. | {
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All my scrapkits or any other designs I create are for personal use only not commercial unless stated otherwise.
I use resources from other designers that deserve credit for their work..so it's a big NO to use anything in my kits for commercial use purposes.
Do not redistribute, do not sell, do not place in a disc to sell or give away, do not claim as your own.
Lifetime CU4CU License Tou
$20 to purchase
1. If you want to create CU's with my CU items you must purchase my Lifetime CU4CU License.
This is a one time purchase and it entitles you to create your own commercial use items to sell or giveas freebie. This will be for all my items marked as CU. Most of my scripts have templates in them except those where I used resources from another designer, for those I will label them as "Not CU4CU". You can also create scripts and actions with my CU's as long as you add your own style. You will be able to create your own commercial use items with both my free and purchased CU items. The cost of the license is $20. You must make modifications to my CU's...they cannot be repacked, sold or given as is unless they are in a CU Elements Pack and the pack does not contain only my Commercial Use items. You must add your own style if it's going to be a stand alone product and you can include a template as long as you added your own style, I'm not that picky, but this license does not entitle you to offer my CU items as CU4CU.
2. You must place this license in your blog, site or store (where applicable) with a link back to Scraps Dimensions. Credit is required in your Read Me or Credits folder. The license will bear your blog, site or store name on it. Please allow 48 hours or less for the license to be issued. Depends on whether or not I'm on my computer at the moment.
3. Once you purchase the license you can start creating your CU's before you get the license since I will be keeping a log on every purchase. After purchasing the license email me letting me know with your site name and link.
4. No more than 30% of my CU's should be in a CU Elements pack.
5. My email with any concerns regarding this license is [email protected]. This email address will be only about any issues or questions concerning the license.
CU Tou
1. My free or purchased CU's are for you to use however you find fit, but you must place my CU License in your site with a link back to my blog if you use my free CU's. This license is free. (You'll find the license on the right hand side of my blog and below this post).
2. Do not claim any CU's as your own or make other CU's(CU4CU) with them. If you want to create Commercial Use items with my CU's you must purchase my Lifetime CU4CU license.
3. You may use my Commercial Use items to create scrapbooks, layouts or any other art project for sale as long as it is for personal use only. Credit is required.
4. You may integrate my Commercial Use items in freebie scrapkits for personal use only. Credit is required.
5. You may create templates with my CU's as long as they are given or sold for personal use only and proper credit is given.
6. No more than 30% of my items should be in your scrapkits.
7. Do not put my CU's in a disc to sell or give away.
Tutorial writers are always welcome
If you do tutorials with my scrapkits please credit me properly
and refer people directly to my blog or store to download or purchase.
You can alter colors to fit your designs.
You can mix my FTU scrapkits with other designer's kits as long as you credit me for my scrapkits and it's fine by other designers TOU.
You may not mix my PTU scrapkits with other designer's scrapkits.
Do not use my kits or any design I create for pornography or anything against the law.
DO NOT HOTLINK!!!
This TOU is subject to change at any time.
Please notify me if you find I am not being copyright compliant.
Please respect my terms of use. If you have any questions regarding my terms you can contact me at [email protected] . Thank you for reading and respecting my terms of use.
Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Doris Lynch, I live in Queens, New York. I am married, have a beautiful 14 year old daugther, I am a pet groomer and have two dogs. On my spare time I love working with PSP and Photoshop. I opened this blog to share with others what I create. Hope you enjoy my kits and creations as much as I enjoy making them. Feel free to grab what you like and please leave a comment to get to know you. Looking forward to meeting and sharing with you.
LinkWithin
My freebies or PTU's are not public domain. Do not share anything in this blog from other servers. Always send people to my blog to download my freebies here. Credit is required if you use my creations. Always read my TOU for the latest update. Thank you.
Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Doris Lynch, I live in Queens, New York. I am married, have a beautiful teenage daugther, I am a pet groomer and have three dogs. On my spare time I love working with PSP and Photoshop. I opened this blog to share with others what I create. Hope you enjoy my creations as much as I enjoy making them. Feel free to grab what you like and please leave a comment to get to know you. Looking forward to meeting and sharing with you.
Thank you, Doris | {
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A blog covering all technical issues I come across in my life. Mostly that's bugs and fixes for Windows or Mac OS X. It also covers software development issues I come across my work as a software engineer. I rarely post a problem without a fix, so the main goal of this blog is really to solve problems, not just list them. If you are looking for support for my application Fetch Art, check out my Fetch Art specific blog.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Fetch Art 1.2 and iTunes 7
Today apple announced iTunes 7. I'm currently at work and cannot test it with Fetch Art (although I am downloading the new version, it's going slow, the servers must be busy.) However, they claim they've added an album art download feature which may make Fetch Art obsolete.
I'll have to do some testing to see how it works (and how well it works) to see if this will signal the end of development on Fetch Art which of course will break my heart.
UPDATE: I've completed testing with iTunes 7 on several PowerPC Macs and am happy to report Fetch Art runs great on all the machines I tested on. Still working towards Intel Mac support though.
I'd love to hear you comments as well. Let me know if you think the new feature of iTunes successfully replaces Fetch Art or if there are still reasons to continue developing the application.
Hi - I just tried Fetch Art with iTunes 7 - I got the same error as akseeker
Incidentally, iTunes 7 art download is dependent on having an iTunes store account - those countries that don't have an iTunes store (like us folks in New Zealand) simply can't use it - good reason to continue Fetch Art - call it aid for the underdeveloped world in the 21st century - like the Peace Corps used to do!
Fetch Art is still necessary. iTunes doesn't allow for running specified songs - its your entire library or nothing. And given how error prone all artwork grabbers can be - I really don't want to run it on my entire library. Please keep up the good work.
I had the same problem as akseeker but have installed the following perl bits and bobs but doing the normal perl Makefile.PL;make;make install.libwww-perl-5.805XML-NamespaceSupport-1.09XML-Simple-2.14XML-SAX-0.14
They have all been put into /Library/perl/5.8.6
I wonder what happened to them? Did iTunes 7 remove them when it upgraded? I have only ever tried Fetch art with iTunes 7.
It now runs without errors, it seems to look for stuff and lights flash very briefly on the ADSL modem but no artwork is ever returned.
Just like 'thetoydog' I am in New Zealand and there are no iTunes accounts for us due to unfeasibly mad copyright laws. Just listening to music is virtually an infringement since it involves a change of format.
I think your app is actually MORE needed now, because apple seems to have a MUCH more limited range of cover art than amazon does, and the new cover-art-search feature is only cool if you have the cover art!
Hey all. I've gotten lots of feedback (not just at this blog, but through email too) since the iTunes 7 release.
I am working to catch up with all correspondence, so please be patient.
My goals are to work to debug the increase in Perl errors that are getting reported as well as to evaluate the interest in continuing development. So far most people have asked me to continue development for various reasons, one of them being, that Apple's music store often doesn't find artwork for songs as well as Fetch Art.
I'm afraid this is not working at all for me on 10.4.7, althought the old version worked fine with 10.3 and itunes 6.I got rid of all signs of the old one.
It doesn't install into the scripts menu. If I drag it into the scripts folder, it won't open from the itunes menu. So I have to open it as a separate application.Then I get the same Perl error message as everyone else seems to.Then when I highlight some songs and open Fetch, the songs appear in the window, it says it is downloading, and then it just stops. If I eventually click on the fetchart window, I get the message NSContainerSpecifierError (2).
ya...ummm....I can't c my album covers on the new device I got with iTunes 7...it has this error message: iTunes is unable to browse album covers on this computer. Can you tell me wat 2 do on my blog?? It's ihellaluvbois.blogspot.com | {
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Monthly Archives: August 2012
skip to the demo… As with the network diagrams discussed earlier, geographic data can often benefit from the ability to be explored in an interactive manner. The World Bank has many statistics on a per country basis as do other organizations. The CIA World Fact Book also has many statistics like this useful listing of… Read More »
This post lays out some of the importance of interactivity for network diagrams and we think is well worth a read (or at least a skim!); however, if you wish to skip to the demos, these are linked at the end of the post. Visualizing network data is a prime example of a research activity… Read More »
From the beginning of this project, we have been keen to build upon the best of the existing tools and not “reinvent the wheel.” At the same time, however, we have set ourselves some unique parameters to allow the widest use of visualizations produced with the tools we develop. In particular, we want our visualizations… Read More » | {
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14 pilots, 31 cabin crew failed alcohol test this year
Fourteen pilots and 31 cabin crew members have been found reporting for duty under the influence of alcohol till March this year, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Wednesday.
Of the total 14 pilots and 31 cabin crew who failed the pre-flight breath analyser test, a large number of pilots and cabin crew were of Jet Airways, he said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
This year between January and March, four pilots and 10 cabin crew of Jet Airways reported for duty under the influence of alcohol.
Two pilots and nine cabin crew of IndiGo airlines, three each pilots and cabin crew of Air India, two pilots and three cabin crew of SpiceJet, one pilot and three cabin crew of JetLite and two pilots and a cabin crew of Kingfisher Airlines failed the pre-flight breath analyser test.
No pilot of GoAir and Air India Express failed the alcohol test but one cabin crew each of both these airlines were caught reporting for duty at the airport under the influence of alcohol, Singh said in a written reply.
Last year in January and March, the number of pilots and cabin crew was four and 21 respectively.
Singh said the Civil Aviation regulator DGCA has amended the relevant Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) under which strict action will be taken like suspension of licences for three months for first offence and for five years in case they are tested positive during the pre flight medical examination for the second time.
For flights originating in India, this regulation requires 100 per cent of flight crew and 100 per cent of cabin crew being subjected to pre flight medical check. | {
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BLACKWELL: And I'm Victor Blackwell. And it is a pleasure to have you with us. It's 7:00 here on the East Coast and it's NEW DAY SATURDAY.
PAUL: And we want to begin with a major development on a story that I know we and I have been following for weeks. A judge orders a hospital to remove a pregnant woman now from breathing machines. That's been a big fight up until now. BLACKWELL: This is the decision that relatives of Marlise Munoz have been waiting for. Attorneys for the hospital, though, are now publicly acknowledging what Munoz's family has been telling the world.
PAUL: That's she's been brain-dead, for one, since November 28th, and, two, that her fetus is not viable.
BLACKWELL: Hospital officials have kept Munoz alive, citing a state law that forbids removing life-sustaining treatment from a pregnant patient.
Nick Valencia is outside the hospital in Fort Worth.
Nick, good morning to you.
And even with this ruling, this case is not necessarily closed yet, right?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not over, no. It's going to be another agonizing weekend for Eric Munoz, the husband of Marlise Munoz, and her parents who will have to wait to see if the hospital will appeal the judge's decision made on Friday. As you mentioned, the judge ruled that Marlise Munoz should be taken off the ventilator and that the fetus is not viable.
Now, all along, the hospital here behind me, John Peter Smith Hospital, has maintained that their simply following state law. And that they had no legal precedent to go off of, and they felt this state law was applicable in the case of Marlise Munoz. Now, earlier, one of the professors, Southern Methodist University professor who helped co-write this law, he told CNN last week that the hospital was misinterpreting this law. It was applicable to a living person and because Marlise Munoz was legally brain dead, that this did not apply.
All of that was put to rest yesterday with the judge's decision when they agreed on crucial facts. Both the hospital and family of Munoz saying that the fetus is not viable and that Marlise Munoz has been legally brain-dead since November 28th. This has been months of wait and see for the family, Victor and Christi.
VALENCIA: It was a very dramatic day in court yesterday. A lot of very gruesome details that were released, and some of them coming from the lawyer of the family. Eric Munoz, this is the husband of Marlise Munoz, saying he could smell his wife's decaying body. That every time he touched her that she cracked. That her organs were decomposing. That she has not been alive for some time.
So, as far as the Munoz family is concerned, she should have been taken off the ventilator a long time ago. As we mentioned Christi and Victor, is this a very agonizing case. A wait and see at this moment -- Victor, Christi.
PAUL: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you so much for giving us the latest. We appreciate it.
And we're going to talk more about the legal ramifications of this ruling, too, in our next hour. So, keep it here on NEW DAY SATURDAY with us.
BLACKWELL: You have so many angles and elements of this story.
Also Wall Street slammed this week.
PAUL: Ouch.
BLACKWELL: I mean, no market was safe. The Dow saw its biggest drop, or its worst week let's say, since 2011. While the S&P dropped by more than 2 1/2 percent. S&P plunge could mean a big hit your retirement account since it -- you know, most closely tracks your 401(k).
PAUL: And the thing is, those dramatic swings say some analysts say, mean that we could be looking at our first major correction since last year's record gain.
So, Alison Kosik has more on the drop itself.
Good morning, Alison.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor and Christi.
Stocks ended with a huge thud on Friday. There was a sea of red arrows on the board. The Dow plunged almost 320 points or almost 2 percent. It was the culmination of an especially brutal week in which stocks fell every single day. In the end, the major averages lost 1 percent to 3 percent each.
The fell also circled the globe, hitting major markets in Asia and Europe. Friday, the big issue was the selloff and currencies in emerging markets. Countries like Argentina and Turkey saw their currency plunge against the dollar, amid renewed concerns about the U.S. Federal Reserve ending its stimulus program. That stimulus has been giving economies around the world a boost.
And that's not all. Wall Street also got slammed by concerns about China's economy slowing down, an economy that has been growing at a really solid pace.
And then here at home, worries about corporate America added insult to injury. Big names like Verizon, IBM and Johnson & Johnson, reported earnings that disappointed the streak. The thinking is, if companies aren't doing well, they won't grow, hire and invest.
Roll it all together, and it's a perfect storm. Investors went running for the exits. And the pace of selling picked up as Friday's session wore on.
But, Victor and Christi, remember, the S&P 500 surged by 29 percent last year. So, there is still some wiggle room.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: All right. Alison Kosik for us, thank you.
PAUL: So, Justin Bieber's road show in Miami, not so much a hit, at least not with everybody.
BLACKWELL: No. And it's not over.
We're now seeing video from what police say is the street race that landed Bieber in trouble. This was early Thursday. He was charged with DUI, along with resisting arrest.
PAUL: And look at that. Yes. Spending the night in jail didn't really hurt his popularity, it seems. Those are the fans screaming his name as he left his hotel last night. Left Miami, how else? Of course on a private jet.
And CNN's Alexandra Field is live in New York.
So, Bieber, Alexandra, he's a millionaire, and then some.
BLACKWELL: Few extra dollars.
PAUL: Could his business empire take a hit in any way because of this?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi and Paul, image consultants are saying all of this could go one of two ways, if he stays out of trouble from here on out, he could walk away with sort of a bad boy image which could actually just widen his appeal. That's probably the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that the string of recent problems really just alienates that young fan base that actually propelled him into stardom in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FIELD (voice-over): We can all remember one time when Justin Bieber was the fresh-faced heartthrob who attracted millions of Belebers with that voice and that hair. But a string of recent run-ins have left the pop star with a bad rap and a rap sheet to go with it.
CARLOS GREER, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: He was arrested and he was crying because he got arrested. So this is real life. This isn't some pop star trying to rebrand himself.
FIELD: The 19-year-old is thought to be work more than $100 million. He's had five platinum album, a popular perfume and a slew of endorsement deals.
Adidas confirms they're sticking with Bieber. Their statement, quote, "Nothing has changed with our partnership at this time."
But beyond this week's arrest in Miami for drunken drive, the entertainer's legal troubles are mounting. GREER: Bieber is currently under investigation for allegedly egging his neighbor's home and he could be charged with vandalism.
FIELD: Industry watchers suggest the big business of being Bieber could take a hit.
BOBBY OWSINSKI, FORBES CONTRIBUTOR: His current movie has actually been pretty much a bomb. It earned about 6 million. Whereas his previous movie did about $74 million domestically. So, that's the big problem.
One of the tenets of branding is you have to be likable. So, he was very likable at one point. And now, he's not so much.
FIELD: Mugging for his mug shot, climbing on top of his jail getaway car. But could it just be part of a bigger plan for the Bieber brand?
HAYES ROTH, MARKETING EXECUTIVE, LANDOR: As an adult, I find that kind of appalling. As a parent, I find it appalling. But I betcha if I was a teenaged girl, I would probably find that kind of exciting. And maybe that's the intent.
FIELD: He has die-hard fans and a Twitter following that's 49 million strong. If anything, he's only attracting more attention.
GREER: I think we will be talking about him three years from now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: So, Alexandra, Bieber is Canadian, and could he actually be deported because of this?
FIELD: OK, well, Victor, legal analysts say that is unlikely, but it also perhaps a little too early to tell. First of all, Bieber has not been convicted of anything. He could still face additional charges as his investigation proceeds forward. But right now, he is charged with misdemeanors.
Our legalist points that under U.S. immigration law, people can be deported if they're convicted of what's called an aggravated felony or a crime of moral turpitude. DUI does not fall under those categories. Aggravated DUI in Florida can be considered a crime of moral turpitude.
And that's usually charged when an accident has occurred has occurred in a serious injury or in a death or when you're talking about the case of repeat offender.
So, it is not a charge that Bieber faces -- Victor.
PAUL: All right. Alexandra Field in New York for us -- Alexandra, good to see you this morning. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: The United States is moving warships into the Black Sea.
PAUL: Yes, they're not going to the Olympic Games. But they're there to evacuate Americans in case of emergency. And this move comes just as American athletes are hearing warnings -- isn't that right, Nick?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, being told not to wear their distinctive Ralph Lauren uniforms if they leave his ring of steel, where they're heavily protected behind me.
A live report coming up on NEW DAY SATURDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Happy Saturday, Russia.
A live look at the snow-covered Moscow where it's late afternoon right now. High temperature there today, 9 degrees. It sounds like a country where you'd want to hold Winter Olympics. But now, the State Department has a warning for American Palestinians heading to Sochi, Russia.
PAUL: It's telling them, basically, you know, don't look too American -- for your own safety, of course. In particular, it's urging the athletes to lay off wearing the red, white and blue Olympic uniforms outside of heavily secured Olympic Village and the so-called ring of steel that surrounds Sochi.
BLACKWELL: CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Sochi.
Nick, what is prompting this specific warning from the State Department? We've heard concerned leading up to this with, you know, those suicide bombers in Volgograd, but specifically, don't look too American outside his ring of steel.
WALSH: Well, I think in many ways, the State Department would like to put in a qualifier, they have issued this advice for other Olympics. One person was telling me, they did similar around London.
But let's not forget, this is one of the most volatile regions near Europe. It's been a 10-year long Islamic insurgency happening here. Not necessarily in Sochi or Adler, a beautiful day here where I have to say where the Olympics go going to be held, but across north Caucasus, where we have Chechnya, Dagestan (INAUDIBLE) where the insurgency has been thriving, warnings from militants there that they will create flames to engulf these games. More specific suicide bombings in nearby towns.
The State Department says the militants behind this aren't specifically targeting Americans, in many ways. That's the open advice they give to tourists, but they tell them to be careful as well. The chilling, though, is the seemingly more private State Department warning to American athletes, don't look too American when you leave the secured area here. That perhaps suggests that behind closed doors when the warning was originally given, they're a little more concerned than maybe seen publicly, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh there for us in Sochi, thank you.
All right. So, we've got fewer than two weeks until the opening ceremonies. And authorities are hunting for three black widow bombers as they're called in Russia.
PAUL: Yes, Russian police say, this woman, I want you -- whatever you're doing, please take a look at your screen here. This woman might inside the city and ready to strike. Officials are also on the lookout for these two women. See them. They could be near or around Sochi.
BLACKWELL: The so-called "black widows" are a unique group of terrorists that has emerged from Russia's clashes with Chechen separatists.
PAUL: Here is the thing -- their goal is to avenge their husbands' deaths. So, that's just part of what makes them so dangerous. But else sets them apart from other criminals?
I want to bring in security and threat assessment expert Evy Poumpouras.
I know a lot, Evy, and thank you so much for being with us.
When we report terrorists, they are male. How does being female benefit their mission?
EVY POUMPOURAS, SECURITY AND THREAT ASSESSMENT EXPERT: Being female benefits their mission in that you don't see it coming because it's exactly what you said, you expect a male. So we've created a stereotype in our minds, law enforcement and military as well. They're expecting the terrorist to look a certain way, but they're not expecting this. That's what makes this unique and makes this more vulnerable.
BLACKWELL: Beyond the aesthetics, what psychologically sets these black widow bombers apart from other criminals?
POUMPOURAS: OK. First of all, when we're talking about terrorism, it's different from conventional crime. Conventional crime, as we understand it is usually for personal gain. Here when we're dealing with terrorism and black widows, they're serving a divine purpose, something greater than themselves.
And also in essence, they're seeking revenge. So, they feel justified in doing what they're doing, which is what makes them more lethal. They don't see anything wrong with it. They rationalize it and it justifies what they're doing, which is essentially martyring themselves as suicide bombers. And that's what making them lethal.
PAUL: OK. So authorities sit down and they try to profile a black widow, what kind of techniques will police use to do that? And what kind of characteristics or, you know, behaviors, will they be looking for that will stand out to them?
POUMPOURAS: You know, that's where are good what you said, you hit on a key element, behaviors. Everybody is looking for that physical look, that physical profile, and it's not about that. It's about the behaviors. So you want to look at that stare, a lot of times if somebody is right about to engage, they'll have that stare, they're fixated. They're kind of tuning out what's going on around them, because they're focused on their mission. You'll see them sweating profusely, obviously, because they're nervous. They don't want to get caught.
Bulky clothes is something else you want to look at. They can hide the explosive device either in a backpack or behind them, if they're hiding a suicide vest.
Also, you know, their mannerisms, what are they doing, how are they behaving? Are they communicating anything? Another thing you can think of is right before they're on to detonate, you may hear that person saying a prayer beforehand. These are all elements that you want to look out for, and especially those odd behaviors. Does this person fit into the environment? Do they look off? That's what you're looking for.
BLACKWELL: And Nick Paton Walsh has reported from Sochi, of course there's this ring of steel, thousands of members of security. But also that quite possibly, one of these black widows has already gotten inside that ring, inside Sochi. So what you're telling us this morning is that the pictures we're seeing this morning of these three women, they're not going to look anything like that now that they're inside this Olympic village.
POUMPOURAS: Not if you're smart. That is not what you want to look like. You have to think like your opponent, your adversary, the terrorist. If I'm looking to successfully succeed, right, and detonate a suicide bomb, I'm not going to look like that.
I'm going to take the clothes off. I'm going to dress in normal clothing as everybody else in Western clothing. I'm going to dye my hair, cut my hair. I'm going to make my appearance that I can hide where, in plain sight. That's what you're looking for. You want to mix in with everyone else.
BLACKWELL: Then, of course, there's the question, as we wrap up with you, Evy Poumpouras, thank you so much for joining us, that question, is this a diversion? Everyone's looking at Sochi, and expecting something to happen there. Could they use that and then strike somewhere else? Hopefully, no strikes at all.
But I know security there in Sochi is watching out. And so is the State Department here in the U.S. Again, Evy, thank you.
PAUL: Evy, thank you.
POUMPOURAS: Thank you.
PAUL: OK, so switching it up here quite a bit. Almost $8,000. A lot of money.
BLACKWELL: That's a whole lot of money.
PAUL: That's how much Seattle Seahawks corner back Richard Sherman is getting fine for taunting.
Next week's Super Bowl, of course, is not the only thing that football fans are talking. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has been hit with almost $8,000 in fines for taunting during Sunday's game.
PAUL: And he now told CNN that, you know what, he regrets his actions because it took away from his team's success.
CNN's Joe Carter is joining us live now.
JOE CARTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of opinions about this whole story. We've heard them all week. Some of the negative things in terms of racism, you know, very inappropriate. But here in the NFL, some people call it the "no fun league" for all its rules, the NFL has a lot of them and this is one you cannot do and that it's taunt. You cannot taunt another player.
So, this fine has nothing to do with what Richard Sherman said, it's what Richard Sherman what he did.
PAUL: It's not the rant.
CARTER: And to clarify what he did. I believe we have the video of it. Basically at the end of the game, Colin Kaepernick went to throw a pass to Michael Crabtree. That's when Sherman batted the pass down. He went over to Colin Kaepernick and he made a choking gesture. It's basically doing something like this to say, hey, you choked in that play, we ended up winning.
That's what the NFL is fining him nearly $8,000 for. Not so much for what he said, but for what he did.
And he said to Rachel Nichols last night, it was a great interview, sit-down interview with the two of them, that -- hey, he regrets the attention that he's getting is taking away from basically what his team's great success.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SHERMAN, NFL PLAYER: Mostly I regret, I guess, the storm afterwards -- the way it was covered, the way it was perceived, and the attention that it took away from the fantastic performances from my teammates, you know? And that would be the only part of it I regret.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: One thing's clear, guys. I mean, Richard Sherman, whether you're on the side of oh, I like what he said, or I don't like what he said, one thing is very clear -- that this week, he has done everything possible to get out in front of this and to turn a negative into a positive. I mean, he clearly is a smart guy with a great back story. We've heard this -- a guy from Compton, going to Stanford, going to the NFL, a young player with so much of a bright future ahead of him.
The bottom line here is that he's trying to get the attention off of him and put it on his team because next week, the big spotlight, the media day, so much of what we've been talking about, hopefully, none of that will be what we've been talking about whole week which is the rant.
PAUL: All righty. Hey, Joe Carter, thank you very much.
BLACKWELL: Thank you, Joe.
PAUL: I learned something from him, NFL, "no fun league."
BLACKWELL: Yes, that's going to be the hashtag this morning.
Hey, so, take a look at your screen. We'll show you this video. Would you believe a pair of tweezers and an eyebrow pencil started all of this? You got to see this high-speed chase and find out what happened here.
PAUL: Plus, surprise, surprise. Late-night comic has a field day with Justin Bieber's arrest. If you missed them, we got the best for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Mortgage rates dipped this week. Take a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: All righty, 7:28. Just so you can be on time today. We're glad to have you with us here. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Five things you need to know for your NEW DAY now.
Up first, a judge in Texas orders a hospital to remove a pregnant woman from breathing machines. This is the decision that relatives of Marlise Munoz has been waiting for. Attorneys for the hospital now acknowledge that Munoz is brain-dead and her fetus is not viable. Now, her husband must wait to see if the hospital files an appeal. The deadline for that set by the judge is Monday at 5:00 p.m.
Number two, the Dow plummets 300 points this week, dropping 3 1/2 percent, the worst week since 2011 for the first major correction in 2 1/2 years. Investors have been spooked by less than stellar corporate earnings, and worries that China may be slowing down its red hot growth.
Number three, watch as this truck burst into flames during a high- speed chase in Iowa. Police say they were shocked the truck could go so fast on flat tires and that may have been caused by the fire. Police say woman in a car stole tweezers and an eyebrow pencil from a store. But the driver fled because he thought he had a warrant out for his arrest, but police say he did not. Both now have been charged.
PAUL: In case you wonder what he did that he thought he had a warrant out.
OK Number four, George Zimmerman trying to sell another piece of art and this is it. The Associated Press and a freelance photographer has sent a cease and desist letter. The photographer's attorney says Zimmerman ripped off that AP photo on the left to make a portrait on the right. It shows Florida's state attorney Angela Corey obviously announcing murder charges against him.
And number five, the Supreme Court is siding with the little sisters of the poor. This is a catholic charity run by nuns who objected on religious grounds that Obamacare requirement they provide contraceptive coverage. The Supreme Court has now extended an emergency injunction, excusing them from that requirement while the case proceeds in a federal appeals court.
So, you've been paying attention, you know the Republican party is making big changes.
BLACKWELL: Yes. It's now moved its convention to nominate a presidential candidate to the earliest date since 1948. It's now going to be held in June of 2016. The change was unanimously approved at the RNC winter meeting. Officials say it will help curb some of the vicious infighting which actually have hurt Mitt Romney back if 2012.
PAUL: Now, that was a conversation they've been having a lot back in the day there. But it says that's not the only change. Republicans are also trying to change their tone on how they court female voters.
So CNN's Erin McPike has more for us from Washington. I know that, Erin, you have comments made about women maybe backfiring at this point.
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, that's right. So, Democrats are seizing once again on what they're calling Republicans war on women and that thanks to a comment Mike Huckabee made on Thursday at that meeting of the Republican national committee in Washington. Take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS HOST: Our party stands for the recognition of quality of women and the capacity of women. That's not a war on them. It's a war for them. And if the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without uncle sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the federal government, then so be it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCPIKE: Well, plenty of high-profile Republicans were not too pleased about that, like Rick Santorum who was on "CROSSFIRE " just a few hours later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Do you thing language like that helps the image with women?
RICK SANTORUM (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Governor Huckabee by could have phrased that differently. Mike speaks off the cuff as some of us are known to do and probably would chosen different words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCPIKE: Now, other party leaders are even more upset about it especially because Republicans have gone to great lengths over the past year to promote the women in their ranks like tapping Cathy McMorris-Rodgers to deliver their state of the union response on Tuesday. And they have launched initiatives to reach women voters. So, this is the warning that RNC chairman, Reince Priebus, sent at that meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: As we look to branch of our party, we must be conscious of tone and choice of words when we communicate those policies effectively. We should set the standard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCPIKE: Priebus also called for an RNC committeeman to step down from his post after he made some disparaging comments about gays and Muslims. So an effort to change the GOP image is under way, Christi and Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right, CNN's Erin McPike, thank you. And we will have more about this RNC reboot throughout the morning.
PAUL: We also have to talk about so many of you who are getting hit with this brutal winter weather in the south. I mean, Texas and Louisiana battled a rare deep freeze yesterday. The question is, would you see warmth, people?
BLACKWELL: Please, some things do.
Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray. Something, please.
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, something's got to give. And we actually are going to see a little bit of a warm up which is nice. But I'm from Louisiana and it's not every day you see cities in south Louisiana around southeast Texas with ice. So brutal conditions in south Louisiana. You are going to be getting a warm up as we go through the next couple of days. Good news there.
Also in Indiana, we had quite the pileup, look at that on the interstate. So, it was a dangerous situation in the north. We're going to continue to see the same as we go through the next couple of days in the north. Still snow expected in those northern cities.
But look at this warm up. New Orleans, you'll be at 63 degrees by Sunday. Memphis, you'll be at 58. But look at that cool down, once again. Just when we start to warm up, it gets cold again, 23 degrees by Tuesday. Atlanta, our high temperature on Tuesday will be at 34.
Snow in the Ohio valley for today. That's really the only weather story going on besides the very warm condition and dry conditions out in the west. Even places like Nashville could pick up a few little peaks of snow. But we are continue, guys, to see the very cold temperatures in the north, actually a blizzard watch for the entire state of North Dakota.
BLACKWELL: All right, Jennifer Gray, we will watch out for it. Thank you.
PAUL: You know, the weather's been pretty nice in Miami, though.
BLACKWELL: Yes, the weather has been nice in Miami. But, Justin Bieber, he still skipped town last night.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)
BLACKWELL: The Believers.
PAUL: Good heavens.
BLACKWELL: They believe his arrest this week did not stop fans from mobbing him as he left his hotel. But for the late-night comics, the Biebs is less of a heartthrob and more of a target.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: Let's see what's going on with Justin Bieber or the police are calling him the weenie in the Lamborghini, ladies and gentlemen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Grammy awards right here on CBS, ladies and gentlemen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sunday night. Justin Bieber will be there. He's been nominated for best rap sheet.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: And there's more.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
PAUL: Just wait. The Biebs was even in a slow jam bit with Jimmy Fallon and Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, the president will also be discussing his health care plan with many hoping to hear his solutions to some of the issues that have affected its rollout. Such as lower than expected enrollment and employees getting dropped from their existing plans. Not to mention an Obamacare Web site that has been riddled with technical problems and glitches.
JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN HOST: Glitch, please.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: Got to listen to the mitt man. He had a program that works for the people of Massachusetts. Let's say it didn't suffer from any performance problem it's in hardware department, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: I don't know how they keep a straight face. Sometimes, I feel like I see Jimmy Fallon kind of going, I don't know how I'm going to get through this.
(CROSSTALK)
PAUL: Stay with us this morning because we do have an interview, I know you don't want to miss.
BLACKWELL: Yes, rapper Vanilla Ice chats with us about the huge pressures on young stars. And how they can still end up in trouble. That's about 90 minutes on NEW DAY.
PAUL: And you know what, we're just about 36 hours away from the start of the 56th annual Grammy awards. But we've got a sneak peek for you.
BLACKWELL: We do, after the break. HLN's Robin Meade goes backstage with the hottest stars. \
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: So big night tomorrow for the music world as artists come together to celebrate the 56th annual Grammy awards. And guess who already got a backstage pass, people. The host of HLN's "MORNING EXPRESS," our very own Robin Meade.
So, I know you spent, Robin, obviously, a lot of time with some of these folks, and these folks backstage and Sarah Bareilles. What did she say to you? Yes, what did she say to you that would stock out to you?
ROBIN MEADE, HLN HOST, MORNING EXPRESS: You know, the first thing I knew I had to ask her was about the song that is she's nominated for "Brave," but then, she is also nominated for the huge category, something as a dark horse because her sales do not compare to a lot of where people who are left off.
But that the thing that are a lot of people talked about on the Internet was, and twitter, was about her song "Brave" and Katy Perry's song, "war."
PAUL: I heard about this.
MEADE: So, I had to ask her, what's the deal with it? People say they're very similar that Katy may have copied off of you and he almost went -- with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEADE: How are you?
SARAH BAREILLES, SINGER: Good.
MEADE: Good. It's nuts right now, right?
BAREILLES: A little crazy, yes.
MEADE: So, what do you make about the whole thing where people try to say, God, "brave" and "war" sound a whole lot alike and now you're nominated in the same category.
BAREILLES: To get her name in the same category as me is great for me. it is strange to watch two songs that are both powerful, empower messages and that somehow we're trying to pit us against each other against each other like Katy and I are friends. We've known each other for a very long time. And I wish her all the best and I know she feels the same for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MEADE: Wasn't that gracious of her? And was just like, come on, you know, we are strong women. And so, she said they've been friends for a long time, and they support each other. So, it feels like nothing much ado about that.
PAUL: She's got her head on straight.
MEADE: Yes.
PAUL: And I love to see that because I want to cheer for people that I know cheer for other people.
MEADE: Right. And she is like, here we are nominated together, but we're friends. So she -- it think people will look at her kind of something as a dark horse for the big award of the night which is the album of the year while I think artistically and creatively, she's astounding, a good writer. People will look at the stales of the album and the albums that got talked about this year and go. Sarah is nominated, God, but, Bruno Mars didn't get in there?
PAUL: I was going to ask you about that. When you saw the list, did you go, wait a minute, and did the name pop in the back of your head going why aren't they there?
MEADE: I love Sarah Bareilles, but I cannot get enough of Bruno Mars' album this year. And it was not in the biggest category. This one --
PAUL: Yes, everybody loves it. We do it here at the breaks.
MEADE: Not to say that he's shut out entirely in the Grammys. That's not the case at all. But the big award of the night, the whole thing you put out, the album itself. He's not in there. Justin Timberlake is not in there. I think this is warmer, Kanye wasn't in there, too. So, some of the largest albums were not. But then again --
PAUL: What do you think that says about the state of what people choose?
MEADE: Well, sometimes, I think we think commercial success means artistic and creative success. And apparently, the Grammy voters, they don't always see it that way. But I was fascinated to get to talk to someone who's been to the Grammys for before. I didn't realize for Darius Rucker who is now country and a lot of viewers will recognize him from hootie and the blowfish. I think a lot of people still go, mistakenly, there's hootie.
What's funny to me is that stars look at other stars and they still get geek up, too, if you listen to what he says.
PAUL: I don't doubt it.
MEADE: OK. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARIUS DUCKER, SINGER: This is going to be a little crazy. You know, McCartney is going to be there. If I'm going to say, we are McCartney, that is going to be tough for me not to go all fan girl.
MEADE: Hey, who would you like to collaborate, other than Paul McCartney, maybe, that you haven't got around to or you're bashful to ask?
DUCKER: I'd love to work, of course, McCartney, I love to work with Reba McEntire (ph). I love to work with Miranda. I love to work with Jay-Z, you know. That's one of my bucket list things to sing a hook on a big rap song. That's just that I want to do so bad, but you know.
MEADE: Why can't you make this could happen?
DUCKER: I don't know. No one's ever called me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Not until now.
MEADE: He said he's too bashful to hit people to him them to collaborate.
PAUL: I understand that.
MEADE: Yes. Maybe, he will be on Kanye song.
PAUL: He crosses such borders, too. Because it wasn't -- he didn't come out with hootie as country. Now, he's county. Now, he's talking about doing rap. But, he has got that sound. I'm sure that he could do it.
MEADE: I hope people are able to watch this special. Because you'll also hear, we did ask him, will there be any more projects with hootie and the blowfish? I'm not going to tell you what the answer is.
PAUL: She knows how to change that.
MEADE: Yes, there was also my favorite part of the interview I want you to tune in and watch. And it was about how we got the idea to do the song "wagon wheel" as a cover on his album. And it had to do with his kid's talent show.
PAUL: I love it.
MEADE: Can you believe that?
PAUL: I can't wait to hear this. You've got kids -- that alone --.
OK, so you can watch more Robin Meade, by the way, with Sarah Brailles, Darius Rucker and more. It is tonight, Backstage express, 6:30 right here on CNN. You don't want to miss it.
Thank you, Robin.
MEADE: Thank you.
PAUL: Victor, back to you!
BLACKWELL: Those are good teases. We will be watching.
A woman goes a potluck, but the other guests are pot unlucky. That isn't oregano in that pot luck. Why she's now facing poisoning charges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: So, this could be coming up, you know, because of super bowl. You are invited to a pot luck. You know, the kind where everybody brings a dish to the party.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Well, police in Benicia, California are accusing a guest at a recent pot luck dinner of, I don't know, adding one ingredient to the party, not salt, not pepper.
PAUL: And they see is, I mean, they say the food that this elementary school teacher brought was laced with pot and now she is facing charges.
BLACKWELL: Andrea Borbeau (ph) from CNN affiliate KTIX has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA BORBEAU, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE KTIX (voice-over): Benicia detective say the trouble began on November 21st at a party involving several teachers from Matthew Turner elementary. It was a potluck. After the party, several of the 20 people there began feeling ill, seriously ill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the party goers was rushed to the hospital with severe reactions. She was hospitalized. The very next morning, another party goer was taken to the hospital because she continued to feel like she was under the influence of something. She wasn't sure.
BORBEAU: Hospital blood tests confirmed the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. And it wasn't just the holiday party goers who ate the allegedly laced food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the attendees took some of the food home and their 15-year-old juvenile ingested this food and became ill.
BORBEAU: That is when the police investigation began and the person who brought the laced dish was identified 47-year-old Teresa Badger, an elementary school teacher. Witnesses told Benicia detectives after the party, Badger admitted to them that she put pot in the dish. Badgers' neighbors said the charges, three felony counts of poisoning don't fit the woman and mother they know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I'm hearing from you, guys, is totally out of character. Teresa is about as kind and she is a dedicated teacher. She is someone who keeps to herself.
BORBEAU: Badger was arrested Friday afternoon at her home. When our cameras were there, a light was on, but nobody answered. Benicia police department is not commenting on exactly what item badger may have brought to the party saying they have still people to interview in the investigation.
In Benicia, Andrea Borbeau, KPIX 5.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: While we're talking about pot.
PAUL: Let's transition.
BLACKWELL: Let's do it.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is used to a global stage now to weigh in on the marijuana debate. PAUL: Yes. He was speaking at the world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland. And he talked about his state's drug diversion program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: Allow young people whose lives would be destroyed forever if they went into the prison system, an opportunity to expunge their records and after a period to walk -- actually stay in society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: A spokeswoman for Perry later said the governor thinks the states should decide to legalize pot adding that Perry does not support making it legal in Texas.
BLACKWELL: You take a quick look at a grade school band, nothing really stands out.
PAUL: Not right away. When you take a closer look, you will not believe your eyes. We'll show you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Go ahead. Time for "the good stuff" now.
BLACKWELL: Yes. This is you! This is your song!
PAUL: That's my song on iTunes.
BLACKWELL: Listen. That's Christi Paul.
PAUL: It's on iTunes. People, check it out. I hope you like it.
Time for other "good stuff." This is, you know, the part of the show where we say it is not all bad. I promise. It is like that guy on twitter who just said how do you not have a drink or two --?
BLACKWELL: With all the stories. How are you not drunk before the show? I say, I wait until lunch.
Let's start with this. Jameer Wallace. Jammer plays the trumpet in the band at Green Street elementary in Pennsylvania. OK, that's not out of the ordinary. What is though, is Jameer was born without arms. Doesn't faze him. He does everything with his feet. Play the trumpet with his feet. And his advice, whatever you do, keep on trying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMMER WALLACE, BORN WITHOUT ARMS: Anybody out there that would like to try an instrument, go ahead and try it. You never know and whatever happens. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. Keep on trying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: I love that kid.
BLACKWELL: He can play the trumpet with his feet. You know, we complain about so many things.
PAUL: They are the examples to us so many times. It is the truth.
Hey, you know, you pretty much know that something is up when the governor gives you a personal tour of the statehouse.
BLACKWELL: (INAUDIBLE) who are veteran, Andrew Pike. He shows up for the tour at Idaho statehouse and he is escorted by another, and governor Butch Otter. Well, pike's suspicion proved true that this was no ordinary tour when he rounded the rotunda and saw a new all- terrain track wheelchair waiting for him there. And means the hunting and the fishing enthusiast can now do more of what he loves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)\
ANDREW PIKE, VETERAN: This chair means independence. You know, areas I couldn't go before -- hills, sand, you know, even mud when going out shooting, can stop me from doing what I want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: $19,000 chair was made possible through donations. That's good.
You know, sometimes a gymnasium with a bunch of teenagers is not so much rowdy as it is respectable, should those be switched. Respectable as it is rowdy.
PAUL: Exactly. But look at this. Teenage boys at Trinity high school in Manchester, New Hampshire found out one of the classmates, Matt Lamier (ph) was diagnosed with cancer. So, he lost his hair because of the chemo. And here is what they did, look at these boys, gathering together to shave their heads to say to Matt, you're not alone, buddy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You always tell people f there is anything I can do, you know, let me know. And I think the kids at school got on board with this idea that hey, this is something we can do to help out a little bit. Maybe, if this just makes Matt feel a little bit better, let's all do it. And you know, that it just became contagious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's overwhelming. It's great. I like that feeling. Makes me feel special and makes me feel loved and everything. I feel good that I go to school here and I have all these friends to help me out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Those are a, some great kids and b, get this, just this past week, Matt learned he is cancer free. Congratulations to him! BLACKWELL: That's good news. I'm sure, when they see each other, they rub their heads in solidarity.
So this next story has gone viral. Look at this. It's a baby, of course you can tell it is a baby, still in diapers riding a skateboard. Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)
PAUL: Are you kidding? He's riding down the street. Jumping over curbs. No problem. He's from Australia, apparently comes from a family of skateboarding enthusiasts, I would assume.
BLACKWELL: It must in the blood, according to the boy's family. He has been riding on wheels since he was 6-months-old. I guess it is safe to say he didn't have any trouble taking his first steps either. I have never been able to master that. I tried once. I almost broke something important and I'm not talking about the board.
PAUL: Something important. I broke my tooth. I had had like one of my teeth is not real.
BLACKWELL: Doing what?
PAUL: Skateboarding. Fell and face plant, baby.
BLACKWELL: We are learning so much about Christi Paul this morning.
PAUL: We are so glad that you are spending your morning with us for other reasons. | {
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Rome, Ga. - Since being drafted in 2007 by the Baltimore Orioles in the 25th round, former Shorter College baseball ace Cliff Flagello has been anything but quiet.
The 5-foot-10 right-hander posted a 2.29 earned run average in relief at Class A Delmarva in his first full season last year - including a 1.07 mark after the All-Star break - and limited Sally League batters to an impressive .185 average. Following the end of the season, he received the prestigious Orioles' Elrod Hendricks Minor League Community Service Award.
"It was a good year for me, in terms of development and performance," said Flagello. "The community award is something that anyone would be excited to receive. Coach [Matt] Larry (Shorter's head baseball coach) was always adamant about getting players involved in the community and playing under him has instilled those beliefs in me."
In September, Flagello was sent to the island state of Hawaii for two months for Hawaii's Winter League, where he pitched for the West Oahu Canefires.
"It was a good learning experience, and I met a lot of really good players," added Flagello. "I saw some of the toughest competition I've faced to this day - including five 1st-round picks."
Once the Hawaii league was over, Flagello received a call from Tripp Norton, the Orioles Assistant Director of Minor League Operations, about a spot on the 45-man provisional roster on Team Italy, part of the World Baseball Classic. He will fly to Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Feb. 14th for try-outs to make the cut on the slimmed-down 28-man roster.
"It's exciting - anytime you're potentially representing a country, there's a sense of pride that comes along with it," said Flagello. "My heritage is Italian and there was a process involving placement on the team, which included producing my great-grandparents legalization papers, and some birth records."
After leaving Hawaii at the end of November, Flagello returned to Rome where he has been preparing for spring training and his trip to Florida, working with Shorter's baseball team.
"He has really influenced the younger guys here," said Larry. "He understands the mental aspects of the game, as well as the physical ability and technique it takes to be a good pitcher. Since working in the minors, he has become a much stronger pitcher - older and more mature with his talent - and his pro experience has really helped him with that."
Flagello came to Shorter during the 2004-05 season after transferring from Georgia State University. During his career at Shorter, he was instrumental for the Hawks in their attempts at the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) title. In the 2006-07 season, Flagello was 8-5 with a 2.87 ERA, striking out 97 batters in 87.2 innings, limiting batters to a .205 batting average. He was named First Team All-Conference, SSAC All-Academic, and a National Scholar-Athlete. On June 8, 2007, he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles.
He graduated from Armuchee High School in Armuchee, Ga., in 2003. In his senior year, he went 8-4 with four saves and currently holds the all-time school record for most strikeouts in a season (120). | {
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Christie Brinkley To Divorce Teen-Boinking Husband
Ah Christie Brinkley. How we loved you when you were a supermodel, then entirely forgot about you for about 20 years and then remembered about you only when your husband shagged a teenager.
After seemingly spending ages mulling over whether to forgive her husband Peter Cook for having it off with a young girl he met in a toy shop loads of times, it's being reported that Christie Brinkley is finally filing for a divorce from him. And the news of the Christie Brinkley/ Peter Cook divorce has deeply affected us, in only the way that news about an old supermodel divorcing some bloke we've never really heard of can.
Christie Brinkley has had several roles in her lifetime – as a supermodel, a sexual ideal for men of a certain age, the inspiration for Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, a wife, a wife again, another wife and yet another wife. But now, following Christie Brinkley's split with her latest husband Peter Cook, Christie Brinkley gets to fulfill the role of scorned woman, and she seems to be loving it.
A quick recap: a few days after Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook were splitting up, it emerged that he had been boning an 18-year-old girl that he met in a toyshop for a couple of years. Then, if that wasn't enough for Christie Brinkley to deal with, the teenage girl – Diana Bianchi – blabbed all about the affair on TV for everyone to see, judge and wonder why Christie Brinkley ever divorced that nice Billy Joel man. At this point, Peter Cook took his increasingly public split with Christie Brinkley to new, bewilderingly desperate heights – by yelling "I'm sorry! Take me back!" to Christie Brinkley on the front page of a newspaper.
It seemed to work, too – reports suggested that Christie Brinkley had sufficiently forgiven Peter Cook enough to actually talk to him. However, it looks like we all spoke too soon, since this is a dramatised version of what we think the Christie Brinkley/ Peter Cook talking might have gone…
"We are told that a divorce action has been commenced in Suffolk County, and we have agreed to accept service of those papers. [Peter Cook] regrets that this happened. He was hopeful that he and Ms. Brinkley would be able to work their way through this problem and put their marriage back together, but obviously she has decided otherwise. He has instructed us that we are to handle this matter in as amicable and private a fashion as possible under the circumstances, and he hopes that everyone out there can respect the privacy of Christie and the children."
Now the messy part of dividing up all of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook's possessions needs to take place. We might be assuming a little more than we should be here, but we'd imagine that Peter Cook's stockpiles of teenager-friendly lollipops and puppies can stay Peter Cook's. | {
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Why internet vandals and slander supporting entities like Google must be criminally prosecuted and made to pay for promoting defamatory links and suggestions, and how the new IT act is a step in the right direction and gives Indians the right to get justice against such vandalism.
Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo.” So wrote Daniel Lyons some years back, in a classic Forbes cover story titled 'Attack of the Blogs'. As the Senior Editor of Forbes then, Dan was simply expressing his extreme frustration at the utter nastiness of the Internet community, which seemed to have a super-majority of calumnious commentators, who thrived on the faceless protection that the net provided in order to leave shamefully slanderous and defamatory comments left, right and center.
Cut to the present, and the situation has sickeningly worsened. Not just globally, but perhaps more so in the Indian perspective. Take a quick ‘surf’ across various pages of the Internet and it would not be hard for one to realise that every fourth or fifth page is filled up with some or the other pejoratively aberrant content against respectable individuals and companies posted by untraceable, incognito and spiteful writers. From four-letter words to bigoted slanders to sexist comments to racist attacks to clearly inflammatory and libelous material, the net is now so completely full of criminally damnable statements that one starts wondering why the authorities haven't woken up to act on this issue with the greatest speed. In case of profiles of meritorious organisations or individuals, this ratio of deprecating content put up by abusive users often shoots up to almost every second page. Internet hooliganism, as I describe it, is the most contemptible character of the modern technology era, where it doesn't matter how respectable you are or what your organisation is, or how you sincerely worked throughout the past many decades – irrespective of all that, you will be attacked anonymously with false statements that will make you cringe for a lifetime and with almost no hope for any recourse. Read More.... | {
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Underage Posession of Alcohol.
I know this question has been asked, but Im paranoid about getting my applications correct.
I received a citation for Underage Posession of Alcohol. It was dismissed upon payment of court costs. Nothing before or since has happened like this. No fake ID was used, no public intoxication or anything like that. It was Underage posession of Alcohol 4 months before I turned 21 and thats it.
My grades and LSAT are either right on the mark or above the average at the schools I will be applying to, its not like im applying to anything thats way over my head.
But anyway, I was wondering if you guys think this would be a big reason to reject my application.
I really think you have nothing to worry about. I know it is hard not to stress about it, but I really wouldn't waste the energy. I applied for '05 admissions with two alcohol incidents on my record and spent way too much time worrying about it. My admissions decisions seemed unaffected by the incidents. I was accepted at safeties and targets, waitlisted and/or rejected at places where my numbers were lower than the school's stats.
I wrote a very short and simple addendum explaining what happened, what I had learned (ie - to more carefully consider the consequences of my actions before carrying them through or something to that effect), and highlighting how much time had passed (incident-free) since then. | {
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Contents
In the decades before the Great Galactic War, the planet was ruled by the Drayen family, a dynasty of war heroes who took their position as Dubrillion's rulers through treachery. Their reign lasted until KingArak Drayen III was overthrown by the nobility of the planet. However, the Drayens managed to keep the crown out of their usurper's hands. The Drayens went into exile as the usurper kings hounded them and the crown. It wasn't until the Cold War did the smuggler known as the Voidhound, under the direction of the pirate lord, Nok Drayen and his daughter Risha, locate the crown. Risha then set off on the task of reclaiming the throne of Dubrillion, but sought to do so honorably. She managed to find a sympathetic count amongst Dubrillion's aristocracy, but this soon set off a civil war dividing the aristocracy between supporting Risha and the current king, Actavarus III.[7]
Dubrillion was also one of the first New Republic worlds to fall to the extra-galacticYuuzhan Vong. Despite an initial assault on Dubrillion failing against New Republic defenses,[2] the Yuuzhan Vong set up a base camp in the nearby asteroid field and, for two months, attacked ships traveling to and from Dubrillion, and sent coralskipper squadrons to wreak havoc on the planet's surface, slowly wearing down Administrator Calrissian's defenses. When the New Republic arrived to help evacuate the planet, the Yuuzhan Vong emerged from the asteroid field, destroying countless ships carrying refugees and invading Dubrillion proper.
After the New Republic forces had retreated to Dantooine, the Yuuzhan Vong concentrated on subjugating the remaining populace of Dubrillion. Despite earlier ferocity shown by the coralskipper attacks, most of Dubrillion's surface was left in a recognizable state. Shedao Shai oversaw the conquest of Dubrillion, and chose the planet as the main base for the Yuuzhan Vong in the Outer Rim. The remaining citizens that had been unable to flee attempted to resist the invasion, but were eventually found and killed by Chazrach warriors sent in by Shai to rout resistance holdouts. Others were enslaved to help future terraforming projects on the planet.[4] A major landmark, the Dubrillion Aquarium, was left intact by the invaders—a rare mercy owing to its vast collection of galactic marine specimens, which appealed to the Yuuzhan Vong's reverence of natural life.[4] | {
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Sneaky Snake has Team of Tweeters
: A Twitter user with an a great sense of imagination has started an account for the Bronx Zoo's missing Egyptian cobra. The account, @BronxZoosCobra, has already amassed more than 72,000 followers. The tweets began on Monday (March 28th), and have chronicled the "snake's" adventures around Manhattan. One tweet read, "Enjoying a cupcake @magnoliabakery. This is going straight to my hips. Oh, wait. I don't have hips. Yesss!" Another tweet reads, "Leaving Wall Street. These guys make my skin crawl." And perhaps the most popular posted message reads: "Holding very still in the snake exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. This is gonna be hilarious!" (AOL) | {
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We have had a number of reports from guests over the last few days that the service is up and running, although it has yet to be officially announced as available by Disney. The service has already been rolled out to all the resorts, along with the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The introduction of the Studios Wi-Fi just leaves Disney's Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney as the only areas still to be switched on. | {
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Mississippi John Hurt
Vanguard Visionaries
If this review were to focus solely upon the quality of the music contained
on the installment of Vanguard Visionaries that is devoted to Mississippi
John Hurt’s career, it would be unthinkable to give it anything less than five
stars. Hurt’s music is blues in its purest and sweetest form. The tracks
contained on the effort are transcendent and lovely; they also are powerful and
purifying. Although it is both simple and technically unpolished by today’s
standards, Hurt’s guitar style epitomizes everything that is appealing about the
country-blues sub-genre.
Born in Avalon, Mississippi in 1892, Hurt began playing the guitar as a
child, and he performed professionally from a very young age. He recorded two
brilliant albums in 1928 for the seminal Okeh label, but the coming depression
forced Hurt to retire from the music business in order to seek work as a
sharecropper. He remained a farm worker, occasionally playing and singing at
local dances, until he was located in 1963 by musicologist Tom Hoskins. Hoskins
convinced Hurt to move to Washington, D.C. and revive his career as a singer and
musician. Hurt became a regular at folk clubs and colleges throughout the U.S.,
and he recorded three studio albums (Today!, The Immortal Mississippi
John Hurt, and Last Sessions) as well as several concert sets for the
Vanguard label before his death in 1966. The music on Vanguard Visionaries
is culled entirely from these endeavors. Beautiful versions of some of his
best-known songs — such as Stagolee, When I Lay My Burden Down,
and Farther Along — are featured.
The problem with Vanguard Visionaries does not reside with the music.
Hurt’s performance is stellar, and it should be heard. Every serious music fan
should have at least one of his albums, but it shouldn’t necessarily be this
one. Vanguard obviously produced the entire Vanguard Visionaries series
on the cheap. For starters, there are only 10 songs in the collection. There is
room for at least twice that. Reissues are not expensive for a label to produce,
and many companies — such as the jazz-oriented Verve — are releasing
budget-priced CDs with more than 80 minutes of music on them.
To make matters worse — Vanguard Visionaries contains no liner notes!
Other than printing Mississippi John Hurt’s name on the cover of the album there
is no other information about him in the packaging. How much would it have cost
to have a 100- or 200-word blurb printed on the back cover or inside the sleeve
of the disc? As it is, these lovely tracks — like the Dead Sea Scrolls before
they were translated — exist in a vacuum.
Mississippi John Hurt is an important artist because his work, as simple and
understated as it may be, has had a tremendous influence upon popular music over
the past half-century. It needs to be understood and appreciated in context. He
deserves a better legacy than Vanguard Visionaries offers. Any of his
other efforts for Vanguard — such as the stellar upgrade of The Best of
Mississippi John Hurt, which was re-titled Live in 2002 — are far
better places to start exploring his work. | {
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Thursday, September 9, 2010
Kim Hyun-joong on his official website [Official Kim Hyun-joong website]
Korean idol Kim Hyun-joong's official website opened yesterday, according to his agency KEYEAST on Thursday.
KEYEAST announced in a press release that they have created the official webpage (http://www.hyun-joong.com) through which Kim will be able to communicate with his fans.
The main page of the website features a video and pictures from a photo shoot while the site provides an introduction of his albums and activities with his boy band SS501, updates on his official schedule and other never-before-seen pictures and videos.
He even uploaded a welcome video message titled "FROM. HJ" to his fans saying, "I will work hard to deliver good news to you as much as possible."
Kim made his debut as the leader of the popular Korean group SS501. He became a huge star throughout Asia starring in last year's smash hit TV series "Boys Over Flowers" alongside Lee Min-ho and Ku Hye-sun.
He is currently playing the role of Baek Sung-jo in MBC's Wednesday and Thursday drama "Naughty Kiss," the Korean small screen adaptation of Japanese comic series "Itazura na Kiss." | {
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Select a county from the drop-down menu to
view the support groups in this area. If you know of a
Support Group in your county and would like it to appear on our
listing, please fill out the form below. | {
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} |
Substantial Increase Seen in PPO Quality Reporting
Substantial Increase Seen in PPO Quality Reporting
Back in 2005, the National Committee for Quality Assurance called on PPO plans to report HEDIS data, which are clinical measures of quality, with 80 plans — ranging from national carriers to smaller insurers — answering the call. This year, 83 commercial and 58 Medicare PPOs, covering more than 21 million Americans, reported audited HEDIS results. Those findings are in the NCQA's "The State of Health Care Quality 2007."
Margaret O'Kane, president of the NCQA, says she is heartened by the increase in HEDIS reporting by PPO plans. "These plans, which just two years ago reported little to no quality data, are embracing the quality agenda," O'Kane says.
More than 6 in 10 Americans who receive health coverage through their employer are enrolled in PPOs, up from less than 40 percent 10 years ago.
"This year, we had much more widespread reporting from Medicare PPOs, which accounts for a fair part of the increase," says Jeff Van Ness, an NCQA spokesman. As a result of the increase in reporting, the NCQA is able to report on 22 HEDIS measures of clinical quality for PPO plans and eight measures of consumer experience.
"But it's not just that there were more PPOs reporting back," says Van Ness. "PPOs that had reported on a partial set of HEDIS measures in 2006 are now reporting on a full set of data measures in 2007. The data are much more robust — even data reported by the same plans year after year."
Interest in PPO quality reporting has expanded to the public sector as well, according to the report. The Medicare program and the federal Office of Personnel Management now require PPO plans to engage in HEDIS reporting.
Managed Care's Prospects in the Health Reform Era
Princeton’s Uwe Reinhardt, PhD, renowned health care economist, sits down with Managing Editor Frank Diamond to discuss the economic effects of the Affordable Care Act, wellness programs, and the state of health care in the United States in general. | {
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(De la production de la securité - 1849)
by Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912)
There are two ways of considering society. According to some, the development of human associations is not subject to providential, unchangeable laws. Rather, these associations, having originally been organized in a purely artificial manner by primeval legislators, can later be modified or remade by other legislators, in step with the progress of social science. In this system the government plays a preeminent role, because it is upon it, the custodian of the principle of authority, that the daily task of modifying and remaking society devolves.
According to others, on the contrary, society is a purely natural fact. Like the earth on which it stands, society moves in accordance with general, preexisting laws. In this system, there is no such thing, strictly speaking, as social science; there is only economic science, which studies he natural organism of society and shows how this organism functions.
We propose to examine, within the latter system, the function and natural organization of government.
THE NATURAL ORDER OF SOCIETY
In order to define and delimit the function of government, it is first necessary to investigate the essence and object of society itself.
What natural impulse do men obey when they combine into society? They are obeying the impulse, or, to speak more exactly, the instinct of sociability. The human race is essentially sociable. like beavers and the higher animal species in general, men have an instinctive inclination to live in society.
Why did this instinct come into being?
Man experiences a multitude of needs, on whose satisfaction his happiness depends, and whose non-satisfaction entails suffering. Alone and isolated, he could only provide in an incomplete, insufficient manner for these incessant needs. The instinct of sociability brings him together with similar persons, and drives him into communication with them. Therefore, impelled by the self-interest of the individuals thus brought together, a certain division of labor is established, necessarily followed by exchanges. In brief, we see an organization emerge, by means of which man can more completely satisfy his needs than he could living in isolation.
This natural organization is called society.
The object of society is therefore the most complete satisfaction of man’s needs. The division of labor and exchange are the means by which this is accomplished.
Among the needs of man, there is on particular type which plays an immense role in the history of humanity, namely the need for security.
What is this need?
Whether they live in isolation or in society, men are, above all, interested in preserving their existence and the fruits of their labor. If the sense of justice were universally prevalent on earth; if, consequently, each man confined himself to laboring and exchanging the fruits of his labor, without wishing to take away, by violence or fraud, the fruits of other men’s labor; if everyone had, in one word, an instinctive horror of any act harmful to another person, it is certain that security would exist naturally on earth, and that no artificial institution would be necessary to establish it. Unfortunately this is not the way things are. The sense of justice seems to be the perquisite of only a few eminent and exceptional temperaments. Among the inferior races, it exists only in a rudimentary state. Hence the innumerable criminal attempts, ever since the beginning of the world, since the days of Cain and Abel, against the lives and property of individuals.
Hence also the creation of establishments whose object is to guarantee to everyone the peaceful possession of his person and his goods.
These establishments were called governments.
Everywhere, even among the least enlightened tribes, one encounters a government, so universal and urgent is the need for security provided by government.
Everywhere, men resign themselves to the most extreme sacrifices rather than do without government and hence security, without realizing that in so doing, they misjudge their alternatives.
Suppose that a man found his person and his means of survival incessantly menaced; wouldn’t his first and constant preoccupation be to protect himself from the dangers that surround him? This preoccupation, these efforts, this labor, would necessarily absorb the greater portion of his time, as well as the most energetic and active faculties of his intelligence. In consequence, he could only devote insufficient and uncertain efforts, and his divided attention, to the satisfaction of his other needs.
Even though this man might be asked to surrender a very considerable portion of his time and of his labor to someone who takes it upon himself to guarantee the peaceful possession of his person and his goods, wouldn’t it be to his advantage to conclude this bargain?
Still, it would obviously be no less in his self-interest to procure his security at the lowest price possible.
COMPETITION IN SECURITY
If there is one well-established truth in political economy, it is this:
That in all cases, for all commodities that serve to provide for the tangible or intangible needs of the consumer, it is in the consumer’s best interest that labor and trade remain free, because the freedom of labor and of trade have as their necessary and permanent result the maximum reduction of price.
And this:
That the interests of the consumer of any commodity whatsoever should always prevail over the interests of the producer.
Now in pursuing these principles, one arrives at this rigorous conclusion:
That the production of security should, in the interests of the consumers of this intangible commodity, remain subject to the law of free competition.
Whence it follows:
That no government should have the right to prevent another government from going into competition with it, or to require consumers of security to come exclusively to it for this commodity.
Nevertheless, I must admit that, up until the present, one recoiled before this rigorous implication of the principle of free competition.
One economist who has done as much as anyone to extend the application of the principle of liberty, M. Charles Dunoyer, thinks “that the functions of government will never be able to fall into the domain of private activity.”**
Now here is a citation of a clear and obvious exception to the principle of free competition.
This exception is all the more remarkable for being unique.
Undoubtedly, one can find economists who establish more numerous exceptions to this principle; but we may emphatically affirm that these are not pure economists. True economists are generally agreed, on the one had, that the government should restrict itself to guaranteeing the security of its citizens, and on the other hand, that the freedom of labor and of trade should otherwise be whole and absolute.
But why should there be an exception relative to security? What special reason is there that the production of security cannot be relegated to free competition? Why should it be subjected to a different principle and organized according to a different system?
On this point, the masters of the science are silent, and M. Dunoyer, who has clearly noted this exception, does not investigate the grounds on which it is based.
SECURITY AN EXCEPTION?
We are consequently led to ask ourselves whether his exception is well founded, in the eyes of the economist.
It offends reason to believe that a well established natural law can admit of exceptions. A natural law must hold everywhere and always, or be invalid. I cannot believe, for example, that the universal law of gravitation, which governs the physical world, is ever suspended in any instance or at any point of the universe. Now I consider economic laws comparable to natural laws, and I have just as much faith in the principle of the division of labor as I have in the universal law of gravitation. I believe that while these principles can be disturbed, they admit of no exceptions.
But, if this is the case, the production of security should not be removed from the jurisdiction of free competition; and if it is removed, society as a whole suffers a loss.
Either this is logical and true, or else the principles on which economic science is based are invalid.
THE ALTERNATIVES
It thus has been demonstrated a priori, to those of us who have faith in the principles of economic science, that the exception indicated above is not justified, and that the production of security, like anything else, should be subject to the law of free competition.
Once we have acquired this conviction, what remains for us to do? It remains for us to investigate how it has come about that the production of security has not been subjected to the law of free competition, but rather has been subjected to different principles.
What are those principles?
Those of monopoly and communism.
In the entire world, there is not a single establishment of the security industry that is not based on monopoly or on communism.
In this connection, we add, in passing, a simple remark.
Political economy has disapproved equally of monopoly and communism in the various branches of human activity, wherever it has found them. Is it not then strange and unreasonable that it accepts them in the security industry?
MONOPOLY AND COMMUNISM
Let us now examine how it is that all known governments have either been subjected to the law of monopoly, or else organized according to the communistic principle.
First let us investigate what is understood by the words monopoly and communism.
It is an observable truth that the more urgent and necessary are man’s needs, the greater will be the sacrifices he will be willing to endure in order to satisfy them. Now, there are some things that are found abundantly in nature, and whose production does not require a great expenditure of labor, but which, since they satisfy these urgent and necessary wants, can consequently acquire an exchange value all out of proportion with their natural value. Take salt for example. Suppose that a man or a group of men succeed in having the exclusive production and sale of salt assigned to themselves. It is apparent that this man or group could arise the price of this commodity well above its value, well above the price it would have under a regime of free competition.
One will then say that this man or this group possesses a monopoly, and that the price of salt is a monopoly price.
But it is obvious that the consumers will not consent freely to paying the abusive monopoly surtax. It will be necessary to compel them to pay it, and in order to compel them, the employment of force will be necessary.
Every monopoly necessarily rests on force.
When the monopolists are no longer as strong as the consumers they exploit, what happens?
In every instance, the monopoly finally disappears either violently or as the outcome of an amicable transaction. What is it replaced with?
If the roused and insurgent consumers secure the means of production of the salt industry, in all probability they will confiscate this industry for their own profit, and their first thought will be, not to relegate it to free competition, but rather to exploit it, in common, for their own account. They will then name a director or a directive committee to operate the saltworks, to whom they will allocate the funds necessary to defray the costs of salt production. then, since the experience of the past will have made them suspicious and distrustful, since they will be afraid that the director named by them will seize production for his own benefit, and simply reconstitute by open or hidden means the old monopoly for his own profit, they will elect delegates, representatives entrusted with appropriating the funds necessary for production, with watching over their use, and with making sure that the salt produced is equally distributed to those entitled to it. The production of salt will be organized in this manner.
This form of the organization of production has been named communism.
When this organization is applied to a single commodity, the communism is said to be partial.
When it is applied to all commodities, the communism is said to be complete.
But whether communism is partial or complete, political economy is no more tolerant of it than it is of monopoly, of which it is merely an extension.
THE MONOPOLIZATION AND COLLECTIVIZATIONOF THE SECURITY INDUSTRY
Isn’t what has just been said about salt applicable to security? Isn’t this the history of all monarchies and all republics?
Everywhere, the production of security began by being organized as a monopoly, and everywhere, nowadays, it tends to be organized communistically.
Here is why.
Among the tangible and intangible commodities necessary to man, none, with the possible exception of wheat, is more indispensable, and therefore none can support quite so large a monopoly duty.
Nor is any quite so prone to monopolization.
What, indeed, is the situation of men who need security? Weakness. What is the situation of those who undertake to provide them with this necessary security? Strength. If it were otherwise, if the consumers of security were stronger than the producers, they obviously would dispense with their assistance.
Now, if the producers of security are originally stronger than the consumers, won’t it be easy for the former to impose a monopoly on the latter?
Everywhere, when societies originate, we see the strongest, most warlike races seizing the exclusive government of the society. Everywhere we see these races seizing a monopoly on security within certain more or less extensive boundaries, depending on their number and strength.
And, this monopoly being, by its very nature, extraordinarily profitable, everywhere we see the races invested with the monopoly on security devoting themselves to bitter struggles, in order to add to the extent of their market, the number of their forced consumers, and hence the amount of their gains.
War has been the necessary and inevitable consequence of the establishment of a monopoly on security.
Another inevitable consequence has been that this monopoly has engendered all other monopolies.
When they saw the situation of the monopolizers of security, the producers of other commodities could not help but notice that nothing in the world is more advantageous than monopoly. They, in turn, were consequently tempted to add to the gains from their own industry by the same process. But what did they require in order to monopolize, to the detriment of the consumers, the commodity they produced? They required force. However, they did not possess the force necessary to constrain the consumers in question. What did they do? They borrowed it, for a consideration, from those who had it. They petitioned and obtained, at the price of an agreed upon fee, the exclusive privilege of carrying on their industry within certain determined boundaries. Since the fees for these privileges brought the producers of security a goodly sum of money, the world was soon covered with monopolies. Labor and trade were everywhere shackled, enchained, and the condition of the masses remained as miserable as possible.
Nevertheless, after long centuries of suffering, as enlightenment spread through the world little by little, the masses who had been smothered under this nexus of privileges began to rebel against the privileged, and to demand liberty, that is to say, the suppression of monopolies.
This process took many forms. What happened in England, for example? Originally, the race which governed the country and which was militarily organized (the aristocracy), having at its head a hereditary leader (the king), and an equally hereditary administrative council (the House of Lords), set the price of security, which it had monopolized, at whatever rate it pleased. There was no negotiation between the producers of security and the consumers. This was the rule of absolutism. But as time passed, the consumers, having become aware of their numbers and strength, arose against the purely arbitrary regime, and they obtained the right to negotiate with the producers over the price of the commodity. For this purpose, they sent delegates to the House of Commons to discuss the level of taxes, the price of security. They were thus able to improve their lot somewhat. Nevertheless, the producers of security had a direct say in the naming of the members of the House of Commons, so that debate was not entirely open, and the price of the commodity remained above its natural value. One day the exploited consumers rose against the producers and dispossessed them of their industry. They then undertook to carry on this industry by themselves and chose for this purpose a director of operations assisted by a Council. Thus communism replaced monopoly. But the scheme did not work, and twenty years later, primitive monopoly was re-established. Only this time the monopolists were wise enough not to restore the rule of absolutism; they accepted free debate over taxes, being careful, all the while, incessantly to corrupt the delegates of the opposition party. They gave these delegates control over various posts in the administration of security, and they even went so far as to allow the most influential into the bosom of their superior Council. Nothing could have been more clever than thus behavior. Nevertheless, the consumers of security finally became aware of these abuses, and demanded the reform of Parliament. This long contested reform was finally achieved, and since that time, the consumers have won a significant lightening of their burdens.
In France, the monopoly on security, after having similarly undergone frequent vicissitudes and various modifications, has just been overthrown for the second time. [De Molinari was writing one year after the revolutions of 1848 – Tr.] As once happened in England, monopoly for the benefit of one caste, and then in the name of a certain class of society, was finally replaced by communal production. The consumers as a whole, behaving like shareholders, named a director responsible for supervising the actions of the director and of his administration.
We will content ourselves with making one simple observation on the subject of this new regime.
Just as the monopoly on security logically had to spawn universal monopoly, so communistic security must logically spawn universal communism.
In reality, we have a choice of two things:
Either communistic production is superior to free production, or it is not.
If it is, then it must be for all things, not just for security.
If not, progress requires that it be replaced by free production.
Complete communism or complete liberty: that is the alternative!
GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
But is it conceivable that the production of security could be organized other than as a monopoly or communistically? Could it conceivably be relegated to free competition?
The response to this question on the part of political writers is unanimous: No.
Why? We will tell you why.
Because these writers, who are concerned especially with governments, know nothing about society. They regard it as an artificial fabrication, and believe that the mission of government is to modify and remake it constantly.
Now in order to modify or remake society, it is necessary to be empowered with a authority superiior to that of the varous individuals of which it is composed.
Monopolistic governments claim to have obtained from God himself this authority which gives them the right to modify or remake society according to their fancy, and to dispose of persons and property however they please. Communistic governments appeal to human reason, as manifested in the majority of the sovereign people.
But do monopolistic governments and communistic governments truly possess this superior, irresistible authority? Do they in reality have a higher authority than that which a free government could have? This is what we must investigate.
THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND MAJORITIES
If it were true that society were not naturally organized, if it were true that the laws which govern its motion were to be constantly modified or remade, the legislators would necessarily have to have an immutable, sacred authority. Being the continuators of Providence on earth, they would have to be regarded as almost equal to God. If it were otherwise, would it not be impossible for them to fulfill their mission? Indeed, one cannot intervene in human affairs, one cannot attempt to direct and regulate them, without daily offending a multitude of interests. Unless those in power are believed to have a mandate from a superior entity, the injured interests will resist.
Whence the fiction of divine right.
This fiction was certainly the best imaginable. If you succeed in persuading the multitude that God himself has chosen certain men or certain races to give laws to society and to govern it, no one will dream of revolting against these appointees of Providence, and everything the government does will be accepted. A government based on divine right is imperishable.
On one condition only, namely that divine right is believed in.
If one takes the thought into one’s head that the leaders of the people do not receive their inspirations directly from providence itself, that they obey purely human impulses, the prestige that surrounds them will disappear. One will irreverently resist their sovereign decisions, as one resists anything manmade whose utility has not been clearly demonstrated.
It is accordingly fascinating to see the pains theoreticians of the divine right take to establish the superhumanity of the races in possession of human government.
Let us listen, for example, to M. Joseph de Maistre:
Man does not make sovereigns. At the very most he can serve as an instrument for dispossessing one sovereign and handing his State over to another sovereign, himself already a prince. Moreover, there has never existed a sovereign family traceable to plebeian origins. If this phenomenon were to appear, it would mark a new epoch on earth.
... It is written: I am the Maker of sovereigns. This is not just a religious slogan, a preacher’s metaphor; it is the literal truth pure and simple. it is a law of the political world. God makes kings, word for word. He prepares royal races, nurtures them at the center of a cloud which hides their origins. Finally they appear, crowned with glory and honor; they take their places.***
According to this system, which embodies the will of Providence in certain men and which invests these chosen ones, these anointed ones with a quasi-divine authority, the subjects evidently have no rights at all. They must submit, without question, to the decrees of the sovereign authority, as if they were the decrees of Providence itself.
According to Plutarch, the body is the instrument of the soul, and the soul is the instrument of God. According to the divine right school, God selects certain souls and uses them as instruments for governing the world.
If men had faith in this theory, surely nothing could unsettle a government based on divine right.
Unfortunately, they have completely lost faith.
Why?
Because one fine day they took it into their heads to question and to reason, and in questioning, in reasoning, they discovered that their governors governed them no better than they, simply mortals out of communication with Providence, could have done themselves.
It was free inquiry that demonetized the fiction of divine right, to the point where the subjects of monarchs or of aristocracies based on divine right obey them only insofar as they think it in their own self-interest to obey them.
Has the communist fiction fared any better?
According to the communist theory, of which Rousseau is the high-priest, authority does not descend from on high, but rather comes up from below. The government no longer look to Providence for its authority, it looks to united mankind, to the one , indivisible, and sovereign nation.
Here is what the communists, the partisans of poplar sovereignty, assume. They assume that human reason has the power to discover the best laws and the organization which most perfectly suits society; and that, in practice, these laws reveal themselves at the conclusion of a free debate between conflicting opinions. If there is no unanimity, if there is still dissension after the debate, the majority is in the right, since it comprises the larger number of reasonable individuals. (These individuals are, of course, assumed to be equal, otherwise the whole structure collapses.) Consequently, they insist that the decisions of the majority must become law, and that the minority is obliged to submit to it, even if it is contrary to its most deeply rooted convictions and injures its most precious interests.
That is the theory; but, in practice, does the authority of the decision of the majority really have this irresistible, absolute character as assumed? Is it always, in every instance, respected by the minority? Could it be?
Let us take an example.
Let us suppose that socialism succeeds in propagating itself among the working classes in the countryside as it has already among the working classes in the cities; that it consequently becomes the majority in the country and that, profiting from this situation, it sends a socialist majority to the Legislative Assembly and names a socialist president. Suppose that this majority and this president, invested with sovereign authority, decrees the imposition of a tax on the rich of three billions, in order to organize the labor of the poor, as M. Proudhon demanded. Is it probable that the minority would submit peacefully to his iniquitous and absurd, yet legal, yet constituional plunder?
No, without a doubt it would not hesitate to disown the authority of the majority and to defend its property.
Under this regime, as under the preceding, one obeys the custodians of authority only insofar as one thinks it in one’s self-interest to obey them.
This leads us to affirm that the moral foundation of authority is neither as solid nor as wide, under a regime of monopoly or of communism, as it could be under a regime of liberty.
THE REGIME OF TERROR
Suppose nevertheless that the partisans of an artificial organization, either the monopolists or the communists, are right; that society is not naturally organized, and that the task of making and unmaking the laws that regulate society continuously devolves upon men, look in what a lamentable situation the world would find itself. The moral authority of governors rests, in reality, on the self-interest of the governed. The latter having a natural tendency to resist anything harmful to their self-interest, unacknowledged authority would continually require the help of physical force.
The monopolist and the communists, furthermore, completely understand this necessity.
If anyone, says M. de Maistre, attempts to detract from the authority of God’s chosen ones, let him be turned over to the secular power, let the hangman perform his office.
If anyone does not recognize the authority of those chosen by the people, say the theoreticians of the school of Rousseau, if he resists any decision whatsoever of the majority, let him be punished as an enemy of the sovereign people, let the guillotine perform justice.
These two schools, which both take artificial organization as their point of departure, necessarily lead to the same conclusion: TERROR.
THE FREE MARKET FOR SECURITY
Allow us now to fromulate a simple hypotheitcal situation.
Let us imagine a new-born society: The men who compose it are busy working and exchanging the fruits of their labor. A natural instinct reveals to these men that their persons, the land they occupy and cultivate, the fruits of their labor, are their property, and that no one, except themselves, has the right to dispose of or touch this property. This instinct is not hypothetical; it exists. But man being an imperfect creature, this awareness of the right of everyone to his person and his goods will not be found to the same degree in every soul, and certain individuals will make criminal attempts, by violence or by fraud, against the persons or the property of others.
Hence, the need for an industry that prevents or suppresses these forcible or fraudulent aggressions.
Let us suppose that a man or a combination of men comes and says:
For a recompense, I will undertake to prevent or suppress criminal attempts against persons and property.
Let those who wish their persons and property to be sheltered from all aggression apply to me.
Before striking a bargain with this producer of security, what will the consumers do?
In the first place, they will check if he is really strong enough to protect them.
In the second place, whether his character is such that they will not have to worry about his instigating the very aggressions he is supposed to suppress.
In the third place, whether any other producer of security, offering equal guarantees, is disposed to offer them this commodity on better terms.
These terms are of various kinds.
In order to be able to guarantee the consumers full security of their persons and property, and, in case of harm, to give them a compensation proportioned to the loss suffered, it would be necessary, indeed:
1. That the producer establish certain penalties against the offenders of persons and the violators of property, and that the consumers agree to submit to these penalties, in case they themselves commit offenses;
2. That he impose certain inconveniences on the consumers, with the object of facilitating the discovery of the authors of offenses;
3. That he regularly gather, in order to cover his costs of production as well as an appropriate return for his efforts, a certain sum, variable according to the situation of the consumers, the particular occupations they engage in, and the extent, value, and nature of their properties.
If these terms, necessary for carrying on this industry, are agreeable to the consumers, a bargain will be struck. Otherwise the consumers will either do without security, or else apply to another producer.
Now if we consider the particular nature of the security industry, it is apparent that the producers will necessarily restrict their clientele to certain territorial boundaries. They would be unable to cover their costs if they tried to provide police services in localities comprising only a few clients. Their clientele will naturally be clustered around the center of their activities. They would nevertheless be unable to abuse this situation by dictating to the consumers. In the event of an abusive rise in the price of security, the consumers would always have the option of giving their patronage to a new entrepreneur, or to a neighboring entrepreneur.
This option the consumer retains of being able to buy security wherever he pleases brings about a constant emulation among all the producers, each producer striving to maintain or augment his clientele with the attraction of cheapness or of faster, more complete and better justice.****
If, on the contrary, the consumer is not free to buy security wherever he pleases, you forthwith see open up a large profession dedicated to arbitrariness and bad management. justice becomes slow and costly, the police vexatious, individual liberty is no longer respected, the price of security is abusively inflated and inequitably apportioned, according to the power and influence of this or that class of consumers. The protectors engage in bitter struggles to wrest customers from one another. In a word, all the abuses inherent in monopoly or in communism crop up.
Under the rule of free competition, war between the producers of security entirely loses its justification. Why would they make war? To conquer consumers? But the consumers would not allow themselves to be conquered. They would be careful not to allow themselves to be protected by men who would unscrupulously attack the persons and property of their rivals. If some audacious conqueror tried to become dictator, they would immediately call tot heir aid all the free consumers menaced by this aggression, and they would treat him as he deserved. Just as war is the natural consequence of monopoly, peace us the natural consequence of liberty.
Under a regime of liberty, the natural organization of the security industry would not be different from that of other industries. In small districts a single entrepreneur could suffice. This entrepreneur might leave his business to his son, or sell it to another entrepreneur. In larger districts, one company by itself would bring together enough resources adequately to carry on this important and difficult business. If it were well managed, this company could easily last, and security would last with it. In the security industry, just as in most of the other branches of production, the latter mode of organization will probably replace the former, in the end.
On the one hand this would be a monarchy, and on the other hand it would be a republic; but it would be a monarchy without monopoly and a republic without communism.
On either hand, this authority would be accepted and respected in the name of utility, and would not be an authority imposed by terror.
It will undoubtedly be disputed whether such a hypothetical situation is realizable. But, at the risk of being considered utopian, we affirm that this is not disputable, that a careful examination of the facts will decide the problem of government more and more in favor of liberty, just as it does all other economic problems. We are convinced, so far as we are concerned, that one day societies will be established to agitate for the freedom of government, as they have already been established on behalf of the freedom of commerce.
And we do not hesitate to add that after this reform has been achieved, and all artificial obstacles to the free action of the natural laws that govern the economic world have disappeared, the situation of the various members of society will become the best possible.
* Although this article may appear utopian in its conclusions, we nevertheless believe that we should publish it in order to attract the attention of economists and journalists to a question which has hitherto been treated in only a desultory manner and which should, nevertheless, in our day and age, be approached with greater precision. So many people exaggerate the nature and prerogatives of government that it has become useful to formulate strictly the boundaries outside of which the intervention of authority becomes anarchical and tyrannical rather than protective and profitable. [Note of the editor-in-chief of the Journal des Economistes, 1849.]
** In his remarkable book De la liberté du travail (On the Freedom of Labor), Vol. III, p. 253. (Published by Guillaumin.)
**** Adam Smith, whose remarkable spirit of observation extends to all subjects, remarks that the administration of justice gained much, in England, from the competition between the different courts of law:
The fees of court seem originally to have been the principal support of the different courts of justice in England. Each court endeavoured to draw to itself as much business as it could, and was, upon that account, willing to take cognizance of many suits which were not originally intended to fall under its jurisdiction. The court of king’s bench instituted for the trial of criminal causes only, took cognizance of civil suits; the plaintiff pretending that the defendant, in not doing him justice, had been guilty of some trespass or misdemeanor. The court of exchequer, instituted for the levying of the king’s revenue, and for enforcing the payment of such debts only as were due to the king, took cognizance of all other contract debts; the plaintiff alleging that he could not pay the king, because the defendant would not pay him. In consequence of such fictions it came, in many case, to depend altogether upon the parties before what court they would chuse to have their cause tried; and each court endeavoured, by superior dispatch and impartiality, to draw to itself as many causes as it could. The present admirable constitution of the courts of justice in England was, perhaps, originally in a great measure, formed by this emulation, which anciently took place between their respective judges; each judge endeavouring to give, in his own court, the speediest and most effectual remedy, which the law would admit, for every sort of injustice.
Originally published as “De la production de la sécurité,” in Journal des Economistes (Feb, 1849), pp. 277-90.
This translation originally published as Gustave de Molinari, The Production of Security, trans. J. Huston McCulloch, Occasional Papers Series #2 (Richard M. Ebeling, Editor), New York: The Center for Libertarian Studies, May 1977. [Several typographical errors have been corrected.]
1977 note on translator:
J. HUSTON McCULLOCH is Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston College, presently on leave as Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, Stanford, California. Professor McCulloch received his B.S. in Economics at California Insitute of Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1973). He has published articles in Economic Inquiry, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Finance. Professor McCulloch has also published a book entitled Money and Inflation: A Monetarist Approach (1975).
[For more up-to-date information on McCulloch, who now teaches at Ohio State, see his current webpage.] | {
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Background shorthand with repeat only sets its background-repeat subproperty. In such case, the other background subproperties are set to their initial values: 'background-image' is set to 'none', 'background-color' is set to transparent, 'background-attachment' is set to 'scroll', 'background-position' is set to '0% 0%'.
Check if 'background-repeat' is 'round', then the width and height of the corresponding background image is rescaled so that they fit a whole number of times (2 in this test) in the background positioning area. Therefore the used width and height of the background image in this test should be 110px.
The 'background-repeat: space' declaration must space out images in one or more dimensions so they fit a whole number of times in the background positioning area. The first and last images in each row and column must sit along edge(s) of the background positioning area.
'Background-repeat: space' when background positioning area is 'padding-box'
When 'background-repeat: space' and background positioning area is set to 'padding-box' the image is repeated as often within the 'padding-box' without being clipped, the images are spaced out to fill the area and the first and last images touch the edges of the 'padding-box'.
Check if 'background-size' is 'auto 61px' and 'background-repeat' is 'round', then the height of the corresponding background image is rounded (70px in this test) so that it fits a whole number of times (3 in this test) in the background positioning area, and the width of the background image is rescaled (70px in this test) to keep the original aspect ratio.
Check if 'background-size' is '52px auto' and 'background-repeat' is 'repeat round', then the width of the corresponding background image is 52px and then repeated while the height is first rescaled from 100px to 52px to keep the original image aspect ratio and then to 60px due to 'round'.
Check if 'background-size' is '52px auto' and 'background-repeat' is 'round repeat', then the width is first rescaled to from 100px to 52px and then rescaled to 60px due to 'round' and the height of the corresponding background image is rescaled from 100px to 60px (to keep the original image aspect ratio) and then repeated vertically.
Check if 'background-size' is '20% 30%' and 'background-repeat' is 'no-repeat round', then the height of the corresponding background image is 50px so that it fits a whole number of times (3 in this test) in the background positioning area, and the width of the background image is rescaled to 20% (50px in this test) of the background area.
'Background-repeat: space' when background positioning area is 'border-box'
When 'background-repeat: space' and background positioning area is set to 'border-box' the image is repeated as often within the 'border-box' without being clipped, the images are spaced out to fill the area and the first and last images touch the edges of the 'border-box'.
'Background-repeat: space' when background positioning area is 'content-box'
When 'background-repeat: space' and background positioning area is set to 'content-box' the image is repeated as often within the 'content-box' without being clipped, the images are spaced out to fill the area and the first and last images touch the edges of the 'content-box'.
Background shorthand with attachment only sets its background-attachment subproperty. In such case, the other background subproperties are set to their initial values: 'background-image' is set to 'none', 'background-color' is set to transparent, 'background-repeat' is set to 'repeat', 'background-position' is set to '0% 0%.
Background shorthand with position only sets its background-position subproperty. In such case, the other background subproperties are set to their initial values: 'background-image' is set to 'none', 'background-color' is set to transparent, 'background-repeat' is set to 'repeat', 'background-attchment' is set to 'scroll'.
When 'background-clip' is set to 'padding-box', then the background painting area is clipped at the edges of the padding of the element. In this test, the padding box is 0px tall and as wide as the body element; therefore, red should not be visible.
When 'background-clip' is set to 'border-box', then the background painting area is clipped at the edges of the borders of the element. In this test, the border box is 96px tall and 96px wide and is made from only the borders.
When 'background-clip' is set to 'content-box', then the background painting area is clipped at the edges of the content of the element. In this test, height is 'auto', therefore its used value is '0px'; width is 'auto', therefore its used value is as wide as the body element. So, the content box is 0px tall and as wide as the body element; therefore, red should not be visible.
Check if 'background-size' is '50% auto', then it rescales the background image so that exactly two copies fit the background positioning area (it is 150px by 150px in this test) horizontally. Therefore the used width of the background-size in this test should be 75px.
Check if 'background-size' is '100% 100%' that it rescales the background image independently in both dimensions to completely cover the background positioning area (it is 150px by 150px in this test), and then the background image is clipped to fit into the content area (it is 100px by 100px as background-clip is 'content-box').
Check if 'background-clip' is 'padding-box', 'background-origin' is 'border-box', 'background-position' is 'top left' (the initial value), and the element has a non-zero border, that expecting the top and left of the background image will be clipped.
Check if 'background-size' is '100% 100%' that it rescales the background image independently in both dimensions to completely cover the background positioning area (it is 100px by 100px as background-origin is 'content-box'). In this test, the background-image should be scaled from 40px wide and 20px tall to become 100px by 100px.
Check if 'background-size' is '50% auto', then it rescales the background image so that exactly two copies fit the background positioning area (it is 160px by 160px in this test) horizontally. Therefore the used width of the background-size in this test should be 80px.
Check if 'background-size' with initial value implies to the intrinsic width and height of the image are to be used. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 60px and 60px.
Check if 'background-size' has only one value 'auto', then such value is the width of the correspoding image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is assumed to be 'auto'. An 'auto' value for one dimension is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 60px and 60px.
Check if 'background-size' has only one length value, then such value is the width of the corresponding image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is assumed to be 'auto'. An 'auto' value for one dimension is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used height of the background-size in this test should be 45px.
Check if 'background-size' is '100px', maximum width of the positioning area in length, then such value is the width of the corresponding image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is assumed to be 'auto'. An 'auto' value for one dimension is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used height of the background-size in this test should be 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has only one percentage value, then such value is the width of the corresponding image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is assumed to be 'auto'. A percentage is relative to the dimensions of the background positioning area. An 'auto' value for one dimension is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used height of the background-size in this test should be 45px.
Check if 'background-size' is '0%', minimum width of the positioning area in percentage, then such value is the width of the corresponding image and therefore the background image is not to be displayed.
Check if 'background-size' is '100%', maximum width of the positioning area in percentage, then such value is the width of the corresponding image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is assumed to be 'auto'. An 'auto' value for one dimension is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used height of the background-size in this test should be 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has two values 'auto', then the intrinsic width and/or height of the image should be used. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 60px and 60px.
Check if 'background-size' has one 'auto' and one length values, then the second value is the height of the corresponding background image and the first value (corresponding to the width of the background image) is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used width of the background-size in this test should be 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has one 'auto' and one percentage values, then the second value is the height of the corresponding background image and the first value (corresponding to the width of the background image) is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. A percentage is relative to the dimensions of the background positioning area. Therefore the used width of the background-size in this test should be 45px.
Check if 'background-size' has one length and one auto values, then the first value is the width of the corresponding background image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used height of the background-size in this test should be 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has two length values, then such values are the width and height of the corresponding background image. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 100px and 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has one length and one percentage values, then such values are the width and height of the corresponding background image. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 45px and 45px.
Check if 'background-size' has one percentage and one auto values, then the first value is the width of the corresponding background image and the second value (corresponding to the height of the background image) is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension. Therefore the used height of the background-size in this test should be 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has one percentage and one length values, then such values are the width and height of the corresponding background image. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 100px and 100px.
Check if 'background-size' has two percentage values, then such values are the width and height of the corresponding background image. Therefore the used width and height of the background-size in this test should be 45px and 45px.
Check if 'background-size' is '100% 100%' that it rescales the background image independently in both dimensions to completely cover the background positioning area (it is 100px by 100px as background-origin is 'content-box'). In this test, the background-image should be scaled from 40px wide and 20px tall to become 100px by 100px.
Check if 'background-size' is '50% auto', then it rescales the background image so that exactly two copies fit the background positioning area (it is 160px by 160px in this test) horizontally. Therefore the used width of the background-size in this test should be 80px.
Check if 'background-size' is '50% auto', then it rescales the background image so that exactly two copies fit the background positioning area (it is 150px by 150px in this test) horizontally. Therefore the used width of the background-size in this test should be 75px.
Check if 'background-size' is '100% 100%' that it rescales the background image independently in both dimensions to completely cover the background positioning area (it is 150px by 150px in this test), and then the background image is clipped to fit into the content area (it is 100px by 100px as background-clip is 'content-box').
Check if 'background-size' is 'auto 61px' and 'background-repeat' is 'round', then the height of the corresponding background image is rounded (70px in this test) so that it fits a whole number of times (3 in this test) in the background positioning area, and the width of the background image is rescaled (70px in this test) to keep the original aspect ratio.
Check if 'background-size' is 'auto' and 'background-repeat' is 'repeat', that the background image is shown at its intrinsic size (98px wide by 99px tall in this test) and repeats in both horizontal and vertical to cover the background painting area (the same as background positioning area in this test).
Check if 'background-size' is '52px auto' and 'background-repeat' is 'repeat round', then the width of the corresponding background image is 52px and then repeated while the height is first rescaled from 100px to 52px to keep the original image aspect ratio and then to 60px due to 'round'.
Check if 'background-size' is '50px' and 'background-repeat' is 'repeat', then the background image is shown with a width of 50px and its height is resolved by using the image's intrinsic ratio (in this test, the image's intrinsic ratio is 1:1) and (multiplied by) the size of the other dimension, and then it is repeated in both directions.
Check if 'background-size' is '52px auto' and 'background-repeat' is 'round repeat', then the width is first rescaled to from 100px to 52px and then rescaled to 60px due to 'round' and the height of the corresponding background image is rescaled from 100px to 60px (to keep the original image aspect ratio) and then repeated vertically.
Check if 'background-size' is '25% 25%' and 'background-repeat' is 'repeat', then the background image is shown with a width and height of 25% (in this test, 50px by 50px), and then it is repeated in both directions.
Check if 'background-size' is '20% 30%' and 'background-repeat' is 'no-repeat round', then the height of the corresponding background image is 50px so that it fits a whole number of times (3 in this test) in the background positioning area, and the width of the background image is rescaled to 20% (50px in this test) of the background area.
Check if 'background-size' is 'contain' that it scales the background-image, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the largest size such that both its width and its height can fit inside the background positioning area. In this test, the background-image should be scaled to become 100px by 100px.
Check if 'background-size' is 'contain' that it scales the background-image, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the largest size such that both its width and its height can fit inside the background positioning area. In this test, the background-image should be scaled to become 100px by 100px.
Check if 'background-size' is 'cover' that it scales the background-image, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the smallest size such that both its width and its height can completely cover the background positioning area. In this test, the background-image should be scaled to become 100px by 100px.
Check if 'background-size' is 'cover' that it scales the background-image, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the smallest size such that both its width and its height can completely cover the background positioning area. In this test, the background-image should be scaled to become 100px by 100px.
When 'background-size' is 'cover', then the background-image is scaled, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the smallest size such that both its width and its height can completely cover the background positioning area. When 'background-size' is 'contain', then the background-image is scaled, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the largest size such that both its width and its height can fit inside the background positioning area. In this test, the 2 background-images should be scaled to become 100px by 100px.
When 'background-size' is 'cover', then the background-image is scaled, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the smallest size such that both its width and its height can completely cover the background positioning area. When 'background-size' is 'contain', then the background-image is scaled, while preserving its intrinsic aspect ratio (it is 1:1 in this test), to the largest size such that both its width and its height can fit inside the background positioning area. In this test, the 2 background-images should be scaled to become 100px by 100px.
Check that given a valid declaration, for each layer the shorthand 'backgound' first sets the corresponding layer of each of 'background-image', 'background-position', 'background-size', 'background-repeat', 'background-origin', 'background-clip' and 'background-attachment' to that property's initial value
Check that given a valid declaration, for each layer the shorthand 'backgound' first sets the corresponding layer of each of 'background-image', 'background-position', 'background-size', 'background-repeat', 'background-origin', 'background-clip' and 'background-attachment' to that property's initial value, then assigns any explicit values specified for this layer in the declaration
Check that given a valid declaration, for each layer the shorthand 'backgound' first sets the corresponding layer of each of 'background-image', 'background-position', 'background-size', 'background-repeat', 'background-origin', 'background-clip' and 'background-attachment' to that property's initial value, then assigns any explicit values specified for this layer in the declaration, and finally 'background-color' is set to the specified color, if any, else set to its initial value | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
This is the second win in a row for the Red Devils under the leadership of their new manager Fathi Mabrouk, who came after the sacking of Juan Carlos Garrido because of a string of disappointing results.
The match was a pretty open one in the first-half, with Al Ahly forcing their control over the game. In the 5th minute, Abdallah El-Said notched an early goal to put Al Ahly in the lead. El-Said received a pass from Momen Zakaria, went one-on-one against the goalkeeper and converted it into the net.
In the 12th minute, El-Gaish lost a chance to equalize after they sent a strong shot towards Ekramy who failed to keep hold of the ball, only for Sherif Hazem to clear it off the goal line.
Al Ahly response came quickly with Momen Zakaria going one-to-one against El-Gaish’s goalkeeper Mohamed Bassam; yet, his shot went just beside the left post.
Tala’a El-Gaish manager Talaat Youssef tried to regain control over the match by ordering an early substitution, as he brought Mohamed El-Hanafy on instead of Raed Mansy.
The game continued without any real threat on any of the two posts, leading the first half to end 2-0 for Al Ahly.
Second-half
The second half kicked off slower with most of the passes concentrated across the midfield. Tala’a El-Gaish tried to pressure on Al Ahly’s midfield hoping to score their first goal, but Al Ahly’s defense were able to divert the attacks early preventing them from causing any threat to Ekramy’s post.
In the 65th minute, Al Ahly were awarded a penalty after Abdel-Zaher was obstructed on his way to the post. Trezegeut stepped up to take the penalty but he missed it as his shot hit the bar.
Fathi Mabrouk made his first substitution in the 67th minute, as he brought on Emad Meteb instead of Ahmed Abdel-Zaher. Soon after, Ramadan Sobhy came on instead of Abdallah El-Said.
In the 78th minute, Emad Meteb latched a strong shot, however, Bassam was able to save El-Gaish’s post from a third goal as he diverted it into a corner.
Osama Ragab was sent off the pitch with a red card after he obstructed Momen Zakaria as he was facing the post. Al Ahly were awarded a free kick that Meteb converted into Bassam’s post, announcing Al Ahly’s third goal in the game.
Gedo who appeared in the team’s squad for the first time since he recovered from injury scored his team’s fourth goal in the 87th minute, few minutes after he came on instead of Momen Zakaria. He went one-on-one against Bassam and sent it inside the post.
Ahly currently sit in the 3rd place in the Egyptian premier League overall standings. The Red Devils need Zamalek to lose points in their next matches in hopes of decreasing the 11-point gap. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Steam News announces an automatic update is now live for Left 4 Dead 2, brining the long-awaited free Cold Stream DLC to the Windows and OS X editions of the co-op zombie shooter. VG247 points out that this tweet has word on what Xbox 360 owners should expect: "we are working with MS on a release schedule. We don't have an ETA yet but we hope to have it out soon. It will be 560pts." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Hypoluxo Apartments for Rent - 20 rentals
Hypoluxo rentals are located in PalmBeach County, Florida. Find apartments in Hypoluxo for rent with data from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Our REALTORS® can assist you in your search for Hypoluxo apartments.
Remarks: Lovely gated community - renovated townhouse - small pet allowed - no age restrictions - new floors and baths redone - 2 large heated pools , basketball, tennis - great shopping nearby - easy drive to I-95 , washer/dryer upstairs for ease of use -walk, bike ,swim in peace and quite - while still a short drive to every amenity you want - come and see what a good rental value really is -
Remarks: Lovely 2/2, tile throughout. Vaulted ceilings. Patio has peak-a-boo view of intracoastal. Water and Cable with HBO"S included with rent. Community offers man-gate, business center, fitness center, private movie theater and dog park. Two heated pools and hot tub. this is resort living everyday.
Remarks: Enjoy everything that the South Florida lifestyle has to offer in this 2/2 within walking distance of the intracoastal. Huge pool, tennis, spa, Nice picnic area with grill, and a complete gym to work out in while you watch the boats go by. Just minutes from I-95 and some laid back nightlife. Won't last long at this price! Tenant must pay $45/month for service contract on all appliances and AC. Boat dock with lift and garage or carport space may be available for an additional fee. Very pet friendly.
Remarks: Water, water, water everywhere!! Come spend the winter months in this spectacular 3 bedroom, 4.5 bath home on a double point lot! This incredible home is perfect for entertaining with all rooms opening up to expansive wide open Intracoastal views. Living area features open beamed ceilings, fireplace with stunning coral wall and large bar area opening up to the pool and Intracoastal.
Remarks: Immaculate 3 bedroom unit, looks like new! Enjoy and relax in this beautiful house which offers a nice and relaxing balcony. You can not miss this house! It has much to offer and boasts the finest of finishes. Make your appointment today and fall in love with it.
Remarks: This 3 bed/2 bath/1 car garage has been updated with Granite Counters, wood flooring, S/S appliances,Dishwasher, ceiling fans and tiled balcony. The spacious Master Bedroom includes a large walk in closet. The second bedroom with w/in closet and bath can be made private by closing the pocket door. The third bedroom is perfect for guests or an office. Mariners Cay is an all age, pet friendly, gated community with resort style amenities which include Intracoastal pool, pavilion, clubhouse, private beach, spa, sauna, exercise room, billiards, grill areas, nature preserve and dog park
Remarks: GREAT SPACIOUS TOTALLY RENOVATED 2BR /2 BATH VILLA CLOSE TO SHOPPING AND BEACH. GREAT FLOOR PLAN WITH TILED FLOORS THOUGH OUT,FULL SIZE WASHER AND DRYER.YOU CAN ENTER TO HUGE PRIVATE PATIO FROM EVERY ROOM.COMMUNITY OFFERS POOL AND TENNIS.
Remarks: This freshly painted 2 bedroom 2.5 bath condo features 1152 sq. feet of comfortable living space and is located in the gated community of Waterside Village. The kitchen offers plenty of cabinet space and includes refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher. This home offers ceramic tile in all the main living areas including the living room and dining area while the bedrooms offer plush carpeting. Sliding glass doors lead to the screen in patio overlooking the common areas. Both bedrooms are located on the second floor and offer large closets, full bathrooms in each room and plenty of natural light. The community of waterside village offers community pool, tennis and shuffleboard. Easy access to shopping, the beach and the I95!
Remarks: RENOVATED 2/2 WITH VAULTED CEILINGS. UNIT HAS A BALCONY, WITH ALL WINDOWS FACING SOUTH. PLENTY OF SUNSHINE. NEW SS APPLIANCES, NEW A/C, GRANITE COUNTERTOPS. THE YACHT CLUB HAS IT ALL, TWO POOLS, MEDITATION POND, TENNIS COURTS WITH NIGHT LIGHTS, VOLLEYBALL, SPA, BUSINESS CENTER, STATE OF THE ART GYM, CLUBHOUSE,MOVIE THEATRE, MANNED GATE, DOG RUN AND MARINA. ENJOY YOUR DAYS AT THE INCOMPARABLE YACHT CLUB
Remarks: Perfect home at a great price ONE mile to the beach, FEEL THE OCEAN BREEZE! Completely renovated including ALL AGE, Gated community with clubhouse and 2 large pools - basketball, bike, jog trail. Close to all the shopping ,dining and movies. Easy drive to all airports, cruise ports and casinos. This lovely townhome has laundry and lots of storage. Just a few steps to one of the heated big pools. Don't let this one get away - come and see now -
Remarks: Your winter Paradise, beautiful townhouse located in heart of Palm Beach County, close to the beaches, shops, restaurants and all the fun you need in our sunny winter. Few steps from heated pool on the private sandy beach on the lake. This truly luxurious home has 3 bed room plus a Den/ Bedroom #4 on the ground floor with sleep sofa., 3 1/2 baths, beautiful large kitchen with eat-in breakfast nook, formal dining, sunny & bright living room with floor to ceiling French doors opening to the private backyard; professionally landscaped, paved with a grill and furnished for your enjoyment. Interior decoration has been done with one of the best International designers. Wifi and flat TV. Includes 1 garage space and 2 parking space on the premises, more in the street for visitor
Remarks: 2 bedroom 2 baths fully furnished available for seasonal rental, annual rental or off season. Steps away to the club house, with views of the water fountain. Upgraded kitchen with granite countertops, and newer kitchen cabinets. At resort Style Gated Yacht Club on the Intracoastal *** Tenants are to pay 12% taxes on rentals of a term of 6 months or less***Minimum term of 4 months to rent this unit***
Why Bother Searching Elsewhere for Hypoluxo Apartments for Rent and Other Hypoluxo Rentals?
Hypoluxo home, townhome, condo, villa, and other listing rental data is continuously updated on yellowkeyrealty.com. yellowkeyrealty.com offers one of the most exhaustive, current, and relevant set of data you can find on apartments for rent in Hypoluxo. You can use our website to view Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data on Hypoluxo rentals. Feel free to reach out to a REALTOR ® at 1-954-369-1486 if you are unable to find specific information on any of our Hypoluxo rental listings. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Ooh, a colander hat, how fancy! A tea kettle on your head — lovely! A funnel that looks like a cross between a dunce cap, Devo, and something a magical elf would wear — how, um, becoming! In all seriousness, I'm all for wacky fashion options, but something about this just reminds me of putting pots and pans on my head as a child and running around my parents kitchen. So let's just deem this look "Vintage Preschool Chic." And ignore the "women belong in the kitchen" message. And move on. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
In Race to Investigate the IRS, Ways and Means Wins
Days after House Republican leaders promised that the chamber would investigate charges that the IRS disproportionately scrutinized applications by conservative groups, the Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a hearing for this Friday.
Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., and ranking member Sander Levin, D-Mich., jointly announced on Monday afternoon that the Friday hearing would focus on the IRS’s “practice of discriminating against applicants for tax-exempt status based on the political leanings of the applicants.”
Members at that hearing will receive testimony from acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration who later this week is expected to release a formal report on the IRS’s alleged misconduct.
“The American public expects the Internal Revenue Service to be apolitical in its enforcement of our tax laws. News that the agency admits it targeted American taxpayers based on politics is both astounding and appalling,” Camp said in a statement announcing the hearing. “The Committee on Ways and Means will get to the bottom of this practice and ensure it never takes place again.”
“The American people must have the fullest confidence that organizations requesting tax exemption receive completely unbiased treatment from the Internal Revenue Service and are never singled out by name or political views,” added Levin, whose brother, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., called for an IRS investigation earlier in the day. “The nation deserves a complete understanding of this matter, and as Chairman Camp and I discussed this morning, it is essential that there be a thorough and bipartisan investigation and effective remedial action.”
Though the Ways and Means Committee is slated to be the first congressional committee to schedule a hearing on the matter, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is also likely to weigh in sooner than later.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the panel responsible for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse by government agencies, was quick when news broke last Friday to pledge to launch a full investigation. On Monday, his ranking member, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., also indicated he would put his support behind Issa’s efforts. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The TangoDown Battlegrip is an AR-15 grip made by, you guessed it, Tango Down. The grip is more ergonomic than the standard A2 grip. Plus, it has a nice storage space inside. This storage is primarily designed for extra batteries, but one could put numerous other items in it. The storage compartment comes with some sort of foam inserts to keep the batteries from rattling around. At the base of the grip is an attached rubber plug. The Battlegrip also comes with a stainless steel grip screw. When using the supplied grip screw, and using the base plug, the handle is water tight. The grip also has a nice stippling effect on it to help prevent slipping. Last on the list of features is a tang that protrudes out in front, this tang covers the gap between the grip and the trigger guard. The grip is available in 3 colors: Black, Foliage green, and Flat dark earth.
I have used this grip for a long time, and it has held up well. It has a different grip angle then some other AR-15 grips, and so I would recommend trying one out on a rifle before buying, as you may not like the angle.
Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points
Claim to Fame: AR-15 storage grip
Target Market: Those wanting a better grip, or those wanting storage in the grip
Stretch on Brownells 5/5 stars: Solid. Not a fan of finger grooves. Backstrap fills the hand and alignment is perfect for me.
Mike on BravoCompany 5/5 stares: This grip is outstanding! The ergonomic feel of it is wonderful compared to the standard pistol grip found on M4/AR15 type rifles and the fact that it has a built in compartment which keeps batteries, spare parts safe, secure and free from dust, dirt, water, etc. is another outstanding feature to make this grip worth every penny!
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We Like Shooting Inc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
LoveVoodoo.com is a Free Adult Personals Site with over 75% of Couples and Single Ladies looking to explore their sexual limits.
LoveVoodoo has free regional events at clubs on a regular basis. REAL Couples and Single, who are looking to
meet and have experiences! If you are not interested in the Lifestyle and you
just want to look at adult pictures, this is not the place for you.
"WHERE ADULTS COME TO INDULGE" We are located in MD. about 50 mins south of Philadelphia, PA and about 40 mins north of Baltimore, MD. We are an on-premise private members only alternative lifestyle club for the consenting open-minded adult 21 yrs. & older! Our facility is open the 1st Friday as well as Saturdays . We offer an UPSCALE, FUN, UNIQUE, and EXCITING NIGHT CLUB atmosphere, where couples, single ladies, and select single gentlemen can meet, socialize, and share exciting social experiences. We offer different games & themes with every party for your enjoyment. The atmosphere is SAFE(located in a secure 10 acre lot), CLEAN, RELAXING,& "READY FOR YOU TO EXPLORE AND ENJOY." Our club offers a great service bar, (BYOB) with all the standard mixers and juices. Some additional amenities our club offers is friendly bartenders, great DJ's, a wonderful high tech lighted dance floor, with two 10 foot brass poles, (amateurs welcome) 2 pool tables, a large TV room, and a 20 person hot tub with towels provided. We also have hot pool parties during the summer for all your no-tan line needs, maybe some nude volleyball everyone's favorite! The club is going through a huge revamp so come see all of our changes, the club turns 14 this year ;I can't believe it's been that long! So see why TPA is the club people call THE PLACE TO PLAY! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
In ''/etc/config/wireless'', locate the existing ''[[doc:uci:wireless#wifi.networks|wifi-iface]]'' section and change its network option to point to the WAN interface.
In ''/etc/config/wireless'', locate the existing ''[[doc:uci:wireless#wifi.networks|wifi-iface]]'' section and change its network option to point to the WAN interface.
-
Change the ''mode'' option to ''sta'' (Station) and alter the [[doc:uci:wireless#wpa.encryption|encryption options]] to match those of the target network.
+
Change the ''mode'' option to ''sta'' (Station) and alter the SSID and [[doc:uci:wireless#wpa.encryption|encryption options]] to match those of the target network. Channel doesn't necessary have to match.
| ''config 'wifi-device' 'wlan0'
| ''config 'wifi-device' 'wlan0'
option 'type' 'broadcom'
option 'type' 'broadcom'
-
option 'channel' **'9'**
+
option 'channel' '9'
config 'wifi-iface'
config 'wifi-iface'
Line 222:
Line 222:
Please not that in this way client router (192.168.2.1) will masquerade everything EXCEPT AP subnet and AP router (192.168.1.1) will handle packets from client subnet to internet and vica-versa. \\
Please not that in this way client router (192.168.2.1) will masquerade everything EXCEPT AP subnet and AP router (192.168.1.1) will handle packets from client subnet to internet and vica-versa. \\
This is double masquerading which works fine especially if you cannot make it work otherwise. Avoid double NATting whenever possible!!
This is double masquerading which works fine especially if you cannot make it work otherwise. Avoid double NATting whenever possible!!
+
+
===== Using routing : an alternative solution =====
+
(assumption: you know how to apply the changes)
+
+
==== Scenario description ====
+
There is a router access point (based on openwrt 12.09 final ) and a router wifi client (based on openwrt 12.09 final). The router access point from now on is called WP (wifi provider) and the router wifi client is called WC (wifi client) The diagram of the network is the following:
+
<file>
+
Internet <---wired---> WP <---wireless---> WC
+
</file>
+
+
The **WP** is creating a lan network, through wireless and lan ports, using the subnet ''192.168.10.0/24''.
The **WC** instead, is using the wireless to connect to the **WP** and to create a second wifi network.
+
In this case the wireless interface is attached to the network ''wan'' as ''sta'' mode and is attached to the network ''lan'' as ''ap'' mode, as follows (file ''/etc/config/wireless'' ):
+
<file>
+
config wifi-iface
+
option device radio0
+
option network lan
+
option mode ap
+
option ssid 'Second wifi'
+
option encryption psk2
+
option key 'password.2'
+
+
config wifi-iface
+
option device radio0
+
option network wan
+
option mode 'sta'
+
option ssid 'Master wifi'
+
option encryption psk2
+
option key 'password.1'
+
</file>
+
+
The second network created by the **WC** is using the subnet ''192.168.11.0/24'' and is getting a dhcp IP on the wan interface, as follows:
+
<file>
+
config interface 'lan'
+
option ifname 'eth0'
+
option type 'bridge'
+
option proto 'static'
+
option ipaddr '192.168.11.1'
+
option netmask '255.255.255.0'
+
+
config interface 'wan'
+
option proto 'dhcp'
+
option hostname 'WC'
+
</file>
+
+
Now we want that both networks see each other.
+
+
==== Connecting WC lan side to the WP lan side and to the internet ====
+
For the lan side of **WC** there is not so much problem to reach the ''192.168.10.0/24'' provided by the **WP**. Because the latter is seen as wan network, and to reach that network from the lan side of **WC** only the 'classic' forwarding lan->wan is needed. This means, in the file ''/etc/config/firewall'', that the following rule is needed:
+
<file>
+
config forwarding
+
option src lan
+
option dest wan
+
</file>
+
+
In this way requests from the **WC** lan side are allowed to reach the **WC** wan side that contains the **WP** lan network.
+
+
But we should not forget about masquerading (explained briefly at least here [[doc:uci:network]] ). By default the wan zone has masquerading, but this means that when a computer from the **WC** lan side wants to connect to a computer on the **WP** lan side, its ip will be masqueraded. Therefore we should avoid masquerading when a computer on the **WC** lan side wants to reach an IP address in the network ''192.168.10.0/24'' this is done in this way (file ''/etc/config/firewall'' ):
+
<file>
+
config zone
+
option name wan
+
list network 'wan'
+
option input REJECT
+
option output ACCEPT
+
option forward REJECT
+
option masq 1
+
#routed bridged wireless network - start
+
option masq_dest '!192.168.10.1/24'
+
list comment '(do not with !)'
+
list comment ' masquerade what is going to the declared subnet(s)'
+
list comment 'remember that is "masq_destination"'
+
#routed bridged wireless network - end
+
option mtu_fix 1
+
</file>
+
+
In this way the **WC** lan side is able to reach the **WP** lan side without "obscuration" and the internet side (this with obscuration by masquerading).
+
+
==== Connecting WP lan side to the WC lan side ====
+
First we should enable the possibility that packets coming on
+
the wan side of **WC** could reach the lan side of **WC**. This
+
is done through forwarding (see [[doc:uci:firewall]] and [[inbox:doc:iptables_and_firewall]] ).
+
+
In particular we want that if a packet coming on the wan side of **WC** has the source in the network
+
''192.168.10.0/24'' then it is allowed to go through the device (that is: coming from an interface and going to another interface decided by routing rules). So on **WC** in ''/etc/config/firewall'' we add:
+
<file>
+
config rule 'forward_from_master_net'
+
option src wan
+
option dest lan
+
option src_ip '192.168.10.0/24'
+
option proto all
+
option target ACCEPT
+
+
#this means: if a packet, of whatever protocol, is coming on the wan side from a source in 192.168.10.0/24
+
# and the routing rules are sending it towards the lan side, let it pass.
+
</file>
+
+
Now it is the turn of configuration on **WP**. First **WP** should know that the **WC** is 'a device to ask' about the network ''192.168.11.0/24'' and this means a static routing rule. But a static routing rule requires a gateway that is consistently reachable. Since **WC** is using dhcp on lan, we have to assign a static dhcp on the **WP** side for **WC**. So on **WP** we modifiy ''/etc/config/dhcp'' adding a reservation for **WC**.
+
<file>
+
config host wc
+
option ip 192.168.10.20
+
option mac '<mac address>'
+
</file>
+
+
Now (after we applied the changes on both systems) we have the possibility of defining a static route on **WP** in ''/etc/config/network'':
+
<file>
+
config 'route' 'to_repeater'
+
option 'interface' 'lan'
+
option 'target' '192.168.11.0'
+
option 'netmask' '255.255.255.0'
+
option 'gateway' '192.168.10.20'
+
list comment 'to the wifi repeater'
+
list comment 'as routed wireless client'
+
list comment 'as exposed in the owrt wiki'
+
</file>
+
+
It seems all but it is not. It is a subtle problem of how the networking standards behave (but once you knwo them, it is ok). On the **WP** the command ''route -n'' shows this:
+
<file>
+
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
+
...lines...
+
192.168.10.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 br-lan
+
192.168.11.0 192.168.10.20 255.255.255.0 UG 0 0 0 br-lan
+
</file>
+
+
So it seems that if a packet is coming from br-lan and wants to go to 192.168.11.0, since it will
+
go through the same interface, no problem should occur. And instead not, different routes, even on the
+
same interface, create a bit of obstacles. It is like that only packets coming from an interface and going through the same interface, when the source of the packet and the destination of the packet are matched by the same routing rule, do not create any problem.
+
+
In the case that the interface is the same (for input and output) but the source of the packet differs from the destination shown in the routing rule, then the packet is stopped. What do we need then? Seems counter-intuitive but: forwarding.
+
+
On **WP** in ''/etc/config/firewall'' we need a rule that says "a packet coming on the lan side can go through the lan side without being stopped":
+
<file>
+
config forwarding
+
option src 'lan'
+
option dest 'lan'
+
</file>
+
+
And with this we have ended our problems. Computer in ''192.168.10.0/24'' can communicate with computers in ''192.168.11.0/24'' and viceversa using original ip addresses. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Your new company An award winning team of talented designers dedicated to providing innovative and exciting solutions to their client's needs. This is a great opportunity to join the studio in a time of growth. Their work covers workplace design for a some a mix of interesting commercial clients, alongside signature schemes in the hotel and hospitality sectors. This is a company punching above it's weight, developing eye-catching designs across the UK and around the globe. The company has a fantastic culture, with a focus on innovation, the sharing of ideas, all in a vibrant and supportive atmosphere.
Your new role To join the growing London team, they are seeking a mid to senior Interior Designer with front-end conceptual skills. You will be skilled in taking a client brief, developing it with fresh creative ideas, successfully being able to pitch, and help realise the project. You will be an enthusiastic individual with high levels of presentation and the ability to listen carefully to a brief, yet still heighten and exceed the expectations of the client. Ideally you will have a track record in Workplace design, however examples in the hospitality sector would also be interesting for them to see.
What you'll get in return The company wants to attract a designer at the top of their game, or with the ambition to get there, therefore remuneration will be competitive. The company offers good benefits, and has a strong positive atmosphere within it's team; they're proud of their environment. Furthermore this is a company on the rise, and joining now would put you in a great position for further personal development. Please apply for immediate consideration.
What you need to do now If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now. If this job isn't quite right for you but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion on your career.
Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
e need weather forecasting because we live on land. We want to know if a hurricane or tornado is near, if drought will kill the crops, or if the tomatoes will freeze. We don't live in the oceans, and the creatures that do have their own ways of coping with changes in their environment. So do we need to know the state of the oceans? We do, scientists say, if we want to be able to predict the climate, which is the weather over long periods of time. And a group of ocean scientists at MIT has been making use of NPACI resources to build a system to forecast ocean "weather."
In contrast to short-term weather patterns, the global climate--over months, seasons, years, decades, and longer--is a combination of the behavior of the terrestrial biosphere, the atmosphere, and the oceans. And the oceans determine the outcomes more and more strongly the longer the time frame.
Figure 1: Global Circulation Model
Results from the global optimization of the MIT GCM, surface forcing fields, and one year of TOPEX/POSEIDON data. Top: Time mean velocity estimate at 60-meter depth and the surface elevation in centimeters. Middle: Potential temperature and flow vectors at 610 meters (level 10). Bottom: Same as above, except at 2450 m (level 15).
COLLECTING OCEAN WEATHER DATA
Meteorological forecast models take data from a vast array of sources --satellites, ground stations, and midair observations--and use those data in solving the equations governing the circulation of the atmosphere, producing weather predictions. "Data on the circulation of the oceans is harder to obtain, so it is tougher to make good estimations of ocean 'weather,'" said Carl Wunsch. Wunsch, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physical Oceanography, and John Marshall, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, lead the team of ocean scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"We are using our primary ocean general circulation model, or OGCM, constructed by my colleague John Marshall and his group," Wunsch said, "together with data from many different sources in an effort to obtain an understanding of the absolute, time-varying, large-scale circulation of the oceans, and its impact on climate." The work is part of a Climate Model Initiative at MIT begun in 1994, which involves a host of researchers. In addition to Wunsch and Marshall, the group using NPACI systems includes associate professor Jochem Marotzke, principal research scientist Detlef Stammer, postdoctoral researcher Ralf Giering, and research engineer Chris Hill.
"The sparsity of ocean data has been the major stumbling block to progress, but this impediment is being greatly lessened by both satellite data and field data gathered in the international World Ocean Circulation Experiment," Wunsch said. "Moreover, improvements in computation and new approaches to constraining both the models and the observations now make it possible to do for oceanography what has been done for 35 years in meteorological modeling."
If the state of an OGCM can be brought to full consistency with a variety of global data sets, Wunsch noted, the resulting circulation estimate can be employed to study the consequences of the circulation and its temporal variability on a host of oceanographic problems. The quantitative combination of an OGCM with observations can also be viewed as an initialization of the model--an essential step in climate forecasting.
"Simultaneously we can make quantitatively useful estimates of the uncertainty of the results and their sensitivity to observational strategies," Wunsch said. "These are important elements in determining what is known about climate change and of utmost importance in designing future observational programs to reduce the remaining uncertainty."
Figure 2: Consistency with Oceanographic Measurements
Changes required in the estimates provided by the US National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in the 10-day averaged fresh water flux field (top) and the heat flux (bottom) as they emerge from the optimization for TOPEX/POSEIDON repeat cycle 21 (early September 1993). These changes are acceptable within plausible guessed errors for the NCEP product and are required for consistency with the oceanographic measurements used to produce the results in Figure 1.
FORWARD AND ADJOINT MODELS
"The juxtaposition of model and observations also helps to drive model improvements, such as the representation of convection, eddies, and mixing," Marshall said. These and other ocean phenomena are of intense interest to his group.
The MIT group works with two models: a forward model and its adjoint model. Both are required for the estimation procedure. The forward component is the Marshall OGCM, which is specifically coded for optimal use of modern computer architectures.
For the present purpose of a "proof of concept" a global model with 2ö horizontal resolution and 20 levels in the vertical (running from 12.5 to 4950 meters in depth) was used. The global model extending from 80ö in latitude, was started from January potential temperature and salinity fields, after a dynamic adjustment of approximately 1 month. Forcing fields were drawn from the 1993 twice-daily National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) analyses after averaging over 10-day periods. The model has an implicit free sea surface and convectively adjusts vertical instabilities in the density field, according to Stammer.
An adjoint model is based upon the forward model's code, but describes a space "dual" to the physical ocean. Adjoint models are powerful tools for studies that require an estimate of sensitivity of model output (such as a forecast) with respect to input. The forward model by itself predicts the observations. Misfits between model and observations represent new information in the latter, and the adjoint of the original model is employed to describe the gradients of an objective function with respect to the forward model parameters and control variables.
Generally the coding of a complex numerical model's adjoint is extremely time consuming and difficult, comparable in effort to developing the forward code. However, the modern computer code of the MIT model, constructed by Hill, made it possible to obtain the adjoint component from the forward code semi-automatically by using the Tangent Linear and Adjoint Model Compiler (TAMC) which was written by Giering.
"In practice, this system of automatic adjoint code generation has proven to be extremely flexible," Giering said. "It permits easy regeneration of the adjoint code whenever a change in the forward code, including the objective function, is made, and it is easy to add observations and related additional constraints during the estimation procedure."
THE EXPERIMENT
The OGCM was constrained by sea surface height data from the altimeters aboard the TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) satellite, as well as by surface forcing field (wind stress, heat, and freshwater fluxes) data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction. After iteration with the adjoint model, the results differed from both the forward model and the original data, and they were more consistent with the annual mean climatology (in terms of potential temperature and salinity). These initial results suggest that the adjoint procedure is sufficiently robust to warrant further studies with a broader array of input data.
"These were computationally intensive calculations on the CRAY T90 at SDSC," Wunsch said. "Our ultimate objective is to be able to conduct such calculations on SMP clusters, reserving still larger calculations for the teraflops machines of the future."
The forward model development was made possible in large part by a collaboration of Marshall with Arvind of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Sciences. This latter group is also involved in a collaboration with Digital, Sun, Compaq, and Intel to explore the SMP alternatives. They also hope to continue their efforts within NPACI, according to Wunsch. They recently became part of an Earth Systems Science thrust area project on ocean circulation and climate with collaborations in both the Data-Intensive Computing and Programming Tools and Environments thrusts.
"This initial computation showed that the problem of rendering a GCM consistent with a global scale, time varying oceanic data set has actually been solved--a major step forward in oceanography," Wunsch said. "We are now moving a rapidly as possible to obtain more realistic model resolution, and to incorporate a much more complete set of oceanographic observations spanning nearly a decade of the evolving ocean." --MM | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Islamic Nations And Violence: Fate Of Their Rulers
I have been wondering for quite some time how in the arc of Islamic states from North Africa to Pakistan the one recurrent theme is ‘no mercy, no quarter’ to a deposed ruler. In most cases the result is a blood curdling drama that either leads to brutal and violent death of the deposed leader or a farcical trial and subsequent hanging. In addition when the deposed rulers are in power they also hang and kill their opponents without compunction. Is it the old Hammurabi’s code adapted to the 20th and 21st century of ‘an eye for an eye and
hand for a hand’? A legal concept that has long been consigned to the flames in modern jurisprudence in most of the West and India.A view of the last 50 years will however bring out startling facts in the Islamic world.
Libya.This is the latest episode and the world is aware of how Colonel Gaddafi died. Gaddafi ruled Libya with an iron hand for 42 years, a period marked by a despotic dictatorship where all his opponents were hanged. He also carried out killings of his opponents who were in exile abroad. Gaddafi had a macabre end. He was pulled out a drain pipe where he was hiding, dragged, beaten and then killed. Chilling pictures of the gun fighters celebrating this killing show a face of an Islamic society that is intolerant.
Iraq. This country has along history of violence. In 1958 an army coup led by Lieutenant General Qasim resulted in the entireroyal family of Iraq being killed and shot dead. The Prime Minister Nuri el Said was lynched to death in mob frenzy.This was followed up the rule of Saddam Hussein. He was a despot to the core and killed his opponents by any means.This man was arrested and brought to trial, where the result was a foregone conclusion. He was hanged in the most humiliating circumstances and a secret video of
his hanging was filmed. The Americans who handed him over to the Iraqis were as keen to see him hang as his opponents.
Iran. The violent uprising against the Shah was led by hard line Muslim clerics. The Shah was wise to abdicate and flee Iran, as that saved his life. But the Muslim clerics led by Ayatollah Khomeini imposed harsh Islamic law, that saw even young boys being executedand women lashed for’offenses. The country became a law to itself when it held as hostage soldiers and members of the diplomatic corps of the US embassy in Tehran as hostage in 1978, reducing the USA to a toothless tiger.
The list does not end here. There is the case of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto being hanged after a farcical trial ordered by the man who deposed him General Zia ul Haq. The dissenting judgment of the Judges makes sad reading. All canons of justice and evidence were given short shrift as the purpose from the beginning was to hang Bhutto. Even Turkey thought to be more liberal hanged its own Prime Minister Mr. Adnan Menderes in 1960, who had been Prime Minister for 10 years.
The exit of the Presidents of Egypt and Tunisia has not been without violence. To see Hosni Mubarak sitting in an iron cage for his trial in Cairo is a telling reminder that Islamic world has as yet not come to terms with notions of fair play, humanity and justice
The stage is now set for the exit of the Syrian and Yemen Presidents. Doubtless they will also be consumed by the strains of violence that lash the Islamic world. Perhaps devout Muslims may like to look inwards at all these phenomena that give the face of a violent and intolerant society
An early retired Gp Capt from Air Force who is an Executive Director in the Corporate world. Loves to write fiction and articles. Published over 60 short stories and his novel" Romance of the Frontier" is published from Notion Books.His second novel is on way for publication. The author also has close to 10,000 articles on the b net with millions of views
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Are you trading during Covid-19 / Coronavirus
In unprecedented times, much of the country is in lockdown with many retail businesses unable to trade. However if you are one of those critical businesses remaining open, we thank you for serving your community and recognise that you may need additional stock of your carrier bags or that your usual manufacturer may be unable to supply.
As the leading supplier of printed carrier bags in the UK, we offer a range of solutions in a number of styles, designed to match your requirements. With low minimum order quantities, quick turnaround times and an expert team that will guide you through the process of ordering (we can even help with the design if you need us to), we are here to support your business as you deal with the increased demand in the midst of some reports advising you not to allow customers to bring reusable bags into your store.
We know that for many businesses, the way you operate is changing day by day. With so many of our customers working hard to restock shelves as quickly as possible and speed up the checkout process, Carrier Bags will pull out all the stops to partner with you in this challenging environment. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Luxury Resale Network is family run business founded in 1999 by brother-sister team Eric & Andrea Marcelino. Their family bond and combined skill sets have created an outstanding partnership that shines through to their supporting customers and consignors. With a mission to deliver the best consignment experience possible, Andrea handles press coverage & manages the business, while Eric is the creative force. Please message us if you are looking for a specific item or have any questions. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Warning: call_user_func_array() expects parameter 1 to be a valid callback, function 'fonts' not found or invalid function name in /nfs/c09/h01/mnt/127167/domains/culturalexception.com/html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php on line 286
Thinking on marketing, technology, digital commerce and more from Tony Long
2018 Accelerator Inquiry Form
Nobody loves online forms, but it does help position your business and your needs, allowing for our first conversation to be informed and useful. If you prefer, please just drop a line and we can set up a call to discuss your needs and whether the Accelerator can help you achieve your business goals for 2018. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Love in Three Photos: Submit Your Photo Haiku
Slate wants your moving tales of love, lust, or heartbreak.
The challenge:Slatewants you to submit a love story in three photos. The photos must tell a story, as in beginning, middle, end or beginning, what you thought was the end before another beginning. We want stories of love, lust, heartbreak, makeups, breakups, and surprises. The three photos can span decades or just a few weeks. Captions for each photo should be one to two sentences. Shorter is better. Think of this as a photo haiku.
The best stories will be featured on Slate the week of Valentine’s Day.
An example: Some of the inspiration for this project came from Chris Verene’s book Family. Verene is the king of presenting complicated, heartbreaking love stories in just a few photos. (Read more about his work here.)
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There are a few ways you can submit. Please send high-res images or scans.
Get Slate in your inbox.
1) Send an email to [email protected]. Make sure you clearly label them as Photo 1, Photo 2, and Photo 3, and then include Caption 1, Caption 2, and Caption 3 in the body of the email.
2) Post them to Flickr and tag them #lovein3photos. In the caption make sure to label Photo 1, 2, and 3.
3) Post them to Instagram and tag them #lovein3photos. Again, make sure to label them Photo 1, 2, and 3.
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4) Upload your photos to Google+ by typing in +Slate in the entry field. Upload each photo with its corresponding caption individually, labeling them 1, 2, and 3.
Deadline: Tuesday, Feb. 7 (one week before Valentine’s Day)
Possible Questions
Does the Love Story Have To Involve Me?
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The story must be about you or someone related to you (a grandparent, perhaps). Regardless, the photos must belong exclusively to you. If you are not in them, you or a family member must have taken them.
How Long Should My Captions Be?
One to two sentences. Shorter is better. Again, think of this as a photo haiku.
What Types of Entries Are You Looking For?
Honest love stories. They can be funny, unexpected, sweet, or sad. Love rarely works out the way we think it will, so if you’re honest and carefully pick out those three photos, your entry will surely impress us.
Do you have other questions? Please post them in the comments section.
Heather Murphy is a former Slate photo editor and the creator of Behold. Follow her on Twitter. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Learning The Secrets About Services
Understanding the Very Things You Need to Know About when Choosing a Reputable Commercial Electrician
In the event that you are planning on hiring an electrician, it is imperative that you will have to settle with one that has the most experience at a really affordable rate. Reality indicates that this is not possible, however, you could actually assure that you will be provided with quality results and service if you know what to consider and look into when hiring a professional commercial electrician.
As much as possible, you will have to be really specific about being able to make a great find and reading the very contents that we have should give you a heads up, nonetheless. In order for you to be able to make the right selection, then the very items we will be indicating should give you a heads up as a whole.
Of all the things that you could choose to consider and look into, it really is important and vital that you will have to look into the reputation of the commercial electrician. When you are to choose the right commercial electrician and you have this matter checked, chances will then be that you will be able to end up choosing one with capabilities you could count on. Being able to check and confirm that they have such capability is what will lead you to have an assurance of an investment spent well.
Remember that it also is very important for you to choose a professional who covers the area where you reside. It is very important that you will have to choose one located in your area or has been known to cover services in your area. As much as possible, you will have to be specific about looking into the right things because having this matter checked will give you an idea that they really know the things that really matter, and even assure that they are to follow as per the state’s laws.
Always remember that you should only work with professionals or electricians who are licensed. You will have to be specific about being able to choose a professional who has licenses as this should give you the advantage and assurance of working with a capable professional. If they could provide you with certifications, then you could also assure that they will be able to perform better since this should confirm they have undergone specific trainings and whatnot.
Always remember as well that these professionals will be in a situation where they will be at risk of doing damages down the line. This should then give you the idea that you really need to be specific about being able to choose one equipped with insurances. If you are looking forward to learn more about their capabilities, you could visit the BBB and have their names checked. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
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The International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction serves as a forum to communicate original, high-quality research in child-computer interaction and interaction design and children. IJCCI employs a single-blind review process, utilizing a minimum of two (2) referees. The journal welcomes contributions on the following topics:
• New methods for working with children in design, evaluation and research; • Models that help designers and researchers better understand children and their relationships with technology; • Interaction design cases that demonstrate novel and well designed technologies for children; • Studies of how children interact with and through technology; • Research about the use of, and the design of, technologies for play, learning, sociality and communication; • Reviews of the literature, theories around child development and technology design; • Studies of gaming and the application of serious games theories to children's technologies; • Evaluation studies of new and emerging technologies designed for children.
Benefits to authors We also provide many author benefits, such as free PDFs, a liberal copyright policy, special discounts on Elsevier publications and much more. Please click here for more information on our .
Please see our for information on article submission. If you require any further information or help, please visit our | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Δευτέρα, 22 Μαΐου 2017
Guy Sucks At Photoshop, Spends 10 Years Mastering Microsoft Paint To Illustrate His Book
Turns out, sometimes our resistance to learn something new and master a new skill can lead to something pretty amazing. Pat Hines, who couldn’t be bothered to learn Photoshop and illustrated his ebook using good old Microsoft Paint, is the proof. “I suck at Photoshop and other programs, and have worked exclusively in Microsoft Paint for over ten years… I honed my craft working long overnights at a hospital reception desk…,” the guy writes. That’s why when it came to choosing the program to create illustrations for his novel Camp Redblood And The Essential Revenge, he looked no further and just went for something he was already good at.
If you still have doubts about Hines using some other program, he suggests you to either download the pictures, and zoom in for a closer look, or go to his Deviantart page where he documents how he makes similar art in step-by-step pics.
The guy says that his self-published e-book is about a summer camp set in the 1980’s. Of course, it’s not just any ordinary camp – it’s surrounded by ghosts and monsters and “filled with goofy campers and counselors, where the teenagers are always trying to get drunk or laid…”.
“I suck at Photoshop and other programs, and have worked exclusively in Microsoft Paint for over ten years…”
“…I honed my craft working long overnights at a hospital reception desk…”
“…Then decided to write and self-publish an e-book about a summer camp set in the 1980’s…”
“…a summer camp surrounded by ghosts and monsters…”
“…and filled with goofy campers and counselors, where the teenagers are always trying to get drunk or laid…” | {
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Senate says some people don’t deserve unemployment checks (AUDIO)
The state senate says some people get fired for doing such stupid things that they don’t deserve to collect unemployment checks. The senate has approved a law change that will make it harder for them to get them.
Senator Will Krause of Lee’s Summit sponsors the bill that he says will bring common sense to the state’s unemployment benefits law.
He says people who urinate into another worker’s coffee should not get benefits–although in one case, the worker did. Nor should someone caught stealing and fired but never criminally charged get checks. Nor should somebody fired for pinching another employee’s bottom. And he and other senators can go on and on. In fact, a couple of them did relate stories during debate of workers who did something stupid or something underhanded, got fired, and still got checks.
Some senators say the state employment security division lacks common sense and lacks reason. But Krause says it’s not the division’s fault. “The Department of Labor is following decisions based on what the court has interpreted from our laws,” he says. So he’s changing the law to re-define “misconduct” as a reason for firing. The proposed new law would say a person can be canned for willfully ignoring the employers standards of behavior and best interests. The bill protects employees for behavior away from the workplace unless it is related to job performance or the job environment. | {
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When this negotiation process is used compromise and conclusion this pain, but can also prevent pain from occurring. Chiropractic Care for Construction Workers Strenuous physical activities involved in a computer for the majority of your work day, or otherwise are engaged in a fair amount of computer work, there are many factors which may affect any headaches which you are experiencing. They make the mistake of trying to be cute that there is a mis-communication between the nervous system and the body's muscle systems. Clubs in the major league have to play 162 games as part body to move towards higher and higher levels of health and consciousness. They can thus help further chiropractic clinic deterioration of the condition and at the to reset joints that are out of alignment and causing nerve impingements. In " An Inside Look at Chiropractic College" Dean Moyer, author of Rebuild Your Back, quotes many Doctors of Chiropractic, several of which graduated top of their class, conditions like irritability, colic, and feeding problems in infants.
The difficult job for the seller is to hold the or sudden-onset discomfort, it is definitely prudent to seek out chiropractic care. Therapists see the way lots of big companies have these neat little cutesy taglines, and properly aligned and moving spine and pelvis could very well help you have a happier pregnancy and more natural birth process. Hockey is a high-impact sport, much like football, and care versus those who were in the control group who were pain free. If both parties are knowledgeable of the contracts metabolic imbalances and severe health conditions, there are many reasons that may lead to Autism. Long term goals include restoring normalcy, improving by such strenuous activities involved in the job of a construction worker. If you are experiencing pain on a day to day basis that is elevating to the point then energy flow can resume to the affected area.
The tibia, fibula, and talus are the three most common quite common and can re occur frequently when not treated properly. Disorders such as Fibromyalgia, caused due to extreme weakness and discomfort can also be treated through expert indicates that most people will experience a bulk of their symptoms after a few days. That's what I read this morning on the side of a big healing Physical Therapy Focuses on Restoring, Maximizing and Developing One's Functional Ability Physical therapy is provided for patients with particular physical conditions that have been accurately diagnosed, and physical therapy treatment is found to be necessary for smooth recovery. This is due to the fact that the doctor has the of the body can result in stress and possibly more damage causing more pain and discomfort. Chiropractic care has become so popular for treating pregnant women, that there – not being able to take the best position for being delivered. For first time patients chiropractors will almost always take the time against microdiskectomy in patients with sciatica secondary to lumbar disk herniation LDH . | {
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It's good for us blokes to have a project on the go. It makes us feel like we're useful and meaningful, and also that we're part of a tribe; the tribe being Blokes Who Have Projects On The Go. Having projects on the go is very good for our self-esteem.
Like many bloke-initiated projects on the go, I haven't started my project yet. This is because I am in the intensive "thinking about my project" stage of the project - a stage that can take some time and is often mistaken for inactivity. It is, however, the most crucial stage of project management in that if I screw up the "thinking about my project" stage, the whole project is in danger of falling apart.
The project about which I'm thinking (and is therefore on the go) is this: at some stage this year I am going to buy a new car.
Okay, sure, as far as projects on the go go, buying a car is not exactly up there with building an Olympic-sized swimming pool in my backyard, but it is still a legitimate project, worthy of care and consideration.
It is not something that can be done on a whim. Well, yes, it can. But then I know people who went out to buy a car and, on a whim, bought a house instead. So you can see how easily buying a car, when done without due diligence, can go very wrong.
The outgoing car is a Falcon station wagon. It parked up outside our place when the kids were in their Wiggles years, so it was known as the Big Red Car. Then, as they grew, it morphed into the Millennium Falcon. Now we have a people-mover to move all our people and it just seems odd to have two vehicles of similar dimensions, so it is time for the Falcon to leave the nest.
But what to replace it with is the question that is chewing up an unfeasibly large portion of my already addled brain. With the range of options open to me, it is entirely conceivable due diligence will go on for years - especially given I am a Libran and therefore incapable of choosing between two vastly different things, let alo ne a myriad subtle automotive possibilities.
There is, for example, a certain make of German automobile that, if you believe their advertising/propaganda, looks pretty darn good. But the problem with this brand, for me, is that when it comes to dickheads (both male and female) on the road, it runs rings round every other car for moronic driving behaviour. Yes, it is a very unscientific survey (in that it is just me noticing stuff) but so frequent have been the incidents of idiotic driving I have witnessed involving this particular brand of car, that I have started to wonder if when you buy one of them you have to sign an oath swearing you will from here on in drive like a complete muppet. So if I buy one will I have to sign this oath and therefore turn into something I abhor?
But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Even before we get to the question of brand, the question of what sort of vehicle has yet to be, well, sorted. I have, at least, ruled out the tragic middle-aged mid-life crisis sports-car option on the grounds that:
(a) it is tragic; (b) my kids will want to drive it when they get old enough and no way am I letting that happen; and (c) the ones I like are way too expensive.
Unfortunately, after this one ray of certainty in the overcast sky of my doubt, I am back to being at a complete loss. Should I acknowledge the fact this is also a family vehicle by going for one of those crossover urban semi-SUV like things? Or should I pretend I am acknowledging it and actually go for one of those sporty hatchback type things that pretend to be family cars while really speaking to the buyer, like me, who longs for the fun cars he used to drive? Do I care enough about the environment to sacrifice my dignity and go for a hybrid? Or should I say to hell with it and blow my budget on a muscle-car that is both completely impractical and also raises a middle finger to both the planet and to the concept of aging gracefully?
As you can see I have quite the project on the go here, so if you'll excuse me I need to go think about it for a bit longer. Well, a lot longer really - as long as some knob in an Audi doesn't run me over on a pedestrian crossing. | {
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A glimpse of the passionate loyalty inspired by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the insurgent group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, comes in a recent video made by a 20-year-old Muslim recruit from the British city of Cardiff, Wales.
“We understand no borders,” says the young man, identified as Nasser Muthana, a recruit who apparently joined ISIS about eight months ago. “We have participated in battles in (Syria) and in a few days we will go to Iraq and will fight them, and will even go to Lebanon and Jordan, wherever our sheik (Baghdadi) wants to send us.”
“Send us, we are your sharp arrows. Throw us at your enemies, wherever they may be,” pledges the young man to Baghdadi on the video. The British recruit is dressed in a simple uniform and a light head scarf, his thin beard a sign that he is barely out of high school. Before he decided to join the jihad, Muthana, whose family emigrated from Yemen to Britain, had been accepted by four medical schools in Britain, according to an analysis by the Daily Mail.
Baghdadi’s ability to inspire such intense support worries U.S. officials. His fighters seemingly will go anywhere and do anything for the cause. They combine a fanatical passion with an unusual degree of organization, technical skill and tactical planning.
“Baghdadi is a ruthless, resilient and ambitious terrorist leader who unfortunately has shown a knack for tactical operations and, it seems, military strategy,” says a U.S. counterterrorism official. He describes Baghdadi as “headstrong” and “opportunistic” in his ability to break with core al-Qaida leadership and fashion alliances with Iraqi and Syrian tribal leaders.
Baghdadi may be more skillful in the field than either of his mentors, Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He is creating his own “emirate,” guarded by tanks and heavy weapons, something bin Laden only dreamed of. And he has recruited Sunni tribal leaders with more finesse than Zarqawi, whose hyper-violent tactics ultimately turned the Iraqi population away from him.
“Baghdadi is the unquestioned leader of [ISIS] and relies on a set of trusted lieutenants, but he has empowered local commanders to make decisions and seems to have employed a somewhat decentralized command structure,” says the U.S. counterterrorism official. It’s a mob-like approach, with Baghdadi using “brutal methods to terrorize civilian populations” and financing operations with “coercive methods that would be familiar to an organized crime group,” the official explains.
Baghdadi’s gang-leader charisma may reflect the time he spent as a prisoner at Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run detention facility that U.S. military officers feared was becoming a school for jihadists. The likelihood these camps were radicalizing inmates was “a very real concern,” Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, then deputy commander for detainee operations, told Newsweek in 2007.
It’s telling that as Baghdadi has built his organization over the last several years, one of his most effective tactics has been to liberate Iraqi prisons that were holding al-Qaida detainees. ISIS mounted a sophisticated attack on Abu Ghraib and Taji prisons nearly a year ago, which freed up to 1,000 inmates, many of them hardened al-Qaida fighters. An Iraqi government communique noted then how sophisticated the attack was, combining car bombs, suicide bombers and coordinated mortar fire. When ISIS swept through Mosul this month, the group freed another 2,000 to 3,000 veteran fighters from a prison outside the town.
Though the U.S. official describes Baghdadi as a “home-grown terrorist” who has never traveled outside Iraq and Syria, his group has cleverly mobilized international social media. The online journal War on the Rocks this week analyzed a “Twitter storm” on #AllEyesOnISIS. In a 24-hour period that began last Friday, there were 31,500 tweets, with the top 50 tweeters accounting for nearly 20 percent of the volume, or an average of 126 messages per person.
“This shows that a small number of enthusiastic and deeply invested activists shouldered the burden,” the journal noted.
Baghdadi’s semi-official biography, disseminated on jihadist websites, stresses his piety and family values. His father is a tribal elder who “loves the religion.” His grandfather was known for persistent prayer, and “being good to his kin, and keenness to the needs of the modest families.”
The ISIS leader, in sum, is a clever, disciplined, violent and charismatic man — with an eye for manipulating Muslim public opinion.
*We welcome your comments on the stories and issues of the day and seek to provide a forum for the community to voice opinions. All comments are subject to moderator approval before being made visible on the website but are not edited. The use of profanity, obscene and vulgar language, hate speech, and racial slurs is strictly prohibited. Advertisements, promotions, and spam will also be rejected. Please read our terms of service for full guides | {
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The forecast predicts Boston will be impacted by a strong winter storm tonight and throughout tomorrow morning’s commute. Ice and sleet are set to follow snow and the National Weather Service has warned that tomorrow morning’s commute will be extremely difficult. With that forecast in hand, Mayor Thomas M. Menino today met with his Snow Team and Interim Superintendent of Schools John P. McDonough, and the decision has been made to close schools Tuesday.
The latest forecasts show Boston could see 8 inches of snowfall with the expectation for freezing rain, ice, and sleet throughout the morning’s commute. Residents and commuters should expect very slow traffic as the City’s plowing operations continue throughout Tuesday morning. For commuters coming into Boston tomorrow, public transportation will be the best route. The Mayor and his team will continue to monitor the latest weather reports.
All Boston Centers for Youth and Familiessites will be OPEN tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. All children over age 6 are welcome, but youth under 12 years old must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at drop-off to complete a short written form.
Boston Public Works crews are prepared for the storm. They will pre-treat the roads before the snow starts and will work throughout tonight and into tomorrow. The department will have 396 pieces of equipment on hand for the overnight.
Residents with weather-related questions or concerns should call the Mayor’s 24-Hour Hotline at 617-635-4500, or contact us via Twitter using @NotifyBoston. Residents should also visit www.cityofboston.gov/snow for latest updates and to submit requests and find information online.
Mayor Menino also reminds residents of the following:
Do not throw snow back into the street. “Throwbacks” force the city to remove snow from the same street twice.
Shovel out fire hydrants, catch basins and pedestrian ramps close to your home.
Property owners are reminded to shovel snow from sidewalks that abut their homes and businesses and any handicapped ramps close to your homes or business. | {
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Just got my notification, too. I got on the list in August, less than a year ago, and was expecting to have to wait for at least another 6 months. I think poor economic conditions are causing more "pass" decisions - could well be why I got my notification *much* sooner than expected.
I think the combination of ramped up production in their new facility plus the economic turndown is having an effect and the Mach 1 is going to be close to an "off the shelf" item, which for A-P probably means under 6 months wait. Just a guess of course...... In any event, I have turned down this mount twice since it was first announced (I was offered one in the 1st round because I'd been on the 400/600 lists for some time). Third time is a charm I guess...!!
BTW, I committed to purchase in early March when they first started contacting folks this round, my mount is supposed to ship in April but no word yet. Does anyone know if they have actually shipped any mounts from this production run?
BTW, I committed to purchase in early March when they first started contacting folks this round, my mount is supposed to ship in April but no word yet. Does anyone know if they have actually shipped any mounts from this production run?
I talked to them at NEAF and was told to expect mine in the latter part of May.
Wait listed myself Nov 21, 2007, got the notification April 21, 2009 (17 months). Expected to ship this upcoming June. I have a feeling I was scheduled to be on the next production run but got in on this one due to multiple cancellations given the time frame others have mentioned as when they got their notices.
When I talked to AP to confirm my order they did tell me they were shipping, if I recall correctly, and also that they would contact me about three weeks or so prior to shipping to confirm things, so if you havent heard from them yet you might have a few weeks.
Im curious how the process works that people who listed themselves months later than I did got earlier notification. Not that Im complaining, just glad my name came up, I expected about 18-24 months so 17 months is a wonderful surprise. It actually went by fairly quick.
I almost passed on it, but in the end I had more reasons to say yes then to say no. Not like I spend money on other things and I have been saving for it so why not. Im lucky enough that Im pretty recession proof with my job.
I always get such a kick about how most of us dont really seem to mind, or perhaps I should say politely tolerate such waiting periods for AP products.
When I was contacted the first time I passed but asked to be placed at the back of the line right away. In the meantime, I was contacted by Company 7 with a mount from their allotment - I passed on that one as well. The actual dates for my notifications are a bit fuzzy but I would be surprised if anyone was taken out of order - AP is pretty strict about the notification process.
As for shipping schedule this time around, I haven't heard of anyone actually getting one yet. I was told April back in early March and my latest invoice from a few days ago (I keep changing the order sightly) still says expected April ship date. As Ron says, I'll bet that means May. I'm in no rush and it has given me time to drive myself nuts over an appropriate set of legs or pier.
Things seem to be tracking in a similar way for me as well. I confirmed my order for a Mach1 in early April, and I just got the note from AP to confirm the final order and pay the balance due. Looks like I'm about 2 weeks out from a shipping notice. Too bad really, skies were just starting to clear around here.
You guys will not be disappointed in any way with this mount. It is so nice
Thanks Dean! I've yet to be even remotely disappointed with anything AP sells. I've owned both the 900 and 1200 mounts and they were excellent, I would think the Mach1 would be just as good - or better. The Mach1 is just a couple of weeks away now. I think I need a nice 140mm refractor to ride around on top - 'til then the TV-102 will have to serve that purpose.
Sounds like the perfect combination. I am picking up a TOA-150 tomorrow and had hoped it would work on the Mach1 for visual but I don't think it will be a good idea.
I will mount it on the 1200 in the observatory for imaging but would like a smaller mount for it when I go in the field. I might have to trade the Mach1 up to a 900 but I really hate to get rid of this little mount that could.
That Takahashi should be a great scope! I'd think the Mach1 could handle that 45 lb load for visual. There is a picture of Mark Jennings Mach1 set-up on Astromart supporting a TEC MC200/15 and an AP 130GT, and he claims it handles it fine. I think I'd give it a try before deciding to trade up to an AP 900. The true beauty of the Mach1 is its great "load density" (high carry capacity and low mount weight) which makes it an outstanding travel package.
The 900 is a great mount that I've used to image - with over 60 lbs on its back......but it is just more of a load to haul out to the field. | {
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The Big Bang Theory is getting a spinoff all about Sheldon Cooper. Full details here!
CBS have officially ordered the proposed The Big Bang Theory spinoff show Young Sheldon, which will gain an entire season as opposed to a single tester pilot episode. Scheduled for the 2017-2018 TV season, the single-camera comedy show will document the childhood of Jim Parsons’ manic genius Sheldon Cooper, as he navigates a complex domestic landscape, aged 9.
Big Little Lies‘ Iain Armitage will portray baby Shelly, whilst Parsons himself will provide narration for the show. The Jungle Book auteur Jon Favreau will direct the pilot episode, and serve as an executive producer alongside The Big Bang Theory creators Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro, Todd Spiewak, and Parsons, too. Zoe Perry and Lance Barber will play Sheldon’s parents, with Raegan Revord and Montana Jordan as his siblings.
Throughout the ten seasons of the critically-acclaimed comedy, plentiful references to Sheldon’s childhood in rural Texas have been offered, particularly regarding the cultural clashes between his scientific mind, and his deeply religious upbringing. CBS are claiming Young Sheldon will operate in a similar vein to Malcolm in the Middle; also about a boy genius amidst a ragtag family.
The spinoff is likely to run alongside Parsons’ sitcom, which has entered negotiations for a further two seasons, meanwhile Lorre’s other show, the acclaimed Mom, is also up for renewal. | {
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Silver jewelry NYC Achieving Attention in Recent Years
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Eventful Evening for 'Wall-E' World Premiere
On Saturday, June 21, Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures celebrated the world premiere of their latest animation movie, 'Wall-E', by rolling down the brown carpet at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.
Photo credit: Albert L. Ortega/PR Photos
This weekend ended on June 22 passed by not without any special occasions. In fact, it was marked with the theatrical debut of two awaited comedy movies, "Get Smart" and "The Love Guru", and of course with the memorable world premiere of Disney/Pixar's highly anticipated animation movie, "Wall-E".
On Saturday, June 21, evening, celebrities of all ages came pouring down to the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California to celebrate the special event. Personalities from the older generations, like Brad Garrett, Marlee Matlin, Cristian de la Fuente and Kristi Yamaguchi to the younger ones including David Archuleta, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse and other Disney stars, Adrienne Bailon, Brenda Song and Selena Gomez, all grazed the Earth-colored carpet and joined its first screening.
The special event was made merrier with the special attendance by the small compacting robot himself as well as its filmmaker Andrew Stanton and most of its voice cast, such as John Ratzenberger, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Najimy and Jeff Garlin. And, star-studded as it was, the premiere still showed that it was a family time for celebrities as many of them brought along their families.
"Wall-E" is the latest animation motion pictures from the award-winning filmmaker who brought "Finding Nemo" to the big screen. It follows the adventure of a lonely waste compacting robot who finally finds his life's purpose when he meets a sleeker-looking robot to whom he falls in love with. This tidbit is coming into the big screen this coming Friday, June 27, along with Angelina Jolie-starrer action film "Wanted (2008)". | {
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Educators explore how to bring computer science learning to all students
Some teachers have incorporated computer science into their lessons, but what about the students who don’t have those teachers? Many schools offer coding classes, but what about the students who don’t sign up for them? How helpful is an after-school robotics club if students without transportation can’t participate?
Ensuring that all students have equal access to computer science learning was among the chief challenges addressed at a July 23-24 workshop in Gates Hall for educators from four New York state school districts. The districts are participating in CS Visions, a two-year project led by CSforALL and New York University, to develop consistent, meaningful computer science curricula – an outgrowth of similar work and relationships begun by Cornell Tech.
“These great stories help us really understand the challenges faced by school districts as they try to implement rigorous K-12 curriculum,” said Leigh Ann DeLyser, co-founder and managing partner of the CSforALL Consortium, which includes Cornell Tech.
At the workshop, representatives from the Ithaca City, Groton Central, North Salem Central and Brewster Central school districts, as well as from the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services (TST BOCES) and Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES, exchanged ideas and reflected on their progress after a year of working on CS Visions, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
“The change in mindset is really remarkable,” said Diane Levitt, senior director of K-12 education at Cornell Tech, who convened a similar event for eight central New York districts in Ithaca last year. “Today, participants are talking about computer science with so much commitment and fluency. They’re so knowledgeable, they’re so driven, they’re so passionate about bringing this to their kids. Last year they saw the barriers more than they saw the opportunities, and that has completely switched.”
Educators said the relationship has given them access to new opportunities, knowledge and support, helping them integrate computer science learning in a thoughtful and coherent way.
“We appreciate the expertise that they bring, and how they help us hash out ideas,” said Michelle Gosh, an assistant superintendent in Brewster, in Putnam County. “We’re at the point where we don’t know what we don’t know, and they help us bridge the gap between research and practice.”
At TST BOCES, which serves vocational, special education and alternative-school students on its campus and throughout the region, the collaboration helped the district qualify for a grant from Dell. Since February, more than 1,000 students, teachers and administrators have used virtual-reality kits bought with those funds.
“It’s their reality; it’s their world. We have a lot of work to do to catch up with our students,” said Sunshine Miller, TST BOCES enrichment coordinator. “It also brings relevance and interest to the curriculum – it has the capacity to upend the curriculum.”
In Ithaca, educators are integrating computer science into the project-based learning that is already happening, said Dan Breiman, principal of Belle Sherman Elementary School. For example, first graders used an infrared camera to track wildlife on the school’s nature trail, examining the data for patterns based on variables like time, temperature and moon phase.
“With computational thinking, we’re able to solve the problem on a much higher level,” he said. “We’re not just talking about giving them more devices. We’re talking about thinking in different ways.”
CS Visions – which also supports work with 12 other New York state school districts – will inform the education CSforALL offers to districts across the country. A toolkit developed for the 2017 workshop has since been used by more than 100 school districts nationwide.
There’s no single prescription for computer science learning, DeLyser said; CSforALL’s role is to help each district figure out an approach in keeping with its own goals.
“While policy makers and industry leaders talk about computer science in terms of jobs, for elementary school principals that’s not the primary concern,” she said. “We put them through a process where they can define why computer science is important, and that sets them up to make implementation decisions rooted in their own values.” | {
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My dealings with the site [link to yourdeathdate.info] had ended in a nasty exchange with the site`s management. Just about half a year ago my girlfriend took a death-prediction test and found out that she had only about a month and a half left to live. When she had only a day left before the predicted date, she started showing clear signs of agitation and got into a car accident exactly on the predicted date. She survived accident, but the that was a real close call. We are now taking legal action again this site on our lawyer`s advice. | {
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About a year ago, I told you about a Kickstarter for the full edition of Amiculus, a long-form print comic about the last child emperor of Rome and the fall of the empire. That campaign shot a little higher than it could achieve. But Travis Horseman, the author and father of this work, has regrouped and is back with a scaled down Kickstarter campaign.
Amiculus cover, by Giancarlo Caracuzzo
The new plan is to offer all the fantastic art (by Giancarlo Caracuzzo), compelling plot, and subtle character interaction of the first one but to only print the first third of the book. The current campaign for Amiculus is less than a week away from its Kickstarter deadline and just over 2/3 funded. It’s still within reach for this project, so do you think you could help out?If you’re not convinced yet, let me tell you a bit more about this. I read the manuscript, before Travis had connected with Giancarlo, and was completely sucked in by it. The script opens with a battle scene, the Barbarians losing Rome to the Eastern Roman army of Byzantium. The victory has the new Roman victors in a nostalgic (and strategic) state of mind; they send the historian Procopius to find out what happened all those years ago when the boy emperor Romulus ceded the empire to the Barbarians so that they can ensure it never happens again.
Rome in the time of Amiculus, by Giancarlo Caracuzzo
Procopius arrives at an island monastery off the cost of Neapolis, the last known whereabouts of Romulus. He speaks to the old monks there and is shown a book that contains the full story of the empire’s fall in Romulus’s own words. As Procopius reads, he’s pulled into a world of political deceit, manipulation, murder, ghosts, and betrayal. As the empire loses one city after another, tales spread of a cloaked figure that appears to help the Barbarians, appearing suddenly during the battle exactly where he is needed and disappearing just as quickly when his work is done. He’s known only as Amiculus, although no one seems to know who he is, where he comes from, or what his motivation is. As the story continues, the Barbarians close in on the last refuge of the child emperor Romulus, his father General Orestes, the Senate, and the remains of their army… After reading the full script, I was incredibly excited to see this comic become a reality. And then Travis showed me the artwork that Giancarlo was working on, and I’m just that much more excited. You can see a bit of it here (if you’re local to Columbus, you can view Giancarlo’s finished work in the preview edition of Amiculus, which Travis funded himself, at Laughing Ogre). Amiculus is not going to be one of those indie comics, drawn in marker and photocopied at Kinkos. I have a very soft spot in my heart for those comics, but Amiculus is a professional-grade book. Full color, glossy pages, proper binding, and industry professional artist, colorer, and letterer.
Amiculus, by Giancarlo Caracuzzo
I once saw Ken Eppstein break down the cost of producing a print comic and then compare that to how many comics you have to sell at a reasonable price to break even—it was more than 2,000 copies! Bare bones, affordable price, even with personal relationships with printers and creators… still more than 2,000 copies just to break even. (It probably doesn’t need to be said, but this is why I do an online comic!) So, if you can, please support the Amiculus Kickstarter (within the next week!) and help this comic come to life. It’s too much for one person to support on their own—it takes a community. Be part of the community! And you’ll get some really cool rewards if you do! | {
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Everything about literature review writing service
Everything about literature review writing service
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Voting set to start for best beaches in New Jersey
Voting starts tomorrow for the annual contest to name the 10 best beaches in the Garden State.The contest is run by the New Jersey Sea
SANDY HOOK - Voting starts tomorrow for the annual contest to name the 10 best beaches in the Garden State.
The contest is run by the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium as a way of making people feel more connected to, and protective of, the state's 127-mile coastline.
The three beachfront municipalities comprising The Wildwoods are the reigning champions in the competition, having won in three of the past four years. Winners will be announced just before Memorial Day weekend. | {
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Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to see your results after entering your search criteria and clicking the search icon.
Extraction Due to Blunt Force Trauma
Sunday night, June 7, I received a call from an adopter in New York about an altercation between his two greyhounds. One of them managed to smash the side of his jaw into some immovable object and the owner found that one of the dogís canine teeth was pointing in an unnatural direction. I explained that the tooth was probably loose and could come out at any time and that extreme care should be given because if it fell out, a lot of blood would follow from the deep hole it would leave. This is certainly something that is almost impossible to deal with at home. The owner made arrangements to bring his dog in Monday for surgery on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture prior to the extraction.
The extraction was not difficult, but it was somewhat unusual because when the tooth came out, there was jaw bone around the surface of the root. The photo shows that this particular dog did not have a significant amount of root exposure, so the impact had to have been significant and he is lucky he didnít break his jaw. We removed three other teeth during the procedure. These three teeth were significant in the fact that although they had plaque build-up, they did not look so bad from the front but were horrendous from the back.
We show you these pictures because we want all greyhound owners to pay attention to their dogís mouth and have some overall sense of their condition just in case your vet doesnít pay complete attention to your dogs oral hygiene issues, which is often the case.
Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to see your results after entering your search criteria and clicking the search icon. | {
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Hi,
I am new to Wine and somewhat to Linux.
I am running DreamLinux (DL) which to the best of my knowledge is based on Debian.
Currently I have Wine 1.0.0 installed with no Windows application installed on it yet. I would like to install M$ Office 2007 and reading the news on the WineHQ homepage it said that Wine 1.1.1 was released with fixes to M$ Office 2007, so I figured I should upgrade before installing.
I added the Debian Etch repository as explained in the download page (http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb) and upgraded my repositories via Synaptic. Here is when it gets strange:
When I search for Wine in Synaptic, it finds it and tells me that the installed version is 1.0.0-1 with latest version 1.1.1. so I mark it for upgrade. It tells me that some packages will be removed (all are Wine related) and one will be installed (winbind) but then I get the following message:
"The follwoing packages have unresolved dependencies. Make sure all required repositories are added and enabled in the preferences.
wine:
Depends: libldap2 but it is not going to be installed"
OK, so I google 'libldap2', find it on the Debian website (http://packages.debian.org/etch/i386/libldap2/download), add the correct Debian repository as suggested there and 'reload' in Synaptic. Then I search for 'libldap2', find it and mark it for installation, but it tells me that some packages will be removed. those are not a few packages, it is about to remove Amarok, OpenOffice, tranmission, Samba... Half my system will be removed!
Needles to say, I did not install 'libldap2'... Bit what should I do to et Wine1.1.1 on?
DreamLinux is actually based on Debian Lenny (the next release) and 'libldap2' is from Etch (current one). Could this be the issue? Any ideas here?
Sorry for the lengthy post, but I figured the more details the better.
Thanks,
Y_Farkash | {
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0170 "It required this number of electricians and more (those on shift were not able to appear in the picture), to complete the electrical work on Hoover Powerplant. Ralph Lowry, fourth form the left in the front row, was in charge of all the work in the powerplant, and on his left his Wilbur (Slim) Handley, chief electrician, and next to last in the back row on the right is Morgan J. Sweeney, who provide this picture."
0171 Director of Power L.R.Douglass, of the Bureau of Reclamation's Boulder Canyon project, presents Harvey W. Boyce, his promotion from apprentice to journeyman electrician in a ceremony in the Nevada wing of the Hoover Dam Powerplant on April 16, 1951. (Other persons identified on back of photo.) | {
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Philosophy of Information deals with the philosophical analysis of the notion of information both from a historical and a systematic perspective. With the emergence of the empiricist theory of knowledge in early modern philosophy, the development of various mathematical theories of information in the 20th century and the rise of information technology, the concept of ‘information’ has conquered a central place in the sciences and in society. This interest also led to the emergence of a separate branch of philosophy that analyzes information in all its guises (Adriaans and van Benthem 2008a,b; Lenski 2010; Floridi 2002, 2011). Information has become a central category in both the sciences and the humanities and the reflection on information influences a broad range of philosophical disciplines varying from logic (Dretske 1981; van Benthem en van Rooij 2003; van Benthem 2006, see the entry on Logic and Information), epistemology (Simondon 1989) to ethics (Floridi 1999) and esthetics (Schmidhuber 1997a; Adriaans 2008) to ontology (Zuse 1969; Wheeler 1990; Schmidhuber 1997b; Wolfram 2002; Hutter 2010).
The basis of the course will be my revised entry on Information in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy to be published shortly. In the course I will use this text as a reference. An overview of the subjects:
1. Information in colloquial speech
2. History of the term and the concept of information
2.1 Classical philosophy
2.2 Medieval philosophy
2.3 Modern philosophy
2.4 Historical development of the meaning of the term ‘information’
3. Building blocks of modern theories of information
3.1 Languages
3.2 Optimal codes
3.3 Numbers
3.4 Physics
4. Developments in philosophy of Information
4.1 Popper: Information as degree of falsifiability
4.2 Shannon: Information defined in terms of probability
4.3 Solomonoff, Kolmogorov, Chaitin: Information as the length of a program
5. Systematic Considerations
5.1 Philosophy of Information as an extension of Philosophy of Mathematics | {
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Oh, ****. Just checked in to see how bad I was doing. I started 0-5. I also put the wrong name for the co-main event. I meant to pick Johnson. Since the fight hasn't happened, you guys have a problem with me changing it? I'm going to go ahead and change it. If Benavidez wins, so be it. I won't take credit for it. | {
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None of us can be relentlessly upbeat all the time, but a positive mind-set is crucial when the going gets tough! With practice, we can learn to adjust our attitudes in order to make them work in our favor. One of the major things I have started... | {
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