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Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, Lemmy, Lulu and Screaming Lord Sutch – just a handful of musicians who’ve called West Hampstead home. The Kilburn History blogpost coincides with a new book – “Decca Studios and Klooks Kleek” – launching in West End Lane Books on November 18th.
The rumour that Tesco is to open where Angeles Szechuan restaurant was on Kilburn High Road looks to be more than a rumour now.
Paramount is once again participating in the Wrap Up London campaign, collecting winter coats from people who might have one spare to give to people who really need them. Coats can be donated until November 11th. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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21 arrests in Wellington Police/Customs Operation
21 arrests, $20,000 of methamphetamine seized and $300k
house restrained
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Over the
past seven days, Wellington District Police and the New
Zealand Customs Service have deployed more than 60 staff in
a prevention-focussed operation targeting organised crime
and drugs. Detectives, dog handlers, public safety officers
and members of Police specialised units were deployed in
Wellington, Porirua, Tawa, the Kapiti Coast and the Hutt
Valley.
The intelligence-led operation code named
Operation Python and was targeted at disrupting criminal
activity in the community and was supported by New Zealand
Customs around a number of drug importations involving the
internet.
Twenty-nine search warrants were executed which
has lead to the arrest of 21 people aged between 21 and 52
years. As a result of the evidence located they will be
appearing before the courts on charges that including
serious drug dealing, receiving stolen property and
possession of firearms.
The drugs seized included
methamphetamine, cocaine, LSD, GBL, MDMA and cannabis. At a
Wellington address Police located a significant haul of
stolen property, $20,000 worth of methamphetamine and a
large number of swords. A house in Tawa valued at more than
$300,000 has also been restrained by the Central Asset
Recovery Unit.
Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson says
“This has been a whole-of-Police approach using all our
staff’s expertise to have the maximum impact on those
involved in illicit drug trafficking, trading weapons and
other related crime.”
“We are very concerned at the
joint seizures of drugs and firearms which have the very
real potential to lead to tragedy. At one address we found a
cache of firearms that presents a real risk to Police staff
and the community. We certainly take a zero tolerance
approach to this offending.”
“Police will act with
urgency to identify those involved and seize the opportunity
to reduce the risk and hold those responsible to
account.”
During the course of the investigation Police
worked closely with Customs and identified that there were
people importing drugs through the internet. As a result of
our ongoing joint work in this area, six arrests relating to
the importation of methamphetamine, cocaine, and
amphetamines were made during the Operation.
Detective
Inspector Darrin Thomson added “Our message to those
involved in using the internet for this purpose is that
Customs and Police are actively investigating this method
and we will continue to take action where appropriate.
People may think it is somehow anonymous but we can assure
you that this technique is being actively
monitored.”
“Over the past few days we have seen a
number of people who would not fit the usual profile of a
drug importer get themselves caught up in serious offending.
This has had a devastating impact on their
families.”
Operation Python is part of the Wellington
Districts ongoing commitment to preventing the harm caused
by drugs and the danger that weapons present to community
safety in the wrong hands. Over the past seven years close
to 600 arrests have been made, dozens of firearms and
weapons have been taken off the streets and millions of
dollars of assets restrained and drugs seized.
Supposedly, Winston Peters’ victory in Northland has exposed the simmering dissatisfaction with the government that exists out in the provinces. Yet it remains to be seen whether this defeat will have much significance – and not simply because if and when Labour resumes business as usual in the Northland seat at the next election, Peters’ hold on it could simply evaporate.
On Saturday, National’s electorate vote declined by 7,000 votes, as the 9,000 majority it won last September turned into a 4,000 vote deficit – mainly because Labour supporters followed the nod and wink given by Labour leader Andrew Little, and voted tactically for Peters. In the process, Labour’s vote went down from nearly 9,000 votes six months ago, to only 1,315 on Saturday. More>>
The National Party Government has today revealed that the national environmental report topics for this year will, incredibly, exclude New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Party said today. More>>
ALSO:
Reports that German privacy laws may have contributed to the Germanwings air crash have prompted New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner to reassure the public that the Privacy Act is no impediment to medical practitioners notifying appropriate authorities to a pilot’s health concerns. More>>
The settlement includes a $13.5 million payment the government made in June 2013, as well as land in the Taranaki region. The settlement also includes four culturally significant sites, the Waipakari Reserve, Te Kohinga Reserve, Te Ngutu o te Manu and Te Poho o Taranaki. More>>
Supposedly, New Zealand’s destiny lies in Asia, and that was one of Foreign Minister Murray McCully’s rationales for his bungled reforms at MFAT. OK. So, if that’s the case why didn’t Prime Minister John Key attend the state funeral on Sunday of Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew? More>>
The panel choosing the flag options has no visual artists at all. Now, I’ve kerned the odd ligature in my time and I know my recto from my French curve so I thought I’d offer a few suggestions before they get past their depth. More>>
ALSO:
In releasing two reports today, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has highlighted a number of significant problems with the way in which Police deal with people who are detained in Police cells. More>>
The complaints follow recent public allegations about GCSB activities. The complaints, and these public allegations, raise wider questions regarding the collection, retention and sharing of communications data. More>>
ALSO:
Professor Jane Kelsey: ‘As anticipated, the deal gives foreign investors from the TPPA countries special rights, and the power to sue the government in private offshore tribunals for massive damages if new laws, or even court decisions, significantly affected their bottom line’. More>>
Gordon Campbell: The myth of competence that’s been woven around Steven Joyce – the Key government’s “Minister of Everything” and “Mr Fixit” – has been disseminated from high-rises to hamlets, across the country... More>> | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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HMS Tire Conditioner
Crooks Racing is now a direct distributor for HMS Tire Conditioners and Equipment products.
About HMS Tire Conditioners
HMS was founded in 2001 and provided customers with an advantage to their racing program by improving lap times and lowering tire temperatures. This product can be used on any dirt or asphalt surface. It may be used on new or used tires, will increase tire life, and will improve corner speeds, producing faster lap times.
We offer various types of the HMS products:
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*Coming Soon* - Bullfrog Tire Prep for RC cars and Kart's
Contact us today to learn more about HMS products or how you can become a dealer! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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} |
Achilles tendon rupture is when the achilles tendon breaks. The achilles is the most commonly injured tendon. Rupture can occur while performing actions requiring explosive acceleration, such as pushing off or jumping. The male to female ratio for Achilles tendon rupture varies between 7:1 and 4:1 across various studies.
Other mechanisms by which the Achilles can be torn involve sudden direct trauma to the tendon, or sudden activation of the Achilles after atrophy from prolonged periods of inactivity. Some other common tears can occur from overuse while participating in intense sports. Twisting or jerking motions can also contribute to injury.[citation needed]
Fluoroquinolone antibiotics, famously ciprofloxacin, are known to increase the risk of tendon rupture, particularly Achilles.[citation needed]
People who commonly fall victim to Achilles rupture or tear include recreational athletes, people of old age, individuals with previous Achilles tendon tears or ruptures, previous tendon injections or quinolone use, extreme changes in training intensity or activity level, and participation in a new activity.[citation needed]
Most cases of Achilles tendon rupture are traumatic sports injuries. The average age of patients is 29–40 years with a male-to-female ratio of nearly 20:1. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin, and glucocorticoids have been linked with an increased risk of Achilles tendon rupture. Direct steroid injections into the tendon have also been linked to rupture.
Quinolone has been associated with Achilles tendinitis and Achilles tendon ruptures for some time. Quinolones are antibacterial agents that act at the level of DNA by inhibiting DNA Gyrase. DNA Gyrase is an enzyme used to unwind double stranded DNA which is essential to DNA Replication. Quinolone is specialized in the fact that it can attack bacterial DNA and prevent them from replicating by this process, and are frequently prescribed to the elderly. Approximately 2% to 6% of all elderly people over the age of 60 who have had Achilles ruptures can be attributed to the use of quinolones.[1]
The Achilles tendon is the strongest and thickest tendon in the body, connecting the gastrocnemius, soleus and plantaris to the calcaneus. It is approximately 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) long and begins near the middle portion of the calf. Contraction of the gastrosoleusplantar flexes the foot, enabling such activities as walking, jumping, and running. The Achilles tendon receives its blood supply from its musculotendinous junction with the triceps surae and its innervation from the sural nerve and to a lesser degree from the tibial nerve.[citation needed]
Achilles tendon rupture seen at sonography: discontinuity over several centimeters (red line). No fracture or avulsion (radiograph).
Diagnosis is made by clinical history; typically people say it feels like being kicked or shot behind the ankle. Upon examination a gap may be felt just above the heel unless swelling has filled the gap and the Simmonds' test (aka Thompson test) will be positive; squeezing the calf muscles of the affected side while the patient lies prone, face down, with his feet hanging loose results in no movement (no passive plantarflexion) of the foot, while movement is expected with an intact Achilles tendon and should be observable upon manipulation of the uninvolved calf. Walking will usually be severely impaired, as the patient will be unable to step off the ground using the injured leg. The patient will also be unable to stand up on the toes of that leg, and pointing the foot downward (plantarflexion) will be impaired. Pain may be severe, and swelling is common.[citation needed]
Sometimes an ultrasound scan may be required to clarify or confirm the diagnosis. MRI can also be used to confirm the diagnosis.[citation needed]
Musculoskeletal ultrasonography can be used to determine the tendon thickness, character, and presence of a tear. It works by sending extremely high frequencies of sound through the body. Some of these sounds are reflected back off the spaces between interstitial fluid and soft tissue or bone. These reflected images can be analyzed and computed into an image. These images are captured in real time and can be very helpful in detecting movement of the tendon and visualising possible injuries or tears. This device makes it very easy to spot structural damages to soft tissues, and consistent method of detecting this type of injury. This imaging modality is inexpensive, involves no ionizing radiation and, in the hands of skilled ultrasonographers, may be very reliable.[citation needed]
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to discern incomplete ruptures from degeneration of the Achilles tendon, and MRI can also distinguish between paratenonitis, tendinosis, and bursitis. This technique uses a strong uniform magnetic field to align millions of protons running through the body. these protons are then bombarded with radio waves that knock some of them out of alignment. When these protons return they emit their own unique radio waves that can be analysed by a computer in 3D to create sharp cross sectional image of the area of interest. MRI can provide unparalleled contrast in soft tissue for an extremely high quality photograph making it easy for technicians to spot tears and other injuries.[citation needed]
Radiography can also be used to indirectly identify Achilles tears. Radiography uses X-rays to analyse the point of injury. This is not very effective at identifying injuries to soft tissue. X-rays are created when high energy electrons hit a metal source. X-ray images are acquired by utilising the different attenuation characteristics of dense (e.g. calcium in bone) and less dense (e.g. muscle) tissues when these rays pass through tissue and are captured on film. X-rays are generally exposed to optimise visualisation of dense objects such as bone while soft tissue remains relatively undifferentiated in the background. Radiography has little role in assessment of Achilles' tendon injury and is more useful for ruling out other injuries such as calcaneal fractures.[2]
Treatment options for an Achilles tendon rupture include surgical and non-surgical approaches. Among the medical profession opinions are divided what is to be preferred.[citation needed]
Non-surgical management traditionally was selected for minor ruptures, less active patients, and those with medical conditions that prevent them from undergoing surgery. It traditionally consisted of restriction in a plaster cast for six to eight weeks with the foot pointed downwards (to oppose the ends of the ruptured tendon). But recent studies have produced superior results with much more rapid rehabilitation in fixed or hinged boots.[citation needed]
However, four recent studies have scientifically tested the benefits of surgery, using randomized streaming of patients into surgical and non-surgical protocols, and applying virtually identical (and aggressive) rehabilitation protocols to both types of patients. All four such studies completed to date have found only small, but statistically significant benefits from the surgery, separated from the other confounding variables. They have all produced reasonably comparable results in re-rupture rates (with each study adding a cautious note about small sample size, one study showing 12% re-rupture in non-surgical treatment versus 4% re-rupture in surgical treatment, which is statistically insignificant), strength, and range of motion, while most have reaffirmed the greater complication rate from surgery.[4][5][6][7] Two studies showed small, but statistically significant differences in plantarflexion strength. The surgical group had significantly better results in the heel-rise work, heel-rise height, concentric power, and hopping tests at the 6-month evaluation than did the nonsurgical group. However, at the 12-month evaluation, there was a significant between-groups difference only in the heel-rise work test.[7][8]
The relative benefits of surgical and nonsurgical treatments remains a subject of debate; authors of studies are cautious about the preferred treatment.[8] It should be noted that in centers that do not have early range of motion rehabilitation available, surgical repair is preferred to decrease re-rupture rates.[9]
There are two different types of surgeries; open surgery and percutaneous surgery.
During an open surgery an incision is made in the back of the leg and the Achilles tendon is stitched together. In a complete or serious rupture the tendon of plantaris or another vestigial muscle is harvested and wrapped around the Achilles tendon, increasing the strength of the repaired tendon.[10] If the tissue quality is poor, e.g. the injury has been neglected, the surgeon might use a reinforcement mesh (collagen, Artelon or other degradable material).
In percutaneous surgery, the surgeon makes several small incisions, rather than one large incision, and sews the tendon back together through the incision(s). Surgery may be delayed for about a week after the rupture to let the swelling go down.[11] For sedentary patients and those who have vasculopathy or risks for poor healing, percutaneous surgical repair may be a better treatment choice than open surgical repair.[12]
Non-surgical treatment used to involve very long periods in a series of casts, and took longer to complete than surgical treatment. But both surgical and non-surgical rehabilitation protocols have recently become quicker, shorter, more aggressive, and more successful. It used to be that patients who underwent surgery would wear a cast for approximately 4 to 8 weeks after surgery and were only allowed to gently move the ankle once out of the cast. Recent studies have shown that patients have quicker and more successful recoveries when they are allowed to move and lightly stretch their ankle immediately after surgery. To keep their ankle safe these patients use a removable boot while walking and doing daily activities. Modern studies including non-surgical patients generally limit non-weight-bearing (NWB) to two weeks, and use modern removable boots, either fixed or hinged, rather than casts. Physiotherapy is often begun as early as two weeks following the start of either kind of treatment.[citation needed]
There are three things that need to be kept in mind while rehabilitating a ruptured Achilles: range of motion, functional strength, and sometimes orthotic support. Range of motion is important because it takes into mind the tightness of the repaired tendon. When beginning rehab a patient should perform stretches lightly and increase the intensity as time and pain permits. Putting linear stress on the tendon is important because it stimulates connective tissue repair, which can be achieved while performing the “runners stretch,” (putting your toes a couple inches up the wall while your heel is on the ground). Doing stretches to gain functional strength are also important because it improves healing in the tendon, which will in turn lead to a quicker return to activities. These stretches should be more intense and should involve some sort of weight bearing, which helps reorient and strengthen the collagen fibers in the injured ankle. A popular stretch used for this phase of rehabilitation is the toe raise on an elevated surface. The patient is to push up onto the toes and lower his or her self as far down as possible and repeat several times. The other part of the rehab process is orthotic support. This doesn’t have anything to do with stretching or strengthening the tendon, rather it is in place to keep the patient comfortable. These are custom made inserts that fit into the patients shoe and help with proper pronation of the foot, which is otherwise a problem that can lead to problems with the Achilles.[citation needed]
To briefly summarize the steps of rehabilitating a ruptured Achilles tendon, you should begin with range of motion type stretching. This will allow the ankle to get used to moving again and get ready for weight bearing activities. Then there is functional strength, this is where weight bearing should begin in order to start strengthening the tendon and getting it ready to perform daily activities and eventually in athletic situations.[13][14] | {
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Nina Nguyen Designs jewelry helps a woman define her own style with intricate, colorful, and artistic creations. Each piece is carefully designed by Nina in her Florida studio and expertly handcrafted by skilled artisans in Nina Nguyen Designsí very own Women's Co-Operative, Nina Nguyen Studio in Vietnam. | {
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Through the windows of the Cleveland Street Flea Market, the empty Sears Crosstown Building begs a question for young writers in the Crosstown Arts Storybooth program.
"I love the idea of having kids sit here and ponder the question, ‘What do you see?'" said Nat Akin, Crosstown Arts director of outreach and education. "What do they see as being the future for this neighborhood, for themselves, for what kinds of things are possible there?"
For several months in the fall, with Akin at their side, about a dozen students at Gordon Science and Arts Academy pecked away on Kerouac-era typewriters while facing the abandoned building from inside the flea market. But they were also looking past the Sears building. They were looking toward the stars.
The students recently published a collection of science-fiction short stories entitled "Tales of Modern Rocketry," which contains adventures of space exploration, war and interstellar travel. Akin, a former English teacher at Memphis University School and Lemoyne-Owen College, recruited local artists to illustrate and design the book, which includes a foreword by retired NASA astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon.
Akin calls the kids, ages 10-18, the "Rocket Writers."
"It gave me a chance to learn about what I like to do, and how my life is," said Destiny Pinkins, a sixth-grader at Gordon Academy who penned "Girls Rock," a story featured in the book about an unexpected trip to a faraway planet. "And I like science, so I came up with some details and parts of the story on what I was going to do, then I ended up making up names."
The student-writers will take on fairy tales and modern myths in the spring session of the program. Storybooth also offers after-school homework help and a course in music production, and is expanding to accommodate students from across the Memphis area.
"Crosstown Arts is trying to resource as many artists as possible and give them venues for expression," Akin said. "We're just trying to do the same thing on the youth level and have them collaborate with working artists the idea is the projects for spring lead to a finished product that is performed, exhibited or published before a receptive audience."
Storybooth also offers a class in screen-printing for poster or T-shirt design that introduced students to Andy Warhol in its first spring session, according to 27-year-old artist Bonnie Khandpur, who teaches the course.
"We're sort of approaching from the angle of a band art and merchandise class, and the different things you want to pursue in a career It's so cool for kids to see how the process actually happens and do it themselves," said Khandpur, a transplant from Austin, Texas, who has lived in Memphis about nine months.
Students in the screen-printing class will design a poster for the reopening of the Hi-Tone Café, among other works. The Hi-Tone is set to reopen in the coming months next door to the students' workshops on Cleveland Street.
The program depends almost entirely on volunteers from the Memphis art community, according to Akin.
"It takes a certain level of commitment, because I know working artists who have their own job outside of their professional artistic work, and they may not have that capacity," Akin said.
But a completed project between artists and students, Akin said, bears a great reward.
Pinkins shared his sentiment. Seeing her name and words in print, she said, was a thrill. | {
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Work law lawyers help the company’s companies and staff members to deal with any concerns associated with the agreements or services inning accordance with the work laws. They help and work lawfully based on the needs of both company and employee. As a staff member, you must be mindful about work laws and guidelines. Work law lawyers understand the guidelines of the whole work system and defend your legal rights to get alucrative offer.
Work law lawyers are required in the listed below offered scenarios:
In thecase of monetary crisis if any company wishes to dismiss any staff member due to low efficiency, captured breaking company guidelines or another factorthat it becomes essential to deal with such scenarios lawfully. A work law specialist completely research study work policies pointed out in company’s conditions and guide you just what you must do to prevent any type of more repercussions. Such lawyers provide awide variety of work law services.
You can work with specialists in case of wrongful termination, dealt with unjustly at work, expectant moms, any complex agreement or any sort of oppression from company side. Through their substantial understanding, the professionals help you a long way in conditioning your case. The expert lawyers keep you notified about the development in your case and it makes you mindful exactly what actions need to be carried out to obtain the best offer possible.
In thecase of discrimination due to any factor such as age, skin color, sexuality, faith, gender and so on and not able to solve such circumstances within the work environment. Race Discrimination Experts help you to eliminate lawfully versus such undesirable habits.
The staff members’ agreements might change due to promos or any change in business guidelines. The work attorneys make certain that there are no loopholes or conditions in the brand-new personnel agreement so that neither company nor any staff member might make use of any agreement.
You must listen to work lawyer for altering personnel handbooks. To prevent misconception, these handbooks must be preserved lawfully.
You can likewise take legal suggestions on ways to follow the right complaint and disciplinary treatments both as a company or an employee.
You can speak and take assistance from your work lawyer if you think you have been unjustly dismissed from your work. It is much better to take legal action if internal treatment is not showing effective.
Constantly Select Best Work Law Specialists
Aim to choose work law specialists which have required experience in handling the associated concerns. Examine his/her credentials, success rates and avariety of such cases he/she have won. Inspect the number of comparable cases he has ever dealt with before. You can likewise ask good friends, associates or well-wishers about any specific whistleblower lawyer. They initially evaluate your scenario and guide you exactly what the future techniques are required. As every circumstance is varied from other, so expert lawyers manage them in their own way.
Divorce is not your only alternative when things are going awry in your marital relationship. Often dissolution of your marital relationship is the only alternative. If there is still any opportunity of reconciling you might want to look at other methods to take a break other than going through the legal and psychological fights of a divorce. A legal separation is among these options and does not end your marital relationship. When you are lawfully separated from your partner, a court order is released describing each of your obligations while you are apart. You are still lawfully wed but living different lives. Concerns such as the department of possessions, child custody, and child assistance can be handled in the separation arrangement.
This kind of arrangement secures each celebrations interest up until among you chose to apply for divorce. It can likewise be used as precedence for the divorce. Numerous judges use the separation contract terms as the divorce settlement arrangement. When developing your arrangement, make certain it is one you both can handle completely. A law practice can help you prepare the arrangement and get it authorized by the court. All you should do is offer them with the arrangements you have both made on properties, child custody, and other matters.
A legal separation and a divorce are comparable but there are benefits a legal separation supplies over a divorce. You are permitted time apart to figure out if divorce is exactly what is desired. Medical and other advantages are still offered. If divorce breaks your religions, you are both permitted to live individually without breaking your faith. Staying under a married status can enable you to get military advantages supplied by the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act. Social security advantages for partners can likewise be benefited from. If divorce is chosen, the arrangement can move as the divorce settlement conserving you a great deal of money and time.
Anybody can pursue legal separation by themselves; nevertheless, household law lawyers can help maximize your legal rights and make the procedure a lot easier. Your lawyer can direct you through the procedure and guarantee you are abiding by all laws. They will produce the arrangement for you and submit it. Simply as in divorce, if one celebration contests part of the separation arrangement, the case will go to trial. A lawyer can help you through the procedures. Do not use expense as a reason to move forward without a lawyer. A lot of household law lawyers use affordable rates and a totally free assessment.
To declare a legal separation, you should show that the marital relationship is broken and cannot be repaired or that a person partner wishes to live individually. This is done by submitting a petition together with supporting files. If products are objected to the case will litigate. All other procedures including legal separation differ by state and it is best to speak with a lawyer who recognizes with your specific state’s laws. A law office can help you with any separation concerns you have.
If you are going through a divorce and have kids or are associated with a custody fight you most likely need to know where you can get custody law details and legal recommendations to assist you with your circumstance. There are lots of resources readily available for getting child custody law info legal guidance but you should know where to look. It is likewise crucial to compare custody details, law, and legal suggestions. Details are various than law and are not always legal guidance. Info is useful in getting an understanding of the subject and can help you make more educated options. By being notified about child custody you’ll connect much better with those associated with your case and have a much better understanding of exactly what a lawyer is discussing when he or she provides you with legal guidance and your legal options based on the truths of your case.
There is a lot of custody details online and typically numerous resources readily available that can help you at your local court house and most likely in your city. Many info you might stumble upon online, at the courthouse, or by means of self-help centers are for informative functions just and illegal guidance. Quality details can be incredibly handy in informing you on the subject and help you make more educated choices.
When looking for child custody law info it is very important to keep in mind that laws can differ in each state. “legal suggestions” is something that can just be supplied by a certified lawyer in your jurisdiction. While the general benefit of the child is normally the requirement for custody decisions in many all states, state law details can differ depending upon the state you remain in. If you are consulting customized to your scenario and your needs, you’ll wish to speak with a lawyer accredited to practice law in your state.
Parent’s confronted with divorce and custody concerns or included a disagreement concerning their small kids would take advantage of putting in the time to become informed and acquire as much info as possible about child custody law info and legal guidance. Being notified and acquiring understanding is among the very best techniques offered to you. Moms and dads who invest the time getting informed and find out as much as possible so they can effectively line up essential and appropriate concerns for their lawyer will normally take full advantage of the time invested with their lawyer, experience lower legal charges, and have more favorable outcomes. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Our Staff
DJ Pereira
Director of Coaching, Head Coach Boys U14 Red
DJ graduated from Cheshire High School where he was a four-year varsity player. While at Cheshire High School, DJ was selected as a 3-time All-State Player and 2-time all-New England Player. In his senior year he was selected as CJSA Player of the Year. DJ graduated from Quinnipiac University where he played varsity soccer and was named to the NEC All-Conference Team. DJ played professionally in Portugal for C.D. Operario. While in Portugal, DJ coached youth and senior teams for Mira Mar Soccer Club. DJ currently holds a USSF E License along with Director of Coaching Diploma.
Marino Crocco
Head Coach Girls U9 Red
Marino grew up in Benevento, Italy and played for the Benevento FC youth system which was affiliated with the Serie A club Parma FC. After immigrating to the US at the age of 14, he played for North Haven High School where he was a four-year varsity player. At North Haven High he won numerous awards, including All-Conference, All-Area and All-State Player and Conference Player of the Year. Marino attended Southern Connecticut State University where he played all four years. With the Owls he reached the NCAA Div. II Elite 8 in 2006 and Sweet 16 in 2007. He was selected to be part of the 2007 NE10 Championship Team. After College, Marino was the University of New Haven′s Men′s Soccer Assistant Coach from 2011-2014. During his time with UNH, he was also an active coach for Everson Soccer Academy and the Head coach for Guilford U15 premier.
Marino graduated from SCSU with a degree in Education and Spanish with a Minor in Business.
Pete Hamasian
Head Coach Girls U14 White
Pete Hamasian, a native of Hamden, Connecticut, played at four years of varsity soccer at Hamden High School. He went on to play at Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut where he was a four year starter and captain in both his junior and senior years. After college, Pete began his coaching career at East Haven High School as the Varsity Boy′s Assistant Coach. He is currently the director for FS Soccer School in Hamden, CT and the Girl′s JV head coach and Varsity Assistant Coach at Daniel Hand High School.
He graduated Albertus Magnus College with a degree in Business Management and is currently in enrollment in the Masters of Sports Management Program.
Victor Lopez
Head Coach Girls U14 Red
Victor is a native of Lima, Peru. He moved to the United States at age 11 and lived in Wallingford. Victor played four years of varsity soccer at Lyman Hall High School and then North Haven High School. Victor was the leading goal scorer during his career at North Haven while receiving All-State and team MVP honors. After graduations, Victor went on to play at University of New Haven for four years. Victor has served as the JV Boys Head Coach at Jonathan Law and North Haven High Schools and the Assistant Varsity and JV Girls Coach at Lyman Hall in 2013. Victor holds a USSF CT E License along with a USSF Goalkeeper Level 1 license. He is also a CT CIAC certified coaching staff.
Victor graduated from University of New Haven with a degree in International Business
Shane Lowe
Head Coach Girls U12 Red
Shane is entering is second year with Cheshire Soccer Club. Shane is also head coach of the Trumbull High School freshman girls’ soccer team. Before Trumbull High School, Shane was the assistant boys’ varsity coach at Derby High School where he helped coach them to their first NVL tournament berth and their first state tournament in 10 years. Before coming to Connecticut, Shane was head coach of a U18 Girls Travel Team in Hyde Park, NY.
Shane attended Dominican College from 2006-2010 where he was an integral part of the Chargers Men's Soccer Team. During his collegiate years he was a member of the 2006 CACC Conference Championship Team, attended two NCAA tournaments, CACC All-Academic Team (four straight years), Academic All-American, and two year captain for the Chargers.
Paul Templeton
Head Coach Boys U16 Red
Paul is a native of Scotland where he played four years with Ayr United FC of the Scottish PFL. He moved to the United States in 2008 after signing a four year scholarship with Southern Connecticut State University. He was a four year starter and a three year captain with the Owls. While playing at Southern, he was honored with numerous awards, including Div. II All-American, All New England and All Conference Honors, as well as the NE 10 and ECAC Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Paul continues to play with CFC Azul of the PDL. As a coach, Paul was an Assistant at South Central Premier at the U13,U14, and U17 level. He is also the Head Varsity Boys coach at East Granby High School. He currently holds a USSF E License and a National Diploma in Sports and Exercise Sciences from the James Watt College, Scottish School of Sport and Outdoor Studies, Largs, Scotland.
Paul graduated from SCSU with a degree in Exercise Science and Physical Education. He is a PE teacher at East Granby High School.
Conor Winch
Head Coach Boys U14 White
Conor is a native of Cheshire, CT where he grew up playing with Cheshire Soccer Club for many years. Conor was 4 year varsity player at Cheshire High School from 2005-2008. After graduating, Conor went on to compete at Castleton State College in Vermont. Conor has been coaching for several years within the area at various camps and organizations. Conor has been a coach with Cheshire Soccer Club for the past 3 years. | {
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VH1 - Yo!: The Story of Yo! MTV Raps - Documentary | Video
Although rap music can be heard on radio and television on a daily basis these days, back in the 80s it was almost unheard of. All of that changed when young Ted Demme convinced the executives at MTV to introduce rap music by compiling a pilot of Yo! MTV Raps in the late 80s. The floodgates opened from the get-go, and rap music entered the mainstream television. VH1 has produced this comprehensive documentary, Yo!: The Story of Yo! MTV Raps, which digs deep into the history of the popular music channel, and gives us an insight into their revolutionary story. Get your popcorn ready and press play to watch the video below. | {
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Tagged Generation Z
Canadian beauty lovers, today is the day.
Glossier has been on our radar for quite some time. Founded in NYC, and loved by beauty editors unanimously, the brand makes products that work for the millennial wo... | {
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The Japanese electronics giant Sony and the Swedish mobile phone company Ericsson have agreed to integrate their mobile phone handset businesses.
Sony Ericsson may produce handsets
Details of the joint venture will be revealed at a press conference in Stockholm onnTuesday, the companies said.
A new company, which will be set up in the UK, will be named Sony Ericsson, according to press reports.
Each of the companies will own 50% of the new venture, which will oversee the development, product planning and sales of mobile phone handsets.
Ericsson's vision of the next generation mobile phones
It's chairman will be Ericsson's chief executive Kurt Hellstrom, according to press reports.
"This would be good for Sony in the sense that it could expand its distribution channels and boost production," said UBS Warburg analyst Masahiro Ono.
Ericsson, which recently announced it is pulling out of mobile handset production, would benefit from links with Sony because its electronics products are seen as innovative and are popular with consumers, said analysts. | {
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The story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargained for when he moves into an apartment with a gay fashion student and finds himself on the catwalk. The film sets out to explore the difficulties for young people in keeping their identities in a fast moving culture of drugs and clubs. | {
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Creation Science Store
Who Were the Nephilim?
The Nephilim (Hebrew:
נפלים,
Nefilīm) were a race that came to dominate the
antediluvian (pre-flood) world, and are referred to in
the
Bible as the heroes of old, men of renown. They
were reportedly the children born to the "Sons
of God" by the "daughters of men", and are
described as giants. It is also most important to note that
they are mentioned almost simultaneous to God's statement
that He would destroy the earth
by flood, and it seems from this association that their
effect upon mankind was one of the primary justifications
that brought the destruction.
When men began to increase in number
on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons
of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and
they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said,
"My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is
mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also
afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of
men and had children by them. They were the heroes of
old, men of renown. The LORD saw how great man's
wickedness on the earth had become, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man
on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the
LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created,
from the face of the earth—men and animals, and
creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the
air—for I am grieved that I have made them." -
"Nephilim" is rendered fallen,
or possibly feller: a tyrant or bully. Several English
translations, such as the
King James Version rendered the word "giants". In the
Greek Septuagint the word "nephilim" was also translated as
"gigantes" (gigantic). This translation is undoubtedly used
because the Nephilim later became known as giants to the
ancient
Hebrews, as illustrated by the manner in which they were
referenced when the Israelite spies were sent into
Canaan (Numbers
13:33 ).[1]
Contents
The Sons of
God
It is unclear what the Sons of God
were, but they are distinguished from the daughters of
men. The most obvious interpretation is that the
Nephilim were a
hybrid race between two distinct beings. There are at
least three schools of thought regarding the Sons of God.
The older view, held nearly
unanimously by ancient writers prior to
Augustine of Hippo, is that the Nephilim were a
hybrid race between certain fallen angels, called the
Benei Ha'Elohim ("Sons of God") or The Watchers
in extra-Biblical traditions, and human women. While there
has always been a minority of churchmen who followed this
view, it has been promoted recently by popular writers such
as Stephen Quayle [2].
The only obvious and natural
meaning without such clarification is that these
beings were sons of God, rather than of men, because
they had been created, not born. Such a description,
of course, would apply only to Adam (Luke 3:38) and
to the angels, whom God had directly created (Psalm
148:2, 5; Psalm 104:4; Colossians 1:16). The actual
phrase bene elohim is used three other times, all in
the very ancient book of Job (1:6; 2:1; 38:7). There
is no doubt at all that, in these passages, the
meaning applies exclusively to the angels. A very
similar form (bar elohim) is used in Daniel 3:25,
and also refers either to an angel or to a theophany.
The term “sons of the mighty” (bene elim) is used in
Psalm 29:1 and also Psalm 89:6, and again refers to
angels. Thus, there seems no reasonable doubt that,
in so far as the language itself is concerned, the
intent of the writer was to convey the thought of
angels - fallen angels, no doubt, since they were
acting in opposition to God’s will.[3]
”
The more recent view which has been
the majority position in the church since
St. Augustine in the fourth century is that the Sons
of God refers to the god-fearing line of
Seth;
and the daughters of men refers to the daughters of
the unbelieving line of Cain. Variations on this theme
include the idea, proposed by Meredith Kline, that the
Sons of God were kings or priests who took any woman
they chose to be their wife.
Still others hold that the Sons of
God were other created men. It is argued that the
Bible
does not describe every person that was created, but only
key individuals or situations are included within the text.
Those holding to this position call into question the origin
of
Cain's wife or those whom he feared would kill him
Genesis 4:14-17 . However, this view falls into conflict
with Genesis, which states that Eve is the mother of all
the living.
After the
Flood
In
Genesis 6 , where the global flood is described, it
states that the Nephilim were also on the Earth afterward.
Many therefore, assume that many of the descriptions of
giants in the Bible are references to Nephilim
bloodlines. However, the only specific mention of Nephilim
on the earth after the flood is part of the bad report from
the spies in
Numbers 13:33 , a report that is called "bad" (or
"evil") as in an unreliable source.
There were giants “also after
that,” in the days of the Canaanites, and these were
likewise known as, among other things, the Nephilim
(Numbers 13:33). Humanly speaking, they were
descended from Anak, and so were also known as the
Anakim. These people were, of course, known to Moses
and it was probably he who editorially inserted the
phrase “and also after that” into Noah’s original
record here in Genesis 6:4. Moses probably also
inserted the information that these were the “mighty
men of old, men of renown,” men whose exploits of
strength and violence had made them famous in song
and fable in all nations in the ages following the
Flood. To rebellious men of later times, they were
revered as great heroes; but in God’s sight they
were merely ungodly men of violence and evil.[4]
”
Several tribes are encountered in the
campaign of the Five Kings in Abraham's day that some argue
might be Nephilim or hybrids of Nephilim. They are described
as having become several tribes occupying the lands around
the Valley of Siddim (Dead
Sea) and evidently intermixed with the Canaanites.
Genesis 14 and
Deuteronomy 2 name these tribes as the Rephaim
("titans", children of "Rapha"), Zuzim or Zamzummim
("terrible ones"), Emim, Horites, and Anakim ("crushing
tyrants"). The tribe of the Anakim are directly connected
with the Nephilim in the false report of the spies described
in (Numbers
13:33 ). The context of the passages suggest that the
other tribes of giants were relatives of the Anakim or other
lines of Nephilim, particularly the Rephaim whose giant
descendant is described as living in Gath along with the
Anakim Goliath and Lahmi (see below). The Rephaim are giants
(in fact these peoples are generally described as being tall
or large) and seem to have been thus matched with the
Nephilim based on the English rendering of "giants"
in Genesis 6.
The tribe of the Anakim were descended
from a giant named Anak, who was a son or grandson of a
giant named "Arba", from which the ancient city of Hebron
was originally called "Kiriath Arba" or "The City of Arba"
because "Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim"[5].
This tribe was so tall, that the weak-kneed spies reported,
"we are like grasshoppers to them."
Scripture describes how the tribes of
giants were fought and destroyed by the tribes of normal men
who replaced them, including the Israelites. Moses killed
Og, king of the Rehpaim who lived on the Golan heights near
Mt. Hermon. Og had a bed nine cubits long (13.5 to 15.5
feet, depending on which cubit was used) and was called
"last of the remnant of the giants"[6].
Og may be the source of the word "ogre" in the English
language.
Joshua drove the three remaining sons
of Anak out of Hebron in his first campaignm. They evidently
reoccupied the city of Hebron while Joshua was waging his
campaign against Canaanite cities in the North. Caleb later
retook Hebron and killed the three giants[7].
Later David and Saul fought a remnant
of smaller giants who had taken refuge in the Philistine
city of Gath. They included Goliath, who was about nine feet
tall, and his brother Lahmi "whose spear had a shaft like a
weaver's rod". The last of the Gittite giants was slain, "In
still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a
huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each
foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha"[8].
The last Scriptural reference to the
giants may be
Isaiah 45:14 , which prophecies that Sabean "men of
stature" will become slaves in chains of the redeemed
Israelites.
The characteristics of these tribes
described in Scripture:
Their height was two or three
times the height of normal men.
They were associated with some
kind of unholy intermixing before the Flood.
They were closely associated with
the wicked Canaanites after the Flood.
In one case they are described as
having polydactyly (extra fingers and toes).
Unlike the Canaanites, there are
no examples of Nephilim who became followers of God.
Apocryphal references
The Nephilim are described in great
detail in the
Book of Jubilees and
Book of Enoch. Both of these books have been
traditionally rejected as apocryphal by the European Church.
However, they were both considered canonical by the Ethiopic
Church from the time of Christ until today, and the Book of
Enoch was quoted in the Biblical
Epistle of Jude.
Jubilees has the following to say
about the sons of God and the Nephilim:
"And in the second week of the
tenth jubilee [449-55 A.M.] Mahalalel took unto
him to wife Dinah, the daughter of Barakiel the daughter
of his father's brother, and she bare him a son in the
third week in the sixth year, [461 A.M.] and he
called his name Jared, for in his days the angels of the
Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the
Watchers, that they should instruct the children of men,
and that they should do judgment and uprightness on the
earth." -
Jubilees 4:15
"And it came to pass when the
children of men began to multiply on the face of the
earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels
of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that
they were beautiful to look upon; and they took
themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare
unto them sons and they were giants. And lawlessness
increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way,
alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything
that walks on the earth -all of them corrupted their
ways and their orders, and they began to devour each
other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and every
imagination of the thoughts of all men (was) thus evil
continually. And God looked upon the earth, and behold
it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders,
and all that were upon the earth had wrought all manner
of evil before His eyes. And He said that He would
destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth
which He had created. But Noah found grace before the
eyes of the Lord. And against the angels whom He had
sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He
gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion,
and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth,
and behold they are bound in the midst of them, and are
(kept) separate. And against their sons went forth a
command from before His face that they should be smitten
with the sword, and be removed from under heaven. And He
said 'My spirit shall not always abide on man; for they
also are flesh and their days shall be one hundred and
twenty years'. And He sent His sword into their midst
that each should slay his neighbour, and they began to
slay each other till they all fell by the sword and were
destroyed from the earth." -
Jubilees 5:1-8
The Book of Enoch has the following to
say about them:
"It happened after the sons of
men had multiplied in those days, that daughters were
born to them, elegant and beautiful. And when the
angels, the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became
enamoured of them, saying to each other, Come, let us
select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and
let us beget children. Then their leader Samyaza said to
them; I fear that you may perhaps be indisposed to the
performance of this enterprise; And that I alone shall
suffer for so grievous a crime.
But they answered him and
said; We all swear;
And bind ourselves by mutual
execrations, that we will not change our intention, but
execute our projected undertaking. Then they swore all
together, and all bound themselves by mutual
execrations. Their whole number was two hundred, who
descended upon Ardis, which is the top of mount Armon.
That mountain therefore was
called Armon, because they had sworn upon it, and bound
themselves by mutual execrations. [Mt. Armon, or Mt.
Hermon, derives its name from the Hebrew word herem,
a curse.]
These are the names of their
chiefs: Samyaza, who was their leader, Urakabarameel,
Akibeel, Tamiel, Ramuel, Danel, Azkeel, Saraknyal,
Asael, Armers, Batraal, Anane, Zavebe, Samsaveel,
Ertael, Turel, Yomyael, Arazyal. These were the prefects
of the two hundred angels, and the remainder were all
with them.
Then they took wives, each
choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and
with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery,
incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees.
And the women conceiving
brought forth giants,
Whose stature was each three
hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labor of
men produced; until it became impossible to feed them;
When they turned themselves against men, in order to
devour them; And began to injure birds, beasts,
reptiles, and fishes, to eat their flesh one after
another, and to drink their blood. Their flesh one after
another. [Or, "one another’s flesh." R.H. Charles
notes that this phrase may refer to the destruction of
one class of giants by another.]
Then the earth reproved the
unrighteous.
Moreover Azazyel taught men to
make swords, knives, shields, breastplates, the
fabrication of mirrors, and the workmanship of bracelets
and ornaments, the use of paint, the beautifying of the
eyebrows, the use of stones of every valuable and select
kind, and all sorts of dyes, so that the world became
altered.
Impiety increased; fornication
multiplied; and they transgressed and corrupted all
their ways.
Amazarak taught all the
sorcerers, and dividers of roots: Armers taught the
solution of sorcery; Barkayal taught the observers of
the stars, Akibeel taught signs; Tamiel taught
astronomy; And Asaradel taught the motion of the moon,
And men, being destroyed,
cried out; and their voice reached to heaven." -
Enoch 6-7.
Controversies
Some argue that the Sons of God
could not be angels because:
A major theme of the Old
Testament is the negative outcome of believers
intermarrying with unbelievers.
Angels are spiritual beings, and
therefore not reproductively compatible with human
women.
Advocates of the Angel-hybrid position
hold that:
Angels are recorded on two
occasions in Scripture as eating food, therefore they
have some ability to interact with the material world.
Angels can at times be
indistinguishable from human beings, and "some have
entertained angels unawares," (Hebrews 13:2)
The sexual immorality of Sodom
and Gommorah is described as "likewise" in comparison to
the actions of the angels that "left their proper
dwelling" and that Jesus has chained in darkness until
Judgment(Jude 6 & 7).
We really don't know what angels
can and cannot do, as we lack the ability to capture and
study them, and Scripture says little about them.
The question should be decided by
the context and evidence rather than a preconceived idea
about the nature of angels.
The Augustinian position fails to
explain the production of gigantic offspring from the
union of believers and unbelievers.
The unanimous position of Jewish
and heathen authors prior to Philo of Alexandria is that
the angels came down and sired children with women. | {
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Sold
Sold for $200,000
on Nov 30, 2017
Description
Indian Hills Estates. Upscale Subdivision of custom homes, city water services, power to lot line, paved roads, peaceful living only minutes to town. Abundant Wildlife and Wildflowers Massive Sculpted Trees enhance the beauty of this area. Some Rogue River views. Possible Partition into 3 lots verify with county and HOA. | {
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IBM Cairo Technology Development CenterHuman Language Technologies GroupStaff Research Engineer
Worked in several Information Extraction projects including supervised / semi-supervised relation and event extraction from unstructured text, relation extraction from biomedical data, semantic word clustering, named entity translation, extracting parallel documents from comparable corpora, spelling checking and correction, and others.We worked closely with the IKM group at the IBM Watson research center in several projects. Some of these projects participated in several NIST Automatic Content Extraction (ACE) evaluations. | {
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As we continue to move closer to WWDC, kicking off June 5 in San Jose, California, the focus is turning to Apple's software.
The main draw should be the next-generation of iOS software, more than likely iOS 11. But Apple is also widely expected to also unveil new software for the Apple Watch. Here are four realistic ways we think Apple can make watchOS 4 even better. | {
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Chile Relish Hummus
You can buy hummus premade in containers or as mixes you mix yourself. I like to get the premade plain hummus because it is easier. I use an 8 oz. container of hummus and mix 2 spoons of Chile Relish in with it.
Serve as you would normal hummus. I like to use it as a spread or dip. I even sometimes use hummus to replace mayo on sandwiches. | {
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Shows featuring Jack Shaheen
Where are the human images of Arabs and Arab Americans? That’s the topic of a new film called "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People." The book and the film explore the American cinematic landscape to reveal a stark pattern of Arab stereotyping and its disturbing similarity to anti-Semitic and other racist caricatures through history. We play excerpts of the film and...
Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan — What price would you pay not to kill another human being? At what point would you commit the offenses allegedly perpetrated by Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was charged Wednesday with desertion and “misbehavior before an enemy?” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Mini Hypertufa Garden
Especially for the Fairies
Jacki Cammidge 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.
Fairy gardening is so much fun; making tiny vignettes and finding the perfect small scale plants is only part of it.
Why not combine hypertufa and fairy gardening and make a mini hypertufa garden to display in your miniature landscape? It's a garden within a garden - what a fascinating concept.
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Whenever you're making hypertufa, take the last little handful and make a bowl or pot that the fairies will enjoy. You could make it in the shape of a tiny trough, plant some miniscule tiny plants in it, and maybe accent it with pebbles in the right scale.
This little pot is about three inches across, if that. The amount of soil it holds is about a tablespoon, and it's got enough room for some of the best tiny Sedum and a few tiny cobweb hens and chicks.
Pebbles cover the bit of soil and hold everything down, while also maintaining the moisture level.
Display it raised up so you can see it as here with a speaker part and a tin can to give it some height, or snuggle it among the plants in a miniature moss garden.
Keep in mind if it's really hot you will need to give it a bit of water - even though hypertufa does hold some moisture, it will dry out quickly because of it's small size.
Sprinkle with compost tea to keep those tiny plants happy and healthy.
Even in that tiny amount of soil, these wee plants put on some growth.
I've also added a couple of teensy Sempervivum rosettes, with their sweet little cobwebs, and a few sprigs of Sedum dasyphyllum.
My collection of the small species comes in handy at times like this.
Want your succulents to survive the winter? Learn how to bring them indoors and be happy and healthy with this free e-course; Fill in your name and email address on the form below to enroll!
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Please note that all fields followed by an asterisk must be filled in. | {
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Anthony Shakeshaft
Dr Anthony Shakeshaft is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of NSW. He has been working in the field of public health research for over 10 years, addressing a wide range of issues from drug and alcohol problems to evidenced-based health care in public hospitals in Sydney, Australia. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the universities of London, Vancouver, Verona and Nijmegen. He has authored numerous scientific papers, published in peer-reviewed literature. | {
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If you are working with children, you might want a kiosk page with a little bit of extra "monkey business". If so, you need to add a little bit extra to your link. Just add "?showmonkey=true" to the end of the link, like this: | {
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Aldo Vinocelli
The Vinocelli Family is a newer family to Grand Theft Auto V on PS4. We are a Free aim only crew. We are a mafia roleplay crew. We are actively recruiting loyal and active members. We are looking for associates who have a mic, 15+, and willing to eventually create a family account. If you are interested message me on here the social club or at PSN: Aldo_Vinocelli | {
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The Versa-Pod Bench Pod was designed for shooting enthusiast and operators who want to do it all; the bipod can be used at the range, hunting, shooting prone, and from many other surfaces. The bipod features the patented Versa-Pod tool-less friction controls that allows the bipod to be precisely positioned and locked into place. Go to any environment with versatility with the Versa-Pod Bench Pod. | {
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Next, Ikea and Swan have issued recalls after faults were found with some products.
Ikea is recalling a bicycle due to a safety issue with the drive belt, which has led to 11 injury-related reports.
Next is pulling a children's unicorn jacket after problems with the plastic coating were discovered.
The peeling of the fabric could result in a potential choking or suffocation hazard to young children.
And, on behalf of Swan, Very.co.uk is recalling two different models of washing machines.
Here's what customers need to know:
Ikea - SLADDA bicycle
A notice on the Trading Standards website says: "IKEA has been informed and advised by a well-established component supplier to recall all SLADDA bicycles, due to safety issues with the drive belt. The drive belt can suddenly snap, which in turn, can lead to falls."
Ikea has received 11 reports of related incidents, with two minor injuries reported.
Customers that have a SLADDA bicycle should stop using it and return the bike to any IKEA store for a full refund. Accessories specifically designed to fit with bike will also be refunded.
Proof of purchase is not required.
Swan Washing Machine - SW1010 and SW1020
Online retailer Very.co.uk is recalling two models of Swan washing machines sold between 2010 - 2012.
Models SW1010 and SW1020 are being recalled because a fault has been found with the internal control unit.
This can lead to overheating during use and, in some cases, a small risk of a fire developing.
To find out if you have an affected washing machine, check the model number displayed on the front.
If yours is an affected model, stop using it straight away and disconnect it from its socket, or turn the switch off.
Very.co.uk is replacing the control units on all affected items. Contact the helpline on 0800 888 6124 (Monday - Friday from 9am - 8pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm) or email [email protected] to organise organise a repair modification.
Next - Younger Girls Iridescent Unicorn Jacket
The jacket's plastic coating is peeling away from the fabric and if detached, could present a potential choking or suffocation hazard to young children.
A notice on the Trading Standards website says: "As some of the jackets don't meet our strict technical specifications, we are taking the precaution of recalling them and request that you return the jacket to us immediately for a full refund."
Customers can call the retailer on 0333 777 8185 to arrange a collection, alternatively you can return it to your nearest store.
A full refund will be given to customers.
If you have given this item as a gift, ask the recipient to contact Next as soon as possible. | {
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News about healthcare and medicine in China | An independent site by Michael Woodhead
Thursday, 3 December 2015
China's pharma companies take a stake in public hospitals. What could possibly go wrong?
by MICHAEL WOODHEAD
China's not-very communist health minister Li Bin wants to see hospitals turn to "social capital"(ie private investors). And it is slowly starting to happen. China's 'public' hospitals are currently in a strange place - they are essentially state-owned for-profit enterprises, but bound by an odd mix of rules and regulations that keep some prices in check and yet which allow rampant price gouging and overservicing in areas such as pharmaceuticals. Not for nothing are pharmacies know as the 'gold mine' of hospitals.
To try get rid of the obvious incentives for hospital doctors to overprescribe the government is currently phasing in a ban on drug commissions. They are trying to de-link income from drug sales and hospital revenue.
However it's not clear to me how this squares with the trend for China's pharmaceutical companies to go into partnership with hospitals, and essentially to become their operators. Take the recent deal by the Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Group to invest in six hospitals in the obscure Shandong city of Jining. The joint venture covers six main hospitals with around 6000 beds and a total annual revenue of 2 billion yuan.
The local health department has 49% stake in the new Jining health provider company, while the pharma company has a 33% stake in return for 5 billion yuan investment. Other stakeholders include investment companies, with between 15% and 2% interests.
Analysts say the new joint venture will allow industrial groups to make profits from controlling supplies of pharmaceuticals as well as medical devices, supplies and equipment. I'm no health economist but I can't see how allowing a pharma company to own and operate all of a city's hospitals is good for the patient. Who decides which drugs are made available at the hospital - and what happens to the competitor products? Also what is to stop overservicing, as we have seen so evidently a problem in the current system?
"With deals like this we need to first be clear what is the purpose of the restructuring of public hospitals, and through the restructuring of what kind of results you want to achieve? These issues need further study and discussion. " | {
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Hi, my name is Gau meo. I'm a comic artist from Vietnam. I love drawing fantasy romance comics and all sweet things. Right now, I'm working on short comics about Greek mythology, especially Hades and Persephone. Thank you in advance for visiting my Patreon and be my patron, many rewards are waiting for you! ^^
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Hi, my name is Gau meo. I'm a comic artist from Vietnam. I love drawing fantasy romance comics and all sweet things. Right now, I'm working on short comics about Greek mythology, especially Hades and Persephone. Thank you in advance for visiting my Patreon and be my patron, many rewards are waiting for you! ^^
Recent posts by Gau meo
Tiers
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$1 or more per month
You will receive:
My love and gratitude for being awesome!
Full access to monthly sketches/ W.I.P pages/ thumbs for comics/step by step drawings for studying. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Mcat Tutors in Buffalo Grove, IL
Find Private & Affordable MCAT Tutoring in the Buffalo Grove Area!
But, I'm here to help.I'm a science lover and I'm working towards becoming a physician . I love learning more about science, evolution, and biotechnology . I understand how challenging it can be to understand certain topics like physics, chemistry, and biology . When I was...
I tutor many subjects but my favorites are chemistry, biology, and math . Also, I put lots of emphasis on comprehension and preparation for standardized tests such as the MCAT, ACT, and others . I'm proficient in Spanish, and spent the fall of 2014 living in Seville, Spain,...
I try to help my students understand and be aware of the way they learn, take in and process information.As an undergraduate I worked as a Teaching Assistant with a main interest in Science and Physics . In Cleveland, Ohio, I was a volunteer tutor for at-risk city youth . I...
I know firsthand how demanding Science classes can be, and I hope to make learning enjoyable for those I am tutoring . Currently, I am applying to medical school.I am available to work with students in Anatomy, Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, Physical...
I love to learn and teach French, but I also really enjoy life sciences too . I enjoy helping my students develop a more comprehensive knowledge in these two subjects as well . I lived in France for a whole autumn in 2014 . It was during this time that I really gained...
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All it takes is finding the right way that works best for you . That is where I come in and I am able to help find the way that works best for you to succeed in your academic career . I have found that using visuals and analogies in your lessons will help you comprehend...
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The subject matter I am most comfortable with includes biology, chemistry, writing, anatomy, physiology, and more . I can help prepare you for the MCAT, PCAT, GRE, and SAT, where these subjects are concerned.Hopefully, the people I work with will be just as excited about...
As a tutor, I believe two crucial components to helping students learn are being a good mentor and acting as a friend . I believe all my students need to fully understand concepts, and be able to apply them to various problems, in order to have mastered a subject . I always...
I especially enjoy helping students write an outstanding college application essay . I'm capable of helping you or your student prepare for standardized tests, such as the PSAT, SAT or MCAT, too.I'm a voracious reader, and I love spending time with Birdie, my rescue dog . ... | {
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Arcona 435
The new Arcona 435 continues to uphold Arcona’s strong heritage of innovation and design excellence, using the finest materials and best workmanship. The Arcona 435 is a fast, modern and easy-to-manage 43 foot performance cruiser. Launched by Arcona Yachts in 2018, reactions show she is a favourite in the performance racer-cruiser sector.
Stefan Qviberg, the Designer, has once again fulfilled Arcona’s brief to create a yacht that appeals to an owner who wants both sailing performance and comfort for cruising on long passages. Stefan explains, “The 435 has an efficient sail design, a low weight, and the characteristic stability exhibited in every Arcona yacht. The 435 is modern inside and out.”
The Arcona 435 epitomises the characteristics of a very comfortable fast family cruiser and a racing yacht, without making any compromises. She is both safe and stable with laminated bulkheads and Arcona’s galvanised steel girder. She is a joy to sail as she responds quickly to trim input and doesn’t weigh more than 8900kg. The Arcona 435 can also be specified with carbon hull, deck and spars which reduces her weight further. Arcona 435 has a slightly larger sail area than previous models to give optimised upwind performance.
Exterior Design
With her wider stern there is great space in the cockpit for crew, friends and family. It also gives more space down below in the aft cabins, galley and saloon. The wide stern gives her great sailing performance, especially downwind. There is also a choice between open or semi-open transom.
She has twin wheels configured as standard which can be upgraded to carbon. The cockpit table recesses down into the floor and is easy to deploy when needed, otherwise creating an open, comfortable area whilst sailing. The windows on the coachroof are long and wide allowing natural light in to the saloon.
The spacious cockpit has an integral bathing platform and a large storage locker aft, accessible from two recessed hatches in the cockpit floor. The sides of the cockpit have been designed for intelligent use of stowage and at the front edge of the coaming are two compartments that elegantly stow all halyards. The cockpit coaming, aft deck and sole are in teak. The side deck can be specified either in teak or in Arcona’s proven non-slip material.
Interior Design
The boat is designed to be sailed for extended periods of time and in any weather, so a comfortable relaxing yacht interior is an important attribute of an Arcona. We have selected high quality interior materials that ensure you enjoy all aspects of your yacht.
The interior is in selected Khaya mahogany, varnished to a high-gloss satin finish, that successfully communicates a relaxed living space. The mouldings, door frames and stairs are all laminated with varnished teak soles. When we ask our team how many varnish coatings they usually apply, they will always answer “We will varnish until we are satisfied.”
We offer a broad range of cushion fabrics and colour choices and you make that selection when you order your Arcona. The ceiling lighting in the saloon, cabins and in the heads consists of recessed spotlights. Below deck in the saloon, there are more spotlights with a dimmer in the navigation station to provide atmospheric saloon lighting. All cabins are equipped with roof lamps and two bulkhead-mounted reading lamps.
She is praised by journalist and sailors, nominated for both European Yacht of the Year 2019 and the British Yachting Awards – Performance Yacht of the Year 2018. Catch up on what they say! Note: Some magazine’s are pay-to-read.
Sign up for the Arcona Magazine
Please subscribe to the Arcona Magazine newsletter to get the latest news and updates. The Magazine is filled with articles on new yachts, cruising and racing sailing, event information and seasonal tips. It’s sent out monthly.
We have always strived to achieve the optimal combination of fast-paced race winning yachts with a relaxed, close to nature cruising concept. With this we have successfully managed to develop one of the world’s best model line-ups of cruiser-racers. Our passion is to build you a boat that you will love and that we can be proud of. Welcome to explore Arcona Yachts. | {
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Jennifer Lopez to be honored at 25th GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles
GLAAD, the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, announced today it will honor international superstar Jennifer Lopezat the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 12th to be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Lopez, who is currently a judge on “American Idol”, will receive GLAAD's Vanguard Award, which is presented to artists and media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Past recipients include Antonio Banderas, Drew Barrymore, Kristin Chenoweth, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Eric McCormack, Liza Minnelli, Sharon Stone and Elizabeth Taylor.
In addition to being a global sensation with her acting, music, and entrepreneur endeavors (Clothing and perfume line) Lopez is one of the Executive Producers of ABC Family’s hit series "The Fosters", which is a GLAAD Media Award-nominated drama series about a lesbian couple raising a family of biological, adopted, and foster children. The inspiration for Lopez to produce “The Fosters” came from her late aunt, who faced prejudice because of her sexual orientation and was unable to have her own family. She saw the show as an opportunity to make a difference and tell the story of a loving family that happens to have two moms at its helm.
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. They also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community that build support for equality. Each year, the GLAAD Media Awards in New York and Los Angeles bring together more than 3,000 advocates and allies to raise critical funds for the organization's work.
To receive the latest updates on the GLAAD Media Awards, follow @glaad on Twitter and use the hashtag #glaadawards.
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Meriam's Showbiz column features profile interviews with celebrities from television, film, music & books. She also covers a wide range of entertainment industry-related events. Meriam graduated from the University of Maryland where she studied American Studies & Journalism. In 07, Meriam studied French Journalism in Paris, France. She has worked for WTOP/CBS News Radio and interned with WJLA ABC7 in D.C. She also has a certificate in digital journalism from the NBC News/New York Film Academy Broadcast Journalism Program. | {
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CA Applebee's Locations
View all Applebee's locations in California (CA, US) or locate the Applebee's location near you. Includes Applebee's menus, reviews, directions and hours.
Click here if you like Applebee's:
Trying to find a Applebee's in the state of California? Have no fear; we’ve compiled a list of all the CA Applebee's locations. Simply click on the Applebee's location below to find out where it is located and if it received positive reviews. | {
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This group of prominent Republicans is led by Ralph Drollinger, a preacher who founded Capitol Ministries in Washington, D.C., in 2010. And the gathering is also sponsored by Vice President Mike Pence as well as numerous cabinet secretaries, the outlet noted in an April article.
In an updated piece published on Monday, Drollinger told CBN News that participants — some of the most powerful people in government — are “godly individuals that God has risen to a position of prominence in our culture.”
The Bible study is a rarity in government, and, according to Drollinger, a similar study among cabinet members potentially hasn’t happened in over a century.
“[Jeff Sessions will] go out the same day I teach him something and I’ll see him do it on camera and I just think, ‘Wow, these guys are faithful, available and teachable and they’re at Bible study every week they’re in town,'” Drollinger said.
Pence is certainly known for his Christian worldview, making his involvement somewhat unsurprising, yet notable considering the scope and intent of the hour-long, weekly study. It is unclear if he is in regular attendance.
“Mike Pence has uncompromising biblical tenacity and he has a loving tone about him that’s not just a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” Drollinger said. “And then fourthly, he brings real value to the head of the nation.”
Drollinger told CBN News’ Beltway Buzz back in April that he believes it’s essential for leaders to appeal to God as they seek to set policy.
“In terms of a country’s health and direction, when its leaders are seeking God, the nation is in a position to be blessed by God in ways that are ‘far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,'” he said.
Drollinger continued, “This has been a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship as I am presently teaching through the Sermon on the Mount — as well has handing out my weekly written Bible study as a homework assignment on a particular topic.”
News of the Bible study percolated in media earlier this year after reporters noticed the words “Cabinet Member Bible Study” on Perry’s schedule, Christian Today reported. | {
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FIVE’S MELBOURNE SELL-OUT
Were you perhaps thinking about heading along to catch reformed ’90s boyband Five’s concert in Melbourne in early November?Then sadly you’re out of luck, with concert promoters today confirming that after hitting the sales desk this morning, the November 03 show at the city’s Palace Theatre is now completely sold out, with only tickets for the other four cities remaining and no word (yet) on a second concert in the Victorian capital.The boys (Scott, Ritchie, Abs, J and Sean) were a phenomenon throughout the late ’90s and early noughties, hypnotising us with a string of chart successes like ‘Keep On Movin’, ‘Got The Feelin’, ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘When The Lights Go Out’ and ‘If Ya Gettin’ Down’.Reforming last year for the ITV series ‘The Big Reunion’, the band successfully toured the UK and though J is no longer with them, the lads will hit Terra Australis in late October. | {
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Princess Dress - BLUSH
$169.00
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The Princess Peony Dressadds a playful touch to your wardrobe. With the short princess sleeves, this beautiful dress is both charming and versatile. We love detail and construction with this soft floral dress. | {
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rickpetko0174
Homepage > Iamcarlallen.com: Offers innovative ideas about how to start up a business
Iamcarlallen.com: Offers innovative ideas about how to start up a business
22/01/2014 12:40
Do you want to learn How To Start Up A Business , but don’t know how? Well, if yes, then Iamcarlallen.com is the best online destination for you. Iamcarlallen.com is the most renowned and prestigious online informative blog owned and operated by me (Mr. Carl Allen). Let me introduce myself: I am Carl Allen, a renowned investor, entrepreneur, and corporate dealmaker. On my blog, I am offering the new ideas and plans that will help you in starting a successful business. Here, you will get a wide ranging collection of resourceful content to help you gain crystal clear understanding and knowledge about innovative business plans that you can use to start up your own business.
I assist individuals in starting their own business and earning the profits, reputation and respect they dream of. You will find an exclusive Small Business Plan Template on the website giving you great ideas and tips to have a fresh start and enjoy the business you want with confidence. At Iamcarlallen.com, you will find various articles in distinct categories including business planning, buying a business, deal origination for new projects, corporate dealmaking, entrepreneurship, outsourcing, driving world-class sales performance, marketing, selling a business, social media tips for business, business valuation and much more.
My primary goal is to help the people who have a fire in their heart to start a new business with a goal to serve more individuals fruitfully but lack experience or finance, or both of these things. I deliver these people inspriational ideas, tips, strategies, insights and actionable recommendations so that they can utilize their capabilities and get rapid success in their lives. Many people look to buy a business and work to take it to the next level and I am also providing information, tips and tactics to such individuals so that they can run a new business or buy a business by having lucrative deals and without wasting their time and money.
With my assistance, you will feel confident of making a correct and effective decision for your business, whatever your experience or where your business is currently at in terms of evolution. With my step by step solutions and actionable recommendations, you can turbo charge your life and wealth creation in Small Business Entrepreneurship . | {
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One of the early polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based DNA markers develops was RAPD (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA) marker. In a Q & A session of the AGH635 lecture, one of the student asked the following question: “What is RAPD marker and how can one generate the marker?”
Before posting the answer to that question, let’s remind you what the DNA is. As everyone already knows, the DNA is simply a polymer of a nucleotide (a molecule consisted of phosphate-sugar-nitrogen base). The nitrogen base portion consisted of four different types, such as: Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) and Thymine (T). If we look at the nitrogen part, the primary structure of DNA is actually a stretch of A, C, G, T sequences in particular orders and certain direction.
If we consider that a DNA consisted a random nucleotide sequences (however, it is not random at all in nature!), then the probability of getting a stretch of 10 bases consisted of A, C, G, and T in a random order (such as: “ACAGCTAGAG”) would be approximately (0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)*(0.25)=9.53674*E-07. Therefore, any random 10 base sequences would be found in a frequency of once in every 95,367,400 bases (once in 95 million bases; Figure 1.A).
However, since the sequences of the genomic DNA is not completely random, it should be possible to find a 10 bases of a random nucleotide sequence such as “ACAGCTAGAG” in more frequent manners in the genome (Figure 1.B).
Figure 1. Random DNA sequences vs. Genomic DNA
Those cases in Figure 1 are the bases of the RAPD markers development. Moreover, if ones explore further about the random sequences and the genomic DNA, one would find the following :
A random – 10 base sequences can be found interspersed in different part of the plant genome and randomly distributed throughout the genome as illustrated in Figure 2.
The random sequences can be in the same orientation (i.e. reside in the same strand, such as position 1, 3, 5, and 7) or in the opposite direction (i.e. reside in different strands, such as position 1 & 2; 3 & 4; 3 & 6; 4 & 6; and 5 & 6) as illustrated in Figure 3.
The positions of two random sequences can be separated by a few hundreds or thousands bases apart as illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Amplification of an RAPD marker depends on the existence and direction of random sequences and the size of a DNA fragment separating two random sequences in the genome
Two random sequences, that are in opposite direction and flanking DNA sequences of less than 3,000 bases, can be amplified using a single random oligonucleotide primer and generate a certain size of PCR product. The PCR product can be used as DNA marker, also known as randomly amplified DNA marker.
The DNA marker most of the time is polymorphic among different individuals, as such it is called randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker.
Figure 4. Representative position of random sequences existed in the plat genome. A number of loci of the random sequences can be amplified using random primer to generate PCR products. The products can be used as markers (RAPD markers)
Finally, the random sequences, such as position 5 & 6, as illustrated in Figure 4, are usually present in a number of locations in the genome.Therefore, if a single random oligonucleotide (i.e. ‘acagctagag’) is used to PCR amplify target DNA using plant genomic DNA as template, then it should be possible to amplify a number of DNA fragments. Therefore, in one PCR reaction – a number of RAPD markers can be generated using a single random oligonucleotide primer. An example of RAPD markers generated using a single random oligonucleotide is presented in Figure 5.
In the above example (Figure 5), a single OPA9 primer are used to amplify RAPD markers in Calamus palustris. Among samples of C. palustris analyzed in the above figure, the primer OPA9 generates either one, two or three DNA fragments. As such, in the Figure 5, a single OPA9 primer generates 1 – 3 RAPD markers.
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About PMB Lab: Prof. Sudarsono
This blog is dedicated as a communication media among alumni associated with PMB Lab, Dept. of Agronomy and Horticulture, Fac. of Agriculture, IPB, Bogor – Indonesia. It contains various information related to alumni activities, PMB Lab’s on going activities and other related matters. | {
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Swisher, recovering from a sore groin, played five innings in a minor league game on Friday and declared that he would be ready be Opening Day and told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he was “almost ready to take the chains off.”
Granderson missed some time with a sore elbow. The Yankees sent him for MRI’s which came back negative. He has already returned to action playing in back-to-back days, Thursday and Friday. As for D-Rob, he pitched in the minor league camp on Friday and threw mostly fastballs as he continues to build arm strength. Everyone expects him to be ready by Opening Day. | {
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Amphibian conservation benefits enormously from an active community working on diverse conservation issues around the world. ASA coordinates a collaborative global partnership, recruiting Partners from across this community, while also encouraging new organisations and groups to join the cause. ASA helps to create information to direct conservation efforts, guiding the identification of conservation priorities at the level of species (e.g. through support of amphibian extinction risk assessment updates on the IUCN Red List) and habitats (e.g. through the Key Biodiversity Areas Partnership). Our aim is to coordinate the implementation of ACAP, ensuring that Partners take on recommendations and work together to bring these to fruition. ASA also tracks progress on implementing ACAP, and keeps the partnership informed of all developments. | {
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CyanogenMod 12.1Nightly Build is now ready to download for The Nexus Player
The only consumer device available which can run an Android TV until today, is the Nexus Player, that means that people who have one of those are true Android fans. It follows that they are main candidates for ROM flashing, so they’ll be glad to hear that now they can install CyanogenMod on their set-top box. CM 12.1, based on Android 5.1 is now available in nightly build for the Nexus Player.
A customized ROM for a set-top box makes less sense to a set-top box than a phone; Android TV is supposed to be alittle condensed media-focused experience, but can only expand via apps. Open up the bootloader on the Nexus Player and install a personalized recovery to flash CyanogenMod is bit complicated too. For now, there’s just one nightly build available for “fugu”, the hardware’s codename.
Just remember that nightly builds are offered as with no garantees, and with Android TV being a new technically platform for the ROM team, there ara a few teething troubles. If youi’r e ready to install it anyway, it’s already available on CM database to download. It could or couldn’t get a more stable “M” through the next cycle. | {
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Cottages in All Areas in Camiguin
Discover comfortable accommodations in Camiguin that won't break the bank only at Pabualan Cottages – Main.
Located in Barangay Yumbing in Mambajao, Pabualan Cottages – Main is the economical accommodation choice for both business and leisure travel...
Discover comfortable accommodations in Camiguin that won't break the bank only at Pabualan Cottages – Main.
Located in Barangay Yumbing in Mambajao, Pabualan Cottages – Main is the economical accommodation choice for both business and leisure travelers in Camiguin. This homey establishment gives way to an array of cozy rooms guaranteed to give you a good night's sleep. But the property is not just a place where you can catch some Z's; it is also home to some facilities and services that will make your trip more convenient and hassle-free. Coupled with an accommodating staff and its proximity to White Island port, the hotel gets you the best value-for-money on your vacation. Camiguin Airport is less than a 6-kilometer drive from there.
A total of 7 rooms are housed in Pabualan Cottages – Main. Each of these rooms is designed simply yet is cozy and well-appointed with practical amenities for the discerning traveler. In each room, you'll find air conditioning, a TV, minibar, and private toilet and bath complete with hot and cold shower. There are also towels and toiletries. Additionally, WiFi can be freely accessed from all rooms as well as in select areas around the property.
Make your stay at Pabualan Cottages – Main count by availing of their services. They offer tours and transportation services for a hands-free trip. You'll also find facilities like a cooking area and a convenience store onsite.
Camiguin is the ideal destination for travelers seeking a vacation outside the mainstream. The best spots to visit here include the Sunken Cemetery as well as its magnificent waterfalls like Katibawasan Falls and Tuwasan Falls. Popular activities in this province include hiking Mt. Hibok-Hibok and island hopping around White Island.
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Escape the urban jungle and find respite in this stunning island with a mystical history and picturesque attractions.
Located in Cabua-an in the island of Camiguin, MJM by the Sea offers simple, yet comfortable accommodations that will make your Ca...Escape the urban jungle and find respite in this stunning island with a mystical history and picturesque attractions.
Located in Cabua-an in the island of Camiguin, MJM by the Sea offers simple, yet comfortable accommodations that will make your Camigiun sojourn your most memorable one yet. You can travel to Camiguin by flying from Manila to Cagayan de Oro, followed by a bus ride to the Balingoan dock. A barge or a ferry will take you to the island. Once in Camiguin, various modes of public transport are readily available to take you directly to the lodge.
MJM by the Sea features practical facilities and amenities, making your vacation hassle-free. The lodge also has a garden, a gazebo that overlooks the ocean, and free WiFi. Rooms at MJM by the Sea are fully air conditioned, equipped with TVs, with private toilet and bathrooms complete with hot or cold showers and toiletries.
The island of Camiguin is believed to have been formed by volcanic eruptions and land movements a long time ago, which is probably why the island was blessed with beautiful natural wonders. Apart from its gorgeous shores and terrains, the island is also home to various interesting places such as the Old Volcano Trail, a favorite destination for Catholic devotees; the Old Catarman Church Ruins, as well as the well-preserved ancestral houses.
With a relaxing ambiance and simple yet practical services, MJM by the Sea promises and delivers comfort and convenience to guests who come to the island to explore the many wonders of Camiguin, one of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines.
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Deluxe Room
Located near the famous White Island, Gamorot- Pabololot cottages offers a great accomodation for your stay in Camiguin Island without sacrificing your budget. Gamorot - Pabololot Cottages is also located near the famous restaurants in town. | {
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Katie and I got to spend last week in Newport Beach, CA with all the other Acts 29 Pastors and their wives
It was awesome getting away and being with friends
I love hearing what God is doing around the world and how He is using Acts 29 to change lives and cities
We have been a part of Acts 29 for over 3 years and I have never been more excited about the direction of the network than I am right now
Matt Chandler is an off the charts leader
Being away was awesome, but it was great coming back home
Even if it is 111 when we got back
Really feeling blessed to be on my summer preaching break right now
Love the extended time to meet with leaders, study for future sermons and feed my soul
It is a blessing our elders see the value in this time for me
This time is great to for looking ahead at future sermons
Pretty positive we will be preaching through 1 Corinthians in 2014
Going to be fun to hit some of the controversial topics in that book like church unity, divorce, lawsuits, speaking in tongues, homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, head coverings and the list goes on
Should be fun
Looking forward to taking my kids to see a movie this week
We’ll have to decide between Epic, Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University
If you’ve seen any of them, leave a comment about it and if it is worth seeing
Excited about getting our MC together this Thursday for a picnic on the 4th
It really is a great book as Chandler seeks to help us understand the breadth and depth of the gospel. He wrote it because he began to discover as a pastor, that most simply assumed the gospel. People simply assumed they knew it. If you are looking for a book that will help you to understand what exactly the gospel is, how it impacts your daily life and to find freedom to your sins, past baggage, negative emotions, etc., this is a book worth picking up.
Here’s what the publisher said about it:
Even if you go to church, it doesn’t mean that you are being exposed (or exposing others) to the gospel explicitly. Sure, most people talk about Jesus, and about being good and avoiding bad, but the gospel message simply isn’t there—at least not in its specificity and its fullness.
Inspired by the needs of both the overchurched and the unchurched, and bolstered by the common neglect of the explicit gospel within Christianity, popular pastor Matt Chandler writes this punchy treatise to remind us what is of first and utmost importance—the gospel.
Here is a call to true Christianity, to know the gospel explicitly, and to unite the church on the amazing grounds of the good news of Jesus!
Here are a few things that jumped out to me in the book:
We have a tendency to think that the cross saves us from past sin, but after we are saved, we have to take over and clean ourselves up.
The idolatry that exists in man’s heart always wants to lead him away from his Savior and back to self-reliance no matter how pitiful that self-reliance is or how many times it has betrayed him.
Truth is never our enemy, ever. So we should never freak out about people who claim to have discovered truth. If it’s true truth, God owns it and has already accounted for it, and while nothing that is true ever contradicts God’s revealed word in the Bible, discovered truth sometimes contradicts the words of Christians. We shouldn’t be afraid of this, because God knew it before anybody else and its discovery is dependent on his sovereignty anyway. The truth is that truth is ours; all truth is our truth because we are of Christ and Christ is of the sovereign God.
This trash is further revelation of God’s grace, because it shows that he doesn’t need us; rather he wants us. When we who call ourselves Christians realize how utterly self-sufficient God is all within himself – the three in one – the gift of Christ to us and for us becomes all the more astonishing.
The Bible definitely issues commands for us to obey and makes demand for our submission. But, in the end, reading the Bible as the Daily Manual for My Life is the deficient way of the two basic ways available to us. We can read it as a reference book about us. Or we can see the Bible is a book about God. The bible is for us, not about us.
God’s glory is what drives the universe, not our salvation.
It is still idolatry to want God for his benefit but not for himself.
Hell, when all is said and done, is the absence of God’s goodness and blessedness. Therefore, hell is the absence of anything we can think of that’s good, right, comforting, joyous, happy and peaceful. It’s a pretty terrifying place.
To discount the enormity of God’s severity, as if we aren’t really that bad and really deserve mostly kindness, is to discount the enormity of God’s holiness.
“God is love,” the thwarters of God’s severity say. Of course he is, but the Bible that tells us that is the same Bible that prescribes eternal punishment to the rejecters of his love.
Because a God who is ultimately most focused on his own glory will be about the business of restoring us, who are all broken images of him. His glory demands it. So we should be thankful for a self-sufficient God whose self-regard is glorious.
The universe shudders in horror that we have this infinitely valuable, infinitely deep, infinitely rich, infinitely wise, infinitely loving God, and instead of pursuing him with steadfast passion and enthralled fury — instead of loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; instead of attributing to him glory and honor and praise and power and wisdom and strength — we just try to take his toys and run. It is still idolatry to want God for his benefits but not for himself.
This avoidance of the difficult things of Scripture — of sinfulness and hell and God’s notable severity — is idolatrous and cowardly. If a man or a woman who teaches the Scriptures is afraid to explain to you the severity of God, they have betrayed you, and they love their ego more than they love you.
If God is most concerned about his name’s sake, then hell ultimately exists because of the belittlement of God’s name, and, therefore, our response to the biblical reality of hell cannot, for our own safety, be the further belittlement of God’s name. Are you tracking with that? Someone who says hell cannot be real, or we can’t all deserve it even if it is real, because God is love is saying that the name and the renown and the glory of Christ aren’t that big of a deal.
Heaven is not a place for those who are afraid of hell; it’s a place for those who love God. You can scare people into coming to your church, you can scare people into trying to be good, you can scare people into giving money, you can even scare them into walking down an aisle and praying a certain prayer, but you cannot scare people into loving God. You just can’t do it.
The hard-won lesson I’ve learned in marriage, something I’m very grateful for knowing now, is that there are some things in my wife’s heart and some struggles she faces in life that I cannot fix. It doesn’t matter how romantic I am; it doesn’t matter how loving I am; it doesn’t matter how many flowers I send, or if I write her poetry, or if I clean the kitchen, or if I take the kids and let her go have girl time — I am powerless to fix Lauren. (And she’s powerless to fix me.) Doing all those things to minister to her are right and good, but there are things in my girl that I can’t fix, things that are between her and the Lord.
If we confuse the gospel with response to the gospel, we will drift from what keeps the gospel on the ground, what makes it clear and personal, and the next thing you know, we will be doing a bunch of different things that actually obscure the gospel, not reveal it.
It is easy to see that you and I have been created to worship. We’re flat-out desperate for it. From sports fanaticism to celebrity tabloids to all the other strange sorts of voyeurisms now normative in our culture, we evidence that we were created to look at something beyond ourselves and marvel at it, desire it, like it with zeal, and love it with affection. Our thoughts, our desires, and our behaviors are always oriented around something, which means we are always worshiping — ascribing worth to — something. If it’s not God, we are engaging in idolatry. But either way, there is no way to turn the worship switch in our hearts off.
No change of job, no increased income, no new home, no new electronic device, or no new spouse is going to make things better inside of you.
The cross of Christ is first and centrally God’s means of reconciling sinful people to his sinless self. But it is bigger than that too. From the ground we see the cross as our bridge to God. From the air, the cross is our bridge to the restoration of all things. The cross of the battered Son of God is the battering ram through the blockade into Eden. It is our key into a better Eden, into the wonders of the new-covenant kingdom, of which the old was just a shadow. The cross is the linchpin in God’s plan to restore all creation. Is it any wonder, then, that the empty tomb opened out into a garden?
No matter what our job is, we view it not as our purpose in life but rather as where God has sovereignly placed us for the purpose of making Christ known and his name great. If you are a teacher, if you are a politician, if you are a businessman, if you are in agriculture, if you are in construction, if you are in technology, if you are in the arts, then you should not be saying, ‘I need to find my life’s purpose in this work,’ but rather, ‘I need to bring God’s purpose to this work.’
The reconciling gospel is always at the forefront of the church’s social action, because a full belly is not better than a reconciled soul.
Engaging the city around us and ministering to its needs reveal to us the remaining bastions of sin in our lives, the areas we refuse to surrender to God.
Once we remove the bloody atonement as satisfaction of God’s wrath for sin, the wheels really come off. Where the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross is preached and proclaimed, missions will not spin off to a liberal shell of a lifeless message but will stay true to what God has commanded the church to be in the Scriptures.
The marker of those who understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is that, when they stumble and fall, when they screw up, they run to God and not from him, because they clearly understand that their acceptance before God is not predicated upon their behavior but on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death.
Grace-driven effort is violent. It is aggressive. The person who understands the gospel understands that, as a new creation, his spiritual nature is in opposition to sin now, and he seeks not just to weaken sin in his life but to outright destroy it. Out of love for Jesus, he wants sin starved to death, and he will hunt and pursue the death of every sin in his heart until he has achieved success. This is a very different pursuit than simply wanting to be good. It is the result of having transferred one’s affections to Jesus. When God’s love takes hold of us, it powerfully pushes out our own love for other gods and frees our love to flow back to him in true worship. And when we love God, we obey him. The moralist doesn’t operate that way. While true obedience is a result of love, moralistic legalism assumes it works the other way around, that love results from obedience. | {
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What about 'black-on-black crime'? Funny you should ask
First lady Michelle Obama visits Chicago's Harper High School, a predominately African-American school where 29 current or former students had been shot in the previous year, Wednesday April 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Chicago Tribune, Nancy Stone, Pool)
The shooting of Michael Brown and its turbulent aftermath have renewed an old question: Why does the black community raise a ruckus when a white person kills a black person, which is rare, but not when a black person kills a black person, which is far less rare?
It's a complaint perennially lodged by conservative commentators. Jason Riley, an African-American editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, criticized the Rev. Al Sharpton's appearance in Ferguson, Mo. "The problem is not cops shooting blacks but blacks shooting each other," he asserted. Yet "so-called black leaders are much more interested in making excuses for this behavior than they are in denouncing it unequivocally."
"What about black-on-black violence?" demanded Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, who is white. "Where is Al Sharpton on that? Where is the president on that?"
Funny you should ask. Sharpton made a publicized trip to Chicago in November to focus attention on the city's chronic violence. Last year, Michelle Obama attended the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old black honor student who was shot, allegedly by a black gang member.
The first lady later returned to Chicago to converse with students at a school that is nearly 100 percent African-American. "In choosing Harper High School for the visit, the White House noted that 29 current or former students there had been shot in the last year, eight of them fatally," reported the Chicago Tribune.
The president also traveled to Chicago, meeting with kids involved in a mentoring program for at-risk adolescent boys, bemoaning gun violence and telling a crowd on the South Side, "Our streets will only be as safe as our schools are strong and our families are sound."
Doesn't sound like they've been ignoring or excusing this sort of violence. Plenty of black leaders and organizations in Chicago and elsewhere spend a lot of time and energy trying to prevent crime in their communities. There are rallies, conferences, prayer vigils and gun turn-in days. Last year, thousands of volunteers manned "Safe Passage" routes to get children to school unharmed.
Have Riley and MacCallum and other critics publicized those events and programs? If not, why not? If so, why do they now act as though they don't exist?
Their charges have more than a whiff of condescension — implying that most blacks are unable to discern the greatest ills afflicting them. But black leaders can walk and chew gum at the same time. They can work to curb violence by blacks against blacks and also work to prevent the killing of unarmed African-Americans by police and vigilantes. Both are deeply undesirable.
It's no secret that rates of violent crime are far higher among blacks than among whites. What is generally overlooked is that these rates have dropped sharply over the past two decades. The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice reports that violent crime by young blacks has plunged 60 percent.
In 1995, the FBI reports, 9,074 blacks were arrested for homicide. In 2012, the number was 4,203 — a decline of 54 percent. But conservatives don't labor endlessly to publicize that trend.
Nor do they often mention what USA Today reports: "Nearly two times a week in the United States, a white police officer killed a black person during a seven-year period ending in 2012, according to the most recent accounts of justifiable homicide reported to the FBI."
There's another, bigger problem with the preoccupation with "black-on-black crime." The term suggests race is the only important factor. Most crimes are committed by males, but we don't refer to "male-on-male crime." Whites in the South are substantially more prone to homicide than those in New England, but no one laments "Southerner-on-Southerner crime." Why does crime involving people of African descent deserve its own special category?
The phrase stems from a desire to excuse whites from any role in changing the conditions that breed disorder and delinquency in poor black areas. It carries the message that blacks are to blame for the crime that afflicts them — and that only they can eliminate it. Whites are spared any responsibility in the cause or the cure.
Excluding them from complicity is harder to do when the killer is white and the killed is black, as in the shooting in Ferguson. Raising "black-on-black crime" right now is not a sincere attempt to improve the lot of African-Americans. It's a way to change the subject and a way to blame them. | {
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Bellingham runaway teen found in Ohio
Wednesday
Jan 22, 2014 at 4:05 PMJan 22, 2014 at 4:05 PM
BELLINGHAM — Authorities in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday found the runaway teenager who left town last week and have placed him into custody until his parents arrive to bring him home.Daniel Bell, a sophomore at Bellingham High School, was last seen Jan. 14 at the Bellingham Public Library. Police say Bell, who recently turned 17, took off on his own accord after erasing his online profiles and shutting off his cell phone.Bellingham Police Department school resource officer Leonard Gosselin, one of two local law enforcement officials who worked to find the teen, said Columbus police spotted Bell with a friend Wednesday afternoon and took him into custody.Police believed Bell went to Columbus to meet with the friend.Gosselin had been in contact with Columbus Police Department Missing Persons detectives.Bell, he said, was in good spirits.The teen's mother and stepfather were planning to travel to Columbus Wednesday to reunite with him, Gosselin said.“They’re happy and concerned,” Gosselin said of the parents. “They want to know why he left.”Gosselin was relieved that Bell had been found, he said. “It was a joint effort by a lot of people,” he said, specifically crediting Columbus authorities and Bell’s parents.Gosselin knew the teen personally from his time as the department’s D.A.R.E. officer, calling Bell, a member of the drama club and the mock-trial team at Bellingham High, a “reserved, quiet kid.” | {
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How the world’s largest military stacks up to the US armed forces
Military delegates arrive at the Great Hall of the People for a meeting ahead of the opening ceremony of the National People’s Congress (NPC), in Beijing, China, on March 4.
source
REUTERS/Jason Lee
A recent report from the US Congressional Research Service outlines China’s 2.3 million-member armed forces and sheds light on misconceptions from Western military analysts.
Simply put, the report challenges the idea that Westerners can understand China’s military and foreign-policy decisions without first understanding Chinese philosophy and culture of warfare.
Unlike the US, China has a media apparatus controlled by the state, so its military reports lack the transparency established by a free press.
China also has a fundamentally different understanding of aggression. For the Chinese, there is little difference between peacetime and wartime cyber espionage, and they have engaged in stealing military secrets from the US and others because they can.
The report, written by Ian E. Rinehart, a CRS analyst in Asian affairs, urges Congress and military leadership to examine a “Chinese way of war.”
Specifics of the report, detailed below, show how China has stepped up to rival the US’s military might in the Pacific:
Overview of China’s military forces
source
Congressional Research Service
With a population of 1.3 billion to draw from, more than four times as much as the population of the US, China has over 2.3 million in active service, with an additional 1.1 million as reserves and military police. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has actually shrunk from its estimated 1992 level of more than 3 million in active service.
The US military has about 1.4 million active service members, which represents a much lower total number of personnel, but a much higher percentage of the population engaged in the military.
Also important to consider is that China’s last war was a short fight against Vietnam in 1979. The Chinese have not been in a sustained conflict since the Korean war that ended in 1953.
China’s navy
source
Reuters
China’s navy regularly makes headlines by expanding its defensive perimeter outward throughout artificial islands in the South China Sea. China is effectively boxed out of the deeper pacific by a string of islands and nations around its borders.
It has also made a point of modernizing its naval vessels, especially in the area of submarines and antiship cruise missiles.
China plans to increase its submarine fleet from 62 to as many as 78 by 2020, according to the US Department of Defense. It is also undergoing efforts to build additional aircraft carriers, and currently using its current vessel, the Liaoning, to train on and design carrier-ready aircraft.
This testimony from an expert on China’s navy before Congress in July 2015 illustrates just how far the PLA has come:
China is on course to deploy greater quantities of missiles with greater ranges than those systems that could be employed by the US Navy against them. China is on track to have quantitative parity or better in surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), parity in missile launch cells, and quantitative inferiority only in multi-mission land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs).
China’s air force
The DoD has reported that the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) is “rapidly closing the gap with western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities,” and that China “will endeavor to shift its focus from territorial air defense to both defense and offense.”
While there have been reports that the Chinese will overtake the US in air superiority by 2030, Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson said that training and support for US pilots gives them an “unbelievably huge” advantage over the Chinese pilots.
But China has been stepping up its training programs with increasingly realistic drills that are less scripted and more improvisational.
Additionally, the Chinese are developing fifth-generation aircraft, the J-20 and J-31, which are said to rival the US’s coming F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
China’s ballistic and nuclear missiles
The DoD states that the PLA is “developing and testing several new classes and variants of offensive missiles, including hypersonic glide vehicles, forming additional missile units, upgrading older missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses.”
Of all the technologies indigenously produced in China, the ballistic missiles are a relative bright spot. China has effective intercontinental ballistic missiles, which can carry nuclear payloads, as well as conventional shorter-range ballistic missiles.
The CRS report cites an expert as saying that the PLA’s Rocket Force “is central to the PLA’s emerging capacity to not only complicate US power projection and freedom of operations in the Asia-Pacific region but also challenge regional powers’ attempts to deny the PLA air superiority and command of the seas.”
Counter-space capabilities
China has tremendous space assets, including 70 military satellites used for communications, navigation, positioning and timing, meteorology, and electronic and signals intelligence.
Additionally, China sees the US’s reliance on GPS technology and space assets as a weakness, and has developed antisatellite capabilities, such as directed-energy weapons, satellite jammers, and antisatellite missiles.
Cyber capabilities
source
Thomson Reuters
There is some disagreement among experts on China’s cyber-warfare capabilities, but the following is known:
China has three types of cyber forces: (1) specialized military network warfare forces in the PLA, (2) PLA-authorized teams of network warfare specialists in government organizations, and (3) non-governmental forces that may be mobilized for network warfare operations.
Potentially, China could access foreign networks and even deny foreign nations access to their own networks.
There have been numerous and credible reports that China has used cyber espionage to steal military secrets from the US.
China’s weaknesses
People’s Liberation Army navy recruits chant a slogan during a parade to mark the end of a semester at a military base of the North Sea Fleet.
source
REUTERS/China Daily
By its own admission, China has deficiencies in training, cooperation between services, administration, human capital, force development, and logistics.
Under the rule of the Communist Party, the Chinese military has long had to avoid honest self-assessment and focus instead on presenting only positives to the country at large, while the force grows less experienced in real combat.
According to the report: “Chinese military analysts assess that it is not yet capable of carrying out complex operations overseas or fighting and winning a ‘local war under informationized conditions,’ their term for the type of conflict that they perceive China is most likely to face.”
China’s military goals
caption
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets navy personnel in Sanya. PLA reform will boost the navy’s role relative to the army’s.
source
Xinhua
The CRS report warns against “mirror imaging” or “tacitly and perhaps unconsciously assuming that one’s values and belief sets are shared by the other party-can lead to less accurate assessments of the other party’s intentions” when analyzing Chinese military aspects.
Simply put, just because China is pushing a massive, modern military doesn’t mean it’d wield it in the same way the US would.
The most striking difference between US and Chinese military doctrine would be the Chinese concept of “active defense.”
According to the report:
PLA strategists place a high priority on seizing the initiative in a conflict. Some observers believe that the PLA would pair this predilection with its assessment that the cyber and space domains are the “high ground” of contemporary warfare and thus choose to strike its adversary’s information networks.
According to one American scholar, China believes that a “preemptive first strike is preferable, as it sets the stage for the remainder of the conflict and puts the aggressor in a distinct position of advantage.”
China’s use of cyber warfare against the US is a prime example of this philosophy. They have already engaged the US with non-kinetic warfare through the theft of military secrets and hacking into the Office of Personnel Management.
The report concludes that the Chinese, in addition to traditional warfare, would confront an enemy with media and propaganda, legal actions, and psychological warfare.
Already we have seen China employ its media apparatus against the US in denouncing freedom to navigation exercises in the South China Sea, as well as legal actions against other nations in the Pacific that claim the islands China is currently developing.
Conclusion
US President Barack Obama and Chinese Xi have a drink after a toast at a lunch banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 12, 2014.
source
REUTERS/Greg Baker/Pool
China has done a magnificent job of leveraging every possible source of national power, from domestic propaganda and currency manipulation to cyber espionage and military reform.
The threats posed by China to the US are real and credible, but only in its specific region. Whether China is reaching for regional hegemony or simply trying to rise as a power in its own right is a subject of academic debate, but as a technological nemesis the US has much it can learn from China.
For now, the US maintains a slight edge in kinetic-warfare capabilities, while China has had unprecedented success with cyber warfare and innovating anti-space capabilities.
US citizens enjoy more personal freedoms and transparency in governance, but as threats from more authoritarian states like Russia and China arise, the need for a focused, reformed US foreign policy that can contest the wills of other nations through media, technology, and, yes, kinetic means is clearer than ever. | {
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RF Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina met with the German Minister for Economics and Technology Rainer Brüderle
The two sides exchanged views on the current situation and future prospects for development of trade cooperation between Russia and Germany, discussed the impact of the economic crisis on the economies of the two countries, and expressed the need to reduce protectionist measures. | {
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BlackBerry might be on the decline when it comes to their smartphone market share, but that doesn’t mean the Canadian company is going to raise the white flag anytime soon. No sir, they are still very much in the game, and intend to make a splash with a couple more new models known as the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and Torch 9850 as spotted in the CelleBrite system. CelleBrite can function as a collaborative POS (Point Of Sales) system, but it also offers the capability to allow transfer of contacts to and from wireless devices. Several carriers already use it in their stores, and what you see above is actually a screenshot of CelleBrite that was spotted by an anonymous reader, touting the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and BlackBerry Torch 9850 which has already been loaded into Sprint’s CelleBrite system.
Does this mean we ought to sit tight and look out for a launch date and an official announcement in the coming weeks? The answer would most probably be a resounding “Aye!”. | {
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Obesity remains a serious health problem and it is no secret that many people want to lose weight. Behavioral economists typically argue that “nudges” help individuals with various decisionmaking flaws to live longer, healthier, and better lives. In an article in the new issue of Regulation, Michael L. Marlow discusses how nudging by government differs from nudging by markets, and explains why market nudging is the more promising avenue for helping citizens to lose weight.
Armed with a computer model in 1935, one could probably have written the exact same story on California drought as appears today in the Washington Post some 80 years ago, prompted by the very similar outlier temperatures of 1934 and 2014.
Two long wars, chronic deficits, the financial crisis, the costly drug war, the growth of executive power under Presidents Bush and Obama, and the revelations about NSA abuses, have given rise to a growing libertarian movement in our country – with a greater focus on individual liberty and less government power. David Boaz’s newly released The Libertarian Mind is a comprehensive guide to the history, philosophy, and growth of the libertarian movement, with incisive analyses of today’s most pressing issues and policies.
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Social Security as Its Own Enron
A growing number of politicians are trying to forge a connection between President Bush’s Social Security reform plans based on personal retirement accounts and the failure of Enron’s private pension accounts.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle led the way: “I don’t want to ‘Enron’ the people of the United States,” Mr. Daschle said. “I don’t want to see them holding the bag at the end of the day, just like Enron employees have held the bag. I don’t want to destroy their Social Security system.” Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, was even less subtle at a recent press conference where he and fellow Senate Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and John Corzine of New Jersey beat the Enron-Social Security analogy like a drum. But guess what, senators? Social Security is already “Enron-ed.” And personal account-based reform plans are the way to prevent all Americans from losing money as many Enron workers did. Democratic strategists believe tarring personal accounts with the Enron brush can defeat President Bush’s Social Security reform plans, as well as bring electoral success in the fall. In truth, it’s not the president’s personal account reform plans that most resemble Enron — it’s the current Social Security system that draws the real parallel.
Enron’s murky “off-balance sheet” accounting practices highlighted its assets and downplayed its debts — as does Social Security’s “trust fund” accounting. While the trust fund’s trillion dollars in government bonds are “assets” to Social Security, they are debts to the rest of the government — which will have to raise taxes or cut other programs to repay them, just as if there had been no trust fund at all.
That’s why the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service stresses that, “the trust funds themselves do not hold financial resources to pay benefits.” Making matters worse, politicians regularly exclude liabilities to the trust fund when referring to the public debt; to the untrained eye, the Social Security trust fund is an asset to everyone but a liability to no one. In truth, the fund is like a private corporation financing its pension plan with bonds issued to itself — an illegal practice in the private sector.
Making matters worse, Enron’s employees were dangerously undiversified; some held all their 401(k) contributions in Enron stock, a step no financial adviser would recommend. Similarly, 60 percent of Americans receive the majority of their retirement income from Social Security benefits. One-third receive 90 percent or more from Social Security. And for almost 20 percent, Social Security is all they’ve got.
Finally, and worst of all, Enron itself went bankrupt, taking many workers’ pensions down with it. Likewise with Social Security: Its own trustees declare the program insolvent. And Social Security’s bankruptcy won’t just affect the very young: A woman as old as 49 today can expect to see her benefits cut by one-quarter during her lifetime. Younger workers will receive not even a single year of full promised benefits. For Social Security to pay full benefits, payroll taxes must rise by 50 percent. Yet payroll taxes are already the biggest tax burden for most households. Most analysts think those tax increases are unacceptable. The public agrees with them.
By contrast, the President’s Commission, headed by former Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and AOL/Time Warner head Dick Parsons, proposed letting workers invest part of their Social Security taxes in personal investment accounts. Workers would know exactly how much they have saved forretirement, and the government could not “raid” those funds to pay for non-Social Security spending. The commission’s plans are certified by Social Security’s actuaries to pay substantially higher benefits than the current system is capable of, and lower-income retirees would receive more than Social Security even promises, much less can afford to pay. The commission also added special protections for widows and a new anti-poverty benefit for minimum-wage workers.
Moreover, workers could invest only in highly diversified stock and bond mutual funds. That’s why the Democrats’ scare tactics are — to put it mildly — ridiculous. At Enron’s height, it constituted less than 1 percent of the $13.4 trillion U.S. equities market. Even if a worker invested in nothing but stocks, his savings would have been only minutely impacted by Enron’s demise. A worker diversifying his account with overseas equities, corporate or government bonds probably wouldn’t even have noticed.
Lack of diversification. Murky accounting. Imminent bankruptcy. These terms describe today’s Social Security much as they do Enron’s foggy finances. The president has laid his reform cards on the table. It’s time for personal account opponents to do the same. The Social Security reform debate is so far an event at which only one team has shown up. Until reform foes put forward real proposals of their own — a challenge issued by the president’s commission, which personal account opponents failed to take up — we can only conclude that they favor the Social Security status quo. And under the status quo the system goes broke. That’s the real “Enronization” of Social Security. | {
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I still hold that belief, but I am writing this post today partially as a reaction to that post, because there is a complete opposite side of the same coin. My first treatise on Express Elevator to Hell examined the issue of filmmaking greed and ignorance, but now I turn my attention to the problem of filmmaking snobbery and prejudice. I have already hinted and partially ranted at this issue in the past with my scathing review of The Lunchbox (2013) and other overrated arthouse dramas, as well as my analysis of the rise and subsequent sellout of the American independent film movement, but now it is time to put all those cards on the table and formally charge the elitist view that harms cinema.
Circa 2012, surprising absolutely no one.
While film elitism and snobbery is without a doubt less harmful in actuality than movie-studio greed or general audience stupidity, it is only less harmful in practice because it is less pervasive. In theory, the condescending behavior and pretentious attitudes of the arthouse crowd, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and hipster-smartasses in general is just as harmful as the popcorn-eating dimwitted masses; it’s only outmatched by the latter simply because the number of dumb, ignorant people is way bigger than the overeducated, snobbish, elite trust-fund kids and their overpaid families; smart, educated art-school kids will never outnumber the uneducated general public, though the former can often act just as foolish as the latter, but in different ways.
Given the fact that cinematic snobbery occurs among the elite, the supposedly cinematically educated, and the more “artistically inclined,” it is arguably just as offensive and unforgivable as the airheads who pack theatres to see Jack and Jill (2011) or Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014). It’s hard to be too angry at the dimwitted masses for being dumb (it’s not that hard, actually…) because they don’t know any better; I’m a bit of a huge snob myself and only a passionate lover and supporter of good cinema because my own family was educated, my parents had a wide taste in cinema, and I was blessed with the opportunity and monetary funds to pursue films with friends outside the Hollywood mainstream. Most people aren’t as lucky as me; I’m really no “smarter” than any of the dimwitted, popcorn-eating masses — I’m just a lot luckier and way more entitled! 😛
But just what do I mean by “cinematic snobbery?” Well, the answer to that is in the title: “Genre film” is film, and the term “art-cinema” is redundant!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than aware that many action-oriented blockbusters are brain-dead, and many European New Wave dramas by the likes of Jean-Luc Goddard or Ingmar Bergman or Federico Fellini have been recognized as revolutionary film classics. That being said, whether these trends in quality among genres are real or simply perceived, exceptions or the rule, as true lovers of cinema we cannot let our preconceptions and personal preferences cloud our evaluation of artistic merit. That has been a running theme throughout this entire blog — perhaps the theme of EETH! I argue that, in a perfect world, we should bring as little personal or cultural prejudices to film-viewing as possible.
Critical Hype and Oscar Gold does NOT = Legacy: Alien(1979), widely regarded as one of the finest horror and science-fiction films ever made, received mixed reviews upon release and was nominated for Oscars in Art Direction and Visual Effects, winning only the latter.
One of the most crucial things I learned in my limited exposure to film academia is that cinema must be judged on its own terms, not ours. We can’t approach a comedy with the same scrutiny as a dark, seedy crime drama, nor condemn a hardcore, R-rated action film simply for showing blood and gore and many extreme acts of violence, nor even a pornographic film for being too steamy or theatrical. By the same logic, we cannot automatically assume that, simply because a film is running the arthouse circuit, or debuted at Cannes, or got selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a prestigious award, or is an independently produced drama about dysfunctional families or oppressed sidestream demographics, a film will be good or “more artistic.” Simply because a film is packed with dialogue rather than fight scenes or special effects does not make it inherently better or more cinematic.
In fact I would argue the opposite!
If anything, if we are to walk into movie theatres accepting any sort of presumed, predetermined mindset, it should be the opposite of the hipster/arthouse crowd logic. You can point your finger at dumb-as-rocks action-schlock Transformers(2007, 2009, 2011, 2014) all you want, but simple genre preconceptions and formula imply that action films are inherently more cinematic, not less, than typical “dramatic” cinema. Cinema is about imagery, movement, and motion. They’re called motion pictures, not talking pictures!
I understand many people don’t appreciate or are tired of melodrama, but I’ll take melodrama over really bad, corny acting and flat scenes, which is what dramatic cinema and Oscar nominees are full of! Again, there are many exceptions, but they are exceptions to a boring rule and fighting against an inherently less cinematic premise.
Look, not everyone loves something like, say, Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo (2008). I understand why it’s not many people’s cup of tea, but not being partial to cinematic movement, grit, and ultraviolence, and not appreciating them are two very different things. The same goes for pretty much every other good action film, sci-fi flick, or genre film dismissed as “dumb action” or “popcorn movies.” At least when I watch people shoot one another, or punch one another, or watch a gorgeous science-fiction/fantasy landscape unfolding in front of me, I am absorbing cinema. I am absorbing motion-pictures and appreciating something that is visually interesting.
Excitement is not a dirty cinematic word. Nor are moving bodies, intensity, and grit. These are our bloody, bloody motion pictures!
–
In something like The Lunchbox, we have nothing. Or, almost nothing. And moreover, even in good or great dramas like Cool Hand Luke (1967) or Citizen Kane (1944) for fuck’s sake, things move so slow and deliberate and take forever. Now I appreciate patient cinematic storytelling, and I’ll be the first to admit CK’s an outstanding film, but is it really fair to consider one’s apprehension to CK more “offensive” or socially backward than another person’s apprehension to a great action film like Predator(1987) or The Raid (2011)? Are they both not based on personal preferences, and don’t all those movies embrace the visualstrength of cinema?
If one wants to argue that action-junkies should calm down and learn some patience, that’s fine (so long as we’re talking about objectively good films), but we genre-fans have every right to tell artsy-fartsy drama-nerds to grow a pair, suck it up, and appreciate beautiful balletic violence all the same.Cinematic objectivity — true cinematic appreciation — goes both ways.
So in short, the message I’m trying to pound into your brains is this:
Films do not have to be dumb and emotionally soulless to be entertaining, nor do films have to be boring, dry, and mind-numbingly depressing to be intelligent or “artistic.” Film is film, art is as art does, and artistic film is good cinematic art while bad film is pop culture garbage. A good film is simply a good film, and therefore it is art, while a bad film is simply bad cinema and thus it is not art. Do you get it? A film’s objective quality defines it’s intrinsic artistic value, not its premise or story formula (or absence thereof) or any of its genre preconceptions. Cinema is simply great, poor, or something in between. All other extraneous details about a piece of cinema are just that —- extraneous —- at least they are when contemplating that piece’s objective worth as cinema.
Put another way, filmic snobbery with regards to certain types of film or “genre” film versus “drama” film is simply a form of cinematic prejudice. That is what any kind of snobbery or unwarranted condescension is, is it not? Any and all correlations between a certain genre’s lack of historic artistic achievement are not due to the inherent failings of that type of storytelling, but rather due to people’s inability to believe in it and take it seriously.
Remember my musings on the superhero subgenre in my multi-part analysis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? In the second to last section I noted how a big problem with Marvel and DC films (or films based on any well known graphic novel material for that matter) is that no one bothers to take them seriously or ever compares them to films outside their source material. The same logic largely applies to movies deemed “genre films” or “dumb, mainstream Hollywood blockbusters” or “popcorn flicks” in general. With a few extremely rare exceptions, most films that contain any kind of action, excitement, or mainstream appeal are consistently considered a lower rung of cinema, as if they are the uneducated, moneygrubbing peasants of film art and “true cinema” is of a higher class, caste, and breed. | {
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Snapchat opts for Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs to lead IPO-Bbg
Oct 12 Photo-sharing app Snapchat has chosen
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc as lead
bankers for its initial public offering, which could happen as
soon as March, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with
the matter.
The banks were notified of their role early this week,
according to the report. (bloom.bg/2dSoglp)
Snapchat's parent is working on an initial public offering
that could value the company at $25 billion or more, the Wall
Street Journal reported last week. | {
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Tag: Rachel Weisz
I have been waiting for The Light Between Oceans for what seemed like forever. Was the film worth the wait? Yes, it was. It didn’t take my breath away, but it was a beautiful screen adaptation of an extremely emotional novel.
Firstly, the film had an amazing soundtrack that was present throughout the film. You know, dramas usually tend to be quite quiet – you can hear your neighbours munching on their popcorn or your stomach rumbling. Not with this film. Really, really well-chosen score! Secondly, the shots were gorgeous. Everything – the scenery, the angle of the camera, the colours – it was a pleasure to watch. You can say that this was a work of art, not just some blockbuster. Thirdly, at least for me, Vikander was the star of this film. Fassbender was handsome (without the moustache, of course) and their level of chemistry was over the roof (no wonder they became a couple in real life). However, Vikander’s acting was the one that made me feel as if someone had punched me in the gut. Oh, the emotions! And I want to mention the little girl who played their daughter – what an adorable child! I understand how hard it is to work with small children, but she was perfect. A new celebrity in the making, most probably.
To sum up, the film will give you all the feels. I have to admit that it is a bit slow, but it might be due to the fact that I had already read the book, so there were no surprises left for me. All in all, a beautiful film with a beautiful cast – it’s impossible to dislike it. | {
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I recently hit a problem on my MacBook Air when trying to use Cisco WebEx. The Mac is running OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
The WebEx client installed without an issue, but when I tried to join a meeting the connection would hang at 98%. I had to use Force Quit to kill the client.
The solution to the problem was to change the proxy settings in Network Preferences. I’m not using a proxy but WebEx seems to have difficulties with the default setting.
Open “System Preferences” then select the “Network” icon.
Now select your current network connection from the left-hand panel (in my case this was Wi-Fi). Click the “Advanced…” button on the lower right of the panel.
Click the “Proxies” tab and the proxy settings are on the left. I’m not using a proxy but the default setting is “Auto Proxy Discovery”. Untick that, click “OK” and then “Apply” and WebEx would connect without any further problem.
Home Lab
I have a small Home Lab for vSphere, based on two Intel NUC hosts running ESXi and an HP Microserver running FreeNAS, presenting datastores as iSCSI LUNs to the hosts.
The vCenter is a vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) running on one of the ESXi hosts.
The initial setup was fairly straightforward and you can find plenty of other people who have done similar things.
The Problem
One of the difficulties/limitations of using the Intel NUC is that each machine has a singe NIC. That makes creating a Distributed Virtual Switch (DvS) quite difficult as when migrating the host running vCenter to the DvS, the vCenter loses contact with the host and rolls back the migration.
I figured I could live with standard switches, and if I really needed to use DvS I could use nested ESXi with multiple virtual NICs.
Clone the vCenter VM and place it on the ESXi host that doesn’t run the vCenter VM.
Connect the newly cloned vCenter VM to a Distributed Portgroup on the ESXi host (that was connected to the DVS previously)
Turn off the original vCenter.
Turn on the cloned vCenter and configure the network settings
Move the other host to the Distributed switch.
Some things I encountered which might help others attempting this:
VCSA changes MAC address when cloned
If you’re using the VCSA for your vCenter, when you clone it the MAC address changes so it won’t come up properly. There’s a VMware KB article on how to work around that:http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2012451 – basically you edit the /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules file so that the new MAC address is associated with eth0.
iSCSI vmknics cannot be migrated
If you’re using iSCSI-based storage, you cannot migrate a host to the DvS until you remove the vmknic from the software iSCSI adapter, which means having no iSCSI-stored VMs running on the host at the time.
You can’t vMotion the VMs to the other host as they’re on a standard vSwitch and the other host is on a DvS. Even if you leave the old standard vSwitch in place on the other host, vMotion will still abort as it sees the old portgroup as a “virtual intranet” (i.e. no uplinks). So you have to shut down the VMs to move them. That’s when it becomes important to either have two DNS servers, DNS served outside your VMware setup or your host names in the vCenter hosts file.
I hope that information proves useful to anyone else using single-NIC hosts for a Home Lab. Obviously I wouldn’t recommend doing any of this on a production environment, but then I’d hope that a production environment wouldn’t be using single-NIC hosts anyway! | {
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Saltwater - Freshwater Line
For the purposes of regulating certain fisheries the legislature recognized the historic division of the state into saltwater and freshwater areas based on the variations of flora and fauna found within these two divisions. The legislature further recognized that the exact line of demarcation cannot be precisely located due to constant changes in water salinity caused by winds, tides, and rains. The legislature therefore legally defined the freshwater and saltwater areas by describing a line from the Texas state line, easterly to the Mississippi state line. The areas south of the described line, plus a number of saltwater lakes and waterways, were designated as saltwater areas and all other areas north of the described line were designated as freshwater areas.
Louisiana Saltwater Line Definition
Title 56, Section 322-The Intracoastal waterway from the Texas- Louisiana boundary to its junction with Louisiana Highway 27 at Gibbstown, and then south to Louisiana Highway 82 and then east to its junction with the Intracoastal Waterway at Forked Island, the Intracoastal Waterway from Forked Island to Bayou Barataria to the Harvey Canal, the Harvey Canal to the Mississippi River, the Mississippi River to the Industrial Canal, the Industrial Canal to the Intracoastal Waterway, the Intracoastal Waterway to the Rigolets in Orleans Parish to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad bridge, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad right-of-way from the Orleans Parish line to the Mississippi state line.
The areas south of the above described line, plus the saltwater lakes known as Lake Maurepas, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake St. Catherine, Chef Menteur Pass (except that seven- tenths of a mile section from Bayou Sauvage south to the Intracoastal Waterway), the Rigolets, Unknown Pass, Pass Manchac, Intracoastal, and that portion of the Calcasieu Ship Channel from the Intracoastal Waterway south to the Gulf of Mexico, shall be designated as saltwater areas.
Persons fishing and/or possessing saltwater fish in these areas are required to have in addition to the basic fishing license a saltwater fishing license.
Federal Waters (EEZ)
A very easy way to tell if you are in state or federal waters is to pull up to the nearest platform. If the platform is in state waters it will have a placard with a State Lease Number. If the platform is in federal waters it will be designated with an OCS number. By utilizing a block map you can alsoestimate your position. The platform will be designated with an area and block number. For instance if you see ST-128 X, OCS 00498 you will be in federal waters at South Timbalier 128 platform X. | {
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Where are you going?City, Airport, Address, Attraction, HotelNo search results found.results were found. Press up and down key to select.
ArrivalYou are now focused on a datepicker field. Press the down arrow to enter the calendar table. Once focused on the table, press left or right to navigate days. Press up or down to navigate between weeks. Enter to select. Shift and escape to close datepicker. Your arrival date must be within the next year.
DepartureYou are now focused on a datepicker field. Press the down arrow to enter the calendar table. Once focused on the table, press left or right to navigate days. Press up or down to navigate between weeks. Enter to select. Shift and escape to close datepicker. Your departure date must be within 4 months after your arrival date.
About DoubleTreeTo us, a nice stay means everything. It starts with a warm chocolate chip cookie and doesn’t stop there. We have more than 450 hotels in 39 different countries and territories around the world. No matter what, our goal remains the same, to always think of you first.
Rooms & Suites
Relax in contemporary accommodations at DoubleTree by Hilton. All the essentials and more are covered in our modern, stylish guest rooms with an array of amenities to make you feel at home. View our amenities guide and choose a room that’s right for you.
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Choose from a range of stylish double and twin room types at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bristol South. Some rooms also feature a comfy sofa bed, ideal for families. Upgrade to a deluxe room for additional features, including complimentary mineral water, bathrobes, and spectacular views. | {
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Breaking News Emails
A man is accused of attacking a Picasso painting worth $26 million at Tate Modern in London on Saturday, according to the The Associated Press.
"Bust of a Woman" by Pablo Picasso, dated 1944.Steve Vidler / Alamy
The 1944 oil painting "Bust of a Woman" was taken off display while the damage is being assessed, the BBC reported. The BBC said the painting was ripped.
The suspect, Shakeel Massey, 20, from north London, is being held until a pretrial hearing on Jan. 30 and has indicated that he will deny the charge, according to the AP.
"Bust of a Woman" depicts Picasso’s lover Dora Maar, who was a principal model for some of his portraits, in a semi-abstract style, wearing a hat and green clothing while sitting on a black metal chair, according to the Tate Modern. It was painted in Paris on May 5, 1944, during the final months of the Nazi occupation.
The Tate Modern and Metropolitan Police did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday. | {
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Archeologist discusses behind-the-scenes science
PARRSBORO - When a human skull was discovered beneath a Parrsboro church in November, Nova Scotias medical examiner called upon the same expert used by the Miami Dade Police Department.
No, its not the fictional Horatio Caine.
Skull may be from family burial
PARRSBORO - When a human skull was discovered beneath a Parrsboro church in November, Nova Scotias medical examiner called upon the same expert used by the Miami Dade Police Department.
No, its not the fictional Horatio Caine.
Every two years the real Miami-Dade Police call upon Halifax?s Saint Mary's University to send forensic anthropologist Dr. Tanya Peckmann and her graduate students to the Florida city to assist with the excavation of suspected crime scenes. As the tapes roll nearby on another episode of the popular TV show CSI Miami Peckmann is handling the real cases.
"Sometimes they're filming just two blocks away from us," Dr. Peckmann said. "I wish things were as fast as they are on television."
Contracted by the medical examiners office to conduct excavations and forensic investigations in Nova Scotia, Dr. Peckmann arrived in Parrsboro in November to handle the excavation of the human skull found beneath the church with four of her grad students.
Driving to the scene, she said, is when the forensic work begins.
"Usually the four of us talk about terrain; if there's water near the burial, if it's a clandestine burial. All of it relates to how long it will take us."
The Parrsboro skull, however, posed a unique challenge and a career first for Peckmann.
"I've never excavated underneath a church before. It was really neat. It was an interesting case because of the history of the site."
Along with the skull, the forensic team discovered wood fragments and galvanized nails. While a 20th century process, galvanizing began in the 19th century and by analyzing the empirical data, Peckmann began to conclude she had an archeological investigation on her hands and not a forensic investigation.
"If the individual has been deceased 50 years or more it becomes an archeological investigation," she said.
Built in three phases, Peckmann said the Parrsboro United Baptist Church was first constructed in the 1800s with additions in 1945 and 1967. It was underneath the 1945 section of the building the human skull was found by construction workers. She estimates the skull dates to between the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Prior to her arrival in Nova Scotia, Peckmann worked in South Africa's Cape Town where millennia of civilizations are buried beneath the soil.
"It's a really old, historic city. It's not uncommon for someone to dig a pool and find human remains."
And therein lies the mentality of western civilizations response to finding human remains. With North America being a relatively new civilization Peckmann said it is natural to assume the worse.
From previous experience, the Parrsboro skull mystery, she said, could be less nefarious than some would assume.
"No one is going to dig underneath the church to bury a body," Peckmann said. "It was underneath the basement, which was about 10 feet down and quite far from the edge. No one would tunnel like that.
"What happens - and it happens often in rural communities that were farmland - someone says, 'I want to be buried under the oak tree,' and the site goes without a tombstone. We've had a couple of cases [like that]."
Students in Peckmann's forensic anthropology program graduate with a Masters of Science in Applied Science. Through a co-operation agreement with the Nova Scotia Medical Examiners Office, students receive eight months of hands-on experience in excavating potential crime scenes as well as autopsies. The only program of its kind in Canada, students intern with Peckmann every second year in Miami. | {
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Patient Perspective
"Life has its ups and down and with Crohn's its hard but Crohn's is not my life. My life is my life and it's hard but I thank god for the life he gave me and I've stop asking why me. Why not me!" -- posting on Crohn's & Colitis Community | {
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Coffee Enema: Unmatched Detoxification for Health and Recovery
by Sarah
www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com
People tend to cringe and get grossed out by the words coffee enema let alone the suggestion of actually trying one. This despite the fact that enemas are an incredibly simple, powerful and effective healing therapy that have been used for thousands of years and recommended by some of history’s greatest physicians.
The coffee enema represents the ultimate detoxification experience possible such that the most effective holistic cancer treatments in the world, including those offered by the Gerson Institute and holistic oncologist Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez MD, use the coffee enema extensively as part of their healing protocols.
The coffee enema is also widely used for health recovery from autoimmune disease and other degenerative ailments providing nothing short of unparalleled results. Others use it for health maintenance and as a potent prevention tool given the toxic soup our world has unfortunately become.
The Enema in Early Medical Writings
The earliest known mention of the enema comes from Ancient Egypt. Both the Edwin Smith Papyrus (circa 1600 BC) and the Ebers Papyrus (circa 1550 BC), some of the earliest known medical documents, describe enemas in detail. In 500 BC, Hippocrates, considered the Father of Western Medicine, and his followers in Ancient Greece advocated the maintenance of optimal health using enemas as well.
Another early writing about internal cleansing with water is recommended and described in great detail in The Essene Gospel of Peace (Book 1, p 15-16). This fascinating Dead Sea Scrolls text, probably written somewhere around the second century AD, was found by Hungarian biblical scholar Edmond Bordeaux Szekely, who was also a linguist, philosopher, and natural living advocate. Szekely claims to have found an Aramaic copy of the book in the purportedly cavernous Vatican library full of scrolls, parchments, and paper manuscripts. He translated the small book into English and published it in 1936.
In the New World, Native Americans from both North and South America used enema bags made from animal bladders and other materials for seasonal cleansing and to maintain regularity. Ancestral African tribes fashioned and used enema bags in a similar manner.
Why the Use of Coffee for an Enema?
The coffee enema as we know it today made its debut in modern medical literature in 1917. Some may be surprised to learn that the coffee enema remained in the Merck Manual as recently as 1972. Coincidentally, this is about the same time that plain water enemas were stopped as an important cleansing protocol for pregnant women about to go into labor, an indication that the enema seemed to fall out of favor for a time.
Why focus on cleansing when you can just take antibiotics and other drugs to zap the microbes, neutralize toxins, and cover up symptoms instead? This narrow-minded thinking seemed the order of the day.
Fortunately, the unmatched effectiveness of this ancient practice is being rediscovered, unfortunately much of it due to the cancer epidemic. People are seeking holistic detoxification alternatives that provide rapid enough results to avoid the cut, poison, burn approach of conventional oncology which brings such intense and long lasting suffering.
How a Coffee Enema Works
How does a coffee enema work and why coffee and not tea? It is the caffeine in coffee that is so therapeutic as it has been found to open up the bile ducts in the liver thereby increasing bile production and flow.
Tea does not have the same effect. This is likely because the caffeine in tea binds to the tannins and L-theanine, a water soluble amino acid, at the time it is brewed. These bonds prevent the caffeine from directly opening the bile ducts as they would have to be metabolized digestively to free up the caffeine first. Since an enema bypasses the digestive process, tea is ineffective compared with coffee for therapeutic enema purposes.
Max Gerson MD, founder of the famed Gerson Institute for holistic cancer treatment, found that the root cause of cancer is extreme toxicity and nutritional deficiency. In order to detoxify rapidly (before the cancer kills you), the liver must be stimulated to release toxins in large quantities. He found that this rapid detoxification is best encouraged via coffee enema where the unbound caffeine is absorbed from the descending colon via the hemorrhoidal vein, which carries the caffeine to the portal vein and the liver. The caffeine quickly and very effectively stimulates the liver and biliary ducts to open, which release both metabolic and environmental toxins into the intestinal tract for elimination.
According to the journal Physiological Chemistry and Physics, “Caffeine enemas cause dilation of bile ducts, which facilitates excretion of toxic cancer breakdown products by the liver and dialysis of toxic products from blood across the colonic wall.”
Interestingly, those sensitive to coffee taken orally typically have no problem with a coffee enema. The bypassing of the digestive process and the infusion of coffee rectally only for the purpose of liver stimulation, toxin release and blood cleansing makes all the difference. Absorption of the coffee into the bloodstream is very low when doing a coffee enema.
Coffee Enema is for Detoxification Not Constipation
It is important not to get coffee enema confused with a plain water enema. Plain water enemas are a helpful therapy for elimination of the bowels and issues with constipation.
Coffee enemas, on the other hand, are used for detoxification of the liver and blood especially in holistic cancer treatments. Two helpful substances found in coffee, kahweol and cafestol palmitate, promote the activity of a key enzyme system responsible for neutralizing free radicals, glutathione S-transferase, at much higher than normal levels. This system according to Gar Hildenbrand of the Gerson Institute, “must be regarded as an important mechanism for carcinogen detoxification.”
It is believed that kahweol and cafestol palmitate increase the liver’s production of glutathione, the mother of all antioxidants, by as much as 700%.
In addition, theophylline and theobromine, two other beneficial chemicals in coffee, dilate blood vessels and counter inflammation of the gut. The palmitates are responsible for stimulating the enzyme system responsible for the removal of toxic free radicals from the blood. Finally, the fluid of the enema itself stimulates the visceral nervous system to promote peristalsis and the rapid transit of diluted toxic bile from the duodenum and out the rectum.
Coffee Enema for Pain
Coffee enemas are not only a powerful detoxification protocol easily accessible to anyone, they are extremely helpful for pain management as well.
Dr. Lawrence Wilson MD writes that the following is from an article in Healing Newsletter, NL#13, May-June, 1986. By Gar Hildenbrand:
“The coffee enema may have been first used in modern Western nations as a pain reliever. As the story goes, during World War I nurses kept coffee pots on the stove all day long. Battle surgeons and others drank it to stay awake while working horrendously long hours. Enema bags hung around as some patients needed help moving their bowels.
Pain medications were in short supply. Doctors were forced to save the pain drugs for surgical procedures, with little or none for follow-up after surgery. When surgical patients woke up from operations without the benefit of further morphine injections, they would scream in pain and agony from the surgery. They were also constipated from the anesthesia drugs.
As the story goes, one day a nurse was preparing an enema for constipation. Instead of fetching water for the enema, she accidentally dumped some cool coffee into the patient’s enema bag, undid the release clamp, and into the patient it flowed. “I’m not in so much pain,” the poor soldier said. The nurse took notice, and thus began the use of coffee enemas to help control pain. “
There is also significant anecdotal evidence of migraine headache relief from coffee enemas. Some conventional doctors even recommend their regular use for pain management for cancer patients.
Bulletproof Coffee Enemas Ineffective
It is important to note that the benefits of coffee enema are in the coffee itself, not anything that might be added to it.
According to Kim Schuette, founder of the clinic Biodynamic Wellness, while the coffee enema is widely used with great success for a variety of digestive and autoimmune ailments, bulletproof coffee which adds coconut oil, MCTs, and/or butter has no benefit and should be avoided.
She says this about the use of bulletproof coffee as an enema, “The therapeutic point of the coffee enema is to increase the production of glutathione, not oil up the liver or the sigmoid colon. I have never seen any literature that supports its use as a benefit.”
On the other hand, Louisa Williams, author of Radical Medicine, writes that a retention enema of pure x-factor butter oil is an effective way to increase butyric acid in the colon. This healthy fat supports beneficial probiotic activity in the colon. However, adding this or any other fat to a coffee enema is a whole different story, and there is no credible support for this practice.
In short, coffee should be black when taken as an enema!
Are Coffee Enemas Ok for Celiacs or the Gluten Sensitive?
The protein in coffee is one of the most common cross-reactors to gluten. Because it is the protein in the coffee that is the trigger, decaf coffee presents the same problem.
Given that many who are sensitive to gluten also avoid coffee because it brings on symptoms, are coffee enemas off limits as well?
According to Kim Schuette of Biodynamic Wellness, not had a single gluten sensitive or Celiac person in her practice over a ten year period has reacted while using coffee enemas. The fact that the coffee bypasses, for the most part, the small intestine as it goes in from the sigmoid colon to the left hemorrhoidal vein to the portal vein and finally the liver seems to be the key. The exit route of the coffee when it is released also involves minimal exposure to the small intestine.
How Often to Do a Coffee Enema?
For those with cancer who need to detoxify as rapidly as possible, multiple coffee enemas per day are typically recommended by holistic cancer clinics spaced out at least 4 hours apart during the day.
For help with other degenerative problems, it is best to seek the advice of a holistic practitioner who can recommend the proper frequency for your specific condition.
For those simply wishing to detoxify for health maintenance purposes or pain management, an as needed basis is fine.
In this shocking story, a Florida couple claimed to be addicted to coffee enemas, each doing 100 or more per month for over 2 years! They claimed to experience euphoria from the practice.
Dr. Lawrence Wilson MD, a huge proponent of coffee enemas, claims that “Most everyone can use coffee enemas daily for at least 10 years to detoxify the liver and help heal the entire body.”
This advice seems excessive, at least to me. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. You don’t need to do anywhere near this many coffee enemas to see huge benefits to your health. Try it on an occasional basis, perhaps once a week, and see how it goes for you. If you see improvement and want to increase the frequency, do so.
Please note that pregnant women should not do coffee enemas or any enemas as it could trigger preterm labor. For breastfeeding women and children, consider this healing protocol only under the advice of a holistic physician. Kim Schuette of Biodynamic Wellness suggests that, in her experience, coffee enemas really aren’t appropriate for children under 5 unless extreme circumstances present.
How to Perform a Coffee Enema
The thorough and detailed instructions below are provided to patients in need of the therapeutic benefits of coffee enema and are courtesy of Kim Schuette and the staff of:
To prepare one quart (four cups) of coffee, which is used for one enema session:
1. Place 3 tablespoons of organic coffee grounds (this amount may be reduced to 2 tablespoons if one is not dealing with cancer) in one quart (four cups) of purified or spring water. The coffee should be organic and must be caffeinated. Prepare the coffee in a glass, ceramic or stainless steel pot. Aluminum is not recommended as the aluminum can leach into the coffee.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes; then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes more. Strain using a fine mesh strainer. Add additional purified or spring water to bring the coffee mixture to one quart (four cups).
3. The coffee can be made the night before each use. Reheat to body temperature before using.
4. Place a thick towel and a pillow for your head on the floor near the toilet. Waterproof pads are a good idea, as they will protect your floor in the event of a spill or leakage.
5. Hang enema bag from a cabinet knob, which allows bag to hang about 18-21 inches from the floor. If using an enema bucket, place bucket on a stool, chair or tub platform so that it is elevated about 18-21 inches above the floor.
6. Make sure the tubing on your enema bag or bucket is clamped closed before pouring in the coffee. Pour the quart of coffee into the enema bag or bucket.
7. Lubricate the tip of the colon tube using olive oil or coconut oil.
8. Lie on your left side or your back and insert the colon tube slowly 6-18 inches (never more than 18 inches) into the rectum. If the tube kinks pull out and try again, as kinking will block the flow of the coffee.
9. Release the clamp, letting about a pint of coffee (two cups, which is half the amount in the bag or bucket) flow slowly in, and re-clamp. If the coffee does not flow there is most likely a kink in the tube. Withdraw the tube, reinsert, and try again.
10. Turn to your right side. Hold the coffee for 12-15 minutes. At first, it may be difficult to retain the enema. That is okay. Gradually work up to the 12-15 minutes. Holding the enema longer than 15 minutes is counterproductive.
11. After 15 minutes expel the liquid in the toilet. If you don’t expel much liquid, that’s ok, it’s just an indication that you are dehydrated and need to drink more water. Dr. Lawrence Wilson MD suggests reflexology if there is any discomfort during this process. Rub your feet, especially the colon reflex areas and the small intestine area. The tops of the toes of the left foot seems to especially help relieve any discomfort. Know that any discomfort will quickly pass, usually within 5-10 minutes.
12. Wait about 5 minutes to ensure that you are finished eliminating and then repeat the enema as directed in steps 6-11 with the remaining coffee.
13. After each use, clean the enema bag or bucket and tubing with hot water and soap. Rinse with hydrogen peroxide and hang to dry.
Additional Tips for a Successful Coffee Enema
1. A coffee concentrate can be made and stored in the refrigerator for 7 days, for your convenience. Bring 1 cup of organic coffee grounds and 1 quart purified or spring water to a boil for 5 minutes. Then simmer for 15 minutes. Strain. Add additional purified or spring water to bring the coffee mixture to four cups. Use one cup of the concentrate to three cups purified or spring water for each enema session (each enema session consists of two consecutive enemas).
2. Supplementing with additional minerals after the coffee enemas is not necessary but can be beneficial. If you desire additional minerals, we recommend Selectrolytes (1 tablespoon in purified water), Original Quinton Isotonic (1 vial) or Trace Minerals with B12.
3. It is very rare, but some individuals may feel slightly jittery due to the caffeine in the coffee, although, most often, clients find the enemas relaxing and even experience euphoria. Absorption of the coffee is very low when doing a coffee enema. Jitteriness should lessen after the third session. If not, make the coffee weaker.
4. Store open bag of coffee in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator or freezer.
5. Having difficulty holding the coffee enemas for 12-15 minutes? This may be due to feces being compacted in the descending colon. You may try the following to help things along:
Do a clear water enema first. Start with one cup of warm purified or spring water. Take in water and hold until urge to release is felt. Release completely and then do your two coffee enemas.
Drink two cups of warm water with fresh lemon juice upon rising in the morning, will often initiate a bowel movement.
Take additional magnesium prior to bedtime such as three capsules of Magnesium Lactate or Magnesium Malate or 3 tablets of Mg-Zyme. This will increase the likelihood of having a nice bowel movement first thing in the morning.
Constipation is a common symptom of hypothyroidism, liver congestion and/or gut dysbiosis. This may need to be addressed by a qualified health care practitioner.
General Disclaimer
This web site is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services.
The information provided through this web site should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease.
It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, you should consult your health care provider. | {
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Only one promo code can be used per order. Savings will be reflected in your shopping cart. Discounts cannot be applied to shipping and processing, taxes, design services, previous purchases or products on the Vistaprint Promotional Products site, unless otherwise specified. Discount prices on digital products are valid for initial billing cycle only. Additional charges may apply for shipping and processing, and taxes, unless otherwise specified. Free offers only valid on the lowest quantity of each product and not valid on more than 2 items per order.
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Skype has fixed a vulnerability in its Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service that allowed hackers to take over accounts using the password reset feature.
Skype has fixed a vulnerability in its Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service that allowed hackers to take over accounts using the password reset feature.
Leonas Sendrauskas, an engineer at Skype, said that the company was notified of the problem earlier today. It temporarily suspended the password reset while it made an update to fix the security hole.
However, the problem has existed for months, with one Russian website, Xeksec, featuring a guide on how to exploit the vulnerability. When the bug finally gained notoriety on Reddit Skype took notice.
Skype for Windows 8
All a hacker had to do was create a new Skype account with the email address of an existing member. A password reset request with the original Skype user's username would then result in the hacker being able to access the reset token directly through the Skype app using the newly-created account.
The hacker would then be able to see the user's details and spend any credit the user had on their account. Credit card details are also stored, though only the last four letters are shown, but a hacker can avail of the automatic top-up option for when credit is low, potentially leaving a hacked user with a hefty bill.
Skype said it is contacting anyone affected by the vulnerability to assist them in regaining access to their accounts. Presumably it will refund any credit that is fraudulently spent, given the problem was not user security but a gaping hole in Skype's own defences. | {
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Manufacturer Info
Encounters: Weylyn's Gift
Author(s): Lex Valentine
Encounters: Weylyn's Gift by Lex Valentine
Short story, erotic paranormal shifter/magia romance
part of the Tales of the Darkworld
Cover Art by Winterheart Design
Werewolf Weylyn Randall is bi-sexual and happily carefree. He spends his nights fucking and playing bass in a band. His days are spent recuperating for another go-round when the sun goes down. Nothing gives Weylyn more pleasure than getting his “were” on. After years of this hedonistic lifestyle he doesn’t think there’s a mate out there for him. He’s happy having encounters with whomever strikes his fancy and hooking up with best friend and occasional lover, Drake Keating, whenever possible. Then Drake sends him a gift in a plain brown wrapper. Along with the gift comes a magical woman and between the two, they unleash the next phase in Weylyn’s wild sex life.
Excerpt
Nothing about the brown cardboard box seemed out of the ordinary. It had normal computer-generated shipping labels, simple and lacking in any information whatsoever about the sender. The return address belonged to a company called “Plain Brown Wrapper.” The name made Weylyn instantly suspicious. Any company with a name as innocuous as that had to be anything but plain.
Weylyn shook the box. It made a whooshing sound as the contents slid around inside. He grimaced, realizing he’d never know what was inside the box unless he opened it. Taking out a pocket knife, he slit the packing tape carefully, preoccupied with trying to figure out which of the people he’d fucked recently had sent him a present. He was confident enough in his abilities as a lover to know that he hadn’t left anyone angry and unsatisfied, so the package couldn’t be anything but a gift.
He put away the pocket knife and peeled back the flaps of cardboard. Lifting out the crinkled brown packing paper, he found a flat cellophane package with bright neon pink plastic contents. Weylyn frowned. Pink wasn’t exactly his color, and he couldn’t imagine anyone buying him a pink anything. Upon closer inspection, he decided that it looked like some kind of floating device like a raft for the pool.
Weylyn pulled the package out and ripped open the cellophane, taking out the hunk of pink plastic. His sensitive werewolf nose crinkled as a strong scent assailed him. Whew! Whatever it was, it stunk to high heaven. Petroleum based products always reeked and he had a nose more sensitive than most. Whoever sent him the gift either hadn’t realized how delicate his nose was, hadn’t really thought about how stinky plastic might be or didn’t care.
As Weylyn began to unfold the pink plastic, he discovered that the sender hadn’t cared about the stink of the plastic. He held in his hands a gag gift. At least, he figured it for a gag gift. The plastic turned out to be a pink blow up chair… with a big thick dildo attached to the seat.
He frowned at the chair for a long moment. Then he began to grin. As he reached for the box to search for a card, he began to laugh. It had been a long time since he’d seen anything so amusing. Now, he wanted to know who had sent it. Obviously, the sender knew he was bi-sexual. The chair wouldn’t be nearly as funny if he’d been straight.
His hands touched a sheet of paper. Pulling it out, he read.
“Hey Wey!
I was sure you would like this. I tried to get it in blue, but they were out of that color. I know that sometimes you get nothing but pussy thrown your way. This chair is for those times you’re missing some male action. After all, I wouldn’t want you to fall out of practice. See you the next time your band comes to NYC.
Drake”
So maybe it wasn’t exactly a gag gift after all, Weylyn thought, fingering the thick dildo. In fact, come to think of it, the stiff rubber dick resembled Drake’s cock. The shape of the head, the thickness of the base, the way the veins stood out…
Weylyn grinned as he realized that he’d become aroused. Not that it took much. A horn dog at the best of times, getting his “were” on was his primary goal in life. After his music, of course. Luckily, his music usually made it really easy to get his were on. His innate wolfish attractiveness didn’t hurt either. And he had an outgoing and fun loving personality. It was a combination most people couldn’t resist, which meant he never suffered from a shortage of partners.
A hunt through his closet produced a pump to blow up the chair. Once filled with air, Weylyn set it down facing his television. He stared at it with a little smile curling his lips. Drake loved to fuck. He’d loved fucking Weylyn so the chair wasn’t exactly a gag gift. Still, it amused Weylyn.
He left the chair in the living room of his small flat and went into the bedroom. He had a gig tonight and had to get ready. He didn’t have time for the chair at the moment. After a shower, he dressed in leather jeans, a sleeveless t-shirt, and boots. He smudged a little black eyeliner under his eyes and ran a hand through his damp brown waves. Done with his primping, he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. He stopped, the door halfway open, and looked back at the chair.
Damn. It looked totally hot just sitting there waiting for someone to use it. Weylyn’s cock stirred, and he quickly eyed the clock. A discreet cough from the other side of his door made his head jerk around toward the sound. His gaze met the amused jade gaze of a woman he’d never seen before.
What stood before him was far hotter than the pink chair. Nicely rounded full breasts on a petite body. Long, dark silky hair spilled over slender shoulders in a thin t-shirt. Wide dark green eyes in a small triangular face. A pert nose. Moist pale pink bowed lips. A tiny beauty mark at the corner of those smiling lips. Oh, yeah, he thought as lust roared to life within him.
“Mmm. I can see what part would gag you,” she purred, her eyes glowing preternaturally. | {
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Economists
disagree over whether capitalism will result
in full employment
Some say yes, and if there is
unemployment it is usually caused by
government interference
Some say no, and at times
government involvement is needed to move
the economy towards full
employment
From the Instructor's
Manual
(I have highlighed some of the
more important concepts.)
Chapter
Four
The Market
SYSTEM
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter begins with a discussion of the institutional
framework of the American market system. Brief explanations are given
for these characteristics of the market system: private property,
freedom of enterprise and choice, the role of self-interest,
competition, markets and prices, the reliance on technology and
capital goods, specialization, use of money, and the active, but
limited role of government. In the final section of the chapter, the
authors address the Four Fundamental Questions faced by every economy
and explain how a market economy answers each one.
INSTRUCTIONAL
OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, students should be able to:
List and explain nine important characteristics of the
American market system. (NOTES FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR: or the
6 characteristics highlighted below.)
State the Four Fundamental Questions faced by any economic
system.
Describe how the market system answers each of these four
fundamental questions.
Define normal profits and economic profits and explain the
difference between them.
Identify the relationship between profits and expanding
industries; losses and declining industries.
Explain how the consumer influences the "What goods and
services will be produced?" question.
Explain how a market system achieves economic efficiency.
Explain the role of income distribution on the "Who will
get the goods and services?" question.
Describe the guiding function of prices.
Describe how the market system promotes technological
improvements and capital accumulation.
Explain the role of competition and "invisible hand" in
promoting economic efficiency.
Define and identify terms and concepts at the end of the
chapter.
COMMENTS AND TEACHING
SUGGESTIONS
A surprising number of students do not really understand
the characteristics of the American market system. Many students
have no idea how prices are set and even after the chapter on
supply and demand may still believe that most prices are
determined by an external government agency or by producers
arbitrarily.
If you havent already talked about Adam Smith and his
role in economics, this may be a good time to introduce the
"father of economics." His emphasis on the role of self-interest
in motivating economic activity is especially relevant here. You
might place copies of the "Wealth of Nations" on reserve at the
library to encourage students to sample the original work. You
could use short excerpts as the basis for discussion or essays.
"Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations," a 28-minute video/film, is
an excellent supplement. Check with your Federal Reserve District
Banks public information office or your nearest Center for
Economic Education for availability.
Markets coordinate economic activity and changes in prices
(products and resources) signal that changes have occurred within
particular markets. A simple example of product X and product Y
can be used. Assume an increase in the demand for X. This change
will lead to an increase in the price of X, an increase in the
profitability of X, an increase in the quantity supplied of X, an
increase in the demand for the resources used to produce X, and an
increase in the prices of the those resources. Because of a limit
in consumer income, the demand for Y is assumed to decrease
followed by all of the changes that will occur in response to the
decrease in the demand of Y. After all of these changes have
occurred, explain how the transferable resources will move from Y
to X. This illustrates the concepts of the "invisible hand" and
allocative efficiency.
(NOTES FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Recall that a problem with a command
economy is the coordination problem from the Bonus web
Chapter.)
This is a good time to reintroduce the concept of goods for
the future from chapter 2. In discussing the importance of
producing goods for the future for the market system, remind the
students of the impact upon the production of consumption goods in
the present.
The four fundamental questions must be answered by all types
of economic systems. Although the emphasis of this chapter is on
the American market system, current economic changes in Russia and
China and areas of the developing world can be discussed to
illustrate how different types of economics answer these questions
differently.
When discussing the first two of the fundamental questions,
ask who in the market economy are most responsible for answering
each of the questions. Explain that the "Who will get the goods
and services?" question is an income distribution question and is
determined by the distribution and productivity of the resources
and the demand for the resources. Discuss how differing demand and
supply conditions in the market for fast food workers and computer
system workers determine the differences in the workers
wages and incomes.
LECTURE NOTES
I. Characteristics of the Market System
A. Private individuals and firms own most of the
private property (land and capital).
1. Private property, coupled with the freedom to
negotiate binding legal contracts, enables individuals and
businesses to obtain, control, use, and dispose of this
property.
1. Freedom of enterprise means that entrepreneurs
and businesses have the freedom to obtain and use resources, to
produce products of their choice, and to sell these products in
the markets of their choice.
2. Freedom of choice means:
a. Owners of property and money resources can
use resources as they choose.
b. Workers can choose the training, occupations, and
job of their choice.
c. Consumers are free to spend their income in such a
way as to best satisfy their wants (consumer
sovereignty).
C. Self-interest
1. Self interest is one of the driving forces in a
market system. Entrepreneurs try to maximize profits or
minimize losses; resource suppliers try to maximize income;
consumers maximize satisfaction.
2. As each tries to maximize profits, income,
satisfaction, the economy will benefit if competition is
present.
(NOTES FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR: This "self-interest" is very
important. Although some people call it "greed", it is the
driving force behind capitalism and fundamental in capitalism's
success in achieving productive efficiency, allocative
efficiency, and economic growth. "Greedy" business owners will
produce at a minimum cost (achieve productive efficiciency) to
increase their profits. Also, they will use the limited
resources to produce what consumers want (achieve allocative
efficiency) to also increase their profits.)
D. Competition among buyers and sellers is a controlling
mechanism.
1. Large numbers of sellers mean that no single
producer or seller can control the price or market supply.
2. Large number of buyers means that no single consumer
or employer can control the price or market demand.
(NOTES FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Without competition market
economies may not achieve efficiency. This is a major concept
studied in microeconomics and the reason why the promotion of
competition is a policy of Structural Adjustment Programs in
the Transition Economics.)
E. Markets and prices
1. A market system conveys the decisions of the
many buyers and sellers of the product and resource
markets.
2. A change in the market price signals that a change in
the market has occurred.
3. Those who respond to the market signals will be
rewarded with profits and income.
NOTES FROM YOUR INSTRUCTOR: This is why we will study
chapter 3. We have already discussed the importance of prices
in achieving allocative and productive efficiency.
Prices are very important in a market economy. The
"right" product price is necessary to achieve allocative
efficiency and the "right" resource price is necessary to
achieve productive efficiency.
TO DECIDES HOW TO USE ITS LIMITED RESOURCES
TO SATISFY HUMAN WANTS PURE CAPITALISM RELIES
ON:
c. Detroit autoworker produces crankshafts for Buicks. If
the worker were paid in crankshafts, he would have to find
grocers, clothing retailers, etc., who would be willing to
exchange their products for a crankshaft. It is much more
efficient to use money wages than to accept ones wages
in crankshafts!
I. Active, but limited government
1. Although the market system promotes efficiency,
it has certain shortcomings (over production of goods with
social costs, under production of goods with social benefits,
tendency for business to increase monopoly power, macro
instability).
2. Chapter 5 deals with how the government can increase
the overall effectiveness of the market system.
III. The Market System at Work
A. The market system is made up of millions of individual
decision makers who make trillions of decisions all of which are
attempting to maximize their individual or business
self-interest.
B. The market is a mechanism by which the consumers and
producers can come together to respond to each others
desires and wants in an efficient way.
C. Although the focus of this chapter is on the market
system, the four fundamental questions must be answered by all
economic systems.
1. What goods and services will to be produced?
2. How will these goods and services be produced?
3. Who will get the goods and services?
4. How will the system accommodate change?
D. What will be produced?
1. In order to be profitable, businesses must
respond to consumers (individuals, other businesses, and
the government) wants and desires.
2. When businesses allocate resources in a way that is
responsive, businesses will be profitable and
allocative efficiency will
be achieved.
3. Accounting profits are total revenue minus total
accounting costs.
4. In economics, the return to the entrepreneur is treated
just like the return to the worker, i.e., it is an economic
cost and must be received if the entrepreneur is going to
continue to produce in that industry.
5. Normal profits are the return to the entrepreneur that is
necessary for him/her to continue to produce that product. Any
revenue received beyond normal profits is pure or economic
profit.
6. If producers in an industry are receiving pure or
economic profits, additional producers will move into the
industry, the industry supply will increase, and the price will
decrease thus squeezing out the economic profits. Refer to
Figure 3-6(c).
7. If producers in an industry are experiencing economic
losses, some of these producers will exit the industry, the
industry supply will decrease, and the price will increase thus
eliminating the economic losses. Refer to 3-6(d).
8. Consumer sovereignty is the key to determining the
types and quantities of the various products that will be
produced. "Dollar votes" for a product when purchases are made
and "dollar votes" against a product when products are ignored
will determine which industries continue to exist and which
individual products survive or fail.
9. Businesses are not really "free" to produce what they
wish. They must match their production choices with consumer
choices or face losses and eventual bankruptcy. Profit-seeking
firms must consider the allocation of the "dollar votes" when
they make their production decisions.
10. Resource demand is a "derived" demand, i.e., it depends
on the demand for the products produced by the resource.
E. How will the goods and services be produced?
1. The market system encourages and rewards those
producers who are achieving productive
efficiency, i.e., least-cost production.
3. The most efficient technique will be the one that
produces a given amount of output with the smallest input of
scarce resources when both inputs and outputs are measured in
dollars and cents. (Key Question 7)
F. Who will get the goods and services?
1. The answer to this question is directly related
to how the income is distributed among the individuals and the
households and the tastes and preferences of consumers.
2. Products go to those who are willing and able to pay
for them.
3. The productivity of the resources, the relative supply of
particular resources, and the ownership of the resources will
determine the income of individuals and households.
4. The resource markets, which determine income, are linked
to this decision.
G. How will the system accommodate change?
1. Accommodating changes in consumer tastes and the
guiding function of prices:
a. An increase in demand for some products will
lead to higher prices in those markets.
b. A decrease in demand for other products will lead
to lower prices in those markets.
c. Increased demand leads to higher prices that induce
greater quantities of output. The opposite is true for a
decrease in demand.
d. Higher prices lead to more profits and new firms
entering the market.
a. An entrepreneur or firm that introduces a
popular new product will be rewarded with
increased revenue and profits.
b. New technologies that reduce production costs, and
thus product price, will spread
throughout the industry as a result of
competition.
c. Creative destruction occurs when new products and
production methods destroy the market positions of firms
that are not able or willing to adjust.
III. Competition and the "Invisible Hand":
A. Competition is the mechanism of control for the
market system. It not only guarantees that industry responds to
consumer wants, but it also forces firms to adopt the most
efficient production techniques.
B. Adam Smith talked of the "invisible hand" which promotes
public interest through a market system where the primary
motivation is self-interest. By attempting to maximize profits,
firms will also be producing the goods and services most wanted by
society.
IV. LAST WORD: Shuffling the Deck
A. If one thoroughly shuffles a deck of cards, there is a
virtual 100% chance that the resulting arrangement of cards will
be unlike any previous arrangement.
B. Yet, even though there are tens of billions of resources in
the world, these resources are arranged in such a way as to
produce the products and services that serve human needs.
C. Private property eliminates the possibility that resource
arrangements will be random because each resource owner will
choose a particular course of action if it promises rewards to the
owner that exceed the rewards promised by all other available
actions.
D. The result is a complex and productive arrangement of
countless resources.
SUMMARY:
Capitalism provides the incentives (profit) for a
PRODUCTIVELY EFFICIENT use of resources
The price mechanism provides for and ALLOCATIVELY EFFICIENT
use of resources
Capitalism does not have a mechanism to assure EQUITY. This
may be a role of government
Economists disagree over whether capitalism will guarantee
FULL EMPLOYMENT.(We will study this disagreement later.)
The move toward capitalism has resulted in high rates of
ECONOMIC GROWTH in many countries. Profits, private property, and
freedom of enterprise and choice promote growth | {
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Historic Collapse for Labour
London, England. The prime minister, Gordon Brown, leader of the Labour Party, tries to quench the fire after the historic defeat in the May 1st local council elections and the loss of a stronghold : London.
After Rome, it is now London’s turn to shift to the Right. The European Left is going through a disastrous year. The electoral setback of Gordon Brown’s government is not a passing fancy : it is part of a deep transformation of the political landscape in Great Britain. Results of the council elections in England and Wales have never been so bad for the Labour Party in the last forty years. The Conservatives, with 44% of the votes, leave the Liberal Democrats far behind, with 25%, and Labour arriving only third with 24% of the votes.
Historic reverse for London
It is the lowest score for Labour since 1968. Almost 400 seats and nine councils have been lost. But the worst happened at the City Hall of London on Friday 2nd around midnight when Boris Johnson, in-vogue candidate of the Conservative Party, was declared new mayor of the capital with its seven million inhabitants. By winning 53% of the votes, he ousted Ken Livinsgtone, socialist mayor since 2000 and the most cunning politician of the country. It was also the posh neighbourhoods taking their revenge on Ken the Red and his supporters….
At the same time, in a separate ballot, London voters elected the members of the London Assembly: eleven Conservative, eight Labour, three Liberal Democrats, two ecologists and, for the first time, a member from the BNP (British National Party, xenophobic extreme Right-Wing party). This assembly supervises the activities of the mayor of London without having extensive powers.
The defeat in London represents a historic reverse for a long term project, which used to be called “municipal socialism,” born a century ago. For decades, the successive local authorities which run the capital – the London County Council created in 1889, the Greater London Council from 1965 to 1986, and eventually the City Hall of London in 2000 – were usually run by the Labour Left.
The “County Hall”, the main administrative headquarters of the City of London, hosted in a building sold to the private sector since the Thatcher era, was located by the Thames opposite the Parliament in eternal defiance of twentieth century Tory governments. Between the two great wars, qualified progressive elected officials and civil servants were responsible for major steps forward in the fields of health care, education and social services. In some ways, London led the country.
Having been humiliated by this bitter defeat that cast doubts on his authority as prime minister, Gordon Brown is now attempting to present his mea culpa. Ordinarily refusing any unfavourable criticism of his actions, since the weekend after the election, he could not avoid expressing his excuses for the “errors” that were committed — the worst being income tax increases for more than five million taxpayers, among whom the most destitute subjects.
The Labour Party in a thorny position
To quench the fire and try to ease the angry electorate, Brown promised yesterday, in an interview with the BBC, that he would carry out various policies in the coming weeks. Among others in this series of promises is a great plan to build low-cost housing. A tax relief on petrol can also be expected, as current prices are taking their toll on the population’s buying power.
Yet, the prime minister sticks to his line in regard to his neo-liberal economic policies. Thus, he claims he is not responsible for current problems such as the disruption in the property market, the sub-prime crisis coming from the US, and the increase in petrol prices as well as those of food products on a worldwide scale. Finally, not a single word was said on financial and tax policies implemented by his government and those of his predecessor, Tony Blair, which allowed the rich to get richer. Gordon Brown could certainly have made efforts, in particular to help children from low-income families, but the gap separating the rich and the poor in the United-Kingdom has been widening for the last eleven years.
The Labour Party is in a delicate situation. Deputies of the majority, even those who up until now never sought to sow confusion, do not hesitate to express their doubts. There is even talk of whether the leader should be changed before the next elections which, in theory, should take place before Spring of 2010. In a near future, Gordon Brown will be facing new difficulties, and not only regarding the economy. His project, still supported, to extend the maximum number of days in custody from twenty-eight to forty-two for terrorist suspects is another source of problems within his own party. Many elected members perceive this policy as a threat for human rights and habeas corpus, the historic doctrine which states that any person accused has the right to appear in court.
But, facing this multifaceted crisis swooping down on Great Britain, life is not morose for everyone. It has been said that Tony and Cherie Blair have just bought a nice little castle in the country for five million euro; just another residence to add to the five others they already own. | {
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Sarah Blee
The photos are as clean and minimal as the spaces they portray. This is architectural photography as fine art and it’s no surprise as Sarah Blee studied just that before embarking on her career. Magazines include the big guns like Elle Decoration, Abitare, Dwell, World of Architecture, the list goes on. Cutting edge contemporary architecture captured by a seriously good photographer. Stark and beautiful.
I particularly like the one with the long bench with the letters and the one with the red and yellow chairs. The light is really beautiful in all the photos though, so maybe I shouldn’t even try to pick a favourite…
I am having serious heart palpitations over that first photo. I totally adore huge art, particularly when it’s photography. That piece warms up all the concrete. LOVE IT, and storing in my inspiration folder. | {
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News
News by State
Smiths Detection receives bio-protective shelter order from U.S. Army
Smiths Detection announced on Tuesday that it received a $42 million follow-on production order from the U.S. Army for its mobile medical shelters that protect against biological and chemical threats.
The Chemical Biological Protective Shelters are designed to military specifications and are highly resistant to biological and chemical threats. The shelters allow soldiers to administer healthcare in a chemical and biological agent-free environment without the need for protective clothing. The Army will use the shelters to equip the National Guard.
"CBPS provides a highly mobile, protected environment for medical care when the threat of chemical and biological agents are present," Bob Bohn, the vice president of U.S. sales for Smiths Detection, said. "It can also serve a critical function in non-combat situations, such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack response, where mobile medical services are vital."
Smiths Detection manufactures the CBPS systems at its U.S. headquarters in Edgewood, Md.
"Advanced manufacturing is a key part of growing our economy, which is why this win by Edgewood-based Smiths Detection and its suppliers across Maryland is so important," Martin O'Malley, the governor of Maryland, said. "The dual-use equipment will enhance the National Guard's ability to protect our troops abroad and our communities at home, and this initiative is another step forward for Maryland's economy."
Smiths Detection designs and manufactures solutions to identify and detect threats including biohazards, chemical agents, nuclear, radiation and explosives. Its major customers include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Defense.
"When our nation's governors deploy the National Guard to natural disasters and other emergencies, these specialist shelters provide rapid and secure on-scene medical care," Kevin Schmidt, the vice president of government relations at Smiths Group, said. | {
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A hardware hacker has discovered a secret debugging feature hidden in all AMD chips made in the past decade.
The password-protected debugger came as a shock to reverse-engineers who have hungered for an on-chip mechanism for performing conditional and direct-hardware breakpoint operations. Although AMD has built the firmware-controlled feature into all chips since the Athlon XP, the company kept it a closely guarded secret that was only disclosed late last week by a hacker who goes by the name Czernobyl.
__________________
You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump
Frequently, management will not publicize tools which are still in alpha quality & they don't want to pay for the resources to improve its worth. If they get released (at all...), it is "as is" & without a lot of fanfare. | {
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Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney and editor at FindLaw, says that because the court issues decisions as a collective body, conducts its sessions without TV cameras and deliberates behind closed doors, the justices themselves are generally “not very visible nor well known to the public as individuals.” | {
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Keywords:
Americans have four new wildlife refuges to celebrate this month! Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently announced the designation of four new Wildlife Refuges that span five states and diverse ecosystems. | {
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} |
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The PCI1S550 16550 Serial PCI Card can be installed in a PCI slot to add one RS232 serial port - a cost-effective solution for connecting any new serial device or old legacy serial device, with data transfer rates of up to 115.2 Kbps.
A convenient easy to install solution, the PCI serial card can be connected in minutes through simple plug and play installation and is backed by a StarTech.com lifetime warranty and free lifetime technical support.
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Compatible with any PC running Windows®, DOS® or Linux® for simple integration into your application
Data transfer rates of up to 115.2 Kbps for efficient serial device performance
Easy to install and use with full step-by-step instruction providing a hassle free serial solution | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Gobron is a subject of The Passion of the Holy Martyr Gobron, who was Abducted from the Castle of Q'ueli (წამებაჲ წმიდისა მოწამისა გობრონისი, რომელი განიყვანეს ყუელის ციხით), composed by Bishop Stephen of T'beti (Stepane Mtbevari) at the behest of the Georgian Bagratid prince Ashot I of Tao between 914 and 918.[1] The narrative of Gobron's martyrdom unfolds against the background of the military expedition by Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj, the Sajid emir of Azerbaijan, in Georgia in 914. This campaign was one of the last major attempts on the part of the Abbasid Caliphate to retain its crumbling hold of the Georgian lands, which, at that time, were a patchwork of rival, native states and Muslim holdings.[4]
Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj, the Abul-Kasim of the medieval Georgian sources, invaded Georgia from Armenia. He advanced, through the Muslim emirate of Tiflis, into Kakheti, whence he moved into Kartli and invaded Samtskhe and Javakheti. Unable to seize hold of the fortress of Tmogvi, the emir laid siege to Q'ueli, which was then in possession of the Georgian Bagratid prince Gurgen of Tao. Q'ueli held out for 28 days: the young commander Gobron, whose original name—we are told by his biography—was Mikel (Michael), mounted a fierce resistance and made a series of sorties, but he finally felt oblidged to surrender to the emir. The Georgian king Adarnase succeeded in ransoming certain nobles who had been seized by the Muslims in Q'ueli, but Gobron was kept by the emir in captivity. Neither the promise of honors, nor tortures and witnessing the massacre of 133 of his comrades-in-arms could inveigle Gobron into renouncing Christianity as demanded by Yusuf. According to the Passion, Gobron, grateful to Christ for being chosen as a martyr, met his death through decapitation.[1] | {
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If some one rights a love story about two characters I like it better to make sense and have character development.
I'm a Tayuya x Shikimaru Fan, a Tien x Launch Fan, and a Zoro x Robin Fan. Unless if Tashigi wound up being Kuina this whole time or they do some plot twist where Kuina didn't actually die. Then I would be a Kuina x Zoro fan, nah I'd still be a Robin X Zoro fan. I'm also a Edd x Marie fan in hopes that either Edd would make Marie nicer or she'll make Edd tougher. Not to mention I like other random pairings, so long as they have purpose and place.
I wish Dragon Ball Z kept going, but not just with movies, but have our favorite characters go on adventures to save planets or focus the story on someone else, but from the same universe, say if it focused on other Super Saiyans.
I believe if Team Rocket has Mew's DNA then why stop at Mewtwo. If the pokemon universe has DNA fusion devices then why not combined the DNA of Legendaries.
I believe if Tayuya like Shikimaru, she would try to convert him. I believe if Tayuya was stuck in one place with Shikimaru then they would learn to get along. Anyways I believe most characters no matter how evil can be redeemed and I also love making OCs!
I do not own any fanfiction I post obviously, but if I did these things would occur as Cannon, which they aren't.
My most popular ones are my One Piece fanfics, but don't hesitate to review on my other ones. Some are older than others, so not alot of spacing in between, so if you have a problem with that just tell me and I'll edit. I just edited the Spirits of the Ocean, so it will be easier to read.
I enjoy reviews, so don't hesitate to give them, good or bad, because I seek improvement.
A man leaves the safety of home to enter the Zone for the second time in his life, only to realize who-and what-he truly is. A story about one man's descent into a deep, dark rabbit hole from which the only way out is forward.
This is the story of Frieza's daughter, Ember, who is on the hunt for the super Saiyan that killed her father. The story starts when Ember is only five but she'll grow up during the story. As you can tell this is my first fanfic and I'm very bad at summaries, so no hateful comments just helpful advice. ENJOY! (Chapter 2 updated)
The X-Men Universe from an OC Villianess' point of view. I do mean Villianess. Not sympathetic bad-girl, like Wanda. Janice is EVIL. Everyone is either an Enemy, or a Minion, in her opinion. What happens when she starts to be able see in total darkness? How will she react to the X-Men, and the Brotherhood? Rated T, for typical Evilness, and bad-girl thoughts.
When I first laid eyes on her, I thought that she was a boy. She dressed like one. Look like one. Act like one. Even hit like one. So I thought to myself. Why am I friends with someone like her? Why do we always argue about stupid things and then the universe gravity pulls us right back together like nothing happen. She's not worth my time. She's troublesome. And not cute.
Kimiko's a soft, sweet, broken girl with a dream to became the world's greatest swordsman and to protect her brother at all cost. Her life went downhill when she ate a devil fruit when she was ten, and no one but her brother and father accepted her. Then she meets the Straw Hat pirates will they accept her? Will she be unfortunately lucky and find love along the way?
The Orphanage is cold as always. You can hear the cries of children all around. Not because they miss their family or want to be adopted. Even though that would be tragic enough, but because the students there are secretly being trained to be ninja by none other than the mysterious village hidden in the shadows. Of course no one has ever actually heard of this village making it in
What do you do when someone you thought you hated gives you the chance to start a whole new life? Tayuya has to make that decision now. Rated for language, brutal rape, violence, blood and lemons. Tayuya x Shikamaru drama/romance/action
Shikamaru has to play babysitter, and the person he is watching happens to be none other than Tayuya! How will he deal with having to watch over the girl who almost beat him? Better than that, how will he deal with his growing feelings toward her? Hiatus
Ricky White hadn't led the best life. Not with having to go through so many adoptive parents, his power to vibrate molecules, and the fact that no matter who he's with, he's being used just for his powers. Even through all that, he tries his best to keep a smile on his face earning him the name Vibrant.
A young girl discovers she has the force in an encounter with an inquisitor. She constructs her lightsaber in a cave on Lothal and finds a Holocron that speaks of a Jedi who might not be alive. She follows the instructions and teachings of this Jedi and searches the galaxy in hopes of finding him. She bumps into on many occasions the Rebel Jedi Ezra and Kanan. I don't own Star Wars
Trapped as a slave, Warron must find a way to escape his terrible fate along with his fellow slaves, before the crazed Imperial Mandalorian kills them. Warron has little understanding of the situation he fell into, but one thing is certain, he can feel a pull. The pull is what helps him stay alive. I do not own Star Wars Rebels.
Sidney and Robby are a part of the grand scheme their parents' had developed a new second gen metal known as Vibeflexium. Second Generation of Vibranium that is much more flexible and can move almost human. These children were gifted by their parents with this metal, however they were also given the Winter Soldier code to turn off their minds when danger gets too rough.
This story is about a boy who grew up in an orphanage only to find out he is a wizard. He will have many adventures and time to get to know his new family and his old one. This story takes place three years after the war in Hogwarts and the fall of you know who.
This story revolves around a force user known as Yonto Lim who learned the ways of the force through legend. He spread his knowledge and suggestions to force users across the galaxy, however this story is about how he became stuck on a planet at the edge of the outer rim with rebels who were shot down by imperials. Unfortunately for the group, they aren't alone. Darkness comes...
A man named Prann who's a good friend of Hondo asks for help on finding a Jedi Knight who disappeared in the clone wars. He owes her a life debt for saving his life when he was young. Will they find the Knight, or did the Imperials do away with her long before then.
A deadly enemy to have is a force wielder, it's also bad to have bounty hunters after you. What happens when you have two force sensitive bounty hunters with you. The are restricted to no rules of the Light or the Darkside of the force and use much more then swords as weapons. This story switches between two Bounty Hunters named Karrisa and Callis and their Jedi prey Clidon.
Tayuya, trapped in purgatory wants to have one final rematch against Shikamaru. With no backup to get in the way. Will she when her final battle or will the Nara prove to be the better strategist, I don't own Naruto.
Pearl had defeated an enemy long ago in the battle for earth. Now that enemy has returned and is out for blood, can Steven show this enemy the ways of friendship. Or will this enemy choose to burn the crystal gems for defeating her. How many enemies survive that war, how many friends survived that war. The story follows my OC known as Bixbite.
A Clone Trooper Commando finds out his true reason for being born. Not just any trooper, a Commando. This clone trooper will be hunted where ever he goes, so he must disappear to a planet no one will ever think to find him. The first planet he finds himself on is Korriban and this is when he still works for the Republic. Him, his brothers, and a Jedi General fighting
It all started when they fell from the sky. A sword and shield, and a gauntlet. Brother and sister gets trapped in a parallel world of some sort. How will they escape? The brother and sister receives OC Digimon created from digital eggs that's data had been tampered with by their Digivice Artifacts. disclaimer, I don't own Digimon Digital Monsters.
A boy lost at sea that does not know who he is. Luffy saves him and makes him a Nakama where he will venture with the straw hat crew as the ships investigator.His dream is to complete the wants and needs of the spirits who protect him
With Decepticons defeated, Predicons defeated, and Unicron defeated, the Autobots had rebuilt Cybertron to live in peace, but what happens when a new foe grows. One built for war, one meant to rival that of gods. What happens when humans build warriors known as the Wardepts. It would be a reason for Autobots to return to Earth at least. Problem would be however, no Optimus Prime...
The cape crusader goes after the number one criminal in the world as Gotham recieves a shortage in criminals. How did Kira know the names of all those criminals, how long will it be before he knows who Batman is. With the clock ticking Batman must catch him first.
The Moyasugan, an ancient Doujutsu used to find warmth and shelter by an old tribe. Now wielded by a girl who was cloned off of the old tribes DNA mixed with an Uchiha clan member, Daiki. I do not own Naruto
The Doctor had woke up just after regenerating. He was in a pile of rubble from a house and he had no Idea who he was or what was he even doing. He decided it was time to get answers, answers about who killed him before, who was in charge, who is he really aside from the Doctor, what does he like and dislike, and most importantly, why isn't he the blonde guy with a bow tie. OC DR
Luffy and his crew finds themselves on an Island where they are forced to fight themselves from other Universes. We are on the sixth batch after the defeat of the Admiral Straw Hats we are now on Naruto Strawhats, I do not own Naruto or One Piece. All rights go to their rightful owners.
Zoro doesn't trust Robin still even though they've been through so much together. Robin takes offense, but being its her, she tries not to show it. Will the relationship of the crew be in jeopardy. Will Robin get Zoro to trust her even though she still doesn't technically trust herself even after Enies Lobby. I do not own One Piece.
More kids appear in Peach Creek, some that are new, others that have been around for a while, but no one noticed. Edd has a rival in brains and more bullies appear. However the Eds had gotten more popular when defeating Eddy's older brother, lets hope that can last. I do not own Ed Edd and Eddy. Edd x Marie
Tayuya was in a dirty prison cell for three years, forced to sleep on the cold hard floor, Kin was at a tea shop until seven days ago. Kin was captured and tortured like Tayuya was, but luckily Shikamaru. They now live with him under Hokage's orders, but Ino has her eye on them. M for bad language, but to no ones surprise, cause Tayuya is in it. Review Please.
Kai was kidnapped and forced to fight a strange man in a zen garden. The man is named Toshiki Ike and Kai's love of Vanguard and fighting others made him decide to fight this man. The man's goal is to turn all clans into one... (After High school) I do not own Vanguard. OC cards cards from actual game.
Everyone in team Avatar gets a great ending with great people and even people like Varrick and the Earth Kingdom Prince get to move on to happier lives, but Mako is the only one who got nothing out of it. Darkness sweeps across the world and the Avatar is no where to be seen. Last she was in the Spirit World with Asami. How will the world deal with the darkness without their light.
Power Genius Test Ten is a group formulated of the Power Puff Girls, Dexter boy Genius, Johnny Test, Ben Tennyson, and four OC's of mine who I have created from their verses. Two of them came from Ben Ten verse, one came from KND verse, and the last comes from Grimm Adventure's of Billy and Mandy. They are all in same verse like bleedman. First chapter edited, review please!
Aisu is the Dagger of Ice, the Crimson Blade of Fire, and the Spear of Destiny. How he got all this power was based on childhood conflicts that are revealed through the story. His goal is to be trained up and prepared for the next time he encounters a Witch. The last one left a deep scar that he covers in shame and he is sure even though he ate her soul, she isn't gone.
Ronny assumed he was lucky, the way he never got scratches his whole life. He never made a lot of friends cause of the way his nose twitched, but two came to him out of the middle of nowhere. Then they tried to kill him with these strange powers. Later he woke up in a mansion where people like him live.
Shikamaru was just another lazy boy who was doing horrible in school. His parents didn't know what they were going to do with him until a letter came to them asking for Shikamaru to be sent to Yokai Academy. His parents were pleased with this, so they agreed, but little did they know, it was a school of monsters and witches.
Drago Pirate asked if he could do sbs for the characters of Spirits of the Ocean, so I was like, why not, and here it is... It will only update when another Spirit has had their Saga. I do not Own One Piece!
What if Straw Hats ran into a person who could create tsunamis with a slash of a sword. What if that causes early separation for them. Zoro and Robin find themselves on an Island with certain agents Robin wouldn't want to meet. Some things will differ from the actual one piece story, I've added a few legends like a cursed sword and an Angel Fruit. Main story is Zoro x Robin however
Shikamaru didn't know why he liked her, but Naru was just so energetic. Omoi however had his eyes on her also and that pissed Shikimaru off. Fem Naruto, I do not own Naruto. I know I'm bad with Summaries. but please review.
What if Shikamaru met Tayuya before facing Temari, what if that moment in history changed everything we know, I do not own Naruto and please read and review. First Chapter is based off a real Shogi game I had against the Computer at Level six, first time I actually beat level six. M for bad language, cause it's Tayuya, Also her subordinates use bad language also.
Gardena cousin of Vegita had lost her home, her father, her Uncle and everyone she knew. She however didn't loose them all in that order. She found herself on a planet where her father Gardner lived and tried to form an all powerful Saiyan race. Everone on the planet however didn't make it after Frieza's men found it. Can she recover her Saiyan dignity.
Corun is a Saiyan who was blasted to a new planet with no memory of who he is by Freeza, but he still remembers his name. Deera who is a sentient of the planet he is on teaches him martial arts and more importantly how to transform his body into an Ultimate. I do not own DBZ!
Kabuto has come to realize that what he has done was beyond anything a doctor would do let alone a human being. He decided it would be best to change sides, but he has no Idea whether or not he'll be accepted. A test will be organized to see if the Leaf Village is willing to accept a horrendous enemy. Will they pass or will Kabuto accept that he is a monster. I do not Own Naruto! | {
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setup plugin
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I have a sound web development experience and I feel that this knowledge and experience will be beneficial for your project if hired.
I have been working as a PHP Programmer, Cake Php, WordPress, Bootstrap, Codeignitor, and as an Open Source Developer.
I also possess knowledge in Php, Cake Php, WordPress, Bootstap, Codeignitor, and eCommerce(Magento, Oscommerce, woocommerce).
I am willing to be a part of your team and would put in my best skill for the benefit of the company.
I am ready to be hired by you..... | {
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UK Transformer Prime ICS update rolling out now
The highly desired Transformer Prime has only been available for a short while and has won a lot of praise from many people who have used it. Today we have news that the UK Transformer Prime ICS update has already begun rolling out.
The company announced that the Android update would start its rollout to devices in the UK from yesterday according to a report over at IT ProPortal. The device is the first tablet in the country to use the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor.
Other regions have already been receiving the Android update for their Prime’s and have unfortunately experienced some issues with it. To begin with users complained that the update wouldn’t recognize their unit and wouldn’t download the software. But for some it was after downloading the software the real problems began.
Many users complained that the new operating system kept rebooting the device without any warning, and even got worse as time went on. It is not currently known if this issue has been fixed by Asus, but you would have thought they wouldn’t release the update in other regions if not.
The company has confirmed some bugs that have been fixed though that includes issues with some screen graphics problems. Asus has also revealed that the bootloader unlocker will be provided for the tablet PC in the coming days. | {
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discount pvc fence Glendale
WPC Deck Board
Lace Fence is produced manually in India by local craftsmen. Sellers may legally offer alternatives based on the super high priced originals. It's slightly more expensive than the non custom version but still wel.
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Setting the tone with your interior wood paneling: do you restore, replace, paint, or cast it aside? .The commercial product originally used by Eichler is still widely available, though some claim that it is of lower quality today because it now . | {
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This website is provide to you informations about web design and web development
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US FAA on Wednesday proposed new regulations to overhaul airline training programs for aircraft crewmembers and flight dispatchers, revising a proposal first issued in 2009. The supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would in particular revamp pilot training, mandating more recurrent training and calling for pilots to be put through challenging emergency situations in advanced flight simulators.
“This new type of training will provide a more robust evaluation of pilots in [simulated] real-life scenarios,” FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told reporters on a conference call. He said the original January 2009 NPRM had to be revised to account for a massive amount of comments submitted in response to its issuance ( ATW Daily News, Aug. 13, 2009 ), knowledge gained from the investigation into the February 2009 Colgan Air Q400 crash that killed 50 ( ATW Daily News, May 27, 2010 ) and aviation safety legislation passed by Congress last year ( ATW Daily News, Aug. 2, 2010 ).
FAA estimated in the SNPRM that the proposed rule would cost airlines a collective $ 391.9 million over 10 years but added that the “estimated potential quantified safety benefits over the 10-year analysis interval is $ 445.1 million.”
The proposed rule issued Wednesday does not address minimum requirements for pilots serving as a first officer on a Part 121 flight; Congress last year mandated that FAA develop regulations requiring the accumulation of at least 1,500 hr. of flight time before a pilot can operate a commercial flight, up from 250 hr. currently. FAA Associate Administrator-Aviation Safety Peggy Gilligan said the SNPRM is the first in a series of rules regarding aviation training/qualifications/work conditions that will be promulgated by FAA over the coming months. A “pilot qualification” rule to be released at a later, undetermined date will address the minimum flight hour requirements, she said.
Regarding the rule issued Wednesday, airlines had warned following its original release in 2009 that it would significantly increase the amount of time pilots had to spend in simulators. Gilligan said, “We don’t have hours attached to the [flight training] syllabus,” which focuses on meeting skill requirements rather than achieving an accumulated number of hours. “From our analysis, [the requirements] don’t substantially increase the number of hours of simulation,” she insisted.
Babbitt said the provisions in the SNPRM constitute “the most significant changes to air carrier training in 20 years.” He said the pilot training emphasis will shift to focus more on comprehensive competence rather than mastery of “individual”skills. “The new training will require a more realistic and coordinated effort among the crew [being trained] ,” he explained. “It will be a lot more like flight.”
He said crews will be given “real life scenario training” for “extremely rare” emergencies, such as the stall that brought down the Colgan Q400. “I think the key piece here is that some of the simulation ability [now available] allows us to go past [training for] recognition and avoidance of a stall. Now you can actually put someone in a stall scenario and let them recover,” he commented.
The proposed rule would require that pilots “be trained as a complete flight crew, coordinate their actions through Crew Resource Management and fly scenarios based on actual events,” FAA stated. “The revised proposal would require ground and flight training to teach pilots how to recognize and recover from stalls and aircraft upsets. The proposal also would require remedial training for pilots with performance deficiencies such as failing a proficiency test or check, or unsatisfactory performance during flight training or a simulator course.”
It would also require the use of flight simulation training devices to instruct pilots using methods that are “crew-oriented and scenario-based,” FAA said. Recurrent training would have to occur every nine months, which means first officers would “receive twice the amount of FSTD time over a 36-month training cycle asthey receive today,” according to the SNPRM, which will be open to public comments through July 19. | {
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If you enjoyed reading about "Rossi 851" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join TheHighRoad.org today for the full version!
nelson133
December 20, 2006, 05:20 AM
The Rossis that I have owned and shot have been decent budget guns. They are now owned by Taurus and are basically their cheap line. Check them out like you would a used revolver, I have seen some with terrible triggers.
Jkwas
December 20, 2006, 08:43 AM
I think kymasabee has one. You might want to PM him. Do a search, I believe he has had good luck with his. If not here, search TFL.
Gunblade
December 20, 2006, 12:24 PM
I have been getting some mixed messeges about Taurus and Rossi, how are they(compared to a ruger or smith double action)
MCgunner
December 20, 2006, 12:35 PM
I've owned 7 Rossis over the years and still have a particularly well built M68 and a M511 .22 I love to shoot. They are high quality guns for the budget minded. They lack the sophisticated DA triggers and the beautiful fit and finish of higher quality guns, but they don't look that bad and they function perfectly well, actually are quite accurate. I really like 'em and don't mind saying so on a board full of Smith and Wesson snobs. :D They really give you MORE for your money than a Smith and Wesson, frankly. They are not that much less of a gun and you ain't paying for the logo on the side. Of course, I like and own Taurus revolvers, too, so whadda I know. :rolleyes: I have three Taurus revolvers and every one compares to the Smiths I've owned and own very well, accuracy, trigger quality, fit and finish. My little M85 has the best out of the box trigger I've ever felt on a small frame gun and hands down better than anything you can get in a J frame Smith or a Ruger for trigger quality. 640s and SP101s in particular have pretty rough DAs. I'd have to do some work to one if I bought one, but the little M85 was fantastic right out of the box and for less money. Actually, my little Rossi M68's DA compares well to a broke in M640. I don't have a high opinion of out of the box M640 triggers and the bad thing is they're DAO so you have no SA mode to use. But, they can be improved by a good smith for not a lot of money. At least the 640 is priced pretty well compared to other Smiths. It's one of the more affordable, but I'll keep my M85, thanks.
I don't have a brand agenda. I own several Ruger single actions and had a DA once. I love Ruger revolvers, excellent guns. I have owned three Smith DAs, nothing with a lock on it. The 1917 was an old clapped out war horse, so it really doesn't count I guess. My M19 was new and a nice gun, but not as accuate with .38 special as my two Taurus M66s I have now. It had a smooth trigger, but no smoother than my 4" Taurus, maybe a little smoother than my 3" Taurus which has the older Taurus action with the hammer block rather than the transfer bar of the newer one. It seems to suffer a little to the newer action. It is not quite as smooth as the old M10 Smith I still own and will never part with, but the newer Taurus suffers nothing compared to that M10. That old Model 10 is in excellent shape, to, not worn much, just well broken in.
Will I buy a new Smith in the future? SURE! I'll probably stick with older ones to keep the costs down not to mention the locks out. Will I buy Taurus or Rossi revolvers in the future? SURE. Will I buy Rugers in the future? YOU BET! Will I buy a Charter Arms or Llama Comanche or Arminius or...... well, you gotta draw the line somewhere. :D Rossi is good quality for the money. I can't say that for some, even the Charter. I had one Charter .38 briefly and, frankly, it wasn't up to Rossi quality. I got rid of it. Wasn't too accurate and it started shooting loose over time even with not that hot .38 loads. I've put more round count through a Rossi M88 I had, same loads, just as tight when I sold it as when I bought it and just as accurate.
Gunblade
December 20, 2006, 06:45 PM
Thanks, one last thing.
I know you can fire a .38 in a .357 magnum, but I read that it is actually detrimental to the gun over time.
I don't plan on shooting magnum rounds in the foreseeable future, so should I avoid getting a .357 magnum handgun?
MCgunner
December 20, 2006, 07:26 PM
If you shoot a lot of .38 in a .357 cylinder and don't clean it, brush the cylinder chambers out, eventually you'll get crud build up and the magnum rounds won't easily seat. However, you can soak the cylinder in solvent and scrub it out and it'll be just fine. I clean my guns after every session, scrub out the cylinders. I don't understand why people are so lazy as to avoid cleaning a gun. That's like cooking supper and never cleaning the dishes. My mom always told me that was part of the job of cookin', you mess 'em up, you clean 'em.
Firing .38 in a .357 is not a problem. Most of my range work with my .357s is done with .38 loads.
Browns Fan
December 21, 2006, 08:44 AM
That's my wife's first gun, she picked it out. We've had it for over 20 yrs and it still locks up tight and shoots great. My wife will occasionally shoot IDPA with it. A great bargain of a gun!
If you enjoyed reading about "Rossi 851" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join TheHighRoad.org today for the full version! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Friday, November 29, 2013
Top-order batsman Aaron Redmond has earn a New Zealand test recall, 5 years after he last played the longest form of the game, for the series against West Indies that starts next week.
The 34-year-old has been named in a 13-man squad for the 3-match series that starts at the University Oval in Dunedin on December 3 apparently to provide cover for the injured Kane Williamson who broke his thumb last month.
Redmond, who last played a test against Australia in 2008, has been in good form in Plunket Shield first-class cricket for the past 2 seasons and batted well in a warm-up match in Christchurch.
Aaron has made an excellent start to the Plunket Shield to date and on top of the 67 he scored yesterday for the New Zealand XI we felt he was the best top order batting cover, selection manager Bruce Edgar said on Friday.
Williamson broke his thumb on the tour of Bangladesh and medical staff had thought his injury may take up to six weeks to heal. He will feel a fitness check before the team is finalized. Kane has been in the nets batting and bowling and getting his strength levels up, Edgar said.
Pace bowler Tim Southee is also back in the squad after ankle surgery in July. He was gradually eased back when he played in the limited- overs portion of New Zealand's tour to Bangladesh.
All-rounder Corey Anderson has also been included but is battling against a rib injury he continued in Bangladesh and may play as just a batsman in Dunedin if the home side decides to pick an all-seam attack and not include leg-spinner Ish Sodhi.
The 20-year-old Sodhi impressed on the Bangladesh tour and Edgar said if the conditions suited him he would be given another chance.
Williamson, if fit, is likely to fill the spinning role if New Zealand go with a four-pronged pace attack of Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Doug Brace well.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Haryana might not have the best batting line-up in the domestic circuit, but a 5-wicket haul at the Ranji Trophy level can never be undermined.
And on Friday, Delhi pace bowler Ishant Sharma showed at the Roshanara Club Ground in the Capital that he still has it in him to ruffle a few feathers when he has his head in the right place.
Bowling an spotless line and getting some disconcerting bounce from just short of the excellent length area, he in partnership with Rajat Bhatia ensured that the visitors managed just 138 in their 1st essay, after Delhi folded up for 201 in their first essay.
Delhi had a lead of 98 by the time stumps were drawn on the second day. Gambhir (26) and Unmukt Chand (9) were at the crease with Delhi team score in the second innings reading 35/0.
As Coach Sanjeev Sharma had told MAIL TODAY on Thursday, Ishant Sharma would be the difference between the two sides. While he started off waywardly in the first over, he looked a totally different bowler second over onwards.
With the wicket at the Roshanara known to favour the pacers also one of the major reasons why captain Gambhir wanted to play here all Ishant Sharma did was bowl in the right areas and let the ball do the rest. Pitching the ball constantly outside the channel of uncertainty slightly outside the off-stump he kept extracting disconcerting bounce.
And all time he pitched the ball up, it swung viciously.
The fact that Joginder Sharma (35) was the highest scorer for Haryana clearly shows poor application by the visitors batsmen.
Ishant Sharma (5/29) was ably supported by Rajat Bhatia (4/32) and Parvinder Awana (1/32). Awana was really unlucky as he kept troubling the Haryana batsmen, without much reward.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
After some disastrous performances against Australia, Ishant Sharma and Vinay Kumar have lost their replace to Dhawal Kulkarni and Mohit Sharma for the upcoming ODIs against the West Indies match India Squad.
Its Kulkarni is first time call to the Indian team while Mohit had made his ODI debut on the recent tour of Zimbabwe. Their performances in the recent Ranji Trophy in Lahli game were noticeable: Kulkarni shared a match-winning partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, whose wicket had been claimed by Haryana team player Mohit in the first innings. In pace-friendly and cold conditions, the 2 delivered with both bat and ball in this game.
Both Ishant Sharma and Vinay kumar received great criticism for their bowling in what was a high-scoring with Australia series. While bowlers from both sides fared worst due to great batting conditions and the four-fielder rule, Ishant Sharma and Vinay kumar were singled out for criticism due to their inability to control their line and length and bowl yorkers.
Ishant Sharma conceded 30 runs in an over in the Mohali ODI, letting a sure victory slip out of India hands. Later in the series, Vinay kumar became the first Indian bowler to concede over a hundred runs in an ODI in Bangalore.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Australian captain Michael Clarke could return from injury as early as next week in a major boost on the eve of arch-rival England's arrival for the Ashes series.
The Australian batsman was ruled out of Australia one-day tour of India(October) this month with a long-standing back problem, and feared he could miss the first Test against England starting on November 21.
But after serious treatment on a degenerative disc problem, which has been an issue since he was a teenager, the prognosis is good. Michael is progressing well and in recent recommenced batting in the nets, Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said.
At this stage we are aiming to have him fit to play the second round of the Sheffield Shield, but we have not ruled out the option of him playing the first round of the Shield season if he makes better than expected progress. Michael Clarke state side New South Wales start their Shield season at home on October 30 against Tasmania, and then play Victoria in Melbourne from November 6.
Michael Clarke is back problem flared up again before Australia final ODI in Southampton last month at the end of a grueling 5-Test Ashes tour to England, which Australia lost 3-0.He played in that game, but selectors were reluctant to take any more risks given the big home summer coming up, and ruled out him out of the India tour.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
South African cricket officials are set to consider a proposal forcing professional franchises to include at least 2 black Africans in all team. Another item expected to be discussed at an October 11 Cricket South Africa meeting will be the need for second-tier, semi-professional provincial sides to select 3 black Africans.
South Africa Cricket have not commented officially on the proposals, but an official who attended new transformation talks told AFP both issues would be debate. While the 6 top-tier franchises have picked numerous mixed-race or Asian-origin cricketers in recent seasons, there has been a dearth of black Africans on view.
Since Ntini retired 2 years ago, black African fast-medium bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been in and out of Proteas teams in various formats. Faced with constant criticism for not picking black Africans, national selector’s convener Andrew Hudson has pointed to a shortage of stars from that race group. | {
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Adding and Modifying Users and Groups in Linux
Adding and Modifying Users and Groups is a core systems administration task. The act of adding a user and group is fairly easy however there are some tricks that help make the long-term management of users easier.
Tips for easier management
Keep user attributes consistent amongst all systems
A common mistake sysadmins make when building a new environment is they will allow uid’s, gid’s, home directories and other user attributes to be mis-matched from system to system. While this isn’t a big deal initially while managing users locally, this can be rather difficult to deal with when adding LDAP or other Authentication Services into your environment.
When you add Authentication Services into an environment user id’s and group id’s will need to be the same, if you take care of this and manage it early on than these tools will be easier to implement.
Consistency also helps with any custom scripts and general administration of the environment.
Define User and Group ID Ranges for People and Applications
When creating users it is a good practice to define a range for user and group id’s based on the role of the user. For example on an environment I recently setup I specified all application UID’s within the range of 2000 - 2999. I also specified that all people users will have a UID within the range of 4000 - 4999.
While I highly doubt that I will exceed more than 999 application users, I kept an extra 1,000 UID’s available in the event that I do. By having the people users as the higher range I can easily extend that range without interfering with application User ID’s if my environment exceeds 999 people users. I am more likely to reach 1000 unique people users than application users.
For group id’s I have a similar configuration, GID’s 500 - 699 are for applications, and GID’s 800 - 899 are for people.
Adding Users and Groups
Once you have defined your user and group attributes the act of adding the users and groups is fairly easy.
Adding a Group
While the command to add a user can also create a group for that user, if you want to specify the group id it is generally a good idea to create the group ahead of time.
To add a user group we will use the groupadd command.
# groupadd -g 800 people
Adding a User
Within the Linux distributions there are several commands to add a user. The Debian based distributions seem to have many newer tools that make it easier for a sysadmin. Whereas the Red Hat based distributions seem to use the same old tools that have been around for a while. For consistency sake we will use the useradd command for this article, which is available amongst both distributions.
A couple of things that are not obvious from the above are, -m the “m” on the user directory specification tells useradd to create the user’s directory if it does not exist. If only the -d option is given the directory will not be created.
The -G flag is used for adding the user to any additional groups outside their initial login group. If you need to add multiple additional groups they can be specified using a , to separate each group.
Modifying Users and Groups
Sometimes you need to modify a user or user group, to either add them to an additional group, change their shell or change a groups GID.
Modifying a group with groupmod
The groupmod command is not used very often, really the only time that one would need to use it is to either change the GID of a group, or change the name of a group.
The below command will show both.
# groupmod -g 802 -n otherpeeps others
Modifying a User with usermod
In the below example we will add the user to the “folks” group and change his shell to ksh; To do this we will use the usermod command.
# usermod -aG folks -s /bin/ksh someuser
The usermod command utilizes the same flags as useradd, however in the example above there is a new flag -a. The -a flag is given to tell usermod to add the user to the folks group. Without the -a flag the user someuser would have been removed from the specialpeople and others group and added to the folks group.
Print a Users UID and GID
While the id command does not change or create a user it is a good command to use to quickly display a users uid, gid, and assigned additional groups.
Deleting Users and Groups
After a user or group has been added they can be deleted with the groupdel and userdel commands. While the add and modify commands have many options the delete commands have very minimal.
Deleting a Group
# groupdel folks
The groupdel command will remove all references of the folks group from the /etc/group file.
# grep -c folks /etc/group
0
Deleting a User
# userdel -r someuser
The -r flag in the above command tells userdel to also remove the user’s home directory, this is not the default action and is good practice if you are truly deleting the user for good and do not want the contents of their home directory.
About Benjamin
Benjamin is a Infrastructure and Software Engineer. On this blog he writes about Linux, Docker, Programming as well as other Systems topics.
Learn more about Linux
If you liked this article, check out Benjamin's book: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Troubleshooting Guide. Where you can learn a lot more about troubleshooting Linux systems. This book is filled with tips and techniques he has learned over years of managing mission critical systems. | {
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} |
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Muddling Through Science and Technology Policy
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I-Corp: Why, the NSF Was a Mission Agency All Along…
I’m of a certain age that when I hear I-Corps, I think of the television show M*A*S*H. The National Science Foundation (NSF) aims to shift that focus. Last week NSF announced the formation of the I-Corps, or Innovation Corps (video is also available). It’s a public-private partnership that would provide promising research teams additional support to accelerate transferring/transforming their research into market-ready innovations. The program will support up to 100 projects in the first year at $50,000 per project. The I-Corps has already hosted its first of a planned series of webinars to educate interested applicants on program requirements.
Arguably this corps is the next step in the gradual infusion of the technology transfer mission into the universities. It started with legislation it the 1980s that provided researchers and research institutions with more say over the use of intellectual property they generated with government support. Now we have what was supposedly not a mission agency supporting a very particular mission – the training of entrepreneurs. While I contend that NSF has never been just about supporting ‘basic’ research, this explicit embrace of an innovation mission may cause concern in some corners.
The program, a series of targeted training grants in entrepreneurship, is structured around three-person research teams: a PI (who must have received an NSF grant in the area of the innovation within the past five years), an I-Corp mentor (ideally local to the institution), and an Entrepreneurial Lead. The program envisions this last person as a postdoc or student who is familiar with the technology at issue. This person would presumably be the one who eventually commercializes the technology at the end of the six-month grant.
I don’t know that insisting that the Entrepreneurial Lead be a student or freshly minted-Ph.D. makes much sense. Perhaps the NSF is focused on training the next generation, rather than on maximizing innovative potential. Either goal is valid from a policy perspective, and I don’t know if the research on entrepreneurship suggests whether the nation needs more young innovators compared to part-timers or not.
The official announcement is thin on details, but the program solicitation and this Xconomy article provide some additional explanation of how this program is intended to unfold. It appears to be an effort to ramp up an entrepreneurship course taught at Stanford. While I can understand why NSF would be seeking a standardized, systematic effort to train entrepreneurs, I suspect the more lasting impact of this program would be in whatever networks it creates, both locally between universities and entrepreneurs, and across the country.
Bully on NSF for giving this kind of experiment an opportunity, though I’m not sanguine about there being a lot of interest in it. We’ll see how wrong I am in a few months. | {
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Librarians Take On FCC
With the information world long since moved online, today’s librarians may worry more about broadband than bookshelves.
The shift to digital in our nation’s libraries means close attention to private Internet service providers as well as public regulators from groups like the American Libraries Association. This week, ALA criticized FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s move to revoke the FCC’s 2016 Lifeline modernization order, which librarians called critical to bringing information and opportunity to underserved communities.
“Specifically, that order had expanded a discount available on phone service for qualifying low-income consumers to include broadband service,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
“Let’s face it,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “Without Internet access, you’re cut off these days, right? Banking, customer service, job applications—so many vital things have now moved online, so it makes sense that the lifeline program would be updated to cover Internet, as opposed to landline phone service.”
ALA criticized another Pai order to retract multiple reports, including the E-rate Modernization Progress Report, Albanese adds. “E-Rate” supports Internet service in schools and libraries, with nearly 50,000 schools and libraries receiving Wi-Fi support in 2015
“E-rate is largely funded by small fees on consumer phone bills – less than $2 a year for most consumers. It is unclear what the FCC’s retraction of the E-rate progress report, or the other reports, might mean for E-rate funding going forward, or other FCC programs. But surely librarians and educators will be paying attention to what happens next.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday. | {
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2011 May product recalls roundup: Consumer concern
Now that we are almost at the end of the month, it is now time for our 2011 May product recalls roundup, which seems to highlight more than ever consumer concern. As always there are children’s products, cars and also consumer electronics in the mix. So let us see what we have covered first, and then look at a few more products that had to be recalled.
Back on May 3, 2011 Toyota issued an expansion of their ongoing recall due to faulty airbags. The Japanese automaker was said to now increase this recall to a further 833,000 vehicles, more details can be found on our recent post. Next up was the 2011 GM Chevy Cruze recall due to poorly assembled steering shafts; our article reported that this affected 150,000 vehicles.
Next up we have the BlackBerry PlayBook, which affected 1,000 units that were shipped to Staples. The reason for the recall was due to a defective build of the operating system. Here we gave you details of the serial numbers of those models in the recall.
You can never go a whole month without children’s products being recalled, and one of the most recent is the Dream on Me Cribs. The reason was because children were said to be getting trapped between the mattress and the railings. For more on this you can get all the details at Wallet Pop.
Finally we have yet another Maclaren stroller recall, a few days ago the manufacturer announced a reminder of the recall due to children becoming injured by amputation along with laceration of children’s fingertips. The Guardian has all the details.
These are just a handful of the recalls that have affected consumers in May, but which has affected you the most? | {
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With the start of Congressional hearings on the factors relating to the decisions involved in the Exploration Systems Architecture, we here at American Rocket News feel it is worth revisiting the program which has spawned such debate as to the future of NASA's human spaceflight programs: the Rockwell X-33 Sprite.
The first steps toward what would become the X-33 occurred when the White House, in 1994 selected Option 3B from the NASA Access to Space Study. This decision--to publicly assist with developing the technologies and systems necessary to reduce the private risks in developing reusable space vehicles--lead directly into the X-33 Competition.
At the start of the competition, there had been three leading options. The first, from McDonnell-Douglas PhantomWorks, was a conical DC-X derived design using vertical take-off and landing on a single Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). The second, from Lockheed-Martin Skunkworks, was a flattened triangular lifting body design using a linear aerospike, visually similar to their LS-200 alternative to the final Space Shuttle design from the 1970s. The third was Rockwell’s, a vertical-takeoff, horizontal landing design using a winged cylinder with integral cylindrical tanks with an immediate visual resemblance to their winning Space Shuttle concept. Rockwell’s design was selected among the three, with NASA’s initial announcement on July 2nd, 1996 stressing the importance of a low-risk base design to serve as the testbed for other technologies later down the road. NASA’s internal evaluations, revealed in documentation exclusively made available to American Rocket News’ Stage 2, reveals that this drive for a vehicle which could fly first and foremost and test additional technologies second was key to Rockwell’s victory. NASA determined that Lockheed’s multi-lobe composite propellant tanks, with their numerous complex shapes and joints, might be extremely problematic to fabricate, while the air-start of the SSME for landing on the McDonnell Douglas design would require a successful ignition of an engine, which could be temperamental even when lit on the ground, within a margin of seconds on every single flight or the loss of vehicle could result.
Compared to these risks, Rockwell’s domed cylindrical tanks and simplified propulsion arrangements--a single burn from the RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engine and two RL10-A-5’s from the DC-X/XA program, as opposed to McDonnell Douglas’s re-lighting engine or Lockheed’s all-new linear aerospike--proved to be the right level of conservative development for the X-33 program. Furthermore, while Rockwell’s design could test an advanced Thermal Protection System (TPS) such as Lockheed’s metallic tiles, it did not need such a system to work, and relied on high density ceramic tiles in hot and high impact areas, and shuttle- derived thermal blankets for most of the vehicle. While such advanced technologies (along with others like supercooled or even slush propellants) could be retrofitted onto the vehicle for their own demonstrations after initial proving flights, they would not be critical to have ready from day one--a major reduction in the overall cost and risk of the program.
Progress on the X-33 program continued at a steady, but reasonable case through the end of 1999, when the first major component test of the vehicle took place. The large forward hydrogen tank, made out of carbon fiber composites, had to be pressure tested prior to vehicle integration. If the tank had failed, there were forces both inside and outside of NASA that would take it as a sign that the program was doomed to fail, and would push for cancellation. On Tuesday, November 2nd, their fears were allayed, and the tank passed a full-up pressure test that took it well above flight pressures. It was then transported from the test stand at Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, to US Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California - the same facility where the Space Shuttles were built in the decades prior.
While the test vehicle was being built Rocketdyne, another division of Rockwell, was assembling a modification of the SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) intended for use on the X-33. This version of the SSME (Block IIA RS-25C) was supplemented by two Pratt & Whitney RL10-A5 engines. These small expander cycle engines were of the same design as the engines used on the McDonnell Douglas DC-X test vehicle, and had an exceptionally low expansion ratio - only 4:1 - that allowed them to operate at at sea level to provide a minor power boost (each engine would provide only about 7% of the total lift-of thrust of the vehicle), and a high degree of control. The only change to all three engines relative to their original vehicle applications was that the RS-25C would not have any gimbal actuation, and the RL10s would have the electro-mechanical gimbal actuators from the Atlas IIIA’s RL10-A4-1s engines. These actuators, combined with similar actuators on all flight surfaces, eliminated the need for hydraulics and an Auxiliary Power Unit - a system whose hydrazine powered implementation had proven to be problematic on the Space Shuttle.
Furthermore, Rocketdyne was in discussions with Energomash NPO to bring to the US the RD-704 engines just as Pratt & Whitney had worked with Energomash to bring the RD-180 for the Atlas III and V families, and Aerojet’s deal with the Kuznetsov Design Bureau to bring the Nk-33 and Nk-43 engines to the US, and specifically to Kistler to use on their K-1 vehicle under the designations AJ26-58, 59, and 62. Unlike the oxidizer rich staged combustion engines that P&W and Aerojet were bringing to the US, Rocketdyne was attempting to bring in something even more exotic, for the RD-704 was a tri-propellant engine, burning oxygen with both kerosene and hydrogen over the flight profile. For initial burns early in the accent, the RD-704 burns the oxygen with both kerosene and hydrogen at the same time to offer a high-thrust and high-mass flow mode. Once sufficient altitude is reached however, the kerosene feed is cut, and the engine becomes a conventional hydrogen-oxygen (or hydrolox) engine for maximum specific impulse or efficiency. By using kerosene to assist with the launch thrust, the tank volume and thus mass can be minimized relative to a pure hydrogen-oxygen vehicle. During this program to bring the engines to the US, the engine was assigned the designation RS-74 for engines built in Russia and imported to the US, and RS-2100 for engines produced in the US under license from Energomash. Rockwell’s planned configuration was to use an array of six RS-2100 engines on the tail of the full size Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) to provide an engine-out capability without the loss of the vehicle or payload.
Such plans would have to wait for the demonstrator to fly, however. Final vehicle assembly of the X-33A took place in the first half of 2000, with the vehicle proceeding on its official roll-out to much fanfare and celebration. The name of the vehicle, Kitty Hawk, was announced by long time NASA Administrator Dan Goldin at the roll-out on Thursday July 18th, 2000. The official reason the name was picked was “To honor the commitment of those early aviators, and their drive to make the heavens a reality.” That the name was sufficiently patriotic while being (mostly) non-political was certainly seen as a plus. It is of note, that while Kitty Hawk was being rolled out for the first time, her predecessor OV-102 Columbia was nearby, in Building 150 at Palmdale, receiving what was to be her final Orbiter Maintenance Down Period - OMDP-J3. Rockwell’s need to both prepare Kitty Hawk for tests while processing Columbia lead to issues in the middle of 2000 when wiring inspections of Columbia discovered over 4,500 discrepancies. In the end, Rockwell was forced to bring onboard even more staff than they had planned - over 500 on the shuttle, and several hundred on the X-33A.
While the X-33 program was proceeding as scheduled and performed a test series of captive carry tests followed by drop-tests from NASA’s second Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) N911NA over the remainder of 2000, the uncertainty that swirled around the American political system continued around the program long after the election was resolved. With a new administration, and with the strong possibility of a new direction in space development, the X-33 program felt under pressure to deliver progress. Fortunately, the program was on budget, and while not running around ahead of schedule, it was not behind either. In an effort to show results, the X-33 Kitty Hawk fired its engines for the first time on Tuesday, March 13th, 2001. Though short (just 20 seconds), the burn had been accelerated by nearly two months from the original schedule, thanks in no small part to some heroic work from engineers and technicians at the Haystack Butte Launch Facility at Edwards Air Force Base. With engines taken from existing programs, everything went very smoothly, and the facility stood down to prepare for the first launch later that year.
While the preparations for the first flight were not as rushed as those for the test firing (as the possible political pressure to cancel the program as a relic of the prior administration had abated), they did proceed apace, and the Kitty Hawk made its first powered flight on Tuesday, September 4th, 2001. This first flight would be a relatively short hop for the program, barely going above mach 2 and only traveling down range about 100 miles from Haystack Butte Launch Facility Edwards AFB to the Silurian Dry Lake Bed just north of Baker California. The vehicle’s first two flights in 2001 to Silurian were the only two flights of the program that saw the vehicle transported back to Edwards completely via ground transport. Based on the evaluation of these initial flights, a third flight to the dry lake (though at mach 3 peak velocity) was deemed unnecessary. Instead, the flight was omitted, saving the operational costs, hopefully to be replaced in the schedule with a later flight to a landing site further down-range, with the exact location to be driven by the needs of the program. With the basic flight testing complete, the program’s funded 15 flights would be better saved for the technology demonstration goals of the program.
As 2001 rolled into 2002, the Rockwell team began to set up processing equipment at their next landing target - Michael Army Airfield at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The Michael facility, located south and west of Salt Lake City, has a relatively long (nearly fourteen thousand foot) runway, surrounded by flat terrain, which was perfect for landing the X-33, and its range from Edwards was suited for landings after flights into the hypersonic regime. Prior to the first flight to Michael, a certain amount of equipment--including lift cranes and one of the two shuttle carrier aircraft--was required to be pre-positioned to support operations such as safing the vehicle, and loading it on the SCA for transport back to Edwards. The first of these preparations started in January for a planned February launch. An attempted launch on Tuesday the 12th was held due to range issues, and the flight was delayed for 24 hours, when the vehicle performed as expected, and flew downrage to Utah. Following the flight, the same “Away” team that had performed the mate-demate operations for the captive carry and drop tests went to work, and were able to mate Kitty Hawk to N911NA in under 12 hours. Over next year, the “Home” mate-demate team at Edwards would get this down to a seven hour process, though the ‘Away’ team that was deployed to Michael, and eventually Malmstrom, would on average take an hour longer. Over the following six months, Kitty Hawk performed a grand total of 7 flights to Michael, and flights Seven, Eight, and Nine took place on July 30th, August 6, and August 13th, demonstrating the back-to-back week-long turn-around goal for the program.
The final phase of the official X-33 test program was to validate the full vehicle reentry capabilities. The required velocity and altitude to create this aerothermal load would require a speed up to 30% higher than the mach 12 tested on the Edwards to Michael flights, and thus longer ranges than the nearly 400 nautical miles (over 700 kilometers) from Edwards to Michael AAF. The landing site for the last batch of tests was over twice as far down-range - Malmstrom Air Force Base, Great Falls, Montana. Malmstrom had seen the last permanent fixed-wing aviation detachment leave in 1997, but retained an eleven thousand foot runway that, after just five years, was easy to place back into active service for both the X-33 and SCA. During the landing site selection process, Malmstrom scored well despite the inactive runway because of the large tarmac areas available for parking the SCA and for mate-demate equipment and limited impact of flight tests on local military aviation. While the test did require the reconstruction of a control tower, the new facility was paid for out of the US Air Force Budget as a way of configuring the base for future use.
Site preparations at Malmstrom took slightly longer than anticipated however, and the first of five planned flights lifted off on Wednesday, October 9th. The flight, like all others before, was smooth until landing when the only major issue of the test program occured. During the vehicle’s glide into Malmstrom, one of the rudder actuators developed an issue and shut itself down. To retain the require margin for control at low altitude (under ten thousand feet), the vehicle’s automatic flight systems switched to the designated systems for that phase of flight, and relighted both of the RL10 engines to ensure proper yaw control would be maintained. The use of the engines in such a way was one of the main reasons why the low expansion ratio engines had been selected for the program originally. This event also represented the first time that a spaceplane had performed a powered landing (as the RL10s were at thirty percent throttle at touchdown).
After the vehicle was safed and returned to Edward, engineers from Rockwell and NASA did a teardown of the vehicle’s rudder systems, and discovered that the issue was not with the actuator, but the actuator health systems. When the health sensor on the actuator failed, the vehicle flight systems shut down the actuator itself, to avoid damage to the vehicle. While the Rockwell and NASA teams were relieved that nothing was physically wrong with the vehicle, the time taken to diagnose the problem ate into the calendar year, and with limited time available in the year a decision was made to try for the second turn-around target for the vehicle - the ability to launch, land, recover, process, and relaunch the vehicle inside of two days. The target launch dates for flights 11 and 12 would be the 10th and 12th of December. The weather cooperated, and the first launch proceeded smoothly. The weather in Malmstrom that morning was even warm - nearly fifteen degrees fahrenheit (9 degrees Celsius) warmer than average [0]. This allowed the ‘Away’ team at Malmstrom to complete their work quickly. Once Kitty Hawk was mated to the N911NA, the team, for only the second time in the history of the program, stayed deployed (the previous time was the campaign for flights Seven, Eight, and Nine). Flight operations continued, and by the late evening of the 10th Kitty Hawk was being towed back to her check-out hanger at Haystack Butte. The next day saw an expedited processing flow that fortunately encountered no unexpected issues, and by midnight of the 11th/12th, the Kitty Hawk was back on her launch pad. Finally, at 8:45 Pacific Standard Time, she took to the skies again - demonstrating the ability of the teams and the vehicle to fly with a 48 hour turn around. Actual time from launch to launch was a nail-biting 47 hours and 50 minutes. Time lapse video of the amazing processing flow that the Rockwell engineers conducted that week is available exclusively on American Rocket News’ Stage 2.
Having completed the rapid turn-around tests (and proving that when properly designed, rapid reuse could be possible), the engineering teams stood down for the holiday season in preparation of the launch campaign in the new year. While only two launches were officially programmed, there was hope that the original third flight to Silurian, which had been officially ‘indefinitely delayed’ would be re-introduced as a sixth flight to Malmstrom. While the first thirteen flights had been used to demonstrate the vehicle’s basic flight and operational characteristics, the remaining two or three flights would be used to test the Kitty Hawk’s capabilities as a platform for scientific and future vehicle research. The first of these tests would be to expose the vehicle to a hotter and more energetic environment by performing a pair of ‘depressed trajectory’ flights. While the prior tests had pushed the vehicle to mach 15 and over 75 kilometers (about 250 thousand feet), the last two tests would be much lower - only fifty to sixty kilometers while maintaining such a high speed. By reaching such high speeds in the thicker parts of the atmosphere, the compression heating--the heating caused by the vehicle pushing the air out of its way, the primary source of entry heating for a returning spacecraft--would be increased to a level more consistent with that of a vehicle returning from orbit. These thermal and aerodynamic tests could be conducted much easier than other proposed tests such as replacing Kitty Hawk’s main engine with a proposed aerospike.
While flights 13 and 14 were not planned to engage in the high speed turn arounds of flights 11 and 12, or even the rapid turn arounds of 7-8-9, they were to be quick - the ideal would be to get both done by the end of January. Flight 11 was launched the morning of January 14th, and subjected Kitty Hawk to the highest thermal loads she had yet to experience. Kitty Hawk was ferried back to Edwards, and the teams enjoyed the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day Weekend. The next week involved the most thorough inspection of the vehicle’s Thermal Protection System yet, and a validation for flight that next week. By this point, the current program budget would not support a 15th flight, so this 14th would be the last one of the current flight program. On January 28th, Kitty Hawk launched, and as usual, performed her mission beyond specifications. This 14th flight was unique in that the vehicle’s outer mold line was changed with the addition of two aerodynamic fairings, one on the side of the fuselage, and a second on the belly of the vehicle in a lower heat region, that contained a sample of Lockheed metallic shingles. The shingles, being placed over the existing TPS, were not critical for the vehicle, but the flight represented their first test in true reentry conditions. Kitty Hawk was carried back to Edwards the following day due to a minor issue when being mated to the SCA, which delayed the flight back until after sunrise. With the future of the program uncertain, a number of Rockwell engineers and technicians took a trip north to observe a rare over-land entry of the space shuttle. OV-102 Columbia was returning from her science mission (STS-107) and would pass over central California and Nevada sheathed in plasma as she continued on her way to the Cape. Columbia would never make it.
While the loss of Columbia was certainly the most visible bit of news to involve space in January of 2003, it was not the only bit of news that would have long term impacts. As the X-33 tests were winding down, the program had proved that if designed for, reusability was possible with vehicles designed to fly at speeds and in the aerothermal environments needed for spaceflight. The first major beneficiary of this was not Rockwell, but a smaller company, and one of the last survivors of the 1990s ‘New Space’ movement, Kistler. While Kistler had reached 75% complete by mass on their first vehicle by 2000, development had slowed, and not even the Chairman of the company, the legendary George Mueller of Apollo Program fame, was able to keep bringing in investments in 2001. The flights of the X-33 however did attract the attention of one group that had not been approached - the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. The investment of over $200 million (US) into Kistler was enough to bring in extra investment from other sources, and allow Kistler to stave off what was seen as an impending bankruptcy. Furthermore, the investors wanted to see some payoff, and a target of the end of 2005 was set for a first flight. Similar to Rockwell’s X-33, the Kistler K-1 did not require the development of an all new engine, simply the certification of the Russian (actually ex-Soviet, as they had been built in the 1970s) Kuztensov Nk-33/43 oxidizer rich staged combustion engines. These engines are unlike any built in the west, offering a specific impulse fifteen percent higher than any American engines that use the same kerosene and liquid oxygen propellant combination. Three of the these engines in the vehicles first stage would ignite on the pad, and lift the stack to a little over 175 thousand feet (~50 kilometers) just 140 seconds into flight. At this point, the upper, orbital vehicle stage would separate from the first ‘Launch Assist Platform’ Stage, and boost the payload to earth orbit atop a single Americanized NK-43, designated the Aerojet AJ26-60. Following separation, the Launch Assist Platform or LAP would perform a backflip, and would relight the center engine to change the trajectory so that it would come down near the launch site. This maneuver would be called the ‘Lob Retro’ return, and simplified transport of the first stage as it required neither any additional flying vehicles to return the LAP over long land distances nor airbreathing engines on the LAP. Once the Lob-Retro trajectory was achieved, the vehicle would climb to an altitude of over 300 thousand feet (~90 kilometers) and would descend to the landing area on parachutes, followed by a touchdown on airbags. Once landed, the LAP would be loaded by crane onto a trailer, and transported back to the processing facility where it would be checked out for reflight on a two to three week time period.
The Orbital Vehicle (OV), with an integral forward cargo bay would have continued on to orbit, eventually shutting down the main engine, and circularizing on a pair of Alcohol-Liquid Oxygen orbital maneuvering engines. Once in orbit, the blunt nose of the orbital vehicle would swing open, allowing the payload contained therein to be deployed into space. Once payload was either deployed, retrieved, or both, the nose would swing back into place, and the vehicle would wait until the orbit passed back over the launch facility (this would usually take about twenty-four hours), before using the same engines used to circularize to de-orbit. As the vehicle entered, the forward nose would be the primary heat shield, and the rest of the vehicle would be protected by ceramic thermal blankets similar to those used on the Space Shuttle and the X-33. Once the vehicle was low enough, parachutes would be deployed and the OV would land on airbags under parachutes, similar to the LAP. Processing flows for the OV were similar to the LAP, though more involved as the vehicle would be subjected to greater stresses and loads. After three to four weeks, the vehicle would be processed, and ready to be loaded and relauched.
The primary launch facilities for Kistler were planned to be the Woomera Test Range in Australia which would see the first series of launches. A second launch site in the Nevada Test Range is planned for follow-up development. Both sites would offer launch to medium inclination orbits (between 45 and 60 degrees), and polar orbits (up to sun synchronous), but the US launch site would be useful for US payload that for various reasons were not allowed to fly on foreign rockets. One additional prize that Kistler was targeting was a NASA International Space Station Resupply contract that had been proposed several times, but never put out for bid. If Kistler could get flying, they would stand a very strong chance of getting the contract.
The loss of Columbia on February 1st sent a shock through Rockwell. NASA’s plans to keep the shuttle in service through 2020 were now up in the air, and with no further tests planned in the X-33 program, Rockwell was forced to start placing that program in a state of suspended animation. Staffing was planned to be cut to a bare minimum following and an extensive knowledge capture program was implemented to aid in restarting the project at some point in the future. As this knowledge capture program proceeded in early 2003, one idea started to be studied. During the development and testing of the X-33, Rockwell engineers continuing parallel development on the full scale RLV had come to the difficult to swallow conclusion that the X-33 could not be scaled up to be a full single stage to orbit vehicle, the result of a frustrating perfect storm of underperformance from RS-2100 engines on test stands and discovery that the planned full size reusable launch vehicle would be heavier than original studies indicated. However, it could be a part of the two-stage system, either the first or (more ambitiously) second stage. It was around this time that a team from Rockwell approached Orbital Sciences Corporation, maker of the Pegasus launch vehicle.
Pegasus is a three or four stage rocket that is dropped from an aircraft (either a NASA NB-52 or Orbital’s own L-1011), and is capable of delivering small payloads to a myriad of orbits. Launching a Pegasus rocket from the back of an X-33 would result in a higher payload as the X-33 could lift the Pegasus nearly 6 times higher than the ~40 thousand feet (12 kilometers), and nearly 20 times faster than the mach 0.8 that the L-1011 Stargazer can achieve. This improvement would allow a Rockwell-Orbital venture to start impacting the launch market in ways that the existing Pegasus rocket could not. The X-33/Pegasus system, capable of 2,500 kg to a low Earth orbit, offers comparable launch performance to the Athena II, Dnepr, and low-end versions of the Delta II rocket. For Rockwell this represented the best way to make use of a vehicle that would otherwise likely end up in a museum gathering dust. Discussions about this proposal between the two companies continued until October, when on Wednesday the 9th, Rockwell and Orbital made a joint press conference announcing their plans to launch a demonstration payload atop a modified wingless Pegasus XL rocket, lifted to near-space via an X-33.
This bold announcement caused another organization with interest in space launch to take interest. The US Air Force, dealing with the emerging Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Scandal, in which Boeing had been caught with proprietary Lockheed pricing information, began seeking out alternative means of achieving a rapid response launch capability. The most visible support the USAF gave was the continued lease to Rockwell of the Haystack Butte Complex, and preferential commercial use landing rights at a pair of USAF bases in the western United States - Malmstrom in Montana, and Cannon in New Mexico. Cannon was selected for its due-east location relative to Edwards, which would be critical for Rockwell and Orbital if they were to launch payloads into relatively low inclination orbits. The Air Force, at least initially, got a major reason to keep the fixed-wing aviation capability at Cannon open in the face of possible closing under the next round of the Base Realignment And Closing Commission.
While receiving ground support, and considerable interest from USAF engineers, a much more visible vote of confidence came six months into the program to modify Kitty Hawk from an X-plane to a reusable lifter when in early February 2004, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Space Test Program (STP) contracted Rockwell and Orbital to launch a demo-class payload into space following a successful demonstration launch of the X-33/Pegasus. It was at this point that the commercial X-33 program received a new name - Sprite. The name was considered an allusion to both the ethereal flying beings of myth, and the high altitude lightning events first photographed in 1989. The name was especially apropo as the sprite lightning occurs between 50 and 90 kilometers above the surface, which was the maximum flight altitude of the vehicle. The FalconSAT payload manifested was built by cadets at the USAF Academy at Colorado Springs, and represented a scientific payload that while useful, was not critical.
One minor note is that prior to the program being named ‘Sprite’, internal Rockwell documents shared exclusively with American Rocket News’ Stage 2 referred to the program during conceptual development as ‘Turbo-Encabulator’, an obvious reference to the late 1970s parody of technical presentations done by acclaimed voice over artist Bud Haggert.
While Rockwell and Orbital were working on Sprite, NASA and the White House were finalizing the “Vision for Space Exploration” (VSE) report. This report, released in January 2004, called for NASA to end Space Shuttle flights following a rapid completion of the International Space Station, fund commercial resupply and crew rotation flights to the station, and for NASA to focus on the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond.” For Rockwell, the official VSE position of ‘Replacing’ the Space Shuttle seemed promising.
Through the summer of 2004 as NASA and Rockwell moved forward with the changes to bring the shuttle back to flight status and NASA began working on what would eventually become the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, Rockwell and Orbital proceeded with the structural work needed to make the Kitty Hawk into a mothership for the modified Pegasus rockets. The modifications to the Pegasus rocket involved removing the wing and moving the structural supports from the top of the first stage to the bottom. The X-33 saw a large structural member inserted along the top of the vehicle’s payload bay that would provide support for the Pegasus in flight, as well as an aerodynamic blister to fair-in the rocket while the booster launched and rose to near-space altitudes.
While Rockwell and Orbital moved forward with both the first (a set of five small ‘cubesat’s, each about 10 centimeters on a side) and second (Taiwan’s ROCSAT-2 [1], which had moved from Orbital’s Taurus vehicle for a substantive reduction in launch costs), NASA was busy conducting early work into what would eventually become the Exploration Systems Architecture Study or ESAS. The impacts of this work would not be felt for almost a year, and on Tuesday, September 21st, the first launch of the Sprite system occurred. The launch proceeded without issues and the vehicle released the modified Pegasus rocket over the desert of eastern Arizona, at an altitude of 65 kilometers and a speed of mach 14 (slightly over four kilometers per second) before gliding the remaining thousand kilometers across Arizona and New Mexico to land at Cannon Air Force Base. While Rockwell had been very careful in press releases to describe Kitty Hawk as a ‘Near Space Vehicle’, the winged shape’s similarities to the Space Shuttle caused the headline the next day in the Clovis City Journal to read “Commercial Spaceplane Visits Cannon.” This headline, and not Rockwell’s insistently correct terminology, was picked up by media around the world as the flight was hailed as the world’s first commercial spaceplane launch. Teams at Rockwell were loath to rest on their laurels however, as there were plans for two more launches in 2004, the first of which would require the Sprite program to launch on a second, untested azimuth. The payload, ROCSAT-2, was being delivered to a polar, sun-synchronous orbit. While most polar launches out of California are directed south from Vandenberg Air Force Base so that they fly over the Pacific ocean, the X-33 needs a runway to land on after the Pegasus separation, and thus would be launched to the North-Northwest from Haystack Butte. For this, the Sprite program team revisited the list of possible landing sites from the early days of the X-33 program, and found a site in roughly the correct location, and at the correct distance downrange - Grant Lake International Airport, located 10 kilometers northwest of Lake Moses in central Washington state. While Grant Lake is classified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a General Aviation Airport, it does maintain a pair of runways not less than 3000 meters long, allowing for ease of operations when landing the Sprite vehicle.
That launch however, was still weeks in the future, and on Monday, October 4th, 2004 Rockwell having started to secure further launch contracts thanks to both apparent USAF confidence, and a first successful launch announced at a major press conference that they would begin the construction of a second vehicle, the X-33B. This craft would be slightly different from her earlier sister in that she would be structurally optimized from the beginning to operate as a launch platform for Pegasus. The second vehicle would be built using structural spares from Kitty Hawk where they existed (such as the main propellant tanks). Rockwell Space Systems Senior Vice President Robert Davidoff gave a speech outlining the plans for the Sprite Program, including a decision to begin the procurement of long-lead items for the construction of a third vehicle if the market demand materialized. As the press conference came to a close, it ended thusly:
“As the world’s only manufacturer of reusable spaceplanes, Rockwell remains committed to developing the systems needed to improve space access.”
"After they first took to the skies at Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers returned home to Dayton, where they worked for two more years at Huffman Prairie. There, they took the demonstration of short, simple flights flights and worked to make it a practical, repeatable, sustainable reality. Even today, a century later, engineers and pilots follow in their footsteps. With the second X-33, we at Rockwell strive to set a similar path to reliable, repeatable, sustainable exploration of space, and we dub this vehicle in honor of the place they made their advancements."
The name selected (Huffman Prairie) was an obvious nod to the US Air Force, whose Wright-Patterson Air Force Base surrounds the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Historic Site (which is run by the National Parks Service, and is open to visitors year-round). Other names brought up for consideration included Langley, Enterprise, JFK, and Doolittle.
As Rockwell began to achieve a steady launch cadence with three launches in 2004, and more planned for 2005, the first signs of issues at NASA headquarters were coming forward. With the announcement in late 2004 that Administrator Sean O’Keefe would be stepping down, hopes for the development of a two stage completely reusable launch vehicle waned. Administrator O’Keefe’s replacement, Michael Griffin was an academic who had previously been the Associate Administrator for Exploration and represented a radically different background than O’Keefe, who had been a Director of the Office of Management and Budget. While not visible on the surface, the effects of this change in leadership would come to the fore later.
As 2005 rolled on, NASA and it’s partners Rockwell and Lockheed (by way of their joint venture, United Space Alliance, which had taken over as the major program contractor for the Space Shuttle in the fall of 1996) were preparing for the Space Shuttle’s ‘Return To Flight’ mission following the Columbia disaster in February of 2003. The launch, on July 26th had been delayed by nearly two weeks from the scheduled date of July 13th due to unresolved fuel sensor issues with the external tank. These issues were left unresolved at the time of launch. It turned out that the fuel sensors issues, and the resulting fill and drain cycles of the external tank would help solve the foam shedding issue that was still apparent on STS-114. X-Ray tests done at the Michaud facility where the External Tanks are built discovered that the repeated fill and drain cycles put the sprayed-on foam under structural stress that caused certain layers to delaminate from each other, and to be shed under aerodynamic loads at launch. These facts would not be known until Late December however, and first the long awaited Exploration Systems Architecture Study Report Summary was released on the 17th of September. The findings of the report were a surprise to many in the aerospace industry. It called for the development of two new shuttle-derived vehicles to support both the International Space Station and future missions to the moon and Mars. The first vehicle, the ‘Ares 1’ will consist of a space shuttle solid rocket booster first stage and a space shuttle main engine powered upper stage that will be ignited after first stage burn-out. This rocket will place a crew capsule, derived from Apollo aero-ballistic research, into orbit to satisfy NASA crew flights to the ISS, and to place crew into orbit for missions to the Moon and Mars. The second vehicle, called ‘Ares V’ will use a core stage derived from the Space Shuttle’s External Tank, and be boosted by two newly developed five segment solid rocket boosters while the core is powered by five expendable RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines.
This architecture announcement stunned the aerospace industry who expected that either a derivation of the existing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles or a new reusable launch vehicle based on the work of the X-33 and Sprite programs would be selected. Rockwell and the newly forming United Launch Alliance figuratively retreated to their corners to evaluate the next steps they would take when, after a week of final vehicle check-out, when on Thursday, October 27th, 2005, at noon local time, under clear skies and light winds, the Kistler K-1 vehicle launched for the first time. The mood both at Woomera, and at Kistler headquarters in Seattle Washington (where it was 7 pm Wednesday) was ecstatic, as the work of over a decade finally came to fruition. The first stage steered itself down under both aerodynamic fins, a late addition to the vehicle’s design to improve landing accuracy, and parachutes before final touchdown on airbags, just a few hundred meters from the center of the kilometer wide landing zone. The second stage continued on to orbit where it opened the forward hatch exposing the demonstration payload for release. Once the satellite was separated from the K-1, the hatch closed, and the vehicle waited until it’s orbit brought it back over the recovery area at Woomera. The vehicle’s orbital maneuvering engines made a brief burn, and the craft re-oriented itself for a nose-first entry. Tension was high as the reentering craft was tracked on radar, right up to the point of airbag deployment and touchdown. As the upper stage was being recovered in Australia, at Kistler Headquarters, the company held a press conference announcing the recovery of the world’s first completely reusable orbital class rocket. When asked about the mood in the company by American Rocket News’ reporter Arnold Holmes, K-1 project director Jean-Pierre Boisvert [2] replied "I'd just like to say that this is a week we've been waiting for for a long time. I’m incredibly proud of my team, the vehicle performed better than we could have expected. For my part, I'd like to say it's a Friday night, and it's happy hour at the bar up the street in 15 minutes. For my team, I’d like to say that the first round is on me."
With two companies now demonstrating at least partial vehicle reuse, it should have come as no surprise that there were factions inside NASA that were opposed to the ESAS summary finding that the proper course of action for the agency was to fund the development of not one but two shuttle derived expendable launch vehicles over the next decade. It was this tension that caused unknown sources in NASA to leak the unreleased full text of the report to Rockwell. The full text of the report, subsequently leaked by Rockwell to both members of congress and the news media including American Rocket News, outlined that the ESAS committee considered reusability in rockets to be both speculative and lacking firm cost estimates, and thus reusable designs were penalized from the start. In statements to American Rocket News both Rockwell and Kistler confirmed that NASA made little to no inquiries as to operational parameters and cost structures of their vehicles. While Rockwell and Kistler’s leaks and statements were initially discounted by elements of NASA as complaints from contractors who didn’t win, they did resonate with people outside of NASA. With demonstrations of reusability being able to help drive costs down (a flight on a K-1 vehicle, which has a similar payload to a Delta II, comes at just a third of the price), it seems to the public, members of Congress, and the media that NASA imay be failing to take advantage of reusable systems to reduce the costs of missions to space, even ignoring lessons learned on NASA’s own development budget. A more in-depth review of the full ESAS report, which is available in its entirety on American Rocket News Stage 2, shows that on measures of safety and costs certain presumptions were made that do not stand up under closer scrutiny, such as presuming that the failure rates of multi-core heavy EELVs would match those of Titan IVs. After the report’s release, representatives from the EELV’s manufacturers, Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, protested that the EELVs, which lack large solids, are not likely to suffer the same failure modes as Titans, while the more directly Shuttle-heritage designs studied in the report were not similarly penalized for issues that occured in the STS program.[3]
The issues with the ESAS report, combined with the success of the X-33/Sprite and Kistler K-1 programs were enough to cause Congress to take notice, and announce the hearings that will start in the coming weeks. American Rocket News will be there to cover both House and Senate committee meetings in their entirety. While the content of the hearings is as of yet unknown, what is known is that the X-33 program has changed the dynamics of the future of space launch.
----------------------------------------------------------------
[0] That temperature is accurate, as are all of weather conditions for launch dates.
[1] Orbital Sciences doesn’t know how lucky they are here. ROCSAT-2 came in the only successful launch of a Taurus (now Minotaur-C) in the 2001-2011 timeframe.
Congress is really mad at the degree of pressure that certain elements placed on the scales to get the results they did for ESAS. This pressure was historically placed, but here there is reason for it to come forward a lot earlier before ESAS is a continuing Program of Record. Whatever comes after the shuttle is going offer cargo or crew to space, and the two strongest concepts as of 2006 are going to be a two-stage system with winged vehicles or something like a scaled-up K-1. If you scale up the K-1, you are however more likely to see SpaceX and BlueOrigin style vertical landing than the airbags. Work on this was being done by Bellcom as early as 1971: http://www.cizadlo.us/Misc/19790072472_ ... hicles.pdf. Even given the above, SpaceX is probably screwed. The Falcon 1, which won't be successful until mid-2008 is outclassed by Sprite. Falcon 5 (which is still under consideration until 2007) has a LEO advantage over Sprite, but loses it on GTO payloads. As for SpaceX getting the COTS contract in 2006, that entire program is now up in the air with everything else (although something similar will happen - there were too many in NASA that wanted to see some outsourcing of cargo deliveries to the station) and instead of being the likely first choice for a contract, they are now back with everyone else behind Kistler and the K-1. The K-1 actually offers two capacities that only the Space Shuttle offered. The K-1 could be used to bring back the large internal payload racks, and an unpressurized module could be used to return larger exterior elements including such things as ammonia pumps, and certain science platforms.
Without COTS, Falcon 9 is significantly delayed at best. Given the above, it is hard to see a path forward for SpaceX. Their best bet is to try and get a shortened Falcon 1 on the back of a Sprite launcher to get the LEO payload up from 2.5 metric tons to somewhere between 3.5 and 4.3 (where exactly depends on a lot of fine engineering. The catch there is that SpaceX has to convince Rockwell that they can be trusted to deliver a product that works on time. If Rockwell wants to expand into the 3-4 ton segment, they are much more likely to dance with the one that brought them and get Orbital Sciences to build them a liquid upper stage of the right size. While Orbital mostly has experience with solid rockets, they did build the X-34 for NASA, which would have used a 60klbf class kerosene-oxygen engine. An expendable version of the engine and tanks from the X-34, mated to an upper kick stage (probably a solid) gets Sprite to compete with the K-1 and Delta II rockets. An upgraded X-34 with an orbital level thermal protection system is probably capable of acting as a second X-37 type platform for the USAF.
One other thing to keep in mind is that Rockwell is pure old-aerospace, and does things the old-aerospace way. Orbital, while newer is still pseudo-old aerospace and the first version of Kistler (historically Kistler went through a round of bankruptcy in 2003-5 that forced out most of the old hands), while founded in the early 1990s, was full of guys that worked at Nasa in the 60s and 70s. Kistler had a vehicle that would have worked, and worked well - they just never had enough money to finish it up.
"I believe in the future. It is wonderful because it stands on what has been achieved." - Sergei Korolev
It's an expansion of the phrase "old space", which was used by "new space" in a derogatory manner.
A bit of history:
In the early to mid 1990s, there was a perceived movement to large constellations of low earth orbit satellites capable of providing (what was then) high speed communications services to users around the globe. Networks of as many as a thousand satellites were being proposed, and to support them new, low cost launch providers would be needed. As a result, There were many companies that tried to get into the launch market often with reusable rockets. Furthermore, in the 1990s, it was perceived that advances in engines (Space Shuttle Main Engine derived and ex-soviet mostly) and composites would allow for reusable single stage to orbit capabilities. What happened next was two fold. One - fiber networks were rolled out on the ground much faster than predicted in the early 1990s, and were rolled out to overcapacity for the time, suppressing data costs for fixed users. And two - most of the mass predictions were optimistic, and the SSTOs would not have worked. As a result, the demand for orbital launch imploded (helped along by the rise of Russian and Chinese launch services), just as most of the new prospective launch providers would need contracts to finish or redesign their vehicles. By the end of 2001, most of the original new space companies were dead with the exception of Kistler.4
Kistler, being run not by new grads and millionaires but by a bunch of old hands who had worked on Apollo and the Shuttle, was a much more conservative two stage design, and was able to attract more funding that kept them alive until 2003, when they lost a NASA contract for cargo delivery to the station when Elon - without even having a rocket - complained that it wasn't put for competitive bidding. This forced Kistler into bankruptcy. In this timeline however, with the X-33 demonstrating reusability, Kistler is able to attract the last round of funding they need to finish their vehicle and get flying.
Newspace would describe themselves as commercial and willing to take risks while oldspace is stodgy, bureaucratic, and unwilling to spend any money of their own.
Oldspace would describe themselves as reliable and methodical while newspace is unwilling to learn from the past and too willing to take risks.
Both are right to certain degrees. Prior to SpaceX, the closest any newspace company got to delivering a payload was when Space Services Inc. of America (SSIA)* had their Conestoga rocket explode after launch in 1995, and when Rotary Rocket did a few short hops in the late 1990s. It should also be noted that SpaceX lost their first 3 rockets, and was only able to develop the Falcon 9 on the government's dime (no COTS contract and funding, no investors willing to bet on them).
*SSIA dates to the early 1980s, and by 1985 had plans for orbital rockets using clusters of medium sized solid rockets that were already in production for other programs - most notably the boosters for Delta and Atlas rockets. The math works, but the first flight in 1995 had an issue with the guidance system which caused the vehicle to prematurely run out of hydraulic fluid for steering. By that point the money had run out, and the program was over. I've pondered what it would take to save SSIA and Conestoga before on the grounds that the growth version of the Conestoga (the 5000 series) uses the same solids as Delta II and the first stage of the Ground Based Interceptor, Americas main ICBM interceptor.
Edit: Just to be clear, there was a second round of 'newspace' companies that started after the dotcom implosion, and that is what got us SpaceX and Blue Origin.
"I believe in the future. It is wonderful because it stands on what has been achieved." - Sergei Korolev
It occurs to me that I didn't actually say who were oldspace - Boeing, Lockheed, Martin Marietta, McDonnell Douglas, Alliant Tech Systems. Northrup, Grumman, Rockwell, General Dynamics, Hughes, ect. Orbital Sciences Corp, SpaceHab, and a few others were 1980s companies. Basically they were the legacy aerospace companies at the end of the cold war. Over the last three decades, they have been consolidated down to Boeing (who ate Hughes, Rockwell, and was sort of eaten by McDonnell Douglas), Lockheed-Martin (who got Martin Marietta and General Dynamics), and Northrup-Grumman (who got Alliant, Orbital, and the two parents).
"I believe in the future. It is wonderful because it stands on what has been achieved." - Sergei Korolev
As more information comes out on the DARPA XS-1 / Boeing "Phantom Express", and the use of the AR-22 engine, it becomes apparent that the vehicle, flight, and cost models used for this TLIAP were more or less accurate to what is planned, 20 years later, by the successor to Rockwell.
To that end, I'd like to point people to This Nasa Space Flight article on the AR-22 tests. Rocketdyne, using flight-proven SSME hardware was able to run 10 tests in rapid succession, with an average turn around time on the engine of 18 and a half hours.
"I believe in the future. It is wonderful because it stands on what has been achieved." - Sergei Korolev | {
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Flygon is 4x weak to ice but Dare234 was a werewolf in the Dream World remember? So most likely it wasn't him. While true just because I hit him/her with ice beam does not mean it was super effective but think about it if you came face to face to a deadly blood-sucking werewolf-dragonair and you knew ice beam wouldn't you use it? Wailords aren't stupid I'm pretty sure they have some common sense.
_________________This is a signature. It is very good.actually it's terrible, but let me believe what I want
Alright...now looking no one really implied that using Ice Beam is effective so I did only assumed that. But I also said that Wailord have many destructive STAB-powered Water-type moves, why did he use Ice Beam? (Edit: a thought just hit me: it could have been 2 werewolves in action together!)No one said anything about Iron Tail either, you just assumed that. I think that the move Iron Tail only temporally turns the user's tail metal-hard, but won't actually turn it into steel and...*rambles on and on about his theories of Pokemon world physics**After hours of rambling* This round is more like a debate of the ghosts, where are the voters? o_OBut seeing that this game is almost over...I'm very much looking forward to Bat Master's next Werewolf! Top suspects: Shuckle-rock$ the DragonairJaypokes the innocent-looking Pichu
im voting for Shuckle-Rock$ due to the fact ice is strong against only him and Dare234 who was already a werewolf in the dream making it highly unlikly for him to be one twice but he is suspect number 2 on my list
The dream world is no longer tied to reality deaths in the real world no longer mean death is the dreamworld because the dream world has already been won "We had few voters this time" said Luxray only 3 got their votes in on time and the tally is for dragonair to die he was not mad but knew he could fight it but before he could even start his rampage an ice beam came in and ko'ed the werewolf---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After the meeting they went on with thier daily lives and then noticed that flygonwas entngled in grass he went to look at flygon's face and just saw emptiness Flygon was dead and apparently he was strangled by the entangling grass
>_<I keep forgetting to vote...Okay, I think... Jaypokes, because1. No one of us are Grass types (Okay, Exeguttor is, but he's Dream World, and it doesn't count anymore)2. He's small enough to go under the foliage to look for vines.3. He can climb for vines that are still growing.4. He's diminutive and cute, meaning that Flygon could have been tricked into being a willing volunteer for his own death.Jaypokes-1
Yeesss, the cute innocent Pichu who is Nastily Plotting to destroy us all, killed Flygon with Grass Knot!And apparently Jaypokes pulled out the last resort of werewolves: voting for his fellow werewolf to make himself less suspicious.Remember that my top suspects are Shuckle-rock$ and Jaypokes? Now I'm only waiting for justice to be done to the last werewolf. Congratulations in advance for winning another Werewolf game!
Dare was definitely killed by Grass Knot. And yes, I agree with what everyone else said (because I was going to research it but then found all the answers here). Also, everyone has been keeping an eye on him since the first killing. Therefore, I think that Pichu must have done it.
I know i said the deadline was friday but i may as well end it now because there is a majority. everybody knew pichu had done it and much faster than it started it is all over with a simple shadow ball from gengar pichu the last werewolf was no more the main game is now over.
I have a surprise for the winners that will be pm'ed to them ASAP. thank you for participating in my game. For all who have not done so feel free to critique and rate how i did for the first time writing a werewolf game. not just one sentence either, tell me what i did right and/or what you liked, what i did wrong i.e. where you thought i screwed up. In case I decide to GM another werewolf game again. nicely done
Excellent game, although the dream world was a little confusing, also I liked how you followed my Moveset clue idea, start with a common move (Rain dance), then get progressively tighter (Grass Knot), Also thats why I force everyone in my games to be fully evolved Pokemon, also To be honest Jaypokes was only a hunch. as Dragonair, pichu, and Luxray learn Rain Dance, Thunder, and Iron tail, Plus you didn't actually Suggest thunder as a clue, so that spreads the field wider to lucario are of which ended up dead spare luxray, meaning that the werewolves did a good job surviving till the last two turns. ☺
Congrats to the winners. Unfortunately, I had both werewolves pinned from the first round, as Aquadude later wound up telling me, but nobody listens, lol.
I thought you had interesting ideas. However, please improve your grammar and spelling a bit more - it makes the stories easier to understand.
And this is my two cents, but I dislike putting moveset clues, as there's little thought necessary as to who may have done it (which still took forever, lol). When I hosted, I didn't put any clues whatsoever, except for the one I gave to /vXv\ for being resurrected. *shrug* Just in general, clues seem to not work out as well as the GM hopes (look at past werewolf games to see what I mean).
Maybe a clue once every two rounds?? And properly vague and ominous, too
Overall, I'd say it was a pretty fun game; if everyone enjoyed playing (as I'm sure they did), then it's successful.
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Q&A: The UK political system explained
A general election must take place in the UK at least every five years
The power of the monarchy has gradually dwindled since the 17th century
Power in the UK parliament rests with the lower house, known as the Commons
The last parliament where no party had a majority was in 1974 -- analysts predict it will happen in 2010
London, England (CNN) -- The United Kingdom votes on a new government May 6 through a political system that dates back centuries.
When does an election happen?
The UK has no written constitution. Instead the country's electoral system is based on a series of parliamentary acts dating back to the 17th century, when men wore the sort of tights and wigs still donned on ceremonial occasions by some officials of the Houses of Parliament.
A general election is when voters nationwide choose lawmakers who will sit in the House of Commons, the lower chamber which initiates and approves legislation.
An election must take place, by law, at least every five years. That said, governments can call an election at any time during their term. They could also be forced into an election if they lose a majority of lawmakers in the Commons.
The starting gun in a general election is traditionally fired when the prime minister travels to Buckingham Palace to ask the queen, the UK's head of state, to dissolve parliament by royal proclamation.
An election must then take place within weeks. Since 1979, elections have been held between April and June. It is customary for an election to be held on a Thursday.
The vote is conducted through the "first past the post" system whereby the candidate in each constituency with the most votes wins the seat.
If the queen is the head of state, then how come the UK a democracy?
Although the UK is a monarchy, the powers of the reigning head of state have gradually dwindled since King Charles I was beheaded in 1649 following the English Civil War between Royalists and Parliamentarians.
Today, the monarch's role is largely ceremonial and mostly restricted to state functions and appearing on stamps and banknotes. But the monarch still retains formal powers and opens parliament each year.
How does parliament function?
The job of parliament is to make laws, scrutinize the actions of the government and debate issues of the day. The Commons -- which has green benches -- currently consists of 650 directly elected lawmakers known as Members of Parliament or MPs who each represent a geographical constituency.
The upper house, the Lords -- which has red benches -- is mostly appointed by the government with members serving for life. Its main duty is to vote on legislation passed by the Commons and, when necessary, to send it back for further debate.
In certain circumstances the government can force through legislation passed by the Commons but rejected by the Lords.
How is an election decided?
Voters do not elect the prime minister, or head of government, directly. Rather, they vote to elect a candidate representing a particular party to serve as their local MP. The leader of the party which wins the most seats is then asked by the Queen to form a government. The leader of the second largest party in the Commons becomes the "Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition."
MPs are elected by a plurality, rather than a majority, of votes. This means that a party can win a majority of seats in the Commons without achieving an overall majority in the overall popular vote. In fact, because there are three main parties in the UK it is extremely rare for a party to win an outright majority.
The last prime minister elected by an outright majority was Stanley Baldwin, the Conservative Party leader, in 1931. In 2005, Tony Blair's Labour Party won just 35 percent of the vote but still controlled a 66-seat majority in the House of Commons.
So who can I vote for?
For most of the past century, British politics has been dominated by two parties, the left-wing Labour Party and the right-wing Conservative Party. That said, the boundaries between left and right have been blurred as each has strived to occupy the strategically important center ground.
A third party, the centrist Liberal Democrats, usually picks up around 20 percent of votes but wins far fewer seats because it is squeezed between the two main parties. Parties from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also send small numbers of lawmakers to Westminster.
If no party wins an overall majority -- a "hung parliament" --- then the leader of the party which takes the most seats will usually be invited by the monarch to form a government. But its powers will be limited because it cannot control a majority of votes in the Commons. The party will usually call another election within months in a fresh attempt to secure a majority.
The last time this happened was in 1974, when an election in February resulted in a hung parliament. A second election followed in October of the same year. Many opinion pollsters and observers believe that the 2010 general election will result in a hung parliament. | {
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About us
Who are we?
Established in Sheffield, England since 1840 we are the region’s oldest Auctioneers and Valuers, (incorporating A. E. Dowse & Son Limited). Sheffield Auction Gallery and our team of Specialist Valuers give free detailed advice on all aspects of pre-Auction Valuation and Auction Sale.
Day: March 7, 2019
I have noticed lately that in many ‘trendy’ coffee shops these days there are very few handles on the milk jugs. Being brought up on handled jugs and had the importance of the correct use of a handle drilled into me from a toddler, I find this trend rather disconcerting. Also, as an auctioneer and valuer there is nothing I love more than a good handle. Take Burleigh Ware handles for example.
The period of the 1930s and onwards is generally considered to be the golden era for Burleigh Ware. During this time the factory employed over 500 people and among them were some of the most highly skilled potters and artists available.
During this highly productive era Burleigh Ware expanded into the very recognisable brightly coloured tableware, which sold in vast quantities. Probably some of the best known of these pieces were the bright yellow jugs with sculptural handles in the form of animals and humans. The jugs were all hand painted so each one was slightly different, with the most attractive being the most sought after.
Designers Charles Wilkes and Ernest Bailey are credited with much of the design work on these iconic jugs. They made a huge variety of animals from parrots and kingfishers to butterflies and squirrels and even dragons.
All these jugs can be purchased for very reasonable sums at auction these days, with the animals being particularly affordable. The human characters tend to be more sought after with examples such as the rare guardsman and the sporting designs of the golfer and cricketer being particularly popular.
Senior Valuer Michael Dowse
Senior Valuer Michael Dowse
For more information or if you have similar items you’re thinking about offering items in auction or you simply would like a valuation, please get in touch with us, full details can be found on our company website | {
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Rio 2016 officially introduces the three Olympic medals
Rio 2016 officially introduces the three Olympic medals
Rio 2016 officially introduces the three Olympic medals
2488 of them have been produced: 812 Golds, 812 Silvers and 864 Bronzes, following strict criteria of sustainability and honoring the bond between the Olympic history and the nature.The Organizing Committee of Rio 2016 officially presented the three medals that the athletes will compete with each other to win.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, who was present at the launch event held in the Barra Olympic Park, said: “Today marks the start of the final countdown to the first Olympic Games to be staged in South America.”
The design of the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, celebrates the relationship between the strengths of Olympic heroes and the force of nature, also keeping sustainability at their heart. The Gold of the 500 grams medals, indeed, has been extracted without the use of mercury, and it has been produced according to strict criteria, from the initial mining to the final design of the product. | {
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Red and gold hand painted coasters
$40.00
Set of 4 hand painted stone coasters with a coat of poly on top so they can be wiped down if they get dirty. Each set has little material stoppers on the bottom to prevent scratching any surface. This set is painted with tones of greens, white and champagne. A perfect piece of art to spice up any dining room, night stand or living room table. | {
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Download Cheezburger App for Free
superhero capes
Robyn Rosenberger is the founder of tinysuperheroes.com. To date, she has stitched together over 300 capes and sent them to kids across the country who are battling disabilities and serious illnesses. Each unique cape reflects these kids' heroic attitude, going through so much so early on in life and still wearing a big smile at the end of the day. Here you can see some of the superheroes Rosenberger has featured on her website, and if you're looking for more feel-good content to brighten your day this week check out our Restoring Faith in Humanity page! | {
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97.9 WGRD » we are the worldhttp://wgrd.com
97.9 'GRD Rocks!Tue, 26 Sep 2017 21:39:17 +0000en-UShourly1http://wgrd.com/files/2011/09/WGRD_LOGO-v2.png97.9 WGRDhttp://wgrd.com
We Are The World 25.75http://wgrd.com/we-are-the-world-25-75/
http://wgrd.com/we-are-the-world-25-75/#commentsWed, 22 Dec 2010 18:48:17 +0000http://wgrd.com/?p=2937Continue reading…]]>The Comedy Death-Ray Christmas Nativity Choir gets together to sing We Are The World this holiday season | {
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Wi-Fi Video Doorbell
LTS' New Wi-Fi Video Doorbell is slim and easy to use. Doubling as a camera and doorbell - users can simply see, hear, and speak to vistors at their front door using the mobile app, LTS Connect. Simple made easy. | {
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We all know it exists and whenever a shuttle goes up there, i kinda have it on when i'm behind my computer. The problem is, why on earth is 90% of the things they show, the control room, and just a handfull of seconds/minutes of the actual spacewalk or inside of the station.
They use the TDRS satellite network developed for the Shuttle. But this network doesn't cover every part of the orbits. Actually NASA had long time problems building this network with the Shuttle introduction in 1981.
I think the first satellite they put into orbit went dead quite fast, the second one stranded due to a malfunctioning IUS Shuttle upper stage and the third I think had to replace the first one.
Then they had the Challenger desaster which further shred their plans. I would have to check dates but I think it was only in the 1990s that their TDRS network was complete.
_________________"The hardest hurdle to space isn't the technicalities and money. But rather, the courage and the will to do it." - Burt Rutan. | {
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But Benyon was trenchant in his defence of the smaller number of zones, writing: “I had a conversation with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and explained that it was quite an achievement to have got this far at a time when government budgets were being cut. I asked him to suggest, if I ignored the science and designated all 127 sites at a cost of millions, where should I get the money?”
He argued that it was better to have fewer zones that are policed by enforcement agencies rather than more “lines on maps”.
“For some it’s a binary issue. Designate all 127 or you are a penny-pinching minister who is in the pocket of the fishing industry. In fact it would have been easy to designate vast areas of the UK’s waters that are of little ecological value because it would have looked good on a map. Instead we are doing this properly.”
Responding to Benyon’s comments, Fearnley-Whittingstall told the Guardian: “The sticking point for me and for the tens of thousands of citizens who have written to the Defra consultation on MCZs in support of a full network of sites to protect our seas is simple. Benyon has given no timeframe for a second tranche of sites or even a commitment that there will be any more at all beyond the first 31. Given yet another opportunity to do so in today’s Guardian he has failed to take it.”
He added: “He can hardly be surprised if we question whether he is losing his ambition on MCZs. Or perhaps he is losing government support to deliver on his original commitment for a fully coherent network? If he says he needs more science and more money, then that is a reasonable point we can all discuss – but he needs to couple it with a clear commitment to go further, otherwise what will that money and that science be for?”
Joan Edwards, head of living seas for the Wildlife Trusts, which has been at the forefront of campaigning for a larger network of zones, said: “Government says it wants more evidence to show that the rest of the 127 sites are worthy of protection. However, there is an existing mass [of evidence] which has not yet been taken into account, including its own evidence, collected at a cost of £5m, and more gathered by stakeholders in 2012.. For meaningful marine protection to begin, the minister must now set a clear timetable for the designation of a wider network. Our seas’ resources are not inexhaustible.”
A spokesman at the National Trust said it was “disappointed” that only 31 out of 127 originally recommended zones were going ahead. He said: “We believe that the ‘precautionary’ principle should apply with the full list of 127 protected until full and proper consideration has been given to all proposed marine conservation zones. There is an urgent need for the government to work in collaboration with others to produce a timetable for designation of the full network of 127 sites.”
On 25th February 2013, in association with Sea Life and supported by Hugh’s Fish Fight and the British Sub-Aqua Club, MCS is holding a mass rally in support of 127 Marine Conservation Zones for English seas.
In January 2010, the WCPFC placed the ban on parts of the Pacific Ocean, where 60% of the world’s tuna are sourced, to conserve the population of the bigeye tuna, which scientists classified as overfished. Other tuna species like skipjack, yellowfin, and albacore also found in the Pacific high seas but their numbers have not reached an alarming low.
Although it lifted the ban, the commission maintained that entry to the marine reserves would be limited, refusing proposals from the European Community and South Korea for a free-for-all access to one of the world’s richest fishing grounds.
“The Pacific Commons is now open. But for all practical purposes, access will be limited,” said Mark Dia of Greenpeace. “They knew that everybody would suffer if a free-for-all access is granted,” he added.
The permitted areas for tuna fishing in the Pacific Ocean
The WCPFC approved the request of the Philippine government, the third top tuna harvester in the Pacific after Japan and South Korea, to fish in pocket 1 of the Pacific, which is bounded by the island nations of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.
In exchange for fishing access, the Philippine government must report its catch and limit the number of fishing vessels to 36, Dia said. Filipino vessels must also apply for international fishing permits before entering pocket 1.
The Philippines’ fisheries director Asis Perez said the ban brought hard times to the local fishing sector. He also noted that the fishing ban was counterproductive for the Philippines as it forced fishing companies to harvest in its national waters, which is considered to be a spawning ground for various types of tuna, he said.
As one of the world’s major fishing powers, Taiwan did not exercise as much influence as it should have to block new measures that could destroy fish populations, the group said.
According to Greenpeace, instead of stepping up efforts to protect marine life, the meeting, which was held in Guam from Monday to Friday last week, unraveled existing measures to preserve the region’s fisheries resources by reopening certain high-seas fishing grounds to destructive fishing methods.
Although Taiwan voted against the initiative, which was mainly pushed through by South Korea and the US, its reluctance to come up with a rescue plan showed its weakness on the issue, Greenpeace said.
Disappointed by the meeting’s decisions, Greenpeace East Asia senior ocean campaigner Kao Yu-fen (高于棻),who attended the meeting this year as an observer, said: “Due to the short-term economic considerations of a few members, the decision was a major setback in ocean conservation, sounding a death knell for fish resources in the area.”
“As the member owning the most fishing vessels in the area, Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency should take a leading role to actively guide the commission toward applying sustainable methods, instead of passively waiting for the decisions,” she said.
Greenpeace said Taiwan has more than 1,600 fishing vessels in the Western and Central Pacific, while a large proportion of Taiwan’s long-distance fish production comes from tuna.
Taiwan Greenpeace oceans campaigner Yen Ning (顏寧) said seine fishing had been banned in two high-seas pockets that were closed in 2008, while the use of fish aggregating devices was limited to less than three months per year, to allow tuna populations in the area to recover to the same level as 2004.
Reopening these areas will likely cause further fish depletion, she said.
The Fisheries Agency, which represented Taiwan at the meeting, disagreed, describing the meeting’s results as constructive.
“We don’t see it as a partial reopening of the Pacific Commons. It’s more about different methods of fishing management,” said Lin Ding-rong (S), deputy director of the agency’s Deep Sea Fisheries Division.
The country has 3,421 turbines — 2,941 of them onshore — with another 4,500 expected to be built under plans for wind power to play a more important role in providing Britain’s energy.
Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, last month called opponents of the plans “curmudgeons and fault-finders” and described turbines as “elegant” and “beautiful”.
The Duke’s attack on the turbines, believed to be the first public insight into his views on the matter, came in a conversation with the managing director of a leading wind farm company.
When Esbjorn Wilmar, of Infinergy, which builds and operates turbines, introduced himself to the Duke at a reception in London, he found himself on the end of an outspoken attack on his industry.
“He said they were absolutely useless, completely reliant on subsidies and an absolute disgrace,” said Mr Wilmar. “I was surprised by his very frank views.”
Mr Wilmar said his attempts to argue that onshore wind farms were one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy received a fierce response from the Duke.
“He said, ‘You don’t believe in fairy tales do you?’” said Mr Wilmar. “He said that they would never work as they need back-up capacity.”
One of the main arguments of the anti-wind farm lobby is that because turbines do not produce electricity without wind, there is still a need for other ways to generate power.
Their proponents argue that it is possible to build “pump storage” schemes, which would use excess energy from wind power to pump water into reservoirs to generate further electricity in times of high demand and low supply.
It emerged last year that electricity customers are paying an average of £90 a year to subsidise wind farms and other forms of renewable energy as part of a government scheme to meet carbon-reduction targets.
Mr Wilmar said one of the main reasons the Duke thought onshore wind farms to be “a very bad idea” was their reliance on such subsidies.
The generous financial incentives being offered to green energy developers have led landowners to look to build wind farms on their estates, including the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin.
Prince Philip, however, said he would never consider allowing his land to be used for turbines, which can be up to 410ft tall, and he bemoaned their impact on the countryside.
Mr Wilmar said: “I suggested to him to put them on his estate, and he said, ‘You stay away from my estate young man’.
“He said he thought that they’re not nice at all for the landscape.”
The Duke’s comments echo complaints made by his son, the Prince of Wales, who has refused to have any built on Duchy of Cornwall land.
Yet a turbine will be erected opposite the Castle of Mey in Caithness, where he stays for a week every August, if a farmer succeeds in gaining planning permission from Highland Council.
While they are opposed to onshore wind farms, the Royal family stands to earn millions of pounds from those placed offshore.
Last year, the Crown Estate, the £7billion land and property portfolio, approved an increase in the number of sites around the coast of England. The Crown Estate owns almost all of the seabed off Britain’s 7,700-mile coastline.
Experts predict that the growth in offshore wind farms could be worth £250million a year. Britain has 436 offshore turbines, but within a decade that number will reach nearly 7,000. From 2013, the Royal family’s Civil List payments will be replaced, and instead they will receive 15 per cent of the Crown Estate’s profits, although the Queen, the Duke, the Prince of Wales and other members of the family do not have any say over how the estate makes its money.
The Dutch businessman’s company describes itself as committed to preserving the planet. Infinergy, which is a subsidiary of the Dutch firm KDE Energy, is planning to build on a number of sites across the country, from the north of Scotland to Totnes in Devon.
Mr Wilmar claims that onshore turbines are less reliant on subsidies and more cost-effective than those built in the sea. “If you go offshore it costs you twice as much as being on-shore because you have to lay foundations in the sea,” he said. “It’s very expensive for very obvious reasons.”
Two-thirds of the country’s wind turbines are owned by foreign companies, which are estimated to reap £500million a year in subsidies.
A spokesman for the Duke said that Buckingham Palace would not comment about a private conversation. | {
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The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in... | {
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SOLD – 1409 La Salle Dr, Turlock
A RARE FIND!!! Beautiful, custom, single story home on a little over a third of an acre. Large backyard with a pool is wonderful for entertaining, gardening, and pure relaxation. A couple of weddings have even been held here. | {
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This section includes narratives of specific internal evaluations from the 13 schools in this report exhibiting good practice. The evaluations are all one example of many evaluations that these schools have undertaken. The schools were chosen because during their regular Education Review internal evaluation was identified as a strength and was contributing to improvements particularly for students that needed to accelerate progress. Some of the evaluations are specific to a curriculum area, while some are school-wide. Each narrative is annotated to show the relevant review processes and associated evaluative reasoning. | {
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2 ski patrollers killed in French Alps by avalanche charges
PARIS (AP) — French police say two ski patrollers have been killed when the devices they use to trigger avalanches exploded as they were securing the slopes at a ski resort in the French Alps.
The high mountain gendarmerie of the Haute-Savoie region said the accident happened Sunday morning in Morillon before the ski slopes were opened to the public. Police officers are investigating the scene to determine the cause of the rare accident.
Ski patrollers are in charge of preventing potential dangers to skiers, notably by triggering controlled avalanches with powerful explosive charges.
The risk of an avalanche was estimated at "high" Sunday in Morillon, with a rating of 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 following a heavy snowfall overnight. | {
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